The king behind the empress

Chapter 367 Good Man Yang Yanzhang

Yang Yanzhang didn't wait for the city gate to be cleared out, so he brought a few confidants and entered the city directly along the hanging basket.

The big households in the city were a little excited when they heard that they had won the battle to defend the city and that a general to suppress the rebellion had come outside. However, the reason for their excitement was not because they had won the defense of the city, but because they heard that a warlord had fallen outside. The general who countered the rebellion.

In order to defend the city, Du Cang forcibly expropriated their money this time, which really made them bleed a lot, which made them such big families hate Du Cang extremely.

And the general who leads an army alone to counter the rebellion must be a high-ranking and powerful person who is deeply trusted by the court, so they are going to sue Du Cang in front of Yang Yanzhang, at worst they can raise a little more money for Yang Yanzhang to let Yang Yanzhang deal with Du Cang directly, or Participate in Du Cang at the imperial court.

Anyway, Du Cang can't stay in Cangyi City, otherwise, if there are more battles in the future, these big households like them will have to be drained.

After all, no one's money comes from strong winds. Although these big families have money, it is also collected by them for generations. How could they be willing to give it to Du Cang so easily.

"I met General Yang."

Dozens of big households in Cangyi City were summoned, and after introducing themselves, a few leading wealthy merchants stepped forward and said indignantly, "We have a grievance to avenge, and I hope that General Yang will make the decision for us." what!!!"

"injustice?"

Originally, Yang Yanzhang was still thinking about whether to borrow food directly or through a process. Now seeing their sad faces, it seemed that they had a great grievance, so he couldn't help being startled, and asked, "What grievances do you have?"

"Back to General Yang, I will sue Du Cang, the county magistrate of Cangyicheng."

A big family headed by him was full of grief and anger. He clenched his fists and said with tears streaming down his face, "Du Cang, the county magistrate of Cangyi City, under the guise of guarding the city, forcibly expropriated money and food in the city, arbitrarily confiscating money."

"According to the law of the Great Zhou, this is a capital offense. I hope General Yang can make the decision with us and kill this dog."

Hearing that this rich family sued the county magistrate, the master who brought Yang Yanzhang here couldn't help looking at Yang Yanzhang nervously.

This time, in order to be able to defend Cangyi City, the county magistrate Du really offended the big households in the city. Coupled with the forced expropriation of the money and food of the big households in the city before, it is indeed a bit illegal.

At this time, they recklessly counterattacked and wanted to use Yang Yanzhang to directly bring down County Magistrate Du. If Yang Yanzhang's attitude was slightly biased, then County Magistrate Du would be in trouble today.

Just when the master was a little worried, these big households directly brought up five boxes of silver taels that had been prepared in advance, and then opened them for Yang Yanzhang to see in front of the master.

"General Yang, your army came to put down the rebellion, and the boats and vehicles were exhausted. These silver taels are a little thought from our Cangyi city gentry. It can be regarded as a reward for the lieutenant officers and soldiers. I hope General Yang will not refuse."

It is said to reward the soldiers, but in fact it is just to find a reason to give it to Yang Yanzhang. After all, only Yang Yanzhang's confidantes are here, and Yang Yanzhang has the final say on whether to reward the soldiers in the army or not.

Therefore, when he saw these five boxes of silver taels, the master's face turned pale instantly. These five boxes of silver cost at least tens of thousands of taels. In order to bring down Mr. Du, these people really spent a lot of money.

Thinking of this, the master felt a little sad. He didn't think Yang Yanzhang could resist the temptation of these tens of thousands of taels of silver. From this point of view, Master Du might be in trouble.

"Hey, what are you guys doing, take it back, take it back."

Yang Yanzhang looked at these bankers with a smile on his face, but he was not smiling because he was happy to see so much money, but because he was laughing at these big households, who were basically doomed. Pay it back.

After all, Yang Yanzhang likes whoring for free, but he doesn't like not paying back his debts. Otherwise, as the son of Shoufu, he wouldn't have to go around to eat in the capital. Ask him for a bill.

So when he was planning to borrow food from these people, Yang Yanzhang thought in his heart whether he should tell Mo Zizai to return the money after the war.

After reading it now, there is no need for this at all. As far as the virtues of these people are concerned, when Mo Zizai comes, one of these people will count as one, and they will all be cut off by Mo Zizai.

And if the creditor is dead, then the debt is tantamount to disappearing.

Therefore, Yang Yanzhang showed a very bright smile on his face, and said very politely to these big households: "I will come to put down the rebellion under the order of the prince and His Majesty, how can I ask you to pay for the army, please don't mention it at this time."

"However, although we don't need money, the food and grass for our army is somewhat insufficient after a long journey here. If you are interested, please prepare some food and grass for our army."

Seeing the bright smile on Yang Yanzhang's face, these big households were overjoyed. They thought that Yang Yanzhang was only happy when he saw these silver coins. When I went to rub seats for the first time, I always smiled like this.

Although providing food and grass for the army of 5000 people made them feel a little heartbroken, but in order to bring down Du Cang, they didn't care so much. After several big households headed by each other looked at each other, they all silently nodded in agreement.

Then a big family took a step forward and said, "General Yang, the matter of food and grass is not a problem, but Du Cang's dog..."

"The matter of County Magistrate Du is simple."

Yang Yanzhang said very straightforwardly: "The prince's army is at the rear, and it is estimated that they will be able to reach Cangyi City in a few days."

"You take all the money back, and when the prince arrives in Cangyi City in person, you can give these directly to the prince, and let him help you avenge your grievances."

Yang Yanzhang was afraid that these big family members would not die, so he dug a big hole for these people quietly. After all, with Mo Zizai's character, he couldn't be as comfortable as he was given by others.

What's more, the main purpose of these big households giving money is to overthrow Du Cang, who has kept Cangyi City down. In this way, Mo Zi, who is extremely short of money, will have no psychological pressure to do it.

Yang Yanzhang comforted these big households while digging a hole, and said, "Don't worry, everyone, wait patiently for a few days, it will be fine in a few days, when the prince arrives, he will definitely wait for you...will settle this matter, everyone, please don't worry." Too anxious."

Being distracted, Yang Yanzhang almost told the truth, but these big households didn't notice anything abnormal. After all, although Mo Zizai had a bad reputation outside, these people didn't know the specifics. They only knew that Mo Zizai was greedy for money and addicted to money. Killing is the material of a foolish king, I don't know anything else.

So after learning that Mo Zizai would come, they were a little excited, greedy for money, and bloodthirsty, which was all a good thing.

When Mo Zizai came, they sent the money over, and Mo Zizai cut Du Cang backhand, everyone was happy.

Thinking of this, they looked at Yang Yanzhang with gratitude. This is a good man. Not only did he not accept a penny from them, but he also showed them a clear way. These days, such a good man can be found with a lantern. no.

But gratitude is gratitude, and it is absolutely impossible to ask them to pay a penny more, so they say a thousand thanks, but in fact they don't have a penny.

Even the grain and grass that Yang Yanzhang asked them for were stuck to Yang Yanzhang's standards. Some people even thought that Yang Yanzhang was easy to talk, so they quietly lowered the grain and grass standards by a notch, and sent them to Yang Yanzhang as inferior ones.

As a result, Yang Yanzhang didn't like them at all, so he cut off the few people who were shoddy.

After this incident, those people immediately understood that although Yang Yanzhang was easy to talk, he was not a purely good person. If he dared to fool him, he would be a murderer, so he no longer dared to cheat on the issue of food and grass.

Yang Yanzhang left a few people to inspect the grain and grass sent by these big households, while he himself returned to the outside of the city to deal with the captives.

"Yang Shuai, the count has been completed."

Zheng Anmin, who came back after chasing the rout, reported to Yang Yanzhanghui: "In this campaign, our army beheaded more than 3000 soldiers from King Yu's army, and captured a total of about [-] people. A small group of rout soldiers fled into the dense forest. In order to prevent accidents, The soldiers did not give chase."

"Ah."

Yang Yanzhang nodded, not caring about the outcome of the battle, but asked, "What about our casualties?"

"casualties……"

Zheng Anmin said with a subtle expression, "27 people from our army were killed in battle, 42 were seriously injured, and the rest were all unharmed."

To be honest, when Zheng Anmin learned of the results of the battle, he even wondered if the statistics were wrong. Five thousand was against forty thousand. Regardless of the big victory, the combined number of deaths and serious injuries was less than three digits. Somewhat outrageous.

But Yang Yanzhang was not too surprised by this result. The Chiyan Dragonriders are now at the bone forging level per capita, and each of them is wearing the most sophisticated equipment. If they deal with these ordinary troops under King Yu's command, there will be more than three digits of battle damage. Then he has to consider whether he is incompetent.

"You take one of the guards to stay and take care of the prisoners. After the food and grass are ready, I will take the rest to attack Xiangcheng."

"Am I staying with a guard?"

Hearing what Yang Yanzhang said, Zheng Anmin was a little hesitant. There were only 5000 Red Flame Dragon Riders in total. Now that he left another thousand, he could attack Xiangcheng with only 4000. Isn't this force too small?

"What? Is there a problem?"

Yang Yanzhang thought Zheng Anming was afraid that he would not be able to suppress the captives, so he said, "You don't have to worry too much when guarding these captives. If you dare to cause disturbance, you can kill them immediately."

"Although there are a large number of these captives, they are already frightened. As long as you act carefully, there will be no major problems."

"The last general is not worried about the captives."

Zheng Anmin shook his head. It's not like he hasn't done things with less to see more, so he is not very worried about this matter, "The general thinks that the number of 4000 people going to attack Xiangcheng is a bit small."

"Our Scarlet Flame Dragon Knights are cavalry, and we are not good at attacking cities. If there are 1000 fewer people..."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Yang Yanzhang saw that Zheng Anmin was worried about this, so he explained: "We set off in the afternoon, if we go at full speed, we can reach Xiangcheng in the middle of the night at most."

"Xiangcheng certainly didn't receive the news of Cangyi's defeat so quickly, so there must not be too tight a defense, so with luck, Xiangcheng can be taken tonight."

"And even if we can't take it, it's not a big problem. We just need to surround Xiangcheng and wait for the prince's army to arrive. There is no need to attack."

Yang Yanzhang's purpose was just to keep King Yu from running away with his treasure, so as long as he could surround Xiangcheng and prevent King Yu from running away, his goal would be achieved. As for whether he could capture Xiangcheng, he didn't insist.

Hearing what Yang Yanzhang said, Zheng Anmin nodded with some understanding. With the strength of the Chiyan Dragonriders, it may be a bit difficult to storm Xiangcheng, but if the goal is to besiege Xiangcheng, then Zheng Anmin can guarantee that the people in Xiangcheng will People, come out and die one by one.

"If that's the case, then there will be no problem."

Zheng Anming saluted and said, "I'll go and settle those prisoners right now."

After he left, Du Cang and the officials of Cangyi City happened to come over, but seeing Du Cang's face was a little gloomy, it was obvious that the master had told him what happened before.

But after seeing Yang Yanzhang, he didn't mention those things, but forced a smile and asked, "General Yang, what are you going to do with these prisoners?"

There are more than 2 captives. If Yang Yanzhang's army just let go like this, then his Cangyi City really can't keep these people down.

"Master Du, don't worry, I've already made arrangements at this time."

Yang Yanzhang understood Du Cang's meaning, so he said: "After we set off, I will leave 1000 people to guard these prisoners, and promise not to let them have any problems."

"So good."

Du Cang nodded reassuringly, and said: "Otherwise, when General Yang leaves, these five captives will suppress it. If there is any trouble, it will be another trouble."

"Certainly not."

Yang Yanzhang walked side by side with Du Cang, deliberately distanced himself from the people from the county government behind him, and then said, "I see that Mr. Du is worried, but he is worried about what the general said to those gentry?"

"This……"

Seeing Yang Yanzhang express his thoughts so directly, Du Cang was slightly embarrassed.

He was indeed worried about this matter, after all, Mo Zizai was notorious, if he listened to the slander of those gentry after he came, collected the money, and then cut himself off with his backhand, then even he would not be able to rest in peace.

Although he thinks that he is a loyal minister who can learn from the sun and the moon, who cares? Are there not many loyal ministers who were utterly loyal but were hacked to death by backhands in history?Do you still care about him?

So after hearing the master talk about Yang Yanzhang's conversation with those gentry, he was full of pessimism, just because Yang Yanzhang said this, and he couldn't find Yang Yanzhang to ask him, but he didn't expect Yang Yanzhang to mention this matter by himself now, which made him feel sad. He couldn't figure out what Yang Yanzhang was going to do.

Yang Yanzhang glanced at the county government officials who were some distance away from them, and made sure that his words would not be heard by them, so he said softly: "Although the prince is ruthless in his actions, he is not a person who does not discriminate between right and wrong."

"Master Du defended Cangyi City. This is a great achievement. The prince will only praise him, and he will definitely not criticize Lord Du."

"As for those big gentry families, I would like to ask Mr. Du to pay more attention. Before the prince arrives, it is best not to let them leave Cangyi City."

"Don't let them leave Cangyi City?"

Du Cang couldn't help being startled when he heard the last sentence, he looked at Yang Yanzhang with some hesitation, and asked, "What does General Yang mean?"

"I don't mean anything, Master Du will do as he pleases."

Yang Yanzhang showed a bright smile, and said: "I'm going to attack Xiangcheng here, so I won't chat with Master Du. After I return from Xiangcheng, if Master Du has any questions, I will I will answer Master Du one by one."

(End of this chapter)