Chapter 41: Suppressing the Rebellion in Zhongzhou
After the long journey in the past few days and the shock from the fire last night, Song Yuzhu fell ill.
Zhao Xiao picked up Song Yuzhu, quickly had people clean up the mansion, and called a doctor in the city to take Song Yuzhu's pulse.
After a while, the doctor came and after checking Song Yuzhu's pulse, he only prescribed a few doses of Guizhi Decoction, which is pungent and warm to relieve the symptoms.
Song Quan was waiting beside him, choking up and saying, "I can prescribe Guizhi Decoction, but what's the use of taking this? The young master has been weak since he was young, and I don't know when he will recover from this illness. It would be great if our master was here."
But Dongzhou is hundreds of miles away from Jiangcheng County, and it is not realistic to bring people over from such a long distance. Zhao Xiao frowned and sent people to find a few more doctors to treat the disease.
The disease came like a mountain, and after Song Yuzhu drank the medicine, she began to have repeated fevers at night. Song Quan and Zhao Xiao took care of her without taking off their clothes until Liang Ren recovered.
"General Zhao, you go and have a rest. I'll take care of you here." Zhao Xiao hadn't slept for two nights, so his eyes were bloodshot and his cheeks had a lot of stubble.
"It's okay. I'm not tired."
Song Quan couldn't help but sigh: "You are the best person to him besides our master and mistress."
"Are your master and mistress good to him?"
"Good! How can such a precious child not be good? When our young master was young, he was in poor health. No matter how late the master sat in the hall every day, he would come back to check his pulse and prescribe warm and nourishing medicinal food for the next day. He had to eat it until the young master was twelve years old."
It was the first time that Zhao Xiao heard about Song Yuzhu's life story, and he couldn't help but learn more: "Was he like this before? So calm and mature."
Song Quan nodded: "When I first came to the young master, he was only eight years old. Guess what our young master is like?"
Zhao Xiao asked: "What's going on?"
"I get up at 3:00 pm every day, read books, memorize prescriptions, and learn to diagnose pulses. Day after day, without missing a single day!"
What does an eight-year-old know? Zhao Xiao recalled that when he was eight years old, he was still in a circus troupe and had to compete with the troupe owner every day for food.
"Our young master is the most hardworking person I have ever met. For someone as hardworking as him, there is nothing he cannot accomplish."
"Ahem, ahem...Brother Quan, please stop praising me. I'm blushing when you praise me."
Song Quan and Zhao Xiao turned around at the same time and saw Song Yuzhu looking at them with a smile.
"Master, you're awake!"
"You're awake."
"Yeah." Song Yuzhu supported himself on the bed and sat up. Zhao Xiao quickly sat behind him and let him lean on his shoulder.
"Have you found Qian Mingan's silver?"
"We found it. We have already asked the soldiers to move it to the palace. There are about 3.7 million taels."
Song Yuzhu clenched his fist and coughed a few times: "It's true that the officialdom sucks the blood of the people and ruins the country, tearing through the rafters of the prosperous times."
"How are the arrangements for the refugees going?"
Zhao Xiao said: "It has been arranged, you don't have to worry, just take good care of yourself."
"Um."
*
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the sound of rumbling horse hooves suddenly came from the official horse road in Luoyang.
Tens of thousands of soldiers wearing armor and riding on fine horses were heading towards Zhongzhou. This group was the army sent by the imperial court, led by General Shen Congwu of the Cloud Banner, to go to Zhongzhou to quell the rebellion.
Zhongzhou is the heartland of the Central Plains, with fertile land and a large population. Since someone started to rise up, the number of rebels has been increasing. Last month, I heard that there were only more than 3,000 people, but this month it has grown to more than 20,000 people.
These rioters seized the government offices of Zhongzhou Prefecture and various counties, dragging the original officials out to parade them through the streets. Even Yang Yuanzong, the fifth prince whose fiefdom was here, could not escape the fate and was hanged on the city wall by the rioters.
The imperial court was afraid that they would become powerful, so it quickly ordered the army to go and suppress them.
Although there were many rebels, most of them were ordinary peasants who had never fought in a serious war, so the court only sent 20,000 troops.
"How long will it take to get to Luoyang?" Shen Congwu asked sternly.
The deputy general said, "Reporting to the general, we are only thirty miles away. Should we rest here for one night and attack the city tomorrow, or should we attack the city directly?"
"Attack the city directly, don't waste time."
"Yes, sir!"
The army quickened its march and the horses neighed as they ran forward.
*
The leader of the Zhongzhou uprising was named Zhang Yi, who was originally just a failed scholar. However, he was quite eloquent and good at motivating people. He soon recruited many people with lofty ideals. Everyone supported him as the King of Righteousness, and the palace was located in the original Zhongzhou government office.
At this time in Luoyang City, Zhang Yi, wearing heavy and gorgeous clothes and a golden crown on his head, asked the guards with a terrified look: "You said that many soldiers and horses came from the official road?!"
“Yes, yes!”
“How many people are there?!”
"I didn't count them clearly, but there are quite a few people coming towards us!"
Zhang Yi was so scared that he fell on the chair behind him, with cold sweat running down his temples: "Quick, go and call the general over, and get ready to lead the troops to meet the enemy!"
The general that Zhang Yi mentioned was named He Qiao. He was originally a soldier guarding the city gate. When the rebellion broke out, he was rewarded with the title of general by Zhang Yi for his contribution in capturing Yang Yuanzong.
He Qiao was also scared to death after receiving the order. He had never fought in a war before! The biggest battle he had participated in in his life was when he was twelve years old and got beaten up in a group fight with kids in the alley.
Now that he was forced to become a general, he could not run away even if he wanted to. He could only put on the ill-fitting armor and tremblingly came to the government office.
"General, you are finally here! Sheng's army is attacking us, what should we do?"
When Zhang Yi saw him, it was like he had grabbed a life-saving straw. Regardless of what the straw looked like, at least he was no longer the only one bearing this huge pressure.
He Qiao said without thinking: "Prince Yi, we are no match for the Sheng army, let's run for our lives!"
Zhang Yi said righteously: "If we escape, what will happen to the people of Zhongzhou?"
He Qiao thought, it's already this time, why are you still pretending? Everyone knows who is who.
"If you don't want to leave, stay here. I won't stay here!" He took off the heavy helmet and threw it down, then turned around and ran out.
Zhang Yi didn't care too much when he saw this. He followed behind with his heavy robe in his hand and shouted, "Wait for me, let's go together!" After that, he quickly asked his subordinates to pack up their belongings.
A scholar prince, a gatekeeper general, and a variety of officials quietly left through the west gate in several carriages.
*
When Sheng's army arrived, the entire Luoyang city was almost lost, with only hundreds of peasants armed with weapons guarding the gate.
They had been farming all their lives and had never seen such a scene before. When they saw the huge army, they were so scared that they abandoned their weapons and fled for their lives.
The deputy general rode his horse to chase after them, caught the slow one and brought him back.
"Soldier, please spare my life! Please spare me, I didn't do anything!" The man knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly for mercy, which made the deputy general laugh.
"Can this be considered an army? I really don't know how Luoyang was lost."
Shen Congwu didn't laugh, but held the spear against the man's neck, forcing him to look up and asked, "What's the situation in the city now?"
"I don't know... I'm just a soldier assigned to patrol."
"How many soldiers are there in the city?"
"I don't know..."
Shen Congwu asked impatiently, "Where is that King Yi?"
"Prince Yi is in the government office!" He knew this, but as soon as he finished speaking, he was stabbed in the neck.
Shen Congwu said: "Attack the city and capture them alive!"
The army rushed into Luoyang City, and Shen Congwu rode his horse straight to the government office.
There were two guards standing at the gate of the government office, one was a clerk from the sesame oil shop, and the other was a blacksmith from West Street. When they saw someone coming, they actually dared to step forward to stop them.
"You, who are you? No, no, no, you are not allowed to enter the palace casually!"
Shen Congwu looked at the two of them with a mixture of laughter and tears. This was the rebel army? What was the difference between this and a child playing house?
He whipped the stutterer on the head with the whip and said, "Get out of the way!"
The clerk in the sesame oil shop was beaten until his face was covered in blood. He covered his face and cried, "You are so bullying. I will tell my father!" His father was the "guerrilla general" who led the peasants on patrol outside.
Shen Congwu entered the palace and saw that there were only a few servants inside.
"Where is King Yi?"
The servants shook their heads: "I don't know." Most of these servants were Zhang Yi's relatives and friends, and many were from the same village. They were tricked by Zhang Yi into working here and could earn two strings of cash a month.
The soldiers searched the government office but could not find the Prince of Yi. Finally, they learned from the groom that the Prince of Yi had escaped an hour ago...
The city is not full of people like King Yi. There are also some capable people who came here for King Yi. After staying here for a month, they found out that King Yi is not the wise and capable leader as rumored.
On the surface, he said he wanted to overthrow the imperial court and save the people of the world, but in reality he was no different from the previous officials. He ate and dressed extravagantly and took in several concubines.
When they learned that Sheng's army had entered the city, they quickly organized the people to resist. However, they were killed by the soldiers in the first encounter.
Since he couldn't complete his mission without catching Zhang Yi, Shen Congwu took out his anger on the rebellious people. He let the people in the city report each other, arrested tens of thousands of people who participated in the rebellion, put them in armor, dragged them outside the city and tortured them...
The blood almost dyed the nearby river red, and the broken limbs and arms piled up like a hill. He also ordered the people in the city to come out and circle around the corpses every day, warning them that this was the end of rebellion!
Since ancient times, treason has been a serious crime. This wave of intimidation really scared the people of Zhongzhou. Decades later, the elders dared not mention this incident. Whenever I think of it, my scalp tingles and my whole body trembles, as if it were hell on earth.
*
On the other side, Zhang Yi and He Qiao took a carriage southward and headed straight to Xuzhou, which was also a rebel army.
The carriage traveled for more than ten days and finally arrived outside the city of Xuzhou.
The soldiers guarding the city gate stopped the carriage, asked who they were and what they were doing in Xuzhou, and also checked the people in the carriage.
The coachman blocked the door and said sternly, "Don't be rude! The man in the carriage is the King Yi of Zhongzhou, who has come to Xuzhou specially to meet your city lord!"
The soldier looked at these shabby carriages and said with disdain, "What King Yi? I've never heard of him. Let's go!"
"You!" The groom's face turned red with anger.
At this time, Zhang Yi's eloquence came into play again. He got off the carriage, bowed humbly to the guards, and then said, "Brother, please help pass a message to the city lord, saying that Zhang Yi from Zhongzhou is here to visit."
The soldier was really frightened by his elegant clothes and extraordinary demeanor, and hurriedly said, "Please wait a moment, sir. I will pass the message right away!"
Zhang Yi raised his mouth corners, showing a smug expression on his face
He Qiao also got off the carriage, coughed twice, spat, and whispered, "You're really good at this!"
(End of this chapter)
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