Author: Chris Webber

The Tubo people did not send large troops to attack, but various means of bribery, threats, assassination, and plunder emerged one after another. The purpose was to incorporate a large number of Qiang and Hu tribes living in this vast area into the Tubo Empire, making it a part of the Tubo army, threatening the Tang Empire's western prefecture in Chengdu Plain, attacking Longyou and Guanzhong from three sides. Faced with the aggressive actions of the Tubo people, the response of the Tang Jiannandao garrison in the Tang Dynasty was much weaker and slower. They rarely took direct military actions, but migrated the Qiang and Hu tribes threatened by the Tubo people to prefectures and counties closer to the mainland to avoid being used by the Tubo people.

"Why don't you send troops to deal with it?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"What?" Perhaps because of the accent, Li Jin did not hear Wang Wenzuo's question clearly and asked in a slanted manner.

"Why don't you send troops to deal with it?" Wang Wenzuo raised his voice: "The former governor should understand the truth that the soldiers come to block the water and the soil, right?"

"Governor Wang, things are not that simple!" Li Jin smiled bitterly: "If the soldiers come to block the enemy, they must have soldiers and generals. At present, Songzhou has no soldiers and no generals. Naturally, the Tubo people can only make a step forward, so we will give in!"

"There are no soldiers or generals?" Wang Wenzuo frowned: "How is this possible? I saw it on the way I came. Chengdu is densely populated and the scholars and people are rich. Not to mention Luoyang, even Chang'an is not as good as it can be. How could there be no soldiers or generals?"

"Governor Wang, you don't know anything!" Li Jin sighed: "There is indeed money, food and people here, but there are indeed no soldiers. Songzhou is a guest army from Longyou, Guanzhong. There are not many people and the desire to fight is not enough, so naturally they can't resist the Tubo people! As for why? Do you know how many Zhechong Mansions are in Jiannan Road? There are 11 Mansions in total!"

"11 Prefectures, so few?" Wang Wenzuo was startled. He spent his time studying the geography of the soldiers around Songzhou. He didn't care much about the number of military offices in Jiannan Road. After all, he was only the governor of the Songzhou Governor's Office, and he was not in the Jiannan Branch to deal with military and horse management. He was not in his position and did not plan his own affairs. However, the 11 Zhechong Prefectures were indeed a bit beyond his expectations. Although he also knew that the Tang Dynasty's military soldiers were concentrated in Longyou, Guanzhong, and Hedong, Jiannan Road was vast (including most of the land in several southwestern provinces today), and the many ethnic minorities under his rule were complicated. It was a horizontal line with Jiangnan Road (7 prefectures), Huainan Road (9 prefectures), and Lingnan Road (6 prefectures), which was not as many as Shannan Road (15 prefectures). It was really a bit shocking.

"Yes, there are only 11 palaces! Governor Wang, do you know my difficulties now? It's hard for a good cook to cook without rice!"

Wang Wenzuo nodded, and his impression of the old man who seemed a little decadent in front of him changed. Of course, the amount of Zhechong Prefecture cannot fully represent the number of local troops, as well as the number of vassal soldiers, Yicheng, recruitment and other provinces transferred from the government troops, but it can still be reflected to a certain extent. Jiannan Road's jurisdiction extends to Jianmen Pass, Gannan, the west to Yunnan Lancang River, Ailao Mountain, the south to Guizhou Province, the north of Guangxi Province, and the east to Sanxia. It may be the most vast land area, the most ethnic minorities and the most complex terrain among the ten roads in the Tang Dynasty. With such a large territory and such a complex situation, there are only 11 Zhechong Prefectures. Even if they are all Shangfu, they will only have less than 10,000 troops to die. What is enough? No wonder he was so negative in the face of Tubo's aggressive advance.

"Governor Wang, the court said that the Shu soldiers were weak and could not stand the battle! Indeed, the Shu soldiers could not reach Guanzhong Longyou, which was mainly because the horses were not as good as Guanzhong Longyou. However, if infantry traveled through mountains and rivers, they were actually not inferior to Guanzhong Longyou. But no matter how good the soldiers were, they had to teach martial arts, declare laws, and be strong and sharp soldiers before they could be able to fight. In this regard—" Speaking of this, Li Jin sighed and did not continue.

When Wang Wenzuo heard this, he had guessed six or seven points of what the other party had not said. An important function of the Zhechong Mansion in the Tang Dynasty was to train and review the soldiers during the slack season: how to use weapons, various formations, how to identify the flag-shaped golden drums, and explain the military law. In this way, after going to the battlefield, they can fight, not mobs. It is not difficult to see that the number of Zhechong Mansion not only determines the actual local force, but also determines the number of soldiers trained locally (because in fact, the number of people who have been trained must have exceeded the quota of Zhechong Mansion, because there are veterans, and there are generally still plenty), we can regard it as the military potential of a certain place.

Why does Jiannan Road clearly have sufficient manpower and financial resources, but only eleven Zhechong Prefectures? This involves the positioning of several roads under the Tang Dynasty. Guan Nei Road is the foundation, Longyou Hedong is the east of Hebei, Huainan, and Jiangnan are the granaries and sources of wealth, Henan is the guarantee of the transportation of the canal and the eastern capital Luoyang, and Jiannan Road is the private trough of the emperor, providing silk, gold, silver and copper, and raising the Longyou Army in Guanzhong. Under this positioning, Jiannan Road does not need and should not have too strong military potential, otherwise, it will need to consume local financial resources to raise soldiers (although the government soldiers do not need to pay military salaries, they usually need to exempt large numbers of young and strong people from duty), reducing the financial and taxation of the central government; secondly, the local military potential is too strong, and it is difficult to deal with if it is too exploited and rebelled, and a wealthy and weak Jiannan Road is in line with the overall interests of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, only 11 Zhechong Prefectures were set up in Jiannan Road in the early Tang Dynasty, but what the founders of the Tang Empire did not imagine was that the rise of the Tubo people turned Songzhou, not far from Chengdu Prefecture, into the front line. The competition between the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo people affected the Liuzhao land located around Erhai Lake in the southwest. In the fourth year of Yonghui (653), in order to gain the support of the Tang Empire, the King of Nanzhao, Xinuluo, sent Ziluo to the Tang Empire, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, appointed Xinuluo as the governor of Weizhou. The other five Zhaos and the Heman tribes were threatened by Tubo and often abandoned Tang and joined Tubo. Nanzhao always attached to Tang, and thus received support from Tang. After nearly a hundred years of hard battles, the King of Nanzhao Piluoge finally unified the Liuzhao land and became a powerful country in the southwest.

However, the good relationship between Nanzhao and Tang did not last long. In the tenth year of Tianbao (751), Xian Yu Zhongtong led 80,000 troops to the army, rushing the state, and attacking Nanzhao. Geluofeng sent envoys to apologize for peace and requesting peace, asking for revenge, and expressing his willingness to submit to the Tang Dynasty. If it is not allowed, "return to Tubo, the land of Yunnan is not owned by the Tang Dynasty." Xian Yu Zhongtong refused and marched to Xi'er River. The troops were approached by the Nanzhao capital, Dahe City, and were defeated by Nanzhao. Sixty thousand Tang soldiers died. Nanzhao also suffered damage to the Nanzhao side.

The loss was heavy, and the Dongcuan residence in Ziqu and Jingzhou in Yunnan was destroyed by the Tang soldiers. [11] In this year, Nanzhao turned to Tubo, and Tubo conferred Geluofeng as "Zanpu Zhong (meaning Zanpu's younger brother). At this point, Jiannan Road became the front line of the Tang Dynasty second only to Longyou. In the next hundred years, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms of the Tubo in the southwest of Nanzhao continued. Until the demise of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo and Nanzhao also perished almost at the same time. It can be said that they were the same beginning and the same end, and they were in trouble.

"How many soldiers and horses are there in the Songzhou Governor's Office?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"The number of soldiers is 2,800, and the number of soldiers in the throne can be recruited!"

"If you want to recruit foreign troops, you either pay or give rewards. This will cost money! I saw the wealth of states and counties all the way, so is there any funding or something?"

"There is one thing, but not much!" Li Jin smiled bitterly: "The East and West Sichuans have to pay a lot of money, silk and taxes every year, and I can't afford much to reward the army!"

"No money and silk?" Wang Wenzuo was surprised: "Shu Jin is famous all over the world, how could Jiannan Road not be able to pay money and silk to reward the army?"

"If the governor Wang doesn't believe it, you can go to the market to see it. The Shu brocade in Chengdu is one or two percent more expensive than the Shu brocade in Chang'an. Why is it?"

It turned out that there was no waterway to Guanzhong, and the land route was very rugged and difficult, and the transportation cost was extremely high. Therefore, unlike Jiangnan, Jianghuai, and Hebei, the taxes in Shu were first replaced with lightweight coins and brocades with high unit value, and then escorted them to Chang'an. The result was that Shu brocade was clearly produced in Chengdu, but the Shu brocade in the place of production was more expensive than Shu brocades in Chang'an, and the government did not lack food, brocades and coins. Wang Wenzuo wanted to recruit foreign soldiers, but the elders and leaders of the foreign troops wanted copper coins, cloth, especially Shu brocades. The foreign soldiers came to reward them, and their interest in food was not great.

Hearing this, Wang Wenzuo was speechless by the strange financial and taxation policies of the Tang Dynasty. Fortunately, before he set off, he pulled a handful of wool from the emperor Li Zhi and made thousands of Shu brocades. Otherwise, he would not even be able to take out the gifts for the leaders of the foreign division. As the saying goes: If you don’t have rice in your hand, you won’t even come to call a cock! If you shout with a few passionate slogans, you can make others work hard for you. This kind of thing will not happen in real life.

"Duke Li, when he uses troops, he is nothing more than rewards and punishments. This time the officials came, and his bag was empty. He also asked to give him 100,000 pieces of silk and 50,000 stagnant of money to reward the army!"

"100,000 pieces of silk, 50,000 guan?" Li Jin smiled: "Governor Wang, we should not bargain. 10,000 pieces of silk, 5,000 guan, that's all. If we want more, I can only resign and change someone to serve me in this position."

Hearing that Li Jin reduced his offer by zero at once, Wang Wenzuo couldn't speak for a moment, and finally smiled bitterly: "Ten thousand pieces of silk and five thousand jin of coins, what can you do?"

"Governor Wang, you have only these. If someone else came to be the governor of the Songzhou Governor's Office, I would not give it to you. Although I have been driven out of Chang'an for many years, I have also heard that the emperor is very concerned about you. If you think you can go to the emperor at a loss, the queen will complain, but others don't have the ability!"

Wang Wenzuo was so amused and crying by Li Jin's words, as if he was relying on the favor of the emperor to bully Shangguan. He had to bow to Li Jin and thank him: "Thank you, Shangguan Hougui!"

After leaving the yamen, Wang Wenzuo returned to the inn and prepared to stay in Chengdu for two days, visit the two cities, and replenish the necessary things to go to high-altitude areas before leaving. After all, Chengdu was the largest metropolis in the southwest at that time, and there were a lot of things in the market. If he missed it, there would be no place to buy it.

"Five hundred pounds of ginger, 500 pounds of garlic, 100 stone of salt, 700 pounds of lamb oil, 400 sets of sheepskin gloves, 400 pairs of leather boots, and 400 hats..." Wang Ence held a brush in his hand and quickly recorded it on paper.

"Master, ginger, garlic and salt are used for eating. What should I buy so much mutton oil? Is it also used for eating?" asked Igrilynbod.

"Of course you can eat it if you apply your face and hands!" Wang Wenzuo said: "The terrain in Songzhou is high and windy, and the weather is cold. If you don't apply sheep oil on your face and hands, when the cold wind blows, there will be a series of cuts, and it will hurt so much that it hurts! It's so cold that you'll lose your fingers and toes, and you can't even pull the bow. How can you fight? By the way, if you have a good frostbite prescription, buy it with money and prepare more!"

"So cold? It's colder than Hokkien?" Igrilynbod said astonished.

"It may not be colder than Hokkien, but it must be higher than Hokkien. The higher the place, the stronger the wind will be. Besides, you are a family member, and you must be wrapped in fur even in winter. Where can ordinary soldiers compare with you?"

Iji Lianbod was speechless by Wang Wenzuo, so he could only say a few words. Wang Ence copied the list and took people out to purchase. There were twenty or thirty kinds of goods on the order, and the quantity was large. By the evening, almost half of them had not been bought. The store smiled and said, "Young Master, there are so many goods on this order, and it takes time to transfer goods in the store. We can't finish it. Why don't you leave an address and name? I'll put them together tomorrow to deliver them to your mansion, so you can relax!"

"These goods are not owned by your family, can you do all of them?" Wang Ence asked.

"It is true that the villain's family is not so complete, but where there is goods and which one is of good quality, Xiao Ke is naturally better than you, you only need to pay a deposit of 100 cents!"

When Wang Ence heard the man say this, his heart moved slightly. He had been following Wang Wenzuo for some time, and he was doing ordinary jobs every day, without the treatment of Wang Wenzuo's "little brother". After a long time, he didn't say anything, but he felt a little depressed. This time it was this hard work again, so he nodded.

"Okay, let's do what you said! But you must deliver it tomorrow, otherwise you will not be spared!"

"Don't worry, our store has three generations in Chengdu, with roots and feet. You can go and ask for your reputation."

Wang Ence was about to ask someone to pay, but someone next to him pulled it. When he looked back, it was Wang Pu and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Young Master!" Wang Pu lowered his voice and said, "We are from other people here. We are not familiar with the land, so it's better to be careful! Let them prepare the goods and we'll buy them tomorrow, don't pay a deposit!"

"You can do what I decided!" Wang Ence said angrily: "If there is any mistake, I will tell my brother that it is not your turn to talk too much! Go and pay a deposit!"

Seeing this, Wang Pu had no choice but to take out a hundred coins of money to pay the bill as Wang Enci said.
Chapter completed!