Chapter 103: Patrolling the Border (1)

On the twenty-second day of the first month of the eighth year of Zhenghe, Hedong Road was slightly pacified so that Zhao Ta led the troops to patrol the border, the Western Xia and Liao were different, although they also signed a contract, but the Western Xia people were capricious, so the Song Dynasty was always in a tight position on the border of the Xia and Song Dynasties, especially in the spring and autumn seasons, which was the main period for the Western Xia people to invade the border, so it was necessary to formulate detailed prevention measures at this time.

Now is the wartime, after the arrival of spring, the ice and snow melt, the summer country has just passed the cold winter, it is the lack of food and grass, often in the spring to send troops to loot, through the spring famine. The other is that in the border areas, because the encroachment on agriculture often leads to armed conflicts between the two sides, and if the handling is not effective, it will lead to military disasters. Therefore, patrolling the border areas to inspect the combat readiness of the border areas has become an important routine task of the economic and pacification missions.

After receiving the edict that day, Zhao Ta and everyone had a closed-door meeting for a day, and after discussion, everyone agreed that there were ghosts among them, one was that Tong Guan was in good intentions, worried that something would happen to Zhao Ta, and he would not be able to explain to the emperor if he lost the prince, so he was excluded and did not let him go to the battlefield; The other is that Tong Guan was afraid that Zhao Ta would compete for merit, so he gave him a bad errand, even if he won in the future, he would not be able to cover himself, after all, Tong Guan had to rely on military merit to stabilize his position in the court, if Zhao Ta stole the limelight, wouldn't it be a wedding dress for others, so he simply didn't give him a chance.

Anyway, this year's war has nothing to do with Zhao Ta, he thinks that people have to bow their heads under the eaves, the county officials are better in charge, and they can't disobey the order for the first time, which will leave a bad impression on the superiors and set a bad example for the subordinates. So I also admit it, just take the opportunity to patrol the border to have a pre-war training first, and then the war is changing rapidly, and the opportunity is always reserved for those who are prepared!

As for raising salaries, it's a daily task. At that time, the mountains were high and the roads were far away, and there were no cars or trains, so the mobilization of grain and grass could only be carried by the people's shoulders, so it was mainly solved by the nearest settlement, and the method of entering the middle and purchasing the economy (entering the middle was an economic measure to encourage merchants to transport grain to the front line by paying for salt. and the government's contribution to the purchase of grain in the Yanbian area).

Huanqing Road and Qinfeng Road Tuntian were relatively successful, and self-produced grain could supply part of it, and Xihe Road could also buy grain from the local area to enrich military supplies; Due to the poor conditions of agricultural production, Yanyan Road has always been the grain import center of the Northwest Theater, and the grain transportation on Jingyuan Road and Qinfeng Road also occupies a certain proportion. &*．． The method adopted for the fastest update ** is very similar to the current one, and it also pays attention to a counterpart support: Sichuan corresponds to Xihe, Qinfeng, and Jingyuan; The area of the solution pool corresponds to Yanyan and Huanqing; Guanzhong area corresponds to Jingyuan Road, Qinfeng Road, Huanqing Road, Xihe Road; The Hedong area corresponds to the Yanyan Road.

Hedong Road has a large territory, a lot of arable land, prosperous commerce and trade, and the benefits of coal and iron, so although it is difficult, it can barely cope with it, but the wartime reserves and consumption are more than in previous years. Zhao Ta doesn't want to interfere, and he can't interfere at all, and he can't do it at all, and he can't get involved in large-scale collection of grain and transportation of supplies! Therefore, Zhao Ta left Huang Jingchen and He Qufei as the two old men, Xu Hong and Liu Zi'an, who were proficient in civil affairs, to host and supervise the various yamen, and he took Wang Jin and Shen Songyue to the north to patrol the border.

The three prefectures of Lin, Feng and Fu on Hedong Road are bordered by the eastern border of Western Xia, with Hengshan as the boundary. In addition to being the natural border between Western Xia and the Northern Song Dynasty, Hengshan was also the base for the advance of Western Xia to the Northern Song Dynasty. If the Western Xia loses Hengshan, there will be no place for the southward troops to gather food. The only thing that can be called lucky is that Hengshan is separated from the Xingling region of Western Xia by a desert, and the Song army cannot easily break through the desert and take Xingling directly. If the Song people could occupy these dangerous places and defend them, they would not need to deploy too many soldiers and horses in the east. Then a large number of soldiers and horses can be freed up from the west to attack the weak points of Western Xia, so this is the main point of contention between the two sides. …,

Lin, Fu and Feng are suitable for agriculture and animal husbandry, especially in the west of the Quye River in Linzhou, there are many fertile fields, the land is fertile, and the river water can be diverted to irrigate the fields, which is the main grain producing area of Linzhou and Fuzhou. Lin and Fuzhou guards will recruit people to cultivate them to make up for the border fee. In addition, good horses are also produced here, which is a place for importing war horses for the Central Plains government, which does not produce horses. Therefore, the encroachment of Western Xia on Lin and Fu was also mainly in the Quye River Valley, and Zhao Ta's main inspection targets were these two states!

After a month's rest, the soldiers basically adapted to the local water and soil, and the newly joined forbidden army gradually integrated into the Xiangyi army, became familiar with their command structure, ordered military discipline, and began to receive basic training in the use of firearms. When they followed the prince north again, they also had more ammunition bags on their bodies, and they also hung a repeater gun on their shoulders or saddle side, but for the sake of secrecy and to reduce the wear and tear of the gun by the wind and sand, they were all packed in the gun bag, still covered with a veil of mystery.

The soldiers of Taiyuan City are coming and going, and it is common for them to go in and out, and the prince's patrol did not cause much of a sensation, but his guards really showed off. The two hundred horses that Huang Jingchen gave to Zhao Ta are all dark horses of one water, and what is even more rare is that they are almost the same as tall, short, fat and thin, it seems that this old man has indeed spent a lot of effort in order to prepare a gift for the prince, but Zhao Ta does not seem to appreciate it, the officials on Hedong Road are more afraid of Huang Jingchen than him, these horses are estimated to be blackmailed by him, and they will not cost him a big son.

Zhao Ta's guards are all singled out, although there is no tall and mighty big man, but he is also a well-proportioned, good-looking handsome young man, with a black military uniform, a black mask, and a black color all over his body, only a silver-white blood-dripping skeleton embroidered on the cloak, the black black horse is simply handsome, cool, and can attract people's attention the most.

Only fifteen miles out of the city, there were ten black-painted four-wheeled carriages pulled by four healthy horses parked on the side of the road, and when they saw the banner of the Xiangyi army, someone immediately stepped forward to contact them, and the horse team still moved forward, but in a moment those carriages silently merged into the convoy of the baggage camp. Seeing the prince's carriage passing by, those people saluted the prince from afar and immediately beat their horses and left.

"Second master, the materials from the northwest base have been delivered!" Zhao Zhi got on the prince's carriage to report.

"Well, everything is ready?" Zhao Ta put down the book in his hand and asked.

"Second master, yes, there are a total of 500 consecutive guns, 100,000 bullets, and 5,000 compressed dry food!" Zhao Zhi replied, "In addition, the Xiangyi Workshop is now producing weapons at full capacity, and after the canal thaws in May, it can send ten rapid-fire guns, ten machine guns, 500 bead guns, and 5,000 catties of explosives to the northwest; After the Northwest Base is fully put into use in May, the output of dry food can be basically supplied to the army for three months, and the grain and grass reserves can be maintained for a year! ”

"Lao Qian still has some ability, and it is not easy to do this in such a short period of time!" Zhao Ta nodded.

"Yes, Sun Erqian is a good manager, the base has begun to take shape, and the location is also very beneficial to future development!" Zhao Zhi was ordered to visit the base and coordinate the cooperation with the Xiangyi Army, so it is like a few treasures, "The base is selected by the Fen River, where it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, facing water on one side, like a small basin, with a radius of seven or eight miles, and now all of them have been bought by him, the forage field, granary, and food processing plant have been built, the fireworks workshop has also been partially put into production, and the wine workshop and workshop are almost completed, and production can start in three months." Coal and iron are very convenient here, as long as craftsmen are recruited, weapons can be produced on the spot, and the province is transferred from Xiangyi! ”

"Very good, how about Yang Feng Yang Jiaotou?" Zhao asked again.

Yang Jiaotou began to be very dissatisfied with the appointment of Sun Erqian as the manager, he thought that he was the old man in the house, and he was the head of the northwest base this time, but this time he was disappointed, and he was in a mood for a few days, clamoring to go to the second master's side, but Sun Erqian was indeed a talent, and he was cleaned up with a little means! Now he is much more honest, and the defense of the base is doing a good job! Zhao Zhi said with a smile. …,

"Alas, if he had half of Master Meng's ability, I would also hand over the base to him to manage, but he was ambitious and talented, and he put him in the northwest for so many years without any achievements, if he can settle down, he can also let him stand alone in the future, I gave him the opportunity, whether it can be done or not, it depends on his own!" Zhao Ta looked at Zhao Zhi and said with a sigh.

"I think Sect Leader Yang will understand the second master's hard work!" Zhao Zhi saw that the prince was a little lost, and persuaded two sentences, "Sun Erqian sent us a few guides this time, they have all followed Mr. Sun for many years, and they are very familiar with the roads of Linfu Feng Sanzhou, two of them have also been to the Ling and Xia regions, and they are familiar with the border situation!" ”

"Okay, these people are treasures, you have to take care of them, don't be slow!" Zhao Ta instructed.

"Second master, don't worry, I didn't command, I'll leave first!" Zhao Zhi nodded.

"Well, you go down first!" Zhao Ta nodded, after Zhao Zhi retreated, he ordered someone to summon Zhao Ren, handed over his revised training plan to Zhao Ren, and talked with him all the way until he camped.

The closer you get to the border, the more villages become scarcer, and large tracts of land become barren, which becomes more and more severe when you enter the territory of Inju, and the remnants of the war become the main sight. This situation made Zhao Ta feel very bad, he knew from the information that the wars between Song and Xia for Lin, Fu and Feng over the years took place in the Song realm, and the Han households in Lin, Fu and Feng were slaughtered and burned and plundered.

The Xia army captured Fengzhou and Ningyuan Village, "killing the owner of the village, detaining and the soldiers and civilians in the village, burning the warehouse, treasury, military camps, and dwellings", and killing the Han residents outside the city of Fuzhou when besieging Fuzhou was incalculable. Even if the residents who were not slaughtered left Hedong to escape the rebellion, "the Qiang were driven and threatened by thieves, and they were wiped out, and they were left alone." As a result, the population of Lin, Fu, and Feng areas has been sharply reduced, residents have not dared to resume work, and the land has become barren, which has seriously damaged the local productive forces and caused great damage to the border areas.