On the tenth day of the eleventh month of the first year of Guangqi, Cheng Zongchu, the envoy of the Jingyuan Festival, led his troops into Chang'an.
After being reminded by Shao Shude, the imperial court tried its best to collect a batch of goods and sent them to the Jingyuan army in advance. So the 6,000-strong army stationed outside the city and did not enter the city.
As soon as Cheng Zongchu entered the city, he came to the Dingnan Army Jinzouyuan as promised and met with Shao Shude.
"It's a big scene caused by Marshal Shao. Many households in the city were kidnapped by soldiers. Where are they being sent?" Cheng Zongchu asked unceremoniously as soon as he came in.
"There are frequent wars in Guanzhong, so these are the people who voluntarily went to Lingzhou." Shao Shude said with an unchanging expression: "Lingzhou, the tunnel that goes out to the west and goes north, is located at a strategic point, just right on the border of immigration."
"Lingzhou is a rare fertile land in the northwest of Beijing. Now it is in the hands of the Lingwu County King. The plan is not small."
"Cheng Shuai was joking. The governor of Shuofang is Li Shuai. This matter was also done at the request of Li Shuai."
Seeing that Shao Shude was so thick-skinned, Cheng Zongchu was too lazy to talk nonsense, so he asked: "I wonder why Shao Shuai invited me here?"
"He came here to fight against Li Keyong. Shatuo's soldiers and horses are brutal. If they are allowed to enter Chang'an, they may disturb the Holy Master."
"I heard that there are many party Qiang soldiers under Shao Shuai's tent. Will this guy stop disturbing the people?"
"Commander Cheng, please go and inquire. There are more than 10,000 soldiers from the Yi Congjun stationed outside the city. They abide by military discipline and have never done anything to disturb the people. If so, tell someone and we will kill him immediately."
Cheng Zongchu was suffocated when he heard this. He had just arrived, so how could he know the military discipline of the Yi Cong Army? However, he did not intend to dwell on this issue anymore. He went straight to the point and asked, "What does Marshal Shao want to do when he comes to Beijing this time?"
"The Qing Dynasty will bring peace and prosperity to the Tang Dynasty."
"What happens after the clearing is completed?" Cheng Zongchu continued to ask.
"I'm going back to Xiazhou to guard the border for my country."
"Why don't you leave now?"
"Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong are rushing to Chang'an with tens of thousands of troops. In order to prevent the people in the capital from being devastated and being plundered, they naturally have to be persuaded to retreat before leaving."
There is some truth in this statement, but Cheng Zongchu is still suspicious. He is always worried that Shao Shude will dethrone the emperor and follow Cao Cao's story. However, seeing that he did not even change the palace guards around the emperor, nor did he ask for a court official position, this statement seems to make sense.
How sincere, let’s take a look first. In this year and age, there are no other requirements, as long as we can keep the Tang Dynasty.
"If Commander Cheng is worried, he can station troops in Chang'an to see what he wants to do. If soldiers from Hedong come in the future, they can also contain him." Seeing that Cheng Zongchu was thoughtful, Shao Shude said again.
"That's fine." Cheng Zongchu made some calculations, and the three armies of Dingnan Army, Yingning Army, and Jingyuan Army joined forces. At this time, there were more than 50,000 people. Wang Chongrong should have no ambitions and just wanted to keep the foundation in Hezhong, but Li
It is difficult to say whether it is useful or not. It is really not appropriate to let the Dingnan Army withdraw now. What if the Hedong Army plunders Chang'an?
Seeing that Cheng Zongchu agreed, Shao Shude also smiled. Cheng did not have any ambitions, and what was even more rare was loyalty. It should be noted that of the three hundred states of the Tang Dynasty, if only a few dozen states were still paying tribute on a daily basis, they would send Ding to serve in the capital.
The remaining states either had their transportation routes cut off or became overbearing, so they would send some goods during the holidays as a token of respect.
As the Jiedushi of Jingyuan, Cheng Zongchu was perhaps the only one among the nine towns in the northwest of Beijing who was willing to respond to the imperial call. Zhu Mei was also considered before, but after getting in touch with Shao Shude recently, he felt that his ambition was beginning to grow, and he may no longer be loyal to him.
The court.
In fact, Mr. Zhu may not be as loyal as Huainan and the Jiangnan states. The reason why those states do not offer sacrifices is not because they are domineering, but because the road to offer sacrifices is cut off. Or there are rebels and rebels in the territory and they have too much time to take care of themselves. For example, Zheng Zheng
Jingnan was fiercely attacked by Qin Zongquan's subordinates. They were so far away. When Guanzhong was attacking Huang Chao, they sent 5,000 troops to come under the command of Wang Duo. This loyalty is indeed good.
Of course, Marshal Shao considers himself the most loyal minister in the towns northwest of Beijing. If anyone wants to depose the emperor and subvert the imperial court, he will be the first to refuse and will definitely launch an army to attack.
After sending Cheng Zongchu away, Shao Shude sent people to find Ximen Chongsui and asked the court to give him some more honorary titles. Loyal ministers like these things, which will make Lao Cheng happy, and his position will be better when facing the Hedong army in the future.
firm.
"Commander, Pei Tong is here." Just as he was about to take a rest, his own soldiers came to report, and Pei Tong, the general manager of the horse bank, asked to see him.
"Let him come in." Shao Shude said.
Pei Tong sneaked to the capital a while ago, mainly to contact Ximen and visit the shipbuilders.
"General Manager Pei, how's the investigation going on with the shipbuilder?"
"Commander, with the help of the Ximen family, everything has been identified." Pei Tong replied: "There are a group of shipbuilders near the dock in Weiqiao Town, a group in Weiqiao warehouse, and a group outside Chang'an City, totaling more than five hundred
Hu, Yi Congjun and Yeli Jun envoys have sent people to gather them."
"Okay!" Shao Shude patted the case and said happily: "When the craftsmen in Chang'an City are almost gathered together, we will send them to Lingzhou together. When we go to Yingning Town, a certain person has made an agreement with Zhu Shuai, and let Ye Li Yulue send someone
Escort. For the expenses required along the way, donations will be sent from Xianyang and Liquan counties."
Shipbuilding craftsmen are very important to the Hetao area. From Lingzhou to Suizhou, which is more than a thousand miles, it would be too expensive to rely on land transportation. But if we can make use of the Yellow River, which is more than two thousand miles up and down.
With water transportation, the cost can be reduced to one-tenth, and the long-term economic benefits are simply countless.
An important aspect of war potential is the ability to organize and transport materials. Without advanced means of transportation, large amounts of materials will be deposited in various places, lost on the road, and will not be used, and the mobility of soldiers will also be limited.
Isn't water transportation an advanced mode of transportation in this era? Not only is it helpful in wars, but it also benefits peacetime business transactions.
As a typical place with vast land and sparsely populated areas, if Lingxia's business wants to be active, the first step is to reduce costs, which mainly include security costs, tax costs and transportation costs. The commercial tax of Guochao is actually very low, even if you have to eat or take cards
The hidden costs required are still not high in calculation. Most of the costs for merchants are actually spent on self-recruited escorts to travel across states and counties.
In the Six Prefectures of Dingnan, there are no riots and looting, and the security on Tongyi Avenue is not bad. Unless you go deep into Hengshan or the grassland, there is no need to recruit a large group of skilled archers and horses to protect you. If you switch to water transport, you only need to travel along the way.
Loading and unloading goods near several cities, and spending the rest of the time on the river, where bandits and the like cannot be a threat. This really saves a lot of security costs.
Not to mention transportation costs, they have fallen off a cliff. Once these craftsmen have apprentices and the scale of shipbuilding technicians expands as a whole, the private water transportation industry should also slowly develop. This is a positive cycle, and transportation costs will decrease.
- Commodity prices fell - people can afford more things - demand for commodities increased - industrial and agricultural production capacity began to increase - more job opportunities were created - more consumers...
If you want to be rich, you must first build roads. This sentence is true no matter what era you put it in. If you make the people of Lingxia live better, the legitimacy of your rule will be stronger. You should work hard towards this goal!
"Commander, I have something else to report." Pei Tong continued: "Guang Mingzhong, Huang Ye, and Zhu Wen led tens of thousands of people to attack the river, including thousands of navy. Now in the past few years, a certain person and Ximen
The family made more visits and found only a thousand people. They were all near the Wei River and had no money and food. After just a brief chat with the general, they were willing to follow the commander to Lingzhou. Counting their family members, there are about five thousand people in total."
"Very good!" Shao Shude was even more overjoyed when he heard this, and said: "If the warship cannot be moved away, we will move the people away. The people from these thousands of households will be sent to Lingzhou. If a navy is to be formed in the future, they will be the seeds.
"
In fact, the combat effectiveness of the warships at this time was not very strong. Compared with ordinary ships used for transportation, their ships had thicker plates and unique designs. The main means of attack was actually relying on the sailors on the ship to fight.
It is commonly known as gang fighting. But after all, they are professional sailors. They are definitely better at controlling ships and gang fighting than the army. They may also know a lot about hydrology and weather, and they are more professional in the details of navigation.
With them as guides, the Lingzhou Navy will be able to exert its combat effectiveness faster. By then controlling the river, the victory of the Six Prefectures will be more stable.
"Shipbuilder, the navy will send you off as soon as possible, the sooner the better." Shao Shude stood up and said: "We will leave in a few days, and we won't wait for the Chang'an craftsmen. Going west, the Yi Congjun sent five hundred people - no, sent a thousand
Elite soldiers will escort you along the way and must be delivered to Lingzhou safely. These are all treasures, even more valuable than the hundreds of carts of treasures Tian Lingzi brought back from Shu!"
I asked you, Li Keyong, not to come in advance! Shao was disrespectful and gathered a group of talents first. But then again, Li Keyong probably wouldn't care about these shipwrights and navymen. In his eyes, this
Fifteen hundred technicians and navymen may not be as valuable as fifteen hundred horses.
This is the difference in philosophy between Shao and Li.
It is just a joke to say that Marshal Shao is the Khan of Yinchuan and the Khan of Guanbei. Barbarians in the prairie will not realize the importance of the Navy until the 21st century. Even if they realize it, they will only provide a staff of seven people.
Just like the identity of the warrior, Marshal Shao's identity as a khan is also fake. He is just a politician-type warlord with 21st century vision and insight, and at the same time, he is deeply assimilated by the times.
"Commander, Yongle ordered Xiao Qu (qú) to visit." Just after he asked Feng Yin to send Pei Tong away, Li Renfu came to report again.
Damn, it’s more tiring than fighting! Meeting people every day, all kinds of intrigues, and behind-the-scenes operations.
"Who is this?" Shao Shude asked.
"The magistrate of Yongle County in Hezhong Prefecture, the younger brother of Prime Minister Xiao Gou." Li Renfu replied.
"Oh?" Shao Shude sat up straight, this was interesting.
Xiao Yu is the prime minister, and his younger brother Xiao Yu is the county magistrate in Hezhong. This is not surprising. As a big family, they make many bets and spread their branches. As long as one of them succeeds, they can continue the family business.
Why did the Zhao family in Tianshui, the Feng family in Hezhong, and the Song family in Xihe bet on themselves? It was not because they were optimistic about their future. Wang Chongrong was granted the title of Langya County Prince, and controlled a prefecture, four states, and thirty-seven counties, as well as the benefit of the salt pond. The Xiao family in Lanling was
Is it weird that he placed bets on him?
But, he came all the way from Hezhong Mansion, what was he doing to find me?