The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 424 Fang La's Rebellion
After Qiongying's reminder, Mu Xu suddenly felt enlightened.

Perhaps because he lived in ancient times for a long time, his thinking began to gradually approach the ancients, and most of the time his thinking was unconsciously rigid.

Take the lack of low-level management personnel as an example, his thinking was completely wrong from the beginning.

There should be no expectations for those scholars with fame and fame at all. What we should really do is to win over those scholars who have no ambitions, especially those who have failed repeatedly.

Just because from the perspective of the former, they are the vested interests of this era, so there is no reason for them to abandon the glory and wealth they have acquired, and choose to risk their ruin and reputation to rebel with him.

But the latter is different. These people are eager to stand out, but they can't squeeze the single-plank bridge of the imperial examination.The situation is particularly embarrassing if you can't join the ruling class, and you don't want to be with the common people.

And there is another advantage of attracting the latter, that is, the quantitative advantage.

You must know that the imperial examinations in ancient times were many times more difficult than the college entrance examinations in later generations.It can even be said that the difficulty of being admitted to a Jinshi is much higher than that of Tsinghua University and Peking University.

This is really not nonsense. Take the fifth year of Xianping in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1002) as an example. In that year, [-] candidates participated in the imperial examination, and [-] Jinshi were finally admitted.

What is the probability of this?It's [-] percent.But please don't forget that this is only talking about juren, not including the particularly large number of scholars in the state examination and children in the rural examination.Once those people are counted, the admission rate of each imperial examination may not even be one in ten thousand.

Under this reality, it is conceivable how many scholars there will be who fail to pass the exam or are blocked from the threshold of the imperial examination.

Therefore, if it works properly, as long as one percent of these people are willing to work for him, Mu Xu, is it afraid that no one will manage the place?
Thinking about this, Mu Xu no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered Zhu Wu to be invited to discuss the matter with him overnight.

After Zhu Wu arrived, when he heard about this method from Mu Xu, he was immediately astonished, and hurriedly expressed his approval.After all, he was also a scholar, but he knew what those people were thinking too well.

He is very sure that those who are about to be driven crazy by the imperial examination will not refuse this opportunity to get ahead.

That night, the two of them talked by candlelight, formally confirming how this matter should be handled and what the content of the exam would be.

After some discussion, in order to avoid irritating the imperial court, they named this alternative scientific examination as Jucai Examination.

However, when it came to the content of the exam, the two had a fierce quarrel.Zhu Wu thought in the same old way, and planned to continue the examination of the Four Books and Five Classics, but Mu Xu flatly rejected this proposal as soon as he said it.

Mu Xu gave two reasons.First of all, the selections this time are professionals from all walks of life, and there is no need for the kind of nerds who can only study hard.He didn't have the spare time to recruit a group of scholars and train them again.

Secondly, Mu Xu intends to set a precedent for this round of talent selection test. He not only wants to select political talents for local governance, but also recruits talents from other industries.Such as Mathematics, Legalism, Mohism, Farming, Strategists and so on.

To a certain extent, Mu Xu's talent test can also be called a hundred schools test.But the reason why he didn't decide on this name was because he didn't want to offend those traditional Confucian scholars just because of a name.

Zhu Wu is not a pedantic person, he couldn't understand it in his heart at first, but after Mu Xu's painstaking explanation, he can finally accept it reluctantly.

However, Zhu Wu still raised some objections, so I just listened to him,

"The village owner's original intention is naturally good. It's just that he is too radical to act in this way. From a trivial point of view, it is better to promise a large profit instead of granting an official position when selecting talents from a hundred families."

Seeing the hesitation on Mu Xu's face, Zhu Wu continued to persuade, "Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty dismissed the hundred schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, Confucianism has been orthodox in the past dynasties. Although the village owner uses the name of the talent test today, it is difficult to conceal the idea of ​​​​reviving a hundred schools of thought to contend for each other. If you insist on going your own way, I am afraid that the world's scholars will attack you, what can you do then?"

Mu Xu was silent for a long time when he heard the words, and found that he really took it for granted.After all, freezing three feet does not happen in a day, and it is impossible to change this situation in a day.

"Forget it, it is according to what the military adviser said." After thinking for a long time, Mu Xu waved his hands with some disinterest, finally agreeing with Zhu Wu's statement.

Zhu Wu accepted it as soon as he saw it, and hurriedly changed the subject, "Village Master, I don't know when this move will be held?"

Mu Xu replied, "Take Longde Mansion as a pilot first, and then try to see the effect. If there are no major problems, we will fully implement it after we gain a firm foothold in Hedong."

Zhu Wu nodded in agreement, then looked at the sky outside the study, and said, "It will be dawn soon, the village master might as well rest today, how about calling the brothers to discuss matters tomorrow?"

Mu Xu shook his head, "It's okay, I've always been healthy, even if I stay up a few more nights, it won't cause any serious problems. But you, the military advisor, need to pay more attention to your health."

Zhu Wu joked, "Thank you for your concern. I'm not a traditional literati like Brother Xu. Maybe the village master forgot that I used to be a strong man who robbed houses and was good at martial arts!"

"I remember this, and I will tell Junshi Xu later."

"Xiaosheng is just telling the truth, are you afraid that brother Xu will know?"

The two talked and laughed a little, and Mu Xu suddenly thought that he asked Zhu Wu for his opinion on the matter of rescuing Tian Hu that he had mentioned with Qiongying before.

After hearing Mu Xu's thoughts, Zhu Wu echoed, "The village owner is very considerate. We should support Tian Hu. But we can't ruin our important affairs just to help him."

After all, he took the initiative to invite Ying, wanting to take charge of the matter himself.

Mu Xu didn't want to, but refused, "It's better to let Brother Le and rescue Tian Hu, and the military division will stay to supervise the conscription."

Zhu Wu also understood that this was their top priority at the moment, so he hastily and solemnly agreed, "Xiao Ke will definitely handle this matter well, but I don't know how many soldiers the village master wants to recruit?"

While pacing in the room, Mu Xu silently calculated the population of the three states, and after a while he decided,

"Longde Mansion is richer and has a larger population, so the limit is [-] people. Liaozhou and Weisheng have relatively fewer people, and each recruits [-] people, making a total of [-] people."

Speaking of this, Mu Xu suddenly thought that the national policy adopted by the Song Dynasty was to have strong branches and weak branches, and coupled with the lack of local military strength, it was unclear whether there were enough weapons.So I asked,
"Have the treasuries of various places calculated the number of weapons and armor?"

Zhu Wu said with a wry smile, "I was about to report this matter to the village master, but the number of soldiers in treasuries in various places is extremely large, no less than one hundred thousand in total.

But the ground in the east of the river has been peaceful for a long time, and the local government has not maintained it well all year round. As a result, many armors have rusted and rotted and cannot be used normally at all. "

Mu Xu's heart tightened, and he hurriedly asked, "Maybe we can get [-] people to use?"

"Originally there was no problem, but the previous Fanweisheng army went south to suppress the rebellion and took away many usable weapons. Now we can only gather weapons for [-] people, and most of them are swords, spears, bows and crossbows Armor is extremely rare."

After hearing this answer, Mu Xu frowned and said, "In this case, the situation of Pingding and Weisheng are generally the same?"

"I'm afraid that's the case." Zhu Wu replied, and then added, "After Xiao Ke discovered this problem, he ordered people to go to various places to recruit blacksmiths. I'm afraid there will be too little time."

After thinking for a while, Mu Xu gave his solution, "Gather all the weapons that can be used at present, and distribute them to the recruits first, and these people will be responsible for guarding the place. Then send an order to Liangshan, ordering Du Qian to use it within a month. , and personally escorted [-] sets of infantry equipment to Hedong."

"Yes, Xiao Ke will do it now!" Zhu Wu didn't dare to be negligent, and said goodbye in a hurry.

After Zhu Wu left, thinking about the lack of weapons, Mu Xu couldn't help but think of Tong Jian, and then he diverted his thinking, and then thought of the mysterious thunder and thunder in the original book.

Mu Xu had also thought about earning Ling Zhen up the mountain before, but firstly, he didn't have time, and secondly, he felt that Shi Naian was suspected of being exaggerated.

Thanks to his previous life's research on history, Mu Xu clearly remembered that there was an argument that the first real artillery in ancient China was invented in the Southern Song Dynasty. Its caliber was only [-] mm and its range It's only about [-] meters.

But Shuihuli actually said that Ling Zhen's artillery can hit more than ten miles, isn't this a fairy tale?
However, after some reflection today, Mu Xu suddenly became very interested in Ling Zhen.

After all, it may not be without reason, maybe Ling Zhen can really surprise him.

It's a pity that Mu Xu was not an engineering student in his previous life, and he didn't know much about the artillery and muskets of the great voyage period in the later generations, he only knew some general principles.

Otherwise, if he could instruct Ling Zhen to make those things, he might be able to queue up and shoot hundreds of years in advance.At that time, it will be exciting to think about using technology to crush the prairie barbarians.

After thinking wildly for a while, Mu Xu came to the desk, wrote a letter in his own handwriting, ordered someone to send it to Liangshan, and handed the letter to the desperate Sanlang Shixiu.In the letter, he told Shi Xiu to go to Tokyo City and find a way to invite Ling Zhen to the mountain.

……

In the following six months, the development of the situation in the east of the river can be said to be dazzling.

First, after Mu Xu's troops occupied Liaozhou, they then went northward. It took only a little more than a month to occupy Pingding, and the troops pointed directly at Taiyuan Mansion.

After that, Tian Hu was not idle there, and occupied Jinzhou and Cizhou one after another, and now he is sending troops to attack Fenzhou with all his strength.

On the contrary, the reaction from the imperial court was a bit strange. Tong Guan's Western Army, which had been promised, had not been seen for a long time.Instead, from the northern border, the Ninghua Army and the Daizhou Defenders were transferred south to assist in the defense of Taiyuan Mansion.

Mu Xu thought there was some kind of conspiracy at first, but he didn't understand the reason until he received the information from Liang Shan.

However, after Fang Lan received Mu Xu's letter, he saw that even Wang Qing had turned his back on him. All of a sudden, the world was full of wars, and now was a good time to start an incident.

After thinking about it for a long time, he was persuaded again and again by his subordinates, and finally gave up the plan of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, and prepared to earnestly fulfill the covenant with Mu Xu.

Finally, on the [-]th day of June, the last day agreed with Mu Xu, Fang La raised the flag of rebellion in She County.

Because in recent years, Fang La has gathered party members in the name of preaching, so as soon as he started working, he gathered hundreds of thousands of people under his command.In addition, the people in the south of the Yangtze River were deeply harmed by Hua Shi Gang, so that responders gathered from all over the south.

In just two months, Fang La successively captured Hangzhou, Huizhou, Quzhou, Lishui, Jinhua and other places, and sent troops to attack Jiaxing in an attempt to achieve the strategic intention of planning the river and defending it.

And compared to Mu Xu and the others, Fang La's disciples did things better.During the uprising, none of the Song Dynasty officials or local gentry who fell into their hands ended well.

Whether it was gouged out, burned, or skinned, almost no one could leave the whole body.Those Manichaeists turned their resentment of being oppressed for many years into the cruelest punishment, and imposed it on the ruling class of Song Dynasty.

Jiangnan was originally a tax-heavy place in the Song Dynasty, and Fang La's various actions caused the news to spread to Tokyo, causing an uproar immediately.

All the ministers in the court were furious, especially the officials from Jiangnan who were born in tears, begging the emperor Zhao Ji to send troops to suppress it.

Even if Zhao Ji is fatuous and incompetent, he still understands the priorities.Compared with the rebellion of Tian Hu and Mu Xu, Fang La is more harmful to the rule of Song Dynasty.

Therefore, he issued three edicts in a row, sent messengers to rush to Yongxing Army Road, ordered Tong Guanzheng to mobilize [-] Western troops, and went south to quell the rebellion.

This is why Tong Guan didn't go to Hedong.

It's said that after Mu Xu got the news, he felt overjoyed.You must know that he didn't have any hope for Fang La. Who would have thought that this guy would give him such a big surprise all of a sudden.

What else is there to say, Tian Hu has not captured Fenzhou yet, and the main force of the imperial court's suppression of the rebellion has been attracted by Fang La, so how long will it be if we don't take Taiyuan Mansion at this time!
On the same day, Mu Xu summoned all the generals as quickly as possible to discuss the matter of sending troops to Taiyuan, and finally agreed that the troops should be dispatched in three ways.

From the north, Lin Chong was the main general, Zhang Qing was the deputy, and the five thousand troops were led to attack from Yangshou.On the South Road, with Hu Yanzhuo as the main general and Guan Sheng as his deputy, he also led an army of [-] troops and attacked northward from Qi County.

Mu Xu personally led an army of [-], starting from Yuci, going up the Fenshui River, and directly entering the city of Taiyuan.

Judging from the number of soldiers and horses, Mu Xu seems to have only [-] horses, which is far inferior to the [-] troops stationed by the imperial court in Taiyuan Mansion.But don't forget that wars sometimes depend not on the number of people.

Taking Mu Xu's [-] people as an example, I dare not say that they have experienced hundreds of battles, but at least they have been baptized by the flames of war several times.

Looking back at the imperial court, the [-] army was made up of pieces and had not fought for many years. Apart from being well-equipped, its combat power was not worth mentioning.In this case, the two sides go to the battle, the result can be imagined.

Therefore, in the next month or so, Mu Xu's three-way army was like a broken bamboo, and almost most of the cities along the way were waiting for the wind to surrender. By the end of September, they had successfully joined forces under the city of Taiyuan.

Only here did Liangshan's army stop its advance, and Sun Yi, the Shuoning Mansion guard who came to the rescue, led his troops to stop it tenaciously at the head of Taiyuan City.

(End of this chapter)