Chapter 393 Magnificent Foundation

Chapter 393 Magnificent Foundation

"This used to be a Hu city of the Hao family, but it has been captured by the Kaifu and used for its own purposes."

Outside the Heishui Fortress, Han Guo's sigh made Li Tai have a deeper understanding of the super memory of this human navigation. Such a talent is simply a cheat in the medieval era.

Zhu Meng and others who stayed behind in the Heishui Fortress had already been waiting on the left side of the road. After meeting, they naturally exchanged pleasantries.

Li Tai still had to stay here to make some personnel adjustments, while Han Guo went to Guangwu, the capital of Dongxia Prefecture, with Li Mu to conduct some personnel handovers in person. After all, no matter how simple Li Mu's state affairs were, Dongxia Prefecture was ultimately a large state in northern Shaanxi, managing a vast area, and it was definitely not something that could be explained clearly in two or three sentences.

Heishui Fortress has also undergone great changes compared to when Li Tai left last year. The garrison commander Zhu Meng and some of the subordinates who were dismissed from the Dushui Administration have conscientiously implemented the development plan he had previously formulated here, and the affairs did not stagnate because of his departure alone.

The first and most obvious change is the surge in the scale of military farming on both sides of the Kuli River. When Li Tai left, the reclaimed wasteland here was less than 1,000 hectares. Now that he has returned, the scale of the military farm has reached more than 7,000 hectares.

Zhu Meng and other subordinates were all proud when they talked about the changes in this data.

As a military general, Zhu Meng did not care much about local governance and people's livelihood issues. However, seeing that a piece of barren land gradually became prosperous and fertile under the efforts of himself and others, he was full of a sense of accomplishment.

With the connection of the Luochuan Canal, an integrated water network was formed between the river and Luo. The siltation and flooding of the river and the dry water interruption were greatly improved, and the land around the canal became suitable for farming.

At the same time, the connection of the canal also brought great convenience to the defense within the region. Defense strongholds were set up along the Hejin to block the invading enemy. Even if the enemy was numerous and we were few, we could quickly reinforce through the waterway, making it difficult for the Hu bandits in the area to come and go without a trace and turn around like the wind. The activity and living space were greatly compressed.

The increase in cultivated land also means an increase in population. Before Li Tai went to Long, he placed most of his troops in Heishui Fangcheng to prevent the counterattack of Hu bandits in the territory. Now there are more than 3,000 soldiers stationed in Heishui Fangcheng.

But these troops are not all the residents of Heishui Fangcheng. Now there are nearly 5,000 registered households, which is not inferior to a medium-sized county in Guanzhong. In northern Shaanxi, where the land is vast and the population is sparse, it is definitely not an easy task to gather so many households from scratch.

Most of these households are actively attached to the territory. They only officially obtain the qualifications for household registration and land granting after participating in some reclamation work organized by Fangcheng. However, the livelihood foundation of this side is still very weak. Although the registered households have been granted land, they still need to carry out collective farming. The cattle, farm tools, and grain seeds must all be handed over to the public treasury for management.

In addition to these registered households, there are also Hu people captured in the battles. These captives will certainly not receive preferential treatment for land distribution. They will only participate in labor as serfs and are also the main labor force for official production.

These soldiers and slaves are not only responsible for cultivating the official fields of Fangcheng, but some soldiers who have been granted land for military merits can also rent and work as slaves in Fangcheng if they have no family.

Li Tai had planned to grant land for the soldiers before, but the farming work here just started last year and has not been put on track, and the area of ​​land reclaimed is also very limited, so this plan is only in the imagination.

Although Li Tai was not here in the first half of this year, the land reclaimed increased greatly, so Zhu Meng and other stayers implemented this plan on his behalf and granted land to some of the soldiers.

Because of the act of granting land, although Li Tai did not directly command his old troops for more than half a year, the hearts of the soldiers were still united.

Although the court and the hegemony government would also grant land to the registered households, these acres of land were subject to rent and taxes, while the land granted by Li Tai to his subordinates was exempted from all taxes and miscellaneous collections, and the soldiers only needed to conduct daily training and undertake combat missions during wartime. Even the cultivation of the land can be the responsibility of the soldiers and slaves, and these soldiers only need to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Now that the officials of the Western Wei Dynasty had no permanent salary and the titles had no real fiefdoms, the treatment of the soldiers who were granted land was very generous. In the field of treating his own troops well, Li Tai was an absolute king, leaving other military leaders far behind.

Of course, this was also because his industrial structure was rich and diverse, his layout was far-reaching and grand, and he could afford the high cost of raising troops by taking advantage of the policy. Even if other military leaders wanted to learn from him, it would be difficult to maintain it for a long time.

As for recruiting powerful people from all sides to come to northern Shaanxi to be tenants for themselves, it was also developing steadily. Among the more than 7,000 hectares of newly reclaimed arable land in Heishui Fangcheng, more than 2,000 hectares were cultivated by powerful people from other regions, and they exchanged military rations for salt pond salt permits in Xi'an Prefecture by transporting military rations to Xiazhou and other places.

Li Tai went to Suizhou to do business this time, and the Bafu did not give him any money or food. It was only at his request that the Daxingtai approved him a salt permit of 60,000 stones with a reduction in the dam. Daicheng is the toll, which greatly reduces the transportation cost of salt permits in Daicheng, so it is naturally more precious than ordinary salt permits.

However, Li Tai does not need to rely on others to transport grain and grass from other places to Suizhou. At present, he is the largest grain merchant in Guanzhong. These salt permits were left to Shangyuan friends as a benefit. However, if they want to go to Hedong with salt permits to collect salt, they still have to wait until the Eastern Wei army retreats.

This also shows that Yu Wentai is really addicted to issuing empty promises, and he must do his best to tap the value of the united front in everything he does. If it weren't for the imminent invasion of the Eastern Wei army, there would be no way to reduce the length of Yanyindai. Now everyone has to actively support and maintain the rule of Dahangtai in order to get toll reductions and exemptions!

There is still nearly 500 miles to go from Heishui Fangcheng to the seat of Suizhou Prefecture, which is Weiping City along the Sheyan River that we passed when we attacked Jihu in the north last year.

This distance is neither long nor short. If the cavalry team marches lightly and ensures that there are enough official and herd horses for transfer on the way, it can be reached in less than a day. But if a logistics team escorting a large amount of supplies is traveling, it will take at least ten days.

After Li Tai finished the battle with Li Shihu last year, through discussions with Yu Wengui and Li Mu, the governors of Xiazhou, he decided to build an additional defense city near Wei Ping City downstream of Sheyan River, and relocate the remaining troops of Li Shihu there, and He persuaded the Liu family of Diaoyin to move there.

He did not have time to personally supervise such an important matter, so he could only transfer Li Yantou from Shibao to the other place to take charge of it on his behalf. Now it could be used as the governor of Suizhou.

However, the construction time of that realm is still short. Even if the natural resources are good, the influx of so many people into it will put great pressure on the area. Therefore, when Longyou athletes settle in, they must also be provided with sufficient supplies.

The supplies that Li Tai had raised in Luochuan Defense were now being continuously transported to Heishui Fangcheng along the river canals. However, going further north from Heishui Fangcheng, there was no waterway to borrow, and he had to rely on people and horses to travel by land. Transport north.

Fortunately, the autumn harvest has not officially begun yet, and the Blackwater City Defense Forces has enough manpower. After the materials are transported to Weiping and then returned lightly, the autumn harvest farming work can still be carried out. As for the 3,000 cavalry who followed Li Tai here, they will leave 2,000 cavalry in Blackwater City to resupply on the spot. They will be recruited northward one after another after the material transportation is completed and based on actual tactical needs.

When Zhu Meng and other senior generals learned that Li Tai was going north and planned to invade Jinyang, their eyes flashed and they all expressed their hope to follow the army. Naturally, they could not forget the dying regrets of their old lord He Basheng. Now that they had the opportunity to go straight into the heart of the Eastern Dynasty to kill the enemy, they naturally refused to miss this opportunity.

Hearing the request of several people to fight, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh in his heart. After thinking about it, he nodded and agreed. He really couldn't bear to refuse this request, but he also knew in his heart that he wanted to attack Jinyang directly with a surprise attack. It is completely impossible to cause substantial harm to Gao Huan's family in the city.

Although he has never seen Jinyang City in this time and space, as the main base of the Erzhu family and the two generations of the Gao family, it will obviously not be easily broken.

In fact, Li Tai himself was a little worried. If he really attacked Jinyang this time, would his family members who stayed in the Eastern Wei Dynasty also suffer retaliation from the Eastern Wei Dynasty?

But what to say about this matter? Since he decided to establish a foothold in the Western Wei Dynasty, it was inevitable to become hostile to the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Moreover, Western Wei generals such as Dugu Xin had their families living in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, but they were not massacred by the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

The massacre of He Basheng's disciples can be regarded as an extreme case. In fact, he pushed Gao Huan too much on the battlefield, and his life was hanging by a thread, but he still feared. The rabbit bit someone when he was anxious, not to mention Gao Huan. Huan is not yet a rabbit.

Therefore, worrying about the retribution of the Eastern Wei family and restraining one's hands is completely unfounded and worrying. Not to mention that he has not yet reached the level of being hated by Big Brother and gnashing his teeth and eager to get rid of him. His family is not completely absent in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. The power of self-preservation.

The Eastern Wei Dynasty inherited a large number of personnel from the Northern Wei Dynasty. As a famous family in the world, the Li family in Longxi had more old connections and care in the Eastern Wei Dynasty than in the Western Wei Dynasty.

For example, in Cui's Township in Qinghe, where his family lived, his cousin Cui had gone to follow Gao Huan during the Xindu uprising, and was therefore favorably treated by Gao Huan. There are also many other old relatives who work in Yedu and Jinyang Bafu. Even if they are blamed for this, someone will come back to protect them.

After Zhu Meng and others left, Heishui Fangcheng also needed someone to take charge. After Li Tai thought for a while, he arranged for Yang Fu, who had just joined his subordinates, to stay here and assist him with several old officials.

By leaving Yang Fu here, Li Tai also wanted him to feel the regional potential and strategic value of northern Shaanxi. It would be best if he could interact with these Guanlong natives to derive other interests. The more people with the same ideals you have, the more choices you will have when it comes to doing things.

After the personnel arrangements were made, Li Tai led the front troops and continued northward. When he passed through Guangwu City in Dongxia Prefecture, Han Guo had completed the handover of duties with Li Mu and officially started to take charge of Guangwu City. Li Mu had already led his troops on the return journey quickly.

This guy probably thought that by returning to Huazhou as soon as possible, he could catch up with Daxingtai and fight the Eastern Wei Dynasty, but he didn't know that Daxingtai had no such plan at all. He rushed back in a hurry, which was destined to be a waste of joy.

Although Han Guo had only been in the state for a few days, he was different from Li Mu's lazy style and had already begun to handle state affairs in an orderly manner.

When Li Tai arrived, Han Guo had already gathered 3,000 cattle and horses from the official pastures along the Qingshui River, and assembled an army of more than 2,000 men in the city, making up for the loss caused by the departure of Li Mu's troops. The guard force is in urgent need.

Li Tai originally planned to dispatch a group of troops from Blackwater City to help him stabilize the situation, but looking at this situation, it was no longer necessary.

For the time being, he did not need the troops from Dongxia Prefecture to cooperate in military matters, so he only brought one person from Dongxia Prefecture to join the army. When the troops from Dongxia Prefecture were needed, he would send messages to him and asked Han Guo to do it. It was good to support the logistics team's work of crossing the border and heading north, and then continued northbound.

"My lord is back, my lord is finally back! Since my lord went south a year ago, my servant has been looking south and praying every day, hoping that my lord can come back and lead..."

The group of people had just arrived at Shuofang, and people who had been waiting at the intersection of Dijing came to meet them. They rushed to the front with staggering steps and extremely excited expressions. Their words were full of tears. It was the big living treasure Li. Chief Shihu Liu Kuzhen.

Before Li Tai could stop his mount, Liu Kuzhen had already plopped down on his knees in the front road, directly stirring up a large cloud of smoke and dust on the ground. If Li Tai's superb riding skills hadn't been able to pull his mount off the original track when the situation was not right, this would have happened. The guy was afraid that he would be trampled heavily by the horse's hooves.

"You thief, do you want to die?"

Li Tai's next big plan was closely related to Li Shihu. It would be great fun if his horse trampled their leader to death, so he glared at this flattering guy and shouted angrily.

Liu Kuzhen was also frightened because he was too excited and could not control his strength well. However, after hearing Li Tai's scolding, he laughed happily, patted his chest and said loudly: "This life of flesh and blood is given by the Lord. , but if the master is still willing to pity, the servant will be happy and not afraid of death!"

Li Yunxin, who was in the same team, couldn't help but widen his eyes after hearing this. He thought he was the best at flattering the grandfather, but he didn't expect to meet a strong competitor in this desolate northern land!

After this guy made a joke, Li Yantou, Mao Shijian and other subordinates also came forward one after another and crossed their hands to salute Li Tai.

Li Tai did not talk nonsense to them, and directly ordered them to get on their horses and continue on their way. He was already impatient to see what the former Weiping Fangcheng and the current Suizhou Prefecture had become.

This area is already quite remote, and official construction has only begun at the beginning of this year. Li Tai does not expect to have as grand and impressive weather patterns as the defense cities in the south. At least there must be a framework foundation that can assume the responsibility of a base for cross-river operations. .

He had already set his expectations very low here, and he never expected that the Diaoyin Liu family who moved here would give him a big surprise.