Time flies by like a white horse. The obscure, dark, cold and chaotic winter passed quickly, and as the New Year passed, the weather warmed up day by day, and the temperature rose day by day. The snow and ice melted, the spring water swelled, the willows began to turn green, and the grass began to sprout. The air has begun to fill the air with the vigorous breath of spring, as if waiting for an opportunity to enter the spring scene of 'suddenly like a night of spring breeze, thousands of trees and pear blossoms'.

The situation in the world is the same, as the ice and snow melt and the earth rejuvenates, the northern and southern sides of the Liao State and the Jurchens, who have been dormant for a winter, are also ready. After months of recuperation, they had to fight for their own ends. The situation is as unstoppable as this spring, as unstoppable as the magma that is about to erupt from a volcano.

The territory of Dazhou is not quiet in this winter. Because of the increase in taxes, many poor families went bankrupt this winter. They had to sell what little they had to spend the New Year in exchange for two taels of silver. But this only solved the problem temporarily, and soon the desperate people were left in exile and begging, and became homeless.

Under the current circumstances, the Great Zhou court was simply not able to provide relief to the victims. In fact, it was the actions of the imperial court that caused such a situation, and the imperial court had not even completed the repayment of the compensation materials of the Liao State, so how could it have the spare strength to save these people. After Yang Jun was the privy envoy at the beginning, the displaced people still had a choice, that is, the young and strong refugees could get some military pay and food to support their families by joining the army, but this road had long been blocked. After Lü Zhongtian became the privy envoy, he completely adopted the opposite strategy, and when the situation in the outside world was so tense, Lü Zhongtian instead reduced a large number of troops in the border towns.

Lu Zhongtian's reason is actually very reasonable, a large number of soldiers in the border town are all mixed eating and waiting for death, and they do not have the ability to fight at all. To put it bluntly, it's a rabble. These people were raised in the hands of Yang Jun, although this had a sheltering effect on the homeless, but it cost a lot of money and food resources of the imperial court. And these have become a tool for Yang Jun to gain personal prestige and reputation in the army, and have made him Yang Jun and his cronies and generals in the army. At a time when the imperial court's finances were already collapsing, cutting these people could save a lot of money to tide over the difficulties. This is obviously a very compelling reason.

Another reason is that now that the Great Zhou and the Liao people have signed a peace agreement, as long as the Great Zhou fulfills the peace agreement, the Liao people will no longer use troops against the Great Zhou. Although something big happened within the Liao State, it was their own business, no matter who finally unified the Liao State, as long as the Great Zhou fulfilled the content of the peace agreement, there was no fear that the other party would attack the Great Zhou. From this point of view, the number of border town armies no longer needs to maintain the original huge number, as long as there are enough defensive forces.

These two reasons make the court have no room for refutation, indeed, the court is now unable to open the pot, if no measures are taken to make the fiscal and tax balance, then it is likely that even the officials will not be able to pay their money. Although many people questioned whether Lu Zhongtian's practice of saving silver taels in the army was wise, after all, the major affairs of the soldier country were the fundamental guarantee for the survival of the Great Zhou, and whether this would have an impact on the safety of the Great Zhou. However, in the face of the situation of not being able to receive it, many people kept their mouths shut. If the imperial court wants to tide over the difficulties, it will also have to live a life. Once you can't pay it, what can you do to maintain the expenses of the wives and concubines in the family, and what can you use to maintain a life of feasting and drinking? The mouth and stomach that are accustomed to eating wine and meat can't tolerate coarse tea and light rice. The body that is accustomed to wearing silk and satin can not wear coarse cloth garments. Life is not good, what national affairs do you care? What decency is there?

This winter, the number of soldiers and horses in the surrounding towns and localities was reduced from 1.2 million to 900,000. Of course, in order to appease Yuan Zhenqian's Northwest Army, none of the 250,000 Northwest Army was moved, and the main reduction was the garrison of the inland state capital and the border army on the northeast border. The garrisons of the state capitals were all cut in half to maintain law and order in their localities. For example, in a large state like Hangzhou, the Ning Navy stationed in the Ning Navy is a dual military establishment that maintains law and order at sea and on land, with more than 5,000 people in 10 battalions. Now only two thousand five hundred men of the first army remained. In fact, it is already difficult to ensure local law and order because the territory under its jurisdiction is too large, and it is absolutely extremely difficult for 2,500 people in Hangzhou to maintain law and order in this million-dollar city alone. Not to mention the counties under its jurisdiction and the coastal lands to the east.

The northeastern border town originally garrisoned 700,000, but after Yang Jun's defeat, the number of soldiers and horses was reduced to more than 400,000, and then it was quickly replenished to 600,000. This time, it was also cut off by forty percent, cutting more than 200,000 yuan, leaving only 3.67 million soldiers and horses stationed in the main border towns and cities. Except for the forbidden army and the Northwest Army, which were not reduced, all the soldiers and horses of the entire Great Zhou were cut.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers said that they would be cut and cut, and what Fang Dunru and Yan Zhengsu wanted to do but couldn't do until they died, it took Lu Zhongtian only two months to do it. It's really a quick knife to cut through the mess, and it seems that Prime Minister Lu's ability is much greater than that of Yan Fang and the others. However, people of insight are worried. At this time, the reduction of the army in order to reduce the financial pressure is obviously a practice of drinking water to quench thirst. In times of chaos, shouldn't it be more important to give priority to ensuring the stability of the armed forces, restoring the morale of the armed forces, and being prepared? Moreover, there have been displaced people in the Great Zhou, where will the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been laid off be placed? This is not only the livelihood of these hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but also the millions of families behind them. There are already displaced people, and coupled with this major disarmament move, I am afraid that the world will be in chaos.

The results soon became apparent, and the hungry and cold homeless people began to make trouble. In order to survive, they were just begging at first, and then some people began to rob houses and rob property, and some people even went around stealing and robbing, storming large households, and doing many murders and arsons. And the imperial court has only one strategy: suppression! Can't defeat the Liao people, can't they control these people? Under the orders of Lu Zhongtian, the soldiers and horses of the state capitals were unceremoniously suppressing the displaced people, and killed many people.

In short, in this gloomy winter, many people in the Great Zhou are struggling to survive, but they will never see the spring and sunshine they are looking forward to. Da Zhou, who once made them proud, has now become a devil who makes them unable to live and deprives them of the right to live. Instead of saving them when they needed them most, the Great Zhou court pushed them even more ferociously into the abyss of death. While the ordinary people were desperate, the ideals and beliefs of many scholars and officials also collapsed. The Great Zhou they want is by no means such a Great Zhou, the former Great Zhou has suddenly degenerated from a civilized Great Zhou that stresses benevolence and morality and people's livelihood in a short period of time, and suddenly becomes a violent and unsurvivable violence that makes the people of the world down. Politics, this is simply unacceptable.

Even some scholars and officials who are most loyal to the imperial court and will never make great changes in the imperial court, and are willing to forgive the emperor after his behavior of killing his father and brother and losing his morals and destructive behavior is confirmed, finally lost their confidence in the Great Zhou in the chaos in front of them. Some people tried to go to the court to change, but soon they were subjected to the harshest retribution under the authority of Lu Zhongtian. More people choose to leave. For a time, there were countless officials who retreated in the famous mountains and rivers. This is exactly what the millennium has done

The most despicable common disease of people. They think this is an expression of dissatisfaction and resistance, but in fact it is the most cowardly evasion and inaction, and the so-called self-cleansing is just a pretext for incompetence.

In the Funiu Mountains, the number of people who have defected in the past few months has reached its peak. Originally, Lin Jue had already sent people to recruit troops everywhere, but before that, there were not many people who dared to come and defect. Only the heroes of the green forest and the people who are not tolerated by the court will think of coming to Luoyan Valley. But anyone who still has a life and still has expectations for the court, and those who still have hope for the future will not choose to come to Luoyan Valley. In their hearts, these people in Luoyan Valley are rebels of the imperial court after all, equivalent to bandits who occupy the mountains as kings.

And Luoyan Valley is not for everyone, those murderers who have committed the crime of murder and arson and want to come to Luoyan Valley to take refuge will not only not be accepted, but will be directly captured because they are found out by Xuanyi Wei, and those who should be killed will be killed immediately. Those who do not agree with the concept of the Falling Goose Army, with their bandit habits, cannot adapt to the discipline and constrained life of the Falling Wild Goose Army, complain strange things, and even do some things that violate the rules and discipline will also be expelled or punished. Therefore, although the number of people in the Falling Wild Goose Valley has increased a lot in the past few years, the number of the Falling Wild Goose Army, which reflects the strength of the Falling Wild Goose Valley, has not grown explosively. By the New Year, after receiving Han Gang's subordinates, the total strength of the Luoyan army barely reached about 100,000. But that's not enough. Lin Jue didn't think that the more soldiers and horses, the better, but he knew that the strength of these 100,000 people was not enough to solve the problem.

After the New Year, especially after mid-February, the number of people who came to defect showed an explosive growth trend. Lin Jue, who paid close attention to the situation in the world, of course knew why, Lin Jue didn't want to comment on these practices of the Great Zhou Imperial Court, he only cared about the expansion of the strength of the Yan Army in this situation.

For the hungry and cold people, Lin Jue's order was to accept them all. There are still Shiren Mountain and the valley developed by Jiming Mountain, and there are many places in the mountain that can be used for them to settle down. Ensuring that the people can survive is something that must be done. Guo Kun personally came forward to settle these people who had defected, which was also what Lin Jue suggested to him. Lin Jue told Guo Kun that this is the best time for him to establish his good reputation, and the people's reputation will be established quickly at this time, which will be of great help in the future. Guo Kun thought so, came out of the grief of losing his father, and devoted himself to this matter day and night.

However, compared with the settlement of ordinary people, Lin Jue is much more cautious about the expansion of the army's selection of young and strong people. The army must maintain its purity, and he must not let the style of those imperial court soldiers and horses corrode the healthy and upward body of the Luoyan army. Therefore, although there were many defectors, after screening in physical fitness and other aspects, 10,000 people were successively incorporated into the Luoyan Army sequence.

As the news continued to spread all over the Great Zhou, the displaced people who had nowhere to survive knew that they could survive in the Funiu Mountain, and they continued to rush to come, and for a time the Luoyan Valley was overcrowded, bustling and noisy every day, and it was no longer quiet at the beginning.

Compared with the anxious and irritable emotions of the generals and officials in the mountains from time to time, Lin Jue was calm. This is a great time for generals and officials at all levels in the army and in the mountains to exercise their abilities. In the future, this group of people will have to assume greater responsibilities, they are not only facing the current situation, they are facing all kinds of things that hundreds of millions of people in the whole world are eating, drinking, and lazing, they must have enough patience and experience, and they must be competent and adapt to the role in the future. These things in front of them are an opportunity to train them.