As a scholar, even though he is older, he still pays more attention to current affairs than ordinary people.
Ordinary people in nearby prefectures and counties may still know nothing about the puppet Tang bandit army that has been making trouble since last year, but the gentry have already heard about it.
Especially at the end of last year, Zhengtai County Magistrate Su Jiakang failed to lead his army to suppress the army, and even Zeng Ziwen, a Qianhu household in Anqianhu Station, died for his country because of the siege.
Song Zhiwen, the governor of Quanfu, suppressed it, but it still caused considerable repercussions among the gentry class.
Although Old Man Xie himself has no fame, he has a wide range of friends, and when he opened a private school in the early years, he could not teach many disciples. Two of them even became scholars. Therefore, although he has no fame, he has better access to information than ordinary people.
A lot more.
At the beginning of the year, I took my family to a temple in the mountains to offer incense, but I was kidnapped by a group of bandits who came out of nowhere on the way there. After these bandits knew that he was a scholar, they forced and threatened him.
Let him manage the accounting affairs in the village and serve as a military advisor to these bandits.
It is impossible for him, a dignified scholar, to commit himself to a group of bandits. If he were kidnapped alone, he would rather die on his head than serve as a strategist for these bandits.
But he was not alone. He was captured together with his family. His old wife, daughter-in-law, a precious son and a granddaughter. In addition to the son who worked in Fucheng, many other members of their family were captured.
Village leader Li and the others served it in one pot.
At that time, the bandits told him that if he was not willing to be a military advisor, his daughter-in-law would be killed on the spot, his granddaughter would be bought into a fence outside, and his grandson would be chopped into pieces and fed to the dogs.
Under such circumstances, Old Man Xie had no choice but to be the military advisor of his leader, Li Zhai.
Later, when the stronghold was breached, he thought about escaping, but failed. Later, when leader Li and others were fighting with Huang Zhushan, he tried to take advantage of the chaos and escape with a few people, but still failed.
Now, he doesn't know what happened to his family, and he doesn't know if he will suffer any hardships in the rebel army. There have long been rumors that the puppet Tang rebel army is extremely cruel. Whether it is the leader or the soldiers, they all like to eat people's hearts alive.
of ruthless bandits.
Now that my family has fallen into the hands of these pseudo-Tang thieves, how can they survive?
At this point, all I can do is compromise and use my status as a scholar to save a life for my family. As for what will happen if the officers and soldiers come to kill me in the future, that will be discussed later. Let’s get over the current difficulties first.
But, will the young man above let his family go because of his effectiveness as a scholar?
In his sight, Li Xuan, who was sitting on the dragon chair, looked no different from the young scholars in his private school at first glance, but he didn't know whether he could communicate well or not.
Just as old man Xie was thinking about how to organize his language and how to impress the young pseudo-emperor above him in order to save the lives of his family, he suddenly heard a loud shout: "Bold maniac, why don't you kneel down before His Majesty!
"
Who else could be said to have such abundant Qi but Butcher Chen? His eyes were as wide as copper bells and he had a fierce look on his face.
As soon as he finished speaking, Leader Li, who was walking in front of Old Man Xie, knelt down with a plop: "The common people have seen the emperor. The common people have long admired the style of our Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. They specially brought people here to join him. They also hope that the emperor
Take in the grassroots!"
Seeing Master Li kneel down without any sense of moral integrity, Old Man Xie flashed a look of disdain in his eyes. The first Master Li said he wanted to capture Huang Zhushan and become the emperor, but now he is kneeling down and licking Li Xuan like a bug.
Old man Xie didn't know at all that Leader Li had two plans. He could conquer Huangzhu Mountain and become the emperor. If he couldn't defeat it, he would surrender and become the prince. Then he could rebel and become the emperor. In order to survive and rebel in the future and become the emperor, he knelt before his eyes.
Kneeling down is nothing.
Li Xuan, who was sitting at the top, glanced at the leader Li who was kneeling on the ground, and then looked away. To be honest, he was not interested in this leader Li. Seeing that this man was kneeling so happily, he must be a man with no psychological bottom line.
For such people, Li Xuan said that although the Tang Dynasty was small, it did not need them.
In addition, Li Xuan has been guarding against the rise of the second Fang Dongquan, so he is naturally wary of this former bandit leader, so it is impossible for this person to become a high official or a prince.
Of course, since the other party has surrendered and expressed his willingness to submit, he will not kill him directly. He will give him a small official to take charge first, and how to arrange it in the future will be discussed later.
So Li Xuan, who was above him, did not speak, but nodded slightly to Liu Bagou. Liu Bagou on the side also saw Li Xuan's matter, and immediately stepped forward to speak, but the words he said were a bit obscure and difficult to understand.
, which made Village Master Li a little confused.
But he still understood the last few words. The Tang Dynasty would give him an official rank of Qianhu, the fifth rank.
Leader Li is illiterate, so he certainly doesn’t know what official positions are, but he still knows what kind of official Qianhu is. Among the officers and soldiers, Qianhu has more than a thousand people under his command, and he is a fifth-rank official.
Where is the official?
There were only a few thousand people in the Tang Dynasty, but he could lead more than a thousand people as soon as he arrived. This was a good thing!
So Leader Li thanked En with satisfaction and retreated.
He didn't know that official hats were worthless in the Tang Dynasty, and Qianhu didn't even count as an actual official position.
In the past, the standing army and the Guards were overflowing with officers. Nine out of ten people were officers, and their ranks were not low. There were hundreds of households and thousands of households, and there were also many generals and generals.
When the professional army was established more than a month ago, Li Xuan no longer mentioned military positions such as general, chief soldier, and thousand households, but completely changed to use the actual titles, that is, corps commander and deputy corps commander.
, captain, and deputy captain are the four titles of officers. Otherwise, the military positions of the Tang Dynasty would have been completely ruined.
Speaking of this, you will see that Li Xuan granted a thousand households to the leader of the village, but in fact he didn't give anything!
The leader of the village, Li Xuan, who was kept in the dark, went out happily. Li Xuan turned his attention to the hunchbacked old man next to him.
This old man is a bit strange. The clothes he wears are those of a scholar. Although he is hunched and cannot straighten his waist, looking at his expression, you can't see how scared or panicked he is. Instead, he meets Li Xuan's face.
Eye to eye.
At this time, Butcher Chen glared at Old Man Xie again, seeming quite dissatisfied that he dared to stare at Li Xuan.
However, Old Man Xie seemed not to see Butcher Chen's gaze, but continued to look at Li Xuan. After a while, he slowly said: "I heard a few months ago that there was a child-born Li Xuan in Huangzhu Mountain, and he was so bold that he defied the will of heaven." When I saw it today, the rumors are true!"
"But little friend, you are also a person who is familiar with the books of sages. You don't need to say too much about this crisis. You are aware of the crisis. I am afraid that within a few months at least, or at most half a year, Huangzhu Mountain will be overturned!"
Old man Xie spoke slowly, which immediately caused a commotion among everyone in the meeting hall!
Butcher Chen shouted loudly on the spot: "You are so bold that you dare to call His Majesty by his first name. You are seeking death!"
Fang Dongquan on the side also had an angry look on his face and said: "That's nonsense. The foundation of our Tang Dynasty is as stable as Mount Tai. How can it be overthrown?"
Old man Xie showed a hint of cold snort and said: "The imperial army has more than ten million troops. Even if you were able to resist the army once or twice before, how can you resist when the army comes with 5,000 or even 10,000 troops?" ?Now your stubborn resistance is nothing but in vain!"
As soon as these words came out, the hall immediately became calm. Fang Dongquan and Butcher Chen's faces turned red. They seemed to want to say something to refute, but they didn't know what words to use to refute.
Because what the hunchbacked old man said is true. When the officers and soldiers come with 5,000 or 10,000 people, how will they resist? They will definitely not be able to stop them!
At the same time, Liu Bagou, Wang Wenhua, and Qian Mengjiu, the three civil servants, were all silent. In fact, these three scholars understood the current situation of the Tang Dynasty better than Fang Dongquan and the other illiterate generals. The crisis we are facing is just something that no one would speak out about in the past.
Now he was exposed by this hunchbacked old man, so much so that everyone couldn't accept it all at once.
Looking at the expressions of the people below, especially the calm and confident expression on old man Xie's face, Li Xuan above suddenly smiled, as if he had seen something funny. .
The situation at this moment reminded him of a lot of content in movies and TV shows. Most of the so-called talents who wanted to get official positions started like this. They first said a lot of scary words, and then there would be The stupid monarch said with a look of fear and admiration: Sir, please teach me!
Then those counselors will come up with three strategies: upper, middle and lower!
The monarch was so impressed that he fell to the ground, and then gave the woman his official hat, wishing that he could be his father.
As the emperor of the valley, if I block it, I can really encounter anything, even this kind of thing.
Seeing that old man Xie still looked calm and elegant on the surface, Li Xuan guessed that this man was probably thinking in his heart: Come and ask me for advice!
But at this time, Li Xuan's bad taste also came up. You want me to say this, but I won't say it!
Instead, he showed a thoughtful expression, and then said: "Sir, what you said makes sense!"
Hearing this, Old Man Xie's ears suddenly stood up, with a look of anticipation on his face, as if to say: Keep talking, I'm waiting!
But at this time, Li Xuan stopped talking and closed his eyes slightly, as if he was not ready to continue talking.
Old man Xie waited for most of the day, but he still didn't hear the words he expected from Li Xuan!
Why don't you play your cards according to the routine? If you don't say "please teach me, sir", how can I go on talking about the three strategies I prepared?
At this moment, old man Xie had the urge to vomit blood!