Chapter 180: Yizhou Crisis, Tongpan Zongze (15)

After passing Mangdang Mountain, you actually reach the territory of Jingdong East Road.

This time, the thousands of troops, especially the five hundred elite knife-wielding soldiers trained by Fan Rui, cannot be abandoned.

So the troops were divided into two groups again. One group was led by Xiang Chong and Li Gun, who led the bandits from Mount Mangdang, assisted by Liu Tang, Xue Yong, Hou Jian, Jiang Jing, Ma Lin, Tao Zongwang and others. They hid during the day and traveled at night, heading towards Mount Liang.

The others continued to march towards Yizhou.

After eating a meal of dog meat in Pei County, we crossed Weishan Lake and entered the territory of Yizhou.

As soon as they entered Yizhou, everyone noticed something unusual.

What does "severe famine, exchanging children for food" mean? What does "war, chaos, and widespread suffering" mean?
There are only a few words in the history books, but they contain countless blood, tears and suffering.

White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles!
Thinking about it makes one heartbroken.

This miserable scene was the result of Cao Jie's plan.

Although it was destined that Chen Xizhen would become a bandit in Yuanbi Village, he was only causing chaos in Yizhou in advance.

But in the end, I can’t bear to watch it!
But what can Cao Jie do!

This generation will eventually have to pay a heavy price before they can usher in a better tomorrow.

Otherwise, not to mention a few years, even more than ten years, hundreds of years, and generation after generation will be plunged into war.

The Jin people came and occupied half of the country!
But Shandong has never been stable. Xin Qiji was born in Shandong and rebelled against the Jin people.

The Mongols are here again to unify China!
But the Han people in Shandong are also the lowest class of people, only slightly better than the people in the south.

"Chen Xizhen, how did your rebellion cause you to be in such a state?"

"I heard you say this is not right and that is not right all the way, and I thought you were very capable. Now it seems that you are just a stubborn bandit leader."

"Heh! You are worthy of being compared to my brother?"

Everyone was talking at once, making Chen Xizhen look ashamed. He stammered, "It's a rebellion! How can it be a dinner party? It's going to result in bloodshed... people will die... How can you blame me for this?"

The war and natural disasters in Yizhou led to famine.

It is not yet spring, and the hungry people who have run out of food can only dig up some half-dried grass roots from the snow, boil them, and drink them with hot water to fill their stomachs.

Even if you want to cook the grass roots and eat them, you need to be lucky to dig them up.

Along the way, even the bark was peeled off.

There were many hungry people whose bodies were swollen due to malnutrition.

This situation is still relatively good, just edema. Some people have been starving for too long, not only have their fats been consumed, but even their muscles have atrophied, leaving them skin and bones like mummies.

As for the even more tragic case, it is that one loses one's life and becomes a corpse on the roadside, becoming just a few words in the history books.

In addition to Yizhou, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan and Hebei all suffered from the disaster.

Even though there was less war, the imperial court still had to provide some relief to the people.

However, in many places, distributing porridge every day is just a show, and the little relief funds have long been embezzled.

If not for this, there would not have been such a lively scene of the four major bandits rebelling together in the next few years.

It’s not God who doesn’t want people to live, it’s the imperial court who doesn’t want people to live!

There was no sound of roosters crowing for a thousand miles around Yuanbi Village, as the disaster had long since wiped out the village.

Chen Liqing personally sent her old father back to the mountain. That afternoon, she left the mountain village and reunited with Cao Jie to repay him for saving her father.

She was seen wearing a golden phoenix-wing crown with shining clouds on her head, a scarlet chain mail armor on her body, riding a date mule and a charcoal-like horse with lightning speed, holding a green sword in her hand, a bow and arrows in her hand, and holding an ancient pear blossom spear in her right hand.

When everyone saw her, they thought what a great female general she was.

"She's a perfect match for my brother indeed!"

"It's worth our journey! If my brother marries this girl, then Yuanbi Village will have to be used as a dowry. I don't think Chen Xi really has a son..."

Everyone was whispering to each other, and then they saw a rider chasing out of the mountain.

The man had a white face and no beard, and a Fang Tian painted halberd hung on the side of his horse.

"Whoa!" When he saw the crowd, he stopped far away and held the Fang Tian Huaji in his hand.

Chen Liqing was afraid that the two sides would clash, so she rode her horse to block the way and shouted, "Brother Zhu Yongqing, you should go back! Don't try to persuade me anymore, I have made up my mind."

"Sister Li Qing, why do you have to do this? If you refuse, we will thank you with a generous gift to repay the kindness of saving the village master."

"Alas!" Chen Liqing shook her head and said, "I made a solemn vow that day, and I dare not break it. It's only four short years, I will come back sooner or later."

Four years?

Yuanbi Village must have been reduced to ashes!

Cao Jie raised the corner of his mouth and said, "Once you join Liangshan, you can never go back."

As for who Zhu Yongqing is?

He is the nominal husband of Chen Liqing in "Going Out of the Marsh". Chen Liqing remained a virgin from beginning to end.

"Sister Li Qing..."

Chen Liqing interrupted and said, "Zhu Yongqing, you are a good person. Help my father take good care of the village. If the village is in trouble, I will come back to help."

"..."

The corner of good man Zhu Yongqing's mouth twitched.

The bad guy Cao Xiaozei raised his lips slightly.

"Let's go! Back to Liangshan!"

Chen Liqing glanced at Cao Jie. Although she would serve under Cao Jie for four years, she did not have the mentality to please him and only regarded it as a deal.

"No hurry, the brother who went to Linyi to get information has not returned yet."

"What news?"

Linyi is the capital of Yizhou. If Chen Liqing goes there to gather information, she will find that it is related to Yuanbi Village.

"You have made such a big fuss, so the imperial court will naturally come to suppress the bandits. Since they are going to suppress the bandits, there must be a commander. Don't you want to find out who the commander who is coming to suppress you is?"

"If the enemy comes, we will stop him with our troops; if the water comes, we will block it with earth. It's useless even if we find out the truth."

"Useless? Hehe..."

Cao Jie soon got the main general to suppress the bandits, the Tongpan of Dengzhou - Zong Ze!
When Cao Jie heard the name, his heart skipped a beat and he felt like something bad was going to happen.

This man is nearly sixty years old, but he is still only a Tongpan. Although he is a Tongpan with real power, he is only a sixth-rank official, and a civil servant at that.

Not to mention Chen Liqing, even the Liangshan heroes who went to inquire about the news did not take it seriously.

Dengzhou is right next to Yizhou, so it is normal to dispatch him to suppress bandits.

"Zong Ze is a good official. He did real work when he was the county magistrate of Jiaoshui County and Ye County. He is not greedy... It's a pity that the court made him a magistrate. Isn't this harming him?"

Hearing Gongsun Sheng's words, Cao Jie shook his head and said, "Yizhou will be pacified soon, let's go!"

"Hey, hey, please explain yourself clearly!"

Chen Liqing chased after him.

"It's no use explaining it. Your father can't beat Zong Ze. It's that simple."

Cao Jie spread his hands. He didn't want to face this Grandpa Zong now.

To love the people as one's own children, to benefit the people while serving as an official, these are just some of the tests one can perform.

His greatest achievement was that at the age of 69 he was stationed in Tokyo Kaifeng and was fully responsible for the defense of Tokyo.

After the looting by the Jin army, the once prosperous capital was in ruins. Thieves were rampant in the city, prices were soaring, and the Jin army stationed nearby, causing panic among the people in the city.

After Zongze took office, he immediately began to rectify social order and build city defense facilities. Kaifeng quickly stabilized.

Afterwards, he rode alone to persuade the righteous army (rebels) to surrender, defended Tokyo several times, repelled the Jin army, and issued notices to the occupied counties and cities, launching a political offensive and shaking the Jin people's rule in various places.

Therefore, the people in the north respectfully called the world-renowned Zong Ze "Grandpa Zong"!
(End of this chapter)