Chapter 1214: Too many waves

Chapter 1214: Too many waves

Chapter 1214: Too many waves

Qian Feng did not leave immediately.

Early in the morning of the 14th, he saw Sun Song and Shi Zhen leaving Jincheng, accompanied by fifty infantrymen and one hundred cavalrymen, carrying a lot of valuables such as cloth, copper coins, etc., but no one knew where they were going.

Qian Feng ordered his family members to control this chaotic team.

The Latins joined the army, burned, killed, looted, and suffered defeats along the way. After going around in circles, they still had only about 1,300 soldiers. They occupied the abandoned village of Contan and expanded it a little. Finally, they counted the food and grass on hand, which was not enough for half a month, and they were suddenly a little confused.

He didn't know what Sun and Shi were doing, but he had a guess. They were just going to Jiangcheng to recruit desperate criminals with a large sum of money.

Not far from here are the people of Donghai County, who followed the prefect Wang Cheng south. It turns out that many of them are from the same hometown as Shao the thief.

You know what, this is a pretty good approach.

The fact that Donghai had an Emperor Shao was something that the people of Donghai were proud of - they had never suffered from the thief Shao, but the Sima family had suffered a lot. Do you think they could have no illusions about the thief Shao?
Spend more money, brag a little more, and cheat as many people as you can. Once you get on board, don't even think about getting off. You'll have no choice but to go down this path until the end.

After thinking this through, Qian Feng felt a little annoyed.

Where is Shao Liang's army? Who is the commander? Is it Zhang Shuo of Huainan or some other important official appointed separately?

He wanted to send someone to Jiangbei to check. There seemed to be some boats hidden in Puzhoujin, maybe he could get two of them?
After thinking it over and over again and still unable to come to a solution, Qian Feng decided to just go back to his hometown.

Qian Guang and Qian Duan's generation had already passed, and Qian Yu was a rare young talent, but he died in the end. Today, the Qian family has the highest prestige, and those old guys in the family have been mediocre all their lives and would never dare to challenge him.

Just rebel if you want to, what else can you do?
This is not the first time that the Qian family has rebelled. Even if they fail, only Qian Feng will be executed, and his family members will be innocent. To be honest, the consequences will not be serious, so it is worth a try.

Qian Feng stood on the South Mountain, his grip on the knife almost squeezing water out of it, and it was obvious that he was intensely weighing the pros and cons in his heart.

After a long time, he seemed to have figured something out and let out a long sigh of relief.

On the same day, Zhou Zha could no longer stand in Moling. After looting the county town, he led his army, which had swelled to about 1,500 men, eastward, heading straight for Yixing.

Not long after setting out, he even felt that he was not going fast enough, so he handed the troops over to his son, took a few followers with him, and traveled more than 200 miles in one day and night. He arrived in Yangxian at dusk on the 15th and entered the Zhou family's ancestral home.

Everyone was a little surprised.

Zhou Zha was over sixty years old. What motivated him to ride a horse 200 miles back to his hometown?

Zhou Zha's legs were shaking and his breathing was extremely heavy. He waved his hand to dismiss the person who saluted him and walked towards somewhere step by step.

"Squeak." Zhou Zha pushed open the gate.

In a trance, he seemed to see the young men studying with him under the peach tree in the yard.

At that time, his father (Zhou Chu) went to Luoyang to be an official, and his eldest brother (Zhou Qi) was appointed to serve in the state. As his father's youngest child, he stayed in the old house in Yangxian and studied with his nephews and nephews.

There were so many people, all gathered together, talking and laughing, having a great time. There were sons of his eldest brother Zhou Xie, Zhou Yi (deceased), sons of his second brother (Zhou Jing, died early), Zhou Mao, Zhou Xun, Zhou Jin, and his own sons Zhou Dan, Zhou Zhi, and Zhou Xu (killed).

But when did this family become abnormal?

Zhou Zha walked steadily to a stone bench and stroked it gently. This was the place where his youngest son Zhou Xu often sat.

When his elder brother failed in his rebellion and died of grief, many of Zhou's children were furious and thought about revenge every day. But for the sake of his family, he persuaded them to stop and ordered them not to rebel as an elder.

Two years later, his nephew Zhou Xie found that most of the official positions in the counties were awarded to the scholars who had migrated south, and the natives of Jiangdong got very little, so he was full of resentment. Xu Fu, the Gongcao of Wuxing County, was even more angry because the prefect Yuan Xiu, who was from the Yuan family of Chen County, looked down on him. He somehow colluded with his nephew, secretly gathered thousands of soldiers, and agreed to rebel together.

At that time, Sun Bi of the Fuchun Sun family also gathered a group of people and prepared to respond.

The rebellion broke out soon, and Yuan Xiu was captured by Xu Fu and beheaded with a single blow. Then they accepted him as their leader and prepared to go to Jianye to attack Wang Dao and others.

At the critical moment, I was weak and retreated.

Zhou Xie, his nephew, knew his character, so he deliberately made a big fuss, put himself on the spot, and forced himself to lose face. But he didn't expect that his uncle was so cowardly that he could only do petty things, entertain guests, and manage the family business all his life, but he didn't have the courage to fight for life and death.

He went directly to the Yixing governor's office, reported Xu Fu's rebellion, and made it clear that the Yixing Zhou family would never respond.

Zhou Xie was greatly disappointed and disheartened. He returned to his old house to drink and have fun, no longer caring about worldly affairs.

When Xu Fu's generals saw that Yixing Zhou had no response, they panicked and jumped directly to the side of the Jin court and surrounded and killed Xu Fu.

Most of Sun Bi's troops were defeated.

Did I do the right thing that time?

Zhou Zha sat down on the stone bench, as if feeling his son's breath.

His son Zhou Xu actually participated in the rebellion, and kept it a secret from his father. As a result, Zhou Yan, for a minor official, was ordered by Sima Rui to lead a hundred Jianye strongmen back to Yangxian, where he lured and killed Zhou Xu and his clansman Zhou Shao.

Afterwards, he actually acquiesced, being so cowardly that he didn't even have the courage to confront his nephew. His wife was so angry that she stopped talking to him and soon died of depression.

The Zhou clan members also looked down on him, no matter how high his official position was.

“Hahahaha…” Zhou Zha suddenly laughed neurotically, his pale beard dancing in the wind.

I have been a coward all my life, just for this moment.

Zhou Zha felt full of strength. He stood up suddenly, strode to a study room, and kicked the door open.

The room smelled of alcohol.

Zhou Xie was drunk and half lying on the couch. When he heard the noise, he opened his eyes with difficulty and said, "Who is it? Don't disturb me while I'm drinking. How long can I live? I just want to have fun."

Zhou Zha walked up to his nephew, gently stroked his face, and said, "Yanhe, get up, rebel."

******
On the 16th, General Liu Chao of the Right Guard turned back to Moling halfway and cleaned up the mess in a rage.

"Mr. Liu." When Tao Wuji saw Liu Chao, he came up and cried, "My uncle retired and returned to his hometown, settled in Moling, was kind and generous, and recommended many talented people, and was praised by people far and near. I didn't expect Zhou Zha to be so cruel and crazy that he killed more than a hundred people in my uncle's family. I swear I will not be a human being if I don't take revenge!"

"Oh." Liu Chao sighed.

It is difficult to clearly explain the grudges between the great families in the south of the Yangtze River.

The man who was killed was named Tao You, the second son of Tao Jun, the General of Zhennan and the Governor of Jingzhou of the Eastern Wu. He was once the Internal History of Xuancheng. After leaving office, he served as an assistant in the Prime Minister's Office. A year ago, he retired and returned to his hometown, living in Moling. Unexpectedly, he was killed by Zhou Zha, and his entire family was killed.

What grudge?
Although the Tao family is not as famous as the Jiangdong families like Gu, Lu, Zhu, Zhang, He, and Dai, they are also on the same level as the Yu, Kong, Xie, Xu, and Ge families. During the Eastern Wu period, they produced many provincial governors, provincial governors, and generals. After entering the Jin Dynasty, their honors and favors continued. How could the local tyrants like the Zhou family compare to them?
Liu Chao thought about it carefully, could it be related to the rebellion of Xu Fu, Zhou Xu, Zhou Shao, and Sun Bi many years ago? At that time, Tao You was the internal historian of Xuancheng, and he sent troops to suppress the rebellion and destroyed the remaining troops of Sun Bi.

I haven't fought directly with the Zhou family, so why do they hate me?
Liu Chao cursed inwardly, saying that the Zhou family of Yixing deserved to die. They were all despicable bastards, just like the Qian family and the Shen family. They had been jumping up and down for many years just to replace these old aristocratic families. They would use any means to achieve this, and they dared to offend anyone and do anything.

Do you think you are Shao thief? You single-handedly made the Donghai Shao family into a royal family.

If you have no status, you have to accept your fate.

If you shed more blood, risk your life, spend more money and keep a low profile, you will always have opportunities. Rebelling and venting your dissatisfaction all day long is definitely not the right way.

"Don't worry, my dear nephew. Do you know where Zhou Zha is?" Liu Chao helped Tao Wuji up and said gently.

Tao Wuji stood up, wiped his tears, and said, "He must have fled back to Yangxian."

Liu Chao took a deep breath. It would be difficult to sneak back to the old nest.

His expression immediately turned serious, and he said, "My dear nephew, please listen to me."

"Please speak, Mr. Liu." Tao Wuji said blankly.

"You should return home immediately, persuade your clan members, and recruit soldiers to prepare for the enemy's arrival." Liu Chao said, "Xuancheng also needs to recruit soldiers."

The current Internal History of Xuancheng is Tao Fu, the former magistrate of Yuhu, the son of Tao Yan, the former prefect of Linhai, and the nephew of Tao You.

The reason why members of the Tao family often served as the Internal History of Xuancheng was that Wanling County, the seat of Xuancheng County, was the fief of Tao Huang, the governor of Jiaozhou in Eastern Wu and the governor of Jiaozhou in Jin. Tao Huang, Tao Jun and Tao Kang were three brothers, and Tao Wuji was Tao Kang's grandson.

The Tao family had been operating in Wanling for decades and had a very deep foundation, so it was natural for them to be appointed as the Internal History.

After Tao Wuji heard Liu Chao's words, his face changed. He knew that it was serious, and he immediately responded: "I will go back to the old house and discuss with the clan members. If Zhou of Yixing wants to die, then let him die."

Liu Chao nodded approvingly and said, "I only have 3,000 soldiers, which is a bit weak. I want the help of Tao's soldiers. We can also recruit more soldiers from the big families in Danyang and Xuancheng to fight against the enemy together. We must fight against these Jiangnan thieves together."

Liu Chao's words nailed Zhou Zha and others to the pillar of shame as the Jiangnan traitors, and it was not without intention.

He was keenly aware that once the Zhou family of Yixing got involved, a large-scale rebellion would be inevitable.

Now they can only hope that Zhou Zha's prestige will be greatly reduced, and they will not be able to integrate the power of the entire Zhou family. After all, many of Zhou's children are still serving as officials in the court. If Zhou Zha rebels, where will they be placed? There will definitely be people who oppose it.

The Zhou family, a powerful military clan, has been divided and disintegrated by the imperial court for so many years and is no longer the Zhou family of twenty years ago.

In addition, this matter must be reported to the Prime Minister and the Emperor and Empress as soon as possible.

Things are becoming more and more serious. Now when we mobilize the troops from the Northern Palace in Jingkou to come west, they are much more capable of fighting than the imperial guards and can put down the rebellion as quickly as possible.

The troops of the Jiangdong nobles must also be gathered as soon as possible.

I heard that the He family of Shanyin, the Lu family of Wujun, and the Zhu family are already recruiting soldiers and warships, so we need to urge them again.

When thinking about these questions, Liu Chao subconsciously forgot about the hundreds of Liang cavalry who had once caused a big fuss in Jianye. After all, that was just a minor issue and was not important anymore.

(End of this chapter)