Chapter 418: Flies are also meat

Wan Qi Yong shook his head: "My Grandmaster, part of our old guns was sold to merchants in Tianjin and part of them to the Koreans. Now all the old guns have been cleared. Tianjin is about to leave 11,000, and the Koreans have bought 20,000 -- as you said, the market is saturated.

The guns in the arsenal are all new guns, and the anti-rust oil on the gun has not been wiped out. If your soldiers are used in Kaifeng, where can we find fools like Tianjin merchants and Koreans who are willing to buy the old guns we used - Taiwei, the market for old guns has been saturated. New guns can be bought at a good price, but it is still a new gun, a product, and an old gun. Who will bear the price loss?"

Zhao Xing pondered: "I don't take the price loss, nor can I let Wuzhou bear it. In any case, this is an internal armed fight. Both sides of the armed fight are citizens of the Song Dynasty. We cannot let them bear our losses anymore... Let's take ten new guns, and the servants in our mansion still have some handguns. If we take all these handguns back, we will bring ten quick guns and handguns.

Anyway, we are not going to kill people, we are going to stop the fight, so we will bring three thousand men and horses, let them all ride on horses, and carry out a long-distance cavalry attack. I want to test the power of the dragon cavalry..."

Wan Qiyong raised a finger and said mysteriously: "I can give the Taishi an extra help - the rear-loading shells requested by the Taishi. This time they have made one, only one, and only ten shells, but they are flowering shells. The Taishi can carry this cannon. It is said that the soldiers used this cannon to test fire two of them, and their power is commendable."

Zhao Xing moaned: "Well, flies are also flesh. It's better to have a cannon than not."

After a moment of pause, Zhao Xing turned around and reminded the officer accompanying him: "Remember to remind me to stay away from me when firing. This is its mother's test cannon. It has only fired two shots, so don't make a mistake at critical moments."

On October 21, Zhao Xing reorganized his army to the south; on the same day, the Arab missionary sent to Hangzhou, and they happened to pass by Zhao Xing, but the mission did not stop at the headquarters of the Nanyang Affairs Bureau and relied on the help of Quanzhou merchants. They directly replaced the inland ships in Hangzhou and rushed to the capital of the Song Dynasty - these people came to ask the Song Dynasty to open up the firearms trade.

At the same time, the European merchant ship led by Deng Yufu finally arrived in Guangzhou. After contacting the white merchants stationed in Guangzhou, they were grateful for the religious tolerance policy in the Song Dynasty. Later, under the guidance of the Guangzhou merchants, they began to march towards Hangzhou - these people "directly" asked Zhao Xing to discuss the opening of firearms trade.

Also in that month, a large number of Arab books transported from the Binglu Branch arrived in Hangzhou, and thousands of Arab prisoners were transported in the same batch. Some of them would be responsible for translating the plundered books into Song Dynasty and then turning them into the knowledge of the Song Dynasty. The other part would go directly to Guangji Hall of the Song Dynasty and become the service staff of the free medical system of the Emperor and Song Dynasty.

The appearance of the Emperor Song land can be said to have three changes every day, but the movement speed of the dragon cavalry of Zhao Xing was unbearable. Originally, Zhao Xing thought that the cavalry would be like a train, but he forgot that this speed only appeared in the novel - horses had to eat grass, drink water, and rest. But horses were also a standing animal, so everything was done while standing. If they kept whipping the fast horse, the horse could run according to the wishes of a person, and ran until they died. If they had no strength, the horse would fall to death.

Zhao Xing's cavalry did not move fast because his horses did not look like Mongolian horses. They could tolerate poor living conditions, and it was particularly troublesome to feed these delicate horses. In order to maintain their combat effectiveness, that is, not to let the horse die from exhaustion, his daily march distance was even shorter than the daily limit march distance of infantry, so that this cavalry raid turned into a boring marching torture.

However, the soldiers were very interested in this march. Zhao Xing, who had been granted the title of Taishi, inspected the surrounding areas of his territory. Although Huainan East Road had become the jurisdiction of the Beiyang Affairs Bureau, Qin Guan was also the transport envoy of Huainan East Road. Mao Pang and Mao Zemin were the governor of Yangzhou, so Zhao Xing went south and became the target of local officials along the way.

At the end of October, Zhao Xing led his army into Huqian Mountain, and half of the local officials in Wuzhou and half of Fujian jumped onto his marching route. These people could not come to him, but they stood beside the road waiting for the meeting. They were so attentive to make a living, and on the other hand, because Wuzhou was too poor, they hoped to get more financial appropriations for their prefectures.

Just after passing Pujiang City (Shenqiu Mountain), civil and military officials from Jianzhou (Jianyang) in Fujian Province were waiting on both sides of the road. These officials were standing on the land of Wuzhou on Liangzhe Road, greeting the marching troops attentively. Zhao Xing walked in the marching queue and nodded slightly to these people and greeted them, while the attendants took their hands one by one.

But a young official refused to pass on the famous slaughter script with the crowd. He raised his hand and shouted to Zhao Xing who was riding a horse, "Tai Shi, I am Liu Qiucheng, the chief supervisor of Fengguo Supervisor of Jianzhou - uncle, the lower official is Cheng Xia's wife's brother, and also the uncle's wife clan."

Zhao Xing tilted his head and saw that the person's face indeed had a certain image of Cheng Xia's wife.

Cheng Xia’s wife Liu is the girl Zhao Xing rescued on the road to Quanzhou for the first time. Zhao Xing remembers that the parents of this girl Liu had been killed. It seems that after she returned to her relatives, their relatives always wanted to divide the property left by their parents, and refused to admit that the outer girl who was born outside by her father in business...

It seems that with Zhao Xing's popularity and Cheng Xia's journey to the capital became more and more extensive, he now met heavyweights like the prime minister of the dynasty, so the family of Cheng Xia's wife began to curry favor with him.

Zhao Xing waved his hand and greeted: "Come on!"

The young man walked to Zhao Xing, respectfully handed over the book, and reported his resume: "Uncle, I am a Jinshi of Naiyuanfu in the third year of the third year - the patriarch once sent us a letter to you, and now I am the chief of the Fengguo Supervisor of (Fujian)..."

The third year of Yuanfu was the year when Song Zhezong died. Emperor Zhezong died in February. After the new emperor ascended the throne, an envoy was held that year. That year was the year when Zhao Xing began to "wholesale" a large number of Jinshi. Then in the third year of Yuanfu, coupled with the later first year of Jianzhong Jingguo, Zhao Xing purchased imperial examination questions through Ma Mengde and Cheng Xia, and arranged a large number of disciples to participate in the imperial examination. Most of the people who passed the examination were arranged on the third list, which was the "senior Jinshi" of the imperial examination.

Chen Shidao and Li Li also ranked in the middle of that year. However, the two of them were on the second list. They were unwilling to be officials under Zhao Xing, and they were assigned to Jinghu North Road through the normal selection of officials by the Ministry of Personnel, and were appointed as magistrates under Xie Lin.

Zhao Xing pointed at Liu Qiucheng and said with a smile: "You have only been a Jinshi for a few years and have just reached the seventh-rank chief supervisor. Nephew Liu, who is promoted quickly."

Liu Qiucheng is actually not a few years apart from Zhao Xing. He is in his early thirties, but Cheng Xia is Zhao Xing's student. He is Cheng Xia's wife's brother. He has a seniority, so he can only obediently listen to Zhao Xing's call from his nephew.

Zhao Xing's words made him a little embarrassed. He smiled and said, "Flying over the sea, Xiaguan is flying over the sea. Xiaguan is originally from Fujian and originally expected to return to Fujian to become an official. However, after a brief investigation at the Ministry of Personnel, he found a seventh-rank official position, which is the 'trust' agent. Xiaguan thought that this term of office has passed. He can find a full-time position."

Zhao Xing asked casually: "Do you know the things in Yiwu?"

Liu Qiucheng nodded: "Yiwu has many mountains and few arable land. Each family has only a few parts of land. Digging food from the soil can't support their families. Therefore, most of the laborers at home go out to do business and travel through the sea. Three years ago, my uncle's student, the Cheng family, discovered a variety of mineral deposits in Yiwu, so the Yiwu people began to abandon the land and work in the mines. They have gradually become rich in recent years.

My uncle's Nanyang Affairs Bureau has a mineral law, which stipulates that except for gold, silver and copper mines, other mineral deposits can be mined by private funds. However, the profits earned by the mines need to be kept for 40% of the local area. Wuzhou is not under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Affairs Bureau, but the local village elders have a great influence. In recent years, they have begun to take over local reserved funds, making Yiwu rich because of the mine. The county town next to him was jealous and thought that this mountain was shared by everyone, and that Yiwu people could not allow the Yiwu people to retain this mine alone, so they started fighting.

Now, the fight has lasted for more than a month. Legend has it that the whole family of Yiwu people mobilized. The father died and the son came to the side, and the elder brother came to the side. I also heard that even a teenage child brought a knife to the side, and the fight between the two sides was very tragic.

A month ago, the party who suffered a loss besieged the county government and asked the county magistrate to come out and be fair. On the other side, the Yiwu people who had a little advantage were afraid that the county magistrate would speak for others, so they mobilized the people to surround the city. The county magistrate sent someone to injustice..."

After hearing this, Zhao Xing nodded silently.

Although Zhao Xing's army did not pass by Fengguojian, Liu Qiucheng still found a place and served Zhao Xing with a rich identity as the chief official. Even the soldiers enjoyed a sumptuous meal... Fengguojian is a money minting supervisor, and it was the Song Dynasty's land minting supervisor. Since Zhao Xing reformed the money minting method, some local money minting supervisors have the autonomy to use scraps and minting new coins, which has made the position of the money minting official title rich in oil and water.

The location of Fengguo Supervisory Officer is not a "pointing officer". Liu Qiucheng lied to Zhao Xing. It must have cost him a lot of money to obtain this official position, and Cheng Xia also put a lot of effort into it. However, Zhao Xing was not interested in these details.

The wealthy Fengguo Supervisory Commission treated Zhao Xing with great luxury. Each of Zhao Xing's soldiers received the usual rewards. The satisfied soldiers said goodbye to Liu Qiucheng and continued to move south. After Liu Qiucheng received Zhao Xing's promise, he patiently continued to stay in the Fengguo Supervisory Commission, waiting for Zhao Xing to lift him up.

At the end of November, Zhao Xing came to Yiwu, and the armed fight was still in progress. Today, the land was a 1,000-man fight. Yiwu dispatched 3,000 people, and two neighboring counties jointly dispatched about 6,000 people. At this time, it was two months since the beginning of the machinery.

In two months, most of the Yiwu people who participated in the war were injured. Zhao Xing held a telescope at a nearby hill and found that everyone in Yiwu was wrapped in a sand belt. The weapons in their hands were hatchets and hoes. Most of the hatchets had cut their teeth and had their teeth missing. However, these incomplete weapons did not hinder the Yiwu people's fighting at all.

The scene was very chaotic. At Zhao Xing's feet, in the two mountains and valleys, there were people slashing each other, with countless corpses on the ground, and there were injured people. Zhao Xing looked at it with a telescope for a long time, turned his head and asked his son Zhao Yun beside him: "What do you think?"

Zhao Yun glanced at his master Jin Buer, raised his telescope, and looked at the battlefield, commented: "This is a fight at the level of a fight. Both sides have neither organization nor coordination nor plan. In my opinion, the battle is really not level or coordination. There is no encirclement, no lure of the enemy, no side attack, and even no reserve team. If any student of my father comes to fight, the scene will be better than this."

Zhao Xing asked Jin Buer again: "What do you think?"

Jin Buer held up the telescope and replied while observing: "It's not that there is no coordination. I think they actually have coordination. People from a village are still standing in the same place, but they just lack higher-level organizations..."

Zhao Xing saw a corpse squirming on the ground in his telescope. No, it was not a corpse, it was a person whose right hand was cut off. He was sitting cross-legged on the ground, bandaging himself a broken arm, and sweat beads rolling on the man's forehead. But during the entire bandaging process, he didn't say a word.

There are many tough guys like this person on the field, and many injured people are wrapping themselves up, waiting for them to get rid of their injuries. They pick up the broken machete from the ground, stood staggeringly next to the leader, preparing to join the next attack.

Zhao Xing couldn't help but have a cold war. He put down his telescope and said with lingering fear: "I fought from south to north, to south, I competed with the fierce Seljuks. To north, we have also seen the fierceness of the Liao people and the Jin people, but I have never seen such a frightening ferociousness.

Look at these people, what beliefs do they support them in fighting. I select soldiers from all over the country. The Southern Bingxiang has a reputation of not daring to fight. Although the Qin Bingxiang is brave, they are corrupt very quickly. They fought for several years under my command and asked to retire.

Look at the people in the field. This is a team of wounded soldiers. Everyone is injured and there are many new injuries. I know that the brave Qin soldiers, who are always brave, will inevitably start to shake as long as the casualties reach one-third. And this team is 100% wounded soldiers, and they are still fighting to the death!"

The Qin soldiers under Zhao Xing's men quickly became corrupt, and the reason was the same as the reason why the Southern Army was not good at fighting. China developed the South relatively late. As long as the South, which had rich resources, was willing to work hard and did not have to worry about supporting itself, they rarely worked hard, and there was no price to make them fight.

The Qin soldiers lived in a difficult environment. They fought every year for hundreds of years, which developed their courage to fight... But Zhao Xing gave them too generous treatment. The soldiers were soldiers for several years and earned enough wealth, so they were no longer willing to fight desperately.

What’s bad is that Zhao Xing treats veterans very generously. Most veterans can learn a professional skill from the Veterans Association. Many people jointly invested to open workshops and relied on the convenience of Zhao Xing’s Hai Trade to become merchants. Therefore, most Qin soldiers came to Zhao Xing’s subordinates and after one service period, they shouted to retire, which made Zhao Xing often complain: “The training fee is wasted!”

Mr. Guishan is from Fujian, and he also came with Zhao Xing to act as a translator in Zhao Xing - because Wuzhou dialect is too difficult to understand and there are many languages. Hearing Zhao Xing's feelings, he immediately continued: "Tai Shi, have you been looking for good soldiers from the south and have been looking for good soldiers? Isn't this a group of good soldiers in front of you!"

Zhao Xing didn't know that the troubles he encountered were also the troubles encountered by Qi Jiguang, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty. Because of his intervention in advance, the time when the mineral discovery in Yiwu was mentioned in the Song Dynasty, and the armed fight also reached the Song Dynasty.

The Yiwu County Magistrate who quietly came to greet Zhao Xing carefully reminded Zhao Xing: "Taiwei, the people of Yiwu have suffered heavy casualties. The fight has reached this point, and the soldiers of the Taiwei have also arrived. Why not separate the fights from both sides as soon as possible."

Zhao Xing smiled and shook his head: "How to divide it? All of us are the people of the Song Dynasty. I can't point the gun at my own people... Let me think about it."

Zhao Xing was thinking there, and the other officials did not urge them. They waited patiently, while the battle in the field continued.

Don’t blame the officials for being weak by nature and watching the lives and deaths of the villagers. In fact, the clan fighting was a chronic disease in ancient China. It has never been short of all dynasties. Even in modern times, local officials will at most suppress them and not report them. They are the emperor’s workers, and coming to the local government to work as officials is just to support their families. Once local officials do not handle such clan fighting, they will be not people inside and outside, so why bother?

Therefore, local officials in all dynasties turned a blind eye to such armed fighting among the clans. When the armed fighting had no strength to fight, they asked the government to make adjustments. Only then did the government fight each with fifty slap and strive to settle the matter.

Zhao Xing stood on the hill thinking, and the people below had already seen the emergence of this army. They ignored them and were still fighting fiercely, because the local people knew that civilian fighting had always been the case without officials.

The officials were well-educated and waited patiently for Zhao Xing to come up with a solution. Zhao Yun was in a young state of mind and could not help himself. He urged: "Legitimate Father, if you think about it slowly, it would be better for us to divide into several teams to block the mountain pass, and then the large group of people rushed down and separate the two sides of the fight..."

Zhao Xing frowned and looked at the scene of the fighting: "No, the people have been red-eyed. Now let's go... Our war horses have been cultivated for more than ten years, and each horse is a good breed, worth thousands of stakes. The equipment of the dragon cavalry cannot be built without ten thousand stakes. Such expensive equipment is damaged in the folk fighting..."

Yang Shi squinted his eyes and reminded meaningfully: "Birds cannot fly without heads, and snakes cannot do without heads."

Zhao Xing's eyes lit up, and two officers said: "You two, each bring two companies to two mountain passes, and you must act like a large group of people lying on the ground. After the arrangement is in place, you will blow the trumpet. As soon as the cannons are fired here, you will rush out and fire the gun together - don't look at people, fire the guns in the sky."
Chapter completed!