Chapter 100 Falling short of success

[However, the rebels fought very tenaciously.

The rebel army in eastern Sichuan took advantage of the rugged terrain and constantly tried to divide and attack the government troops that came to suppress them. At one point they successfully surrounded a part of the government troops and beat them into a miserable state. The rebel army in western Sichuan did the same and fought to the death.

During the siege of Chengdu by government troops, the 100,000 insurgents who remained in Chengdu fought bravely, most of them died in battle, and as many as 30,000 were beheaded.

At the same time, ordinary people in Chengdu also actively helped the rebels to fight against the government troops.

This determination to fight and the belief in resisting the government forces were crucial parts, and this also laid the groundwork for the subsequent resurgence of unrest.

As for Li Shun's fate, according to what Wang Jie'en told Zhao Guangyi, he was taken to Fengxiang and executed along with other leaders of the Great Shu; but some people also said that he was killed when Chengdu was captured.

Another version is that he escaped, and was captured in Guangzhou more than 30 years later, when he was over 70 years old, and was taken to the capital to be beheaded.

During this period, there were always people claiming to have found Li Shun in different places. Although it is very likely that some oppressed and exploited people used this to vent their anger or miss Li Shun, in short, Li Shun's ghost lingered in the land of the Song Dynasty for a long time, making the court restless. 】

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin felt that this was not good. The determination of the rebels in Shu was so great and so firm that even if the government troops beheaded as many people as possible in order to gain credit, the resistance in Sichuan and Chengdu was unexpected enough.

"The people of Shu have not yet returned." The hidden dangers that the Song Dynasty had laid down from Zhao Kuangyin to Zhao Guangyi finally showed their strength at this time. Hundreds of thousands of lower-class people gathered to follow, and those who had not joined did not mind helping out. What was more terrifying than the number of people was their fighting spirit.

Regardless of whether or not they thought they could no longer return to their normal lives, the end result was that most of these rebels died in battle, rather than disintegrating on the spot like some minor riots, once they failed or their leaders were killed.

"Li Shun's name... I can never allow such a thing to happen in the present Song Dynasty!" Zhao Kuangyin swore with all his heart. If, as Tianmu said, Li Shun had become a banner raised by those who were dissatisfied with the Song Dynasty, he could not allow such a "banner" that was detrimental to the Song Dynasty to exist. Otherwise, those people with ulterior motives would have a good excuse.

"But, brother, Tianmu said that the unrest in Shu is not over yet." Zhao Guangmei looked a little worried. After all, Shu has had a dark history of constant rebellion since the founding of the country. This made him worry whether this unrest would also last for several years.

Zhao Kuangyin reacted and learned from the lesson of the last rebellion in Shu. He immediately focused on the commander appointed by Zhao Guangyi to suppress the rebellion, Wang Jie'en, the Western Sichuan pacification envoy. "Could it be that the commander is bullying the people and lax military discipline again?"

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi's face was not looking good: "How did Wang Jie'en do his job? This Li Shun actually let the rumor that he was not dead spread throughout the country, letting those rural people know about it, and even used it to attack the court!"

"Besides, why did the unrest break out again? Who did I send to pacify Shu later?"

[The uprising of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun was basically suppressed by the Song Dynasty at this point, and their efforts failed at the last moment.

But did the uprising end there? After Chengdu was captured? No. The Song dynasty’s suppression also failed.

Not only did Wang Jie'en copy the strategic route of attacking Sichuan and Shu regions from the Song Dynasty's early conquest of Hou Shu, but his behavior after conquering Chengdu also completely copied that of the original general Wang Quanbin, as if he was just following a procedure.

After conquering Chengdu, Wang Jie'en led his army to occupy the place, often feasting and having fun, and looted all the wealth in Chengdu's treasury and other places. At the same time, due to the chaos in military discipline, military pay was often withheld. The soldiers also extorted money from the people and bullied women.

It can be said that Wang Jie'en and the army he led perfectly interpreted the proverb "bandits pass by like combs, soldiers pass by like rakes". In fact, because Li Shun's rebel army had relatively strict military discipline, the contrast with the government army was even more striking.

The consequences of such actions are also huge. 】

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

"You're having fun!" Zhao Kuangyin cursed loudly, and for a moment he couldn't even maintain his usual demeanor.

He was so angry that he wanted to bring Wang Jie'en over to vent his anger, but then he remembered that he had ordered this man to be killed when he knew about his conspiracy with Zhao Guangyi. He had to give up in disappointment.

But the anger in his heart was still rising. After all, Wang Jie'en's behavior reminded him of Wang Quanbin's recklessness and the serious consequences he brought. At that time, he spared Wang Quanbin's life because he had followed him in the war for many years, had merits and reputation, and because he had appeased the army, but only demoted him.

Unexpectedly, several years later, someone else did the same thing in the same place! The consequences were almost exactly the same as before.

Should I punish Wang Quanbin severely to put an end to this trend?
Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi's expression was uncertain. His original joy and approval for Wang Jie'en's suppression of the rebellion had now all turned into dissatisfaction and hidden dislike towards him.

By doing this, isn't Wang Jie'en simply telling the people and ministers that I don't know how to judge people and have poor vision?

The ministers below also changed their tone, from praising Wang Jie'en just now to attacking him: "Your Majesty, Wang Jie'en's behavior is a betrayal of the emperor's grace and undermines the emperor's wisdom. He should be punished!"

"Your Majesty, we must not appoint Wang Jie'en to quell the rebellion in Shu this time!"

Tang Dynasty, the third year of Zhenguan.

Li Shimin sighed, "People do not fear death, so why scare them with it?" The local people were already on the verge of death, and now the court was suppressing the rebellion, but instead of trying to appease the people and stabilize the situation, it committed many evil things and only cared about enjoying itself. It would only be a matter of a moment for the war to reignite.

Who would be afraid to join the rebels when they were about to die? Coincidentally, although Chengdu had been captured, there were probably still many remnants active in the surrounding areas.

As he thought about it, his expression became dispirited again: "At the end of the Tang Dynasty... Huang Chao, was it also for this reason?" Otherwise, why could he fight in the two rivers and two lakes, with the war flames burning all over the mountains and rivers.

[The remnants of the rebel army were already developing outside, and Wang Jie'en's actions once again encouraged local people to join the rebel army.

Zhang Yu, the remnant of Li Shun, raised the flag again, gathered more than 10,000 people, marched eastward along the Yangtze River, and captured eight states along the river including Jiazhou and Yuzhou. His number reached tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 people, and he also had thousands of warships.

Zhang Yu then prepared to capture Kuizhou and go east through the Three Gorges. Meanwhile, the remaining remnants of the uprising army also continued to move and fight against the government troops, and the flames of war began to burn again.

The consequences caused by Wang Jie'en were not only external, but also internal. Wang Jie'en's general Wang Wenshou was as rude and tyrannical as he was, and he would beat and scold his soldiers at will. So when he led his troops to pursue the remnants of the rebel army, the commander Zhang Lin took advantage of him sleeping and killed him, and led his troops to join Zhang Yu, the general of the remnant of the rebel army.

When Zhao Guangyi learned the news, he probably didn't think twice and prepared to execute all the wives and children of the soldiers who defected to the rebel army.

Fortunately, his close ministers persuaded him to stop and changed his mind to appease the soldiers, pardoning their sins, which eventually led to the soldiers returning one after another.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

Zhao Kuangyin breathed a sigh of relief. He almost thought that Zhao Guangyi, this idiot, really executed all the wives and children of those soldiers! He wanted to curse again. What was he thinking! Did Zhao Guangyi eat his brain? Didn't he know why these soldiers defected to the rebels? They didn't do it because they were loyal to the rebels, but because they were forced to do so.

In this situation, do you want to kill the entire family?
Zhao Guangmei consoled him, "Brother, this unrest in Shu will probably be over soon."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded. Indeed, even if Wang Jie'en was stirring up trouble, the combat effectiveness of the government army at that time was still strong. It was only a matter of time to quell the unrest, especially now that the main leaders of the rebels had been beheaded.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang said he didn't want to watch Zhao Guangyi's actions at all: "At this time, he should win over the people's hearts and show his magnanimity as an emperor. Why would he want to kill all these people?"

This kind of operation is simply...

[Later, because Wang Jie'en made slow progress, Zhao Guangyi once again sent more imperial troops into Sichuan. Zhang Yu was eventually defeated and captured and killed in February of the first year of Zhidao. The rest of the remnants of the uprising were gradually suppressed.

In the second year of Zhidao, Wang Heyu, a remnant of Zhang Yu, called himself "King of Qiongnan" and launched another uprising to attack Qiongzhou and Shuzhou. After much effort, Sichuan inspector Shi Pu finally eliminated Wang Heyu. At this point, the aftermath of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun's uprising was completely quelled.

Zhidao was the last reign title of Zhao Guangyi. The first year of Zhidao came after the fifth year of Chunhua.

The uprising of Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun brought great shock to Zhao Guangyi. He specially issued an edict of self-blame for this matter:

"I have appointed officials improperly and have not been clear about the principles. As a result, officials who are close to the people do not govern with kindness and harmony, and officials who manage taxes and taxes only use cruelty and oppression as their achievements. They have frustrated the people and have risen up to become bandits. Thinking of this lack of virtue, I must blame myself. I will make changes and make a fresh start, so that I can always learn from the past, and from now on, I hope it will be a warning to others."

The tea monopoly policy in Shu was subsequently stopped.

At the same time, after Zhao Guangyi downgraded Chengdu Prefecture to Yizhou, he sent Zhang Yong as the prefect to govern Shu and granted him the power to "act at his discretion."

Zhang Yong did not disappoint Zhao Guangyi's expectations. After arriving in Shu, he "abolished the eight duties of monopolizing goods along the Yangtze River and allowed merchants to buy and sell" and "abolished the liquor monopoly in various states." He relaxed the commercial policy in Shu, abolished the monopoly on goods in Yizhou, and at the same time reduced taxes and levies and encouraged land reclamation.

Under his series of governance, Shu gradually returned to peace, and Zhang Yong was hailed as a famous minister in Shu.

Song Dynasty, the fourth year of Chunhua.

Zhao Guangyi finally relaxed completely. Great! The unrest was finally quelled! This Wang Jie'en... Fortunately, there was Zhang Yong, who was clear-headed and prudent, and had great wisdom and strategy. He finally calmed down the aftermath of the disturbance in Shu and made this place completely stable!
Zhao Guangyi began to recall Zhang Yong: "Zhang Yong, I remember that he was the Privy Councilor, the co-director of the Yintai Tongjin Fengbo Division and the head of the Sanbanyuan. I specially summoned him back to the capital before...I think he and Kou Zhun were both Jinshi in the same year?"

The eunuch beside him quickly replied: "Your Majesty is right. Scholar Zhang was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo, the same year as Prime Minister Kou Shu."

"Yeah." Zhao Guangyi nodded and planned to look back at the list of Jinshi in the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo to see if there were any good talents among these people who could be used.

However, he sighed. The policy in Shu could no longer be implemented as before. When the lower-class people completely lost their economic power, there would really be unrest. However, in order to prevent local unrest, some restrictions had to be imposed...

Then relax economic control over the Sichuan region, but still strengthen political control.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

"Is it over?" Zhu Bo looked at his brothers and asked, "Will there be any further impact on Shu? There must be, right?"

"Indeed," Zhu Biao also came over and joined the chat group. "Since then, the Song Dynasty has been cautious in all its policies in Shu, and dared not change them easily. Moreover, there is a saying in Shu that 'in the year of Jiawu, there will be changes in Shu', which makes the court cautious."

"The Jiawu year? What's the problem?" Zhu Su rolled his eyes and asked tentatively, "Could it be that Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun are in the Jiawu year this time?"

Zhu Biao nodded and corrected, "To be precise, it was the year when Li Shun conquered Chengdu Prefecture, which was the Jiawu year. And you all know that when the Song Dynasty just pacified Hou Shu, it was quite wary of Hou Shu's influence, right?"

"I know," Zhu Bo had some knowledge of this aspect. "Song Taizu said 'the people of Shu miss Meng Chang and never forget him'. I don't think they necessarily miss Meng Chang that much. In fact, they don't obey because they feel that they are not living well in the Song Dynasty."

Zhu Biao did not comment on this sentence, but just pulled the topic back: "The year when Meng Zhixiang, the founding monarch of Hou Shu and Meng Chang's father, proclaimed himself emperor and established Hou Shu was also the Jiawu year."

The younger brothers suddenly realized what was going on and wanted to watch the fun: "So the whole Song Dynasty was in turmoil? Did they send people to govern Shu properly before the Jiawu Year and bring a better life to the people of Shu?"

[Of course, the psychological shadow that Shu brought to the Song Dynasty was huge.

From then on, the Song Dynasty made a major adjustment in its policy toward Shu: light taxation in the economy and strict control in politics, and this standard has been implemented ever since.

Even during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, when Wang Anshi was carrying out reforms to establish the "market exchange" and was planning to build one in Shu, Emperor Shenzong and some officials were still cautious, fearing that there would be another chaos like in the early years of the Song Dynasty. Only after Wang Anshi repeatedly gave assurances did the reform take effect in Shu.

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

"Reduce taxes and control politics?" Zhao Kuangyin was thinking about this method. Now he could try to gradually implement it in the Sichuan and Shu regions to ease the conflicts among the people as much as possible.

His eyes turned to the example given by Tianmu: "Shenzong... and Reform..." Shenzong, there was no emperor with this temple name before. It can be said that Song Shenzong was the first, but this cannot be considered a good temple name. As for Reform, Reform itself is a good thing, but why did the emperor who presided over the Reform get the temple name of Shenzong?
Or is it that the reform was wrong? Or is it that the reform should not be implemented?

After thinking about it, Zhao Kuangyin gave up thinking about this matter. After all, this matter was too far away from him, and he could not control what would happen in the future.

(End of this chapter)