So after hearing the news of the rebellion, the princes in the court had only one idea.
That is... suppression, must be suppressed.
This traitorous people must not be allowed to form a climate that causes them to join forces with the Western Shu rebels.
Otherwise, when the two sides join forces, they can pull out an army of three to four hundred thousand.
At that time, the imperial court wanted to suppress the rebellion, annihilate Xi Shu, and regain Xichuan County, but it was really far away.
Seeing that the imperial court was beginning to look like a renaissance, he would also leave a great name in history because of his role in assisting Zuo's renaissance.
How could the princes in the court just watch those Miao rebels destroy everything?
Needless to say.
Immediately after receiving the news of the rebellion, Emperor Hongdao issued an order to Wu'an Marquis Bai Mengyang, who was leading his army to rest in Nanhai County, to set off immediately and rush to Dongting County to stabilize the situation.
As for the 50,000 Pingnan army that was undergoing repairs, they did not wait to continue their repairs. Instead, they immediately mobilized their troops northward and rushed to Dongting County to quell the rebellion.
After making many arrangements in this way, the princes in the court and Emperor Hongdao breathed a sigh of relief.
With Bai Mengyang, the innate grandmaster of the second level, there is enough to replace Dongting County. Without Li Gui, the high-level combat power is missing.
And the 50,000-strong army that followed were also elites from the southern and northern wars. Last year, they even defeated Jinghai Kingdom, which can be said to be a great achievement.
With this huge army here, and cooperating with the local county soldiers in Dongting County, it should not be a big problem to suppress the rebellion of the Five Poison Sect.
However, just after this arrangement was arranged, a few days later, on the first day of March, an urgent report came from Wushan Mansion in Xichuan County. Cangshu thieves pretended to be the emperor, and personally led one hundred thousand thieves to invade the city of Kouguan.
Nowadays, there is a continuous war under Wushan Pass.
The Wushan Prefecture's garrison, not to mention local bravery, only has more than 20,000 troops. The enemy is five times more numerous and cannot sustain it for long. Please ask the imperial court to quickly mobilize reinforcements.
But right now, how can the court mobilize reinforcements?
More than three years of war have long emptied the treasury. In the nine counties of Dayue, except for Xichuan County, which was trapped by thieves, five of the remaining eight counties were beaten to pieces.
The remaining three better counties have already been taxed one after another. In some more extreme places, the taxes were collected ten years later.
The people were overwhelmed and many had fled.
Under such circumstances, where could the imperial court get the money and food to build a large army, and where could it find the remaining strength to support the front line.
Finally, in desperation.
Emperor Hongdao had no choice but to issue an edict to let the powerful local officials in Dongting County form a township brave militia to guard their hometown.
The imperial court gave official recognition to these local militias. At the same time, the gentry who formed the militia were also given corresponding official positions one by one.
The bottom line that the imperial court originally adhered to, that local private troops were not allowed to recruit soldiers and horses, was completely broken under the crisis of the Miao rebellion and the Western Shu Eastern Expedition.
Once this gap is opened, Dongting County's local prefectures and counties, which have gradually become warlords due to the recruitment of township warriors, may soon have vassal towns all over the country.
But the court can no longer care about so much.
There are vassal towns everywhere, so vassal towns are everywhere.
No matter how big the vassal towns are, they are still obeying the orders of the imperial court.
It is better to hand over Dongting County to them than to hand it over to rebellious bandits such as the Five Poison Sect and Pseudo-Shu.
Therefore, after issuing the "Edict of local self-raised militia to fight against the bandits", the imperial court handed over the matter to the former governor of Dongting County, ordering him to properly handle local affairs and fully support Wu'an Hou in pinging the bandits.
After that, the imperial court ignored the rebellion in Dongting County and the Eastern Expedition of the Western Shu bandits.
With no money and no soldiers, they can't control it.
All this was left to local self-determination in Dongting County.
…
Just when the Dukes in the court were feeling headache because of the worsening situation in Dongting County.
In Dongting County, the county government is also worried about the situation below, which is getting worse and worse.
The current governor of Dongting County is named Lu Fanghai. Being able to reach the position of being the head of a county and guarding thousands of miles of territory, Commander Lu is naturally not an ordinary person.
He was born in the Lu family of Jinling, and his family was a prominent figure in the capital. He had inherited the title of Ning Guogong from generation to generation, and was one of the top dignitaries in the entire Dayue Kingdom.
Lu Fanghai is the Ning Guogong of this generation, and it is precisely because of this prominent title that the Lu family and the country are separated, so he can sit in the position of county governor.
Otherwise, if it had been anyone else, the court would have to worry about the issue of loyalty alone, not to mention whether they were distinguished enough.
Originally, Lu Fanghai was very satisfied with his current position.
After all, although the county governor is only a local position, he is still ranked second-rank, and he is no different from the ministers of the various ministries in the court. Dongting County governs Baling City. Although it is not as prosperous as Jinling City, it is also a famous city in the world and will not be far behind.
What's even more rare is that Lu Fanghai is the most powerful official in Dongting County, and no one can control him.
Unlike in the capital city, although he is also a top wealthy man, there are many princes at the same level, there are several princes above him, and the emperor is in charge of him, so he feels uncomfortable at all.
Therefore, Lu Fanghai was quite happy to come to Dongting Street to perform his duties.
But since a few years ago, this kind of happiness has become less and less.
The rebellion wars in various parts of Dai Viet gradually gave this dynasty some signs of its last days.
As Ning Guogong, who retired from the country, Lu Fanghai naturally saw this scene and was anxious in his heart.
It's a pity that although he is not a playboy and is somewhat knowledgeable, he still can't do anything about the current situation where the world is overturned.
In the end, he could only try his best to maintain the stability of Dongting County and help the court to guard the last few pieces of Ning land, which was considered as living up to his reputation as Ning Guogong.
But just ten days ago.
Lu Fanghai's final protection was completely successful.
Wu Yanghou, the pillar of the county, was assassinated to death by Li Xiong, the leader of the pseudo-Shu, and the five poisonous thieves in the county.
As soon as Li Gui died, without the innate master to suppress the place, the Five Poison Sect immediately launched a rebellion. Even the puppet Shu began to wage war again and invaded Wushan Mansion.
For a time, hundreds of thousands of thieves and bandits appeared in Dongting County, just like a different day.
This sudden deterioration of the situation immediately gave the county guard a blow in the head.
"My lord, Hengyang Prefecture is reporting urgently. The local Miao people have rebelled and have gathered tens of thousands of people. They have captured the county seat. Now the city is under siege. Please ask the county government to send troops for support."
"Sir, there is news from Lingling Mansion that three days ago the Miao people gathered 50,000 people to besiege the city. There are Miao people in the city who are meticulous and well-prepared martial arts masters as internal agents.
With the internal and external cooperation, the city of Lingling Prefecture has been destroyed, and the remaining counties have also been plundered by thieves, and the entire prefecture has been captured. "
"Ming Gong, news came from Jiuyi Mansion that the city was also captured by the Miao rebels. Now only a few counties in the mansion are still holding on, and the magistrates of those counties sent urgent reports, asking for reinforcements."
"An urgent report came from Yangshan Prefecture. Tens of thousands of Miao people in the county rebelled and captured the county seat. Fortunately, soldiers from the nearby Nanhai County rescued the city and barely managed to hold on to the city.
But now there are only a few thousand soldiers available in the city, and they are unable to retreat from the enemy. They request the county government to send troops to quell the rebellion. "
"There is also news from Changsha Prefecture. There is a Miao rebellion in the prefecture. The number of thieves has reached 100,000, and now they have surrounded the city. Although there are more than 10,000 troops in the city, they are still unable to defeat the enemy and need the support of the county government."
"There are also tens of thousands of Miao people in Wuling Mansion..."
In the county government, various staff members summarized the information from the local area and reported to Lu Fanghai.
However, after listening to this for a while, the county guard couldn't listen anymore. He clapped his hands on the eucalyptus table and roared: "Rescue, rescue! Counterinsurgency and counterinsurgency! I count on the county government for everything. Those places Officials, won’t they use their own brains to come up with solutions?
There are only a few thousand soldiers left in our county. It is difficult to defend the county city. How can there be soldiers to rescue them?
Didn't the imperial court issue an "Edict on local self-raised militia groups to fight against thieves"?
At this time when the country is in danger, it is time for the local gentry and powerful people who have been greatly favored by the emperor to serve the country.
Send me an order to let those local prefectures and counties recruit their own people to quell the rebellion.
The county government is still busy dealing with the invasion of Shu thieves, so how can it have time to take care of them? "
Lu Fanghai lost his temper very angry.
Of course he knows that the place is difficult, but isn't it difficult here in the county?
Hundreds of thousands of Shu thieves invaded Wushan Mansion.
Although Wushan Mansion is administratively under the jurisdiction of Xichuan County, since the fall of Jinguan City, which is governed by Xichuan County, the mansion has been handed over to Dongting County for trusteeship.
In other words, Lu Fanghai now shoulders the responsibility of managing Wushan Mansion.
Now that an army of 100,000 Shu thieves is invading, Wushan Mansion may be breached at any time.
Although the rebellion of the Miao people in the county is serious now, in terms of threat, it is still far less threatening than the Shu thieves who have become a climate and have a complete system.
Therefore, Lu Fanghai's current main strategy is still local, with local self-determination, while the county government mainly resists the invasion of Shu thieves, and both sides sweep the snow in front of the door.
I don’t ask for anything from you, so don’t bother me.
But now it seems that such a basic requirement cannot be met.
The Lord Sheriff lost his temper, and many officials in the hall were startled. Then, looking at the expression on their superior officer's face, they were unable to speak for a while.
Just when the atmosphere dropped to freezing point, a junior official below, after looking through an official document in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then stretched out his hand and said: "My lord, I just received a report here. I feel it is necessary." The Duke personally gave instructions."
Lu Fanghai turned around and stared at this guy with his eyes. He thought to himself that this guy was so ignorant and dared to speak out and bother him when he was angry. He felt a little angry in his heart and almost wanted this guy to get out.
But thinking that in these difficult times, it was rare for someone to be willing to work for the imperial court, he suppressed his anger and said angrily: "What kind of report? Let me tell you, I want to see what went wrong. We need the county to send troops to rescue."
"The Duke has misunderstood. This is not a report asking for help."
The junior official coughed lightly, then walked out of the queue, saluted Lu Fanghai, then stood up and said, "This is a request for merit from Shaoyang Mansion."
After saying that, he handed over the memorial with both hands.
Please report your merits?
Everyone present could not help but be shocked when they heard this.
Nowadays, there are rebellions everywhere and when local governments and counties are urgently asking for help, it is really strange that there are still places that can send petitions for merit and report.
Could it be that some prefecture or county failed to win the battle?
If so, then the local officials and guards would be really powerful.
When Lu Fanghai came to his senses, he no longer cared about his usual reserve. He quickly took two steps forward to grab the report and opened it to read.
His eyes quickly passed over the report, looking at every word and line on it. After reading it back and forth several times, the Lord Sheriff finally put the report together and couldn't help laughing.
After a while, he stopped laughing, then looked at the hall, where everyone's faces were glowing and said: "Gentlemen, good news came from Shaoyang Mansion. Five days ago, the Miao people sent 30,000 troops to attack Shaoyang Mansion City.
Lu Yuan, the commanding officer in the mansion, received the news and immediately led five thousand troops to attack on his own initiative.
Then he met the rebels in the wild. Commander Lu personally wore armor and led his warriors to take the lead and broke through the rebel front line in one fell swoop.
Then the morale of the rebel army dropped sharply and they collapsed. Commander Lu ordered the entire army to cover up and kill the rebels, defeating them.
In this battle, 5,000 thieves were killed and tens of thousands were captured.
Commander Lu then continued to lead his troops to attack and defeated the more than 10,000 thieves who besieged Xinhua County in another battle. He beheaded more than 3,000 people and completely solved the siege of Xinhua.
Now they are dividing their troops in all directions to wipe out the rebels in all parts of the house.
Cui Changqing, the prefect of Shaoyang, sent a good report, saying that Lu Yuanlu's command in this battle was a great achievement. He defeated 40,000 thieves and killed more than 20,000 prisoners, which was a great achievement.
Therefore, he requested the county government to grant a reward to reward the meritorious soldiers. "
Lu Fanghai held the report in his hand and said to the officials in the hall with excitement on his face.
No wonder he acted like this.
In fact, amid the bad news in the county that is currently crying for help, such a great news about Shaoyang Mansion suddenly appears, which is too eye-catching and exciting.
After hearing the news, many officials couldn't help but look at each other, and then after digesting it, they all became excited.
"Is this serious?"
"Of course it's true. Since it's written in the report, eight thousand people were beheaded. Then send someone to check this matter and find out the authenticity. The Shaoyang Mansion wouldn't be so stupid to deceive us on this matter."
"If it is true that eight thousand people were beheaded, then the news that tens of thousands of rebels were defeated in this battle is true. The thieves suffered such heavy losses, and the Shaoyang Mansion will be safe."
"Alas, it's a pity. Only Shaoyang Prefecture has such a Commander Lu. If other prefectures and counties can be so powerful, the imperial court will have nothing to worry about."
"Who is this Lu Yuan? Why haven't I heard of him before?"
"I do remember this person. He was in August of the first year of Hongdao. Because the county government had no troops to quell the rebels in Wugang County, Sun Siwen, who was the county magistrate at that time, recommended him as a second-rate warrior. Strength, he was appointed as a county lieutenant.
Later, this person assisted Sun County Prime Minister to recruit soldiers and horses, and that year he forced the rebels in Wugang County to regain this place for the imperial court.
Later, he was promoted to the commander of Shaoyang Mansion based on his merit. "
"It turns out that Commander Lu still has a resume to wait for. He was a mighty general with great achievements in battle. Now it's not surprising that he has achieved a great victory."
"In this time of crisis, it is truly a blessing to the country to have such heroes serving the court."
All the officials present were talking a lot, and all of them were very excited.
Seeing his subordinates talking endlessly, Lu Fanghai was also happy in his heart. Taming had not been this energetic for a long time.
But he was the head of a county after all, and he still remembered his duties, so he coughed slightly to stop everyone talking, and then asked: "Prefect Cui reported that I want to ask for merit for Commander Lu and those meritorious soldiers.
You all tell me, how should the county and court award rewards?
It was also mentioned in the report that the two battles before and after this time were both fought with less and more hits. Although they won a great victory, the government soldiers also suffered a lot of losses.
Of the five thousand counter-rebellion troops, more than a thousand were killed and more than a thousand were wounded and retreated. Nowadays, those who are worthy of one battle are only worthy of two thousand people.
These soldiers who were killed or wounded in battle all needed a large amount of money to compensate them. Then the government would need a lot of money to recruit an army again. Meritorious officers and soldiers are still waiting for rewards, which will require large expenditures.
Shaoyang is just a poor government. It is already in financial distress and cannot afford such a large amount of expenses.
Therefore, I request the support of the county government to allocate some money to help the local area solve its urgent needs. "
When all the officials present heard these requests, their original excitement suddenly cooled down a lot, and then they looked at each other in confusion, and no one spoke.
Because the reward for meritorious soldiers is a matter for the imperial court to consider, and it is not their turn for the local county government to intervene.
As for the compensation for the wounded and wounded soldiers, the county government may not be able to provide money due to its increasingly difficult financial situation.
No matter what you say at this time, it is wrong.
Lu Fanghai glanced at the expressions of his subordinates and snorted in his heart, not knowing what they were thinking.
These guys are usually very active in making money, but when they really need to use people, they all shrink back. If the country is left in the hands of these people, it will be strange if nothing goes wrong.
Thinking like this, he completely forgot that when he collected the money, he did not make any less money. On the contrary, as a county guard, he made more money than anyone else.
But people are always good at ignoring their own shortcomings and discovering the shortcomings of others.
At this time, Lu Fanghai felt quite good about himself.
Having such a general who is good at conquering and fighting under his command, doesn't this mean that he has a good understanding of people and is good at discovering talents?
Therefore, in a good mood, our Ning Guogong, Dongting County Sheriff, and Lu Bole waved their hands and said: "The local soldiers suppressed the rebellion and defended the territory for the country. This is a great achievement and cannot be repaid without heavy rewards.
I decided to ask the imperial court for the title of General Fenwu for the Commander-in-Chief of Lu, who would be the commander-in-chief of the county government's counter-rebellion, commanding the entire county's local troops and responsible for putting down the local rebellion.
At the same time, the county government allocated another 100,000 taels of silver to the Shaoyang government to support the soldiers, recruit new soldiers, and reorganize the army. "
Everyone present heard this and looked at each other in shock. They could all see the shock in each other's eyes.
Because the reward given by the Sheriff is too generous.
General Fenwu, although he is just an ordinary general, is still a fourth-grade military officer. In terms of rank, he is two ranks higher than the prefect of the same place.
As for being in charge of the troops of the entire county, he can legitimately intervene in the military affairs of various places and dispatch troops and horses from various places in a fair and just manner. This kind of power is almost equivalent to that of the captain of a county.
Now that the governor has given these two titles and rights to Lu Yuan, you can really see the joy and appreciation in his heart.
But think about it from another perspective.
Now that the county is in such a mess, the county guard pushed Lu Yuan up and thought of finding someone to take the blame.
Whether this is good or bad is really hard to say.
But in any case, under all the bad news, Lu Yuan, the only one who has made achievements now, really looks a bit like the savior of Dongting.
Everyone's emotions were swirling for a moment, and it was complicated and difficult to understand.
