At Caishikou in Chengdu, tens of thousands of people surrounded the execution platform. Guo Kun knelt on the platform with his hands tied behind his back, his face pale and his whole body shaking. Behind him stood a bare-chested executioner holding a thick-backed machete.
One of the employees shouted: "It's time!"
The supervising beheading officer shouted: "Behead!"
The executioner raised his machete high, raised the knife and dropped it. A human head rolled to the ground, and the people around him were jubilant.
When he heard that his beloved son was publicly beheaded in Chengdu, Guo Huaiyan screamed "Ouch!" and fainted immediately.
Everyone stepped forward to rescue the head of the family. After a while, Guo Huaiyan slowly woke up. His eyes were bloodshot and he gritted his teeth and said, "What a Li Ye! If you kill my son, I will fight with you until death!"
Guo Huaiyan was heartbroken and would not stop doing anything. He immediately ordered all villagers and warriors from all over the country to gather in Sichuan County, and spent 500,000 yuan to recruit soldiers from all over Bashu.
He was generous and well-paid. The recruits rushed to Hechuan from all directions. In just a few days, he recruited 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers. In addition to the nearly 30,000 Zhuang Ding warriors of the Guo family, the strength of the Guo family's army reached 100,000.
People, the Guo family had secretly stored hundreds of thousands of sets of armor, and immediately armed a hundred thousand troops and named them Zhaolie Army.
Guo Huaiyan posted another message to the states, asking them to support him in resisting the abolition of slavery by force. He also stated that his original surname was Liu and he was a descendant of Emperor Zhaolie. In order to avoid the persecution of the Sima family, he changed his surname to Guo. Now he has restored his ancestral surname to Liu.
Twelve prefectures in Shannan West Road responded to Guo Huaiyan's call.
But this time, except for the Bashu wealthy families who had a very close relationship with the Guo family and the three families, the other wealthy families were silent. They supported negotiating with the court to resolve the abolition of slavery. But now the Guo family has openly rebelled. Everyone knows that the consequences will be serious.
People are willing to participate.
After all, the loss of abolition of slavery is not very big. To participate in the rebellion for this small loss? Unless you get kicked in the head by a donkey.
Liu Zhaosi, a wealthy family member in Liujiang County, Quzhou, has also been troubled these past two days. Guo Huaiyan actually asked to include him in his family tree and change his name to Liu Huaiyan.
Liu Zhaosi is a descendant of Liu Chen, the grandson of Liu Bei, and is a recognized descendant of Emperor Zhaolie in Shu.
The Liu family was a wealthy family in Quzhou, and Liu Zhaosi also supported Guo Huaiyan in opposing the abolition of slavery, but when asked to support Guo Huaiyan's rebellion, he quit.
But he did not dare to refuse Guo Huaiyan's request. Quzhou was too close to Hezhou, which offended Guo Huaiyan, and the Liu family might be in danger.
Liu Zhaosi quickly called the two brothers to discuss countermeasures.
Liu Zhaoyu, the third child, frowned and said: "Just a few slaves can restore their status as civilians. How much money can they lose? If they rebel for such a small amount of money, what will happen to the Guo family?"
The second child, Liu Zhaofeng, sneered and said: "The abolition of slavery is just an excuse. The Guo family's problem is not as simple as a few slaves. They hide weapons secretly. They sold weapons to Nanzhao privately and raised tens of thousands of Zhuang Ding's slaves.
Which one is not a grave sin?"
Liu Zhaosi sighed and said: "The real crime of the Guo family was to take away the Tang army prisoners of war from the Battle of Nanzhao, which totaled 20,000 people. This matter had been reported by the local officials at that time, but they bribed Yang Guozhong with 20,000 yuan.
The matter was left undisturbed. Later, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, followed by the feudal rebellion, and then the internal imperial power struggle. This matter was gradually forgotten. Most of the prisoners of war and slaves died, and the remaining people were content with the status quo.
Once the emperor knows about this, the Guo family will definitely be exterminated, and then Guo Huaiyan will raise an army to rebel. Everyone is smart, and few people are willing to fight against the court for just a few slaves, so almost no wealthy family will follow the Guo family to rebel. Those who responded
All state officials are supported by the Guo family, how dare they not follow?"
Liu Zhaoyu and Liu Zhaofeng looked at each other. They dared to accept prisoners of war from the Tang army as slaves. The Guo family was so brave.
Liu Zhaosi said worriedly: "Of course we will not rebel against the Guo family, but the problem is that now Guo Huaiyan wants to pretend to be a descendant of Emperor Zhaolie and join our family. What should we do? If we don't agree, we will be retaliated by Guo Huaiyan. If we agree,
He will definitely be implicated, so let’s discuss it and find a perfect solution.”
Liu Zhaofeng rolled his eyes and said, "Brother, I have an idea!"
"What can I do?"
"We hid the real family monument and genealogy, made a fake one to deceive Guo Huaiyan, and when he failed, we replaced it with the real one, and then flatly denied accepting the Guo family into the clan."
Liu Zhaoyu slapped his thigh hard, "Second brother, this is a good idea. We can also convene the tribe for discussion. Everyone unanimously vetoes the Guo family's entry into the tribe, and then signs and stamps. This is evidence, and then makes a fake meeting record to agree to the Guo family's entry into the tribe."
, then we forge the signature and seal it and hand it over to Guo Huaiyan. When the time comes to verify it, we will say that it was forged by Guo Huaiyan himself. If we present the true resolution, the court will no longer be able to pursue us."
Liu Zhaosi thought for a moment and said, "Let's do it like this! I'll arrange for someone to imitate it."
Guo Xiang, the governor of Hezhou, was Guo Huaiyan's cousin. When he learned about the Jia family in Qiongzhou, he was really worried. In the evening, he found Guo Huaiyan.
Guo Huaiyan put his hands behind his hands and said coldly: "I also know about the Jia family's affairs. It's because Jia Yuan himself is stupid. He only prepared two thousand troops and wanted to confront the imperial court. Who will die if he doesn't die? Will the imperial court be reasonable? The imperial court only values strength.
If you are strong, he will naturally reason with you. If I am not fully prepared, then our Guo family will have the same fate as the Jia family."
Guo Xiang sighed, "Brother recruits an army. I'm afraid the court won't be able to make peace with us anymore."
Guo Huaiyan shook his head, "Then you are wrong. The imperial court publicly beheaded my son, which means that it will no longer negotiate with us. There is no turning back. Surrendering is death, and resistance is death. Then why not resist and wait for the imperial court to kill him?
Will our family continue to keep our wealth in vain?"
Guo Xiang nodded, "I understand what brother said. I just suggested that brother leave a way out for the Guo family."
Guo Huaiyan smiled and said, "I know that after our beautiful water flows to the Piao Kingdom, it will form a large and vast plain there. I will move some of the tribesmen there and spread their branches there."
Guo Huaiyan was talking about the Piao Plain, which is today's Irrawaddy Plain in Myanmar. Because Guo Huaiyan had long-term dealings with Nanzhao, he knew there was such a good place.
Guo Xiang was still worried about how long they could hold on with the emperor's strength, but now that the matter was over, there was no use worrying, so he had to say goodbye and leave.
Chang'an, Emperor Li Ye and the entire political hall had their eyes fixed on Bashu, and the Internal Security Intelligence Agency sent them the latest news every day in eagle letters.
When they heard that the Guo family had recruited 70,000 to 80,000 troops, all the members of the political hall were shocked. This was an open rebellion!
In the political hall, Li Ye said to the eight senior officials of the political hall: "The matter is not that simple. The rebellion of the Guo family has nothing to do with the abolition of slavery. We have received information that the Guo family is still hiding extremely serious problems, which even involve the great massacre that year.
During the battle between Tang Dynasty and Nanzhao, the internal guards received a report from a wealthy family. I won’t say who it was. It was said that the Guo family had been selling large quantities of weapons to Nanzhao since the early years of Tianbao. Nanzhao used the loot to repay debts to the Guo family. It may be that
Including 20,000 Tang army prisoners of war who became slave workers in the Guo family salt well, so once slavery is abolished, this matter will be exposed."
There was silence in the political hall. Everyone looked at each other with shock in their eyes. The Guo family actually accepted prisoners of war from the Tang army as slave labor. There are still as many as 20,000 people. Is this possible? Even if you are brave enough, you will not dare to do this.
ah!
Wei Jiansu asked: "Your Majesty, after the defeat of the Tang army, the minister was ordered to go to Jiannan Jiedu Mansion to appease him, but he didn't hear about it!"
"This incident did not happen immediately, but three months after the war ended. At that time, some officials discovered the clues and wrote to the court to report the matter, but Yang Guozhong withheld it. It is said that Yang Guozhong accepted a bribe of 20,000 yuan from the Guo family. Later,
The official who made the report was transferred and the matter was dropped."
Liu Yan pondered for a moment and said: "Wei Chen believes that this matter is probably true. It is because the abolition of slavery order will bring up this matter, so the Guo family did not hesitate to rebel."
Li Ye sneered and said: "I publicly beheaded his son to force him to rebel. I don't want to leave the cancer of the Bashu wealthy family to future generations."