The first thousand one hundred and forty-six chapters seek peace again
The first battle between Zhu Si's army and Qiu Jingzhong's army ended in a disastrous defeat for Zhu Si's army.
Zhang Ting'an's 10,000 cavalry army was completely destroyed. Zhang Ting'an was hit by an arrow and fell from his horse, and was trampled to death by random horses. Although the 10,000 ambush army also paid the price of more than 2,000 casualties, they still won a great victory and captured more than 3,000 horses.
War horse.
Wang Zhongmou's army was also ambushed by 30,000 troops led by Qiu Jingzhong himself. Wang Zhongmou's army was severely defeated. Finally, he fled northwest with more than 10,000 defeated troops. Qiu Jingzhong's army killed more than 5,000 enemies and captured more than 9,000 surrendered soldiers.
In this battle, Bao Taowei's 60,000-strong army lost 25,000 people. Wang Zhongmou led 35,000 defeated troops to withdraw from Songzhou and retreated to Chenliu County in Bianzhou.
At the same time, Zhang Yun, the leader of the Jin army in Yuzhou, led 20,000 troops to the north and occupied Chenzhou, Xuzhou and Ruzhou, which had no troops garrisoned. Li Bing sent general Zheng Yannian with 10,000 troops to occupy Puzhou.
At this time, Zhu Si only had the four prefectures of Cao, Bian, Hua, Zheng and Henan Prefecture in his territory, while Qiu Jingzhong led an army of 50,000 to attack Bian Prefecture and invade Chenliu County.
When Zhu Si received the news, he burst into tears and wanted to commit suicide with his sword, but was held tightly by more than a dozen eunuchs and palace maids. Wang Xianzhong hurriedly sent someone to invite Liu Sigu and Xiao Wanding into the palace.
Liu Sigu hurried into the palace and met General Xiao Wanding in front of Hanguang Palace. Liu Sigu asked anxiously: "General, what happened?"
"I seem to have heard that Wang Zhongmou was defeated in Songzhou, Zhang Ting'an was killed, and all 10,000 cavalry troops were destroyed. Wang Zhongmou lost nearly half of his troops and retreated to Chenliu County."
"Just because of this matter, the emperor is seeking death and survival?" Liu Sigu asked puzzledly.
"It seems that the Jin army also took the opportunity to occupy a lot of territory. I heard that Puzhou was lost, and Chenzhou, Xuzhou and Ruzhou in the south were all lost."
Liu Sigu was dumbfounded when he heard this. Without these four states, how would hundreds of thousands of troops be fed?
Liu Sigu walked into the hall with a lot of worries. Wang Xianzhong was persuading Zhu Si. Zhu Si was sitting on the dragon chair, leaning his head on the back of the chair and breathing heavily. A eunuch whispered: "The military advisor and the general are here!"
Zhu Si suddenly opened his eyes, struggled to sit up, held Liu Sigu's hand, and started crying again, "Military advisor, my country is going to perish."
"Your Majesty, please be patient, there is still room for recovery!"
"Is there any room for redemption?" Zhu Si stopped crying immediately and blinked his eyes with expectation.
"What hope is there now?" Liu Sigu sighed secretly in his heart. In the past, Guo and Song Dynasty implemented the strategy of destroying the outside of the circle first and then attacking the inside, leaving Zhu Si immobile. Now as all parts of the world have been unified
, Guo Song finally started to take action against Zhu Si. It can be said that Zhu Si's situation is over.
He thought so, but Liu Sigu had to comfort Zhu Si, "Your Majesty, the top priority now is to destroy Qiu Jingzhong. Although Songzhou was defeated, it is not a big problem. Wei Chen believes that it is still Zhang Ting'an's own problem. As long as we learn lessons, Wei Chen will
I believe that Qiu Jingzhong is not terrible. We know the strength of his Flying Bear Army very well, but we are afraid that the Jin army will interfere. Your Majesty, I suggest that we ask Guo Song for peace and beg him not to interfere in our war to quell the rebellion."
"What are you asking for peace for?" Zhu Si knew in his heart that he had nothing now, so what could he give in exchange for Guo Song?
"Your Majesty, actually we still have something to exchange with Guo Song. Has Your Majesty forgotten the batch of supplies in Dongluocang?"
Dongluo Cang is the largest official warehouse in Luoyang. When An Lushan proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang, after he contributed to Chang'an, he transported all the Chang'an official warehouses and the properties of the dignitaries to Luoyang. Gold, silver, colored silks, and various jewelry, silk and satin were distributed among them.
Generals, pig iron is also used to make weapons, but only a batch of thick copper ingots snatched from the warehouse of Shaofu Temple in Chang'an has not been touched.
This batch of crude copper ingots weighs millions of kilograms. Because of its large size, smelting is more troublesome, so it has been kept until today. Zhu Si inspected it not long ago and found that it was covered with green rust. Zhu Si originally wanted to donate it to the temple to build Buddha statues.
But Liu Sigu stopped him.
"You mean that batch of copper ingots?" Zhu Si thought of the batch of copper ingots.
"Exactly!"
"It's only a few million catties. Isn't that too little copper ingot?"
"Your Majesty, there are at least five million catties, which is quite a lot. It can be cast into eight hundred thousand coins!"
"Who is going to negotiate?"
"Of course it's still Wang Ling, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He was halfway through his mission last time. Now let him continue to Chang'an."
Zhu Si sighed, "Will this be useful?"
"Your Majesty, we have to give it a try anyway. As long as we are sincere, it should have some effect."
Zhu Si nodded, "I understand. Once we reach an agreement with Guo Song and I want to personally conquer the rebels, I will not be able to destroy him!"
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Liu Sigu's words were not flattery, but words from the bottom of his heart. The factional struggle in the army was very fierce. Wang Zhongmou's defeat this time was related to the factional struggle. He could not suppress Zhang Ting'an. If more troops were added, it would either be Qianniuwei or Huben.
Wang Zhongmou still couldn't suppress Wei Wei, so it was most appropriate for the imperial commander to conquer in person. I believe Zhu Si also saw this.
...........
Guo Song is also paying attention to the war in the Central Plains. At the same time, he is more concerned about the refugees fleeing the war. The number of refugees who have fled to Yanzhou and Bozhou has exceeded one million. Not only the refugees in Songzhou, but also a large number of people in Bianzhou and Xuzhou have fled.
The number of refugees was indeed a bit beyond Guo Song's expectation.
In the staff room, Pan Liao and Du You were negotiating with Guo Song about the refugees. Pan Liao pointed at Xuzhou and said: "We got news that among the refugees who fled to Yanzhou, there were actually many refugees from Xuzhou. They were not because of the war.
But to escape the exploitation of heavy taxes. I heard that after Qiu Jingzhong arrived in Xuzhou, he increased the tax by 10%. The land tax was originally 30%, but now it is 40%. The household tax is also increased by one hundred cents per person, and
It’s in the name of His Highness the Crown Prince.”
Du You also said: "Zhu Si collected taxes very harshly. Instead of taxing 30% of the year's harvest, he chose a year with the best harvest to determine the tax amount. For example, last year the weather was good and there were no disasters. Every mu of wheat was harvested in the fields.
Three shi, Zhu Si used this as the standard, and taxed one shi per mu. However, this year there was a spring drought, and the harvest of wheat per mu was only two shi. As a result, the tax became 50%, and the tenants had to pay rent to their employer. They
It’s even worse. Now that Qiu Jingzhong has imposed additional taxes, they really can’t survive.”
Pan Liao sighed and said: "I read Wang Guinian's report. He said that many refugees did not bring much food, and it was only the summer harvest. It could only last for a few months at most. In the second half of the year, they could only rely on growing beans to satisfy their hunger.
What Weichen is worried about now is that after a few months of war, it will be too late to plant beans, how will they survive?"
Guo Song walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and asked again: "Does everyone have this problem?"
"It's pretty much the same!"
Pan Liao said: "Farmers in the countryside rely on farming, while people in the county rely on small jobs and small businesses to live, and they cannot stop living. Weichen feels that it is not difficult to solve their subsequent survival problems. There are many places where we need manpower, especially in mines.
The mine requires tens of thousands of people, which can completely solve their worries."
"We also need to build water conservancy projects and manage rivers!"
Du You next to him said with a smile: "For the people of Songzhou, dredging the Bianhe River is of course the most suitable thing for them. Since the water transportation was dredged in the Kaiyuan period, the river has shown signs of siltation. It is time to organize labor to dredge it on a large scale. In addition, the construction of textile workshops can absorb
Some young female workers actually wanted to set up a special government office to take care of this matter, which is not a big problem."
"How is it handled now? I mean, what troubles have been found for the refugee youth?" Guo Song asked.
"Now the situation is being handled well. The Yanzhou side is digging irrigation canals and planting black beans. The Bozhou side is also doing the same thing. They are also logging timber and building roads and bridges. Wang You and Wang Guinian are both very capable."
When Pan Liao said this, he saw that Guo Song was still frowning, so he asked: "What is your highness worried about?"
Guo Song sighed softly and said: "I thought it would be hundreds of thousands at most, but I didn't expect it to be more than one million now. Thinking of taking care of them until next summer, the burden on the court is too heavy. If it continues to develop, it will trigger the entire
If the Central Plains is in chaos, the imperial court will be overwhelmed. I consider that practical measures must be taken to reduce the subsequent pressure on refugees!"
Pan Liao and Du You looked at each other, and Pan Liao asked: "What do you plan to do, Your Highness?"
Guo Song picked up the wooden pole and pointed at Xuzhou and said: "Capture Xuzhou.
"Your Highness is not going to support Qiu Jingzhong?"
Guo Song said calmly: "When will I support him? I am just using him to weaken Zhu Si. Now that he has defeated Wang Zhongmou and is in the limelight, it is time to suppress him. What's more, he exploits the people so much. If I don't deal with him, the world
The people thought he and I were in the same party."
Just as he was talking, a guard reported at the door: "Your Highness, Honglu Temple has come to report that Zhu Si's envoy has arrived!"