Chapter 152 We Are All Family
Cao Youwen shook his head and said that was enough. The hot springs in Mahu were very nourishing and he didn't want to leave, but he still had to go back.
Zhao Yulin told him that he had already instructed Guanzhong to send 5,000 good horses and 20,000 new soldiers to the Lishan camp. What else did he need? Just tell him.
Lao Cao's face was full of smiles and he was very grateful. He kept saying, "No, no, I'll take care of it myself when I get home."
Zhao Yulin said that he had expanded the Jiazhou Arsenal, and that all the new , along with a thousand new crossbows.
Cao Youwen's eyes widened in surprise. Cao Youliang even shouted happily, "Thank you, brother Yulin."
Zhao Yulin waved his hands and said that it was his fault. He should have given the weapons to the general at the beginning. It was just that the two armies had different systems and training and combat skills, so he missed a great opportunity.
Lao Cao said that he did not blame him, and that he would reorganize the army according to the composition of the new army when he returned, including setting up a soldiers' association and paying them the same salary as the Shenwei Army.
He only built two armies of 10,000 people and one cavalry of 10,000 people, intending to train them into invincible elite soldiers.
Zhao Yulin felt that Lao Cao had changed.
He was very happy. He drank happily with the three brothers Lao Cao and then sent them on board.
Seeing that he had been staying at the dock, Cao Youwen stood at the stern of the ship until he could no longer see the dock before entering the cabin.
Cao Youliang said happily: He knew that the Yulin brothers were upright. While we were still recuperating, they sent troops over and equipped them with new weapons.
Old Cao is still so happy that he is still confused and has not figured out why Zhao Yulin has become so straightforward and heroic. In the past, it was very difficult to get his weapons.
Cao Youwan opened a box in the cabin, which was full of telescopes, dozens of them.
Lao Cao was even more surprised.
He was the only one in his team who had it, and it was given to him by Zhao Yulin when they fought Qinzhou.
Cao Youliang told them that commanders of the Shenwei Army with more than 500 soldiers all have telescopes, which are equipped for our troops and are all the same.
Cao Youwan picked up a telescope and looked out, exclaiming in amazement, saying why others were going to win the battle. With this treasure in hand, he could see the enemy from afar.
Lao Cao stroked each telescope and said they must be kept well and everyone must swear to ensure it.
Zhao Yulin gave these things selflessly. He thought that after this battle, the blood of the two teams had flowed together and everyone had truly become brothers in the same trench.
If we separate deliberately again, our brothers will have opinions.
When Cao Youwen heard the news, he rushed to Chengdu, where the governor Ding hosted a banquet for him at Qintai.
Lao Cao said with great emotion that they were able to escape the disaster thanks to the young man Yulin from Yibin, otherwise the three brothers would have died in Luoyang.
After listening to Lao Cao's introduction to the difficulties of the Luoyang campaign, Lord Ding couldn't help but sigh. He never thought that the damn northern barbarians would be so inhumane as to create an uninhabited area and kill so many outstanding men of the Song Dynasty.
Lao Cao asked him why there were so many beggars on the streets of Chengdu. He rarely saw them in Yibin and Jiazhou. He had been to Jiading Prefecture and had eaten some beef with legs crossed when he stopped at the dock. The streets there were clean and tidy, and there were no beggars walking around.
Lord Ding smiled bitterly and said that although Chengdu had not experienced war, the taxation was heavy and he had not yet collected all the taxes for this year.
The young man from the Zhao family was so good. He killed the corrupt officials in one breath, confiscated their dirty silver, and then he completed the task easily. What can I do?
Haha, if Zhao Yulin knew that Lord Ding was so depressed, he would probably be depressed too. It seems that his punishment of corrupt officials and lightening of the burden on the people made the old man uncomfortable.
Only then did Cao Youwen realize what it meant to be in a state of dire straits. As the prefect of Chengdu and the chief envoy of the Ministry of Administration, he was helpless in guarding the rich land of abundance, not to mention the officials of the prefectures and states who were poor and suffered from disasters.
He had heard that some states and counties had already increased the tax collection by more than ten years or even dozens of years in order to complete the tax collection.
Lao Cao took a sip of wine and said with some self-blame that it was all his fault. If he had listened more to Brother Yulin, he wouldn't have lost tens of thousands of brothers. How much silver would it take to buy back the lost soldiers and weapons?
But Lord Ding didn't like what he heard, and said that there was no reason for Cao Gong to blame himself, as it was the Lin'an court that was in charge and it was the emperor's will.
It was the ministers below who shirked their responsibilities and failed to carry out the orders effectively that caused the disaster. Quan Zicai and Zhao Fan from Lianghuai and the historians from Jinghu who disobeyed the emperor's orders cannot escape blame.
You see, the government will definitely punish these cowards.
Lao Cao no longer thought about these bad things. He immediately advised Ding Gong to put the people first and relax the taxes on the people. He must not provoke civil unrest because of taxes. Otherwise, the loss would outweigh the gain and the Song Dynasty would become even more difficult.
After the two of them wished each other well, Cao Youwen said goodbye and left.
The meal was quite rewarding. Lord Ding listened to Lao Cao's advice and issued strict orders to all states and counties not to increase the burden on the people. This allowed the hard-working farmers to have some surplus food, which gave them a slight relief.
He arranged for the transportation of taxes and wrote memorials to the Lin'an court, stating that Sichuan and Shu had already borne nearly half of the court's taxes and that the tax burden must not be increased any further, otherwise it would incite civil unrest and would be counterproductive.
Li Yunqing set out. Zhao Yulin selected 3,000 backbone personnel from Mahujiang and asked him to take them with him. He told him to proceed steadily and build up Kangding Prefecture step by step.
After seeing Yun Qing off, Zhao Yulin went to the military camp to discuss matters with his brothers from the Third Column. Lu Youpeng had been communicating with this group of brothers for two days.
Zhao Yulin read the military advisor's suicide note to them, praising them for their courage in fighting tough battles, saying that none of the soldiers in the Third Column were cowards and they were all easy to keep.
He announced the reconstruction of the Third Column, the establishment of the Third and Fourth Garrison Columns, and the promotion of all generals. Only Du Baiyue believed that he could not escape the blame and stood up to ask for punishment.
Zhao Yulin said that since he understood the military advisor's painstaking efforts and knew the mistakes he had made, he would stay to be in charge of the Cuiping Mountain military camp, conduct military training based on his own experience, and cultivate successors for our Shenwei Army.
Du Baiyue saluted him solemnly and promised to complete the task.
He called Lao Lu and took his brothers across the river to Beita to pay homage to the military advisor's tomb. He asked his brothers to remain determined and firmly believe that they could defeat the Mongolian army and achieve national unification.
Afterwards, the new captain of the Third Column, Gu Shan, led the brothers back to Guanzhong.
The warship sailed downstream to Jingzhou, and the soldiers waited until the dock was out of sight before entering the cabin.
Liu Qiangguang exclaimed to everyone: I never thought that the commander of our Shenwei Army is so young and handsome, so cheerful and open-minded, and so approachable.
The generals immediately laughed and said, "Now I understand! Our Third Young Master has many more advantages."
In this promotion of officers, Gu Shan was promoted three levels and became the deputy commander of the Third Column. Liu Qiangguang's militia was directly incorporated into the Third Column, and he was appointed as the deputy commander, also in charge of a corps.
Zhao Yulin told him that the so-called families and factions should be judged based on the actual situation and cannot be simply judged by surnames. As long as we are open and fair, handle affairs impartially and appoint people based on merit, these problems will not exist.
Liu Qiangguang was very grateful to Zhao Yulin, and he took the initiative to request that his cousins be transferred out of the headquarters, and vowed never to engage in factionalism.
Seeing that he was still in a daze, Gu Shan asked him what he was thinking about.
Are you still thinking about our young master?
You should use your brain and think about how to manage your soldiers.
The brothers burst into laughter again.
Gu Shan said solemnly, "The Third Young Master didn't criticize or punish us this time, not because we didn't do anything wrong. We were not firm in our beliefs and were eager to make achievements. It was a huge mistake to follow General Cao to Luoyang. Brothers, count on your fingers. Among the dozen columns of our Shenwei Army, which one didn't listen to orders?"
Ran away from Guanzhong?
The brothers in the cabin looked gloomy and fell silent.
He went on to say: "When we go back, we must sum up our combat experience and train the new recruits. We were brought up by Sister-in-law Fenghuang, so we must not bring shame to her."
When these brothers mentioned the Fire Phoenix, they immediately became excited and shouted, "Kill the enemy and serve the country until death."
Zhao Yulin had already returned to his study to drink tea and write, but he had no idea that Gu Shan was still doing ideological education.
Lu Youpeng came in and asked him with a smile, "Brother, you value Gu Shan. This boy is smart."
He knew what Lao Lu meant. Gu Shan's promotion from a battalion captain to a general in charge of a column was indeed a bit too fast.
However, he wanted to set an example for his brothers, that is, to obey orders and commands, and to fight smart battles with courage and strategy. The thousands of people led by Gu Shan had fought both hard and smart battles, and brought all the troops back to him intact.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that he was a little young. Were we all young when we started the rebellion?
He asked Lao Lu to establish the command structure in Cuiping Mountain, and let Bao Wenli control the rear bases of the Shenwei Army in the east and west at the forefront of Xinshi.
Lao Lu told him that Zhang Qi had left and Cuiping Mountain would keep him busy enough.
Zhao Yulin refilled his teacup with water and said that we still have Qu Zhengyang, who can still help in a critical moment. We can ask him to help run around Renhuai. If you feel tired, just take a rest, take good care of yourself and help our Shenwei Army unify China.
Lao Lu said with a smile that he was very satisfied. He had laughed in his dreams several times when he saw the young master develop hundreds of beggars on the dock into such a powerful new army.
Zhao Yulin said that there were still many things to come, and wherever the Shenwei Army went, they would extend their forces to wherever the wind was favorable. They even had to make advance arrangements, otherwise he would be deaf and blind.
Lao Lu stopped talking nonsense and asked Zhao Yulin if he was going to Hanzhong after all these instructions.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that the river was getting smaller and smaller, so they had to set off. Taking the dry road would take too much time, so he planned to go down to Jingzhou and follow the Han River to Jinzhou and Yangzhou.
Lu Youpeng told him that this time we will directly station 3,000 troops in Jiazhou, which will set a precedent that the Shenwei Army will not leave Cuiping Mountain. The court will definitely pay attention to this.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that he couldn't care less about that since we already have troops stationed in Renhuai Fort.
The next step is to use his name as the commander to eat up the official troops in Meizhou and Xinjin and replace them with our Shenwei Army. He was worried that the burden on Shu was too heavy and the people were unstable. If there was a turmoil, the waterway would be blocked, affecting the transportation of supplies for the Shenwei Army.
