Please call me Your Majesty!

Chapter 171 What on earth is the King of Jin trying to do? !
After Zhang Zhengjun captured the city.

First, they failed to continue to expand the advantage of the Zhou Dynasty's self-inflicted chaos, and continued to extend the scope of their activities before the Zhou Dynasty's military forces were concentrated.

The fate of being trapped in three or two places is to be eaten by the imperial army.

In Wang Shouyi's view, either they should constantly seek opportunities to join forces to achieve justice and continuously increase the number of rebels.

The only way for the rebel army to win against the elite troops of the imperial court is to rely on their numerical advantage to fight against the imperial court.

As a result, Zhang Zhengjun seized half of the state and took over several cities and did not move. He wanted to compete with the nine states of the Great Zhou with just this little territory, which was a way to his own destruction.

Second, in order to satisfy the appetite of the rebel army, Zhang Zhengjun did not reach a consensus with local officials and gentry, which made it difficult to form an organized and disciplined structure.

In the final analysis, if you want your rebellion to really expand, you still need the ability to govern the local area. Scholars like this will be of use sooner or later.

Even if you don't need officials and gentry, you still have to seek help from the common people, but Zhang Zhengjun did it all by himself.

Not only that, due to food shortage and in order to satisfy the rebels' various desires, Zhang Zhengjun also started looting, making the rebels appear unjust, which is what made people lose their hearts.

What disappointed Wang Shouyi the most was that before the entire rebel army had accomplished anything, there were already signs of them scheming against each other. How could they, with such petty minds, confront the imperial court?
If he couldn't succeed, Wang Shouyi would have to protect himself. Of course, he didn't know the character of the Prince of Jin, but compared to a rebellion that was doomed to fail, this was his only chance to survive.

When Chu Shizhao entered the city, Yang Fang was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. He called out to Chu Shizhao and said, "Your Highness, if there is an ambush here, I'm afraid you and I will be buried here."

He had only a hundred cavalrymen with him, and if they rushed into the city, they would give up the advantage of the plain. If there was an ambush and the city gates were closed, they would be unable to advance or retreat.

"The city gate commander has already surrendered. The rebel army doesn't have many people available. If he pretends to surrender and ambushes us, the price he pays will be too high." Chu Shizhao wore a phoenix-wing helmet on his head and then said, "If he really surrenders, we can conquer the southeast in one battle."

The words just fell to the ground.

Zhu Jing was seen holding Lu Hetai's head, and beside him were some rebel soldiers who were close to him.

After Wang Shouyi drew his sword, Zhu Jing had to surrender even if he didn't want to. At this time, he reacted very quickly and directly held the guard's head to buy his own life.

"The guilty general Zhu Jing pays homage to His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin." Zhu Jing knelt on the ground, "This man is the head of Lu Hetai, the leader of the rebel army and the defender of this city."

"We know we are stuck in a quagmire. Now we have the opportunity to turn from darkness to light. If we wake up, it will be too late."

Chu Shizhao recognized the man in front of him.

There have been too many simulations, but Chu Shizhao still remembers those who have appeared in them.

Chu Shizhao remembered that this man had been a rebel, a member of the Pinglu Army, and a Jiedushi. He was the kind of person who would take things one step at a time. This time, he joined the uprising army.

Chu Shizhao didn't need to consider whether it was a real surrender or a false surrender. If he couldn't handle this situation, let alone other things.

"Of course it's not too late." Chu Shizhao said, "You lead your old subordinates to persuade the remaining people to surrender with me. I came to the southeast to appease the people and I have no intention of harming them."

Zhu Jing immediately agreed.

Before he had taken a few steps, Chu Shizhao noticed the big man with a firm face and dark skin behind Zhu Jing.

"That burly man, are you willing to hold the sword for me?" Chu Shizhao found that he looked very familiar and immediately recruited him.

Wang Shouyi had been suffering from his own identity and had a lot of unspeakable secrets. When the King of Jin took the initiative to recruit him, his calm expression could not hide his joy. He immediately said, "I am willing to serve Your Highness."

The city gate opened wide in an instant, catching Zhang Zhengjun off guard. By the time he had organized the rebels who were willing to obey his orders, Zhu Jing had already rushed to the government office in the inner city with those rebels who were unwilling to go all the way.

Zhang Zhengjun knew that the army's morale was low, and had long wanted to drag everyone into the water. However, who could have expected that the King of Jin would dare to persuade them to surrender with more than a hundred cavalrymen, and who could have imagined that the rebels at the city gate would turn against their own side so quickly.

As soon as the city gate opened, within a stick of incense's time, Prince Jin led his men to charge in. Such decisiveness was truly extraordinary.

"Zhu Jing, I treated you well, but you betrayed me." Zhang Zhengjun was guarding the government office in the inner city. There were piles of sundries at the door to slow down Chu Shizhao's speed of conquering the place.

Zhu Jing was much more efficient and efficient at this time than before.

Before, I was still hesitating whether to do it or not, but after he really did it, there was no turning back and I could only believe it.

"You, thief, have incited the people to attack the government and robbed the poor common people. I find it difficult to obey you, but now that the royal army is coming, I advise you to surrender to the court as soon as possible."

At this point, Zhang Zhengjun burst into laughter. "You were originally a soldier of the Great Zhou. Seeing my great power coming, you surrendered and was given an important position by me. Now you surrender to the court. If the court loses power one day, a two-faced person like you will probably surrender again. What will be the end of a fickle villain like you?"

Zhu Jing's face suddenly turned red, but he couldn't say anything.

Zhang Zhengjun understood human nature well and knew that he had no room for maneuver, but he could not bear to see others suffer any good consequences. After a few words, Zhu Jing would be nailed to the pillar of shame. Even if he had wealth and glory, he would be despised as a villain by future generations.

Chu Shizhao looked at Zhu Jing and said with emotion: "A man who dies for his country is the best way to die. He insulted you, so you should be ashamed and brave. One day, you will be loyal to the court and have the opportunity to wash away the infamy."

At this point, Chu Shizhao spoke loudly again: "I know the people are suffering. The grain harvest has been insufficient in recent years and it is difficult to continue. In order to survive, you have no choice but to resort to this desperate measure."

"The king went to the southeast for the first, to quell the rebellion, the second, to stabilize the country, and the third, to inspect the south."

"Rebellion due to hunger is an injustice of the country, but the court has also sent officials to provide disaster relief. You have not eaten the relief food, which means there are traitors at work. I came here to seek justice for you."

"I am determined to solve the problem, but I also want to see your sincerity."

Huan Sheng, who had just arrived in the city, was shocked when he heard Chu Shizhao's rebellious words.

Rebellion is rebellion. We cannot say that the people are innocent just because they rebel due to hunger. Chu Shizhao's words are an excuse for the rebels.

However, it was Chu Shizhao's words that made the rebels, who still had room for resistance, finally lay down their weapons while struggling.

Chu Shizhao immediately incorporated this group of volunteers and ordered Huan Sheng to immediately check the household registration and population source of these volunteers.

The first priority was to execute the ringleader, otherwise the rebellion would never end. Zhang Zhengjun and his followers who instigated the rebels to revolt were beheaded by Huan Sheng in public.

The secondary matter is to actually resolve the cause of the rebellion. Chu Shizhao had previously said that he would thoroughly investigate the issue of untimely disaster relief, which was paying the price for the source of this popular uprising.

As a king, one must convince others, especially since Chu Shizhao said such a thing, he must do it, even if it is just for others to see.

Did the imperial court provide disaster relief?

This was a real disaster relief. The Emperor Yongjin allocated the money from the imperial treasury. Chu Shizhao checked the accounts and found that the Emperor Yongjin had allocated the money, but the local governments had not received it.

In other words, the relief money disappeared in Chang'an, and the relief grain transported on the road was all rotten and smelly rice mixed with sand, which was completely inedible. The local relief officials also used the grain stored in previous years to provide relief bit by bit, but it was completely insufficient to meet the needs of the hungry people. If we really want to investigate, we have to trace it back to the Ministry of Revenue.

Chu Shizhao could only stop investigating the case and meet the daily needs of these disaster victims and refugees to prevent further changes.

He collected grain from the local powerful and wealthy families, all of which were provided by the government.

In the name of the imperial court, they purchased grain from these powerful nobles and promised that the imperial court would give them the silver to buy grain in due time.

Afterwards, Chu Shizhao first took out a portion of grain to meet the normal food needs of the victims and refugees within three days, and then proposed the strategy of "work instead of relief" to invest the victims and refugees in the cause of local construction and productivity recovery.

After all, all this grain was bought with Chu Shizhao's troops and the government's "credibility", and it was impossible for Chu Shizhao to say that he would not return this grain, so the production of disaster victims and refugees was to maintain the law of conservation for Chu Shizhao.

Otherwise, the imperial court was providing blood transfusion unilaterally.

There were two problems in the place where Zhang Zhengjun rebelled. One was the issue of food prices. The people had no normal source of income and no way to survive. The other was that under the situation of land annexation, the people actually farmed the land for the powerful families, and productivity was difficult to restore effectively.

Farming for others and being exploited by the big families must be something these people are not happy about, otherwise they would not have surrendered and rebelled.

Chu Shizhao bought grain from the wealthy and powerful families who had grain in the name of the imperial court. Whether you are a local official or a local businessman, do you dare to raise the price to the imperial court?
Try offering Chu Shizhao a price for grain that is higher than normal.

The grain is purchased by the government and then sold to the people at a fair price or a low price, or even to people affected by disasters. In this way, the problem of food and the problem of high grain prices will be easily solved.

The only bad thing is that if Chu Shizhao does this, he will definitely be impeached.

But Chu Shizhao didn't care. He just ate it. At most it would annoy him, and he would just give up.

Don't live, everyone.

As long as you have the ability to overturn the table, nothing can be unsolved.

If failure is rebellion, then success is revolution.

The principle of success or failure is so simple. It's not that Chu Shizhao can't take action, but he has no reason to do so. If he had a reason to do so, it would be that Chu Shizhao doesn't want to let these people live.

If the problem cannot be solved, solve the person who raised the problem.

Chu Shizhao put down the rebellion. He knew who the source was, but he had no way to deal with them for the time being.

So when Chu Shizhao was still helping them solve the problem, these people were still taking advantage of him. So don't blame Chu Shizhao for smashing the chessboard.

The most confused person now is none other than Wang Xu, who changed his name to Wang Shouyi. Mainly because he learned from his daughter that the King of Jin was unusual, but he never thought that the unusualness was this unusual.

At that time, Chu Shizhao promised to take good care of the rebel army and effectively solve the problem, but Wang Shouyi thought it was just empty talk.

This kind of thing can be done, but it is not easy.

It was really abnormal to help these rebellious peasants to cause trouble for the master, and Wang Shouyi's idea was simply to use this incident to whitewash his identity without considering anything else.

I didn't expect Chu Shizhao to really do it.

Moreover, those rebel armies who were willing to resume production returned to their hometowns to farm, and those who were willing to stay and provide work relief were all working very hard. This was mainly because the Great Zhou Dynasty generally conscripted laborers and asked them to work without paying, which was equivalent to voluntary labor.

Chu Shizhao first provided food to the volunteers and then let them work.

With Chu Shizhao speaking so reasonably, these volunteers felt embarrassed to just eat and drink for free and not do anything.

Those who had originally had complaints about the imperial court, after the arrival of Prince Jin, no one dared to say anything bad about the imperial court.

Chu Shizhao did not use any special means. He just wanted to know whether the myth that the Ming army was invincible when fully paid was possible.

For those people who have started a rebellion, there is no need to use physical education first. Instead, give them the most tangible facts. Chu Shizhao can give them, and he can also take them back.

Anyway, those grains were not Chu Shizhao's own. They were taken by Chu Shizhao in the name of the "imperial court" and used first.

When the powerful families came to collect debts, Chu Shizhao had plenty of ways to delay it. He would pay it slowly, and besides, wasn't it the imperial court that paid it?

Moreover, Chu Shizhao realized a problem, that is, the Great Zhou Dynasty was too harsh on the people before, which led to Chu Shizhao not being too kind to the people now. He just treated them with the most normal standards, and the people were grateful to Chu Shizhao.

The purpose of working is to be paid and given food.

This is a matter of course.

However, according to the laws of the Zhou Dynasty, every citizen had the obligation to build rivers and repair various projects for the court, and this labor was accepted unconditionally.

So Chu Shizhao paid these volunteers and let them work, which not only made effective use of the labor force, but they were even very grateful to Chu Shizhao.

During the time that Chu Shizhao was in charge of the southeast, the number of volunteers he recruited had exceeded 30,000, not counting those who wanted to go home to farm.

Moreover, in order to reassure the departing rebels and prevent them from going astray again, Chu Shizhao prepared resettlement fees for each of them before letting them go.

Chu Shizhao did not notice the change in atmosphere at first, but later when he found that he could mobilize these rebel troops even more smoothly than mobilizing his own troops, he realized the power of money.

But the more far-reaching influence was that the news of what Chu Shizhao did soon reached the place where Song Xun started the rebellion, which caused many of Song Xun's rebels to develop a resistance and want to join the King of Jin in order to absolve themselves of their guilt.

After seeing the effect, Chu Shizhao had a new idea in his mind.

No matter how powerful the powerful families are, they are not as powerful as the army in Chu Shizhao's hands.

He took the rice from the big families to support his own soldiers.

He wanted to see whether these soldiers were more loyal to him or those powerful families were more loyal to him!

When the news that Chu Shizhao had settled in the southeast reached Chang'an.

Many ministers were uneasy.

In just one month, Chu Shizhao single-handedly recruited so many rebel troops in the south.

What on earth does the King of Jin want to do? !
Doesn't he know that he is courting his own destruction by relying on his own military power? !
(End of this chapter)