Chapter 461: Planning for the Western Regions

On December 16, it snowed in the northwest some time ago, but that was more than ten days ago, and the snow had almost melted.

The sun hung in the sky, emitting pale light, barely bringing a touch of warmth to the world.

Zhao Jun's motorcade passed through the vast mountains. The mountain ridges on the left and right sides of the official road were towering. Although there were many brown and yellow colors, they were still as green and lush as there were many evergreen trees all year round.

After coming out of Dashan Pass and walking more than ten kilometers to the northeast, it suddenly opened up and what you saw was an endless plain.

This was the area around Shennong Town, Weibin District, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province in later generations. There were also some villages inhabited during the Northern Song Dynasty. People came and went on the plains, and there was a town at the exit of the official road.

Although from the perspective of distance, Chencang Road is the farthest road from Chang'an, the closest is Ziwu Road, also known as Lychee Road, which sent lychees to Concubine Yang.

However, the Ziwu Road is the most difficult to walk, as most of it is covered with cliffs. Therefore, since ancient times, people traveling to and from Guanzhong and Bashu have taken the Chencang Road.

At this moment, in this small town called Dashan Town, a large group of people had been waiting. There were columns of carriages standing on the roadside, and there were even large groups of soldiers stationed there, which caused a lot of discussion at the tea stalls at the entrance of the town.

"They seem to be some officials. Why are they all standing there?"

"Whatever seems to be an official is an official. You are really ignorant. Those are official uniforms."

"You say it as if you are knowledgeable."

"That is, in my opinion, they must be officials from our state capital. Didn't you see that our county magistrate is standing behind them?"

Two local old men who liked drinking tea started chatting.

They are locals. Logically speaking, seeing so many people coming and going every day, they should be well-informed.

But except for the tea stall clerks and restaurant clerks who work in the town, no one in the local area would be so idle and bored, squatting at the entrance of the town and watching people every day.

The two old men also worked hard on the farm in their early years. In their later years, life finally got better. They had no worries about food and clothing, and their children also had land, so their life became more leisurely.

Therefore, they have never seen any officials. For them, perhaps the biggest officials they have ever seen are the local magistrates, county magistrates, and county captains in Baoji County.

"Ha ha ha ha."

Several foreign businessmen nearby laughed when they heard what they said.

Hearing their laughter, the two little old men turned their heads. The old man who said he was a state official said displeasedly: "Why are you laughing, aren't you?"

"Yes, but not a state official."

A merchant smiled, then pointed into the distance and said: "Look, the ones in front of them are wearing light red robes. They are all senior officials above the fourth rank. These are our parents and officials along Qinfeng Road."

"A fourth-grade officer?"

The two old men were shocked. They never expected that so many fourth-grade officials would appear in this rural place.

And they were still standing on the roadside waiting, as if they were waiting for someone important.

This is just like the few officials of a province standing on the roadside in later generations. For the people of this province, it is indeed a surprising thing.

"We merchants travel all over the country and know some things. At that time, the imperial court was reorganized and the official uniforms were divided into six levels. The first level was purple robe, the second level was dark red robe, the third to fourth level was light red robe, and the fifth to sixth level were Those of the seventh and eighth grades are green robes, and those of the ninth grade and those who are not in the flow are light green robes."

The merchant continued: "Look, there are more than ten people here in light red robes. This is where all the chief and deputy officers of the Fifth Division of Qinfeng Road are here. There is also a dark red robe among them, who is a second-grade officer."

"Oh my god, why are there second-grade officials? Do we have a second-grade official on Qinfeng Road?"

"Why not? Don't you know that Di Xianggong, who is currently stationed in Lingzhou, Liangzhou, and Suzhou, is the Deputy Privy Envoy, a second-rank official?"

"Why is the Vice-President also here? What are they doing? Are they welcoming someone?"

The two little old men were frightened.

What day is it today? Did the senior officials from Qin Feng Road come over for a meeting?

Moreover, there is also a second-grade deputy privy envoy inside, which is seriously beyond their knowledge.

"Haha, who else but Zhiyuan can be welcomed by Prime Minister Di personally? You don't know? Zhiyuan has come to Qinfeng Road!"

The merchant said with a smile.

During the reign of Jingyou, Zhao Jun used the movable type printing technology invented by Bi Sheng to change the copper movable type into lead movable type. He also bought a printing factory and took the lead in opening the Bianliang newspaper.

In the next few years, newspaper offices were opened one after another in Bianliang City and Hangzhou City, the two most prosperous cities in the Song Dynasty.

The emergence of newspapers greatly enriched the daily life of the people of the Song Dynasty, and also provided them with a lot of information and broadened their horizons.

For example, the imperial court actively carried out education and published it in newspapers many times to tell people the importance of reading and studying.

But after all, newspapers are not available everywhere. Except for those opened in various local government offices, that is, in provincial capitals or more important big cities, there are very few newspapers in ordinary local counties.

Therefore, for people in towns and villages, information is still very limited. Even in large towns located on major transportation routes, there will be such information barriers.

But the merchants who traveled all over the world were different. They had long known about Zhao Jun's travels all over the world. Zhao Jun's itinerary was even published in newspapers all over the country, so these merchants naturally knew about it.

When they learned that it was Zhao Jun who was here, the local people around him suddenly lost their composure. They were very surprised at first, and then they were all overjoyed and started talking.

"This, this is actually the Zhiyuan who is here. The Zhiyuan is here on Qinfeng Road."

"I came here the year before last, too."

"That's different. The Zhiyuan didn't come to Baoji at all the year before last. He didn't even go to Chang'an. He just went north along the river."

"That's true."

"We have to go see the Governor. If the Governor hadn't allocated the land to us, it's hard to say whether we would be able to make a living now."

"Let's go."

The area near the entrance of the town suddenly emptied out, and many people rushed to the entrance to the official road.

Compared with Fan Zhongyan and Zhao Zhen, Zhao Jun's prestige among the people is actually higher than them because Zhao Jun has traveled the world twice.

Traveling around the world is not only about conducting research at the grassroots level, but also about understanding the situation of local people and solving their immediate difficulties.

The most intuitive way is to crack down on local corrupt officials, deal with local tyrants and evil gentry, and make decisions for the local poor people.

And the land was seized from these illegal persons, turned into official land, and rented to poor peasant tenants at low prices.

For example, many local officials not only take bribes and bend the law, but also collude with wealthy gentry to oppress the people. In the fish and meat village, they are worse than bandits and bullies.

But at the same time, these officials covered the sky with one hand and did whatever they wanted in the local area. The people had no way to complain and had no choice but to swallow their anger.

It's different now that Zhao Jun is here.

No matter how big an official you are, even if you are a transit envoy, as long as a commoner complains and after investigation it is found that this is indeed the case, you will be arrested and imprisoned immediately.

Therefore, to a certain extent, no matter how many technologies Zhao Zhen invented and no matter how many battles Fan Zhongyan fought, it would all be in vain. Only by removing the mountains above the people's heads and distributing fields to them can it be practical.

Therefore, people in many places are looking forward to Zhao Jun's arrival. Only when Zhao Jun comes can they complain, dare to complain, and get benefits from it.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhao Jun insists on traveling around the world every ten years.

At this moment, the news of Zhao Jun's arrival quickly spread throughout the town. It didn't take long for hundreds of townspeople to hear the news and swarmed in, blocking the official road.

For this reason, Fan Xiang, who was transferred to Qinfeng Road, had to ask soldiers to maintain order, otherwise the entire road might be impassable.

Soon, about half an hour later, a large motorcade appeared on the official road in the distance, approaching slowly.

Because there were too many people watching the excitement, the government had to block the road. At this moment, the people were behind, and Qinfeng Road officials headed by Di Qing and Fan Xiang met the convoy.

"Your Majesty, please see the Imperial Academy."

The crowd chanted.

The team slowly stopped, Zhao Jun lifted the curtains, and the first thing he saw was Di Qing, who was 42 years old this year, and his face showed a bit of vicissitudes of life and dust.

Di Qing used to have a very white face, very handsome, a bit like Louis Koo when he was young.

But now his face is very dark, and he looks a bit like Louis Koo after tanning.

Seeing his appearance, Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Hanchen, the northwest is indeed a grueling place. You have only been here two years and this is already the case?"

Di Qing said with a smile: "It is indeed windy and sunny in the northwest, but I think this is good, and I don't need to wear a mask anymore in the future."

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly, then looked at the crowds of people in the distance, and said slightly surprised: "Why are there so many people here?"

Fan Xiang explained: "It was the people in the town who heard that the magistrate was coming and came to see him one after another."

"It's getting late, let's go to Baoji County first."

Zhao Jun said to Jiang Dalang next to him: "It's still the same as before. You take people to ask the local people. If there are grievances, record them."

"yes."

Jiang Dalang agreed and immediately led people to the people's side.

The local officials nearby were sweating profusely.

This is how Zhao Jun does things. Everywhere he goes, he encourages local people to complain.

As mentioned before, the people have the most say in the environment of a place.

The people know best whether local officials are fair and impartial, whether they have been unjustly, falsely or wrongly convicted, whether they were beaten into submission, or whether there was collusion between officials and gentry.

And there is no need to worry about emboldened people making false accusations.

Because before doing anything, Zhao Jun would ask people to tell people that false accusations are punishable and there is no such thing as zero-cost frame-up.

Once confirmed, Zhao Jun will order a thorough investigation.

The criminal methods of ancient officials were not advanced, and many things were not difficult to detect.

If there is, there is, if there is not, there is not.

Therefore, Zhao Jun is often able to quickly deal with local evil forces and upper-level protective umbrellas, and solve the problem of poor ecological environment in local officialdom.

Traveling around the world twice, relying on this method, hundreds of officials were killed, more than 2,000 officials were implicated but not killed, and the remaining non-official accomplices totaled tens of thousands.

In the afternoon, towards evening, the convoy crossed the Weishui River and arrived at Baoji County on the other side of the river.

Zhao Jun was still the same as before. He did not settle in the local county government, but lived in the local post house. The county post house was not big and could not accommodate so many people, so the guards stayed in a nearby inn.

To a certain extent, Zhao Jun can be regarded as driving the local economy. He has to spend a lot of money on food, clothing, housing and transportation every time he goes to a place. Although it is suspected of wasting the national treasury, this must be something that does more good than harm.

After Zhao Jun stayed at the Baoji Inn, Di Qing, Fan Xiang, Yang Zheng, Song Shouxin and other senior officials from Qin Feng Road came to see him one after another. Zhao Jun chatted with them, but seeing that it was getting late, Di Qing was left to talk with him in detail.

The weather was not very good at night, the clouds covered the sun, and it seemed like it was going to rain or snow.

The howling cold wind blew, and the post house took out charcoal. Zhao Jun and Di Qing sat in the post house, warming their cold hands over the charcoal fire and chatting.

"The Xizhou Uighurs are divided into Gaochang Uighurs and Kucha Uighurs. Of these two groups, the Gaochang Uighurs are close to the Liao Dynasty, while the Kucha Uighurs are close to both the Liao and Song Dynasties. It was the Kucha Uighurs who sent envoys to the Song Dynasty in the past few years."

Di Qing told Zhao Jun what he learned: "Last year, I sent someone to inform the Uighur King of Gaochang and asked Gaochang to surrender, but they sternly refused."

"What do the Kucha Uighurs say?"

Only then did Zhao Jun know that it was the Qiuci Uighurs who had been sending envoys to the Song Dynasty to worship them in the past few years.

He had been thinking before that Xizhou Uighur Haodai also paid tribute all year round. From the Tiansheng reign to the fourth year of Jingyou, they came five times in fourteen years.

Later, after defeating the Xixia Liao Kingdom, they continued to pay tribute every year. It seemed a bit immoral to directly send troops to destroy them. In the end, only one of their own troops paid tribute, and the main force, the Gaochang Uighurs, had no intention of paying attention to the Song Dynasty.

"The Kucha Uighurs expressed their willingness to surrender."

Di Qing said: "Even in their situation, they are part of the Xizhou Uighurs and surrendered to King Gaochang, so they have no way to directly express their submission to the Song Dynasty."

"It's interesting. It seems that this Kucha Uighur should be the local Jiedushi of Gaochang Uighur or something like that. It has a high degree of autonomy."

Zhao Jun smiled and then asked: "Have you investigated their situation clearly?"

"Um."

Di Qing said: "The exact number is unknown, there should be three to four hundred thousand. They also annexed the Ganzhou Uighurs who were defeated by Xixia that year. There should be tens of thousands of people in control."

"How dare you resist the Song Dynasty with only 340,000 people and tens of thousands of horses?"

Zhao Jun narrowed his eyes and said: "This King of Gaochang is a bit interesting. Doesn't he know that the former King of Gaochang was confident when facing the Tang Dynasty, and then he was destroyed by Hou Junji?"

Di Qing said: "The Uighurs don't study history, so they probably don't know these things. Besides, the Central Plains dynasty is far away from them. Maybe that's why."

"How is the management of the Hetao area? How is the grain and grass storage going?"

Zhao Jun asked.

He has long had ideas about the Western Region, but he has not taken action for the time being because he has just conquered Xixia and still needs to manage it.

Otherwise, to mobilize grain and grass from Chang'an in the rear to fight the Uighurs in Xizhou, a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers would consume too much national power. Even the Tang Dynasty had to wait until it was at its peak to defeat the Turks before they began to seek the Western Regions.

"Now there are more than 400,000 people in Hetao, mainly engaged in farming and grazing. We tried to attract Dingkou from Guanzhong, but it was too far."

Di Qing said helplessly: "Many people are unwilling to move even if they are given land. Moreover, Guanzhong has been restoring Dingkou in recent years. It is too difficult to move people further away."

"Well, this matter is not urgent. Now that there is abundant food in the country, the growth rate of Dingkou will be very fast. The most important thing is the transportation problem."

Zhao Jun thought for a while and then said: "Starting from next year, we will officially conquer the Western Region. After I go back, I will order food to be transferred from various places to the northwest. At that time, you can prepare your camp step by step and garrison troops in Gan and Shazhou first. Then attack Xizhou.”

"yes!"

Di Qing agreed.

Zhao Jun raised his head and looked outside the door of the posthouse hall. Because charcoal may cause carbon monoxide poisoning, the door was open.

I don't know when it began to rain lightly outside the door, and the pattering raindrops were floating in the air.

He said softly: "The Xizhou Uyghur is overestimating its capabilities, so it deserves to be destroyed. The Silk Road must be held in one's own hands to make people feel at ease. When the time comes, you must decide in a battle, not a small fight. Xizhou is still going to take a long time.”

"yes!"

Di Qing nodded firmly and seriously, he knew what Zhiyuan meant.