Chapter 1257: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (One Hundred and Forty-Seven) The Fallen Qin Army

About two thousand Qin troops were walking on the road, fully armed. The leader was Zhou Liang, the top military general of the Qin army stationed in Shu County, responsible for Ziyang, Ningqiang, and Nanzheng counties. This trip went to Ningqiang to suppress the peasants. The commotion was another perfect opportunity for him to make a fortune, as evidenced by the dozens of fully loaded carriages in the marching team. For him, this was too easy a job. It was more like an armed demonstration than a suppression. As soon as the army came out, these farmers stopped their activities and dispersed quietly, leaving him alone. One has to wait to collect the large gifts from local officials.

Zhou Liang was not from the Qin State. He was once a general of the Yan State. The Yan State underwent great changes. After Gao Yuan replaced the King of Yan and proclaimed himself King of Han, he defected to the Qin State along with Zhou Yu. At the beginning, he, like Zhou Yu, still held There was hope that one day he could return to Yan State again, but as the situation developed, this fragile hope also became a bubble in the sun. The blow to them is not only the loss of hope for national recovery. When this hope was shattered, they set a new goal for themselves, which was to overthrow the Gaoyuan Han Kingdom, which could be regarded as revenge in another sense. However, the hope is full, but the reality is very skinny. The strong rise of the Han Kingdom, under seemingly impossible circumstances, actually severely damaged the coalition forces of Qin and Chu with one against two. This battle completely destroyed Qin. The abyss was laid.

The Qin State, which was once so powerful that all countries in the world trembled, was heading towards the abyss step by step in front of the emerging Han State. The strong get stronger. The weak get weaker, both Zhou Yu and Zhou Liang have seen clearly. The strength of the Han Dynasty was not only strong in the military, but also strong in the economy. If the Qin State still has the strength to fight in terms of military affairs, then at the economic level, the Han State has shown a state of crushing.

Zhou Liang's initial thoughts were shattered, and he just took it one day at a time. After spending time among the Qin army, he came to Shu County. Let him see the corruption of the most junior officials of the Qin State, which shocked him who had been living in the military, and after the shock, he felt unfair. Not angry, and then under the influence of these people, he went underground without hesitation.

In Zhou Liang's view, the Qin State may not be able to last long. In the current Qin State, the military and political leaders seem to be in harmony, but in fact they have been divided into two families. General Lu Chao holds the most elite army of the Qin State, but he and The appearance of the court and the separation of spirits. In order to win over him, the court had to swallow its anger. This was a situation. In Zhou Liang's view, it was a sign of national subjugation. In this case, why didn't he make plans for his future?

Collecting money and creating a happy old age for yourself has become Zhou Liang's current dream.

Shu County is in chaos now. But Zhou Liang didn't care, as long as there was no chaos. But if the government is clear and the officials are clear, where will they get the money? Over the past year or so, the money I have made by stationed in Shu County is more than I dared to think about in the first half of my life. Sometimes I feel a little scared when I think about it. If these things come out, I am afraid that it will be enough to cut my head ten times. Enough. But every time I feel a little frightened, I feel at ease again when I think of the local officials who earn more than myself and the gentry who collude with the officials.

In this world, who knows what will happen tomorrow, it is better to hold money in your arms first to make people feel more at ease.

As a former Yan person, Zhou Yu feels more insecure than others.

Of course, he has made a lot of money, but he cannot lose the troops he brought. If he wants these people to follow him wholeheartedly, he needs to feed them. At this point, Zhou Liang is still very angry. , the result is that this once well-disciplined army under Meng Tian has now fallen into a force that lives for money.

In fact, it is natural to say that the soldiers of the Qin army basically come from the lowest level of the common people. Their main goal in joining the army is to change the destiny of themselves and their families through military exploits, and to get rich. Target. To achieve this goal, among a hundred people, there may only be a few lucky ones, but it is different now. When you follow Zhou Liang to Shu County, there will be silver rewards distributed every once in a while. Silver can often cover their salary for a year. In the past year or so since arriving in Shu County, the soldier has not carried a hundred and eighty taels of silver in his arms. This also made them completely devoted to Zhou Liang. Promotion has to be exchanged for life, but now, you can make a fortune with the general without any risk, who doesn't want to do it?

The long queue marched on the avenue, and everyone was in a relaxed and happy mood. Looking at the dozens of carriages, every soldier was excitedly discussing how much reward they would be given this time, although due to the previous Thanks to the inertia of years of rigorous training, their team still moved neatly, but the chilling aura that an army should have was gone.

On the road ahead, several horses galloped towards them. The crisp sound of horse hooves made the dozens of Qin Army rangers walking at the front of the army suddenly become nervous. They raised their spears and formed a triangular formation to greet them. The other rider came forward alone and shouted: "Who is in front of you? Dismount and get checked."

The horses in front of them neighed and neighed, and people stood up. Several knights actually showed extremely strong riding skills. As soon as the front hooves of the war horses hit the ground, several people had already dismounted.

"Is that General Zhou Liang in front of you?" The leader of the group looked like he was not an ordinary person at first glance. However, his face was covered in sweat, his face was black and white, and his clothes were soaked with sweat and clinging tightly to his body.

"Who are you?" The soldier asked without relaxing his vigilance.

The man took out a sign from his arms and said loudly: "I am Huang Bo, the person in charge of the Black Ice Station in Ziyang. I have urgent business to see General Zhou Liang."

The cavalry was startled, turned over and dismounted, checked the other party's waist badge, and did not dare to neglect it. He ran to the rear to report to Zhou Liang.

"What happened?" After a moment, Zhou Liang looked at Huang Bo standing in front of him. Seeing the other party's embarrassed look, he felt a vague sense of uneasiness in his heart.

"General Zhou, He Yong, the bandit leader of Cangli Mountain, broke through the blockade, conquered the Lengshuigou military camp, and then disguised himself as a soldier of our army and drove straight into Ziyang County. Now the county has been lost. I escaped immediately after I found something wrong. I am afraid that Ziyang County has now fallen into the hands of the bandits." Huang Bo said anxiously.

With a buzzing sound, it was like a stick hitting his head directly. Zhou Liang felt a buzzing sound in his head. The Cangli Mountain bandits who had been besieged for more than a year were not trapped to death, but revived. Moreover, this time, unlike the simple killing and robbing in the previous year, they directly conquered the county town with a purpose.

If they lost the county town and killed the court officials, it would be a big problem. When Zhou Liang thought of this, he felt a chill on his back. If he was strictly investigated, it would be his dereliction of duty. According to the military law of the Qin army, he would lose his head. Although the Qin army is not as meticulous in enforcing military law as before, Zhou Liang believes that there are many people watching the position he is sitting in. What's more, he is not a Qin citizen, but a thorn in the eyes and flesh of some people. With this excuse, if they want to take him down, even if his old boss Zhou Yu guarantees him, I am afraid that he will not be able to save himself. Moreover, because of Lu Chao's incident, the court no longer trusted Zhou Yu as much as before. In the correspondence between him and his old boss, the old boss mentioned this issue in a veiled way, and told him to take care of himself and not to give others a handle.

Even if he was not killed, depriving him of his current position would be a fatal blow to his plan. Without power, how could he keep the wealth he had accumulated over the past year? Over the past year, he had witnessed the cruelty of those local officials and local gentry.

"Leave 500 people to guard the logistics supplies, and the rest of the people, march by force, and rush to Ziyang County immediately." Zhou Liang gave the order without hesitation. No matter what, he had to take back Ziyang County first. As long as he took back the county, the responsibility would be immediately reduced by more than half.

The Qin army was divided into two parts. One part stayed to guard the supplies, which was actually the harvest of their trip this time. The other 1,500 people ran all the way to Ziyang County.

When it was getting dark, the Qin army appeared outside Ziyang County panting. Such a forced march would be a heavy burden for any army. If it was a regular army, Zhou Liang would not do so. But when there were only bandits in front of him, Zhou Liang was not worried. He stopped his horse a few miles away and looked at the Ziyang County lying in the distance. It was quiet and there was no movement.

The scouts went quickly and came back quickly.

"General, the city gate is open, and no trace of bandits was found."

After listening to the scouts, Zhou Liang's frown finally relaxed. After all, they were a group of bandits, and they would just rob and leave. If they were more thoughtful and guarded Ziyang County here, they would probably get into big trouble, because they didn't bring any siege weapons this time.

"Come on, take a scout and go into the city." Although he was relieved, Zhou Liang still sent out the outpost carefully.

There were indeed no bandits in the city. The outpost troops entered the city without any resistance. They captured several people in the city and questioned them, and they all confirmed that the bandit group had left Ziyang County in the afternoon.

Zhou Liang stepped onto the wall of Ziyang County and looked at the heads of Guo Qing and a group of county officials hanging on the city gate tower. He frowned. This scene made him very uncomfortable. Guo Qing was an old acquaintance of his. He gave him the most money, but now his head and body were separated. His huge family wealth became the bandits' spoils in the blink of an eye. (To be continued)