Although the Crown Prince issued a decree exempting Henan from taxes, when it was implemented in various places, it would be completely different.
There is no place for blatant disobedience, but in order to protect their own income, each place has its own way of playing.
Due to the failure of the crops in Nanyang, farmers have been exempted from all taxes, but some other charges will not be exempted, such as city entry fees.
Originally, adults had to pay two copper coins per entry, and children had to pay one copper coin.
Later, in order to prevent the large-scale influx of Liu Min, it was directly doubled.
Regarding the decision of the county magistrate Yao Yunxi, the Nanyang magistrate Wang Jiazhen knew, understood and supported it.
A large part of the taxes and fees exempted for the dung men is the city entry fee.
As long as you are a scumbag, you can come and go as you please after the war.
This is considered as a way for them to obtain welfare benefits for themselves.
Although there is a lot of food in Nanyang City, it is definitely not able to feed tens of thousands of Liu Min.
If there is an influx of 40,000 rumin, each person will consume one bucket of rice per month.
It may not seem like much, but 40,000 people need 4,000 dan per month.
That’s nearly 50,000 shi of food a year!
If there is no harvest this year and it is still the same next year, then it is a net investment.
If you don't get any reward at all, you are sitting on nothing.
The food in Nanyang City would be eaten alive by tens of thousands of Liu Min before the thieves came to rob it.
Liu Minwan could not enter the city, so Yao Yunxi, who was known as the cold-blooded county magistrate, came up with a way to increase the city fee.
If you really can't stop even money, then just collect food and pay the food before you can enter the city.
In his opinion, Liu Min's threat to the city was not much smaller than that of the bandit army, perhaps even higher.
These people don't even do anything, they just eat.
Go to bed after eating every day and eat when you wake up.
Every one of them looks like a pig!
The vast majority of people have no skills at all, and they know nothing except farming.
In Yao Yunxi's view, if there is a natural disaster, these Liu Min will be a complete burden.
The imperial court required local governments to relocate disaster mins as much as possible. If they had become rogue mins, they had to be moved to Shandong, Huguang or Nanzhili.
In the Nanyang Prefecture area, those who can be resettled have already been resettled, and those who cannot be resettled must be driven away.
Otherwise, once the bandits come, they will definitely be recruited by them and become their lackeys.
At the request of the prefect Wang Jiazhen, the commander-in-chief Zhang Guoqin also sent troops to drive Liu Min to the border area between Henan and Huguang.
However, these people were unwilling to leave their homes and soon returned.
This move caused a great headache for Nanyang officials, and these wanderers almost became their lingering nightmare.
Zhang Guoqin's men became impatient and killed many people.
Not only did it not suppress Liu Min's momentum of returning home, it also aroused Min's anger.
Most of the remaining Liu Min played hide-and-seek with the officers and soldiers. When the officers and soldiers came, they retreated south, and when the officers and soldiers withdrew, they went north.
Zhang Guoqin's men did not dare to easily enter the war zone in northern Huguang, for fear that they would be affected by the flames of war, so they had no choice but to deal with Liu Min, who was good at guerrilla techniques.
What's more, their first priority is to keep Nanyang City safe, and other things, including driving away Liu Min, are insignificant.
The most ridiculous thing is that the defenders of Nanyang drove Liu Min towards Xinye in the south, while the defenders of Xinye drove Liu Min back.
The defenders on both sides were unwilling to accept these refugees, and they were unwilling to cause friction and conflict with friendly forces, so they played a game of kicking the ball.
The terrible thing is that Zhang Dingguo sent his subordinates to pretend to be Liu Min and sent people to enter Xinye City in advance. When the Xinye defenders came out of the city to drive Liu Min away, they cooperated inside and outside and captured all the defenders inside and outside the city.
This led to the rapid fall of Xinye City. There was no time to resist, so it changed its banner and fell into the pocket of the bandits. All the money and food in the city were looted.
Zhang Guoqin was horrified when he heard the report, and hurriedly ordered his troops to defend Nanyang City. He no longer dared to send people out to drive away Liu Min, for fear of falling into the bandit's trick.
When Xinye fell, the situation in Nanyang took a turn for the worse. Once Nanyang, as the second line of defense, fell again, Ruzhou behind it would be in danger.
To the north of Ruzhou is the important town of Luoyang!
The three lines of defense seem to be secure, but if the army cannot defend Nanyang, it will be difficult for Ruzhou to hold on.
If the bandit army formed a trend of destroying the city, it would be easy for them to advance rapidly to the gates of Luoyang City.
If Luoyang is lost, I am afraid that all officials and generals in Henan will not have the confidence to defend their territory.
Due to poor intelligence, the officers and soldiers did not know the size of the traitor army this time and whether the traitors came with the army.
Zhang Guoqin did not dare to leave the city, and many of the scouts he sent out did not return.
Without a report, he could only make guesses based on what he saw.
Zhang Xianzhong and Zhang Guoqin knew something about him.
This thief is not very old, but he is very cunning, cunning and ruthless, causing headaches for the court and generals.
If the bandit army coming to attack Nanyang City is a partial division, most of the thieves will not be in the formation, and may go to other places to plunder.
Otherwise, they would have to besiege the city for reinforcements, hoping to severely damage the officers and soldiers in the field battle, and then launch efforts to conquer Nanyang City.
Zhang Guoqin was not very sure whether Nanyang City could hold on for a long time.
There is no shortage of money, food, and water in the city, but his troops are not good at fighting.
Facing the extremely vicious tens of thousands of thieves, it is unclear whether they can fight bravely.
The plan for now is to wait one day at a time until the reinforcements come to relieve our side.
In order to boost morale, with the approval of the prefect Wang Jiazhen, the government will pay half a tael of silver to the officers and soldiers on each city wall every day.
As long as the bandit army besieges the city for one day, the officers and soldiers will receive the money.
One thousand five hundred taels a day, one hundred days is one hundred and fifty thousand taels.
Four and a half months later, all the money in the government office was spent.
But Wang Jiazhen believed that if the rebel army could really besiege them for such a long time, they would probably have repelled the official troops who came to help.
If the city was finally broken by the bandit army and all the silver in the government office was looted, it would be better to distribute the money to the soldiers guarding the city before.
On the first day when the bandits attacked the city, Wang Jiazhen gave each person five taels of silver, which was regarded as a ten-day reward.
After the first ten days have passed, the second payment will be made.
But now taking the money is just for psychological comfort. At this time, people in the city are not willing to sell anything edible at home.
No one knew that Nanyang City would turn around at the end of the day. All the grain merchants closed their doors and thanked customers, and the people were hiding in their homes and shivering.
You can't even buy a chicken for five taels of silver, let alone other ingredients.
This is the current situation in Nanyang City. The normal operation of the government office depends entirely on the support left by the Tang Dynasty King.
Starting from Wang Jiazhen, the prefect, officials are making plans to live their lives.
The amount of rice paid out should be accurate to one hen, ten hens is one liter (ten liters is one bucket, and ten buckets is one stone).
All support projects must be kept in accounts. Once someone is found to have enriched his own pockets, he will be imprisoned immediately after verification.
In addition to ensuring six meals a day for the garrison at the head of the city, all government officials must save money.
Wang Jiazhen required that the soldiers be given a meal every two hours to ensure that the soldiers had physical strength to defend the city throughout the day.
Otherwise, by the time the bandit army has already rushed over to attack the city, we will still be hungry waiting for dinner!
Can the bandit army wait until you are full and full before they come over to attack the city?
Now that Nanyang City has been involved in the war, it must always be prepared.
Wartime measures were implemented in accordance with the decrees published by His Highness the Crown Prince in the "Jingshi Daily".
Wang Jiazhen copied all aspects of city defense, ordnance equipment, food and salary supply, wartime mobilization, post-war handling, etc. verbatim.
With the guidance of His Highness the Prince, it saved the civil and military officials a lot of time. Everyone didn't even have to think about it, they just did it.
It would be unkind to not allow Liu Min to take refuge in the city, but if they were allowed to enter the city, everyone would suffer.
If some people must be sacrificed to survive, then the only choice is to sacrifice these people.
Wang Jiazhen was unwilling to do this, but the current situation forced him to do so.
The people he gave up on his own initiative soon joined the bandit army and became its pawns.
Out of hatred for the cold-blooded officials, Liu Min also worked extremely hard when attacking the city.
They are just waiting to break the city and cramp and skin the people they hate so much!
"Hit it to the forehead! Don't retreat! Archers prepare!"
Zhang Guangcai immediately became furious when he saw that these new soldiers were forced back by Gou Guanjun's gold juice.
There are so many people building a city wall. If they are strong-willed and dare to fight, they may have reached the top of the city by now.
All of them are from farmers, yet they are still afraid of being doused with golden juice by dog officers and soldiers?
They're all useless!
The rebels carried limited arrows, so they would not be stupid enough to shoot the dog officers and soldiers hiding behind the female wall with arrows.
It is enough to use bows and arrows to intimidate the new recruits and let them attack the city.
"Fire the arrow!"
"ah……"
After dozens of people were shot over, the remaining recruits no longer dared to run towards their own camp. They could only turn around and continue to attack the city.
Most of them, who joined the rebel army, just wanted to sit back and enjoy the gains, and had no intention of actually fighting to the death with the Gou Guanjun, or even dying together.
It would be best to break into the city at once, so that everyone can share money and play with women. This is the purpose of joining the rebel army.
However, the dog officers and soldiers on the opposite side did not intend to surrender easily, and were still resisting. They were extremely angry about this, but unfortunately their combat power was not high, so they could not fight.
If this continues, they will miss out on the hundreds of thousands of taels of silver hoarded in the city.
It’s just a hair’s breadth, a thousand miles off!
After these days of siege, many recruits also figured it out.
Shizi "rebel"?
It's nothing more than using the banner of the rebels to make poor people like them work for them.
If you just rush to death like this, how many people can survive in the end?
How much money will the survivors get?
They went through fire and water for the rebels, but in the end, most of the money was taken away by those generals.
Many people died for this, but they couldn't even get a copper coin.
Why? ? ?
Thinking about it this way, isn't this "rebel army" darker, more ruthless, and more brutal than the dog officer? ? ?
What kind of world is this?
Are there no good people in the world who can save poor people like them?
You will be squeezed by the government while you are alive, and you will have to work for the "rebels" when you are dying.
Thinking about it makes me angry and suffocated!
"Brothers! The officers and soldiers in front are difficult to fight! The people behind you are easy to fight, and they will die no matter what. Go and defeat those rebels, so that you can go to the officers and soldiers to collect the reward!"
"That's right! I don't want to be a rebel anymore! Shenzi's rebel army? That's bullshit! Let us men work for them! It's better to die than to live in peace!"
"My brother died in the battle! The rebels still want me to die in the battle! Why the hell am I quitting!"
"These dogs are bandits!"
"That's right! It's better to kill them and get their money and food!"
"Just do it!"
"Turn around and fight!"
"Rush..."
The new soldiers were extremely reluctant when attacking the city. At this time, their resistance had already taken over most of them, and what made them decide to fight back was the rain of arrows that came from their side just now.
These people rushed halfway, and under the shouts and guidance of several leaders, they chose to defect before the battle, hoping to get back the lost benefits with their own money.
It doesn’t matter if he is a rebel, as long as he is killed, he will be dead!
It is difficult to fight in the city where the official army is located, but the rebel army is standing in the wild!
"Stop! Do you want to rebel???"
Zhang Guangcai has seen people who defected before, but he has never encountered anyone who defected so quickly.
He only worked for the rebels for three days and then gave up. Isn't this a turn of events too fast?
Six to seven thousand people rushed towards his less than 1,000 men with great force, shocking the veterans of the rebel army.
"Fire the arrow!"
After receiving the order, the archers raised their bows and arrows again. They did not expect that after the rebellion, the most they would kill were not the dog officers and soldiers, but their own people.
"Come on!"
"Kill these dogs!"
The new recruits showed their courage to move forward at this time, rushing up despite the rain of arrows.
Although hundreds of people were lost, they were still rapidly approaching Zhang Guangcai's troops due to their superior strength.
"The cavalry charge! Kill all the rebels!"
In Zhang Guangcai's eyes, these new recruits have become real rebels, but he doesn't know that they were also in the same group before.
Five hundred horsemen immediately dispatched and rushed towards the rebel army of thousands of people.
The new recruits had no mounts and were all infantry, so they suffered a big loss during the confrontation.
Since they only had spears and no bows and arrows, they could not kill the horse soldiers on the opposite side.
They could only be assassinated with spears at close range, which directly resulted in a large number of casualties.
These new recruits who planned to fight back were soon ruthlessly crushed by Zhang Guangcai's troops.
The rebel horsemen are an elite group, each equipped with a long knife or a spear. With the impact of the horse, they can easily knock down the enemy soldiers to the ground.
The combat prowess of both sides was no longer on the same level, and soon the recruits who had defected were killed by Zhang Guangcai's cavalry, leaving corpses strewn across the field, screaming in agony.
The rebel cavalry plowed dozens of ferocious bloody furrows into the rebel ranks as if they were plowing a field.
Although hundreds of cavalry were lost during the charge, Zhang Guangcai thought it was worth it as long as he could defeat these intrusive things.
If something like this happens, it must be suppressed immediately, otherwise the rebel army will not be able to settle down in the Nanyang Mansion area, and they may even be attacked by the dog army.
Once all the rebellious guys are killed, the rest will be obedient, and only the rebels will follow their lead, and will never dare to make mistakes easily again.
"Stop fighting!"
"We surrender!"
"Soldier, spare your life..."
There were many recruits who were afraid of death. Seeing the bravery of the rebel horsemen, they immediately thought of begging for surrender.
They defected before the battle just because they didn't want to die, not because they really wanted to kill the rebels.
As long as he can survive, he doesn't mind serving the rebels again.
Once someone takes the lead, the fighting spirit of others will quickly change.
Some people continued to fight on the battlefield, while others chose to throw away their weapons and kneel down to beg for surrender.
