The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 162 Gao Zhan’s Fear

Liu Tai took Zhang Song to Zhao An's military camp. Zhao An came out to greet him and saluted, "I have seen the general!"

"Yes!" Liu Tai nodded and said, "I came here with Zhang Changshi this time. I have assigned you a mission. You need to gather your soldiers immediately and set out for Jizhou to carry out the mission tomorrow at the latest!"

"But Wang Jun of Youzhou is coming!" Zhao An knew that Wang Jun had considerable initiative because he controlled the racecourse.

The positioning of his own army relies on the common people to fight behind enemy lines. Although this mode of war is not as glamorous as the frontal battlefield, Zhao An himself enjoys it quite a lot.

Moreover, he who has studied "Han Shu" also knows that Peng Yue, one of the three generals in the early Han Dynasty, followed this route.

As long as he honestly follows this tactic, he will definitely have a place in the army of the county.

In contrast, whether it is Ge Xin, Zhou Ping, or even Liu Ming who is next to the Duke.

Although they were fighting head-on and the battlefield was even more exciting, the presence of the Duke actually concealed the three of them. On the contrary, he and the Duke were on different paths. Maybe he could be one or two ahead of this guy due to his own fighting characteristics. position.

Therefore, Zhao An was quite excited when he heard that he had something to do. It was time for him to show off his skills.

Liu Tai didn't know what Zhao An was excited about and said:
"We need to break up your war department into parts and take advantage of the autumn harvest to go to Youzhou, Fanyang and Yanguo counties.

No matter what method is used, try to destroy Wang Jun's food reserves as much as possible and retreat to Youzhou before the other party can react.

This trip is full of dangers, can you dare to complete the mission? "

"How dare you disobey me!" Zhao An responded decisively after hearing Liu Tai's words.

To be honest, what Liu Tai meant was that since it was the season, if you set a fire there, the food would basically be burned.

But this kind of thing makes me a person who has always established a people-friendly persona, so I can't just explain it clearly.

The destructive power of such a thing as a broken character is actually very large, and I can't do this.

Zhao An needs to understand this himself.

Liu Tai believes that even if he can't understand it now, he will eventually understand it when he gets there and looks at the large amount of food.

How to quickly destroy this food? Under the pressure of time, they will naturally find the most suitable method.

When Liu Tai saw Zhao An's resounding response, he was very satisfied and said, "I'll ask Zhang Song to prepare whatever you need!"

"I want fried flour. This stuff tastes great after adding dried meat and tea leaves!" Zhao An said decisively.

"You are very picky!" Liu Tai did not expect that Zhao An was not polite to him just for mentioning it.

The so-called fried flour is to add seasonings and heavy salt to fry the flour, then dry it again and then grind it twice to encapsulate a kind of military grain.

This stuff tastes terrible, at least without water, and most people wouldn't be able to swallow it.

But after adding hot water to it and boiling it, it can form a food like mushy lotus root starch.

Although the taste is strong, this thing can replenish energy, but if you eat it for too long, you will lack vitamins.

However, these were made up for by the two following items, namely dried meat and tea.

Among them, the dried meat is mainly the slaughtered meat of various poultry raised in Qingzhou.

The muscle tissue is destroyed by constant beating, and then the moisture is dried out in the crisp autumn weather, and the cycle repeats.

Almost one thousand kilograms of meat can be used to make three hundred kilograms of dried meat, which is considered a luxury item even in the Qingzhou area.

However, if you cut a few pieces of the dried meat and throw it into the fried flour batter and cook it together, it still tastes very good.

As for tea, it is even rarer. It is not that it is rare, but that tea has not yet become a commonly used beverage. Nowadays, it is used more as a medicine because of its medicinal value.

If he only wanted to drink tea, it would be no problem for Liu Tai to get some tea leaves.

After all, there are wild tea trees in the hills here in Qingzhou and even on Mount Tai, especially when Xu Xi actually found them for Liu Tai and put them in the medicinal area of ​​Qingzhou for cultivation.

But if you want to supply the entire army, save it. It may be possible in three years, no, six years.

Liu Tai said: "Don't think about tea. I know that people will get sick if they don't eat green vegetables for a long time, and I will assign a doctor to you.

At that time, doctors will be watching and looking for some herbal medicine nearby. In addition, a lot of grass has been dried in the past two years. You can bring it with you if you want! "

Chrysanthemums are mints. Yang Xiong's "Ode to Sweet Spring" in the Western Han Dynasty said: "They were all together with the Chrysanthemums, and they were all destroyed in Hubei."

And this kind of herb that can remind the mind is quite useful in the army.

In particular, not all of Liu Tai's troops have had their blindfold removed yet. It can only be said that they are still undergoing treatment and maintenance.

Adding mint to the soldiers' diet can effectively clear their minds and improve their eyesight.

Therefore, apart from the fact that the growth and cultivation of things like tea is too slow, for herbs like mint that are rarely chosen where they grow, Liu Tai not only established his own special plantations, but also purchased and hoarded a lot from the private sector. It was exchanged for salt coupons.

Although Zhao Anjian felt a little pity that he didn't get the tea, he didn't have much to say since he had Mint as a substitute.

He decisively said to Liu Tai: "Please also ask the general to prepare for me 5000 people, half a month's supply, we will set off immediately!"

Liu Tai nodded and said: "I think half a month is enough. You remember to complete the task within half a month and then withdraw all the troops to Jizhou. There is no need to fight Wang Jun's army in Youzhou. Remember, you are only going to destroy Fan Yang and It’s just the autumn harvest of the two counties of Yan State!”

The current core counties of the entire Youzhou are Shanggu County, Fanyang County and Yanguo County, and these three counties are also Wang Jun's core areas.

Therefore, for Liu Tai, as long as the autumn harvest of these three counties is affected, the rations of Wang Jun's army will inevitably be damaged.

In addition, these two counties border Jizhou, so it is not difficult to withdraw quickly. In addition, he is not attacking the opponent's important stronghold to capture the city, but just wants to destroy the opponent's autumn harvest.

With this kind of food that can sustain the entire army for about half a month, Zhao An can act much more calmly.

"General, please rest assured, An will definitely complete the mission!" Zhao An assured Liu Tai.

Liu Tai nodded and said nothing more. It was naturally the most convenient for Zhao An to handle this kind of guerrilla warfare.

Zhao An immediately gathered his troops, and even Gao Zhan, who served as Zhao An's army staff, was notified.

Because his family was destroyed by the Xianbei cavalry, Gao Zhan's entire family moved to Qingzhou.After thinking about it, he moved to Donglai County in Qingzhou, which is a slightly remote county but has certain development potential.

After Gao Zhan came to Liu Tai's power, he found that Liu Tai's power structure was actually quite strange.

Liu Tai's foundation is not a wealthy family. There are only two important families. One is the Chu family of Liu Tai's mastermind Chu Hui, and the other is the Su family.

As for the local aristocratic families in Qingzhou, it seems that they have experienced a catastrophe. They are disabled and can only run away.

But even so, the people of Qingzhou did not seem to be in despair. After getting rid of the powerful families, the fields cultivated by the people had a five-level harvest. The people thanked Liu Tai one by one and did not feel that they were suffering from such heavy taxes.

Think about the taxes of the Jin Dynasty. Were they so heavy?Why do these people seem to be so resistant?
These uncommon things made Gao Zhan feel that he should not jump directly in front of Liu Tai. He should first serve as an army staff officer under Zhao An and continue to observe here.

In Gao Zhan's view, having Zhao An here is enough for the Gao family to gain a foothold in Qingzhou.

However, if Liu Tai does not rely on the family, he will be overthrown sooner or later. Gao Zhan feels that he is safer staying here with Zhao An.

Even if I want to be liquidated in the future, I will never be liquidated because of my humble position.

After all, the Gao family now only has one face, so he has to be careful!
Over the past year, under Gao Zhan's careful observation, he soon discovered that Liu Tai's foundation was a collective farm reorganized from the land and corvee collected from the Qingzhou family.

The food produced by these collective farms became Liu Tai's basic base.

Gao Zhan breathed a sigh of relief when he really observed this.

This is normal. Any political power must first look at where the other party's food comes from, and it can determine the other party's basic situation to some extent.

If there is no way to guarantee the stability of food, then this regime will definitely experience considerable turmoil.

Gao Zhan then discovered Liu Tai's second base, which was the military fields of the government soldiers.

Liu Tai did not directly collect taxes from these government soldiers, but Liu Tai opened special channels for these government soldiers.

This is what Gao Zhan discovered after he became Zhao An's army staff. Zhao An's army is very different from other armies.

Compared with other armies, Zhao An's army does much less military formation training. It conducts more training of hundreds of troops, rather than large-scale, multi-arms training.

At most, this is just a matter of military positioning. Gao Zhan does not feel that his knowledge is higher than that of Liu Tai, the victorious general, and Zhao An, who built this army single-handedly. He just has doubts in his heart.

But what really surprised Gao Zhan was that Zhao An's army would take the initiative to help the military relatives who owned the legion and were somewhat overwhelmed when the farming was busy.

After completion, if it is still busy farming season, they will even take the initiative to help local people with spring plowing or autumn harvest.

Gao Zhan has never seen such an army, and even Gao Zhan can see that this army does these things with great joy, and even the soldiers in the army feel proud.

Because of this incident, Gao Zhan also asked Zhao An, "Aren't you afraid that the Duke will know about this?"

After all, in Gao Zhan's opinion, Zhao An's behavior can be regarded as a bit of a way to support his hope, but it is too bold.

But Zhao An replied to Gao Zhan: "The general already knows about this. The soldiers here are all specially selected by the general. They are all soldiers who are easy to talk and willing to help the common people!"

After listening to Zhao An's words, Gao Zhan's head was buzzing, but he didn't say much.

It was only later that after understanding the positioning of Zhao An's army, Gao Zhan understood why Liu Tai made such arrangements, and he was even more in awe of Liu Tai's ability to run the army.

As Gao Zhan gradually became familiar with Liu Tai's army, Gao Zhan discovered that after soldiers who owned military fields successfully produced grain, the quartermaster would come directly to ask if they would sell the grain to Liu Tai.

The prices are fixed. If you are willing to sell it to the court, it will be taken away while it is still wheat. There is no need for these people to worry about the subsequent processes. In addition, these exclusive salt stamps can be used to purchase equipment and supplies in the army. , the price is about two levels lower than outside.

Of course, you can also choose not to sell it to the court, then you will be responsible for handling the food yourself, and you need to buy yourself a set of equipment according to world prices.

Through careful comparison, hard bargaining, careful selection, and hard work in each process, these people will produce grains that are about one level cheaper in total after purchasing the items needed by the soldiers.

However, this process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and cost overruns may occur if you are not careful. It is also quite troublesome to calculate in detail.

This is Liu Tai's second base. Although he can be sold to businessmen, the vast majority of soldiers still choose Liu Tai.

The third basic plate is the turn of ordinary people.

Not to mention that these common people collect five levels of taxes, but when these people want to sell the grain in their hands, Liu Tai said that any common people who collect taxes will pay two levels higher than the market price and use salt stamps to purchase grain.

Among them, the number of acres of land they pay taxes determines the amount of grain repurchase they can enjoy.

This kind of behavior directly makes people keep a close eye on the amount of tax they pay.

After all, he paid taxes, but somehow his tax limit was exceeded by someone. As a result, when he wanted the court to purchase grain, he found that the court would not purchase it, and the people soon started to riot.

After all, a bucket of rice is like sand in the eyes of aristocratic families, but a liter of rice is life in the eyes of ordinary people.

If someone can handle everything with his hands and eyes, Liu Tai said that he is powerful and there is nothing he can do.

But as long as there is a little smell leaking out, Chen Yuanda, the Qingzhou Facao, will smell the smell and come over.

This man doesn't even need to give Liu Tai face, let alone these small officials. He will liquidate them all and leave no one behind.

For Liu Tai, his foundation is not these petty officials, and he does not need other emperors to compromise with them like aristocratic families. He can deal with each one as he should.

Although Gao Zhan didn't know why Liu Tai had so much salt that he couldn't finish it, he could always get it by exchanging salt coupons.

At the same time, various official materials in Qingzhou also recognized that salt stamps could be exchanged, so the people were willing to accept salt stamps in exchange for food.

It is under this kind of interest model that the people of Qingzhou naturally become Liu Tai's third base.

In Gao Zhan's long-standing thinking, the common people are like lambs and the aristocratic families are like shepherds. Without the aristocratic families, the world will fall apart.

But I never expected that this ghost place in Qingzhou could run so smoothly without the family.

This made Gao Zhan instinctively feel fear, because Gao Zhan can be regarded as an above-average wise man in this era. Looking at the situation in Qingzhou, he always felt that if Qingzhou was not destroyed, the family would be destroyed by Qingzhou!

Because the proportion of the aristocratic family in the entire political base of Qingzhou is too low!

This makes Gao Zhan even more afraid to come forward, so he should continue to hang out under Zhao An.

The more I look at this world, the less I understand it!
(End of this chapter)