The encirclement and suppression of the private army in the mountains south of Yujiang City went surprisingly smoothly. Most of the soldiers and horses in the mountains were wiped out, and a large number of prisoners were captured. A large number of war horses and weapons were also captured, which was beyond everyone's expectations.
In fact, it is not surprising that troops and horses were mobilized overnight to launch an encirclement and suppression campaign at nightfall. All actions were carried out in full swing, without giving the opponent any chance to prepare or breathe. The unexpected attack made this army and horses in Nanshan only train troops for a long time without actual combat. Zi was caught off guard.
Shao Xi is depressed! The original expectation was that he would lead the soldiers and horses of Yujiang County to charge into the battle and kill the enemy and make achievements. But now it was better. The soldiers and horses of the four counties had good news one after another. He was the only one sitting in the military depot camp with nothing to do, guarding these warehouses.
The leaders of the four counties are very sensible. After each siege, they would rush to the camp to report to Shao Xi the military situation ahead. They would send people to report how many people were killed, how many people were captured, and how many horses and weapons were seized. Once reported.
Since the soldiers and horses of the four counties supported each other, the result was that more and more of our own people fought, and the enemies fought less and less. In the end, only a few rebels escaped from Nanshan, and most of them were successfully wiped out.
Shao Xi was generally quite satisfied with the result, but he did not intend to let go of those who escaped, so he ordered the soldiers and horses of the four counties to advance from south to north in a net-like manner to drive away the rebels who had fled and hid in various places from the mountains. came out and chased in the direction of Yu Jiangcheng.
Each of the four counties sent a part of their troops to chase the fish that slipped through the net, and Shao Xi was commanding the troops of Yujiang County at this time. The armor and weapons in the general's warehouse were installed on the captured troops and horses, and together with the troops and horses of the four armies, they went out in a mighty manner. He rushed towards Yujiang City.
This siege can be said to have yielded a great harvest. Nearly 600 well-bred war horses, well-made weapons and more than 2,000 sets of armor. These things would be extremely enviable in any county, let alone This time, more than a thousand people were captured, which can be said to be a fruitful battle and a complete victory.
When Shao Xi rushed to the south gate of Yujiang City with his soldiers and horses, he saw the pursuing team and the team coming out of the city counting the prisoners. The rebels who escaped did not escape the encirclement and suppression in the end, and were killed by two people at the foot of Yujiang City. Fang Bingma made dumplings.
Shao Xi ordered the soldiers and horses of the four counties to set up camp on the spot in the south of Yujiang City, and the captured prisoners, captured horses, armor, and ordnance were all centralized and kept for safekeeping, and the distribution would be discussed later.
He led the military leaders from the four counties and some of his troops into Yujiang City through the south gate. After all, things in the city were not over yet!
As soon as they entered the city gate, they were greeted by Mo Zhaohui and Pan Sheng. They knelt down in front of Shao Xi, saluted and reported the results of the battle in the city.
"Reporting to Mr. Shao, the Zhao family gathered clan guards in the city after nightfall in order to raid the south gate. Fortunately, Mr. Shao had already made arrangements and failed to let him succeed. He led the troops and horses to quickly eliminate them for me and me, and under the command of Mr. Cui Under the command, all the Zhao family were captured, and no one escaped. At this time, Mr. Cui is handling the aftermath in the county governor's house, and is only waiting for Mr. Shao to return to preside over the trial and handling of the Zhao family's rebellion. "
"Well, thank you for your hard work, gentlemen! You two quickly reorganized the troops in the city, restored order in the city, and imprisoned all the Zhao family in the prison, awaiting trial at any time. I will rush to the county governor's house to meet Mr. Cui Let’s meet and deal with follow-up matters.”
"Subordinates take orders."
"Subordinates take orders."
After the two responded, they led the soldiers and horses in the city to continue dealing with the aftermath.
Shao Xi rushed to the governor's house with various people, and as soon as he entered the door, he saw Cui Qizheng coming out to welcome him.
Without even having time to greet him, Cui Qi hurriedly reported to Shao Xi the number of people captured during the arrest of the Zhao family, the property seized, etc., but everything was done so that Shao Xi didn't have to worry about it.
"Master Shao, tonight the Zhao family, both men and women, old and young, have been captured and detained, awaiting Master Shao's disposal. Then Zhao Huajun gathered nearly a hundred guards from the clan to seize the south gate at night, but Gao Can, who was captured by the master, must be the former one. As we go to Nanshan to mobilize troops, if we had been a little slower, I am afraid that Yujiang City would have been in the hands of the Zhao family by now. Fortunately, you have already made arrangements. If not, the Zhao family would probably have to support their own troops in Yujiang County. He rebelled against the imperial court."
Shao Xi nodded, "Mr. Cui already has evidence of the Zhao family's crimes in his hands. Now just raising a private army, supporting soldiers to stand on his own, and intending to rebel is enough for him to kill the entire Zhao family. This time he can kill the Zhao family. The family was uprooted from Yujiang County. Mr. Cui can be said to have made a great contribution. He should be remembered for his first contribution. When the matter is reported to the court in the future, I will write a note and report it to the Holy One, and I will definitely promote Mr. Cui."
When Cui Qi heard what Shao Xi said, he quickly bowed and said: "I don't dare to take credit for this matter. This is all done by Mr. Shao. We are just executing Mr. Shao's arrangements. How can we get any credit?" ? The disease that Xiaguan and others have not been able to solve for many years, but Master Shao eradicated it overnight. Your Excellency is the one who has made the greatest contribution. Now, Xiaguan admires Your Excellency very much. From now on, Xiaguan is willing to Obey your orders, be loyal to your Majesty, be loyal to the court, and be loyal to the people of Yujiang County."
"Master Cui is too modest, but this is not the time to reward based on merit. I have sent people to count the prisoners captured in this siege, the horses and military supplies, and reported them to you. In addition, you just attacked the enemy in the city. Can you sort out the details of the Zhao family's various accounts now? Give me a rough report and see how rich the Zhao family is."
When Cui Qi saw Shao Xi asking about the accounts, he hurriedly introduced Shao Xi and everyone into the main hall, picked up an account book from the case and reported to Shao Xi.
During this encirclement and suppression of the Nanshan bandits, a total of 1,472 people were captured and 733 were killed.
Seized:
five hundred and forty-one well-bred war horses;
one thousand one hundred and seventeen sabers;
Eight hundred and eighty-eight shields;
One thousand three hundred and forty-one lances;
Three hundred and thirty-two bows and ten thousand arrows;
One hundred and seventeen crossbows and three thousand arrows;
Two thousand three hundred and thirty-two sets of high-quality armor and helmets were also seized;
The exact amount of grain seized is currently unknown, but it definitely exceeds one thousand dan.
The gains from this battle were more than the combined military and horse rations of Yujiang County in the past twenty years.
As for the Zhao family, a total of 277 people were arrested. Judging from the cash and account books seized from the Zhao family, a total of:
Six hundred and eighty-nine thousand, seven hundred and twelve taels of silver now;
seventy-nine good houses and properties;
There are a total of 189 large and small yarn shops;
One hundred and seventy-four rooms of large and small cloth rows;
Two hundred and fifty-nine private ships of various sizes were transported by water;
There are a total of 221 other industries such as carpentry, tea making, restaurants, and inns.
In addition, the exact number of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jade, and curios seized from the homes of the Zhao family cannot be calculated at the moment. We can only know how much silver taels the final value is after slowly counting, recording, and converting them.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the total property seized from the Zhao family is estimated to be more than eight million taels, which is a terrifying figure. You must know that the total income of the imperial court in the Jingyuan Empire in a year is more than 20 million taels, and the wealth owned by the Zhao family is close to half of the entire empire's annual finances, which can be called huge corruption.
If you add in the cost of raising private taxes over the years to build ordnance, purchase military horses, and support private armies, the amount is simply staggering!
Shao Xi's eyes widened when he heard these figures. You must know that he is not a person who has never seen money. The current royal family's internal funds are in his hands. The wealth owned by the Zhao family is actually greater than that of the royal family. Even more money is needed. If these officials want to be greedy, it really doesn’t depend on the size of the official position.
"I didn't expect that the Zhao family could develop such a huge power in Yujiang County with only a small county guard like Zhao Huajun, collect such tyranny and accumulate such a huge amount of wealth. It is really shocking and amazing. !”
"Yes! I have been collecting evidence over the years, and all I want to do is get rid of this bully, but unfortunately I am unable to do so. If Master Shao hadn't come here this time, who knows how many years the Zhao family would have been running rampant in Yujiang County? How much wealth will be plundered?”
"By the way, where is Zhao Huajun now?"
Cui Qi hesitated for a moment and said: "Although I was ordered by your lord to search the Zhao family, Zhao Huajun is my chief officer after all. If I take him directly to the prison without your lord's order, I am afraid that I will not cooperate with him." According to the rules, I just kept him in his own room and waited for Master Shao to deal with him."
"Master Cui, thank you for your hard work. Don't rush to interrogate him now and keep him in custody. After daybreak, Lao Wu and I will go back to Yushui Town. I still have a strong witness in my hand, but during the day, the Zhao family Two groups of people were sent to Shafang in Yushui Town. I think the situation of my witness may not be good, so I have to go back and bring this witness into Yujiang City as the person who accuses the Zhao family of assassinating court officials."
The interrogation of the Zhao family was almost arranged, and Shao Xi called the leaders of Shanling, Wuyang, and Liantai counties to come forward.
"I know what you are thinking at this time. We have gained a lot from this encirclement and suppression. You definitely don't want to go through this trip in vain. You should want to bring some benefits back. But I can tell you here that what was seized today You can’t take away any military resources, but I will give you a better compensation.”
The three of them glanced at each other. Shao Xi's guess was indeed what they were thinking at this time. They were going all out to carry out a cross-state encirclement and suppression campaign. If they didn't look at the face of this adult, they would be too lazy to bother. Now that the work is done, they can't Let them go back empty-handed?
Shao Xi glanced at them with a smile and continued: "Over the years, the Zhao family in Yujiang County has deliberately suppressed the silkworm industry in your three counties and maliciously lowered the supply of silk in order to gain huge profits from the cloud yarn industry. At a price of Let your three counties and Yujiang County form a mutually supportive interest relationship. From now on, your local finances will be greatly improved. Not only will you be able to benefit, but even your local people will be benefited. Do you think this condition is better than outside the city? How about those horse armors?"
Do you even need to ask? What can't you buy with money? A few of them are thinking about these things because they have been too poor these years! Counties simply will not have any extra money to allocate to them.
If the problem can be fundamentally solved now, the county's rationing of soldiers and horses will naturally be large in the future.
It is better to teach people to fish than to teach them how to fish. The solution to poverty is not to give them money, but to enable them to make money themselves.
