weaving

Chapter 1324 Different treatment?

Outside Yuzhou City, in the central military tent of the Yongyi Army's Suzaku Camp temporary camp, Zhang Guangda's expression softened after he saw Liu Hongdao and Shen Wanqing facing the direction of Kaifeng and thanking the Earl of Yongning again.

He first ordered the two to stand up, and then said to them in a deep voice: "When you two go back, tell Liu Hongqi and Shen Wandeng that although the enemy is strong, our Yongyi Army is still enough to deal with it. For the time being, you don't need to lead troops to help."

Zhang Guangda then gave them both seats and said, "My Earl of Yongning is different from the generals beside him. The Yongyi Army has always only recruited elite soldiers and does not pursue more. A mob is useless and often drags down the entire army.

When you two go back this time, you must tell Liu Hongqi and Shen Wandeng that the Earl of Yongning has allowed them to select 3,500 elite soldiers from the tribe to form the camp soldiers. The existing armor and weapons will be allocated to the camp soldiers first, and they must be trained strictly to make them elite.

The missing armor, weapons, guns and cannons will be supplied by my uncle in the future, and the remaining young and strong men will be transferred to the militia to guard the villages and garrisons. They will cultivate the land in peacetime, train in leisure time, and guard the garrisons in wartime. "

"I'll make a note of it."

"I have already ordered my men to prepare wine and food. You can rest in my camp tonight and go back tomorrow."

"Yes. Thank you, General Zhang."

Zhang Guangda smiled and said, "Why are you being so polite? You are now under the command of Earl Yongning, and we will be colleagues in the future. Brothers dare not be so polite."

He then went on to instruct: "Henan is now suffering from drought and locust disasters, and Li Ni's war is constantly raging. Many people have been dragged down by him. Only one in ten villages has survived, and the fields are barren.

When you return, tell the two guerrillas Liu and Shen that they should fulfill their duty to protect the local stability, do their best to pacify the displaced people, reclaim wasteland and build canals, and at the same time train the troops and wait for the order of Yongning Earl to be dispatched. "

"General Zhang, there is something I'm not sure whether I should tell you or not." Liu Hongdao showed a hint of hesitation on his face.

"speak."

Liu Hongdao first glanced at Shen Wanqing, then replied: "General, although most of the fields are barren, they all have their owners. Even if we reclaim them and plant grains, there is no guarantee that they will not come to fight for them. I am afraid that we will not be able to harvest them."

"Humph."

Zhang Guangda snorted coldly and said, "I will assign each of you a clerk, but all wasteland will be considered unowned land and registered in the name of our Yongyi Army. This will be used for the army's reclamation and to relieve the urgent need for food and wages for our Yongyi Army soldiers."

Shen Wanqing added: "I'm afraid the original owner won't agree, and the county magistrate may not approve it either."

"Recruiting refugees and reclaiming wasteland is necessary to suppress the bandits in Henan. You are to act according to the orders of the Yongning Earl. The local government has no right to interfere. As for the original owner...if they have any complaints, just record them. After the bandits are eliminated, the Yongning Earl will give them an explanation."

"But...what if they don't agree?"

Zhang Guangda looked at Liu Hongdao with a hint of impatience on his face, and said coldly: "You are to act according to the silver medal and official documents granted by Yongning Earl. No matter if he is the original owner or the government, anyone who dares to forcibly prevent you from reclaiming the wasteland will be arrested and locked up first. If anyone dares to stop you with weapons, they will be killed on the spot, and Yongning Earl will bear the consequences for you."

On the second day, after seeing off Liu Hongdao and Shen Wanqing, the Central Army Commander Gu Zhide asked in a suspicious tone, "General, Han Jiadi and Liu Xuan were both invited here, and you were very polite to them. Han Jiadi was still okay, but Liu Xuan was obviously indecisive, but you still treated him politely. But Liu Hongdao and Shen Wanqing took the initiative to come here to serve, why did you treat them so coldly, and treat them worse than the envoys from Liu Xuan of Xiangcheng?"

Zhang Guangda curled his lips and said, "Liu Xuan, we will have to deal with him sooner or later. We are being polite to him now to stabilize him and prevent him from causing trouble for us. But Liu Hongqi and Shen Wandeng are different."

"What's the difference? At least... Liu Hongqi, Shen Wandeng and the others took the initiative to join the army. They should be more valued and respected!"

"hey-hey……"

Zhang Guangda laughed wickedly and said, "Liu Xuan is a pig. We need to raise him and wait for his death. Liu and Shen Wei... may become comrades in the future, so we need to suppress their bandit nature first, otherwise I'm afraid they will become too conceited."

He then said to himself: "It's human nature to be greedy, as long as it's not excessive!"

…………

The whole land of Henan was filled with smoke of war. When the government soldiers left, the bandits came, and when the bandits left, the government soldiers came again. It was really a situation of one after another, one wave after another, like a revolving lantern, which was dazzling.

Many earthen villages did not dare to show their heads. No matter which side came, they would speak kindly and not dare to offend any side.

However, in general, all the local strongholds led by gentry are very supportive of the Yongyi Army because of their official background. They will donate some grain to help the army out of its urgent needs, and can actively provide information on the movements and intelligence of the bandits.

However, the local strongholds controlled by the bandits were indifferent to the arrival of the Yongyi Army. Most of them took a wait-and-see attitude and did not dare to make a bet easily. Some of them, like Zhang Ding, Han Jiadi, Liu Hongqi, and Shen Wandeng, were loyal to the court, while there were also many who were indecisive like Liu Xuan.

That’s it... This is the result of Liu Jinhai’s activities in Henan for more than a year.

At this time, local bandits were rampant in various parts of Henan. For example, Erzi Wang of Shangshui, Li Hao of Yuzhou, Zhang Yang of Zhenping, Han Huamei of Xinyang all defected to the rebel Li Zicheng, while Ma Shangzhi of Tang County chose to defect to the rebel-suppressing general Zuo Liangyu. There were also people like Liu Xuan of Xiangcheng and Su Qingshan of Tongbai who were indecisive and planned to reap the benefits.

Furthermore, Zhang Changtui, Wang Yanbin, Ning Zhen, Wang Wenhuan and others from Liang and Song dynasties defected to Luo Rucai who was entrenched here. Of course, they also maintained certain connections with the Yongyi Army through Liu Jinhai, and they defected to Luo Rucai only because of the pressure from him.

In Yucheng, Xiayi and Yongcheng of Guide Prefecture, there were local bandits such as Li Zhenhai, Fang Wenyu, Xu Xianhuan, Cheng Xiaoyu and Qi Nianwu. They were connected with Zhang Xianzhong and the Five Thieves of Ge Zuo who were active between Henan and Anhui. Even Liu Jinhai had not established effective contact with them, so they were naturally not on the side of the court.

In addition, there are local bandits such as Haicheng monk, Ming Guangshi, Ding Ruwan and others in the Dengzhou area. They neither surrender to the bandits nor take the initiative to surrender to the court. They just guard their own piece of land. No matter which side you are on, as long as you don't provoke them, they will ignore you.

From this we can see that the chaos in Henan was not caused by the intrusion of big thieves such as Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, but its causes were quite complicated. It was caused by not only drought and locust disasters, but also the rebellion of bandits, which weakened the court's control over the local areas.

Of course, the sudden intrusion of Li Zicheng's army into Henan was the main reason that exacerbated this change.

At this moment, except for the three prefectures of Huaiqing, Weihui and Zhangde north of the Yellow River in Henan, which are still under the control of the court, almost all prefectures, counties and districts south of the Yellow River, except for the city of Kaifeng, have been out of the control of the court.

Even though the rebels did not appoint officials to govern the people, they lost contact with the imperial court due to the blocked roads...