Fenghou

"Who is this Wang Jian?"

"He is the nephew of Guozhou scholar Cao Wang Dongyuan."

"Who is this Wang Dongyuan?" Zhong Huan asked.

"He is one of the three leaders of the Chuanli faction."

Chong Huan was overjoyed, "Who is in the Chuanli faction, do you actually know?"

Lu Chuan smiled wryly and said, "How could I not know that Li Zhifu has been dealing with them all the time, and they all sent me to negotiate with them, Wang Dongyuan of Guozhou, Li Jinxiao of Hezhou, and Zhang Jian of Chongqing Prefecture."

"What is the relationship between Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, and them?"

"Wu Miao, the governor of Hezhou, is Li Jinxiao's son-in-law, and He Qiangong, the governor of Changzhou, is funded by the Zhang family in Chongqing."

Lu Chuan took out a thick piece of information and handed it to Zhong Huan, "This is the information I have collected from dealing with them over the years, and it will definitely be useful to you, but I remind you that it is best to leave Chengdu Mansion first, or hide in the military camp. "

Zhong Huan took the information and asked in puzzlement, "Why?"

"Because they deployed at least a few thousand people in Chengdu, I guess they are going to rebel. They have set up a net in Chengdu, including the station where you live. Hey! It's all connived by Governor Li's balancing strategy. Assassinated, I will flee."

"Why don't Mr. Lu go to the barracks with me! Maybe the king of the county wants to see you."

Lu Chuan's eyes lit up, "The king of the county is coming?"

"I'm not sure, but I heard from General Zheng that it's possible."

Lu Chuan pondered for a moment, then nodded resolutely, "Okay! I'll go with you."

8 Chapter Thirty

Shizhao County, Hezhou, is the confluence of 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 place of prosperity since ancient times.

There is a big mountain in the northeast of Shizhao County, which is called Shizhao Mountain, and Shizhao County got its name from it. In the middle of the mountain, a castle was built against the mountain. This is the famous Lijiabao, the mansion of Lijia, a wealthy family in Hezhou. , covers a large area, and the castle can accommodate at least thousands of people.

The current owner of the mansion is Li Jinxiao, the sixth generation head of the Li family, who is currently serving as the general judge of Hezhou.

In fact, everyone knows that the Li family started out by selling private salt and wine. Over the past decades, they have accumulated strong financial resources. Their family even has backers in the court, such as relatives Liu Mei, Xiang Zongliang, eunuch Yang Jian, prime minister Qin Hui and so on.

It can be said that if Chen Qing hadn't controlled Bashu, the Li family would have continued to be strong, but since Chen Qing took control of Bashu tax, salt tax, and wine tax, Li's wealth and income have been directly cut off, even including their family's dominance. Tens of thousands of hectares of land have also been nuclear property, requiring the payment of land taxes.

The Li family did not dare to fight against Chen Qing's army, and endured it for a while, but Chen Qing did not completely control Bashu, but only controlled the taxes, and the pressure on the Li family was greatly reduced. Guozhou Wang Dongyuan and Chongqing Prefecture Zhang Jian formed an alliance with the three major families. There are dozens of small wealthy families attached to them.

In the past two years, they have been selling smuggled salt, controlling alcohol, and resisting rent and tax. They have also begun to recruit soldiers and build their own army.

In just two years, they gathered 2 troops, equipped with armor, crossbows, knives, spears and other weapons, and trained on the grasslands of Changzhou. They gradually lost themselves in their ambitions.

With all the deployments in place and the timing gradually ripening, they finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to rebel.And Li Yi's assassination case was a critical turning point.

In the morning, several large boats stopped at the pier of Li's house on the Jialing River. A dozen people got off the big boats. The leader was a short middle-aged man. He was the king of Guozhou, Dongyuan. The people were terrified when they heard the news, so that there is 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 Li's Fort!"

The man who greeted him was Li Jinxiao's eldest son, Li Mi, who specially came to the pier to welcome Wang Dongyuan.

"Li Houzi, how is your father?"

"Thank you Uncle Shi for your concern, my father is still in good health!"

"Let him pay attention to restraint. It's too much to have five women in one night, but three are enough."

After finishing speaking, Wang Dongyuan laughed heartily, the Wang family behind did not dare to laugh, their faces were sullen, Li Mi was full of embarrassment, so he could only ask Wang Dongyuan to go to the mansion.

Another wealthy patriarch, Zhang Jian from Chongqing Mansion arrived yesterday, and they were waiting for Wang Dongyuan's arrival.

Everyone exchanged greetings in front of the gate for a while, and then went to the meeting hall. Time was tight, and they couldn't delay any longer.

In the meeting hall, the tall and tall Li Jinxiao said to Wang Dongyuan and Zhang Jian: "Mr. Qin sent us an express letter to support our rebellion. He assured me in the letter that once we raise troops, all states in central Sichuan will raise troops to respond to us. At least The nine states occupied by the royalist party will support us. I calculated that there are 10,000+ soldiers in each state. Zheng Ping only has 2 in Chengdu. We will completely defeat him. Once we capture Chengdu, the imperial court’s 20 troops will enter Shu, everyone, the time is ripe, and the time has come for us to make contributions."

Zhang Jian was very strong and didn't talk much. He pondered for a while and asked, "Where is Chen Qing?"

"Chen Qing is attacking Hexi and fighting the Uyghurs. He won't come back within half a year. That's why I say it's an opportunity."

Wang Dongyuan frowned, "There is no news about the assassins we sent to Jingzhao, will they miss it?"

"Assassins can't get on the stage, if they fail, they will fail! But now there is a chance."

Both of them looked at Li Jinxiao, "What chance?"

"An army of the Song Army is on its way to Hezhou. The leader is Han Zhengfu, the commander of the internal guards, with [-] men and [-] soldiers. He is here to investigate us and just to train us. For this reason Opportunity, how about we raise troops?"

Wang Dongyuan slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth and said, "Anyway, Li Yi was assassinated too, the way out is cut off, let's do it!"

Li Jinxiao looked at Zhang Jian again, Zhang Jian hesitated and said, "Mr. Qin really said that he would send 20 troops into Shu?"

"The letter is here, if you don't believe it, see for yourself!"

Li Jinxiao pushed Qin Hui's letter to Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian read it again, and finally let go of his heart. He nodded, "Since everyone is ready, let's do it!"

……

Zheng Ping's military camp is located outside the city, covering hundreds of hectares. It is a large military camp that can accommodate 5 people. The [-] garrison under Zheng Ping's command is only in charge of defense. The instructions given to him by the department department.

Since the inner guard came to investigate Li Yi's assassination, Zheng Ping quit the investigation team, but he still gave the inner guard whatever support he could. Han Fuzheng and Zhong Huan each gave [-] soldiers.

For the past few days, Zhong Huan has been living in the barracks. This morning, Zheng Ping invited him and Lu Chuan to tell him the sad news that Han Fuzheng's men were ambushed by thousands of people in Hezhou, causing heavy casualties. Han Fuzheng He was shot by more than 24 arrows and unfortunately died in battle. [-] of the [-] inner guard soldiers were killed, and more than [-] of the [-] soldiers were killed.

This sudden disappearance made Zhong Huan extremely sad. The brother Han who took care of him and helped him like an elder brother died. Zhong Huan held his face in his hands and wept silently.

Zhong Huan suddenly slapped the table and asked sharply, "In that case, why didn't General Zheng send troops to kill the rebels?"

Zheng Ping also said angrily: "Do you think I don't want to send troops? More than 300 of my [-] brothers died, and their heads were chopped off and hung on trees. Do you think I can bear this humiliation?"

"Since you can't bear it, why do you have to bear 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, and it's a letter from the county king!"

Zhong Huan opened the eagle letter, and there was only one sentence on it, "Defend Chengdu, and don't be provoked by foreign affairs to leave!"

Zhong Huan was stunned, and asked for a while: "The king of the county knew that such a thing as being attacked would happen?"

"The county king sees farther than we do."

Lu Chuan, who was silent all the time beside him, said: "The king's decision is right, and Chengdu is the most important thing. Once General Zheng leads the army to the south, the thousands of people deployed by the Chuanli faction in Chengdu will definitely take the opportunity to riot and occupy Chengdu."

"But General Zheng has [-] troops! Keeping [-] troops to guard Chengdu can still suppress riots."

Zheng Ping said with a wry smile: "Who said that Chengdu has 2 troops? [-] troops are deployed in Jianzhou and Langzhou in the north, [-] troops are deployed near the border of Dali Kingdom in the south, and [-] troops are deployed in Xiazhou. I only have [-] troops here." .”

"Then the general can at least act first, clean up the thousands of insiders in Chengdu, implement martial law in Chengdu, and prevent riots in Chengdu!"

Zheng Ping thought for a while and said, "That's okay, it didn't violate the military order!"

Zheng Ping's army immediately entered the city, and under the pretext of arresting the murderer who assassinated Li Zhifu, he issued a martial law order, requiring all the people to go home, close their doors, and all shops were also required to close their doors.

Zhong Huan led thirty inner guard soldiers and a hundred soldiers into the post station, and dragged out Li Jin, the deputy steward. Han Zhengfu led his men to go south. It was the dry food he had prepared, so he 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 my job, so that you can eat well and live well. Other things have nothing to do with me. , don’t blame people indiscriminately!”

At this time, several inner guard soldiers ran over and threw a military crossbow and ten poisoned arrows in front of him, "Report to Judge Xiaozhong, this was found in his room, the poisonous arrows and the arrows that threatened you before The poisoned arrows are exactly the same."

Li Jin was dumbfounded, looking at the poisonous arrows and military crossbows on the ground, speechless.

Zhong Huan stepped forward to slap him several times, and waved his hand, "Take them all away!"

Including the chief steward of the post station, two deputy stewards, and five or six waiters, chefs, grooms, etc., were all taken away, and a seal was pasted on the gate of the post station.

The post station is the breakthrough point. Following the steward’s confession, the army began to arrest people, then interrogated them, and then arrested people. It was originally a point, and then it gradually became the same point. More and more people were arrested. That night, there was already a More than [-] people were arrested.

But the interrogation and arrests did not end. During the night, the sound of soldiers running and knocking on doors was heard everywhere. Everyone was terrified. The arrests continued all night. By dawn, the number of arrestees had exceeded 500.

Chapter 831 Countering the Rebellion

At noon of the same day, Zheng Ping got the news that Li Jinxiao was sentenced by Hezhou Tong to rebel with more than [-] troops. They immediately captured Chongqing Prefecture and Changzhou. Warlords, return to the Great Song' slogan.

More than a dozen states, including Fuzhou, Quzhou, Guozhou, Suizhou, Luzhou, Wanzhou, Dazhou, Nanping Army, Guang'an Army, etc., all supported them.

The bandit army was so powerful that they gathered 15 people in just half a month and conquered Zizhou, which refused to surrender. After capturing Jianzhou, the front of the soldiers pointed directly at Chengdu, and the force expanded rapidly, reaching 20.

Full of ambition, Li Jinxiao proclaimed himself the Grand Marshal of Southern Shu and the envoy of the Guangwu Army.

That night, Chen Qing personally led [-] elite soldiers to Zizhou.

The army did not even camp in the county seat, but camped and rested in a forest in the wilderness far from the county seat.

In a small marching tent, Chen Qing held a candle to look at the marching map. The enemy's route to the north was very clear. The enemy's army was going north along the Zhongjiang River, and the luggage was most likely transported by ship.

At this moment, Chen Qing had already thought of several battle plans, attacking the enemy directly, or sneak attacking Li Jinxiao's old lair in Hezhou, or sneak attacking the enemy's food and supplies.

But he wanted to choose the best battle plan, and when he was thinking about it, a soldier reported outside the tent, "To the county king, there are scouts to report!"

Chen Qing was overjoyed, he was waiting for the scouts!

He quickly ordered: "Let him in!"

After a while, a scout commander came in and knelt down on one knee to salute, "See the county king!"

"Don't be too polite, tell me about the current situation of the enemy army."

"Reporting to the county king, the enemy's 20 troops are currently concentrated on the border between Jianzhou and Chengdu. The border is a small river, but they did not cross this small river. They are all stationed on the side of the river near Jianzhou."

"Their baggage is located in Yang'an County, consisting of more than 1000 flat-bottomed tank boats, moored on the shore, stretching for nearly a hundred miles."

"How many guards are there?"

"Thousands of people! I didn't find many guard troops in the humble position."

At this moment, Chen Qing made a decision. He immediately ordered people to find Tang Qian and Zhang Qu. Both of them were generals of the scout army, a chief general and a deputy general. Tang Qian was in charge of the chief general and Zhang Qu was in charge of the deputy general.

After a while, the two walked into the big tent and saluted together: "Chen Qing said with a smile: There are two tasks for you to complete."

Chen Qing drew out a command arrow and gave it to him, "General Zhang Qu, you led [-] cavalry and rushed all the way to Hechuan, and took over the Lijiabao, but don't kill people for now, I want to judge their family, of course, if they resist, you will be punished." Blow up the castle directly with iron fire and thunder"

"Follow the order!" Zhang Qu took the arrow and walked away quickly.

Chen Qing took out another command arrow and handed it to Tang Qian, "You take [-] cavalry to rob the enemy's logistics and supplies. Don't burn the boats. I still have ships. Just take the supplies and fleets into Yang'an City, understand?"

"Understandable!"

"If there are a small number of enemy troops chasing, defeat them for me."

"Follow the order!"

Tang Qian also took the arrow and left. Liu Qiong next to him was a little worried and said, "Your Majesty, the enemy army is 20 strong. Are we being careless in doing this?"

"It's just a bunch of rabble!"

Chen Qing said coldly: "I feel it is a shame for our well-trained fighters to fight against them. Not to mention that we have more than 4 troops, even if there are only 20 cavalry, I will also defeat their so-called [-] troops!"

"Humble job thinks too much."

Chen Qing patted his arm and said with a smile: "It's good to be cautious, but to be too cautious is to belittle yourself. Go and rest! The army sets out at dawn."

Liu Qiong saluted and left. Chen Qing blew out the candles and looked at the night. It was almost three o'clock, and he also took a nap. When it was almost dawn, the army got up and set off.

……

Tang Qian arrived in Yang'an County, Jianzhou at noon the next day. Sure enough, there were thousands of flat-bottomed tank boats moored on the river. For sailing, a thousand tank ships can transport 20 shi of grain, which is of great strategic significance. No wonder Chen Qing took a fancy to these ships.

Tang Qian led [-] cavalrymen and had already changed their banners, flying the banner of Wei. Wei refers to Wei Xiaoan, the chief general of the Song army defending Dali.

At this time, Tang Qian saw the soldiers guarding the ship lazily coming out of Yang'an County. There were about 5000 soldiers.

Tang Qian drew out his saber and shouted: "Kill!"

The [-] cavalry suddenly accelerated and rushed towards the enemy army one mile away along the official road...

The [-] soldiers guarding the ship never thought that an army would come to kill them. Their task was only to patrol the shore to prevent thieves from stealing rice.

At this time, the official road was dusty and the horseshoes sounded like thunder. The soldiers were stunned. When they saw clearly that it was the cavalry of the Song Army, they were scared out of their wits. They turned around and ran in all directions. Some ran back to the city. Some jumped into the water, but most of the soldiers couldn't run away. They were caught up by the cavalry of the Song Army in an instant, killing more than a thousand people in a short time.

Where have these soldiers seen such a bloody massacre? They were so frightened that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy. Tang Qian ordered to stop the massacre and sent hundreds of people to collect the prisoners. Order the leading ship to turn around and head towards Yang'an City...

20 troops gathered on the border between Jianzhou and Chengdu. The reason why they did not continue to advance to Chengdu was mainly because they lacked siege weapons. Li Jinxiao ordered the craftsmen to rush to make a batch of siege ladders. On the other hand, Li Jinxiao also expected Chengdu to defend the city. The army took the initiative to attack, so that they would be able to take the opportunity to seize the city if they placed thousands of people in the city.

Of course, he also got the news that the Song Army was clearing up the internal response in the city. According to the internal news, the Song Army arrested about a thousand people, but this was far from the approximately 4000 internal response they deployed, which made Li Jinxiao Another glimmer of hope.

Contrary to Li Jinxiao's self-confidence, Zhang Jian, another important traitor, is worried. The 20 army is a lot, but how many troops can really fight?

In addition to the 3 and 17 state soldiers trained by themselves, only [-] people have a little training, have regular armor and weapons, and the remaining [-] people are really rabble. They were all farmers at home before, and they all listened In order to encourage them, they wanted to go to the city of Chengdu to plunder, play with a few wealthy women, and then go home with a pile of money. Most people thought this way, so they enthusiastically signed up to join the army, causing the army to expand rapidly.

These 17 peasants needed training but no training, armor but no armor, weapons but no weapons. They were all dressed in commoner clothes and carried all kinds of weapons, including old spears, broken knives, forks, rakes, and wooden knives. sticks, and even quite a few people were holding hoes.