Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 981 Security

The sun hid behind the clouds, only showing half of his face.

The fields surrounded by ditches are golden.

On the bumpy post road, there are endless carts and small cars.The soldiers unloaded their armor, abandoned their knives and guns, took up their sickles, and bent down to harvest corn and wheat.

The grain is not very plump and the fields are full of weeds, the result of neglect.

The destruction of agriculture by the war is very obvious, and it has caused incomparably huge damage to the lives of the people.

No, even the people who harvested the grain ran away, and the soldiers could only go to the field in person, cut down the millet and wheat, tied them up, and pulled them away in carts.

After the straw is crushed, the war horses can't even smell it, but they can be used to feed draft animals.

After the corn and wheat are threshed and dried, they can be made into delicious corn rice and steamed cakes to supplement military supplies.

The sergeants moved very quickly, and even removed the mung beans and vegetables planted on the ridge of the field without leaving a single hair.

Naturally, their every move was seen by the defenders on the top of the city.If you ask them how they feel, they will naturally feel anxious.

After the situation was reported, a gloomy meeting was held immediately in Yanzhou City.

This is a high-level military and political meeting, and most of the participants are senior generals and bureaucrats in Yanzhou. The matter discussed is the issue of food and grass.

It's been June, and the blockade of the thieves still can't be broken.But the wheat field outside the city has already reached the summer harvest time, but you can only watch it, isn't it uncomfortable?
Moreover, the food and grass in the city have long been insufficient.If the shogunate hadn't ordered the search of grain shops, rich households, and people's homes to store grain, Yanzhou would have run out of grain long ago.But even so, after a long period of siege, Yanzhou was at the end of its rope and could hardly survive.

We have to find a way to solve it!
"The war has been going on for many years, the people are in disorder, and the Xia people are short of food for the army. In the past few days, soldiers and horses have been mobilized to grab the harvest." Xin Wan, the shogunate judge, said: "Commander, waiting like this is not an option. The food and grass in the city are quite insufficient. It’s only enough for more than a month, if we don’t think of a way, we’ll all starve to death.”

Zhu Jin frowned when she heard this, but said nothing.But looking at his expression, it was obvious that he was very worried.

"Now there are two moves. One is to leave the city and fight the Xia people. If we win, all problems will be solved easily. The second is to break the blockade and find a way to obtain food outside the city to help the army." Ya general Hu Gui said.

He only mentioned two ways to solve the problem, but did not say which is better.

Of course, everyone is not a child, everyone has their own thoughts.

The matter of the decisive battle is out of the question, everyone knows that.

There are still more than [-] soldiers in Yanzhou City, but the combat effectiveness is very problematic because there are too many recruits.Besides, the Xia people may not be willing to fight you decisively, wouldn't it be good to stick to the camp and trap you to death?
Then there is only the second way left, going out of the city to grab food.

Grabbing food is also very dangerous, because at least you need to go out of the city, grab some food before the enemy reacts, and transport it back to the city.

It takes time.Even if the action is fast, the enemy has not had time to mobilize all its forces to fight with you, but it is very likely that more than [-] people will be sent to fight with you locally.

But now there is an upside as well.

The Xia people mobilized a large number of troops to grab grain, and the number of troops that could be used to monitor and besiege Yanzhou was greatly reduced. This seemed to greatly increase the feasibility of going out of the city to grab grain.

"Boom!" Zhu Jin slapped his iron palm on the table, attracting everyone's attention.

"I've made up my mind!" Zhu Jin suddenly stood up and said.

Everyone held their breath and looked at Marshal Zhu.

"Leave the city at midnight tonight to grab food and grass. You can figure out the specific course of action now and report it to me." After finishing speaking, Zhu Jin asked someone to carry the horse, stroked it lightly, and said nothing more.

"Obey." The atmosphere was so heightened that everyone had nothing to say, so they could only obey.

If they don't leave the city, will they all starve to death after more than a month?Since Zhu Shuai is willing to give it a go, let him do it.

Yan Bao and Kang Huaiying looked at each other quietly, and they both understood the meaning in each other's eyes.

You're all like a bird, and the commander-in-chief still refuses to give up. You make us very embarrassed.

After the matter was settled, Duyu Housi immediately began to make plans.In the end, it is a skilled war machine, and at the same time, it also understands the local people's conditions very well. How many troops cover, how many masters grab food, how many people participate in transportation, how many people are needed in the reserve team, who is in command, etc. The details of the operation are all handled by the Du Yuhou Division The staff quickly completed the formulation.

Hu Gui, the general of the Yamen, led his wife out to harvest wheat. Zhu Jin led five thousand town soldiers to cover him.The second son Zhu Yongzhen stayed in Yanzhou, assisted by generals Yan Bao and Kang Huaiying.

After everything was settled, the army left the city at Zishi, set foot on the trench that had been filled long ago, and headed east.

The actions of more than 1 people naturally couldn't be hidden from Xia Jun who was watching outside the city.However, they were just monitoring and did not take any action that night. They mobilized 5000 people until after dawn and chased them all the way.

As a result, it was naturally defeated by Zhu Jin who personally led the team, and everything went smoothly, which made Zhu Jin greatly relieved.

After Zhu Jin went out to grab food, the city of Yanzhou was calm at first, but it was only temporary.

Only one day later, in the early morning of the fifth day of June, a large-scale military mobilization began in the city.

Yan Bao led thousands of people and forcibly took over the gates of the cities.Kang Huaiying mobilized sergeants and surrounded the Jiedu envoy's mansion.

Zhu Yongzhen was very drunk last night, when he suddenly heard the news of the mutiny after dawn, he was so frightened that he woke up from the wine, and immediately went out to persuade him.

The sergeants looked ashamed, but they still rushed into the mansion and detained everyone.

"Are they all crazy?" Zhu Yongzhen felt a little regretful.It's not that I regret that I didn't discover the undercurrent surging in the city in time, but that I regret that I didn't participate in time and sell my father for glory, but it's over and it's too late.The sergeant rebelled, and now he is the target of suppression.

"After Xiancheng surrendered, what can you get?"

"Soldiers for Shao Shude? Does he want you? With so many soldiers to support, he can't even afford the salary."

"The people who besieged Yanzhou were Xuanwu and Ziqing descendants. What happened to them? Tossed in the ravine, the casualties were heavy, and even the pension was lower than others, or even none."

"Shao Shude is going to send you to fight in the heat of the south. Can you bear it? Before you meet the enemy, you fall ill first."

"You are all crazy!"

Zhu Yongzhen shouted hoarsely, expecting the warriors to change their minds.

It is true that many people showed hesitation, but after thinking about it, they still pulled Zhu Yongzhen aside and tied them up.

It's all reversed, and if you regret it now, is it useful?Didn't Marshal Zhu eat them all alive?

"Second yamen, stop shouting." Kang Huaiying sighed, and said, "I didn't intend to kill you. Xia Wang Rende, he didn't even kill Zhu Quanzhong's clan, so he won't do anything to you. Rest while resting." Go ahead, don't bother. After doing this, Zhu Shuai will not let us go, there is no turning back, and no one will save you."

Zhu Yongzhen was still cursing, but her voice was much softer.

He thought about it carefully, Shao Shude really didn't kill and surrender very much, and he was very trustworthy, even the enemy recognized his reputation of generosity and benevolence.Apart from loving to play with other people's wives and daughters, there is almost no blemish.

Seeing that he was more honest, Kang Huaiying left.

There were not many sergeants involved in the incident, less than two thousand in total.There were still three thousand sergeants in the city, hundreds of servants, and strong men who went to the city to fight in turn. They all had weapons in their hands, but they didn't stand up to stop them, but watched all this indifferently.

After being consumed by the cruel war for so long, I no longer have the spirit of the day.To put it bluntly, they have accepted the reality and are ready to compromise with it.

Kang Huaiying was also very emotional after seeing it.

Before the mutiny was launched, there were all kinds of worries, all kinds of daring, fearing that if it failed, the whole family would be slaughtered, but once it was implemented, it was so destructive, so easy that it was unbelievable.

Is this still the Taining army who vowed not to surrender?
"Squeak!" The north gate of Yanzhou slowly opened, and the sergeants put down the suspension bridge again, and led by Yan Bao, went out to line up.

After half an hour, there was the sound of neat footsteps.

Two thousand Xia soldiers entered the city along the main street, put away the weapons of the defenders, and ordered them to return to the barracks and wait for orders.

No one resisted, and all the sergeants were like walking dead. They did whatever you asked them to do without speaking, and the atmosphere was extremely dull.

The common people hid at home, looked out through the cracks in the door, and listened to the voices of orders with a Qingzhou accent on the street one after another, feeling uneasy in their hearts.

The siege has been going on for a long time, but they have caused a lot of casualties to Xia Bing outside the city. Will they take revenge?
Liu Po ​​rode into the city on a tall horse rewarded by King Xia.

Wang Yanwen, deputy envoy of the Longwu Army, followed behind him with a slightly unnatural expression on his face.

Military chaos, so familiar!
This is an unresolved knot between him and his immediate boss, Liu Wei.Although Liu Po ​​once graciously expressed to him that he didn't hate him, and the two reconciled on the surface, but have they really passed that hurdle in their hearts?
"Report the victory to Hu Shuai and Ge Fushuai." Liu Wei reined in his horse and said.

"Obey." The messenger got on his horse and led away.

Liu Po ​​took another look at the dilapidated city, feeling infinitely moved in his heart.

The three towns of Yun, Yan, and Qi are all "mothers".Starting from the first month of last year, within a year and a half, the three towns were destroyed one after another, and now only Haizhou is still in the hands of Yang Xingmi.

As for the thousands of soldiers of Zhu Jin's army who went out to grab food, under the encirclement and suppression of the army, failure is inevitable.

Victory did not bring Liu Po ​​any joy, on the contrary, it brought a sense of sadness.

There are still countless wars to come, and it is not known how many people will die. The fate of more than ten thousand soldiers of the Longwu Army is like Qingping in the wind, fluttering, making people feel no sense of down-to-earth.

As if they were born unappreciated, born to be consumed to death.

Tens of thousands of soldiers of Longxiang, Longwu, Longhu, Pengri, Pengsheng, Shenjie, and Guangsheng Seventh Army were exhausted, demoralized, with no future in sight, and no sense of security.

(End of this chapter)