I

  Chapter 242 240 [Send troops across provinces] (addition for the "Nuanyang 1314" of the Silver League)

  Last year in Jiangxi, floods and droughts took turns. If they were exploited by the government and gentry again, the word "hungry" would be left in the history books.

  Especially in the second year, it may be more "hungry" than the disaster year.

  But under the rule of Zhao Han, Jiangxi in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, except for a few areas in the north, had a bumper harvest of summer grain!

  The people are jubilant and beaming.

   While mobilizing the army and food and salaries, Zhao Han threw Zhang Bingwen a piece of information: "Your brother-in-law (brother-in-law) has become the governor of Huguang."

  After reading, Zhang Bingwen smiled and said, "It's okay, he doesn't care about Xiangnan."

  Now there are three governors in Huguang, the governor of Huguang, Fang Kongzhang, is Zhang Bingwen's brother-in-law. Dai Dongmin, the governor of Yunyang, specialized in conquest of bandits; Wang Zhiliang, the governor of southern Hunan, specialized in dealing with Zhao Han.

  Fang Kongzhang just took office. The former governor was Yu Yinggui, who is now in jail in Beijing.

  Yu Yinggui is from Jiangxi, and his relatives have joined Zhao Han. However, he was questioned by the court not because his clansman was a traitor, but because he undermined Xiong Wencan's "general situation of recruiting and appeasement". He was impeached by Yang Sichang and was thrown into prison.

   These frontline governors all think Xiong Wencan is an idiot!

  For example, Dai Dongmin, governor of Yunyang, resolutely resisted the strategy of recruiting. He believes that small groups of thieves can be appeased, but large groups of thieves must be suppressed by force, unless they are willing to dismiss the troops after they are appeased. Dai Dongmin commanded dozens of battles, and Zhang Xianzhong was beaten so badly that he was forced to recruit security.

   "Who is this Wang Zhiliang?" Zhao Han asked.

  Shunan governor Wang Zhiliang is Zhao Han's main enemy.

Li Banghua thought about it carefully, and suddenly got a little impression: "When I was Minister of the Ministry of War, this person was a member of Zhongshu She in the cabinet. The emperor discussed affairs in the Wenhua Palace. I have seen this Wang Zhiliang several times. I heard that his poems are excellent. I don't know if I can fight."

   "Shaanxi people know a little about military affairs." Zhang Bingwen added.

  Wang Zhiliang is not well-known in history, but his son Wang Hongzhuan is well-known, proficient in Neo-Confucianism, History, Yi Xue, poetry, gold and stone, painting, and calligraphy. Wang Hongzhuan resolutely refused to be recruited by Kangxi, and hid in Huashan to live in seclusion. He was called "the leader of Guanzhong voice" by Gu Yanwu.

   Research, research, and no more information about this person, so just start fighting!

  …

  Eleventh year of Chongzhen, early June.

  The army of Datong set out in four groups.

  North Road:

  Gu Jianshan is the main general, leading the navy to cruise the Yangtze River. Li Hui, as the deputy general, led the navy to cruise the Xinjiang River. The main purpose is to guard against the invasion of officers and soldiers from South Zhili and Zhejiang.

  West Road (on):

   Huang Yao was the main general and attacked Liling from Pingxiang. Li Zheng was the deputy general and attacked Liuyang from Wanzai.

  West Road (below):

   Zhang Tieniu was the main general, leading two thousand rattan armored soldiers, across the mountains and ridges to take Ling County. Liu Zhu was the deputy general and attacked Chaling from Yongxin.

  South Road:

  Fei Ruhe was the main general and attacked Longchuan from Changning. Jiang Dashan was the deputy general and attacked Heping from Dingnan.

  In fact, to attack Guangdong from Jiangxi, it is best to go south along the Meiling Ancient Road. However, Shen Youlong, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, had quelled the civil unrest in Guangxi and stationed troops in Nanxiong for defense, making it almost impossible to conquer by force.

  …

  Because Zhang Tieniu had the most difficult marching route because he did not bring luggage or auxiliary soldiers, he set off early and arrived at the battlefield first.

  In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, there were endless wars. Ling County, which had nearly 100,000 people, was killed by the Qing army and only 5,000 people remained. Therefore, many Hakka people moved here during the Kangxi and Yongzheng years.

  At this time, although Ling County belongs to Huguang, there are mostly Jiangxi people, and the local language is directly Jiangxi dialect.

  When Zhang Tieniu came to Xiayang Town outside the county, two thousand Tengjia soldiers had been hungry all day long. It's a pity that the sneak attack on the county failed. The bandits in the city saw the rattan armored soldiers from a distance, and they were so frightened that they quickly closed the city gate.

  They had no choice but to go back to Xiayang Town. Instead of robbing food, they divided up their troops to guard the town's head and tail, and observed the surrounding situation with weapons in hand.

  More than a dozen military mission officers are also wearing rattan armor.

Seeing that the whole town has withered and the gates of every house are closed, the mission officer beat the gong and shouted along the street: "Old cousin from Ling County, we are the soldiers of Zhao Tianwang, specially here to kill the bandits in Ling County. Don't be afraid, everyone, if we rob , It’s useless for you to close the door. Don’t want your food, don’t want your money, anyone who has a ladder will borrow it. The carpenter in the town is also invited, and we will pay for the carpenter to make the siege ladder!”

   After shouting like this for a quarter of an hour, the townspeople finally believed it.

  Because other thieves came to Xiayang Town, they broke into the house violently, robbed food and money, and even robbed beautiful women. But these rattan armored soldiers in front of them are very orderly, and they look different from bandits at first glance.

  A shopkeeper opened the door, bowed respectfully and said, "Greetings, all generals!"

  The mission officer cupped his hands in return: "Dare to ask my cousin's name."

   "Miangui, surnamed Liu, surnamed Ansheng," the shopkeeper asked, "Are you planning to attack the county seat?"

   "It turned out to be shopkeeper Liu," said the missionary officer, "Yes, let's borrow ladders, twenty pairs are enough. We are all Zhao Tianwang's soldiers. We don't rob people, but only fight bandits."

   Shopkeeper Liu immediately shouted: "Come out, this is Zhao Tianwang's good soldier!"

  The residents of the town opened the doors one after another, then knelt on the ground around the missionary officer, and cried out in a hissed voice: "General, help me, those bandits are not human, they come to rob once every ten and a half months, this day cannot be passed!"

   "My daughter was also taken away, and I don't know if it's dead or alive!"

   "The food at home is gone, and the money is gone. If this continues, I will starve to death!"

   "..."

  The mission officer shouted: "Don't panic, folks, borrow all the ladders at home. If the ladders are not enough, we will tear down the door panels and make them now. As long as we have ladders, we will immediately go to the city to kill thieves!"

  The residents of the town immediately took action and moved wooden ladders one after another.

  The county seat of Lingxian County is not tall, only more than four meters long, and two civilian wooden ladders can be tied to attack the city. But it is still not enough, so the door panel can only be removed, and a simple wooden ladder can be made with nails and ropes.

   That afternoon, two thousand rattan armored soldiers, carrying more than 20 wooden ladders, rushed to the county seat hungry.

  The thieves here came from Yongning County.

  The thieves' leader, the little overlord, has conquered Yongxing County and enjoys happiness in the more affluent Yongxing. Those who remained in Ling County were all weak chickens, only more than 1,800 people, and the leader of the bandit called him the Tiantian Monkey.

  Wan Tianhou heard that Zhao Tianwang sent troops, and was so frightened that he ran away immediately. But he was reluctant to part with the wealth and beautiful women, so he simply defended the city and sent his confidants to Chaling to ask for reinforcements.

   This guy was sitting on the tower, when suddenly the rattan armored soldiers came up the stairs and shouted: "Over there, move the rolling wood and the boiling oil over there!"

  Because there was no time to prepare in advance, the thieves in the city had very little defense materials, which were not enough to defend the various sections of the city wall.

   Only two thousand rattan armored soldiers, carrying more than twenty siege ladders, jumped into the moat in unison.

  Both the rattan armor and the ladder have buoyancy, so they can easily cross the river and go ashore quickly, and set up the siege ladders on multiple city walls.

   "It's the Rattan Armored Soldier!"

   "Zhao Tianwang recruited rattan armor soldiers!"

  The thieves who had heard "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" shouted in panic, and many thieves simply turned around and fled.

"what!"

  Suddenly there was a scream, but it was the thieves who were carrying the hot oil. They fell down because they were too flustered, and several thieves' feet were scalded by the hot oil. They also didn't care about defending the city anymore, and ran away reluctantly, and led other thieves to flee wherever they passed.

  Zhang Tieniu took the lead and climbed up by stepping on the wooden ladder.

  There are a few thieves here, trying to push the ladder away, but more rattan soldiers are holding down the bottom of the ladder below.

  At a height of more than four meters, Zhang Tieniu climbed up in a blink of an eye.

  His current weapon was replaced by a steel knife, and two small axes were pinned to his waist for throwing.

"kill!"

  Zhang Tieniu climbed up the city wall, raised his shield to block the vital point, raised his hand and slashed out with a knife.

   Many other places also attacked one after another, and the rattan armored soldiers chased and hacked the bandits.

  Seeing that the situation was not good, the thief-headed monkey turned over and ran towards the city wall next to the river, climbed the rope and slipped away quickly, then swam to the other side of the river and entered the mountain.

   After this battle, only two rattan armored soldiers were injured, and the hot oil and rolling logs of the thieves were not even used.

  The whole city was searched and more than 600 bandit soldiers were caught.

   "What about these people?" asked the missionary officer.

  Zhang Tieniu's face was ferocious: "Kill them all!"

   They belonged to a surprise attack. After a day of rest, they had enough to eat and drink, and they had to go to the next county. How could they allocate manpower to take care of the prisoners?

  The mission officer also knew this truth and did not block it.

   More than six hundred bandit soldiers were **** and wiped their necks one by one to kill. The people in the city were not afraid, but cheered and applauded. They were severely harmed by these bandits.

   Hire the women in the city to cook with the grain of the rebels, and all the soldiers take off their armor to rest.

  The missionaries couldn't rest, they had to run around in series, call together the big surviving households in the city, and let each of them send someone to be responsible for guarding the city. Prevent the rebels who escaped successfully from coming back after the rattan armored soldiers left. In addition, the big households were asked to collect boats and mules to transport rattan armor and grain. Zhang Tieniu had to follow the river bank to Chaling.

   (Note: Chaling has been upgraded to a state, and I have been writing it wrong before. Thank you for your correction.)

  In Chaling, although Liu Zhu is the lieutenant general, his military strength far exceeds that of Zhang Tieniu.

  Liu Zhu has 2,000 regular soldiers, 2,000 peasant soldiers, and more than 6,000 grain transportation teams. There are also more than 900 missionary groups, dispatched officials, backbones of peasant associations, and medical soldiers.

  After entering the boundary of Chaling, mission groups, officials, and peasant associations immediately took action to preach policies in various villages and towns. Not only the peasants responded enthusiastically, but even the gentry and landlords warmly received them. They were terribly harmed by bandits and bandits, and they didn't want to keep their land, as long as they could save their lives.

  A few days later, Liu Zhu led his troops to appear in the northern part of Chaling Prefecture, together with thousands of food transport teams, scared the rebels in the city out of their wits.

  Although most of the anti-thieves are locals, a few bandit leaders escaped from Jiangxi. They had already been overshadowed by the "Heavenly Soldiers". Liu Zhu's army was still ten miles away, so they packed up their belongings and abandoned the city to flee southeast.

   It is the direction of Ling County!

   Zhang Tieniu's 2,000 rattan armor soldiers collided with more than 5,000 fleeing bandits two miles north of Hukou Town.

   There is no need to array at all, and even the rattan armor is too lazy to put on.

  Zhang Tieniu asked his soldiers to wear rattan helmets, wield rattan cards and steel knives, and directly charged towards twice as many enemies.

   "Run! Zhao Tianwang knows magic, and here also recruited heavenly soldiers!"

  When the old thieves saw the Datong military flag, they turned around and ran away in fright. They were really terrified, they had fled from the north, and met the enemy in the south for no reason, and they became more and more convinced that Zhao Tianwang really knew magic.

  The journey of Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu started off very smoothly because they were fighting weak chickens.

   As long as Anren and Youxian are conquered again, the strategic goal of the first phase will be achieved.

  (end of this chapter)