Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 224
On May [-]th, the sky began to rain heavily, and it was another midsummer year.

The scorching heat in the air was washed away by the heavy rain, and the water curtain was connected between the sky and the earth. A large amount of rain poured down, and the sound of the crashing rain alternated between far and near, covering all the sounds between the sky and the earth.

The little girl was kneeling on the red and gold soft blanket, lying on the bed with her little head resting on her arms, staring blankly at the water splashes in the courtyard with her big curious eyes open, and the swing she usually played under the old pear tree in the distance was empty in the wind. Swaying lightly, the grass in the cracks between the masonry swayed in the heavy rain.

"Yanyan, go inside, be careful of catching a cold." Xiao Siwen smiled and pulled up his smart little daughter and let her go inside.

The girl stood up and asked curiously, "Daddy, why is it raining?"

"Because there are clouds in the sky."

"Why are there clouds?" the girl asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Because... because the flow of qi is blocked by the mountain, it is said in ancient books"

"What is that gas?"

"Ahem, please help daddy go to the kitchen first, and ask them when the mutton will be roasted." Xiao Siwen quickly changed the subject and prevaricated the matter. With a sigh of relief, I almost made a fool of myself.

Then he shook his head and laughed. He was in a good mood these two days. Since he came to the south to serve as the left behind in Nanjing, he has always wanted to make some achievements.

The last time their Khitan army went south across the Yellow River to occupy Daliang, the capital of the Central Plains, was only ten years ago. Now how can these younger generations humiliate their ancestors.

He also has selfish intentions, he wants to use his military exploits to climb the ranks, the Liao State has two courts, the North and the South, the north court is in Shangjing, and the south court is in Youzhou, Nanjing.

He knew that the North Court was in charge of the affairs of the Khitan clan, and the South Court was in charge of the affairs of all ethnic groups. Although the South Court was important, the North Court was the political center.

The Liao Dynasty selected officials to study the Central Plains examination, which followed the Tang system. The imperial examinations included Ci Fu as the main subject, and the law as miscellaneous subjects (later changed to Ci Fu and Jing Yi). In the previous Emperor Taizu, he was so thirsty for talents that he almost every now and then. There are imperial examinations, and then gradually changed to once a year, but the frequency is still higher than that in the Central Plains;

Most of the imperial examination referees in the Great Liao Kingdom were Han and Bohai people, which resulted in many Han Chinese among the middle and low-level officials of the Liao Kingdom, but the highest level was always dominated by the Yelu family and the Xiao family, the two Khitan empress families.

There are also Han Chinese among the high-level officials in the Liao Kingdom, but they are in the minority.

As a descendant of the Xiao family, the nephew of Prime Minister Xiao Dilu, and the son-in-law of the eldest princess of the Liaoyan Kingdom, Xiao Siwen was born noble and destined to be extraordinary. He also has great ambitions. He is not willing to stay in Nanjing, he also wants to return Go to Shangjing and return to the political center.

Of course, if he is allowed to stay in Youzhou, it is absolutely necessary. The South Court also plays an important role in the Liao Kingdom. A large number of middle-level officials in the Liao Kingdom are Han and Bohai people. At least he should stay in Nanjing as the king of the South Courtyard.

This time, Xiao Siwen found a good opportunity. Taking advantage of the emptiness of the border of Zhou State, he unexpectedly captured a border county on the other side, which would become his capital to ask for credit.

Xiao Siwen knew in his heart that the Liao Kingdom and the Central Plains had fought back and forth for decades, and capturing a county on the border was not a great achievement. After all, they entered Daliang City 13 years ago.

But the credit is the same, it also depends on who made it. If an ordinary general makes such a credit, at most he will be rewarded, but he is a descendant of the Xiao family, a son-in-law, and the nephew of the prime minister. Beijing can also make waves.

This is his plan, so Xiao Siwen is in a good mood these days.

Xiao Siwen thinks he is very smart, he is ready to claim credit, but also knows how to grasp the scale. He knows well that he can't fight Zhou Guo. He knows all the great things that Zhou Guo has done in the south these years. Zhou Guo's general Shi Congyun defeated Shu Zhou Guo, Tang Guo, Nanping, and Wuping have great reputations, and he doesn't want to start a big war with Zhou Guo.

The elite army of the Liao Kingdom is all in the north, and he is no match for the Zhou Kingdom in a full-scale war.

So he only captured one county. This kind of petty fights often happened on the border between the two countries. To the south of the Zhou army were Tang, Shu, Nanhan, Wuyue and so on.

Wu Yue is a vassal of Zhou, but Tang once sent people from the sea to Youzhou to contact him, asking him to attack Zhou from the north. Because it is too far south.

But he felt that there were so many countries behind him, and Zhou Guo would definitely not go to war with him for this small county.

Every time Xiao Siwen thinks of such a calculation, he feels a little proud. It is conceivable that he will either be promoted to the king of the South Court in a few years, or return to the North Court to take up an important position.

Just as he was thinking about the good things in the future, a soldier came in wearing a coir raincoat and said, "My son-in-law, there is new news from the south."

"What news?" Xiao Siwen asked.

"The frontline scouts reported that Zhou Guo has increased his troops in Cangzhou."

"How much more?" Xiao Siwen became nervous instantly.

"Some say hundreds, some say more than 1000, I don't know how many." The soldier hesitated: "It's different when the scouts saw it, but it's about a thousand."

"One thousand." Xiao Siwen paced slowly, this is not too many, not too many, because 1000 people are not enough to go north, it doesn't look like Zhou Guo is going to fight a big war, but not too many, because 1000 people are not enough Small amount, if Zhou Guo did nothing, why did he send so many people to Cangzhou.

"Could it be that they want to take back the lost county?" Xiao Siwen pondered for a while, and felt that this was the most likely possibility. They just wanted to take back the lost county, and they didn't mean to fight a big war.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was possible, "If this is the case, it makes sense that the Han'er near Cangzhou was building a river."

With such considerations in mind, Xiao Siwen felt relieved, and was not as nervous as before. If they just sent 1000 people to regain the lost county, they wouldn't have to be so nervous.

It was only seven or eight years since Zhou Guo was founded, and their Daliao had dealt with the Central Plains regime for decades. Fighting each other was commonplace, and it was nothing more than another Zhou country.

Then he said, "It's not a big deal, let's do it as usual."

The soldier nodded, and retreated in the rain. Xiao Siwen quickly went to find his daughter, but he didn't take this matter to heart.

the other side.

"Why did you come back so quickly?" Shi Congyun said to the messengers in surprise. Eighty miles away, they arrived early the next morning and brought a guide from Cangzhou.

The lead messenger laughed loudly: "Isn't it because the commander-in-chief will pick our skins off! He escorted people here overnight." Everyone laughed.

"Haha, go and rest, you can do things, and you will be rewarded later." Shi Congyun also laughed, and then told Luqiu Zhongqing beside him: "Take them and distribute them to each army. The forward four armies have a guide and set off immediately. , without delay."

Luqiu Zhongqing took the order and went down with many guides to make arrangements.

Shi Congyun rode a horse and led many soldiers, Wang Zhong, Wang Quanbin and others up the small hill to the east. From a distance, many soldiers were already lining up at the mountain pass to the north, and the shouting could be heard from a long distance away.

The armor of the cavalry at the front is heavy, reflecting in the morning light, and the swords and guns are flickering coldly. The four iron dragons are ready to go, gathered around the north road, and the flags are slowly fluttering in the morning wind.

On the left side of the avenue is a forest with sparse masson pine trees, and on the right side is a vast field. Ever since crossing the Yellow River to the south, Shi Congyun feels that there are fields everywhere, and he can’t see the fields on the side, but many of them have been abandoned due to years of war. up.

Shi Congyun asked the local people, and they said that many of these abandoned lands belonged to those rich and powerful landlords. After the disaster of war at the end of Tang Dynasty, the war in Hebei has never stopped, and there will be wars every now and then. The rich and powerful families have fled with their families. , Either went north to the Liao Kingdom, or crossed the Huai River to the south, and many traveled thousands of miles to Shu.

He asked curiously, don't you plant that waste land?

The people in the village told him that he dared not plant because they did not have the title deed from the government, and it would be a serious crime if they were caught.

Shi Congyun was even more puzzled. He remembered that the government once issued an edict to solve this problem. If there is no one to cultivate the land in the world, they can voluntarily plant it. If the original land owner does not return within three years, the land will belong to the new farmer.

So I asked some local people, and the young people were embarrassed and dared not say it. He is also a person with a lot of experience, and immediately understood that there was a problem, so he asked the old man in Xiakou Village.

After asking, I found out that the people didn't know that the imperial court had such an edict, and the local governor and county magistrate never said it, and many of the local governor and county magistrates were originally from rich families.

The imperial examinations in the Tang Dynasty were not like those in the later Song Dynasty. The number of talents selected by the imperial examinations was very limited each year, and the proportion was very small. After all, the later Tang Dynasty became a country dominated by wealthy clans and warlords.

After the wars of the Five Dynasties, as long as the smart warlords dared to bully the common people, but did not dare to attack the local clans, the prestige of the central government continued to decline. After all, the local government was basically autonomous. The result of local autonomy was that many local officials were local powerful clans. The wasteland was originally theirs.

The officials are for the good of the common people, and want the refugees to have land to plant, but in a chaotic world like the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the emperor still wanted to protect himself, so how could he have time to take care of those things carefully.

The so-called imperial power does not come down to the county, and the squires rule the four directions. How can these local big clans allow the land to fall into the hands of the people? It's not theirs anymore.

He also thought that Yongzheng wanted to implement the idea of ​​dividing the land into acres, instead of paying taxes according to the head of the family. is fabricated.

Shi Congyun lamented that there are indeed Huang masters everywhere in this world, and the more troubled times are, the more proud these people are, because everyone depends on them.

After the old people finished speaking, they knelt down and cried, begging him to call the shots, but Shi Congyun fell silent.

He just helped up several old people one by one, then turned and left silently.

He has never thought of himself as a hero, but just a mortal fighting for power and profit in order to protect himself, and he knows that he can't control these things now, and what can he do about things that the officials can't do anything about.

If the world is settled, the Central Guards don't have to deal with foreign enemies with all their strength, and the imperial court doesn't have to compromise with these people in order to fight with all their strength. Perhaps they can turn their guns to deter these gentry and force them to make concessions.

Shi Congyun roughly understood what was going on in his heart and took this matter to heart, and soon he didn't care about it.

The meal needs to be eaten one bite at a time, so he should settle the matter at hand first.

The four cavalry brigades in the distance started to go north one after another, and the continuous team became several long dragons. It was less than [-] miles away from Cangzhou. They suddenly arrived in Cangzhou and then launched an attack suddenly. This was Shi Congyun's early tactics.

At noon, after the armies set off, the remaining armies including Wang Shenqi, Xiang Xun, Dong Zunhui, and Luo Yanhuan also began to follow up quickly.

Shi Congyun's central army is the largest part, including Shenhuo Capital, most of Konghe's first wing, Konghe's second wing, Tianxiong elite soldiers, etc., about 3 people, led by himself, with Wang Zhong and Wang Quanbin as deputy , heading north on the afternoon of the first day.

In the afternoon of the next day, Shi Congyun's central army arrived in Cangzhou, and all the vanguard troops had already left Cangzhou. According to the report, the last one also left for the west in the afternoon of the same day, only an hour or two away from them.

Han Tong, Zhao Kuangyin and others came to greet him outside the city, and many Cangzhou officials rushed to greet him.

Old Zhao still laughed when he saw him, but there was a lot of complexity in his smile, Han Bingyan still treated everyone like that, and those who didn't understand his faults thought he looked down on others.

Everyone invited him to rest in the city, but Shi Congyun refused.

Shi Congyun said to the two of them: "You two have worked hard to clear the waterway for the army, but it is not convenient for us to enter the city with a large army, and a certain plan to continue to the north."

"So fast?" Zhao Kuangyin was surprised.

"Well, the army is very fast. The main force of the Khitan is in the north, and there is no time to go south in a short time. We have to seize this gap." Shi Congyun said, not going to enter the city after speaking, ready to continue to lead the army north.

At this moment, Zhao Kuangyin cupped his hands and said: "The last general has the courage, I am most familiar with the terrain in the north of this pass, and I can be a guide."

Shi Congyun was taken aback. He really didn't expect Lao Zhao to say that, but it made sense when he thought about it. Lao Zhao had stayed in Hebei for more than a year and even guarded Cangzhou, so he was familiar with both water and land routes.

Then he nodded: "Okay, please trouble General Zhao."

Then the army did not stop, did not enter the city, passed by Cangzhou and continued to go north until later in the evening, when they bumped into an orderly on the way, the other party excitedly reported to him: "Commander, General Shao led his army to break through the Qianning army this afternoon. More than [-] people have been killed, and the troops have been led to the north, and the garrison of the Qianning army has been captured.

After that, General Shao and others led the army to continue northward. "

Shi Congyun was overjoyed, and asked the messenger to go down to rest, and then called the messenger beside him and said, "Go north immediately, tell Shao Ji, I will remember the credit for him, let him boldly fight north, and take down Duliukou as soon as possible." ! Let the water army be unimpeded.

The army will stay in the Qianning army overnight tonight. If you encounter a strong enemy, report back immediately, and I will send him reinforcements. "

The messenger took the order and immediately went to convey the order.

Shi Congyun looked at the sky, the sun was about to set, and they had already passed Cangzhou at this time. In the north of Cangzhou, he ordered cruelly: "Tell the whole army that the Qianning army in the north has been captured by our army. When will we arrive tonight?" When will the Ganning army rest?"

After the order was issued, the marching speed of the army immediately increased to a higher level.

The Qianning Army is an army of the Liao Army stationed in the border area. In the north of Cangzhou, it is the place where troops are stationed on the border to defend against the Zhou State. The Liao State advertises that there are 1 standing troops, but in fact there are only more than 1000, and most of them are local recruits. Bing, the Privy Council has known these details for a long time.

It was not surprising that these people could not withstand the surprise attack of the two thousand elite cavalry led by Shao Ji. He deliberately stopped eighty miles north of Cangzhou, and then divided his troops to let the pure cavalry go north quickly for this unexpected effect.

Shi Congyun personally led the team, and the Chinese army did not stop to rest. They drove northward in the starry night. The avenue was wide. On the east side of the road, there was a large field of farmland with wheat ears swaying under the starry sky. I caught up from behind and reported to him excitedly, "Commander, Wang Hong, the governor of Ningzhou in Liao Kingdom, surrendered to General Shi (Shi Yanchao) in Kaesong!"

(End of this chapter)