Qi Yuanzhen was stunned. At the Guanfang House banquet last year, he was just a county magistrate. He was just promoted to county magistrate this year, so he was not qualified to attend the banquet last year. He smiled sarcastically and said: "Xiaguan was promoted to county magistrate this year, so I have never had the honor to see Mr. Lu's face. I hope you won't be surprised."
Huo Ji pretended to be shocked and said: "So that's it. Those who don't know are not guilty. I'm here because Pengshan County is about to suffer a disaster. I've received information that the rebels from Qingcheng are coming. We are invading Pengshan County, but when I passed the city gate, I saw that the city defenses were not repaired, and soldiers, armor, and food supplies were not prepared. How did you become the county magistrate? Do you want to abandon the city and run away like Zhang Yan, the magistrate of Qingcheng County? ?”
Qi Yuanzhen did not reply, his eyes rolled a few times, but he looked at the two of them in confusion, and asked without answering: "Why are there only two people in Pengshan, Mr. Lu?"
Seeing that Qi Yuanzhen was starting to get suspicious, Huo Ji snorted coldly: "Humph, are you still doubting my identity? Show it to him!" After saying that, he motioned to Dou Shengxing who was standing aside to show Qi Yuanzhen the official documents and seal.
These documents and seals were forged by Huo Jituo Li Taotao and asked Chu Lihan to help. Qingcheng County's correspondence documents naturally contain the signatures of these documents and seals, and it is not difficult to forge them.
Qi Yuanzhen took the document and seal, read it and handed it back to the two of them, still confused.
Seeing that he was still confused, Huo Ji said again: "The reason why I came here secretly in civilian clothes is to avoid alerting the rebels and attracting the attention of the rebels. I sent a document to Zhang Qi, the inspection envoy of Xichuan in Jiangyuan, asking him to He sent some soldiers over to help you guard Pengshan. If Pengshan is lost again, not only you, but also this officer will be implicated."
Only then did Qi Yuanzhen understand why Lord Lu, such a big inspector, came to Pengshan to help defend the city. It turned out that he was also afraid of losing his official position. Thinking of this, Qi Yuanzhen no longer hesitated. He bowed his head and said, "I would like to thank Mr. Lu on behalf of the people of Pengshan County for his kindness. Everything will be done according to your orders."
Just like this, a few days later a group of nearly 300 soldiers entered through the city gate and stationed themselves not far from the county government office. Just two days later, the Xingshu Army from Qingcheng County invaded in large numbers.
There were very few sergeants in local prefectures and counties in the Song Dynasty. This was because when the Song Dynasty was founded, the national defense policy of "strengthening the branches and weak branches, and centralizing power" was established.
Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty who had lived through the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, was well aware of the dangers of rebellion in feudal towns. From the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he implemented the policy of "seizing their military power, restricting their money and grain, and recruiting their elite soldiers" towards local generals. All the elite soldiers were organized into the Forbidden Army and kept in the capital, while a few local soldiers maintained law and order.
Although this prevented the vassal town from growing bigger and challenging the imperial court, due to the lack of local military strength, once a rebellion occurred, it would be difficult to send troops to suppress it in time. Because sending troops from the capital required a long time to prepare, once there was a rebellion in the Song Dynasty, it would be difficult to send troops to suppress it in time. Can cause large scale.
Similarly, there are only more than 500 defenders in Pengshan County. With the addition of 300 new "reinforcements", there are now more than 800 soldiers in Pengshan County.
Just when people thought that the city's high troops could easily resist the rebel invasion, three hundred new reinforcements assigned to garrison at the west gate suddenly opened the city gate and joined the Xing Shu army outside the city to attack the city.
The rest of the soldiers guarding the city were stunned. Seeing that the situation was over, in just a few breaths, the soldiers dropped their weapons and ran away.
Only then did the county magistrate Qi Yuanzhen realize that he had been deceived. He hurriedly packed his luggage and tried to take advantage of the chaos to escape from the city, but was captured alive by Huo Ji and Dou Shengxing, who had been waiting outside the mansion for a long time.
Wang Xiaobo was overjoyed to learn that the army had captured Pengshan County without a single soldier. He led Chu Lihan, Zhang Yu and others to personally greet Huo Ji, Dou Shengxing and Li Taotao. After some pleasantries, Huo Ji ordered people to bring Qi Yuanzhen forward and hand him over to Wang Xiaobo.
Wang Xiaobo looked around the audience, then looked at Qi Yuanzhen, who was bent over and trembling, and said: "As for Qi Yuanzhen, we are going to give him preferential treatment." With one sentence, the entire audience fell silent again. Several rebel generals stared wide-eyed, wondering if there was something wrong with their ears and they heard wrongly.
Wang Xiaobo asked sharply: "Qi Yuanzhen, don't you love money very much?"
"I don't dare, I don't dare, I don't dare to love money anymore after I am lowered my official position." Qi Yuanzhen stammered.
Wang Xiaobo waved, and two rebel soldiers brought a large basket covered with cloth. Wang Xiaobo added: "Qi Yuanzhen, don't be so polite. Since you love money more than your life, I will reward you with this basket of money."
The crowd was even more confused, and everyone's eyes widened in surprise. Qi Yuanzhen picked up his head slightly, rolled his little eyes, glanced sideways at the basket, and quickly lowered his head in horror, saying repeatedly: "I don't dare to ask for it, no, I don't dare to ask for it."
"Why bother pretending to refuse," Wang Xiaobo said in a sarcastic tone, "Someone, please disembowel Qi Yuanzhen and stuff all these baskets of pebbles in so that this dog official can fill his stomach!"
Two rebel soldiers removed the cloth from the basket, revealing a basket full of pebbles.
"Okay!" The crowd burst into earth-shaking cheers. When Qi Yuanzhen heard this, he immediately slumped down like a dead pig and his body kept shaking.
After executing Qi Yuanzhen, Wang Xiaobo said to the poor people: "Folks, we raised the Shu Army to conquer the world for the poor. Our purpose has been written on the notice, which is: first, anyone who dares to resist the rebel army , shall be severely punished;
Second, all the rich and powerful households in the city, except for leaving a small amount of money and food for their own consumption, must register the remaining money and food within two days and hand it over to the rebels, and must not disobey;
Third, suicide and robbery without authorization are strictly prohibited. I hope people can help. Wang Xiaobo paused for a moment and then said: "The rebels have decided that half of the money and food obtained from the capture of Pengshan County, including Qi Yuanzhen's family property, will be reserved for military use, and the other half will be distributed to the poor people in Pengshan County!"
The crowd cheered again. Some elderly people wiped their tears of excitement with their torn sleeves. A blind old woman, leaning on a cane, said tremblingly: "We have been looking forward to this kind of world for how many years!"
"Poor brothers, the poor must rely on the poor to build their country. We welcome everyone to join the rebel army!" Wang Xiaobo said radiantly and impassionedly, "Today, our rebel army captured Pengshan with the help of the villagers. Tomorrow, we will continue Attack Jiangyuan, attack Shuzhou, and go to Chengdu!"
People talked among themselves, and some young adults stepped forward and asked to join the rebel army. An old man with gray beard stroked the head of his sixteen or seventeen-year-old grandson and said: "Go, son, avenge your father, follow the Xing Shu Army, travel north and south, and conquer the world for the poor!"
In this way, the ranks of the rebels grew larger and larger, and some nearby powerful forces and bandits who dominated the mountains also joined in. Regarding how to effectively manage and command the rebel army and the next step of the rebel army's march, the leaders were placed in front of them.
