Chapter 282 Chapter 287, Heaven Blessing, War to Destroy the Jin Dynasty
In early May, the weather in Guanzhong became increasingly dry and hot.
On Mount Huashan, Hong Qi practiced several sets of the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist. His skin turned red, his forehead was covered with sweat, and white steam was coming out of his head.
He wiped his face and looked up at the sky. Seeing that it was cloudless, he couldn't help but frown and muttered:
"It's already the grain filling period for winter wheat, and it won't be good if the drought continues."
He has farmed before, understands farming time, and knows how important the wheat filling period is.
The rain at this time of year cannot be too little or too much. Too little rain will affect the filling of wheat and cause a loss in yield. If it rains continuously, the wheat will be infested with pests and diseases, which will also affect the yield.
So it’s best to have a thorough rain followed by a sunny spell.
But in the past half month, it has been sunny every day, and the weather has been getting hotter day by day. Such drought undoubtedly shows some dangerous signs.
"What is Senior Hong worried about?"
Baoqin came over with a teapot to bring herbal tea to Hong Qi, and just happened to hear Hong Qi's mumbling.
"We are worried about the reduction in grain production. Brother Ouyang said that they will mobilize troops after the autumn harvest, but this year looks like a drought year in Guanzhong. I am afraid that the summer grain production will be reduced, and there may also be problems with the autumn grain."
Hong Qi shook his head and sighed:
"If the military is still deployed this year, people's livelihood will be greatly affected."
If we insist on sending troops after the autumn harvest, military food must be given priority.
However, even if grain production decreases, we still have to ensure military food supplies, which means we may have to exploit the people.
Seeing Hong Qi frowning and looking worried, Bao Qin couldn't help but said with a smile:
"You are worrying too much, Senior. It will rain this evening. Not only will the grain production not decrease, but this year will be a bumper harvest."
"Rain in the evening? A good harvest?"
Hong Qi was startled, looked up at the sky, and said in surprise:
"I have some knowledge of observing the sky and the weather. I can't say for the distant future, but I can tell whether it will rain today or tomorrow. Judging from the recent sky phenomena, how can it rain recently?"
Baoqin smiled and said:
"Dayong is blessed by the heavens. We can't say that we can get whatever we want, but at least when necessary, there will be good weather and good harvests."
"May God bless you?"
Hong Qi originally wanted to say that this statement was too mysterious, but when the words came to his lips, he remembered some things Ouyang Feng had said, and he couldn't help but think about it for a moment.
evening.
Hong Qi stood in the yard, looking up at the sky.
The sky was still cloudless, with no sign of coming wind or rain.
The sky in the west is bright red, and it looks like there will be no rain tomorrow.
"So, what exactly was I expecting?"
He shook his head in self-mockery and was about to go back to the house when Hong Qi's eyes suddenly widened and a look of shock appeared on his face.
He stared at the west and saw that the western sky, which was filled with red clouds, suddenly began to emerge from thin air with layers of black clouds. They expanded at an incredible speed and covered the entire western sky in a blink of an eye. Then they surged from west to east like a torrent.
In just a moment, the black clouds far away in the sky had already spread over Mount Hua, and then continued to roll eastward.
The sky suddenly darkened, a cool breeze carrying damp water vapor blew, and bursts of muffled thunder continued to come from the sky.
When a flash of lightning illuminated the dark sky, Hong Qi, with his eyes wide open, could even vaguely see two slender figures dancing and shuttling through the clouds.
Those two figures looked very much like the legendary dragon god who controlled the clouds and rain!
"You stared for too long and were dazzled by lightning. Are you dazzled?"
Hong Qi was filled with shock. He blinked hard, raised his hand to rub his eyelids, then continued to look up, squinting his eyelids, focusing his eyes and staring at the mountain of black clouds.
When another flash of lightning passed by, illuminating the clouds again, Hong Qi's sharp eyesight was able to see the two slender figures dancing in the clouds like dragons.
"Is there really a dragon?"
Hong Qi was greatly shocked, and soon, rain began to fall from the sky, making the world look bleak. His vision was blocked by the rain, and it was no longer possible to see the dragon in the clouds.
But he still stood in the yard with his head raised, letting the cool rain fall on his face and body, wetting his clothes, and a feeling of heat gradually rose in his chest.
"Da Yong is blessed by the heavens. Will there be good weather and good harvests when necessary?"
Hong Qi was stunned for a long time, then laughed:
"In this case, what's the regret if the Beggars' Sect dies out?"
this moment.
He began to look forward to the peaceful and prosperous era with no beggars in the world as promised by Ouyang Feng.
Time flies.
At the time of autumn harvest, Hong Qi left Huashan and went to the territory of Jin to contact the various branches of the Beggar Gang and prepare to support the offensive of Dayong.
Dayong also began to mobilize troops and was ready to go on an expedition as soon as the autumn grain was stored in the warehouse.
The Jin Kingdom also stored grain and troops in Hezhong Prefecture and Henan Prefecture, ready for battle.
When everything is ready.
Dayong's war machine started again, and the troops were divided into two groups. One group crossed the Yellow River and attacked Hezhong Prefecture, and the other group went through Tongguan and attacked Henan Prefecture, officially launching the war to destroy Jin.
Ouyang Feng had no worries about the success or failure of this war to annihilate the nation.
He even only showed up once at the oath-taking ceremony before returning to his paradise to practice.
Faced with the fact that Dayong was in its rising period, with its national strength growing day by day, its soldiers and food being abundant, its weapons being advanced, and its people's hearts being stable, and the Jin Kingdom, which had long entered a period of decline and was riddled with internal contradictions, had no power to resist.
Whether defending a city or engaging in a battle, they will be easily defeated by the dimensionality reduction attacks of dragon cavalry, wolf cavalry, and firearms.
This is a huge gap that no famous general can make up.
Ouyang Feng even marked out a piece of land on the blessed land of Dragon Island and used the ready-made warehouse in Dragon Island Castle specifically for storing and transporting grain and fodder.
Dayong only needs to move the army's food and fodder into the Dragon Island warehouse for storage, and then move it out from the paradise when the army arrives at a place and needs food and fodder.
In this way, the Yong army would not have to worry about logistics and could attack cities and seize territories at will.
It can also save a lot of manpower and material resources, and save a lot of transportation losses.
The saved transportation losses can be used to provide relief to the people in the occupied areas and stabilize the people's hearts, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
Ouyang Feng could definitely say that the time of the Jin Dynasty's demise would depend on how fast the Yong Kingdom's army marched.
The faster the army marches, the faster the Jin Dynasty will perish.
"Thank you for your hard work this year. I will offer you a cup of tea instead of wine."
Cave heaven and blessed land.
When the two armies of Dayong successively launched battles with the Jin army in Hezhong Prefecture and Henan Prefecture, Ouyang Feng borrowed Xiaoqing and Xiaobai's territory at Wangyou Villa to hold a banquet to thank them for their hard work in making clouds and rain over the past year.
It was because of their help that Ouyang Feng's plan to transport surplus rainwater from various places to alleviate the drought in Guanzhong was able to proceed smoothly.
This year, Guanzhong had a bumper harvest in both summer and autumn, with Xiaoqing and Xiaobai crops making great contributions.
Xiaobai smiled softly, took a sip of the wine, and said softly:
"Since we are serving you, this is what we should do."
Xiaoqing said with a smile:
"Since you know how hard we work, you should reward us well!"
Ouyang Feng said with a smile:
"What reward do you want?" Xiao Qing said brazenly:
"How about rewarding us by not being able to get out of bed for three days?"
These vicious words made Xiaobai's cheeks blush instantly, and he wished he could dig a hole and bury Xiaoqing in it.
Ouyang Feng laughed, "This can be given to you as a reward."
Now, not only Xiaobai's cheeks were flushed, but even her earlobes and neck were flushed with layers of light rose-red. She lowered her head in shame, and tears appeared in her eyes.
Xiaobai got drunk again at this dinner.
Memory also becomes intermittent.
She only remembered that at the end of the banquet, she and Xiaoqing seemed to be sitting on Ouyang Feng's legs, she sat on his left leg and Xiaoqing sat on his right leg. Xiaoqing still had wine in his mouth and wanted to feed her wine.
Ouyang Feng did not drink, but just watched her and Xiaoqing hugging and drinking with a smile.
Then, the three of them went to the bathhouse again.
She was naked, sitting on Ouyang Feng, hugging and kissing him, while Xiaoqing was diving in the water making trouble.
When I came back, I got on the bed.
Those vague and intermittent memories made Xiaobai feel embarrassed.
But when Ouyang Feng hugged her tightly from behind and stuck closely to her, the indescribable sense of security and happiness immediately filled her body and mind, making her forget everything and fall asleep in his arms.
In this blessed land, the weather is sunny and the years are peaceful.
On the land of the main world, wars broke out everywhere.
The army of Dayong was like a surging torrent or a wildfire that spread across the sky. It surged forward, unstoppable, crushing everything and engulfing everything.
In the Battle of Hezhong Prefecture, the Jin army of 10,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry were completely wiped out.
In the Battle of Henan Prefecture, 100,000 Jin cavalry were completely wiped out.
Famous cities fell one after another, and even counties changed their flags before the arrival of Yong's army.
The Jurchen nobles were in a state of panic and desperately deployed troops to try to stop the advance of the Yong army, but it was always in vain.
The Jin Dynasty's court began to discuss moving south to seek redress. Some said that if they couldn't stop the Great Yong, could they not defeat the weak Song?
If the Great Yong attacked me, I would attack the weak Song and use its population and land to make up for the losses. If I really couldn't defend the north, I could also occupy the Great Song and take advantage of the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to live in peace in the south.
Many people also expressed their opposition.
After the Yong Dynasty destroyed the Jin Dynasty, wouldn't it continue to march south and unify the world? It's a dream to stay in the south! No matter how dangerous the Yangtze River is, can it stop the flying dragon? So, just retreat to Liaodong, or even retreat to the dragon's birthplace by the Yazi River.
I don't think Dayong would be interested in such a cold and bitter place as Liaodong. At most, they could pay tribute to Dayong and become its vassal state.
The Jin court was in constant dispute and had no plan to deal with the war.
The people of all ethnic groups who had suffered from oppression welcomed and encouraged the arrival of the royal army.
Because before the expedition, the Beggars' Sect disciples and members of the Yellow River Gang, who were insiders of Dayong, had already been secretly spreading Dayong's policies in the countryside.
The land was distributed, seeds and farm tools were loaned out at no interest, and they even helped to form mutual aid agricultural societies, where oxen were shared, and the land tax was 1/30, with no miscellaneous taxes or corvée labor ever levied...
These policies sounded like empty promises, so people were inevitably skeptical at first.
However, in order to prepare for war, the Jin Dynasty had exploited the people's power to the utmost over the past year. The people of all ethnic groups under the Jin Dynasty's rule had long been miserable. Even though Dayong's policies sounded like nonsense and empty promises, the people still had some expectations in their hearts.
And when the Yong army arrived, when the people saw with their own eyes that the invincible Yong army did not harm the civilians at all and even used military rations to relieve the poor people who were oppressed, when they saw that the seemingly ferocious flying dragon did not eat hundreds of people a day as the Jin Kingdom had claimed, and only loved to roast cattle and sheep, and was not good at hunting the cattle and sheep of the people, the people were all excited and welcomed the royal army with food and drink.
Since ancient times, the most troublesome thing about large-scale military expeditions is how to appease the people.
If you conquer a place but fail to win the support of the people, the cost of governance will remain high. Not only will you not be able to gain any profit, but you will have to make continuous investments and spend countless money. In the end, the enemy may even seize the opportunity and launch a counterattack, resulting in a victory followed by a defeat, and the territory being lost again.
But Dayong did not have such concerns.
Although he possesses an invincible and overwhelming force, he does not bully the people. This alone is enough to make the people grateful - for the people who are used to being bullied and exploited, you can bully me, but you don't bully me, then this is a favor.
What's more, the Dayong army not only did not collect food from the people, but also provided relief to the people. Such a powerful and people-loving army, the people will be grateful and support it spontaneously.
In addition, the military clerks' speeches confirmed that the rumored new policies of Dayong were true, so the people in the occupied areas naturally became more eager to support the new dynasty.
In those days, there was no concept of a nation-state. For the vast majority of the lower-class people, it didn't matter what the country was called, what the emperor's surname was, or even what ethnic group the emperor was from. What mattered was whether they could have enough food to eat.
If you can have enough food to eat, not be bullied, and even own your own land, that would be a good life that you can only dream of.
In this way, Dayong easily won the hearts of the people in the new territory.
Almost wherever he went, he was able to quickly calm the people and establish effective rule.
Of course, the Jin Dynasty ruled for a hundred years and adopted Confucianism. The Song Dynasty also became a vassal of the Jin Dynasty and completely abandoned the northerners with the policy of "Southerners return to the south and northerners return to the north". As a result, many northern scholars regarded the Jin Dynasty as the orthodox in the Central Plains.
As the saying goes, there must be loyal people in times of national crisis, and of course there were many old and young people who were loyal to the Jin Dynasty.
However, Dayong never hesitated to kill people.
If we don’t clean the house and clear the fields, how can we achieve great success and build in the future?
The army advanced along the way, ransacking houses all the way.
Part of the extra money obtained from the confiscation of property was used to subsidize military expenses, part was added to local treasuries, and part was turned over to the national treasury.
As for the land, part of it was distributed to the people, and part of it was nationalized to be used as meritorious land for future meritorious soldiers.
As for the royal family, they don't take a penny.
Does the royal family need money?
Of course.
But it is not necessary.
Because behind the royal family is Ouyang Feng.
With Ouyang Feng around, how could the Ouyang family lack worldly wealth?
The confiscation of property is always accompanied by the extermination of the entire family.
However, Huang Yaoshi listened to Ouyang Feng's advice and did not use the knife as fiercely this time as he did when he captured Guanzhong.
Except for a few powerful people who were extremely unpopular, or scholars who were die-hard loyal to the Jin Dynasty, most of the rest of the old and young were first sent to labor camps to do hard labor, and in the future they would be exiled to the frontier to open up the land and educate the barbarians.
The world is big.
The Western Regions, the Jin Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty together are only a small part of the entire world.
Such a big world, such a vast land, how shameful it is to leave it waste?
Those old and young people who refused to submit to the new Yong Dynasty were used as pioneers in the colonization.
Of course, colonizing the surrounding areas is a matter for later.
After all, in this day and age, even the coastal areas, the southwest, Bashu, and Liaodong still have large areas that have not been fully developed, let alone overseas?
The combined population of Jin and Song was only 130 to 140 million, which was too small. After unification, they would need to vigorously develop the interior and multiply the population.
Expanding the territory to all directions is a major plan for the next hundred years.
After the winter, the Jin Dynasty had reached its end and sent envoys to negotiate peace.
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(End of this chapter)
