Chapter 187: Both military and political affairs

Chapter 187: Both military and political affairs

The military camp outside Baishui County was originally empty because people left after the parade, but recently it was filled with people again.

"Master Sir, all the seizures from the thieves' nest and warehouses have been counted."

Disciple Zhao Jingzhi walked into the tent with two followers, carrying a large basket of scrolls. He looked quite proud: "Although a certain clerk has finished counting, he has not yet become a county clerk!"

After Li Tai heard this, he was quite proud. Baishui County was in the county seat, and the combined work efficiency of the clerks in the county and county offices was not as good as that of his subordinates. It can be seen that the general affairs education in Zhuangzhong was also very effective.

As early as when he harassed the Hu tribe in northern Shaanxi, he felt deeply that the trophies were not digestible enough and had to be discarded in large quantities. This time when suppressing bandits in Guannei counties, he attached great importance to this aspect of work and started from Shangyuan Village. After school entrance examination and transfer from various industries, a team of more than 30 clerks was formed to ensure efficiency and to know the results in the shortest possible time.

Otherwise, after a battle is over, the county officials have to count the spoils, and there is no telling how much corruption there will be. If all the officials in these counties and counties were of high moral character and as honest as water, there would be no need for Daxingtai to carry out ideological education construction such as the "Six-Article Edict".

The leader of the group of bandits that was wiped out this time was named Ma Jinshan, who served as a state official in Beiyongzhou in the early years of Datong. During the Battle of Heqiao in the fourth year of the Datong Period, a rebellion broke out in Guanzhong. His people recruited a group of villagers to help in the rebellion. They fled to the mountains because they were familiar with the terrain and avoided being purged, and they still exist to this day.

In fact, this year Bafu has the idea of ​​hunting westward along the northern part of the Guanzhong Plain to Qizhou after the Grand Parade. If the hunting can be carried out normally, this group of bandits will be wiped out by hand. Unfortunately, the parade did not go smoothly, and Daxingtai was forced to give up the hunting plan.

Madmen have their own destiny. Originally, this group of bandits had already flowed westward into the Liupan Mountains after learning about the White Water Parade. However, after learning that the Parade had ended, they returned to their hometown and arrogantly attacked nearby counties. He was ordered to collect supplies, so he bumped into the hands of Li Tai who was about to test his skills.

After a battle, the main force of the bandits was wiped out, and the bandit leader was kept in his lair in the mountains. A group of ruthless bandits that had been causing trouble for several years were wiped out so easily. Instead, they spent more time cleaning the battlefield and collecting trophies.

Although this bandit's fighting power is not high, it has rich reserves. Nearly 10,000 kilograms of gold, silver, copper and iron were confiscated. In addition to killing and wounding the fleeing bandits, there were also nearly 3,000 men and women captured.

However, only a few thousand dan of grain and less than a thousand bolts of cloth were collected. Compared to a large bandit tribe with thousands of people, such a food and silk reserve was already very dangerous.

If Li Tai doesn't come to annihilate them, this bandit will inevitably launch a large-scale robbery operation this winter, otherwise it will not be able to survive the winter with this accumulation. If they survive, no one knows how many people in the county will suffer.

Among the various types of seizures, copper and iron accounted for the vast majority, and gold and silver were also considerable, amounting to thousands of kilograms. This does not mean that this gang has strong financial resources. It must still not have a suitable environment for selling stolen goods. Therefore, these materials that are difficult to sell as stolen goods can only be accumulated for many years, and finally benefited Li Tai.

So even if you are a bandit, you have to do it in a good way. If you don't have a good mass base, no one will be willing to help you sell the stolen goods. No matter how precious these gold and silver are, can you chew them to satisfy your hunger? This kind of spoils structure also shows that at least there are no powerful and powerful people in Baishui County to collude with them.

In addition, hundreds of cattle, horses and livestock were also obtained, plus some other miscellaneous animals. This time the bandit suppression was a good start.

According to the agreement between Li Tai and the county government, all these trophies must belong to him. It’s just a matter of returning the supplies. Unlike the captives, Li Tai can always cash in or replace them even if he doesn’t need them. However, those captives are a bit more difficult to deal with.

Some of these people are relatives of thieves, but a considerable number of them were kidnapped, and their relatives are still looking forward to being reunited.

The most convenient way is to recruit them into a group of soldiers and use them as slaves. But after this decision is made, it is unknown how many families will continue to suffer the pain of separation.

Li Tai asked himself that he was not a morally virtuous person, but he still felt a little uncomfortable if he had increased the suffering of many people because he was seeking temporary convenience.

After pondering for a while, he said: "Go and report to the county magistrate. The county will allocate five hundred soldiers, and all the copper and iron materials will be sent to Baishui Village along the river. All the prisoners captured in the bandit's nest will be sent to Baishui Village." The counties are in decline.”

When the subordinates informed the county government of the news, the county guard immediately nodded in agreement and personally came to the military camp outside the city to express his thanks.

This is not because Wu Hanyong of Li Tai's subordinates was frightened into obeying his advice. Although he won the battle beautifully, Li Tai's power was not enough to make the prefect of a county stay humble. The key is that this arrangement is also of great benefit. In county politics.

For today's county officials, increasing household registration and expanding cultivated area are the most important political achievements. But if you want to do it well, it takes more than just demarcating a piece of wasteland and putting people in it.

Kansai has been in turmoil for many years, and many households have died in the countryside. The government's expansion of households is to ensure that the people have something to farm and taxes to pay in the long run.

However, even if these displaced households with no roots were granted registration and granted land, they had no grassroots rural organizational relationships to restrain them. Once the weather was bad or the war was turbulent, they would inevitably have to flee in groups. They even had no idea of ​​settling down, so they cheated on the farm tools and grain seeds issued by the government and left.

If the official register is compiled and the rent and transfer cannot be collected, not only will it be useless, but it will also be a serious crime.

Sometimes local powerful people will use this method to fight against the government. After the new official takes office, he will create a register and grant land to the households under his command. After the registration is completed, the households will be gathered back. The result is a happy increase in registered households, but a loss in rents year after year. , how long can such a function last?

Kansai has been in turmoil for many years, and the people are reluctant to leave, which will cause this phenomenon. Faced with this situation, local officials will also feel powerless and can only be cautious in administration and dare not be greedy for too much.

The elimination of such a group of stubborn thieves is naturally a good opportunity to expand reclamation and production. The villagers Li Tai rescued from the thieves' nest had relatives and village connections, and were the most suitable candidates for household expansion and land granting.

As for those captives whose roots are unknown, even if they are in the prime of life, they do not dare to be granted land or any means of production easily. They can only be used as slaves.

In addition to thanking him, the county guard brought up the old matter again, hoping that Li Tai could establish the Fangcheng in Baishui County.

After seeing the combat effectiveness of Li Tai's troops, the county governor offered more generous terms, saying that as long as Li Tai nodded, all the artificial materials used for city defense would be borne by the county government, and thousands of people would be drafted and funded every year. Part of the food supply for city defense.

In addition to the fixed annual rent, transfer, tax and service, the Kansai prefectures and counties also have to bear a certain amount of food for the military, which is also a heavy burden.

But if Li Tai sets up defenses here, the county government will have reason to refuse the additional food delivery mission assigned by his superiors. Moreover, Li Tai's troops have high combat effectiveness, strong mobility, and strict military discipline. It will be reassuring if they can stay here for a long time.

Such conditions can be said to be quite sincere, but Li Tai has decided to fortify Chengcheng County on the east bank of Luoshui River.

Because the county magistrate of Shibao County under Chengcheng County has reached his full rank this winter and will be resigning, and the county magistrate promised to recommend the candidate provided by Li Tai to the Taifu, it is equivalent to bringing the entire Shibao County into Fangcheng's sphere of influence.

In contrast, Li Tai naturally preferred the conditions in Chengcheng County, so he could only say sorry to Baishui County.

However, he also promised that if there were any bandit troubles in Baishui County, his troops could cross the river to suppress them at any time. After all, he still has property in Baishui, and he also wants to set up a weapons workshop in Baishui. The adult's idea is of course that I want them all, not limited to Luodong or Luoxi.

The result of the negotiations was that Baishui County was responsible for raising a batch of coal and other materials to Li Tai every year, and Li Tai charged them according to the current price, which can be regarded as saving the labor and freight costs of purchasing.

Li Tai is responsible for the food boarding quota for a thousand people and horses in Baishui County. When the Taiwan government redistributes the food to five counties and counties, taking this situation into consideration, it will relieve some of the pressure on Baishui County.

To put it bluntly, Li Tai is responsible for protecting Baishui County now. If these military leaders in Bafu want to fight against the autumn wind, you should not come here to save face. If you don't want to give face, then don't give it. If you want Li Tai to actually come forward to expel him, you have to pay more.

Li Tai's troops stayed outside the city of Baishui County for another two days. After the loot was clearly inventoried and distributed, some of the easy-to-carry portions were taken away directly, while the other portion was temporarily stored in the Baishui County treasury and asked them to send people back one after another. Lead the troops to leave.

After a day's march, they arrived at Zhangyuan in the southern Baishui territory. Lu Chuan and other pioneers came to greet them. In addition to these soldiers from the headquarters, there were also many local soldiers from this territory who followed.

After the troops had finished camped outside the manor, Li Tai entered the tent to rest for a while. Then he introduced Lu Chuan and several villagers and asked, "What's going on? Tell me."

When several villagers saw that Li Tai was so young and handsome, which was completely contrary to the image of a warrior they had imagined in their minds, they were surprised and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhang He, the elder of the tribe, came forward to pay homage and said: "The common people are guilty. I used to have a feud with the local tycoon Zhou family, but now that they are in power, they send hard laborers from the county to my family every time. In order to protect the sons and daughters of the household, I have to pretend to be kidnapped by the bandits..."

"Are you becoming a bandit yourself?"

After hearing this, Li Tai sneered, and then said in a deep voice: "I have also heard about the gangster name of Shannan Feiyingzi. Now I am willing to give you a chance. If you still don't tell me honestly, then there is no need to say it anymore."

Zhang Shinu, the young man who followed the account entry, fell to his knees with a plop: "The great governor Mingjian, the common people are the flying kites of Shannan. In the past years, I did do some banditry to make a living, but this is not the same as the elders in the household. It has nothing to do with it. If the governor needs to increase the punishment, the guilty people will bear it..."