Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 521 Jingui
The Tubo people did not send out a large army to attack, but various methods such as bribes, threats, assassinations, and plunders emerged one after another. Their purpose was only one, to incorporate a large number of Qiang and Hu tribes living in this vast area into the Tubo Empire, making them the Tubo Empire. Part of the army threatened the Chengdu Plain, the western residence of the Tang Empire, and attacked the Longyou and Guanzhong lands of the Tang Empire from three sides.In the face of the aggressive actions of the Tubo people, the response of the Tang Jiannan Road garrison was much weaker and slower. They seldom took direct military actions, but moved the Qianghu tribes threatened by the Tubo people to states closer to the interior to avoid being used by the Tubo people.

"Why didn't you send troops to deal with it?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"What?" Perhaps because of his accent, Li Jin didn't hear Wang Wenzuo's question clearly, so he asked.

"Why don't you send troops to deal with it?" Wang Wenzuo raised his voice: "The reason why the soldiers came to cover up the water and the soil, the former governor should understand?"

"Wang Dudu, things are not that simple!" Li Jin said with a wry smile: "Soldiers must have soldiers and generals to stop them, and right now there are no soldiers and generals in Songzhou. Naturally, the Tubo people can only go one step further, and we will give in one step." Already!"

"No soldiers, no generals?" Wang Wenzuo frowned: "How is this possible? I saw it on the way when I came here. Chengdu is densely populated, and the people are rich. Let alone Luoyang, even the surrounding areas of Chang'an are not as good. Why? Will there be no soldiers or generals?"

"You don't know something, Dudu Wang!" Li Jinchang sighed: "It is true that there are money, food and people here, but there are indeed no soldiers. There are guest troops from Guanzhong Longyou in Songzhou. I don't have enough heart, so I can't resist the Tubo people! As for why? Do you know how many Zhechong prefectures there are in Jiannan Road? There are 11 prefectures in total!"

"11 Mansions, so few?" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback. He spent all his time studying the geography of the military bases around Songzhou. He didn't pay much attention to the number of military mansions in Jiannan Road. The governor of the prefectural governor's mansion is not the military envoy of Jiannan Zhidu Yingtian to dispose of soldiers and horses.However, the number of 11 Zhechong mansions is indeed beyond his expectation. Although he also knows that Tang's mansion soldiers are concentrated in Longyou, Guanzhong, and Hedong, but Jiannan Road has a vast territory (including several areas in the southwest today. Most of the land in this province), there are many ethnic minorities under the rule, and the situation is complicated. It has reached the same level as Jiangnan Road (7 prefectures), Huainan Road (9 prefectures), and Lingnan Road (6 prefectures). government), which is a bit appalling.

"Yes, there are only 11 mansions! Commander Wang, do you understand my difficulties now? It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice!"

Wang Wenzuo nodded, and his perception of this decadent-looking old man in front of him has changed. Of course, the number of Zhechong mansions does not fully represent the number of local troops. Fubing, but it can still be reflected to a certain extent.Jiannan Road is under the jurisdiction of Jianmen Pass and Gannan in the north, Lancang River and Ailao Mountain in Yunnan in the west, Guizhou Province and northern Guangxi Province in the south, and the Three Gorges in the east. , the one with the most complex terrain, such a large site, such a complicated situation, there are only 11 Zhechong mansions, even if they are all Shangfu, there will be more than 1 to less than [-] troops, what is it enough for?No wonder he was so negative in the face of Tubo's aggressive approach.

"The governor of the king, the court said that the soldiers of Shu are too weak to fight! It is true that the soldiers of Shu are not as brave as Longyou in Guanzhong. It is mainly because the horses are not as good as the horses. In fact, it is not inferior to the soldiers of Guanzhong and Sanhe. But no matter how good the soldiers are, they must learn martial arts, affirm the law, and strengthen their armor and soldiers before they can stand up to battle. In this respect——” Li Jin sighed, and then Did not go on.

When Wang Wenzuo heard this, he had already guessed six or seven points of what the other party hadn’t said. An important function of the Zhechong Mansion in the Tang Dynasty was to train and inspect the soldiers during the slack period: how to use weapons, various formations, and how to identify them. The banner is the golden drum, and the military law is explained, so that after going to the battlefield, you will be a battle-ready soldier, not a mob.It is not difficult to see that the number of Zhechong Mansions not only determines the actual strength of local troops, but also determines the number of local soldiers who have received military training (because in fact, the number of people who have received training must exceed the quota of Zhechong Mansions, because of the existence of veterans, And generally with a margin), we can think of this as the military potential of a place.

Why is there only eleven Zhechong mansions in Jiannan Road, which obviously has sufficient human and financial resources?This involves the positioning of several roads under the opponents of the Tang Dynasty. The Guannei Road is the foundation, and the east of Longyou is the screen to protect the two wings. Tao is the emperor's private treasury, which provides silk, gold, silver and copper special products, and supports the Longyou army in Guanzhong.Under this positioning, Jiannan Road does not need and should not have too strong military potential, otherwise it will need to consume local financial resources to support soldiers (although the government soldiers do not need to pay military salaries, they usually have to exempt a large number of young and strong population from tax and labor). , reducing the taxation of the central government; secondly, the local military potential is too strong, and once it is squeezed too much, the rebellion is difficult to deal with. A rich and weak Jiannan Road is in line with the overall interests of Datang.

Therefore, there were only 11 Zhechong prefectures in Jiannan Road in the early Tang Dynasty, but what the founders of the Tang Empire did not imagine was that the rise of the Tubo people made Songzhou, which is not far from Chengdu prefecture, a front line.However, the competition between the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo people affected the land of Liuzhao located around the Erhai Lake in the southwest.In the fourth year of Yonghui (653), in order to gain the support of the Tang Empire, Nanzhao Wang Xinuluo sent Ziluo Shengyan to the Tang Empire, and Tang Gaozong appointed Xinuluo as the governor of Weizhou.The other Wuzhao and Heman tribes were threatened by Tubo and often abandoned Tang to join Tubo.Nanzhao has always been attached to Tang, so it has Tang's support.After nearly 100 years of bitter struggle, Nanzhao Wang Piluoge finally unified the land of the Six Zhaozhao and became a powerful country in the southwest.

However, the good relationship between Nanzhao and Tang Dynasty did not last for too long. In the tenth year of Tianbao (751), Xianyu Zhongtong led 6 troops out of Rong and Xizhou to attack Nanzhao. The captives they plundered expressed their willingness to belong to the Tang Dynasty. If they did not allow it, they would "return to Tubo and the land of Yunnan, which is not owned by the Tang Dynasty."Xianyu Zhongtong refused, marched to the Xi'er River, and approached Dahe City, the capital of Nanzhao. He was defeated by Nanzhao, and 11 Tang soldiers died.Nanzhao also suffered heavy losses. The residences of Dongcuan below Ziqu and Jingzhou in Yunnan were destroyed by Tang soldiers. [[-]] This year, Nanzhao fell to Tubo, and Tubo conferred Ge Luofeng as "Zanpu Zhong (meaning the younger brother of Zanpu). So far, Jiannan Road has become the front line of the Tang Dynasty, second only to Longyou. For hundreds of years, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the Southwest of Nanzhao, Tubo and Tang continued until the end of Tang Dynasty, and Tubo and Nanzhao also perished almost at the same time.

"How many soldiers and horses are there in Songzhou Governor's Mansion?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"The number of soldiers is 2800, and we can also recruit Fanbing from Jili Prefecture!"

"If you want to recruit Fanbing, you have to pay or reward, which will cost money! I saw the richness of the states and counties along the way, is there any payment or something?"

"There is a little bit, but not much!" Li Jin said with a wry smile: "There are a lot of money and silk taxes that the East and West Rivers have to pay to the Guannei Road every year, and there is not much to reward the army!"

"No money and silk?" Wang Wenzuo was taken aback: "Shu brocade is famous all over the world, how could Jiannan Road not have money and silk to reward the army?"

"Wang Dudu doesn't believe you can go to the market to have a look. The Shu brocade in Chengdu is [-] to [-]% more expensive than the Shu brocade in Chang'an. Why?"

It turns out that there is no waterway from Shu to Guanzhong, and the land road is also very rough and difficult, and the transportation cost is extremely high. Therefore, unlike Jiangnan, Jianghuai, and Hebei, where grain is transported into Guanzhong, the tax in Shu is to exchange grain for weight first Light, high-value coins and brocades, and then escorted to Chang'an.As a result, Shu brocade was produced in Chengdu in the Ming Dynasty, but the price of Shu brocade in the place of origin was more expensive than that in Chang'an, and the government was not short of food, brocade and coins.Wang Wenzuo wanted to recruit Fanbing, but the elders and leaders of the Fan tribe wanted copper coins, cloth and silk, especially Shu brocade.

Hearing this, Wang Wenzuo has been left speechless by the wonderful fiscal and tax policies of the Tang Dynasty. Fortunately, before he set off, he got a handful of wool from the emperor Li Zhi and bought thousands of pieces of Shu brocade, otherwise he would not even give it to the leader of the Fan tribe. I can't even bring out the meeting gift, as the saying goes: If you don't have rice in your hand, you won't come even if you ask for a dick!Raise your arms and shout a few passionate slogans, and you can make others work for you. This kind of thing does not happen in real life.

"Li Gong, the use of soldiers is nothing more than rewards and punishments. This time I come here, I have nothing in my pocket. Please also give me [-] pieces of silk and [-] guan of money, as a reward for the army!"

"One hundred thousand pieces of silk and fifty thousand guan of money?" Li Jin laughed: "Captain Wang, we don't need to bargain. Ten thousand pieces of silk and five thousand guan of money are that much. The old man can only resign and replace the old man with someone else."

Hearing that Li Jin reduced his asking price to zero, Wang Wenzuo was speechless for a while, and finally smiled wryly: "Ten thousand pieces of silk, five thousand coins, what can you do with that?"

"Wang Dudu, you only have these things. If someone else comes to be the governor of Songzhou Dudu Mansion, I won't give it to you. Although I have been driven out of Chang'an for many years, I have heard that the emperor and the empress are all I value you very much, you don’t think you can go to the emperor or the empress to complain, others don’t have the ability!”

Wang Wenzuo couldn't laugh or cry at Li Jin's words, as if he was relying on the emperor's favor to bully Shangguan.I had no choice but to thank Li Jin: "Thank you, Shangguan, for your generosity!"

After leaving the Yamen, Wang Wenzuo returned to the post house, planning to stay in Chengdu for two days, visit the two cities, replenish the necessary things before heading to the high-altitude area, and then set off.After all, Chengdu was the largest metropolis in the southwest at that time, and the market was full of everything. If you missed it, there would be no place to buy many things.

"Five hundred catties of ginger, five hundred catties of garlic, one hundred stones of salt, seven hundred catties of sheep oil, four hundred sets of sheepskin gloves, four hundred pairs of leather boots, four hundred hats..." Wang Ence quickly wrote on the paper with a brush in his hand. on record.

"My lord, the ginger, garlic and salt are for eating, so why buy so much suet? Is it also for eating?" asked Igilian Bode.

"It's used to paint your face and hands, of course you can eat it!" Wang Wenzuo said: "The terrain in Songzhou is high, windy and cold. If the face and hands are not painted with sheep oil, the cold wind will blow. It hurts to death! I’m so cold, my fingers and toes are gone, I can’t even draw a bow, how can I fight? By the way, if there is a good prescription for frostbite, buy it with money, and prepare more!”

"So cold? It's colder than Ezodi?" Ijilian Bode said in shock.

"It may not be colder than Ezo, but it must be higher than Ezo. The higher the place, the stronger the wind. Besides, you are a child of an aristocratic family, and you must be wrapped in fur even in winter. How can ordinary soldiers compare with you? "

Yiji Lianbode had nothing to say by Wang Wenzuo's words, so he could only hey twice.After Wang Ence copied the list, he took people out to purchase.There were twenty or thirty kinds of goods on the list, and the quantity was huge. By the evening, almost half of them were still unfinished.The shopkeeper said with a smile: "Master, there are so many goods on this list, and it will take time for the store to adjust the goods. We can't finish it no matter how fast we are, why don't you leave your address and name, and tomorrow I will gather them all and send them to your house together." , so you can relax too!"

"These goods don't belong to your family, can you handle them well?" Wang Ence asked.

"It's true that the villain's family doesn't have such a complete set, but where the goods are available and which ones are of good quality, Xiao Ke naturally knows better than you, son. You only need to pay a deposit of [-] Guan!"

Hearing what the man said, Wang Ence's heart moved slightly. He has been with Wang Wenzuo for some time, and he does some ordinary errands every day, and he doesn't have the treatment of Wang Wenzuo's "brother".After a long time, he didn't say anything, but he felt a little depressed in his heart.This time it was such a hard job again, so he nodded.

"Okay, let's do as you say! But you must deliver it tomorrow, otherwise I won't be able to spare you!"

"Don't worry, our shop has been in Chengdu for three generations. It has roots and feet. You can inquire about its reputation."

Wang Ence was about to ask someone to take out the money, but someone next to him made a fuss. Looking back, it was Wang Pu who asked, "What's wrong?"

"Young Master!" Wang Pu lowered his voice and said, "We are foreigners here, and we don't know each other well, so it's better to be careful! Let them prepare the goods, and we can buy them tomorrow, no deposit required!"

"You just do what I decide!" Wang Ence said angrily, "If there is a mistake, I will go and tell my brother. It's not your turn to talk! Go, pay the deposit!"

Seeing this, Wang Pu had no choice but to pay the bill with one hundred guan as Wang Enci said.

(End of this chapter)