Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 396 April
"The things in your store are too expensive!" Jin Chongwen spat as he looked at the dazzling array of tools.

"Why did Xiao Envoy Jin say that?" The old man in the store wrinkled his old face and said, "In Chang'an in the past, there were people rushing to buy it no matter how expensive it was."

"You..." Jin Chongwen laughed angrily, "Compare Lingzhou with Chang'an?"

"The money is not as much as in Chang'an, but the life is not too bad." The old man sighed: "In Chang'an, apart from the generals and generals, the military officials, and the family members of wealthy merchants, how can life be better for ordinary people? Scholars and small businessmen in the overseas Chinese residence in the town are also living a tight life. When the wind blows in Chang'an, the poor alleys cover their doors, it's just like that, just like that."

After the old man finished speaking, he stopped talking, as if he was reminiscing about the past.

Jin Chongwen looked at the two large carts full of murderous tools: coffins, shrouds, artifacts and other things, and he didn't bother to haggle over the price, so he directly asked another envoy Wang Wu to come forward to settle the account, while he followed the carriage and went to another place.

It was all paid by military farms, so he didn't bother to fight.

After sending the murder tools to the master's house, they found that many soldiers came here, and some even went to the cemetery to worship.

Jin Chongwen saw that it was still early, so he planned to visit the cemetery.This time the tomb will be re-opened for joint burial, and all the expenses will be collected by Zhidusi from the income of the military farm. He needs to have a rough estimate so that he can report back.

The cemetery is at the foot of the mountain in the west, and it took half an hour to walk.

Some soldiers from the Silver Gun Capital were saying something in Uighur, and when they saw the people from the shogunate coming, they saluted one after another.

Jin Chongwen was flattered and immediately returned the gift.

He knew that what the sergeant respected was not him, but the shogunate he represented.

In front of the tomb, there are two stone tomb beasts and a tombstone that has just been cleaned.

Jin Chongwen has recently recognized some characters, but it is still a bit difficult to look at them. He only knows that "Xuanjie Xiaowei" and "Pi Gong" are written on them.

"Pi Gong" is Pijia, a Uighur from Ganzhou, the deputy general of the Silver Spear Capital, who died in Yunzhou last year and was buried in Lingzhou.

This year the shogunate sent people to inspect the tomb and found that the tombstone of this tomb was too simple and incompatible with the status of the lieutenant general of General Pi, so they asked the Huaiyuan County Jiaoyu and a scholar from Chang'an to help write the epitaph.

After the man received the embellishment fee paid by the military farm, he was quite attentive and wrote a prose directly: "Who is not greedy for glory in the world, and returns to the spring and soil, heaven and earth Heping... sons and daughters cry blood and call heaven Knock on the ground, and the dust will bury gold and jade in the frontier of Yongzhen."

At this time, the north wind blew, and there seemed to be a whimper, and Jin Chongwen looked solemn.

The Marshal is really kind to the warriors!

Family members of soldiers who died in battle, died of illness, or were disabled can receive ten-year pensions from military farms.For lieutenants and above, the funeral expenses will also be paid by the farm.The tomb is still beautifully repaired, someone wrote the epitaph, there are tomb beasts, and there is no shortage of murder tools and pottery figurines.

The deputy general has a battalion of 500 soldiers, how many lieutenants are there in the whole army?At least three hundred!If each person spends an average of [-] yuan on funeral expenses, the total will be [-] yuan—of course, if [-] lieutenants are buried collectively within a year, then Shuofang Town will be finished.

The sergeants in the Silver Gun Capital also stopped talking.

Those who came back all said that General Pi died at the hands of Li Siyuan.Jin Chongwen thought to himself, if they confronted the Hedong army again, wouldn't these people want to besiege and kill Li Siyuan?
On the battlefield, swords and guns have no eyes, as long as you are willing to go all out to surround him, even Li Cunxiao, who is now famous, will be hated.

The commander-in-chief honored the soldiers after death, and also encouraged them to fight the enemy bravely.

This year, it won't be against the Hedong Army, right?

Jin Chongwen walked around the cemetery.On the auspicious day, the tomb will have to be dug up.General Pi's wife had just died of illness, and the husband and wife were to be buried together, and the money was still paid by the shogunate.

At noon, Jin Chongwen left the cemetery.Passing by a village on the road, there were actually some people doing funeral things.

The population of the village is relatively mixed, including the people from Henan, the families of soldiers who have recently moved from Xingyuan Mansion, Uighurs, Tubo people, Tatars, Long family, and Sogdians, who are also families of soldiers.

It was a Sogdian old man who died.

Their family moved from Suzhou, and some of their children served as soldiers in the Flying Bear Army. The funeral seemed to be done according to the court rituals.

That's great!
Some Sogdians still use sarcophagi, and the etiquette is still the same as theirs, which makes people very uncomfortable.

But it doesn't matter, after another 20 years, even among the Sogdians, there will probably be fewer and fewer people who know their ways, and their customs will quietly mutate and mix, and eventually become incompatible with the people around them different.

First change hair accessories, then change clothes, change names, change farming and animal husbandry, change living habits, change funeral etiquette...

Birth, old age, sickness and death, subtle changes, gradually becoming the same, as it should be.

"It's not bad to have a coffin after death. This old man is quite decent." Jin Chongwen sighed and left.

The war-torn Kanto region may not have such a blessing.He heard from the people from the east that it would be nice to have a straw mat after death.Many families even take back the straw mats after the family members are buried.

The common people are so poor!But the warriors are still attacking and killing day and night, is this still human?

After returning to Huaiyuan New City with his colleague Wang Wu, Jin Chongwen felt the long-lost popularity again.

The commander-in-chief has already returned from his squad, and the sergeants have given leave in batches.

In the past few days, there are big soldiers who are eager to go home everywhere.After a while, the tailors will probably have a big income again, and children's clothes, shoes and hats will probably have to stay up all night.

After finishing his errands in the shogunate, it was nearly dark, so Jin Chongwen went straight home.

Since he was making a living in the shogunate, he naturally had to go with the commander in chief.The commander moved from Xiazhou to Lingzhou, what can you do?
Several sons in the family are not good at reading, and Jin Chongwen has lost confidence in them.

Especially the youngest son, he can't read characters as fast as himself, alas!

"Husband, the price of rice and noodles has increased again today." His wife, Mrs. Zhou, brought out the food and said worriedly.

"Isn't there grain coming from Yanzhou? Inspector Cheng has done a good job in Yanzhou, and he actually sent grain to Lingzhou. The commander-in-chief and the prime minister praised him in his spare time. How can the price be raised?" Jin Chongwen wondered: " I'll go ask someone tomorrow."

"You are still working in the shogunate, and the news is not well-informed by the merchants." Zhou said angrily: "Someone in the grain store said that the shogunate is hoarding rice noodles and plans to ship them to Shengzhou and then transfer them to the land of Yunshuo."

"Last year, I already gave Helianduo 20 hu of rice noodles, and I will give it again this year?" Jin Chongwen felt that there would be more work.

The Datong army was repeatedly attacked by Hedong, the farming was abandoned, and the food was mostly insufficient.

Last year, cattle, sheep and horses were exchanged for grain and grain, and 20 dendrobium was obtained, which was stationed in Yunzhou.In autumn and winter, the [-] allied forces of Datong and Youzhou were defeated by the Hedong army, and most of them had no time to prepare winter fodder for livestock.This year's spring is a difficult time, what else can he exchange for food?

In matters of military strategists, most of the time what is fought is actually money and food.

Jin Chongwen is not uninformed. In fact, when everyone is free, they will also chat about the situation.

Such is the atmosphere of the country.

Although there are always people who ridicule them for holding the monthly salary of small envoys, but acting like Jiedu envoys, there are many people who like to talk about military affairs and war situations, especially after drinking a few taels of wine.

Zhu Quanzhong attacked Shi Pu, and it has been several years since he attacked Shi Pu. The people in Xuzhou were unable to farm, and there were floods every year, and six out of ten died.At this time, no matter how fierce Xuzhou's soldiers are, they are bound to lose.

Insufficient food, incomplete armor, low morale, and internal changes can be deduced along the lines.

Xuzhou soldiers are also human beings. Seeing the situation in the town, they will naturally have a lot of thoughts.After thinking too much, he didn't want to fight anymore, which gave Zhu Quanzhong a chance to surrender.

Unless Shi Pu can win over soldiers like Lingwu County King, Li Keyong, Zhu Quanzhong and others, but he himself is a mutiny, does he have this prestige?

Can Helianduo's soldiers in Yunzhou really not be able to fight?It seems true now, but it wasn't before.Back then when Li Guochang and his son were encircled and suppressed, they were still very capable. They besieged Yunzhou, defeated Li Keyong's reinforcements, and made an emergency landing on Gao Wenda.

But now that Li Ke used such repeated raids, the soldiers also had eyes to see the deteriorating situation in the town, so their morale naturally dropped.

Once the morale is low, [-]% of the combat power will not be able to exert [-]%!
"Helian Duo cheated people!" Jin Chongwen drank the wine in his glass and scolded: "In the past few years when I went to war, most of them lived outside, and the rewards were also taken from outsiders. Bringing the sheep back, the town is so happy. If you go to Datong, there will be a bunch of poor people who can't get anything if you want to grab it."

A few days ago, the troops brought back money and silk, which caused the prices of some commodities in the town to skyrocket.The sergeants spend their money comfortably, the merchants who sell things are happy, and the farmers, herdsmen, and craftsmen behind them also benefit from it, and everyone benefits.

You have to fight this kind of battle!
"Tomorrow, I will ask someone to inquire about it. Don't worry about the increase in the price of millet and wheat. Next month, there will be a tank boat from Huining Pass to transport grain northward, and then it will fall again." Jin Chongwen said: " The commander-in-chief hasn't come back yet, so it's hard to say yet."

"Haven't the sergeants all returned? Commander Zensheng hasn't returned yet?" Zhou wondered.

"The commander-in-chief has been in Liziyuan Station for several days."

Liziyuan Station is located in the south of Huaiyuan and north of Baojing, and it is only a one-day journey.There are many fertile fields nearby, crisscross fields, and large orchards and pastures, which is the heartland of Lingzhou.

"Then you haven't come back yet? Could it be that you found a wild woman outside?" Zhou joked.

"How is it possible? The commander-in-chief must be worried about state affairs." Jin Chongwen reprimanded: "What do you know, woman? The situation in the town is managed by the commander-in-chief alone. He must be very busy every day. Night."

After all, he sighed, as if pity.

　In the past two days, some people say that I am short, and some people say that I am watery.

　　I'll admit it's short, but I won't accept it.

　　Shuofang Town is in the process of development. Writing the details of social life, changes in the economic foundation, and changes in folk customs consumes the most brainpower. It is much more difficult to write than writing about military and political hegemony. The average time spent is more than 1.5 times, and the number of words is still small.

　　Baoyou, this is a historical article.

　　Without details, who knows which dynasty you are writing about?Some historical novels are supposed to be written in the so-called Tang and Song dynasties. I don’t think there is any sense of disobedience if you replace the protagonists and supporting roles in the books with the names and deeds of people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

　　In this book, I have the cheek to say that there should be a sense of the times, at least it is clearly distinguished from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Pre-Qin Dynasty, and the Han Dynasty.

　　The taste may not be strong enough, but at least there is a difference.

　　Some popular books focus on the emperors and generals, political tactics, and military hegemony, but the most basic and important social economy is rarely covered, or it is also mentioned from a very high level.

　　why?It's easy to write like this.I have raised hundreds of thousands of troops, and I don’t know if the economic foundation can support it, so I just stopped writing, and it’s over if I’m cool.

　　The ordinary people under your rule, how much money do you earn a day, what kind of work do you do, what kind of food you eat, how is your family like, how much tax do you charge him, is it enough for you to play hundreds of thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of armor, dozens of What about the guns?
　　I have restrained myself from the social details in this book. Compared with the 70 years of social changes, system reforms, and changes in the trajectory of personal life and destiny in the previous book, I have written very little. If you don’t like reading, you can skip these chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)