A few soldiers were fighting and exchanging peach charms outside. Wang Xiaolie leaned against the door and watched, as if in his previous life, he and his father would paste new Spring Festival couplets on the door every New Year's Eve. It's just that this era has been replaced by peach charms, which has a different flavor.
At this time, unlike later generations, there were few paper products of various kinds and many wooden and earthen products. Wang Xiaolie didn't recognize it completely, but he just found it interesting. After putting on the peach charms, several soldiers gathered together to prepare some New Year's food. Working and laughing at the same time, they have their own joy.
In the evening, Cui Qing came in and asked, "Xuanfu, do you want to have two glasses of wine tonight?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "This is the New Year's Day, so of course you have to drink. By the way, arrange your shift tonight and let the soldiers drink two glasses of wine and eat some delicious food. Everyone's duty time should be short, and there should be more queues There are several shifts, and there don’t need to be many people in each shift. It’s Chinese New Year, so let everyone be happy too.”
Cui Qing happily agreed and went out quickly.
Wang Xiaolie went to the study and sat down, took out the best tea leaves and brewed a pot of strong tea. While drinking tea, enjoying this pleasant time.
Soon it was getting dark, and all the men, women, and children in Suide City gathered on the street. Even from the villages outside the city, many people came to the city saying they wanted to watch the fireworks.
Suide City is a small border town. The people have never seen fireworks, and there are various legends about them. Some people say that fireworks are just a sound on the ground, and then all kinds of flowers bloom in the sky, as if it is a fairy magic. As the words became more and more evil, more and more people came.
The people in the city made all kinds of snacks, and the children carried baskets and sold them along the streets. Some of the children were shouting after people, and some were darting around like arrows. The city seemed particularly lively. When we arrived at the center of the city, it was filled with food stalls and it was extremely lively.
Wang Xiaolie asked Shizhou Supply and Marketing Cooperative to come here for the three-day market. One is to allow people to buy cheap and affordable goods, and the other is to build a reputation for the supply and marketing cooperative. After all, Suide is the center with a radius of hundreds of miles, and it will definitely be a distribution center for supply and marketing cooperatives in the future.
Don't think that because Suide is a border area, people don't have money. It is true that their lives are hard, and it is also true that they are rich. Although I have money, things in Suide are usually very expensive, and I can't buy much goods even if I have money. This is because since the construction of Suide City during the Xining period, this place has been a border area and a large amount of military spending has flowed into it. However, there were few goods and high prices in the border areas, so the imperial court established the China Entry Law to guide merchants to sell goods here.
This kind of place is a treasure place for supply and marketing cooperatives to recycle a large amount of currency, so of course you can't miss it.
When ordinary people walked past the stalls of the supply and marketing cooperative, their eyes lit up. There are many things that have never been seen before, just there, and they are not expensive. Compared with the mainland, the price here is more than twice as expensive, but here it seems very cheap.
Especially for the three items of thermos bottles, mirrors and soaps, almost everyone went up to touch them and asked about their prices. Those who had money on them bought these things conveniently and went shopping with them in their hands. If you don’t bring any money, ask and find out that this product will be sold for three days, so you can only buy it the next day. I was worried that they would be sold out by then.
As for those big items, such as pendulum clocks and some farm tools, because the prices are too high, many people ask and few buy.
While the people were shopping happily, suddenly there was a loud noise in front of the military office, as loud as thunder.
Everyone hurriedly turned to look. Someone in the crowd shouted: "The cannons are set off, the military office is setting off the cannons! Fireworks will be set off soon, come and watch!"
The crowd rushed towards the military office, many people shouted excitedly, for fear of missing the fireworks.
Seeing the crowds flocking to the Yamen, Li Yongqi on the high platform was extremely excited. Ever since I learned about the German Army, this place has never been so lively. When the people gathered together, Li Yongqi spoke on stage. I didn't hear clearly what he said, but he just urged to set off the fireworks quickly.
Following the order, soldiers were seen lighting paper tubes one by one in the open space below. I heard a sound, the paper tube jumped into the air, and opened again. These two kickers were released one after another, more than twenty in a row. After the second kick was played, people from the whole city came.
The army makes fireworks, which are much bolder than those in ordinary firecracker workshops. And there is enough gunpowder to make all kinds of things. Over the years, under Wang Xiaolie's guidance, different metals have different colored fireworks reactions, and the fireworks have become much more exquisite.
After the second kick, a soldier lit the first firework.
Just listen to the sound of "bang", and the fireworks jump into the air. Suddenly, the fireworks exploded, like a fairy scattering flowers, with red, blue, and green colors exploding. Like a waterfall, it flows straight down from the sky.
When have people seen this kind of scene? Everyone cheered and applauded continuously.
A big firework was set off, and suddenly it turned into many small fireworks. Flying into the sky together, there are various patterns and colorful colors.
Wang Xiaolie was in the room, standing in front of the window, watching the fireworks flying outside. My heart felt calm and I just felt comfortable.
Suide, a border city, was occupied by Xixia in the seventh year of Taiping and Xingguo. It was recovered in the fourth year of Zhiping. The city was built in the second year of Xining and the Suide army was established in the second year of Yuanfu. Since its recovery, it has been a borderland within a borderland and a military city within a military city. Most of the people in the city are related to the military. Even the Tibetan tribes outside are mostly in the Tibetan military establishment. Such a border town cannot be equated with an inland city.
The use of Tibetan soldiers and Tibetan generals in border areas was the experience of the Song Dynasty and had good results. However, Wang Xiaolie did not intend to use this experience. Border disputes are, of course, dominated by the military. Fan soldiers must be used, either as guides or to transport supplies.
Of course, the affairs of the country should be dominated by the court, and the military should be responsible for external disputes. The Song Dynasty used Tibetan soldiers and Tibetan generals because the imperial army could not defeat your family and had to use them. Why can't the army defeat others? Especially when the national strength far exceeds that of the opponent, and the army cannot defeat it, there will be a problem.
If the military has problems, it must solve them rather than use other methods to make up for them.
In the future, Wang Xiaolie planned to gradually dismantle the Tibetan troops in Suide. Some of the fully-organized troops would be stationed in Guanzhong and the others would be put back. Gradually replace them with regular troops to form a complete border defense. Although using Fan soldiers and Fan generals has some effects, it also has many disadvantages.
In Shaanxi, there are not many Han people in the area north of Yan'an, and most of them are tribal nomads from other ethnic groups. This area has been inhabited by Han and Hu people since ancient times. During the Tang Dynasty, a large number of ethnic minorities migrated to this area. By the Song Dynasty, there were very few Han people.
In later generations, this area was an area inhabited by the Han people, which always gave people the illusion that it was the same in the Song Dynasty. Of course not in the Song Dynasty. A large number of Dangxiang people lived here, thus forming the Xia Kingdom. In the Song Dynasty, some tribes that were not in harmony with the Xixia royal family or even had feuds, such as the Zhe family in Fuzhou, the Li family in Suide, and the Murong family in Huanzhou, were actually party members. No matter how much they care about the imperial court, they are still aliens after all.
When Wang Xiaolie's army is stationed, the local people must benefit, not just reward a few Tibetan generals. Let them realize what kind of life they will have if they return to the court and what are the benefits of such a life. Free them from their hearts and from their tribes.
On New Year’s Eve this year, a fireworks display will be set off for the people of Suide. Let people see the bright future from the fireworks.
(End of chapter)
