Li Bing led the cavalry to Shangluo County, only to see the city gate wide open. The county magistrate and several officials were standing at the city gate. The county magistrate stepped forward and saluted: "Xia Heng, the magistrate of Shangluo County, welcomes the general to Shangluo County!"
"Where is the garrison in the city?" Li Bing asked sharply.
Xia County Magistrate said tremblingly: "Reporting to the general, they have evacuated the county seat...just two hours ago."
Li Bing would not believe the county magistrate's words. He gave his subordinates a wink, and a general led hundreds of soldiers on horseback and rushed into the county town. After a while, he came back and reported: "Reporting to the general, there is indeed no gathering of enemy troops."
Li Bing was worried that Lantian Pass was lost, so he ordered his deputy general Xiao Lingfeng to lead 3,000 men to pursue the enemy. Xiao Lingfeng immediately led 3,000 cavalry to pursue the enemy to the north.
Li Bing then asked the anxious county magistrate: "Can the bronzes transported by the army be in the county?"
Magistrate Xia nodded quickly, "Report to the general, all the bronzes are in the county!"
Li Bing breathed a sigh of relief, with a smile on his face and his tone softened.
"Please ask the county magistrate to take me to check."
"General, please follow me!"
Although Li Bing had sent his men into the city to check, it was true that there were no enemy troops gathered in the city, but it was hard to say whether the enemy troops would be broken into pieces and hidden in civilian houses. Therefore, Li Bing was still very cautious and ordered the troops to continue to be on alert.
Li led hundreds of soldiers to the City God's Temple. There was a large open space in front of the City God's Temple, covering hundreds of acres. It was originally overgrown with weeds, but now it has been occupied by thousands of oxcarts. The street in front of it was also crowded with oxcarts.
, the cows have been unloaded from the car and taken to the outside of the city by the driver. Just feeding the cows every day makes the driver very busy.
The carts were all covered with oilcloths. Li Bing walked to an oxcart and lifted the oilcloth. Three cauldrons were tied to them, each weighing at least a thousand kilograms.
He opened another piece of oilcloth on the cart, which was full of copper basins. Each copper basin weighed more than ten kilograms, and there were at least hundreds of them. There were also bronze Buddha statues and big bells, all of which were made of various kinds of copper.
Most of the utensils are items collected by Dayingku. They are exquisitely crafted and have high appreciation value, but in Zhu Si's eyes, these are military expenses.
Li Bing confirmed that most of the bronze wares were the same as King Jin said. There were about tens of thousands of bronze wares. This made him breathe a long sigh of relief. Now he could make a deal.
Zou Xing led two thousand soldiers to flee northward, not daring to rest for fear that the Jin army would pursue them. At dawn, everyone was exhausted from running, so Zou Xing ordered them to rest by a small river.
The soldiers were so tired that their legs were about to break. They fell to the ground and could not move. Zou Xing sat on the big rock and looked around at the terrain. He finally remembered that this place should not be far from Qingshi Town, so they had traveled a full distance.
It's more than a hundred miles, and about thirty miles ahead is Shangluo County. Tomorrow night we can enter Lantian Pass. This speed is no less than that of the cavalry.
"General!"
A school lieutenant stepped forward and said: "I just took a count and found that there are only 1,540 brothers left. More than 400 people have escaped."
Zou Xing sighed, "Just leave! Who knows what my fate will be when I return to Chang'an? King Qi has a bad temper and lost the bronze. I'm afraid he won't spare me."
"In this case, let's not go to Chang'an, let's go to Luoyang!"
"I don't know now. I'll have to find out the news first."
At this time, a soldier ran over and said: "General, a Taoist priest has arrived. He said that Chang'an has been lost."
Zou Xing was startled and said quickly: "Bring the people up."
Not long after, an old Taoist priest was brought in. Zou Xing grabbed his chest and shouted, "How did you know that Chang'an was lost?"
"Buddha Amitayus and Pindao came from Shangluo County. The governor has abandoned his official position and fled. The county magistrate told me that they received a pigeon message that Chang'an has been captured by the army led by His Highness the King of Jin."
"What about His Highness King Qi?" Zou Xing asked anxiously.
"It seems that he is dead. Anyway, the whole army was wiped out. This is what the county magistrate said."
Zou Xing was stunned, waved his hand and let the Taoist priest go.
After a long while, he let out a long sigh and said, "Everyone can disperse."
.........
In the evening, Xiao Lingfeng, who was chasing the enemy, received news that the enemy had disbanded in Shangluo County and captured more than 400 stragglers. The whereabouts of the general Zou Xing was unknown.
At the same time that the Jin army captured Shangzhou, Guo and Song also sent troops to march westward. The prefectures and counties along the way raised flags to support them. Li Shuguang, the Yin of Fengxiang Prefecture, publicly stated that he was willing to be loyal to the King of Jin and the three thousand men guarding Dashan Pass.
Zhu Si's army, led by general Pan Lingqiu, surrendered to the Jin army.
The entire Guanzhong was like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, sweeping away Zhu Si's forces in just a few days. Especially the frightened wealthy households in Guanzhong beat gongs and drums to welcome the arrival of the Jin army.
That morning, Du Wenxing hurried back to Dujia Village and found the owner of the family, Du You.
"Why did you come to me in such a hurry?"
Du You poured him a cup of tea and asked with a smile: "Jing Zhaoyin seems to be doing well these days?"
"Don't mention it!"
Du Wenxing sighed and said: "In the past, Zhu Jinqing didn't understand anything and didn't care. He just did whatever I wanted. But King Jin is completely different. He has very high requirements. On the first day, he asked me for five years of business tax."
Records, I finally found the records, but King Jin came to me again the next day and said that the commercial tax last year dropped by 50% compared with four years ago. He wanted me to find out the reasons and write a report.
Analyzing the reasons for the decline in commercial taxes in the past five years, we are not allowed to work behind closed doors. We must keep detailed records. I have to ask the officials to go to the market to investigate again and visit the merchants. I have been very busy with this matter these days. Why did His Highness the King of Jin put the
Do you take taxes so seriously?”
Du You smiled slightly and said, "Do you think he did it for taxes?"
"if not?"
"It seems that the best you can do is to be Jing Zhaoyin."
Du You shook his head and said: "He doesn't want tax data. He cares about Chang'an's business and Chang'an's prosperity. What you see on the surface may not be true. Taxes are the most direct and authentic data."
Speaking of this, Du You sighed and said: "This is a wise master who has accomplished something!"
Du Wenxing was speechless for a long time, and Du You asked again: "Why did you come to me?"
Du Wenxing slapped his forehead hard, forgetting the business, and said quickly: "His Royal Highness King Jin said that he will come to visit the head of the family tomorrow morning. I am afraid that the head of the family will not be here, so I want to say something first."
Du You was stunned. Guo Song was coming to visit him?
He thought for a long time and asked: "Is King Jin in Chang'an today?"
"Here you go!"
Du Wenxing was stunned for a moment and said quickly: "The master of the house doesn't want to visit Prince Jin!"
"Why not?"
"But... King Jin came to visit the Du family. What an honor it is to the Du family. Why is the head of the family unwilling?" Du Wenxing really didn't understand.
Du You still shook his head and said: "You have to know why King Jin came to visit the Du family. This is the most important thing. King Jin's visit to the Du family is actually a gesture. It not only expresses respect for our Du family, but also wants to
Other aristocratic families in Guanzhong are at ease, but the Du family must be self-aware. We neither support him from the beginning like the Dugu family, nor marry him like the Xue family. We cannot afford to put on airs in front of King Jin. He will come to visit Du tomorrow.
Home is his arrangement, but I will take the initiative to visit him today. This is the correct attitude of our Du family."
"I understand. I will take the head of the family to visit His Highness the King of Jin in the afternoon. However, the Du family still has elders. Du Siye is the most capable secretary of the King of Jin and joins the army."
"Du Siye's decision to defect to the King of Jin was his own decision and had nothing to do with the family. We all know this, and His Royal Highness the King of Jin also knows this."
Du You saw that the time was almost up, then stood up and said: "Let's go now!"
........
An hour later, an ox cart arrived at Xingqing Palace. Du Wenxing got out of the cart first, and then Du You, the head of the Du family, also walked out.
Xingqing Palace is currently the temporary palace of the Jin Dynasty for Guo Song. Zhu Si has been living here before. Xingqing Palace is indeed very good. Guo Song feels that it has more life style than Jinyang Palace and is more like a big mansion. It is not as good as an imperial palace.
A sense of strictness and oppression.
Guo Song has been collecting various data in Chang'an these days. If you want to truly understand Chang'an, there is only one way to go in-depth. Taiyuan is only a transit point in Guo Song's struggle, and Chang'an is his end point.
At this time, a soldier said at the door: "Your Majesty, Jing Zhaoyin and the head of the Du family, Du You, are asking for an audience outside the palace gate!"
Guo Song was startled, then laughed, stood up and said, "Please come in and wait in Wensheng Hall!"
Guo Song went to Wensheng Hall first, which is the guest hall. Guo Song waited for a while and saw Du Wenxing walking quickly with a middle-aged man in his fifties.
This man is of medium build and has a slender appearance. At first glance, he is a very smart and capable person. Du You smiled and stepped forward and said: "I have heard about His Highness' reputation for a long time. I am lucky to see you today."
"I was planning to visit the head of the family early tomorrow morning, but I didn't expect the head of the family to come by himself."
"As a young member of the Du family, how can His Highness be condescended to? I should be the one here to pay homage to His Highness."
Guo Song nodded secretly. This Du You had a clear mind and sophisticated human nature. He was worthy of being a famous prime minister in the Middle Tang Dynasty in history. He smiled slightly and said: "It's the same for anyone who visits. No need for such red tape. Please come!"
"Your Highness, please!"
Guo Song made an invitation to Du Wenxing again, and the three of them entered the lobby.