Chapter Twenty-Eight: Fire Walls and Heated Kang (Part One)

"What? Ask Shibi Khan for it?" Yang Ze said, his jaw dropping. "Shibi Khan? How could that be possible? If we privately communicate with Shibi Khan, the imperial censors will surely impeach us!"

Diplomatic authority is a symbol of a nation's sovereignty. Although the Great Tang had just been established, it was not a republic; provincial governors held no diplomatic power. Moreover, Chen Ying was merely an ordinary general; if Li Yuan issued a single decree, he would have no choice but to surrender his authority obediently.

Knowing this was not within his purview, Chen Ying was a pragmatist who would not take on such responsibilities lightly. As long as a matter involved the imperial court, he avoided it whenever possible—this was called political correctness.

However, Chen Ying was not the type to suffer a loss. He thought for a moment and said, "The charge of colluding with an enemy state is too heavy a label, and my head is too small to bear it. But for now, we need not be anxious; the one who should be anxious is Shibi Khan of the Turks!"

"Shibi Khan?" Yang Ze asked, puzzled. "Why would he be anxious?"

"We currently have nearly thirty thousand of their men as prisoners. If he ignores them, his people will lose heart," Chen Ying said with a sinister smile. "Once the people lose heart, it becomes difficult to lead the army! We still have enough grain, and we have captured so many horses that there will be no food shortage for three to five months."

Yang Ze nodded. "I have heard that this Shibi Khan is not a generous man."

"If Shibi Khan isn't, is Li Yuan?" Chen Ying could only think this to himself; he could never say it aloud, or it would mean the destruction of his entire clan. Chen Ying continued, "Actually, I am truly afraid that he might pay to ransom these prisoners back!"

"Afraid they will be ransomed back?" Yang Ze was momentarily speechless. "These barbarians—what use are they?"

"What use? They are of great use!" Chen Ying asked mysteriously. "Chief Clerk Yang, what is the current population of the six counties of Lingzhou?"

Yang Ze was silent for a long time before replying, "At present, the six counties of Lingzhou have a total of 7,414 households, comprising over 18,000 adult males and more than 35,000 people in total."

Chen Ying asked again, "And during the previous dynasty, how many people were in Lingzhou?"

Yang Ze replied, "The previous dynasty had 64,746 households, with over 216,300 people."

"In just a few short years, the population of Lingzhou has dropped by eighty percent!" Chen Ying lamented. "Nearly 180,000 people! Where have all these people gone?"

This was a profound question. Yang Ze actually knew the answer, but he dared not address it directly because it was too taboo. However, Chen Ying said, "Lingzhou is a place where Han and Hu peoples live mixed together. It is not easy to live in Lingzhou; some have fled back to the interior, some have died, but most have actually been assimilated—the Hu have become Han!"

Yang Ze nodded. He, too, had observed such phenomena.

In fact, the problems leading to this situation were mainly related to the imperial authorities. At the end of the Daye era, the Sui Dynasty was engulfed in flames of war, and the imperial court gradually lost control over the regions. In the inland provinces of the Central Plains, people killed officials and rebelled, or fled into the mountains to hide.

But in Lingzhou, the terrain was flat, and it was a frontier plain. The situation there was far worse than in the interior. As the court's deterrent power weakened, the Hu tribes took advantage of the chaos to raid towns and prefectures, committing all sorts of atrocities.

Most of the Han people living in Lingzhou were lower-class commoners who lacked powerful protectors. When the court could no longer protect them, they had no choice but to rely on surrounding Hu tribes as indentured laborers just to survive. Of course, one could not say they were "Hu-ified" overnight, but as time passed, the pretense became reality.

Chen Ying said, "Lingzhou has been Chinese territory since ancient times and must not be lost; otherwise, we would fail our ancestors. However, to hold Lingzhou, we cannot do without a population!"

"Is the General planning to..." Yang Ze began to understand Chen Ying's intent. "Is the General planning to turn the Hu into Han?"

"Not quite!" Chen Ying shook his head. "We Chinese are the most resilient people in the world. Whether it is deserts, Gobi, or grasslands, wherever there is land, we can take root and survive. Lingzhou has a thousand miles of fertile soil and convenient irrigation; if we reclaim the wasteland, we can cultivate hundreds of thousands of hectares of good farmland. As long as people have land, there is no doubt that people from the interior will migrate here. As long as we have grain and people, what is there to fear from the mere Turks?"

Yang Ze said with a bitter face, "But with this weather, we cannot reclaim wasteland!"

"Of course, it is not that urgent. For now, we need to wipe out the straggling soldiers and bandits around Lingzhou and restore order!" Chen Ying said. "When spring comes next year, we will use these prisoners to reclaim the land."

Since the siege of Lingzhou City, government orders had not been able to reach beyond the city walls, let alone the six counties of Yuele, Hongjing, Huaiyuan, Lingwu, Mingsha, and Feng'an.

Now that Huaiyuan had become the royal camp of Shibi Khan, let alone the fact that Chen Ying only had four thousand troops, even if he had forty thousand, he would not have the strength to recover it.

Technically, Chen Ying was only a Field General, not the Governor of Lingzhou; clearing the region and restoring order was the duty of the Governor. However, Chen Ying had no desire to return to Chang'an. For him, the open blades of the Turks were far easier to guard against than the hidden daggers within Chang'an.

Although the Governor of Lingzhou, Guo Zihe, was unable to perform his duties due to injuries, Yang Ze was next in line to exercise the Governor's power. Yet, with no troops or generals under his command, he was powerless against the scattered remnants of the Turkic army or local bandits.

The burden of clearing out the scattered Turkic soldiers was not light, and Chen Ying had too few troops. Fortunately, because the siege of Lingzhou had been decisively broken, no Turkic armies were found in the vicinity, and with the Turks taken prisoner, the people of Lingzhou cheered to their hearts' content.

Deep into the night, the entire city of Lingzhou showed no signs of settling down. Firecrackers popped throughout the city from time to time. The firecrackers of this era were not like those of later generations; they were made by cutting bamboo, stuffing the center with saltpeter, and throwing them into a brazier, where they would emit a popping sound.

Only then did Chen Ying recall that today was the last day of the first year of the Wude era. Clad in armor, Chen Ying patrolled the camp with Liang Zan. At this moment, both soldiers and prisoners were quite calm.

Chen Ying had the wounded or dead horses captured on the battlefield butchered. Every ordinary resident of Lingzhou received ten catties of horse meat, those wounded while defending the city received twenty, and those families who had lost members in the defense of the city were given two sheep each.

There was no help for it; the spoils of war could not be kept by Chen Ying alone—they had to be handed over to the Bureau of Military Appointments of the Ministry of War to verify military merit. Thus, within his authority, he could only pull a few small strings.

The lights of Lingzhou were brilliant at this moment, and Chen Ying watched with great interest as the people of the city cheered joyfully. Seeing the happy smiles on the faces of the soldiers and citizens, Chen Ying felt a sense of accomplishment.

However, just as Chen Ying reached the entrance of a house on the street, he noticed it was completely dark—an anomaly during a time of city-wide celebration. Faintly, Chen Ying heard the sound of sobbing from inside.

"Could it be that the officials embezzled the horse meat meant for them? Is this family left with no fuel to burn and no meat to eat?"

Having lived two lifetimes, Chen Ying despised corrupt officials. In his previous life, he was a man of no rank and could do nothing. Now, he carried the Shangfang Sword granted to him by Li Jiancheng; if it were truly a case of official corruption, he would not mind bringing some bloodshed to this New Year's Eve.

"Knock on the door!"

Before Liang Zan could knock, the door suddenly opened from the inside. In the main hall sat an old man in tattered clothes, his face so lined with bitterness that it looked like the bark of a withered tree.

Chen Ying leaned forward and asked, "May I ask, old man, Lingzhou is distributing horse meat—why are you still here worrying?"