Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume III: The Turbulent Central Plains

Chapter 2 The Crisis of Gathering Hungry People Begins

Section 2: Requests for Assistance in Defense

In the early morning of the next day, Liu Yunwei ordered the soldiers of the Hanwei battalion to pull out the camp and immediately set off for Dengfeng. In the fierce battle the night before, the soldiers of the Hanwei battalion killed more than 300 displaced people who came to rob the camp, captured 74 people, and the rest all fled. Liu Yunwei saw that the seventy-four exiles who were captured were all young and strong, so he threw them all to Master Chen and asked them to do some rough work to atone for their sins.

After the soldiers of the Hanwei battalion set off, they marched west along the official road, crossed the Shanshan Mountain, passed through Baishali, and went north along the Gushui fold, and arrived outside Dengfeng City on the east bank of the Liuyang River three days later.

Dengfeng is an important town of Henan Province since ancient times, with Songshan Mountain in the north, Liuyang River in the west, Eling in the south, and Gushui upstream in the east. Dengfeng is located at the intersection of Henan Mansion, Ruzhou Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion, the geographical location is very important, it is the east gate of Luoyang, and it has always been a battleground for soldiers.

Liu Yunwei looked at the tall city wall of Dengfeng and observed carefully, only to see that Dengfeng has a total of four city gates, each gate is built with an urn city, a moat with a width of one zhang is dug outside the city, and antlers and horse rejection piles are also set up on the bank of the river; On the city wall, there are horse faces, enemy platforms, and arrow towers all over, and the entire city wall is built tall and strong, and every army attacking this fortified city will be hit and bled here. Of course, the premise is that the army defending the city will not collapse at the slightest touch.

Liu Yunwei saw that Dengfeng's city defense was so tight, and he couldn't help but admire: "This Dengfeng city is really a man who can't open it!" Even if it is placed in Liaodong, it can be called a strong city. ”

Lu Ying also said: "Yes, big brother, if a battalion like our Hanwei Battalion guards Dengfeng, even a hundred thousand troops may not be able to attack it!" ”

At this time, Liu Yunwei noticed that there were many ragged people outside the city, and these people walked towards Dengfeng City, but they were stopped by the officers and soldiers guarding the city near the city gate. Those people were begging to enter the city, but in exchange for the reprimands and expulsion of the officers and soldiers defending the city.

Liu Yunwei was furious when he saw this, and immediately took Lu Ying and twenty iron cavalry soldiers to ride over. When everyone separated the crowd and came to the city gate, they saw a civil official there and said loudly: "There is no food in Dengfeng City, so don't go and survive." The prefect has ordered the city to be closed, as long as it is not the people of the city, they are not allowed to enter the city, and violators should be punished according to the exiles! ”

Lu Ying was immediately furious when she heard this, and was about to step forward to arrest the civil official and ask him, but was suddenly stopped by Liu Yunwei.

"Big brother, why don't you let me bring that official over and teach him a lesson? Now Henan is governed like this, all of which are caused by such waste! Lu Ying said angrily.

Liu Yunwei was also very angry, but he was still able to maintain his sanity and said, "Didn't you hear what the official said? The prefect of Dengfeng is worried that there are homeless people among these people, if this is true, it means that other cities have been captured by homeless people! ”

Lu Ying was stunned when she heard this, and then said in surprise: "Big brother is saying that the homeless riot has turned into a rebellion?" They're storming the city! ”

Liu Yunwei said with a solemn face: "It's not sure yet, let's go into the city now to ask the prefect of Dengfeng to understand, and let the soldiers camp outside the city first." If my guess is true, then something big will happen in Henan! ”

Half an hour later, Liu Yunwei took Lu Ying, Wen Poyu, and fifty iron horsemen of the Longxiang Department into Dengfeng City. After entering the city, everyone went straight to the prefect's yamen.

Wu Zhoukang, the prefect of Dengfeng, was overjoyed when he heard that Liu Yunwei, the guerrilla general of the Hanwei battalion, asked to see him, and said to a fellow acquaintance beside him: "Haha, what do you really want, just received the news of the homeless riot, and a strong guest army has arrived!" ”

The fellow knew for a moment and said, "My lord, I heard that the guerrilla general Liu Yunwei is a tiger general, if we want to leave him to suppress the rebellion of the displaced people, will he obediently obey his orders?" ”

Wu Zhoukang frowned and said, "Then it's not clear, I can only see it first, and the prefect will talk to Liu Yunwei in person." Go, take Liu Yunwei to the side hall, I'll be there in a moment. ”

After a while, Wu Zhoukang met Liu Yunwei and others in the side hall.

"Haha, Liu Guerrilla is really a young hero, it's really better to see than to hear!" After Wu Zhoukang saw Liu Yunwei, he couldn't help but admire his extraordinary might.

Liu Yunwei smiled faintly and said, "The prefect has won the award." ”

After everyone sat down and said polite words for a while, Wu Zhoukang entered the topic and said: "Liu Guerrilla came to Dengfeng here to cross the border of the guest army, and according to the economic system of the imperial court, the prefect should pay enough grain and grass. But Liu Guerrilla should have seen it when he came, and now Dengfeng has suffered a catastrophe, and there are rebellious homeless people everywhere, and the food in the city treasury is not enough to calm the chaos in addition to the relief of the victims. So...... Hey. After speaking, Wu Zhoukang smiled wryly and stopped talking.

Liu Yunwei looked at Wu Zhoukang coldly, his eyes were full of mockery, and after a while, he said: "Lord Wu is really dedicated to the people, and the last general is very admired!" However, why did the last general enter the city and see that the soldiers defending the city were driving the people away instead of giving relief to them? ”

Wu Zhoukang said with an angry face: "Liu Guerrilla doesn't know, as early as a few days ago, Luzhuang in the northwest of Dengfeng has been broken by the exiles, and the people and grain and grass in the city have all been looted, and now Luzhuang has been turned into a ruin!" ”

Liu Yunwei couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this, and asked, "How is it possible?" How did the outcasts conquer the city? ”

"Neiying!"

Hearing this, Liu Yunwei, Lu Ying, and Wen Poyu all fell into deep thought.

Wu Zhoukang continued: "Now Liu Guerrilla knows, how does the prefect not want those people to enter the city, but I don't dare to do it!" What if there are outcasts among these people? I must be responsible to the people of the city! ”

Liu Yunwei looked at Wu Zhoukang, who was distressed, and said, "Then how is the prefect going to quell the disaster of the displaced people?" How are you prepared to help the people? ”

Wu Zhoukang smiled and said: "This is to quell the scourge of the displaced people, this prefect wants to ask Liu Guerrilla to temporarily lead his troops to stay and assist me in suppressing the rebellion of the displaced people, of course I will write to the imperial court to ask the Hanwei battalion to assist in defense; As for the relief of the people, this is the prefect's business, and the people under his rule will definitely have something to eat, so they will not have to worry about Liu Guerrilla. It's just a matter of assisting in defense, I don't know what Liu's guerrilla intentions? ”

Liu Yunwei didn't think about it, and said directly: "Yes!" However, the prefect must pay in full for the grain and grass provided to me in the Hanwei camp, and in addition, he must give me 50,000 taels of silver in the Hanwei camp! ”

"You're robbing! Fifty thousand taels? Wu Zhoukang was immediately anxious when he heard this, pointed to Liu Yunwei's nose and said, "You actually asked me for money?" It's insulting! ”

Liu Yunwei sneered and said: "There are thousands of soldiers in my battalion, I could have gone back to Sichuan directly, and I didn't have to work hard here at all, just because of the words of your prefect, I have to fight with the displaced people!" Is there anything wrong with me asking for some peace money for the soldiers? ”

Wu Zhoukang stopped speaking when he heard this, was silent for a while, and said, "Okay! Just 50,000 taels! After the exiles are exterminated, I will send them to Liu's guerrilla camp. ”

"No way!" Liu Yunwei said categorically: "When will the prefect send the grain, grass and silver to the camp for delivery, and when will I discuss the matter of quelling the rebellion with the prefect." In addition, I will only stay in Dengfeng for three days, and once the three days are over, I will lead my troops to march west! ”

Wu Zhoukang was speechless for a moment, and said secretly in his heart: "It seems that this Liu Yunwei is not a good stubble!" Let's just use this money in exchange for the help of Hanwei Camp, after all, it is important to stabilize the place. ”

"Okay, at the latest tomorrow night, the prefect will send grain, grass and silver to Liu's guerrilla camp." Wu Zhoukang said helplessly.

Liu Yunwei got up when he heard this and said, "Okay, the last general is waiting in the camp." When the money and food arrived, the general immediately entered the city to wait for the dispatch of the prefect. ”

After finishing speaking, Liu Yunwei left with Lu Ying and Wen Poyu.

At this time, the fellow acquaintance asked on the side, "My lord, do we really have to spend money to eliminate the disaster?" ”

Wu Zhoukang sighed and said, "What else should I do?" Let the displaced people run rampant and cry out in vain? We're all going to have to lose our heads! Also, you go and collect money and food at once, and in addition to the part that is distributed to the Hanwei camp, leave another part for the soldiers who defend the city, and set up a porridge shack outside the city to give relief to the people outside the city. ”

That Tongzhi answered and went to do it.

And on the way back to the camp for Liu Yunwei and the others, Lu Ying also asked, "Big brother, do we really want to stay behind to quell the chaos?" ”

Liu Yunwei nodded and said, "I have a hunch that this rebellion of displaced people in Henan must not be an ordinary hunger riot, it must be led by someone in secret, otherwise the situation can be stabilized by the guards in various places alone." Now not only have the cities begun to fall, but even the prefect of Dengfeng has begun to ask for help from the border guest army to help defend it, what does this mean? It shows that the local officials and troops in Henan can no longer control the situation! ”

Lu Ying and Wen Poyu were shocked when they heard this.

Liu Yunwei said in a deep voice: "Let's take this opportunity to quell the rebellion of the displaced people, on the one hand, for the national merit, on the other hand, we can also achieve the purpose of military training, and at the same time, we can also knock a bamboo pole from the Dengfeng prefect, which is a good thing to kill three birds with one stone." ”

While they were talking, the crowd had already arrived at the gate of the camp. At this time, a night bully ran over in a hurry and said: "General Qiyu, a large number of homeless people are coming around Dengfeng, about tens of thousands, including 30,000 or 40,000 young people, all with weapons in hand!" ”

Liu Yunwei and the others were all shocked.