A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 558 Minzhong Pavilion rises from the top of the mountain

Youzhou.

Inside the east wall of the outer city,
A tall pavilion rose from the ground, and at the top of the pavilion, Wu Huaiyu, governor of Youzhou, rang the big bell.

The first strike, the sound is low.

The sound of the bell spread far away, and when the bell sounded, all the officials and people in Youzhou stopped their actions one after another, no matter they were pedestrians or those busy doing things, they all stood still and bowed towards the place where the bell sounded.

A boy on the side of the road asked his father in puzzlement, "Aye, why don't you leave, why do you bow?"

The man pushing a small cart and selling roasted sweet potatoes and boiled corn looked solemn. He rubbed his son's head, "Because this is a death knell, and the bell rings in respect and mourning for the dead,"

"Who is dead, is it the governor in Yacheng?"

"Don't talk nonsense, the death knell was tolled by the governor of Wuda personally for the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty who died defending the country against the Turks in the last battle of Yehuling," the man told his young son. , is a newly built attic named Minzhong.

Around the Minzhong Pavilion, the Minzhong Shrine will also be built, in which there will be monuments and pagodas, and the sacred tablets of the Tang soldiers who died in the Battle of Yehuling will be placed. They will be sacrificed at four o'clock and mourned forever.

These are the announcements that the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion announced to the whole city a few days ago, including today, the Metropolitan Governor personally rang the death knell at the Minzhong Pavilion to start the commemorative activities.

Although the man is just a commoner in Youzhou City, he also knows that the peace and stability at the end of this year cannot be separated from the dedication and sacrifice of these soldiers.
Be grateful and remember.

clang.

Another bell rang, this time very high-pitched, which meant that those soldiers sacrificed for the country and were worthy of respect.

In the battle of Yehuling, more than [-] soldiers of the Tang army were killed, and many were disabled.

Now the corpses of every soldier who died in battle have been transported back to Youzhou from outside the Great Wall, and the Mercy Loyalty Shrine will be suspended. After offering sacrifices and mourning, Wu Huaiyu will send people to send their remains back to their hometowns, so that their souls can return to their hometowns, and the fallen leaves can return to their roots. .

This is a lot of extra expenses, time-consuming and labor-intensive, but Wu Huaiyu insisted and specially approved money and silk.

Because they deserve it, and they deserve it.

Along with the remains of the soldiers, there will also be their relics, their pensions, and rewards for killing the enemy.

Wu Huaiyu even wrote a short condolence letter to the family members of each soldier who died in battle. There were more than 3000 letters, all of which were handwritten by himself, and he wrote them day and night for many days.

He also promised that if these soldiers have orphans and no one to take care of them, he is willing to help them raise them, and if there are old people who are no one to take care of them, he is also willing to fulfill their obligations on behalf of them.

The third bell, very heavy.

The whole city of Youzhou was solemn, mourning with deep sorrow.

These days, the Governor's Mansion of Youzhou has been publicizing the heroic deeds of these soldiers, and even the traffickers can understand that it is this group of soldiers who guard Youzhou.

It was they who rushed out of customs in the twelfth lunar month of winter, fought in the ice and snow at Yehuling, and fought against the Turkic army several times their own. They fought bloody battles for three days and three nights, killing more than [-] people and taking more than [-] prisoners.

They played an impressive casualty ratio of one to twenty.

After this battle, more than [-] heroic souls rested outside the Great Wall, and more than [-] soldiers were permanently disabled and had to retire from the army.

Yehuling is a great victory, and Wu Huaiyu's rewards have even come down. He was granted the title of Great Governor, and concurrently the Protector of Anton, and added four hundred households with real seals. Manor etc.

everything stands still,
Between heaven and earth there is only the death knell tolling.

The little boy followed his father and bowed to Minzhong Temple.

When the bell stopped, everyone did not immediately recover.

In the newly built market shops, the shopkeepers of each store brought out the white lanterns prepared in advance and hung them at the door.

Some people even took out paper money and scattered it, and some burned it at the door.

Someone is crying.

Youzhou fell into solemnity and mourning,
The battle at Yehuling was not irrelevant to the people of Youzhou, and the bloody battles and sacrifices of those soldiers were not anyone else's business.

Wu Huaiyu suggested that the soldiers and civilians of Youzhou mourn the sacrificed soldiers together, and also wanted to make everyone more united.

This is a common home, and when facing foreign enemies, we are a community of destiny.

In this way, the soldiers will have a higher sense of honor and mission, and they will understand why they are fighting, not just for fame and fortune,
And the common people can understand the protection of the soldiers, and they can naturally share the same hatred and help each other.

"Aye, I want to be a soldier when I grow up." The little boy said suddenly.

The man pushing the cart selling sweet potatoes and corn said, "Not everyone is qualified to be a soldier. Soldiers are the guards of the saints. They are a brave and noble group of people. If selected by the soldiers, they must be brave and strong. You have to have a lot of money in your family, and then you have to do more, "

"I will be tall and brave when I grow up," said the little boy.

The man just rubbed his head, and then continued to push the car forward, but he stopped shouting today, just walked slowly along the street silently.

Fubing, to ordinary people, they are a group of high-ranking people. He used to think that they are people from two worlds, but today, he feels that this group of people is actually very close to everyone.

The more than [-] soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, all of them must be at least rich peasants and landlords. They have to prepare clothes and horses. .

Compared with Western countries such as Persia, Rome, and Frank, the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were their knights and nobles.

In order to support their families, ordinary people can't stop for a moment, how can they be on standby at any time, and even often participate in training camps and shows, not to mention the huge consumption of martial arts training, not only eat a lot of food, but also often have to eat meat, not to mention It is said that there must be a horse, and even one horse is definitely not enough, and it is necessary to practice arrows and spears. If the family is not a small landlord, they cannot afford it.

But anyone who can choose to enter the mansion must have an unusual family, whether it is an official or aristocrat, or a powerful gentry, at least he must be a small landlord, and the family must have many brothers, otherwise he will not be able to do it alone.

But being able to become a guard of the government soldiers has a bright future. Not only will you have military land, but you will also be exempt from rent and mediocrity.

Serving as a soldier, like studying, is not something the poor can afford.

To study, you have to study hard, you have to buy paper, pen, ink and inkstone, you have to buy books, and you have to take time off work to support yourself. Moreover, it is not enough to study for one or two years, and even ten or eight years is not enough.

So why not practice martial arts?

Ordinary people can only work hard.

"Aye, I don't want to grow up and sell sweet potatoes. I also want to be a soldier. In the future, I will enter the Minzhong Shrine and let the governor ring the bell for me."

The little boy didn't wait for the governor to ring the bell for him, but he waited for a shudder from his father, "Don't talk nonsense,"

"You and I don't have that life. Being able to sell sweet potatoes is a blessing brought to us by the governor,"

After Wu Huaiyu rang the bell, she walked down the Mizhong Pavilion,
It used to be a monastery, and it was also a third-tier religion. After Wu Huaiyu came here, it was abolished, and now it is changed to the Minzhong Shrine.

The temple has not been built yet, but there are more than 3000 remains of soldiers.

Walking among the remains of these fallen soldiers makes people feel heavy. During the war, individual lives cannot be taken into account, but at this moment, the damage of the war can be truly felt.

This winter, Youzhou will no longer be harassed by Turks,
This New Year, everyone will live a peaceful life.
"Go, go back to your hometown, go back to the place where you were born and raised you, go back to your parents,"

After leaving the Minzhong Temple, Wu Huaiyu returned to the Governor's Mansion in Yacheng.

Youzhou Governor's Mansion was upgraded, not only Wu Huaiyu was directly promoted to the Governor's Mansion, but all the officials in the Governor's Mansion were basically honored this time, and all of them were promoted accordingly.
Although most people's current rank has not changed for the time being, at least the ministry has been directly promoted.

Such an opportunity is rare.

The promotion of the Youzhou Governor's Mansion and the new establishment of the Anton Governor's Mansion have added a lot of official positions. The emperor has told Wu Huaiyu that the imperial court will arrange half of them, and Wu Huaiyu will arrange the remaining half by himself.

It can be promoted from the prefectures below, or directly recruited by him.

Wu Huaiyu is now issuing letters of appointment every day, not only conscripting many Hebei scholars, but also directly arranging many of his staff to the two prefectures.

Knowing the root and the bottom is also a matter of appointing the virtuous.

After the war, Youzhou was filled with a positive atmosphere with some excitement, mixed with some sadness, and was very busy.

The new year is approaching, and there are more things to do after the war, all kinds of aftermath, pensions, appeasement,
"Cui Dunli, the minister of the Ministry of War, has already set off from Chang'an and is rushing to Youzhou. He is still on the way, but he has sent a letter to the post station, asking us to prepare for the verification of the battle of Yehuling. Check, both the enemy and us must..."

Wu Huaiyu interrupted Duan Shen's words with a wave of his hand, "This is the procedure that should be followed, and you should cooperate if you need to."

"Doesn't that mean you don't believe us? Besides, our Dudu's Mansion has also checked it several times. Now the head and body are all abandoned in the barren ditch of Yehuling. It has been so many days. , but the crows and eagles, wild wolves and foxes, and even the gnawing of tigers and mice, how can we count them?
They are willing to count carefully, and they will definitely not match up. "

"Don't worry about whether it's right or not. Let's cooperate with the investigation. The result is their business," Wu Huaiyu said calmly. The result of the battle at Yehuling was astonishing, but he didn't make any false claims, and he was not afraid of investigation at all.

Even if the first-level corpses are not counted correctly by then, don't worry.

"Wait for them to fully cooperate,"

"Now that they haven't arrived, you have to do another important thing first. Find out the identities, places of origin, and military achievements of the fallen soldiers, and file them one by one. Send someone to send their bodies back to their homes as soon as possible. to their families,
The Governor's Office will first pay their merit rewards, pensions, and funeral expenses. After they are delivered to their homes, the conditions at their homes must be truthfully checked and registered. If there are any orphans, widows, the elderly, or the weak, Yes, we still have to take care of it,"

Although these, in fact, the imperial court has its own set of rules and regulations, but the imperial court has its own procedures, and it takes time. Wu Huaiyu still wants to do things faster.
The grief of family members dying in battle takes time to heal, but family life needs money and food support even more, especially at this time of grief, even if many soldiers' families are in good condition, they are still the pillars of the family. It has a great impact on the family, even difficulties.

"Brothers who are disabled must also quickly pay out their pensions. We must find ways to help those who are disabled and retired."

Wu Huaiyu paid more attention to these disabled and killed soldiers than ever before, perhaps because he stood in a higher position.

"Also, Youzhou Minzhong Temple should be built as soon as possible. Yehuling Badgerzui, build a Martyrs' Shrine on the battlefield, and build a monument."

Duan Shen wrote down one by one,

"Brothers who survived, don't forget that those who should be disbanded and rested must be arranged, and the imperial court needs to verify the honor book of military exploits. The rewards will not be available for a while, but our own captures can be distributed to the brothers as usual. advance a bounty,
When the official reward comes down, it will be deducted again. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and let the brothers have a warm and fat New Year. "

"Last time we sold the more than 1 Turkic captives and the captured livestock. Except for the war horses for military use, the rest of the livestock were also sold. The money from these sales was sent to Chang'an for [-] yuan to the saints and imperial court,
Leave another [-] guan for the Youzhou Governor's Mansion and the Anton Governor's Mansion,
About how many are left? "

"Get rid of the used ones, and then deduct the 20, and there will be about 30 guan."

"Are there still so many?" Wu Huaiyu thought for a while, "This time we have dispatched more than [-] soldiers and horses in Youzhou, so let's distribute the remaining [-] guan to the soldiers. Those who are disabled and those who are disabled all have one share.
To be simple, don't distinguish between border troops, government troops, camp troops, city guards, disciples, and unity. No matter how big or small the official position is, one person will be given ten guan first, and the rest will be distributed according to the official position, different armies, etc. ,

Send them all away. "

Duan Shen was a little surprised, this is a lot of money.

"The remaining 30 guan are all given away?"

"Send it off,"

"Don't ask the court for instructions? What if you are held accountable?"

"This is what our Youzhou soldiers captured from the battlefield prisoners. It should have belonged to the soldiers. Now we have used half of it for military use and handed over to Chang'an and Liufu. Only half of it has been distributed. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Then why not just distribute according to the official rank?"

"Stop talking so much, just go and do it."

Each person will be given ten pennies first, which is considered a considerable welfare reward for every soldier who participated in this battle, and this is not included in the official reward.

Duan Shen wrote down Huaiyu's arrangement with a smile, but did not leave in a hurry.

"The imperial court newly established the Andong Governor's Mansion, upgraded Youzhou to the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, and appointed Wu Gong as the Governor of Youzhou and the Governor of Andong, and also served as the head of the Heng'an Road Marching. This is not intended to let Wu Gong return to the court immediately. ?”

"The Northern Expedition hasn't started yet, what am I going to do now?" Huaiyu also knew very well that he would not go back right away, in fact, staying in Youzhou is not bad, except for missing his wife and children in Chang'an, other things are pretty good.

"Next year's Northern Expedition, can Duke Wu become the Marshal?"

"The leader of the Northern Expeditionary Army is my teacher, Lord Yongkang. It was decided earlier."

"Actually, everyone thinks that after the Battle of Yehuling, next year's Northern Expedition, Duke Wu will be more suitable to be promoted to the commander-in-chief of destroying the Tutu,"

Wu Huaiyu glanced at Duan Shen, "The imperial court has its own arrangements, and we in Youzhou have gained enough benefits from this great victory, so don't be greedy anymore." He reminded Duan Shen not to make any small moves, especially in Chang'an After Cui Dunli, the Minister of the Ministry of War, and the others came.

"Don't let the imperial court think that we, Youzhou, are arrogant and have become the top of a mountain."

(End of this chapter)