Chapter 5030: Digging out the Five Ridges
Fang Jun took a sip of tea, took the letter, and read it at a glance.
Zhang Zixuan's father, Zhang Junzheng, had been working in Shaozhou for many years. Because Shaozhou was far away from Lingnan and it was inconvenient to communicate with Fan Yang, he even moved his family there. The letter mentioned that Shaozhou is located at the southern foot of Lingnan, and is adjacent to Dayuling, one of the five ridges, in the north. The mountains are spread across the country and the roads are obliterated. The place is extremely poor.
Zhang Junzheng has served in Shaozhou for many years. He visited various places, went deep into the mountains and forests, and observed the terrain. He then had the ambition to dig mountains and connect the north and the south. He also made survey maps and made detailed designs. However, Shaozhou was too far away from Guangzhou, the Lingnan Dao Administration Office. With a small population, it was difficult to gather enough corvees, and there was also a shortage of money and food. There were many excuses from officials at the top and bottom, so it was shelved for many years.
This time Zhang Zixuan came to Beijing to take the exam, and he was specially ordered to bring a letter to visit him, hoping that Fang Jun could advise His Majesty to drill through Dayu Ridge...
Putting down the letter, Fang Jun frowned and thought.
The name Lingnan comes from the "south of the Five Ridges". The five mountains stretch from east to west and isolate the north from the south. Before the Qin Dynasty, it was a smog-stricken land where barbarians were trapped and had not entered the Central Plains since ancient times.
Qin Shihuang unified the six kingdoms, and his ambition never faded. He vowed to "conquer the king of Baiyue in the south" and sent Tu Sui to lead 500,000 Qin troops to attack Lingnan. After ten years of war and the loss of countless elite troops, the Qin army basically occupied Lingnan. .
Immediately, Qin Shihuang established the captured Lingnan area into three counties: Guilin, Xiangjun, and Nanhai, officially incorporating Lingnan into the territory of Qin.
When Qin fell, Zhao Tuo raised troops to cut off the road from Wuling to the Central Plains, established the Nanyue Kingdom, and called himself "King Wu of Nanyue". In the sixth year of Yuanding, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Fubo General Lu Bode and Louchuan General Yang Pu to lead a large army to pacify South Vietnam, and established Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinan, Daner, and Zhuya. Nine counties.
However, due to the isolation of the Five Ridges and the lack of navigation technology, travel was extremely inconvenient. Although Lingnan was nominally under the jurisdiction of the central government, it was actually isolated from the central government and acted on its own.
In order to facilitate the supervision of officials in various counties, the Han Dynasty established thirteen permanent supervisory agencies, called the "Thirteen Departments". Among them, the Jiaozhi Department in Guangxin County, Cangwu County was specifically responsible for correcting the nine counties in Lingnan.
From ancient times to the present, Lingnan has been under the jurisdiction of the central government and is nominally the territory of a country. In fact, it has always been outside the central government, just like a "country within a country."
To this day, although Feng Ang has already sworn loyalty to the Tang Dynasty and recognized the officials sent by the Tang Dynasty, the land of Lingnan is always under his control. The world calls him the "King of Lingnan". The two generations of emperors Gaozu and Taizong were wise. Shenwu could only comfort Feng An.
What Zhang Junzheng said in his letter was not entirely true. Under the circumstances that the central government had enough gunpowder to open the mountain, the biggest obstacle preventing him from drilling through the Dayu Mountains to connect the north and the south was not manpower, nor money and food, but Feng Ang.
The navy travels across the sea, and the center can mobilize troops into Lingnan at any time by sea. However, sea navigation is slow, and there are very few ports that can dock large ships and provide landings for large armies. There is only one in Guangzhou, even if the center has no control over Feng Ang. If there is some dissatisfaction, there is a lot of time for the situation to change.
But once the Dayu Ridge is drilled through, the north and the south are instantly connected, and the army can cross the Dayu Ridge and enter Lingnan continuously, and Feng Anzhi's power is gone.
Of course, historically, Dayuling was indeed drilled through during the Tang Dynasty and connected from north to south.
But who has accomplished this feat?
It seems to be... Zhang Jiuling?
……
Fang Jun put down the letter, took a sip of tea, and asked Zhang Zixuan: "The benefits of drilling through Dayu Mountain are countless, but it also hinders everything and is full of difficulties. The most difficult part is you..."
Having said this, he turned around and asked his mother, Lu: "How should I be called?"
Lu waved her hand and said: "You two are equals, you should call me brother!"
Fang Jun: "..."
Mom, don’t you understand my current status?
They are just distant relatives. Sitting together and talking has already given the world face, and they still call him brother?
I can call out, but you ask him if he dares to respond?
Sure enough, Zhang Zixuan had already stood up, with a look of fear on his face: "Xiaguan was no more than a Cang Cao in Shan County before. How can I dare to be arrogant if I don't have an official rank? Xiaguan is good at words, and the Taiwei can call Xiaguan Biaozi."
Fang Jun looked at his mother and raised his eyebrows with a hint of pride. Your son Guan'er is a grown-up boy. You have to know something about it and don't always take it lightly...
He turned his head, asked Zhang Zixuan to take his seat again, and continued: "...Zizhou, your father is determined to dig Dayu Ridge. Among the many difficulties, which one do you think is the most difficult?"
Zhang Zixuan said respectfully: "Of course it is Duke Geng."
In the fifth year of Wude, Feng Ang accepted Li Jingzhi's appeal and led his subordinates to submit to the Tang Dynasty.
The great ancestor Li Yuan established eight states of Gao, Luo, Chun, Bai, Ya, Dan, Lin and Zhen in Feng Ang's jurisdiction. He appointed Feng Ang as the general manager of Shangzhu State and Gaozhou, and granted him the title of Duke of Wu. Soon after, he changed the title to Duke of Yue and appointed Feng Ang. An's son Feng Zhidai was the governor of Chunzhou, and Feng Zhiyu was the governor of Donghezhou.
Soon, Emperor Gaozu changed the title of Feng Ang to Duke Geng.
Fang Jun nodded: "It seems that you and your son have already made a plan..."
After a pause, his smile faded, his face was serious, and his momentum was overwhelming: "Feng Ang is a person who is powerful in Lingnan, powerful, and has sharp weapons. Even His Majesty is afraid of him. If I suppress him with the great righteousness of the center, he will not stop the chisel." How can I just give up on crossing Dayu Mountain? If this leads to chaos in Lingnan, or even a sudden war, I will be the sinner of the Tang Dynasty!"
"Huh?"
Mrs. Lu was shocked. She just thought that her old relatives came to ask for help. With her current position of power, she would help her if it was not too troublesome.
Who would have expected that it might lead to chaos in Lingnan?
She is the daughter of the Fan Yang Lu family. She has been familiar with classics and history since she was a child. Of course she understands how much responsibility her son will bear once such consequences occur.
He suddenly became angry and glared at Zhang Zixuan with raised eyebrows: "I treat each other as old relatives with sincerity. How can you, father and son, deceive my son?"
Princess Gaoyang, who had been silent, was also dissatisfied: "Who are you relatives? Please leave quickly and never interact with us again!"
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Zhang Zixuan quickly stood up and left his seat, stood in the hall, bowed his head to the ground, and said with a wry smile: "Your Highness, calm down, aunt, calm down! According to common sense, what the Taiwei said is indeed possible, but now the situation has changed, and common sense cannot be used Save it.”
Mrs. Lu glanced at her son who was drinking tea steadily, stared at Zhang Zixuan and asked, "What do you mean by this?"
Zhang Zixuan spread his hands and said: "Because Feng An is going to die!"
The Lu family also knew that Feng An had overwhelming power in Lingnan and would not hesitate to rebel and cede territory to become king if he was pushed too far. But without Feng An, even if the Feng family was still there, the situation would be very different.
However, she did not want her son to take any risks and said flatly: "Then wait until Feng An is dead!"
Zhang Zixuan had no choice but to look at Fang Jun and said sincerely: "Drilling through the Great Yu Mountains is actually the same as creating the world. There are tens of thousands of corvees in the government, countless money and food are consumed, and the required construction period is unpredictable. If Wait until Feng Ang dies before discussing Isn't this a waste of time? The people of Shaozhou have been isolated from Wuling for a long time! We can discuss whether this is feasible first, and if it is feasible, we will make preparations and dig it out as soon as Feng Ang dies!
Fang Jun still frowned: "Where did you get this news?"
To this day, neither the imperial court nor the Navy has any news that Feng An is seriously ill and has not been sick for long. Otherwise, additional troops would have been sent to take precautions.
Feng Ang is like a pillar holding up the sky in Lingnan. Once this pillar collapses, no one knows what will happen.
Zhang Zixuan said: "My father has served in Lingnan for many years. Although he is only in one state, he has extensive contacts. He has frequent contacts with the Feng family and has always had close friendships. Now, visits to the Feng family's old house in Gaozhou have been banned for a long time. Lingnan Everyone at the top and bottom suspects that Geng Guogong is seriously ill, but there is no evidence, so they can only inquire from top to bottom. The source of the information from my father is absolutely accurate, and the court should make a decision as soon as possible. "
Fang Jun immediately stood up and said to Lu: "Feng Ang's decision to claim the throne in Lingnan is tantamount to demarcating territory in Lingnan. His life and death are of great importance. I will take my son to the palace to see your majesty, and then we will discuss whether to dig a large Yuling.”
Lu said hurriedly: "Go quickly, go quickly!"
He also warned: "Since Zizhou has passed the imperial examination and passed the imperial examination, he will have to select and appoint officials next. You have a very good relationship with the prince of Hejian County. If necessary, you might as well fight for Zizhou in front of the prince. You must always find a way to win." A prosperous and stable place will do. Don’t go to Lingnan, thousands of miles away from home, where life is difficult in a remote place like his father did.”
The old lady recognized her relatives very much. Although Zhang Zixuan did not mention the need for the Fang family to take care of his career during this visit, she firmly believed that this matter did not need to be mentioned. As long as he came to recognize the relatives, the Fang family had an obligation. Go take care of this.
Besides, that would be enough to dig up Dayuling Mountain. She didn't understand the entanglement of interests involved, but her son had a very good relationship with Li Xiaogong, the current minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Just one sentence?
Relatives are like this. If you can help, don't stand idly by. No matter whether it's a family or an aristocratic family, isn't this how generations of ancestors have stayed together and helped each other?
Zhang Zixuan hurriedly said: "My aunt is kind, and my nephew appreciates it. However, the purpose of this visit is to dig up the Dayu Mountains to benefit the people. This is official business. I must not shamelessly seek the Taiwei's care. Although my nephew He has little talent and little knowledge, but he doesn’t dare to disregard the laws of the country.”
When he said this, Mrs. Lu became more and more interested in him. A young man who was independent of connections, down-to-earth and talented, would not have any worries even if he violated some principles to help him.
Then he stood up and stepped forward, saying angrily: "Relatives should help each other, why should we imitate those pedantic people? Don't worry about this matter, just let Erlang take care of it."
Then he said to Fang Jun: "Zizhou is thin-skinned, and I'm embarrassed to ask for help. You just have to be considerate." Fang Jun was helpless, but what could he do if his old mother said this?
"Don't worry, mother, I have my own opinion."