"Military envoy, fortunately you have fulfilled your duty. The money and food have been recovered." Li Yanling walked into the state office and reported to Shao Shude, who was studying the map.
"Well, put it in the treasury first. Work with Judge Chen and Guo Kongmu to co-organize it. The accounts must be clear and what is generally included. Write a copy and make it public and read it to the soldiers." Shao Shude was still studying the map and just casually gave instructions: "
Don't put it in the wrong treasury, this is the stuff of the Tielin Army, not money and food from Suizhou or Longquan County."
"As ordered." Li Yanling responded.
"Are there any shortages?" Shao Shude put down the map and asked.
"There are many shortages of pack horses and draft horses. There is no problem in being stationed in the city now. Once we go out on an expedition the next day, it would be better to prepare more mules and horses." Li Yanling said.
"Draft animals..." Shao Shude stood up, thought for a moment, and asked: "Can you ask General Pei of Yinzhou to find a solution? Yinchuan Ranch has tens of thousands of war horses every year. Where are the horses that are not suitable for use as war horses? There must be some.
.”
"Military envoy, Yinchuan Ranch still has the nod from Marshal Zhuge. He is the real envoy of Yinchuan, although usually everything is entrusted to General Pei of Yinzhou." Li Yanling said.
"I have my own opinion about Marshal Zhuge. Now I just need to persuade General Pei to find Judge Chen." Shao Shude said.
Chen Cheng's current dispatch is the Tielin Army Judge, and his official position is Suizhou Sima. Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, people generally emphasized dispatches and despised their own officials. Especially after a large number of state and county official positions were occupied by military generals and concurrent officials, generally speaking, only
A person's status can only be seen through dispatch. Chen Cheng now spends most of his time in the army, advising Shao Shude and assisting in military affairs, so Li Yanling went to the army to find Chen Cheng who was studying military science.
"Military envoy, why are you summoned?"
"Let's go to Yinzhou. The army is short of war horses, pack horses, and draft animals. There are many in Yinzhou. Go and see General Pei and ask him to borrow a thousand horses and mules and pay them back later. Let's see what he says." Shao Shude said.
said.
Xia Sui Town and the five counties of Suizhou are mainly based on agriculture, supplemented by animal husbandry, and the four counties of Yinzhou pay equal attention to both. When it comes to the three counties of Xiazhou, only the places close to the state town and the county seat have farmland and orchards, and the places far away from the state and counties have farmland and orchards.
, is mainly based on animal husbandry, which is the livelihood of Dangxiang people. In the two counties of Youzhou, it is almost all animal husbandry, and not many people know how to farm. Even places that can be reclaimed as good farmland are generally left uncultivated.
, grazing cattle and sheep in Maduo.
During the early Tang Dynasty, Hexi was an important horse breeding area for the imperial court. It is said that the number of livestock raised reached one million at its peak. Xiazhou supplemented the pastures of Hexi and raised many horses. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, a livestock infectious disease killed 18 people in Xiazhou
Ten thousand cows and horses. After Hexi and other places were captured by Tubo, the court's focus of horse breeding shifted to Xia Sui, Tiande Army, Zhenwu Army, Hedong and other places. For example, there was a government-run Yinchuan Ranch in Yinzhou, and Xia Sui Jiedushi himself also served as
Over in Fengzhou, not far from Tiande Military City, there is Yongqingzha, which is also a military horse farm. To the east of Hedong, Loufan Supervisor City, where Cui Jikang stationed troops last year, is a large pasture.
It may be difficult for the military states in the interior to raise war horses and draft animals, but in the four states of Xia Sui, it is not a big problem, and the purchase cost is very low. What is lacking here is grain, ironware, cloth, and daily necessities. To put it bluntly, productivity is low and needs
Daily necessities are imported from the outside world and basic livestock products are exported.
After Chen Cheng left, Shao Shude couldn't help but think about the development of Suizhou. Recently, he checked the files of the counties in Xia Suizhou and found that the total land cultivated so far is only 2,000 hectares, mainly concentrated in Longquan and Dabin counties.
Of course, this is an official figure, and the actual figure may be about 20% more. So based on 2,400 hectares, one hectare is 100 acres (note 1), and one kilo of millet is produced per acre. Last year, the entire state should have produced 240,000 kilo.
Grain, that is, less than 26 million catties of corn.
With such food, it would cost fifty or sixty thousand dan to feed the state soldiers, including not only rations, wages (a considerable part of military pay is food), but also training expenses. At this time, if you need to supplement meat for the sergeants, you have to buy food and
Party members exchange livestock.
To be honest, after excluding the state and county-level government expenditures for raising state soldiers, the remaining more than 100,000 dan of grain is enough to consume more than 40,000 people in the state, making them live a more prosperous life. But how is this possible?
Xiazhou needs Suizhou to provide food. There is no fixed amount every year, but tens of thousands of dan are always required at a time. In addition, there are beans, forage, firewood, cloth, silk, and some copper coins. Sometimes they have to donate
The burden of livestock is very heavy. In good years, they can barely make it. But in bad years or wars, when people have no food left, life will be really difficult.
In short, the finances at the vassal and town level are completely confusing. There is no customization of how much to collect and when to collect it. The coach can do whatever he wants, and there is no need to worry about the lives of the people.
"We still need to increase the area of cultivated land." Shao Shude understands that there are actually more than 10,000 hectares of cultivated land in Suizhou, and the current utilization rate is less than 20%. Even without digging reservoirs and ditches, the existing cultivated land area can still be used.
It continues to expand, but there is the threat of party members, so many people would rather abandon their crops than have their crops taken away when they mature after a year of hard work.
They can take advantage of the existing cultivated land to plant some short-growing fruits and vegetables, chop some firewood, and cut some fodder to cope with the reminders from above.
The Tielin Army has four thousand people, and the daily food and food gifts for the officers and soldiers alone require more than 150,000 dan per year. In addition, there are war horses and draft animals, regular training, clothing and equipment consumption, and various rewards (in the form of money and silk) during the holidays.
(for the Lord). If there is a war, the rewards will be even more incredible. It is really difficult to raise them.
Without the support of the imperial court, it would be difficult to raise 15,000 troops and horses in the four states of Xia Sui (before Zhuge and Shao came), unless you rob the party members' cattle and sheep every year. But that is not very cost-effective, and the expenses are too high
It's not better to make it bigger, after all, the reward for the big soldiers is not a small amount. If the reward is not in place, the general will have to move his head, so it is better not to fight.
It can also be seen from here that the income of sergeants in feudal towns is actually much higher than that of ordinary people. They are full-time professional soldiers who trade their lives for money. In addition to training, they also fight. They are pure war machines. These people are unruly and unruly.
Shao Shude was so tough that he did not dare to let the four thousand Tielin troops go to farm.
After the mid-Tang Dynasty, there were very few soldiers working in the fields, compared to the time when the military system of Bufu did not collapse. It was really fucked!
A new military system must be established. Shao Shude has had this idea for a long time. After personally taking charge of a state, this idea became more urgent. How to prevent the soldiers of the Tielin Army from fighting all for money? Rewards should be given when setting off, and battles should be fought.
If you want a reward, you need a reward after the war, and you have to give another reward after you return to the station. This cost is too much.
None of the officers and soldiers of the Tielin Army were natives of Xia Sui, so they might be able to think of ways to work on the land. In the 14th County of Xia Sui, there were too many idle fields abandoned due to party harassment, lack of irrigation or other reasons, and he didn't even have to go there.
This can be accomplished by mobilizing the original interest groups and directly clearing wasteland.
Well, the problem has returned to its original point: water conservancy, cattle and horses, and population. Shao Shude looked at the large and small party settlements marked on the map of the five counties of Suizhou, and his hand was already caressing the handle of the knife unconsciously.
Forget it, the time is not right now, so bear with it for a while. You can also improve it a little more, so as not to turn it into the Eight Banners system of the late Tang Dynasty. Party control? Are you kidding? Before the land equalization system of the country was destroyed, the government soldiers had many slaves or subordinates.
Qu, to put it bluntly, small landowners who need to personally participate in labor are the main source of government soldiers, and most of them are still slaves or servants. Do you want to restore this system now?
No, this is driving in the direction of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Think about it again.
On the eighth day of September, the autumn wind blew up and the flowers withered. Chen Cheng came back from Yinzhou, bringing back more than a thousand mules and horses, plus 500 cattle. He overfulfilled the task, but it also left Shao Shude with a large debt.
Favor.
"Military envoy, General Pei has said that there is no need to return these livestock. There is only one. After his death, if the Pei family is in trouble, I hope the military envoy can save his family." Chen Cheng said.
"Yes." Shao Shude agreed without thinking.
He knew what it meant. He was a arrogant and unruly general. Pei Shang could still control the overall situation when he was alive. What if he died? The four counties of Yinzhou have a population no less than that of Suizhou. I don’t know how many people are watching.
, especially Pei Shang’s generals.
But this also gave him an opportunity to reach out to Yinzhou. Pei Shang had no confidence in his son because there was no external support. What if Shao Shude supported one of his sons?
To put it shamelessly, the Tielin Army is now one of the five major aces in Xia Sui Town. Three yamen troops, plus two foreign troops, basically walk sideways in the town. Even Tuoba Sigong of Youzhou
, you have to think carefully when facing them, you may not necessarily lose, but if you win, you will probably lose too many troops.
Why did Pei Shang want to marry his daughter to Shao Shude in the first place? Was it because he was interested in the military power in his hands? Poor parents in the world, for the sake of several useless sons, Old General Pei was really worried.
"Mr. Chen, thank you for your hard work. Let's rest at home for a few days. Later, I have to go to Xiazhou for Shao to see Marshal Zhuge. Well, Shao wants to ask him to be a matchmaker for me."
Note 1: Volume 3 of "Tang Liu Dian" "Hubu Shangshu" records: "Every acre in the world, five feet is a step, two hundred and forty steps are an acre, and a hundred acres are an hectare". Search "Tang Dynasty One hectare" on Baidu,