Recreating the prosperous Tang begins with summoning players

Chapter 590 Pengcheng's Predicament
Zhang Duanyang bid farewell to Nan Jiyun, left the Laizhou Port under construction, passed through the chaotic Yizhou, and finally went south to outside Pengcheng.

Pengcheng (Xuzhou) has been the thoroughfare of six provinces since ancient times, and its location is very critical.

That's why later generations said that in Xuzhou, there have been more than [-] large-scale battles in the past dynasties. Fall, so there has been aspirations to the Central Plains since ancient times.

Pengzhou is the gateway to the Jianghuai River, and going south from here is the Huaihe River area that is safe to defend. The regimes that are partial to the south must garrison troops in Pengcheng in order to be able to defend the Huaihe River Basin.

To guard the river, we must guard the Huai River. The natural danger of the Yangtze River alone is not enough to guard the Jiangnan area. This shows the importance of Pengcheng.

After the Battle of Suiyang, the Bianzhou army that had stationed troops in Pengcheng returned to Bianzhou, and Pengcheng was included under the command of the Jianghuai Jiedushi, and is now an area managed by Gao Shi.

However, Yangzhou, where the Jianghuai Jiedushi is located, is actually far away from Pengcheng, and now Pengcheng is strangely in a state similar to autonomy.

It is said to be self-governing because both the Pengcheng Order and the Pengcheng Cheng appointed by the imperial court have died in many wars, but the imperial court has not supplemented the new Pengcheng Order, which leads to the fact that there are no de facto imperial officials in Pengcheng.

It is the small army that Xu Shuji left behind in Pengcheng that governs Pengcheng now.

This army did not return to Bianzhou with the Bianzhou Army, but stayed in Pengcheng.

And because the disaster victims in Henan Province went south, the law and order in Pengcheng deteriorated, and this Bianzhou army stood up to maintain law and order, so Pengcheng supported this army from top to bottom and managed the entire Pengcheng.

The leader of this Bianzhou army is named Sun Jing, and there are only more than 1000 Bianzhou troops left in Pengcheng. These people can only guard the safety of Pengcheng, and cannot clear the large number of refugees in the mountains north of Pengcheng.

Such a mess, the Jianghuai festival far away in Yangzhou made Gao Shi unable to deal with it at all. Now he can't even fully control Yangzhou, let alone the Huaishang and Pengcheng areas.

Pengcheng is in a strange state like this. The imperial court does not extract taxes from Pengcheng, nor appoint officials to Pengcheng, but requires Pengcheng's stability and guarantees that Pengcheng is loyal to the Tang court.

When Zhang Duanyang came to Pengcheng with the Qingzhou Army, Zhang Duanyang was worried that Sun Jing would not hand over the power of Pengcheng, but he did not expect that Sun Jing would open the gate of Pengcheng enthusiastically and warmly welcome Zhang Duanyang's Qingzhou Army .

It wasn't until he entered Pengcheng that Zhang Duanyang realized that Pengcheng had run out of ammunition and food.

Sun Jing knelt on the ground and said, "If the general doesn't come, we are already preparing to return to our hometown in Bianzhou."

Sun Jing looked more than 30 years old. He was only a small brigade commander when he was in the Bianzhou Army. Later, Xu Shuji resigned, and the Bianzhou Army had no commander. After the recovery of Bianzhou, the imperial court let the Bianzhou Army return to Bianzhou , but Sun Jing and part of the Bianzhou army were unwilling to leave, so they stayed in Pengcheng.

Sun Jing had always had some prestige in the army, and was elected as the commander by the remaining Bianzhou army, and became the ruler of Pengcheng.

However, after a period of time in Pengcheng, Sun Jing was also sitting on pins and needles. Now that Zhang Duanyang is going south, Sun Jing can't wait to hand over the mess in Pengcheng immediately, and immediately lead his brothers back to their hometown in Bianzhou.

Originally, Zhang Duanyang thought he was going to have a conflict with Sun Jing, but later found out that Sun Jing had a pretty good reputation in Pengcheng.

Sun Jing sighed and said, "I'm a rough person, I don't know how to govern the country at all. I thought that staying in Pengcheng could make me rich, but I didn't expect it to be a big pit."

Sun Jing spoke bluntly, with the reckless air unique to military leaders, but Zhang Duanyang did not dislike his straightforward character.

In this chaotic world, it is natural for dragons and snakes to rise together, and it is normal for Sun Jing to have such ambitions.

Sun Jing said: "But Pengcheng is too poor, and our thousand Bianzhou army will not be able to survive."

Zhang Duanyang said suspiciously: "Pengcheng has always been a rich place, how can it be so poor?"

Pengcheng (Xuzhou) is the place where the great ancestor Liu Bang started his family. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, it has been a well-known rich and prosperous area in the world, and it is also a place where talents are produced.

But how could such Pengcheng be such a poor place that Sun Jing said?
Sun Jing opened up the conversation and said, "General, you don't know that there are too many refugees in Henan now. The mountains north of Pengcheng are full of these poor and crazy refugees, and the bark of the trees in the mountains north of Pengcheng are eaten by these refugees. Finished."

Zhang Duanyang didn't expect the refugees from Henan Province to go south to be so miserable. He asked, "Didn't you ask the Jianghuai Jiedu envoy for help?"

Sun Jing cursed secretly and said, "Ask for help? The general is coming from Qingzhou. The general will not know what it's like along the way?"

Zhang Duanyang was silent. When he went south from Qingzhou, he passed Yizhou along the way. Now the situation in Yizhou is similar to that in Pengcheng. The whole Yizhou is full of disaster victims. The local government has almost lost control of the place. There are bandits everywhere, and there is no safe place at all.

Only then did Zhang Duanyang gain a deeper understanding of the descriptions in a few short sentences in the history books. In the history books, a sentence "the year is famine, and the refugees are everywhere" often means that countless people have lost their homes and set foot on ten years. A road to escape from the dead.

Zhang Duanyang was silent, and Sun Jing said: "General, in fact, we have long wanted to leave Pengcheng. But the general wants to recruit soldiers in Pengcheng. There are so many refugees around Pengcheng. It is not difficult to recruit soldiers. The difficulty is that the general can Take out so much food."

Zhang Duanyang said: "The imperial court allowed us to recruit troops in Pengcheng, so the general would naturally ask the Jianghuai Jiedu envoy for food."

Sun Jing smiled and said: "I'm afraid the general is not joking, how can the high-level envoy collect food for you now?"

Zhang Duanyang asked suspiciously: "Jianghuai is so rich, don't they have no food?"

Sun Jingjiu was stationed in Pengcheng, and he was quite clear about the situation in Jianghuai. He said: "Jianghuai Jianghuai, Jiangnan and Huainan are two places with different security. Now Huainan is similar to Pengcheng. A large number of refugees are pouring in. Governments everywhere are exhausted to deal with it. , the imperial court has long been unable to collect taxes in Huainan."

"As for the Jiangnan area, I heard that the heavy taxes collected by the imperial court in Jiangnan have already made Jiangnan almost rebel. How can there be extra food to support Pengcheng?"

Huainan is the area south of the Huaihe River and north of the Yangtze River, which is the Subei area of ​​later generations.

This place has always been a place with strong folk customs. Since the Huainan King of the Han Dynasty took office in Huainan, rebellions have often occurred in all dynasties.

The Huainan area is the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty's water transportation, so the imperial court has always been very tolerant of Huainan, and has always focused on appeasement.

Now the Tang court's attitude towards Huainan is that as long as there is no rebellion, everything is negotiable.

Compared with Yourong in Huainan, Datang can be described as quite harsh on the Jiangnan area.

Not only is the salt tax implemented in Jiangnan, but the taxes in Jiangnan are extracted through the salt tax. The most important assessment of the imperial court for Gao Shi, the Jianghuai Jiedushi, is to ask him to collect all the taxes in Jiangnan, and he must extract enough materials from Jiangnan to transfer to Guanzhong.

That's why Gao Shi, the Jianghuai Jiedu envoy, was sitting in Yangzhou. He was worried about money and food every day. After receiving Li Daoyuan's recommendation, he immediately appointed the player Wang Yadong as the Shibo Secretary, hoping to increase his income through Wang Yadong's operation of the Shibo Department.

Now Zhang Duanyang understood the problem of Pengcheng. Although Pengcheng was important, it became a mess with the influx of refugees.

Food is needed to solve the problems of these refugees, but Huainan and Jiangnan have no food to support Pengcheng, and the imperial court has the lowest requirements for these areas, and no officials are even willing to go to appoint officials to govern.

But Zhang Duanyang quickly raised his eyebrows. For Datang, the refugees in Pengcheng are a big problem, but for players, these are not big problems!

Isn't it just food!Can't we players still get food?

Moreover, for the Tang court, the refugees in Pengcheng and Huainan are now a burden, and no officials in these places are willing to take office.

But for players, these chaotic places are good places!

Zhang Duanyang immediately posted the situation in Pengcheng and Huainan to the forum, which immediately attracted the attention of the players.

You must know that northern Jiangsu is also a well-known and prosperous area in the country in later generations. Although it is not as prosperous as the south of the Yangtze River, it is also a land of fish and rice with dense water networks.

Unexpectedly, in this era, Huainan turned out to be an area that the Tang court was unwilling to manage, and many places did not even have grassroots officials.

For players, this place is heaven, and soon the slogan "Infiltrate Huainan" was posted on the forum.

Some players with strong mobility are ready to go to the Huainan area to "make contributions"!

Zhang Duanyang posted a post on the forum asking for food, and soon a merchant player contacted Zhang Duanyang, saying that he had food in his hands and was willing to support Zhang Duanyang.

Before Zhang Duanyang could reply, the merchant player sent a message that the grain he bought from Jiangnan had already boarded the grain ship, and he would personally escort the grain to Pengcheng soon!

(End of this chapter)