Fu Shanhe

Chapter 253: The Fall of Anqing
"What, didn't find the false emperor?"

Li Mu asked in surprise.

The encirclement and annihilation plan against the rebels was very successful. Except for a few that slipped through the net, the enemy forces were basically wiped out.

Everything went smoothly, except that the fake emperor Shi Rongxian was not found.

The most troublesome thing is that there is no trace of the person alive and no trace of the body after death.

"Yes, my lord.

We searched every corner of the battlefield, but found no trace of the false emperor.

We also found nothing about the Guizhou Army. We also sent people to inquire about the Tusi.

The surrounding provincial capitals were under tight control and militia patrols were mobilized. If the false emperor escaped, there was no way he would not be discovered.

Either he changed into a soldier's clothes while fleeing and died in the chaos, his body was tormented beyond recognition, or he was hidden by someone."

Xiang Xinghan said affirmatively.

In other matters, the local officials of Guizhou might be perfunctory, but in such a major matter as hunting down the false emperor, no one would be confused.

In this era when one needs a pass to go out, it is impossible for a fake emperor who has no roots in the local area to leave Guizhou.

"That's it!
It doesn't matter if he hasn't been caught. We will send a letter to the Guizhou Governor's Office, asking them to find the fake emperor who is on the run.

Master, the battle report sent to Marquis Wuyang directly stated that the fake emperor was suspected to have died on the battlefield, and his body was burned to ashes by the fire. "

Li Mu said calmly.

In the current situation, harboring the fake emperor is pure brain damage. He doesn't believe that anyone would be so stupid as to commit such a heinous crime of confiscating the family property and exterminating the whole family.

Even the local chieftains who refused to submit to the king became obedient after his army entered Tongren Prefecture.

It’s nonsense to forbid crossing the border. The army has always moved as it is convenient for them, and no chieftain along the way dared to say a word of objection.

Because they marched too fast and did not carry enough food and fodder, he sent people to borrow some from the local chieftain.

They were extremely understanding and not only provided wine and meat to entertain the special envoy, but also generously said: You don't have to return some of the food, just consider it as making friends.

Afterwards, someone was sent to deliver a generous gift.

Li Mu made a rough calculation and found that the number of gifts received was exactly the same as the number of chieftains in the vicinity, with no one left out.

No matter how you look at it, they don't seem like they can harbor a fake emperor.

In comparison, it is more likely that the false emperor will die on the battlefield.

To put it bluntly, the only people in the army who had seen the false emperor Shi Rongxian were the captured prisoners.

Forced to identify the bodies, who knows if they were serious?
If someone has feelings for his former master and cannot bear to see Shi Rongxian suffer after his death, they will say they didn't see it even if they saw it.

In the hot summer, the bodies could not be stored for long. After the military merits were calculated, the bodies of the rebels were burned.

Even if I want to recheck now, there is no chance.

In order to be on the safe side, Li Mu made two preparations.

If the fake emperor Shi Rongxian did not show up for a long time, he would be beheaded on the battlefield; if the fake emperor showed up again, it would be the dereliction of duty of the local officials in Guizhou.

Anyway, as a general who led the army to suppress the rebellion, he fulfilled his duties conscientiously. When it came time to write, he was absolutely unambiguous.

The imperial court would not hold a meritorious official accountable for such a small matter. Even if the emperor was unhappy, the people who were most likely to be angered were the local officials in Guizhou.

The Guizhou of today is not the well-developed Guizhou of later generations. In the Great Yu Dynasty, Guizhou was also a place where criminals were exiled.

These local officials were originally marginal figures in the imperial court. Who would be willing to come to Guizhou to serve if they had a little background?

Even if the emperor was unhappy with them, there was limited room for them to be demoted. At most, they would be reprimanded and fined a few months' salary.

Especially the county-level officials, they were all taken down at once, and the court couldn't find anyone to fill the positions.

After all, the shortage of officials in the prefectures and counties under Guangxi is enough to give the Ministry of Personnel a headache.

If Guizhou is added, it will be even more difficult to fill the staffing quota.

……

“Sir, Commander Li rejected the invitation and withdrew his troops.

It is said that he received a military order from Marquis Wuyang and had to rush back to participate in the defense of Jiangnan."

Upon receiving this news, all the senior Guizhou officials in the government office showed incredible expressions.

Generally speaking, the foreign troops will make some money before leaving, and then they will withdraw peacefully.

If the money is not given in full, the officers and soldiers below will solve the problem themselves and will never cause trouble for the court.

The Guangxi Army came to pursue the rebels, although they were not invited. But they came, and the local government had to express its gratitude.

In a sense, Li Mu's actions this time also saved their careers.

If the Guangxi soldiers had not arrived quickly, they would not have been able to stop the enemy's offensive on their own.

If they lose Loushan Pass and allow the rebels to enter Shu, they won't know whether they can keep their heads when the court holds them accountable.

"Since Commander Li is a man of high moral character, the money raised will be used to hunt down the remnants of the rebels.

The main force of the White Lotus rebels was annihilated, but there were still a small number of defeated soldiers who fled to various places in Guizhou.

There are many high-ranking rebels among them, and even the fake emperor may be mixed in. Next, everyone must find these traitors and restore order to Guizhou!"

Governor Wu Yuchen said righteously.

Deep down, he was not calm at all at this moment.

In the officialdom, officials at the same level will give each other face unless their own interests are involved.

Now he had prepared a banquet, but he hadn't invited anyone. It was obvious that the other party looked down on him and had no intention of making friends with him.

As the governor of a province, he was actually ignored by a military commander. If the news got out, it would be a joke.

Although he was angry, Wu Yuchen knew very well that he could not do anything right now.

As a governor in a marginal position, his voice in the court was not as strong as that of some prefects of big cities.

The Guangxi soldiers were in a hurry to leave, so regardless of whether it was a real crisis or just an excuse, he had to treat it as the former.

"Governor, our army has suffered heavy losses in the battles in recent days.

The number of casualties alone exceeds 20,000, and there are 8,000 wounded who need medical treatment. We urgently need the governor’s office to issue a pension.”

General Xiao Xianrong immediately complained.

In the process of intercepting the rebels, the Guizhou Army also paid a heavy price. Although the number of casualties was not 20,000, there were still 6,000 to 7,000.

Considering the funding from above and the love of budget cuts, he could only falsify the casualties.

By the way, let's take this opportunity to clean up the mess of past employees who were drawing salaries without working.

Although the Guizhou Army only played a small role in the great achievement of annihilating the rebel central government, it did not affect his ability to bring it up.

"With so many casualties in the army, the gap in pensions is too big. The court is not wealthy now, and we need to share the worries of His Majesty. You should also be considerate of the court.

The Governor's Office will allocate 50,000 taels of silver to you to deal with the funeral affairs of the fallen soldiers first.

The rest of the pension will be reissued to you when the court's finances are sufficient."

Wu Yuchen's answer made Xiao Xianrong so angry that he vomited blood.

This was not what they said when the rebels attacked us. Now that the enemy is gone and there is no need to use troops, they suddenly changed their attitude.

According to the rules of the Great Yu Dynasty, after a soldier died in battle, he would be compensated with a full three-year military salary, and then half of it would be paid out until his parents and wife passed away and his children came of age.

If a person holds a military position and his eldest son inherits the position, then only funeral expenses will be given.

There is no doubt that these pension benefits have long been in name only.

If the generals have a conscience, they will try to get a one-time compensation. As for the subsequent pension, it depends on the allocation of funds by the court, and basically they cannot get it.

If the general was greedy and just took the pension, the soldiers would have died in vain.

Now it’s not a question of whether Xiao Xianrong is corrupt or not, but that the governor’s office does not want to give money.

A mere 50,000 taels of silver was mostly spent on the funeral expenses of the fallen soldiers and the medical expenses for treating the wounded.

"Governor, what can you do with this little money?

According to Dayu law, the funeral expenses + pension for each soldier must not be less than 30 taels of silver.

Add in the medical expenses for the wounded and the rewards for the soldiers' military exploits, it will cost at least 900,000 taels!"

Xiao Xianrong bargained decisively.

According to the figures he reported, the expenditure of 900,000 taels is really not that much.

War itself is a money-eating beast. Not only do strategic materials such as weapons and food cost money, but post-war pensions and rewards are also a huge expense.

The financial constraints of the Great Yu Dynasty were largely caused by the war. No matter how much money you have, it will eventually be consumed by this money-eating beast.

"Nine hundred thousand taels?
Xiao Xianrong, are you kidding me?
To tell you the truth, all the government coffers at all levels in Guizhou combined cannot raise 900,000 taels of silver.

At most one hundred thousand taels, not a single extra word!"

Wu Yuchen bargained decisively.

There were only a few government offices in the entire Dayu Dynasty that could come up with 900,000 taels of silver at one time, but Guizhou was definitely not one of them.

The annual fiscal revenue of the entire Guizhou Province was less than 900,000 taels of silver, and its contribution to Dayu's finances was less than 0.3%.

Even if we save taxes, it won’t fill this hole.

What’s worse is that during the previous defeat of the Yunnan-Guizhou Allied Forces, the Guizhou Governor’s Office paid a huge amount of pension.

Adding the expenses of sporadic wars, the current governor's office is really short of money.

In fact, this is also the reason why Guizhou officials wanted to spend money to annihilate the rebels in Huguang.

The war was too expensive. Even if the rebels were just intercepted, the bill of the Guizhou Governor's Office would cost more than 400,000 taels.

Including the follow-up costs, it would be impossible to accomplish it without 700,000 or 800,000 taels.

"Governor, please have mercy on the wounded and the families of the fallen soldiers!
They sacrificed themselves for the court, we cannot cut off their chance of survival!"

Xiao Xianrong then began to act pitifully.

A dead Taoist friend is not a poor Taoist.

Everyone knew that the imperial court was poor, but the money had to be paid. Otherwise, if the soldiers started to riot, it would be a disaster.

Deep down, he had already made up his mind. If the governor's office refused to pay, he would let the soldiers' families carry the coffins and make trouble.

It is better to direct the conflict to the governor's office than to let the soldiers hate him and shoot him from behind on the battlefield.

Xiao Xianrong can no longer care about the adverse political impact caused by this.

He only knew that the military camp was now a powder keg, and if he didn't deal with the aftermath properly and pay part of the arrears, he would not be able to keep his position as the general.

……

As we set out on our journey home, everyone was in a good mood.

Although the rebellion was not suppressed to its full potential due to the absence of the false emperor, the gains from this trip were extremely rich.

Each of the soldiers was carrying large and small bags, and anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they had made a fortune this time.

The reason why they were in a hurry to leave with their army was largely because they had made too much money. If they had stayed in Guizhou, they would have been in trouble.

It was impossible to keep such a big deal secret. Once the news got out, it would surely arouse jealousy.

Human nature is the most uncontrollable. Driven by interests, many people do stupid things.

In order to reduce unnecessary trouble, he simply took the soldiers back to Guangxi to rest, and brought the spoils from the battlefield back to the old nest for storage.

No matter how envious and jealous the outside world is, no one has the courage to run to the lair of tens of thousands of elite troops and snatch food from their mouths.

At most, he would be criticized by others and impeached by the censor for a while. Li Mu had a good attitude. As long as he didn't hear it with his own ears or see it with his own eyes, he could pretend that nothing happened.

He was not the only one who made money from the war. The Guangxi Army was not a grassroots team, but was filled with a large number of children of nobles.

If they fail to keep the wealth they have obtained, the entire group of nobles will become a laughing stock in official circles.

Even if there is an impeachment by the censor, the fathers in the capital will help to clean up the mess.

In the past two years, war has been raging in Dayu, and the voice of the noble group in the court has also increased significantly.

After the war, even if the dozen or so high-ranking generals under his command could not become generals or commanders-in-chief, they would be able to get the position of deputy generals or deputy commanders-in-chief.

All of them were powerful generals, and once they were scattered across the country, the young and vigorous faction of nobles headed by Li Mu was initially formed.

Even compared with the nine frontier generals, they are not inferior.

"Commander-in-chief, something big has happened!"

"The Governor's Office sent an urgent message six hundred miles away. Anqing was captured by the rebels ten days ago. The security of Yingtian Prefecture has been seriously challenged.

The Marquis hopes that after you finish the war in Guizhou, you will immediately return to Guangzhou to discuss countermeasures."

When he heard the news, there was no change on Li Mu's face.

The failure to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion in a timely manner inevitably resulted in the deterioration of the situation in the Jiangnan region.

Not to mention the large number of refugees pouring into the Jiangnan region, just in order to raise military pay, the army had to levy money and grain on the Jiangnan region many times.

If the regulations had been strictly followed, nothing serious would have happened. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the implementation, and the gentry who were supposed to bear the burden not only did not pay, but took the opportunity to make a fortune.

The taxes that should have been borne by them were transferred to the common people. If the imperial court increased the tax by one penny, it would increase three or five times by the local government.

Many people who should not have to pay were also forced to bear high taxes.

Officials and gentry made a lot of money, making life miserable for the local people. Even if there were no White Lotus rebels, there would be other rebels.

(End of this chapter)