The Golden Age Chapter 676: Source of troops

The defenders of Shuning City are on guard day and night, and dare not take it lightly.

After Dong Guangxiao sealed the city, the rebels came to the city. This Dong County magistrate's forces were severely insufficient. He could only mobilize the young people in the city to participate in the defense of the city, but not many people actually joined the defense team.

Although there are tens of thousands of people in the city, many young and strong, they are all ordinary people.

For many years, everyone has lived and worked in peace and contentment. In the rich and prosperous areas of the south of the Yangtze River, there has been almost no military disaster or war. Now that the war has risen, many people have been astonished. Most people did not have the courage to take up weapons and confront the rebels.

Born in sorrow and died in happiness.

There are too many days in Taiping, and few people are willing to fight with weapons.

After all, most people have not seen the cruel behavior of the Queen Mother’s believers. More people think this is just a battle between officers and soldiers and the rebels. As long as they stay out of the matter, even if the rebels really take down Shuning City, it may not be Really raise a butcher knife to the people.

On the contrary, if you fight with the officers and soldiers and the rebels, then the rebels will take down the county seat and settle the account after the autumn, it will undoubtedly die.

So the young people who really join the team to defend the city are less than 10% of the young people in the city.

Although Dong Guangxiao was annoyed in his heart, he was helpless.

He can't raise a knife to force the people to resist the rebels. If he really does that, it will provoke the civil upheavals in the city. Without the rebels, the people in the city will be able to claim their own heads.

Fortunately, although most of the people in the city were unwilling to join the team to defend the city, they did not add to the chaos in the city, and the order in the city was orderly.

"The news that the princess is coming to Shuning City has been released." In Shuning County, Dong Guangxiao was reporting the situation to Sheyue: "In just two days, more than 400 people participated in the team defending the city. The defender has 1,500 troops." The brows frowned slightly, and he said: "However, the defenders have almost no training. The total number of soldiers who can shoot arrows is less than 60, and they have to guard two gates. Each gate has less than 30 archers. If the rebels fully attack the city, this archer will not be able to stop them. Close to the city gate."

Musyue nodded slightly, her beautiful face was also serious: "Is there enough food and grass in the city?"

"As for the grain and grass, the princess can rest assured." Dong Guangxiao said immediately: "When the grandpa reminded the humble servant to pay attention to the rebels, he had secretly transported a lot of grain to Shuning City, and the humble servant secretly stored the grain in the warehouse. In addition, the humble post had also hinted that the grain merchants in the city had food reserves, and they were also very obedient. They had counted the grain and grass in the city before, and it was enough for Shuning City to last for at least three months. The humble post thought that the imperial court’s aid would be slower. , There are three months of grain storage, which is enough for them to arrive."

Sk Yue knows that the grandfather in Dong Guangxiao's mouth is the dead Dong Yuan, the head of the Dong family.

Dong Yuan is the elder of the family who first noticed signs of the Queen Mother’s Association in Suzhou City. This person is also extremely shrewd. Although he did not act rashly in Suzhou City, he secretly reminded Dong Guangxiao and used the power of the Dong family to quietly. During the delivery of a large amount of supplies to Shuning City, he was prepared for changes in case.

For these matters, Dong Guangxiao had already told Musk Yue in detail. Musk appreciated Dong Yuan’s precautions. If Dong Yuan hadn’t made arrangements in advance, Shu Ningcheng would have fallen into the hands of the rebels.

What Sheyue worries most is the shortage of grain and grass in the city. She is slightly relieved when she knows that the grain and grass are enough to last three months.

"These two days of humble duty have strengthened the city." Dong Guang filially said: "If they want to open the gate, it is not easy. But Humble believes that they have been besieged for several days without any action, except to gather more. Strength should be preparing siege weapons."

Shu Yue is not good at military affairs, but it is clear that siege equipment is needed for siege, and he asked: "It's a cloud

Ladder? "

"Exactly." Dong Guangxiao said with a solemn expression: "The ladder is easy to build. There are large woods outside the city, and you can draw materials from the place. The humble post looked at the city head and found that they were cutting down trees. That must be building a ladder. There are many thieves. If thousands of thieves rush to the city and climb into the city with a ladder, our archers will not be able to stop them. We can only increase the resistance at the top of the city." After a pause, he continued: "I found out these two days. There are also thieves who have gathered in an endless stream. If the judgment is correct, the news that the princess is in Shuning City may have spread, and the Queen Mother rebels are gathering various troops to attack Shuning City, so wait for them. At the time of the siege, perhaps the strength of the troops exceeded 10,000. As a result, our strength was even more stretched."

She Yue understood what Dong Guangxiao meant, and asked: "Your biggest difficulty now is the lack of troops?"

"Exactly." Dong Guangxiao smiled bitterly: "The humble duty assigns people to persuade the young people in the city to participate in the defense, but the effect is very small, but they cannot be forced to conscript."

As soon as the words fell, I heard a voice from outside saying: "Forced conscription, even if they succeed, they will only go to work without effort. Once they are at a disadvantage during the war, they will retreat, which will lead to fatal results." I saw Qin Xiao walking in slowly.

She Yue raised her head and saw Qin Xiao, and was startled, but Dong Guangxiao had already handed over: "Master Qin, why are you here?"

"Your leg injury is healed?" Seeing Qin Xiao's move was obviously unfavorable, Sheyue frowned and said, "Healing your injury well, who will let you walk around."

"The rebels are outside the city, how can I heal my wounds with peace of mind." Qin Xiao sighed, walked to a chair, looked at She Yue and asked, "Princess, can the minister sit?"

Knowing that he was pretending to be, She Yue said lightly: "Stand as long as you can."

"Legs hurt, let's just sit and talk." Qin Xiao sat down and said with a smile: "According to the city, three things are essential. The first is food, the second is the city, and the third is It’s the defense force."

Dong Guangxiaoshen agreed, and nodded: "Master Qin makes sense. We have no shortage of food. As far as the city is concerned, although Shuning City is not solid, it is still solid. Since the rebels besieged the city, the humble duty has summoned the craftsmen in the city. , Strengthened the city, especially the two gates, it is not easy for the rebels to attack. The only unsolved problem at the moment is the strength of the troops. Once the rebels attack the city, the head of Shuning County will have to allocate guards, and there are only one thousand at present. People with multiple numbers are still weaker."

"Master Dong just said that the young people in the city are not willing to defend the city?"

"Exactly." Dong Guangxiao sighed.

Qin Xiaodao: "Actually, this is understandable. Most of the people in the city don't even know what happened. They don't even know that the rebels outside the city are followers of the Queen Mother. Even if they know they are the Queen Mother, they don't know. What the **** is the Queen Mother’s Association. This suddenly closed the city to reject the enemy, and the people didn’t know what was going on with the enemy, so how could they easily join the defensive team?"

"Then what do you think?" She Yue asked Qin Xiao, staring at it.

"In fact, Master Dong has a way, but it is hard to say." Qin Xiao smiled and said, "Master Dong, am I right?"

Dong Guangxiao was startled, slightly embarrassed, and smirked.

"Don't sell Guanzi." Sheyue frowned and said: "It shouldn't be too late, is there any way to say it quickly."

Only then did Qin Xiao put his smile away, and said solemnly: "Can you let the people in the city swear to defend the city, it's all on the princess."

"On this palace?"

"If you want the horse to run fast, you must feed the horse." Qin Xiao said sternly: "As long as the princess gives an order, the minister believes that the people in the city will eagerly defend the city."

"What order?"

"Free!"

Musk Yueyi startled

He frowned and said: "In fact, this method has been thought of by this palace, but although this palace is a princess, it does not have the right to exempt local taxes."

"Princess, for the people, what is really important is your own clothes and meals." Qin Xiao said calmly: "If it is to resist foreigners, I believe these people will not need to call for their own survival, they will also rise up to resist. However, most of the people who are besieged in the city are Suzhou people who have been forced into the army. They are no different from the people in the city. Maybe there are many people in and outside the city who are relatives. In this case, let them take up arms and fight with people outside the city. The rebels are fighting in blood, and there is no immediate interest, and no one will easily enter the battle. If the princess orders, as long as the people who participate in the defense of the city can be exempted from taxation for ten years or even life, many people will definitely join the team immediately."

Dong Guangxiao finally spoke at this time: "His Royal Highness, what Master Qin said, it is indeed hit the nail on the head. Jiangnan is the place where I have paid the most taxes in the Tang Dynasty, and the people in Shuning County pay a lot of taxes every year. If the princess exempts their taxes , For their own sake, they will also actively participate in defending the city."

"Not only that, the princess also promises to everyone who participated in the defense of the city that once they defend Shuning City, after the reinforcements come to repel the rebels, all young people who participated in the defense of the city will be rewarded." Qin Xiao Staring at Musk Moon said: "After the war, the court will reward the meritoriously, and the court will reward the meritoriously, and even be awarded the official position. The princess is a royal family and your promise to the people, the people naturally believe that, in this way, the city Young and Zhuang not only participated actively in defending the city, but in order to be rewarded for meritorious deeds, he would never be intimidated in battle."

Dong Guangxiao nodded and said: "If these people want to get promoted and get rich, there is almost no way. Now that they have this opportunity, they can get the promise of the princess, and they can get the reward of golden official position. I will hesitate again." After a pause, he said: "In addition, there are some big households in the city. They are not low in Shuning County, and they are very prestigious. It is precisely because they remain silent that many people are not willing to participate in the war. If the princess Assemble these big families, give them rewards, and let them persuade them. Then the whole Shuning City must be united to fight the rebels."

If Musk Moon thought about it, Qin Xiao had already said: "Princess, you don't need to worry about it until now. Although you have no right to order tax exemptions, you can only promise the people in the city that they will be willing to fight to the death. War After returning to Kyoto, the princess can invite the saint, decreed to exempt Shuning County from taxation, a city of people, to fight **** fights against the rebels, and to protect the princess safe, the saint will never object when he knows. Although the minister is humble, At that time, I must stand with the princess and play together, asking the saint to be exempted from taxation. If the saint disagrees, I will go to heaven, and I will not give up unless the goal is reached."

She Yue saw Qin Xiao’s expression that a dead pig was not afraid of boiling water. She was funny, but she also knew that this was indeed the only way at the moment, and that it would not be too difficult to exempt a county from taxes. She thought After a moment, he nodded and said: "If this is the case, do what you said. This palace is now decreing that all the people who participate in the defense of the city will be exempt from taxes for ten years."

"Stingy!" Qin Xiao murmured.

She Yue heard clearly, gave Qin Xiao a glance, and asked: "What did you say?"

"Nothing, nothing." Qin Xiao chuckled, "I want to say that instead of exempting them from taxes for ten years, it is better to exempt them from taxes for life, so as to show the princess's open-mindedness."

"What do you know?" The princess said in an unpleasant voice: "If you really go back to Kyoto, this palace will naturally ask the saints to exempt them from tax for life, but you can't say too much, and temporarily promise to exempt them from tax for ten years. , When the saints really promise to exempt from taxation for life, when the will be issued, they will naturally be more happy."

The problem of the source of troops was resolved, Dong Guangxiao frowned and smiled: "The princess said that if the tax is exempted for ten years, the people in the city are already grateful."

At this moment, I heard rushing footsteps outside, and a few people followed the sound. They saw a man dressed up in a river and lake quickly stepped outside the door, arching his hands and said: "Master Dong, go to the north. Door!"