The suppression of peasant uprisings has always been a thankless task. The simplicity of the Chinese peasants is famous, and if they are not forced to do that, who is willing to revolt and rebel.

So when Zhao Weiji received an order from the imperial court asking him to return to Beijing and prepare to lead troops to suppress it, he had a hundred reluctances in his heart.

But there is no way, at this stage, he still has to "pretend to be a grandson" to Zhao Guangyi, if you don't let me fight, I won't fight, if you let me fight, I'll fight.

But it's so cheap Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Weiji's heart is still not very comfortable, and he has to think about how to make a fortune from it and turn it into political capital in the future.

In this way, Zhao Weiji, who has not finished the year, can only take Tie Zheng and Zhao Xin to Beijing.

……

When Zhao Weiji arrived in the capital, new news came from Shudi, that is, Chengdu was lost, Li Shun led the rebel army to conquer Chengdu, and the guards left in Chengdu fled one after another.

At the court meeting on the twentieth day of the first lunar month, all the ministers were silent, because Li Shun had proclaimed himself king in Chengdu and established a so-called Dashu regime. This is undoubtedly an extremely humiliating thing for the Great Song Dynasty.

"Bring Zhao Weiji, the king of Wuyue, to the palace."

With Zhao Guangyi's oracle, the eunuch announced Zhao Weiji to the palace.

"Long live my emperor, long live, long live." After entering the palace, Zhao Weiji immediately saluted Zhao Guangyi.

"Calm down, Weiji also knows what I am saying about you from Huating to declare the church in the capital, right?"

"Back to Your Majesty, it's for the rebels in Shudi, and the minister has also heard about it."

"It's good that you know, now the Great Song Dynasty really can't take the generals to lead the troops to quell the rebellion, so I have to work hard for you to go."

"It is the minister's duty to share the worries of the Great Song Dynasty, but the minister has a small request, I hope His Majesty will agree."

"What requirements?" Zhao Guangyi also knew at this time that there was no one else to use, so as long as Zhao Weiji's request was not too excessive, it would be okay to agree to him.

"The minister hopes that the deputy commander of the Ma Army in Xiazhou will make Li Jiguang enter Shu with the minister to quell the rebellion."

When Zhao Guangyi heard it, this is not a big deal, although Li Jiguang has performed well in the past two years, he is only Li Jilong's deputy after all, and it is not impossible to transfer out of Xiazhou. In addition, Li Jiguang was originally brought out by Zhao Weiji, and it is understandable that he is now going to quell the rebellion and hopes to bring someone he is familiar with as a deputy general, so Zhao Guangyi simply agreed.

"Okay, I've agreed to your request. Now I'm asking you a question. How many people do you need to counterinsurgency? ”

"50,000 is enough."

As soon as Zhao Weiji's words fell, a minister in the queue immediately stood up and refuted: "King Wu Yue is inevitably too big, 50,000 people are enough?" Now that the rebels in Shu have gathered more than 100,000 people, and Shu has always been easy to defend and difficult to attack, are your 50,000 people enough? ”

After the minister finished speaking, everyone looked at Zhao Weiji to see what kind of rhetoric he could come up with to convince everyone. Even Zhao Guangyi looked at Zhao Weiji with interest.

"Actually, you don't see a problem clearly, that is, their current uprising has deteriorated the moment Li Shun became king. What banner did Wang Xiaobo play at the beginning? Both rich and poor. Do you think that a man who has become a king can be as rich or poor as the average soldier? ”

All the ministers shook their heads, in this era, rank represents everything, it is impossible for a king to live the same life as a common people, I am a king, I must show the superiority of the king. Equality for all is a joke in this day and age.

Seeing that all the ministers seemed to agree with their first point of view, Zhao Weiji put forward the second and second point of view.

"As far as I know, Hanzhong, Jianmen hasn't been occupied by the rebels yet, right?"

At this time, Zhao Guangyi also reacted, Hanzhong, Jianmen can be said to be the gateway of Shu, if these two places are occupied, the battle will be very difficult to fight, if it is not occupied, Shu is equivalent to saying that the door is wide open.

"Privy Council, how are Hanzhong and Jianmen doing now?"

"Back to Your Majesty, Hanzhong and Jianmen have not been attacked by the rebels so far, and the rebels are still operating near Chengdu."

"I know, and immediately convey my order to these two places urgently, so that the defenders of the two places must hold it no matter what, especially the defenders of the Sword Gate, and they will never be allowed to lose."

"Yes, Wechen will do it immediately."

Seeing the people of the Privy Council leaving the main hall, Zhao Weiji began to explain his views again.

"As long as Hanzhong and Jianmen are not occupied, then the march of my Great Song official army into Shu will be smooth sailing. Ministers, don't forget, when Taizu destroyed Shu, the Sword Gate was still in the hands of Meng Chang, such a difficult condition, my Great Song Army has been served, and now the Sword Gate is still in our hands, if this can't destroy the rebels with 50,000 soldiers, then how can I save face as a Great Song general. ”

As soon as Zhao Weiji said this, the ministers present were no longer opposed, anyway, since you King Wu Yue are so confident, you can go up.

In this way, after Li Jiguang was quickly transferred back to Beijing, the reunited two led the army to start the journey to Shu to quell the rebellion.

In fact, Zhao Weiji is not worried about whether he can defeat the rebels, because as he explained the two reasons in the court, corruption and lack of defense are the mortal weaknesses of the rebels.

The real question is the aftermath of the defeat of the rebels.

Huaxia has always dealt with the suppressed rebel army in no more than a few ways, one is the massacre, which represents the Huangfu Song who suppressed the Yellow Turban Uprising in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

There is also a kind of self-use, such as Wang Shichong and Li Shimin at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

But now Zhao Weiji can't use these two points, slaughtering his compatriots, he can't do this kind of thing, and he is ready to try to become the emperor in the future, this kind of thing to discredit himself is absolutely not possible.

So take it for yourself? It's okay to divide the heroes in troubled times, but in this kind of peaceful world, if he takes it for his own use, Zhao Guangyi should send troops to suppress him.

But it's useless to think so much now, let's go to Shu first.

……

As Zhao Weiji speculated, corruption had begun to occur within the rebel army at this time.

Although Li Shun did quite well on the surface after establishing power, he was not merciless in killing the corrupt officials who surrendered in Shudi, and all the looted property was equally divided. But since the government has been established, of course, it is necessary to appoint officials to run the regime, and the appointment of officials creates hierarchies, and the atmosphere of bureaucracy also radiates.

So gradually, these "officials" have also begun to enjoy the benefits of being officials.

Of course, the situation is not out of control, and the rebels are still attacking the remaining states and counties in Shu with great momentum, and more and more people are participating.

Just when Zhao Weiji was preparing to march from Hanzhong to Shu with a large army, the rebels had basically controlled most of the land of Xichuan centered on Chengdu, and the entire Xichuan had basically fallen except for the north of Jianmen. Moreover, after the occupation of Wuxia, the rebels began to spread to Jingzhou.

……

"Report to the general, there is new news from Jianmen, the rebels have basically captured the entire Shu land south of Jianmen, and the current situation in Jianmen is not optimistic, I hope that the army will accelerate to Shu for reinforcements."

"Okay, I see."

After the scout withdrew from the big tent, Zhao Weiji summoned Li Jiguang and others to the tent, hoping to discuss a countermeasure. Since the army led by Zhao Weiji was mostly infantry, it was impossible to speed up the march at this moment, so he could only hope to work together to see if he could find a suitable way to quickly support Jianmen.

"Everyone has seen it, the current situation of the Sword Gate is urgent, once the rebels take the Sword Gate, it will be difficult for us to enter the blue sky if we want to enter Shu smoothly."

"Now even if you let the cavalry troops go first, you can't quickly reinforce Jianmen, from Chang'an to Hanzhong to Jianmen, it's all mountain roads, and the cavalry can't pass quickly." Seeing this situation, Tie Zheng was the first to speak. As he said, before reaching the Chengdu Plain, the cavalry's mobility may not be as good as the infantry, and it is simply impossible to let the cavalry take the lead in reinforcements as in peacetime wars, and the infantry will slowly follow behind.

Just when everyone was at a loss, Zhao Xin put forward a plan: "Why don't we let the cavalry go to Chencang instead of Chang'an, how about Tianshui?" ”

A word woke up the person in the dream, and everyone present had a feeling of sudden realization after hearing Zhao Xin's suggestion. In fact, everyone here has made the mistake of falling into a fixed mindset and always thinking about the shortest path instead of the best one.

If you pass through Chencang and go to Tianshui and then go south through Qishan to Hanzhong, most of the time there are plains and valleys on the way, so that the cavalry can quickly reach Hanzhong, and then reinforce Jianmen, the speed will not be fast.

"Yes, how did we forget, Zhuge Kongming of the Shu Han matter is Chang'an who went out of Qishan to attack. It's a route that really worth trying. ”

Others agreed after looking at the map.

"In this way, Yuan Jing, you led all the cavalry to Tianshui quickly, and then went south from Qishan, Wudu entered Hanzhong first, and we led the infantry to take the Baochuan Road according to the original route. Once you arrive in Hanzhong, don't worry about us going to Jianmen for reinforcements first. And take apart the bed crossbow, and you all take it with you. ”

"The last general commands."

In this way, Li Jiguang led the cavalry troops, brought the bed crossbows and arrows that were dismantled into parts, and quickly rushed to Tianshui.

At this time, God may be helping Zhao Weiji, Shuzhong began to enter the rainy season in March, and the heavy rain made the rebel army attacking Jianmen have to postpone the attack.

In this way, the Sword Gate, which had already begun to be in a hurry, got a respite, and the rebel army that failed to take the Sword Gate in time was about to usher in a catastrophe.