Chapter 195 Zhangye Danxia and Shandan Ranch (5k)
That night, Cui Yanbo personally led his troops out of Yongcheng and attacked Mozhe Tiansheng's camp.
As Cui Yanbo expected, the rebels in Qinzhou looked powerful but were actually like a pile of loose sand.
Cui Yanbo took the lead and rushed into the camp and started setting fire. In fact, the rebels did not trust each other and were afraid that the camp would be attacked at night and their troops would be swallowed up.
Therefore, inside the camp, the camps of various rebel groups were separated from each other by fences, making the entire camp like a maze.
Cui Yanbo rushed in and set fire, and Mozhe Tiansheng's camp immediately fell into chaos, with frightened soldiers running around.
Cui Yanbo laughed loudly and said, "It is indeed a mob! The enemy army has already started to roar! Follow me and charge!"
Cui Yanbo did not stop while he was ahead, but continued to lead his men to attack Mozhe Tiansheng's granary and stables, and in turn began to rob the rebels of their supplies.
In fact, the provincial and county soldiers led by Cui Yanbo were not a well-disciplined army, but they were much stronger than Mo Zhe Tiansheng's ragtag rebel army.
In ancient times, armies would enforce strict curfews when setting up camp to prevent camp noises.
There was a camp riot at night. Mo Zhe Tiansheng did not have enough prestige to organize and suppress the fleeing rebels. The camp was filled with corpses of people who were trampled to death while fleeing. The entire camp was filled with smoke. In addition to Cui Yanbo and his men looting, some bandits were also robbing themselves.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Mo Zhe Tiansheng had no choice but to lead his elite troops to withdraw from the camp.
Fortunately, Cui Yanbo was unable to continue the pursuit, and after looting the food, he retreated back to Yongcheng.
As the sun rose, the camp was filled with black smoke and cheers broke out in Yongcheng.
But there was no sign of discouragement on Mo Zhe Tiansheng's face. He sent his trusted men to recruit the remnants, disbanded those who had suffered serious losses and absorbed them into his own army. Then, in the name of the commander-in-chief, he punished several leaders of the large groups of bandits who had led the escape, and then rebuilt a new camp behind the original camp.
The defenders standing on the city wall laughed when they saw that the enemy army was still building a new camp. They said that the previous battles were all great victories and they had brought back a large amount of food and livestock, which was enough to defend Yongcheng for a month or two.
The rebels are indeed a mob!
But Cui Yanbo stood on the city wall without a smile on his face, because the enemy army in front of him did not retreat as he expected.
Although there are fewer people besieging the city now, they are more organized than before.
Cui Yanbo once again sent his trusted servant and ordered him to lead his death squad to break out and ask for help from the imperial army that was suppressing the rebellion.
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Su Ze set out from Dunhuang, and Jia Yuan, the deputy governor of Liangzhou, also accompanied him. They entered Yumen Pass and headed east along the Hexi Corridor. After passing Yumen, they reached the territory of Jiuquan County.
Qi Tai, the governor of Jiuquan County, personally welcomed Su Ze at Yumenjie and served him all the way. The local nobles of Jiuquan also sent horses and food supplies to Su Ze's entourage.
The governor of Jiuquan County looked elegant and easy-going, and was not the brave and heroic stereotype of the Liangzhou nobles that Su Ze had in mind.
Su Chao reminded Su Ze: "General, Jiuquan County Governor Qi Tai is a descendant of Qi Jia of Former Liang."
Su Ze suddenly realized, "So he is the descendant of Mr. Tianxi. No wonder."
Qi Jia was a famous scholar in the Former Liang period. The ruler of Former Liang respected him very much and established a school in Jiuquan to teach Confucianism. At most, there were as many as two thousand people attending his lectures.
In his later years, Qi Jia wrote "Erjiu Shenjing" and people called him Mr. Tianxi.
Accompanied by Qi Tai, the governor of Jiuquan County, Su Ze visited the ruins of the Jiuquan Academy and burned incense to the statue of Confucius in the academy.
It happened that the system was refreshed that day, and Su Ze actually got two blue followers.
[Ordinary Jiuquan Academy disciples], blue, Confucian scholars, able to educate the locals.
The system can spawn relevant items and special units at scenic spots and historical sites, which is also something Su Ze has verified.
Moreover, looking at the ruins of the academy, Su Ze discovered that a building such as a "college" could be placed here. He silently made note of this place in his heart, thinking that he could train scholars here after swallowing Jiuquan in the future.
This time, Liangzhou Governor Yuan Yu not only summoned Su Ze, but also summoned representatives of county governors and noble families from throughout Liangzhou to go to Guzang to discuss the future situation of Liangzhou.
So Qi Tai also joined Su Ze's team and continued to move eastward into Zhangye County.
After entering Zhangye, the terrain is different from that of Jiuquan.
Among the four counties in Hexi, Dunhuang and Jiuquan are relatively barren, with only pastures and farmlands along the river, and most of the area is vast Gobi Desert.
But after entering Zhangye, the hills of the Qilian Mountains are undulating, blocking the sandstorms from the west. The areas where the rivers pass through are irrigated, and all you can see is a golden expanse.
Now it is autumn, herders are storing up grass for the winter, and farmers are harvesting crops.
Su Chao rode beside Su Ze and said to him, "General, people say 'Wuwei is golden and Zhangye is silver'. Zhangye is so prosperous, but I don't know how Wuwei is."
Su Ze nodded. The Hexi Corridor was very important to the Central Plains dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han expanded the border here, which was like a sharp knife inserted into the heart of the northern nomadic peoples.
After the Western Han Dynasty established the four Hexi counties, it pushed the Central Plains defense line to the Qilian Mountains and drove the Huns to the Mobei grasslands.
At that time, the Xiongnu people sang the Xiongnu Song: "The destruction of Mount Qilian has caused my livestock to stop breeding; the destruction of Mount Yanzhi has caused my women to lose their color."
Yanzhi Mountain is located in Zhangye. It is a place with abundant water and grass, and it is also the place where the Huns started their journey.
Emperor Wu of Han named the city Zhangye, which means "cut off the arm of the Huns and expand the armpit of China."
Su Ze was drooling over Zhangye.
Now that Zhangye has no prefect, the local Han nobles and Hu nobles spontaneously welcomed Su Ze at the prefecture border, and were also preparing to go to Guzang City together with the Jiuquan nobles led by Jiuquan Prefect Qi Tai.
Su Chao whispered to Su Ze: "General, these Hexi nobles are here to observe you."
Su Ze nodded. These powerful families are best at changing their attitude according to the situation.
The world is becoming more and more chaotic. These powerful families have already smelled the wind and started a new round of choosing sides.
The local wealthy families in Liangzhou were already marginalized people during the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Among the five surnames and seven clans of the Northern Wei Dynasty, except for the Longxi Li clan, all the others were big clans in Guandong. In fact, there were not many Longxi Li clans left in their hometown of Longxi, and they were basically assimilated into Guandong, so they could not suppress the situation in Longxi.
The Guanzhong gentry like the Su Chao family were the targets of suppression, not to mention the more remote Liangzhou.
The scholars in Guanzhong had previously chosen Xiao Baoyin as their leader, and the scholars in Liangzhou also had to choose a leader.
It is obvious that Yuan Yu, a literary man, is not suitable to be a leader in the coming chaotic times.
At this time, Su Ze, who emerged as a rising star and recaptured Dunhuang City, became the new candidate to lead the team.
Jia Yuan, the deputy governor of Liangzhou, Qi Tai, the governor of Jiuquan County, and the nobles of Zhangye who came to greet him were all testing Su Ze to see if he could become the leader of Liangzhou.
Su Chao's family was also a powerful family in Guanzhong. He knew very well what these powerful families were thinking, so he reminded Su Ze to be careful about his words and deeds and leave a good impression on these powerful families in Liangzhou.
Su Ze said disapprovingly: "If they are willing to submit, then submit. If they are not willing to submit, then I will not use them. Don't worry about their expressions."
Su Chuo wanted to persuade him again, but Su Ze said, "I know what Ling Chuo is thinking. These noble families in Liangzhou are just guarding dogs. There is no need to worry about them!"
The next day, the local nobles of Zhangye came to invite Su Ze to Zhangye City again, but Su Ze directly refused to enter the city. Instead, he took his men and rushed all the way towards the Qilian Mountains, and came to the hilly area near the Qilian Mountains.
All he could see was the red soil hills emitting colorful light under the sun, and in the gorgeous Danxia, he could see the oasis in the distance and the snow cap on the top of the Qilian Mountains. Su Ze turned on the system, but this damn system didn't even notice any hint of the natural wonders.
In vain!
The subordinates behind Su Ze had never seen such a beautiful scene before. They all opened their mouths wide. Hou Jing held it in for a long time and finally said:
“It’s so fucking beautiful!”
The generals burst into laughter. Hou Jing and his men were semi-illiterate and naturally could not utter any exquisite sentences. They turned their eyes to Su Cho, a rare educated person in the team.
Su Cho looked at the colorful Danxia, and in the end, he could only give the following evaluation: "The place is blessed with natural beauty and colorful clouds."
Jia Yuan and Qi Tai, who were following behind Su Ze, nodded slightly. Su Chao was not famous for his literary talent, but these two sentences were considered pretty good.
Madam An looked at the beautiful scene, smiled at Su Ze, and said, "General, you brought us to see this wonder, so why don't you leave a few words?"
Everyone also looked at Su Ze. Everyone knew that Su Ze was Li Daoyuan's disciple. Li Daoyuan, a master of geomancer, was particularly good at describing geography. They were also curious about the quality of Su Ze, their disciple.
At this moment, dark clouds floating in the sky blocked the sun in the sky, and the colorful Danxia suddenly faded.
Su Ze looked at the changing scenery and blurted out: "Morning sunshine and evening shade, the weather is magnificent." Everyone looked at the Danxia blocked by dark clouds, and saw the smudged charm of ink painting, and felt that Su Ze's words were even more exquisite.
Seeing that nothing appeared in the "Natural Wonder of Zhangye Danxia", Su Ze lost interest in seeing the scenery.
He did not enter Zhangye City, but went straight across the city and rushed to the side of Yanzhi Mountain.
The generals under Su Ze were all very puzzled. Since Su Ze entered Zhangye, he had been on his way. What was so attractive about this place?
When everyone followed Su Ze to look into the distance, they finally understood why Su Ze did not even go into Zhangye City and had to come to the western foot of Yanzhi Mountain.
This is the place Su Ze cares about most in Zhangye, the Shandan Horse Farm at the foot of Yanzhi Mountain!
This horse farm established by Emperor Wu of Han has always been the production base of the best war horses and is the largest horse farm in China!
The snow water flowing down from Yanzhi Mountain, together with the tributaries irrigated by Qilian Mountains, formed a large grassland called "Hanyang Grassland" to the west of Yanzhi Mountain.
Caotan is a grassland near the water source. In Su Ze's opinion, no matter how golden Wuwei or silver Zhangye is, it cannot compare to the Shandan Horse Farm!
Su Cho, Hou Jing and others standing behind Su Ze were also staring at this huge horse farm, and saw the horses galloping freely on the grassland. Hou Jing couldn't help swallowing his saliva when he saw so many horses. How many cavalrymen could be equipped with this!
Su Ze called the local tyrants in Zhangye and asked them:
"How many war horses are there in the Hexi (Shandan) grassland? How many livestock are there?"
A local tyrant dressed in the clothes of a Xiongnu general stood up and said:
"There are now 30,000 horses in the Hexi grasslands, half of which are camels, cattle and sheep."
Su Ze frowned and said, "Before I took office as the governor of Hexi, I checked the information of the Taiwei Mansion. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, there were 100,000 horses in the Hexi Horse Farm. How come there are only 30,000 left now?"
When everyone looked at the pasture, they found that the grass was lush but the horses were sparse. It was such a waste to only raise so few horses on such fertile pasture.
Hou Jing was born in the Six Garrisons, and he felt that these people were squandering natural resources. If he were allowed to manage this horse farm, he would definitely fill it with horses!
Madam An was also drooling. Half of them were camels, which meant that there were more than ten thousand camels on this piece of land!
It was not until she saw the Hexi Horse Farm that Madam An realized how powerful the Central Plains Dynasty was!
Even with such a large herd of livestock, Su Ze still seemed dissatisfied.
Su Ze frowned and said, "Emperor Taizu used the abundant grass and water in Hexi as pasture land to breed and multiply the people. He once raised a million horses in the four counties of Hexi. Emperor Xiaowen built the Hexi Horse Farm and raised 100,000 horses. How come there are only so few left in less than 20 years?"
And if you look closely, the horses at the Hexi Horse Farm are not tall, and some of them are even a little thin.
All the nobles of Zhangye were silent. Su Ze knew that there must be some hidden reason for the decline of the horse farm. Seeing that everyone was unwilling to speak in public, he said:
"It's late today, let's set up camp near the horse farm and continue our journey tomorrow."
Everyone looked up at the sun above their heads. It was only past noon? Was it already late?
But since Su Ze asked them to set up camp, they could only camp near the horse farm.
After sunset, Su Ze finally received his guests.
"General Su, I am here to answer your questions during the day."
The person who came was the Xiongnu general who introduced the situation of Shandan Horse Farm in the morning. Su Ze understood that when he asked about the situation of the horse farm in public, there must be some secrets that could not be told in public. The other party was also smart and understood his subtext. After dark, he came to his barracks to explain the situation.
"Your name is Juqu Xilai, and you are the descendant of Juqu Mengxun, right?"
The Xiongnu leader immediately said: "My ancestor was the King of Northern Liang."
Juqu Mengxun was the founder of Northern Liang, the last of the Five Liangs. Juqu was the tribal name of the Xiongnu, and he used it as his surname after the founding of the country. Later, Northern Liang was destroyed after Tuoba Tao conquered Liangzhou.
Juqu Xilai should be the descendant of the royal family who was settled in Zhangye after the fall of Northern Liang. His family naturally knew the situation in Zhangye best.
“Why has the Hexi Racecourse become so desolate?”
Juqu Xilai said, "Since Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, the number of war horses in the Hexi Horse Farm has been decreasing, and the quality of the war horses that can be offered is also declining. Now Luoyang no longer uses the horses offered by the Hexi Horse Farm as military horses."
Su Ze nodded. He had discovered this when he was in Luoyang.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, the Northern Wei Dynasty had no shortage of horses.
The Northern Wei Dynasty was originally a nomadic people. At that time, horses were raised not only near Pingcheng, but also in Hexi and throughout the northern part of the empire.
During the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, he could easily mobilize 100,000 cavalry to fight against the Southern Dynasty, and tens of thousands of cavalry to fight against the North.
But now, the imperial guards can't even get enough war horses to go to war. The price of horses in Luoyang is getting higher and higher, and ordinary low-level officers can't even get a horse.
Needless to say, there must be something wrong with the horse policy in the court.
As expected, Juqu Xi said, "Since the founding of the Wei Kingdom, we have built pastures in Monan, Hexi, and Heyang, and set up pasture supervisors to raise horses for the court."
Su Ze nodded. The Northern Wei Dynasty was a dynasty that originated from horses, and successive emperors attached great importance to horse management and set up special state-owned horse farms to raise horses.
Hexi Horse Farm was the horse farm established in Hexi after Tuoba Tao conquered Northern Liang. The imperial court set up a pastoral supervisor in the Hexi Horse Farm and recruited herdsmen to raise horses for the court.
Juqu Xilai said, "Since Emperor Xuanwu, successive pastoral supervisors have been corrupt, causing horse breeders to flee due to the heavy burden. The number and quality of Hexi horse farms have continued to decline. Because they cannot gather enough horses for tribute to the court, the pastoral supervisors can only intensify their exploitation of the remaining horse breeders and pass laws to severely punish horse breeders who flee. However, this has led to more horse breeders fleeing, and the Hexi horse farms have become increasingly desolate."
Su Ze was angry but helpless. The horse politics of the Northern Wei Dynasty had been under development for several decades and reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Xiaowen.
At that time, the Northern Wei Dynasty was said to have a million soldiers under its command, and the country stockpiled a large number of war horses in preparation for a southward march to unify the country.
But after Emperor Xiaowen's death, the Northern Wei was defeated by the Southern Dynasty in the Battle of Zhongli and completely lost its ambition to unify the world.
The country's horse policy, which once raised millions of horses, has rapidly declined in the past twenty years.
"Then how did you gather all the horses needed for the court?"
Juqu Xi said, "First, every pastoral supervisor would pay a large sum of money to the officials in the Imperial Household Department who collected horses, and pass off inferior goods as good ones."
"Secondly, the tribute horses to the royal family are purchased by the herdsmen from merchants in the Western Regions."
Su Ze couldn't help but sigh that the decline of the state-run horse industry in the Northern Wei Dynasty was similar to that in the later Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty also attached great importance to horse management. However, due to the corruption of the bureaucratic system and the cruel exploitation of the people who raised horses, the horse management deteriorated in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
After the fall of the Ma regime, it was still able to survive for another hundred years by relying on trade.
Su Ze asked:
"Where did the herdsman get the money to buy the fine horses from the Western Regions?"
Juqu Xilai said, "This is another reason why the Hexi horse farm has declined. In order to raise money to buy horses, the herdsman sold the designated horse farm to the powerful and merchants in Zhangye and reclaimed it to turn it into farmland."
Su Ze suddenly realized that this was the old method of embezzling court assets.
There is abundant water resources near Yanzhi Mountain, which is not only a good pasture but also a good farmland.
Thanks to the nationalization of the ranch, these lands were not treated as farmland. However, after the horse management deteriorated, they were sold as farmland by the pastoral supervisor.
Su Ze could only sigh that history is repeating the same tricks over and over again, and there is nothing new under the sun.
"Who is the supervisor of the Hexi Horse Farm?"
Juqu Xi said, "The pastoral supervisors are all appointed by the palace. The current pastoral supervisor is named Liu Chong, and he is the adopted son of Liu Teng, the Grand Chamberlain of the Palace."
As expected, this lucrative position of managing a government-run ranch has always been held near the core of power. Liu Chong's backer is Liu Teng, so it's no wonder that he didn't come out to greet me when I arrived at the ranch.
"Thank you, General Juquhao, for what you said."
Juqu Xilai suddenly said, "General Su, there are several good men in my tribe who want to follow you to fight."
Su Ze looked at Juqu Xilai and felt that this guy was smart. He nodded and said, "Send the people here first, and start with the soldiers around me."
The Zhuangbing are the guards who hold umbrellas and flags beside the commander-in-chief during wars. These guards who are close to the commander-in-chief are often the reserve officers with the fastest promotions.
After getting Su Ze's promise, Juqu Xilai knelt down on the ground.
After seeing Juqu Xi off, Su Ze opened the system and saw the purple light of the store. Sure enough, this ancient ranch built during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty had turned purple!
(End of this chapter)