My aunt is older than Zhang Yan. She is forty-four years old this year.
People say that love fades with age, but this rule can be said to be completely invalid with my aunt.
Because he is a beauty like Sawaguchi Yasuko! Not to mention the age of forty-four, Yasuko Sawaguchi is still very good-looking at the age of fifty-seven, and her aunt is no less generous.
And people's aesthetics will really continue to adapt to their own age as they grow older.
When I was in my teens or 20s, when I saw women in their thirties or forties, I would just think that they were already old women.
But as I reached my thirties and forties, I suddenly discovered that among the women of the same age whom I had previously dismissed as old women, there were still many beauties with good looks and figures.
On the contrary, those girls in their teens and twenties that I liked before will look very immature and lack charm.
So Zhang Yan still likes his aunt very much.
My aunt is also very good at catering to her preferences. She has a group of beauties from the Western Regions under her command. When the emperor wants to change his taste, he can dazzle Zhang Shengren without leaving her palace.
The unique advantage of being able to raise beauties in the harem is determined by the unique status of the aunt, because in addition to the title of concubine Shu, the aunt also has a position of real power, the wife of Shanshan County.
The so-called Shanshan County refers to the Zhongyun Kingdom where Zhang Yan fought his first battle after leaving Dunhuang. It is roughly equivalent to part of Jiahami City in Ruoqiang County in later generations.
After Zhang Yan killed King Zhongyun Sanpoba here, he handed over the entire Zhongyun Kingdom to his aunt.
After that, my aunt has been ruling the country as Queen Zhongyun. Even after she became Zhang Yan's concubine, the Zhongyun Kingdom was not disbanded. It just changed from Zhongyun Kingdom to Shanshan County. She is the only one in Zhang Zhou who is still there. A place named after a county.
In the past, Zhongyun State had 80,000 to 90,000 citizens, which was not considered wealthy. However, with the smooth flow of trade routes over the years, the oases in Shanshan County have been basically developed, and the population has grown to 130,000. In Shanshan City alone, there are two More than ten thousand people.
Although the commercial tax in Shanshan County is collected by the state and only a small part, about 5%, is given to my aunt, the other taxes in Shanshan County basically go into my aunt's pocket.
Therefore, she can support a Western Beauty Dance Band with hundreds of people, and her appearance is also very good.
Of course, Shanshan County has the former Loulan Kingdom under its jurisdiction, and there are still a large number of Guinwei people who belong to ancient Loulan. This ethnic group is very capable of producing beauties.
However, Zhang Yan did not touch any of the Loulan beauties today, but fought three hundred rounds with his aunt. He had hundreds of resources and more than thirty famous concubines and beauties. It was a rare initiative for Zhang Shengren.
The clouds had settled and the rain had stopped. My aunt was half leaning on the bed. She was holding a luminous cup made of jasper in her left hand. She looked through the moonlight and saw a strange vermilion ice-cold purple wine in the jasper cup. Then she took a big sip. He drank it all in one gulp and let out a satisfied sigh.
After finishing the wine, the aunt naturally stretched out her hand and lifted the emperor's head onto her plump thighs.
After enjoying the rare initiative, the aunt sighed. She knew that the emperor's attentiveness was not so easy to bear.
"Tell me, my Mr. Zhang Erlang, what are you planning again?"
Zhang Hao moved his head to make himself lie down more comfortably, then closed his eyes and said slowly:
"The Han people in Jiaozhou cannot be allowed to stay any longer. If they stay here any longer, these guys will turn themselves into transcendent beings for the sake of profit."
My aunt has always paid attention to politics, so of course she knew about Jing Haijun's situation, but she said indifferently:
"What does this have to do with it? Let's break up the inward migration. Now Hebei, Andong, Lelang, and North Korea are all short of people. Didn't Nobunaga write a letter saying that they want to manage and develop the Guandong Plain, and they also need a large number of Han people who can farm."
After finishing speaking, seeing that the emperor had no words, the aunt continued: "If Erlang doesn't want to move them inland, then he can only kill them. Killing a hundred and eighty thousand people will naturally be honest."
Zhang Hao smiled bitterly, "Relocating people will only make it easier for more and more real Yue people, making it more difficult to resist the encroachment of the Champa Kingdom.
Killing can only solve a temporary problem, not a lifetime problem. "
My aunt understood that Zhang Yan was not dissatisfied with the two methods of removal and killing, but was worried that it would not last long.
She suddenly reacted, with a bit of unbelievable joy on her face, "Isn't it that Erlang wants Third Brother to go to Annan?
No, no! "
As she spoke, her aunt Li Ruoliu shook her head vigorously, "If third brother goes to Annan, that is a good thing that I can only dream of. I should let you serve you. The emperor is eyeing this coffin capital of this slave!"
The third brother is Zhang Xianzhao, the third son of the emperor, born to Li Ruoliu. He is currently fourteen years old and studying at Longtao Academy.
As my aunt said, although the climate in Annan is a bit hotter, it is still much better than Tochara. Although the locals like to make trouble, they are not as alien to me as Tochara, and the difficulty of ruling is much lower. few.
More importantly, the Chu vassal state of Zhang Xianzhao's brother Zhang Xiancun is just to the north. When Zhang Xianzhao gets there, the two brothers can still help each other, which is definitely 10,000 times better than Zhang Xianzhao going to Tochara.
Thinking of this, my aunt's face became bright and she said very generously, "Three hundred thousand guan, no! I will give you 400,000 guan."
"Do you have so much money?" Zhang Hao looked at his aunt in surprise.
Shanshan County looks quite big, but it only has a few hundred thousand people. Some places are not as poor as the Central Plains and are still very poor.
Therefore, the annual tax is only 60,000 to 70,000 guan. After deducting the salaries of Shanshan County officials, the amount in hand will not exceed 40,000 guan.
This money seems to be a lot, but my aunt has to maintain her huge troupe of Loulan beauties, and she also has to support her brothers and nephews.
Not long ago, Zhang Xiancun got married and became a feudal lord, and his aunt paid out hundreds of thousands more. She must have been squeezed out a lot!
The aunt smiled slyly, "Did Erlang forget about the bank meeting? I can use Shanshan County's future tax revenue as collateral to loan out the money!"
That's right, Zhang Yan rolled his eyes speechlessly. His mind was constrained by the fact that he could no longer issue more bank notes. He didn't expect that although he could not issue more bank notes, the bank's business of attracting deposits, lending, and exchanging money in other places was still going on.
Shanshan County's tax revenue can be said to be a very high-quality mortgage. Not to mention 400,000 guan, 800,000 guan can be loaned out, and the interest rate can be much lower than ordinary people.
However, my aunt still didn't realize the danger of Zhang Xianzhao going to Annan.
Because Annan is different from Dali. Although Annan often makes troubles, from the beginning to the end, this land is a piece of Jin Mau and has never been sealed off by the king.
If Zhang Xianzhao is sealed to Annan now, there is no guarantee that the prince who succeeds to the throne in a few decades will not attack Zhang Xianzhao.
At the same time, even if Zhang Xianzhao can follow his father's will and govern Annan loyally and diligently, what about his descendants? It’s hard to say whether there will be completely independent ideas.
Therefore, the advantage of having a king in Annan is that he can quickly control it and ensure that Annan is on the right path for at least a few decades.
But the disadvantage is that with the king's title and the legitimate vassal state, it is conceivable that in the future, when the Annan royal family and the Central Plains royal family have thin blood and indifferent feelings, there is a high probability that trouble will still occur.
The reason is that the southwest where the Chu vassal state is located needs the support of the court in many aspects, including material aspects.
But Annan is a place that can even be self-sufficient in culture and is naturally full of independence.
The aunt's breathing became rapid. On the one hand, the second son could be with his elder brother and sit in the temptation of a country with a population of one million. On the other hand, in the future, the children and grandchildren of the second son might end up like Wu Wang Liu Bi.
It’s really hard to choose!
Not only was it difficult for the aunt to make a choice, but Zhang Yan was actually having a hard time making a decision. This was his own son. If something unexpected happened, how could he, as a father, feel better?
But the situation forced Zhang Hao to make another choice. He sighed and said:
"According to my judgment, the reason why Annan always makes trouble is a matter of interests.
People will be dissatisfied if they are too far away from the Central Plains and cannot enjoy the benefits of the imperial court. Instead, they have to be plundered by the imperial court.
To solve this problem, the only way is to prosper maritime trade like the Tang Dynasty did in the past.
If navigation technology develops further, sea ships can sail freely in Dashe and Tianzhu, and if the Central Plains becomes richer and can afford Kunlun slaves, then the Annan people will be able to benefit from these sea trade routes, and they will not be so resistant to the imperial court.
It will take at least thirty to fifty years for this to take hold, so the best way at the moment is to seal a prince to Annan.
But I am not sure whether anything else will happen to Annan in these three to fifty years. "
Zhang Yan's words actually gave the choice directly to his aunt. Zhang Yan had already fully explained why he wanted to seal the king to Annan now.
Isn't this Annan dissatisfied with the unilateral blood sucking, so the court will not suck blood, and instead use a vassal king to suck blood.
The vassal king replaced the role of the court and distributed this part of the benefits to the high-level civil and military officials in Annan, forming a distribution model in which the court received 10% through the vassal king's contribution, the vassal king himself received 40%, and the high-level civil and military officials of the vassal king received the remaining 50%. Together we suppress the dissatisfaction of the civilians below.
In this medieval era, as long as the knowledgeable and trouble-making local people are brought into the ruling group, the dissatisfaction below can basically be completely ignored, at least to ensure stability for decades.
The only risk is whether the feudal king will be hijacked as time goes by and whether his loyalty will be in question.
The two were silent for a long time, and the aunt slowly opened her eyes. She resisted the temptation, but it seemed that she did not resist it completely, because she said to Zhang Hao:
"Then we won't call you a king, we won't open a mansion, we will only give you the title of king, and the meritorious officials who go from the south of the king will not be given the title of prince, magistrate, or patrol envoy, but will only be given the command of the garrison and small patrols.
After the third brother left, he would only be in charge of military matters, while civil affairs would still be returned to the imperial court. "
Since Zhang Zhou had inspection envoys at home and abroad, he called the inspection envoys who were feudal lords in the vassal state the Grand Inspection Inspectors, and the inspection divisions who were only eighth-grade military attachés in the country were called the Small Inspections Inspections.
Zhang Gao thought about it carefully, wasn't this the trick used by the Mu family, Duke of Guizhou in the Ming Dynasty, to guard Yungui.
That is to say, the military power and political power were separated. The affairs of provinces, prefectures and counties were still managed by officials appointed by the imperial court. The prince controlled the military affairs as the largest armed leader in the area, and the tasks of suppression, revolt, and appeasement were all completed by the prince.
It's just that the Duke of Guizhou is the leader of the chieftains in Yunnan and Guizhou. After the canonization, the Mu family is the largest chieftain in Yunnan and Guizhou in name.
Li Ruoliu's proposal was to let Zhang Xianzhao be the leader of the entire Annan Guard Army commanders.
Maybe this is a way, Zhang Yan nodded slowly, then let Zhang Xianzhao become a king, and then set up thirteen guard armies in the thirteen states of Annan.
These garrison troops were not under the command of provincial Pingzhang, nor were they under the Ministry of War and the Privy Council, but were under the management of Zhang Xianzhao.
"That's okay, then make the third brother the king of Tang Dynasty, with a settlement of 15,000 households, build three guards on the left, middle and right of the king of Tang Dynasty as guards, and set up 2,000 household guards in each of the thirteen states, and thirty-nine more The key to inspection and control is under the control of Third Brother."
The food towns of these 15,000 households were actually sealed, and there were about 75,000 people. One of the ten men could have more than 3,000 soldiers.
The 13th Guards and 39th Inspections below can also have 30,000 to 40,000 households, and a total of more than 10,000 troops can be dispatched.
These more than 50,000 households will become Annan's masters. Whether it is suppressing internally or revolting externally, it should be enough.
However, the aunt was obviously dissatisfied. She pushed Zhang Shengren up from her numb thigh, then stretched out her five fingers and shook Zhang Hao and said:
"I will give 500,000 yuan to 30,000 households, and then give the old Jiaozhi City of the Han Dynasty to my third brother."
Thirty thousand households means a population of about 150,000, but Zhang Yan thought about it carefully and felt that he could give it.
Because there are a lot of people in Annan. Take the current main ten envoys as an example. The small ones have two or three thousand households, the large ones have tens of thousands of households. The average number is about six thousand households, which is 300,000 people. Wu The family may still control about 20,000 households and about 100,000 people.
This is 400,000 people, but it is only the situation in the four core states. If we include the remaining nine states that the Jinghai Navy Chicken Fighting Organization has no time to take back, the entire Jinghai Navy has at least 700,000 people.
Therefore, historically, the Jing Navy was quite afraid of attacks from the Southern Han Dynasty, because there were 12.3 million people in the Southern Han Dynasty and the core of the Jing Navy was only 400,000.
But the Southern Han Dynasty could not win against the Jing Navy for sure, because these 400,000 people were relatively concentrated, and tens of thousands of them could be mobilized at any time.
Thirty thousand households and 150,000 people, this size is equivalent to one-fifth of the current population of Jinghai Navy. It is not a lot, but it is not too small either. It can be regarded as a more appropriate number.
However, Zhang Xianzhao is only fourteen years old now. If he wanted to join the feudal clan, he would have to be around eighteen years old.
During these four or five years, there must be a capable minister to replace Zhang Xianzhao, and he must be willing to take good care of Jinghai Haijun for Zhang Xianzhao.
The aunt obviously also thought about this problem. He looked at Zhang Yan and asked: "Erlang, how old is Zhang Cheng's eldest daughter this year?"
Zhang Hao's eyes lit up, and he happened to think of Zhang Cheng, "She should be nine or ten years old."
Zhang Chen still had some impression of Zhang Cheng's Huniu. The last time she and Hu Guang's daughter Hu Jie had a fight in the palace, and no one could pull them away. In the end, Zhang Gao personally went to mediate.
"You are four or five years younger. It's not a big problem. Let me write to Zhang Cheng." The little aunt said with a smile.
Human society! This is how politics works in bed. With Zhang Cheng's status, having him stay in Jinghai Haijun for four or five years would definitely be regarded as derogatory.
But if he were to support his daughter, son-in-law, and future grandson, he would be more than happy to do so.
. . . .
Once the model of how to govern Annan is determined, the battle to regain Annan will be much easier.
Because the Wu family of Jing Haijun plus the ten envoys totaled more than 400,000 people.
At this scale, we can only produce 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers with all our strength, of which there are only about 5,000 or 6,000 elite tooth soldiers, and the rest are similar to the arresting soldiers of the Central Plains Inspection Division.
In the tenth year of Shaoming, AD 955, it was the end of the first month.
Zhang Xiancun, who had basically taken control of the Chu vassal state, followed the orders of his father Zhang Shengren and began to send 4,000 Chu vassal northern troops, 7,000 southern troops, and 15,000 Zhang Chengsuo subordinates and forbidden troops who were still in Chu vassal territory. People all gathered in Jia Yongbu.
Jia Yongbu's first step should be this port, which means the water and land wharf is the main point.
In ancient times, people in remote areas liked to use this step instead of port, which means that when you reach this point, you have almost reached the end of traditional Han culture and it is time to stop.
The specific location of Jia Yongbu should be more than ten miles northwest of Hekou County in later generations. It was considered a transportation hub in the upper reaches of the Red River at this time.
In order not to alarm the enemy, Zhang Xiancun made a big statement to the outside world, specifying that he was going to attack the Tang Mo tribe and the Niuhou barbarians who did not surrender, which were the barbarians who later lived in the Dien Bien Phu area in northwest Vietnam.
In fact, it wouldn't be a big problem if Zhang Xiancun didn't issue this memorandum, because Jing Haijun's Ten Envoys and the Wu family had long lost their control over the upper reaches of the Red River.
This natural danger related to whether Jing Haijun would be attacked by the upper reaches of the Red River was actually guarded by some Baiyue people who ostensibly submitted to Jing Haijun.
The Chu army pretended to be Jia Yongbu for a long time, scaring the head of the Tang Mo tribe to the point where he had runny noses and tears. When Jia Yongbu buckled his head and admitted his mistake, the bull roaring barbarians even burned down the village and ran to the mountains to hide.
The Chu army suddenly moved southward, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
The army went down the Red River and easily broke through Jinghai's Jixi Prefecture, Linxi Prefecture (Lao Cai, Vietnam), Duoli Prefecture (Yen Bai, Vietnam) and other places.
In just six days, 30,000 civilians and civilians had rushed to Xinchang County, Fengzhou.
This place is near Yongfu City in Vietnam in later generations, and is only about 70 miles away from Guluo (Hanoi). The person occupying here is Wu Riqing, one of the Ten Envoys.
Wu Riqing is Wu Quan's nephew and can be regarded as a clan relative of the Wu family. Among the ten envoys, he is the one who is more devoted to the Wu family. Therefore, he is stronger and controls about 9,000 households under his command.
Wu Riqing was only a teenager at this time. Although he was one of the Ten Envoys, all the power was in the hands of his mother and uncle.
Facing the menacing Chu army, both his mother and uncle hoped to abandon Xinchang and retreat to Tanglin County while the Chu army was still in the stronghold.
Because Tanglin County is the hometown of the Wu Riqing clan, it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the city is strong enough to hold on.
But Wu Riqing, who is in adolescence, feels that this is a good time to take back his power.
Therefore, he strongly opposed retreating to Tanglin County. The reason was that although Tanglin County was the hometown of the Wu family, it was much poorer than Xinchang County.
Xinchang County is densely populated, and most of the Wu family's wealth is in Xinchang County. If they were to withdraw, the losses would be heavy.
Money and silk touch people's hearts! Wu Riqing quickly convinced the Wu family, and they unanimously decided to stick to Xinchang County.
As a result, Wu Riqing actually regained some power, but in this way, their entire family lost the only chance to escape.
In mid-February, Zhang Cheng ordered 30,000 Chu troops to surround and attack on all sides.
The Wu family only had more than 4,000 defenders in Xinchang County. In addition, Xinchang County was built on the Red River Plain, so there was no danger to defend it. After only five days of siege, the Chu army used rams to crush the eastern part of Xinchang County. city wall.
Then the army entered the city, and sitting in Xinchang County, Wu Riqing, who thought he had used a clever trick to regain his family property, and dozens of others including his mother, uncle, and uncles, were all captured by the Chu army.
After Zhang Cheng entered the city, he began to use Xinchang County as a logistics base to prepare for the next attack.
(End of chapter)
