Shizhao County, Hezhou, is the confluence of the Jialing River, Qujiang River and Fujiang River. Its strategic location and commercial value are very important. It has developed commerce, a large population and rich products. It has been a prosperous place since ancient times.
There is a large mountain in the northeast of Shizhao County, called Shizhao Mountain, and Shizhao County is named after it. In the middle of the mountain, a castle was built against the mountain. This is the famous Li Family Fort, the residence of the Li family, a powerful family in Hezhou.
, covering a large area, the castle can accommodate at least thousands of people.
The current owner of the castle is Li Jinxiao, the sixth generation head of the Li family, who currently serves as the magistrate of Hezhou.
In fact, everyone knows that the Li family started their business by selling illegal salt and wine. They have accumulated strong financial resources for decades. Their family even has backstage members in the court, including relatives Liu Mei, Xiang Zongliang, eunuch Yang Jian, prime minister Qin Hui, etc.
It can be said that if Chen Qing had not controlled Bashu, the Li family would have continued to be strong. However, since Chen Qing controlled the tax, salt tax, and wine tax in Bashu, the Li family's wealth and income have been directly cut off, including their family's occupation.
Tens of thousands of hectares of land were also confiscated and land taxes were required to be paid.
The Li family did not dare to fight against Chen Qing's army and tolerated it for a while. However, Chen Qing did not completely control Bashu, but only controlled the taxes. The pressure on the Li family was greatly reduced. Under the protection of the local officials, Li Jinxiao of Hezhou,
Three powerful families, Wang Dongyuan of Guozhou and Zhang Jian of Chongqing Prefecture, formed an alliance. There were dozens of small wealthy families attached to them. They established the Sichuan Li faction, claiming to be royalists to the outside world, openly supporting the imperial court and opposing the warlord Chen Qing.
In the past two years, they have been selling illicit salt, controlling alcohol, resisting rent and tax, and have become more and more rampant. They have also begun to recruit soldiers and build their own army.
In just two years, they gathered 20,000 troops, equipped with armor, crossbows, swords, spears and other weapons, and trained on the Changzhou grasslands. They gradually lost themselves in their ambitions.
All arrangements were in place and the time gradually matured. They finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to rebel. The assassination of Li Yi was the key turning point.
In the morning, several large ships parked at the dock of Li's family on the Jialing River. A dozen people stepped off the large ships. The leader was a short, middle-aged man. He was none other than Wang Dongyuan of Guozhou. He was ruthless and dominating, causing Guozhou to
The people were so frightened by the news that there was a saying in Guozhou, "It is a blessing for a woman to be ugly."
On the pier, a very thin man bowed and saluted: "Welcome Uncle Shi to Lijiapu!"
The man who greeted him was Li Jinxiao's eldest son, Li Mi. He came to the dock specially to welcome Wang Dongyuan's arrival.
"Li Houhou, how is your father's health?"
"Thank you for your concern, Uncle Shi. My father is in good health!"
"Let him pay attention to moderation. Five women in one night is too many. Three is enough."
After saying this, Wang Dongyuan burst into laughter. The Wang family members behind him did not dare to laugh and kept their faces grim. Li Mi looked embarrassed and had no choice but to ask Wang Dongyuan to go to the castle.
Another wealthy family head, Zhang Jian from Chongqing Mansion, arrived yesterday, and they were waiting for Wang Dongyuan's arrival.
Everyone chatted in front of the gate for a while, and then went to the meeting hall. Time was tight and they could not delay any longer.
In the meeting hall, the tall Li Jinxiao said to Wang Dongyuan and Zhang Jiancheng: "Qin Xianggong sent us an express letter to support our uprising. He assured me in the letter that once we raise troops, all the states in Sichuan will raise troops to respond to us, at least.
The nine states occupied by the royalists will support us. I have calculated that the combined number of state soldiers in each state is more than 100,000. Zheng Ping only has 20,000 in Chengdu. We completely defeated him. Once we capture Chengdu, the imperial army will have 200,000 troops.
We will enter Shu, everyone, the time has come, and it is time for us to make achievements."
Zhang Jian was very strong and didn't talk much. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Where is Chen Qing?"
"Chen Qing is attacking Hexi and fighting the Uighurs. He won't be able to come back within half a year, so I said it was an opportunity."
Wang Dongyuan frowned, "There is no news about the assassins we sent to Jingzhao. Could it be that they missed the target?"
"Assassins can't get on the stage, so if they fail, they will fail! But now there is a chance."
Both of them looked at Li Jinxiao, "What opportunity?"
"An army of the Song Army is on its way to Hezhou. The leader is Han Zhengfu, the commander of the internal defense, with thirty subordinates and five hundred soldiers. He is here to investigate us and just give us some training. For this reason
If we take advantage of the opportunity, how about we raise an army?"
Wang Dongyuan slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said, "Li Yi has been assassinated anyway, so the retreat is gone, let's do it!"
Li Jinxiao looked at Zhang Jian again. Zhang Jian hesitated and said, "Qin Xianggong really said that he would send 200,000 troops to Shu?"
"Believe it, it's here, if you don't believe it, see for yourself!"
Li Jinxiao pushed Qin Hui's letter to Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian read it over and finally felt relieved. He nodded, "Since everyone is ready, let's do it!"
Zheng Ping's military camp is located outside the city, covering an area of hundreds of hectares. It is a large military camp that can accommodate 50,000 people. The 50,000 garrison commanded by Zheng Ping is only responsible for defense. He never interferes in the government affairs of Bashu and strictly enforces the military regulations of the Duke Chen Qinghe.
Various instructions given to him by the Ministry.
After the inner guards arrived to investigate Li Yi's assassination, Zheng Ping withdrew from the investigation team, but he still gave the inner guards the support he could. Han Fuzheng and Zhong Huan each gave 500 soldiers.
Zhong Huan has been living in the military camp these days. This morning, Zheng Ping invited him and Lu Chuan to tell him the unfortunate news. Han Fuzheng's men were ambushed by thousands of people in Hezhou, causing heavy casualties. Han Fuzheng
He was hit by more than 20 arrows and died in battle. Twenty-four of the 30 inner guard soldiers were killed, and more than 300 of the 500 soldiers were killed.
This sudden disappearance made Zhong Huan extremely sad. Brother Han, who took care of him and helped him like an elder brother, died. Zhong Huan held his face in his hands and cried silently.
Zhong Huan suddenly slammed the table and asked sharply: "In that case, why doesn't General Zheng send out troops to kill all the rebels?"
Zheng Ping also said angrily: "Do you think I don't want to send troops? More than three hundred of my five hundred brothers died, and their heads were cut off and hung on trees. Do you think I can bear this kind of shame and humiliation?"
"If you can't help it, why do you have to endure it?"
"Because military orders are like mountains!"
Zheng Ping threw a military order in front of Zhong Huan, "This is the eagle letter I just received. It is a personal letter from the prince!"
Zhong Huan opened the eagle letter, and there was only one sentence on it, "Keep Chengdu and don't be provoked by foreign affairs to leave!"
Zhong Huan was stunned and asked after a while: "Does the prince know that the attack will happen?"
"The prince sees things further than we do."
Lu Chuan, who had been silent next to him, said: "The king's decision is right. Chengdu is the top priority. Once General Zheng leads his army south, the thousands of people deployed by the Sichuan Li faction in Chengdu will definitely take the opportunity to riot and rebel and occupy Chengdu."
"But General Zheng has 50,000 troops! If we leave 20,000 to guard Chengdu, we can still suppress the riots."
Zheng Ping smiled bitterly and said: "Who said Chengdu has 50,000 troops? There are 10,000 troops deployed in Jianzhou and Langzhou in the north, 10,000 troops deployed near the border of Dali in the south, and 10,000 troops deployed in Xiazhou. I only have 20,000 troops here.
."
"Then the general can at least strike first, clean up the thousands of internal agents in Chengdu, implement martial law in Chengdu, and prevent riots in Chengdu!"
Zheng Ping thought for a while and said: "That's okay, it doesn't violate military orders!"
Zheng Ping's army immediately entered the city, and under the pretext of arresting the assassin of Magistrate Li, issued a martial law order, requiring all people to go home and close their homes, and all shops were also required to close.
Zhong Huan led 30 internal guards and 100 soldiers into the post station, and pulled out the deputy manager Li Jin. Han Zhengfu led his men south. He prepared dry food, so this person must have tipped off the news.
Of course, Li Jin refused to admit it. He rolled on the ground and shouted: "I didn't do anything. I only did what I was supposed to do, so that you can eat well and live well. Everything else is the same as mine."
It doesn’t matter, don’t accuse people unjustly!”
At this time, several internal guard soldiers came over and threw a crossbow and ten poisonous arrows in front of him.
The poisonous arrows are exactly the same."
Li Jin was dumbfounded, speechless as he looked at the poisonous arrows and military crossbows on the ground.
Zhong Huan stepped forward and slapped him hard several times, waved his hand and said, "Take them all away!"
Including the chief steward of the inn, two deputy stewards, five or six waiters, cooks, grooms, etc., they were all taken away, and a seal was posted on the door of the inn.
The inn was the breakthrough point. As the steward confessed, the army began to arrest people, then interrogated them, and then arrested them again. It was originally a point, but gradually became a point, and more and more people were arrested. That night, there were already one person
More than 1,600 people were arrested.
But the interrogations and arrests were not over. The sound of soldiers running and banging on doors could be heard everywhere at night. Everyone was frightened and the arrests continued all night. By daybreak, more than 2,500 people had been arrested.