Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 356 0351 [Into Chengdu]

The civilian husband is cleaning the battlefield, and prisoners are being detained everywhere.

There are still thousands of warriors who have not returned after chasing and routing. Calculated by the time, it is estimated that they have chased for seven or eight miles.

Zhu Ming had already taken off his Heavenly King Armor, and was constantly receiving and processing various battle reports. He took the time to ask, "What are you thinking?"

Zhao Yu, who was captured before the battle, lost his mind at first, but after recovering, he began to meditate.He replied: "I was thinking, how did I lose so fast."

"Have you come up with any results?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhao Yu said: "In a battle of tens of thousands of people, we must be cautious. There are very few commanders who directly order the whole army to go up without probing. If you dare to do this, you are just deceiving me. It is difficult to command all the troops. The whole army goes up The war is disrupted, the bandits and soldiers are in chaos, and the officers and soldiers are even more chaotic. When the officers and soldiers are in chaos and the various ministries are not connected smoothly, your Excellency will lead the cavalry directly to our central army."

"How can there be so much nonsense?" Zhu Ming said with a smile, "From the previous attack on the mountain to the artillery battle before the formation, the morale of the officers and soldiers was low. When you changed the formation and there was chaos, how could I miss this good opportunity? The ripe fruit, Is there any difference between picking standing, sitting, picking with a ladder, or even picking after cutting down the tree?"

"That's right." Zhao Yu nodded.

Bai Sheng suddenly ran over happily: "Secretary Zheng (Zheng Hong) counted the luggage and seized 67 sets of infantry armor!"

Ju Ming was in a good mood: "Let him keep it safe, and I will reward it for the meritorious service and give it to the generals of the army."

The infantry armor of the Song Dynasty was composed of more than 1000 leaves. The heaviest one weighed 70 jin (spearman), and the lighter one weighed more than 40 jin (bowman).

Zhao Xun felt very uncomfortable. The dozens of infantry armors were found by Huang Gai in the Chengdu Bingzhang Depot.Specially selected strong men to wear them, and was arranged by Zhao Yu in the central army, ready to go into battle at a critical moment, and arrive as a group of surprise soldiers to determine the battle situation.

As a result, those heavy-armored warriors who had high hopes, faced Zhu Ming's own cavalry charge, and they scattered in a frenzy!
Usually, he ate meat and raised it thickly, but before the battle, he did not cause any damage to the bandits.

Zhao Kui muttered to himself: "One man is in trouble, but the seven temples are ruined. He is killed and his hands are laughed at by the world. Why? The offensive and defensive forces are different if benevolence and justice are not applied."

Zhu Ming said, "You also know that benevolence and justice are not done?"

Zhao Yan smiled wryly: "As a clan, I have made great achievements in the past, and the officials promoted me to be the Minister of the Ministry of War. But Tong Guan said a few words casually, and I can only resign. The clan is like this, how can the common people be more miserable? The family was deceived by treacherous ministers, so that today's disaster happened."

"He is so smart, who can be fooled?" Ju Ming spoke disdainfully.

Zhao Yu remained silent.

The soldiers who chased the defeated soldiers brought the prisoners back one after another.

On the next day, meritorious deeds will be rewarded, and fifty sets of infantry armor will be rewarded to generals and officers of all sizes.The other seven officers were awarded to soldiers who fought bravely.

There are still ten pairs left, which are reserved for the troops rewarded to Li Bao.

The official position of the general of the rebel army follows the system of the Song Dynasty.

Now there are only two rulers, namely Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao.

The commanders of each army are called the Commander of the Capital and the Commander of the Deputy Capital.

The commanders of each battalion are the commanders and deputy commanders.

The generals were overjoyed when they received the armor, it could save their lives.

This is especially true for generals who already have chain armor and wear infantry armor on the outside. The two layers of protection can be charged at will.

It's a pity that it's a bit heavy. The two layers of armor are superimposed, totaling 67 or [-] catties, and the lighter weight is [-] catties.

Corpses were displayed in the field, and captives lined up to identify them.

If any neighbors recognize him, he will be cremated immediately on the spot.

The Song and Song dynasties were the most popular dynasties in ancient Chinese society where cremation was most popular.

Cremations are more common the closer you get to the capital.

The cremation prevalent areas in the Northern Song Dynasty were in Kaifeng and Hedong.The cremation prevalent areas in the Southern Song Dynasty were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan.

The reason is: there are many people and the land is narrow.

(There are also exceptions. Cremation was also popular in the Song Dynasty in the two lakes with vast land and sparse population.)
In the archaeological tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty in Sichuan, cremation tombs accounted for more than 80%!

One corpse after another, after being cremated, the ashes were wrapped in the clothes of the deceased and brought back to their hometown by their fellow villagers for burial.

Most of these were trampled to death, and less than 15% were actually killed by the rebels.

Huang Gai, who fled quickly, has been captured and moved relatively freely.Looking at the scene of the burning of the ashes, he sighed, "Sichuan will definitely do what the Zhu thief did!"

"Such a talent, how can he be a thief." Zhao Xun shook his head again and again.

The two of them were defeated and must bear the responsibility of losing Sichuan.

Zhu Ming didn't intend to kill him, but put him back in Tokyo for the faint king to deal with.Most of them will be dismissed from the editorial management, and they will die of old age from now on. What happened to the two will chill the hearts of more loyal officials.

Gao Jingshan hid and dared not see anyone, and deliberately avoided Zhao Yu and Huang Gai, trying not to drag the family down if he could hide it for a while.

It was Gao Jingshan who came up with the idea of ​​cremating the corpse and returning the ashes, and it can get three benefits:
First, prevent the occurrence of plague.

Second, to stabilize the hearts of prisoners.

Third, appease the people in central Shu and spread the reputation of benevolence and righteousness.

The terrified captives quickly settled down after getting the ashes of their fellow countrymen, and they didn't want to escape.

Since they are asked to bring the ashes of their neighbors home, they will definitely not be killed, and they will be released.

Although they didn’t have enough to eat every day, they were extremely active in their work. The prisoners rushed to complete whatever task the rebel army assigned, and they just wanted to perform better and go home early.

After resting for a whole day, Zhu Ming led the whole army south.

After arriving in Mianzhou, all captives were released immediately and a small amount of food was given to them to return home.

Li Bao led his troops back the same way, and headed towards Hezhou and Quzhou again, blocking the back of the Kuizhou soldiers by the way—those guys have already recovered the entire territory of Bazhou.

Lin Chong and Bai Qi led the army to go south to capture Jianzhou (Jianyang), Ziyang, Zizhou (Zizhong), and Neijiang, with the ultimate goal of taking Fushun prison.It is a tax-heavy area, and there are a large number of salt wells in several surrounding counties.

Zhu Ming led the main force and went straight to Chengdu!

……

The ancestral home of the Wang family in the suburbs of Huayang County.

The old servant ran into the study: "Master, the children of all families are back!"

Wang Zhongao asked, "How much did you come back?"

"The ones who didn't die came back, and brought back some ashes," the old servant said in detail, "They were caught by the bandits, they were not abused, and they were able to return home with rations. "

Sitting at the desk, Wang Zhongao sighed: "With this approach, the people in the surrounding states and counties of Chengdu will no longer have the will to resist. As long as the Zhu thief does not exploit too much and collects a little less tax than the government, he will definitely win the allegiance of the people. It is really a clever method. Sending soldiers from the countryside back to their hometown with the ashes of their robes is a hundred times better than training captive soldiers!"

Wang Zhongao went out on crutches, and was greeted respectfully all the time.

When I came to the threshing ground in the village, many villagers gathered in winter, and a group of soldiers were telling their experiences.

"General Zhu is very majestic, wearing a pair of golden armor, just like the king of heaven in the temple," a young man said with joy, as if he had come out of the shadows, "General Zhu's horse is also a steed, I was compiled as a queen The army was sent to stop General Zhu from rushing to kill. Thousands of soldiers from the right army were scared when they encountered hundreds of cavalry from General Zhu. I had two extra legs. I didn’t run very far when I heard a lot of people shouting behind me. I turned around and saw that the Chinese army’s flag had fallen.”

Another young man said: "I am in the central army, and Commander Zhao asked us to form an formation and raise our guns. We are not fools. The rear army has collapsed, and the central army can stop it? Those heavy armored warriors dare not stop them." Wearing armor weighing tens of kilograms, each of them ran faster than me. But I could see clearly that General Zhu was riding a yellow puma, and it rushed up the hill like flying. The iron mace in his hand weighed dozens of kilograms, and his arm The thick flagpole of the Chinese army will break if you smash it with a mace!"

The villagers were amazed and admired Zhu thief's bravery. No wonder he dared to rebel.

Those soldiers who returned home also spoke more and more exaggeratedly.

Because the stronger Ju Ming is portrayed, the more justifiable their defeat will be.It's not that I'm too weak to fight, but that General Zhu is too brave!
Another young man said: "General Zhu sent someone to say that if he took Sichuan, he would definitely not be taxed as heavily as the government. He would definitely not collect husband's money, land foot money, and economically made money. Just Even the tax on wine and vinegar has been reduced back to five years ago, he does not recognize the wine and vinegar tax imposed by the faint king!"

"If you don't collect a lot of taxes, you can live a good life!"

"General Zhu is a good thief."

"Not a good thief, but a good man."

"I don't know, but General Zhu can't count on what he says, and he is deceiving us again."

"Why are you coaxing? They sent all the ashes back. It's very benevolent. In previous years, the government forced the tea movers, and those tea movers died outside, and the government didn't send the ashes back."

"..."

Wang Zhongao stood outside the threshing floor, listened quietly for a while, and left silently with a sigh.

It is a foregone conclusion that Zhu thief will take control of Chengdu. It is not known whether it will be good or bad for the Wang family.

I am afraid that the imperial court will send troops to conquer all the year round, and Zhu thief will follow the example of the government in extortion in order to fight.At that time, they will only be more ruthless than the imperial court. The rebels have no bottom line in order to survive.

The captives returned home with their ashes, and the news quickly spread to all states and counties. They also brought back news of the "benevolent government" of the rebel army.

The so-called benevolent government is nothing more than collecting less taxes.

This less income is compared with Song Huizong.

Definitely more than Zhe Zongchao, otherwise, where would Zhu Ming get the money and grain to train soldiers?
But this is enough, and the people can accept it.

It's like an e-commerce event. The original price of a product at [-] will be raised to [-], and then it will be sold at a discount of [-].You are happy to buy it, and feel that you have earned it.

Zhu Ming led his army to the south, and the officials of Deyang, Luoxian, and Jintang counties all fled in anticipation, and the subordinate officials went out of the city to greet them with their official seals in their arms.

All the way to the outside of Chengdu, facing the wide open city gate, Zhu Ming did not bring the whole army in.

He first sent one of the most elite and most disciplined troops into the city to occupy the yamen and warehouses, and at the same time posted safety notices throughout the city.

He also posted a call to action, and appended the policy: abolish the economic system and reduce the tax on wine and vinegar.

The people in the city, seeing that the rebels had committed no crimes, and hearing that the cash system had been abolished, and the tax on wine and vinegar had been lowered back to the previous standard, the whole city erupted in cheers.

Especially those merchants and street vendors who regard Zhu thief... General Zhu as their reborn parents.

When Zhu Ming entered the city with his own soldiers, countless people gathered around to watch, standing on tiptoe to see if he was superhuman.

The golden armor of the Heavenly King rode forward slowly on a steed, which made the people feel mighty and could not look directly at it.

Above the restaurant, more than a dozen scholars were looking out from the window, all of them were from the rich families of Chengdu.

One said: "This Zhu thief is good at inviting and buying people's hearts."

Another person sneered: "That foolish king is not willing to buy people's hearts, but I think Zhu Chenggong can win the world."

"Your uncle is the young minister of Honglu Temple, how can you say such a thing?"

"What kind of official is my uncle, why tell me the truth?"

"You must be loyal to the emperor and serve the country if you live in Song Dynasty!"

"Didn't you read Zhu Chenggong's call to action? It's not Song Lu, but Min Lu."

"Strong words make sense!"

"..."

These scholars have quarreled among themselves, and some of them have made up their minds to seek refuge.

There is the Houshu Palace in the city of Chengdu. The imperial city has become an inner city, and the palace has been demolished and replaced by government offices.

Zhu Ming entered the transshipment department and said to Gao Jingshan with a smile: "Mr. Gao's ingenious plan to calm the people has really made a great contribution!"

"It's just a little trick." Gao Jingshan said modestly.

Zhu Ming's order at the time was to quickly burn the corpse and bury it, so as not to cause any plague.

Gao Jingshan hurriedly came to speak, saying that the captives could identify the corpses, release the captives, and bring the ashes back to their hometown.

A small trick, the publicity effect is simply bursting.

Shi Yuangong is a bit upset, he is the number one counselor, why is there suddenly a demoted official to compete for favor?
But he is a member of the third rank, and he is just a loser, so he can't even fight for it.

The most distressing thing is that Shi Yuangong has to admit that Gao Jingshan's proposal is really brilliant.

Shi Yuangong believed at that time that before the occupation of Chengdu, captives should not be released, lest they be conscripted by the government to serve as soldiers.The facts were completely contrary to what he had expected. Once the captives were released, all the county officials along the way ran away, even the officials in Chengdu ran away!
Now that I think about it carefully, the more I think about it, the more mysterious it becomes. After all, Shi Yuangong once practiced a demon sect, and he has a deep understanding of the tricks of manipulating people's hearts.

(Participating in the author salon these days, try to take time to code words, if you stop updating, it will be regarded as a leave of absence, and the update will be very unstable.)
(End of this chapter)