Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 111 Changes in National Policy
During the Kaiyuan period, Datang farmed fields on a large scale on the border for military rations.

With the steady increase in the number of farms, the central transportation of grain and grass to border towns has been decreasing.

In peacetime, border towns can basically guarantee self-sufficiency in food and grass.

By the end of the Kaiyuan period, there were a total of 1037 villages in the country, one of which was [-] mu of land.

As for the 154 villages in Hexi, this number ranks third among border towns, second only to Hebei, which has a vast territory and a large amount of cultivated land, and Longyou, which is preparing for Tibetan invasion of the capital.

But considering the population size of the Hexi region, the scale of this farmland is quite astonishing, ranking first in the country, and the proportion of farmland in all cultivated land is much higher than in other places!
It can even be said that the proportion of farmland in the Hexi Corridor is predominant.These villagers are also the main members of the Hexi armies. They have served for a long time but not continuously, and they can basically guarantee regular rotation.

Therefore, the social fundamentals here are that every family has land property, every household has soldiers, and land annexation has been greatly suppressed.The system implemented cannot be fully summarized by "Long March athletes" or "Fubing".

Their nature is actually closer to a weakened version of Fu soldiers.

Namely: there is no need to bring your own armaments, there is no need to worry about food supplies, there is no problem with the rotation timing, the spring and winter clothes as rewards are scarce, and there are basically no material rewards for combat.

Li Linfu's military reform this time was based on the Hexi frontier army as a model, and after some improvements, it was implemented in other areas.

The difference from the original military system in Hexi is that the Long March athletes to be recruited, whose family members are not in the frontier, will be relocated to the frontier and settled in the nature of farming.

For those who have served in the army, if their family members are not in the local area, they will be relocated to the border town by the county where they live.

Then the center pays for the purchase of spring clothes and winter clothes, which are distributed twice a year in the form of finished or semi-finished products, as the soldiers' salary.

That's right, the clothes were not given to the soldiers to wear, but rewarded to them as money to subsidize their families.

According to the rules of farming, all the labor of the garrison family members was used for military supplies on the frontier, which was separated from the rent of ordinary households.

Theoretically, the financial burden of these people is far less than that of ordinary households.

It must be said that this reformed system is in line with the needs of the times.

Since the Wu Zhou period, the flight of government soldiers has greatly affected social stability and created a huge number of illegal households!These deserters, whose identities cannot be exposed, are all fleeing with their families.

They either fled into the mountains, or took refuge in the rich and powerful as black households, or changed their names and surnames to become illegal "clients". Local security.

Li Linfu's military reform was accompanied by checking household registration, arresting social idlers of unknown origin, escorting them to border towns to join the army, and relocating their families, and changing these people's household registration to military registration in the fields.

This reform will be completed within four years and has already been approved by Li Longji.

The very grand military reform is also in line with the current situation of Datang, and it can be regarded as a package solution to the problems accumulated in the past.

Acknowledge some of the "existence is reasonable", and omit some of the waste of people and money.How convenient and how come.

Many people can clearly see the hidden dangers of reform, but... we can only choose the lesser of two evils.

This reform was passed by the Ministry of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China without any surprises, and it was issued as an edict without causing any disturbances, not even a single opponent who stood up to speak out.

It's not that no one has any objections to the military reform, but now the government and the opposition are impeaching Fang Youde for disrupting the border town and resorting to military action.

Many courtiers in the central government are resisting the decree. In order to favor and trust Fang Youde, Li Longji even conferred on his son Fang Chongyong the title of "Captain Guoyi"!
When Xue Rengui went out with Emperor Taizong, he was awarded Captain Guoyi as a reward for his bravery in battle.Although this position is useless now, it carries great honor!

A ten-year-old child has only been on a battlefield (the kind that was besieged), and he has never even touched a knife.Just because he is Fang Youde's only son, he was awarded the post of "Captain Guoyi"... Is there anything more absurd than this in the world?

This time I really couldn't bear it. Except for the right prime minister Li Linfu who remained silent, almost everyone in the court, civil and military, opposed this appointment.

However, what the courtiers of the central government did not expect was that there are really more absurd things in this world than awarding a ten-year-old child "Captain Guoyi".

That is, Li Longji bypassed the Zhongshu Province and directly issued an order to the Shangshu Province: Fang Chongyong was awarded the post of governor of Ganzhou, and he took up the post immediately!
At this time, Chang'an no longer had Zhang Jiuling as a courtier who was eloquent, sharp-witted, and still in a high position.Anyone who is not blind can see that Brother Ji is serious this time and wants to enforce his will.

It's just that no one, including Li Linfu, fully understands what kind of will to implement.

The noisy court, like a duck being strangled by the neck, was completely muted.

……

Shuofang's Lingzhou City, to Datang, is a huge border town with a different meaning, not just because Shuofang Jiedushi is located here.

After decades of Emperor Taizong's hard work, in the 20th year of Zhenguan, after decades of disputes and wars.

The so-called "Nine Surnames of Tiele", Huihe, Bayegu, Tongluo, Pugu, Duolangge, Sijie, Adiao, Qibi, Tiejie, Hunbu, Huxue and other eleven tribes voluntarily attached themselves to the Dalai Lama. The Tang Dynasty sent envoys to the south to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty to bow their heads.

Here in Lingzhou City, Taizong and his accompanying officials witnessed the glory of the Tang Dynasty. Its majesty spread far and wide, and all foreign vassals surrendered.

Taizong was very happy after accepting the pilgrimage, and asked the envoys to return to the various ministries and ask their khans and leaders to also go to Lingzhou to participate in the alliance.

His wish also came true.

In September of this year, Taizong set out from Chang'an, passed through Jingzhou, and Yuanzhou and arrived in Lingzhou. He met and entertained the leaders of various tribes and their envoys who came one after another for appointments.

On the day of the alliance, thousands of tribal leaders and envoys received a grand welcome.They presented a gift to Tang Taizong and asked him to be honored as "Tian Khan", and made an oath of "May the Heavenly Supreme be a slave to the Heavenly Khan, and their children and grandchildren wish to be the Heavenly Supreme slave, and die without hatred".

Regardless of whether this oath has been kept in the end, at least this alliance will inject a powerful spirit into Datang, which is beyond the imagination of future generations.

The society of the Tang Dynasty was high-spirited and inclusive; the principle of "I am the leader and the world is one family" began to formally take shape at this time.

Lingzhou City is a good place, Taizong thought so at the time, and Shuofang Jiedushi Wei Guangcheng also thought so.

It's just that he is going to say goodbye to this place today... probably forever.

Fang Youde stationed troops at Qikou, which made Wei Guangcheng extremely angry and panicked. What was even more annoying was that the other party not only did not explain why he wanted to enter the Shuofang Army's defense area, but also asked him to provide military rations!

Whether it is tolerable or unbearable, in a rage, Wei Guangcheng sent a copy to Chang'an to complain, describing Fang Youde as a domineering and rebellious general.

Well, actually he wasn't lying.Judging from the performance of Jiedushi in the past, it seems that there is really no one who is more "arrogant" than Fang Youde.

Wei Guangcheng originally thought that even if Brother Ji didn't investigate Fang Youde, he would transfer the Youzhou frontier army away from Qikou.Unexpectedly, the last thing he waited for was a transfer order for dismissal and investigation!

Wei Guangcheng didn't understand what the problem was at all, he didn't do anything, he just filed a complaint once, and he ended up like this.

Is there any royal law in the Tang Dynasty?

What Wei Guangcheng didn't know was that the reason why he was prosecuted was not because of that brief report, nor was it because of the imperial edict issued by Brother Ji to Gao Lishi in a feverish mind, but because Fang Youde sent him two days later. A letter to Chang'an.

It was this letter that allowed Li Longji to investigate Wei Guangcheng, accept Fang Youde's plan in its entirety, and finally give Fang Chongyong an official title.

In the letter, Fang Youde explained the reason and purpose of this military operation.

"Green Tea Bitch" Ba Yegu was not attacked by the Turks. On the contrary, they were seeking to encircle and annihilate the Turks with the help of the Tang Dynasty!

Fang Youde told Ji Ge his plan: to instigate an uprising of nine Tiele surnames and jointly divide the areas directly controlled by the Turkic Royal Court!Then divide the grassland into nine!Let the Turks become history directly!
This time, he found a member of the Pugu tribe among the nine surnames of Tiele as his internal agent. The son of the chief of the Pugu tribe was called Pugu Huai'en. Fang Youde asked Brother Ji to give him an official title and then let him lead the way.

As for why the Khitan and Xiren went to "rescue" Ba Yegu, it was to stir up trouble and make Tie Le's nine surnames fight with the Khitan people too!
In the future, the grassland will be the Warring States Period, and these tribes will uniformly pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty.As for the relationship between them, Datang will not interfere, but will secretly support some people to exclude others, and beat whoever is strong!

The Tang army sat at Qikou and just waited for the outcome of their melee.When the fight is almost over, send troops to the Turkic tooth tent to pick up the cheap.

This is doing the most things with the least money and the fewest soldiers.

When Tie Le's nine surnames are finished and the Turks are dead, the fish that escaped the Turkic royal family will be taken to Datang for resettlement.When the Youzhou frontier army returned to Youzhou, they sent people to question the Khitan people why they took advantage of the fire to rob and attack the tribes of Tiele.

You can take the opportunity to blackmail and beat them up.

In this way, the situation in the north can be stabilized, and there will be no major problems within ten years.

As for why the Turks attacked Hexi, Fang Youde said that he had only heard about it not long ago and he did not know the reason, but it should have nothing to do with his military operations.

As for Shuofang Jiedu envoy Wei Guangcheng, Fang Youde didn't mention it.He doesn't pay attention to this kind of wine bag and rice bag.

On the one hand, there is a practical group who has given an amazing overall strategy and has already implemented it himself, so there is no need for Ji Ge to worry about it; Ji Ge, who has been around for decades, of course knows how to choose!

So Ji Ge ordered the removal of Shuofang Jiedu Envoy Wei Guangcheng to return to Chang'an for trial, let the former son of the state offer wine to the fourth grandson of Zhang Houyin, and supervise the censor Zhang Qiqiu as the new Shuofang Jiedu Envoy to fully support Fang Youde's attack on the grassland Use troops.

And rejected the Turks' previous requests for marriage and mutual trade.

Ji Ge also ordered that Li Shizhi, the governor of Pinglu, should not slack off and send more soldiers to patrol the north to prevent the Khitan from attacking Youzhou.

This can be regarded as full support for Fang Youde's use of troops.

Originally, the Turkic people were not so miserable, because Ji Ge had some doubts about whether to turn against the Turkic people before.

But this time the Turks attacked Liangzhou first, and Fang Youde planned the independence of the nine surnames of Tiele. In this case, don't blame him for being cruel.

The war machine of the Tang Dynasty began to operate at high speed. In both directions of Shuofang and Hexi, the clouds of war were gathering, and a stormy war was about to break out.

……

After another day of writing "One Penny Letter to Qian's Family", Fang Chongyong is now well-known, and even the guards in Liangzhou City came to him to write family letters.Fang Zhongyong would not refuse anyone who came, and he would write as long as he was given a penny. It was completely impossible to see that he was a yamen with a deep background.

Although his popularity in Liangzhou City is frighteningly high, Fang Chongyong's spirit is not high now, and his ambitions before coming to Liangzhou were all defeated by the battle at Bai Tinghai.

Fang Chongyong now spends his whole day writing letters for others, sorting out military books, and going to the yamen to familiarize himself with the local government affairs in Hexi. He has to stay busy until late every day.

On weekdays, Anaye, who has a sharp mouth and has to say a few words about everything, is like a considerate little daughter-in-law during this time. She cooks, delivers meals, washes clothes every day, takes care of Fang Chongyong's daily life, and is extremely attentive.

On this day, Fang Chongyong finally remodeled the military law booklet of the Tubo people according to his own ideas, removed the obviously outdated things in it, and relaxed the degree of punishment of the military law.

He carefully put away the revised booklet as a treasure, but found that Anaya was sitting aside and staring at him.

"Uh, I'm still used to your rebellious appearance before."

Fang Chongyong said jokingly.

"Father said that those who can write books and speak out are powerful people. Lang Jun is already so powerful, why is he so worried and frowning after coming back from Baitinghai?"

Anaye asked cautiously, her tone and demeanor were like that of a maid at home.

What can a ten-year-old do?
The lower limit may still be wearing crotch pants, and the upper limit should be like Fang Chongyong.

Now Anaye is completely convinced by him.

Fang Chongyong was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled wryly: "It's just that I think about it when I see a virtuous person. In some aspects, I can only talk about wars on paper. It's really useless."

He heaved a long sigh, remembering the scene when Wang Zhongsi led the Chishui army to sweep the Turks that morning and went to Baitingbao to pick him up in person.

Everyone at the scene paid homage to Wang Zhongsi!That kind of expression can't be concealed, can't be disguised!
In the border town, as long as you can fight and win, you are like a god.

Whatever you want, everyone will listen to you!Sometimes it’s more effective than the emperor’s edict!

At this moment, Fang Chongyong felt the gap between heaven and earth.

He thought about it for half the night before, what if Xin Yunjing fails to ambush after the Turkic people successfully swim across?
How did the Turks defend Baitingbao when they stormed it?

How to deploy a small army?
How to use the ordnance of defending the city?
A series of questions were lingering in his mind, and he was racking his brains, as if he was doing a set of test papers, or the exam might end at any time, and he didn't know how much time was left!

As a result, it is useless to step on the horse!

There is no need for Baitingbao, a yameni from Chang'an, to come up with ways to save Baitingbao. Everything is under the overall arrangement of Hexi Jiedu Mansion!
Soldiers, the country's major events, the place of death and life, the way of survival, must be observed.

This is easy to say, but difficult to do!The book of war will not teach you to deal with all kinds of complicated situations. Sometimes a single mistake can lead to eternal doom.

The worst thing is that people cannot be resurrected after death, and they are really dead after death!There is only one chance forever!
Fang Chongyong found that he had learned a lot, but he didn't know how to use it at all!There is no place to use force!

This made him feel like a waste. Only when he wrote letters to the Hexi soldiers and saw the sincere smiles and admiring eyes on those people's faces, could Fang Chongyong feel that he was a useful person here.

At this moment, Xiao Jiong, the Hexi Jiedu envoy, strode into the pharmacy, and pulled Fang Chongyong by the sleeve to go out!Treat Anaye on the side as air.

"How is this going?"

Fang Chongyong asked in surprise, Xiao Jiong had already pulled him up.

"Walking and talking, something big happened!"

Xiao Jiong said eagerly.

"Even if something serious happens, you shouldn't be looking for me."

Fang Chongyong said helplessly, what kind of a guy he is, he knows best in his heart, what kind of Baiting army deputy envoy, what kind of state capital joins the army, he can be a pig if he changes his head, he is a hairball!

Does Xiao Jiong have important matters to discuss with him?
"It's a big deal. You have been appointed governor of Ganzhou by the imperial court, and you will be appointed within three days! That is to say, you are leaving now!"

Xiao Jiong couldn't help but dragged Fang Chongyong to the Yamen of Jiedu Mansion, where there was a letter of appointment sent by the imperial court!

"What?"

Fang Chongyong suddenly stood still, wondering if he heard it wrong.

(End of this chapter)