I

  Chapter 252 250【Guangdong War Situation】

  When Zhang Tieniu marched from Huguang to Guangdong and picked up fifteen cities for nothing, Fei Ruhe's army from the south only took down one Heping County.

  Besides, Jiang Dashan succeeded in the surprise attack on Heping County, which has nothing to do with Fei Ruhe himself.

  Fei Ruhe crossed mountains and ridges and crashed into Longchuan County, and he has not been able to conquer this city until now.

  Shen Youlong divides his troops to defend strategically important places, and does not come out to fight in the field. He just fights dull battles. However, he still had enough troops, and they were veterans who had been suppressing the bandits for three years. Fei Ruhe tried all kinds of methods but failed.

  Jiang Dashan led his troops to join him and besieged Longchuan with Fei Ruhe, but there was still nothing he could do.

   In desperation, Fei Ruhe could only continue to surround Longchuan and let Jiang Dashan lead troops to attack Xingning County. Apart from Xingning County, there is no other place to go, because no matter where you go, you need to cross mountains and mountains.

  After Jiang Dashan arrived in Xingning, he was also stuck under the city. There were also 3,000 veterans stationed here.

  The two sides stood still and entered a two-month confrontation period.

  Outside Longchuan City, Datong Barracks.

  Fei Ruhe pulled the troops out as usual, the moat had been filled, he tried to attack the city once, and then he was too lazy to fight recklessly.

  This guy was smiling all over his face, showing no signs of frustration at all, and he took out his binoculars to observe the city tower leisurely.

  In the county seat, Shen Youlong was worried instead.

  He didn't dare to go out of the city at all, so he could only keep passive defense.

   And it is impossible to increase troops, because the main force must be stationed in Nanxiong. If troops are deployed to support Longchuan, if Nanxiong falls, it will be equivalent to losing half of Guangdong.

Nanhai Juren Feng Yushun, who was Shen Youlong's staff at this time, looked outside the city and frowned and said: "Master, this is not the way to go, the rebels have been dividing the land outside the city for nearly two months, and Longchuan has essentially become an isolated city. "

   "Going out of the city will definitely lose the wave battle." Shen Youlong said with an ugly face.

  Some time ago, Shen Youlong saw that the main force of the Zhao thieves was in Longchuan, so he asked the general Lu Qian to send troops from Nanxiong, trying to take the opportunity to capture the three passes of Meiling.

  Lu Qian led five thousand elite veterans to attack Meiguan, which was garrisoned by three hundred people. After the first battle, he threw away his helmet and armor, and suffered more than six hundred casualties. Lu Qian was so frightened that he hurried back to Nanxiong to hide.

   Lu Qian also sent news that there are a large number of "enemies of ten thousand people" in Zhao's bandit army.

  And those ten thousand enemies are all made of ceramic shells, which can be thrown for a long distance on flat ground.

  Shen Youlong said worriedly: "I'm most worried about Lu Qian's side."

   "Can Zongbing Lu still be a thief?" Feng Yushun asked doubtfully.

  Shen Youlong sighed and said: "He was impeached by the gentry of your hometown."

  Feng Yushun was speechless for a moment, secretly cursing his countryman as mentally retarded, and at the same time slandering Lu Qian as a jerk.

  Guangdong General Lu Qian, when suppressing bandits last year, killed a few gentlemen from the South China Sea, and robbed them of their goods for smuggling.

   Coastal smuggling in the Ming Dynasty was not only at sea, but also by land.

  Relying on his status as the commander-in-chief, Lu Qian wanted to forcibly intervene in the land smuggling trade. And it was a bit too much, often sending troops to loot, which angered the land private businessmen in Nanhai County.

  Feng Yushun said: "The imperial court is in the midst of employing people, so it should not dismiss Lu Zongbing."

  Shen Youlong shook his head and said: "If Lu Qian is not dismissed, the gentry in Nanhai County will join forces with thieves."

   "This... is really possible." The more Feng Yushun thought about it, the more frightening he became.

  Guangdong has many mountains and little land, and those coastal gentry and wealthy families did not rely on land income to make a fortune. When goods from Huguang and Jiangxi arrived, they purchased them openly, and then secretly sold them to maritime merchants behind their backs.

   It is these people who have been obstructing Daming from opening the sea!

  As for sea merchants and pirates, they are either their puppets or their partners.

   Now, the Datong Army has closed the three Meiling Passes, preventing goods from Jiangxi from entering Guangdong. The Huguang business road was also cut off, Guangdong smugglers suffered heavy losses, and even sea merchants like Zheng Zhilong also suffered huge losses.

  In addition, there are Guangdong salt merchants. Their main sales markets are Huguang and Jiangxi, and now they cannot be shipped.

  Salt merchants, maritime merchants, and land smugglers are now as anxious as ants in a hot pot. They didn't dare to offend Zhao Han, the "King of Jiangxi", because Jiangxi was the source of goods, so they tried every means to backstab Guangdong officers and soldiers in series.

  They not only impeached Lu Qian, the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, but also impeached Shen Yulong, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi.

   For these merchants, Guangdong can be occupied by rebels, but they must not fight for a long time!

  …

   A few days later.

  Chen Maosheng led the missionary officers and the backbone of the peasant association, and came over the mountains, and most of them were Yao people and Hakka people.

  Seeing Fei Ruhe, Chen Maosheng couldn't help asking: "You didn't make it clear in your letter, what is the real situation in Guangdong? The town also asked me to spread the word, why did you send troops for two months and only captured one county?"

Fei Ruhe said confidently: "Guangdong, every strategic point, is defended by Shen Youlong's heavy troops. If we forcefully attack one by one, when Guangdong is occupied, my soldiers will die. In fact, occupying Guangdong, There is no need to fight at all, I have already found out when I came here."

   "Just speak straight, don't go around in circles." Chen Maosheng said.

Fei Ruhe said: "There has been a severe drought in Zhufu and counties in Guangdong for two consecutive years, and this year is only slightly normal. Since the end of Wanli, there have been continuous civil unrest here. Shen Youlong himself has repeatedly suppressed bandits twice. The one in front of him There was also a large-scale suppression once. Until now, the Yao chaos in Lianzhou and Lianshan has not been put down. As long as Zhang Tieniu takes down Lechang, I guess half of northern Guangdong will be in chaos."

   "What about East Guangdong?" Chen Maosheng asked.

Fei Ruhe said: "The people in eastern Guangdong live in extreme hardship, and they hate the government to the core. Under the severe drought for several years, Shen Youlong still has to raise soldiers, and I don't know how many people have been forced to rebel. Seeing that Longchuan County cannot be attacked by force, I just Immediately let the Mission Mission and the Peasant Association preside over the division of land. Today, most of Longchuan County has already divided the land, and Longchuan has long been an isolated city, and the villages and towns outside the city are all our territory."

   "Then why do you want me to bring someone here?" Chen Maosheng was puzzled.

"The situation here is too complicated," Fei Ruhe explained, "there are the Hakka people, the Yao people, the Miao people, and the Tong people (Zhuang people). Take the Yao people as an example, and they are divided into Pingdi Yao and Gaoshan Yao. , The mess made me dizzy. Those Gaoshanyao are still cultivating by slash-and-burn, so you must do it yourself."

  In the Guangdong and Guangxi regions at the end of the Ming Dynasty, more than half of the prefectures and counties were inhabited by Yao people.

  Pingdi Yao belongs to a relatively deep Sinicization. Many Yao people even speak Chinese, wear Han clothes, and use Chinese names. They set up a household of Qimin, and they had to pay taxes to the court, and even Yao landlords and Yao tenants appeared.

   This kind of Yao people can directly divide the land, and they are exploited miserably by Yao officials and landlords.

  The degree of Sinicization of Gaoshan Yao is uneven. The most primitive Yao tribe is still slash-and-burn. Burn a forest, cultivate it for two or three years, and then move to another forest and burn it. Anyway, there are many mountains here, so it can be called a "wandering tribe".

   There are also some Gaoshan Yao who have learned advanced farming methods, but they can't speak Chinese yet.

   This kind of Yao people is ruled by Yao native officials.

  Native officials forced the Yao people to collect, excavate, and make various special products. Every few years, they would go to Beijing to pay tribute, and exchange the special products of the Yao people for the goods rewarded by the emperor.

  However, Emperor Chongzhen was also poor, and the local officials of the Yao nationality gradually became unprofitable. If they had nothing to do, they took their troops down the mountain to plunder, or simply attacked the city and directly rebelled.

  This kind of Yao people must be treated with caution. They cannot speak Chinese, and they are controlled and exploited by Yao native officials. If the local officials are directly killed, the Yao people will not appreciate it. They must first let them understand the policy.

  In many other places, the Han, Yao, Miao, and Zhuang are merging, and it is difficult for you to tell which ethnicity they belong to.

  In Guangdong at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were a large number of Yao, Miao, and Zhuang ethnic groups, and they were being Sinicized.

   Such a complicated situation made Fei Ruhe overwhelmed, so he could only write a letter to invite Chen Maosheng to take charge of the work.

  Chongyi County in the southern Jiangxi region is full of Yao people and Miao people. At the beginning of the year, the work of dividing the land has been completed, and a peasant association has been formed. Chen Maosheng went south this time, at the request of Fei Ruhe, he brought more than 300 Yao people and Miao people directly.

  As soon as Chen Maosheng arrived, Fei Ruhe immediately divided up his troops and personally led the main force to bypass Longchuan and go to encircle Heyuan County.

  …

   "Master, the bandits and bandits have divided their troops," Feng Yushun said in confusion, "Will they not be afraid of being cut off from the supply road and being attacked from the north and the south?"

  Shen Youlong was very angry at this time: "They are just luring me out of the city, and they don't take me seriously!"

  Feng Yushun said: "Since the rebels divide their troops, it is better to send 500 elite troops to attack the rebel camp at night."

   "That's exactly what I mean!" Shen Youlong also wanted to let out a bad breath.

  No action was taken that night, and a few days later, Shen Youlong felt that the thieves had let down their vigilance, so he asked a thousand generals to lead five hundred troops out of the city to attack at night.

   went and never came back...

   It's not that Mr. Qian is a thief, but he was defeated when he stole the camp, and the soldiers simply took the opportunity to flee back to their hometown.

  Fei Ruhe took Chen Maosheng to Heyuan to divide the land. He had already summed up his experience in Southern Jiangxi. As long as the land outside the city is completely divided, the people in the whole county will be their own people, and they can take the opportunity to suppress the landlords and increase the army rations.

   "Report!!"

   "Ba Pai Yao uprising has captured the four cities of Lianzhou, Lianshan, Yangshan, and Ruyuan!"

  Hearing the news, Fei Ruhe smiled and said: "There is no need to fight in Guangdong, the officers and soldiers will soon collapse."

  The three cities of Lianzhou, Huguang in the north, Guangxi in the west, and the transition area of ​​the three provinces are all inhabited by Yao people.

  In the eight years of Chongzhen in history, it was not only Liu Xinyu who led the Huguang Yao people and miners to rebel. At the same time, there were also the Eight Pai Yao Uprising in Guangdong, the Huayao Uprising in Huguangjiang, and the Yao People's Uprising in He County, Guangxi.

  The Yao people and miners in the three provinces rebelled at the same time, and it took three years before the imperial court sent the coalition forces of the five provinces to encircle and suppress them.

  The Ba Pai Yao uprising was the most troublesome, encircled and suppressed by five provinces, and changed two governors. From the eleventh year of Chongzhen, it was suppressed until the fifteenth year of Chongzhen.

  Shen Youlong spent all his energy two years ago and finally beat Ba Pai Yao back to the mountain.

  At this moment, Zhang Tieniu led his troops to occupy Lechang, which happened to be the site of Ba Pai Yao next door. They took the opportunity to walk out of the mountains, captured all four cities, and cooperated with Zhang Tieniu to fight against the officers and soldiers.

  Guangdong is gone, and the officers and soldiers cannot bear it.

  (end of this chapter)