Chapter 82 Li Lang Gaoyi
Li Tai finally left He Basheng's mansion without any danger. Although the two He Basheng brothers were still not polite to him, they did not dare to be too forceful towards him.
This is actually not unexpected. From the fact that the two brothers put He Ba Sheng under house arrest and did not allow him to see outsiders, we can see what their background is. The saying that he has a lot of legacy from his father is just a polite word.
Although He Bayue lost his life due to lack of caution, he was by no means a mediocre person. Not to mention those tangible achievements, during the Heyin Incident, he was able to express his attitude to prevent Er Zhurong from usurping the country, which shows that this person has a strong character and a clear sense of right and wrong. This quality is far inferior to that of He Basheng.
But the behavior of the He Bawei brothers was despised even by an outsider like Li Tai. One can imagine how the nostalgic and righteous Beizhen warriors felt about their brotherhood.
There is nothing wrong with going too far, including being cautious and defensive. These two people are shrewd but have completely lost their sense of proportion. It is inevitable that people feel that the Heba family really has no successors.
He Basheng and several others stayed at the residence to accompany He Basheng, while Zhu Ziyong followed Li Tai.
"Since several garden properties in Kinki have been taken over by others, any further entanglement will only make my uncle more embarrassed. I have a new farm in Longshouyuan outside the city. Zhu Weng, you go to the countryside first. You will be expelled and forced to leave." The soldiers who moved here were recalled and went to my garden to work and recuperate. "
He Basheng obviously didn't have the energy to take care of the family business now. After returning home, Li Tai said to Zhu Ziyong.
He was not qualified to compete with the brothers of the Hebasheng family for the pastoral property, but he had to help Hebasheng arrange the proper settlement of the civilian population.
Part of the supplies for printing official documents last year were still stored in the treasury of Jingzhao County, which could be used to place these soldiers and run the farm on Longshouyuan.
After hearing this, Zhu Ziyong's eyes filled with tears again: "Those two people only regard the lord's old remnant troops as a burden. Without Lang Jun's generous protection, I am afraid that the troops will be separated and fend for themselves..."
"I was new to Kansai last year, and my uncle treated me kindly. Now that I have some spare time, of course I can't just sit back and watch his family become ruined. What's more, my uncle also has a lot of supplies in my place, which can be used to support these soldiers."
Last year, He Basheng lent him supplies for speculation. Although Li Tai returned a batch of goods the year before, there was still some remainder left to pay off.
He does not intend to hand it over to the Hebawei brothers for the time being. It will be used to accommodate the living and production of the expelled soldiers.
There are quite a number of old, weak, sick and disabled among He Ba Sheng's soldiers, and the cost of supporting them is not small. This should be one of the reasons why He Ba Wei brothers are unwilling to accept them.
Li Tai didn't think these people were a burden. After all, he wanted to build his own force. The military experience of those disabled veterans was a valuable asset. Regardless of whether He Basheng is here or not, he is willing to support these people until they grow old.
Seeing how He Basheng was doing, Li Tai settled his worries.
There were still a lot of affairs in Huazhou Township, and he couldn't stay in Chang'an for too long. He went to visit Cui Quan that day and told him that he wanted to take over He Basheng's group of old disabled soldiers. He hoped that the county government could use some of the labor force First, build the framework of the manor, and all consumption will be drawn from the previous supply.
Cui Fan naturally would not refuse this. Although he also had political taboos and did not dare to have too close contact with He Basheng, but with Li Tai's intervention, he also wanted to help He Basheng's old disabled soldiers. After all, when he was living in Jiangdong, he had a lot of friendship with these people.
After the affairs in Chang'an were arranged, Li Tai led his troops to leave, riding fast all the way, and finally returned to Shangyuan before the Lantern Festival.
"Welcome Mr. Lang back!"
As soon as the group arrived at Shangyang garrison, they were greeted by a group of villagers who had been waiting eagerly. Wu Jingyi, the commander of the township regiment, pushed away Shi Gong who was still hesitating, stepped forward, grabbed the horse's bridle, and led Li Tai's horse. Walk into the welcoming crowd.
"This military city was built very quickly!"
Li Tai dismounted and waved to greet everyone. When he saw that Shangyang garrison had been expanded into a sizable small city, he said to Zhou Changming with a smile.
"In front of Yueyang, who was rewarded and praised for his military strength, the soldiers were also in high spirits, hoping to bring peace to the countryside!"
After Zhou Changming heard this, he also laughed and said: "Most of the relatives of the rural soldiers have moved to the city, and the county government has sent two groups to move in the Di slaves. After the summer, the township regiments will join the river defense! Because they are the county soldiers, the county government He was given the post of military officer, and I could train the army. If there was really no talent left, I asked Quji to take charge of it."
Originally, the duty of the township regiment was only to guard the countryside and prevent theft. Being able to participate in river defense meant becoming a regular armed force officially recognized by the imperial court. The Wuxiang County and Township Corps got this opportunity not long after its formation, which meant that the channel for advancement had been opened. It was definitely a good opportunity. Big progress.
Although Li Tai does not directly hold an official position in the township league, his influence is not small.
Many sergeants of the rural regiment who were still in training learned that he was passing by here on his way back to his hometown. They took advantage of the break and ran to the edge of the school field to say hello and show off that their regiment had been commended for their neat military appearance during the Yueyang Parade. He failed to live up to Li Lang's kindness in giving cakes to help the army.
Looking at the enthusiastic smiling faces of the sergeants, Li Tai also felt that his previous efforts had finally paid off. He galloped around the school grounds and shouted: "Everyone is practicing martial arts with all your heart. If you join the garrison this summer, you will still be given food and cakes to accompany the army." Don’t starve!”
The sergeants were even more excited when they heard this, waving their staffs and shouting: "Li Lang Gaoyi!"
After winning over a wave of people in Shang Yangshu, Li Tai went to Shang Yuanzhuang accompanied by the local tycoons before it was too late.
When he arrived at his own manor, he saw from afar a bamboo platform built on a soil plateau in front of the manor, with cloth banners fluttering in the wind, and villagers performing magic tricks on the stage. The spectators around almost filled up his fields, and the cheers were endless. "What's going on?" Li Tai couldn't help asking when he saw this scene. "Your Excellency's conferring of title and founding a country has made the village feel honored. It is even more rare to show the village's righteousness and ask for exemption from taxes for the villagers. The villagers are very happy and grateful, so they hold a village opera to celebrate the two things together!" Zhao Dangchang's face was flushed, pointing at the village opera stage and laughing. Although Li Tai looked down on himself as a baron, this was a major event worthy of envy and celebration in the village. The so-called founding of a country does not mean founding a country for the dynasty, but dividing the land and establishing a feudal system, founding a country and inheriting a family, and being a real local lord! If only Li Tai enjoyed this honor, the village would not react so enthusiastically. The key is that he won the benefit of exempting the villagers from miscellaneous taxes for one year, which is a real good deed in Dayi Township. Most of the villagers may not know who Li Tai is before, but now all the beneficiaries remember this name deeply.
"The Grand Executive is kind to the villagers, so he gave me a favorable policy. How dare I take credit for it. But since the villagers are so enthusiastic, it is not good to stop it, so let's enjoy it today."
Li Tai was also infected by the lively atmosphere and pointed at the villagers who were cheering for the show.
Several village heroes rushed into the crowd, pointed at Li Tai and shouted loudly: "This is Li Lang who brought glory to our village. Li Lang is back, and the village welcomes him!"
When the crowd heard the shouts, they quickly shifted their attention from the stage to Li Tai, clapping and cheering, and many enthusiastic villagers walked around them and sang.
Li Tai also got off the horse and kept waving his hands to respond to the enthusiasm of the villagers, but his thoughts couldn't help but drift back to the scene when he first arrived in Shangyuan last year. It was the same world, but the villagers had completely different attitudes towards him.
Seeing the villagers' enthusiasm and closeness to him, Li Tai couldn't help but imagine that if there were new guests in the village, could he call on the villagers to block the water?
The village drama was still going on. Li Tai stood outside the crowd and watched with the villagers for a while, then signaled several village nobles who were involved in the canal to follow him into the manor to discuss matters.
In the manor, Li Zhusheng also led a group of family members to wait for a long time. When they saw Li Tai coming in, they all greeted him, their joy overflowing.
Although they had worked in Shangyuan for a long time in the past, they always lacked a sense of belonging. Now that Li Tai has obtained the founding title conferred by the Western Wei court, they have finally taken root in Guanxi.
After a conversation, Li Tai finally returned to the manor hall. Several village nobles also sat down, and Wu Jingyi, the main convener of the canal affairs, handed over a register.
"The construction before spring needs to go from the middle of Luoshui to the north of Shangyuan, with a total of 67 miles of canal line, through five canals, 39 miles of old canals and river channels, and 28 miles of new canals..."
Hearing Wu Jingyi's report, Li Tai was stunned: "It was planned before the New Year to dig a new canal for more than 40 miles, how can it be reduced so much?"
"It's like this, a few households near Jiliugou didn't suffer from water, so they didn't participate in the project before the New Year, but after the New Year, they knew that Li Lang wanted to benefit the village, so they joined the alliance one after another. With the participation of these families, the canal can follow the ditch and save the project of digging a new canal."
Wu Jingyi explained with a smile.
Li Tai was also very satisfied after hearing this. In ancient times, this kind of construction technology cost a lot to build a new canal for one mile. It is undoubtedly a good thing to follow the existing canals and reduce the overall amount of work.
Although digging canals benefits the public, not everyone can share the benefits. Some people's manors and fields already have a good irrigation environment, so naturally there is no need to participate in the project.
But now with the endorsement of the Grand Secretariat, plus the benefit of being exempted from miscellaneous taxes for one year, more people will naturally join.
Li Tai had previously contacted and called for wealthy families with more than ten hectares of arable land. Only these families could save up their spare time to participate in the matter. When Li Tai left his hometown a year ago, there were already nearly twenty families participating in the matter, and the initial pledge of grain materials was more than three thousand stones.
But when he returned from a trip to Chang'an, this data had more than doubled. Forty-three rural households participated in the matter, and the grain materials raised had exceeded ten thousand stones! As the convener of this matter, Li Tai, at least in the matter of rebuilding the Longshou Canal, all these personnel and materials were under his control.
Originally, Li Tai felt that the timing of meeting Yuwen Tai was not right, but when he saw that the fundraising had reached such a scale, he immediately felt that the timing was just right.
I am a middleman who deceives the superiors and the subordinates and eats from both ends!