Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

January flies by.

It has been so long since Cao Wei hastily completed the handover and rushed back to the capital like an arrow.

Lu Ci had just arrived, and there were so many things to sort out, so he never idled for a moment.

If the weather is better, he will personally walk around the state city, or conduct field inspections at the market; if the weather is bad and it is not suitable to go out, he will stay in the government office to read old files until late at night.

Fortunately, this hard work was not let down in the end.

After collecting and sorting out all the information, he not only had a more specific and comprehensive understanding of Qinzhou, but also had some clues about where to start.

One policy is far from enough, and it may be too late to proceed step by step. We must use a multi-pronged approach.

Lu Ci's primary concern is the military defense force of Qinzhou.

Qinzhou is an important military frontier in the northwest. Although Tubo is the main neighbor, it also includes weaker tribes such as the Qiang nationality.

All ethnic groups make a living as nomads, and the cavalry has the most troops, which is obviously the nemesis of the Song Army, which is mainly composed of infantry.

Once the Song army can no longer stick to the city and needs to take the initiative to go out of the city to fight, it will be difficult to resist the impact of the mobile and flexible cavalry.

To curb the threat of cavalry in the vast grasslands and plains, enhance the military defense capabilities of the border, and make reasonable savings in the source of troops, building fortresses is absolutely essential.

However, building a sound and powerful fortress system can not help but take a long time and require a lot of funds.What's more, the population of Qinzhou City is sparsely populated, and most of the young and strong laborers have been absorbed into the army. There are still some old, young, women and children left. It is really not easy to organize enough manpower to carry out fortifications.

The shortage of manpower is a flaw that cannot be solved for a while.Can't let the few sergeants put down their weapons and build fortifications?

If the sergeant is exhausted and the enemy is wiped out, it is really not worth the loss.

Lu Ci turned his attention to the map, and after pondering for a long time, he tentatively delineated a few tribes whose overall population was not too many and who were not very active on weekdays, as candidates for recruiting in the future.

After all, whether it is Xixia or Tubo, once one party gathers internally and starts to expand its power outward, the first to suffer is not the Song Dynasty, but mostly these tribes caught in the middle.

Either be won over by one side and become the first vanguard to be sacrificed in the battle between the two sides, or stand by and be swallowed at the end.

Surrendering to the generous state of etiquette, Da Song, can actually gain some benefits.

But it is conceivable that since the current situation has not turned into a tense or clear stage, the rewards and ranks that the imperial court has to pay for this are not ordinary.

What's more, what he is most short of at present is the folks who build the fortifications. How dare he use people from other clans for such a confidential matter that cannot tolerate mistakes?

If someone with a heart is allowed to mix in, secretly tamper with the fortress, or take this opportunity to march into the city... the consequences will be disastrous.

Moreover, he is also in short supply of officials to go to various ethnic groups to appease him, so he can only put it aside for the time being.

It is impossible to build a fort in the short term, so the only way to improve the defense of the city wall is to improve the performance of the defense equipment and increase the number of them.

Lu Ci sighed, and first wrote down 'craftsman' and 'bed crossbow' on the paper.

However, craftsmen are hard to find, and the cost of bed crossbows is high, so it is not known how much progress can be made.

In terms of people's livelihood and economy, it is relatively easy to solve.

Knowing honor and disgrace if you have enough food and clothing, in Qinzhou where food and clothing are scarce, there is no need to consider building an academy.

However, after his investigation, he found that the daily eating habits of herdsmen, influenced by the pre-Tang Dynasty, have become inseparable from tea.And because there are very few caravans willing to come to Qinzhou to do business, some inferior tea that cannot be sold in the states along the way can be sold at an astonishing price among the herdsmen, and some tea with better quality is even more favored by the nobles of all ethnic groups. sought after.

It is precisely because of the huge profits these "taken advantagers" are willing to provide that some mainland businessmen are willing to risk their lives and travel long distances to come here.

The object of their business is obviously not the people of Qinzhou.

Although the profits from selling tea are enough to make people excited, in most cases, due to the ups and downs of diplomatic relations, caravans have to face the embarrassment of returning empty-handed.Often, caravans cannot leave the country, buyers cannot enter, and buyers and sellers cannot meet face to face, so how can we talk about transactions?

This led to the strange phenomenon that the motivation of the caravan was weak, and a little tea could be sold at sky-high prices.

After Lu Ci understood this, his eyes suddenly brightened.

There is a lot of wasteland in Qinzhou, the soil is poor, and because of the scarcity of labor, it is impossible to mine like in Fenzhou, which is indeed a big problem.

However, it is a good place for planting some tea trees that have strange requirements on the growing environment and are preferably dry and hard soil.

When it comes to the trade of other races, the conditions for public inspection and issuance are extremely harsh, which has become an obstacle for ordinary caravans, but for Lu Ci, who is the magistrate of Qinzhou and well-connected, it is easy.

Cao Wei is not good at internal affairs, he only knows how to cut expenditure but not to increase income, but some money cannot be saved.As a last resort, he told the Minister Qian that after leaving such a big hole, he couldn't even think of a way to make it up.

However, after Lu Ci reviewed the past records and combined the survey results of herdsmen's tea purchasing power, it is not difficult to see that as long as the market is opened three or four times, even tax revenue alone can fully make up for this vacancy.

Increased mutual market trade can be said to benefit each other.

For the Song Dynasty, it not only brought closer contact and understanding with various tribes, but also exchanged some tea or flashy silks and satins, which were only readily available to the Song people, to exchange horses, the most scarce military resources, with the other party.

For other tribes, it is also desirable to have a channel that allows them to obtain tea with better quality and more stable and reasonable prices than before.

With such a great business opportunity in front of him, it was naturally impossible for Lu Ci not to be tempted.

So after making up my mind, I did not hesitate to write down words such as 'encourage the purchase and transplanting of tea trees', 'open the field for discussion' on the paper...

Due to too much work, Lu Ci has become unaware of the time when he is busy recently, and often misses meals.

As for the other officials on duty in the office, although they had a good impression of this handsome, smiling and friendly chief, they were not familiar enough to remind him.

When Lu Ci was finally forced to put down his work due to his hunger, it was unknown how long the meal time had passed in the official office, so he had to send people to the street to buy a bowl of shredded chicken wonton nearby to try.

For him, food is just a pastime in his leisure time, and of course it is nothing compared to the imminent crisis.

Di Qing was not idle during this month. Although he lacked one-on-one counseling from his grandfather, he was able to be put into the military camp, where he concentrated on training with Li Chao, who was good at riding and archery, recommended by Cao Wei before leaving. It can be said that I had a very fulfilling and busy life and benefited a lot.

After a solid day of training with the sergeants, no matter how energetic he is, his physical strength is extraordinary, but he is still young, no more than a young sergeant. At first he was very tired, and when he was done, he didn't even have time to take a shower, so he smelled bad. Sleep with your head down.

What Di Qing didn't know was that he was brought in by the new magistrate—a weak civil official Lu Ci who seemed to be on a different path from General Cao Wei—except that Li Chao, who had been personally instructed by Cao Wei, was really responsible. [-]. Apart from having no prejudice against him, the other soldiers all disdain this blatant 'relationship household'.

How big is this kid, dare to send him to the barracks?

Although Di Qing looks much more mature than his actual age, and looks thin, but is full of solid tendons, which does not match the image of a "pampered and spoiled" at all, most soldiers still only regard him as a pawn. I can't push it away... the trouble of being able to eat a bucket of rice in one go, and having a huge appetite.

They really didn't want to offend Xin Zhizhou, and they didn't want to leave a dude awkward in the barracks.

After summing it up, a strategy was made to make Di Qing suffer setbacks and retreat in spite of difficulties.

Therefore, when Di Qing participated in the training, in order not to make this target too obvious, but for the team he was in, the training tasks of that day were extra heavy, and he had to work hard. In fact, the sergeants of the team also Tired and miserable.

What made them dumbfounded and unexpected was that Di Qing, who thought he would not be able to endure the hardship at all, and would at most clenched his teeth for a day or two, was not as embarrassing as they imagined that he would soon be unable to keep up with the team Now, or directly tired and lying down and unable to get up, they actually persisted abruptly and adapted at an astonishing speed.

He was still taciturn, not at all frizzy at this age, but such overloaded training lasted for a whole month, but he became more relaxed day by day.

In the end, when they were all too tired to get up, he was still able to jump around as if nothing had happened, at most he shed a few drops of sweat and was panting a little more.

In such a contrast, the one who is able to do a job with ease has actually become this 'boyfriend'!

Seeing with his own eyes that Di Qing was a little tired, gradually tempered, and now he is still alive and full of energy. The soldiers who wanted to torment him but suffered from it, were so ashamed that they wished to dig a hole on the spot so that they could save their little ones. The small thoughts of the teller are buried in it.

Di Qing didn't know anything about being made things difficult, and was very grateful for the care he received during this time. He worked extremely hard, arriving earlier than anyone else every day, but leaving the training ground later than anyone else.

Seeing him so upright and down-to-earth, the sergeants who thought he was wrong couldn't help but completely put away their prejudices, and they got a little more admiring and closer to each other when they got along.

Because he was too busy, only in the dead of night, when he occasionally woke up in the middle of the night, would he lie quietly on the couch and indulge his longing for his grandfather.

——I don’t know what Gongzu is doing now?

Di Qing turned over.

——Do you think of yourself occasionally?

Because of this very brazen thought, Di Qing turned over again embarrassingly.

——Did you have a good meal and a good rest?

No turning over.

Although he dreamed of always being by his grandfather's side, and always missed the intimate days with him day and night, but because he was soberly aware that his existence was a burden to his grandfather, he knew the importance of restraint.

No matter how long you can stay in the barracks, you have to hurry up and exercise hard, so as not to waste the painstaking efforts of your grandfather.

Do it well.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. Discussion field:

The Great Song Dynasty and its northern neighbors had a border trade market, which was called the market at the junction of the two countries.Arriving at the market is equivalent to reaching the border, one foot at home and one foot abroad, and you can enter and exit freely.For example, after the Chanyuan Alliance, the Northern Song Dynasty set up battlegrounds against Liao in Xiongzhou, Bazhou, Ansu Army, and Guangxin Army, and the Liao Kingdom also set up battlegrounds in Zhuozhou Xincheng and Shuozhou South within its own territory.

Guanyin is not easy to apply for, and the discussion field is not always open.

On the customs quotation is written the name, the name and quantity of the goods to be sold, which port to transit through, which market to go to, and the signature of the state tax bureau chief.

And first, time is limited.In the 29th year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1159), it was stipulated that the time limit for transit trade was five days.

Second, you are not allowed to send letters when leaving the country, otherwise you will be suspected of communicating with foreign countries and leaking information, and you will be sentenced if you are reported and seized.

Third, it is strictly forbidden to carry prohibited items.Special attention should be paid here: you can't bring money when you go abroad, even gold, silver and copper coins.According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, at the most severe time, carrying a consistent amount of copper coins would result in death.In addition, food and books are also contraband, and selling them abroad is also a felony.

("Living in the Song Dynasty")

2. Regarding border trade and recruiting, in fact, it was all done by Wang Shao in history.But he was born in 1030, so he hasn't been born yet.

Remember the kid I mentioned earlier who was abducted during the Lantern Festival, but found the right person to ask for help, and finally escaped?

He is the youngest son of Wang Shao.

... After Wang Shao came to the northwest, after a period of hard work, he first recruited Yu Longke, the chief of the Tubo tribe in Minzhou (now Minxian, Gansu).According to records, in order to win the trust of the other party, he only led a few cavalry to go to his tent in the hinterland, persuaded him with heart-to-heart, moved him with emotion, and understood it with reason, so he recruited more than [-] people under Yu Longke's command.The imperial court specially named this bold chief "Bao Shun" (it is said that because he admired Bao Zheng as a man, he asked for the surname Bao, and the imperial court specially granted it), and rewarded officials and property, making this force a submissive to the emperor. Subjects and armed forces played an important role in the future.

Wang Shao is quite intelligent, he knows that blind appeasement or simple use of troops will not achieve long-term results. In the past, Zhuge Kongming used a multi-pronged approach to conquer the southwestern tribes.The historical experience is worth summarizing, so after the victory, he let go of his hands and feet to engage in more extensive border construction, and initially tried to use economic means to cooperate with military operations.To this end, he organized frontier residents of all ethnic groups to reclaim wasteland and distributed agricultural tools and seeds, which not only solved the livelihood of these people, but also satisfied the army's military supply.When he learned that tea is inseparable from herdsmen's diet, he used Sichuan tea to exchange horses with various tribes, benefited each other through mutual trade, and won the favor of surrounding tribes.Some inland businessmen were also recruited by him, which further enriched the variety of trade, and luxury goods such as silk and satin became the favorites of the chiefs.To say that the tea-horse trade that will appear in China for a long time in the future actually started in Sri Lanka. ("Born in the Song Dynasty: Talking about the General Altar of Shilin in the Northern Song Dynasty")