In June of the eleventh year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, the official document arrived at the border at an expedited speed of 800 miles.
At the same time, the Song Dynasty's war machine started again.
This time, the Song Dynasty no longer used the method of transporting grain and grass directly from Bianliang to the border, but adopted a step-by-step approach.
Bianliang would hire civilians to transport grain and fodder to Guanzhong, while the Yongxingjun Road Transportation Office would hire local personnel to transport the grain stored in Yongxingjun and Qinfeng Road to the border.
The Song Dynasty was a country that attached great importance to storing grain in good years and releasing grain in bad years. The grain harvested every year was stored in the warehouse as new grain, while the old grain continued to be stored.
If the warehouse is full, the three to five-year-old grain will be sold on the market at a low price and used as feed for chickens, ducks, pigs and cattle, thus completing the cycle.
For this reason, the Changping Sishi became a senior official on the same level as the pacification envoy, transport envoy, judicial official, and supervisory censor.
This practice has been practiced throughout the dynasties, even dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, the Song Dynasty did a particularly good job of this due to the first food revolution brought about by Champa rice, which led to an explosive increase in productivity.
This means that although the Song Dynasty had the most uprisings in history, its scale and number of concentrated outbreaks were not as large as those of the second-ranked Qing Dynasty.
The point is that even if there is a disaster in a local area, it can be resolved quickly by storing grain in warehouses.
However, there is not much food stored in Qinfeng Road and Yongxingjun Road in Shaanxi Road, because there are few people here and they have to supply border troops frequently, so there is not much food stored.
In history, when the Song Dynasty and the Xia Dynasty were at war, the price of grain in the border areas and Bianliang skyrocketed because the grain reserves in the border areas were exhausted and a large amount of grain needed to be transported from Bianliang to the northwest border.
The situation today is not so bad. The war to destroy Xia was quick, and with productivity increasing again, grain prices were low. During the war to destroy Xia, the imperial court transported a large amount of grain to the northwest for storage.
This time we are going to attack Gaochang, which is too far away. If we transport grain directly from Bianliang, it is obviously not a good idea.
For this purpose, Zhao Jun came up with a clever idea.
That is, the imperial court recruited refugees to escort food and grass to Guanzhong for the country. If the refugees were willing to stay in Guanzhong, they would be given land and means of production to help them open up farmland.
In this way, the public security problems caused by the growing population in Bianliang in recent years and the lack of jobs for some migrant workers can be solved.
At the same time, it can also alleviate to a certain extent the current embarrassing situation in Guanzhong where the area is vast and sparsely populated.
certainly.
This policy certainly cannot completely solve the dilemma of the small population in Guanzhong.
The problem in Guanzhong is the over-exploitation of natural resources, which has led to deforestation, soil erosion, uncultivable land, and frequent natural disasters.
What needs to change is not the small population, but the restoration of the ecology.
But if we want to restore the ecology, we also need human help, such as planting more trees and repairing more rivers. Otherwise, relying on natural changes will take years and months, which is a long time.
Therefore, necessary migration is still necessary.
Soon it was August, and a large amount of grain was transported to Guanzhong and sent to warehouses in counties along the two routes of Shaanxi for storage.
The local county government mobilized manpower to help transport the grain stored in the warehouses of each county to the border.
August 9th is the Mid-Autumn Festival.
On the vast Gobi Desert in the northwest, a huge team is moving slowly forward. The people behind it are either riding camels or war horses, forming a long winding snake.
Di Qing was riding on horseback. There was a tube in the belly of his horse, which contained many maps. The bellies of the horses of several of his followers were filled with a large number of water bottles. Water is more important than money in the Gobi Desert.
"My dear, the Yumen Pass is just ahead. Currently, there's only a small team stationed there by Shazhou's commanding guards. Once you pass Yumen Pass, you'll reach the Western Regions."
Cao Xianhui, holding up a canopy with one hand, took advantage of the scorching midday sun to compare the surrounding Gobi Desert. Finally, she pointed northwest and said, "There should be a river over there, flowing from the Gobi Desert in the distant remnant of the Tianshan Mountains."
"Well, send the order. Go to the river ahead to rest. Make a fire and boil water. Have every soldier and auxiliary fill their canteens. Even if it's full, drink it all and fill another canteen for me."
Di Qing gave the order.
This is already the edge of the Western Regions, not the Yumen City of later generations, but the area around the ancient Yumen Pass ruins northwest of Dunhuang City.
It can be said that after leaving Yumen Pass, the nearest Uighur city in Xizhou, Yizhou, which is Hami City in Xinjiang in later generations, is more than 300 kilometers away in a straight line.
This means that they are about to cross an uninhabited desert Gobi that is three or four hundred kilometers long. If they cannot find a water source accurately, it will be a disaster for the army.
After the order was given, the huge army in the rear continued to move forward. Not long after, they saw a small river in the Gobi Desert in the distance.
This river is more like a stream than a river.
As a tributary of the Shule River in later generations, it supplies basic living water for Yumen Pass. As time goes by, it is already autumn and the water flow is very small.
The army came to the river to draw water one after another. After only half a day, the water in the lower reaches was almost dry due to the people drinking and the horses feeding.
By evening, the army had finally rested and settled outside Yumen Pass.
This time, Di Qing brought a total of 120,000 people.
Among them, there were about 20,000 combat soldiers, and the remaining 100,000 were conscripted civilians and garrison troops.
The imperial court suffered heavy losses for this.
Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty sent out an army of 200,000 to destroy the Xiongnu, and there were 500,000 civilians and auxiliary soldiers who accompanied the army to transport food and fodder, bringing the total number of people to 700,000. Only then did he go out of the border to destroy the Xiongnu.
Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty dispatched an army of 100,000 to conquer the Turks, and the number of civilian laborers accompanying the army reached 300,000. Historical records show that "eight out of ten were lost during transportation", which shows the great logistical pressure.
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