Yang He, the Minister of Rites, walked alone across the bridge.
Lanzhou City behind is still majestic and majestic. Not far ahead is the siege trench of the Western Army. Behind the trenches are countless flags and horses.
He looked back at the city head, and there was someone nervously holding on to the battlements, who seemed to be the governor practicing state affairs.
Although he told Lian Guo that there was no need to prepare an army, Zhang Yingchang was still not at the top of the city. He should have deployed his army in Wengcheng, ready to fight out at any time.
But this was of no help to Yang He. If Liu Chengzong really wanted to kill him, it would only happen in a blink of an eye. No amount of troops could save his life.
Looking forward, he didn't know how many large wind-chasing guns and artifacts were pointing at him, so he just coughed twice, swallowed his saliva and walked forward.
The emperor asked him to rebuke Liu Chengzong and tell Liu Chengzong to withdraw his army... He had already lost on the battlefield, so what could he say with his mouth alone? It could only depend on whether Liu Chengzong wanted to withdraw his army.
Maybe a certain step is the last step in this life.
But soon, the ditch in the distance was put up with planks, and a flag-bearing general rode out of the camp alone and ran towards him. He approached and clasped his fists on his horse and said: "Old Minister, the commander-in-chief invites you to enter the camp."
Yang He nodded and moved forward a little faster.
As early as when Liu Chengzong was appeased, Yang He knew that such a day would come, but he didn't expect that this day would come so quickly.
At that time, he expected this time to be ten or twenty years.
In just three years, Liu Chengzong came out of Qinghai and was stronger than before.
This time alone, Yang He had actually arrived at the Shaanxi Jinglu Guards a long time ago. However, the frontline troops fought too quickly and were defeated too quickly, making it impossible for him to move forward. If Liu Shizi wanted to attack Lanzhou, he would sneak in. Lanzhou City fell into a trap.
It was not until the battle line stabilized in Lanzhou and it was confirmed that Liu Shishi had no intention of capturing Lanzhou that he found the right opportunity to cross the battlefield and enter Lanzhou.
Not long after, Yang He walked through the infantry training camp and walked to the commander's tent.
For Yang He, who once served as the governor of the three sides, this handsome tent... looks very familiar.
Yang He couldn't help imagining Liu Chengzong's appearance in his mind, imagining what kind of power Liu Shishi would give him, thinking about how to talk, and the leading general saluted outside the tent.
"Commander, Yang He brings you here."
As soon as the general finished speaking, it didn't take long for the tent curtain to be lifted up, revealing the smiling face of the young general: "Governor Yang has come from afar, and some water has been prepared in the tent. Please come in for some relief." Tired.”
There was no prestige, there wasn't even a guard in Liu Chengzong's handsome tent, he was the only one.
This can't help but make Yang He feel a little disappointed. This Liu Shizi is too... What is this called, Corporal Li Xian? My sixty-year-old old minister, who co-authored this book, is a corporal in his eyes?
Liu Chengzong held the porcelain pot, poured water for Yang He, and then asked: "The old governor has come all the way to see me. Why do you want to do so?"
"General Liu, why are you going back on your word?" Yang He put the water bowl aside and asked, "Since we have entered the West Sea, why are you causing trouble in Hehuang?"
"Old man, aren't you telling a joke?"
Liu Chengzong did not become as angry as Yang He imagined. He just chuckled and said: "In the past two or three years, I have conquered east and west. I have subdued the pirates Huo Luochi and other tribes. I have gone south to Nangqian to pacify the chieftain Dun Yue Duoji, and to the north I have captured Chuo. Ketu invades the south, and in such a situation, I will not send troops to the east as long as there is no war."
He stretched out his hand to draw a line between the two of them and said: "But what did Shaanxi do? They cut off the grain from Hehuang and prohibited the rice grain from Hedong from being sold into Hehuang. I bought out the rice grain from Hehuang and the people rose up. To rebel against the imperial court, the imperial officers and soldiers took the opportunity to incite local officials to rise up."
"You have to fight the war. If you lose, why do you blame me for sending troops?"
Yang He was speechless. According to his understanding, it seemed that this was what Liu Chengzong said. He frowned and said, "Then why don't you go to the court to ask for food?"
"ha!"
Liu Chengzong never expected that Yang He would say this, and suddenly laughed out loud, and then said: "Defeat the general soldiers of the three towns, and I captured their camp. There was only ten days of food and grass in the camp, and the frontier troops in the three towns had no food." , I ask the court for food? Old Governor, think about it, will the court give me food? "
Yang He was speechless again. He regretted asking a stupid question.
The imperial officers and soldiers didn't have enough food, so how could they give it to Liu Chengzong, who was in a state of confrontation.
"Alas." Yang He sighed heavily as if he had been defeated, shook his head and said with emotion: "General Liu has this kind of soldiers. How great would it be if he could serve his country on the battlefield instead of fighting in the same room?"
On the way into the camp, he saw Liu Chengzong's army, which had a completely different temperament from the border troops he had seen, and was better than the best army he had seen in Gyeonggi.
The best army he had seen before was the left of the Changping Army, not the left and right, but Zuo Liangyu's left.
At this time, Zuo Liangyu was also a Cao Wenzhao-like figure. He was from Shandong. He joined the army in Liao Town at the age of eighteen. He gained a foothold in the army by relying on his solid military exploits against the Eastern captives. He reached the rank of He Renlong in his twenties. Today's official position is Dusi.
However, this man jumped very high in the Ningyuan pay riot incident in the first year of Chongzhen. Others were making pay riots and asking the governor for payment, but he led people to rob military supplies.
The organizer of the robbery like him should have been executed afterwards, but he had a good brother named Qiu Lei, an officer with a scholarly background, who took all the blame and went to jail himself, while Zuo Liangyu was able to escape justice. .
Later, he defected to Hou Xun and served in front of the tent for some time. He was reinstated by the commendation officer and showed his talents in the Jisi Rebellion. After the war, his achievements were equal to those of Cao Wenzhao. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, he again served in Songshan and Xingshan. He attacked one after another and earned himself the title of Deputy Commander-in-Chief.
Zuo Liangyu was thirty-two years old that year, and he gave all the reward money to Qiu Lei, who was serving him in the Ministry of Punishment Prison, to save his life.
Yang He had seen the soldiers on the left side of Changping. Their military appearance was neat and tidy, and they could be called the elite of the world. However, even that army was not like the Western Army before him at this time.
"What the old governor said is very interesting."
Liu Chengzong looked at Yang He and heard something else in his words. He suddenly laughed and said, "Is there something wrong with the imperial court in the east?"
Although it was a question, Liu Shizi's tone was very firm. He did not think that Yang He's words were intended to influence him. It was just that the imperial court was in big trouble in the east and he was inspired by the sense of crisis.
"Um?"
Yang He felt speechless, but then he shook his head and smiled bitterly, and said: "I'm not afraid of the general knowing that thieves are everywhere in the Three Qin and Jin Dynasties. The capital of Liao Dynasty is constantly disturbed by the Eastern captives. Kong Youde of Shandong claims to be the marshal of the capital, and the situation is very bad. "
Liu Chengzong shook his head slowly, without comment, and said with a smile: "You are still afraid that I will know."
Because what Yang He said were all things he knew. He also knew that the Ming Dynasty could still carry on for eleven years after this. These things would not surprise him, nor would the situation be bad.
So he firmly believed that there must be something else he didn't know, which made the Minister of Rites sigh helplessly.
But this was not the case for Yang He. When he served as governor of the three sides, the rebellion in Shaanxi had just begun. When he came to Beijing to take up the post, the rebellion in Shaanxi had already affected Beizhili.
When he returned to Shaanxi, the peasant army led by General Li Zicheng, a little-known figure, was able to compete with the official army. After being defeated, he reorganized his army and took the initiative to attack Zuo Liangyu in Wu'an and defeated him. .
Although the left side did not suffer much loss, the news still made him feel dizzy when the news reached Yang He's ears.
The battle itself means nothing.
But Li Zicheng dared to fight this battle, which meant that after four years of brutal rebel war, the gap between the rebels and the official army was gradually narrowing, and the leaders who stood out had summarized effective tactics and ways to obtain military supplies.
Correspondingly, the imperial court was weak on the left and right. The officers and soldiers in the northwest were exhausted in the encirclement and suppression war. The officers and soldiers in the northeast became disloyal after the court failed to respond several times.
This is a war that is so long that there is no hope of victory. For Yang He, letting the war go to this point means failure in itself.
At the beginning of the rise of the rebels, the imperial court was the strongest and the rebels were the weakest. The rebels did everything wrong and the government and army did everything right. Even so, the rebels were still allowed to survive. In the current situation, how could the imperial court survive? Win?
Liu Chengzong couldn't understand this feeling. He leaned back and said: "I am not responsible for this battle. If I have any fault, it is just for the sixty-year-old Mr. Yang to work hard all the way. The old governor You didn't come to see me just to tell me a joke, right?"
Yang He frowned and said, "What do you call joking?"
"Serving on the battlefield, haha." Liu Chengzong laughed and asked: "Don't the old governor still understand that it's not us who have a problem, but the court's problem?"
As he spoke, Liu Chengzong stood up, took the report delivered to him from the desk of the military account, threw it on the tea table in front of Yang He, and said: "In the general military camp of the three towns, more than 20,000 soldiers went out to fight, and the food storage was only more than 2,000 shi. , only enough food for ten days; my troops defeated 178 families and brought back 400,000 dan of food!"
Yang He suddenly raised his head, having so many thoughts in that moment that he hesitated to speak.
He served as the governor of three countries and knew the population of Shaanxi very well. The population of Lintao Prefecture was not large, with a population of 140,000 and more than 7,700 households.
Liu Chengzong attacked one hundred and seventy-eight families and robbed 400,000 shi of grain. He obviously robbed more than a hundred of the richest people in Lintao Prefecture.
Yang He took a breath of cold air, exhaled slowly, and asked: "Did you specifically find these people to rob?"
Liu Chengzong sat down again, snorted coldly, and said: "If you don't look for them, the common people will suffer enough from being taxed by the emperor."
Yang He frowned and said, "General Liu, what you say is too merciless. The Emperor is extremely benevolent to you."
"The Emperor is very hard-working, and I sympathize with him, but it is my duty to say that I will show him the utmost benevolence and justice. When I enter the West Sea, I will show him the utmost benevolence and justice."
Liu Chengzong looked at Yang He seriously: "The Ming Dynasty is hopeless. There are some things I couldn't say three years ago. Now I can tell you that if the sky collapses and the earth collapses, whoever can live for hundreds of millions of Li will be the most benevolent and righteous person to the emperor." "
"You..." Yang He trembled after hearing this and almost turned over: "What do you mean by this?"
Liu Chengzong spread his hands and said: "You know better than me how many acres of land there are in Lanzhou and Lintao Prefecture. The annual harvest here is only two million dan, but 178 families have 500,000 dan of grain. I will give it to the people." Isn’t it clear that even if one hundred thousand dan is divided, 400,000 dan can be left? The court is in a dead end."
As the defender of the old order, the court could never touch the money and food in these people's warehouses.
Not because they are a family of officials, not because they are merchants colluding with the government, and not because they are landlords who influence local public opinion, but simply because it is legal.
Even though the origin of some money and grain land may be illegal, the result of owning money and grain land is legal.
The imperial court has its own tax laws. As long as people pay the taxes, the remaining money and food will be considered rotten and legal.
A large household with 10,000 acres of land paid the court 344 shi of grain and 90 taels of nine cents of silver. The obligation to pay taxes and grain was completed, and the rest was their own property.
The Hou Jin can be robbed, Liu Chengzong can be robbed, the peasant army can be robbed, anyone can rob it... except Emperor Chongzhen cannot rob it.
Because landlords can set rents for tenants, and they can bully tenants and force them to have no children or grandchildren, but no landlord has ever robbed tenants.
Liu Chengzong said to Yang He: "Think about it, with the situation near Lanzhou, what will happen when a drought comes?"
Yang He didn't care what else could happen, he just wanted to close his ears.
The emperor asked him to hold Liu Chengzong accountable. He felt that accountability was useless and only planned to make Liu Chengzong withdraw. Now, Liu Chengzong directly gave him a wave of big prophecies. Even he felt that what Liu Chengzong said made sense.
If you continue to listen, won't he become Liu Chengzong's Minister of Rites?
He regained consciousness and was no longer led by Liu Chengzong. He said decisively: "There is no drought in Lanzhou, and General Liu can no longer continue to advance. Please withdraw."
Liu Chengzong felt relieved and asked Yang He: "That's why you come here now. After the battle is over, come and persuade me to withdraw?"
Yang He nodded and asked Liu Chengzong: "What do you want? You want Qinghai. Give you Qinghai. There is a drought everywhere in Shaanxi. You can't feed people even if you come in."
Listening to Yang He's helpless words, Liu Chengzong wanted to laugh very much. It was obvious that Yang He or the court had nothing to do with him.
Liu Chengzong had not retreated until now, just to wait for the money and food to be transported back to Hehuang. However, he did not mind asking the court for benefits. After all, they could not afford the compensation and he had obtained the money and food himself. He raised his hand and said: "You want me It’s easy to withdraw from the army, there are three requirements.”
Yang He nodded and said: "You tell me, I will tell the court."
"You don't need to tell me or not. These three things are not very demanding. If you can't do it, just keep fighting. I believe Gongchang Mansion can give me more money and food."
Liu Chengzong finished speaking, regardless of Yang He's expression, and said directly: "First, this war started because Shaanxi blocked the Yellow River. From now on, Shaanxi cannot block the trade between Lanzhou and Hehuang, otherwise it will force me to march eastward."
"Second, since the castle in Lanzhou has been leveled, don't build it anymore. It will be useless if you build it. Since there is something going on in the east, let the court concentrate on it."
"As for third, bring me sweet potatoes and potatoes. If my people don't have enough to eat, they will have to fight. If they have enough, they will be fine. As long as they can be grown, bring them to me... Don't even think about starving me to death." Whoever wants to starve me to death will definitely die first."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he raised his hand and tapped the table twice: "When will you bring me the potatoes and sweet potatoes? When will I retreat to Hehuang?"
