Great Han Empire

Chapter 323 The rain is coming
February 187 AD.

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Because Li Wei and Song Wen explained the recruiting plan very thoroughly, Zhang Yan and other leaders of the Yellow Turban Army felt that Li Hong had thought of all their concerns and worries for them and tried to meet their requirements, but they did not think of it. Yes, Li Hong also helped them think of and put forward a very complete solution. In short, the recruiting plan proposed by Li Hong was exhaustive, complete and impeccable.

The leaders of the Yellow Turban Army saw Li Hong's sincerity and determination from the recruiting plan. They gave up their doubts and devoted themselves to the negotiation with a very trusting and cooperative attitude.With the joint efforts of both parties, the main conditions for the solicitation were quickly negotiated.Li Hong then ordered Li Wei, Song Wen, Tang Fang and others to write a memorial to the emperor.

The next thing to talk about is some thorny issues.

Li Hong only let the two parties rest for half a day, and then immediately started the second round of negotiations.Now that they agreed to appease, the Yellow Turban Army will bargain on issues related to their own future and interests.The relaxed atmosphere in the Dalongshan tent suddenly became tense, and the personnel on both sides were no longer chatting and laughing, but swords were drawn.After several days of intense debate, the final focus was on issues such as the army, farming and taxation.

The Yellow Turban Army requested to retain all the troops, 20 county soldiers and [-] field soldiers.Of course, Li Hong would not agree, a Taiyuan county could not afford to support one hundred thousand soldiers?Even if these soldiers do not receive military pay, the amount of food, clothing and weapons they need is astonishing, and the small Taiyuan County cannot afford it anyway.Li Hong only promised that the Yellow Turban Army would retain [-] county soldiers and [-] field soldiers, and the rest of the soldiers would be dismissed and go to various places to join the village.

The Yellow Turban Army also stated that the troops under its jurisdiction were not under the control of the imperial court and the Zhenbei General Headquarters, and that they would not accept any other dispatches except to fight against the invading Hu bandits.Li Hong smiled wryly, and asked them, after you recruited, are you called the Han Army or the Yellow Turban Army?If it is the Han army, you don't even obey His Majesty's imperial decree, what are you called the Han army?Li Hong believed that the Yellow Turban Army after the appeasement would not kill the rest of the Yellow Turban rebels, and the other imperial conscripts had to be accepted, otherwise what would it be called the Han Army?
The Yellow Turban Army demanded that the county government of Taiyuan County and the county government of the [-] subordinate counties be controlled by the Yellow Turban Army, and that officials at all levels be appointed by themselves, and that the imperial court and Bingzhou Governor's Department should not interfere.Li Hong quit.According to the capabilities of the Yellow Turban Army, it is impossible to carry out military settlements and civilian settlements alone. Moreover, if these government officials do whatever they want and exploit them wantonly, how can they do this?Li Hong firmly demanded that the governors of the prefectures and counties be recruited by both parties, and that the prefectural history department has the right to report lawbreakers in the prefectures at all levels.

The Yellow Turban Army demanded that all the cultivated land in Taiyuan County be distributed equally to the refugees by themselves, and that they should be in charge of farming in Taiyuan County.Li Hong flatly refused the Yellow Turban Army's request.Of course, members of the Yellow Turban Army had to participate in farming, but it was the Zhenbei General Headquarters that was directly in charge of farming affairs, and Li Hong would never budge on this point.This is the key to the success of recruiting, the survival of refugees, and the stability of Bingzhou. If Tuntian fails, recruiting will be impossible.

The Yellow Turban Army also demanded that the imperial court exempt Taiyuan County from taxation for five years. After five years, the tax collected would not be handed over to the national treasury, but would be freely controlled by the Yellow Turban Army.Li Hong disagreed, and only agreed to exempt Taiyuan County from taxes for three years. After three years, part of the taxes collected would be reserved for the Yellow Turban Army, and part would be turned over to the state treasury.He tried his best to recruit the farmland, the purpose was not to fatten the Yellow Turban Army, but to strengthen the frontier to defend against the enemy, and to go north to attack Hu and regain lost ground.

The gap between the demands of the two sides was too great. After several days of continuous debate, there was no result except that the Yellow Turban Army was willing to reduce the number of county soldiers to [-].

Li Hong immediately proposed to rest for a day, and he asked Zhang Yan: "Commander, do you think we are going to Longshan to see the scenery or Jinyang to see the folk customs?"

Zhang Yan hesitated a little, and said with a smile: "My lord, how about this, let's go to Longshan in the morning, and go down to Jinyang City. Your lord has been in Jinyang for more than 20 days, and you haven't seen Jinyang City yet?"

===

While the ministers in Luoyang were still arguing about the powers of the Bingzhou recruiting envoy, the preliminary recruiting plan negotiated by Xingzhenbei General Li Hong and Yellow Turban Army Marshal Zhang Yan had been sent to Shangshutai.

Huang Fusong, Lu Zhi and other Shangshutai officials discussed this plan overnight, and played it to the emperor early the next morning.The Son of Heaven glanced at it hastily, and asked, "What do you two lovers think?"

Huangfu Song praised: "General Li has made careful preparations for appeasement, and the proposals he made are basically in order. After the draft discussion at Shangshutai, he thinks that His Majesty can completely follow through with the edict."

Lu Zhi immediately made some explanations, and he was quite appreciative in his words, "General Li acted resolutely and decisively. It is really surprising that he was able to reach a conciliation agreement with the Yellow Scarf Ant Thief in such a short period of time."

The Son of Heaven sneered and said, "This boy has become a big official now, and he even speaks differently. Look at what is written at the back of the memorial? I want the court to give an answer as soon as possible. How can I do it as soon as possible? I haven't urged him yet. He arrived It reminds me, what is he trying to do in such a rage?"

Huangfusong knew that the emperor was happy, but it was not easy to put it on his face, so he spoke ironically.He hurriedly followed the emperor's words and said: "General Li is probably in a hurry to return to Youzhou, so he is a little out of choice. Your Majesty doesn't need to take it to heart. I think that Your Majesty can issue an order to order General Li to immediately reconcile with Huang Jin." The ant thief discusses the specific content of recruiting, so as to solve the Yellow Turban in Bingzhou as soon as possible, appease the refugees, and start farming as soon as possible."

Lu Zhi also said: "Your Majesty, the success of appeasement is only the beginning. The next million refugees will go down to the mountains to farm the fields. If they fail to farm, all that General Li has done will come to naught."

Hearing this, the Son of Heaven almost wrinkled his short eyebrows together, with a bitter expression on his face.

"You two lovers, how much will the court spend on farming?"

Huangfusong and Lu Zhi looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.Huangfusong said worriedly: "A preliminary estimate is that by the end of next year's spring plowing, it will be about 70 billion yuan."

The emperor was dumbfounded.

===

At the court meeting, various ministers criticized Li Hong's appeasement plan in many ways, and the voices of accusations were endless.The ministers believed that Li Hong was too weak, compromised too much, and blatantly violated the laws of the Han Dynasty in many places.

Taiwei Cui Lie still agreed to appease. Under the current situation, one less disaster can save more energy for the dying Han Kingdom.He saw that some ministers were just looking for trouble, standing in the court hall and talking nonsense. Cui Lie was furious, and accused a group of ministers who sang crooked tunes: "Since you think that General Li's proposal of appeasement is insulting to the prestige of the Han Dynasty, then I would like to ask Ladies and gentlemen, what can you do to boost the country's prestige? What did you do to boost the country's prestige?"

"Are you willing to donate your own family wealth to counter-insurgency military funds? Now that the national treasury is exhausted, and the anti-insurgency military funds are all funded by the Shaofu, why are you unwilling to donate as much as your majesty did? You are neither willing to donate money, and you don’t want to lead troops to fight, can this also boost the country’s prestige?”

The ministers fell silent, but all looked disdainful.Are you Cui Lie some kind of noble person?When you were a Sangong, it was His Majesty's nanny who interceded for you to buy the official, and the scholar's face was completely humiliated by you.Now that you are a captain, His Majesty sympathizes with you for being poor, so he forgave you the money to buy an official, otherwise you would have already left. How could you be qualified to teach us a lesson in this court.

Cui Lie was still talking non-stop.

"Even if this appeasement is negotiated, tens of billions of money will be needed immediately to start farming. Does the court have money? Does General Li have money? If there is no money to farm any fields, isn't this just nonsense?"

"General Li's purpose is nothing more than three. One is to use Zhang Yan, the leader of the ant thieves, to split the Yellow Turban Army. Once Zhang Yan is appeased, his reputation among the ant thieves will be ruined. No ant thief will trust him anymore. In the eyes of the ant thief, he is a rebellious, despicable and shameless villain. Even if he makes trouble again in the future, he will be nothing more than a small thief, and he will not be able to make a big wave. But the leader of the ant thief is appeased, and the blow to other ant thieves is terrible. It is easy to imagine. In this way, the weakening of the ant thief's power will be of great benefit to the court's suppression of the rebellion."

"Secondly, by using consolation, hundreds of thousands of ant thieves in Bingzhou can be held back without a single shot. As long as these ant thieves don't cross the Taihang Mountains to join up with the ant thieves heading south from Jizhou and Youzhou, Master Liu Yu Liu will have sufficient It is time to assemble the army and defeat the Ant Thieves in Youzhou. General Li’s army does not need to fight in Bingzhou, and the court can concentrate all its forces to support the Jizhou battlefield. Therefore, the appeasement of Bingzhou is actually the guarantee for the court to quickly put down the rebellion in Youzhou.”

"The last point is especially important. It can temporarily solve the headache problem of refugees. When the refugees scattered all over the country heard that the state had given them land to farm, and they didn't have to pay taxes, they would definitely trek across mountains and rivers and flock away. Ant thieves will have no source of soldiers, how long can they last? It will be great if they can last for a year or so. After that year or a half? There will be no rebellion in the Han Kingdom."

The more Cui Lie spoke, the angrier he became, and he yelled at them for being a bunch of drunks and idiots.The ministers made a lot of sense when they heard it, and the Taiwei lord really spoke clearly and had a far-sighted vision.Although he was scolded, he was a captain, so he had no choice but to admit it.

When the emperor heard it, oh, it turned out that this was the case. The leopard was in a hurry to urge him, and he made the caressing thing as if it was real, so it was all for deceiving people.He felt at ease immediately.This morning, he was racking his brains on how to deal with the entanglements of the ministers so as to keep his Wanjintang.At this moment, the Son of Heaven relaxed and became excited, as if he had just made billions of dollars. He watched with great interest the Taiwei standing in the hall and losing his temper.

But some ministers in the court were not fooled by Cui Lie.Xu Xiang looked at Cui Lie with a smile, and said in his heart, you said that Li Hong is a liar, you are just a liar, I think he is really serious.Alright, since you dare to openly deceive the emperor and the ministers in the court, I will help you. When Li Hong goes to farm to ask for money, I will see how you end up.I think you, the captain, have done it well.

Huangfusong and Lu Zhi felt dizzy when they heard this.This matter of appeasement was originally the top priority of the Han Kingdom at present, but it has become a trivial matter due to such nonsense by Mr. Taiwei.Although the resistance to adopting the appeasement plan is small, the consequences are serious.What about Tuntian in the later period?That's a huge fee, who will pay if the court doesn't pay?If the matter of recruiting is settled quickly, the next thing is to farm the land, which is asking for money.At that time, the emperor and the ministers said, isn't General Li just putting on a show in Bingzhou, cheating ants and thieves, what do you want money for?Really farming?
A group of bureaucrats at Shangshutai stood there looking at the angry Cui Lie, dumbfounded.

Cui Lie managed to finish scolding, and called out several lower officials by name, and then turned around and said to the emperor: "Your Majesty, I believe that as long as it is Li Hong's proposal of appeasement, all edicts will be followed. I believe that His Majesty should give Zhang Yan, the leader of the ant thief, a high official, and then issue an edict to all parts of the country to publicize the matter of Bingzhou's appeasement. First, everyone in the world will know His Majesty's mighty grace, and second, it can also attack the ant thieves. The morale, three times, can also make the refugees who are living in various places rush to Bingzhou quickly."

"Okay, okay, okay." The emperor was overjoyed when he heard the words, and said three good words in a row, "The crisis in Bingzhou was relieved because Zhang Yan was pacified, so I will make Zhang Yan a general in peace, what do you think? ?”

Xu Xiang immediately shouted: "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is wise!"

Among the ministers, there were some who were ready to stand up to persuade and oppose, but seeing that the Sangong took the lead in shouting for His Majesty's sage, what did he say?Forget it, anyway, the treasury has no money, no matter what the Taiwei said is true or not, it is a scam in the end, and the conquest will naturally fail. Why do you meddle in so many nosy things, just follow behind the ministers Call Your Majesty Shengming.

===

Zhao Qi repeatedly wrote letters, strongly requesting to go to Bingzhou to participate in recruiting and farming, but the emperor no longer paid attention to this matter at this time, and he spent every day in the harem to escape the summer heat.

On this day, Jizhou came to urgently book.The Youzhou rebels, led by Zhang Chun and Qiao Wang Su Puyan, the leader of Karasuma in Liaodong, captured Gaoyang City in the Hejian Kingdom.Yang Chun, the governor of Youzhou, was ambushed by Karasuma iron cavalry on the way to retreat, and his entire army was wiped out.Now the remnants of Youzhou, under the leadership of the cavalry captain Gongsun Zan, have retreated to Lecheng City, the Hejian state government, while the rebel army is moving towards Anping state.

At this time, the Bairao army of the Yellow Turban Army of Heishan also rushed through the blocking of Mu Yangqi in Jizhou, and was advancing rapidly towards Handan of Zhao State.

The emperor was shocked and hurried to Shangshutai.

"Can the Hejian Kingdom be saved?"

Huangfusong shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, the most urgent thing is to stabilize Zhang Yan in Bingzhou."

The emperor's heartbroken face changed color, and he said very angrily: "Didn't I already agree to Li Hong's offer of appeasement? Why haven't you sent it yet?"

Huangfusong said dissatisfiedly: "Your Majesty went directly to the harem that day, and the little Huangmen Jian Shuo Jian accompanied His Majesty, and there was no one to be found. Without his nodding, Fu Jieling would not dare to write in the imperial edict anyway." How can we send out this edict if the main seal is affixed to it?"

The emperor gave Huangfu Song a push, and felt even more unhappy.

"Okay, okay, Jian Aiqing is here, hurry up and do it. What about Jizhou?"

Lu Zhi said unhurriedly: "Your Majesty, this matter of recruiting envoys..."

"Immediately issue an order to move Zhao Qi to Bingzhou as a recruiting envoy." The emperor waved impatiently and said, "What about the matter in Jizhou?"

"Your Majesty, who is in charge of this Bingzhou recruiting?" Lu Zhi asked.

"It's been so many days, and you haven't discussed it properly?" The emperor scolded angrily, "Why do I support you? Is it just bickering every day? Anyway, this matter is a lie, why are you so serious? It's okay to eat enough. Make an order He asked Li Hong to be in charge of all related matters. He had the final say, and he cheated for a few days. Zhao Qi was changed to be the captain of Hutian, and he was in charge of Bingzhou Tuntian, and the military and civilian settlements were under his control. I'm old, and I have to travel thousands of miles to Bingzhou for state affairs. It's too hard. This farm work is purely nonsense, and it's just right for the boss to do it. When Li Hong can't deceive him anymore, he will be called back. As for Bingzhou governor Zhang Yi , Tell him to go back to Yanmenguan to escape the summer heat, don't worry about the affairs of Taiyuan and Shangdang counties, nothing will cause any trouble."

Lu Zhi hurriedly asked: "Your Majesty, the county residences of Taiyuan County and Shangdang County..."

"What other prefectures are there? Before the ant thieves could reach Jinyang and the eldest son, they ran to the east of the river. I ordered that the officials of the two prefectures be brought back to me."

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, after the old man arrives in Bingzhou, who will he listen to?" Huangfu Song asked loudly in a hurry.

"You stupid brains, haven't I already said that everything is in charge of Li Hong. After the boss arrives in Bingzhou, don't listen to anyone's words. Find a place to escape the heat and cool off while you go. Don't worry about Li Hong's business. , let him do the nonsense alone."

Huangfusong and Lu Zhi were dumbfounded.This matter was disturbed by Taiwei Cui Lie, and everything changed, and there were many quarrels. In the end, it was Li Hong who had the final say in Bingzhou alone.

"Your Majesty, in this way, isn't General Xingzhenbei Li Hong the governor of Bingzhou military affairs?" Lu Zhi said helplessly, "He can use the excuse of appeasement to monopolize Bingzhou's political affairs."

The emperor was really angry. He stared at a pair of small eyes, pulled his neck and shouted: "Aiqing, it's not about Bingzhou now, it's about Jizhou, it's about Hejian country, it's about my Hejian country. Jizhou What about the matter?"

Huangfusong replied: "Your Majesty, the current strategy is to order Liu Yu to lead his army to Handan, Zhao State, and resolutely block Bai Rao's rebel army, and prevent him from joining Zhang Chun's rebel army."

"What did you say?" The Son of Heaven clapped his hands and shouted loudly, "No, immediately order Liu Yu to lead the army to support the Hejian Kingdom."

"Your Majesty, as long as the two rebel armies are not allowed to join forces, Jizhou will have no worries. Zhang Chun's rebel army came from a long distance from Youzhou, and the army went deep alone without support. After a plunder, they will naturally return to Youzhou." Lu Zhi advised.

"Didn't you say that the Karasuma cavalry would not go south? Why are they going south now? And they have reached my Hejian country?" The emperor glared at Lu Zhi and asked in a hateful voice, "I won't listen to you, so I will draw up an order immediately. Order Liu Yu to support the Hejian Kingdom and repel the rebels."

===

After Zhao Qi received the decree, he was overjoyed and immediately sold the house, dismissed the servants, said goodbye to old friends, and went to Bingzhou with his family of 47.

An old friend Yuan Kai was very surprised and asked him why he wanted to go to Bianjun with his family.Zhao Qi said, I am already eighty years old, and I will not live for a few years.This time I went to Bingzhou to farm, and there will be no ten years without success.Ten years later, I will definitely be dead, and my family will not be around when I don't want to die, so I will take them to Bingzhou together.Yuan Kui said, His Majesty intends to let you go and come back, and does not intend to let you stay in Bingzhou permanently.Zhao Qi said that when I came to Bingzhou this time, I will fight this old bone and solve the problem of food for the refugees, so I will never give up halfway, and I will never leave the people of Bingzhou. I will die in Bingzhou.

When Zhao Qi's disciples heard that the teacher was going to Bingzhou to farm and would not return, they were very sad and vowed to follow the teacher and serve him for life.So all Zhao Qi's disciples and children in the Luoyang area abandoned their officials and left. Hundreds of disciples studying in Taixue also resigned and returned to their homes, packed their things and rushed to the teacher's house.Zhao Qi was very moved, and said that since you are so filial, that's fine, just follow me to Bingzhou to farm.

On the day Zhao Qi left Luoyang, nearly [-] disciples accompanied him, and as many as [-] people saw him off along the way. Hundreds of officials gathered outside the Xia Gate and served wine as a farewell farewell.Everyone knew that he would never return to Luoyang, and they would see each other forever, and they all shed tears.

When the emperor went to the Shang study that day, he didn't see Huangfusong and Lu Zhi. He was very surprised, so he asked Jian Shuo, who was on his side, what happened to these two people, why did they run away without telling me?
Jian Shuo replied: "Your Majesty, Lord Huangfu and Lord Lu have gone out of the city to see off Lord Zhao." Then he turned Zhao Qi into a seller's fortune and vowed to farm in Bingzhou.

"My lord left Luoyang with nothing but a coffin."

The Son of Heaven was overwhelmed, and he looked up to the sky and sighed.

"Aiqing, you draw up an imperial decree to seal the old man as Marquis of Pingxiang, five hundred households in the township, and give fifty catties of gold and five hundred bolts of silk." Send him off. With such a good loyal minister, there are not many Han Kingdoms left."

===

The scenery of Longshan and the folk customs of Jinyang City did not bring any benefits to the two sides, on the contrary, the debate became more intense.

At this time, Luoyang's imperial decree was sent to the Dalongshan camp.

The initial plan of the emperor agreeing to appease was expected by everyone, so no one was surprised, but the emperor directly rewarded Zhang Yan as a general in peace before the appeasement was finalized, which was beyond everyone's expectations Outside, cheers erupted in the tent.This behavior of the emperor is undoubtedly telling both parties that the emperor not only agrees to appease, but also very sincerely appeases.

The leaders of the Yellow Turban Army were shocked at first, then pleasantly surprised, and then bitter. Everyone looked at the imperial decree on the table and felt mixed feelings for a while.is it good or bad?Is it joy or pain?Excited or disappointed?Zhang Yan and his subordinates looked at each other, speechless for a long time.Since the great virtuous teacher Zhang Jiao raised his troops, countless soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army have fallen under the banner. Why?In exchange for this small decree?Everyone has fought bravely for four years, is this the end?
Zhang Yan left Dalong Mountain with his subordinates and returned to Jinyang City.He told Li Hong that he and the Yellow Turban Army had to think about it, think about the past and the future.He didn't take away the imperial decree, nor did he take away the silver seal and green ribbon, they were still placed on the table, untouched.

Standing on the hillside, Li Hong looked at their disappearing backs with a heavy heart. He seemed to feel the pain and sorrow this imperial decree brought to them, and he seemed to see the blood and tears in the hearts of Zhang Yan and the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army.

"My lord, you are too impatient, you have forced them so that they don't even have time to catch their breath." Li Wei walked gently behind him and sighed, "It will take time to heal the hatred and scars of the past few years, after all , What they lost was countless bloody lives, and the belief that supported their survival."

Li Hong smiled desolately and shook his head.

"Zhongyuan, am I being too stingy?"

"My lord is not stingy, but my lord is too cruel." Li Wei said slowly, "My lord is like a sharp knife, with no emotion, stabbing at the blood and flesh of the Yellow Turban Army."

Li Hong's heart trembled unconsciously.

"For so many days, I have only one feeling when I stay with these leaders of the Yellow Turban Army every day." Li Wei glanced at Li Hong, who was in pain, and said in a low voice, "They are like ants, like ants on the ground... "

Li Wei couldn't speak any more, turned around and left.

===

In the twilight, Yan Liang and Zheng Xin yelled loudly and rushed into the Dalongshan camp on horseback.

"Zhong Yuan, what are you rushing us to do?" Zheng Xin saw Li Wei, hurriedly got off his horse and asked loudly.

Li Wei pointed to Li Hong who was standing on the hillside and shook his head.

Seeing that Zhang Yan hadn't mentioned Yang Feng's matter to Li Hong for a long time, Zhang Baiqi finally couldn't help saying it himself.That day, Li Hong invited him to take a walk together, and Zhang Baiqi told Li Hong about Yang Feng.

Li Hong was very hesitant. It's not that he hadn't thought about this matter, but he was indeed very careful about Zhang Yan's thoughts.Zhang Baiqi said that Zhang Yan and Yang Feng have been brothers since childhood, and the conflict between the two is not Zhang Yan's problem, but Yang Feng's problem.

"If my lord can persuade Yang Feng, the commander-in-chief must be very grateful and will never misunderstand you."

Li Hong thought for a while, then asked: "If the commander-in-chief is appeased, will the Yellow Turbans in other places respect Yang Feng as the new commander-in-chief of the Yellow Turbans?"

Zhang Baiqi said with a smile: "Your Excellency thinks so? Then you are wrong. Since the death of Brother Pin Pu, the Yellow Turban Army has no commander. If Feiyan has the prestige of Brother Pin Pu, how can we go today?" This step?"

Yan Liang and Zheng Xin walked up to Li Hong and bowed to salute.

"My lord, come to us, is there anything urgent?"

Li Hong nodded and said, "Go to Shangdang and tell Yang Feng that I want to see him."

Zheng Xin hesitated for a moment and asked, "My lord, is this time appropriate?"

Li Hong stretched out his hand and patted Yan Liang's shoulder, and said solemnly: "If he doesn't want to, you can take his head."

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(End of this chapter)