Chapter 413: The world is bustling, just for profit

In the Dragon Warrior Cavalry Barracks, the news that the legendary hero Li Huaitang 'wants' to hire soldiers with a lot of money is like a bombshell, which shocks everyone's hearts, affects the nerves of many people, and 'stirs' many people's **.

Following the hero to gallop on the battlefield is just a 'wave' dream, no one will make a move for no reason, after all, going to the battlefield is not a play, and there will be life danger at any time. However, the hero said that all those who became members of his mercenaries were to be given a settling-in allowance of 100 yen at a time, and then they were paid a monthly military salary, and they were rewarded for their meritorious service in battle, and they were compensated for their death and wounded, and most importantly, the emperor would exempt their families from taxes and servitude.

In front of the recruitment point, although there were articulate generals and knights shouting loudly, the soldiers of the dragon warriors resolutely believed and were basically in a state of onlookers, and the acceptance of new things required a process of understanding, and the brave people who took the lead in eating crabs were also needed.

Looking at the deserted scene of the 'door', Hu Yijian was worried: "General, their enthusiasm is not high, I'm afraid they won't be able to recruit many people." ”

Li Huaitang was very calm and said, "Not necessarily, wait and see." ”

As soon as the words fell, more than a dozen people were squeezed out of the crowd of onlookers, and the leader was Lei Hu.

"General, I'll sign up!" Lei Hu walked to the registration desk in an agitated manner, followed by five soldiers, all of whom had come to join the mercenaries.

Li Huaitang gave a thumbs up to Lei Hu and the others. After Lei Hu completed the joint registration procedures of the general cavalry and the dragon martial cavalry, Li Huaitang gave Lei Hu a bear hug to welcome.

Lei Hu clenched his fists and said: "The general really believes in people." Lei Hu is late for duty, please forgive me, General! ”

"It doesn't matter! The timing is just right, just to set an example! Li Huaitang smiled as he pointed at the black pressure of the surrounders.

"Lift it up!" Li Huaitang greeted the soldiers behind him, and he wanted to distribute the settling-in allowance for the naturalized soldiers in public. In order to transport 80,000 copper coins into the barracks, Li Huaitang once again used 2,000 camels and a large number of carriages, the camels were brought by the way to complete the 'trade' with Li Yi, and the carriages were lent to future mercenary soldiers who needed to transport money.

The consistent copper coins of the Tang Dynasty were six catties and four taels, and the weight of one hundred copper coins needed to be carried by several people. After a while, thirty-six sacks were placed in front of Lei Hu and the other six soldiers. The mouth of the bag was all opened by the soldiers of the general's cavalry, and Li Huaitang deliberately grabbed a handful of yellow and clear copper coins from each bag, and the crisp and pleasant sound of the copper coins sounded "bang", and the onlookers of the dragon warriors were suddenly stabbed by the visual and auditory stings.

"These belong to you, six bags each!" Li Huaitang pointed to the countless copper coins and said to Lei Hu and the others.

Lei Hu arched his hand excitedly: "Thank you, General!" After speaking, they moved the heavy copper coins onto the carriage that Li Huaitang lent them.

The attraction of one hundred runs is very great, 'seducing' and 'confusing' every soldier who is oppressed by life and can't hold his head up. Among the many onlookers, there was a veteran named Murong Kunpeng, who originally belonged to the Shuofang Army, and was only 'pumped' into the Dragon Martial Cavalry last year.

"Old Yu, how was your family doing last year?" Murong's eyes were firmly glued to the bags of copper coins, and the questions asked by Lao Yu seemed endless.

is old as Murong's robe when he was in the Shuofang army, and the two are the 'friends' of life and death. Lao Yu's eyes were equally hot, and he finished a swallowing movement with difficulty, and said, "Just enough for taxes." Damn, if it weren't for the light of the dragon martial arts, it would definitely not be enough! ”

In the Tang Dynasty, the rent system was implemented, according to the policy of Li Shimin's revolution, each household was granted land based on 100 mu according to the number of people, and taxes were levied on a per capita basis. With the development of society, the increase in population and the ingenious seizure of land by the powerful and rich, the fields that can be allocated to the peasants are getting less and less, and 100 mu has become the basic benefit on paper, and most families have only 20 mu, or even 10 mu, but no matter how much they are allocated, the military service is not moving, and the taxes remain unchanged for 10,000 years, whether it is 10 mu or 20 mu, they are all levied according to the capitation, compared with the previous 100 mu of land, people's taxes have undoubtedly increased several times, and the phenomenon of fleeing and hiding households is not uncommon, and peasant uprisings also occur from time to time in the Tang Dynasty.

Lao Yu's family only has 20 acres of land, and the production can only sustain the family for a year's food, drink and clothing, or only enough heavy taxes.

Lao Yu's family is just a microcosm of ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty, a representative, and the old Yu family is already good compared to many families, think about those soldiers who died in battle on the frontier or were wounded and disabled, they are typical bloodshed and tears, and most people's families have since fallen into collapse.

When Lei Hu passed through the passage of the onlookers, he shouted sensationally: "Brothers, there is money, 'meat' and enemies to go to Ningyuan City, what could be more pleasant than this?" It's a man, sign up, the general said, the money is not much, only 800 people are recruited, don't regret it if it's late! ”

The agitation began to ferment in the hearts of onlookers......

"Old Yu, let's sign up! It's only been three years! Murong gritted his teeth and jumped 'to try'.

"You?! That's it, it's out! Done! "With Murong in front of him, he is courageous, and he is old enough to simply put his heart sideways. There is an opportunity in front of us, rather than getting by here, and when they retire from the dragon martial arts, and the family loses the most important source of livelihood, it is better to give it a go, and get a hundred guan income first, according to the current price, Baiguan can at least let a family like them live without worry for more than ten years, if they put some fields, they can basically get through this life.

Murong became the seventh applicant, and after that, the decisions and actions of the two of them became the switch for the soldiers to make up their minds, one, two, three or four, five, six, seven or eight, and then in pieces, with a "bang", the applicants suddenly poured out in groups, turning into a disorderly state and crowded in front of the registration desk.

"Queue, queue!" The soldiers of the general's cavalry struggled to maintain order, but they could not control the scene of 'chaos' and 'chaos'.

Li Huaitang jumped onto the mountain of copper coins piled up with countless bags and shouted: "Those who do not obey orders and abide by discipline will not be accepted!" ”

Under the forcible drive of the general's cavalry soldiers, the team formed a long line. The selection is very special, there is no need to show and compare skills, Hu Yijian and others' eyes are very vicious, for each applicant, they just stare at the top of the eyes, words can have a lot of deception 'sex', but the eyes can't, through their eyes, Hu Yijian can judge whether the applicant has been on the battlefield, whether he has seen blood killing, no one can deceive his eyes under his fierce gaze.

The 800 places were quickly used up, and the queue of applicants was not only shortened, but also lengthened.

"General, let's sign up, let's follow you to fight the Turp Shi people!"

"Yes, General, give it a chance!"

……

There are countless voices of pleading, and I can't bear to listen to them.

Li Huaitang stood on the table, facing the enthusiastic soldiers of the Long Wu Army, and said: "I am very touched by your enthusiasm, but I can't help it when I run out of money." But don't be discouraged, next year, next year there will be a chance! ”

Those who are lucky enough to join the mercenary army will happily go to receive a hundred copper coins, and those who miss the opportunity can only wait for next year's opportunity in the eyes of envy and jealousy.

The smooth recruitment of troops exceeded Li Huaitang's expectations, and he actually completed the plan one day ahead of schedule. Also surprised was Li Yi, the king of Xin'an, who had come to complete the camel 'trade' with Li Huaitang, and he brought with him the 3,000 horned bows and a huge number of arrows that Li Huaitang needed.

The enthusiastic recruitment scene in the dragon cavalry camp fell into Li Yi's eyes, and he began to feel that something was wrong, and he began to think, what was the reason why countless grassroots soldiers of the Tang Army were far away from their hometowns to fight in foreign lands for the sake of a mere hundred?

On the march Li Yi is a good hand, but when it comes to politics, he can't do anything, even if he figured it out, there is no way, and at this time the Tang Dynasty is buried under the surface of the strong and prosperous various hidden dangers, the root of which lies in the serious land annexation, and increasingly 'fierce', although the emperor Li Longji issued a decree to prohibit the magnates from devouring the land of the peasants, however, the entire Tang Dynasty only heard the rumbling thunder, no raindrops, except for the grandiose decree, there are no substantive measures to protect the interests of the peasants.

Li Yi didn't figure it out, but Qi Jishan, who came with him, saw the problem, and said to Li Yi, who was worried: "The soldiers' families are allocated little land, and the taxes are relatively heavy, and Li Huaitang's conditions are undoubtedly very attractive to them. It is better to go to Ningyuan to venture into gold panning than to be poor in the future. ”

Originally, Li Yi wanted to refute with the allowance of the dragon martial horse, but Qi Jishan's last sentence blocked his mouth. The land is the foundation of the peasantry, and the allowance can only be solved for a while, and what about the soldiers other than the dragon warriors? Their income is even more meager.

Li Huaitang received the weapons brought by Li Yi, and he was very busy, and the bows and arrows of the eight hundred newly recruited soldiers were solved at once, and the remaining knives and cotton armor could not be fully equipped until they returned to Ningyuan City. There are knives for sale in Chang'an and Chang'an, but the number is not much, and it is okay to buy one or two, but it cannot be purchased on a large scale, otherwise it will be considered as ill-intentioned and bring trouble.

Hearing the conversation between Li Yi and Qi Jishan on the side, Li Huaitang disagreed: "It is not difficult to solve the land problem. ”

"Oh? What is Li Langzi's opinion? Qi Jishan looked at Li Huaitang with interest.

Li Huaitang said: "First of all, it is to expand the territory, reward the land to meritorious soldiers, and encourage immigration; secondly, to encourage industry and commerce, a large workshop can absorb hundreds, or even thousands of people, a mine needs tens of thousands of laborers, and commercial transportation needs more manpower; Finally, there is the construction of roads, water conservancy facilities, etc. ”

"Expanding the territory?" Li Yi's eyes lit up, his old profession is a soldier, of course he yearns for Li Huaitang's very enthusiastic suggestion, "According to the general, whose territory will our Datang expand first?" ”

Li Huaitang blurted out: "The land of the nine curves of the Yellow River, the land of Liaodong in the northeast of Youzhou, the land of Baekje in Silla, and the land of Baiyue in the south of Lingnan." ”

"No." Qi Jishan said, "The Jiuqu of the Yellow River is the land of Tang Mu that the Holy Lord gave to the princess of Jincheng at the beginning of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and it is controlled by the Tubo people, how can we go back on our word and take it?" ”

The face of the emperor and those in power is always higher than the interests of the country, which makes Li Huaitang very helpless. He thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you wait for me to go and get it from the Tubo people, and then return it to the saint?" ”

"Wonderful, wonderful! The general is loyal and courageous, and we are a role model. Ha ha! Li Yi laughed.

Qi Jishan was dumbfounded for a while, but he was noncommittal, and said meaningfully: "The land of Jiuqu is rich in water and grass, which can raise hundreds of thousands of people, and I don't know how much burden it can reduce for the land of Guanzhong." ”

Li Huaitang's face was serious, and he said: "If the Holy Lord does not object, I am willing to follow the example of Broken Leaf Town and return the land of nine songs to the Tang Dynasty." ”

Li Yi said: "This matter still needs the consent of the Holy Lord. Well, the land of Liaodong that the general just said was originally the territory of my Tang Dynasty, and now it is occupied by the 36 Khitan Divisions, and the barren land of Liaodong is not suitable for farming, but suitable for nomadic herding, which is beneficial to the Hu people, and my Tang Dynasty can defeat it, but it is difficult to occupy it. ”

Qi Jishan continued: "Silla Baekje is a subject state of the Tang Dynasty, how can the suzerain's country crusade and occupy the land of a small dependent state for no reason? Moreover, as soon as the war began, money and grain were consumed enormously, and the transportation during the period still required civilian conscription, which outweighed the losses, and was inappropriate and inappropriate. ”

"Yes! Even if we occupy it, the land already belongs to the aborigines, where do we get the land? Li Yi was not as pedantic as Qi Jishan, and he agreed with Qi Jishan's statement, but he blatantly discussed with Li Huaitang about the aftermath of the occupation.

Indeed, in the past foreign wars, Datang was thankless, the pay was far greater than the gain, and the cost of the war was imposed on the people. However, in Li Huaitang's head, there is another way to fight war, everything is only for profit, and the long-term and immediate cannot be let go.

Next, Li Huaitang's words made Qi Jishan stunned on the spot.

"Compared to the Great Food Country, the roads of the Tang Dynasty are really too bad, I think the main reason is the lack of efforts of the Khitans, Silla and Baekje people, they are obviously not suitable for farming compared to us, since this is the case, let them play to their strengths and contribute more to the road and water conservancy construction of the Great Tang Dynasty. And their land is just right for the immigrants of the Tang Dynasty. In this way, it is beneficial for both parties. ”

Li Yi frowned and said, "You mean to turn them into slave laborers?" This, how is this possible? How can I do such a thing? ”

Qi Jishan's face was full of black lines, and he retorted: "Zi said: Don't do to others what you don't want." He also said: Convince people with virtue. Hu people are also human beings, we should educate and influence them, so that they can listen to the subset of scriptures and history, know books and etiquette, and the world will be governed naturally. ”

Li Huaitang smiled bitterly and said, "What my uncle said, Huaitang didn't dare to agree. Hungry chickens can't be driven away, and hungry people are not ashamed. If you don't have enough food and clothing, who cares? Unless the uncle makes the Hu people eat well and dress warmly. However, wealth such as the Tang Dynasty has not been able to exempt its people from the worries of hunger and cold, so how can they get food and clothing for outsiders? Indoctrination, probation, this son, that son, have been for thousands of years, if it is really effective and feasible, where can there be so many soldiers in the world? ”

After Li Huaitang finished speaking, he turned to Li Yi and said: "I don't go to hell, whoever goes to hell, the prince and the general disdain, if there is a chance, I can do it for me." ”

Li Huaitang was very disdainful in his heart, politicians do not consider problems from the perspective of the family and the country, but want to talk about etiquette in the face of life, and must know that the interests of the country and the nation are always paramount. The land contradictions are so acute and prominent, but the emperor and magnates on top are short-sighted and only care about their vital interests, and do not actively find ways to solve the contradictions, but they are still talking about what morality, the object of morality can only be the people, not an outsider who does not pay a copper coin tax, and take a step back, when the country is in trouble, it is not the duty of countless simple citizens to take responsibility and go to the soup to pay the price of their lives to defend the dignity of the nation? As for those outsiders, it's good if they don't fall into the well, so they won't care if you live or die. A regime that treats foreigners well but not its citizens will only be abandoned by the people and abandoned by history.

Li Yi looked at Li Huaitang seriously, his feelings were a little complicated, he wanted to refute it, and thought about it, after all, this person was thinking about the Tang Dynasty, so it was understandable, so he had the right to discuss it academically, so he asked: "As far as the old man knows, the land of Liaodong and Silla is not suitable for farming, and the general's immigration strategy is inherently insufficient." ”

Li Huaitang said: "That's because we didn't look for good seeds, we didn't have the courage to try, there are many kinds of rice in the south, and there is always one suitable for planting in the north." I heard that in the past, the land of Guanzhong and Henan was not suitable for rice, but now it is also planted? ”

"Hmmm! Kind of makes sense. Li Yi 'touched' the white beard of the 'flower' and nodded, "As long as you can change the way of life of the Hu people chasing water and grass nomadism and teach them to farm, the land of Liaodong will not be uncontrollable." ”

Li Huaitang disagreed, his understanding was that in order to solve the problem of the Hu people, it was necessary to vigorously develop industry and commerce, supplemented by the military, first force them to be included in the huge production and 'trade' system, change their concept of life, and when they discovered and got used to it, the original better life could be easily obtained through labor 'exchange', and the plundering behavior would naturally be reduced. Li Huaitang's words were already on his lips, but he couldn't help but say it, he could see that he could think of it, and he said it in vain, no one here would accept his idea, and Xia Worm couldn't say anything.

As for the development of industry and commerce, Li Huaitang almost forgot that except for the Song Dynasty, almost all feudal dynasties have always only paid attention to farming, and their attitude towards industry and commerce is like a flood of fierce beasts, in addition to restrictions or restrictions, not only in terms of substantive political measures to weaken chemical business, but also ruthlessly in the ideological field, such as despising businessmen and craftsmen, demonizing businessmen, and even depriving industrial and commercial practitioners of their political power, forcing their sons to follow their father's business with the household registration system, and eliminating their hope of getting ahead.

The 'exchange' with Li Yi was completed, and the related topics also ended abruptly, what did not stop was everyone's thoughts, Li Huaitang's concept touched Li Yi's cognition, and Li Yi and Qi Jishan's views, which represent the attitude of most people, also touched Li Huaitang's mind, Datang has a better path to choose, since he came, maybe he should do something and leave something, and should not be like an ostrich in power to sit back and watch the Tang Dynasty enter the land of no return...... Please keep in mind the URL, if you like "War Owl in Tang" written by the wolf under the moon