Defend the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 68 Disaster!
Baisha City got its name from a large piece of white sand land. It is located at the lowermost reaches of the Chihe River originating from Congling Ridge, and to the east is the endless desert.

The road from Yele City is flat, and there are stretches of cultivated land and pastures on both sides of the river beach. Although the land is barren and the water plants are not very lush, it is far from comparable to that in Guan, but it is a good place in Anxi.

Like Yele City, Baisha City was built on the north side of the river beach. The city pool was very small, about the same size as Tuncheng City. The city wall made of loess was neither high nor thick, and it didn't even have a tower.

There are only two decent buildings in the city. One was built when Cao Wulan’s great-grandfather moved here, and the new Metropolitan Government’s Mansion was not built until Cao Wulan took over as the Metropolitan Governor of Yele.

But here it is not called the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, but the Royal Palace.

The entire palace complex occupies nearly one-fifth of the area of ​​Baisha City. In front of it is a square paved with stones. There are eighteen stone houses on both sides of the huge square, which are used for court officials, Sogdian documents and The trusted samurai lived.

The main hall is a vaulted building made of huge stones, which is larger than the main hall of Yele Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, and a row of corridors is built with stone pillars at the entrance.

It is said that every autumn harvest celebration will be held in the square, and the big and small leaders and trusted warriors will bring their families to drink, sing and dance around the bonfire all night long.

The winter festival celebrations are held in the main hall, or they are not celebrated, and they are celebrated for three to five days. I don’t know how many tanks of grape wine will be drunk, and I don’t know how many cattle and sheep will be killed. The few Sogdian merchants in the city rely on doing The business of the palace makes money.

The back court occupies a larger area than the front court, with [-] large and small courtyards, including nine warehouses for wine storage, and even a large courtyard dedicated to raising rare animals such as elephants, lions, peacocks, and giant mastiffs.

The stables are also very large. Before that, more than 70 horses from all over the world were raised.

As a result, because of Cao Duman's rebellion, all the valuables in the palace were snatched by various counter-insurgency troops, including the night watch team and the game team, and there were not even a few tanks of grape wine left.

Another decent building is the post house, which was specially used to receive officials of the Tang Dynasty, leaders and caravans who came to pay tribute, and now it has become the Shouzhuo Mission.

After visiting the messy new home after cleaning it up, Han Pingan returned to the most intact meeting room, sat down with a wry smile and said, "If I had known earlier that all the things here belonged to me, I should have come and watched them. "

All the good things in her house were taken away by others, Yinniang felt more distressed than her younger brother, and said bitterly: "Whoever took it away, go to them and get it back!"

Qu Tong didn't dare to speak anymore, because he also robbed a lot at that time, and sold them to Sogdian merchants for money.

Han Shimei was not only the official who took the lead in bringing troops to quell the chaos, but also the supervising army of Yele Town. It was embarrassing to hear his son say that.

But the town army hadn't fought for several years, and it hadn't even been paid for two years. Let people come to quell the chaos, and don't let people grab something, so the soldiers can't take it.

But those vicious frontier soldiers were indeed robbing their own things, and they suffered heavy losses. It is very distressing to think about it.

He didn't know how to explain, seeing Chen Biao, brigade commander of the night watch team, Yang Chenghu, deputy commander of the Youyi team, and An Mishan, head of the Sogdian personal guards, walked in following Xu Haoran, and hurriedly said: "Sanlang, everyone is here, let's get down to business. "

Father-in-law An not only gave birth to more than a dozen sons, but also adopted six adopted sons, and An Mishan, who led a hundred guards to join the Governor's Mansion in Yele, was one of them.

Han Ping'an smiled and beckoned him to sit beside him, then turned around and said, "Young Master Xu, please talk first."

"Oh." Xu Haoran had been prepared for a long time, and took out an account book: "Reporting to the servant...

"and many more."

Han Shimei put down his wine glass and reminded: "Everyone, this is the governor's mansion, not the emissary's mansion. I'm just here to listen in my spare time. I only need to report to Chang Shi about the affairs of Yele's department, and I don't need to ask Ben. official."

Only be the head of the garrison and not interfere with local affairs.Han Ping'an was very relieved that Dad's position was right.

Xu Haoran realized that Han Shiyu wanted to help Crazy Saburo establish his prestige, but although he was helping Crazy Saburo, he was not an official of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.

"The family background of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion has been found out, and it's all in the booklet. Why don't you report it to Chang Shi."

"promise."

Yu Wangli responded, took the account book and read: "According to the long history, there are 610 six households in the four prefectures of Yele with more than 2 population. Among them, Yandu has 130 eight households with more than [-] population. Sixteen, three nomads..."

This is a combination of nomadic and tribalism, and has developed from nomadic to farming slave tribe.

Among the more than 2 people, there were more than 9000 slaves.

Among the remaining 3000 people, there are less than [-] free citizens, and most of them are tenants. It is the leaders and their families who really have freedom and power.

The eight small tribes that still insist on nomadic pastoralism do not need to pay taxes to King Yele, but they have to provide warriors to King Yele, and pay a symbolic tribute to cattle and sheep every year.

More leaders have become big landowners, asking the Sogdians to help manage them, letting slaves farm, and renting out what they can’t grow to tenants, and giving a quarter of the harvest to King Yele, and keeping the rest for their own enjoyment .

You don't have to do anything, you can sit back and enjoy the benefits.

As a result, many Yele nobles neither stay in their own territory nor live in Baisha City, but live in the more lively Yele City.

The [-] or so villages around Baisha City were directly under the territory of King Yele and his children. They were also entrusted to the Sogdians to manage them, and they also let slaves cultivate them. All the rations that could barely keep the slaves alive were removed, and all the harvest was handed over to them. palace.

In good times, 240 buckets of highland barley, millet, and wheat, equivalent to [-] tons of grain, could be collected from various chiefs.

The territory directly under it is equivalent to Wangzhuang. Since it needs to grow grapes to make wine, grow alfalfa to raise horses, camels, cattle and sheep, grow hemp and weave cloth, grow vegetables, melons and fruits, and even raise chickens, ducks and geese for the court to enjoy, the annual harvest cannot be used for many liters. food to estimate.

Commercial tax is very little, almost negligible.

Yu Wangli meditated, and couldn't help frowning: "Originally, there were 12 buckets of grain, more than 420 cattle and sheep, more than [-] horses, more than [-] donkeys, and more than [-] cash.

Due to Cao Duman's rebellion, there were only more than 1 buckets of grain left, more than 12 cattle, sheep, horses, donkeys and camels, [-] Wen in silver coins, and more than [-] Wen in copper coins. "

Han Ping'an was surprised, raised his head and said, "Save some for me."

An Mishan was in charge of taking over the palace, and he knew a lot about it. He took a peek at Han Shimei and explained: "According to the long history, most of the remaining grain, cattle and sheep were in remote villages at that time. As for those who hid money It is more secretive, and those documents were taken out on their own initiative later.”

Han Pingan couldn't laugh anymore, and asked with a frown: "So all the nearby villages were hit by disaster?"

An Mishan hesitated for a moment, and said with a wry smile: "Not many servants died, but the food, cattle and sheep are all gone."

"How do they live without food?"

"Fortunately, it's the autumn harvest, otherwise I don't know how many slaves will starve to death."

"How is the harvest this year, how much grain can you harvest?"

"According to the long history, I went to the nearby villages. This year's harvest is not good, only 3000% of previous years. The millet, highland barley and wheat are also less, and the harvest is barely enough for more than [-] slaves to feed until March and April next year."

The false Taoist priest chasing from Yele City also attended the first official meeting of the Yele Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. He has fulfilled his wish to become the prestige of Anxi Daomen, but it was in exchange for reciting the "Huang Ting Jing" over and over again all night long. here.

If you don't sleep well for a night, you can't make up for ten nights, not to mention age is not forgiving.

He is really tired and sleepy now, he just wants to sleep, he doesn't even have the energy to ask about the ancestral secret law and alchemy, let alone these bad things about Ye Le's department, he leans against the corner and snores.

Yinniang hated the town army who came to put down the rebellion, and felt that they were even more hateful than horse thieves. If the villages were not far away, the secrets of the money would have been snatched away by them.

Qu Tong couldn't help but wonder where the money was hidden by the Sogdian documents. Baisha City is so big, and he searched carefully at that time, but why couldn't he find it.

Li Chengye, who also attended the meeting, was even more embarrassed than Han Shimei, because he had been sitting in Baisha City for a few days and led a group of vicious subordinates to raid Baisha City and the surrounding villages.

Who would have thought that all the looted property was the son-in-law's belongings, and all the money, food, cattle and horses were sent to the military city and Tuncheng, and now they will not come back if they want to, I really don't know how to explain to the son-in-law later.

Cao Wulan's family has been uprooted. These 3000 slaves are all his own. We can't just watch so many people starve to death...

Han Pingan calmed down and asked, "What about alfalfa, grapes, and hemp?"

The general has too many sons, and the adopted son is not ranked at all.

An Mishan felt that it was good to help the young man beside him, and he was very serious about his work, so he quickly said, "The alfalfa, grapes, and hemp are not bad, and the pea harvest is also good."

So many horses, cattle and sheep have been robbed, it is useless to ask for so much alfalfa, some can be exchanged for some food.

Han Pingan breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Xu Haoran again: "Xu Shaofu, have you seen those leaders these days?"

"I have seen them. They are quite honest and willing to pay the grain as in previous years. It's just that their harvest this year is not good. When the grain is fully harvested, it is estimated that there will be only [-] buckets of grain, and most of them are highland barley."

Xu Haoran turned his head to look at the silent Han Shimei, and continued: "Chang Shi, when it comes to food, I don't know if I should say something or not."

"Say."

"The five hundred guards stationed in Baisha City are recruits. They don't need to farm when they are in Guishu. Even if they are asked to farm, the distant water will not quench their thirst.

Our Shouzhu City and Yele Town are not affiliated with each other, so there is no reason for Yele Town to pay for food and salaries, and the food and salaries for the town army are not sufficient. "

(End of this chapter)