Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Gong Xiu led a thousand men and took a boat as a pioneer.

The soldiers under his command include gold miners, gold trackers in the Golden Gorge, gold diggers on the Han River, and tea porters who narrowly escaped death and returned home. Including military servicemen, there are actually more than 1,100 people.

Weapons are also diverse, including spears made in Tienmao Village and weapons taken from Yangzhou's arsenal.

Of his four adult sons, only the second son remained with him. The eldest son was assigned to serve under Li Jinyi, and the third and fourth sons became Ju Ming's personal soldiers.

Without bringing any food, grass or baggage, the whole army took a boat and went straight to Chenggu County.

The residential areas and docks outside the city looked very depressed, with very few people in sight.

The second son Gong Yi led a group of soldiers ashore, turned around the streets outside the city, and soon saw the city gate wide open.

A civil servant and a group of government officials knelt at the city gate to ask for surrender.

"There's no one left in the city?" Gong Yi asked.

The clerk replied: "The county magistrate, the county captain and the custodian fled with the officials yesterday. Many wealthy households also fled. The county magistrate said that they were thieves... that the rebels committed crimes by burning, killing, looting, and often ransacked their homes and destroyed their families." Although the gentry and merchants in the county admire Xianggong Zhu's benevolence and righteousness, they would rather believe that he has it than fear that their family property will be robbed."

Gong Yi asked: "Who are you? Why don't you run away?"

The clerk said: "I am Jiang Youqi, the work case coordinator of the Chenggu County Government. I have never done any evil, and I am willing to work for Mr. Zhu! As soon as the county government responds to the paperwork and account books, I have sent someone to seal them, waiting for Mr. Zhu to receive them."

"Very well, lead the way into the city!"

Gong Yi was afraid of an ambush, so he led a group of people into the city first, controlled the city gate, and then reported to his father.

Chenggu County was captured in this way.

Gong Xiu sent someone back to report the news, rested for half a day, and then headed towards Xingyuan Mansion.

Chenggu County is only more than 50 miles away from Xingyuan Mansion, and all the vanguard troops can arrive by boat on the same day.

All the residential buildings outside the city were demolished, firstly to make defensive equipment, and secondly to prevent rebels from using them as siege equipment.

Most of the young men were trained as soldiers to defend the city, and their families could also go into the city to take shelter.

The people who were not selected were left to fend for themselves outside the city. Their houses were demolished and they had to live in the open.

Civil and military officials on Lizhou Road stood at the top of the city and looked at the bandits.

Liu Yao said: "These are just the vanguard of the bandits. They are not many in number. They can go out of the city and wipe them out to weaken the enemy's spirit."

Xu Fuyan shook his head: "The entire army of the bandits is on boats. They can leave at any time, and they can't be caught up. If we pursue the bandits with all our strength and pretend to be defeated, what should we do if there are ambushes halfway? It's important to hold on to the city."

The proposed strategy was not adopted, and Liu Yao added: "There are too many defenders in the city, so we can divide our troops and camp at the foot of the mountain west of the city. In this way, we can support each other, attack and defend, instead of just waiting for reinforcements."

Xu Fuyan still refused to listen: "The officers and soldiers have not practiced for a long time, and their morale is extremely low. What if we divide our troops and camp in the west of the city and the bandits break the camp first? By then, people in the city will definitely be panicked."

Both of them have a point.

Liu Yao had been an official in Shaanxi and had some knowledge of war. He looked at the problem purely from a military perspective and knew that besieging an isolated city was not a good strategy. Divide the troops and set up camp at the foot of the mountain west of the city, which can not only use the troops rationally, but also cooperate with the operations in the city. It can also protect the rear passage and receive the subsequent delivery of grain, grass and soldiers.

Xu Fuyan, on the other hand, was worried about the people's morale. The troops in his hands were so bad, how could he dare to split them up? If one of them fails, the whole army will collapse, and some may be so frightened that they surrender.

Gong Xiu led his troops ashore and never left the ship too far.

He personally went to the city and shouted: "The officers and soldiers of Xingyuan Prefecture, listen, our strategic minister and the general have occupied Yangzhou and Jinzhou, and a hundred thousand troops will come soon. Those who know the situation will quickly open the city and surrender, and maybe they will be returned. I can give you an official title!"

"Archery!"

Xu Fuyan ordered.

Arrows were raining down from the top of the city, but Gong Xiu was fine.

Several soldiers who were trackers carried a two- to three-meter-long boat as a shield, and the arrows they fired were blocked by the bottom of the boat.

Liu Huiyuan's face was ugly: "This thief said that the Zhu family and his son also occupied Jinzhou?"

Xu Fuyan nodded and said, "It's very possible. Ju Ming has been the prefect of Jinzhou for two years and has some basic skills. He can easily win the five counties of Jinzhou."

Liu Yao said in a low voice: "If we take control of Yangzhou and Jinzhou, we may be able to coerce a hundred thousand people into becoming thieves."

This was said in a low voice, but it caused Wang Minwen and Han Siyan's expressions to change drastically.

The two looked at each other, quietly left the city wall, and went home to look for an opportunity to escape.

With one hundred thousand thieves and bandits, how can Xingyuan Mansion be defended?

Liu Yao watched the two people leave and whispered into Xu Fuyan's ear.

After Xu Fuyan heard this, he said worriedly: "If we do this, even if we repel the traitors, we will be retaliated by the royal party afterwards, and we will be demoted to sinecures on false charges."

Liu Yao said: "The Xingyuan Mansion is in such danger, how can we care about personal gains and losses? If these two people are allowed to escape, the civil and military officials in the city will definitely lose their morale."

Xu Fuyan thought about it again and again, gritted his teeth and said, "Just go and do it, I'll take care of it if anything happens!"

Liu Yao surrendered and called two teams of officers and soldiers to attack Wang Minwen and Han Siyan's mansion.

The two birdmen were dragging their family with them, but they were blocked before they could even go out.

Without saying a word, Liu Yao directly ordered the arrests and placed them under house arrest in the Yamen of the Transportation Department.

Then he led his troops out of the west city gate and confiscated all the goods on the two official ships and brought them back to the city for military supplies.

…

Ju Ming's main force numbered over 10,000. But there are only a few thousand elites who can really fight.

After he came to Chenggu County, he appointed the county magistrate and county captain, and left five hundred soldiers to guard the city. He asked these people to be responsible for transporting grain in Chenggu County, and then continued to move forward with the army.

Not far after setting off, a small boat caught up with us.

"Brother!" Bai Qi cupped his fists and saluted, holding a spear in his hand and a bow and arrow on his back.

Behind him, Fu Yuanheng and Lei Guan stood.

Ju Ming said in surprise: "Why are you here?"

Bai Qi is fifteen years old this year. He has grown into a pretty boy, with a hint of Shen Yourong between his eyebrows.

He said: "My father left me to work as a civil servant in Yangzhou. In the past few years, I have practiced martial arts with Brother Zhang and read some military books. I plan to come to the army to show my skills. These two gentlemen are sent by Jinzhou. If you come, bring them to see your brother."

"Very good," Ju Ming asked the two of them again, "Have you figured it out?"

Fu Yuanheng and Lei Guan were both imperial students who were persuaded to retire.

Fu Yuanheng said: "Fu Yuanheng has died of illness in Jinzhou. The student will change his name to Fu Shou from now on."

Lei Guan said: "Lei Guan has also died of illness. From now on, he will be renamed Tian Wendao."

"I have wronged you. I will definitely restore my real name in the future." Ju Ming said solemnly.

Changing one's name is just a matter of not wanting to injure the family.

There are two people, Fu Yuanheng and Lei Guan, the former is from Zhejiang and the latter is from Fujian. They were repeatedly harmed by Fang La and the officers and soldiers, and all their family property was wiped out. They hated the court and felt that the Song Dynasty was really hopeless.

Bai Qi, Fu Yuanheng, and Lei Guan all stayed under Ju Ming's account to obey orders. The troops stopped for a break at noon and sat down to eat. Bai Sheng took them to get acquainted with their colleagues.

To say that Bai Sheng didn't know a lot of Chinese characters was relative. He had been following Ju Ming for many years. There is definitely no problem with reading, writing and calculation, and I am very familiar with it, and I also understand some big principles.

It was impossible for the tens of thousands of troops to all take boats. Most of them walked along the river. The ships accompanying the army were mainly used to transport baggage.

That evening, ten miles away from Xingyuan Fucheng, Ju Ming ordered the entire army to camp.

The next day, we continued to move forward and arrived at the gate of Xingyuan Mansion.

Ju Ming took out his telescope and carefully observed the city defense situation: "There are people who know the military in the city, and they are well-organized. If we attack blindly, we will suffer heavy losses. The main force can stay here and divide the troops to occupy Baocheng (Baocheng Town) and Xixian (Mian County). County), turn this Xingyuan Mansion into an isolated city."

"General, I'm going to occupy Xicheng," Li Jinyi volunteered. "Control the throat there, and ensure that we can block the officers and soldiers from Lizhou, Xingzhou, and Sanquan, and not let a single officer and soldier come to rescue Xingyuan Mansion!"

"Go ahead," Zhu Ming nodded in agreement, and then said to Tu Shen, "Lead the troops to capture Bao City. After capturing the city, immediately organize the people to reinforce the city!"

"yes!"

The troops of Tu Shen and Li Bao were all brought from Jinzhou by Ju Ming. The remaining Jinzhou army ordered Zhang Guangdao to drill hard and must train thousands of elite soldiers to guard the east gate.

Shi Yuangong said: "I have merchants I know in these two cities. I can shoot arrows and write letters to persuade them to surrender. Then I can't let those merchants offer the city or take the opportunity to alienate."

After speaking, he took out a pen and paper and wrote down the names of the merchants.

In the past few years, Shi Yuangong traveled around with Yuandang paper, deliberately making friends with gentry and merchants.

Once the rebels fired a letter into the city, with the names of merchants written in black and white on the paper, the defenders would definitely suspect that those merchants were insiders, and they might directly force the merchants to rebel.

Of course, what is more likely to happen is that the defenders of the two cities surrender directly after being raided.

Ju Ming smiled and praised: "Mr. Shi has a clever plan."

Shi Yuangong said modestly: "They are all just trivial skills, and they cannot reach the level of elegance."

Since the defenders did not divide their troops to camp in the west of the city, Li Jinyi and Tu Shen led their troops around the city in a swaggering manner.

Liu Yao was shocked when he saw this: "The thieves are going to Xi County and Baocheng!"

Xu Fu said as if falling into an ice cave: "It's over."

Xixian is stuck to the west and Baocheng is stuck to the south.

If the two cities are lost, the entire Hanzhong Basin will be blocked, and Xingyuanfu City will be completely reduced to a turtle in a urn.

Especially Baocheng, located at the exit of Baoxie Road. As long as they occupy this place, the Shaanxi officers and soldiers will not be able to get out of Baoxie Road.

Liu Yao suggested: "It's better to go out of the city for a decisive battle."

Xu Fuyan said bitterly: "The defenders in the city haven't had much training. They are just a group of common people who have picked up weapons, but there are less than a thousand warriors. It may be possible to defend the city, but fighting outside the city will definitely collapse at the first touch."

Liu Huiyuan complained: "We should have abandoned the defense of Xingyuan Mansion and retreated to Lizhou with our soldiers and baggage. From Hanzhong to Lizhou, there are steep mountains and rivers and many formidable passes. We will definitely be able to stop the bandits. Even if we lose Hanzhong, we can still fight back!" "

"What's the use of talking about that now?" Liu Yao said angrily.

They dare not give up Xingyuan Mansion, otherwise the entire Hanzhong Basin will be lost.

After what happened with Fang La and Song Jiang, the court punished officials who lost their cities and lands more and more severely.

Ju Ming ordered: "The soldiers will cut down the trees, the carpenters will make flat cannons, and the masons will make stone bullets!"

Iron Hat Village has cast raw iron heavy artillery, but the thing is too heavy and heavy, so it is left in Jinzhou to defend the city.

The army only brought some squatting tiger cannons, which were too weak to be useful in siege.

It's better to fire back!