Chapter 503 Emergency Rescue
Chapter 503 Emergency Rescue (Part )
Dozens of small boats on the Cao'e River discovered something unusual on the shore and turned around to flee towards the river mouth. Unexpectedly, after sailing for just a few miles, they encountered a fleet of the Sui army coming from Qiantang County.
The thirty official ships in the front were former warships of the Southern Dynasty. They were all about 3,000 stones in weight, much larger in size than the enemy ships, and had five times as many men as the enemy. More importantly, the soldiers' crossbows were very sharp, which was the key to naval battles. The large ships were in a commanding position, and nearly a hundred soldiers raised their crossbows and shot at them. After only a few rounds of sharp arrows, the small boats were shot like hedgehogs. The bandits on the small boats could only jump into the water to escape, but there were already Sui soldiers waiting on the shore, and they still could not escape death under the powerful crossbows.
Many pirates' ships were directly overturned by the big ships. The evil pirates could not swim far. As soon as they showed their heads, they were shot through the body by arrows and died in the river. In the end, no one of the 400 pirates escaped and they were all killed by the Sui army.
As the sky gradually brightened, Luo Shixin led a large army to the city, and the governor Yin Shangzhi hurried out to greet them.
Luo Shixin asked, "But is it Governor Yin?"
"Yes, I am. The general is General Luo Shixin Luo?"
Luo Shixin nodded, "I am here to evacuate the taxes and envoys on the orders of the King of Jin. Besides, I have opened up the canal, so we can evacuate through it."
Yin Shangzhi said quickly: "The taxes have been loaded onto the ship and we can leave immediately. I don't know how many ships the general has brought. I want to evacuate the people as well."
Luo Shixin thought for a moment and said, "I will bring several hundred cargo ships. When the people evacuate, the elderly, women and children will take the ships, while the young and strong men will walk."
Yin Shangzhi began to mobilize the people in the city to evacuate. Although many people had already evacuated before, they were basically people from the countryside, and not many people in the city evacuated. Now when they heard that the government was also going to evacuate, the people in the city began to panic. They simply packed up their money and belongings. Men carried baskets, and women carried packages and took the elderly and children on board the boats. There were cries and shouts everywhere, and large ships loaded with the elderly, women and children set off.
In the front were more than 300 official ships loaded with taxes, followed by hundreds of large ships loaded with women, children and the elderly, and behind them were thousands of small civilian boats also filled with people.
The official road was filled with troops and young men, stretching for more than ten miles with no end in sight. The entire Kuaiji County, with a population of more than 200,000 people, all fled.
On the Jiangnan Grand Canal, a fleet consisting of more than one hundred large ships with a capacity of 10,000 shi was sailing southward in a mighty manner. On both sides of the canal were continuous Sui troops. Xiao Xia personally led 20,000 elite troops southward, including 10,000 cavalry.
Inside the ship, Xiao Xia smiled and asked Gao Jiong, who was accompanying the army on the expedition, "Have you ever considered the long-term governance of the Shanyue people?"
Gao Jiong was once known as the best general of the Sui Dynasty. He suffered repeated setbacks and was expelled from the core of power by Yang Yong and Yang Guang successively. Then he encountered the assassination of Crown Prince Yang Zhao. He was deeply hated by Emperor Yang Guang and had no place in the court.
Gao Jiong was also disheartened and prepared to return to his hometown in Hejian County to spend the last years of his life. However, he did not expect that he was invited by Xiao Xia to Jiangnan to become the tutor of King Jin, where he could once again put his talents and political experience to use.
Gao Jiong stroked his beard and smiled, "The rebellion in Jiangnan broke out suddenly. The whole people of Jiangnan supported the resistance against Sui Dynasty. At its peak, every county had its own emperor and every county had its own governor. The court had no idea about the rebellion in Jiangnan at that time. They rushed to quell the rebellion and appointed the experienced Yang Su as the commander-in-chief. Although Yang Su's brutal killings were indeed criticized, we have to admit that he quelled the chaos in Jiangnan at the fastest speed. However, it was precisely because of the comprehensive killings that the court could not distinguish who should be killed and who should not be killed. The emperor could only issue an order to pardon everyone. This left a hidden danger for today's rebellion. It can be said that today's Shanyue rebellion is a continuation of the great rebellion in the tenth year of Kaihuang.
Your Highness made careful plans before taking action, and has seen through this rebellion very thoroughly. He has used both kindness and severity to show his compassionate heart. I am very confident that this time the rebellion of the Shanyue people can be completely resolved."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Lord Gao, do you mean that I handled it better than the late emperor this time?"
"Correct!"
Gao Jiong nodded gently, "Your Highness is like a hunter, waiting and observing patiently, looking for the opportunity to attack. Your Highness knew that they were going to rebel more than a month ago, but you held back and did not suppress them. With this tenacity, you are better than the late emperor. I remember that the late emperor was completely panicked at that time."
Xiao Xia was silent for a moment and said, "I believe that all Shanyue people, like the Han people, hope to live in peace and hate war. However, the Shanyue tyrants are stubborn and always ambitious. We need to kill them ruthlessly, just like a piece of rotten meat on the body. We must completely cut it out so that the body will be healthy. So I have to wait for them all to appear. After this war, there will be no more Shanyue tyrants."
Gao Jiong also laughed and said, "I really hope that the wealth of the powerful can make up for the expenses of our charity granary."
The two looked at each other and laughed together. What a coincidence!
At this time, the soldier brought tea and the two men drank it.
Gao Jiong suddenly thought of something, holding the teacup and pondering for a moment, he said: "But this time the Guanlong nobles instigated them to rebel, have you considered them?" Xiao Xia nodded, "After this rebellion is quelled, I will set up a Salt and Iron Bureau, and salt and iron will be monopolized by the government, and the Guanlong nobles will be deprived of the right to sell salt in Jiangnan Road. Originally, I reached a consensus with them in Chang'an that everyone should live in peace, but they didn't know how to appreciate it and insisted on making trouble in my backyard. Then let's all fight! Let's see who has the last laugh."
Gao Jiong sighed and said, "This is also what I want to advise Your Highness. Although the Guanlong nobles are not valued in the court, they are very powerful, and many of them are hidden. This time they took out so many weapons and armor to support the Shanyue people's rebellion. It is unimaginable at other times. The court has repeatedly strictly prohibited the people from using crossbows, long weapons and armor, but they took tens of thousands of sets at once. You can imagine how many they still have.
To be honest, I was very worried about the emperor. He thought the Guanlong nobles were too weak and handled the situation too simply and roughly. He just moved the capital, which was a major event that would shake the foundation of the country. He had only been on the throne for a few years and his throne was not stable at all. The digging of the canal made the people in the Central Plains lose the support of the people.
The Guanlong nobles are a group of wolves hiding in the dark. Their target is the emperor. They are waiting for the emperor to make a mistake. Sooner or later, the Sui Dynasty will be in turmoil. I hope Your Highness will not be exposed too early and protect Jiangnan. One day, Jiangnan will become the only place of salvation for the Sui Dynasty. "
Gao Jiong's words made Xiao Xia nod silently. He understood Gao Jiong's good intentions, which were to prevent him from becoming a target of attack by the Guanlong nobles and to develop in a low-key and pragmatic manner.
"I understand Lord Gao's advice. I will strike the right balance between striking down the Guanlong nobles and not breaking off relations with them."
Four days later, Xiao Xia led an army of 20,000 to Yuhang County. At this time, Qiantang County was surrounded by crowds of people. It was full of refugees who had fled from Kuaiji County. Not only from Kuaiji County, but also from Shangyu County and Yuyao County, there were as many as three or four hundred thousand people.
All the grain from the taxes in Yuhang County and Kuaiji County was used to relieve these refugees. The food problem was not very urgent. The urgent one was the accommodation problem. Every household in Qiantang County was already full. The original population of Qiantang County was 200,000, but it was now crowded with 400,000 people.
There are still nearly 200,000 people who cannot squeeze into the county town and have to live in tents or shacks outside the city. Many refugees have even been sleeping outdoors for several days.
Xiao Xia's arrival brought a large number of tents, which was like timely help and barely solved the refugees' most urgent accommodation problem. Although only two or three families could share one big tent, it was much better than sleeping in the wild.
Accompanied by Luo Shixin and officials, Xiao Xia inspected the refugee settlements and agreed to a plan to use tax revenue to provide relief to the refugees.
Xiao Xia immediately put Gao Jiong in charge of refugee affairs, and all officials had to obey Gao Jiong's orders.
Xiao Xia came to the military camp and listened to Luo Shixin's report in front of the map.
"Your Highness, Lan Zhaotian has already raised the flag of rebellion three days ago and announced the establishment of the Kingdom of Yue. Lan Zhaotian has proclaimed himself the King of Yue. The rebels have occupied Kuaiji County, and Lan Zhaotian has made Kuaiji County the capital of the country."
"How many troops do they have now?" Xiao Xia asked again.
Luo Shixin bowed and asked, "Currently, the army is about 140,000 or 150,000?"
Xiao Xia frowned, "There are so many people?"
Zhao Feng, the commander of Kuaiji County, said, "Your Highness, you may not know that Lan Zhaotian recruited 80,000 men in Kuaiji County, Ming Zhongtian brought 60,000 men from Yongjia County, and Lou Shigan sent 10,000 troops from Dongyang County, totaling 150,000 men. However, among these 150,000 men, only 50,000 are truly trained troops, and the other 100,000 are coerced civilians who were forced to rebel."
Xiao Xia nodded, "How do we solve the food problem for 150,000 people?"
Luo Shixin smiled bitterly and said, "In the short term, they can only rely on robbing, but as long as they survive this month, the wheat in the fields will be ripe by next month, and they will have a source of military rations."
Xiao Xia said slowly: "This year's summer harvest is equally important to us. Otherwise, we will not be able to afford to feed hundreds of thousands of people. Therefore, we must completely defeat them before the wheat matures and not give them the opportunity to steal the wheat!"
(End of this chapter)