I

  Chapter 181 179 [Clan Departure]

  Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen were desperate, and even lived and boarded on the city tower.

  Xie Longwen even took out all the goods and personally led people to distribute them to the soldiers, so as not to be embezzled by some ghost again.

  It's a pity that he has only been the magistrate for two and a half months. If he hadn't made a lot of money by expropriating autumn grain, he would not even have money to recruit soldiers. But there is still not enough money and food. There is no need to distribute money this month, but food is being consumed every day.

   "There is almost no food," Xie Longwen said in a low voice, "It can last for two or three days at most, and the big households in the city are unwilling to donate food."

  Yang Jiamo frowned and said: "These big households don't know that they will be finished after the city is broken?"

Xie Longwen sighed and said: "In the summer, the rebels came in once. They didn't rob a single big household, but maintained law and order and killed some who took advantage of the fire. The big households in the city are not afraid of the rebels. The rebels will take revenge."

  The last time Huang Yao raided Fengcheng County, due to too few troops and during the war, he didn't even force the big households to release their slaves.

  Yang Jiamo asked: "Which one of the grain merchants in the city has the most grain?"

  Xie Longwen replied: "Zhou and Wan."

   "These two families must have colluded with the rebels," Yang Jiamo said, "I will lead troops to search Zhou's house, and you will lead troops to search Wan's house. We will do it at midnight tonight."

Xie Longwen said: "Don't leak the news. Among the county government officials, there are children of these two families. I have been in office for less than three months, and many relationships have not been clarified. I don't know which of the soldiers are involved with these two families. "

   On the other side, the county magistrate, the master book, and the history of the classics are also discussing.

   "This Yang Jiamo is too cautious to poison at all. He doesn't drink the wine sent, and only eats with the soldiers."

   "Not only that, my military power has also been taken away!"

   "The county magistrate still won't go down the tower?"

   "I never went back to the county government office, only ate and slept with the soldiers in the tower."

   "Why don't we just set the fire tonight? As long as the fire is started, there will be chaos in the city, and the rebels outside the city will be able to come in."

   "It's not good to set fire, it's all neighbors, burn a large area at once."

   "Otherwise, what else can we do? The three of us have been transferred away from the city gate. It is impossible to take dozens of confidants to seize the city?"

   "Think about it again, what if the governor brings troops to save Fengcheng County?"

   "The governor is coming, he has come a long time ago. It has been five days, and there is no sign of the officers and soldiers."

   "Wait another day, if the governor still doesn't come to rescue, then we will set fire to the city."

   "..."

  Outside the city.

   Li Zheng and Huang Yao were injured, and Fei Yinggong was temporarily promoted to commander in chief.

  Although Huang Shun and Jiang Dashan have more seniority, everyone knows that Fei Yinggong is the fourth uncle of Zhao Han and Fei Ruhe. Moreover, Fei Yinggong himself has abilities, and other generals are convinced.

   "Mr. Zhao, there are rebels coming to vote!"

  Fei Yinggong immediately walked out of the tent and went to meet the rebels in person. This was already the second call.

  The people in Fengcheng County were miserable, and they were looted by officers and soldiers in turn in Xia Tian. Seeing the harvest of autumn grain, the new magistrate began to exploit again, not to mention the tenants, many small landlords could not survive.

  At this moment, a scholar led thousands of farmers, and they also used animals to carry a lot of grain, standing outside the camp and waiting quietly.

Seeing the generals of the rebel army come out, the scholar immediately cupped his hands and said: "Luo Gongqin in Fengcheng, I have seen all the generals. The court has no morals, corrupt officials exploited, and the landlords abused the people. I heard that the righteous division besieged the county, and I dared to kill the landlords and revolt. I am willing to sacrifice my life to follow Luling Mr. Zhao!"

   "Everyone, please come in quickly!" Fei Yinggong said happily.

  The rebel army with less than 3,000 people, after five days of besieging the city, its strength increased to 5,000 people, and it was all the people of the county who spontaneously raised their voices to vote!

  As soon as Luo Gongqin was resettled, Fei Yinggong had no time to rest, and suddenly another peasant army defected.

  This time there were only more than a hundred people, but their identities were very strange. There were eight descendants of the clan, and they even dragged their families along.

  The descendants of the Zhu family!

  As soon as they heard that a clan had voted for the role, Fei Yinggong and others were all very surprised, and they all came to watch in surprise.

  The leader is called Zhu Yirong, the name was given wrongly, the last word should be next to "gold". As for the other seven clans, they don't even have typesetting generations, they all have names like Zhu Gui and Zhu Fu.

  Huang Shun asked curiously: "Brother Zhu, you are the clan, why... why did you come to rebel?"

   It is undeniable that these anti-thief leaders, not to mention the vassal kings, even the down-and-out clansmen have a guilty conscience, and they can't help feeling awe.

Zhu Yirong sighed: "I want to teach you all that my ancestors are from the lineage of King Huai, the lineage of King Dexing County. Emperor Taizu has rules. The clan cannot farm land, take imperial examinations, do business, or be a craftsman. I am good or bad. He also studied, changed his name and surname, and secretly went to the countryside to work as a school teacher to make a living. But this brother Zhu Gui," Zhu Yirong said, pointing to a clan, "he works as a coolie on the pier carrying bags for others."

   Another clan sighed: "I have been a beggar for two years."

  Everyone looked at each other with incredible expressions on their faces.

  Huang Yao asked: "Shouldn't the clan be kept by the government?"

Zhu Yirong replied: "The magistrate of Raozhou allocated all the money and grain to Huai Wang's mansion. The county king will definitely receive food and salary, but the generals and lieutenants (clan titles) below may not necessarily receive rice grain. Lieutenant Guo, the food salary is two hundred shi, and the whole family has never had enough to eat. The low-level clan is not even as good as the tenants. Our Lumi has been greedy by King Huai!"

  These words completely overturned everyone's three views, and they all felt sympathy for these clans.

  In fact, this situation was very common during the Zhengde and Jiajing years. At the end of Zhengde, some clans had no food for several years, and countless sons and grandsons begged for a living. After Jiajing ascended the throne, they went together to sue the imperial court.

Zhu Yirong also said: "Some time ago, the people of Raozhou revolted, broke through the capital city, and occupied the palace. Many of our clans also joined forces to rebel, but unfortunately we couldn't beat the officers and soldiers. We heard that Mr. Zhao in Luling was benevolent, so we fled all the way, along the Going down the Fuhe River. Halfway through, I learned that there was a rebel army in Fengcheng County, so I came to join some generals."

  Fei Yinggong sighed and said: "Oh, the imperial court has no way, and even the clan rebelled. How can this great Ming Dynasty not perish?"

  These clans were like beggars, and Fei Yinggong treated them nicely, and finally gave them a full meal.

  In the afternoon, someone sent a secret letter, but refused to reveal his origin.

  The secret letter only has two sentences: "The governor has no plans to send troops, and beware of officers and soldiers along the Wujiang River to attack Jishui."

  Fei Yinggong convened the generals to discuss the matter, and Gu Jianshan also went ashore.

   "Could this letter be fake?" Huang Yao asked.

  Fei Yinggong said: "It should be true. The governor was frightened, and the commander-in-chief did not dare to rescue him when he was surrounded."

  They besieged Fengcheng for several days, and they didn't intend to attack the city.

  Gu Jianshan said: "The main force of our navy is here. If there are enemies coming along the Wujiang River, I am afraid it will be difficult to deal with them. They can plunder villages and towns, and it will be difficult for the defenders of Jishui to catch up."

   "Let's go back, the navy. I'll take responsibility for any problems." Fei Yinggong said.

  Huang Shun said: "I also agree with the navy going back. Even if the governor leads troops to rescue Fengcheng, we are not afraid. Maybe the governor will dare to come to die after the navy leaves!"

   Li Zheng was hit by an arrow in the cheek and lost two teeth. He was temporarily unable to speak. He clapped his hands in agreement.

  After everyone agreed, Gu Jianshan immediately withdrew with the navy, but left the hundreds of pieces of armor behind.

   That night.

  Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen led troops to raid the big family. All the men of the Zhou family were killed, and the Wan family was arrested and sent to the county government prison.

   The charge is colluding with the rebels!

  The big households in the city were terrified, but they didn't dare to move, so they could only connect in private.

   "What are you waiting for? Are you waiting to die?"

  A young man shouted: "The rebels don't know when the siege will last, and the Nanchang reinforcements have not moved at all. If Yang Jiamo runs out of food, you and I will follow in the footsteps of Zhou and Wan!"

   "Keep your voice down, keep your voice down!"

Another elderly gentry said: "I think that if you can donate some money and food to the officers and soldiers, they will not kill people if they have food. What's more, the food robbed from the Zhou and Wan families is enough to feed the defenders in the city for a month or two." .”

  The young man said angrily: "In my opinion, it's better to be a thief!"

   "The old man has land outside the city," another gentry said, "The tens of thousands of acres of land have been lost since the thieves, and the Zhao thieves want to divide the land!"

"Extremely short-sighted," the young man sarcastically said, "Do you think that Fengcheng County can still be held? Once the city is broken, whether you want it or not, you will get the land at that time. Sooner or later, sooner or later, why not Dedicate the city to meritorious service now?"

  A gentry sneered and said: "Your Tu family is not afraid of dividing the land, and there are only two or three thousand acres of land outside the city."

  Many gentry broke up unhappy. They were weak when facing the rebels, and they were equally weak when facing the officers and soldiers.

  Tu Changhan returned home and took out a copy of "Da Tong Ji" from under his pillow.

  He has no objection to the division of land, because the Tu family makes profits from business affairs. At the same time, Tu Changhan is still a scholar with the ambition to help the world, and he appreciates the content of "Datong Collection".

   Sleeping until midnight, Tu Changhan was awakened by the noise.

  But there was a fire in the city. This thing burned a large area, and the neighbors in the neighborhood took the initiative to run to fight the fire.

Tu Changhan took the opportunity to summon his slaves, raised his sword and shouted: "The imperial court has no way, and Mr. Zhao in Luling will win the world. You servants can also be favored by Mr. Zhao. Now that the city is on fire, you must act for Mr. Zhao's internal affairs, and you will follow me to seize it." Make meritorious service in the city! Everyone come and get a tael of silver!"

   "Young Master, you can't," the steward turned pale with shock, "Master's body is not cold yet, if you act like this, Master will surely bring disaster to the Tu family, and Master will not be at ease under the nine springs!"

  Tu Changhan was furious: "If you continue to make noise, I will kill you!"

   Not long after, Tu Changhan rushed to the gate of the city with more than 20 slaves holding sticks, shouting along the way: "The rebels have entered the city, the rebels have entered the city!"

   "Don't panic, don't run away!"

  Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen, as well as Yang Jiamo's two surviving family members, guarded the four city walls in the southeast, northwest, respectively.

  However, Fengcheng County has twelve city gates!

  Many city guards saw the fire in the city and were afraid that their own homes would be burned, so they wanted to go home to help put out the fire. Hearing the shouts one after another, they thought that the rebels had sneaked into the city, and they ran away one after another.

  Yang Jiamo even beheaded several people, but still couldn't hold back and fled.

  At this moment, before troops were even dispatched outside the city, these defenders were already terrified.

  (end of this chapter)