Chapter 148, the big man who cooks oil with fire, the unstoppable uprising army
The fourth year of Zhongping (187 AD) was not a good year.
In February, the people of Xingyang County revolted. The rebel army attacked Zhongmou and killed Zhongmou's commander Luo Hao and its chief administrator Pan Ye, and the momentum gradually grew.
Xingyang County is in the hinterland of the Central Plains, only 200 miles away from Luoyang City. Although this uprising was very small, it shocked Emperor Ling. The entire Luoyang court was unprecedentedly efficient. In March, 20,000 Northern troops were prepared.
Henan Yin Hemiao led his troops to suppress the rebellion, and the rebel army failed in less than a month.
But this war also foreshadows that even if the Han Dynasty defeated the two wars in Xiliang and Jizhou, the contradiction between man and land in the Han Dynasty has not been resolved, the refugees have not disappeared, and those who cannot survive will continue to rebel after all!
Sure enough, in April, when the spring was warm and the flowers were blooming, the Yellow Turban Army Bai Rao and Yu Du respectively led their troops down the mountain to attack the counties in Hanoi. The Yellow Turban leader Bai Rao led his army to attack Chaoge City, and the Yellow Turban leader Yu Du led his army to capture Shanyang City.
The vanguard only refers to the Hanoi prefecture to govern Huaicheng. Zhang Yan from Montenegro attacked Jizhou again. On the north bank of the Yellow River, the war resumed.
The Yellow Turban Army came down again and shocked the entire Luoyang court. Especially this time, the Yellow Turban Army attacked the Sanhe area. The flames of war had spread to an area 100 miles away from Luoyang City. The shock caused by this can be imagined. The imperial court immediately dispatched the Northern Army to suppress it.
Bai Rao and Yu Du also ordered Liu Bei to resist Zhang Yan, fearing that the Yellow Turban Army would sweep across Jizhou again.
Liu Bei's effectiveness in guarding Jizhou exceeded Ling Emperor's imagination. Zhang Yan did not capture any city this time. Instead, he occupied the vast countryside of Jizhou and continued to engage in guerrilla warfare with Liu Bei. In less than a month, the two sides fought hundreds of times.
, but the number of people who died in the battle was less than a thousand. Compared with hundreds of thousands of people who died in the past, the scale of the war could almost be regarded as a brawl.
After seeing the battle report, the imperial court of Luoyang City breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was frightened by the Yellow Turban Army. Over the past few years, the Yellow Turban Army was bound to rise up every winter, and each time it was huge and numbered hundreds of thousands.
People attacked the city and captured the territory, but this time not a single city was lost. Liu Bei was looked down upon by everyone in the imperial court. Compared with Wang Fen before, Liu Bei's ability was much better.
So with a stroke of his pen, Emperor Ling appointed Liu Bei as Bei Zhonglang and would continue to encircle Zhang Yan and his party on the Taihang Mountains!
The war between the Han Dynasties resumed, and Emperor Ling had no choice but to summon General He Jun, Taiwei Zhang Wen, Situ Cui Lie, Sikong Xuxiang and the nine ministers of the court to discuss matters in the main hall!
Emperor Ling said impatiently: "Everyone, please think of something. The ant thieves are about to attack Luoyang City. If this continues, will you really have to pick up the sword and fight with the ant thieves? Is it necessary for the imperial court to give you so much salary every year?
You guys do things!”
General He Jin said calmly: "Your Majesty, the number of thieves this year is only a sporadic 20,000 to 30,000 people. They can be quelled by the county soldiers alone. We don't have to worry about the comfort of Luoyang City!"
Zhang Wen then said: "Your Majesty, I am really worried about the Yellow Turban Army. We can let Dong Zhuo lead the army to suppress the Hanoi rebels."
Emperor Ling asked: "Where has Dong Zhuo gone?"
Zhang Wen said: "We have arrived at Hedong County! Dong Zhuo's men can reach Hanoi County in just three days by going down the river!"
But Emperor Ling was a little worried. Since the troops in Luoyang City were insufficient now, he asked Dong Zhuo's 30,000 border troops to march through Luoyang City. He was worried that something would go wrong. Several mutinies in the Eastern Han Dynasty were caused by border troops entering Luoyang City, including
During the mutiny when Emperor Ling was still a minor, the eunuch Wang Pu used Fang Sheng, who pretended to pass on the imperial edict, to mobilize Zhang Huan's border troops and completely suppress the mutiny of General Dou Wu. Emperor Ling remembered the incident very well, and from then on
From that time on, he never let the border troops approach Luoyang City again.
Later, he also wanted Dong Zhuo to help him completely pacify the Thunder Lord in Mayi, so that the rebellion of the majority of the Han Dynasty would be completely wiped out.
Therefore, Emperor Ling said: "It is enough to hand over the rebels in Hanoi to the Northern Army. The Xiliang Army will continue to march towards Taiyuan County. I am still waiting for General Dong Zhuo to bring good news!"
As soon as Emperor Ling finished speaking, Cui Lie immediately said fiercely: "Now the country is in a troubled time, with continuous battles and an empty treasury. We simply don't have the financial resources to host another battle of 100,000 people. Although the Thunder Lord of Mayi is talented,
But he is a person without great ambitions. As long as the court does not move him, he will stay safely in Mayi. Why should we change this situation? The top priority now is to pacify the rebels in Henan County and Hanoi County to ensure the Gyeonggi Province.
No worries. But the counter-rebellion military resources in these two places alone will probably consume more than half of the national treasury. Your Majesty must accumulate tens of billions of money to prepare for the thunder in Mayi!
"Tens of billions of dollars!" Emperor Ling's eyes widened. He did not expect that it would cost so much money to pacify a mere Thunder Lord and occupy a whole county. He did not want Dong Zhuo to go to Taiyuan County on the spot!
Cui Lie was not satisfied with the fire and continued: "Your Majesty, you only need to look at the battle report of Xiliang to calculate it. The suppression of the rebellion in Xiliang has been going on for two years. Although we have severely damaged the rebels, they have not been completely quelled yet, and the 100,000
The army's food and salary for two years has exceeded 10 billion yuan, and if the attack on Mayi consumes even more money, Chang'an can provide food and grass for the Xiliang war. Although Chang'an has suffered some defeats in recent years, it is a country of abundance after all, with plenty of food and grass.
And what does Bingzhou have? The richest Taiyuan County only has 200,000 people. There is no county in Bingzhou that can support the food and grass for an army of 100,000. Even Bingzhou has to allocate food and grass from Jizhou every year, and now Jizhou is at war with Zhang Yan.
Hanoi is at war with Yu Du. The only two counties that can really provide food and grass are Hedong and Hexi counties, and even Henan County will be added to provide food and grass. How much does it cost to transport thousands of miles and so many people? I can guarantee that as long as it is in one
If Mayi cannot be captured within this year, the imperial court’s military expenditure will exceed 10 billion!”
What did we get in the end? It's just a remote town bordering the Xianbei people. Does Your Majesty think a Thunder Lord is worth tens of billions?"
If one is to say who is a dove among the powerful men with strong military virtues, it must be Cui Lie. He really does not want to hear the news of the war at all, nor does he want to start a war. In the past few years, Jizhou has been beaten to ashes.
Now, Jizhou's noble families have suffered heavy casualties, less than 20% of them. Other places are still in turmoil, but Jizhou has entered a situation that is even more terrifying than in troubled times.
The Yellow Turban Army regarded the Wubao of their noble clans as a dungeon. They would attack it whenever they had something to do. Now no noble clan in Jizhou dared to stay in the Wubao. Most of the people either fled to Luoyang City or fled to the Central Plains. The clans of Jizhou The wealth and private soldiers of the gentry have been wiped out in repeated battles with the Yellow Turban Army.
At this time, Liu Bei, who was in charge of the army, also came to Hedong three years ago and Hexi three years ago. Three years ago, they squeezed out Liu Bei. Now Liu Bei has a large army, and he does not care about the noble families in Jizhou. Now in Jizhou, there are only conflicts between the common people and the powerful. , Liu Bei must favor the people and safeguard their interests.
It can be said that in the world where Liu Bei came to Jizhou less than half a year ago, Liu Qingtian had already become famous. Without his force and wealth, the wealthy nobles in Jizhou are now like a drowned dog and can only moan. It is not that they have never thought about it. Use the same method used to deal with Fu Bian to assassinate Liu Bei.
But Liu Bei has three brothers who are enemies of thousands of people. Moreover, Liu Bei himself is not bad at martial arts. Jizhou has been in constant turmoil in recent years. However, Liu Bei can resist bandits externally and is willing to do good deeds internally. Even ordinary people who are not scholars can fight with He sits at the same table and eats at the same table, without making any choices.
Liu Bei was very popular throughout Jizhou. This time, the powerful nobles sent assassins to assassinate him. Liu Bei had no idea about it and treated the assassin very politely. The assassin was deeply moved and could not bear to kill Liu Bei, so he revealed the truth and left. And the news was spread. After leaving, the people of Jizhou, who had only been stable for more than half a year, were all excited. They personally found the home of the noble family who planned to assassinate Liu Bei. Thousands of people rushed in and killed the whole family. This incident caused a sensation. The whole of Jizhou.
The noble families in Jizhou found that even the city was no longer safe, so they fled Jizhou one after another. But now the noble families in Jizhou have no money, no food, no private soldiers, and no Wubao. It can be said that the noble families in Jizhou are as a The powerful political power has evaporated.
Cui Lie doesn't have much selfishness now. He just wants to take care of his hometown. If he really attacks Thunder God in Mayi, Jizhou must be the one who provides food and grass, but how can Jizhou, which is prone to wars, get much food now?
Cui Lie continued: "Now the common people of the Han Dynasty are rebelling repeatedly, not because they like to be rebels, but because they can no longer survive. Instead of spending tens of billions to fight a rebellion on the border, the court might as well recuperate, reduce taxes on the people, and let officials from various places Comfort and provide relief to the refugees scattered everywhere. As long as there are no more refugees, the Yellow Turban Army will not be a problem!"
"And if the war continues, the court will collect more taxes, and the people will have to rebel if they can't pay them. Then we will have to spend more money to suppress the rebellion. Hasn't the Han Dynasty been like this all these years!"
In fact, after hearing Cui Lie's previous words, Emperor Ling did not dare to be interested in Xu Wei. With tens of billions, why don't I build a garden? Why throw it away in Mayi without even hearing a sound?
So Emperor Ling immediately said: "Yes, yes, yes! It's important to recuperate and recuperate! Lord Lei will be placed in Mayi first, and he will deal with him later when the court has money and food!"
But General He Jun did not want Dong Zhuo to stay in Hanoi County. He had not forgotten how General Dou Wu died. Although his relationship with the eunuchs was not as bad as that of Dou Wu, he would not let Dong Zhuo surrender. The eunuch Dong Zhuo appeared around Luoyang City. This foreign army was too serious a threat to him as a general.
So he went out and said: "What Cui Situ said is correct when applied to other counties in Xiliang, Youzhou and even Bingzhou, but it is wrong when applied to Mayi!"
"We all know that Lei Gong defeated Helian's 100,000-strong army, but everyone doesn't know that one of Lei Gong's men robbed the entire Khantan Mountain, which was the royal court of the Xianbei people. All millions of livestock were taken away by Lei Gong's men.
Hui Mayi. It is said that there are now more than one million cattle and sheep in Mayi. Because they can't feed them, Lei Gong ordered his men to eat cattle and sheep every day to save food.
But even though the Lei Gong tribe had hundreds of thousands of people to eat, they still couldn't eat it all. He simply divided each department into an extra horse, two cattle, and 10 sheep. The entire city of Mayi had more than 100,000 horses, 200,000 cattle, and 3 million animals.
Sheep, and Lei Gong’s farmland has exceeded 5 million shi in the past two years. It is said that the grain storage in Mayi’s granary exceeds 10 million shi!
Lei Gong was also proficient in various crafts and could make woolen cloth from the wool of barbarians. The woolen cloth now appearing in Luoyang City was made by Lei Gong. It is said that Lei Gong had a textile factory as big as the city and could produce several pieces of woolen cloth every month.
Millions of woolen cloths. People who have been to Mayi say that Mayi is a city that never sleeps. The Han people also call it the Pearl Beyond the Great Wall, and the Hu people call it the best city in the world! The wealth of such a city is no less than tens of billions.
, how can it be compared to ordinary remote small towns!"
Emperor Ling was surprised and asked: "Wool cloth is made in Mayi?"
This winter woolen cloth and woolen sweaters became popular in Luoyang City. A woolen sweater can be sold for 2,000 yuan, and a piece of woolen cloth is worth 5,000 yuan. The price is the same as the best Shu Brocade. Ling Emperor even asked someone to buy a few pieces.
He found that woolen clothes were really better than fur and silk. He felt much more comfortable this winter.
If it was true as He Jin said, then Mayi would really be a treasure land! In an instant, Emperor Ling was tempted. He wanted to spend 10 billion to earn tens of billions, several times the profit. This business can be done!
Zhang Rang saw that He Jin was trying to kill people with a borrowed knife. They, the eunuchs, had spent a lot of money to train Dong Zhuo into the former general he was now. They could not just be consumed by He Jin, a butcher.
Although Zhang Rang could not see how strong the Thunder Lord of Mayi was, he also did not know whether Dong Zhuo could defeat the Thunder Lord.
But he knows best about palace fighting. He will definitely oppose anything that the enemy approves of. Although he and He Jin have not yet reached the level of enemies, after He Jin became a general in these years, he did become alienated from them, and instead became more distant from the scholars.
They are so close that there are 7 famous people in the General's Palace alone who have become He Jin's subordinate officials. This made He Jin famous in a short period of time, and his prestige increased rapidly, becoming a veritable great general.
General.
But this made Zhang Rang and the others dumbfounded. Although He Jin was the queen's brother, he was just an inconspicuous Henan Yin. It was they who pushed He Jin to the throne of general, but they could all imagine that He Jin would be like this.
He unloaded the mill and killed the donkey, and just walked to the side of the scholars.
At this time, Zhang Rang and the others realized that they had shot themselves in the foot. When there was no general in Luoyang City, the military power was scattered. Zhang Rang and the others could rely on the imperial edict to mobilize the northern and southern armies. Therefore, in the struggle against the powerful gentry, they relied on
Military power and the emperor's trust have repeatedly become the final victors.
But now the military power of the northern army in Luoyang City is almost entirely in the hands of the butcher He Jin. If He Jin unites the scholars to deal with them, just like Dou Wu did at the beginning, then they eunuchs will undoubtedly die. The sensitivity of Gong Dou allows them to find Dong Zhuo
This warrior became their external strength, and within a few years helped Dong Zhuo be promoted from a 2,000-shi Zhonglang general to a former general.