The big man is on the run

Chapter 130 Liu Yi's Decision

"Ma Chao led an army to attack Cheng Yin in Youfufeng Yangcheng?"

Hearing this, Liu Yi's face was a little dignified.

At this time, he was on his way from Wuzhangyuan to Chencang. The purpose of this trip was to inspect the Qinling Mountains bordering Zhanglu in Hanzhong.

The high mountains and high mountains here are seriously infested with bandits. Bandits in many places will drill into the Qinling Mountains when they hear the officers and soldiers coming, and even go to Zhang Lu's territory.

Liu Yi was a little confused at first, but after he witnessed the conditions of the various plank roads in Qinling Mountains, he roughly understood.

This place has high mountains and deep streams, and they will retreat to Zhang Lu at any time, so it is really difficult to wipe out the small group of bandits.

Therefore, Liu Yi had to slightly increase the local garrison troops in Wuzhangyuan, Chencang and other places to guard the key passes and block the bandits in the Qinling Mountains.

It's no wonder that Liu Yi can't stay, let alone how boring the ancient winter days lacking entertainment activities are, he can't stay in Weiyang Palace every day to enjoy and study the country.

Let's just say that my Guanzhong site is the land of three county-level administrative units in total. Liu Yi is so dedicated to his career that he can't wait to visit all the places.

Among other things, at least during this winter patrol, or surprise inspection, he found out a lot of local administrative problems.

For example, the greenhouse vegetables that he thought were very good before, originally, Liu Yi only granted a part of the transportation rights. Originally, Liu Yi just wanted to find some profitable work for the boring people in winter.

But Liu Yi made a mistake this time by underestimating the shamelessness of the "upper class" in this era.

Jing Zhaoyin is fine, the Son of Heaven doesn't dare to be too blatant, You Fufeng and Zuo Fengxu are too much, the local tycoons even bring goods with human flesh and don't give money, what's more, they even hurt the merchants Beat up.

Therefore, Liu Yi did something bad with good intentions.

Fortunately, no one was killed, otherwise Liu Yi would really have a disturbed conscience.

He wouldn't even blink his eyes if he killed ten Li Jue, but Liu Yi felt very sad that the people's interests were damaged because of his own policies.

This is the first time he started to reflect, has he drifted away during this time?
In Liu Yi's view, turning the tables from a desperate situation is no longer a credit to boast about, but more like a heavy responsibility.

Because of this, Liu Yi began to repeatedly discuss with the ministers the pros and cons of many reforms. Will the grassroots get out of shape and cause bad things?
But to Liu Yi's relief, not yet.

Because the reform of the official system basically only involves the center, and the reform of Liucao to six departments, and the reform of Shangshutai to Shangshu Province did not involve too much interest and personnel changes. Officials died in the chaos of the war.

In suppressing bandits and attacking tyrants, since the target is very clear, there are basically no cases of wrong killings.

There is resistance to the matter of garrisoning fields, but in the context of Guanzhong's withering people and more land, the problem is also within a controllable range.

Just from another perspective, the collusion between officials and bandits is still very serious.

For example, in some counties, there are actually a large number of gangs of thieves, and these gangs of thieves gather around the county government.Such gangs of thieves usually only dare to show their faces at night, and the rest of the time, they usually hide in the dark, and few people pay attention.

The previous officers and soldiers did not pay attention to these "farmers" who had put down their weapons and entered the county in a grand manner.

In addition, there are some villages around the county seat. Many people in these villages actually have "side jobs".The people in these villages are villagers during the day, and become bandits at night, blocking roads and robbing in groups, which is very difficult to deal with.

In the beginning, it was just an accidental discovery by Liu Yi.

Liu Yi, who was patrolling in micro-clothes, saw a large number of people fleeing near some county government offices. Some of them fled to the west, some fled to the east, and some ran directly to the south. This behavior is obviously escaping from something. , which made Liu Yi very puzzled.

At that time, no troops entered the county seat, and Liu Yi was just conducting inspections under the protection of a dozen or so highly skilled imperial guards.

He thought of a possibility, could it be that some thieves entered the county government office?
But when Liu Yi thought of this, he immediately dismissed the idea.Although the thieves are terrifying, they are not so powerful that even the county town can be breached.This is Guanzhong, and there are hundreds of soldiers and horses in the county. This is the essence of Guanzhong.

Is it?
Liu Yi's guess was soon proved.

At that time, when Liu Yi had just left the city and was about to continue to inspect the next county seat, he received a secret report saying that these fleeing villagers were thieves who were being sheltered by the county magistrate, who took a lot of bribes from them.

But the county magistrate received the news that nearly a thousand cavalry guards were staying fifty miles outside the city, so he let them run quickly.

Unexpectedly, Liu Yi, who sneaked in with makeup in advance, saw everything.

Such a reason immediately aroused Liu Yi's anger, which was a blatant deception.

Liu Yi's anger could not be calmed down simply. He immediately ordered the mobilization of soldiers and horses to arrest the officials and bandits involved, and then sent them to Chang'an to let the court's judicial department deal with these greedy and shameless officials. The world knows what will happen if you cheat the court.

It just happened to let the newly established Ministry of Punishment and Dali Temple open their doors.

Both the Ministry of Punishment and the Dali Temple were chosen by Liu Yi himself. Both departments were established under his rule. He has full confidence in both departments.

However, his confidence didn't last long, when Liu Yi encountered the trouble of a Ma Chaobing soldier.

Without notifying the imperial court or Zhong Yao, the governor of Yongzhou, Ma Chao arbitrarily mobilized troops to attack the city of Youfufeng.

In terms of nature, it is very bad.

But Liu Yi still exercised maximum restraint, and after notifying Zhang Xiu's troops stationed in Youfufeng, he led Qianqi to Yangcheng.

Ma Teng did not rebel, this was Ma Chao's private action.

However, Ma Dai somehow led the armies of Anding County and Ma Chao to join together, and the two armies had already begun to join forces in Yangcheng.

And Yangcheng, that is, Youfufeng, is already Sanfu, and it stands to reason that it is under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. Now, Ma Chao's army has invaded this city, which also means that Ma Chao violated the agreement between Ma Teng and the imperial court and entered the city. Guanzhong Sansuke.

This situation shocked Liu Yi very much.

Ma Chao, how dare you have such courage? !Or is Ma Teng instigating to test the bottom line of the court?

Liu Yi did not pursue Ma Teng's whereabouts, nor did he pursue Ma Chao's behavior of disobeying the imperial order by sending troops without authorization. His first task was to rush to Yangcheng.

Liu Yi knew very well that Sanfu in Guanzhong was his only base, and Youfufeng was one of the main components of Sanfu, the west gate of the entire hinterland of Guanzhong, directly facing Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and Ma Teng in Longxi. If there is a mistake, it is impossible to let this matter go lightly, and it must be taken seriously.

But if Ma Chao and Ma Dai really did something in Yangcheng, Liu Yi couldn't guarantee that he could stop it with the troops he brought with him now, and it would take time to mobilize Zhang Xiu's troops.

And he had a faint feeling in his heart, which seemed to have some connection with the butterfly effect he caused
Liu Yi's worries didn't last long. When Liu Yi received the news that Yangcheng hadn't been conquered, he had a little time to hurry instead of worrying about Yangcheng being conquered by one blow.

However, Liu Yi was also a little helpless. It would be easy for Ma Chao to retreat quickly after the fight. In this situation, he had to mediate by himself as the Son of Heaven.

He couldn't just watch Yangcheng be slaughtered by Ma Chao.

Before Liu Yi arrived at Yangcheng, Yangcheng was already in chaos.

Ma Chao's army actually established a defensive circle in Yangcheng in just a few days.

Yes, Ma Chao is not good at siege. After he failed to win in one go that night, he began to siege the city.

Ma Chao gambled that there was not much food in the city, because most of the food for these refugees from east was stored in the surrounding villages.

Ma Chao and Ma Dai's defense circle construction also exceeded Liu Yi's expectations.

The area of ​​this defensive circle is very large, occupying almost all the area outside Yangcheng, and it has formed a defense line that is not strong but absolutely impossible for even a rabbit to escape.

Numerous wooden fences and pits have been erected around Yangcheng, and there are earth mountains at key nodes.

After Ma Chao received reinforcements from Ma Dai, he took advantage of his troops, and his subordinates were almost all cavalry, so he blocked Cheng Yin in the city directly by using his mobility and strength advantages.

As for Li Kan's troops, because they didn't expect Ma Chao to break through Baihugang so fast, they stayed outside instead. They didn't dare to stay around Yangcheng, and went directly south to seek assistance from the government army.

The people in Yangcheng did not dare to move outside Yangcheng easily during this period of time, and could only stay within the walls of Yangcheng.

Although Ma Chao did not kill the surrounding people, the refugees who left the city rashly were all treated as spies and messengers.

The livelihood of these people is maintained by the few food supplies in Yangcheng, so they must rely on the food supply from the only granary, otherwise they will starve to death, and they dare not take the risk of retreating outside the city. , means losing the protection of life.

Moreover, as the siege time got longer and longer, the rations of the people in Yangcheng began to be restricted. They had to find the gaps between the courtyard walls to catch rats and other food. At the same time, Cheng Yinjun had to allocate some of them. People are responsible for supervising those people, lest green-skinned rogues steal and rob food inside.

And the Ma Chao siege army outside, like locusts, ravaged outside the city, did not kill people, but only robbed food. I've had a full meal.

In this year and month, such an approach has already violated the court regulations.

After all, it was not the era when Li Jue and Guo Si were in power, and this was the area of ​​Youfufeng again.

But Ma Chao is not worried that these people who have a rather aggressive folk style will rise up to make trouble, because his army has already set up many checkpoints around Yangcheng. The people caught up.

Ma Chao's deployment is also to prevent the people in the vicinity from sending news to his enemies.

If this happens, Ma Chao will send a large number of cavalry to drive out these people who are hostile to them.

The response of the imperial court was also very quick. While mobilizing Zhang Xiu's troops stationed in Youfufeng, Liu Yi personally led a thousand horses to come. On the way, he also gathered hundreds of horses from Li Kan's troops. The news has already been sent back. into Ma Chao's ears.

After learning of this situation, Ma Chao immediately issued an order to order all the scouts outside the city to strengthen the monitoring of the surrounding area of ​​Yangcheng.

(End of this chapter)