Chastity Layman

In October, there is no autumn color in Halong Bay.

The fishermen at the pier were still shirtless, and Qin Lang boarded the boat with his entourage.

He was sitting on the Qin family's own merchant ship. It was tall and majestic, not much worse than the navy's warship, and even in terms of load, it was much larger than the navy's warship. weight.

Niu Jianhu invited Qin Lang to board his flagship, but Qin Lang refused, and this guy simply followed Qin Lang's ship and handed over the command of his navy to the lieutenant.

The ship left Long Island in Halong Bay, sailed to Taiping Port first, and carried out a comprehensive supply there, loaded a lot of fresh water, fruits and vegetables, etc., and then gathered some ships of the South China Sea Navy and some temporarily recruited South China Sea Navy reserve ships , In fact, some merchant ships.

These merchant ships will be responsible for transporting some soldiers and horses from the south of the town to the north, and at the same time transporting some food and military equipment.

"Xiang Lin Dudu, Inspector, Huhua Army envoy Wang Xuance pays a visit to Taiwei!"

On the boat, Wang Xuance, dressed in military uniform, came up to meet him. Sima Du Chuke of Zhuwu Prefecture and Sima Du Zhenglun of Xianglin Prefecture also came with him.

Du Chuke and Du Zhenglun, the two Dus, had no bright future in the past. One was the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and the Chief History of the Wei Palace, and the other was the Crown Prince Zuo Shuzi and Nanyang Hou. , but they were all relegated by the emperor because of their involvement in Wei Wang's struggle for the crown prince.

Du Zhenglun was first demoted to be the governor of Ezhou, and then he was demoted to be the Sima of Xianglin Province.

Sima was originally the state assistant official and the third in command of the state, but the two were relegated officials, and they went to the southernmost land of the Tang Dynasty, so they were actually just exiled and sent to the frontier to be guarded.

One is Jingzhao Du and the other is Huanshui Du. The two Dus belong to the same family. In recent years, they have also been linked to the same disease in Lingnan.

This time Wang Xuance was ordered to lead the army to the north, and the two asked to go with them. Anyway, they didn't have any real power in the place, so they might as well take the opportunity to go back to the Central Plains to see, maybe they can make meritorious service.

In contrast, Wang Xuance is a bit high-spirited. He originally joined the army when Li Xizhi in Guilin, Lingnan, and Guilin at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and later returned to Tang with Li Xizhi and entered Chang'an. The county magistrate, and then the long history of Ren Zhechong's mansion in Aizhou, Annan. Because of his courage and arrogance, he took over hundreds of miles of land in Linyi Kingdom, and was appreciated by Qin Lang. Hue military envoy.

In the past few years, he has been sitting in the Xianglin Governor's Mansion, guarding the southernmost border of the Tang Dynasty, and he has performed really well. Not only has he managed the hundreds of miles of land he captured, without repeating it, he has even sent troops westward into the mountains and forests several times. Deterred and conquered many barbarians, let them belong to the Tang Dynasty, and opened up many territories for the Tang Dynasty.

So after a few years, the imperial court recognized this lucky guy, and officially awarded him the title of governor, governor and military envoy, and entered the rank three.

"This time, I brought 3,000 troops to the north." Wang Xuance said to Qin Lang. Among the 3,000 people, there were 1,000 from the Shunhua Army, all of whom were elite government soldiers, and 2,000 mountain barbarians. Quite half of them are accountants, and half of them are the best mountain soldiers, and they have made many contributions in battles with Wang Xuance in the past few years.

"With three thousand people taken away, will the Xianglin Mansion be safe?"

"Please don't worry, Duke Wei. The Xianglin Mansion now has an army of 3,000. In addition, there are 6,000 vassal Tutuan, and there are also many township regiments and Tubing. Although I dare not say that all the people are soldiers, Linyi implements the Baojia Lianwei system. Tuan Lian Xiangyong is always trained, not to mention the South China Sea Navy Da Nang camp to the south of us."

Although Xianglin County was seized from Linyi Kingdom by taking advantage of the chaos, its geographical location is still good. There are continuous mountains to the west and south, and there are natural barriers. In addition, the relationship between Datang and Linyi is harmonious now, so in the past few years, it has actually been It was quite stable, and Wang Xuance mainly used troops against the barbarians in the mountainous area.

After a few years, they were already convinced, and those who were dissatisfied were forced to move westward.

"As long as it's arranged."

There is the Governor's Mansion of Zhennan in Guangnan Road. In the past ten years, it has only been controlled by the core Jiaozhou, and now Weizhen Nanjiang has not only Jinghai, Hue and other armies under its command, but also has an army of 36,000. The soldiers are strong and the horses are strong. From the fact that Jiaozhou did not have a Zhechong mansion in Wude to today's 36,000 towns guarding the frontier army, it can also be seen that the imperial court attaches great importance to Jiaozhou.

Since the Zhenguan Dynasty, from the Jiaozhou General Manager's Mansion to the Annan Governor's Mansion, and then to the Zhennan Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, even the territory has been expanded several times. The Red River defeated Heman upstream, opened up water and land passages and commercial routes into Yunnan, and then captured hundreds of miles of elephant forest to the south.

The land of the Governor's Mansion in the south of the town has expanded several times compared to that of the Wude Dynasty.

And relying on the benefits of sea trade, business, climate and land, the Zhenhai Metropolitan Government has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. Not only does it not require the court to spend a cent of military expenses, but it is completely self-sufficient, and even more and more food and taxes are paid every year. , here has become a key place for the imperial court to stabilize southern Xinjiang, and then influence Yunnan, central Guizhou, and Guangxi.

Just like now, Guangnan not only stabilized southern Xinjiang for the imperial court, but even mobilized a large amount of troops, money and food to support it when the Liao expedition began.

An Xianglin Dudu Mansion mobilized 3,000 troops, and the Jiaozhou Dudu Mansion, Wu'an Dudu Mansion, and Juding Dudu Mansion also mobilized troops to the port.

"Lin Yiguo also sent 3,000 horses. They originally wanted to send an elephant army. We persuaded the bitter cold in Liaodong, and the elephants could not adapt, so they reluctantly gave up."

Queen Linyi is still worshiping the emperor in the Central Plains. When they heard about the Eastern Expedition, they decisively sent troops to the north.

This kind of loyal vassal attitude has to be said to be quite surprising.

But now that they have come, there is no reason to refuse. Although Datang does not lack these 3,000 people, this is the sincerity of the vassal state, and it cannot be chilled.

"Are the troops overstretched?"

Qin Lang waited in Taiping Port for a few days, seeing more and more soldiers and horses coming, he couldn't help being speechless.

The Commander of Xianglin, Wang Xuance, brought three thousand Xianglin soldiers, and then Lin Yi sent out another three thousand soldiers, and then Wu'an Mansion, all the vassals of the Qin family also jumped to sign up and volunteered.

These people have been holding back for the past few years. Since Qin Lang handed over the power of the Wu'an Dudu Mansion and was taken over by the court officials, although these vassals have also received honors from the court or local regiment training, but after all Unlike before, it is possible to develop freely.

Over the years, they have all turned to managing territories and developing businesses. They have more and more money in their pockets, and their territories are becoming more and more prosperous, but they are not as free and unrestrained as they used to be.

In the past, they were the lords of Wu'an, and they had the final say on the military, administration, justice, taxes and taxes, but now they can't control the affairs, at most they are exercising the power of supervision.

"I don't ask for a reward from the county magistrate, but I wish to die in Liaodong!"

"We volunteer!"

Everyone asked to bring their own dry food to conquer Liaodong, in order to seek honors and rewards, and to avenge the Chinese children of the year.

Most of the vassals in Wu'an Prefecture were the bastards of noble families brought by Qin Lang from Chang'an, so they were called the bastards or the second sons. Which of these people did not conquer Liaodong in the Sui Dynasty?

Whose family no one died in Liaodong?

It is said that until now, on the banks of the Liaohe River and the Yalu River, there are still many Jingguan erected by Goguryeo people, and they pile up the bones of tens of thousands of Zhongyuan disciples to show off their martial arts.

Now it's finally time to take revenge, and everyone wants to take revenge in person.

Of course, it's a lie to say that you don't seek rewards. In fact, everyone still wants to find opportunities to make some contributions.

Compared with the situation when the Sui army conquered Liao and everyone cut off their hands and feet to escape, there is undoubtedly a sharp contrast. For example, Liu Hongji and other sons of honored relatives, sons of officials and nobles who served as guards in the imperial court, deliberately slaughtered cattle and then went to prison to escape in order to escape from service.

Now these Wu'an vassals are undoubtedly much stronger.

In the end, Qin Lang said that the boats were limited, but everyone said they could build the boats by themselves, as long as Qin Lang agreed with them to go together.

After these people got the consent, they quickly got the merchant ships under approval. Some of them were their own ships.

There were actually eight thousand people.

This is Qin Lang's repeated request to reduce the number, otherwise it will be no problem to collect 20,000. Today's Wu'an Dudu Mansion has 15 counties in five states, and the registered population has exceeded 200,000 households, with a population of one million.

It's really not a problem to gather 20,000 young and strong.

In the end, it was reduced to 8,000, and there was no more reduction. No one wanted to go back, so they had to agree to bring them all.

When the fleet set sail northward, it was extremely powerful.

There are 3,000 people from the South China Sea Fleet, 3,000 from Jiaozhou Dudufu, 8,000 from Wu'an, 3,000 from Xianglin, 3,000 from Linyi, 2,000 from Juding, and 3,000 from Tonghai Dudu. There are 1,000 people in the capital of Aizhou, and a total of 26,000 people.

Riding on the warships and transport ships of the South China Sea Navy, as well as the conscripted reserve merchant ships, as well as the merchant ships that everyone voluntarily went northward, this fleet exceeded 30,000 people, and it also carried countless supplies, traveling northward.

At this time, the autumn wind is blowing, and the fleet is sailing.

"When I joined the army in Guizhou, I also went to Jiaozhou several times. At that time, sailing mainly relied on the trade winds. From October to January, I took the northwest wind to go to Nanyang, and in April and May, I took the southeast wind. Going north. The ocean is entirely dependent on the trade winds, so seagoing ships often have to stay in the port for half a year or even longer, and can only sail when there is a trade wind in the season.”

Standing on the deck, Wang Xuance looked at these new-style sea-going ships that could bring wind from all sides, and he was incomparably amazed.

At this time in October, the northwest wind blows originally, and it is the time for the ships from the southeastern ports to go to the South Seas with the wind, but now the ships of Datang can ignore the direction of the trade wind and sail against the wind, and even run faster against the wind than with the wind.

As long as there is wind, you can run, which was unimaginable twenty years ago.

Qin Lang was a little proud looking at this mighty fleet. Historically, merchant ships in ancient China mainly traveled along the coast and sailed near the coast, and the purpose of their voyages was to trade with coastal countries. The route is stable and safe, so it has always been Sea-going ships are all developed from inland river ships, with little change.

Even in the huge fleet of treasure ships that Zheng He sailed to the Western Seas in the Ming Dynasty, the shape of the ships did not change much.

The ships of the Western Age of Discovery are completely different. Their ships are more suitable for long-distance voyages from ship shape to sails, especially after continuous improvement, they are suitable for deep-sea navigation.

The reason why they changed it this way is because the Westerners sailed to find the Spice Islands in the East, to find the Golden China, and to find the New World. Driven by these, those guys who were poor to death and ran around because of the European Civil War, Crazy adventures, constantly sailing towards the deep blue, so there were later great voyages, as well as continuous improvement of sea ships and technologies.

To put it bluntly, from the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Tang and Song Dynasties to the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Eastern China at that time had always been leading the world. The Central Plains was the richest place, and other places were backward barbarians. Even trade was a surplus. It is enough to go south along the coast.

In the eyes of Westerners, the East is full of gold, countless gorgeous silk and porcelain, tea, and even spices, etc. In short, it is the world of wealth, and everyone wants to go there.

Qin Lang is a traveler, he likes trade, trade is the fastest way to make money in this era, and trade requires advanced sea-going ships, he knows the direction, has abundant funds, and has status, so he provides directions, takes out funds, and promulgates Bounties are offered, so new technologies keep coming up ahead of time.

Just like the current fleet, whether it is a naval warship or a merchant ship, these are all sea-going ships suitable for ocean-going voyages, not offshore ships that sail along the coast, or simply the kind of high-rise ships converted from inland river ships.

These sea boats are longer and more streamlined, most of them are sharp-bottomed boats, and they are not afraid of wind and waves.

Of course, this kind of boat also has some disadvantages. Because it is a sharp-bottomed boat, it is not as good as a traditional flat-bottomed boat when sailing near the coast. Can drive or park.

Hundreds of ships, large and small, marched northward, and received some new ships and troops in the Lingnan ports. By the time they arrived in Fuzhou, the fleet had thousands of ships and more than 50,000 troops.

This is the result of Qin Lang's continuous refusal to the officials and generals waiting in Guangzhou, Fuzhou and other ports to go north with the ship. If he does not refuse, a hundred thousand people can gather together.

When thinking about Wude, there was not a Zhechong mansion in the entire southeast, but now the Sanguang in the south of Lingnan plus Fujian, Zhejiang, Liuqiu, etc., the Zhechong mansion and the town garrison have already exceeded 100,000, although it is still far inferior to the central plains such as Guanzhong and Henan. The number of Zhechong prefectures in the land, etc., but it has also highlighted that the importance of the southeast has increased.

This place has become a new place for the empire's finances and taxation, and the sea trade in the ports on the southeast coast is driving the industry and commerce too fast.

Just like now, 50,000 troops are going north on ships, and you can know the wealth in the southeast just by looking at their equipment. Most of the equipment for these people is the responsibility of the local finance itself. Under the two-tax law, the tax collected by the local government is 30%. One of them goes directly to the imperial treasury, one third goes to the Taoist government, and one third stays in the prefectures and counties.

In addition to the taxes specially levied by the imperial court, two-thirds of the general taxes can be reserved locally. Official salaries and so on, there are still many places to spend money.

But they can still equip local soldiers and horses so well, which shows how rich their finances are.