Fang Chongyong and his entourage continued to the west, going to Shanzhou City, where the Longyou Jiedu envoy was stationed, and it didn't take long to arrive at the county seat of Zhixiangwu County, Weizhou Prefecture, not far from the "ruins" of Luomenyi. Before they could enter the city, they saw a middle-aged man in a bright red official robe coming towards them.

This person is Ben Guan, with a Su (Tongzhu) robe, a plain leather belt, black leather shoes, and is wearing a typical official uniform.

Since Fang Chongyong was also wearing a red official robe, which was the same as the other party's dress, he had to come out of the crowd to inquire at this time.

It is necessary to keep a low profile, and there is no need to cover your ears and steal the bell.

"But Fang Yushi in person?"

The middle-aged man in front of him asked very politely.

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly, crossed his hands and saluted: "It is here, may I ask your Excellency ......"

"A certain is Xue Shangtong, the assassin of Weizhou, who has been waiting for Fang Yushi for a long time. A certain received a banquet under the preparation of the government office, and invited Fang Yushi and his party to appreciate their faces. ”

Xue Shangtong said enthusiastically.

Fang Chongyong also smiled and nodded, and saluted with his crossed hands: "Thank you Xue Tingshi for your kindness, please lead the way." ”

Hearing this, Xue Shangtong was obviously relieved, and laughed: "Eh, Fang Yushi is polite, please here, please here." ”

Xue Shangtong didn't have a fight at all, he led the way in front of him, and Pei Xiu and the others behind Fang Chongyong were speechless.

Guan Chongsi remembered that he was rejected again and again at Chang'an Bai Wharf, and Fang Chongyong was received wherever he went, and he couldn't help but sigh that people were very different.

In fact, if it was an ordinary stabbing history, Fang Chongyong would definitely shirk it a little, and just play it casually and perfunctory. After all, it's important to be in a hurry, going to a foreign country for business is not a tour, and delaying time often leads to big accidents!

Thorn history, more than 300 states in Datang, more than 300 thorn history, how old are you?

But this Xue Shangtong, Fang Chongyong can't slack off. The reason is that this person's surname is Xue, not that he is a thorn.

Why do you say that, because Xue Shangtong's family can be called the "Thorn History Family", and the background is very good.

Xue Shangtong's great-grandfather was Xue Shu, who followed Li Erfeng to fight the world and was one of the eighteen bachelors of the Qin Palace. By the way, Xue Shui's father is Xue Daoheng, a servant in the history of the Sui Dynasty, who is also famous and has a family history.

Xue Shangtong's grandfather is also very remarkable, he is Xue Yuanchao, the prime minister and literary leader of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of Tang Gaozong and Li Zhi. Xue Yuanchao's aunt is Xue Jieyu, the concubine of Tang Gaozu Li Yuan.

Xue Yuanchao married the daughter of Li Yuanji, the king of Chao, and the Li family, the lord of Jing County. The Li family gave birth to three sons, Xue Yao, Xue Yi, and Xue Jun, and Xue Shangtong is Xue Jun's heir.

Not to mention ability, this family alone can scare people to death.

Xue Yuanchao's other sons don't talk about it first, let's talk about Xue Jun's family.

Xue Shangtong's father Xue Jun is the history of the Cizhou assassin, Xue Shangtong's brother Xue Xiantong is the history of the same state assassin, Xue Qitong is the history of the Cizhou assassin, the younger brother Xue Jitong served as the secretary in Chang'an, and Xue Zhentong was a member of the Qizhou judicial army.

In other words, Xue Shangtong's four brothers are either assassins or central officials, not to mention his cousins!

The names of Xue Yuanchao's grandchildren are all called "Xue Moutong", which is different from the word in the middle, which is very recognizable. Although Fang Chongyong didn't know Xue Shangtong, a name like Xue Moutong was already a "legend of the rivers and lakes" in the Tang Dynasty officialdom, and it became a joke that spread everywhere, and it was difficult not to be recognized, because the recognition was too high.

As soon as he heard this name, Fang Chongyong knew that the assassin in front of him was something he would never offend for no reason! Unless the other party doesn't open his eyes and insists on provoking, then he should consider counterattacking.

Now that Xue Shangtong warmly invited Fang Chongyong to the Weizhou Mansion for a banquet, can he say no?

When the group came to the mansion, Fang Chongyong saw a few tables in the lobby of the mansion, which were full of local delicacies from Weizhou, among which mutton and Hu cakes were the mainstay, and there were relatively few vegetarian dishes.

After the banquet began, Fang Chongyong couldn't understand what Xue Shangtong was planning, so he tried his best to get close to him, saying polite words without oil and salt.

After three rounds of drinking, Xue Shangtong suddenly changed his painting style, and asked quietly: "Is Fang Yushi here to escape from Weizhou?" ”

"It can be not, it can be it."

Fang Chongyong tapped his index finger on the table and said meaningfully.

Hearing this extremely obvious hint, Xue Shangtong pretended not to hear anything, and still beckoned everyone to eat and drink. After the banquet dispersed, Xue Shangtong placed Fang Chongyong and his party in a post house outside the county seat of Xiangwu County, and then invited Fang Chongyong to his private house to "appreciate calligraphy and painting".

……

In a wing room in an elegant and quiet courtyard in Xiangwu County, seeing that there was no one around, Xue Shangtong pulled Fang Chongyong's cuffs and begged in a low voice:

"Please, Fang Yushira some! There will be a lot of thanks in the future! ”

For example, Xue Shangtong, who is 20 years older than Chongyong, doesn't care about his face at all.

"How can so-and-so save his life?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a curious expression, he hadn't figured out what Xue Shangtong wanted to do. The Xue family's family doesn't seem to want someone else to save it, right?

"Since Tianbao, the people of Weizhou have fled very much, and the local large households have abandoned their farmland to graze. Now that a certain person has taken over the history of Weizhou's assassination, the household registration of the people in the state has dropped from more than 20,000 to less than 12,000.

If the court pickets it, this mess is too bad, and I really can't afford it! ”

Xue Shangtong said with tears in his eyes.

When the history of assassination is pitted, why the people in the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty try to avoid the history of assassination, it is because there are too many inexplicable pits!

The states of the Tang Dynasty, except for the Gyeonggi region and those oversized "prefectures", were nothing more than upper, middle and lower levels. During the Kaiyuan period, there were four auxiliaries, six xiongs, ten wangs, ten tight, one hundred and ninety upper states, twenty-nine middle states, and one hundred and eighty-nine lower states.

Those with an account of less than 25,000 are in the lower state, and there is no lower lower limit.

So Weizhou has always been a well-deserved Xiazhou.

But in fact, Xiazhou's statement is just that the imperial court is lazy and has not subdivided. This situation is related to the passing score below 60, with 59 points and 0 points.

If you really want to subdivide it, there is the kind of Xiazhou that rubs the border with Zhongzhou and has a population of more than 20,000; There is also the kind of "Xiaxiazhou" that is only a few thousand households, which is not comparable to the population of a county in Shangzhou!

And this division of "top, middle and bottom" is not immutable. As the population migrates, the middle state may become a lower state, and the lower state may become a middle state or even an upper state. Every time the Tang government conducts a household census, it will change it.

The number of household registrations in a state is an important "hard standard" for the assessment of assassination. If during someone's tenure, there are no wars and no disasters, and the number of household registrations not only does not increase, but becomes less and less, then can this thorny history still fall into the world?

The officials in charge of the assessment are not blind!

The question raised by Xue Shangtong is a "population flow" issue that the Tang Dynasty has not been able to openly raise since the founding of the country, and it is also an "unspeakable secret" that can trap ordinary people to death.

According to what he saw and heard on the road, Fang Chongyong comprehended, but still pretended to be confused and asked, "Why did Xue Tingshi say this." ”

"Since the Han Dynasty, strong soldiers have come out of Longyou. The four counties of Longyou provided a large number of soldiers for the state.

However, since the imperial court changed to the Long March athletes, their families have all migrated to the border towns. Weizhou was not spared, and a large number of household registrations migrated to Lanzhou, Hezhou, Linzhou, Shanzhou and other places in the west with the Long March athletes, where they were tuntian.

The imperial court could not make up for the loss of household registration in Weizhou, and no people were willing to come to Weizhou to open up wasteland.

Now there are fewer and fewer people in Weizhou who are willing to farm, and the imperial court is still opening pastures here for grazing, and the whole Weizhou is about to become pastures.

There won't be so many people needed for grazing, and there will be fewer hukou, that's obvious. ”

Xue Shangtong is worthy of being born in a "family of eunuchs", and he is the first to talk about the truth, and he made the predicament he faced clear in his words.

Originally, the Weizhou area was less flat and more mountainous, and it belonged to the area of "farming and herding", but the local terrain was still easier to graze, and only the government that wanted to make political achievements would encourage farming.

If the local population is large, then it is necessary to open "slope fields" on the slopes of the hills, which are the predecessors of terraced fields, and the cultivation efficiency is far less than that of terraced fields. Flat land is not nothing, but the plain area of Weizhou is less than 10%.

It is self-evident who will be allotted to the fields on the flat land.

If the local population is small, then this is a nomadic area, and the hillside can be used to graze cattle and sheep, which is also very convenient. It's just that the grazing economy can't carry so many people, so what about many people? Do they work hard to clear the slopes, or do they go elsewhere to earn a living?

Weizhou has two economic models, complementing each other, and at a certain stage, one model is the main one.

If there are more people and less land, you can cultivate sloping fields in the mountains and grow wheat and beans. But reclaiming these mountainous areas requires a lot of labor and is slow to produce results. If there were more and better options, the locals would rather migrate and seek a living elsewhere.

The transformation of government soldiers into conscription has completely changed the economic ecology of Weizhou. The hukou has migrated to the border towns, and the barren hillside land in their hands has also been bought by the local Haoqiang, who can turn farming into nomadic herding, but the life of other small families is not easy.

In addition, the imperial court also opened pastures here, specifically providing cattle, horses, sheep and livestock for the court, which squeezed the space for self-cultivated farmers to become herdsmen. It's strange that the local hukou doesn't flee, and it's better to go to Chang'an to be a weaver than to farm in Weizhou!

In this case, there is no question of good or bad. Good or bad, it depends on whom. If you don't talk about the object and only talk about the good and the bad, many times you will get the wrong answer.

Local interests must be subordinated to the overall interests of the country, and whether the changes in Weizhou are good or bad for Datang is another matter, but it is definitely a bad thing for Xue Shangtong!

Fang Chongyong also understands that if a large number of mineral deposits are found here in the future, then Weizhou is a mining economic system, and nothing can be planted, and everything must be based on mining.

The state is the largest, followed by the local, and finally the individual.

So now the question is, if the imperial court checks the household registration in Weizhou and finds that there are thousands less households in Xue Shangtong's tenure, will they think that it is caused by Xue Shangtong's "tyranny"?

At the very least, a "governance without a way" will not be able to escape.

An official family like Xue Shangtong and them is already the conscience of the industry if they don't extort the people, how can they bear to fall into the pit without doing anything hurtful to the heavens and reason?

It is inevitable that they will find a way to get out of the pit.

Fang Chongyong suddenly realized, it turned out that Xue Shangtong was here for his position of supervising the imperial history! Fang Chongyong took his subordinates with him on this trip, which made Xue Shangtong think that he was going to take the Assassin History Sacrifice Flag in Weizhou!

In fact, Fang Chongyong was just passing by, if Xue Shangtong didn't come forward to greet him, he might not enter Weizhou City!

"A certain will repair a book, about the situation of the imperial court princes in Weizhou, Zheng Shuqing and a certain friendship in the imperial history. However, if the people of Yushitai don't listen, then there is no guarantee.

Originally, this time the official only passed through Weizhou, and eventually had to go to Shanzhou to recruit troops. ”

Fang Chongyong said to Xue Shangtong in a deep voice, and his attitude couldn't help but be a little reserved and conservative.

"I see."

Xue Shangtong nodded slightly, relieved and regretful at the same time.

The good news is: although Fang Chongyong and his party are supervising the identity of the imperial history, they are not here to check on him, and they have no hostility towards him.

The bad news is that someone will come to check on him in the future, and it's just a temporary safe.

"Then please leave it to Fang Yushi. If Fang Yushi has anything to send in Shanzhou, he will definitely help. ”

Xue Shangtong said with a salute to Chongyong.

"To be honest, I really want to ask Xue Tingshi for something."

Fang Chongyong put away his smile, hugged Xue Shangtong Zhengse and said.

"Fang Yushi, please speak."

Xue Shangtong asked.

"That's right, I want to buy some sheepskins from Xue Tingshi, the amount is a bit large."

Fang Chongyong said with some embarrassment.

"Sheepskin? How much? ”

Xue Shangtong asked suspiciously, there are not many others in Weizhou, and the sheepskin can be said to be as much as there is.

Fang Chongyong stretched out a finger and made a "1" gesture.

"A hundred?

This is easy to say, these 100 sheepskins, the official will directly send Fang Thorn History. ”

Xue Shangtong said boldly.

"No, it's 10,000! A certain soldier made a military uniform for the soldiers of the Silver Spear Filial Festival. ”

Fang Chongyong said with a smile.

"10,000 sheets, it's not difficult to get things, but the number is a bit large."

After speaking, Xue Shangtong was silent.

Sheepskin is very common, although the amount that Fang Chongyong wants is not small, but it is only relative. Weizhou has raised hundreds of thousands of sheep on both the public and private sides, and it is not difficult to get 10,000 sheepskins, after all, the other party gives money is just business!

If you don't give money, you can't do it.

"Okay, but it will take some time, and I won't be able to get it in the next two days."

"It's okay, so-and-so is just for recruitment, and I'm not in a hurry today."

Fang Chongyong nodded and said.

His request was commonplace, because sheepskin was originally a material for making winter uniforms. As the military envoy of the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army, it was too common for him to ask Xue Shangtong this question.

"Well, but Fang Yushi should be considerate, there are not many households in Weizhou, and there is no workshop to clean sheepskins. So when the sheep skin can't be dehaired, you'll have to send someone to deal with it. ”

Xue Shangtong's face was embarrassed.

"It's easy to say, it's all small things."

Fang Chongyong said with a smile.

……

Shanzhou, Shanzhou City, in the study room of the envoy's office of Longyoujiedu.

Du Wang, the envoy of Longyou Jiedu, was checking a top-secret letter sent by the eunuch in the palace sent by Li Longji, and only felt that the whole person was going to faint.

Because of its great stakes, this letter did not go through the post station system from Chang'an to Longyou, but was directly sent by the eunuchs in the palace.

And the secrecy is extremely strong, even Fang Youde doesn't know about it, let alone Fang Chongyong.

In the letter, Li Longji told Du Hope about an incident that had a great impact on the situation in the northwest border town! At present, this matter has not yet spread, but sooner or later everyone will know about it.

A few days ago, there was a major military coup in Tibet, and even Zampu, who had been in power for decades, was killed!

Tubo Zampu Chide Zuzan, in the Subi region under the jurisdiction of Sun Boru in the Yashu Becha horse race, was killed by Sun Boru lord Lang Meise and Mo Dong Zebu, then the Tibetan vassal state Subi, that is, Sun Boru launched a rebellion, declared independence from Tibet.

At the critical moment, the general of the Praetorian Guard, Enlan Dazarukon, who served as a guard in the Subi region of Tibet, led the Praetorian Guard directly under the Tubo Xinzanpu Trisong Detsen, and annihilated the rebels in the Subi region with lightning speed. Sun Boru's lords Lang Meise and Mo Dong Zebu were given the heads, and the rebellion was extinguished.

Subi's Sun Boru made a fuss, but it was only half of the champagne, and in the end it was all lost!

But this wave is not over yet!

The Subi region is different from the rest of Tibet, not only is it the largest, but also its original tribes that have not been invaded by Tibet have considerable independence, and they still retain their own king, that is, the king of Subi.

The Subi king is very appealing in the Subi region, but Sun Boru's management is managed by the Ru lord, that is to say, the Subi king cannot directly do it, nor can he use the resources of the Subi region to confront the Tubo people.

The king of Subi did not praise Lingzan, because he had long been extremely dissatisfied with the abuse of the wealth and soldiers in the Subi region by Tibet, so he wanted to take advantage of the turmoil in the Subi region to do something.

He also knew that he couldn't defeat the Tubo Forbidden Army with his own strength, so he wanted to lead his troops to defect to the Tang Dynasty, and then use the strength of the Tang border army to pull the tiger skin for himself.

So King Subi sent a letter to Li Longji, agreeing that in the near future, he would take his descendants from Chahan City on the shore of Qinghai Lake through Shibao City, and then from Shibao City to Shancheng (Xining City), a key node on the border of Longyou.

At that time, there will inevitably be a Tubo army chasing their troops, so Ji Ge asked Du Hope to send troops to meet Wulingzan.

Yes, it is not negotiable!

Because of the turmoil in the Subi region, Tibet is about to transfer the contradictions to the outside world, and it will inevitably take this opportunity to integrate the resources of the Subi region. Brother Ji thinks that taking advantage of his illness to kill him is a good opportunity to beat the Tubo stuffy stick!

There is no time to lose.

The tone of the letter was very harsh, and it was an order and a request, not a suggestion. Du Hope has no doubt at all, if this matter is messed up, Ji Ge will definitely let his Du clan die!

The corpse was hung at the head of Chang'an City to show the public.

But when did the king of Subi come when he didn't have a mausoleum?

For the sake of secrecy, nothing was said!

Du Hope fell into distress, only to feel that his head was about to explode.

(End of chapter)