Chapter 1021 Gold and Silver Carriage

Chapter 1021 Gold and Silver Carriage

Later, the Sui Dynasty spent a lot of money to destroy Tuyuhun and established counties there, but it still failed to form effective control. Today's Western Wei Dynasty is far beyond the reach of the Sui Dynasty, so it must invest a large amount of war resources in this corner regardless of the cost.

Regardless of this regret, the various seizures in this battle are enough to make people smile and feel happy.

For example, the most intuitive thing is that Tuyuhun was not a purely nomadic regime and its living habits were semi-settled. Therefore, there were also large populations living in these large cities within the territory. After occupying several large cities, Shi Ning and others Naturally, these people will no longer be left to Tuyuhun. They will kidnap as many people as possible to Longyou, and the resulting population will be nearly 100,000!

Tuyuhun is a production method that combines agriculture and animal husbandry, so most of these captive populations also have farming and animal husbandry skills, and they are undoubtedly very precious human resources.

When Li Tai conquered Jiangling in the past year, he did not choose to move a large number of Jiangling soldiers and civilians away from the territory as in history. Now that he has entered Guanzhong, he is facing the difficulty of labor shortage when carrying out some military and political reforms.

Although the urgent need was temporarily relieved by building Buddhist temples and recruiting many people who were sheltered by ascetics, in the long run, population, especially high-quality labor, will still be a major factor restricting the development of various industries in Guanzhong and the implementation of government decrees.

The population and labor force in Guanzhong are still insufficient, and Li Tai's previous idea of ​​developing Huguang is out of the question. If you want to reduce the pressure on Longyou's border defense and gain greater momentum for external development, of course you also need to continue to control Longyou. In-depth development will increase its local hematopoietic and supply capabilities.

This expedition to Tuyuhun captured nearly 100,000 people, which was undoubtedly a great tonic for the current Western Wei court. Incorporating these people into the country, educating them and using them at the same time, can also greatly make up for the current manpower shortage.

This harvest alone makes this expedition worthwhile. However, the gains from this battle did not stop there.

As we all know, Tuyuhun was able to develop and grow largely because the Silk Road passed through it. Especially after the split between the north and the south, the Southern Dynasties especially needed to rely on the Qiangzhong Road where Tuyuhun was located to communicate with Longyou and Hexi. Even when Li Tai's ancestor Li Hao founded Xiliang, he had to send envoys to Tuyuhun to seek the title of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Tuyuhun had such a convenient location for hundreds of years, and naturally accumulated a huge amount of wealth as a result. The three cities that the Wei army invaded this time were all the core areas of Tuyuhun, and the materials and goods captured were naturally extremely rich.

Historically, it was the Turks who attacked Tuyuhun in a similar period. The Turkic Mugan Khan used Liangzhou to attack Tuyuhun. Shi Ning, who was the governor of Liangzhou at the time, led his troops to coordinate operations and successfully captured the two cities of Shudun and Hezhen in Tuyuhun. All the gold, silver, wealth, silk, men, horses, and mouths seized were all owned by the Turks.

But now, because Li Tai sent troops to attack the Turks first and killed Mu Gan Khan, the priorities of this military operation were reversed, and the soup that Tuyuhun had been cooking for hundreds of years was naturally eaten first by the Western Wei Dynasty.

Because the harvest was so rich, it was even difficult to take a detailed inventory of various precious artifacts such as gold vases, silver urns, bead curtains and jade cups, rhinoceros horn agate, crystal red jade and other exotic treasures, as well as various pigments and spices. It's difficult to weigh them all, so they're all based on vehicle loads.

During this triumphant expedition, there were thousands of carts of such loot transported back. This was due to limited transportation capacity, and there was still a large amount stored in Liangzhou, Qinzhou and other places. It can be said that apart from some cultural relics, books and other items of extremely high humanistic value, the gains captured in this battle at Tuyuhun were not inferior to the previous Battle of Jiangling, and were even better!

After all, Jiangling's time as the capital of Nanliang was still short, and when Emperor Yuan of Liang came to power, Nanliang had already been ruined by Hou Jing's rebellion. The Jiangling court could not completely rule the entire Nanliang area, so the treasury accumulated a lot of money. Not compared to the heyday of Nanliang.

This time the Western Expeditionary Army defeated the three cities of Tuyuhun, and even if they captured not all of the wealth that Tuyuhun had accumulated over the years, it must have accounted for a huge proportion, and it was natural that they should have captured it.

The Western Wei Dynasty had always had financial difficulties, and Yuwentai was very diligent in rewarding meritorious servicemen. However, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, various rewards became generous, and hundreds of gold and silver coins were often given to meritorious officials. This is certainly closely related to the improvement of national power in the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the prosperity of Silk Road trade, and the series of war seizures against Tuyuhun are also quite impressive.

Historically, the Yuwentai period completed the expansion and occupation of Bashu and Jiangling. When the time entered the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the operation of Longyou, especially the attack on Tuyuhun, became the main military operation of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. He Lanxiang and other relatives and lords had pressed against Tuyuhun. In order to gain military exploits, even when Emperor Wu of Zhou was training his son Yuwen Yun, he sent him to conquer Tuyuhun.

The frequent use of troops against Tuyuhun even allowed the Northern Zhou Dynasty to develop and occupy the Qinghai area in Longyou, which was no less than that of the Tang Dynasty. Although the Tubo faced during the prosperous Tang Dynasty was more powerful than the Tuyuhun, the national power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty at that time was far inferior to that of the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

The reason why the Northern Zhou Dynasty was so aggressive was not only because of the need for defense on the right side of Longxi, but also because Tuyuhun, the fat sheep, was really popular.

The wealth accumulated from relying on the Silk Road trade for hundreds of years was coveted by the poor and evil neighbor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, who attacked and exploited it again and again, so that by the Sui Dynasty, Tuyuhun had been completely reduced to a He was so poor that even the famous king of his country took the initiative to surrender and surrender, but Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty refused to accept it. The Murong family tortured the Yuwen tribe in Liaodong very miserably, and in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Tuyuhun was oppressed by the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

In addition to these direct gains on the battlefield, this battle also had a great effect on establishing the prestige of the Western Wei Dynasty in the Longyou area, which greatly frightened the Di Hu and Qiang tribes in that area. It can be said that since Dugu Xin put down the Liangzhou rebellion , the largest and most glorious victory in the Longyou region!

The heroic performance of the Western Wei army once again shocked the Turks who accompanied them to the battle.

For example, Meng Yehu, a Turk who followed the imperial court this time, was arrogant and arrogant when he came to Chang'an last year. However, when he came back this time, his attitude became submissive and obedient, and he frequently made toasts in Chinese that was still very difficult to speak. When he got drunk, he left the table and danced to celebrate his victory.

Li Tai sat in the banquet, smiling and looking at Meng Yehu's rough and funny dance. He also explained his regret of not being able to introduce the wooden pole Khan to Chang'an to dance. In addition to being in a happy mood, he expressed his gratitude to Shi Ning and others for their great contribution. The generals also admired it extremely.

He stood up, carried the wine jar, and went to the banquet to pour wine for the generals. At the same time, he laughed and said, "Let's wash away the dust with water and wine, and I will be rewarded with honors when I go to court one day!"

Shi Ning and others held the cups in both hands and thanked him. When Wu Mingche arrived, he even said with emotion: "When I defected to the Lord, I kept in mind the teachings given by the Lord, but I still doubted it and did not believe it until the army came out." Looking at Qinghai from Chiling Mountain, I realize that the world is vast and there is a vast world beyond the horizon!

Recalling the old days of Liang Zu, he boasted that the golden pot was intact. Did he not know that the country was in great rift? It’s nothing more than laziness and self-deception! In the end, I am very lucky to have received the enlightenment from the Lord. I am willing to follow the Lord and make a name for myself in the universe. How can I be proud and complacent and trapped in a corner of Jiangdong! "

After Li Tai heard this, he laughed again, looked at everyone and sighed: "You are lucky to meet me, and I am also lucky to meet you! There were several giant bandits, but they were dealt with calmly; some were not talented, but they used their heart. Try your best to re-create the world. You must have a long-term ambition and work hard. With such talented people, great things can be accomplished!”

The crowd had a great night, but they were still unfulfilled the next day. When Li Tai arrived in Beijing, he had already submitted the reward plan to the emperor, and it would be announced in an edict at the court meeting.

During this expedition, the generals Shi Ning, Han Guo, Liang Shiyan and Liang Tai advanced to become generals, and each had a son named county prince. Linghu Yanbao and Wu Mingche were in charge of logistics and did not participate in front-line combat, so they were awarded less rewards. Linghu Yanbao was granted the title of Duke on the basis of the original hussar Kaifu. Wu Mingche had previously been awarded the title of hussar to open his mansion because of his ability to capture and control the local Khan alive. Now he was added as a servant and given the title of Duke of Weishi County.

The rest of the generals who participated in the battle were also given generous rewards, and their ranks were greatly improved. At the same time, this victory will leave a strong mark on their resumes, and they will be able to gain more opportunities in future official promotions.

As for ordinary sergeants, we will refer to the previous examples of rewards for great victories. First, all the soldiers who participated in the war were awarded knights, and then arrangements were made for land granting.

In addition, physical rewards are also issued in the form of military merit coupons. Different from the previous Dingliang military merit coupons, this time the military merit coupons are named Pingqiang coupons. Although Tuyuhun does not belong to the Western Qiang species, it is located within the traditional Qiang sphere of influence, and today's Tuyuhun has also been mixed with many Qiang people. In the future, there will still be battles with Di Qiang and Tubo in Longyou, so we simply classify this series of military achievements into the category of Ping Qiang.

In addition to the difference in name, the value of Pingqiang coupons is no longer based on the number of silk, but on the newly minted Tongzhi five baht coins. One hundred coins is equivalent to a piece of silk. At the same time, the face value on the Pingqiang coupons can also be Used to directly exchange new five baht coins.

Since the new money has just been introduced to the market, the supply will inevitably be insufficient, and the corresponding purchasing power will be relatively high. The sergeants first have a stable currency supply channel, which is also a benefit. It can benefit more people and build market confidence faster than directly rewarding ministers.

While issuing Pingqiang coupons to the sergeants, the military market in the south of Chang'an will also be prepared, and the military market supervisor will be led by the censor lieutenant.

The lieutenant censor has a certain role as a military judge, and as the army is a violent organization, its interest distribution and exchanges also need to be paid special attention to. Once any interest disputes arise, it will be much more serious than a simple civil dispute, so military-market trade It should also be supervised by military law.