Chapter 329 Acting for the Heavens, Not Acting Against the Heavens
"In these days, all the villages followed my brother's instructions. After breaking up the village, they opened warehouses and distributed grain to the villagers for five shi per head. This move was indeed very popular among the people. The three mountains on Jingnan Road together recruited more than 2,700 people.
"People." At this time, letters were also sent to Xiaotang Mansion in Bianjing, Xiong'er Mountain, Funiu Mountain and other places, reporting on the troops, income and expenditure, supplies and other matters of the respective villages. Xu Guanzhong was sending letters to Xiaotang
statement.
After Xiao Tang thought for a while, he asked Xu Guanzhong: "How many troops and horses are there in each of Xiong'er Mountain, Funiu Mountain, and Shiliang Mountain? What is the situation of the food, grass, and armor reserves?"
Xu Guanzhong replied: "Except for the paper-armored bows and crossbows, brother Xi Sheng in Xiong'er Mountain has 3,000 soldiers, 300 horses, 150,000 guans of money and 9,000 stones of grain and grass; the two brothers of the Teng family in Funiu Mountain have 2,000 soldiers.
, 200 war horses, 100,000 guan of money and 10,000 shi of grain and grass; in Shiliang Mountain, brother Yuan Lang had 2,000 soldiers, 300 war horses, 70,000 guan of money and 15,000 shi of grain and grass; and at Xiaogushan in Dengzhou
Five hundred soldiers under leader Wu Shun were attached to Brother Xi Sheng. Although the leader of Weizhaode Village in Baihe Water Village did not join forces with Brother Xiao, Brother Xi Sheng formed an offensive and defensive alliance with him. If an official army invaded, he would also
We will work together to meet the challenge.”
After hearing this, Xiao Tang held his head and thought deeply. As of now, due to his supply of food, grass and weapons to various cottages, the village owners such as Xi Sheng, Yuan Lang, and the Teng brothers, who have no worries, can freely expand their power. However, more than half a year has passed.
, the three mountain villages in the west of Beijing only added a total of 2,700 people, and this number was actually much less than Xiao Tang expected.
But Xiao Tang then thought about it. After all, the three cottages in the west of Beijing are not as good as Erlong Mountain and Qingfeng Mountain. The two Jingdong East Road cottages are located in Qingzhou, which is connected to Hebei East Road in the north. It is geographically similar to Xiao Tang's other stronghold, which is owned by Xiao Tang.
It is closer to the Xiaojiaji of Daming Prefecture managed by Yi, Bian Xiang, Yang Lin and others. Therefore, when Erlong Mountain and Qingfeng Mountain recruited refugees from all over Hebei and Shandong, they also absorbed people from Huangmen Mountain and Liangying Jiangzhou.
The Laocheng camp deployed troops and surrendered troops, so it was possible to expand the army to 8,000 troops in less than a year.
And just as Xu Guanzhong said, this result can be regarded as "very popular". Xiao Tang found that while he was bent on strengthening his power in Green Forest, he could not help but ignore a crucial factor: the common people of this era.
universal values.
Xiao Tang, who came from a later generation, could despise imperial power, but he could never despise the absolute dominance of orthodox imperial power in this era. What's more, due to the openness of the Song Dynasty in business, even if the people were oppressed and exploited, they would not necessarily
You have to live with your face turned to the earth and your back turned to the sky. No matter whether the ordinary working people are hardworking and kind, or accept the situation, as long as they can still have food to eat, most people will not fight against the government to the end.
Moreover, Xiao Tang ordered his subordinates in the Green Forest Village not to plunder ordinary good people, and even opened warehouses to provide food when breaking up villages and towns where evil gentry and local tyrants did evil. This was more based on compassion and his personal moral orientation. Such a righteous act
Although he can recruit a small number of strong-willed villagers to join his army, Xiao Tang himself does not believe that he can vent his anger on behalf of the people and give them life-saving food, so that all the people who benefited from him will tie their heads to their belts.
Go ahead and follow him till the end.
The "fighting against landlords", "equalizing land and freeing grain", and "leading serfs to stand up and sing songs" will definitely not cause much trouble in the current historical background. The later Xiaotang Dynasty was one of the regimes of that era. Therefore, it was successful because in the period of more than a hundred years ago, China experienced the Opium War, the invasion of China by foreign powers, the collapse of imperial power, warlords' melee, the Anti-Japanese War, and even the Nationalist Government's "If you don't be corrupt, you will destroy the party, and if you are corrupt again, you will destroy the party." During this period, China has always been associated with the word "turbulence". As the saying in the Book of Changes says, "If one obeys nature and responds to man, the revolution will be great." If Xiao and Tang ignored the current situation of the world, If objective factors restrict the ideology of the people of the world, then he will be the enemy of the entire world.
Basically, Xiao Tang knew that most of the copycat villages in Green Forest had a few leaders commanding hundreds of strong men, and the few that were more powerful only had a few thousand troops. If they wanted to forcibly expand their power, just like the previous Zhang in Mingzhou, Hebei Di, like Fang La who is still secretly exerting Manichaean power in the Jiangnan area, either forced the people to rebel and drain the land, or openly raised the flag of rebellion and ceded territory to become king. However, just like all the rebellions or uprisings recorded in the history of the Song Dynasty, they either forced Anna to surrender. , or be completely wiped out by the imperial court within a few years at most.
Therefore, Xiao Tang had to deploy green forest forces everywhere in the Song Dynasty. What's more, Xiao Tang's ultimate goal was not just to overthrow the Zhao family of the Song Dynasty. Moreover, this was not a chaotic world where heroes were separatist and the strong men were fighting for territory. Xiao Tang thought While dealing with the government, to develop a force that can compete with the Jin Kingdom's cavalry, one must take the wrong approach.
How to proceed next, there are two people who are crucial to the development. One is Mei Zhan who rushes to Zhejiang and Fujian Road to recruit the old department, and the other is Deng Fei who is located in Yinmachuan, Jizhou, Liao... ..
"Is there any news from brother Deng Fei?" Xiao Tang asked Xu Guanzhong again.
"Brother Deng Fei has sent Brother Meng Kang, who is good at shipbuilding, to the Song Dynasty again according to Brother Xiao's request. Brother Xiao Yi also sent people to Banqiao Town, Mizhou, in the name of doing business with overseas countries. At present, three water transport ships and five passenger ships have been built."
Xiao Tang nodded and said: "After all, Brother Meng Kang of Jade Banner Gang was wanted by the government during the Song Dynasty. Although he was supervising the construction of the Huashigang ship in Jiangnan and was promoted to an official, he still had to ask Xiao An and the others to be careful. Please do not reveal the identity of Brother Meng Kang."
Xiao Jiasui suddenly said from the side: "Young Master, do you really want to open up the sea route from Mizhou to the Liao territory and support the Deng Fei brothers to grow in power in the Liao territory?"
"That's not all. After all, in the Nanjing Road of the Liao Dynasty, Jizhou is separated from Bohai Bay by Pingzhou. Brother Deng Fei is weak in Liao Dynasty. He can only deal with the strong men and tribes in Liao Dynasty. I'm not worried either..." Xiao Tang stood up and said: "In a few days, I will be sent as an envoy to the Liao Kingdom according to the official order, and I will go to Baishan and Heishui to purchase northern pearls. I will also take the opportunity to experience Liaodong. The situation in this area will, on the one hand, convey the message of the North as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, it will also enable our brothers and sisters to take care of each other between the Song and Liao countries."
Xiao Tang also knew very well that Deng Fei, a man born in the green forest, could command a small village with hundreds of people, but it was impossible for him to frighten the strong men around the North with his methods alone. That fierce-eyed man with deep loyalty In the original work, Ni can simply abdicate in favor of a more talented person, but on the other hand, it also shows that his abilities as the leader of a stronghold are limited.
Xiao Jiasui frowned, and asked again: "Young Master, you have taken so much pains to connect with the Liao territory. Or should you be wary of the Jurchens in the white mountains and black waters? I have also paid attention to the news of the Jurchen tribes, and it is indeed as the Young Master said.
, the Jurchen tribes conquered Goryeo and grew stronger day by day, and in the year of great famine in the Liao Kingdom, people's hearts were floating... But the Liao Kingdom is a guest place after all, and we must be extremely cautious when secretly doing things in the Song Dynasty.
, when deploying forces in the north, we must also be wary of the attention of the Liao government. Under various constraints, it will be even more difficult for us to develop our forces."
Xiao Tang sighed softly and said: "The time has not come yet, the land has not been favorable. Brother Xiao Jiasui, if we continue to sit in the green forest of Song Dynasty, what will happen to the situation?"
Xiao Jiasui was slightly startled, and then he immediately understood the meaning of Xiao Tang's words. From the long conversation when they first met, Xiao Tang had clearly told Xiao Jiasui that his purpose was not to bring trouble to the world and cede territories.
King, otherwise he, the wandering wild crane, would not hesitate to surrender to Xiao Tang. He deeply hated Xiao Jiasui, the green forest lord who only served his own selfish interests and plunged the people into misery. However, as Xiao Tang expanded the power of the green forest in the Song Dynasty,
At the bottleneck, if Xiao Tang begins to attack cities and seize territory, kill officials and rebel, what is the difference between him and Zhang Di and others in Hebei?
The Jurchen hero A Gu defeated the Liao rebel general Xiao Haili who had repeatedly defeated the Liao army. The Wanyan tribe defeated the 170,000 Goryeo army. Later, he united with the Haolandian tribes to expand the tribal alliance to include more than 30 tribes...
... Xiao Jiasui, who had been paying attention to the situation in the Northland, learned this news. Although he was still a little suspicious of Xiao Tang's "unpredictable prophet", he was a talented and knowledgeable man who had little knowledge. In the past few decades, the Liao Kingdom had never
The political situation has not calmed down since the beginning of Yelu Hongji. From the time when Yelu Chongyuan and his son rebelled, to when Yelu Yixin specialized in government affairs for fourteen years, he finally eradicated the most treacherous official in the history of the Liao Dynasty.
Yelu Yanxi, who was known for his licentiousness and extravagance and neglect of state affairs, ascended the throne...
Although the Song Dynasty experienced old and new party struggles, and the court became increasingly sluggish after Cai Jing came to power, it was far less turbulent and chaotic than the small rebellion in Liao Dynasty in three years and the major rebellion in five years. What's more, those in the Song Dynasty who started to fight against the court were basically green forests.
Strong men, but those who rebelled in the Liao Kingdom were mostly royal families, generals and even leaders of various tribes other than the Khitans. The impact and sequelae of this rebellion were extremely destructive to the rule of the Liao Dynasty. On the one hand, the huge and crumbling country was in turmoil.
The empire, the nation on the other side that has been oppressed for generations, is now so powerful that it has defeated a country like Goryeo whose military strength is second only to Song and Liao in the north... What will happen in the next few years? It seems
A far-sighted thinker like Xiao Jiasui is completely predictable.
But as the young master expected, the Jurchens would be so greedy that after seizing the mountains and rivers of the Liao Dynasty, they would not be satisfied and would lead their troops southward to invade our territory of the Song Dynasty? But once the barbarians in the north became powerful, they coveted the fertile soil of the Central Plains.
And it is not uncommon to raise troops to go south in the past dynasties... The young master has the opportunity, and this is by no means a lie.
Xiao Jiasui thought about it in his mind, but then thought: But the centipede insect is dead but not stiff. Even if the Liao Kingdom really suffered a catastrophe a few years earlier than the Song Dynasty, it would still dominate the northern border and establish a country for more than 200 years.
Even if a great country in the 1980s could gather a military strength of more than 100,000, wouldn't it be a fool's errand to replace it and compete with the two tigers of Liao and Jurchen for supremacy?
After Xiao Jiasui explained his doubts to Xiao Tang, before Xiao Tang could speak, he heard Xu Guanzhong say from the side: "The way I use military force, the whole country is the first, and the destruction of the country is the second...Brother Xiao is planning the Liao region.
, and it is not necessarily necessary to attack the city and seize the territory and meet the Liao army in battle."
