Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 951

With the strengthening of the polar continental air mass, the cold front continues to move forward.The subtropical high in the western Pacific was beaten back steadily, and it was completely defeated, and it completely withdrew from the land of Henan.

Affected by this, it has been snowing heavily in Yunzhou for several days.

In such a severe cold weather, Wang Shifan and his party arrived at Shagouyi, two miles northeast of Yunzhou, and stayed.

Outside the post station, hunters were selling prey such as hares and pheasants. The post general spoke with a Kansai accent, and he bought them at a lower price, and immediately smiled.

Wang Shifan had nothing to do, so he chatted with the Orion.

"Seeing that your archery skills are good, why don't you join the army?" Wang Shifan asked after receiving the hot tea from his fifth younger brother Shi Lu.

"You think I don't want to?" Orion said impatiently: "King Xia only recruited soldiers once in Yunzhou, and I went late, so I didn't get a round."

"It's a pity." Wang Shifan smiled and said, "King Xia won't go to Yunzhou to recruit soldiers again, right? Don't you feel resentful?"

Orion looked Wang Shifan up and down, smiled suddenly, and said: "The 30 Xia soldiers haven't left yet, how are you going to do it? I'm afraid there is no way to go up the mountain to be a grass thief."

30... Wang Shifan was speechless, if there were really 30 troops coming, he might run out of food first.

"Xia Bing is going to leave. Once the people from Kansai came, there were not many people in Yunzhou who could be martial arts. I really don't feel resentful?" Wang Shifan asked.

Orion looked at him without speaking.

Wang Shifan beckoned, and a servant came over and stuffed half a string of copper coins into Orion's hand.

Orion looked around, saw that no one was paying attention to them, and said in a low voice, "Relying on me alone, resentment is useless. Zhu Quanzhong killed a lot of warriors in Yunzhou, and King Xia took over the rest. There were only [-] in the first place, how many have been lost? I can't count the number. I heard from the officials in Xuchang County that there are probably [-] to [-]. Those who dare to fight are really not worth it. too much."

This is typical relying on killing, killing the most elite, most courageous, and most rebellious people in a feudal town. This is not the first time. Zhu Quanzhong killed more and Shao Shude killed less, but he completed the final blow.

Among the remaining people, if they are exhausted, they can still organize a group of warriors, that is, 3 people, but the quality is definitely not as good as the first, second, and third batches before. up.

The situation in Yanzhou is similar to that in Yunzhou.Zhu Quanzhong used to be the great sufferer of Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, and Shi Pu. He killed countless sergeants of the three towns. If Yanzhou was killed again this time, there would be only a little embers left in the counties.If someone organizes them, they may be able to pull themselves together again, but it will take time to recover, and Shao Shude will definitely not give them this chance.

"You are well-informed." Wang Shifan praised.

"Did you underestimate me? Xuchang, Shouzhang, and Yuncheng counties, which one have I never been to?" Orion weighed the copper coins, stuffed them into the bag, and said, "No more trouble. Those young people in the countryside, alas, always I don’t think I was as brave as ten years ago. At that time, some people dared to wrestle with me and won a piece of animal skin. Some people dared to compete with me in archery, and some practiced hard with spears and sticks. Now, there are fewer people in the village who know these things, and there are many martial arts. The inheritance is about to be broken."

"Why is there less?" Wang Shifan was puzzled.

Orion glanced at him as if looking at a fool.

"I'm going to die." Orion said, "My family lives in Gushandian. There are seven villages in total. There were more than [-] men who were good at archery and spears. Many young people practiced with them. Jiedu made Zhu Xuan always suffer defeat. , Conscripted again and again, these people rushed to join the army, but they never came back. If they don’t come back, wouldn’t the teenagers in the village just practice indiscriminately?”

"The soil group of these years..." At this point, Orion spat, and said: "Every year is not as good as every year. Many young people can't beat even an old man like me."

Military tradition is dying, alas, Wang Shifan also sighed.The soil regiments in the countryside are the cornerstone of a feudal town's military power. People will die in wars, and recruits will be recruited after death. It is a pity that young people who practice their skills hard during the slack season are the best source of reinforcements.

Wang Shifan suddenly remembered the courier general of the Shagou post. He seemed to be an old soldier of the Xia army. He looked like he was in his 40s, and his five sons all practiced martial arts.In the yard just now, I saw a young boy from the neighborhood coming over with gifts, saying that he wanted to learn from a teacher and practice spear skills with him.

This is reviving military traditions, but there are too few of them.

I don't know how many people can continue to practice after the world is peaceful, because it is very likely that they will not see benefits.If a foreign enemy invades, can you still organize effective native soldiers to defend your hometown?
Wang Shifan asked someone to take another piece of silk, gave it to Orion, and sent him away.

The wind and snow outside the post station was getting stronger and stronger, and a thousand cavalrymen of the Iron Forest Army guarding them were putting blankets on the horses.

Wang Shifan had noticed these things a long time ago.

The soldier wore a sweater. He heard that Guanbei, Heyang and other places could use wool to offset taxes. The wool collected should be woven into clothes and distributed as clothes in spring and autumn.

Shao Shude can always play tricks.

******
In the city of Yunzhou, the streets were filled with snow.

The war has passed for a long time, and the local order has basically been restored.

After the officials took office, the state and county-level institutions began to operate.After the establishment of the state army, the local law and order has also been greatly improved.

Except for a very small number of defeated soldiers scattered in the countryside who were chased and suppressed by the state army, most of them took off their military uniforms and honestly fended for themselves.

Admittedly, these people are unstable factors.But just as firewood needs fire to ignite, no amount of firewood piled up is useless without an open flame.Without thorns, no amount of routs can be organized.

Before that, Zhu Han and Zhu Yu had won over many unwilling defeated soldiers, and they were immediately suppressed.This time only Zhu Xuan was left wandering in the mountains, being pursued by Ye Li Kecheng and Wang Jiao, he was very distressed, he heard that he had fled to Yanzhou, it seemed that he could not afford to turn the tide.

In the streets and alleys, Zhu Xuan is still the object of discussion among tea drinkers and drunkards.But anyone who cares can notice that as time goes on, he is mentioned less and less frequently.In time, this Jiedu envoy who was once a powerful figure in Yunzhou will probably gradually disappear from people's memory.

People's hearts are slowly subdued in this way.It takes time to settle, no doubt.

Jiedu envoy Ren Yuji is hosting a banquet in the mansion for the military envoy Zhu Shuzong.

Accompanying them are the two's cronies and followers, and there are no outsiders.

Ren Yuji frequently persuaded him to drink, and the coach made Zhu Shuzong always come to drink, and he was very generous.

"I'm used to drinking Shuofang Sheng Shao in Lingzhou, this wine is not strong enough." Zhu Shuzong laughed.

"Li Tangbin also likes to drink Shuofang Shengshao. I asked him to borrow all the wine from me, but he never returned it. I asked him if he didn't have any. What can you do?" Ren Yuji shook his head and said.

"Li Tangbin is going to be the envoy of the Pinglu Army, and he is still so stingy." Zhu Shuzong laughed again.

Li Tangbin was originally the Jiedu envoy of the Fengguo Army, and he made great contributions to the attack on Qizhen this time. He will soon be the Jiedu envoy of the Pinlu Army and lead the four prefectures of Zi, Qing, Deng, and Lai.The official appointment by the imperial court has not yet come down, but it is an open secret among the high-level officials.

Feng Guojun, a small feudal clan, will soon be abolished and merged into Shuofang Town, which is the "Xia Kingdom" that everyone jokes about.

Since the unification of Guanbei, King Xia has abolished Lingyan, Tiande, Zhenwu, Fufang, Yandan, Tonghua, Jingyuan, Binning, Fengxiang, Fengtian, Shanguo and other feudal towns.If there are no accidents, the three towns of Fengguo, Jinshang, and Tangdeng will be abolished next year.

In the future, Yaozhou, Dongdu, Heyang, Xuanwu and other towns will probably be abolished one after another.

The town is being withdrawn every year, and the intention is very obvious.Now there are still people who can be Jiedushi. Although they are called nominal in private, there will be no more nominal feudal towns in the future.

In this process, some people must be disappointed and even resentful, but so far no one has openly opposed it.It may be that they resigned to their fate, or they did not dare to do so, or it was because King Xia gave them a buffer, and all of them were dismissed in one breath, and the movements were relatively gentle.

But no matter what, the scope of Xia Guo's control has gradually expanded, and it has extended to Henan, which explains everything.

"If Li Tangbin attacks Yanzhen again, the momentum will be even stronger." Zhu Shuzong drank a little too much, and his words were quite envious: "There is Xuzhen behind, and he will probably lead the army to attack."

"No, I think we'll have to change generals later." Ren Yuji smiled mysteriously, and said, "Gao Renhou captured Heyang and Dongdu, and now he's living a leisurely life in Luoyang. Is Lao Gao very old? He really can't go to war. If it wasn't for Feng Yin not being able to help him up, Xuzhou would never let others intervene."

Even if he drank a little too much, Zhu Shuzong didn't dare to answer those words, it offended people.

"You and I have known each other since we were in Jinyang, what is there to avoid?" Ren Yuji smiled and said, "Feng Yin will probably send him a counselor, I heard that it is probably Shi Shucong."

Zhu Shuzong really has never heard of such secrets. It seems that he is far away from the circle of Luoyang and Bianzhou, and his news is blocked.

"Liang Dijiang, who has been observed for so long, is slowly going to be activated." Zhu Shuzong was keenly aware of this signal, and said, "Is it because..."

"Yes." Ren Yuji nodded solemnly, and said, "Your Majesty will be crowned sooner or later, and he will still be in Henan. There is no way to get around the descendants from Liang."

"It should have been like this a long time ago." Zhu Shuzong rarely took the initiative to express his opinion.

If you can't give others real power, you have to make compensation from other aspects.And this depends on whether others are willing or not.

The news of the knighthood that was released before is actually a kind of temptation, which belongs to throwing stones to ask for directions.Now it seems that even if there is dissatisfaction, even if there is reluctance, everyone has accepted the reality and agreed.

Of course, Zhu Shuzong also wanted King Xia to proclaim himself emperor and establish a country as soon as possible, and then his son would be promoted to prince and marry his daughter as soon as possible.

Having trained as a soldier for half his life, he has acquaintances and old acquaintances all over the army, and everyone wants to sell him some face.And he has been diligent and conscientious, suppressing all unreasonable thoughts, and working hard for the old Shao's family with a dull head. Doesn't he ask for something in return?
The two drank for a long time, and they were both a little drunk.

"Yunzhou still has a lot of prosperity. Dalang might as well hang around here for a while. I don't know much about the local government affairs. I leave them to the people below. I have a lot of free time. Why don't we go out together?" Shooting?" Ren Yuji asked with a smile while holding Zhu Shuzong's hand.

"Next time." Zhu Shuzong said apologetically: "The construction of the Yunzhou Academy has been completed, and I have to rush to Luoyang. Wang Shifan patted his ass and left. He still has more than ten thousand strong men who were selected. Your Majesty has an order that the coach of the capital will make the yamen break them up and practice them for later use."

"Wang Shifan?" Ren Yuji smiled: "He lives in Shagou Station outside the city. If you want to know the details of those soldiers, you can ask him more. Several of his brothers are also in the army. General, who are the thorns, ask clearly, kick them out as soon as possible, or simply die. He is very scared now, and he must know everything."

"Okay, then I'll go see him." Zhu Shuzong said.

(End of this chapter)