Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 844 New Law

"So the general and Mr. Pei have the same idea!"

"Well, this battle should be long rather than short, slow rather than urgent. Also, Tubo will not only attack Hexi. There should also be actions in Longyou and the Western Regions. Pei Gong also needs to make preparations. What can we do in Chang'an? That’s all about allocating food and military supplies and sending more soldiers!”

"That's right!" Zhang Wenguan said with a smile: "What the general said is true, then first issue an edict and send more than 20 soldiers from Guanzhong and Hedong Prefecture, and strong men under 40 to Longyou to listen to them?"

"No need for now!" Wang Wenzuo shook his head: "Pei Gong didn't ask for more troops in the letter! It's not the time for the decisive battle yet. If we recruit more troops, we have to supply military food. In my opinion, we should do it now The first thing is to build the roads and fill up the grain depots, so that the soldiers sent out can have food and clothes to wear! Let’s do this! From today on, the royal family members and officials in Chang’an will have two meals a day. How about giving the remaining supplies to the Longyou garrison soldiers as military supplies?"

"That's very good!" King Han said with a smile: "I will first pledge a hundred stones of grain and two hundred bolts of silk. How about that?"

"If the King of Han is willing to take the lead, that would be the best!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Prime Minister Zhang and I will also donate this amount! Other officials and nobles will be reduced according to our standards according to their grades. What does Prime Minister Zhang think?" ?”

"I don't care, but I think I will offend my colleagues severely!" Zhang Wenguan said with a bitter smile: "What about the merchants and common people in Chang'an? Do you want to pledge some donations too!"

"Common merchants? It's up to your own free will, no requirements!" Wang Wenzuo said: "Otherwise, wouldn't it be another tax? After all, the Tang Dynasty is a Tang Dynasty with clans, nobles, civil and military officials, but not merchants The Tang Dynasty is the common people. Our food, clothing, salary, honor and wealth all come from the Tang Dynasty. When the country is in danger, it is our duty to contribute money and efforts; but it is different for the merchants and common people. No matter who is the emperor, they are all It’s unreasonable to ask them to pay more for farming, weaving, and paying taxes and military service!”

Hearing Wang Wenzuo's words, Zhang Wenguan couldn't help but be stunned. After a while, he sighed: "These words of the general are unheard of by me!"

"Isn't it true?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Before this dynasty, there was the Sui Dynasty. Before the Sui Dynasty, there was the Zhou Dynasty, there was the Qi Dynasty, and there was the Chen Dynasty. Before that, there was the Wei Dynasty in the north and Liang Dynasty in the south. Every dynasty and every country has its dynasty with rich clothes and fine food. There are also farmers and merchants who live in linen clothing and food. Where have they all gone?”

"What the general said is true!" King Han sighed: "We are in a position of honor. We should be prepared for danger in times of peace and think of a long-term solution! If you are greedy for wealth and do not cultivate virtue, you will not last long! I will take care of the general. I have painstakingly told it to the descendants of the clan!"

Not long after, the imperial court issued the "Frugality Order for the Clan and Hundred Officials", which immediately caused an uproar in the two capitals. According to this decree, Wang Wenzuo, in the name of the imperial court, said that the noble family members and officials are the pillars of the country and set an example for the world, so they must be cautious. Be careful, cultivate your character and your family, and if anyone violates the rules, you can be severely punished according to the law: death, deprivation of status, property, official position, exile, etc. There are four articles in total:

1. If you concentrate on practicing civil, military, and mathematical skills, you will become a noble official, and you must have a certain skill. If you are mediocre and lazy, you will be severely punished immediately.

2. Don’t gather people for drinking or attracting singing and prostitutes at will. It is disrespectful to one’s status.

3. All scholars should be frugal. Unless they have no children, they should not keep more wives and concubines for the sake of sexual pleasure.

4. When selecting talents, talent must be given priority.

Faced with these four laws, the attitudes of Chang'an residents were completely different. The middle and lower classes all praised them. Even some wealthy businessmen in the upper class gave thumbs up secretly without saying anything. After all, this law has no control over them. On the other hand, the attitude of the higher-ups was more complicated. Most of the officials and nobles were extremely disgusted, but they did not dare to say anything. After all, this "Frugality Order for All Officials of the Clan" is certainly reasonable from a theoretical point of view: the common people in the world are scholars, farmers, industry and commerce, and scholars have the highest status. Naturally, they have to put forward higher requirements in terms of talent and moral character. If you dare to resist this, you will immediately become one. If you take off your big hat, you will have to shed your skin even if you don't die.

As for the queen, of course she supports anything that strengthens the imperial power. Besides, all the officials and nobles know that Wang Wenzuo came up with this decree. They will only scold Wang Wenzuo. At most, Zhang Wenguan and Han Wang will be included. They will never scold the queen. Of course, Wang Wenzuo would be happy to see such good things happen if he offends others.

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Longyou.

"Liu Gong! This General Wang has made a big move this time!" Pei Xingjian carefully handed over the letter: "This has offended all the civil and military officials of the dynasty and the clan. To be honest, this I can’t even think of such a thing!”

"Yes!" Compared with when he was in Baekje, Liu Rengui was much older, his temples were completely white, and his cheeks were full of spots, but his eyes were still bright: "But back then in Baekje, That's what he is. To put it nicely, he is courageous in doing things, but to put it badly, he is unscrupulous! "

"How do you get used to this!" Pei Xingjian said with a wry smile: "This time he borrowed Tibetan thieves to attack Hexi and did such a big thing. I simply can't think of what else he will dare to do next?"

"At most it's just usurping the throne!"

Pei Xingjian was startled. When he saw the playful smile on Liu Rengui's face, he realized that he was joking: "Liu Gong, can you say such nonsense?"

"Don't be too nervous about keeping your promise!" Liu Rengui smiled: "Wang Wenzuo wanted to usurp the throne. He could have defeated you and marched to Chang'an City. Why wait until now? Besides, this is not something you and I should worry about. The current troubles haven’t been resolved yet, do you still have the energy to worry about Chang’an? As far as I’m concerned, you can still win the battle. No matter who is in power in Chang’an, let’s just kowtow!”

"That's what Liu Gong said! I am the defeated general of General Wang. I couldn't stop him from usurping the throne at first, and I can't stop him now!" Pei Xingjian smiled bitterly: "But what he said in the letter is indeed good. It is better to deal with Tibetan thieves. It is better to be long than to be short, to be slow rather than to be hasty, to be prepared for the enemy to send troops elsewhere and to contain us! Accumulate more troops, food and equipment for the future!"

"That's natural!" Liu Rengui said with a smile: "If he had led the army instead of Xue Rengui, the Tibetan thieves would have been finished long ago. He did this when he destroyed Baekje, Japan, Goguryeo, and Mohe. He could always find the thieves. The key is that once the battle is over, the thieves will not be able to rise again! With such people in the government, life will be much easier for the generals!"

"Yes!" Pei Xingjian nodded: "In that case, let Cheng Wuting be more cautious, but the camp on Longyou side should be more vigilant."

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Ganzhou.

Oh oh oh!
Qin Ling stared at the city wall in the distance. From this distance, he could clearly see the Tang people blowing horns on the city wall. Others were hurriedly erecting wooden planks to form guard sheds, and the soldiers guarding the city. You can hide inside to avoid damage from arrows and flying rocks. There was a group of brightly armored soldiers on the city tower, with crimson umbrellas and flags held high, surrounded by five or six officials in brocade robes, pointing towards the outside of the city. "That should be the governor of Ganzhou!" The Tubo general on the side said: "The Tang people are timid, but they do have a way of defending the city. I have ordered the soldiers to go to the surrounding villages to collect food. This area is known to be rich, even in spring, it should be You can get a lot of food and livestock!”

Qin Ling ignored the report of the general next to him. He carefully observed the Ganzhou City in the distance. His subordinates were right. The strength of Ganzhou City was undeniable. Thick and towering rammed earth walls surrounded the entire city. There are watchtowers in place, and there are sheep and horses on the inside of the moat. Judging from the guards on the wall, there are enough manpower and weapons in the city. It is not that easy to capture such a city.

"Where are the reinforcements from Longyou of the Tang Dynasty?" Qin Ling asked.

"The movement is very slow, and there are not many of them. According to the spies, there are only about four to five thousand people!"

Qinling snorted coldly and said nothing. The Tubo general next to him sensed his superior's displeasure and hurriedly lowered his head and said: "General, I heard that the Tang general leading the army is Cheng Wuting. He is a famous brave general in the Tang army. He can send troops to lure , and then hit it!”

"Can people be as stupid as you?" Qin Ling sneered: "The Tang people have a saying, rescuing troops is like putting out fire, but the Tang people's reinforcements move so slowly. It is obvious that they intend to use the city wall of Ganzhou to consume our people. In this way Will he be lured out by you?"

The Tibetan general was speechless. He did not dare to speak. After a long while, Qin Ling suddenly pointed to a section of the wall in the southwest of Ganzhou City and asked, "What's wrong with that section of the wall? Why is the color wrong?"

"It seems to have been newly built by the Tang Dynasty. The original old city wall has been in disrepair for a long time and is somewhat damaged. The color of the new soil is different from the old one!"

"Hmm!" Qin Ling didn't say anything and continued to move forward. The general didn't dare to urge him and only dared to follow behind. When Qin Ling asked, Qin Ling surrounded Ganzhou City in a circle before returning to the camp. , suddenly said: "Only by taking Ganzhou City and beating the Tang people to pain, these reinforcements will not be so slow! Let's attack the southwest of Ganzhou City tonight and see if we can capture it!"

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The straw creaked under the feet. It had rained two days ago, and the slope up to the city wall was covered with wet mud. These straws were laid to prevent slipping. Zhang Quanwen climbed up the city wall and walked through each city plate, carefully observing the surroundings to guard against the night guard who was lazy and sleeping.

The Tubo people had been besieging Ganzhou City for half a month. These raiders only made a tentative attack on the fifth day of the siege, then stopped the siege and adopted encirclement tactics. Zhang Quanyi tried his best to motivate the soldiers defending the city and encourage their morale. However, as time passed, he became more and more aware that reinforcements would not arrive in the near future. Manager Pei should be treating his Ganzhou City as a waste of Tibet. Human chips. Zhang Quanyi couldn't comment on whether this strategy was right or wrong, but it felt really bad to be used as a bargaining chip.

Of course, Zhang Quanyi did not hide in the city and be beaten passively. He knew very well that if you defend the city for a long time, you will lose, and you can't let the people who defend the city idle. They will think randomly when they are idle, which is not a good thing. So every night he would send a small group of soldiers to attack from the projecting gate, either setting fire to it or firing hidden arrows. In any case, he would not let the Tibetan people comfortably besiege the city. But it can only be said that the effect is very little. Compared with the Hexi city defenders who have been at peace for a long time, those Tubo soldiers who crossed the Qilian Mountains can be said to have experienced hundreds of battles. After suffering some losses the first few times, they quickly adapted. The environment changed and the night raiders paid a price several times. Zhang Quanyi had to adjust his strategy to avoid losing more than the gain.

But the people in Ganzhou City have recovered from the initial fear. Because the government distributed money and rice to the poor people defending the city, many people are even better off than before the siege. An optimistic atmosphere began to spread in Ganzhou City. Many people said that the imperial court's reinforcements were on the way. Once they arrived, they would work together to kill all the Tibetan barbarians. Although Zhang Quanyi knew that the rumors were mostly false, he still remained silent and allowed the rumors to spread.

"Your Majesty!"

"The governor!"

The voice awakened Zhang Quanyi from his thoughts. He raised his head and saw a dozen of the wardens with weapons kneeling on the ground. He raised his hand: "In emergencies, please get up!"

"Thank you, Governor!" Ding Zhuangzhong, a veteran, said to Zhang Quanwen: "Look at the Tibetan camp, something is wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Zhang Quanwen looked in the direction of the veteran's finger and saw a group of crows hovering over the Tubo camp not far away, rising and falling one after another, making ominous cries.

"What's wrong? Is something wrong?"

"Your Majesty, there are so many crows, there are either dead people or dead livestock below!" The veteran whispered: "But the Tubo people have not attacked the city for many days, and it is unlikely that anyone will die -"

"You mean the Tubo people are slaughtering livestock?" Zhang Quanyi also reacted.

"Yes!" The veteran nodded solemnly: "The army slaughters livestock, mostly to reward those who dare to die. The Tibetans are likely to attack at night tonight!"

Zhang Quanyi took a deep breath and tried his best not to let fear appear on his face: "Very good, it's good that you can think of this. What's your name?"

"The villain's surname is Li and his given name is Dazhu!" said the veteran.

"Tomorrow morning, go to the Governor's Mansion to get five pieces of silk!" Zhang Quanyi said with a smile.

"Thank you so much, envoy!"

Li Dazhu knelt down.

The sky remained warm and bright for the rest of the day until about sunset, when dark clouds from the west engulfed the orange sun, signaling an approaching storm. The attackers had already packed up and looked nervously at Ganzhou City in the distance, waiting for the officer's order.

Luosang walked through the ranks of his subordinates, observing their faces one by one, nodding or calling someone's name from time to time. Whenever he did this, that person would withdraw from the ranks. There are seventy people here, too many! As an experienced scout and officer, Lausanne knew very well that sometimes having more people was a bad thing. One idiot could ruin the efforts of a hundred people, but the vast majority of people in the army were idiots, otherwise they would not be able to command. . But Night Raid was different. He wanted to eliminate the idiot from his hands, lest he end up screwing up.

Luosang walked through the procession three times, and he had eliminated twenty-five people, but he still felt that there were too many people, but time did not allow him to continue selecting. He coughed: "Follow me, you all understand my rules, Even if your hand is cut off later, you are not allowed to make a sound!"