I, Liu Bian, Sanxing Han Dynasty

Chapter 544 Rebellion?

"What? You just said that the soldiers from Minzhong County rebelled?" Gu Yong, the prefect of Kuaiji County, had a face full of suspicion.

"That's right! Don't go forward any further. The rebel army is now causing chaos. It would be better to turn back and gather troops to quell the rebellion." The embarrassed clerk from Zhang'an County advised Gu Yong.

After learning that the troops from Minzhong were about to enter Kuaiji, Gu Yong, who was promoted from county magistrate to county magistrate, immediately set out from Shanyin, the capital of Kuaiji County, to the south. However, Shanyin was located in the northernmost part of Kuaiji County, and before he arrived, the troops from Minzhong County had already entered Kuaiji.

However, Gu Yong did not think there was any problem. After all, the relevant official documents had already been issued. As long as the officials of the counties along the way provided food, charcoal and other military supplies to the soldiers of Minzhong County according to the official documents, it would be fine.

Before setting out, he had never thought that the county soldiers would rebel. Although Gu Yong had never had direct contact with Chen Deng, he had heard of Chen Deng's reputation. In recent years, he had also heard about Chen Deng's achievements in Fujian. In his opinion, Chen Deng would not send out an army that would rebel casually.

Thinking of this, Gu Yong asked, "Do you know why the soldiers in Fujian rebelled?"

The clerk shook his head repeatedly and replied, "I was on official business outside the city and saw someone running away along the official road, shouting that people from Fujian were rebelling and killing people, so I thought of spreading the news first."

Spread the news? I'm afraid the truth is that he ran away in fear!
However, Gu Yong did not expose the other party's lies. After confirming that the petty official did not see the Minzhong soldiers rioting, he finally made up his mind and said to his followers behind him: "Now the Minzhong soldiers' riot is just one-sided... I have heard of the reputation of Minzhong Chen Taishou. He is not a person who does not understand military strategy. How could the county soldiers he sent out easily riot?"

"However, there must be a reason for this rumor. I don't know what dangers lie ahead. I want to go there. I wonder if you are willing to go with me. Regardless of whether the rebellion of the Fujian soldiers is true or not, it will be a great achievement."

Gu Yong was always very dignified in front of others. After he finished speaking, the officials who came with him looked at each other and bowed, saying, "We are willing to follow you!"

They had all heard about Gu Yong's trip to Danyang after the Danyang prefect disappeared. Thanks to this achievement, Gu Yong was promoted from county magistrate to county magistrate. Now that Gu Yong dared to go, why shouldn't they dare to go too!

Immediately, the group set off, and the escaped clerk was taken with him by Gu Yong to return to Zhang'an County, the first stop of the Fujian troops in Kuaiji.

Along the way, Gu Yong did see civilians fleeing on the official road. When he asked them about it, they all said that people from central Fujian were killing people and causing chaos in Zhang'an County. But when he asked who had seen it with their own eyes, no one admitted it. They all just repeated what others said.

Seeing this, Gu Yong had some guesses.

When these people saw Gu Yong and others in official uniforms heading towards Zhang'an County without hesitation, some of them became suspicious and chose to follow Gu Yong back to Zhang'an County from a distance.

As they got closer to Zhang'an County, they no longer saw people spreading the news that the soldiers from central Fujian were causing chaos. There were even farmers working in the fields.

Gu Yong asked passers-by again, but they had not heard of any incident of soldiers from central Fujian killing people.

Only one person answered, "The Fujian soldiers did have some conflicts with the county officials, but they should be alright now, right?"

After receiving this ambiguous answer, Gu Yong continued to set out. When he arrived at the city wall of Zhang'an County, he saw a group of soldiers busy making fire and cooking, including some soldiers dressed in Shanyue costumes. He knew in his heart that these should be the soldiers from Minzhong.

...Shang Sheng was originally the Eastern Attendant under the Eastern Commander of Kuaiji County, guarding Dongye.

Later, Minzhong was established as a county, and he became the chief military officer of Minzhong County.

The Chief Secretary of Military Affairs is different from the Chief Secretary (County Magistrate) who is the deputy of the county governor or the prime minister. In fact, he is an official who specializes in leading troops in border counties. There are indeed many Shanyue people in central Fujian, which is different from the safe inland counties and kingdoms. It is most appropriate to set him up in such a place where someone may cause chaos at any second.

The 600-stone-level military officer replaced the 2,000-stone-level commander, and the corresponding officials' ranks and numbers were naturally different, which was very suitable for those areas that needed to set up additional soldiers but did not need to spend money to set up commanders. When Ban Chao led his troops to the Western Regions to fight against the rebels, he served as the military officer, and later became the Western Regions Chief.

For Shang Sheng, this was just right. Otherwise, even if a commandery was appointed in Minzhong County, it would not be his turn to be the commander. At most, he would be a commander's assistant or commander's military commander under the commander.

After saying goodbye to Lord Chen Deng, the county soldiers he led were initially still thinking of the rewards promised by Chen Deng, and they were very motivated. However, as they were getting farther and farther away from home, the soldiers soon began to feel homesick.

Among them, Zhang Ya, the leader of the Shanyue bandits, who joined Chen Deng after he became the governor of Fujian, often complained to Shang Sheng: "I heard that there is no chaos in Kuaiji, Yuzhang and other places. Under such circumstances, we have no chance to make military achievements if we go to these places. No merit, no reward... It's better to farm at home!"

This sentiment reached its peak when the county soldiers left central Fujian and arrived at Zhang'an County, Kuaiji County, where they originally came from.

Because at this time, they felt that they were being treated unfairly - "Is this food for human consumption?"

"We are here under orders, how can we be treated like this?"

Shang Sheng was also very angry when he saw this. These county soldiers, including the Shanyue people, were not particularly obedient. He knew very well that according to the official documents exchanged between his lord and General An Dong, they should be treated more than this.

It would be fine if his men were those submissive soldiers who would just endure it, but the Shanyue people had already received the promise from the Lord of the Mansion, and now the situation has changed. If he doesn't do something, who knows if they will fall asleep one day and never again figure it out.

After realizing this, Shang Sheng immediately made a choice: to take the lead in causing trouble!
Facts have proved that as long as you are willing to endure hardships, you will never be able to endure more hardships. Shang Sheng, who did not want to endure hardships, led the Fujian soldiers to make trouble for a while. The officials of Zhang'an County not only did not dare to withhold their food and fodder, but also offered them extra pigs and sheep.

Faced with such a good thing, Shang Sheng naturally would not refuse.

After slaughtering the pigs and sheep, Shang Sheng found Zhang Ya, who was very prestigious among the county soldiers from Shanyue and was also his deputy. He pointed at the pigs and sheep and asked, "Are you satisfied with this?"

However, Zhang Ya shook her head: "These are what they should have given us, but they haven't been punished for their crime of bullying us!"

Although Shang Sheng felt that what Zhang Ya said made sense, he didn't want to make a big fuss about it. However, if he couldn't convince Zhang Ya and the Shanyue people behind him, he was afraid that it would be difficult to manage in the future!

Just as Shang Sheng was hesitating, he suddenly heard a soldier report that there was someone outside the military camp who claimed to be Gu Yong, the Prime Minister of Kuaiji.

(End of this chapter)