I

  Chapter 182 180 [The magistrate's last words]

  Xie Longwen stopped the soldiers from escaping at first, but when he heard the cries of rebels outside the city, he immediately ran down from the tower.

  While running, he was distracted and took off his official uniform, shouting: "Open the city gate!"

  No one paid attention, and all the officers and soldiers ran away.

  Xie Longwen wanted to open the door and escape, but without the help of soldiers, it was difficult for one person to open it. He didn't dare to waste time, instead he fled into the streets and alleys of the city, climbed over the wall and hid in the woodshed of a certain rich family.

  Yang Jiamo saw that the situation was not good, so he quickly took off his cotton jacket and ran along the city wall to the north.

  According to the original plan, his two surviving servants also ran to Beicheng to meet up. After tying the rope and hanging down, the three of them grabbed the rope and slid down, quickly fleeing into the streets outside the city.

  Seeing several groups of rebels rushing past, they seemed to have already entered the city, so Yang Jiamo immediately fled with two servants.

   When he ran to the moat, Yang Jiamo despaired instantly, and there were a few rebels guarding each bridge. He immediately retreated back to the streets and headed towards the west pier of the city. There is no moat here, but there is a wide Ganjiang River, and ships are not allowed to dock during the siege.

  Although Yang Jiamo’s ancestral home is Chongqing, he has settled in Liangzhou Wei for several generations. He and his two servants belong to landlubbers.

  The three of them took off their chain mail, forcibly removed the door panel of a shop, lifted the door panel and rushed towards the Ganjiang River—unable to escape along the river bank, because there was a moat in the middle, and the moats on both the north and south sides flowed into the Ganjiang River.

  Three landlubbers, each lying on a door panel, ran to the downstream city of Nanchang.

  One of the servants suddenly lost his balance after only flying more than ten feet away.

  Yang Jiamo was terrified in his heart, let alone paddling, he didn't even dare to move his fingers, and just lay down on the door panel cautiously.

  The night does not distinguish the direction, but just floats down the river.

   "Kang!"

   I don’t know how far I floated, the door panel suddenly hit the bank and flipped over.

  Yang Jiamo also poured water, and his whole body sank, waving his limbs in terror, trying his best to swim to the surface of the water. Swimming and swimming, until he was exhausted from swimming, Yang Jiamo finally resigned to his fate, and then he stepped on the sand.

  Try to stand up, the water level is only up to the waist, I have been busy for a long time just now, and I don’t know who I am fighting wits with.

  Yang Jiamo was ecstatic, climbed to the bank, and walked along the river. After walking a few steps, I lay down and rested. I was really exhausted just now, and I was full of water.

   After taking a short break to recover his strength, Yang Jiamo continued on his way.

  Walking, Yang Jiamo suddenly fell into the water, and the Gan River was in front of him again.

  Ghost hit the wall?

   Gradually, as the sky dimmed, Yang Jiamo finally understood that he had floated on a Jiangxin continent. Moreover, it is a small sandbar, full of weeds, not even farmland, and no residents or ferries.

   All directions are full of river water!

  Yang Jiamo wants to cry but has no tears. The mighty general is trapped on a small sandbar.

  Yang Jiamo wandered around the sandbar, and finally found to his surprise that there was a port town on the other side of the river to the east.

  Jiangxi water network extends in all directions.

  This port town is called Xigang Town. In addition to being on the verge of the Ganjiang River, it is also next to a small river, which is a tributary of the Fuhe River. Starting from this river, you can go to Raozhou in the north, Fuzhou in the south, and go back to the north of Nanchang city by detouring the Ganjiang River.

   "I have money, I want to take a boat!" Yang Jiamo yelled frantically towards the opposite bank.

  Nobody cares.

   "I have silver, I have silver!"

  Yang Jiamo shouted smoke from his throat, but no one came by boat. The sandbar is more than 300 meters away from the river bank, and it is a bustling town, who can hear it under the hustle and bustle?

  The first day was extremely long.

  The next day, Yang Jiamo was really hungry and panicked, so he started to dig grass roots and eat them raw.

   On the third day, I finally saw a ship passing by. It should be that Fengcheng County resumed the passage of merchant ships.

   "I have silver, I want to take a boat!" Yang Jiamo's voice was weak.

  He has a cold and a fever because the night is too cold.

   A dozen boats passed by in a row. Someone must have seen Yang Jiamo, but none of them chose to stop. Because it is easy to run aground near the sandbar, larger ships dare not approach. It wasn't until evening that a merchant ship docked in Xigang Town, and a small boat was sent to rescue people.

   "Thank you very much." Yang Jiamo passed out directly.

   This guy met a kind-hearted person, not only rescued him across the river, but also invited a doctor to treat his illness.

   In a daze, Yang Jiamo opened his mouth to drink medicine, and then opened his mouth to drink porridge.

   When he woke up, a few days had passed, and he was still floating on the boat, with a young man standing in front of him.

   "Where is this place?" Yang Jiamo asked.

  The boy smiled and said, "You finally woke up. You just passed Jishui County, and Ji'an Prefecture is in front of you. From your accent, you are from the north?"

   "Yes, from the north."

  Yang Jiamo almost fainted again, but he was about to be taken to the den of thieves.

  …

  Yang Jiamo wrote a letter to lie to Li Maofang, saying that hundreds of his family members were still there.

  Therefore, Li Maofang firmly believed that Fengcheng would be able to defend for a month or two, and wrote to Zhang Yinggao and Cai Bangjun to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao.

  When she learned that Fengcheng County had fallen, Li Maofang had no choice but to withdraw her orders to Fuzhou. Because the distance is very far, Fuzhou must have sent troops. He can only send messengers again, and call back if he can catch up.

  The two prefects Zhang Yinggao and Cai Bangjun set off with nearly 7,000 people.

  Take a boat all the way to the border of Chongren County, and there is no way to go by water ahead. You have to go through 20 to 30 miles of hilly areas, and you have to walk more than 20 miles in flat areas.

  The new recruits in Fuzhou Prefecture were directly transferred to be grain transporters.

  The house leak happened to rain overnight, and after only a dozen miles of walking, the first snow of this winter suddenly fell.

  Sixty-five-year-old Zhang Yinggao eats and lives with the soldiers, which can at least boost morale.

  But Cai Bangjun, who was young, was unable to cross the hills in the snow, so he insisted on moving forward with a sliding pole. And his soldiers, because of their lack of combat effectiveness, were all thrown to work as civilian men to carry grain and grass.

  After only half a day of marching in the hills, the Fuzhou soldiers were full of resentment, and fled a third of them that night.

  The next morning.

  Zhang Yinggao approached Cai Bangjun: "If you take the sedan chair again, all the soldiers will flee."

   "I shouldn't have sent troops this time," Cai Bangjun complained repeatedly, "It's winter, how can a group of recruits go far away? Not to mention it's snowing again!"

  Zhang Yinggao sighed: "If we don't send troops, once Fengcheng falls, Nanchang will face the rebels directly."

   Cai Bangjun resented: "It's all caused by him, Li Maofang, so what are we waiting for?"

  Zhang Yinggao persuaded: "Persist a little longer, it will only be twenty or thirty miles away, and there will be no steep mountains."

   Cai Bangjun thought for a while and said, "There is only one way to boost morale."

   "What method?" Zhang Yinggao asked.

  Cai Bangjun said: "Tell all the soldiers that they can plunder and have fun when they encounter villages and towns ahead. Otherwise, why should they stay away from their hometown and go to Jishui County to fight across the government?"

  Zhang Yinggao wanted to scold him angrily, but he held back and walked away without a sound, which was a tacit agreement to this approach.

   After another day and a half, there were only more than 5,000 soldiers left from the two prefectures, and they finally came out of the mountain to the border of Yongfeng County.

  It was still early in the evening, but it was already impossible to march. More than 5,000 officers and soldiers dispersed automatically, robbed property, raped women, and occupied houses to sleep.

   Another day later, when they came to a small town where two rivers meet, officers and soldiers rushed directly to the town to plunder.

  Only Zhang Yinggao was able to restrain hundreds of soldiers. He went to the wharf outside the town and snatched a dozen small boats, barely able to transport a little grain and grass by boat.

  Once the opening is opened, it is difficult to restrain.

  Zhang Yinggao did not dare to say that he was the prefect of Guangxin, but claimed to be Li Maofang's army, and more than 5,000 soldiers rushed all the way to Yongfeng County.

  Yongfeng County is under the jurisdiction of Ji'an Prefecture, but Zhao Han has not occupied it for the time being.

  The gates of the city were closed tightly, and Liu Mianzuo, magistrate of Yongfeng County, dragged his sick body and stood on the tower, looking angrily at the officers and soldiers outside the city.

  Zhang Yinggao personally stepped forward and shouted: "I am under the command of Governor Li, and I have been ordered to surprise Jishui County. Please provide food, grass and ships from your county."

   "Get out... cough cough cough!"

  Liu Mianzuo covered his mouth and coughed repeatedly, his palms were covered in blood.

  Historically, Liu Xizuo, Liu Mianzuo's elder brother, died fighting bandits. Liu Yongzuo, Liu Mianzuo's second elder brother, led his troops to defend Xinghua. After the Tartars broke through the city, they committed suicide by taking poison.

  As for Liu Mianzuo himself, before Zhao Han's uprising, he had recruited 500 soldiers to suppress the bandits.

  After exterminating the bandits in the mountains, Liu Mianzuo was injured and left the root cause of his illness. Because he was sick in bed, he did not follow Xie Xuelong to fight at that time.

  Following the peasant uprising in Yongfeng County, Liu Mianzuo could only fight against the bandits when he was sick. Now he has a thousand elite village braves. After seeing the administration of Jishui County next door, he suddenly didn't want to fight with Zhao Han, and only wanted to lead troops to defend Yongfeng County.

   Seeing that the officers and soldiers outside the city did not leave and seemed to want to enter the city, Liu Mianzuo suddenly shouted: "Follow me and fight out with the whole army!"

   "Cough cough cough!"

   Liu Mianzuo wiped off the blood from his palms, and raised his troops out of the city to form an array.

  One thousand townsmen, facing more than five thousand enemies, confronted each other without fear.

   Liu Mianzuo roared angrily: "You are called officers and soldiers, but you are actually bandits. You have plundered all the way here, even worse than the Luling Zhao thief. Leave Yongfeng County quickly, or I will kill you out!"

  Zhang Yinggao and Cai Bangjun glanced at each other, both ashamed of themselves, and waited for the soldiers to **** some boats at the pier, and then led them downstream to Jishui.

   "Cough cough cough cough!"

   "County respect!"

   "Quickly help the county to return to the city!"

  All the soldiers panicked and escorted Liu Mianzuo back to the county government.

  Liu Mianzuo fought for several years, wiped out several old bandits in the mountains, and suppressed the peasant army in Yongfeng County. The officials in the county have been replaced a long time ago, and they are all his confidants.

   Moreover, after Zhao Han occupied Jishui, Yongfeng County no longer paid taxes to the court, and all the money and food were used to train soldiers. Liu Mianzuo took the opportunity to lightly corvee the poor Fu, and everyone from the gentry to the common people respected him.

  The county magistrate was disobedient and had already been hacked by Liu Mianzuo, claiming that he was killed by bandits.

After Liu Mianzuo woke up, he summoned the master book and the history: "If I die, I will immediately vote for Zhao Yan. You have a thousand elite soldiers, and you have no serious crimes, so you must be reused by Zhao Yan. Only Zhao Yan can keep the people of Yongfeng County safe. The government cannot be trusted. Especially Li Maofang, I sent people to Nanchang to investigate, this **** has already made Nanchang government angry!"

  Both the master book and the classic history were promoted by Liu Mianzuo, and they were officially appointed by the court through Xie Xuelong.

   "Don't talk too much about the county lord, the most important thing is to recuperate the sick body."

   "Cough cough cough... I can't do it. The old injury has dragged on for three years, and I will definitely not survive this winter. Remember, lead troops to sacrifice the city, and go to Zhao..."

   "County Zun! County Zun!"

  (end of this chapter)