Chapter 387: One Hundred Thousand Soldiers Hidden in the Valley
About twenty or thirty miles east of Pingyang Old City, there is a valley.
?Although the valley is not very big, many farmers used to sneak here to cultivate farmland and grow crops.
Because this valley was originally a terra incognita.
Handless land means no taxes...
It is not easy to be a farmer these days, especially under the double blow of local indigenous people and nomadic people.
Although national taxes have been pegged and have not changed much for many years, there are too many other taxes that need to be paid. The capitation tax, which is calculated from birth, is also called oral money, and the corvee fee. This large project has already placed a heavy burden on ordinary farmers, and in addition there are miscellaneous taxes on various industrial and commercial and mountain wood products...
In order to restrict the unauthorized migration of farmers and suppress commerce, in the process of circulation of many commodities, taxes are extremely serious, and the categories are so many that they are outrageous, such as calculating money, renting, calculating money, and market rent. , customs tax, livestock tax, liquor tax and other taxes. What is even more unbearable is that the emperor often requires various regions to make so-called "fees", that is, the prefects and vassal states in various regions provide the central government with tribute. Various material possessions.
Of course, all the money, autumn taxes, and even the various taxes will not be paid by officials or powerful nobles in the countryside...
Therefore, there are many farmers, perhaps because God has rained less or more rain, perhaps because they went to the city one more time and couldn''t help but buy new clothes, or perhaps because they have had a headache and fever for a few days. I was able to work in the fields, but the final harvest was a bit poor. Then I couldn''t collect the taxes, so I borrowed money to pay. Then I was lucky and got through it. But I was unlucky and couldn''t pay back the interest...
In the end, it becomes a vicious cycle and the family is destroyed.
Therefore, many voluntary or forced farmers came to this valley and began to live here secretly. Until one day, perhaps the government discovered this place, or perhaps the remnants of the Yellow Turbans also came to this place. Anyway, the Baibo Army was Commander Guo Da finally rebelled here...
"When Bai Bo raised his troops, he was known as one hundred thousand people." Fei Qian looked at this valley and said, "It was in this valley that he raised his troops."
The tone is flat, like the number one hundred thousand, which is no different from ten or twenty...
?But the horse beside him was more frightened.
“Fei Shijun, is this true?”
One hundred thousand, he has never seen tens of thousands of soldiers since he was a child. Still one hundred thousand is simply a number that is completely beyond his imagination.
Huang Cheng had experienced the Yellow Turbans in Jingxiang, so he also knew that the number of the Yellow Turban Army was extremely powerful. He laughed and said: "They are all imaginary numbers. Look at how big this valley is. It really has to be ten If not for the crowds, the valley would be filled up!”
Fei Qian nodded and rode his horse slowly towards the valley.
??After the Baibo Army uprising, Baibo Fort was built here, which is a stockade made of stones piled on the edge of the cliff...
?This actually shows the strength of the Baibo Army at that time. If there were really 100,000 soldiers, no matter how many villages they built, they could sweep across the entire east of the river.
??The word "one hundred thousand soldiers" may have been said by Guo Da to bluff and scare others, or perhaps it was used by the nobles in Hedong as a shield...
When there is banditry, it is natural to add more soldiers, county soldiers, and the private guards of the rural powerful. It can also be said that for farmers in the countryside, with the Yellow Turbans, nature protection fees will still have to be charged more. Some, otherwise how can we raise troops to protect you?
??Then he said he wanted to pay the taxes and other things that needed to be paid to the country, but there were 100,000 yellow turban thieves outside the city! I can’t send it out!
?That’s one hundred thousand soldiers!
hehe. As Fei Qian walked, he looked at the abandoned Baibo Barrier. This was the birthplace of the Baibo Army. It was later encircled and suppressed. However, by that time, the Baibo Army had expanded, swept through the surrounding countryside, and fled into the Luliang Mountains...
??The Baibo Fort is located in the center of the valley, and the distances from the three exits of the valley are not too different. Although it has been destroyed by the encirclement and suppression of the county soldiers, some overall wreckage is still left.
There is a small stream from the peak on the east side. The water volume is not large. It flows down between the mountains, winds through the entire valley, and then flows southwest...
"So, the Baibo bandits don''t have many troops now?" Ma Yue asked, following behind.
Fei Qian looked around at the cultivated land in the middle of the valley that had been reclaimed and was now barren again. He couldn''t help but shook his head slightly and said, "I don''t know exactly how many people there are in Baibo now, but it''s probably about that." Thirty to fifty thousand people..."
"Thirty or fifty thousand?" Ma Yue frowned. Thirty to fifty thousand troops were not too small!
Fei Qian looked at Ma Yue and guessed that he might not clearly distinguish the battle structure of the Yellow Turban thieves from that of the Hu people. After all, Ma Yue had always been in Shangjun, and later followed Ma Yan to Hedong, so he might not be able to know about the Yellow Turban Army. and the difference in the number of Hu troops.
So Fei Qian turned to Huang Cheng and said, "Shu Ye, tell him..." After all, Huang Cheng had experienced the beginning of the Yellow Turbans, and had also fought against the Yellow Turbans. Relatively speaking, at least he knew better than Ma Yue. get more.
Huang Cheng smiled and nodded, then pulled Ma Yue and said: "Actually, the number of Yellow Turban thieves is different from the Hu people''s calculations. If the Hu people are pressed hard, even Hu women and children can mount their horses and shoot arrows. But the Yellow Turban thieves are different. Generally speaking, if one-third of the people who have a family and a family are men, it is considered very good. And among these one-third men, most of them have never held a sword or gun, and they only rely on their blood to go into battle. , I don’t know how to coordinate the battle formation..."
Huang Cheng seemed to have remembered something, his smile faded, and his voice became a little deeper: "...When the three brothers of the Zhang family, the leader of the Yellow Turban Thieves, were still there, those Yellow Turban thieves were really fearless of death. Even if they were unarmed, they would pounce on them and use their hands. Grabbing and biting with teeth, many county soldiers were defeated in this way at that time... However, later, once the three brothers of the Zhang family died, the Yellow Turbans no longer had the **** courage before, and dozens of hundreds of county soldiers could defeat them. Thousands of thieves wearing yellow scarves are running all over the place..."
"...So, the large number of Yellow Turban Thieves in the early stage is not really a big deal. But if they fight further and further, those who remain are mostly strong men who have survived many battles without dying, which is called trouble... The White Wave Thieves are now That is to say, after one or two battles, there is still some gap between them and the county soldiers..."
?Ma Yue let out an ooh, and then he realized that he had gone astray just now, and he couldn''t help but feel a little embarrassed.
Fei Qian had already surveyed the entire valley. After pondering for a while, he called Ma Yue and said, "Zidu, have you seen how the barbarians herd sheep?"
Ma Yue nodded and said: "I have seen people driving and shouting to give orders, and to circle the sheep to prevent them from scattering."
"Good! Tomorrow you will take one hundred Bingzhou cavalry and four hundred Hu cavalry to hide here..." Fei Qian asked Ma Yue to get closer and explained, "... maybe Zidu will be like a hundred thousand soldiers by then. !”
Changbanqiaotou…
Xia Houen: Who are you?
Zhang Yide: Zhang Fei from Yan is here!
Xia Houen: Hahahaha, I’ve never seen anyone shouting after being cut off...
Zhang Fei died…
PS: It’s still 39 degrees today... Damn, the author’s bacteria are about to turn into dried meat...
(End of this chapter)