Gongqin Village is about fifty miles away from Xingqingfu City, and is almost out of the jurisdiction of Xingqingfu.

This is a newly built village and one of the many villages Zhang Yuan set up when resettling new immigrants.

It is said to be a village, but its scale is not small. There are nearly two hundred households in the whole village, and most of them are young and strong laborers.

In fact, these people all have another identity, Fu soldiers.

Usually they are scattered around the countryside, farming for a living, but when called, they immediately put on armor, swords and bows, assemble to listen to orders, and form an army in the shortest possible time with one village, one township and one county as a unit and rush to the assembly point to listen.

make.

Naturally, the General Manager's Office offers various benefits to such a family.

For example, the geographical location of these villages is excellent, with convenient transportation and sufficient water resources. Most of the land in Gongqin Village is next to canals, and these canals were built during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The land on both sides is

But it's all good water for irrigating the ground.

In addition to allocating them the best land, these families also did not pay taxes or bear corvee labor.

Of course, these families need to bring their own armor, weapons, war horses, etc., and the Western Army has certain requirements for weapons and armor, so these families need to go to the designated places to buy these things. If you maintain them well, you may be able to get a set of weapons and armor.

It can be passed down for several generations. If you are unlucky, you may have to replace it frequently.

Under the supervision of these people, the swords, guns and armor from Xingqing Mansion never dare to be neglected. Those sold to them are all selected from the best, and they do not dare to be careless at all.

These people don't mind paying a higher price to buy weapons, but if there is a quality problem, they dare to file a lawsuit all the way to the General Manager's Office.

Nothing else, because weapons are their second life to them.

Such a system has instead promoted the quality of Xingqing Prefecture's weapons workshops to become better and better day by day.

There are hundreds of villages like this surrounding Xingqing Mansion.

The reason why Xiao Ding, who was on patrol, stopped here was because a wedding was being held in this village. The person getting married was a soldier who had followed him to fight on the plateau a few years ago. After moving back, these soldiers

Then he took his trophies and the property rewarded by the general manager home with him.

Xiao Ding and his party, who had just arrived here, happened to come across this wedding, and Xiao Ding, who was in high spirits, decided to have a wedding drink.

For the people in this village, this was an unexpected and happy event. Many people were envious of this family. It was like a pie in the sky and hit him on the head. He was just an ordinary person.

A common cavalryman, when he got married, a lot of important people from the governor's office came to congratulate him. This kind of thing was enough for him to brag about for a lifetime.

The gifts Xiao Ding sent were naturally expensive. If he gave less, not only would it be a loss of his status, but the hundreds of people accompanying him would be deprived of it, and the host's family would suffer a huge loss.

Xiao Ding came from a wealthy family and didn't quite understand these things, but people like Zhang Yuan and Xin Jian came from the bottom and knew all about these things.

So not only did Xiao Ding give gifts, but all of them, including the accompanying guards, also joined in the fun and each contributed a share of the money.

This family is from Dangxiang, one of the hundreds of thousands of Dangxiang people who migrated from Hengshan. The woman he married is a Tibetan woman who was kidnapped by the army from Qingtang this time. He also has a

His elder brother lived next to him. However, his elder brother was injured when he followed Xiao Ding to attack Xingqing Mansion and quit the army. Now he is the mayor of this village, and he married a local small landowner in Xingqing Mansion.

The daughter of a small landowner, this family is an out-and-out Song Dynasty person. Now they have given birth to a child. Seeing the woman, her belly is bulging again, obviously she is pregnant.

Xiao Ding, Zhang Yuan, Xin Jian, Tuoba Yangwei and others were sitting at the main table. It was the groom's brother who was accompanying him. The village leader, who used to be just a captain, was really shaking and sweating profusely.

It took a lot of effort to calm down and eat and drink with these big shots.

Because Xiao Ding and his party came, the banquet became particularly lively. People in the village who had not planned to come also prepared gifts to congratulate them. This caught the host family a little off guard. Fortunately, the village was quite wealthy.

, although there were only three or five dishes on the table, but after a lot of fuss, they finally got them.

After the meal, Xiao Ding took a good look at the situation in the village.

It's really a hodgepodge.

People from the Song Dynasty, Dangxiang people, Tubo people, Uighur people... a village with only 200 households actually belonged to seven or eight different ethnic groups. Listening to the commotion of different languages ​​coming from outside, Xiao Ding

He couldn't help but glance at Zhang Yuan. This situation was probably arranged deliberately by Zhang Yuan, right?

"Geda, the people in the village come from different places and don't understand each other's languages. How are their daily interactions? Are there any disputes or conflicts?" Xiao Ding asked the village leader.

Geda stood up immediately, but was pushed back by Xiao Ding, "Just sit down and answer, you are the groom's elder!"

"Manager, there are bound to be disputes and conflicts. There are times when the upper and lower teeth are touching, let alone a family of hundreds of people. But most of the people here have been on the battlefield together. No matter how big the deal is, no matter how big the deal is,

Can the conflicts between us be compared to the life-and-death friendship on the battlefield? We can always agree, and the mutual tolerance is over." Geda lowered his hands and said.

We have carried guns together and passed through windows together!

Xiao Ding smiled. If you are not a soldier, it would be difficult for you to experience the kind of friendship formed by living and dying together on the battlefield.

"The biggest problem is the language barrier." Geda continued: "But I heard from people in the village that soon the county will send a teacher to each village to teach everyone how to read and write! We also need to run schools.

Tang, in the future all the children will be able to study, but the village will have to contribute money to support this husband. I thought it would only cost a small amount of money, since the village already has village property! Each household can just chip in a little more.

"

Xiao Ding nodded and looked at Zhang Yuan: "Where do we have so many gentlemen?"

Zhang Yuan laughed: "General manager, we don't want them to learn enough to take the imperial examination. They only need to be able to read and understand government notices. So as long as they are literate, they will basically be

I took a job to do this. I really want to educate all people, but I'm afraid I have to wait until the next generation is born before I can start."

Tuoba coughed dryly and said: "Actually, our party items are almost sorted out. We can also send some people out in the future."

"I'm afraid it won't be a matter of time!" Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Deputy General Manager, the party text only exists in books now, and there are still many problems in it. If you want to spread it, I'm afraid it will take several years.

merit."

"Let's take a look first, find problems during use, and then correct them slowly. General Manager, Chang Shi, I think that although the documents of the General Manager's Office will be mainly in Chinese in the future, we can also make a copy in Dangxiang script!"

Tuoba showed his power and turned to look at Xiao Ding.

Xiao Ding nodded, "You can do it this way."

He must make such a concession. Because speaking of it, the troops under his command now, whether they are Bubazi or Tieyaozi, are mainly composed of Hengshan Party members.

If you don't agree to the request of Tuoba and Yangwei, I'm afraid that the party members will become disloyal, which will immediately shake the foundation. What Tuoba and Yangwei pursue is very different from that of ordinary party members.

Zhang Yuan also smiled and nodded.

Now, this is a compromise that has to be made. Just like when Xiao Cheng offered to help Tuoba Yangwei sort out and create party documents, it was just to win over Tuoba Yangwei, now it is also to tie Tuoba Yangwei tighter.

But next, as Xiao Ding's power expands, more and more Tubo people, Uighurs and other ethnic groups will join under Xiao Ding's banner, and the strength of the party members will inevitably be weakened step by step.

However, the current cultural heritage of the Dangxiang people is not enough to integrate and unify so many races.

The only thing that can do this is obviously the Han culture that has been passed down for thousands of years.

Zhang Yuan is extremely confident about this.

Therefore, he agreed to Tuoba's request without any hesitation.

When it comes to the ability to tolerate, who else in this world can be stronger than the Han culture!

It's all ours after all!

Zhang Yuan picked up the wine glass and took a slow sip.

When the wedding banquet ended, it was already dark outside.

Muramasa is a very capable person. After vacating his house for Xiao Ding and his party to live, he turned around and arranged the guards accompanying Xiao Ding properly. As for safety, this is

Needless to say, this place is only a few dozen miles away from Xingqing Mansion, and it is a place with excellent security.

In a village like this, even a petty thief would not have the guts to come in. If you are caught, your hands and feet will be broken. It is a light thing. Muramasa shouted, and people appeared in every house, wearing armor and carrying swords and guns.

Sentries were set up to patrol outside the village, and a few scouts were even posted outside.

With such an arrangement, the true strength of the Western Army was fully demonstrated in front of everyone.

There are nearly two hundred people in this village who can go into battle in a very short period of time, and their combat effectiveness is no worse than that of ordinary regular troops. And there are hundreds of such villages around Xingqing Mansion.

In other words, if a war really breaks out, Xingqing Mansion will be able to organize tens of thousands of troops to come out in the blink of an eye.

"Each village has a team general, each township has a general, and each county has a commanding officer. Two drills are organized every year after spring planting and autumn." Zhang Yuandao: "The drills of these people are all

It doesn't cost much, because they have to carry all the expenses themselves. This is also the price they have to pay for not paying taxes and not doing corvee. Of course, this is just the design of this system. In fact, there has been no training at all in the past two years.

Time, because we have been fighting. Manager, after the New Year, we will send troops to the Western Region again, right?"

Xiao Ding nodded: "But we only need a partial army to go to the Western Region. There is no need to send out the whole army, these people can have a good rest."

"Who does the general manager prefer to lead the army?" Zhang Yuan asked.

"What do you think?" Xiao Ding asked.

"Xin Jian and He Zheng, one is leading the Iron Kites and the other is leading the Buba Zi. Naturally, they cannot move." Zhang Yuan smiled and said: "In my opinion, it would be better to let Zheng Jihua or Leide come in."

When it comes to leading the troops, these two people are very capable, but the troops under their command are slightly insufficient, why not transfer the army to their command?"

The purpose of Zhang Yuan's plan is obvious.

Now Guangrui Army and Dingbian Army have been completely captured by Xiao Ding, but the Zhenrong Army sent by Ma Xing in the later period is still not a direct descendant of the Western Army. Zhang Yuan wants to use war to kill this army.

As aliens, it is conceivable that it is unknown how many old people in the Zhenrong Army will survive all the way down the Western Regions.

And in this process, it is also the final test for Zheng Jihua or Lei Jin. If they can implement Xiao Ding's ideas all the way and eliminate their dissidents in the process of completing the conquest of the countries in the Western Regions, they will also

Can truly enter the core leadership of the Western Army.

This is a double test of ability and loyalty.
To be continued...