"Who is the leader?"
Emperor Song, who was sitting on the throne, was not as panicked as the courtiers. Instead, he asked unusually calmly.
Prime Minister Zhang He did not expect that the officials would be so calm in the face of this matter. He was a little stunned for a moment, but soon came to his senses and respectfully replied: "It is reported that this rebellion is the largest in scale, affecting all areas." The most widespread one is undoubtedly Fang Lazhong in Qingxi County!
It is said that this thief was originally a local laborer, but he had a bold nature and was very famous among the local people.
This sudden uprising attracted tens of thousands of supporters, and people from other counties and counties heard the news and flocked to their homes. In less than half a month, more than a dozen counties in the entire Sunan County had already rallied. Fall into his hands!
He even called himself Holy Duke, and now the number of rebels gathered has reached nearly half a million, forming a mighty force!
Your Majesty, the court must not ignore this! Nearly half of the innocent people in Sunan County were murdered by them, their families were destroyed, and their property was robbed. It was a terrible tragedy! "
After Zhang He finished speaking, all civil and military officials in the court were moved.
Even Ding Nie, who was a Taiwei, showed a solemn expression.
According to what Zhang He said, the number of thieves has reached nearly half a million. It has only been less than half a month. In another half month, it may exceed one million.
If it's tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, Ding Nie doesn't care. It's just a mob. His generals can just throw them out and chase them with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.
But once the number of people rises to one million, it will be different. It is a qualitative change. With so many people, let alone people, they are pigs. Once an attack is launched and there is a sea of people, even the most elite army will be forcibly killed if the number of people is not enough. Worn to death!
Even when facing so many enemies, the morale of the soldiers under his command will drop a bit, and they will not be able to exert their full combat power.
It is not an easy task to mobilize more armies for encirclement and suppression. Let’s not talk about whether the court now has so many troops that can be mobilized. Just say that the logistics of such a large army are enough for The current Song Dynasty is miserable!
This is not a small team of hundreds or thousands of people. The daily consumption of hundreds of thousands of troops is an astronomical figure. Adding up the people, horses, food and grass, the logistics and civilians to be used will have to be over a million!
Therefore, it is simply unrealistic for the Song Dynasty, which already has a fiscal deficit, to mobilize such a large army to quell the rebellion!
Not only did he know this truth, but all the officials in the court who knew something about military affairs also figured out the difficulties and showed worried expressions.
Zhang He glanced around, and after seeing everyone's expressions, his face showed a look of satisfaction. That's right, you will only be anxious when you know the seriousness of the problem.
If you are anxious, you can quickly find a way to quell the rebellion. If you don't quell the rebellion, not to mention Sunan County, even the gentry and wealthy families in Jianjiang County, Suxi County, and Haifu County surrounding Sunan County will probably suffer!
Damn Fang La, you rebelled as long as you rebelled. How come you didn't do anything to the people of the captured counties, but killed all the local gentry and officials?
After the rebellious Fang La obtained the property of these gentry officials, his own power further grew, and then he killed more gentry officials!
He almost regarded the entire southeastern gentry and officials as cash machines, otherwise Zhang He would not have been so anxious to reveal the matter directly at the court meeting.
You know, if something like this happened in the past, the people below would not be so quick to report it. Instead, they might cooperate with the rebel thieves to steal things. They are responsible for providing targets and conveniences, and in the end they will add to it.
When you make enough money, you can devise a plan to kill these self-righteous fools.
Local officials not only make a lot of money, but also gain a good political performance by bravely suppressing the rebels, and their official positions can be improved to a higher level.
At first, when Fang La raised the flag, the local officials didn't take it seriously. They just wanted to use them first and then use them for political achievements as before.
Who knew that Fang La didn't take this trick, and directly beheaded the people sent by the officials and gentry, and then led a group of people to attack the county town, massacred these gentry officials and ransacked their homes!
It can be said that wherever he and his thieves went, the local gentry and official class came directly and left no grass behind.
As long as they were in this class and were reported by local people, they would all be killed!
He continued to act like this until he captured several counties in a row, and then the gentry also reacted!
Good guy, this guy is not the kind of mud-legged guy who rebelled with passion in the past. This looks like an organized and premeditated act of revenge!
And his target of revenge is the gentry class. This is the real rebel!
Only then did they realize that they were panicking, and hurriedly urged the Sunan County government to send troops to quell the rebellion.
Unexpectedly, the rebellion got bigger and bigger, and many of the officers and soldiers who were dispatched actually defected directly on the battlefield!
The reason is that they have not received military pay for a long time, and local officials often squeeze them to work without giving them any money, and use them completely as slaves. Now the family is almost unable to survive, and they are forced to fight for their lives!
They quit!
He directly fell to Fang La's side on the battlefield and helped him kill all the former superior officers!
The defection of the officers and soldiers immediately caused an uproar in the entire Sunan County, and the rebels were getting closer and closer to them.
In several counties in Sunan County that had not yet been captured, the local gentry quickly pooled together money to supplement the military pay of the officers and soldiers, and even paid them for a few more years.
This made them feel a little more at ease.
After Fang La's army arrived in these counties, these soldiers who had received sufficient military pay also showed the combat effectiveness of the regular army, and they were able to block them with the advantage of the city walls.
But it is just embarrassing. If the imperial court does not send troops to support them, even if they are given ten times more military pay, they will not be able to defend it.
This is the reason why Zhang He did not wait for the officials below to report the matter level by level, but directly said it in person in the morning.
Because his family, the Zhang family of Lishui, is in Jianjiang County. Once Sunan County cannot defend it, the Fang La people will inevitably flood into Jianjiang, and then the Zhang family may not be able to survive!
Emperor Song was sitting on his throne, looking at the expressions of His Highness and the officials, especially Zhang He's anxious expression that looked calm but was actually as panicked as an old dog, and secretly laughed in his heart.
My Prime Minister Zhang, I know you are anxious, but don’t be anxious yet. Anyway, I am not in a hurry. Even if I am, I am not as anxious as you!
As a king of a country, and a king like him who stabilized the originally turbulent court situation when he came to power, how could he not know about Fangla's uprising?
He had received news from the Imperial City Division from the beginning, but for some reason he did not stop it in advance, but instead allowed it to grow.
No one knew what he was thinking, and no one would have thought that he actually wanted to do this!
An imperceptible smile appeared on the corner of Emperor Song's mouth. No one else saw it, but Zhao Jun, who had been looking around all the time, happened to notice it and was surprised.
The uprising in the southeast has become so big. As a king of a country, not only is he not in a hurry, but he is actually smiling?
What does this mean? !
(End of chapter)
