A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 431 The Ten-Day Agreement
April 24th, Lesser Fullness (Xiaoman).

The second solar term of summer is when everything is small and full. The wheat on the banks of the Sishui River is gradually ripening, and the half-ripe wheat grains look particularly plump in the sunlight.

"Xiaoman (the beginning of spring) is like the current war situation."

Liu Shiche sat on the boat with Li Yi, saying, "Although Yanzhou has not yet been captured, victory is assured."

After the Battle of Rencheng, the southern gateway to Yanzhou was wide open, while Liu Lancheng, the mad scribe, launched a surprise attack on the northern side of Yanzhou, devising a plan to lure and kill Fu De, and then once again besieged Zhang Qingte in Xuchang City, Yunzhou.

Qi Gongshun, the governor of Qingzhou, also sent troops to attack Li Wuyi of Tanzhou. Li Wuyi failed to capture Qizhou and was instead ambushed by Qi Gongshun in Tanzhou, so he had to rush back to defend it.

The battle in Yanzhou is just like the Lesser Fullness of Grain solar term.

Li Yi, on the other hand, was focused on the wheat fields along the banks of the Si River in Yanzhou.

During the Kaihuang era, Xue Zhou, the governor of Yanzhou, utilized the Sihe River dam built during the Northern and Southern Dynasties to construct the "Xue Gongfeng Yan Canal" on the west bank of the river north of the dam. The sluice gate was called Heifengkou, which diverted water from the Sihe River westward to irrigate the fields.
Later, after being widened, it became navigable again.
"We'll travel upstream along the Si River, pass Xue Gongfeng's Yan Canal, and cross the moat flanked by peach trees, and we'll reach the walls of Yanzhou."

The Si River originates from the foot of Taipingding Mountain in the south of Xintai County and can connect with the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

In Fangyu County, the He River connects to the Ji River, which in turn connects to the Yellow River. Further south, it merges with the Bian River and eventually flows into the Yangtze River.

"The Bian River flows, the Si River flows, flowing to the ancient ferry of Guazhou."

The Sishui River can be said to be the most important river in Yanzhou. It not only irrigates countless fields on both banks, but also allows for navigation. Upstream, rafts and wooden rafts travel, while light boats travel in the middle. After passing Yanzhou City, larger wooden boats can travel downstream, especially those that can directly reach Xuzhou and Yangzhou, bringing great convenience to freight transport.

“In the past, when the country was at peace, rafts and boats shuttled back and forth on the Si River in Yanzhou, making the waterway a bustling place. Unfortunately, it is no longer what it used to be.”

Liu Shiche sighed.

Looking at the wheat that was almost ripe on the shore, Li Yi said, "After this battle, it won't delay the summer harvest. We can even organize the people to reclaim wasteland and plant a crop of millet and beans."

Once things settle down, I believe we can quickly return to our former glory.

From Rencheng to Yanzhou, the locals mainly used timber rafts for transportation, and boats could only travel on small boats, each carrying only two or three thousand catties. However, with the help of water conservancy, it was still much faster, more efficient, and cheaper than land transportation such as carts and pack animals.

These days, shipping on major rivers is like rail transport, medium-sized rivers are like highways, and even river sections that can only accommodate boats weighing a few thousand kilograms are like national or provincial highways, faster and cheaper than land transport.

"The Si River has a significant drop in elevation from Rencheng to Yanzhou, which affects navigation. In the future, we can build a few sluice gates to raise the water level in some shallow areas, allowing larger ships to pass."

There are many locks on the canal. Although it is a bit troublesome to pass through the locks, it can greatly improve the shipping capacity.

Liu Shiche asked Li Yi, "We are about to arrive at the city of Yanzhou. It seems that the Minister of Works doesn't care about Xu Yuanlang at all?"

"Brother Liu is practically a fellow townsman of his, so he should know just how capable Xu Yuanlang really is. He merely managed to gather some men during the chaos of the Sui Dynasty and seize control of a region and county; that doesn't mean he has any real ability."

It was just a coincidence that things happened, and we caught the wave.

Given the current situation of the Tang Dynasty's unification war, his actions are nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot; what is there to care about?

"Judging from his attitude towards Brother Liu, one can tell that this man is nothing special."

These words made Liu Shiche feel a little happy.

"How long do you think it will take, Sikong?"

"We will be able to take Yanzhou in less than ten days," Li Yi said confidently with a smile.

The Tang army advanced all the way to the walls of Yanzhou, and no Yanzhou troops resisted them along the way.

Xu Yuanlang recalled the troops from Yanzhou to Xiaqiu City, intending to defend the city to the death, and sent envoys to Zang Junxiang of Haizhou and Dou Jiande of Hebei to request assistance.

Li Yili established a camp below the city of Yanzhou.

"Have the prisoners of war from Yanzhou dig trenches around Yanzhou City, on the northwest and south sides, but not on the east side facing the Si River."

Li Yi surveyed the city of Yanzhou.

The city walls are quite high, and as Xu Yuanlang's old lair, which he has built up over many years, the defenses are quite tight.

The spy said there were about 20,000 soldiers in the city.

Li Yi didn't care. Xu Yuanlang was just a thief, far inferior to Yao Junsu and Wang Xingben, who had guarded Puban for three years.

Ultimately, Yao Junsu could be described as blindly loyal, but he had firm beliefs, while Xu Yuanlang, a fence-sitter, was merely opportunistic.

"Can we really defeat the enemy in ten days by surrounding them on three sides and leaving one open?"

"Brother Liu, how about we make a bet?" Li Yi asked with a smile.

Liu Shiche also boasted that he was well-versed in military strategy, but he really dared not say that he could take down a city guarded by 20,000 soldiers in ten days.

"What does Sikong want to bet on?"

“I think Brother Liu’s sword is quite good. If I win, Brother Liu, you can part with this sword. If I lose, I will give Brother Liu a good horse.”

Liu Shiche glanced at his sword. "Then I must thank Sikong in advance for the horse."

"Hahaha." Li Yi laughed loudly.

Nothing happened all night,
Xu Yuanlang did not dare to come out and raid the camp.

The next morning, Li Yi ordered the more than 10,000 prisoners to start digging trenches around the city. "There is a daily quota. Only those who dig enough will get food. Those who dig more will be rewarded with millet."

After digging for twenty days, they will be released and sent home.
They might even give you a certificate of completion, equivalent to the completion of your twenty days of official court service this year.

Li Yi had no intention of keeping the more than 10,000 prisoners.

Among them, some of the elite cavalry and crossbowmen, as well as some lower-ranking officers, will be selected and retained by Li Yi; the rest will be used for digging trenches and other tasks.

After working for twenty days, you can go home.

Of course, they didn't receive any severance pay either; they were different from the 50,000 men severed in Caozhou. They were prisoners of war, not government soldiers.

"Release them all?" Liu Shiche asked in surprise.

Li Yi said, "We won't release them. What's the point of keeping them? They'll just waste food. Food is precious these days; we can't afford to waste it like this."

Liu Shiche was momentarily confused, his mind still clinging to the old ideas of local warlord conflicts after the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty.

To seize territory and maintain an army, one must first acquire strong and powerful troops.

But Li Yi doesn't need these local rabble right now.

"Yanzhou hasn't been captured yet, shouldn't we keep these troops here for now?"

Li Yi simply smiled and instructed the soldiers to announce his orders.

The prisoners were somewhat surprised to hear this order. Since their capture, they had been uneasy, wondering what would happen to them.

The current treatment is that digging trenches for twenty days will allow them to go home, and these twenty days will even be considered as completing this year's official duties for the imperial court.

Once the amount of soil to be dug each day was determined, everyone felt it wasn't too heavy, and as long as they weren't deliberately lazy, they could all finish it, so they would get two meals a day.

If the target is exceeded, there will be corresponding Xiaomi rewards.

Is there such a good thing?
They are prisoners of war, so why are they being treated like laborers conscripted by the imperial court?

With some skepticism, at the end of the first day, the prisoners used the wooden tokens they had earned by digging in the dirt to exchange for food from the soldiers in the camp.

They really did give it to me in full.

Those who completed the assigned task received a steamed bun, a large bowl of porridge, and a few pickled vegetables. Those who exceeded the task's limit received ten wooden tokens, which could be exchanged for a liter of millet.

Many people have three or five sticks, while a few have seven or eight, or even ten or more.

Ten wooden tokens can be exchanged for one liter of millet.

It's still hulled millet.

"Can it really be replaced?"

"Do you want to change now? Or you can change when you leave, it's up to you," replied a soldier wearing a black turban and a round-necked robe.

Zhao Sheng looked at the ten tally sticks in his hand.
"Can we exchange it for something else?"

"Ten wooden sticks can be exchanged for a liter of millet, or twenty copper coins, or two flatbreads."

Zhao Sheng thought for a moment, "I'll exchange it for a liter of millet."

He handed over ten wooden tallies earned with his sweat, while the recruit measured out a liter of millet, filled it to the brim, shook it a few times to level it, and then grabbed a small handful to pile it into a small peak.

Zhao Sheng accepted the liter of golden millet.

Since being captured in Rencheng, he has temporarily lost everything. His armor, horses, weapons, even his money and the few pieces of gold and silver jewelry he had treasured were all taken away.

Apart from a tattered military uniform, there was nothing else.

Now, he has another liter of millet.

I carefully wrapped the millet in a rag, and I felt much more at ease.

A group of prisoners of war were amazed to see that they were actually being given rice in exchange.

Then a few more people came to exchange.

Many people wanted to exchange their chips, but they didn't have enough; they needed ten chips to exchange. The next day,
The prisoners who were digging trenches were noticeably more motivated. Their basic workload remained the same, but they could exchange any extra work for wooden tokens.

Liu Shiche accompanied Li Yi on the inspection tour.
This scene was unfamiliar to me, and I couldn't quite understand it.

"These people are prisoners of war, so it's only right that they dig trenches. Why are they given food and extra rewards? And why are they even being counted as serving their regular duty?"

Li Yi pointed to the prisoners who were digging very diligently and asked, "Who do you think they are?"

"captive."

"anything else?"

Liu Shiche seemed to be deep in thought.

"These people are prisoners of war, that's true, but they are also civilians. After the rebellion in Yanzhou is quelled, order must be restored and production resumed."

These people, even after returning to their hometowns, remained subjects of the imperial court and were subject to its corvée labor.

This is not some barbarian or nomadic tribe.

If we are lenient now, post-war recovery will be easier.

They dug for three days straight.
The prisoners were more and more motivated to work. Now, each person could earn an extra one or two liters of millet per day after completing their tasks, and some could even earn three liters.

Li Yi keeps his word; he rewards the full amount due, and collecting ten sticks allows one to exchange them for a liter of millet.

With the millet they received, they could cook their own meals or exchange it for money, silk, and other valuables.

On the city wall,
Xu Yuanlang watched the bustling scene of digging trenches outside the city.
The Tang army did not attack the city, but simply dug trenches around it. It is conceivable that it would not be long before the trenches were completed, and then they would be trapped like turtles in a jar.

This is going to trap them!

Xu Yuanlang was filled with worry. He hated Liu Shiche to the core. He regretted not using the man. What a scoundrel! He had actually offered Rencheng, his 15,000 soldiers, and his eldest son to Li Yi.

The moat was dug on three sides, and the Sishui River was to the east.

He dared not attack outside the city.

Li Yi's prestige was too great, and the Tang army outnumbered him.

We can only wait and hope that reinforcements will arrive.

Seven days have passed.

The first trench on three sides outside the city has been dug, making it difficult for him to launch an attack outside the city.

Only the east side remained un-dug, but the Sishui River blocked its way.

The eighth day,
Another Tang army arrived from the north, carrying the banner of Liu Lancheng, the prefect of Zizhou.

After they arrived,
Soon someone delivered something: two boxes.

Xu Yuanlang sent men to retrieve the two boxes outside the city. When they opened them, they found the heads of Zhang Qingte, the governor of Yunzhou, and Fu De, the governor of Jizhou, preserved in lime. But he still recognized them at a glance.

Along with the severed head, a letter of surrender was also sent.

The Tang army has recovered Yunzhou and Jizhou, and killed Zhang Qingte and Fu De. Li Wuyi has also been trapped in Pingling City.

The news spread quickly throughout Yanzhou City.

On that day, more than a dozen groups of people surrendered outside the city. Xu Yuanlang sent his personal guards to guard several city gates, but many people still used ropes to lower themselves down from other parts of the city wall to surrender.

Even with the guards' swords nearly cutting the blades, they couldn't stop him.

At night,

More people began to escape from the city by being lowered down the city walls, surrendering to the Tang army outside the city.

Xu Yuanlang had completely lost control. At dawn, the desperate Xu Yuanlang was unwilling to sit and wait for death. After some disguise, he also mingled with the soldiers who were escaping from the city by rope. Under the cover of night, he was lowered out of the city and escaped with only a dozen or so men.

He didn't dare open the city gates to escape, fearing he would be discovered by the Tang army.

At this point, trenches had been dug on three sides, making it impossible for horses to ride out.

The only way was to descend the city wall from the west, then sneak to the riverbank, jump into the river, swim across, and escape the encirclement.

With trepidation, they were lowered down the west city wall by rope, stealthily made their way to the bank of the Si River, jumped into the river and swam. Finally reaching the east bank, they hurriedly fled north before dawn.

He planned to flee to Hebei to join Dou Jiande.

I don't know how far I ran, but it was dawn.
They were catching their breath in an abandoned village when suddenly the sound of horses' hooves approached.

Someone followed the footprints.

When Xu Yuanlang and his group were discovered, he took out a gold ingot in an attempt to bribe the soldiers to escape.

But taking out the gold only exposed their identities.

"It's a big fish, let's catch it, don't let any of them escape."

Xu Yuanlang drew his sword.

But the next moment, several crossbow bolts were shot at him.

After a battle,
Xu Yuanlang and his family of more than a dozen people were all shot dead on the spot for resisting.

Post-war search of corpses

A Tang scout found a gold seal and an ivory-bound silk scroll on Xu Yuanlang's body.

The scout captain in charge took it and examined it carefully for a long time.

"Damn, Xu Yuanlang."

"What? Captain? What? Could this be Xu Yuanlang?"

"That's right, it's that scoundrel. Look at this golden seal, it's the seal of the King of Lu of Great Xia, bestowed upon Xu Yuanlang by Dou Jiande."

This edict, "Ivory Cub," is the official document appointing Xu Yuanlang as the Grand Chancellor of the Henan Circuit of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The group searched carefully again.
A lot of gold and silver valuables were also found on this group of people. Each of them also had official seals and certificates on their person. These guys did not forget to take these with them when they fled.

Perhaps they were afraid that once they arrived in Hebei, they would need Xia Jun to prove their identity.

The cavalry looked at the items they had found.

"Hand over all official seals and official documents, whether they are gold, silver, or bronze; no one is allowed to keep them for themselves."

"Team leader, we can't let this trip go to waste."

"We'll take half of their gold, silver, and valuables, and hand over the other half."

"We still have to hand it over?"

“This is Xu Yuanlang. You told the higher-ups you caught them, but all you have are a few marks on your body and no gold or silver. Do you think they'll believe you?” the team leader said.

"Don't look at us like that! We captured and killed Xu Yuanlang, the Grand Chancellor of Henan Province and the Prince of Lu of the pseudo-Xia Dynasty! We've done a great service this time!"

The group of people also realized that, in fact, compared to this amount of gold and silver, Xu Yuanlang was the real big spender.

Outside Yanzhou City,

Li Yi watched as more and more people crossed the city walls to surrender.

Today is the ninth day of the siege, and Liu Shiche is now somewhat convinced that Li Yi can take Yanzhou within ten days.

Given the current state of Yanzhou City, the morale of the army has completely collapsed.

"Minister Sikong, if we attack now, Yanzhou City can be taken in one fell swoop."

Li Yi remained calm and composed, saying, "When the melon is ripe, it will fall naturally."

was saying,

Someone shouted, "Reporting to the Minister of Works, scouts on light cavalry have killed Xu Yuanlang while patrolling the east bank of the Si River!"

Xu Yuanlang's head was presented to Li Yi, along with a row of gold and silver seals.

Liu Shiche recognized at a glance that it was indeed Xu Yuanlang.

When it was confirmed that Xu Yuanlang had been killed, everyone was surprised. No one expected that he would abandon the city and flee, only to be killed by patrolling cavalry before he had even escaped twenty miles.

Xu Yuanlang's head, along with his gold seal and official document, were displayed at the foot of Yanzhou City.

The large head was stuck in the spear and held high.

The city of Yanzhou surrendered.

On the ninth day of the siege, Xu Yuanlang abandoned the city and fled, but was killed. Yanzhou City then opened its gates and surrendered.

Li Yi captured Yanzhou without losing a single soldier and recruited 20,000 troops.

(End of this chapter)