During the Kaiyuan period, the Tang Dynasty established large-scale farming on the border to provide military supplies.
With the steady increase in the number of farms, the central transportation of grain and grass to border towns has been decreasing.
In peacetime, border towns can basically guarantee self-sufficiency in food and grass.
By the end of Kaiyuan, there were a total of 1,037 farms in the country, one of which was 5,000 acres of land.
As for the 154 villages in Hexi, this number ranks third among border towns, second only to Hebei, which has a vast territory and a large amount of cultivated land, and Longyou, which is preparing for Tibetan invasion of the capital.
But considering the population size of the Hexi region, the scale of this farmland is quite astonishing, ranking first in the country, and the proportion of farmland in all cultivated land is much higher than in other places!
It can even be said that the proportion of farmland in the Hexi Corridor is dominated by farmland. These villagers are also the main soldiers of the Hexi armies. Their service time is long but not continuous, and they can basically guarantee regular rotation.
Therefore, the fundamentals of society here are that every family has land, every household has a soldier, and land annexation has been greatly suppressed. The system implemented cannot be completely summarized as "Long March athletes" or "Fu soldiers".
Their nature is actually closer to a weakened version of Fu soldiers.
That is: there is no need to bring your own armaments, there is no need to worry about food supplies, and there is no problem with regular rotation. The spring clothes and winter clothes as rewards are in short supply, and there are basically no material rewards for combat.
Li Linfu's military reform was based on the Hexi Frontier Army as a model, and after slight improvements, it was implemented in other areas.
Different from the original military system in Hexi, if the Long March athletes to be recruited have family members who are not in the border areas, they will be moved to the border areas and settled in the nature of farming.
If the family members of those who have already served in the military are not in the local area, they will be moved to the border town by the prefecture and county where they are located.
Then the central government spends money to purchase spring clothes and winter clothes, which are distributed twice a year in the form of finished or semi-finished products as military pay for the garrison soldiers.
That's right, these clothes are not given to the soldiers to wear, but are given to them as money to support their families.
According to the rules of farming, all the labor of the garrison family members was used for military supplies on the frontier, which was separated from the rent of ordinary households.
Theoretically, the financial burden of these people is far less than that of ordinary households.
It must be said that this reformed system is in line with the needs of the times.
Since the Wu Zhou period, the flight of government soldiers has greatly affected social stability and created a huge number of illegal households! These deserters, whose identities cannot be exposed, are all fleeing with their families.
They either fled into the mountains and forests, or took refuge with the powerful and became undercover, or changed their names and became illegal "clients" to survive. Anyway, they just disappeared from the government's household registration, and many ruffians of unknown origins were added to the mix, disrupting the society. Local policing.
Li Linfu's military reform was accompanied by a census of household registrations, the capture of idle members of society with unknown origins, escorting them to border towns to join the army, settling down their families, and changing their household registrations to military registrations for farming.
This reform will be completed within four years and has been approved by Li Longji.
A very grand military reform, which is also very consistent with the current situation of Datang. It can be regarded as a package solution to the problems accumulated in the past.
Acknowledge some of them as "reasonable as they exist", and omit some of them that waste people and money. Whatever comes conveniently.
Many people can see the hidden dangers of reform, but... we can only choose the lesser of two evils.
This reform was passed calmly by Zhongshu Province and was issued as an imperial edict. It did not cause any disturbance, not even a single opposition person came out to criticize.
It's not that no one has an opinion on the military reform, but now both the government and the public are trying to impeach Fang Youde for disrupting the border town and resorting to militarism.
Many central court officials resisted the decree. In order to favor Fang Youde, Li Longji actually awarded his son Fang Chongyong the title of "Captain Guoyi"!
Xue Rengui went on an expedition with Taizong. Due to his bravery in battle, he was awarded the title of Captain Guoyi when he returned as a reward. Although this position is useless now, it carries great honor!
A ten-year-old child has only been on the battlefield once (the kind that was under siege), and has never even touched a knife. Just because he was Fang Youde's only son, he was awarded the title of "Captain Guoyi"... Is there anything more ridiculous in the world than this?
This time I really couldn't bear it. Except for the right prime minister Li Linfu who remained silent, almost everyone in the court, civil and military, opposed this appointment.
However, what the central court officials did not expect was that there really was something more ridiculous in the world than conferring "Captain Guo Yi" on a ten-year-old child.
That is, Li Longji bypassed Zhongshu Province and directly issued an order to Shangshu Province: Grant Fang Chongyong the position of governor of Ganzhou and take up the post immediately!
At this time, Chang'an no longer had a courtier in a high position like Zhang Jiuling, who was both eloquent and iron-headed. Anyone who is not blind can see that Brother Ji is serious this time and wants to enforce his will.
But no one, including Li Linfu, fully understood the specific will to be implemented.
The noisy court, like a duck being strangled by the neck, was completely muted.
…
Lingzhou City in Shuofang was a huge border town with a different meaning to the Tang Dynasty, not just because Shuofang Jiedushi was located here.
After Emperor Taizong worked hard for decades, in the 20th year of Zhenguan, after decades of disputes and wars.
The so-called "Nine Tiele surnames", including the Huihe, Bayegu, Tongluo, Pugu, Duolage, Sijie, Adi, Qibi, Dijie, Hunbu, Huxue and other eleven tribes, have voluntarily attached themselves to Da. The Tang Dynasty sent envoys south to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty to show their surrender.
Here in Lingzhou City, Taizong and his accompanying officials witnessed the glory of the Tang Dynasty. Its majesty spread far and wide, and all foreign vassals surrendered.
Taizong was very happy after accepting the pilgrimage and asked the envoys to return to each tribe and then invite their Khans and leaders to attend the alliance in Lingzhou.
His wish also came true.
In September of this year, Taizong set out from Chang'an, passed through Jingzhou, and Yuanzhou and arrived in Lingzhou. He met and entertained the leaders of various tribes and their envoys who came one after another for appointments.
On the day of the alliance, they were given a grand welcome by thousands of tribal leaders and envoys. They presented gifts to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and asked him to honor him as the "Khan of Heaven". They also made an oath that "I would like to be the Supreme Lord of Heaven as a slave to the Khan of Heaven, and my descendants would be willing to be the Supreme Lord of Heaven as a slave to Heaven, and I would die without hatred."
No matter whether this oath was always followed or not, at least this alliance injected a powerful spirit into the Tang Dynasty, which is unimaginable by future generations.
The society of the Tang Dynasty was high-spirited and inclusive; the principle of "I am the leader and the world is one family" began to formally take shape at this time.
Lingzhou City is a good place, Taizong thought so at the time, and Shuofang Jiedushi Wei Guangcheng also thought so.
However, he has to say goodbye to this place today... probably forever.
Fang Youde stationed troops at Qikou, which made Wei Guangcheng extremely angry and panicked. What was even more annoying was that the other party not only did not explain why he wanted to enter the Shuofang Army's defense area, but also asked him to provide military rations!
This was unbearable, so Wei Guangcheng was furious and sent a memorial to Chang'an to complain, describing Fang Youde as a domineering and unruly general.
Well, actually what he said was not a lie. Judging from the performance of Jiedushi in the past, it seems that there is really no one more "arrogant" than Fang Youde.
Wei Guangcheng originally thought that even if Brother Ji did not investigate and deal with the situation, he would transfer the Youzhou border troops away from Qikou. Unexpectedly, the last thing he waited for was an order for dismissal and investigation!
Wei Guangcheng didn't understand what the problem was at all. He did nothing but complained once, and he ended up like this.
Is there any royal law in the Tang Dynasty?
What Wei Guangcheng didn't know was that the reason why he was investigated was not actually because of that memorandum, nor because of the edict issued to Gao Lishi by Brother Ji in a fit of enthusiasm, but because of the edict sent by Fang Youde two days later. A letter to Chang'an.
It was this letter that led Li Longji to investigate Wei Guangcheng, fully accept Fang Youde's plan, and finally give Fang Chongyong a promotion.
In the letter, Fang Youde explained the reasons and purposes of this military operation.
"Green Tea Bitch" Ba Yegu was not attacked by the Turks. On the contrary, they were seeking to encircle and annihilate the Turks with the help of the Tang Dynasty!
Fang Youde told Ji Ge his plan: to instigate an uprising of nine Tiele surnames and jointly divide the areas directly controlled by the Turkic Royal Court! Then divide the grassland into nine! Let the Turks become history directly!
This time, he found a member of the Pugu tribe among the nine surnames of Tiele as his internal agent. The son of the chief of the Pugu tribe was called Pugu Huai'en. Fang Youde asked Brother Ji to give him an official title and then let him lead the way.
As for why they joined forces with the Khitans and the Xi people to "rescue" Ba Yegu, it was to stir up trouble and make the Nine Surnames of Tiele and the Khitans also fight!
In the future, the grasslands will be the Warring States Period, and these tribes will unite to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty. As for the relationship between them, Datang will not interfere, but will secretly support some people and exclude others, and beat whoever is stronger!
The Tang army sat at Qikou and just waited for the outcome of their melee. When the fight is almost over, send troops to the Turks to take advantage.
This is to do the most things with the least money and the least soldiers.
After the nine Tiele surnames are defeated and the Turks are completely dead, the fish that have slipped through the net of the Turkic royal family will be brought to the Tang Dynasty for resettlement. When the Youzhou frontier army returned to Youzhou, they sent people to question the Khitans why they wanted to take advantage of the situation and attack the Tiele tribes.
You can take the opportunity to blackmail and beat them up.
In this way, the situation in the north can be determined, and there will be no major problems within ten years.
As for why the Turks attacked Hexi, Fang Youde said that he had only heard about it not long ago and he did not know the reason, but it should have nothing to do with his military operations.
As for Shuofang Jiedu's envoy Wei Guangcheng, Fang Youde was not mentioned at all. He didn't look down on this kind of food and wine bag.
On one side are the do-it-yourselfers who have come up with an amazing overall strategy and have already implemented it themselves, and do not need Brother Ji to worry about it; on the other side are the "half-grown children" who will only complain about grievances and let the "parents" come out to uphold justice. With decades of experience, Brother Ji certainly knows how to choose!
So Ji Ge ordered the removal of Shuofang Jiedu envoy Wei Guangcheng back to Chang'an for trial, and allowed the former prince of the country to offer wine to Zhang Houyin, the fourth grandson, and the censor Zhang Qiqiu to serve as the new Shuofang Jiedu envoy, fully supporting Fang Youde in the grassland Use troops.
And rejected the Turks' previous requests for marriage and mutual trade.
Ji Ge also ordered that Li Shizhi, the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, should not slack off and send more sergeants to patrol the north to prevent the Khitans from sneak attacks on Youzhou.
This can be regarded as full support for Fang Youde's use of troops.
Originally, the Turks were not so miserable, because Brother Ji had some doubts about whether to fall out with the Turks.
But this time the Turks attacked Liangzhou first, and Fang Youde planned the independence of the nine surnames of Tiele. In this case, don't blame him for being cruel.
The war machine of the Tang Dynasty began to operate at high speed. In both directions of Shuofang and Hexi, the clouds of war were gathering, and a stormy war was about to break out.
…
After another day of writing the "One Penny Letter to Family", Fang Chongyong was now so famous that even the garrison soldiers in Liangzhou City came to him to write letters to his family. Fang Chongyong refused to accept anyone who came, and he would write as long as he was given a penny. It was completely impossible to tell that he was a government official with a profound background.
Although his popularity in Liangzhou City has been frighteningly high, Fang Chongyong's ambition is not high now. All his ambitions before coming to Liangzhou were dampened by the battle at Bai Tinghai.
Fang Chongyong is now either writing letters for others or sorting out art of war books all day long. He goes to the yamen to familiarize himself with local government affairs in Hexi. He is busy until very late every day before going to bed.
Anaye, who was usually very talkative and always wanted to quarrel about everything, was like a considerate little daughter-in-law during this time. She cooked meals, washed clothes, and took care of Fang Chongyong's daily life. She was extremely attentive.
On this day, Fang Chongyong finally transformed the Tibetan military law book according to his own ideas, removed the obviously inappropriate things, and relaxed the punishment of military law.
He carefully put the revised booklet away like a treasure, only to find Anaye sitting aside and looking at him intently.
"Well, I'm still used to your unruly behavior before."
Fang Chongyong said jokingly.
"Father said that those who can write books and speak out are powerful people. Lang Jun is already so powerful, why is he so worried and frowning after coming back from Baitinghai?"
Anaye asked cautiously, her tone and demeanor just like that of a maid at home.
What can a ten-year-old child do?
The lower limit may still be wearing crotchless pants, but the upper limit should be someone like Fang Chongyong.
Now Anaye is sincerely convinced by him.
Fang Chongyong was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said: "It's just that I can only think about others when I see the wise. I can only talk on paper in some aspects. I'm really useless."
He sighed deeply and remembered the scene that morning when Wang Zhongsi led the Chishui Army to sweep away the Turks and went to Baitingbao to pick him up in person.
Everyone present paid homage to Wang Zhongsi! That kind of expression cannot be concealed or disguised!
In the border town, as long as you can fight and win, you are a god-like figure.
Whatever you want, everyone will listen to you! Sometimes it’s more effective than the emperor’s edict!
At this moment, Fang Chongyong felt the gap between heaven and earth.
He had thought about it for half the night. After the Turks successfully swam across, what would happen if Xin Yunjing's ambush failed?
How to defend Baiting Fort when the Turks storm it?
How to deploy a small army?
How to use the weapons used to defend the city?
A series of questions were lingering in his mind, and he was racking his brains, as if he was doing a set of test papers, or the exam might end at any time, and he didn't know how much time was left!
As a result, all efforts are in vain!
There is no need for Baitingbao, a yameni from Chang'an, to come up with ways to save Baitingbao. Everything is under the overall arrangement of Hexi Jiedu Mansion!
Soldiers are important matters of the country, the place of life and death, and the path to survival. They must be observed.
This is easy to say, but difficult to do! Military books will not teach you how to deal with various complex situations. Sometimes, a single thought can lead to disaster.
The worst thing is that people cannot be resurrected after death. Once they die, they are truly dead! There is always only one chance!
Fang Chongyong found that he had learned a lot, but had no idea how to use it! There is no place to use force!
This made him feel like a waste. Only when he wrote letters to the Hexi soldiers and saw the sincere smiles and admiring eyes on those people's faces, could Fang Chongyong feel that he was a useful person here.
At this moment, Xiao Jiong, the governor of Hexi Province, strode into the pharmacy, pulled Fang Chongyong's sleeve and was about to walk out! Treating Anaye on the side as nothing.
"How is this going?"
Fang Chongyong asked with a surprised look on his face, having already been pulled up by Xiao Jiong.
"Talking as we go, something big has happened!"
Xiao Jiong said urgently.
"Even if something big happens, you shouldn't come to me."
Fang Chongyong said helplessly, he knew best what kind of thing he was, he could be the deputy envoy of the Baiting Army, join the army of the state capital, he could be a pig, he was just a hairball!
Xiao Jiong needs to discuss something important with him?
"What a big deal. You have been appointed governor of Ganzhou by the imperial court. You will take office within three days! In other words, you have to leave now!"
Xiao Jiong couldn't help but pulled Fang Chongyong to the Yamen of Jiedu Mansion, where there was a letter of appointment sent by someone from the imperial court!
"What?"
Fang Chongyong suddenly stood still, wondering if he had heard wrongly.
(End of chapter)
