In the morning, Wei Ping returned to Shaanxi County with more than a thousand prisoners of war. They withstood the test. Although the puppet Qi army was gathering not far away from them to attack the city, and the shouts of the puppet Qi army could even be heard in the valley, they withstood the test.
Not a single prisoner of war ran out of the valley. They all sincerely did not want to work for the puppet Qi army anymore.
Although these prisoners of war were all leftovers, older or younger, due to their performance, Liu Qiong decided to let them all join the Song army, bringing the total number of soldiers in Shaanxi County to 6,500.
At dawn, the news spread throughout the city that the Song Army had captured Shaanxian County. The people immediately became excited and ran into the streets beating gongs and drums to celebrate the return of the Song Army. The city of Shaanxian County became a joyous world.
At the same time, the hatred that had been accumulated in the hearts of the people for a long time also broke out with the arrival of the Song Army. Thousands of elders rushed into the magistrate's house, captured Magistrate Yan Shun and beat him violently. Magistrate Liu Wenhuang happened to be away from Shaanxi County.
I just escaped disaster when I went to Bianliang to report on my work. In recent years, officials at the state and county levels have strictly implemented the pseudo-Qi tax policy and imposed exorbitant taxes in Shaanxi Province. The people have long hated them.
When the patrol soldiers arrived, Yan Shun, the county magistrate, had been beaten to death by the angry people. Jiang Dafu, the county lieutenant who was domineering over the people's heads, was also beaten to death by the angry people. The county government and the state government
It was also set on fire, and many places in the county were on fire, with thick smoke billowing from them.
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, Liu Qiong hurriedly ordered a temporary martial law and asked all the people to go home, otherwise they would be arrested and severely punished.
After the order in the city calmed down a little, Liu Qiong came to visit Yang Gong. The corpses in Yang's house had been cleared away, and the housekeeper and dozens of servants were still fetching water and washing the floor to clean the blood stains on the floor.
Yang Gonggao ordered his eldest son Yang Chu to invite Liu Qiong to the distinguished guest hall. The two were seated separately, and the maid came in to serve tea. Liu Qiong took a sip of hot tea and said to Yang Gonggao: "Thanks to the help of the Yang family this time, we will be able to bring you a happy life."
The generals were all captured in one fell swoop, which allowed us to successfully capture Shaanxi County and minimized the casualties of our soldiers. I am sincerely grateful."
"Where! Where! General Liu is serious. This is a matter within our scope. Besides, the Yang family alone cannot do it. The key is to rely on General Tang to arrange the deployment. Why didn't General Tang come with us?"
"The order outside is relatively chaotic. General Tang is leading his soldiers to maintain order. He really can't get out."
Yang Gongdao sighed and said: "It is normal for this kind of situation to occur. I hope General Liu will be more tolerant and not criticize the people too harshly. They have lived too hard these years."
"Mr. Yang, can you tell me in detail?"
Yang Gongdao said to the eldest son beside him: "Dalang, you know the situation better, please tell me!"
Yang Chu bowed slightly and said: "The main reason is that taxes and prices are too high, and the people's income is meager. The land tax is 33%, the household tax is three thousand dollars a year, there are also room taxes, deed taxes, exemption money, etc., about every year
The annual direct tax per household is 6 to 10 guan. The amount of the tax is related to the size of the house. This is the inter-frame tax. The average annual income of each household in Shaanxi is 20 guan, which means that at least 30% of the income must be taxed.
If these are not enough, there are also terrible indirect taxes on salt, tea, sugar, oil, cloth, slaughter, etc. Salt is four hundred cents per catty, wheat is one hundred and twenty cents per dou, and cloth is seventy or eighty cents, so every household is impoverished.
We are so poor that many people send their girls to our house to be maids, without asking for any money, just to support her."
Liu Qiong frowned, "This is too tragic. No wonder the people are so angry."
Yang Chu said angrily: "Actually, this is not just Shaanzhou, but also other places in the Puppet Qi Kingdom. That dog emperor Liu Yu even issued an order to make the people sell their children and daughters to pay taxes. God is angry and people are angry, but the Puppet Qi Kingdom can still survive.
How many days?”
Liu Qiong thought for a while and said, "I have 3,500 prisoners of war here, all of whom have joined the Song Army. Their families are currently in the Central Plains. I want to transfer their families to Sichuan and Shaanxi. Is it possible?"
Yang Gonggao stroked his beard and said: "Of course it is feasible, but Mianchi County must be captured. Although Xin'an and Luoyang also belong to the Xiaohan Ancient Road, Mianchi County is special. It happens to be the exit of Xiaoshan Mountain. There are many roads leading to Mianchi from all directions.
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Therefore, Mianchi is the real entrance to the Xiaohan Ancient Road. If Mianchi is controlled by the puppet Qi army, then all migrant people will not be able to enter the Xiaohan Ancient Road. On the contrary, if Mianchi is captured, people coming from all directions will be able to enter the Xiaohan Ancient Road.
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"I understand. Thank you Yuan Yuan for reminding me. In addition, as agreed, Dalang will be invited to serve as the magistrate of Shaanxi County."
After half a day of martial law, Liu Qiong ordered the lifting of martial law, announced the plan to calm the people, and announced the abolition of all excessive taxes and levies imposed by the puppet state of Qi. Once the Weihan channel is opened, salt, grain, and cloth from Guanzhong will enter Shaanxi, and all the people of Shaanxi will be harmonious with Sichuan and Shaanxi.
The common people have enough to eat and clothing to wear.
Although the writing style is average, the content is very down-to-earth and makes people in the city see hope.
Yang Chu immediately became the magistrate of Shaanxi County. Yang Gongdao recommended Wang Changyi, the eldest son of another powerful family in Shaanxi County, the Wang family, to be the county captain. With the guarantee of the Yang and Wang families, Shaanxi County quickly stabilized, and Yang Chu led the government officials to open warehouses.
Porridge relief, relief to the hungry and cold poor
On the second day after Liu Qiong led his army to seize Shaanxi, Chen Qing led an army of 70,000 to Hangu Pass. At the same time, Liu Cui led an army of 20,000 to cross the Yellow River from Fengling and swept across Shaanzhou on the north bank of the Yellow River.
Counties.
Hedong and the Central Plains are not bounded by the Yellow River, but by the Zhongtiao Mountains in the south. Therefore, even if the Song army swept across the north bank of the Yellow River, it would not have any impact on Hedong. There is still a thousand miles long and nearly a hundred miles wide Zhongyuan.
The Tiao Mountains and the Zhongtiao Mountains are finally integrated with the Taihang Mountains, including Hedong.
Another army of 7,000 men, led by the commander Wang Duo, occupied Guozhou where no troops were stationed.
Hangu Pass has become the top priority in attacking the ancient Xiaohan Road.
At this time, the spies sent by Zhe Kezhi also arrived at Hangu Pass.
"What!"
Kong Yanzhou's eyes widened, he grabbed the reporter's clothes and shouted: "What the hell are you talking about? How could Shaanxi County be lost?"
The spy said tremblingly: "I dare not deceive Kong Dutong. Shaanxi County was indeed captured by the Song army. We also attacked the city and suffered more than a thousand casualties."
Kong Yanzhou slowly calmed down. In fact, he also knew that there were loopholes in the Weihan Ancient Road. It could be passed through Zhushui or even through the Yellow River. However, he always felt that the possibility was unlikely, but it happened to become a reality, leaving him speechless.
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Kong Yanzhou immediately turned around and asked Sima: "How much food and grass do we have?"
"I report to the capital that there is sufficient food and grass. There are fifty thousand shi of grain and hundreds of thousands of dan of fodder!"
Kong Yanzhou nodded and reported to the spies: "Go back and tell your commander that I will hold on for a month and ask him to take back Shaanxi County within a month. Otherwise, Shaanxi Province will be over and Luoyang will not be able to hold on for long!"
Kong Yanzhou simply wrote another pigeon letter and sent it to Bianliang, asking Wanyan Wushu to put pressure on Zhe Kiqiu. He knew that Wanyan Wushu would personally lead an army to retake Jianghuai, and if Shaanzhou fell, Wanyan would be severely restrained. Wushu's strategy can be ignored, but he will definitely not be able to withstand the pressure of Wanyan Wushu.
Seventy thousand Song troops set up camp two miles away from Hangu Pass. This was Chen Qing's first visit to Hangu Pass. Surrounded by his generals, he came to inspect the enemy's situation in front of Hangu Pass.
The guide Zhang Hua introduced to Chen Qing and the generals: "To the south is Mount Laoshan, which extends to the east, but there is also a branch extending to the north, all the way to the Yellow River. There is a more than ten miles long branch in the middle. Hangu Pass is this canyon. To be precise, it is not a pass, but the entire canyon is built into a city. There are four passes in total."
Chen Qing saw clearly that a city gate was built in front of the canyon, with high walls on both sides, forming an arc, and finally connected with the cliff.
Then another gate city was built at the mouth of the canyon. There were also city gates on both sides in front of the canyon, forming an urn city with gates on all sides. The army entering the urn city was like encountering violent attacks from three directions.
But Chen Qing has guarded similar Jianxiao Pass. He knows very well that there are weaknesses in any pass. It depends on whether you can find them?
"How to provide drinking water in the city?" Chen Qing asked.
"They all dig wells to get water."
Chen Qing nodded. It seemed that there was nothing he could do about the water source. He wanted to look at the mountains on both sides. He thought of the top of the Jianxiao Pass, which was very similar to here, so he asked, "Can I go up to the top of the mountain?"
"It should be possible, but I don't know the way up the mountain."
Chen Qing asked again: "If I want to send someone to the top of the mountain to have a look, where can I find someone who knows the way?"
Zhang Hua thought for a moment and said, "Go to Hucheng County to find some hunters or herb collectors. They should know the way."
Chen Qing turned around and glanced at Hu Yanlei. Hu Yanlei immediately clasped his fists and said, "I'll go find you now!"