In the big tent, Zhang Niujiao was lying on the table, looking at a dilapidated silk map in the faint light of candlelight. Zhang Baiqi sat next to him.

Zhang Baiqi's original name was Zhang Ze, and his courtesy name was Ziyin. He used to be Maocai from Anping Country, Jizhou (Maocai is almost the same as filial and honest, and they were both talents recommended by the county and state to the court). He was very knowledgeable, but his family was poor and had no way to go, so he was never appointed. Zhang Ze was good at fighting and defending others, and was very famous in the local area. Later, he met Zhang Jiao and joined the Taiping Taoist Church. He was one of the seventy-two little coaches of the Taiping Taoist Church. Because he liked to ride a white horse, the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army called him Xiaoshuai the White Horse.

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

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

"Master, please rest assured. Our troops have received support from the local people of Zhuo County. The news comes quickly and the source is very reliable. The Leopard's Fengyun Iron Cavalry Army has indeed arrived at the border of the Holy Shui River and is probably crossing the river now." Zhang Baiqi said with a serious expression.

Zhang Baiqi is in his thirties, with a yellow complexion and a thin body, but his eyes are very energetic and he is powerful without anger.

"We have no experience in fighting with cavalry. If the troops contact them, they may suffer a loss." Zhang Niujiao said slowly, "The combat effectiveness of ten thousand cavalry should be very amazing."

"What are you afraid of? In the past, the Huns, Wuwan people, and Xianbei people repeatedly attacked the border, and tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cavalry went south. The Han army basically defended the city to death or fled when they heard the news. It was rare to confront them on the battlefield. But in the end, it was different from being defeated by our great Han army. During the reign of Emperor Wu, General Li Ling retreated from the desert with 6,000 infantry, and the 80,000 Xiongnu army followed the besiege for more than ten days and could not be defeated. It can be seen that cavalry must have the weaknesses of cavalry, and infantry has the advantages of infantry. As long as it is used properly, it can completely defeat the enemy. Don't worry, the general."

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

"Ziyin is so proud. We have 150,000 people, and we have an absolute advantage in number against him, 10,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry. Although our equipment and strength are all the same, there should be no problem to eliminate them. The key now is time, we can't afford to delay. If we want to win the three counties of Youzhou before it snows, we must take Jicheng this month. I hope to have a direct battle with them in Zhuocheng, and the outcome will be determined in one battle."

"The enemy is weak, and they are very cunning, and they probably won't do this. If nothing unexpected happens, the Han army left west of the Shengshui River will not exceed 25,000 at most. The 5,000 reinforcements from Yuyang County have been staying in Jicheng. Depending on the situation, they have no confidence in defending Zhuocheng and are ready to give up Zhuo County at any time and fight with our army in Jicheng." Zhang Baiqi said with a smile, "The reinforcements from Shanggu County will also arrive soon. According to the news of Andingshun, they have about 3,000 people. Huang Shuai and Zuo Shuai cross the river tomorrow, and our army will all approach Zhuocheng. If we capture Zhuocheng, the entire Zhuo County will be ours."

"Is the news about An Dingshuai still delivered every day?" Zhang Niujiao asked.

"It's very punctual. However, when the Leopard Army arrived at the Shengshui River, his news was slower than the news from Guangyang." Zhang Baiqi hummed unconvincedly and said, "Master-in-law, don't place all hope on this line. Now that the troops have reached Youzhou and are not in Zhongshan Kingdom, his role is not as important as in the past."

"He has a special status, and every time the message he sends is accurate and timely, no one can replace him." Zhang Niujiao said seriously, "It is important to maintain contact with him. Whether he can win Yuyang County by the end of the year depends entirely on him."

"He is a high-ranking official there, right?" Zhang Baiqi hesitated and asked.

"I don't know. He is one of the eight disciples of General God, and no one knows him. Now that General God is gone, he can still contact us and provide us with information, which shows his feelings and loyalty to the master." Zhang Niujiao shook his head and said admirably.

"Is there any news about Swallow?" Zhang Niujiao continued to ask

"Supervisor Chu's troops have arrived in Zhongshan Kingdom. In more than ten days, they can reach Zhuo County. It is estimated that we have already attacked Jicheng by that time."

On the grass by the Holy Shui River, there are tents. On the river surface, the cavalry of the wind and clouds cross 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 were no delicious wine and food, there were still barbecue.

Zhang Chun, the prime minister of Zhongshan, was from Yuyang. He was very talented, had good martial arts skills, and was also famous for his poetry and prose. There were not many county magistrates like him in the Han Dynasty. He was an official for many years, was lenient in government, compassionate with the people, fair and honest, and had a good reputation. He was deeply supported by the people.

Zhang Chun is in his forties, with a medium figure and a relatively thin body. Perhaps because of overwork, his face looks very poor, his eye sockets are deep, and there are many wrinkles on his forehead, one by one, just like a knife carving, looking vicissitudes and old.

Zhang Chun seemed to like Li Hong very much and was very close to him. He praised him even though he was a little embarrassed to see Zhang Chun admire him so much, but he was still very grateful in his heart. The two felt that they were very similar to each other, so they started to talk too much.

After the banquet, Li Hong accompanied Zhang Chun to walk by the river while continuing to chat. Naturally, the two of them talked about the current situation.

Li Hong was very disgusted with the Yellow Turban Army rising up, resisting the court, burning, killing and looting. The earliest he accepted was Liu Yu, Liu Zheng, Xian Yufu and others, believing that it was a mob rebellion, causing harm to the country and causing trouble for life. He said it was very direct, and suppression was correct and indispensable. Of course, he thought it was too much for Huangfu Song to massacre 100,000 Yellow Turban soldiers in Xia Quyang. For Li Hong, he was the most acceptable to the measures taken by Murong Feng or Liu Yu against the enemy. If he won, let them surrender, use them for their own use, and appease them for their own life and stabilize society.

Zhang Chun frowned and said something that made Li Hong feel that it was both fresh and needed time to understand and think deeply.

Zhang Chun asked him, why are the people rebelling? Of course, there is no way to live. Why are there no way to live? Those who have no food or clothing will starve to death. People are busy all year round, why are they not only those who have no food or clothing? Li Hong couldn't answer this question. He didn't think about it carefully.

In this dynasty, a peasant family of five people consumes about 150 stones of grain each year. With salt and clothing costs, the minimum living expenses for the whole year will be about 240 stones. If a family's income does not meet the minimum living expenses they need, they will inevitably fall into a state of hunger and cold, let alone maintain the cultivation of the next year. Now a large acre of land can produce about 3 stones of millet per year, and a small acre of millet per year. In other words, a family of five who cultivates 100 mu of land can harvest about 200 stones of grain throughout the year. However, many peasant families in this dynasty actually have less than 100 mu of land, usually only a few dozen mu or even a few mu, with only more than 100 stones or less a year. After deducting various taxes, there is nothing left and cannot survive at all.

Do you know how much income the royal relatives, nobles, and bureaucrats of this dynasty earn in a year? Li Hong shook his head. Of course he didn't know.

The income of royal relatives and nobles mainly comes from the rent and taxes of each person's fiefs. The more fiefs, the more people, the more rent and taxes they have. Some marquis earn more than tens of millions of stones per year. As for the income of princes and kings, it is even more amazing, with hundreds of millions of stones everywhere. The officials set the order of grains, the three ministers, the rank of tens of stones, the nine ministers, the county magistrates, the six hundred stones, the county magistrates, and the county magistrates and the county magistrates. The rich family and family have many lands that are hundreds of hectares, or even more than a thousand hectares, and their income is far higher than that of officials. And this is only what everyone knows, and what they don't know is even more innumerable. Compared with the highest income of poor people, the smallest gap between a small county magistrate and them is four or five times.

Why is this happening?

Land and land were stolen by the wealthy and powerful people. They had large houses in the city and countless fields in the village. They had thousands of slaves and disciples. After losing their land, most of the farmers became dependent farmers of the rich. In addition to paying high rent and corvee service, they were also their "slaves". There is no such statement now. The Han Dynasty did not allow slaves, but what is the difference between them and the slaves of the Hu people? The main family members died, can they still survive?

Since Emperor He of this dynasty, the emperor ascended the throne at a young age, and the foreign relatives and eunuchs took turns to control the government, and the court's principles became increasingly corrupt. The officials at prefectures and counties were sometimes rotated several times a month. After officials took office, they gathered and searched, levyed and extorted. Since Emperor An, the court had long used military forces against the Qiang people, expending military salaries of more than 40 billion yuan, and this heavy burden fell on the heads of the people. If it was a disaster year, it would be even worse. The fields were not harvested, and a large number of farmers had no income, so they had to go into exile everywhere, causing a tragic situation of starvation everywhere. Even the capital Luoyang had dead sleeping on the road. But what about the rich? They got it for nothing and still lived a luxurious and luxurious life.

Because the country's finances were exhausted, the salaries of officials were often reduced, and the taxes of kings and princes were borrowed to meet the urgent needs of the country. During the late emperor, he also sold official positions and titles publicly and accumulated a lot. Today, when Zi became even more aggressive, there were thousands of girls in his harem, and hundreds of gold were spent a day on food and clothing, so he tried hard to plunder money and used all the best. He announced the price of selling officials, 2,000 s, 20 million s, 400 s, 400 s, and 4 million s, and even different objects could have different bargaining prices. Since you can use money to buy officials, you can be greedy.

Pollution became a legal act. As soon as officials took office, they tried their best to plunder. In order to sell more officials, the government often changed officials, or even a local official, and changed several people within a month. In order to plunder money, Emperor Ling also stipulated that when counties and states paid various tax contributions to the Grand Secretary and the Shaofu, they had to draw a point to be handed over to the palace, which was called "guiding money". They also built Wanjin Hall in the West Garden, and distributed gold and silk from the officials to accumulate them as his private storage. He also stored the money in the Xiaohuangmen and Zhongchangshi, each with tens of millions.

The emperors are like this, let alone other princes and ministers.

Rebellion? This is all about officials forcing the people to rebel. In the past few decades, are there few people rebelling? During the reign of Emperor An, Zhang Bolu of Qingzhou led refugees to rebel, affecting nine coastal counties. During the reign of Emperor Shun, Zhang Ying, a native of Guangling, led more than 10,000 people to rise up. They persisted in Xuzhou and Yangzhou for more than ten years. More than ten years ago, Gongsun Ju of Taishan County gathered refugees to rebel and fought in Qingzhou, Yanzhou and Xuzhou for several consecutive years. In the south and northwest, there was also the incident of the people of the Han Dynasty and the Hu barbarians joining forces to rebel. A song once popular among the people: "The common people are like leeks, cut and resurrect; their heads are like chickens, and they crow again. Officials do not need to be afraid, and the people do not need to be careless!" Everyone has no way to survive, so they have to rebel.

I don’t want to see the people rebelled, and I hate the people rebelled, but they will die if they don’t rebel, and rebellion will die. In comparison, it is better to rebel. After rebellion, you can kill corrupt officials, kill bullies from the head of the family, burn the houses of the rich, and divide the wealth of the rich. Everyone can eat their stomachs for a while and enjoy life before they die.

Li Hong was shocked. Don’t they want to go in the future?

In the future? Who has a future for these people? Do you know why the people who followed Zhang Jiao did not surrender until death, and 50,000 people jumped into the river and died? Without a future, there will never be a future. So they killed, burned, robbed, and destroyed everything that can be destroyed. Because there is no future, only today.

Then, emperor, princes, nobles, ministers, and sir, why don’t you change it?

Change? What to change? This is the world with the surname Liu. Any words the emperor said are kingly laws. The people are untouchables, and they are the seeds that should be killed.

Li Hong looked at Zhang Chun's angry face, dumbfounded, and never dared 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 what a county leader who had just lost his jurisdiction should say.

But these words shocked him so much. He seemed to have suddenly opened his eyes in the dark and slowly saw everything around him.

He started with memory and was a slave, but he didn't know why he was a slave. Iron Wolf became a slave because he was a defeated prisoner. What about himself? Why did he become someone else's slave and become a seed that should be killed?

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

Li Hong saw Yan Liang running around.

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

Li Hong set up a personal guard team with more than 100 people handed over to Zhang Chun, which is the entourage guard team, and the chief general's personal soldiers.

Now in the hinterland of the Han Dynasty, the hair accessories of Hu tribe scouts were too obvious and were no longer suitable for being scouts and entourages, so Li Hong transferred all the Hu tribe soldiers in the scout team to the Qinweimen. The Qinweimen was changed to the Black Panther Charity Camp, which expanded to nearly 600 people, and was directly commanded by Li Hong. He saw that Gongsun Zan's white horse Charity was very powerful, and he also wanted to imitate a group of his own Charity troops, only loyal to himself and obey his own orders. So he named it after the Black Panther Charity, which moved Arc Ding and Qichen to his blood and his heart was surging. Following such a master, he would fight all directions from now on and become famous all over the world.

Yan Liang admired Li Hong very much, not only because of his reputation, his record, but also because of his trust. Just a one-sided friendship, Li Hong was so relieved that he gave his life and secrets to him. This kind of mind and courage really made people feel willing to serve him to die.

Zhang Chun was at the scene at that time. When he heard Li Hong's arrangement, he was stunned. He felt that this leopard was really close to the rumored person, either an idiot or a genius.
Chapter completed!