Emperor Liu stayed in Jinyang for half a month before he started heading north again, passing through Xindai, passing through Yanmen, and straight into the territory of Shanyang Road. Among them, he only stayed at Yanmen Pass for one day, admiring the scenery.
The most magnificent pass in the world.
Of course, in this era, although Yang Ye also defended the pass for ten years, except for a great victory at Baicaokou, he did not experience too many wars against the Khitans. Therefore, its legendary nature has also weakened a bit.
.
However, Emperor Liu's emphasis on Yanmen Pass has never relaxed. The Han Dynasty's northern frontier defense system is also hierarchical. In Hedong and Hebei provinces bordering Shanyang, there are Yongning, Dingxiang, and Feihu armies.
, although its military strength is not as good as that of the border defense army, it is an important military location that protects the hinterland and connects the border fortresses.
Among them, the Dingxiang Army is naturally the most important, because it is stationed at Yanmen Pass, which is the choke point leading to Taiyuan. The current Dingxiang Army envoy is called Bai Ding, but his identity is not completely clear.
He is the nephew of Duanyang Hou Bai Chongzan.
Among the senior generals of the Han Dynasty, there were some who were unknown, but worked conscientiously, and had no illustrious military exploits, but fulfilled their duties. Those who achieved this to the extreme were Bai Chongzan. No matter what orders and tasks Emperor Liu had, they were all ignored.
Execute without reservation and never complain.
Emperor Liu set an example when he was granted the title of Marquis for his contribution to river control. In the following ten years, his achievements were not prosperous and he worked a lot of hard work. Therefore, when Kaibao was conferred the title of Marquis of Duanyang, he was granted the title of Marquis of Duanyang.
Nowadays, Bai Chongzan is over sixty years old and has poor health. He has resigned from his post and returned to his hometown to retire. As for Bai Ding, he is a descendant of the Bai family. He has been with Bai Chongzan for nearly twenty years and has carefully trained him. Now he can also take charge of his own role.
Emperor Liu took a test and found that this man may have inferior military skills, but he was better than a steady and down-to-earth general. He may have learned from his uncle. He could rest assured that he would leave the Yanmen Pass and Dingxiang troops in the hands of such a general.
In fact, today's military and political affairs of the Han Dynasty are filled with a large number of children of distinguished officials, but after careful examination, they have not been abused. There may be some unworthy ones among them, but most of them still have their own talents. The examination of the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War
There is no obvious preference. The current situation is such that what the future will bring depends on the struggle between nobles and bureaucratic groups.
After leaving Yanmen Pass, the speed of the imperial driver slowed down significantly. By the time he arrived at Yunzhong, the capital of Datong Prefecture, it was already mid-August. To the north of Yanmen, the military attributes of the cities and towns had also been greatly improved, and the people's customs and customs were also in line with those of Yanmen Pass.
There are so many different things inside the pass.
When they arrived in Shanyang, Emperor Liu was most concerned about the military aspect. There is no doubt that the main purpose of Emperor Liu's northern tour was to inspect the military situation in northern Xinjiang.
A full ten years have passed since the Northern Expedition was successful. Emperor Liu once again set foot on this land with a different mood and saw a brand new look.
At the beginning, the imperial court established Shanyang Road. Due to the impact of the Han-Liao War and the wanton raiding and relocation of the people before the Liao army retreated to the north, the territory was in ruins, the people's livelihood was in decline, and PepsiCo was in depression.
At that time, what Emperor Liu left to Song Qi was almost a ruin. Among the prefectures and counties, only Shuo and Ying prefectures were slightly less damaged, and other places were almost white. To the east of Yunzhou, there were large areas of deserted areas.
district.
In addition to the remaining garrison troops, the number of civilians available for Song Qi's management and deployment was less than 200,000, including some prisoners and reduced soldiers.
Yunzhong City was basically destroyed by the war. After the war, only more than 10,000 old, weak, women and children could be replaced. Thanks to Yang Ye, when he pursued the Liao army, he snatched back thousands of Han people. These people were later used in Yunzhong.
It also played an important role in the reconstruction.
At that time, Shanyang and Yunzhong were in great ruin, and the devastation still vaguely reappeared in my mind. But ten years later, when I set foot on Shanyang again and climbed up Yunzhong City again, what I saw was a completely new one.
scene.
For the restoration and development of Shanyang Road in the past ten years, a brand new Yunzhong City is the most intuitive answer. Although it is only renovated and consolidated on the basis of the old city, seeing the tall walls and thick city walls, Emperor Liu
I still can't help but touch it with my own hands and feel the hard work of the officials and people in the cloud condensed in it.
Yunzhong City plays the role of the mainstay and the defense center in Shanyang's defense system. Therefore, its reconstruction has always been the first priority. It is not only a political task, but also a military task. Song Qi is on top,
A lot of effort was put into it.
However, although Shanyang has made great progress in recovery and development, due to its weak foundation, it is much weaker than other Daozhou in Dahan.
Ten years of gatherings and ten years of lessons are only half over now. However, Emperor Liu could not be more satisfied with the results of these ten years. At least, starting from the past three years, Shanyang Dao no longer needs the court to invest a lot of money every year
financial support.
Of course, this is also under the premise that the training of all the armies in the north is borne by the imperial court. Otherwise, the border defense alone can overwhelm Shanyang. Along the line of the Great Wall in the north of the Great Wall, the border troops and troops deployed by the Han Dynasty,
But nothing less.
"You still have to see it with your own eyes! The description in the memorial is pleasant, but not intuitive enough!" Touching one of the earthen battlements, Emperor Liu seemed to have infinite emotion in his tone: "Yunzhong was rebuilt on the ruins, and the officials and people of Shanyang
, it’s a great contribution!”
"This is all the result of the hard work of the officials and the people led by the Xianggong of the Song Dynasty when he was in office!" Li Chuyun, the chief envoy, was waiting on the side and said that he had not been in office for a long time and he did not dare to take credit.
Emperor Liu naturally understood this. For this, he had already rewarded Song Qi. The title was not high, and she was a second-class eldest uncle. After all, people who were awarded titles for meritorious service were really rare in the Han Dynasty.
Even though the rank is lower, the status has been greatly improved. For civil servants, in addition to the founding merits, it is too difficult for latecomers to be ennobled. In comparison, it is too difficult to hold the power of the world and hold the power of the dynasty.
Politics, in order to express ambitions, is more worthy of pursuit.
"How many people are there in Shanyang Road now?" Emperor Liu asked Li Chuyun.
Li Chuyun was not too old, but his age was already showing. When asked, he still cheered up and spoke eloquently: "I have checked the registers and found that in the sixth year of Kaibao, Shanyang ruled one prefecture and five prefectures, and it was registered at Dingkou.
There are a total of 60,259 household registrations and 365,841 people! About three and one-third of them are in Datong Prefecture, with a total of 19,793 households!"
"It's still a little short!" Emperor Liu couldn't help but sigh.
"Your Majesty, Shanyang is a border area after all. The current number is already quite a lot!" Li Chuyun replied: "This is also due to the imperial court's policy of strengthening the border. If you add in those customers who are doing business and living and traveling,
The population of the Saibei Hu people should be even larger!"
Emperor Liu was certainly aware of this. The proportion of natural population growth in Shanyang Road was actually very small, and a large part of it was the result of previous immigration to the border areas.
As Li Chuyun said, after all, it is a border area, a border area that has suffered serious damage and has not been able to truly solve the hidden dangers and crises. Apart from enforcement and policy guidance, it is really not very attractive to ordinary people.
In the Han Dynasty, those who dared to enter Shanyang were all bold and bloody people, and most of them were businessmen and traders. It must be said that in the ten years when Han and Liao coexisted peacefully, under the court's relaxed business environment, Datong
The atmosphere of merchants and merchants here is very strong.
Most of the floating population in Datong are merchants traveling from south to north. Yunzhong City is the largest trade exchange center between Han and Liao Dynasties, even far surpassing Youzhou on Yanshan Road. And Shanyang Road
Every year, a large amount of fiscal and tax revenue comes from trader taxes.
Therefore, in Yunzhong City, you can see with the naked eye that merchants from all walks of life and all ethnic groups are bustling and the city is prosperous. Of course, there is only such a Yunzhong City in Zongshanyang, and the essence of it is here.
If you travel to other cities, the contrast will be intense. The trauma caused by the war that year cannot be repaired in just ten years. Construction is never easy.