I

  Chapter 201 199 [Siege] (addition for the leader "Book Friends 20210617003015576")

  Outside Fengcheng County.

  Zhu Xieyuan looked at the closed city gate and the open countryside, his face was as black as ink.

   It is normal for the rebels in Fengcheng County to have been prepared for a long time.

  How could the rural people in Fengcheng County hide so quickly?

   Not to mention livestock and food, even valuable furniture has been removed.

  The rice that is not fully mature is also forcibly harvested in advance. If it is too late to harvest, just leave it in the paddy field, which is tantamount to abandoning it directly.

   There are spies on my side, and they are very high-level spies!

  In order to catch people by surprise, Zhu Xieyuan didn't even wait for the autumn harvest to be over, and sent troops when the rice was about to be harvested. His military rations are definitely not enough, but he can directly harvest new rice in Fengcheng County, and he can't care about the people at this time. The people in Zhao's bandit territory are no different from the rebels.

  The rebels were notified in advance of dispatching troops so quickly. Judging by the calm transfer of the people in Fengcheng, the rebels received the news at least a day or two in advance.

   "Who do you think leaked the military information?" Zhu Xieyuan asked.

   "I really don't know." Wang Tingshi was also at a loss. He could swear that this time it really had nothing to do with him.

  Zhu Xieyuan said in a cold tone: "Demolish the house and besiege the city!"

  Residents outside Fengcheng County have withdrawn into the city ahead of schedule.

  Under Zhu Xieyuan's order, houses outside the city were looted to make siege equipment. In addition, a small group of troops was sent to harvest the rice in the nearby fields. Even if it was not cooked, it could be taken back and cooked for food.

  The officer in charge of stationing Fengcheng County is Jiang Liang. He only has 1,000 regular soldiers in his hands, but he has urgently recruited 1,000 peasant soldiers.

  The county magistrate is called Liu Shunyi, who was originally a poor scholar in Anfu County.

   Liu Shunyi is now in charge of maintaining law and order, temporarily organizing all the people in the city into Baojia. Let the people supervise each other, and if members of their own Baojia dare to take the opportunity to make trouble, the entire Baojia will be punished.

  There must be spies from the government in the city, and there are more than one. We must prevent them from arson.

  Zhu Xieyuan seems to be going to be tough this time, filling up several sections of the moat in just one day.

  The next day, there are two sides and one missing, and the Gan River is on the other side.

Seeing this, Jiang Liang immediately gave an order: "Notify Liu magistrate, let him organize manpower, block the eight small gates, and leave only four gates. There are too many gates in Fengcheng County, and the officers and soldiers are determined to attack the city this time." .”

  …

  Nanchang suburb, inside the Tu family mansion.

  The servant girls have been sent away, and a few scholars are drinking and chatting. They are the scholars who captured Yang Jiamo alive.

   "Guess, gentlemen, can the governor send out troops this time to defeat Fengcheng?" Tu Tingying asked with a smile.

  Yu Shiqin sighed: "Even if Fengcheng can be captured, once the reinforcements from Zongzhen Zhao arrive, they will surely defeat the main force of the officers and soldiers."

   "Well, I only hope that Mr. Zhao will occupy Nanchang as soon as possible, otherwise this business will be impossible." The person who spoke was Li Fenglai, a grain merchant.

   Li Fenglai's eldest son and second son are both studying in Bailuzhou Academy as hostages. And the group of scholars who defected last year happened to be thrown to the academy, and they recognized Li Fenglai's son within a few days.

  The tip-off this time was written by them.

  Although Jiangxi has many mountains and little land, there are especially many grain merchants. They purchased grain in Jiangxi, shipped it to various prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River and sold it at a high price, and then shipped back special products such as cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River, making a lot of money in this way.

  In order to raise soldiers, Zhu Xieyuan prohibited Jiangxi grain from leaving the country, and was only allowed to sell it to the Governor's Mansion at the market price.

  What the **** is the market price?

  Can the price of rice in Jiangxi be the same as the price of rice in Jiangnan provinces?

  Judging people's wealth is like killing their parents. Zhu Xieyuan offended all Jiangxi grain merchants.

   It’s nothing more than earning less money for a year, because I’m afraid that the officers and soldiers will continue to confront the rebels. If they continue to toss like this for several years, they will simply let the grain merchants die. They only hope that this war will end as soon as possible.

  In the villages of Fengxin, Jinxian, Gaoan and other counties, peasant associations have emerged one after another, and it seems that sooner or later there will be peasant riots.

  As big landlords, these grain merchants find it more and more difficult to exploit farmers, for fear that they will be ransacked and exterminated by the peasant association. Zhu Xieyuan cut off their financial resources for doing business again, and they had two different sides. They had to choose one side as soon as possible.

  Choose Joo Xiewon?

  That is tantamount to choosing a protracted war, and the Zhao thieves cannot be wiped out within three to five years. By that time, the peasants would have rioted long ago, not to mention keeping the land, the lives of the grain merchants might be lost.

  Under the tandem of Li Fenglai, Tu Tingying and others, at least 70% of the grain merchants in Nanchang Prefecture turned to Zhao Han!

  They are very sensitive to the dispatch of grain. Zhu Xieyuan made a slight change, and the grain merchants immediately informed Fengcheng County.

   Chatting and getting drunk.

  Li Fenglai raised his glass and said: "Misters, let's congratulate Mr. Zhao, and wish Mr. Zhao win the world as soon as possible!"

   "Congratulations to Mr. Zhao!" Everyone clinked their glasses and laughed.

  These gentry are not so much big landlords as big businessmen.

  They saw that there were more and more peasant associations in various counties, and sooner or later they would not be able to keep the land, so they simply gave up the land to protect the merchants.

  As for the gentry who purely rely on the land to make money, under the pressure of the peasant association, they have recruited soldiers to support Zhu Xieyuan. Now there are nearly 30,000 soldiers in Nanchang.

   Had to fight, Zhu Xieyuan couldn't afford 30,000 soldiers!

  …

  The second day of the siege.

  The officers and soldiers who were still building siege equipment and filling the moat during the day suddenly left in the dark at midnight. All the soldiers, with chopsticks in their mouths, grabbed each other's belts and headed south.

  Wang Tingshi was woken up in the middle of the night, and followed him away in a daze, his mouth was blocked by chopsticks and he was not allowed to speak.

   More than 30,000 troops, all headed to the hilly area ten miles south of Fengcheng.

  Zhu Xieyuan originally wanted to seize there. First, he could form a corner with the main siege force, and second, he could send troops to attack the anti-thief rescue force at any time.

  But when he saw that all the people in the countryside had moved, he knew it was a step too late. Among the hills and mountains in the south of the city, there must be peasants everywhere, not only the peasants and soldiers of the rebels, but also the reinforcements of the Linjiang Mansion ambushed!

  As long as Zhu Xieyuan's siege is frustrated, the rebels in the mountains will definitely take the opportunity to kill.

  Huang Yao, who is in charge of the northern theater, is indeed stationed here, and Li Zheng's more than 100 gunfire soldiers are also there.

  The Datong navy was transferred to the south to fight. Huang Yao and Li Zheng had no advantage in water, so they simply sent troops by land and hid in the mountains, hoping to surprise Zhu Xieyuan at a critical moment.

   Then, they were caught by surprise.

  In the middle of the night, a fire ignited by the river, which was the signal sent by the sentry. Moreover, there were three large fires at the same time, and there were many officers and soldiers from the representative office!

   "Keep the main road up the mountain!"

  Huang Yao gave the order immediately, it was too late for him to retreat, the fire was ignited from the side and rear.

  The old man Zhu Xieyuan actually set off ahead of schedule with 2,000 pacesetters. They were Guizhou soldiers whom he had trained for several years. Two thousand elite officers and soldiers crossed the river from the rear in a large circle, and the 100-meter-wide river was easily crossed.

   Not for anything else, just to block the way of the rebels.

  In the early morning of the next day, more than 28,000 officers and soldiers blocked Huang Yao's 2,000 regular soldiers and 3,000 peasant soldiers on the Lion Mountain.

   A few miles away, there are two hills.

  The hill in the northeast is Li Zheng's five hundred regular soldiers and two thousand peasant soldiers.

  The hill in the southwest is Fei Yinggong's five hundred regular soldiers and two thousand peasant soldiers.

  The three peaks are horns of each other.

  Wang Tingshi exclaimed: "The superintendent's magic calculation, even if he didn't send spies, he knew that there must be rebels on this mountain."

Zhu Xieyuan explained: "The news of our army's dispatch has already been leaked, but the bandit army has not seen any reinforcements for a long time. They must be ambushing in the mountains. Near Fengcheng, Lion Mountain and Xiangu Ridge are the most dangerous. Xiangu Ridge is to the north, and I have sent people to check it out a long time ago. , only the Lion Mountain in the south is left!"

   "Attack the mountain now?" Wang Ting asked.

   "After working all night, set up camp first to let the soldiers rest." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head.

  The Lion Mountain area is surrounded by water on both sides, so it is easy to surround the enemy army on the mountain. Zhu Xieyuan also wanted to surround the mountains to fight for aid, because there must be rebels in the nearby mountains.

  Huang Yao stood on the top of the mountain, muttering to himself: "Twenty to thirty thousand troops marched ten miles in one night, this governor is in a hurry."

  For such a fast night march, the food and grass brought by Zhu Xieyuan can last up to ten days!

   Within ten days, if the mountain cannot be captured, Zhu Xieyuan can only withdraw his troops hungry and return to Nanchang along the small river under the Lion Mountain.

  Zhu Xieyuan also had no choice. He only told a few confidants in advance of his plan to send troops this time. The accidental leak of the military situation made him feel nervous, and the peasant associations in the surrounding counties also made it impossible for him to procrastinate any longer.

  Fengcheng County cannot be breached quickly, so they can only come to fight Lion Mountain. In fact, it is easier to fight here than the county seat.

   Within eight days, if you can't fight, you will immediately withdraw your troops and go back to defend Nanchang honestly. Anyway, the purpose of sending troops this time is to harass the rear of the rebels, so that the rebels cannot attack Ganzhou with all their strength.

   Li Zheng and Fei Yinggong each led troops to the rescue. After they joined forces, there were only 5,000 people, of which 4,000 were farmers and soldiers.

   Moreover, they are farmers and soldiers from Fengcheng and Qingjiang counties, and their training is actually not very high.

   "How to fight?" Li Zheng asked.

  Fei Yinggong said: "We must not attack by force. The officers and soldiers attack the mountain, and we will harass from behind. Try to delay the time as much as possible. It only takes half a month. There must be reinforcements from Ji'an."

   Zhao Han's army is still too small, half of the regular soldiers are fighting in the south, and some elite farmers and soldiers are guarding against Huguang.

   Zhao Han wanted to send additional reinforcements, so he could only recruit farmers and soldiers from Luling, Jishui, Anfu and other counties. It takes time to assemble, and it takes time to hurry. Zhu Xieyuan can come and go very freely in this neutral position.

  As Fei Yinggong said, Zhao Han's reinforcements may take half a month, and Zhu Xieyuan's plan is to withdraw the troops if they can't defeat the Lion Mountain in eight days.

  By the time Zhao Han sent reinforcements, Zhu Xieyuan would have already run back to Nanchang. This is an old fox who refuses to suffer!

   Afternoon.

   More than 28,000 officers and soldiers, having enough rest and meals, began to organize the attack on the mountain.

   Judging from the floor plan, Lion Rock is really small, less than 500 meters long and less than 200 meters wide. It would be a real sledgehammer if 20,000 to 30,000 people besieged it.

   Fortunately, mountains can't just look at the plane.

   In the direction of Zhangshu Town, several troop carriers approached. Zhao Han couldn't wait for the peasants and soldiers to assemble, so he sent his own soldiers directly.

  The slave army led by Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu wore chain mail inside, cotton armor outside, and bamboo helmets embedded with iron pieces on their heads.

   There are not many people, only four hundred soldiers.

  The real fierce battle is coming, a fierce battle that the Datong Army has never encountered before!

   (Thanks to the leader of Huainanyue for the reward, and thanks to all book friends for their rewards and subscriptions.)

  (end of this chapter)