Book m4∴8065 Li Chongyi, the magistrate of Chenzhou, climbed the city tower early in the morning to look south and looked around. The left and right did not dare to speak. The city tower was filled with a dull and anxious atmosphere. The Liao army was frustrated and retreated to the north. The prefectures and counties passed by were burned, killed and looted. The Song people survived and did not get the violence of the Liao army. The movement spread very quickly. Therefore, after receiving the news of the imperial court's large-scale northern expedition and Zhao Xingde's troops won a great victory, Liang Zheng, the gentry of Chenzhou, persuaded Li Chongyi to change his banner, recruit strong men, build combat equipment, and close the city gates, and no longer provide food for the Liao army. The military supplies, including civilians and men, for a few days, two or three groups of Khitan cavalry passed by, making the villages near the city almost harmed the ghost realm. More than 100,000 soldiers and soldiers in the city were in a city. In addition to being grateful, they were afraid and worried that the Liao army would be slaughtered.

The magistrate Li Chongyi was worried. He ran to the city every day and looked south for a long time, hoping that the king would arrive early.

**The spicy sun burns the ground. On the horizon to the south, the suburbs of Zhoucheng, which was originally popular, are now empty. Because of the disaster of the Liao soldiers, there is no ghost. The farmland near Zhoucheng is not even taken care of by no one. The weeds have grown half a person and the corpse are running around in groups. These days, several wild dogs bite and hurt people. Li Chongyi had to let the strong men hold a knife and stick to protect the elderly and weak. He went out of the city twice a day to dig wild vegetables and the Bianliang court and Liao soldiers repeatedly blackmailed and plundered them. After the food in the city was pitifully small, but I was afraid that it would not last until winter, there would be no food.

"Heaven and earth are furnaces, all things are copper, and creatures in troubled times are not as good as grass." After waiting for nearly half an hour, Li Chongyi sighed disappointedly. Just as he turned around and left, he could think clearly that he was just a scholar, not a talent for stabilizing the country and ensuring peace. Following the Bianliang court to serve the Hu people, he was already in a disadvantage of his integrity. No matter whether it was the Liao army breaking the city or the city was short of food, what he could do was to commit suicide in time to avoid becoming a laughing stock.

Suddenly, Liang Zheng's face was gloomy, and he was following the city. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. On the horizon in the distance, several cavalry shadows appeared faintly to persuade the governor Li Chongyi to change his flag. This was the biggest gambling that Liang Zheng had ever made in his life. Liang Zheng prayed that the royal army would arrive early day and night. Although he could not see the other party's origin, Liang Zheng seemed to be as sure as his heart was in a moment, and he opened his eyes with hope, watching the cavalry slowly gallop towards the city wall. At this time, the scout on the city tower also shouted, "Someone is coming."

The magistrate Li Chongyi stopped and looked into the distance. In the past few days, there have been more Khitan cavalry passing by. In addition to bringing all the plants and trees, there are also many outrageous and cruel rumors. He subconsciously looked beside him. Liang Zheng's expression was full of hope, which made Li Chongyi look forward to it.

The soldiers sleeping in the city seemed to be full of energy. They sat behind the battlements and got up, putting their own awning in their hands and looked into the distance. The cavalrymen were getting closer and closer. The cavalry were surrounded by red cloth. The armor was covered with thick dust. After vaguely identifying the style of the Song army's armor, Liang Zheng's heart was hanging on the Gao Liao Kingdom since the invasion of the south, and seized a large amount of iron armor from the Song army. The armor alone could no longer tell whether the Song and Liao armies were "what are they? Although Chenzhou has no powerful troops, there are at least thousands of Ding Zhuang guarding the city." He thought to himself, "These cavalry came straight towards the city."

The cavalry rushed closer and slowed down their mounts. They first went to the horse to grop in their arms for a while, took out a big flag and tied it to the white wax gun rod, raised it high, the flag fluttering in the wind. Under the cruel sun, a strong character "Zhao" was particularly eye-catching. At this moment, Li Chongyi felt like a long drought and rain. He shouted, "General Zhao has arrived." He turned to look at Liang Zheng and asked in disguise, "Brother Liang Shi, is this the banner of General Zhao Xingde?"

"Maybe" Liang Zheng held back the surprise, nodded with a composure, and hesitated, "Maybe, yes"

There will always be only the Liao army's military achievements, and there is no real news about the situation of the war. After Chenzhou changed its flag, even such false news could not be obtained by Li Chongyi. Liang Zheng only knew that Zhao Xingde led his troops to pursue the Liao army and recover the old mountains and rivers. He also received a secretly sent in. It was this manifesto that strengthened Li Chongyi's determination to change his flag. But they didn't know at all, the real strength of Zhao Xingde's army and where he marched.

Fortunately, General Zhao's envoy reported his identity directly, did not care about Liang Zheng's cumbersome and careful inquiries, and volunteered to make a rattan basket without going up the city gate. The envoy's face was covered with thick dust, his mouth was dry and cracked, but his behavior showed an indescribable arrogance. He took out a yellow silk book from his arms to announce the imperial decree on behalf of the court. Li Chongyi was still the magistrate. After Chenzhou County School elected the magistrate, the court would have another appointment. The righteous man Liang Zheng was appointed as the governor of Chenzhou. The two should defend the city with the military and civilians of the whole city, waiting for the imperial army to come. The cavalry also stayed to defend the city with the military and civilians of Chenzhou, and undertake the liaison matters between the city and Zhao Xingde headquarters.

"I dare to ask, the envoy," Li Chongyi asked carefully, "Where did General Zhao advance to help Chenzhou? How many people are there?" Liang Zheng, who had just been appointed as the governor of Chenzhou, and the officials and soldiers of Chenzhou next to him, also looked at the envoy with hope.

"The vanguard General Yang Zaixing has advanced to Shangcai," the envoy said proudly, "The Liao army fled all the way, General Zhao is personally commanding the army and pursuing the north. Now the city and villages in the Central Plains have brought together all the righteous troops to attack Liao, and General Zhao cannot divide his troops for one. However, since we have brought the general's flag here, this city will naturally facilitate our northern expedition army to merge into one, as stable as Mount Tai." After saying that, the envoy did not wait for Li Chongyi and Liang Zheng to agree, and then ordered his subordinates to hang the "Zhao" flag high on the flagpole of the city tower.

Li Chongyi and Liang Zheng looked at each other. The imperial enthronement, Zhao Xingde's reputation, and the envoy's style, the two nodded invisibly and secretly, and the talents were very limited. Since the invasion of the south, a large number of prefectures, counties and villages in Hebei and Henan have been used to surrender officials and generals in the state of Song. Now the situation has changed. Wherever Zhao Xingde's manifesto went, there were many followers who heard the scenery. Since he wanted to prepare for a decisive battle with the Liao army, he naturally could not divide his elite troops. He could send these cavalry to bring the imperial enthronement and flags. It was the greatest support for the military and civilians of the flag. All of them had to rely on the Chenzhou people to try their best to survive for themselves.

The "Zhao" flag hanging on the city tower, the news that Chenzhou returned to the Song Dynasty spread throughout the city in a moment

"The imperial army is coming"

"It was General Zhao's troops, and he defeated the Liao army not long ago."

"Before winter, it's so peaceful outside, we can escape to the countryside."

Su Shiqi licked his mouth and chatted with himself. He thought that over the past few months, he had been cooking porridge with wild weeds every meal. His wife and a few children couldn't even drink wild vegetable porridge. They were all hungry like skeletons. Su Shiqi wanted to take his family to escape from famine. He could always find some food in the countryside. However, it was not extremely dangerous outside the state city. I heard that many villages were burned to white land by the Khitans. When it was more peaceful outside, they could take their family to escape from famine and not stay in the city to starve to death. This became Su Shiqi's biggest luxury.

In the city of Ezhou, the news about the advance of the generals of the Northern Expedition almost changed from the ministers and scholars to the soldiers and the people. The news of the advance of the Northern Expedition was the position of the vanguard Zhao Xingde's troops. Zhao Huan sent people to the Ministry of War to report it out every day. Not only that, he also listened to his subordinates' reports on various street talks.

"General Zhao has passed by Suizhou"

"General Zhao's general Lu commander has captured Wusheng Pass, and the army will pursue the Liao soldiers northward."

"General Zhao's general Luo defeated Xinyang Army, and defending general Tian Weiyue changed his flag and surrendered to General Zhao."

"General Zhao surrendered Luoshan, Xi, and Zhenyang's three garrison commanders."

"The army conquered Queshan in just one day and killed thousands of thieves."

"General Zhao captured Caizhou"

"Forward General Yang Zaixing has arrived in Shangcai"

"Chenzhou has changed its banner, General Zhao has appointed the magistrate Li Chongyi and the governor Liang Zheng on behalf of the court."

With the deliberate push of the Prime Minister's Office, tens of thousands of people witnessed it with their own words, and the news that the first battle of the Northern Expedition was won and the progress was smooth. The military pigeons in Jingxiang and counties reported the recent advancement almost every day. Although the Ministry of War was worried that Zhao Xingde's headquarters would be exposed, the Prime Minister's Office still insisted on publishing it in the daily newspaper, and then the prefectures and county governments made public, so that the prefectures and counties could know the battle situation on the front line in the shortest time.

As the army launched a large-scale northern expedition, civilians needed to continuously transport a large amount of military rations to the north. Wang Gui also needed a large amount of food, grass and supplies to train and replenish the camp in Ezhou. The Prime Minister's Office's exploitation of the people's power in the southeast prefectures and counties has reached the extreme. All prefectures and counties have reported that people were starved to death, and even poor people were unable to pay taxes and their families were hanged to death. If the scholars and gentry of the prefectures and county donated vigorously to support the northern expedition, if the prefectures and county officials were still honest, there were few people who were fat on their own injustice, if the prefectures and county officials continued to spread, the people still had a slight expectation of living a peaceful life, but they were afraid that officials, forced and rebel everywhere.

"The tax burden borne by the people in the southeast is far away from the time when Cai and Li traitors were in power. If they borrow land taxes, they will probably be hungry everywhere," Chen Mingche, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said worriedly, "Shaoyang, even if it is to kill and repel eggs, we should discuss with you how to make the big and rich businessmen donate more money and grain."

Chen Mingche sighed and shook his head. Many prefectures and counties in various places have deep ties with local tyrants and wealthy businessmen. They have to force them to donate money and food, just like plucking hair from their bodies, and they cannot let them scream and peck at others. Many of the Qingliu, the leader in the management of social affairs, was also in trouble in various places and opposed the increase in taxes. They knew the strong relationships. Now that the current situation is in turmoil, everyone is reluctant to make a fortune and leave their relatives.
Chapter completed!