Han Qian met with the county magistrates Song Ze, Han Chengmeng and others just outside Wugang County. On the pretext that the third prince strictly prohibited disturbance of the place, he declined Song Ze's banquet and did not enter Wugang City. Instead, he took the banquet directly with him.
People rushed to Huaxi Village, a farm in the west of the county.
Huaxi Village is located in a valley at the eastern foot of Xuefeng Mountain. Since it is located at the east entrance of the Xuefeng Mountain Post Road, as Luo's private property, Huaxi Village covers an area of only 200 acres. It is built against the mountain wall, but it is also extremely strong.
, the stone wall is more than one foot wide.
When Luo Jia led the rebels to flee south, he took away almost all the materials that could be taken away. The unmovable materials and wooden buildings were set on fire. There was only one ruined village and two to three hundred rooms in Huaxi Village.
A dilapidated house with broken walls.
A stream several feet wide flows in front of the remnant village, and the post road extends along the north bank of the stream into the mountains and beyond.
The terraced fields on both sides of the stream and in the back mountains total more than 3,000 acres, all of which are Luo's private property.
Fortunately, the rebels did not have time to destroy the crops in the fields. Two hundred families of slaves moved in first, just in time for the crops in the fields to mature. By the time Han Qian and others arrived, more than 4,000 grains and grains had been harvested into the residual village.
in the granary.
These two hundred households were given slaves, mainly after the two cities of Wuling and Hanshou were captured, they were incorporated into the labor camp, the medical camp and the descendants of their relatives and families. Of course, they also included Zhou Chu and Zhao Jicheng's new family families.
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To be honest, these descendants and their relatives have little to do with farming, so they are driven to run the farm, which is far inferior to those slaves who originally farmed for the Ma family and other Tanzhou clans. At the same time, their minds are wandering, and they are quite restless, even
Maybe they all had the intention of fleeing south to Yongzhou to join Zhao Sheng and Luo Jia's rebels.
However, Han Qian took them as a reward mainly because, apart from these subordinate officials, their children were rare educated people in the world. If they could be disciplined well, their value would actually be higher than that of the same people.
Fourteen to five hundred ordinary slaves are much larger.
The current manager of Huaxi Village is Han Laoshan's nephew Han Dong. He is a muscular man in his thirties. Compared with when he visited Han Qian in Tanzhou City a month ago, Han Dong is much thinner. It can be seen that Han Dong is only
With a manpower of seven or eight, he had to control 200 households and 1,400 to 1,400 restless subordinates and relatives. The pressure was much greater than imagined.
Of course, in order to prevent these people from escaping, Han Chengmeng mobilized a group of rural soldiers from the county and stationed them at the mouth of the valley east of Huaxi Village.
Regardless of whether Han Qian appreciates it or not, Han Dong must report it truthfully.
Two hundred slaves moved into Huaxi Village. In addition to harvesting grain fields, planting winter crops, and repairing houses, Han Dong also followed Han Qian's instructions to organize nearly 300 young people for centralized training, and organized the female family members to spin.
Linen thread, weaving cloth clothing.
At this time, Huaxi Village has been undergoing chaotic reorganization for nearly a month, but it is still in order, and there are no escaped slaves.
If anyone else saw this scene, they would definitely be shocked.
Even someone like Han Chengmeng, who has a good family background and a good education since childhood, and has been involved in taking care of family affairs for many years, would find it difficult to manage a village with such a complex staff and such restless people in an orderly manner in such a short period of time.
But in the eyes of Zhao Qi, Xi Faer, the Du family brothers and sisters, and other entourage members, it was very sparse and ordinary, and they could even pick out many things that Han Dong did not do well enough.
Standing on the five-foot-wide wall of the village, Han Qian looked at the crystal clear stream in front of the village.
In late autumn, the water level becomes shallower, and the river can only be moved by fishing boats, making it difficult for boats carrying cargo to pass. The Xuefeng Mountain Post Road is still mainly a mountain road and a land route.
"Although you are all demoted to slave labor, you are still being coerced into chaos, and you will rarely have the opportunity to escape from your country through meritorious service in the future."
Han Qian followed Zhou Chu behind him, and Zhao Jicheng said,
"In the past two days, you go and tell each family that I, Han Qian, have no intention of enslaving or exploiting them. If they can stay in Huaxi Village with peace of mind, the nearby fields and houses will be allocated to them according to their accounts. They only need to do what Xuzhou does.
Just pay part of the money and grain from the land tax. And the female dependents who work in the weaving courtyard can also receive wages as usual. I think there should be no problem in making a living for each family. But this time, Your Highness allowed me and my son to recruit 300 family soldiers.
Youngsters over the age of 16 who are willing to join the family will be given money and food as recruiters. After they have achieved military exploits, they will also be recommended for promotion to official positions, but the number of years of recruitment is somewhat different from that of ordinary recruits..."
The current recruitment system implemented by the Xuzhou Prefecture Camp mainly focuses on the children of Xuzhou. The recruitment period is five years, and after the expiration, it will be converted into a five-year reserve army.
During the five-year preparatory period, you need to spend four months each year in prefectures and counties to participate in rotational training and garrison rotation. During the garrison rotation, military pay will be paid as usual; if you find a job outside the garrison period, your military salary will be reduced by half.
After the five-year preparatory period, you will be able to find a job on your own, and your military pay will be reduced by half until your death.
The family soldiers that Han Qian is recruiting this time are lifelong in addition to those who have achieved military exploits and are awarded the title of decorated officer.
This time, in addition to the Marquis of Xinchang, Li Pu, who had already reorganized his family army and further expanded it to 500 men (including Li Chong and Chai Jian who were rewarded), Han Qian, Shen Yang and other people were also qualified to have private soldiers.
As for Han Qian and his father Han Daoxun, as the first meritorious servicemen, the number of their own military tribes also increased from 30 to 300.
The fields and houses awarded to them were mainly used to support their soldiers.
This also means that after Han Qian and others became the vassal vassalists, they followed the third prince to become a new powerful force in Tanzhou.
For Han Qian, the biggest benefit is besides the Xuzhou Prefecture Camp headed by Tian Cheng, Yang Qin, Xi Chang, Feng Zhang and others, as well as Guo Queer, Lin Zongjing, Guo Nuer and others who were incorporated into Jinyun Tower with Gao Shao.
In addition, Zhao Wuji, Xi Fa'er, Kong Xirong, and Zhao Qi all stepped into the light as a subordinate and were responsible for commanding the family troops beside Han Qian.
This time, the Xi boy who has been training hard for many years can be officially incorporated into the Han family's family army.
Of course, apart from these, there is still a serious shortage of elite soldiers who can officially go into battle. However, to ensure the combat effectiveness of the state camp, too many elite veterans cannot be deployed, and an additional group of new people need to be recruited for training.
The two hundred households of slaves in Huaxi Village are nominally the private slaves of the Han family, so naturally a group of people will be recruited from them first.
Of course, Han Qian could forcibly recruit strong young men and brave young people, but he still hoped that Zhou Chu and Zhao Jicheng would come forward to do ideological work and minimize negative resistance as much as possible.
Zhou Chu was born as a rural soldier and was gradually promoted to county captain. At this time, he was over forty years old, but he was able to assist in the training and command of the family soldiers.
Of course, when Zhou Chu and Zhao Jicheng came forward to do the work, they also used threats and intimidation.
Han Qian promised that with such generous conditions, each family would be allocated an average of fifteen acres of grain ration land in Huaxi Field, and they could also enter the weaving yard to work. In addition to being unable to change their status as slaves, it was equivalent to directly exempting them from the responsibilities they had to bear.
It is very likely that they will be trapped in nightmares and hard labor for the rest of their lives. What else can they ask for?
But if they want to get rid of their slave status, their way out is extremely narrow. They recruit Han Daoxun, Han Qian and his son to serve as family soldiers, and gradually become their direct relatives. For them, this is the brightest way out for them.
Three days later, Han Qian set off from Huaxi Village and crossed Xuefeng Mountain to Qianyang City. His team quickly expanded to more than 200 people.
Han Qian left Han Dong and Zhao Jicheng to take care of Huaxi Village. He used Zhao Qi, Zhou Chu, and Kong Xirong as generals to lead the 200 newly recruited soldiers, and followed them back to Qianyang along the post road that had been dilapidated for many years.
city……
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The Xuefeng Mountain Post Road starts from Wugang County, passes through Huaxi, Jiangkou, Huma, and Xiazhou villages, and reaches the Yuanjiang River on the other side of Wukou Village.
This was a passage opened in the Han Dynasty to use troops against the Wuling barbarians. It was extremely dangerous and steep when it was first built. In the middle and late periods of the previous dynasty, the conflicts between natives and foreigners intensified, and local separatism arose, so this post road was basically abandoned.
Under the intimidation of Tian Cheng's troops, Zhulufanzhai did not dare to set up barricades to block them, but most of the mountain roads, stone steps and mountains collapsed, and many passes could not be crossed by horseback.
Han Qian and the others walked for six full days before completing this Xuefeng Mountain Post Road, which was only 130 miles away.
When Han Qian and his party set out from Wugang County, they brought more than 40 horses with them, and there were no camels to transport any supplies. Seven horses were lost accidentally after falling into the cliff along the way.
In addition, walking so slowly and cautiously, three newly recruited soldiers unfortunately slipped into a deep ravine and died, and more than 20 people were injured in falls, which shows how dangerous this post road is.
The dangerous road was also the fundamental reason why Xuzhou and Shaozhou were very close to each other during the vassal war, but they were unable to send troops to each other.
Out of Xuefeng Mountain, there is a wild persimmon forest. It is the late autumn season when the forest is full of colors. The red leaves of the wild persimmon forest are like fire, which is very magnificent.
Yang Qin had been waiting on the east bank with two warships for two days. He looked through the autumn water and waited until Han Qian and others came out of the mountain. He said: "We agreed on the time. I thought you would encounter something in the mountains. If it weren't for the calmness of the boss,
I'm so angry, Tian Cheng is going to lead his troops into the mountains to pick you up."
"If something happens to the Banzhai in the mountains, can you and your troops be able to get in?" Han Qian said with a smile, "It rained a few times in the mountains, and the road became steeper and slippery. We brought so many people with us, and we were so slow.
It’s already getting pretty fast.”
Han Qian and others boarded the ship and arrived at Qianyang City when it was almost dark.
It was delayed by a full three days compared to the scheduled time. Xuzhou was also a little worried. Seeing his father standing in front of the city gate tower and staring at it, Han Qian also felt hot in his heart.
Instead of arranging any grand banquet, Han Qian returned to Furong Garden and asked Han Laoshan's wife Zhou to cook some side dishes for drinking, and Han Laoshan, Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo, Tian Cheng and Yang Qin drank with them.
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Han Qian knew that his father would never be happy to discuss Emperor Tianyou's bloody treatment of many rebels, and most likely he would not talk much about the rewards the Han family received this time. During the dinner, they only talked about the dangerous route they took on Xuefeng Mountain and the magnificent autumn scenery they saw along the way.
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"It takes more than 500 miles to travel south from Tanzhou along the Xiangjiang River, via Hengyang to Ningxiang, and to Shiziling, which separates Hengzhou and Yongzhou. From Wukou Village, Qianyang County, Xuzhou, take the Xuefeng Mountain Post Road, and pass through Wu
From Gangxian to Wuzhisiling, which separates Shaozhou and Yongzhou, it is more than 300 miles of land."
Han Daoxun did not have the opportunity to walk the Xuefeng Mountain Post Road in person, but he had deep considerations about its significance. He pondered and said,
"No matter how difficult it is, this post road still needs to be renovated. By then, as long as it is not bulk materials such as food, small and high-value tea, medicine, cloth, ironware, paper, salt, silk and other goods, it will naturally be overland over the snow.
Fengshan, it is much more convenient to travel between Shaozhou and Xuzhou; personnel exchanges will be faster."
