Chapter 611 Surrender and Rebellion

Chapter 611 Surrender and Rebellion

The school ground, which can accommodate tens of thousands of people, has already been fully occupied by the people who came after hearing the news. Many people who were squeezed in the back could not hear clearly what the people on the high platform in the center of the school ground were saying, but they could not. This does not prevent them from following the masses in front of them to shout and vent their anger.

As the first stop for the public trial of Liu Zhongli, the people of Rangcheng were very supportive. The first one required the government to organize the people to come and watch. But for the second one two days later, there was no need for the government to organize it anymore. It was time for the public trial. People came in droves.

Now this public trial has been added to the tenth one, and it can be said that every venue is full, and the enthusiasm of the people is not diminished. There were even some people who did not hold back at all times, and already knew the public trial links and contents on the high platform very well, but they still participated enthusiastically, and took the initiative to undertake voluntary publicity work, explaining to the people outside the school grounds who did not understand the situation.

"This can't be true, right? Then Liu Zhongli is a famous general of the Liang Kingdom. How could he act so shamelessly, stupidly and absurdly?"

The reality is so absurd that many people cannot believe it is true.

The reason is also very simple. This person is richer, more famous than me, and more prominent than me. His quality must be far better than mine. Otherwise, how could he enjoy so many social resources? But even I wouldn't be stupid enough to make such a mistake, how could he?

"Then Liu Zhongli is just a scum who deceives the world and steals his reputation. If he is as famous as his reputation says, how could he allow the thief Hou Jing to rob his father? How could he be captured by our Governor Li and taken to Jingzhou?

He surrendered to the rebels and betrayed his father to bribe the rebels before he was released. As a result, he also became a thief and wanted to invade our Jingzhou, so he was defeated and captured by Governor Li. He was a stupid thief! "

Various discussions continued to emerge on the school grounds, because the public trial had been going on for many days, and the public's discussion was no longer limited to Liu Zhongli's ugly crimes, but gradually expanded to other personnel matters.

For example, the old Bodhisattva Xiao from Nanliang, his children and grandchildren are all unfilial, and his ministers are all disloyal. Even Hou Jing, who is currently causing trouble in Jiangnan, took the initiative to open the door to welcome thieves. For such an ignorant old man to be able to dominate the country is simply out of order, and now it is really causing harm to the common people.

Li Tai patrolled outside the school grounds for a week under the guard of his own soldiers. Hearing the indignant comments from the masses, he felt quite emotional.

Both the ancient court officials and the so-called elites of later generations had the idea of ​​​​educating and guiding the common people, but in fact, the real public order and good customs rely on the common people to uphold it. They are the ones with social conscience and morality. represent. Because once they violate public order and good customs, they will be severely punished and will have to pay greater costs when connecting and interacting with others.

On the contrary, it is the ruling class and the elite. Their position in the social structure allows them to be exempted from some punishments for violating public order and good customs. Therefore, whether one must abide by public order and good customs really depends on the quality of the individual.

People like Liu Zhongli were extremely unfaithful and unfilial, but even the most vicious people like Hou Jing treated him favorably. If he had not been defeated and captured, he would still be the proud minister of Nanliang in Handong, and the people would not dare to disobey him.

After a public trial, when Liu Zhongli was escorted back to the state capital, Li Tai went to visit him in person. He saw that Liu Zhongli only looked gloomy and his face was as pale as paper, but his physical condition was good and his injuries gradually improved. During dinner, he even Had a few glasses of wine.

Originally, Li Tai was worried that Liu Zhongli might not be able to withstand the pressure of public opinion, but now it seems that he is completely overly worried. Many times once the bottom line is broken, the person will have no bottom line at all. If Liu Zhongli wants to seek death, he has had many opportunities before. If he didn't do it before, he certainly won't do it now.

In this case, we can continue to increase our efforts. So Li Tai informed Liu Zhongli that he would follow him on a tour to the mainland. Of course, a public trial was also indispensable.

After Liu Zhongli heard this, his expression froze for a moment, and then he nodded again. He knew that he had no room for bargaining at the moment, and even if he refused, he would not be allowed, and he would only be humiliating himself.

Therefore, it is said that an ordinary man cannot seize his will. Liu Zhongli was already discouraged and demoralized by the battle of Jiankang that day. He was just greedy for peace, and he did not hesitate to open the door to Hou Jing and ask for surrender. Now facing Li Tai, who was even more ruthless, he didn't even have the courage to refuse.

Previously, Yang Zhong moved to Rufeng in the Handong area and accepted many letters of surrender. Although he nominally occupied the entire Handong area, such a conquest was obviously not reliable.

Therefore, while Li Tai reported the results of this stage to the Taiwanese government and asked the Taiwanese government to send more personnel assistance, he also prepared to lead an army on a patrol and make more in-depth adjustments to the personnel of the occupied states and counties.

On this patrol, he planned to lead more than 12,000 infantry and cavalrymen, go all the way south via the Suizao Passage, arrive at Anlu, then turn west along the river and enter Jingling, and stay in Jingling for a few days to shock Jiangling. Xiao Laoqi.

However, after the plan was agreed upon, before the patrol could even set off, bad news came from the newly occupied territory of Anlu. Ma Xiu, the former chief historian of Liu Zhongli and temporarily appointed as the prefect of Anlu after the surrender, sent an urgent report to Anlu. There was a commotion in Lu City. Xiahou Zhenqia, a powerful man in the city, and others made a rebellion and wanted to attack the city. They were defeated by Ma Xiu and his people, so they left the city and took control of the three passes of Yiyang.

Although Li Tai had known that the current Handong area was still not stable enough, the rebellion broke out just after Yang Zhong left and Anlu was behind, which was really a slap in the face. Ma Bofu, son of Ma Xiu and former governor of Yiyang, was in Jingzhou, so Li Tai summoned him to ask questions.

Ma Bofu was in his thirties, but he was timid and timid when he paid homage to the much younger manager of Jingzhou.

It was not because he was too timid, but because after seeing the tragic situation in which Liu Zhongli was ruined by the steward, he subconsciously feared him in his heart.

Who doesn’t hide some of his ugliness? If Liu Zhongli is exposed one by one by his subordinates and cronies and announced to the public in the coming year, they who have followed the land will naturally not have the consciousness of Liu Zhongli to see through the world and see everything in vain. It will be scary to think about it.

"Yangquan Marquis, Liu Zei, when Liu Zei was appointed as the governor of Yongzhou by the King of Eastern Hunan, he used his general Xiahou Qiang to direct state affairs and went out to control Yiyang in the north. , but the Xiahou family has no intention of obeying the guests..."

The local administrative structure of Nanliang was chaotic and complicated. Prefectures and counties were often abandoned, and the names of many states and counties often overlapped. Coupled with the practice of double-headed states and counties, the local state and county system of Nanliang was as confusing as a code.

For example, Liu Zhongli served as the governor of Sizhou before, and Yang Yaren served as the governor of Beisizhou at the same time. One was in Zhi'an Lu and the other was in Zhiyang, and they had no control over each other. But in fact, Beisi Prefecture was the original Si Prefecture. Because it was captured by the Northern Wei Dynasty, Si Prefecture was established in Yiyang County in the south, and was later moved to Zhi'an Lu. Later, the original Sizhou land was recovered and became Beisizhou.

However, even the Liang people themselves found this superposition of east, west, south and north troublesome, and would occasionally omit it when describing it. For example, the governor of Yiyang that Ma Bofu served as before was Nan Yiyang, which was later known as Xiaogan, Hubei. Xinyang, Henan, where Yiyang is located, is separated from each other by an entire Tongbai Mountain.

Liu Zhongli was appointed as the governor of Yongzhou by the King of Eastern Hunan, but he transferred his old position as governor of Sizhou to the general Xia Houqiang. He also took advantage of the chaos in the local establishment and subordinates to use Xiahou Qiang to leave Yiyang, which was contrary to Zhengyang's original intention. The boss Yang Yaren was still detained in Jiankang by Hou Jing, so naturally no one cared about it.

Just looking at Liu Zhongli's move, it is obvious that he wanted to establish a separatist power centered on Yong and Si Prefectures, and then use his minions to penetrate into the Huainan region. But now that the army was defeated and captured, the hegemony was in vain. However, the personnel arrangements made before had posed hidden dangers to the security of the Suilu area.

This Xiahou family is based in Yiyang. It is obvious that they do not want to recognize and accept the Western Wei Dynasty's rule over the Suilu area. If they can successfully capture Anlu, they will have a well-established advance and retreat. With Anlu and Yiyang as the center, they will become a power spanning the north and south. The local strong clan of the state. However, the northern and southern divisions are connected to the two major regions of Handong and Huainan respectively, so the value of their clan's united front will naturally increase.

After listening to Ma Bofu's report, Li Tai pondered for a moment and immediately sketched out the logic of Xiahou's actions. And listening to Ma Bofu's words and Xiahou's expression of deep hatred, it was obvious that there were two sides. There were deep conflicts when he was under Liu Zhongli.

The Ma family and his son were also powerful men in Yongzhou. They were from the Ma family in Fufeng, and their local power was not weak, so they were relied upon by Liu Zhongli. Now that the Jingzhou Governor's Office controls Suilu, it needs to temporarily borrow its power.

Under such circumstances, it was obviously not good to ignore the Ma family's demands and win over the rebellious Xiahou family. And Li Tai didn't intend to do this, because the power layout of the Xiahou family hit his heart again, that is, the unknown Murong Shaozong.

Although Murong Shaozong's whereabouts are still unknown, judging from his posture, he probably won't let go of the fat man in Huainan. If the Xiahou clan was recruited by him, then the Yiyang and Yiyang Passes currently occupied by the Xiahou clan were a passage for Murong Shaozong to invade the eastern Han Dynasty.

Although the Xiahou family rebelled for the first time and the two sides have not yet colluded, this trend is very obvious.

The national power of the Eastern Wei Dynasty was far greater than that of the Western Wei Dynasty, and its appeal was also greater. Murong Shaozong was the most powerful person in Henan in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. He personally defeated the Southern Liang Northern Expeditionary Army and put down Hou Jing's rebellion. It was completely normal for this Xiahou clan to betray Handong and choose Murong Shaozong as his target.

Of course, even if the Xiahou clan didn't have such an idea and they dared to openly rebel against Han Dong's initial decision, Li Tai still needed someone to scare the monkeys.

So he led Yang Zhong to lead two thousand elite cavalry south to Anlu, and summoned the garrison from that area to attack the three passes of Yiyang. He himself led troops to Liyang City where Zhao Gang and others were stationed, and sent troops to notify Hou Zhi of Dongjingzhou and Quanjing Propaganda Department to let them cooperate in the attack on Yiyang.