Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1120 Two Envoys

On March 27, the second year of Jianji, there was continuous spring rain.Zhou Shi came to Beizhou again.

Everyone fights back, but the exchanges of envoys are still very frequent. Even if it is not the time of a war, the exchange of caravans is not prohibited, but more inspections are required to prevent spies. In fact, it is very difficult to prevent. This method collects a lot of information without even requiring you to do much espionage, most of it is public.

As a shogunate judge, there are many people who know Zhou Shi, and he doesn't expect to sneak into Weibo.What's more, there is nothing shameful about going on an envoy, so he followed a caravan to Qinghe County, Lisuo, Beizhou in a grand manner, and was arranged to wait for news at the post station.

"Beizhou missed the farming season this year." Zhou Shi stood by a canal, looking at the barren fields, feeling a little emotional.

The ditches were covered with weeds and even accumulated a lot of silt.This was supposed to be cleaned up in winter, but the Beizhou War last year lasted for a long time, and in the midst of chaos, no one took the initiative to organize the people to do such things.

So, when the war comes, it is the common people who suffer the most.

"Will it affect the business?" Someone in the caravan asked, frowning.

"Shouldn't be." An old man said while taking care of the livestock: "It looks like the mulberry forest hasn't been destroyed along the way, but I don't know if there is anyone weaving."

"The price of Qinghe silk will increase again." Someone said with certainty.

When the caravan came to Beizhou for trade, the most important commodity they purchased was Qinghe silk.Applying the words of later generations, this is a "national famous brand" with huge output and good quality. It is the first-class product appointed by the former Tang Shaofu, and it is also an important source of financial revenue for the Wei Bo shogunate.

It's just that such a rich and large county with a population of more than 80 was massacred by Liu Rengong once in history, and again by the Khitan people.

And Beizhou is actually the epitome of Hebei.Throughout the Five Dynasties, the population dropped sharply by more than half, especially the Khitan invasion during the Later Jin Dynasty caused the most serious losses.

The horse farms in Chengde have almost disappeared, the production of Qinghe silk is also declining, the population is losing a lot, the farmland and water conservancy are becoming barren, and the whole is going downhill.

This is a chaotic world, and no one can escape it.

Henan, Guanzhong, and Jiangnan lost a large number of people in the "first half". Hebei thought it had escaped, and was even complacent that the population had returned to the heyday of Tianbao, but in the "second half", they still had to die.

"The people of Xia don't want to manage Wei Bo well." After talking about silk, the group talked about what they saw and heard on the road.

"It's outrageous to not let the people farm, but to arrest people and go to other places to open up wasteland."

"It's been deserted for the whole year. If ten people leave, can half of them be left on the ground?"

"Maybe it will be abandoned for more than one year." Someone sighed: "After the spring of the next year, will there be farm tools, seeds, and cattle? If you want to weave cloth, you will also have looms, not to mention whether there are mulberry forests in the local area. "

"The people of Beizhou have such good weaving skills, it's wasted."

"What do the Xia people think? Fighting wars like this every year, and not thinking about making money, the people may not be able to survive."

Zhou Shi listened to it for a while, then burst out laughing.

It is true that the lives of the people in the states of Weibo are very good in Hebei, and they are often envied by the towns of Chengde, Cangjing, and Youzhou.But Xiaren's life must be very bad?

With Shao Shude's level of militarism, it may indeed be more difficult, but it is far from the level where he cannot survive.

"If the Xia people occupy Chengde, the town of Jishen and Zhao Sizhou will look like this. The wives and children will be separated, and the house will not be safe." Zhou Shi turned around, looked at the merchants who walked out of the post station one after another, and said: " Does anyone still want to surrender now?"

The merchants sighed in unison.

What kind of Xia Dynasty is this? It doesn't look like it will be able to accomplish anything.He didn't know how to appease Wei Bo first, earn money, take his elite soldiers for his own use, and drive him to attack all directions.

Zhou Shi also sighed, he thought the same way.

If he were to deal with it, the first thing to do would be to re-appoint a trusted Jiedu envoy, install trusted officials, and find ways to use Wei Bo's wealth.

Wei Bo was subdued, and most likely there would be no troubles in the short term. It would not be difficult to abolish the military election system and replace it with the Jiedushi appointment system.Then tens of thousands of Wei Bo's elite soldiers can be used to attack Hedong and Hebei and dominate the north.If you are really worried, you can also serve as Weibo Jiedushi yourself.

Of course there are risks, but how can there be anyone in this world who does not take risks?Shao Shude really went astray in this step.

But this also gave other feudal towns opportunities, which doesn't seem to be a bad thing.

"How difficult the world is." Zhou Shi sighed: "Since Wei Bo is destroyed, where will the Xia people's troops be directed next? Get to know the lords and make preparations early. With the current situation in the world, we can only place our hopes on it." Yu has changed."

"Judge Zhou." A merchant boldly asked, "Will the Xia people attack Chengde next?"

"Nine times out of ten." Zhou Shi didn't hide it either.

"Why doesn't Wang Shuai show up as a minister?" Someone asked.

Zhou Shi sighed.

Do you want to be Wang Shuai?I want to go crazy!But Shao thief didn't give him a chance.

Seeing what the Xia people did in Hebei, Zhou Shi felt very pessimistic.This time he went south to Luoyang, it was just his last effort.

If it doesn't work, you can only prepare your troops for battle and fight to the death, there is no other way.

******
Zhou Shi left Beizhou at the end of March and hurried to Luoyang.

On the post road, there are soldiers of the Great Xia Forbidden Army who won the victory.

Zhou Shi had met Xia Bing many times, and knew that they were good at fighting and had high morale, so this meeting was just a random look.

After more than a year of fighting, these sergeants are homesick, but the overall military discipline is still quite good, which can be seen from the queue——

On the way back to the division after a simple victory without any enemy chasing or harassing, every time they walked a section, they stopped collectively to form a team, then beat the drums and continued to move forward.

is this necessary?Maybe, maybe not.But the Xia people were able to do this, and the sergeants did not complain. Obviously, the military discipline was very strict. It was comparable to the Liang army under Zhu Quanzhong's rule. It was also a very strict military discipline.

People from Henan and Kansai are really obedient!

What really caught Zhou Shi's attention in the queue was the endless supply vehicles.

Horse carts, mule carts, donkey carts and even ox carts are loaded with various supplies.The strong wind blew a corner, revealing the true appearance of the goods on the car.

Colorful silk, golden copper coins, exquisitely shaped gold and silverware, and other treasures, there may not be more than a thousand cars!
Attacking Wei Zhen, the Xia people will make a lot of money!Even if the production didn't resume soon, this one-shot deal alone would make a fortune—the number of generals, yamen soldiers, and even ordinary sergeants were killed, and it is conceivable who their wealth went to. hand.

well!Wei Bo's century-old savings are all ruined!Zhou Shi looked up to the sky and sighed, not knowing what to say.

"Moo..."

"What..."

Not far away came the shouting of livestock one after another.Zhou Shi came back to his senses, it turned out that they had caught up with another team.

Among the barren farmlands and empty villages, there are herds of cattle, sheep, pigs and horses.Some people dressed as auxiliary soldiers patrolled around and greeted these livestock.

The village is full of auxiliary soldiers and masters, who are nervously cutting grass and feeding livestock.Even in some abandoned farmlands, because of the overgrown weeds, many sheep were put in to graze.

"This general, how many livestock have been captured during this campaign against Wei?" Zhou Shi approached the officer of the Xia army who was escorting him, and asked in a low voice.

The officer gave him a sideways look and held out a hand.

"50?" Zhou Shi asked in shock.

"It's just the first batch." The officer smiled proudly and said, "There will be a second batch in the future, with a total of no less than a million."

Zhou Shi was silent.

Judging from Wei Bo's family background, it must be far more than 100 million livestock.But Xia Jun's search was indeed ruthless enough.I just don't know whether it was obtained through donations or murder.Probably both.

These beasts!Zhou Shi frowned secretly.If the Xia people invaded Zhenzhou, Chengde would be in such a miserable state, right?

Thinking of this, he was a little timid.Several generations have accumulated some wealth, if it is snatched away by Xia Bing like a wolf and a tiger, it will be like crying without tears.

"I've heard that the sage is generous and benevolent, so how can he be so arrogant—such a donation?" Zhou Shi asked cautiously.

"The three towns of Yun, Yan, and Xu were attacked a few years ago, and nothing was gained. Ziqing Town is a little richer, but it is not as good as Hebei after all." , What is the point of taking them some goods, cattle and sheep? Can't you get some back for the expenses of the [-] army?"

"That's right." Zhou Shi smiled awkwardly and stopped talking.

After traveling west for several days, the army arrived in Anyang County, Lisuo, Xiangzhou.Here, he unexpectedly met Wang Chuzhi, the emissary of Wang Gao, the governor of Yiding Jiedu.

It was awkward for both parties to meet each other, but the conversation soon came naturally.

Wang Chuzhi is Wang Gao's uncle and Wang Chucun's younger brother. He is 41 years old this year and can be regarded as a veteran in the battlefield. People, and the Chinese army is the most elite, so it was led by Wang Chuzhi.

Zhou Shi was quite speechless when a figure of this level was sent to Luoyang.

Li Keyong, Li Keyong, your in-laws have been shaken. What's the use of you occupying the land in the east of the river?
Zhou Shi subconsciously felt that this kind of news should be reported to Zhenzhou.

If Yi Dingzhen surrendered to the Xia Dynasty, Chengde would be very uncomfortable, almost like the dangerous situation that Li Weiyue was in when he was attacked by enemies.

They didn't stay in Xiangzhou for long.

On the second day after the Ching Ming Festival, after gathering a large immigrant team, the whole army set off southward, heading towards Weizhou.

The mourning and weeping common people, the high-spirited warriors, the goods in carts and carts, and the overwhelming cattle and sheep constituted the main theme of this army.

Zhou Shi and Wang Chuzhi looked at each other subconsciously, and quickly avoided their eyes.

(Friendly recommendation: my friend Lao Li's new book "My Girlfriend Is a Robot", you can read it if you are interested.)
(End of this chapter)