In the mid-autumn season, the autumn wind sweeps across the fields, clearing thousands of miles.
It was my regular day off, so I helped Chief Zhang Xing go to the open-air market outside the city and found a noodle stall just to have a bowl of noodles.
There is not much to say. Although there are more than a dozen big bosses sitting in the hulala, plus more than a dozen staff clerks, occupying the entire noodle stall, it is really just a bowl of noodles.
It should be noted that millet is generally grown in the area under the leadership of the gang, but during the replanting period after the war, wheat is still the first choice in Hebei, especially in Qinghe County, where a considerable amount of wheat is mixed. After the autumn harvest, wheat is still the first choice.
Compared with millet that can be stored for five years, ten years, or even more than ten or twenty years regardless of taste, the storage time of wheat is inevitably far behind. In this case, new noodles ground from fresh wheat,
If you don't eat, you won't eat.
In fact, before the autumn tax, Chief Zhang scanned the warehouse again and specially distributed a sum of money as an autumn subsidy, mainly for grassroots troops and grassroots officials, so that they could eat two more bowls of noodles and bake a piece of cake.
.
Therefore, people came out from Jiangling City and various military camps to eat noodles and cakes everywhere, and the smell of wheat was everywhere inside and outside the city.
"The people below said from the beginning that eating noodles was my and Lao Xie's idea." Chen Bin held the noodle bowl with a bad look on his face.
"What do you mean?" Zhang Xing, who had already moved his son, couldn't help but be curious. "Didn't I ask everyone to eat noodles together?"
"It is said that although the custom of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival has already existed, it is not so popular yet. At least it is not spread here in Hebei. Therefore, this noodle-eating incident is most likely caused by me and Lao Xie, two people from Jiangnan who follow the Jiangnan regulations.
The idea came from the customs over there." Chen Bin answered with a dark face.
"Isn't this a good thing?" Zhang Xing thought for a while with his face between his hands, and became more and more confused. "You two proposed to give them a holiday, reward money, and eat noodles. This is a great good thing. Isn't it because the people below respect you?
I owe my talent to you? How can I be so shameless?"
"That's what it means." Xie Minghe, who had already eaten less than half of the bowl, said with a smile. "So after someone reminded me that this is a good thing, someone immediately refuted the rumor, saying that people in Jiangnan don't eat noodles, but only eat rice. This must be with me.
The two have nothing to do with each other, so it can be regarded as bringing order to the chaos."
Zhang Xing laughed so hard that he almost spit out his face. A group of big leaders were surrounding him. The leaders seemed to also laugh, but some of them were obviously embarrassed.
"Then why did you attribute this matter to you in the first place?" Zhang Sanlang always likes to release his curiosity in some strange directions. "What crime is there for such a good thing?"
"It's a waste of money and food," Xie Minghe said, spreading his hands. "The warehouse was emptied."
Zhang Xing was stunned, but then shook his head: "When did we live a relaxed life?"
This is true. Ten counties and one state support nearly fifty battalions, which is 100,000 troops. In addition to the lightly burdened field soldiers, it can basically be regarded as 10,000 troops in one county. To say that the military is too aggressive is a bit too much.
But under a state that emphasizes fair taxation, maintaining this army and the administrative system of the previous Wei Dynasty can be said to be hard enough.
"That's the problem." Xie Minghe still joked and laughed. "It's just that I haven't been able to live a relaxed life. I finally settled down in these ten counties and one state for a year and was able to save money. However, I encountered two Jiangnan thieves who took over the Hebei side.
The warehouse was emptied."
Zhang Xing shook his head. Thinking of the recent disputes, he had already guessed who was here to spread rumors against Chen and Xie. However, he just picked up Kuaizi and declared seriously: "Eating noodles outside today is not as good as eating on the veranda. Let's chat."
We can talk about military affairs, but we can only talk about it in general terms. All inappropriate and serious matters will only be discussed in the stage tomorrow... As well as the previous matter, I will make my own decision tomorrow, so there is no need to talk about it again."
Chen and Xie nodded immediately and went to eat new noodles. However, several people in the audience who were obviously uneasy were not relieved by this sentence, because this rumor seemed too targeted and too low-level at this time, especially
This repeated process is even more comical, so no matter what, Chen, Xie and others have grasped the clue, and this incident is destined to implicate them and affect the recent serious dispute.
That's right, a dispute suddenly broke out here in Xingtai, Hebei Province recently because of the affairs of Daijun and Liangjun rebels in Hengshan.
The two heavyweight leaders of Hebei origin in Jiangling, Xiong Bonan and Dou Lide, thought that the rebels from the two counties should be accepted, because after all, they were all rebels, anti-Wei, and they took the initiative to join the army.
And there is no reason to refuse to accept it.
But some people thought it should be rejected. Chen Bin and Xie Minghe were opposed to it.
There are three reasons.
First of all, they are far apart, with Xiangguo and Zhaojun in the west, and Xindu and Boling in the east, so they cannot be effectively controlled.
Secondly, these two people are not sincere and their quality is not good.
How can the two high-surnamed people in Daijun escape the sudden incident, but that Hengshan Mountain Sword, if they really wanted to take refuge, they could at least send someone over first, but what does it mean to kill first and then report?
Combined with the first point, to put it bluntly, they are borrowing tiger skins to free up the gang's reputation in Hebei.
In fact, according to the typical style of the rebels who are unorganized and undisciplined, they will help them and lose the accumulated popular support and reputation.
The third and most ineffective thing is that once you accept them, plus the Northern Shanxi Polangdao forces who have sent messengers many times to describe their origins and express their intention to surrender, those two swords and two people with high surnames can easily help them.
If they unite under the banner of Bai Hengqiu in Taiyuan, they will directly threaten the foundation of the Youzhou Army. The two families will inevitably send troops, and they will send troops on a large scale.
Then the question arises: Should the Gang carry out armed rescue for this enclave that is actually very important to Hebei's strategy?
Once rescued, not only will he have to fight with the two big forces in Taiyuan and Youzhou, but Xue Changxiong can't stand the fact that your army of 40,000 to 50,000 will go north together. At that time, it is impossible to say that the three interference gangs will return Hengshan, Daijun or even northern Shanxi.
Already.
And again, once saved, how will the food be counted?!
Therefore, Xie Minghe suggested turning a blind eye and pretending to be deaf and dumb, while Chen Bin even suggested directly denying it publicly.
Two versus two, this matter is over here. Chief Zhang is always looking forward and backward, trying to be more diplomatic in all aspects, so there is no way he can get through it.
However, contrary to everyone's expectations, the controversy suddenly became intense and rapidly expanded.
Leaders from the field army system in charge of Dou Lide and other leaders from the Hebei rebel army followed suit. On the other side, there were also many supporters behind Chen Xie. There were obviously many people in Jiangling's staff and clerical department who supported the two current officers.
Guan, there was a huge commotion for a while. Not to mention, the three governors in Hebei and almost the entire local administrative system in Hebei also submitted documents to publicly support Chen and Xie, and in turn overpowered the other party... At this time
, many of the leaders who were born in Hebei but joined the gang in Henan, obviously because of Xiong Bonan, simply wrote a document and sent it to support the acceptance of the rebels.
Both sides were caught off guard. The big bosses at the top were okay, but the people below quickly escalated to the level of personal attacks.
Now this rumor... you don't even need to think about it to know who is spreading it.
There are even people like Liu Heifu in the Hebei Rebel Army, let alone people with vulgar methods.
"Chief, I really have something to ask now." After finishing the bowl of noodles, in a slightly awkward atmosphere, the staff officer in charge Ma Wei suddenly broke the silence. He was from Hebei and a fellow native of Dou Lide, but he was obviously a typical civil servant.
The scholar who was planning the direction had insisted on not getting involved before, but now it seemed that he was a little dissatisfied with the bowl of noodles he had just finished because he had no wine, so he spoke.
"Say." Zhang Xing, who also had a bowl of noodles, was obviously not impressed and even asked the noodle stall owner to serve noodles and add soup.
"Is our current military system a manpower system or a recruitment system?" Unexpectedly, Ma Wei seriously asked a professional question within his own scope of responsibility. "Why can't I understand it?"
"Good question." Zhang Xing suddenly became interested in the noodle bowl, and the others also became a little curious. Xu Shiying, who had been eating noodles in silence, also raised his head. "First of all, the root cause is the military system... There is no way around this.
, because at the beginning of the uprising, the army was formed by the sons of rich families from all over the country, leading the strong men from the countryside. The reason why the army was able to form an army relied on the system of equalizing land and granting land. This is the most typical government army system. The root is here. As long as it is still
Land is equalized and farmed. When a sergeant comes from a peasant background and becomes a sergeant, his family still has land and the land is conferred by military merit. This is the military service system. It has nothing to do with whether there is a general's palace or not, including our current system in which one leader is responsible for a battalion of soldiers.
It has not deviated from this fundamental stereotype... In fact, since the Great Zhou Dynasty, the whole world has been governed by the military system, and no one can abruptly stand out from the system that is universal throughout the world."
"But it was changed later." Ma Wei reminded seriously. "We have reorganized the army several times, and we will soon reorganize the army from the level of officers and practitioners... Why should we keep changing the good military system?
"
"I'm not the only one who changed it. I'm just talking about the saint from Jiangdu. Guanlong Mansion is the best in the world. Why did he set up a fifth army? All the upper five armies were dead. Why did he immediately recruit new warriors from Dongdu?"
Zhang Xing held the bowl and asked with a smile, "Isn't he better than us?"
When the people around him heard this, they finally became serious and started talking among themselves.
Chen Bin simply looked up and answered: "Afraid of rebellion."
"That's what it means." Zhang Xing obviously ate the second bowl of noodles very slowly. "The military system has its advantages. For example, it is easy to gather strength. Therefore, the Western Wei Dynasty destroyed the Eastern Qi and swallowed up the Southern Chen. But on the other hand,
The government army system also has a huge flaw that cannot be avoided, that is, it is easy for local military leaders who directly control the government troops in a certain place to rebel... Even if they do not rebel, the army, as the foundation of the court and the country, is forced to
If it is in the hands of different people according to the region, these people will actually form power in the government and laws, and their demands will be unlimited."
We can’t blame some people for being sensitive all the time, it’s just that Chief Zhang’s words have always been straightforward.
"So we need to change it as much as possible, let the troops take turns to rest, try to get rid of production as much as possible, break up the sources of the troops, reorganize them, try to improve the treatment, and give out some regular money and property exchanged for military merit. Naturally, it will be like a recruitment system."
The crowd seemed to be in a state of astonishment. "Chief, you have good intentions."
"Of course I have good intentions and don't do this. Believe it or not, there is more than just one Li Wenbai who defected. There are probably a dozen rebels." Zhang Xing said helplessly. "Trying to prevent it from the system is better than leaving a loophole to measure people's hearts.
powerful."
"If that's the case, I'm confused." At this moment, Xu Shiying suddenly said. "Chief, what you mean seems to be that the system of equalizing land and granting land is the system of government soldiers, and then in order to prevent rebellion, you must always recruit soldiers.
Change, doesn't it mean that the system of equalizing land and granting land is naturally unsuitable for centralization? But you seem to have said in your policy document when discussing the changes in the system since Emperor Bai that the system of equalizing land and granting land is a summary of the annexation of land by large families in the Tang Dynasty.
It is an inevitable system that was formed in the Great Zhou Dynasty based on the lessons learned, and once the system is formed, it will naturally promote centralization of power. This is progress, and we must continue to use it... Why do you feel contradictory?"
Look, this is a good student.
"First of all, equalizing land and conferring land is the government-military system. It means that in order to mobilize combat forces as much as possible, the process of recruiting sergeants from farmers under the land conferment system is an inevitable phenomenon when the world is in dispute, not after the world is unified."
Zhang Xing was full of energy and raised his voice seriously... to discuss politics. "The equalization of land and the granting of land are naturally conducive to the centralization of power. This is from the perspective of financial, economic and internal affairs. Powerful families can no longer annex land unscrupulously. Money, silk and grain produced all over the world
If everything is unified, it will naturally be centralized... Just look at the Wei Dynasty and you will know. Isn't it strong? And the system has traditions. As long as this continues, power will become more and more centralized in the center."
Everyone had different reactions. Some people obviously didn't understand and just nodded in agreement. Some people were obviously thinking deeply and seemed to understand a little bit. Some people frowned as if they felt something was wrong. Zhang Xing just took the opportunity to lower his head and eat the noodles.
"I understand the truth, but there is still a big problem." Xu Shiying asked for advice sincerely. "Chief... have you ever thought about the collapse of the Tang Dynasty after the collapse of the Tang Dynasty due to the merger and annexation of powerful families. Although the system of equalizing land and granting land gradually formed,
It has never been truly unified? Even the Wei Dynasty only maintained the Eighty-Nine Kingdom in the world for twenty years, and then ended up where it is now... Then how do you know that the world can still be unified? I believe your words and
It makes sense, but is there a possibility that without equalizing land and conferring land and allowing annexation, the world will collapse like the Tang Dynasty? If we use equalizing land and confer land, because the military system cannot control the army and people's hearts, the country will be built
Is it difficult to build a decent court? But after it was built, it naturally centralized power through equalizing land and conferring land, which unified the world's money and food. It also allowed the emperor to act arrogantly and unscrupulously, and the second generation collapsed like the violent Wei Dynasty? "
"Are you going back to the question about people's hearts that day?" Zhang Xing quietly listened and asked, holding a bowl of noodles.
"That's what I mean." Xu Shiying nodded. "But it's not the same thing. When we were arguing about whether people's hearts were up or down, the chief and I were speaking from our hearts and talking about personal ambitions and morals. I came to ask today because I want to put aside these falsehoods.
If we ask seriously, why can we be sure that the situation in the world will have a good outcome in the future instead of plummeting? Is there any concrete evidence? "
"Yes." At this moment, another person who had eaten the noodles quietly spoke, but it turned out to be Cui Suchen, the confidential clerk in charge. "I don't know about other places, but in the past hundreds of years, laws have been getting better.
I'm afraid it's similar in other aspects..."
Everyone looked at it in surprise, and then looked at each other.
Zhang Xing took the opportunity to scoop up the last few bites of noodles in the bowl.
Xu Shiying chuckled: "Why don't I see that Fadu is getting better?"
Cui Suchen wanted to explain.
Xu Shiying reacted immediately and waved his hand quickly: "Your Excellency is the official responsible for the law. Naturally, you can point to the provisions and say one, two, three, four. Anyway, I don't understand. It is only you who have the final say. Therefore, I just want to ask, Mr. Cui
Can you simply and directly prove that the new law we are working on will definitely be better than the previous one?"
"Yes, and it's extremely simple, because the law is divided into categories and lines." Cui Suchen explained seriously.
Zhang Xing was stunned for a moment, but immediately clapped his hands.
"What do you mean?" Xu Shiying glanced at Chief Zhang and quickly asked seriously.
"The thing is very simple." Cui Suchen continued to answer seriously. "As for the laws, they were actually divided into three before. The laws of the Eastern Qi Dynasty were the best, but they were not implemented well, and most of them were inherited from the Zhou Dynasty. Some clauses
It’s inexplicable, and I don’t know what it is supposed to do; the laws of the Wei Dynasty are the most stringent, but they are too careless, and there are often loopholes; the laws of Nanchen are the oldest, and the execution is also the worst, but just right
It retains the origin process of many laws, allowing us to know the reasons and circumstances for the enactment of a certain law... Now we combine the three into one, learn from each other's strengths, select the best and eliminate the worst, and then implement it seriously. As long as we do it seriously, we will definitely be better than others.
The laws of all three families are strong."
Xu Shiying was stunned for a while and couldn't argue.
"That's well said." Zhang Xing finally interjected. "It's not just the law, it's the same for other things. According to me, things in this world are roughly like this. The most recent thing is that the incompleteness that lasted hundreds of years after the Tang Dynasty could not be continued.
, even after the Bai Emperor, it fell apart and could not be completely unified. There were many systems and many things happened, but in the end, it kept moving forward and kept accumulating strength... Originally, the Wei Dynasty was really
We can work hard to create some big situations, but maybe the time really hasn't come yet, maybe the two emperors reaped the consequences, and the result is that they gave us a great opportunity that has not been seen in a thousand or five hundred years. We not only have to cut it off
To overthrow the Wei Dynasty, we still need to unify the four seas and stabilize the world. When the time comes, if you do less, you will become the Tang Emperor's deeds, and if you do more, you may not be able to achieve the merits of the Bai Emperor."
After saying that, Zhang Xing stood up and smiled sincerely in all directions: "Everyone, you are so reluctant!"
After saying that, he raised his hand, paid for two bowls of noodles according to the price on the noodle stall's sign, and then left alone, leaving a group of generals on the noodle stall.
After the chief left, the remaining people were stunned for a long time. A few smart people digested someone's heroic words. Some of them believed it, but there must be some who didn't believe it. Most people just heard about the achievements of Emperor Tang and the achievements of Emperor Bai.
Just a little bit of instinct to warm up the blood.
But for some reason, Xu Shiying, who had always treated others well, sat there for a moment, suddenly became impatient, and asked two of them face to face: "Manager Chen, Chief Dou, can you two use your magical powers? Don't do it.
Are you hurting us for nothing?"
Chen Bin glanced at the other party without saying a word. Dou Lide, who was uneasy from beginning to end, was excited at the same time but was really puzzled: "Why did Leader Xu say this?"
"Why?" Xu Shiying was helpless. "Don't you understand? This gang is still under the government military system, and the main body is still the Henan leader. Naturally, our Henan leader is also the first to be wary of the chief. At this time, it is Chen and Xie
The two of you, as well as Qian Fujun, are both descendants and outsiders without roots, so they have become confidants who can be trusted. However, people like you and other natives of Hebei are in the minority and have the least qualifications, so they can
Used... As a result, both of you feel that the other party is of low origin and has no ability, and you are disdainful in your heart. On the other hand, you feel that the other party is an outsider from a distant place and a descendant, but he is directing things on the borders of Hebei. You can't help but be dissatisfied... At this time, you know
Of course I know that you are fighting for power within your own family, regardless of the overall situation, but if you don’t know, you may have thought that the quarrel between your two families was caused by our Henan military leaders who are instigating discord and thinking of rebellion! Don’t want to fight within your own family and throw us into it! No more!
If the quarrel continues, we Henan military leaders will really complain together!"
Chen Bin and Dou Lide looked at each other with rare surprise. Cui Suchen and Ma Wei also looked at Xu Shiying in surprise. Although the peripheral clerical staff and attendants did not speak, they all faced each other in private.
At this time, Xu Dalang finally exclaimed: "Guys... I had to have my house confiscated and moved to Qinghe. I don't want to suffer anymore! Please put the overall situation first. No matter how the matter is handled, don't fight anymore!"
According to the chief's arrangement, we have a lot to do after autumn. After eating this bowl of new noodles, we will have to work hard to get busy with a lot of business!"
The two of them didn't say anything. Xu Dalang simply paid for the two bowls of noodles and left.
In the end, everyone paid their own money, and none of the usually very generous leaders came out to treat the guests... The noodle stall owner was both lucky and ridiculous that these big shots in charge of more than a dozen counties were eating a bowl of noodles.
Do you still want to split it equally?
In the evening, the twin moons were full and high in the sky. King Xiongtian, who had disappeared for a day, appeared in Zhang Xing's residence. The latter was admiring the moon alone, and because of the twin moons, they seemed to be facing each other into five people.
When Xiong Bonan arrived, he looked slightly embarrassed: "Chief, what happened recently was really due to my original intention. I didn't expect many incidents later. Now I have caused a lot of scandals. I am really ashamed."
"Of course I know King Xiongtian." Chief Zhang said disapprovingly. "And I have already decided... I will ask King Xiongtian to go to Hengshan and Daijun to guide them... If you really want to join us, that's easy.
On the surface, we no longer hang the gang flag to avoid causing trouble to us, and at the same time, we must follow our gang's rebellion rules to be accepted by the town. If they are not happy, we will expel them as rebels and treat them as bandits."
At this point, Zhang Xing still did not bow his head: "Why do we only allow them to rub us the wrong way and not allow us to control them?"
Xiong Bonan was stunned for a moment, thought about it, but didn't know what to say. He just nodded for a while, and then wanted to leave, but felt embarrassed, so he turned back and asked: "Eating new noodles in Mid-Autumn Festival is not a Jiangnan festival custom.
It's not Hebei, it's from the east, it must be from the north...I heard that the chief's bowl of noodles at noon was not very good, do you want to go to my house and have a new bowl of noodles?"
Zhang Xing was stunned for a moment, then pointed to the sky and answered the question: "I am looking at the double moon and the stars, and I am fascinated by it."
Xiong Bonan raised his head in surprise: "What is there to see here? Twenty-eight stars?"
"That's what it means." Zhang Xing looked at the sky and sighed. "I just realized that except for the Twenty-Eight Constellations and One Star Han, the stars are actually messy, as if no one has told the extra star positions in the world. Just like these dynasties change, no wonder
Even I feel guilty...but I shouldn't feel guilty."
Xiong Bonan really didn't understand: "The stars were already there, but after the four emperors returned to their thrones, they were summarized into four images and twenty-eight constellations. How can you say they are chaotic?"
Zhang Xing was slightly stunned, but he didn't say much. Instead, he simply lowered his head and stood up: "Nonsense, I'm really hungry again. Let's go to your house and ask for another bowl of noodles... From the past few days to noon today, I was really disgusted by them.
, it’s really like the top of the mountain can be demolished and erected at any time.”