Chapter 27: It’s what the people want and what everyone expects!
The entire territory of Youzhou was in Su Che's hands. The only thing that had not been eliminated was the border military households bordering the Xianbei.
Su Che did not hesitate. He immediately marched out to reorganize the border troops!
Originally, Su Che thought that this was a tough opponent and he wanted to have a head-on fight with him.
But it doesn’t matter. Just consider it as a training for the Taiping Army. After all, up to now, the Taiping Army has been advancing smoothly and hasn’t had much trouble.
Not long ago, Su Che received intelligence that someone in the imperial court was secretly contacting the Youzhou border troops, funding them and asking them to fight against the Taiping Dao with all their strength and never let them be subdued.
In order to have no worries, Su Che must pull out this thorn.
He also knew that doing so was undoubtedly like dancing on a tightrope, and one careless move could lead to serious consequences, but there was no way out; the path of rebellion was inherently fraught with risks.
It is wishful thinking to think that there is no risk at all.
However.
What Su Che did not expect was that when his army set out and arrived at these important border towns, he saw a large group of soldiers lining the streets to welcome the arrival of the Great Sage Master!
The scene was extremely lively. The soldiers were singing and dancing, and bringing all kinds of delicious food and wine to entertain the distinguished guests.
For a moment, Su Che began to doubt the authenticity of the intelligence. People in the court funded the border troops to fight against him. Is this how they fought? Using sugar-coated bullets?
Just when Su Che was a little confused, a team leader wearing black iron armor, holding another person, walked quickly forward and came to Su Che's side.
"Excuse me, is the great and virtuous teacher here?" the team leader asked.
"It's me." Su Che looked at him, nodded and said, "What's your name?"
The captain looked at Su Che's extremely young face with some surprise, then quickly lowered his head and said seriously: "My name is Xing Ling, a captain of Tai'an Town. This man is our military commander of Tai'an Town. The soldiers knew that you were coming to our side, so they tied him up and waited for your arrival!"
The Han Dynasty implemented the 25 system. The most basic unit was the Wu, that is, every five people had a Wuzhang. Two Wus formed a Shi, and every ten people had a Shizhang. Five Shi formed a Dui, and every fifty people had a Duilu. Two Dui formed a Tun, and every hundred people had a Tunzhang. Five Tun formed a Qu, and every five hundred people had a Junhou. Two Qu formed a Tu, and every thousand people had a Junsi.
In an important border town like Tai'an, the military commander is considered a top-level military officer.
At this moment, he was tied up and pressed in front of Su Che. He was still a little unconvinced and shouted: "I am the Sima of Tai'an Army appointed by the court. You bunch of traitors actually dared to tie me up and surrender. If the court finds out, you will all die miserably!!"
Su Che glanced at him and asked with a smile, "What's your name?"
"Evil demon! My grandfather's name will never change, and I am Zhu Hanlin, the Sima of Tai'an Army!" Zhu Hanlin said viciously.
The tied-up military commander was not wearing armor but silk underwear. It was obvious that he was suddenly tied up by his subordinates while he was sleeping.
In fact, the military commander Zhu Hanling is also a cultivator, but he was fed a love potion and a magic powder, and then tied up with a rope, so he is not much different from an ordinary person.
Su Che listened to this nonsense, but he was not angry. He smiled and said, "Take him away and judge him later."
"My grandfather is a military commander appointed by the imperial court. What rights do you have to judge me?" Zhu Hanlin knew that he was about to die, but he was still trying to be stubborn. However, his legs could not help but tremble, which directly exposed his fear.
When Zhu Hanlin was taken away, Su Che turned to look at the team leader Xing Ling and asked curiously, "Tell me what happened."
After some inquiries, Su Che finally realized that the role played by Military Sima Zhu Hanlin in Tai'an City was no different from those played by the gentry and nobles.
Soldiers in important frontier towns all relied on farming for survival, but Zhu Hanlin, as the military commander, used his power to annex the soldiers' land, turning the soldiers in Tai'an City into his tenants. This caused many soldiers to be unable to survive and they fled from Tai'an City with their families.
Originally, Tai'an Town was an important town with five military commanders, one lieutenant, and a total of 5,000 soldiers. However, as a large number of soldiers fled, there are only 800 soldiers left.
Some time ago, people from the imperial court contacted the military officers of these important cities, gave them benefits and asked them to fight against the Taiping Dao, but all these benefits were embezzled, not a single benefit was leaked out, which directly aroused public anger, and the scene just now happened.
When the Taiping Dao comes, there will be peace! This saying is also sung in Tai'an Town.
These oppressed lower-class soldiers were not much different from the lower-class peasants. They might have endured it under normal circumstances, but when the Taiping Army approached, they immediately chose to defect and surrender.
Su Che conquered Tai'an Town without any effort, and then he continued with the old routine of distributing grain and land, holding trial meetings, and grievance meetings. Soon, the border troops that should have belonged to the imperial court were perfectly integrated into Su Che's team.
The same thing happened to several important border towns afterwards. They were all conquered without any effort.
As the saying goes, the people's will is what the masses want. It feels good to remove the thorn in the flesh without any effort, but the Taiping Army was not well trained!
Taking everyone out for a stroll, not only did I not get the desired effect, but I got fatter because of the entertainment. How can this be called a war? This is just a visit!
Su Che was very unhappy.
The ministers in the court were also very unhappy.
When they got the news, they were all numb!
So much money was spent and so much funding was provided, but in the end, they all surrendered? So much material also fell into the hands of the Taiping Dao?
With so much money, food, treasures, spiritual weapons and talismans, there would be some sound even if they were thrown into the water!
This result was unacceptable to a group of ministers in the temple. Each of them felt worse than eating shit.
They never dreamed that this would be the result.
What a bad decision!
So many things, and yet they all became the enemy's?
I regretted it so much that my intestines turned green!
When Su Che got a large pile of account books and saw the money, grain and treasures supported by the imperial court, his bad mood was slightly comforted. Such a large amount of supplies solved many problems.
However, the problem of tempering has not been solved.
There will definitely be tough battles to fight in the near future.
Su Che had a premonition that Taiping Dao would not have much time left.
He thought about it, looked at the map again, and decided to make a big move!
When the main force of the Taiping Army in Youzhou began to mobilize frequently, it directly attracted great attention from the court. Many ministers were very happy when they received the secret report. See, this Taiping Dao is not a good thing, a group of rebellious thieves! Now the wolfish ambition has finally been revealed, right?
Having eliminated the worries, he also mobilized a large army. Who are they trying to fight?
As soon as the Taiping Dao takes action, a thunderous strike will be waiting for them!
At the same time, the garrisons in Bingzhou, Jizhou and Qingzhou became nervous one by one.
The Taiping Dao rebels have finally made a move. Who will be the first victim?
