Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 140 Hunting, Retreat!
Song Qingshu never dreamed that during the three years of Chongzhen's Spring Festival, he would spend it so bleakly around the fire, gnawing on half-baked sweet potatoes, shivering from the cold.

Zhang Xianzhong agreed to stay here for a month to wait and see, and then food became the top priority. More than 1 people eat horse chews, which is not a small amount. Song Qingshu had to open the last granary. Eat, otherwise, the taste of starving in this world of ice and snow will be uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Song Qingshu also got a benefit from opening the warehouse to release grain. It seems that in order to compensate him, Zhang Xianzhong asked him to help rectify the army. He said it was to rectify the army, but in fact it was an opportunity to expand his strength.

The origin of Zhang Xianzhong's peasant army is extremely complicated. The main force of more than a thousand cavalry is mainly composed of peasants from the eighteen villages in Qingjian and nearby border soldiers gathered. Although it was a peasant uprising, the backbone of the early peasant army was actually composed of fugitive frontier soldiers. The Sarhu War and the failure of several aids to Liao, tens of thousands of defeated soldiers fled back from outside the pass. Shanxi Bingbeidao once cheated and beheaded the defeated soldiers at the Longmen level [-] in order to claim credit. source of unrest.

There is also a lack of payment. On the one hand, the imperial court is counting on the frontier army to suppress the uprising of the peasant army. Half of the food was eaten by the generals who led the troops, and very few of them went to the soldiers. Therefore, mutiny became a norm in the late Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng and Shen Yiyuan successively encouraged the frontier troops to rebel. There were more than 300 officers and soldiers, including mutinies and defeated Liaodong troops.

The remaining nearly 3000 people are a team of hungry people who followed up together. There are small drum deserters and bandits and thieves. , thinking that the sky is not afraid of the earth and the earth is not afraid, and sometimes he doesn't even give Zhang Xianzhong face.

The people in the eighteen villages in Qingjian couldn't move, and the cavalry that Zhang Xianzhong relied on as the main force couldn't make up their minds. Song Qingshu was the only team with more than 3000 hungry people who could move.

In twelve days, Song Qingshu straightened out the entire peasant army according to the government's establishment. 1000 people constituted a battalion, and a total of four battalions were organized. The cavalry battalion directly under Zhang Xianzhong, Bai Wenxuan and Feng Shuangli, and three infantry battalions commanded by him. Those of Zhang Xianzhong's direct descendants, Song Qingshu didn't move too much, just formalized the small bosses according to the original power, and decided who was in charge. This way of commanding, the responsibilities are clearly defined, and it is much more convenient.

As for the team of more than 3000 hungry people, Song Qingshu slashed several times. It turned out that those little bosses who were obedient and obedient could be kept. , When fighting, they are used as death squads, and those subordinates are also divided into various teams, so that they cannot be mixed into one force.

It’s not that no one has resisted before. Song Qingshu’s method of dealing with it is also simple. If you don’t give food, you will be hungry if you don’t obey. Hunger is always the best reason to compromise. Within three days, more than 3000 hungry people from northern Shaanxi died After being torn apart by Song Qingshu, there was no small force that could resist the command of his three brothers. The price he paid was that there were more than a dozen unjust dead ghosts in the old forest behind.

But what puzzled Zhang Xianzhong was that Song Qingshu didn't actually expand his strength much. After weeding out the old and the weak, some deserters, thugs, and some village tyrants and local ruffians who were originally strong in combat power could raise a thousand dollars, and Song Qingshu belonged to them. Under the command of his confidant Feng Shuangli, Song Qingshu picked out more than 600 of the remaining [-] strong men in Funiu Mountain, who were honest and honest, and looked like cumbersome farmers and stuffed them into his team. The biggest one is Zhang Xianzhong himself.

I really don't understand, Lao Zhang can only feel that his brother is too righteous!
…………

Shangluo Mountain, Orphan Ridge.

The heavy snow fell for three days in a row in the past [-] days, and there was no snow for more than a month after that. Even so, a heavy snow still piled up the mountains and covered the hay on the ground. Strictly speaking, these days, not only people have a hard life, but even animals have a hard life.

This group of sika deer is like this. Under the leadership of the deer king, they use their noses to dig through the thick snow on the ground, gnawing on the dry grass and moss under the snow. The deer herd are like an army, and the two old deer walk at the end. From time to time, the ears are propped left and right like antennas, listening to all the movements behind, and there are three rather strong deer shaking their heads from side to side in front.

Normally, these deer lived comfortably. According to the law at that time, these deer belonged to the king of Qin and were divided into the hunting grounds of the royal family. As far as the peasant army is concerned, they are unlucky today.

Lying in the snow, Song Qingshu's stomach was also turning over. These days, the landlord's house has no surplus food. He has been eating sweet potatoes and corn sticks for more than 500 days. Now he looks like sweet potatoes and feels like vomiting when he smells them. He really wanted to improve his life. A few days ago, the hunter sent out to investigate the army reported that he found a group of deer in the back mountain. At the risk of being discovered, Song Qingshu pulled out more than [-] people under his command and came to hunt them all.

The peasant army under his command was similar to Song Qingshu's. They sat and ate the mountain, and the food stored in Funiu Mountain had been almost exhausted. Originally, the combat troops could have two catties of food a day, but now there is only one catty left, that is, two sweet potatoes and one potato. The strong boy is not enough to fill the gaps between his teeth, and they urgently need some high-protein stuff to make up for it. These [-]-odd deer are really a godsend.

Wearing white cloaks, lying on the ground in the snow, not daring to move, tightly holding the short guns in their hands, everyone stared at the deer with red eyes, and waited with extreme nervousness for the deer to enter the encirclement.

However, Song Qingshu and his group of humans were not the only hungry predators. Seeing the deer walking and eating, half of the deer herd had already walked into the set traps, but at this moment, a tiger roared fiercely from the forest. The news came out, and then the snow-covered bushes trembled violently, and a two-meter-long South China tiger roared and rushed out of the forest, heading straight for the nearest old vigilant deer.

"Damn it!" Song Qingshu almost hit the stone with his fist. In order to ambush the group, they dug the trap overnight. They have been crawling in the snow since the morning and followed carefully, watching helplessly. Well, Cheng Yaojin who killed such a spoiler, the hungry tiger roared and ran wildly, and the frightened deer immediately fled out to the southeast of the trap, galloping quickly in the forest, sea and snow fields.

Show up!

He didn't care about hiding anymore, and led his men to stand up from the snow and chase the deer and tigers. A burst of flying arrows shot at them. Song Qingshu blew his whistle suddenly, and the peasant army who was tracking the deer from the other side also followed. He emerged from the snow, faced the herd of deer, and fiercely threw the javelin in his hand.

While throwing guns like migrating locusts, deer kept getting shot and fell to the ground. While throwing guns and shooting arrows, the peasant army screamed strangely. The deer group that broke through to the west finally stopped hesitantly. Song Qingshu breathed a sigh of relief after reading it. , The meat in the mouth will not fly away.

However, this giant tiger seems to have trouble with him today, and then human forces killed a wounded deer. Not satisfied, the tiger roared like a mountain shaking, and its four hooves turned up the snow foam. Gao, baring his teeth and claws, went straight to the nearest peasant army and rushed over.

These days, it is common for tigers to eat people. The Water Margin was written in the Ming Dynasty, Wu Song beat tigers, and Li Kui stabbed a nest of tigers to death with a simple knife. These are all true portrayals of the society at that time, and people’s fear of tigers is also from the heart. Yes, seeing the tiger rushing over, the first few peasant soldiers didn't even think about it, and started running away with a groan.

Seeing that the pocket array that he had tied up with great difficulty was about to be broken, the peasant army who was close to him screamed in fear and dodged around. Song Qingshu watched anxiously from behind, and shouted loudly.

"No one is allowed to retreat, whoever dares to retreat, the whole family will be kicked out of the team!"

Responding to Song Qingshu's shout, several small captains in the west also shouted, if those routs and thieves form a team, they should retreat at this time, who cares about you!However, these teams of farmers stopped obediently.

Looking back at the gigantic tiger roaring and rushing towards him, the nearest peasant soldiers trembled with fear and couldn't restrain their legs. Gritting their teeth, they knelt down suddenly and took the wooden sticks in their hands. The gun pointed at the tiger, and the next second, the hungry tiger also roared and rushed forward, swiping its giant claws, and the man flew out like a bowling ball.

…………

It was originally planned to catch all eighty deer in one go, but now a spoiler jumped out, only caught eight with wounds, and injured five others, especially the one who was swept away by the tiger's paw, who obviously hurt his internal organs and vomited There were several mouthfuls of blood, and I couldn't even walk, and was mixed up by several people.

However, the troublemaker, this eye-catching white-fronted tiger weighing more than 300 kilograms, also paid the price. A few spears were inserted into the tiger's skin. More than 500 peasant troops surrounded him from all directions, and the densely packed spears drove the tiger away. He fell into the trap for catching deer, and was finally beaten to death with a big stone on his head.

Just directing the little radish, Liu Zongmin and the others made a stretcher to carry the deer, but Song Qingshu couldn't be happier. Eighty deer are not enough, and eight deer only weigh more than 100 catties. There are not enough points, there are thousands of peasant troops, this is not enough to bite the teeth.

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, Song Qingshu simply pulled the little radish and gave orders in a low voice.

"Don't go into the woods for a while, and process the meat on the edge of the back mountain, cut it into pieces and distribute it to everyone. The wife and children will bring some, and I will find the smallest deer for me. I will take it to the old camp, and brother Zhang. One point, after eating our deer, they are too embarrassed to let their subordinates make trouble again!"

"Don't get caught!"

Hearing this, Xiao Luobo immediately nodded with a smile on his face: "Master, don't worry, Xiao Luobo has never let you down! Ma'am, I will send you the best!"

People are selfish, and Song Qingshu naturally thinks more about his own people when resources are insufficient. However, before he could finish his calculations, he was caught.

"The third one!"

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong, Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli, and the four eunuchs waiting at the back of the forest, far away, Zhang Xianzhong still shouted anxiously, Song Qingshu couldn't help but slapped himself on the thigh, Today I really ran into a tiger criminal, and I came here just by smelling it.

"It's coming, brother, here it is. Today, I led my brothers to chase deer and killed a few. I was about to send it to you, brother, but I didn't expect my brother to come here in person!" With a smile on his face, Song Qingshu hurriedly took two steps to greet him sadly, but Zhang Xianzhong waved his hands anxiously as if he was in a hurry, and asked his soldiers to bring Song Qingshu a horse.

"There's no time to eat meat! Brother, it's a big deal! The officers and soldiers seem to have retreated!"

"What! It's only been 23 days!" For an instant, Song Qingshu's eyes widened.

…………

Nearly [-] officers and soldiers, in order to deal with the peasant army that has penetrated behind the officers and troops, blocked all the main roads on the nearby mountain roads and blocked them with big logs. At the same time, officers and soldiers patrolled continuously to prevent the peasant army from attacking. But now, the several military checkpoints at the foot of Funiu Mountain have all been discarded. A group of people carefully opened the door, and the wooden garrison shed was also thrown into a mess. Many useful things were not taken away. I walked very anxiously.

After breaking through several checkpoints, under the leadership of the Orion in the mountains, Song Qingshu and Zhang Xianzhong directly climbed up the highest and steepest Dongmantou Ridge in the east of Scarai Ridge. They lay on the edge of the cliff and slowly poked their heads out. The army stepped on the snow and trekked out of the mountain with difficulty.

"The officers and soldiers are fucking about to transfer troops!" Zhang Xianzhong was so excited that he clenched his fists tightly.

(End of this chapter)