Taiping Inn

After Li Xuandu finished handling the matters at hand, he left Zhongnan Mountain with Qin Su and prepared to go to Liaodong.

This trip to Liaodong was mainly for official business. Li Xuandu wanted to enter Beijing, so he had to communicate with Liaodong. It would be best if both sides cooperated with each other to avoid a situation of fighting alone. After all, Li Xuandu's trip was not to show off his strength, but to complete what he had been thinking about. The process is not important, but the result is important.

The two came down from Zhongnan Mountain and headed north. Even if they were riding the wind, they could see that there was a large area of ​​wasteland under their feet, overgrown with weeds, and no wheat seedlings. This was because of the war and the abandonment of farming. Li Xuandu couldn't help but sigh: "The millet is scattered, and the millet seedlings are scattered. The steps are unsteady, and the heart is shaking. Those who know me say that I am worried, and those who don't know me say what I want."

Qin Su, who flew side by side with Li Xuandu, understood that this was a sentence from "The Book of Songs Wang Feng". He didn't say anything, but just let the autumn wind blow on his face.

The two soon left the Zhongnan Mountains and passed through several small villages and towns, but they were all deserted and there was no one in sight. The fields along the way were overgrown with weeds and desolate. Occasionally, a few corpses could be seen, with no obvious external injuries on their bodies, most of them were people who starved to death.

All these things could only turn into a sigh in the end.

After Li Xuandu and Qin Su left Qinzhou, they entered Zhongzhou, and then went from Zhongzhou to Jinzhou, and finally passed Yuguan and arrived at Youzhou in Liaodong.

Along the way, the drought in Qinzhou, Zhongzhou, and Jinzhou continued. The hungry people started uprisings everywhere, and the hungry bandits plundered everywhere, attacked cities and seized land, while the officers and soldiers surrounded and suppressed everywhere.

There is an old saying: Bandits pass by like combing, soldiers pass by like combing, and officials pass by like shaving. It means that when bandits come to plunder, they comb through the house like a comb and take away all the property, but the teeth of the comb are wide apart, so some things are still missed; the teeth of the comb are very fine, which describes that when soldiers come to plunder, they fight openly, have plenty of time, and plunder carefully. They are more hateful than bandits, unlike bandits who are at least afraid that the government will come and have to rush and leave. As for the officials coming over like shaving, it means that when officials come to plunder, they leave nothing behind, just like shaving your head. All three sentences are metaphors for hair, which is very vivid.

When the government army suppresses bandits, ordinary people suffer. First, the refugees and bandits plunder once, and then the government army suppresses the bandits and plunders again. In this way, the people who could barely survive have no livelihood and have to join the ranks of refugees, which makes the refugees grow again and again, but the more they are suppressed, the more they are suppressed.

Anyone can see clearly that the key is not suppression, but appeasement. Since ancient times, both suppression and appeasement have been used to quell rebellions. The key is to allocate food for disaster relief, which is the fundamental solution. Otherwise, if the symptoms are treated but the root cause is not, the refugees everywhere will be reborn.

When Zhang Suqing was alive, the famine and chaos had already begun to show signs: "Unfortunately, the border areas have been suffering from drought for four years, and there has been no harvest. The transportation between Beijing and the people has been interrupted, and the hungry soldiers and the hungry civilians have joined the bandits, so it is difficult to deal with them."

Zhang Suqing advised Emperor Muzong: "It is said that they have been dispersed and dispersed, and then they have been reunited, but they have not been dispersed. We must provide them with real relief so that they can have a living, and then we can call it a real disbandment. After the disbandment, we still need to resettle them. We must give them cattle seeds so that they can return to farming and resume their business, and then we can call it a real resettlement. In this way, the bandits will have the joy of life and no desire to die, and they will naturally be pacified. The pacification situation is set, and the suppression situation is It also ended. "Emperor Muzong also agreed with Zhang Suqing's advice. After Qin Xiang recovered Qinzhou, he issued an edict: "Qinzhou has repeatedly reported famine, and the common people have lost their jobs. Some have even been forced to follow the bandits and suffered from the sharp sword. Who is not a child? If you suffer like this, you will be deeply hurt and sympathetic. It is still necessary to inform the ignorant people that they have been forced to follow and mistakenly joined the bandit party. If they are willing to return to the right path, they will be good citizens. They will be praised and reformed, and they will be provided with cattle and seeds to restore agriculture and sericulture. "

The result was that Emperor Muzong died suddenly, and the ten-year-old Tianbao Emperor ascended the throne. Then there was the change of the imperial capital, Zhang Suqing died, Qin Xiang was imprisoned, and the royal family took power. The original allocation for disaster relief was exploited at all levels and ended in vain.

In his last memorial to the court, Qin Xiang said: "The bandits are extremely poor and hungry, with nowhere to live. When the troops arrive, they surrender, and when the troops leave, they continue to plunder. This is an inevitable trend."

This eventually led to the uprising of the five sects in the northwest, and the fall of Qinzhou, Liangzhou, and Shuzhou. Then the Qingyang Sect started an uprising, and refugees rose up everywhere. The court had no money and no food, so it could only delegate power to the governors of various places to raise food and recruit soldiers on their own, which led to the rise of frontier officials and indirectly led to the rise of Liaodong.

After leaving Beijing, Princess Xuanzhen saw everything along the way, and finally she was completely desperate for the court, thinking that the fate of the Wei Dynasty had ended.

As for why the court had no money, it was inseparable from the Confucian school.

The prime ministers of all dynasties were from Jiangnan, and so were the Confucian disciples who served as officials in the court. Because their roots were in Jiangnan and other states, they greatly reduced commercial taxes in Jiangnan, the land of fish and rice, and repeatedly increased land taxes in Qinzhou, Zhongzhou, and Jinzhou. There were also Liao taxes, suppression taxes, and training taxes, which were twice as high as the regular taxes. The taxes on one mu of land accumulated to two taels, and under the circumstances of years of drought, the rice and wheat harvested from one mu of land could not be sold for half a tael of silver, so the people abandoned farming and fled day by day. Countless fields were abandoned due to man-made disasters, allowing the army of the Wudao Sect to grow again and again, and eventually the situation in the northwest became completely corrupted day by day.

After Tan Taiyun took control of the three states, although he also took some measures, they were ineffective. In addition, Tan Taiyun did not know how to govern the country, and there was no good way. As for the geomancer Xu Wugui who had a solution, he did not want to develop the three states slowly, but planned to attack the imperial capital in one go. He made many plans, and most of his thoughts were spent on Kunlun, the Western Regions, the imperial capital, and the various sects of the righteous path, but he did not spend any time on the three states under his feet. This was why Li Xuan could not fully recognize Xu Wugui.

When Li Xuandu went to the northwest, it was the most difficult and miserable time in the northwest, which directly let Li Xuandu see the scene of hell on earth. Compared with what Li Xuandu saw, the fighting in the rivers and lakes became insignificant scenes, and even the fighting on the battlefield was far inferior. At that time, Li Xuandu was still very young and had not experienced the ups and downs. It was hard for him to bear it, which led to a fundamental change in Li Xuandu's thinking. He vowed to change this situation. He first surrendered to Zhang Suqing and took Zhang Suqing as his teacher. After Zhang Suqing died, he simply went to the battlefield himself.

Li Xuandu heard that there was a screen in the imperial study of Emperor Tianbao, with eight characters written on it, namely: "Natural Disasters", "Refugees", "Northwest", and "Liaodong". These are the four major concerns of the court. Compared with them, the others are scabies and can only make him anxious, but these four major concerns make him unable to sleep and eat.

Perhaps as Li Xuandu integrates the Taoist sect, the three characters "Li Xuandu" will be added to this screen.

There are still masters in the court, who can see clearly. Li Xuandu is not just an inn. He controls the Cihang Sect and the Zhengyi Sect, which means that the sea route from Lingnan to Jiangnan has all fallen into Li Xuandu's hands. Moreover, Li Xuandu has a great influence on the Qingwei Sect. Zhang Haishi, Li Feiyan and other Qingwei Sect elders all support Li Xuandu. In addition, with the East China Sea controlled by the Qingwei Sect, Li Xuandu has opened up all the sea routes from Liaodong North Sea to Lingnan, which can reach Fenglinzhou and Posazhou nearby, and Anxi Daqin State as far as far. In addition, Taiping Sect has many skilled craftsmen who are good at all kinds of crafts. All of their products are extremely exquisite, especially good at firearms. The artillery is better than the artillery of the Shenjiying. Once a shot is fired, the sound will shake hundreds of miles and corrupt fifty miles. Although this is an exaggeration, it can also make the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, which can already rival the Golden Horde Army, even more powerful.

The court had hoped that the Confucian school could solve Li Xuandu's problem, but in the end, the Confucian school was defeated in a sword fight, which made Li Xuandu successful.

Now, with the defeat of Song Zheng and Zhang Jingchen, Li Xuandu has become too powerful to be controlled. He turned from defense to offense and began to test the strength of the imperial capital, causing the Queen Mother Xie Zhi to secretly send people to seek peace. Li Xuandu pretended to agree, but it was actually a delaying tactic to leave enough time for his trip to Liaodong.

Li Xuandu gave Qin Su an analogy, saying that before punching someone, you have to retract your fist first.

This trip to Liaodong was the process of him retracting his fist.

Qin Su was very happy about this "return to her mother's home" without saying it. Counting on her fingers, she has been away from home for half a year. Although she often didn't go home for a year before, after the engagement, she missed the place where she grew up more and more.

However, what Qin Su didn't know was that Li Xuandu had another idea that he hadn't told anyone. He wanted to take a good look at Liaodong under the rule of Zhao Zheng and Qin Qing. He didn't want to usher in another Wei after overthrowing the Wei. If Zhao Zheng really ruled well as rumored, he could put aside his last doubts and fully support Liaodong. If Liaodong under Zhao Zheng's rule was not worthy of its reputation, he would still go to Beijing, but he would be reserved and find another way.

The reason why Li Xuandu didn't tell Qin Su was not because he didn't trust Qin Su, but because he didn't want to make Qin Su feel awkward. After all, Zhao Zheng was just the "shopkeeper" and Qin Qing was the "boss" behind him. If Zhao Zheng could satisfy Li Xuandu, then Li Xuandu would just ignore it. If Zhao Zheng couldn't satisfy Li Xuandu, then it wouldn't be too late to talk about it.

In addition, Li Xuandu was afraid that Liaodong would come up with some official documents to fool people, so he simply didn't notify Liaodong. He planned to walk around Liaodong under the leadership of Qin Su first, and then go to see his father-in-law and Zhao Zheng.

Li Xuandu, with his immortality level, led Qin Su to fly with the wind. Soon, they passed through the three states and Wucheng. Yuguan was in sight.

Yuguan has always been known as the first pass in the world. This place is a key pass and a key point from Heshuo to Liaodong. The ancients called it "the keyless place, the first pass in the world". The Yangtze River divides the south and north of the Yangtze River, and Yuguan divides the inside and outside of the pass.

Now that this pass is under the control of Liaodong, the offensive and defensive forces can be interchanged. They can enter the pass and go south, and retreat to establish a separatist regime. The Liaodong Iron Cavalry is a sharp sword hanging over the head of the imperial capital.