Fenghou

Six thousand cavalry entered the inner city, and the black-armored soldiers also entered. Immediately afterwards, Liu Cui's army also began to enter the outer city gate, and the situation of Bianliang City was over.

This is, Du Rong is no longer there. As soon as Liu Qiong led the cavalry into the inner city, Du Rong knew that Bianliang could not hold it. He immediately led the [-] reinforcements to evacuate to the east gate. He was not as good as Li Cheng. He is determined to fight the Song army in street fighting, he must save his own life first.

There is no western army stationed outside the east city, this is the escape route Chen Qing specially left for them.

Du Rong led five thousand soldiers out of the east gate, and fled eastward along the official road, but within two miles, there was a bang, and thousands of arrows were fired from the right. Du Rong's soldiers were caught off guard and fell down one after another. , screaming, nearly half of them were shot down by crossbow arrows.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of horseshoes sounded loudly, and tens of thousands of cavalry rushed from left and right, and surrounded the enemy.

But Du Rong and a dozen of his own soldiers escaped on horseback. After more than a hundred steps, a general held a golden gun with a tiger's head. It was Yang Zaixing. He stroked his beard and sneered, "Du Rong, Yang is waiting for you It's been a long time!"

Du Rong didn't say a word, he rushed up and swung his big knife to chop, very fast and fierce, ready to cut Yang Zaixing into two pieces.

Yang Zaixing sneered, dodged the knife, swung his spear, and stabbed at Du Rongping's chest, only to see a golden light flash, and the speed of the spear was incomparably fast.

"Good come!"

Du Rong swung his head and struck at the spear, but he missed it, his body flashed, and he almost lost his strength. Yang Zaixing was already behind him, and he yelled secretly, wanting to use his saber to save his life, but it was too late, "Pfft!" With a sound of stabbing, the spear pierced Du Rong's neck from the back of the neck, the tip of the gun protruded from the throat, and the cervical vertebra was also pierced. Du Rong's eyes went dark and he died on the spot.

Chapter 34 Entering the City

The news of capturing Bianliang finally reached Chen Qing's big tent. Although he expected it, the great joy brought by the news still made him extremely excited.

Chen Qing immediately ordered the news to be spread throughout the camp. It was still the fourth watch, but there was joy inside and outside the Bianhe River. The soldiers rushed out of the big tent excitedly and threw their helmets high into the sky.

"Long live! Long live His Royal Highness King Yong!"

Cheers spread all over the country, Chen Qing immediately ordered that a grand entrance ceremony be held tomorrow morning, and mutton and wine were presented to reward the soldiers in the evening, and the three armies celebrated their victory.

At dawn the next day, the news spread like wildfire, and the entire Bianliang City was boiling. After 15 years of occupation, the Song Army from Sichuan and Shaanxi finally defeated the Jin Bing and regained the former Song Jing.

This means that the people are no longer the slaves of the Kingdom of Jin, and have returned to the embrace of the Song Dynasty. The people rushed to the street, beating leather drums and wooden barrels, singing and dancing, celebrating the end of the war and welcoming Chen Qing's army into the city.

When the neat army appeared outside the south city, the whole city was boiling. Tens of thousands of residents rushed out of the city with drums and music to welcome the west army into the city. They used bread, fruits, eggs, chickens, ducks and Game, reward yourself with all their food for the arrival of the army.

Tears of excitement flashed in everyone's eyes. In the past hundred years, no army has ever been treated like the Western Army in Bianliang. They are regarded as the savior of Bianliang and the last hope of the people of Bianliang. .

In Bianliang City, 20 people lined the streets to welcome the Western Army to enter the city. The common people sang and danced to vent their inner joy. Three hundred elders knelt on the long street to welcome the arrival of Yong Wang Chen Qing. This is the highest etiquette, which is only available to the emperor. treatment, but at this time, no one cared whether it was inappropriate, as if the emperor of the Song Dynasty was in the team.

But this is not important anymore, they need a ceremony to express their joy and excitement, and kneeling on the long street is undoubtedly the best ceremony and the greatest sincerity.

An old man raised his head and shouted loudly: "Since Jingkang, Bianliang has been slaughtered repeatedly, countless people's homes have been destroyed, the dead have lost their dignity, and the living have been devastated, but we have never lost hope, we have been waiting Looking forward to this day, today, we have finally arrived."

After finishing speaking, everyone burst into tears. Chen Qing hurriedly helped the old man up, and then asked the soldiers to help up all the old people.

With tears in his eyes, he said loudly: "You are my father and mother, you are my brothers and sisters, and your children are my children. I only hate that I came too late and caused my relatives to suffer so much humiliation, but Starting today, you all stand up straight! No one will go hungry or cold again, and starting today, the people of Bianliang will be exempted from taxes for ten years, this is my promise to everyone!"

"Long live! Long live His Royal Highness King Yong!"

No matter how sweet the words are, it is not as realistic as the promise of tax exemption for ten years. The cheers resounded throughout the city. This is the heartfelt cheers and support from the people.

The crowd supported the old and the young, the women hugged the children, the girls wore gorgeous long skirts, groups of children ran with the cavalry, and many cavalry carried the children on their horses, causing applause and laughter.

……

After the ceremony of entering the city, Chen Qing immediately ordered to set up [-] porridge sheds in Bianliang City to provide porridge to the hungry people. He could see clearly that most of the people were sallow and emaciated, and it is estimated that many people had no food in stock.

In particular, Du Rong has been in control of Bianliang for several days, and has stopped giving relief to the people, and many people have no food at home.

So the first thing to do was to set up porridge sheds to help the hungry people. Soon, there were long queues in front of all the porridge sheds. Chen Qing ordered the soldiers to cook the porridge as thick as possible so that the hungry people could be full.

Accompanying Chen Qing to inspect the city was Li Ji, the general judge of Kaifeng Prefecture, who was also the magistrate of Bianliang County. He was about 50 years old. In the Northern Song Dynasty, he was a doctor of the household department and knew about Chenzhou affairs. At that time, his classmate and friend Zhao Yuan served as the Sima of the Prince Liang's Mansion, and invited him out of the mountain to serve as the general judge of Kaifeng Mansion and the magistrate of Bianliang County.

Although he was an official of the Kingdom of Jin, Chen Qing did not make things difficult for him, and let him continue to serve. Now the most important thing for Bianliang is to stabilize it.

"Your Highness, Wanyan Wushu is not a bad person. When he withdrew, he left Du Rong [-] shi of food, of which [-] shi was military rations and [-] shi was civilian food, but Du Rong withheld the [-] shi of civilian food." , refused to hand it over to the government, we didn’t have a grain of grain in hand, so we had to borrow grain from big families, and saved some people.”

"Does that mean there are still many people starving to death?"

"Yes! Basically they are widows, old people, children and beggars. We collect more than 200 corpses every day, and they all died of illness and starvation!"

"Where is this Du Rong's family?" Even though Du Rong was dead, Chen Qing was still furious.

"He has two sons, a nephew, and a grandson, but there seems to be no one in his house."

Next to him, Yang Zaixing said: "Your Highness, last night I was ambushed outside the east city. There were two carriages in Du Rong's team. There were women, children and two young men in them. They all died under random arrows. They brought a lot of gold and silver. It should be Du Rong's family."

Chen Qing nodded, and the anger in his heart subsided a little.

"How many people are there in the city now?"

"33 people, counted only last month."

"What do the common people do for a living, farming?" Chen Qing asked again.

Li Ji smiled bitterly and said, "There is nothing to live on!"

Chen Qing reined in the horse's reins and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Li Ji pointed to the closed shops on both sides and said, "Your Highness, do you think these shops were closed due to the war these two days?"

Chen Qing wanted to ask a long time ago. He found that the shops in the city were basically closed, even grocery stores were closed, which really puzzled him.

"Is not it?"

Li Ji shook his head, "Since Wanyan Wushu took over Bianliang, a supper order has been issued, all the shops and small stalls that rely on the night for their livelihood have all suffered disasters, and there is no brothel in Bianliang City, and it has been a long time since The music hall, the dance hall, and the play shed were all down.

Then, a month ago, the Jurchen Army’s meat supply was insufficient, and they began to search for meat and wine in the city. The livestock were gone, the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs were gone, and now the cattle were gone, so there were no carts or carts in the city, and restaurants. They were all closed, which triggered a shopping frenzy. Every family spent all their copper coins. All the shops were empty and had no goods to sell. No, they were all closed. Bianliang, which was originally dominated by commerce and handicrafts, basically died, so the humble job said that it could not make a living. "

Chen Qingcai found that the problems he was facing were quite serious, and the joy of capturing Bianliang was fading rapidly.

He sighed softly, and asked again, "What about the farmers outside the city?"

"Your Highness, all the grain harvested this year was confiscated by the army, and then tens of thousands of people brought their own dry food to help harvest the wheat. They agreed on three liters of wheat a day, but until now, they have not been paid.

When the Jin soldiers retreated, the people vented their anger on the government, because it was the government that organized everyone to harvest wheat. Why was there no one in the government? It was not because they were afraid of the Song army, but because they were afraid of revenge from the people! "

Chen Qing nodded, turned around and said to the general: "Pass on my order, starting tonight, cancel the curfew."

Immediately Chen Qing said to Li Ji: "Publish the notice, and the wages owed for harvesting wheat will be cashed from tomorrow. You find all the officials today, and I will give you food, and then you start cashing the wages!"

Li Ji let out a long sigh of relief, and thanked him very much: "Thank you, Your Highness, for your tolerance!"

At this time, Li Ji remembered something, and said: "Although there is no business in Bianliang, there is a black market in Bianliang, and the scale of bartering on the black market is already very large."

Chapter 35 Official Kiln

Solving the plight of Bianliang is easy and easy to say. Allocating a large amount of materials to Bianliang, the army provides errands, and let the people work to earn money. In a short period of time, Bianliang can be prosperous like chicken blood.

But this kind of method treats the symptoms but not the root cause. The decline of Bianliang is a problem of its own positioning. It is the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty and the place where the wealth of the world is concentrated. A large amount of food resources are continuously transported from all over the world. It is also the place where the wealth of the Puppet Qi State is concentrated, which has brought about the abnormal prosperity of the capital of the Puppet Qi State.

It's just that Wanyan Wushu's curfew became the last straw that overwhelmed the camel's camel. All industries in Bianliang withered, people's livelihood was difficult, and the decline reached the extreme.

In the afternoon, Chen Qing and Zhang Xiao dressed up as two ordinary people and came to the black market that Li Ji said.

The black market is located in the Daxiangguo Temple. It is called the black market. In fact, it is not black at all. It is not illegal. It is a barter trading occasion organized by ordinary people. Of course, there are real black markets, that is, the black market for grain and meat. In the black market, you can only buy it with copper coins or gold and silver.

Interestingly, the grain black market and the meat black market only recognize two kinds of copper coins, one is the old copper coins, which were officially minted during the Northern Song Dynasty, and the other is the copper coins issued by the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Envoy, referred to as Yongwang coins.

As for the Shaoxing Tongbao cast in Lin'an, Bianliang seldom sees it, mainly because the copper coins in Lin'an can't get through.

The Daxiangguo Temple was bustling with people, and it was very lively. The common people basically exchanged various items with each other, but Chen Qing also found that there were many small vendors. It is full of various items, mainly daily necessities.

Walking up a long corridor, there are more than [-] small stalls on the long corridor, and ordinary people are also standing in front of the small stalls, each holding a package containing trading items.

At this time, there was a loud noise from the front, "You are so funny! If I don't sell it, I won't sell it. Do you still want to buy and sell by force?"

"Whoever buys and sells by force, you put it here, of course I can buy it." This is the voice of an old man, and it sounds very tempered.

"This is an official kiln tea cup. As I said just now, it costs 20 taels of silver to exchange ten acres of vegetable land outside the city. I don't want your things, and they are not enough for my tea cup."

Chen Qing's eyes lit up, there was actually an official kiln teacup, he hurriedly stepped forward and leaned over to look, only to see that the stall owner was a middle-aged scribe, holding a teacup in his hand, as delicate as fat, like beautiful jade, Chen Qing glanced at it Then I recognized that it was indeed a very precious official kiln Jun porcelain.

The old man was a thin old man, looking from the side, with unkind eyes and a fierce face, he was carrying a wicker box, in which there were several pieces of copper utensils, copper lamps and pots and the like.

The old man stared greedily at the teacup in the middle-aged scribe's hand, and suddenly said coldly: "Your teacup was stolen! How can you, an ordinary person, have an official kiln teacup?"

The middle-aged man was furious, "This is from my ancestors, can't it?"

"Either it's a fake, you sell fakes!" the old man was aggressive.

Chen Qing couldn't help but said, "That's a real official Jun porcelain kiln, how could it be a fake?"

"How do you tell it's just a glance..."

The old man turned his head and was about to refute Chen Qing, but when he saw Chen Qing's appearance, his face paled in shock, he picked up the wicker box and ran, a copper lamp fell to the ground with a clatter, he couldn't care less, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Chen Qing knew that the old man recognized him, but he was also a little strange, the old man had never seen him before!

He picked up the copper lamp and asked, "Who was that person just now? Why don't you want the copper lamp?"

A stall owner next to him said: "I know that man. He is the father-in-law of Liu Yu, the puppet Qi Emperor. It means that his copper coins are piled up higher than the mountain, and they will fall over in a flash, who knows how he got into such a ghostly state, and came to sell copper wares."

Chen Qing nodded, then smiled and said to the middle-aged scribe, "Can you show me this tea cup?"

"Hold it carefully!"

The middle-aged scribe slowly handed the teacup to Chen Qing. Chen Qing took it and took a closer look. It was as white as jade and as thin as a cicada's wing. It was indeed a high-quality official kiln Jun porcelain. He liked it very much and asked with a smile: "It should be a set! Why is there only one?"

The middle-aged scribe whispered: "There is a set, but they are sold as a set, no one can afford it."

"As long as you are willing to sell, I can afford it!"

The middle-aged scholar bowed his head and hesitated, and the stall owner next to him became anxious, "I said, Lao Fu, your family's life depends on that tea set, don't be stupid again, your great-grandfather won't blame you."

The middle-aged scribe sighed, stood up and said, "Brother Zhang, help me watch the stall, I'll be back soon."

"Go!"

The scholar said to Chen Qing again: "Go to my house and talk! It's very close to here, just a few hundred steps away."

"Okay! Sir, please lead the way."

Chen Qing threw the copper lamp to the stall owner next to him, "This is for you!"

"Ouch, thank you! Thank you!"

The stall owner was overjoyed. The copper lamps in Qian Sanhuang's house were all high-quality, not cheap.

……

The home of the middle-aged scribe was indeed very close, only three or four hundred steps away from the Daxiangguo Temple, and it was a small courtyard covering an area of ​​half an acre.

He knocked on the door, and a woman in her thirties opened the door. She had fair skin, delicate eyebrows, an apron around her waist, and her sleeves were rolled up, revealing her wrists like snow lotus roots. Her hair was also combed neatly. She looked very capable, and when the woman saw that her husband had returned, she hurriedly asked, "Has the tea cup been sold?"

The man pointed behind him, "This guest wants to buy a complete set of porcelain."

"That's good! Please come in."

Chen Qing and Zhang Xiao walked into the small courtyard, followed by two guards. Chen Qing took a look and found that it was very clean and elegant, and even planted a jujube tree.

"Young master, please sit in the room!"

"No, just stay in the yard! The yard is nice."

The woman hurriedly moved out a small wooden table, brought a few small stools, and warmly greeted: "Please sit down! I'll make tea for you."

After walking a few steps, she gave Chen Qing a strange look, and entered the room with a puzzled expression.

Chen Qing nodded. This woman should also come from a rich family, and she is very educated and reasonable. Common people say to boil water to make tea, but she said to fry tea.

At this time, a middle-aged scribe came out with a large red lacquer wooden box. Chen Qing knew at a glance that he also had such a wooden box, which was a tea set given by Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty.

"This is a complete set, one teapot with four teacups."

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Your great-grandfather was a high-ranking official during Shenzong's time?"

The middle-aged scribe sighed, "I'm Fu Hong, my great-grandfather Fu Bi."

Suddenly, Chen Qing clasped his fists and said, "It turns out that he is a descendant of Mr. Fu. I'm sorry!"

Fu Hong smiled wryly, "I am a scholar who is useless. I only know how to read, but I don't know anything. Living in troubled times, life is especially difficult. I have to sell the things that my ancestors cherished. It is really embarrassing."

Chen Qing waved his hand, "Since it's a troubled time, it's important to let the family survive. Don't take these external things too seriously."

"Thank you for your enlightenment, my lord. May I ask your surname, this gentleman is..."

"My surname is Chen, from Jingzhao. This is my aide, Mr. Zhang."

"Clang!" There was a crisp cracking sound from the kitchen, it should be that the teacup fell to the ground and shattered.

At the door of the kitchen, the woman said with a frightened face, "Come in, Da Lang, and I'll talk to you."

"Sit down, two, I'll come as I go."