I

dark night.

Huang Yao led five hundred soldiers and circled for half a month before finally reaching the northwest of Bailuozhou.

There are no big mountains along the way, just small hills and flat plains.

The reason for making such a large circle was that they were afraid of being discovered by officers and soldiers. Similarly, officers and soldiers did not dare to cross the river to plunder, fearing that the rebels would find out and set up an ambush to attack.

The vast countryside on the other side of Linjiang Fucheng turned out to be surprisingly peaceful.

When they arrived at the riverside in the dark, the five hundred soldiers took off their clothes and swam to Jiangxinzhou on the other side. Both the rattan players and the wolf shield soldiers are very relaxed, because the wooden shield and the wolf shield are both buoyant, and the distance of 100 meters is easy.

After landing, we walked to the other side of Jiangxin Island. The river here was two hundred meters long, which was still not a problem for a man who was familiar with water properties.

In this way, Huang Yao led five hundred soldiers and crossed the river without anyone noticing.

This is the narrowest place in the Ganjiang River near the entire battlefield.

Wang Siren had already taken precautions and sent 300 officers and soldiers to guard him. But robbery has become popular recently, and the officers led the soldiers directly to plunder the villages, leaving only a dozen people standing guard by the river.

Can a dozen officers and soldiers guard a river seven or eight miles long?

A few miles away from the riverside, Huang Yao found a harvested wheat field and sent an order: "Leave a few people on guard, while the rest will sleep!"

After sleeping soundly in the wheat field for an hour, Huang Yao immediately led people into the village when the sky became bright.

He didn't bring enough food, so he had to borrow food from the landlord.

"Bang bang bang!"

Knocking on the door, an old man walked out and begged: "Fellow military lords, you have been here several times in the past few days. The old man's family really has no food."

"Old man," the missionary officer accompanying the army said with his fists clasped, "we are the Datong Army, not officers and soldiers who extorted money. The food borrowed by the Datong Army must be returned, and we can establish a written receipt. As for the officers and soldiers who bully you, wait until we are full. Go deal with those bastards!"

"Rebel...are you a rebel?" The old man was trembling with fear.

The missionary officer asked: "Do you have paper and pen? We don't borrow much food. If we leave a note, we will definitely return it in the future."

Zhao Han had always refused to borrow grain from landlords in "enemy-occupied areas", but at this time he could be more benevolent.

The old man was afraid that the rebels would kill his whole family, so he had to open a warehouse to provide food.

The rebels really didn't ask for much. They only took half a dou per person, insisted on setting up a written record, threw down the written record, took the food and left.

From the beginning to the end, the five hundred soldiers were in good order, and they did not even step into the landlord's house.

Watching these rebels leave, the old man lamented: "What kind of world is this? I can't survive anymore!"

After walking for another half day, while making a fire for cooking at noon, the sentry suddenly reported that officers and soldiers had appeared.

Huang Yao climbed up the hill and took a look. Sure enough, he saw two to three hundred officers and soldiers, and everyone had something to gain. Some soldiers even pushed carts loaded with looted goods from the countryside.

The military discipline among the officers and soldiers was beyond control.

You can grab it, why can’t I?

So the generals, big and small, took turns going out to collect grain, and some unlucky landowners were repeatedly levied several times.

These are soldiers recruited locally in Jiangxi, and they are relatively civilized. It would be even worse if they were replaced by guest soldiers from other provinces. In that case, officers and soldiers not only robbed money and food, but also killed people and massacred villages. They cut off the heads of good people and said they were killing rebels.

Once the officers and soldiers were defeated this time, Li Maofang would definitely hint to the generals to kill people and cut off some heads to offset the defeat.

"Blow the trumpet!"

"Dud-duh-dah, beep-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah, beep-doo-doo-doo-doo~~~~~~"

"Dud-duh-dah, beep-duh-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah, beep-doo-doo-doo-doo~~~~~~"

"kill!"

When the officers and soldiers passed by under the hill, five hundred soldiers swarmed out, and two to three hundred soldiers grabbed the food. The officers and soldiers were so frightened that they fled in panic, completely confused about what was going on.

Huang Yao ran the fastest and stabbed several of them to death, chasing the officers and soldiers into the village.

The villagers who had just been robbed closed their doors and windows one after another and observed the situation through the gaps. Seeing the officers and soldiers being chased by Huang Yao's men, although they did not dare to speak out, they all secretly cheered for Huang Yao.

Huang Yao led his men to kill nearly half of the more than two hundred officers and soldiers, and then stopped pursuing them.

Instead, they returned to the ambush point just now, and sent the food grabbed by the officers and soldiers to the village for the farmers to get it themselves.

Five hundred soldiers and five missionaries.

These missionary officers walked along the village and shouted: "Old brothers, don't be afraid, we are Mr. Zhao's Datong soldiers. The Datong soldiers do not harm the people, they make decisions for the people. The grain stolen by the officers and soldiers was piled on the threshing floor in the village. If your family is robbed of food, go get it."

When I first arrived in Guibao Land, I had not yet gained the trust of the farmers, so this was all I could do.

After Huang Yao and his soldiers were far away, the villagers finally dared to come out and ran to the threshing floor to retrieve the grain. Some people got more, and some got less. Naturally, there was another dispute.

Instead of grabbing food, a young man chased Huang Yao's troops and picked up a spear thrown away by the officers and soldiers on the way.

After chasing all the way, Huang Yao stopped to rest and called the young man over: "Why are you following us?"

The young man hesitated and said: "I...I want to fight you."

"Where are your family members?" Huang Yao asked.

The young man replied: "My father died five years ago, my mother died three years ago, and my two sisters are married. I live with my uncle's family, but my aunt doesn't like to see me. She scolds me no matter how much work I do."

"It's also pitiful," Huang Yao asked, "What's your name?"

The young man replied: "Hu Dinggui, the name was given to me by my father, who also studied for a few years. I am also literate. My father taught me how to read. I can recite the Three Character Classic."

Huang Yao smiled and said: "Well, you will follow me to fight from now on."

After wandering behind enemy lines for several days, Huang Yao's troops increased to 536 men. One family even moved their whole family to join the Datong Army. All the old people died and the family was too poor to marry. Three brothers from the family came to join the Datong Army.

There are also records, killing more than 400 officers and soldiers successively, so that the officers and soldiers did not dare to come to this area to rob.

What's even more valuable is that the nearby villagers already know that the Datong Army is an army that helps the common people fight, unlike those brutal officers and soldiers. Even many landowners lent their grain semi-voluntarily because officers and soldiers came to grab more.

"Asshole!"

Li Maofang was furious and personally led two thousand governor's pacesetters towards Huang Yao's troops.

At this moment, Huang Yao was near Longguang Academy, the Longguang Academy called "The Ruins of Dragon Light Shooting Niu Dou". The plaque on the academy was written by the long-legged emperor Zhao Gou. Zhu Xi once lectured here for more than a month.

"General, general!"

A farmer ran over quickly and panted: "General, go into the mountains quickly, many officers and soldiers are coming!"

"Thank you, old man!"

Huang Yao stood up immediately: "Stop eating, pack your things and go into the mountain."

Li Maofang chased him all the way here, but he could only miss him. Huang Yao had already entered the Lion Rock two miles away.

Li Maofang was tired of chasing, so he arranged the soldiers outside and ran to Longguang Academy to rest.

Unfortunately, the gate of Longguang Academy was closed tightly and ignored him as the governor.

There are five of the four major academies in Jiangxi, and Longguang Academy is the fifth largest academy. This is no longer the boundary of Qingjiang County, but the edge of Fengcheng County. Li Maofang dared to send troops to rob the people, but he did not dare to lead his troops to break into the academy.

After being rejected, Li Maofang became more and more angry as she thought about it, looking at the Lion Rock without any solution.

Two days later, the officers and soldiers gathered in camp.

Li Maofang, Li Ruolian, and Wang Siren were still arguing. The former refused to cross the river for a decisive battle. He believed that the training of the officers and soldiers was not enough.

Among the 18,000 officers and soldiers, more than 3,000 are newly recruited soldiers with only two or three months of training time. Li Ruolian's five thousand soldiers were brought by guards from various places. They were all weak soldiers who had put down their hoes. There are also about 2,000 people, local warriors recruited by the governor of Linjiang. There are still more than 2,000 people, Wang Siren's sailors, who cannot go ashore to fight. There are also 3,000 civilians.

There are only less than 2,000 officers and soldiers who can actually fight!

Is this a big deal?

Although Li Maofang is greedy, he is not a fool. His original plan was not to fight the rebels, but to rely on Wang Siren's navy to suppress the rebels from a decisive battle.

When the rebels run out of food and grass, they will naturally choose to withdraw their troops.

As for Li Maofang himself, not only was he unscathed, but he was able to take advantage of the opportunity to make money. Part of this money is used to train soldiers and train them to be truly elite soldiers. Part of it was used to bribe the superior, either to transfer him or allow him to continue training troops and suppressing thieves.

Everything is beneficial to Li Maofang.

Is it just Wang Siren who is so stupid that he is planning a decisive battle with the rebels and rushes to die?

There is no shortage of tricks and strategies!

This sentence is the attitude of Li Maofang and Wang Siren towards each other. They both think that the other person is mentally retarded.

"Fushuai, Fengcheng County is gone!"

"What?"

Li Maofang jumped up in shock and asked hurriedly: "Didn't the magistrate of Fengcheng recruit a thousand soldiers to defend the city?"

The spy replied: "Those country warriors went to the countryside to collect grain. When they returned to the city, they were killed by the rebels. They chased them all the way into the county and disappeared."

Li Maofang, Li Ruolian and Wang Siren looked at each other in confusion.

Fengcheng County is right behind them, and right on the edge of the Gan River. If the rebels hijack the people in Fengcheng County, their escape route will be cut off.

Li Ruolian sneered: "What a good thing you did!"

Li Maofang was speechless, because it was indeed him who issued the order to collect grain.

But who the hell would have thought that the magistrate of Fengcheng County was so awesome that he actually asked Xiang Yong to go to the countryside to collect grain, but hundreds of thieves took advantage of it and seized the county seat.

They were not going to collect grain at all, but the magistrate of Fengcheng himself wanted to make money and sent troops to rob in the name of suppressing thieves!

Wang Siren sighed: "There are only three ways now. One is to cross the river immediately and fight decisively. The other is to withdraw troops immediately and return to Nanchang. The third is to recapture Fengcheng County and station the camp there."

"Withdrawing troops is impossible. If we don't suppress the bandits in front of us, we will all lose our hats." Li Ruolian shook his head and said.

Li Maofang asked: "Can't we send troops to retake the county seat and then leave people to garrison it?"

Wang Siren said: "There are hundreds of thieves who have been hiding behind us. These rebel thieves are used to confuse people's hearts. If they are allowed to develop, there will be two to three thousand people next month. There are two to three thousand enemies hiding behind us. Do you dare to fight such a battle?"

Li Maofang thought: "We can't evacuate from Linjiang Prefecture, not even to Fengcheng County. Linjiang Prefecture is an important tax town. Once it is lost, the court will be furious. It is easy for us to lose our official positions!"

"Then let's fight." Li Ruolian sighed.

Wang Siren sighed: "This Zhao thief is so cunning."

Wang Siren thought that Zhao Han might send troops to encircle the rear, but he never expected that after the rebels encircled the rear, they did not come to attack the officers and soldiers camp at night, but instead helped the farmers drive away the looting officers and soldiers!

There were only a few hundred rebels. The officers and soldiers wanted to clear them out, but they couldn't even detect them.

Not to mention the peasants who tipped off the news, even the local gentry secretly provided food for the rebels because the officers and soldiers were robbing them too hard.

Wang Siren had the illusion that he was the rebel...