A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 508 The Fear In Your Bones
Since Wu Huaiyu came to Youzhou, the place has become lively.

The six famous clans headed by the Lu clan of Fanyang, the Hou clan of Shanggu, the Yang clan of Beiping, the Liu clan of Yanguo, the Zu clan of Fan Yang, and the Kou clan of Shanggu have been very busy recently.

Lu was busy holding various banquets, sent 35 Niang to Wu Huaiyu as his concubine, and then betrothed Lu Chengqing's daughter to Wu Huaiyu's son.

While the other families were sending gifts to congratulate, they were busy sending their children to the Dudu Mansion to accept the recruitment assessment.

Everyone is still busy collecting the rent that has just been collected this year, and arranging cars and horses to bring the grain from the righteous warehouse to Youzhou.

Loaded on vehicles and ships, water and land are connected, and countless grains are entering the official warehouses in Youzhou.

The so-called aristocrats must not only have a prominent family background, but also have a keen sense of smell, otherwise it will be difficult to pass on for hundreds of years without failing.

The account books for the fields are handed over, and the grain for the righteous warehouse is handed over.

Their cooperation even surprised the people of Youzhou. When did these elites listen to the court so much?
"Back when Li Yuan was in Youzhou, the families didn't do this, did they?"

"What is Li Yuan?"

In a restaurant, several people were drinking and chatting, and they were very surprised when they mentioned the strange things in Youzhou recently.When Li Yuan was in Youzhou, he was the prince of the royal family and the governor, but after all, he rebelled and was wiped out immediately, and he was wiped out by Wang Junkuo, his in-laws and his deputy.

I don't have a good impression of this person. He is fond of drinking, he is also fond of beauty, and he likes extravagance and greed. A businessman attached himself to him, but because of his wife's beauty, his family was ruined and his wife was taken away.

"This Wu Shaobao is not comparable to Li Yuan. This is the emperor's heart of Emperor Zhenguan. Didn't you see the guard of honor when he entered the city? Double banners and double festivals!"

"When this Wu Shaobao came to Youzhou earlier, he refused to see these nobles in Youzhou. He thought he was the same person as Yan Rong."

Speaking of Yanrong, people from Youzhou have a deep memory.

The man who used to be the governor of Youzhou during the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty, Yan Rong was a nobleman from Guanlong, and came to Youzhou to be the governor. Lu Shi and other gate valves.

It's all because this Yan Rong, nicknamed Yan Peeling, deliberately oppressed and insulted the noble families of Youzhou after arriving in Youzhou. For example, Fan Yang Lu, the head of the Youzhou nobles, has five surnames, but Yanrong deliberately recruited Lu's children Serving as humble slaves such as servants in the Yamen, intending to humiliate them.

That's not counting, if he still moves, he will hang up and slap these formerly high and famous children for finding faults.He deliberately selected a group of extremely strong soldiers to be the servants in charge of the punishment. He often insulted the Lu family's children and beat them until the skin was ripped apart and the bones were exposed.

Once when he went out for inspection, he saw a clump of thorns on the side of the road, so he asked someone to take it and make it into a whipping tool. It is said that if you fight now, if you are guilty later, you can forgive.

The man was beaten with blood all over the ground, and Yan Rong found fault with him soon after, and wanted to beat him again. The man said he had beaten him last time, and Yan Rong said directly, I will beat you even if you are not guilty, let alone guilty?So he smoked again.

Yanrong's tyranny is not only that, he even heard that the wives and daughters of Lu's children are beautiful, and even broke into other people's homes to insult her.

This kind of thing is greedy, brutal, wanton and laissez-faire, and it is getting worse every day.

In the end, because Yanrong had a quarrel with Yuan Hongsi, the elder who was also a nobleman from Guanlong, he found reasons to beat him every day, and later sent him to prison. In the end, Yuan Hongsi's wife secretly went to Beijing to sue Yanrong, and Yanrong was taken back to Beijing. Give death.

The Yan skinning back then, now his granddaughter is the concubine Yan De of Emperor Zhenguan.

The people of Youzhou are extremely afraid of Yan Rong. The Lu family of Fan Yang was once insulted by Yan Rong, so they had to swallow their anger. It was because the Lu family rebelled after Qi was destroyed and was finally suppressed. Yan Rong's behavior towards Lu was obviously known by the court but turned a blind eye Yes, Yan Rong is just the whip, and the one who really whips the whip is Emperor Sui.

What's more, the Sui Dynasty dismissed Zhuzhou Dazhongzheng and brought the electoral right to the central government. Local famous families like the Lu family lost the opportunity to control local power.

Although Wu Huaiyu was young, he always had a smile on his face, but the man who had killed Luo Yi, Wang Junkuo, and Liang Shidu, the third-ranked Chang'an Xingyang Dahai Temple and other famous religious temples could not escape his purge.

There are also three-tiered temples in Youzhou.

"It turns out that those so-called five surnames and seven families are also paper tigers, they are just superficially majestic, hehe."

"That depends on who you compare with,"

······
Youzhou Zicheng,

Wu Huaiyu cleaned out the barracks that had been vacant for a long time and expanded them.

Three thousand troops were stationed in the city.

It is the elite selected by the order from Hebei, the Youzhou Tuqi with [-] armored cavalry, and the Modao Army with [-] heavy armored Modao.

In addition, the Governor's Mansion in the center of Zicheng also has [-] imperial guards sent by the emperor as guards, as well as Wu Huaiyu's [-] troops.

After the entire sub-city has been cleaned up, the Youzhou Governor's Mansion, the State Government Office, and the Jixian Government Office are all arranged in the sub-city. In addition, the Army City and Cangcheng City are also in the Zicheng City. The schools were all moved into Zicheng, and a Youzhou Military Hospital was even built.

On the south bank of Youzhou across the river, there is a cage fire city. It was originally the county seat of Yinxiang in the Western Han Dynasty. Unable to defeat the attack, they retreated to the Cage Fire City. Luo Yi led Xue Wanche and others to attack at night, broke through and beheaded more than five thousand people.

After this battle, Dou Jiande also listened to the slander and beheaded Wang Fubao, the general who was the champion of the three armies.

In October of the same year, Dou Jiande personally led an army of 20 to attack Youzhou again. Xia Jun had already climbed to the city, but Xue Wanche and his brothers led a death squad to sneak out of the city from the tunnel, and attacked Xia Jun from behind, repelling Xia Jun.

Luo Yi's old trick was repeated, and he attacked again at night, but Dou Jiande was already prepared. He lined up in the camp, filled the ditch, defeated Luo Yi, and chased to the city of Youzhou. After that, Luo Yi attacked the city of cage fire again. In the end, Dou Jiande also had to retreat.

Cage Fire City was originally inconspicuous, but it became an important fortress in the late Sui Dynasty.

There used to be a Tang army stationed here, but when Wu Huaiyu came, he added 600 troops here, both on foot and on horseback.

And Wu Huaiyu garrisoned [-] selected light cavalry outside the military capital pass, and handed them over to Su Lie, the governor of Northern Yanzhou, for training, and asked him to use the Turkic method to train this light cavalry into wolf cavalry.

The continuous gathering and strengthening of the army made the atmosphere in Youzhou a little tense. Although it was still calm on the surface, the pressure on the Lu family and other aristocratic families was enormous.

Wu Huaiyu communicated with them a long time ago, saying that it was the autumn training, and also to guard against the attack of the Turks or the tribes who did not open their eyes to Xiqi, but everyone saw these troops gathering, and it was false to say that they were not nervous. Who knew that these soldiers Ma, will you deal with them suddenly?
Anyway, ever since a group of troops entered Youzhou Zicheng and Cagehuo City, and even Wu Huaiyu began to gather township regiments, organize and practice township regiment martial arts, and garrison and train in the suburbs of Youzhou, the six noble families of Youzhou have become more and more respectful to the Dudufu , It is also very cooperative with various government orders.

In a short period of time, all the grain from the righteous warehouse was transported to Youzhou for storage. Not only was it all new grain, but it was also not mixed with any soil debris, let alone a small amount.

The two liters per mu were paid as much, and an extra [-]% was paid, which was considered to be donated to the military warehouse to help pay.

Wu Huaiyu spoke highly of their performance. Among the children of the six major gentry clans, Wu Huaiyu conscripted hundreds of people and awarded them ranks of eighth and ninth grades, and countless children from side branches and even their in-laws were also awarded official positions outside of China.

For a time, in the governor's mansion of Youzhou and its subordinate eight states, as well as in the yamen of various counties, there were children from famous families of Youzhou gentry working as officials everywhere.

But in Wu Huaiyu's army, none of these famous disciples were arranged.

Even the newly organized military cavalry and native militiamen of the village regiment, these militia infantry, are all selected from poor families and powerful landlords.

Wu Huaiyu's reason is also very simple. The Youzhou gentry headed by the six gentry clans, with their family background, are naturally more suitable to be arranged to work in the government office. It is too wasteful to use them for the rough work of fighting and killing in the army.

"I never thought that the six noble families would be so cowardly."

Li Jinyan flipped through the ledger and shook his head in disdain as he looked at the grain and food handed in by the six major families.

"He who understands the current affairs is a good man. This is a good thing. I don't want to make it so complicated and ugly. This is very good. Hello, me, hello, everyone, harmony, harmony makes money." Huaiyu laughed.

It may be that his background is too big, or that his knife is sharpened too brightly. The famous nobles in Youzhou cooperated incomparably. Accept the enlistment to be an official.

"What is Erlang going to do next?" Li Jinyan asked.

"What do you think?" Huaiyu asked back.

"I think that since they are so cowardly, we can do it a little more aggressively. They have handed over the field records, so we can find out what to do and check against them."

"Clear out the fields they invaded, even those who have attached themselves to the land. The cleared land can be used as a military settlement or granted to customers."

"Will it be too fast? They support me so much, but I immediately stab them?" Huaiyu asked with a smile.

"Strike while the iron is hot,"

"and then?"

"You can check the accounts, check the old accounts of each yamen. The subordinate officials in the prefectures and counties of Youzhou are basically people from various families. There are many disciples and relatives, and many of them are from side branches. Although these people are insignificant, but But actually control the Yamen,

None of the accounts they dealt with can be investigated. Not only are they deficient and embezzled, but also through tricks, each family can easily hide and escape and occupy fields. As long as they check carefully, they can find out many things. . "

"Well, after finding out?"

Li Jinyan said very bluntly, "If the governor gives them face, then you can just pick a few chickens to kill the monkeys, and then let them make up for the deficit and spit out the encroachment. If the governor doesn't give them face, then you might as well take the opportunity Killing a group of people ruthlessly, and killing everyone's heads, will naturally have the greatest deterrent effect."

Huaiyu thought for a while, "You let the wind go out, just say that I am going to check the treasury account books, and I have to check strictly."

"This is the governor?"

"Give them a chance, let them correct themselves, and then make up for the deficit and clean up the encroachment. As long as they wipe their ass clean, I don't have to pursue the previous ones."

"It's better to kill a few." Li Jinyan persuaded.

This lame is very cruel.

"Killing is not an end, but a means. As long as we can achieve our goal, we don't have to use the means of killing. Blindly fighting and killing is not conducive to harmony. We must lead everyone to make a fortune, so that people can be united."

Wu Huaiyu looked at the map of Youzhou, "I'm going to transform Youzhou City, like Chang'an, in addition to strengthening trade with the Hu people, and taking advantage of our coastal advantages to make and sell salt. Let’s talk, let’s work together and develop together.”

"Your family used to trade with Turkic, Mohe and even Goguryeo people, right?"

Li Jinyan froze for a moment, then nodded.

"Don't worry, I have no other intentions, I just want to ask you if you are familiar with the people from Tuli Little Khan's side."

"The governor wants to contact Little Khan Tuli?"

"Um,"

Ashinashi Bobi, the little Tuli khan, was the righteous brother of Li Shimin, the emperor of Zhenguan. He was stationed in the north of Youzhou, and commanded the Xi, Khitan, Miao, Shiwei, and Mohe tribes in the eastern part of Turkic. border.

During the Weishui alliance, Li Shimin also bestowed on Tuli the Great General of the Right Guard of the Tang Dynasty and the Duke of Beiping County. After that, the Tang Dynasty deliberately provoke Jieli Tuli's uncle and nephew. Even when the Turks suffered a disaster, they only rewarded Turks and traded with them, exchanging livestock for grain and cloth to help them survive the disaster, but ignored Xieli.

Now the relationship between Xieli and Tuli is extremely tense.

Yugushe, Tuoshe and others were unable to defeat the rebellious Tiele people in Mobei. Jieli asked Tuli Khan to lead the army to conquer, but Tuli did not obey the order to send troops.Jieli sent people to collect taxes from Tuli for their trade with Tang, but Tuli directly hung up the people he sent, whipped them, tied them on horseback, and drove them back.

Although the uncle and nephew hadn't faced each other directly, they were already at odds with each other.

Wu Huaiyu planned to add some fire to them.

Of course, it would also be good to expand trade with Tuli by the way, to increase the tax revenue of the Youzhou Dudufu, and to increase everyone's income.

Wouldn't it be a surprise if Tuli could be reversed directly.

Li Jinyan was relieved to understand that Wu Huaiyu didn't want to pursue the Li family's smuggling business, and hurriedly agreed.

Wu Huaiyu picked up his teacup and took a sip, "In the future, there will be a few new border cities on the border of Youzhou, and registration and tax declaration will be required for entering and exiting trade. Your Li family's trade is quite large, and I heard that the profit is not low. Remember to do it in the future. Good procedure, don’t forget it, otherwise it will be smuggled, Su Shishi’s two thousand fine riders will often patrol the border, if they are found out by then, the consequences will be very serious.”

"Thank you for the reminder, Governor." Li Jinyan quickly responded.

"I think the weather is quite nice in the recent autumn, how about inviting the noble families, tycoons, and major merchants in Youzhou to have a lively polo match?

At that time, our Youzhou Governor's Mansion and each army will also send a polo team to learn from each other. "

Li Jinyan was a little puzzled, why this young Emperor Xin was so outspoken, he jumped from Tuli Little Khan to trade and smuggling, and then jumped to playing polo all of a sudden.

But he still took it seriously.

Just as he was about to leave, Huaiyu took out something and handed it to him.

"This is just sent from Chang'an, your confession."

Wu Huaiyu invited Li Laoer to the emperor for a military post from the eighth rank of the Youzhou Dudufu, which was an official confession with the official seal of the Ministry of Officials.

Li Jinyan looked at this exquisite confession, and then looked at Li Jinyan's name on it, feeling his nose sore.

"I'm disabled..."

"You're not disabled just because you're disabled."

"But officials have to test their words and deeds. My body and appearance are not good."

"That's just a requirement for ordinary officials. You are a special talent. I will explain your talent to His Majesty, and His Majesty will specially grant you this eighth rank to join the military."

Wu Ji never thought about it. Since childhood, he hated dogs, and his parents didn't love him. He was born with a cripple, and later he fell into the fire and burned half of his face. Children would cry when they saw him. Wu Huaiyu not only used him, but also He was also invited to an official position.

Lu Wulang of Fanyang's Lu family is nothing more than the same Youzhou Dudufu who joins the military.

How can he be worthy of virtue, can he be compared with that Lu Wulang?He's just an ugly bastard in the shadows.

"You are very talented, don't underestimate yourself."

Wu Ji directly knelt down on the ground, "Thank you, Duke Wu, from now on, I will go through fire and water, let my father drive me, and I will die!"

(End of this chapter)