The entire imperial court, including Li Ji, did not expect that the march to Xichuan would be so smooth.

The military department even prepared for the worst, after all, Xichuan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Shu Road is difficult, and it is difficult to go to the sky.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Nuoyan's Ma Bujun and Ling Hu Yunlong's Xiao Cavalry Army were like bamboos all the way, and they didn't encounter decent resistance at all.

The Xichuan army can fight, but in front of the powerful firearms of the imperial court, it is like a papier-mâché house, and it will fall down with a light push.

More importantly, those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and the soldiers of the forbidden army are deeply touched.

There is no way in the feudal town, and the people are not happy. They were overwhelmed by heavy taxes, exploited by the landlord class at various levels, and colluded with officials and businessmen, and the phenomenon of selling children and daughters abounded.

Now the imperial army is coming, they are attacking the city, opening warehouses and releasing grain to help the people. The local officials were all appointed and dismissed by the king of Shu, and they exploited corruption and preyed on the people. The court did not recognize it, so these state officials were either beheaded and sacrificed to heaven, or they were sent to prison and exiled. The oppressed people clapped their hands and applauded, and everyone praised the Son of Heaven.

Importantly, and most importantly, all the land that had been sold to the landlords was taken back by the imperial court and distributed to the people.

Li Ji's cleverness lies in the fact that he did not beat the landlord class to death with a stick. All the captured cities, the big landlords kept one-fifth of their original land, the rest was confiscated by the imperial court, and those who dared to resist were imprisoned.

Most of the land annexed by these landlords was expropriated by the imperial court, but they themselves still retained the original land, so although these landlords hated the imperial court very much, they did not dare to rebel after all.

In the past, whether it was a peasant uprising or a court reform of the land, there would be strong resistance from the landlord class.

Why did so many uprisings fail, in addition to the suppression of the imperial court, they were more resisted by the landlord class. Because you moved their cheese, it was actually these landlord classes that really mattered to the rise or fall of the country.

In the same way, the reason why so many changes failed was also because of the opposition of the landlord class. The change of law is nothing more than to prevent land annexation, so that those big landlords will naturally fiercely oppose it.

Why the general trend of the world must be divided for a long time, and it must be divided for a long time, or because of the land.

Generally, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the entire upper and lower classes were reshuffled, and the common people were able to get some land. As long as the emperor does not die, there will generally be a period of prosperity.

But in the end, often after a few hundred years, the land begins to slowly be annexed. A wise king will find a way to implement a series of reforms, such as changing the law.

The purpose of the reform was to prevent the land from being annexed by the landlords, so it would be under strong pressure.

If the change is successful, the world will be stable. If the reform fails, the land annexation will be doubled as serious, and in the end, the people will have no choice but to rise up.

Since Li Ji can't catch up with the prosperous times in this era, there are certain benefits to catching up with the troubled times, that is, it is easy to shuffle. Break up the original landlord class and return the land to the people.

As long as the people have land, the world will be stable, and everyone will be fed and clothed, who is willing to fight.

Half of Xichuan is in the hands of the imperial court, and every time he grabs a city, he first takes the big landlord.

The landlords' original land was repossessed and redistributed. The court issued a title deed to each family, and the land belonged to the people, but the people did not have the right to buy and sell.

In other words, the sale of land is not officially recognized, which is not legal. Unless expropriated by the imperial court, land can be replaced or contracted, but not bought and sold, mainly to prevent future land annexation.

The landlords kept a part of the original land, and as long as you were willing to cooperate, the court would not go too far.

In addition, all the spheres of influence occupied by the imperial court were taxed from the original 30 to 50 to 1 to live with the people.

That is to say, it turned out that the imperial court needed to pay a tax of one catty to the imperial court for thirty catties of grain. This kind of tax system has been around since the Han Dynasty, and sometimes when the state is short of money, it will increase the tax and change it to 15 or 12 taxes, which is easy to cause social unrest.

In Xichuan, which Wang Jian occupied, the policy of twelve taxes and one tax has been implemented. This is not counting, every year conscription, military service, all kinds of overt excesses and miscellaneous taxes emerge in an endless stream, Xichuan has already become a hell on earth, if it is not for the imperial army to come, it will be a matter of time before the officials force the people to rebel.

Fifty taxes and one, Li Ji created a record low. The tax revenue of the imperial court will be greatly reduced, and it is easy to cause the phenomenon of the country being poor and the people rich.

In order to prevent this, Li Ji ordered that land taxes could be reduced or reduced, but the taxes on salt and iron monopolies and commerce increased.

As a result, the imperial court's tax revenue not only did not decrease, but increased even more than before.

In particular, the monopoly of salt and iron, which has led to the reduction of the cost of salt and iron in various places.

Fifty taxes were one, and the imperial court also distributed land to the people for free. The reason why Xiao Nuoyan and Linghu Yunlong took Xichuan so lightning was not only their own powerful military equipment, but also inseparable from the support of the people.

They do not take a single grass or tree from the people, and they do not take a single rice or grain from the people. However, every time a battle is won, the people will spontaneously organize to send food and drink to these officers and soldiers.

Chengdu Mansion, the original country of abundance, has now been made into a miasma by Wang Jian. The combined forces of Xiao Nuoyan and Linghu Yunlong had arrived outside the city, and the only remaining remnants of Wang Jian were in danger.

Wang Jian's eyes were red, and his eyes were full of morbid madness: "Order the three armies, defend the city walls, and those who dare to retreat will be killed!"

Operating in Xichuan for decades, Wang Jian also has his own diehards. These die-hard loyalists are all elites who trample on the bones of the people, and the family business accumulated with the people's fat and ointment makes them die for Wang Jian.

They knew that once the city was broken, their fate would not be much stronger than Wang Jian's. So these die-hard loyalists played with their lives, and they decided to swear to live and die with Chengdu.

Wang Jian's family finances, which have been in business for decades, have all moved out. Bed crossbows, infantry chariots, stone-throwing carts, heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, more than 100,000 people, the last family base.

War!

Worthy of being a vassal king, Wang Jian showed the last madness of being a feudal town.

Different from previous siege battles, Wang Jian actually took the initiative to attack this time. Especially his heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, and heavy armor made them almost invulnerable.

On the left, it is Xiao Nuoyan's horse infantry army, and on the right, Linghu Yunlong's cavalry army. The two armies converged, and the left and right sides fought in concert.

Wang Jian is not covered, the heavy cavalry is under his general Xia Chao, this person can fight well, but he is a tiger general.

Ma Chun, the general of the heavy infantry, was a rare general, and the two led the troops out of the city to fight against the imperial army.

Rockets, the shock is greater than its power. It is specially used to deal with cavalry and frighten the horses.

This time it failed, and the rocket hit the heavily armored cavalry, and these cavalry, including the war horses, were heavily armoured, and the feathered arrows were difficult to hurt.

As for the explosive power of rockets, these war horses are all trained, and they are unmoved.

The heavy armored cavalry attacked Xiao Nuoyan's horse infantry army, because it was wrapped in heavy armor and the sword was difficult to hurt, and the horse infantry army was forced to retreat.

Similarly, the cavalry of the Fox Yunlong Xiao cavalry on the right was also blocked by Ma Chun's heavy infantry in the army.

Heavy infantry, as the name suggests, is that the infantry is all wrapped in heavy armor, and they enter through the wall, which is impermeable.

As soon as Linghu Yunlong fought with him, he was immediately forced to retreat by his invincible human wall tactics.

This heavy infantry can only be blown up unless a heavy powder pack is used. But Fox Yunlong and Xiao Promise both made the same mistake, they were too underestimating the enemy.

Advancing all the way, there are few opponents, making them think that the Xichuan army is vulnerable. It wasn't until outside the city of Chengdu that they tasted the power of the Xichuan army.

Because they were in a hurry, the two were greedy for merit, and without waiting for the firearms battalion to arrive, they fought with the Xichuan army outside the city, and the forbidden army suffered a lot of losses.

Wang Jian's two hoplite infantry were his killer weapons. He originally wanted to wait for the future to compete for the world and the feudal towns, but now he was forced by the imperial court, and he had to be exposed in advance.

The heavily armed army has always been a powerful army, and the golden thief and golden vulture used the iron floating slaughter to dominate the world, and it was not until he encountered a war wizard like Yue Fei that he annihilated it.

However, these hoplites have a drawback, and that is poor mobility.

Fortunately, the forbidden army did not suffer major losses. The heavily armored ironclad pressed forward step by step, and the soldiers of the forbidden army retreated step by step, but fortunately, relying on the wooden-handled grenades in their waists, they did not dare to let the Xichuan ironclad army get too close.

Even the bronze pimple grenade had limited lethality to these heavy iron armor, and Xiao Nuoyan and Ling Hu Yunlong were still forced to retreat to Mianzhou, two hundred miles away from Chengdu Prefecture.

In the first battle outside the city, the Xichuan army thwarted the spirit of the forbidden army, and the morale of the landing was greatly boosted.

The Nishikawa army cheered, believing that they had seen the dawn of victory.

Only Wang Jian himself knew that this was just the first confrontation, and the forbidden army was just a strategic retreat, and they had no substantial losses at all.

In order to appease the army, Wang Jian still pretended to win a big victory and celebrated with the soldiers in the city slaughtering cattle and sheep.

In the Mianzhou camp, Xiao Nuoyan and Linghu Yunlong joined forces, and the two sighed in the tent.

"Brother Linghu, when will your firearms battalion arrive?"

"Brother Xiao, when is your firearms battalion coming?"

The two asked each other almost in unison, and then the two smiled bitterly, and Xiao Nuoyan said first: "It will be two months at the earliest, and we will move forward lightly." The firearms battalion is well-equipped, and it will take two months to catch up at the earliest. ”

Linghu Yunlong sighed: "Our cavalry army is similar, we all blame me for being too light on the enemy, I didn't expect this Wang Jian to be willing to spend his blood to create such an ironclad army."

"Wait, then we'll just have to wait for the firearms battalion to come." Xiao Nuoyan sat down cross-legged, but he felt that it didn't matter.

Linghu Yunlong was a little uneasy: "You said that if Your Majesty knew about the two of us today, he would definitely scold the two of us to death."

"Scold, scold, this scolding must have been scolded. Brother Linghu, when you go back, lend me a copy of the defeated letter to the Son of Heaven. Xiao Nuoyan said nonchalantly.

Ling Hu Yunlong was taken aback: "You dare to copy this?"

"What are you afraid of, we lost this time, but our casualties are very small. My soldiers were killed and wounded two or three hundred, but the ironclad army built by Wang Wang was also killed by us, and the two sides were evenly divided. Xiao Nuoyan knew Li Ji's temper, this time they were defeated, fortunately there were not many soldiers injured, and it was expected that the emperor would scold a few words at most.

Linghu Yunlong was a little worried: "But after all, we are defeated, and we have retreated more than 200 miles, and the Xichuan army is even more carried away."

"The soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, what are you afraid of. As soon as our firearms battalion arrives, I'm afraid that they won't be able to do anything! Xiao Nuoyan said disdainfully.

As the chief general of the Mabu Army, Xiao Nuoyan is also frivolous, but in fact he is very cautious in the use of soldiers. This time he was really dizzy, he thought that Chengdu Mansion was also as weak as the Xichuan army in other Zhuzhou towns.

Sure enough, after Li Ji knew about the defeat in the first battle of Chengdu Mansion, he issued an order to scold.

Xiao Nuoyan was drinking in the tent, and there was a deer leg on the table. Drink wine in a big bowl, eat meat in a big piece, and life is not happy.

"You still have the heart to drink, the edict has come down." Ling Hu Yunlong walked in dejectedly.

Xiao Nuoyan's hands were greasy: "Scolding us, right?"

"It's not just scolding, Your Majesty can't twist your dog's head off."

"Tell me what you're scolding." Xiao Nuoyan wiped his greasy hands on his body, the eldest husband is informal, and the battlefield warrior doesn't like sissies, his clothes are rags.

"See for yourself." Linghu Yunlong threw the edict to him.

Xiao Nuoyan opened it and glanced at it: "It's good to scold, I'm afraid that Your Majesty won't scold and say something that is not your fault with me, so Your Majesty will really be disappointed in the two of us." Since Your Majesty has scolded me like this, I will be at ease. ”

"Cheap bones, don't you feel uncomfortable if you don't get scolded?" After getting along for a long time, the two have become brothers, so Hu Yunlong is very joking.

Xiao Nuoyan smiled and put away the edict: "Don't say it, Your Majesty scolds me twice, I'm more comfortable." I'm afraid that he will be praised every day, so I'm afraid. What do you think, what is the purpose of praise every day, that is, to let us win the battle next time. I'm being praised for being on pins and needles, for fear of getting out of the half-point pool. This time it's good, this time I was scolded, and I won't be so nervous next time I fight. ”

Unexpectedly, Hu Yunlong sighed empatheticly: "Yes, when I first entered Xichuan, I captured three or four cities one after another. His Majesty's edicts of commendation were one after another, which made me tremble, for fear that there would be a little basket, so that His Majesty's edicts would not be a joke. I didn't dare to slack off, and I fought all the way to Chengdu. ”

"Well, that's where Your Majesty's cleverness comes in. I don't dare to let go of forcing you, and I'm not much easier than you when I call you all the way. If you want me to say, our defeat outside the city of Chengdu Mansion is also the fault of His Majesty. If he hadn't pressed so hard step by step, we wouldn't have been greedy for merit and would have started fighting without waiting for the firearms battalion to come. Xiao Nuoyan picked up the wine bowl and took another sip.

Linghu Yunlong was easily brought in, he nodded, and then shook his head violently again: "Nonsense, we are in a hurry, how dare you involve the Son of Heaven."

"Didn't I just tell you," Xiao Nuoyan said and opened the edict again, and then he was stunned: "This, what is this?"

What he said was a passage at the back of the edict, which Hu Yunlong had already read: "That is the technique of breaking the enemy taught by His Majesty, even if there is no firearms battalion, according to His Majesty's method, we can break his ironclad soldiers!"