The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 215 The Situation in Mizhou

Spring sowing is going very smoothly...

In the past, farmers would do spring sowing on their own. Perhaps there would be some collective activities organized by gentry, such as digging canals, which was difficult for one person to handle, but in most cases, farmers would work alone and dig up their own acres of land.

But this year is different.

There are a total of 16 agricultural officials, including chief and deputy chiefs, in two states and eight counties.

Yue Wenxuan's original intention in establishing agricultural officials was to let them serve as teachers and teach people how to farm.

But he did not expect that the ancient officialdom had its own set of operating rules. After these 16 agricultural officials took office, a group of "hangers-on" immediately gathered around them. This group of "hangers-on" had no formal organization, but the agricultural officials would take out a sum of money from their own salaries to pay the "hangers-on" and let them do odd jobs for them.

In order to highlight their own value, this group of "hangers-on" tried their best to show off, wandering around the countryside and reporting the county's agricultural production situation to the agricultural officials.

Thus, the agricultural officials themselves were stationed in the county town, primarily responsible for teaching classes, but their "tentacles" extended far and wide. If a farmer's farming methods were "outdated," a "hanger-on" would immediately report back. The agricultural officials would then dispatch a team to correct the farmer's methods, lest they fail to cultivate properly and undermine their "political achievements."

Yue Wenxuan thought for a moment: I didn’t set any political achievements for them, so what are they afraid of?
The agricultural officials didn't think so. They simply believed that their job was to manage the farming of the entire county. If the crops weren't good, they would be held responsible by their superiors. And who was their superior? Of course, it was Wang Zhaoye!
Three fires for the new official to take office!
The fire caused the rural areas of two states and eight counties to spin in circles.

In addition to agricultural officials, the two states and eight counties also selected a group of new officials from the new scientific examinations. Most of these new officials were previously unsuccessful scholars who had failed the court's formal imperial examinations. Now they participated in the prince's small imperial examinations and passed. You can imagine how excited they were.

They have a lot of work to do, the most important of which is to re-count the population, check the land, and resettle refugees. Oh, and another very important task is to rebuild the post station system.

The Jin army's several invasions left the Song Dynasty riddled with holes, and the post stations in the Jiaodong area were almost completely destroyed, making communication extremely difficult.

After the new officials take office, the post stations must also be strictly controlled.

Unexpectedly, just after the post station was reopened, the postmen brought news from the neighboring Weizhou...

Not long ago, Guwei came to Jiaoshui and caused a commotion, then led his troops to withdraw.

The news of the Jin army's defeat in Jiaoshui reached Weizhou. Upon hearing the news, Yan Gao, a local soldier from Niutou River, and Zhang Cheng, a junior instructor, felt that the Jin thieves were not invincible, so they led the people in an uprising, captured Weizhou City, and killed all the useless officials, including the prefect, who had surrendered to the Jin.

Afterwards, Yan Gao appointed himself the prefect of Weizhou, and Zhang Cheng appointed himself the county magistrate of Changle County. The two illiterate local soldiers actually took on the two official positions of prefect and county magistrate, and proudly acted like local emperors.

Upon hearing this, the gentry and officials of Laizhou and Dengzhou could not help but be shocked. They had previously thought that the prince's private opening of the imperial examinations and appointment of officials was already a heinous act, but they did not expect that there would be something even crazier.

At the same time, there was another piece of news...

The Black Whirlwind Li Kui, a big bandit in Song Jiang's gang, is now the boss in Mizhou.

On this day, Yue Wenxuan was talking with Madam Gong Er about the upgrade of the musketeers when he saw Wu Jialiang and Guan Sheng hurriedly running into the Marshal's Mansion. They first greeted Madam Gong Er, and then bowed deeply to Yue Wenxuan.

Yue Wenxuan was surprised: "What happened to you two?"

Wu Jialiang said anxiously, "Master Yue, the postman just brought news that our old brother, Black Whirlwind Li Kui, is now in control of Mizhou."

"what?"

Yue Wenxuan was quite surprised. "He controls Mizhou?" Wu Jialiang nodded. "He now claims to be the governor of Mizhou's military affairs, and holds all the military and political power in Mizhou in his hands."

Yue Wenxuan: "Hey, tell me in detail, what's going on?"

Wu Jialiang quickly recounted the news reported by the postman in detail.

It turns out that Black Whirlwind Li Kui did not die with Song Jiang.

In the first year of Jianyan, when Wu Jialiang took office as the Jimo County Magistrate, the court appointed a large group of officials to the anarchic Shandong, including Zhao Ye, the governor of Mizhou, and Li Kui, the general of Mizhou.

The Lejiangjie rank was a very low-ranking official, equivalent to a squad leader in a modern military camp, responsible for leading soldiers on missions. This position was also quite suitable for someone like Black Whirlwind Li Kui, who had no education, no military training, and could only chop people with two axes.

At that time, Wu Jialiang was only concerned with taking office and did not hear the news. He did not know that Li Kui was his neighbor.

Just when Wu Jialiang was busy suppressing the bandits in Jimo County and the Jimo volunteer army was desperately developing under the leadership of Yue Wenxuan, something happened in Mizhou.

Without Yue Wenxuan in Mizhou, the task of suppressing bandits would not be as easy as in Jimo.

In the second year of Jianyan, when Bali Yuanshan was fighting with Gong Erniangzi, the newly arrived governor of Mizhou, Zhao Ye, found that Mizhou had become a mess and had become a hopeless situation, so he decided to abandon the city and flee south with his family.

Upon seeing this, Du Yan, the governor of Mizhou, Li Kui, the general of Lejiang, and Wu Shun, the junior governor, immediately decided to rebel.

The three men sent troops to hunt down Zhao Ye, and caught up with Zhao Ye and his family in a place called Zhangcang Town. They accused Zhao Ye of abandoning the city and beheaded him in public.

Then Du Yan became the boss of Mizhou, and took charge of the military and state affairs of Mizhou.

Then a year passed quickly. In the spring of the third year of Jianyan, the Jin army, led by Guwei, came to attack Jiaoshui County.

This matter spread to Mizhou. Although Du Yan was cruel, he still had some sense of justice. When he heard about this, he prepared to lead his troops to rescue Jiaoshui County and lend a helping hand to Wang Zhaoye.

Li Kui and Wu Shun, two younger brothers, strongly opposed the plan, saying, "The Jin bandits are too powerful to fight."

Du Yan refused to listen and said, "If you don't strike the enemy when you see them, how can you intimidate the people?"

Du Yan led his army to attack and encountered the Jin bandits' cavalry. They fought at a place called Poshi Bridge. As expected, Du Yan was defeated and fled back to Mizhou City with only dozens of cavalry. All the infantry without horses were killed by the Jin army.

Du Yan returned to Mizhou City, but Li Kui and Wu Shun were unwilling to open the city gates: "You didn't listen to us, you deserve it!"

Du Yan wanted to find another way out, but the cavalrymen under his command refused to give him permission. Their wives and children were in the city, so they turned against him, kidnapped Du Yan, and surrendered to Li Kui.

Li Kui killed Du Yan, cut off his head, and hung it on the city wall for public display.

He took over Du Yan's position and also claimed to be in charge of military and state affairs.

(End of this chapter)