The affairs of the distant Liao Kingdom have nothing to do with Li Gui, and he has run all the famous Buddhist and Taoist inheritances around Liangshan during this time.

But unfortunately, there is basically no gain.

Just as he was about to further expand the scope, Zong Ze led his army to fight.

If you don't fight, you can't do it!

Now that spring ploughing is imminent, there is no one in the field, and most of the landless tenants have gone to Mizhou next door.

At first, it was a desperate person who went to Michigan to try his luck, and then he was divided into land.

Later, with the "enthusiastic help" of the Liangshan Chamber of Commerce, many people returned to their hometowns and showed up to tell the truth about the situation in Mizhou.

In the countryside now, all kinds of clan concepts are very important, and the credibility of the same clan is very high.

This makes people envious, jealous and hateful.

The same landless and poor are all squatting in the pit, and as a result, someone jumps out of the sea of suffering, which makes the eyes of those who are still squatting in it hot.

Seeing this, normal people will have the same psychology - he can do it, why can't I?

As a result, more people secretly ran to Michigan to try their luck.

The two places are not far away, even if it is walking, it will take two or three days to arrive.

It's really not good, and then run back and continue to farm for the officials!

It can't be fake, it can't be fake.

The people who got the land naturally wanted to bring more relatives and fellow villagers with them, so the people who came back dragged their families and took the whole family away.

For a whole winter, the road from Laizhou to Mizhou has not stopped the flow of people.

The chamber of commerce in Liangshan no longer organizes any convoys, and directly builds inns every ten or twenty miles to provide logistical support such as food, hot water, and accommodation for those who migrate.

If you have money, you can give some, and it doesn't matter if you don't have money, anyway, there is Liangshan Benzhai in your pocket, and you are not afraid of losing money in the inn!

The gentry in Laizhou City may not be unclear, but for them, the number of people is a burden, and staying in the city is a waste of their food, and they are happy to see the displaced people leave Laizhou.

And under the collusion between inside and outside, Zong Ze has been kept in the dark and doesn't know anything.

Originally, he also had his own cronies, but those civil servants were scattered by him to various counties to restore the local people's livelihood, and the military generals did not understand the hidden dangers behind this population loss.

It wasn't until spring came, when the gentry were ready to start spring ploughing, that they found that almost half of the personnel were gone, and they panicked.

They are really wonderful, the first time they couldn't find anyone to cultivate the land, what they thought of was not how to improve their treatment to envelop the existing tenants, but to find Zong Ze, wanting Zong Ze to send the forbidden army out and help them plant the land first, and there were still words in their mouths.

"This spring ploughing is a first-class event in the world, and it cannot be delayed at all!"

"Anyway, there is no war now, so let those fighting men plant the land first, and it is not too late to return to the camp after the spring ploughing."

Zong Ze couldn't help but be angry when he heard this.

This professional soldier and militia are different.

The militia trains in peacetime and fights in wartime, but in fact its combat effectiveness is worrisome, just like an ordinary forbidden army, it is okay to fight a good fight, and no one will die in a real tough battle.

The batch he is training now is elite soldiers, and the treatment is the best, and he can also have enough food and salary to keep up with the training, and after the training volume keeps up, he thinks that he has no idea how much he is better than the four armies in Beijing, how can he use it as a farmer for this group of landlords?

If it was really used for a month, that spirit would be lost, and when it came back, half of the previous training would be immediately wasted.

But this group of gentry and heroes don't understand this, in their eyes, aren't they all big-headed soldiers, what's the difference?

Zong Ze also knew that he couldn't understand it with them, so he simply didn't mention it, and only asked with a cold face:

"Why don't you use your own peasants, but use my soldiers?"

Everyone looked at each other and said stupidly:

"That Liangshan sent people to recruit the displaced people, and we only thought that the sick seedlings in Mizhou followed, but who knew that the ignorant people in the local fields, who didn't know how to be grateful, didn't remember the kindness of each family, and they were also bewitched and taken away in large numbers."

"Now there are half fewer people in this field."

Zong Ze was shocked when he heard this, and arrested the local government for questioning, but the local government said conclusively, saying that the situation had been reported to the state capital, but there was no follow-up.

If he tried to look down, he couldn't do it anymore.

Of course, Zong Ze knows what this contains.

"Ignorance!"

"Ignorance!"

"Cocooning yourself!"

"The household registration of the local population has always been the top priority of people's livelihood in various places, and you actually sit back and watch the Liangshan grass cole deceive the people!"

The Qin official salivated and said:

"At that time, I thought that only those sick homeless people would leave, but who would have thought that so many would end up leaving!"

The other gentry chimed in:

"Don't say yes!"

"Those people are also ignorant, how can this person be comfortable at home when he leaves his hometown and goes to another state to earn a living?"

"Sooner or later, there will be a time when they will regret it!"

"But the top priority is to take out the forbidden army for use first, and return it to Xianggong Zong in a month at most, and then we will replenish some gold, silver, grain and grass as a thank you."

Zong Ze frowned and glanced at the expressions of all of them, always feeling that something was wrong, and after thinking for a while, he suddenly asked out loud:

"Those who left were all landless peasants, right?"

"Those who have land at home shouldn't have left, right?"

Everyone was silent, and when Zong Ze saw their expressions, he naturally understood everything in his heart, and at the same time, he was secretly glad in his heart.

Fortunately, I suppressed them before and didn't let them annex the land too ruthlessly, otherwise I'm afraid that the peasants lost in Laizhou would not be half, but eight or nine!

The current situation is that the landed peasants are not affected by their own cultivation, but the gentry who have too much land and need a large number of tenants for their own families have no tenants available, so they have to conjure up people!

Zong Ze was so angry that he trembled all over, and reprimanded angrily:

"Then the Liang thief really has to thank you!"

"If it weren't for your help, his ten rooms and nine empty Mizhou might not be able to recover even if it was ten years!"

"Are you really the gentry of my Great Song Dynasty?"

"Could it be that you've all secretly surrendered to the thief?"

After hearing this, everyone hurriedly shook their heads, waved their hands, and said:

"Don't talk angry!"

"Once the Liang Mountain Thieves occupy the state and county, they will definitely not let go of any gentry, and even the descendants of the saints of the Confucian Mansion in Qufu will be killed."

"The Liangshan thieves have already been killed in Laizhou before, if it weren't for the high walls of Zhuangzi in our house, they would have been wiped out a long time ago, where do we dare to collude with those thieves now?"

"This time, I was really careless, I didn't notice that this Liangshan thief was unruly, and he actually sent people here to bewitch and deceive the people to follow them."

Zong Ze only felt a burst of weakness all over his body, and he didn't know where to send his anger.

Don't look at the scolding he just now, scolding a group of old men with blood, but in the end he still has to wipe their butts.

This is a position and can be changed by non-human beings.

Looking at these greedy and ugly faces, Zong Ze suddenly regretted that it was too early for his family to send troops to recover Laizhou, and he should have waited for the Liangshan thieves to kill all these gentry and heroes.

He was shocked, shook his head and drove this disagreeable thought out of his mind, and after some deliberation, he said:

"For the sake of today's plan, I have no choice but to go to war!"

"Use force before spring ploughing, take the Liangshan thieves by surprise, recover Mizhou as quickly as possible, and just break up the captured Liangshan thieves and distribute them to the fields where you are waiting to cultivate, and solve the problem of your lack of people."

The gentry were overjoyed, but they were afraid of offending Liang Shan, so they carefully admonished:

"We only need peasants, and we don't necessarily have to be prisoners of war in Liangshan."

"All you need to do is send a small group of soldiers across the border to bring back the fleeing peasants, and that's it...... It's like the Song-Liao border beating grass valley. ”

"It is impossible for the Liang thieves to raise swords and soldiers for the sake of some people's affairs."

Zong Ze looked at the look of this group of silverfish who "forgot their lives when they saw small profits, and did big things and regretted their lives", and the anger in his heart didn't come to one place, so he didn't want to talk to them, but just waved his hand and said categorically:

"You don't have to say much!"

"I just want to make a profit, I don't want to take risks, how can there be such a cheap thing in this world?"

"If you want to get enough tenant farmers, this is the only way to go!"

"If you don't want to, then I didn't say it."

Seeing that Zong Ze had already made a decision, the other gentry did not dare to continue to dissuade him, so he had to agree.

"Don't, don't, everything will be done according to the will of the minister."

After Zong Ze sent the gentry away, he immediately gathered the generals and began to discuss the matter of conquering Mizhou.

After listening to this, the generals looked at each other, and finally Sun Li, who was closer to Zong Ze, got up and said:

"Xianggong, although the Liangshan thieves definitely didn't expect our army to start a war before spring ploughing, attacking at this time will definitely have a miraculous effect, but this army will inevitably recruit people, and it will inevitably affect the spring ploughing in Laizhou."

"And the man is worried about the fields at home, and he may not be attentive to doing things, so it is inevitable that there will be some omissions."

"Xianggong, it's not that the last general and others are cowardly, it's just that this time to send troops is really too risky."

"Why don't you wait for the autumn harvest before attacking?"

After listening to Sun Li's advice, Zong Ze had a wry smile in his heart.

Don't he know that?

I can't help it!

Who let those damn silverfish stab themselves so big?

But there is no need to let the generals know about such matters between literati and gentry, so he prevaricated:

"I look at the territory of Naliang Mountain, there has been a great drought for two consecutive years, and now I have experienced the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect, the plague rebellion, and the relief of the displaced people in Nami Prefecture, it is not a small amount, and the grain in stock must not be much."

"I wanted to regain lost ground, and now is the right time."

"If you wait until after the autumn harvest, you can't say that the Liangshan thieves will be able to breathe again, and if you want to ask for it at that time, it will be several times more difficult."

"As for the matter of spring ploughing, I have also considered it for a long time, if the Liangshan thieves are prepared and it is difficult to have a surprise effect, then they will simply return and not delay the spring ploughing."

"If the Liangshan thieves are unprepared, our army will be able to quickly recover Mizhou and Weizhou in one go, and then no longer advance, guard the city, and wait for the Liangshan thieves to attack."

"When the enemy attacks and defends us, our army will have a big advantage, and it is not difficult to defend the city."

"At that time, the people won't need much, and they can be allowed to come back to cultivate first, and still not delay spring ploughing."

Hearing that Zong Ze had considered everything perfectly, Sun Li didn't say anything more, bowed and retreated.

Everyone discussed military affairs again, and someone suddenly mentioned it.

"If you want to make a surprise attack, you need to pull out the eyeliner of the Liangshan thief first, otherwise as soon as my army moves, then Liangshan will already know."

"The chamber of commerce in the city of Liangshan is in the city, and it sells some spirits and other things, and the business is prosperous."

"If it weren't for the fact that they jumped out to recruit the homeless people this time, I'm afraid that we might not know that this is the Chamber of Commerce of the Liangshan Thieves!"

"Since this is a thief's thing, we might as well confiscate it!"

"The money obtained can be used as military funds, and it can also be used as a reward for soldiers, so that the promotion fee will be more generous."

After listening to this, everyone agreed, Zong Ze understood what they were thinking, and he clearly wanted to take the opportunity to steal it.

But there is no need for him to debunk this kind of thing, otherwise it is easy to offend the public.

Besides, since the firm is from Liangshan, there must be a lot of spies inside, and after it is raided, it can also make the surprise attack plan more successful.

After thinking of this, Zong Ze wrote a military order and handed it to the person who proposed it, asking him to lead the team to check it.

After a while, the general returned in disgrace.

"Prime minister, that Liangshan thief is so treacherous, and now the goods in the commercial house have long been sold out, and only a little is left to support the façade outside."

"And now in that trading house, there are only a dozen guys recruited locally, and those shopkeepers and others have already fled."

When they started to recruit homeless people, the trading house didn't expect that it would become so large-scale later, and knew that it would make things bigger this time, so after the recruitment was completed, they immediately rolled up and ran away, leaving only an empty shell here.

Everyone saw that the duck in their hands was flying, and their hearts were not happy, so Zong Ze comforted:

"All the soldiers only need to work together to recover Namizhou and Weizhou, and naturally the imperial court will inevitably reward them."

"Even now that the traffic is cut off, I will definitely raise enough rewards for gold and silver in the two states of Denglai, and I will never be short of you."

"My people also know it, and they will definitely not promise anything, and since they promised you, they will definitely do what they say."

Everyone was quite convinced of this unusual civil official, and hurriedly bowed and saluted, and said in unison:

"Where did Xianggong come from?"

"If you say something fair, how can the villain not believe it?"

"Besides, this is the duty of our generals to kill thieves, even if there is no reward from the court, they will definitely be loyal to their duties and dare not slack off!"

After the end of the military discussion, Zong Ze's general order was issued, and the armies from all over the country began to gather secretly, and the laborers began to be requisitioned in the name of building water conservancy.

But at the same time as the army set off, several carrier pigeons took off at different locations in the city and flew towards Liangshan Dazhai.

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(End of chapter)