Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1719 Hunan trip

Although Ping Haijun provided ships, saying that they could enter the river from Poyang Lake and go upstream by boat to Dongting Lake, Shao Shude still refused.

He decided to take the land route, passing through Hongzhou to the west, passing Tanzhou, and then heading north to Yuezhou.

And before leaving, he naturally had to meet with officials from Jiangxi Province and Hongzhou.In addition, the officers and soldiers of the imperial army stayed in Hongzhou Dajiu for two days, and then performed a rehearsal to leave some majestic military might.

Speaking of which, it was really hard for the soldiers of the Imperial Army who accompanied us to not be able to celebrate the New Year at home last year, but they ate and drank along the way, and occasionally "practiced" with the local state soldiers, but they were quite comfortable, and there was not much to complain about.

Hongzhou's big businessmen also jointly donated 20 yuan and 30 bolts of silk, which was a huge hemorrhage - even if dozens of people contributed, it would be enough for one family.

The slander in the heart is naturally unavoidable.The sage came all the way from the south of the Yangtze River. He heard that businessmen from various states were "happy to donate".After careful calculation, not only will this trip not lose money, but it may also make a lot of money.If we start this way, the future generations of emperors will follow suit and come to the south of the Yangtze River from time to time, so that's okay?

But there is no other way now.

The officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army who performed the drill were like killing gods. They had fawned over the state soldiers who were so fawning on for a practice, and they were defeated almost in a single encounter.

They knew that the state soldiers were not good enough to beat the imperial army, but they didn't expect the gap to be so big.With this little talent, I don't know how to clean up bandits and water bandits. Could it be that they rely on large numbers of people and excellent equipment?
At this time, there are also people who are heartbroken to honor all kinds of property of state soldiers and officers, thinking that it is all for feeding dogs, and it is useless at all.If bandits and water bandits are rampant in the future, they may not be able to keep them—not to mention bandits, there are quite a few water bandits in Jiangxi. Many people farm the land during the day and work as bandits at night. It is not an exaggeration at all.

Shao Shude was very satisfied with the obedience of officials and businessmen.

As for the donation, he received it with peace of mind.I have created the best business environment for you businessmen, and even promoted some people from the Bohai Trading Company to become officials. Why do you charge some money?

Besides, the money will eventually be used in Jiangnan. Except for the rewards from the Forbidden Army, most of the money will be used to purchase supplies nearby in Jiangnan and used as immigration expenses - mainly used in Qianzhou in Jiangxi, Shaozhou in Lingdong and the states in Huguang. .

The meat is rotten in the pot, after turning it around, maybe it will return to your hands, why hate it?
On June 24, after giving some final instructions on the immigration matters, Shao Shude left Hongzhou and headed southwest. He arrived in Liuyang County in early July, and then headed west to Changsha County, where Tanzhou is located.

It was fine when we were in Hongzhou, but the further west we went, the more dilapidated the post roads became.Well, it's obviously been temporarily repaired, but the foundation is too bad. How can it be improved if it is repaired again?
Shao Shude no longer rides a horse, he is too tired and lacks energy.Most of the time he sat in the carriage and opened the curtains to watch the scenery.Really bored sitting, he will come down for a while and ride around.

After entering Tanzhou, the post road became more and more dilapidated, and the overall feeling for him was not very good.

The population of a place can actually be seen from the size and number of village communities.When you were in Youzhou, there were 96 townships in eight counties, which exceeded the number in Tianbao years. From this, you can make a rough judgment. Even if the population of Youzhou at the end of Tang Dynasty was not as large as that of Tianbao, it would not be so bad. .

But Tanzhou is not the same thing.

The scale of the village is very small, some even have only a dozen households, and the distance between each other is very long. What is this?This is a vast area with few people.

"Xiao Qing, the number of immigrants from Zhengshitang to Hunan is not enough." Shao Shude said while walking on the post road with few pedestrians.

Yes, the focus of the imperial court’s immigration was not Hunan.After all, there are not many people in Yuezhou and Ezhou, which are the closest to the Central Plains. During the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, there were only tens of thousands of people in Ezhou and Yuezhou. A lot.

This population distribution sounds incredible, but if you look at the local terrain, it is normal.There is no other reason. The water area and lake area are very vast, floods occur frequently, and the population is naturally small.

Never look at Poyang Lake, Dongting Lake, etc. from the perspective of future generations.

Take Poyang Lake as an example. In ancient times, the lake was so wide that it even crossed the Yangtze River and connected to Shuzhou in the north of the river.That is to say, after thousands of years of vicissitudes, the surface of the lake gradually shrank, and a large number of fertile fields were silted up.

Dongting Lake is very similar to Poyang Lake. Its vast area cannot be described by its vast expanse of blue waves.There are so many bandits on the islands in the lake. Brothers Deng Jinsi, who once captured Yuezhou and considered himself the governor, were born as water thieves, but Du Hong, the governor of Eyue, had nothing to do with them. He could only pinch his nose to help you correct your identity. It can be seen.

What really hurt the Dongting water thieves was Shao Shude's father-in-law Zhe Zongben.A considerable part of the Zhe family moved south from Linzhou in northern Guanzhou to E and Yuezhou. Later, with the Weisheng Army as the backbone, they massacred the Dongting water bandits and finally quelled the banditry.

However, I heard that the Dongting water bandits have resurfaced in recent years. At this time, Huguang Road is mobilizing more than [-] state soldiers to encircle and suppress them by boat, cleaning them island by island. Even ordinary people in surrounding counties who have colluded with the water bandits have been arrested. Large numbers and unprecedented intensity.

But water bandits are easy to kill, but changing the natural environment is not so easy.It will take time for Hubei and Yuezhou to develop.

"If Your Majesty wants to increase the Hunan Hukou, I will ask the Hukou Department to supervise it." Xiao Yun replied.

Shao Shude glanced at him and said with a smile, "But it's not that urgent."

"Yes." Xiao Yu didn't know why, but he still responded.

"Immigrate to Liaodong first." Shao Shude said with a haha.

In fact, he just saw such a desolate scene and asked subconsciously.But after thinking about it, I felt it was nothing.

This is a natural population pressure relief valve!
According to the standards of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hunan and Hubei could raise tens of millions of people, but at this time there were only more than two million people, which was not much better than virgin land, and there was too much space that could not be used.

"But there is something that needs to be done first." Shao Shude said again.

"Your Majesty, please order." Xiao Yun said.

"The imperial court must have enough public land. Even if it is mountains, forests and waters, it must be clearly designated as public land." Shao Shude said: "On the other hand, post roads, dams, ditches, and ponds should be moved first. It shouldn’t be too big, just a little shape.”

"Follow the order." Xiao Yun responded.

Shao Shude then stopped talking and concentrated on looking at the scenery of Hunan.

Back then, Master Wang attacked Ma Yin, and a series of battles broke out in this land.

He didn't personally command it, but he saw from various military newspapers that Ma Yin's troops were quite capable of fighting, and even took advantage of it a few times.When he finally surrendered, it was not at the end of his life, he was forced to land after being beaten up.

Now that the traces of the war have dissipated and the people have returned to a peaceful life, it is open to question whether they still hate the imperial court in their hearts.

But—who cares!How many people are there in Hunan?If Ma Yin and others could establish a foothold in Jiangdong and Jiangxi, how could they go as far as Hunan?
All the people in the cities, towns, townships, and villages passing by along the way knelt down beside the road, shouting long live.

After Shao Shude watched for a while, he returned to the carriage with confidence and went about his official duties.

Taifeng sent envoys to Luoyang to report to Silla and Baekje that they took in Taifeng's "rebels" and other illegal situations, and asked to send troops to punish them.

After learning that the Taifeng envoys had entered the capital, envoys from Silla and Baekje came one after another, accusing Gongyi of being ambitious, constantly causing trouble, and having evil intentions.

In a word, Thailand, which is relatively strongest, wants to annex Silla and Baekje, and those two countries are not fools, so they group together to criticize Taifeng—of course, there are also conflicts between Baekje and Silla, and the former has repeatedly rubbed against each other. affairs, trying to occupy more Silla lands.

Shao Shude didn't expect these guys to be so annoying.

Daxia Donglai Town Army is in place, why not stop?
Now he regrets asking Wang Jian to leave.

Once this highly accomplished guy left, Gong Yi seemed to be a little unscrupulous. Not to mention the big purges a while ago, many officials and generals fled to Silla and Baekje, and then a rebellion broke out in the country, which was only quelled at the beginning of the year.How long has it been?Just going south to attack the other two countries, so persistent?

Baekje is also fucking stupid.

The strength itself is not enough. Instead of uniting with Silla, I want to eat them first and then strengthen my own strength before confronting Tai Feng.Zhen Xuan doesn't even think about it, will Gong Yi give you this opportunity?

The three countries on the Korean Peninsula are not stable at all, and there is a possibility of chaos.

After thinking about it, Shao Shude decided to send an envoy to make another trip to reprimand the Three Kingdoms.

The Donglai Town Army must be prepared for battle to prevent a sudden war from breaking out and being caught off guard.

As for the northern border of Taifeng Kingdom, he hadn't decided whether to recruit the government soldiers. After all, it would cost money.

After much deliberation, I'd better wait and see the situation first. If that doesn't work, recruit more than [-] soldiers from the government and gather them in Lezhou to give Gong Yi some clues - Yin Xuan, the surrendered general of Goryeo, found out that there was Tai. Feng Xizuo sneaked into Lezhou and tried to hook up with the local wealthy families. By then, he might be able to take care of them all.

After dealing with the affairs of the peninsula, he took a look at the situation in Liaodong by the way.

The focus of the imperial court's local work was still to provide troops for the soldiers.The group of Tianwei Army has been divided, but there are not enough parts, and they still need to be resolved.

Shao Shude learned that the members of the Privy Council sighed and patrolled around with knives in hand, but they couldn't find any rebels.

In the end, Liu Lang solved it.

He went directly to Shu, and asked to transfer the Forbidden Army and Daozhou soldiers in Yunnan to unite his Dian soldiers and horses to clean up the Dongcuan tribe on the pretext of repairing the Kunzhou-Jiaozhou post road, and captured many people.

It just so happened that this trip to the south of the Yangtze River also cleared up a large number of people who had colluded with the bandits and sent them to Liaodong.In the end, I did the math, and there was still more than 2 households left, and I couldn't help but sigh, it was too difficult.

On July [-], Shengjia arrived in Changsha County, Tanzhou, and announced that he had officially entered Hunan.

(End of this chapter)