"Write a letter to Pei Guan and ask him to keep an eye on Yang Yue and stop messing around." In the Qingfeng Hall, Shao Shude put his feet up on the table and read the military newspapers one by one.
In mid-to-early May, the grass on the prairie north of Yinshan Mountain turned green. The four prefectures of Feng, Sheng, Shen, and Rou began to prepare supplies. A large group of cavalry set off from Lingzhou in advance and gathered in Shengzhou to raise their horses. After the supplies were ready,
Escorted to Johor.
In early June, the pasture was growing well and was already very dense.
Yang Yue obeyed Shao Shude's order and ordered the Xinquan Army to stay in Rouzhou, while the Feng and Linzhou Army moved to Shenzhou. The rest of the brigade planned to fly eastward with 40,000 horses from the Feixiong, Heiji, and Jindao armies and began to sweep away the Leopard Cavalry on the Yanbei Grassland.
They have been expanded to 3,000 cavalry, and they will be supplemented by 1,000 people from the hall, and another 2,000 auxiliary soldiers will be recruited to complete the establishment. The 1,000 people from the hall will be dispersed to supplement the black and gold armies.
Because they are not responsible for the combat mission against Hedong, they have only recruited more than 10,000 cavalry from various tribes in the Yinshan Mountains. They are currently escorting follow-up supplies, grain and grass, and driving cattle and sheep to the Rouzhou grassland.
The scale of the battle is not large, but the composition of the troops is very capable. After excluding a large number of Tibetan light cavalry with weak combat effectiveness, they are all professional warriors who have practiced horse fighting and horseback shooting all year round. With enough horses, they can already perform a galloping attack.
Shao Shude has recently been considering expanding the Black Sword and Golden Sword armies to 20,000 men each.
The personnel were divided into three parts: in the "second phase", Liang Jun sent out 6,000 soldiers, Lingzhou Academy sent out 10,000 new soldiers, Guanbei and Helong recruited another 3,000 Han Han athletes, plus a thousand people in the hall, just enough for two people.
Just in case, the training for new recruits in Lingzhou Academy and Shaanzhou Academy is very strict. It takes five years to "graduate". They usually train while suppressing the local area as a "renewable army". This soldier is really not very "new"
.
The Feilong Army will also maintain a strength of 20,000 people, but we have to think about how the shortfall will come from. There are no new recruits available this year, and the surrendered troops can no longer be added to the Feilong Army. After thinking about it, it is probably only possible to recruit veterans from various branches.
Five thousand infantrymen who can ride horses were drawn from the army to supplement the Feilong Army, and another five thousand people were drawn from the surrendered troops of the Liang Army and dispersed into various old troops.
In the preliminary plan, the Forbidden Army reorganized by Shao Shude consisted of six infantry armies, totaling 180,000 people; six cavalry armies, totaling 90,000 people; plus several independent troops.
At present, it seems that the six infantry armies may not be able to hold back. This will need to be discussed later on whether to increase the number of troops.
There is no suspense about the six cavalry armies: Iron Cavalry, Silver Spear, Difficulty, Flying Dragon, Golden Sword, and Black Silk.
The Leopard Cavalry will be renamed the Flying Bear Army and exist as an independent force.
Yin'anzhi will also exist as an independent force, with a size of about a thousand people and no more than two thousand at most. It will be mainly children of nobles and generals.
The third independent force is even more special. It is a force composed of officers in training at Jiangwu Hall. It is very small in size, generally no more than a hundred people. After serving for a period of time, martial arts students will be given the opportunity to further their studies at Jiangwu Hall to complete their studies.
You can be promoted later.
Several palace officials were sorting out documents, pens, inks, paper and inkstones.
Mrs. Du spread out her pen and paper and began to write a letter. Mrs. Pei opened the wooden box and prepared to seal it.
The candidates for the internal officials have been decided, and Princess Zhe Fang Ai has given out a list, which basically continues the old system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The four first-grade internal officials are: Noble Concubine Zhao Yu, Shu Concubine Feng Xuan, Virtuous Concubine Yeli Lingji, and Xian Concubine Zhuge. Obviously, they all have sons.
The fourth concubine is the queen's helper. "The queen on the left controls the etiquette of women and regulates everything."
In addition to the four concubines, there are nine concubines, namely: Zhaoyi Xiaofeng, Zhaorong Wuzang, Zhaoyuan Weicai, Xiuyi Pei, Xiurong Chen, Xiuyuan Xiao, Chongyi Du, and Chong Rong Weishi, Chongyuan is Zhang Hui, and all nine of them are in the second grade.
One queen, four concubines and nine concubines, fourteen women, actually had seven wives. Two of them were the women of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. One was obtained legally and the other was obtained illegally.
There are nine Jieyu of the third grade, but they have not been gathered yet. There are only two people from the Jiang family and the Chu family.
As for the beauties of the fourth rank (four people), the talents of the fifth rank (five people), the treasures of the sixth rank (27 people), the royal ladies of the seventh rank (27 people), and the beautiful women of the eighth rank (27 people), they are completely vacant. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it gradually filled up.
Among the emperor's more than 100 women, apart from the queen, the only ones with real status were concubines and concubines. Jieyu, beauties, prostitutes, and the like were no different from female officials, and they all had to work, at least in theory.
According to the "Book of Rites", starting from the Zhou Dynasty, "in ancient times, the emperor established six palaces, three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven wives, and eighty-one royal wives." The only ones who were truly valued were the ten. Just the rest.
Theoretically, the women in the emperor's harem, except the queen, all have jobs and are government officials.
For example, the beautiful woman "leads the female officials to perform sacrifices and attend to the affairs of the guests", while the talented person "takes charge of the Yan's bed and arranges the silk to present the merits of the year".
But in actual operation, their main job content is to sleep with the emperor, which is also the focus of the assessment, although many of them have never been favored by the emperor in their lives.
"Your Highness, it's done." Du Shi handed the letter over.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, she was about to become a concubine. After all the hardships, she was in a good mood. However, she still felt a little regretful.
Born in the Du family of Jingzhao, she is graceful, talented, and innocent as a daughter. She is the best choice for the emperor and concubine at any time. She is qualified to be the queen. Unexpectedly, she was not even included in the fourth concubine. I would be lying if I said I was not disappointed. .
"Is it appropriate to attack the Khitan now?" After Shao Shude read it, he handed it to Pei to use the seal, and then asked Du.
"Not appropriate." Du said without hesitation: "Although the Khitans were defeated by the Jin army last year, they captured a lot of people, and overall they made a profit. They know their taste by eating marrow, and they will definitely continue to encroach outside Linyu Pass this year. They raided the pastures, harassed the military strongholds, and plundered people, cattle, and sheep. Unless Li Keyong mobilized a large army to go north, or simply abandoned the fortresses, pastures, and farmland outside the pass, this trouble would never be eliminated. The Khitans can contain the Jin people for me."
"It seems that it is right to restrain Yang Yue. Just continue to sweep Yanbei and subdue all the tribes. You can't use the fire to grab chestnuts for Li Keyong." Shao Shude nodded in agreement.
The Khitans are indeed a minor nuisance.
He will continue to harass your garrison outside the Pass. There are still many troops and thieves, so mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people will not be a problem. You can mobilize a large army to help. Of course, you can defeat the Khitan, but it will delay the war in the Central Plains. No matter, these strongholds outside the Pass will be lost sooner or later, and the Khitan will
People will gradually graze outside Linyu Pass and slowly approach the Central Plains.
As the saying goes, take one step back, step back.
Before Li Keju and Li Kuangwei became commanders of Yan, Youzhou basically did not participate in the war in the Central Plains. Therefore, it was able to firmly defend the twelve garrison outside the pass. From time to time, it could also attack the Khitan Caogu and plunder Dingkou, cattle and sheep, just like the towns in the northwest of Beijing.
He often went into Tubo territory to catch people alive, and went to Dangxiang Pasture to "recruit" cattle, sheep and horses, so much so that the emperor had to choose "incorruptible border generals".
However, starting from Li Keju's encirclement and suppression of Li Guochang, Li Keyong and his son, Youzhou Town participated in the Central Plains wars more and more frequently and lost a large number of elite soldiers and generals.
Historically, brothers Li Kuangwei and Li Kuangchou lost at least tens of thousands of elite soldiers to Li Ke. Liu Rengong was beaten violently by Zhu Wen and suffered heavy losses. After all this trouble, not only the soldiers and horses of the Twelve Guards in Guanbei were gradually transferred south
, even the guards at Linyu Pass are almost exhausted. The elite soldiers of Youzhou who were once able to suppress the Khitans and the Xi people were buried in the Central Plains. They are no longer able to deal with the Khitans. The land outside the pass is lost, and Linyu Pass is in name only.
, it was not until the three decisive battles in Hebei during the Later Tang Dynasty that the Khitans were frightened, and the old land of Yingzhou was recovered for a time, but it was just a return to glory, because there was another rebellion in the Central Plains...
"It stands to reason that the Khitans should have moved south by now, just in time to see how Li Keyong will respond." Shao Shude said: "Once the Jin army moves out in large numbers, then my pressure will be lightened and I can do a lot of things."
Whether it is to invest in the battlefields of Ziqing and Yanzhou, take advantage of the opportunity to conquer Hezhong, or attack Weibo, the choice is huge.
"Okay, let's take a rest." Shao Shude took his feet back, leaned into Du's ear, and whispered: "You come to bed tonight, I miss your peach petals very much."
Recently, while working in the rear, Shao Shude has made three women pregnant. Zhang Hui and Chu are both pregnant. This should be due to his work before returning to Ruzhou. Princess Zhe is also pregnant. The semi-monopoly milk source is indeed effective.
of.
****
"This is a silver dollar note." Shao Shude took a 100-yuan face value note issued by a clearing bank and recovered with tax deduction, and explained to his third son Mianren and fourth son Guancheng: "A silver dollar is worth one and a half copper coins, so
That’s 1,200 Wen.”
The institution that issues silver dollar bills has been changed from the military supply yamen to the clearing bank, and the clearing bank will also be linked to the Shaofu as a formal official organization.
The Shaofu is in charge of craftsmanship, metallurgy, money management, etc. In short, it is to train craftsmen in batches, master many techniques including weaving, dyeing, and smelting, and at the same time make exquisite things for the royal family to use.
Coining money, collecting taxes from gold, silver, copper and iron mines all over the world, making agricultural tools and weapons for farming organizations, making weights and measures standards, etc.
The Shaofu newly established the Banking Regulatory Commission, which had not existed in the previous generation, because gold and silver are not legal tender, and the clearing bank is an institution under the Banking Regulatory Authority, which is responsible for clearing the silver dollar transaction volume during the concentrated trading periods of various city fairs and trade fairs.
Look, there are too many places where mathematical talents are used, and it is impossible not to increase efforts in cultivating them. If this continues, Shao Shude suspects that this will become the subject with the most students in the new dynasty.
"Grandpa, I heard that the price of copper has increased. Hu merchants from the Western Regions have brought a lot of silver, and the silver is getting cheaper. Is this silver dollar still worth 1,200 Wen?" asked the third son, Shao Mianren.
"My father is very pleased that you can notice the price comparison of gold, silver and copper." Shao Shude said happily: "This price is not static. In fact, the relationship between supply and demand determines the price of most items in the world, including gold, silver and copper. In addition, the price of gold, silver and copper
Rising or falling are relative, I call it 'exchange rate', and the money used to mark prices is called 'currency'. Tell me, how many currencies do we have?"
Mianren and Guancheng thought about it carefully and said in unison: "Isn't it just money and silk?"
"Otherwise." Shao Shude said with a smile: "The phenomenon of privately minting copper coins in various vassal towns in my country is very serious. The weight and material of each penny are different. There are at least a dozen types, and there are dozens of more. It is very difficult for you to
When it comes to judging how much copper a piece of money contains, people often suffer a loss. When it comes to silk, it’s even more so. Is Qinghe silk a currency? Is Banan silk cloth a currency? Is Puzhou Zhen a currency? Is Zizhou Xiaolian a currency? Cai Cai
Are the Four Prefectures a currency? There are hundreds of kinds of silk in the Tang Dynasty, with different values, but they are all used as currency. How to estimate them? It’s a headache just thinking about it.”
The two children were thoughtful.
"Nowadays, wealthy merchants in Zhufang City like to use silver coins to price their goods. After so many years of hard work, I finally saw some results." Shao Shude sighed.
In fact, during the initial centralized trading period in the market, many large wholesalers were still accustomed to marking prices in copper coins and silk, and then converting them into silver dollars for addition and subtraction transactions. But as mentioned above, it was too damn troublesome, and not everyone agreed.
The value of a certain kind of silk. You said the silk you priced is 600 yuan a piece, but I think it is only worth 500 yuan. If we can’t argue, what should we do? Can we still do business?
After more than ten years, everyone found that it seemed more convenient to use silver dollars to calculate prices. The actual silver dollars were placed on the altar table. They weighed eighteen bahts, nine silvers and one copper. Their value was constant, and no one could be deceived.
It doesn't matter whether the silver dollar is in circulation in everyone's hands, even if it is virtual and imaginary, as long as there is a standard to calculate the price, that's fine.
Therefore, starting from two or three years ago, during the centralized trading period in various prefectures and markets, most commodities began to be priced in silver dollars. It was so convenient, the trouble was reduced a lot, the transaction volume doubled, and everyone was very happy.
If there is a balance during the transaction, you can choose to take the silver dollar notes to deduct tax in the future, or you can exchange them for physical silver dollars. If a market does not have so many physical silver dollars, then you will be given horses and livestock. Generally speaking, the most prosperous trading spirit
Xiafang City is not in a state of huge trade deficit, because the price of war horses is rising steadily, and it can also sell pool salt to the outside world. In many cases, it is actually a surplus, and overall there is no need to pay many silver dollars or silver dollar notes to the outside world.
Changing the unit of measurement of goods to silver dollars can be said to be Shao Shude's greatest achievement in business.
Next, we need to continue to consolidate and let more people get used to this half-real and half-virtual currency unit, and then slowly expand it to a medium-sized transaction level.
To be honest, silver dollar bills have actually helped a lot, because they have greatly reduced the demand for copper coins, alleviated the money shortage among the people, and activated trade in rural areas and small markets, which is beneficial to everyone.
"The silver dollar is a unit of account that my father spent a lot of effort to promote. I have always carefully protected its credit." Shao Shude said: "My son must remember that it is extremely difficult to establish credit, but it can be destroyed in an instant.
Silver dollar bills are not allowed to be issued indiscriminately. Issue as many silver dollar bills as there are silver dollars. It is really urgent and there must be something that can be exchanged. I call it an 'anchor' or a 'reserve'. Now if there is a bank
If the mountain comes to anchor me, I can transform the whole world, but unfortunately there is no such thing, so I can only play cautiously to this level."
Silver Mountain? Mianren and Guancheng were both dumbfounded. How much wealth can you get from a mountain made of silver?
