Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1485
Not far to the west of Huaiyuan New City is Helan Mountain, and the villas on the mountainside are still there.

When Shao Shude came to Lingzhou, he naturally had to stay for a few nights before leaving.

After careful calculation, he found that there were quite a lot of private properties.

The old house in Fengzhou, the wedding house in Xiazhou, the villa in Helan Mountain, the Hezhai in Taiyuan, and the Xingdaofang in Chang'an also have a set of mansions rewarded by the eunuchs in the name of King Le'an.Not unaware, there are actually five suites under his name—the ones in Suizhou and Huaiyuan New City are all government offices, not privately owned.

The Helan Mountain Villa—now called the Helan Mountain Palace—had some maids.

The earliest batch had already gone to Luoyang to serve as the palace, and the current ones were all women sent by the grassland tribes later.Grassland chieftains don't send their prostitute daughters anymore, because they already understand that this is a fire pit, and if their daughters are sent here, they may never see a saint in their lifetime, so what's the point of sending them?Just use concubine or clan daughter instead.

Of course, this was also tacitly approved by Shao Shude.It is indeed a bit too much to occupy the latrine and not shit.

The group of maids who were sent later were not too young, the older ones were over 30 years old, Shao Shude felt a little sympathetic, and planned to give a batch of rewards to them so that they could choose their own husbands.The older ones send more, the younger ones send less, forget about dismissal, and don't waste social resources.

But today they still need to be busy, because Shao Shude is here to entertain the three most important officials of Guanbei Road: the governor Huang Tao, the transshipment envoy Sima Ye, and the commander Shi Shucong.

Huang Tao is 73 years old this year, and he put forward his request to become an official last year, but Shao Shude has not approved it.

Sima Ye was originally an official of the Huazhou shogunate and Wang Bian's assistant.He came here earlier, but he didn't make much achievements. Fortunately, he was good at writing articles and settling accounts, so he was assigned to be a finance and tax official.

As a general, Shi Shucong's position has not been moved for many years.But he seems to have resigned himself to his fate, knowing that as the Quanzhong beloved general of the old Liang Wang, he is more difficult to be trusted by the court than Ge Congzhou, who was born in the Chao army and took refuge in Liang Wang halfway. Let's see if the next generation can wash away the overly bright political colors and be reused by the court.

"They're all wild vegetables, produced and taken from Helan Mountain. I'm sure Zhu Qing is no stranger to them." Shao Shude said with a smile as the maids brought up the dishes one by one.

"Dangxiang people often say, 'Meat is not as sweet as meat on the bone'. The minister is old, but he can't eat this delicious tender meat, so he can only cut some roe meat to eat." Huang Tao said.

"Huang Qing has made outstanding contributions, and he can work hard for me for another ten years." Shao Shude said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kind words." Huang Tao smiled.

Shao Shude also smiled without saying a word, and greeted the three of them for drinks and food.

Huang Tao is actually retired in Lingzhou, and he doesn't take care of things very much. Compared with his exile in Fujian in history, he should be much more relaxed and fatter.But judging by his aging and frail appearance, it should only be a year or two.

Sometimes, he feels that different people have different fates, some people live longer, and some people don't.

It is nonsense to say that ancient people can only live to be 40 or [-] years old. In fact, it varies from person to person.

Martial artists like Ma Yin and Qian Liu can live to around 50, but Li Keyong and Yang Xingmi can only live to more than [-].

This is true of warriors, and the same is true of literati.Luo Yin, who just passed away, lived to be 78 years old, Wei Zhuang also lived to be 75 years old, and there are a lot of people who are 90 years old, and the overall life expectancy is longer than that of martial arts people.

To put it bluntly, in the absence of medical conditions, life expectancy is related to your living conditions and living habits.

The living environment of warriors is more likely to suffer from some occupational diseases, such as stomach problems, cardiovascular diseases, and even mental illness.

Shao Shude has been persuading Niu Li not to overeat. He likes to eat fatty meat, honey and other sweets very much, and it is said that he has "diabetes".If it can be detected, Niu Li's blood sugar must be very high.

If he died, he would probably have died of diabetes—Niu Li had just stepped down from his position as Marquis of the capital of the Tianxiong Army and served as the commander of the capital of Huainan Province.

"Shiqing." Shao Shude put down his wine bowl and said, "It's been a while since I've been in Lingzhou, how's the training of the peasants from the various counties?"

Shi Shucong pondered for a moment, he knew that the sage must have a reason for asking this question, so he replied truthfully: "Your Majesty, since the conquest of Daibeiyun, Wei, and Shuo states, the local soldiers of this Dao have indeed not fought for a long time. There are fewer country soldiers."

"If that's the case, why not." Shao Shude sighed.

"Why are you worried, Your Majesty?" Shi Shucong was puzzled, and asked, "The country has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and now the world is at peace, so there is no need for Tutuan peasants, right?"

"You don't know something." Shao Shude was about to pick up the wine bowl, but found that it had been replaced with a bowl of japonica rice porridge. Most of them were damaged, and the relocated people from the Central Plains also lost a lot in the war.”

Shi Shucong understood immediately, and asked tentatively, "Your Majesty wants to be stationed in the Western Regions?"

Shao Shude nodded and said, "There is no other way but the military camp."

Uncle Shi frowned in thought.

Before the Anshi Rebellion, warriors were actually willing to settle in the army, but now, most of them are unwilling.Then we can only rely on the people, but the local situation is complicated and the danger is great, and ordinary people cannot be stable. It is best to have people with a certain fighting capacity.

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter at all." Shi Shucong said: "The ugliness of the Western Regions, that's what it is. I think that the Lingzhou Tutuan soldiers are still a bit weak, at least the current generation is okay, and they will lose if they don't go into battle. Recruit some native soldiers with little land and move the whole family westward, as long as they are given a few dozen acres of land, there are still people who are willing."

"Are there many people with little land and no land?" Shao Shude asked.

"Your Majesty." Sima Ye replied from the side: "Your Majesty is quite clear about the financial management and taxation of the land in Lingzhou. Although Your Majesty advocates that the eldest son inherit the family business, but parents love their children, there are always people who don't want their children to leave their hometowns, so There are not many such people who divide the acres of land at home evenly, or part of it. In places with few fields, some soldiers have less than ten acres of land in their homes, and life is very difficult. In dozens of prefectures in Kansai, there are many Announcement, give more rewards, and it will not be a problem to gather tens of thousands of people to go there."

In fact, it was the method of recruiting Long March athletes in the former Tang Dynasty.

During Xuanzong's period, the government military system had been completely corrupted.Either the amount of arable land in the Fubing family has dropped sharply, which is not enough to support the expenses of training, service, and purchasing equipment, or they have gone bankrupt and fled, and no longer work for the court.

At this time, Tang Ting was about to make a change.The government soldiers who prostitute for nothing can no longer be used, so they have to recruit soldiers.However, it is unrealistic to recruit troops to garrison in the Western Regions to receive salaries. The local output is limited and the wars are frequent. It is impossible to support a large-scale mercenary army, so it is best to change the method of salary payment.

Long March athletes came into being.

The imperial court's recruitment of Long March athletes can be regarded as a way out for the bankrupt government soldiers.Their combat effectiveness may not be as good as that of Emperor Taizong and Gaozong's early days, but after all, they have some foundation and combat experience. After recruiting Long March athletes, they can bring their family members with them, and they will be given fields and houses after they go to the Western Regions.

Most of the fields are distributed around the military town.However, military towns are mostly located in important traffic routes or in places with abundant water and grass. Everyone's equipment is distributed by the imperial court, and occasionally they receive some food and cloth subsidies, and they are exempted from tax and labor for life.

Family members can farm and herd sheep. In principle, they themselves do not need to farm, but in fact they will help their families to farm, and sometimes they will also farm public land, that is, military villages.

In their free time, they will concentrate on training, and exist as a supplement to the regular army. They will not go on long-term expeditions like in the Fubing era, and they will come up with the nonsense of "conquering the army at fifteen and returning at eighty", which greatly reduces the burden.

Strictly speaking, it's a bit like a guard.They are relatively rich guard soldiers, because they can raise horses, and they need to ride horses to maneuver when there is a war.After all, the Western Regions are too vast, and the settlements are very scattered. It is really difficult to use without means of transportation.

"It's so good." Shao Shude said.

He knew it well, and he also had a sense of urgency.In the Tang Dynasty, Long March athletes were recruited among the marchers. Most of these people were government soldiers, not random farmers.Farmers could not adapt to the intricate environment of the Western Regions.

Daxia now has some dividends of the times, that is, the Tutuan peasants with certain combat effectiveness. These people are essentially farmers who cultivate the land, but they can fight and some have even killed people. They are willing to serve in the army, and they are easier to serve than Mr. too much.

This bonus still exists today, but if it continues to be delayed, it will slowly disappear.

As for why you want to find it in Lingzhou, it involves another question: will you raise and ride horses?Do you know the basics of horse archery and martial arts?
In Guanbei, there are a large number of local folks who raise livestock, can ride horses, and can shoot arrows, and they are perfectly adapted to the environment of the Western Regions.If you come from Hebei, you have to let them practice horse riding first, which will increase the cost for no reason, and it is not cost-effective.

After the banquet, Shao Shude continued to stay in Lingzhou for a while.

During this period, the Tibetan soldiers who went north escorted a group of captives back, totaling more than [-] people, and tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, horses and camels. Suddenly, there was a wave in Lingzhou, and the people gathered to watch with enthusiasm.

"If I don't come, you won't work hard, right?" Shao Shude couldn't help but cursed when he saw it.

Of course he knew that it had something to do with his visit, but it wasn't the main reason.

The real core factor has been fighting for two or three years. The strong economic strength of Jiyuquan, Ketuncheng, Feng, and Shengfu soldiers are related to the north and even Guanzhong. In the confrontation between the dynasty and the grassland, the biggest advantage is actually here.

Thinking of this, his heart was also burning.If the Tatars in the Heichengzi area are wiped out, then the road to the grasslands on the northern line will gradually be opened up. Surprise troops can be dispatched here, and regular troops can also be dispatched, which will put great pressure on the Gaochang Uighurs.

In fact, in Shao Shude's plan, there is no strict distinction between main attack and feint attack.It can be the main attack, why should it be so clearly distinguished?
Before leaving, he issued an order: the Flying Bear Army will go northward, cooperate with the Qingqi of the Fans, and use the inside information provided by Hexi Dangxiang to continue sweeping the Qibei grassland.

(End of this chapter)