bookrandom Chapter 1136 What the People Want
Chapter 1136 What the People Want
Chapter 1136 What the People Want
The Song-Xia battle in Lanzhou affected the entire Xihe Road.
Although Zhang Yue left Xihe Road, he still led the implementation of two major policies.
One was to introduce cotton and textile industries, encourage the people of Xihe Road to grow cotton, implement a policy of unified sales and purchase, and at the same time establish the largest cotton textile industry in Qinzhou.
The other is to implement a monopoly on the salt wells and mines in the entire Xihe Road and reclaim them from the local tyrants.
Cheng Hao, one of the two Cheng brothers, was an official. Unlike his brother Cheng Yi, he was well versed in the study of practical application.
In terms of dealing with people, Cheng Hao was more flexible than Cheng Yi.
Although in history, Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism was attributed to the two Chengs, it was actually passed down from the line of Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi. If Cheng Hao had lived longer, the practical part of Neo-Confucianism might have been more than that of later generations.
The Luo School was founded by the two Cheng brothers. When Cheng Hao was lecturing in Songshan, he highly praised Zhang Yue's governance of Xihe Road, comparing it with Zhuge Liang's governance of Shu in history.
Among them, cotton was subject to unified sale and purchase, similar to the unified sale and purchase of Shu brocade, the hard currency of Shu, when Zhuge Liang ruled Shu.
As for the monopoly of salt and iron, Zhuge Liang set up the General of the Metal Industry and the Lieutenant of the Salt Industry to take over the mining and salt industries for national use as military expenses for the Northern Expedition.
But there are differences.
Zhang Yue implemented a unified purchase and sale of cotton and grain in the entire Xihe Road. After the court purchased them, they were put on the exchange for futures trading.
The imperial court earned profits from the price difference between the common people and the merchants.
However, Zhang Yue did not run the government-run business of the "Beji cloth" spun from cotton.
Zhang Yue implemented a policy of "you take 30% and I take 70%" for the mines and salt wells in the hands of the barbarians in Xihe Road, with the imperial court providing the funds, technology, and labor, while the local gentry did not have to do anything and earned more profits in a year than they would have earned by working on their own.
Although Xihe Road still needs nearly two million strings of cash in subsidies from the imperial court every year, the common people, the chieftains of the foreign tribes, and the Han people consider it convenient.
Although the people said that most of the profits from the fields and cotton were taken away by the imperial court.
But from ancient times to the present, the people’s need for a stable income has always been paramount. If most people were asked to choose, a stable income in drought or flood would definitely be better than having dry food one year and thin food the next.
The imperial court also used this method to avoid being exploited by merchants when collecting grain and cotton.
Textile merchants purchased cotton seeds from the exchange, thus eliminating the drawbacks of purchasing directly from the imperial court.
The exchange will examine the grain and cotton it purchases and set standards for the quality of the cotton. If the quality of the cotton is poor or exceptionally good, premiums or discounts will be applied during the actual delivery.
Otherwise, the merchant has the right not to accept it.
The profit of the exchange lies in the commission fees for futures trading and futures delivery, so the quality of futures products is definitely strictly examined.
This is a perfect way to integrate the state-owned economy and the market economy.
The monopoly of cotton, mines, and salt wells not only facilitated the people but also controlled the merchants. Not implementing a government-run system for Bejib was also a reward for the risky capital invested.
There is a difference in difficulty between growing cotton and producing a piece of bejib. The latter requires a large amount of capital investment and control over production details.
When the textile industry first emerged, there were hundreds of cotton textile companies in Qinzhou and even in the entire Shaanxi Road. Five years later, more than 50 of them went bankrupt.
In addition to the surplus value, the merchant's risk factor must also be taken into account.
During this period, Zhang Yue could have made Xihe Road self-supporting without the court's annual appropriation of more than 2 million guan. However, Zhang Yue repeatedly asked for profits from the government and ignored the criticism of the old party for wasting troops in Xihe Road.
Zhang Yue even issued new shares to raise money from the public for the military expenses of Xihe Road.
There is a saying that goes, businessmen only earn limited profits, and huge profits cannot last long.
Everything has its pros and cons, and dwelling on this can easily lead to nihilism.
Only under the guidance of Tao, any technique will have meaning.
Precisely because saving some money would cause big problems in the future, Zhang Yuening took on the pressure of having the imperial court pay for it and distributed the money earned to local governments and the people.
In the first year of Xining, when Wang Shao established the Tongyuan Army, there were only a few thousand Han soldiers and more than 10,000 cultivated aboriginal households. But by the second year of Yuanfeng, there were more than 100,000 Han households in Xihe Road, more than 300,000 registered cultivated aboriginal households, and nearly 1 million wild aboriginal households scattered in the mountains and valleys.
Even Wen Yanbo commented that "Xihe Road is in great order" after hearing about it.
The outcome of a battle often depends on the support of the people.
……
When Li Xian and Wang Hou led more than 30,000 soldiers from Xihe Road and arrived at Kan Valley, they saw Liang Yimei's army of 800,000 troops besieging the city and were at a loss what to do.
They sent a lieutenant colonel to the upper reaches of the Yellow River to check the military situation in Lanzhou. Seeing that Lanzhou was surrounded and the Western Xia army was attacking day and night, the other side only saw it from afar and was so scared that they quickly returned to report the news.
Li Xian and Wang Hou looked at each other. The Tangut troops were not only capable of besieging the city, but also of defeating the reinforcements. Was the Battle of Mingsha City going to be repeated under the city of Lanzhou?
The two waited anxiously until the fifth day.
Zhao Sizhong (Mu Zheng) and Bao Shun (Yu Longke) have already arrived with foreign troops to provide reinforcements.
Li Xian and Wang Hou were overjoyed and rushed to the top of the mountain to look around, only to see soldiers and horses all over the mountain, coming from all directions.
Among them were archers from the barbarians who carried spears and bows and had tattoos on their faces, and there were also naked soldiers from the barbarians who rode on horses. The barbarians were of varying quality, but there were a lot of them.
Li Xian and Wang Hou were surprised and delighted, and went down the mountain to greet them.
Wang Hou followed Wang Shao in the expedition and stayed in Xihe Road for more than ten years. He was familiar with the leaders of the foreign tribes.
He spoke to a one-armed Tibetan leader who was over 40 years old in Tibetan language, "Kemu, why are you here? Didn't you lose your hand when you conquered Guizhang last time?"
The other party smiled and said, "I can't go into battle, but I still have my sons. This time I'm bringing my five sons with me. They are all good men!"
"Come and greet General Wang!"
Behind Ke Mu, five tall and strong young men from the foreign tribe came forward to greet Wang Hou. Wang Hou was overjoyed and helped them up one by one and gave each of them a gift.
Wang Hou looked at the soldiers advancing in unison in the valley. This scene had not appeared for a long time since Zhang Yue conquered Gui Zhang.
Many familiar foreign generals came to pay their respects to Wang Hou one by one. In the past, many of these generals had followed Zhang Yue to fight against Gui Zhang and Mu Zheng, and some had followed Gui Zhang and Mu Zheng to fight against the Song army.
But this time, enemies became friends, and all past grudges were forgotten. Some of the chieftains used Song Dynasty artifacts and learned Song Dynasty rules and clothing, but for them, loving the Song Dynasty was their life, and opposing the Song Dynasty was their job.
Now they all accepted the mobilization order issued by the Song Army and arrived at the city of Lanzhou like hundreds of rivers converging into the sea.
Ten days into the siege of Lanzhou, the Qingtang tribe mobilized more than 300,000 troops, and built tents of all sizes half-surrounding Lanzhou.
Along the Tao River, various tents seemed to appear overnight. Young men were busy setting up camps, while women and children were responsible for chopping wood, fetching water and feeding horses. At night, the entire bank of the Tao River was ablaze with flames.
Liang Yimei claimed to have an army of 800,000, but the exact number of troops he had was still a question, but the entire Xihe Route tribe mobilized a real 300,000.
This does not include the Song army led by Li Xian and Wang Hou.
Not to mention that Dong Jian also sent 50,000 reinforcements led by Wen Xixin from the direction of Qingtang City, and many foreign troops from Taozhou, Minzhou, Huangzhou and other places crossed the mountains, rivers and states to come, but because the journey was too long, they were still halfway there.
As the troops marched toward Lanzhou, the common people, carrying their old and young, welcomed the royal army with pots of water and baskets of food.
Meanwhile, merchants and common people in the rear areas of Xizhou, Hezhou and Gongzhou enthusiastically raised funds and contributed money and effort. The merchants spontaneously organized transportation using their own mule and horse carts, transporting grain, fodder and supplies to the Lanzhou front line one cart at a time.
The fact that the people’s support and endorsement reached such a level was due to the bad reputation of the Dangxiang Army.
In the eighth year of Xining, Liang Yimai and Zhang Yu fought a fierce battle at Taoshui, burning several states to the ground.
When the Han people came, they taught the Tibetans how to farm and grow cotton, build bridges and roads, and develop mines and salt wells. The Tibetan people were very happy with the convenience, and it was not easy to achieve the current situation. However, when the Dangxiang people came, they only burned, killed, and looted, hoping to conquer Xihe Road.
It just goes like this: 'People do not fear death, so how can they be frightened by it?'
As soon as the Han army issued the order to mobilize, the people responded in droves. The wives and children prepared dry food, and the foreign archers picked up their weapons and set off. Even the monks in the temples stopped practicing and chanted scriptures to pray for the soldiers along the way.
Seeing so many troops gathered at once after the mobilization, even Li Xian was panicked and surprised. He had never commanded hundreds of thousands of troops before.
Commanding a large military group in battle is a technical job.
Li Xian couldn't do it, Wang Hou couldn't do it, and even Zhang Qie couldn't do it.
Looking at the generals and leaders of various tribes who collectively requested to fight inside and outside the tent, Li Xian was moved to tears and said to Wang Hou and other generals: "This is all the kindness that Prime Minister Zhang planted in the past!"
Although Wang Hou knew that most of these soldiers were a mob, he still nodded and said, "This is the kingly way!"
The Qingtang tribe had a large number of soldiers and horses and was difficult to control. Some tribes saw that they had more people and more power, and they also had many private feuds with the Dangxiang.
Without Li Xian's orders, they had already started fighting with the Dangxiang troops outside Lanzhou.
After several encounters and surprise attacks, the Dangxiang tribes were also exclaiming in amazement that these Qingtang tribes... these defeated generals in the past, when did they become so good at fighting?
After entering April, the entire Xihe Road was covered with fine spring rain. Eight hundred thousand Dangxiang troops surrounded Lanzhou city, while outside the Dangxiang army, as many as 300,000 Song troops surrounded and attacked the Dangxiang army. Countless soldiers and horses shuttled through the mountains and valleys, fighting against the Dangxiang army stationed on the mountaintops and passes.
Li Xian ordered Wang Hou to lead 10,000 elite troops to cross the Yellow River from the downstream ferry and cut off the food supply route from Xingzhou to Lanzhou.
……
Under the city of Lanzhou.
Liang Yimei didn't care much when he heard that the Song army had mobilized more than 300,000 Qingtang soldiers to attack the outskirts of Lanzhou.
However, when he heard that Wang Hou had crossed the Yellow River and threatened the food and fodder, he became a little panicked.
Every time the Dangxiang gathered, the tribes below would bring their own weapons and food to the battle. After they had eaten all the food, they would rob the local food. However, after besieging the city for more than ten days, there was not much food left.
But the city of Lanzhou remained impregnable. On the contrary, the Dangxiang army had suffered heavy casualties in recent days, with corpses lying everywhere outside the city.
When they were attacking the city a few days ago, they were unexpectedly attacked by the Song army's "Thunder Cannon".
The Song general placed gunpowder in a container and shot it out with cannonballs, causing explosions and fires among the Dangxiang troops attacking the city. The rest of the Dangxiang troops were terrified when they saw this scene.