Prime Minister

Chapter 1203: Hillside Sheep (2 chapters in 1)

Chapter 1203: Hillside Sheep (Two chapters in one)

"Lu Duanming has been dismissed from his post!"

Wang Hou took the report and said to Deputy General You Shixiong and Military Supervisor Cai Bianyan.

You Shixiong was silent for a while.

Lu Gongzhu repeatedly opposed Zhang Yue's proposal to send troops to Liangzhou from Xihe Road, trying to avoid direct hostility between Song and Liao. Finally, he was dismissed from his post by Zhang Yue and sentenced to Heyang Prefecture.

Lu Gongzhu is Zhang Zhi's father-in-law and Zhang Xiang's relative-in-law.

After defending Mingsha City with Zhang Zhi, You Shixiong left before the city was broken, and only Wang Shan and Zhang Zhi stayed behind.

Afterwards, You Shixiong made up many excuses to try to explain to Zhang Zhi and Zhang Yue, but an imperial edict arrived... transferring You Shixiong to a colleague in his department.

You Shixiong believed that his contribution in holding out in Mingsha City until the very last moment should not be undone by his final hesitation, so he felt a little resentful in his heart.

Afterwards, Zhang Qie wrote a letter to comfort him and expressed his trust in him as always. You Shixiong was very grateful.

Now Zhang Zhi's father-in-law, Lü Gongzhu, has also been dismissed from his position as prime minister, and Zhang Zhi has been idle until now. He didn't know why Zhang Yue treated him this way. With his current rank, he couldn't ask, and didn't dare to ask. He could only comfort himself by thinking that the prime minister's move must have a deep meaning.

Peng Sun and Wang Shan, who had saved Zhang Zhi, were promoted all the way. Peng Sun was appointed as the deputy envoy of Jingyuan Road, and Wang Shan was also promoted all the way, and now he is the governor of Xihe Road.

You Shixiong felt unbalanced. What he could not understand the most was that the general who led the main force of the Xihe Road attack on Liangzhou was neither Zhang Zhi, who was deeply loved by the soldiers, nor Zhang Yu, who was a natural general, nor even Li Xian, who was the most knowledgeable eunuch about military affairs, but Wang Hou, who was mediocre in talent and all aspects.

When You Shixiong thought about this, he would rather give up his future, so he wrote a long letter to Zhang Yue questioning this arrangement.

The letter accused the court of having problems selecting personnel and generals. It suggested that either the two generals of the Zhang family or Li Xian be appointed to lead the troops. If there was no one, Zhang Yue himself, as the prime minister, should be asked to go to Lanzhou in person to lead the troops and preside over the battle to attack Liangzhou.

You Shixiong gave a long speech and finally attached some bold and frank figures.

You Shixiong was very nervous after writing this letter to Zhang Yue. He thought that as a former member of Zhang Yue's shogunate, he had the right to say this. He was also prepared to lose his job... But what You Shixiong waited for was another imperial edict.

You Shixiong was appointed as the deputy general manager of the Qinfeng Road Military Office and the deputy general of this expedition to Xihe Road.

What is this? Not only was his direct criticism not criticized, but he was promoted... and he was promoted before the war.

In official circles, the meaning of promotion after the war is self-evident, but promotion before the war is very meaningful, and even has some meaning of both reward and punishment.

This is somewhat similar to how You Shixiong stayed until the last moment before leaving Mingsha City. You Shixiong is now working with Wang Hou, who was once looked down upon, but Wang Hou seems to be unaware of this and instead gladly accepts him.

Wang Hou’s name reflects his personality—he is honest and kind.

Now that Lu Gongzhu was dismissed for his frank remonstration, while he himself was promoted for his frank remonstration, You Shixiong couldn't help feeling sad when he thought of Zhang Yue's methods.

You Shixiong said to Wang Hou: "General, there are eight generals in Xihe Route. Now Wang Shan of the West Route leads the fifth general; Miao Shou of the East Route leads the second and seventh generals."

"This route consists of the first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth generals. The eighth general is newly appointed and not only has insufficient troops, but also lacks training. The first general, who is the best fighter and has the most powerful troops in this route, is the central army and cannot be taken lightly. Therefore, the task of leading the vanguard falls on the third general."

"I am willing to lead the third general as the vanguard!"

Wang Hou and Cai Bian were slightly thoughtful after hearing this.

After the Art of War, Xihe Road first had three generals. The first general was Jing Sili, the second general was Miao Shou, and the third general was Wang Junwan.

Jing Sili died in battle, Wang Junwan was demoted, Wang Hou was promoted to the first general, and Zhong Shidao was promoted to the third general.

These were the troops that started out in Xihe Road, and they also had the three most powerful generals. Later, after Zhang Yu became the governor, the army was expanded to five generals, and after the capture of Huangzhou, it was expanded to seven or eight generals.

But the first three generals were the old troops, with the strongest combat effectiveness and the largest number of soldiers. The rest of the generals had between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers, but the first three generals had a full complement of 10,000 soldiers.

It should be noted that these 10,000 people are full-time regular soldiers, not auxiliary soldiers or local archers.

The troops of these three generals are among the aces in the entire Western Army, and they are also the ace group in the whole world.

The central army that came out of Lanzhou included the first general and the third general.

You Shixiong volunteered to lead the third general as the vanguard as a deputy general, and Wang Hou and Cai Bian both readily agreed.

……

The scorching sun was high in the sky, scorching the Zhuanglang River Valley.

The Song cavalry swept past like a whirlwind, with thousands of Song cavalry chasing thousands of Dangxiang cavalry.

The Han army generally no longer used horse lances among the Song cavalry, as they were more expensive, while the Military Equipment Bureau had issued standard weapons.

The Song cavalry mostly used weapons such as long-handled axes and blunt objects, while the cavalry from foreign armies were good at using Tibetan spears.

The Han and Tang dynasties both used cavalry to pacify the barbarians. Although Zhang Yue used shallow attack and construction methods, he also focused on the training of cavalry. Unfortunately, for the Song Dynasty, the lack of horse grazing land made cavalry too expensive, and the horse policy in the later period was corrupt.

Therefore, in the early days, Zhang Yue had to rely mainly on forts and strongholds, supplemented by cavalry.

But after the Qingtang tribe completely surrendered to the Song Dynasty, the Song cavalry could finally be deployed in an organized manner. After the Song army had a large number of cavalry, the Song Dynasty infantry was no longer afraid of cavalry.

After the Dangxiang cavalry failed to attack the Song army's infantry formation and their morale was frustrated, You Shixiong ordered the cavalry to counterattack.

In the past, the Song army only had two types of cavalry, the Yaos, which made the Dangxiang fearful, but now the Xihe army cavalry is the same.

"Deputy commander, the capture of Gaizhu City was unexpected. I didn't expect that even the Dangxiang's Luozhuo Military Supervisory Office would be defeated in one battle!" said Gao Yongneng, the third general of Xihe.

Gao Yongneng followed Zhong Yan in the two-way attack on Xia. After the disastrous defeat, although Gao Yongneng was not punished, his troops were all lost. He was recommended to Li Xian by Li Shunju, and he made many military achievements under Li Xian, and was promoted to the commander of the Xihe Road Army and the third general.

Seeing this, You Shixiong sighed: "It's not that the Tanguts are weak, but... General Gao has a good way of commanding the army!"

Gao Yongneng was a 70-year-old veteran. Historically, he died in battle with Xu Xi under the city of Yongle.

When the city was broken, others advised Gao Yongneng to escape, but Gao Yongneng said, "I have been fighting for the Western Qiang since my childhood and have never been defeated. I am already seventy years old this year. I have received great kindness from the country and I have nothing to repay. This Yongle City is where I will die."

At this time and space, Gao Yongneng is a martyr in his twilight years, but he still has great ambitions.

Before leaving for the attack on Liangzhou, the old general said to his descendants that if they could pacify Liangzhou, death would be enough.

At this moment, he saw the scene where the vigorous Tangut cavalry was defeated by the Song army. Gao Yongneng said: "When General Zhong died in the desert, I thought that I would never be able to compete with Tangut again in this life. But I didn't expect that Prime Minister Zhang had only been in power for two years, and now the offensive and defensive situation has changed. Prime Minister Zhang is really a god!"

You Shixiong laughed and said, "After taking Liangzhou, with Prime Minister Zhang's ability, the Tanguts can be destroyed within five years."

Gao Yongneng clicked his tongue when he heard this, as if he couldn't believe it, but then he said, "But Prime Minister Zhang will retire in three years."

You Shixiong said, "How can a prime minister last long? This will also block the way for future generations to make progress. Old general, this is not something you and I can say."

"That's right." Gao Yongneng thought to himself, discussing the change of prime minister is not something they should say.

You Shixiong said: "It is not difficult to defeat the Zhuo Luo Army Supervisor, but the difficult part is how to pass the Gulang Gorge."

Gao Yongneng said: "Deputy Commander, I have a plan to drive the nearby tribes to build a city!"

You Shixiong's eyes flashed and he thought to himself, there are really few good generals.

However, the Tanguts also often used this tactic when attacking the Song Dynasty in the past.

"Go ahead and do it, old general. Just pretend I don't know about it."

After defeating the military supervisor of Luozhuo, the Song army attacked the Gulang Gorge Pass. The veteran general Gao Yongneng mobilized more than 10,000 people from the Dangxiang tribe in Guli to attack the pass.

Under the pressure of the Song army's powerful bows and crossbows, the forced Dangxiang people had no choice but to attack the pass with their bare hands.

There were many soldiers from the local tribes in the pass. When they saw their own people being forced by the Song army to attack the pass, they immediately abandoned their weapons and fled, ignoring the strict orders of the general.

Under the command of You Shixiong and Gao Yongneng, the vanguard of the Song army easily broke through the natural barrier of Gulang Gorge, and then captured several cities and headed north to attack Jisang, the last entrance to Liangzhou.

The Song army's navy, which came down the Huangshui River and set out from Lanzhou, used the Yellow River and Zhuanglang River to transport food and fodder to the depths of the river valley.

……

Nearly 100,000 civilians were conscripted from Xihe Road. They carried bags of grain from the grain ships docked along the river and loaded them into chicken carts, mule carts, and donkey carts.

Yang Datou is also one of them.

He was a commoner in Qinzhou. At that time, Xihe Road was just opening up. He heard that Xihe Road was recruiting people for resettlement and providing them with resettlement fees.

He bought a pair of shoes with the resettlement fee and gave the rest to his family, then went to Xihe Road alone. At first, the court promised him food, clothing, and land to reclaim wasteland, and after two years, he would be granted ten acres of land or be paid to leave.

Two years later, Yang Datou was granted ten acres of land and settled down in Xihe Road. Over the next few years, he continued to purchase land in Xizhou.

The soil in Xihe Road is cheap, and so are cattle and horses.

Many of the people who followed Yang Datou to Xihe Road bought fields, cattle and horses. Yang Datou was afraid that the government would demote him, so he did not dare to buy fields or even repair houses. He only bought a mule and rented other people's fields to farm his own ten acres of land, so he could make a living. Later, he married a mute girl and had several children.

For Yang Datou, starting a family was something he had never dreamed of in his entire life.

However, Xihe Road later raised troops every year, and Yang Datou was conscripted for labor several times.

He remembered that his ancestors were quite wealthy in Qinzhou, but they became impoverished due to the imperial court's annual conscription. With few fields and many people at home, he had no choice but to come to Xihe Road.

Xihe Road also levied corvée labor every year. He built forts and cities on a large scale in Xihe Road, and also transported grain and goods, so his life was often difficult. In the past two years, he had driven his mule cart no less than three times in the Huangshui River Valley alone.

But whenever he felt that life was getting difficult, the court would issue an order to reduce labor service and exempt taxes, which allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

The court did not pay him when he was doing corvée labor. If his cattle and horses broke down, they would be broken. If he disobeyed, his life would be in danger. He also had to endure oppression from clerks on the way.

Later I heard that a prime minister named Wang in the court had implemented a conscription law, saying that the household conscription money could be used to subsidize the fifth-class households.

Ever since Yang Datou's life became better, he could receive some money as subsidy every time he did corvee labor.

What was even more unexpected was that a few years later, the imperial court changed the conscription law to an exemption law, and even exempted the fifth-class households from the assistance fee, and the more subsidies they received, the higher the assistance fee.

Yang Datou went to Hehuang three times to build a city. The first time he went, he got two strings of money. The second time he went, he got three strings of money. The last time he went to build the Zhenwujun City, he stayed there for a full thirty days, and in the end he got ten strings of money.

This does not include the cost of feeding the mule cart.

Yang Datou asked the villagers why he got so much money on this trip to Huangzhou. The villagers told him that the court had sent "Fan Qingtian" and "Sun Qingtian" to govern Xihe Road, and the officials of Xihe Road would never dare to embezzle the labor service money given to the people again.

In this way, Yang Datou felt at ease and no longer worried about corvee labor as before.

Going to Liangzhou this time? Where is Liangzhou? He, an ordinary person, has no idea. He just heard from the village head that this time the court exempted Xihe Road from taxes for a year, and gave each citizen who paid the tax ten taels of silver, and those who used mule carts twenty taels of silver, and double the food money.

If a mule or horse dies of illness or a cart breaks down, the court will compensate you with a new one.

Yang Datou suddenly asked, "What if the person dies?"

You can't just give a new one when someone dies.

The chief said, "The court has arranged your coffin and funeral arrangements, and will give you an additional 80 taels of silver as a pension."

Yang Datou was somewhat tempted by this. In fact, he had just been to Zhenwu Military City last time, so he didn't have to go this time, or even the next time he was conscripted. A villager secretly told him that the court gave him so much money this time, and this trip to Liangzhou would be dangerous.

Then the chief gave a long lecture about the country's rejuvenation and the emperor's great grace. Yang Datou didn't understand what he said at all, as he was thinking about other things.

After returning home, Yang Datou looked at his pregnant wife for a long time.

Seeing him talking a lot all the time, his wife just smiled and nodded.

Yang Datou took a look at the rotten thatch on the broken roof and thought about building a tiled house that would not leak after the child was born.

So the next day, Yang Datou went to the village chief to sign up. The village chief patted Yang Datou on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You are really amazing. Normally, your farts are so quiet, but you dare to go all out this time!"

"If it weren't for your big blue mule, it wouldn't be your turn this time."

After that, the chief gave him one-third of the labor service fee and said, "Settle your family first."

Yang Datou returned home and fed his big blue mule. His big blue mule was very human-like and strong. It accompanied him on three trips to the Hehuang River Valley and each time completed the imperial errands steadily.

When he got home, his wife, who couldn't speak, seemed to know that he was leaving and handed him a pair of shoes.

Yang Datou then remembered why his wife had to work secretly during the day these days. It turned out that she was making a pair of shoes for him.

Yang Datou put on the shoes and they fit his feet perfectly.

……

Half a month later, Yang Datou was wearing new shoes and carrying his old shoes, driving a mule cart across the Zhuanglang River Valley.

Surrounding him were fellow villagers from Tongbao. The villager who had advised him not to go to Liangzhou also drove a mule cart beside him.

Apart from the villagers, there were huge armies in front and behind, and the horses marching in the long river valley were endless.

The red flag is like the sea!

There were rustling sounds everywhere, and it was hard to tell whether it was the sound of the Zhuanglang River or the footsteps of countless people.

In addition to chariots and horses, the army even moved the heavy crossbows and stone cannons used for defending the city onto the chariots. Even the several strong oxen that were carrying the loads were panting heavily and walking in the valley under the heavy load.

Yang Datou thought that it would probably take a hundred young and strong men to transport a bed crossbow.

But no one knew how many such crossbows and stone cannons there were in front and behind the team, and one was seen almost every other section.

Yang Datou felt particularly energetic while driving the empty mule cart on the road.

When they camped at night, Yang Datou fed the animals and slept next to the mule cart. At this time, the officers and soldiers sent people to give them cakes, and each civilian servant was given three cakes and a bowl of rice soup.

In the past, the imperial court did not provide food for civilian servants on the road. Later, when they went to the Huangshui River Valley, they gave each person two cakes a day. But this time they were given three cakes and a bowl of rice soup.

But even if he didn't give him the cakes, Yang Datou still had some fried rice sewn into his clothes by his wife.

But this can only be used in the most critical situation. He has heard that in the past, when the officers and soldiers were short of food, they would kill these civilians to eat.

Yang Datou ate the pancake with big mouthfuls. The pancake was not only thick but also sprinkled with sesame seeds, which made him reluctant to eat it, so he put it in his arms again. He thought that after returning home, he would let his wife and children taste the taste of the sesame pancake, so that he could still hold on even if he was hungry for a day.

As a father, he is a useless person and can only do these little things.

Yang Datou saw that the villagers around him were eating Hu Bing with big mouthfuls, while the auxiliary archers who were being guarded nearby were eating delicious rice.

The weather suddenly turned cold at night, a half-moon hung high in the sky, and the howling of wolves could be heard from the mountains from time to time.

The soldiers and civilians were chatting about all sorts of things, and Yang Datou was listening to them quietly.

The leader of the auxiliary troops in charge of escorting grain and grass, who was wearing a cotton shirt, was originally from Cangzhou. He accidentally leaked water while guarding military supplies, so he was exiled to Xihe Road. Later, he made some contributions and became the leader of the team. He said that his wife had remarried with the children, but he wanted to make some contributions in Xihe Road and then return to Cangzhou to see them.

Another person committed a crime in Weizhou and was exiled here. He had no worries, but he heard that many people fought for fame and honor in Xihe Road, so he could go back and bring honor to his family. But he also laughed at himself for not being good at martial arts and having a small courage, so this chance was really slim.

There were also three foreign soldiers and archers who spoke half-understood Chinese. They were all cultivated foreigners who had been granted land, and some of their tribesmen refused to leave the mountains. Those who refused to leave the mountains still lived a half-starved life, but they had eaten dry rice and rice wine.

One person even said bluntly that he wanted to marry a beautiful Han woman, which was laughed at by everyone.

A few days later, Yang Datou went to the dock on the Zhuanglang River and received a mule cart full of military rations.

When collecting the grain, the clerk next to him carefully recorded Yang Datou's name and the amount of grain he had transported. Finally, he gave him a bamboo chip with words written on it and asked him to take it to the head of the village to exchange for a reward when he returned to the village.

Yang Datou carefully put the bamboo chips into his arms and put them together with yesterday's Hu pancake and new shoes, then drove the big blue mule and joined the crowd wearing his old shoes.

Countless people in the army were like him, with all kinds of thoughts in their minds. At the command of the court, they would leave their homes and go away.

That night, Yang Datou was lying beside the car listening to an old soldier singing the lyrics of Shanpoyang.

It is said that this poem was written by a high-ranking official in the court, but it was not recognized. However, it was widely circulated among the people.

Although Yang Datou didn't understand the meaning of the lyrics, he knew how to sing along.

But I heard the old soldier singing sadly.

The peaks and mountains are like gatherings, the waves are like fury, and the mountains and rivers are like Tongguan Road.

Looking west, hesitated.

Sad Qin and Han Scriptures, all the palaces have made earth.

When prosperity comes, the people suffer;

Death, the people suffer!

Even if there is a wise prime minister like Zhang who cares about the people, what does it matter? The people are still suffering!