I

General Military Mansion.

Zhao Han, Pang Chunlai, and Li Banghua held a three-person meeting.

Zhao Han handed the secret message from Fei Yinghuan to Li Banghua and said: "The Ruijin rebel army is gone, and only a few hundred people are left, fleeing into the mountains at the border of Fujian and Jiangxi. Shen Youlong, governor of Fujian, led 16,000 The remaining troops have moved to Ganzhou."

Pang Chunlai looked bad, so Li Banghua read out the contents of the secret message directly.

As he read it, Li Banghua was frightened because the letter was written in too much detail. Not only the number of firearms of the officers and soldiers, but also the fact that some generals were resentful and had themselves or their close associates been punished by the governor.

The letter also stated that Zou Weilian was raising supplies and would definitely attack Wan'an, Longquan and Taihe counties after next spring. After capturing these three counties, he came to confront Zhao Han and joined forces with the governor of Jiangxi to attack from the north and south.

The letter also said that there were wars in Guangdong and Guangxi, and the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi were temporarily unable to enter Jiangxi, so they should take the opportunity to defeat the officers and soldiers. Otherwise, the combined strength of the officers and soldiers from the three provinces will reach 50,000.

Li Banghua said in surprise: "General Town, who wrote this?"

Zhao Han smiled mysteriously: "Among the enemy's troops, there is a big official who is my internal agent. At this time, no external reports are allowed to avoid leaking information about the internal agent."

"This is natural." Li Banghua stopped asking further.

Pang Chunlai said: "It's time to make a decision, whether to wait until next year to send troops, or whether to send troops now. Should we go north first or go south first. No matter what we choose, our army must strike first, otherwise we will be in danger of being attacked from the north and the south." "

Zhao Han said: "Not only the north-south attack, Zhang Yinggao, the prefect of Guangxin, has trained five thousand local warriors. As long as Li Maofang is not stupid, he will let the Guangxin soldiers cross the government to conquer the Fuzhou bandits and destroy the Nanfeng County secret cult bandits there. This The time should be next spring. Once the Fuzhou religious bandits are wiped out, Zhang Yinggao can come from Fuzhou and penetrate Jishui County from the east."

"Well, by that time, there will be a flanking attack from the south, north and east, and the total strength of the official army will be about 40,000." Li Banghua sighed.

Pang Chunlai suggested: "I think we should advance both by land and water, and attack the Fujian soldiers in Ganzhou first."

Li Banghua agreed: "Yes, let's attack the Fujian guest soldiers first. The secret message that should be sent here says that none of the Fujian generals have the will to fight. We can first spread rumors that Zou Weilian plans to replace him in order to protect the people of Jiangxi and is afraid of unstable military morale. All military attachés from Fujian. And..." Li Banghua's expression suddenly turned dark, "Invite Zou Weilian's mother and clan members to Ji'an, and send forged letters to Ganzhou, saying that all the Zou clan are rebels. Chen Ting, the general of the Fujian army, Yes, we must be separated from General Zou Weilian!"

Chen Tingdui, the Chief of the Fujian Army, was a martial arts champion. He was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Guangdong Army by Chongzhen, and was later promoted to the Chief of the Fujian Army.

This man is a die-hard loyalist of Chongzhen. If he heard that the Zou clan was a traitor, and if Zou Weilian suppressed Fujian generals, he might do something outrageous.

"Okay, let's invite Zou Weilian's clan members first!" Zhao Han expressed satisfaction with this strategy.

In November of the eighth year of Chongzhen.

Jiang Liang led 500 soldiers and set out from Xinyu County in a swaggering manner, arriving at Shanggao County in three days.

Shang Gaozhi County was shocked. He had already recruited more than a thousand troops. At this time, he did not dare to go out of the city to kill the enemy. He only dared to lead troops to defend the city and sent people to Nanchang to report the news.

Jiang Liang grabbed a boat at the county dock, crossed the river by boat, and went straight to Xinchang County (Yifeng).

Kamikochi Prefecture was confused, thinking that the rebels were pretending to leave but actually wanted to fight back, so they simply blocked all the city gates.

Jiang Liang abandoned the boat after crossing the river, "borrowed grain" from the landlords along the way, and then arrived in Xinchang County in a big way.

There were only a few hundred Xiangyong garrisoned in Xinchang County, and the county magistrate was also so scared that he wet his pants and thought that the neighboring Shanggao County had been occupied by rebels. However, Jiang Liang led his troops into the mountains. This move was even more puzzling. The magistrate of Xinchang County was completely confused.

Alas, that Fujian governor Zou Weilian came from a truly miserable background, and his hometown was actually in the mountains.

Although there is a relatively flat road out of the mountain, it is a full 40 miles away from the county seat. When Zou Weilian was young, his orphans and widowed children made a living by chopping firewood. A round trip of eighty miles was required to sell firewood in the city.

It is estimated that the late father left behind mules or something like that, otherwise mother and son would have starved to death just relying on manpower to transport firewood.

When he came to Longgang Village and asked where Zou Weilian lived, Jiang Liang immediately led his troops to attack him.

In fact, the target is easy to find. The Zou family has a tall Jinshi archway and the house is relatively luxurious. The once poor orphaned and widowed mother has now built a big house. Mother Zou has maids to take care of her and several grandchildren to entertain her.

"Old madam, come with us." Jiang Liang said with a smile.

Mother Zou was not afraid in the face of danger and asked: "Are you rebels?"

"Yes," Jiang Liang threatened very politely, "I have been ordered to take the old lady and her family to Ji'an Mansion. If the old lady commits suicide, then the Zou family will have to be exterminated. When you leave, you can take some money with you, but you cannot bring anything. If you carry too much, you will have to march a long distance after all.”

Mother Zou sighed: "Oh, let me make some arrangements."

Zou's mother took out the land deeds and body deeds, and donated the land property to tenants and domestic slaves. She also gave some to neighbors and relatives. After spending three days, Jiang Liang waited patiently, and then took Zou Weilian's family away.

Including Zou Weilian's two sons and one daughter, the oldest is only sixteen years old.

On the way back, Zou's mother saw that the rebels did not rob them randomly. Even if they asked the landlord to "borrow grain", they only took away a few kilograms per person. She couldn't help but said to Jiang Liang: "General, I think you are also a kind person. You are not the same as the ordinary evil thieves. Why don't you join the government and serve the king and the court?"

Jiang Liang said with a smile: "It seems that the old lady has lived a good life for too long, and she doesn't know how the poor can suffer hardships. The emperor is stupid and the government is dishonest. We poor people can't survive, so we started to rebel in order to survive."

Ms. Zou is still advising people to be kind. She said: "More than thirty years ago, my husband passed away, leaving only an orphan and a widowed mother. The more than ten acres of thin farmland at home were also occupied by relatives, leaving only two mules and one mule. I took my dog ​​into the mountains to chop firewood. When I got tired from chopping, I taught my dog ​​how to read and practice calligraphy with tree branches. A mule carried firewood from the mountains to the county town and back, which took a day and a night, and I had my dog ​​endorse me on the road. No matter how hard it is, no matter how tiring it is, as long as you are willing to work hard, you can always get ahead."

Jiang Liang couldn't help but sneer: "What if your son didn't pass the exam? How many people in the world can be an official?"

Zou said: "If you don't want to be an official, you can also do other things to make a living. As long as you are kind to others, have good conduct, and work hard, you will eventually succeed."

Jiang Liang finally couldn't bear it anymore, stopped and roared: "My father worked hard in farming, but he starved to death! My mother was sick and had no money to buy medicine, so she lay in bed waiting to die! If I didn't rebel, sooner or later I would too My parents ended up like that!"

"Alas, they are all miserable people." Zou could only sigh.

…

Zhao Han sent people to rob Zou Weilian's family, and Jiangxi Commander-in-Chief Yang Jiamo also started to take action.

This guy took hundreds of servants and hundreds of guardsmen left behind by Li Ruolian and took a boat all the way to the border of Qingjiang County.

If we didn't bring the war horses, they would be a burden.

On the riverside, a six-year-old cowherd boy suddenly turned around and ran away with his cattle. On the way, he met a villager shouting: "The officers and soldiers are coming, the officers and soldiers are coming!"

Not long after, the officer stationed in the village who was responsible for training the peasant soldiers ran around banging the iron pot and shouting: "Gather the troops, gather the troops!"

The village chief and farmers' association cadres also hurriedly organized the villagers to relocate: "Don't delay, just take a few kilograms of food and leave. Don't let the officers and soldiers kill you."

How could the farmers be so willing?

Not to mention carrying the food and leaving, even the pots and pans were wanted to take away, which greatly slowed down the transfer speed.

Not long after, Yang Jiamo led his troops into the village and shouted: "These are all thieves, no chickens or dogs left!"

Several farmers who had moved all their belongings were caught up by officers and soldiers and hacked to death on the spot. Moreover, if the head is cut off, it will be regarded as the head of the rebel thief, and you can be rewarded for your merits.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Jiamo did not chase other villagers, but went straight to the nearby landlord's mansion.

"boom!"

The door of the house was knocked open, and an old gentleman greeted him with greetings. He cupped his hands and said, "Masters, you are finally here. My family is really a good citizen. We did not become thieves, but were divided into fields by that Zhao thief. Thousands of acres of good land, all of it." After being divided up, how can people live with the remaining acres...ah!"

Yang Jiamo slashed the gentry to death and ordered: "This county has been stolen by Zhao thieves, and everyone is a rebel. Kill the men, kill the old ones, and take back the young women and girls!"

What's the point of robbing common people? It’s faster to grab the big ones!

What's more, this place is under the rule of rebels. Even if everyone kills and robs all the big families, the evil deeds can still be blamed on the rebels.

That bastard governor and chief envoy completely dismissed Yang Jiamo as a beggar. Jiangxi Dusi is also rubbish and has nothing to offer. Yang Jiamo had to rob the people in order to raise his troops.

Not only can you rob food and money, but you can also kill good people and take credit!

Yang Jiamo's servants were responsible for killing people, and the hundreds of guardsmen were responsible for transporting the looted things back to the ship. In half a day, hundreds of heads were killed and countless amounts of money and food were stolen.

"Run quickly, the rebels are coming!" The guard soldier who was carrying the belongings was so frightened that he dropped his things and ran away.

The person in charge of commanding the soldiers of the guard station was a local Qian Zong. He ran to Yang Jiamo and said, "Mr. Yang, these bandits are powerful. It is best to return to Nanchang as soon as possible."

Yang Jiamo pointed to the distance and said with a disdainful smile: "That counts as soldiers? It's just a group of farmers. Call your people back and move all the goods to the ship. Let's see how I defeat the thief!"

Yang Jiamo's hundreds of servants are all elites who have fought against the bandits for several years.

Although the horses were not brought, all of them were wearing iron armor.

There is chain mail on the inside, and cotton armor embedded with iron wire and iron sheets on the outside. It is not afraid of being slashed by swords, and can even withstand bows and arrows.

But what they were facing now were farmers and soldiers from nearby villages and towns.

This is Zhao Han's newly occupied territory. The peasant soldiers have only been trained for two months. Many of them lack weapons and are still fighting with kitchen knives and bamboo spears.

Peasants and soldiers gathered in several surrounding villages.

Hu Dinggui, who is only fifteen years old, is now a peasant and soldier commander. He is holding a long gun that he picked up from the army.

"stop!"

The temporary commander-in-chief of these peasant soldiers was a serious soldier who was assigned to the village for military training. He sent an order: "Don't rush forward and delay the enemy. President Gu Qian and President Li Ba will be coming by boat soon!"