Qin Official

At the same time, in Nanchang City, Yuzhang County, County Governor Yin Tong was also anxiously waiting for the arrival of a person.

His face is a little thin, with deep eye circles, and a lot of beard has fallen off, because in the past month or so, Yin Tong has not had a good night's sleep or a comfortable meal...

At the end of January, Ziying, the supervisor of the Southern Expeditionary Army, hurried north from Nanchang, and then news spread that Marquis Wu Zhong had died in battle!

Yin Tong was an official in Beidi County, and he and Hei Fu were colleagues, and they still had some old friendships. He couldn't help but feel sad, but what happened next made everything seem not so simple!

In early February, envoys came from the north, demanding that Wu Zhonghou's old troops be controlled and imprisoned. Yin Tong suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"Yuzhang is all a member of Marquis Wu Zhong's old tribe. If I go against them, they may counterattack."

Therefore, Yin Tongming obeyed the court's order on the surface and ordered the county soldiers to arrest Li Xian, Jing and others, but secretly informed Li Xian and others to escape.

The situation was complicated, and he wanted to observe the situation again before making a decision.

Yin Tong was right to wait. In early March, another rumor came: Marquis Wuzhong was resurrected and captured Wuchang Camp! He also spread the news that the First Emperor had died and that the treacherous ministers in the court had rebelled against his son, killed the emperor and usurped the throne. He even had a messenger send Yin Tong a copy of the "Edict on Clothes and Belts", asking him to take Yuzhang County to respond to the first rebellion.

At this time, Yin Tong was in a dilemma. On the one hand, Feng Wuze's subordinates stationed in Nanchang with 3,000 people, preparing to go south to "quell the rebellion." Yin Tong only had 1,000 trusted followers, so he did not dare to act rashly.

In the south, a southern expedition army of tens of thousands of people arrived in Luling County. The leader was Zheng Heifu's general, Sanguan Duwei Anpu. Many of these soldiers had witnessed Heifu's hair and had no less trust in Wu Zhonghou. Nanjun is short-handed.

Yuzhang was originally like the backyard of Nanjun. Most of the officials were old members of the Heifu Township Party. They were already very dissatisfied with the sudden suppression of them by the imperial court. Seeing that the soldiers came back, all the counties and cities along the way surrendered without a fight. Now Anpu's The flag is approaching Nanchang City...

The other Sima sent by Feng Wuze wanted to hold on to the city and wait for General Feng's reinforcements, but Yin Tong became an ant on the hot pot. Seeing that the situation was not good, the young man immediately took the former Nanchang Lingli who was hiding in the city. Xian came to him and shielded him, wanting to discuss countermeasures with him.

"The commander-in-chief made the right decision."

Not long after, Li Xian arrived. He saw Yin Tong's hesitation and urged: "Don't you know, Lord? Now Wuzhonghou has captured Wuchang camp and has tens of thousands of troops across Jianghan, and the Changsha County On the other side, Li You has also been defeated and trapped in Linxiang by Tao, Xiao, and Han captains!"

"really?"

Yin Tong was shocked. He only heard that Li You went to the south to seize the military power in Lingnan. He never thought that he would be defeated in Changsha. No wonder there was no news from Changsha in recent days. I am afraid that the roads have been controlled by the "rebels".

Li Xian said: "The First Emperor has passed away. Everyone in Lingnan and Jiangnan is subordinate to the princes. The general trend lies in Wu Zhonghou, not in the treacherous ministers in the court. I heard that the first is to control people, and the second is to be controlled by others. If the commander opens the city to welcome the southern expedition, Enter the city and become the first county official to respond to the first uprising. After the event is completed, you will be regarded as the hero of Jingnan."

"If you don't follow..."

He put away his smile and said coldly: "Nanchang was built by Marquis Wu Zhong. Everyone knows the truth and the truth. The people moved into the city. Who has not benefited from the monarch? There are many people in Marquis Wuzhong's old army hiding among the people, and there are hundreds of battles outside the city. We have tens of thousands of troops, and we should cooperate with each other inside and outside. Nanchang cannot be defended. If the commander-in-chief is stubborn and does not realize it, you may be in danger of death when the city is destroyed!"

"Let me think about it again..."

Yin Tong walked around, unable to make a decision for a long time. At this time, a mountain roar and tsunami broke out outside. It was An Pu who was attacking the city, and Wei Jing, who was hiding in the village, also led a group of people to cause trouble in the city!

"Why did they start fighting?"

Yin Tong was startled, but it was too late, then Li Xian suddenly pulled out the wooden hairpin from his bun, took a few steps closer, and forced Yin Tong to the wall!

Although he is over forty years old, his temples are gray, and he is unarmed, Li Xian, who appears to be frail, is as decisive as he was many years ago when Linyang City was in danger.

He pressed the tip of the hairpin tightly against Yin Tong's neck and said pleasantly:

"Please also ask the commander-in-chief to order the commander-in-chief soldiers to rebel and open the city to welcome the rebel army!"

…

In mid-March, Yuzhang's defender Yintong was forced by Li Xian and ordered the county soldiers to open the west gate of Nanchang, allowing Anpu to enter the city unimpeded. At the same time, the people in the city also responded to the call and cooperated with the southern expeditionary army to pursue and intercept the officers and soldiers. The three thousand people were defeated and became prisoners in a daze.

Immediately, under the coercion of Li Xian, Yin Tong could only send the love letters stamped with the silver seal of the governor to each county:

"The entire county of Yuzhang holds high the flag of righteousness and follows Wuzhong Hou Jingnan!"

…

The establishment of Yuzhang County was the result of more than ten years of hard work by Heifu's old troops. After Nanchang was captured, with Yin Tong's order, other counties naturally rushed to respond. There was no need to send troops to attack one city and one pool. "Peaceful Liberation".

So Anpu left almost no soldiers on guard. A few days after capturing Nanchang, Anpu immediately marched northward with Wei Jing. Carrying half a month's worth of food, tens of thousands of people passed through Xunyang (today's Jiujiang), moved westward along the Yangtze River, bypassed the Mufu Mountains, entered the jurisdiction of Hengshan County, and reached Xiazhi County (today's Yangxin County, Hubei Province).

The task Heifu sent to Anpu was to seize several counties in Hengshan County in the south of the Yangtze River after the liberation of Yuzhang, and at the same time control the two rich mines of Tieshan and Tonglushan.

Seeing the attack of tens of thousands of troops, the small county of Xiazhi naturally had no choice but to surrender. However, heading west from here, the group encountered a large number of people fleeing from E County...

People from various villages in E County (today's Echeng City, Hubei Province) supported the old and young. They wanted to flee to Xiaji, but they were surprised when they encountered a large army in front of them. After being surrounded, they saw that the other party had no intention of harming them, so they stopped. He hesitated to explain what happened.

"A group of thieves came from the west. Although they were wearing the armor of Qin soldiers, they committed all kinds of evil. They killed people and stole property, burned and plundered villages, and took possession of people's wives and daughters. E County was in chaos..."

"Are there any rebels causing trouble in E County?"

An Pu and Wei Jing looked at each other in confusion, but after being reminded by the messenger sent by Heifu, they quickly came to their senses:

"It must be the thousands of Chu soldiers who escaped during the Battle of Wuchang!"

…

More than half a month ago, Heifu led a short-handed personal guard to attack Wuchang at night, gathered the soldiers of the Southern Expedition, and fought with Yang Xiong. However, before the confrontation, three to four thousand people ran away from the right wing, all throwing away torches. , using the cover of darkness before dawn, to escape eastward...

After that, Heifu was busy fighting back to his hometown of Anlu and rescuing his fellow villagers. His subsequent strategic goal was to seize Jiangling, so the more than 20,000 people who stayed in the south of the Yangtze River abandoned the burned Wuchang Camp and headed west to Shaxian and Zhouling. Time to take care of those deserters.

Unexpectedly, this group of deserters, gathered by Ge Ying from Fuli, fled to E County, a hundred miles east of Wuchang, and started causing trouble in the countryside.

E County was originally an important town in Hengshan, a big city second only to Zhu City, and was very well defended. However, all the county soldiers were transferred to help defend Wuchang Camp. After that, half of them were captured by Heifu, and half of them evacuated to Xiakou with Yang Xiong. Now With their troops empty, the county magistrates and lieutenants had no choice but to abandon their villages and retreat to the county seat.

According to the people who fled E County, when they fled south, a rebellion broke out in Tieshan Township. Thousands of subordinate officials killed the iron officials and joined the rebels. Under the leadership of Ge Ying, they besieged the county seat...

"Is the iron mountain lost?"

Wei Jing was a little shocked. He had been an official in Hengshan County and served as a metallurgist for a period of time. Although he was in charge of Tonglu Mountain, he knew that Tieshan and Tonglu Mountain, these two rich mines, were the foundation for the establishment of Hengshan County. It is a battleground for military strategists!

During the Southern Expedition to Baiyue, not only soldiers but also weapons were consumed. Following an order from the imperial court, Tieshan and Tonglu Mountains once again turned into arsenals. Assembly line operations continued day and night, producing dangerous items. Over the past few years, there There are a large number of weapons in stock, enough to arm tens of thousands of people...

Originally, officials from the Southern Expedition Army had infiltrated into the two mines, but as the court eliminated Wu Zhonghou's influence in February, the iron officials and copper officials who were related to Heifu were either imprisoned or fled east and west, and the court also Officials were sent to replace them, and the management and production of the two mines almost came to a standstill.

Coincidentally, the rebels came to kill him. After being captured by the Qin army in the old Chu Kingdom, thousands of subordinates at Tieshan who had been working as coolies for more than ten years and had become intolerable unexpectedly took action and obeyed Ge Ying.

"I just hope that Tonglushan has not rebelled yet. During my tenure as an official, I treated the more than 2,000 prisoners there fairly well. If I come forward, I should be able to convince them to obey..."

Even so, Wei Jing didn't know what to do. He could only discuss with An Pu and ride on his own horse to try to arrive as early as possible.

There is a distance of more than ninety miles from Xiaji to Tonglu Mountain. Wei Jing and hundreds of riders only traveled for one day.

As Heifu's younger brother, although he also practiced sword dancing and martial arts when he was a child, he later learned laws and regulations, and worked as an official in various gold and iron workshops for a long time. He was not used to the unruly life of the army, and his waist was almost broken when the horses jostled him.

Along the way, I saw that due to the riots, there were very few pedestrians on the road. The few I saw, most of them were refugees who had fled elsewhere. They all looked frightened. When they saw the army passing by, they would kneel down on the roadside with a dull expression, or they would be far away. Di Bazu fled and learned from them that the situation in Tonglu Mountain was not optimistic.

He drove faster and faster, and when he finally arrived at the mining area, he was surprised that both sides of his thighs were worn and painful...

But he gritted his teeth and continued galloping, leading people towards the noisy Tonglushan mining area!

As expected, the more than two thousand ministers were indeed on the verge of rebellion. They were all gray-faced, skinny, with long hair or tattoos.

But when they are not working on weekdays, the shackles that restrict their freedom have been broken and removed.

After more than ten years of slavery, most of the former prisoners of the Chu army had died of exhaustion. The long-pressed ministers could no longer hold back when they saw that more than a thousand people in Tieshan, forty miles away to the north, had become "free."

Nowadays, everyone is holding mining hoes and sledgehammers, and they are fiercely surrounding the workshop. They are gnashing their teeth, while the craftsmen and officials are hiding inside to resist. The smell of gunpowder is strong here, and a rebellion is about to break out!

"Two or three sons!"

Wei Jing took the lead, leading six to seven hundred chariots, and galloped into the middle of the two sides to stop the conflict.

He raised his hands and shouted: "Don't panic, sons and daughters. I am the younger brother of Marquis Wu Zhong. The Marquis has raised the flag of justice, brought order to the chaos, and granted amnesty to the sinners. From today on, all the slaves and prisoners of Tonglu Mountain will be free!"

…

When An Pu arrived at Tonglu Mountain, he found that all the ministers here were squatting on the ground and eating without making any noise.

Except for an iron official who had just taken office and was resented for his harsh treatment of prisoners, who was executed by Wei Jing to vent the anger of the prisoners, none of the other officials and craftsmen were killed or injured. Wei Jing was taking people to count the mine arsenal.

An Pu breathed a sigh of relief, cupped his hands to Wei Jing and said, "As expected of the younger brother of Marquis Wu Zhong, he has the courage and strategy to eliminate a great chaos."

"It's just a fox pretending to be a tiger, borrowing his brother's reputation, how can he be as good as him? If there are no chariots and cavalry to support me, I'm afraid I will be the first to be killed by the criminals." Wei Jing waved his hand and sighed.

"And the real chaos may have already begun..."

With that said, Wei Jing pulled over a young blacksmith, but it was Guo Shao from Handan who had met Heifu in Tieshan more than two years ago and was authorized to make swords for the officers...

"Tell Captain An again what you know."

Guo Shao escaped from the Tieshan riot. He was relatively calm and did not rush south. Instead, he sneaked to Tieshan Township with a group of craftsmen and brought all his relatives over before the rebels took over.

He bowed to An Pu and said: "Sir, when we came from Tieshan Township, we only heard that Ge Ying had captured E County, killed all the Qin officials, divided the Ling, Wei and Cheng into corpses, and massacred the residents in the city..."

As one of the immigrants, Guo Shao spat angrily:

"Ge Ying also found a man in the city who is said to be a descendant of Lord E, named Xiang Qiang, and established him as King of Chu!"

…

ps: Chapter 2 is at night