Chapter 244 Four Heavenly Kings and Eight Governors
Chapter 244 The Four Heavenly Kings and the Eight Governors
Author: Muzi Blue
Chapter 244 The Four Heavenly Kings and the Eight Governors
After the grand New Year's Day gathering, Li Shimin did not indulge in the superficial glory.
In the Xiande Hall, a court meeting was held on how to conquer Liang Shidu. In addition to the emperor's confidants, those present were also people related to the crusade.
The military envoys of Yanzhou, Chijie, and Wu Huaiyu, the governor of Yanzhou, naturally also participated in the court discussions.
Li Daozong, the governor of Lingzhou, Duan Decao, the governor of Xiazhou, Fan Xing, the governor of Yanzhou, Duan Lun, the governor of Qingzhou, Li Xiuxing, the governor of Huizhou,
There are also Chai Shao, the governor of Huazhou and the general manager of Shuofang Road, and Xue Wanche, the governor of Longzhou and the deputy general manager of Shuofang Road.
Among the eight governors and governors, Wu Huaiyu is the youngest and has the lowest official position. The other seven are either governors or concurrently general managers or deputy general managers.
"To deal with Liang Shidu, prepare with both hands. Yanxia is at the forefront, attacking with light cavalry, destroying the crop production of Puppet Liang and making it exhausted. Lingzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou, and Huizhou are providing peripheral support. Hua and Long are at the forefront. The troops in the rear areas are training and preparing for war." Li Shimin was very confident.
Based on this plan, Li Shimin proposed conscription and expansion of the army.
On the front line of Yanxia, sufficient troops must be maintained to complete the plan. "Not only must we restore the garrison and capture of towns such as Wucheng, but we must also restore state troops, and even recruit united troops."
As for Chai Shao and Xue Wanche, they must recruit at least 20,000 people to train and prepare for war.
Most of the people in the palace expressed support for the emperor's proposal to recruit troops and expand the army. What war could be fought without soldiers?
Wang Gui, the minister of Huangmen, stood up to object.
"Your Majesty, now everything is in ruins and the national treasury is empty. If we recruit and expand the army everywhere, it will inevitably affect the people's livelihood and delay agricultural production. I hope that your Majesty can allow the people to recuperate and suspend the recruitment and expansion of the army."
When Shangshu's right servant She Feng Deyi saw the emperor frowning, he immediately said, "Your Majesty, I think we can recruit middle-aged men over the age of 18. Although they are not yet men, the burly ones among them can definitely be used as men. These people Still younger and more energetic."
"Especially the children of the government soldiers, who are usually exposed to martial arts, practice riding and shooting, and are familiar with flags, drums, and orders. It is very suitable to recruit them into the army. These children are also eager for the opportunity to make contributions."
"Feng Aiqing's words make sense," Li Shimin nodded, "Young people are in good health and have great energy when fighting."
"Your Majesty, I object." Wei Zheng then stood up and objected. "The middle-aged men are not yet adults. Most of them are young and weak and are not suitable to be soldiers. What's more, recruiting underage men is against our laws and regulations of the Tang Dynasty."
There was a dispute in the palace.
Both Wang Gui and Wei Zheng opposed the recruitment of underage middle-aged men into the army, and even opposed the emperor's plan to recruit troops to expand the army, believing that it should be done slowly.
After the restoration of Yanxia, several military offices were set up and some troops were deployed for garrison, which was enough.
A large number of troops were recruited and stationed. Given the current situation in Yanxia, all money, food and equipment had to be transported from Guanzhong, which was very expensive and would become a burden on the people.
Wu Huaiyu listened quietly. Anyway, everyone has their own reasons. It just depends on the angle from which they speak.
The emperor wanted to destroy Liang Shidu as soon as possible, so it was inevitable to recruit and expand the army. Wei Zheng, Wang Gui and others were mainly admonishers, and they considered it from different perspectives.
As we kept arguing, the topic got sidetracked.
From recruiting troops to expand the army, it turned into a debate about whether the law could be changed. In the end, Wei Zheng actually said that Li Shimin had broken faith with the people. This made Li Shimin furious and began to angrily ask Wei Zheng how he had broken faith with the people.
Wei Zheng did not panic at all, he arched his hands and spoke eloquently.
"When His Majesty first came to the throne, he issued an edict stating that all property owed by the people to the officials would be exempted. However, some officials believed that the property owed to the State Council of the Prince of Qin was not official property, so they still demanded it.
Your Majesty has been promoted from the King of Qin to the Son of Heaven. Naturally, the property of the Prince of Qin's Palace and Office belongs to the official family, so what reason is there to ask for it?
The emperor also said that the areas in central Guanzhong would be exempted from renting for two years, and the areas outside Guanzhong would be exempted from Yao service for one year. But now he has issued an order that those who have paid taxes and served Yao service will be exempted from the next year.
Isn't this what it means to break one's word?
Now we have to levy rent transfers and recruit troops. Is this the way to govern a country?"
Li Shimin blew his beard and stared, and it took him a while to calm down.
"What Wei Zheng said makes sense, so the property that the people owed to the State Council of the Prince of Qin's Mansion before will be exempted. Also, since it was said before that rents and transfers will be exempted, what has been collected will be returned and will not be deducted until next year."
The emperor took a sip of tea to calm down and returned to the topic.
"We are specifically discussing the matter of conquering Liang today, so let's get back to business and let's continue the discussion."
Li Shimin could not give up his plan easily, but due to the objections of Wei Zheng and others, he made adjustments and no longer recruited middle-aged men between eighteen and twenty-one years old to join the army.
"Yanzhou has two additional unified military mansions, and Xiazhou has four unified military mansions," said Du Ruhui, Minister of the Ministry of War. The two mansions in Yanzhou are one upper and lower, with a total of 2,000 people. Xiazhou has one upper and lower plus two middle.
Mansion, 4,000 people.
The Liutong Military Office was newly established, and six thousand soldiers were recruited. The soldiers were selected in Guanzhong and Henan.
"The method of selecting points is to consider wealth first, then material strength, and finally the size of the population. The one with average wealth will be stronger, the one with even strength will be rich, and the one with even wealth will be selected first."
After the six thousand new soldiers were selected, the whole family moved to the areas designated by the two prefectures of Yanxia and Xiazhou, and were assigned military land for resettlement. They farmed in the spring and autumn, and trained in the winter and summer.
Considering that these 6,000 new recruits were selected, Du Ruhui suggested that it would be best to transfer 3,000 veterans from the Tongjun Mansion in the pass to be stationed in Yanxia, and mix half of them with recruits, so as to ensure combat effectiveness.
However, this suggestion was opposed by Wang Gui, who believed that in this way, the three thousand old soldiers from Guanzhong would have to drag their families and their families to move to the border. If they had to leave their homes, wouldn't it be the same as being sent to the army for exile? Isn't this a punishment without guilt?
"If you want Yanxia to gain combat effectiveness quickly, the best way is not to select new soldiers, but to mobilize the soldiers from the mainland for garrison control."
The border guards set up towns to guard the border and unified the border guards. These soldiers are subordinate to the governor's office. They are all soldiers from the governor's office who are transferred to the garrison in rotation. Just like in the Beijing tour, they take regular rotations to guard the border. The family members are still where they are, and they return to the original military office after the rotation.
Comparatively speaking, the local regiments are more acceptable to the soldiers.
Wang Gui believed that there was no need to recruit 6,000 new soldiers to garrison in Yanxia. He could directly set up several towns in Yanxia to garrison and guard the city. He could just rotate a group of existing soldiers to guard the border and guard the border.
Farming.
You can also recruit some local young men and women as united soldiers, train in winter and summer, and help defend the city during war. They work at home and farm during the day, and only train. When assisting in defense, they will be given rations and pickles. In normal times, there is no need to pay or divide the army.
fields, which can greatly save expenses.
The two prefectures of Yanxia and Yanxia were arguing over whether to build six more military mansions and add six thousand more soldiers.
Huaiyu admired Wang Gui and Wei Zheng very much. These two people really felt like they were fighting with other scholars.
In the end, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Gao Shilian, the emperor's four great kings could not compete for the two cannons, and Feng Deyi was sprayed with saliva all over his face.
Li Shimin was finally persuaded, and agreed not to build a new Liutong Army Mansion, but to deploy soldiers from the Central Army Mansion to guard the border.
It is planned to send 6,000 troops to Yanzhou and Xiazhou, 2,000 to Yanzhou and 4,000 to Xiazhou.
These soldiers are divided into two systems, one is the town garrison troops, and the other is the state soldiers. The town garrison troops are arranged to some dangerous and key places to establish military towns, garrison forts, garrison, and also manage the beacons.
The other part is the state soldiers, stationed in states and counties, mainly responsible for city defense and public security.
The town troops are directly under the control of the governor's office, and the state troops are under the control of the governor. However, in order to send troops, unless there is a special emergency, you still have to first request an order to mobilize troops from the Ministry of War.
Town soldiers and state soldiers are both from the government soldiers drawn from the mainland. When they come to the border, they are equivalent to standing soldiers. When the term is over, they change defense and return home.
Huaiyu listened carefully. As the governor of Yanzhou, he actually had a thousand state soldiers to command, and another thousand town soldiers were under the command of the governor's office.
There are quite a few soldiers here.
Li Shimin also felt that it was missing, so he discussed it for a long time and finally decided to set up a Tutuan.
United soldiers are also rural soldiers, informal soldiers. The imperial court selects white men from good families in Yanxia. After selecting, they can be exempted from the Zhengyao chores. They train during the slack season in winter and summer. During war, they help defend the city in the state, transport grain and grass, etc., and recruit them.
At that time, there were rations, but there was no military pay and no military land.
It's the local militia.
They are usually farmers.
But as a supplement to the local military, it is still quite useful.
The key is not spending any money.
"Let's count 6,000 soldiers united by the two prefectures of Yanxia and Xia. The unified troops in the prefecture will be under the control of the governor. They will return to farming in spring and summer, and they will be collected in autumn and winter. During the service period, they will be given food and pickles. Weapons and equipment will be provided by the prefecture."
As a result, Wu Huaiyu, the governor of Yanzhou, had two thousand more native soldiers under his command.
Originally, Chai Shao and Xue Wanche were asked to train 20,000 horses in the rear, but due to the objections of Wang Gui, Wei Zheng and others, they finally decided to just gather and train during the slack time.
"It's already noon before I know it. Let's eat on the porch."
While eating the working meal provided by Taichang Temple in the corridor, Duan Lun couldn't help complaining next to him, "These two penmen insist on intervening in the military. It is really unreasonable, and your Majesty actually listens to them."
Duan Lun is the governor of Gyeongju. He is not on the front line, but without a new military headquarters in Yanxia, he is also under great pressure.
Wu Huaiyu was also quite helpless. Although Liang Shidu was defeated, he was still a hero of his generation. He was able to hold on until now, and he also had certain strength. Not to mention the support of his Turkic father. There were no troops on the front line, so this battle was naturally not easy to fight.
"Don't worry, Erlang. If something happens, my neighbor will definitely help."
Gyeongju is just south of Yeoju.
Huaiyu smiled and thanked Duan Lun.
After eating in the corridor, Li Shimin also drank a pot of tea with everyone.
When leaving the palace, Duan Lun pulled Huaiyu into his carriage. This carriage was more luxurious, spacious and warm than Huaiyu's. There were also beautiful maids in the carriage.
There were four beautiful maids in the carriage, two Orchid maids, and two maids from Silla who could tell by their voices.
Duan Lun directly called a Hu Ji and a Silla maid to serve Huaiyu, one pinched the shoulders and the other tapped the thighs.
Beautiful cars, BMWs, beautiful women, what a pleasure.
The two of them didn't actually talk about anything in the carriage, they just closed their eyes and relaxed and enjoyed themselves.
Duan Lun's coachman took Huaiyu to the Shouyang Marquis' Mansion in Yongxingfang. Duan Lun smiled and said, "These two maids are pretty good at serving the Marquis, so I gave them to Erlang."
There was nothing unusual about Bo Ji and the Silla maid. They got off the bus and stood behind Huai Yu very obediently.
Huaiyu is already used to it, this is the daily operation of wealthy families.
After thanking him, Duan Lun laughed and got into the carriage and left.
The concierge Tuozi Wu Cheng looked at the two young and beautiful Persian concubines and Silla maids, and sighed that these were very valuable.
"Valuable" is a word used to describe a living person. It shows that even in the eyes of a slave, they are just the same thing and cannot be regarded as real people.
Slaves are never human beings.
Huaiyu also knew that Duan Lun casually gave him two beautiful maids. It was not that Duan Lun had too much money, it could only be said that Wu Huaiyu now had enough status in Duan Lun's eyes.
This does not mean that any benefits will be exchanged immediately, of course there will be benefits sooner or later.
One is about to take office as the governor of Qingzhou, and the other is about to take office as the governor of Yanzhou. Their jurisdictions are adjacent to each other in the north and south, so they will have many dealings with each other in the future.
Before Cheng Yaojin went to Luzhou to take up the post of governor, it was said that tens of thousands of slaves had been sold in advance.
There are four major salt ponds in Yanzhou, Wuchi and Baichi. The green salt and white salt are very famous and good salt. Their salt production is also very high. It is by no means comparable to Longyou Yanjingzhai. Especially the green salt is of pure quality.
It is famous for its slightly greenish color and is the best among salts.
Those are four cornucopias.
As long as Wu Huaiyu can be stable in Yanzhou, there will be huge benefits here. If you do it casually, the salt profits will be amazing.
Yanzhou not only has tan sheep, but its salt is also a treasure. I believe that after Wu Huaiyu was appointed governor of Yanzhou, many people were already making secret plans.