Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, who had just surrendered, had only a thousand soldiers under their command, and the rest were all nearby fishermen and farmers.

Lin Chong led his troops in formation outside the stronghold and began to disperse the "militia". Although he did not have much military rations himself, he still promised to distribute demobilization rations to the "militiamen".

Huang Zuo restrained the soldiers in the stronghold, and Liu Rui led the militiamen out to collect food.

One after another, farmers and fishermen threw away their weapons and walked out of the village to line up dejectedly. A few people expressed anger, but many expressed relief.

Last year, they would probably be willing to fight to the death, but this year their mood is different.

The main problem was the lack of food. Prime Minister Zhong had enemies on all sides and raised too many troops, making the lives of the people under his rule increasingly difficult.

These "militiamen" usually farm and fish, and when they have some free time, they have to practice. Once there is a war, they have to work hard as soldiers. And they are so busy all year round that not only do they have little food left over, but they also go hungry during lean times.

No matter how firm your faith is, it will still be compromised if you are hungry.

If Ming Dynasty was cruel and unkind, they might still fight to the end.

But Anxiang County is right next door, and it lived well under the Ming Dynasty.

The people here in Chongxiao Village were so hungry that they even quietly went to Anxiang to exchange for food - this happened just this spring!

The Chu troops in each county of Dingzhou divided their troops to defend the city, but did not unite to fight. The main reason was that there was not enough food. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and troops were deployed in the Chenzhou direction for half a year. In the Dingzhou direction, troops had to be stationed to confront the Ming Dynasty. The grain reserves in this large area have been exhausted.

The demobilization rations were not much, just one bucket per person.

The militiamen who received the food quickly dispersed and became common people.

Immediately, Huang Zuo led more than a thousand soldiers out of the stronghold and symbolically handed over his military and food books. Lin Chong accepted his surrender on behalf of the Ming Dynasty.

The monk soldiers from Fujian, led by Fan Ruwei, entered Chongxiao Village to take over the defense.

It was not some kind of religious confrontation, but purely under the constraints of Fan Ruwei, the military discipline of these Fujian soldiers was very good. At least, among the new troops trained this year, their military discipline is at the ceiling.

In the following war, Chongxiao Village served as a transportation hub for military supplies and a transit station for soldiers and civilians. The surrounding countryside is full of Manichaeans. It is necessary to choose a unit with good military discipline to be stationed, otherwise there is no telling what trouble will be caused.

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui followed Lin Chong back to the stronghold. Lin Chong asked, "Did General Ying tell you?"

"I said it." The two nodded.

Lin Chong repeated: "All Dharma altars in the surrounding villages must be banned. Those small altar owners in the countryside should move their families to Yuezhou first, and wait for the government to disperse them to various places."

Dingzhou is the hometown of Zhong Xiang and the headquarters of Manichaeism in Hunan.

The countryside is dotted with large and small altars. Killing will inevitably arouse resistance, but leaving them alone will easily lead to chaos.

Breaking up the migration is the best way.

We are not afraid of them going to other places to preach, because it has already spread in some provinces. For example, in Huainan and Shandong, after the fall of Fangla, a large number of Manichaeans went northward. Manichaeism is also found everywhere in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

As long as life goes on, there will be no large-scale uprisings, and the religious issue will be left to be resolved slowly in the future.

Huang Zuo said: "As long as we persuade them with good words, give them some money, and promise them land after they move, the rural altar owners will not resist."

Liu Rui said: "If there is resistance, we can only kill him."

Those who came to fight on the west bank of Dongting Lake were not only Lin Chong's six thousand elites, but also the garrison troops from Anxiang, Huarong and other places.

In total, more than 18,000 people!

Counting the surrendered soldiers, there were approximately 20,000 soldiers.

After confirming that the main force of Prime Minister Zhong was heading south, Bai Qi personally led 20,000 new troops and 10,000 civilians to join them by boat from Lujiao Town.

The small town of Chongxiao is densely packed with people, and there are military camps and granaries everywhere outside the town.

Bai Qi summoned the generals for a meeting, Huang Zuo stayed in the stronghold to participate, while Liu Rui went to the countryside to ban the altar.

"What are the specific situations in Dingzhou and Chenzhou?" Bai Qi asked.

The Ming Dynasty also had detailed work here, but the number was very small and it was easy to be exposed.

Huang Zuo said in detail:

"The coach is Zhong... Zhong Quan, the clan brother of Prime Minister Zhong, stationed five thousand troops in Dingzhou City. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and it was Zhong Quan who led the troops to put down the rebellion, but they fought for half a year. They had to keep troops for defense. It’s a big tomorrow, so there’s not much military rations left here.”

"Last winter, several batches of military rations were shipped to Tanzhou. They were afraid of being robbed by the Ming Dynasty Navy and did not dare to ship them from Dongting Lake. They were transported to Yiyang first, and then transported to Yuanjiang and Chenyang with livestock. After arriving in Chenyang, Ship it to Dingzhou City."

"There is a shortage of food here this spring, and Tanzhou has shipped two more batches of military rations. But it is a drop in the bucket and we can only wait for the rice harvest."

"Now that the war has started again, Dingzhou can no longer collect food. Tanzhou has to supply food to Prime Minister Zhong's army, and there is no way to transport it here. So here in Dingzhou, every city and village raises their own military food. The humble officials are afraid that there will not be enough food to eat. , a few days ago I took my soldiers fishing together to catch clams and snails.”

"If Zhong Quan dares to order to gather troops, there is no need to fight him head-on. He will be out of food in a month or two."

"Chenyang's guard general is called Liu Heng. He and Liu Rui are distant relatives. Liu Rui can be asked to persuade him to surrender. Liu Heng only has more than a thousand soldiers in his hands, mainly because there are too many soldiers to support. But if our army besieges Chenyang, He can immediately recruit thousands of people to defend the city, and these people have all practiced military formations in their spare time."

"The guard general of Yuanjiang is called Quan Cong. He also has a small number of troops, but the city is very strong and difficult to attack. However, Yuanjiang City is located by Dongting Lake, and the Ming Dynasty warships have powerful firearms, which should be able to suppress the defenders at the top of the city."

"..."

After hearing this, Bai Qi felt reassured.

By carefully compiling the messages sent back, he knew that Prime Minister Zhong was short of food, but he did not expect that he would be in such an embarrassment.

Nowadays, most of the food in Puppet Chu's country is used to supply Zhong Xiang's army, and all the cities defended by separate troops are in a state of food shortage.

This is caused by the superposition of many factors, and the large number of Puppet Chu troops is only one aspect. Years of fighting required the recruitment of civilian laborers, which also had a long-term impact on agricultural production.

There was also a major flood last year, which disrupted Li Bao's battle plan and caused widespread harvest failure in Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River. For Zhong Xiang, this means that the house is leaking and it rains all night long, and food becomes increasingly scarce.

A few days later, Bai Qi led an army to besiege Chenyang.

This was later to be Hanshou County, with the Yuan River flowing through it to the north, the Canglang River to the west, and Dongting Lake only twenty or thirty miles away from the east.

Qu Yuan "sent to Zhuxi in the morning and stayed in Chenyang at night." Not only did he stay in Chenyang, he also washed his feet by the Canglang River.

Instead, it is Yuanjiang County in the southeast. During the Sui Dynasty, it was located at the mouth of the Yuanjiang River flowing into Dongting Lake. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yuanjiang River was divided into two parts. In the Song Dynasty, it completely changed its course to the north, and the county seat and the river were fifty or sixty miles apart.

Bai Qi led his army to besiege Chenyang, and sent Lin Chong to Yuanjiang. The Ming Navy also bombarded Yuanjiang County like crazy.

Zhong Xiang's younger brother Zhong Quan was stationed in Dingzhou. When he learned that Chenyang was besieged, he was undecided for a while.

Zhong Quan only had 5,000 soldiers in hand. Relying on the appeal of Manichaeism, he could immediately recruit 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and then send his troops to fight Bai Qi in Chenyang.

But if we do that, the military rations will only last for a month or two at most!

After hesitating for two or three days, Zhong Quan still ordered the conscription of troops, asking the people to tighten their belts and pay for food. At the same time, he also recruited a large number of ships and civilians.

Liu Rui personally shouted outside the city: "Da Chu is about to be lost. Brother, it is better to surrender as soon as possible..."

Guard Liu Heng stood at the top of Chenyang City: "You are ungrateful, I will not be your brother. Shoot the arrow!"

The attempt to surrender failed.

Bai Qi began to strengthen the fortress and waited for Zhong Quan to lead his army to rescue him. His first idea was to encircle the point and call for reinforcements.

Now that he knows that the enemy is short of food, there is no need to rush for reinforcements. It will take him a month or two to rely on the camp. Wait for the Puppet Chu reinforcements to run out of food, and then take it all in one go!

Prime Minister Zhong's main force went south to quell the chaos, and he would not be able to come back for a month or two.

When Prime Minister Zhong comes back, Dingzhou will probably be gone. This is the home base of Manichaeism, and many members of the pseudo-Chu high-ranking generals still live in Dingzhou.

More than ten days later, Zhong Quan arrived with a large army. Counting the civilians, there were more than 40,000 people.

Zhong Quan was short of food and eager to fight Bai Qi, but Bai Qi held on to the camp and refused to leave.

Yuanjiang County in the southwest had also been bombarded by the navy for many days. Huang Zuo persuaded him to surrender outside the city every day, and the guard Quan Cong began to waver.

But after all, he is still waiting and watching. Only when Chen Yang next door is gone will Quan Cong choose to surrender.

After delaying until the "January Period", Wang Yuan began to shout outside Lujiao Village: "General Zhou, a man who promised you a thousand pieces of gold, are you going to break your promise?"

Inside the village, Leidejin said to Zhou Lun: "It's enough to lie to him for a month, but we can't really surrender."

Zhou Lun shook his head: "Da Chu will definitely be defeated, so why increase casualties? The soldiers in the village also have parents, wives and children. We cannot take them to death. Gather all the soldiers."

Redjin remained silent. He did not want to betray his master and surrender to the enemy, but he wanted to save his life.

Zhou Lun is the chief general. If Zhou Lun surrenders, he will surrender. If Zhou Lun defends, he will defend.

The soldiers in the twin castles were all recruited by Zhou Lun to the suburbs on the east side between the two cities, but Wang Yuan did not take the opportunity to lead his troops to kill them.

Zhou Lun shouted to all the soldiers: "You have shown all your kindness to His Majesty. Da Chu cannot win. I have reached an agreement with the enemy generals. As long as you put down your weapons, you can go back to working as potters to support your family. Unfaithful and unjust people." It’s me. When I die, you don’t want to avenge me. Just work hard and live a good life..."

Redjin was shocked: "We are about to surrender, so why talk about revenge?"

Zhou Lun turned towards Changsha, suddenly drew the knife across his neck, closed his eyes and was about to kill himself.

Lei Jin was standing next to him and immediately jumped out when Zhou Lun drew his sword. The two fell to the ground, and Lei Jin quickly pulled the knife away, only to see blood coming out of Zhou Lun's neck.

"Mr. doctor, doctor, come here quickly!" Lei Jin put his hand on the wound and shouted.

The military doctor was receiving training below. While running towards Zhou Lun, he shouted to his apprentice: "Go and get my medicine box!"

In the afternoon of that day, Wang Yuan led his troops to take over Lujiao Village. Looking at the unconscious Zhou Lun, he sighed with emotion: "How is General Zhou?"

The military doctor sighed and replied: "Oh, there was too much blood, and it couldn't be stopped at first. Whether he can wake up depends on his own destiny."

Wang Yuan shook his head and left the room silently.