Chapter 3 Troubled Times Descend Section 39 There is a loan but no return

Under the command of Zhang He, the ironclad army, armed to the teeth, braved the sparse arrows and rushed towards the gate of the fortress with great momentum.

On the side of the wall, the firewood and grass that had just been extinguished by the soil still looked hot. Enduring the high temperature, several pikemen shouted and plunged their spears into the firewood. With a "rise", red, ember firewood flew in the air and fell into the distance.

Immediately, the swordsmen stepped forward to remove the dirt, pulled the unburned firewood and grass to the side of the road, and extinguished the remaining flames with water and earth. The axemen shouted and rushed to the gate, and several axes split open the rotten wooden door.

The city was broken, and the rolling iron streams poured into the wall. On the wall, the last resistance disappeared completely. If you don't pay attention, the wall is empty in an instant.

It's amazing, it's faster than me. I beat my horse and rushed to the gate with the crowd, and when I walked through the gate, I waved my whip and gave an order: "Bulldoze the mountain and reinstall the gate." Archers climbed the wall and took over the defense. ”

In Liu Bu's Mansion, the surviving diehards gathered together to make a final struggle. Zhang He commanded his soldiers to destroy a house next to the gate of the mansion and find a thick beam. Immediately afterwards, 20 soldiers carried the beams and prepared to ram the palace gate.

"Wait, wait," I shouted, slapping my horse and galloping to the door.

"What are you doing, banging on the door?" I gasped and asked Zhang He urgently, and without waiting for him to answer, I immediately gave an urgent order: "Hit the wall, hit what door?" Knock the wall down for me. ”

It's a pity that such a good big wooden door was broken. This door is ours now, and if it breaks, I'll have to find another piece of wood to repair it. Is it easy for a tree to grow, and how environmentally friendly it is to cut it down and make a door. Saving a single piece of wood is to prevent desertification and make a contribution to China's environmental protection, and I will slowly instill this truth in them.

The wall is made of masonry, even if it is destroyed, just take some masonry and repair it, save money. Also, don't use the beam that was used to hit the wall, it's good to use it to make furniture afterwards.

I watched with a heartache as the beams hit the wall all at once, fortunately, this thin courtyard wall could not withstand the tossing of a few big men with thick beams, and it collapsed in a few strokes. Following the collapsed opening, soldiers swarmed in.

There was no resistance, and when the ironclad army poured in, the family in the courtyard turned pale, threw down the weapons in their hands in despair, and knelt on the ground trembling. Now, there is no point in resisting in vain.

However, the kneeling family members on the ground made the soldiers very unhappy. Under my education, these Izumo Castle soldiers all had the concept that no one knelt except the deceased, the emperor, and the gods. It was a great disrespect and a great offense to kneel before them, and to kneel down as if they were the dead, as if they had just come out of the battlefield.

One of the axe men who entered the courtyard first stepped forward in annoyance and whipped them with the handle of the axe: "Bastard, don't kneel, sit cross-legged." The axeman's idea quickly resonated, and the reprimand of "sit cross-legged" rang out in the courtyard.

In the midst of a shout, Zhang He turned over and dismounted, and immediately ordered: "Scatter around, search closely, and bring all the people to the lord." ”

I turned over and dismounted, Zhang He pointed to a big willow tree in the courtyard, and said with great interest: "My lord, this tree is just shading, and it is good to set up a seat with the lord under the tree." ”

I looked up, a big willow tree, only to see three or two big branches stretched out into the air, the filaments hung low, lush, the breeze came slowly, the filaments flew all over the sky, will be at this time, sitting under the tree, must be in a cool mood. When the cloak is the wind, it is also a joy in the world.

"Put the stool under the tree, did Liu Bu catch it? Take me under the tree. "I command with great interest.

Under the trees, the wind is rustling, insects chirping, birds chirping, ......; I was enjoying the spring breeze comfortably, and the cheers arose, and the soldiers caught the main culprit Liu Bu.

looked at Liu Bu kneeling in front of him, more than 50 years old, and his fat lips gave him a simple expression. It is really unseemly, such an honest person dares to gather soldiers and attack the ironclad army. I touched my chin, secretly thinking about how to deal with him in order to make an example of him.

Out of the crowd came a clean man, struggling desperately in front of me, and was knocked to the ground by the guards at my feet, and lay on the ground, he looked up and down at my countenance.

Turning his head to Liu Bu, he said happily: "Liu Gong, look, I said that there will inevitably be a king sitting under this big willow tree, and now it has come true." ”

Then he looked at me flatteringly, and said flatteringly: "When I saw the general today, he was indeed the face of a king." It's a pity that I am only a shallow learner, and today I know that the appearance of this king has not been fulfilled in Liu Gong. Dare to ask, is the general under the tree surnamed Liu? ”

Nonsense, I don't have the surname Liu, who has the surname Liu? Liu Bei came to exterminate the civil unrest, who else doesn't know about Le'an? Knowingly asking?

It seems that I met an ancient crook.

But who else in this day and age knows more about deception than I do. Over the years of business, what I have seen and experienced is the deception of China and the West that has been accumulated over thousands of years. For example, magic is used as a special function to deceive the people; spells that pretend to be haunted by scientific principles and fool the ignorant people; counterfeit medicines that cure all diseases; sky-high fake advertising;

In addition, those who maintain social order organize the underworld; law enforcement officers engage in favoritism and irregularities, knowing the law and breaking the law; the trading of money and power in the power hierarchy; corrupt officials who impassionedly issued anti-corruption manifestos, and so on.

Compared with those modern people, this liar's deception is a little more tender, and it is too naïve to rely on such two sentences to survive. This kind of sycophant is too pediatric, and I have a lot of sycophants in my pocket like this, and I am more advanced than him.

"There is a king sitting under the tree," this statement startled Zhang He, and he immediately flashed out of the shade of the tree and stood in the sun, observing me with admiration. When the soldiers nearby heard this, they all straightened up, clenched their swords and axes, and looked at me with awe.

I stretched lazily, glanced at him nonchalantly, and asked in a somewhat angry voice, "Who are you to dare to say this." Do you know that this is a rebellious statement? ”

The man thought that I would eat his set, and he shouted to the attendant fearlessly: "Let go of me, let go of me, I will talk to your lord, I haven't seen you." ”

I looked at him with interest, and then bowed my head, and the guards immediately let go of their hands, and the man was dressed proudly and ready to stand up. Li Wei kicked him in the crook of the knee and scolded: "Who told you to stand up, sit down cross-legged and talk." ”

The man looked angry, raised his head and wanted to defend a few words, but when he saw that my face had changed, and he had an unkind expression, he endured it and swallowed it.

His face tightened, and the man said proudly and loudly: "I am Xiangkai, a warlock from Jizhou, and you have heard this name." ”

Xiangkai, sure enough, I was really lucky to meet the number one liar in the Three Kingdoms. It is said that he was the most famous warlock of his time, and in the 6th year of Guanghe, that is, last year, the year before the Yellow Turban Rebellion, this person said on the seat of Wang Fen, the assassin of Jizhou: "The recent celestial phenomena are extremely unfavorable to the eunuchs, and those Yellow Gates and Chang Servants are afraid that they will be wiped out." ”

When Wang Fen heard this, he was convinced of this, and said without distinguishing between the true and the false: "If that's the case, I'm willing to do such a thing." Immediately, in the name of the Black Mountain bandits plundering the territory, he gathered an army and prepared to take the opportunity to raise troops.

Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was originally the Marquis of the Pavilion of Hejian Kingdom, and because Emperor Huan had no children, he was welcomed into the emperor. At that time, Emperor Ling of Han was preparing to inspect his old residence between the rivers, and Wang Fen planned to take the opportunity to kidnap Emperor Ling, kill Huangmen, and serve as a servant, and then depose Emperor Ling of Han and establish the Marquis of Hefei as emperor.

Wang Fen told Cao Cao of his plan and consulted with him. Cao Cao said meaningfully: "The matter of abolishing the emperor, Yi Yin and Huo Guang have done it, this is a dangerous thing. The implication is that with Wang Fen's reputation and official position, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed in doing this.

Wang Fen immediately invited Hua Xin, a famous scholar from the plains, and Tao Qiuhong to plan together. Tao Qiuhong was ready to respond, and Hua Xin spared no effort to dissuade him: "Abolishing the emperor is a big deal, Wang Fen has a rough personality, and he must not succeed this time." Tao Qiuhong stopped.

Sure enough, Emperor Ling soon learned the news, and angrily ordered Wang Fen to disband the army, and angrily recruited Wang Fen to Luoyang, Wang Fen was terrified, fled for his life, and finally committed suicide in Pingyuan County. Of course, Hua Xin and Tao Qiuhong did not escape punishment, they were charged with treason, and Cao Cao was recruited afterwards and promoted to the official rank of Yilang.

At that time, when I heard the news, with my modern IQ, I suspected that there was a cat here, but unfortunately there was no evidence.

Judging from this incident, Hua Xin knows the secular affairs and officialdom rules well, and his talent for things is really above Guan Ning, and the outcome of the matter can be deduced from Wang Fen's character alone, and he deserves to be the leader of the Eastern Han Dynasty. I really don't know where he fled now, in history, many years after the fact, he suddenly appeared in Cao Cao's mansion, it seems that Cao Cao is really the biggest beneficiary of this incident.

After Wang Fen abandoned his post and fled, Han Fu took over the position of Jizhou Assassin and was promoted to Jizhou pastor. Immediately, the two great sages he recruited, two frustrated and Tian, and one of the generals, Zhang He, are now in the palm of my hand. This is the ins and outs of Xiangkai before he fled.

It is said that Liu Yan went to Yizhou because he listened to this person's nonsense that "Yizhou has the spirit of a genius", and Zhang Chun's rebellion also listened to this person's nonsense. Judging from what he just said, this person still did not forget to deceive during his escape, and this time he must have deceived Liu Bu again.

I said why is Liu Bu so bold, gathering 10,000 families, and wanting to rebel with the strength of a Le'an County. Ignorance, thinking that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rebelled back then, they also fooled the people with the words of the proverbs, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the proverbs were very popular, and it seems that this is also the price of fooling the common people - the mythical tools used to rule are also used to incite rebellion.

I smiled contemptuously and replied: "I Liu Bei only dealt with righteous men and gentlemen in my life, and I was a famous man in my life, what is Xiangkai, and I deserve to let me know?" ”

When Xiang Kai heard this, his face was red and his neck was thick, and he shouted: "When the minister heard my name of Xiang Kai, he was all seated; When the princes heard the name of my Xiangkai, they all greeted each other, Liu Bei who was also, a person who sold shoes and weaving mats in Zhuo County, pretended to be the emperor, and swaggered without authorization, and it was natural to ignore the name of my Xiangkai. ”

I waved my hand to stop the angry soldiers, and said indifferently: "Whether I, Liu Bei, am the emperor's relatives, whether you say it or not, the emperor has the final say." Whether you can live today or not, you don't count, I Liu Bei has the final say. By the way, didn't you say that there must be a king sitting under the big willow tree, didn't you say that I have the appearance of a king, why is it that after a while, I am a peddler again? How did your words come so quickly? ”

I reminded Xiangkai earnestly: "You must have credibility when you speak, and persistence is important in being a man." According to what you said, you are also a celebrity, but if you can't say it in the morning, it won't count in the evening, not to mention that it was not morning when you spoke just now, and it is not dark now. Talking doesn't count, who is it? ”

Xiangkai listened to my words and couldn't cry or laugh.

I turned around coldly and looked at Liu Bu, who was colorless, and asked angrily: "When will your village be established?" ”

Liu Bu trembled and replied in despair: "Five years ago, I heard from the Xiangorcer that there would be a king sitting under this tree, so I built this stockade here. ”

I snorted coldly and said sarcastically: "You also believe the words of this charlatan." I really admire your level of intelligence. ”

Standing up, I slowly circled around the big tree a few times, then stood still in front of Liu Bu, sneered and asked: "This big tree seems to have a lifespan of about 200 years, before you enclose it and build a village, it must be standing in the wilderness or on the side of the road, isn't it?" ”

Liu Bu lowered his head nervously, and nodded yes to the six gods.

I stretched out my hand and stroked the tree, and said with great emotion, "I think this tree will live for another 300 years." There is a life span of 500 years before and after, coming and going, there are not 100 people a day, there are dozens of people, I am afraid that tens of thousands of people pass by it a year, and 500 years, I am afraid that there are tens of millions of people passing by this big tree. It's been 500 years, tens of millions of people have walked through the trees, and there is one emperor among them, what's so great? Saying that there must be an emperor and a king sitting under this big tree, what is the difference between this probability and saying that there must be an emperor in China? According to this statement, let me ask you, which hundred-year-old or thousand-year-old tree will not have an emperor sitting there? ”

When Liu Bu heard this, he raised his head, looked at me with sincere fear, and rolled his eyes desperately. In this era of superstition, these words are like morning bells and dusk drums, shaking everyone's heart.

Xiang Kai's face was pale, and he was unwilling to use strong words: "I am only a shallow learner, and I only counted that there will be a king sitting under the tree, but I didn't count whether this king is from Liu Bu's family." Between heaven and earth, there are gods, mystical learning, which can be mastered by fools? ”

I looked at Xiang Kai with interest and asked gloatingly, "Since Your Excellency claims to be a warlock, can you calculate whether today is your time of death?" ”

Xiangkai was sweating profusely, frightened, his little eyes were rolling, and he said angrily: "The way of arithmetic, I can only help others calculate, not myself, I am shallow in learning, and I can't calculate my own fate." ”

I smiled coldly, I was about to have a problem today, so I said provocatively: "You will make an exception today, how about calculating yourself?" ”

Xiang Kaipan sat on the ground, fiddling with turtle shells, copper coins, grass, and beads of sweat constantly flowing down his head. I deliberately drew my knife and measured it on his head, neck, and belly from time to time, taking the opportunity to disrupt his thinking.

If he says to die today, I will let him die tomorrow; He wants to say that tomorrow will die, and I will make him not see the sun tomorrow. If he wants to utter the famous phrase "I will die a day before you", I will hang him on the big willow tree now, and see if I can die tomorrow.

Threatened by my aggressive knife, Xiang Kai's heart was so frightened that he couldn't think of a countermeasure, so he threw away the turtle shell copper coin, broke the jar and said: "Today I am in the hands of Jun, life and death are decided by Jun, what is the use of this fate." ”

"Okay," I nodded contemptuously, and said with a sullen face, "Come, bring a strip of cloth and plug his mouth." "I can't let him talk nonsense anymore.

I then ordered lightly: "This big tree is very beautiful, hang him from the tree for me." He didn't figure it out, but I had already decided—he died today. ”

Pointing to the Xiangkai hanging on the tree, I said to Liu Bu sternly: "You believe in this liar's rumors to confuse the public, and when you see the chaos in the world, you feel that my statistics on acres will affect your future life, and you actually attack my ordnance convoy and take the opportunity to cause chaos. This liar is already hanging on the tree today, so go and accompany him. ”

"Come," I then ordered through gritted teeth, "hang him on the tree too, and walk with the liar all the way."

The soldiers were a little frightened by this, and tremblingly carried out my orders.

In ancient China, it was not easy to obtain knowledge, and those who were lucky enough to be taught liked to mystify and sacralize knowledge, so as to gain the awe of the people and the reuse of the king. For example, several early mathematicians used their exclusive knowledge of mathematics and architecture (equivalent to modern mathematical budgeters and architects in China) to become housing surveyors, which is the so-called fortune-telling feng shui "math scholars". Early chemists used their knowledge of chemistry to refine gold pills to fool the people, and they were so-called alchemy "warlocks". In the final analysis, these foolish tricks are just tricks to find a job and make money. I am from modern times, how can I fall for them?

Of course, it cannot be said that the warlocks are useless, after all, after thousands of years of research, they can always study something useful, such as the construction of our houses. Feng Shui emphasizes facing south and north, which is actually in line with the direction of the earth's magnetic field lines, and this direction is of course beneficial to the human body, so the warlock also contributes to the progress of science and technology.

What I want to do now is to break the stupidity of the people, make it more difficult for the warlocks to cheat the people out of money, and let them study the technology a little deeper. Western alchemy eventually developed into chemistry, and Chinese alchemy has always remained at the rudimentary level of deception, which has nothing to do with Chinese alchemists being too easy to cheat money and not wanting to make progress.

As soon as the warlocks thought, technology advanced.

Now, there is Xiangkai's corpse hanging on the tree, who would have thought that I would cheat money and not study the fraud thoroughly, okay?

"It is decreed that the bodies of these two men will be displayed to the public for one day, and after the bodies are taken down tomorrow, this big tree will be cut down to prevent further rumors from confusing the public." I hate it

Looking at the corpses of the two, he said loudly.

Looking at the soldiers who were a little overwhelmed, I stood up and looked around at everyone with a pleasant face, I had to adjust the atmosphere and say something happy.

I smiled and announced, "Junyi, you stay here to clean up the battlefield." Since Liu Bu dared to rebel, he must have stored a large amount of money and grain. Qingzhou is in turmoil, just use this money and food to appease the people, I will leave 1,000 people for you, and I will take the rest to pursue Li Ming. ”

The crowd rejoiced. Zhang He pointed to the captives and asked: "Lord, how to deal with these people." ”

I thought about it for a while, and replied calmly: "Since Le'an has implemented military management and has its own laws to bind them, you hand them over to Tian Chou and let him deal with them." Also, the distance between this place and Le'an is just right, just enough to be the Acropolis of Le'an, you clean this up, let these 1,000 soldiers garrison here, and after the training of Le'an Xiangyong, you will gradually withdraw from this place. ”

Zhang He looked around at the city, and pouted inadvertently, as if he looked down on this stone city.

I turned on my horse and asked in a deep voice, "Junyi, do you think this small city is difficult to defend when you see that we have captured this city so quickly?" ”

Zhang He nodded in frustration and said, "Exactly, my lord, if someone also attacks this city like the lord, how should we deal with it." ”

"Although this city is small and strong, Liu Bu's mistake in losing this city is a defensive mistake. First of all, he was blocked by us at the back door and lost the opportunity to strike at the siege forces with mobile forces.

Secondly, his archers were all composed of family members, and their arrows were neither accurate nor far, and they were helpless when we approached the city gate to build a dirt mountain.

Again, Liu Bu was hesitant to fight this battle, if at the beginning, he would have done his best to prevent us from approaching, and it is estimated that we will have to hold each other for a while.

In the end, there was no moat in this small city, and the walled walls would become our attack points everywhere, so Liu Bu scattered his forces and lost the city too quickly.

If we dig a wide moat—the water on both sides of the Yellow River is very high, and the water will be dug out of the shallow pits—and then we send crossbows to the city to prevent people from approaching; Open two more gates on both sides of the village, you can choose to attack from these gates according to the situation, with the powerful impact of our ironclad army, who can get close to our village? ”

Zhang He was enlightened and said in surprise: "It turns out that the way of battle is ever-changing, and all problems cannot be measured by one thing at a time. ”

"Yes," I looked at him appreciatively, paused slightly, and reminded again with concern: "The city wall is not high, and it is easy for the other party to climb, but it is also easy for the people on the city wall to support the battle under the city." If the defenders of the city have the courage, the infantry will go out of the city and fight according to the city. As long as the soldiers under the city do not brazenly go out of the range of the archers in the city, the bows and arrows in the city are sufficient, and it is guaranteed that the enemy army will come and destroy as many as possible, and there will be no return. ”

It's too passive to stay behind closed doors, and I'm going to ask my generals to change their minds now. Even if it is a small city with few defenders, as long as you dare to go out of the city to fight, and never go out of the city to shoot with bows and arrows, it will also make the other party face the small city and have nowhere to speak.

During the Wuhu Rebellion, Yao Chang used 1,600 people to defeat the 100,000 iron cavalry besieging the city, and at the end of the battle, 100,000 siege soldiers, less than 3,000 people could return to their hometown alive, and it was this kind of offensive defense that was fought.

In Yao Chang's words at the time: "The city shows my true ability." ”

Our soldiers are better equipped than Yao Chang and more well-trained than him, as long as they are not greedy for life and afraid of death, why can't we defend a city with 1,000 people? That's in line with my elite policy.

With 2,000 infantry, I quickly pounced on Li Ming's manor.

With Liu Bu's fate in front, Li Ming did not dare to resist and opened the door to surrender. I beheaded Li Ming Liwei, and after that, I pardoned his descendants. The news spread all over the country, the heroes have disbanded the village brave, opened the door to welcome the arrival of our army, just five days, the people of Le'an became calm, I led the army back to Le'an.

With the help of Tian Chou, the basic policies of Le'an have been determined, and we have taken this opportunity to make a big reshuffle of Le'an's powerful forces. At present, only the Guoyuan family is left in the big family.

In order to prevent the country from becoming bigger, the acres of land confiscated in this war were divided into four parts, of which about 10% of the land was distributed to the descendants of the rebel families, so that they could make a living from it. 15% was given to Gong Jing as a reward for his acquiescence to our management of Le'an, and 25% was given to Le'an, so that Le'an could be used as reserve land.

The remaining 50% is all used as military land, which is rented out and operated by a special service organization for veterans, and large businessmen Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were urgently recruited to take charge of this work.

It takes two or three years to train a soldier, and the total length of service is seven years, and they have to simply learn culture in the army, and when they retire, I pay them a sum of money or arrange a good job, and these people are my broadest mass base. As this continues, a military class that can understand martial arts will be born - the samurai class, who will add a little masculinity to the blood of our nation.

According to the law established by Tian Chou, the people of Le'an were divided into six classes, the lowest of which were the family members who participated in the rebellion and the descendants of their masters, known as "sinners", who were all assigned to labor camps and were responsible for the construction of public facilities in Le'an, such as repairing roads, repairing water conservancy and digging canals, etc. (later, some of the criminals were also incorporated into labor camps).

After serving their sentences, they return to their hometowns (or are resettled in places designated by the government) and become "untouchables", and after serving a master or a factory or trading company for more than 10 consecutive years, they can be removed from their untouchable status and become civilians, but such detached civilians can only be promoted to "meritorious citizens" unless they have military status for three consecutive generations.

Such severe punishment for the perpetrator of the crime is to increase the cost of the crime, so that everyone who is ready to commit the crime shudders when considering the consequences, and then abandon the darkness and turn to the light.

The fourth class of people are displaced people, who have settled in Le'an for less than 3 years, or who have paid taxes for less than 3 consecutive years, and those who have not paid off government debts when the government arranges for farming, are all displaced people, and after paying off government debts, they have the status of civilians and have the right to vote.

The criminals, the untouchables, and the exiles are called the lower three peoples. On it are the common people, the wise people, and the meritorious (public) people, known as the three people, these three classes are all tax paying classes, craftsmen with a skill, and civilians who have passed the cultural assessment can become Hui people. However, only meritorious (public) citizens have the right to be elected, and are elected as junior officials to manage the people, while those without military status are not allowed to be citizens, and can only become meritorious citizens after the expiration of their military service.

Now that the scholars are strong, it is not a way to fight them in vain, but it is also a strategy to hold them up and set up an opposition for them. Therefore, we will simply divide the scholars into three parallel classes: scribes, samurai, and knights.

The so-called meritorious soldier is also an honorary class set up for well-known craftsmen, large merchants who pay a lot of taxes, inventors, and soldiers who have made meritorious achievements.

In this era of light industry and contempt for merchants, it is unrealistic to raise the status of merchants and craftsmen too high, so they can only open a small opening for them here, pull up the soldiers who have made meritorious achievements to stand with them, and confuse the public, after all, all taxes come from merchants, this honor setting, encourage them to pay more taxes for the government, and the past is also said in large aspects, and the rest depends on their efforts in the years to come.

The citizen class is the basic class of all efforts to strive for the upper class. Only after serving as a government official for several generations can one become a member of the noble class. In the future, we will begin to open civic schools (equivalent to elementary schools) to take in the children of citizens to receive universal education. Those who have graduated from civic schools are selected from the top 10 schools of the scholar clan every year to receive higher education and become quasi-scholars, who can enjoy the treatment of the scholars, but cannot inherit them.

In addition, the lieutenants of the army can be directly called samurai, and the children of citizens can directly apply for the lieutenant school, and after graduation, they will become reserve samurai (reserve officers), and once they are granted official military positions, they will directly become samurai. A soldier is a profession that licks blood on the head of a knife, and of course it is easier to enter the noble class than a literati.

The upper strata of the scholar clan are the nobles, but now in the Central Plains, I do not have the right to be knighted, and the ruling foundation - the citizen class is not yet strong, so let's talk about it when the time comes.

This series of measures was carried out to suppress the threat of the popular uprising, and under the severe repression, the voices of opposition have disappeared. Even if outsiders learn about these measures in a short period of time, they will only think that they are measures to prevent and control the popular unrest, and when these arrangements have worked, no one can shake my rule in Le'an.

Hehe, there is a saying in history: "Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, but he borrowed but did not pay back." "Today, I, Liu Bei, took advantage of Guanghuan to occupy Qingzhou. borrowing a small to swallow a big one can be regarded as worthy of Liu Bei's name.

By the time Zhang He and I returned to Guanghuan, it had been 12 days since I left the town. I happened to meet Gong Jinglai to inspect the construction of the city, and in his opinion, it was a miracle to quell the civil unrest in 10 days. Of course, what made him happiest was that he took the opportunity to laugh at 100,000 acres of land in Le'an in his pocket.

Under my strict measures, Le'an has gradually calmed down, and the transition to normalcy is just around the corner. In that way, these 100,000 acres of fertile land will have a bumper harvest of grain, and he can finally compensate for the money he spent when he bought an official.

I exaggeratedly raised Gong Jing's seal ribbon, and after deliberately letting Fu Zhi notice it, I reluctantly handed the seal ribbon to Gong Jing: "Lord Assassin Shi, now that the Le Anmin Revolution has ended, the seal ribbon is returned here, please check it by Lord Assassin Shi." ”

Gong Jingxi looked at me with a smile, and slowly stretched out his hand, ready to receive the letter, but he rushed over and took the letter.

Immediately, he preemptively said: "Lord, the situation in Le'an County has been settled, but the statistics of acres in Beihai County have not yet been completed; Jinan County Taishan thieves are rampant; Pingyuan County Jizhou bandits escaped; Qi County has only experienced war, and the people need to be appeased; The residents of Donglai County fled, and there was no one for thousands of miles; The lord needs to go out to the counties to pacify the four directions. Is this seal for the time being to be kept by the grant, and who called my name 'granted'? ”

Gong Jing was shocked when he heard this, and immediately realized the situation of the flames everywhere in Qingzhou, and praised it again and again: "Okay, good." It is still thoughtful and thoughtful, I see that the seal ribbon will be temporarily kept by the Fu Gong, but according to the talent of the Fu Gong, I am willing to take up a position in my Qingzhou. ”

He replied: "Since my lord is a don't drive in Qingzhou, how can my subordinates be in the same position as the lord and serve as an official in Qingzhou, and I will never mention it again, we are just doing things for the lord." ”

Gong Jing was a little embarrassed, and I pretended to step forward and scold him.

Gong Jing sighed: "I also know that Xuande Gong's talent is not limited by one state and one county, but when Xuande Gong is promoted, it can make Qingzhou several counties stable, and my Qingzhou will always be the backing of Xuande Gong." ”

Fu Zhu immediately took over the topic and replied calmly: "That's exactly how it should be." As soon as General Zhang He arrived, while the lord was inspecting the Quartet, I was ready to start training the Linzi defenders. In this way, the lord is attacking and plundering outside, I am defensive and internal, both offensive and defensive, and Qingzhou should be like an iron wall. ”

Gong Jing was overjoyed: "There are still 5,000 of my families in the Linzi garrison, and Xuande Gong plans to train the Linzi garrison, can I withdraw these 5,000 families to Le'an, just to guard the fields." ”

Frustrated and vetoed resolutely: "No, the training of the Linzi defenders has not been completed, and the young people in the townships have not yet been gathered. ”

When Gong Jing heard this, he felt that it made sense, so he no longer insisted on opposing it. Then he asked: "Duke Xuande inspected the counties on my behalf, where are you going to start first?" ”

We had already planned this, and I replied to him without hesitation: "Plains." Pingyuan County is lonely on the left bank of the Yellow River, wrapped by the land of Jizhou, the people of Jizhou have become surging, once something happens in the plain, our army can not rescue, I am ready to move the people of the plain into Le'an, Qi State, Beihai County, only a small number of garrisons are left in the plain, once something happens, the army can be withdrawn at any time. ”

Gong Jing was a little skeptical: "I don't know if the four counties of Qi, Le'an, Beihai, and Donglai can bear the tax burden of Qingzhou on the imperial court." ”

"If according to the governance method of my father-in-law, it will not be a problem to bear the tax burden of the entire Qingzhou with the four counties, but I am afraid that there is not much left." Frustrated and comforted.

Looking at Gong Jingjiang's suspicious expression, he added in an unquestionable tone: "However, the four counties are established, and we can gradually stabilize the two counties of Jinan and Pingyuan, and the great rule of Qingzhou is just around the corner." ”

Gong Jing pondered for a long time, and gritted his teeth as if making a bet: "Okay, in this way, the politics of Qingzhou, Xuande has bothered a lot." ”

When we sent Gong Jing away, he asked, "Lord, how was the harvest of Le'an's trip?" ”

I nodded with satisfaction, and replied with a beaming heart: "This time to exterminate Le'an Haoqiang, the seized money and food are enough to support me to spend the winter on the army and civilians." ”

After a pause, I said worriedly: "Now that Qingzhou is in turmoil, the farmers are not going to the fields to cultivate, the fields are barren, and this winter there will definitely be no harvest, the people will not be able to eat, and I am afraid that countless people will die of starvation." ”

He replied worriedly: "Yes, if the imperial court does not provide relief this winter, the civil unrest will become bigger and bigger." But now that thieves are rising from all directions, where does the court get the money and food to appease the people? Even if the court has money, if it falls on the heads of the people, I am afraid it will not be as good as one. I think the world is going to get more and more chaotic. ”

Both I and I fell into deep contemplation, silent for a long time.

Later, he broke the silence and asked thoughtfully: "The lord went to Lu Zhonglang this time, will he return to Qingzhou this winter?" ”

"Yellow turban thieves, useless people. There is no tactics, no military columns, and it is delusional to rely on the art of drawing talismans to defeat the imperial court. The Han Dynasty has ruled for more than 500 years, and the prestige is still there, and in my opinion, the yellow turban will be destroyed this year. However, the chaos in the world is just the beginning. Just as Fu Gong just said, after the victory of the imperial court, if the people are not appeased, there will be civil unrest next year. In addition, when I came to Lu Shi's side this time, there was another worry...... "I groaned, not knowing how to speak.

Frustrated Professor took over the topic meaningfully: "Lu Gong, straight people also." The lord is afraid that even if Lu Gong defeats the Yellow Turban, there will be no good results? ”

I perked up and couldn't wait to ask, "Does Zizheng have a good plan to avoid this disaster?" ”

Frustrated, he shook his head and sighed: "The decree comes from the imperial court, how can I wait for the people to have a good way." If this battle is won quickly, the imperial court will not care about the winner, and will take it and let it be left to the Yellow Gate. If this battle drags on for a long time, the court will think that the generals are incompetent, and let the eunuchs be killed. It's hard."

After speaking, he sighed in frustration: "The 500-year-old inheritance of my Han dynasty was destroyed in the hands of these eunuchs who are neither male nor female, how can the people of the world be willing." ”

I was silent.

He was also a keen eye, but he failed to see that our polity lacked the ability to repair itself, and that the newly established powerful dynasty could only rot inch by inch until it was out of control, and then replaced by another dynasty through bloody violence. The Han court has been inherited for more than 500 years, which is also rare among all dynasties and generations. What I want to do now is to give this nation a little more ability to repair itself, so that it can continue to develop in a long-term and stable manner.

"Zizheng, this winter, in the name of repairing roads and repairing rivers, we can gather displaced people from all over the world to exchange work for relief. After the displaced people worked, they paid him food so that he could survive. After the winter, they were given land to plough and the price of the land was compensated with the labor of the following winter. After the rebellion in Qingzhou, there were many ownerless lands, so let them cultivate on these ownerless lands, and it only took two years for Qingzhou to be governed. "My earnest advice.

Frustrated, he said: "Yes, this is a good method, but with the grain and grass seized by Le'an, I am afraid it is not enough to support this plan, and I will arrange for people to go to Xuzhou, Huainan, and Jingzhou to purchase grain and grass now." ”

Frustrated to try to cheer up, sincere advice: "The lord is here, don't enter Jinan County." ”

I understood what he meant, but deliberately pretended to be stupid: "Why so? ”

He said solemnly: "The thieves in Jinan Taishan are huge, if the lord can't win quickly, the war will be protracted, and the financial resources of Qingzhou can't afford it." Besides, if the six counties of Qingzhou are stable, I am afraid that the imperial court has other ideas. ”

I avoided the last half of his sentence, and said appreciatively: "Yes, if the imperial court does not support it, with the power of Qingzhou, defeat the Taishan thief Kou Yi, it will be difficult to govern Jinan County." Zizheng rest assured, if I wasn't ready, I would never set foot in Jinan half a step. ”

Two days later, I set out with my whole army.

According to the meaning of Fu Zhi, we are not a good time to show our strength, but showing up near Luoyang, the center of power, cannot be underestimated by people. Therefore, although there are only 1,500 troops in this expedition, the 500 troops and horses of each of the 500 people in Guanzhang have all been selected by the weak and the best, and the 500 people in my own formation are composed of Zhang Niujiao's troops and attendants, all of whom are people with extraordinary combat strength. After all 1,500 people were armoured, the attack power of this unit was unusual.

The only regret is that in view of the fact that horses consume too much grain and grass, it is impossible for Jizhou to afford thousands of war horses, so we all replaced them with infantry. However, I also secretly kept a hand - the 500 logistics personnel accompanying the army drove two hundred carts to transport infantry and supplies, each cart was equipped with 4 horses. In this way, as soon as cavalry is needed, I can quickly organize 800 iron cavalry.

At the beginning of May of the seventh year of Guanghe, I took two brothers, Guan Yunchang and Zhang Yide, the peerless fierce generals, led 1,500 sergeants, and 500 soldiers and civilians to cross the Yellow River and ascend the land of the plain.

is about to meet Zhang Jiao head-on, Zhang Jiao, you were born in the wrong era, rebel in this period, and your actions can only become a stepping stone for others. Since I have come here, instead of letting your blood achieve the reputation of others, it is better to achieve the three of Liu Guanzhang. After that, in this Central Plains, the name of our brother's bravery will be spread everywhere.

Zhang Jiao, wait for death.