A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1142: Deputy Commissioner of the Institute

Wu Huaiyu was at the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains, the throat of the southern and northern borders of the Western Regions, and was about to begin repairing the city.

Let the Western Turks fight and compete with each other, while Wu Huaiyu led more than 10,000 Tang cavalry to camp in the Ulabao Depression on the banks of the Laolong River.

While building Luntai City, they also reclaimed wasteland and established farmland.

Those elite cavalrymen who marched 7,000 miles to Beiting to capture Yu Gushe alive also had the Han people's natural genes for farming in their blood. They took off their armor, laid down their weapons, picked up hoes and plows, and used slashes and fire to cultivate the land, and opened up fields of grain on all sides of the new Luntai City.

"We are going to cultivate land in Luntai and prepare to cultivate two villages first."

Each military settlement has 50 hectares, and each hectare has 100 mu, so one settlement has 5,000 mu. The two settlements in Luntai have 10,000 mu of land.

Wu Huaiyu was no stranger to military settlements. Since the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, the country had expanded outward, first recovering Shuofang and then taking Yunzhong. After that, after closing the mountains, it opened up Yanbei, and later on managed Lingnan, Nanzhong, Qianzhong, etc. While sending troops to conquer the barbarians, it also implemented a garrison system, with garrisons and cultivation in the border areas.

Military settlements on the border greatly solved the problem of military supplies and logistics, reduced the burden on the imperial court, ensured the supplies of the border troops, and maintained stability on the border.

Sun Tzu's Art of War states that one bell of enemy food is equivalent to twenty bells of our own.

The role of military settlements on the frontier is similar to that of spoils of war captured from the enemy.

The Western Regions are thousands of miles away from Chang'an. Even if grain is transported from Hexi and Longyou to Luntai, the cost is staggering. Moreover, although Hexi and Longyou are relatively rich, the population of Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, is too large to be self-sufficient in food, and grain must be transported from the surrounding areas.

Hexi and Longyou are also border areas, surrounded by many barbarians, with great military pressure and a heavy task of storing military grain. Transporting grain from Hexi and Longyou to the Western Regions is not only costly but also difficult to provide in sufficient quantities.

"Can we, with 3,000 soldiers from Luntai, complete the two settlements?" asked the son-in-law Gao Luxing.

Three thousand soldiers cultivated ten thousand acres of land. It may seem that the amount is not much, one person cultivated three acres. However, the main task of the Luntai Army in the border area is to guard one side, monitor the various tribes in the Western Regions, and protect the Silk Road.

Of course, it is impossible for all of them to come and farm.

The only way is to select some good farmers to be responsible for military farming, and then select some soldiers to cultivate the land.

Our plan is to open three settlements after Luntai. In each settlement, we will select good farmers as settlement officers and deputy settlement officers, and equip each settlement with one chief clerk, one recorder, three officials, and five historians, to form a more efficient settlement farming office.

Each village selected a hundred soldiers to be responsible for farming and was equipped with a hundred cattle.

The main crops grown are wheat, corn, barley, potatoes, sorghum, and soybeans.

"One percent of the grain harvested from the military farms goes to the state warehouse, and two percent goes to the military warehouse."

Wu Huaiyu listened to the introduction of Yuwen Chengdu, the garrison commander of Luntai whom he appointed, and did some calculations in his mind.

We opened three villages and 15,000 acres of land. The soil here is fertile and water irrigation is convenient, so the output can be guaranteed, and at least 30,000 shi of grain can be harvested a year.

The Luntai Army has 3,000 soldiers, and each person is entitled to 12 dan of grain per year, so 36,000 dan of grain is needed, and there is still a difference.

But if it was only for military needs, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty would have two liters of rations a day, and one liter more when they went to war. According to this standard, one person would have six dou of rations a month, seven and a half shi a year, and three thousand soldiers would have 21,600 shi of rations a year.

However, Luntai Town also has war horses, draft horses, mules and horses, which also consume a lot of food.

Now it is pure cavalry, and the ratio of infantry to cavalry will definitely be adjusted in the future. Normally, the ratio of cavalry to infantry is 4:6 or even 3:7.

After such calculation, the three settlements of the Luntai Army would require 300 people to be responsible for farming. If there is a good harvest in one year, the food needs of the Luntai Army can be basically met.

However, this is based on the standard of one part farming and nine parts fighting and defense.

"We can increase the proportion of military farms. I think we can use 30% for military farms and 70% for combat and defense. There are 3,000 people in Luntai Town, and 1,000 of them are responsible for military farms. Each soldier is given 50 mu of military farms and a working ox.

If one thousand soldiers from Luntai Town cultivate land, they can open ten settlements, covering 50,000 mu. The land here is fertile and the water is abundant. If they plant high-yield crops such as wheat, corn, and potatoes, they can easily get 100,000 dan of grain a year. They can be completely self-sufficient and even have some surplus grain for military supplies.

"There should also be a reward and punishment system for the soldiers selected to farm,"

If you farm well, you will be rewarded. Of course, if you farm poorly, you will also be punished.

Wu Huaiyu also suggested that a standard could be set for the soldiers who farmed the land. If the farmed food was good and the harvest exceeded the standard, the soldiers could get a certain share of the surplus grain, which would be equivalent to an extra reward.

If the harvest is poor, there will be a fine, but no compensation is required. Instead, the punishment will be based on general military regulations.

Anyway,

At the current stage, the Luntai Military Town is still a rotating garrison. Those who were originally palace soldiers are still palace soldiers, and those who were originally the Northern Yamen Imperial Guards are still the Imperial Guards. They are just now being transferred here to guard the border. As for the garrison period, it is two years, three years, or four years.

This has not been decided yet and will have to be confirmed by the court later.

But what is certain is that, with the current system of the Tang Dynasty, it is temporarily impossible for these soldiers to relocate their household registration and become military households or vassal states permanently stationed here.

The Tang Dynasty had not set such an example yet. Before, when Wu Huaiyu was in Lingnan, he transferred a batch of soldiers from the Central Plains and suggested to the court that they should be set up as garrison troops to permanently station in Lingnan. However, the court only added some military offices in Lingnan and changed the inland soldiers into Lingnan soldiers. They were still rotating soldiers rather than professional standing soldiers.

This thing involves deep waters and cannot be changed casually.

The current stationing of troops in the Western Regions is also a brand new attempt for the imperial court, and they still have to cross the river by feeling the stones in many places.

Yuwen Chengdu reminded Wu Huaiyu that their Luntai Town also planned to enclose some pastures to graze some cattle and sheep, raise military horses, and store fodder.

"Well, then we'll build two more ranches, and assign a hundred soldiers to each ranch to herd horses and sheep."

There were 3,000 people in Luntai Town, 1,000 of whom were engaged in farming, 200 were engaged in herding horses and sheep, and the remaining 1,800 were used. So 40% were used for farming and grazing, and 60% for fighting and defending.

They cleared the land, farmed the land, and grazed cattle and sheep.

This doesn't feel like a war at all.
Cheng Yaojin complained about being bored every day and always asked for some soldiers to let him go out for a walk. Wu Huaiyu was not willing to let this big devil go out for a walk, as it would definitely cause trouble.

Old Cheng wanted to go to war, he was feeling very anxious. He didn't want to reclaim land and farm, nor did he want to stay on the construction site to build a city, and he had no interest in herding cattle and horses.

He just wanted to fight and make a contribution.

But Wu Huaiyu had his own arrangements and could not let him disrupt his strategic deployment.

Wu Huaiyu was really fed up with his daily nagging, so he had to allocate some troops to him, but not to send him to fight, but to let him go hunting.

There are valleys, river valleys, grasslands, wetlands, and lakes near Luntai, and there are still a lot of wild resources. Let Lao Cheng go hunting deer, sheep, and rabbits to improve the food for the soldiers who are reclaiming wasteland and building cities.

Of course, Lao Cheng also took on the task of patrolling and guarding.

After all, they are now in the Western Regions, and they can't be as careless as Yu Gushe and get ambushed.

Old Cheng went happily.
Then Niu Jinda, Liu Lancheng, Fan Xing and other managers could no longer sit still, and shamelessly joined Lao Cheng's team, going hunting and fishing to improve their food.

The construction of Luntai City went relatively smoothly, and was basically rebuilt on the site of the original old city.
But the final layout was changed. The original plan was to make it into three connected cities, with two inner and outer cities in the middle, and two sub-cities in the east and west.

However, the final plan was to change it to three cities. The Luntai City was built on the original site, with two layers, the inner and outer cities. The inner city was the government city, and the outer city was the residential area and market.

About 20 miles east and west of Luntai City, the East City and the West City were built respectively. In fact, they can no longer be considered as sub-cities but should be satellite cities.

The East City is mainly populated by garrison troops, and in the future there will be family members accompanying the troops, as well as some Han people who move here. This is a Han city.

As for the West City, there is a small garrison. The local Hu people from the Western Regions mainly live here, and the passing Hu merchants also do business in the Hu market here.

This separation, with the three cities arranged in a triangular shape, is not only beneficial for defense, but also separates the Han and Hu peoples, which is also beneficial for the Tang Dynasty to gain a foothold here in the early stage.

On the other hand, separating the three cities would also allow for better control of the surrounding military farms and pastures, and lock the main transportation routes between southern and northern Xinjiang like a pair of pliers.

Building a city is not that difficult.

The main city is slightly larger, but only a few miles in circumference. The city walls are built with rammed earth first, and the construction inside can be planned and constructed in batches. Such a city is quite simple.
Although there will be urn cities, watchtowers, and trenches,
But after all, it is very small, and does not require any stones or bricks, so the construction is relatively fast.

In the early stage, you just need to ram the four earth walls more than two meters high and close the city gates, and the city will be built. The rest can be done later.

After Gaochang is conquered, the captives will be brought over to work for a while, and the government offices, warehouses, houses, schools, markets, city moats, etc. can be quickly built.

As the days passed, the rammed earth walls of the three cities of Luntai became higher and higher, gradually taking shape.

The weather is getting hotter.
Although Luntai is still some distance away from the Huoyan Mountain of Gaochang Kingdom, it is very hot during the day except in the morning and evening when it is relatively cool, so building cities and reclaiming wasteland can only be done during the noon period.

The Western Turkic tribes besieged Gaochang like a pack of wolves.

Wu Huaiyu sent envoys to persuade Gaochang Crown Prince Qu Zhisheng to surrender, but the crown prince still resisted and refused to surrender. However, he did not dare to be rude to the Tang envoy this time. He treated him well and sent him back with courtesy. He also sent Gaochang Chief Qu Yong to meet Wu Huaiyu.
Qu Zhisheng sent Wu Huaiyu a large number of generous gifts.

There was a group of beauties, including Han women from Gaochang, beauties from Western Turkic, beauties from Zhaowu Sogdiana, Persian girls, beauties from the Yanda White Xiongnu, etc., a total of sixteen of them, which could match the number of Wu Huaiyu's silver-sword guards and long-halberd ceremonial soldiers.

In addition, he also presented sixteen fine horses, a lot of jade, silver, and their Gaochang's fine white folded cloth and other special products.

This batch of gifts was quite thoughtful. Not to mention the beauties and BMWs, there was a total of 100,000 silver coins. These silver coins, which imitated the Persian Sassanid silver coins, were very small, but they were also hard currency in the Western Regions. One silver coin could be exchanged for 32 Tang Kaiyuan Tongbao coins. 100,000 silver coins were equivalent to 3,200 strings of Tang coins.

For Gaochang, a small country with few people, Qu Zhisheng also invested a lot of money.

Don't be fooled by the fierce words, it is actually difficult to get off the horse now.

"My prince asked me to tell Prime Minister Wu that eagles fly in the sky, pheasants lie in the grass, cats roam in the hall, and mice live in their holes. They are all in their proper places. Can't they survive on their own?"

Wu Huaiyu looked at Gaochang's Chief Secretary Qu Yong and said, "It's too late to say this now. Go back and tell Qu Zhisheng that you can either surrender or wait for destruction.

You are a frog in a well, arrogant and conceited. You have committed too many crimes, intercepting tribute envoys from the Western Regions, blocking Silk Road trade, and even intercepting and imprisoning Chinese exiles passing through Gaochang, and subjecting them to heavy labor. You are also rude to the Tang Dynasty and instigated the relationship between the Xueyantuo and the Tang Dynasty.
If you still don't repent now, you are courting your own destruction."

Wu Huaiyu did not reject the gifts brought by the Chief of Gaochang, not because he was greedy for those things. He directly told Qu Yong that these gifts should be confiscated by the Tang army and used as military supplies. Anyway, they had worked hard to bring them back and they would soon become the spoils of war of the Tang Dynasty.

Qu Yong's face turned pale.

At this time, the Turkic army was approaching, and the various Turkic tribes were attacking the cities of Gaochang fiercely. Although Qu Zhisheng forced the men to work hard and raised more than 20,000 troops,
But he made a big mistake by dispersing his troops to various cities, leaving only less than 10,000 people in the royal city.

He wanted to defend every city, but spreading his military strength like this would only lead to faster defeat.

Many people in Gaochang were also afraid and began to persuade the prince to surrender, but Qu Zhisheng was determined and even drew his sword to kill several pro-capital ministers who took the lead in persuading the emperor to surrender.

Qu Yong was helpless and felt desperate.

"Report, report to the chief steward, the Saint Angel of Chang'an has arrived."

The emperor's messenger came to announce the decree.

"You have defeated Beiting and captured their false Khan. You have made great achievements and have been highly worthy of the trust placed in you. But Gaochang is still there. It is blocked by the Tianshan Mountains and relies on its remoteness and depth. How dare you harbor rebellion?

You hold a high position, you are loyal to your country, you travel far to the battlefield, you punish the criminals in person,

······
"Thinking hard and making every effort will lead to great hardships, but success after overcoming the dangers is deeply commendable."

"You can be appointed as the Grand Protector of Anxi and the Governor of Liangzhou, and be awarded two thousand pieces of silk and ten jars of imperial wine..."

The angel's will had just been read,

Another messenger arrived.

"Report,"

"Good news, good news from Tiandicheng. General Guo Xiaoke, Qibi Heli, Li She'er, Li Zhonglie, Xifeng Bulai and others left Yizhou and attacked Gaochang. They fought in Tiandicheng.
The Qibi general Heli led the front army and killed more than a thousand Gaochangs in battle.
The Gaochang army retreated to Tiandi City and relied on the city to resist.

That night, a star fell into the city and the earth shook. Our army took the opportunity to capture the city. We attacked it the next morning and conquered it at noon, taking more than 7,000 prisoners.

General Xin Liaoer led his elite cavalry to attack the capital of Gaochang at night.
At dawn, Feng Zhisheng personally led his troops out of the city, but was defeated in the battle. The main force followed and reached the city gates. "

This good news came suddenly.
Shocking,

Wu Huaiyu was surprised, not because of how powerful Guo Xiaoke, She'er, and Qibi Heli were, but because he had clearly sent people to pass messages to the various troops assembled in Yizhou and Guo Xiaoke who stayed there, asking them to keep their troops in place, not to advance westward, and not to attack Gaochang.

But now they still attack against military orders.

Although the battle was indeed beautiful and unstoppable, not only did they capture Tiandi City, one of the five major cities of Gaochang, they also killed more than a thousand people in battle and captured seven thousand. They then took advantage of the victory to attack Gaochang City and defeated Gaochang again outside the city, killing more than a thousand people.
Now the capital of Gaochang has been completely surrounded and is within our grasp.

But this did not make Wu Huaiyu happy, instead it made him frown. Guo Xiaoke, Qibi Heli and others obviously wanted to win credit, and they did make some contributions, but they disrupted Wu Huaiyu's plan.

If they acted like this, how could Wu Huaiyu let the Western Turkic tribes fight Gaochang to a mutual defeat, and then make a grand appearance in the end, defeat them with thunder and shock the Western Regions?
With a plop,
Qu Yong, the Chief Secretary of Gaochang, was so shocked by the news that he fell to the ground with a deathly pale face.

It’s over, completely over, Gaochang is over.

"Qu Changshi, it seems you don't need to rush back to Gaochang City. Come, help Qu Changshi down to have a good rest."

Wu Huaiyu frowned and paced around in the tent. It was really true that plans could not keep up with changes.

Now all plans were disrupted.

At this moment, Gaochang City might have been captured.

The messenger just said that when the Tang army attacked Tiandi City, a meteor fell into the city in the middle of the night, and the earth shook. This clearly means that Guo Xiaoke and his men used firearms to break into the city, probably by blasting the city walls.
With such a powerful weapon, how could Tiandi City be defended? There were only two to three thousand defenders at most.

(End of this chapter)