Strange peace, strange peace. Some people feel ashamed of the mighty emperor's grace in their hearts, but the treasure of Wuyang County Shouyuan is very satisfied with the current situation. He privately calculated that in previous years, the county did not raise thieves with "peace money", and the money and food spent on county soldiers and war preparedness far exceeded the current expenses. But once the war was defeated, the many aftermath matters that followed, such as the compensation for those brothers who died in battle, the resettlement of orphans and widows who were left behind, and the money to buy off the high-ranking officials of the imperial court who did not pursue them, were not a small amount! Now, it's a hundred, and Zhang Jincheng is raised like a tiger and a lion, and he is too lazy to feed him. Wuyang County will be completely peaceful! Not only has defense spending plummeted, but there is no need to spend a lot of money from his own pocket to sprinkle it on the court to appease the anger of some people who need it when they need it.

Besides, this official mansion and the thief are safe, and it is not only good for his Yuan Baobao's career alone. Those homeless people who have lost their land and have no proper occupation to support their families will be a scourge sooner or later, and now they are running to Cheng Thief's side to reclaim the famine, but on the contrary, the government is sick. The counties near the Zhangshui River have already begun to bear fruit, and since a large number of displaced people have crossed the river, the law and order in the county town has improved considerably. For the government, the cost of daily patrols has been saved. For the rest of the people who didn't leave, the strength work was easier to find than before. This is something that is good for both public and private, so why not do it?

As for the long-term impact of this matter, Yuan Bao didn't think too much about it. To be honest, the Great Sui Dynasty can stand for a few more years, and no one can guarantee it. The emperor has been on the Liao expedition for three consecutive years, and every year he has not dealt with government affairs for more than eight months. This year, it was hard to stop the expedition to Liao, but on a whim to inspect the plug, at the end of February has already set off, all the way upstream to play in the mountains and rivers, it is said that until now has not reached the Great Wall. There is such a person as the emperor, and it is a matter of day and night for the Great Sui Dynasty to be tossed and laid down. Wouldn't it be foolish for an official not to think about a way out for himself?

Regarding the way out, Yuan Bao also quietly made plans. For more than 200 years, the imperial courts in the north and south of the Yangtze River have changed like lanterns, and every time the country changes hands, there are people who are ruined and ruined. But there will always be a group of wise men who are prescient and ready for change every time. Not only did his family not deteriorate because of the turbulence of the current politics, but from small to large, from unknown to famous, and gradually chased after those famous families from the two Han Dynasty. The surname of his Yuan Treasure is not noble, but it is not lowly if it goes back hundreds of years. If you can take advantage of the opportunity to change the dynasty and work hard, maybe within the next hundred years, there will be a three princes and nine secretaries.

Once you can be ranked as the third duke, even if it is only for a few months, it will be an inexhaustible glory for several lifetimes. According to the current folk tradition, from now on, his family will be a famous family that cannot be shaken. Why does the Xindu Zhang family move now, and half of Hebei is swaying, isn't it because his family and Zhang Zhao of the Three Kingdoms can climb to such a star? A certain dynasty is a very popular minister. If this goal can be achieved on Yuan Baobao, then wouldn't he have to be worshiped by the incense of the younger generations of the clan for hundreds of years?

For the sake of this noble goal in mind, Yuan Bao does not hesitate to take a small risk at certain moments. For example, when Yang Xuangan rebelled three years ago, he didn't move, for example, there were always some friends of unknown origin around him who walked back and forth. Another example is that he will take out a lot of money out of thin air at certain moments to buy some in-demand goods. Such as iron blocks, medicinal herbs, etc., and then at a time when no one else notices, these goods disappear silently. There are many mysteries that cannot be told to anyone. Including the henchman Wei Zheng, it can't be said explicitly. Anyway, the nursery rhyme of "peach and plum, the queen goes around Yangzhou ......" has been spread for so long, and those who should understand will naturally understand, and those who don't understand him don't believe it if you tell him.

For the above-mentioned reasons, inside and outside, Yuan Bao has always taken a blind attitude to the rumors circulating in the county. He never came forward to explain that Wei Zheng's actions were all secretly instructed by him, although many people knew that without his approval, Wei Zheng would definitely not be able to mobilize half a penny of grain from the treasury. Similarly, he didn't ask Wei Zheng about the whereabouts of the money and food, let alone the results of the implementation of the divisive plan. As if he had amnesia, he was relieved to be his own shopkeeper.

This kind of resigned attitude made Wei Zheng more and more able to let go of his hands and feet. At the beginning, it was limited to the exchange of letters, bargaining, and buying peace with money and grain, but later it developed to quietly do business with Juluze and Ping'en County. On the one hand, they bought the farm tools and seeds they urgently needed on behalf of the thieves, and on the other hand, they sent the valuables that Zhang and Cheng did not know where they got them to the shops in the city to sell the stolen goods on their behalf. No matter what the purpose of the official of the yamen tried to intervene, he ignored it.

How much benefit did Wei Zheng take from the transaction? Many people in Wuyang County were red-eyed and eager to know the details. They are not jealous of others getting rich, really, the conscience of heaven and earth, certainly not. They just stood in the proper position of the Great Sui officials, and felt that Wei Zheng would bring unexpected trouble to everyone by raising thieves like this. As for the extent of the trouble, they also can't say. But since ancient times, I have seen thieves robbing homes and houses, who has ever seen a thief being an official and a master? A thief does not act as a thief, but he is a very thief. Extraordinary thieves, the consequences may be limitless.

When someone passed through the mouth of Chu Wanjun, the main bookkeeper of Guangchu, tactfully and eagerly conveyed these words of Geng Geng's advice to Wei Zheng's ears, Lord Changshi just smiled slightly, like the wind. It wasn't until Chu Wanjun asked again and again, that Wei Zheng slowly picked up an unfinished history from the shelf and asked Chu to go back and refer to it himself.

It was a historical record that was revised by the Confucian scholars when Yang Guang organized the whim of today's son, and like the habit of this son of heaven to do other things, it was only a beginning, and there was no follow-up. But even the first few volumes are hundreds of thousands of words. Looking for the answer like a riddle in the hundreds of thousands of words of records, Chu Wanjun didn't try his best to guess why.

In the end, it was Chu Wanjun's old opponent Wei Deshen who couldn't stand it, and broke the mystery in one sentence: There is nothing new in the eyes of the so-called historians, if you want to know what Xuancheng is doing, take a closer look at the rise and fall of those chaotic people since the Han Dynasty, and you will understand. After Chu Wanjun heard the words, he worked hard, read history hard, from the green forest and red eyebrows, to the yellow scarf begging, and finally saw a clue behind the words. (Note 1)

Historically famous large-scale civil rebellions have inevitably gone through a very similar process. At first, they were forced to survive by some corrupt officials or the existing order, and had to take risks. Then they went crazy to loot, to destroy, to smash everything they thought was unreasonable, and to burn everything they were not used to. But when the resentment in their hearts is vented, and at the same time, the surrounding area is destroyed into a barrenness. They will regain their ability to survive, cultivating the land and building houses. When there is food in the house and women in the house, they slowly become the defenders of order and the defenders of interests. and the later saboteurs, whether it is the official army or peers, did not hesitate to fight to the death.

Destroying order, destroying wealth, and when there is nothing to rob, they create wealth, and then establish order. If you turn a blind eye to the bloodshed of millions of corpses in history, you can calmly summarize a similar pattern. They are destroyers and defenders at the same time. They may well be the enders of one era and the beginning of another. But they never have the last laugh, they are always used and squandered by those who have a heart, until they are thrown into the cesspool after squeezing out all their value. At that time, all the sins will be blamed on their heads, and all the credit and glory will be rightfully appropriated by the wise men.

Measured by the same law, Zhang Jin said that Chu Wanjun was almost so frightened by his own thoughts that he shivered. He clearly saw that in the past few years, Zhang Jiajun has followed the same trajectory as those rebels in history. At the beginning, every city that was destroyed was slaughtered. This is followed by killing only the resisters and taking supplies from the heads of the obedients. Then, they tried to build a new home near Juluze, tried to reclaim the fields, and tried to create a happy land. Cheng Mingzhen's actions in Ping'en did not jump out of the fate of history at all. It's just that he has changed a little faster than those predecessors in history, and Wei Zheng's deliberate indulgence has increased this transformation speed to the fastest.

Next, there will be a fight to preserve the existing order and wealth. Bloody battles may have taken place between the officers and soldiers and the settled thieves, or perhaps between the thieves themselves. Status, prestige, subordinates, and food will all become reasons to draw the sword.

In an instant, Chu Wanjun, the main bookkeeper of Guangchu, was ecstatic to understand the direction of history. After the intense joy, he felt a deep sorrow for the fate of the characters in it. He finally understood why Wei Zheng's smile was calm, it was a kind of calm of a bystander and a promoter. It's like watching a guy with whom he has a grudge walking towards the well, about to jump, but he doesn't pity him at all, and he doesn't have any reason to stop it, and even gently pushes him from behind. It was a cold calm that required a great deal of willpower. Need to treat the guy who is about to die in sleepwalking as his own kind. You need to see yourself as a god, turning your hands into clouds and your hands into rain!

After thinking about this, Chu Wanjun, the chief bookkeeper of Guangchu, looked at the eyes of the little officials Tang Zuwang and Wei Zheng and others, and there was no longer any envy and jealousy. Every time he watched Tang Zuwang hurrying west with Wei Zheng's letter, he understood that the giant deer group was one step closer to destruction. The so-called male ploughing and female weaving, light tax and light labor; The so-called work together to build a happy land; It's just a dream. How can there be any peach blossom paradise in this world? All the endings have been clearly written in the annals of history, and they are clear, but the sleepwalker is unaware.

Note 1: A group of Han rebels in the Northern Dynasties. At first, it was just to save his life, but gradually he became a separatist force.