Chapter 688: Civil Unrest (6)

Kong Sheng laughed: "Mr. is too polite!" ”

Yang Tong sighed lightly: "The king of the county, please forgive me for speaking bluntly, in the face of Yuan Ying's rebellion, the king of the county should send a large army to encircle and suppress, and he should not be alone in danger. The king of the county went to Deqing to quell the chaos with thousands of men and horses, and if he was besieged by the rebellious army, the consequences would be unimaginable. I know that the king of the county is compassionate and sympathetic to the people, and he regrets the people, and this trip has no intention of fighting with Yuan Ying's party, but ......"

Kong Sheng smiled and said lightly: "The reason why Kong only brought a thousand men and horses to Deqing to quell the rebellion is that Mr. only knows one and does not know the other. ”

"The Jiangnan Army is connected with the flesh and blood of the wealthy families in the Jiangnan Army, and many children of the family are generals in the Jiangnan Army, because the king promotes the new policy of land reform, and the children of the family hate the king to the core.

"In addition, the Jiangnan official army is from Jiangnan, the hometown is local, and Yuan Ying's gathering is mostly local refugees, and it is really difficult for the king to count on the Jiangnan army."

"What's more—" Kong Sheng's voice immediately lowered: "Kong concluded that Yuan Ying gathered the displaced people to rebel, and someone behind him secretly raised funds, and its purpose must be aimed at this king, in fact, they seem to have achieved their goal, even if this king quells this civil unrest, it is difficult to escape the blame from the imperial court." If the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River each enter Beijing to make trouble, it is not impossible for the imperial court to issue an edict to abolish the king's new land reform policy. ”

Yang Tong sighed: "I also thought of this point. The king of the county, the most difficult thing in this world is the interests of the wealthy family, since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the family has controlled the government and the opposition, blocking the path to advancement, and the poor family can only bear suppression and bullying. This is still the iron fist of the county king, if it is changed, I am afraid that this new land reform policy will not even have the slightest hope of advancement......"

"But I firmly believe that the DPRK and China are not all incompetent and mediocre. And the emperor is also the son of Yingming. Before the next generation, the king of the county wrote one after another, bluntly saying that the new policy of land reform will benefit the country and the people, and if it can be recognized by the court and the emperor, the implementation of the new policy can be expected. As for these local civil unrest, in fact, it is not significant. But the king of the county must quickly cut through the chaos and quell the chaos as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late. ”

Yang Tong arched his hand and said solemnly: "Deqing is in the countryside, and there is still some popularity in Deqing, please rest assured that even if you give up your life, you will have to run around and persuade the gentry and people to defect to the county king!" ”

Kong Sheng bowed and saluted: "In this way, there is Mr. Lao." Brother Mu, you take a few people to Deqing with Mr. first, and act at the opportunity! As for Kong, delaying the march for two days is! ”

Yuan Chao and Yang Tong successively rushed to Deqing secretly in advance, one way to persuade Yuan Ying to surrender, and the other way to secretly act at the opportunity, using Yang Tong's civil influence in Deqing to see if Yuan Ying and his party could have civil strife and disintegrate their momentum.

But in fact, although these two groups of people were arranged by Kong Sheng, he himself did not have any doubts about the efforts of Yuan Chao and Yang Tong, but he also did not hold out any hope.

Kong Sheng believes in his own power even more.

He has always been somewhat skeptical of official and civilian sources of information. In his opinion, the people who can rebel with Yuan Ying must be the middle and lower classes of the common people, in short, the landless and landless peasants, this group must be huge in Jiangnan, but limited to the surrounding areas of Deqing, at most there will be no more than 200,000 people. From the perspective of the nature of the people, anyone who can eat, even if they are half-full, will not risk killing their heads to rebel, especially in the land of fish and rice like Jiangnan, where the people are comfortable and idle.

And such a huge group, it is impossible for all of them to willingly follow Yuan Ying to rebel. At least half of them were wrapped.

The crux of the problem is that Yuan Ying only occupies the first-line area near Deqing, and there are only two or three county towns in the city, how to feed more than 100,000 troops, and where does his baggage weapons come from. It is obviously very funny to rely solely on the grain and grass reserves of Deqing County to support an army of 100,000.

Therefore, in Kong Sheng's view, the so-called more than 100,000 people under Yuan Ying's command can actually go to the battlefield for Yuan Ying's use, and they are 10,000 or 20,000 people, and they are dead. And more importantly, the displaced people and people who were caught in the county town by Yuan Ying and his party.

Even if there are such 10,000 or 20,000 people armed, in Kong Sheng's opinion, they are vulnerable. Even if he loses, Kong Sheng can retreat calmly.

Therefore, Kong Sheng only brought more than 1,000 people and horses. In fact, what Kong Sheng really wanted to use was nothing more than 500 Jiangning Iron Cavalry. With these five hundred iron horses, it is enough.

Relying on the encirclement and suppression of the army, I don't know how many killings will be made, and countless innocent people will die tragically. Kong Sheng was reluctant to do so.

Kong Sheng led the army to move forward slowly, and the five hundred Jiangning iron cavalry looked solemn and orderly, and the advance and retreat were orderly, so that the 1,000 people of the Jiangnan army were in awe in their hearts. The murderous aura emanating from the blood in the bones of these five hundred soldiers is enough to show their super combat effectiveness. It is actually difficult for these Jiangnan soldiers who have not experienced a real battle formation to imagine how fierce and invincible such a group of soldiers must be on the battlefield.

A few fast horses galloped from behind, Kong Sheng glanced back, and saw that it was the second son of the Shen family, his eyebrows were raised, and a trace of meaning flashed in his eyes.

When Shen Er arrived, he bowed down on his horse and said, "The king of the county, the student is familiar with Deqing, and he volunteered to serve in the army of the king of the county." If we can put an end to the chaos as soon as possible, it will also be a blessing for my Shen family. ”

Kong Sheng sighed: "It's rare that Second Prince Shen understands righteousness so well. Either way, you can stay in our army and help me put down the rebellion. ”

Immediately, Kong Sheng seemed to ask intentionally or unintentionally: "Second Prince Shen, it is reported that the foundation of Wuxing Shen is in Deqing, why did he flee this time, it seems that only Second Prince Shen fled from Deqing, the Shen family has a great cause, did the others take refuge elsewhere?" ”

Shen Er was stunned for a moment when he was asked, and his expression immediately changed slightly, but he still bowed down and said with a reluctant smile: "If you go back to the county king, the foundation of our Wuxing Shen clan is indeed in Deqing, but when the chaos started, the head of my Shen family led most of the family to avoid Jiangzhou, Shannan." My Shen family also has a thin industry in Shannan, and it is just an expedient measure to avoid Shannan. ”

"Oh. Avoid going to Jiangzhou, Shannan......" Kong Sheng laughed, but he didn't ask anything more, and immediately turned his head to urge the horse forward, no longer paying attention to Shen Er.

Shen Er's eyes flickered on the horse, but he quietly followed behind Kong Sheng's army with a few of his retinue and servants, without attracting too many people's attention.

Kong Sheng sneered in his heart: The people of the Shen clan actually gave up the other state capitals of Jiangnan Province and did not go, but retreated to Jiangzhou, Shannan, which sounded like no problem, but if you think about it, the problem is too big. There must be fraud in this, which once again verifies Kong Sheng's suspicion of the Shen family from one side. It's just that his suspicions are not supported by specific evidence, and Kong Sheng did not show it.

Deqing County.

Deqing County, named after "people are virtuous, such as water to clear". Although this is only a county seat, it is the famous land of fish and rice in the whole Jiangnan, and it is also the birthplace of the Wuxing Shen family, one of the two wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River. The Shen clan has been breeding here for hundreds of years, and the branches and leaves of the Shen clan are scattered throughout the northern region of the south of the Yangtze River, especially in Deqing.

After Yuan Ying took the incident, he expelled the Deqing County Order and occupied the county seat of Deqing, and his marshal's mansion was located in the largest and most prosperous mansion in the city, the ancestral residence of the Shen family.

There are more than 100,000 people in the city, just as Kong Sheng judged, most of them are displaced people and their families gathered from all over the country, and the ones who are really armed can be used by Yuan Ying are only 10,000 or 20,000 people, and because they have not undergone real military training, they have no combat effectiveness.

But Yuan Ying has been planning for rebellion for so long, it is definitely impossible to be unprepared. He secretly connected the ambitious gentry in various state capitals and counties, and agreed to start an incident together, and share the world in the future, and at the worst of all, he would carve up a place south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, in Yuan Ying's army, in fact, the gentry and powerful domestic servants occupy a large share. This group of people has been secretly trained by powerful people from all over the world, but they also have a certain fierce quality.

Yuan Ying chose to start the incident at this time, naturally after careful consideration. In Yuan Ying's view, the Central Plains was in turmoil, and the imperial court did not have the energy to take care of Jiangnan, and Jiangnan only had Yang Qi's tens of thousands of Jiangnan troops, most of which were deployed on the front line of Jiangning, and they were beyond the reach of the remote Deqing area.

Therefore, Yuan Ying easily led the army to capture the county seat of Deqing, and the banner and momentum of "fighting local tyrants and dividing the land" were created, which soon attracted displaced people from all over the country. The displaced people flocked here, and Yuan Ying appointed his henchmen to divide his troops into several places, and at this time, if nothing else, he should have occupied several rich state capitals and counties in the north of the Yangtze River.

Yuan Ying's team frantically seized wealth and food, because there was money to share and enough to eat, and more and more people came to join Yuan Ying. In less than half a month, he gathered more than 100,000 people, although they were all rabble, but it also greatly stimulated Yuan Ying's ambitions, made him full of confidence, and had the idea of occupying a place in Jiangnan and establishing himself as the king of Jiangnan Baosheng.

Yuan Ying sat in the position of the head of the Shen family, and on both sides of the stage were the civil and military officials he had appointed by himself, and the people who really occupied important positions were local tyrants and inferior gentry from all over the country, and there were no ordinary homeless people. Yuan Ying is a very smart person, and the collaborators he chooses are all middle- and lower-class gentry in various counties, and as for those real big families and wealthy families, they disdain him to be in his company.

Yuan Chao was brought in, walked into the hall, looked at the arrogant cousin Yuan Ying sitting at the top, and looked at the so-called civil and military ministers who looked like dogs in two rows, and had a certain sense of comical in his heart.

Yuan Chao smiled bitterly: "Third brother! ”

Yuan Ying sneered and didn't say anything. A strong man in armor at the bottom left of Yuan Ying - Zhang Wu, a squire of the former Deqing Dynasty and the generalissimo of the current Baosheng regime, burst out: "Presumptuous, when you see my King Baosheng, you dare not pay respects?" Get down on your knees! ”

Yuan Chao was stunned and looked at Yuan Ying.

Yuan Ying's face was gloomy, and he waved his hand and said: "That's it-Yuan Chao, you are free to enjoy the glory and wealth under the command of the king of Jiangning County, and come to my Deqing righteous army, what do you want?" ”

Yuan Chao saw that Yuan Ying's attitude was not good, and his heart was half cold. But he came on orders and had something to say.

He lowered his heart and said loudly: "Third brother, for my brother, I am ordered by the king of Jiangning County of the imperial court to come and persuade you to surrender......

Before Yuan Chao's words were finished, he was interrupted by Yuan Ying laughing wildly: "There is no way in the imperial court, corrupt officials and corrupt officials in various places, and the people of Jiangnan have no way to live, so my generation has led the crowd to rise up!" The so-called princely general Xiangning has a kind of, since the Li family can be the emperor, why can't our generation sit firmly? ”

"Third brother, everyone, the imperial army is pressing, tens of thousands of Jiangnan troops are waiting in Jiangning, if you don't stop the precipice, I'm afraid that the army will come, and the chickens and dogs will not stay......" Yuan Chao knew that he was probably going to run for nothing this time, Yuan Ying had changed too much, he was in a frenzy at the moment, and it was not something he could dissuade at all.

Yuan Ying sneered: "The rebellion in the Central Plains is undecided, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty is powerless to touch my Jiangnan." As for the tens of thousands of Jiangnan troops under Yang Qi's command, they are not worth mentioning at all. I heard that Kong Sheng led a large army to encircle and suppress our righteous army, and you can see how our divine soldiers can defeat it! ”

"Our righteous army was ordered by heaven to fight for a way out for the people of Jiangnan. The king raised the flag for less than half a month, the people from all over the country came one after another, more than 100,000 troops gathered here, and soon they will capture the entire two provinces and eighteen states in the south of the Yangtze River! This king has the help of all the people with lofty ideals, and now when my righteous army is strong, you came to let me surrender, which is really ridiculous. ”

"Someone, arrest this court spy for me and parade through the streets!" Seeing that Yuan Ying did not object, Zhang Wu jumped like thunder, waving his arms, and a group of heroic soldiers like wolves and tigers immediately rushed in and tied Yuan Chao up, no matter how Yuan Chao shouted, Yuan Ying was indifferent and did not listen.

Yuan Chao was pushed out to parade through the streets, and the city was full of homeless people crowding the streets, and most of the local people were closed or fleeing.

Yuan Chao was pushed out all the way by several family members, many homeless people clamored to pick up the stones and stolen goods on the side of the road and threw them on him, Yuan Chao's eyes flashed a trace of sadness, he was not afraid, but sad in his heart, he knew that Yuan Ying was finished. Don't look at Yuan Ying's gathering of more than 100,000 displaced people at the moment, it seems to be unstoppable, but in the face of Kong Sheng and the means of the official army, sooner or later it will be the fate of defeat.

Yang Tong and the two servants were mixed in the group of displaced people on the side of the road, and the corners of their mouths twitched slightly as they watched Yuan Chao being escorted to the city tower with an embarrassed expression. Yang Tong actually entered Deqing earlier than Yuan Chao, and he secretly visited the gentry and old relatives he was familiar with in the past, and the news he got made him feel heavy.

On the surface, Yuan Ying robbed the house and plundered the property and grain of the gentry and wealthy families, and used it as a signboard to attract displaced people and ordinary people to join the rebel army, but in fact this is all an illusion. The high and dominant positions in Yuan Ying's army were all county gentry and heroes, and big families like Wuxing and Shen's family were also hidden in it.

Yang Tong realized that Yuan Ying seemed to have the overt and covert support of many powerful families in Jiangnan. Haoqiang helped him recruit troops and horses, and helped him with grain, grass and wealth, which allowed Yuan Ying's team to expand in the shortest possible time, and his ambitions were also rapidly expanding.

If this is the case, Yuan Ying's uprising is not a small-scale civil unrest, but a large-riot-riot that is very likely to affect the entire Jiangnan and is promoted by the powerful of the family, not to mention that Kong Sheng only brought more than 1,000 people, that is, Yang Qi's tens of thousands of Jiangnan troops rose up and dispatched, and it was not so easy to destroy Yuan Ying and quell the disaster.

This kind of worry made Yang Tong not dare to act rashly.