In the custody room of Baiting Fort, Xin Yunjing and several other senior generals from the Baiting Army gathered around Fang Chongyong for a meeting.
The core issue everyone discussed was just two words: making money!
"The income of the Baiting Army is to collect some horses and sheep from the herdsmen as taxes in the autumn when the cattle and horses are fattened?"
After listening to Xin Yunjing's report, Fang Chongyong asked in disbelief.
For an army, this amount of money is nothing more than throwing it into the water and hearing the sound. If you look at it from the perspective of "tax in kind", it is even more so.
"Who says it's not the case? With this little money, I often can't collect it. I just give my sons an extra meal as a token of appreciation."
Xin Yunjing sighed. Bai Ting's army was really miserable. There were only animal husbandry and fishing industries worth mentioning in the surrounding areas. He collected some grazing money from the herdsmen and compensated them with livestock.
However, in Hexi, cattle, sheep and horses could not be sold at a good price, and these livestock could not be driven thousands of miles to Chang'an for sale, so this became a vicious cycle.
The more they wanted to make money, the more they couldn't get it through formal channels, so they had no choice but to rob merchants on the Silk Road.
The Baiting Army's station was still some distance away from the Silk Road's post roads, so the merchants had no direct interests entangled with them.
On the contrary, the Chishui Army, which relied on Liangzhou city tax and merchant taxes, was disgusted with the destruction of trade routes.
After listening to the accounts of Xin Yunjing and others, Fang Chongyong also had a deeper understanding of the situation in Hexi. After all, it was still the lack of money that caused the trouble!
Hexi originally did not have so many troops stationed there. It gradually increased its troops with the expansion of the Tang Empire.
The increase in soldiers will lead to a series of logistical pressures. These problems cannot be solved just by relying on local farming in Hexi.
Are the Qiu Ba of Bai Ting Army bad people?
To a certain extent, they were bandits wearing the uniforms of the Tang Army. This time the Tianzhu monk cassock incident was completely exposed. It was an "extremely rare" case.
However, even in this case, except for the leader who was dealt with, the others were just mobilized into the Great Dou Army to serve as front-line "death squads". This is the rule of the army west of the Tang River.
The main reason why the leader was dealt with was that he lost the fish charm, which made his superiors and Jiedushi think that he was "not doing his job well" instead of leading troops to rob and kill.
Fang Chongyong believes that there are also many ruthless characters in the Baiting Army who kill people and steal goods, but they have not been discovered.
However, on the other hand, the problem of the Baiting Army was also a common problem for the border troops in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty. Due to various reasons (including transportation difficulties), the court did not provide enough support to the local border troops.
In particular, there is insufficient hard demand, so these armies can only be left to "find their own solutions."
The most prominent issue is horses, including the acquisition and maintenance of these horses.
In the Hexi Corridor, apart from local defense, which has relatively little demand for horses, other combat tasks are impossible without horses!
As for the Ministry of War account books, the number of horses required by each army in Hexi is customized.
For example, the Chishui Army, which has the highest proportion of war horses, has 13,000 horses, which is listed in the Ministry of War's accounts, and the court must provide the rations needed for these war horses.
So how to deal with the horses that are not in the Ministry of War account books and are particularly needed by the border town?
The Chishui Army has 33,000 soldiers. Do they only dispatch 13,000 cavalry for every strategic maneuver? Sometimes a long-distance attack requires one person and two horses, so how to obtain these horses?
The senior officials at the center of the imperial court did not want to consider these specific issues, and threw them all to the local military governors. The military governors themselves could not change horses, so they could only let each army find its own solution. Therefore, from the Anxi Protectorate to Hexi
Corridor, the western frontier armies of the Tang Dynasty all used ingenious strategies to raise "private horses" to cope with the treacherous war situation on the border.
From this perspective, Fang Chongyong felt that the person who was wrong was not Bai Tingjun, at least not entirely.
The culprit is actually the Ministry of War, the imperial court, and Li Longji.
But there is no way to explain this truth.
"You can also make some money by fishing, but it's just a drop in the bucket. Most of the catch is consumed by Bai Dinh's army as daily rations."
One of the ten generals said very distressedly.
"well!"
Everyone sighed together.
"Envoy Fang Jun, is there any way we can make money?"
Xin Yunjing asked in a deep voice.
Fang Chongyong, the "mascot", should not be offended anyway, so it would be fine if he was kept in Baitingbao. But this person actually said that he could help Baitingjun make money, so he should not be treated as an ordinary mascot.
"Take me to see it, it's around here."
Fang Chongyong said nonchalantly. He was not sure yet and had to investigate the area before talking.
"Okay, send a few capable soldiers to accompany Fang Jun envoy around. No matter what Fang Jun envoy wants to do, we will satisfy him. Even if it means robbing homes and robbing civilian women, we must make Fang Jun envoy satisfied and return."
Xin Yunjing whispered to one of the ten generals beside him, but Fang Chongyong heard all these words.
It’s just robbing families and homes, but what the hell is robbing women? Even if he wants to rob women, he can’t do anything when he takes them back!
Fang Chongyong sighed helplessly and said to Xin Yunjing: "We are all my own people, I will not trick you. This is really for doing something, and we don't want those weird people to follow. You just choose a few soldiers who are familiar with the local people to follow me."
"
Xin Yunjing and others looked at each other, thinking that Fang Chongyong wanted to be "chic" in Hexi.
"Go and make arrangements. We must have soldiers who are familiar with the local people's conditions and serve the Fang army envoy well."
Xin Yunjing ordered his subordinates. He was also curious about what tricks this "Fang Yanei" could play.
…
There are lush pastures along the Baiting Sea. Before setting off, Xin Yunjing specially took Fang Chongyong to the racecourse to pick a horse that he could ride.
When the group arrived at the racecourse, they saw a row of simple houses, which were only fenced on three sides and separated by many small "compartments" with wooden fences. In each room, there were several horses resting, sitting or riding.
Lying.
On the open grassland in the distance, there are many horses grazing and playing, creating a leisurely scene.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The people who manage the racecourse are not the Baiting Army. They are just the "security guards" of the Baitinghai Racecourse. In the Tang Dynasty, the people who managed the racecourse were pastoral supervisors. Racecourses across the country also
They are divided into three classes: upper, middle and lower. The upper class can raise more than 5,000 horses at the same time, the middle class can raise more than 3,000 horses, and those with less than 3,000 horses are all low class.
Bai Dinh Hai Ranch is obviously a high-quality horse farm.
As soon as the pastor saw Xin Yunjing coming, he immediately asked with a smile on his face: "Although it is the closest place, Ambassador Xin rarely comes to my place. Do you want to pick a mount for yourself?"
Because the Baiting Army often plundered trade routes and sold stolen goods to Turkic merchants, they were still very rich. They bought a lot of horses at Baitinghai Ranch and maintained a cavalry team of two to three hundred people. The two sides were considered old acquaintances.
"Li Mujian, I am not here to choose a horse, but to choose a pony suitable for riding for this deputy military envoy."
Xin Yunjing pointed at Fang Chongyong and said.
Child? Deputy military envoy? This is a big joke!
The shepherd supervisor was stunned. He had never seen such a powerful deputy military envoy in his entire life!
Li Mujian kept his words in his heart, and then took Fang Chongyong and others to the stables and asked them to choose horses.
"Just this one."
Fang Chongyong pointed to a maroon pony that was a little shorter than him and said.
"A very docile horse."
Xin Yunjing said to himself thoughtfully.
If you choose a war horse, you definitely can't be so casual. As a war horse, you can't be too docile, otherwise this kind of horse will be timid at critical moments!
But it seems that Fang Chongyong will not be able to go to the battlefield for many years to come! The service life of a horse is also very limited. Even when the horse dies of old age, Fang Chongyong is unlikely to go to the battlefield. In this case, why bother?
?
In this case, it would be more suitable for the horse to choose one that is more gentle and tolerant.
"Ten strings."
Xin Yunjing offered a fixed price.
Unexpectedly, when Li Mu heard this, he burst into laughter and said, "What are you talking about, Commander Xin? It's just a little pony, just treat it as a meeting gift from me, hahahahahaha!"
When a half-year-old child becomes a military envoy, either his ability or his background is unparalleled. He must have one or even both. Giving a pony as a favor may prove to be useful in the future, so why not do it?
?
"Then thank you, Superintendent Li, for your kindness."
Xin Yunjing just said casually, how could he really give money?
Li Mujian personally took action and gave the horse a "horse mark", shoed the horse's shoe, and fitted the colt with a small saddle, allowing Fang Chongyong to try riding the colt.
As expected, the horse was very docile. Fang Chongyong sat on it and Xin Yunjing held the horse. After walking around the pasture, Fang Chongyong was able to ride a horse independently, but he had not yet mastered the trick of running.
After being helped off the horse by Xin Yunjing, Fang Chongyong said with some excitement: "It seems that riding a horse is not too difficult."
"That's natural, but if you run long distances, you will still be very tired."
Xin Yunjing said while holding back his laughter.
When this "Ya Nei" gets used to riding horses between cities in Hexi, he will definitely know the disadvantages of riding horses.
It's just that the excitement hasn't passed yet and I can't even notice it. Why bother to talk too much to let this Yameni down?
The horse selection at the ranch was just a small episode. After leaving the ranch, Fang Chongyong went to patrol the grassland along the Baiting Sea, while Xin Yunjing returned to Baiting Fort. He wanted to lead people to patrol the Turkic territory on the north coast of Baiting Sea. This is a daily routine.
One of military affairs.
Xin Yunjing didn't have time to wander around with Fang Yanei all day long.
After walking around Baiting Beach, Fang Chongyong suddenly pointed at a plant in a bush and said, "What is this?"
"have no idea."
"I do not know."
The two Baiting sergeants following him shook their heads, not recognizing him at all.
"I know this thing is called wolfberry!"
Fang Chongyong said angrily.
There are wild wolfberries growing here in Baitinghai, which is a discovery, but...it's not of much use.
Because in Ganzhou next door to Liangzhou, wolfberry cultivation has reached a large scale, and medicine shops supplying it to Chang'an have been opened. Even if medicine fields are opened in Baitinghai and the wolfberries are grown and sold, they will not be able to sell for much money.
The money Yong imagined is several orders of magnitude less!
But this also proves something from the side: Baitinghai is not the only pasture that can be fed to horses!
Wild wolfberry is just a small discovery!
"What kind of grass is this?"
Fang Chongyong asked, pointing to something that looked unusual and looked like a bamboo shoot. This thing was far away from the water source and grew in the sand. It didn't look like it was from the same world as the grass next to it.
"I don't know him."
"I didn't notice it before."
The two fools once again gave an answer that did not surprise Fang Chongyong.
Fang Chongyong sighed. He discovered that the "customs and customs" in his mind and the "customs and customs" in Xin Yunjing's eyes were probably completely different.
"Well, if you go out to fight and one of your brothers is injured, where will you find a medical officer? Where will you find herbal medicine?"
Fang Chongyong asked in confusion. He found that maybe the way he used people was not quite right, so he wanted to try another method.
"Oh, Commander Fang told me earlier. We have no way to deal with these, but as long as we go to Liangzhou City, there are many ways. The Hu merchants in the Western Regions have medicines from the Western Regions, and I, the Middle Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty, also have medicines from the Middle Kingdom.
There is no shortage of medicine here in Hexi, nor is there a shortage of people who know how to use medicine.
Even our Baiting Army has specialized drug stores and medical officers to deal with difficult and complicated diseases in the army."
It turns out that the local "customs and customs" refer specifically to business relationships.
Fang Chongyong suddenly realized it and shouted to the two people around him: "Then let's go to Liangzhou City to do something right now!"
…
"I have a little pony that I never ride. Now I ride it to the fair on a whim..."
One day later, outside Liangzhou City, Fang Chongyong was lying on a flatbed wailing, his forehead hot and feverish. He never expected that his first long-distance riding on horseback would actually make him collapse!
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! A soldier is handing over the horses to Hu Shang at the gate of Liangzhou City to take care of, and another Baiting soldier is carrying a rented ox
The car was dragging Fang Chongyong, who had suffered redness, swelling and ulceration on the inside of his legs due to riding too long a distance.
Anyway, we had to go to the hospital, and now it was considered a "worthwhile trip", just in time to treat the injury. Fang Chongyong took a very open mind, but complained that he was careless and thought that riding a horse for hundreds of miles was just a matter of time.
What a heroic and heroic thing!
Alas, after this wave of injury heals, you can slowly start riding a horse again, and your body will gradually get used to the bumps and friction.
Fang Chongyong had a difficult thought in his mind, and immediately fell into a coma. He was suffering from high fever and unconsciousness due to wound infection, and soon felt that he was being helped to a side room and lying on a soft bed.
Then his blood-stained pants were taken off, and a pair of slender and slightly rough hands stroked the wound on his inner thigh. An indescribable coolness and comfort suddenly filled the injured skin.
Fang Chungyong tried his best to open his eyes, and happened to look into a pair of beautiful exotic eyes. The latter smiled sweetly, as if the spring breeze was blowing on her face. The girl suddenly made a silent gesture. Fang Chungyong was exhausted, and lay back again, and gradually
Fell into drowsiness.
"Anaye, are you okay? Come over here and load the medicine!"
An old voice came from outside the wing.
"Okay father, I'll come right away."
This Hu girl from the Western Region named Anaye glanced thoughtfully at Fang Chongyong lying on the bed, smiled, and then pushed the door open and walked out. Her body was not open at all, and she could not see Hu Ji at all.
The slim waist and plump hips that you should have.
It's just that kind of temperament, like a hibiscus flower that has just emerged from the water, with a dryness and purity that cannot be blasphemed.
Anaye left the wing, and the light in the room also left.