Chapter 589 Liangzhou - The Magical Chengtian Mansion
In the early morning, Zhang Zhao rubbed his groggy eyes and forced himself to get up.
To be honest, at this moment, he envied those foolish and mediocre kings in history. He wanted to know how they could sit in this position and still have time for debauchery every day.
Anyway, I, Saint Zhang, have never been able to relax for a few days since I sat on the throne in Qianyuan Palace.
No, Li Gu from Chuzhou sent a report that his land equalization work in Chuzhou had been basically completed. Chuzhou was full of joy, and the people who had won the land strongly supported Zhou's rule in Chuzhou.
This was not the case in Haozhou and Sizhou. Although they were ceded to the Zhou State, the local wealthy families, instigated by the Liu family of Shouzhou, continued to make troubles.
At the beginning, in order to calm people's hearts, Zhao Cunyi, the inspection and disposal commander of Haosi Prefecture, only brought a thousand people to take office.
I thought that the local tycoons in these places would be wise, but I didn't expect that they would not give them any face at all!
They regarded Zhao Cunyi's show of kindness as a sign of weakness.
Li Gu, who had completed the land equalization in Chuzhou, was attacked on the Bian River outside Songzhou City on his way back to Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo to report on his work.
After the attackers approached disguised as traders, they suddenly launched a surprise attack. Although Li Gu himself was fine, four guards were killed.
Moreover, the attacker's time was very accurate. They were stuck in the gap when the team was about to enter Songzhou City, the Wuning Army sent by Ma Shacai had just left and returned to Xuzhou, and the Songzhou Returned German Army had not yet arrived.
With such accurate timing, it is difficult to say that there were no internal agents in the state and county management and the two town tooth soldiers.
This incident also made Zhang Zhao extremely vigilant, because he could roughly guess why Li Gu was attacked.
Because a rumor has spread widely in the Central Plains recently, saying that Zhang Zhao is planning to give all the upper fields in the Central Plains to the family members of the personal guards and imperial guards from Hexi.
Moreover, 300,000 people from Hexi will move to the Central Plains in the future. At that time, they will be asked to wait for the land in the Central Plains to be completed before it is the turn of the Central Plains people.
Well, it seems that there is nothing wrong with this rumor, and even in the eyes of ordinary people, it is very normal to do so.
Besides, people in the Central Plains can also share their land. Now that the Central Plains is vast and sparsely populated, what's the rush?
But this is not actually the case. Although the Central Plains has a small population, its population is highly concentrated, and almost all of it is under the control of rural local tyrants.
They built Wubao, occupied fertile land, and organized private soldiers. They often used two or three big surnames mixed with other minor surnames, ranging from hundreds to thousands of people, and lived in Wubao.
The other people who were not protected by Wubao basically died due to the unlimited exploitation by the officials of the later Jin Dynasty and the deprivation of grass by the Khitan people.
The situation that Zhang Zhao is facing now is that when his officials go beyond the area of a few miles around the county seat, their words are not very effective.
The countryside is inhabited by the Wubao family. Even in Gyeonggi areas such as Yongqiu (Qixian) and Weishi, which are close to Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo, the number of "wild" people only accounts for less than 20% of the county's population.
As for fertile farmland, it is a precious object that needs constant maintenance. Most of it exists in the hands of the Wubao clan. The remaining large amounts of wasteland are shared among the fields, which makes little sense.
Therefore, this rumor is very lethal. The implicit meaning is that Zhang Zhao wants to drive out the Wubao clan in the countryside, give their mature fields to his trusted Hexi soldiers, and then let them cultivate the wasteland.
If this is the case, it is actually driving the people of the Central Plains to death.
This is probably why they were extremely afraid of Zhang Zhao's implementation of land equalization and attacked Li Gu.
However, the local wealthy family alone should not have such great courage and energy to influence the two town armies. There must be someone behind it.
But for Zhang Zhao, it doesn't matter who is pushing it, but should he take the opportunity to clean up the local wealthy families in the Central Plains?
Break their forts, distribute their production tools equally, liberate the people from their forts, and select agricultural doctors to go to various places to ensure productivity, just like in Hexi.
While he was thinking about it, Zhang Cheng, the right commander of the Hanshandu Infantry Army and the general of the Xuanwu Gate, Zhang Cheng, who was in charge of guarding the palace today, suddenly came to see him.
Zhang Chengcheng is Zhang Xiaobao's elder brother, originally named Zhang Xiaobiao. The father of these two brothers, Zhang Jiadalang, was originally a hunter, so he named his sons after ferocious beasts.
After Zhang Xiaobiao became rich, he felt that this name was too unpleasant. However, the name was given by his father and he did not dare to change it. It was Zhang Zhao who solved the problem and gave him the character "成".
After Zhang Cheng arrived, Zhang Liecheng came soon after, and both of them talked about one thing, that is, Zhang Xiaobao wanted to go to Shu and lurk in the Meng Shu army.
Zhang Zhao waved his hand for the two of them to sit down, while he slowly began to think.
Zhang Xiaobao's plan should be very useful, because conquering Shu has always been a one-shot deal.
This is determined by the terrain in central Sichuan. Although the defender has nowhere to hide, the attacker actually has no retreat.
If you can't defeat them, given the terrain in central Sichuan, even if you can retreat, you will die in the enemy's pursuit in the high mountains.
Therefore, when attacking the Southern Tang Dynasty, you can slowly grind it out. One day, you will capture a city, and tomorrow you will kill more than 10,000 of its elite soldiers. If you repeat this three or four times, you will basically lose the ability to resist.
But to defeat Meng Shu, we must complete our efforts in one battle and attack Chengdu directly in one go.
Moreover, the terrain in central Sichuan is surrounded by natural dangers, but the essence in the middle is undefendable. As long as the natural dangers are broken through, the problem will not be big.
At this time, if there is one of your own in the Meng-Shu army, he does not need much influence. As long as he can release water in certain passes, Shu will be stable.
However, Zhang Zhao did not make a decision immediately, but asked Zhang Cheng.
"Does your father know? My brother's trip is not without danger. Besides, he has already shed blood for the imperial court, so he should be able to go somewhere and enjoy wealth."
Zhang Cheng raised his hand and said, "All saints work hard at night to benefit all people. My brother is only twenty-one, how can he enjoy wealth and honor?
When he wrote to the minister, he had already said that my family was originally a shepherd slave, and now we are so rich. In order to repay the kindness of the saint, he decided to go to Shu. My father also wrote back from Xiangzhou, fully agreeing."
Zhang Zhao nodded solemnly. There was no problem with the loyalty of the Zhang family, including Liu Gubei's Momo, who was in a similar situation to them.
Without Zhang Zhao, they would almost all be slaves at the lowest level. In a generation or two, they would even forget their ancestral surnames. In addition, they generally believe in Buddhism, and they would really treat Zhang Zhao as a god.
"Wang Jin of the Hundred Households of the Guanzhong Division of the Jinyi Guards also submitted a secret letter." Zhang Liecheng immediately handed over the secret report of the Jinyi Guards.
Zhang Zhao opened it and saw that it contained three parts. One part was a secret report from Zhao Erlang of Qianhu, Liangchuan Division.
The content is a comprehensive analysis of Li Hao, Li Xiaofeng and their son's status, interpersonal relationships, daily preferences and behavior style in Meng Shu.
The other part is the personal report of Wang Jin, a hundred households in the Guanzhong Division. Based on his contact with Li Xiaofeng, he analyzed Li Xiaofeng's temperament, preferences, etc.
Behind the two reports is a summary by deputy commander Zhang Lieming.
After analysis by experts in instigating rebellion and detecting adultery within the Jinyi Guards, the conclusion is that his father Li Hao was extravagant and paid special attention to family status. He was often proud of his great-grandfather Li Shen. Although he was talented and learned, he was not strong-willed.
However, if he were asked to take the initiative to betray Meng Chang, he would not do it, but if it was a done deal, he would not have the courage to resist Zhou.
Regarding Li Xiaofeng, who was on this mission, the evaluation was that his ability was mediocre, but he still knew loyalty, filial piety and justice.
However, due to the influence of my grandmother, father and family background, I actually only regarded Meng Shu as a separatist regime in my heart.
Like his father, he yearned for a unified dynasty and the glory of his fifth generation ancestor Li Shen as the prime minister of the dynasty.
Another point worth noting is that Li Xiaofeng's qualifications were mediocre, and after he got into his position, he never made any progress.
On the contrary, his fifteen-year-old brother Li Xiaolian was extremely outstanding, beautiful and talented, and was liked by his father Li Hao. Even Meng Chang, the Lord of Shu, liked Li Xiaolian very much and often said that he would choose him as his son-in-law.
The outstanding performance of his younger brother puts great pressure on Li Xiaofeng, the eldest son, who wants to do something to impress his father.
Seeing this, Zhang Zhao chuckled. When a person with mediocre qualifications is unwilling to do nothing but wants to do something, the opportunity comes to take advantage of the loopholes.
This is like engaging in MLM and micro-business. People who have recognized their own abilities cannot be deceived by them. Smart people will not be fooled by them either.
Only those who look smart but actually have mediocre qualifications and are unwilling to remain mediocre for a lifetime are their targets.
Moreover, being a corporal of courtesy and virtue and making full use of the charisma of the Great Unification and the Central Plains Dynasty are Zhang Shengren’s strengths!
But now there is one last question left, which is whether Li Xiaofeng's uncle Li Dalang and aunt Li Han are willing to cooperate, and are they reliable?
Zhang Liecheng looked at Zhang Zhao, murmuring a little, wanting to say something, but seemed to dare not.
Zhang Zhao glared at him fiercely, and then asked coldly: "You don't want to say bad things about Liu Zaisheng to me, do you?"
Zhang Liecheng shook his head quickly and said with a smile: "I still know everyone's character, so I don't dare to think of slander.
I just feel that Lord Hotan has been a little too merciless this time, and the hundreds of households I sent there are still being beaten so hard that they can’t even get out of bed."
Zhang Zhao snorted coldly. The Jinyi guards had actually received Wang Jin's report a long time ago. Zhang Liecheng made the report more perfect and directly sent a hundred households to the military camp in Zhangwu Town, Xiangzhou to investigate.
Li Dalang.
As a result, he was caught by Shannan East Road Jiedushi, Zhangwu Town Commander-in-Chief, and Hotan County Duke Liu Zaisheng, and was beaten by the Military Justice Department with a military stick before being sent back to Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo.
It's possible that Zhang Liecheng's thinking was too simple, but it's more likely that it was a test by this kid.
The Jinyi Guards had always wanted to set up a Guards Operation Department in the army. This time, they probably wanted to take the opportunity to see the opinions of the guards commanders and the general soldiers of each town, so Liu Zaisheng gave him a harsh blow.
Zhang Zhao was actually somewhat supportive of Zhang Liecheng's idea, but after recalling it, he immediately put an end to the idea.
Because the captain of the transportation brigade, the Eleventh Marshal Chang Gong, had already set a very eye-catching example. He made Zhang Zhao clearly see the consequences of setting up a secret service in the army.
"When I first arrived at the residence of my uncle, the Emperor, Liu Zaisheng was the commander of the palace guards. In terms of seniority, he was your senior, and in terms of seniority, he was your uncle's generation.
If you send people to the army without saying hello, you are already giving face. If he encounters Zhangye County's stallion Shacai, he dares to directly act according to military law.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. www. Android and Apple are available.]
The focus of the Jinyi personal guards should be on Taiyuan, Youzhou and even the Khitan grassland.
Many wealthy families in the Central Plains also need to be monitored. For example, the attack on Li Gu this time is an important target for the next investigation by the Jinyi Guards."
Zhang Liecheng sighed and quickly accepted the order. He didn't dare to say anything on his face, but he was filled with regret in his heart.
Zhang Zhao also sighed in his heart. Whenever a powerful and violent department is born, there will be countless vested interests, pushing this powerful department to continuously seize greater rights.
Zhang Liecheng may not realize it, or he may be enjoying it, but Zhang Zhao, as the founder and controller of this country, must regulate their behavior.
Not long after Zhang Liecheng left, Guo Tiance came in. After Liu Zaisheng drove away the Jinyi guards who entered the military camp, he sent a secret message to Zhang Zhao telling the story and admitting his mistakes. He was very careful about the situation.
It not only repelled the possible interference of the Jinyi guards on the army, but also controlled the matter to a very small scale.
After Zhang Zhao considered it again and again, he chose to ask Liu Zaisheng to submit the document to the Privy Council in the form of an official document.
We must give the world an impression that he, Zhang Zhao, does not agree with the Jinyi guards joining the army.
However, for Li Dalang of Zhangwu Town to cooperate with the court, this matter must be handled professionally by the Jinyi guards.
So now the only way is to let the Privy Council secretly write a letter to the Jinyi Guards and transfer the matter of Li Dalang to the Jinyi Guards. Guo Tiance came here for this matter.
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When Zhang Zhao began to carefully plan for Zhang Xiaobao's idea, Zhang Xiaobao did not expect how big a stir his proposal would cause, because he was in a huge shock.
When Zhang Xiaobao recalled it now, Lanzhou looked like what he was familiar with, with streets intersecting, cattle and sheep blocking the roads, young men riding strong horses and drawing strong bows, waiting for the emperor's call at any time, not asking whether the enemy was strong, but only asking where the enemy was.
Zhang Xiaobao thought that Liangzhou must be the same, but the actual situation almost blinded him.
Because the people and officials of Liangzhou, in addition to possessing the characteristics of Lanzhou people, also have some refined qualities.
And this kind of elegance is not the kind of elegance that emanates from the bones, but a kind of elegance that is stronger than their own physical strength.
It feels like a butcher holding a butcher knife is killing pigs and sheep, but what comes out of his mouth is Zhihu.
It is extremely inconsistent with the character of Liangzhou people.
As the first batch of pro-army and imperial soldiers to return to Liangzhou, Zhang Xiaobao and the others received a grand welcome.
Zhang Huaiqing, who stayed behind in Xijing, even came forward in person and organized a banquet to welcome them.
This banquet was different from the Hexi-style, bold and uninhibited banquet organized by Jia Yanchang, the governor of Lanzhou.
Everyone was actually wearing Taoist robes and net scarves on their heads, looking like scholars.
The banquet was also a little less brave and heroic, and a little more specious and elegant.
Rather than being elegant scholars, they are more like a pack of wolves in sheep's clothing.
The most important entertainment activity during the dinner was actually writing poetry!
For example, Zhang Huaiqing, who stayed behind in Xijing, composed a poem: "The bright moon shines in the sky, and the beauties on the ground arrive. If there are dark clouds, who knows whether they are pretty or not?"
Uh...! How do you say it? It rhymes!
After Zhang Huaiqing finished composing the poem, everyone looked at Zhang Xiaobao.
Zhang Xiaobao pointed to his nose in horror, "You don't want me to compose poems, right?"
"Don't you know how? You've been in the Central Plains for so long, including Chang'an and Luoyang. Don't you know how to compose poetry? Are you not tainted with any literary talent?"
An old man from the Yin family asked Zhang Xiaobao with his nose raised and his eyes raised.
Zhang Xiaobao was stunned for a moment and carefully recalled what he had done in the Central Plains.
It seems that I have killed a lot of people, received a lot of rewards, and been promoted to a higher rank, but I have never learned to write poetry!
When the old man from the Yin family saw Zhang Xiaobao's speechless expression, he immediately started to tremble.
However, this angered Zhang Xiaobao's cousin. This old man who had been a herdsman all his life but suddenly became rich had two negative traits.
The first is to never allow anyone to say anything bad about Zhang Zhao.
The second nature is to be very protective of the next generation of descendants who joined the army to kill the enemy and supported the entire Zhang family.
Seeing the expression of the old man from the Yin family, Old Man Zhang exploded. He jumped out all of a sudden, and with his hands like sticks, he smashed directly into the chest of the old man from the Yin family.
The old man from the Yin family was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground immediately, but he got up immediately and the two of them fought in the banquet hall.
The people around him had long been impatient to pretend to be polite. Except for Zhang Huaiqing who shouted, "It's an insult to politeness, it's an insult to politeness!" In order to maintain the feeling of being a civilized person, everyone started to boo.
Zhang Xiaobao was outside the crowd and watched them making a fuss in the banquet hall. In the end, the old man from the Yin family and the old man from the Zhang family found two sets of armor stomachs from nowhere.
The two men were wearing cowhide armor, holding a black-painted wooden stick in one hand and a shield in the other, and they actually started fighting in the banquet hall while fully armed.
If Zhang Zhao were here, he would definitely open his mouth and shout in an extremely familiar manner, 'Isn't this just full armor fighting?'
finally!
Zhang Xiaobao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. After the two elders got into a fight, he finally felt that the temperament belonging to Liangzhou was back.
He finally felt relieved, Liangzhou seemed to be the same Liangzhou.
So the banquet that day ended with all kinds of fighting and fun. Zhang Xiaobao didn't even know when he would go home because he was already so drunk.
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The chirping of birds in the early morning woke Zhang Xiaobao up again, but this time there was no soft and hot body around him, only a few half-year-old nephews banging on his door outside.
It turns out that today is the day that Zhang Xiaobao made an appointment with them to go back to Baima Village together.
After simply washing up and eating two cakes, Zhang Xiaobao was urged by his nephews to ride out of Liangzhou City. It seemed that they didn't like the weirdness of Liangzhou City.
After leaving the city that was full of strange Zhihu people and camouflaged by robes, Zhang Xiaobao could clearly feel that as soon as he left Liangzhou City, the city had undergone greater changes than before he left.
There seemed to be more merchants traveling from west to east. People of all kinds had broken through Liangzhou's city wall and formed a large gathering area outside the city close to the city wall.
Due to the prosperity of Liangzhou City, Liangzhou's agricultural products can always be sold at a good price, so in the countryside, the equalized fields of the soldiers are extremely valuable.
However, one problem is that at least 30% to 40% of the land here is not well cultivated and cultivated.
With such an advantage, there is still land that has not been carefully cultivated, which can only mean one problem.
The prime-age labor force remaining around Liangzhou, or the Yi Cong of Liangzhou whom the sage regarded as his confidants, has been lost in recent times.
In fact, this can be seen from Zhang Xiaobao's family. Originally, their family, including their father, elder brother, one younger brother, mother, sister-in-law, etc., had an average land area of 1,700 acres.
But how many people in their family are taking care of these fields now?
The answer is that there is no one. My elder brother is already the Yuhou of the right capital of the infantry in Shandu, and my father is a battalion commander in Wuwei Town.
The seventeen-year-old younger brother Yunwen Yunwu has already been admitted to the Longtao Academy newly established by the sage, and also passed last year's Ming Jing Ke examination.
It is said that the saint admired him very much and intended to promote him to serve as a Hanlin bachelor.
So now, their family can't even afford a man to farm, and with their current status and the wealth they've received, they can't afford it.
The more than 1,700 acres of land in Liangzhou, which is more than 3,000 miles away, is really a bit useless.
So when Zhang Xiaobao came back this time, he actually had one more thing to do, which was to find a way to see if he could lease out the 1,700 acres of equal land that could not be transferred.
I don’t expect much annual output, but if I can earn tens of thousands more, that’s not bad.
However, when they arrived at Xiabaima Village, Zhang Xiaobao quickly discovered that this idea was simply not feasible.
Because Xiabaima Village, which originally had a population of hundreds of men, now only has about thirty men left.
Among them, there are at least ten people who retired from the army due to injuries. Because of their disabilities, they cannot farm much land.
Each of the remaining people has at least four to five hundred acres of land. After they have finished their own work, they really cannot afford to rent other land.
Moreover, Zhang Xiaobao knew that if the war in the Central Plains became urgent again and the Saint wanted to mobilize troops from Hexi, it is estimated that many of the remaining twenty or so people would be mobilized as righteous cavalry or unity archers.
This was something Zhang Xiaobao had never thought about before. He stood at the gate of this familiar yet unfamiliar Xiabaima Village and thought about it for a long time.
It is impossible to imagine that the land that was originally regarded as a treasure would actually lose its value in Liangzhou.