A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 741 The Musketeers

In the misty and misty early March,

Wu Huaiyu embarked on the journey south. Lao Wu, his wife, Fan Xuanfu and other family members sent him off again and again until they reached Bashang.

Each person broke off a branch of willow and gave it to each other.

The atmosphere of parting seemed a bit heavy,
"I'm used to you running around here and there," Fan Xuanfu held Wu Chengsi with his left hand, held Wu Qilang with his right hand, and stretched out his belly.

Wu Huaiyu took Qilang, kissed the little guy on the face, and then did not return the mysterious talisman, but handed it to the wet nurse beside him, "You are pregnant, don't hold this little guy anymore, he is already so big." ,"

Fan Xuanfu came up to tidy up Huaiyu's clothes, his eyes full of reluctance. After a few years of marriage, they got together less and separated more, but she, the perfect wife, could not stay with her. Fortunately, she still had children with her.

She stroked her slightly swollen belly and said, "By the time you return to Beijing, our daughter will be born."

"Well, take care of yourself."

Huaiyu felt that the court's rule of not allowing the family members of foreign officials to accompany them when they took office was a bit ridiculous.

"I feel more at ease when you stay in Chang'an. I also have to run around in Lingnan,"

The concubines also came up to say goodbye in turn, and everyone was full of reluctance.

After saying a few words, they couldn't help but blush.

Wu Huaiyu feels that it is really difficult for women in this era. Transportation is inconvenient and communications are even less developed. Women from famous families are better off. At least they have enough food and clothing. However, it is different for ordinary people. Once the men leave, they will be helpless. Unreliable.

That’s why military service and hard labor in this era are what the people are so afraid of, because they can really cause wives to be separated and families to be destroyed.

He looked around,

It was the Forbidden Army and his troops who went south with a thousand horses,
This time, [-] elite soldiers from Guanzhong and Henan went south together, and countless wives and children of the soldiers also had to face the reluctance and worry of separation.

"I will write more letters home, and you can also write more letters to me."

After harvesting a pile of willow branches, Wu Huaiyu drank a cup of Zhuangxing wine presented by Lao Wu, then turned around and mounted his horse. This time Forresta accompanied him.

She finally had a status and was no longer the humble housewife. Compared with those wives and concubines with red eyes and reluctant faces, Forresta was full of joy and her heart was filled with a beautiful yearning for a new life. .

After walking for a while,

As a result, there were many people waiting on the roadside.
There are Feng Ang, Xu Jingzong and many others.
Standing on the horse, I drank another glass of farewell wine.
Feng An's face was a little sad. Perhaps he was full of bad worries about Wu Huaiyu's southern tour, or maybe the news that Feng Zhidai's suppression of the barbarian rebellion in Douzhou, Lingnan was not going well affected him.

This old fox knew very well that Wu Huaiyu's southern tour was anything but simple.

In the six towns of Lingnan, [-] elite troops from Guanzhong and Henan were deployed to guard the six towns, which was twice as many as originally planned. In his opinion, this may mean that the imperial court would take greater action against Lingnan.

Farewell to everyone,

The team continues to move forward,

The route Wu Huaiyu took was via Lantian Pass, along the Lanwu Road, first to Xiangyang, then along the Han River to the Yangtze River, down to Hongzhou in Jiangxi Province, and then turned into the Ganjiang River waterway, then crossed the Dalu Mountains via Meiguan Road and entered Shaozhou in the south of Lingnan. , and then go to Guangzhou.

The [-] soldiers and horses in the six towns were divided into two routes. The other route was along the Xiangjiang River, taking the road that the Qin army took to Lingnan, passing through the Lingqu Canal opened by the Qin army, and entering the Li River in Guizhou.

The six towns in Lingnan are to be stationed in the territory of the six governor's offices.

However, the first task of going south this time is to suppress the barbarians in the Yunkai Mountains. After the barbarians' rebellion is quelled, these [-] troops will be officially stationed in the six prefectures.

In the spring season, the team heading south is very brisk,

Although the weather in Guanzhong is still rainy, the drizzle does not affect the journey.

The Blue Martial Road is relatively smooth and convenient. Although the section passing through the Qinling Blue Bridge is more difficult, it is only a short section.

Because they were not marching to fight, they marched at a speed of hundreds of miles every day and did not need to spend too much time choosing and setting up camps.
They will even try to stay overnight in the town,
The local officials along the way were extremely polite to the troops heading south. Not only would they provide food, meat and vegetables, but they would also provide other conveniences as much as possible.

Wu Huaiyu didn’t even live in a tent along the way.

Every day, even after he has stopped after traveling hundreds of miles, he can still take advantage of the early time to carry his three-eyed gun, carry a bow and arrows on his back, and take his entourage to hunt, shoot birds and rabbits, and feed the soldiers in the evening. .

Living in a town is very convenient, especially for the woman Fresta who is traveling with her. Although she has suffered a lot in the past, from distant Persia, all the way to Chang'an, she is still a woman after all.

Every night, she would prepare hot water for Huaiyu to wash his feet, sometimes give him a bath and massage, and even make exquisite dinners from time to time. When she was not tired, she would sing and dance for him.

have to say,

Forresta is a charming woman, and it is really nice to have a beautiful and gentle woman accompanying her during this somewhat boring journey.

The journey of nearly four thousand miles was very long. Fortunately, Wu Huaiyu was not in a hurry, so it was quite easy.

boom!
Wu Huaiyu held the wooden stick of the three-eye blunderbuss, and a stream of white smoke rose from the mouth of the blunderbuss.
A bird fell from the tree,
Shangguan Yi smiled and shouted, "Teacher is good at shooting. This three-eyed gun is getting more and more powerful in the teacher's hands. The gun just now, at least thirty steps away, was able to shoot down the bird under the tree." .”

Huaiyu raised the three-eyed gun in front of him in a pretentious manner and blew it with his mouth.

"It's just a matter of familiarity!"

Although fire guns and crossbows are two very different things, after more practice, the accuracy can still be improved.

Along the way, Wu Huaiyu practiced the three-eyed gun every day, and his marksmanship was indeed getting better and better. From the beginning, he could not hit within ten steps, but now he can hit a bird at a distance of thirty steps.It can hit any bird sitting on the tree, so it won't be a problem to hit the enemy on the battlefield.

"I still need to practice more. Hitting the target in fifty steps is what I want."

In addition to the guards, there were also logistics personnel in the marching team, including a group of craftsmen transferred from the Shenji Workshop, including those who made gunpowder, match ropes, lead bullets, and even firecrackers.

Wu Huaiyu practiced guns all the way, and constantly provided feedback to the craftsmen so that they could improve them. He even built some more three-eyed guns, which were equipped for his personal troops.

Although even Xiao Shitou disliked the fact that the musket was clumsy and not as useful as a crossbow, Huaiyu still let them practice it when they had time.

"If you can hit a target fifty steps away, you can't break the armor, right?" Shangguan Yi said with a smile.
"It's a bit difficult to break armor from fifty steps away, but the damage is still there,"

Shangguan Yi just smiled. This student of Wu Huaiyu was following him south to Lingnan to serve as the censor of Lingnan Road.

There was a supervisory censor in Lingnan Road, who was responsible for supervising hundreds of officials, patrolling counties and counties, inspecting prisons, and cleaning up court rituals. Later, the court sent an additional censor to each province.

The supervisory censors and patrol censors are both officials dispatched by the Yushitai, with the same rank, but their responsibilities are still different. Each supervisory censor is now dispatched by the Yushitai Procuratorate. They usually change once a year. Stationed in various areas to monitor.

If we break down the responsibilities of the two censors, in fact, the supervisory censors of each line are similar to the inspectors of the Ming Dynasty, but now the inspectors of each line are similar to the governors of the Ming Dynasty.

Each supervisory censor is on a business trip that changes once a year, while the patrol supervisor is a special imperial envoy.

There are still many overlaps in the duties of the two censors. It can also be regarded as that the tasks are too heavy for one supervisory censor to handle, so the court sent another censor to inspect.The two censors are together, but they are independent of each other and check and supervise each other.

Although these two censors are both supervisory censors of the Procuratorate and are not of high rank, they have great power and especially have a good future.

For example, before Li Yifu, he was the censor of Hedong Road.
Now Shangguan Yi also serves as the censor of Lingnan Road.

Local affairs such as money and grain, soldiers and horses, cities, military pay, cities, corvee services, etc. are mainly responsible for the inspector Shangguan Yi, while correcting fraud, executions and restoration, reviewing unjust punishments, recruiting officials and farmers, and recording merits and rewards are mainly responsible for It was managed by Zhang Yungu, the censor of Lingnan Road.

This student, Shangguan Yi, was personally appointed by the emperor to serve as the censor of Lingnan. His relationship with Wu Huaiyu also facilitated the current special situation in Lingnan.

As for the supervisory censor Zhang Yungu, this was the person recommended by Wei Zheng.

Wu Huaiyu doesn't like Zhang Yungu very much. He is a bit rigid and behaves very much like Wei Zheng. Such people are principled but difficult to get along with.

But such people are indispensable, especially when he went to Lingnan. The emperor gave him many privileges to facilitate his family's affairs, but supervision was also indispensable.

Wu Huaiyu practiced shooting birds every day, and Zhang Yungu would never accompany him. Although he also walked with the team, he spent more energy on staring at the soldiers and auxiliary soldiers in the team heading south, and even the followers they brought. Or if the accompanying business group will disturb the people along the way, or trample on the crops, we will keep a close eye on them.

Wu Huaiyu wanted to hunt every day, and after trying to persuade him several times to no avail, he didn't bother to bother with it anymore, but he also made many small reports to Chang'an.

The sun sets in the west,

Wu Huaiyu ended today's simple hunting activity. The harvest of prey was not bad, including a few birds and a few hares, all small animals, because they did not go too far.

Return to the camp outside the city,

Zhang Yungu was actually waiting for him.

"Mr. Wu, there is bad news,"

"The entire territory of Douzhou has been lost, and the barbarians have occupied five counties in Douzhou. Feng Zhidai, the governor of Gaozhou, was defeated and lost his troops and generals.

The Xidong barbarians in other states are also arrogant, and the situation in Lingnan has been corrupted. Please ask the Prime Minister to go south quickly..."

Wu Huaiyu interrupted Zhang Yungu,
"Have the barbarians broken out of the five states of Luo Dou and Yu Benyi and spread to other states?"

"Not yet, but it should be soon,"

Wu Huaiyu interrupted him again, "Zhang Yushi, you are the supervisory censor, and it is not your responsibility to quell the chaos in Lingnan."

Ignoring his anxiety, Wu Huaiyu rode into Xiangyang City.

Shangguan Yi followed him into the city, "The situation has changed. Should we change our plan?"

Wu Huaiyu was not anxious at all, "The two governors-general, Feng Zhidai and Chen Longshu, are not mere generals. The Feng and Chen families are the largest wealthy family in Lingnan, and Luo Douman's strength is far inferior to them."

"But now the news is that Feng Zhidai is losing ground?"

"That means they haven't exerted their strength yet, so we don't need to rush south,"

Shangguan Yi hesitated, "According to our current speed, one hundred miles a day, it will take forty days to reach Guangzhou."

"Forty days is not a long time from Chang'an to Guangzhou. Starting tomorrow, we will travel sixty miles every day and then stop."

"what?"

"Starting tomorrow, we will enter a state of combat readiness,"

"There are still three thousand miles from Xiangyang to Guangzhou. If we travel sixty miles in one day, it will take fifty days to get there." Shangguan Yi felt that it was too slow.

"We have to ensure that we are in good condition after arriving in Lingnan. We are here to receive Lingnan, not to die." Facing his students, Wu Huaiyu even told him without reservation that if Feng Zhidai and Chen Longshu had not defeated If the barbarians do not send ten thousand heads or prisoners to the Tang army in Wuling,

Wu Huaiyu would not cross the Five Ridges and enter Lingnan.

(End of this chapter)