Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 152 Helong lives
"It is known that the area of one acre of land is 540 square meters and the length is 24 meters. How many meters should it be wide?"

In early October, when the military and civilians in Wuquan City were rushing to harvest the hemp, beans, millet, wheat and other crops that had been planted in June, some drowsy words were heard from the county government office.

Liu Jilong stood in the main seat in casual clothes, holding a thin wooden stick and a chalk made of chalk (white clay powder) in his hands. Behind him was a black lacquered wooden board with the questions written on it.

In front of him, more than fifty famous generals in the army, including Shang Duoluo, Zhang Chang, Ma Cheng, Li Ji, Hu Siguang, Cao Mao, Zheng Chu, Cuoben, etc., sat in their seats and pretended to be honest.

Now is the fifth month since they settled in Wuquan, and Liu Jilong’s literacy class has been running for four months.

During the two years in Shandan, Liu Jilong had been running literacy programs, but due to the war, many people left or were injured, and only less than 800 people actually received two years of education.

Of these eight hundred people, only less than two hundred followed Liu Jilian to Wuquan.

Although they have undergone two years of literacy training, they have only managed to learn to read.

Therefore, after launching the literacy campaign in Wuquan, Liu Jilong began to strengthen education, from basic literacy to learning some historical materials, as well as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division within ten thousand.

Chinese and mathematics are the only two courses in the literacy class, but Zhang Chang and his classmates still prefer Chinese class.

Because when Liu Jilong teaches Chinese, he usually uses stories to explain the reasons for the formation of some idioms.

This learning method, which is similar to listening to books, has enabled many of them to remember a large number of idioms and use them flexibly.

However, as much as they like Chinese, they hate math.

Just like now, although the fifty or so people looked honest on the surface, their minds were already somewhere else.

"Cuo Ben, you answer!"

Liu Jilong picked Cuoben, the most uncouth person in the literacy class.

In response to this, Cuoben could only stand up awkwardly, stammering for a long time without being able to say anything.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong did not get discouraged, but asked them if there was anyone who didn't know the algorithm.

When he asked, nearly 70% of the people raised their hands.

Instead of scolding everyone, he wrote the solution again on the blackboard, then asked everyone to study it first, and then taught them one by one.

Each of them had an ordinary wooden board in his hand, with pen, ink, basin and towel on the table.

After wiping the wooden board clean with a towel dampened with water, you can write on it with a brush.

Soon, two hours passed, and Liu Jilong announced the end of get out of class.

"Governor, isn't it enough for us to learn how to fight and read?"

"Yes, Governor, this mathematics..."

Some brigade commanders and lieutenants were puzzled and asked, Liu Jilong smiled and asked back: "Do you think it won't be used?"

"Uh..." No one dared to answer for a moment, but Liu Jilong explained:
"Apart from fighting, mathematics is also used in marching, setting up camp, and deploying troops."

"From organization to number of people, from rations to ordnance, from speed to width, everything is quantified."

"Based on the length and width of an army's march, we can calculate their number and know how long it will take to march."

"For example, our army's camping method is actually a calculation method to determine various areas."

"You have to understand that fighting is a delicate business."

"How many soldiers do you have? How much food and water do you eat every day? How much do you march every day? How far do you need to set up a supply point? All these things require the use of mathematics."

"In the past, you had many straightforward soldiers under your command. These matters can be handed over to them, so you don't have to worry."

"But now that we are in charge of our own affairs, we have to do it ourselves."

"Besides, learning mathematics well will help us to count cultivated land, population and materials. Don't underestimate mathematics."

Liu Jilong explained to them with a smile, and then continued:

"Actually, I want to teach you three more courses, but we don't have time. We must solve the illiteracy problem of the army within two years and then send troops to retake Hezhou."

Two years of dormancy may seem a bit tough for Liu Jilong, who debuted only three years ago, but in fact, time flies.

This year, the problem of reclaiming wasteland outside the city has been solved. After the autumn harvest next year, he will have enough food to launch a southern expedition.

He lay dormant for two years, not for a small Hezhou, but to recover the three states of He, Lin and Wei in one go.

These days, he has selected some soldiers with arithmetic talent in the army and transferred them to other jobs. Although there are only more than 170 people, it is enough for him.

The three prefectures of He, Lin and Wei plus Wuquan make a total of ten counties.

With more than 170 people plus a small number of garrisons to manage ten counties, they can still manage it.

As long as he could manage it, Liu Jilong could spend two or three years using this group of Zhibai to expand the Zhibai team like a snowball, and the same goes for the army.

He asked Zhang Chang and others to write down the idiom stories they had told in class, and then print them into textbooks using copper movable type printing.

A story may have at least 200 to 300 words, or at most 700 to 800 words.

If the soldiers want to understand these stories, they can only study hard.

It has to be said that this approach is quite effective. After four months of literacy campaign, there are no soldiers in the army who can read less than 500 characters.

However, Liu Jilong did not stop. After all, what he wanted was a group of middle and grassroots officers, not a team of semi-illiterate people.

"Only if we train the 2,800-plus soldiers well can they help us expand our team in a snowball-like manner and occupy the entire Longxi at the fastest speed."

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong also watched Zhang Chang and others walk out of the yamen one after another.

They took the textbooks and prepared to go to the military camp for teaching, leaving only Cao Mao and Liu Jilong.

"How's it going? Have you written it all down?"

"Well, I've got it all noted down!"

Liu Jilong looked at Cao Mao who was taking notes seriously and asked with a smile.

Cao Mao was already fourteen years old. He had been with Liu Jillong for more than two years. After learning to read, he often read the books that Liu Jillong had collected from Ganzhou, Liangzhou, Lanzhou and other places.

Although these books are all classics, they enriched his inner self.

Now that Liu Jilong has introduced mathematics as a course, Cao Mao naturally will not miss it, but absorbs knowledge like a sponge.

Seeing his serious look, Liu Jilong also smiled and patted him: "Study hard and help me govern Longxi in the future."

"That won't do!" Cao Mao raised his voice and suddenly closed the notebook where he was taking notes.

He stood up and looked at Liu Jilong, frowning and saying stubbornly: "I learned all this in order to lead troops in battle!"

"..." Hearing this, Liu Jilong was speechless. After a moment, he smiled and said, "Okay, whatever you say!"

After he finished speaking, he continued to give Cao Mao another hour-long "small class".

Liu Jilong didn't breathe a sigh of relief until Cao Mao had fully understood how to calculate the area.

However, before he could ask Cao Mao to prepare the meal, he saw Chen Jingchong walking in from outside the yamen.

"Governor! All the grain crops outside the city have been harvested and stored!"

Chen Jingchong came over from a distance and bowed. Liu Jilong's eyes lit up when he heard him: "How is it?"

"Take a look for yourself." Chen Jingchong walked into the main hall and handed over a booklet.

Liu Jilong took it and flipped through it, quickly reading all the contents.

"The second batch of grain from Guzhou has arrived. Excluding what was eaten on the way, there are 4,962 dan of grain left."

"Including this year's harvest and the original grain stored in the government warehouse, there are still more than 45,600 dan of grain stored in the government warehouse."

"The number of herds outside the city is also recorded in the books: more than 2,800 military horses, more than 3,600 draft horses, 4,500 oxen, 754 cattle, and 19,424 sheep."

After he finished speaking, Chen Jingchong showed worry on his face: "In the past four months, the soldiers and civilians in the city have eaten more than 5,800 sheep and 28,600 shi of grain."

"You have given the people too much food. Although they have the strength to work, if they continue to eat this way, the food will only last until the beginning of April at most."

"The cattle and sheep can help us survive for two more months at most."

"With two months left, if there is no external help, we can only kill the draft horses and oxen..."

Chen Jingchong calmly described the current situation. After listening, Liu Jilong did not expect that there was so little food.

At first he calculated that there would be enough food, but in reality, there was always a slight deviation in the food distributed every day.

If everyone deviates a little, then after a day or a month, the deviation will be much greater. Thinking of this, Liu Jilong said in a deep voice: "How about this, starting tomorrow you send people to make cloth and ropes from the harvested hemp, and see if you can make fishing nets and catch some fish."

"In addition, I wrote a letter to the governor Xiao Zhang to borrow 10,000 shi of grain from him."

It was impossible for Shang Bibi to continue lending him grain, so Liu Jilong could only turn his attention to Zhang Huaishen.

He believed that with his relationship with Zhang Huaishen, even if Zhang Huaishen could not borrow 10,000 shi of grain, he could at least borrow a few thousand shi to deal with the emergency.

At worst, he could lead the people of Wuquan to live frugally and get through it until the second half of next year.

Now all the wasteland outside the city has been reclaimed, and nearly 100,000 acres of arable land have been planted with crops after spring plowing, which can be harvested around the end of July.

It would only be a month or two of hard times. If things really didn't work out, he could sell dozens of sets of armor and get one or two thousand dan of grain from Shang Bibi.

"We still have to take over the three states of He, Lin and Wei as soon as possible."

Liu Jilong pondered and said, "There are gold, iron and copper mines in the three states of He, Lin and Wei. When they were still in the hands of the Han people, they produced gold, silver and copper coins worth tens of thousands of strings every year, and they could also connect to Qinzhou."

"If we take them down, we can integrate the power of the three states and buy grain from the imperial court."

"After we take over the other three states, we must immediately take over Minzhou and Chengzhou."

"Minzhou has tea, Chengzhou has salt, both of which are resources we are in urgent need of."

"Indeed!" Chen Jingchong also nodded in approval.

However, he did not know that the main reason Liu Jilian wanted to recover Minzhou and Chengzhou was because of the sulfur produced in the local areas.

As long as he had sulfur, he could make gunpowder, and in his opinion, the greatest use of gunpowder was not in military affairs, but in mining.

He also thought about making a musket, but the matchlock gun was not very powerful and had a short range, and he was not clear about the principles of the matchlock gun, so he could only figure it out slowly.

During this period, pyrotechnics was used to mine ore.

Thousands or tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder are enough to increase the output of gold, silver and copper mines in the three states of He, Lin and Wei several times.

After all, the reason why the iron production in the Ming Dynasty was so high was because they used gunpowder to mine ore.

There are more termites in the Tang Dynasty than flies in the toilet. As long as there is enough money, even if the Tang court does not allow Guanzhong to sell grain to him, he can bribe the officials of Jiannan Road to sell grain to him.

If he didn't sell Guanzhong and Jiannan Road, he could only give the Tang Dynasty a small shock.

He has had enough of this frustrating life!

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong asked Chen Jingchong to stay for dinner and told him some ideas about military management and governance.

Chen Jingchong took notes on all of this, and after the autumn harvest, the people outside the city turned their attention to the fields outside the city.

The temperature in Lanzhou in early October had not yet dropped below zero, so it was not difficult to reclaim the wild land.

The people set fire to the weeds in the wild, and then drove horses and oxen to cultivate the land, and dumped all the stones onto the official road.

After finishing their work, they moved the stones onto carriages and transported them to the gate of Wuquan City.

These stones will become materials for building city walls, and this is what Liu Jilong is doing.

Since he invented the Huihui cannon, the pure rammed earth city wall naturally became outdated.

The stones picked up by the people from reclaiming the wild land became the best materials for building the city walls.

Not only did he realize this, but even Zhang Huaishen who was far away in Liangzhou realized this.

The difference is that Liangzhou has a large population, so Guzang City began to pile up stones and strengthen the city walls before the autumn harvest.

"The people paid the land tax, and according to the five-to-one tax, the government warehouse received more than 57,000 dan of tax grain."

"Besides that, we should be able to deliver more than 8,000 pieces of linen by the end of the month."

Inside the Guzang government office, Jiu Juyan was reporting on the autumn harvest in Guzang.

Due to its large size and wealth, Liangzhou could be governed according to the normal tax system, while Lanzhou could only eat from the same pot and overcome difficulties according to the rationing system.

"Have the food rations for Fanhe, Jialin, and Changsong been delivered?"

Zhang Huaishen sat in the main seat, looking at the data in the document, but did not forget to ask Jiu Juyan.

Jiu Juyan nodded when he heard this: "Changsong's grain has not been delivered yet, but according to the situation in previous years, the tax grain collected by Liangzhou this time should not be less than 120,000 dan."

"With the addition of hemp, beans, silk, and herds of livestock and other miscellaneous items, there is enough to support 10,000 soldiers!"

Jiu Juyan was very proud, but Zhang Huaishen remained calm: "Is there any news from Guangwu?"

"I was just about to talk about this." Jiu Juyan continued:
"Governor Li requests the transfer of 500 oxen and 30,000 dan of grain."

"Hmm..." Zhang Huaishen nodded in agreement. He didn't think it was too much. After all, the military pay of the two thousand armored soldiers in Guangwu was as high as 24,000 dan. Taking into account the rations, 30,000 dan was still considered a small amount.

"Liu Jilong..." He hesitated for a moment before finally making up his mind:
"Is there any news from Liu Jilong?"

"No." Jiu Juyan sighed, "But judging from the troops the governor brought and the situation described by Governor Li, things in Wuquan should not be going well."

Hearing this, Zhang Huaishen couldn't help but frown and said, "How stubborn!"

He wanted to help Liu Jilong, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, so he could only wait for Liu Jilong to beg him.

For some reason, his eyelids kept twitching these days, so he couldn't help but urge Liu Jilong to hurry up.

"Is there any news from Huizhou and Ganzhou?"

Zhang Huaishen continued to ask Jiu Juyan, and Jiu Juyan also hurriedly said:

"In Huizhou, Governor Suo didn't send any news, but in Ganzhou, Governor Li and County Magistrate Cui did send some news."

"Governor Li wants to train 2,000 new soldiers, so I would like you to write a letter to the governor."

"What County Magistrate Cui sent me is the Shandan documents. This year, Shandan harvested more than 24,000 dan of tax grain, added more than 13,000 new herds, produced more than 126,000 jin of iron, more than 400,000 jin of coal, and more than 5,000 jin of tea..."

Jiu Juyan explained the situation in Ganzhou clearly. Zhang Huaishen couldn't help but feel regretful after listening to it: "Shandan is also his legacy. Now that Hexi is stable, the tax rate has been changed from 10% to 5%. I hope the people of Shandan will not resent the government."

"How could this happen?" Jiu Juyan said hurriedly, "In the past when Tubo was in power, 70% to 80% of the grain collected had to be handed over, but now only 20% is handed over, and the people are so happy that they can't wait."

"But it's still not as good as when he was here." Zhang Huaishen interrupted Jiu Juyan and said something that he could not refute.

"If he were still here, Liangzhou would probably be able to restore the grandeur of the Kaiyuan Festival in less than three years."

Zhang Huai sighed deeply and mentioned Liu Jilong almost every three sentences, which showed that he really missed him.

While he was thinking this, footsteps were heard outside the hall.

The two looked in the direction of the sound, and soon saw Zhang Huaijian walking quickly towards them, presenting a piece of silk book with both hands.

In Hexi, the only person who could use the silk book was Zhang Yichao from Dunhuang, so Zhang Huaishen hurriedly took it and examined it.

After a while, he closed the silk book and looked at the two of them and said:
"My uncle asked us to transport 20,000 shi of grain from Liangzhou and Ganzhou to Yizhou. It seems that he is preparing to take action against the group of barbarians entrenched in Yizhou."

"No troops were mobilized?" Jiu Juyan asked curiously, but Zhang Huaishen shook his head.

"I don't understand something..."

Suddenly, Zhang Huaijian frowned and said, "The Longxi bandits are still strong, why don't we transfer Governor Liu to Yizhou to recapture Anxi and Beiting, and let us recapture Longxi?"

Zhang Huaijian didn't understand. At present, the Guiyi Army had more than 200,000 civilians and more than 18,000 armored soldiers, while Longxi was divided into pieces and the powerful Shang Yanxin had only more than 4,000 armored soldiers.

In this case, they only need to reorganize the army in Liangzhou for a year, and then they can go through Wushaoling to recover the entire Longxi territory.

The situation was very good, but Liu Jilian was asked to go to Longxi to fight alone. This was an arrangement that Zhang Huaishen could not understand.

Facing his confusion, Zhang Huaishen frowned and said, "After all, we have been in the righteousness for less than three years. If we rush to recover Longxi, it will inevitably cause criticism from those in the court."

"Besides, retaking Beiting and Anxi will also facilitate the smooth flow of trade, which will be beneficial to our army."

"As for Longxi..." Zhang Huaishen pondered for a moment, then took a deep breath and said:
"Liu Jilong can go, but we can't."

Zhang Yichao had obviously known that the imperial court would be suspicious of them because of their power, so he did not rashly attack Longxi, but sent Liu Jilian to test the waters.

If the court urged him, he would naturally send troops to recover Longxi.

However, Wang Jingzhi had been in Chang'an for several months, but no news came from Chang'an, which showed that the court was not in a hurry.

In this case, they might as well take good care of Liangzhou and Huizhou. After all, there are more Tibetans than Han people in Liangzhou and Huizhou. They need to be well governed before they can be completely stabilized.

However, Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen probably never dreamed that the imperial court would react so violently to their recovery of the three states of Liang, Hui and Lan...

(End of this chapter)