Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 443 Fruits
Li Hang has been on the mission for many years, but here in Xiangyang, he hit a wall.

Zhao's father and son may not be clear about the current situation in the world, but they may still want to continue to wait and see.

Occupying the Central Plains, the powerful Bianliang Group seems to have a great advantage.

The Tianping Army, Taining Army, and Wuning Army were vulnerable. Weibo Town had been defeated by the Bian Army two or three times. Looks like it's still holding on.

But Li Keyong has been playing for so many years, and his gains are limited. The gap with Zhu Quanzhong is getting wider and wider, and he is at a clear disadvantage.

The increasingly active Lingxia military and political group in the past two years has given all the anti-Zhu people a surprise in the world. They have a large number of troops, they are also very capable of fighting, and they have a strong momentum. Even if they lose, they will not hurt their muscles and bones. To counteract Zhu Quanzhong's forces.

But liking and looking up to Lingxia doesn't mean they want to end in person.In fact, most military leaders only have the ambition of separatist regimes. They value their own foundation more than anything else. Before the situation is clear, it is difficult for anyone to make up their minds to stand in line.

It's human nature, nothing else.

After more than ten days of doing nothing in Xiangyang, Li Hang was about to go back home when Li Hang suddenly received an order to continue eastward to Huainan.In the battle between Sun and Yang, if Sun Ru wins, go to Sun Ru, if Xingmi wins, go to Xingmi.

As for the purpose of finding them, it is nothing more than to jointly fight against Zhu Quanzhong.

Li Hang didn't dare to neglect, he immediately packed his luggage with his followers, left Xiangyang, and headed east to Huainan.

He originally planned to take the land route and observe the local customs, customs, and geography along the way, but he heard that the Wuchang army was in trouble and there were many bandits. Decided to take a boat down the river to Huainan.

……

Shao Shude returned to Guanzhong with the four armies of Tielin, Wuwei, Tieqi, and Feixiong, and stayed in Xingde Palace between Tonghua and Huajian.

After spending several days with concubine Ji, Shao Shude met Zhao Cheng in the palace, and Zhao Yu was by his side.

"Thirteen Lang has done a lot of business in the past few years, and he has been tossing around. He is already incomparably rich, right?" Shao Shude was wearing casual clothes, sitting leisurely on the Hu bed.

Zhao Yuwen sat quietly at the side.

In the past ten years or so, she has been pampered, and she doesn't have to worry day and night, and she has cultivated a graceful demeanor.

This time when he went south to Xingde Palace, Shao Shude only brought her along with him, and she was actually favored, which made people think hard and couldn't figure it out.

The Zhao family in Tianshui was naturally considered a rich family in the early years of the country, and they were married to Gao Zu.But after Qinzhou fell into Tibet, it gradually declined. Didn't expect it to be able to recover after more than a hundred years?
Zhao Cheng took a peek at his niece's gradually swollen belly, feeling helpless: at such an age, if something goes wrong, the Zhao family will lose the biggest capital.

The commander-in-chief was not very interested in the other beautiful women from the Zhao family who were sent, so it was really frustrating.

However, if the niece is safe and gives birth to a son, then the Zhao family's wealth will be protected again.

"Marshal, Zhao's business is under the control of the shogunate, and the business is doing well. The most profitable is the resale of goods from the Western Regions to Lingxia, Guanzhong, Xingyuan, Hedong, Hebei and other places, and the resale of goods from the Central Plains to the Western Regions. It’s like earning money twice. The one who earns the second most is selling livestock to Shu, and then buying back tea and silk…”

"Okay, it doesn't need to be so detailed." Shao Shude interrupted Zhao Cheng, and said with a smile: "Yu Niang told me that this year, more than 3 coins and more than 5 pieces of silk have been distributed, which is very good."

"Marshal, at the end of the year, there will be another distribution, but the commander-in-chief is away, and before he can send it, he will send it in a few days."

"Yes." Shao Shude nodded and said, "Just leave it to Yuniang."

Of course, Zhao Cheng is not the only one doing business in the Western Regions.In fact, Hu merchants, such as Kangfujin, did the best job. It is estimated that this person can earn hundreds of thousands of pieces of silk a year.

Kangfujin takes the Hexi Corridor, and Zhao Cheng takes the Weishui Road-Qingtang City, and the routes do not interfere with each other.However, compared to those Hu merchants who walked the Yinshan Grassland on the northern line, the two of them were inferior.

In the past few years, the Yinshan Fan tribe has proposed several times to go north to conquer Tatar and monopolize this trade route.However, Shao Shude was determined to unify the Central Plains, and he was worried about restraining his own troops, so he never paid attention to it.

He is still staring at the soldiers of the Yinshan Fanbu!

After the two-year garrison period of the party members in Xiashi expired, he planned to conscript the Yinshan and Helong tribes for rotation.You can't just stare at a sheep when you gather wool.

"The Helong commercial road is very important. It is easy to open up, but not easy to maintain. From now on, I will fight in the Central Plains, and I will not succeed if I don't have enough goods. Shisanlang will have to worry a lot about this matter. I will give you all the money you give to Yuniang." Useful. Fengyi County Martial Arts School and Tongzhou Martial Arts School were established in Tongzhou this year. Each prefecture recruited one doctor of agriculture, one doctor of engineering, and two teachers each. There are dozens of students, and there are many places to spend money." Shao Shude said again .

He remembered that Li Maozhen's Fengxiang was besieged by the Bian army for more than a year in history, and the wealth and the people were poor.After the Bian army retreated, Li Maozhen sent Li Yanqi as an envoy to Ganzhou to Uyghur to trade in the Western Regions, and gained tens of thousands of dollars. Soon he had the funds to recruit soldiers, and his momentum revived.

This benefit is indeed not small!
Besides Zhao Cheng, he plans to train another person, and he can't put all his eggs in one basket.

Kang Fujin is impossible, he is from Zhang Huaishen.Cao Shi, a Sogdian girl who served her several times, once mentioned that she has an elder brother who is in the business of beetroot powder, and she will summon her after a while. If it is available, she might as well give it a try.

It is always easier for Sogdians to do business with Sogdians.

"Conquering the Central Plains is a major event, and I will definitely do my best to provide funds for the commander." Zhao Cheng immediately responded: "However, the Uighurs in Gaochang often raided Shazhou, and the trade routes were repeatedly blocked by wars. Shuai Dun invites the Helong army to attack."

Shao Shude pondered for a while.In fact, at this critical moment, he was extremely unwilling to be distracted by the affairs of the west.

"Zhang Huaishen's strength is not enough, I'm afraid it's not enough." He sighed: "The Guiyi Army has only more than ten thousand soldiers and horses. How can they defeat the Uyghurs? After the Hexi Party is settled, I will send some of the Fan soldiers to Shazhou. The situation may be different. changed."

This winter, life is not easy for the grassland ministries.

Fortunately, the abbots under Shuofang's army had rented a lot of cattle through Niu Zhuang to the people of Lingxia over the years, and they had some savings.In addition, it is easy for them to buy grain, and the Duhufu will provide a little relief, so it will not be a problem to survive.But the days of Hexi Dangxiang in the sandy moraine are sad. A large number of livestock are frozen to death. After the spring of next year, they will inevitably become extremely "violent". .

At the same time, the Duhufu also sent people across Helan Mountain to Shaqi to appease the Dangxiang, Tatar, and Uyghur tribes, with some success.

Weiyingyi Khan Li Renmei has not yet conferred the title, which is very disturbing.

Zhou Yiyan, the tribal envoy of the capital of Ganzhou, once secretly reported that he joined forces with Tuoba Renfu to defeat Li Renmei and captured more than [-] cavalry.However, Tuoba Renfu specialized in collecting and compiling various ministries of Shaqi, plotting to strengthen himself, causing Li Renmei to flee far away, and all efforts fell short.

Shao Shude was a little annoyed after this secret report was submitted by the Duhufu.

He has already decided to recruit Tuoba Renfu into Guanzhong this year. He heard that his command has grown to six or seven thousand riders, so let's come to the Central Plains to charge.

If you dare not come, we will mobilize Ganzhou Uighur, Suzhou Longjia, Liangzhou Gamo, Xinliugubu, and Shanhou Dangxiang to send troops together, and take this guy as Li Renmei's party and wipe them out.

Grassland confrontation is very different from the Central Plains, the terrain is flat and endless, strong is strong, there are no tricks at all.If you dare to act like this with the strength of less than seven thousand riders, you are really impatient!
Apart from other things, the strength of the reorganized Hexi Town is enough to overwhelm Tuoba Renfu's "Wandering Legion".

As of the middle of the second year of Dashun (891), not counting Suzhou, Liangzhou and Ganzhou, two prefectures directly under the jurisdiction of Hexi Town, have been steadily progressing in the registration of registered households, and after more than 32700 troops from Jingyuan settled down, Liangzhou has More than 117700 households and 23000 populations were compiled, and more than 94300 households and [-] populations were compiled in Ganzhou. All of them gradually promoted the three-crop rotation system, and both grazing and farming.

With the passage of time, the encroachment on the local Uighur, Gamo, Longjia, Sogdian, Dangxiang, Tubo and other tribes will deepen, and the registered population will continue to rise.Even when the time is right, it is not impossible to take over the county of Longshi in Suzhou.

With such strength, how can Tuoba Renfu use his head to compare?
"How is the recruitment of artisans from the Western Regions going?"

"Returning to Commander, there are some people who are willing to come, but the mountains are high and the rivers are long, there are many doubts, and there are still many people who are skeptical. If the brand of Datang is not good, I am afraid that not many people are willing to come to the Central Plains." Zhao Cheng replied.

Zhao Cheng's caravan recruited more than [-] households of craftsmen from Hexi and Western Regions through the channel of Guiyi Army. Shao Shude arranged them to the newly built Tongzhou Metropolitan Institute, and transferred them to the five metropolitan institutes of Sui, Xia, Ling, Wei, and Lan Together, they formed the backbone of the Tongzhou Duzuoyuan, and at the same time recruited apprentices in Weibei, Huazhou Second Town, and even some counties under Jingzhao Prefecture to expand their strength and prepare for future wars.

"This result is already good." Shao Shude praised: "Continue to recruit. Get in touch with Hu merchants more. You need as many high-quality horses from the Western Regions as you have, but this one is lacking. There has been no progress in these years."

Zhao Cheng was a little uneasy when he heard this.

In fact, it's not that he hasn't used his brains in this area, but it's really difficult!
It's fine with ordinary horses, but it's very difficult for the BMWs in the Western Regions to reach Lingxia through various forces in the middle.Those Qiang and Hu tribes have a deep love for horses, and they want to snatch them when they see them. No Hu businessman dares to do this business.

Unless the Central Plains is a unified country and the sphere of influence is extended to the Western Regions again, the old incident of Kang Guo donating [-] BMWs in the early years of the Kingdom could have happened, otherwise it would be useless.

Shao Shude saw Zhao Cheng's allegedly uneasy appearance, smiled, and said: "Thirteen Langs don't need to blame themselves too much. The three towns of Hexi, Longyou, and Guiyi Army should take a good rest and recuperate. Those ghosts and monsters were swept away."

Zhao Cheng calmed down after hearing this.

After leaving him for lunch, Shao Shude took care of government affairs again in Xingde Palace.

His brush calligraphy has been practiced for many years, and he has become familiar with it.

Zhao Yu rubbed ink for him at the side, and the two chatted and laughed, feeling very happy.

"Wang Ke's wife was the daughter of Xima Pei's family in Xieyi, and she died suddenly..." Zhao Yu sighed when he saw the official document Shao Shude was reading, and was speechless.

Xi Ma Pei comes from Cui Zi (gèng), who lives in Xi Machuan, Xie County, and is named Xi Ma Pei.

There have been two prime ministers in this branch of the Pei family: Pei Tan Prime Minister Zhongzong, Pei Yan Prime Minister Zhongzong, and Empress Wu.

There are also two branches of Ximapei, namely Tian'en branch and Tianshou branch. Wang Ke's wife came from Tian'en branch.

The Pei clan also had Pei from the West, Pei from the Middle, Pei from the East, Wu Pei from the South, and Xima Pei, a total of five households. He was one of the top family members of the dynasty and had seventeen prime ministers in total.

Pei Zhenyi, who had just given birth to Shao Dashuai's son, was born in Pei, a family member of the East. This house had six prime ministers in the country, and the most famous one was Pei Du, who lived in Wenxi County in Hezhong.

In the vicinity of Hezhong Prefecture and Jiangzhou, there are still Feng clans living in Anyi County, Shanzhou.

Speaking of the eight counties in Shanzhou, there are five counties in the north of the Yellow River, and Anyi is one of them. The affiliation has changed back and forth between Puzhou (Hezhong Prefecture), Jiangzhou, and Shanzhou, and it currently belongs to Shanzhou.

Li Tangbin and Fu Cunshen led the Tianzhu army to ride [-] paces across the ice of the Yellow River and entered the five counties in the northern part of Shanzhou. The Feng family sent people to contact them.

At the beginning, the elders of Feng's family felt ashamed. One of the two daughters was a widow and the other was a married woman. They were both "captured into the mansion" by Shao Shude as concubines.Now that times have changed, the younger generations have a strong desire to make progress, and the elders can't stop them, and they don't want to stop them.

There are still some members of the Feng family who live in Hezhong Mansion, and most of them are officials in Hezhong, just like the Pei family.

Wang Ke has already gone to Jinyang to welcome his relatives. He married Li Keyong's daughter.

Maybe you can take advantage of it, but you have to wait until the fruit is ripe.

(End of this chapter)