Qiming 1158

Chapter 298 A Scapegoat
Su Yonglin returned to the army, summoned the main generals and civilian officers, and announced the matter.

He announced the success of the blind date and the fact that he would be married within a month.

"My marriage should not be slow, it should be sooner rather than later, it should be completed as soon as possible, and the dust will settle, then everything will be stabilized, and the next things can be handled easily. All ready."

Su Yonglin quickly solved his life's major issues, which surprised his subordinates inexplicably. They only felt that their future was guaranteed.

The area under Su Yonglin's control showed a thriving atmosphere.

Looking at the entire northern land, at the current time point, only Su Yonglin's control area can maintain such a situation, which is somewhat normal.

Not to mention other regions.

The Ginting-controlled area, the Zhao Kaishan-controlled area and the Khitan Uprising Army-controlled area were all quite chaotic.

Not to mention the areas controlled by Ginting, the suffering caused by Wanyanliang's mobilization policy is unbearable, and the central bureaucrats and local bureaucrats are dumb and can't tell the pain.

First of all, female real soldiers are huge troubles.

Times have changed. Jurchens are all rich, and those who are not rich have land. At least they won’t be hungry anymore.

Since there are no problems in life, many people are unwilling to join the army at all, and do not want to give up their happy life to risk wars. Who knows if they will be able to come back if they leave now?

Therefore, they used various reasons to prevaricate and deceive the recruiting officials, and they also used various social connections, pleas or outright threats, trying to avoid military service and go south to fight, so that the mobilization efficiency was extremely low.

Officials from all over the country had to come up with all kinds of bad ideas. They all used huge rewards, deceived the whole family to sit together, and armed forcible conscription. Every village has its own tricks.

Some of them with strong connections or enough money were spared the fate of being drafted this time, while those Mengan Mouke households who were not so well connected and didn't have enough money were still recruited.

In this way, quite a number of female real soldiers who cried for their parents and mothers were dragged away from their residences, and under the intimidation and drive of recruiting officials and armed recruiting teams, they started a journey into the unknown.

It is conceivable that this group of people are disgusted with war, the imperial court, and the emperor.

This is true of the real female soldiers, not to mention the foreigners such as the Khitans, Hans, Xi and Bohai who were forced to join the army.

As soon as the mobilization order came, the signing of the military order was issued, and a large number of fleeing frenzy was immediately set off in various places where the news was received.

A large number of young people of all ethnic groups left their wives and children and fled to the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains. They fled into the remote mountains and old forests. They wanted to hide from the limelight. They pointed out that once the limelight passed, they would be able to return home alive and continue to live their lives.

Although these places are dangerous, there are all kinds of unknown man-eating beasts in the undeveloped land. For them, the danger is just as great, but there is a saying how to say - tyranny is fiercer than tigers.

In the face of tyranny, who cares about tigers?
Quick-legged and well-informed people ran away after they got the news, but there were always those who were unhappy and not well-informed.

After the ferocious arrival of the armed conscription officials, these people are out of luck.

Officials with dark faces leaned on their knives and started forcibly recruiting troops. No matter who they are, as long as the relationship is not strong enough and the money is not enough, as long as the age is suitable, they will all be taken away as soldiers.

have nothing to say.

The emperor said that even if there are elderly and children in the family, one cannot be left behind!All issued!

An old man with three sons was forcibly recruited into the army, so he knelt down and asked the recruiting officer to keep at least one of them by his side to support him in old age, which made the recruiting officer furious.

"You dare to disobey the orders of His Majesty the Emperor. I think you are tired of living! Courting death!"

Then he kicked the old man to death, and the old man was spitting up blood and crying miserably.

Someone tried to escape and was shot dead by armed men.

Someone tried to resist and was stabbed to death by armed men.

Under the oppression of strong force, the unarmed working people can only be driven away from their hometowns in miserable groups like cattle and horses.

They were tied into columns by ropes, and under the escort of ferocious officers and soldiers, they went to the assembly point, with no possibility of escape.

Leaving behind tearful elderly parents, young wives and children, the family faces parting from life and death.

Can they come back?
unlikely.

The escort officials and armed soldiers would not care about their lives. They could not even guarantee the minimum food and clothing along the way. It was a gift to eat one meal a day.

If you want to desert and run away, it is purely courting death, and you will be executed by the escorting officials in a brutal way, in order to deter other people who have the heart to escape.

Or they were killed on the spot, or beheaded, or the corpses were chopped into eight pieces, or even roasted alive on a fire.

As long as it is shocking, it can be used, and use fear and force to control these peasant strong men who do not know a single big character.

So they became more and more timid and numb, and they no longer dared to resist or escape.

Being able to reach the rendezvous point alive is only a victory in the first stage, and then there are the openings and journeys after forming an army, as well as the impact of the outcome of the war... All in all, being able to come back alive is simply a matter of smoke from the ancestral grave.

There are unwritten unwritten rules among the people.

Once a family member is taken away as an army signing or a civilian husband, it is considered that he is dead and can't come back. Set up a ranking in advance, and everyone can organize a collective funeral together, so as to save some money.

In this way, psychological expectations are lowered, so if the children of this family are really lucky and come back alive, then everyone can hug and cry together, thanking God.

This kind of situation has widely appeared in the land of Yanyun, the land of Liaodong, the land of Hedong, the land of Guanzhong, and the remaining land controlled by Ginting, and this kind of thing happens all the time.

Wanyanliang's tyrannical behavior not only made the people feel fear and despair, but also made the people feel angry, fearful of anger, and extremely violent anger.

So Su Yin dropped a little spark and ignited the flames of resistance.

The uprising of the Khitan Restoration Army began.

As long as the Khitan people in the front and back areas of the mountain could contact Dao Saba, they basically joined, and those who could not contact Saba heard that there was a rebellion, so they set off resistance in the local area and resisted the forced recruitment of Jurchen.

The local Han, Xi, Bohai and other ethnic groups saw the uprising of the Khitan people and heard that they also accepted the rebels of other ethnic groups, so they joined them excitedly and expanded the strength of the Khitan Restoration Army.

Rather than being sent by Jin Guozheng to fight for his life, it would be better to resist. After all, he would still be able to have a few meals, and maybe he might be free.

The Khitan Restoration Army set off a frenzy of resistance in the area of ​​Xianpingfu, which soon swept through several state capitals. Ginting's response was relatively fast, and [-] troops were soon sent to suppress the uprising.

Since March, the Khitan Restoration Army and the Jin Army have fought against each other.

The fighting strength of the Jin Army was stronger, and the Khitan Restoration Army had a large number and many cooperators. Even if it was defeated for a while, it would soon be able to make a comeback, so the battle situation quickly entered a stalemate.

After entering April, the chief general in charge of conquering the Khitan Restoration Army, Xiao Tula, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, resting on his feet all day, for the sake of the Kitan Restoration Army and the emperor Wanyanliang's life-threatening serial questions. And anxious to get angry.

On the other side, Zhao Kaishan's control area is also very unstable, and Zhao Kaishan's own mood is even worse.

Although Zhao Kaishan won the victory of the Daming Palace, he then lost the battle of Kaifeng and was forced to retreat.

Not to mention nearly [-] casualties in the Battle of Kaifeng, a large amount of materials and logistical storage warehouses were also lost.

Not only that, Jeju, Tengzhou, and Xuzhou, which were the main rear, were messed up, and the logistics personnel suffered heavy losses. For a long time, his rear was unable to support him to launch an attack again.

He must rest his army to support the people, or he will face the end of the collapse of his rule.

Moreover, due to the previous Baili raid by the Golden Army Commando, the order of several states in the rear was completely disrupted, and the estates of many landlords and powerful families were also destroyed, causing heavy losses. Some people who were dissatisfied with Zhao Kaishan also took the opportunity to shout and try to make trouble.

More importantly, some Liberation Army soldiers who lived in Jeju, Tengzhou, Xuzhou and other places knew that their hometowns had been looted and destroyed.

Soldiers do, and so do officers.

The officers at all levels who were born in the three states were outraged and asked Zhao Kaishan to give them an explanation.

These people are not only from the common people, but also from the rich and powerful landowners. The interests of the family are damaged. They are like cats whose tails have been trampled.

Because this wave was too intense, Zhao Kaishan was forced to return to his old nest, Yizhou, and then he was forced to compromise with the forces in the army, promising to compensate them to quell the incident.

Where does the compensation come from?
Zhao Kaishan took the bulk of the capture in the previous war, and now he needs to use his own results to compensate the damaged people, otherwise the situation will be very serious.

Not to mention that this compensation will make Zhao Kaishan unbearably painful, compensation alone is not enough.

He also needs a scapegoat, a scapegoat that can divert the anger of the army, the government and the people, and a scapegoat that takes over all the blame for himself.

In short, Zhao Kaishan can't be the scapegoat himself, and he can't make an edict, otherwise his commander-in-chief status will be unstable in an instant, and it's hard to say whether the Guangfu Army will continue to be named Zhao.

After thinking about it, Zhao Kaishan didn't think of who to use as a scapegoat, so he asked Zhao Xiang, the only person who could ask for advice after losing Zhao Zuoliang.

Zhao Xiang's opinion is very simple.

Weekly.

It was because he failed to successfully counterattack Caozhou and Shanzhou, failed to restore the logistics bases of Caozhou and Shanzhou, and further led to the tragedy of the three states. He did not complete the task that Zhao Kaishan gave him, so it is best for him to be punished.

Zhao Kaishan hesitated.

"Although Zhou Zhi did not succeed in retaking Caozhou and Shanzhou, no one thought of the raid by the golden thieves, and Zhou Zhi also built a pontoon bridge, defended the pontoon bridge, repelled the golden thieves for the rear of the army, and protected the safety of the main force. Excessive balance, it will not be punished."

Zhao Xiang showed bitterness and sighed again and again.

"Brother, now is not the time to think about these issues. If Zhou Zhi is not punished, those people will ask about his brother's sin. Now is not the time to reason, but to solve the crisis. No one is more suitable than Zhou Zhi. A scapegoat!"

Zhao Kaishan was silent for a long time, and then said: "Zhou Zhi has followed me for a long time and is very loyal to me. If I cure his sins, will he be disappointed?"

"Since he is loyal, he should continue to be loyal and take the blame for his brother!"

Zhao Xiang resolutely said: "He is not to blame, this matter is endless, and someone must be responsible for this defeat! It's not Zhou Zhi, it's the elder brother himself. If you look at it this way, who is more suitable?"

Zhao Kaishan did not speak.

After a while, Zhao Kaishan recognized the situation, and finally did not insist on it, acquiescing to Zhao Xiang's strategy, so he decided to use his traditional skills to lead the misfortune to the east, pointing the finger at Zhou Zhi, and let Zhou Zhi be his scapegoat.

He publicly condemned Zhou Zhi, saying that Zhou Zhi failed to complete the task of protecting the rear, so that the army fell short when it was only twenty miles away from Kaifeng, which was a big mistake.

The reason why the army failed was all due to Zhou Zhi's fault!
Then he couldn't help but slap Zhou Zhi to the end and threw him directly into the prison for further processing.

Next, it depends on whether the public opinion is fierce. If it is fierce, Zhou Zhi will die.

If it wasn't violent, he might be able to remove Zhou Zhi from his post and spare his life.

As for You Yijun, the position of commander was taken over by Zhou Zhi's deputy general, Zhao Ziran, a son of the Zhao clan, and the rest of the changes were very small.

Zhao Kaishan threw all the pot to Zhou Zhi as soon as he made a move, and threw him into prison in one fell swoop, which many people did not expect, and some loud and loud opposition were at a loss for this.

So the political crisis within the Restoration Army was temporarily suppressed.

But the crisis is far from over.

Whether Zhou Zhi is the main responsible person or not, everyone has a steel scale in their hearts, and they all think that Zhou Zhi is not the most directly responsible person.

However, in the face of a critical situation, Zhao Kaishan directly dumped his subordinates, abandoned Zhou Zhi, who had made contributions, and punished him in the end, which made many generals and officers with foreign surnames feel chilled.

They began to doubt Zhao Kaishan's integrity, and doubt whether Zhao Kaishan could really take them on as their leader.

and……

If something similar happens later, who will be the next scapegoat?
Anyway, it is definitely not Zhao Kaishan himself.

So who will it be?

There was gradually an atmosphere of suspicion, distrust and rumors about Zhao Kaishan in the army.

(End of this chapter)