A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1161: Showing your noble hand
Wu Huaiyu attached great importance to the Anxi Army's farming.
The emperor far away in Chang'an also attached great importance to the issue of military farming in the Western Regions, and specially gave Wu Huaiyu, the Anxi Protector-General, the title of Anxi Military Farm Ambassador.

"As the saying goes, even if food is delivered from a thousand miles away, the soldiers still look hungry; even if firewood is cut and firewood is used for cooking, the soldiers still cannot sleep well."

"Even if we buy grain in the Western Regions, it will be very expensive. Only by cultivating the land in the local military settlements and supplying the military can we avoid the expense of buying grain and the difficulty of transporting it."

Wu Huaiyu did some calculations with everyone. The Tang Dynasty now had 32,000 troops stationed in Anxi, plus the figure of four-tenths cavalry and six-tenths infantry, plus a large number of war horses and draft horses, and the food and fodder consumption of one horse was equivalent to that of several soldiers.

"Soldiers were given two liters of rice per day, six dou per month, and one dan of millet per month. An Anxi soldier needed twelve dan of millet per year, or seven dan and two dan of rice, and a military horse needed twenty-seven dan of millet per year."

"If tens of thousands of people and horses were to transport food from the Central Plains, the cost of transportation would be several times the amount of food itself, and it would also require a lot of labor to transport it.

We need too much grain to buy locally in the Western Regions. Such a large purchase is not only difficult to meet demand, but also unsafe and expensive. No matter from which aspect, we have to implement military settlement and eat locally."

There are many good conditions for storing grain in the Western Regions. For example, there is a lot of land available for military settlement. In addition, there are also many Tang troops in Anxi. Even if one-third of the land is used for farming and one-third for horse herding, there is still six-thirds available for fighting and defending, which will not affect the military affairs.

Another reason is that cattle and horses are cheap in Anxi.
Take cattle for example, especially now when the price is the cheapest. A fine bullock is only worth two or three pieces of silk, and a medium bullock is only about two pieces of silk.

Two rolls of raw silk cost no more than four hundred coins.

Even the price of horses has plummeted. Originally, the price of a Gaochang horse was 37 silver coins per fine horse, which was worth about six rolls of raw silk.

But now the price has dropped to four or five pieces of silk.

The prices of livestock in the Western Region have plummeted now, with camels, horses, cattle and sheep all falling in price, but the price of grain has risen a lot.

The cost of purchasing grain from the interior is lower than that of transporting grain from the interior, but it is still much higher than directly cultivating land.

The Anxi Army consisted of 32,000 men, including one Ya, five armies, four towns, and thirteen guard posts. They also had over 10,000 soldiers stationed in the fields and over 3,000 herders.

"Each garrison soldier cultivates 50 mu of land, two people cultivate one hectare, and are equipped with two oxen. A garrison of 50 hectares of land requires 100 garrison soldiers and 100 oxen."

The initial plan of the Anxi Army for military settlements reached 106 settlements, covering more than 5,300 hectares.

The estimated annual yield is one million shi.

The Anxi Army had 32,000 soldiers, and each person was given 12 shi of millet per year, which meant a total of 384,000 shi of millet per year. Adding the needs of the army and horses, the one million shi of grain harvested from the military farms could basically meet military needs, and even have surplus reserves.

The imperial court had been managing Yiwu for many years.

Before the Tang army's westward expedition,

The Tang army in Yizhou also engaged in military farming, which not only provided them with food for their own needs every year, but also allowed them to hand over 10,000 shi of grain to the Yizhou official warehouse and Yiwu military warehouse.

The three states of Yi, Xi and Ting, plus the military farms in Gongyue, Shuanghe, Heishui and other places, planned a total of 106 military farms, which is more than 500,000 mu of grain fields.

Each tun was equipped with a hundred soldiers and some officers in charge, and a hundred oxen. With more than a hundred tuns, there would be more than ten thousand oxen.

If this happened in the mainland, it might be a big problem, but now in the Western Regions, more than ten thousand cattle are not a problem, and it doesn't cost much, only two or three thousand pieces of silk.

There is no need to apply for money and silk from the court.
The Anxi Protectorate's accounts are now very well-off. Even though most of the money in the camp had been distributed before, a portion was left for the Protectorate, and Wu Huaiyu also collected taxes from various tribes in advance for this year.

Even if they are temporarily taxed lightly,
But they were also very 'enthusiastic' to pay in advance and paid a lot more.

Wu Huaiyu, the Grand Protector, was very well-off.

"Anxi still has great potential for future development, so we should encourage soldiers to bring their families with them, or even recruit their children to come. When they come to Anxi and become citizens, we will allocate land to them and exempt them from rent for the first three years for newly reclaimed land."

The prisoners from the interior were exiled to Anxi, and the landless people from the narrow villages in the Central Plains were encouraged to come to Anxi to share the land.

In the future, a system of post stations and beacon towers will be established, and local people and Hu people living near the city will be recruited to serve. At that time, fields will be enclosed and allocated to each post station and beacon tower so that they can cultivate the land to be self-sufficient, or they can hire or recruit civilians to cultivate the land.

Now is the initial stage of military settlement. In the early stage, we need to reclaim wasteland. Assuming one soldier has one cow and 50 acres of land, after two years, two people and three cows can settle 150 acres, and one person can settle 70 to 80 acres.

Military settlements, combined with the subsequent exile of criminals and immigrant settlements, as well as the reserves from farming and grazing by the barbarians and other peoples living near the city, meant that the Tang army in the Western Regions did not need to send grain from the interior, nor did it need additional funding from the court. They were able to be self-sufficient and have enough food and clothing.

As long as the Anxi Army can be self-sufficient in the Western Regions, it will be able to maintain its position for a long time, and its control over the Western Regions will become increasingly stable.

"Use the army to protect the fields, and use the fields to support the army."

"My Anxi warriors work hard in the fields during the day and fight with beacons at night."

"All the soldiers and their families who are willing to come here can go to the military prefectures. We will give them land and houses in the Anxi Protectorate.
I will also have to give you a settlement allowance and travel expenses."

Wu Huaiyu hoped to build a number of settlements around the Anxi Military Town, with the families of the Anxi Army as the core, to expand the number of Han soldiers and civilians in the Western Regions.
In fact, the Anxi Army can still rely on the mountains to make a living. They can also collect taxes and participate in the Silk Road trade. Whether it is selling cattle and horses or reselling spices and gems, they can make a lot of money.

It would be a good idea to use this to subsidize military supplies and increase soldiers' welfare.

After the first batch of 106 military farms covering more than 500,000 mu were determined, the next step was to appoint the owners of these more than 100 farms and select the 10,000 soldiers who would work in the farms.

In addition, they sent people to various places in the Western Regions to purchase oxen, and also sent people back to the mainland to purchase various plows, hoes, seeds, etc., especially those agricultural tools and iron tools. The Central Plains ones are not only more advanced in style, but also cheaper in price, while the ones in the Western Regions are much worse.
The improved curved plow had already spread in the Central Plains a long time ago, but it had not yet spread to the Western Regions. It was expensive, and it was impossible to supply so much at once.

Purchase cattle and horses from the Western Regions, hoes and plows from the inland areas, and then purchase seeds of high-yield crops such as corn and potatoes. By the way, send people to the inland areas to recruit people.

After discussing matters with the generals of the Anxi Army and local officials,
The eunuch Li Keyong reported that Guo Xiaoke, Qibi Heli and the King of Yanqi were all waiting to see him.

"Please ask Guo Xiaoke to come first."

Wu Huaiyu made a pot of tea for Guo Xiaoke. Old Guo came to thank Wu Huaiyu.

"I just received the emperor's order, demoting me to the governor of Shazhou and reducing my title to the Duke of Yangdi County." Although Guo Xiaoke was born in an ordinary family, he was able to rise in the chaotic world at the end of the Sui Dynasty, which showed that he was quite capable.

But this time, he was demoted while others were promoted, which made him feel bad. But he quickly adjusted his mentality. He had performed poorly when he was the Protector General of Anxi and the Governor of Yizhou. Although he was short of soldiers and generals and could not influence the situation in the Western Regions, he was also responsible for the loss of control of the Western Regions.

Furthermore, he did disobey Wu Huaiyu's military order and attacked Gaochang without authorization. After careful reflection and analysis by his staff, he realized that he had ruined Wu Huaiyu's deployment and plan because of his greed for merit.

This led to the rebellion of Helu and his people.

Although this could be considered as luring the snake out of its hole, and ultimately defeating Helu and his men, it actually helped the imperial court's control over the Western Regions, and even pushed the imperial court to directly add a new directly affiliated Tingzhou.

But the credit goes to Wu Huaiyu and Cheng Yaojin, and even Qibi Heli has a share of the credit. Only Guo Xiaoke is guilty.

He knew that Wu Huaiyu had reported him to the emperor.
But now that he is about to take up his post in Shazhou, he still wants to thank Wu Huaiyu. It is not because Wu Huaiyu is also the governor of Liangzhou and is still his direct superior.

"I want to thank the Minister of War for his kindness today. I was confused for a moment and was greedy for merit and advancement. The Minister of War just suspended me from my post."

Under the circumstances at that time, if Wu Huaiyu, the prime minister, really wanted to behead him, no one could save him.

But Wu Huaiyu only took away his military post.

Wu Huaiyu poured him some tea and said, "Personally, Mr. Guo and my adoptive father were all brothers who gathered together in Wagang. Publicly, Mr. Guo was also a founding general who fought for the imperial court for many years and made great achievements.

Furthermore, it was indeed wrong for Lord Guo to attack without authorization, but fortunately, no damage was caused."

Guo Xiaoke took the tea and said, "I am confused. I have been a soldier for half my life, and I am getting more confused as I get older."

"Mr. Guo is still in his prime, it's too early to say he's old. Even if he has some setbacks temporarily, he doesn't need to be discouraged."

"Anyway, I have to thank Prime Minister Wu for his generosity."

This time, the court asked Guo Xiaoke to go directly to Shazhou to take up the post of governor, and he was not allowed to return to Chang'an. While others returned triumphantly to the court to accept commendations and rewards, he was not even allowed to return to Chang'an.

"I have a request to ask for the military position. I have three sons, none of them are good enough. The eldest is waiting for an official post, the second is waiting for a title, and the third is waiting for a job. They are neither good at literature nor martial arts. They have always been by my side, but I came from a humble background and don't know how to teach them. I am ashamed to see them all grow up and still be useless.
I want these three kids to follow Wu Xiang and learn from him. I know they are stupid, so I don't dare ask him to be my disciple. I just want Wu Xiang to take them in as his servants and give them some pointers from time to time."

Wu Huaiyu felt that the names of Guo Xiaoke's three sons were really good. "Waiting for an appointment, waiting for a title, waiting for a job," also reflected Guo's desire for his sons to become successful.

He heard that Lao Guo's third son was quite brave.
"If Mr. Guo is willing to hand over your son to me, then let them enter the Anxi Military Academy and serve as soldiers of the Anxi Army."

"Thank you, Lord Wu."

Guo Xiaoke was from Wagang, but he was not from the same faction as Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin. Like Huang Junhan, Guo Xiaoke was Li Ji's confidant.

But now that Guo Xiaoke has sent his three sons to Wu Huaiyu, it is obvious that he is taking practical actions to get closer to Wu Huaiyu.

Wu Huaiyu did not refuse.
"When will Mr. Guo leave?"

"We'll leave tomorrow,"

The original governor of Shazhou was Liu Deming. He became famous in the Western Regions because he entered the enemy camp alone and killed Zhuye Quejijin. Wu Huaiyu directly appointed him as the governor of Tingzhou. Afterwards, the court evaluated his merits and the emperor promoted him to the deputy governor of Anxi and governor of Tingzhou.

Shazhou was also very important as the western gateway of the Hexi Corridor. Wu Huaiyi had served as the governor of Shazhou. The governor could not be absent all the time, so Guo Xiaoke had to hurry to take up the post. Moreover, he was a demoted official, so he dared not delay, otherwise he would be easily impeached by the censors.

"Then I wish Mr. Guo a safe journey."

(End of this chapter)