A certain person is the Heavenly Killer Li Gui.

Chapter 284 The war cloud rises again

Things far away in Liao Kingdom have nothing to do with Li Gui. During this time, he visited all the famous Buddhist and Taoist traditions around Liangshan.

But unfortunately, basically nothing was gained.

Just when he was about to further expand the scope, Zongze led his army to fight.

It’s impossible not to fight!

Now that spring plowing is approaching, there is no one in the fields, and most of the landless tenants have gone to neighboring Michigan.

In the beginning, it was the desperate people who went to Michigan to try their luck, and then they were given land.

Later, with the "enthusiastic help" of the Liangshan Chamber of Commerce, many people returned to their hometowns and came forward to tell the truth about the situation in Michigan.

In today's rural areas, various clan concepts are very important. If someone is from the same hometown and has the same clan, the credibility is very high.

This makes people envious, jealous and hateful.

The same landless poor squatted in the pit, but some people jumped out of the sea of ​​misery, which made the people still squatting in the pit jealous.

Seeing this, normal people would have the same mentality - he can do it, why can't I?

So more people secretly went to Mizhou to try their luck.

The two places are not far from each other, even if we walk, it will take us two or three days to get there.

If it doesn't work, come back and continue farming for the officials!

The real can not be fake, the fake can not be real.

Those who got the land naturally wanted to bring more relatives and fellow villagers with them, so those who came back took their entire family with them.

Throughout the whole winter, the flow of people on the road from Laizhou to Mizhou never stopped.

The Chamber of Commerce in Liangshan no longer organized any convoys, but directly established an inn every ten or twenty miles to provide food, hot water, accommodation and other logistical support for those who migrated.

If you have money, just give it. If you don’t have money, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, Liangshan Village is here to take care of it, so you won’t be afraid of the hotel losing money!

It may not be clear that the gentry in Laizhou City are powerful, but for them, the large number of people is a burden, and they are wasting their food if they stay in the city. They are happy to see the refugees leave Laizhou.

Due to the collusion between inside and outside, Zongze has been kept in the dark and knows nothing.

Originally, he had his own cronies, but those civil servants were dispersed by him to various counties to restore the local people's livelihood, while the military generals did not understand the hidden dangers behind this population loss.

It wasn't until spring came, when the gentry of various families were preparing to start spring plowing, that they realized that almost half of the staff were gone, and then they panicked.

They were really weird. When they couldn't find anyone to farm the land, the first thing they thought of was not how to improve their treatment to win over the existing tenants. Instead, they approached Zongze, hoping that Zongze would send out the imperial army to help them first. The ground has been planted, and the words are still eloquent.

"Spring plowing is a major event in the world and cannot be delayed at all!"

"Anyway, there is no war now, so let the fighting men plant the land first. It will not be too late to return to camp after the spring plowing is completed."

Zongze couldn't help but get angry after hearing this.

There is a difference between professional soldiers and militiamen.

The militiamen train in peacetime and go out to fight in wartime, but in fact their combat effectiveness is worrying. Just like the ordinary imperial army, they can fight smoothly, but no one will sacrifice their life in a real tough battle.

The batch of soldiers he is training now are elite soldiers, and they are given the best treatment and everything. With him watching over them, they can get enough food and salary. After the amount of training has increased, he thinks he is no longer better than the Fourth Army in Beijing. How could it be used by these landowners as farmers?

If it is really used for a month, the energy and spirit will be lost. After coming back, half of the past training will be immediately wasted.

But this group of powerful gentry doesn't understand this. In their eyes, aren't they all big-headed soldiers? What's the difference?

Zongze also knew that he couldn't explain it clearly to them, so he simply didn't mention it and just asked with a cold face:

"Why do you use my soldiers instead of your own farmers?"

Everyone looked at each other and said angrily:

"When Liangshan sent people to recruit refugees, we thought that the sick rice seedlings from Mizhou had followed, but who knew that the ignorant people in the local fields were ungrateful and did not care about the kindness of each family, and they were also deceived. A large number left."

"Now, half of the people in this field are missing."

Zongze was shocked when he heard this, and arrested Fang Lizheng for questioning. Fang Lizheng said categorically that he had reported the situation to the state capital, but nothing happened.

He tried to investigate further, but he couldn't.

Of course Zongze knew what this contained.

"ignorance!"

"Foolishness!"

"Trapped in a cocoon!"

"Local population registration has always been a top priority for people's livelihood everywhere, but you actually sit back and watch the Liangshan grass bandits defraud the people!"

The senior official of Qin then said with saliva on his face:

“At that time, I thought only those infected with the disease would leave, but who would have thought that so many people would leave in the end?”

Other gentry also echoed:

"Don't say yes!"

"Those people are also ignorant. This person left his hometown and went to another state to seek life. How can he be as comfortable as at home?"

"Sooner or later they will regret it!"

"But the most urgent thing is to use the forbidden army first, and return it to Mr. Zong in a month at most. At that time, we will replenish some gold, silver, grain and grass as a thank you."

Zongze frowned and glanced at their expressions. He always felt that something was wrong. After contemplating for a moment, he suddenly asked:

"Those who left are all landless farmers, right?"

"Those who have land at home should not have left, right?"

Everyone lowered their heads and said nothing. Zongze understood everything when he saw their expressions, and at the same time he was secretly glad.

Fortunately, we suppressed them before and did not let them annex the land too harshly. Otherwise, I am afraid that the number of farmers in Laizhou would not be half, but 89%!

The current situation is that land-owning farmers farm their own crops and are actually not affected. However, those powerful gentry who have too much land and need a large number of tenants for their families have no tenants to use, so they have to conjure up people!

Zongze was so angry that he trembled all over and shouted angrily:

"The Liangshan bandits really need to thank you!"

"If it weren't for your help, his Mizhou with ten rooms and nine empty rooms might not be able to recover even in ten years!"

"Are you really the gentry of our Song Dynasty?"

"Could it be that you have all secretly surrendered to the thieves?"

After hearing this, everyone hurriedly shook their heads, waved their hands and said:

"Mr. Zong, don't say angry words!"

"Once the Liangshan bandits occupy the prefectures and counties, they will definitely not let go of any gentry. Even the direct descendants of the saint in Qufu Kongfu will be killed."

"The Liangshan thieves had already killed a lot of people in Laizhou. If our village hadn't had high walls and deep pools, they would have been wiped out long ago. How can we dare to collude with those thieves again now?"

"What happened this time was really due to our carelessness. We didn't notice that the Liangshan thieves were unruly and actually sent people here to trick and deceive the people into following them."

Zongze felt weak all over his body, and he didn't know where to direct his anger.

Even though he just cursed loudly and scolded a group of old men bloody, he still had to wipe their butts in the end.

This is determined by the position and cannot be changed by non-human beings. Looking at these greedy and ugly faces, Zongze suddenly regretted that it was too early for him to send troops to regain Laizhou. He should have waited until the Liangshan bandits had killed all the gentry and powerful men before coming here.

He was startled, shook his head to drive this outrageous thought out of his mind, thought about it and said:

"For this reason, we have no choice but to start a war!"

"Use force before spring plowing, catch the Liangshan bandits off guard, and recover Mizhou as quickly as possible. Just in time to break up the captured Liangshan bandits and distribute them to your fields for farming, this will solve your problem of lack of men."

The gentry were overjoyed, but they were afraid of offending Liangshan, so they cautiously warned:

"We only need farmers, and they don't necessarily have to be prisoners of war in Liangshan."

"You only need to send a small group of soldiers across the border to bring back the escaped farmers, just like... just like the harvesting of grass and valleys on the Song-Liao border."

"I understand that the Liangshan thieves can't use weapons to do something for the common people."

Zongze looked at the way these silverfish looked like "forgetting their lives for small profits, and cherishing their lives for big things". He felt angry and didn't want to talk to them. He just waved his hand and said decisively:

"You don't have to say anything!"

"I just want to get benefits and don't want to take risks. How can anything be so cheap in this world?"

"If you want to get enough tenant farmers, this is the only way to go!"

"If you don't want to, just pretend I didn't say it."

Seeing that Zongze had already made a decision, the other gentry did not dare to continue to dissuade him, so they had no choice but to agree.

"No, no, no, no, everything will be done according to Mr. Zong's wishes."

After Zongze sent away the gentry, he immediately summoned the generals and began to discuss the conquest of Mizhou.

After hearing this, all the generals looked at each other in confusion. Finally, Sun Li, who had a closer relationship with Zongze, stood up and crossed his hands and said:

"Ms. Sir, although the Liangshan bandits certainly did not expect that our army would start fighting before the spring plowing, and an attack at this time would definitely have a miraculous effect, the expedition of this large army will inevitably recruit civilians, and it will inevitably affect the spring plowing in Laizhou."

"Moreover, the common man is concerned about his family's land, so he may not be careful when doing things, and it is inevitable that he will make some omissions."

"My lord, it's not that the general and others are timid, it's just that the timing of sending troops is too risky."

"How about we wait until after the autumn harvest before attacking?"

After listening to Sun Li's advice, Zongze felt a wry smile in his heart.

Doesn't he know this truth?

There is really no way!

Who allowed those damn silverfish to make such a big fool of themselves?

But there was no need to let the generals know about the matters between the literati and the gentry, so he made excuses:

"I see that there has been a severe drought in Liangshan for two consecutive years. Now we have experienced the White Lotus Rebellion and the plague. In addition, the relief for the refugees in Mizhou is not a small amount, so there will not be much food left."

"I have long wanted to regain the lost ground, and this is the right opportunity."

"If we wait until after the autumn harvest, the Liangshan bandits will probably be able to breathe again. It will be several times more difficult to conquer them again then."

"As for the spring plowing, I have already considered it. If the Liangshan bandits are prepared and it is difficult to have a surprise attack, then they will simply retreat so as not to delay the spring plowing."

"If the Liangshan bandits are unprepared, our army can work together to quickly recapture Mizhou and Weizhou, then stop advancing and guard the city, waiting for the Liangshan bandits to attack."

"When the enemy attacks and we defend, our army will have a great advantage. It will not be difficult to defend the city."

"The farmers won't need much at that time. We can let them come back to farm first and still not delay spring plowing."

Hearing that Zongze had considered everything, Sun Li stopped talking and bowed and stepped back.

Everyone was discussing military affairs again, and someone suddenly mentioned it.

"If we want to launch a surprise attack, we need to remove the spy of the Liangshan bandit first. Otherwise, Liangshan will already know about my army's movement."

"The Liangshan Chamber of Commerce in the city is in the city. They often sell some spirits and other things, and their business is booming."

"If they hadn't jumped out to recruit refugees this time, I'm afraid we might not have known that this was the Chamber of Commerce of the Liangshan Bandits!"

"Since this belongs to the thief, we might as well confiscate it!"

"The silver you get can be used as military supplies, or you can reward soldiers to make the departure fee a little more generous."

After listening, everyone expressed their agreement. Zongze understood what they were thinking, and they clearly wanted to use the opportunity of confiscation to attack him.

But there is no need for him to expose this kind of thing, otherwise it will easily cause public outrage.

Furthermore, since the trading company belongs to Liangshan, there must be many spies inside. After being raided, it will make the surprise attack plan more likely to succeed.

After thinking of this, Zongze wrote a military order in handwriting and gave it to the person who made the suggestion, asking him to lead a team to inspect it.

After a while, the general came back in despair.

"My husband, the Liangshan thieves are very cunning. Now the goods in that trading house have long been sold out, and only a few are left to prop up the facade outside."

"Moreover, there are only a dozen locally recruited guys in the business now, and the shopkeepers and others have already fled."

When we started to recruit refugees, the trading company did not expect that it would become such a big scale later. Knowing that this time it would make things bigger, so after the recruitment was completed, they immediately packed up and ran away, leaving only an empty shell. Leave it here.

Everyone saw that the duck in their hands flew away, and they felt unhappy. Zongze comforted him and said:

"All you soldiers need to do is work together to recover Mizhou and Weizhou. Naturally, the imperial court will reward you."

"Even if transportation is cut off now, I will definitely raise enough gold and silver to reward you in Denglai Prefecture, and I will never be short of everyone."

"You officers and men also know my character. I will never make any random promises. Since I have promised you, I will definitely keep my word."

Everyone was quite convinced of this unusual civil servant, and they hurriedly bowed and saluted, saying in unison:

"Where did Mr. Xian's words come from?"

"How can I not believe my husband's words?"

"Besides, it is our duty as generals to kill thieves for generals. Even if there is no reward from the court, we will definitely fulfill our duties faithfully and dare not slack off!"

After the military meeting, Zongze's general order was issued, and armies from various places began to gather secretly, and laborers began to be recruited in the name of water conservancy construction. After gathering, they were divided into two teams, each carrying artillery, ammunition and other materials, and headed towards Mizhou, They made a surprise attack in the direction of Weizhou.

But at the same time as the army set off, several homing pigeons took off from different locations in the city, flying towards Liangshan Dazhai.

　Thanks again to disciple "book friend 20210509162042966642365" for the continuous rewards!

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(End of this chapter)