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Page 167

"Listen to the order, wind up!"

A thousand archers bent their bows and set up arrows, facing the elite officers and soldiers attacking from the bottom of the mountain, they fired a round of condescending salvos.

"Come back, come back quickly!"

Huang Hanliang brought a battalion of one thousand guns and wanted to continue to attack.Unexpectedly, the other officers, soldiers and generals all fled with their troops. Seeing that the commander on the mountain had been defeated, how could they have the courage to continue fighting?

"Follow me to chase the enemy!"

"Toot toot toot toot toot toot toot..."

Fei Ruhe ordered to charge again, Suona blew the charge horn, and the four thousand soldiers descended like tigers.

"Bang bang bang!"

Huang Hanliang had one last chance left, he ordered all the Fire Gun Battalion to aim in the direction of Fei Ruhe's commander-in-chief.

However, before the Datong soldiers entered the effective range, the Fujian firecrackers fired ahead of time, and then turned around and fled in disregard of Huang Hanliang's military order.

Huang Hanliang had no choice but to follow, but he escaped late and was soon overtaken by Datong soldiers.

This person wanted to fight desperately, but was stabbed to death by several spears.

A man born as a child prodigy with both civil and military skills, he was recruited to fight against the Qing Dynasty and died for his country in history.At this moment, he died on an unnamed hillside outside the city of Ganzhou. From the beginning to the end, he did not have a serious bloody battle with the rebels.

"Fujian soldiers lost, Fujian soldiers lost!"

The missionary officers and the backbone of the peasant association who were among the defeated militia cheered happily when they heard the charge from the mountain.

They gathered up the rout soldiers along the way, turned back and beat the dogs in the water.

And those fujian elites who fled didn't have a single wound on their bodies. Facing the super weak peasants and soldiers, they couldn't have the courage to fight at all.

The battlefield at the foot of the mountain was a mess, with peasant troops armed with hoes, poles, kitchen knives, and bamboo guns.They have no formation to speak of, a group in the east and a group in the west, chasing and killing Fujian's elite soldiers.

Whenever a Fujian elite falls, they immediately rush up to beat them up.

Sometimes, a small group of Fujian elites counterattacked, scaring many times the peasants and soldiers to flee.

There are deserters and pursuers everywhere, and sometimes it is even unclear who is fleeing and who is chasing.

Chen Tingdui, the Fujian general, rushed down the mountains from the north and fled all the way into the mountains further north.After entering the mountain, he finally didn't see any more pursuers. He quickly counted the number of people, and his eyes turned black with anger.

There are only 40 people around him...

The other troops, including his personal soldiers, have completely fled, and there is no way to get together again in other places.

Chen Ting didn't dare to delay, so he rested for a while and continued to flee for his life in the mountains. He had to find a nearby county as soon as possible.As long as they entered the county seat, they would immediately write a letter to sue and blame Zou Weilian.

The content is all thought out, Fujian governor Zou Weilian, the whole family was caught by the rebels, so they secretly ordered from the rebels.Zou Weilian first stood still and watched the rebels occupy the natural danger of Wan'an, and then commanded the navy to send them into the rebel trap, causing the main force of Fujian officers and soldiers to be surrounded by the rebels.

It's all the governor's fault!

It took Fei Ruhe a day and a night to clean the battlefield, and more than [-] officers and soldiers were captured.

In fact, more prisoners could be captured, but the local gentry and peasants vented their anger by killing prisoners in various ways. Many Fujian soldiers would rather jump into the river and escape than be caught by the local villagers.

Those dead boatmen who were in charge of luring the enemy, only six died, and more than [-] people were missing. It is unknown where they were washed ashore, or their bodies could not be found after drowning.

Just when Fei Ruhe moved his troops across the river to encircle Ganzhou City, Gu Jianshan suddenly received a military order: the navy immediately went north to fight!

It is impossible for Zhu Xieyuan, the governor of the five southern provinces, to sit back and watch the friendly troops in Ganzhou be besieged.

His idea is very correct, Zou Weilian only needs to defend Ganzhou City until the autumn harvest is over on his side.As long as there is autumn grain and sufficient food, Zhu Xieyuan will send troops to attack Fengcheng County, forcing the main rebels to withdraw their troops from Ganzhou.

In this way, the rebels can be exhausted and the city of Ganzhou can be kept.

Maybe Zou Weilian can send troops from Ganzhou and take the opportunity to take down Wan'an County!

Chapter 199 [Siege]

Outside Fengcheng County.

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

It's normal for the rebels in Fengcheng County to be prepared.

But how could the rural people in Fengcheng County hide so quickly?

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

Rice that has not fully matured 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 the Zhao thief's territory are no different from the rebels.

Such a swift dispatch of troops actually allowed the rebels to know in advance. Seeing how the people in Fengcheng moved calmly, the rebels received the news at least one or two days in advance.

"Who did you say 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 already withdrawn into the city ahead of time.

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 a thousand regular soldiers in his hand, but he urgently recruited a thousand 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 seemed to be going to be tough this time, filling up several sections of the moat in just one day.

The next day, the surrounding area was short of one, and the other side was the Ganjiang River.

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." .”

……

On the outskirts of Nanchang, inside the Tu family mansion.

The servant girl has 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 take down Fengcheng?" Tu Tingying asked with a smile.

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

"Oh, I just 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.

This tip-off was written by them.

Regardless of the fact that there are many mountains and few lands in Jiangxi, there are particularly 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's grain from leaving the country, and was only allowed to sell it to the Governor's Mansion at the market price.

What the hell is the market price?

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

Cutting off 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. 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, Gao'an and other counties, peasant associations have emerged one after another, and it seems that sooner or later peasant riots will start.

As big landlords, these grain merchants find it increasingly difficult to exploit the peasants, fearing 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 Zhu Xieyuan?

That is tantamount to choosing a protracted war, and it is impossible for Zhao thief to 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 [-]% of the grain merchants in Nanchang Prefecture fell 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.

A chat, drunk drunk.

Li Fenglai raised his glass and said, "Gentlemen, 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 merchants.

They saw that there were more and more peasant associations in various counties, and sooner or later they would not be able to keep their 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 recruited soldiers to support Zhu Xieyuan. Now there are nearly [-] soldiers in Nanchang.

I have to fight, Zhu Xieyuan can't afford [-] 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, with chopsticks stuffed in his mouth and he was not allowed to speak.

More than 3 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 seeing 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 attack on the city is frustrated, the rebels in the mountains will definitely take the opportunity to kill them.

Huang Yao, who was in charge of the northern theater, was indeed stationed here, and Li Zheng's more than 100 gunfire soldiers were 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 to hide in the mountains, hoping to catch Zhu Xieyuan by surprise at a critical moment.

Then, they were caught by surprise.

In the middle of the night, a fire was ignited by the river, which was the signal sent by the sentinel.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.

Zhu Xieyuan, an old man, actually set off ahead of schedule with [-] 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 [-]-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 8000 officers and soldiers blocked Huang Yao's [-] regular soldiers and [-] 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 the horns of each other.

Wang Tingshi exclaimed: "The superintendent has a good fortune, and he didn't send any spies, so he knew that there must be rebels on this mountain."

Zhu Xieyuan explained: "The news of our army's dispatch has been leaked long ago, but we haven't seen the bandit 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 a tiring night, set up camp and let the soldiers rest." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head.

The area around Lion Mountain 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.

Standing on the top of the mountain, Huang Yao muttered to himself, "Twenty to thirty thousand troops marched for ten miles in one night. The governor is in a hurry."

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

Within ten days, if the mountain could not be captured, Zhu Xieyuan could 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.

If Fengcheng County cannot be breached quickly, they can only come to attack 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 5000 people, of which 4000 were farmers and soldiers.

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

"How?" Li Zheng asked.