Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 110 Peasant Uprising
This time, at the request of court ministers, Liu Ao did not sit idly by, but instead took out money and grain to provide disaster relief in Guanzhong.

Of course, the process was still not smooth. Corrupt officials exploited the people at every level, resulting in very little food actually being distributed to the victims.

Moreover, this is only a temporary solution, because the fundamental problem of the Han Dynasty has never been a lack of food, but a lack of land! During the reign of Emperor Kang, the court began to recuperate and the direction of governing the country tended to be non-interventionist.

This has led to a rapid growth in the power of local tyrants, and land annexation cannot be controlled at all. The current situation is that "the poor do not have an acre of land, while the rich have fertile fields crisscrossing across the country." The gap between the rich and the poor has intensified social contradictions.

The first large-scale peasant uprising also began. Refugees from Yuzhou, Yanzhou and other places rose up one after another, sweeping across most of Henan Province. The rebel army was said to have 300,000 people.

When Liu Ao learned about it, he was extremely nervous and ordered General Wang Feng to lead the central imperial guards to stop them. He also adopted an old plan and ordered Jingzhou Governor Xu Zhong to lead the rear general to supervise the military affairs of Jing, Yang, Yu and Xu states.

Go north immediately to quell the rebellion.

Although Xu Zhong was not so outstanding in military ability, he was still able to handle a group of skinny farmers with ease.

Three thousand soldiers chased and attacked the more than 100,000 rebels, almost causing them to collapse at the first blow, and soon their momentum was suppressed.

The Han Dynasty is still far from its demise. In this era, whether a rebellion can be successful has nothing to do with public opinion, but depends on how the powerful people are chosen.

The powerful and wealthy had large amounts of money and grain in their hands, and the peasant army's primary target when they captured a place was these wealthy people, so of course they would not support, but would actively help the court to quell the rebellion.

Many surrendered landlords would also join forces with the outside world and send their servants and private soldiers to join the army, in addition to Xu's own reputation.

In a short period of time, they assembled an army of 10,000 people with strong combat effectiveness and kept the rebels firmly outside Luoyang.

At the same time, General Wang Feng was also mobilizing troops, and the rebellion would be suppressed soon.

Inside the solemn and majestic tent, a large number of soldiers in armor and sharp weapons were patrolling around. They were all good fighters and wore the latest armor.

Most of the areas such as Yu and Yan were occupied by the peasant army. Yangzhou was vast and sparsely populated, with few garrisons and faced harassment from the Shanyue people. The only troops that could be used were the county soldiers from various counties in Jingzhou and the garrisons in the Huainan area.

About 5,000 could be mobilized, and the rest had to be recruited by Xu Zhongzhi himself, most of whom were specific military households and local tyrants.

In this era, the people who really had fighting power were the powerful ones. For example, Xu Chu and Zhang Fei in later generations were both born as local powerful people. Only they could afford to eat meat and practice martial arts.

Those powerful people were also willing to join the army. If they wanted to truly enter the noble class, they could only rely on military merit in this era. Even if they became officials in the court, they might not be able to be granted a title of nobility.

Unless you become an official of the rank of one of the Three Dukes, in which case the emperor will grant you a title, there is no other way.

Moreover, these peasant armies were much easier to fight than the Huns on the border, with a mortality rate almost zero.

"General, the battle report from the front has arrived."

The deputy general bowed and said respectfully.

There are many people from Nanyang and Runan in this army. Although the rebels openly occupied Yu and Xu states, they were actually just bandits. Taking down a county town was their limit, and a large number of key cities were still being defended.

Due to the lack of siege equipment, a few hundred county soldiers were able to hold back tens of thousands of peasant soldiers carrying hoes by relying on the solidity of the city.

In fact, it is not a big deal at all. When the Qin Dynasty was so corrupt, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang still failed to capture Xianyang. What's more, the current situation of the Han Dynasty is much better than that of the end of the Qin Dynasty.

"Read." Xu Zhong looked at the map without raising his head.

"Our army has already wiped out the bandits in Yingchuan County, Pei State, and Liang State. Yuzhou has basically stabilized. Some remnants have fled to Yanzhou, and more than 100,000 prisoners have been captured."

"Casualties."

"One hundred and one killed and more than eight hundred wounded." The deputy general read out calmly. The fighting effectiveness of these rebels was too low.

Once they encounter regular troops, they will have no chance to fight back. The leader of the Yuzhou bandits is Wang Tong, a very famous knight who traveled around the world in his early years and had many brothers around him.

Three and a half months ago, he raised his arms and called for a peasant uprising in Yingchuan, gathering thousands of people. He continued to draw in refugees and soon had a crowd of 200,000. Of course, less than 20,000 of them were capable of fighting.

Most of them were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and the majority were still the thousands of rangers. The rebels attacked cities and looted indiscriminately, and many county treasuries were emptied.

"The thief leader is dead?"

"Wang Tong has died in the chaos of war." The deputy general answered truthfully. He died after the army entered Yingchuan. In fact, it was his remaining troops who were constantly on the move.

The rebels have extremely strong destructive power. They occupy the mountains and act like kings, constantly coming down to plunder villages, so you can hardly think about farming properly.

"Well... tell them that it must be resolved quickly." Xu Zhong raised his head.

The next tricky issue was the Yanzhou rebels, known as the "Thousand Sharp Army", whose main members were local bandits. The leader was named Zhang Ning, who was originally from a wealthy peasant family. He used up all his family wealth in order to get into the Imperial Academy, and now he was nearly forty years old and had achieved nothing.

In despair and poverty, he joined a gang of thieves and slowly became the leader with his flexible mind. Most of the local thieves' gangs were merged one after another. Two months ago, he responded to Wang Tong's uprising with the slogan of "equal distribution of land and exemption of taxes and labor service".

"This guy is much scarier than a thief like Wang Tong." Xu Zhong muttered to himself. Zhang Ning had attended the Imperial Academy for a period of time and was deeply influenced by the Legalist thought.

His original half-baked level was gradually honed. After becoming the leader, he established a strict hierarchy framework and reward and punishment system, and also put forward a systematic uprising slogan, which was implemented in a short period of time and was deeply supported by the poor peasants in Yanzhou.

This kind of person is much stronger than the bandits who only know how to rob. He is smart enough to know that he can never be a match for the imperial court head-on, so he divides the team into several parts and keeps roaming and looting.

Moreover, they never stayed there and were heading towards Qingzhou, intending to fight a war of attrition with the imperial court by relying on the mountainous and forested areas there.

The terrain of Yanzhou was very unfavorable to the rebels. It was located in the Central Plains, a typical place prone to war, with a vast plain and no strategic location to defend. That was why Zhang Ning would move closer to Qingzhou.

"If we want to solve the problem in one fell swoop, we must not let them enter Qingzhou, otherwise it will be difficult to find them again."

Xu Zhong looked at the map, but still could not find a practical solution in his mind. His military ability was very limited, and he was almost helpless against such a smart enemy.

"But... this thing should be enough." He took out the jade pendant given by his father and felt a little more confident.

He had already seen the magic of this thing. It could call the wind and rain. If this wasn't the power of God, then what else could it be?
That’s right, Xu Bo had already contacted his ancestor Xu Zhen before and successfully obtained approval, so Xu Zhong also obtained the temporary right of use.

"Call all the generals to discuss matters."

Soon, all the generals in charge of this operation rushed over. They all felt their blood boiling, as this was a good opportunity to achieve great things!

Whether he can be granted a title of nobility or a general and bring honor to his family depends on this one opportunity. The peasant army’s fighting power is not strong.

Of course, they didn't know how difficult this bandit army was to deal with.

"Look, everyone, the rebels started out in Chenliu, where they looted and selected able-bodied men. Afterwards, they did not follow Wang Tong to Luoyang, but instead consciously moved to Jiyin, Shanyang, Dongping and other places."

Zhang Ning was very smart and knew his goal, so he adopted the strategy of selecting quality rather than quantity. He only selected the strong and healthy men and some young women, and then left without stopping.

Therefore, the number of this bandit army is far smaller than that of Wang Tong. According to the intelligence from Yanzhou, their number is about 50,000. After many replenishments and lootings, the actual number should be around 60,000.

Most of the bandits in Yanzhou were annexed by him, and a small number followed Wang Tong to join him and head north. "Could it be that these bandits want to cross the Yellow River and enter Jizhou?" a general boldly speculated.

The wealth of Jizhou is known to the world. If they can't get it from Nanyang, they may have to settle for the next best thing. After all, these thieves are short-sighted and only know how to rob, so it is normal for them to lean towards the north.

"Oh...it would be great if that were true." Xu Zhong smiled bitterly.

The governor of Jizhou has gathered thousands of elite soldiers, and with the self-defense forces in various places, there are tens of thousands of troops that can be mobilized.

If the other party really went to Jizhou, then it would be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth, and there is no need to take it so seriously.

"Could it be Qingzhou?"

Sure enough, there are still smart people. If the rebels don’t go to Jizhou, the only option is Qingzhou.

"Yes, according to my speculation, the enemy army's target is Qingzhou."

Xu Zhong gave his affirmation.

"Qingzhou is crisscrossed with mountains and has few troops stationed there. The bandits can rely on this terrain to occupy the mountains and start a tug-of-war with the government. By then, we will have no way to deal with them!"

"So we must eradicate them completely before then, at least we have to get rid of the majority of the thieves."

Someone else asked, "General, are these bandits so smart? I'm afraid they don't understand what you're saying at all."

"No, Zhang Ning is a smart man, don't underestimate him." Xu Zhong shook his head. He felt that the Imperial Academy had missed a talent. This person at least had the talent of a county.

It’s a pity that he is a practical person.

Hearing this, the eyes of several generals were focused on him. They could vaguely feel that this person was no ordinary person. Unlike ordinary aimless thieves, his actions were all purposeful.

Xu Zhong also thought of a solution:
"Send a handwritten letter to the governor of Qingzhou and ask him to mobilize the county soldiers to ambush in the Taishan and Lushan areas. Make sure to stop the main body where Zhang Ning is."

He planned to settle for the second best option, which was to kill the main bandit leader, and then the rest of the bandits would still be ordinary thieves and would not be a big deal.

In this situation, he can only settle for the second best option. As for how to select the main body, he already has an idea.

According to inference, the part with 20,000 people, which has the largest number of troops, should be where Zhang Ning is located.

"As ordered."

Xu Zhong continued, "The court's two thousand cavalry have already arrived in Runan. These cavalry are the ones we can rely on the most!"

After all, the enemy still needs to plunder along the way and there is no corresponding terrain map, so the speed must be very slow. If I lead the cavalry to advance at full speed, I will most likely be able to catch up.

"As ordered."

The generals agreed, and the actual battle plan was finalized in the blink of an eye.

The primary target is the thief leader Zhang Ning, and the rest don’t matter!

.........

After receiving the news, Qingzhou Governor Wang Jia immediately mobilized troops from the county and stationed them on the border between the two states with the intention of intercepting the enemy.

The Yanzhou rebels have a total of 60,000 people. Although armor is still in short supply, the number of people is there after all. They have also obtained a considerable number of them through looting and seizure, so arming several thousand people should be no problem.

"Chief, across this mountain ahead is Qingzhou."

One of the thieves leaned over and spoke respectfully to the man with graying temples on horseback.

Zhang Ning's life was actually quite legendary. After failing the imperial examination, it took him only a short time to become the leader of a gang of thieves, and his uprising was also unstoppable.

The power increased rapidly, from a few thousand people to tens of thousands.

"Hurry up and march. Once we enter Qingzhou, we will be free as fish leap in the vast sea. Let those officers and soldiers find us."

Zhang Ning had a smile on his face, he had a desire for revenge. It would be great to storm into Chang'an and drive the emperor off the throne, but the problem was that it was unrealistic.

It is better for people to be pragmatic. Wang Tong is a dreamer. There are more than 100,000 troops from the North and South in Chang'an. How can they possibly attack it? Moreover, the hundreds of thousands of border troops from You and Bing have not returned to defend yet.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Han Dynasty cannot be destroyed, so it is better to just stay in the mountains and rule the country.

As soon as the Qianrui Army arrived around Mount Tai, arrows rained down instantly, and countless people fell in a pool of blood.

Zhang Ning also became alert, and his first reaction was to quickly get to a safe place. He was essentially just an ordinary person with a little talent.

It looks like he is magical, but in fact there are countless people who are stronger than him.

"Tell them not to fight to the end, split into small groups and leave quickly!" he ordered his men.

But at this time, the rebels were already blinded by bloodshed and had fallen into the trap of feigning defeat, so they no longer listened to orders.

Or the command cannot be transmitted!

Bandits will always be bandits. Zhang Ning’s army was formed too recently and he could not control many of the people. He soon came to a stalemate with these elite Han troops.

"Damn... As expected, he is worthy of being the descendant of Saint Master Xu Gong." Zhang Ning was not surprised. In fact, anyone with a little bit of brains could see through his intentions.

But these powerful and meritorious officials who were high up in the world were too arrogant and were unwilling to believe that a thief had such a brain, so he took advantage of this contempt.

But in the end, no matter how careful he was, he was still discovered. Now it seems that it will not be so easy to escape.

"Let's go now, don't linger in the battle!" After much thought, he decided to abandon his chariot to save his master, and take his trusted followers to meet up with other troops. He couldn't delay any longer.

In addition to reducing the target size, there is also this reason for dividing into small parts. When all the troops are gathered together, he will still have tens of thousands of troops available.

On the other side, the Han cavalry had also arrived in Taishan County and continued to charge towards small groups of bandits.

After eliminating another group, the Han army changed into the enemy's clothes and disguised themselves as a thousand-elite army, planning to launch an internal and external attack.

The biggest problem now is that the enemies are too scattered and impossible to find. As long as a traitor sneaks in, there will be no need to worry about this.

Gradually, after receiving the news, other bandits also moved closer to Zhang Ning, and the Han army also mixed in with them.

(End of this chapter)