The years pass by, and the seasons flow by.
Winter has arrived and everything is withered. At the end of October in Sanfu, Gyeonggi Province, a light snow fell, and the cold wind suddenly became biting.
The Guoyong Camp army led by Jia Heng swept across the east of Sanfu. As the Jinyi Mansion detectives observed, within ten months, the soldiers were very fast and the well-equipped officers and soldiers wiped out Weinan County without any suspense. Four groups of bandits entrenched in Shigu Mountain.
The eight to nine thousand troops took a short rest and rolled up their armor and entered Huayin County.
Huayin County Yamen, in the Yamen, all members of the Guoyong camp gathered together. In the braziers under the beams on both sides, charcoal fires lit up with blazing flames, and the Yamen hall was as warm as spring.
The generals gathered around a map depicting the counties, towns and peaks around Huayin to discuss matters, and their voices rang out in the county government hall.
The Huayin County Magistrate, the County Lieutenant and other subordinate officials all looked at the few people with a smile and ordered the county government officials to serve tea to the military master in the Beijing Camp.
After a series of victories in the Shigu Mountain campaign to suppress the bandits, Guo Yong's camp gradually gained some morale, and they spoke louder than before... well, they used to be louder.
However, there is undoubtedly a bit more confidence now.
Governor Che Zheng and Governor Qian Shi Lu He were sitting on a chair nearby, drinking tea and talking, quietly watching several generals and guerrilla generals surrounding the map, discussing how to enter and suppress the bandits in Shaohua Mountain.
At this moment, a deep shout was heard outside the hall, "General Yunhui has arrived."
The noisy sound in the county government office seemed to have been pressed on the pause button. The generals left the square table with a shout and lined up to greet him. Che and Lu also got up from their seats and walked closer.
A pair of eyes turned to the curtain held up by a Jin Yiwei in the back hall. They saw a young man wearing a third-grade military attache's official robe and a wingless official hat with a mountain shape on his head. Surrounded by several Jin Yiwei in flying fish uniforms, he entered. After the case.
"The last general (lower official) has met Mr. Jia." The generals of Guoyong camp, together with the officials of Huayin County, said with their hands clasped together, the sound shook the roof tiles.
Jia Heng's cold gaze under his sword-shaped brows walked past the generals and the magistrate of Huayin, and nodded to Deng Xing, the magistrate of Huayin.
The magistrate of Huayin County was a civil servant, and he saluted him, mostly with the Shangfang sword he held.
Jia Heng sat on the Taishi chair behind the bill and said in a deep voice: "Let's start the discussion."
All the generals responded in unison, and behind them there were two guards in brocade clothes hanging up the map.
Prestige is generally gained through winning battles. No matter how valuable the victory is, prestige is born by itself as one victory leads to another.
Therefore, despite the fact that the thieves in Shigu Mountain were not equipped with full armor and were not organized, even a second-line security force could wipe them out. However, after mopping up this group of thieves, Jia Heng also gathered some people in Guoyong Camp General School. .
Shan Ming, the general in charge, first clasped his fists and said, "Yun Hui, after the four major bandits were wiped out in Shigu Mountain, the Third Assistant was shocked. The bandits entrenched in Shaohua Mountain must be on guard. The scouts in the army who went into the mountain to inspect the military situation have been there recently. There are few signs of these bandits operating in counties and towns."
The guerrilla general Qu Guang had an ugly face, and a scar on the left side of his cheek was still oozing with blood. Hearing this, he cupped his fists and said, "The general thought they must be hiding deep in Shaohua Mountain and planned to fight with our army." Long-term deal.”
General Du Feng said in a deep voice: "I am afraid that the bandits in Shigu Mountain will be destroyed. They have been alerted and do not dare to take up the stronghold to confront our officers and soldiers. However, Shaohua Mountain is a continuous mountain range. Once they hide in the deep mountains and old forests, they will be wiped out again." Difficult."
Che Zheng, the commander-in-chief, also nodded and said solemnly, "Sir, once the bandits hide in the mountains and forests, our army's attack will be affected."
The biggest reason why the previous groups of thieves in Shigushan were destroyed was that they couldn't smash some bottles and cans.
After all, after working so hard for so long, how can we part with the property and the young and old in the village?
In addition, they thought that the officers and soldiers were no different from those who had come to suppress the army before, and still defended the stone stronghold, so they broke the stronghold for the well-equipped officers and soldiers.
Of course, this is also a helpless move.
"It doesn't matter. It's winter now and the weather is extremely cold. They can't survive for long if they escape deep into the mountains. Besides, their bandits' lair can also be found." Jia Heng said in a deep voice and continued: "According to the intelligence from Jinyi Mansion There are nine groups of Shaohua bandits, large and small, with five to six thousand people. They will definitely not be able to live in the mountains and forests for a long time. The only thing I worry about now is to prevent them from abandoning the village and fleeing from Tongguan to Henan and other places. However, I have already known that they will reach Tongguan. The county magistrate and the garrison have been strictly guarding the passes recently to prevent the enemy from escaping eastward to prevent bandits from entering Henan and causing chaos for the victims in Henan."
Due to successive years of natural disasters, people in Henan and Shandong are struggling to make a living. If coupled with the exploitation of corrupt officials in prefectures and counties, it will easily lead to civil unrest.
Che Zheng frowned and asked, "Sir, what will happen if the enemy invades?"
Jia Heng said in a deep voice: "That would be easy. I am about to order the three auxiliary counties in Gyeonggi to set up checkpoints on the main thoroughfares. Patrols will be made in all areas, and soldiers will spread nets on all sides to help suppress them. Later, I will Officials will send notices to the counties west of Huayin in advance to take precautions."
Seeing that the generals had no objections, Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "This time we still need to pay attention to the use of suppression and appeasement, and we must show leniency to those who succumb to thieves because of the difficulties of life."
After that, Jia Heng assigned his own marching missions, mainly to suppress and contain several groups of bandits in Shaohua Mountain.
After the generals left with their military orders, Jia Heng stared at the mountains and rivers on the map, and was lost in thought for a while.
Those who are good at fighting have no great achievements. This time is different from the last time they suppressed the bandits in Cuihua Mountain.
At that time, with hundreds of people in a mob, he could only go deep into the enemy's territory and take a risk.
Nowadays, he uses only upright soldiers, deploys troops and generals with upright divisions, and wins with more than less, so there is no need to use dangerous tactics.
"But it is treating the symptoms rather than the root cause. After this bandit suppression, it is inevitable that they will not come back next year. Previously, many bandits in Shigu Mountain were refugees from Nanyang, Henan and other places who came to Shaanxi. They came from Shangzhou to Sanfu to eat. However, The land of Sanfu is not said to be covered with thorns and hazelnuts, but what I saw along the way was that the people were half-clothed and looked hungry... These are things that the rich and powerful in the city of Shenjing could not see." Jia Heng's eyes were deep. , with a heavy heart.
Even though we know that Chen Han has been in the middle of the dynasty for a hundred years since the founding of the country, and coupled with the changes in celestial phenomena, people's livelihood is in decline, but only by visiting on the spot can we deeply understand how hard the people are living?
Looking at the gray and stooped people, facing the loess and back to the sky, pushing wooden wheelbarrows, going back and forth between dusty villages, towns and counties...
"There will never be any peaceful starvation in this land... In the current situation, we can only streamline the army and streamline the administration, eliminate taxes, and provide the people with a chance to recuperate and recuperate. And rectifying the salt affairs is indeed a breakthrough. At that time, border wages can be eliminated and the people can be provided first. Take a breath, but simply rectifying the salt affairs won't work. Another breakthrough is to refresh the administration of officials... Officials don't have a living." Jia Heng seemed to be able to understand the political pursuits of the Jingzhao governor in the sacred city.
I think Xu Deqing had already seen the current Chen Han wherever he went, looking like a fish swimming in a boiling pot and in danger.
At this moment, Deng Xing, the magistrate of Huayin County, looked at the young dignitary standing in front of the map with a puzzled look, frowning, and his eyes fell on Shang Fang's sword on the bill, and he couldn't move it away for a long time.
Jia Heng also seemed to be aware of it. He turned to look at Deng Xing, the magistrate of Huayin County, and asked: "How did Mr. Deng resettle the refugees who entered Shaanxi from Henan, Shandong and other places?"
The magistrate of Huayin County was also a Jinshi. He served as an official in Huayin for two years and his official reputation was acceptable.
Hearing this, Deng Xing sighed and said: "Yunhui, after the refugees entered Shaanxi, they all wanted to go to Shenjing City to seek life, but Shenjing City was also overwhelmed. The Ministry and Fu Yamen strictly ordered us and other counties to resettle the refugees on the spot and provide them with The land and grain fields are provided for them to cultivate, but Yunhui also knows that there is still extra land in Sanfu? Moreover, these refugees have abandoned their family grain fields and gone to other places to make a living."
Jia Heng was silent for a moment and said slowly: "The land of Sanfu has always been rich. The country's vassals and nobles often set up property and farmland in the prefectures, counties and townships. There is no extra land for the victims to cultivate."
Of course, the small and medium-sized gentry in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Huguang are not too generous in land annexation.
Therefore, it is not feasible to establish farming on the spot.
The problem is not that there is no land to farm, but that these victims have to abandon their grain fields in Shandong and Henan because the harvest is not good and taxes and corvees are too heavy.
In rural areas, the policy of maintaining security is basically implemented. If one or two households flee, the remaining households will have to bear the remaining taxes and corvees, which will naturally cause a chain reaction.
Jia Heng sighed and said: "If the livelihood problems of these people are not solved, bandits in Sanfu will continue to come."
"What Yun Hui said is absolutely true." Hearing this, Deng Xing also somewhat agreed with the young man in front of him.
Let me ask, how can any military general consider the issue of people's livelihood? No wonder this person was still trusted by the Holy One and was given the Shangfang Sword before he reached the age of weak crown.
Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "Next year, the imperial court will eliminate most of the grain taxes and corvee taxes in Henan and Shandong. The misfortunes of the refugees will be greatly alleviated. I will also report to the top and select young men from the two provinces to train as The army is supported and driven with state funds."
Instead of allowing the people to be thieves, some should be used as soldiers in the Beijing camp. The other part can actually establish large-scale military and civilian villages in Shandong, Henan and other provinces, gathering hundreds of thousands of people to build water conservancy projects and help themselves through production.
But the latter is very involved. Who should be in charge of the military and civilian villages?
This must be presided over by capable ministers and officials.
"The governors of Henan and Shandong are now members of the Qi Party. Next year, taxes in these two places will be exempted. It depends on whether the governors of these places can integrate manpower and material resources to control one side." Jia Heng frowned slightly. Thinking.
In the small-scale peasant economy, each household has a very weak ability to resist risks and is very prone to bankruptcy, because the government only appears when collecting taxes and cannot use administrative means to integrate resources and resist risks and natural disasters.
Therefore, it is extremely important to refresh official administration and improve administrative efficiency.
As the saying goes, things are achieved if people win, but they fail if people don't.
The administration of officials is corrupt, even if they conscript the people to dig river channels, or do work-for-relief because they think they have a plan, it's just a fool's errand!
This is just like the Yellow River overflowing in the Yuan Dynasty, but some ministers advocated not building the river embankments. Because corrupt officials can use their hands to turn good things into bad things.
One eye of the stone man stirred up rebellion in the Yellow River and the world.
"As for the dynasty cycle law, millions of people died, committed suicide, and benefited foreigners." Jia Heng thought deeply and sighed again.
"Sir, Qu Qianhu and Song Canjun are back." Just as Jia Heng was thinking, a guard in brocade clothes entered the county government office and said with cupped hands.
After hearing this, Jia Heng ordered: "Let them go to the inner hall to talk."
With that said, he nodded to Deng Xing, then turned around and returned to the inner hall.
Not long after, Qu Lang and Song Yuan, two people from Qianhu in Jinyi, strode in from outside.
The two entered the inner hall and bowed. Jia Heng put down the teacup in his hand and asked, "Have all the refugees been registered in the military?"
As one of the twelve regiment camps, Guoyong Camp has more than 20,000 troops, and more than 9,000 vacancies were found. These soldiers must be filled.
Drawing troops from the three auxiliaries in the capital is not as good as recruiting troops from refugees. It should also be supported and driven with state funds as Jia Heng said more than once before.
Song Yuandao said: "According to your Majesty's instructions, with the cooperation of the magistrate of Shangzhou, we have selected 6,000 young people from Henan and Shandong provinces who entered Shaanxi, but many of them brought their families with them. We have settled in the counties of Gyeonggi. I feel powerless.”
The Guo Yong Camp First Army was controlled by First Class Bo Niu Jizong, and ranked among the top three battalion leaders among the 12 regiment battalions in terms of number of troops.
The number of soldiers was set at more than 22,000, but now there are only 13,400 soldiers on the register. Adding in the soldiers killed in the suppression of bandits some time ago, there are only more than 12,000 left, a difference of nearly 10,000.
No one would complain that they have too many troops under their control. If they don't replenish them, the Ministry of War will reduce the number of troops.
Jia Heng pondered for a moment and said: "Then first organize the 6,000-strong Buhe Guoyong camp into one camp, with 500 men per battalion, and temporarily form twelve new battalion leaders. After they enter Shenjing, I will personally train them. For the remaining vacancies, continue to recruit refugees into the army until they are completely filled, otherwise these refugees will only serve as bandits and cause trouble to the place."
"Yes." Song Yuan and Qu Lang responded.
His move was to reserve soldiers for the new army. As for why he recruited refugees instead of recruiting troops from the original three auxiliary counties?
One is that they are worried about bringing bad luck to the culture of the Beijing camp.
The second is an inhumane thought. Compared with the local sources of soldiers in Shenjing City, when recruiting soldiers from other provinces to come to Beijing, they can only rely on himself.
This is the reason why he lacks interest in rectifying the capital camp. Even if he is appointed as the governor of the capital camp, without the support of direct lineage he has cultivated, he will work for a long time and end up making wedding clothes for others.
Because the emperor can give him power, he can naturally take it back.
But it is different to organize a new army from beginning to end. As the founder of the new army, many of the people are promoted by himself. The soldiers are also from other provinces. It is not easy to be obedient, even if they are rebelling, There are people following.
The nearly 10,000 new troops with new drills and new guns will surely become a decisive military force in the city of Shenjing.
"Many things, no matter how good they are now, but when it comes time to change your mind, if you don't have any strength at all, you can only be a knife and a knife for others, and I am a fish and a piece of meat... let others slaughter you."
Jia Heng thought.
The 12th Regiment Camp of the Beijing Camp, after suppressing the bandits, he could take charge of the Guoyong Camp completely according to his own wishes, which was the limit.
Regardless of merit, seniority, or age, he is not qualified to be the governor of the Beijing camp.
