After clearing the city walls on both sides of the gap, Yu Shenhe covered the engineers and blasted the newly built wall in front of them again. After the guards battalion soldiers entered the city, the Ming army's will to resist also collapsed, and the regiments fled back to their respective places.

At home, I put the prepared incense table out of the door, then closed the door tightly and hid behind it, listening to the sounds outside the crack of the door.

The heavily guarded south gate opened in front of Xu Ping. Ming soldiers who ran down the city wall knelt in two lines in front of the gate. A leader-like man quickly ran towards Xu Ping's flag. After being brought to Xu Ping, this

The leader claimed to be a local and said that after the Ming army officers who guarded the city heard that the city had been breached, they deserted their troops and fled. The people who stayed behind were no longer willing to continue to resist. They moved away the stones blocking the door and begged Xu Ping to have mercy on them.

and their families.

Xu Ping nodded, took the banner he had written in advance from the soldiers behind him, held it in both hands and handed it to the Xuzhou regiment member who was kneeling on the ground and kowtowing: "This is my lord's military order. Warriors, go and hang it on the ground."

On the flagpole of Xuzhou Yamen."

Not long after waiting, several soldiers from the Guards Battalion came towards Xu Ping with a tied-up man in his arms.

"If I don't surrender, I won't surrender!"

The man was shouting loudly as he was dragged all the way to Xu Ping. Xu Ping saw that the official uniform of the visitor had been torn, the official hat on his head had flown to no where, and his bun was torn and messy.

Covering half of his face.

A soldier from the Guards Battalion came forward and reported: "Sir, this dog officer is trying to set fire to the grain depot."

Fang Wei, who was in despair, not only did not escape, but instead organized the government officials to set fire to the Xuzhou warehouse. However, the government officials were worried that this would anger the Chu army, so they refused to obey the order. As a result, Fang Wei wanted to set the fire himself, but the government officials did not do anything.

Unable to stop, he simply took him down, tied him up, and handed him over to the intruders who rushed into the city.

The soldiers from the Guards Battalion behind pushed Fang Wei hard towards Xu Ping. He staggered forward two steps, straightened his back and stood proudly: "Xu Ping, you are a traitor, you will not surrender until you surrender."

The arrogant look on Fang Wei's face made Xu Ping feel respected. He simply ordered: "Take Mr. Fang down and take good care of him. I will deal with him when I come back."

…

At this time, someone reported that two of the cannons captured in Xuzhou were in good condition and usable. Gu Liumeng and the artillery team of the Guards Battalion finally got the piece of equipment they had dreamed of. After Gu Liumeng's inspection, both of them were of very high quality.

A good six-pounder cannon was almost certainly made according to the standards of the New Army. Xu Ping was surprised and carefully questioned the captured Fang Wei and found several insiders and traders, and carefully inquired about the source of this elite firearm.

It turns out that these cannons were purchased by Fang Wei from Guangzhou. Fang Wei had already found out the details of the merchants beforehand, which saved Xu Ping a lot of trouble. Like other equipment, Huangshi usually purchased cannons from arms dealers.

, there are several businesses in Fujian and Guangdong that can produce cannons. Many Nanyang and Franconian merchants also go to Fujian or Guangdong to buy cannons. The Fujian and Guangdong merchants who travel across the ocean have even purchased a large number of cannons.

The chief secretaries of Fujian and Guangdong turned a blind eye, and the court did not ask too many questions. Occasionally, when someone raised the matter, it was always ignored.

After the New Army tendered for the production of firearms, the Guangdong arms dealer also participated in the bidding, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The guns Xu Ping saw were the samples they participated in, and they were basically the same specifications as the New Army's artillery. After losing the election, Guangdong Arms

The merchant sold the cannon sample at a low price, and was finally bought back by the people sent by Fang Wei.

"What a talented person." Xu Ping was more interested in recruiting, and with this thought in his mind, he went straight to the county government to accept the warehouse.

But before he reached the county government office, Xu Ping felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere. When he arrived at the open space in front of the county government office, Xu Ping was stunned by the scene in front of him.

I saw a deep pit dug in front of Xuzhou Yamen, which was filled with skinny corpses. Around the pit, in addition to the soldiers of the Guards Battalion, there were also a large number of hungry people with green faces and emaciated bones.

.

"How is this going?"

Several government officials told Xu Ping that there were already a lot of begging and fleeing refugees in the city, and Fang Wei had never been willing to use treasury grain to relieve the people. After the intruders arrived, the residents in the city were worried that they would face a long-term crisis.

During the siege, every family was saving food. The refugees could not ask for food in the city and had nothing to eat. Fang Wei was afraid that they would be hungry and cause trouble, so he surrounded them in the square in front of the county government and left them to fend for themselves. This big pit

It was dug by Fang Wei to pile up the dead to prevent the spread of the plague. If the refugees died of starvation, they would be thrown into it, and the living people would jump into the pit and cut the flesh from the dead to eat.

"I didn't besiege the city, why didn't I let them out?"

Several government officials looked at each other and replied cautiously: "Fang Wei is afraid that if the stone blocking the door is removed, the general will take the opportunity to grab the door. He is also afraid that these people will leak the truth in the city after they go out."

At this time, the soldiers of the Guards Battalion reported to Xu Ping that thirty thousand shi of grain were found in the warehouse. Xu Ping gritted his teeth and shouted: "Bring me that dog officer."

When Fang Wei was brought to Xu Ping again, he still had a look of disdain on his face. Xu Ping pointed at the piles of corpses strewn across the pit and asked: "Since ancient times, there have been cases of people eating each other in the city guard. It was when food was exhausted and they had no choice.

.You have tens of thousands of stones of food stored away, why are you so vicious?"

Fang Wei looked up at the sky and ignored Xu Ping. Xu Ping shouted angrily: "I know you claim to be the emperor's guardian of the herdsman. I don't blame you for sticking to Xuzhou, but you let the people starve to death. Are you worthy of your conscience?

?”

Fang Wei burst out laughing when he heard the sound: "This is the country's food."

"Pull it down and show it to everyone." Xu Ping ordered with a stern face.

"It's a good death, happy, happy!" Fang Wei was still laughing when he was taken down.

When Heibao saw that Xu Ping was deep in thought and silent, he stepped forward to persuade him: "Brother Xu, who would have thought that this dog official would be so heartless and crazy. We are doing justice for God. It's not your fault."

Xu Ping shook his head and said: "According to his opinion, he has done nothing wrong. Even if the people starve to death, the land in Henan still belongs to the imperial court. But if there is no food, it cannot supply the Ming army to fight and it cannot be preserved."

The city of the imperial court. In the hearts of these faint-hearted officials, the lives of the people are just like grass and ants, and death is not worth pitying, so he would rather die of countless people to keep the food in the warehouse."

Hei Baoyi took out a deep breath angrily and said again: "Brother Xu, what are you thinking about when you haven't spoken for a while?"

Xu Ping sighed: "It seems that the people of the Ming Dynasty were in dire straits under the rule of incompetent and corrupt officials, but capable ministers like Fang Wei made it even more difficult for the people to survive."

"What Brother Xu said is absolutely true, that's why we want to overturn the world." Hei Bao smiled and said: "But in terms of ability and means, is there anyone who can compare to Zhendong Marquis?"

According to the policy promulgated by Li Zicheng, the Chuang army confiscated the property of all officials in the city and those who had the title of civil servant or above.

Fang Wei Xianchen's reputation spread far and wide, so there were many officials and officials who took refuge in Xuzhou City. The Guards Camp confiscated a large amount of gold and silver fines from them, and the local rich even hid a large amount of grain. For example, a man named

Li Daxiong was a powerful man and a fourth-generation official. He had a large number of fields nearby and a rice shop in the county. The amount of grain found in his warehouse was as much as ten thousand stones. The more Xu Ping read the report, the angrier he became, thinking of the refugees dying of starvation.

The scene on the streets was even more outrageous: "Tie up all these people who are unkind and want to be rich and bury them!"

Everyone cheered loudly. After receiving the order, the Guards Battalion immediately arrested all the famous people in the city and started digging holes outside the city, preparing to bury them alive.

After ordering the opening of a porridge factory to help the refugees, Xu Ping immersed himself in studying the next step.

At this point, the southern boundary of Kaifeng Prefecture has been pacified, and the Guards Battalion has no worries. Obviously, the Battle of Luoyang greatly damaged the vitality of the Bian Army in Kaifeng Prefecture. Xu Ping saw that the opponent really had no remaining strength, so he planned to attack the city. However, although the Bian Army was powerful,

Although there were still tens of thousands of soldiers, Xu Ping had only a few thousand soldiers to fight, and he did not want to use refugees as an army, so he had to think hard.

At this time, the guard outside the door reported that someone asked to see him, claiming to be an old friend of Xu Ping.

"Old friends?" Xu Ping frowned and said to himself, "Where did I get all these old friends?"

The person who came was the Qingzhi Taoist who once told Xu Ping's fortune. After entering, he claimed that he had come to thank him for saving his life twice. It turned out that he was one of the refugees in Xuzhou and was about to starve to death. Xu Ping entered the city.

Later, he stood in the crowd and recognized Xu Ping.

"Master, please sit down." Xu Ping asked him to sit down politely. For some reason, Xu Ping had a vague sense of trust in this Taoist priest.

Qingzhi lifted up his robe, sat on a chair, and said leisurely: "General Xu opened a warehouse to help the victims. This is really in line with the will of heaven and the will of the people."

If the other party was just here to flatter him, Xu Ping didn't mind being knocked away a little bit. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Master. I'm just chatting about people."

But the Qingzhi Taoist priest did not show any more politeness, and immediately turned to a topic that he knew Xu Ping must be concerned about: "Your ministry is chasing stolen goods to support the military, but does the general know that the wealth around these officials is only a small amount, and the large wealth is still in other places?"

"Oh?" Xu Ping became interested upon hearing this and quickly asked, "Master, please give me some advice."

"My Emperor Taizu decreed that scholars can be exempted from taxes and service, so most of the officials' families have a lot of fertile land. Now the poor people have no place to stand, and the generals who open warehouses to help the people can only save them for a while, but they cannot save them forever.

In my poor opinion, the general should allocate the land to these refugees." After a pause, Qingzhi continued: "These refugees may not be of much use in the battle formation. If the general uses them to fight, the food will be wasted.

But the benefit is not great. If they have land, not only can they support themselves, but it will also be very beneficial to the general's hegemony."

"What the master said is absolutely true. I didn't want them to join the army in the first place." Every time Xu Ping thought of this matter, he would get a headache. King Chuang always released food one day at a time. Because of this reputation, Xu Ping never came to Henan.

There are always a large number of refugees surrounding him every day, whether it is to provide food or not to give him food: "Because scholars can be exempted from food, many people bring their own land and invest it in the name of scholars. Although a lot of land is nominally

It belongs to the scholars, but in fact it has another owner. If I distribute the land of the scholars to the refugees, I will take away the land of many people."

"Does the general know that although a lot of the land in name is not theirs, at least more than 30% of it is their own land. A large number of refugees fled, and they annexed even more land. Since King Chuang pursued the stolen goods, these ownerless lands have been occupied The evil servants have been divided among themselves, so the number of refugees cannot be reduced much."

"Everything the master said makes sense," Chuangying has been trying to appease the refugees to return to their hometowns for a long time, so as to reduce some economic pressure, but the effect is not significant. The farmers who returned to their hometowns have no land and can only seek refuge with other landlords again, and Landowners have always supported the imperial court. Xu Ping spread his hands and said: "Which is the land with owners and which is the land without owners? It takes a lot of time to check, and it will also cause unrest in the countryside. We will fight with our army to bring peace to the people." ’ is contrary to the strategy.”

"Actually, it's not difficult if you really want to know," Qingzhi said slowly: "Those scholars know what they know. If we let them confront their stewards, it will not be difficult to clear the land."

Xu Ping stopped talking, but stared at Qingzhi for a long time, and asked: "Master, why did you come here today?"

Seeing that Xu Ping had guessed what he was thinking, Qingzhi did not panic and said calmly: "God has the virtue of a happy life."

"This is their own fault."

"General, treating scholars preferentially is a rule decreed by Emperor Gao, and this has been the way it has been for the past three hundred years. Since officials treat the common people like nothing, is it any wonder that the scholars don't show mercy to the common people? The general is too harsh on the scholars."

"Master, there is no need to say any more!" Xu Ping snorted: "When Emperor Gao founded the country, the greedy Mo Shiliang peeled off his skin and stuffed it into grass. If Emperor Gao were here, I really don't know how many officials in the world would be alive."

Seeing this, Qingzhi kept silent.

Xu Ping sat angrily for a while and shouted: "Here comes someone."

The guard at the door came in after hearing the sound, and Xu Ping said loudly: "Send my order to ask those guys if any of them are willing to trade their wealth for their lives. If they are willing to hand over their fields, I can keep them alive." I will never break my promise."

"As commanded."

After the guards took the order and left, Qingzhi smiled and said: "The general's benevolence will surely impress the heart of heaven."

"Why ask the fox when the jackal is in power? I still understand this truth." Xu Ping said angrily. After a while, Xu Ping looked at Qingzhi again: "Master, I see a lot of injustice in the world, and sometimes it is inevitable to kill. Heart."

Qingzhi nodded: "The general is in a high position and is different from ordinary people. It is a great good and good fortune for him to be able to reflect on himself all the time."

Xu Ping pondered for a moment and then asked: "I wonder where Master is going? I am willing to help Master with some expenses."

Qingzhi smiled slightly: "I am just a wandering cloud and a wild crane, and I have no definite plan."

"In this case, is Master willing to stay in my camp for a while? If Master Yiri wants to leave, I will never force him to stay."

Qingzhi smiled slightly again: "Dare you disobey your orders?"
Chapter completed!