On this day, the clouds were so dense that it was difficult to distinguish between day and night. It rained heavily. This is destined to be an extraordinary day.
Yang Xing gathered his elite forces and launched a devastating attack on Sun Ru's army.
General An Renyi took the lead and defeated more than fifty camps of Sun Ru in one go.
An Renyi, a Shatuo native, was good at using cavalry. He was a "Cai Thief" and served as a general under Qin Zongquan's younger brother Qin Zongheng. When Sun Ru launched a mutiny to kill Qin Zongheng, he defected to Yang Xingmi's account. Yang Xingmi treated Yang Xingmi very well. His position was higher than that of Tian Kai, and he was firmly seated at the top of the generals. He also allowed him to take advantage of his advantage and command all the cavalry.
In this battle, An Renyi took the lead bravely and repaid his lord's appreciation with practical actions.
After the raid, communication between Sun Ru's various camps was interrupted, and he was overwhelmed with self-care. In the absence of unified command, he failed miserably. Sun Ru was also betrayed by his subordinates and bound Yang Xingmi's general Tian Kai's subordinates.
Sun Ru raised his head and saw Liu Wei, so he sighed and said to Liu Wei: "I heard that it was you who gave Yang Xingmi this idea that defeated me. If I could get your help, where would I be today?" ah!"
Tian Kai beheaded Sun Ru on the spot. Most of Sun Ru's remaining forces surrendered to Yang Xingmi.
With the help of Hangzhou Qian Liu, Yang Xingmi finally won the battle for Huainan and returned to Yangzhou, fulfilling his promise.
Yang Xingmi sent Sun Ru's head to the capital, saying that Tian Kai was guarding Xuanzhou and An Renyi was guarding Runzhou.
The imperial court appointed Yang Xingmi as the military envoy to Huainan, with the title of prime minister; Tian Kai was appointed to temporarily replace Xuanzhou Ningguojun (formerly Xuanshe Road) to stay behind; and An Renyi was appointed governor of Runzhou.
At this point, Yang Xingmi owned both Huainan and Xuanshe towns.
Yangzhou was originally prosperous and prosperous, and its economic level ranked first in the country. There was a saying at that time, "Yangzhou is first, Yizhou is second." Yizhou is today's Chengdu. It is far away from the harassment of the war in the Central Plains, stable and prosperous.
Since the end of Gao Pian's rule, Bi Shiduo, Qin Yan, Sun Ru, and Yang Xingmi have been engaged in a long-term tug-of-war over the ownership of Huainan. By the time Yang Xingmi finally took control of Yangzhou, the Huainan area was already in ruins, with a radius of more than a thousand miles. Inside, the farmland is abandoned, ruins are in ruins, and there is no human habitation.
Although he was in charge of two towns, Yang Xingmi had to face a bleak scene with a lot of waste waiting to be done.
Yang Xingmi first reorganized the army, because in the Battle of Xuanzhou, many of Sun Ru's old troops were absorbed and needed to be digested and reorganized. Many of Sun Ru's surrendered troops were "Cai thieves", because Sun Ru himself was born out of "Cai thieves", and these Caizhou soldiers were direct descendants of Sun Ru.
Yang Xingmi selected 5,000 elite soldiers with strong physiques and bravery in combat, and gave them the title "Black Cloud City". They were issued black military uniforms and black armor, and their military pay and treatment were better than other troops. "Heiyundu" has become Yang Xingmi's trump card group. Whenever he goes into battle, he will take the lead in attacking and severely defeat the enemy's morale.
It is said (according to Yang Xingmi himself) that whenever Yang Xingmi was alone, there would always be a man in black standing by him, so there was "Black Cloud City". Based on a materialist view of history, I firmly believe that this was Yang Xingmi's use of the people's feudal superstitions to enhance cohesion. Let everyone believe that he has the help of gods and men, and they are right to hang out with him.
The man in black when alone is the emperor's new clothes.
Secondly, there are economic and financial measures.
Financial difficulties have always been a major problem that has troubled Yang Xingmi. At the beginning of the war, Yang Xingmi Group basically relied on "financial fraud" to maintain team operations. Later, in the tug-of-war with Sun Ru, he was always at a disadvantage and could not make ends meet. He relied on the support of Qian Liu from Hangzhou to barely survive.
Now, although Sun Ru has been eaten and occupied a vast territory, it has not directly benefited much, and it has also absorbed a large number of Sun Ru's remnants. These people need to eat and receive military pay. This made the already stretched Yang Xingmi Group even worse.
Therefore, Yang Xingmi wanted to use a common method at the time to alleviate the urgent need: "rob" the people.
This kind of "robbery" is a clever robbery with administrative orders and a legal cloak. It is slightly milder than Sun Ru's violent robbery. It was used by many warlords at that time. In fact, many warlords also used it until modern times. That is, the government comes forward to forcibly exchange tea, salt and other commodities for private currency, and forcefully buy and sell them at extremely unfair prices.
Yang Xingmi wanted to forcibly exchange folk cloth and satin at a low price, because at that time, cloth and satin, like gold and silver, were circulating currencies, not just an ordinary commodity.
Before the Kuomintang reactionaries were defeated, they used means such as the indiscriminate issuance of legal currency and the forced issuance of "gold yuan coupons" to plunder real money from the people.
The times are different, the items are different, but the principle is the same.
Gao Xu, one of Yang Xingmi's think-tanks, quickly dissuaded him, saying that Huainan was now ravaged by war and had only ten houses and nine empty houses. If we continue to squeeze the people, the people will be even more miserable. We will inevitably repeat the mistakes of Sun Confucianism and the betrayal of relatives. We might as well Use these things to exchange goods with neighboring provinces and vassals, make profits through legal business, subsidize the military, and then select capable county magistrates to encourage farmers to teach farming. The Huainan area is already fertile, and after a few years, the warehouses will naturally be enriched.
Competing with the people for profit will give you temporary pleasure, but what you will lose is the people's hearts and the world. The method of killing the goose to lay eggs and depleting the lake for fishing is absolutely unacceptable.
After General Tian Kai heard this, he was also very pleased. He liked it and commented: "Sages have foresight!"
Yang Xingmi adopted Gao Xu's suggestion and gave up the narrow idea of drinking poison to quench his thirst. Instead, he devoted himself to managing the Huainan area and worked hard to develop the economy. He sent people to carry tea, salt and other commodities to neighboring vassals for trade. One of the officials named Tang Linghui was ordered to carry more than 10,000 kilograms of tea leaves to Bianzhou, Songzhou and other places for trade.
Friendly reminder, this is a foreshadowing. Bianzhou, Zhu Wen's territory.
[Sun Ru’s Butterfly Effect]
Sun Ru's two most capable generals, Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin, were out looting military supplies. When they heard the news that their master had been captured, they gathered more than 7,000 defeated soldiers and fled to Jiangxi. On the way, the generals elected Liu Jianfeng as commander-in-chief. , Ma Yin served as the vanguard officer, and Zhang Ji served as the military advisor. They recruited troops along the way. By the time they arrived on the ground in Jiangxi, the number had grown to more than 100,000.
This team of Sun Ru remnants flexed their muscles in Jiangxi and created a world. This will be discussed in detail later.
After Cai Chou, the governor of Luzhou, heard the news that Sun Ru had been killed, he also made an astonishing move: he dug up Yang Xingmi's ancestral grave.
Cai Chou was originally a direct subordinate of Yang Xingmi. He followed Yang Xingmi in raising troops from Luzhou, defeated Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, and settled in Yangzhou. At that time, Sun Ru's army was at its peak, and he led his army south to compete with Yang Xingmi for Yangzhou. Yang Xingmi knew he was outmatched, so on the advice of his adviser Yuan Xi, he evacuated Yangzhou in an orderly manner and transported the baggage to Luzhou in advance to preserve his strength. Cai Chou was ordered to return to Luzhou to garrison.
Luzhou is the birthplace of Yang Xingmi and the place of Longxing. Thousands of carts of grain and grass were transported back to Luzhou, leaving Cai Chou to stay in Luzhou, which shows Yang Xingmi's trust and support in him. If Yang Xingmi can be appointed as the governor of Luzhou If promoted to Huainan Jiedu, there is a high probability that Cai Chou will be replaced as the new governor of Luzhou and follow the footsteps of his lord.
It can be said that as a direct subordinate of Yang Xingmi, Cai Chou originally had a bright future. However, a good hand was beaten to pieces by him.
