Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

If Xingyuan Mansion is captured, troops must be sent immediately.

The later the move to the south was, the more important passes the government consolidated.

The officers and soldiers captured in this battle were first classified according to their place of origin, and priority was given to training those who were not from Xingyuan Prefecture, and they were taken back to their hometowns. The strong are regular soldiers, and the old and weak are miscellaneous soldiers.

Then from among the local captives, young men were selected as soldiers, and the rest were given some rations and returned to their hometowns.

The strength of Zhu Ming's troops thus expanded to 20,000 (excluding Yangzhou and Jinzhou defenders).

The troops divided into two groups.

Zhu Ming personally led the main force and marched south along the Golden Bull Road.

Li Bao led five thousand partial troops down the Micang Road.

Li Jinyi and Gong Xiu led two thousand vanguard troops and took the lead in killing Sanquan County.

Sanquan County's troops have already been transferred to Xingyuan Prefecture to defend the city. At this time, the defense is empty and it is easy to capture.

When Li Jinyi and Gong Xiu arrived at Desanquan, they encountered no resistance. The county magistrate had already run away, and the subordinate officials came to the city to surrender, so there was no fighting.

The two did not stay, but took supplies and rested for a day. Li Jinyi led his troops to the south, and Gong Xiu led his troops to the north.

Let's say that Gong Xiu led a thousand troops and went to attack Xingzhou.

Xingzhou (Lueyang) only has two counties, Shunzheng and Changju. Its strategic location is extremely important. It is connected with Sanquan County and jointly controls the E-Sichuan-Shaanxi-Hanzhong Passage.

In addition, there is economic value.

There are three major money-making institutions on Chuanxia 4th Road. Among them, Jizhongjian is located in Xingzhou and casts iron coins every year.

Whoever is the prime minister will be promoted by his confidants to the public supervisors.

Today's supervisor is naturally a member of Wang Fu's party, and his name is Yang Zhaoshu.

The magistrate of Xingzhou recruited rural soldiers and also brought patrol soldiers to defend the city. Yang Zhaoshu insisted on taking some of them to guard his money-minting field, and organized and trained an army of miners.

Gong Xiu went up the Jialing River. Due to the turbulent water in the river, it was difficult to sail in many places, and for a while he could not find trackers. After procrastinating for nearly a month and using up most of the military rations they carried, they finally arrived near Jizhong Prison.

"Dad, there are officers and soldiers ahead!" Gong Yi came back with the exploration team.

Gong Xiu ordered: "Stop and prepare to fight."

But he saw several strong men approaching, kneeling on the ground all the way, two of them still holding their heads in their hands.

Gong Xiu took a few steps forward and asked, "Who are you?"

A strong man replied: "We are blacksmiths and miners in Ji Zhongjian. We couldn't stand being exploited and beaten by corrupt officials, so we killed the field supervisor and inspection commander. There are more than 2,000 brothers in Ji Zhongjian who are willing to Follow Mr. Zhu to do great things!"

Gong Xiu said happily: "All of the more than 2,000 people are craftsmen?"

The strong man said: "There are also some rural soldiers recruited by the field supervisor. They can't stand it and join us in killing officials and rebelling."

"good!"

Gong Xiu laughed heartily: "Whose head is in your hand?"

The strong man gritted his teeth and said: "The head of the supervisor Yang Zhaoshu, this bird official is used to messing with us."

Gong Xiu asked again: "How many officers and soldiers are there in Xingzhou City?"

"I don't know." The strong man said.

Gong Xiu accepted more than two thousand soldiers and continued walking north along the river valley.

When I arrived at Xingzhou City, I saw that the city gate was wide open and the people in the city were fleeing.

Gong Xiu sent someone to stop him and inquired carefully, only to find out that the miners who were supervising Jizhong had rebelled by killing officials. The Xingzhou prefect ran away after hearing the news.

The governor of Xingzhou fled to Changju County by boat. He still felt that it was not safe enough, so he greased his feet and fled to Chengzhou (Chengxian County), which was already the boundary of Qinfeng Road. On the way, the magistrate of Changju County followed Zhizhou, and no one in Xingzhou took charge of the situation.

After taking Xingzhou in such a confused way, Gong Xiu scratched his head to himself: "Am I bad luck or good luck with my horoscope?"

"Good luck." Gong Yi said.

The father and son raised an army in an abandoned gold mine, eager to do something big.

As a result, they attacked Chenggu, Xingzhou, and Changju, and all the officials abandoned the city and fled. They have not seen any blood until now.

…

But it was said that Li Jinyi continued to open the way south and was stuck when he arrived at Mantian Village.

This place is also called Chaotian Gorge. Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty fled to Sichuan, and officials from Sichuan came here to pick him up, which means "to worship the emperor" (later it was renamed Mingyue Gorge).

High mountains, deep gorges, rapids, plank roads, fortresses... without twenty or thirty thousand troops, it is impossible to defeat them through a forceful attack regardless of casualties.

Huang Deyu, the governor of Lizhou, who was over sixty years old, personally took charge of Mantian Village and had a coffin beside him.

Huang Deyu stood with his hands behind his hands, looking at the bandits who came to inquire about the news, expressionless and not saying a word.

He was a Jinshi at the age of twenty, a talented young man, charming and suave.

At that time, the third place was not fixed, but the youngest and most handsome Jinshi.

He is Tanhualang.

Guan Jun, the imperial censor who was born second in the ranking, took the initiative to marry his niece to him. For a moment, I had a beautiful woman in my arms, a promising future, and unspeakable scenery.

In Min County, he personally visited the typhoon-stricken area and led the people in disaster relief.

In Fengxiang, he encouraged the people to complain and severely punished the children of aristocratic families (there were a large number of officials and aristocratic families in Fengxiang Mansion).

However, these political achievements are ineffective and offend the powerful, making it difficult for them to be promoted.

Huang Deyu was promoted to a court official because he was good at calligraphy and painting...

Song Huizong liked his calligraphy and painting, named him Shaobao, and asked him to teach the princes.

Because he was not tolerated by Wang Fu and was close to the prince, Huang Deyu was demoted to Lizhou as the prefect last year.

"The thieves retreat, the thieves retreat!"

The bandits disappeared without a trace, and the defenders of Mantian Village cheered.

Huang Deyu remained expressionless, sitting on the coffin, looking at the roaring Jialing River and thinking deeply.

He can prevent the bandits from going south here, but what about Bazhou?

Sichuan is probably going to be gone!

"Prefect, prefect..." A messenger came from the south.

Huang Deyu's heart tightened, and he quickly kept calm. Still sitting on the coffin, he turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

The messenger gasped and said: "Zhao... Zhaohua is gone, and some people are rebelling. They are also spreading the slogans of thieves everywhere, saying that they will... say that they will 'kill corrupt officials, wait for the noble and the low, and equalize the rich and the poor'."

Huang Deyu felt like there was phlegm in his throat, and he opened his mouth wide but could not speak.

He was known for his integrity all his life, but in his old age he became the target of "killing corrupt officials".

Zhaohua County, which was captured by the rebels, is stuck between Jianmen Pass and Lizhou City. There must be no mistakes!

Huang Deyu left a thousand "elite soldiers" to defend Mantian Village, and he quickly returned with the main force to suppress the bandits.

…

Half a month ago.

Jiangjiagou Village near Wangxi Town, Zhaohua County.

Jiang Chengwu, a country scholar, watched a group of official servants leave. The anger hidden in his heart finally couldn't help but surface on his face.

His family is a rural landowner. All five of his father and son have gone to school and spent a lot of money, but only the second brother passed the imperial examination. The family's property was sold so that the second brother could go to Beijing to take the exam, but unfortunately he still failed to pass the exam.

In order to support his family, Jiang Chengwu gave up the imperial examination and went to work.

I have copied Buddhist scriptures for others and worked as a bookkeeper for others. His classmates recommended him to work as a teacher in a county primary school, and he finally had a stable and decent job. Unexpectedly, the imperial government reduced the scale of official schools and directly abolished Zhaohua County Primary School.

Today, the family only has more than 100 acres of land left, 70% of which is barren dry land, but it has to support a family of 16 people.

Of the four brothers, three of them gave up their studies and worked while farming. They were willing to do anything as long as they made money. The whole family worked together to support the second brother's education.

Because the second brother passed the examination, he has the best chance of becoming a Jinshi!

However, the government did not let them go because the Jiang family used to be a third-class household. Although their family fortunes have declined, their household status has not been reduced. They are responsible for all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and they are even heavier than ordinary farmers.

"Father, rebel." Jiang Chengwu returned to the house.

Jiang Zhongru is a village school teacher. He is not yet fifty years old, but his hair is already gray.

There are not many students studying in the village, and Shu Xiu doesn't have many students. He usually has to work in the fields by himself.

When he was young, he had an upright and violent temper. He beat up the children of the rich families in the county, and he was punished and retaliated for more than 20 years.

Moreover, if you cut the flesh with a dull knife, it will not kill you in one go, and you will be apportioned every year. After selling off a lot of land, the householder kept refusing to surrender and had to torture him to death.

When Jiang Zhongru heard that his eldest son wanted to rebel, he didn't have much reaction. He just said: "Once you rebel, your second brother will study hard in a cold window, and all his hard work will be in vain."

"I can't pass the exam, so I'll just do the opposite." Jiang Chengdong walked in.

Jiang Zhongru asked: "You haven't borrowed the money yet?"

Jiang Chengdong smiled bitterly: "The government's exploitation is becoming more and more serious. Everyone knows about our family's situation. Who from all over the country is willing to borrow money?"

Not long after, Jiang Chengliang and Jiang Chengzhang went home carrying hoes.

The four sons stood around their father. They had reached a consensus that this time they would rebel as a family.

Enemies and the government have bullied people to excess, and they have come to plunder it several times this year.

This time the Zhu family and his son rebelled in Yangzhou, and counties in Lizhou urgently recruited rural soldiers. A family that is not an only child does not need to have a single son, but it needs to pay a husband-free fee.

The four brothers of the Jiang family must have two strong men.

Either go to the army and fight, or pay forty guan to get free money according to the household level.

They can no longer afford so much money.

"Can the person named Zhu succeed?" Jiang Zhongru was worried about this. He had no psychological burden on the rebellion.

Jiang Chengwu said: "Whether he succeeds or not, let's start our rebellion. The official gave a deadline. If he doesn't hand over the free money within ten days, he will come to the house to arrest the slave. There are five of me, father and son. We all read the books of sages. If we are captured as soldiers, how can we stand in the countryside in the future? The government has humiliated me so much that I will rebel even if I am beheaded!"

Jiang Chengliang also said: "My second brother has passed the imperial examination, so he does not need to serve in the military. The government has its own rules, so don't blame us for working hard!"

Jiang Chengdong said: "We have collected husband's free money twice this year, and the foot money in the field has also risen to 300 Wen. Farmers in various townships are overwhelmed. We can follow Wang Xiaobo's example and fly the banner of justice to equalize the rich and the poor, and then kill One or two evil gentry and landlords will surely respond from all directions and march into the county!"

The gray-haired village school teacher stood up slowly: "Then... let's do the opposite."

The four brothers first went to the former tenants of the Jiang family and tore up all the IOUs that could not repay the rent. He also contacted the poorest families in the village and promoted the idea of ​​"equalizing the rich and the poor, equaling the rich and the poor". He also said that the Zhu family and his son had occupied Hanzhong and would soon reach Lizhou.

Within ten days, the official came into the village again, going from house to house to force the husband to pay for free. If he couldn't pay, he arrested the strong man.

"The government is trying to force us to death!" Jiang Chengwu said, holding a hoe.

Jiang Chengdong said: "My classmates in the county said that the Zhu family and his son have an army of 100,000, which has reached Sanquan County and will come to Lizhou next month. The government wants us to die if we are captured as soldiers!"

This scholar was a scholar who had passed the imperial examination and went to the capital to take the exam. His words were infinitely convincing.

Not only the villagers believed it, but also the officials.

Those who go to the countryside to collect taxes are just minions and do not have access to much information. They looked at each other, worried that the Zhu family and his son would really come with a hundred thousand troops to kill them.

"Kill this dog!"

Jiang Chengliang threw a pole at him, and the villagers who had already connected him followed suit.

As a village school teacher, Jiang Zhongru began to deliver a speech on "Equalizing the rich and the poor, equaling the rich and the poor" after beating the officials to death, exemplifying the abominations of corrupt officials and shameless landlords.

The villagers were convinced by him, but when they thought about what happened to their own family, they soon became furious and picked up sticks to kill Jiang Yuan's family.

That member of the Jiang family, who was also the uncle of the four Jiang brothers in terms of seniority, was beaten to death by the four brothers and the villagers.

They swept through several villages in a row, killing people every time they arrived, and then went to loot Wangxi Town.

This is the only way to pass by the Golden Bull Road. The water and land intersect to form a commercial town, and business travelers stay here every month.

The revolting peasants ransacked businesses and shops, and the unemployed in the town joined in. After killing people and stealing goods, they looted wealthy households along the way and rushed straight to Zhaohua County.

The county magistrate had already recruited more than 2,000 rural soldiers and planned to send them to the magistrate.

But when he heard that the peasant army was coming, the county magistrate ran away, completely forgetting that he still had more than 2,000 soldiers.

This guy can run pretty fast, but if he runs slower, he will definitely die.

Because the peasant army had just arrived in the county town, the rural soldiers also rebelled and opened the city gates to gather together.

Jiang Zhongru and his four sons wanted to restrain the peasant army, but they completely lost control.

These peasants went crazy. They rushed into the government first and killed everyone they saw. After venting his anger, he searched for a big house in the city and rushed into the house to kill and rob.

Equality between high and low, wealth and poverty has truly been achieved!

(Thanks to the leader of Little Flying Carpet for the reward, O(∩_∩)O~)