A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 504 Fan Yanglu

Youzhou City is huge.

During the Han and Wei Dynasties, the center of Hebei was in the area of ​​Yecheng, but in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Youzhou gradually became an important town in the north.

"Which powerful families are there in Youzhou?"

"Many, since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Fanyang Lu family, the Shangguhou family, and the Boling Cui family outside Youzhou have been powerful for hundreds of years, especially the Fanyang Lu family. Since the founding of the Emperor Tang Dynasty, the Lu family has not been much in the court, but it occupies absolute real power in Youzhou.
Whether Li Jing, Xue Shixiong, and Luo Yi were in Youzhou in the former Sui Dynasty, or Li Yuan, Wang Junkuo, and Li Xuandao were in Youzhou in this dynasty, they all respected the Lu family very much. In the early years, there were even people who did not know the emperor but only knew the Lu family. "

In Youzhou city,

Li Jinyan, the second son of Tudiji, accompanied Wu Huaiyu at the head of Youzhou city, and introduced him very seriously.

He is different from his brave and brave elder brother, Li Jinyan, whose original name is Wuji, but he is born with a crippled disability, and even looks a little hideous. Even Tudiji detests this son, especially his biological mother is from Goguryeo, who was from Goguryeo back then. In order to control their tribe, a Goguryeo woman was forced to come over.

However, although Wu Ji is disabled and ugly, when he was a child, he "accidentally" fell into the fire and burned half of his ugly face, but he grew up and changed a little bit after being despised since childhood She is withdrawn and out of gregarious, but only likes to study, and is ridiculed by her brothers.

After Wu Huaiyu adopted Tudiji's youngest son as his adoptive son, Tudiji changed the name of the bravest eldest son to Li Jinnuo, and asked him to move to Chang'an with his wives, concubines and children.

When Huaiyi saw him off, he accidentally discovered that Li's second child was unusual.

Later, he specially invited him to have a chat, and found that the second child was very smart, and Tudiji was an old fox, but in terms of resourcefulness, he might not be as good as his son, but it's a pity that no one of them looked at him seriously before.

Wu Huaiyu gave the second child the name Jinyan.

Li Jinyan, who is in his early forties, is very familiar with the situation in Youzhou, and he knows everything about Wu Huaiyu.

"Mr. Wu, it is no exaggeration to say that the Lu family has long been the local emperor of Youzhou. The Lu family of Fan Yang has played a decisive role in the stability and stability of the Youzhou area. If Wu Gong wants to make a difference in Youzhou, there is absolutely no way around it. open them."

"Is it really that powerful?"

"Compared to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Lu family today is indeed not as good as before. At the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were many rebellions in Youzhou. In the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties, the military control over Youzhou was continuously strengthened. The influence and control of the state have weakened a lot, but a lean camel is bigger than a horse after all!"

Huaiyu smiled and listened to the second child's introduction.

"Nowadays, the world is stable. In fact, the influence of the Lu family has decreased again. In the final analysis, they are already an old force, and the Guanlongmen faction is a new force. The two forces will inevitably fight each other in Youzhou. The old and the new will naturally compete. However, the Guanlongmen faction and some Shandong military upstarts joined forces to attack the old Guandong gentry, and the offensive and defensive momentum has long since changed.

During the Sui Dynasty, the peasant uprisings in Shandong and Hebei were the most violent, and the old gentry such as Fan Yang and Lu were also the most severely suppressed and destroyed, just as the Hou Jing Rebellion completely destroyed Wang Xie and other gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. "

Youzhou is close to the frontier fortress and is the so-called hometown of soldiers and horses. For a long time, the land was sparsely populated.Since the Han Dynasty, they have been vigorously farming in the Youzhou area.

After the rebellion at the end of the Sui Dynasty, today’s Youzhou Governor’s Mansion is a land of eight states, a large place with a small population, and there are many Hu people, and many of them are Hu-Han mixed blood. The situation here is still very different from that in the Central Plains. of.

Fan Hu, aristocratic family, these are very important issues.

Li Jinyan made a suggestion to Wu Huaiyu, "If you want to govern Youzhou well, the key is to strengthen the armament and increase the number of troops, so as to deter from the root the head snakes of the Lu family and other aristocratic families, as well as those attached to the wild and wild Hus, etc., and as long as Only with strong soldiers and strong horses can we defend the frontiers and prevent Turkic, Xiqi, Goguryeo and other invasions, and we can have a stable life, otherwise nothing will be mentioned.”

"If you want to garrison troops, the key lies in money and food, especially food. I suggest strengthening the garrison of fields. Now that Youzhou is vast and sparsely populated, there is a lot of land that can be recultivated. My preliminary estimate is that at least [-] garrisons can be garrisoned here. ,"

Wu Huaiyu calculated that a village of 100 mu would be [-] million mu.One stone harvested per mu is also a million stone army ration.

Having food can not only raise troops to prepare for war, but also raise horses to strengthen the army.

"Increase troops, garrison fields, and then start business." Li Jinyan pointed to the north outside the city, "Youzhou is close to the frontier, and there have always been Hu merchants gathering. Wei, Goguryeo, and even Silla, Baekje and other merchants are vying to come here for trade. As long as the market is opened to attract investment and trade is liberalized, the profits here are extremely high.

Rare goods and local products from all over the world can be sold with extremely high profits, and taxes can be levied.”

Although it is far away from the Guanzhong area, which is the core of the Central Plains, because of this, the imperial court needs to strengthen its control, otherwise it will be beyond its reach. Once there is a dispute, it is the easiest place to separatist and rebel.

In Hebei as a whole, compared with the economically developed and densely populated Jizhou area, Youzhou is relatively barren and sparsely populated.

According to statistics from Dayezhong of the Sui Dynasty, Qinghe County in Jizhou at that time had a population of 30 households in one county, with an average of more than 10,000 households in each county, and Xindu and Wei County had [-]+ households.

However, there were only 3 households in Zhuo County, more than 3000 households in Shanggu County, more than 2000 households in Yuyang County, and more than [-] households in Beiping County.

For the Central Plains, Youzhou is an important gateway to the north, especially the only passage to the west and east of Liaoning, and it is a place that military strategists must contend for.

And he has a unique geographical advantage, which makes his status constantly improve, and he will inevitably become the military and political center of the northern frontier.

And the higher its status, the greater the power invested by the imperial court, and it will inevitably further suppress local forces.

The decline of the old aristocratic families also prompted the birth of new aristocratic families.

In the Sui Dynasty, the Grand Canal was built to lead directly to Youzhou, which further enhanced the status of Youzhou, strengthened the Central Plains' control over Youzhou, and weakened the local powerful aristocratic families.

The Li family has been attached to the Central Plains for more than [-] years. From the west of Liaoning to Youzhou, they also witnessed the strength of the Central Plains court like a dragon crossing the river, and also saw how the old clans such as Fan Yang and Lu's weakened rapidly in recent years.Although they are starting to look up again now, in general, they are not what they used to be.

Of course, he still advised Wu Huaiyu to be cautious when facing them.

"I heard that when Duke Wu was in Chang'an, he had a good relationship with Duke Lu Chengqing of Fanyang County?"

"good,"

"With this relationship, Duke Wu can spend more time with Mrs. Lu. I suggest Mr. Wu can find a matchmaker to marry Fan Yang and Mrs. Lu. Mr. Wu can come to ask Mrs. Lu for a side branch or a concubine as a concubine. , you can also make an engagement with the Lu family for your own children, "

Wu Huaiyu just smiled at this proposal.

People in this era like to use the method of marriage, or even in later generations, this is the most common method among wealthy families.

Simple but functional.

In fact, Wu Huaiyu has done such things in the past few years. He and Fan Xuanfu are considered special, but later on, with the Qiu family, the Yun family, and even the Tang family, the Han family and the Duan family in Shuofang, they were all political marriages, including the royal family.

He smiled, "I'm afraid that Fan Yang and Lu may not be able to see me."

Li Jinyan also smiled, and said unabashedly, "A few years ago, even 20 years earlier, even with Duke Wu's status and talent, Fan Yang might really look down on them. They were famous before. Conservative, especially the big lineage, the marriage is only between the five surnames and seven families,
But now, not as before.

From the time when the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty, through the Sui Dynasty, and after the civil uprisings and chaotic wars at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Fan Yanglu could no longer be so detached and aloof.
To tell you the truth, I, Aye, who is such an internal fanhu, took Lu's daughter as his concubine in the early years. At that time, Hebei was in turmoil, and the Lu family was also in danger. I, Aye, had thousands of tribesmen and horses. Shi also took the initiative to win us over and sent his daughter out. "

"Later, my elder brother also took a daughter from the Lu family as a concubine."

Of course, at that moment, at this moment, now that the Tudiji family wanted to marry Fan Yang and the Lu family again, they looked down on them again.

"Do you know why I, Aye, like Xiao Shisan so much? It's because his biological mother is Fan Yang Lu."

In order to protect themselves during the turmoil at the end of the Sui Dynasty, Fan Yang and the Lu family had to marry off even the chiefs attached to Mohe like Tudiji. For Dou Jiande, Luo Yi, Gao Kaidao, etc., they were naturally all of them. Overhead.

Of course, this does not prevent them from slowly becoming arrogant now.

Aristocratic families are actually most afraid of turbulent times, because that is when there are no rules to talk about, and what they like most is the prosperous world. They occupy a lot of resources, and ordinary people can't play with them when playing with rules.

Wu Huaiyu's family was of course not worth mentioning before, but now he has been a prime minister, a favorite minister of the emperor, and given the title of emperor, his family has naturally become a prominent branch of the Wu family in Taiyuan. Compared with other families, but the Lu family is not prosperous now. Wu Huaiyu came to Youzhou to be the governor, and Wu Huaiyu and Lu Chengqing had a good relationship before. Dear, Fan Yang and Lu Shi will be willing to accept it.

"It's not urgent." Huaiyu waved his hand.

He lost his initiative when he came to the door to ask for it. Although Li Jinyan also made it clear that if he wanted to make a big splash in Youzhou, he must have the full support of Fan Yang and Lu family, otherwise it would be very troublesome, but Wu Huaiyu was still not in a hurry.

Standing on Youzhou City, Wu Huaiyu liked this big city more and more.

Youzhou, also called Jicheng, is nine li from north to south, seven li from east to west, with ten gates, 32 li in circumference, and a sub-city inside.This is a large city that is slightly longer from north to south, and slightly narrower from east to west. The sub-city where the Dudu Mansion is located is not surrounded by the outer city, but is located in the southwest corner of the city, and is built next to the west and south walls of Youzhou City.

There are eight gates in the outer city, and two gates are opened in Youzhou City in the north of the city.

The sub-city has four gates, the south gate and the west gate are also the outer city gates, and the east gate and the north gate lead to the outer city of Youzhou.

Youzhou City is also a Lifang system, with a total of 28 workshops.

Caressing the battlements, looking down at Jicheng, Huaiyu was full of pride, "Let's start from this Jicheng!"

"Report to the governor, and see Lu Chengye." An Lushan, who was in leather armor, went to the city to report.

"Could it be brother Lu Chengqing?" Huaiyu asked.

Li Jinyan nodded, "Lu Chengqing's fifth brother, 28 years old, has been studying at home and has not been an official. It is said that he is going to take the Jinshi exam and marry his wife Zheng's daughter in Xingyang. Zheng's grandfather is Zheng Jingshan, the governor of Wei Guangzhou, and his father is Zheng Boyai, Sicang Sicang of Ezhou in Sui Dynasty."

"How is this Lu Chengye reading?"

"Extremely talented and famous, Wude and Emperor Zhenguan recruited him several times to serve as officials, but he resigned from office. He has both talented and virtuous names. The prestige in the family is very high."

The main houses of the Lu family in Fanyang are the North Ancestral House, the South Ancestral House and the Emperor’s House. Among them, the four branches of the North Ancestral House are all descendants of the four sons of General Pingdong and Lu Dushi, Marquis of Gu’an in the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The emperor's house also originated from the northern ancestral house. Because the three sons of Lu Jing, Taichang Qing of the Northern Wei Dynasty, served as the emperor's teachers of Wei, Qi, and Zhou respectively, the family was called the emperor's house and divided into four houses.

Cheng Chengqing and Lu Chengye's brother came from the eldest house in the fourth house of the Northern Ancestor. The ancestor was Lu Yuan, the eldest son of Lu Dushi's secretary supervisor, also known as Yangwu house.

In addition to these few fixed houses, the Lu family still has a lot of houses, some of which have been weakened over the years and have even become ordinary people.

But in Youzhou, as long as your surname is Lu, you are all special.

Although Lu Chengye has not been an official, he has always had a high status in Youzhou City. No matter who is in charge of the government, he must pay a visit first. However, Wu Huaiyu has been in Youzhou for a while, and he is also a powerful Youzhou family. Never visited.

Now Lu Chengye took the initiative to visit first.

"Since Lu Zhi, the Lu family of Fan Yang has passed on Confucianism, and his family studies are characterized by the "three rites". Lu Chengye is very good in these four aspects of historiography and historiography."

Li Jinyan suggested that Wu Huaiyu should give enough respect when meeting Lu Chengye.

"It is estimated that countless people in Youzhou are watching this meeting."

(End of this chapter)