Tan Daoji's expression changed, and Xue Tong beside him said in a deep voice: "Tao Yuanming, don't talk nonsense and slander our Beifu soldiers. When we went to Wu, we were just to fight against monsters and bandits and rescue the people. How could we burn, kill, and loot? What are you doing now?
He is also an official of the imperial court, so he must speak responsibly!"
Gao Jinzhi also glared at Tao Yuanming fiercely: "Tao, what are your intentions in repeatedly slandering our Beifu soldiers? Don't think that if you follow General Yu now, the national law cannot punish you."
Tao Yuanming smiled slightly: "Two generals, why do you need to threaten them? If you let people talk, the sky will not fall. Back then, Liu Laozhi led his newly formed New Taipei Army, which included a large number of skirmishers, bandits and horse thieves.
Fight all the way to the land of Sanwu, search and plunder manors everywhere in the name of collaboration with the enemy and treason, torture and interrogate the powerful landowners of these manors, and even the children of common people from aristocratic families, force them to admit that they have relations with monsters and thieves, and then extort and kidnap them
Their property, Liu Pushe, you experienced this war with your own eyes, do you think I was talking nonsense and slandering the officers and soldiers of the Beifu Army?"
Tan Daoji sighed, took the wrists of the two brothers behind him, and said: "Second brother, third brother, this matter is known to the whole world. Liu Laozhi did go too far back then, so much so that even Brother Jinu couldn't see it.
I got used to what he did and led more than a thousand brothers to escape from him. Please ask the guards, you and I also followed Brother Jinu to go out independently back then. This is not the nonsense of Tao Changshi."
Xue Tong gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "The situation back then was very complicated. Many of Liu Laozhi's subordinates came to vote as a whole team, just under the banner of Liu Laozhi. At the beginning, Liu Laozhi was also like Tao Yuanming.
As he said, he pardoned those traitorous demon thieves who came to join the army. As a result, many of these people led Liu Laozhi's troops to inspect other manors, saying that they were collaborating with the enemy and rebelling. Later we found out that these were demon thieves.
It is a cunning plot to deliberately release some thieves who are pretending to surrender and lead our army to search everywhere, Liu Pushe, do you think this is the case?"
Liu Muzhi said calmly: "There are indeed some cases like this, but not all, not even the majority. In the past, there were many grudges among the major families in Wudi, as well as the local powerful, but in these troubled times, they helped each other.
External forces came to retaliate. Some turned to the demon thieves to loot the family manor, and some children of the family led Liu Laozhi's men to take advantage of the opportunity to retaliate against the powerful Wu people and even their brothers. Of course, all these situations combined were not as good as Liu Laozhi's.
As many as 30% of the cases were caused by prison robberies. The files of these cases are still in the attic of the imperial court. If anyone has any objections, I can take him to review them in person."
Liu Muzhi's voice was not high-pitched, but it exuded an unquestionable majesty. With his words, no one dared to have any more questions. They all saluted and said, "I sincerely follow Liu Pushe's teachings."
Tao Yuanming sneered and said: "Thanks to Liu Pushe for clarifying these old things. I once traveled around Wudi to interview people's livelihood matters. Even after many years, many local people still knew nothing about Liu Laozhi's legion.
Their expressions changed, as if hearing about tigers and beasts. This shows how cruel these sergeants were back then. The reputation of the Beifu Army was also corrupted by these scum, so that many powerful landowners who were originally neutral or even supported the imperial court turned their backs.
Joined the demon thieves. I always thought that it was you, the thousand soldiers who were unwilling to rob the people, who put down the demon thieves. It was Marshal Liu who developed the New Taipei Army based on these thousand soldiers, not Liu Laozhi."
Zhu Chaoshi said coldly: "Okay, Tao Changshi, we don't need you to recall the history of that year again. Do you want to say that Liu Laozhi kidnapped and raped in Wudi in the name of punishing fellow demon thieves?
, so we forced the people of Wu to rebel, so we cannot make these mistakes again today, and we must be tolerant to the rebellious and powerful people in Jiangzhou, Xiangnan, and Guangzhou?"
Having said this, Zhu Chaoshi raised his eyebrows: "But Tao Changshi, please think about it carefully. Our officers and soldiers in the Jin Dynasty, all the generals in this palace, are not Liu Laozhi's rabble. We have soldiers."
With a sense of honor, a belief in protecting our country and the people, we have always followed Brother Jinu, from Wu to Jingzhou. We ask ourselves that over the years, we have never done anything to kill good people and take credit for them, or rob people. These people in Jiangzhou
The powerful landowners turned to the demon thieves because they were disloyal to the Jin Dynasty and wanted to rebel whenever they had the chance, and they were never forced to rebel by us."
Tao Yuanming nodded: "Yes, I admit this. You are all good soldiers and generals who abide by military disciplines. The powerful landlords in Jiangzhou have long been accustomed to being a mere wallflower during the civil strife in the Jin Dynasty over the years. This
It is their nature, but everyone should also think about it. During the demon-thief rebellion, the momentum was rapid. As generals of the imperial court, did you have the ability to defend Jiangzhou and protect these powerful landowners at that time? General Zhu, you were the
Lieutenant general of Jiangzhou Army, how is your performance?"
Zhu Chaoshi gritted his teeth and said solemnly: "I admit that I am incompetent. I was in the army at that time. I was the vanguard of the entire army, but I fell into the evil thief's trick and was captured by the evil thief in Nankang. I could only pretend to surrender to the evil thief."
Thief, look for a chance to atone for your sins. Fortunately, God bless me and Brother Wuji and the heroic spirits of the dead soldiers protected me, so I finally got my revenge in the Battle of Jiangling. But is this the case with those local snakes in Jiangzhou who surrendered to thieves?
Even now, do any of them want to perform meritorious service to atone for their sins? If they were like this, would it be necessary for you, Tao Changshi, to make such a suggestion and pardon them in exchange for their submission? "
Tao Yuanming smiled slightly and said: "That's it, General Zhu, you were captured and pretended to surrender. General He died in the battle, Wei Shunzhi fled without a fight, Xie Bao also died in the battle after the city was broken, the Jiangzhou Army was wiped out, and
As civil servants, Wang Hong, Zhang Yu and others also fled or surrendered. The whole Jiangzhou fell into the hands of the demon thieves. Those of us who live on the salary of the imperial court cannot protect Jiangzhou and cannot do it to the death, so we have to be harsh on Jiangzhou's people.
Will the powerful landowners resist to the end and the whole family be loyal?"
Zhu Chaoshi said in a deep voice: "Tao Changshi, please be responsible for your words. According to what you said, these people's surrender is excusable, they are innocent, and they must be pardoned? Then they used military rations to feed the monsters
Thief, it doesn’t matter if you send young men to follow the army of demon thieves, and even some cottage owners directly join the army of demon thieves? As long as they are willing to surrender now, their previous crimes can be wiped out, and they can even be promoted to a higher rank? Chief Tao?
Shi, if you dare to say this publicly in Jiankang's court, I'm afraid you won't be able to walk out of the hall alive. Brother Jinu will never tolerate your remarks that are tantamount to rebellion, and Yu Gong, you also
You will be punished by sitting in a row!" (End of this chapter)