The next day, Fang Chongyong went to Jingzhao Mansion and happened to catch up with Jing Zhaoyin working in the Yamen.
After explaining the purpose of his visit, Jingzhao Yin Weijian laughed loudly and immediately ordered people to go through the procedures to complete the steps of Cui Qianyou from an official slave to a private slave, and then from a private slave to a subordinate, without any twists and turns at all.
As for the details that require the guarantee of multiple people, they are all ignored, which fully demonstrates what it means to "handle urgent matters urgently, handle special matters specially, and have dedicated personnel handle them exclusively."
These days, the equation of slaves and goods is not just a matter of words, but is clearly written in the Tang Law.
What Fang Chongyong wants to do is essentially "delivery of goods," and it's done just by paying some money.
The transformation of official slaves into private slaves is equivalent to the government's cattle and horses being picked up on the road and taken home by the good family. In theory, they have to be "returned", but in fact, they can be "specially handled", such as redeemed.
This kind of operation is very common. Some officials' homes were confiscated because of their crimes, and their families were turned into slaves. Their whereabouts and circumstances were very complicated.
After the private slaves were released, it became a routine, which was also the established way. As long as the owner agrees and agrees to "release it", the process can be completed according to the procedures. This is also one of the important sources of the family's private army.
Therefore, both of these things are easy to do, and can even be said to be effortless.
However, when Fang Chongyong came to the military camp where Longwu Army was recruiting soldiers and horses outside the city to inquire about the recruitment conditions, it was as if he had been poured cold water on him.
He never expected that Long Wujun, who was well-paid, did not mention much about the qualities that a soldier should have, but was full of tricks!
If you are not a good family member with Chang'an household registration, you will not be accepted!
People with criminal records will not be accepted!
Even more private military units are not accepted.
As for martial arts and military strategy related to the quality of soldiers, they are not tested at all.
It's not like recruiting an elite force that can fight and dare to fight, but it's a bit like a cesspit to accommodate the children of Chang'an's powerful people.
In these days, the Tang Dynasty was full of martial virtue and powerful, and no one thought that the Longwu Army guarding Chang'an had any battles to fight. It seems that not many people who have sneaked into the Longwu Army are eager to make contributions! Everyone comes here for the generous treatment.
Fang Chongyong walked around inside and outside the camp where recruits were recruited, and felt that this army must be useless.
He could finally see that Li Longji wanted to reform Wanqi and eliminate redundant staff, but he realized that the former Wanqi had been raised and wasted and became a tool for palace coups.
Other than that, it's useless for anything else.
Li Longji wanted to disband Wanqi and reorganize the Longwu Army. Although this method was good, it was difficult to implement.
No heroic army can be born from the blood of cowards!
What combat effectiveness will the Yongwu Army, with them as its main members, have rich scoundrels and noble dandies from the Gyeonggi region?
I'm afraid there are many people in the court who understand, but Li Longji thinks there is no problem and believes that he can build a strong army with sophisticated equipment.
After all, Li Longji grew up in a deep palace, was good at conspiracy, and was a complete layman in carrying out military affairs.
Fang Chongyong recalled the customs and customs of the Hexi Corridor that Niu Xianke had shown him, and recalled that among the adult men there, the proportion of those who had served in the military was actually as high as over 90%.
Comparing the two, any fool knows where the high-quality soldiers are.
Since Li Longji ordered those who entered the Longwu Army to be exempted from corvee service and some taxes, officials and children of the rich in Beijing rushed to sign up!
The military camp has almost turned into a vegetable market.
Now the recruitment of Longwu Army can be said to be very hot and the limelight is too high. Because there are too many people paying attention, it is difficult to operate internally.
Fang Chongyong didn't have any special connections in the Longwu Army, and he didn't want to use Fang Youde's name to insert people into the Longwu Army. Therefore, Cui Qianyou's entry into the Longwu Army was in trouble for a while.
Fang Chongyong felt deeply that his communication channels with the government were too narrow. He had a lot of ideas in his head, but no place to use them. Now, he has the reputation of being a wise and handsome son, but he can't do anything and is nothing more than a waste.
It would be great if Lao Zheng was still in Chang'an.
As a result, Cui Qianyou had no choice but to live in Fang Chongyong's home as a "buqu" and wait for things to turn around. In his spare time, Cui Qianyou didn't want to have an idle meal, and "discussed" the art of war with Fang Chongyong every day. It's called "Exercise", but it actually talks about the essentials of the art of war, and it can be regarded as a step-by-step teaching of military strategy.
Taught Fang Chongyong how to set up camp, how to march, and how to organize the team, starting from the most basic things bit by bit.
The possibility of joining the Longwu Army gradually became out of reach as the days passed and the number of soldiers became saturated.
The title of the son of a commander is not omnipotent. There are too many prominent people in Chang'an City. Staying here is like a running person whose hands and feet are tied up. It feels uncomfortable no matter what.
Fang Chongyong had the urge to leave Chang'an urgently.
He felt that if he continued to stay here, he would be useless.
Even if Fang Youde, the scumbag, is the governor of Youzhou, based on this alone, trying to stir up troubles in the center of the turbulent Tang Dynasty and climb up step by step is almost like a daydream.
The prosperous age of the Tang Dynasty was like a raging fire cooking oil, and it could not last long.
Fang Chongyong wanted to plan more for the future and did not want to sink with this ship. He was waiting for Wang Zhongsi to return to Hexi, and then used this opportunity to go to Bian Town to practice.
The troubled times are about to begin, and all the poems and articles, and all the songs and dances that lead to prosperity are all false. The knife in your hand is the only thing you can really rely on.
Fang Chongyong felt that he did not need to deal with those literati in the future, there was no need to waste time on the imperial examination, and there was no need to stay in Chang'an Central Center and play intrigues and intrigues with the bureaucrats.
These things are all a waste of time. Even if you play the lotus flower step by step, after the chaos breaks out, you will not be able to withstand the fatal blow of the Qiu Ba people.
Force and military power, strategy and the use of troops, and even the ability to manage a party and manage logistics are what is necessary for future survival, and this is the direction of his efforts.
As for why he had to wait for Wang Zhongsi to arrive before going to Hexi, it was not because the Tubo people were too fierce. Fang Chongyong was afraid that he would be unattended in the border town and would be attacked by the Tubo people, so he sent it.
Safety first, life-saving is the most important thing.
…
Just when Fang Chongyong was learning the art of war from Cui Qianyou every morning, and going to He Zhizhang's place to "practice calligraphy" in the afternoon, and his life was dull and boring, there was no trouble in the central center of the Tang Dynasty!
Zheng Shuqing, the minister of household affairs and transshipment envoy, was sent to Luoyang on official business and inspected the grain storage situation in Hanjiacang.
You won’t know if you don’t check, but you’ll be shocked if you check!
Hanjiacang's inventory is about 80% less! Its vacancy rate can be said to be a new low since its establishment! It’s probably a little better than the day it was first completed!
In the past few years, both the government and the public have been praising Pei Yaoqing for his achievements in water transportation, and the treasuries of various places are full. Unexpectedly, Hanjiacang, which was the "No. 1 warehouse in the world" during the Wu Zhou period, was mostly empty!
Simply appalling!
Li Linfu wrote a detailed memorial, stating to Li Longji the fact that Luoyang, as a transshipment place for grain and grass, had a far lower grain stock than the standard.
Li Longji was furious after reading this memorandum. In a rage, he dismissed all the officials who had previously handled the grain transfer and investigated them!
As a result, courtiers immediately wrote a letter saying that this was not the reason why Hanjiacang was vacant, and hoped that Li Longji could take back his life.
In government affairs, in fact, many times there is not so much right and wrong, there is only "something to do and something not to do."
From a certain perspective, those people are not purely unreasonable, what they say is quite reasonable.
Pei Yaoqing reformed water transportation and adopted "sectioned" transportation. He transported more than 7 million tons of grain to Chang'an in three years, and his achievements were indeed dazzling.
However, the development of things has two sides. It is normal to have gains and losses.
The reform of water transportation was at the expense of water transportation from Biankou to Luoyang. It had a long-term and profound impact on the layout of water transportation in the Tang Dynasty and even the layout of the national economic center.
It’s just that most people haven’t seen this at this time.
There have been such examples before.
From the beginning of the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the destruction of the Northern Qi Dynasty, Yuchi launched an army in Xiangzhou to rebel against the Sui Dynasty. The politicians all saw the terrifying power of Yecheng in uniting the hearts of Hebei people, so they changed the waterway of the Zhanghe River so that the Yellow River water transport route no longer passed through Yecheng.
Yecheng, which had prospered for hundreds of years since the Three Kingdoms, fell into decline. Yecheng, which lost its water transportation, also lost its status as the economic center of the north.
Since Pei Yaoqing's water transport reform, Luoyang is no longer the only way to go due to the rerouting of water transport routes, so the number of water ships willing to go to Luoyang has become increasingly rare.
In three years, water transportation from Biankou to Luoyang has been reduced by almost 80%!
The transportation volume has gone from one million shi at its peak to less than 200,000 shi now.
The core of Pei Yaoqing's water transport reform, in addition to segmented water transport, is to use Biankou as the core of transshipment and abandon the previous strategy of using Luoyang as the core of water transport.
The water ships are not going to Luoyang, and Hanjiacang can only go in and out. Is it any wonder that the grain stocks are decreasing?
Under the various voices singing praises in the court, the impact of this major change has obviously been deliberately ignored and downplayed.
In this water transportation reform, the government built Heyin County (east of today's Heyin County, Henan Province) and Heyincang at the intersection of the Bianhe River and the Yellow River, built Baiyacang in Heqing County (50 miles southwest of Mengxian County, Henan Province), and built a warehouse on the Yellow River. On the north bank, there is a Jijin warehouse to the east of the three gates, and a Sanmen warehouse (one is used as a salt warehouse) to the west of the three gates.
This reform directly led to the rise of the water transport economy with Bianliang as the core in the future, and established the basic economic pattern of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Its impact was so far-reaching that no one except Fang Chongyong, who had been there before, could fully understand it.
When transporting grain to Chang'an in sections, if the water transportation conditions are suitable, then it will be transported; if the water transportation conditions are not suitable (such as dry season), then it will not be transported.
Its reform ideas are revolutionary.
The implementation effect of this reform cannot be said to be bad, but there is a core problem: such high-intensity grain transportation is unsustainable.
The transportation volume has increased, but the transportation cost has not dropped substantially. Most of these freight costs have to be paid by merchants. This is the economic price that must be paid to establish the capital in Chang'an.
In fact, throughout the entire Tang Dynasty, it was only in the past few years that the amount of grain transported to Chang'an reached more than 2 million shi per year.
The grain coming from Hebei comes from the "Six Prefectures of Yongji Canal", while the grain coming from the Jianghuai River is too long, and canal boats are often blocked and capsized, resulting in extremely high grain transportation costs. Pei Yaoqing's water transportation reform had a great impact on grain transportation north of the canal, but not so much on grain transportation along the Yangtze River and Huaihe River.
If the freight is high, someone must pay for it, either the court or a merchant.
If the court refuses to provide money, the people will stop doing it. No one’s wealth comes from wasted water.
Furthermore, the grain and grass from Jianghuai has now been transferred to Heyincang. If it wants to be transferred to Luoyang, it will have to take an extra long journey, and the grain and grass cannot be transferred from Luoyang to Chang'an.
So now merchants in Jianghuai no longer want to transport grain from Jianghuai and Jiangnan to Luoyang, because the freight is too high and unprofitable. The model currently used by the imperial court is to transport grain through "tendering", and the water vessels directly controlled by the government do not have an advantage.
In other words, after the merchants transported the grain to Luoyang, the government purchased it uniformly and subsidized the freight.
According to actual research sent by Li Linfu, for every stone of Jianghuai grain transported to Luoyang, the average freight cost exceeded 50 Wen. The corresponding shipping subsidy is pitifully low.
The freight cost was too high, and the freight provided by the court was too low, so merchants were unwilling to transport grain from the Jianghuai River!
So from this point of view, the reason why Hanjia Cang is mostly empty is not because the transshipment officials are unwilling to work hard, but because there are many objective constraints that prevent them from using their abilities.
The problem of food transportation is not only a problem of transportation, but also the overall mechanism of the imperial court, which cannot adapt to the new economic situation!
These convoluted truths sound like what they are. But in Li Longji's view, what he needs is not an excuse, but whether the matter has been completed.
Hanjiacang is the country's strategic reserve. If it is not fully stocked, it is dereliction of duty!
Are there other issues that a saint like him should worry about?
As for the changes in the canal route and water transportation methods, he didn't want to ask or hear about those trivial matters!
Faced with a new dilemma, Li Linfu prescribed his own prescription to Li Longji.
First of all, all the old transfer officials were dismissed and replaced with new ones (mostly Li Linfu's own party members). This is called neither breaking nor establishing.
Secondly, the Hebian method was implemented in the Luoyang area, and grains were purchased from the private sector at a high price in Fengnian, 20% higher than the market price, to meet the reserve needs of Hanjiacang.
The money and silk needed came from Jianghuai and Jiangnan.
Thirdly, the household tax will be increased in the six prefectures of Yongjiqu, Hebei. The household tax of each household will be increased by 20%, and the rent will be paid in grain.
Finally, grain was transported from the Jianghuai River to lighter weight and higher value cloth and local specialties from various places. Then use these cloths to go to Hebei to buy grain for transportation.
In this way, the cost of transshipment can be reduced, while the grain reserves of several strategic granaries can be filled to prepare for the war in the Hexi Corridor and Longyou.
As for the "small problems" such as the fact that all the grain in Hebei was transported away, causing the grain to be expensive and the cloth to be cheap, Li Linfu had not considered it.
It’s just that Hebei is the Hebei of the Tang Dynasty, not the Hebei of Hebei. When necessary, sacrifices must be made. The so-called balance of interests, considering all things considered, someone will naturally have to make sacrifices.
Jiangnan and Jianghuai are far apart, and the Tongji Canal is often blocked, so transportation conditions are really poor. Even if Li Linfu wants these places to be "sacrificed", the efficiency is too low!
Only Hebei has the manpower, strength, and good transportation conditions.
All in all, Li Linfu's plan does not require expansion of the canal's transportation capacity in the next few years. After the new river channel is excavated and the grain and fodder from Luoyang can be transported directly to Chang'an, the overall plan will be made.
Li Longji was very satisfied with the detailed plan, but he still asked Li Linfu several key questions.
Li Longji asked: Will such reforms affect the supply of grain and fodder in Chang'an?
Li Linfu said it would not affect him because Hebei Province continued to supply food and the freight for transshipment was relatively low.
Li Longji asked again: Does the state treasury need to contribute more money?
Li Linfu said no, because the rice grains in Jiangnan and Jianghuai were replaced by cloth to facilitate transportation. Therefore, the money in the treasury is not less, but more!
Li Longji asked again: Will it affect the war in Youzhou?
Li Linfu replied: The tax increase only applies to the six prefectures of Yongji Canal and not to other places in Hebei. The grain and fodder are exclusively for the border towns of Youzhou for military needs, so there will be no bad impact.
Hearing these words, Li Longji was completely relieved.
He directly issued an edict, ordering Zheng Shuqing, the minister of household affairs and transshipment envoy, to be responsible for the transshipment of grain and fodder in Hanjiacang. Regardless of other matters, it was exclusively for the grain and fodder needed for the Hexi war.
And a special granary was built outside Chang'an City and around Guangyuntan in the lower reaches of Ba River. It is specially used for grain harvesting to receive grain from Guandong.
After settling all this, Li Longji took Yang Yuhuan to the Huaqing Palace in Lishan for a vacation. He no longer interfered with government affairs. Li Linfu took charge of the overall situation and just dealt with it first and then reported it. He will come back next year during the Lantern Festival.
Huaqing Palace is built on the back of the mountain and facing the Wei River, leaning against the Li Peak Mountain. It is large in scale and has magnificent buildings and pavilions all over the Li Mountain. This place is famous for its high-quality hot springs. It was first named "Tangquan Palace" and later renamed Hot Spring Palace.
During the Kaiyuan period, it was renamed Huaqing Palace again. Because it was located in Lishan Mountain, it was also called Lishan Palace, Li Palace, Xiuling Palace, etc.
When the harsh winter comes, taking a bath in a hot spring is indeed a treat only an emperor can enjoy.
I have to say that it was Yang Yuhuan who awakened Li Longji's second spring. He has been overcoming obstacles since he was a boy, overthrowing political opponents one after another, and finally created this prosperous situation.
Is it just for those unscrupulous people? Li Longji obviously does not believe that "success does not depend on me."
For him, enjoyment comes first to me. Yang Yuhuan stimulated Li Longji's desire for enjoyment, making him addicted and unable to extricate himself.
…
"We finally arrived in Chang'an."
Outside Chang'an Chunming Gate, the burly Wang Zhongsi looked intently at the crowds of people going out and into the city, and couldn't help but sigh.
With the order of the saint, he returned to Guanzhong from Kuizhou and was appointed as the general of the left army of the Longwu Army, responsible for guarding the Chang'an Palace.
This appointment... was actually not what he wanted.
"Let's go into the palace first and then talk."
Wang Zhongsi sighed. He hadn't returned to Chang'an for a long time. He didn't know if things had changed.
