————————————

As Wu Yi said, in the evening, the east and west armies under Li Li arrived at the city of Chengdu one after another. <><> Novel

At this time, it was only four days before the Zhao Wei rebels retreated.

In other words, four days later, the Chengdu City, which had just been rescued, was surrounded again.

However, this time the besieged Zhoucheng was no longer the rebels led by Zhao Wei, but the Western Liang Iron Cavalry under Li Li.

On this day, the city of the prefecture, which had just calmed down after a large-scale search, became turbulent again, and the people in the city were in panic.

Since the first batch of Xiliang Iron Cavalry came to the city at noon, the street market has become deserted and empty, while the past very deserted civilian alley was a different scene.

But many wealthy families flocked into the civilian alleys, and carriages loaded with gold and silver and soft softness entered the low and dilapidated civilian houses. Ladies wearing gold and silver and beautiful wives and concubines moved into the slums. So, the dirty and messy civilian alley in Xicheng suddenly became a hot commodity, and grass chickens turned into golden phoenixes, making it difficult to find thatched houses.

Until nightfall, the civilian alley was still full of chaos and noisy.

After dinner, Wu Xian came to serve tea and mentioned this matter accidentally. Li Li was surprised when he heard about it and couldn't figure it out.

"Why is this? Before the city was broken, these people couldn't wait to transfer their wealth, which was too nervous. Can you be so anxious? Isn't it?"

Seeing that Li Li was unclear, Wu Yi, who was sitting beside him, explained with a smile: "The general doesn't know anything. Since the end of the Battle of Hanzhong, some rumors about the general have been circulating in the counties of Yizhou. It is said that the general is a monarch of benevolent and righteousness, and the Xiliang army is not as cruel and bloodthirsty as the rumors say. When the prefect Liu Zhang learned about it, he was very frightened and ordered people to fabricate many rumors. He deliberately slandered the reputation of the general and described the Xiliang army as a demon who wanted to burn, kill, and rob, and commit all kinds of evil, so as to confuse the public and consolidate the dominance of the lord of Yizhou.

Since then, rumors about the General and the Xiliang Army have emerged one after another, among which the Generals are extremely hating aristocratic families. The rumors claim that all prefectures and counties occupied by the Generals must conduct large-scale investigations and killings of major aristocratic families and gentry tyrants; this is true for the prefectures and counties such as Jingzhao Sanfu, Sili, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, etc., and more than 70% of the aristocratic families were slaughtered without exception. Therefore, under the deliberate propaganda of Liu Zhang and some aristocratic families in Yizhou, the reputation of the General and the Xiliang Army under his command has reached a terrifying level."

Speaking of this, Wu Yi intentionally paused, obsessed with drinking tea to observe Li Li's expression carefully, for fear that his honest words would be unhappy. In addition, he had the concern that he would make mistakes if he had too much words. After all, he spent too short time with Li Li, and it took less than four hours from noon to now. It was a taboo in the officialdom and was not done by wise people. Therefore, it was necessary for him to observe Li Li's expression and expression to judge whether Li Li was really as broad-minded, elegant and generous as the rumors said. He was good at accepting advice.

Li Li heard the implicit intention of persuasion in Wu Yi's words, and also knew that Wu Yi's statement deliberately concealed some lukewarm rumors. He avoided the important and deliberately took care of his face. This made him clearly know that Wu Yi was by no means a brave and unscrupulous martial artist. He also had an extremely delicate and meticulous heart hidden in his tall and burly body. He was well versed in the world and human affairs, familiar with the way of being an official, and spoke very well, and could be regarded as both civil and military.

At the same time, Li Li was very disdainful of the many rumors and rumors that Liu Zhang and his subordinates wanted to slander his reputation, demonize him and his army, and deliberately mislead the people of Yizhou. Although Li Li could understand their intentions, he was very disdainful of this.

The more Liu Zhang and his subordinates slandered him, Li Li and his Xiliang army, the more they showed that the monarchs and ministers in Yizhou were timid and guilty and lack confidence. What they did was no different from the place without silver, and they were timid before fighting. They had no courage to compete with him, Li Li, and had no courage to face the brave Western Liang cavalry, so they could only use rumors and slander such indifferent tricks, attempting to confuse the public and arouse the resistance of the people of Yizhou, thus blocking the Xiliang army from Yizhou so that they could live in Yizhou forever and enjoy wealth and prosperity.

However, Liu Zhang and his subordinates' preventive measures did not achieve the expected results. They over-promoted that Li Li and the Western Liang army hated officials and nobles and gentry, but ignored that the common people who accounted for about 90% of the total population of Yizhou were still ordinary people.

Although Yizhou has always been in a relatively peaceful life compared with other prefectures and counties, the living conditions of the people of Yizhou are not as beautiful as outsiders imagine. They have been enslaved and exploited by aristocrats and powerful gentry for a long time. Most of the labor results obtained through hard work and sweat fall into the hands of the nobles, and their income is extremely limited and they can barely make a living. It is no exaggeration to say that it is these ordinary people who occupy 90% of the total population of Yizhou that support only about 10% of the officials and nobles in Yizhou, so that the nobles can enjoy their success, wear gold and silver, wear fine clothes and eat food, and enjoy wealth and glory with peace of mind.

Unfortunately, Liu Zhang, who was not aware of the sufferings of the people, and his subordinates blindly slandered Li Li and the Xiliang army, deliberately wooed major families and gentry tyrants, but ignored the existence of the common people and did not keep millions of Yizhou people in their hearts and take them seriously. The serious consequences caused by this were something they would never have imagined.

Perhaps until now, Liu Zhang and his civil and military officials still couldn't understand why the Xiliang army attacked Yizhou so quickly and why the troops could be at the city without knowing it. For this reason, they attributed all this to the traitors inside Yizhou, who were traitors, colluded with the Xiliang army inside and outside, and cooperated with the Xiliang army inside and outside, which led to the situation today. However, they would never dream of it that it was they who promoted Li Li and the Xiliang army how they hated the nobles and powerful, how cruel and bloodthirsty, which not only did not arouse the enthusiasm of the civilians and grassroots soldiers to resist, but instead made these ordinary people who had been oppressed for a long time and enslaved became more and more keen to inquire about the recent situation of Li Li's rule in the prefectures and counties.

The working people did not care about the life and death of the nobles and powerful people, just as the nobles never ignored their life and death and did not regard them as human beings. They only care about how the people under General Li, who occupied most of the world, lived well, whether they lived well, whether they had the same hard work as them, but they could only fill their stomachs. Therefore, over the years, the earth-shaking changes in Xiliang have been introduced to Yizhou through various channels, so that they knew that if Li Li was a devil who ate people and did not spit bones in the eyes of the nobles, then for the common people, they were a god that had never been seen before.

Not to mention how superior the lives of the people under Li Li’s rule, just talk about the differences in taxation. In the states and counties under Li Li’s rule, except for Yangzhou and Nanyang County in Jingzhou, which are still in dispute, the remaining prefectures and counties unified the 37 tax system, and they can be reduced and exempted as appropriate when encountering drought and flood disasters. However, in Yizhou, people say that Liu Yan is generous in the government, and his son Liu Zhang inherited the ancestral system, but he only changed the 55 tax system to the 46 tax system, which is a benevolent government. Compared with the taxes under Li Li, Yizhou is only 10% different, which seems to be a big difference, but it is very different when implemented and cannot be compared.

Yizhou is rich and has been in peace for a long time. Therefore, when the government and nobles and powerful people collect taxes, they are extremely harsh and picky. The 40% of the taxes collected are all the best food and cloth items. It is equivalent to the people taking out all the labor income for them to choose, and the remaining talents belong to the people.

After this process, the 40% tax collected was naturally a lot of money, but not 60% left for the people, at most 50%, or even 50%, and the rest were all wasted. In this way, it is said that it is the 46 tax system, but there is actually no essential difference between the 55 tax system. This shows the suffering of the people of Yizhou.

In contrast, the 37 tax system is different. After all, 30% is a small part. Even if the people pick out all the best food and goods, leaving them is still the majority of the income. At least some good things can be left behind, so that they will not be able to eat braised vegetables all year round and cannot have a good meal.

It is not to mention how lenient and kind Li Li was in the governance of the country or how superior the system was, but rather it was relatively superior compared to the policies under the rule of other princes. After all, he needed to provide nearly one million troops with food and salary, and there were tens of thousands of officials and princes and princes with titles and fiefs who needed to support him. Therefore, the benevolent government he could provide was extremely limited, and he could not relax the government orders at will, and could not give the best policies to the people under his rule.

It is precisely this little bit different from other princes that makes the superiority of the lives of the people under Li Li's rule, which makes the people of other prefectures and counties envious.

This has been the case with the change of dynasties since ancient times. When a relatively superior and fair social system emerges, it means that the original social order will be broken, forcing the rulers to either change or perish. There is no third way to choose from; and the driving force for social development and change is us ordinary working people.

Therefore, the Xiliang army was able to attack Yizhou so quickly, and the sword front was aimed directly at Chengdu. It was not a lucky chance, but the people's will and the general trend. And here was the contribution of Liu Zhang and Yizhou's subordinates deliberately creating rumors. They ignored the troubles of the people, but devoted all their eyes and energy to win over the noble families and powerful gentry. The result was that the Xiliang army advanced straight in, and the nobles and powerful men who were held by them did not focus on how to resist the Xiliang army, but transferred their family resources as soon as possible and hid in the slums.

Unfortunately, these nobles and powerful men who tried to avoid the war could not escape the bond of fate. As soon as they set off, Li Li, who was in the city, knew about it. In Li Li's words, they always had to pay back when they came out; you can take away what belonged to you, and you must vomit out everything that belonged to you.

The first day of the Xiliang army's besiege passed quietly.

The next day, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses arrived outside the city. The flags of this line of troops were very familiar to the defenders at the city. They were the rebels of Zhao Yu who were defeated by them five days ago. In other words, after the failure of Zhao Yu's rebellion, they surrendered to the Xiliang army under the city. Now the two groups of people and horses joined forces to siege Chengdu again.

————To be continued———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————To be continued———————————To be continued——————————To be continued—————————To be continued—————————To be continued————————To be continued————————To be continued———————To be continued———————
Chapter completed!