After leaving Chang'an, Huang Tao and his party continued eastward, and it was already the sixth day of July when they arrived in Huazhou.
"Captain Wang, is it dangerous to go east? Why do we need to be escorted by the Zhenguo Army?" Huang Tao asked outside Pude Station.
"Team Wang's leader" is Wang Jiao. He has just finished resting in Huazhou. This time he accepted the mission again and took Huang Tao and his party to Shaanzhou to meet Li Fan, deputy envoy of Jiedu, as his new official. Of course, he had to report to his immediate superior first.
"Huang Shijun, I am no longer a member of the Zhenguo Army. Fifty people from our team have been incorporated into the Baoyi Army to make up for the battle damage. The eastward journey is a military order." Wang Jiao replied.
Naturally, more than these fifty people were incorporated into the Baoyi Army. In fact, there were as many as three thousand people.
These three thousand people were organized into a capital, with the veterans and junior officers of the Tianzhu Army as the backbone, supplemented by the Zhenguo soldiers, and led by Wang Jianji, the tenth general of the Tianzhu Army. He is now also the left wing military envoy of the Baoyi Army, Zheng'er
A senior military officer in the vassal town of Bajing.:.
Marshal Shao is particular about people and likes to put on show. Li Fan will not take off his title of Jiedushi in the short term, nor will he be allowed to move the town, so let's start with cannibalization.
In the past few months, the fighting in Hezhong has been fierce. The three battlefields of Yuanxian, Huoyi, and Fenshui started fighting at the same time. The Heluo side went on the defensive as a whole, but this does not mean that the war has completely ceased.
In fact, the Baoyi Army, the Heyuan Army, the Jishi Army, and the Shunyi Army took turns to attack Mianchi and Shuangqiao. The casualties were considerable, especially for the Baoyi Army.
Li Tangbin was also a ruthless man. He estimated that the Shaanxi and Guo sergeants had almost reached their limit and that they might mutiny if they were forced to do anything else, so he asked them to withdraw and rest. However, the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses who were fully equipped when they went out for the expedition had been reduced since last year.
As of this year, there are less than 8,000.
Li Fan wanted to regain his strength, but found that he had no money to recruit troops because Shao Shude pressed hard and kept asking for money and food, which actually emptied the Shaanxi and Guo government treasury.
Now he finally realized what Zhang Quanyi felt back then. Li Hanzhi came to him every three days to ask for money, and if he didn't give it, he would hang up the officials of the Henan Prefecture and beat him. Zhang Quanyi couldn't bear it anymore, and finally stabbed his brother in the back and took refuge with Zhu Quanzhong.
Did Li Fan dare to stab Shao Shude in the back and join Zhu Quanzhong? He didn't dare! Because their territories were not bordering each other, and there were tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under the command of Li Tangbin, the Heluo military envoy, in the east of Shaanxi and Guozhou, and there were a large number of Shuofang soldiers who had retired to rest in the territory.
The army and the Qiang and Hu tribesmen.
To the west are the national troops of Tongguan Town and Shao Shude's "loyal dog" Wang Bian, and to the north are Shao Shude's vassal Hezhong Jiedushi Wang Yao.
How to rebel? Could it be possible to become a bandit by entering Xiong'er Mountain and become a bandit?
After thinking about it, Li Fan took a step back and decided to take it easy for a while. Maybe this year, after Shao Shude got Hezhong, he would search for Wang Yao instead of looking at Shaanzhou for money? Save some money and raise two or three more
Qianbing, his strength slowly recovered.
But Marshal Shao was too particular. He knew that the Baoyi Army suffered heavy losses due to continuous campaigns, so he directly replenished him with 3,000 troops. This is Wang Jianji's army, which is supported by Shaanxi and Guo.
Is Li Fan moved?
"Since there is a military order, let's go." Huang Tao nodded and said.
"Please wait a moment, we are going eastward with our children," Wang Jiao said again.
"wife and children?"
"The sources of the Zhenguo army are complex. They include state soldiers, Qiang people recruited from Cheng, Jie, He, Wei and other states, as well as surrendered soldiers. There are not many small families. There are fifty people in our team, and only nine of them are married.
They're all over there." Wang Jiao pointed to a group of people cooking not far away and said.
Huang Tao looked over.
I saw dozens of men and women sitting around on the grass, cooking something in clay pots.
The children were holding fruits in their hands and playing around while eating.
"Why don't we see livestock?" Huang Tao saw various simple household items piled together, but no livestock. This is strange. The territory under Marshal Shao may not produce as much grain as the Central Plains, but every household has livestock.
.
"I usually live next to Tongguan and don't farm, so I don't have any livestock." Wang Jiao explained.
Chengbang! Huang Tao quickly thought of a word.
"There are Korean and Qiang soldiers in the six states of Qin, Cheng, Min, Wei, He and Lan." Huang Tao is familiar with all kinds of books, and of course he knows this sentence recorded in the "Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty".
After Goryeo was destroyed, many people were moved to the interior, including Longyou. The Tibetan people fought for the Tang Dynasty and received rewards, so their families lived under the city and built a house. Some continued to herd and farm, but most of them
Living on rewards has broken away from agricultural life.
These children from the city have strong martial arts and are hard to control, but if they are recruited into the army and let them get used to and adapt to the rules of the army, after a few years of training, they will become good soldiers, because they all have a certain foundation.
As the saying goes, "I grew up near a border town, and was a bowman and horseman by trade; as a young man with courage, I hunted alone under the Yin Mountains; I met the Xiongnu by chance, and once captured the eagle shooter..."
The sons of Chengbang were a major source of soldiers in Anlu Mountain. Huang Tao had mixed feelings about this.
Purely recruiting soldiers, he and his family no longer farm and herd cattle, and rely entirely on the money they get from the army to support their whole family.
谷/span> "Why not buy some land?" Huang Tao asked.
"How can there be any land in Huazhou?" Wang Jiao shook his head: "There are too many people here, and the local people don't have much land. How much can be given to outsiders? The Heyuan Army and the Jishi Army are in Huazhou.
Wang Bian of Huazhou killed many people, but most of the sergeants still had no land in their homes. I heard a person who surrendered from Bianzhou said that the same was true in Henan. The sergeants could not buy land next to Bianzhou, so they simply did not
Bought."
Huang Tao understood.
Nowadays, the commanders of various towns are eager to keep all the troops by their side, for fear of being dragged away to rebel. Even if they must set up troops outside the towns, they are reluctant to do so.
But why are there so many places nearby?
Most of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers under Marshal Shao used to make their homes in Lingzhou. But Huaiyuan County is so big, how can it be possible for everyone to have land, even if they have money, they can't buy it. And to places farther away
, maybe you can buy it, but what’s the point? Collecting rent is extremely troublesome, so I simply don’t buy it.
It is absolutely impossible to let the commanders disperse their troops to various places. They are afraid that they will be rebelled and the whole family will be killed. So they can only gather them as close as possible, and the shogunate spends money to support them.
According to the current trend, if Marshal Shao conquers the world in the future, there will be 500,000 troops in the country, and at least half of them will be stationed inside and outside the capital. Most of these people are destined to be military recruits who do not even have to work for their families.
The dozens of young people in the city in front of me are the epitome of the future.
"Old soldiers in the army say that the two armies of Tielin and Wuwei have the most land now." Wang Jiao walked over and had a conversation with the group of people, then came back and said: "The soldiers of these two armies are going to Huaiyuan.
I went there early, and many people bought land for their families or relatives to farm. But there were very few others, and it was even less likely for the newly formed Zhenguo Army. But it was okay, let the people who moved there
No matter where, it will be fine as soon as the house is sold. Or maybe you don’t want the house, haha, it’s too shabby, you can build a new one in your new home for just a few bucks.”
Huang Tao also laughed when he heard this and said: "This saves a lot of trouble. If the commander is stationed in the river permanently and lets the soldiers move there, it will save a lot of trouble."
Of course, Huang Tao knew that this matter was not that simple. Lingzhou is now a bit prosperous. Although it is not as good as Chang'an, Bianzhou, Weizhou, Jinyang and other big cities, it is not comparable to ordinary state capitals. The soldiers are sure
There will be emotions. What’s more, after all, someone bought the land and someone spent a lot of money on the house, so it’s still very tricky to deal with.
Moreover, such an army has no worries and is also very dangerous. They are loyal to the commander now, but do they still have that loyalty to the commander's son?
Huang Tao thought for a long time outside the inn, but felt that he had no solution. He didn't wake up until Wang Jiao came over and told him that he could go on his way.
The boy next to the city looked at him curiously.
Their clothes are not bad and their faces are rosy. They are obviously not the kind of poor children who don't have enough to eat or wear warm clothes. When they are playing games, they are eating fruits. Their family does not farm, so this
It can only be bought, so we can get a glimpse of its living conditions.
"You are a very naughty man, do you know Marshal Shao?" Huang Tao was idle on the road, so he grabbed a young man and started chatting with him.
Why do you say he is naughty?
Huang Tao and his party brought a lot of spare horses, the kind without saddles. The young man found a saddle from nowhere, caught up with a trotting horse, put on the saddle and started riding, which made people stunned.
.
After being caught by Wang Jiao, he boasted boldly, saying that he would take the saddle to fight the Bian bandits, shoot them to death with one arrow, and then steal the horses.
"You old man, are you kidding me?" The young man glanced sideways at him and said, "Who in Weizhou doesn't know Shao Sheng?"
The young man's words made it difficult for Huang Tao to accept.
He had been an official in Helong for several years and knew some local conditions. Qinzhou was okay, but it was different further west. Just like when people in Hebei only knew the two saints of Anshi, the Tibetan and Han people in those places were very ignorant.
Zhi Lingzhou Shao Sheng. But a country boy can say that, but he can't.
"Since you know Marshal Shao Shao, I have something to say." Huang Tao was almost led astray by the young man and said the word "Shao Sheng", only to hear him say: "The Marshal is the most important person to follow the rules. He can rob other people's horses at will.
But you have to be locked up before the military judicial officer for conviction."
"It's just for fun, you old man is too stingy." The young man's face changed and he muttered: "Since the saint said so, I will just stop doing it in the future."
"Children can be taught." Huang Tao smiled and said, "When you grow up, you can join the army and buy a horse for yourself after receiving the reward. Isn't it better than robbing someone else's?"
"You can't rob Bian thieves?" When the young man heard the word "to surrender to the army", he immediately became interested and asked: "Who is the saint of Bian thieves?"
"This..." Huang Tao was silent for a moment and then said: "Bianzhou is the rightful place for Zhu Quanzhong, the king of Dongping County."
"Then go and rob the Bian thief." The young man took out a knife like a magic trick and said, "I only have a saddle now and no horse. When I kill a Bian thief, I will have a horse, and then I will kill Zhu Quanzhong."
Shao Sheng is very happy. Maybe he will reward me with a hundred slaves of Bian thieves, and then I will be a noble person. I heard from my mother that my ancestor is a descendant of Gao Xianzhi, and he is also a noble person."
Huang Tao laughed and said, "Then you have to practice martial arts diligently."
There were people chatting with me along the way, so I wasn't lonely at all.
On July 17, a group of people arrived in Shaanzhou. Wang Jiao completed his mission, and then left with 49 sergeants and men and women around the city, and went to the Xujin garrison to report to the military envoy Wang Jianji. We will provide you with the fastest