Chapter 46: World Three [6] Part 2

Li Jianwei knew these soldiers were innocent—mere men following orders. But in the clash of armies, it was kill or be killed. There was no room for pity.

After thrusting her spear through the defending general as he charged up, Li Jianwei saw a flash of relief in his eyes—as if he’d come not to fight, but to die.

“The general is defeated! We surrender! We surrender!” The chiliarch couldn’t stop his general’s suicidal charge. Swallowing tears, he was the first to drop his weapon and raise his hands, doing what he could to minimize casualties.

“Those who drop their weapons won’t be killed!” Li Jianwei declared. She wanted the city—not these soldiers’ lives.

And so, less than two shichen after the parley began, Taiyuan Prefecture fell into Li Jianwei’s hands. All the local garrisons that fought were taken captive and held together under guard.

“General Li, our general instructed me to give this to you.” The chiliarch knelt on the ground and presented the tiger amulet symbolizing local command authority with both hands.

“This is for me?” Li Jianwei was somewhat surprised. She didn’t know the general defending Taiyuan.

“Yes. The general knew you fought for the people, but he couldn’t betray his sovereign—so he repaid that grace with his life.” The chiliarch kowtowed heavily.

Li Jianwei let out a long sigh. “Your general was the same as my father. It’s just a pity they never met a sovereign worth their loyalty.”

“Men, give the fallen soldiers proper burials. Once verified, issue pensions to their families at Northern Border Army standards,” Li Jianwei ordered. “They died for the people. We won’t wrong them.”

“Same as Pingyang: inventory the granaries, then announce the cancellation of this year’s autumn grain tribute. Let the people keep enough grain at home so they won’t worry about making ends meet come winter.”

Upon hearing Li Jianwei’s words, the surrendered soldiers couldn’t stop their eyes from reddening. Some even clenched their fists and hammered the ground.

Why had the prefect forced them to resist to the death? General Li was a true hero who cared only for their welfare!

Why throw away your life for a muddled ruler? It wasn’t worth it at all!

–

Li Jianwei was busy. After confirming casualties, she began arranging billets for the army that night.

The original garrison barracks could house at most twenty thousand. The other thirty thousand would have to pitch camp in open spaces.

Order in the city needed maintaining too. The prefect had dragooned the yamen runners to the front lines; fewer than half survived, nowhere near enough to keep the peace.

Li Jianwei showed no mercy to the local officials who had led the resistance. They were thrown into the jails, their families taken under Northern Border Army control. The gold, silver, and jewels in their estates were all dug up.

Li Jianwei now needed fame, so she didn’t rush to chop off the heads of these obviously corrupt officials. Instead, she deliberately posted a notice stating that seven days later, she would deal with all the officials in Taiyuan Prefecture, and during this period, the common people could beat the drum to air their grievances.

To make it easy for the common people to understand, the notice was written in plain language, clearly stating that they could accuse anyone, whether it was the prefect or a lowly clerk in the yamen—they would all accept reports.

It also helpfully included a list of officials, clearly listing their positions, names, and the duties they were originally responsible for.

If a detained person wasn’t accused by any commoner, they could regain their freedom after seven days. Otherwise, they would be dealt with strictly according to the current laws.

“General Li is going to stand up for us common folk! I no longer have to worry about being bullied by officials!”

“Can any of us file a complaint? Can I accuse the assistant prefect? He wronged my son for theft and directly broke his hand! Can I accuse him?”

“Is it real? Will the general stay in Taiyuan Prefecture the whole time?”

The common people accepted the change of hands in Taiyuan very quickly. The channels through which they received news were very limited—they only knew that after General Li arrived in Taiyuan Prefecture, they no longer had to pay the autumn field taxes, nor did they have to worry about being dragged off to some place for corvée labor.

Whoever could make their lives better, they were willing to follow—that was the simplest mindset of the common people.

–

“What did you say! Taiyuan has fallen too! Where are the armies Zhen ordered you to muster!” The emperor lost control of his expression and even started pacing back and forth in agitation, unable to sit still.

“Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Henan Prefecture, Huaiqing Prefecture, and Daming Prefecture each have fifty thousand troops garrisoned. The troops from De’an Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture, and other places are also rushing to the capital. Add to that the one hundred thousand soldiers in the capital’s Three Major Camps, and we have two hundred thousand troops guarding the capital,” a minister said.

“Then quickly put down the rebellion!” the emperor snapped impatiently.

“Your Majesty, mobilizing the army takes time, and the grain supplies in various places are somewhat insufficient. Your Majesty needs to allocate silver from the national treasury,” a certain grand scholar stood up and said.

The emperor waved his hand irritably. “Then have the Ministry of Revenue provide it! Give them whatever silver they need! Whoever takes down the rebels, Zhen will enfeoff as grand general!”

“Your Majesty, the summer taxes haven’t been fully collected yet. The Ministry of Revenue doesn’t have much silver on hand right now, and the grain and pay for the Three Major Camps in the capital haven’t been issued,” the Minister of Revenue jumped out to cry poor. “I beseech Your Majesty to show mercy—the last few million taels of silver in the national treasury cannot be touched!”

After hearing that the money in the treasury was reserved for the Three Major Camps, the emperor couldn’t help but frown and didn’t press the Ministry of Revenue for silver.

The emperor said, “Since the summer taxes haven’t reached the treasury yet, then have them levy grain on the spot and use the local field taxes prepared as grain and pay first.”

“Your Majesty, that would likely cause chaos, and it would be easy for people to claim empty pay,” the Grand Scholar of Zhongji Hall stood up in opposition. “Why not have the soldiers prepare one month’s rations first? After the rebellion is put down, distribute the confiscated grain and pay to the soldiers.”

“Your Majesty can dispatch fifty thousand elite troops to suppress the rebels, aided by one hundred and fifty thousand local garrison troops. One month is more than enough time.”

The emperor thought it made sense. Since the treasury had no money right now, let the soldiers bring their own rations. As long as they won, would there be any worry about not having money to pay the soldiers?

The Northern Border Army had swallowed who knew how much grain and pay over the years. Once the soldiers’ rations were supplemented, it might even fill the treasury in reverse.

“Imperial Father, this may not be appropriate. If…” Prince Zhou couldn’t stand by any longer. Making soldiers bring their own rations to fight—how could the battle even be fought? A few bluffs from the enemy, and their own army’s morale would collapse.

“What, do you want Zhen to hand over your eldest brother and the Chief Minister to that traitorous rebel Li Jianwei?!” The emperor interrupted Prince Zhou, thoroughly displaying his own arbitrariness.

“Do as the beloved subject says. Execute anyone who disobeys without mercy! If the rebellion isn’t put down in a month, the main general is to bring his head to see Zhen!”

As he spoke, the emperor regained his decisiveness.

What was there to fear from a mere one hundred and twenty thousand Northern Border Army troops? There were two hundred thousand capital garrison troops, not to mention that uniting the local garrisons could also muster two hundred thousand. Could Li Jianwei really defeat them one by one?

–

Ha, make the soldiers bring their own grain to fight against me? Did the emperor’s brain get eaten, or did he simply not have one?

“I’ve never seen anything so ridiculous.” Li Jianwei truly couldn’t hold back.

Even stepping back, even if the emperor’s head wasn’t working right, were the heads of all the civil and military officials in the court mere decorations? How did such a proposal get approved by the Grand Secretariat and issued downward?

“It must be that the treasury has no silver left,” Shu Heng analyzed seriously after rushing from Pingyang Prefecture to Taiyuan Prefecture.

“Last year’s treasury reserves were less than ten million taels of silver. During festivals, the emperor held grand banquets and bestowed much gold and silk on his ministers, plus other miscellaneous expenditures. The treasury probably doesn’t even have five million taels left.”

After a pause, Shu Heng continued, “The treasury might not even have five million taels. There’s already another rebel army in the south with at least one hundred thousand troops constantly fighting—their consumption is no small sum either.”

“By this calculation, I’m now rich enough to rival the nation,” Li Jianwei said, referring to the results of the asset confiscations.

“Just from the Taiyuan prefect’s residence, they confiscated five hundred thousand taels of silver, not to mention countless antiques, paintings, and calligraphy. If we confiscate the rest of the officials’ homes too, we might scrape together six million taels.”

Shu Heng couldn’t help but frown. “A prefect serves a three-year term, and he hasn’t even been in office for three years.”

“The more silver confiscated from his residence, the poorer the common people here must have lived,” Li Jianwei said.

“Little Shu Daren, I plan to rest and reorganize in Taiyuan for two months temporarily. After reappointing the officials, we’ll continue marching on the capital. What do you think?”

Shu Heng thought seriously. She wasn’t well-versed in deploying troops, but she knew what it meant to have the people’s hearts on your side.

“General, you can issue your own proclamation. If they can’t even fill their stomachs, the troops’ morale will definitely be low. General might be able to easily win them over.”

Li Jianwei nodded. “That’s a good idea, but if the number of captives grows, we won’t have enough grain.”

“General, why not have those surrendered soldiers participate in farming? That way, they’re supporting themselves,” Shu Heng said. “Moreover, General can use the silver from the confiscations to buy grain. The grain merchants in Taiyuan Prefecture will definitely be eager to sell at a time like this.”

Compared to corrupt officials whose schemes were transparent, wealthy grain merchants certainly wouldn’t mind trading some grain for the safety of their heads.

“Can’t we just chop them all? They hoarded grain and jacked up prices, indirectly causing the deaths of many commoners,” Li Jianwei asked sincerely.

All the corrupt officials were being executed—chopping a few treacherous merchants shouldn’t be an issue, right?

Shu Heng’s expression turned serious, and she said solemnly, “No. The four major grain merchants in Taiyuan are all centuries-old establishments. If General acts rashly, it will only frighten the other merchants into panic, leading them to fortify their defenses or flee Taiyuan.”

“If General truly wishes to punish them, you can settle accounts slowly after the overall situation is stabilized. There’s no need to rush.”

“Stabilizing the situation is the most important thing right now,” Shu Heng emphasized.