Chapter 951 Grassland Affairs (3)
Yang Wanwan’s guess was correct.
After seeing the banners of the Han army, the Hu tribes in front not only did not flee, but the tribe leaders personally greeted them and gave them food.
Yang Wanwan declined the food offered by the foreigners, took the cold boiled water that his guards had boiled in advance, and took a few sips.
Then he asked the headman:
“These days, have you ever noticed someone appearing who shouldn’t be there?”
“No, no, absolutely not.”
The leader bowed and nodded, with a smile on his face, "The mighty man has frightened their courage a long time ago. They will definitely not dare to come here before this winter."
After winter, if you really can't survive it, then maybe you won't be able to survive.
In the past, the leader might have been worried about this situation.
But now, since I can exchange food and clothing for the winter from Feng Langjun, am I still afraid of the bereaved dogs who are about to freeze to death and starve to death?
In winter, whoever can have enough food and clothing is the grown-up!
When we really meet him, the tribe may be able to grow even stronger.
Yang Wanwan gave the usual order:
“If you really see it, remember to inform us as soon as possible, otherwise, you will be derelict in your duty.”
Redividing the old land of Xianbei in the west is not for their old age.
These barbarian tribes can also be regarded as part of the grassland outposts.
After all, if we really want those Western Xianbei who were driven away to come back, the outcome of these traitors who have occupied their old places will not be much better.
If they want to occupy these fertile pastures for a long time, and if they want to avoid being exterminated, the strong men with strong soldiers and horses are their most reliable backing, right?
Still saying that, the benefits of King Feng Gui are so delicious?
When they enjoyed these benefits with great joy, they did not know that these benefits had already been priced secretly by King Feng Gui.
Yang Qianwan put away the water bag and motioned to the bodyguard to give the leader a few bags of Yutou flour as payment for the food the leader had brought.
When fighting, you can burn, kill, plunder, and plunder.
But in daily life, military discipline still needs to be paid attention to.
At least let the Hu people who are dependent on the Han know what it means to be a dignified king.
Having determined his exact location, Yang Wanwan ordered:
“Speed forward and reach the city barrier before dark.”
The whining of horns sounded, and the messengers dispersed and galloped away, shouting:
“The general has orders, hurry up!”
The whole cavalry army began to run with a rumble.
Although there are only a thousand people, one person and two riders make a great noise.
The journey of ten miles is not long or short.
Once the cavalry relaxed their pace, even if they did not run at full strength, it would not take an hour to reach the city barrier.
The soldiers guarding the highest point of the city suddenly saw a mass of black people rushing toward them, and subconsciously tightened their weapons.
At the same time, his eyes widened, not daring to blink, wanting to see who it was as quickly as possible.
When the red armor gradually became clear in his imagination, the soldier breathed a sigh of relief.
Even though the Han Dynasty has driven Xianbei in the west to escape or surrender, this is after all more than 500 miles away from Juyan County.
It would take at least ten and a half months from the time when the wolf smoke was set off to when Juyan County sent out elite cavalry to come to the rescue.
The task of the more than 300 soldiers in the city barrier is to hold on for half a month until reinforcements arrive.
Of course, the Hu people are now at a time when their courage is breaking out, and this worst situation has not happened yet.
However, it is a fact that the Hu tribes scattered around are often attacked by surprise.
Even at the beginning, due to the inexperience of the soldiers at the city barrier, some small groups of soldiers would also be attacked after they left the city barrier.
After learning enough lessons and formulating the rule that you are not allowed to leave the city barrier within ten miles for no reason, and if you really want to scout far away, the number of people must not be less than a hundred people, this kind of thing became less common.
Garrisoning a grassland city barrier is not only extremely boring - the range of activities is basically within ten miles - but also very dangerous.
So when I hear and see such a large number of cavalry, the soldiers who are not on duty are not nervous.
"Wang Duwei, there is a large group of cavalry coming from the west. It may be a patrol."
Each city barrier has only more than 300 garrison troops, but the chief officers are all department governors, whose official positions are between military marquis and school lieutenant.
This shows that Feng Governor attached great importance to this matter.
“Counting the days, it should come.”
Wang Duwei, who was guarding the city, was not too tall, but he was extremely strong.
His face is slightly flatter than that of ordinary Han people, his eye sockets are slightly sunken, and he is much darker.
This kind of facial features is not common in the Northland.
If you are someone who came from Shu, you can tell at a glance that this Wang Duwei should be from Nanzhong, and he is very likely to have Yi ancestry.
But I saw him shouting loudly:
“Send the order and put the whole city on alert!”
There was a sound of weapons clashing and footsteps running, and the small city barrier quickly entered a state of alert.
Soon, the sentry outside the city also sent news:
“General Yang is here with the patrol!”
His own people belong to his own people, but Wang Duwei still did not give the order to open the city gate immediately.
It wasn't until Yang Wanwan appeared at the gate of the city in person, put the document in the basket, and it was verified by the Wang Duwei at the top of the city that it was correct, that the city gate was reopened.
“Is the neighborhood still normal these days?”
Looking at Wang Duwei who came out personally to welcome him, Yang Wanwan asked.
“Normal, normal!”
After the city gate opened, the original solemn atmosphere was swept away. Wang Duwei spoke the half-baked Luoxiayin and said with a hearty smile:
“General Yang, don’t worry, the surrounding area has been quiet these days, and even the barbarians on the periphery have not come to report seeing the enemy.”
"That's good."
Yang Qianwan got off his horse and walked toward the city barrier with Wang Duwei.
As for the soldiers under his command, they will camp according to the rules.
ˆ ˆ Checked the arsenal, grain depot and other important places in the city, and indeed found no flaws.
Then Yang Wanwan walked around the outside of the city barrier again and saw a cave-in at the top of the city.
Wang Duwei understood and quickly explained:
"The sack the general sent this time is exactly where the general will use it."
Nanxiang's specialties include not only banknotes but also various hemp rope sacks, which are widely used and of high quality.
Especially after regaining Liangzhou, his reputation has risen to a higher level and is well-known by everyone.
For example, when capturing laborers, they are tied into a bunch, like a long string of candied haws.
Another example is the pass on the grassland.
In the past, reeds or various types of long grass were used as the foundation, which was covered with soil, gravel, and then rammed layer by layer with adobe mixed with reeds and other grasses.
Now that we have sacks, it is much more convenient and saves a lot of effort and work.
Yang Qianwan nodded, looked at other places to make sure nothing was missed, and then returned to the city.
When patrolling a fortress, you don’t just lead the army back and forth, but you need to check all the conditions of the city barrier.
Even the increase or decrease in the population of the Hu tribes on the same side of the city barrier must be investigated clearly.
If there are any abnormalities, they must be reported immediately.
After checking, it was already dark.
When Wang Duwei entertained Yang Wanwan in the evening, a woman came out carrying a pot of roasted mutton.
Yang Wanwan glanced at the woman's slightly protruding abdomen, and then looked at Wang Duwei.
Wang Duwei smiled sheepishly:
“Ahem, this, General Yang, this is the late general’s wife, she has been pregnant for five months.”
"Isn't it almost September now? It's getting cold in the desert very quickly, and the cold air is so heavy. I'm afraid I won't be able to bear it because I'm so heavy."
“So I would like to ask General Yang to return from this trip so that my wife can follow behind.”
Yang Qianwan’s expression remained unchanged, as if he was used to this kind of thing. He nodded and asked, “How many people are there?”
“No more, no more, that is, nine mouths.”
Hearing this number, Yang Qianwan frowned:
“According to the rules, the maximum number of people in a family is five, but you have exceeded the limit.”
Wang Duwei looked ashamed, rubbed his hands, and waved, and saw another woman with a bulging belly coming out:
“They are sisters…”
Yang Wanwan’s face twitched:…
"I remember that you are not an old man from Nanxiang? Have you never married a wife?"
At that time, King Feng Gui was running a wool workshop in Nanxiang. How many old soldiers returned to their old profession with a knife in order to marry a wife to warm their bed?
Not to mention someone with senior qualifications like Wang Duwei, who has followed King Feng Gui from the very beginning and climbed to his current position.
“How can I not get married? I got married a long time ago, and my eldest wife was naturalized a long time ago, and she already has two children.”
So General Yang was shocked:
Those who were naturalized at an early age can basically be regarded as the first batch of weaver girls in Nanxiang Workshop.
Is it a joke that a Nanxiang woman is the head of the household?
This Wang Duwei actually dares to have sisters outside?
"Isn't this thanks to the blessing of the prince," Wang Duwei said with joy, "The prince has made a rule. Juyan County and Duyeze do not collect Ding tax, but only land tax."
“Although the land tax is too much, there is still too much land to support it!”
"The general has communicated with the person at home a long time ago. Isn't the workshop in Juyan County in need of a manager?"
"I'm not bragging. Just with the skill of the person in the family, I can work as a steward in the workshop in Juyan County."
“In addition, the second mother and the third mother-in-law are marrying the general, and the nine members of their family are willing to change their surname to Wang. According to the rules, they can be allocated fields!”
"The general will know that this is the prince's benefit for us old people. The more people in this family, the more money we will make. How can we not understand the prince's intentions?"
Seeing the gratitude on Governor Wang's face as he said these words, Yang Wanwan was a little stunned. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
Brother implemented the "dividing people into acres" in Juyan County. Is this actually the reason?
In the past, there were two largest taxes collected by the government from Cangtou and Guizhou heads, one was land tax and the other was Ding tax collected on a per capita basis.
In order to encourage people to go to Juyan County for reclamation, the Liangzhou Governor's Office deliberately canceled the Ding tax in Juyan County and only collected land tax - or in other words, the Ding tax was merged into the land tax.
But for the people, the overall burden has been greatly reduced.
Wang Duwei, a class of "good family members" who were forcibly created, believed that Feng Junhou was seeking benefits for them.
The common people thought: Governor Feng really loved the people like a son!
Although the aristocratic families cannot occupy a large amount of farmland in Juyan County, they still welcome this policy with both hands.
The reason is also very simple.
Because of this policy, Cangtou Qianshou has more choices to a large extent, such as being able to work in a workshop.
Even the family felt that King Feng Gui was compensating for the fact that he could not occupy farmland in Juyan County.
As for what the real purpose of Ghost King Feng is, basically only a few people in the world know about it.
However, this policy actually allowed the soldiers guarding the border to take the initiative to speed up national integration. Not to mention Yang Wanwan, even King Feng Gui did not expect it.
So when Governor Feng saw the materials sent by Secretary Zhang, he was a little surprised:
“More than 6,000 Hu people have been naturalized in Juyan County this year? These guys are very fast..."
“Yes, do you think this woman is pregnant and the decree to naturalize the whole family is inappropriate?”
Zhang Xingyi said with some worry, "At this rate, I'm afraid it won't be long before all the Hu women will think of ways to marry soldiers from Juyan County..."
“What’s wrong? There aren’t enough fields?”
Feng Jishi asked.
The Han people can be allocated 150 acres of land reclaimed by the government and the people, the Hu people can be allocated 70 acres, and the naturalized Hu people can be allocated 100 acres.
"How could it not be enough? Even if all the Han people were moved to Liangzhou, it would only be a few Dingkou?"
The current population of the two states of the Han Dynasty is equivalent to the population of a large county in the Later Han Dynasty. We are not afraid of losing land, but we are afraid of having no one.
"What are they afraid of? As long as they have a way to get the soldiers to marry them, then that's up to them."
More than 6,000 people have been naturalized, which means that more than a thousand Hu women are pregnant, which cannot even be compared with the number of soldiers in Guansaili on the grassland. What is it?
Shouldn’t what we should be worried about be that in the past two years, the amount of soap used by the Guansai soldiers on the grassland has increased too fast?
After all, those soldiers who can ignore the female body odor and kill her with their eyes closed are all strong men.
It is normal to use more soap to wash the Hu girl.
“What I’m worried about is that someone will take advantage of this matter to take advantage of the government.”
Zhang Xingyi was a little dissatisfied with Feng Jishishi’s disapproving attitude, “Compared to the original Nanxiang, it can be said that naturalization in Juyan County is a piece of cake now.”
“This is the time and the other is the time!” Governor Feng still explained unhurriedly, “When we were in Nanxiang, it was still a question whether the school could be built.”
“It’s not like now, the children of naturalized Hu women have to attend school for three years anyway.”
“What’s more, with the examples of naturalized Hu people, other Hu people will be more attentive to learning Chinese and adopting Chinese customs.”
“The top priority is to spread the land among the people. As long as this goal can be achieved and the government is taken advantage of, it doesn’t matter.”
Suffering immediate losses will lead to future blessings.
The apportionment of land into acres can be regarded as a powerful tool to prevent land annexation in the feudal era.
For those aristocratic families who own a large amount of land, it is like a bone scraper - you can hide the population, but can you move the land away for me?
This move can not only reduce the dependence of the capital of Guizhou on the wealthy families, but also allow the wealthy families to release more hidden people.
More importantly, it can also liberate more laborers from the land, which will promote certain social and economic conditions in Han Dynasty.
It’s just that this sharp tool cannot be used openly at present. It can only be used secretly, little by little, mainly to accumulate experience.
So the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty continued the old method: let Feng Jishi open a special zone, try it first, and show him how it works.
Juyan County is naturally the most suitable location.
Tax reform is still a major national event. Even the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty is not sure about it, and Zhang Xiaosi is even less sure about it.
In the past few years, Secretary Zhang has been regarded as the chief steward of the governor's office, and his life has been very difficult.
Although the school is sponsored, the government also has to provide money and food.
In less than a year, there will be more than a thousand more student expenses in the future, but the guy in front of me is exempt from the poll tax.
If the situation increases or decreases, we are afraid that we will have hard times again in the future.
Governor Feng naturally knew what she was worried about, but when he looked around to make sure there was no one around, he whispered:
"I will take a book to your yard at night and explain it to you in detail. You will understand it then."
When Secretary Zhang heard this, his eyes flickered: "Book? What book?"
“A good book, a peerless book,” Governor Feng chuckled and lowered his voice, “That’s the book your sister put at the bottom of the box. It will be left to Ah Chong in the future as the Feng family’s secret knowledge.”
As Liangzhou enters the workshop era, it is also time for Secretary Zhang, who is in charge of the governor's office for him, to further learn new skills, phew, I mean learn new knowledge.
“As for the master’s knowledge, you must study hard at night, you know?” Governor Feng warned, “Also, don’t let your sister know about it.”
(End of this chapter)