A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 14 The Reign of Chengkang
King's 20th year
After the Emperor of Zhou inherited the achievements of King Wen and King Wu, he implemented Zhou Gong's idea of ​​"clear virtues and prudent punishment" internally, and practiced frugality to ease class conflicts; externally, he continued to attack Huaiyi, used force to control the eastern minority areas, and plundered slaves and land were distributed among the princes and officials.

Throughout the Zhou Dynasty, agricultural production flourished, people's lives improved relatively, and ethnic minorities from all over came to congratulate them.

At the same time, the Emperor of Zhou inherited Zhou Gong’s Zhou Rites, that is, the creation and implementation of various regulations and systems of the dynasty. Since the territory of the Zhou Dynasty was unprecedentedly vast, in order to effectively rule, it implemented the enfeoffment system, that is, the policy of "conferring land and establishing a country".

In addition to the enfeoffment of the Zhou Dynasty, the feudal system was based on patriarchal blood relations and established a local administrative system under the control of the Emperor of Zhou. According to the distance of the territory from the capital, the land and the people on the land were given to the enfeoffors (most of them were princes). .

On the one hand, the person who was granted the title held political, economic, military and other powers in the land and exercised comprehensive rule; on the other hand, the person who was granted the title was responsible for guarding the territory, sending troops to serve the king, paying tribute, and accompanying the emperor. Obligations such as king sacrifice.

The enfeoffment of the Zhou Dynasty had already begun during the reign of King Wu, but large-scale enfeoffment occurred during the reign of King Cheng and the current Emperor of Zhou.

And because Bai Wu, under the leadership of Wei Bo, continued to lead the Yin Eighth Division to stabilize the social order in the Eastern Territory, the Bai family's fiefdom was also extended to sixty miles and moved further towards the Taihang Mountains.

Due to the expansion of the Bai family's fiefdom and the increase in the Bai family's strength, the Bai family established two new cities in the Taihang Mountains, namely Luyi and Zhenyi. Due to the rich products in the Taihang Mountains, Bai's caravans also developed rapidly. Due to the prosperity of commerce, Baiyi's population increased to 5,000 people.

Now the Bai family has four cities and one pass, namely Baiyi, Huaiyi, Luyi, Zhuyi and Baiguan. The total population exceeded 10,000.

There are also 600 Bai family soldiers, 100 White Guards, and Shadow Guards. Due to the development of caravans, they spread all over the Zhou Dynasty. Due to the continuous development of the Taihang Mountains, the Bai family has a map of the entire Taihang Mountains, which is crucial to the future development of the Bai family.
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In the 30th year of the king's reign, there was Baidi, Huaiyi, Shanting, and a locust tree.

Yue was resting under the locust tree when he suddenly heard a voice:
"Old man! Old man!"

Yue slowly opened his cloudy eyes and saw a middle-aged man dressed as a businessman calling him respectfully.

Yue said: "Who are you?"

The merchant replied: "My father-in-law Rong Zhen, I am a merchant from Luoyi. I heard that Baidi is rich in mountain products, so I came to investigate!"

Yue then asked: "What's the matter with you?"

The merchant said, "I want to ask for directions. Which direction does Baiguan go to?"

Yue said: "What? Deer? How could I know where the deer is? You are such a weird person."

The merchant said dumbfounded: "It's not a deer, it's a road, the road of a road."

After hearing this, Yue said angrily: "What? Big deer? I don't even know the little deer. How can I know the big deer? Am I just entertaining this old man? Go, go, go."

After hearing this, the merchant said helplessly: "Let's not talk about deer anymore. May I ask where Bai Guan is going?"

Yue heard this and said warily: "Bai Guan? What are you doing there? Who are you? It can't be Xi Zuo. Do you want to find out the information about my Bai family? Tell me quickly, otherwise I will call the chief."

When the merchant saw this, he immediately said: "No, I am a merchant. Didn't I tell you just now?"

After hearing this, Yue felt relieved and said embarrassedly: "Young man, I'm sorry. People are old, their minds are not clear, and their ears are not good. Bai Guan, which way do you go? Yes, there are many locust trees." Just keep walking on that road."

Seeing this, the businessman thanked him and said, "Thank you very much, husband. I just don't know if I will live a long life this year?"

Hearing this, Yue said proudly: "Haha, old man, I am sixty-one this year, haha."

When the merchant heard this, he immediately said respectfully: "Hey, then you are from King Wu's era?"

Yue said: "Isn't that right? I was born in the era of King Shang. When I was King Wu, I followed the former master of the Bai family through life and death. I fought with the former master against Feilian, met the Duke of Zhou, and fought with the former master against the Dongyi. I have met Uncle Wei Kang, and I am one of them during the three campaigns against Dongyi, and I have met the current Wei Hou, that was on the day the late master passed away, I still remember how sad I was that day."

Yue couldn't help but shed tears as he spoke.

Seeing this, the merchant comforted him and said, "How is your life now? Now the world is peaceful and stable, and the people of Li live and work in peace and contentment. You are living a good life, right?"

When Yue heard this, he couldn't help but become happy: "That's not true. Old man, my current life will not change even if the gods come. My son is now the head of the village, my grandson follows the head of the family as a bodyguard, and my daughter is married The retainers of the Bai family enjoy good fortune, but the grandson's daughter-in-law is still the daughter of the Su family!
As old as I am, I am still able to live well in the world. Not only that, but also so leisurely. It is all due to the grace of the late master, the head of the family and the emperor! By the way, how are you guys doing outside? It must be better than us living in vain! "

Xing Shang said: "To be honest with you, I have been traveling around for some years. Although the life outside is different in different places, in general it is relatively good. When today's emperor is a sage and rules the world with benevolence and virtue, punishments are almost never used. , and the surrounding barbarians were also beaten by the emperor and the princes into obedience, and they did not dare to buckle down easily. However, after traveling to so many places, I found that your Baidi is the most prosperous and comfortable!"

Yue heard what Dao Xingshang said, so he said happily: "Really? Haha, I said that it was right to follow the First Master back then. The First Lord saw that he was a person who could achieve great things and was kind and loving to the people. He was worthy of me! Hahaha." "

Xing Shang couldn't help laughing when he heard what Yue said. At this moment, a middle-aged man who was slightly taller but slightly lame came to the two of them. He first bowed to the merchant and then said to the yue:

"Father, it's already dinner time. Your daughter-in-law has already cooked. Go back and eat!"

After hearing this, Yue stood up and said, "Eat! Eat!" As he spoke, he wielded his dove stick and walked slowly towards home. Seeing this, Yue's son quickly asked his nephew who was following him to step forward to help him, but Yue was stopped by him. He shook it off and said, "Go, go, old man, I'm not old enough to move." After that, he walked slowly. Seeing this, the nephew had no choice but to follow him step by step.

When Yue's son saw his father coming home, he breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and saluted Xingshang:
"I'm sorry, sir. My father is a bit willful. If we are rude to you, sir, please forgive us for the sake of Mr. Bai." "Haha, it doesn't matter, your father is really respectable. Just like your father, I am also very touched. Ah. I wonder what that exquisite dove stick is in your father’s hand?”

"Sir, you are exaggerating. I am the head of this locust tree. If you can help me, sir, I will be obliged to do so. As for the dove stick in my father's hand, it was given by the Bai family to retired ministers who are over sixty years old."

"Mr. Bai is really a kind and virtuous lord. By the way, I see that he is tall and tall. He must have been born in the army!"

"Sir, you have very good eyesight. Yes, I was born in the army. My father was originally a personal guard of the former lord. Later, he retired and was assigned to serve as the chief of Baiyi. After passing the examination, I joined the Bai family as a Sima. , but later he was injured while resisting the Beidi people at Baiguan, so he retired and became the chief of this li. Fortunately, Quanzi worked hard and joined the Bai family's personal guard, the Bai Zanwei. This really makes me proud!"

"White Guards? I've heard that everyone in this army has the strength to fight against Xiong Wei. A hundred people can break out of a thousand people. If they are barbarians with insufficient equipment, it will be even more difficult." It’s terrifying, a hundred can kill an army of ten thousand people.”

"Haha, yes, this army was formed by our Bai family with the help of our entire clan."

"Oh, it's getting late, I have to rush to Baiguan to purchase goods, so I won't disturb you."

"Sir, walk slowly!"

When Yue's son saw Xing Shang leaving, he hurried home and asked his father what he had just said to him, as well as his origin, identity and purpose. Then he recorded these information on a piece of straw and put it in a bamboo tube. , and ordered his men to be sent to the Shadow Guard Hall in Huaiyi.

Baiyi, Yingwei Mansion, a very remote place in Baiyi, where people wearing black clothes were seen coming and going.

"Chief Guard, this is the information sent by Huaiyi. This is the information sent by Baiguan and Zhenyi."

Quanzhong took the information handed over by his subordinates, read it carefully, sorted it out, and then left the Shadow Guard Mansion and headed to the family head's mansion.

"Master, this is the information about Bai Di this month. This is the information outside Bai Di." Quan Zhong handed Bai Wu the sum of this month's information.

Bai Wu looked at the two pieces of intelligence, looked at the intelligence outside Bai Di, and put it down after reading it. They were all trivial matters. Under the governance of today's emperor and Wei Hou Xianming, the current Zhou Dynasty was better than the previous dynasties. Zhongdu can be considered a prosperous age.

As for Bai Di's information, Bai Wu looked at it carefully.

Intelligence shows that because Bai Di actively developed the Taihang Mountains, Bai's mountain products were very popular in the Zhou Dynasty. In addition, Bai's active recruitment of craftsmen for deep processing of raw materials made Bai's leather famous in the Zhou Dynasty.

However, because the movement was too big, the Di people in the Taihang Mountains seemed to have taken action. Recently, there have been more and more attacks on Zhangyi. Zhuanyi is the Bai family's township that goes deepest into the Taihang Mountains. The Bai family's townships from outside the Taihang Mountains to the north and deep into the Taihang Mountains are: Baiyi, Huaiyi, Baiguan, Luyi, and Zhuanyi.

Bai Wu looked at Quan Zhong and asked, "Do you have the latest information on the Di people in the Taihang Mountains?"

Quanzhong replied respectfully: "Yes!" and then handed it to Bai Wu from his arms.

Bai Wu looked at the intelligence, which showed that several Di tribes in the Taihang Mountains close to Bai's territory were in frequent contact with each other. Bai Wu knew that a war against Bai was coming soon.

So he stood up decisively and said to Quan Zhong: "Go and summon the important officials in the family to discuss the matter in the council hall."

Quanzhong bowed, said "Here" and went to inform him.

In the evening, the meeting hall was brightly lit with candles, and all the important officials of the Bai family gathered in the meeting hall.

I saw Bai Wu occupying the main position. Behind him on the left stood Quan Zhong, the commander of the Shadow Guard. Behind him on the right stood Guan Qi, the commander of the Bai Zhi Guard (also the son of Yue). Below and to the left sat the young master of the Bai family, Bai Huan (Bai Huan). Wu's son), Bai Zhang, the leader of the branch, Bai Lin, the leader of the library pavilion, and Bai Han, the head of the Bai family academy (Bai Zhang's son).

Below and on the right side are Sulu, the leader of the civil hall, Yuan Huan, the leader of the military hall, and Zhongli, the chief of Baiyi.

"Now that everyone is here, let's discuss what to do next. First, let Sulu, the leader of the Mintang, take stock of the Bai family's property!"

Sulu bowed to Bai Wu and said:

"Now the Bai family has a fiefdom of sixty miles, with four towns and one pass, namely Baiyi, Huaiyi, Luyi, Zhuyi and Baiguan. The population has exceeded 10,000 and reached 15,000, of which there are 6,000 in Baiyi. Accounting for nearly half of the Bai family's population, the Bai family's caravans spread throughout all the major cities and vassal states of the Zhou Dynasty.
Now the family has six thousand gold, ten thousand silver, twenty thousand copper, and three hundred tons of iron. "Two hundred craftsmen"

After saying that, he sat down. Yuan Huan, the leader of the Military Hall, continued:
"Now there are eight hundred soldiers at home, all of whom are elite soldiers wearing armor. Now three hundred are in Baiguan, one hundred are in Zhuyi, fifty are in Huaiyi, fifty are in Luyi, and three hundred are in Baiyi."

Bai Zhang, the leader of the branch, said: "The branch does not have a disciple yet."

Bai Han, the headmaster of Bai's Academy, stood up and said: "There are a thousand children in the academy. Most of them are the sons of soldiers and retainers, and a few are the sons of the people."

Guan Qi, the chief of the White Guards, said: "There are one hundred and fifty White Guards" and returned behind Bai Wu without moving.
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At the time of prosperity, the world was peaceful and punishments were not used for more than forty years.

- "Historical Records"

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(End of this chapter)