Chapter 169: Inspection meeting West Fort

The spring rain is like silk, like fog, like smoke, like tide, and through these wisps of silk, all things in the world are as faint as light, misty free paintings appear and disappear. The misty rain on the Hexi corridor is slowly coming. Large areas of grassland are covered with thick tender grass, and groups of cattle and sheep are endless, like light green carpets eating tender grass leisurely. A few eleven or two-year-old boys rode on horses on the grassland, driving a few playful cows back to the community. The hearty laughter pierced the misty rain and fog and flew straight into the sky.

On the edge of the Yellow River, the ice surface has disappeared, and the surging Yellow River water has already pushed the huge ice away. The surface of the Yellow River is vast, and a fleet of ships is loaded with supplies coming from the north against the current.

At this moment, the originally quiet Yellow River is also very lively. On the edge of Huixi Valley, a narrow and long castle has risen from the ground. It is about three miles long and more than 500 steps wide. It is close to the cliffs of Wushaoling and the other side overlooks the Yellow River. Inside and outside the castle, nearly 20,000 civilians are busy and busy. Some shout horns and hang huge square stones on the walls, while others are carrying loads and walking vigorously, sending buckets of mortar for stone-making to the construction site. Women appear from time to time in the crowd, and their hard work is no less than men. Most of them are small workers and earn a little money to subsidize their family income.

About a hundred steps north of the castle, Zhang Huan was inspecting the construction progress of the castle with dozens of officials. The castle started construction at the end of last year. Due to the tens of thousands of clay stones transported from Huijun, the progress of the project has been greatly accelerated. In addition, with sufficient funds guaranteed that the construction period has not been cut off even in the New Year. In less than three months, the prototype of a majestic castle has stood on the west bank of the Yellow River.

"Governor, everyone calls this castle Xibao, but some people like to call it Wushao Castle, and ask the Governor to make it clear." The speaker was Du Mei, who was responsible for supervising the castle. Although his identity was only an aide and had no actual position, during the time when Zhang Huan was not in Wuwei, he took on the work of coordinating the operation of government affairs in Wuwei County, and gradually became familiar with the operations of various government affairs. It was with his efforts and supervision that the construction of the castle was carried out in an orderly manner.

It has been nearly two months since Zhang Huan returned to Wuwei County. Shortly after he returned, the various appointments of the court began to be implemented one by one. Duan Xiushi was named Shuofang Jiedushi as he wished. At the same time, the last group of surrendered soldiers moved to Hexi from Longyou. As a condition for exchange between the two sides, Zhang Huan immediately ordered the delivery of the county to Longyou. After a series of interest reorganizations were completed, the situation in the entire Helong area gradually stabilized. It has been almost half a year since Zhang Huan entered Hexi. It was not until now that the Wuwei County area in Hexi truly belonged to him.

Next, his goal is to make himself stronger as soon as possible. Warlords without strength can only be the delicious food of others. He has to do too many things. First, count the population, check the land, meet officials, organize documents and accounts. When a family, he must first find out his own family's background. Secondly, he must raise horses, smelter weapons, cultivate land, develop trade, build cities, etc. Although he brought a lot of money from Hedong, he would not want to develop in the long run. In the end, he would just sit down and eat the whole school, cultivate talents, innovate technology, etc., and eat at a sip, and walk step by step. If he is too hasty, he will not achieve it. However, although things are complicated, he always needs to find a breakthrough first.

"Governor!" Du Mei saw that Zhang Huan didn't seem to hear her question, and smiled and said again: "Governor, please make the castle clear."

"Oh!" Zhang Huan smiled apologetically. He looked back at everyone and said, "What are your names?"

Many people opposed the construction of this castle, especially the local officials in Wuwei. They believed that there are many places to be done in the future and there are many places that require money. Building a castle is expensive and it is not suitable to be built at this time. Money is second. After all, most of them are brought by Zhang Huan himself. The key is that the military directly recruited nearly 20,000 laborers in various counties, but failed to pass the local government, which aroused the dissatisfaction of local officials. In order to eliminate everyone's doubts, Zhang Huan specially led these local officials in Wuwei County to experience it on the spot today.

"It is located west of Huijun, and it is the first city in Hexi. It is also named Huixi Fort. The subordinates also agree that it is named Huixi Fort." Li Hanjie, the county magistrate of Tianbao County, with a yellow face, responded first. He was promoted by Zhang Huan, so he was the most enthusiastic along the way. Zhang Huan always answered questions, which made other county magistrates despise him. Wuwei County has a total of five counties, Shenwu, Guzang, Tianbao, Jialin, and Changsong. Most of the county magistrates were appointed by Xin Yunjing. Everyone was in office for many years and was not very "adapted to" the young new lord.

Zhang Huan nodded and asked the others again, "What about your opinions?"

Everyone looked at each other, and more than a dozen minor officials followed suit: "Mr. Li said it well, it's great to know Xibao."

However, several other county magistrates and county magistrates remained silent. Zhang Huan glanced at them, then turned around and said lightly to Du Mei: "Since everyone thinks it's good to call Huixibao, then we will settle down and call Huixibao."

"Yes! I'll go make arrangements later?"

"Mr. Du, I have something unknown." A tall and thin middle-aged county magistrate suddenly pointed at a few women carrying loads and asked coldly: "Why did Mr. Du still use women? The army conscripted 20,000 strong men? He wanted to let these women come here to do heavy work. Does Mr. Du want to use women to pay for the money?"

He said it very rudely and understood the meaning, which means Du Mei used his head to impersonate him and embezzled him.

The county magistrate's surname is Yan, and it is the largest county in Wuwei County: the county magistrate of Shenwu County, which is the county seat. During this recruitment of civil servants, nearly 8,000 people came to Huixibao to build a city, which made Yan County magistrate extremely dissatisfied.

The transportation in the Tang Dynasty was not very developed, and the imperial court's documents were generally delivered by post stations. During the Anshi Rebellion, most of the post stations were damaged. Although they were repaired one after another, in order to weaken the court's control over the territory under their jurisdiction, the seven major families deliberately obstructed the construction of post stations, making the number of post stations in various places much worse than before. The Central Plains area was slightly better, and some remote counties were even more inaccessible. Many of the court's decrees took months or even half a year to know.

This is the case in Hexi. There is no station here and there is a natural danger to the Yellow River, so the news is even more blocked. In addition, the road was blocked with heavy snow, and then the Yellow River thawed, and the boats were not enough, which made many people's thinking stay last year.

So why did Zhang Huan enter Hexi? What happened in Chang'an during the New Year? Most of the lower-level officials in Wuwei County did not know, and the idea that the Helong area was the Wei family was under the world was deeply rooted in their hearts. Xin Yun, who had been entrenched for more than ten years, was driven away by the Wei family. What's more, a young man in his twenties succeeded by a temporary lucky move and would be dealt with by the Wei family sooner or later. Therefore, you must not obey blindly, and you must not stand in the wrong team, so you will not be liquidated by the Wei family in the future.

Therefore, when the Xibao was built this time, Du Mei asked the local government to recruit civil servants several times. Officials from all counties looked for various excuses to shirk responsibility, which forced Du Mei to use the power of the army to recruit civil servants.

After Zhang Huan returned from Chang'an, he also realized the seriousness of the problem. On the one hand, he didn't have many people to use. On the other hand, these officials have been officials in Wuwei for many years, and the family forces are mixed. If they act rashly, they may leave hidden dangers, so he endured and waited for the opportunity.

The five county magistrates under Wuwei County, except for the most remote and poor Tianbao County magistrate who appointed him and were relatively obedient, the other four county magistrates were all disobedient and disobeyed. The population counting data, land inspection records, and the arable land of each county were very rich and could not be used as a basis for decision-making.

So this time he took them to visit the construction of Xibao. Zhang Huan's real purpose was to touch their bottom first. At this moment, he saw that County Magistrate Yan attacked Du Mei by hiring a woman, so he smiled but said nothing, watching the situation continue to develop.

Sure enough, Du Mei was stunned at first, and then her face suddenly turned red. He was born in a Jinshi, how could he allow others to insult his innocence? He pointed at the county magistrate Yan and said angrily: "You are talking nonsense. When will I pretend to be a strong man with a woman? I have a tent there, so you can go and see!"

County Magistrate Yan ignored him. He immediately stopped a woman and asked, "How much money can you earn in a day?"

The woman saw such a large group of officials asking her, and she was so scared that she quickly put down her burden, lowered her head and replied, "Report to Master, I can earn eight cents a day."

"Eight articles!" County Magistrate Yan snorted heavily, then glanced at Du Mei and said coldly: "A man can earn thirty articles a day, but a woman only has eight articles. Which official in Hexi has dared to be so mean to the people in the past ten years? You dare to do it. Even if you don't have enough pockets, you are a cruel official. What qualifications do you have to be an official in Hexi? Go back to your Xiangyang! I have Hexi people who will do my Hexi affairs."

"Okay! Okay! Just say less, magistrate Yan." At this time, the magistrate of Changsong County hurriedly came up to smooth things over. He pushed magistrate Yan aside and whispered: "Governor Zhang didn't say anything. You talk too much, don't you hate people?"

While he was persuading, he secretly looked at Zhang Huan. Seeing that he had no expression on his face, he felt relieved and pulled County Magistrate Yan's sleeve and asked him to click.

Du Mei's face next to her turned red and white. Although he was a very conspiring person, he could not bear it anymore. He was about to retort, but suddenly saw Zhang Huan wink at him. Then he suddenly woke up and stood aside and said resentment.

Seeing that the scene was unhappy, Zhang Huan smiled and said to County Magistrate Yan: "It is good for County Magistrate Yan to care about the people, but some words are too much. Mr. Du will never use a woman to pretend to be a male. You have to take back this sentence, but the woman's eight-cent quota day seems to be a little lower. In this way, I will make the decision and the woman's wages will be adjusted to fifteen-cent quota day."

Speaking of this, he looked at Du Mei and said, "Can Mr. Du agree?"

"These women are just doing small workers. It is a customary thing to give them eight ounces a day. Since the governor is polite to the people, his subordinates will do it."

"What about you?" Zhang Huan looked at County Magistrate Yan coldly again and said, "Will County Magistrate Yan take back the money by using a woman to pay for her money just now?"

"I was so angry that I said it for a moment, and I would like to take it back." County Magistrate Yan bowed to Du Mei and apologized: "Mr. Du understands!"

Du Mei snorted, but still said nothing. At this moment, several horses galloped from a distance, and shouted loudly from a distance: "Governor... The imperial court's grain ship has arrived!"

Zhang Huan was overjoyed. This was the first batch of grain transferred by the court, which meant that Pei Jun began to implement his support for him. As long as he had the food in his hand, he could expand his army, stabilize prices, and even start to reorganize land.

"Let's go! Go to the dock to take a look." He turned over and drove towards the dock first. The officials behind him also boarded the horse and followed him all the way.

The pier is only three miles away from Huixi Fort, and it has just been built recently. The pier is about 500 steps long and can be docked with large ships of more than 1,000 stones. Before Huixi Fort was repaired, two thousand troops led by Li Hengqiu and Xin Lang were temporarily stationed near the pier. At this moment, there were already crowds of people on the pier, and nearly a thousand soldiers were ready to board the boat to carry food. Seven or eight large ships of three thousand stones were docked on the pier, and there were four or five boats waiting to dock in the Yellow River.

The big ship came from the east of the river, carrying about 30,000 stones of food and 10,000 kilograms of pig iron. All the ships were very well-drafted, and it was obvious that they were loaded with cargo.

"Get sick!" As soon as Zhang Huan arrived at the dock, a young man in a white robe ran out of the crowd and waved his arms excitedly. However, it was Pei Jun's fifth son Pei Mingyuan, who came to take office.

Zhang Huan jumped off the horse, smiled and went up to him, punching him hard, "I haven't moved for more than two months, I thought you didn't want to come!"

"How could it be?" Pei Mingyuan rubbed his shoulder pit that was so painful that he was beaten, and said with a wry smile: "My father ordered me to study military farming in the Hebei army for two months first, so that I would not be able to come to Hexi to catch the blacks and embarrass the Pei family."

"How about my father-in-law? Have you received the Ganoderma lucidum that Ying'er brought to him?"

"I don't know this." Pei Mingyuan suddenly remembered something and laughed in a low voice: "I heard that you kidnapped Cui Ning, but I didn't expect you two..."

Pei Mingyuan blinked ambiguously, "Aren't you afraid that Cui Xiangguo will cause trouble for you?"

Zhang Huan smiled and said, "Of course I know he will hate me to the core, but I am not worried that he will cause me any trouble. In that case, he will not be Cui Xiangguo."

"It's better that Brother Gou can see through thoroughly!"

Pei Mingyuan laughed loudly, he pulled Zhang Huan's wrist and walked quickly to the bow of the ship, pointed to a fat official, and introduced him: "This is Li Maogong, the chief of the Fanyang Jiedu Prefecture. This time he is responsible for the grain and pig iron."

Zhang Huan bowed to him and smiled, "Li Changshi escorted supplies all the way, Zhang Huan was very grateful!"

"Where! Where! Governor Zhang is Pei Xiangguo's son-in-law, and they are all family members, so there is no need to be polite." Li Maogong quickly returned a gift to Zhang Huan. He pointed to the supplies unloaded by the first large ship and said with a smile: "This time, the ladies also specially sent some home items to the lady, and ask the Governor to bring them back later."

At this time, Zhang Huan suddenly saw more than twenty young men standing in the distance. Each of them had excited and a little nervous on their faces. Some were looking at the surrounding environment curiously, while others rolled up their sleeves and prepared to help carry rice.

Pei Mingyuan saw Zhang Huan's doubts, and he laughed in a low voice: "My devil may not believe it. The discussions you made during the New Year's ceremony in the first lunar month caused a stir among the scholars who participated in the imperial examination. These twenty or so people were all students of the Imperial College. They all wanted to join the army and serve you to regain the Western Regions. There may be many people coming. I would like to congratulate you first."

Zhang Huan was secretly happy. What he lacked the most now was people. The arrival of these scholars would undoubtedly bring great help to him. However, Zhang Huan did not reveal this joy. He interrupted the topic and smiled at Li Maogong and said, "It is better to leave a few days later and go to Wuwei County to let Zhang Huan fulfill his friendship with the landlord."

Li Maogong smiled apologized and said, "No! This time the Prime Minister has prepared a total of 100,000 stones of grain. I have to transport it twice to complete it. Time is tight, so I can only stay one night today and set off tomorrow morning."

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Due to the huge supply, Du Mei transferred a thousand civilians from Huixi Fort to help, and it soon became dark. It was at least two days away from the Yellow River to Wuwei County. Zhang Huan took the officials to rest on the boat.

It was already deep in the night, with strong winds and waves on the river surface, and more than a dozen large ships were bolted up and down the docks. The docks were brightly lit, and hundreds of torches shone the docks like daytime. The unloading of grain and pig iron was gradually coming to an end. Thirty thousand stones of grain accumulated like three dark hills.

In a cabin of the second large ship, Zhang Huanzheng and Du Mei discussed the follow-up project of Xibao. On the table in front of them, there was a small sand table five feet square, which clearly showed the terrain of the entire Wuwei County. There were two such sand tables in total. One large sand table occupied half of the room in Zhang Huan's study in Wuwei County. This small one was carried by Zhang Huan and replaced the map.

Zhang Huan pointed at Wushaoling with a wooden pole and said, "Wushaoling stretches for hundreds of miles, Huixi Fort is at the eastmost point, and Wuwei County is in the middle. I mean it is best to build twenty beacon towers on the mountain, one per ten miles. In this way, if something happens to Huixi Fort, Wuwei County will know immediately."

"The governor's idea is good, but it also consumes a lot of manpower. I am really worried that we can't afford such a large expense." Du Mei sighed and said, "Besides, the county magistrate Yan said something that makes sense today. If the governor does not cherish the people's strength, it may affect your reputation in Hexi."

"I pay for someone to repair the beacon tower, so why can I lose the people's strength?"

Speaking of County Magistrate Yan, Zhang Huan sneered disdainfully: "Don't be fooled by him. His words today are actually alluding to me, but he is talking to Wei Yan from Longyou."

Du Mei nodded slightly and agreed, "How will the governor treat them?"
Chapter completed!