Chapter 471: Under Putian, could it be the king's land
Although Cui Shenlin was smiling when he spoke, he was smiling while looking at the Cen family members opposite, and his smile didn't stop.
Seeing everyone in the Cen family feel a little chilly in their hearts, a chill can't help but appear in their hearts. Damn, that smile is not simple. Just looking at it makes people feel numb.
Could this be the reincarnation of the Smiling Tiger?
However, since the words have been spoken, and since the Cen family dared to approach the rebels of the Tang Dynasty, they naturally did so after careful consideration and observation for a long time. They were definitely not motivated by impulse.
After the puppet Tang rebel army marched south to Guangxi, every move of its army was watched by many people. Not only the officials of the Ming Dynasty paid attention to them, but also the chieftains, gentry and landlords in Guangxi, and even ordinary people.
They are all paying attention to them.
Starting from marching south to Guangxi, then dividing the troops into two groups, conquering Huaiyuan County and Rong County in succession on the same day, and then stationing troops under Liuzhou City, surrounding tens of thousands of Ming troops in the city. The whole process took less than half a month!
Although the first attack on Liuzhou City failed, some well-informed people knew that the puppet Tang thief army did not use all their strength in that attack. The real thief army did not attack the city at all, and it was the fake thief who attacked the city.
As for how they judged the real thieves and fake thieves of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty, it was very easy. Those wearing blue clothes and red trousers were the real Pseudo-Tang thieves, while those still wearing Ming Dynasty military uniforms or ordinary people's clothes, and at the same time wearing a
Wearing white strips of cloth is the fake bandit army.
As for those fake bandits, one could tell by looking at their clothes that they were soldiers surrendering from the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the failure of the attack on Liuzhou is nothing in the eyes of many people. Otherwise, why do the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Liuzhou City still dare not come out? Even after the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army went south to Xiangzhou, only in Liuzhou
There were only a few thousand people left outside the city, but the Ming army inside Liuzhou City still did not dare to come out.
At the same time, almost the entire Ming army in Guangdong and Guangxi areas was concentrating towards Liuzhou!
All this shows that the puppet Tang rebel army is not simple. This kind of difficulty has reached the point where Guangdong, Guangxi and Guangxi need to concentrate the forces of two provinces or even more to suppress it.
However, this is just a partial division of the puppet Tang thief army heading south!
As everyone knows, the puppet Tang bandit army rose in Zhengtai County, Xingquan Prefecture, in eastern Guizhou. Now the Guizhou official army has been defeated miserably. It is said that only a few people are left to resist in Guiyang, the provincial capital. However, the northern, eastern and central areas of Guizhou have already
All fell into the hands of the puppet Tang bandits.
It can be seen from this that the rise of the pseudo-Tang traitor army has actually become inevitable. If the imperial court wants to wipe out the pseudo-Tang traitor army, it will definitely have to pay a huge price and time.
At least in a short period of time, maybe half a year, maybe a year or two, parts of Guizhou and Guangxi will be ruled by the Tang Dynasty.
Many people can see this, including some knowledgeable gentry and landowners, some middle- and high-level officials of the Ming Dynasty, etc.
This can be seen from the fact that the Ming army in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas did not hurriedly clamor to completely destroy the Tang Dynasty immediately, but only strived to annihilate the southbound puppet Tang rebel army in the Liuzhou area.
Senior officials in the Ming Dynasty, especially those in the southwestern region who were more familiar with the situation, were already prepared for a long-term encirclement and suppression campaign.
In this case, it is not difficult to guarantee that some careerists will appear in this situation to speculate!
Who can guarantee that the imperial court will be able to destroy the puppet Tang traitor army?
Who dares to say that the Tang Dynasty could not gradually develop and grow, and then in turn overthrow the Ming Dynasty?
Although this possibility is very small, there is still this possibility. Things have not developed to the final stage, and no one knows what will happen.
And this represents an opportunity!
High risk, but also high-yield opportunity!
The Huaiyuan Cen family saw this and were ready to seize this opportunity to regain the position of chieftain they had lost a hundred years ago.
Cen Chunlin looked at the group of civil and military officials from the Tang Dynasty opposite, still thinking secretly in his heart.
The officials of the Pseudo-Tang Bandit Army on the opposite side looked naturally calm. Although they showed great interest and even urgency in the supply of military rations they proposed, it was just that, and they did not make any random promises to themselves for this purpose.
condition.
He even had no doubt that if he made any excessive demands, the officials of the puppet Tang rebel army would immediately leave, then turn around and send troops to massacre his family.
But are the demands you put forward too much?
Not really!
What the Huaiyuan Cen family wants is just the position of chieftain in a remote and small place, and there are countless such chieftains in the vast southwest region. Even here in Liuzhou, there are dozens of large and small chieftains!
Moreover, he did not want the Tang Dynasty to entrust some mature Han lands to him. He just wanted to take the chieftain position that belonged to his family a hundred years ago and was now taken away by others.
For the Tang Dynasty, it was just a chieftain changing his family, which would not actually affect their actual rule in Guangxi.
It is important to mention here that whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the current Tang Dynasty, their strength is enough to completely suppress the local chieftain forces, whether it is military, economic or other aspects.
However, for a long time, the central dynasty has adopted a policy of co-opting local chieftains and adopted a model of co-governance in the local area.
As long as the chieftains do not rebel and pay tribute every year and listen to the propaganda, then basically the central court will not find trouble to destroy these chieftains.
This was the case in the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the case in today's Tang Dynasty. They basically recognize the hereditary power of the existing chieftains, well, provided they do not rebel!
Therefore, Cen Chunlin believed that the Tang Dynasty would most likely agree to his conditions and support his family in regaining the position of chieftain that was taken away by the rebels.
In fact, after Cui Chunlin and the others heard this condition from the Cen family, although Cui Chunlin said that they had great intentions, in fact they were secretly relieved.
At the beginning, they were worried that the Cen family would ask for many benefits and privileges, especially some business privileges, such as the exclusive rights to salt, iron, tea and other strategic materials.
But no matter what their request is, as long as it does not significantly affect the interests of the Tang Dynasty in the short term, then Li Xuan has delegated power to the right minister of the Ministry of Rites to agree to them. As long as the Cen family can provide a large amount of military rations in the short term, then
What's the harm in agreeing?
What, after agreeing, it will greatly damage the interests of the Tang Dynasty in the future, such as cigarettes, tea and other franchises? Are you kidding, what do you think the Datang Dynasty is? You can't go back on it after signing the agreement. As long as the Tang Dynasty
If the dynasty is willing, it can tear up the treaty in a minute!
Moreover, the treaty mentioned here is a treaty between countries. You, a grain merchant, dare to negotiate any treaty with the Tang Dynasty. You will die!
So in the short term, the Tang Dynasty will agree to them and then obtain military rations. After the army takes over Guangxi and even Guangdong and Guangxi, the Cen family, the so-called big grain merchant in Guangxi, will basically be of little use.
, rabbits die and dogs are cooked, and they can’t help themselves.
Therefore, in fact, it doesn’t matter what the conditions proposed by the Cen family are, because if it is an easy condition, the Tang Dynasty will grant it. If it is an excessive condition, then agree first, and it is okay to regret it later!
The point is, get the food first!
Well, if the Cen family had stockpiled grain in Liuzhou Mansion in advance, why would the officials of the Tang Dynasty bother to talk to him? They would have sent an army to requisition it directly.
Under the sky, is it the king's land; on the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers!
The whole world belongs to your Majesty, and the food of your Cen family naturally belongs to your Majesty. It is reasonable and reasonable for your Majesty's army to requisition it!
Anyone who dares to say no will have his family confiscated and his family exterminated to serve him!
It is a pity that the Cen family members themselves have said that their food needs to be transported from other places in Guangxi. If the quantity is several thousand dan, it may even need to be transported from other provinces such as Huguang and Guangdong.
Even if the Tang Dynasty wanted to rob food, they could do it anyway. Otherwise, why would they talk about it? They could just rob it.
Now the condition proposed by the Cen family is just to help them restore their position as chieftain. This kind of thing can be done easily. When the army goes south to Wuxuan, just send a few hundred people to help the Cen family fight.
It's not worth such a big fight!
However, even if this condition is not a big deal in the Tang Dynasty itself, it is very important to the Cen family. As Cui Chunlin, who has fought countless people, he naturally knows how to control the pace of negotiations and benefit his own side.
Strive for more benefits.
However, since the basic conditions of both parties are that there are no major discrepancies or contradictions, even though this negotiation lasted for more than an hour, an agreement was still reached on the same day!
The two parties agreed that within three days, the Cen family would provide 400 shi of military rations to the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty for free. This batch of military rations would be transported by the Cen family to Xiangzhou via the Liujiang River. After arriving in Xiangzhou, the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty would take over.
Within half a month, another 500 shi of grain will arrive in Liuzhou, and this batch of grain will be free of charge.
In the future, two thousand stones of grain will be provided to the Tang Dynasty every month. The subsequent supply of these grains will require money, and the price is much higher than the market price.
A few hundred thousand dan of food may sound like a lot, but in fact it is not much, because the troops heading south currently consume more than 100 dan of military rations every day, and this does not include war horses and draft animals.
Where’s the rations!
Moreover, the troops going south in Guangxi are still expanding rapidly every day. At recruitment points in Huaiyuan County, Rong County, Xiangzhou and other places, many poor local children sign up to join the army every day.
So many people always need to eat. They consume a huge amount of food every day, so no amount of food is too much!
If the Cen family's supply channels were not limited, the Tang Dynasty would have wished they could supply ten thousand shi of grain every month!