readx; Before Li Heng retreated south, Li Heng deployed about 150,000 troops in Henan Province and Hedong Province, of which Hedong Province was forced to give up after An Lushan's defeat in Guannei Province, and formed a gap in power, at that time Li Qing'an and Li Heng reached an agreement, with Taiyuan as the boundary, including Taiyuan, a province and seven states north of Hedong Province are controlled by Li Qing'an, and currently garrisoned by 15,000 troops under the command of General Lei Wanchun.

The ten prefectures south of Hedong Province were controlled by Li Heng's Guanzhong Army, not only the ten southern states of Hedong Province, but even the vast areas of Dugi Province and Henan Province were garrisoned by Li Heng's 150,000 troops, but when Wang Sili of the Guanzhong Army suddenly occupied Tongguan, the 150,000 troops sent by Li Heng were cut off from retreating, with An Lushan in the north and Li Mao's army in the south blocking their way around Hanzhong, leaving these more than 100,000 people in an isolated and helpless situation. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

After beating Guo Ziyi, Li Qingan began to launch the Eastern Crusade, the goal was the 150,000 army, he wanted to rush to collect these troops before An Lushan sent troops, and now his troops are weak, and this 150,000 army is especially precious to him.

Henan Province and Henan Province are not the same concept, Henan Province is a part of today's eastern Henan and Shandong, with a vast area, while the west of Kaifeng belongs to Duqi Province, including Henan Province, Zhengzhou, Shaanzhou, Ruzhou, Huaizhou and other places, which is a strategic place second only to Guanzhong in the Tang Dynasty, and Henan Province is a part of Duqi Province, which is Luoyang and more than a dozen counties near it.

Regardless of whether it is Dugi Province or Henan Province, it is centered on the eastern capital Luoyang, and Luoyang is fixed as ' in ancient China's strategic feng shui. The Central Plains map of the great trend', that is, to get Luoyang to get the Central Plains, to get the Central Plains to get the world, Luoyang's strategic position can be seen, but Luoyang's strategic disadvantage is also prominent, it is surrounded by no danger, no mountains and mountains, no canyon depth, only north by a Yellow River, but in winter, the Yellow River frozen, Luoyang will no longer be in danger to rely on, it is very easy to be captured by the army, so the Sui and Tang dynasties did not choose Luoyang as the capital, but chose the terrain of the dangerous Guanzhong Chang'an, it is precisely this reason.

At this time, Luoyang's government affairs were still under the control of the imperial court, and Yang Shenyu was the younger brother of Yang Shenjin and the descendant of Yang Guang, Emperor Yang of Sui.

In addition, Pei Zhen of Henan Mansion is the son of Pei Kuan, these two people control the government affairs system of Henan Province, and are responsible to the six departments and political affairs hall of Shangshu Province, but the military defense of Luoyang Mansion is not controlled by the imperial court, but by the army of Zheng Cai Jiedu Ji Guangchen.

In order to occupy the Central Plains before An Lushan, Li Qing'an personally led 80,000 Anxi troops east out of Tongguan and waved Luoyang, and as a countermeasure, Guo Ziyi also led 80,000 troops to cross the Yellow River eastward, Chen Bing Taiyuan, and the troops pointed to Puzhou and Jiangzhou, Guo Ziyi's troops effectively restrained the 20,000 troops of Dong Qin, who made it impossible for him to aid Ji Guangchen in the south, and also made Li Qing'an's troops go all the way smoothly, and the army quickly advanced in the direction of Luoyang.

From Tongguan to Luoyang is about 300 miles apart, this area is a loess hilly area, the terrain is undulating, the ravines are vertical and horizontal, Li Qing'an did not dare to underestimate the enemy, he ordered Li Guangbi to be the vanguard, commanding 20,000 troops to open the road in front, and he himself led the main force of 60,000 troops along the official road to march mightily, all the way to the autumn without committing any crimes, this morning, the army drove to the territory of Xin'an County, Henan Province.

A scout rushed to report: "Report to the general, the county commander of Xin'an County has come to reward the army, and it has arrived!" ”

Li Qing'an looked at an official road to the north, only to see dust in the distance, and a faint convoy was coming this way, he nodded and ordered: "The army rests on the spot for half an hour!" ”

The soldiers sat down one after another, some people rested, some people drank water and ate dry food, Li Qing'an looked around again, this is the plain area, the official road is lined with endless fields, the wheat has already been harvested, the seedling raising is over, the farmers are busy planting seedlings, a small river in the distance, several huge water wheels stand by the river, pumping the river water into the ditch at the edge of the field.

Li Qing'an turned over and dismounted, and walked towards an old locust tree not far away, under the big tree sat more than a dozen old peasants, originally they saw the army coming, they were frightened away from afar, and then saw that the army did not infringe on them, so they came back one after another, and sat back under the big tree to enjoy the shade.

More than a dozen old peasants saw more than 100 soldiers walking around a general, they were so frightened that they stood up one after another, at a loss, and the captain of the pro-soldier reassured them: "Don't be afraid, my general wants to talk to you, there is no malice." ”

An old man mustered up his courage and asked tremblingly, "May I ask who your general is?" ”

"The general of my family is His Royal Highness King Zhao, the envoy of the Anxi Festival, and now he is the general of Tiance."

At this time, Li Qingan came over and said with a smile: "What are you doing with so many official names?" You just say it's Li Qingan. ”

Only then did the old peasants know that the general in front of them turned out to be the famous Li Qing'an, and they were stunned, and after a long time, they knelt down one after another, bowed and said: "We don't know that His Highness has arrived, how offended, please forgive Your Highness!" ”

Li Qingan hurriedly helped everyone up, and said with a smile: "Everyone, hurry up, there is no offense, please hurry up!" ”

Li Qing'an helped everyone up, and all the old farmers saw that Li Qing'an was amiable, without the frame of a high-ranking official, and not as fierce and evil as the legend, they all relaxed their hearts, and some people smiled: "Your Highness, sit down for a while!" ”

Li Qingan happily sat cross-legged on the ground, waved his hand to everyone and smiled: "Everyone sit down too!" ”

The old farmers sat in a circle around Li Qing'an, and Li Qing'an said to everyone: "Fellow villagers, what do you think I look like? ”

The old peasants looked at each other, and one of them said boldly: "Legend has it that His Royal Highness is one foot tall and has a green face and fangs. ”

Another humane: "It is said that His Highness likes to eat raw meat, grabbing a live chicken and tearing it up and eating it....."

A slightly younger farmer in the back said with a smile: "Some people say that His Royal Highness is particularly powerful at night.....

Before he finished speaking, all the villagers turned back to him and glared at him, so frightened that the young villager didn't dare to say anything, Li Qingan smiled and said: "It's okay, I won't be angry, let's talk about it, what else can I say?"

An old villager smiled bitterly: "It means that His Royal Highness's energy is different from ordinary people, and he wants to be the tenth girl at night." ”

Li Qingan laughed, "How can I be so powerful, that's just a demon." ”

In fact, Li Qing'an offended many clan magnates, and when he was absent from the Central Plains for a long time, these clan magnates took the opportunity to send people to slander Li Qing'an's image among the people and demonize him.

At this time, Cui Qu, the county commander of Xin'an County, led hundreds of carriages full of grain and live pigs to arrive, and the soldiers led the county commander Cui Qu to the old locust tree, and the old farmers knew their county order, which was more important than Li Qing'an, and everyone hurriedly got up to salute.

In front of Li Qing'an, where did Cui Qu dare to put on an official stand, he hurriedly said: "You villagers don't have to be polite, please sit down!" ”

He didn't dare to sit down, bowed down and saluted Li Qing'an: "See Your Highness!" ”

Cui Qu is about 30 years old this year, and he is also the son of the Boling Cui family, although he is young, but the generation in the Cui family is very high, and Cui Lian is a brother, he is Tianbao six years of Jinshi origin, first in Hedong Wenxi County for a few years as the main book, three years ago transferred to Xin'an County as the county order, can be said to have been at the bottom of the official, the bottom of the people's livelihood is very understanding, Li Qing'an specially met with him, but also to understand the bottom of the people's livelihood in Henan Province.

"Cui County's order doesn't have to be restrained, feel free, please sit down! Let's talk about it. ”

Cui Qu sat down worriedly, although he boasted that he was still a clean official, but there was more or less criticism in his official career in the past few years, he was afraid that these villagers would speak unscrupulously and poke out his old bottom in front of Li Qingan.

Li Qing'an saw that everyone was silent, so he smiled and said, "Then I'll throw bricks and lead the jade first!" Cui County Order, I would like to first learn about the land annexation situation in Xin'an County. ”

Hearing Li Qing'an mention of land annexation, Cui Qu put down his heart, although the land annexation phenomenon in Xin'an County is also very serious, but those are all done by the powerful people in the DPRK and China, and it has little to do with him, so he nodded, pointed to the surrounding fields and said: "The general saw that this field is not there, this is all Shangtian, one acre can produce rice and three stones, but these lands are not owned by cultivators, this is the land of King Rong, a total of 4,800 hectares, and the land for several miles to the east is owned by him, this is actually just a leaf of Qiulin, Most of the land in the entire Dugi Province has been annexed by the clan magnates, some are directly rewarded, some are bought at a low price in the disaster year, and some are forced to buy and sell, take our Xin'an County as an example, the county records record that there were sixty percent of self-cultivated farmers in the early years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, but as of this year, only two percent remained, and basically they are all fields that lack water, and can only be planted once a year, and the magnates can't look down on it, so they can be spared....."

At the beginning, Cui Qu was cautious in narrating, for fear that saying the wrong thing would be bad for him, but the more he spoke, the more excited he became, and the dissatisfaction and depression in his heart for several years were all said together, "The harvest year is fine, but I am afraid that there will be a disaster year, a few months of rain will not fall, the river will dry up, at that time the disaster victims flocked everywhere, and the senior officials of Luoyang drove them to the county below, the streets and alleys are full of hungry people, but there is no food in the official warehouse, and the grain in the granary of those powerful people is moldy and smelly, but they refuse to take out a rice for relief, at that time we hated it to death, But there is nothing to be done, the most bitter thing is that we are low-level petty officials, the top is pressed by the powerful, the people below are hated, and both ends are splinted! ”

When Li Qing'an saw that all the villagers had lowered their heads, he asked them, "Are you all tenant farmers?" ”

An old farmer said: "Back to Your Highness, we are all tenant farmers, Cui Xianling is right, this land within a radius of twenty miles is basically owned by King Rong." ”

"What about taxes?"

The old peasant sighed and said: "The taxes of the imperial court are barely acceptable, the summer tax, the tax per mu of the upper field is six liters, and the lower field is four liters; Autumn tax, five liters of tax per mu of Shangtian, three liters of Xiatian, in addition to 300 Wen Qingmiao money per mu, the annual household tax is consistent, one horse of silk and hemp, hey! The headache is the field rent, regardless of summer and autumn, sixty percent per mu, the thunder can not move, and the disaster will be slightly reduced, but at least it should be compared with the four transactions of the harvest year, and if you can't pay it, ask the owner to borrow grain, even the principal with interest, and the interest will be increased, and finally it will not be paid, or the family will flee, or sell yourself into slavery, and the whole family will become a slave of the manor, such as he ....."

The old farmer pointed to the young farmer and said: "He is a slave of the manor, he has not died or worked all year round, and the lady has to go to wash the clothes for Zhuang Ding, miserable!" ”

The young peasant's head was deeply bowed, almost touching the ground, Li Qingan nodded silently, and then turned back to ask Cui Guan: "Emperor Jingzong's land reform order, I remember that it was issued for national implementation, why is there no movement at all?" ”

Cui Qu smiled bitterly and said: "Jingzong is recognized as a weak emperor, his decree to limit the field can't get out of Tongguan at all, and his army investigates and handles it in the land of Guanzhong, which is a little better, but Dugi Dao, Henan Dao, Hedong Dao, who will listen to his decree to restrict the land, the officials are all yin and yang, setting targets, writing plans, measuring land, etc., on the surface they are more active than anyone else, but in fact? It will take three or five years to measure a land, and Emperor Jingzong died before measuring the land, and the land restriction is not over, and later after the supervisor ascended the throne, he issued an order to abolish all the land restrictions of Emperor Jingzong, so that no one will offend the powerful, Your Highness, I won't tell you, in fact, all the officials know that the land problem is serious, and the Tang Dynasty will die because of it, but in order to protect their official hats, who wants to mention it? Even the Chang'an temple has an ambiguous attitude, not to mention the state and county officials below, everyone is doing one day at a time, this is the status quo. ”

Although Li Qing'an also knew that Datang was in danger, he didn't expect it to be so serious, no wonder when recruiting Anxi immigrants in Henan Province and Guannei Province, the registration was so enthusiastic, if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't survive, who would want to leave his hometown and go to Anxi, thousands of miles away, to make a living?

At this moment, Li Qing'an felt that the responsibility on his shoulders was extremely heavy, and a sense of urgency burned his heart, so he slowly said to everyone: "The problem of land annexation, I will try to solve it as soon as possible, I also know that many crises are imminent and cannot be delayed, so this time I led the army to the east, and it is also to alleviate the land annexation problem of Dugi Province, Hedong Province and Henan Province, first of all, your land in front of you, I can tell you that King Rong has died in Chengdu, so I will start with him first, His land is terra nullius, all of them are redistributed to the cultivators, all of his grain is confiscated, and all of his slaves are freed, and this is my decision, and I will carry it out now! ”

All the villagers were stunned, and when they reacted, they fell to their knees with excitement, and many of them couldn't help but cry loudly, "Your Highness, you are our reborn parents!" ”

The young peasant could not hold back the excitement in his heart, and ran wildly along the ridge, waving his arms and shouting at the peasants in the field: "Oh my God! We've got land, we've got land! ”

"We're free...."

He shouted hoarsely to the end, and actually knelt down on the ridge, covered his face and wept bitterly, he was a manor slave, he and his wife and daughter were other people's property all their lives, they could be bought and sold by others, and they could be humiliated by others, and now he was finally free.

Li Qingxin sighed in peace, originally he wanted to start clearing the land after the end of the Eastern Crusade, but what he saw and heard in front of him made it difficult for him to wait any longer, so he said to Cui Guan: "King Rong's land and Zhuang slaves can be cleared immediately, the grain will be returned to the official warehouse, and the land will be returned to the cultivators, and the other land annexors in Xin'an County, I believe you know better than anyone else, within three days, you make a list for me, I will send troops to assist you in clearing the fields, and there will be a superintendent of the imperial history to review it in two months, well done, this is the capital of your promotion, But if you dare to disobey me, set me any targets, list any plans, and make superficial statements, then I will be beheaded by military law, do you understand? ”

Cui Qu was awe-inspiring in his heart, bowed down and said: "I must do my best to do a good job in Qingtian in Xin'an County!" ”

"Alright, I'll wait for your news!"

Li Qing'an got up and said to the villagers: "It's time for me to go, please rest assured, I will inherit the will of Emperor Jingzong and implement the land restriction order to the end, please wait for the good news!" ”

After speaking, Li Qingan returned to the army, he turned over his horse and ordered: "The army sets off and marches to Luoyang!" ”

The army set off again in a majestic manner, at this time, Li Qing'an's order to divide the field has spread in the field, the farmers who planted rice in the field have dropped their work and poured to both sides of the official road, they knelt down for Li Qing'an, and an old man held the soil in his hand and raised it high, shouting to Li Qing'an: "His Royal Highness King Zhao, you are our sky!" ”

．．．．．．．． Li Qing'an as the main force of the Chinese army, his marching speed is not fast, but the forward Li Guangbi has occupied Luoyang at this time, Zheng Cai Jiedu made Ji Guangchen fear the Anxi army in his heart, as early as when the Anxi army out of Tongguan, he led the army to leave Luoyang, retreat to Zhengzhou, wait and see the changes in the situation, Ji Guangchen is a native of Luoyang, when retreating from Luoyang, he restrained the soldiers, strictly forbidden soldiers to take the opportunity to loot the people's property, so that Luoyang did not suffer a trace of damage.

Ji Guangchen is about forty years old, he likes the art of war from a young age, he entered the military in the twenty-third year of Kaiyuan, and did the military and military lieutenants in the local area, and was later transferred to Chang'an as the general of the East Palace Sixth Army, which was appreciated by Li Heng, and Li Heng forcibly ascended the throne after he was reused for him, and appointed him as the envoy of Zheng Cai Jiedu and the defense envoy of Dugi Province, with 30,000 heavy soldiers in his hands.

When Li Qing'an returned from Anxi with his army, he also realized that Li Heng could not stay in Chang'an, so he planned to retreat south with Li Heng in the pass, but Wang Sili suddenly occupied Tongguan, which shattered his plan.

In the more than a month that Li Qing'an entered the Guanzhong, Ji Guangchen has been worried, he wanted to give up the Central Plains several times, go to Nanyang into Hanzhong, but Li Mao seemed to know his thoughts, in Nanyang Tun 60,000 troops, not allowed him to cross, at this time, Ji Guangchen received Li Heng's order, ordered him to stick to Dugi Road, ready to attack Xiangyang with the Southern Tang Army, Ji Guangchen understood Li Heng's strategy, Li Heng did not want to give up Luoyang, he wanted to take Jingxiang, so that Dugi Road and Jingxiang were connected together, and Li Qing'an was blocked in the pass.

However, Li Heng did not launch an attack on Jingxiang for a long time, and Li Qingan's army had already reached Luoyang, which made Ji Guangchen deeply worried about what he should do.

At this time, Ji Guangchen has gathered 30,000 troops distributed in various places, all stationed outside Xingyang County, Xingyang County from the Sui Dynasty, is the world's famous granary, there are dozens of big official warehouses, the Central Plains region collected grain taxes, most of them are stored in Xingyang, since Li Yu in Guanzhong large-scale inventory of the magnates, the imperial court's grain reserves skyrocketed, then no longer from the Central Plains to transfer grain into Beijing, two years of accumulation, so that the grain storage in Xingyang Guancang has reached 1.5 million stone.

This is an extremely important strategic resource, and Ji Guangchen would rather give up Luoyang than give up Xingyang easily.

Just when he was anxiously waiting for news from Li Heng, a soldier came to report that Li Guangbi, the deputy general of the Anxi Army, had sent someone to negotiate with him.

(To be continued)