The author said: After the above background is laid out, the plot begins to accelerate!
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When the Turks were rampant, most of Youyan was under their control, and Guangyang was a fortress facing the Turks. It was not until Zheng Rong took office as the governor of Youyan that he reclaimed wasteland, raised troops and horses, reorganized the army, and repopulated the country, restored his homeland to Mobei, and rebuilt several states and counties. Only then did Guangyang become the center of the Youyan Road region.
Because of this, although Guangyang is the capital of a city, its layout is very different from that of Luoyang, Chang'an, Chengdu, Jianye and other cities. The large cities in the Central Plains generally have hundreds or even thousands of years of history. Most of them were the capitals of a certain dynasty. Most of them are symmetrical in shape, with an imperial city or government office in the center, residential buildings and shops on both sides, and a huge city wall that separates farmland. , pastures, military camps, etc. are isolated from the city. Guangyang was originally a large fortress. Within the city walls were only the palace of Prince Youyan, the military and political office of Youyan Road, the warehouse for money, grain and weapons, the camps and playgrounds of the troops directly under Prince Youyan, etc. Residential shops were built along the city walls, layer by layer. Build. Zheng Rongchang thought that if the Turks sent troops to attack Guangyang, although Guangyang could hold on, the nearby people would lack protection and would be reduced to nothing more. Therefore, he accumulated money and food over the past few years to prepare to build another wall outside Guangyang City. However, the imperial government's finances were already stretched thin and could not allocate funds. Youyan's local financial resources alone required years of savings. Now that they had almost accumulated enough, they sent another 300,000 yuan to relieve Henan, so the city construction had to be put on hold.
However, with the protection of King Youyan and his group of capable generals, the people of Guangyang did not worry much about their personal safety. After hearing from afar, King Youyan finally returned from Beijing in March. Countless people had already greeted him outside the four gates of Guangyang. However, after the experience of seeing him off last time, the people no longer carried wine and food, but only welcomed him outside the door.
After thanking the people for their kindness, it was already late at night when they entered the palace. After a few bites of dinner, Zheng Rong went to bed and rested. At nine o'clock the next day, Zheng Rong got up early again, listened to the reports from the two generals Cui Nan and Wei Hu, had a hasty lunch, and began to deal with the backlog of documents that had been accumulated for several months. This goes on for about ten days. After everything is settled, it's early winter and it's time to go out and burn grass.
The Turks were grazing in the north. In early winter, everything was desolate and there was no fodder for raising cattle and horses. However, there were still rich aquatic plants near Youyan slightly to the south. Although after several attacks by Zheng Rong, the Turks no longer dared to go south to plunder, and instead sought to open up mutual markets, small groups of Turkic herdsmen still often went to the areas around Youyan to herd livestock in early winter. In order to prevent the Han people from causing friction with the Turkic herdsmen, Zheng Rong would lead his troops to harvest or burn the fodder within a hundred miles north of Youyan in early winter every year. This was also the time for annual military training.
Zheng Xin and Zheng Miao are over twenty years old. Since last year, Zheng Rong has taken them north to Fencao, but this year in order to allow the brothers to have more contact with Qiu Yi, all four of them stayed in the palace. Review literature among them. Zhongli Kuang was originally hired by King Youyan as a teacher. Educating the princes was his job. He went out to train soldiers and could not use this weak scholar, so he concentrated on teaching several princes in the palace.
Zhongli Kuang's teaching is different from other teachers. He never scolds or beats. After the designated area, students are free to read. After reading, they can answer any questions and it will be over. Princess Youyan was the daughter of a Confucian general in the dynasty, and her knowledge was not that of ordinary scholars. Seeing her husband's teachings, she complained to her husband several times, but Zheng Rong did not take it at all and allowed Zhongli Kuang to teach her.
Among the four students, Zheng Xin studied the most and was the most diligent. He was an even-keeled person, and most of the questions he asked were formal and formal. He never went beyond the etiquette of the saints. Zheng Sen valued martial arts over literature, and was the worst among them in what he learned. Zhongli Kuang just let him go if he didn't ask questions; Zheng Miao was talented and brilliant, and often asked questions without thinking. Fortunately, Zhongli Kuang was originally knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and he was not a rotten scholar who was obsessed with reading, otherwise he would have been annoyed by the questions; Qiu Yi was the youngest, He also has the worst foundation in learning, but his talent is higher than the other three. Every time he reads a paragraph, he either doesn't ask, or if he asks, he hits the nail on the head. Zhongli Kuang loves and hates him, is happy and worried at times, and although he answers, he always answers extremely well. It's difficult, and it doesn't matter whether the ceremony can be understood or not.
During breaks between classes, Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen were always together, not knowing what to talk about. Zheng Miao and Qiu Yizhi love to play together because they are similar in age. However, they both want to follow their elder brother, but they are always pushed away by the two, which is quite interesting.
Zhongli Kuang taught this for about half a month, and then he was ordered to join Zheng Rong's army. It turned out that when Zheng Rong led his troops to burn grass, he ordered Wei Hu, the general of the eastern expedition, to defend in Guangyang, and Cui Nan, the general of the northern expedition, to sweep up the vanguard, while he led the central army to advance slowly. Unexpectedly, Cui Nan accidentally saw some lights in the distance while inspecting the camp overnight. Without asking King Youyan for instructions, he directly led hundreds of cavalry to investigate. It didn't matter, but at first glance, it turned out to be a rather large Turkic camp. There were at least hundreds of large and small tents, but there were no scouts who had not sent out their posts. It seemed that they were defenseless. Cui Nan has always been good at making surprise attacks. He must think carefully before attacking. Once he makes up his mind, he goes forward without hesitation and often achieves outstanding results. This situation was strange. General Cui didn't dare to neglect it, so he sent a team of light cavalry to test it out. Unexpectedly, there was no soldier to protect such a large camp. This cavalry team captured all the people in the camp without any effort. A detailed count of more than 700 Turkic women, old and young, totaled them.
This group of Turks of unknown origin became a huge trouble for Zheng Rong. There were people in Zheng Rong's army who knew Turkic language. They asked around, but they only said who Dali Khan was, and couldn't find out anything else. But today in the Mobei grassland, Biximi Khan dominates, and I have never heard of Dali Khan. Zheng Rong had no choice but to let him go, and he couldn't kill him, so he had to invite Zhongli Kuang from Guangyang to discuss it in detail.
Although Zhongli Kuang was well-informed, he could not guess the identity of this group of Turks, so he could not deal with them at will. He suggested that all these people be brought back to Guangyang, strictly controlled, and a few more surrendered to the Han people. The Turks secretly inquired and slowly found out the origins of these people. After hearing this, Zheng Rong felt that it had to be this way, so he agreed.
Zhongli Kuang is very busy now. Although Turks have a language, they do not have written characters. The written records are all marked with Turkic pronunciation in Chinese characters. It is necessary to register these more than 700 Turks one by one, allocate residences, arrange guard sergeants, and arrange work, etc., which immediately makes Zhongli Kuang very busy. Round and round.
When Zhongli Kuang left Guangyang, he gave four students a pile of books to read. A few people began to read it seriously, and within a few days they left Nanshan. Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen felt uncomfortable when they heard that their father had captured more than 700 Turks and returned, but they did not participate in the operation. They were eager to find a job all day long. Qiu Yizhi had never seen what Turks looked like, and he encouraged Zheng Miao to find opportunities to watch the excitement all day long.
In the afternoon of this day, the four brothers had lunch and were studying in the school. After reading a few pages, Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen left their books and went to the garden outside the house to discuss something unknown. Zheng Miao, the most naughty Tongyi, sneaked out of the study room and hid in the garden shrubs step by step, quietly eavesdropping on the conversation between the two brothers.
Zheng Sen said to Zheng Xin: "It is said that the origins of the seven hundred Turks captured by my father this time are unknown. What do you think, brother?"
Zheng Xin touched the beard that was not thick on his chin and said: "What about this? There are more than 700 people in the camp, which is considered a large tribe among the Turks. My father will go out to burn grass regularly in early winter every year. This is It is well known among the Turks that such a large camp should not be set up on the front line, Brother Yu really can’t think of a reason why.”
"Haha, brother is too modest." Zheng Sen laughed, "Even Mr. Zhongli can't guess their origins!"
Zheng Xin shook his head and sighed: "It's just that Brother Fool has little talent and little knowledge, and he has never seen much of the world. Otherwise, finding out the origins of these Turks and sharing the worries of the father would be considered as fulfilling his filial piety!"
After hearing this, Zheng Sen suddenly smiled slyly and said: "My younger brother has a few friends in the Guangyang garrison. According to them, those Turks have been arranged by my father to work in the horse market. I wonder if my brother is interested in going there." Check it out?"
The horse market in Guangyang is very open. Except for the prohibition of carrying weapons, anyone can visit. However, it is a mixed bag. The princess is afraid that something will happen to her children, so she always prevents them from wandering in the horse market. But now that he was talking about sharing his father's worries, even the princess wouldn't be able to scold him. Thinking of this, Zheng Xin nodded and said, "Just take a look, but you have to stay incognito."
Zheng Sen said with a smile: "Brother is still thoughtful."
Yi Zhi, who was hiding aside, heard clearly. When he saw the two people getting up to change clothes, he glared at Zheng Miao. Zheng Miao looked at him with the same eyes. The two understood and nodded vigorously at the same time. Seeing the two brothers walking away, he jumped out of the bushes and went to change clothes. These two boys were very fast and actually went out faster than the two brothers. So they hid aside and saw them walking some distance away, so they followed them at a short distance.
Guangyang was a border fortress more than ten years ago, with few civilians except for a few listless border guards. Since Zheng Rong took over Youyan, he has expanded territory northward, relocated people from the mainland, and opened horse markets to each other, turning an unknown place into a world-famous city. At present, Guangyang has more than 300,000 registered residents, thousands of shops of all kinds, and an endless stream of people from various tribes who come to trade. Countless leather goods and medicinal materials are transported to the mainland. Its wealth is second only to Jiangnan.
Before Qiu Yizhi recognized Youyan King Zheng Rong as his adoptive father, he had never set foot outside Nanyang County, Dengzhou, Henan Province. Although Nanyang can be regarded as a land of plenty, it is a small place after all and cannot be as prosperous as Guangyang. The dazzling array of products is dazzling, the shouts of southern and northern accents are continuous, the rich aroma of barbecue snacks is refreshing, and even the bursts of smoke and dust raised when the cattle, alpacas and horses are walking are very different from other places. If it weren't for the fact that she had to follow Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen in front, and she was afraid of getting lost when she first arrived, Qiu Yizhi would have run away to watch the fun.
The horse market specifically for Turks to do business is certainly different. It does not have fixed shops like the Han people. Instead, it has a circled pasture where Turks can trade their livestock freely. The nomads had nothing to offer except livestock, furs, ginseng and a few other goods. However, they needed ceramics, linen, tea, silk, etc. Even needlework, hemp rope and salt had to be imported.
When the Turks were weak, they could only work for the Tatars in exchange for something; when they became stronger, they could send troops to attack the Han border and plunder some supplies; in the last years of the Han Dynasty, the Turks occupied thousands of hectares of fertile land in Hetao and robbed hundreds of thousands of people. However, due to The Han people did not know how to farm, and most of the Han people fled south, so they had no choice but to abandon farming in the Hetao and return it to grazing, and raided the border every year as usual. Since Commander-in-Chief Zheng Rong launched military affairs against the Turks, the Turks' attacks on the Han Dynasty have become more and more difficult. They have taken fewer and fewer things and paid higher and higher prices. However, living utensils are all indispensable to the Turks. I can only continue the business of licking blood with the blade. However, Zheng Rong was relaxed and open to mutual trade at the right time. On the one hand, he curtailed the ambition of the Turks to go south, and on the other hand, he purchased fine Turkic horses for his own use. As a result, the prosperous Guangyang City was created today.
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PS. Guangyang City is today’s Beijing. As for the city style... I just made it up for the sake of the plot later. (To be continued)