I want to be emperor

Chapter 164
With Lu Xiangsheng's death in battle, and except for a few people who fled, the rest of his army either died in battle or became prisoners of war.

At the same time, Sun Hongcai also captured [-] cavalry from Lu Xiangsheng's direct line, and took [-] infantry from his headquarters to go north to Dengzhou.

This not only solved the siege of Xinye City, but also caused the Ming army that was originally in Yunyang and Xiangyang to be almost completely wiped out.

Such a situation can be said to be of great benefit to the Township Protection Army.

In the follow-up, the Rural Protection Army can calmly take down Nanyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Yunyang Prefecture and other large areas that are not actually controlled.

Instead of worrying about being threatened by the enemy to the hinterland at any time, or even cutting off the connection between Xiangyang and Nanyang.

Therefore, after discovering that Sun Hongcai had diverted to escape to Dengzhou, Luo Zhixue also made an influential deployment. On the one hand, he continued to lead the main force such as the First Infantry Brigade to follow north to Dengzhou.

At the same time, he ordered Li Duo to lead the Seventh Infantry Battalion and other troops to turn eastward, attack Tang County and Biyang, and then block the mountain trails in some mountainous areas east of Biyang to prevent the Ming army from passing through Runing Mansion and Tong County. The combination of Baishan and Funiu Mountain came in.

At the same time, he also ordered the [-]st Battalion of the [-]th Mixed Brigade in the direction of Xiangyang to go north to Xinye City to fill the vacancy left by the [-]th Infantry Battalion's eastward advance, suppress and control Xinye City, a strategic location, and at the same time, this battalion will also serve as a reserve for the army led by Luo Zhixue himself. use.

And taking advantage of the time of garrisoning Xinye City, they will also gradually accept Ming army prisoners from nearby places nearby, and continue to expand the two infantry battalions, heavy cavalry, artillery and other units, making the sixth mixed brigade truly full.

At the same time, it was ordered that the ninth mixed brigade and the tenth mixed brigade, which had just been established and had not had time to be reorganized, were reorganized within three days, and then quickly attacked to seize Guanghua and Gucheng in the west.

The Ming army in these two places has been withdrawn by Lu Xiangsheng, and there are only hundreds of ordinary guards and young and strong civilians left in the area. Even if the ninth mixed brigade and the tenth mixed brigade have not yet been reorganized, the recovery of combat power is limited. But it's not something that hundreds of guards and young men can resist.

After capturing these two places, continue to advance to the northwest and capture Junzhou and Yunyang, which also have few troops stationed, to completely solve the danger on the western front.

This series of arrangements is to take advantage of the lack of strength of the Ming army in this area in a short period of time to seize as much territory as possible, especially in some important areas of traffic arteries.

Such as Biyang, Yunyang and other places.

These places now have the same feature. The local Ming army is weak, and it is unlikely to receive reinforcements in a short period of time. Even if the troops sent by the Township Protection Army are small or weak, they are enough to take them with confidence.

Only the southern and northern routes, Luo Zhixue did not make much changes.

The Fifth Mixed Brigade is still stationed in Xiangyang City, and has not even gone to Yicheng near the south. Even defending Xiangyang City is actually relatively reluctant, let alone taking the initiative to attack.

The same is true for the northern line. The ministries on the northern line are now facing the threat of Hong Chengchou's troops. At present, they are mainly based on defensive operations based on pass routes, and they will not easily change their previous strategies.

After these strategic deployments last night, Luo Zhixue continued to lead the [-]st Infantry Brigade, [-]st Cavalry Brigade, [-]st Artillery Brigade, Personal Battalion, and [-]st Supply Battalion to go north to Dengzhou.

Even if Sun Hongcai fled to Dengzhou, Luo Zhixue must not let Sun Hongcai roam around in Dengzhou for too long.

After all, Dengzhou happened to be near Xinye City, with Nanyang City to the northeast, Xiangyang City to the south, Guanghua to the southwest, and Zhenping to the north.

Luo Zhixue would definitely not let the Ming army drive such a big nail in the hinterland of Dengzhou.

Luo Zhixue led the army all the way north, heading straight for Dengzhou.

And Sun Hongcai, who had just led his army to Dengzhou, had not had time to catch his breath when he learned that the pursuit of the bandits behind him was less than ten miles away from Dengzhou.

Ten miles away, if the two armies were in an open formation, it might be difficult to get close to each other for several days, but in the state of pursuit, the bandit army from the south would be able to kill them within an hour or two.

"How come these god-killing bandit soldiers came so fast!" Sun Hongcai cursed.

The governor of Dengzhou on the side said in a flustered face: "Sun Zongbing, what to do now, I heard that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the security thieves, this is how to do it."

"I will rely on you, Zongbing Sun, to resist the thieves in the future. Don't worry, I will mobilize some young and strong people in the city to help defend the city, and I will also let the big gentry in the city contribute money and food. I will never treat you badly." Sun Zongbing your soldiers."

Looking at the despised look on his face a few days ago, even Sun Hongcai refused to let Sun Hongcai enter the city when Sun Hongcai led his troops through Dengzhou, and even refused to send the military supplies. Sun Hongcai groaned in his heart. One voice: "It's only now to burn incense, it's too late!"

But even though he thought so in his heart, Sun Hongcai still said: "This is a troublesome lord, and please let the Yamen servants, young and strong, etc. go to the top of the city to garrison immediately. My department is new to the city, first slow down, and then go to the top of the city to defend the city." .”

"Besides, our army is exhausted after a long battle, and we have no food or pay. I also hope that the gentry in the city will generously donate their money and help each other!"

After hearing what Sun Hongcai said, several officials headed by Zhizhou breathed a sigh of relief.

With Sun Hongcai's [-] army and [-] elite cavalry, they have hope of keeping Dengzhou. Although it is still small, it is better than no hope, right?

But even though Sun Hongcai had agreed to stay and guard the city, many of the gentry and common people in the city who had heard the news, including the officials, were all panicked, and many people were scrambling to escape from the city.

If it was replaced by ordinary thieves, most of them would not escape from the city, because it is more dangerous to flee the city and go to the countryside. Those ordinary thieves usually cannot attack the city, but they can attack the villages one by one. Needless to say, there is no need to say more about the miserable scenes where the thieves have passed.

Therefore, when ordinary thieves come to kill them, whether it is ordinary people or wealthy gentry, they will often choose to hide in the city.

But, when the rural protection army comes, they often don't want to hide in the city. Instead, they scramble to escape from the city and run to the countryside to avoid the flames of war.

This is mainly because the people here in Dengzhou have gradually realized that the rural protection army is different from ordinary thieves.

Ordinary thieves came to kill them, just like locusts, killing and burning and looting.

As for the rural protection army, after they capture a certain place, especially a rural area, they will not burn, kill and loot on a large scale. Instead, they will take the initiative to wipe out the local bandits, bandits and deserters one by one. The official yamen ruled.

Except for the need to pay taxes, basically there will not be too many restrictions, and even if taxes are paid, the amount will not be too much.

Many gentry pay taxes with the idea of ​​spending money to eliminate disasters.

Not to mention, these thieves of the rural protection army are very polite. As long as you pay the extra tax, they will basically not come to disturb you.

Even if someone from a certain gentry family was still an official in the Ming Dynasty, it would generally not be difficult.

In the area under the control of the Township Protection Army, there are actually many gentry families who are officials in the court. For these gentry owners, the Township Protection Army basically treats them equally:
As long as you pay your taxes honestly, even if your lord is a court elder of the Ming Dynasty, the Township Protection Army will usually not embarrass you too much, at most it is just monitoring.

The premise is that you don't foolishly yell publicly that a certain official is our master, and that in the future he will definitely gather Ding Qingzhuang to cooperate with Master Wang to counterattack and other silly words!

It's best to just find a reason to say that our relatives can't control what my master does, and that his being an official has nothing to do with us.

For these gentry families who publicly stated that they had drawn a clear line from family members who were officials of the Ming court, the Xiangbao Army often turned a blind eye and ignored them.

The Township Protection Army has always been very disciplined, as long as the big gentry under its rule do not resist clearly, the Township Protection Army will not be too embarrassing.

Rules, this has always been one thing that the Township Protection Army has emphasized.

And the more the Township Protection Army insisted on rules, even if the rules were a little stricter, it gave the big gentry a lot of confidence.

How should I put it, at least they know that even if the township protection army comes to kill them, their family name will not be in danger, and even their family wealth can be preserved.

These thieves are different from ordinary thieves!
Therefore, many wealthy gentry escaped from the city. In fact, they didn't have to worry about any danger. On the contrary, it was more dangerous to stay in the city.

After all, when the two armies are at war, no one will be afraid of accidental injury.

Many gentry and common people in Dengzhou fled one after another, trying to avoid the tragic offensive and defensive battle in Dengzhou that was about to break out.

It's just that they all fled in vain, because only two hours later, after getting the emergency money and food and looting all the official warehouses, Sun Hongcai hurriedly escaped from Dengzhou City with his army, and by the way He also took away the only more than 400 guard soldiers in Dengzhou City.

The Dengzhou offensive and defensive battle expected by many people was simply impossible, because all the defenders ran away in one go.

The escaped Sun Hongcai went straight to Neixiang, but he didn't plan to stay in Neixiang for long. He planned to continue fleeing in the northwest direction, and finally fled all the way to Lushi County in Henan Prefecture.

Only by escaping from the Nanyang Basin completely and fleeing to the Henan Mansion under the government's control will he feel safe!
But staying in Nanyang Mansion and sticking to Dengzhou or Neixiang may be beneficial to the court, so that it can plant a nail in Nanyang Mansion.

But Sun Hongcai didn't want to fight to the death with the Township Protection Army, and he didn't want to end up defeated like Lu Xiangsheng.

Sun Hongcai fled all the way towards the Lu family.

The panicked Dengzhou officials and gentry were left behind!

After Sun Hongcai fled, Dengzhou Zhizhou and Tongzhi and other officials gathered to discuss city defense matters many times, and called the gentry in the city to go there many times. However, some gentry went there at first, but it didn't take long for them to go.

Even the yamen servants fled one after another, and the recruited young and strong civilian husbands scattered and went home.

The huge city of Dengzhou became an undefended city because of Sun Hongcai's sudden departure.

In the afternoon of May [-]th, when the army of protecting the countryside arrived at the outskirts of Dengzhou City, Zhizhou in Dengzhou City hung himself to death in despair, and Tongzhi absconded.

The rest of the officials surrendered under the leadership of Tong San Dong Xin.

And Dengzhou was also the first city encountered by the Baoxiang Army during its campaign that surrendered without a fight. Tong Judgment Dong Quanxin was also the first civil official of the Ming court who voluntarily surrendered to the Baoxiang Army!
(End of this chapter)