Chapter 140: The fathers of Guanzhong

"See the Emperor." A group of Chang'an elders knelt down and bowed to Li Jun.

Li Jun had no intention of being given a big gift from anyone, let alone the elders were not young, the young ones were in their sixties, and the older ones were about 80 years old. Li Jun dared not accept their gifts. He hurriedly supported an elder with white beards and said, "Old man, I'm not allowed, I'm not allowed. Get up quickly, get up quickly."

The white-bearded elder did not stand up, but said very emotionally: "Your Majesty, you must bear this gift."

"Old man, let's talk, get up and say." Li Jun still refused and hurriedly helped him up.

The elder looked determined to kowtow to the end and said, "Emperor, this ceremony is not just the meaning of Caomin, but Chang'an, the meaning of the millions of ordinary people in Guanzhong. If the emperor does not accept it, Caomin will be sorry to the millions of people in Guanzhong." He was so excited that his forehead was almost full of blue veins, and he hurriedly explained, "Emperor, when Caomin comes, the villagers ask Caomin to kowtow to the emperor, and it must be loud."

"You must make a sound, don't you suffer from your forehead? You are so old, can you bear it? These ordinary people are really trying to make trouble for you." Li Jun complained in his heart, and heard the voices of these elders in his ears. They said, "Yes, the emperor, the villagers and the villagers said that they had no good things to offer to the emperor, so they kowtowed the emperor."

Needless to say, the court returned to Guanzhong with strict military discipline and no violations. Compared with the army that killed people a hundred years ago, which often defeated people and robbed and raped, one was in the sky and the other was underground, and it was impossible to make the people unhappy. They could not kowtow to Li Jun, so they had to take advantage of the opportunity of Li Jun summoning these elders and ask the elders to help them complete it.

This is the common people, very simple people, who are grateful!

No one can refuse this kind of affection. Li Junwu nodded with tears in his eyes and said, "Okay. Old man, be gentle, be gentle, don't let your forehead suffer."

Kowtow was originally a chore. When Li Jun agreed, it seemed to have encountered a huge happy event for the elders. He was very happy, and his face was filled with joy. He replied: "Oh." He kowtowed to Li Jun respectfully, and his forehead hit the ground, making a thud sound. It was not light, so heavy that it could not be heavier.

"Be gentle, be gentle." Li Jun used to be an old man. He knew the pain of the old man, so he hurriedly told them to use less force. Unexpectedly, it would be fine if he didn't remind him. As soon as he told the elders to kowtow, he became even more excited. He kept kowtowing, and his forehead hit the ground made a thunderous sound, as if thundering.

Li Jun hurriedly supported an elder and said, "Old man, get up quickly, get up quickly. Look at your forehead is blue and it has already bleed." The old man tried too hard, and his forehead was blue and blood was already oozing, which made Li Jun feel distressed, and said, "Hurry, get some medicine." Duan Ganmu hurriedly handed the knife medicine, and Li Jun applied it to the elder's forehead with his own hands.

It was already touching that Li Jun was so close and caring about them so much. Then applying wound medicine with his own hands was more infectious than anything else. The elders who had stood up knelt down again and kowtowed to Li Jun and cried, "Master!" They were so excited that they couldn't speak. Although they were only two words, all their emotions were in these two words.

Li Jun, who had always been calm, was panicked now, and was busy with this one and that one knelt down, and had not stood up for a long time. Facing the million-dollar Mongolian army, Li Jun was chatting and laughing, but he didn't expect to make a group of elders busy. It was really rare.

Qingfengzi understood Li Jun's thoughts and said, "Friends, you all get up." He brought his disciples to help Li Jun. Duan Ganmu also woke up and directed a group of guards to come up to help. After working hard, the elders were helped to sit down.

The wish is fulfilled, and the excitement in the hearts of the elders is beyond the description of their pen and ink. They all have joy over their eyebrows, and they all seem to be during the Chinese New Year, and their mouths cannot be closed.

"I'm finally relieved." Li Jun secretly breathed a sigh of relief and urged Duan Ganmu to say: "Super tea and make some snacks for the villagers."

Duan Ganmu took the order and left, and soon brought tea and snacks to the elders.

Li Jun greeted Qingfengzi and sat down, saying, "Old man, I have invited you here today. There is no other purpose, just that I want to hear your opinions. The court has not managed Guanzhong for more than a hundred years and has no idea about the matters in Guanzhong. I also ask you all to tell the truth and say things to your heart.

"In the past hundred years, the court has worked hard several times to restore the country, but for many reasons, it has not been successful. In the past hundred years, without the protection of the court, you are like wild children who have no love for you, beating, scolding, and bullying. You have suffered a lot. The fault is not you, but the fault is the court. It is the court that the court did not fight back in time, and you have suffered so much. On behalf of the court, I apologize to you and the fellow villagers in Guanzhong!" I stood up and bowed deeply to them.

As Li Jun said, since the Song Dynasty moved south, the Southern Song Dynasty court did not have plans to liberation. It had worked hard for several times but ultimately failed due to various reasons. There are three most prominent examples, one is the plan to liberation of Emperor Gaozong of Song. He once wanted to recover the Central Plains and took effective measures. The most important one was to fully serve Yue Fei. Due to complex political reasons, this plan not only did not come true, but Yue Fei died under his butcher knife.

The second time was to calculate the Northern Expedition led by Han Tsuzhou. Due to insufficient preparations, there were many internal problems in the Southern Song Dynasty. The Song army had a lot of ills and had no combat power and could not recover. When the conditions were not met, the Northern Expedition was hasty, but it ended up in a crushing defeat, killing the army and destroying the troops, wasting the national strength. The direct consequence of this Northern Expedition was that the Southern Song Dynasty became even weaker due to the consumption of a large amount of resources.

The last action was to be the alliance between the Southern Song Dynasty and the Mongolians to attack the Jin Kingdom. Judging from the situation at that time, this was a wrong strategic action. As later proved, the lips were lost and the teeth were cold. The Jin Kingdom was destroyed, and the Southern Song Dynasty also destroyed.

If the Southern Song Dynasty had strong strength, the strategy of joining Mongolia to regain its homeland was not a mistake. It could completely recover its homeland and restorate, and wait until its strength was restored before repelling the Mongols and recovering the land of Youyan. I guess the decision makers of the Southern Song Dynasty thought so. Unfortunately, they did not correctly estimate their strength, so that the "wolf goes away and tigers come". The Jin Kingdom was destroyed and the Mongols came again.

These things had nothing to do with Li Jun and were completely unrelated. However, his current identity is the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, and he had to take the blame for the incompetent emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty. The blame was really unreasonable.

There is not a shortage of emperors’ apologizing in history. Emperor Wu of Han’s “The Edict of the Luntai” is actually an edict of guilt, but it was also an edict issued by Emperor Wu of Han when he realized his own faults. It was a thank-you to the “world”, which means it is a bit empty and there are no specific people.

Li Jun is different. He is face to face with the elders and apologizes in person. Needless to say, this courage is very rare. No emperor has ever done this in Chinese history. Li Jun set a precedent for a generation.

Qingfengzi touched his beard, nodded constantly, and said in admiration: "The emperor has few courages throughout the ages, Qingfeng admires them!"

The elders never expected that Li Jun would apologize to them. They exclaimed in surprise and immediately became stupid. After a while, an elder woke up first and said, "Your Majesty, you must not, you must not." After calling several, you must have realized that you should kneel down for Li Jun, and knelt down.

With his example, the other elders knelt down in a hurry, and suddenly, the room was full of people.

"Get up quickly, get up quickly." Li Jun was busy helping the elders again.

The elders knelt on the ground and couldn't get up. One elder said, "The emperor's wise king is committed to restoration. How come the sins? The people of the grass can't bear it."

"Master," Li Jun, who never asked for help, had to ask Qingfengzi for help, busy helping others. Qingfengzi knew that if he said and knelt down, there would be nothing to do today, so he helped him help. After a lot of work, he brought the elders back to the chair.

Li Jun sat down and said, "Old man, you come from the people and know the sufferings of the people. What are your wishes and ideas about your fellow villagers? You can say it. There is only one condition, that is, you must tell the truth. If you don't have your heart, don't say it."

Summoning these elders is part of Li Jun's move to regain the hearts of the people. These elders have rich life experience and understand the sufferings of the people. In today's terms, they can only formulate specific policies to better restore Guanzhong's productivity and build Guanzhong into a strategic base needed to restore the Central Plains.

"Your Majesty, that's what the grass people said." An elder asked Li Jun tentatively. You have to be careful when speaking in front of the Supreme. If you have any slight disrespect, it is a serious sin. They understand the sufferings of the people, and they cannot present them to the Supreme, so they have to be careful.

Li Jun nodded and said, "Tell me. You must tell me the truth. You must speak everything, and you will be guilty of speaking."

The elder drinks a sip of tea to moisten his throat. It is also troublesome when he gets older, and says, "Emperor, the most concerned thing for the villagers is that it is a good thing when the court returns, but will the court leave? Can the court stay?"

This issue is not only for them to care about, but also for the people of Guanzhong and the people in the occupied areas. The brutality of the Mongolians is very famous in history. If the court comes and leaves and the Mongolians make a comeback, their revenge will be very cruel. It is impossible to ask the people not to care about this issue.

Since the Song and Jin War, the Southern Song Dynasty has suffered a lot of defeats in Guanzhong, but it is not without liberation. The final result was that the court made a mistake in decision-making, which not only caused the place where the restoration was lost, but also the place where the court had originally held. How could these elders not know the truth about these things? If the court came and left as before, the consequences would be very serious. Not to mention anything else, just these people, their families, and their neighbors would have suffered tragic disasters because of their behavior today.

Li Jun understood their mood very well, stood up and said in an unchangeable tone: "I can assure you that the court will not leave! The court came back to save you from dire straits! To let the people live a good life, you must have food, clothes, and every family will be happy and harmonious."

Qingfengzi spoke at the right time: "Dear fellow villagers, you still don't know that the current court is different from before. The current court is in liberation. The court has revived Huaidong, Huaixi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guanzhong has also been revived. The strength of the court is no longer the same as before, and is more than ten times stronger than before.

"You also know that in this battle of Guanzhong, the imperial court rushed to Guanzhong less than 20,000 troops, while the Tartars had a population of 100,000. What's the result? You all know that the Tartars' entire army was destroyed, Chang'an was restored, and Guanzhong was also restored.

"I can tell you that the royal army you saw with your own eyes today has embarked on a new journey. They have begun to pursue and annihilate the remnants of the Tartars in Guanzhong. In a few days, Tongguan will be recovered and Hangu Pass will be recovered. Without Tongguan and Hangu Pass, it would be like a dream to re-enter the Tartars in Guanzhong."

Chang'an was liberated, Shi Tianze was defeated, and the army brought to Guanzhong and the army mobilized by Guo Kan no longer exists, but there are still many scattered soldiers and gangs in activities, including Tongguan and Hangu Pass, two important strategic fortresses, which were not taken down, Li Jun would not miss this favorable opportunity. After the military parade, he immediately ordered Liu Hezi to lead his troops to take down Tongguan Hangu Pass. If these two strategic areas were brought back and the strategic channel to enter the Central Plains from Guanzhong was completely opened, the Southern Song Dynasty would be like aiming the sword at the heart of the Central Plains.

Of course, the most important task is to capture Guo Kan. Even if he cannot be captured alive, he must be let die. No matter what, he cannot be allowed to leave Guanzhong. Guo Kan was defeated by Li Jun again, but Li Jun did not relax at all about being wary of him. This person is knowledgeable and talented, and he will not be relieved for a day.

The more Guo Kan is wary of Li Jun, the more Li Jun is wary of him!

The people in Guanzhong all know how important Tongguan and Hangu Pass are to them. If these two strategic fortresses are brought back, that is, the east gate of Guanzhong has been completely locked. If the Mongols want to enter Guanzhong again, they will not be able to turn into birds and fly in from the air.

As Qing Fengzi said, the Song army, with an army of less than 20,000 people, was still a tired army that crossed the Qinling Mountains without logistics supplies. In this case, it created a miracle that swept over tens of thousands of Mongolian troops in Guanzhong. This incident has spread throughout Guanzhong. Who knows who is the common people in Guanzhong, and they have doubled their confidence in the king's army. Thinking about the past, the Song army had an advantage in military strength and sufficient supply, but they lost again and again. The current situation is contrary to this, which is the best evidence.

Just as the elders were happy, Qingfengzi continued, "I can also tell you that the 300,000 royal troops of the court were crossing the Qinling Mountains and would soon arrive in Guanzhong." The Song army crossing the Qinling Mountains did not have 300,000, but only about 100,000. Qingfengzi made a pretentious statement to strengthen their confidence.

"I really didn't expect that a paradise like him had the ability to deceive people as Emperor Gaozu of Han." Li Jun commented on Qingfengzi in his heart. Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang did not know how to make drafts. Some people said he was a hooligan, while others said he was a wise man. Which kind of person is depends on whether you like him or not.

The Song army, which was less than 20,000 people, swept Guanzhong. If the 300,000 troops arrived, what would be the situation? As long as there was no problem with the nerves, the elders were extremely happy and said in unison: "It's great. The court will not leave, and the court will not leave." He didn't say much, but the joy in his words could no longer be described by the pen and ink.

Another elder asked hesitantly: "Emperor, does the court still collect such taxes?"

Of course, they were concerned about taxation issues, which was a personal interest. This was not a fault for their snobbishness. The Southern Song Dynasty court was incompetent, with redundant officials and redundant soldiers, and weak supervision. The emperor wanted to light taxes and pay levies, but in fact he had a lot of heavy taxes, which made them breathless. Furthermore, in the war years, various systems were disrupted, and those unrestrained officials were greedy, which was a good opportunity for them to make money. The tax was amazing, "better than tigers" and could eat people.

When they met for the first time, the elders raised this question, which only one thing was that they were overwhelmed by heavy taxes. Li Jun sighed in his heart and said, "The tax court has laws and regulations, and is committed to raising the people. I can promise you that there will be no tax increase! There will be no tax increase! Now, the taxes in the Jiangnan people are only one-tenth of the original one. In the newly restored land of Guanzhong, the people have suffered a lot and need to rest. The tax will be exempted in the first year and half of the tax will be paid in the second year."

This is a great thing. The elders were very happy and knelt down and kowtowed, "Thank you, the emperor!"

An elder took out a yellow silk from his arms tremblingly, raised his hands high, and cried, "Emperor, the grass people have no other wishes, just hope that the grandfather's wish will be fulfilled."

Duan Ganmu took it and handed it to Li Jun. Li Jun unfolded it, and saw a couplet written in blood on it. It was a long time ago and the handwriting was a bit blurry. It seemed that it was written for a long time. The first couplet said, "It is difficult to separate the emotions from mountains and rivers", and the second couplet said, "The same ancestor, the same ancestor, the same heart."

This couplet is the voice of all the people in the occupied areas. For more than a hundred years, they have never forgotten that they are Han people and have always been in the court. Li Jun was moved to tears in his eyes and chanted to the sky, "It is hard to separate love from mountains and rivers, and they have the same ancestors and ancestors."
Chapter completed!