Chapter 34 Lobbyist (Additional update for leader Xiaolong V)
"Why are you running? Can't you see the crops are about to be harvested? Go back, don't worry!" In the wilds of Xiangyang County, a Xia Jun primary school officer stopped a farmer who wanted to escape by boat and said: "The warriors are fighting, and you are not allowed to go."
What's the matter? Go home and stay."
On the Grand Post Road, more than 20,000 Wei Shengjun infantry were marching rapidly.
They looked at the rice that was about to be harvested in the fields out of the corner of their eyes, and it was amazing.
There is also rice in Lingxia, but it is very little. The rice distributed to everyone by the army is generally corn. The so-called "rice" price listed in the grain store also refers to the price of corn.
In the land of eight prefectures in the eastern part of Shannan, rice and wheat are the main crops, with wheat harvested in the summer and rice harvested in the autumn, resulting in a relatively abundant harvest.
Among these prefectures and counties, Xiang, Tang, and Deng prefectures are probably the most developed.
Tangzhou has "Marenpi, in the north of the county (Biyang County), which irrigates tens of thousands hectares of fields." To be able to irrigate tens of thousands hectares of fields, the amount of water must be sufficient. A canal opened in Xiazhou can only irrigate hundreds or more than a thousand hectares.
There is not enough water, there is nothing we can do.
There are long canals in Xiangzhou, "which divert water from Yan to irrigate the fields, and the fields will become fertile soil."
The mountainous areas are relatively backward. Junzhou, like Jin and Shang, has a high proportion of slash-and-burn cultivation and very backward farming technology. It is similar to the Banan states on the west coast of Shannan. There are many barbarians and canines, and the folk believe in witches and ghosts. The customs are similar to those of the Han Dynasty.
The regional differences are not small.
Ying, Fu and other prefectures are also well developed. However, their potential has not been fully realized. The reason is that the population is too small.
However, there is so much land and abundant water that just by clearing a small area and irrigating tens of thousands of hectares of land, we can feed the people of the whole state.
What a great place!
Orimunemoto is riding on a war horse. Based on his experience in handling government affairs, the development potential here is huge, but it requires a lot of effort to develop and organize.
I consulted the staff before and learned that "the counties in Hannan are often affected by river floods. Every time they drift to Shuliang, they will live in the city as a cushion."
But that was a hundred years ago, and now it seems that the situation is much better. At least the water conservancy facilities in some places are complete. If development continues, how can we know that it will not be a land rich in money and food?
After the number of registered permanent residents increased, we continued to develop outward. The number of villages in the countryside gradually increased, and it felt more promising than in Guanzhong.
But it’s still an old problem. There are too few people in the south and they are not as dense as Guanzhong, Henan, and Hebei.
"Has the envoy sent to Yicheng County returned?" Zhe Zongben turned around and asked.
Gucheng Ling Jingdao pinched the horse's belly, and the horse ran away quickly. He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he screamed loudly.
The sergeants burst out laughing.
The two riders chased him, one on the left and the other on the right. After some busy work, they came back holding the reins of Jingdao's horse.
"Huizhe Shuai." Jingdao took a breath, with an expression of fear on his face, and heard him say: "He hasn't come back yet."
The messenger was sent by him, he was a respectful old servant, and he often participated in confidential matters.
"In this land of Jianghan, the speed of galloping horses is far less than that of Guanbei." Zhe Zongben sighed.
The water network is dense, there are many swamps, old forests can be seen everywhere, the post roads are dilapidated and pitiful, and travel is mostly by water. Zhe Zongben has been fighting for a lifetime, so he has experienced it.
If we attack the south in the future, we will still have to rely on infantry to win. We may also need a navy, and there is one in Xiangyang, but Zhu Quanzhong's navy is the largest in the north.
My son-in-law built a so-called navy many years ago, but so far there are only two ships. They can only catch businessmen who evade taxes, and they are of no great use.
"Jing County Magistrate, would you like to accompany me to Tangzhou? I will grant you the post of Biyang Magistrate." Zhe Zongben suddenly asked.
"I can't get what I asked for." Jingdao was so happy that he fell from the sky, so he naturally agreed repeatedly.
Gucheng has opened its doors to welcome the surrender. Although it is unusual in this era, it still makes the superiors unhappy. Biyang is the first county in Tangzhou. It is naturally better to be an official there than to stay in Gucheng.
But why Tangzhou?
Jingdao's eyes rolled around, and he kept tasting the meaning of this sentence in his heart.
"Bianzhou Jingxiang, do you have anything to do with it?" Zhe Zongben asked again abruptly.
"Of course not." If it weren't for his poor equestrian skills, Jingdao would have sworn to heaven: "Jingxiang claimed to be King Jinghui of Pingyang County, but he was probably pretending to be so. There is no such person's name in the genealogy of the Jing family in Hedong."
Zhe Zongben nodded: "This old slave of the Zhu family is not expected to be a famous minister."
Jingxiang was also too diligent in his work. He often couldn't sleep at night and was busy late at night. Zhu Quanzhong advised him to take a rest. Jingxiang said that he could take a short rest while riding.
It is common for people to forget to eat because of official duties.
Zhu Quanzhong often loses his temper, and others dare not persuade him. Jingxiang does not persuade him directly, but enlightens him in a roundabout way, starting with irrelevant trivial matters, so that Zhu Quanzhong can wake up on his own.
To be able to do things like this is amazing.
It would be great if such a person were his subordinate. But Zhu Quanzhong was his son-in-law's great enemy, so Zhe Zongben naturally didn't like it and called him "old slave of the Zhu family", which clearly revealed his inner views.
"If things go well in Xiangyang, I will go to Biyang." Zhe Zongben sighed: "It's a hard life."
Tang and Deng followed the Jiedushi envoys. Hehe, are these Jiedushi envoys so good?
I'm afraid that as soon as I took office, the land of the three states would be raging with war. There would be no fighting every month and no attack every day. How many of the children of the Zhe family would be able to live to the end and enjoy wealth and honor?
"What happened in Xiangyang?" Jingdao looked up at the tall city in the distance and began to think wildly.
Zhe Zong was too lazy to care what he was thinking. His current target was Zhao Kuang Ning.
The Battle of Xiaojiangkou captured 17,000 people. Ori Munemoto released the temporarily recruited local peasants among them. It was really useless. They were all farm laborers who were trained during the off-farm period. Their spearmanship and archery skills were average.
, he doesn’t like it at all.
The rest have been reorganized. At present, the Weisheng Army has expanded to 20,000 people, including 18,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry.
The number of people has greatly expanded, but the combat effectiveness has dropped off a cliff. It is not only due to the lack of skills of the Shannan East Road troops, but also to the influence of unconsolidated people, which still needs time to rectify.
"After arriving at Xiangyang City, set up camp immediately." Zhe Zongben gave the order.
…
"Qier, you still dare to come to see me?" In the Zhao Mansion in Xiangyang, Zhao Kuangning saw Zhao Cen coming alone, and became furious and said: "You are also a member of the Zhao clan, why did you surrender to the Xia traitors? When my father was alive, you could not treat him badly.
Surrender to you? Even your wife was arranged by my late father with help, so how dare you surrender?"
"The building is about to collapse and cannot be restored by human power." Zhao Cen looked ashamed, but still said: "Uncle, when I entered the city, I saw that there were few people in the city and all the businesses were in ruins. After asking around a little, I found out that a few days ago, there were many wealthy people in the city.
The dignitaries have already left the city in large and small cars to escape. Why does my uncle condone such a move that disturbs people's hearts? Is it because he is unwilling? Or is he unable to do it? "
Zhao Kuangning was speechless.
After returning from the disastrous defeat at Xiaojiangkou, they should have immediately gathered people and horses to transport grain and grass from outside the city, evacuate the people, build strong walls and clear the country, then close the city gate tightly and defend with all their might, waiting for the enemy to retreat.
But he couldn't do anything. After learning that the Xia cavalry appeared near Xiangyang, he reluctantly closed the city gate, which made many people dissatisfied.
Anyone with some influence in the city basically ran out and took shelter on the day they heard the news. They knew that the Xia thieves did not kill people randomly, so they just distributed donations everywhere and lost some property. This was all a trivial matter.
On the contrary, if you stay in the city, once the army besieges the city and attacks day and night, God knows what will happen.
The garrison sergeants don't care what your status is, they might break into your house, rape, and rob you. Can the officers stop you? Not necessarily.
After the city is broken, what if the Xia bandits suffer too many casualties and want to take revenge?
Many people are not willing to stay in the city and die.
However, their escape from the city would obviously affect the morale of the defenders. Zhao Kuangning could not even stop this, or was unwilling to stop it, which was obviously a sign of incompetence.
"Uncle, I won't lie. The four counties of Suizhou have surrendered. Today I am here to lobby." Zhao Cen said in a bachelor's manner: "I must also know that uncle has reached this point and it will be impossible without some blood.
Let's forget about money and silk. It's useless and people don't look down on it. In the seven counties of Xiangzhou, rice is ripe everywhere. Zhe Zong originally didn't attack the city, but only sent people to cut the rice. Then the army could
There is enough food. Dengcheng, Gucheng, Yicheng and other counties have asked for surrender, and there is no shortage of money and silk. The owner of my uncle is nothing more than the isolated city of Xiangyang, plus a few people's hearts."
"Zhao Zhuan of Dengzhou and Zhao Fan of Tangzhou may still care a little about their uncle's kindness in cultivating and promoting them. The soldiers may still remember the old feelings that their uncle led them into Xiangyang, where everyone married, had children, and lived and worked in peace and contentment. This is why
This is the heart that my uncle has." Zhao Cen said: "However, kindness is fragile and people's hearts are fickle. There are many people in this world who are careless and don't care about old feelings. As time goes by, people can see my uncle's weakness.
Then no one will listen, and the people’s hearts will be in vain.”
The people's hearts mentioned by Zhao Cen can be a feudal town or a court.
Before the imperial tiger's skin was peeled off, everyone was obedient. Those who had benefited were very grateful and kept making offerings.
But after the tiger skin was peeled off, everyone lamented that the court had reached this point.
At this time, people's hearts began to lose, but not all at once, because people's thoughts change requires a process. But in any case, this is a trend. As time goes by, loyalty will inevitably decrease. This has changed every year from the current feudal towns
It can be seen from the decrease that the imperial court is slowly losing the hearts of the world.
After the tragic defeat at Xiaojiangkou, Zhao's rule in Shannan East Road encountered a huge crisis.
If it weren't for the governors and generals stationed in various places, who were either members of the Zhao clan or old people promoted by the Zhao clan, and had relatively high cohesion, they would have fallen apart long ago.
Zhao Kuangning chewed these words carefully.
Zhao Qiu, Zhao Fan, are you still obedient now? You may still be obedient now, but what about the future? The longer time goes on, the more people will plan for themselves. The world and human nature are like this, there is nothing right or wrong, it is normal.
"Perhaps my uncle wanted to ask for help from Bianzhou. But who was Zhu Quanzhong? He was suspicious, generous on the outside and jealous on the inside. He would risk his own death if he surrendered to him. Isn't it clear to my uncle how An Shiru and Guo Fan died?" Zhao Cen
Not giving Zhao Kuangning time to think, he pressed forward step by step.
"Ran Quanzhong may allow me to continue to be in charge of Xiangyang." Zhao Kuangning said, his momentum was no longer as strong as before. It seems that Zhao Cen's words just now had some effect after all.
In fact, in history, Zhu Quanzhong attacked Shannan East Road for the first time, and Zhao Kuangning was defeated. He sent an envoy to sue for peace and expressed his surrender, and Quanzhong stopped his troops.
This time it was his luck. Because when Zhu Quanzhong attacked the three states of Zhaoyi in Hebei controlled by Li Keyong, although Ge Congzhou led his army to defeat Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei, Li Keyong continued to increase his troops and the war did not stop.
Luo Hongxin, the military governor of Weibo, passed away, and this important vassal town that surrendered to Bianzhou faced a sensitive transfer of power.
Wang Ke and Wang Gong competed for the position of commander in the river, and Wang Gong led the Bian army into the river.
With so many major events happening, Zhu Quanzhong had no energy to take care of Shannan East Road, so he was lucky enough to escape.
Otherwise, the outcome will be unpredictable.
"Shu De also hopes that my brother will continue to be the governor of the Loyal and Righteous Army." Zhao Cen said.
"Oh? Are you serious about this?" Zhao Kuangning was refreshed, but still a little hesitant.
"Uncle." Zhao Cen looked at the words and said, "Do you still remember what happened to Zhuge Zhongfang on the Shannan West Road? Zhuge Shuang died of illness, Zhongbao and Zhongfang fought for the throne, Shude raised troops to Xingyuan, stabilized the situation, and did not
He embezzled the prefectures and counties along the western route of Shannan. His people have always been true to their word, generous and benevolent, and will not kill surrenderers or prisoners. If you surrender to him, you will have no worries."
Zhao Kuangning's expression became much livelier and asked: "Shu De is true to his word, I believe it, but what is his plan?"
"The king of Lingwu County sent an envoy named Pei Yuan to give him full power. He said that my uncle could be appointed as the envoy of the Zhongyi Army to lead Xiang, Ying, and restore the three states." Zhao Cen said.
"What?" Zhao Kuangning was shocked and said, "Now I still have the five states of Xiang, Ying, Tang, Deng, and Fang, but An only gives me three states? Fuzhou is also in the hands of that actor."
"Uncle." Zhao Cen raised his voice and said: "Fangzhou is hanging outside and will fall sooner or later. There are seven counties in Xiangzhou. How many counties are still in hand now? Yingzhou is empty, and I am afraid it will be taken down at once. Another
, Zhe Zong has already sent his cavalry to go north to Tangzhou to contact Zhao Fan. If Zhao Fan takes the initiative to surrender, what else will my uncle have to rely on?"
"Tangzhou will not surrender." Zhao Kuangning shook his head and said: "Even if Zhao Fan surrenders, he can only surrender. The soldiers of Tangzhou will not surrender."
"Even if Tangzhou doesn't surrender, my uncle will only have three states: Xiang, Tang, and Deng. Zhe Zong originally wanted to recruit rebels, and his army has reached 50,000. As long as it takes some time, Tangzhou may not be incapable of being captured." Zhao Cen said: "Uncle.
, the kindness left behind by my uncle first became less and less as time goes by, I can still sell it for a little price now, but no one will want it later."
What Zhao Fan said was unpleasant, but it was also true. Zhao Kuangning was in a dilemma again.
Zhao Cen did not rush him and sat there quietly, giving him time to think.