Between the watery mountain passes, a lush meadow covers the west bank of Luoshui like a thick green blanket, covering the thick and compacted loess underneath. This place is located in the northwest of Yan'an County one hundred and ten miles, from the east of Jinming County about one hundred and eighty miles, from the southeast of Jincheng County one hundred and eighty miles, no one would have imagined that between the ups and downs of the mountains and the turbulent water, there is still a large grassland.

The western part of Yanzhou is sparsely populated, along Luoshui all the way to the west is Gyeongju, at the place where Luoshui folds to Gyeongju, a small and turbulent tributary of the water flow is divided, this nameless tributary goes all the way to the north, on the loess plateau of the slopes and ravines, such a dense and flourishing meadow is cut out by force, thirty miles longitudinally, forty miles horizontally, the mountains in the distance outline a faint shallow edge in the setting sun, the scenery is beautiful, and it is unparalleled for a while.

Li Wenge sat firmly on the saddle, brandished his whip and pointed to this lush meadow and said: "...... It was originally still inhabited, and Yongan County was set up here in the second year of Tang Wude, and Zhenguan was merged into Jinming County at the beginning of Zhenguan. Although there are few people, there are still hundreds of households, but it is a pity that there have been too many wars and chaos in recent years, and the population has lost too much, and now it has become a wild land......

Fine-sealed Minda followed behind him and said absentmindedly, "You know so much......

Li Wenge looked back at him and said with a smile: "I checked the Jinming County Chronicles, and then I found this good place!" ”

Xifeng Minda looked at him puzzledly, and Li Wenge explained: "This grassland is enough to feed a tribe of two or three thousand people, right?" ”

Thin Seal Minda measured it with his eyes. Nodding slowly: "It should be possible!" ”

Li Wenge nodded and asked, "Ye Ji Clan, Cattle Killing Clan, and Big Zerg Clan, how much do you know about the landing of these three departments?" ”

Xifeng Minda was stunned for a moment, and only reacted for a long time, and said slowly: "The pheasant clan and the Yeli family are related, but it was also a few hundred years ago, since the Tuoba family unified the eight tribes of Pingxia, the pheasant clan and the Yeli family have not interacted. The Great Zerg is a side branch of Dang Xiangqiang, and its clan is not a nomadic group in the first place. Fishing and hunting all year round, even the family name and surname are also the origin, they are few in number, but because of the year-round dealing with birds of prey and beasts, they are brave and strong by nature, and in recent years they have turned nomadic, but they have not completely given up fishing and hunting. For other tribes, fishing and hunting is just a form of sacrifice, but for the big zerg it is a supplement to their livelihood......"

Li Wenge twisted his body a few times, moved his waist, which was a little stiff due to long-term horseback riding, and asked, "These three families have riding and archery skills." How does it compare to the Tuoba family? ”

"They have all grown up on horseback since childhood, but the three pheasant tribes were civilized very late, and there are only three layers of nobles, freemen, and slaves in the tribe so far. The nobility were of all ranks, large and small, and every three years a council of nobles elected a patriarch. Its warriors are brave and fierce, and if they are taken out to fight one-on-one with the Tuoba warriors, the Tuoba warriors are afraid that they will suffer some small losses. But it's a pity that these warriors don't know the military formation, and they don't know the army. It's good to fight alone, but when you assemble, you're far from being an opponent of the Tuoba family......"

A slight smile appeared at the corner of Li Wenge's mouth: "Then do you think these three tribes, with a population of tens of thousands, can you make up three cavalry battalions for me?" ”

Hosophon Minda was not surprised, and replied bluntly: "No! ”

Li Wenge frowned: "Why? ”

"They surrendered to the Han because they had an inextricable grudge with the Tuoba family, but it does not mean that these brave warriors could give up their pride and pride to fight for the Han people. Moreover, the three families also have a grudge against each other, and there are some fights and conflicts every year. The estrangement that is cemented by blood cannot be eliminated in a short period of time, so let them fight side by side. It's too hard ......."

He paused. "And the most difficult point is the language——! ”

"Language?"

"Yes, the languages of the three tribes are different. This is also the fundamental reason why the eight departments of Pingxia do not agree with them, although there are many disagreements between the eight departments, but after all, everyone speaks the Xianbi language, and there is no obstacle to communication and contact with each other.

The pheasant three tribes are different, they each have their own language and habits, they are incompatible with each other, and it is more difficult to communicate with outsiders, except for some nobles who often deal with Han officials, there are very few people who can speak Chinese, such three tribes, you want to co-opt to fight for you, it's too difficult......" Xifeng Minda squinted his eyes and said slowly.

Li Wenge took a deep breath: "What if I use grain and pasture as bargaining chips? ”

Fine Feng Minda frowned: "Grain and pasture? ”

Li Wenge said: "After all, dignity and pride can't be eaten, and that Guo Peeling and Rampaging in Gyeongju has already made the Yeji people rebel." Last winter, presumably the three tribes did not have a good time, I gave them food, gave them the pasture they needed for nomadic herding, and there was only one condition - they had to send the elite warriors of the clan to fight for me......"

Xifeng Minda smiled: "You think things are too simple, this is not a transaction, grain and pasture are certainly things that the three clans dream of, but it doesn't mean that if you give them these things, they will fight for you." ”

Li Wenge said calmly: "Everything is not tradable, as long as they have needs, and I can meet their needs, then there is nothing untradable......

He whipped his whip and said, "This pasture is mine, and I can use this pasture for these tribes."

, shepherd sheep and horses, and every year I will exchange a ration of grain for them to shepherd the sheep, and they can keep them for themselves! I admit that they are subjects of the Great Zhou Emperor's reign and call the ministers Nagong, and in exchange, they must send their clan's warriors to fight for the Great Zhou Emperor, otherwise they will be rebellious! ”

"Rebellion?" Thin Seal Minda shuddered in her heart.

"The court never spares rebellion!" Li Wenge said firmly, "The Yeji tribe rebelled this time, blocked the salt road, and the court was furious, no matter what the reason, the rebellion is a felony to punish the nine tribes. Life or death. They have to make a choice......"

Xifeng Minda sneered and shook his head repeatedly: "You grit your teeth and look very funny, you have never been a vicious person, you can......'t do it to slaughter the whole pheasant clan."

Li Wenge glanced at Xifeng Minda very seriously, and said in a slow tone: "Xifeng, you still don't know our Han people, if you want to exterminate the whole pheasant clan, I don't need to ......do it myself at all."

Xifeng Minda was speechless for a moment, but saw Li Wenge looking at the big meadow while rubbing his hands.

Each of the three tribes has 500 men, which is 1,500 elite cavalry. With such a cavalry, in the middle of the pass, he should not be able to meet a decent opponent......

Of course, how to train these barbarians of different classes into an army that obeys discipline and obeys command is a big problem, and it seems that he does not have enough time to complete this matter in the face of the counterattack of the Tuoba family, so he can only reorganize and train while marching and fighting.

He glanced back at the fine seal Minda with some malice, since there is free labor, he must squeeze it to the end.

Looking at the fine seal Minda, I remembered his origin. Li Wenge's heart moved slightly, as if a major matter that had not been solved by a good way suddenly showed a ray of light.

"In the future, this meadow will have thousands of nomadic herders, and all ethnic groups will be autonomous. I don't know how many disputes will arise, but when I come back from Gyeongju, I will re-establish a county here-" Li Wenge pointed to the grassland in front of him in a haughty manner.

"It's still called Yong'an County?" Thin Seal Minda asked lazily.

"No—it's called Baoan County!" Li Wenge smiled meaningfully with an emotional emotion.

Xifeng Minda glanced back at his master and commander, he didn't have any opinion on Li Wenge's renaming of this place, just please, don't smile evilly when you say the name of Baoan County, like a bad breed who has succeeded in his tricks, okay?

……

Zhou Maosheng is a native of Jinming County, and has been farming at home since he failed the test last year. Originally, I was not going to take the exam again this year, but the world was unexpected, and there were still four or five months before the day of this year's exam, and the county yamen came to the errand and informed him that he was going to report to Jiedu Mansion in Shangzhou City, but he didn't explain what was going on.

Zhou Maosheng trembled and asked a question, but the county official replied coldly: "This is the state order" and there was no follow-up, and Zhou Maosheng did not dare to ask again.

In these years, there were very few people who could read and write. Even fewer are qualified to hire a teacher or attend a private school. Zhou Maosheng's family was not well-off, and when he was a child, he had a private school teacher who lived at home for a month. Opened for him. Taught him to read. The Zhou family is not well-off, and there is nowhere to go if they want to study. Zhou Maosheng has been exposed to very few books in the past ten years, but he does not practice words every day, but he has practiced a good hand. However, the knowledge of the subset of classics and history is very limited......

Last year's exam, Zhou Maosheng was actually lucky, and he also knew that he couldn't pass the test at all, but when he saw that several scholars in the same village went, he also moved his mind, so he took the mentality of a dead horse as a live horse doctor and broke into the state city, and as expected, the place name fell to Sun Mountain. The chief examiner who presided over the examination observed that Li Bin wrote the comments on his text scroll, and he still remembers them clearly - "The literature is clear, but the writing is very coarse, and it is almost the same as the peddler's pawn. ”

The so-called "very thick text" refers to Zhou Maosheng's article almost no literary brilliance at all, and it is just that it does not conform to the format of the four or six pun texts, there are no allusions in the chapters and sentences, and many imaginary adverbs do not know how to use, although the font of the whole article is very beautiful, it is like a big vernacular. If this article is about to come out, it will almost make the scholars in Yanzhou laugh to death - where is a hillbilly villager who is indiscriminately filling? Li Bin was able to write a comment of "clear literature", which is already a very fair and polite comment.

Since then, Zhou Maosheng has stopped thinking about it, Li Bin asked him to study the scriptures and history again, and he said it lightly, what many scriptures and history are like Zhou Maosheng is not clear, how to "study again"?

originally thought that this life would be enough to honestly serve the land and make hoes, but who knew that now the situation has changed abruptly, and he suddenly received a summons from the state and city.

He came to the state city in a panic, but he was not received by the officials of the state capital, but by the personal soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who examined the documents issued by the county for Zhou Maosheng with expressionless faces, and arranged for him to live in a wing room in the Jiedu Mansion.

Zhou Maosheng was the first time in his life to enter the Jiedu Mansion, and the first time he lived in such a good house, but he was full of panic but there was a trace of novelty and incomprehension.

The state summoned himself, a half-hung scholar who was no different from a peddler's pawn, to come. What exactly is to be done?

After a hearty dinner,

Zhou Maosheng was finally led to a slightly larger noodle room by a personal soldier, and there were already more than a dozen people sitting down in it, like Zhou Maosheng, most of them had patches on their shirts, and some of them had yellow faces and thin muscles. Several of them were recognized by Zhou Maosheng, all of whom were in the same year as last year, and they were summoned today.

After exchanging hard words for a while, several people exchanged words with each other in a low voice, only to realize that they were not just confused. Everyone was summoned to the state city by a paper document from the state capital in a confused situation.

After another moment, finally walked in from outside the door a handsome but hunchbacked young man with a water snake waist, this person did not wear official uniforms, very young, just when Zhou Maosheng secretly guessed that he was a confused and summoned scholar, this person waved at the surrounding people, and introduced himself with a smile: "You are hard, your surname is Han, your single name is Wei, and the word Qiren is Qiren." Now the Eighth Route Army is the envoy of General Li Da in the military position, and he is also in charge of the affairs of the Zhaowen Academy, and he is ordered by the general. Summons you to come and discuss something! ”

Everyone looked at each other, although everyone here did not read much, it was generally clear what the position of "joining the military" was, but they had heard that Cangcao participated in the military and Cao participated in the military, but they were confused about what kind of position this group of people participated in the military. As for what the nonexistent "Zhaobun Academy" is, it is even more confused.

Don't say they don't understand, even Han Wei, who reported his home, secretly smiled bitterly in his heart at the moment.

Whether it was the Han system or the Tang system, there was no establishment of "pedestrian participation in the military" in the shogunate. This is a whimsical new position created by Li Wenge.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes and countries in order to facilitate state exchanges, once had the position of "pedestrian doctor", equivalent to the diplomat of the vassal states, the Qin and Han dynasties created the system of three princes and nine secretaries, one of the nine kings was the "big liner", and later changed its name to "Da Honglu", after the reform and evolution of the past dynasties, it has now evolved into the Honglu Qing of the imperial court, which is in charge of the affairs of the princes of the foreign domain and the detention of the state. At the same time, it is still in charge of international diplomatic relations.

As the name suggests, this "pedestrian ginseng military" was the person in charge of the Yeonju shogunate who was responsible for communicating with other feudal towns and even foreign tribes.

As a feudal town staff. The position of pedestrian ginseng military is as weird as it gets. Fortunately, I have seen a lot of Li Wenge's strange new tricks, and Han Wei is not completely unacceptable. It's just that he secretly smiled bitterly in his heart that such a staff setting was transmitted to the imperial court, and he didn't know if it would make the imperial court have some other ideas. The power of diplomatic relations is the power of the imperial court, and as a local feudal town, although it is a separatist force, it is always a bit arrogant to set up pedestrians to join the army.

Fortunately, this general Li Sheng's family is not bad, Han Wei smiled bitterly, and then led the topic to the topic.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have summoned you here today, there are really some things that need to be entrusted to you!"

He reached out and took out five proclamations from his bosom and handed them to the crowd to circulate one by one.

These scholars bowed their heads and read the proclamation, and at the same time they were secretly frightened.

These proclamations are not long, although they are written in literary language, but they are written in an extremely simple and easy to understand manner, and with the background of these scholars, although some of the connotations cannot be understood for a while, they are not completely incomprehensible.

Zhou Maosheng was stunned and looked at the content of the proclamation in his hand repeatedly, and he was shocked beyond words, he knew that once these proclamations were announced, what kind of impact and shock would be brought to Li Shu in the ten counties of Yanzhou.

The first proclamation, titled "Abolition of Ding Fu," said that starting in the third year of Guangshun, all the poll taxes for the inhabitants of the 10 counties in Yanzhou will be exempted, that is, starting this autumn, the government will no longer go to villages and towns to collect taxes on a per capita basis, and those peasants who have many children in their families and therefore cannot afford to pay taxes will no longer have to flee from the famine to avoid taxes this autumn.

The title of the second sheet is "Equal Acreage", which means that within three months from April, the government will measure the land in the nine counties in accordance with the new weights and measures standards, and register them according to the new numbers.

The title of the third sheet is "Determining the Mu Tax," which talks about the number of mu per household determined according to the new weights and measures, and the government will collect a mu tax from next year, and the grain produced per mu will be handed over to the government according to 10 to 2 percent, and at the same time, the government has set a minimum limit, and the amount of grain paid per mu of land each year cannot be lower than this limit, and those below this limit will be collected according to this limit.

The fourth piece of land is titled "Building Public Land", which refers to the government's intention to establish public land by way of redemption since April, and clearly stipulates that the rent of public land is 20% of the total harvest land, and that local residents of Yanzhou or farmers from other states who wander to other states can get 100 mu of public land as long as one person from each household serves in the Yanzhou army, and is exempt from tax for five years.

The fifth title is "Total Cargo Colony", which says that the government will establish a Fengyu cabinet in Yan'an County from May, with 100,000 copper coins and 500 catties of gold as a reserve, all traders in Yanzhou must settle in Fengyu Cabinet, only under the premise of Fengyu Cabinet Shop issuing settlement vouchers, the convoy of merchants in each caravan warehouse can get the passage guide issued by Yanzhou Buzheng Cao Economic and Commercial Division, and all merchants who carry out market trade in accordance with this law can enjoy the full tax exemption treatment in Yanzhou. Each settlement business only needs to pay a handling fee of 1/1000 to the counter.

Zhou Maosheng can imagine what kind of turmoil will be caused in Yanzhou once the contents of these five proclamations are made public......