Dingxi City controls the exit of the southern foot of Maxian Mountain.

In August of the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Li Xian general Qinfeng Road and Xihe Road soldiers crossed the Maxian Mountain defense line in Xixia from here, and then went downstream along Ruzha Valley to capture Lanzhou.

Therefore, the so-called Ruzhe Valley is actually a river (it should be today's Yuanchuan River, which belongs to a first-level tributary of the Yellow River). It is just because the river penetrates the valley and forms a natural north-south canyon path, so it is called Ruzhe.

Ruzha Valley originated from Mazhi Mountain, stretched straight to Lanzhou, and flowed into the Yellow River in Lanzhou.

Therefore, Ruzha Valley was in the Song Dynasty and belonged to two different defense areas.

From west of Ruzhe Fort to belong to Tongyuan Army, and from north of Kangu City, it belongs to the jurisdiction of Lanzhou.

On the September of the first year of Yuanyou (the seventh day of the lunar month).

Zhao En transferred his position to the stewards of the envoy from Lanzhou to Ruzhe Fort, and coordinated the Baili Maxian Mountain defense line from Dingxi to Huichuan.

Before that, Zhao En had already arrived at Ruzhe Fort on the first day of the September Bingchen (the first day of the lunar month), and began a patrol of the entire Ruzhe Valley.

Now, he has finished inspecting the entire Maxian Mountain defense line under the control of the Song Dynasty.

I already have confidence in my heart.

"As long as the West is not lost, the Western thieves will not be able to threaten Fanchuan, Ruzhe, Kangu, Fanchuan, Ruzhe, Kangu, and Kangu, and Lanzhou will be as stable as Mount Tai!"

Zhao Er waved his whip and looked at the stretching mountains, rivers and valleys, and said with satisfaction: "As long as our dynasty controls Lanzhou and Dingxi, it will be like a hand of human beings, choking the throats of Western thieves, so that they cannot breathe!"

"If I could win the Western thieves in another year, I would know that Li Xian could be among the top three in terms of merit!"

As a civil official, Zhao Cheng made such a high evaluation of a civil servant like Li Xian, which is incorrect.

But Zhao Cheng is about to retire and does not have such a lot of psychological burden.

After this battle, as long as there is no mistake, he will be able to retire with the title of Grand Secretary and the Military Commander.

This is the retirement treatment of the veteran.

At that time, who dares to blame him for this?

At most, I would say a few words behind my back and be sarcastic.

What does this matter?

He would not let him lose a piece of meat, but instead he said good things about Li Xian, which would be beneficial to his and his family's management in Xihe.

There is no way, Li Xian has a great prestige in Xihe.

Especially in the influence of the foreign official group, no one can match!

Sure enough, when he heard Zhao En's high evaluation of Li Xian, the generals and officials surrounding Zhao En immediately showed bright smiles.

"What my husband said is very much!" Zhao Sizhong, who led his army to aid, replied almost without thinking: "If Li Du knew that he had seized Lanzhou back then, could we grow cotton in Xizhou, Minzhou, Taozhou and Huizhou as we are today?"

Bao Shun and Bao Yue brothers nodded and said yes after hearing this.

Even Renduo Baozhong, who had just been reborn last year, said: "Although I have never seen Li Duzhi, if it weren't for Li Duzhi, I would have been killed by the Western thieves long ago!"

"Where is the opportunity to bathe in the kindness of the uncle of the Han family and enjoy the blessings of China?"

Zhao En looked at these foreign officials.

Everyone is a powerful person!

Moreover, it was not the leader of the tribe who brought the entire tribe and Guiyi together since Xining opened the border; it was the leader of the great noble who brought his men and horses to Guiyi from the Western thief.

For example, Zhao Sizhong is Mu Zheng.

This is the eldest grandson of Yan Siluo! He is also the true legal heir of Tubo after Dong Wen's death.

When Wang Shao opened the border, Zhao Sizhong couldn't beat him, so he took his six brothers to vote together.

The six brothers brought over 30,000 to 40,000, and hundreds of thousands of cattle, sheep and livestock.

The late emperor gave his six brothers one by one, and then appointed him as an official and made a wish.

Bao Shun and Baoyou brothers are the largest wealthy family on Xihe Road. This year, Xihe Road has compiled households and registered them for registration.

Finally, it was found that the entire Xihe Road was about 200,000!

Although, this is the result of the addition of the elderly, weak, women and children.

But there is no doubt that the Bao family is the largest clan in Xihe.

Although the others are not as strong as the Zhao Sizhong brothers, the Bao Shun brothers are not as strong.

But they are all armed.

Even Renduo Baozhong, who came to Guiyi last year, had brought hundreds of confidants to the Song Dynasty.

For nearly a year, people from the Western thief have been coming to join him.

So, gradually, they also had an elite soldier of about 1,500 people.

With the recommendation of Xiang and Gao, the current official appointed him as the inspector of Huizhou in April this year.

These foreign officials were relatively free in the Song Dynasty.

His status is similar to that of the local officials in the throne states. Almost everyone is sent to the official official position and also has the title of "supervisor to the army or deputy envoy of the army" of his clan.

This is the permission of the court to allow it to use tribal customs and traditions to deal with related internal affairs within its tribes.

They are all countries among the country.

After Xiang Zong returned, after Gao Gong took office as the Xihe River, Mianzhuang was fully tied up with these people.

Every Xihe Fanguan is the owner of a cotton manor!

Even Renduo Baozhong, who was only invested last year, brought people near Lanzhou to cultivate more than 1,000 acres of cotton fields before spring plowing.

So, these people are no longer suffering officials.

It's all for the luxury of others!

In terms of property, I am afraid that it is not inferior to the wealthy families in Bianjing.

Because, now the cotton fields in Xihe have basically been picked.

The first batch of picked cotton bolls have been loaded into the car and sent to the road to Bianjing.

There are more than 10,000 kilograms of cotton bolls, and I heard that they are filled with thirty or forty Pacific carts.

These cotton bolls should have arrived at Qinfeng Road now.

The cotton bolls that were subsequently picked were escorting the young and middle-aged men who were escorting food from Qinfeng Road, Yongxingjun and other places one after another, and embarking on the road back.

Xiang and Gao, two national relatives, are now responsible for this matter.

It is estimated that in the end, all the cotton bolls should be hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The value is conservatively estimated to be millions of coins!

Like the 10,000 acres of cotton fields in the Bao family, you can get at least 100,000 guan!

Thinking of this, Zhao Cheng's voice became much gentler: "What the Lords said is so much, Li Duzhicheng is the famous general of the country!"

There is no way, in the Song Dynasty, everything is about money.

Whoever has money can speak is enough, and it makes sense!

As the saying goes: Everything is inferior, only reading is high.

And studying requires money!

The more money you have, the better your imperial examination results will be!

A typical example is the three roads of Liangzhe, Fujian and Jiangxi.

The local trials have already been sent to heaven.

Why?

Because these three routes are rich!

Academies are blooming everywhere, and wealthy families are working hard to train their children to take the exam.

Therefore, places like Fujian were located in the imperial examination deserts in the Tang Dynasty and early Song Dynasty.

Now, relying on the ability of money, we have captured the city and the ground in the imperial examination!

Now, there are more than a dozen Fujian ministers in the court who are waiting for the system!

Including a former prime minister (Cai Que) and two rulers (Zhang Dun, Lv Huiqing).

There will continue to emerge in the future!

It's so scary!

Only the Jiangxi Gang and the Liangzhe Gang can barely confront each other.

And Xihe Road is the next Fujian Road!

There is no doubt about this.

Not to mention the other one, just a few days ago, after You Shixiong from Xizhou announced that he had invited many classmates with Jinshi to study and give lectures in Xizhou.

Zhao Sizhong and Bao Shun led the Han and foreign tyrants in Xihe donated a large amount of livestock and wealth to Xueyi, Xizhou Prefecture, and even provided servants. Some even donated cotton fields directly as the fields of Xuexue.
To be continued...