Inside the big tent, Zhang Niujiao was lying on the desk, looking at a worn-out silk map by the faint candlelight. Zhang Baiqi sat next to him.

Zhang Baiqi's original name was Zhang Ze, the word Ziyin, he used to be the Maocai of Anping State in Jizhou (Maocai and Xiaolian are almost the same, they are all talents recommended by the county to the imperial court), very learned, but his family is poor, there is no way, and he has not been appointed. Zhang Ze is good at martial arts, good at fighting grievances, fighting for righteousness, and is very famous in the local area. Later, he met Zhang Jiao and joined Taiping Taoism. He is one of the seventy-two Xiaoqu Shuai of Taiping Taoism. Because he likes to ride a white horse, the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army call him the white horse handsome.

After receiving Zhang Niujiao's order in the afternoon, Zhang Baiqi stopped the pursuit and stationed the camp at Sanxiangpo, which was sixty miles away from Jumashui.

"Ziyin, is the scout's message accurate?" Zhang Niujiao raised his head and asked in a low voice.

"Commander, please rest assured, our troops have the support of the local people in Zhuo County, the news comes quickly, and the source is very reliable. The leopard's Fengyun Iron Cavalry has indeed arrived at the Shengshui River, and it is estimated that they are now crossing the river. Zhang Baiqi said with a solemn expression.

Zhang Baiqi is in his thirties, his face is scorched, his body is thin, but his eyes are very energetic, and he is not angry and arrogant.

"We have no experience in fighting cavalry, and if the troops come into contact with them, I am afraid that they will suffer." Zhang Niujiao said slowly, "Ten thousand cavalry, its combat effectiveness should be very amazing." ”

"What are you afraid of, in the past, the Huns, Karasuma people, and Xianbei people repeatedly went to the border, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of iron horsemen went south, and the Han army basically defended the city or fled when they heard the wind, and it was rare to fight with them. But in the end, it was not the same and was defeated by the army of our Great Han Kingdom. During the period of Emperor Wu, the general Li Ling retreated from the desert with 6,000 foot soldiers, and the 80,000 troops of the Huns followed the siege for more than ten days and could not be broken. It can be seen that cavalry must have the weakness of cavalry, and infantry has the strengths of infantry, as long as it is applied properly, it can completely defeat the enemy. Don't worry. ”

Zhang Niujiao glanced at Zhang Baiqi, who was full of confidence, and laughed.

"Ziyin is so arrogant. We have 150,000 people, and against him 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry, we do have an absolute advantage in numbers, although the equipment and strength are inferior, but there should be no problem in destroying them. The key now is time, and we can't afford to delay. If we want to take the three counties of Youzhou before the snow, we must take Jicheng this month. I hope to have a direct battle with them in Zhuocheng, and the victory will be decided in one battle. ”

"The enemy is weak, and they are very cunning, so I don't think they will do this. If nothing else, the Han army remaining west of the Shengshui River would not exceed 25,000 at most. The 5,000 reinforcements of Yuyang County have been staying in Jicheng, seeing that they have no confidence in holding Zhuocheng, and are ready to abandon Zhuojun at any time and fight a decisive battle with our army in Jicheng. Zhang Baiqi said with a smile, "The reinforcements from Shanggu County will arrive soon, according to An Dingshuai's information, there are about 3,000 of them. Huang Shuai and Zuo Shuai crossed the river tomorrow, and all 150,000 people of our army approached Zhuocheng. Lay down Zhuocheng, and the entire Zhuojun will be ours. ”

"Is the news of Anding Shuai still delivered every day?" Zhang Niujiao asked.

"Very punctual. However, when the Leopard Army arrived at the Shengshui River, his news was slower than the news from Guangyang. Zhang Baiqi snorted unconvinced and said, "Don't pin your hopes on this line. Now that the troops have reached Youzhou, not in Zhongshan Country, his role is not as important as in the past. ”

"He has a special status, and every time the news is delivered accurately and timely, no one can replace him." Zhang Niujiao said solemnly, "Be sure to keep in touch with him." Whether he can take Yuyang County at the end of the year depends on him. ”

"He's a big official over there, isn't he?" Zhang Baiqi hesitated for a moment and asked.

"I don't know. He was one of the eight great disciples of General Tiangong, and he didn't know anyone. Now that General Tiangong is gone, he can still take the initiative to contact us and provide us with information, which shows his affection and loyalty to the master. Zhang Niujiao shook his head and said with admiration.

"Is there any news from the swallows?" Zhang Niujiao then asked

"Chu Shuai's troops have arrived in Zhongshan Kingdom, and in ten days, they can reach Zhuo County. It is estimated that we have already attacked Jicheng at that time. ”

On the grass by the Seongsu River, tents are lined up. On the river, the Fengyun Iron Cavalry crossed the river overnight.

Li Hong held a banquet in the big tent to entertain a group of officials from the Zhongshan County Government. Although there is no good food and wine, there is still barbecue.

Zhang Chun, the prime minister of Zhongshan, is a native of Yuyang. He is very talented, has good martial arts, and is also very famous for his poetry, and there are not many county guards like him in the Han Kingdom. He has been an official for many years, has been lenient in government, sympathetic to the people's feelings, fair and honest, has a very good reputation, and is deeply supported by the people.

Zhang Chun is in his forties, medium build, relatively thin, probably because of overwork, his face is very poor, his eye sockets are deep, and there are many wrinkles on his forehead.

Zhang Chun seems to like Li Hong very much, is very close to him, and appreciates him more than once in laughter. Li Hong saw Zhang Chun admiring him so much, although he was a little embarrassed, but he was still very grateful in his heart. The two of them felt like each other, and they talked more.

After the dismissal, Li Hong accompanied Zhang Chun to continue chatting while walking by the river. Naturally, the two men talked about the current situation at hand.

Li Hong was very disgusted by the Yellow Turban Army's rise up, rebellion against the imperial court, burning, killing and plundering, and the first thing he accepted was Liu Yu, Liu Zheng, and Xian Yufu Their statements, thinking that it was a mob rebellion, which brought disaster to the country and ruined the lives of the people. He said it very bluntly, and the repression was right and essential. Of course, he thinks that Huangfu Song's massacre of 100,000 Yellow Turban troops in Xiaquyang is too much. For Li Hong, the measures taken by Murong Feng or Liu Yu against the enemy were the most acceptable to him. If they win the war, let them surrender, and if they can recruit for their own use, they will use it for their own use, and if they can't use it, they will be appeased, so that they can live a stable life and let society settle down.

Zhang Chun frowned, and said something that made Li Hong feel fresh and needed time to understand and ponder.

Zhang Chun asked him, why did the people rebel? Of course, there is no way to live. Why is there no way to live? Those who have no food and no clothes will starve to death. Ordinary people are busy all year round, why not only do they not have food and clothing, but they also starve to death? Li Hong couldn't answer. He hadn't thought about it in detail.

In this dynasty, a peasant family of five people consumed about 150 koku of grain every year, plus the cost of salt and clothing, the minimum cost of living for the whole year was about 240 koku, and if the income of a family did not reach the minimum living expenses they needed, they would inevitably fall into a situation of hunger and cold, let alone maintain cultivation for the coming year. Now a large acre of land can produce about 3 stones of millet per year, and a small mu can produce about 2 stones of millet per year, that is to say, a family of five who cultivate 100 acres of land can harvest about 200 stones of grain throughout the year. However, in fact, the land owned by many peasant families in this dynasty is less than 100 mu, generally only a few dozen mu or even a few mu, and the income is only more than 100 stone or less a year.

Do you know how much the emperor's relatives, princes, nobles, and bureaucrats earn in a year? Li Hong shook his head. Of course he didn't know.

The income of the royal relatives and the princes and nobles mainly comes from the fiefdom rent and tax of each person. The more fiefdoms, the more populous the population, the more taxes, and some lieges have an annual tax income of more than 10,000,000 stones. As for the income of the princes and kings, it is even more amazing, and hundreds of millions of stones abound. The officials set their rank by grain, the rank of the three princes is 10,000 stones, the Jiuqing is 2,000 stones, the county guard is 2,000 stones, the county order is 600 stones, and the county governor and county lieutenant are 400 stones. Most of the land owned by the wealthy men was hundreds of hectares, or even more than a thousand hectares, and their income was far higher than that of the officials. And this is just what everyone knows, and what is not known is even more uncountable. Compared with the highest income of the poor people, the smallest gap between a small county and them is four or five times.

Why is this happening?

Land. The land was robbed by the rich and powerful. They have large houses in the city and countless fields in the township. They had thousands of slaves and slaves. After the peasants lost their land, most of them became dependent peasants of the rich. In addition to paying high land rent and servitude, they are also their "slaves", there is no such statement now, the Han Kingdom is not allowed to have slaves, but what is the difference between them and the slaves of the Hu people? If the family wants them to die, will they still live?

Since the emperor of this dynasty, the emperors have ascended the throne at a young age, and the government has been controlled by relatives and eunuchs in turn, and the dynasty has become increasingly corrupt. State and county positions sometimes rotate several times a month. After the officials arrived, they gathered and collected, expropriated, and extorted. Since Emperor An, the imperial court has used troops against the Qiang people for a long time, and the military salary has been as high as more than 40 billion, and this heavy burden has all fallen on the heads of the people. If it is a disaster year, it will be even more miserable. There was no harvest in the fields, and a large number of peasants had no income, so they had to go into exile, resulting in the tragic situation of starvation all over the wilderness. But what about the rich? They live a life of luxury and luxury, drunken and gold-obsessed without work.

Because the state's finances were depleted, it often cut down on the salaries of hundreds of officials and borrowed from princely taxes to meet the urgent needs of the state. During the period of the first emperor, he also openly sold his official beard and gathered a lot of money. When today's son is even more intensified, there are thousands of colorful girls in his harem, and the daily cost of food and clothing is hundreds of gold, so he desperately loots money and does everything. He announced the price of selling officials, 2,000 stone 20 million, 400 stone 4 million. Even different objects can have different bargains. Since it is possible to buy officials with money, embezzlement has become a legal act, and as soon as officials take office, they try to loot as much as possible. In order to sell more officials, the government often changes officials, and even a local official changes several people within a month. In order to scrape money, Emperor Ling also stipulated that when the county paid various tax contributions to Dasi Nong and Shaofu, it had to pay one cent into the palace first, which was called "guide money". He also built a golden hall in the West Garden, and sent Sinong gold silk to fill it as his private collection. He also deposited the money in Xiaohuangmen and Zhongchang, each with tens of millions.

Emperors are like this, not to mention other princely ministers.

Rebel? This is all official coercion and rebellion. In these decades, have there been fewer rebels? During the reign of Emperor An, Zhang Bolu of Qingzhou led the rebels of the exiles, affecting the nine coastal counties. Zhang Ying, a native of Guangling, led more than 10,000 people to rise up when Emperor Shun, and they persisted in Xuzhou and Yangzhou for more than ten years. More than ten years ago, Gongsun Ju of Taishan County gathered the displaced people to rebel and fought in Qingzhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou for several years. In the south and northwest, there were also cases of the people of the Great Han Kingdom and the Hu barbarians joining forces to rebel. There was a popular folk ballad: "The little people are like leeks, cut and reborn; The head is like a chicken, cutting and singing. The officials don't have to be fearful, and the people don't have to be light! "There is no way for everyone to live, so they have to rebel.

I also don't want to see the common people rebel, and I hate the common people for rebelling, but if they don't rebel, they will die, and if they rebel, they will die, in contrast, it is better to rebel. After the rebellion, you can kill corrupt officials, you can kill the head of the family bully, you can burn down the rich man's house, you can divide the rich man's property, everyone can temporarily eat your stomach, and you can enjoy life before you die.

Li Hong was stunned, don't they want to be in the future?

Future? Who of these people has a future? Do you know why the people who followed Zhang Jiao did not surrender until death, and 50,000 people threw themselves into the river and died? There is no future, and there will never be. So they kill, burn, rob, and destroy everything that can be destroyed. Because there is no future, only today.

Then, the Son of Heaven, the princes and nobles, the ministers, your lordship, why don't you change it?

Change? Change what? This is the world surnamed Liu, and any word that the Son of Heaven says is the law of the king. The people are untouchables, and they should be killed.

Li Hong looked at Zhang Chun's angry face, dumbfounded, and didn't dare to say a word again.

He felt that the adult in front of him seemed to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, and he was about to rise up. Subconsciously, he felt that this should not be the words of a county head who had just lost his territory.

But these words shocked him too much. It was as if he had suddenly opened his eyes in the darkness of the night, and he slowly saw everything around him.

He's been a slave for as long as he can remember, but he doesn't know why he's a slave. The Iron Wolf became a slave because he was a defeated captive, but what about himself? Why did he become someone else's slave and become a species that should be killed?

If you are a slave or a pariah, should you be obedient and killed?

Li Hong saw Yan Liang running over.

Yan Liang is now the leader of Li Hong's guards.

Li Hong set up a separate personal guard team of more than 100 people handed over to him by Zhang Chun, that is, the entourage guard, which was the personal soldier of the main general.

Now in the hinterland of the Great Han Kingdom, the hair ornaments and clothing of the Hu scouts are too obvious, and they are no longer suitable for scouts and entourage, so Li Hong transferred all the Hu soldiers in the scout team to Qinweitun. Qinweitun was transformed into the Black Panther Yi Battalion, which was expanded to nearly 600 people, and was directly commanded by Li Hong. He saw that Gongsun Zhan's white horse Yicong was very majestic, and he also wanted to imitate and set up his own Yicong army, only loyal to himself alone, and obeyed his own orders. So he named it after the Black Panther Yicong, which made Arc Ding and Qi Shen moved their blood and their hearts were surging. With such a master, he will fight in all directions from now on, and he will also be famous all over the world.

Yan Liang admired Li Hong very much, not only because of his prestige, his achievements, but also because of his trust. is just a one-sided acquaintance, Li Hong is so relieved that he hands over his life and secrets to himself, this kind of mind and courage really can't help but make people swear to serve.

Zhang Chun was at the scene at the time, and he was also dumbfounded when he heard Li Hong's arrangement, feeling that this leopard was really very close to the rumored person, not an idiot, but a genius.

"Lord Captain, Lord Assassin Shi Fu Gong Cao is engaged in Xian Yufu, Lord Xian Yufu has arrived."