The wind was rustling and the river was cold. The emperor was on the north bank of the Yangtze River for the Western Expedition. On a temporary earthen platform, the nine-foot-high emperor's banner fluttered in the wind. Hundreds of imperial guards in black armor guarded the earthen platform.
The formation is strict and orderly.
Originally, Lan Yu didn't want to go out in such a hurry, because the training of a hundred thousand troops had not yet been completed, the soldiers and officers were not familiar with it, and they were not proficient in the new weapons. According to the deduction of a group of staff generals from the Ministry of War, the thieves should stay in Guanzhong and wait for work.
However, Babaili, who came from Henan, rushed to say that the thieves had broken into Luoyang! The situation was extremely critical, and if troops were not sent out, the hinterland of the Central Plains would be in danger.
Henan is the belly of the empire. There have never been many garrison troops because they are not needed at all. Henan is surrounded by Huguang, Shandong and Zhili. There are no worries about foreign invasion. Occasionally, if there are some large-scale bandits and thieves, more than a thousand provincial troops can destroy them. Where?
A standing army and horses are needed, so Henan is equivalent to an undefended area.
The last time the emperor ordered the Henan Provincial Army to advance towards Tongguan as a test, the battle was a child's play. The Henan Provincial Army collapsed at the first touch and did not even touch the corner of Tongguan.
Reporting it would bring disaster to him, so he asked the master to write a vague report, which confused the matter and delayed important military information.
The thieves had entered the Central Plains, and the emperor felt the horror of Yuan Feng. He urged Lan Yu to quickly raise troops. One hundred thousand troops hurriedly set out for the expedition and were shipped to the north of the Yangtze River. Then they lined up to swear an oath. The emperor went there in person to cheer for the soldiers.
It was already early winter. The north wind was howling, and the flag was hunting. One hundred thousand soldiers stood on the fertile field, which was indeed majestic and majestic. Standing on the earth platform and looking over, it was so dark that one could not see the head. The emperor nodded with satisfaction and poured it himself.
A glass of wine was given to Lan Yu. Lan Yu knelt down to take it, drank it down in one gulp, and was about to say something heroic. Suddenly a strong wind blew by, and there was a crisp sound, and the nine-foot-high emperor's scroll broke at the waist!
During the expedition, the flag was broken, which was a sign of great disaster. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers witnessed this scene, and they were all shocked. This western expedition was bound to be more misfortune than disaster.
The emperor was also stunned. All the flags were intact. Only the embroidered dragon banner that symbolized the emperor's authority was broken. The meaning was very obvious. He turned back to look at the civil and military ministers. Everyone looked surprised. Only Yang Feng, a great scholar, came out.
He said: "The celestial phenomena are changing rapidly and cannot be controlled by humans. Your Majesty does not need to worry about this matter."
The emperor's face looked better now, but the shadow in his heart always existed, and the oath-taking meeting had to end hastily. The emperor was so smart that he was confused for a while, and he only cared about his own majesty, so he built a nine-foot-high flagpole, which was as beautiful as the forest.
Even the wind will destroy it. The nine-foot-tall wooden pole has several sections connected in the middle, so its strength is not high. It cannot withstand even strong winds, let alone strong winds.
The army set off, heading towards Henan in the northwest wind. The chariots and horses roared like a long dragon. The emperor's chariot also returned to the capital. Only Lan Yu was left standing on the bare earth platform, looking at the march of the Western Expedition army.
Standing in a queue, I wonder how many of these 100,000 people will come back alive.
…
At this time, Yuan Feng was already sitting in the main hall of the Yamen of Luoyang Mansion. The prefect of Luoyang had already surrendered to the Han army and was standing aside with a smile on his face, holding the local treasury book.
Originally, Yuan Feng's advisers suggested that he stay in Tongguan and manage Guanzhong until his troops were well-prepared and Xiliang's worries were relieved before sending troops eastward. However, Yuanfeng insisted on leaving Tongguan immediately to conquer the Central Plains. He had been familiar with military books since he was a child.
, we have fought many wars, large and small, and have been through the Central Plains. We have a sense of the situation in the world. Now that the Han army is in great power, we should attack the Central Plains with all our strength.
Although the quality of the men and horses under his command is slightly inferior, they are still slightly better than those native chickens and dogs in the Central Plains.
The Han army under Yuan Feng was based on Lu Zhen's Shaanxi Provincial Army, plus the new army he raised and the elite soldiers selected from the peasant uprising army. They were trained using Xiliang's infantry drills and stored in the Shaanxi military equipment warehouse.
Armed with weapons and armor, the old, weak, sick and disabled were eliminated, leaving only elite soldiers and strong generals, a total of 40,000 troops. After leaving behind the garrison troops to guard against incoming attacks from Shanxi and Sichuan, there were only 25,000 troops to attack Tongguan.
But it is more than enough to deal with the Henan Provincial Army. Look
As soon as the army left Tongguan, it was overwhelming. The Henan army fled in the face of the wind, abandoning its helmets and armor. The Han army captured Luoyang without a single blow. Because the army marched too quickly, when the army entered Luoyang, none of the officials had time to escape, so they had to open the city and surrender.
Present the key to the treasury.
The Han army successfully took over the power of Luoyang, and all officials were temporarily retained in their posts. The army was stationed outside the city. Yuan Feng led the pro-military camp and moved into the government office. When he came up, he asked the prefect to bring all the classics and files for viewing.
Log in to 6 to watch together, support genuine reading, and support "Wulin Empire". Yuan Feng is a real talent. He mounts his horse to manage the army and dismounts his horse to manage the people. The Han army and the Zhou army compete in the Central Plains. It is the people who suffer. How can we get the people to support us?
Luoyang is a pilot city.
When Yuan Feng came to the Central Plains and passed through Henan last year, he found that the people in Zhongzhou were in dire straits. They were living in dire straits and had to sell their sons and daughters to make ends meet. However, on the other hand, the crops in the fields were luxuriant, so they had to
Makes you suspicious.
After checking the archives of Luoyang Mansion, Yuan Feng understood the reason. The Zhou Dynasty was currently experiencing such a strange phenomenon. The common people were poor, the landlords were rich, the government was poor, and the emperor was rich. The wealth gap was extremely serious.
The gentry did not pay grain or do corvee work, but they had lots of fertile land. The common people only had one or two acres of thin farmland, but they had to bear extremely heavy taxes. Sometimes the harvest in a year was not enough to pay the tax.
, had no choice but to sell the land and work in the city, or work as tenants to the landlords. Land annexation became more and more serious, and the burden on the people became heavier and heavier. It became more and more difficult for the government to collect taxes, so they had to use rough methods.
This aggravates the conflict even more.
Those local tyrants and evil gentry often have relatives in the capital, or their own family members are promoted to scholars. The officials in the government are all relatives and friends, so there is no reason why they should not protect each other. This creates a strange circle, and 70% of the land in Henan does not pay taxes.
In this way, how can the government have any income?
But the emperor's internal funds were another matter. The Chief Literator occupied all the mines, coal fields, and salt fields in the world. The huge income did not go to the Ministry of Household Affairs, but directly went into the pockets of eunuchs at all levels and the emperor. This money also
Use it to purchase land, or simply store it in a large internal warehouse to mold without participating in social mobility. This is another chronic disease.
Yuan Feng planned to use Luoyang as a pilot project. To increase income and win the hearts of the people, he had to attack the big landowners, but the appearance should not be too ugly, so Yuan Feng planned to make a fuss about the punishment.
Almost all of those local tyrants and evil gentry are full of misdeeds. Most of the lawsuits squeezed in Luoyang Mansion were accusing them of bullying men, dominating women, and killing innocent people. In the past, the government naturally did not dare to touch these hot things, but now
From Yuan Feng's perspective, these princes were gifts from God.
There is a thick stack of complaints, more than a hundred of which are filed against Cao Yuanwai of Luoyang Prefecture. This Cao Yuanwai is an extraordinary person. His brother is Cao Shaoqin, the current chief eunuch of the Bureau of Ceremonies. He is a very popular figure and has great power.
No one can reach him, and the local officials are too late to flatter him. How can they dare to interfere? Not to mention the Luoyang magistrate who treats him like a grandson. Even the governor of Henan has to come to visit him during the holidays. Uncle, eldest uncle, shouted short, for fear that
If they don't do everything right, if Cao Yuanwai delivers a letter to the capital, they can be fooled.
Mr. Cao, whose nickname is Cao Shaojie, is in his early fifties. He is fat and bloated, weighing 300 kilograms. He has to use a chariot to move around. He is also greedy and lustful. It is said that he spends thousands of taels on a meal.
For money, six beautiful women must attend the bed every night. This gentleman prefers women and has no interest in those over fourteen years old. So there was a custom in Luoyang that raised daughters as boys for fear of being attracted by Cao Shaojie.
As for other misdeeds, they are too numerous to describe. After all, Cao Shaojie is only one person, and no matter how much evil he does, it will be limited. But if hundreds of people in the Cao family commit evil together, the power will be much greater. Even if everything goes well in Luoyang, it will be in vain. As long as Cao Cao is there,
As long as their families are here, ordinary people can't live a good life.
It was the perfect time to attack the Cao family. Yuan Feng slapped the table: "How can you be the prefect? You allow such a vicious man to wreak havoc in the countryside and poison the people!"
The magistrate trembled, knelt down and said, "I'm a lowly official... I really have something to hide behind my back."
Yuan Feng said: "Okay, I know everything. Now I will give you a chance to make meritorious service. Lead the arrests to bring the criminal Cao Shaojie and all his accomplices to the public trial."
The prefect said with a bitter face: "There are thousands of villagers in Caojiazhuang, and there is really nothing the prison officials can do."
Yuan Feng said: "Just take the people there. If the thief is arrested, someone will deal with it." After saying that, he ordered three thousand men and horses to go with the prefect.
Caojiazhuang is located thirty miles outside Luoyang City. It is a quite large manor. The Cao family owns ten thousand hectares of fertile land. There is a story circulating in Luoyang City that proves the strength of the Cao family. It is said that an old man came to the house begging for food.
He was begging and was chased away by the Cao family's evil slaves. The old man ran away angrily. However, a beggar had no ability to retaliate, so he had to decide not to poop in the Cao family's field, so as not to give them an advantage. The old man just walked away holding his stool.
It took three days to pull it out, and when I inquired, I found that this was still the Cao family's field.
The Cao family are simply the local tyrants of Luoyang. Not only are they vicious and arrogant, they are also extremely stupid. The Han army has already attacked, but the Cao family did not care about the pots and jars at home and did not run away quickly.
Isn't this asking for death?
The prefect of Luoyang led more than thirty police officers, armed with iron rulers, single swords and chains, and arrest documents issued by the torture chamber with the official seal of the prefecture. Accompanied by the Han army, the Luoyang magistrate walked cautiously towards Caojiazhuang, a journey of thirty miles.
They arrived in a short while. To say that Caojiazhuang's intelligence work was really excellent, even before the policemen arrived, the villagers were already ready.
The chief martial arts instructor of Caojiazhuang stood on the wall, looking proudly at the mighty army in the distance, and encouraged the villagers: "Our Caojiazhuang is impregnable. Even if an army of 100,000 people fights for ten years, we will not be able to capture it."
The villagers held spears and single-handedly slashed, howling and screaming below, and they were extremely arrogant.