Tiger Guards

Chapter 489 Jia Xu's Concerns
Subsequently, in the northeast corner of Jinyang City, at the Taiyuan Prefecture.

When Zhao Ji arrived, Jia Xu led the officials of Taiyuan Prefecture to greet him at the gate.

Zhao Ji dared not presume, so he jumped off the carriage and quickly stepped forward to help Jia Xu up before he could bow, saying, "Lord Wenhe, there's no need for such formalities."

"Grand Marshal, the proper order of rank and etiquette must not be disordered."

Jia Xu insisted, and Zhao Ji had no choice but to let go. Jia Xu led more than twenty county officials to bow deeply and say, "Greetings, Grand Marshal."

"Get up quickly."

Zhao Ji helped Jia Xu up with both hands, and Jia Xu then stood up, turned to the side and pointed to the door: "Grand Marshal, the register of Taiyuan is ready, just waiting for you to check it."

“Very good, thank you for your trouble, Lord Wenhe.”

Zhao Ji also gestured for Jia Xu to go first, but Jia Xu declined repeatedly, so Zhao Ji had no choice but to walk ahead.

In fact, a copy of the register of Taiyuan Prefecture had been sent to Jia Kui some time ago. Zhao Ji and Pei Xiu had reviewed it together and were very clear about the current manpower and material reserves of Taiyuan Prefecture.

More than a hundred elite guards have entered the prefectural governor's mansion and taken over the corridors and entrances.

In the East Pavilion of the prefectural government, Zhao Ji sat in the main seat, carefully examining the registers of Taiyuan. He said to Jia Xu, "The revival of all industries in Taiyuan is all thanks to Lord Wenhe."

"This humble official dares not take credit. If it weren't for the Grand Marshal's great perseverance and courage in eliminating the Taiyuan traitors, how could Taiyuan have achieved such a prosperous state?"

Jia Xu sincerely praised that several branches of the Wang clan were wiped out, and the powerful families that had intermarried with them were also completely destroyed, thus eliminating any potential threat to Jia Xu.

Taiyuan had taken in the technical forces who had fled during the chaos in Luozhong and Guanzhong, but they were constrained by powerful clans.

After eliminating these powerful clans, under Zhao Ji's planning and guidance, handicrafts, agriculture, and animal husbandry developed together. Many Xiongnu nobles also engaged in commerce, and although they monopolized some of the trade between handicrafts and animal husbandry, they also actively promoted commercial exchanges because of their monopoly.

Putting aside other things, the textile, leather manufacturing, and metallurgical industries in Taiyuan have grown extremely rapidly, and even the shipbuilding industry in Pingyang is about to become a local pillar industry.

Salt and iron production saw even faster growth. After the Hedong Salt Lake was monopolized and its production techniques were improved, annual production increased more than sevenfold. At the same time, the price of salt dropped to the point where five bushels of grain could be exchanged for one bushel of salt.

There used to be a small salt pond a hundred miles north of Jinyang, at the bend of the Fen River.

As a result, the salt from Hedong went upstream along the Fen River, so the coarse salt bricks produced in the upper reaches of the Fen River could only be sold to the nearby Xiongnu people to feed their cattle and sheep.

Jia Xu was unaware of the modifications made to the Hedong Salt Lake, but while production surged, quality also improved, with salt grains becoming as smooth as ice and snow.

He also had informants, both overt and covert. According to the information he received, the salt ponds were being dug up like shovels, which defied Jia Xu's common sense.

In fact, the border counties are not short of salt. In many places, the pools formed by rainwater runoff and confluence are brine ponds.

Although it has a high alkali content, it is still salt. This bitter salt with a high mud content is good salt for herders and border residents as long as it doesn't cost money.

Faced with the low price and snow-white salt from Hedong, herdsmen and border residents were willing to spend money to buy it... As long as it was transported to the Xianbei people, the profit would be at least three times!

The Shuofang and Hetao regions, which were occupied by the Xianbei people, also had many brine ponds, and the larger salt ponds could produce coarse salt with high purity.

However, fuel is very precious in the border regions, and salt-making technology is even more scarce.

Zhao Ji simply improved the salt-drying process of the salt pond based on his common sense, and opened up a large number of crisscrossing salt fields near the salt pond.

Except for the specially made snowflake fine salt, which requires fuel to boil, other coarse salt can be dug out by the official slaves in the salt fields with shovels.

As long as the official slaves regularly draw out the brine, let it settle and dry, and wait for it to crystallize; dig up the salt soil, transfer it to a new salt pond, dissolve it, and then dry it again, they can produce the coarse salt that Zhao Ji sees.

In his eyes, this coarse salt was industrial salt, used for pickling vegetables, and for feeding cattle and sheep; but in the eyes of someone of Jia Xu's caliber, it was already good salt.

As for the salt soil, sand salt, and bitter salt, they were poisonous in Zhao Ji's eyes, but in the eyes of the people further away, they were edible.

It's simply about dissolving salt water in your own earthenware pot and using the salt water when cooking.

Or, like cattle and sheep, they can lick a salt block and purify it with their saliva.

I don't eat salt when I'm not doing much physical work; I only eat salt when I'm doing heavy physical work.

The smelting industry is related to the production of military equipment and various agricultural implements, so it recovered and grew faster.

To date, the various smelting workshops still primarily manufacture all kinds of tools.

Military equipment and armor were still mainly obtained through capture and repair. It was common to find pre-Qin armor pieces from inscriptions on some armor plates.

The replacement of military equipment is a major event; small-scale replacements are meaningless.

Zhao Ji did not have a strong need to expand his army, so he made do with whatever he could by patching things up.

Therefore, Hedong and Taiyuan are still focused on developing productivity, and even the farming tools for spring plowing in the Sanfu area next year have already been stockpiled.

The next step is to continue manufacturing and enriching the tool system, returning to the state of Huan and Ling.

After reviewing the treasury accounts, Zhao Ji felt much more at ease.

He then said to Jia Xu, “Pingyang and Jinyang have stockpiled more than 10,000 snow carts, and our army is now capable of marching in the snow. I have arranged for Jia Liangdao to take up the post of Xihe and be in charge of the army’s logistics and transportation. However, he is still young, and I would like to appoint Wenhe Gong as my military advisor and have him take up the central command in Xihe.”

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu stroked his beard and asked, "When does the Grand Marshal intend to engage in a decisive battle with Yuan Shao?"

"I am not in a hurry. We now possess a strategically important location with mountains and rivers. Rushing out of the pass would invite a coalition of forces from all sides."

Zhao Ji couldn't help but smile as he spoke: "While Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are locked in a stalemate, we will decisively defeat the northern barbarians this winter and recover the three commanderies, thus securing our rear. Otherwise, if we send troops to Guandong tomorrow, the northern barbarians will inevitably rebel." It was necessary to remove Jia Xu from Taiyuan, not because Zhao Ji suspected Jia Xu, but simply because he didn't want to give Jia Xu the opportunity to cause trouble.

Han Rong could simply stay by the old man's side as a high-class pet, while Jia Xu had the resources and ability to cause trouble.

In this campaign, Jia Xu was stationed in the central command to coordinate all parties.

After the battle, Jia Xu was transferred to be the governor of Hedong Commandery, and Pei Xiu was appointed as the governor of Hongnong Commandery.

When we send troops to Guandong to plunder people next year, Jia Xu and Pei Xiu will be in charge of the army's logistics and transportation.

Jia Xu pondered for a moment, then asked, "Lord Yuanming has already dispatched the Tiger Infantry of Hedong to escort the gold bricks to Jinyang, and the gold vessels obtained by the Grand Marshal during his conquest of Guanzhong have also been melted down and cast into bricks. If you wish to appoint me as your military advisor, would you do so on the newly constructed Golden Platform?"

The location of the Golden Terrace has been decided. It is located in the small square in front of the main gate of the Marquis of Jinyang's mansion. The foundation has been compacted and the stone slabs have been laid in layers, making it very solid.

The Golden Terrace is not as big as I imagined; it still has a stone base and a surface covered with gold bricks.

If you want something more luxurious, you can build a larger gold base, break gold bricks into large pieces, inlay them on the surface, and then add the brick outline.

How exactly to build it depends on Zhao Ji's ideas.

"Since you are so willing, then let us formally appoint you as our strategist on the Golden Terrace."

Zhao Ji also lacked interest in monopolizing this batch of gold, as food was scarce in various regions and was the most important resource at the moment.

Once the economy of the Qin and Jin regions recovers, what will be more scarce is actually circulating Wuzhu coins, not gold.

Once the Golden Terrace is built, it should be displayed to the Han and Hu people under its jurisdiction in order to motivate them.

In order to maintain military victories and accumulate small wins into a major victory, it is not actually necessary to spend gold to win over the morale of the army.

If annual military losses remain below 5%, there is no need to worry excessively about the collapse of morale.

The more magnificent and extravagant the Golden Terrace was, the more power it could indirectly influence.

This indirect leverage is actually the least costly.

Many people are willing to grit their teeth and continuously invest upfront costs in order to curry favor with others and gain substantial future benefits, rather than trying to win over these people and share the immediate profits.

The Golden Terrace has many uses; the more you accumulate, the less you spend, and the more people will gather around you.

Gold is itself a direct reflection of a nation's power.

As long as the gold remains, and is always attached to the gold platform, everyone inside and outside will understand one thing: the Zhao family still has the ability to launch a desperate attack!

Therefore, Zhao Ji took Jia Xu's small request as an attempt to emulate the story of King Yue Yi of Yan.

Seeing that Zhao Ji agreed, Jia Xu asked, "How will the Grand Marshal dispatch generals and mobilize troops?"

"Xu Gongming was appointed as the commander of the vanguard, with Zhao Zilong and Zhang Wenyuan as the left and right vanguards, respectively. The vanguard consisted of 12,000 infantry and cavalry."

“The Right Wise King Liu Qubei is a separate guerrilla force, waiting for an opportunity to fight. I don’t have any expectations of Liu Qubei.”

"I will lead the central army, commanding 7,000 chariots, cavalry, infantry, and militia, along with another 5,000 daredevils. The three vanguard divisions will plunder the land, preventing the various barbarian tribes from gathering. If any of them occupy a city and defend it, I will personally lead the daredevils to defeat them."

"In addition, the three provinces of Sanfu held their homeland firmly, with Duan Wei as the main general of the southern route, heading north along the Qin Straight Road, and assigned to the various units of Yang Qiu, Zhang He, Han Meng, and Zhu Ling."

"If the Hu tribes are in a weakened state, Zhang Xiu, Jia Tong, and Pei Mao of the Three Auxiliary Regions should lead their troops northward from Qishan, either through Xiaoguan to Anding to intercept the Hu tribes' westward escape route; or through Longshan and Lueyang, passing Jieting to the west to pursue and annihilate the remaining enemy."

As Jia Xu listened, he silently estimated that this would be a major battle involving 50,000 infantry and cavalry.

Based on his understanding of the Northern Hu and Lushui Hu, even if they swore an oath to resolve their old grudges and unite as one, they would most likely not be able to withstand the Jin army's multi-pronged attack.

After a slight hesitation, Jia Xu said, "I'm afraid they'll be frightened and seek refuge with the Xianbei, asking them for help."

"If the Xianbei come, then we'll fight them all together."

Zhao Ji said firmly, "If we don't eliminate the Hu tribes in the three commanderies, we won't be able to focus on dealing with the changes in Guandong. The Western Regions are growing stronger every day, and the Xianbei will not sit idly by. They will have to fight sooner or later. Now the Hu tribes in the three commanderies are not prepared for war, and neither are the Xianbei. This is an excellent opportunity."

Upon hearing this, Jia Xu raised his hand to stroke his beard and nodded slowly, clearly acknowledging Zhao Ji's courage.

In war, sometimes it all comes down to willpower.

Zhao Ji's fighting spirit had been tested through a series of wars.

The internal wars among the various Hu tribes... were actually most feared by commanders like Zhao Ji.

Having recovered three commanderies, the Hu people in those commanderies were not actually that determined to resist, and it was impossible for them to be of one mind.

At the very least, the Han border peoples, slaves, and ordinary tribesmen who were captured and plundered by the various Hu tribes in the three commanderies lacked the awareness of fighting to the death.

Because they knew very well that the Han army could not kill prisoners on a large scale.

This is fundamentally different from the internal wars of annexation among the various Hu tribes. In internal annexation, adult men who were defeated would never have a good ending.

To be able to be the slave of the victor is already a stroke of luck and a blessing.

(End of this chapter)