choke element

Chapter 665 Taiping

The autumn of the third year of Zhenyou was the first stable autumn harvest experienced by the soldiers and civilians of Zhongdu Road after the third year of Da'an.However, the four months of tug-of-war from last autumn to this spring caused the entire Zhongdu Road to be severely damaged by military disasters.

In the past few months, the lack of food that once put Dinghai into a mess was only one of the problems, and there were many other problems.For example, grassroots organizations in various places were destroyed, a large number of laborers of the right age died in the flames of war, cattle, seeds, and agricultural tools were completely damaged, a large number of farmlands were abandoned, and many ditches, canals, wells, dams and other water conservancy facilities were even consciously destroyed by the Mongols.

Therefore, the few months from spring plowing to autumn harvest are not only the months for Guo Ning’s Marshal’s Mansion to perfect its military deployment and gain a firm foothold politically, but also the few months for the two Privy Councils of Zhongdu and Yidu to prove their governance capabilities. months.

For this area, Guo Ning seldom intervenes directly, but has always kept an eye on it.He used the army as his eyes and ears, and kept a close eye on the many decrees before and after the transfer of Chucai, the resettlement of refugees, the transfer of troops, and even the local wealthy families and so many officials and nobles in Zhongdu. little tricks.

Until the autumn harvest season, it was a big issue that was related to whether the entire Marshal's Mansion could gain a foothold, and it finally had a good result.Including Zhongdu Road, the military settlements in Shandong, Hebei, Liaodong, and even the Liaohai Corridor have all produced something, and the people who fled have returned to their hometowns one after another, relying on rushing to plant and harvest, and have a little harvest .

In this kind of world, human life is worthless. It is easy to want to die, but it is not difficult to want to live.The tenacious vitality of human beings is like weeds. Countless farmers can struggle to survive only on the roughest food and the meager income.

And everyone in the military mansion breathed a sigh of relief.

Since the land is stable, the farmers on the land are stable; if the farmers are stable, the grain output will not be easily shaken.With this basic plan, the Marshal's Mansion will pay close attention to rent and taxes, and the army will have a fixed source of food and salaries; in this way, the Ding Navy will no longer rely solely on maritime trade and walk on one foot. It also has the appearance of a government.

Of course, the group of warriors who followed Guo Ning always got the most benefits in this process.

Guo Ning was born as a low-level soldier, he knew that no matter how loud the tunes sang by the big men above, and no matter how lofty the awareness of the speeches, they would definitely lose their tune when they fell to the bottom.He knew that the only way to win the morale of the army and gain loyalty was to give enough benefits, and to give them enough benefits as promised in advance.

Only by giving enough benefits every time can it become a positive stimulus, and the accumulation of positive stimuli can make soldiers develop the instinct to fight bravely and be willing to fight.

So after taking the Central Capital, Guo Ning really spent a lot of effort to commend his achievements, and spent a lot of money as rewards.In particular, according to the Dinghai system, the allocation of land and shade households given to military households will be implemented without delay.

In this way, an additional situation appeared, that is, in the trading system around the Bohai Sea, new customers began to appear besides high-ranking officials and nobles.The officers and men of the Ding Navy, whose families are getting richer, are gradually willing to spend some money to buy some good things for themselves and their families that they didn't dare to think of before.

Correspondingly, people who live a good life are never willing to give up everything in their hands and return to the original miserable life.For them, anything that affects their good life is the enemy of life and death.

Zhang Pingliang returned home in a daze.It was getting dark, but he didn't take a pine torch. The dark road surface was uneven, and he missed several feet along the way, and his shoes and socks were covered with mud.

When Chen Ran led his troops to defend Zhigu Village that day, he, Liu Ran and other remaining troops of the Beijing Road Jin Army assisted in the battle and made a lot of contributions.So after the war, he became a soldier of Dinghai. With several transfers of Dinghai's command system, he got his own piece of land and five shade households in Yutian County, Jizhou.

Yutian County is one of the important cities at the southern foot of the Yanshan Mountains, and it also controls a small salt field.The Ding Navy stationed 500 people here.After three months of hard work, military households and shady households now occupy the eastern half of the city, and the military camps, school grounds, warehouses, and the living quarters of their families are roughly distributed in a square shape.

Among them, the warehouse was the first to be built, and it was also the simplest. Strictly speaking, it was a shack with air leakage everywhere, and the huts were shared by more than a dozen families.Last month, the rows of courtyards in the accommodation area were all completed, and many officers above even generals moved in one after another.

Just last month, Zhang Pingliang was introduced to marry a big girl in his shady household, and now he can be regarded as a man with a family.His wife, Li Shi, is a well-educated woman with a very gentle personality. Zhang Pingliang treats her like a treasure. A few days ago, he specially took out the money rewarded by the military government and bought her a set of silver jewelry and a small mirror.

This is not a good thing that can be had casually. For this reason, Mrs. Li is extra flattering to her husband, and Zhang Pingliang has been complacent for a long time.

However, when Zhang Pingliang returned home, his face was very ugly.

Mrs. Li came up to meet him and poured him a glass of water: "What's wrong?"

"We can't move this time. We'll have to live here a while longer."

Mrs. Li let out an "ah", stepped back a few steps, and sat back on the head of the bed.She lowered her head, not knowing the expression on her face, but her eyelashes trembled slightly under the candle, obviously very disappointed, but the upbringing of the family prevented her from complaining in front of her husband anyway.

This kind of aggrieved appearance made Zhang Pingliang particularly unhappy; the anger in his heart became more and more uncontrollable now.

He stood up suddenly, strode out, turned a corner, and went to the shack where his subordinates gathered.

"A group of thieves from Xiaoquan Mountain went down the mountain again yesterday. They robbed more than a dozen families in Houhuzhuang, killed two people and a cow. We should be responsible for protecting that area! The thieves from Xiaoquan Mountain, We should also be responsible for the elimination! We failed!"

Zhang Pingliang gritted his teeth, raised his finger and pointed at the soldiers in front of him: "General Liu said, if the matter of Xiaoquan Mountain cannot be resolved within this month, I don't want to divide the house, and you don't want to divide the land! If you can't solve it next month, the generals will raise troops to encircle the mountain in person. Before encircling the mountain, punish those of us who are ineffective! I can't do anything with this general, I will be demoted to the army, and you will all be demoted to Ali Xi !"

Having said that, Zhang Pingliang suddenly drew his knife and stabbed hard at the case table.The blade pierced through the table, and the blade made of fine iron hummed.

He looked around at the crowd and raised his voice and said, "I know you guys have such old friendships with the group in Koizumi Mountain, so you have been pushing back and forth. But now you can't make excuses! They killed someone! Yes They insist on ruining our peaceful days! I’m going to Xiaoquan Mountain right now, if you guys want to be soldiers, follow me to kill thieves! If you want to be thieves, you can draw your sword and kill me now!”

Seeing his menacing aura, it was quite different from the previous slightly weak posture, the soldiers in front of him were silent, no one dared to speak or move.

Zhang Pingliang stared at them one by one, and drew his sword backhand.Because it was tied too hard, he couldn't pull it out for a while, so he kicked the whole table to pieces, and the broken boards and table legs fell on the soldiers' heads and faces.

When he turned to go out, the soldiers began to frantically prepare their weapons and armor, and followed him at a trot.

Outside the shack, more than a dozen Alixi, who looked anxious, saw the general furious, and hurried back to his shack to help the army organize their military equipment, dry rations, pine torches, and even horses.

(End of this chapter)