Chapter 888 4-party news
Chapter 888 News from all sides
"Surround them!" General Huang Biao of the Right Army waved his hand, and the army rushed forward and lined up outside a fort.
The soldiers and nobles from the local area and neighboring counties looked at each other, their faces pale.
Nine thousand six hundred soldiers of the Right Jinwu Guard, each with a unit, marched out from Fukouxing.
First, they stationed in Handan, collected food and fodder donated by local nobles, and then joined the main army and marched south to clean up Yecheng.
The troops of the noble families were led by Shao Xu, the former governor of Leling and the current governor of Weijun. They included 2,000 soldiers from the Wei family of Julu, 2,000 soldiers from the You family of Guangping, 2,000 soldiers from the Cheng family of Guangping, 2,000 soldiers from the Feng family of Bohai, 2,000 soldiers from the Gao family of Bohai, 2,000 soldiers from the Li family of Zhaojun, and 2,000 soldiers from the Qian family of Anping...
Nearly 20,000 people in total, at the command, launched a fierce attack on the Weijun Du family's fortress.
Of course, there is evidence for attacking this fort.
There was a county magistrate named Shen Zhong in Yangping County, who reported the murder on behalf of the Shen family of Wei County. The mastermind was the Du family of Wei County, and the soldiers who took action were hired from the Liu and Song families of Guangping. After killing people, they fled back to Guangping County.
Pingyang issued an order, and General Xu Lang of the Front Army led 4,800 cavalrymen from the four prefectures of the Zuo Feilong Guard to march north at full speed, secretly raiding Guangping and destroying the two families in one fell swoop, saving more than 8,000 households.
Huang Biao led his men to besiege the Du family and defeated them after several days, capturing more than 3,000 households.
The Kong family of Wei County was suspected, but it might also be a rumor. In the end, no one cared about it and moved the whole family to the newly established Baode County (now county) in Kelan County. They became local citizens and their more than 2,000 households of farmhands were taken over by the imperial court.
This time, the role of the government soldiers was greatly demonstrated.
As soon as the soldiers of Taiyuan Prefecture were mobilized, 20,000 of them went down to Taihang Mountain and led the soldiers of the wealthy families to besiege the Du's Fortress.
The assassins of Zuo Feilong's guards even practiced a horse-riding attack.
The news was difficult to leak out as they were mobilized from Henan. Thousands of cavalry and infantry rushed hundreds of miles and destroyed the Liu and Song families of Guangping without any knowledge.
The four families of Liu, Song, Du, and Kong as well as nearly 15,000 households of the Yu family in Jiyang were all sent to Hongnong, changed their masters, and became part of the government troops.
As for the source of the palace soldiers, it was of course the old Zhongwu Army.
The army's number was disbanded, and a few old and weak soldiers were laid off, leaving 4,800 people. All of them were converted into local soldiers, and four Longxiang prefectures were established in Yanxiang, Yujian, Chousang, and Caoyang. These farmhands from Hebei became their troops.
The food and other supplies needed for resettlement were also provided by these families. They were loaded onto ships from Yecheng and transported to Hongnong via Baigou and the Yellow River, and the project was completed within the year.
After this incident, I believe many people understand it.
There is no point in resisting. In the end, all you can do is provide a household registration to King Liang, house his soldiers and provide him with troops and food. You have no excuse to do anything you want to do.
Of course, Shao Xun didn't necessarily want to kill them.
Cleaning up these five powerful families with thundering means is also to deter more people. After all, those powerful families with deep roots are still watching.
This is the principle of "strike the first blow to prevent a hundred punches from coming".
At the same time, the informer Shen Zhong was promoted to the governor of Yangping, and his main task was to thoroughly clean up this seven-county prefecture that had not been ravaged by the scourge. Shen's reputation must have been ruined in the aristocratic circle, and there was no way out, so he could only go all the way.
It was also at this time that some people finally came to their senses and realized why the King of Liang, who had always been "warmongering", did not launch a foreign war this year. It turned out that he was waiting for these rebels.
After cleaning up the internal affairs and stabilizing the situation, he would then go about gaining prestige - by capturing Shengle and even Chang'an, he would gain greater prestige and put his will into practice.
******
Wang Chong has returned to Yingling.
He heard the news from Wei County in early September.
No one expected that the person who was the first to publicly criticize King Liang's politics at the Jinyang Forum did not die, but those who were submissive in Jinyang and immediately launched a rebellion after returning home died.
The reason is that King Liang wants to save face.
He said he was free to speak his mind, and Wang Chong's cursing was tolerable.
Those powerful families in Wei County who turned against their will and rebelled were courting death.
But Lao Wang was still shocked.
Although he still spoke stubbornly in front of others, he immediately closed the door and refused to see visitors after returning home. He contacted his relatives who had crossed the Yangtze River to the south through letters and asked about the local customs.
Of course, Shao Xun didn't care much about him.
The descendant of Wang Xiu (Wang Xiu) of Cao Wei, his great-uncle Wang Yi was Sima Zhao's military secretary and held a high position of power, but he was killed after the Battle of Dongguan.
Such a person cannot get along with the Sima family. Why bother with him? It will only enhance his reputation.
In fact, it was not just the Wang family. Families such as the Feng, Liu, Ju, Guan, and Kong families in Qingzhou were all frightened.
The governor Pei Xia took the opportunity to call all the families to a meeting and found out everything was fine. He felt relieved only after he found out that everything was fine.
He then took the opportunity to promote the two-year three-harvest system. All families accepted the request and collected a sum of food and grain and sent it south to Xuzhou to support Li Chong in leading his army to retake Xia Pi. This city was surrounded by water, like an island in the middle of a river. It was the natural home ground of the navy. Li Chong actually didn't want to take it back, after all, there were almost no soldiers or civilians there.
This is the case in Qingzhou, and it is generally the same in other states.
By the time the news reached Pingyang, it was already the end of September. "There were no arrows fired at once, no cavalry galloping, and the people killed were 'our own people', but this was not easy at all." In Shanglin Garden, Shao Xun looked at his eldest son Jin Dao and said, "If we don't measure the land, we can't implement the new tax system. If we don't implement the new tax system, we have to negotiate with the local nobles. How much concessions do you have to make? How much benefits do you have to give them? Over time, everything will come to an end, and we can only rule by sitting back and doing nothing. The Sima family's usurpation of Wei may not happen again."
After saying this, Shao Xun put down the handful of cypress seeds in his hand and said, "Can this be sold?"
"Yes, we can sell it." Jin Dao said, "There are too many cypress trees on the mountain, and autumn is the best time to harvest them."
"I heard that you are still recruiting Di and Qiang people?" Shao Xun asked again.
"They all escaped from Fengyi. Since last year, there are only about 200 households, not many people." Jin Dao replied, "I have asked carefully, and the Fengyi Diqiang are only temporarily hiding from the Xiongnu. They still remember the incident when Liu Can killed the tribal chieftains. When father conquers Guanzhong in the future, maybe they can be used as the vanguard, which will be very effective."
Shao Xun looked at his son with complicated eyes and said nothing.
"Your mother has found a woman from the Liu family of Pei State to marry you. What do you think? Are you willing?" he asked.
Jin Dao was silent for a while.
"You've become sensible, too sensible..." Shao Xun sighed and asked, "Is there anyone you like?"
“When I was outing during the Double Ninth Festival, I saw—” Jin Dao stammered.
"Which girl?" Shao Xun said with a smile, "You are my son, what are you afraid of? If you like her, just tell me and I will send someone to propose marriage."
"The third daughter of General Li of the East." Jin Dao stammered.
"She's from the Li Chong family." Shao Xun sighed with an ambiguous tone, then looked at his son and asked, "The Luoyang Li family didn't have anyone serving as an official until Li Chong's generation. How come his daughter is more to your liking than the famous family like the Pei State Liu family?"
"It's up to you, Grandpa." Jin Dao said with his head down.
Shao Xun did not answer directly, but just smiled and said, "It's noon, let's eat first."
******
Also at the end of September, news from the north began to arrive.
Wang Que'er stopped the tribes headed by the Daxi and Dugu clans at Dongmugen Mountain, defeated the invading Helan Aitou, and beheaded more than 2,000 people - the result was not great, but it was not bad. The greater achievement was that he stabilized the hearts of the people in the tribes, big and small, in the area.
The one that achieved the greatest results was Wu Zhouchuan's line.
The troops of Gao Liu, Wu Zhou and Zhou Zhou cooperated with the troops of the four guards of Dai State and took advantage of the enemy's retreat to pursue them, beheading more than a thousand people and seizing tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, horses and camels.
The enemy troops in the direction of Mayi retreated the earliest, but unfortunately the troops pursuing them were ambushed, resulting in many casualties.
In this year's northern war, if we talk about it purely from a military perspective, Pingcheng did not gain any advantage.
From an economic perspective, the losses are even greater.
They won politically.
Repelling the attack of 50,000 cavalry led by Helan Aitou and Tuoba Yihuai showed that Pingcheng could now compete with Shengle.
No matter how much the Helan clan looked down on the "little boy" Tuoba Shiyijian, and no matter how much they slandered him, it could not shake the fact that he had already established a firm foothold.
By mid-September, some fence-sitters jumped to Pingcheng's side, including the tribes of Tuoba Qu and Tuoba Gu's mother's families.
Liu Hu, who accepted the post of General of the Dai Kingdom, led his army to launch a surprise attack on the rear of Shengle. After looting, he retreated westwards. Unexpectedly, he met Shi Le halfway. The two sides fought a confused battle and then withdrew their troops. Shi Le spared no effort this year and personally led an expedition to Shuofang again. He fought and pulled, and his determination to manage this place was very obvious.
Tuoba Hena, who fled to Suotouchuan, also sent envoys to Pingcheng to seek peace, as he no longer wanted to be their enemy.
There's good news all around.
Although Lady Wang, the wife of the Dai Kingdom, was ridiculed as a "hen crowing at dawn", she did win the bet, which was enough to offset most of the negative impact and even gained her a lot of prestige.
As for the unexplained pregnancy last year, no one mentioned it again.
This is war, this is politics.
War is the continuation of politics and also the most direct way to quickly gain prestige.
In mid-September, the Dai State, which had won a tragic victory, decided to call it a day. Pingcheng and Shengle tacitly broke off contact in mid-September, and peace returned to the Yinshan grassland.
The Shanyu Protectorate sent a military report. According to their rough statistics, the total casualties on both sides exceeded 20,000, and the losses of cattle, sheep and other property were even greater.
Shao Xun thought about it, and gave orders to Taiyuan County to send another 100,000 hu of grain and beans to Mayi and Yunzhong. The three armies of Yicong, Zhuosheng and Luoyan did not have to withdraw. After winter, as long as there was no heavy snow, they could continue to harass Suotou.
Their families who stayed in Liyang and Bianliang would be rewarded with two pieces of silk and one piece of linen. Anyway, the core idea was to continue fighting and use the relatively strong economic strength to wear down Tuoba Yihuai.
This may not be very useful in normal times, but isn't this the case with Dai Gong? Political offensives kill people without bloodshed, and once people's hearts are in chaos, everything will come to an end.
Throughout the next winter and spring, Shao Xun will carefully assess the situation on the Yinshan grassland to provide reference for next year's expedition.
He needed victory in foreign wars to suppress domestic opposition and lay a solid foundation for further reforms.
(End of this chapter)