Late Tang

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Li Jing led the [-] town [***] to sweep up grass bandits in Yun and Pu states, and the results were fruitful.

The Jishui water was sparkling, and a fleet of thousands of large and small ships was carrying the harvest of the town [***].In addition to the huge fleet in the Jishui River, there is also a huge convoy along the road along the north bank of Jishui.Thousands of carts, oxen, horses and donkeys are also loaded with various harvested materials.

In addition, Liangwai Town [***] was also responsible for escorting 13 young men and women.These 13 young and strong men and women will be taken to Liaodong. Before leaving Yunzhou, Li Jing has announced to them that after arriving in Liaodong, they will have a hundred people as an army.After joining the Army Tunnel, they became Tunhu households, farming fields for the town [***].The town [***] will be given grain at the standard of five shi grains per year, and there will be two wages per year in addition.

All the households can reclaim their own fields after three years in Liaodong. The fields they reclaim will not be charged two taxes for three years. It's a small bucket, which weighs only five and a half catties.Calculated on the basis of one stone per mu, it is only 22 pumps per mu, and if calculated on the basis of a hundred catties per mu, it is much higher than fifteen pumps per stone.After three years, the land will belong to them. Even if two additional taxes are levied, Li Jing promises that the collection will not exceed the ratio of [-], and no other fees will be levied.

Moreover, Li Jing also said that as long as they perform well, are willing to do things seriously, and work hard, they don't even need to farm for three years, they can become free citizens in advance and reclaim their own land by themselves, while the town [***] and the local government , will also provide them with rented seeds, farm tools and livestock.

In short, in front of these people, Li Jing tried his best to paint an excellent prospect.Most of these people were hungry people who had already been thieves. After encountering disasters and breaking their homes, they became hungry refugees. In the end, they were coerced by grass thieves, or they became robbers directly for a bite to eat.Many people are already desperate, living numbly, living a life with today and no tomorrow.This time he was captured by the army, and he thought he would die.Unexpectedly, Zhen [***] did not kill them to avenge their meritorious service, but sent them to Liaodong instead.

Although Liaodong is a bitterly cold place in my impression, but according to Li Jing's description, it seems to be a peach garden outside the world.They don't have to suffer from cold and starvation, not only can they have food and clothing, but they can even have their own land.Some people didn't believe it, thinking that Zhen[***] was just trying to lure them to Liaodong to do coolies.But many people believed it. They have already reached this point. How miserable can it be?In Henan, the Central Plains, even if they wanted to serve those local tyrants as slaves, just asking for a bite to eat, but no one was willing to accept it.What's more, Zhen [***] Li Jing's name still convinced many people.In the past six months, Dengzhou has become a place that countless people yearn for.

The experience of these days also made them gradually believe in Li Jing's words.Since entering the refugee camp, except for the gruel that was served for the first two days, what was served later was dry rice and pancakes, and even vegetables, shiny dishes, seaweed, radish sticks, salted fish sticks, There are even slices of meat, which have been served like this for many days in a row.I heard that the porridge given to the camp two days before entering the camp was not for other reasons, but for fear that those who were too hungry before would eat too much and be stuffed to death.Eat porridge first, this is to take care of the body first, to prevent sudden overeating.

Now, none of the 10,000+ people in the refugee camp would run away. With such good food every day and such a wonderful prospect, who would run away?

They also started to help with the work here, the men were helping with the wheelbarrow, and the women were making clothes.

Before departing from Yuncheng, 13 young and strong received a set of clothes.It was a complete set of clothes, complete with shoes, socks and shirts. Although the production was in a hurry and the work was not too fine, when the brand-new linen clothes were delivered to these people, many people couldn't help crying with excitement. They believed that there was a bright future waiting for them.

Time was in a hurry, and before departure, more than 1 wheelbarrows were produced in time.These wheelbarrows have a wooden wheel, two handrails, and a shoulder rope.Because it is on the ground with a single wheel, no matter the plains or mountains, the trails can go unimpeded. It is an economical and practical means of transportation that is better than manpower and animal power.This kind of small car has been widely used in the town [***], especially in Liaodong, where the roads are difficult and there are more such cars.

A wheelbarrow can hold at least three stones, and if it is an old wheelbarrow, add a puller, and even directly carry seven to eight stones.

This time the town [***] departed from Yunzhou, and all the luggage was divided into three parts for transportation. The first is that more than 1000 large and small ships in the Ji River transported supplies.In addition, there are more than 1000 carts, in addition to these more than 1 unicycles.

Each of these wheelbarrows can carry more than five stones, and one person carries them in the front, one person pulls them in the back, and the other two push them on the side.

Many young and strong people also actively carry their hands on their shoulders, and the two of them carry them.

As a result, except for 45 shi of grain, tens of thousands of pieces of cloth, and the weapons to be sold, all the other materials were brought on the road at one time.

Twenty thousand town [***] escorted 13 young adults, not so much as escort, but as protection.No one ran away at all, and no one shouted tired.The task of Zhen [***] is only to protect the front and back, and follow along on both sides.There were a total of 15 horses, and the team stretched for almost fifty miles on the road from the middle of the Jishui River to the north bank.After entering Jeju in a mighty way, go all the way.

The sun in early June was already very hot, and the team walked under the sun very hotly.Li Jing was not in a hurry to hurry. He set off every day at dawn, and at noon, he would rest in the woods at the foot of the mountain, and wait for the noon sun to pass before leaving.

The town [***] has entered Jeju for ten days, and within ten days, such a huge team did not go far.Li Wei would come back every day to report the movements of the Cao Army. Since Li Jing led the army into Yunzhou, the Cao Army has obviously accelerated its eastward march.They didn't even dare to loot the five county towns of Jeju along the way. Instead, they marched in a hurry and fled directly into Jeju.

Hearing the news, Li Jing smiled slightly, this could not have been a better result.Although he wasn't afraid of thieves, Li Jing was really not interested in fighting that meaningless battle.

However, after entering Jeju in the past few days, Li Jing successfully recovered the three counties of Yanggu, Dong'e, and Lu County on the north bank of Jishui by the way.

On the tenth day of June, Wang Zhong, Li Zhen and others followed Li Jing's order and led the Black Banner Army and the Pengri Army to Pingyin City on the south bank of Jishui River together with the [-] young men.On the same day, Li Jing's huge team of more than [-] people also walked to the north bank of Jishui, facing Pingyin City across the river.

On the same day, Wang Zhong led the army to successfully recover the last unconquered Changqing City among the five cities of Jeju.The whole of Jeju is fully recovered!

Afterwards, Li Jing stayed in Jeju for another ten days. During these ten days, Li Jing kept making rumors that he would attack Qizhou immediately.But in fact, they have been holding back their troops, and just sent troops to carry out a major raid on the five counties of Jeju.

Since the military chaos suffered in Jeju was not too severe, Li Jing's harvest from this raid was very rich, not much worse than that of Pu and Yun prefectures.Li Jing even swept through the counties of Jeju again, and finally picked [-] young and strong men and [-] young and strong women, leaving Jeju almost empty.

Now, Li Jing has 23 soldiers and horses, but he has a full 13 young and strong, including [-] young and strong women and [-] young and strong men.The number of young and strong women taken this time is very large, mainly because Li Jing considered that among the refugees recruited some time ago, the proportion of women was very small.The gap in the ratio of men to women was so great that Lin Wei, who stayed behind, told him in his letter that there are many stable young men in Dengzhou and Liaodong who are eager to get married, but there are too few women, which has led to more and more expensive wedding gifts. Not even two cows can marry a daughter-in-law.

This time, Li Jing got [-] young and strong women, almost all of whom are unmarried or widowed, or separated from their families. These people can not only be sent to various workshops as the current growing industries in Dengzhou and Liaodong. Those workshops in various industries work, and it is also to alleviate the imbalance in the ratio of men to women, so that more marriageable men can marry wives, so as to enhance the stability of the town [***].

In Pingyin City, Li Jing and the generals held a banquet and drank heavily.

In this month, the town [***] has made a fortune, with hundreds of thousands of shi of grain, millions of coins, and a population of more than 20 young and strong.And to achieve such a big harvest, they only paid dozens of casualties during the suppression of bandits.Compared with such a big gain, this little casualty is simply nothing to mention.

Not to mention the money, even Zhen [***]'s military achievements this time are also great.He relieved the siege of Songzhou and wiped out Wang Xianzhi's 10,000 bandit army. This time, he successively regained fifteen counties in Pu, Yun, and Ji prefectures, and several counties in Yanzhou.This feat was accomplished by Zhen [***] alone.Although the coalition forces of the six towns of the imperial court also defeated Huang Chao's [-]+ troops, they also lost more than [-] themselves, and beheaded only [-].

"Marshal, how should we march next? Should we wait and see what happens, or go directly to Qizhou?" Wang Chong asked with a smile.

Holding his wine glass, Li Zhen smiled lightly and said, "I think it's better to sit on the wall and watch. After Huang Chao and Wang Jingwu joined forces, there were already 6 or [-] troops. , They have no way to escape, and they will inevitably die at that time. It is better to garrison here and wait and see what happens!"

Guo Cheng'an said: "I'm afraid Marshal Song won't be able to sit still, he is appointed by the imperial court to recruit grass thieves, but right now our town [***] has defeated Wang Xianzhi, and Six Towns has also defeated Huang Chao. His recruiter is very embarrassing. Now that Huang Chao is rushing into Qizhou, Marshal Song must really want to destroy them and save some momentum."

Li Jing nodded, if he were Song Wei, he would definitely be very upset right now.You must be eager to fight a battle to restore your reputation.And now is a good time to fight this battle.However, with Song Wei's strength, he failed to fight against Wang Jingwu alone for a year. It would be even more difficult for him to fight against Wang Jingwu and Huang Chao alone.Therefore, Li Jing guessed that Song Wei would never forget his adopted son, and he would very likely let Li Jing send troops to attack the grass thief with him!

If Song Wei ordered him to send troops, should he send troops? (To be continued.)