Chapter 560
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Chapter 560: The Fierce Tiger Descends the Mountain
In the year 3866 of the Xia calendar, spring
Lin Jiang gathered his top advisers at Qiyun Mountain to discuss going to war after a winter of hiding. Lin Jiang was ready to take action.
"This meeting is to discuss going to war after a winter of hiding. Our righteous army has transformed and grown stronger. I am not worried about capturing cities and territories, so today we will discuss other matters.
First, let’s talk about our slogan. I have already made our battle plans. The first step is to conquer the eight counties of Qishan Prefecture outside of Qiyun Mountain. Once we conquer them, we will declare our slogan to drive out the Demon Human and reclaim our land and rivers. This is our ultimate goal, aimed at uniting the northerners who are heading south.
This task is given to Qin Yong. Before we march into battle, you must lead a group down the mountain. You will have a hundred young soldiers with you. Find ways to print and spread our policies as quickly as possible, spreading our slogan throughout the regions."
"Yes, sir."
"Secondly, we need to understand who our enemies are and who our friends are. I don’t want to see a world torn apart by fighting, so we must make distinctions.
Our enemies are those corrupt officials who are greedy and incompetent, as well as the rich who are full of evil deeds and heartless actions.
We must have different strategies for these enemies in our battles. If they hurt our people, we must fight back, especially those who commit serious crimes.
If there are officials or rich people who don’t harm us, then we can consider involving them in our plans…
"Sir, may I say something?"
"Military strategist, go ahead."
"Sir, following your plan, we have angered most of the nobles and wealthy. With our rebel group’s limited strength, aside from the army, we only have a few thousand people we can rely on. If we want to expand our territory, manage the common folk, and collect taxes, we need their support. If they cause trouble…"
"No problem. I will introduce more detailed rules later. If we encounter any issues during the campaign, we will correct them in time. We have ways to deal with those who are causing problems. We’re not afraid of lacking capable people or offending them."
Lin Jiang suggested that solving these problems isn’t difficult. For example, they could weaken the main branches of influential families while supporting the lesser branches to counterbalance the main ones.
For landowners and wealthy individuals, they could target those with small to medium-sized estates as potential allies. These families are often the source of lower-class intellectuals and elites, so giving them opportunities for advancement ensures their loyalty.
"Since you are prepared, I will not say anything else."
I continued on, the third point is about military discipline and post-war governance. After coming down from the mountain, military discipline comes first, we must not disturb the civilians, not take credit for others’ achievements, and not keep war spoils for ourselves. All military discipline rules must be strictly enforced. I will form a supervisory team of five hundred people, and anyone who breaks the rules will be severely punished, no one can beg for mercy when the time comes.
As for post-war governance, every time we occupy a place, the first thing is to punish corrupt officials and wealthy people who have done evil deeds, redistribute their wealth, give any extra money to the army. As for land, houses and other properties, they should be distributed to the poor, especially the landlords in the countryside. Any loan notes for high interest rates and the like should be burned in public.
In addition, the young soldiers and literate people among the righteous army will be divided into several groups and assigned to each township to publicize our strategies to the common people, teach them to read, and organize them into a militia.
Following the strategies he had summarized over the past few months, Lin Jiang explained one by one, and the more they listened, the more inspired they became. They were confused about how to govern after conquering a place, but Lin Jiang’s words gave them inspiration. If they can execute these plans perfectly, they believed they could conquer the world.
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Outside the city of Qishan Prefecture, the Magistrate was looking at the vast number of refugees outside the city with a heavy heart. Several hundred miles away at Qiyun Mountain, there were rebels who were a major concern for him. Last winter, those rebels attacked several wealthy households in more than a dozen townships and defeated two groups of government troops in a row. It was unpredictable when they might rise, and these refugees before his eyes could also pose a threat.
There were too many refugees, and countless people had starved and frozen to death over the winter. There were not enough burial grounds for them all. Last winter, he organized the wealthy households in the city to distribute porridge for relief, but now that food was expensive, those wealthy households were not willing to continue pouring money into this bottomless pit. Once the porridge distribution stopped, he didn’t know if it would lead to the refugees rebelling.
In recent months, many groups of refugees in several places had rebelled, and many Magistrates had died in the chaos of war. Even if they didn’t die, they would be accused and face the consequence of losing their titles.
Thinking about all this, he felt hopeless. No matter how he looked at it, the future seemed bleak. It might be better to quickly find a way to bribe his way to a more stable position as a Magistrate.
The Magistrate didn’t know that among the refugees, there were dozens of people watching him. They arrived two days ago, so Mr. should have taken action by now.
"Move aside, move aside…"
Suddenly, a group of fast horses came running on the official road, and the people on the horses were shouting loudly. The soldiers at the city gate became nervous in no time.
The soldiers at the city gate were the defeated soldiers from Qiyun Mountain. After being disarmed by Lin Jiang, most of them returned to the prefectural city. After the Magistrate’s second failed attempt to attack the mountain, he left them in the prefectural city because they didn’t feel safe leaving.
"Who are you all?"
"Reporting to the master, I am Fang Datong, the constable of Pingshan County. The rebels from Qiyun Mountain have come out, they have already broken through Pingshan County and are heading towards the prefectural city."
After the newcomer was stopped, the Magistrate asked about his identity. But with just one sentence, the Magistrate’s face changed dramatically.
"What, how could this happen, how could this happen!"
The Magistrate was stunned, his mind went blank, and he didn’t know what to do.
"Adults, quickly, close the city gates, gather the people and horses, organize the young ones to guard the city."
"Yes, yes, let’s quickly go back."
Luckily, someone nearby was calmer and quickly said, the Magistrate suddenly realized, immediately ordered to close the city gates.
The soldiers and others beside hearing this news, also eager to close the city gates, naturally very much agreed, immediately wanted to leave, and this news also began to spread among the refugees.
"Brothers, fellow villagers, the officials refuse to give us food, we will starve."
"Fellow villagers, the rebels are coming to kill us, staying here means death, quickly charge in with me."
"Enter the city to seek safety."
Dozens of scouts immediately began to agitate the refugees, the emotions of these refugees are like a powder keg, a little agitation, immediately exploded, without caring much, they directly crowded towards the city gates.
The gatekeepers were greatly frightened, immediately drew their swords to attack the refugees, but before they could kill many, the scouts crowded around them and killed them.
The city gate was in chaos, unable to be closed as a large number of refugees surged in. When Lin Jiang arrived with some elite troops, the soldiers at the gate had all fled, and some refugees had not yet entered the city.
"Sir, it looks like Qishan Prefecture has been captured."
"Yes, go in and clean up the mess. Tell Tian Xiong not to spare any corrupt officials. Hurry and stop them."
Lin Jiang spoke, using a clever strategy to take over a prefectural city. It’s not how great he is, but how weak Qishan Prefecture has become.
Lin Jiang led his troops into Qishan Prefecture. Many soldiers recognized him by his mask. After the recruited fighters and officers were killed, the rest surrendered. They knew that surrendering meant they would live, while resisting meant death.
On the other side, Tian Xiong’s men captured the fleeing corrupt officials and wealthy households. None escaped. They were all brought back to the city, and the next morning, the rebel troops appeared.
"Restore order, prevent refugees and looters, and issue a proclamation for peace."
"Except for the city’s top officials, all other staff members will be temporarily kept to help organize things."
"All prisoners of war will be detained and locked up."
"Take the staff to the prison, sort out the wrongful cases, release the ones who should be released, and execute the ones who should be executed."
"Open the government granaries, help the refugees, let them leave the city and be taken care of, and keep an eye on those wealthy households…"
"Bring the rest of the team into the city and have them start working right away, following the previous practice…"
Lin Jiang gave out orders one by one. The rebel army quickly sprang into action. The fierce tiger had already left its mountain, turning back would be difficult. It was Lin Jiang’s era once again.
