Chapter 893 Northern Expedition
After the Dragon Boat Festival, official documents from Chang'an became more and more frequent. The emperor also asked the Dianqian Department to set up an intelligence line for Qin Lang, and there were secret letters between the monarch and his ministers almost every day.
The emperor kept discussing some details with Qin Lang regarding the upcoming battle to the north. And the prime ministers of the Zhengshitang will also write to ask Qin Lang for his opinions in three or two days.
The entire court of Chang'an is suffocating, trying to trample down the arrogant Xue Yantuo and Goguryeo who want to challenge Datang.
Xue Yantuo from Mobei, and Goguryeo from Liaodong, they finally came together. One is the Siberian tiger who once kowtowed to the Central Plains and never repented, and the other is the new tribal wolf in Mobei. Taking over the Turks to dominate the grasslands, especially under the leadership of the young head wolf Yinan, he has become more and more fierce.
Li Shimin was furious at the provocations of Xue Yantuo and Goguryeo. He originally wanted to restrain and control them through diplomatic means, but now everything shows that this idea will not work.
Xue Yantuo's mounted infantry often came to Monan. Yang Guozhong, the newly appointed Eastern Turkic Khan, could not return to Mobei at all. The little Khan Li Simo in the south was blocked and attacked several times, and many cattle and sheep were robbed.
Today’s Eastern Turks are no longer what they used to be, scattered in all directions, some tribes fled to the Western Regions, some tribes resettled in Monan, and many were conscripted by the Tang Dynasty to herd horses in various places or went to the southern border to defend the frontier, especially It is the current Eastern Turks, without the powerful wolf king to lead them, and they are always at a disadvantage in the contest with the Xue Yantuo people.
In particular, the Xue Yantuo people, relying on their advantages in iron smelting and forging, occupied many large open-pit iron mines in Mobei. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, they acquired many Turkic forging slaves and Han artisans, and their armor and weapon forging skills were greatly improved. .
Yinan also built a brand new Xue Yantuo army because of this, not in the name of light cavalry like the Turks, but focused on building cavalry infantry with high mobility and strong defensive capabilities.
Riding two horses or even three horses can gallop hundreds of miles a day and night, and dismount when encountering an enemy. Two out of ten people are responsible for watching the horses behind, and the remaining eight dismount and put on armor to fight on foot.
They have iron armor and strong bows. These infantry archers are very fierce. They beat the Turkic people to death, and the Uighur Alliance, which is also made of iron, still takes the way of light cavalry and archery. In front of these mounted infantry, it is the same Can't shoot, can't attack.
Yi Nan's trick is popular all over the world, relying on this trick, he is invincible in all aspects on the grassland, and after that, he doesn't take Datang seriously.
He now claims to have 400,000 Jingqi every day, and he is not afraid of anyone.
Although he was still only engaged in raids in the Yinshan area and did not dare to go deep into the foot of the Great Wall, his ambition was unmistakable. He sent envoys to Taiyuan and Chang'an again and again to ask the Tang Dynasty to marry a princess, and asked the court to separate Monan and Hetao. All were assigned to Xue Yantuo, and they also demanded control over Turks.
Goguryeo hooked up with Yi Nan, and under the strong interference of Yuan Gai Suwen, the king Gao Jianwu also had to follow his advice, and joined forces with Xue Yantuo, preparing to send troops to retake Beisha City, and then cross the Liaohe River to take Liaoxi.
The two captives were sharpening their swords, and the court had to step up preparations for the battle.
The eight armies of the emperor's Beiya have already begun to organize and train the battalions for combat preparation, and they have been dispatched to Taiyuan, Youzhou, Fengzhou, Liangzhou, Yingzhou and other northern areas to strengthen their defenses. In addition to commanding troops, the remaining twelve guards were also urgently mobilized across the country, recruiting government soldiers, and assembled in Chang'an, Luoyang, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Lanzhou and other places.
Recruited more than 200,000 elites, and at the same time began to mobilize more than 600,000 young and strong peasants to transfer food, grass and supplies.
It can be said that this battle is the largest mobilization battle since the founding of the Tang Dynasty.
Even the emperor told the courtiers several times that he wanted to drive to Youzhou or Taiyuan to sit in town, let the prince Chengqian go to Luoyang to supervise the country, and let Wei Wang Li Tai stay in Xijing.
In the recent letter to Qin Lang, the emperor even proposed to transfer Qin Lang to the north, and let him take charge of the battlefield, or coordinate the whole army, or serve as the general manager of the emperor's imperial camp.
The emperor revealed to Qin Lang that his plan was to march out several routes, reaching Liaohe in the east and Jinshan in the west. On a front thousands of miles away, the Tang Dynasty would dispatch an army of more than 300,000 troops, and at the same time recruit Turks, Khitans, Xi, Tuyuhun, Dangxiang, Western Turkic, Gaochang and other 18 vassal states will send more than 500,000 troops in total, and they will come to a mountain to press down on the top of Mount Tai, and directly plow the courtyard and sweep the acupoints.
However, this plan was considered unreliable by Qin Lang, because the more troops were dispatched, the longer the battle line would be, and the more difficult it would be for the armies to cooperate, the more likely there would be gaps in the plan, and the greater the pressure on logistical supplies would be. The greater the disruption to production such as domestic agriculture.
At that time, Yang Guang sent more than 1.1 million troops to attack Goguryeo, and then recruited several times the number of civilians. The scale was unprecedentedly large and unprecedented, and he even personally conscripted. The destruction was unprecedented. In the end, it can be said that the conquest of the Liao Dynasty failed. The first defeat was due to too many soldiers, and then the emperor’s disorderly command.
Qin Lang always believed that even if Goguryeo and Xue Yantuo joined hands, the two families are far apart, and it is impossible to join forces, so the final result is to fight on their own. To them, the Tang Dynasty must first defend the border and remain invincible , and then choose one or two generals to lead one or two elite divisions and look for opportunities to fight.
You have 500,000 or 600,000 soldiers, and you have to divide your troops into Liaodong or Mobei in more than a dozen groups. You can be very dangerous if you eat horses along the way, let alone so many soldiers, it is also difficult to find the main force.
The Goguryeo people have a strong defense system for mountain cities. These people are the best at defending. It is not a problem to lie down in the mountain city for a year or two. Tang Jun thinks it will be very difficult to take down each city. Moreover, Liaodong is very cold, and winter will be one of the attackers. big problem.
Mobei is too far away. After all, the Xueyantuo people are also nomadic people. If you make a big campaign, they will run away if they can't fight, and you can't find anyone.
The emperor wanted to conscript Qin Lang, but Qin Lang directly refused, saying that the South of the Five Ridges is still in turmoil. He has mobilized and recruited 20,000 elite soldiers from the South of the Five Ridges, and sent 60,000 young and strong men from the South of the Five Ridges to transport grain and grass to the north. The large fleet also returned to defend the north, and prepared a lot of money and food to transport them together.
As for saying that he will still be in Lingnan for the time being.
He also opposed the emperor's personal conquest, thinking that the emperor could move to Luoyang, the eastern capital at most. The prince can stay behind in the west of Beijing, but it is not suitable for Wei Wangtai to stay behind. Why should a young prince stay behind? If you want to stay behind, you should choose one or two prime ministers to assist the prince to stay behind.
Exit Songping City in Jiaozhou, enter the Longjiang River and go southward, and then enter the tributary Baiteng River, all the way to Taiping City in Wu'an Prefecture hundreds of miles away.
Because of Taiping Port, the Baiteng River is busy with shipping, and countless merchant ships and passenger ships come and go. Nowadays, many merchant ships at sea do not sail directly into Jiaozhou Port when they arrive at Jiaozhou. Instead, they will first rely on Taiping Port by the sea, and then go along the Baiteng River and then through the Longjiang River to reach Jiaozhou Port.
Taiping Port and Jiaozhou Port, one coastal and one inland, complement each other and complement each other. Taiping Port is now a famous frost sugar manufacturing and trading center in Datang, as well as a cotton and cotton cloth trading center. There are also many good things such as salt and porcelain here, not to mention Hongji Port not far away, which is a Coal Harbor.
In the front is the Jin River, the back is on the Taiping River, and there is a Wu'an River that goes around the city. Ten miles to the east is the sea, and the Baiteng River and the Jin River converge into the sea in the northeast corner. This makes Taiping Port have unique transportation facilities. , In just a few years, Taiping City has expanded more than ten times.
Now the resident population exceeds 10,000 households. Although it is far less prosperous than Jiaozhou, Guangzhou, and Qinzhou, it is already many times more lively than Aizhou and Changzhou.
Especially the open atmosphere here has made Taiping Port develop rapidly. From scratch, the planning here has been far-sighted and designed in advance, so although it is developing so fast now, it does not appear chaotic at all.
A few years ago, when Qin Lang first started planning, many people looked at the blueprints and thought that the planning was too scattered and too big. But now, everyone admires Qin Lang's vision. At that time, he had already calculated that he could develop so fast. In recent years, Taiping Port has become more and more substantial, and the planning of commercial areas, residential areas, workshop areas, wharf warehouse areas, etc. has become more and more reasonable and clever.
And the bustling commercial neighborhood in the city, the straight and wide streets, the pre-planned underground drainage system, and even the city's canals, artificial lakes, etc. all make the city look so young and full of vitality, and So comfortable.
Clean, tidy and hygienic.
There is a trash can every 10 steps, a public toilet every 100 steps, there are washbasins everywhere, and there are cleaners on every street. People have to sigh that Chang'an is not so clean, let alone the streets that can be seen everywhere. Trees, greenery, and flowers blooming everywhere.
Before entering the port, there is also a special pilot speedboat to pick you up.
Countless boats lined up in an orderly manner, Qin Lang refused the request to jump in line for him, but sat on the boat leisurely watching the lively scene.
"Are those ships owned by Hu merchants?" Qin Lang pointed to the distance.
"Hui Wei Gong said that these are indeed Hu merchants' ships. There were fewer Hu merchants for a while, but within two months, they gradually came again. Now there are more and more Hu merchants, which has already surpassed previous years. Quantity." An official in charge of escorting at the pier replied respectfully.
Before Qin Lang cracked down on the Guangming Sect and Eagle Nest, he also rectified many unruly Hu merchants. Many Hu merchants were panicked, but after waiting and watching for a while, they still came. Datang has countless goods they want. They also have countless goods to sell. Merchants are after all profit-seeking, and they can take risks for profit, not to mention that after observing, they found that there is no danger.
As long as you follow the rules, any businessman is welcome here.
"Why do those Hu merchants line up alone?"
"Datang has priority, and our merchant ships in Datang have priority, so these Hu merchants have to line up on the other side."
Qin Lang thought for a while, "It's not very good. If the port is busy, the Tang boat can be given priority, but if it is not too busy, it will still be treated equally."
"Is it the same for taxes?"
"The tax rate is the same, but Tang merchants can enjoy some subsidy returns, while Hu merchants do not."
"In that case, will there be Hu merchants asking Han people to pretend to be ship owners and cargo owners?"
"We will crack down on this situation severely. Once discovered, they will be severely punished. They dare not."
Taiping Port somewhat discriminates against Hu merchants, but compared to other places, it is actually much stronger. For example, Taiping Port has also planned Fanfangfan City for Hu merchants to live and do business, but in general the tax rate is still the same. , the management is also more fair and just, there will be no random apportionment, but correspondingly, there will naturally be no special privileges, strict registration is required when entering Hong Kong, and barbarians are prohibited from owning weapons. Those who live must apply for a temporary residence permit, and the inspection is strict. If they fail to do so, they will be severely punished or even deported.
"Well, these are very good. The rules that should be adhered to should not be messed up. Taiping Port can have today's prosperity. These rules have also played a big role. Rules are order. Without order, how can there be a good business environment? We have attracted merchants, and we must stick to it in the future.”
"We all strictly follow the instructions of Duke Wei. All Hu merchants who enter Wu'an Prefecture, no matter where they come from, no matter what their original status, must strictly abide by the laws of my Tang Dynasty and the laws of Wu'an Prefecture. stipulated."
If you break the law, you must accept the Tang law trial. There is no barbarian.
Hu people can buy fields and land in Wu'an Prefecture, buy real estate and shops, open workshops, hire craftsmen, slaves, etc., and even marry wives and have children.
However, according to the regulations of Wu'an Prefecture, if you want to buy land, purchase property, hire workers, slaves, maidservants, marry wives and have children, etc., there is a premise that you must be registered in Wu'an Prefecture of Tang Dynasty. Once the contract is renewed, a not-so-low deed tax must be paid.
Without naturalization, you cannot marry a woman from the Tang Dynasty, and you cannot take a woman from the Tang Dynasty as a concubine. You must be naturalized. After being naturalized, you will abandon your previous identity and become a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, and everything will be done according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty.
If those Hu merchants who are not naturalized die unexpectedly in Wu'an Prefecture, etc., if they have immediate family members who can inherit, they can inherit after paying an inheritance tax. If there is no immediate family member to claim the inheritance within three years, it will not be an official property.
Hu merchants without the backing of the Guangming Sect are now much more honest. After all, the last time they were cleaned, the Guangming Sect, the Eagle’s Nest, and many maritime merchants who came in disorderly, died a lot. There are still many air-dried corpses hanging at the Guangzhou pier. there.
Wu'an Prefecture has dealt with these blows more severely.
Today's Hu merchants do business in their own right, and pay taxes honestly.
Hu merchants are not even allowed to learn from Datang merchants to establish a business gang or chamber of commerce. Whoever dares to do so will be severely warned. Their behavior will be suspected of serious violations and will be severely punished.
"There is no rule without rules. These Hu merchants come to us to make money, so naturally they have to be controlled by us, so keep going!" Qin Lang praised.
(end of this chapter)