Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 510: The handsome man comes but doesn't pay taxes

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

In a village outside Liaocheng, a soldier of the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army beat a gong and asked the villagers to gather at the entrance of the village. Especially the wealthy families in the village, all the old and young, including the servants, were driven here.

Of course, some of those people were still resistant and unwilling to cooperate. But after He Changqi chopped off one of them's arms, some of the dogs who were eager to resist became obedient.

Seeing that more than a hundred households in the village had gathered, Che Guangqian held up an iron trumpet and shouted at the top of his voice: "Fellow villagers, we are General Fang Jie, and we know that the government and Huangfu Weiming have been levying heavy taxes and extortions over the years, and you have been living a hard life.

So I came here specially to bring you food and cloth!"

After saying that, he tore off the cloth covering several flatbed carts behind him, revealing bags of grain inside.

Although the quantity is not large, the bags are all open and the contents are genuine!
The villagers, who had never eaten pork but had seen pigs run, were dumbfounded.

It's already polite enough that the soldiers don't come to collect food from home, but are there actually people who deliver food?

Although the quantity is a little less, it’s better than nothing!

"One liter per person, line up to receive the food, and don't leave until you've received it!"

Che Guangqian didn't try to be vain and just released the grain directly.

Now, some people started shouting "Long live Marshal Fang Jie".

The farmers have their own simple worldview and unique grassroots cunning. Shouting a few times will not cost you any money. It doesn't matter whether it is General Fang or General Li, the one who distributes the grain is a good general!
There wasn't much food to begin with, and soon everyone had a portion. Those who had bags put it in their bags, and those who didn't put it in their clothes. The tense expressions of the villagers disappeared. They gathered in groups of three or five and whispered to each other, all with relaxed expressions.

Because this army that distributed food would not use knives against them, at least not against these poor and miserable people.

"Fellow villagers, do you feel that there is less food?"

Che Guangqian shouted.

"Yes, Master Jun, can you give me more?"

Someone in the crowd asked with a laugh.

"Okay! Then give more. We are kindhearted people!"

Che Guangqian shouted, walked to the group of people from the wealthy families in the village, and said to one of them who was wearing a brocade robe and looked like the head of a wealthy family, "Do you have any surplus grain in your granary?"

ha?
Hearing this, Wang, the big landlord in the village, was stunned. The joy she had just felt at receiving the grain disappeared without a trace.

Only then did he remember that this is the way of heaven: to make up for the deficiencies and to take away the excess!

These soldiers don't rob ordinary people because those people don't have money, but they never said they won't rob the rich!
For a moment, Wang was at a loss and did not dare to speak.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Che Guangqian said coldly: "Open your granary and put out the grain! Each person will receive five stones!"

Upon hearing this, Wang immediately knelt down, kowtowed to Che Guangqian and cried, "General, please kill me. I don't have that much food at home, and I can't even afford it if I sell all my belongings!"

Hearing this, Che Guangqian looked around thoughtfully and asked, "Is it true that there aren't so many?"

"Probably not, but it's a lot!"

"Yes, yes. He has hundreds of acres of good farmland."

The villagers were all whispering to each other, and quite a few were making a fuss. At this moment, it was clear at a glance whether the wealthy families had accumulated good deeds or not.

"How about this."

Che Guangqian helped Wang up, brushed off the dust on him and said, "Winter is not far away. First, empty the granary in your home to the villagers and give out as much as you can. Do some good for the villagers. As for the part you are missing, take the villagers and go to the treasury of Beizhou to get it!"

As he spoke, he immediately pulled out a document that he had written long ago, handed it to Wang, and continued, "Write down how much food and fodder you have distributed, take the list, and take people to Beizhou to collect it. Every family that has received food and fodder from you must send someone to go with you to Beizhou. When you get there, every household will have food and fodder to collect!"

Che Guangqian looked at Wang with a half-smile. He Changqi, who was standing by, saw that the head of the largest local family seemed to be still hesitating, and immediately shouted: "The commander-in-chief gave you food and fodder, but you still don't appreciate it! I have a knife in my hand. If I kill you, everything in your house will be ours! We can give it to whoever we want!"

Hearing this, the farmers' eyes lit up and they shouted in unison: "Release the grain! Release the grain!"

"Release the grain! Open the warehouse and release the grain!"

Seeing that the public anger was hard to deal with and that she had no choice but to release the grain, Wang gritted her teeth and shouted.

After saying that, he took the charcoal pencil that Che Guangqian had prepared long ago, signed his name on the document, and wrote down the amount of grain to be released.

After finishing all this, he looked at Che Guangqian eagerly and said, "General, Beizhou is the location of Hebei's large warehouse. Marshal Fang Jie said that he would release grain. Is that true?"

"Of course it's true. If they wanted to deceive you, I would just kill you. Your family is all gone, and Marshal Jie can give food to whoever he wants.

Is it necessary to go through so much trouble? "

Che Guangqian patted Wang's shoulder with a forced smile and said.

After saying that, he looked around at everyone and shouted, "Fellow villagers, go to Wang's house first to get food, and then follow Wang's instructions to go to Beizhou Qinghe Granary to get food. It's a hundred miles away, remember to push the cart! We will go with you!"

Now the onlookers are no longer sleepy!
They surrounded Wang with smiles on their faces and went to his house. In a blink of an eye, more than a thousand people had left!

"Lao Che, what is Marshal Jie doing? We have just sent out two truckloads of military rations."

He Changqi nudged Che Guangqian's shoulder with his elbow and asked in a low voice.

The fact that they did not plunder the countryside was already a benevolent and righteous army, and giving away their own military rations was simply unheard of.

"With only three thousand of us, we still want to stir up trouble in Hebei. Even if one of us can beat a hundred, the chances of winning are very low."

Che Guangqian said in a deep voice and let out a long breath.

"Who said it wasn't true? So we should have just burned down the granary in Qinghe, Beizhou, and then escaped from the floating bridge in Lu County!
This is not a place to stay for long.”

He Changqi said with a trace of worry on his face.

He may be a little dull as a person, but his sense of battlefield is still very sharp.

This time, the army was alone and deep in the enemy's territory in the hinterland of Hebei. If they were not careful, they might be completely wiped out.

"That's why we need to borrow strength! How can we fight this battle without borrowing strength?"

Che Guangqian responded casually and told the soldiers behind him to prepare to go to the next village.

They are racing against time, and speed is their only advantage.

……

There was a map of the county town in Liaocheng hanging in the county government office. At this moment, Fang Chongyong was standing in front of the map, gesturing with a charcoal pencil.

From time to time, someone would come in to report, and Fang Chongyong would mark a certain place on the map in black.

In the southwest of Bozhou, there is Wushui County;
Due west, there is Tangyi County;
In the northeast, there are Gaotang County and Boping County;
To the north is Qingping County.

Wang Nande had already led two thousand soldiers of the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army and was rushing to Qingping County without stopping.

The remaining few are scattered all over the place to do work.

At this moment, a man dressed as a scout came in. He saluted with a fist and said:
"General, General Wang has conquered Qingping County. The county magistrate opened the city and surrendered without encountering any resistance."

After hearing this news, Fang Zhongyong's heart finally settled down. Although this was not a problem worth worrying about at all and was within expectations, he was still afraid that something unexpected would happen at the critical moment!

"Is it rare for the king to open the granaries and release grain to the local people of Qingping?"

Fang Chongyong asked in a deep voice.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, they were released, not a single grain of rice was left! They were all following the commander-in-chief's orders, and they even opened the granaries of the wealthy families!"

"Okay! Go back and tell Wang Nandai that he must defend Qingping County. This general will lead his troops to join him immediately."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hand and pointed at the gate of the government hall. "Understood!"

The scout's tone was clearly filled with excitement!
After waiting for about half an hour, the troops that had been sent out came back one after another.

The population of Bozhou is extremely dense. There is a village every three miles and a township every five miles. There are people everywhere.

But the place is not big. Even from Liaocheng to Qinghe in Beizhou is less than a hundred miles.

The conflict between people and land here is acute, and the relationship between large households and tenants is very tense.

Che Guangqian and He Laohu were the first to go out and the last to come back because they were in charge of the villages around Liaocheng County, which is the most densely populated area.

Seeing the two of them coming back, Fang Zhongyong asked Che Guangqian, "What's the situation in Liaocheng County?"

"General Jie, you are so great! We don't need to do anything for the rest of the journey. The villagers who received the food will accompany us all the way and help us run errands!"

He Changqi said excitedly.

Although he did not quite understand Fang Chongyong's move to release grain, he was really shocked by the local people's crazy emotions.

Everyone seems to be unusually enthusiastic about "freeloading". The excitement of getting something for nothing, the pleasure of being knocked out by a pie in the sky, is much better than working hard for a year to get a little food to survive.

As for going to Qinghe in Beizhou, the wealthy people knew they couldn't do it, but they had to do it.

If he went, he could recover his losses. If he didn't open his own granary to store the grain, he would probably be slaughtered by the soldiers of the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army. In the end, he would be known as someone who valued money over life and become a laughing stock among the farmers in the country.

Between two evils, I had to choose the lesser one and go to Qinghe, Beizhou. It’s not far anyway, just two days’ walk.

However, the self-employed farmers and tenants had only one idea: it would be great if they could get something for free for a while, and it would be great if they could get something for free all the time.

They don't realize how risky it is to go to Beizhou! Even if they realize it, they won't take it seriously!

Many people felt that as long as they went through this experience, they wouldn’t have to worry about food for the next one or two years.

The world is becoming more and more chaotic nowadays. Who knows if we will still have the chance to farm next year?

Therefore, these people moved faster than the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army, and many of them had already pushed carts to Qinghe County, Beizhou.

The situation in various parts of Bozhou was similar. The big households opened their warehouses to give grain to the common people, and then they all went to Qinghe, Beizhou.

Seeing that the first step of the plan was progressing smoothly, Fang Zhongyong nodded slightly, looked around at everyone and said:

"We don't want Liaocheng anymore. Anyway, the things in the treasury have been distributed. The local people remember us well and will not pass on information to Huangfu Weiming. Now everyone follow this commander to Qingping County.

We only brought seven days of dry food. If we fail to capture Beizhou Qinghe in seven days, we will abandon all the baggage and retreat to Lu County. Do you understand?"

"I will obey the commander's orders!"

All the generals present shouted in unison, and everyone's heart tightened.

No matter how effective these operations are, victory or defeat will ultimately be determined on the battlefield.

If you want to win five million, even if you have the God of Wealth and unrivaled luck, you still have to buy a lottery ticket!

"My friends, Bianzhou is the hub of the Grand Canal, and it has an inexhaustible supply of wealth.

I will inform the soldiers later that they will receive their rewards after returning to Bianzhou and they don’t need to worry about the captured items.

Set off! "

After saying this, Fang Chongyong strode out of the government office. In fact, he was feeling very nervous and uneasy.

He was calm and composed, but he was just showing it to his subordinates. He himself was not sure about the situation when fighting behind enemy lines.

As far as the war situation is concerned, all we need to do is burn down the treasury in Qinghe, Beizhou.

However, this move could not stop Huangfu Weiming from going south. At most, it would make the Hebei rebels fight more difficult, but it was not enough to reverse the situation.

Only by disrupting the rear of Hebei and interrupting the ability of the Hebei rebels to generate blood can Huangfu Weiming spend time to deal with the affairs of the rear. For the six states of Xuanwu Town, more time can be gained to expand the army, repair the city wall, build granaries, and train united soldiers.

The number of people killed in this battle is not the criterion for measuring victory or failure.

By this time, the sky had darkened. After the army left Liaocheng, Fang Zhongyong pointed his whip to the north and asked Che Guangqian, "How many miles is it from here to Qingping County?"

"Reporting to the commander, I have already asked around in the villages. This place is less than fifty miles away from Qingping County. There are no small roads or large rivers blocking it."

Che Guangqian clasped his fists and replied.

The situation in Bozhou is somewhat different from elsewhere.

The weather plays a role to some extent. Some rivers exist in summer but not in winter. However, they are not big rivers, just ditches.

There is no geographical advantage at all. The land is flat and empty on all sides, making it easy to attack but difficult to defend.

The only special situation is the "harmony among people".

The population of Bozhou is really huge! There are densely packed villages everywhere!

Beizhou has a larger population. The population of Qinghe County alone is equivalent to that of an entire state! More than 500,000 people!

Whoever controls the hearts of the people in these places controls an invisible force.

During the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the reason why Weizhou Town became the biggest troublemaker of the vassal states was inseparable from the dense local population, which could easily gather a team of 100,000 people.

"Once we get to Qingping County, we can temporarily slow down our pace."

Fang Zhongyong's eyes flashed coldly, and he spoke calmly.

All the generals nodded, not understanding why.

"Is everything ready?"

Fang Zhongyong suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Che Guangqian.

"General Jie, we are ready!"

Che Guangqian dismounted and ordered the soldiers around him to raise two huge flags, each hung on a wooden pole more than ten feet long.

On the left side it was written "Poor men have a hard time making a living, go to Beizhou", and on the right side it was written "Fang Qing is here and no taxes are required".

“Let’s go to Qingping County and meet up with Wang Nandai.

If Huangfu Weiming doesn't give justice to the people of Hebei, we will enforce justice on behalf of heaven!"

Fang Zhongyong, who had no regrets about his father selling his own land, drew out the Swift Wind Phantom Blade and shouted.

"Do justice for heaven!"

"Do justice for heaven!"

"Do justice for heaven!"

All the officers and generals in the army shouted in unison, their shouts shaking the sky!

The army continued to move northward, advancing into the night.

Che Guangqian suddenly remembered something, rode his horse to Fang Zhongyong's side, and whispered, "General, the speed of the local people's marching cannot be underestimated. What if they arrive in Beizhou ahead of time and alert the enemy?"

"Oh?"

Fang Zhongyong looked at him with a smile but said nothing.

(End of this chapter)