Cui Feng followed the soldiers of Guo Song to the Jin Palace in an anxious mood. He waited at the gate of the palace for a moment, and an attendant came out and asked, "But Mr. Cui?"
Cui Feng quickly raised his hand, "I am!"
"His Royal Highness, Prince Jin, please come in!"
Cui Feng followed his entourage into King Jin's palace. He asked in a low voice: "How should I salute King Jin when I see him? Do I need to kneel down?"
The attendant smiled and asked: "Master, have you read?"
"Read it!"
"Then just do the student etiquette. There is no need to kneel down."
"I see!"
When he arrived at Guo Song's official room, his entourage went in first to report for him. After a while, he came out and said: "Master Cui, please invite me!"
Cui Feng took a deep breath and plucked up the courage to walk into the official room. Inside the official room, he saw a tall man in his thirties with deep eyes. He quickly stepped forward, saluted and said, "Student Cui Feng
, see His Royal Highness the King of Jin!"
Guo Song smiled and waved his hands: "Master Cui, please sit down!"
Cui Feng sat down, took out a letter from his arms, and presented it to Guo Song with both hands, "This is a letter from my father to His Highness, please read it!"
Guo Song took the letter, opened it and read it hastily. As he expected, Cui Hao intended to dedicate Mingzhou to him.
Mingzhou, Xiangzhou, Weizhou, as well as Luzhou and Zezhou in Hedong, all previously belonged to the Zhaoyi Jiedu Prefecture of the Tang Dynasty, and were commanded by Jiedu envoy Ma Lin. After the Jingyuan mutiny, Ma Lin was unable to gain a foothold in Hebei and gave up.
The territory was withdrawn to the south bank of the Yellow River, and the Zhaoyi Jiedu Prefecture was divided among the three families of Li Huaiguang, Tian Yue and Li Wujun. Among them, the two states in Hedong were occupied by Li Huaiguang, Xiangzhou and Weizhou were returned to Tian Yue, and Mingzhou was occupied by Li Wujun.
After Guo Song recaptured Luzhou and Zezhou, he knew that the people here were obsessed with the Tang Dynasty and did not recognize the occupation of the vassal town at all. The same should be true for Mingzhou and Xiangzhou.
That's why Cui Hao thought of dedicating Mingzhou to himself, but Guo Song was more concerned about whether this was a certificate of surrender for the Cui family of Qinghe.
"Do you know your father's decision?" Guo Song asked.
Cui Feng nodded, "Father told me that if I encounter any danger, I will destroy the letter and bring the message to see His Highness!"
"Then let me ask you, does your father's decision in the letter have anything to do with your family?"
Cui Feng hesitated and said: "My father said, it has something to do with it!"
Guo Song laughed. He guessed that it was true. The Cui family of Qinghe was very clever. The Cui family of Qinghe was in Beizhou and was under the jurisdiction of Tian Yue. However, they used Li Wujun's territory as a favor. Even if Li Wujun was furious, they would still use Cui family.
The family has no choice.
"How is the situation in Mingzhou now? Your father didn't go into detail in the letter." Guo Song asked again with a smile.
Mingzhou is located to the north of Xiangzhou, that is, the Handan area. Its strategic position is very important. Fukouxing in Jiuxing, Taihang is located to the west of Mingzhou.
Cui Feng leaned forward and said: "Reporting to your highness, Mingzhou was originally rich in grain, but the population has dropped sharply in the past two years. There were originally 50,000 households, but now it has dropped sharply to less than 20,000 households. Most of the people have fled to the east of the river.
The taxes are heavy and the people cannot make a living."
Guo Song also knew that there were many refugees from Hebei in Luzhou and Zezhou who rented land in Hedong to make a living. However, there were many theories about why this happened, and there was no clear answer.
"Why is this happening?" Guo Song asked.
"There are many reasons, such as war and epidemics, but the main reason is that Li Wujun established a cavalry force of about 10,000 people four years ago. He required that the cavalry be supported by Mingzhou, which means that five households can raise one cavalry person.
From buying horses to raising horses, as well as cavalry armor and regular military rations, it was difficult for the five families to afford them. They went bankrupt one after another and had to flee to the east of the river with their families."
Guo Song nodded. He was very aware of the cost of raising cavalry. If they had not owned the Hexi pasture and supplied a large amount of war horses and fodder for a long time, they would not be able to raise so many cavalry. How could it be possible for tens of thousands of households in Mingzhou to raise 10,000 cavalry?
If you can afford to raise them, you don’t need to farm just pastures, just plant grass.
"What's the end?"
Guo Song asked again: "How is the situation of the 10,000 cavalry?"
"We can't afford to raise 10,000 cavalrymen. Now it has been changed to 3,000 cavalrymen. It is still very difficult for 18,000 households in Mingzhou to raise 3,000 cavalrymen."
"Even the salary of the cavalry must be borne by the people of Mingzhou?"
Cui Feng sighed, "The cavalry salary is 72,000 guan a year. On average, each family pays 3 guan and 400 guan. Each war horse requires at least 20 acres of land to grow pasture. The people really can't bear it. My father decided to resign, but
As the family wishes, we hope that His Highness’s army will be stationed in Mingzhou.”
Guo Song smiled and said: "I fully understand the meaning of your father and family, and I very much approve of their attitude. Mr. Cui will go back and have a good rest. If you have any difficulties, just ask them!"
"Thank you, Your Highness. Student farewell!"
Cui Feng bowed and bowed, then left.
Guo Song paced back and forth in the official room with his hands behind his hands. He was still concentrating on dealing with internal affairs and had not yet considered taking over Hebei. However, the opportunity provided by the Cui family this time was indeed rare. It happened to be Mingzhou, where Fukou Xing was located.
You can attack when you advance, and you can defend when you retreat. The strategic position is so superior that Guo Song can't help but be tempted.
He found a scroll from the bookcase, put it on the table and slowly unfolded it. This was a complete map of Hebei prefectures and counties. Guo Song looked at Mingzhou on the map. Both Li Wujun and Tian Yue were very sensitive to this location. If
Occupying Mingzhou by oneself will easily lead to a north-south pincer attack by Li Wujun and Tian Yue.
To resolve this north-south pincer attack, he must drive another wedge into Tian Yue's back so that Tian Yue's army would not dare to act rashly.
At this time, Guo Song saw another prefecture and county. He thought for a moment and ordered: "Summon Guo Yuniang and Song Tian to see me quickly!"
Guo Yuniang is the commander of the Jin Wei Mansion, and Song Tian is the deputy commander. The division of labor between the two is relatively clear. Guo Yuniang is responsible for the internal guard, protecting the safety of Guo Song's family members and senior officials, while Song Tian is responsible for external intelligence collection. Of course, as the commander, Guo Yuniang also
Will be involved in external intelligence collection matters.
The two of them received the notice and hurried to King Jin's official chamber, "See His Highness King Jin!"
"See Your Highness!"
Guo Song asked: "Does Jin Wei Mansion have an intelligence point in Hebei?"
Guo Yuniang bowed and said: "Youzhou Ji County, Weizhou Yuancheng County and Jizhou Xindu County currently have intelligence points in these three places."
This is the capital of the three major vassals. It is normal to set up an intelligence point here, but this is not what Guo Song wants.
Guo Song pondered for a moment and said, "I have three tasks to give you."
The two of them were refreshed and quickly bowed and said: "Please give me your orders, Your Highness!"
"The first task is to understand the details of Zhu Si's attack on Wu Shaocheng in Huaixi, especially Wu Shaocheng's hundreds of ships. I don't want them all to fall into Zhu Si's hands. I have arranged for experts. I hope you can get the news in time.
Passed."
After a pause, Guo Song continued: "The second task is to understand the enemy's garrison situation in Huaizhou."
Huaizhou is Hanoi County, located in the southernmost part of Hedong Road, on the north bank of the Yellow River. The Wangwu Mountains separate it from Hedong, making it no longer belong to Hedong. Huaizhou is Zhu Si's only territory on the north bank of the Yellow River, and its east and
Weizhou borders Weizhou and is an important springboard for Zhu Si to attack Hebei in the future.
"Then the third mission!"
Guo Song pointed to Mingzhou on the map and said, "I want to know the clearing of the garrison in Mingzhou and the detailed information about Fukouxing."
"I wonder if Your Highness needs information?" Guo Yuniang asked.
"Within ten days, I want all three pieces of information to be on my desk."
...........
Among the eight towns in Taihang, the one with the highest strategic position is Jingxing, which connects Taiyuan Prefecture and Hebei. More importantly, it can drive large vehicles, followed by Fukouxing, which connects Mingzhou and Luzhou. It is also an extremely prosperous business road.
Its strategic position is equally important.
Fukouxing has a Fukou Pass in Hebei Province, and a Huguan Pass in Hedong Province. Each of the two passes is occupied by its own army. There is a constant flow of caravans in peacetime, and no one interferes.
That afternoon, a caravan came to Fukou Pass. Fukou Pass is not on a high mountain, but its terrain is very dangerous. It goes up the mountain from a very narrow road, and at the bottom is the Fuyang River. The river bed is about ten meters away from the upper mountain road.
About ten feet, if you fall into the river from the mountain road, you will definitely die. At the foot of the mountain is a wooden bridge spanning the Fuyang River.
Halfway up the mountain is Fukou Pass. Fukou Pass mainly faces the enemy in the west, so there are various buildings on the mountainside, which can station 500 troops. Then there is Guancheng, looking down at the west below.
Mountain road.
A caravan coming from Hedong looked up at Guancheng and walked up. The caravan was not big, consisting of more than a hundred strong mules, carrying packages of goods. There were two cargo owners, and then more than a dozen guys.
Not long after, they arrived in front of Guancheng and were intercepted by soldiers. "Stop and accept inspection!"
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Guo issued an order strictly prohibiting the interception and inspection of caravans. In the areas under the jurisdiction of the King of Jin, these checkpoints and inspection points were no longer available, but Fukou Pass was not under the jurisdiction of the King of Jin. Intercepting merchants and extracting oil and water was their daily routine.
Enjoy this endlessly.
The team stopped, and a brigade commander came over, looked at the two proprietors, and said doubtfully: "It seems I haven't seen you before."
"Reporting to the general, we used to go to Jingxing, but rarely to Fukouxing."
The word "general" greatly satisfied the vanity of the brigade commander. Anyway, the businessmen didn't understand. All officers were called generals and soldiers were called military masters. If they were made comfortable, they might be able to collect less tolls.
"It seems you don't understand the rules here."
"I really don't understand, general, please give me some advice!" the two businessmen nodded and bowed.