Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Nanyang is facing huge pressure to resettle refugees, and Ju Ming hopes to ship several more batches of food from Shuzhong.

When Zhu Guoxiang received a letter from his son, he also received a letter from Zhang Gen.

There was a sentence in Zhang Gen's letter that surprised Zhu Guoxiang: "The annexation of Sichuan is the best in the world, and the number of vassals in Sichuan is twice as high as that in the north and south..."

Zhang Gen said that it was too difficult for Yizhou Prefecture to conduct an inventory of land acres and population, and requested that the Jinglue Prefecture delegate more powers to the government so that house raids and deportations did not need to be reported for approval.

Zhu Guoxiang frowned and called Gao Jingshan to ask: "Is this really like this in Sichuan?"

"It is true," Gao Jingshan said, "I have served as an official in various places. The north, southeast, and Sichuan each have different people's sentiments. The implementation of government orders needs to be adapted to local conditions."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Please tell me in detail."

Gao Jingshan described the situation in detail, and Zhu Guoxiang quickly figured out the general outline.

In the Song Dynasty, northern clans did not like to divide their families. Even if heavy taxes were levied according to household level, they still did not like to divide their families.

Several generations have lived together and shared property, with twenty or thirty houses and two to three hundred people. Such large families can be found everywhere in the north. Whether it is official salary or business income, all must be distributed by the family.

However, due to the long-term wars in the Five Dynasties, there are almost no single-surname villages in the north, and multiple surnames often live in the same village.

The wealthy families in the southeast like to separate their families and attach great importance to personal property.

Even before the family is separated, the money you earn will be spent by yourself and will not be handed over to the family in vain.

And because many places in the southeast were developed in the past two to three hundred years. The more remote the villages in the southeast, the more common are villages with a single surname, one village with one surname, or even several villages with one surname.

There are so many villages with the same surname, but they are divided very fragmentedly.

But clans still have to do it, usually by setting up ancestral halls and having clan members donate public property. It can be land or money and grain. It can be used to relieve tribesmen in need at critical times, which is equivalent to an ancient family trust fund.

As for Shu, land annexation and personal dependence are similar to those of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the concept of family status directly follows the Three Kingdoms and Two Jin Dynasties.

This is because Sichuan has been stable for a long time and the terrain is blocked and is not conducive to migration. After continuous annexation since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, no matter how many families were divided, the land was still very concentrated. Landless peasants were dependent on the main family, and hundreds of tenants relied on one landlord to survive. Even consecutive generations are attached to the same family.

The tribesmen who are separated will also become tenants of the same tribe!

The concept of family status among the big families in Shu is very strong. It doesn't depend on how big an official you are or how much money you have. Marriage is based solely on the amount of land.

Zhang Gen said in the letter that the policy of reducing rent and interest rates could not be implemented in Sichuan.

Because those tenants had served a large family for several generations, and they didn’t even know how much money they owed. Any wealthy family can issue countless IOUs. Even if they only return the principal, the tenants will never be able to pay it back because it is a debt accumulated over generations.

And the officials are more or less related to the rich families, and they will help the landlords hide it when checking the land and population.

Zhang Gen checked for a long time, but he couldn't even find the land in the suburbs of Chengdu.

Gao Jingshan advised: "Not only Yizhou, but all prefectures and counties in Sichuan can take a breather."

Zhu Guoxiang asked: "Always compromise without treatment?"

Gao Jingshan said: "Free up your hands for governance. The top priority this year is to resettle refugees in Nanyang and Xiangyang to reclaim wasteland. Since the Generalissimo asked for money and food in Shuzhong, he will issue more 'reclamation bonds' in Shuzhong with interest." You can set it a little higher. Those wealthy families in Shu must have enough food at home."

Zhu Guoxiang suddenly figured it out and couldn't help but laugh: "It really can take a while."

Dean Zhu plans to PUA those wealthy families, draw them into his trap little by little, and finally use the trap at his will.

It is too difficult to directly affect the fundamental interests of the wealthy people. First, they will engage in a few waves of bonds, and the interest rates will be relatively high. They keep taking out their money and food, and as long as they cash it out with interest at maturity, these rich people will not resist fiercely, and they even think it is a stable investment.

The debtor is the uncle, and this uncle still holds a knife in his hand!

When the government owes a wealthy family enough money and food, it can make more excessive demands.

At that time, we must cooperate with military operations, first mobilize troops to fight the barbarians in southern Sichuan, and drive the barbarians out of areas suitable for farming.

Then they forcibly transferred the tenants controlled by the rich families and moved their families and families to farm in southern Sichuan. Military settlements were also required, and they were all organized into farming troops. They cultivated when they were busy and practiced when they were free to prepare for barbarian counterattacks.

A large number of tenants were taken away, and the debts owed by generations were all written off.

Then the policy was promulgated. The remaining tenants only need to repay the principal within ten years, and IOUs that exceed the time limit will not be recognized.

Then impose heavy taxes on large households that do not divide their families, forcing them to divide their families and analyze their assets. The tenants who are dependent on the rich family will also be divided as property, and it will be easier to defeat them one by one at that time.

In this way, four goals can be achieved at one go. First, a large number of bonds can be issued, secondly, the aristocratic families can be divided, thirdly, the southern Sichuan region can be developed, and fourthly, the land and population can be clarified.

If anyone dares to join forces to resist, their homes will be confiscated and several of them will be exiled. Whenever the family government involved happened to take the opportunity to default on their debts, the bonds they owed would not be cashed.

Zhu Guoxiang plans to complete this series of steps in five to eight years.

The first step is to force the wealthy families in Sichuan to buy bonds, and then transport the money and food to their son.

…

Nanyang Prefecture, Fangcheng County.

At the junction of Fangcheng and Ye County, there are Daguankou, Xiaoguankou and Chu Great Wall ruins, which were known as one of the nine fortresses in the world during the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Cui Dalang took more than 20,000 refugees and was ordered to stay there and wait for arrangements.

The magistrate of Fangcheng on the rebel side and the magistrate of Ye County on the other side of the Song Dynasty were so frightened by these people that they could not sleep, fearing that they would suddenly come to rob their jurisdictions.

Zhang Guangdao personally led 3,000 soldiers there and captured a large amount of armor from Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong. After changing their uniforms, the rebel troops became more majestic and powerful.

Cui Dalang's name is Cui Xiu. He was born as a small landowner. He was forced by Xicheng to break up his family and flee.

At the beginning of the activities in Xiangyi (Suixian), there were only a few dozen people at the beginning, and gradually developed into hundreds. There are more than a dozen groups of bandits like this in the southern part of Kaifeng Prefecture.

In the process of fighting against the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers, they gradually began to join forces, and they also started to fight internally.

Last year Tong Guan sent troops and drove them to Huainan.

This year, the Imperial Army was mobilized to suppress the bandits, thinking that Cui Xiu was blocking the water transportation channel, so Tong Guan did not go to Hebei and Shandong, but first went to the Huaihe River to open up the water transportation channel.

Tong Guan personally led the victorious Czech army to set off, and the two Huai-Caoxian armies cooperated, and Cui Xiu was defeated with only a few thousand men left.

Cui Xiu fled back to Henan again, recruiting refugees to join his gang along the way, and brought more than 20,000 people to seek refuge with the famous Zhu family and his son.

As for Tong Guan, he has already led his troops to Shandong.

Seeing the 3,000 rebels with all their weapons and armor slowly coming toward her, Cui Xiu instantly put aside her other thoughts.

Not to mention there are only more than 20,000 people, even an army of 100,000 people cannot defeat the 3,000 people in front of them.

"Where is Cui Dalang?" Zhang Guangdao's soldiers shouted.

Cui Xiu Ma rolled over and knelt down on the spot: "Cui Xiu pays homage to the general!"

Zhang Guangdao asked: "Where is your 300,000 troops?"

"Only more than 20,000." Cui Xiu replied bravely. He boasted that he had 300,000 people, purely because he wanted to increase his worth so that he could seek a position with the Zhu family.

Zhang Guangdao asked again: "You can command more than 20,000 refugees, so you are quite capable. Can you read?"

Cui Xiu replied: "I have studied for several years."

Zhang Guangdao said: "County Chief Secretary, Inspection Deputy Commander, War Soldier Clerk, War Soldier Head, you can choose one of these positions yourself."

Only one head?

Although Cui Xiu was unwilling to do so, he looked at the three thousand soldiers standing next to him and swallowed his saliva and said, "I want to be the leader of all soldiers."

"If you are ambitious," Zhang Guangdao said approvingly, "If you take your family to Jingmen, these refugees will be resettled by civil servants."

"Yes!" Cui Xiu could only give in.

This guy took his family all the way south, but he was recruited into the troops of Han Shizhong and Zhong Yanchong.

As two generals, if they suddenly rise too high, they will arouse the dissatisfaction of other generals. Let them lead more than 3,000 troops, which is the limit.

Han Shizhong is the chief, and Zhong Yanchong is the deputy. The troops under his command were reorganized this year and separated from the various armies.

As for Wang Yuan, like Zhang Bor, he was left in the Generalissimo's Mansion by Ju Ming.

Nowadays, Li Jinyi is responsible for guarding Chencang Road. He was also the one who confronted Yao Gu last year. He demolished two hundred miles of plank road and let Yao Gu slowly build it.

Yang Zhi guarded Tangluo Road, Guan Sheng guarded Baoxie Road, and Lin Chong was in southern Sichuan.

These heroes in "Water Margin" were greatly promoted by the Zhu family and his sons.

But here in Nanyang and Xiangyang, most of them are members of Daming Village.

In addition, Li Bao still guarded Kuizhou, and Chen Ziyi was ordered to form a heavy cavalry unit.

Hundreds of fine horses were captured from the victorious cavalry. The Xiang army cavalry at that time also had hundreds of horses.

Now there are more than 1,300 northern war horses, all of which are assigned to Chen Ziyi, who selects strong men from the army for training. Many people don't even know how to ride a horse and have to learn slowly from scratch.

"New to Dutou? What did you do before?" Han Shizhong asked.

Cui Xiu replied: "The commander of the refugees has 40,000 men under his command when his troops are at their largest."

Han Shizhong immediately gave him a warning: "Forty thousand refugees are of no use. When I went to conquer Fang La, a hundred people dared to surprise tens of thousands of bandits. My army is already full, and you came at the wrong time. First, practice with the army and become familiar with the rebel battles." Fa, you can become the head of the militia again."

"Militia?" Cui Xiu didn't understand.

Han Shizhong said: "There are changes in Jiangling in the south. The superiors plan to train three thousand refugees as soldiers. But they are not fighting soldiers. They have to farm in peacetime. They will only train during the slack time."

Cui Xiu was speechless for a moment and walked around. He still had refugees under his hands, and the number was not as much as before.

Until Cui Xiu saw the militia soldiers...

Han Shizhong is now at ease. After more than ten years of work, he can finally lead the army alone.

Since returning to Hanzhong early last winter, Han Shizhong has been studying the rebel tactics. He knew what the Mandarin Duck Formation was, and also what firecrackers and artillery were, and he was even more convinced that the Zhu family and his son could conquer the world.

"I just received news that the imperial court has sent my family to Hanzhong," Han Shizhong asked with a smile, "When will your sister arrive?"

Liang's daughter (Liang Hongyu) is just Han Shizhong's concubine. His wife is still alive and she will not be rehabilitated until she dies of illness.

Zhong Yanchong said: "Not sure."

Han Shizhong winked and hooked up with Zhong Yanchong: "Your sister has become the generalissimo's wife. She will take care of me, Han Wu, from now on."

Zhong Yanchong corrected: "It's just a concubine, not a wife."

"It's all the same," Han Shizhong joked, "If I had a girl, I would marry the generalissimo, but it's a pity that I don't have one."

Han Shizhong's wives and concubines were sent, but Yue Fei was still missing.