Civil unrest is not scary, Yang Ming is not afraid, and everyone in the capital is not afraid.
There has been no successful precedent for civilian rebellion since ancient times, but Yang Ming knew that if his father continued like this, it would not just be civilian rebellion.
The Hebei clan suffered heavy losses during the Grand Canal project. In order to raise food, Yang Jian did whatever he could to raise food. It was borrowing on the surface, but in fact it was almost like robbing.
Cui Fuli of the Cui family in Qinghe has written many letters to Yang Ming, hoping that Yang Ming can help and persuade the King of Qi not to catch their family harvesting wool.
Their family is the most powerful, richest and has the largest grain reserves in Hebei. How could Yang Jian not make up his mind?
Yang Ming also wrote back, promising to help persuade him, but he couldn't guarantee whether it would be of any use.
At the beginning, Yang Ming borrowed grain from the Cui family, which gave them a lot of benefits. It was a fair transaction, but Yang Jian didn't have the patience to talk to the Cui family. Can you borrow it? If you don't lend me, I'll move it myself.
Like the Cui family in Qinghe, there are also Boling Cui and Fan Yang Lu.
Cui Hongdu, the Duke of Wuxiang, and Lu Chu, the Secretary of the Secretariat, have been waiting in the front yard of the palace all morning.
Cui Hongdu was brought in. He could no longer get off the ground and was near the end of his life. Yang Yinjiang sent someone to take care of him first. She had already told them that King Qin was ill and could not see guests, but the two of them People still refused to leave.
After all, letters of complaint came one after another from my hometown in Hebei. They felt uneasy if they didn't take care of the matter.
Yang Ming was really sick. He couldn't sleep all night long. He felt sick even if he wasn't sick. He lay on the couch and let Yan Xiaotang keep rubbing the top of his head.
He now has a splitting headache and the feeling that he wants to sleep but can't, is very torturous.
"People still refuse to leave," Yang Yinjiang said helplessly: "It seems that the second brother has caused great harm to their family. Cui Hongdu is already like that, and he still wants to come in person."
Yang Ming's eyes were bloodshot and he said calmly: "Let them come in."
"No, you are sick, how can you spend time with them?" Yang Yinjiang felt sorry for her husband and frowned: "I'll drive them away."
"No need," Yang Ming straightened up a little, leaned into Yan Xiaotang's arms, and said, "Let them in."
Yang Yinjiang sighed and gave no further advice.
Cui Hongdu was carried in by his eldest son Cui Fengxian and nephew Cui Churen. As soon as Yang Ming saw his condition, he knew that the other person's time was running out. Basically, one leg had already crossed over.
So Yang Ming hurriedly asked Nuan Dong Liang Xia to help him get up, and wanted to come closer to visit, but Cui Fengxian saw this and hurriedly stepped forward to persuade:
"Your Highness is ill, please do not move. Please take care of yourself."
If they thought Yang Ming was pretending to be sick at first, they definitely wouldn't think so now, because Yang Ming's current appearance could tell at a glance that he was really sick.
Yang Yinjiang also came over, helped her husband with an ugly expression, and said coldly:
"Your Highness has been ill for several days and has not recovered yet. You are pressing too hard."
Brothers Lu Chu and Cui hurriedly apologized with apologetic expressions on their faces. As for Cui Hongdu, they were speechless.
You said you can't speak anymore, what are you doing here?
Yang Ming sat cross-legged and was put on a blouse by Yan Xiaotang, who said calmly:
"I know why you came to me."
After that, Yang Ming pointed to the large pile of envelopes on the table. These letters were the ones he had just asked Yan Xiaotang to prepare.
"You are not the only ones complaining. These letters are all complaining. I also wrote a letter to King Qi. As for whether it is useful or not, maybe you all know in your heart."
Lu Chu sighed: "The King of Qi is too evil. Now there are not many grain merchants in the market in Hebei. Every family is trying to protect themselves. I received a letter from the clan saying that the King of Qi forcibly sent officers and soldiers to take away the food from the family." They have all moved away, leaving no way for people to survive."
There was definitely an element of exaggeration in his words. A family as big as Fan Yanglu had many places to store food. Yang Jian had just started collecting food, but they had already made preparations. Most of the food had actually been hidden long ago.
Yang Jian is evil, but Fan Yanglu is not a kind person either.
At present, in Shangshu Province, in addition to Shangshu Zuopu She, there are also Shangshu Zuocheng and Shangshu Zuosilang. Lu Chu is not a high ranking, but has very powerful power. After all, he is Pu She's left official.
This person is also one of the best in the Lu family today.
Yang Ming ignored him, but looked at the Cui brothers and said:
"You are in the same situation as him?"
The Cui brothers nodded.
That's strange. Logically speaking, your family should be fine, right?
Isn't Cui Hongjun's daughter Cui Lingzi now Yang Xian's concubine? He doesn't recognize his father-in-law?
Yang Ming couldn't help but laugh and said: "Then you should go to Cui Hongjun, not me."
"To be honest with you, Your Highness, our Cui family is not the only third uncle's family," Cui Fengxian said with a bitter face: "The third uncle's family did not lack a grain of food, and everyone else suffered. We also said hello to the third uncle, but he I don’t even have the guts to write a letter to King Qi.”
As soon as he spoke, Cui Hongdu, who was lying on the chair, began to cough crazily. It was obviously because of anger, because Cui Hongjun, the third child, was currently in Xindu County, Hebei Province, and he was watching Yang Jian move away the family's food.
Yang Ming frowned and said: "I have already written a letter to King Qi, but there is no news yet. It's not that I don't want to help. King Qi is my elder brother. I can only advise him, but I don't have the power to order him. If you think I am lying to you, so you should jointly write a letter to King Qi now, stamp it with my seal, and I will send it to King Qi."
What is this thing called? We want you to persuade us. What letter do you want us to write?
Lu Chu frowned and said, "We are of humble status, so King Qi will only look down upon us."
"The King of Qi disdains you, so you come to force the King of Qin?" Yang Yinjiang was already angry:
"King Qin Renyi, I just let you enter this door today, but you still don't know what's wrong. You only think about yourself and don't understand the difficulties of King Qin. We didn't take your food. You will kill whoever takes it."
Then, Yang Ming, who was sitting on the couch, also began to cough.
Seeing this, Yang Yinjiang angrily scolded several people: "What are you guys doing here? Please go back."
Lu Chu and others looked at each other, resigned and left.
"These idiots are usually just helpless people. Today, they were in trouble, so they thought of asking you for help. What do they usually do?" Yang Yinjiang took off her boots and got on the bed, laying Yang Ming's head flat on her thighs. Go up and massage the husband’s acupuncture points.
Yang Ming smiled: "When my own interests are involved, I can't sit still one by one. Not to mention that I really can't help. Even if I can help, I won't help at the moment."
"Yes, the current goal is to make them enmity with the second son. The bigger the enmity, the better." Yang Yinjiang said with a frown: "Don't think too much. No one can change the situation in Hebei, but you can't fall. Nothing is more important than your body right now."
Yang Ming smiled bitterly and said: "I drank the medicine and took the needle, but I still can't sleep."
"Alas..." Yang Yinjiang sighed and looked at Yan Xiaotang aside: "Chao Yuanfang said that he should keep massaging His Highness's body to soothe him. You asked him to keep him warm in winter and cool in summer. , tell them not to stop."
Yan Xiaotang nodded quickly.
At this time, Xu Jing knocked on the door, saying that there was a message from beyond the wall.
Yang Ming couldn't accept the order, so he had to ask the chamberlain to come in and read it out.
The eunuch who read out the imperial edict was shocked when he saw Yang Ming's appearance:
"Your Highness, what's going on?"
Yang Ming raised his hand and said: "No problem, just read out the decree."
"Your Highness is worried about the situation in Hebei, and his illness has not improved in seven days," Yang Yinjiang said deliberately.
The chamberlain is dedicated to serving the emperor and the queen. She just wants the other party to tell the emperor that King Qin is ill because of the incident in Hebei.
Yang Ming also snorted in cooperation, as if he was scolding his wife for talking nonsense, but in fact he was showing off to the waiter.
The chamberlain nodded anxiously, and after reading Yang Guang's decree, he left. He also needed to urgently send someone to report to Yang Guang outside the Great Wall that King Qin was ill.
If Yang Guang was in the capital, it would not matter if Yang Ming fell ill, but now that Yang Ming was on guard in the capital, his illness would be a big deal.
Next, Yang Ming called Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, and asked them to inform the officials. With Qiao Zhongkui as the marching commander, he temporarily led the military of Linfen, Shangdang, and Jiangjun to go to Shangdang to wipe out the rebels.
In addition, Zuotunwei Zhonglang General Shi Huaiyi was appointed as the Shangdang Governor and took office immediately.
As for Lu Yongji, he was escorted back to Beijing and questioned by the Ministry of Punishment.
........
In Linfen County, Qiao Zhongkui, who received the letter from the Ministry of Personnel, directly led 1,500 military guards into Shangdang territory without saying a word. At the same time, he urgently delivered the letter from the Ministry of Personnel to Shangdang County, ordering General Xue Anguo and Che Cavalry general Zhang Junmou led his troops north and joined forces with him to attack Tongdi County.
The former prefect Lu Yongji was escorted back to Beijing by Duan Zhilan, the county lieutenant.
After Xue Anguo and others received the news, they were immediately overjoyed. They knew that the letter of complaint from the three of them had been successfully delivered to the King of Qin, otherwise Shi Huaiyi would not have taken over as the prefect.
After Shi Wansui was granted the title of Duke of Lu, his dukedom of Taiping County had been usurped by his eldest son Huaiyi.
It stands to reason that a person cannot attack a nobleman before he is dead, but there is a precedent in the Sui Dynasty. Yang Su's earliest Linzhen County Duke was attacked by his younger brother Yang Yue. The later Qinghe County Duke was named Yue Gong. The fourth son, Yang Xuan, was awarded the prize.
When Zhang Kai of Tongtang County received the news, Qiao Zhongkui was about to arrive at the city. It was too late to run away now, not to mention that to the north was Taiyuan County, the largest military town in Shanxi, and he had no courage to go.
So he summoned his subordinates and planned to have a head-on confrontation.
This period of time was quite smooth, which made him somewhat inflated, thinking that with his current strength, he could definitely fight a battle with the officers and soldiers. If he won, he could continue to live freely in the Shangdang area for a while.
】
Who is Qiao Zhongkui? He had already grasped the specific movements of Zhang Kai, so when he came, he pulled two catapults from Linfen.
Zhang Kai stood on the city wall, staring dumbfounded at the officers and soldiers outside, who were assembling two strange-shaped things. When the catapult was erected, he knew he was finished.
The rammed earth city wall could not withstand the catapults. Two hours later, a gap was created in the city wall. Qiao Zhongkui personally led three hundred cavalry troops and fought through the gap.
On the same day, Zhang Kai surrendered, but he and his son Zhang Shun were beheaded, and their heads were sent to the capital.
But their father and son should die in peace, because in the past few months, they have enjoyed things that they never dared to dream of before.
It only took six days from Qiao Zhongkui's dispatch of troops to the annihilation of the rebels.
