Chapter 373 Return to Logsy City
This proposal immediately aroused opposition from Mr. Li. The old man solemnly said: He had announced at the end of the last imperial examination that this would be the last imperial examination for the New Song Dynasty, and he could not go back on his word.
Lao Cao looked at Mr. Li, then at Zhao Feiyan and said: Then let the Ministry of Rites arrange it, select young talents from Caotang Academy, and after they are examined by the Ministry of Personnel and Shunfengsi, go to Guangnan West Road to fill the vacancy.
Lao Cao told everyone in high spirits that the Shenwei Army had already entered the city of Lhasa and unified Tubo. In the future, a large number of officials would be sent to govern and educate the people there. The burden on everyone's shoulders was not clear.
Yangjin proposed that Caotang Academy set up a special training class for Tibetans, because what they needed there were not only talented officials, but also officials who could speak Tibetan and understand ethnic policies. Moreover, the territory was so large that the number of people needed was not small.
Everyone who heard this laughed, whispered to each other, and discussed state affairs enthusiastically.
Those officials who had sneaked into Chengdu from Lin'an to do work saw that the Shenwei Army was winning victory after victory, the territory was constantly expanding, Chengdu's economy was prosperous, and society was stable. All of them had changed their fatigue and sadness when they first arrived, and their faces were full of joy.
After everything was agreed upon, Lao Cao adjourned the meeting and only asked the Minister of Transport Ma Linger to stay.
After everyone left, he said that he had one more thing to say. It was the end of the year again, and what should he do with Menggong in Luzhou and Yujie in Jiankang Prefecture?
Zhao Yulin believed that the most lacking thing in Jiangdong during the war and the displacement of the people was food. If there was no food at the end of the year, people would starve to death.
Minister of Revenue Du Fan said that our food reserves are sufficient, so why don't we allocate more food and fodder over?
Ma Linger reported that the treasury was full, and the people of Jiangdong were now using our new currency. She suggested using new banknotes for this transfer.
Lord Li suggested that the Transportation Department simply include the expenses of the Jiangdong army into the financial plan of transportation. This way, even if we enter Fujian , people in the world will have nothing to say.
Zhao Yulin began to sigh at Mr. Li's tremendous transformation.
Yesterday, when I heard him talking about the abducted emperor and the Lin'an court, he was still crying. Could it be that he would change immediately if I got his way?
He didn't care what the old man thought. He first affirmed that Li Zhongmian's proposal was a good one. He suggested that the logistics envoy of the Ministry of War, Tan Yousan, go to Luzhou to give Meng Gong 100,000 shi of military rations and 3 million strings of new currency for military expenses, and let him allocate 30,000 shi of military rations and 1 million strings of new currency for military expenses to Yu Jie.
He said that we should not directly engage with Yu Jie for the time being, so as to avoid direct confrontation with Lin'an. I believe Yu Jie knows in his heart that it is the New Song Kingdom that is supporting his army.
Everyone nodded and settled down.
After the meeting, several women surrounded Zhao Feiyan and wanted to enjoy her wedding, and called Zhao Yulin from afar to go back early.
In Shaozhou on Guangnan East Road, after Cao Youliang wrote a letter to his second brother Cao Youwan, he immediately mobilized 20,000 troops in the name of suppressing bandits, easily broke through three passes and marched south.
When the prefectures and counties along the way saw the flags of the Shenwei Army, they opened their city gates to welcome them. Cao Youliang was overjoyed and rode straight to Guangzhou.
Shaozhou, which is Shaoguan in later generations, is a transportation hub from Guangnan to Jinghu.
The Guangzhou government built three checkpoints here one after another, blocking the roads traveling from the south and the north and levying taxes on merchants and travelers. Passing through Shaozhou was like passing through a checkpoint, so the people gradually called Shaozhou Shaoguan.
A few checkpoints were good enough to stop the common people and smuggling merchants, but it would be absolutely arrogant to think that they could stop the Shenwei Army. Before Cao Youliang could even finish firing his mortar, the gate was opened and he was invited to pass through.
When his second brother Cao Youwan received the letter that he had sent troops, he knew that he was an impatient person, so he quickly found the navy commander Zhou Ping to discuss the matter.
Zhou Ping was overjoyed when he saw this, and kept saying it was a great good deed. There was no need to discuss it anymore, and he directly sent troops to Guangzhou.
In this way, the two land teams, together with the navy of the Shenwei Army, attacked along the coast, firing three arrows at the same time, and in three days they entered Guangzhou City, the capital of Guangnan East Road.
When Cao Youwan arrived in Guangzhou, Cao Youliang was already sitting in the provincial government, drinking tea proudly.
You Wan blamed him for taking action without any discussion. How could he explain this to the court in Chengdu?
Cao Youliang proudly said that he had received instructions from Brother Yulin to seize the opportunity and act accordingly. If he continued to discuss things like he did all the efforts would be in vain. He also urged his second brother's troops to follow suit, to completely capture the counties that refused to obey and march into Qiongzhou.
Zhou Ping, who was standing beside him, laughed immediately and told him that the navy had already taken action. The capital of Guangnan East Road, Guangzhou, had been taken. How could a small Qiongzhou be left alone?
The three of them sat in the government office and laughed.
On the first day of Gengji, they launched a campaign to fight against local tyrants, distribute land, eliminate bandits and fight against tyrants. Zhao Yulin gave instructions, asking them to govern like they did in other occupied areas of the Shenwei Army, so that the people would support and be happy, and no longer consider the feelings of the small court in Lin'an.
At this time, the small court in Lin'an was shocked. The Shenwei Army had no moral principles and launched an attack without warning. The pacification envoy of Guangnan imposed taxes and oppressed the people even more. Knowing that the Shenwei Army was coming, he could not protect himself, so he immediately asked the Imperial City Division to report to Lin'an and fled to Fuzhou on a ship.
The Shenwei Army had already taken Guangzhou, and secret reports soon reached the Lin'an court.
Some fearful merchants and officials from Fujian and western Zhejiang were worried that the Shenwei Army would launch a full-scale attack, so they quickly fled to Lin'an for refuge. The rumor had spread, and the people in Lin'an were in panic.
The false emperor Zhao Bing immediately summoned all his ministers to discuss the matter.
The ministers were all at a loss and whispered in the hall. One said: "Wow, Long Di Dong, it's been only a few days and we've lost the Guangnan East Road. It's terrible. The Shenwei Army is coming. We used so many dirty tricks against Sichuan and Shu in the past, and now they're here to take revenge."
Some old ministers were trembling all over, muttering to themselves that they were praying to the ancestors of the Song Dynasty to appear and stop Zhao Qi'er's arrogant behavior.
Zhao Bing was affected by the atmosphere in the court and looked uneasy.
Yes, this small court was suppressed by the Mongol Empire in the north, and now the powerful neighbor in the west is taking action again. It is like holding a delicate porcelain bottle in its hand, which must be held , otherwise it will drop to the ground and shatter into pieces.
When Prime Minister Shi's son first received the news, he was also terrified, thinking that the Shenwei Army was really going to attack.
Their troops were basically in the hands of Yujie in Jiangbei. The rest of the troops in various places were private soldiers raised by the powerful.
How could these militia-like soldiers fight against the regular Shenwei Army? They did not calm down until they received news from the Imperial City Offices in various places that the Shenwei Army had not entered the territory of Fujian Road and Liangzhe West Road.
When Zhao Bing asked him what to do, he already had a solution in mind.
Shi's son said calmly that it was okay. Zhao Qi'er was often angry with the local militia for harassing merchants and civilians, so he ordered his Shenwei Army to station in Guangnan East Road. There was no military report from western Zhejiang at the moment.
The Imperial City Bureau had already received information feedback that the officials in Guangnan did not care about the lives of the people, set up checkpoints everywhere to collect taxes, doubled the exploitation of the people's wealth to make their lives miserable, and allowed the militia to harass Jinghu. It was reasonable for Zhao Qier to send troops to Guangnan.
If the Shenwei Army really wants to destroy us, as long as their navy advances eastward along the river and captures Jiankang Prefecture, we will be unable to resist.
At this time, a eunuch came in hurriedly and delivered the latest "Chengdu Weekly", which published a large article criticizing the Lin'an pseudo-court for its lax military discipline, the soldiers and bandits harassing the people, and the Shenwei Army being forced to launch a special military operation and enter Guangnan.
Shi's son took the newspaper and flicked it gently, and asked confidently: Did you see it? Was I right?
Zhao Bing immediately snatched the newspaper and started reading.
Wow, it's just as Shi's son said. The Shenwei Army was really furious and petitioned for the common people. They entered Guangnan to enforce justice.
Zhao Bing was so angry that his lips turned purple. After reading the newspaper, he was asked what he should do.
Send troops to take the territory back for me?
This is obviously impossible. He doesn't even have soldiers to fight against the Mongols now, so how can he fight the Shenwei Army?
Obviously it is impossible.
Shi's son said confidently that he had a plan: the first step was to strictly order all border guards not to cause trouble in the occupied area of the Shenwei Army. This was to prevent the Shenwei Army from using this as an excuse to send troops to occupy the area after any conflicts occurred.
The second move is to quickly send envoys to Chengdu to negotiate, asking Cao Heizi and Zhao Fuma to withdraw their troops and return our Guangnan, including Guangnan West and Jinghu areas.
You don’t have to give me the land, I can just use their new currency to pay off the debt.
The third move is to issue an imperial edict to request militia to guard the border. Local tyrants have built their own militia, and many of them are self-reliant and ignore the imperial court's orders. We can recruit these soldiers to build passes and guard the border in western Zhejiang and Fujian.
If they are forced into a corner, we will let them fight the Shenwei Army. Whoever wins will own the land.
Zhao Bing thought for a long time but couldn't find a better idea, so he followed Shi's son's instructions and did it quickly.
At the New Song Dynasty court in Chengdu, the Central Council was discussing important personnel adjustments and appointments, but who knew that Lin'an had come up with a new trick.
Cao Youwen summoned important officials from the Central Council to discuss year-end matters.
Lao Cao read out in public the letter from Tubo from Li Yunqing, the commander of the Shenwei Army's Western Expedition, telling everyone that the Shenwei Army had occupied all the major towns in Tubo and that Li Yunqing had requested permission to set up a Tubo Road.
This is great news. The Shenwei Army spent three years, taking one step at a time, and finally recovered and unified Tubo.
Zhao Yulin proposed to establish a unified Tubo Road, and suggested that the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue discuss how to set up the prefectures and counties in various places and come up with a strategy for discussion.
Lao Cao, with a cheerful face, asked Fan Zhong to take charge and asked everyone with a smile, "Since they had only a few people to discuss important state affairs, maybe the number of people was too few and they might not be thinking things through."
Zhao Yulin didn't know what Lao Cao meant and looked at him in confusion.
The gentlemen didn't understand what it meant. They felt that having only five people sitting there to discuss matters seemed a little too few.
Zhao Yulin said that Hua Yue from the Inspectorate was originally a member of the Central Council, but he resolutely resigned because he felt he was young. Now three years have passed, and if they want to expand the number of people, they should invite this person back.
Lao Cao nodded and said that was right. What else?
Lao Cao had not discussed this matter with him. He looked at Lao Cao and the others and asked everyone to speak.
