The Lanzhou War in Song Xia affected the entire Xihe Road.
Although Zhang Yue left Xihe Road, he still led the implementation of two major policies.
One is to introduce the cotton and textile industry, encourage the people on Xihe Road to grow cotton, and implement a unified marketing and purchasing policy, and at the same time establish the largest cotton textile industry in Qinzhou.
The other is to monopolize the entire salt wells and mines on Xihe Road and take them back from local tyrants.
Among the two Chengs, Cheng Hao was an official. He was different from his younger brother Cheng Yi. He had a good knowledge of managing the world and applying it.
In terms of dealing with people, Cheng Hao is also more flexible than Cheng Yi.
Although Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties is said to be the second generation in history, it was actually passed down from the lineage of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. If Cheng Hao had lived longer, there might have been more practical parts of Neo-Confucianism than in later generations.
Er Cheng founded the Luo School. When Cheng Hao was lecturing in Songshan Mountain, he highly praised Zhang Yue's governance of Xihe Road, comparing it to Zhuge Liang's governance of Shu in history.
Among them, the unified sale and purchase of cotton was implemented, just like when Zhuge Liang was governing Shu, he implemented unified sales and purchase of Shu Brocade, the hard currency of the Shu Kingdom.
As for the monopoly on salt and iron, it is like Zhuge Liang setting up Si Jin Zhonglang and Si Yan Xiaowei to take back the mining and salt industry for national use as military expenses for the Northern Expedition.
But there are differences.
Zhang Yue implemented unified purchasing and marketing of cotton and grain in the entire Xihe Road. After the government purchased it, it was placed on the Exchange for futures trading.
The imperial court made profits from the price difference between common people and merchants.
As for the "beji cloth" spun from cotton, Zhang Yue did not support the government.
With the mines and salt wells in the hands of the Xihe Road tribe, Zhang Yue implemented a three-for-one, seven-for-one policy, with the court providing funds, technology, and labor. However, the local wealthy families did not have to do anything, and they made more profits in a year than they did themselves.
Although Xihe Road still requires an annual subsidy of nearly two million guan from the court, the common people, Tibetan leaders, and Han people are content with it.
Although the common people said that most of the profits from Tianli Cotton were taken away by the court.
But from ancient times to the present, the people's demand for stable income has been overwhelming. Let most people choose, it is definitely better to have a stable harvest despite droughts and floods than to have a dry year and a lean year.
The court also used this to prevent merchants from being exploited when collecting grain and cotton.
Textile merchants purchased seed cotton from the Exchange, thus eliminating the disadvantages of purchasing directly from the imperial court.
The exchange must review the purchased grain and cotton and set standards for the quality of the cotton. If the quality of the cotton is not good or particularly good, premiums and discounts will be made during actual delivery.
Otherwise, the merchant has the right not to accept it.
The profit of the Exchange lies in the handling fees for futures trading and futures delivery, so the quality of futures must be strictly scrutinized.
This is a perfect way to integrate the state-owned economy and the market economy.
Monopolizing the means of production in cotton, mines, and salt wells not only facilitated the people, but also controlled businessmen. Not imposing government control on bejib was also a return for investment risk funds.
The difficulty of growing cotton is different from that of producing a piece of beji cloth. The latter requires a lot of capital investment and control of production details.
When the textile industry first emerged, there were hundreds of cotton textile companies in Qinzhou and even the entire Shaanxi Province. After five years, more than 50 companies had gone bankrupt.
In addition to the residual value, the risk factor of the businessman must also be taken into account.
During this period, Zhang Yue was able to fully finance Xihe Road by himself without requiring more than two million guan from the imperial court every year. However, Zhang Yue repeatedly demanded profits from the officials, and at the same time, the old party's Xihe Road
The criticisms of laborious work and waste were ignored.
Zhang Yue even issued new shares to raise money from the private sector to fund the Xihe Road military.
There is a saying that goes well: businessmen only make limited profits, and huge profits cannot last long.
Everything has its own disadvantages and advantages, and it is easy to fall into emptiness if you indulge in it.
Only if it is governed by Tao, any technique will be meaningful under Tao.
Precisely because some money would cause big problems in the future, Zhang Yuening was under pressure to ask the court to provide money, and also to distribute the money earned to the localities and people.
In the first year of Xining, when Wang Shao established the Tongyuan Army, there were only a few thousand Han troops and more than 10,000 Shubo households. By the second year of Yuanfeng, there were more than 100,000 Han households in Xihe Road, and 30 Shubo households had been registered.
There are tens of thousands of households, and there are nearly a million households scattered in the valley.
After hearing about it, even Wen Yanbo commented that "Xihe Road has been greatly improved".
The outcome of a battle often depends on the support of the local people.
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When Li Xian and Wang Hou led more than 30,000 soldiers and horses from Xihe Road to the niche valley, they saw Liang Yimi's so-called 800,000 troops besieging the city, but they were helpless.
They sent a small school to take a boat to the upper reaches of the Yellow River to check the military situation in Lanzhou. They saw that Lanzhou was surrounded and the Xixia army was attacking day and night. The other party only took a look at it from a distance, and was so frightened that he quickly came back to report the news.
Li Xian and Wang Hou looked at each other. The party's troops could not only besiege the city, but also provide reinforcements. Will the battle of Mingsha City be repeated under Lanzhou City?
The two of them waited anxiously for the fifth day.
Zhao Sizhong (Mu Zheng) and Bao Shun (Yu Longke) have arrived with Tibetan soldiers for reinforcements.
Li Xian and Wang Hou were overjoyed and rushed to the top of the mountain to take a look, but they saw soldiers and horses all over the mountain, approaching from all directions.
Among them were familiar Tibetan archers with spears and bows and tattoos on their faces, as well as naked raw and Tibetan tribesmen on horseback. The raw and Tibetan soldiers were mixed, but there were a lot of them.
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Li Xian and Wang Hou were surprised and happy, so they went down the mountain to greet them.
Wang Hou followed Wang Shao in the military expedition. He had been on Xihe Road for more than ten years and was acquainted with the leaders of the Tibetan tribe.
He spoke to a one-armed Tibetan leader in his forties in Tibetan language: "Ke Mu, why are you here? Didn't you break your hand when you were recruiting for the Ghost Chapter last time?"
The other party smiled and said: "I can't go into battle, but I still have sons. This time I brought my five sons, and they are all good sons!"
"Come and see General Wang!"
Five tall and majestic young men from the Tibetan tribe behind Ke Mu came forward to give Wang Hou a gift. Wang Hou was overjoyed to help them up one by one and gave each of them a gift.
Wang Hou looked at the soldiers and horses marching hand in hand in the valley. This scene had not happened for a long time after Zhang Yue conquered Guizhang.
Many familiar Tibetan generals paid tribute to Wang Hou one by one. Many of these generals followed Zhang Yue and fought against the Guizhang and Mu Zheng. Some of them followed the Guizhang and Mu Zheng and fought against the Song army.
But this time they all turned enemies into friends, and the past grudges were forgotten. Some Tibetan leaders used Song utensils and learned Song Dynasty regulations and costumes, but for them, loving the Song Dynasty was their life, and opposing the Song Dynasty was their work.
Now everyone accepts the mobilization order issued by the Song Army and arrives at the gate of Lanzhou City like hundreds of rivers flowing into the sea.
After the ten-day siege of Lanzhou, the Qing, Tang and Tibetan tribes mobilized more than 300,000 people, and camps of various sizes were built around Lanzhou.
All kinds of tents along the Tao River seemed to pop up overnight. The young men were busy building camps, and the women and children were responsible for chopping wood, fetching water and feeding the horses. At night, the entire both sides of the Tao River were lit up with flames.
Liang Yimi claimed to have an army of 800,000, but there is still a question mark as to how many there were, but when the entire Xihe Road Tibetan tribe was mobilized, it was really 300,000.
This does not include Li Xian and Wang Hou's Song Army.
Not counting Dong Fei, he also sent 50,000 reinforcements led by Wen Xixin from the direction of Qingtang City. There were also many troops from Taozhou, Minzhou, Huangzhou, etc. who came across mountains, rivers, and states. However, due to the long distance, there were still many troops.
On the way.
When they went to the place where the soldiers and horses of Lanzhou were marching, the people supported the old and the young, and prepared pots of pulp and baskets of food to welcome the king's troops.
The merchants and common people in the rear areas of Xizhou, Hezhou, and Gongzhou actively raised donations and contributed money and efforts. The merchants spontaneously organized transportation with their own mules, horses and carts, and transported grain and baggage to the Lanzhou front line one by one.
It has to be said that the people's support and support has reached this point because of Dang Xiangjun's bad reputation.
In the eighth year of Xining, Liang Yimi and Zhang Kai fought in the Taoshui River and burned several states to ashes.
The Han people came to teach the Tibetan people to farm and grow cotton, build bridges and roads, and develop mines and salt wells. The people of Tibetan tribes all took advantage of it, and it was not easy to get to this situation today. But when the Dangxiang people came, they only burned, killed, and looted, hoping to conquer Xi.
River Road.
It is in line with the saying, ‘If the people are not afraid of death, how can they be afraid of death’!
As soon as the order to mobilize the Han army came, all the people obeyed and responded like clouds. The wives and children bought dry food, the Tibetan archers picked up their weapons and set off on the road. Even the monks in various temples stopped practicing and chanted sutras and prayed for the soldiers along the way.
After watching the mobilization, so many soldiers and horses gathered at once, even Li Xian himself was panicked, which was completely unexpected. He had never commanded hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses.
Commanding a large army to fight is a technical job.
Li Xian couldn't do it, Wang Hou couldn't do it, and even Zhang Kai couldn't do it.
Looking at the generals and leaders of various ministries who were collectively asking for battle inside and outside the tent, Li Xian was moved to tears and said to Wang Hou and other generals: "This is all the kindness that Zhang Cheng has planted over the years!"
Although Wang Hou knew that most of these soldiers and horses were just a mob, he still nodded and said: "This is the kingly way!"
The Tibetan tribes in the Qing and Tang dynasties had a large number of soldiers and horses, and it was difficult to control them. Some Tibetan tribes saw that they had a large number of people and had many secret feuds with party members.
They ignored Li Xian's orders and started fighting with the Dangxiang army outside Lanzhou.
After several encounters and surprise attacks, the various party tribes also exclaimed that these Qing, Tang and Tibetan tribes... how could these defeated generals of the past be so capable of fighting?
After entering April, a fine spring rain fell on the entire Xihe Road. Eight hundred thousand Dangxiang troops surrounded Lanzhou City, and as many as three hundred thousand Song troops outside the Dangxiang Army surrounded the Dangxiang Army and attacked. Countless soldiers and horses shuttled in and out.
In the mountains, forests and valleys, they fought against the Party troops stationed on the hills and passes.
Li Xian ordered Wang Hou to lead 10,000 elite troops to cross the Yellow River from the downstream ferry, cutting off the grain road from Xingzhou to Lanzhou.
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Under Lanzhou City.
Liang Yimi heard that the Song army mobilized more than 300,000 Qing and Tang troops to attack the outskirts of Lanzhou and didn't care much.
But when I heard that Wang Hou had crossed the Yellow River and threatened food and grass, I became a little panicked.
Every time the party gathered, the tribes below would go out with their own weapons and dry food. After eating, they would grab food on the spot. However, after more than ten days of siege, there was not much food left.
But Lanzhou City is still indestructible, but Dang Xiang's army has lost many troops and generals these days, leaving corpses lying everywhere under the city.
During the siege of the city a few days ago, we were unexpectedly attacked by the Song Army's "Thunderbolt Cannon".
The Song general put gunpowder in a container and projected it with cannon stones, causing explosions and burning among the Dangxiang troops attacking the city. The other Dangxiang troops saw this scene and were horrified.