Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 287 The Suffering of the People
"Boom..."

“Missed! Haha…”

“It’s my turn, it’s my turn!”

In late September, Puzhou, once buried in the flames of war, has regained its vitality.

Most of the people who fled at the time returned to their hometowns after the war.

Although not as good as before, more than half of the 400,000 Puzhou people still returned.

What the people didn't expect was that the rebels would suddenly become government troops.

For example, the 3,000 soldiers stationed in Zhen City of Puzhou were the original rebels.

Wang Xianzhi, who used to sell illegal salt, has transformed himself into a general in the Tianping Army, commanding 200 men.

With this identity, Wang Xianzhi expanded his former business of reselling contraband salt. Now he has more than 200 brothers in the army and more than 600 thugs outside the army.

The more than 600 thugs were managed by twelve people, and they paid him 30% of their salary every month.

Thirty percent may not seem like a lot, but private salt dealers still have to buy private salt, run warehouses, manage their subordinates and hire thugs, so most of them are gone.

After giving Wang Xianzhi 30%, the private salt dealers only had 20% profit left.

Of course, if they did not give Wang Xianzhi the money and did not have Wang Xianzhi's identity to rely on, they would not even get the 20% profit.

"Won!"

"Give me money, give me money!"

Inside the military camp, a dozen military officers were playing the game of pitching pots, with a pile of money on the table.

A rough calculation shows that there are at least a dozen strings of cash.

"Enough, you gamble all day and don't even consider how much military pay you can get!"

Suddenly, a voice came from not far away, and more than a dozen military officers looked towards the place where the voice came from.

They saw an ordinary man of medium build and very sturdy appearance walking towards them, followed by dozens of soldiers.

These soldiers were carrying cloth bags on their shoulders. There wasn't much in the bags, but they looked very heavy. However, every soldier had a rosy face.

"Colonel Lie, you're here?!"

A dozen military officers came forward and flattered him, "We are just having fun."

There are many people in the army who can be called colonels, but not many are as popular as Wang Xianzhi.

"Damn it, you call this playing?"

Wang Xianzhi pointed at the dozen strings of cash on the table and cursed, "Only a hundred strings a year, and you gamble more than a dozen strings each time. You guys are betting more than I am."

"That's one person per game, and at most two or three games a day..."

A brigade commander laughed awkwardly, and Wang Xianzhi scolded him: "Two or three rounds here, two or three rounds there, and in the end, only a hundred or so strings of cash are gone."

"When the time comes, he won't accept his defeat and will stab someone and run away. I've seen this kind of people many times!"

Wang Xianzhi cursed and waved his hands, saying, "Give me all the money. Whoever wins gets it. The rest of you go and call your fellow soldiers to my tent to divide the money!"

"Hey!" Everyone's eyes lit up and they quickly did what he said.

Soon, Wang Xianzhi walked into his tent, and the dozens of soldiers put money into it.

Two military officers came first, and then the brigade commander, captain, and cook lined up one after another.

After the captain were the ordinary soldiers, and Wang Xianzhi had more than 200 people under his command.

Since the money had been counted before, Wang Xianzhi took his time to count out a portion, which totaled four hundred strings of cash.

After counting the money, he asked the military officer to pack it up, and then asked the people outside the tent to go in one by one.

Each brigade commander received 20 guan, the captain 10 guan, the head of the platoon 5 guan, the sergeant 3 guan, and the soldier 2 guan...

Soon, everyone got the money, and Wang Xianzhi took the remaining twenty strings of cash on the table and said to the two officers, "This is for the two of you!"

"Thank you, Colonel!" The two military officers smiled and expressed their gratitude to Wang Xianzhi like everyone else.

After they finished speaking, Wang Xianzhi called out, "Shang Dalang, Erlang, Cai Dalang, the three of you come in!"

Soon after he finished speaking, the two generals and a captain outside the tent walked in.

"Each of you select forty brothers, send twenty men to deliver twenty bags of money to a certain house, and the remaining twenty brothers, take the money and follow me."

Wang Xianzhi gave instructions and then watched them select people to carry away the forty bags of money in the account, representing four hundred strings of cash.

Wang Xianzhi took Shang Dalang and Erlang to the Zhencheng County Government Office, but did not enter the office. Instead, he went to the area next to the office, near the West Market.

Those who lived here were military leaders, generals, county officials, etc.

Therefore, although this block is not small, it is occupied by several officials' residences.

Wang Xianzhi led everyone to a mansion and immediately knocked on the door.

After the gate was opened, Wang Xianzhi bowed and said flatteringly: "I am Wang Xianzhi, the lieutenant commander of the Second Front Camp of the Great Tang Tianping Army, and I would like to see Commander Liu!"

Inside the door, a manager in his early thirties seemed to know Wang Xianzhi. He did not embarrass him, but nodded and said, "Come in."

He opened the door, and Wang Xianzhi waved his hand to signal the twenty soldiers to carry the money bags into the mansion and go to the main hall under the guidance of the head officer.

When they were not far from the main hall, the head suddenly said, "The military chief is discussing matters with the generals. Please wait for a while."

"Yes..." Wang Xianzhi looked towards the main hall curiously, wondering what important event had occurred that required the Puzhou military generals to discuss.

He waited for a long time, until half an hour later, he saw someone walking out of the main hall.

"Second Metropolitan Commander Wang Xianzhi has met General Liu, General Wang, and General Zhao..."

Wang Xianzhi hurriedly saluted, and the three people who came out were the three generals of the Tianping Army stationed in Zhencheng.

The three of them glanced at him, nodded, and walked out of the mansion.

Before Wang Xianzhi could look, he heard someone calling him, "The military commander called Colonel Wang Lie in."

"Here they come!" Wang Xianzhi hurriedly walked into the main hall, and the twenty soldiers outside the hall were stopped.

When Wang Xianzhi walked into the main hall, he saw a man in his thirties sitting there.

The man was not good-looking, nor was he strong, but he was wearing a scarlet robe.

"Captain Wang Lie is here?" The man called Liu Juntou smiled and gestured, "Sit down..."

At his signal, Wang Xianzhi also boldly sat down and said:

"Thanks to the military leader's care, I made more than 1,750 strings of cash this month."

"After giving out 775 strings of cash to the people below, I kept 100 strings of cash, and the remaining 200 strings of cash are all outside."

After Wang Xianzhi finished speaking, Liu Juntou was not excited about getting 200 strings of cash. He just smiled and said:
"Captain Wang Lie is also a man of great martial arts. He has been coming to give gifts every month over the past few months. It can be seen that he is also a loyal and righteous man."

"I have a job here right now. If Captain Wang Lie is willing to take it, he will be promoted to a general in three years..."

"All of them?" Wang Xianzhi was moved.

Although the military organization has not changed much since Huichang, the number of people in each organization has changed in each town.

In the Tianping Army, a general had at least five battalions under his command, with more than 1,200 soldiers.

At this time, if one honestly saves money and bribes the officials in the Jiedushiya, it will take at least ten years to be promoted to the position of general.

But now it only takes three years to get the position of capital, so Wang Xianzhi can't help but be tempted.

"I don't know what this mission is..."

Wang Xianzhi asked with a flattering smile, and Liu Juntou also said:

"I guess Captain Wang Lie has also heard that the barbarians in the southwest are causing a lot of trouble, right?"

"This..." Wang Xianzhi immediately looked embarrassed, obviously guessing that this mission was related to the southwest.

Facing Wang Xianzhi's concerns, Liu Juntou said with a smile:
"This mission was sent by the imperial court."

"After the Lingnan Army went to Qianzhong to take charge, there were too few soldiers left behind, so the court recruited a thousand soldiers from our Tianping Army to go south to Guangzhou to guard the border for three years."

"As long as Captain Wang is willing to go, the army is willing to make you the general. Each army will give you 300 men, and you can recruit another 300 men and then go south."

"Three years later, when the king returns, we will ask the court to recommend you as the commander-in-chief, and you will be able to take the position worthy of the title."

Wang Xianzhi was very interested in what Liu Juntou said. What he was most worried about was that he would be sent to the south to suffer bullying and would lose his official position when he returned.

Now the army is willing to let him lead the troops south. Although he is still a small colonel in the court, he is a real general in the Tianping Army.

He was very tempted, but when he thought of his property in Puzhou, he immediately felt a little painful.

It took a lot of effort to develop the business. If I go to the south, the private salt dealers under my command might take the opportunity to defect. Even if I come back, the business will be snatched away by others.

"Ha ha……"

Liu Juntou seemed to see Wang Xianzhi's concerns, so he tempted him again:
"If you are worried about the private salt business in Puzhou, you can leave it to your relatives and brothers. I will definitely not let anyone get involved..."

Seeing that Liu Juntou had said so, Wang Xianzhi no longer had any concerns and immediately bowed and said:
"The military commander appreciates me. If I don't go, I will be giving him no face!"

"Okay, okay..." Liu Juntou happily replaced wine with tea. After drinking a cup of tea with Wang Xianzhi, he exchanged a few more pleasantries with him and then asked Wang Xianzhi to go find someone.

He must lead his garrison troops south before the end of the month.

Due to the urgent time and the attraction of the position of general, Wang Xianzhi hurriedly said goodbye to Liu Juntou.

After he left, the smile on Liu Juntou's face gradually faded, and finally turned into a sneer: "What a bastard, if there was no need for people to guard the border, would he have been given the position of general?"

After Liu Juntou finished speaking, the head of the team walked over and said, "Juntou, are you really not going to stop the private salt business?"

"This Wang Xianzhi has lent your money to his brothers several times. If we don't deal with it, won't everyone follow suit?"

"Humph, of course I have to deal with it..."

Liu Juntou said coldly: "Once we are done with the trip to Guangzhou, all the people left behind by Wang Xianzhi will be transferred away."

"Puzhou was saved by our brothers to fight against Wang Shouwen. How can a mere Hou Jing person want to learn from us and become a military leader?"

Amid the sneer of General Liu, the confused Wang Xianzhi gradually disappeared, and from that day on, he began to recruit garrison soldiers on a large scale.

Although Puzhou has not yet recovered after the war, Zhencheng has a population of tens of thousands, so recruiting hundreds of singles is not a problem for Zhencheng.

Under the temptation of double military pay, people went to the military camp to enlist in an endless stream. Before the end of the month, Wang Xianzhi had gathered 1,200 people.

At the same time, the salt merchants protected by Wang Xianzhi in Zhencheng were still selling salt.

Just to appease all the salt merchants, he gave up 10% more profit than before.

For these private salt dealers who were willing to take risks, after making an extra 10% profit, they were not in a hurry to betray Wang Xianzhi. Instead, they took the opportunity to send a number of people to follow Wang Xianzhi south to see if things were as Wang Xianzhi said.

As the 1,200 Tianping troops set out south at the end of the month, Wang Xianzhi, as the "Commander-in-Chief of Dai", could not help but feel a sense of heroism in his heart.

"When I return in three years, I will be a general in charge of more than a thousand soldiers!"

Wang Xianzhi straightened his chest and led the team south.

The private salt dealers outside the city used many means to find out the strength of the troops under Wang Xianzhi's command.

After learning that Wang Xianzhi really led more than 1,200 soldiers to the south, many private salt dealers calmed down and prepared to continue paying money to ensure their safety.

Liu Juntou was not in a hurry to take action, but was prepared to wait until the dust settled and then slowly devour the salt merchants left behind by Wang Xianzhi.

There were many soldiers guarding the border like Wang Xianzhi, and soldiers from Xuanwu, Zhongwu, Yicheng and other places were recruited to move south.

While they were heading south, Cui Xuan, who was building warships in Ming and Tai states in eastern Zhejiang, finally completed the final preparations.

In mid-October, Cui Xuan assembled 40,000 troops, more than 40 sand ships and more than 30 tower ships to attack Haizhongzhou.

At the end of October, Haizhongzhou was captured, and the Qiufu Rebellion that had lasted for nearly a year was finally put down.

Upon learning that Qiu Fu's rebellion had been put down, Li Yi appointed Cui Xuan as the governor of Taiyuan, the governor of Beidu, and the envoy in charge of observing and handling matters within the Hedong Circuit.

All the foreign troops in eastern Zhejiang were recalled to their home bases, and Li Yi rewarded the various towns, giving Xuanwu Town and Huainan Town 100,000 pieces of silk each, Zhongwu Town and Xuanshe Town 80,000 pieces of silk, and western and eastern Zhejiang 50,000 pieces of silk as rewards.

After the reorganization of eastern and western Zhejiang, the number of troops will be 7,000 and shall not be increased or reduced.

As the rebellion in the southeast was quelled, the financial pressure on the court was immediately relieved a lot.

But before the good news from the southeast was over, bad news came from the southwest.

"On October 25, Chief Long appointed the Qingping officials Yang Jisi, Du Yuanzhong and the general Duan Zongbang as the generals, and divided the troops into three groups to invade Rongzhou."

"Ten Rongzhou city gates including Zhuti, Luwang, and Jingchuan were lost, and nearly 7,000 government troops were killed in battle."

"On the second day of the winter month, Chief Long increased his army by 30,000 and attacked Taideng with 80,000 soldiers. He made Prime Minister Xiahou Zi lose the battle and retreat to Qiongbu. Chief Long occupied the entire territory of Shezhou..."

In the Xuanzheng Hall, Li Yi's face did not look good, and the ministers in the hall also frowned.

In a blink of an eye, the imperial court lost the entire territory of Shezhou and most of Rongzhou.

If Gao Pian and Song Ya had not recovered the territories of Bozhou, Juzhou and Qianzhou, the imperial court would have lost face and all the local governors would have laughed at them.

"Where is Minister Cui..."

Li Yi's tone was icy: "I remember that the imperial court's decree had been issued for several months, why has Rongzhou's military preparations not been strengthened yet?"

Seeing this, many of Cui Shenyou's disciples and former officials spoke up to defend him.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Cui only has 10,000 soldiers and horses. Even if you add the Rongzhou troops in Xichuan, there are only more than 20,000."

"It is difficult to defend more than ten cities with 20,000 soldiers."

"In addition, this time the Southern Barbarians led an army of 80,000 and most of Rongzhou was lost, which was something that Minister Cui had never expected."

"That's right, Your Majesty. If it weren't for Prime Minister Cui who turned the tide and defended Xunzhou and Zongzhou, I'm afraid the southern barbarians would have already attacked the city of Baidao..."

These students and former officials were talking at once, and Li Yi became angrier the more he listened.

"absurd!"

Just as he was about to lose his temper, Wang Zongshi, the lieutenant of the Shen Ce Army and Privy Councilor in the temple, spoke in a cold voice.

As he spoke, the originally noisy situation instantly became quiet.

"Your Majesty, I suggest that Cui Shixiang be transferred to the post of Governor of Huazhou, Defense Commissioner of Tongguan, and Commander of the National Defense Army..."

"As for the governor of Dongchuan, I recommend the governor of Lingnan, Gao Pian, Gao Qianli!"

Wang Zongshi's true colors were exposed, and Li Yi, who was able to sit on the throne with his support, couldn't help but start to think after hearing his words.

As the war on the southwest, north and south fronts was retreating step by step, the performance of Wang Shi, Song Ya and Gao Pian on the eastern front was undoubtedly very eye-catching.

Gao Pian's level needs no explanation, as it can be seen from the fact that he defeated Duan Zongbang. Therefore, it seems that there is no problem in transferring him to Dongchuan and using the Dongchuan troops to garrison Rongzhou.

Thinking of this, Li Yi looked at Pei Xiu, Jiang Shen and Bai Minzhong.

Bai Minzhong had just caught a cold and was in poor health, looking listless.

Pei Xiu felt the gaze and immediately bowed and said, "Gao Pian is indeed a good general, and a good general can be used."

"I second the motion!" Jiang Shen also stood up and took the initiative to say:
"Now that the rebellion in the southeast has been quelled, I think we can reorganize the troops in Xichuan and Dongchuan and take the initiative to recover the lost territory from north to south!"

When Li Yi heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

He had long been fed up with being suppressed by Nanzhao and unable to take the initiative to attack. He would either lose here today or there tomorrow.

As he listened to these things in the Daming Palace, the anger in his heart was almost burning.

Previously, the three ministers had unanimously tried to stop him from sending troops, but now that he finally had a voice of support, he naturally would not let it go.

"it is good!"

"Your Majesty must not..."

Li Yi's passion had just been ignited when it was immediately extinguished by Bai Minzhong with a basin of cold water.

Bai Minzhong stood up sickly and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Bashu has a lower terrain, while Nanman has a higher terrain."

"Now that we have lost Shizhou and most of Rongzhou, if we want to launch an attack, we must attack from a low position. The barbarian army has the advantage of terrain. I don't know how many soldiers and horses our army will have to lose before we can recover the lost territory."

"With the strength of our court, we should not worry about the gains and losses of a city or a place, but should trade time for the vastness of the land."

"Although the Nanman national strength has recovered a lot, it is still only as strong as the imperial court at best."

"As long as the imperial court does not lose its composure, it will be enough to bring down the southern barbarians. By then, we can not only recover the lost territory, but also the vast land north of the Lushui River and east of the Dianchi Lake."

Bai Minzhong still had vision. Even though he knew that the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was not as strong as it used to be, the national strength of the Tang Dynasty was still far superior to that of Nanzhao.

As long as Nanzhao was defeated and the warlords all over the world knew that the imperial court was still powerful, the imperial court's rule might be able to continue for a few decades.

"But if this is the case, the taxes will probably overwhelm the people..."

Jiang Shen hesitated and said, Pei Xiu also frowned and said:
"This year, the number of people reported to have fled is no less than one million. If this continues for a few years, the people of the world will be overwhelmed by the heavy taxes."

"Only by fighting a quick battle, repelling Nanzhao, using war to promote peace, and then reducing the nine cents and other taxes, can the world regain its vitality..."

"I have thought about this before." Bai Minzhong took a deep breath and said:
"But if the imperial court decides to fight quickly, it will not be able to win. Only by taking each step carefully can we defeat Nanzhao."

"As for the people..." Bai Minzhong pondered for a moment, and finally said silently:

"The situation here can only make the people suffer..."

(End of this chapter)