Chapter 1283 Disaster in Shandong
"The Qiang thieves are crazy! Haha, God help me! Then Li Boshan thought that if he conquered Jinyang, the situation would be settled, but he dared to kill and humiliate the famous clans of Guandong like this, which will surely destroy the hearts of Hebei!"
When word of what happened to the Li family in Zhao County spread from Hebei to Qingzhou, Gao Zhan couldn't help but laugh with gloating: "It's ridiculous that those famous people in Hebei may still feel that they have a deep relationship with the Qiang thieves' family. This time the Qiang thieves came east." I will definitely protect these old relatives, but I don’t want to be greeted by a madman butcher! Now these noble families must know that they are really wrong. Only if they come to the south to vote for me, can they have a chance of survival!"
When he said this, he turned his eyes again, and his eyes passed over the faces of several people in the hall one by one, and then he smiled and said: "I'm afraid you didn't really mean it when you came south with me. Now look at what happened to the Li family in Zhao County. You should know that this trip is the real way to survive? Cui Shizhong, what do you have to say to me?"
Previously, Gao Zhan abandoned the city in Yedu and fled. In addition to leading some of his cronies and family members, he also forcibly took many Yedu court officials with him, such as Cui Jishu, Cui Ang, Wei Shou, etc.
Not only were these people quite powerful and influential in the Northern Qi court, but they were all from the Kanto clan, and were inextricably linked to the Kansai regime. Cui Jishu and Cui Ang were both born in the second family of the Boling Cui family, and were relatives of the same clan as Cui Qian and Cui Xuanyou, who held high positions in Kansai. Cui Ang lost his father when he was young, and was raised by his uncle Cui Xiaofen. Cui Xiaofen is Cui Xuanyou's father.
Cui Jishu, who was specially named by Gao Zhan, was appointed as a servant after Gao Zhan became emperor. In terms of seniority, Cui Qian and others must be called uncle.
Hearing what Gao Zhan said at this time, Cui Jishu felt mixed for a while. With such a family relationship, honestly speaking, he would of course prefer to stay in Yedu and wait for the arrival of the Tang army, but it is useless to say more at this point.
News came from Hebei. Although they didn't know much about the inside story, Cui Jishu and others were shocked when they heard that the Zhao County Li family had been treated so cruelly.
At this time, when he heard Gao Zhan's roll call and asked questions, Cui Jishu stood up and said in a deep voice: "The Tang Dynasty's power over Hebei is really sad and angry. Since the time of Shenwu, it has not been easy for the Qi family to start a business, but one day it was overthrown by its old enemy. I am thinking Fortunately, despite the early disaster, the Supreme Being was still able to spread the message of the country. The ministers who followed him will do their best to assist the Supreme Being, hoping that the Supreme Being can inherit the ambition of his father and brother and survive in the future. Shao Qitong!”
Although there was nothing wrong with what he said, the exhortation made Gao Zhan a little unhappy. He came to the gathering today just to gloat and laugh at the unrealistic fantasies of the famous people in Hebei, and to consolidate the internal people's hearts, but not to listen to the advice and advice of his ministers.
So after hearing Cui Jishu's words, Gao Zhan waved his hands impatiently and said: "The Qiang thieves are extremely powerful and difficult to defeat. Since this national crisis did not originate from me, how easy is it to restore the decline? Instead of doing these things Instead of realistic delusions, it is better to think carefully about how to maintain the current situation, but if you can defend the six states, you can also enjoy a lifetime of wealth and glory!"
After Gao Zhan fled south, he entered Qingzhou from Yanzhou. After he proclaimed himself emperor, officials from six states successively paid tribute to him. The scholars, people and territory of these six states are now the basic base of Gao Zhan's small court.
These six states are Qingzhou, where the imperial court is located, as well as Guangzhou, Qizhou, Yanzhou, Nanqingzhou and Jiaozhou. There are other nearby prefectures and counties that originally belonged to the territory of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but now their governors have not expressed their recognition and support for Gao Zhan's small court.
Gao Zhan originally planned to gather troops to conquer those states and counties that refused to surrender to him, in the hope of continuing to expand his territory and strengthen his power. However, as the Tang army launched the second phase of military operations in Hebei, it targeted Gao Jun in Yenan. During the encirclement and suppression campaign, the ambition that had just been ignited in Gao Zhan's heart suddenly disappeared. He was no longer eager to expand outwards, but wanted to maintain the current situation.
Even Gao Zhan, the master, had such negative thoughts, and the civil and military ministers under his command naturally had a muddled mentality. Even Cui Jishu just shouted a few slogans about survival and survival, but no one responded. .
At present, Gao Zhan's power is not weak. The area he occupies now basically covers the entire Shandong Peninsula. Although this area is not as prosperous as Hebei at the moment, it is also a developed area for farming and weaving.
Jia Sixie, who previously wrote the agricultural masterpiece "Essentials for Qi Min", was from Qingzhou. This also shows that the agricultural production technology in this area is highly developed and is definitely in a leading position in the entire world.
In the early years, when six towns mutinied and caused chaos in Hebei, Shandong was the first choice for Hebei people to flee to avoid the disaster. Compared with Hebei, Shandong has another situation that is conducive to governance, that is, it is not like Hebei, where there are many powerful families and powerful local forces.
During the period of Wuhu chaos in China and Yiguan's migration to the south, the Langya Wang family, Langya Zhuge family, Gaoping Xi family and other famous families who came from Shandong Province all moved south one after another, leaving very few in their hometown. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, although there were powerful and famous families such as the Taiyang clan and the Dongping Bi clan, their local influence and political reputation were far inferior to those famous families in Hebei.
As early as the Eastern Wei Dynasty, Gao Huan sent Sun Teng and other close ministers to conduct household registration in Qingzhou, Guangzhou and other places, which further attacked the local powerful forces and established a relatively complete household registration system. In addition, it has been implemented for many years. The Hebei people's strategy of governing Shandong prevented any local powerful forces from rising.
Therefore, Shandong is also one of the areas where Northern Qi ruled more solidly, far surpassing Huainan, and even the Henan region in the Central Plains, second only to Hebei, Jinyang and other places.
It is precisely because of these circumstances that Gao Zhan chose to come to Shandong when he fled from Yedu. Although his small court was only hastily established, it has six states with as many as 500,000 households under its rule. There are nearly 300,000 registered households in Qingzhou and Yanzhou alone!
Therefore, Gao Zhan said so proudly that even if he only defended the six states, he could enjoy a lifetime of wealth and glory. Putting aside the great concern of the Tang army that could attack at any time, Gao Zhan's escape to Shandong was even more comfortable than his previous stay in Yedu.
When Gao Zhan stayed in Ye City before, he always had to obey orders from Jinyang, and he also had to fight with Gao Guiyan and others, and he was responsible for raising supplies for the army stationed in Yenan. Every day, he had to deal with a lot of government affairs, which made him feel exhausted and irritable.
But after coming to Qingzhou, he was the supreme person in the country, and he no longer had to accept the jurisdiction of others. He could do everything as he pleased, and he also had confidants to collect money and beauty for him to enjoy luxury, and he lived a comfortable life every day.
It was more than enough to support a few people with the wealth and strength of the people in these states. Gao Zhan was certainly happy to stay in Qingzhou, but after he came here, the people in these states were tormented.
First, in order to increase the power of self-protection, Gao Zhan directly ordered five households to recruit one man to form an army, and the other four households each donated grain and silk as military funds. As long as the civilian households were recruited, even if they were only single-man households, they could not be exempted. As for the households that donated grain and silk, they also complained bitterly. The taxes and labor service in the Northern Qi Dynasty were already heavy, and the common people rarely had any surplus. In order to cope with this forced donation, many households were on the verge of bankruptcy.
Gao Zhan had only been in Shandong for a few months, but he had disturbed this land that had been governed for many years and made it restless and full of complaints. Among his ministers, there were four most brutal and keen bullying people, namely He Shikai, Gao Yuanhai, Gao Anagong and Han Feng. These four were called the Four Evils, and their reputation was powerful enough to stop children from crying at night.
In addition to the ministers who were forcibly brought to Qingzhou by Gao Zhan and his trusted traitors, Gao Zhan also had some generals under his command. The most famous among them was Hulu Ping, the elder brother of Xianyang King Hulu Jin.
Hulu Ping had previously served as the governor of Qingzhou in the state. After Gao Zhan led his troops here to take over the power of the state, he dismissed Hulu Ping from his position. After Gao Zhan proclaimed himself emperor, he appointed Hulu Ping as the general, hoping to use his qualifications and reputation to pacify the Qi army soldiers who fled here from Hebei.
In addition, there is Bi Yiyun, who was born in the Dongping Bi family. He served as the Chief Censor in the previous year and impeached Sima Xiaonan, who forced the rebellion, thus triggering a series of wars between the East and the West. After that, he was dismissed and lived in his hometown.
When Gao Zhan fled here and passed by his hometown, Bi Yiyun led his family slaves to offer food and wealth to Gao Zhan, which won Gao Zhan's favor and was immediately appointed as the governor of Qizhou.
Although Gao Zhan was dedicated to enjoying himself in Qingzhou, he was not completely without a sense of crisis. As his armed forces became a little larger, he sent Gao Anagong to lead a 10,000-man brigade to the north to prepare to rescue Gao Rui of Cangzhou and Feng Zixiu of Bohai, hoping that they could echo each other. Of course, the most important thing was to hope that the two parties would continue to exist to bear the pressure from the Tang army.
When Gao Zhan learned that Hulugu and others had retreated from Gaoji to Yingzhou, he also arranged for envoys to cross the sea to the north and actively contact Hulugu and others, hoping that they would obey his orders, preferably lead the people to the south and occupy Shandong together.
In addition, Gao Zhan also tried to contact Southern Chen in the south, hoping to establish diplomatic relations with Southern Chen and conduct military cooperation to resist the military pressure from the Tang Dynasty.
In order to survive, Gao Zhan arranged all the tricks he could think of and the people he could contact. Although he did a lot of tricks, the real effect was very limited.
The envoys sent to Yingzhou fell into the sea, and no message was sent back at all. Hulugu and others turned a deaf ear to Gao Zhan's requests and proposals. As for the envoys sent to Southern Chen, they were directly beheaded by Chen Chang, the Lord of Chen, on the river bank to show that he would never have an affair with Qi!
However, the Southern Chen did have its Zhenzhou governor and Linchuan King Chen Qian who seemed to be willing to cooperate. They just got in touch and had not yet negotiated a specific cooperation plan, but this was good news.
However, Gao Zhan was not happy for too long. Gao Anagong, who went north to reinforce, soon retreated and returned, bringing back the bad news that Bohai and Cangzhou had fallen one after another and the Tang army was continuing to attack!
"The Qiang thieves are really greedy! They have already occupied seven of the ten Qi's, and they still refuse to allow me to leave three of them to live the rest of my life. Do they really want to kill them all?"
After learning that the Tang army continued to attack, Gao Zhan was shocked and sighed angrily.