Chapter 816 Kanto Station
Hefei Chengdong City was bustling with people and bustling with crowds of people pouring in one after another. If there were not armored and armed soldiers here to maintain order, it would have been chaos.
A pedestrian who had just entered the city came here and couldn't help but be shocked after seeing this scene. He couldn't help but sigh: "I didn't expect Hefei's commercial market to be so prosperous. So many people came to the market to rob it. What kind of goods are on sale?" ?”
When some nearby citizens scratched their heads and scratched their heads because they couldn't squeeze in, they laughed and replied: "You are such a funny traveler. Hefei city is not full of rich families. Even if there are some hot-selling goods, so what?" The whole city will be robbed!”
The traveler was surprised after hearing this. He raised his hand and pointed at the people who were still trying to squeeze into the market and asked: "If it is not to rob the merchants, then what is attracting everyone to enter?"
"It's hatred, it's hatred, it's the property that was taken away, it's the relatives who were abused!"
After hearing this question, several city residents couldn't help but said in a deep voice, their expressions and tone showing a bit of sadness, mixed with a bit of joy of having their long-cherished wish come true: "General Li of Wei State defeated the Qi people. , occupied the city of Hefei. In order to reconcile the sentiments of the people and comply with the will of the people, they posted notices and ordered the people to file lawsuits to redress their grievances. General Li would uphold justice and severely punish those robbers and thieves who were robbed of property, killed or injured. ! Today in the city, the criminals will be put on public trial by General Li’s subordinates, and they will be punished in public!”
When the traveler heard this, he was immediately surprised and said with suspicion: "I have heard about General Li's reputation, but he really has a sense of justice and justice for the small people? Who is not the powerful general in the north and south? They have worked so hard for their own power, and the common people have nothing to offer, so who is willing to offend those powerful people for their sake?"
"Squeeze in and see for yourself!"
When they saw the Dongshi Zhongjia soldiers opening another opening and letting in hundreds of people who had been waiting for a long time, the citizens immediately moved forward and had no time to answer the travelers' questions.
Although the outer areas of Dongshi were crowded, the inside was in good order. Those who were allowed to enter the market to watch the public trial were all victims who had recently taken the initiative to go to the government to file cases. Even with such a layer of restrictions, the number of people who were allowed to enter the market today has reached thousands, accounting for nearly ten percent of the current population of Hefei. one part.
If there is one victim in each family, it represents thousands of families. If one family has five people, then this public trial will involve hundreds of thousands of people. But in fact, there are far less than that, because a family of five basically means that the society is relatively stable, production and life are in order, and it is possible to maintain such a family.
Although there are tens of thousands of people in Hefei today, there are very few complete families. In some families, the elderly have died of hunger and cold, the prime men and women have been robbed as slaves, and many children have died in infancy. Many families only have one or two people left. situation.
The public victims who were allowed to enter to watch the public trial were divided into different areas according to the types of their respective lawsuits. Because the people in the city had suffered too much from the war, they went to the state capital to litigate in various situations, and the state capital also temporarily It is difficult to carefully screen, investigate and interrogate every case carefully.
The main categories being tried at the moment are only cases of theft, snatching of property and robbery, killing and wounding of people, corresponding to people's property and personal safety respectively. Only when these two aspects are properly resolved can people's sense of security and identity be quickly created.
In the center of the crowd of onlookers was a high platform with a height of nearly two feet. Quan Jingxuan, who was tall and dressed in military uniform, was sitting majestically on the platform. In front of the case, there were a group of criminals kneeling in front of him and wearing heavy shackles.
Today's public trial skipped the interrogation phase, and the government officials directly read out loud the charges that the criminals had been convicted of. The identities of these criminals are also very typical. Some are the notorious Jianghuai bandit leaders and barbarian kings, and some are powerful bullies who commit all kinds of evil in the city and fake officials appointed by the Northern Qi Dynasty.
It took more than half an hour for each criminal's charges to be read out. Everyone present listened attentively. Whenever they heard something related to the case, they either cried sadly or roared angrily, with different reactions. same.
After each criminal's charges were announced, he was punished on the spot. Of course, those who can be selected to be paraded in this public trial venue will not be guilty of minor crimes with only thirty punishments. Every one of them will die without mercy, so in the end they will be beheaded directly.
After the criminals were shown their heads to the public, it was time to compensate those who had suffered. The Jingzhou Military Mansion had just taken over Hefei, so it was naturally difficult to use a large amount of resources to restore the living conditions of these victims to before they were harmed. They could only do their best to seek human comfort.
Those who lost their property often distributed the property confiscated from the criminals to the victims as appropriate. As for other people's injuries, disabilities or even death, it cannot just be a simple financial compensation, but it must also give the victims a foundation and hope to live on.
Those who still have the ability to work will naturally need to be naturalized and granted land, or be hired by the state government to work. There is no problem in maintaining a basic life. As for those disabled people who have lost the ability to work, the government will set up special institutions to support them. The required expenses will be supported by the fines confiscated from some misdemeanors. Our donation.
On the high platform, as the execution drum beat, the executioner waved his arms and raised his knife, and a human head rolled into the dust. There were constant cheers around the high platform.
Especially some victims who thought that there was no hope of revenge in their lives and could only bury their hatred deep in their hearts, when they saw that their enemies’ heads were missing, they couldn’t help but burst into tears. They felt that there was a surge in their hearts that they had never felt in their lives. With great joy, he raised his head to the sky with excitement and shouted: "General Li Gaoyi!"
Although Li Tai was not on the stage to execute the execution, he was watching from a nearby building. When he heard the cries of joy and sorrow from the people around the execution place, he couldn't help but sigh that hatred is indeed the hottest and most intense emotion in human beings.
In addition to Li Tai and his cronies in this building, there are also many powerful people in Hefei City.
It's just that most of these people have bleak expressions at the moment, and all of them are full of fear. In this city, they inevitably have to come into contact with the public, and of course some bullying behavior is inevitable. Most of them have been affected by the public trial, and some even There are also relatives waiting on the stage to be beheaded.
"My son..."
Suddenly, a heartbreaking cry sounded from the audience. It was the old man Xiahou Wanlong who had led the city's powerful men out of the city to ask Li Tai to surrender. The criminal who had just been beheaded on the stage was his youngest son. When a person with white hair gives a person with black hair a gift, he is naturally extremely sad.
Despite this, he did not dare to resent Li Tai, because in addition to this son, there were hundreds of tribesmen living in the city, and their life and death depended on General Li's thoughts. Therefore, even though he knew that his son was going to be beheaded for questioning, when he was invited to watch the execution, Xiahou Wanlong still had to bear the pain and attend.
Li Tai raised his hand to signal his soldiers to help Xiahou Wanlong, who was crying at the table, and sighed: "Looking at the tearful gesture of this old man, it can be seen that no matter whether it is a commoner or a hero, all the sorrows and joys encountered are real and unreal. There is no distinction between high and low.
You and all of you are the people who live in the hometown of Sravakas and enjoy the wealth of your ancestors. Your situation is far more favorable than that of ordinary people. You can eat without working, so you should cultivate your own virtues. If you lose your virtue for a moment, your ancestors will be accused and scolded by others for generations. If one has enough food and clothing and knows honor and disgrace, if even the reputation and reputation of the times are not enough to correct one's moral conduct, how is he any different from an animal?
Justice in the world has been lost for a long time, and chaos seems to be the norm for the people, but this is not the norm after all. Although I am not talented, I dare to make a living for the people! Anyone who is unkind to get rich will not be immune to retribution even if God's will is not noticed for a while! It may be said that there are countless strong beams and it may be difficult to control them all, but there is no shortage of moral and righteous people. You are so lucky, I need to use the law to rule people, otherwise, the river will be red and the fish and turtles will be fat! "
After everyone heard this, they felt even more awe-inspiring and hurriedly left the table to worship. Even the old man Xiahou Wanlong, who had just experienced the pain of losing his son, now suppressed his grief and knelt deeply on the ground.
This vigorous public trial lasted for nearly two months. Almost all the powerful people in Hefei City and the Jiang bandits and Lu Kou who were active nearby were wiped out. General Li and the Jingzhou Military Mansion who occupied the city expressed their heartfelt support.
What happened in Hefei quickly spread in Huainan, and Li Tai's reputation suddenly became even louder in Huainan. In the past, the people in Huainan only knew him as a famous general of the Western Wei Dynasty with great military exploits, but through this incident, the people also saw his strategy for governing affairs.
In addition to the famous generals of the Western Wei Dynasty, Li Tai has another evaluation in Huainan, that is, Hao You's nemesis.
In today's troubled times, this is not a good reputation, especially in Huainan, a place where no one cares. The powerful people control a large population. If the policies implemented are contrary to their interests, it will be difficult to obtain these powerful people. Right welcome and support.
But everything has different aspects and angles. If you have a grudge against Hao You, you will naturally gain the respect of the common people.
Huainan is now regarded as a land of no concern. Fighting between various parties has been repeated on this land, and the social structure and rural order have been greatly damaged. The reason why powerful people can grow rapidly is based on the forced dependence of displaced people.
Nowadays, in the entire Huainan region, except General Li from Hefei, who is worthy of surrendering to him? No matter in terms of power, talent, or admiration for benevolence and righteousness, who can compare with General Li?
Because there is no long-term stable living environment, there are a large number of homeless people in Huainan area who have no fixed place to live and no one to rely on. As Li Tai's deeds of punishing powerful people and being impatient for justice spread in Hefei, more and more people became homeless. Many refugees flocked to Hefei.
Not only the miserable refugees, but also some powerful people took the initiative to lead their troops to attach themselves.
For one thing, Li Tai is the most capable player in Huainan at the moment. Being strong and powerful has always been an important way to protect himself. Secondly, as Li Tai said, people who have enough food and clothing know honor and disgrace. Although most powerful people do things based on pros and cons and inevitably bully the weak, it is not ruled out that there will be those who are full of morality, are equally eager for justice, and are willing to save the weak. people.
Unlike in the early years when Li Tai's power was still small and he had to develop slowly and step by step wherever he went, tens of thousands of troops were stationed in Hefei. With the blessing of his reputation and policies, tourists from all over the world came to him, which also made Li Tai Hefei is developing at a rapid pace.
Of course, it is not a time to stop fighting and seek development, but is still in a period of high-intensity military confrontation.
The changes in Nanliang were mainly due to the fact that Chen Baxian's voice was greatly strengthened after the recapture of Guangling. With Guangling in his hands, Chen Baxian's situation was completely different from that of just living in Jingkou in the past.
Li Tai didn't know what Liang Emperor Xiao Yi really thought about this matter, but at least he still wanted to show his face, so shortly after Chen Baxian regained Guangling, he sent an envoy to confer Chen Baxian's official position on the former Sikongjia. Situ, as for the military and political affairs in Jiangbei, all military and political matters should be entrusted.
Of course, it would be impossible not to leave it to him, because what he currently has in Nanliang is only a few places such as Qinjun and Guangling, and this itself is in the hands of Chen Baxian. Not to mention anything else, this authorization alone gave Chen Baxian the power to truly compete with Wang Sengbian.
Chen Baxian was worthy of this important role. After taking Guangling, he still maintained an extremely brave offensive rhythm. He divided his troops to attack Haixi and other places, and gradually improved the Jiang defense layout with Guangling as the center.
However, Li Zhen, who had just returned to Hefei from Guangling, reported that it would be useless if Chen Ba did not actively attack first. Although Guangling was captured, the three Wu lands in the south of the Yangtze River were still in the hands of Wang Sengbian's generals. Naturally, these people would not bow their heads and submit to Chen Baxian because of the progress he had made in the north of the Yangtze River. Instead, they suppressed more and basically cut them off. The act of transporting rice supplies from the land of Sanwu to Chen Baxian.
Guangling City has been besieged for a long time. After Chen Baxian captured it, his treasury was already empty. Only continuous external attacks and food supply to the enemy can continue to maintain it. Once the offensive is stopped, it will be very difficult with the current material reserves. Maintain such a large-scale garrison in Jiangbei.
This was also an unexpected surprise for Li Tai. The more aggressive Chen Baxian's expansion pace was, the more attention he would attract from Northern Qi. This was also an important reason why he wanted to seek cooperation with Chen Baxian.
As for the Northern Qi Dynasty, with Duan Shao's withdrawal from Guangling, the Huainan region temporarily entered a military quiescence. They only consolidated the cities they currently controlled and did not take any other actions.
Li Tai heard that after Chen Baxian conquered Haixi, he sent Wu Mingche and other generals to lead his troops northward in an attempt to rescue Suyu City. However, they were met with a head-on attack by Duan Shao who was waiting for work. The reinforcements Du Senming also fled back to Huainan, and Suyu City was captured and recovered by Duan Shao as expected.
After suffering such a big loss, it was certainly impossible for Beiqi to swallow this sigh of relief. Although Yu Wenhu's military ability was so-so, his ability to observe the current situation was good. It was expected that Northern Qi would definitely retaliate as a result.
But what he didn't expect was that Northern Qi's revenge did not immediately disturb Li Tai, who was still far away in Hefei, but instead shocked Guan Zhongshi and the people first.
Because the Northern Qi army assembled did not go to Huainan, but went straight to Luoyang, and the excuse used was not that Li Tai sent troops to attack Hefei, but to avenge the last time Yu Wentai led his army to invade, and the crusade was just to let Tongzhou Zhongwai Mansion, Zi Yuwen Black Otter, washed their necks and waited. As for Li Boshan, the chief culprit who provoked Northern Qi, he only mentioned it casually at the end of the statement.
Such an evasive crusade made everyone in the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office seriously suspect that this appeal was probably written by Li Boshan's relatives in Guandong.
But putting this aside, the Northern Qi Dynasty came towards Heluo with such force and sharpening their swords. Guanzhong always had to discuss how to deal with it. Before the matter officially started to be discussed in the mansion, Yu Wenhu was extremely active and approached his uncle Yu Wentai first, and said excitedly: "Uncle, this time the East Thief comes to pick, this is an excellent opportunity. , the personnel situation in Southeast can be further adjusted!
Since the incident started due to Li Boshan, he is naturally to blame. He may be able to add the Kwantung Daxingtai to lead the Kwantung armies to fight against the invading enemies, while I will gather the elites in the mansion and go straight out of Wuguan to attack Jiangling. When things happened in Heluo, Jiangling was also decided. This time, he was respected and his duties were taken away. Even if Li Boshan returned to Jingxiang in the future, the situation would be very different from previous years. "
After Yu Wentai heard this, he couldn't help but frowned and said in a deep voice: "Boshan is the only one in the southeast. This matter can be taken into consideration. But he is a general in the border town and an important minister of the country. How can he use deceit to deceive him?" What's more, he is very deep in the personnel management of Jingzhou General Administration. The Chinese and foreign government want to plot in Jiangling, and it is difficult to bypass his ears and eyes. If he uses the plan rashly but fails to coordinate internally and externally, isn't it just a child's play for the general plan? !”
Although Yu Wentai did not agree with this plan, the reason was obviously not because of the former. When he relieved Dugu Xin of his military power, he never cared about whether it was treacherous or not. There was a lot of sand in Dugu Xin's army in the westward expedition to Liangzhou. Nowadays, he is wary of affairs in the southeast simply because Li Tai's personnel management in the southeast is much more reliable than that of Dugu Xin in Longyou.
"But it is a pity to miss this good opportunity. It is not easy to think of other major events that will move Li Boshan away from the southeast and split his affairs. Especially he has a deep hatred with the east bandits. Even if he is allowed to leave Heluo, he will not go against me and surrender to the east. "
After Yu Wenhu heard this, he quickly said: "Now that he is assigned the duty of going to the stage to fight against the Eastern bandits, no one can say that he is abandoning him. Moreover, this matter was originally caused by his provocation. If he refuses to apply, what will happen to him?" Who should be left alone?”
"This matter is still under discussion, don't reveal it easily!"
After Yu Wentai thought for a while, he said in a deep voice. After a brief pause, he spoke again: "Let me first ask the Jing Mansion, how much war preparations do they have now? How long will it take to support a large army? Don't use your eyes and ears privately, ask in official documents. That's it. If the affairs are well managed and the supplies are abundant, it can be used by all parties, and it won't hurt to add it to Kantō."