A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 491
Speaking of the great war that year, even though 12 years had passed, Elder Zhizang couldn't help shaking his head.

It was a terrible battle.

In the last years of the great cause, peasant uprisings swept across the Central Plains. Under the leadership of Zhai Rang, Xu Shiji, and Shan Xiongxin, the Wagang Army in Henan was active in a vast area of ​​more than [-] miles between the north and south canals, relying on plundering official brigades and merchants on the canals. And start, rise rapidly.

Wagang alarmed the court.

Under the order of Yang Guang, the famous general Zhang Xutuo, who had just put down more than [-] rebels in Lu Mingyue, Shandong, rushed to Henan to suppress the rebellion.

There are pioneers like Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin. Although Wagang is strong, it was defeated in more than [-] battles before and after. between.

After the fight, Wagang backed away when he heard Zhang Xutuo's name, not daring to fight again.Later, when Li Mi went up the mountain, under his suggestion, Wagang took advantage of Zhang Xutuo's transfer, divided his troops into three groups, and made another strong attack, conquering Weicheng, Baima, Tangyin, Neihuang and many other places one after another.

The Wagang Army quickly recovered and swelled up even faster. Li Mi led tens of thousands of people to attack Jindiguan, preparing for the capture of the world's first warehouse in Luokou and the advance of Luoyang.

When the imperial court heard that Wagang was revived, it urgently transferred Zhang Xutuo to guard Xingyang and mobilized [-] Sui troops to encircle and suppress it.

Upon hearing that the man had returned, Zhai Rang and others even planned to run away.

In the end, it was Li Mi who persuaded Zhai Rang and others, and analyzed in detail that although Zhang Xutuo claimed to have dispatched [-] troops, in fact, there were not many real elites in his hands. Now it can be regarded as a large number of soldiers, and it is possible to fight.

In the end, an ambush was set up in Dahai Temple, and Zhai Rang was deliberately asked to bluff and lure the enemy to go deep, and then surrounded and attacked in dangerous terrain.

Zhang Xutuo was able to break through the siege, even he broke through the siege several times, but seeing that many subordinates were still under siege, he went back to save people four times, and finally wiped out all the people around him.

Zhang Xutuo was loyal to the death of the Sui Dynasty. When the horse died, he dismounted and fought on foot until he was overwhelmed by the Wagang Army.

In this battle, the Wagang Army lured [-] Sui troops into the depths with several times their strength, and finally encircled and attacked, finally annihilating the official army.

Zhang Xutuo had defeated Wagang more than 2 times, but the only time he lost was almost all his troops. In this battle, the [-] officers and soldiers were almost wiped out, and the Wagang Army also paid a terrible price for casualties. .

The entire Dahai Temple battlefield was full of corpses of soldiers and horses. Although in terms of strength, the two armies were not as good as the battle of Xiangji Temple in which the Anshi Rebellion regained Chang'an.

In the battle of Xiangji Temple, 15 Tang troops fought against [-] rebels. In four hours of fierce fighting, the Tang army beheaded [-] rebels, took [-] prisoners, and [-] were defeated.

The Tang army also suffered [-] casualties.

In contrast to the Battle of Dahai Temple, the Wagang Army assembled a total force of less than [-] troops, while Zhang Xutuo also had [-] officers and troops. After fighting to the rear, only Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong led more than a thousand remnants of the [-] Sui Army to retreat.

The casualties of the two armies were also [-] to [-].

At that time, too many people died. Although it was November and winter, they had to restrain themselves in a hurry to avoid plague.

As for the corpses of the Sui army, they were burned.

It is said that it burned for several days and nights, black smoke billowed, and the stench of corpses was carried by the wind for dozens of miles.

Abbot Zhizang led the monks in the temple to recite scriptures for seven days to save the dead.

Zhang Xutuo was the commander-in-chief of the Sui Army at that time, and he had defeated the Wagang Army more than [-] times. Countless Wagang Army died under him. Zhai Rang and others hated Zhang Xutuo deeply. In the hands of Gang Jun.

Zhizang didn't know where Zhang Xutuo's body ended up.

Even after Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong followed Pei Renji to Wagang, they did not find out the whereabouts of Zhang Xutuo's body.

These years, Qin Qiong has been searching, but to no avail. This time when Huaiyu went to Youzhou, he asked for help to visit again.

Zhizang didn't know where Zhang Xutuo's body was, but he provided some clues.

The Battle of Dahai Temple was too fierce and bloody. Some Wagang troops left after the war, some went home, some even became monks, and some officers and soldiers threw away their helmets and armor, broke up and fled, hiding in the countryside. Or farmers, some fled into the temple.

After the war, there were still many wounded and disabled people left behind.

Zhizang knew the current address of some veterans of the First World War. Some were monks and Taoists in Dahai Temple and surrounding temples, some were farmers, and some were tenants or even servants of powerful nobles.

"Thank you elder for telling me."

After getting the list, Wu Huaiyu searched everywhere.

In the past 12 years, things have changed.

Xingze.

The Sui embankment of the Bian River is one of the eight sceneries of Xingze, but for Cao Qing, he didn’t like the scenery here, because there is the Bian Canal of the Grand Canal here, and the Suo River flows into the Bian River through Xingyang, and the Bian River The canal flows into the Yellow River not far north.

This place is prospered by the canal, where businesses gather, and it is easy to make a living.

Cao Qing is a shipbuilding craftsman, but 12 years ago, he was an officer of the Sui Dynasty and a famous Jianghuai crossbowman.

During the Sui Dynasty, Jianghuai crossbowmen and lancers were very famous strong soldiers. Wang Shichong used this to conquer Luoyang and fight for hegemony in the Central Plains, and Du Fuwei also dominated Jianghuai based on this.

Cao Qing's hometown, Runzhou, was also the ancient city of Jinling, Danyang County in the Sui Dynasty, where elite soldiers always came out.His family has been a fisherman for generations. He has been proficient in water since he was a child, and he can swim directly across the Yangtze River, and even swim back and forth.When he grew up, instead of being a fisherman, he became a rower and a boat runner.

Later, they were drafted into the army and became Lai Huer's subordinates in the Dongnae Naval Camp. They crossed the sea and fought to Goguryeo. They even attacked the outer city of Pyongyang. Unfortunately, it was a trick. They were ambushed and defeated. .

At that time, Cao Qing ran fast when he was young. Although he was hit by two arrows, he still fled to the shore, and finally swam onto the boat and escaped unharmed.

However, due to injuries, Cao Qing was able to return to his hometown after returning to the Donglai camp.As a result, the wound just healed up, and peasant uprisings were raging everywhere, and Cao Qing was conscripted by the local county guard to suppress bandits.

But more and more bandits were suppressed, and he was getting farther and farther away from home, and was finally transferred to Zhang Xutuo's command.

At the beginning, Cao Qing was still very brave, thinking about earning meritorious service on the battlefield, but from Pyongyang to Danyang, from Danyang to Jiangdu,

Later, it was subordinate to Zhang Xutuo, from Qi County to Beihai County, Beihai to Zhuo County, and then to Xingyang.

The battle continued, but more and more thieves were suppressed, and Cao Qing had countless scars on his body. He was as confused and numb as many officers and soldiers.

Everyone ran around, encircling and suppressing everywhere, but many of the rebels were just hungry people, even the old and weak, women and children, and their families. Many of them didn't even have weapons.

The more thieves were killed, the more uneasy Cao Qing felt.

During the Battle of Dahai Temple, Cao Qing, who was already a school captain, followed Zhang Xutuo five times. In the end, he was pierced through the abdomen by a spear, and he was shot by several arrows, and passed out on the battlefield.

Fortunately, he survived among the dead, and the people who cleaned the battlefield didn't find him. He was a fate, and he struggled to crawl out, dragging his intestines outside.

Later, I met a Taoist priest who rescued him from the dead on the battlefield, bandaged him, and took him back to the Taoist temple to recuperate for a long time.

After recovering from his injury, he wanted to become a monk, but the Taoist confiscated him.

He inquired that Qin Qiong Luo Shixin and the others led more than a thousand horsemen to break out of the battlefield and vote for Pei Renji. After packing up, he wanted to return to the team. Although he wanted to return to his hometown in Danyang, the war was not only in the Central Plains, but Danyang in his hometown in the south of the Yangtze River still did not escape. .

Cao Qing, who walked to Xingyang, went to the Dahai Temple battlefield to pay his respects, and burned some paper for Zhang Shuai and those comrades who died in the battle. He happened to meet a few veterans.

They were not dead, they were disabled, and the Wagang army didn't kill them, so they settled down nearby.

Cao Qing learned that many of the same veterans of the army were now scattered around the battlefield, and even learned that after the death of the chief general Zhang Xutuo, his body was divided into five horses by Zhai Rang and left in the wild.

It was a few disabled veterans who secretly restrained Zhang Xutuo's body, stitched it together, and buried it hastily. They didn't even dare to erect a monument for fear of being discovered.

After learning the news, Cao Qing did not look for Qin Qiong and the others in the end. He chose to stay and bought some land with those disabled veterans. The tomb of Zhang Xutuo is dedicated to those comrades who died in battle during Qingming.

Although the veterans had fought many battles, in the end there was nothing left except for their disabilities and injuries.

Although Cao Qing had once been a captain, in the end other than the scars on his body, there was only a little gold on his body, which was saved over the years and sewn into his clothes. Compared with many old brothers, he has this little gold, which is not bad.

At least you can buy a piece of land.

It has been 12 years, and Cao Qing’s life is not easy. Originally, he bought a piece of land and was considered a small landlord, but after the Battle of Dahai Temple, the world became more and more chaotic. Attacking Luoyang, Luoyang later attracted Wang Shichong's Jianghuai reinforcements, and the two sides fought for years, and the Central Plains were smashed.

The common people are even more miserable, with all kinds of levies and apportionments, and they even have to face the arrest of strong men for military service.

Cao Qing didn't want to fight anymore, so he had to pay every time, and he went bankrupt later. In the end, Cao Qing, a small landlord, became a shipbuilder in a boat workshop on the side of the Xingze Canal.

At the end of the Great War in the Central Plains, Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande were all defeated by Li Tang. Afterwards, the rebellion of Xu Yuanlang, Liu Heizai, Fugong Er and others was a big one, but it was peaceful.

The days gradually settled down.

Cao Qing also married a widow with two children, and the two had three more children. He built ships at the shipyard, and the woman carried the children to sell food at the pier. Life was still hard, but he felt some hope.

Now he still has contact with those old guys in Xingyang. Except for some who are really disabled, most of the guys are living here now, and the chances are better by the canal. Broken ones, not to mention no land, even if there is land, they can’t be planted, so the chances of coming here are better.

Fortunately, although Cao Qing was injured all over his body and had a full waist, he could still earn a stable income by relying on his shipbuilding skills as a craftsman.

His leg hurts in rainy days, and he has to walk on crutches, but this does not affect his shipbuilding skills.

When I came back from the shipyard, the woman and the children at home were not there. The woman must have brought the youngest child to make money at the pier. The eldest two stepson and stepdaughter are now a large family of servants, earning some food and clothing, and a few small money a year. , It can also reduce the burden on the family, otherwise so many mouths cannot be supported.

"Old Cao,"

A familiar voice sounded outside, it was an old brother who lived nearby.

"You are on watch at night now, you won't sleep, how can you find the energy to come to me?"

"Old Cao, I brought you a distinguished guest."

Now at the pier, Lao Xu, who was looking for a night watch job, came over, followed by a young nobleman in purple robes and jade belts, followed by a large group of tall guards in military uniforms.

Cao Qing suddenly shivered.

"Is it Lieutenant Cao, I'm Wu Huaiyu, my adoptive father's surname is Qin Yuqiong,"

(End of this chapter)