Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 969 0964 [Those who don’t pay taxes must be spies]

After the fire broke out in the city, many Dangxiang defenders fled in all directions.

Like Deng Chun, they all thought that it was a spy who secretly set the fire. And most likely he had colluded with a tribal chief, otherwise it would be impossible for them to set several fires at the same time.

Who the hell could have expected that the person who set the fire was the commander-in-chief of Western Xia?
The main force of the Ming army was still several miles away, but thousands of cavalry had already rushed to the moat and found that the South Gate was open.

"General, could this be a trick?"

"Three hundred riders go in first to investigate the situation!"

Chen Ziyi was stationed outside the moat and had just ordered several teams of cavalry to enter when he suddenly noticed torches waving on the city wall.

Another man rode out of the city holding a torch and shouted across the moat: "I am from the Military Intelligence Department. I don't know who started the fire, but I have already convinced the two Tangut chieftains, and they are guarding the two gates in the south city. Ming soldiers, please enter the city quickly. The city is in chaos now. Except for the two gates in the south city wall, the rest are enemy troops who have not surrendered!"

Chen Ziyi was overjoyed and immediately mobilized his troops and ordered his cavalry to charge forward.

Some occupied the city gates, some occupied the city towers, and some occupied the enemy towers, ensuring that all the city walls on the south were in the hands of the Ming army.

Lingzhou City is too important to allow any mistakes.

If Keyi Gate is the north gate of Xingqing Prefecture, then Lingzhou is the south gate of Xingqing Prefecture.

If we take this place, Xixia will lose a big arm.

Chen Ziyi did not blindly expand the victory, but only firmly occupied the southern city wall and waited for the main force to come. At the same time, he asked the spies and the two surrendered chiefs to go into the city to recruit more Tangut troops, and claimed that saving any granary would be considered a meritorious service.

He also sent out 800 brave cavalrymen, divided into four teams, to charge along the streets, creating chaos and not allowing anyone to gather in groups, to prevent Western Xia generals from gathering troops.

Soon, another 3,000 Ming cavalry entered the city, and Chen Ziyi commanded them to occupy the government office and warehouses.

In the darkness, flames shot up into the sky, and Xixia soldiers and civilians were fleeing everywhere.

They did not dare to flee towards the southern city wall where the Ming army was located, and rushed to the other three directions.

The brothers Ren Dejing and Ren Degong took advantage of the chaos to flee westward, and were among the first group to leave the city.

The two guys, along with their confidants, robbed a boat at the ferry, led the horses on board, and sailed southwest.

The next day, they approached the northern exit of Qingtongxia and saw a large number of ships approaching from afar. The two brothers were so scared that they quickly abandoned the boat and came to the west bank of the Yellow River.

The southern exit of Qingtongxia was called Xiakou at that time, and there was a fortress called Xiakouzhai.

Xiakouzhai has been occupied by the Ming army and has become a military grain transfer station. There are a total of 50,000 Ming troops on this route, and the main force has already moved north along the Tanglai Canal and is about to attack Shunzhou City next to Lingzhou.

After riding for more than ten miles, Ren Dejing stopped to rest, still in shock, and said, "Fortunately, we escaped quickly. There are also Ming troops in Shunzhou. Even if we dig the Yellow River and drown the Ming troops outside Lingzhou, the Ming troops will come from Shunzhou, and it is impossible to defend Lingzhou."

Ren Degong was horrified and said, "How many troops did Emperor Zhu send? The Ming troops in Lingzhou and Shunzhou alone probably have more than 200,000 men."

Ren Dejing guessed, "It is estimated that Wang Cunli also has 200,000 Ming troops. No wonder he was defeated. A few days ago, I received a letter asking for help, saying that 200,000 Ming troops broke through Jisang City and were about to reach Liangzhou City."

Wu Jie was in charge of the troops in Liang Province, and the field army and garrison troops together numbered only 50,000.

However, the roads along the way were rugged and difficult to travel, and the grain route was particularly long, so a total of 80,000 laborers, 8,000 mule-drawn four-wheeled carts, more than 10,000 wheelbarrows, and 40,000 donkeys and inferior horses were arranged to transport supplies.

According to the Xixia people's calculations, there were definitely more than 100,000 troops.

When they calculated their own military strength, they would also include civilian laborers, calling them burden soldiers.

……

However, the Ren brothers were unable to cross Qingtong Gorge by boat and could only ride horses around the mountains on the west side of the gorge.

The detour route is not long, only twenty miles, and the area along the way is half farming and half pastoral.

Once we got around the canyon, the walk became more comfortable.

It's all farming area on the west bank of the Yellow River. The road is smooth, but there are Ming troops.

From time to time, a Ming army grain transport team would appear. Not only were they protected by a small force, but there were also weapons on the grain carts, so the civilians could fight with weapons at any time.

The two brothers could only hide during the day and move at night, and hide at the edge of the Tengger Desert during the day.

It took them five days on horseback to travel a short distance of 200 miles, and they lived in fear the entire time as they tried to avoid the Ming army's food trains.

When they were approaching Yingli City (Zhongwei City), the two brothers dared not take the main road and could only go around along the desert hills because the city was definitely in the hands of the Ming army.

This went on for more than half a month, all the way along the edge of the desert.

On the way, we also crossed dozens of miles of desert and went around the northern part of Liangzhou - that is Nanhu Town, Minqin County. It was surrounded by desert hundreds of years ago, but now there are grasslands connected to the Shiyang River.

As soon as they emerged from the desert, the two brothers saw several herdsmen herding their sheep.

There is no scorching heat here?

The herdsmen were also startled when they saw them, and subconsciously stepped back to keep some distance.

Ren Dejing rode forward slowly, raised his hands to indicate that he had no weapons, and asked in Tangut dialect: "Didn't you fight?"

"Han people?" asked a herdsman.

Ren Dejing and his men were well prepared. When they fled, they all changed into Han clothes and dressed like Han merchants: "We are merchants from the Ming Dynasty, and we came here to escape the war. How is the battle in Liangzhou going?"

The herdsman immediately laughed and said enthusiastically: "Hello, Han people, come to my home and be a guest."

Ren Dejing was confused: "Aren't you from Xixia?"

The herdsman smiled and said, "We are now the Huihu people of the Ming Dynasty."

"Is the battle of Liangzhou over?" Ren Dejing asked.

The herdsman narrated with great interest:

"The fight has been finished a long time ago."

"The bastard general guarding Liangzhou refused to surrender, so the Ming soldiers used a lot of artillery to bombard him. The wall of Liangzhou had not been repaired for decades, and a section of it collapsed on the sixth day of bombardment. The Ming soldiers rushed in, but the battle didn't last long before the Xia soldiers in the city fled."

"I didn't run away. I hid in a house and peeked out. The Ming soldiers didn't kill people randomly, and I was very hungry, so I went out when they searched the house."

"Haha! General Wu said that those herdsmen and landowners refused to surrender, which caused him to suffer more than 300 casualties during the siege, so he killed all the herdsmen and landowners. General Wu divided the land among the farmers and the pasture among the herdsmen. He was too lazy to divide it and waste time, so he let us discuss and divide it ourselves."

"If you can't figure it out, go to Liangzhou City after a while. They say a civil servant is coming. Even if you figure it out, go. The civil servant will give you the land deed."

"My family was allocated a piece of pasture, and both boys and girls were given two sheep. It is said that when we get the land deeds, the government will give us more sheep. The herdsmen all say that Emperor Zhu is the reincarnation of Buddha, and General Wu is the Bodhisattva under the Buddha's seat..."

The herders were still chattering about how big their pastures were.

Ren Dejing basically understood Wu Jie's intention.

There was still a long march ahead, and there were still several cities to be attacked. Moreover, the Hexi Corridor was long and narrow, and it was very easy to cut off the food supply. If a tribe surrendered and then rebelled again, it would be particularly dangerous. Taking the tribe with them would waste food and grass because the food supply route was too long.

They simply killed all the chiefs of each tribe, and even killed the herdsmen and landowners, and distributed all the farmland and pastures to the farmers and herdsmen, and gave them some of the captured livestock as well.

As a result, the tribes were leaderless and could no longer organize a rebellion.

It can also bring farmers and herdsmen back home!

Ren Dejing still had doubts: "Is there not a single chieftain, landowner, or herdsman who surrendered? And not a single one who escaped?"

The herdsmen laughed and said, "Yes. Those who surrendered were also beheaded. General Wu blamed them for not surrendering earlier. There was also a herdsman who fled home with his soldiers. When the soldiers heard that they could share the pasture, they joined forces to kill the herdsman and sent him to Liangzhou to collect the reward." Ren Dejing: "..."

In order to prevent further rebellion, Wu Jie actually "beat the local tyrants and divide the land" in the Hexi Corridor.

In fact, there are also personal emotional reasons.

Wu Jie was a general of the Western Army during the Northern Song Dynasty. More or less, the families of his soldiers and civilians were abducted. A large number of them were thrown into the Hexi Corridor by the Western Xia to farm and graze.

Therefore, many of the pastoral slaves, herders, herders, and farmers here are abducted Han people or their descendants.

Why did the Ming Dynasty have to accept the surrender of the Western Xia nobles and allow the Han people or their descendants to continue to be enslaved?

After killing him, I feel relieved!

The Ren brothers stayed on the grassland for a day, repeatedly inquired about the situation in Liangzhou City, and left behind dozens of copper coins as a reward.

They went south along the Shiyang River, and the closer they got to Liangzhou City, the more farmland they saw.

Farmers can be seen everywhere, happily replanting crops, not at all like they had just finished a war.

These farmers were also conscripted to fight in the war, and some of them were even slaves.

They originally thought they had escaped death, but unexpectedly, not only did they return home alive, but they even got farmland and seeds.

No one has had any disputes over land grabbing yet. There are empty farmlands everywhere, and everyone is busy replanting them. If someone else has taken over a piece of land, they can plant there. There will always be a piece of land that is theirs.

Ren Dejing was passing by a farmland and heard a farmer bragging to his wife.

"My father always said that our family used to be Han people... Just wait and see, the Han emperor will send troops to fight back. It will not be a bad thing for you to marry me. You can just wait and enjoy your life in the future. Next year when there is food, you can have another child. You will never starve to death again." The farmer laughed happily as he hoeed the field.

His wife was dark and thin, probably also from a serf family. She was looking at her husband with a smile on her face.

They have no children.

They all died young, of starvation.

Ren Dejing started a conversation with the farmer and continued to inquire about the situation. In the evening, he arrived outside Liangzhou City.

There are many merchants here who are not afraid of death!
The Hexi Corridor is quite special. When the news of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong's great victory came last year, merchants gathered in Lanzhou in the snow in the middle of winter.

When the news of Wu Jie's capture of Jisang City spread back, these merchants could not help but follow the subsequent grain transport team, hoping to find business opportunities and make a fortune from the army on the front line.

What business opportunities?
The next day, it was early in the morning.

Ren Dejing was awakened by a loud noise. There was a horse auction outside Liangzhou City!

They were all war horses captured from the Western Xia soldiers. Wu Jie took the opportunity to replace the inferior horses with Teng. However, as there were too many of them, the remaining ones had to be looked after and fed with fodder.

Just sell it to a businessman.

With the joint signatures of the commander-in-chief, the deputy commander-in-chief, the military judge, and the logistics officer, the deal can be done, but it must be reported truthfully afterwards.

"I'll pay one!"

"Two strings of cash, two strings of cash!"

"Two and a half kan."

"Three kan!"

Even if you buy a low-quality horse with three strings of coins, you can sell it for five or six strings of coins if you transport it to Lanzhou, and at least eight strings of coins if you transport it to Luoyang.

If you buy dozens of horses and ship them back, you can earn one or two hundred strings of cash.

These are all reckless small businessmen who risked their lives to come here even though the war hasn’t even ended yet!

There is something else besides horses.

For example, many dead animals, some died of illness, some died of exhaustion, and some died of injuries. The meat had been eaten by the soldiers or made into jerky, and the fur was piled up in Liangzhou without being processed, and now it was all sold cheaply to the small merchants.

When the merchants came, they also brought food and sold it to the army at a low price, barely enough to earn some money for their hard work.

Or, simply exchange food for goods from the army.

Ren Dejing looked at the lively auction scene blankly, feeling both absurd and frightened at the same time.

The Xixia army and civilians were terrified by the war, and people were in a state of panic. However, merchants from the Ming Dynasty came here after hearing the news, and they did not take the war seriously at all.

From such minute details, it can be seen that Western Xia was bound to lose!
Ren Dejing had already found out that Wu Jie's army was attacking Shandan, and it would be very difficult to escape to the Western Regions.

He simply claimed to be a businessman from Fengxiang Prefecture, settled down directly in Liangzhou City, and went to bid for military supplies in an attempt to escape back to Shaanxi.

I bought dozens of horses, but there was a problem with the payment.

Ren Dejing walked into a room, and the logistics officer in charge of registration asked, "Where are the attachments to the business license?"

Ren Dejing was stunned and had no idea what that thing was.

He asked other merchants for a lot of information, but showing the attachments to the business license was common sense, and no merchant told him this.

Ren Dejing said hurriedly, "I was in such a hurry to leave that I forgot it at home."

The logistics officer sneered, "You didn't even bring the license attachments, and you came to do business with the army. The court is very strict. Any business in the army must clearly state the transaction party, so that there will be no problem in the future."

"Please do me a favor." Ren Dejing subconsciously took out the silver.

The logistics officer's face suddenly changed: "Do you want to kill me? The horses you bid for were all registered and numbered. You sold dozens of horses without clearly stating which company they were sold to. If they find out, I'll lose my job!"

Ren Dejing's thinking is still stuck in more than ten years ago. At that time in the Song Dynasty, doing business was too simple.

No matter how complicated a business is, it can be made simple as long as you pay money.

The reason why Ren Dejing bought horses and returned to Shaanxi was that he could not move forward and it would be easy to be exposed if he stayed in Liangzhou.

Since the business cannot be done, we have to find another way.

Ren Dejing bowed and apologized, then stepped back with a smile on his face.

Just as he retreated to the door, he suddenly heard the logistics officer yell, "Wait!"

Ren Dejing was startled: "What else do you want me to do, sir?"

The logistics officer asked, "You said you left the attachment to your business license at home?"

Ren Dejing nodded: "I left in a hurry and forgot to bring it."

"What goods did you not transport when you came?" the logistics officer asked again.

Ren Dejing said: "I brought some tea and sold it in Lanzhou. I heard there is money to be made in Liangzhou, so I hurried over to try my luck."

The smile on the logistics officer's face completely disappeared: "You claimed to be from Fengxiang Prefecture, transporting tea to Lanzhou to sell. There are two customs along the way. You didn't bring the attachments to your business license. How did you pay the tax and pass through the customs? Show me your tax payment receipt!"

Ren Dejing was completely stunned. Are there so many things to pay attention to when doing business in the Ming Dynasty?
Emperor Zhu made the tax law too complicated!

The logistics officer shouted: "Come quickly, take this guy down!"

(End of this chapter)