Chapter 144 Great Trouble in the North

Chapter 144 Great Trouble in the North

Li Tai was not a man of indiscriminate killing. In addition to the villagers who were stationed in the village when he attacked the manor, he only killed the Lei family members and the villagers who had killed Dushui members after entering the manor.

It's just that the Lei family is prosperous, and there are more than 20 members of the clan staying in the village, plus more than a dozen murderers who have been recognized by the villagers, so the scene of this pile of corpses looks a bit cruel.

Li Tai no longer had the arrogance of standing on the wall and shouting. He saluted Yang Shaochang, and then said in a deep voice: "I didn't dare to publicize the crime in public before, just because there was still a secret behind the murder of my subordinates. Several people who had broken out of the encirclement had gone to the county government office to seek help. , but was taken into custody by the county magistrate and killed.

There are witnesses to this matter, and I dare not ask for the details of the county personnel. However, the evil has not been eliminated, and my heart is still angry. I sincerely ask Yang Shijun to bring justice to this man who died unjustly. We, all the people in Shuiqun, will definitely remember it. May you be kind! "

When Yang Shao heard this, his expression changed again, and he didn't bother to reprimand Li Tai for killing too much. He just said in a deep voice: "Quickly bring in witnesses! No, no need, I will interrogate you in the room!" "

After Li Tai heard this, he cleaned out a free room in the village and invited Yang Shao to sit inside. He also asked people to summon the people of the village.

Yang Shao summoned more than a dozen villagers in a row, and after a while he came out with a heavy face. He bowed to Li Taishen and said in a deep voice: "Thank you Li Lang for giving me a good reputation. The village thieves colluded with the county magistrates and committed violence against the villagers. It is indeed extremely sinful! If Li Lang believes in me, please leave this matter to me and never let your subordinates die in vain!"

"If I didn't trust the envoy, I wouldn't have entered the county lightly. I would have gone to Xingcheng to take advantage of the situation first. How could the village thieves be so arrogant? I also know that the envoy cannot be blamed for this matter. The situation in the countryside is complicated and complicated. Inside and outside are covered, who can see clearly without being caught in this net?”

Li Tai added after hearing this. He was shocked when he learned the news from Zhuang's mouth.

Although he didn't intend to give up, he also knew that he could not attack the county magistrate directly.

Yang Shaoqing was not clear about it, and he didn't know it either, but after all, he was a county guard appointed by the imperial court, and he was also from a powerful family in Guanlong, so he would not collude with a local tycoon, so he decided to win over Yang Shao.

"Oh, I'm really ashamed. I've been living in the county for several years, but I didn't expect to indulge in such evil!"

It is not a decent thing for subordinate officials to collude with powerful people, and it is not discovered until others report them. Yang Shao sighed with shame and said: "There are indeed many obstacles to governance here. In addition to the evil in the countryside, there are still many obstacles. You Jihu often disturbs the territory, and the soldiers are exhausted. Sometimes they have to rely on the villagers to help defend, so they don't dare to investigate. "

He turned his eyes to the side and signaled Li Tai to go to a remote place, and then said: "This rural thief Lei is a Qiang who has lived in this area for a long time. There are other clan members living in Jingzhou. Xi'an Prefecture Chang Envoy Jun Jiu When he was governing Jingzhou, he recruited powerful Qiang people as his disciples.

Later, Chang Shijun transferred to Wuyuan to control the army and garrison in Yanchi. Many Qiang disciples followed him. Due to the urgent need for military supplies for the northern defense, they sought funding from the wealthy families in Neizhou counties. This Lei was also introduced by his own clan and was listed as a permanent envoy to the king. Since then, I have been losing money to help the army, and I have become increasingly unruly in the countryside..."

"Xi'an Prefecture is far to the north, but it can actually mobilize the material resources of Beihua Prefecture?"

After Li Tai heard this, he felt a little strange. Although Chang Shan is the founder of the government, it's not like you, Beihua Prefecture, don't tolerate him crossing the line?

After Yang Shao heard this, he sighed again: "Li Lang, you mostly live in the ruling areas, so you may not know much about the chaos in the prefectures and counties here. All the prefectures and counties in the north are just convenient names listed by the superiors and subordinates. Wherever they are. In terms of governance, except for the city defense, most of the territory is barren and there is no order at all.

If the sword points, the command can be reached, and if the king's flag is not lifted, it will be transformed into the outside world. Wherever they are governed, households are compiled in a haphazard way, and the governors of prefectures and counties only raise troops to guard against thieves. There is no reliable basis for the people to rely on. None of the states are prosperous in military armaments, and only with the help of surrounding areas can each state survive autonomously..."

Li Tai's eyes widened when he heard this, and he couldn't help but ask: "Last year, how many envoys from Beihua Prefecture also attacked Jihu and achieved victory?"

Yang Shao probably couldn't find anyone to talk to for a long time. When he heard Li Tai's question, he began to introduce the situation in detail.

The biggest problem currently plaguing the rule of northern Shaanxi is mainly Jihu.

There are many Jihu ethnic groups, widely distributed on the northern Shaanxi Plateau. Because of their mixed ethnic origin, they are often named after their settlement and activity areas. Just around Fucheng County, there are Jihu tribes such as Diaoyinhu, Heishuihu, Beishanhu and so on.

These Jihu tribes are widely distributed among the mountains, forests and ravines of the northern Shaanxi Plateau. Small tribes may consist of dozens or hundreds of people, while large tribes may gather tens of thousands. These Jihu usually work half-farming and half-grazing, are very good at hunting, and often plunder people and materials.

The core ruling area of ​​the Western Wei Dynasty was only in the Guanzhong Plain, and because it often fought with the Eastern Wei Dynasty in the Heluo area, the main military forces were also deployed along this area. Therefore, the amount of ruling power that can be invested in the northern plateau and mountainous areas is not large.

In addition, the Eastern Wei Dynasty failed to gain geographical advantage in the Hedong area, and Jinyang, the core of its rule, was close to the Hetao area in northern Shaanxi, so it often incited the Jihu tribe in the territory to rebel.

For example, Cao Ni, who occupied Lingzhou and rebelled in the early years of the reign of Emperor Tong, his troops belonged to Cao Ercheng Hu of Jihu. When Cao Ni rebelled for the first time, he was put down by Li Hu, but the Western Wei Dynasty did not kill him and still kept him in Lingzhou.

In the second year, Gao Huan of the Eastern Wei Dynasty sent troops to directly capture Xiazhou. Cao Ni also took the opportunity to rebel again and led his subordinates to surrender directly to the Eastern Wei Dynasty. The Eastern Wei Dynasty established prefectures and counties in its territory to accommodate these Jihu subordinates.

Xiazhou can be said to be the starting point of Yuwentai's hegemony. It was during his tenure as governor of Xiazhou that he led his troops south to take over He Bayue's power and became the new overlord of Guanzhong.

As a result, the land of Longxing was once attacked by the Eastern Wei Dynasty, which shows the weakness of the Western Wei Dynasty in the north. So he and Gao Huan are old enemies. He poked people's lungs in Hedong, and Gao Huan knocked on his Tianling Cap in northern Shaanxi.

It can be said that the Western Wei Dynasty's ruling area in northern Shaanxi only had some limited town defenses, and in the vast area outside these military strongholds, Jihu was the real master.

But fortunately, the Jihu tribes themselves do not have a strong unity, and they often only move within their own regions. What Hui Hui attacked last year was part of the Diaoyinhu tribe that was active in the upper reaches of Luoshui River, but other Jihu tribes were not greatly affected.

Although the Eastern Wei Dynasty co-opted and incited some Jihu tribes in northern Shaanxi, its territory itself was not peaceful. There were also many Jihu tribes scattered west of the Fen River. Gao Huan had never been an emperor in his life, but Jihu and Liu Lisheng had been the emperor of Shanxi for more than ten years.

Although the Jihu regime fell, Jihu's power still existed. Lishihu and Shilouhu on the west side of Luliang Mountain were all hostile forces operating under Gao Huan's nose.

Many people don't know what Gao Huan was doing after the Battle of Mangshan. He was fighting Jihu, and the Jihu in Luliang Mountain rebelled again. This problem had to be postponed until the Gaoyang period to be relatively completely solved. The Eastern Wei Dynasty was forced to build a Great Wall directly in Shanxi.

In short, Jihu, this dog-skin plaster, stubbornly stayed in the plateau mountains between the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasties, and even outlived the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi regimes.

Yu Wentai and Gao Huan, the old enemies, basically apart from having fights near Heluo, they each took the time to fight Jihu and instigate Jihu in the other side's territory.

After listening to Yang Shao's explanation, Li Tai also felt a little helpless. The more he learned about it, the more he felt that this Jihu was really a big trouble. Especially now that he is in charge of Luoshui, half of the river basin of Luoshui has Jihu activities.

At the moment, he is just listening to the excitement, but soon, this will be a problem that he needs to face directly.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but be glad that he had killed the Lei family so early. If he had waited until he had a deeper understanding of the situation in the north, although he would still kill, he would inevitably have entanglements. At least it felt good now. .

After all, if he wants to continue to develop in the upper reaches of Luoshui River, he must cooperate with the local garrison, and a considerable part of these garrison troops are subject to the control of Xi'an Prefecture's Chang Shan, and some are simply his troops.

Now that everyone has been killed and offended, there is no need to think about those boring issues anymore. It's best if Chang Shan can look away on his own. If he can't look away, I'll deduct his military rations!

What's more, he has also reached a cooperation with Li He, a local tycoon in Xiazhou. He doesn't have to worry about not having any support when he goes north. It's just that it's a bit difficult to extend his tentacles to the salt pond in Xi'an.

But apart from that, he is not afraid of retaliation from the other party. Chang Shan won't stay in Xi'an forever. When his power develops to the upper reaches, maybe the other party will be transferred away. After all, the boss is serious about wiping his ass.

"Will Li Lang continue to stay here, or will he return south?"

Yang Shao asked again. He really didn't want Li Tai to stay. Otherwise, if Chang Shan asked someone to ask, he would have to be caught in the middle and find it difficult to behave.

"I will lead my troops back to my post when I am reunited with my subordinates here. I'm really sorry for causing trouble to you."

Li Tai went north this time to avenge and save people. After his goal was achieved, he would not stay for long. However, the personnel affairs in the village still had to be finalized, so he added: "But the evidence of the personnel in the village is collected by the county government. still……"

"Except for the certificates of the officials involved in the county affairs, Li Lang will issue all the rest! Not only did Lei disobey the order of the Capital Water Department, but he even dared to harm the envoys. The county will never protect this evildoer!"

Yang Shao quickly said again that since Li Tai did not expose his subordinates' collusion with local thieves, there was naturally a tacit understanding between them. What's more, this Lei is still a disciple of Chang Shan in Xi'an Prefecture, and he will get into trouble by interfering in the punishment.

Li Tai didn't think this was a troublesome matter. His subordinates had just taken a rough inventory of the manor's treasures, and he knew that he had slaughtered a fat sheep. Now the Du Shuiguancang was so poor that the mice were in tears. Of course, he had to transport it back to replenish the warehouse.

After mutual agreement, Yang Shao did not stay for a long time. He left the manor and captured Captain Na Lei on the charge of being good at mobilizing rural regiments. He and Li Tai's subordinates went to Pushan Temple where the subordinates of Dushui were trapped. People draw out.

The subordinates left and returned, but told Li Tai that Mao Shijian had come to join him if it was inconvenient, because this guy had killed many monks in the temple in the past few days, and if he was taken over by the county government, there would be another setback.