Outlaws of the Marsh

Chapter 487 Only this little woman is enough (please subscribe!)
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The army triumphed.

Zhao Ding organized the people to greet him from ten miles away.

When more than 8000 coalition captives under the escort of the Liangshan army drove two 10,000+ cattle and sheep to appear in people's field of vision, everyone was boiling.

"Look, there are so many cattle and sheep!"

"Are those Liao people, Xixia people, and Mongols prisoners?"

"It seems that the Liangshan Army has really defeated the Liao, Xixia, and Mongolian allied forces."

"This Liangshan army is really powerful. It can defeat an equal number of cavalry with infantry on the plain!"

"I heard that the governor personally charged into battle, killing thousands of people by himself?"

"The reason why Liangshan was able to win was not because the Liangshan army was able to fight, but because our emperor Tianzuo ran away in the middle. Hey, why does my Daliao have such a cowardly emperor!"

"Daliao is over."

"..."

The benefit of Li Yan's defeat of Emperor Tianzuo is not only the temporary peace of Yunxi, but also the stability of Yundi. After a big defeat, Emperor Tianzuo would definitely not be able to make a comeback in a short time. Taking a step back, even if Emperor Tianzuo could make a comeback, he would never dare to invade Yundi again.

Zhao Ding led a hundred officials to welcome Li Yan and others back to Shuozhou City.

Li Yan first ordered to place the remains of the soldiers who died in battle, and then ordered to reward the three armies.

The next day, Li Yan called Zhao Ding and other civil servants over.

Li Yandao: "I have been preparing for the war some time ago, and I don't have time to ask you, have the rice seeds been sown?"

Zhao Ding said: "Everywhere has already started to sow seeds."

Li Yan asked: "Is there any difficulty?"

Zhao Ding said: "There is a shortage of manpower, I wonder if we can finish sowing the seeds in time."

Years of wars have caused Yundi to lose a lot of people.

More importantly, Zhao Ding recruited tens of thousands of civilians to be husbands at this critical moment, and those civilian husbands were all the main force in sowing seeds.

Therefore, there is indeed a shortage of manpower for sowing.

Li Yandao: "I will order the troops stationed in various places to help the local people sow seeds. In addition, I will organize craftsmen to manufacture a large number of seeders in our Shuibo Liangshan, and then lend them to the people. No matter what, we must ensure that all land is sown in time."

Zhao Ding said: "No... because of the continuous war, the Liao Kingdom has not cleared the river for nearly ten years, and the Sanggan River and Nanyang River have flooded every year for the past two years, causing great harm to the people of our Yundi. I want to clean up the two rivers before the flood season comes."

Li Yandao: "You can decide all these matters on your own, and you don't need to report to me."

If Yundi is regarded as a country, then Zhao Ding is actually the prime minister. In fact, Li Yan did use Zhao Ding as the prime minister, leaving the civil affairs completely in charge of Zhao Ding.

Zhao Ding also lived up to Li Yan's high expectations for him. In less than a year, Yundi has been managed in an orderly manner and is thriving.

The reason why Zhao Ding asked Li Yan to manage the Sanggan River and Nanyang River was not to ask Li Yan for instructions, but to ask Li Yan for the [-] prisoners of war he had just captured, and also to ask Li Yan to send troops to help him Clean up the river.

Zhao Dingdao: "The two rivers have been in disrepair for a long time, and we can't clean them up before the flood season unless we spend a lot of manpower and financial resources. I plan to hire people to clean up the river after the rice is planted, but even so, I'm afraid it will be difficult to clean it up on time." After cleaning up, I wonder if the governor can give the [-] prisoners of war captured this time to the minister, and it is best to send troops from various places to clean up the river with the minister."

Li Yan would never allow the Liangshan army to become arrogant soldiers, and he would never get rid of the Liangshan army's faults, so he said directly: "These captives are very unruly and difficult to train. You can give them to you, but you must use them carefully. Existence is not only to fight the world, but also to benefit the people, so what you said, they are duty-bound, and I will order the generals of the garrison everywhere to fully cooperate with you to clean up the river."

After a pause, Li Yan looked at the civil servants, and said again: "It is difficult to conquer the world, but it is even more difficult to defend the world. Your responsibilities are heavy and you must not slack off. Whether we can gain a foothold in Yundi does not depend on how well our soldiers of the Liangshan Army can fight. , and see if you can win the hearts of the people..."

After the meeting with the civil servants, Li Yan left Zhao Ding alone and said, "Whatever you want, I will give. In this case, if you can't manage even a small cloud, I will think you have no The talent of the prime minister."

Zhao Ding's heart skipped a beat!
Li Yan's founding of the country is already an inevitable trend. This is the tacit understanding shared by the people of Shuibo Liangshan.

In fact, Shuibo Liangshan is already operating as a country.

And if there is a country, there must be an emperor. Needless to say, the emperor is naturally Li Yan.

If there is a country, there must be a prime minister. Judging from the current situation in Shuibo Liangshan, the position of prime minister is most likely to be held by Wen Huanzhang, who is virtuous, talented and qualified.

However, Wen Huanzhang is already sixty now, and he is already a well-deserved old man in this era. Although he is still in good health, he can serve as the prime minister for another ten or eight years at most. In case something happens to him... In short , sooner or later someone will replace Wen Huanzhang.

All along, Zhao Ding knew that Li Yan valued him very much.

But Zhao Ding really didn't dare to think that Li Yan would be the one who succeeded Wen Huanzhang in Li Yan's mind.

It's not that Zhao Ding doesn't have confidence.

But there are too many people who can compete with Zhao Ding for the position of prime minister, like Wang Lun, Sun Jing, Zhu Wu, Qiao Daoqing, Xu Guanzhong, Lehe, Xiao Jiasui, all of whom have good qualifications and abilities. It makes sense for one to be the prime minister.

As for him, Zhao Ding, at least from the current point of view, there is nothing too strong about Wang Lun, Sun Jing, Zhu Wu, Qiao Daoqing, Xu Guanzhong, Lehe, and Xiao Jiasui.

Zhao Ding restrained his mind and said: "I must do my best to manage Yundi well!"

Li Yan nodded.

For someone as smart as Zhao Ding, all he needed was a little advice, there was no need to say too much.

Li Yan said again: "The biggest problem in Yundi is the ethnicity issue. I heard that there are still many Han people in Yundi who still call Han people in Yundi Han'er. To be guided correctly, there are also ethnic minorities such as the Khitan, Xi, Bohai, and Mongolian. Don’t discriminate against them just because we have defeated them. It is still necessary to respect their national beliefs and some inherent customs, and slowly guide them to change customs, remember not to act too hastily, and we can put more effort into their next generation, that is, put more effort into education."

Zhao Dingdao: "All the planned [-] schools have been built, and the experienced professors we brought have been distributed to each school. At the same time, the five-year compulsory education has been promoted in various places. At the latest, early July, all places should be able to start teaching. ... However, relying on education to gather the hearts and minds of these ethnic minorities and make them accept us is still far from quenching their thirst."

Li Yan asked: "What good strategy do you have?"

Zhao Dingdao: "I have three suggestions."

Li Yan said: "Which three suggestions?"

Zhao Dingdao: "The first one is to open Enke. Select talents from Yundi and manage Yundi together with us."

Li Yan thought in his heart: "Now that Yundi has been decided, it is time to hold imperial examinations to select Yundi's talents, so as to give them some opportunities to become officials, so as to prevent them from rebelling because they have no hope of official career." Then said: "Yes."

Zhao Dingdao: "It's just that the number of people in Yundi is limited... Shall we relax the scale?"

Li Yan understands that it's not that people in Yundi have no talents, but that most of the talented people in Yundi were killed by Liangshan's army or offended by Shuibo Liangshan (in this era, too few poor people can study, And Shuibo Liangshan has conducted public trials against the original rich and powerful in Yundi and suppressed the rebellion several times, and they have already killed them in sevens and eighties), so it is no wonder that they are willing to work for Shuibo Liangshan.

Of course, it doesn't mean that there are no talents in Yundi who are willing to work for Shuibo Liangshan. After all, Shuibo Liangshan did not clean up all the original elites. Any cleaning, in addition, there are a large number of middle-class children who have received some education to some extent.

Li Yandao: "The admission principle of this imperial examination is to give priority to morality, followed by talent, and to give some favors to ethnic minorities. This time there are too many kills. Let's appease them and don't push them too hard. ...Let Jin Fushi handle this matter, he has experience."

Zhao Ding said: "No...Secondly, will the governor take in more sons as he did to appease the Koreans?"

Li Yan nodded and said: "Okay, you can help me choose ten... twenty, um... ten of them will be selected from the meritorious soldiers of the Khitan Army, Xi Army, and Bohai Navy, and the main thing is virtue. In addition, it must be voluntary.”

Zhao Ding said: "No... Chief Governor, are you going to choose some beautiful girls from Yundi?"

Li Yan hesitated and said, "This..."

Zhao Ding persuaded: "Many emperors in history have used this to appease the hearts of the people. After all, as long as they are elected, they can change the fate of their families, and you and your concubine also need someone to take care of you."

Zhao Ding almost said directly: "You are about to ascend the throne, the governor. There are only so few women in the harem, so there is not enough."

Li Yan thought for a while, and said: "Two principles. First, the number of people should not exceed one hundred. Second, they must be voluntary, and no coercion is allowed... Forget it, I will discuss this matter with Jin Fushi and Gong Li. Tell me, lady."

Zhao Ding understood that Li Yan wanted to prevent him from intervening in the affairs of the harem.

Zhao Ding bowed: "No!"

……

(End of this chapter)