Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 780 General Mobilization

Yang Yuan rushed all the way back to Jianzhou, handling official business along the way.

When passing through Zizhou (Ziyang), Yang Yuan began to recruit soldiers in the name of maintaining the security of Xuzhou, Wumeng and Liangshan states.

He mentioned these things casually when he reported to the court that the twelve counties of Liangshan Prefecture had been incorporated into the territory of the Song Dynasty, which was reasonable.

Of course, the scale of the troops required is not stated too clearly.

But Yang Yuan had already said that the salaries and armaments of these soldiers would be provided by the output of the gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture.

Therefore, the imperial court did not know much about the recruitment and expansion measures.

The young emperor was proud of the expansion of the Song Dynasty's territory during his reign.

Yang Yuan directly established a new army outside the original military system.

The new army was mainly composed of the militia established in various states, prefectures and counties two years ago, supplemented by the workers who had been building the highway over the past year or so.

The militia soldiers already possess considerable military qualities and only need further intensive training.

The workers who were building the highway came to work on time every day, divided the work and cooperated with the foreman's requirements, and had already developed the discipline to follow orders.

Therefore, the speed at which they form an army is much faster than that of ordinary new recruits.

When passing through Puzhou (Anyue, Suining, Lezhi counties and Tongnan County of Chongqing City), Yang Yuan issued the second decree as the governor and pacification commissioner of Tongchuan Road: to requisition and build carriages and horses.

The reason was to strengthen the empire's control over the newly incorporated Liangshan Prefecture, so a large number of carriages and horses were needed for transportation and communication.

It turned out that the pack horses and earth-moving carts used in road construction were already available.

At the same time, Yang Yuan also ordered all prefectures, counties and cities to continue manufacturing cars and increased the pace of purchasing ponies from the Dali Kingdom.

In order to obtain the various luxury goods provided by the Yang family, the leaders of the large tribes that the Wu family had contacted in Tubo also smuggled a large number of tall horses from the northwest.

In order to motivate the provinces, counties and cities and make them take this matter seriously, Yang Yuan included the completion of this task in the officials' year-end examination items.

When passing through Suining Prefecture, Yang Yuan issued a third decree: to store food and fodder.

Food and fodder are the basis for the survival of the army. Procuring food and fodder is a very important part of war mobilization to ensure the supply of the army.

Yang Yuan ordered all prefectures and counties in Tongchuan Road to convert the taxes paid to the court into other items and direct currency, so as to retain the grain.

Taxes paid to the imperial court could be in kind or in currency, and those paid in kind had to be converted into currency.

Moreover, the preparation for this war was one of the steps in the grand plan that the late emperor had been planning for six years, and the court was also cooperating tacitly, so it was not difficult to implement.

When passing through Guozhou (Nanchong), Yang Yuan once again issued an order to strengthen the production and procurement of various strategic materials such as weapons, armor, and medicinal materials.

When passing by Langzhou, Liu Shangqiu rushed over from Lin'an.

The Privy Council's Jisufang and Quefang temporarily set up an office in central Sichuan to intensify detective activities in the four routes of Sichuan and Xia as well as in Tubo and Xixia.

This is an open intelligence organization.

Yang Yuan's "comrades" also went out on scout duty, and they continuously sent the intelligence they collected on both our side and the enemy's military, political, economic, cultural, and people's livelihood to the record room in Jianzhou for sorting, summarizing, and analyzing.

At the same time, the pace of infiltration, bribery, and placement of spies against Western Xia officials and generals also accelerated.

The next day after Yang Yuan returned to Jianzhou, Mr. Mu Yi, the grand master of the New Shu School who had not been seen for a long time, started lectures again at the Jianzhou Academy.

The content of this talk subtly pointed the topic to military and national affairs.

The official music school also received a secret order from the pacification envoy's office that was not stated in writing.

Their songs, dances, dramas, and storytelling began to consciously focus on loyalty to the emperor and serving the country.

Some stories that pretend to be set in the previous dynasties are mostly about recovering homeland, expanding territory, unifying the world, and showing the power of a great country.

These cultural propaganda began to subtly influence people's psychological attitudes towards the outbreak of war.

From the military, economic, social and cultural levels, the entire Sichuan-Xiamen Four Routes began to accelerate the operation of the state machinery with Tongchuan Road as the center.

The Song Dynasty is trying its best to gather and mobilize all available resources to deal with the outbreak of war.

However, you can only see its turbulent waves if you stand on a high place.

Ordinary people in society only vaguely feel that life seems to have more choices and all industries are more prosperous.

They attributed this to Yang Yuan's governance, to the completion of the Chidao Road, and to the discovery of gold and copper mines in Liangshan Prefecture, but they did not realize the original purpose of the state machine operating in this way.

Fortunately, the Office of the Governor-General and the Internal Affairs Office were very powerful. All agricultural, animal husbandry, industrial and commercial affairs, military preparations, big and small matters, no matter how big or small, were managed and implemented by dedicated people.

Yang Yuan is only responsible for planning the general direction and organizing relevant personnel to implement the details.

So Yang Yuan wasn't too tired along the way.

By his side are the beautiful and charming Concubine Dao, and the "unprecedented" young Master Fan Qing.

While reviewing official documents along the way, there were two beautiful girls, Fengniang and Taixi, who were grinding ink and adding tea, burning incense and massaging his legs. It was really comfortable.

However, Yang Yuan did not indulge in the gentleness of life. Every step and every decision he made was carefully considered, rather than being made on a whim.

For example, this total mobilization for war cannot be mobilized just because you want to.

In this era, farming is still mainly done by young and strong men.

It is not as easy as you think it will be possible to recruit all the young and strong laborers, women, the elderly and children.

The result would be that even if this was a year of good weather and good harvests, there could still be a severe famine in the next year.

It can be said that state violence is determined by economic forces. You cannot conscript soldiers whenever you want, store grain whenever you want, or start a war whenever you want.

The human, material and financial resources that a country can mobilize are always conditional and have limits.

During the Warring States Period, the social structure was simple and the economic foundation was simple, so at that time everyone could be mobilized as a soldier and the war mobilization rate was extremely high.

However, when a country has developed stably to this day, it will never be possible to reproduce the glory of that time.

Unless the entire country regresses to a relatively primitive state of social development.

So although Yang Yuan was expanding the army and various government offices were also expanding their staff, Yang Yuan also took preventive measures in advance to prevent the situation of excessive staffing again.

He strictly controlled the total number of non-productive officials, soldiers, laborers and other personnel to less than 5% of the total population in central Sichuan.

If it exceeds this limit further, the social burden on the people will increase.

In this era, if the proportion of unproductive people in a country exceeds 10%, it is very likely to lead to the bankruptcy or collapse of the entire country.

As preparations were being made in central Sichuan, the three routes of Kuizhou, Chengdufu, and Lizhou East, Central and West were naturally also being mobilized for war.

Of course, in order to prevent the hasty withdrawal of blood from causing serious damage to the economy of the four routes of Sichuan and Xia, the entire mobilization process was orderly and slow, and it would take about a year to be basically completed.

Thanks to Yang Yuan's vision that transcended his time and the strength of his inner record office, Tongchuan Road did the best in this war mobilization.

Yang Yuan was not one to hide his ideas. He would promptly inform Kuizhou Road, Chengdu Prefecture Road, Lizhou West Road and Lizhou East Road of all the effective methods.

As for Lizhou Central Road, it is now under the jurisdiction of Yang Yuan.

Of course, those places have their own local characteristics and cannot copy the experience of Tongchuan Road.

Moreover, as a local governor, he might not be willing to accept the policy experience provided by Yang Yuan.

Yang Yuan did not force it.

Fortunately, Liu Qi, who was in charge of Kuizhou, and Qiao Zhen, who was in charge of Chengdu, both had good relations with Yang Yuan.

And they can also put themselves in the right position.

As for the Wen family in Lizhou East Road, they were originally restrained by the Guo family and had not achieved much. Now they are being held hostage by Li Zhong controlled by Yang Yuan and Kuizhou controlled by Liu Qi, so they have even less capital to be arrogant.

Only the Wu family, who have managed Lizhou West Road like an iron plate and have made it into a private territory of one family, are completely beyond Yang Yuan's influence.

...Lizhou West Road, Xingzhoufu (Lueyang).

The territory of Lizhou West Road includes Liuba, Lueyang, Fengxian and other counties in Shaanxi, Minxian, Lixian, Liangdang and other counties in Gansu, as well as Qingchuan, Pingwu and other counties in Sichuan.

The Wu family owns a part of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan respectively.

So it was equivalent to bordering Tubo, Xixia and Jin Dynasty at the same time.

This is also the main reason why Yang Yuan never touched it from beginning to end.

Of course, Yang Yuan did not touch it because although the Wu family was powerful and had some warlord style, they did not have the ambition to rebel or establish independence.

At least not yet.

Therefore, Yang Yuan adopted a different strategy.

As long as they could control all other places, the Wu family would face Tubo, Xixia and Jin in front, and Chengdu Fu Road, Tongchuan Fu Road and Lizhou Middle Road behind.

The Wu family can't cause any trouble unless it wants to perish along with the rest of the family.

However, the imperial court only wants it to be more obedient, not to uproot it. What reason does it have to destroy it along with the enemy?
Meng Qingguo and the sixteen disabled veterans of the Western Army who had managed to survive the torture and interrogation, a total of seventeen people, were sent back to Xingzhou.

Also sent back with them was a thick stack of complete confessions.

When Marshal Wu Lin saw these things, he seemed to have aged ten years in an instant.

That night, the lights in General Wu's hall remained on for a long time.

The groom serving in the hall was worried, so he quietly walked to the door of the hall and looked inside.

In the spacious and empty hall, there was only the old commander, sitting alone at the top.

The picture of a white tiger descending the mountain behind him seemed to be the manifestation of his martial spirit.

But now it looked like a tiger coming down the mountain, pouncing on the old commander's back, as if it wanted to swallow him in one bite.

During the Xuzhou Rebellion, the three barbarians besieged the city of Xuzhou for three months.

In the rural areas of the four wilds, forty-seven Han villages and towns were destroyed, and more than 5,000 people were killed, raped or abducted. The losses were incalculable.

Yang Yuan sent troops to suppress the rebellion, which resulted in a huge waste of military expenditure.

Finally, the prefect of Xuzhou and the three evil heads of the Three Barbarians were hung together on the flagpole in front of the Xuzhou city gate.

Now, exposed to the wind and sun, and pecked by birds, the heads of the four men have become the classic symbol of Xuzhou City, like the skull ring in Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Now, Yang Yuan did not hand over the person behind the incident to the court, nor did he make it clear to the world.

But Yang Yuan did not execute them, as a favor to General Wu.

He handed over all the survivors and their confessions to Wu Lin.

What on earth does this person want to do?
It seems to go without saying.

At midnight, the drowsy guards outside the hall heard a burst of laughter coming from the hall.

The laughter seemed a little sad.

One day later, a major case broke out in Xingzhou.

Meng Qingguo, a wealthy businessman who was once in the limelight in the west of Lizhou, was found by General Wu to have secret dealings with Western Xia and reselling military supplies, and his entire family was executed.

The case also involved seven related merchants. All the main culprits were beheaded, their families were made slaves of the government, and their property was confiscated.

A total of eleven Western Army officers were involved in this case, all of whom were beheaded and their families were made slaves.

Three days later, a fire broke out in the residence of the old commander's favorite youngest son, the twelfth young master of the Wu family. It was said that a loyal servant who had escaped from Meng Qingguo's mansion set the fire in revenge.

It was daytime, and the Twelfth Young Master's residence was in a wealthy area.

Therefore, when many officials and wealthy people led their families to fight the fire, they saw with their own eyes the Twelve Young Master trapped in the fire.

In the end, because the fire was too big and could not be approached, the firefighting efforts were ineffective.

The Twelve Young Master was trapped in the flames.

After the fire, when Twelve Young Master was pulled out of the fire scene, he had turned into a piece of charcoal.

The sudden loss of his young and beloved son devastated Wu Shuai, who was bedridden for many days before he could finally get up and attend to his duties.

When the news reached the imperial court, in order to reward the old general for his hard work, the emperor conferred the title of "Kaifu Yitong Sansi" (an official title of envoy) on Wu.

At this time, it was already the first month of the new year.

The northern frontier is covered with ice and snow, but Jianzhou is still lush and green, and the temperature is just like spring in the northern frontier.

"Do you really want to go back to Goryeo now? You are pregnant."

Yang Yuan held Jin Yuzhen in his arms and touched her belly worriedly.

"Otherwise, are you going to stay here until the baby is born?"

Jin Yuzhen rolled her eyes at her man coquettishly: "The child is too young to travel long distances. By then, do I have to live here for another three years?"

Yang Yuan chuckled: "No problem for me, you're most welcome."

Jin Yuzhen hit Yang Yuan coquettishly, feeling reluctant, and said quietly, "I do want to, but it's not that absurd. Now I have your child, and I'll be gone for at least three more years..."

Jin Yuzhen suddenly hugged Yang Yuan's neck, and her tears wet his neck.

Yang Yuan also sighed helplessly and could only hug her tightly, face to face, feeling the quiet warmth.

He actually wanted Jin Yuzhen to stay, and as long as Jin Yuzhen was willing, she could stay.

However, Jin Yuzhen has never been a woman trapped in the bed of her family.

She has her ambitions.

Especially now that she has a child, she also has life plans for her child, so a temporary separation is inevitable.

Just like the little witch in Dali City, when she was deeply in love with him, she would rather travel a long distance to meet him, spend half a month with him, and then go back quietly, rather than stay.

"Okay, don't be sad. In fact, a short absence is better than a new marriage. When you come next time, you can let Cong Yang learn here. Then you will have a reason to come, and we can get together every year."

"Ok!"

Jin Yuzhen leaned over and kissed Yang Yuan deeply, and said softly: "Then... I will prepare for my return in the next two days. First ask Wang Shuai to prepare the goods, and then I will take Tae Hee back to Goryeo."

Jin Yuzhen felt a little regretful, as she had originally wanted to match her younger sister with Yang Yuan.

But I didn't expect that my younger sister didn't like Yang Yuan at all, and even seemed a little disgusted with him.

Yuzhen was originally feeling a little guilty, and when she saw that her younger sister didn't have that intention, she didn't dare to mention it anymore.

Every time Yang Yuan came to see her, she would find a reason to send her away.

Firstly, she was afraid that her younger sister would see her being intimate with Yang Yuan.

Secondly, she was also afraid that her younger sister didn't like Yang Yuan in the first place, and that children didn't know how to hide their feelings. If she really had a quarrel with Yang Yuan, it would be difficult for her to be in the middle.

Before Yang Yuan nodded, the door was pushed open. Tae Hee's pretty face turned red with anger, like a little red flower.

She stared at Yuzhen, feeling sad and angry.

"I don't want to go back with my sister. Grandpa asked me to come here, not to have fun."

Tae Hee's eyes were already filled with tears. She choked and said angrily, "Sister, please go find your brother-in-law. Why do you always pester him?"

(End of this chapter)