Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 64 State Love ([-])

"Military envoy, fortunately not humiliated, the money and food have been asked for back." Li Yanling walked into the prefecture and reported to Shao Shude, who was staring at the map research.

"Well, put it in the warehouse first. Co-organize with Judge Chen and Guo Kongmu. The accounts should be clear, what is in general, and write a public copy and read it to the soldiers." Shao Shude was still studying the map, but he just ordered casually: " Don't put it in the wrong treasury, this is the stuff of Tielin Army, not the money and food of Suizhou or Longquan County."

"As ordered." Li Yanling replied.

"But there is still a shortage?" Shao Shude put down the map and asked.

"There are many shortages of pack horses and draw horses. Now there is no problem in the settlement of the city. Once the expedition is carried out the next day, it is better to prepare more mules and horses." Li Yanling said.

"Drawing animals..." Shao Shude stood up, thought for a moment, and asked, "Can you find a solution with General Pei from Yinzhou? Yinchuan Ranch has [-] Niangong warhorses, where are the horses that are not suitable for warhorses? There must be ."

"Military envoy, the Yinchuan Ranch still got the nod from Commander Zhuge. He is the real Yinchuan supervisor and pastor, although everything is usually entrusted to General Pei of Yinzhou." Li Yanling said.

"I have something to say about General Zhuge, but now I just need to convince General Pei to get Judge Chen." Shao Shude said.

Chen Cheng's current dispatch is the Tielin Army judge, and the main officer is Suizhou Sima.Since the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the people of the time generally paid more attention to dispatching and neglected their own officials.Especially after a large number of state and county officials are occupied by military generals and officials, generally speaking, only the dispatch can tell a person's status.Chen Cheng now spends most of his time in the army, advising Shao Shude and assisting with military affairs, so Li Yanling still went to the army to find Chen Cheng who was studying military books.

"Military envoy, what's the call?"

"Let's go to Yinzhou. The army is short of war horses, pack horses, and draft animals. There are many Yinzhou. If you go to see Old General Pei, you will borrow a thousand mules and pay them back later. Let's see what he has to say." Shao Shude said.

Xia Sui Town, the five counties of Suizhou are dominated by agriculture and supplemented by animal husbandry, and the four counties of Yinzhou pay equal attention to both.In the three counties of Xiazhou, only the places close to the prefecture and county have farmland and orchards, and the places far from the prefectures and counties are dominated by animal husbandry and the livelihood of the party members.

In the two counties of Youzhou, it is almost all animal husbandry, and not many people can farm the land. Even the places that can be reclaimed as fertile fields are generally left to be left uncultivated, grazing cattle and sheep.

During the early Tang Dynasty, Hexi was an important place for the imperial court to raise horses.Xiazhou is a supplement to the Hexi pasture, and it also raised a lot. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, an infectious disease of livestock killed 18 cattle and horses in Xiazhou.

After Hexi and other places were occupied by Tubo, the focus of the court's horse breeding shifted to Xia Sui, Tiande Army, Zhenwu Army, Hedong and other places. For example, there was a government-run Yinchuan ranch in Yinzhou, and Xia Sui Jiedu himself also served as the supervisor of Yinchuan. .On the other side of Fengzhou, not far from Tiande Military City, there is Yi Yongqing Gate, which is also a military horse farm.In Hedong, Mucheng, where Cui Jikang stationed his troops last year, was a large pasture.

It may be difficult to raise war horses and draft animals in the military prefectures of the mainland, but in the four prefectures of Xia and Sui, it is not a big problem, and the purchase cost is very low.What is lacking here are grains, ironware, fabrics, and daily necessities. To put it bluntly, productivity is low, and it is necessary to import daily necessities from the outside world and export basic livestock products.

After Chen Cheng left, Shao Shude couldn't help thinking about the development of Suizhou.Recently, I checked the archives of the counties in Xia Suizhou, and found that the total land reclaimed is only [-] hectares, mainly concentrated in Longquan and Dabin counties.

Of course, this is the official figure, but in reality it may be about 20% higher.Then, based on 2400 hectares, one hectare is 100 mu, and one stone millet is produced per mu. Last year, the whole prefecture should have produced 24 stone grains, that is, less than 2600 million catties of corn.

With this amount of food, it seems that [-] to [-] shi would be spent on raising the state soldiers, including not only rations and wages (a considerable part of the army's salary is food), but also training expenses. Party people exchange livestock.

To be honest, after excluding the expenses of raising state soldiers and the government at the state and county levels, the remaining 10,000+ shi grains are enough to consume more than [-] people in the state, making their lives more affluent.

But how is this possible?Xiazhou needs Suizhou to provide food. There is no fixed amount every year, but tens of thousands of stone are always required at a time.In addition, there are beans, grass, firewood, cloth, silk, copper coins, and sometimes livestock, which is a very heavy burden.In a good year, we can barely support it. In the event of a bad year or war, and the people's households have no surplus food, that day can be really difficult.

In short, the finances of the feudal and town level are completely confused.How much to collect, when to collect, there is no customization at all, the coach can do whatever he wants, and there is no need to say more about the life of the common people.

"It is still necessary to increase the area of ​​cultivated land." Shao Shude understands that there are actually more than 1 hectares of cultivated land in Suizhou, and the current utilization rate is less than [-]%.Even without digging reservoirs and ditches, the existing arable land area can actually continue to expand, but there is a threat from party members, so many people in many places would rather leave it uncultivated than have their crops taken away when they have matured after a year of hard work.

Outside the existing arable land, they can rush to plant some beans, melons, fruits and vegetables with a short growth period, cut some firewood, and then cut some fodder to cope with the urging of teachers. It is already the limit.

There are 4000 people in the Iron Forest Army. The daily food and food gifts for the officers and soldiers alone require more than 15 shi a year.In addition, there are war horses and draft animals, regular training, consumption of clothing and equipment, and various rewards (mainly money and silk) during festivals.If you want to go to war, the rewards are even more incredible, and it is really hard to raise them.

Without the support of the imperial court, it would be very difficult to raise [-] soldiers and horses in the four states of Xia Sui (before Zhuge and Shao came), unless you rob the cattle and sheep of the party members every year.But that's actually not very cost-effective, and the expenses might be bigger, after all, the rewards of the big soldiers are not a small amount.If the reward is not in place, the general will have to move his head, so it is better not to fight.

It can also be seen from this that the income of sergeants in the towns is actually much higher than that of ordinary people.They are full-time professional soldiers. They exchange their lives for money. Except for training, they fight wars. They are pure war machines.These people were rebellious and unusually sturdy, and Shao Shude did not dare to let the [-] Tielin army go to settle the fields.

After the Mid-Tang Dynasty, there were very few soldiers stationing the fields, compared to the time when the military system did not collapse, what a fucking shit!
There must be a new military system.Shao Shude has had this idea for a long time. After he personally took charge of a state, the idea became more and more urgent.How to prevent the soldiers of the Tielin Army from fighting for money?Rewards are required for starting a battle, rewarding for engaging in battle, rewarding after the war, and rewarding again after returning to the station. This is too expensive.

None of the soldiers in the Tielin army were natives of Xia Sui, so maybe they could find a way to do it on the land.In the [-]th county of Xia Sui, due to party harassment, lack of irrigation, or other reasons, there are too many idle fields that have been abandoned. He does not even need to touch the original interest class, and he can accomplish this directly by reclaiming wasteland.

Well, the problem has returned to the original point: water conservancy, cattle and horses, and population.Shao Shude looked at the large and small Dangxiang settlements marked on the map of the five counties in Suizhou, and unconsciously caressed his hand on the handle of the knife.

Forget it, now the timing is not right, let's endure it for a while.It can also be improved a little more, so as not to become the Eight Banners system of the late Tang Dynasty.Party item wrap?Just kidding.Before the collapse of the country’s land-equalization system, the government soldiers had many slaves or trilogy. To put it bluntly, the small landlords who needed to participate in the labor themselves were the main source of the government soldiers, and most of them were slaves or slaves.Do you want to restore this system now?

No, this is reversing in the direction of Wei, Jin, Nanbei, and think again.

On the eighth day of September, the autumn wind blew up and all the flowers withered.Chen Cheng came back from Yinzhou and brought back more than [-] mules and horses, plus [-] head of cattle, which can be said to have overfulfilled the task, but it also made Shao Shude owe a lot of favor.

"The military envoy, General Pei has said that there is no need to return these livestock. There is only one thing. After his death, if the Pei family suffers, I hope the military envoy will protect the family." Chen Cheng said.

"Yes." Shao Shude agreed without hesitation.

He knew what it meant, arrogant soldiers, rebellious and unruly, Pei Shang could still control the overall situation when he was alive, what if he died?The population of the four counties in Yinzhou is no less than that of Suizhou. I don't know how many people are watching, especially Pei Shang's generals.

But this also gave him a chance to reach into Yinzhou.Pei Shang has no confidence in his son, because there is no external reinforcement. What if Shao Shude supports one of his sons?
To put it shamelessly, now Tie Linjun is one of the five main players in Xia Sui Town.The three yamen troops, plus two foreign troops, basically walked sideways in the town.Even Tuoba Sigong of Youzhou had to think about it when he faced them. He didn't necessarily lose, but if he won, he would probably lose too many troops.

Why did Pei Shang rush to marry his daughter to Shao Shude?It is not that he has taken a fancy to the military power in the hands of others.Pity the hearts of parents all over the world. For the sake of a few unworthy sons, General Pei was really heartbroken.

"Mr. Chen has worked hard, and he will rest at home for a few days. Later, he has to go to Xiazhou for Shao. Marshal Zhuge is there. Well, Shao wants to ask him to match up for me."

(End of this chapter)