HLnovel Chapter 589 A Riot? Xiahou Shang Turns the Tide as the Riot Erupts!
Chapter 589 A Riot? Xiahou Shang Turns the Tide as the Riot Erupts!
The death of Xiahou Shang in history was also quite mysterious.
The official account states that Cao Pi killed Xiahou Shang's beloved concubine, driving the devoted Xiahou Shang to despair, and he died of love not long afterward.
Whether you believe it or not is a matter of opinion.
In any case, Sima Yi benefited greatly after Xiahou Shang's death.
This was also the first time he had officially taken command of the military and demonstrated his outstanding achievements in "blitzkrieg against Meng Da" to the whole world!
At present, Xiahou Shang is still young and is stationed near Ye County to be responsible for training troops and suppressing bandits.
Training troops, that goes without saying.
The banditry was a crater left behind by Yuan Shu.
After the Zhong dynasty collapsed, many of Yuan Shu's former subordinates, whom he had recruited with great effort, returned to their old ways of becoming outlaws.
The presence of these people affected the security of Nanyang and the surrounding counties.
While training his troops, Xiahou Shang also led them in actual combat to suppress bandits.
……
"What!?"
"Such a thing actually happened in the city?"
Garrison outside the city
Xiahou Shang, weary from his journey, had just returned with his army from suppressing bandits at Ma Niu Mountain, not far away.
This campaign to suppress the bandits has yielded fruitful results.
They basically eliminated 95% of the banditry within Nanyang, which can be considered a considerable achievement.
But before Xiahou Shang could even sit down and rest, he received news of an explosion brought by Zhao Yan's personal guards.
"Yes, General Xiahou, those rioters stormed my master's mansion, showing him no respect whatsoever."
How did things turn out this way?
Xiahou Shang has been busy suppressing bandits these days.
I had only heard a little about the matter of "Zhao Yan forcibly seizing the people's land".
Moreover, Zhao Yan is a seasoned and capable official who has been in office for many years; he certainly wouldn't be unable to handle this situation well.
But Xiahou Shang didn't expect that things would gradually get out of control, and he knew he couldn't just ignore it any longer!
Led by Zhao Yan's personal guards, Xiahou Shang led his army at breakneck speed toward Zhao Yan's residence.
At this moment, not only the streets, but also the entrance to Zhao Yan's mansion were filled with people.
It took Xiahou Shang a great deal of effort to squeeze in with just over ten of his personal guards.
The remaining troops were on the streets behind.
"Lord Zhao! We are just ordinary people who want to farm a little land and have enough to eat. Why are you driving us to our deaths?"
As soon as Xiahou Shang arrived, he heard someone in the crowd making accusations against Zhao Yan.
"No, I didn't..."
"I promised the villagers that I would give them twice the amount of land as compensation."
"The villagers have all seen those lands, and they are all good land!"
Zhao Yan tried his best to refute.
In fact, he could be considered a pretty good official.
Not only did they not use their official position to oppress people, but they also gave double compensation without hesitation.
Unfortunately, these people stubbornly refused to accept it.
"Sir, you're joking!"
"Those lands are not just for growing crops; they represent our hopes for so many years!"
“These bear the sweat of our ancestors and the marks left by countless hoes. Don’t they have any value?”
The person leading the crowd was clearly a tough nut to crack.
He made full use of the tactic of ignoring the facts.
His cunning expression was just like those people in later generations who, upon hearing that their homes were to be demolished, would hastily plant saplings on the land, planting everything they could.
Even worse, some people have moved the tombstones of their deceased elders to the site just to get more compensation!
“But those lands haven’t been planted with any crops for two or three years!”
"Our dynasty has a law that states that if land owned by an owner is not cultivated for three years, it is considered wasteland!"
Zhao Yan presented the Han laws in an attempt to subdue the people.
He is absolutely right. In order to ensure the amount of arable land, this Han law has been passed down from the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the present day and has been used continuously.
But when the leader heard this, he immediately sat down on the ground and burst into tears.
“It’s not that we haven’t planted any crops for two or three years, but rather that there are very few able-bodied men in our family, as they all went to serve in the army and died on the battlefield, so we can only cultivate a portion of the land.”
“Our men all died for Cao Sikong’s ambitions, and now you, Lord Zhao, are turning your backs on us?”
Zhao Yan's face turned deathly pale.
At this moment, Xiahou Shang couldn't hold back any longer and stepped forward to say:
"Please, sir, don't make things up!"
"The compensation system in my Cao camp is quite comprehensive."
"The families of all soldiers who died in the war are entitled to a substantial pension."
"Moreover, they will be registered by the government, and people will be sent to visit them every year."
"Including their farmland, the government would also send garrison soldiers to help cultivate it, depending on the number of surplus laborers in the family."
"The harvested crops will be distributed to their families according to the original yield!"
"You say these lands are uncultivated because of the death of the labor force, but I'm afraid it's because the soldiers you claim sacrificed for my Cao camp were actually mountain bandits and outlaws, aren't they?"
Xiahou Shang spoke with considerable confidence.
At Su Yu's suggestion.
The education received by the second generation of generals from the Cao and Xiahou families was extremely rigorous.
We must emphasize the unity of knowledge and action, for true knowledge comes from practice!
This is both to improve the overall quality of the imperial clan generals and to prevent the emergence of incompetent officials who are not worthy of their positions!
When distributing pensions to the soldiers who died or were wounded in the war in Nanyang, Xiahou Shang personally went to comfort them.
Xiahou Shang knew all too well how comprehensive Cao Cao's system of compensation for the deceased was.
The person leading this group could not possibly be a family member of a fallen soldier!
Stabbed by Xiahou Shang, the leader suddenly shouted:
"Fellow villagers, Zhao Yan and Xiahou Shang are openly bullying us defenseless people!"
"Heaven's justice is clear, but where is fairness?"
After he finished speaking, like a domino effect, many of the people behind the leader burst into tears on the spot!
If this were in later generations, this group of people would definitely be outstanding extras!
Seeing this, Xiahou Shang's expression gradually turned gloomy.
Just then, an arrow flew out of nowhere and struck a commoner next to the leader!
……