The snoring of soldiers in the room kept coming and going, making it difficult for Zhao Xingde to fall asleep. He simply put on his clothes, spread out a piece of paper, and wrote down what he had seen, heard, thought and felt in recent days:

"Shaoyang, Minghuan, guarding the kings, and saying goodbye to the capital, every time I think about discussing with the kings, it seems like yesterday. Under the Taixue Residence, Brother Shaoyang once said, the so-called party of gentlemen is based on the friendship of like-minded people, and those who are far-sighted make decisions.

If those who are pragmatic and capable at home are busy outside, the world can be prosperous and the world can enjoy peace. My brother is a dull man and served in front of the Hebei army for ten days. As the saying goes, those who are running outside should take what they see, think and feel in recent days.

, report to all the gentlemen, so as to discuss with colleagues and resolve doubts.

On the day of the army's march, the transport commission sent thousands of soldiers from the near side to accompany the army. Because the rich paid the money, they were exempted from military service. The civilians recruited were all poor. They slept in the open and worked thousands of miles to transport the heavy baggage. Late at night, they all looked at each other and wept, or

It is said that the family has no food for the next day, and the farming season is already late, so it is possible to sell children and girls. Or it may be that the government has many orders, and there is no time to return home, and it is inevitable to become a ghost in a foreign land. Hearing the sound of suffering, tears ran down his cheeks. My brother tossed and turned, thinking

The imperial court's so-called exemption money should be used for the higher-ups. In this way, the rich are exempted from the service, and the poor's service is not reduced but becomes heavier. Why not use the rich's exemption money as the cost of hiring the poor to move, so that the rich will be happy

It is easy for the poor to eat and work hard, and everyone has his own place.

From Bianjing to Daming, passing through more than ten prefectures and counties, there are no less than a hundred tax cards on the road. The villagers jokingly call it a small court, and the business tax is harsh, such as cloth, aquatic products, grains, bamboo, books, paper, lacquer, and rice.

There is a tax on the salary and the scattered vegetables and eggplants. All things are born to support people, and the production is uneven in various places. It depends on business travel to exchange what is available. However, there are many tax cards in the country. If the river is blocked and the flow is blocked, business travel will be blocked, and poverty will inevitably occur.

Are the disasters such as floods and droughts not also man-made disasters? For example, the salt tax is the heaviest. In the capital of Central Plains, poor people do not know the taste of salt. However, as soon as we enter the boundary of Hebei, everyone eats salty food.

It was caused by the private trading of salt from Liao and Xia by the soldiers in the camp. The private trade of the soldiers was prohibited by this law, but the poor people in both Hebei provinces relied on it to know the taste of salt. Isn't it sad?

The camp in Hebei Province is very important, and the troops have been garrisoning the border courts for a long time. They should be strong troops for those who dare to fight and are good at fighting. However, from what I have seen, most of the soldiers are working for the generals and assistants, selling salt, weaving, making leather and blacksmithing, and they have nothing to do.

No. Perhaps the imperial court wanted to maintain a weak interior and exterior, so it often ran out of military supplies in order to control its operations.

Perhaps Yunxingying has been following the generals for a long time, and the abuses are difficult to eliminate. In my opinion, Taixue has already established a martial arts school, why not expand it. If Wang Wengong wants to let my Taixue scholar take charge of the state and county, and make all the armies above their heads,

Being favored by the imperial court, he gradually became a martial arts student and became a private general.

It may be that the soldiers are ignorant, and the soldiers are rewarded by the imperial court and thank the generals, so the imperial court does not reward the soldiers lightly. Seeing the younger brother, everyone is willing to teach them, so that they can distinguish right from wrong, know the truth, understand loyalty, and correct our generation.

responsibility.

It is ridiculous for people to use the saying "A sharp knife hurts the enemy, but a sharp knife hurts a person's finger" to describe the troops marching in the camp. There may be no loyalty, and people often have a sense of shame. If the court treats the troops, they should always treat them like their parents.

If a child is an innocent son, then all the troops will serve the court, and they will always treat their parents like an innocent child. Our dynasty takes the army as a risk and relies more on the army than the previous dynasty. If we follow my brother's policy and send generals and assistants to the official academy, and the soldiers are loyal and loyal, then they will only

Seeing the Great Wall of the country, there is no more rebel army.

It is said that the road of ten thousand miles must be traveled by one's feet. I want to set up a tent in Da Ming to teach the soldiers the way of loyalty and righteousness. Do you think this is true?"

Sometimes Zhao Xingde was concentrating on his thoughts, and sometimes he was writing furiously, writing thousands of words in one breath. Three drum beats sounded outside, and then he sealed the letter with wax and stamped it with a personal seal. Feeling extremely tired and sleepy, he fell on the desk and fell asleep.

At dawn the next day, Xing De woke up from his dizziness and eyesight. Han Shizhong was the only one sitting in the room, and several other generals had left.

"The scholar borrowed tens of thousands of silver coins when he was in Bianjing. Although the matter did not work out, Old Han still accepted your love." Han Shizhong said with a smile, "Now there is a business that makes a big fortune. Are you going to do it?" he said.

It was the Hebei Army that escorted the caravan privately to the border trade between Song and Liao. There was a buffer zone of hundreds of miles between Song and Liao. Both Song and Liao were more willing to send troops to plow grass valleys instead of allowing their own people to do so.

Go there to settle down. Because the Song Dynasty intermittently implemented restrictive measures similar to trade embargoes on the Liao Kingdom, and because of the huge profits brought by the embargo and high tariffs, private goods transactions were greatly stimulated, and this sparsely populated buffer area

The buffer zone became an excellent market for merchants from both sides, and it also became a good place for horse thieves and bandits and even the masked Song and Liao armies to plunder goods. Later, powerful caravans approached volunteers from prefectures and counties.

Even Hebei Daying officers and soldiers escorted them.

The business of protecting businessmen that Han Shizhong mentioned requires an upfront remuneration of two thousand dollars. After the deal is completed, a share will be drawn based on the final profit. In the Hebei army, this is one of the most profitable deals.

When Han Shizhong first arrived, this deal was deliberately given to him by Yuan Guangfu from Daying, Hebei Province in order to make friends with him.

This large caravan originally hired more than a hundred prefectural and county volunteers, and Han Shizhong would bring dozens of cavalry to escort it. Although Zhao Xingde was just a scholar, he had always been shrewd. Han Shizhong needed his help to monitor whether the leader of the caravan had deliberately lowered his authority.

He was deceived by the profits from the transaction. Zhao Xingde hesitated for a moment, considering that ordinary horse thieves would definitely not be able to take advantage of such a large caravan, he finally couldn't restrain his curiosity about the private goods market between Liao and Song Dynasties, and agreed.

In the palace of the commander of the Hebei camp, Tong Guan officially announced to the generals that Liu Yanqing would return to Beijing and become the Zuowei general in vain, and that he would take over the military power in Hebei. Regardless of what plans they had in their hearts, the generals were all facing the new commander.

Deployment is intended to flatter.

Tong Guan did not act like a commander, and after trying to comfort his generals, he slowly said: "Whether it's the Khitan people's southern invasion or the imperial court's management of Youyan, the Hebei camp is the first to bear the brunt. The situation in Hebei, Xiongzhou Waqiao

Passes, Yijin Pass in Bazhou, Gaoyang Pass in Baozhou are the throat, Hejian, Zhending, and Zhongshan are important towns. If the Liao cavalry breaks through the passes and our court is on the defensive, the three towns will resist them and the court will deploy heavy troops.

Later, the Hebei Xingying Commandery Mansion was placed in the three towns of Ceying in Daming Prefecture, which was just right.

However, if our court wants to use troops in Youyan, the Hebei army camp will be located in Damingfu, which is too far from the front line. When Emperor Taizu and Wuzong were in power, the imperial court was committed to the Northern Expedition to manage Youyan, so the Hebei army camp was located there.

Yingzhou. Before I left the capital to take up my post, Your Majesty personally explained..."

Having said this, Tong Guan remained silent and looked down. All the generals felt a chill in their hearts. They unconsciously stood upright and solemnly, listening quietly to the official edict being relayed.

Tong Guan just said in a deep voice: "I have ordered the Hebei camp to deploy and command all the troops in the camp and move to Hejian Prefecture to prepare for the invasion of Youyan."

Tong Guan's voice was so powerful that it almost made the eardrums of his generals buzz. The Hebei camp has been set up in Daming Mansion for sixty years. Even if the generals leave the town and border, most of them have their homes in Daming.

As a big family that has bought land and property for several generations and spread its branches, Hebei Xingying has long considered Daming Mansion as the backyard of the army. Now that the order is given to move the town, it is always a bit unwilling. Just because Tong Guan has said it first, this is the emperor's backyard.

No one among the generals was full of resentment, and no one dared to speak a word against it.

"Since everyone has no objections, I will also obey the order. Today is the eighth day of August. In ten days, the army will move to Hejian Mansion. The family members of the generals and soldiers will follow the camp north to Hejian.

Move in slowly, thank you for your help." Tong Guan said to the generals with a smile on his face.

After he announced the edict and the details of the specific implementation of the move, his staff explained the details to the generals in detail. Tong Guan just sat on the white tiger-skin Taishi chair while looking at the expressions of the generals to see who was likely to

Feeling dissatisfied, he picked up a file and opened it. It was a copy of what Zhao Xingde sent to the capital.

Tong Guan was born as a palm eunuch in the Royal Study Room, and he could read the letter of Zhao Xingde at a glance. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, "This Zhao Yuanzhi is indeed a talent. He is a martial arts supervisor in exchange for a general and a private servant. It is a good choice for me."

Get rid of these Liu Yanqing's old generals and supervisors. They have no power and no foundation in Hebei. As long as I nod, I don't know how many of them are crying and crawling to be my disciples? I teach the soldiers with loyalty and righteousness, and the family is harmonious.

He is your Majesty's slave, patrolling the sky. In Hebei, isn't being loyal to the court the same as being loyal to the miscellaneous family? Hehe, hehe, this article is well written. No wonder officials like to use scholars so much." He opened his eyes and waved to his subordinates.

The attendant let the letter go.

Fifteen days later, Zhao Xingde received a reply from Chen Dong and other people in the Neo-Confucian Society while marching with the Hebei camp. In addition to scolding a treacherous minister and evil official for bullying the emperor and killing the people as usual, he followed the usual behavior of a scholar-bureaucrat towards military generals.

Being wary, Chen Dong and Deng Su greatly appreciated Zhao Xingde's proposal to replace the generals. Most of the current martial arts supervisors were the heirs of hereditary generals. Chen Dong mentioned in the letter that he would contact the Taixue scholars to report to the court.

I wrote a letter to recommend that we follow the example of provincial examinations in various places, open martial arts examinations widely, and select talents to enrich the martial arts of the Imperial Academy. However, this matter has a lot of implications. Replacing generals and generals with martial arts supervisors may not be accomplished in a day.

Zhang Bing, He Fang, and Zhu Sen were more interested in Zhao Xingde's idea of ​​​​teaching lower-level soldiers with loyalty and righteousness, and persuaded Chen Dong. Everyone in the Neo-Confucian Society pooled a hundred dollars to buy things needed for Zhao Xingdechong to teach. He was originally from Hebei.

Zhang Bing also recommended several celebrities and gentry from Daming Prefecture to Zhao Xingde. However, when his letter arrived, Zhao Xingde had already crossed the Yellow River with the army.

Zhao Xingde carefully read and folded the letters from his classmates and friends and put them in his arms. He felt that his ideas were accepted by these like-minded friends, and his heart was filled with joy. He then unfolded a letter written by his senior brother Song An.

After writing the letter, his face suddenly darkened. Although Yushitai Qingliu intervened in the case of the Liao envoy's misconduct during the Dragon Boat Festival ceremony, under the insistence of the Ministry of Rites and Honglu Temple, Li Ruobing, the supervisor of the Duting West Station, was still demoted and exiled.

Awarded Jiupin Qiongzhou Farewell Driver.

Zhao Xingde finished reading Song An's letter expressionlessly, with mixed feelings in his heart. He didn't know whether it was anger or guilt. He looked up to the sky and sighed, looking around. The Hebei army was marching between the two tributaries of the Yellow River that flowed into the sea. The sky and the earth were blue.

As if they were integrated, the clouds were thick and low, blocking the sun, as if they were pressing directly on the ground. The marching soldiers all had gloomy faces. The 70,000-strong army marched in a long snake formation and marched.
Chapter completed!