After all, Wei Yan did not succeed in cheating. He successfully defeated the main force of the rebels. Just under Jiangling City, the army surrounded them, divided and surrounded the rebels with inferior forces, and beat them severely.
The county soldiers who had been defending the city for a long time also opened the city gate and fought with the Han army. Even Du Ji, the governor of Nanjun, couldn't hold back his excitement. He put on his helmet and armor and mounted his horse, and went out of the city to fight together.
Du Ji is not a weak scholar. He is also capable of fighting and is good at riding and shooting. The city was besieged by rebels before. He also joined the battle in full force. He braved arrows to deliver supplies to the soldiers on the wall and killed two people who boarded the city. Rebel soldiers at the city wall.
Not only that, he also personally trained the strong men in the city to join the battle urgently, and sent all the guards in his house who could fight to the city wall to assist in the battle.
His two sons, Du Li and Du Kuan, had come to Jingzhou to visit relatives during the holidays at Sili Academy. They happened to be surrounded by Jiangling. Du Ji did not hesitate and asked his two sons to put on armor and carry crossbows to the city. Take part in the battle on your behalf.
It can be said that he made great contributions to defending Jiangling City.
This time Wei Yan led the reinforcements, ending his twenty-one-day crisis. He was very excited. After joining the battle, he killed three rebel soldiers and won a complete victory with the army.
The main force of the Nanjun rebels was wiped out by the Han army. What was left was just some small fish and shrimps entrenched in various counties. With the absolute advantage of the Han army, it was easy to eliminate them.
After the war, Wei Yan met Du Ji and Li Zheng, the military commander of Nanjun County. Wei Yan praised Li Zheng and recognized Du Ji's bravery. Then he asked about the specific situation and worked with them to rectify the situation after the Battle of Nanjun. matter.
Du Ji told Wei Yan everything he knew, and suggested that Wei Yan immediately take action against the rebellious counties in Nanjun, catch them all, and control them all.
Those who have had previous contact with the government can be spared, but no one else should be spared. They will all be executed and all their property will be confiscated as a punishment for them.
In addition, Du Ji also strongly suggested that Wei Yan must carefully search the warehouses of these local families. He would definitely find many weapons, even armors and crossbows. Once discovered, they could confirm their rebellion.
If you find crossbows and armor, then it goes without saying that you will definitely rebel and kill the rebels, which is a matter of course.
Du Ji had been fighting wits and courage with these clan forces for so many years, and it was hard to be tortured by him. Now that he finally had a chance to be proud, how could he let go of those bastards who had offended him to the ends of the earth?
Once there is a chance, of course he must retaliate fiercely and vent his anger fiercely to prevent these bastards from destroying their families and breaking up the three clans. He is not the governor of Nanjun!
Of course, Wei Yan also wanted more credit, so he immediately ordered his subordinates to divide their troops and go to the counties of Nanjun. He personally led the troops to Xiangyang and dealt with Xiangyang's affairs personally.
Wei Yan started the second wave of operations, and Du Ji also formally reported to Liu Bei what happened in Nanjun. He strongly suggested that Liu Bei launch a wave of purges in Nanjun and not let anyone suspected of a crime go. Some social networks were completely torn apart, which would contribute to the long-term peace and stability of Nan County.
As for those guys who have secretly surrendered to the court, of course they don't need to die, but don't be too tolerant to them. These people are just grassroots, and after losing the foundation of the family, they are just ordinary people, and there is no need to pay attention to them. .
Therefore, it is better to disperse them to settle in various places, and try not to let their families prosper again, so that they can become independent individuals and no longer be able to oppose the court.
For this group of people, avoiding death is the greatest forgiveness. In addition to avoiding death, the court should punish them however they want, and never make them feel too comfortable.
Du Ji's memorial was sent to Luoyang by horseback, traveling five hundred miles in a hurry. Only eight days later, it was delivered to Liu Bei. At almost the same time, he also received news from Jiangxia County. .
When Liu Bei got the news from Nanjun and Jiangxia County, it happened to be the time when Liu Bei personally tried Liu Zhong, the former king of Ganling.
Liu She was executed before Liu Zhong arrived, and the two of them could not meet, but there was nothing to regret. They were both insects. They would have been drinking tea in the same cesspit when they went to hell. Liu Bei only had to be responsible for delivering the food. They just hit the road.
As for other things, Liu Bei was not interested. Interrogating Liu Zhong in person was like a formality. The only thing he was interested in was why Liu Zhong ignored the honor of the clan king and instead participated in this kind of thing that was destined to lose his head. in the midst of things.
Isn't paying taxes inferior to the glory of a clan king?
He was surprised by this.
Liu Zhong's reply gave Liu Bei a deep understanding of what it means to judge a gentleman's heart with a villain's heart.
This guy actually thinks that he and Liu Bei do not belong to the same clan, so after Liu Bei's small sect joins the big sect, he will definitely find an excuse to deal with them, the clan kings of the Liu Xiu clan, and then replace them with one of his own as the clan king, instead of just sitting back and waiting for death. It's better to resist now, maybe there is a chance of regaining the throne.
After Liu Zhong knew that he was bound to die, he no longer had any scruples. He was going to die anyway, so he had no fear of Liu Bei. He just kept sneering at him.
"I know that you are talented. I know that you are good at using soldiers and can fight. I also know that I may not be able to defeat you, but it doesn't matter. As long as I dare to go against you, I can't say that there is no possibility of victory. But if I just sit back and wait for death, , I will die without a doubt, Liu Bei, you win, you can do whatever you want!"
Liu Bei looked at Liu Zhong's indifferent expression and just sighed and shook his head.
"If I said that I had no intention of deposing the king of your branch before, would you believe it or not?"
After hearing this, Liu Zhong looked at Liu Bei as if he were a fool.
"Do you think I'm a fool? Or do you think I'm easy to deceive and will you believe your nonsense? Do you let your own people go and don't block outsiders? How did you, Liu Bei, ascend to the throne? Are all people in the world fools?"
Liu Bei smiled helplessly, took a sip of tea, and shook his head.
"Before, my thoughts were actually quite simple. I didn't think you clan kings were an eyesore. It didn't matter if we were not from the same clan as me. Anyway, I didn't think anyone in my clan deserved to be crowned king or have any other title. .
My sons are still young and not under that age, so my idea at that time was to use the taxes collected from you, and then I would personally add some to it, and scrape together a small amount of money to help those who cannot afford to eat. Problems faced by the poor Han clan clan.
You also know that there has been a lot of differentiation between the rich and the poor in the Han clan clan group since the En Order. Over the years, many Han clan clan members have become normal people, and they have become common people and poor people, living in poverty and having little status or power. , even eating is a problem.
Of course I don't think it's right to raise some rice bugs, so I won't use the court's funds to help these people, but it's not a good thing to let them starve to death. It will make the outside world think that the royal family is ruthless and has no regard for the royal family. Prestige is a blow.
So I thought about using the money collected by you rich and powerful Han clan clan members, as well as some of my personal money, to give some subsidies to a group of poor Han clan clan members who cannot afford to eat, so that they can maintain food and clothing. , so as not to starve to death.
I don't intend to target you. As long as you don't go against the imperial court, abide by the slave restriction order and the land transfer order, and give a little help to the clan members who are about to starve to death, then I don't care if you become your clan king. "
Liu Zhong was stunned for a moment after hearing this, with his mouth wide open and a look of disbelief on his face.
After a while, he returned to normal.
"Do you mean to lie to me by saying this? Do you think I will believe you? You Liu Bei have done so many world-shaking things, how many people have died at your hands, and how many families have been destroyed by you? You You can’t even remember how many people you’ve killed, right? Now that you’re saying this, do you think I’ll believe you?!”
"It's your business to believe it or not, it's my business to do it or not."
Liu Bei sneered and said: "Liu Xuande acted with integrity and a clear conscience throughout his life. He would help innocent people if he could, and he would never let go of guilty people if he could kill them.
Now it seems that there is no problem at all for me to catch you and kill you. If you have a clear conscience and have never done anything harmful to nature, how can you think that I will definitely target you and successfully prosecute you? "
"I……"
Liu Zhong was speechless. After being embarrassed for a while, he snorted and lowered his head.
"Kill or scrape, it's up to you!"
"Of course, follow me!"
Liu Bei sneered: "But then again, I don't want to use cruel methods to treat you, but you judge a gentleman with a villain's heart, thinking that I will attack you sooner or later, so you have to oppose me.
If you and Liu She think this way, the other sect kings will not be at ease in the future. Instead of letting you speculate on me and secretly oppose me, I might as well just follow the people's will and remove you all, which will save money. "
Liu Zhong was stunned and suddenly became very angry.
"You are really lying to me, right? What you said just now is sanctimonious, but in fact you are hiding evil intentions! You are plotting to seize the throne and murder many of the royal family members. Your ancestors have spirits in heaven and will never let you go!"
"You are a villain, you are indeed a villain. Not only do you not know the heart of a gentleman, you also imagine that a gentleman is as dirty as yourself. You are really filthy, and you have reached the extreme."
Liu Bei shook his head and sighed: "But it's no wonder. Our Han clan members are all descendants of Emperor Gaozu. Emperor Gaozu, if you say he is a hero, he is indeed a hero. If you say he is a rogue, he also has He has a rogue style. To say that he is a bit of a villain is true in some respects.
It can only be said that each of us is somewhat similar to Gaozu. Some are heroes, some are rogues, some are pure villains, and some are even a big group. Don’t you think so? "
Liu Zhong snorted coldly and kept silent.
Liu Bei stopped talking nonsense with him and issued the verdict of Liu Zhong's trial.
Liu Zhong, the former king of Ganling, conspired to rebel. He was unfaithful and unjust, had no father and no king, harmed the place and killed the people. His crimes were so heinous that it was intolerable to justice and he was sentenced to death.
The inheritance rights of the Ganling Kingdom were abolished. The clans of the Ganling Kingdom were fully investigated and imprisoned. The Ganling Kingdom was eliminated and the Ganling Kingdom was restored to Qinghe County to appease the ancestors.
After the trial order was issued, Liu Bei hesitated for a while, but finally made up his mind to formally attack the Eastern Han Dynasty clan kings, depose all the existing clan kings, and abolish their titles, so that they would no longer threaten the succession to the throne.
As Liu Zhong said, he and they are not from the same clan. According to the practice of naming kings since the Eastern Han Dynasty, these guys are actually no longer qualified to continue to serve as clan kings.
Therefore, there were actually some rumors inside and outside the imperial court that Liu Bei would depose the original clan king. However, Liu Bei did not think so at that time. He just wanted to collect taxes from them and create a Han clan clan support charity fund to allow Some Han clan members who were too poor to eat could get a bite of food.
That's all.
He did not intend to do more for these Han clan members, just to prevent them from starving to death on the streets, thus making the people of the world think that the royal family was ruthless.
But since these Eastern Han dynasty kings have such a negative view of him and are somewhat paranoid about being persecuted, Liu Bei feels that he just used this as an excuse to do what everyone thought he would do before, which can be regarded as "living up to expectations." .
So Liu Bei decided to set up an investigation team, using Liu Zhong's rebellion as a breakthrough, to conduct some investigations into the local princes who received the appeal after Liu Zhong issued the appeal against himself.
Previously, through the intelligence network, Liu Bei learned that Liu Zhong had sent letters questioning his throne to various clan kings before his defeat, hoping to encourage these clan kings to rebel against him and regain the throne. Many clan kings actually received the message. This is a statement.
Liu Zhong even wanted to go north to find Liu Xie, proclaim Liu Xie as emperor again, and oust himself from the throne.
Now that the chain of suspicion has been formed, if you don't do the corresponding thing, wouldn't you become a bad person?
When had he ever been a bad guy?
These bastards are looking for death. How can we not satisfy them?
However, Liu Bei felt that some political preparation was needed for the selection of this investigation team and the subsequent series of operations against the Eastern Han Dynasty clan kings.
Moreover, it is indeed a bit excessive to depose all the Han clan members who have been granted kingships and even some feudal lords in one go. It will make people doubt whether the emperor himself wants to maintain the Han family.
Some Han clan members did not make any mistakes. To be honest, it would not be appropriate to deal with them all in one go.
So Liu Bei thought about it and came up with some good ideas.
In the past, when the clan members of the Han Dynasty were given kingdoms, they were usually granted to sacred or key places. Either they wanted to support them, or they expected their own people to help guard the key places and contribute to the Han family.
When it was Liu Bei's turn, of course the Han family also needed the efforts of the Han clan members, so Liu Bei thought about it and sealed these Han clan clan members to the south.
Don't worry about the north. The royal court will manage the sacred land. Even if you go to places with higher risks such as the south, you can still comply with the court's policy of developing Lingnan and drive a large number of people to Lingnan.
In order to consolidate the Han Dynasty, the clan members of the Han Dynasty and the descendants of the great ancestors should go to the most dangerous places where they are most needed. They should dedicate their youth, blood, and even their lives to work hard on the road to develop the territory of the Han Dynasty. Forward.
What’s the point of staying in a blessed land to eat and drink?
A real man must confront the harsh natural environment head-on!
This will also help promote more population transfer to Jiaozhou.
After all, all the clan members of the Han clan have gone, and everyone named Liu has taken the lead, so there’s nothing wrong with everyone going along, right?
(End of chapter)
