The county seat of Shanzhou is in the county seat of Huangshui County, also called Shanzhou City. This is the core farming area of the Hehuang Valley, but it is not a core strategic node in the military. According to Fang Chongyong's previous life, the total area here is less than 2% of the total area of Qinghai Province, but the cultivated land area exceeds 56% of the cultivated land area of Qinghai Province!
Such an exaggerated comparison can only prove one thing: the Tubo people are determined to win this place! Datang will never give up here!
Therefore, since the Kaiyuan Dynasty, when the Tang Dynasty consolidated its military layout in the Hehuang Valley, this area was full of swords and piles of hills.
Every household is a military household, and any strong man caught in the field is a land reclamation soldier. Moreover, commerce is cut off and martial virtue is abundant.
Around the Hehuang Valley, the Tang Dynasty placed a series of military towns on the surrounding transportation routes, such as Baishui Army, Anren Army, Heyuan Army, etc., all to prevent the Tibetans from breaking into the Hehuang Valley from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Then the Lintao Army from Lintao was introduced as a mobile force to station in Shanzhou City as a strategic trump card.
Probably due to local conditions, the government office of Longyou Jiedu Envoy in Shanzhou City was built very large. Rather than being a government office, it is more suitable to be regarded as a military fortress, with strong defensive capabilities.
And almost all the officials appointed by the central government live here, work and live here.
For no other reason than that Longyou is really unsafe and is too close to Tubo. If the officials from the central government do not live in a safe place, they may be attacked by a small group of Tubo people one day, and their heads may be cut off without even knowing it!
How can one do a good job when people are in panic?
Not only that, the government also stationed a battalion of elite Lintao troops as personal soldiers, ready to be dispatched by Longyou Jiedushi at any time. Although they are not called tooth soldiers, their personal treatment is only slightly better than that of ordinary Lintao soldiers.
But the function of protecting Jiedu Mansion and handling urgent matters was no different from that of the tooth soldiers in the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
Fang Chongyong, who lived in Longyou Jiedu Mansion as the "acting envoy of Longyou Jiedu", couldn't help but sigh that the wisdom of the ancients was indeed extraordinary.
They are by no means the kind of people who just apply wooden fish heads rigidly. Instead, they will fine-tune the court's policies according to the local situation to make them more suitable for local needs.
The emergence of the Yabing system was not formed by Jiedushi in order to rebel against the central government. It was indeed closely related to the complex security situation in the border towns.
In order to deal with small-scale and frequent conflicts, and from the perspective of protecting their own safety, Jieduzhi also really needs a capable and effective armed force, which can be sent out to get things done in one sentence without the need for complicated tasks. Troop deployment procedures.
Suppressing all the doubts in his heart, Fang Chongyong, under the guidance of Cen Shen, came to an ordinary courtyard in the residential area of Longyou Jiedu Mansion the next day to visit Du Hope, the governor of Longyou Jiedu who was "seriously ill and comatose".
In fact, Du hoped to be an honest official and didn't care much about ostentation. This courtyard was his residence after coming to Longyou. Du hopes that now he can only be regarded as "on sick leave", but it is not said that he has been "expelled from the Yamen".
In the yard, Li Jingyu, the camp envoy in the Longyou area, and Zhao Zan, the Duzhi envoy, saw Fang Chongyong coming, and they quickly crossed their hands and saluted. Fortunately, Li Jingyu was an old acquaintance. He had previously served as a camp envoy under the Hexi Jiedushi envoy, and Fang Chongyong had dealt with him back then.
I just don’t know why I was transferred to Longyou.
And this Zhao Zan is incredibly young, probably in his early twenties at most. Being able to serve as an envoy at such a young age is comparable to Niu Xianke back then!
Obviously, Zhao Zan has either extraordinary abilities, extraordinary background, or both, and cannot be underestimated.
Fang Chongyong secretly remembered these two people. He nodded slightly calmly and returned the gift very reservedly. Then he entered Du Hope's bedroom accompanied by the two of them without saying a word nonsense.
As soon as you enter the door, you will be hit by a strong herbal smell.
An old man with a gray beard was lying on the bed not far away. He looked a little thin. A middle-aged medical officer stood beside the bed. He bowed and saluted when he saw Fang Chongyong. His attitude was much more humble than that of Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan.
"How is Du Jieshuai's condition?"
Fang Chongyong looked calm and asked softly.
"After returning to Fangliu, Du Jieshuai could occasionally wake up, but he could not speak and was not very conscious.
A certain person gave him a prescription, and his condition improved slightly, but he was still unable to act or speak. "
The medical officer whispered.
Looking at Du Jieshuai lying on the bed, Fang Chongyong sighed lightly, turned around and saluted Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan behind him with their hands crossed: "I want to inquire in detail about Du Jieshuai's condition. Can you two go sign for the mortgage room now?" Let’s sort out the accounts of Longyou’s income and expenditure, and I’ll discuss it with you two in detail later.”
Seeing that he was so polite, Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan were flattered, and they quickly returned the greeting and said, "It's okay, I'll go back to sign the deposit and organize the account books later."
After saying that, he quickly exited the bedroom where Du Xixi was.
After the two left, Fang Chongyong looked at the medical officer meaningfully. The military medical officer seemed to be frightened. He quickly excused himself and left the bedroom and closed the door.
So there were only Du Hope lying on the bed and Fang Chongyong standing beside the bed, and the atmosphere was silent and a little strange.
"Du Jieshuai, your granddaughter Du Xuejuan is a maid in the palace. A few days ago, the saint sent her to my house as a slave to be a slave.
I personally sent it back to the Du family again, with all hair and tail intact, and there was no fault of Qiu.
I planned this for you, but you dug a big hole for me before I even got to Longyou.
It seems a bit unkind for you to repay kindness with hatred and now you are still pretending to be sick in bed, right? "
Fang Chongyong said slowly, looking at Du Hope who was lying on the bed pretending to be sick with a smile.
As soon as he finished speaking, Du Xixi slowly opened his eyes, with a mysterious smile on his face, and sat up on his own without relying on anyone else's help.
Then he leaned on the head of the bed and looked at Fang Zhongyong with burning eyes.
"The old man was indeed a little dizzy at the time, but not to the point of fainting directly."
Du Xixi said in a slightly hoarse voice. Then he asked doubtfully: "It's just that Fang Yushi is here for the first time, so how do you know that someone is pretending to be sick?"
Du Xiang admitted that he was gambling at the time, but this time he was right!
If he hadn't pretended to be dizzy at that time, it would have been Du Hope, not Fang Chongyong, who was crying now!
With such a huge military expenditure hole, how can such a bad old man like Du Xiang make up for it? Even if you weave the cloth yourself and step on the pedal of the loom until it smokes, you still can't make up for it!
When the time comes, Du hopes to be punished as a scapegoat by the imperial court, and his head will be used to appease the anger of Longyou Army.
What about embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars in military expenses? What about Du's mansion in Chang'an covering thousands of hectares? In order to settle this matter, the court would throw any bad tricks at him. As for the truth, that doesn't matter. What the court needs is the overall stability of Longyou, not some bullshit truth.
Du Hope has been in high and low officialdom for decades, and these routines have long been known to him. He can avoid throwing bad tricks at others, but how can he be tricked to death without saving himself?
As long as I lie down in advance, someone else will be cut first when cutting leeks, and they can't cut me first!
Du Hope, who has matured with age, is indeed worthy of being an old coin who has been a bureaucrat for decades.
"While I was still on the road, the Anren Army happened to mutiny, and the Heyuan Army happened to follow suit. At this juncture, the saint happened to grant me the post of staying in the rear, and you happened to faint and died. He was so angry that he was too ill to take charge of the affairs, so he had to stay in the post of temporary envoy.
If only one thing is a coincidence, then I can only consider myself unlucky.
But so many things happened to happen at the same time, and such a big blame fell on a certain unrelated person. It would be really bloody if no one was behind the blame. "
Fang Chongyong spread his hands and said quietly.
Seeing that his plot was exposed, Du Xiang's old face became a little bit unbearable, and he explained with a dry smile:
"The Yin eating maoliang here in Longyou is indeed a little bit unable to hold on. It's not that I want to trick you on purpose. It's really hard to get back. Whoever gets stuck will be unlucky.
I don't have a saint like you, so I have to hide for a while. "
After saying that, Du Hope let out a long sigh. There were many things that he didn't know how to say, but he had to say them.
He was in trouble too.
"Longyou Town is divided by Lanzhou. To the north of Lanzhou is the trade route to the Western Regions; to the west and south of Lanzhou, everything is lacking. In order to guard against Tubo, the saint must manage this place.
However, a large amount of money was thrown in every year, but the Tubo people could not be eliminated. This is chicken ribs, there is no meat in them, but there is flavor in discarding them. "
Du Hope was filled with emotion and told Fang Chongyong about the special situation of Longyou Defense.
The Tang Dynasty managed the Hehuang Valley and the edge of Qinghai Lake and stationed heavy troops to fight against the Tubo people. In fact, the economic benefits were very poor.
Local output is far from making up for the consumption of the huge garrison.
There are no trade routes like the Hexi Corridor here, and tariffs can be collected to subsidize the cost of garrisoning. Merchants from Guanzhong to Longyou would only go as far as Lanzhou, and then they would go north to Liangzhou to follow the Silk Road, and would not go to the Hehuang Valley.
The defense line of the army under the Longyou Jiedushi was also divided into two defense areas, the northern line and the southern line, which were relatively independent of each other.
But whether it is the defense zone in the north or the south, they all have one thing in common, that is, the areas west of the border controlled by Tibet are barren. In addition to guarding against the Tibetans, the military town had no private work to do.
The defense area under the jurisdiction of the Longyou Jiedushi had long front lines, large numbers of troops, high consumption, rugged roads, lack of water transportation, and cut off merchants. The Hehuang Valley is indeed a fertile land, but it is not a large area and can only produce grain and grazing, not silk or cash crops!
Except for the lack of food and livestock products, there is a shortage of everything else!
After listening to Du Hope's introduction, Fang Chongyong was already numb.
Originally, he didn't expect to hear any good news from Du Hope, but now he was even more heartbroken. Ji Ge's goal was ambitious, but judging from the human and geographical conditions during the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it was impossible to achieve the goal within a hundred years.
Datang's current strategy is to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to confront Tibet in the Hehuang Valley and Jiuqu Yellow River, fighting each other and fighting hand to hand. Although there was temporary peace between the two countries, not a single fortress or military town was evacuated.
It was obviously a temporary truce, and he wanted to recover from his injuries before fighting for his life.
The continuous bloodletting of the Tang Dynasty here was desperately consuming the Tibetan people's little vitality, and rapidly deteriorating the fragile ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so that the environment here would not be able to recover for more than a thousand years. .
The Tang army could only complete its victory in one battle, invade the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, completely eliminate the Tubo regime, and fundamentally stabilize its local rule. By achieving these goals, the Tang Dynasty could reduce Longyou's military expenditures and reduce the number of troops stationed there.
Of course, judging from the governance capabilities and military projection capabilities of the feudal era, this situation is completely unsolvable.
In order to reduce Longyou's military strength, the Tubo regime must be eliminated;
In order to eliminate the Tibetan regime, the powerful Tibetan army must be defeated;
In order to defeat the powerful Tibetan army, we must continue to increase troops in the Longyou area;
In order to continue to use troops on a large scale here, the court's military expenditures had to be increased;
In order to raise more military expenditures, it is necessary to strengthen tax collection and reduce infrastructure investment and maintenance, making the lives of the people in various parts of the Tang Dynasty even more miserable;
If the people cannot stand the long-term and high-intensity exploitation and oppression, they will inevitably rise up and support the rebel forces;
When the rebellion broke out, Tang Ting had to shrink its strategy and mobilize troops from Longyou to quell the rebellion.
There is no solution to the vicious cycle.
From the perspective of a thousand years later, it is theoretically possible to completely eliminate the Tibetan regime, at least after the warm period of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has passed, or after the emergence of thermal weapons.
If Fang Chongyong told others this point of view, he would only be laughed at to enhance others' ambition and destroy his own prestige.
This is like when people in the Tang Dynasty saw the bright moon. Some arrogant people may have thought that they could enter the "Moon Palace" by "working hard" or that they could fly to the moon by inventing a large rocket.
But in fact, judging from the level of science and technology these days, there is still a long way to go before humans can land on the moon! The amount of technical accumulation required is beyond the imagination of anyone at this time.
Because of ignorance, we are fearless.
Therefore, in the territory of Longyou, the current game mode between Tang Dynasty and Tubo is still to compete for endurance and national strength, with only input and no output. The peak period of the Tang Dynasty has passed, and it is now on a decline that can be seen with the naked eye. How to manage Longyou is actually quite a dilemma.
If you advance, you won't be able to go any further; if you retreat, you will be afraid of being killed.
"Du Jieshuai can continue to be ill. A certain society wrote to the saint and sent his trusted followers to send Du Jieshuai back to Chang'an for treatment. There are many famous doctors in Chang'an, and they will definitely be able to cure Du Jieshuai's stubborn illness."
Fang Chongyong said meaningfully.
Upon hearing this, Du Hope was slightly startled, then smiled bitterly and said:
"Longyou's troubles will not hinder Fang Yushi.
It was just an accident that the sage appointed you as Longyou Jieduliuhou, and he would not take it seriously.
Someone can now write a letter saying that Gai Jiayun has the courage to take on responsibilities and is extremely capable. A certain person feels that he may be unable to serve due to old age and illness. If an emergency occurs in the future and he is unable to serve as director, Gai Jiayun will take over the post of Longyou Jiedushi and be responsible for handling emergency military affairs.
There is no need to worry, Fang Yushi, Qin's father is a close associate of the saint, and no one's head will be chopped off this time, but it will be on you. "
Seeing that Lao Du had no intention of cheating him, Fang Chongyong sighed lightly and said:
“If only it were that simple.
However, as for the letter of recommendation that Du Jieshuai mentioned just now, I would still like you to write one so that I can have it in hand to be prepared.
Today, Du Jieshuai handed over the seal to a certain person, and then he can return to Chang'an to retire. Someone on the side of the saint will explain it, and someone on the Longyou side will also take care of it.
If Longyou is not reorganized, it will obviously be impossible to select elites from the frontier army and enrich the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army.
The saint regards the Silver Spear of Filial Piety as his talisman and cannot afford to be careless. "
Hearing this, Du Hope nodded slightly. He had heard before that Fang Chongyong came to Longyou to recruit warriors from the border army into the new Forbidden Army. The Longwu Army participated in the mutiny launched by the loyal king Li Heng, and it is unclear what the outcome will be.
Nowadays, there are many vacancies in the Chang'an Forbidden Army. Fang Chongyong, who was so young, came to the border town as a confidant of the emperor to recruit border warriors who had nothing to do with the powerful people in Chang'an to check and balance the local powerful in Guanzhong.
The other party doesn't want to run back to Chang'an in disgrace, which is actually the right intention!
Du Xixi nodded and said with a smile: "That's fine. The seal of Jiedushi is in the yamen signing room. Fang Jieshuai can get it himself."
He got out of bed and sat down at the desk to write a letter with ink. He soon wrote the letter recommending Gai Jiayun as the next Jiedu envoy and gave it to Fang Chongyong for review.
Anyone can tell whether a letter written a few years ago has been ravaged by time, but if it was written a few days ago, it's completely impossible to tell!
Fang Chongyong now holds this letter from Du Hope. Even if he brazenly claims that it was written a month ago, no one will doubt it.
Because Du Xiang, who was pretending to be ill, had already returned to Chang'an, or was on his way back to Chang'an. When he reappeared in the eyes of outsiders, he had been "cured" under the diagnosis and treatment of a "famous doctor in Chang'an" and escaped from the pit of military pay arrears.
In this transaction, Fang Chongyong and Du Hope each got what they needed! No clues were left behind afterwards, it was neat and tidy!
Fang Chongyong put the letter in his sleeves, crossed his arms and saluted to Du Hope, "Du Jieshuai, please take care of yourself. I will go to the signing room to get the Jiedushi envoy's seal."
"Fang Jieshuai, walk slowly, I won't see you off."
Du Xixi said slowly.
Fang Chongyong left the bedroom where Du Hope was with a worried look on his face, but his heart was already filled with joy! I have to say, it is a pleasure to deal with smart people!
With the big killer weapon in hand, he has become invincible in this battle. Now it’s up to him to clean up the situation!
Still available today, come get your tickets!
(End of chapter)
