Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 242 Before the people come, the official position comes first

Not far from the southwest of Lanzhou, the Yellow River has a huge height difference, which is indescribably steep.

In Fang Chongyong's previous life, the country built a hydroelectric power station there, also called "Liujiaxia Reservoir".It has functions such as power generation, flood control, irrigation, and water storage. It is a very important infrastructure in the northwest region.

The Yellow River continues eastward from the Liujiaxia Reservoir and will branch out into a tributary, named "Taoshui", heading southeast.Since then, the Taoshui River has separated from the Yellow River heading northeast towards Lanzhou.

Both sides of the Taoshui River are covered with Grand Canyon terrain, but the width of the coast ranging from a few kilometers to more than ten kilometers is plain, which is enough for settlement.More than 100 kilometers southeast of Liujiaxia Reservoir is Linzhou of Datang.

It is also Lintao County where Fang Chongyong lived in his previous life.

However, it was not called Linzhou at this time, and if there had not been the Anshi Rebellion, it probably would not be called Linzhou in the future.

For the time being, this is only Didao County, the economic center of southern Lanzhou.However, Didao County has been the county seat of Longxi County since ancient times. Jincheng, also known as Lanzhou City, only became the state seat in the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, today’s administrative divisions have changed beyond recognition. It’s not that the ancients before the Tang Dynasty liked to be evil, but that as the Sui and Tang dynasties continued to open up borders in the northwest, the old political structure could no longer keep up with the changes in the new situation, and the changes in administrative divisions It's just a matter of keeping pace with the times.

More than ten miles east of Didao County, there is a rather small post station, which was converted from a military camp.Not far from a stronghold of the Tang Army on a nearby mountain, the post station was named: Wujie Post Station.

This mountain is called "Gaochengling", and at the bottom of the mountain is Wujie Station.Gaochengling is similar to a border inspection station, with only a few dozen defenders, but its location is very important. When pedestrians pass by here, their goods and customs clearance documents will be strictly inspected by the guard Qiu Ba.

Next to the west of Gaochengling is a small market town that has gradually formed with Wujieyi as its core. It has a famous name: Longmen Town!

A garrison; a post station; merchants and officials who passed through this place and kept coming and going, and a market town called "Longmen Town".In front of the Wujie Inn, Fang Chongyong was in a trance for a while, wondering if he had traveled through time in a movie.

In his memory, Tsui Hark's "New Dragon Inn" was pretty good.

Fang Chongyong took out the map of Yi Road and looked at it repeatedly, and then found that these place names were written openly on the map. Only then did he realize that everything was just a coincidence.

"Why don't you go into the inn?"

He Changqi and others entered the inn to pack their bags. Pei Xiu saw Fang Chongyong standing in a daze outside the inn and asked in confusion.

"The sword has no eyes, but the road is long; the hero is short of breath, but the love of children is long."

Fang Chongyong replied carelessly, he had no idea what he was talking about.

The place names along the way made Fang Chongyong deeply uneasy.Because the place names in ancient times often had a lot of origins, and were often related to wars.A name may be a footnote to a large war.

For example, the "Didao" they are about to reach, Di refers to the barbarians in the northwest. There is no need to explain what Didao means.In addition, the places with names in history books such as "Fuqiang Valley" and "Anrong Pass" that they passed before were also named after the war.

It was enough to show that the place where they were staying now was far less safe than imagined.

"Hey, these four sentences of yours are good. Although they don't convey the meaning, they feel catchy."

Pei Xiu couldn't help but admire. In her impression, Fang Chongyong was a powerful Qiu Ba. She didn't expect that a dog could spit out ivory from its mouth.

"This is already within the boundaries of the border town. Just don't run around."

Fang Chongyong waved his hand indifferently, pretending that he didn't hear Pei Xiu's words.

The group of people sat down in the dining hall of Wujie Post. The post's guards brought them Hu cakes, mutton, mutton soup and other meals. Just as they were about to leave, Fang Chongyong quickly stopped them and asked them.

"Will there be a sneak attack by the Tubo people here?"

Fang Chongyong asked in a low voice.

If he hadn't been wearing a red official robe, the postman would have almost cursed.

"Back to the official, how could that be possible? There hasn't been a war in Didao County for decades.

But the fighting was so miserable that year, tens of thousands of people died.

At that time, Wujieyi was still a military camp where the Tang army stationed troops.

The battlefield was at the Chang Castle not far north of Didao County, where General Wang Haibin held back several times the number of Tibetans.Several Tang armies surrounded and annihilated tens of thousands of Tibetans in the valley.

In this battle, a total of [-] Tibetan army heads were captured, [-] war horses were captured, and a total of [-] cattle and sheep plundered by Tibet were collected.

However, General Wang Haibin died on the battlefield, which was a pity. "

This postman is a "military fan" and recounted the war that took place near Wujie Post several decades ago as vividly as if he had been present at the scene.

As soon as he heard the words "Wang Haibin", Fang Chongyong immediately became interested, because this man was not only Wang Zhongsi's biological father, but it was precisely because of this battle that Wang Zhongsi had the opportunity to be adopted by Li Longji in the palace and get the best. education.

Unexpectedly, the battlefield back then was actually nearby, and Wang Haibin was stationed at the Wujie Station back then!
Except for this postman, everyone present looked at Fang Chongyong unconsciously. After all, they all knew that Fang Chongyong was Wang Zhongsi's son-in-law, and Wang Zhongsi was Wang Haibin's son.

When Fang Yanei heard about his father-in-law's glorious achievements back then, he would inevitably have some strange emotions in his heart.

"Come on, come on, sit down and talk, you will be rewarded."

Fang Chongyong took a dozen Kaiyuan Tongbao from his sleeves, handed them to the postman and said.

"Eh? Okay, okay."

The postman was overjoyed and could get more than ten cents for a few jokes. This kind of good thing was really rare for people like them, who served the nobles in front of and behind the horse.The nobles of the Tang Dynasty did not treat their servants like "brothers" as said in some movies and TV dramas.

There are records in history books that once, a servant secretly ate the salt of a powerful man. After the incident was exposed, the powerful man beat him to death.

How much does a pinch of salt cost?

These days, the thinking of the powerful is so straightforward. They like to solve problems through physical methods, which is unpretentious.

At this moment, the postman of Wujieyi felt that Fang Chongyong, a landlord's idiot, was rare.

"A few decades ago, not to mention Wujieyi, but also Weizhou further east, were the targets of Tubo sneak attacks. At that time, the Tubo cavalry was elusive, so we could only stick to a few counties and attack the Tubo people. There is nothing we can do.”

The postman began to talk about the military pressure Longyou faced in the early years of Kaiyuan. In one sentence, the people were in panic all day long!
At that time, due to the rise of Tubo, the Tang army was defeated by the famous Tubo general Lun Qinling. Therefore, the Longyou area was in a state of extreme shortage of elite soldiers.In the early years of Kaiyuan, the Tubo army was on the offensive. The military situation in Longyou was much worse than that in the Tianbao period.

Wujieyi, where Fang Chongyong is now, was the front line at that time, and no place to the west of Wujieyi was absolutely safe. They were all within the attack range of the Tubo people!Later, the Tang army gradually advanced the front line to the area near Qinghai Lake through major battles that occurred every few years.

In the years before Wu Zhou, Datang's control over this area was very weak.It belongs to the state of "If you say it is yours, it is yours, but we only look at who has the biggest fist", and it is a pure map expansion.

Datang's actual control of this territory now has some say. It is indeed Ji Ge's achievement. Of course, this is also Ji Ge's political baggage.During the Wu Zhou period, many concessions were made to Tubo in Longyou, but Brother Ji could not retreat even a step.

After being beaten, you must get your place back!
This territory was firmly in the hands of the Tang Dynasty during the Kaiyuan period.Therefore, Ji Ge will not let the Tubo people take it away under any circumstances. This is Ji Ge’s credit book. If it is lost, the political impact will be extremely bad.

In other words, no matter whether the territory on the Longyou border is tasteless or fat, even if it is a barren land, as long as Brother Ji is still the emperor, Datang will do its best to hold on to it.

The battle between the Tang army and Tubo will continue as long as the Tang Dynasty remains, unless Tubo is willing to return to the plateau and eat rocks.

Thinking of the fierce competition between Tang Dynasty and Tibet for Shibao City in history, it almost reached the point where the entire country was involved regardless of casualties.If you think about it carefully, you can see that there is a sense of conflict of spirits in it.After the Tubo people succeeded in the sneak attack on Shibao City, they were beaten by Huangfu Weiming, who served as the governor of Longyou in the following year. They were unable to take care of themselves and lost their troops and generals.

Shibao City did not bring an absolute strategic advantage to the Tibetans.

After Ge Shuhan recaptured Shibao City regardless of casualties, the Tang army did not gain an absolute strategic advantage over Tubo. Before the Anshi Rebellion broke out, they still suffered the defeat they deserved.

The competition between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo in the Hexi region was for control of the Silk Road; while the competition in the Longyou region was for the national destiny and for one breath.

However, looking at it from another perspective, since this place was captured with the strong push of Brother Ji, it was a concrete manifestation of the great power of the Tang Dynasty.So is it possible that in the future, due to the weakening of the Tang Dynasty's national power, Longyou will fall into the hands of Tubo or some emerging grassland forces?
Thinking of this, Fang Chongyong no longer wanted to continue thinking about it. The follow-up to the Anshi Rebellion had already given the answer.

He just doesn't know if it would have been possible to defend this place without the Anshi Rebellion.Because from what I saw along the way, it was difficult for Datang to hold all the territory. It would require countless manpower and material resources, and it would be a complete loss.

It would be great to be able to preserve Lanzhou and the Silk Road.

Overall the outlook is worrying.

After sending the postmen away, Fang Chongyong said to the group of people: "Judge Cen and Pei Xiu will stay at the post station, while the others will go with me to visit the Chang Castle in the north of Didao County."

Going to the Long Castle?

Hearing this, Guan Chongsi asked doubtfully: "Fang Yushi, the Chang Castle was destroyed in the war and was not rebuilt after the war. It is just a ruins. What is there to see?"

What he said was on point.

To put it bluntly, that valley is now in the wilderness, without even a garrison. What on earth does Fang Chongyong want to see?

Fang Chongyong waved his hand and said: "Didao County is the bifurcation of the post road. To the north is Lanzhou, and the long castle is in the valley next to the post road. And continuing to the west is to Shanzhou, the residence of the Longyou Jiedu Envoy .

If we miss this stop, we will not be able to visit there in the future.Anyway, it’s just idle time, so it’s better to take a look. "

Fang Chongyong understands very well that since he came to this world, he has been able to live well from the age of eight or nine to the present, not entirely because of God's blessing, nor entirely because his father is Fang Youde.

But Fang Yanei himself always maintains a vigilant mindset of "throwing people out to harm me" on weekdays, and always has a way out and preparations.

It’s a simple and easy-to-understand truth.Maybe the preparations made before can save lives at some point in the future.

The Tang Dynasty and the Tubo people fought on the battlefield in the past. Who knows that the two armies will not fight again here in the future?Having the opportunity to look at the "test papers" from the last "exam", Fang Chongyong, as a question maker in a small town, certainly couldn't miss such a good opportunity.

……

The post station system of the Tang Dynasty had strict requirements on the dates that officials should be on the road. They must not waste time. There were clear requirements for what time they should arrive at which post station.

In particular, officials departing from Chang'an must apply for a "travel guide" at Dutingyi in Chang'an City, which specifically includes the official's identity certificate and journey schedule.

But in general, the so-called "strictness" is just to prevent officials from fishing on the road, and there is relatively plenty of time.In fact, there used to be no restrictions on officials' travel. However, after some officials stayed at the inn for a month and refused to leave, the rules gradually became stricter.

Fang Chongyong and his party took a walk on the way to Shanzhou and were not in a hurry.But the "special envoy" sent by the palace rushed forward at a speed of more than [-] miles a day, changing horses at the inn station and sprinting like a meteor.

So when the eunuch named Bian Lingcheng rushed to Shanzhou with the appointment letter of Longyou Jieduli, Fang Chongyong himself was still wandering around Yanquan City (Linxia County) in Hezhou, where the Zhenxi Army was stationed. , walking slowly.

In the lobby of the Yamen of Longyou Jiedu Mansion in Shanzhou City, all military envoys under the command of Longyou Jiedushi gathered together for a meeting. Du Hope, an elderly general who was suffering from illness, looked helplessly at the equally dumbfounded Bian Lingcheng. Know what to say.

"Did that Yushi Fang really not come to Longyou?"

Bian Lingcheng asked cautiously, feeling bad in his heart. He just wanted to go back quickly and didn't want to stay in Longyou longer.

"Cough cough cough."

Du Hope coughed a few times, then sighed and said: "Longyou is very big. Fang Chongyong may have arrived in Longyou, but he definitely did not come to Shanzhou, let alone Shanzhou City. Where exactly he arrived, he had to go to various inns in Longyou You’ll find out if you ask.”

Now that someone from Tibet wants to surrender, Du Hope is already very worried. How can he take care of Fang Chongyong, a little carrot!

Upon hearing Bian Lingcheng's appointment, many of the Longyou army generals present were indifferent. Who would be the military commander of Longyou was none of their business!
Only the general Gai Jiayun, who was serving as the commander of Longyou Jiedu at the moment, felt extremely unhappy.

Originally, Du Xiang was seriously ill and was about to be transferred or simply die in office.But now the Tubo people are very ambitious and may cause trouble at any time.In order to make the Longyou Army more adaptable to the upcoming battle.Letting Liu Hou take over Jiedushi was a natural and logical thing to do.

When the time comes, he will win the battle and present his record of achievements. There is a high possibility of "turning into a regular employee" after he is retained.

What's going on with Fang Chongyong?A person arrives before he reaches an official position?
Damn it, he was able to serve as a retainer without any merit. Is it just because his father is virtuous?

The young and energetic Gai Jiayun doesn't think it's because he's not capable enough. He thinks it's probably because his father doesn't have the strength of others.

It's just that the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty is a world of fighting for one's father. Gai Jiayun seems to have nothing to say now, and it is even less possible to oppose the appointment of the imperial court.

It's just a matter of staying behind. It can only be effective when Jiedushi is no longer there. It's nothing special.There seems to be no problem if the emperor removes his post-employment positions, whether public or private.

Contrary to outsiders' speculation, in the Tang Dynasty, the threshold for becoming an official was not high, because not every Liuhou official could be "converted" to become a Jiedushi envoy.

Not to mention Fang Chongyong, there are many civil servants who serve as postgraduates.

For example, Cen Shen wrote in "Send Zhang Langzhong to Longyou to pay homage to the provincial minister (at that time, Zhang Qinggong also served as a governor to stay in the queen)":

Zhong Lang Feng Yi Mao, the only virtuous man in the world.The weak crown has the silver seal, and the sword is the only one from birth.

Returning to my family, the moon is different, and the stars of Dulong are high.There are many acquaintances under the curtain, and I am too lazy to read while reading.

Although this poem is about Cen Shen trying to flatter Zhang Langzhong, Zhang Langzhong here was the queen of Longyou Jiedu, and his original official position was not a high official.

"Du Jieshuai, what should we do now?"

Bian Lingcheng asked, pretending to be confused.

If the new retainer doesn’t arrive, then the current retainer will continue to take care of her. What else can she do?
This is the unspoken rule, but Bian Lingcheng can't say this. He will take responsibility if he does!
At this moment, a messenger rushed in hurriedly and shouted to Du Xiang and the generals: "Shuai Dujie, generals, something bad has happened. The Anren Army has mutinied! Now the Anren Army camp has been It’s time to leave! The soldiers have gone somewhere!”

The Anren Army envoy Ge Shuhan, who was having a meeting in the lobby at the moment, suddenly looked stunned and found that everyone was looking at him.

For Ge Shuhan, the situation now becomes very complicated.

The good news is: this time Anren's army mutinied, and he seems to have been cleared of the charge of rebellion.

The bad news is: a serious crime of lax military management seems to be impossible to escape, and it is not ruled out that the subsequent crime will be increased.

However, what is even more devastating is that Du Hope, the governor of Longyou, who was old and sick and had been overworked recently, his eyes darkened after hearing the news, and he fainted to the ground in front of Bian Lingcheng, unconscious.

All the military envoys in the Jiedushi Yamen lobby looked at Bian Lingcheng.

It seems to be saying: Brother, it doesn't matter who stays behind.Now that there is an emergency, your appointment as a stay-at-home officer can decide who will temporarily take over the post of Jiedu Envoy. It might lead to death!
The attitude of the generals put the eunuch who was just here to deliver a message in a dilemma, not knowing how to deal with it.

(End of this chapter)