A certain person is the Heavenly Killer Li Gui.

Chapter 281 Laizhou Rebellion

In fact, the two states of Denglai are not short of money, nor are they short of food.

The effect of the Luotian Dajiao shrouded all the Song Dynasty, so this year the two states of Denglai had a good harvest.

Zhang Tianshi's original approach was to ensure that the weather around Liangshan would be smooth, but Liangshan was either drought or flooded, forming a sharp contrast.

For the people, it is actually very realistic. Wherever life is good, they will run to where they are, and when they cannot survive, they will rise up and rebel.

According to Zhang Tianshi's idea, the people under Liangshan's rule were made to live in poverty, and in the end they were attracted away by the wealth of the Song Dynasty.

And without the common people under his rule, no matter how powerful Li Gui was, he was just a fierce general. In the end, he could not achieve great things, could not damage the country of the Song Dynasty, and could not destroy the destiny of dynasty change.

But the plan is very full, but the reality is very skinny.

The quality of people's lives will indeed be affected by the harvest, but the biggest impact will always be on corrupt officials.

Liangshan is indeed suffering from both plague and drought, but Liangshan is rich in its people, and the people's families have not been unable to afford food for a while.

Even Liangshan itself didn't realize that the drought was caused by someone secretly, thinking that the weather this year was not good.

No one can predict the weather. Every three to five years, there will always be disaster years such as drought.

Although this year's poor harvest has been noticed by Liangshan, since Liangshan does not collect grain taxes anyway, it actually does not take this matter too seriously. The response is to build water conservancy facilities on a large scale.

There is no labor force in Liangshan. The construction of these water conservancy facilities is all done by hired hands. It happens that there are many refugees in Qizhou and Mizhou. They work hard as long as they have food to eat. The cost is low, so it is suitable to use work as relief.

Liangshan Coin was also promoted very quickly. Not only these employees were accustomed to using it, but also the merchants doing business in these states began to gradually use it.

As long as you are in Liangshan, you can exchange the Liangshan coins into silver at any bank at any time. The handling fee is less than half. You can exchange and withdraw at any time, which is very convenient and fast.

These banks have stored a large amount of silver shipped back from Japan, and they are not afraid of anyone running on it.

The two states of Denglai were unlucky.

Under the collusion of officials and gentry, no matter how good the harvest was, it could not make the people live a good life, and there were even cases where the low prices of grain hurt farmers.

If that were the case, the problem would not be too big, but once the plague broke out, it would be out of control.

The people outside the city had no money for medical treatment and were unwilling to wait to die, so they had no choice but to rush to the city, hoping that the officials in the city could save them.

Zongze was very worried about this sudden turn of events, and he hated those fat-minded gentry in his heart.

In the past few years, he had accumulated hundreds of cannons, countless gunpowder and other supplies, and had trained an elite army. He was planning to rush out of Laizhou and restore the country when he was hit hard by the plague.

But after all, he was an orthodox scholar-official and could not betray his own class. Even if he was dissatisfied, he could only mediate in the middle, hoping to extract more resources.

Although Zongze is not from a later generation like Li Gui, he still knows a little about epidemic prevention. He has set up an isolation area outside the city to centrally manage the people infected with the epidemic, and has a dedicated person delivering food to the inside every day. Water, medicine.

Although it is certainly not possible to cure all these people, it is possible to control the situation and prevent it from getting worse.

As long as all the people infected with the disease die or herd immunity develops, this wave of disaster will naturally end.

On this day, Zongze was reviewing official documents when he suddenly heard footsteps outside the door, and sick Wei Chi and Sun Li hurried over.

"Mr. Zong, it's bad, Qin Dutou is driving the refugees out of the city and they are not allowed to stay in the city."

Zongze was shocked, stood up suddenly, and shouted:

"The cold winter is approaching, and there is a lack of food and clothing outside the city. If we drive them out at this time, wouldn't we just let them die?"

"Then how dare Qin Yuantu act like this? Who gave him the courage?"

He led Sun Li out of the government office angrily and rushed toward the city gate. From a distance, he saw a group of government officials waving sticks and beating the ragged refugees.

"stop!"

Zongze shouted loudly, rushed over, reined in his horse and blocked the road. He looked down and asked:

"Be bold!"

"Who told you to act like this?"

That man was a man in his forties. When he saw Zongze coming, he hurriedly came over with a smile on his face, crossed his hands and saluted:

"When I reply to my husband, this is the intention of the Qin officials."

"The official Qin said that these refugees have nothing to do in the city and are stealing and stealing all day long, posing serious security risks. Moreover, these refugees may be secretly sick. For the sake of the safety of the people in the city, we should drive them out. That’s great.”

Zongze suddenly became angry. He was talking about the officials of Qin, but behind it was definitely the collective decision of the gentry.

Regarding the matter of expelling the refugees from the city, Qin Daguan and his group of gentry had already raised it with him.

But the gentlemen in the city have no sense of the overall situation and hate these mud-legged people running around everywhere.

Viruses do not respect a person's status. No matter how noble a gentleman is, whether he survives after contracting the plague depends on his fate.

However, this kind of disregard for human life was completely unacceptable to Zongze. The two parties had argued many times, but Zongze never agreed.

Who would have thought that this group of gentry would dare to bypass him, the magistrate, and let the people below do things directly.

This Qin Dutou is a clan relative of the Qin official, so that's fine in normal times, but at critical moments, he will give priority to taking orders from his clan leader.

"You..." Zongze pointed at Qin Du's head angrily and wanted to remove him from his post, but he swallowed his words before he left his mouth.

Although he is the governor of the state, the execution of specific affairs cannot be separated from the support of these local snakes.

"I will discuss this matter with the Qin officials. Please stop immediately and stop driving the refugees out of the city."

After finishing speaking, Zongze angrily turned around and headed towards the Qin Mansion. Qin Dutou waited respectfully for Zongze's figure to disappear before he straightened up and glanced at those who thought they had escaped by chance. The refugee raised his eyebrows and sneered:

"Between you and the officials of Qin, which one do you think Mr. Zhizhou will support?"

"Keep fighting!"

"Kick these sick people out!"

"Without these people in the city, the natural plague will stop!"

A group of government officials were all from the city, so they naturally helped their own family members. They immediately waved their sticks and beat them on their heads and faces, beating the refugees until they cried for their fathers and screamed for their mothers, and ran away with their heads in their hands.

When Zongze arrived at the Qin Mansion, the steward of the Qin Mansion welcomed him in with a smile on his face.

"Master Zhizhou, please come in. All the high officials from various families have been waiting for a long time."

"Hmph!" Zongze snorted angrily and strode into the hall. He glanced around and saw that there were more than a dozen people sitting in the hall, all of whom were prominent figures in the state.

"Brother Rulin is here, please take a seat quickly."

At the main seat in the hall, the senior official of Qin stood up to greet the guests and invited Zongze to take a seat. Everyone else also smiled, as if nothing had happened.

Zongze suppressed the anger in his heart, went through a set of etiquette with a sullen face, and then asked:

"You have gone beyond Zong and directly ordered the head of the yamen to do things. Have you ever paid attention to Zong, the governor of the state?"

"Or are you already planning to sideline Zong and directly carry out the separatist thing?"

Everyone's faces changed and they hurriedly explained.

"Brother Rulin misunderstood!"

"We are the people of the Song Dynasty, how could we do such a rebellious and unethical thing?"

"It's just that this matter involves the lives of people all over the city, so we have to take this expedient measure!"

"We have inquired in detail. This plague is extraordinary and is caused by the White Lotus Sect bandits in Mizhou."

"Many of those refugees from other places are from Michigan, and they have brought many diseases with them. Although there has not been an outbreak yet, they are a hidden danger after all. It is better to get them out as soon as possible."

After hearing this, Zongze said angrily:

"It is true that some of the refugees in the city are from Mizhou, but many others are landless refugees from Laizhou. Don't tell me that you don't know whose hands these people's land fell into?"

"These refugees are given porridge and work regularly in the city, and everything can be controlled. If someone gets sick, the officer will know immediately and move them to an isolation area outside the city."

"If they rush outside the city, there is no way to know what they will do, when they will become infected, and whether they will infect others."

"The trouble then would be ten times higher than it is now."

The senior official of Qin then laughed and said disapprovingly:

"Brother Rulin, don't be alarmist. As long as we distribute porridge outside the city regularly every day, how can those refugees be willing to leave?"

"We have discussed it and are willing to add an additional 10% to the food and herbs for Brother Rulin's use."

"But these refugees must be driven out of the city and cannot stay in the city."

Zongze said angrily:

"Is this a matter of supplies?"

"This is a matter of disregarding human life!"

The gentry present laughed loudly, and the senior officials of Qin were even more delighted.

"Brother Rulin, this is a matter of supplies!"

"If you have a lot of supplies, you don't need to worry about our attitude. You can just build a new city for the refugees outside the city!"

"So, brother Rulin, don't say anything about taking human life lightly."

"Aren't you setting up a quarantine area outside the city just to keep more people alive, and then throw the infected people into the quarantine area to die?"

"Brother Rulin is the governor of the state, so he cares about all the people in the state."

"But we are just local gentry. We only care about the folks in this city. Is there no problem?"

"It's also a matter of weighing the gains and losses of interests and making the most beneficial decision, so there's no need to distinguish between high and low, right?"

After hearing this, Zongze felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his aura dropped. Others did not care too much for themselves, and the Qin officials showed their kindness again.

"How about this!"

"Now that the weather is getting colder, my Qin family will provide some ready-made clothes to protect the refugees from the cold and try to save as many young men and women as possible."

"When winter passes, the plague will naturally disappear. The Qin family will recruit those who survived as tenants for spring plowing, giving them a chance to survive."

"Is this enough?"

After hearing this, everyone else praised Qin Daguan.

"Brother Qin is really a model of a kind gentleman, he really has a compassionate heart!"

"My Zhao family is willing to respond to the Qin family's charity and also provide a share of ready-made clothes, and next year's tenants will also receive a share."

"Count me in as a member of the Han family!"

Everyone "donated generously" one after another, but Zongze felt cold all over.

This is not a good deed. It is clearly treating these refugees as serfs to divide the property.

But the words had already reached this point, and he would be in trouble if he persisted, and he needed the powerful support of these gentry to regain the lost ground, which was absolutely not possible, so he had to sigh, stand up and leave.

A group of gentry won a great victory, successfully achieved their goals, and drove these refugees out of the state city.

Their calculations are very precise, but they use old thinking to look at new problems.

If this Laizhou is still the Laizhou of the past, and these refugees are all good people of Laizhou, then of course they will still be able to use this trick very well.

But the problem is that Laizhou is different now.

First, Liangshan came and killed a lot of people and divided the land among ordinary people.

Although the Liangshan Army in Laizhou was just a parallel importer who joined halfway, the policy implementation was not in place, and the local settlement was not completed, the general direction was correct, which allowed many ordinary people to see another possibility.

And these refugees who came from Mizhou were former White Lotus cult bandits.

How did the White Lotus Sect bandits cause chaos?

It can be said that he commits all kinds of evil including murder and arson!

It is difficult for someone who has picked up a knife to pick up a hoe again.

Unless you never give him a chance, he may still be a farmer again.

But if you push him too hard, you will see the murderous aura hidden in his bones.

This group of people were driven out of the city and had no way out. They could only survive on a few bowls of porridge every day. The weather was getting colder and colder, and people around them fell ill one after another...

When despair came again, the hostility in someone's heart finally broke out again.

"Why should we wait here to die?"

"If you don't want to die, come with me to attack the city..."

I don't know when a little person raised his arms and shouted, which immediately caused the surrounding young people to respond.

They also knew that the city was difficult to conquer, so they abandoned the city and instead besieged the surrounding villages and counties. Then they copied the practices of the White Lotus cult bandits back then, dividing the food among everyone, burning the houses, and forcing everyone to The local people followed them and continued to the next place.

The only difference between the new bandits and the White Lotus cult bandits is that they will not destroy the fields, pollute the wells, or burn the food that cannot be eaten, but will keep it as military rations.

The army and artillery in Laizhou were basically concentrated in the city. Although there were also armed forces in other places, they fell quickly in the face of the tide of chaos.

The news of the fall of Laiyang, Jiaoshui and Jimo counties quickly reached Zongze's ears, which made Zongze so angry that he kept jumping on his feet and cursing.

"Short-sighted people!"

"I only care about this one-third of an acre of land in my home!"

"Are you okay now?"

"The whole Laizhou is in chaos. The rebels will come to attack Ye County next. How can they sit still?"

The situation is indeed as Zongze thought. The people who are most anxious now are Qin Daguan and his gang.

They have truly seen the miserable conditions of the rebel army, so they are extremely afraid that they will also encounter such a situation.

There was no need for Zongze to find them now, so they took the initiative to come to the door.

"Mr. Zong, help me!"

A group of people cried and worshiped in front of Zongze's door, kowtowing and admitting their mistake.

"It's all because of me, lard, who was deceived. I shouldn't have done anything, and I shouldn't have made any arbitrary decisions. I made a big mistake!"

"I also ask Mr. Zong, for the sake of our little merit, never give up on Laizhou!"

For Zongze, as the magistrate of both Denglai and Denglai prefectures, he still had room for choice. If it was no longer possible, he abandoned Laizhou and returned to Dengzhou.

But for these local gentry, there was no way out.

If Laizhou City is destroyed, all their wealth and lives will be at stake.

Seeing the ugly behavior of these silverfish, Zongze felt extremely happy, but the governance of the Song Dynasty always required the participation of these gentry, what else could he do?

I can only forgive them!

Zongze snorted coldly and asked in a deep voice:

"What do you say about military pay?"

"We'll give it in full!"

"Where's the military rations?"

"We'll provide it!"

"What have you been doing so far?"

A group of people bowed and laughed in annoyance, not daring to answer.

"In this case, let the three armies be prepared. Tomorrow there will be extra meals and pay, and the day after tomorrow we will set out to quell the rebellion!"

When everyone heard this, they panicked and hurriedly admonished:

"Why does Mr. Zong need to send troops?"

"We might as well wait until those thieves come to attack, and then defend the city. Wouldn't it be much more convenient?"

Zongze snorted angrily, hating his indifference and said:

"I have been training hard for several years in the army, in order to wipe out Liangshan. If I can't even defeat these gangsters, then there is no need for me to sit in this position and eat nothing!"

Everyone was only Weiwei and did not dare to stop him any more, allowing Zongze to leave.

The next day after arriving, Zongze personally went to the military camp to supervise the payment of wages and boost morale. After all supplies were ready, he led the army to set off to quell the rebellion in various counties.

The purpose of the rebels in various counties was just to find food, and they didn't think about anything in the future.

When he first entered the city on an empty stomach, he was naturally very fierce, but once he had food in his stomach, his combat effectiveness plummeted.

With their current fighting power, not to mention the elite troops led by Zongze, even the ordinary forbidden troops who were defeated by them would not be able to withstand them if they came back again.

The leading men naturally knew this very well. Now that they saw the army coming to suppress the attack, they discussed it with each other and decided to be recruited.

But as soon as they sent someone to contact Zongze, this idea was rejected by Zongze.

Only those big thieves who cannot be eliminated by the court can be recruited by the court.

Rioters like them couldn't withstand the thunderous blow of the government army. Why should the court recruit them?

Of course, the most important reason is that Zongze does not have enough food and materials to recruit them!

After the recruitment, we must at least take care of the food, clothing, housing and transportation of these rioters, right?

If it were so easy to do, wouldn't it be better to just integrate these people into the Forbidden Army?

Why wait for them to rebel?

Moreover, Zongze also saw that many of the rebellious people who came from Mizhou were restless and self-reliant people. If something happened, they would probably take the lead in causing rebellion.

So even if most of the people still have to stay in the end, none of the leaders can be let go!

After the road to recruitment was cut off, this group of rebels became even more panicked.

Everyone is afraid of death, and rebels are no exception!

The leaders of the rebellion gathered together and began to discuss countermeasures.

"That Zongze refused to recruit us and made it clear that he wanted to kill us all!"

"What should I do?"

"How about we escape?"

"Escape? Where else can we escape?"

"You have been running away for so long, haven't you suffered enough from running away?"

"My father, mother, and children all died on the way to escape. I would rather die here than escape this time!"

A group of people were noisy for a long time, but they couldn't think of a good idea. Finally, someone suddenly said something.

"How about we surrender to Liangshan!"

"Liangshan also attacked us back then, but was later beaten back by Zongze."

"Now we can dedicate these cities to Liangshan and lure them back to confront Zongze, right?"

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes lit up, and they clapped their hands and applauded.

"Yes, this is a great plan!"

"Since the Song Dynasty doesn't want us, let's go to Liangshan!"

(End of this chapter)