690 thousand gold to buy horse bones, liquidation

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"Sir, did you bring it?"

In the Yazhong of Zhuozhou Mansion, Qin Zhen led Xu You and Ren Ta in.

"Grass people Xu You (Ren Tower), meet the lord." The two of them knelt down honestly and saluted.

"Get up, I heard what my subordinates said about you, it's very good, it's a man of my Han family, and he has blood."

Li Zixiao stood on the front steps, looked down at the two of them, and said with appreciation on his face.

"The lord praised it falsely, we don't want to be dogs for the Tartars, the villain and the Tartars have a deep blood feud, if it weren't for the helplessness before, we succumbed to the Tartars.

Now there is a chance to strike a blow against the Tartars, and the small one certainly has no hesitation. ”

Xu You said cautiously, not daring to raise his head.

"Well, you have set a good example for the other Han people who are still working under the Tartars.

Benjue has always had clear rewards and punishments, and meritorious service will be rewarded.

Originally, all the Han soldiers who were captured by my men to work for the Tartars had to be sent to the mines for mining.

Now, Ben Jue has pardoned you, you don't have to go to the mines, and Ben Jue has given you a chance to choose.

Do you choose to go back and be a proper citizen, or do you choose to join Benjue's command and ask for the Tartars for Benjue?

If you want to be ordinary people again, then Benjue will reward you with five hundred taels of silver, so that you can live a prosperous life.

If you choose to serve Benjue, then in the future, according to your own ability, make meritorious contributions on the battlefield, as long as you make meritorious contributions, everything will be fine. ”

The reason why Li Zixiao personally met Xu You and Ren Ta and rewarded them was the same as the meaning of his heavy punishment of Yan Song, a traitor, both of which had the meaning of buying horse bones.

Li Zixiao's words made Xu You's face show joy, he boldly raised his head, looked at Li Zixiao, and said without hesitation: "Sir, the little one is willing to join the sir's army and serve the sir."

The younger one also has an old mother and a pair of younger siblings outside the gate, and the little one wants to follow the lord and one day kill out of the gate and save my mother and younger siblings. ”

"The little ones are also willing to follow the lord." Renta is not very good at talking, and only shows his attitude.

Li Zixiao nodded and said, "Very good, you have made a wise choice, don't worry, follow Benjue to do a good job, it won't be long before Benjue will definitely take you out of the customs." ”

"Lord Xie.

Also, sir, the little one has a little request. Xu You said cautiously.

"Say."

"Yes, sir, I hope that the little lord can leave the other three hundred brothers who rebelled against the Tartars together in addition to the two of us."

"Well, you're a very thoughtful kid.

Okay, I approve this, the 300 people who defected with you at the beginning, a new flag, you are the flag general, and Ren Ta is your deputy. ”

"Lord Xie." Xu You shouted excitedly.

"Let's go down."

After Xu You and Ren Ta left, Han Tong next to him stood up and asked Li Zixiao: "Sir, except for Xu You's more than 300 captives.

In our battle, in the entire city of Zhuozhou, there were almost more than 1,600 Han prisoners, and did we really send them to the mines to serve in labor?

The subordinates felt that it would be a waste of our manpower to escort these people back to Kaifeng at this time.

It's better to leave them in Zhuozhou City first, use them as labor, and then send them to the mine when this battle is over. ”

After listening to Han Tong's suggestion, Li Zixiao nodded slightly and responded, "Well, your idea is feasible."

Then leave them to use in Zhuozhou City first, and after this battle is over, they will be sent to the mines, where each will serve five years of hard labor and ten years of military service.

The rules set by Benjue can be changed, but they cannot be completely changed.

Like these soldiers who worked for the Tartars, for the sake of being of the same kind, Ben Jue could not kill them like he did with the Tartars.

But they also have to pay the price for their mistakes.

In the future, as long as anyone rebels against the Tartars on the battlefield, or even attacks the Tartars, the soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty can give them a reduced punishment as appropriate, and they will even be rewarded like Xu You. ”

Don't think that Li Zixiao is set to serve five years of hard labor in the mine, and he feels that the punishment is very light.

You must know that the work in the mine is very hard, and the mine owners there are just as dark-hearted, and Li Zixiao can't put an end to this.

Serving five years of hard labor there is definitely much harder than squatting in prison for 20 years.

At this time, in Jiangbei, due to the promotion of Li Zixiao's policy and the stable environment in Jiangbei, the germination of capitalism had begun to appear there.

Many primitive factories and mines have sprung up one after another in an extreme period of time, which makes Jiangbei urgently short of a large number of laborers.

Free labor, such as prisoners of war, was most popular among the factory owners and mine owners.

Originally, a businessman suggested that Li Zixiao leave those Tartar captives and let them also send them to work in the back mines, but Li Zixiao was greeted with a big mouth.

According to Li Zixiao's words, he does not allow a Tartar to appear on his ruling territory, they are not worthy of living to work, only a dead Tartar is a good Tartar.

Besides, as far as the population of the Tartars is concerned, even if the entire population of their clan is captured to open mines, it will be the same whether there are any people or not.

On the night of the 15th, in the Zhuozhou City Mansion, a general of the White Dragon Army gathered here.

Li Zixiao is going to hold a short meeting here tonight, including Li Yan, Qi Wei, Han Tong, Li Tianba and other generals of the White Dragon Army, all of whom will come over.

"Okay, today in Zhuozhou, Benjue held this meeting, which may be the last meeting of senior generals before the large-scale war with the Tartars.

There is not much to say, mainly listen to the reports of the two generals, Qi Wei and Han Tong, make a summary, and see what changes have occurred in the Tartars.

Qi Wei, Han Tong, let's talk about it. ”

Li Zixiao made a brief beginning, and then set his eyes on Qi Wei and Han Tong.

"Yes, sir, my subordinates will talk about it first.

This time, his subordinates joined forces with General Han and General Zilong, led more than 8,000 people, and fought a battle with Tartars in Zhuozhou, and the process will not be detailed.

The final result was that we drove more than 10,000 Tartars out of Zhuozhou City, and General Zilong was seriously wounded and killed the Tartar general Haziye.

In this battle, General Zilong is the biggest hero, but unfortunately he can't participate in this meeting now.

At the same time, we lost more than 1,300 men in this battle, and killed and captured more than 4,000 people, including Tartars, Mongols, and Han soldiers.

After the Tartars entered the city, they looted money, grain, and materials, and captured the people, but in the end, the Tartars failed to take a grain from Zhuozhou City.

Now all the money and grain looted by the Tartars have been sealed by their subordinates, waiting for the lord to deal with it.

This battle is generally like this, as for the situation of the Tartars, the subordinates feel that they are not as arrogant as before when they play against us.

Seeing that the momentum is not good, the Tartars will also retreat, which shows that the Tartars do know the strength of our White Dragon Army, and they treat us differently from the ordinary Ming Army. ”

After Qi Wei finished speaking, Li Zixiao nodded: "Well, this battle is our first victory in this northern expedition, and you have made a good start for us!"

Your merits will be noted for the time being, and you will be rewarded after the war.

As for what Qi Wei said, the issue of sealing most of the money and grain in Zhuozhou City, Benjue has already made a decision.

Starting tomorrow, the sealed grain will be taken out and distributed to the people of the city, thirty catties per person, and our army will bring food by itself, and there is no need for the food of the people of Zhuozhou.

As for the other livestock, the cloth, all of them were also returned to the people, and we kept these things uselessly, but we only kept silver, calligraphy and paintings, antiques, etc., and these valuables. ”

"But sir, most of the grain, cloth, livestock, and even silver and antiques looted by the Tartars came from those big families in Zhuozhou City, and ordinary people accounted for less than half.

If the lord does this, it is estimated that the big families in the city will be dissatisfied with the trouble. ”

After Li Yan heard Li Zixiao's words at this time, he frowned and stood up and said.

"Otherwise, what do you think you should do, all the money and food have been mixed together, and who can tell whose house it came from.

As for those big households, they don't think about taking back all these money, food and other materials, and their property can be retained.

If Ben Jue hadn't driven away the Tartars, they wouldn't have lost the money and food, and even their family inheritance would have been lost, and if they were still dissatisfied at this time, let them come to Ben Jue himself. ”

After hearing Li Zixiao's words, Li Yan also nodded.

"Also."

Suddenly, Li Zixiao's voice was cold, and he continued: "These orders of this lord are only valid for the wealthy gentry in the city who have not taken refuge in the Tartars.

Benjue learned from the two generals, Qi Wei and Han Tong, that after the Tartars invaded Zhuozhou City, many wealthy gentry in the city took the initiative to take refuge in the Tartars.

Even, even Yan Song, the prefect of Zhuozhou City, and Ding Liang, a general judge, surrendered to the Tartars, and he felt ashamed and angry when he thought about it.

A second ago, they were still high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty and enjoyed power, but when they should have fulfilled their obligations, they did not fulfill their obligations.

For Yan Song, Ding Liang and other officials in Zhuozhou City who surrendered to the Tartars, Benjue will be publicly executed in the north of the city tomorrow afternoon.

These officials will not let go, and those wealthy gentry who have taken refuge in the Tartars and helped the Tartars persecute the people in the city, and the Lord will also settle accounts with them one by one this time.

Benjue should take Zhuozhou City as a starting point and set up such a rule.

In the future, anyone who takes the initiative to take refuge in the Tartars, helps the Tartars to help the abuse, and harms the people of my Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether he is a court official, a wealthy gentry with a deep background, or an ordinary person, they are personally guilty of capital crimes.

As for their family members, they will also be punished accordingly according to the severity of their culpability.

A man like Yan Song is extremely bad, so in addition to executing Yan Song himself, all the adult males in his family were also executed.

All the female dependents were reduced to slaves, and as for the wealthy gentry in the city, which of them took refuge in the Tartars, Qi Wei had already given Ben Jue a list.

Li Yan, Benjue will give you the list, and how to deal with these people will be handed over to you to be responsible. ”

"Yes, sir." Li Yan walked out and took the list from Li Zixiao's hand.

And many of the generals of the White Dragon Army around were also chilling in their hearts at this time, and they mourned silently for Yan Song and other wealthy gentry in the city.

These generals of the White Dragon Army know how much Li Zixiao hates the traitors who surrendered to the Tartars.

In the White Dragon Army, from the deputy marshal Wei Hong, the general Qi Wei, Han Tong and others, to the ordinary soldiers, they all have one principle: they will not be captured by the Tartars if they die.

Because they feared that once they were captured by the Tartars, they would not be able to withstand the torture and become traitors.

As a result, their families in Jiangbei and Henan will not only not be able to receive the White Dragon Army's pension, but will also be implicated.

Li Yan looked at the list in his hand, densely written with a large list of names, which made Li Yan smile wryly, this is estimated to include half of the wealthy gentry in Zhuozhou City.

At this time, Zhuozhou City was in the land of Hebei, and it could be regarded as a big city, and before the Tartars broke the city, there were more than 100,000 people in Zhuozhou.

There are dozens of families that can be regarded as wealthy gentry, except for those who were killed by the Tartars before, and now they are on the list in Li Yan's hands, accounting for almost half of the survivors.

"Okay, that's all for those two things.

Now, Han Tong, tell me about the situation of the Tartars that your scout camp continues to the north to investigate. ”

Li Zixiao looked at Han Tong and said.

"Yes, sir.

After occupying Zhuozhou City, his subordinates sent two teams of scouts to continue to explore the north, and found that they could no longer see a team of Tartars in the north.

In one day, the Tartars were completely withdrawn.

According to the scouts who reported it, they found that the Tartars' retreat was all in the direction of the capital.

The Tartars who had previously crisscrossed the capital to Zhuozhou, which had been hundreds of miles away, had all returned to their base camp in the west of the capital, and they did not know their next move for the time being.

And according to the return of some of the scouts under his subordinates, this time the Tartars fell in Zhuozhou.

Du Du, the main general of the Tartars, led the other two groups of Tartars, and captured tens of thousands of people in the areas of Fangshan, Liangxiang, and Wanping in the north, and seized a large amount of money, grain, and livestock.

As for the northeast, the Tartar army on Dolgon's side only knows that they are still in the west of Tongzhou City.

They had stormed Tongzhou before, but they didn't defeat it, which was already news a day ago.

Since Zhuozhou is still far away from the capital, it will take a lot of time for the subordinate scouts to return. ”

"Well, the situation you said is basically consistent with the information sent by Ergou last night.

However, Ergou's intelligence mentions that at this time, Dolgon has given up on storming Tongzhou, and there seem to be signs of going south.

Because one of Dolgon's men and horses went south yesterday to capture Guo County, it seems that Benjue's previous prediction was correct, and the Tartars were not targeting the capital this time, but still planning to plunder everywhere.

However, what Ben Jue didn't expect was that the Tartars sent so many men and horses this time, it was simply pouring out, and it was divided into two armies.

Huang Taiji: I want to play a big game! ”

Li Zixiao said with a playful smile on his face.

"The lord is right, according to the current analysis of the location of the two armies in the east and west of the Tartars, the targets of the Tartars entering the customs and plundering this time are likely to be Shanxi and Shandong.

Otherwise, in addition to the vicinity of the capital, the entire Hebei is also worthy of Tatars' shot, and other places have long been uninhabited. ”

Li Yan also expressed his judgment.

(End of chapter)