Lu Huiqing looked at the human head that had just been delivered from Yanyan Road.
Although the ferocious head had been treated with saltpeter, Zhang Zhijian's appearance could still be vaguely seen.
"Hmph!" Lu Huiqing snorted coldly: "This thief is too cheap!"
In the White Tiger Festival Hall, the generals from Hedong who were summoned all bowed their heads in bow.
The status of high-ranking military ministers of the imperial dynasty was only lower than that of waiting civil servants.
In Yaojun, he was rampant and responsible, and he was rarely punished.
Even when convicted, torture is rarely used, let alone beheading under military law.
But now, Zhang Zhijian's head tells everyone - don't be proud! You are not civil servants waiting to be controlled!
Officials can really kill people.
At the same time, Zhang Zhijian's head was revealed to General Hedong, and everyone knew that Marshal Lu was still in the emperor's heart.
The officials in Bianjing still preferred him.
Even if this official is only ten years old.
However, no military minister dared to underestimate or despise him.
reason?
During the autumn floods in Hebei this year, it was under his leadership that he allocated countless funds to turn the tide.
The imperial troops who were mobilized for disaster relief were all talking about the speed and effectiveness of the official rewards - it really didn't cost everyone a penny!
In order to reward everyone, the officials sent out the Imperial Guards from the Fourth Army to personally supervise and ensure that every copper coin and piece of cloth was given to everyone.
After this incident spread to Hedong, the Hedong Forbidden Army and the archers had already returned home.
They don't care whether the official in Bianjing City is ten years old or eighty years old?
As long as you give money happily, you will be a saint.
As for Hebei?
Now I am almost worshiping him as a living Bodhisattva!
Anyone who has been on the embankment knows the danger at that time.
They all also understand that without the huge amount of money to motivate the military and civilians, Hebei would still be in the water.
I don’t know how many people were buried in the belly of the fish, and I don’t know how many people’s ancestral graves were flooded.
Lu Huiqing was satisfied with his ambition. He stroked his beard and said, "When you go back, you should train your soldiers diligently. Don't think that now that the country has made peace with the Western thieves, you can just go to Nanshan!"
Lu Huiqing stared and said: "The Yi and Di have no faith, especially the Western thieves!"
"It is a stubborn disease for ministers to rebel from time to time!"
"I predict that the Western thieves will rebel again, not next year, but the year after tomorrow!"
The generals agreed with a bang.
They were military ministers, and their promotion and wealth depended solely on war.
If the Western thieves really obeyed from now on, it would be bad news for them.
Lu Huiqing's statement undoubtedly rekindled the hope of these people.
…
Wei Mingji led the envoy and finally arrived at Lanzhou City on September 20th.
He was ordered to take this path deliberately.
From Lanzhou, Xizhou, Qinzhou, go to the capital of Nanman.
This time when he entered the country, in addition to investigating the reality of Xihe Road in Nanman, he also had a mission assigned to him by Liang Yibu, the Prime Minister of the country - to request Nanman to issue Jiaozi with silver and gold as collateral.
I don't want to be like the Northern Dynasty, where I exchanged 500,000 taels of silver coins for a Jiaozi worth 3 million taels of copper coins.
As long as I can get 70% or even 60% of the Northern Dynasty, I will be satisfied.
In this way, after deducting the tax to Nanman, we can still get nearly two million yuan.
You can buy a large amount of Southern Dynasty commercial goods.
However, Wei Mingji feels that this mission is a bit difficult!
After all, Nanman is not a fool, so why should he give Dabai Gaoguo so many benefits?
But he had no choice but to bite the bullet and do it.
Because he is a confidant of the Prime Minister, he is already tied to the Liang family. Although his surname is Wei, he is just a side branch. He and Wuzu have been in the fifth service for a long time, so he is not a relative.
He was led by the Song army to the gate of Lanzhou City.
Wei Mingji looked at Lanzhou City Wall and swallowed subconsciously.
This fortified city once swallowed up the lives of more than 100,000 men of the Great White Kingdom.
Even if the Wu soldiers came with an army that overwhelmed the country, they would still be defeated.
The city walls of Lanzhou City are not very tall.
What really makes it indestructible is the dense wall of sheep and horses under the city wall.
These defense facilities more than ten steps outside the city wall, combined with the horse faces built by the Nanman on the city wall, formed a death passage that could block thousands of troops.
The archers and crossbowmen on the horses on the city wall cooperated with the elite defenders inside the sheep and horse wall below the city wall.
Often, most of Dabai Gao's cavalry would have fallen when they rushed to the city wall.
On each side of Lanzhou City, there are several horse faces, matching the several sheep and horse walls under the city wall.
This makes this kind of city a nightmare for the Great White Kingdom.
"It's all Yu Zanghuama's fault!" Wei Mingji cursed.
Lanzhou was originally the territory of Tubo Yu Zang family. Yu Zang family surrendered to Dabai Gao Kingdom, and Emperor Yizong married his daughter-in-law, who loved her very much.
But this rebellious minister had colluded with the Nanman people, and even abandoned the city without fighting when the Nanman army came to the city.
As a result, from then on, the Dabai Gao Kingdom no longer had a foothold in the vast area south of the Yellow River.
It also turned Nanman's Xihe Road into the current Xihe Lanhui Road.
However, scolding is in vain.
Unless the Nanman people take the initiative to give up Lanzhou, the Dabai Gao Kingdom actually already knows that they will never be able to take Lanzhou back.
…
Wei Mingji would not know that when he was observing Lanzhou City.
Xiang Zonghui on the wall of Lanzhou City was also watching him and his mission.
"The Western Bandits are too stingy!" Xiang Zonghui looked at the Western Bandits envoy team entering the city and the horses that the team brought to pay tribute: "At most three to five hundred horses..."
"Not even a small tribe in Tubo can sell us many horses at once!"
If he had seen hundreds of horses at one time when he first arrived in Xihe, Xiang Zonghui might have been excited for a while.
But now...
He was so numb that he didn't even put three to five hundred horses in his eyes.
Because he has seen too many horses.
"What the uncle said is true..." Li Hao, who knew Lanzhou City, accompanied him and said with a smile: "But Western thieves have always been like this... Relatively speaking, the horses that have been paid tribute this time may be the largest in the past...
"
Western thieves and northern captives have always been strictly prohibited from transporting horses to the Song Dynasty. If they can send a hundred horses, it is already very good.
Nowadays, the Western thieves are willing to send hundreds of horses.
It is indeed unprecedentedly generous!
Xiang Zong snorted back, expressing his disdain.
When he was in Bianjing, he might think that three to five hundred war horses was an astronomical number.
But in Xihe, he handled thousands of horses.
The biggest external task of the Xihe Lanhui Roadside Finance Department is to buy horses.
And you have to buy 15,000 horses every year, there is no limit!
Such a task may be difficult for other people, but for Xiang Zonghui and Gao Gongji who have the Buddha's Tooth Relic in hand, it is just a trivial matter.
All tribes in the Qing, Tang and Tubo tribes were willing to sell horses to the Song Dynasty in exchange for an opportunity to offer their tributes to the altar of the Buddha's Tooth Relic.
What's more, Xiang Zonghui and Gao Gongji were very generous with their actions.
I am willing to pay a premium for good horses, instead of being fussy about everything like the officials in the past.
Therefore, less than half a year after taking office, the two of them have already completed this year's horse buying task.
Fifteen thousand war horses have been or are on their way to Shaanxi and Hedong.
As Xiang Zonghui walked down the city wall, several generals immediately followed him with their people.
They walked down the city wall and leaned against the base of the city wall, where a row of shacks were under construction.
Crucibles, bellows, and stoves gradually took shape in the hands of craftsmen.
This is the reason why Xiang Zong returned to Lanzhou - to preside over the construction of Lanzhou Duzuo Academy.
"In the spring of next year, may the capital be officially put into operation?" Xiang Zong replied.
Li Hao, who followed him down, immediately replied: "It should be possible to report back to uncle Guo..."
"Do the people sent out to prospecting have any news?" Xiang Zonghui asked again.
Li Hao shook his head.
Xiang Zonghui stared at the related facilities of Dusakuyuan under construction, and he said softly: "This is something that the officials are paying attention to..."
"If we find iron ore, we can set up iron supervisors in Lanzhou and make money from iron!"
Currency like iron money has a very small circulation range and is basically minted locally and circulated locally.
But, that’s money too!
It's easier to do things if you have money.
Of course Li Hao knew this, and he said: "Please rest assured, uncle, the official has sent out all the people in Lanzhou City who are familiar with the geography of the mountainous areas. There should be news before winter!"
"Yeah!" Xiang Zonghui nodded.
Tsusakuin is not only a place where weapons are made, but also agricultural tools.
The iron farm tools are related to his and Gao Gongji's great cause of planting kapok next year!
Therefore, he and Gao Gongji have been busy with this matter for the past two months.
Especially after gaining official support, they began to establish capital dynasties in Lanzhou, Xizhou and other places with great fanfare.
Recruit blacksmiths from Qinzhou, Huanzhou, Qingzhou and even Yongxing Army and Jingzhao Prefecture.
Now, everything is ready, all we have to do is find suitable iron ore resources.