Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 296

The sky had just cleared, but the snow on the ground was still frozen solid.

The messenger rushed into the post station outside the city and got off his horse.

This damn weather is really too cold!

"Prepare the horses and have some food. I'm starving. If there is wine, it would be great." The messenger said with a heavy breath.It's a cold day, but the top of my head keeps emitting smoke like a steamer.

The postman took over the horses skillfully, and the cook brought him steamed cakes and mutton soup.

"Where's the postmaster?" the messenger asked while eating.

"Going to the city." Several postmen were plastering the wall.The wooden walls are full of cracks, and the cold wind penetrates directly into the bones, which is extremely uncomfortable.

"Which city?"

There are seven cities in Liangzhou.

Starting from the Gaizang city built by the Huns, it continued to expand during the Qianliang period, forming five cities.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Gui continued to build, and finally formed the Seven Cities of the Guo Dynasty—of course, this was before the fall of Tibet.

After the capture of Tibet, Tubo demolished the city walls.Some were completely dismantled, and some were half-dismantled.The city of Liangzhou is very vast, and there are still some parts left. After the Guochao established the town, it continued to be repaired. It was basically built along the old city outline, but due to the lack of manpower and material resources, it has not yet been completed.

"Sacred Bird City." The postman sat on the saddle, he was old and the weather was freezing, he didn't want to move at all.

The messenger stopped talking and concentrated on eating.

Shenniao City, that is, Shenniao County, is within the scope of Liangzhou City.The whole Liangzhou was once known as "Bird City". In the old place of Luanniao County in the Han Dynasty, the city was built because of its irregular shape, with two wings at the head and tail, so it got its name.

Liangzhou City, Lixi of Guzang County, Lidong of Shenniao County, and the rest are Zhoucheng, as well as Miyagi, Cangcheng, and Fangcheng of the previous dynasty.It has always been a powerful county in the country, and the Hexi Jiedu envoy was stationed. The Chishui Army was stationed in Tianbao Shizhou City, with 3000 soldiers and [-] horses. There are more than [-] people in the five counties, who are engaged in farming and animal husbandry. .

After eating the food, the messenger bid farewell to the people in the post station, changed a horse, and continued to the state city.

And near the city, meet scattered riders patrolling.The messenger spat, Sha Tuozi!
The leader of "Shatuozi" is called Anxiuxiu.The Liangzhou people don't know its origin, but they only know that Shuofang Jiedu envoy Li Shao sent here, escorting a large amount of money, silk, millet and wheat.

On the day they entered the city, there were more than a thousand camels and hundreds of carriages. The soldiers and civilians in Liangzhou were about to cry: How long has it been since Guangming entered Chang'an from the last nest of Guangming?
The prefecture confiscated the property of the Fan Ministry and used the accumulated reserves to barely support it until the second year of Guangqi, but the imperial court's food and payment were delayed.In desperation, they had no choice but to send envoys to Shazhou. They sent two waves of missions successively, but the Guiyi Army refused to provide food and salaries.

Until September last year, Zhang Huaishen got the news from Guiyi Army Jinzuoyuan that the imperial court tended to support him in obtaining the post of Jiedushi, and changed his inspector from Minister of Industry to Minister Zuo Pushe, so he let go and agreed. Send food to Liangzhou.

But he didn't give it right away.Instead, they waited until the end of October, when the court-appointed mission arrived in Shazhou, and then sent people to mobilize millet and wheat, and sent them to Liangzhou in carts and horse camels-to put it bluntly, this was an exchange of benefits.

The Shunyi army arrived in mid-November, a few days earlier than the Shazhou food team.Before they arrived, Zhang Hongxin, who had been staying in Lingzhou for a long time to ask for food and salary, couldn't help but send someone back to Liangzhou to report the letter in advance.

It's hard being an orphan!

Two waves of military rations have arrived in Liangzhou successively, and the food and grass have been worry-free for a while!But after riding into the city with more than [-] paces brought by Anxiuxiu, he just lingered and didn't leave, which made everyone in Liangzhou hesitate.It's just that they brought a lot of money and silk, and rewarded the original garrison soldiers. The sergeants were very happy and couldn't say anything for a while.

After the messenger entered the city, he quickly delivered the urgent mail to the Jiedu envoy, and it was not long before it was sent to the desk of Shi Wenggao, who was defending the Hexi capital.

"Okay! Okay!" After Weng Gao opened the urgent mail and read it, he stroked his beard and smiled.

"Ming Gong smiled and said nothing, there must be something good." Zuo Sima Li Mingzhen said with a smile: "Could it be something about Chang'an?"

Weng Gao got up and opened the window, and a gust of cold wind blew in, which lifted people's spirits.

Li Mingzhen is Liangzhou Jiedushi shogunate Zuo Xingjun Sima, but Liangzhou has no Jiedushi. The former Zheng Shangshu was defeated by Weng Gao in the internal struggle and was driven back to Chang'an. Li Mingzhen took refuge here, but still served in the shogunate .

Liangzhou Town nominally governs the three prefectures of Liang, Gansu, and Su, but in fact it can't even control Liangzhou.

The adjacent Guiyi Army is similar.In name, it governs the four states of Sha, Gua, Yi, and Xi, but it only actually controls Sha and Gua.

The reason is that the so-called recovery of lost land at the beginning relied heavily on the local slave forces after the collapse of Tubo, such as Gamo, Uighur, Dangxiang, and Tuyuhun.They have their own territories and troops, and they nominally submit to the Tang Dynasty, but in fact they act on their own. The two towns of Liangzhou and Guiyi Army are weak in strength, and the situation has not changed until today.

The most pitiful thing is that the relationship between Liangzhou and Guiyijun towns is not very harmonious.The Guiyi army has always wanted to annex the feudal town and control Liangzhou, and the imperial court is deeply suspicious of it.

On the contrary, the Ganzhou Uighurs have always been very submissive, constantly sending envoys to pay tribute, and the court envoys come and go, and take the initiative to send troops to escort them.In the early years, when there were affairs in the Central Plains, occasionally troops were sent to help the court conquer.Generally speaking, the imperial court has more trust in Liangzhou Town and Ganzhou Uighurs, but not very much trust in the Guiyi Army who has been trying to annex neighboring towns—the Suzhou Long family is now paying tribute to the Guiyi Army.

"The imperial court is going to set up Hexi Town." Weng Gao looked excited, with a smile on his face, obviously in a very good mood.

Li Mingzhen was both happy and worried when he heard this.

The current situation in Hexi is not to be tossed about!
"Minggong's long-cherished wish for many years has now come true. Congratulations." Although he was full of thoughts, Li Mingzhen still congratulated him.

Weng Gao's current position is the defense of the Hexi capital and the envoys who appease and appease the Fanluo, and govern the three prefectures of Diliang, Gansu and Su.But as the saying goes, the name is not right and the words are not right, and the defense envoy is the defense envoy, not the Jiedu envoy.

Zhang Huaishen has not been able to find Jiedushi for many years, you can ask him if he is happy?

To a certain extent, the Hexi Observation Envoy, who was also led by the former Shuofang Jiedu Envoy, is much more noble than the Defense Envoy.

"The imperial court still remembers something that has been done for many years." Speaking of this, Weng Gao was also a little sentimental, and his youthful years were all given to the Qilian Mountains.It is not easy for the imperial court to manage Liangzhou, and it must not be taken away by ambitious people.

"Zhang Huaishen and Shao Shude covet the land of the three prefectures in Hexi, and they must work together in the future." After sitting back in the case, Weng Gao took up his pen and prepared to write a letter to his old friend in Beijing.

Although it was difficult, Weng Gao did not intend to let Shao Shude take Liangzhou easily.The court still had to allocate money and food, even if it was only a little.

In addition, the news of the establishment of Xinshuofang Town by the imperial court has spread to Liangzhou.With 35 counties in ten prefectures and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, Shao Shude's power is almost the same as that of Shuofang Jiedushi before the Anshi Rebellion.

Weng Gao had been thinking before that if this person was blocked from going east and had no courage to go south, he might go west and seize the Hexi states.

If one person is the governor of the three towns of Shuofang, Longyou, and Hexi, how is it different from Anlu Mountain?
Hexi is the Hexi of the imperial court.There are a lot of things going on today, and the tributes from various roads are intermittent. If Hexi is managed well, it can also pay tribute to livestock from time to time like before the Chaos.

It is said that Liangzhou is poor, but is it really poor?No, it's just that I can't receive tribute.

There are more than [-] people in large and small tribes such as Gamo, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, Uighur, and Yanqi.If they can pay tribute and wealth, they will not be able to support more than a thousand state soldiers.

Seeing Weng Gao so excited, Li Mingzhen hesitated to speak.

Before Zheng Shangshu left office, he fought with Weng Gao for many years, and finally lost.Is there going to be another battle between the Jiedushi and the Observing Envoys next?

Generally speaking, Jiedu envoys will also be in charge of observation envoys, but the Hexi town to be established is separated from the two, which makes Li Mingzhen have a bad feeling.

"Duke Ming, Anxiuxiu has thousands of people. As soon as they entered the city, they controlled a large area of ​​the city in a majestic manner. Cangcheng and Miyagi are all in their hands. The state soldiers are weak and there is no reward. Minggong made a plan early on. .” Li Mingzhen reminded.

"For this matter, we still have to find a way to Ganzhou." Weng Gao mused.

It is the housekeeping skill of court officials to use their strength to fight.

The Uighurs in Ganzhou were once defeated by the Gamo, Longjia, and Guiyi Army, and fled elsewhere.But in recent years, it has regained its momentum, and it is the second largest force in Liangzhou Town after Yan Mo.

Li Mingzhen opened his mouth wide.The most worrying thing happened, and Liangzhou was about to fight again.

When Zheng Shangshu was in power, Liangzhou was occupied by Gamo, and it was recovered by the Guiyi Army.After the recovery, food and salaries were also extremely dependent on the supply of Shazhou, but Zheng Shangshu and Weng Defense Envoy still united and drove away the Guiyi army.

Even if you have no money to use, no food to eat, you can't lose your power!

There are not many soldiers in Liangzhou, so the court can afford this amount of food.More than [-] pieces of silk, several thousand coins, and [-] hu of grain a year are almost enough. Besides, some grain, cattle and sheep can also be raised locally.I am afraid that the imperial court has no time to take care of it, and only thinks about paying salaries to the officials of the Southern Yamen and Beisi, and supporting the army, instead of paying Hexi.

After Li Mingzhen left the envoy, he went straight back to his own mansion.

Not long after, the servant came to report that Zhang Hongxin, the yamen, came to visit.

Li Mingzhen was taken aback.Zhang Hongxin's current position is very suspicious. After going to Lingzhou, he obtained the food and salary, and he also praised the King of Lingwu County a lot in his words. Could it be that he is a lobbyist when he comes to visit at this time?

(End of this chapter)