The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 647 Jiangdu City Defense Map

Fang Xuanzao lived up to Li Mizhi's great trust. In just a few days, he had slaughtered all the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. The internal troops dispatched to various counties also raised their butcher knives at the manors of the gentry within the agreed time. It had an impact to a certain extent, but the internal army representing Li Mi's regime acted too quickly, so this time the operation almost passed smoothly.

There are three reasons why it can be cleared so quickly. One is that since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties to the present, no matter which regime is based here, it has been very polite to the Jiangnan gentry. By acquiescing to the fact that they control Jiangnan, the long-term tranquility has caused the Jiangnan gentry who dominate here to lose their vigilance. They sit in a well and look at the sky, self-righteous, like spoiled children, overestimating their own strength .

Second, Li Mi was too polite to the Jiangnan gentry before, and retreated step by step. In order to tie the Jiangnan gentry to his chariot, Li Mi sent out a lot of county officials at the time of the official founding of the country, thus achieving paralysis The purpose of this made them unaware that Li Mi, who was in trouble at home and abroad, suddenly ruthlessly attacked them.

Third, the troubled times that emerged in the middle and late period of Daxing led to the separation of Jiangnan from the Central Plains for more than ten years. In the ancient times when transportation and information were extremely underdeveloped, the Jiangnan gentry who were local emperors never thought that the land equalization system and the military merit system were two targets for them. They only know how to blindly reject them, but they know that although these two major moves will cause some turmoil, as long as they annihilate the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River and suppress the local tyrants, they can successfully implement the land equalization system and the military merit system, thereby gaining the support of the army and the people , Eliminate internal worries.

Fourth, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River underestimated the iron-blooded heart of the heroes, and the heroes will do anything that is beneficial to the country.If Li Mi wants to guarantee the Great Wei Dynasty, he must expand the army aggressively, and expanding the army means the need for money and food. As long as these people are killed, they can get a lot of money and food to support the army.The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have accumulated hundreds of thousands of years of wealth, and one or two of them are big fat pigs who are rich in the world, and the pigs will always be slaughtered when they are fat.

It is precisely based on the above four aspects that Li Mi has been in a favorable situation from the beginning to the end. When he acted with thunder, the Jiangnan gentry was still daydreaming, trying to bargain with Yang Tong.

The completion of this step also means that Li Mi has no internal worries and can concentrate on the outside world. When he got the information that Yang Tong appeared in the Nanyang military camp, he felt that the time to expand his living space had come.If he doesn't make a move, the weak Yao Junsu and Du Fuwei will be further strengthened, and by then, he will be at an absolute disadvantage.

Out of this concern, Li Mi decided to preemptively lead an army of [-] to attack Yao Junsu in Huainan County, and at the same time let Shan Xiongxin lead an army of [-] to attack Liyang. Wan Jingrui went to support.As a result, the defenders in Jiangdu City had only [-] elite soldiers and [-] recruits, commanded by Li Mi's confidant General Zhang Tongren.

……

Although Jiangdu City has been quieted down due to the mobilization of the army, the business in the city is still prosperous.

After so many years of ups and downs, all the rebels who made a living by plundering have disappeared, and the surviving and growing air forces are all self-sufficient with the people supporting the army. To disturb the people, the army is also on the right track.

This also allows the people in Jiangdu who are accustomed to war to live with peace of mind. They know that as long as it is not a massacre of the city, the war has basically nothing to do with them. Those who should make money to make money, and those who should get married, there is no sign of closure of shops and restaurants, and business is still going on. as usual.

Although Jiangdu City is located in the north corner of the south of the Yangtze River, its economic status as a water transportation hub also determines its prosperity, and its undertaking of water and land transportation from the north to the south also determines its strategic position, which gave Jiangdu a very high political status in the Sui Dynasty, and even became a The accompanying capital of the Sui Dynasty, Jiangdu actually became the de facto capital of the Sui Dynasty during the few years when Yang Guang was drunk and dreamed of dying.

The circumference of Jiangdu City is nearly sixty miles, and at its most prosperous time, it had a population of over one million. Despite the changes in Jiangdu, Yu Wenhuaji's capture, Li Zitong's capture, and Li Mi's capture, the population of Jiangdu was However, it has not been destroyed after all, so Jiangdu still has more than 50 households and a population of [-] million, making it the largest city in the south of the Yangtze River.

In the afternoon, Bing Yuanzhen left his home. He has been completely ignored by Li Mi now. When Li Mi led the army to march west, he did not arrange any real affairs for him. In terms of military and political affairs, there is no position at all.It was Li Mi's lack of kindness that made him completely give up on Wei Guo, and he didn't even complain.Just because when he received Yang Tong's amnesty order, he had already decided to be loyal to the Sui Dynasty.

As Wagang's first mastermind, Bing Yuanzhen was talented and resourceful, but he also knew that if Li Mi was in Jiangdu, he would not have a chance. He didn't start until Li Mi marched west to Huainan, planning to find a breakthrough here with Zhang Tongren.

Riding a little donkey, he headed towards the military camp in the north of the city in a leisurely manner. The military camp is not very big, covering only a few hundred acres of land. Surrounded by fences, more than 100 soldiers guarding Jiangdu City are stationed here.

The [-] troops were divided into five squads, which took turns going to the city to patrol and defend, and took turns to return to the camp for training. The chief general was Zhang Tongren, who was born in Li Mi's Wagang.At that time, Wagang soldiers came out in large numbers. He was just a third-rate guy who was brave and intrepid. General of Bodang and Xu Shiji.

Zhang Tongren has a fierce appearance and is irritable, but the key is that he is illiterate. It is really embarrassing for Li Mi to let him be in charge of all the military affairs in Jiangdu City.But Li Mi couldn't help it. After years of fighting, he lost too many generals in the hands of Wang Shichong, Yu Wenhuaji and Du Fuwei. In addition, in order to unify the power, he killed many restless people who went their own way. Because of his seniority, he was caught in the predicament of having no generals available, and Jiangdu City was where he and his family members lived, so it was really uneasy to hand it over to other people, so he could only appoint the most reliable people.

In just a few days, the miscellaneous incidents in Jiangdu made Zhang Tongren burnt out, and several staff members were ineffective, which made him upset and yelled all day long.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Zhang Tongren beat several civilian officials with a whip in his hand, and cursed loudly: "I can't read, so I asked you to go to work. You just took over the military affairs. There are some mistakes and confusion. I can understand and tolerate it." But you are so wrong, some brothers received three stones of rice, and some were actually starving, what do you bastards do? You want to force the brothers to rebel, don't you?"

Although Zhang Tongren has no culture, but he has been with Li Mi for a long time, he also knows that rewards and punishments can make the soldiers work together and ensure the combat effectiveness of the army, but what these people did is too outrageous, and he absolutely cannot tolerate it.If you don't punish them properly, the morale of the army will be in chaos.

These people are indeed literati, and they are also the children of a small family in the south of the Yangtze River. They have a certain literary talent, but they have studied the Four Books and Five Classics since they were young.However, they also realized that their mistakes were really outrageous. They were afraid that Zhang Tongren would cut off their family in the name of Tong Sui, so no one dared to refute and beg for mercy.

At this time, a soldier entered the account and reported: "Report to the general, the grand master is asking to see him outside the camp."

"Who are you talking about?" Zhang Tongren was taken aback.

"Grand Master, Minister of Rites Bing Yuanzhen." Qin Wei said it in detail.

Zhang Tongren was overjoyed when he heard the words, and kicked each of these civil servants fiercely: "Get out of here, take back the salary, which is not less than one yuan and one meter, and give it out again."

"Here!" Several civil servants complained endlessly. Now that their salaries have been distributed, those soldiers who got three shi and took advantage of it would be good to return a dou. How can they make a lot of money and a meter?But at this time, he didn't dare to object, so he could only obey his orders and retreat.

Zhang Tongren didn't wait for a few people to get up, and hurried out of the camp to greet him. During Zhai Rang's time in charge, Bing Yuan, who created the great cause of Wagang with him, was really a well-deserved veteran. It's an exaggeration, and Zhang Tongren was just a low-level role back then, and he didn't even have a chance to flatter him.

But feng shui took turns, once the emperor and the courtiers, Bing Yuanzhen, who used to be powerful in the sky, has completely declined, while Zhang Tongren, a small character who is not popular, has become a popular general of the country.He felt that it was quite good to be able to play prestige and put on airs in front of an old powerful official like Bing Yuanzhen.

Zhang Tongren, who ran to the gate of the barracks, was dumbfounded. He saw Bing Yuanzhen leading a little donkey standing beside the camp gate and waiting silently. He couldn't help laughing loudly, "Why doesn't Grand Master Bing even ride a horse? You are riding a little donkey." Are you a peddler?"

Bing Yuanzhen’s Grand Master is an idle vain job, and the Minister of Rites is a real job. The Ministry of Rites has a very high status in the Great Sui Dynasty when all nations returned to the dynasty. Fang Xuanzao, civil servants have no status, if an ordinary general is annoyed by civil servants, even if the opponent is a minister, he would dare to insult him in the street.

Although Li Mi also wants to establish an official system that emphasizes both civil and military affairs in the orthodox dynasty, his foundation lies in the army and the generals who came from reckless generals. Only a few talented people are truly respected by them.More importantly, most of Li Mi's civil servants are surrendered ministers who are used to decorate the appearance. Even Li Mi himself does not trust this kind of surrendered ministers towards Qin and Muchu. How can it be possible to respect such weak bones by killing high-ranking generals?
As the leader of the veteran forces, Li Mi has far-sightedness and foresight. Naturally, he knows that equal emphasis on civil and military affairs is the way to long-term stability in a country, but the basis for establishing order is to sacrifice the rights of generals. The situation is severe, and it will fall apart. No matter how serious it is, Li Mi can't bear it.So now he puts more emphasis on martial arts than culture, and meets all the requirements of generals. Only when the overall situation is stable can he consider both civil and military affairs and the separation of military and government.

Zhang Tongren's triumphant cynicism naturally wouldn't annoy Bing Yuanzhen. He cupped his hands and said lightly: "I've been busy for half my life, and suddenly I'm bored. I want to find some chores to pass the boring days." , can the general contain it?"

Zhang Tongren was overjoyed, his place is now a mess, and Bing Yuanzhen was in charge of the logistics and government affairs of hundreds of thousands of troops. He naturally wanted these talents to come to help, but he was also worried that he would recruit Bing Yuanzhen without authorization. Doing things in the army, I'm afraid it will offend the Holy Majesty?

But the thought was fleeting.

First of all, Bing Yuan is really the founding father of the country, and his personal prestige is extremely high. Li Mi let him sit on the bench for so long, but instead reused those surrendered ministers who had not achieved an inch of merit. It's enough to be a small staff member with the stature of a grand master or a minister. If you don't even give this little face, you will be scolded by everyone;

Secondly, before the emperor left, Fang Xuanzao, who was on the expedition with the army, also hoped that the emperor could reactivate Bing Yuanzhen and let him take charge of all the government affairs of Jiangdu County.As long as you report the problems you are facing in time and the reasons for hiring Bing Yuanzhen as a staff member, the emperor will surely agree.

Thinking of this, Zhang Tongren said with a smile: "If the grand master is willing to work in the army, of course I can't ask for it. As long as you don't think the temple is too small, I will not say anything else! Grand master, please."

"General, please!" Bing Yuanzhen followed Zhang Tongren into the barracks.

Although Zhang Tongren has many shortcomings, he has self-knowledge. He knows that his intelligence is far inferior to that of Bing Yuanzhen. The barracks wandered around, hoping that the other party could point out their shortcomings.

Bing Yuanzhen naturally knew everything and said everything, and he pointed out everything good and bad. He said it quite tactfully, which guaranteed Zhang Tongren's face, which made Zhang Tongren very fond of him.

Until the evening, Bing Yuanzhen left the barracks, rode the pair of little donkeys and walked slowly towards home, and stopped in front of an inn called "Youjia Inn". As soon as he stopped, he happened to see Shi Hao Walking out from the inside, the two of them met each other and laughed meaningfully.Bing Yuanzhen handed over a folded piece of paper, and left with a whip.

Shi Hao hurried back to an attic in the backyard, closed the door, and spread out the scroll on the table. It turned out to be a map one foot wide and two feet long.The words 'Jiangdu City Defense' are written on the top of the map, and there are dense markings beside it.

Shi Hao was overjoyed. What he needs most now is the Jiangdu City Defense Map. As long as the Jiangdu City Defense Map is in the hands of the Holy Master, then the overwhelmingly superior Sui army can take back Jiangdu City by surprise and easily.

(End of this chapter)