Ten days ago, Guo Ning repelled the Mongolian pursuers in Yaerzhai and openly declared his Haner identity to the Mongolian envoys. His words were actually nothing special, but many generals and commanders found them cheerful and cheerful. Excited and excited.
The more knowledgeable people were whispering to each other and gearing up for the fight that day. Even the ignorant ones began to feel the atmosphere in the army, and the mood of their companions was obviously different.
Later, Guo Ning gathered with Miao Daorun, Zhang Rou and other powerful people, and immediately came up with a plan to promote the king to the Central Capital, intending to seize the power of the court by taking advantage of the opportunity of the Mongolian invasion. This plan easily impressed Lai Lai after hearing the news. The tycoons of Hebei.
The wealthy people are originally bold and reckless people, and there are many people who are afraid of the world being unstable. They each have the strength in their own hands, and they are trapped in Tangbo, Hebei. How can they be willing to do so? It is just a fight, and there is no loss if they lose. What. If you get something, it will be a huge profit!
When Guo Ning introduced them to visit King Wanyan Congjia, and there was a representative of the Right Prime Minister Tu Shanyi, Yizai Chucai, who acted as a guarantee, everyone was enthusiastic and mobilized their forces to join along the way.
After just a few days, the Anzhou Volunteers, whose total number of soldiers did not exceed 2,500, was no longer the main force.
Instead, the Hebei volunteers expanded rapidly like a snowball, with nearly 6,000 soldiers. Counting the old, weak, women and children who accompanied the army, their total number exceeded 10,000, with no less than 1,000 war horses, and more than 1,000 large and small ships carried along the way. Three hundred ships.
Even Guo Ning himself did not expect such a momentum beforehand.
This huge team marched quickly along the east-west stretching pond area, spending ten days constantly crossing the complex terrain between lakes and swamps.
Guo Ning personally led the troops as the forerunner, and all the subordinates he gathered at the Xijun River camp accompanied him. When they encountered prefectures, counties and military villages along the way, they unceremoniously extorted food and supplies, and then quickly crossed over in a swagger.
That evening, he led his people across Yijin Pass in Bazhou and were about to approach Xin'an County.
The Tangbo area twists and turns for more than 900 miles. In this area, it is bounded by Yishui and Hutuo Rivers, and the north and south are much narrower. Guo Ning and others have deliberately marched along the remote roads between the water and swamps that are rarely visited by people, but on the way But they encountered more and more people fleeing.
Some of the refugees were staggering around in small groups, some were lying down or resting on the roadside, and some were scattered in ponds and woods, searching carefully, trying to catch fish or pick up fruits, gorgon seeds and other things to satisfy their hunger.
If you look carefully, you can see that all of them are sallow and thin, and most of them are old and weak. Unless there is a large group of dozens or more people, there are almost no men in their prime.
Du Shisheng was from Xin'an County. Although he had been away from his hometown for decades, he still cared about it, so he immediately rode over to inquire.
After a while, he threw the bag hanging next to the saddle to the ground. After the bag fell to the ground, it spread out, revealing some scones, mixed fruits and other food wrapped inside. The people immediately gathered around and divided the bag in ecstasy. After receiving the food, some people turned to stare at Guo Ning and others, with extremely longing expressions in their eyes.
Guo Ning looked at Du Shisheng.
Du Shisheng smiled bitterly.
"If you have plenty of dry food, please give me some more." Guo Ning said to his companions: "Let's hurry up and get to Xin'an tonight, so we can't delay."
At that moment, the servants scrambled to collect two more sacks of food and handed them to Du Shisheng.
Guo Ning continued to move forward with the cavalry. After riding for more than half an hour, Du Shisheng caught up from behind. It seemed that the process of distributing food was not smooth. It was probably because someone was robbing him.
It was messy, as if someone had pulled the bun.
"Are those common people all fellow countrymen of Mr. Jinzhi?" Guo Ning asked.
"Their village is only twenty miles away from my hometown."
Du Shisheng sighed: "The power of the Mongols has not yet extended to this area. These people were forced into the swamp by the officials of the county. The officials of the county said that the Mongolian army was about to attack, and all places would be attacked.
They defended the city, so under the banner of peace, they robbed them of all their food reserves, but did not allow them to take refuge in the city... So they could only escape to the pond, try to catch fish and shrimp, and survive this situation."
Speaking of this, Du Shisheng suddenly became startled, probably thinking of his family's situation.
After a while, he sighed again.
"In the reign of Emperor Shizong and Emperor Zhangzong, Hebei became prosperous and prosperous. The east and west roads of Hebei alone had more than two million registered households, accounting for a quarter of the entire Jin Kingdom. Regardless of agriculture, textiles, ceramics, mining
Yejudu is prosperous."
"However, after Mingchang and Taihe, the court continued to have political disputes and its finances were on the verge of collapse. In order to maintain the situation, officials at all levels plundered Hebei and Zhongdu day by day. However, they encountered constant floods, droughts, and locust plagues, and local
The officials often acted recklessly and took advantage of the situation. As a result, the people's hearts were shaken and thieves broke out, which lasted for more than ten years."
"When the northern frontier became increasingly distressed, the Jurchens who were originally the backbone of the Jin army suffered heavy casualties and their morale was low. At this time, the court actually believed that the army lacked combat effectiveness because the Jurchens did not have enough land to support their families, so they once again annexed the land to their daughters.
Real person. The result..."
Du Shisheng shook his head repeatedly: "Dajin's ruthless land acquisition methods and greedy appetite are unprecedented in history. The Jurchens' ferocious land acquisition is based in Hebei, and Shandong owns more than 30 million acres of land, occupying
One-third of the local cultivated land. During the Cheng'an period, Prime Minister Wanyan Zonghao presided over the reclamation of land and gained more than 30 million acres, more than four times the court's plan. In other words, the household registration of Han'er in Hebei,
The population is nearly ten times that of the Jurchens, but they only own one-third of the land, and a large amount of official land is deducted... And the taxes and miscellaneous taxes they bear exceed more than 50 million yuan in one county! Each tax collection
When strong men fight, no man over twenty or under fifty will be able to escape!"
"If this is the case, can the people still live? Since ancient times, how could any court have forced the people to this level? If it forced the people to this level, how could it still be called a court?"
When Du Shisheng said this, he was stunned for a long time, and then slowly said: "Mr. Lang, you know that I worked under Prime Minister Xu in my early years. The Jurchen nobles all said that Prime Minister Xu was a traitor. I also watched it.
The officials under him are all in disgrace. But they are trying their best to control the floods and change the currency and tax laws. They want to save Dai Jin. The Jurchen nobles are not happy to see this, so what can they do?
?”
The place Du Shisheng was riding his horse through was the artificial forest land intersecting with ponds.
During the confrontation between Song and Liao, the Song people densely planted elm, willow, mulberry, jujube and other trees between the ponds. There was a path through the trees, which could only accommodate one cavalry, to restrict the Khitan cavalry. For hundreds of years,
, the trees are becoming more and more lush, and the trees that are hugging each other are intertwined and blocked.
The cavalry walked among them, the shadows of the trees were thick, the light was dim, there was no wind yet, and it was oppressively hot.
As he was talking, a thorny branch crossing the road in front of him pressed directly against him. Guo Ning reacted quickly and immediately reached over and pushed his shoulders down. He also subconsciously lowered himself down, and then he didn't
Break your head.
He straightened up, looked back with lingering fear, and then turned to the front.
After riding the horse for a while, Du Shisheng said again: "In the early years when I was in Zhongdu, I shouted on the street that the world would be in chaos. People either thought that I was deceiving people with my lies, or that I was crazy. In fact, I was serious. Lang Jun,
Daikin is about to end, and the people are tired of it, no, they even hate Daikin! As we travel along the way, we have seen it more and more clearly. So..."
He finally gritted his teeth and asked: "I heard that according to Lang Jun's original intention, he wanted to... want to go to Shandong?"
When Guo Ning first gathered the crowd, he discussed with the leaders of the defeated army where to go next. After that discussion, Guo Ning never mentioned this plan publicly again.
At this time, Du Shisheng suddenly mentioned this, Monk Luo chuckled twice, and Li Ting urged his horse up without showing any trace, to look at Guo Ning's expression.
"That's what I thought at the time." Guo Ning nodded.
"Guo Langjun, do we really have to go to Zhongdu to wade through the muddy water? Is it worth it?" After a pause, Du Shisheng lowered his voice again: "How about we go directly to Shandong?"