stubborn thief

Chapter 202 Extreme
Liu Chengzong set foot on Anhuayuan.

In the south of Qingyang Mansion, there is the largest plateau of loess in the world.

It is 220 miles long from north to south, and a hundred miles wide from east to west. It is between the Malian River and Pu River in the east and west, and the Jing River in the south, across Qingyangfu and Ningzhou.

On the way here, Yang Dingrui told Liu Shizi a lot about Ningzhou.

It is said that the terrain here is flat, and it was once the place where the Zhou Dynasty established a foundation, known as the granary of Longdong.

After passing the post-horse pass and heading south, riding a horse and standing on the mountain, looking around, the flat plateau is very pleasant to see.

But during the march, it is not the case.

Weeds grow in large stretches of connected wasteland, terraced fields in the mountains even grow into forests, and there is no shadow of granaries, which makes Liu Chengzong feel that some big battles have been fought here.

The villages I encountered were all in ruins, only around the standing fortress, there were endless cultivated fields.

"What's going on here?" Liu Chengzong rode his horse in the foot-high barren grass, and asked with a whip, "Where's the person?"

It is normal for the land to be desolate due to drought, but it should not be such a virtue. Even the fields near the water are desolate, and some places are clearly ripe fields after harvest, but there is no sign of people.

Except for those bunkers, it's like entering no man's land.

Xiao Zhuanfeng was really happy, he spread his long legs and ran around in the field, rolling with joy.

The eyebrows are always different, with the air of an officer, sitting on the red flag's buttocks, holding the longbow with claws and looking around with his head held up, as if he was a leader inspecting.

Hu Sanzha, a local bandit in Ningzhou, was cutting the road with a machete in front of him. He was so tired that he was out of breath. He turned his head and gasped for two breaths and laughed, "Marshal, there are people in Ningzhou, but they all went to the mountains to avoid taxes and dig a hole to live. When the summer tax is over, they will pop up."

Liu Chengzong simply got off his horse, let go of the reins and walked forward, and the red flag followed suit.

He asked, "Why is it like this here?"

Liu Chengzong saw many barren mountains and bald mountains in northern Shaanxi.

Flat land is scarce in this environment, and in Liujiamao, Heilongshan, a small piece of flat land, the common people have to plant food for it.

but here?

Tens of thousands of lands the size of Liujiamao are connected into one piece.

Such good land is thrown here, and no one grows it. Liu Shizi thought he had gone abroad. Is this something that Chinese farmers can do?

"Oh, how did it become like this, handsome, it's a long story."

Hu Sanzuo had never talked so much with Liu Chengzong before. He organized his language and said: "There are three places in the imperial court that have heavy taxes. Susong, Jiangxi, and Ningzhou are Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang, and Li Siqi respectively."

"In the beginning, in the year of Hongwu, the taxes in Ningzhou and Ningzhou were twice as high as those in the four towns of Qingzhou. The grain in Ningzhou had to be supplied to eight warehouses in Ningxia and other places, but the people couldn't afford it. Sell ​​it for eight coins."

Hu Sanzuo raised his hand and said, "Millet in Ningzhou is cheap, and you can only sell it for four renminbi per stone, so you paid more in the end."

"Lord Wanli added a tax, Heshui, Anhua and other places added [-]% and [-] cents per mu, and Ningzhou was added [-] cents and [-] cents for some reason. Anyway, the more taxes are raised, the fewer people farming."

Hu Sanzuo said happily, and spread his hands together and said: "It will be useless to increase taxes in the future. You can add as much as you like. In the past, there were less than 2 people in Ningzhou, and there were more than 100 million mu of land. Now I guess Just 20 mu?"

Seeing the meal time and not seeing the cooking smoke in his vision, Liu Chengzong lost the desire to talk, nodded and said: "Find a place to rest."

He really didn't expect that Ningzhou, which was very important in his plan, would look like this.

What a place, it was abolished by taxation.

The more taxes cannot be collected, the more taxes must be raised, and the more taxes are raised, the less people will farm the land, and all the precious and fertile land will become wasteland.

Of course, at night, they slept on the plateau in Dong Zhi Town, surrounded by fertile land and weeds were extremely luxuriant, and there was nothing desolate, only two castles, one south and one north, standing alone on the plateau.

Poor baba.

The soldiers of the Lion Camp went out everywhere. Under the leadership of Tang Bing, they carried the book office and surveyed and mapped the terrain and roads in a radius of hundreds of miles to prepare for the future.

This supposedly fertile and prosperous but extremely desolate area is the best preset battlefield in Liu Chengzong's mind.

It was dusk, and oil lamps were lit in the tent of the commander in the camp.

A map was spread on the tiger skin rug. Liu Chengzong held an oil lamp in one hand to light it up, and held sesame seed cakes in the other hand to stroke westward along the Jing River on the map.

His hand finally stopped at the southernmost tip of Ningzhou, marking the location of Yilu Horse Station.

Yilu Mayi itself is insignificant, but from there to the south, it is Changwu County, Binzhou, the most northwest of Xi'an Prefecture; to the west, it enters the Jinghe River Valley.

The westernmost end of the river valley is the destination of his trip - Han Fan's resident, Pingliang Fucheng.

Looking at that place, he turned his head and shouted outside the tent: "Find a Guanzhong soldier!"

To threaten Pingliangfu City, it is necessary to enter the Jinghe River Valley, so troops must be deployed at Yilu Mayi to block reinforcements that may go north from Guanzhong.

On the other hand, Guyuan's trilateral general government may not be indifferent to his advance.

He wanted to try his best to determine the troops that could be mobilized in Guanzhong, and then decided to keep people stationed in Yilu Mayi and even Changwu County, so as to eliminate his worries and deal with Cao Wenzhao who was advancing westward.

The Guan Zhongbing of the Lion Camp followed Wei Qian'er to explore the terrain, but Liu Chengzong, who didn't wait for the Guan Zhongbing, met an unexpected person.

Gao Yingen.

"Why is brother Gao here?"

Gao Yingen was exhausted from running, and when he saw Liu Chengzong, it was like seeing a relative, and he complained: "Marshal Liu, I searched for you very hard, and I almost died on the way."

"Dead on the road?" Liu Chengzong was surprised, and quickly asked: "What's going on? This road should be quite safe!"

"Don't mention it, I thought you had taken Heshui County, and I went to eat a bowl of porridge, only to find out that it was a porridge factory set up by the county magistrate, and almost caught me."

Gao Yingen waved his hand, but he didn't see him, and sat down on the ground of the tent: "Is there anything to eat?"

On the way, he caught up with Jiang Yingchang, the magistrate of Heshui County, to recruit people and strong people, and there were hungry people everywhere.

Gao Ying'en thought it was the lion camp that broke through the city and opened granaries for the people to release food, so he rushed to drink a bowl of porridge, but when the county's students began to register, he realized that something was wrong, and ran away quickly.

Liu Chengzong raised his finger and pointed to the small wooden basket next to him and said, "You take the newly made biscuits and eat them by yourself... What happened?"

"Nothing serious happened. Your friends in Yuhebao are still sending news to Yanchang County. My brother was afraid that you wouldn't know, so he sent me to send you the news. The Guan Ning army has entered Shanxi."

Liu Chengzong originally looked very relaxed, but when he heard the words, he also sat down on the tiger skin with a dignified expression, and asked Su Rong: "How many troops?"

Gao Yingen said: "The total force is about [-]. I heard that they entered Shanxi in three battles and three victories. In the three battles, all the prisoners and thieves were killed."

"All killed?"

Liu Chengzong scolded: "Which lunatic led the soldiers?"

Gao Yingen had a strange expression on his face. He was about to reach out his hand to get some biscuits from the wooden basket, but he stretched his hand halfway, and then retracted after hearing this sentence: "Pioneer officer, it's Yang Yanchang, General of Yan'an."

I'm going to fuck you.

Liu Chengzong waved his hands decisively and said: "Impossible! How could Yang Yanchang lead the troops to kill them all? Who is the main general?"

Someone in Chuangzi Brigade had long said that Yang Yanchang was from Liu Chengzong. Gao Yingen had heard about this, but he was not sure.

They are already generals, how could they be Liu Chengzong's people?

But it will depend on Liu Chengzong's reaction, Gao Yingen knows it well.

He went on to say: "Yang Yanchang only has five hundred soldiers, and the grain transport officer behind him is for the guerrilla general Wang himself, leading a thousand and five troops. Both of them are generals from Yan'an Guard."

Liu Shizi didn't speak, but spread his hands in front of him, feeling speechless in his heart.

Which one was chosen wisely?
With this tail general as the bottom line, Liu Chengzong is no longer interested in who the main general is, and it is obviously a lineup with Guan Yue holding his hands.

"The chief general's name is Cao Wenzhao. He is a Shanxi native who served in the Liaodong army. He was a guerrilla general earlier, and now he has been promoted to the deputy commander of Yansui West Road. I have never heard of this man before, but he is very ruthless."

Liu Chengzong shook his head, this is either a cruel thing or a lunatic.

Who knows how to kill? There are wars everywhere these days, not to mention soldiers and thieves, even those who study will kill.

After a battle, it's normal to kill all the captives in anger.

War is a matter of life and death, and you should know you will die when you stand on the battlefield.

Nothing out of the ordinary in this day and age.

But all three battles were like this, so there is no emotional reason.

That's what he wanted to do.

There is no benefit. Apart from forcing the peasant army to complete the transition from being a poor eater to a class enemy, what else can it bring?
"That's the one standing by Chongzhen's side to renew Daming's life. It's also a solution. Anyway, he can't deal with the drought, and he can't deal with the vassal king. Isn't it okay to kill you, a bandit who gathers hungry people?"

Liu Chengzong sneered, and said to Gao Yingen: "When Shaanxi is in a drought, all the rebels from Shaanxi will be killed, and when Shanxi is in trouble, all the rebel Shanxi people will be killed. It's different."

"Compared to these bastards, the generals in Shaanxi are just doing nothing."

Liu Chengzong's smile was very cold: "There is such a thing, it is not a bad thing for us. In the past, the leaders knew that if they were caught by the court, they would definitely die, but the thieves and pawns are fine; in the future, the thieves and pawns will also know that they will die if they lose. Then only you die and I live."

Gao Yingen felt the same way, nodded and said: "My brother also thinks so, let someone tell this to everyone in the Chuangzi Brigade, now the three battalions look different."

"Go back and tell Master Gao that the vanguard and food transportation are not counted, and the three thousand Guan Ning will be killed if they have the opportunity, and none of them will be kept... Who wouldn't kill someone?"

Liu Chengzong said: "This is not a matter for everyone."

Gao Yingen took a deep breath, with a bitter expression on his face: "We killed them all too?"

"Otherwise, what are you going to do? Let them go and let them kill again? The two are fighting, and the extreme one wins."

Liu Chengzong spread his hands and said: "He has become extreme, you are still soft, you are the one who suffers, we are not as big as the imperial court, if we want to win, we can only be more extreme than him."

"Okay, I'll tell my brother about it."

Gao Yingen finally picked up the biscuits he had been wanting for a long time, and said while eating: "By the way, the people in Yuhebao said that your troops entered Qingyang Mansion and shocked the three sides of Shaanxi. Coming to Ningzhou."

"what?"

Liu Chengzong was taken aback, he really didn't expect Yang He to come to Ningzhou by himself: "How many soldiers did he bring?"

"Three hundred." Gao Yingen raised three fingers and said, "However, troops may be transferred from Guanzhong."

Things are different from what Liu Chengzong thought.

The governor of the three sides brought 300 people to Ningzhou. Isn't this like a tiger's mouth?
But the problem was that Liu Chengzong didn't want to capture him, let alone kill him.

Liu Chengzong likes such a relatively moderate trilateral governor who basically didn't play much role in suppressing thieves.

Just like King Han's Mansion, Liu Chengzong's plan was to besiege King Han's Mansion, not to pull King Han out and slaughter him, but to attract Cao Wenzhao.

You, the governor of the three sides, the body of Wan Jin, ran over, and it would be very annoying to send it to the captives.

"Where is Cao Wenzhao now?"

"He just set off for Ning... Oh, the commander-in-chief was talking about Cao Wenzhao." Gao Yingen came to his senses halfway through talking, shaking his head and said, "I don't know, anyway, I haven't arrived at Wang Jiayin's place yet."

Liu Chengzong nodded to indicate that he already knew about it, and chatted with Gao Yingen about Lion Bay. After he had finished eating and handed over the Chinese military tent, he sat cross-legged on the tiger skin blanket and began to think.

After thinking about it, I still feel that I can't beat Yang He.

The most ideal situation is to clean up Cao Wenzhao in Qingyang Mansion. His ultimate goal is to transfer to Longxi, where he can establish a base or even a political power.

At this time, getting rid of Yang He and attracting all the firepower of the court to himself will not help in achieving the goal.

On the contrary, it will create a lot of resistance.

That night, Liu Chengzong found Yang Yao and asked, "How far is this from Guyuan?"

"Four hundred miles, the mountain road is not easy to walk, what's wrong with the commander?"

"Yang He should be on his way to Ningzhou, and Cao Wenzhao is still in Shanxi. I wonder if we can jump into Guyuan and beat up there."

Yang Yao didn't understand the connection between them, he just talked about the matter: "The mountain road is not easy to walk, from Zhenyuan to Guyuan you have to pass through Liupan Mountain, but Pingliang is also not easy to go, you have to pass Xiaoguan to the north."

"It's quite easy to go west from Pingliang Mansion. After passing Liupan Mountain, you will enter Longxi."

It's not easy to go anywhere, Liu Chengzong shook his head, very distressed about the status quo.

He felt that he had to prepare with both hands, and it would be best to defeat Cao Wenzhao and leap into Longxi in a completely idealized manner.

If there must be extra problems, then there are too many lice and don't bite, and it seems that it is no big deal to capture Han Fan easily.

Let's see where Cao Wenzhao is first.

Liu Chengzong went to find Wei Qian'er again, and asked him to send a close aide to go back with Gao Yingen: "Go to the Saimen Qianhu Office and find Ren Qianhu. Yan'an Wei has the final say."

Wei Qian'er nodded: "What happens after you find Ren Qianhu?"

"Let him arrange to pick a trustworthy person from Yan'an Guard to see if there is anything at home that can be used as an excuse to go to Shanxi to find General Yang, inquire about the next marching route, know the exact location, and report back immediately."

After Wei Qian'er took the order, Liu Chengzong warned: "Ren Quan'er must be told, the excuse must be found, and Cao Wenzhao must not be suspicious of Yang Yanchang... I remember that the two mothers-in-law and aunts in his family were pregnant with a baby last year. Looks like there is no name, it’s time for General Yang to name the doll.”
-
Note:
Ningzhou's fields, population, and heavy taxes, refer to the "Ning County Chronicles" of the Ning County Local Chronicle Compilation Committee Office

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)