Chapter 851 Luo Su saw Dou Jiande
Luo Su looked at the scene outside the car and felt quite emotional. Back then, Chen She went from being a commoner to becoming the King of Chen in just a few months.
"The so-called king is just someone lifted up by the people!"
Luo Su looked at the poor people who were rushing towards Changbai Mountain like a tide, as if they were worshipping. This Changbai Mountain was not the one in Liaodong, but the one in Qi.
Qi has been a land of righteous armies since ancient times. Wang Bo led his troops to travel around Qi County and other places, attacking the government troops of the Sui Dynasty.
Luo Xuanjing clenched his fist and pounded Luo Su's legs, which were a little numb from sitting for a long time, and asked, "Grandfather, are we going to Qi County to meet this Zhishilang?
If the rebellion against the Sui Dynasty is the general trend, then the True Dragon must be among them. It would be better to meet all the famous leaders of the rebel army in the world."
As the carriage headed east, Luo Su said, "The Sui Dynasty is still very powerful. If they raise the banner of rebellion now, Yang Guang will issue an order and they will probably end up like Chen She.
However, Shandong has many heroes, while Qi is in chaos. Among the heroes who will fight for supremacy in the future, there will definitely be people from Qi. We can go and look at those heroes to see who has some potential to become a king."
Luo Su thought that with the current strength of the Sui Dynasty, suppressing the rebellion would be a piece of cake.
However, on the way eastward, Yang Guang did not see any large-scale suppression of bandits by the central government. He did not take these rebellions seriously at all. He was still preparing for the great cause of the eastern expedition to Liaodong!
Luo Xuanye was shocked to see the rebels being ignored and asked Luo Su, "Grandfather, why is this happening?
The civil unrest was raging, like adding fuel to a raging fire under a cauldron, burning the Sui dynasty. Why didn't Yang Guang react at all?
Isn't he worried about the fall of his country?"
Luo Su had only met Yang Guang once, but he understood why Yang Guang was like this. He said with a hint of sarcasm: "Because from the collapse of the Han Dynasty to the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the world was divided.
There were no large-scale, sweeping peasant uprisings.
The last peasant uprising was the Taiping Rebellion, but the Taiping Rebellion was too special. The nobles attributed it to Axiao being too powerful and did not think it was a problem of the Han court.
Among the divided nations of the world, the imperial court responded to rebellions extremely quickly, and the world was actually a game for the powerful.
The education Yang Guang received and the experiences he had since childhood were all about aristocratic politics.
For example, Yang Jian was an aristocrat who usurped the throne.
Therefore, only the nobles would attract his attention, and he would not take the rebellion of these ordinary people seriously.
These people, ignorance is not the cause of destruction, but arrogance certainly is.
It's not just Yang Guang. Li Yuan, whom we have met before, also thinks so.
This is a limitation caused by the times.
Only a huge peasant uprising that is so powerful that the whole world is terrified can make people see the power of the people.
This force will become the background of the new dynasty."
When Luo Xuanjing heard Luo Su talking about Li Yuan, he said, "Grandfather, the girl from the Li family has reached the age of marriageable age. Is it time for Fifth Brother to get married?
But when the marriage was promised, I never expected that the relationship with Sui Dynasty would become what it is now. Fifth brother, a legitimate son of Luo family, appeared in the family of Duke Tang openly and married the legitimate daughter. It seems..."
Of course, breaking the contract is not an option.
The Luo family is a man of their words, and they have never broken their promises when it comes to marriage.
Luo Xuanye felt a little uncomfortable listening to Luo Su and Luo Xuanjing discussing his marriage, and then he heard Luo Su calling his name.
He turned around and saw the curtain of the carriage lifted, and his ancestor Wen Gong pointed a finger at the holy mark between his eyebrows.
The green light is bright, and the holy marks disappear!
Luo Xuanjing looked at Luo Xuanye with some surprise and said, "Fifth brother, the holy mark has really disappeared. Ancestor, if the holy mark can be made to disappear, why did we use cloth to cover it before?
I know, this must have a price!"
Luo Xuanjing's brain was much faster than Luo Xuanye's, and he asked again: "Grandfather, what if this Li Yuan is a loyal minister of the Sui Dynasty?"
Luo Su and Luo Xuanye sneered at the same time. Even Luo Xuanye could see that Li Yuan was a lousy loyal minister. If he was a loyal minister, how could Yang Guang not know until now that Li Yuan had met a direct descendant of the Luo family?
Luo Xuanjing finally revealed his true intentions, "Then, old ancestor, do you think Li Yuan will have any advantages if he rises up in rebellion?"
Luo Su was stunned, and gently tapped Luo Xuanjing's forehead with her knuckles, and said with a smile: "You are such a good sister. You always remember your fifth brother."
Luo Xuanjing blinked his big eyes and pretended to know nothing.
Luo Su directly sentenced Li Yuan to death and said: "Li Yuan is not good enough. If the conditions are right, he has a noble family background and may have a chance to rule a region, but he is far from unifying the world.
The mere fact that he lacks tolerance for others makes him unqualified as a founding monarch.
Now is no longer the time to establish the Great Zhou Dynasty. We cannot rely solely on relatives. Moreover, even in the great state of Zhou, there are forces with the surname Jiang headed by Taigong Wang.
The template for the founding monarch was Emperor Gaozu of Han, who wanted to recruit talents from all over the world.
I plan to reform and develop the imperial examination system of the Sui Dynasty.
Li Yuan's character, which only values family background and relatives, would most likely lead to failure if he really embarked on the path of fighting for the world.
Unless his relatives are like those when our great Zhou Dynasty was established, with many talented people, including famous ministers and great generals, there is still hope. Instead of paying attention to Li Yuan, it is better to pay attention to the surging rebel army in Shandong now.
Among these people, the probability of a real dragon appearing is still quite high.
Especially those heroes who were born into impoverished noble families or lower-level officers in the empire, these people are more likely to rise to power. "
Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing were taught, and to them, Luo Su's words were the truth.
The land of Shandong was in turmoil. The power of example was infinite. Wang Bo's current situation was unbearable for the heroes from all over Shandong. It was just like the line in "Song of Death in Liaodong": "Rather than dying in Liaodong, what's so terrible about beheading?"
It was so inciting that in Hebei and the area east of Xingyang, which was known as the Guandong area in the Han Dynasty, no less than ten rebel armies rose up seemingly overnight.
The imperial court gathered a large army in Zhuo County, but just in Hebei Province, there were rebel armies roaring in the mountains and forests, often going down the mountains to plunder.
Local governments were overwhelmed and had no ability to suppress the rebellion. The imperial court was busy with the war in Liaodong and had no time to pay attention.
As a result, these rebels lived a very comfortable life, and it was completely invisible that they were rebelling within such a powerful dynasty.
…
Because the imperial court gathered a large army in Zhuo County, Luo Su walked all the way to Hebei. There were bones and corpses on both sides of the road, and no one was cleaning them up. There were ragged civilians escorting food and fodder on the road.
In years other than famine, the people living within the empire could be so miserable. Yang Guang's exploitation and oppression are truly horrifying.
"Ancestor, Yang Guang has assembled more than one million troops this time. He really is..."
Luo Xuanye didn't even know what words to use to describe Yang Guang.
This should be the first time in history that there is a truly million-strong army!
Yang Guang recruited twelve armies on the left and twelve on the right, totaling twenty-four armies, each with four thousand cavalry and eight thousand infantry. These were the elite troops.
Those ordinary infantrymen are not counted.
The most elite siege troops were not included. This army was the most powerful army in history, capable of flattening all the countries on the plains and grasslands in the world.
But the countries in the mountainous areas were not included in this list. No matter how powerful Yang Guang’s army was, it could not move mountains or fill the sea.
A steep mountain can be worth an army of 100,000 or even one million. This army that made Yang Guang so confident may not necessarily have an advantage in the terrain of Liaodong.
The wheels of Luosu were rolling, and the people outside were grumbling about going to join Sun Anzu, one of the most famous rebel leaders in Hebei. He fought against the government in swamps and lakes, and often came out to plunder, making the local government miserable.
When Luo Su and his party arrived at the territory of Zhangnan County, they found that it had never been looted by the rebels and was quite well-ordered. Luo Xuanjing even thought that it was because the local county government of the Sui Dynasty was capable of governing the country.
Luo Su said directly: "Some people here are colluding with the rebels, so if they don't come to rob, the government will notice it."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard several screams, and then several officers walked out of a house and shouted at everyone around: "This is the fate of colluding with bandits!"
Luo Su and his companions followed the officers, and when there were no people around, Luo Xuanye stepped forward and captured them. After a few questionings, the terrified men told the whole story like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.
“We killed the family of Dou Jiande, who was a brave man in the village and managed 200 people.
Sun Anzu, a big bandit entrenched in the counties, was unwilling to respond to the call of the court and go to Liaodong. The county magistrate punished him, so he killed the county magistrate in anger and became a bandit.
There are rumors that Dou Jiande once took him in, and that it was Dou Jiande who recruited Sun Anzu to become a bandit.
Moreover, every time the rebel army came down the mountain to plunder, they always avoided Dou Jiande's hometown.
So the county magistrate thought he was in collusion with Sun Anzu and asked us to arrest him. His family wanted to tip off the police, so we killed his family. "
After hearing this story, Luo Su knew that Dou Jiande must have been in collusion with those rebel forces. The leader of 200 people from the imperial court had no choice but to become a bandit.
The collapse of an empire begins with the hearts of the people. When people from all walks of life in the empire abandon the empire, that is when the empire will perish.
The Sui Dynasty had now lost the support of the people at the grassroots level because of Yang Guang's cruelty, and those millions of people were looking forward to the demise of the Sui Dynasty.
Now it is low-level officials like Dou Jiande who are beginning to collapse.
Those farmers who put down their hoes and picked up swords, as well as minor officials like Dou Jiande, had relatively low combat effectiveness and were no match for the powerful Sui Dynasty army. These people were just trying to survive and had no higher ambitions.
He would not think of competing with Yang Guang for the right to rule the empire.
But the people's rebellion represented the gradual collapse of the Sui Dynasty's economy, and the collapse of petty officials represented that the political order was beginning to get out of control.
When taxes can no longer be collected and soldiers cannot be recruited, that is when the empire truly collapses.
Luo Su's travels around the world were certainly not just random. He wanted to acquire first-hand information and calculate the subtle changes in the world situation during the Sui Dynasty.
Luo Xuanye leaned over and whispered, "Grandfather, someone is looking at us stealthily."
"Bring it here."
After receiving the order, Luo Xuanye rode his horse straight over and drew out the lance in an instant.
The middle-aged man didn't expect that he would be discovered while watching in secret. He wanted to escape but found it impossible, so he tried to resist with a knife. However, he was captured by Luo Xuanye in shock after just a few moves.
Luo Xuanye carried the struggling man back to Luo Su and pressed him to the ground. Probably knowing that he could not resist, he stopped struggling and accepted his fate.
"Dou Jiande!"
The officers kneeling on the ground took one look at the man and screamed in shock.
They never expected to meet the target of their trip here. Luo Su couldn't help but look at Dou Jiande twice. Is it such a coincidence?
After shouting out Dou Jiande's name, several officers lowered their heads guiltily. After all, they had just killed Dou Jiande's family.
Dou Jiande saw the expressions of several people and stared at the officers, his heart sinking.
Luo Su pointed at them and said, "Dou Jiande, right? Just now, these officials went to your house to arrest you. You were not there, and your family members were killed."
Luo Su’s directness shocked everyone.
Dou Jiande's face turned red almost instantly, and he struggled frantically to break free from Luo Xuanye's hands. Luo Su gave a look, and Luo Xuanye's hands loosened. Dou Jiande rushed over directly, stabbed the first one to death with a knife.
The others immediately resisted.
Dou Jiande roared and rushed forward without any regard for anything. He was the leader of two hundred men and was famous for his bravery. If he couldn't beat Luo Xuanye, how could he not be able to beat these officials who only knew how to run rampant in the village?
Luo Su and the other two stood nearby and watched the show. They saw with their own eyes that Dou Jiande fought five men alone. With only a few injuries, he killed all five of them with his own hands. Blood was flowing all over the ground. Before those officials died, their faces were filled with unwillingness.
After killing the five men, Dou Jiande knelt down in front of Luo Su and cried bitterly, "Dou Jiande thanks you for your kindness, which allowed me to kill my enemies. If you can help me, I will die for you."
Dou Jiande looked quite heroic. Luo Su asked casually, "You killed the official, so I guess you won't be an official in the Sui Dynasty anymore. I heard that Sun Anzu is your friend, so I guess you are going to join him."
Dou Jiande nodded with a somewhat dejected look in his eyes.
Luo Su asked with interest: "When you persuaded Sun Anzu to go up the mountain, how did you persuade him?"
Dou Jiande lowered his head and said, "At the beginning, I advised him that the emperor did not sympathize with the people. The country has suffered excessive losses in the past few years, but he still insisted on conquering Liaodong. The world will be in chaos. A real man should make achievements in this world, not hide from place to place. It is better to start a rebellion and wait for the great changes in the world."
Luo Su asked: "What you said is very correct, why didn't you implement it yourself? In the end, it led to today's disaster, alas."
Dou Jiande choked up again when he heard this, feeling filled with countless regrets.
In fact, before this, Sun Anzu had been asking him to go to the mountains, but he was unwilling to become a bandit because he could still survive in the officialdom of the Sui Dynasty. Now the Sui Dynasty has made the decision for him, and he has no other way to go except to become a bandit.
Luo Su asked again: "You are not an ordinary citizen. From your words, I can see that you have foresight. What do you think of Sun Anzu and the rebels such as Gao Shida and Zhang Jincheng who are active in Hebei?"
Dou Jiande raised his head and looked at Luo Su seriously and said, "You call them the righteous army, but how can they be worthy of the word righteousness?
The reason why I don't want to become a bandit is because they don't have anyone who can accomplish great things.
Over the past year, after they captured Sui Dynasty officials and scholars, they always killed them without hesitation and took away their gold, silver, and cloth. This is wrong.
Although I haven't received much education, I know that if I want to achieve something, I have to recruit more talented people.
However, these people were pushed into the Sui Dynasty by them.
They soon forgot their poor origins and the fact that they could not share the hardships with their soldiers. They wore silk and satin in the mountains and began to act superior, treating the common people the same way the government troops treated the common people.
well.
The emperor caused chaos in the world because he treated the people cruelly, but they learned from the emperor's approach, not treating the people with benevolence and righteousness, not seeking benefits for the people, and not allowing the people to live a stable life.
How can this be the way to win the hearts of the people?
How is this a sign of achieving great things?
They are just rampant bandits before the birth of the true dragon, but now I have to seek shelter from them, otherwise it will be difficult for me to survive.
I am just an ordinary person. I will live one more day if I can. "
As Dou Jiande spoke, the looks in Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing's eyes when they looked at Dou Jiande became somewhat different.
Dou Jiande was just a minor officer of the Sui Empire, but he had such insight. Is this what our ancestors talked about, the class where real dragons exist?
Luo Su did not expect that he would find a knowledgeable person just by asking casually, and this person also understood the principles of benevolence and righteousness, which was quite rare.
If Yang Guang understood some principles of benevolence and righteousness, the world would not have reached its current state.
He looked Dou Jiande up and down again, then reached out to touch his waist and actually took out a piece of jade from the ring. This kind of jade was different from the jade pendants with the names of the direct descendants of the Luo family engraved on them, but it was still a valuable gem.
He handed the jade to Dou Jiande, "You are a hero, remember what you said today, to treat the people with kindness and justice. I give you this jade, and I hope that your future will be like this jade, with a bright heart, warm and smooth.
The world is indeed going to be in chaos. If there were more people like you who understand benevolence and righteousness, the people would probably be better off. See you again if we are lucky enough."
Dou Jiande took the jade in a daze. He saw a soaring phoenix on the jade and a word seemed to be written on the back in an extremely ancient font.
This seems to be "Luo"?
Luo!
Dou Jiande finally came to his senses. He felt as if he was struck by lightning. He stared blankly at Luo Su's carriage going away. Then he realized that he had actually met the legendary Luo family.
I also received a jade gift from Luo!
It was like a legend suddenly came into reality, and the next moment, his heart was filled with ecstasy.
…
In the carriage that was going far away, Luo Xuanjing leaned on his cheek and asked, "Grandfather, you seem to think highly of Dou Jiande?"
Luo Su asked back: "You think Dou Jiande is not good enough? Apart from his family background, he is much better than Li Yuan. If anyone can create greater achievements, I think Dou Jiande can do it."
Luo Xuanjing said coquettishly: "Of course I can see that Dou Jiande is better than Li Yuan, at least in terms of benevolence and treating talents, he is better than Li Yuan.
But he comes from such a poor background. If he joins those weak rebel forces now, can he really survive the chaos that follows?
Since ancient times, most of the righteous armies never saw the dawn of victory and fell in the darkness of dawn. Since you value Dou Jiande, why don't you give him a push?
At least let him save his life."
Luo Su smiled when he heard this and said, "A Jing.
When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first test his mind and will, exhaust his muscles and bones, starve his body, and deprive him of all deprivation, and make his plans frustrated. This is to stimulate his heart and harden his nature, so as to increase his ability to do what he could not do before.
A person who wants to achieve great things must have a strong ability to resist setbacks and be able to accept failure calmly. The reason why I value Dou Jiande is because he came from the lower class and was bound to encounter failure and setbacks.
This is very good, as it will give him an indomitable will in his future endeavors.
Besides, do you think it was just a coincidence that Dou Jiande met me?
Maybe this is God's will.
He is a man of great fortune, otherwise he would not have met me. Such a person will not die so easily, and he will definitely achieve some achievements in the world."
Luo Su's tone was very calm, but the information conveyed in his words made Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing palpitate. Even though they were members of the Luo family, it was the first time they heard it.
It can only be said that compared with Luo, the son of destiny, the most beloved offspring of the Suwang ancestor, the reincarnation of the heroic spirit, Su, they know too little.
"Grandfather, where are we going?"
Luo Su pointed to the north and said, "Let's go see how powerful this unprecedented million-strong army is, and see if Yang Guang can capture Liaodong."
…
After various disturbances, Yang Guang's army finally assembled in Zhuo County.
He looked at the endless army, his eyes full of high spirits. How could anyone in this world be able to resist such a large army?
Yang Guang ordered the army to march out from Jicheng. How many people were there in this army?
He sent out an army every day, with the two armies dozens of miles apart. They set out in this way, advancing in a line like a long snake. Because there were too many armies, if they did not move in this way, they would not be able to move at all.
The flags alone are a thousand miles long!
The distance from Chang'an to Luoyang is only a thousand miles, but the army's marching length was actually from Luoyang to Chang'an. Just think about it, it is something that no normal person would do.
Yang Guang led the army in person, and naturally there was a large number of officials accompanying the army. The entire court was moved here with him, including the three provinces and six ministries. The team of court officials alone was nearly a hundred miles long.
When Luo Su and the other two came to Zhuo County and learned about these things, even Luo Xuanjing, who didn't know much about military affairs, couldn't help but say, "Is Yang Guang seeking death?
If such a long march encounters an ambush, how many people will die?"
No one answered her because the answer was obvious: the entire army would probably be destroyed, and this was no exaggeration, because there were only two ways to enter Liaodong from Jicheng.
One is to cross the mountains, the road to Lulong Pinggang, but an obvious problem when crossing the mountains is that water is hard to find. It is very likely that the army will run out of water while walking, and then they will need to dig wells on the spot. If they can't find any, the entire army will basically be wiped out and die in the mountains.
In the past, the Yan State often sent small-scale troops to Liaodong via this route.
The other one can accommodate a large number of troops, and that is the Liaoxi Corridor.
But this road is not completely open yet. It is passable in normal seasons, but if there is heavy rain or high tide, the Liaoxi Corridor will be flooded.
If the army suffered a defeat in Liaodong, a heavy rain would cut off the road to Liaodong, and the consequences would be unimaginable.
Another way to attack Liaodong State is by water. However, with current shipbuilding technology, it is still possible to sail on the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. Once entering the ocean, there is a high probability of an accident.
Under such circumstances, Yang Guang actually dared to send such a large army to conquer Liaodong State, attempting to defeat Liaodong State with absolute military force. Wasn't he mentally ill?
When Yang Guang pacified the south of the Yangtze River, he was sure to win.
Because of the logistics of the Sui Dynasty army, it was able to launch continuous attacks and could not be cut off, so it was a pure war of national strength.
And now, Luo Su can almost conclude that there will be problems with the food and fodder of the Sui army.
Luo Su came to Zhuo County to see if Yang Guang could conquer Liaodong.
After all, this million-strong army is unprecedented in strength. Perhaps the Liaodong Kingdom was simply afraid of the military might and surrendered.
But Yang Guang's one bold move after another made Luo Su almost certain that the Sui Dynasty was going to be defeated.
"There has never been such a grand military expedition in recent history."
"There has never been a greater army in recent history so brutal and tragic."
These two sentences, which were only recorded in history books, sent chills down Luo Xuanye and Luo Xuanjing's spines, just like the verdict of the legendary judge.
"Grandfather, does the Sui Dynasty really have no chance? Those great generals may be brave and good at fighting, and they may be able to defeat the Liaodong Kingdom."
Luo Su shook his head with a cold face. He recalled the time when King Li of Zhou went south to attack the State of Chu. Was there no loyal ministers around King Li of Zhou at that time?
Even though I could see through everything, wasn't it because King Li of Zhou refused to obey that I had to leave?
When King Li of Zhou was conquering the State of Chu, wasn't there anyone who advised him?
But in the end, King Li of Zhou died in the chaos of war, including the six most elite armies of the emperor in the Zhou Dynasty.
Yang Guang, this foolish and ambitious emperor, will he listen to the advice of his ministers who are accompanying the army?
He won't!
————
People never learn good lessons from history, and Emperor Li of Han's vanity and ambition did not serve as any warning to Emperor Yang of Sui.
Emperor Yang of Sui completely ignored the numerous social crises in the Sui Empire and the war-torn world. Extremely conceited, arrogant, and ambitious, Emperor Yang of Sui used his powerful power to manipulate the most powerful chariot in the history of the Sui Empire and rushed onto the track of the Liaodong War.
How could he know that this would be the prelude to the demise of his empire? The Han Empire had the Jingnan princes, while the Sui Empire could only watch itself fall into the abyss! - "The Rise and Fall of the Sui Empire"
(End of this chapter)
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