Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 388 0383 [Multiple uses of captives]

Among the four famous towns in Mei County, Guochuan Town and Xiegu Town have declined rapidly since Zhu Ming raised his army.

Not only are merchants cut off, but the town loses its economic vitality.

Moreover, Zhizhou repaired the pass city, forced the nearby people to serve as soldiers, and all the young and strong in the town were taken to guard the pass.

The general guarding the pass in Guochuan Town, surnamed Zhe, immediately gave up Guancheng and ran away together when he met the Zhejia army who had fled back.

There are even many kinds of routs of the family army, all of which can be gathered along the way, and they can't escape even on one road in the mountains.The rout soldiers didn't have much food in their hands, so they joined them when they encountered a large army, just wanting to get a bite of food.

In a blink of an eye, I came to Xieyuguan, and the guard was called Zhong Shizhong.

There are two tasks in the planting division. One is to send and receive and transfer the food and grass of the whole army. If the food and grass are not enough, the planting division will come forward to ask for it; To be blocked in the praise ramp.

Xieyuguan is also called Xieguguan. Guancheng has developed into a commercial market town, namely Xiegu Town.

In the north and south of Xiegu Town, there are large areas of private houses and a lot of cultivated land.

The south side of Xiegu Town, like Baogukou, was first built with dams and irrigation canals, and turned into a reservoir in New China.

Even the terrain is similar, with a river in the middle and cliffs and plank roads on both sides.

If Zhu Ming led troops to kill him normally, and the government heavily guarded him, he would face the same problem that he encountered as a teacher - this way is not going to work, so he can only fly over!
"The Prime Minister's army is defeated, the Prime Minister's army is defeated..."

The Zhongshi stopped the nonsense of the soldiers under his command, and hurriedly boarded the Guancheng to check the situation.

But seeing the plank roads on both sides of the strait, a large number of Western troops are rushing back, and they are all flying flags with the word "zhe".

What about the family army?

The horrified Zhongshi was inexplicable, all the Zhejia troops came back in front of them, could it be that the Zhongjia army was completely wiped out?

He didn't dare to open the city gate easily, and was about to hang down the baskets by hanging ropes, and first hang a few soldiers up to ask questions.In the end, I took a look at Guan, good guy, a bunch of generals surnamed Zhe.

The face recognition is successful, and there is no need to check the identity.

Groups of soldiers entered Xiegu Pass, and the division quickly asked, "What happened?"

Zhe Keqiu said angrily: "Baogukou is a dangerous place, even more dangerous than Xiegukou. It is rainy season in Hanzhong, Baoshui soared, making it difficult to sail. Hundreds of artillery vehicles were deployed on both sides of the downstream, and most of the small boats of the Western Army were overturned by the waves, and the soldiers threw away their weapons and went to the shore to beg for surrender."

The planting divisions were even more puzzled: "How come your Excellency's Zhejia army has not lost much, but our Zhongjia army has disappeared?"

"There are also some kinds of family troops in our army," Zhe Keqiu continued, "The captured Western troops were released by the bandits, and the morale of the whole army was low. At that time, the Zhejia troops were stationed on the east side of Baogu, and there were no trails. It can be approached. However, the Zhong family army was stationed on the west side of Baogu. The bandits attacked from the Shahe River, a tributary of Baoshui, and all the Zhong family army fled on the south bank of the Sha River. The Zhejia army could not cross the river to rescue them."

After listening to this narration, Zhong Zhong felt that his eyes went dark, and he couldn't stand upright and almost fell down.

Not only did the Zhong family army disappear, but none of his brothers, nephews, and grandchildren seemed to have escaped.

The Zhong teacher calmed down and asked, "Why did so many soldiers escape, but none of the Zhong family generals disappeared?"

Zhe Keqiu said: "I don't know too well, but the terrain there is complicated, and the passage to the north of the Zhongjia army's camp is narrow. If the whole army flees, there will be no way for many people to stand on the passage, and they will push each other and fall into Baoshui."

The Zhongshi Division ordered the soldiers to be summoned to call the Zhongjia army who had fled back for questioning.

Those soldiers said what they said, and although they said it in a variety of ways, the basic situation was consistent with Zhe Keqiu.

"Destroy the plank road!"

Regardless of grief, the planting teacher immediately ordered the plank road to be demolished, and at the same time sent someone to Fengxiang to report the news.

……

Fengxiang.

Gao Qiu is writing a letter, urging all the armies to get the results quickly.

The current military rations are very tight, and the new wheat in the north is almost exhausted, and the next step is to rely on the new rice in the south that has been transported thousands of miles away.The rice from the south had to be supplied to Tong Guan's army, and it had to be transported to Kaifeng for grain, and the rest was sent to Shaanxi.

The Baoxie Road and Tangluo Road were blocked by bandits, and it was even worse on the Chencang Road. The plank road has not been repaired yet!
The plank road of Chencang Road is also called Lianyun Stack, with a total length of 470 miles.

The thief general seemed to have no chance of winning, so he simply demolished all the plank roads in the north of Yuguan and in the area occupied by the thieves.Lime and clay were even used to paste the stack holes. When the Western Army repaired the plank roads, they had to ask masons to cut the stack holes first.

Chencang Daoist General Yao Gu was so tempered by this trick that he honestly sent people to build the plank road every day.

The chief general of the Western Army along the way has become the infrastructure contractor of the Great Song Dynasty.

The sound of hurried footsteps came, and the soldiers led the messengers in: "Taiwei Gao, the entire army of the Zhong family has been wiped out, and the army of the Zhe family has fled back to Xiegu Pass."

"what?"

Gao Qiu stood up with a look of disbelief.

The messenger said: "The supervising army kept urging the battle, and said that Zhong Jing was suspected of colluding with the bandits. Before the water in the water became shallow, Zhong Jing sent troops to attack by boat. After the defeat, the morale was lost. The camp was attacked by the bandits again. , As a result, the entire army was wiped out. Zhedutong was blocked by the bandit navy, and it was difficult to cross the river to rescue him, so he was chased and killed by the bandits and fled back."

"This Li Xun is such a jerk!" Gao Qiu yelled at the supervising army. He could urge the war by himself, but he complained that the supervising army urged him too hard.

Li Xun, the eunuch and supervisor of the army, is Liang Shicheng's confidant.

Ever since he came to Fengxiang Mansion, he didn't even pay attention to Gao Qiu.

Gao Qiu inquired about the situation carefully, called brothers Liu Xi and Liu Qi, and after talking about it, he asked, "What should we do now?"

Liu Xi replied: "Although there are only [-] kinds of family troops and [-] township soldiers in Mei County guarding Xiegu Pass in Zhongshi's division, it is possible to bring back [-] remnants, so we can keep Xiegu Pass intact. The terrain there It's dangerous, if the bandits come after them, maybe they can take the opportunity to kill the bandits!"

The Zhejia army had no losses, and there were more than 7000 people left, and more than 3000 kinds of family troops were gathered, and their strength had already exceeded [-].

Liu Kai said: "More than 2 soldiers are more than enough to defend Xiegu Pass. It is more than enough to send troops to rescue. It would be cumbersome to send troops. You can send one to Mei County and wait for news at all times. If the bandits are defeated, the soldiers of Mei County will immediately go south and fight with them. If the Western Army is unstable, the soldiers stationed in Mei County can also go to the rescue."

"This method is wonderful!"

Gao Qiu thought it made sense, so he said to Liu Kai: "I will give you three thousand soldiers and horses, and they will be stationed in Mei County immediately."

"My nephew will die!" Liu Kai bowed his hands and accepted the order.

……

But when Zhu Ming came to Xiegu, he used Guochuan Town as a military and grain depot, and took a two-day rest to recover the energy of the soldiers.

At the same time, they sent people to the north to investigate and soon learned that the plank road at Xiegukou had been demolished.

Zhu Ming was not discouraged, but ordered: "Keep the promise, release all the prisoners except the generals, and give each of them three buckets of food."

Tens of thousands of prisoners of war received their rations, and immediately thanked them with gratitude, and then left happily.

Zhu Ming led the troops to follow from a distance, and walked northward at a leisurely pace.

Those prisoners of war had already seen Xiegu Pass, and suddenly found that the plank road was cut off, and they verbally exported to the mothers in the plantation division.

"The Zhong Family Army is back." Zhe Keqiu said.

Teacher Zhong felt inconceivable: "These soldiers are endless on the plank road. There may be thousands of them. Will Zhu thief really dare to release them all?"

Zhe Keqiu said, "Baogukou has already been released once."

The teacher Zhong said: "Maybe some spies got in."

It doesn't matter what you can ask for: "Those are all decided by His Excellency Zhong Jiajun."

How else can a planter decide?

Let's put it back, I'm afraid there will be spies, and bandits will follow and kill, and there will be chaos at that time, and Xiegu Pass will probably disappear immediately.

Don't let them go back, they are all from the family army, and they are all from his hometown.

The planter was hard-hearted, he gritted his teeth and pretended not to see it.

But the officers under his command kept coming to plead for mercy. Everyone had relatives who went south, and they might be among those captives.

With red eyes in the middle division, he said to the officers: "My brothers, nephews, and grandchildren have all gone to suppress the thieves. Do I feel better? For the current plan, we must stick to the Xiegu Pass and not let us go. Thieves are sweeping Shaanxi!"

The officers retreated silently. Although they agreed with Zhong Shizhong's statement, they were still aggrieved.

Seeing that there was no response from Xieguguan, Zhu Ming ordered again: "Give the prisoners axes, saws, hammers, and planes."

There were also craftsmen among the captives, and they were quickly given a full set of equipment.

The axes were the most, there were hundreds of them, and the captives retreated to the gentle mountain to cut trees in turn.

In order to go home, the prisoners worked day and night, just wanting to repair the demolished plank road as soon as possible.

Three buckets of grain per person, that is nearly forty catties.

Let them take this little food. Zhu Ming sent more military food, and let the prisoners make their own food in the valley.

The captives were so moved that they were about to cry. General Zhu is so benevolent, he actually continued to provide food.

They worked harder to build plank roads one by one, and they worked in rotation 24 hours a day.

The plank road is getting closer and closer, and it has already entered the range of bows and arrows of the guards.

To shoot or not?
If you use the bed crossbow or the god arm bow, you can shoot it a few days ago, but it has been difficult for the seed division to make up their minds.

They are all soldiers of the same family, how can he do it?

Zhong Zhong ran to find a discount: "Your Excellency is the deputy general of Zhonglu, so I will let you guard the pass."

Zhe Keqiu said: "On the opposite side are the Zhong family's army. The Zhong family has a great kindness to the Zhe family. I can't be ungrateful. I only kill thieves and bandits, not my own people."

Teacher Zhong suddenly came to his senses, and began to suspect that Zhe Keqiu had colluded with Zhu thief.

Even if there is no collusion, I'm afraid they don't want to offend Zhu thief.

In the middle of the division, the vest felt cold in an instant, and he had few soldiers, so he could ask for more soldiers.What if the Zhejia army suddenly rebelled?

The teacher stood in a daze, Zhe Keqiu left silently.

The captives repaired the plank road several meters long, and the planter ordered in tears: "Shoot arrows over there!"

The soldiers of the Zhong family army raised their bows and arrows, and by coincidence, they all shot crookedly.

The planter was furious: "Didn't you eat?"

An officer replied: "I haven't shot for a long time, and my hands are very bad."

The more than 3000 kinds of family troops brought back by Zhe Keqiu have already contacted the Zhong family army in Xieguguan.

By the way, I brought the news that the thieves did not kill the prisoners, and the content that the thieves asked the prisoners to recite.Although the content is very lengthy, I remember the basic meaning. It is nothing more than two points: the emperor and corrupt officials are too bad, and General Zhu rebelled for the people; Sichuan does not charge exorbitant taxes, and the soldiers and people there live well.

"Aim and shoot!" Zhong Zhong scolded.

The officer pretended to draw his bow, and drew it fully.

An arrow flew out, shooting even more crookedly.

On the opposite side are all the brothers from his own family, even if they are not relatives, they are also from the same village.

The teacher looked at the archers, and the archers also looked at him.

Speechless.

The division inspected the barracks and found that the soldiers were packing their luggage.

Then I went to Zhejiajun to inspect, but couldn't get in at all, and was stopped outside.

The captives were still working overtime, lighting torches to do their homework at night, and no one could stop them from going home.

(End of this chapter)