Chapter 440 Majesty falls to the ground

The winter moon is cold, so Zhu Xicai wears official robes most of the time, and wears a mink fur outside, which is beautiful and majestic. Today, when he heard about the enemy attack, he hurriedly changed back into the heavy and cold armor.

When he arrived at the head of Nancheng City, he saw Zhao Chongyi stabbing Gao Shang in the chest with a dagger.

"Get the traitor!"

"Who dares to act rashly?!"

Zhao Chongyi stabbed the dagger again, and at the same time turned around and shouted at the rebel soldiers on the top of the city.

At the same time, dense footsteps sounded, and more than a hundred regiment training disciples had climbed up the stone steps, holding swords to protect Zhao Chongyi. These were recruits recruited in Yanshi, but they had been instigated by Zhao Chongyi beforehand.

Zhu Xicai's soldiers raised their swords one after another, and the two sides suddenly became tense.

"stop!"

"Magistrate Zhu said that if the situation changes, you will be counted as one, but does this still work?" Zhao Chongyi stood upright and asked without fear.

Only then did Gao Shang's body slowly fall down and hit Zhao Chongyi's feet, splashing snow.

With just one order, Zhu Xicai could easily kill Zhao Chongyi to avenge Gao Shang. However, during the two months he served as the county magistrate of Yanshi, he had many feelings that Gao Shang did not know until his death.

First of all, Yanshi is very rich. This wealth is not reflected in the amount of grain stored in the granary, but in the details of the lives of all the officials, servants, and young men who have joined them. They are picky about food, pay attention to cleanliness, and do not drink

Sheng Shui often expressed a sense of superiority rarely seen elsewhere in his conversations. All the big families who stayed in the county had a lot of food, iron tools, and tribes, and they dared to form strongholds to protect themselves.

It is said that merchants in Yanshi County were prosperous before, and the residents were very wealthy. They liked to deposit their money in banks. The interest was often enough for them to add a piece of meat to every meal. Therefore, many people fled, and there was no need to bring gold and silver with them. They arrived with flying money.

It can be exchanged anywhere under the imperial court. That's all. Zhu Xicai accidentally overheard the officials talking privately, saying that if they go to places still under the imperial court, as long as they are not surrounded by rebels, even Dongping, Nanyang

In places like counties, you can still exchange money at Fenghui Bank, and the interest rate remains unchanged.

In addition, Zhu Xicai also felt that his family was deeply influenced by Xue Bai. The wives and concubines played dominoes and watched operas every day, the sons cooked every day, and the daughters all had several copies of Xue Bai hidden in their boudoirs.

I heard them singing a line like "Who comes in the morning and is drunk in the frost forest?"

Although Xue Bai served as Yanshi Lieutenant for a short period of time, the changes he brought about were huge. Zhu Xicai often felt that he was under Xue Bai's figure. At this time, it was easy for him to order Zhao Chongyi to be killed, but he had no confidence in repelling Xue Bai.

The shouts of killing at the city gate had stopped, the city gate was opened, the suspension bridge was placed on the moat with a "bang" sound, and the Tang army's vanguard drove in.

"Zhu Xicai, the assistant general of the Lulong Army of the Tang Dynasty, respectfully welcomes Prefect Xue to recover Yanshi!"

Zhu Xicai saw that there was no chance to bargain, so he shouted, threw away the knife in his hand, and quickly ran down the stone steps to the top of the city.

He did not look at Gao Shang, who was lying on the ground, because his heart was full of fear for Xue Bai.

Gao Shang has been walking around with a burnt face these years. He is particularly concerned about everything related to Xue Bai, as if he wants to teach others that Xue Bai is terrible. Now he has got his wish.

~~

After many years, Xue Bai returned to Yanshi County again.

Luoshui was frozen, just like when he left. But the bustling scene at the city gate was gone, only rows of cold armor shone in the snow.

"Zhao Liu." Xue Bai stood on his horse and looked towards the stone steps, "Long time no see."

"County Captain."

Where Zhao Chongyi looked, the first thing he saw was a slightly unfamiliar face, covered with blood, frost and snow, and a beard that hadn't been shaved for a long time, covering up the handsomeness in his impression. Soon he saw Xue Bai's smile.

, with sincere joy at meeting old friends.

Except for Lieutenant Xue Xian, few noble people would be sincerely happy to see a handyman like him.

So, Zhao Chongyi forgot to bow his head and bowed, and stood there scratching his head.

"County Lieutenant, I didn't pay attention to the door of the county office."

"But you opened the city gate for me." Xue Bai got off his horse, patted Zhao Chongyi on the shoulder, and said, "Tell me about the situation in Shouyang Mountain."

"Yes, when he learned about the rebellion in Anlu Mountain, Yan Xian Cheng immediately went to Luoyang to report the news. The county magistrate also followed Yan Xian Cheng to escape for his life. At that time, the rebels fell into Hebei too quickly, so Guo Lushi arranged for the people to flee and move the grain and grass supplies

When we arrived at Shouyang Mountain, Yinxian Lieutenant was originally going to defend the city, but after getting a letter from Yanxian Cheng, he went to Luoyang to provide support. Before leaving, he asked me to stay in Yanshi until the next day."

The Yan county magistrate he mentioned was Yan Chunqing, Yan Zhenqing, Yan Gaoqing's clan brother. When Xue Bai left Yanshi, he recommended Yan Chunqing as the county magistrate.

Now was not the time to talk, so Zhao Chongyi told him most of what he knew. As for the rest, Guo Huan and others would have to wait until Xue Bai saw Yin Liang.

There were sporadic battles in the city. The rebel soldiers who escaped without obeying Zhu Xicai's orders were killed by the Tang army. Zhu Xicai stood ten steps behind Zhao Chongyi and was surprised that Xue Bai was young and gentle, and he was as fierce as he expected.

Their appearance didn't match. After the two of them had spoken, he stepped forward to meet them.

"I have met Governor Xue, and I am willing to follow him..."

In the middle of the salute, Zhu Xicai suddenly remembered a question - the fact that the Tang Dynasty court was looking for Xue Bai had already reached Luoyang. At this time, what did it mean for him to declare his allegiance to the Tang Dynasty to Xue Bai?

He originally thought about asking Xue Bai to seek some reward for him, but now he regretted it.

As he spoke, Xue Bai understood his concerns. The two looked at each other, and he couldn't help but smile and asked: "What do you want with me?"

"Kuanfu Sheji." Zhu Xicai used a very broad word.

"How do you plan to help the country? Are you going to follow An Lushan in burning, killing and looting?!"

"I don't dare. The criminal general couldn't bear the suffering of the people, so he spent money to buy... and then got the position of Yanshi Ling. No, he had no choice but to be given the position of Yanshi Ling in the puppet dynasty."

"You are good at talking."

"The sin will be the borderline vulgar people who can't speak."

Xue Bai glanced at the soldiers behind Zhu Xicai. They were quite strong. Then he pondered and said, "It took me a while to come here from Songshan. I guess the news about me being accused has been spread?"

"Yes." Zhu Xicai tentatively said: "Since the prefect knew it, he was willing to take the risk. He is really loyal. But doesn't he consider his personal safety?"

When the Tang army first entered the city, such a question seemed inappropriate, but it was related to his future choices. Although Xue Bai successfully entered the city, if he could not be surrendered, the rebels in the city could still cause a lot of trouble.

The two walked a few steps, and while talking, they walked to the top of the city. Xue Bai asked: "How is your relationship with Dugu Wensu and Li Shiyu?"

Zhu Xicai was originally just a supporting general in the Lulong Army, and was not as close to An Lushan as these two men. After hearing this, he realized that there must be a reason why even Dugu Wensu and Li Shiyu joined under Xue Bai's persuasion.

of.

"I admire these two gentlemen very much."

Xue Bai asked again: "Then what do you think of me being accused?"

Zhu Xicai could feel the certainty in his tone and the understatement of not taking the Emperor of Chang'an seriously. He suddenly reacted and thought to himself, could this be a rebel? He really jumped from one den of thieves to another.

.

"I am a rough member of the army and have little knowledge. The governor should not blame me."

After making this initial remark, Zhu Xilie expressed some of his attitudes with the intention of continuing to test.

"It used to be said that the Emperor Shengming wanted us soldiers and generals to follow An Lushan in rebellion. But later, we all heard that the Saint robbed his daughter-in-law and handed over state affairs to Yang Guozhong. This traitorous deception is also deceiving us.

We were ruthless, so we gritted our teeth and rebelled, and we never thought that we would capture Dongdu within a month. I can see clearly that the person sitting on the Dragon Throne in Chang'an is a fool."

Having said this, he turned around and glanced, seeing that these remarks did not arouse Xue Bai's indignation, so he became bold.

He picked up a ball of snow, compacted it into a snowball, stretched out his hand from the city wall, and said: "The prestige of the saint is like this in my heart."

The big hand opened up, and the snowball fell from the high city top, smashing it into pieces.

Xue Bai watched this scene silently, and suddenly thought that when he first arrived in the Tang Dynasty, it was also in a snowy winter month. At that time, Li Longji's most taboo thing was "criticizing Chengyu", and he was often unjustly imprisoned for this. It's better now.

The whole world was criticizing Chengyu, but Li Longji was powerless.

Zhu Xicai once heard Gao Shang speak about the situation in the world, and knew that when the prestige of a saint drops to its lowest point, there are only three ways to restore it. One is to quickly put down the rebellion, but unfortunately, it has not been done yet; the other is to issue an edict.

Self, but this is actually reducing prestige to appease people's hearts, but people's hearts obviously will not be appeased in a short time, and I am afraid it will be counterproductive; third, blaming other people for the cause of the chaos.

He talked eloquently along these lines, and at the end he said: "The sage punished Prefect Xue just to make you take the responsibility for the chaos. The world is in such chaos, not because of his stupidity, but because you forced An to rebel.

Lushan.”

Although Gao Shang died, Zhu Xicai felt that he was about to use Gao Shang's words to persuade Xue Bai to surrender. He almost couldn't hold back his pain and shouted: "Why should Governor Xue continue to work for the faint king? It's better to surrender to Prince Dongping!"

"The saint is so fatuous that he can even understand a traitorous general." Xue Bai asked, "Can't you understand it when you are the prince in the court?"

"What does the governor mean?"

"I will not be questioned, and I will never let anyone mess up the Tang Dynasty..."

Xue Bai was already quite familiar with how to draw cakes for others. While he was talking to confuse Zhu Xicai, he was thinking about other things.

Hearing the voices of these rebel generals today made him realize more and more that the impact of the Anshi Rebellion on the Tang Dynasty was not only the destruction caused by the rebellion itself, but more profoundly, the separatist rule of vassal towns.

The soil for the separatist rule of feudal towns in the Tang Dynasty was laid long ago. The root cause was the land annexation, which caused great damage to the rent adjustment, equalization of land, and the military system of the government. The court could not provide land to support the soldiers, so it naturally recruited soldiers instead of equalizing the land.

However, they could obtain soldiers with higher fighting power and fighting will. Therefore, during the Kaiyuan period, the Tang army was very powerful, sweeping across all barbarians and expanding its territory.

With the recruitment of soldiers, the deployment and transportation of materials became more and more cumbersome, so the Jiedushi had to be granted some appointments, removals and financial powers, and major military towns were established. At the same time, with the monopoly of imperial examinations by aristocratic families, a large number of talents from poor families came to the army.

After joining the Jiedushi shogunate, the strength of the military town continued to expand.

In the past, there was a custom in the court where generals came and ministers were appointed. The children of aristocratic families were also keen to go to the frontiers to perform meritorious service. There were a large number of generals from famous families in the army. The fundamental interests of these families were still in the court, so Pei Kuan appointed Fan Yang's military governor Shi Li.

Longji could recruit him back if he wanted, and Wang Zhongsi never thought of raising troops to rebel. Later, as the trend of despising the generals in the court gradually grew, and Li Linfu made a series of jealousy and jealousy actions in order to seize power,

Jiedu envoys were mostly from border areas, and the military towns formed their own system, becoming increasingly alienated from the imperial court.

Hebei is already riddled with problems, and a rebellion shattered the authority of the Emperor of Chang'an in the hearts of the generals in the border towns. If the court fails to deal with it well in the future, it cannot use strong force and courage to deter these brave generals and solve the system.
To be continued...