Shu Rebellion

There is a saying: "The world is not yet in chaos, but the Sichuan region falls into chaos first; the world is already at peace, but the Sichuan region is not yet peaceful."

There is another saying: "The roads of the Sichuan region are difficult; they are harder to traverse than ascending to the blue sky."

The Sichuan region has long held the reputation of being the Land of Abundance and is the granary of the world, naturally making it a piece of fat meat coveted by various factions.

When the world is stable, the Sichuan region is well-fed and clothed, so naturally, there are no disturbances.

But now, the world is in chaos, with smoke of war rising everywhere, and the long-standing peace of the Sichuan region has been broken.

In just these few years, first Western Kang knocked at the borders, leading to the Battle of Song Prefecture between the two sides, which was only barely repelled with the support of Gao Yuan.

Immediately following that, the rebellion of the Former Crown Prince caused disaster for the people in several prefectures, and they still have not recovered even now.

Subsequently, the Northern Liang Army attacked Hanzhong, and the Jiannan Army marched north to resist the enemy.

The roads in the Sichuan region are difficult, so the difficulty of transporting grain increased significantly; for every ten shi of grain sent from Chengdu, it would be considered very good if four tenths reached Hanzhong.

This forced Song Ren to conscript laborers on a large scale, and every day, there was an endless stream of laborers transporting grain on the Jinniu Road.

In the view of the Great Qian Imperial Court, performing corvée labor is an obligation that ordinary people must bear.

Following the practices of many in the past, many laborers even had to bring their own food.

Therefore, due to the long-term wars in the Jiannan Circuit, the people were full of complaints.

Coupled with people secretly fanning the flames at this time, things quickly spiraled out of control.

It was also at this time that two groups of people seemed to see an opportunity and began to stir.

Although Northern Liang occupied Luoyang, Hongnong, Deng Prefecture, and other places, these areas had already been emptied by The Emperor.

For Northern Liang, their strength had not improved much, so they naturally set their sights on the fertile and densely populated Sichuan region.

In the direction of Hanzhong, they increased their troops again, pointing directly at the gateway of Hanzhong, Yangping Pass.

On the other side, Western Kang saw the Central Plains in chaos, and this was the time for them to come down from the plateau and take a bite of the fat meat.

The Western Kang ruler, Li Yuanhao, appointed Tuoba Tao as Commander and Tuoba Rui as the vanguard, raising an army of 50,000 to advance on Song Prefecture.

Song Ren was once again facing a dilemma.

The Jiannan Army had lost thirty to forty percent of its elite troops after several major battles, and its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced.

Sporadic rebellions began to appear internally, and the rear grain supply lines were frequently harassed.

With Western Kang pressing heavily on the border in the direction of Song Prefecture and Yaizhou, Song Ren sighed deeply as he looked at the pleas for help flying in like snowflakes.

"Requests for help, requests for help, requests for help; if only I had the ability to scatter beans and turn them into soldiers, that would be great."

"Commander, why don't we ask the imperial court for help? The Sixteen Guards are all in the south of the Yangtze River now."

"I already wrote a request for help two days ago and sent it to the Capital City via an 800-li express courier."

Song Ren thought for a moment and sighed again, "I just don't know if we can hold out until then; I'm afraid..."

The main force of the Jiannan Army now has only over 40,000 men, with 5,000 in Chengdu and 10,000 in Song Prefecture and Yaizhou.

Subtracting the garrison troops stationed in various places and the necessary mobile forces, he only had a mere 10,000-plus men to defend Hanzhong.

Facing the attack of 70,000 to 80,000 Northern Liang Army troops, he really had no confidence in holding Hanzhong.

At this moment, another deputy general suddenly spoke up, "How about... how about we ask Commandery Duke Gao for help? As long as they can send troops to reinforce us, even if it's just to contain the Western Kang people, it would be extremely beneficial for us."

Song Ren's eyes lit up, then quickly dimmed again, "This... I'm afraid Commandery Duke Gao wouldn't be willing."

The deputy general who offered the advice continued, "I heard that Commandery Duke Gao spent a great deal on the expedition to Toungoo last year, and now he is short of money and grain, so why not..."

Song Ren seemed to have grabbed a straw to save his life; he stood up directly from his camp bed and began to pace in the hall.

After a long time, he slapped the table, "You, yes, you, go to Guchang County immediately to meet Commandery Duke Gao; tell him that as long as he can ensure the Song Prefecture and Yaizhou defensive lines are not lost for three months, I will compensate him with all of this year's tax grain from Jia Prefecture and the prefecture as military expenses for sending troops."

Jia Prefecture and the prefecture are located in the Chengdu Plain, with fertile land, dense population, and crisscrossing fields, making them important grain-producing areas.

The tax system of the Great Qian Imperial Court is similar to that of the Tang Dynasty in history, following the method of 'Zuyongdiao'.

These two prefectures have a population of nearly 800,000, and the annual tax that can be collected is equivalent to about 240 jin of grain per person per year, or about two shi.

Calculating based on five people per household and two able-bodied men per household, the annual Zuyongdiao for 800,000 people is worth about 640,000 shi.

Such a big gift was exactly what Gao Yuan wanted, but he still made a request, "One year's tax grain is too much; I estimate that The Emperor would not agree to it. I think it would be better like this: have your Commander order the opening of the government treasury in the two prefectures; as for how much we can take, that will depend on our own ability."

In Gao Yuan's view, those conditions of Song Ren looked very good and powerful, but they were too far off.

His philosophy is that no matter how much they promise, only what is in one's pocket is certain.

Upon receiving Gao Yuan's reply, Song Ren hesitated; the government treasury of the two prefectures had long been picked clean by him, and there was hardly any grain left in storage.

At most, it would be 200,000 to 300,000 shi, which is naturally far less than what he promised.

However, he was still very worried about letting Gao Yuan's army enter the hinterland of the Jiannan Circuit.

His idea was for Gao Yuan to send troops to attack the flank and rear of Western Kang, just like last time.

However, Gao Yuan's plan was not like this; he had expanded his territory, and his territory would continue to grow for a long time to come.

He needed population, he needed a large number of Han people to fill the border regions, so as to avoid his domain being dominated by foreign ethnic groups.

But he could not plunder the population in places like the Jiannan Circuit as he did with foreign ethnic groups.

That would not only lose the hearts of the people but also give the Great Qian Imperial Court a reason to attack him.

So is there a way to have the best of both worlds?

Zhao Xiyao gave him the best option: first repel Western Kang, then help Song Ren suppress the rebellion.

Those rebel armies, as well as the common people forced by the rebels, basically have no way out according to the nature of the Great Qian Imperial Court.

And the bandits popping up everywhere in the Jiannan Circuit are also targets that can be struck.

"These so-called mountain bandits are mostly common people who cannot survive, and many are even forced to become bandits; as long as the ringleaders are eliminated, those mountain bandits make the best strong laborers."

However, the situation no longer allowed Song Ren to hesitate, because Yaizhou had fallen, and Song Prefecture had lost its barrier.

With no other choice, after receiving Gao Yuan's verbal promise, Song Ren ordered the border to be opened.

Gao Yuan had long been certain that Song Ren would agree to his conditions, and the army was already fully prepared.

Wen Pin led 5,000 men of the Beiwei Army and 5,000 men of the Xuanjia Army as a feint force to launch an attack on Kangding.

Gao Yuan, accompanied by Mu Qing, Xian Chong, and Zhao Meng, with Xia Luqi as the vanguard, led 5,000 men of the Beiwei Army and 15,000 men of the Xuanjia Army into the Jiannan Circuit.

After resting in Chengdu for two days and extorting a batch of military supplies and grain, Gao Yuan began to split his troops into two routes.

Xia Luqi took 10,000 Xuanjia Army troops and turned west to reinforce Song Prefecture, while Gao Yuan took 10,000 troops to continue north to suppress the rebels.

On the way to Song Prefecture, Xia Luqi kept recalling what Gao Yuan said to him before leaving.

"Bang Jie, you just need to ensure that Song Prefecture does not fall; just help out at the right time, and don't be too anxious."

He couldn't figure it out; the Western Kang army had suffered heavy losses in capturing Yaizhou, and his Xuanjia Army, combined with the Song Prefecture garrison, could completely launch a counterattack.

However, he had one good quality, which was that if he couldn't figure something out, he wouldn't think about it; he only knew to follow Gao Yuan's instructions.