Chengdu, Jiannan Branch Du Yingtian handles military affairs and horse management, and the envoy's office.
"Sanlang! This Jiannan Road will be handed over to you now, so I can rest assured!" Li Jin patted a few cases on the side, on which were placed official seals, personal information and related objects, and he twisted a little He looked at his neck and said with a wry smile: "With this heavy burden on my shoulders, my old bones can finally feel lighter!"
"Don't dare!" Wang Wenzuo stood up and bowed to Li Jin respectfully: "Jiannan Road is a vast area, where Hu and Han people live together. I feel guilty for suddenly occupying this position. Please give me some advice, Mr. Li! "
"That's all, you don't have to be humble!" Li Jin laughed: "As the saying goes, it's better to be famous than to meet. If you were in Liaodong, although your reputation was prominent, I really thought that you were just a warrior, and you were in a privileged position. That's all, being the leader of a town is not enough. But I have seen how old you have been in Songzhou for more than a year. You are indeed an extraordinary talent. Not only can you lead troops to fight, conduct business and govern the people, and manage affairs, Fuyi is also a good hand, and those Dangxiang, Baima Qiang, and Tubo people have all been dealt with properly by you. If I don't give you this position, who will take it? Originally, if the battle of Dafeichuan was not lost, the imperial court would You serve as the deputy general manager, and allowing the old man to stay in office for two more years with a white-collar salary can be regarded as a favor to the veteran ministers of the previous dynasty. But after the battle of Dafeichuan, it is unreasonable for the old man to stay in this position without a living. , it is the right thing to abdicate and give way to talents!"
Wang Wenzuo smiled. Although Li Jin was already seventy years old, his mind was still clear. After the Battle of Dafeichuan, his position as the commander of the military and horse management of the Jiannan branch camp was already hot iron. Guo is no longer the kind of retirement home it used to be. Not to mention anything else, just hearing about the various local forces that started to stir up trouble after the Tang Army's disastrous defeat is a headache. Among these local forces are powerful Han people, as well as barbarians such as Qiang Hu and Liao people. The forces are intertwined. , although it is not as deadly as Tubo, but if we sit back and ignore it, the consequences will be disastrous.
"Please rest assured, Mr. Li, I have taken care of the arrow furnace. Unless Qinling sends troops south from Qinghai and goes straight to Songzhou, it is unlikely that Tibet will use troops against Jiannan for the time being!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "As for other things, In this region, soldiers will block it, water will cover it, and if there are people who don't know their own strength, I will naturally send out troops to attack them and let them know how powerful they are!"
"Okay, okay!" Li Jin nodded: "Since you are already prepared, I have nothing to say. In the final analysis, as long as nothing happens to Xichuan, there will be no shortage of brocade taxes sent to Guanzhong every year, and there will be no shortage of brocade taxes sent to Guanzhong every year. The imperial court will not blame the state and county for some losses, as long as Saburo takes control of this matter!"
"I have learned from you!" Wang Wenzuo nodded. The Xichuan in Li Jin's mouth was a rough division of Yizhou at that time. Hanzhong was Dongchuan, and Xichuan referred to the part of Yizhou that was ruled by Liu Yan and his son during the Three Kingdoms period. The fertile Chengdu Plain is part of Xichuan. Under the political system of the Tang Dynasty, Jiannan Road was the court's moneybag. Li Jin's meaning was very clear. With a territory as large as Jiannan Road, no one could guarantee that all prefectures and counties would not have problems. As long as they paid the central government every year The tax is no longer lacking, and the court can forgive other things.
"Okay, I won't say much more about the rest!" Li Jin said with a smile: "I will be returning to Guanzhong in a few days. The road to Shu is so dangerous that I really have a headache!"
Wang Wenzuo is such a smart person. He knows the elegant meaning of Xiange when he hears it: "You don't need to worry about this, Mr. Li, I will naturally arrange it!"
"Okay, okay, then I'll bother Saburo!"
After sending Li Jin out, Wang Wenzuo had a sarcastic smile on his face. This old man had been an official in Shuzhong for almost twenty years, and the eunuch's accumulation was not a small amount. Unlike after the Song Dynasty, the tax revenue in the Tang Dynasty was quite large. Most of it will be retained in the local area, and local officials have a considerable say in this wealth. Basically, as long as you don't put it directly into your own pocket, it will not be considered corruption. For example, it is used as office funds to support staff, dragon boat rides, brothel entertainment expenses, public construction to build pavilions and gardens, and so on. Therefore, it is not difficult for even officials who are considered to have good official reputations in history to accumulate a wealth that far exceeds their salary during their tenure. Li Jin is naturally no exception. His hometown is in Guanzhong. If he wants to transport such a large amount of money back to his hometown, there were no bank transfers in the Tang Dynasty. It is not an easy task and requires Wang Wenzuo's cooperation.
"Sancho!"
"exist!"
"Take two hundred people and escort Li Gong back to Guanzhong!" Wang Wenzuo said solemnly: "Also, after you arrive in Chang'an, go to Chang'an and present a gift to His Highness the Crown Prince through Murong Miao's relationship!"
"As you command!"
Returning to the cases, Wang Wenzuo played with the seal of the Jiannan Zhidu Yingtian's military envoy and threw it aside. His current official position is the predecessor of the Jiedushi in later generations. He has military power and financial power. The difference is that he lacks an interview envoy and does not have the administrative supervision power to supervise Jiannan Daozhou and counties. When you reach this position, personal ability and merit are secondary. What is more important is the trust of the core of power. Without this, let alone getting promoted, it is difficult to even keep the official position. No matter from which aspect, it is not wrong to move around frequently. , Sancho, as his domestic slave, is the perfect person to do this.
"Ming Gong!" Cao Wenzong's voice came from outside.
"Is it Wenzong? Come in!" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "What's the matter?"
"It's news from Yangzhou!" Cao Wenzong came in from outside the door and handed a letter with both hands. Wang Wenzuo took the letter and said with a smile: "I guess they are talking about money and spending money. Cao Sengnu is not like this. Well, even though we are thousands of miles away, we still need to ask for permission on these small matters. It’s okay if he decides on his own. I’ve told him several times but he doesn’t listen. I really can’t do anything to him!”
"Mr. Cao is doing this because he is cautious!" Cao Wenzong said with a smile: "After all, the business in Yangzhou is getting bigger and bigger. If it were someone else, I wouldn't dare to make any arbitrary decisions!"
"Occupying the intersection of the Yangtze River and the canal, this is a geomantic treasure land that can connect the world. It also has overseas gold and silver mines and a large territory. If he can't make his business bigger and bigger, then he is really a big fool. Come on!" Wang Wenzuo snorted coldly: "Compared to Yangzhou, this Yizhou is far behind. It's still Yangzhou and Yizhou is two. I really don't know how Yizhou was sent to the second place!"
"Actually, Yizhou is also pretty good, especially Chengdu, which is definitely as good as Yangzhou!" Cao Wenzong said with a smile: "The name of Jinguan City is not for nothing. Every year, hundreds of thousands of Shu silk are paid as tribute to the imperial court. Damn, the emperor is in the west!"
"Hey!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "I'm not talking about the present but the future. Do you understand? The future! Maybe Chengdu is similar to Yangzhou now, but it will be different in the future. Yangzhou will be ten times and a hundred times as big as Chengdu. Do you understand? ?”
"Ten times and a hundred times?" Cao Wenzong was frightened by Wang Wenzuo's words. Although the Tang Dynasty did not have GDP rankings for cities now, there must have been similar things. Chengdu was definitely in the top five in this ranking. , except for the two capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an, purely from the perspective of economic aggregate, there is no Datang city that can stabilize Chengdu, let alone ten times or a hundred times.
"You don't believe it?" Wang Wenzuo immediately saw his subordinate's thoughts from his face: "Wenzong, water transportation is much cheaper than land transportation. In the long run, cities located at the mouths of big rivers will be the richest. .Yes, there are rivers next to Chengdu, but after all, it is not close to the sea, and the navigation conditions are not comparable to those of the Yangtze River and canals! So——"
Wang Wenzuo opened the letter while talking. He just read two lines when his voice suddenly stopped. Cao Wenzong saw that something was wrong and asked quickly: "What's wrong?"
"It's not a letter from Cao Sengnu, it's a letter from Fujiwara Bubi and He Bayong. It's the Silla people who are causing trouble!" Wang Wenzuo threw the letter on the ground: "The whole Haidong is not peaceful!"
Cao Wenzong picked up the letter from the ground and saw the official script Fujiwara was familiar with: "People in Southern Kyushu and Shikoku rebelled. The number of rebels was tens of thousands. Armor weapons from the peninsula were also found among the rebels. !”
"How could this happen! What are He Bayong and the others doing?" Cao Wenzong was shocked and angry. He knew that there had been various rebellions in the Japanese country, but under the suppression of Fujiwara Bubi and He Bayong, these rebellions had no impact. The big picture. The Japanese state was regarded as its rear area by Wang Wenzuo's military and political group. Many members considered buying and building farms there as a place for future generations to thrive. Cao Wenzong was no exception. Tens of thousands of rebels suddenly appeared. No wonder he I couldn't hold it any longer.
"You can't blame Fujiwara Bubi and He Bayong!" Wang Wenzuo snorted coldly: "The Japanese country is not a small country, with many mountains and inconvenient transportation. In fact, our people are mainly in Nara, Omi, Owari, and Mei Nobu, Iwami, Izumo Kingdom and some parts of Kanto, other places are just nominal surrender, and at most a few samurai serve as local ministers. If the external situation changes, it is not surprising that people who are dissatisfied with us will jump out. As long as we continue Just defeat it!”
"The external situation has changed? Are you saying that the Silla people are causing trouble?"
"It's not just the Silla people!" Wang Wenzuo sneered: "Let's put it this way, when the water is full, it overflows, and when the moon is full, it wanes. This wave of expansion of the Tang Dynasty has come to an end. The Tubo people pierced this layer of window paper in Dafeichuan , the momentum is about to turn around!”
"Is the momentum going to turn around?" Cao Wenzong's face turned ugly: "Then, what should we do?"
"What to do? This is not simple. Hold on to what you can hold, give up what is meaningless, and what cannot be held. Work hard on internal affairs and wait for the next opportunity?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Otherwise, you still want to go all the way west. , fight to the end of the world?”
Cao Wenzong laughed at Wang Wenzuo's words. In fact, the Battle of Dafeichuan in 670 AD can be used as a watershed to divide the expansion history of the Tang Dynasty before the Anshi Rebellion into two parts. The Battle of Dafeichuan was probably the peak of expansion in the early Tang Dynasty. From then on, the remainder of Tang Gaozong and the reign of Empress Wu , the Tang Dynasty won less in foreign wars and lost more. Not only was it defeated many times by Tubo, its old enemy, it completely lost control around Qinghai Lake, and even the Hehuang Valley became the focus of competition between the two sides; it also allowed the Turks to regain their country. , created the post-Turkic Khanate and lost control of the Mongolian Plateau; in the northeast, the Silla Kingdom controlled most of the Korean Peninsula. The establishment of the Bohai Kingdom and the rebellion of the Khitan people caused the Tang Dynasty's line of control to return to Yingzhou On the front line, even the hinterland of Hebei Province was invaded by the Khitans many times, basically discarding the fruits of victory in the Northeast from the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty to the early period of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty.
It was not until Xuanzong ascended the throne that the Tang army changed its original decline and began to expand outward again. Many people attribute this to the chaos in upper-level politics from the middle and late periods of Emperor Gaozong to the reign of Empress Wu, and the killing of outstanding military generals. Some people simply attribute it to the fact that Wu Zetian was a woman. Of course, these are indeed one of the reasons. For example, both Heiji Changzhi and Cheng Wuting died at the hands of Wu Zetian. However, the upper-level political struggle in the Xuanzong Dynasty was also extremely fierce and many outstanding military generals were killed, but this did not hinder Xuanzong. During this period, the Tang army won victory in foreign wars.
The author believes that the main reason for the performance of the Tang Army's military operations during this period was the decadence of the imperial army system and the formation of the new army system. As we all know, the imperial military system in the early Tang Dynasty began to gradually collapse in the middle and late periods of Emperor Gaozong. Honored officers were worthless, and land awards could not be honored. The original merits could not be offset by labor taxes. As the battlefield became farther and farther away from the homeland, There are more and more casualties, and the willingness of the soldiers to participate in the war is getting lower and lower, which undoubtedly greatly reduces the combat effectiveness of the army.
Wang Wenzuo's own experience in Baekje is a clear example. He came to Baekje as a soldier, but the reason why he was able to defeat Baekje's restoration movement and conquer the Japanese country and Goguryeo was because of his own ingenuity. On the other hand, he used the resources of the host country to rebuild a military aristocratic group with himself as the core. It is true that many people in this military aristocratic group came from the Tang Dynasty's military system, but in fact They no longer have anything to do with Fu Bing.
Take Cui Hongdu, He Baoyong, Shen Faseng, Yuan Aolie and others as examples. Although they are nominally generals of the Tang Dynasty, they also hold official positions in various military mansions, lead the Tang Dynasty's honorary officers, and also have lands.
However, their main source of economic income comes from the large estates in Baekje and Japan, as well as the private gifts they received from Wang Wenzuo. Among the soldiers and officers under their command are groups of Baekje, Japanese, Mohe, and Goguryeo people. They were from the Tang Dynasty, and many of them were lumpen proletarians in Chang'an City. The few remaining soldiers had already changed their appearance.
Although such an army still carries the banner of the Tang Army and bears the name of a certain military mansion, in fact it has nothing to do with the military soldiers. This army has ruined its own destiny from top to bottom. Fu and their general were tightly bound together. They no longer want to be the respected "emperors of the emperor" who were once respected, but just want to become professional warriors who follow Wang Wenzuo to conquer the east and west and get rich. (End of chapter)
