From Tanglong Town to Yatou Village, what is the most difficult thing to hold in this area for the Great Song Dynasty? This problem has plagued Du Zhongxiao for a long time. It stands to reason that this place is strategically important, and it is one of the channels for the northern nomads to travel south. Since the pre-Qin period, the Zhao State has built the Great Wall here, and later in the Ming Dynasty, there were many walled forts here, which was the forefront of the war with the Mongols. But at this time, no one pays attention here. Not only the Song Dynasty, but also the Khitan did not attach importance to it, and it was not until the war with the party two years ago that it began to gradually encroach and enhance its sense of existence for the purpose of preventing the party.

After staying in the village for a few days and having a deep understanding of the surrounding situation, Du Zhongxiao realized that the population composition of the surrounding area was the biggest obstacle. If it is in the interior, even if the population is sparse and there is a government organization, it can organize manpower and labor within a few days and start building the city. In the partial head village, Du Zhongxiao has been here for five days, and only a few leaders of Xiaofanluo who are closest to him have come to visit, and the others are nowhere to be seen. Although the leaders of these small tribes came, as soon as they said that they wanted to recruit manpower, they all had all kinds of excuses, in short, it was impossible.

After applying both hard and soft measures to several leaders, and exhausting all kinds of means, but still unable to achieve the goal, Du Zhongxiao finally recognized the reality, that is, it is indeed impossible to recruit errand soldiers here, and the army can only build the city by itself. In winter, herders have a difficult life and have to hold on to their wintering grounds and work hard to feed their livestock in order to survive until the next spring. They had neither the manpower nor the material resources to serve on errands. There is also the problem of habit, the nomadic servant is to fight, let them work, that is dead or alive.

Standing on the city wall, the nearby soldiers, under the command of the officers, shouted the trumpet to repair the wall. Looking up to the north, there are rolling mountains, high and low, undulating, like the waves of the sea. In this ravine, hundreds of people went into the mountains, and they couldn't find it hundreds of steps away.

Du Zhongxiao looked at the mountains in the north and slowly understood why this place had become like this. During the Qin and Han dynasties, after this large plateau, under the Yin Mountain was an important agricultural area, with developed irrigation agriculture, rice and millet were planted, and silkworms were raised. This area is the hinterland of agriculture, and although the land is poor, it is ruled by an agricultural population. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Yin Mountain became the pasture land of the Turkic, Dangxiang and other nomadic peoples, and it became the front line. Over the centuries, this barren land has been completely reduced to a nomadic area.

To put it bluntly, by this era, the dividing line between nomadism and agriculture had shifted southward. What the Song Dynasty was able to firmly control was the agricultural area. For the nomads within their own borders, the Song Dynasty could only restrain them, but did not directly govern them. To put it bluntly, nothing more than unprofitable. For the Song dynasty, it was simply not known what to expect from nomadism. Before the rise of the party, the Khitan and Song dynasties did not attach importance to this area. This is not the road for the Khitan to go south, and the Song Dynasty has no interest in this area at all, even if there are small tribes attached to it, the court is too lazy to pay attention to it.

Looking at the busy soldiers behind him, Du Zhongxiao knew in his heart that he still thought about the problem too simply. Thinking that by occupying important land and using new firearms, he could control this place and gain the initiative against the Khitan and the party, but in fact it was enough. In order to truly settle down, it is necessary to creatively develop an agricultural model that is suitable for this era, so that it can be turned into an agricultural area again. In order for the imperial court to gain the impetus to go north, from defense to offense, and change from passive to active, it is also necessary to find economic ties that complement agriculture and animal husbandry.

Only when occupying nomadic areas is no longer a money-losing trade will the Central Plains really have the motivation to take the initiative to attack north. In the past, the fur business was developed in the state, but now that I think about it, it is crooked. Let the herders provide the raw materials, and after processing, they are the sales market. But the fur business alone is not enough, it is far from enough. The market is too small, and the products do not meet the living habits of people in the Central Plains.

Outside the wall, a few soldiers drove their flocks lazily in the sun. It was the sheep of the Tibetan people that I had bought a few days ago, and the cows and lambs had returned to the camp with them, leaving these big sheep for food.

Looking at the sheep in the sun, Du Zhongxiao suddenly smiled and thought of a way out.

Historically, when talking about the bourgeois revolution in England, we have to mention the "enclosure movement". Du Zhongxiao has no interest in enclosure, and even less interest in sheep eating people, but he is interested in wool. The textile industry, or wool textile to be precise, played a major role in the early days of the Industrial Revolution. Isn't the vast steppe of the north a good place to provide wool as a raw material? Only when the land is produced can it be valuable, and it will attract attention, otherwise the land occupied will be a money-losing goods, and it will be thrown away sooner or later after hard work.

Unfortunately, Chinese wool textile has a long history, but it has not become popular in the Central Plains. Compared with silk and linen, wool textile raw materials are rare and unstable, and weaving is also more difficult, and successive dynasties have not paid attention to it. Traditionally, there was also no custom of wearing woolen fabrics.

Habits can be changed. Du Zhongxiao came down from the city wall, thinking about this matter in his heart. It's too hard to do without profit driven. It can be seen from the fur business in the annexation of the state that once it is profitable, it can mobilize huge social resources. For the sake of interests, everyone from the government to the people is flocking to it, and manpower and material resources are endless.

Shearing sheep, cutting leeks, the nomads in the north have no leeks to cut, they have wool.

Ningbian Prefecture is only thirty or forty miles away from the side head village, but there is no big road, only the sheep intestine trail between the mountains can be passed. When the news reached here, it was already five days after Du Zhongxiao entered the partial head village.

Shi Jianu, a Khitan general stationed in Yongbian Prefecture, was originally a poor herdsman who had no way to make a living and served in the army for the wealthy. Because of his courage in battle, he accumulated merit and became the chief general of a state. He was transferred here after the defeat of the Khitan Var Party in the fourth year of Qingli, built a state city, and peeped into the Great Song Dynasty while guarding against the Party items.

Ningbian Prefecture said that it was a state, but in fact it had neither jurisdiction nor administrative institutions, that is, Shi Jianu brought 300 people and ordered the surrounding Tibetan tribes to send troops to garrison with him. When these Tibetan tribes had nothing to do, they were nomadic in the surrounding area, and when they had something to do, they went out to fight with Shi Jianu.

On this day, the Shi family slave was lying high in the residence, and a personal soldier hurriedly came, knocked on the door several times, and the Shi family slave came out of the room.

The soldiers crossed their hands and said: "Lang Jun, the little ones got the news, a few days ago, the Song army suddenly advanced north, occupied Tanglong Town on the west side of the river, and rebuilt the partial head village on the east side of the river. These two places are not far from us, and the following belongs to the Tibetan Department, and there were many people who belonged to these two places in the past, but I am afraid that something will happen. ”

Shi Jianu rubbed his eyes and said impatiently: "Nanren have always been cowardly, where will they come to make trouble?" Didn't you hear it wrong? ”

The pro-soldier hurriedly said: "It's true! How dare such a big thing be sloppy, how dare a small one be sloppy, he asked people again and again, and sent spies to investigate. ”

Shi Jianu frowned: "It's okay to go to the village, it's difficult to walk there and here, just grab some of the Fan with us." Tanglong Town is annoying, originally scheduled to wait for the river to freeze, then go there to eat, how can this be good? ”

The soldiers under Shi Jianu were quite hard, and the reserves in winter were insufficient, so they had to go out and grab them in order to survive the winter. This area is the best to rob, and the rich is Tanglong Town, and it is a long time ago to make up your mind to rob it in winter.

After pacing back and forth for a few steps, Shi Jianu said: "Go to Tanglong Town to investigate carefully, which Song army is there and how many people there are." The weather is as cold as a day, and there are not many days left before the river is closed, so this matter must not be sloppy. How do we survive the winter without eating there? ”

The pro-soldier agreed, and asked in a low voice: "Lang Jun, where is the partial head village?" It is not far from us, and although there is no big road, the mountain path can be reached in a day or two. If we go to Tanglong Town, we are afraid that they will attack from behind. ”

Shi Jianu waved his hand impatiently: "How can the southerners have that guts?" Don't worry about him, just go and explore Tanglong Town! ”