Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

On the second day after moving into the mansion, Wu Tong felt something was wrong. He seemed to be under house arrest.

This guy was making a fuss and wanted to go out, but was beaten by the guard.

When Ju Ming heard the news, he simply stopped pretending and ordered Wu Tong to be tied up and all the food and servants removed.

For more than half a month, every time a bandit leader came into the city, he would be coaxed into the big house and detained like a rice dumpling.

"Are you all here?" Zhu Ming asked.

Bai Chongwu replied: "Not only did Wu Tong's bandit leaders all come to the city to throw themselves into a trap, but there were also two groups of bandits from the mountains. It is said that after receiving the news, they came here to conspire to achieve great things and enjoy wealth."

"There is an unexpected surprise," Ju Ming asked with a smile, "What are the reputations of those two groups of bandits?"

Bai Chongwu said: "Just an ordinary mountain bandit."

"Then just stay. If you don't obey the military rules, it won't be too late to kill him." Ju Ming decided to accept.

Ju Ming has no moral obsessiveness, Zhang Guangdao is a bandit, and he has many lives in his hands. Why not just accept him as a general?

Wu Tong and his gang went too far. They even killed old people and children, robbed even the poor at the bottom, and raped even the least beautiful women. They also kidnapped young men from house to house, and massacred those who were unwilling to join the thieves. They also drove new recruits to kill people, killing corpses all over the ground inside and outside Lizhou City.

Bai Chongwu reminded: "There are nearly three thousand bandits outside the city. Some of them seem to be newly possessed and did not participate in the massacre of the city."

Ju Ming said: "Collect their weapons first, and then replace them with better ones. Capture them all and then carefully screen them. The newly attached people are ordered to return to their hometowns, all the big and small bosses are executed, and the rest... are sent to mine!"

There are also iron mines in Lizhou, and the conditions are better than those in Jinzhou. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Shaoxing Supervisory Iron Coal was established in Lizhou.

Now Lizhou's population has been reduced sharply, and there is a shortage of labor to mine iron ore.

Bai Chongwu said: "These are all young men. If they gather together to mine, they may cause trouble."

"How can there be so much trouble?" Zhu Ming said, "Just say that after five years of mining, you can let them go home. Then set up a system to divide these people into several groups. If they obey the discipline and perform well, they will be allowed to go home for six consecutive months. If they do not cause trouble, the entire group will receive a three-month reduction in sentence. If they do not cause trouble for one consecutive year, the entire group will receive a seven-month reduction in sentence. As long as they are not too abusive, they will deal with the troublemakers in the group in order to get a reduced sentence."

"General's clever plan." Bai Chongwu smiled.

Even though his hands were full of blood, Ju Ming never thought of killing all the low-level minions.

Otherwise, there are also prisoners who escaped back in Lizhou City, and their hands are also bloody. Should we find them all and execute them?

After working as a miner for several years, if there is no trouble, it means that the miner has changed his ways. And he must have become sick from exhaustion. It would be normal for him to die of illness and exhaustion in the mine. This is already considered atonement.

The mine supervisors must also be told to take it easy, and the miners must see hope of survival.

"Go and do some work." Ju Ming said.

Bai Chongwu led his troops to the military camp outside the city and deliberately piled some of the best weapons neatly in a conspicuous place.

Then he ordered the more than 2,000 thieves to assemble. Bai Chongwu yelled and shouted: "Everyone, run quickly. Take all the scraps of copper and iron in your hands and put them in the open space in front. General Zhu said, you have all seen blood." The elite soldiers must be equipped with the best weapons!"

The bandits were overjoyed when they heard this and rushed to hand over their weapons.

Bai Chongwu added: "Go back and line up, and the big and small bosses will come forward to receive weapons!"

Even the thieves who only had a few people in their hands felt that they belonged to the leader and happily pushed forward.

Bai Chongwu continued: "Good weapons are not enough. Those who have never killed anyone should retreat to the back. Don't mix with the good guys and pretend to be elite soldiers!"

The soldiers rushed to spread the message among the bandits and shouted for a long time, but no one wanted to retreat. They all wanted to be elite soldiers and distribute good weapons.

"Find out the weaklings who have never killed anyone before, and don't let them steal good weapons!" Bai Chongwu ordered again.

The thieves began to "clean up the house" and took the initiative to push and point out the weak ones.

Those who were liquidated insisted on bragging about how many people they had killed, and they became red-faced because of it. In the end, they had to admit the fact that they were weaklings.

Bai Chongwu, an old official, had his own way of doing things. With just a few words, he could accurately identify bandit leaders, minions and new recruits.

"The leader comes here to get the weapons!" Bai Chongwu said again.

Twenty or thirty bandit leaders came forward, laughing and joking with each other.

Bai Chongwu raised his hand and waved, and the soldiers behind him rushed forward, stabbing the leaders with their spears.

In half a minute, they all fell down and died with their eyes open.

"Run!" the other thieves shouted in fear.

Bai Chongwu shouted: "Kneel down and don't kill!"

"Kneel down and don't kill! Kneel down and don't kill!" More soldiers gathered around and blocked all directions.

After stabbing more than a dozen unlucky guys to death, no one finally ran away anymore, and they all knelt on the ground with their souls shattered.

…

"Dang-dang-dang!"

"General Zhu wants to kill Wu Tong, so everyone comes out of the city to watch the fun!"

The temporarily appointed subordinate officials walked along the street beating gongs and shouting.

When they heard that Wu Tong, the murderous demon, was going to be executed, the surviving people in the city took to the streets to inquire about the situation, and then went out of the city in groups to watch the ceremony.

Including Wu Tong, the bandit leaders were tied up and escorted to the execution ground.

Someone yelled and cursed, angrily accusing Ju Ming of going back on his word.

Some people cried and begged for mercy and were so frightened that they became incontinent.

Arriving at the open space outside the city, Bai Chongwu also moved the body of the dead leader.

Ju Ming stood on the city tower and shouted: "I started the rebellion to do justice for heaven and let the people of the world live a good life. I did not want to be a thief and kill innocent people indiscriminately. Those bastards outside the city committed murder, robbery, and raped women. They all committed all kinds of evil. Behead them all. ! Anyone who dares to do it again will suffer the consequences!"

This was said not only to the people but also to the entire army, especially the two bandit leaders who came uninvited.

Wu Tong raised his neck and roared: "Zhu, you don't mean what you say, what kind of hero are you!"

Ju Ming was too lazy to answer.

Wu Tong continued to yell: "Zhu, you will die a good death, even if I am a ghost, I will not let you go! Straight bitch, grandpa will become a good man again after eighteen years..."

"Execution!" Ju Ming ordered.

As soon as the tower command flag was waved, the executioners immediately took action.

In the crowd of countless people watching, the leaders asked and beheaded one after another.

Along with the leaders, dozens of heads were hung on the tower to dry.

The people cheered and cheered when they saw it. Some of them thought of their dead relatives and lay on the ground howling.

There were also those who participated in the massacre and were captured by the officers and soldiers and fled back to the city. They were now trembling with fear, fearing that they would also be held accountable for their crimes.

Wu Kangguo looked at the heads fluttering in the wind, and suddenly felt that Ju Ming could succeed, at least separatist Sichuan would not be a problem.

After thinking about it carefully, I found that I didn't earn much from Song Lu, and my talent was buried as a county school principal. It seemed that it wouldn't be too outrageous to change jobs now.

Wu Kangguo followed Zhu Ming back to the state government office coquettishly, and hesitated several times. Until he stepped into the gate of the state government office, Wu Kangguo finally gritted his teeth and knelt down: "Wu Kangguo, Jinshi of Anzhou, pays homage to Duke Ming!"

Zhu Ming was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that this person would actually take effect, and at such a fast speed.

This is unexpected, but also reasonable.

For a "poor" Jinshi with no background, no family to hold him back, and a bleak career, it is not impossible for him to be willing to become a thief.

"Please get up quickly, no need to be polite." Zhu Ming quickly helped him. This was his first Jinshi.

The job arrangement has not changed, Wu Kangguo is still asked to be the magistrate of Zhaohua County, and he will be promoted after he is familiar with government affairs.

What about being a Jinshi?

He has no work experience, so he is not as useful as Fatty Zheng and Bai Erlang.

In the next half month, Ju Ming has been training troops in Lizhou and appeasing the local people.

Wenzhou surrendered without a fight.

Wenzhou and Lizhou are almost one county in the entire state, and the surrounding areas are all barbarians.

And it can only communicate with Lizhou, and the other directions are all mountains.

What else can we do if we don’t surrender? Fleeing into the mountains to play with the Qiang people?

But it is said that Deng Chun and Li Jinyi led five thousand elites, led by Shi Yuangong, and came to Jiameng County via Jiameng Pass.

We rested briefly outside the city, gathered some food-carrying men (useful after entering the mountains), and then continued southward.

The soldiers walked overland along the river, and ships carried food along with them.

After arriving at the location of Jiangkou Town in later generations, they were finally blocked by a fort.

Shi Yuangong smiled and said: "I know the guard of this village very well. He is under the inspection of the Xiang Army. I even gave him some pieces of paper."

Deng Chun said: "Mr. Shi travels to many places, and I also accompany Mr. Shi on some Shu roads."

At some point, Shi Yuangong got a feather fan, waving the fan and walked up the mountain, heading towards the fortress alone.

How loyal could a guy who often collected favor fees and quietly let smugglers cross the border be to the Song Dynasty court?

Even the soldiers recognized Shi Yuangong and invited him to join the stronghold with great enthusiasm.

Shi Yuangong held his feather fan and clasped his fists: "Tang Inspector, long time no see."

Inspector Tang exclaimed: "Mr. Shi has done a great job!"

Shi Yuangong said: "Since I have brought troops here, the rebel army has already taken control of Lizhou. Does the Tang inspection team still need a mantis to act as a chariot?"

Inspector Tang said: "I want to join the army of Mr. Zhu, but I have no way out."

"This matter is easy to hear," Shi Yuangong said, "leave the soldiers behind, take a few confidants, and take my handwritten letter to go to Lizhou to meet General Zhu."

Inspector Tang said gratefully: "Thank you, Mr. Shi, for your support!"

Inspector Tang took his confidants back on a grain ship.

Shi Yuangong, Deng Chun, and Li Jinyi walked over the mountains and ridges to Su Xiaodao with soldiers, civilians and food.

There is no way to bring more food, and the mountain roads are difficult to walk.

In addition to the civilians carrying food, the soldiers themselves also had to carry it.

It is not difficult to carry a hundred kilograms of weight, but it is difficult to carry a hundred kilograms of weight over mountains and ridges.

The straight-line distance of the Laisu Trail is only thirty miles, and it takes more than a hundred miles of twists and turns in the mountains. It took more than half a month to walk through the mountains with a heavy load.

When we left the mountain, more than half of the food had been consumed.

The road back to Jianmen Pass is not easy to get around. Under normal circumstances, one must first capture Jiameng Pass, then Jiameng County, and then Jiangkou Zhaibao before reaching the starting point of the Laisu Trail.

After entering the mountains, the food is entirely dependent on people carrying it. Every farmer has to eat half of the food he carries.

Shi Yuangong was sore all over, but he still shook his feather fan and said: "Twenty miles to the north is Jianmen Pass. Forty miles to the south is Jianzhou City (Puan Town). Where do the two generals want to attack? ?”

"Since we are attacking Jianzhou, let's get some food first." Deng Chun said without thinking.

Li Jinyi asked: "If Jianzhou City is defended and cannot be captured in a hurry, which other counties are closest?"

Shi Yuangong said: "You can reach Wulian County by walking southwest for two days. You can reach Yinping County by walking northwest for two and a half days (Yinping County in the Song Dynasty was in Jianzhou, not the Yinping where Deng Ai smuggled in)."

Li Jinyi said: "If Jianzhou cannot be defeated, just go to Yinping County with a false shot!"

Deng Chun thought about it carefully, nodded and said: "What a great idea, it will shake up all the counties in Jianzhou!"