The rogues are accustomed to eating wherever they go, so they rarely have food and grass in their army baggage. However, no matter how embarrassed they are in defeat, the rogues are never willing to abandon jewelry, jade, and yellow and white things. That is when they regroup.
The capital is also the purpose of their control over the countryside. Compared with gold, silver, pearls and jade, food and grass are not important, because after eating, they can go to weakly defended cities and the fortresses of wealthy families to rob. Soldiers are not important either, so this
There are disaster victims everywhere these days, and as long as you have money, you don’t have to worry about no one coming to work as a jobber to get by.
Among all the bandits around Qi County, Pei Changcai had the best reputation for greed. He and Shi Zihe had just conquered Changqing County, and there was a large amount of bandits that they had not had time to deal with. In the battle of Daishan, the two men were completely wiped out, so,
This windfall fell into the hands of the soldiers of Qi County without any accident. Therefore, when the ox cart transporting the seized supplies returned to Licheng, the eyes of the prefect Pei Caozhi and the county magistrate Zhang Xutuo kept squinting with joy.
When the local civil servants saw the county soldiers and generals, they became more and more polite, as if they would have meat on them at any time.
Li Xu was a little uncomfortable with the politeness of the civil servants at first. Later, after Qin Shubao and Luo Shixin explained it, he realized that the way the county soldiers handled the captured objects was different from that of the fu soldiers. The generals of the fu soldiers all had fixed salaries paid by the court.
Yes, ordinary soldiers are also exempt from taxes. Naturally, their spoils of war usually have to be turned over to the treasury. Even if the court returns rewards, there will only be a few copper coins left on everyone's head. And the supplies for the county soldiers are not enough.
Dependent on the imperial court, the generals' salary and the soldiers' daily needs must be obtained from the local government. The more chaotic the world is, the more county soldiers need to be raised, and the more sophisticated weapons and armor they need to be equipped with. Over time, the material supply of the county soldiers will be reduced.
and salary payments have become a big hole in local finances that cannot be filled. In order to make up for the shortfall, and also to take care of local dissatisfaction, starting from last year, the imperial court specially ordered that the supplies obtained from suppressing bandits should be returned to counties for their own disposal.
"Then don't the armors and weapons of the brothers already exist?" After listening to Qin and Luo's explanations, Li Xu felt very happy. After two consecutive bloody battles, he had become one with the generals of the county soldiers.
Especially Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin and Dugu Lin, because it is "difficult to distinguish between superior and inferior" in martial arts, they actually have a feeling of sympathy for each other.
"Not enough!" Qin Shubao shook his head slightly, denying Li Xu's view. "The brothers who died in the war need pensions, and the injured and disabled brothers need money to support them for the rest of their lives. Civil servants in the prefecture, local subordinates
All the officials have helped a lot, so we can’t let their efforts go in vain!" As he said that, he sighed softly. He was probably very dissatisfied with this distribution method, and at the same time he felt very helpless.
The Sui Dynasty implemented a policy of dividing civil and military affairs in local areas. Prefects or county guards did not interfere in military affairs, and county magistrates and governors did not interfere in local government affairs. However, in actual operations, civilian officials could always easily choke military commanders.
.A county magistrate like Zhang Xutuo who can not only help the civil servants to help, but also make the soldiers risk their lives to accompany them is really rare. In order to maintain this good situation of civil and military harmony, the brothers sacrificed their lives for
A large part of the battle achievements and spoils of war were divided, which was also a sacrifice that had to be made.
But the efforts of the generals were not unrewarded. On the second day after the loot and prisoners were delivered to Licheng, Lord Pei Caozhi wrote a letter asking for merit and sent someone to rush to the Eastern Capital. Before the messenger set off,
, the old eunuch specially gave the content to Zhang Xutuo and Li Xu for review. It not only described in detail the entire process of the two men's bravery and strategy in annihilating the bandits, but also described the victory of the bandit suppression as a "promotion to the imperial court."
His prestige makes the gang of thieves tremble!" In the battle of "He has done great service to the country and saved the people from hardship". I request the court to reward me in accordance with the law.
"Your Excellency, you are so polite. Zhang is a martial artist. How could he be so virtuous and capable as to dare to be praised like this by being a prefect?" Zhang Xutuo put down his request for merit and bowed his hands to Pei Caozhi to thank him.
"This young man is new here. His achievements are all due to people. How dare he take this extraordinary achievement? I hope the eunuch will write down the planning and coordination of all his colleagues, so that the general will not feel ashamed!" Li Xu followed Zhang Xutuo.
, also stood up from the bench and thanked Pei Caozhi.
"Of course I know their contribution. The contribution of civil servants is not in fighting. It is our top priority to make the place peaceful and the people have enough food and clothing. So the two generals should not be polite about their contribution." Pei Caozhi
He returned the gift with a smile and was very satisfied with the performance of Zhang and Li.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, local civil servants have been appointed by the prefects themselves in most cases. Although the power of appointing local officials above the ninth rank was returned to the court during the Sui Dynasty, the imperial examination had just started and the court could not directly recruit enough talents.
, the actual implementation of the official appointment policy was similar to that of the previous dynasty. Local civil servants were usually recommended by the prefect, and the appointment by the court was just a formality.
Therefore, when Pei Cao speaks alone, he represents the common opinion of more than a hundred civil servants in the entire Qi County. Zhang Xutuo and Li Xu saw that the old eunuch was so generous, but they were disrespectful, so they had to thank the eunuch again for his recommendation. At the same time, in order to express their gratitude to the generals
In response to the strong support of the old eunuch and the civil servants to the county soldiers, Zhang Xutuo proposed to give another half of the post-war profits to make up for the "local" losses caused by the rogue bandits crossing the border. The old eunuch declined briefly.
He also expressed his gratitude on behalf of the folks in Qi County. The two sides talked happily, and both of them deliberately forgot about the fact that a few days ago, five generals and 20,000 people fought hard, but the reinforcements were detained in the city and could not be received.
"Have you ever seen the emperor before General Li came?" After Pei Caozhi solved the problem of spoils distribution, he quickly turned the conversation to aspects related to the court's movements.
"Before the general came to Qijun, he was personally summoned by His Majesty. The scene of that day is still vivid in my mind!" Li Xu cupped his hands in the direction of Luoyang and answered. Most of this sentence is false. He was running around for days. At that time, he was summoned by Yang Guang
Xu Zi had not remembered clearly what he said during the summons. But he, as the client, could not tell the truth, and Pei Caozhi, the interrogator, would not be serious enough to inquire about the details of the conversations between the emperor and other people.
"Your Majesty is really envious of General Li's royal family!" Pei Caozhi also bowed his hands in the direction of Luoyang in compliment. Then, he asked with a smile. "I have a bad virtue. I haven't seen the sky for a long time.
Yan, I wonder if the Holy Body is in good health? Are you still working as hard as before every day?"
"Your Majesty was very happy when he heard that Yang Ni was executed. He was also very happy to review the daily memorials!" Li Xu pondered for a while and then gave an ambiguous answer. Yang Guang has been in a gloomy mood since he returned from the Eastern Expedition without success.
Yang Xuangan's murder only made him happy for two days, and then he became depressed again. He didn't even bother to review the memorial. This news was not a secret to all the entourage, but no one could announce it to anyone in a formal occasion.
mouth.
"Alas, it is a disgrace to me that I, as a minister, cannot share your Majesty's worries!" Pei Caozhi shook his head and sighed. Being an official is about "knowing the elegant meaning after hearing the string song". From Li Xu's answer, he had already analyzed it.
The real answer. After bowing his head and being silent for a while, the old eunuch asked again: "Are you sending troops to quell the bandits in various places? Since Your Majesty has sent General Li Lang here, will the Ministry of War also take action in the near future?"
"When His Majesty ordered General Zhang to come and listen to General Zhang's dispatches, he did not mention the arrangements for sending government troops to quell the chaos. Lord Pei Ju, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, was on a tour of the Western Regions and had not returned. Now, General Li does not know whether he has returned!" Li
Xu thought for a while and answered.
He knew that Pei Caozhi expected the imperial court to send a large army to quickly exterminate the bandits in Henan counties, but judging from his short political experience, this wish could not be realized. During the days when Xuzi followed the imperial court back south, he never
He had never heard from the imperial court how serious the bandits were in the counties of Henan. Even before crossing the Yellow River, he himself believed that the so-called bandits were just a few groups of thieves hiding in the mountains and robbing homes. Who would have expected that these thieves would
With such strength and courage, they were no longer satisfied with robbing homes and homes, but took the initiative to launch attacks on county and county towns.
"Then will your Majesty continue to conquer Liao next year? General Li, please forgive me for being wordy. As you get older, you will inevitably like to inquire about irrelevant things!" The expression on Pei Caozhi's face became more and more solemn, with a hint of sigh.
asked in a tone of voice.
"It's okay. We are just chatting in private this time, and there is no official business involved. So, if Zhong Jian knows something, just say a few words to satisfy the curiosity of our two talkative old men!" Zhang Xu was afraid that Li Xu would be embarrassed.
Tuo intervened first to smooth things over.
"The troubles in Liaodong have always been His Majesty's heart. If the troubles in Liaodong are not eliminated, there will never be peace on the Sui border. Therefore, the general thought that when local troubles came to an end, the government troops would definitely leave Liaodong again. However, the specific arrangements of the imperial court were not disclosed.
, I really haven’t heard much about it!" Li Xu thought about it and answered in a roundabout way.
Is the Battle of Liaodong necessary? He still can't figure it out. As a young general, his blood is always boiling when he thinks about opening up new territories for the country. But when he saw the desolate scenes on the way to Qijun, he still couldn't figure it out.
It made him hope that the imperial court could put a stop to side affairs and give the people some time to recuperate and recuperate.
It's just that some words should not come from a military commander like him. After experiencing so many setbacks, Xuzi has learned to protect himself and does not leave any excuses to anyone. Especially those who are close to him and have a higher position than him.
boss.
"Hey, Liaodong is so far away. I don't even know what a barbaric place it is. Hey, when people get old, they always have no ambitions!" Pei Caozhi shook his head, smiled bitterly, and sighed again and again, as if to talk about his age.
Big, hot blood has gone cold. And it seems to be expressing some dissatisfaction.
After sighing for a while, he asked Li Xu whether he was comfortable living in Qi County and whether he could get used to the food. When everything was answered in the affirmative, the old prefect stood up and took out the food from the cabinet close to the wall.
Come with a land deed.
"This is an empty house next to the Yamen. Li Lang will come all the way to help our elders in Qi County. The elders have nothing to give, so I will provide you with a small courtyard to rest in for the time being!"
"Sir, this can't be done. The general has just arrived and has not made any achievements. He really cannot deserve the love of the elders of Qi County!" Li Xu quickly stood up and said goodbye.
After chatting with Qin Shubao and others in the past few days, he already had some idea of the prices in Licheng. Since the surrounding counties were invaded by bandits, and Duqi County was peaceful, the wealthy people in several nearby counties had already
This is regarded as a land of peach blossoms. Nowadays, the price of land in Licheng cannot be said to be high, but a house with three entrances and three exits cannot be bought without hundreds of dollars.
"Zhong Jian, accept it first. The county soldiers are no better than the government soldiers, and they will be disbanded soon after the battle. If you don't accept them, you, a loyal and brave man, will not even have a place to stay, and you will lose face in the local area. If you are really sorry,
When the imperial court calls you back, return this house to the prefect!" Seeing Xu Zi's embarrassed look, Zhang Xutuo ordered with a smile.
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey your orders!" Li Xu bowed again and thanked the two elders. The moment he took over the land deed, he couldn't help but show a bit of joy in his eyes. Since leaving Su Chuanbu,
, he has been living in no fixed place. Now that he really has his own home, he really wants to go and see what it is like right away.
After drinking tea for a while, Pei Caozhi got up to see off the guests, and at the same time ordered his attendants to take Xu Zi to "identify his family." Under the guidance of the Pei family members, Xu Zi soon arrived in the back street of the prefecture.
, I found my new home. It is a courtyard covering an area of about three acres. It is not too big, but it is very neatly kept. There is a main house for the owner to rest, a side room for the servants to live, and a cross-yard for the guests to live.
The side hall for the residence of confidants and aides has all the necessary facilities for an official family. Behind the main house, there is a small garden with a small pond built with blue bricks. It is winter, and the remaining water in the pond is
The lotus has long since decayed, and its black stem reflects the water ripples alone, giving it a somewhat deserted look.
There is only one image of the courtyard of an official's family in Xuzi's memory. He was in Huaiyuan County at the time, and that house belonged to Duke Tang and was just a temporary residence. Xuzi clearly remembered that when he first entered the residence of Duke Tang, he felt that
In addition to being shocked, he was filled with envy. Since then, while working hard to gain fame, he has been looking forward to owning a courtyard like that. It doesn’t need to be big, just one-fourth of Tang Gong’s temporary residence. The front yard is full of flowers, and the back yard is full of flowers.
Plant vegetables….
Now, his dream has finally come true. But he is not as happy as he was in his fantasy. The yard is big enough and clean enough, but it feels like something is missing. He rewarded and sent away the servants of the prefect's family, Xu Zi said again and again
He wandered all over his yard. When the smoke rose again, he finally understood what was missing most in the yard or in his heart at this time!
In previous fantasies, there was Tao Kuo, and occasionally Wan'er. But in the yard in front of him, no one in the fantasy could appear except himself. (To be continued)
