It was a cold spring, and a team of more than ten people riding donkeys was heading north along the official road. They were not an army, but ordinary civilians. They were all wearing thick cloth, gauze hats on their heads, and leather belts around their waists.
The dress of ordinary Tang people.
This team is probably in their twenties and thirties, all of them have dark skin and strong builds. The leader is a man in his forties, tall and burly, with a bronze complexion, rough and strong hands, a serious expression, a serious look, and a gaze.
Looking into the distance, paying special attention.
This is a team of craftsmen from Luoyang, fifteen people in total. They are all highly skilled shipbuilders. They were the shipbuilders Guo Song asked Li An to hire for him. The shipbuilding centers of the Tang Dynasty were mainly in Yangzhou, Quanzhou and Luoyang.
In places such as Yangzhou and Quanzhou, they mainly build sea-going ships, while Luoyang mainly builds inland river ships.
These fifteen shipwrights are from Luoyang. They are actually a team. The leader is called Geng Weizheng, a famous shipwright in the Central Plains. He recruited more than a dozen young shipwrights from Luoyang to form a team.
The shipbuilding team specializes in building ships and is quite famous in the Central Plains.
However, there are many such shipbuilding teams in the Central Plains, but private demand is not large. As a result, there are many monks and few people, competition is fierce, wages continue to be depressed, and it is difficult to support a family. So when Li An found them, even though they were going to distant Fengzhou to build ships, they
I packed my bags and hit the road without hesitation.
For them, it's a good thing if they can only get work, and they have no choice in the employer.
"Brother Geng, is our job reliable?" a young shipwright who looked like a monkey asked loudly.
Geng Weizheng turned around and glared at him, "We're almost at Dongshoujiang City, so you're asking this, don't you think it's too late?"
The young shipwright scratched his head and said sheepishly: "I just asked casually, I didn't mean anything else."
Geng Weizheng saw that other subordinates were worried, so he said to them: "Let me tell you, this trip to Fengzhou for shipbuilding was introduced by an old customer of mine. This old customer of mine is a big businessman in the capital, and his skills are as high as the sky. I
We have already collected a deposit of five hundred guan and paid for everyone’s settlement, so we have to go even if we don’t want to go on this trip, and if the other party doesn’t need the ship, our deposit doesn’t need to be refunded, isn’t this a good thing?”
Hearing that the deposit would not be refunded, everyone felt relieved and began to talk about it. The young boatwright who looked like a monkey asked again: "Brother Geng, does Fengzhou need a boat?"
Geng Weizheng smiled and said: "Of course it is necessary. Aren't we going all the way along the Yellow River? What we took over was the official work of Fengzhou. I guess Fengzhou wanted to use fleet transportation to connect Lingzhou and Fengzhou. According to what I heard
You know, rafts are now used for transportation between Lingzhou and Fengzhou. Needless to say, they are slow, require a lot of trackers, and are very dangerous. If there are boats, there is no need for trackers. They are safer than rafts and have a larger carrying capacity. Moreover, there are
The boat can also go directly to Guanzhong along the current."
At this time, a shipwright pointed at the big city that appeared in the distance and shouted: "Brother Geng, is that the Dongshou surrender city?"
Geng Weizheng looked at it and said: "That should be Yulin County, Dongshoujiang City is on the other side of the Yellow River!"
Everyone speeded up and headed towards Yulin County
The Yulin County of the Tang Dynasty was not the Yulin of later generations. The location was hundreds of miles away. This was the right turn of the Yellow River. It had been an important passage for the northern nomads to enter the Central Plains since ancient times. Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty wanted to
To block this passage, the Great Wall was built hundreds of miles long on the east bank of the Yellow River along the Zihe River. The Tang Dynasty built the Dongshoujiang City on the north side of the Great Wall.
Yulin County on the other side of Dongshoujiang City does not belong to Fengzhou, but to Shengzhou. At this time, Guo Song had just finished inspecting Dongshoujiang City and crossed the river to Yulin County. He mainly considered the resettlement of the families of the troops stationed in Dongshoujiang City.
Although he really wanted to place the families of the soldiers who surrendered to Dongshou City in Fengzhou, in fact, the most suitable place was Yulin County on the other side of the Yellow River.
Unfortunately, Yulin County belongs to Shengzhou. Although it is also under the jurisdiction of Shuofang Jiedu Prefecture, after all, the prefectures are different, so management is still inconvenient.
Guo Song considered two options. The best option was to persuade the court to assign Yulin County to Fengzhou. In fact, this was also the best ownership for Yulin County. Yulin County was separated from other states and counties by the desert and was isolated in the
If the Yellow River in the north can belong to Fengzhou, then Zhongtao and Dongtao in the Hetao area will be connected as one, and the entire upper and horizontal section of the Yellow River's "Ji" shape will be revitalized.
If the court does not agree with this plan, then he plans to use a replacement method to exchange a large pasture on the north bank of the Yellow River for a piece of farmland next to Yulin County. This is also feasible. There is also a group of Tiele herdsmen living in Yulin County.
It occupies a large area of land to the west of Yulin County.
The person who received Guo Song was Zhao Zhiwu, the magistrate of Yulin County. He was the son of Zhao Kuan, the imperial wine minister. Guo Song knew his father and went to the prince's banquet together. It was this relationship that made the two get along well. The county magistrate
Zhao Zhiwu is very willing to help Guo Song solve the problem of Dongshou surrendering the city.
"I think your plan is feasible. The herdsmen of this Tongluo tribe originally lived on both sides of the Jinhe River north of Dongshoujiang City more than a hundred years ago, so they call themselves the Tongluo Jinhe tribe.
Later, the Turks occupied their pastures and they were forced to move to Yulin County. I believe they dreamed of returning to the land where their ancestors lived. I went to tell them about this and this land exchange should be completed."
"How big is their pasture? Can it be converted into farmland?" Guo Song asked again.
Zhao Zhiwu smiled and said, "How about I accompany the envoy to see it in person?"
Guo Song readily agreed. The two got on their horses and galloped all the way with more than a dozen followers to the outside of Xicheng. It was only three miles away from Yulin County, with farmland to the east and endless grassland to the west, covering four to five thousand hectares.
The grassland is low and undulating, the Yulin River flows through the middle of the grassland, and herds of cattle and sheep can be seen in the distance.
Guo Song got off his horse, knelt on the ground and looked at the land, then dug up a handful and smelled it. The land was fertile and moist, making it an excellent humus soil.
He stood up and looked at the Yulin River in the distance, and found that there were many traces of ravines on both sides of the river. "Are those irrigation canals?" Guo Song asked, pointing to the traces of canals in the distance.
Zhao Zhiwu looked at it for a moment and said: "Those are the remains of the river canals left by the Han Dynasty. This area used to be a large area of fertile farmland. Later, it was ruled by the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the grain fields turned into grasslands."
There was no problem with the land. Guo Song asked again: "If I use this place as a military settlement and I allocate land to them, can Yulin County give them a land deed?"
Zhao Zhiwu smiled bitterly and said: "This question is difficult to answer. First of all, this land is not within the scope of Yulin County. To a certain extent, it is the tribal property of Tongluo herdsmen. If Dongshou surrenders to the north bank of Jinhe River,
If the land is exchanged with them, then this land should belong to Dongshou Jiangcheng, that is, it should be under the jurisdiction of Fengzhou, and Fengzhou should issue the land deed. There is no big problem on my side. I will cooperate with Guo Shijun in everything, but this land replacement
It needs to be approved by the imperial court before it can take effect. I suggest you send a letter to the imperial court as soon as possible."
Guo Song nodded, "I will report the ownership of Yulin County and land replacement to the imperial court and submit it to the emperor for approval as soon as possible."
After viewing the land, the two returned to Yulin County and walked to the gate of the county town. They saw a dozen men who seemed to have come from afar to inquire about something, and the guard guard pointed in their direction.
Guo Song immediately turned around and said to his subordinates: "Go and ask, who are they?"
The soldier galloped away, inquired for a while, and came back to report: "Envoy Qijun, they are shipwrights from Luoyang, and they said they are here to find you."
Guo Song thought about it and suddenly realized that he had almost forgotten about it. He had asked Li An to help him find the shipwright. It turned out that they were already here. He quickly urged his horse forward and asked: "Who is the leader of you?"
A forty-year-old shipwright bowed and said: "The villain Geng Weizheng is the leader. Are you the Guo Shijun of Fengzhou?"
Guo Song smiled and nodded, "That's me. You are the shipwrights introduced by Li An, right?"
"Your Majesty is absolutely right. We are shipwrights arranged by Mr. Li, and we came from Luoyang."
Guo Song turned around and said to Zhao Zhiwu: "Please ask the county magistrate to arrange for them to rest and eat. I will send someone to take them to Jiuyuan County later."
"No problem, it's a piece of cake."
Zhao Zhiwu asked his entourage to take them to the inn to rest. Guo Song smiled at Geng Weizheng and said: "First of all, I welcome you very much. We are still several days away from Jiuyuan County. You can take a good rest in Yulin County first, and then I will send someone to take you there."
You Jiuyuan County, I want to go to Dongshoujiang City myself, so I won’t go with you."
Geng Weizheng bowed deeply to Guo Song, and then led his men into the county with the county magistrate.