"The Yellow River surrounds Lingzhou, with five ancient canals: Qinjia Canal, Hanbo Canal, Aishan Canal, Seven-Level Canal, Tejin Canal, adjacent to Xiazhou Hanyuan Canal, Tangliang Canal, and Yuzhi Canal
Dozens, together with the accumulation and discharge of river water." In the golden autumn of August, outside Huaiyuan New City, Lingzhou, Feng Dao, who had just been transferred from the position of governor of Xingzhou to the governor of Lingzhou this year, came to introduce the specific situation of the eight counties of Lingzhou.
Shao Shude listened silently and did not express an opinion.
He is very familiar with the situation in Lingzhou, after all, it used to be his "home base".
When the Yellow River flows through the Hetao, it nourishes three plains, namely the Front Tao, the Back Tao, and the Xitao. The Front Tao and the Back Tao experienced tremendous development in the late Qing Dynasty, with a sudden increase in population and becoming important grain-producing bases in the northwest.
As for Xitao, it has a long history of development. All dynasties have attached great importance to this place, vigorously building canals and ponds, opening up farmland, orchards, grazing cattle, sheep, horses and camels, and building warehouses with huge capacity in many places.
——Generally, it can store 100,000-200,000 stone.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, this section of the Yellow River water transport was developed to provide military supplies to Woye Town, one of the six towns.
In the early years of the former Tang Dynasty, in order to conquer the Turks, they vigorously developed Lingzhou and Fengzhou, which were still covered with forests, and acquired tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land. At the same time, many ships were built to ward off the Turks.
When Shao Shu governed Lingzhou with virtue, he began vigorously dredging and clearing the ancient canals. Later, he developed many new canals, making Lingzhou a fortress in the south of the Yangtze River and providing a steady stream of money and food for his great cause.
Times have changed. Thirty years have passed and Lingzhou's development has entered a stable period. The population has slowly overflowed to Youzhou, Liaodong, Xiangyang and other places. The local economy has gradually climbed out of the bottom after experiencing a heavy blow from the migration of sergeants.
.
Nowadays, the eight counties of Lingzhou no longer have much aura, but it is still the most important town in northern Guanbei, the richest and most prosperous place.
"What does Feng Qing think is the biggest role of Lingzhou?" Shao Shude suddenly asked after a paragraph of the report.
This question actually implies a test.
He already knew Feng Dao's ability to govern a state. He had done a good job in Xingzhou, Hebei. Now he needed to examine whether he had a strategic and overall vision.
"Control the northwest." Feng Dao said briefly.
"Tell me more specifically." Shao Shude said with great interest.
"There are dozens of prefectures in Guanbei, Hexi, and Longyou, and there are many grain-producing areas, but none of them can match Lingzhou's, not even close." Feng Dao said: "Lingzhou's
There are Helan Mountains in the west, and Shaqiu in Shanxi. There are many tribes in Shaqiu, and they are unruly. If there is a rebellion and the king's army needs to conquer it, it is most convenient to start from Lingzhou. There is enough food to supply tens of thousands of forbidden troops;
Horses can supplement the battle formation's consumption; people can recruit masters on a large scale. With these three conveniences, Lingzhou is the most important town in the northwest."
"Okay." Shao Shude was very satisfied.
What he fears most is the kind of person who shines brightly by doing a certain thing or managing a certain place, but is at a loss once it is put on a higher stage.
To put it bluntly, you don’t have a global perspective.
Feng Dao is quite good. After working in Lingzhou for a few years, he can be given more responsibilities.
"Does Feng Qing know the reason for my inspection of Guanbei?" Everyone came to a warehouse and after dismounting, Shao Shude asked.
The people guarding the warehouse were Yong from Fanzhi Township in Huaiyuan County. They quickly received the order to open the doors of each branch warehouse.
Barley, wheat, japonica rice, highland barley, soybeans (soybeans), peas, pipe beans (Uighur beans, chickpeas), etc., all kinds of crops are available, with wheat being the most common.
Shao Shude went deep into the warehouse, grabbed a handful and looked at it. In fact, it looked like old grain.
"Your Majesty came to Guanbei to prepare for the Western Expedition." Feng Dao replied.
"This matter cannot be hidden from Feng Qing." Shao Shude smiled.
"So many cattle, sheep, horses and camels gather here, and even go to the west of Helan Mountain to graze. If I can't guess it, I can resign from my job." Feng Dao replied.
"The states in Guanbei have been in peace for too long." Shao Shude put down the wheat in his hand and said: "These old grains can be used to feed the horses. Yinchuan, Yongqing, West Envoy City, and East Envoy City mobilized more than 80,000 people
Here's a war horse, so it can be fed well and won't lose weight."
In fact, as early as ten years ago, the states in northern Guanzhou used the Yellow River water transportation to mobilize grain to the Weishui warehouse, and then transported it to Guandong. However, in the past six or seven years, due to the high level of transportation in the Mengmen Stone Channel, Mainstay and other sections of the Yellow River,
The risk of this behavior has been greatly reduced. After all, there is no shortage of food in Kanto.
Therefore, the grain collected by Guanbei Road began to be stored in various warehouses, and now it has become considerable.
This is the age of peace and prosperity. If Kansai is regarded as a country, it has been at peace for 20 or 30 years. Even though its foundation is not as good as that of Kanto, the peace and prosperity are here. In addition, disasters such as floods, droughts, and locusts are not that outrageous, and the savings are huge.
The increase is normal - I think back then, when there were no wars in vassal towns like Hezhong and Hedong for many years, the granaries were full, so that the idiot Deng Jingshan set an example and asked the sergeants to eat aged grains (Cangsu Zhihong) with him.
Corruption), don’t waste it.
"Your Majesty, I'm all ready." Feng Dao said confidently: "In this Western Expedition, horses are important, but camels are even more critical. More than 5,000 peaks have been collected from the Guanbei states, and I have also prepared a lot of hay.
, Shami and other fodder can be transported across the Hexi pastoral area, so supplying grain will not be a problem.”
Creatures like camels have a strong ability to survive in deserts and arid grasslands, and they can eat anything, including thorns and reeds that are not eaten by cattle, sheep, and horses. They are responsible for the important transportation tasks between desert oases.
It's very appropriate.
"In ten days, the Flying Bear Army will also come here for training." Shao Shude said: "The department has expanded. I was a little worried at first, but now it seems that there is no problem. Feng Qing, you have done a good job."
The Flying Bear Army originally had three thousand cavalry. Shao Shude recruited another 600 people from Guanzhong, Guanbei, Daibei, Youzhou and other palace slave tribes, expanding the scale of the armored cavalry to 3,600 cavalry.
This broke his previous idea of not expanding the Flying Bear Army. The root cause was the Western Expedition.
He was a little worried that the light cavalry of the grassland tribes were not good at fighting. At the same time, he was not sure whether the Uighurs of the various tribes had any trump cards, so he expanded the army by 20%, which was generally within the acceptable range.
"How are you guys from Lingzhou Tuan Tuan?" Shao Shude asked again.
"I tell you the truth, I am not as resistant as the Xingzhou native group." Feng Dao replied.
Shao Shude was silent.
If the Tibetan people from Qibei Grassland go south, the Tibetan soldiers from Yuanpeiquan and Kedun City will form the first line of defense. Even if they are lucky enough to pass through, they will be blocked by the Yinshan soldiers, Feng, and the soldiers from the two states.
Xiangyong, it is really difficult to reach Lingzhou.
The local warriors in Lingzhou have rarely gone into battle in recent years. Especially after the surrender of Hedong, they almost left Nanshan. Even if there are regular military training, it will gradually become a mere formality. After all, people are inert. This
It is an overall mental laxity.
It's a bit too much to be able to fight as well as the people from Hebei!
"It's very different from what I saw in Guanzhong." Shao Shude smiled bitterly and said: "The only ones who are better at fighting now are probably the local groups from Longyou and Hexi. But they also fought bad battles.
No countertop allowed.”
What is a bad war? Conquering the rebellious Tibetan people is a bad war.
Like the Hebei Tuan group, where tens of thousands of people go into battle together and serve as supplements to the regular army for field battles, this is a valuable exercise.
It's a pity that after many years of peace in the past dynasties, the military experience gained from conquering border tribes like this is so precious that the people in these places can actually be called "strong soldiers."
When did the standards for strong soldiers become so low?
But this brings about a paradox. Do you want peace? If you do, martial ethics will be reduced.
Shao Shude has recently been looking through the archives of the former Tang Dynasty.
During the Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had been a country for 1340 years, but in the Longyou area, it had successively won great victories against Tubo. The situation was very good, and the country's military force was still maintained very well.
At this time in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was already the end of Zhezong and the beginning of Huizong.
At this time in the Ming Dynasty, it was when Emperor Wu Zong came to power.
At this time, the Western Han Dynasty was in the Zhaoxuan period; the Eastern Han Dynasty was in the Huan Emperor period.
The Qing Dynasty was the late Qianlong period.
Overall, a moderate war is conducive to maintaining the country's overall military level. And not only the level of the border legions, but also the inland can be tempered to a certain extent - after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Tang Ting also recovered a military force in Hebei
Send an army of 3,000 men to Fan Yang to avoid falling into the hands of An Lushan. This army was sent from the interior to the frontier to join the army.
Although the Imperial Army of the Northern Song Dynasty was generally in disarray and almost dispersed when the Jin people approached, in the northwest, due to the existence of war, a certain scale of mountain infantry with combat literacy was maintained.
In addition, this is also beneficial to maintaining balance in the court.
"Your Majesty, in fact, the Lingzhou native group still has its foundation. If the overall situation in the north is determined, they can be transferred to Jiannan." Feng Dao suggested.
Shao Shude looked at him in surprise.
Is this Feng Dao still the official of Lingzhou? He actually rushed the local people to fight, which is quite cruel.
"I will consider everything." Shao Shude nodded and said.
Once the Western Region is pacified in the future, garrisoning troops there will become a problem. It is impossible for the imperial army to go, so these local peasants from the mainland who have some foundation can come in handy - the same goes for the soldiers of the miscellaneous army.
In the Tang Dynasty, the method of recruiting "Athletes of the Long March" was used to grant land to the local area, which was between military camps and government soldiers. The protagonist of "The Boundaries" was recruited to Jiaohe with his father when he was a boy.
The combat effectiveness of this kind of soldiers is good or not, but the Tang court's diplomacy in the Western Regions was very good, so it was maintained. The entire Western Regions actually only had 30,000 to 50,000 Tang soldiers, and sometimes even less than 20,000, which was not enough at all.
To control such a vast territory, one must rely heavily on tribal soldiers, which requires the art of governance and diplomacy.
Daxia's policy in the Western Regions can be partially borrowed from the Tang Dynasty, but it can also go further, because today's national strength is obviously greater than that of the Zhenguan period of the previous Tang Dynasty.
"Let Uncle Cong come to see me." Shao Shude ordered.