Chapter 576 0571 [Governing the People and Commanding the Soldiers]

Qingxi County.

Li Bao was sitting on the tower drinking with the county magistrate, and his attitude was quite polite: "Since you are the same age as the prince, why are you still serving as the county magistrate?"

Wu Bo smiled: "Reducing taxes and suppressing the powerful."

"That's right, you can't get promoted." Li Bao suddenly realized.

Fujian was a major province in the Song Dynasty. In terms of the number of Jinshi, Putian ranked first, Ouning ranked second, Xianyou ranked third, and Nanping ranked fourth.

In the year when Zhu Ming participated in the imperial examination, Nanping County produced five Jinshi, among which Wu Bo ranked the best.

However, this guy worked as a county magistrate in various places until his death, from the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, from selecting people to becoming a Beijing official, and even if he was promoted, he would be demoted soon.

He was not active in collecting taxes at all, but liked to crack down on the powerful. It would be strange if he could become a high-ranking official.

Although his official position was not high, he became very famous after retirement and was respected as "Zi" by Fujian scholars.

Wu Bo drank a cup of yellow wine, pointed to the mountains in the distance and said: "Fujian is mountainous, very suitable for growing corn and sweet potatoes. I promoted the planting of these two crops as soon as I arrived in Qingxi County. Now many people in the mountains rely on them for their survival."

Li Bao praised: "If your majesty and the prince knew, they would be very happy."

"It's useless!"

Wu Bo shook his head with a serious expression and said: "There are very few upper fields in Fujian, and even the middle fields are not many, and they are occupied by gentry and temples. Poor people can only own lower fields, and the harvest of ten acres is less than one acre of land in Jiangnan. If the Ming Dynasty wants to govern Fujian, it must suppress the powerful and destroy temples, otherwise no matter how good the food is, it will be difficult to benefit the people."

Li Bao smacked his lips, he knew what he should do.

Recommending Wu Bo to the prince will definitely please the prince.

Wu Bo stood up on the tower, with his hands behind his back, and said: "If I become the governor of Quanzhou and have the power to act at my own will, just give me three years, and I can make sure that only one out of ten temples in Quanzhou will be gone!"

"Just wait and see." Li Bao was very confident about this. He had worked with Zhu Ming for many years and knew Zhu Ming's ideas too well.

A Jinshi who passed the imperial examination in the same year as the prince and had similar political ideas, Li Bao felt that this person could enter the cabinet and become a prime minister in the future!

Perhaps the biggest gain of this cross-sea raid on Fujian was not to kill Tong Guan, but to meet Wu Bo in this mountain county.

Of course, Zhu Ming had to bear the pressure and support him all the time. Otherwise, with Wu Bo's radical methods, he could only be like in history, and he would be demoted soon after being promoted, and eventually become the "Wu Zi" recorded in the county annals.

A small boat came from the north, quickly arrived at the water gate under the city, and waved the flag wildly at the top of the city.

Li Bao said, "Here we go."

Wu Bo had only a limited knowledge of military affairs and asked, "Will the enemy be alert if there are no civilians outside the city?"

Li Bao said, "Xin Xingzong has allowed his troops to plunder many times, so he is probably used to the fact that there is no one outside the city and thinks that the civilians were scared away by him."

"Indeed." Wu Bo thought it made sense.

Xin Xingzong led his troops to the outside of the moat and saw that the dock was empty and there were no civilians in the streets of the city. He said with regret, "Most likely someone from the Qingyang Iron Works escaped and frightened the people of Qingxi County into hiding in the city. I'm afraid we have to attack the county town."

Xin Yanzong suggested, "Why not just bypass the city and attack Quanzhou directly? What is there to rob in a small county in the mountains?"

"That's fine. We must go to Quanzhou to rob ships as soon as possible, otherwise we won't be able to go out to sea." Xin Xingzong nodded.

Within a few words, they decided to ignore the city and became more determined to go out to sea.

Even the small county in Fujian did not accept the Shengjie Army, so what good situation would there be if they went to Guangdong? I'm afraid we have to conquer one city after another, so it's better to go out to sea and fight the savages directly.

As for the miasma on the island, just take more doctors with you.

There are already a large number of Han people cultivating the Penghu Islands. We can first establish a foothold there and then slowly move to Ryukyu Island for development.

At this time, it was late, Xin Xingzong did not march again, but retreated two miles to set up camp, and sent people to the residential area of ​​the suburbs to demolish some houses for firewood.

Li Bao looked at the enemy retreating and seemed a little helpless: "The ambush doesn't work, we have to kill them."

Wu Bo was surprised and said: "Don't you wait until it gets dark to attack at night?"

Li Bao smiled and said: "A group of frightened birds, why do we need to attack at night?"

Wu Bo watched Li Bao leave the city wall, thinking that this brother was too arrogant and conceited, and he might fall because of carelessness in the future.

The Shengjie Army captured some miners in the Qingyang Iron Field, and naturally let the miners do things like setting up camp and chopping firewood.

Moreover, Xin Xingzong was too lazy to build a strong camp. Firstly, the terrain was narrow and difficult to build, and secondly, he was not afraid of the defenders in the city coming to attack.

He even deliberately attracted the county to send troops, and maybe he could counterattack and attack the city.

The Shengjie Army had indeed become a waste, and its morale was low all the way, but it was not afraid of the local wing troops, and it could be invincible with its excellent weapons and armor.

More than 20 miners, led by soldiers, rowed a small boat to the residential area outside the city to demolish houses.

Before they landed, they heard a drum sound, and a large number of soldiers walked out of the houses and gradually gathered in the streets to form a battle line.

"There are... Ming troops!"

The soldiers of the Shengjie Army were startled, and then they fled in fear.

Xin Xingzong heard the movement two miles away, and immediately said to his cousin: "You take your soldiers on the boat to support, and I will personally lead the troops to form a battle line on the shore. In such a narrow terrain, our army has the danger of land and water, and we are not afraid even if the Jin soldiers come!"

The Shengjie Army was lying lazily on the ground, bragging and chatting with each other to pass the time.

When the urgent military call sounded, they thought it was the city's garrison troops coming to attack them, so they stood up slowly and followed the officers to form a battle array.

They were really not afraid of the garrison troops!

The soldiers who had dismantled the house to get firewood quickly rowed back and said in horror: "It's not the Xiang army, it's the Ming army in front. Everyone is wearing armor and the weapons are different. There is no way I can make a mistake!"

Xin Xingzong was shocked: "Why is the Ming army in front?"

He felt that Li Bao had killed Tong Guan, and there was still a lot of mess in Fuzhou, so it was impossible for them to move out so quickly.

The soldiers of the Shengjie Army, who were originally calm and unhurried, talked and laughed and formed a formation to fight with the Xiang army. At this time, the troops standing near Xin Xingzong, when they heard that the enemy in front was the Ming army, instantly became terrified.

They fought with the Jinzhou soldiers under Zhang Guangdao!

Although it was mainly a water battle, the artillery of the Jinzhou soldiers left a deep impression on them.

As the Ming army swept across the north, it was said that they had repelled the Jin army, and these Shengjie soldiers became more frightened, thinking that they would definitely not be able to beat the Ming army.

They faced the Xiang army like wolves and tigers, but they were afraid before fighting the Ming army.

Watching the Ming army stepping along the river bank, the soldiers of the Shengjie Army looked left and right, trying to find confidence from their comrades.

The two armies were getting closer and closer, and Li Bao began to divide his troops to climb the mountain, wanting to occupy the top of the mountain first.

Xin Xingzong also divided his troops to occupy the top of the mountain, but...

After climbing halfway up the mountain, the soldiers he divided raised the white flag and waved it continuously. It was unknown when the white flag was prepared.

At the same time, the Shengjie Army on the mountain also broke the arrowhead and shot it at the Ming soldiers.

Showing the white flag is called "raising the white flag", and breaking the arrowhead is called "no golden arrow", both of which represent surrender.

Xin Xingzong was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood when he saw the white flag waving wildly.

However, the morale of the Shengjie Army at the foot of the mountain and in the river plummeted, and some flag soldiers quickly pulled out white cloth from their arms and hung it up.

Then another officer of the Shengjie Army shouted: "Kill Xin Xingzong! Kill Xin Yanzong!"

The soldiers who had decided to follow the Xin brothers to the sea immediately changed their minds when they met the Ming army, and even the two's personal soldiers began to turn against them.

Seeing the Shengjie Army fighting among themselves, Li Bao instantly felt bored.

It seems that since the attack on Hangzhou, there has not been a decent battle. Compared with Zhong Xiang's pseudo-Chu army, the Song army is simply two extremes.

The pseudo-Chu army even fought desperately in the streets after the city was broken, and Li Bao was unwilling to force the attack on the city to increase casualties. Instead, he changed his strategic plan to conquer the small court in the southeast first.

But the basic quality of the Shengjie Army was still there. Unlike the chaos in the Battle of Minjiang, it took about two quarters of an hour to restore order, and they threw away their weapons and surrendered in an organized manner.

By the way, the brothers Xin Xingzong and Xin Yanzong were also tied up.

An officer knelt on the ground and shouted, crying bitterly: "Please spare my life, general, we just want to return home alive..."

The rest of the soldiers also wailed, and the grievances that had been suppressed for a long time burst out collectively with homesickness.

Tong Guan was very strict in selecting soldiers at that time, and the physical fitness must be excellent, so most of the Shengjie Army were good family boys. Since they were good family boys, they had relatives and friends, and the farther away from home, the more they missed it.

Li Bao called an officer to his side and ordered: "All weapons and armor should be loaded onto the ship, and 500 soldiers should escort the baggage into the city. The rest of the soldiers will stay here for the night, and I will not send soldiers to guard you. If you want to go home alive, be obedient. There are ten people in a team, and if one person commits a crime, the whole team will be punished, and you will never be able to return to the north in this life!"

The seemingly rough and careless way of handling the matter instantly calmed these homesick surrendered soldiers.

Li Bao asked them to camp on the spot, and did not even send soldiers to guard, indicating that he had no intention of killing the prisoners. Fujian was too far away from Shaanxi, and they did not think of running away. As long as they could survive, they were all willing to be honest and obedient.

They were even more obedient than when they followed Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong to fight!

Wu Bo, the magistrate of Qingxi, could not help but come to check. When he learned about Li Bao's handling, he could not help but sigh: "The general is rough but meticulous, and he knows the changes in people's hearts. He is worthy of being a famous general of the time."

Li Bao smiled and said: "How can there be so many people's hearts? A group of northern soldiers who have been away from home for many years, the old Song emperor is gone, and the commander who recruited them is also dead. What else can they do? As long as you promise to let them go home, no one will run away. And they will obey orders, so as not to cut off their way home."

"That's true." Wu Bo nodded in agreement.

Li Bao said: "If there is still a war, I will even allow them to carry weapons and armor, and I can pull these soldiers directly to the battlefield. In order to go home, to make merit, and to avoid guilt, they will become brave and fearless, even less afraid of death than my Kuizhou soldiers."

Wu Bo praised: "I have learned that governing the people and controlling the soldiers are actually the same thing."

These victorious soldiers robbed the people everywhere, and their hands were stained with blood, but Li Bao had no idea about it.

He only needed to bring the surrendered soldiers back to the north and hand them over to the court for processing.

If Li Bao had not felt that his contribution was too great, he would have even wanted to take these victorious troops and take over Guangdong and Guangxi, and then have them attack Zhong Xiang from Guangxi.