Early the next morning, Li Qing'an continued his march southward, and two days later, his brigade arrived in Gushu County, where the drought problem was most severe.

Before entering Gushu County, Li Qing'an had already learned some things about the situation in Gushu County from many sources, and in terms of drought alone, the disaster in Gushu County was no different from other areas in Henan Province, and it was far from the point where the people had no way to make a living and had to rebel.

The key is [***], the valley is fertile land, the two major rivers of Bianhe and Juanshui flow through the territory, there are many tributaries between the two rivers, and the climate is suitable, so that here is a large grain-producing county since ancient times, more than seventy percent of the land in Gushu County has been reduced to a manor, and the self-cultivated farmers only account for about thirty percent, in the major manors, Qingwang Li Cong has four large manors, totaling 500 hectares of land.

Greed is the common characteristic of these powerful people, they never think that their land and money are enough, and they will not think about whether Datang will die because of this, maybe in their opinion, Datang is so rich, it is nothing to take a little bit of it, and if he doesn't take it, others will also take it away, so greed will blind their conscience, there is wine today and drunk tomorrow, even if the waves are monstrous tomorrow.

The drought in Henan is coming, as if blowing the rallying call for land annexation, the powerful princes of Chang'an, the local wealthy families, the great gods and small witches all stretched out their greedy hands to the rich land of Henan Province, each with its own means, each with a way, the purpose is one, taking advantage of the disaster year to take the land for themselves, Gushu County is an extreme example.

In order to connect these four large estates into one, Li Cong took advantage of the drought to wantonly annex land, involving nearly 20,000 mu of land and more than 1,200 households, and he adopted the means of violent eviction and coercion by the government, beating the owners of the land with hundreds of family members with sticks, demolishing their houses, and forcing them to sell their fields at extremely low prices. As long as the peasants left their homes, the land immediately became terra nullius, and the government confiscated and auctioned them, but there was only one buyer, and in just two months, King Qing occupied more than 10,000 acres of land.

The peasants' rebellion originated from the dissatisfaction with the government, when the imperial court disaster relief order was issued, the counties began to open warehouses for porridge one after another, but Gushu County not only did not open the warehouse, but forced the farmers to pay taxes and grain, when the news of other counties opened warehouses and released grain to Gushu County, the workers and farmers were angry, they rushed into the official warehouse, but found that there were no grain particles in the official warehouse, the angry people burned the official warehouse, smashed the yamen, they were afraid of the government's retaliation, thousands of people fled to Moshan to hide under the leadership of several prestige leaders, However, in the report of the government, it turned into a rebellion.

Li Qing'an didn't know the truth of the matter until he entered Gushu County, and that afternoon, Li Qing'an led a large group of men to the Gushu Military Mansion, which was located twenty miles west of the county seat.

This is a question for him, what role did the army play in this riot? The Gushu Military Mansion is the upper mansion, and there should be 1,200 soldiers, but what Li Qing'an saw was a dilapidated military camp, half of the fence was gone, the sentry tower had collapsed, and the liquor store that was originally attached to the military camp had also become empty, most of it had collapsed, and it was overgrown with artemisia grass as tall as a person, and it could be seen that it had been abandoned for at least ten years.

Li Qing'an's face was gloomy to the extreme, he never dared to imagine that the military government in the Central Plains was so dilapidated, the militia remained outside the barracks, he led a hundred guards to ride into the barracks, the barracks were not allowed to gallop, but they could not get off the horses, and the road was covered with artemisia grass.

Although the military palace has been dilapidated, the original grand scene can still be seen, three rows of nearly 100 long square rooms, canteens, armory houses, warehouses, clerical rooms are all available, smooth and spacious racecourse and training ground, there are still rusty arrows inserted in the arrow stacks, and there are even two spears on the knife and gun racks, but there is no one in sight.

"Who are you to dare to ride into the barracks!" Suddenly, a vicious voice came from behind them.

As soon as Li Qing'an turned around, he saw a man in his thirties standing twenty paces behind them, an officer to be exact, burly, with a somewhat hunched back, this person had half-white hair, a huge rosacea nose, wearing a thin scale armor, a horizontal knife hanging from his buttocks, and a wine jug in his hand, squinting at him drunkly.

"Who are you?" Li Qingan asked him rhetorically: "Is it an officer here?" ”

The officer seemed to have some knowledge, and when he saw that although the people who came were not soldiers, they were all burly, with cold eyes, with horizontal swords at their waists and bows and arrows on their backs, especially the horses they were riding were all strong and strong horses, so he knew that the origin of this group of people was not small, so he immediately put away his wild attitude and replied respectfully: "I am Captain Guoyi here, my name is Cui You, may I ask who Your Excellency is." ”

Li Qingan nodded and said, "I was originally the envoy of the Beiting Festival, and now I am the observer envoy of Henan Province. ”

"It turns out that you are Li Qing'an!"

The officer was startled, he hurriedly stepped forward, half-knelt down and saluted: "Humble Cui You, see the champion general." ”

Li Qingan saw that he still knew himself well, so he turned over and dismounted and said with a smile: "Find a place!" I have something to ask you. ”

"General, please come with me!"

Cui You led Li Qing'an into a room, the room was filled with a strong smell of wine, the dried beans on the table were already moldy, Cui You pushed the dishes to the ground with a bang, kicked all the wine jugs to the corner with his feet, wiped the cushion with his sleeve, and said with a smile: "General, please take a seat!" ”

Li Qing'an sat down, looked at the room, and found that there were still more than a dozen books on the windowsill, so he nodded and asked him, "You should know what I want to ask?" Why is this military government so dilapidated? ”

Cui You smiled bitterly and said, "The general is knowingly asking!" Aren't all the military governments in the Central Plains like this? ”

Li Qingan shook his head and said: "It shouldn't be like this, there are still seventy percent soldiers in the military government in Yangzhou, and there are still fifty percent soldiers in the Xiangzhou military government, and there are no ones like you who have run out." ”

"Yes! Two months ago, we still had 200 soldiers here, but after King Qing occupied the land, the last 200 soldiers ran out, and Ma Duwei took a dozen captains and brigade commanders to Hebei to take refuge in An Lushan, and now I am the only one left in the barracks. ”

Cui You's tone was full of pathos, "I joined the army in the sixteenth year of Kaiyuan, and my family has twenty acres of land, so I have to join the army, no way, if I don't join the army, the land will be confiscated by the government, there are seven hundred brothers in the military camp at that time, all of them are the same as me, the family has land, and I have to come to be a soldier, in the twenty-fourth year of Kaiyuan, there was a great drought in Gushu County, and King Qing took the opportunity to acquire more than 20,000 acres of land at a low price, triggering a wave of escape from the military government, and three hundred soldiers ran away overnight, and the land was gone, who was willing to be a soldier in vain, and then there were deserters every yearUntil the beginning of this year, there were still 225 soldiers left, similar to other military governments, but this time King Qing once again took advantage of the drought to acquire land, causing a civil riot, and the fathers and brothers ran to shout, not only all the soldiers ran away, but most of the officers also escaped, and all the weapons were taken away by them. ”

Speaking of this, Cui You sighed and said: "I heard that Chang'an's army is almost gone, and if you want to fight, you can only rely on temporary recruitment, but the border generals have heavy troops, once they rebel, I don't know what army the court will use to fight against them, the Tang Dynasty looks strong on the outside, but it is all hollowed out by moths, it's worrying!" ”

Li Qing'an was full of bitterness, and when he talked about the cause of the Anshi Rebellion in later generations, some said that it was Li Longji's mediocrity and misguided country, some said that it was Li Linfu's arbitrary power, some said that Yang Guozhong was uneducated and unskilled, and some even said that Yang Guifei was bewitching and misleading the country, but today he knew that the fundamental reason was the annexation of land, and it was the large-scale annexation of land by powerful and high-ranking officials regardless of the lives of the people, which turned the Tang Dynasty's Juntian system into a Zhuangtian system and collapsed the Tang Dynasty's military system.

It is true that there were many accidental factors in An Lushan's rebellion, such as Li Linfu's connivance and Yang Guozhong's persecution, but the situation of soldiers being heavier than the outside and thinner than the inside will inevitably lead to the outbreak of large-scale rebellions.

And the greatest responsibility of the Tang Emperor Li Longji is to indulge in land annexation, and issue a few edicts that are not painful and do not have any practical measures, and do not allow land annexation, but who pays attention to him? Didn't he know that his son had usurped the land? King Qing's Yongye field is only 10,000 acres, but among the various birthday gifts he gave to the Yang family, there are 50,000 acres of fertile land, such an obvious fact, Li Longji turned a blind eye, which shows that his connivance, in dealing with people's tricks shrewdly, but in governing the country and people's livelihood is extremely mediocre.

Li Qingan didn't want to ask any more, he stood up and said with a smile: "Cui You, I see that although you are drunk, your heart is sober, are you willing to give up this useless official and follow me?" ”

Cui You immediately knelt down on one knee and said: "The soldiers ran out, we are also a felony, so Ma Duwei escaped, if I don't leave, the death penalty will fall on my head, I originally planned to go to An Lushan, but I was included by the general, I admire the general for a long time, and I am willing to follow the general." ”

Li Qingan nodded and smiled: "Okay then!" You change your name, and Cui You doesn't exist from now on. ”

"The subordinate was originally called Cui Qianyou, and later changed his name to Cui You, from today onwards, I am willing to serve the general before and after the saddle!"

'Cui Qianyou!' Li Qingan felt that this name seemed a little familiar, as if he was a famous general in the Tang Dynasty, he thought for a moment, and suddenly remembered that the general under An Lushan who defeated Ge Shuhan's 400,000 army in Tongguan was not Cui Qianyou? He was overjoyed in his heart, and hurriedly said: "You pack up your things, then follow me!" ”

Walking around the barracks, but unexpectedly got a capable general, Li Qingan's mood improved again, walking on the road, he asked Cui Qianyou: "You have been in the local area for a long time, do you know what is the best way to quell the rebels?" ”

Cui Qianyou said with a smile: "If you want to seek its jade, the prophet has its surname, the people of Gushu are not rebelling, it is Cui Taishou's false accusation and demonizing them, in fact, they fled into the mountains to hide because they burned the granary county government and were afraid of the government's retaliation, so the general should not say, 'Calm down!'" 'Two words, should I say how to get them to return home? ”

"And how do you say you want to get them back home?" Li Qingan smiled again.

"Gain their trust!"

"How to get trust?"

"It's very simple, kill the evildoers, send the heads into the mountains, and then return the land to them, they will naturally go out of the mountains and go home, it depends on whether the general has the courage to do so."

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "I have this courage, does General Cui have the courage to go into the mountain for me?" ”

"If the general has courage, I have the guts!"

The two looked at each other and laughed together.

．．．．．．．．． Since Li Qing'an was transferred to Henan Province as an observer envoy, Cui Lian began to clean up the problem of land encroachment by wealthy families under his rule, and most of the land encroachment has been stopped, and many of the encroached land has been returned to the peasant households.

But there are two thorny things he has never been able to solve, one is that Xiangyi County let the emperor's daughter encroach on the land, involving his sister-in-law and eldest brother, the situation can not be pulled down, and the Xiangyi county lord has a tough attitude, resolutely refusing to return to the field, and the eldest brother Cui Qiao has an ambiguous attitude, hoping that he can use the means of skill to cover up the matter, followed by King Qing's encroachment on land in Gushu County, which makes him even more headache, King Qing has forced people to rebel, and resolutely refuses to give in, the five hundred Ding Ding hid in Songzhou City, refusing to leave.

Cui Lian was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, he already knew what happened in Xiangyi County, it was reported that Li Qingan had searched all the land deeds and the contract to buy the land, thinking of the possible consequences, which made Cui Lian shudder, and now he was most afraid that Li Qingan would come to him, at this time, the official came to report, Yang Sima came back, Cui Lian was like grasping a life-saving straw, and said in a loud voice: "Please!" Please! ”

After a moment, Sima Yang Runing walked in quickly and bowed: "See the envoy!" ”

"You're welcome, let's talk about the situation in Bianzhou."

"Envoy, I'm afraid the situation is not in our favor."

Yang Runing sighed and said: "King Di sent Shao Ziping to solve the problem of land restitution, he was very effective, only three days, not only returned all the land to the peasants, but also gave each family another five yuan of hush money, and promised to buy 100,000 stone rice in Bianzhou for disaster relief, now everyone praises King Di's benevolence and kindness, King Di's matter is solved, and now Wu Qing is in a large-scale inventory of land encroachment, and organized his powerful subordinates to dig wells to fight drought, so that Jun, Bianzhou has basically gotten rid of trouble, Xuzhou and Huazhou are also clearing up the problem of land occupation, and everyone is afraid of Li Qingan. ”

Cui Lian stood stunned for a long time, sat down in prostration, originally thought that the law did not blame the public, but now only Songzhou has the most serious problem, but Li Qingan is in Songzhou, what can I do? Sweat oozed from Cui Lian's forehead, and he felt that this time he might not be able to escape responsibility.

"Envoy, now you can only seek self-preservation."

Yang Runing's suggestion seemed to ring a bell in Cui Lian's ear, and he suddenly woke up and hurriedly asked, "Then you say, where is my plan to protect myself?" ”

"I suggest that you might as well talk to Li Qing'an, I found that although this person is ruthless, he is also very strategic, such as a big thing as Caogong, no one can bear it, but he actually let Wu Qing go and went straight to Songzhou, it can be seen that he is here for Songzhou, so what is there in Songzhou that makes him so interested, King Qing, maybe add another Cui Shangshu now, make Jun, he is overturning the case for the tide file! As long as we understand this, we can work with him. ”

"Do you want me to be betrayed big brother? And King Qing, do I dare to offend him? ”

Yang Runing saw that Cui Lian was still obsessed, and persuaded again: "If you shield them again, I'm afraid they will use you as a scapegoat, as long as they say that they don't know everything, it is the subordinates who do it without permission, and the saint can't grasp the subordinates!" Both cases fell on you, who do you say the Holy One will arrest if he doesn't arrest you? Besides, offending Cui Shangshu is to save the reputation of the Cui family, and it has the reputation of killing relatives with righteousness, the Cui family is grateful to you, offending King Qing, so that you can still defect to other princes, it is better than now that it is difficult to escape the blame! ”

Cui Lian covered his head and sighed for a while, "Let me think again, think again!" ”

．．．．．． It only took half a day for Li Qing'an to investigate the fact that King Li Cong had encroached on land in Gushu County, and the matter was very clear, and it was not like the lord of Xiangyi County who used the name of the deacon Tian Yi to occupy the land, and the contract was clearly written, and the land was bought by King Qing, which shows that King Qing acted arrogantly and did not have any fear.

For the fearlessness of King Qing Li Cong, Li Qingan is also quite strange, if it is now February, Li Cong's behavior can be understood, but now is the end of May, in Chang'an broke out a major change in the prince was deposed, as the eldest son, Li Cong has the possibility of entering the East Palace, at this juncture, how can he dare to annex land on a large scale, such as King Di, he immediately changed his ways, and sent the most powerful men to alter his bad record.

But King Qing didn't move at all, didn't he understand? This is impossible, if he doesn't even understand this, and he is fighting for the position of the prince, the only explanation is that King Qing himself does not know about it, this is his subordinates who did it without authorization, if it is really his subordinates, then his subordinates can actually mobilize 500 family members to come over and grab the field, which shows the scale of Li Cong's estate.

But whether it is done by King Qing or by his subordinates, he has to fight this tiger in Gushu County, and it is a good thing to snipe King Qing into the East Palace, for the country, the people and himself.

In the afternoon of that day, Li Qing'an arrived at Dong'an Town, which was less than ten miles away from Songzhou City, and at this time, news came from the front that Cui Lian, the Taishou of Songzhou, asked to see him.

In the Dong'an wine shop, Li Qing'an and Cui Lian sat opposite each other, Li Qing'an poured him a glass of wine and said with a smile: "Sizhou Taishou Cui Ping is Cui Taishou's nephew!" ”

"He is the son of my brother, and he became the Taishou of Sizhou at a young age, thanks to Li Yuanjun's recommendation."

"This has nothing to do with me, Cui Ping is young and promising, I heard that he was going to transfer Huzhou to the south, but the people of Sizhou refused to let him go, and they jointly wrote to the court asking him to stay, he only did it for less than three years and won the hearts of the people so much, people have to admire!"

Cui Lian's old face was slightly red, he heard that Li Qingan was secretly sarcastic that he was unpopular as an official, so he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "It is also difficult for those of us to be magistrates, we have to appease the people, and we have to deal with the powerful, and if we are not careful, we will be impeached by the imperial history. ”

"Can Cui Taishou really do it? If Cui Taishou is not at fault, how can thousands of people in Gushu County burn down the warehouse and destroy the ya, and how can this Cui Taishou explain? ”

"That's what King Qing did, I want to manage but I can't afford to offend, how can you let me be good?"

"Hey, hey! This is Cui Taishou putting the cart before the horse, afraid of offending King Qing, so he let him enclose the land? Cui Taishou knows what is the biggest crisis in my Datang? ”

"Land annexation!"

"That's right! It is land annexation, land annexation leads to the corruption of the military system, leading to financial depletion, if left unchecked, sooner or later it will lead to the demise of the Tang Dynasty, Cui Taishou knows the harm, and also indulges the enclosure of the powerful, just to keep his official hat, but now Cui Taishou's official hat is not only not able to keep, but will also be guilty of the Tang Dynasty, Cui Taishou, don't let the future historians write the root of the Tang Dynasty's demise, mention Cui Taishou, Cui Lian is not honest, it will be stinking for 10,000 years. ”

Li Qing'an's words knocked heavily on Cui Lian's heart, and he got up in panic and said: "I was just afraid of this, so I came to discuss with Li Yuanjun and begged Li Yuanjun to show me a clear way." ”

(To be continued)