Chapter 105: Justice is free in the struggle (Part 1)
It was easy to obtain the powerful grain. Liu, Guan, and Zhang looked at the piled grain bags and felt a little unsure.
From the beginning to the end, Liu, Guan, and Zhang all obeyed Li Mengxi's instructions. Now they really have so much food, which is simply incredible.
The grain has not been counted, so it is still unknown how much there is.
After Li Mengxi finished his inspection, he stretched hard and yawned. It was already midnight.
"Mr. Xuande, I'm going back to see if my brother is asleep. Tonight, I'll trouble three of you to take care of the food. I'll come early tomorrow morning." Li Mengxi said to Liu Bei, saying that he was worried about his brother and wanted to go back and have a look.
How could Liu Bei refuse to agree and told him to go to bed early.
Li Mengxi, accompanied by Xiang Yong, went home.
Liu Bei looked at Li Mengxi's retreating figure, suddenly smiled helplessly and shook his head.
Being instigated by Li Mengxi to do what he did, Liu Bei didn't feel any embarrassment, but the matter was accomplished so easily, which made Liu Bei sigh that the matter was not as difficult as he imagined.
In fact, with the current situation, not only is it easy to seize grain, but it is also possible to evacuate the government and monopolize the administrative power and taxation of a county.
How to implement it is not the key issue, the key is whether you have the courage.
If Liu Xuande really wanted to become the local emperor of Zhuozhou, he could really do it with the rebel army's current strength.
As for the higher-ups who came and ordered that Zhuozhou must pay grain and taxes, they would just prevaricate it by saying that there was a natural disaster this year and the harvest was bad. You can't pay the grain. You owe it first and you will pay it next year.
At this point above, if you see that you are not receiving any grain, what are your possible reactions?
The most powerful response is to send troops to conquer.
The troops that the government can send are only about the same as those of the rebels. If there is a real fight, the rebels will have the advantage if they fight on the mainland.
As long as they are determined to break up the soil and seize control of themselves, the government's meager military strength will not be able to do anything to defeat the rebels.
In the end, the situation was stronger than the people. The government had to hold its nose and admit it. It first recognized the loss of taxes in Zhuozhou and secretly waited for the settlement of accounts later in the autumn.
Once the foundation of a county is developed, and the grain and grass strength can support an army of two to three thousand people, then the court will be unable to do anything.
With Liu Bei's current strength, if he is more aggressive, he can definitely control a county.
Therefore, the basis for seizing the power of the powerful is not that Li Mengxi went to reveal the notice and had the official certificate, nor that he arranged it everywhere, nor that he was eloquent and the county magistrate was speechless when he refuted it.
Even without Li Mengxi and all these arrangements, if Liu Bei wanted food, he could easily get it by directly grabbing it from his officials.
Many arrangements are just the icing on the cake to make the process softer and more sophisticated.
When Li Mengxi returned home, his younger brother Li Zhuan was still awake. He was so sleepy that he kept rubbing his eyes to prevent himself from falling asleep.
Finally, Xiao Bian waited until his brother came back. Not long after Li Mengxi came back, he fell asleep.
After finishing his own affairs, Li Mengxi lay down on the bed without any psychological burden, and soon fell asleep.
Li Mengxi was asleep, but Liu Bei was busy for a long time that night.
First, the county magistrate sent two baskets of grain, and then the big households whose grain had been deducted came to persuade them to get their grain back.
Stealing people's food is a bit unethical. Even though Li Mengxi and Liu Bei had analyzed it before, the food provided by the powerful was actually obtained by robbing the common people. There is nothing wrong with taking it.
However, despite this, Liu Bei still had some psychological burden.
Liu Bei's dark side was revealed at this moment.
When the big households came to ask for food, Liu Bei simply said that the grain was collected under the order of the county magistrate and that the food had been given to the rebels to fight against thieves. He asked the big households to go to the county magistrate to ask for food.
The wealthy people went to the county magistrate to reason angrily.
The county magistrate had a hard time saying that the grain was in Liu Xuande's hands. He asked Liu Bei for it, but Liu Bei wouldn't give it and his orders wouldn't listen. What could he do?
Pull it, pull it.
These extremely greedy tycoons, who originally listened to the county magistrate's tricks and wanted to steal the people's food, now suspect that they were manipulated by the county magistrate.
The wealthy and powerful people went to Liu Bei again to argue. Liu Bei was thoughtful and polite, but his words were kind. However, when it came to food, he refused to give in at all, including oil and salt.
The angry wealthy people pointed at Liu Bei and scolded him.
Zhang Fei had a bad temper. He went up and kicked down the grain merchant Zhao Er. He stepped on Zhao Er's chest with one foot and grabbed Zhao Er's clothes. He raised his jealous fist and tried to smash it down. "If you scold me again, I'm old."
Zhang beat you to death!"
Zhang Fei stared blankly and allowed Liu Bei and Guan Yu to pull him back, unable to pull him back.
"This grain was collected by the county magistrate for me to beg for money from thieves. If it is collected, it belongs to the government. If the government gives it to me, it belongs to me, not to others!"
"If you dare to pester me again, don't blame me, Lao Zhang, for being ruthless!"
The wealthy people were left frustrated and resentful.
When we went back, the big households whose grain had been deducted couldn't bear to be angry.
The more impulsive Hao Qiang summoned his servants to fight him when he got home.
The rebel army has 500 local warriors, and more than 20,000 enemies in Guan and Zhang.
If you are not afraid of a real fight, how can you be afraid of a mere fight?
When the servants rushed over, Guan Zhang was about to go over with swords and spears. Liu Bei was afraid of causing trouble, so he told Guan Zhang to hold back.
I no longer take the Qinglong Yanyue Sword, nor the Zhangba Snake Spear.
Guan and Zhang casually carried two wooden guns, turned them upside down and used them as sticks, and rushed forward to face the rushing servants who were desperate for life and death. They whined and smashed the gun barrels, and smashed the heads and faces of the people, just dozens of them.
As soon as the servants came into contact, Guan Zhang was whipped with a gun and screamed, and he was instantly defeated.
The servant was beaten away. Guan and Zhang chased and beat him until they reached the big family's house. The big family was too frightened to open the door. In front of the big family's door, Guan and Zhang beat the servant to the ground and pointed at the closed door, "How dare you?"
Next time, there will be no eyesight!"
At this time, if you add the sentence "Don't say you didn't predict it!", the momentum will be even stronger.
The people who stood out were easily dealt with. The gap in strength and reality made many other big players who were paying attention to the situation calm down a lot.
All the tycoons outside and inside the city of Zhuozhou may not be able to match Liu Bei's 500 warriors in total, not to mention that they are only a dozen or so large households in the city.
The big players have temporarily given up their plans to confront Liu Bei head-on.
However, it is not easy to solve the problem if the interests are damaged. Before dawn, the powerful people who had their food deducted spent all night thinking about countermeasures, or they wanted to send someone to write a letter early tomorrow morning to let their distant relatives who are high-ranking officials come forward.
, get the food back.
Or, leave the city early tomorrow morning and go to the countryside to call all the relatives, gather people, and grab the food.
This time, Liu Bei offended all the top powerful men in Zhuozhou.
Let the powerful and powerful people do what they want. As analyzed before, the worst result is just to have soldiers to fight against it.
How many soldiers may come? When the soldiers come, Liu Bei's army here has 500 soldiers. If Zhang Fei's family members, Zhuang Ding and others are added, there are thousands of them.
With a force of thousands of men, the soldiers coming from above cannot fight with two blows.
Then, Liu Bei had the government's grain requisition order as evidence. Finally, the county magistrate might suffer, but Liu Bei had nothing to do.
As for the powerful forces, they really united.
Without waiting for the powerful alliance, Liu Bei had already distributed the food to the people, and he had already won the hearts of the people.
Before the powerful forces could join forces, Liu Bei had already recruited thousands of Yellow Turbans from all over the world. Compared with Liu Bei's efficiency, the powerful people had not yet finished contacting them. Looking here, Liu Bei had tens of thousands of Yellow Turban refugees under his command.
Chapter completed!