Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 338 0333【Immortal Law】

Fu Xingzhong did not come from an ordinary family, his fifth ancestor was Fu Zhaoshou, the brother of the two Empress Fu.

Fu Chenglu, the ancestor of the fourth generation, became an official in Nanfeng, Jiangxi, and has multiplied in Nanfeng to this day.

Historically, Fu Xingzhong was a capable minister.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, the imperial court relied on Sichuan Caomi, and corruption ran rampant for 20 years.The people were in poverty, many people fled from their homes, and the prisons were filled with people who were falsely accused and convicted.In some prefectures and counties, [-]% to [-]% of the grain rice has been embezzled before it leaves Sichuan.

Fu Xingzhong was appointed in the face of danger and served as the commander-in-chief of Sichuan Xuanfu Department for money and food.

With the obstruction from the treacherous ministers in the court and the central government, the collective resistance of Sichuan officials was suppressed, and the relocation of warehouses was stopped, the law of attracting investment was implemented, and the official operation was changed to commercial operation.

In just two years, Sichuan has obtained more than 197 million stone-purchased rice, which not only exceeded the water transportation task, but also stored surplus grain in local warehouses.

Then, Fu Xingzhong stopped collecting rice to let the people of Sichuan recuperate.

He took out half of the money and bought money to help the people.In four years, Sichuan, where the people's livelihood is withered, will be rejuvenated, the people will be happy, and business interests will converge.

When he left office, there was no need to expropriate, buy rice, or buy money.Sichuan became the only region in the Southern Song Dynasty that did not need to collect these two kinds of miscellaneous taxes.

Let's put it this way, the policies implemented by Fu Xingzhong have made the people of Sichuan rich for ten years!

But no matter how good the policy is, it will be destroyed. After Fu Xingzhong left Sichuan, corruption among officials became more common, forcing merchants to burn food collectively and unite to stop cooperating with the government.

In ten years, the laws and regulations were completely broken, and Sichuan re-imposed miscellaneous taxes on rice purchases.

Only then did the imperial court send people to conduct a thorough investigation, and finally some improvements were made, but it was no longer the same as before.

"Woooooo~~~"

In the morning, the horn sounded.

The barracks started cooking early, and Fu Xingzhong knew that it was time to attack the city after eating.

After filling his stomach, Fu Xingzhong went to see Zhu Ming. The army had already started to move, heading towards the east and north of the city—the south of the city was the Han River, and the west of the city was left for the defenders to escape.

The miscellaneous soldiers pushed the moat bridge and slowly approached the moat.

The moat of Xingyuanfu City is very wide, and several folding trench bridges are needed to connect them to build a temporary pontoon bridge.

"Archery, archery!"

Xu Fuyan panicked and ordered.

Arrows rained down like rain, and were useless, they were all blocked by wooden boards covered with cowhide.

At this time, you must use a magic arm bow or a catapult to have a chance to destroy the advancing trench bridge.

Xingyuan Mansion does not have a magic arm bow, only more than a dozen temporary catapults.

However, the Song court did not promote the leveling cannon technology, only some craftsmen in Tokyo learned it.

Xu Fuyan asked people to build a traditional catapult.

Not only was the launch very slow, but the accuracy was not good. It only smashed a trench bridge, killed and injured a few miscellaneous soldiers, and watched pontoon bridges everywhere.

Outside the moat, eleven giant leveling guns have been erected successively in the north and east of the city, and stone bullets of various weights have also been carried over.

"Fire the cannon!"

"call!"

Deng Xia served as the artillery commander, and following his order, the boulder roared and flew towards the city wall.

The stone bombs thrown this time only weighed forty to fifty catties, loaded faster, and hit farther. The target was the catapult of the defenders.

The catapults of both sides fired at each other, and the defenders were condescending, but the firepower was suppressed by the rebels.

In particular, the working mechanism of the garrison catapult requires tens or hundreds of people to pull it.A large number of people gather together with great goals and low morale. Once two or three people are hit, dozens of people nearby will all flee.

Even, there is no need to hit people, the stone bullets falling nearby can scare away a lot of people.

After two rounds of projection by the rebels, all the catapults of the defenders were turned off.It's not that the accuracy of the leveling guns is so high, it's purely that the defenders are afraid of death and the gunners all hide behind the parapet and dare not stand up.

You can't even eat enough, what kind of life are you playing?
Xu Fuyan, Liu Yan, and Liu Huiyuan, although they knew what was good and bad, they watched with their own eyes as the soldiers were paid enough.But as long as they are not present, the defenders' rations will be deducted.

Really, the whole city is under siege, and officials are still withholding food!

Even if normal people want to break their heads, it is difficult to understand the thinking of these guys.

Perhaps in their view, deduction is normal, and it has become a habit.

"Single-number flat guns, exchange for the biggest stone bombs!"

The defenders' catapult was suppressed, and Deng Xia immediately ordered to change the bomb.

Each leveling cannon has a number, and even numbers continue to be suppressed, and stone bombs of dozens of catties are thrown.For the odd-numbered flat cannon, move forward a few steps and replace it with a boulder weighing more than 100 kilograms.

"boom!"

In the first round of boulder projections, only one hit the city wall, and two flew over the top of the city, and the rest fell in residential areas outside the city.

Xu Fuyan's face turned pale with fright, the boulder fell right near him, and he felt the city walls under his feet shaking.Looking at the smashed houses outside the city, there was a big hole in the roof, and a wall collapsed.

"The prefect, go, the tower is dangerous!" Liu Yan tugged at Xu Fuyan's sleeve.

Xu Fuyan waved his sleeves and broke free: "If I leave, who would dare to fight again?"

Liu Yan turned to look at the commander of the capital nearby, that guy was already lying on the top of the wall in fright.

Once the coach leaves, the defenders will have no heart to fight.

Liu Yan tremblingly observed the outside of the moat, and found that the leveling cannon was loading boulders again, and said in panic: "This is not the way to go, the morale of the officers and soldiers is too low. If the bandits shoot a few more times, I am afraid that some people will flee before the city wall collapses."

Liu Huiyuan ran over from the north wall, hid behind the female wall and shouted: "Prefect, you must send warriors out of the city to destroy those artillery vehicles!"

Xu Fuyan immediately sprinted and came to the commander of the capital, Zhang Xiang: "You gather [-] dead soldiers, and each person will be given five guan. If you destroy a cannon car, each person will be rewarded with ten guan. Regardless of life or death, the reward will be given to the family members of those who died in battle!"

Zhang Xiang stood up bravely and ordered to his followers: "Hurry up and recruit the dead!"

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

Although this is correct, the prerequisite is to get the money, or the family members have hope to get the money.

Now that the isolated city is trapped, it may be broken anytime soon.

Is there any use for receiving more rewards?
If it weren't for the majesty of the government, and the Zhizhou leading by example, personally standing at the top of the city to command, the defenders in the city would have fled long ago.

Several commanders ordered the recruitment of dead soldiers, but only a few dozen people signed up.

The second round of huge boulders being smashed made the defenders panic even more, and only a few people were recruited when they were recruited again.

They all commanded a total of 500 people and forced them to go out of the city to destroy the artillery carts.

Xu Fuyan felt that the morale was too low, and he must have collapsed before reaching the moat, so he pointed to Zhang Xiang and said, "You lead the team to kill yourself!"

"Ah?" Zhang Xiang was dumbfounded.

Anyway, there are not many officers and soldiers who can fight in the city, but there are several commanding envoys, which can be used as consumables.

Xu Fuyan yelled: "Those who disobey the order will be executed!"

Zhang Xiang wanted to say something, but he stopped, because Xu Fuyan would really chop off his head.

The north city gate opened, and under the leadership of Zhang Xiang, five hundred warriors rushed out with mournful faces.

The moat bridge has been demolished, but the rebels have built a pontoon bridge, and they can kill along the pontoon bridge.

Deng Chun has been traveling with Zhu Ming, but his younger brother Deng Xia has always stayed in Daming Village.

Deng Xia not only practiced martial arts, but also learned knowledge from Zhu Guoxiang, and even understood the principle of parabola, so he was appointed as the artillery commander.

"Tiger crouching guns out!" Deng Xia gave the order.

His elder brother, Deng Chun, also dispatched elites to protect the Tiger Crouching Pao and Ping Pao at any time.

Zhang Xiang took courage and led his troops to several pontoon bridges. When he found that the bandits hadn't shot arrows, he regained his courage.

After crossing the river and going ashore, Zhang Xiang raised his knife and shouted before he had time to regroup, "Kill the thief and serve the country, right here..."

"Boom boom boom!"

More than a dozen tiger crouching guns fired shotguns together.

Of the five hundred officers and soldiers, dozens fell to the ground crying.Fortunately, no one was shot or slightly injured, and he didn't even react to escape, and continued to rush forward for a few steps before he was stunned.

Zhang Xiang was so lucky that he rushed to the front and was unscathed.Silly turned around and looked back, then threw away the weapon and knelt down: "Xingyuan Mansion commands Zhang Xiang, and is willing to surrender Zhu...Master Zhu!"

The defenders on the northern city wall were all frightened and stupid at the moment.

Xu Fuyan pointed to the outside of the city in horror: "Then... what is that?"

Liu Huiyuan sat down on the ground, disheartened and said: "Kaicheng surrendered, and there will be less killing. Once this thing comes out, no one in the city will dare to fight."

Xu Fuyan turned around to look at the soldiers around him, only to see fear on their faces.

"hu~hu~hu~"

At this moment, a huge boulder weighing more than a hundred catties roared towards him again.

"Run, Yuanzhang Guild Immortal Technique!"

I don't know who yelled, which quickly caused the defenders to collapse.

Zhu Guoxiang has a very high prestige among the people in Yangzhou, and there are also various rumors in Xingyuan Mansion.

Especially the Wannian Ganoderma lucidum, when returning the stolen money extorted by the eunuch, it was carried outside the Fucheng to show up.Countless people saw it with their own eyes that day, and since Zhu Guoxiang was recruited by the emperor, many people believed that Zhu Guoxiang had met a fairy.

What's more, calling corn "immortal rice" is what Lu Tixue came up with when he promoted the plant in Xingyuan Mansion.

At this moment, the defenders are completely convinced that Zhu Xianggong will definitely know the magic spell, and he is currently casting spells in the army outside the city!

"Come back, come back and defend the city!"

Xu Fuyan shouted anxiously, but he couldn't stop it at all. The defenders on the entire city wall ran away.

Soon, the eastern city wall was also brought down.Although I don't know what happened, but the friendly army is already running away, wouldn't I be a fool if I didn't run away?
Xu Fuyan was powerless, and said angrily in his heart: "Kaicheng surrendered, maybe the lives of the people in the city can be saved. My Xu family lived in Song Lu for nothing, and today I am an unworthy descendant!"

His great-grandfather, Xu Mi, was the first Jinshi in Quzhou in the Song Dynasty.His grandfather was a Jinshi, and his second and third younger brothers were all Jinshi...

As for his ancestral house, Fang La had set fire to it, and all the belongings in the family had been robbed.

The gate of the city was opened wide, and Xu Fuyan led the officials out.

Liu Yan staggered back to the mansion, took out a rope and hanged himself, but was discovered by his wife in time, and quickly called a servant to rescue him.

Before Zhu Ming entered the city, a fast boat delivered Zhu Guoxiang's letter.

After reading the letter, Zhu Ming turned his head and said to Fu Xingzhong, "I'm going to break my promise. Your Excellency can't leave. You have to stay in Hanzhong to observe politics for three months."

Fu Xingzhong was in a sluggish state, and was also frightened by the tiger crouching cannon.

Zhu Ming called out several times in a row, and Fu Xingzhong finally came to his senses, and then felt that it was outrageous: "Guanzheng?"

"Yes, it's just watching politics," Zhu Ming said. "I'll let you officials of the imperial court watch how thieves and bandits govern the people! My father really has a wonderful idea to come up with such a novel thing."

Not only Fu Xingzhong, but also Zhang Gen, who was detained in Jinzhou, and the scholars who followed Zhu Ming, all had to stay in Hanzhong to watch politics!
(End of this chapter)