Paper Maker: This is the end of the Ming Dynasty in Liaozhai

Chapter 166 "Soldiers in the World" Tactic

Hearing Wang Congyi's words, Yang Guodong could only helplessly say: "Governor, there are 5 to 6 rebels in Jinan Prefecture. If we want to divide our troops into two places, we only have more than [-] people in one place. It is too risky to divide our troops to protect the logistics." big."

Wang Congyi can see it, he can see it naturally, but there is no way to do it, the guards under them are useless at all, it is okay when there are many people, at least there is an advantage in strength, if the troops are divided, I am afraid Even the safety of the canal cannot be guaranteed.

"Then we can't watch the rebels grow up."

Wang Congyi gritted his teeth, hating himself for taking over such a mess, with no food and soldiers, how could he put down the rebellion?

"We have controlled the canal first, and then we will report to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to send more troops."

Yang Guodong said in a deep voice: "At that time, if we exaggerate the strength of the rebel army, the imperial court will definitely send more troops."

Originally, the imperial court was planning to mobilize troops from Nanzhili, but after the canal was cut off, the imperial court was worried that there would be problems in this rich place in the south of the Yangtze River, so instead of dispatching troops from Nanzhili, it transferred troops from Shanxi. The imperial court should be able to mobilize another [-] to [-] troops from the southern Zhili army, which should be enough to restrain the Jinan government.

"Ugh!"

Wang Congyi sighed: "I'm afraid the imperial court won't give us such a long time."

It will take at least two or three months to completely control the canal. The siege of the army does not mean that all the soldiers can rush over the city like a swarm. There are a lot of equipment needed for the siege. Now there are only three or four in the army. Small equipment such as the flying bridge across the river, wooden mantle chariots, ballistas, and flying hooks built in Cangzhou last month, and large siege equipment such as breaking hammers, punching cars, and ladders had to be built on site.

Unless there is no other action from the Jinan Mansion in these two or three months, those opponents in the court will definitely impeach him. Those people will not take the overall situation into consideration, and will never let him go if they can kick him out.

After all, countering rebellion is very profitable. With so much money and food, a little bit of brainpower is a lot of benefits. More importantly, Shandong is not a poor place like Liaodong. The gentry can collect 10,000+ taels of silver casually by collecting donations. There are not a few people who are tempted. It is estimated that the imperial decree to question the crime will arrive before the reinforcements arrive.

"It's the best option."

Yang Guodong just said a word, and then fell silent.

...

After resting for a day, the army set off again, because Linqing Prefecture was not far from Dongchang Mansion, so the army did not continue to take the boat this time.

.........

Dongchang Mansion.

On the wall of the north gate, Tang Xiangjin and others looked at the army winding in the distance, with serious expressions on their faces.

"Old Liang, are all the supplies for the defense of the city ready?"

Tang Xiangjin said in a deep voice, besides the soldiers, what is more important for defending the city are the materials for defending the city, such as bows and arrows, rolling logs, stones, gunpowder and other materials for defending the city. Only frontal attack.

"These things are all ready."

Liang Ping nodded and said, "As long as the opponent doesn't attack the city for a long time, these things are enough for a year or two."

Speaking of this, Liang Ping paused for a moment: "But what about those rich and powerful families in the city now? These people are all hidden dangers."

Hearing Liang Ping's words, Tang Xiangjin also frowned. After taking down Dongchang Mansion, they also wiped out the two largest wealthy families in the city in the name of helping Jiang Renxi, but the others only asked the other party to hand in the nomination certificate, but at that time the city There are no high-ranking officials anymore, and the nomination certificate is just killing some sesame seed officials. This kind of nomination certificate is of no use at all.

Now that the imperial army is attacking, these people have become an unstable factor, but it is not enough to kill them directly. According to Su Hao's intention, the attitude towards these wealthy and powerful families is not to win over or target them, unless someone is willing to take the initiative to seek refuge.

Now that their general trend has not been achieved, they are simply unable to fight against all the rich and powerful families in the world. Those who can become one of the rich and powerful families are basically local big families with many clansmen. To attack other cities, you have to face the desperate resistance of these rich and powerful families.

Don't underestimate these rich and powerful families. These people have a high status in the clan, and they can easily recruit hundreds of family children. Coupled with the large number of tenant farmers, they can easily recruit 2000 Xiangyong. Why did Xu Hongru It will be defeated, mainly because of the resistance of these wealthy families.

If it weren't for these rich and powerful families, how could they be able to defend so many big cities with just those guards? There are nine guards and ten guards in Shandong, all of which are full of more than 5 people, but now it is more than one-third Well, what a fart that one or two thousand guard soldiers can hold a city!

It is these rich and powerful families who help recruit the township brave to defend the city. If there is no help from these rich and powerful families, then just relying on those officials who are prefects and prefects, how can they have such a high prestige? defend the city.

As a result, Xu Hongru was unable to capture some large cities, but could only occupy some small counties. There were no heavy cities to defend, and his soldiers were not elite. It can be said that Xu Hongru was not defeated by the imperial court, but by these wealthy families. .

So Su Hao's attitude is very clear, as long as he submits a nomination certificate and draws a clear line with the imperial court, he can live in peace. However, this time, there are no high-ranking officials left in the Dongchang Mansion, only some minor officials. Those wealthy families may not be willing to grow old. Stay honest.

"Send more people to keep an eye on it."

After thinking for a while, Tang Xiangjin shook his head and said, "These people can't be killed casually, otherwise it will be difficult to attack other cities in the future."

After a pause, Tang Xiangjin's voice turned cold: "But if those people dare to make any changes, they will be killed without mercy!"

Hearing Tang Xiangjin's words, Liang Ping nodded.

...

Not long after, the imperial army formed a formation and approached slowly, and then stopped at a position hundreds of feet away from the city wall. At the same time, on the other side of the canal, a large number of soldiers began to build a camp.

In the Central Army, Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong looked at the heavily fortified city wall with serious expressions.

"Mr. Yang, do you want to try to attack the city?"

Wang Congyi asked, if you don't try to attack the city, it will be difficult for the court to explain.

"Ok!"

Yang Guodong nodded, and raised the command flag in his hand. Soon, the drums of war were thundering, and artillery, large and small, were pushed to the front of the formation, and then began to be aimed.

At the same time, the siege ballista was also slowly moving forward. In front of the ballista, a large number of soldiers were carrying the flying bridge across the river, approaching the city wall under the cover of wooden chariots and shields.

On the city wall, Tang Xiangjin watched the scene coldly, and with a wave of his hand, the archers on the turrets, enemy towers, and shops all focused on their guard, and at the same time, old bowl guns and tiger squat guns began to aim.

"Old Tang, why don't you pull out those Hongyi cannons to try their power?"

Seeing Tang Xiangjin pull out those old small cannons, Liang Ping couldn't help but wondered, compared with these old small cannons, those Hongyi cannons were more powerful and had a longer range, the longest distance was a thousand feet. There is no point of accuracy at a distance of a thousand feet, but now that the imperial army is within a few hundred feet, a single shot is enough to kill and injure many people.

"Don't expose Hongyi Cannon for now."

Hearing this, Tang Xiangjin shook his head and said: "Now we have only seven or eight Hongyi cannons, and the number is too small. If it is exposed now, it will easily attract the opponent's masters to target, and it will not change the situation if it is exposed now. It is better to wait a suitable opportunity,"

Killing hundreds of thousands of soldiers is of no use at all, and it is easy to attract experts to target. For first-class warriors, as long as they have magic weapons, it is not difficult to destroy these red barbarian cannons. As long as there is no delay, the opponent can completely destroy the cannons Then get away easily.

It's better to wait for a suitable opportunity and rely on the power of these Hongyi cannons to establish the battle situation in one fell swoop. Anyway, now that Dongchang Lake is here, the opponent can't easily get close to the city wall. They are the defenders who have an absolute advantage.

Three hundred feet!
Two hundred feet!
boom!boom!boom!
At this time, the artillery on the urn outside the city gate began to show its power, and more than a dozen tiger squatting cannons ignited at the same time, and thousands of stones and iron beads rained down on the army outside the city.

For a moment, the imperial army that was slowly approaching suddenly turned on their backs. Although only dozens of people were injured and fewer died, the movements of the imperial army were suffocated.

At 150 feet, the imperial army had already reached the lake, and a large number of soldiers began to rush to lay the flying bridge. Some of them rushed up the arch bridge and rushed towards the city wall. Some soldiers set up tiger crouching guns and fired at the city wall. On the high city wall, stones and iron balls can only be shot under the base of the wall, leaving little white marks on the bricks of the city wall.

The only thing that had a record was the siege ballista. Hundreds of crossbow arrows shot into the city wall, but most of them were blocked by the crenels of the city wall. Only a few of them hit the soldiers with bows and arrows on the crenels.

"put!"

At this time, Tang Xiangjin waved his hand to give an order, and thousands of arrows rained down immediately, and at the same time, hundreds of bowl guns and tiger squat guns on the city wall fired at the same time.

Arrows, stones and iron balls are overwhelming!

At this moment, a tragic scene appeared. The soldiers who were rushing to lay the fly bridge, the gunners who fired, and the soldiers on the arch bridge fell down one by one in an instant like wheat under the strong wind. The lake fire was stained red with blood. At least hundreds of people casualties in this attack.

In the Central Army Department, Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong frowned. They didn't feel sorry for the hundreds of people who were killed or injured. They didn't care about the trivial matters. The general defense is a headache for them.

"Order, retreat!"

Yang Guodong raised the command flag, this time it was just a test, since there was no chance, he had no choice but to withdraw.

Soon, the bell rings!

The soldiers under the city wall receded like a tide, leaving only a field of corpses and some wounded soldiers who were too seriously wounded to move, howling in place.

"Mr. Yang, there are very few masters in this rebel army. Can you organize masters to seize the city?"

At this time, Wang Congyi suddenly asked.

Hearing Wang Congyi's words, Yang Guodong just said coldly: "Governor Wang, don't mention this matter, otherwise it will cause dissatisfaction among others, and there is no need to fight this battle."

Organize masters to seize the city?

Wang Congyi really dared to think that those who can jump up to a city wall more than three feet high with light work are at least second-rate warriors, and those who can become second-rate warriors are either hundreds of households in Jinyiwei from all over the country or military generals in the army. They are really those big soldiers.

People are just warriors, not gods, and entering the enemy camp alone is courting death. Experts compete, and in an instant, they enter the enemy camp alone and are besieged by hundreds of soldiers. The opponent's masters can easily attack and kill them .

What's the difference between letting them seize the city and letting them die!
If Wang Congyi dared to issue such an order, those people would probably be able to send Wang Congyi to see the King of Hades tonight.

Hearing this, Wang Congyi also knew that he had said something stupid, so he could only smile embarrassingly.

...

There was no hope of attacking the city, so Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong set their goal on dredging the canal, and dispatched a large number of soldiers to various counties to recruit civilians to dig up the filled river.

.........

Jinan Prefecture, Jinyiwei Yamen.

Su Hao looked at the information sent back from Dongchang Mansion, and lightly tapped the handrail with his fingers. The action of the imperial army was beyond his expectation. He thought that the other party would attack Jinan Mansion in two ways, but he didn't expect that the other party would Gather all the troops and besiege Dongchang Mansion.

"Qianhu, should we send someone to support Sixth Brother and the others?"

Jiang Shizhong asked, now that the entire imperial army is besieging Dongchang Mansion, with Tang Xiangjin's strength, they may not be able to sustain it.

"No, Dongchang Mansion City is high and deep, so it's not that easy to be taken down."

Su Hao shook his head and said, "Now we have more important things to do. You and Ayang will lead troops to go out immediately, each with [-] soldiers and horses to take back other counties."

"Qianhu, is this too urgent?"

Hearing this, Jiang Shizhong was stunned for a moment. He obviously gave up two county towns before, so why did he want to attack again?
"Now that Wang Congyi and Yang Guodong have made it clear that they want to restore water transportation, they will not attack Jinan Prefecture in a short time."

Su Hao said in a deep voice: "Now we have no soldiers to recruit around here. If we want to recruit more soldiers, we can only win other counties."

Before, he was worried that Wang Congyi and the others would divide their troops, so he gave up the two counties near Dezhou, which were too far away from Jinan Prefecture, and he might not be able to hold them if he didn't give up.

Jinan Prefecture has 4 prefectures and 26 counties. It is a veritable big government. Now it belongs to them only six surrounding counties. There were very few surrendered soldiers in other counties. The main reason was that he did not take those counties. Those who wanted to join the Skitarii worried that their families would be liquidated by the local yamen.

Now that the troops around Jinan Mansion have been exhausted, even if they are recruited again, there will be no recruits. After all, the conditions he offered before are already from heaven. mu of land, exempt from three-person corvee, and exempt from ten mu of land tax.

Two to thirty taels of silver for one mu of land, five to sixty taels of silver for two mu of land, and the latter two conditions cannot be bought with silver. After that, he even exempted the rent for one year. It can be said that he has to spend money to recruit a soldier. Hundreds of taels of silver, it was this sky-high price that allowed him to recruit nearly 30 young and strong soldiers in five months.

But this has reached the limit. It can be said that in Jinan Mansion, every household has at least one member of the Guardian Army, and there will not be many recruits.

And after recruiting a large number of recruits, he also discovered a strange phenomenon, that is, he didn't seem to have to win the hearts of the people anymore, and the hearts of the people in Jinan Prefecture were all on his side.

The counties around Jinan Prefecture are relatively wealthy and have a relatively large population. There are about 10 people in a county. He recruited almost [-] recruits in Qihe County. Except for the landlord, almost every household has a member of the Skitarii, and even the family members have joined his army, and he is trying to win the hearts of the people.

However, he recruited soldiers to give such a big benefit, and it can also be said that he will exempt all taxes for the next few decades. Land tax for ten acres of land.

Got it!
The corvee is exempted, and ten acres of land are exempted from taxation. Maybe these people have no land now and cannot enjoy the benefits of tax exemption, but it does not mean that there will be no land in the future. Conscripting [-] soldiers is equivalent to recruiting [-] talents, which means that in the next few decades , he basically doesn't want to collect any taxes in Jinan Prefecture.

However, his only advantage is that he still has a large amount of land in his hands. These lands can receive rents, and he is quite left-handed, exchanging corvees for rents, and then using these rents as military expenses.

It’s just that this method means that he has a small territory now, and he can barely support it after raiding his house and robbing grain and fertilizer. If the territory grows in the future, this approach will not work. If he doesn’t pay taxes everywhere, he will take it. Raise hundreds of thousands of troops.

But now he doesn't need to think about this issue. He is now rebelling like walking a tightrope, and when he will fall is a problem. Why think so far!
Besides, if there were hundreds of thousands of troops, he should attack those country gentry. After all, the land occupied by feudal lords and big rich families is only a small number, and the real bulk is the middle class gentry. Thousands of acres, and there are many of these people, at least two or three in a village.

When he has an army of tens of millions, any wealthy family is a joke, even if he gnaws at each city, he can sweep the world.

He called this model "the world of soldiers". After all, the Ming Dynasty was "the emperor and the gentry share the world", which means that the emperor and the gentry share the world, and his "soldiers" means sharing the world with the soldiers.

The advantage of this "soldier in the world" is that it is easy to withdraw troops. He gives the benefits to the soldiers, and the soldiers will naturally be loyal to him. After all, being loyal to him is loyal to their own interests.

However, this "soldiers in the world" also has its disadvantages. This is equivalent to giving the interests of the gentry class to the soldiers. Now he has not many troops, and the territory is not large, so it can't be shown. The conflict will be more obvious. After all, the money and grain in his hands are limited now. When they run out, he has to talk to the gentry class about paying taxes.

This also means that he has to find some people to rule the world for him. Confucianism can go away. After all, the current gentry class can be said to be all Confucian children. The interests of these people are distributed to the soldiers. If these people continue to govern the world, they may be stabbed in the back at any time.

(End of this chapter)