Chapter five hundred and fiftieth eight remnants raging
After Xu Xiling and Hua Feiyan exited the room, Liu Xiu walked up to Yin Lihua and said softly: "This time, Lihua doesn't have to go with me."
Yin Lihua smiled and said, "It's Lihua who wants to go with her husband."
Liu Xiu held Yin Lihua's hand and rubbed the pad of his thumb back and forth on the back of her hand. After a moment, he said, "I plan to canonize Lihua as queen."
This was the first time that Liu Xiu proposed to Yin Lihua about becoming a queen. Yin Lihua was shocked, and the words Xu Xiling said to her naturally rang in her mind.
She held Liu Xiu's hand and said: "During Axiu's campaign in Hebei, Lihua was always in Nanyang. Accompanying Axiu was sister Guo. If Axiu established Lihua as a queen, all the ministers in the court would object.
"
Liu Xiu's face straightened and he said in a deep voice: "I am the emperor, and the emperor's decision does not require anyone's consent!"
Yin Lihua held Liu Xiu's hand tighter and said movingly: "But Axiu's foundation was built with the concerted efforts of the ministers in the court. Now that Axiu's foundation is not stable, how can it be because of
Why do you have disagreements with ministers about the matter of establishing a queen?"
Liu Xiu was happy and said angrily: "Who should I choose as my queen? This is my family matter, what does it have to do with others?"
Yin Lihua said: "The queen is the mother of a country and is related to everyone. If the queen cannot convince the public, it will not only damage the queen's majesty, but also the emperor's majesty. Axiu, you must not do anything about establishing a queen.
Act on impulse!”
If the words Xu Xiling said were just her one-sided words, then Liu Xiu's performance now is enough to show how strong the resistance is to making her his queen.
If this was really easy and could be done easily, then Liu Xiu would not say such things in front of her and act so angry.
After hearing Yin Lihua's words, Liu Xiu's heart was filled with turmoil. Even though he didn't say it, he knew in his heart that he owed Yin Lihua a lot.
When she was at her most frustrated and depressed, Yin Lihua did not dislike her and was willing to marry him, helping him get out of the darkest trough in his life.
But he didn't give Yin Lihua anything at all, he didn't let her enjoy the blessings, he didn't let her live a peaceful and comfortable life. Instead, she spent two years in fear and stayed alone in the empty house.
Now that he has become the emperor, he can't even do such a thing as setting up Yin Lihua for the future. Isn't he too useless as the emperor?
He took a deep breath, held Yin Lihua's little hand tighter, and said, "Don't worry, Lihua. Apart from Lihua, there will be no other candidate for the queen."
"Absolutely not!" Yin Lihua waved her hands anxiously and said: "If Sister Guo is not pregnant and Axiu makes me his queen, I can still accept it, but now that Sister Guo is pregnant, Axiu still insists on making me his queen.
In the end, a lot of right and wrong will definitely arise, and I don’t know how many people will be making irresponsible remarks behind my back."
"Lihua"
"Axiu must listen to me on this matter!" Yin Lihua's attitude was very firm. No matter what Liu Xiu said, she insisted on not accepting the title of queen. This made Liu Xiu feel helpless and became more and more jealous of Yin Lihua.
cherish.
Two days later, two carriages came on the official road outside Huaicheng. The people sitting in the first carriage were Liu Xiu and Li Tong, and the people sitting in the second carriage were Yin Lihua, Xu Xiling and Hua Fei.
Yan, guarding the carriage are Long Yuan, Long Zhun, Long Bu, Xu Ying, Xu Fei, Xu Ting and others.
There are not many of them, and they all wear casual clothes. At a glance, they are no different from ordinary people from wealthy families.
The road from the area controlled by Liu Xiu to Pingyuan County in Qingzhou was not very difficult or dangerous. Otherwise, Liu Xiu would not have gone there in person, let alone brought Yin Lihua with him.
Jizhou is bounded by Youzhou to the north, Bingzhou to the west, Sili area to the southwest, Yanzhou to the south and southeast, and Qingzhou to the east.
Pingyuan County in Qingzhou happens to border Qinghe County in Jizhou, with only the Yellow River between them. Pingyuan City, the county seat of Pingyuan County, happens to be near the junction of the two states, on the edge of the Yellow River.
It was quite convenient for Liu Xiu to take the route from Qinghe County in Jizhou to Pingyuan City, the county seat of Pingyuan County. If there was any danger, it would only happen after he crossed the Yellow River and entered Pingyuan City.
During this trip to Pingyuan City, Liu Xiu also happened to make a private visit to the areas he passed to see with his own eyes how the people's livelihood at the bottom was, how the thieves were in various places, and how the local officials were managing.
Liu Xiu's conquests in the east and west in the Hebei area and his continuous attacks on the rebels were quite effective. At least the situation of nine out of ten villages has been greatly improved.
Many farmers who participated in the rebel army were returned to their hometowns after being captured alive by Liu Xiujun. These people returned to their homes and began to farm again. Many previously abandoned fields can now see crops again.
Liu Xiu was quite happy and proud of this. When passing through Wei County, Liu Xiu was in a high mood, and he and Yin Lihua each rode a horse and walked side by side.
He pointed to the crops on the roadside and said cheerfully: "The cultivated land here used to be abandoned, and the people in the village have disappeared without a trace. Now, finally, some people are back to farm again!"
Seeing the smile on Liu Xiu's face, Yin Lihua was also happy and said, "This is all Axiu's credit!"
Liu Xiu looked up and smiled, waved his hand, and said meaningfully: "If there is a peaceful life to live, who would be willing to raise their heads to rebel and live a life of licking blood from the knife edge?"
Since he became emperor, he has issued many edicts to free slaves, and stipulated that anyone who kills or injures slaves at will can be punished.
The policies implemented by Liu Xiu seemed to be no different from Wang Mang's policies, both of which aimed to abolish slavery.
However, the implementation of one policy of the imperial court did not exist in isolation. The abolition of slavery policy implemented by Wang Mang, due to the unfavorable implementation of other policies, resulted in the number of slaves in the country not only not decreasing, but also increasing.
Many people at the bottom cannot survive, what should they do? They just sell their wives and children into slavery at a low price.
Among so many rebel armies across the country that were against Mang, slaves were a large group. Wang Mang was determined to abolish slaves, but the ones who were most against Wang Mang were the slaves. I have to say, this is so ironic.
Liu Xiuzheng learned the lesson from Wang Mang's rule. While abolishing slaves, he divided the farmland and drastically cut taxes. As long as the people are willing to work, they can not only survive, but also live well. wavv
In this way, the labor force of the entire society will be fully mobilized, farming will be fully revived, and all abandoned industries will gradually recover.
At present, Wei County, and even the entire Jizhou, Youzhou, as well as Hanoi, Hedong, and Henan, are undergoing earth-shaking changes, which is reasonable.
Seeing the large tracts of fertile land being cultivated again, Liu Xiu was in a good mood and turned around to wave. Li Tong and Long Yuan urged their horses forward and said in unison: "Master!"
Liu Xiu asked: "Where is the place ahead?"
Long Yuan said: "In front is Guantao."
Liu Xiu groaned and smiled at Yin Lihua beside him: "Back then, our army defeated the bronze horses in Guantao, and it was between Guantao and Qingyuan that we persuaded 200,000 bronze horses to surrender!"
It was after this battle that Liu Xiu gained the reputation of the 'Bronze Horse Emperor'.
Seeing the pride on Liu Xiu's face, Yin Lihua also felt proud. She said: "Although Lihua is not by her husband's side in this battle, she can still imagine how magnificent this battle will be."
Li Tong asked in confusion: "Your Majesty... the young master's army at that time did not have 200,000 soldiers. How could he force the 200,000 bronze horse troops to surrender?"
Liu Xiu smiled and said, "Jun Ran has contributed a lot to this battle!"
Since Cen Peng took refuge with Liu Xiu, he didn't take many shots, but every time he took action, it had miraculous effects.
He persuaded Zhu Jun to surrender to Qingyuan City, which caused the Bronze Horse Army to have no choice but to surrender to Liu Xiu's army. Cen Peng entered Luoyang City alone and persuaded Zhu Jun to surrender. The 200,000 Luoyang troops led by Zhu Jun surrendered to Liu Xiu.
Just these two things, I don’t know how many casualties Liu Xiujun lost and how many new troops he gained?! Liu Xiu’s world was won bit by bit by relying on these profitable subordinates.
As they were walking forward, they saw many people gathered on the road ahead. Not knowing what was happening in front of them, Liu Xiu said to Yin Lihua: "Lihua, you go back to the car first."
Yin Lihua looked forward and said with some worry: "Husband, please be more careful!"
"Yes!" Liu Xiu nodded, watched Yin Lihua sit back in the carriage, and continued to urge the horse forward.
On the road, there was a group of men armed with spears and sticks blocking the road. The leader was a man with dark skin, a beard, short eyebrows, standing upward, and a pair of large ring eyes below, flashing with an aggressive and fierce light.
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The black-faced man held his waist with both hands and stood in the middle of the road. He shouted at the people who were blocked: "We, the Fifth Academy Army, have always helped the people fight against the government and the army. We and the government and the army fought tooth and nail. You guys
Do we also have to have the money and the strength to contribute?"
As he spoke, he pointed at a farmer wearing linen clothes and linen trousers and said, "Are you willing to join our fifth school army?"
The farmer was transporting grain to Guantao City for sale. When he saw the black-faced man pointing at him, he shrank in fear and backed away.
Now that Liu Xiu is the emperor, Hebei is implementing Liu Xiu's policies. The taxes collected by the government are very low. After paying the taxes, the people can be completely self-sufficient with the remaining harvest, and there is still surplus grain that can be sold.
, exchange for some daily necessities. Since you can live a stable and good life, why should you join the rebel army and fight against the government?
Seeing the farmer keep retreating, the black-faced man became angry. He stepped forward quickly, kicked the farmer to the ground, and cursed angrily: "Useless thing!"
As he spoke, he shouted to the left and right: "Take it down and take it over!"
Following the words, two big men immediately walked up to the farmer, picked him up from the ground, and dragged him towards the roadside.
On the roadside, there were dozens of young people dressed as ordinary people sitting on the ground, surrounded by several men with spears guarding them. It was obvious that these people were all strong men who were captured by them while passing by.
After Liu Xiu proclaimed himself emperor in Hebei, the number of people willing to join the rebel army had been greatly reduced. On the contrary, deserters continued to appear within the rebel army.
In order to maintain their own strength, the rebel army had to take tough measures and arrest strong men everywhere to replenish their own supply of troops.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. This kind of thing happens commonly in all parts of Hebei, but it was the first time that Liu Xiu and his party happened to bump into it.
After understanding what was going on, Li Tong was furious and whispered: "Sir, these thieves are acting wantonly, they are simply lawless and abominable!"
It turned out that they were all remnants of the Fifth Academy Army! Liu Xiu narrowed his eyes.
At the beginning, the Fifth Academy Army had hundreds of thousands of troops. It was severely wounded once by Geng Kuang in Shanggu County, and then again by Jia Fu in Zhending. Now the strength of the Fifth Academy Army is not as good as before.
The remnants of their tribe fled to Wei County and Qinghe County. Compared with the past, their behavior has not restrained, but has become more violent and plundering everywhere. In the past, they only robbed money and food, but now they also rob people.
The black-faced man turned his eyes and looked at another farmer who was dressed like a villager. This man wore a bamboo hat and a raincoat. The bamboo hat covered most of his face, only the tip of his nose and resolute jaw were exposed. The black-faced man walked away
When he got close to him, he looked him up and down, tapped the bamboo hat with the sword scabbard on his head, and asked: "What about you? Are you willing to join our fifth school army?"
