So Zhang Rang said softly: "Your Majesty, I don't know where the tens of billions that the general mentioned are, but the imperial court has to actually spend these 10 billion to fight this war! How can the current treasury come up with it?
10 billion? When Dong Zhuo and his friends really want to fight, the three ministers and nine ministers will probably ask Your Majesty to use Wan Jin Tang’s money to support the war!"
Emperor Ling's eyes widened when he heard this, and his face instantly turned cold. He almost fell into the trap of these courtiers.
For Emperor Ling, Wanjintang was his Achilles heel, especially after the last time he supported the treasury with 1 billion, he still hasn't returned it. He went to find Wang Han, the great sinong, and he actually took Emperor Ling with him.
Not only did he go to see the empty treasury, he actually shamelessly asked Emperor Ling to support another 1 billion, and promised to repay it when the treasury is rich, and double the amount!
Emperor Ling was so angry that he threw up his sleeves and left on the spot. What a joke! He has been emperor for more than ten years, and when has the national treasury ever been rich?
After learning the lesson of being deceived this time, Emperor Ling never gave his Wanjintang money to the treasury again.
So Emperor Ling immediately changed his attitude and said: "Now that the imperial court is empty and empty, it really should not continue to provoke wars, but to rest with the people. This Thunder Lord of Mayi seems to be respectful to the imperial court after all. Let's see if we can
Give him an imperial edict and let him help the court in Mayi to resist the Xianbei people!"
Zongzheng and Liu Yu on the side looked at Emperor Ling's complicated heart. If he had known that raising money could change Emperor Ling's mind, he would not have resigned to avoid suspicion.
At this time, Emperor Ling also looked at Liu Yu and asked: "Zongzheng, you have lived in Youzhou for a long time, and you must be familiar with the affairs of Mayi. Can the imperial court recruit Lei Gong?"
Liu Yu went out to salute and said: "Although His Majesty Lei Gong doesn't have much hatred for the imperial court, most of his men are yellow scarf thieves. Moreover, when the imperial court recruited Zhang Yan, many of Zhang Yan's commanders who hated the imperial court also defected to Lei Gong.
These people have a blood feud with the imperial court, and they all oppose recruitment. Even Lei Gong must take their opinions into consideration!"
Emperor Ling shook his head and said, "What a pity!"
Shangshu ordered Lu Zhi to go out and say: "Your Majesty, since Lei Gong cannot be recruited, Dong Zhuo's 30,000 troops will still set off to Taiyuan County. Without Yanmen Pass, the entire Bingzhou gate will be opened. Without enough troops, the entire Bingzhou will always be under Lei Gong's control.
Under threat!”
At this time, He Jin said: "Your Majesty, since we are going to send Dong Zhuo's 30,000 border troops to Taiyuan County, why not deal with this rebellious Lei Gong once and for all!"
Liu Yu immediately stopped and said: "Your Majesty! It is impossible to defeat Lei Gong without an army of more than 100,000. The general's words are not to be settled once and for all, but to draw fire. If it really arouses Lei Gong's anger, he will raise 100,000 troops to attack Bingzhou, and the court will
Where can we find an army of 100,000 to resist the Thunder Lord?"
Zhang Rang stood up at the right time, looked at He Jin and said with a smile: "General, in order to deal with the 20,000 refugees in Xingyang County, you not only sent 10,000 Northern troops, but also asked 30,000 national soldiers from Henan County to help. Only then did you put down the rebellion.
Now when the Thunder Lord was at its peak, there were 150,000 rebels, and they still defeated the elite of the Xianbei people. The general had the confidence to defeat the Thunder Lord with this small force! Or the general thought he was Huangfu Song, Fu Bian and other fierce generals, General, you
Have you ever been on the battlefield?”
Zhang Rang saw that He Jin wanted to consume Dong Zhuo's little strength, so he decided to fight against He Jin himself! Now Zhang Rang almost pointed at He Jin and called him a waste.
Emperor Ling felt happy when he saw Zhang Rang directly confronting He Jin.
He Jin's alliance with the eunuchs once worried him!
At that time, He Jin's sister was pushed to the throne of queen by these eunuchs. Of course, it had something to do with Emperor Ling's distrust of people from a wealthy family, so he abolished the empress of Song who came from a wealthy family and established the empress He who came from a powerful family!
But he did not expect that the queen who came from a powerful background would be even more domineering. He only favored Beauty Wang a few times back then, and at the same time, Beauty Wang also gave birth to the second prince Liu Xie. Queen He immediately dared to poison the newly born Beauty Wang.
Emperor Ling himself could not imagine that such a thing would happen. He pulled out his sword on the spot and wanted to kill Queen He, but was stopped by the eunuchs around him. Then he wanted to depose Queen He, but he did not think of the senior officials in the inner palace.
They were all working with Queen He. After they discovered that Emperor Ling had this idea, Zhang Rang and others came to dissuade Emperor Ling.
However, their dissuasion also frightened Emperor Ling. He thought that Queen He, who came from a powerful background, did not have much power, but he did not expect that Queen He could win over the eunuchs in the entire palace. If he continued to persist, would he
A sudden death!
Emperor Ling didn't know this, but he knew that several emperors in this dynasty had died in mysterious circumstances, and he might not be one of them.
So Emperor Ling gave up the idea of deposing Queen He, and instead gave his newly born second prince to his mother, the Queen Mother Dong, to raise him. At the same time, he stopped looking for Queen He, a poisonous woman who would poison people to death at the slightest disagreement.
I am also worried that I will be poisoned to death!
After this incident, He Jin even asked one of his cousins to marry Zhang Rang's adopted son, and the relationship between the two parties became even closer. However, such close attention ended when He Jin became a general.
After He Jin became the general, he first personally invited Zhao Qi, a well-known party member at that time, to be the chief historian of the general's office. He was rejected seven or eight times, but he never changed his mind.
Zhao Qi felt his sincerity and had no choice but to accept it and became He Jin's long history. After Zhao Qi arrived at the General's Mansion, He Jin, who originally only had a reputation as a butcher among the scholars, suddenly became crowded, and famous people from all over the world came to join him. He was the only one who had a great reputation.
There are seven famous scholars in the General's Mansion, all of whom are famous Confucian scholars with great reputation in the Han Dynasty.
Zhang Rang and others were even more shocked. They watched with their own eyes as He Jin switched to the side of the noble family. He Jin was a villain who crossed the river and burned a bridge. From then on, the relationship between He Jin and Zhang Rang became worse, and even
It has reached the point of tit-for-tat, and this is what the Ling Emperor is happy to see, and supports He Jin to switch to the side of the noble clan. Zhang Rang and others are obviously more obedient, and they no longer dare to do anything to anger the Ling Emperor!
He Jin seemed unable to hear the meaning in Zhang Rang's words, but said with an unchanging expression: "Xingyang County is the heartland of the Central Plains. If this rebellion is allowed to grow, it will not affect the emperor's comfort. That's why I, the general, have the thunderous power."
Let’s crush this rebellion!”
"But the Thunder Lord in Mayi is different. Although his Thunder Lord's men are elite, they cannot affect the safety of Luoyang City. Moreover, the Thunder Lord's elite men are not without ways to defeat them."
Emperor Ling asked strangely: "What does the general have to say?"
Don't think that He Jin is a general, but in fact he has never led an army in battle. Therefore, among the famous generals in Han Dynasty, few people think highly of He Jin. They all think that he only became a general because of his sister!
He Jin continued to say calmly: "Lei Gong's men are well-equipped, brave in combat, and there are many in number. What's more, they are different from other thieves and bandits in that Lei Gong knows how to manage, but he managed a dilapidated border town in Mayi into a big city. Such thieves and bandits
If we don’t get rid of it now, it will definitely become a disaster in the future!”
Emperor Ling said impatiently: "General, this is a high talk, but what does it have to do with war? What clever plan does the general have to defeat Thunder Lord? If not, the general will not need to talk about it later!"
He Jindao: "Food, no matter how well Mayi is managed by Lei Gong, Mayi is a poor frontier after all, and the fields are far behind those in the Central Plains. Lei Gong will open up wasteland every year after he comes to Mayi, but Lei Gong encounters problems every year.
When it comes to war, there must be hundreds of thousands of people fighting each time. I am sure that Mayi will not have a lot of food and grass, and the young men in Mayi will only be less than 200,000. We are the only ones who surround Mayi on all sides and do not take the initiative to attack.
If Lei Gong's subordinates occupy a dangerous place and fight a war of attrition with Lei Gong, Lei Gong will definitely die from lack of food!"
Emperor Ling said strangely: "Didn't the General just say that Lei Gong has tens of millions of stones of grain, and millions of cattle and sheep, and Lei Gong consumes it? I'm afraid the imperial court cannot afford it first!"
"Ahem!" He Jin really broke his guard this time. He said that Ma Yi had tens of millions of stones of food and grass. He just wanted to arouse the greed of Emperor Ling, so he said this deliberately. Unexpectedly, he now contradicted himself.
.
At this time, Liu Yu came to the rescue and said: "The general may have heard it from hearsay. The official has been in Youzhou for many years and has often explored the situation in Mayi. Although Lei Gong has been purchasing grain and grass, the Han Dynasty has gone through wars in these years and there is not much food. Lei Gong
The purchase of grain and grass has always been unsatisfactory. Mayi has about 3 million grain and grass. Although there is a lot of grain, it is not enough for Lei Gong's men to eat in the second half of the year. If the imperial army can really surround Lei Gong for half a year, it is really possible to annihilate Lei Gong!"
He Jin continued: "Your Majesty only needs General Dong Zhuo's 30,000 subordinates to join the Bingzhou Army's 20,000 county soldiers to defend Yuanping County, and then let Youzhou's 50,000 field soldiers defend Feihu Fortress, and then recruit 30,000 Huns to attack Wu.
Prefecture, with three groups and 130,000 troops surrounding Mayi, unless Lei Gong escapes to the desert, he will definitely be trapped and die in Mayi!"
Lu Zhi disagreed and said: "The general's idea is good, but it is difficult to realize. This encirclement is too big. On a front line of thousands of miles, if Lei Gong concentrates his troops to defeat each other, these 130,000 soldiers and horses cannot fight against each other at all.
Support! If you can't defeat Lei Gong's men in the field, it will be impossible to besiege Lei Gong. Moreover, the imperial court does not have enough financial resources to support the consumption of 130,000 troops for half a year. The general's strategy is nothing more than a castle in the air!"
"I thought that Lei Gong had no great ambitions, and the Mayi he occupied was not a dangerous place for the imperial court, so I let Lei Gong occupy it first. After the imperial court put down the rebellion in the Central Plains and recuperated, he could gather the national strength of the entire Han Dynasty to deal with a small man.
The small city of Mayi is an easy task. Now we just need to let Dong Zhuo lead an army of 30,000 to defend Taiyuan County and prevent Thunder Lord from wreaking havoc in Bingzhou!"
"However, what the general said makes sense. Lei Gong cannot let him continue to grow. The imperial court wants to block the passes around Mayi to prevent food from entering Mayi. In this way, Lei Gong's department will not be able to grow and develop even if there is only food!"
Emperor Ling himself wanted to come here for a long time, and the 130,000 troops to fight a war of annihilation for more than half a year was really not something that the current imperial court could afford. But Lei Gong did not consume him to death, but instead consumed the imperial court to death first. He was very important to the imperial treasury.
It’s crystal clear!
After thinking about it, Emperor Ling said: "If the general really wants to fight this war, he should find a way to get 10 billion. Otherwise, let Dong Zhuo lead the army and station it in Taiyuan County. Lei Gong should find a way to solve it later!"
As long as He Jin wasn't stupid, he wouldn't agree. Anyway, he just didn't want Dong Zhuo to be around Luoyang City. Dong Zhuo's arrangement in Taiyuan County couldn't affect him, so he didn't say anything.
So Emperor Ling said: "Then follow the instructions of the minister. It is strictly forbidden to enter Mayi. Violators will be severely punished!"
"Your Majesty, your Majesty is wise!" said the Sangong and Jiuqing.
In May, the fourth year of Zhongping (187 AD).
Dong Zhuo's 30,000-strong army finally arrived at Jinyang City. Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, brought all the civil and military officials from Bingzhou to the city gate to greet Dong Zhuo!
Zhang Yi saw Dong Zhuo and said excitedly: "General Dong, you are finally here!"
Dong Zhuo dismounted and said: "Chief Zhang is too polite. I am a rough man. When I came to Bingzhou, I naturally followed Governor Zhang's orders!"
At the same time, Dong Zhuo was extremely vigilant. He was so polite, and he and Zhang Yi were not familiar with each other. There must be a conspiracy involved!
But Zhang Yi was not polite at all, but said: "As long as the general is here, I will leave it to the general to annihilate the Thunder Lord from now on!"
But Dong Zhuo said: "The imperial court only asked me to garrison Taiyuan County, but it did not ask me to annihilate Thunder Lord. With Zhang Jishi's order, I can't do anything about it!"
"This is what happened in Taiyuan County!" A sixty-year-old man came up and said.
Dong Zhuo asked strangely: "Prince Zhang, who is this father-in-law?"
Zhang Yidao: "This old man is the head of the Guo family. There are three governors in their family who only have 2,000 shi, and two of them have died for the country. They can be called loyal to the country!"
Dong Zhuo said respectfully: "It turns out that this is the Zhongliang House. I wonder what my father-in-law's orders are?"
Guo Fen said angrily: "Leigong's men broke into my Wubao and took away my private soldiers, tenants, money and food. My two sons died for the country, and now no one can help me. General Dong can
Make the decision for me!"
Behind Guo Fen, many old people began to cry and said: "General Dong wants to make the decision for us. This Lei Gong bullies us Bingzhou people!"
Dong Zhuo said with surprise: "Have you all been attacked by Thunder Lord? But I have never heard that Thunder Lord is attacking Taiyuan County, and the current situation in Taiyuan does not look like it has experienced war!"
Zhang Yi could only explain to Dong Zhuo awkwardly at this time.
It turned out that after the spring came, the officials of Taiyuan County finally breathed a sigh of relief when they discovered that Lei Gong had no intention of continuing to go south. Then Zhang Yi ordered Lu Bu to take the soldiers who escaped from Yanmen Pass and stationed in Yuanping County to monitor every move of Lei Gong's troops.
But Xu Wei no longer had any thoughts about Bingzhou.
When spring arrived, he first had to plow millions of acres, and then sheared the wool of millions of sheep. He was very busy, and a large number of factories in Mayi stopped operating because of spring plowing.
But something different happened this year. Although Lei Gong was like a devil in the eyes of the nobles in Bingzhou, his reputation among the common people was very good. When Xu Wei led 200,000 tribesmen across the entire Bingzhou, the people of Mayi
Knowing that Lei Gong not only speaks kindly, but also deals fairly, he usually pays three times the price for their goods.
Lei Gong's actions at the time caused hundreds of thousands of people in Bingzhou to have a good year. Even now, the people in Bingzhou miss Lei Gong!
So when Lei Gong broke through Yanmen Pass, it was equivalent to Ma Yi opening up the connection with other counties in Bingzhou. In the past, only big merchants could go there and sell goods.
But now the people around Yanmen Pass carefully took their own eggs and grains and came to Yanmen Pass occupied by Lei Gong to sell them!
The defenders at Yanmen Gate had long wanted to improve their food, not to mention that each of them had a generous monthly salary, so these people were surprised to find that their own worthless grain and eggs could be sold for several times the price.
Everyone's eyes filled with tears. Sure enough, this was the legendary Lei Gongjun (the one who was taken advantage of)!
Soon a small market was formed under Yanmen Pass. The defenders of Yanmen Pass often came here to buy various items. The two parties had many contacts and quickly became familiar with each other.
When the two parties were chatting with each other, the common people discovered that the monthly salary for working in Mayi was extremely high. Not only food and accommodation were included, even the lowest monthly salary was 300 yuan!
The people in Bingzhou didn't believe it at all and said: "How is this possible? When we work with the master's family here, let alone monthly salary, we even have to provide food ourselves!"
The soldiers were furious and said: "Isn't this all work in vain! No fool would do such a thing!"
The people shook their heads helplessly and said: "If you don't do it, you won't be able to share the land with your master, and your whole family will starve to death!"
The soldier said angrily: "Then you don't want to share the land of this bandit. Follow me to Mayi. Now there is a shortage of manpower everywhere in Mayi. A capable person like you can earn 300 yuan a month with food and lodging included.
If your wife can weave, it will be easy to make a thousand dollars a month. If you don’t want to work, you can also farm. We are opening up wasteland every day in Mayi. This year Qushuai plans to open up 2 million acres of land. If you go there, you can not only get 30 acres of land.
You can even share a cow!”
The people on the side didn't believe it and said: "How can such a good thing happen in the world!"
When the soldiers saw that the people were unconvinced, they immediately said: "We, the Tengjia Army, have come to Bingzhou. When will our words not be enough? No! You are worthless, why should I lie to you! And you just have to go to the horse for this kind of thing."
Just look at Yi and you will know. Mayi is only a hundred miles away from here, so how could I have deceived you!"
The people around the warrior were right. Lei Gong has always been fair in his dealings (taking advantage of others). Since he can give three times the price, why can't he give three times the monthly salary? It is not unusual for Lei Gong to do such a thing with his mind.
Otherwise, everyone should really go and see it!
So a few excited people, with curiosity in their hearts and the temptation of a high salary of 300 yuan, crossed Yanmen Pass and came to Mayi, hoping to find a job suitable for them!
At this time, Xu Wei from Mayi was worried about arranging manpower. There was a shortage of manpower everywhere, and everyone was asking for help from him. Moreover, every newly appointed county magistrate and his subordinates had great ambitions to build factories.
, millions of acres of land need to be reclaimed, elevated water channels need to be built, and tracks need to be built!
These grand plans require a large number of manpower, but Mayi lacks manpower, so Xu Wei can only return 90% of the plans here. Only a few plans for land reclamation and water canal construction have been passed, and their scale has been reduced.
, but even so, the fields within the Tengjia Army this year will exceed 6 million acres, of which the high-yield fields with elevated water canals will reach 3 million acres!
Faced with such a shortage of labor, Xu Wei thought of the migrant workers in his original world, so he looked at the grasslands outside Yanmen Pass and Bingzhou and Heping City. These two places have millions of people. As long as they recruit
With 1 million people, the problem of population shortage in Mayi will be solved.
Then Xu Wei discovered that on the construction site of the Yanmen Pass to Mayi track, there were actually hundreds of people living in Yanmen Pass. This made Xu Wei overjoyed, and a recruitment plan began to form in his mind.
He found these people and personally thanked them for their contribution to Mayi. He also gave each of them a wheelbarrow, a stone of grain and 10 pounds of mutton, and then he sent them back to their original village with drums and gongs beating all the way!
Xu Wei's new move caused a sensation among the people in Ningwu and Dai counties in Yanmen Pass. Everyone knew that the work in Yanmen Pass was high, and a month's work could earn half a year's income. So as long as one of the people came to Mayi, he could bring him with him.
Hundreds of people from one village came to Mayi to work!
In less than 10 days, there were tens of thousands more workers in Mayi. Moreover, after these workers inquired about the treatment in Mayi, they all expressed their unwillingness to go back. Mayi’s monthly salary is high not to mention the low prices, and they don’t want to work part-time.
You can divide the fields. Although you have to clear the land yourself, it can provide such a good place as farm tools. Why should you go back?
And Xu Wei's actions instantly got through the heads of these county magistrates who wanted to make contributions. Everyone sent their confidants to recruit workers in Ningwu County, Yuanping County, Yu County, and Pingcheng to recruit workers from the Huns.
Then they recruit workers from the Xianbei people. As long as they come to Mayi to work, food and accommodation are included, and 300 yuan (2 sheep!)
Moreover, some people have opened up the Rendu line and actually thought of the modern method of recruiting workers. They find some foremen. For every person they recruit to Mayi, they can get 5 yuan. This method is even more crazy. Many people simply go around
Introducing the benefits of Mayi, it turned Mayi into a paradise on earth. So in less than a month after the beginning of spring, Mayi had 100,000 more motivated migrant workers. Although this also brought chaos to Mayi, it also brought chaos to Mayi.
The vitality brought by the city.
However, Xu Wei's behavior brought huge losses to the noble families and barbarians around Mayi. The population of Taiyuan County was only 200,000, and now Xu Wei reduced it by one-third.
Spring has come, but not only the tenants have run away, but also all their serfs have run away. Their fields are not tilled by anyone at all. They send slaves to work, but as soon as they are not watched, the serfs run away.
These wealthy nobles even made iron chains to lock the serfs so that they could not escape, but it was of little use. Mayi immediately made a pressure clamp. As soon as it was pressed, the iron chain broke instantly. The serfs ran to Mayi to return it.
You can exchange this chain for some money.
Naturally, these aristocratic families were not just for food. They immediately sent out their own private soldiers to seize many family members of farmers working in Mayi, coerced them to come back, and even killed many public servants who helped Xu Wei find workers.
How could Xu Wei endure this? He directly sent out the most elite 3,000 Mo Dao team and directly broke through 5 Wubao. Then the owners of these Wubao were publicly tried. The most vicious ones were hanged one after another. However, Xu Wei had no share of the land.
Instead, everyone in Wubao was directly taken to Mayi, and one person came directly to leave the building empty.
When Ma Yi used force, the nobles and nobles were frightened. They finally understood the thoughts of the noble nobles in Jizhou. They abandoned their Wubao and hid in Jinyang City, waiting for the imperial army to help them avenge their revenge. So when Dong Zhuo came over, they
That’s why I’m so excited, it’s time to take revenge on these idiots!