I'm playing tricks in Daqin

Yang Shouye's prefect's mansion became Li Wei's temporary residence. He hosted a banquet in the mansion to entertain the heads of more than a dozen aristocratic families, Wu Youtian Ce Wen Zishan and other confidants sat with him.

After a lot of courtesies, everyone sat down happily.

Li Wei observed for a while and found that the heads of Liu He, Huang's family were sitting on the right, and Wang, Pang and Zheng's were sitting on the left. Mystery, even the smell of gunpowder.

Before contacting these aristocratic families, Li Weizao ordered the latent spies to collect as much information as possible about them. In fact, Liu He, Huang's family and Wang Pangzheng's family had their own personal grievances, but Yang Shouye's excessive exploitation made them intolerable For the benefit of the family, they had to temporarily put aside their previous grievances and form an alliance to kill Yang Shouye.

To put it bluntly, even if Li Wei didn't want to take down Yiwu County, these guys would try to get rid of Yang Shouye. The move to seize Yiwu County was just an opportunity.

Of course, Li Wei will fulfill his promise, one is to buy people's hearts, and the other is that these aristocratic clans have great influence in the local area. To govern the local area well, the help of these aristocratic clans is indispensable. Using local people to govern the local area can appease the local area as quickly as possible of the people.

Another one, there are still some talents among the disciples of these aristocratic families, what Li Wei lacks is all kinds of talents, especially talents in governing the world.

The edict of meritocracy is still valid today, no matter the origin is high or low, it only depends on character and talent. It is precisely because of the promulgation and perennial implementation of the edict of meritocracy that many scholars who failed in scientific examinations poured into the Great Qin Empire. They read dead books and are mediocre, but there are not many small talents who are underappreciated. These small talents filled and enriched the grassroots officials of the Great Qin Empire, allowing the Great Qin official body to quickly rise and annex large areas of the Wei and Tang Empires. It is still operating efficiently, which can be said to be the credit of the meritocracy.

Li Wei has always been uneasy and vigilant about the forces in the hands of those aristocratic families. Let alone talking about the matter in front of him, a dozen aristocratic families can unite and gather 5000 private soldiers. If it is a family with a century-old name and more powerful power, a single family can gather 6000 private soldiers. This is a local armed force that can threaten the local area or even the country. If it is not resolved or weakened, any A person in power is afraid of headaches.

These aristocratic tyrants have a large number of fields and population in their hands. The large population is the main source of their wealth. When they are issued weapons, they become private armed forces. However, the fields of the common people are pitifully small, most of them are only two or three Mu of land, even if the tax is exempted, it cannot support a family of five or six people. If Li Wei wants to implement the New Deal in the occupied land and let the people have enough food and clothing, he must find ways to reclaim more wasteland, or get some land from the hands of those aristocratic families. part of the field.

But then again, there are many clans in the Cangyun Continent, and they control the court. Land and population are the lifelines of all the clans. Once their lifeblood is touched, they will inevitably lead to a strong backlash, and it is possible to raise troops to rebel.

The wealth of the people makes the country strong. In order to make the Great Qin Empire stronger, Li Wei did not lose those restless families, confiscated their wealth and land, and then distributed the land to the common people to earn their loyalty. The inevitable trend of development, Li Wei doesn't mind finding a reasonable excuse to get rid of anyone who wants to block the way. Every time they copy the homes of these powerful families, they can pay a large sum of money. Li Wei is a little suspicious of himself. Addicted to home copying? "Everyone is free, there is no need to be restrained."

After several rounds of toasting, Li Wei had a harmonious smile on his face. He told all the patriarchs present, don't be restrained, just treat this as your home, eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want, say whatever you want, even if you say something wrong No tax is charged either.

All the Patriarchs smiled and agreed, and the atmosphere in the hall seemed relaxed and harmonious.

Apart from toasting, the patriarchs of King Liu He's family usually bury their heads in eating meat and drinking alcohol. The patriarchs of Wang Pangzheng's family couldn't hold back in the end, and hinted to Li Wei on the spot that we have already taken Yiwu County for you. Then, When will you fulfill your promise, Your Highness? "Okay, refreshing, His Highness likes to be straightforward."

Li Wei laughed, and fulfilled his promise on the spot. He asked each family to select talented children from the clan, and each family had five places. The four leaders will then be promoted to county magistrates and other officials depending on their abilities and achievements. Those who join the army can add five more places, but they must first study in the Imperial Military Academy for three years.

In short, the quotas of more than a dozen of them, whether they want to be civil servants or military officials, are all specially approved, exempting from various strict assessments, which is equivalent to directly stepping into the officialdom, but starting from the grassroots.

Although the patriarchs of Liu Huanghe's family were somewhat disappointed, they were still acceptable. The meritocracy introduced by the Qin Empire was well known in the mainland.

Another one, although they are aristocratic families, they are only limited to the local area. In terms of reputation and influence, how old do people outside know you are?

Strictly speaking, the reputation and strength of these dozen or so families can only be regarded as small families among the aristocratic families, the second- and third-rate ones. Compared with those real century-old aristocratic families, they are not ranked at all. You may not be given face, let alone preferential treatment, for taking credit for the city of Yiwu.

The patriarchs of Wang Pangzheng's family had black lines all over their faces. If they weren't intimidated by Li Wei's power, they would have thrown their sleeves and left on the spot. Nima's capture of Yiwu County is a great contribution. If you don't give a reward, it's fine. A small official position as big as a sesame mung bean is here to coax people, so I think I am a beggar?Li Weitian Ce, Wu You and others saw the expressions of the heads of the various families, and they sneered in their hearts. They gave you a big face, do you really think you are a big shot?

Li Wei curled his lips, and then continued, and straight to the point, he expressed the worries in his heart. You have too many private soldiers in your hands. Your Highness feels very disturbed. If you can't sleep, you can't eat well. If you think about it differently After a while, you will understand how I feel now, so, you understand.

Also, I also know that the land is your lifeblood, but there are too many people, but there is no land to cultivate. I hope you can donate some of the land, and the government will distribute it to the people. Of course, the government will give you compensation, per mu Calculated according to the official price, the tax will be reduced by a certain percentage, and there are various discounts. I will give you ten days to think about it.

If the capture of Yiwu County City is Li Wei's test of the sincerity of these aristocratic families, then the above-mentioned stuff is a test of their loyalty. The time limit of ten days is for the patriarchs to think about it, and by the way, let some people have Plenty of time to prepare and prepare.

This time, even the Patriarchs of Liu, Huang and other families looked very ugly, let alone Wang Pangzheng's family. Their faces changed from black to white, from white to purple, and then from purple to green. It exploded.

After leaving the prefect's mansion, several patriarchs including Liu Huanghe gathered together to discuss matters. The expressions on their faces revealed the strong dissatisfaction and annoyance in their hearts. It is considered a heavy loss of land and population, but it also enjoys a lot of preferential treatment. In addition to the loss of strength, there is actually a profit.

In fact, they are usually exploited by those in power, and they suffer more losses than Li Wei's lion's mouth. After careful calculation, they still have profits.

The most important thing is that they have a large number of fields and people, and the more fields and people they have, the more powerful they are, but it is undoubtedly tantamount to letting themselves sit on the crater, just as Prince Li said , if you think about it in another way, any person in power is extremely afraid of the powerful power they have in their hands. If one is not good, it is very likely that they will be punished. Besides, they are only second- and third-rate families, and the person in power only needs an excuse , there is no pressure at all to slaughter them.

Chapter 454 Waiting for You to Jump into the Pit

The Patriarchs of Wang Pangzheng's family were also discussing matters. Their expressions were ferocious and scary. They gritted their teeth and cursed Li Wei as a bastard. If they dare to touch their lifeblood, they can only do their best.

After the discussion, they sent their servants to invite Liu Hehuang and other patriarchs to come over to discuss the matter, to find out their tone. If it is feasible, they will join forces again, take down Yiwu County, and present it to the King of Zhou as a vote.

Liu Hehuang and other Patriarchs had already discussed and reached an agreement. In front of Wang Pangzheng and several Patriarchs, they showed a very helpless expression. They had to bow their heads under the eaves.

Wang Pangzheng and other Patriarchs all showed disappointed expressions, but they were very tight-lipped and did not reveal the intention of rebelling again, and sighed pretendingly.

The Patriarchs of Liu Huanghe's family sneered in their hearts. Didn't these families settle their accounts?Donating part of the land and population is a loss of nearly half of the strength, but it can be regarded as buying a hundred years of peace. These losses are still cost-effective. These companies must have been deceived by lard, and they don’t think about what they did before. For this reason, what people hate the most is this kind of foolishness. Even if Yiwu City is really taken down, Zhou Wang will not pursue the previous responsibilities, but don't think that life is really easy. The forces behind Yang Shouye are really Will let you go?

It's no wonder you don't go to death, these companies are in the rhythm of death.

Li Wei sits in Yiwu County City, ready to wait for Zhou Jun's counterattack.

With the strong city of Yiwu acting as a barrier, the role of the Hundred-mile Great Wall in Jingnan and Xinjian City has been greatly reduced, and it has become a logistics supply base for Yiwu County City. The city guards stationed there are also halved accordingly. David saved a lot of money.

According to the report from the black-clothed guard who was in charge of monitoring those clans, all the clans under the jurisdiction of Yiwu County were counting their fields and population to make preparations for donations.

On the surface, these aristocratic tyrants obeyed, but Li Wei ordered the black guards to continue to strengthen surveillance, and even dispatched many special nights to increase the number of surveillance personnel. He did not believe that Wang Pangzheng and his family would be so honest , the resentment in their eyes when they left could not escape his discernment.

If you want to die, brother is very welcome, and you can make a lot of money if you ransack the house.

Zhou Empire, Jin'an City, the capital of the country, and the imperial palace.

King Chu Wangjiang of Zhou was furious at the failure of the conquest of the Jin Empire. When the report of the eight-hundred-mile express pond that Yiwu lost was delivered to him, he was stunned for a long time before uttering a piercing cry, and waved all the teapots and jade cups in front of him. Sweeping away, frightened the faces of several court ladies and eunuchs standing beside him.

For such an important matter, it is natural to convene civil and military officials to discuss the matter. When they heard that Yiwu fell, all the civil and military officials were stunned for a long time before they realized it. All kinds of curses against the Qin Empire rang out. Face and so on, the solemn and solemn Jinluan Palace has become a vegetable market.

"enough!"

Zhou Wang Chuwang Jiang Longyan was furious, Nima Zhen called you to discuss matters, not to swear like shrews.

The scolding stopped abruptly. After the officials calmed down, they first investigated the reason for the loss of the city. On the night of the attack on the city, some clever Zhou soldiers escaped from the city and reported that the reason for the loss of the city was Wang Pangzheng and other dozen families. The family colluded secretly, killed the prefect Yang Shouye, captured the city and surrendered to the Qin army.

After figuring out the reason, the next step is to discuss the solution. The result of the discussion is to first send envoys to hold them accountable, and at the same time assemble the army to prepare. If the negotiation fails, they will immediately attack the city and recover Yiwu County.

As the special envoy of the King of Zhou, Yan Liang, a servant of the Ministry of Rites, set off in a hurry under the escort of two hundred forest guards, and rushed to Yiwu County to be held accountable, threatening the Qin army to return to the previous border, or start a war.

Li Wei sent Wu You to be in charge of receiving the special envoy of the king of Zhou, and he had full authority to argue with the special envoy on his behalf. Only a fool would spit out the fat in his mouth, and war with the Zhou Empire was planned.

The negotiation failed, Yan Liang left Yiwu County in despair, and returned to the imperial capital dejectedly. However, only a dozen miles away from Yiwu County, someone blocked the road and called himself Wang Xiaosan. He was ordered by Wang Pangzheng and other patriarchs Block the way here, there is something important to discuss.

Yan Liang wished to cut people alive. The reason why Yiwu County fell was all caused by these aristocratic families.

However, after calming down, Yan Liang vaguely guessed the purpose of those companies.

Sure enough, after meeting and talking with the heads of Wang Pangzheng's family in a forest, Yan Liang figured out that these bastards didn't get the expected benefits from the Qin Empire, and turned back in a rage.

Yan Liang didn't even bother with this kind of duplicitous nonsense, but he held back after thinking about it. If he could really recover Yiwu, it would be a great achievement. Recovering Yiwu County, and finding an excuse to cut them all down, and using their family property as a substitute, not only made a great contribution, but also made a lot of money. Why not do it?

The Patriarchs of Wang Pangzheng's family didn't know what Yan Liang was thinking. After receiving his verbal promise, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. In fact, they had no choice. Li Wei gave them a deadline of ten days. After delaying for six days with various excuses, Yan Liang finally arrived.

After discussing the details of the operation, the several Patriarchs left in a hurry, took the Pingshan trail, and returned to the border of Yiwu County out of breath. After returning home, they summoned their confidants to prepare for the attack.

And all of this was under the strict surveillance of the black-clothed guards. Before they returned home, Li Wei already knew that besides ordering the black-clothed guards to continue to closely monitor him, he swayed his legs leisurely, estimating in his mind how many properties those families had .

Not long after, the little six came to report, and several heads of Liu Huanghe's family jointly asked to see him.

Li Wei personally greeted them outside the door, flattering the several Patriarchs.

Li Wei invited the people into the hall and ordered the servants to serve tea. The reason why he gave face to the heads of these families was because they were very cooperative, donating part of the land, and also handing over some refugees, showing that He has gained enough loyalty, which makes him very satisfied.

The heads of Liu Huanghe's family came to warn them. Anyway, those families are going to die, and they don't mind using those guys' heads to claim credit. Besides, the two parties have a long-standing grudge, and they just cooperated temporarily because of their interests.

In return, Li Wei took half of the official quotas of Wang Pangzheng and several other families, and let them share it equally. The heads of the family were so happy that they couldn't close their mouths, and all the resentment in their hearts dissipated.

According to reports from Yebu, a Zhou army of 6 people is heading towards Yiwu County, and there are still four or five days to go. In order to allow Wang Pangzheng and his family enough time to prepare, Li Wei only sent people to urge them occasionally. Just a moment, so as not to arouse the suspicion of those few.

A few days later, [-] Zhou troops arrived at the city of Yiwu County, but instead of attacking the city, they camped outside the city. Yan Liang entered the city under the guise of negotiating. Good hands-on signal.

At noon, a 3000-strong Zhou army had bypassed the side of Yiwu County, climbed up Pingshan under the guidance of the guide, and walked through the rugged and difficult mountain roads.

Passing through the Pingshan Trail, you can go around to the back of Yiwu County City. This secret trail was discovered by a local hunter, and was inadvertently known to the Pang family. Therefore, the hunter was wiped out, and this secret mountain trail has been preserved until now. It was reactivated by the Pang family, and naturally it was discovered by the black guard who was secretly following and monitoring, and reported it to Li Wei.

The negotiations between the two sides broke down, Yan Liang went out of the city, returned to the barracks, and waited patiently for the sky to darken.

In the middle of the night, the patriarchs of Wang Pangzheng's family, who had already made full preparations, issued an order to attack. With the cooperation of Nei Ying, eight thousand private soldiers roared into the city, but they were greeted by heavy armor trapped in the camp. There was also a dense rain of arrows. Outside the city, five thousand Qingqi and three thousand tiger and leopard iron cavalry from Shang Xingyun galloped and charged, killing eight thousand private soldiers in a short breath.

At about the same time, the three thousand Zhou soldiers who sneaked in from the Pingshan trail heard the roaring roar, and they were about to attack, but they were destroyed by several rounds of intensive arrow rain. Arms up in surrender.

Outside the city, the Zhou army camp.

Yan Liang survived the long middle of the night, when he heard the roaring roar suddenly erupted in Yiwu City, the blazing flames lit up the sky, saw the city gate opened and the suspension bridge lowered, he couldn't help but feel refreshed, and eager to make contributions, he personally led the army to kill Yiwu. Enter Yiwu City.

Chapter 455

Five thousand Zhou soldiers, as the first attack echelon, roared into the city, but the turbulent momentum like a flood without a bank soon stopped.

"What's going on, what's going on?"

"Hurry up, why don't you move?"

Seeing that the companions in the front didn't move, the ones in the back were impatient, urging them repeatedly, everyone wanted to rush into the city, and then take the opportunity to make a fortune, can you not be in a hurry?

Near the city gate, two rows of thunder chariots with several spears stuck in blocked the Zhou soldiers pouring into the city. After being pierced by the sharp spear, he didn't die immediately. The whole person was hanging on the spear, howling and struggling helplessly, and soon stopped still.

If Zhou Bing wanted to continue to enter the city, he had to push the two-layer Thunder Chariot away first, but it would take some time, and Qin Jun didn't give them time at all.

Behind the chariot formation are densely packed Qin soldiers, with swords and shields in front, and archers at the back with their bows and arrows, throwing desperately. On the top of the city, there are still a large number of Qin army archers shooting arrows, throwing stones and rolling logs. Zhou soldiers are densely packed Some of them are crowded under the city, and they can shoot or smash with their eyes closed.

Under the cover of the dense rain of arrows, countless bloody flowers appeared, and the screams of screams were endless, and pieces of Zhou Bing fell down.

Outside the city, arrows rained down like rain on the top of the city, carrying stones and rolling logs, killing and wounding the Zhou soldiers who were pushing under the city in large numbers.

At this time, Yan Liang was already inside the city gate. He knew that he had been tricked, but the front and back were blocked, and he could not move forward or retreat.

"Cut the chain, cut the chain."

Yan Liang was still calm, and shouted loudly, ordering the soldiers to cut off the chains of the suspension bridge. As long as the suspension bridge was not pulled up, they still had a chance to survive, but his shouting was completely covered by the roaring roar.

In desperation, he had no choice but to order the guards to do it himself. When the guards struggled to squeeze away the crowded soldiers and finally squeezed onto the suspension bridge, the Qin soldiers on the top of the wall had already shaken the winch and slowly pulled up the suspension bridge. The soldiers staggered, some fell into the moat, and those who couldn't swim sank directly.

The dense rain of arrows rained down, and the Zhou soldiers outside the city retreated in embarrassment. They stood outside the range of bows and arrows, watching the suspension bridge erected high. As for those companions who rushed into the city, they could only ask for luck.

In the city, after three waves of arrow rain, all the people outside lay down except for those who were huddled in the city gate. The ground was covered with thick layers of corpses. People panicked.

The remaining Zhou soldiers huddled tremblingly in the city gate, in a desperate situation. Even the elite soldiers who had experienced many battles would inevitably tremble with fear, and their morale dropped to freezing point.

When there was a clatter, it was unknown who dropped the weapon in his hand first. After a few breaths, the clatter of weapons falling to the ground sounded one after another. They either died in battle or surrendered. Who wants to die if there is a glimmer of life?Yan Liang let out a long sigh, and dropped the long sword in his hand, could he die for the Yan family, for the king of Zhou?Well, forget it, ants can steal their lives, let alone humans?

The Zhou army outside the city did not launch an attack, the night attack failed, and thousands of soldiers were lost. Even Yan Liang, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, fell into the city, his life and death were unknown, and his morale was greatly depressed. Order to withdraw troops back to camp.

The night raid ended like this, but the city was still busy. After killing the private soldiers who wanted to attack the city, Li Wei ordered people to search Wang Pangzheng's family overnight and confiscate all their properties.

House raids are very cruel, and many innocent people will definitely be affected, but the law of the jungle is the law of survival in Cangyun Continent. If Wang Pangzheng's family chooses to rebel, they must bear the consequences of the failure of the rebellion.

All night, the people in Yiwu City were frightened by the roaring roar and huddled at home tremblingly. In less than a month, they experienced two waves of war. Fortunately, the Qin army had strict military discipline. They were not harassed in any way, and the government even gave them land and exempted them from taxes for half a year, which moved the common people into a mess.

Early the next morning, they finally found out what happened last night. It turned out that Wang Pangzheng's family rebelled, but they were all blamed.

The Zhou army outside the city did not attack the city, so Li Wei ordered people to build a high platform outside the city and hold a meeting for the public trial of Wang Pangzheng's family.

Under intentional or unintentional dissemination, the common people roughly knew the reasons for the rebellion of those families. It turned out that the government wanted to distribute the land to the people, but those families insisted on not agreeing and rebelled.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

The people onlookers waved their arms and yelled in unison under the instigation of those who cared. They would have nothing to eat if they had no land. These guys occupied a lot of land and opposed the division of land by the government. Wouldn’t they starve to death?

They are all big bullies who are never evil, and they should all be killed.

Amidst the angry curses of the people, the executioner raised his butcher knife and dropped heads one by one.

From beginning to end, Li Wei, dressed in casual clothes, watched quietly in the corner with a smile on his face. He directed this play in order to win the hearts of the people.

The patriarchs of Liu Huanghe's family and many children of the clan were present to watch. They were lucky for the fate of Wang Pangzheng's family. Fortunately, they were wise and decisive and did not follow the rebellion, otherwise they would have died miserably like those few families.

Later, the officials presiding over the public trial commended the fields donated by Liu Huanghe's family selflessly, which also won praise from the people.

Wang Pangzheng's family owns a large amount of fertile land, plus some of the land donated by Liu Huanghe's family, except for a small part reserved for military households to garrison the land, the rest is equally distributed to the common people. Li Wei made a lot of money again.

Three days later, Zhuo Fengxing led the [-] soldiers of the Yanlong Legion out of the city to fight, but the Zhou army retreated in the barracks to stop the battle.

Zhuo Feng ordered the soldiers to set up a large number of thunderbolt chariots and thunder chariots, fired stone bullets at the Zhou army's camp, and then fired fire bombs, blasting the Zhou army's camp into a sea of ​​flames. Formed into a group, escaped from the burning barracks in embarrassment, Shang Xingyun led 6000 tiger and leopard cavalry and 3 light cavalry from the Yanlong Legion to cover up and kill them. The rest were either buried in the flames or killed.

Li Wei had always attached importance to people's livelihood, and he knew the importance of population. Among the 200 captives, except for more than [-] family members or nobles who were selected to wait for the ransom, the rest were all used as free labor, and none of them were released.

Although Yan Liang, a servant of the Ministry of Rites, was a prisoner, he was treated with courtesy and suffered little. He was imprisoned for ten days and then released.

The Yan family is one of the top five famous families in the Zhou Empire. There have been several outstanding figures in the family. Yan Liang himself is quite capable. Li Wei originally wanted to recruit, but Tian Ce Wen Zishan and others thought it would be better to release them. Forge a good relationship with Yan Shi, maybe Yan Shi will repay you in the future.

This is a long-term investment. As for whether there will be any profit in the future, it is unknown. Anyway, several military divisions under him are awesome, and Li Wei basically obeys them.

Next, in addition to continuing to digest Yiwu County, they just waited for Zhou King Chu Wangjiang's second army to arrive. However, Zhuo Fengxing's Yanlong Army's [-] troops disbanded half of them, leaving only [-] soldiers to guard Yiwu County City.

The military supplies in Daqin’s reserves are not enough to support a major battle that lasts for more than half a year. It is best to continue to recuperate. In order not to enrage King Chu Wangjiang into a rage, Li Wei is satisfied with taking Yiwu County, and he does not want to yet Tiegang county city was moved, so they took a defensive position.

Defending the city is much easier than besieging the city. With the reinforced Yiwu Fortified City and sufficient logistics, 40 soldiers are enough to block the crazy attack of [-] or [-] Zhou troops, so there is no need to leave so many soldiers, [-] soldiers The consumption of a day is amazing, and a little bit can be saved.

Furthermore, the pressure of the Zhou Empire to fight on two fronts is not so great. There may be no shortage of troops, but the consumption of supplies is huge, and I believe the King of Zhou can't bear it.

Sure enough, the news of Zhou's defeat reached the imperial capital, and the court of Zhou was shaken. They strongly advocated sending troops to recover Yiwu, but most of the rational ministers strongly opposed it. The reason was that the pressure on the two fronts was huge. Concentrate forces to defend Yiwu. It is estimated that without an army of 40 to [-], it will be difficult to recover Yiwu County. Instead of wasting a lot of troops and countless military supplies in Yiwu, it is better to invest in the battlefield against the Jin Empire and win a county. The city counts as flat, and if you win two counties, you will earn one county. Don't forget, the Jin Empire is now in civil strife, and all the empires are desperately sending troops to conquer Jin. The kingly way is to carve up the big cake first, and then ask the Qin Empire to settle accounts Not too late.

Of course, this matter can't be left as it is. If you continue to send envoys to hold them accountable, you will have to get some compensation at the very least.

In the end, the battered king of Zhou, Chu Wangjiang, adopted the latter's suggestion, and recruited another 15 troops to intensify the attack on the Jin Empire. At the same time, he sent envoys to continue to hold the Qin Empire accountable.

"Strong pressure" on Zhou Empire