Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 308 The Deer Will Be Lost
"My disciples, I have received the mandate of heaven and rule over the world. Thanks to the spirits of my ancestors and the strength of my soldiers, the four seas are at peace and the eight wildernesses are in submission."

"The current Grand Protector of Longyou Liu Jilong and the Deputy Protector of Anxi Zhang Huaishen are loyal, brave and hardworking, working day and night to protect the country and the people. I now grant them 100,000 pieces of silk..."

"The decree is as on the right. Please obey it and implement it. I'm very careful."

In mid-April, when the imperial edict from Chang'an was delivered to Liu Jilong, Chen Jingchong, who delivered the imperial edict, bowed to Liu Jilong in the National Cemetery and said:
"General, the 100,000 pieces of silk sent by the imperial court have been escorted here by the soldiers I have sent, and are now being stored by Chief Secretary Gao."

Liu Jilong handed the imperial edict to Cao Mao beside him, looked at Chen Jingchong and said with a smile:
"You think this Supreme is crazy? He wants to kill me, but he also has to reward me. It's really ridiculous!"

What happened in the imperial court had long been sent to Longyou through letters from Zhang Yichao, Feng Bangyan, Yang Zhiwen and others. Liu Jilian naturally knew how much the current supreme ruler wanted to eliminate him, a powerful vassal.

Putting ourselves in their shoes, if Liu Jilian were sitting in Li Yi's position, his reaction would probably be even greater than that of Li Chen and his son.

"I will not allow others to snore beside my bed..."

Liu Jilian said what Song Zu said in history, but the target was not the Tang Dynasty, but himself in the eyes of the Tang Dynasty.

His words made Chen Jingchong, Cao Mao, Zhang Chang and others nod secretly, and he also walked down the mountain.

Several people followed him, and the guards in the distance also approached him and escorted them down the mountain.

On the way down the mountain, Liu Jilong said:
"The battle between Gao Pian and You Shilong at Niutou Gorge was quite a sensation. After this battle, You Shilong should be quiet for a while."

"If not for this, this Supreme would not have thought of eliminating Envoy Zhang and me."

"But our Supreme is still too immature. If it weren't for Pei Xiu and others stopping him, I'm afraid the war would have started long ago..."

As he was saying this, Zhang Chang said, "This morning, Hexi sent news that Envoy Zhang recovered Xizhou and defeated more than 60,000 people from An Ning."

"An Ning led the remnants of his army to flee north, and the four counties of Xizhou were all returned to Envoy Zhang."

At this point, Zhang Chang's tone revealed a little envy: "After An Ning of the Western Region Uighurs fled, the only ones left in front of Envoy Zhang were Pu Gujun of Beiting and Pang Te Le of Anxi."

"Ponteler occupied Qiuci and Yanqi, and Pugujun occupied Tingzhou."

"If Envoy Zhang has an idea, maybe he can rest for a few years, then send troops to recapture Qiuci and Yanqi, and then plot against Tingzhou."

Zhang Chang's words were very idealistic, but Liu Jilong knew the difficulty, so he shook his head and said, "It's not that easy."

"It's nearly 600 miles from Gaochang to Yanqi, and most of it is Gobi and desert, so it's not easy to travel."

"From Gaochang to Tingzhou, one has to either take the underground tunnel or the Baishuichuan Road. Both of these roads are difficult to travel and are prone to ambushes."

"Tingzhou's Pugujun is not a fool as he can mobilize so many soldiers and horses. Moreover, he has Pang Teqin, Xia Li, Du Lunxijia, An Ning and others to join him. He naturally knows that the Hexi Army is not easy to mess with."

"No matter who you want to attack, you will need enough people and civilians, but it is not easy to restore the population..."

After the scourge of Tubo and Uighur, Xizhou, which once had a population of nearly 50,000, is now in ruins.

Although Liu Jilong did not know the situation in the local area, judging from the behavior of the Tibetans and Uighurs, it was likely that only one in ten local people were alive.

"General Jie, you are right about this."

Zhang Chang responded to Liu Jilong with a smile, and took out a letter and said, "This is a letter from Envoy Zhang. I'm afraid he is asking you for help."

Liu Jilong took the letter, stopped and read the contents.

As Zhang Chang expected, Zhang Huaishen mainly described in the letter the process of recovering Xizhou and the current situation in Xizhou, and only asked for help at the end.

The process of Zhang Huaishen's recovery of Xizhou was indeed difficult, but what was even more difficult was the situation in Xizhou.

Xizhou, which used to have 19,000 households and 49,000 people, now has only 3,600 households and 12,000 people, and most of them are Gaochang people.

Hankou in Zhang Huaishen's hands has basically been used to replenish the three states of Yi, Su and Gua, and he really cannot provide any extra population to guard the border.

The natural environment of Xizhou (Turpan) in this era was better than that of later generations, with a larger oasis area and more snow water flowing down from the Eastern Tianshan Mountains.

Because of this, there are more than 300,000 acres of arable land in the area that can be used to grow crops such as millet and wheat. As long as there are enough people, these lands can be well cultivated.

Liu Jilong was also very tempted by this, but he didn't intend to snatch it away.

Although Longyou and Hexi seem to have different commanders and belong to different forces, in fact Hexi is more like a subsidiary of Longyou.

Zhang Huaishen himself was also aware of this, but no one pointed it out.

Helping Hexi is equivalent to helping Liu Jilong himself.

Given Zhang Huaishen's character, as long as there are no internal problems, he will find ways to help Liu Jilong solve some problems.

Thinking this way, Liu Jilong pondered and said, "How many officials have committed crimes and how many criminals have fled into the country?"

As Longyou became more and more famous, many fugitives from various regions also mixed in with a number of bandits who had committed crimes.

If these bandits could not prove their innocence, they would be gathered together by the officials of Longyou. On the surface, they would reclaim public land, but in private they would wait for Liu Jilian to deal with them.

"Since the beginning of the year, there have been about 154 officials and their families who have committed crimes, and about 2,200 civilians who have committed crimes but are unable to prove themselves."

Cao Mao responded respectfully, and Liu Jilong nodded after hearing it.

With the continuous inspections by the Censorate, the corruption in Longyou was finally curbed.

In more than four months, there were only about a hundred officials and their relatives involved, which was certainly an improvement compared to the past.

"Send these people to Ganzhou together. Cao Mao, write a letter for me and tell him about the silk reward from the court. Say that the silk will be used to offset the 2,000 people."

The imperial court issued 100,000 pieces of silk to Helong. These silks were not given to Longyou alone, and Liu Jilian did not want to make a big fuss over tens of thousands of pieces of silk.

In this case, it would be better to use these people to do business and keep these 100,000 pieces of silk.

He was not worried that Zhang Huaishen would disagree. After all, although Hexi had accumulated some wealth in the past few years, the foundation was still too thin.

If Zhang Huaishen knew that the court rewarded him with silk and he could exchange it for more than 2,000 people without spending any money or food, he would naturally be very happy.

If more than 2,000 people get married locally, it would be equivalent to assimilation of more than 2,000 people, and they could continue to multiply out of Hankou.

For Zhang Huaishen, this is definitely a business that is sure to make a profit, and it is not bad for Liu Jilong either.

The more stable Zhang Huaishen's position in the Western Regions is, the more profit he can make from the Silk Road.

While they were thinking, they had already walked down Phoenix Mountain and each rode on a military horse.

The two sides of the mountain are full of greenery. When the summer breeze blows, the wheat fields rise and fall like a green carpet, which is extremely beautiful.

"There is still a month before the summer wheat harvest, so we must hurry up and sow millet, hemp and other crops."

Linzhou is a region with three crops in two years, and as it is located in a river valley, it is naturally warmer than other places in Longyou.

In the fields, many people were squatting to weed, while at the foot of Phoenix Mountain there were many old people coming to cut grass for pigs.

"Come on!"

Seeing Liu Jilian coming down from the National Cemetery, the people would spontaneously greet him and bow to him from a distance.

Liu Jilong waved to them in response from his horseback, and both of them had smiles on their faces.

Soon, Liu Jilian rushed to Didao City under the escort of more than a hundred elite cavalry.

There were ox carts and horse-drawn carriages parked on both sides of the official road, and the end of the road was visible, which shows how much animal power was used in Didao.

Not only in Didao, but in the entire Longyou area, there was a relatively abundant supply of livestock power, and every household could be allocated a draft horse or a plowing ox.

Even those people who have just been resettled can obtain the same animal power after settling down.

If it were wartime, Longyou would never have been able to develop so fast, but the peace in recent years has allowed Longyou to develop rapidly.

The number of cattle, horses, livestock and poultry increases dramatically every year, and all this is due to the clean administration of officials.

Facts have proved that as long as the distribution is fair, it will be difficult for a huge gap between the rich and the poor to appear.

The scene of Chang'an, where rich people live in luxury and feast while people freeze to death on the streets, would never appear in any place under the jurisdiction of Longyou.

The plate was small, and Liu Jilian could see it. People's hearts did not change that quickly. In addition, the children of civilians studied and served as officials, and the officials were also worried about being secretly reported by the people who were military or official relatives.

While officials, soldiers and clerks were all feeling threatened, the situation in Longyou could be described as peaceful and bright.

For the common people, who are not troubled by scarcity but by inequality, Longyou is no different from the "Great Harmony in the World" that the scholars talk about.

However, only Liu Jilong himself knew that all the clarity and peace were only temporary.

When a person dies, his regime also ceases to exist. These are the four words that have been repeated over and over again in history.

No matter how capable you are, as long as there is a fool or a bad guy among your descendants, all policies will have to be rewritten.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but think of his two boys.

However, without giving him much time to think, they had already rode into Didao City.

The city is paved with bluestone bricks and there are widows and widowers who specialize in cleaning the streets, so it is relatively clean.

There were many people on the street. When they saw Liu Jilong, they all bowed to him and greeted him. After entering the city, Liu Jilong did not respond as calmly as he did outside the city.
He could only take the official road in the middle of the street. After quickly crossing the street, he dismounted in front of the Protectorate and entered.

Half a cup of tea later, they passed through the gate and the main entrance and came to the main hall.

Gao Jinda and Cui Shu were handling government affairs. When they saw Liu Jilong coming, they both stood up and saluted, then sat back in their seats to continue handling government affairs.

Liu Jilong looked at Gao Jinda's desk, which was piled with many maps and books sent by the prefectures and counties.

The population and cultivated land of each state, county, and village need to be registered in real time, which is why Liu Jilong has so many officials.

The Tang Dynasty had no more than 18,000 officials, and the number of clerks was unknown. In Longyou, there was no distinction between officials and clerks. Clerks could be promoted to officials, and officials could be demoted to clerks.

Those with rank are officials, and those without rank are clerks. This is the rule in Longyou.

Officials who have made no achievements for three years but have committed mistakes will be dismissed; those who have made no achievements and have committed no mistakes will be retained; those who have made achievements and have committed no mistakes will be promoted to the lower ninth rank.

Under this system, the upward channel always exists and the competition is very fierce.

Liu Jilong took a look at the contents of the document and found that it was a map of various states and counties in March.

Looking at these maps and books, he thought of Emperor Li Yi's desire to ask for maps and books from Longyou, and he couldn't help but chuckle.

Gao Jinda looked at him in confusion, and he quickly waved his hand to signal him to record it quickly.

Half an hour passed before Gao Jinda recorded the data on population and land area of the fourteen states.

"how?"

Liu Jilong poured tea for him personally. Gao Jinda was flattered and quickly kowtowed with his fingers to express his gratitude.

These little movements were taught to them by Liu Jilong. Otherwise, bowing all the time would be too serious.

"The population of the fourteen states is 186,253 households, 753,267 people, more than 886,452 acres of cultivated land, and 3,451,333 acres of reclaimed land..."

Gao Jinda finished reporting the situation, then took a sip of tea and said to Liu Jilong:

"The influx of people in the past few months has not decreased due to the cessation of the war, but has increased instead. This is really strange..."

"It's not surprising, but it will be over soon." Liu Jilong responded to him with a smile, while standing up and walking to his seat.

He took out three letters from the locked cabinet and handed them to Gao Jinda after returning.

Gao Jinda took it and opened it. The three letters were written by Zhang Yichao, Feng Bangyan and Yang Zhiwen respectively.

In addition to describing the remarks made by Emperor Li Yi, it also includes some of the issues that the court is facing today.

Among these things, the management of money and grain is undoubtedly the most important one.

It is true that the imperial court abolished the nine-cent tax, but the people still had to pay the taxes they had previously owed.

Among them, all the prefectures and counties in the country owed a total of 3,557,140,000 strings of cash in taxes from previous summer and autumn.

More than three million strings of cash may not seem like a lot, but if it is evenly distributed among the people in Hebei and Longyou, that means every household in the Tang Dynasty owes the court dozens of coins.

What's more, this also requires excluding the noble families and commoners, so it is normal for each household to owe hundreds of coins.

If the people of one path have no debts, then the people of other paths have debts.

All in all, the arrears of 3.55 million strings of cash still needed to be collected, and the officials' demands for payment brought new corruption, and the people still had to endure the exploitation of the court.

Only by paying off this debt can the people return to the environment of the eleventh year of Dazhong.

However, what they need to face at that time is the high prices of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and other sundries caused by the common people driving up prices...

"The imperial court exempted the nine cents tax, but increased the other miscellaneous items. Wouldn't the common people who supervise these miscellaneous items have no choice but to raise the prices?"

Gao Jinda has studied with Liu Jilong for so long, so this simple economic problem is naturally not difficult for him.

In his view, the court was trying to sow discord between the common people and the poor.

"This is Pei Xiu's idea. It's really difficult for him."

Liu Jilong couldn't help but shake his head, because he had seen that Pei Xiu had a talent for managing finances when he rectified the canal transportation in the past.

It’s a pity that the Tang Dynasty was in a state of despair. He could not save the Tang Dynasty, nor could he save himself.

"In this situation, the imperial court still wants to take action against us?"

Gao Jinda looked at Liu Jilong in astonishment, obviously feeling that the current supreme ruler was not as sophisticated as the previous emperor.

Liu Jilong did not respond, but returned to the original topic: "The court's move will force some commoners to rebel."

"But the commoners still have some assets after all, so they won't take risks unless they are at the end of their rope."

"In my opinion, their family assets should be able to last for a few more years..."

Hearing this, Gao Jinda became excited because of what this represented.

If we use the class structure taught by Liu Jilian to narrate, the emperor is at the top, the aristocratic families are the upper class, the common people are the middle class, and the poor are the lower class.

The power of the poor is not enough to overthrow the Tang Dynasty, but the common people are different.

Although the commoners are not as good as the aristocratic families, they also have their own industries. If they want to rebel, it is much easier for them than for the poor who cannot even buy iron farm tools.

If the common people are forced into a desperate situation, someone will inevitably rise up in rebellion, and the poor will follow suit.

Once the Central Plains is in turmoil, the imperial court will no longer be able to control Longyou.

By then, the imperial court had no intention of managing Longyou, whether it was absorbing population or recruiting talents.

By the time the imperial court suppressed the rebellion, Longyou had already done what it needed to do.

If the imperial court wants to send troops to Longyou again, it will have to consider whether the trump card in its hand is big enough.

The Tang Dynasty today is like drinking poison to quench thirst. If you don't drink it, you will die. If you drink it, you will also die. The only difference is the length of time it takes to die.

The terrain in the Central Plains is flat, while the horses in Longyou are tall and strong.

For Liu Jilian, he only needed to seize the strategic locations, and Hebei, Henan, Huainan and other places would be in his pocket.

Although Jiangnan is rich, as long as he takes Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road, he can go down the river and sweep across Jiangnan.

Before that, he must develop Longyou's strengths as much as possible.

From the reserve of officials to the militia of the military reserve, to the military horses, weapons, and armor...

There were endless things he needed to do, but the Longyou Protectorate had already been established. He only needed to give good orders and observe the process to get results.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong instructed Gao Jinda, Zhang Chang, Cui Shu and others:

"The military horse farm must be kept under close watch. We won't have any wars in the next few years, so don't rush to castrate the military horses."

"The best horses should be kept and carefully selected and bred to develop the breed. We should increase the reserve of military horses, weapons and armor, and store up more food and fodder."

"In short, don't cause unnecessary waste and just develop with peace of mind."

There is no need to explain the power of the elite cavalry on the plains. Even in mountain battles, the elite cavalry that can quickly penetrate are extremely terrifying.

The elite cavalry of the Longyou Army is obviously more than enough for the current situation in Helong.

But if we look at the whole world, the eight thousand elite cavalry in Longyou are still too few.

"Send a message to Shang Moyan, tell him to take a good rest this year, because I will need him soon!"

Liu Jilian was worried that Shang Moyan would do something stupid and attack Suqi, Tuyuhun and other places, so he decided to warn him in advance.

With his potential of Duokang Liugang, as long as he doesn't waste supplies elsewhere, he can station tens of thousands of troops in the eight states of Weixi, greatly tying down the Xichuan army.

"The last general takes command!"

Cui Shu agreed and then arranged for someone to deliver the letter to Shang Moyan.

Seeing that everyone had arranged everything, Liu Jilong ordered people to hang the map he had drawn himself high behind the main seat in the main hall.

A map of several meters long and wide was hung high up, and the content included not only Longyou, but also the entire territory of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo, Silla, Nanzhao, Khitan and other countries...

"Marshal Jie, is this... the world?"

Zhang Chang and others gathered behind Liu Jilong, lamenting that Longyou on the map was so small.

Facing everyone's questions, Liu Jilong stared at Chang'an's position with a sharp gaze.

"The deer is about to be lost, and the whole world will chase it together!"

(End of this chapter)