Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Civilians were cleaning the battlefield, and prisoners were being held under centralized custody everywhere.

There are still thousands of soldiers who have pursued and defeated the soldiers but have not yet returned. Calculated based on time, they are estimated to have chased them seven or eight miles away.

Ju Ming had taken off his Heavenly King armor and was constantly receiving and processing various battle reports. He took the time to ask: "What are you thinking about?"

Zhao Yu, who was captured in battle, was in a daze at first, but after he recovered, he began to meditate. He replied: "I wonder how I lost so quickly."

"Have you come up with any results?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhao Yu said: "In a battle involving tens of thousands of people, you must be cautious. It is rare for a commander to directly order the entire army to press forward without probing and dealing with it. If you dare to do this, you are only making it difficult for me to command the various ministries. The entire army is pressing forward. If the battle is disrupted, the thieves and soldiers will be in chaos, and the officers and soldiers will be even more chaotic. When the officers and soldiers are in chaos, and the various departments are not connected smoothly, your Excellency will lead the cavalry directly towards our central army."

"What nonsense is there?" Ju Ming said amusedly. "From the previous attack on the mountain to the artillery battle in front of the formation, the morale of the officers and soldiers was low. There was chaos when you changed formations. How could I miss the opportunity? The fruit is already ripe. Is there any difference between picking while standing, picking while sitting, picking with a ladder, or even cutting down the tree before picking?”

"That's right." Zhao Yu nodded.

Bai Sheng suddenly ran over happily: "Secretary Zheng (Zheng Hong) counted the baggage and seized sixty-seven sets of infantry armor!"

Ju Ming was in a great mood: "Let him keep it in a safe place, and I will reward him according to his merits and give it to the generals of the army."

The foot armor of the Song Dynasty was composed of more than a thousand armor leaves. The heaviest one weighed 70 kilograms (for a spearman), and the lighter one weighed more than 40 kilograms (for a crossbowman).

Zhao Yu felt very uncomfortable because Huang Gai found those dozens of pairs of infantry armor in the Chengdu military staff warehouse. They were specially selected to be worn by strong men and were placed in the central army by Zhao Yu, preparing to go into battle at critical moments and act as a surprise force to determine the outcome of the battle.

As a result, those heavily armored warriors who had high hopes were dispersed when faced with the cavalry charge led by Ju Ming himself!

He usually eats plenty of meat to feed himself, but in the face of battle he didn't cause any harm to the bandits.

Zhao Yuan muttered to himself: "What can be done about a man who makes trouble and kills seven temples, and dies at the hands of others, and makes the world laugh? If benevolence and righteousness are not applied, the offensive and defensive momentum will be different."

Ju Ming said: "You also know that benevolence and righteousness are not shown?"

Zhao Yu smiled bitterly: "As a member of the clan, I have made great achievements in the past, and the officials promoted me to be the Minister of the Ministry of War. But Tong Guan said a few words casually, and I had no choice but to resign. If the clan is like this, what more can the people do? Officials? The family was deceived by treacherous ministers, which led to today's disaster."

"He is so smart, who can be deceived?" Ju Ming said with disdain.

Zhao Yu remained silent.

The soldiers who pursued the defeated army came back one after another with prisoners in tow.

The next day, there will be rewards for merit. Fifty sets of armor will be given to generals, big and small. The other seven officers were awarded to soldiers who fought bravely.

There are still ten platoons left to reward Li Bao's troops.

The official positions of rebel generals followed the Song Dynasty system.

Today there are only two rulers, namely Zhang Guangdao and Li Bao.

The commanders of each army are called the capital commander and deputy capital commander.

Each battalion commander is the commander and deputy commander.

The generals were very happy after receiving the armor. This thing can save their lives.

Especially for generals who already have chain armor, if they wear a suit of walking armor on top of it, they can kill them casually with two layers of protection.

Unfortunately, it's a bit heavy. Two layers of armor stacked together weigh a total of eighty or ninety kilograms. It's slightly lighter at sixty-seven kilograms.

Corpses were displayed in the field, and prisoners lined up to identify them.

If any neighbors recognize him, he will be cremated immediately on the spot.

During the Song and Song Dynasties, cremation was the most popular dynasty in ancient Chinese society.

Cremations become more common the closer you get to the capital.

The popular areas for cremation in the Northern Song Dynasty were in Kaifeng and Hedong. The popular areas for cremation in the Southern Song Dynasty were in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan.

The reason is: there are so many people and so little space.

(There are exceptions. Cremation was also popular in the Song Dynasty in Lianghu, a vast and sparsely populated area.)

Among the archaeological tombs of the Southern Song Dynasty in Sichuan, more than 80% are cremation tombs!

One corpse after another was cremated, and the ashes were wrapped in the clothes of the deceased and taken back to their hometown by their fellow villagers for burial.

Most of these were trampled to death, and less than 15% were actually killed by the rebels.

Huang Gai, who escaped quickly, has been captured and can move relatively freely. He looked at the scene of the ashes being burned and sighed: "With this move of the red thief, Sichuan will be settled!"

"How can such a talented person become a thief?" Zhao Yu shook his head repeatedly.

The two of them were defeated and must bear the responsibility for losing Sichuan.

Ju Ming did not intend to kill him, but returned him to Tokyo for Hun Jun to deal with. Most likely they will be removed from the administration and die in a foreign land. What happened to the two of them will chill the hearts of more loyal ministers.

Gao Jingshan hid himself and did not dare to see anyone, and deliberately avoided Zhao Yu and Huang Gai. He could hide it for a while and try not to drag down the family.

The idea of ​​cremating the corpse and returning the ashes was proposed by Gao Jingshan. It can gain three major benefits:

First, prevent the occurrence of plague.

Second, calm the hearts of the captives.

Third, appease the people in Shu and spread the reputation of benevolence and righteousness.

The captives who were originally frightened quickly settled down after receiving the ashes of their fellow villagers, and did not even think about escaping.

Since they are allowed to take the ashes of their neighbors home, they will definitely not be killed and will be released.

Although they didn't have enough to eat every day, they worked very actively. Whatever tasks were assigned by the rebels, the prisoners rushed to complete them, just to perform better and go home early.

Ju Ming rested for a few days and then led the entire army south.

After arriving in Mianzhou, all prisoners were immediately released and given a small amount of food to allow them to return home.

Li Bao led his troops back the way they came, and attacked Hezhou and Quzhou again, blocking the retreat of the Kuizhou soldiers - those guys had already recaptured the entire territory of Bazhou.

Lin Chong and Bai Qi led their troops southward to capture Jianzhou (Jianyang), Ziyang, Zizhou (Zizhong), and Neijiang, with the ultimate goal of capturing Fushun Prison. It is a heavily taxed area, and there are a large number of salt wells in several surrounding states and counties.

Zhu Ming personally led the main force and headed straight for Chengdu!

…

On the outskirts of Huayang County, the ancestral home of the Wang family.

The old servant ran into the study: "Ms. sir, the children from all the families are back!"

Wang Zhongao asked: "How many come back?"

"All those who survived came back, and they brought back some ashes," the old servant said in detail. "They were caught by the bandits, but they were not mistreated. They were able to receive food rations and return to their hometowns. It seems that the bandits were not indiscriminate killers. "

Wang Zhong'ao sat at his desk and sighed: "With this approach, the people in the prefectures and counties around Chengdu no longer have the heart to resist. As long as the Zhu thieves do not exploit too much and levy slightly less taxes than the government, they will surely win the submission of the masses. It is really a clever method. Sending rural soldiers back to their hometowns with their ashes is a hundred times better than training prisoners as soldiers!"

Wang Zhongao went out on crutches, and people kept greeting him respectfully.

Arriving at the threshing floor in the village, many villagers gathered in the middle of winter, and a group of soldier soldiers were telling their experiences.

"General Zhu is very majestic. He wears a pair of golden armor, just like the king of heaven in the temple," a young man said with elation, as if he had stepped out of the shadows. "General Zhu's horse is also a sacred horse. I was assigned as the queen at that time. The army was sent to stop General Zhu from charging. Thousands of soldiers from the right army were so frightened that they immediately broke up when they encountered General Zhu's hundreds of cavalry. How could I dare to stop them? I fled with Pao Ze, only hating that my parents were gone. I had two extra legs. I didn’t run far when I heard a lot of people shouting from behind. When I turned around, I saw that the Chinese army’s flag had fallen down.”

Another young man said: "I am in the Chinese army. General Zhao asked us to form a formation and raise our guns. We are not fools. The rear army has collapsed. How can the Chinese army stop it? Even those heavily armored warriors dare not stop it." Wearing dozens of kilograms of armor, they all ran faster than me. But I could clearly see that General Zhu was riding a yellow gelding, and he rushed up the hill as if he was flying. The iron mace in his hand weighed several dozen kilograms, and his arms The thick flagpole of the Chinese Army broke with just one hit with my mace!"

The villagers were amazed and admired the bravery of the red thieves. No wonder they dared to rebel.

Those soldiers who returned home also spoke more and more exaggeratedly.

Because the more powerful Ju Ming is described, the more excusable their defeat becomes. It's not that he is too weak to fight, but that General Zhu is too brave!

Another young man said: "General Zhu sent people to tell him that if he takes Sichuan, he will definitely not charge heavy taxes like the government. He will definitely not charge free money, nor will he charge money from the land, nor will he charge business money. That's why. Even the wine and vinegar tax has been reduced back to five years ago, and he doesn’t recognize the wine and vinegar tax imposed by the foolish emperor!”

"If you don't charge a lot of taxes, you'll live a good life!"

"General Zhu is a good thief."

"Not a good thief, but a good man."

"I don't know. Whether General Zhu means what he says or not, he might be deceiving us again."

"Why are you coaxing me? They sent all the ashes back, which is very benevolent. In previous years, the government forced tea bearers. Those tea bearers died outside, and the government did not see the ashes brought back."

"..."

Wang Zhongao stood outside the threshing floor, listened quietly for a while, sighed and left silently.

It is a foregone conclusion that the Zhu Thief will take over Chengdu. I don't know whether it will be good or bad for the Wang family.

I am afraid that the imperial court will send troops to conquer all year round, and the red thieves will imitate the government's extortion and expropriation in order to fight. At that time, they will only be more ruthless than the imperial court. They will fight against thieves in order to survive, but there is no bottom line.

The prisoners returned home with their ashes, and the news quickly spread throughout the states and counties, bringing back news of the rebels' "benevolent government."

The so-called benevolent government is nothing more than collecting less taxes.

This less collection is compared with Song Huizong.

They definitely collected more than Zhe Zongchao, otherwise where would Ju Ming get the money and food to train his troops?

But this is enough and the people can accept it.

Just like when an e-commerce company holds an event, a product originally priced at RMB 60 will be increased to RMB 100, and then sold to you at a discount of RMB 80. You are happy to buy it and feel that you have earned it.

Zhu Ming led his army south, and officials from Deyang, Luoxian and Jintang counties had all fled. The subordinate officials came out of the city and knelt down to greet him with their official seals in hand.

When they arrived outside Chengdu, facing the wide open city gate, Ju Ming did not lead the entire army in.

He first sent one of the most elite and most disciplined troops into the city to occupy the government offices and warehouses, and at the same time posted notices to calm the people throughout the city.

A proclamation was also posted, and policies were appended: abolition of economic money and reduction of wine and vinegar taxes.

When the people in the city saw that the rebels had committed no crimes, and heard that the economic system of money had been cancelled, and that the wine and vinegar tax had been reduced to the previous standard, the whole city burst into cheers.

Especially those merchants and street vendors, who regard Zhu Thief... regard General Zhu as their reborn parents.

When Ju Ming entered the city with his soldiers, countless people lined the streets to watch, standing on tiptoes to see if he had three heads and six arms.

Dressed in golden armor, the King of Heaven rode forward slowly on a horse, making the people feel majestic and unable to look directly at him.

Above the restaurant, more than a dozen scholars looked out from the window. They all came from wealthy families in Chengdu.

One person said: "This thief is good at inviting people to win over him."

Another person sneered: "The people are unwilling to accept the offer from the foolish king, but I think Zhu Chenggong can win the world."

"Your uncle is the young minister of Honglu Temple. How can you say such a thing?"

"What's the point of telling the truth to me if my uncle is an official?"

"Your family must be loyal to the emperor and serve the country!"

"Didn't you read Zhu Chenggong's appeal? It's not about eating the wealth of the Song Dynasty, it's eating the wealth of the people."

"Strong words!"

"..."

These scholars started to quarrel among themselves, and some of them had already made up their minds to join the army.

There is the Imperial Palace of Hou Shu in the city of Chengdu. The imperial city has been turned into an inner city. The palace was demolished and turned into a government office.

Zhu Ming entered the transportation department and said to Gao Jingshan with a smile: "Mr. Gao's clever plan to calm the people has really made a great contribution!"

"It's just a little trick." Gao Jingshan said modestly.

Ju Ming's order at that time was to burn the body and bury it immediately to avoid any plague.

Gao Jingshan hurriedly came to suggest that the prisoners could be identified and the bodies released, and the ashes taken back to their hometowns.

A small strategy, the publicity effect is simply explosive.

Shi Yuangong was a little unhappy. He was the number one adviser. Why did he suddenly appear to be demoted to compete for favor?

But he is a third-grade official who has taken refuge, and he is just a failed candidate. He can't compete with him no matter how hard he wants.

The most distressing thing was that Shi Yuangong had to admit that Gao Jingshan's plan was indeed brilliant.

At that time, Shi Yuangong believed that before the capture of Chengdu, the prisoners should not be released to avoid being recruited by the government to serve as soldiers. The fact was completely contrary to what he expected. As soon as the prisoners were released, all the county officials along the way fled, even the officials in Chengdu City ran away!

Now that I think about it carefully, the more I think about it, the more mysterious it becomes. After all, Shi Yuangong has engaged in demon sects, and he has a deep understanding of the tricks of playing with people's hearts.

(Participate in the author salon these days and try to find time to code. If you stop updating, it will be regarded as asking for leave, and the update will be very unstable.)