When Liang Wang Xiao Jin received a notice from the city asking him to enter the city to discuss attacking Jiangling, his mood suddenly lifted, and he hurriedly entered the city with several subordinates and followers.
In the lobby of the city lord's palace, Xiao Jin did not see Zhongshan Gongyu Wenhu. Instead, he was received by another Wei army forward general, Wu'an Gong Li Mu. In addition, there was another person who surprised him, that is
Li Tai's general Liang Shiyan.
Seeing Liang Shiyan also in the hall, a bit of embarrassment flashed across Xiao Qing's face.
Liang Shiyan had been stationed in Wuning for a short period of time, which could be regarded as helping them to guard the southern border in Xiangyang. Originally, the Jingzhou General Administration's additional troops before and after Wuning had reached tens of thousands, which was not inferior to the forward troops led by Yu Wenhu.
However, because Liang Wang Xiaoqi led the Xiangyang troops to join Yuwen Hu's side, Liang Shiyan was forced to withdraw from the city and turn to the edge of the city to station.
Naturally, Liang Shiyan did not have a good impression of Liang Wang Xiao Qing who had betrayed his trust and temporarily betrayed him. However, he was the Liang Wang who was canonized by the imperial court after all. He relied on him for the next thing, so he could only stand up and pay respects.
King Liang knew that he was in the wrong, and after simply parrying Liang Shiyan's greetings, he quickly turned his attention to Li Mu and said with a smile: "May I ask Mr. Wu An, where is Mr. Zhongshan? I, the Xiangyang soldiers, are on the alert and eager to kill the great thieves of our country.
You can go straight to Jiangling with a single order from Duke Zhongshan!"
After Li Mu heard this, he smiled and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Liang hates evil and does not want to live with thieves for a day. This sentiment is admirable. Mr. Zhongshan has other important matters and has no time to come to see him. This time I invite His Highness the King of Liang to come to the palace to discuss matters.
"
As he spoke, his gaze shifted from the puzzled King Liang to Liang Shiyan, and he said, "Isn't there a letter from Liang Kaifu to be presented to His Highness King Liang?"
After Liang Shiyan heard this, he took out a letter written by General Li from his body and handed it to King Liang's desk. He said in a deep voice: "My husband already knows about this matter. The special envoy will present this letter to His Highness King Liang."
In front of me, my husband was away on an expedition a few days ago. There were some things that were difficult to communicate with His Royal Highness the Prince of Liang in a timely manner, which may have caused misunderstandings. Now that my husband has returned to town, Duke Changshan of the Zhu Kingdom fell ill during the expedition, so he authorized my husband to take charge of the army...
"
"Is this happening?"
After Liang Wang heard this, the embarrassment on his face suddenly turned into panic. He hurriedly took the letter with both hands and browsed it quickly. His face kept changing, but his mind was filled with thousands of thoughts, which he sorted out for a long time.
Can't come up with a clue.
Li Tai's letter did not explain anything important, or intimidate or condemn him. It just briefly recounted the experiences since they met each other. When King Liang looked at the content of the letter, he could not help but feel the past scenes.
All come to mind.
After a while, he lowered his head and sighed deeply: "I was eager to kill the enemy, but I broke the agreement I made with my good friend. I really have failed Boshan. I am really ashamed to meet you, so I am willing to retreat back to Xiangyang.
Congratulations and please forgive me when the army at Boshan triumphs and returns to power!"
King Liang did not understand the internal power struggle in the Western Wei Dynasty, and the changes caught him off guard. However, looking at this situation, it seemed that Li Boshan had won and regained the initiative to conquer Jiangling.
But this is obviously not a good thing for King Liang. On the one hand, he has just broken the agreement with Li Boshan. On the other hand, he also feels that Li Boshan is too shrewd and capable, and I am afraid he will not give him too many opportunities to take advantage of it. Moreover, Li Boshan
Having just regained the initiative, he was afraid that he would also need to establish his authority. Under such circumstances, King Liang felt that it would be safer to avoid it temporarily and wait and see what happens next.
However, how could Liang Shiyan give him a chance to retreat? When he did, he took out another letter and handed it to King Liang and said: "His Royal Highness, King Liang, has led an army south, so Xiangyang must be empty of defenses. For fear of being disturbed by foreign enemies.
, I, the Xingzhou Captain, came south along the Han River and took up residence in Xiangyang City to guard the city for His Royal Highness the King of Liang. This letter was sent to His Highness the King of Liang through the back road in his kind handwriting. What does His Highness want to do? It is best to read the family letter first.
Let’s make another decision.”
"What? You actually took my Xiangyang!"
When King Liang heard this, he stood up in shock. He picked up the family letter and browsed through it. His face suddenly turned livid, and he glared at Liang Shiyan with wide eyes. Liang Shiyan was not afraid at all, but looked at Liang Shiyan calmly.
king.
After a long time, King Liang sighed, lowered his head and said, "What do you want me to do?"
Li Mu and Liang Shiyan looked at each other, and immediately put forward their request, which was to ask King Liang to cooperate in controlling Hou Mo and Chen Shun.
Hou Mo and Chen Shun were mainly responsible for supervising the battle of Xiangyang troops this time. He did not bring many troops with him. He stayed with the Xiangyang army after coming south. In order to obtain better results in the subsequent Battle of Jiangling
According to arrangements, the King of Liang has also been bribing Hou Mo and Chen Shun with sex and money.
Hou Mo and Chen Shun knew that he was just serving as a foil. The overall situation was controlled by Zhu Guo Yujin, and the specific execution was completed by Yu Wenhu and other close disciples and nephews of Grand Master Yu Wen. He had very little room to play.
That's why he was assigned to supervise the fringe force of the Xiangyang people. Therefore, they did not have too high a pursuit of military exploits, and they accepted all the bribes offered by the King of Liang with joy.
When the King of Liang personally led his subordinates to deliver a batch of money and silk to Hou Mo and Chen Shun today, Hou Mo and Chen Shun did not doubt that he was there. With a look of joy on his face, he asked the King of Liang and his entourage to come to the account.
However, today's batch of money and silk were buried with swords, weapons and staffs. After entering the account, the attendants of the King of Liang quickly grabbed their weapons and controlled all the people in the account.
Then Liang Shiyan also led the armored soldiers and said to the shocked Hou Mo and Chen Shun: "General Li, Duke of Taiyuan, has taken over the army in Shicheng. I have specially ordered the last general to invite Duke Anping to Shicheng to discuss military affairs."
"Li Boshan, how dare he!"
After hearing this, Hou Mo and Chen Shun suddenly stared and exclaimed in shock. He never expected that the situation would turn around like this.
After Liang Shiyan heard this, he sneered and said: "Crunt other countries and expand borders for the country. Why don't we, the loyal and brave men of Jingzhou, dare not? Anping Gong is in a position of great importance, but he only has a good reputation. He does not take the responsibility as a measure, but only intimidation.
Allies, if you ask for bribes too much, everything will be in vain at the end of the day. General Li will let him decide!"
Following Yu Wenhu and Hou Mochen brothers, they were controlled one after another and sent to Shicheng. Wu Ning's army was completely controlled by Li Tai. Then they no longer stagnated, and Li Mu finally did
The veritable vanguard first led the elite cavalry all the way south, detoured from the west of Jiangling to the river bank, and blocked the location of Jiangjin. As for Liang Shiyan, he sent troops together with the uneasy Liang Wang Xiaoqi, and slowly pressed towards Jiangling.
While the control of the frontline armies was handed over quickly and quietly, the struggle at the rear seemed a bit bloody and out of control.
Although the army from the south passed through Rangcheng without entering and went straight south, the military and administrative functions of Rangcheng as the capital of Jingzhou were also deprived and transferred to Xinye where Yuchijiong was stationed.
Including those former government officials recruited by Yu Wenhu in the name of Guandong Daxingtai, they were also forced to assist Yuchi Jiong in managing various matters of the Jingzhou General Manager's Office.
It is now October, which is an important time for all parties under the General Manager's Office to hand over taxes. It is the right time for Yuchi Jiong to enter the country at this time, so that he can collect tax materials from all parties on the spot, on the one hand, he will take over Jingzhou more comprehensively in the future.
To lay a material foundation for state affairs, on the other hand, it is also necessary to raise material supplies for the frontline army.
In particular, the latter is more important at the moment. Although Yu Wenhu previously provided a plan for the armies to be dispersed and feed on all parties, this was only a flexible power plan after all, not a normal military supply plan.
The armies must eventually gather around Jiangling to launch an attack, and Jiangling is an important town in Jingxiang that Nanliang has operated for many years. It is difficult to predict when it can be conquered. Once the frontline army is short of food and causes any riots, the consequences will definitely be very serious.
deadly.
Therefore, Yuchi Jiong, who stayed behind, also needed to urge all parties under the General Manager's Office to hand over this year's grain supplies as soon as possible, so as to raise enough supplies for the army.
Because the area managed by the Jingzhou General Administration Office is very broad, the management systems implemented in different areas are also different.
The Miobei area under the original rule of Jingzhou was the main place where household equalization of land was implemented, so the amount and date of money and grain handovers were also the most stable. In addition, it was the headquarters itself. Even if the upper-level rulers had changed, the subordinates were still under control.
The administrative management system of counties and counties is still running, so money and food are available as soon as possible.
However, in addition to the developed irrigation system and the considerable scale of agricultural production in the Miobei area, there is another special point, that is, the number of employees in the handicraft industry is also very large. These handicrafts also require a huge amount of food consumption and do not produce food themselves, so they can only
Obtain food through market transactions and state government subsidies.
The Jingzhou General Administration will purchase a large amount of goods for these workshops. In addition to delivering some orders with money and silk, some will be delivered with the new grain collected that year, so that a public-private balance can be achieved. Some orders
The transaction has been carried out in the first half of the year, and the workshops have delivered their products to the state capital. They are just waiting for the balance to be paid in grain this autumn to complete the transaction.
But things have changed in Mianbei this year, and naturally all aspects will be affected, including the final payment for the grain that should be delivered.
When the prefectures and counties in Mianbei successively delivered this autumn's taxes, and saw that the treasury was gradually filling up, Yuchi Jiong was naturally overjoyed. He couldn't help feeling grateful that Li Boshan had managed Mianbei well and everything was running in an orderly manner.
Make his task easier.
But soon the creditors from the workshops flocked to Xinye with IOUs from the state government, hoping that the new chief executive Yuchijun would fulfill the previous agreement and pay the balance due. The craftsmen in their respective workshops were still waiting for the rice to be cooked.
Woolen cloth.
When he learned that there was such a thing, Yuchi Jiong could not help but be a little dumbfounded. With the previous lessons in Shu, he did not dare to go over and treat these debt collectors roughly, but ordered his cronies to
After summarizing and recording these debts, it was found that the food debt that needed to be delivered within this month alone reached a huge amount of more than 100,000 dan!
It seems that if these debts are to be paid, the newly filled treasury will be emptied immediately, and the military rations of the frontline soldiers will also disappear!
Of course, Yuchijiong cannot accept this situation, not to mention that these IOUs were signed by the Jingzhou General Manager's Office. At the moment, he has neither seen those goods nor officially entered the Jingzhou General Manager's Office. How can he take these burdens by force?
Upper body!
So he ordered not to meet those who were collecting debts anymore, and those debts would not be paid. He asked these people to negotiate with whoever signed the agreement. As for the taxes collected by Jingzhou this year, not even a grain of rice was collected.
Will use it in this regard!
If the old debts of the previous government can still be evaded, then the next thing is within Yuchijiong's duties.
Since Mianbei did not have enough food reserves, the armies split their routes southward and ate along the way, which inevitably caused a lot of nuisance to the local area. Especially the nuisances suffered by Suilu were even more serious.
There has not yet been a relatively thorough household registration and land granting in Suilu, and many county governors are simply held by local powerful families. They have become accustomed to obeying the management of General Li and the Jingzhou Governor's Office over the years.
But he is relatively unfamiliar with the newcomer Yuchi Jiongze.
When the armies from the Western Wei Dynasty came to the south, they divided their routes and lived in different places. Those who suffered the greatest disturbance and losses were these rich local tycoons, and they also took over the local administrative responsibilities.
Although he didn't dare to clash with the army in person, he couldn't swallow it secretly, so he thought about running to Mianbei to file a complaint, hoping that the Jingzhou General Manager's Office would uphold justice for them. However, after arriving at Mianbei, he discovered that this place had already been
The weather changed, General Li was still not in the town, and the Jingzhou General Mansion didn't even have a person in charge, so they had no choice but to head to Xinye, asking Yuchi Jiong, the newly appointed left-behind commander, to provide them with protection.
It happened that Yuchi Jiong was also looking for these people and asked them why all the money and grain from the counties in Mianbei had been delivered to the treasury, but there was still no movement among them in Suilu?
Yuchi Jiong also learned from the former staff of the General Manager's Office that the General Manager's Office had different management of Mianbei and Suilu, but in his opinion, this was nothing more than Li Boshan's move to win people's hearts.
The land east of the Han Dynasty had been acquired for several years, but the old method was still adopted. It was really unreasonable. It was time to take advantage of the moment when the army was passing through the border to frighten all parties to implement the new method, not only to solve the military needs, but also to establish his authority.
As for whether it would arouse the resistance of these local tycoons, Yuchijiong was not worried about this. He did not come alone. Although the 60,000 elite army was mainly to attack Jiangling, it was necessary to shock those who were close at hand.
There are more than enough powerful people who have followed the land. Moreover, some of these powerful people who have followed the land have been sent to Huainan by Li Boshan. If they are left behind, they probably don't have the guts to cause any trouble.
Therefore, Yuchijiong not only failed to uphold justice for these powerful men as they expected, but instead detained them, reprimanded them severely, and ordered them to transport money and food to Xinye quickly. Otherwise, if he waited until he led an army to inspect their hometown,
, not only will the punishment be increased, but they will even be deprived of their official positions!
Naturally, such a crude approach inevitably caused complaints. Whether it was the workshop owners who were refused to pay their debts or the local tycoons who were extorted for money and food, they all looked sad and were gradually gathered in Hongbin Tower in Rangcheng by interested people.
Hongbin Building is the official guest house of the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion. In addition, it also receives customers from the outside. Now that the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion has been completely shut down, it naturally has no official guest reception tasks, so it has become a lively news distribution center in the city.
"Brother Xu Shi, how are you injured?"
In Hongbin Building, someone looked at a young man who was walking with a slight limp and asked.
The young man's name was Xu Huaizong. He came from a powerful family in Anlu. His elders were officials in the countryside, and he was looking after the workshop industry in Mianbei. Xu Huaizong was also unlucky. He first went to Xinye to ask for the remaining money and was kicked out. Soon after, he went to Xinye to ask for the remaining money.
Lu Qiang's powerful men were arrested and tortured in the city after they demanded money and food. The family members urgently sold the products of the workshop in exchange for money and silk before redeeming them.
Hearing his friend's question, Xu Huaizong suddenly looked sad and angry. He couldn't help but cursed in a low voice: "Although he is not dead yet, with that stupid official in charge, it will be difficult for him to survive! I am here today.
I just want to know when General Li will be able to return? Are we going to continue to allow these ignorant officials and ruthless soldiers to do evil in the territory and destroy the old peaceful state of Jingzhou?"
After everyone heard this, they couldn't help but sigh. Most of them gathered here for this purpose, and each of them was harmed like the young man Xu Huaizong, and some were even worse than Xu Huaizong.
"I heard from an old official in the state government that General Li's achievements were too great and he was jealous and framed by traitors in the country, so he sent tens of thousands of troops and the traitor Wei Chi to seize power while the general was out on an expedition. If he didn't go out,
Unexpectedly, I am afraid that it will be difficult for General Li to return to the town to govern affairs, and the current mismanagement will continue..."
"I'm afraid it's not the worst case scenario right now! Do you know who this Yuchi Jiong is? He is the general who led an army to attack Shuzhong and massacre the city in Chengdu. It is said that the corpses of those who were killed are everywhere in Chengdu, and there are countless casualties. Even that
The Jinjiang River is swollen with blood. Now that he has come to Mianbei, what good can the people of Mianbei expect?"
Everyone in the building was talking about what they had heard from various sources, but the more they listened, the colder they became. It seemed that the good days in Mianbei were coming to an end!
Just when the masses were pessimistic and dejected, some people were so angry that they slapped the case and roared: "General Li is wise in governing affairs, and the masses are working hard to achieve the peaceful and prosperous situation in Mianbei today. Do we really want to let these evil thieves go?"
They are encroaching and destroying us? We fellow villagers have no courage to defend our homeland. We are here to lament and lament that we can expect no one to save us!"
"If Yuchi Jiong is the only one, why should we be afraid? When the common man is angry, he lays two corpses down and bleeds for five steps! But now tens of thousands of troops have entered the country. If they are angered, those fierce soldiers will do evil in the countryside and massacre the people.
!”
Someone opened his mouth and sighed again.
"What about the tens of thousands of troops? All those troops went south, but few stayed in Mianbei. Now that General Li has been exiled, a certain class of countrymen have been favored for many years and don't know how to repay them. Now they have gathered together to attack and kill
Evil disciples, please welcome the general back to town! With General Li, a famous general who has always been victorious, commanding the countrymen to defend against the enemy, why should we be afraid!"
Suddenly someone shouted again, and the originally noisy environment in the hall suddenly became silent. Everyone looked around in fear, not daring to continue the discussion, and each stood up and left in a hurry.
Although the gathering here dispersed, many small-scale gatherings appeared in other places in the city, and everyone who attended was full of indignation and determination.
On this day, Yuchi Jiong led a group of soldiers to leave Xinye and inspect a warehouse south of Rangcheng. He was going to report the results of the supplies he had collected during this period to the front line and asked Yu Jin to arrange for soldiers to come and transport them.
Go to the front line.
He was still carefully checking the inventory here, when suddenly a subordinate came to report that there seemed to be signs of large groups of people moving a few miles to the west. After hearing this, Yuchi Jiong frowned and quickly arranged for people to go and investigate, but he himself
He also walked out of the warehouse and inspected the defenses here.
Before the sent men and horses returned, smoke suddenly billowed from the direction of Rangcheng in the north. Yuchijiong was shocked when he saw this. This was clearly a sign of a large group of men and horses galloping in!
After Yuchi Jong thought for a moment, he led his soldiers to rush out of Cangcheng here, preparing to go to Xinye and other places to mobilize troops to deal with changes. However, when he rushed out of Cangcheng, he saw a large group of troops emerging from the countryside.
Figures of the people. These people were not well-armed, and they all waved simple weapons and staffs, but they were all filled with indignation, and their ferocious expressions were frightening.
"What is going on? Who is inciting the people to cause trouble?"
Yuchi looked at the noisy crowd rushing towards the formation. It could be said that there were tens of thousands of people at least. However, there were only a few hundred soldiers around him this time. Even including the troops stationed in Cangcheng, there were less than two thousand people. Except for those
In addition to the agitated mob that was difficult to deal with, it was also difficult to guard against the people and horses galloping from the north.
The rebels were coming very fast. When Yuchijiong was about to ride his horse around the rebels and call for reinforcements, the cavalry team from the north also appeared in his field of vision. The leader, Yuchijiong, looked familiar, but he couldn't remember it for a while.
Seeing that these armored soldiers were well-armed but had no obvious markings, he still guessed that this was probably Li Boshan's back-up plan.
"You, the thieves, are robbing the people and want to cause trouble for your lord, Li Boshan!"
While shouting and cursing loudly, he led his troops to move around to avoid the enemy's sharp attack.
Li Xiaoyong did not answer, but just ordered: "Kill, no one will be left alive!"
Following his order, thousands of elite soldiers behind him rushed forward on horseback, chasing and fighting with Yuchi Jiong's troops. Yuchi Jiong and his troops were also very brave, but because of the haste, they were too late.
They were fully prepared and were attacked. They didn't even have basic bows and arrows or armor, so they naturally suffered heavy casualties.
"My lord, please go first, I will stay here to stop the enemy!"
Seeing that nearly half of his own troops were dead and wounded, but the pursuing enemy still had not escaped, Yuchi Jiong's captain raised his sword across his hand and shouted loudly, preparing to use his life to stop the enemy for Yuchi Jiong.
As these people no longer fled, but stopped fighting to the death, Li Xiaoyong and other pursuers were also stopped. Yuchijiong knew that there was no point in staying, so he could only grit his teeth and continue to fight towards the horse.
As he headed towards Xinye, he still secretly thought that with such a big commotion, the people left behind in Xinye would be alert. As long as they arrived, he would be saved.
However, there were too many mobs scattered in the wilderness, and Yuchi Jiong could not resist it alone. He could only avoid taking detours as much as possible. Suddenly, without warning, the front hooves of his horse fell steeply into a pit in the wilderness. Yuchi Jiong did not notice it.
, he also fell off his horse and rolled into the ravine ahead.
The nearest group of rioters was still several miles away. Yuchi stood up in embarrassment, returned to his mount and tried hard to pull the horse's feet out of the mud pit, and then got on the horse and left before the rioters rushed up. However, the more anxious he became, the worse he got.
Chaos, he used all his strength here, but the horse's foot sank deeper and deeper under the struggle of the horse.
"The Yuchi dog thief is here, kill him!"
A team of rioters had already rushed forward, each waving bamboo and wooden staffs and surrounding them. When Yuchijiong saw this, he also gave up his efforts, drew out the saber from his waist and placed it across his chest, but suddenly there was a strong wind from the side.
There was a loud noise, and he looked sideways and saw a flying stone coming towards him, and hurriedly lowered his head to avoid it.
The boulder brushed against the back of Yu Chijiong's head, but soon more earth and rocks hit him again. Before he could turn around, Yuchi Jiong was submerged. Sticks, sticks and hoes rained down on him, and his body gradually became motionless.