Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 180: The Country's Sorrow

"Moo..."

In April, with the start of the massive spring plowing season, countless oxen and draft horses were once again harnessed to the plows, and driven by the people, they began a new round of farming.

On the banks of the Wei River, large water wheels several meters high started to turn, drawing water from the Wei River, flowing it into tall bamboo channels, and finally into the canals.

One waterwheel can irrigate hundreds of acres of farmland, and the farmland outside Longxi County has also been restored to its former peak through continuous reclamation and restoration.

The people were laughing and talking, and the numbness of the past had long become history.

Although they were still wearing tattered cloth clothes, they washed them very clean.

A clean outfit represents their expectations for the future.

In such a lively and cheerful environment, even the prisoners sent by the court unconsciously became simple and honest.

"Governor, we just caught another spy. This is the eighteenth one we have caught in the past month."

On the horse trail in Longxi City, Chen Jingchong walked slowly behind Liu Jilong and told him about their success in capturing the spy.

After hearing this, Liu Jilong nodded, but his eyes were always on the people outside the city.

Not long after, five light cavalrymen came from the south and headed straight for the city gate.

People in the fields greeted them, but they had no intention of responding and rushed straight into the city.

Liu Jilong frowned at this scene and couldn't help but say: "Tell the brothers below to be nicer to the people. Look... what it looks like."

"Yes!" Chen Jingchong bowed in response, but before he could continue talking with Liu Jilong, Wang Sifeng's figure appeared not far away.

He hurried over with a look of joy on his face, which made Liu Jilong smile bitterly and said, "It seems that I wronged those brothers just now."

Before Chen Jingchong could respond, Wang Sifeng came over and bowed, saying:

"Governor, Chen Ying and his men have sent a few brothers back to report the news."

"This is Chen Ying's handwriting, please take a look..."

Liu Jilong took it and read it quickly. He smiled and said:

"Your position as governor has been confirmed, and the state treasury will deposit another 100,000 pieces of silk."

"Good!" After hearing Liu Jilong's words, Wang Sifeng and Chen Jingchong both shouted good.

Liu Jilian did not mention the issue of his official position. After all, he had no ambition to become the Jiedushi of Longyou.

Now that the position of governor of the twelve states of Longxi has been established, he has the legitimacy to recover the remaining nine states.

Thinking of this, he put the letter back into the envelope, and then instructed Chen Jingchong and the others:
"Chen Ying will come tomorrow, escorted by the Tianxiong Army, with 100,000 pieces of silk and the official uniform I was awarded. Send someone to greet him. If anyone asks where I'm going, just say I'm going to Hezhou and ask them to accept the official uniform on my behalf."

"Yes!"

Liu Jilong didn't want to kowtow to the so-called angel, so he asked Chen Jingchong to kowtow for him.

Seeing Chen Jingchong agreed, Liu Jilong continued:

"I have been delayed in Weizhou for too long. Tomorrow, after receiving the imperial edict and taking the 100,000 pieces of silk, I will mobilize the troops to various states overnight according to the previous regulations."

"Remember, be gentle and don't let those 3,000 people know."

“So when they arrive in each state and see the troops from each state, they will misjudge the number of our troops.”

"Also, be careful when mobilizing troops and don't let familiar faces run into them."

Liu Jilong gave instructions to Chen Jingchong and Wang Sifeng.

The two men agreed immediately after hearing this, and Liu Jilian also returned to the yamen, rested peacefully and waited to go to Linzhou.

The next day, just as Liu Jilian had said, Wang Zhongren of the Tianxiong Army led 500 elite cavalrymen and 3,000 civilians, driving horse-drawn carriages to transport 100,000 pieces of silk to the outside of Longxi City.

Chen Jingchong, Shang Duoluo and others led dozens of brigade commanders and above in the city to set up an incense table at the city gate, waiting for the order.

"Where is Envoy Liu?"

Wang Zhongren dismounted and frowned as he looked around, but Chen Jingchong bowed and said, "My envoy has gone to Hezhou in a few days, so I will take the imperial edict on his behalf."

Seeing this, Wang Zhongren did not hesitate too much and took out the imperial edict and read it out: "Liu Jilong, the defense envoy of Helinwei, accepts the order!"

"I... obey your order!" Chen Jingchong knelt on the cushion and bowed his head to listen to your order.

"My subordinate, Liu Ji, the defense commander of the three states of Wenhe, Linwei, etc..."

Wang Zhongren read out the contents of the imperial edict. The kneeling generals were originally very excited, but when they heard that Liu Jilong did not get the post of Jiedushi of Longyou, they immediately began to discuss in a low voice.

If Liu Jilong had not told them in advance not to cause trouble, they would probably have questioned Wang Zhongren on the spot.

Even so, their voices made the announcement noisy.

Wang Zhongren's face darkened, but he did not dare to stop them. He just gritted his teeth and read the contents of the imperial edict, and finally handed it to Chen Jingchong.

"Your official uniforms, boots, and tablets are all on the carriage. In addition, the 100,000 rolls of silk bestowed by the Supreme Being are also here."

After Wang Zhongren finished his chatter, Chen Jingchong slowly stood up, put the imperial edict away in a box, and then began to arrange for people to move the silk.

In less than a quarter of an hour, all 100,000 pieces of silk were moved away. Wang Zhongren did not stay, but took advantage of the plenty of time to lead his men back to Wushan County.

At the same time, Chen Ying and others who followed them were also warmly welcomed.

"Chen Ying, well done!"

"Boy, you are so energetic. You have worked hard this time!"

"Chen Ying..."

For a moment, they were "drowned" by applause and praise, and Chen Ying scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Oh, by the way, I have one more thing to report to the governor."

"I'll take you there!" Chen Jingchong motioned for him to follow.

Seeing this, Chen Ying immediately understood where Liu Jilian had gone, and also knew that his own envoy just didn't want to come out to receive the order and lied that he had gone to Hezhou.

He followed Chen Jingchong's footsteps and soon arrived at the inner hall of Longxi Yamen, where he met Liu Jilong who was practicing calligraphy in the study.

"Governor, Chen Ying and the others are back."

"come in……"

Chen Jingchong stood outside the study and bowed to report. Liu Jilong nodded and motioned them to come in. Then he put down his brush, exhaled, and immediately walked towards the two of them with a smile.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Liu Jilong patted Chen Ying's arms, looked her up and down and said with a smile: "You gained weight in Chang'an."

Chen Ying smiled heartily when she heard this: "I met a young man who invited us to the tavern to eat every day, so I got fat."

"Oh, Governor!" Chen Ying suddenly thought of something he should report, so he bowed and said:

"Xue Kui, the governor of Qinzhou, was transferred back to Chang'an. Gao Pian, the Yuhou of the Shen Ce Army, was promoted to the governor of Qinzhou and Longzhou, and concurrently the governor of Tianxiong Army."

Upon learning that Gao Pian would stay in Longyou to compete with him, Liu Jilong frowned slightly, feeling that the situation was a bit tricky.

The court must have kept Gao Pian in Qinzhou to restrain him, and Qinzhou could directly go to Chengzhou via the official road, and Shanggui in Qinzhou was only a hundred miles away from the salt well in Chengzhou.

If Gao Pian noticed his plan to attack the salt well, it would be easy for him to counterattack and even lose the salt well.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong could only put the matter aside and arrange current matters first.

He looked at Chen Ying and said, "Tell me all the information you found in Chang'an."

"Yes!" Chen Ying responded quickly, and then began to tell Liu Jilong about the various news they had learned in Chang'an over the past six months.

For example, Pei Xiu's reforms of the grain transport and salt and iron systems, the oppression of the Hedong Hu people by the Jiedushi, and Bi Yan's surrender of the Dangxiang people, and other major and minor events.

In general, the current situation of the Tang Dynasty is still good. After all, thanks to the reforms of Emperor Wuzong Li Yan and Prime Minister Li Deyu, the Tang Dynasty has recovered a lot of its decline.

A lean camel is bigger than a horse. This is why Liu Jilian did not dare to confront the Tang court directly.

However, after Li Chen's death and Emperor Yizong of Tang ascended the throne, the Tang Dynasty would gradually be hit by natural disasters and man-made calamities, and its situation would deteriorate day by day until people's hearts turned against it.

Liu Jilian was not in a hurry. He was only twenty-one years old and had enough time to outlast Li Chen and lie dormant in Longxi, waiting for the right time.

But before that, he had to let Longxi regain its reputation as the "granary of Longshang".

"Governor, should we set up a memorial hall in Chang'an?"

After listening to the various information shared by Chen Ying, Chen Jingchong began to think about applying to the Chang Resettlement Office.

"No!" Liu Jilong rejected it without hesitation: "It will cost at least several thousand strings of cash to set up a Jinzouyuan."

"Although we have 140,000 rolls of silk in our hands, the rewards have not been distributed yet, and Longxi has a lot of work to do and needs money everywhere."

"We need to build the Jinzouyuan, but not now. We need to wait until we have enough foundation."

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, he looked at Chen Ying and said, "Chen Ying, from now on you are the brigade commander.

"The soldiers under your command are also promoted to team leaders." "Thank you, Governor, for your grace!" Upon hearing that he had jumped two levels, Chen Ying bowed quickly.

"Well, you are tired from the journey, go down and have a rest."

"Yes……"

Liu Jilong comforted him, and he bowed and left the study and walked outside.

After he left, Liu Jilong also dismissed Chen Jingchong and used the little time left in Longxi to carefully think about how to deal with Gao Pian.

That night, the 3,000 armored soldiers in the military camp groped their way back to the various counties overnight, and a few days later, Liu Jilian led dozens of elite cavalry and rode back to Didao.

When passing through Xiangwu and Weiyuan, we could clearly feel that the local population was much smaller than before, simply because many wastelands had not been reclaimed.

In the past, there were more than 24,000 people in Weizhou. After the invasion of Tubo, the number of local Han people dropped sharply.

After Lu Ruyue fled to Qinzhou with tens of thousands of people, the population of Weizhou dropped to 17,000. Among these people, several thousand were people from Linzhou who were intercepted by Liu Jilian during the Battle of Weiyuan.

If these were excluded, Weizhou's population would be even smaller.

Because of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but think about buying slaves.

Although the Tang Code stipulates that it is not allowed to casually sell Han people into slavery, especially the act of turning good citizens into slaves, in actual implementation, human trafficking still exists.

Especially as the bureaucracy became corrupt and taxes became heavier, many good people were reduced to slaves because they could not repay the loans they borrowed from local officials.

Although such a thing would not be allowed to happen under the emperor's feet, Chen Ying had inquired about it with the merchants.

For example, in Henan, Hebei and other places, the price of an ordinary slave was around ten strings of coins, while in Huainan, Shannan, Jiannan and other places where there were more hungry people, the price was much cheaper, around seven strings of coins.

In Lingnan Road and Jiangnan Road, the average slave earned around 15 strings of cash.

Of course, these were all Han slaves. If they were ethnic minorities such as the Xi, Khitan, Tatar, Uighur, Lingnan barbarians, and Liao, the price would be much cheaper.

However, Liu Jilong had no interest in these slaves.

He now only wanted to recapture Chengzhou and Wuzhou, and then buy slaves in Shannan and Jiannan Road to further enrich the population of Longxi.

But with those 140,000 pieces of silk, at most 20,000 to 30,000 slaves at a time, he had to revitalize Longxi's economy to make this matter sustainable.

At present, Longxi's commercial resources only include bran gold, red copper, linen and livestock.

The bran gold must be kept, as it will be useful for bribing eunuchs or court officials in the future.

Red copper can be used to mint coins and restore Longxi's monetary economy, so only linen and livestock can be used as commodities.

Along the way, Liu Jilong thought a lot, and it was not until he rushed back to the outskirts of Didao City that he finally relaxed.

The first thing he did after returning to Didao was to summon all the officials of Didao to go to the National Cemetery to pay tribute to the soldiers who died in the battle.

At the foot of Phoenix Mountain, a sacred road was built with stones, leading directly to the mountain, with many saplings planted on both sides of the sacred road.

There are paths between the saplings, and Zhang Chang arranged for the people who were physically disabled and unable to farm to take care of the saplings in the cemetery.

Liu Jilian led more than a hundred military generals through this sacred road and met the sick or disabled people.

Zhang Chang followed him and managed the government for more than half a year, which made him seem much more stable, which made Liu Jilong very satisfied.

People do need experience. At least Zhang Chang now is much more reliable than Zhang Chang more than half a year ago.

"How much salary does the government give to these people?"

Liu Jilong asked Zhang Chang, who also introduced: "The National Martyrs Cemetery occupies a hillside alone. More than 8,000 saplings have been transplanted, but the planting area will continue to expand in the future."

"There are currently fifty garrison soldiers and sixty-seven wounded and sick civilians in the cemetery."

"The soldiers on the garrison are replaced every ten days, and the civilians are given five dou of grain per month. They can cultivate vegetable fields and raise poultry and livestock on their own, and they do not have to pay taxes."

After Zhang Chang finished speaking, Liu Jilian also calculated that five dou of grain was equivalent to sixty kilograms of rice, which was basically enough for these militiamen to eat.

For those who are injured, sick and disabled, being able to have enough food to eat and not having to pay taxes is the greatest kindness that can be achieved.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong nodded with satisfaction and continued to move forward.

Soon, a stone and wood ancestral hall appeared in front of them.

Liu Jilian led everyone into the ancestral hall, which covered an area of half an acre. Three nine-foot-high stone tablets were placed in the main seat of the hall, and in front of the tablets there were stone tripods for inserting incense.

There are densely packed names engraved on the front of the stone tablet, these are the names of the soldiers who died in the battle.

Liu Jilong walked in and looked at the three stone tablets with mixed emotions.

"Provincial Governor..."

Zhang Chang handed over three lit incense sticks. After Liu Jilong took them, he knelt directly on the cushion.

"The governor!"

"You can't kneel!"

"Governor, please get up quickly, you..."

Hundreds of captains and brigade commanders following Liu Jilong tried to stop him. They thought Liu Jilong would just bow, but they never expected that he would actually kowtow.

"There's nothing you can't kneel for!"

Liu Jilong bowed respectfully, then stood up and inserted three long incense sticks into the stone tripod.

After doing all this, he looked back and said, "They died on the battlefield for us and the people. There is nothing they cannot endure."

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, everyone looked at each other, and Zhang Chang and Huke Guang even echoed Liu Jilong's words with their actions.

The two men came forward one after another, knelt down and kowtowed, and the captains, brigade commanders, and team leaders who came with them also came forward to kowtow and burn incense.

During this time, Liu Jilong looked at the stone tablet and said, "There should be more than 400 brothers on the tablet."

"Well..." Zhang Chang smiled awkwardly, "I have engraved the names of all the brothers who died in the battle since the third group, and also built a cenotaph for them. I hope that you, the governor..."

"Well done." Liu Jilong nodded in praise, then led them through the Martyrs' Shrine to the cemetery at the rear.

The Martyrs' Shrine only records names, while the tombstones in the cemetery are engraved with everyone's deeds.

Liu Jilian squatted in front of a tombstone and saw "Tomb of the Loyal and Brave Wang Gongying" engraved on it, and his life story was engraved in small characters on the right.

"The loyal and brave Wang Gongying was born in Wuquan, Lanzhou, Longyou Road in the fourth year of Taihe in the Tang Dynasty. He was a slave when he was young. In the sixth year of Dazhong, he joined the army as a soldier. In the seventh year, he participated in the expedition to Weizhou Daxia and died."

This simple sentence summarizes a person's twenty-three years of life.

Liu Jilong stretched out his hand to wipe the non-existent dust off the tombstone, and said with a heavy heart: "Make the tombstone bigger, write more about the deeds..."

"Yes!" Zhang Chang agreed. Although he didn't say anything, Liu Jilian knew that most of the ordinary soldiers actually had nothing to record.

Perhaps they did not have anything worth recording in their lifetime, but Liu Jilong still wanted people to write longer biographies of them, even if they were small things with no achievements.

This way, at least in the future, when someone passes by their tombstone, they can stop and read about their life.

"Where's the wine?"

Liu Jilong opened his mouth to ask, and Hukesguang quickly handed him a pot of rice wine.

For Longxi, where food is scarce, wine is undoubtedly a luxury.

While under the rule of Tubo, they might have never had a sip of alcohol in their entire lives.

Liu Jilong poured the wine into his hands and rubbed them on the tombstone, as if he wanted to knead the wine into it.

"Wang Ying, drink more wine, and don't forget the way home in your next life. Come to Longxi, it will be peaceful here in the future. If you go somewhere else, I'm afraid you will be bullied..."

As he spoke, he rubbed the tombstone with rice wine.

At some point, some generals behind him began to cry quietly.

After the tombstone was wiped with rice wine, Liu Jilong stood up and looked at everyone: "Everyone go find your familiar brothers and send them off with wine."

"Yes……"

The atmosphere in the cemetery was depressing at this time, and many people found people they knew.

Of the 2,900 people, half of them died after the battle, and nearly ten of them were injured or disabled. Those familiar faces disappeared in an instant. Who would not be sad?
Standing in front of the tombstone, they imitated Liu Jilong and rubbed the tombstone with rice wine, and gradually they could no longer control their emotions.

"I'm sorry, Goro!!"

"I brought you out here, how am I going to tell Er Niang now, Wu Lang?"

The wailing sounds soon echoed throughout the hillside. Some people cried until they fainted, while others did not cry but sat on the steps, not saying a word, and looking spiritless.

The sun was shining brightly, but it was cold...

(End of this chapter)