Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

"The Yellow River surrounds Lingzhou. There are five ancient canals: one Qinjia Canal, one Hanbo Canal, one Aishan Canal, one seventh-level canal, and one Tejin Canal. It is adjacent to Xiazhou Hanyuan Canal and Tangliang Canal, and there are several other canals. Ten, to store and drain the river." In the golden autumn of August, outside Huaiyuan New City of Lingzhou, Feng Dao, who had just transferred from Xingzhou Governor to Lingzhou Governor this year, introduced the specific situation of Lingzhou's eight counties.

Shao Shude listened silently without expressing his opinion.

He is too familiar with the situation in Lingzhou, after all, it used to be his "old nest".

When the Yellow River flows through Hetao, it moistens three plains, namely Qiantao, Houtao and Xitao.The front set and the back set have been greatly developed in the late Qing Dynasty, and the population has increased sharply, becoming an important grain production base in Northwest China.

As for Xitao, it has a long history of development.The past dynasties have attached great importance to this place, vigorously building canals and ponds, opening up farmland and orchards, grazing cattle, sheep, horses and camels, and building large-capacity warehouses in many places—generally, they can store 10 to 20 shi of grain.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, this section of the Yellow River water transport was developed to provide military rations to Woye Town, one of the six towns.

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, in order to conquer the Turks, they vigorously developed Lingzhou and Fengzhou, which were still covered with forests, and obtained tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land. At the same time, many ships were built to defend against the Turks.

When Shao Shude ruled Lingzhou, he began to vigorously dredge and dredge the ancient canals, and later developed many new canals, making Lingzhou a frontier for the south of the Yangtze River, providing a steady stream of money and food for his great cause.

Times have changed, 30 years have passed, and the development of Lingzhou has entered a stable period.The population slowly overflowed and went to Youzhou, Liaodong, Xiangyang and other places. The local economy gradually climbed out of the valley after experiencing the heavy blow of the exodus of sergeants.

The current eight counties of Lingzhou no longer have much aura, but they are still the most important town in Guanbei, the richest and most prosperous place.

"What does Feng Qing think is the biggest role of Lingzhou?" Shao Shude suddenly asked after Hui reported for a while.

This question actually implies a test.

He already understood Feng Dao's ability to govern a state, and he did a good job in Xingzhou, Hebei. Now it is necessary to investigate whether he has a strategic and overall vision.

"Control the Northwest." Feng Dao said briefly.

"Tell me specifically." Shao Shude said with great interest.

"There are dozens of prefectures in Guanbei, Hexi, and Longyou, and there are many grain-producing places, but no prefecture or county can compare with Lingzhou, and they can't even be connected." Feng Dao said: "Lingzhou There is Helan Mountain in the west, and Shaqi is in Shanxi. There are many tribes in Shaqi, and they are rebellious. If there is a rebellion and the king's division needs to conquer, it is the most convenient to start from Lingzhou. There is food, which can supply tens of thousands of forbidden troops; Horses can supplement the consumption of the battle formation; people can recruit masters arbitrarily. With these three things, Lingzhou is a well-deserved number one town in the Northwest."

"Okay." Shao Shude was very satisfied.

What he is most afraid of is the kind of person who does a certain thing or governs a certain place to shine, but once it is put on a higher stage, he will be at a loss.

To put it bluntly, there is no overall vision.

Feng Dao is still good, working in Lingzhou for a few years can give him more burden.

"Does Feng Qing know the reason for my inspection in Guanbei?" Shao Shude asked after everyone came to a warehouse and got off their horses.

Fanzhi Township Yong, Huaiyuan County, was guarding the warehouse. They quickly received orders to open the doors of each branch warehouse.

Barley, wheat, japonica rice, highland barley, hemp bean (soybean), pea, Piper bean (Uighur bean, chickpea), etc. There are all kinds of crops, with wheat in the majority.

Shao Shude went deep into the warehouse, grabbed a handful and looked at it, and it actually looked a bit old.

"Your Majesty came to Guanbei to prepare for the Western Expedition." Feng Dao replied.

"I can't hide this from Feng Qing." Shao Shude said with a smile.

"There are so many cattle, sheep, horses and camels gathered here, even grazing to the west of Helan Mountain. If I can't figure it out, I don't mind resigning." Feng Dao replied.

"The peacetime is too long in the northern states." Shao Shude put down the wheat in his hand, and said, "These old grains can be used to feed the horses. Yinchuan, Yongqing, Xishicheng and Dongshicheng mobilized more than [-] people. Come over with a war horse, feed it well, and don’t lose weight.”

In fact, as early as ten years ago, the states in the northern part of the Guanzhou used the Yellow River water transport to mobilize grain to the Weishui warehouse, and then transport it to the Kanto.However, in the past six or seven years, due to the high risk of transportation in the Mengmen stone trough and the mainstay of the Yellow River, this kind of behavior has been greatly reduced. After all, there is no shortage of food in the Kanto region.

Therefore, the grain collected by Guanbei Road began to be stored in various warehouses, and it is now quite impressive.

This is peace and prosperity.If Kansai is regarded as a country, it has been peaceful for 30 years.Even if the foundation is not as good as that of Kanto, but the Taiping years are here, and disasters such as floods, droughts and locusts are not so outrageous, it is normal for the savings to increase greatly-I think back then, when the towns such as Hezhong and Hedong had not fought for many years, The granary was also so full that Deng Jingshan, an idiot, set an example and asked the sergeants to eat stale grain (the red rot of millet in the granary) with him, so as not to waste it.

"Your Majesty, I'm all ready." Feng Dao said confidently, "Horses are certainly important for this western expedition, but camels are even more critical. The northern states have collected more than five thousand peaks, and I have also prepared a large amount of hay. Forage such as rice and sand, crossing the Hexi pastoral area, supplying grain and fodder is not a problem."

Camels are creatures that can survive in deserts and arid grasslands, and can eat anything, including thorns and reeds that cattle, sheep and horses do not eat. They are responsible for the transportation between desert oases. is very suitable.

"In another ten days, the Flying Bear Army will come here for training." Shao Shude said: "The department has expanded. I was a little worried at first, but now it seems that there is no problem. Feng Qing, you have done a good job."

The flying bear army originally had three thousand riders.Shao Shude recruited another 600 men from Guanzhong, Guanbei, Daibei, Youzhou and Zhugong slave tribes, expanding the scale of armored cavalry to [-] cavalry.

This broke his previous idea of ​​not expanding the Flying Bear Army.The root cause lies in the Western Expedition.

He was a little worried that the light cavalry of the grassland tribes were not good at fighting, and at the same time he didn't know if the Uighur tribes had any trump cards, so he expanded the army by 20%, which was generally within the acceptable range.

"How about the folks in Lingzhou Tutuan?" Shao Shude asked again.

"To be honest, I'm not as durable as the Xingzhou Tutuan." Feng Dao replied.

Shao Shude was silent.

If the Fan people from the Qibei Grassland went south, the Fan soldiers from Jiyuquan and Kedun City formed the first line of defense.Even if they pass through by chance, they will be blocked by soldiers from Yinshan Town, Feng and Sheng states, and Xiangyong. It is really difficult to reach Lingzhou.

Xiangyong in Lingzhou has indeed rarely played in these years.Especially after the surrender of Hedong, Nanshan was almost released immediately.Even if there is regular military training, it will gradually become a formality. After all, people are lazy, which is the overall ideological slack.

It's not as good as the people from Hebei, which is a bit too much!

"It's pretty much the same as what I saw in Guanzhong." Shao Shude smiled wryly, and said, "Nowadays, the only ones who are more capable of fighting are the soil groups in Longyou and Hexi. But they also fought bad battles. Not on the table."

What is a bad fight?It is a bad battle to conquer the rebels.

Tens of thousands of people like the Hebei Tutuan go into battle together, as a supplement to the regular army and fight in the field, which is a valuable exercise.

It's a pity that after many years of peace in the past dynasties, the military experience gained from conquering border tribes like this is very precious, and the people in these places can be called "strong soldiers".

When did the standard for a strong soldier become so low?
But this brings up another paradox.Do you want peace?If you want, Wude will be reduced.

Shao Shude was reading the archives of the former Tang Dynasty recently.

During the Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty had been established for 40 years. However, in the Longyou area, they won successive victories against Tubo. The situation was very good, and the national force was still maintained very well.

At this time in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was already the end of Zhezong and the beginning of Huizong.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, it was the time when Wu Zong came to power.

At this time, the Western Han Dynasty was in the Zhaoxuan period; the Eastern Han Dynasty was in the period of Emperor Huan.

The Qing Dynasty was the late Qianlong period.

Overall, a moderate war is conducive to maintaining the country's overall level of force.And not only the level of the frontier legions, but also the mainland can get a certain degree of training-after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Tang Ting also recovered an army of 3000 people who went to Fanyang in Hebei to prevent it from falling into the hands of An Lushan. This was exported from the mainland to the frontier for service.

Although the Imperial Army of the Northern Song Dynasty was poor as a whole, they almost dispersed when the Jin people approached, but in the northwest, because of the existence of the war, they also maintained a certain scale of mountain infantry with combat literacy.

In addition, it is also beneficial to maintain the balance of the court.

"Your Majesty, in fact, the soil group in Lingzhou is still there. If the overall situation in the north is settled, it can be transferred to Jiannan." Feng Dao suggested.

Shao Shude glanced at him in surprise.

Is this Feng Dao still the parent officer of Lingzhou?It's ruthless enough to rush to drive the local people to fight.

"I will consider everything." Shao Shude nodded and said.

Once the Western Regions are pacified in the future, it will become difficult to station troops there.It is impossible for the imperial army to go, so these local folks with some background in the mainland can come in handy-the same goes for the soldiers of the miscellaneous army.

In the Tang Dynasty, the method of recruiting "Long March athletes" was used to grant land locally, which was between the army and the soldiers. The protagonist of "Burg Man" was recruited to Jiaohe with his father when he was a boy.

The combat effectiveness of this kind of soldiers is not bad, but Tang Ting's diplomacy in the Western Regions is very good, so he maintained it.In the entire Western Regions, there are actually only [-] to [-] Tang soldiers, sometimes even less than [-], which is not enough to control such a vast territory. It must rely heavily on tribal soldiers, which requires the art of governance and diplomacy.

Great Xia's policies in the Western Regions can be partly borrowed from those of the Tang Dynasty, but they can also go a step further, because the current national power is obviously more than that of the former Tang Dynasty during the Zhenguan period.

"Let Uncle Cong come to see me." Shao Shude ordered.