Chapter 224 Emperor Xiaowen's Intentions Were Good
After Yang Kan and Fu Shuyan joined forces, Fu Shuyan could no longer hold on. He handed all his seals to Yang Kan, and after he took command of the army, he ran out of breath and fainted.
Yang Kan hurriedly ordered his personal guards to call the military doctor. After settling Fu Shuyan and making sure that his life was not in danger for the time being, the army of Mozhe Dam had already fled in all directions.
Yang Kan also secretly felt lucky, but in fact, luck played a big role in his victory.
First of all, it was incredible that he was able to break into the front of the Mozhe Dam.
Since ancient times, taking the head of a general in the midst of thousands of troops is the highest level of military achievement!
There are only a few people in history who can do this, the most recent of whom is Guan Yu.
But Yang Kan was lucky, because the troops of Mozhe Dike had their own plans and each unit in the army wanted to preserve its own strength and was unwilling to engage in a head-on battle with the brave Yang Kan. That was why Yang Kan was able to advance all the way from Zouma Valley to the front of the central army of Mozhe Dike.
The next thing is the mentality of not breaking the levee.
If Mozhe Dati had hidden behind the shield bearer like he did last time, he would not have been shot in the throat by Yang Kan's arrow.
But after the Battle of Yangping Pass, Mozhe Dike also drifted. He stopped the shield bearers who came up to protect him, wanting to watch Yang Kan being trapped to death with his own eyes.
This gave Yang Kan the opportunity to shoot that arrow.
Finally, there is an element of luck involved in this arrow.
Shooting an arrow on horseback and hitting the enemy general's throat from a hundred steps away, this is not something that can be achieved by just aiming. It was entirely due to Yang Kan's extraordinary performance. He used his archery skills to the extreme, which resulted in this outstanding shot.
But the result was just like that, Mozhe Dam was destroyed by the waves, and his army quickly collapsed.
Hou Gang gathered a group of soldiers and led them to escape to Yangping Pass.
Another part of the soldiers instinctively returned to Wuxing County and joined Lu Bodu who was defending the city of Wuxing.
Immediately afterwards, Hou Gang did not know how to get the defending general Du Can to open Yangping Pass and let him lead the remaining troops into Yangping Pass.
Now Yang Kan was also hesitant. Should he lead his troops to continue attacking Yangping Pass, or attack Wuxing County?
In fact, both of these options are bad.
If Fu Shuyan could still lead the troops, Yang Kan would definitely let him attack Wuxing County, pursue the victory and completely eliminate the Qinzhou rebels. Then the rebels in Yangping Guanzhong would have no way to retreat and would naturally surrender.
But now Fu Shuyan is unconscious, and his heir son Fu Jingshao died in battle. With Yang Kan's prestige, he is simply not capable of leading the entire Liangzhou army. If he attacks rashly and encounters the slightest setback, he will end up like Mo Zhe Dadi.
But if we don't act, such a good opportunity will be wasted. If we wait until the rebels recover, Liangzhou's military will be worse than before the war.
Just when Yang Kan was hesitating, an envoy arrived in his army.
“Brother Invesco!”
When Yang Kan saw Su Liang, he came out of the camp in surprise and welcomed Su Liang into the camp with great fanfare.
When Yang Kan and Su Liang parted in Huazhou that day, he never thought that he would meet Su Liang again so soon.
At that time, Su Liang was sent to Hezhou to read Xiao Baoyin's order, while Yang Kan went to Liangzhou to assist Liangzhou governor Fu Shuyan in guarding Liangzhou.
At that time, both of them were appointed as Langzhong of the Western Expedition Office, and they were helping Xiao Baoyin plan how to quell the rebellion.
But the situation is completely different now.
When Yang Kan heard that Su Ze had led his troops into Liangzhou and was confronting Lü Bodu in Wuxing County, his eyes suddenly lit up.
-
Time goes back to a month ago.
Before Su Ze left Longxi, in order to ensure the safety of the rear, he asked Su Tong (the city builder of Tongwan City) to lead the captives to rebuild the new city.
But Su Tong soon reported to Su Ze that the entire new city was submerged because the Wei River had burst its river channel, and the waterlogged city walls could no longer be used.
Su Ze personally investigated and finally found a strategic location to build a new city from his teacher Li Daoyuan's "Annotations to the Classic of Waterways".
This place is called Zhudao.
"豲" is a kind of ferocious porcupine. The Xirong tribe that lived here at that time named their tribe after it.
During the Warring States Period, Duke Xiao of Qin went west to kill King Zhui of the Rong here and renamed this place Zhui Dao, which is the same as Didao in Longxi County.
However, the city had long been abandoned. Su Ze verified through "Notes on the Classic of Waterways" that "the source of water flows through the southeast of the old city of Zhudao and flows into the Weishui River. The Chiting River flows out of the Chigu in the eastern mountain of the county, flows west through the north of Wei River, and flows into the Weishui River in the south." He finally found the old site.
Su Liang's eyes lit up when he saw this old site.
Otherwise, how could it be said that Mo Zhe Nian suffered from his lack of education?
In fact, Zhudao is not far from the new city built by Mozhe Niansheng, but the location and terrain here are much more dangerous than the new city.
If Mo Zhe Niansheng built the city here, then Su Ze would have to spend a lot more effort and waste countless soldiers' lives if he wanted to capture it.
It is no wonder that the Zhui people built a city here, and later, after the Qin Dynasty conquered the Western Rong, they also built a city here. This Zhuidao City is located at the intersection of three rivers. It is both offensive and defensive, and there is an uninterrupted water source. It is the most suitable place to build a city.
Su Ze threw all the captives to Murong Shaozong and Su Tong to build the city of Chandao, and left most of the Longxi county soldiers to Murong Shaozong. On the one hand, he asked Su Chao in Jincheng, Hezhou for soldiers, and on the other hand, he led only two thousand trusted and elite troops into Liangzhou.
Hou Jing was very puzzled as to why Su Ze wanted to transfer troops from the rear of Hezhou and Liangzhou, but not directly lead the newly victorious Longxi troops into Liangzhou.
Currently, Su Liang is the only one in the army who knows what Su Ze is thinking.
One reason is naturally that the Longxi soldiers suffered heavy losses when they attacked Xincheng, and the army was very tired, so it was enough to keep them to guard their homeland.
Another reason was that Su Ze did not want the wealthy families in Longxi County to extend their influence into Liangzhou along with the army.
To put it bluntly, Su Ze has to balance the military merits of the various factions under his command. Now it is the turn of the Heliang army to make achievements!
However, insufficient troops also bring troubles.
After entering Liangzhou, Su Ze fought quickly. The Qinzhou rebels had no popular support in Liangzhou. Su Ze took Hou Jing as the vanguard and the rebels surrendered at the sight of him along the way.
But Su Ze walked very slowly. Whenever he arrived at a place, he would look for local tyrants and force them to provide troops and food.
These Liangzhou tyrants were also confused. The "royal army" they had been waiting for so long wanted even more than Mozhe Dati, the leader of the refugees.
However, Su Ze did not ask for it casually. He required each household to pay the rent and labor service stipulated by the court according to the land they owned. All the land was personally verified by Su Duan (the impartial and selfless local official). The land grant system of the Northern Wei Dynasty had only been implemented for 20 years, but it was already in chaos. The illegal and powerful people occupied countless lands. Some people also gave their land to the powerful people to reduce taxes and labor service. In short, the county magistrates in various places could not clearly tell how much land each household had, let alone pay rent and labor service according to the land area.
First of all, the taxes that need to be paid must be accurately calculated based on the amount of land each family owns. The state and county governments in the Northern Wei Dynasty could not do this. They did not have the ability to do so, right?
Most county officials negotiate a figure with local wealthy families based on the requirements of their superiors, and then bargain based on the harvest season. In the end, how much they can collect depends on the county official's face.
The county magistrate generally did not care how these powerful families collected taxes; as long as the grain was collected, it was fine.
Su Ze could only sigh that Emperor Xiaowen's original intention was good, but he took too big a step.
What is the level of your Northern Wei bureaucracy?
What are you doing with rent and labor service? Do you understand?
After all the twists and turns, in the end, I'm afraid they won't even be able to beat the Yuan Dynasty's tax-farming system.
The wealthy families in Liangzhou broke out in cold sweat when they saw that Su Ze could accurately report the number of acres of land they owned.
If the tax system is strictly followed, they have evaded too much tax over the years.
We don't even need to investigate past tax evasion. If we really ask them to pay taxes based on the amount of land, half of them will go bankrupt.
But Su Ze also learned the lesson of Emperor Xiaowen, and he knew that he should not take too big a step.
There is no way around it. The powerful families that survived the Five Barbarians' Invasion and the Gu-breeding Competition during the Northern and Southern Dynasties were the complete embodiment of powerful family politics.
In terms of military, they have forts and fort soldiers, which can be considered as their own independent armed forces.
Economically, they have large farms, and families often monopolize certain industries in an area. Some families even have their own caravans.
To put it bluntly, these are mines dug up by the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and now these mines have been passed into the hands of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
Su Ze knew very well that it was impossible for him to manipulate local nobles as Emperor Wu of Han did and move all the rich people to the new city to guard his tomb by himself.
Even when Su Ze oppressed them too much, these wealthy families turned around and joined the Qinzhou rebels. They were looking forward to the royal army because the Mozhe Dam was plundered too much. If the "royal army" was more plundering than the Mozhe Dam, then why not join the rebels?
So after Su Ze hit the Liangzhou nobles with a stick, he also gave them a sweet treat.
Su Ze asked Su Duan to compile a yellow book of land registration to register the land owned by these wealthy families, and use the area of these lands as the basis for collecting rent, labor service and taxes.
But this time, many wealthy families were tempted.
These wealthy families were moved not because they were convinced by Su Ze, but because Su Ze wanted to make a list.
Making a list means that the government recognizes the land they own.
Many wealthy families may not have a high level of education, but they also understand one thing: taxation is an obligation as well as a right.
Hiding land can certainly evade taxes, but it will also cause many inconveniences.
For example, if land ownership is unclear, land transactions cannot be carried out.
For example, everyone's land is unclear, and within the wealthy families, there will be a situation where the big fish eat the small fish and the small fish eat the shrimp. When it comes to the apportionment of rent and labor service, the big wealthy families will also exploit the small wealthy families. Those wealthy families with more land but greater power will bear less, so naturally someone will have to bear more.
No matter whether these small clans bear the responsibility themselves or pass it on to others, in the end the conflicts still lie with them.
Then there is the issue of inheritance and encroachment within the family. How can we ensure that something with unclear property rights can be passed on to the next generation?
The family members are embezzling money, and even outsiders who are in charge of the chores will try to seize some of the land. Anyway, you can't clearly explain how much land you own, so you can't report it to the police and sue it, right?
So after Su Ze announced the land area of each family and proposed to compile a list, he quickly gained the support of some wealthy families.
These wealthy families also understood Su Ze's intention. The price he offered was to make a list and acknowledge the lands occupied by each family. He just wanted food and money.
Su Ze also suggested that if one did not need to pay money or food, then one could send people to serve as soldiers. Based on the quality of the soldiers and their own weapons and equipment, these could also be converted into money and food.
In a sense, Su Ze was also carrying out a local policy in Liangzhou, which was to levy stable taxes on the wealthy families through the method of land monopoly.
Of course, the reason why these Liangzhou nobles were so obedient was that they had been robbed twice by Mozhe Dati and Lu Bodu, and some of those who disobeyed had been killed by them.
Su Ze's suppression of the rebellion had the endorsement of the court, so with his guarantee, he was not afraid that the officials behind him would not recognize his actions.
The most important point, of course, is the prestige established by Su Ze through several great victories, as well as the elite troops behind him.
In this way, Su Ze entered Liangzhou along the West Han River, stopping along the way. When he arrived at a place, he asked Su Duan to take his apprentices to survey the land, and then appointed Su Lie (a cruel clerk) to deal with the backlog of cases in various counties.
It can only be said that Su Lie deserves the title of "cruel". No matter whether it is the plaintiff or the defendant, they will all suffer a lot in his hands. Especially in those cases of property disputes, both parties will often end up being punished with fifty lashes, and the disputed land will be confiscated by the government.
At the beginning, Su Ze still had some dignity. He appointed Su Lie to take back the disputed lands, but this "open robbery" seemed a bit too ugly.
However, Su Lie had solved so many cases, but no one had made a big deal about it. Su Ze was very curious and obtained Su Lie's files.
After reading the case files, Su Ze realized that Su Lie's verdict was indeed reasonable.
Nowadays, most of the inheritance disputes in Liangzhou are about the land left behind by the families killed by Mozhe Dati and Lu Bodu.
Mozhe Dati and Lü Bodu robbed and conscripted soldiers in Liangzhou twice, which also brought down many powerful families in Liangzhou, and their lands were targeted.
Su Lie's judgment can be said to be impartial and the legal provisions he cited were all correct. It is no wonder that there were no appeals in these inheritance disputes.
In this way, Su Ze used this relatively "gentle" method to regain control of the unowned land of Liangzhou.
Next, Su Ze also planned to follow the practice of Longxi County, concentrate these lands to establish Sanchang Village, and then set up Zhechongfu to control these areas.
But time waits for no one.
Ten days ago, after Su Ze received the news that Mozhe Dadi was defeated and killed, he had to speed up his march and rush to Wuxing County to meet up with Hou Jing to block Lü Bodu's escape route.
Su Ze sent his personal guards to escort Su Liang to find Yang Kan to discuss a joint attack on Wu Xing with Yang Kan.
This led to the scene where Su Liang bypassed Wu Xing and entered Yang Kan's tent.
-
But after a brief moment of excitement, Yang Kan quickly calmed down.
He looked at Su Liang and said:
"Brother Jingshun, tell me the truth, is it true that General Su's troops are not enough to capture Wuxing City?"
(End of this chapter)