Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

When Guo Shao returned to the study, Zuo You came over with a stack of memorials that classified and summarized the content, bowed and put the things on the imperial case, and said, "Your Majesty, please have a look."

His movements are relatively slow and steady, and he seems to be paying attention to even the smallest gestures... Because this place is the center of the dynasty, everyone here is extremely cautious in everything they do. Perhaps because of "importance", the most ordinary little things are also endowed with extra flavor.

There is only one person who is not so concerned, and that is Guo Shao. He is the master here, whether the master is right or wrong, others will make things right for him.

"Your Majesty, Zhe De has written a memorial." Zuo You said calmly again.

"Oh?" Sure enough, Guo Shao immediately looked down at the pile of things on the table. Zhe Dejian is a great official in the frontier, and he is always one of the people who attracts attention in the court. Several cabinet assistants usually put the most important memorials in a conspicuous position on it, and Guo Shao quickly found that one on top of a pile of memorials.

In the memorial, Zhe Dejian seems to be answering the court's inquiry. Guo Shao couldn't remember whether he had asked someone to ask him, and he didn't know which yamen decided to ask about that matter... Searching for the party leader Li Yiyin.

In short, Zhe Dejian replied in the memorial, and got some clues that Li Yiyin was in the northern grassland, but he has not been found yet.

Zuo You raised his head slightly, as if wondering whether he should resign. Guo Shao glanced at him, and immediately brought up the topic: "The rules in Pingxia Province are not perfect, I have an idea."

Zuo You immediately stayed there with peace of mind, clasped his fists and said, "I am all ears."

Guo Shao thought for a while, then pondered: "This rule involves the gradual innovation of the military system of the guards. At present, most of the guards go home to farm or work on their own after going out to fight; but this usage is really a waste of the imperial court spending money on equipment and training the guards. They should have a better use, which is to guard the province. In this way, they will not only earn better income than farming and working, but also have a greater effect on the dynasty."

Zuo You hurriedly said: "Your Majesty's words are very true, and I think it's good!"

After hearing this, Guo Shao was a little happy and said: "The Zuo Shilang told other people about this matter, discussed it, and then formulated a specific implementation strategy according to my idea, and showed it to me."

Zuo You immediately bowed: "My minister obeys the order."

Guo Shao said some of his own thoughts in the same fragment, "The provincial guards cannot use the life system, but should have a number of years. The nearest three years and the distant five years are rounds. This has the advantage that the foundation of the provincial guards is still in the country, and the main force of the provincial military is not easy to leave the court."

Zuo You asked: "The generals and soldiers of the Great Xu Wei Army live with the locals. The military law only strictly prohibits prostitution|plundering. There is no prohibition against prostitution|hospitality and luring|seducing women. If a soldier marries a local woman, what rules should the court deal with?"

Guo Shao thinks that neither he nor the Central Plains Dynasty have much racial concept, and the mainstream of the world still believes in "entering China, making China" and identifying people who are truly naturalized; there is no obsession with the Germanic people to maintain noble blood during World War II...not to mention that the Dangxiang people are also a yellow-skinned nation|ethnicity.

He immediately said: "At the end of the rotation period, the soldiers can voluntarily bring back their wives and concubines. If you have a home, you don't have to worry about it. Since there is a garrison period, the soldiers should not want to buy land and houses, and they can sell them temporarily."

Zuo You took the order to resign.

Guo Shao sat on the chair behind the case and thought about it again. The period of garrisons as far away as Japan can be five years; in Pingxia it can be three years. This rule won't cause much resistance...as long as the imperial court has money! Because the life rhythm of people in this era is slow, three to five years is not a long time for ordinary people. Most of the strong men with military status are willing to spend three to five years in the garrison in exchange for the guarantee of a wealthy family.

The highest governor of the province, the governor, and the guards of the province will return to China in three to five years to receive their due rewards, so they will never collude with local forces and cause the risk of splitting the territory. However, the Han children in exile and the indigenous forces in the local area have no force and are suppressed by the garrison. Without the guarantee of violence, they cannot turn up much trouble. At present, this method seems to be able to protect the unity of the empire's territory.

Because of the military expenses of the provincial guards, the military expenditure of the imperial court will increase again...but the use of provincial resources, trade and "transportation" will increase the income of the imperial court, and it should be able to maintain it. Guo Shao predicts that in the future, the finances of the Daxu Dynasty will enter a trajectory of equal expansion of income and expenditure.

Guo Shao turned his head and reached out to caress the location of "Jiaozhi County" at the bottom of the map. From the perspective of resource allocation, he became very interested in the grain production in the south for a while.

However, after he looked at it for a while, his eyes still moved upwards, looking at Hexi and Western Regions, and Liaoxi and Liaodong... The in-depth layout of armed forces and national defense is what is urgently important!

...

The spring breeze made some greenery appear on the wasteland in the east of Lingzhou. From a distance, the place where no birds lay eggs seems to have the illusion of turning into a grassland.

A group of vigorous war horses rushed out of the bare valley, and a forest and grassland in front of them immediately caught people's eyes.

"Drive!" In front of him, a middle-aged man in sharp armor kicked violently on the belly of his horse, and he rushed over impatiently, then jumped off his horse, squatted down by a small stream, and scooped up a handful of clear water.

"Ha..." The middle-aged man let out a long and comfortable sigh.

"Zhegong, let's follow this road and we will arrive in Lingzhou soon!" said a scribe in a robe.

The middle-aged man Zhe Dejian nodded.

At this moment, the scribe frowned and scolded: "You guys, haven't you seen Zhegong drinking water here? Take the horse downstream to drink water!"

"Yes!" The soldiers hurriedly responded.

Zhe Dejian took off the leather water bag on his belt and put it into the stream to fill it, while the scribes beside him were also busy doing some trivial things. After a while, the scribe said again: "I heard that Li Yiyin's daughter is still a good concubine, and the officials favored her a lot. This is to recruit Li Yiyin to surrender herself to the court; but we sent people everywhere to arrest Li Yiyin. Now we can't go up or down. We can neither offer rewards for arrest, nor follow the court's attitude to appease..."

Zhe Dejian suddenly asked, "Why can't you follow the court's attitude?"

The scribe lowered his voice and said in a deep voice: "The imperial court mainly focuses on appeasement. I guess it is not only to stabilize the hearts of the Dangxiang people in Pingxia, but also consider the Dangxiang tribes west of Lingzhou. But Zhegong is different. After all, Zhegong has some connections with the Dangxiang people. The more Zhegong seems to hate the Li family, the more reassuring the court will be."

Zhe Dejian remained calm, pointed at the scribe and said, "You are too smart. I have seen officials, but they are not narrow-minded people. Use the heart of a villain to measure the belly of a gentleman!"

Hearing this, the scribe was a little embarrassed, but immediately assumed the attitude of being loyal to Zhe Dejian: "Compared with the official's heart, I am naturally a villain! However, even if the official is relieved of Zhegong, it is inevitable that there will be villains in the court."

Zhe Dejian made a "hum hum" sound.

From the perspective of scholars, Zhe Dejian seemed unwilling to continue talking about the topic just now, so he looked around and talked about it: "Why did the court hurriedly urge Lingzhou Mutual Market to increase the number of horses purchased? Is it necessary to use troops again?"

Zhe Dejian straightened up and said, "I'm afraid it is true."

The scribe said: "It must be to use troops in the north, otherwise increasing the horses will not be of much use."

Zhe Dejian turned his head and glanced at him: "It makes sense."

Encouraged, the scribes immediately discussed with great interest: "From last year to this year, the imperial court has been hoarding food from Lingzhou. Is this another expedition?"

Zhe Dejian said: "I heard that Da Xu had a secret discussion with Koryo during the Eastern Expedition (Japan), and maybe it was going to the northeast. Da Xu's biggest opponent is Liao."

The scribe nodded and said, "I really have to wait to see the direction clearly."

Zhe Dejian said: "Let's not bother with this matter for the time being, what should we do with this matter (increasing the trading volume of war horses) under our noses, I would like to hear your opinion."

The scribe pondered for a moment, and said: "Those who hinder the trade of war horses are firstly that the Ganzhou Uighurs charge too much tolls, and secondly, the hidden dangers of the parties and Tubo tribes in the west of Lingzhou to the caravans."

Zhe Dejian nodded after listening, "Continue talking."

Scholar said: "As long as we put pressure on these two forces and let them back down, firstly, we can reduce the purchase cost of warhorses and have more money to buy horses; secondly, we can reduce the losses of warhorses along the way. The trade of warhorses will naturally increase."

The more Zhe Dejian listened, the more interested he became, as if the hero saw the same thing: "How to exert pressure?"

The literati said: "Now Daxu's martial arts reputation is famous all over the world. In the first battle, Pingxia was settled, and the island kingdoms far away in the East China Sea were surrendered for several months. The Hexi tribes were very afraid. Zhegong can tell the people stationed in the Lingzhou tribes that the imperial court is very dissatisfied with the lack of commercial roads to the west. The nobles of the tribes will panic and restrain themselves."

Zhe Dejian nodded slightly, "This is a way."

The imperial court is dissatisfied with the lack of commercial routes, and it is very likely to use force to solve the west side with the actions of an invincible player in the world today... This kind of statement is actually threatening the ministries with force to submit!

But Zhe Dejian is still not sure that the ministries will give in. The forces in the northwest are intricate and complicated. Who doesn't want to hold the job? The tribes in Ganzhou and the tribes near the left of Hexi have been collecting road money and looting for so long, and they want to make others spit out the meat in their mouths with just a few words?

"The game is really interesting." Zhe Dejian said calmly, "The officials also like this thing."

The scribes were immediately in awe, because Zhe Dejian mentioned in front of his subordinates more than once that he had sat with the emperor and played chess. The scholar worshiped and said: "The officials are very good at playing chess?"

Zhe Dejian laughed and said, "I don't know what kind of chess board you are talking about. The officials are sometimes clever and sometimes confused."

When the scribes heard this, they thought about everything.

At this moment, the soldiers were ready after resting, Zhe Dejian turned his head and beckoned to the soldiers to bring his mount over. Zhe Dejian looked up to the west, and the sun was already hanging over the forest, so he said loudly, "Hurry up, so we can reach Lingzhou before dark!"