Yang Yunfan nodded when he heard the words and said, "What Mr. Zhang said is true, but I secretly believe that it is easy to thief in a plain mountain, but it is difficult to thief in a plain heart!"
After hearing this, Zhang Yong raised his eyebrows and blurted out: "Oh? What does General Yang mean by this?"
"As the saying goes, it is better to draw fuel from the bottom of the cauldron than to stop the boiling water. Mr. Zhang, think about it, why do the people in Shu follow Li Shun in rebellion? It is not because of the heavy taxes and exploitation by corrupt officials, and the people can no longer survive. At this time, Li Shun ascended the throne. As soon as he called out "equalize the rich and the poor", the people naturally responded in large numbers. Even if the rebellion is suppressed today, there is no guarantee that such disasters will not happen again in the future," Yang Yunfan sighed after finishing speaking.
Zhang Yong nodded in admiration, and said with some differences: "General Yang is a soldier, but he can have such true knowledge and insights on how to deal with chaos. It really makes me ashamed..."
"Master Zhang is too modest. You are the most capable official in the Song Dynasty. The official sent you to serve as the prefect of Chengdu. It is precisely because they want to use your virtue and ability to govern Shu. Master Zhang is aware of the subtleties. I must have thought of all this. Well, the juniors are just doing their own thing..." Yang Yunfan bowed and said modestly.
As the first place in the official performance evaluation of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Yong was deeply appreciated by Emperor Zhao Guangyi. Originally, Zhao Guangyi planned to let Zhang Yongjin become the prince's teacher and teach the prince how to govern government affairs. Unexpectedly, caught up with the turmoil in Shu, officials in Shu They were all mediocre and incompetent people, and their successive incompetent moves allowed Li Shun to easily defeat the Chengdu Mansion, causing turmoil in the entire southwest region.
While Zhao Guangyi sent a large army to encircle and suppress Shu, he was also worried about the subsequent governance of Shu. After thinking about the officials, only Zhang Yong, who was very effective in governing the place, could clean up the mess in Shu, so he let Zhang Yong go south with Wang Jien's army.
Zhang Yong looked at Yang Yunfan, smiled and nodded, then thought for a while and added: "I have already drafted the memorial to be submitted to the officials yesterday. After hearing General Yang's lofty views today, I have to revise the memorial when I go back and submit it again. To the officials..."
"The burden on Mr. Zhang's shoulders is very heavy. The transformation of Sichuan from chaos to order requires a lot of mess to clean up..." Yang Yunfan said.
Zhang Yong smiled, shook his head, and said, "To be honest, after Li Shun's troubles in Shuzhong, my work can be carried out better..."
"Master Zhang, what do you say?"
Stroking his beard, Zhang Yong said with a smile: "Haha...the biggest reason why so many people in Sichuan rebelled is because the people's land was annexed by the gentry, and the people had no choice but to become tenant farmers of the landlords, who were exploited by the landlords. Withholding, coupled with the excessive expropriation by the local government, the people had no way to survive and had no choice but to rebel. Wherever Li Shun's rebels went, various gentry families either fled or were killed, and their land became ownerless. After I take office, I only need to petition the court to distribute these ownerless lands to the people, so that the people can have a way to live, and the court can get more tax revenue, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone."
"In normal times, this would be almost impossible. Even if the court ordered people to divide their land into acres, those wealthy gentry would not take out their fields. Now, Li Shun has killed all these wealthy gentry. , which can be regarded as eradicating all these obstacles!" Zhang Yong said.
Yang Yunfan also sighed and said, "I hope that Shu will be able to move from chaos to great governance..."
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In Zizhou City to the east of Chengdu Prefecture, Zhang Yu and Xianggui commanded the rebels to attack Zizhou City again and again. The tall and majestic Zizhou City remained unmoved after being besieged by the rebels for two months. The state officials, soldiers and people all resisted vigorously, making the rebel attack very difficult.
Previously, after Zhang Yu and Chu Lihan failed to attack the Song Army's Grain and Grass Camp, Zhang Yu planned to retreat to Chengdu, but on the way back to the army, he encountered the Song Army rushing to aid the Grain and Grass Camp. Zhang Yu led the remaining few hundred people Forced to flee eastward, he fled all the way to Zizhou City and met up with the rebel army led by Xianggui.
At this time, the news that Chengdu Mansion had been captured by the Song Army had not yet reached the borders of Zizhou, and the attackers and defenders were still engaged in a stalemate and fierce offensive and defensive battle.
The Eastern Route Army sent by the imperial court to quell the rebellion in Shu, led by Lei Youzhong, traveled both land and water. After crossing Kuimen, they finally appeared on the boundary east of Zizhou City.
Although the rebel army led by Xianggui surrounded Zizhou City from all sides, their main attack direction was in the west city. Therefore, they were unprepared for the imperial east route army that suddenly appeared in the east city of Zizhou. Lei Youzhong rushed into it and killed them at the bottom of the city. With the support of the defenders in the city, they entered the city.
The arrival of reinforcements broke the balance between the offensive and defensive sides, boosted the morale of the defending officers and soldiers and the people, and strengthened their determination and perseverance to resist.
Zhang Yu and Xianggui ordered the siege to be suspended for one day. After sizing up the situation, Zhang Yu and Xianggui decided to personally lead the soldiers to attack the city in order to stimulate the morale and fighting spirit of the rebels.
The heroic performance of the army commander, who did not avoid arrows and went to the battlefield in person, also inspired the fighting spirit of the rebel soldiers to a certain extent. Some of the rebel soldiers simply took off their shirts, wielding swords and spears, and some carried ladders. , shouted loudly, and charged towards the Zizhou city wall.
Zhang Yong, the magistrate of Zizhou, and Lu Bin, the defender, who were on top of Zizhou City, looked solemnly at the fearless siege rebels below the city, and frowned. You know, although the Eastern Route Army led by Lei Youzhong and the The gathering of the defenders in the city greatly inspired the will of the defenders and civilians, but after all, the East Route Army led by Lei Youzhong was a partial division with only 20,000 people.
The reason why the east and west armies were sent to Shu was to act as a check and give Li Shun's rebels the illusion that the two armies of the imperial court were encircled. But it is still a bit fanciful to really think about using this small army to fight against the more than 200,000 rebels outside the city.
When Zhang Yong and Lu Bin were frantically attacking the city in response to the rebels, a hearty laughter came from behind: "Master Zhang and General Lu, don't be anxious. The reason why the rebels are so desperate to attack the city shows that they have exhausted all their resources." It’s amazing, and I see that the rebel bandits Zhang Yu and Xianggui personally commanded the battle, which also gave us the opportunity to capture the thief and the king..."
Zhang Yong and Lu Bin looked back and saw that the person coming was none other than Lei Youzhong, who had led the East Route Army into the city a few days ago.
"What Mr. Lei said is true, but this bandit leader is also very cunning. Their central army formation is a stone's throw away from the city. How can we kill the bandit leader? Is it possible to abandon the city and fight with the enemy in the field?" Lu Binpi Xiaorou asked without a smile. The arrival of Lei Youzhong in the past few days made Lu Bin feel like he was being "robbed of credit". Originally, Lu Bin wanted to use the credit of defending Zizhou to offset the shame of defeating Chengdu. Zhang Yong, the governor of Zizhou, had no intention of competing with him for credit. Now that Lei Youzhong has arrived, in Lu Bin's view, it is a bit like "picking peaches." "a feeling of.
