Chapter 656 Pingzhou declares war
"My daughter, Xie Zhan is in Zhuozhou now. Do you think we can catch him this time?" Lu Desheng asked with a wicked smile.
"It might be a bit difficult." Lu Songli said honestly.
Xie Zhan knew about their plan to seize Zhuozhou, which means that Zhuozhou was not a very safe place. With Xie Zhan's intelligence, he would not stay in Zhuozhou for too long.
Hearing this, the smile on Lu Desheng's face gradually disappeared.
"Huh! How come he is so lucky?!"
Zhuozhou
That day, Xie Zhan had just returned from outside when he received a letter from Qingzhou.
After reading the letter, Xie Zhan angrily cursed, "Idiot!"
Immediately, he summoned Jiang Boya and asked him to do something.
Jiang Boya was surprised when he heard this.
Xie Zhan handed him the letter Liao Xuewang had sent him, "Take a look."
After reading the letter, Jiang Boya was also worried. How could it be easy to take advantage of Pingzhou?
"I'll go prepare." At this time, Jiang Boya also felt that it was better to be safe than sorry, so it would be good to prepare a backup plan.
Immediately afterwards, a thunderclap sounded and Pingzhou issued another announcement.
Letter to the People of Qingzhou
Recently, the Pingzhou Governor's Office received a petition from Pingzhou citizen Zhou Yi suing the prefect of Leling County in Qingzhou and the owner of Anhe Pharmacy.
In the fourth year of the Tianhe reign, Zhou Yi signed a donkey sales contract with Anhe Pharmacy in Qingzhou. The contract stipulated that Zhou Yi would sell 300,000 donkeys to Anhe Pharmacy and others in April of the following year at a price of six taels of silver per donkey. To demonstrate his sincerity and strength, Zhou Yi deposited 180,000 taels of silver with the middleman, stipulating that if he failed to supply the donkeys, the payment would serve as an apology. As long as he could provide the required number of donkeys, the deal would be final.
In April of the fifth year of the Tianhe reign, Zhou Yi went to Leling County in Qingzhou to fulfill the contract, but the Anhe Pharmacy and others used excuses to delay the implementation of the contract. Leling County Magistrate Yao Guangsheng and other officials were biased and protected him.
Zhou Yi couldn't afford to waste time and finally had to break the contract.
Anhe Pharmacy and others even used this as an excuse to refuse to return the 180,000 yuan deposit.
When Zhou Yi was defeated and fled to Qingzhou, he was hunted down and his whereabouts are still unknown.
Such behavior is truly murder for money and is extremely shameless!
Less than half a year after the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between Dali and Pingzhou was signed in Juyang, incidents of Dali officials and businessmen colluding to oppress Pingzhou merchants occurred repeatedly.
First, Zhao Minglou of Zhuozhou teamed up with Lu Xiujie and others to raise the price and tear up the contract. Then, Zhou Yi was murdered for money in Leling, Qingzhou...
We, the people of Pingzhou, do business in Dali, abide by the law, are honest and trustworthy, and stay within our means, yet we are repeatedly subjected to such unfair treatment. Is Dali bullying us, Pingzhou, and making us protest?
Such things have happened again and again, making everyone in Pingzhou very angry.
Now, regarding the disappearance of Pingzhou merchant Zhou Yi, we, Pingzhou, demand: Qingzhou open its entire territory and allow the Pingzhou army to enter Qingzhou to search for the victim. Otherwise, you will bear the consequences!
Pingzhou’s announcement was published throughout the country through Pingzhou’s newspapers.
For a moment, the whole world was in an uproar. Pingzhou was declaring war.
After two breaches of contract, Pingzhou simply turned the table.
For a time, the people of Qingzhou were cursing Yao Guangsheng and the owners of Anhe Pharmacy. Their actions not only brought shame to Qingzhou, but also brought war to Qingzhou! Yao Guangsheng and others were the sinners!
Yao Guangsheng, Qi Daguanshi and others who were scolded expressed their anger and grievance.
"Bullshit! How could we commit murder for money?"
"That's right, Pingzhou put the blame on us!"
The Qingzhou governor was furious and pointed at Yao Guangsheng and the others and cursed, "Didn't you guys mess with them?"
"It's done." The owner of Anhe Pharmacy admitted reluctantly.
"That's it, isn't it?"
"But we didn't—" send anyone to kill him.
"Nothing? No one got pregnant? Who can prove that?"
Yao Guangsheng and others really have no words to express their grievances at this moment.
The current situation is like yellow mud falling into the crotch, which is worse than shit. Even if they have a mouth all over their body, they can't explain it.
They are so wronged, this is the greatest injustice that will be remembered forever!
The people of Zhuozhou were also cursing Yao Guangsheng and his companions.
As soon as Pingzhou’s announcement came out, it directly destroyed Xie Zhan’s achievements over the past few days, and Zhuozhou, which had just been stabilized, fell into chaos again.
Although Pingzhou is holding Qingzhou accountable this time, who can blame Zhuozhou for doing similar wrongdoings before? The people of Zhuozhou are also worried that Pingzhou will send troops to Zhuozhou.
At this time, the people of Zhuozhou hated Yao Guangsheng and others.
Their actions caused Pingzhou to bring up the previous incident in which the governor of Zhuozhou colluded with the donkey tycoon to break the contract. Zhuozhou was once again nailed to the pillar of shame by Pingzhou and could not turn the page.
Just when people all over the world were discussing the matter, the Jintai Army led by Qin Sheng captured the coastal Leling County at lightning speed.
Long before Lü Songli and the officials and generals of Pingzhou discussed declaring war on Dali, Qin Sheng led a large army quietly out of Pingzhou and ambushed in the waters around Qingzhou.
As soon as the Pingzhou announcement was issued, Qin Sheng immediately led his men to land in Leling County and confronted the Qingzhou garrison, demanding entry into the territory to search for Zhou Yi's whereabouts. This request was naturally sternly rejected by the Qingzhou garrison, and Qin Sheng immediately led his troops to attack them.
The Jintai army had been holding its breath for a long time.
There's an old saying that if a ruler insults his subjects, they'll die. While officials and merchants in Dali protect each other, merchants from Zhuozhou and Qingzhou disregard their contracts. Doesn't this mean they don't respect their governor?
The governor did not hesitate to mobilize troops just to seek justice for the people of Pingzhou.
The lord loves his people like his own children, and he will not regret it even if the people die a thousand times.
It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but only a moment to deploy it. Now is the time for them to serve!
The Jintai army was full of vigor and took the enemy by surprise. After Qin Sheng launched the attack, they captured the entire Leling County after only less than two hours of fierce fighting.
This also fully illustrates the point that speed is of the essence in war.
At the same time, Qin Zhao also led his troops to the city of Zhuozhou.
In this war against Dali, the Jintai Army was the first of the seven military regions in Pingzhou to be dispatched.
Secondly, Qin Zhao was in charge of the coastal area of Fang County in Liaodong Commandery, which was relatively easy to mobilize. Therefore, he was appointed as the general and led the main force of the military region to attack Zhuozhou.
The main forces of the other four military regions remained stationary, and the main generals stayed in their own military regions to guard against the Xianbei, and only a small team was dispatched to support the front line.
In Zhuozhou City, the people fled everywhere.
For them, there was nothing worth reminiscing about in Zhuozhou.
After a year of raising donkeys, their food had long been eaten up. Moreover, with the price of donkeys plummeting, many people sold their donkeys and fields at a low price in order to survive and repay their debts.
Most of the people in Zhuozhou have fallen back into poverty. Without permanent property, everywhere is the same to them. Since Zhuozhou is dangerous, they just leave.
At this time, the general stationed in Zhuozhou was Wei Kuang.
Wei Kuang was one of the two generals under King Cheng. After King Cheng committed suicide, Xie Zhan incorporated the remaining troops of King Cheng into the imperial army.
Not long ago, Wei Kuang received an order to lead his troops to take over Zhuozhou.
At this moment, Wei Kuang was standing on the city wall wearing helmet and armor, facing the Pingzhou army from afar.
Wei Kuang knew very well that everything was a play directed and performed by Pingzhou himself! The purpose was to justify his actions.
At this time, Dong Jichuan asked Qin Zhao for instructions and then stepped out.
After he stood still, he shouted to Wei Kuang on the tower, "General Wei, for the sake of our past friendship as we served under King Cheng, let's discuss something."
Wei Kuang was speechless. This was a blatant plot to sow discord.
The deputy general beside Wei Kuang replied for him, "If you have something to say, say it. If you have to fart, fart quickly! General Wei and you have no friendship!"
Dong Jichuan said nonchalantly, "General Wei, we'd like to borrow your passage to rescue someone. Could you please give us a hand?"
Wei Kuang was even more speechless. Borrowing the road? The kind of borrowing that means you can’t come back?
Who wouldn't understand the strategy of using the enemy's territory to attack Guo?
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