Chapter 614 0609 [Do Your Utmost]

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, who had just surrendered, had only more than a thousand soldiers under their command, and the rest were all nearby fishermen and farmers.

Lin Chong led his troops to line up outside the village and began to dismiss the "militia". Although he himself did not have much food, he still promised to give the "militia" food.

Huang Zuo restrained the soldiers in the village, and Liu Rui led the militia out to get food.

One by one, the farmers and fishermen first threw away their weapons and lined up outside the village with their heads down. A few people showed anger, but more people showed relief.

Last year, most of them were willing to fight to the death, but this year's mood was different.

The main reason was the lack of food. Zhong Xiang was surrounded by enemies and raised too many troops, making the lives of the people under his rule more and more difficult.

These "militia" usually had to farm and fish, and they had to train when they had some free time. Once they went to war, they had to fight hard as soldiers. And they were busy all year round, not only did they have no surplus food, but they would also go hungry when there was a shortage of food.

No matter how firm your faith is, it will be discounted if you are hungry.

If the Ming Dynasty was cruel and inhumane, they might still fight to the end.

But Anxiang County was right next door, and people there lived well under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

The people in Chongxiao Village were so hungry that they would even secretly go to Anxiang to exchange food - this happened this spring!

The Chu army in various counties of Dingzhou divided their troops to guard the city, but did not gather together to fight. The main reason was that there was not enough military food. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and Chenzhou had to use troops for half a year. Dingzhou had to station troops to confront the Ming Dynasty, and the food reserves in this large area had been exhausted.

The amount of food distributed was not much, only one bucket per person.

The militiamen who received the food quickly scattered and became civilians.

Then, Huang Zuo led more than a thousand soldiers out of the village and symbolically handed over the military register and food book. Lin Chong accepted their surrender on behalf of the Ming Dynasty.

The monk soldiers from Fujian, led by Fan Ruwei, entered Chongxiao Village to take over the defense.

It was not a religious confrontation. It was purely under the constraints of Fan Ruwei. The military discipline of these Fujian soldiers was very good. At least, among the new troops trained this year, their military discipline is the ceiling.

In the next war, Chongxiao Village is a hub for the transportation of military supplies and a transit station for soldiers and civilians. The surrounding villages are full of Manichaeans, and a troop with good military discipline must be selected to station there, otherwise it is unknown what kind of trouble will arise.

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui followed Lin Chong back to the village, and Lin Chong asked: "General Ying told you, right?"

"Yes." The two nodded.

Lin Chong repeated: "All the altars in the surrounding villages must be banned. Those small altar owners in the countryside, the whole family will move to Yuezhou first, waiting for the government to disperse them to various places for resettlement."

Dingzhou is Zhong Xiang's hometown and the base camp of Manichaeism in Hunan.

There are large and small altars all over the countryside. Killing them blindly will inevitably arouse resistance, but leaving them alone will easily cause chaos.

Dispersing and migrating is the best way.

There is no need to worry about them going to other places to preach, because some provinces have already spread the word. For example, in Huainan and Shandong, a large number of Manichaeans went north after the fall of Fang La. Manichaeism also exists everywhere in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi.

As long as life is manageable, there will be no large-scale uprisings, and religious issues can be solved slowly in the future.

Huang Zuo said: "As long as we persuade them with kind words, give them some money, and promise them land after migration, the rural altar masters will not resist."

Liu Rui said: "If there is resistance, we can only kill them."

There are not only Lin Chong's 6,000 elite troops who came to fight on the west bank of Dongting Lake, but also garrison troops in Anxiang, Huarong and other places.

In total, more than 18,000 people!

Including the surrendered soldiers, there are almost 20,000 people.

After confirming that Zhong Xiang's main force went south, Bai Qi personally led 20,000 new troops and 10,000 civilians to join them by boat from Lujiao Town.

The small Chongxiao Town was densely packed with people, and there were military camps and granaries everywhere outside the town.

Bai Qi called all the generals to a meeting, Huang Zuo stayed in the village to participate, and Liu Rui went to the countryside to ban the altar.

"What is the specific situation in Dingzhou and Chenzhou?" Bai Qi asked.

The Ming Dynasty also has spies here, but their number is very small and they are easy to be exposed.

Huang Zuo said in detail:

"The commander is Zhong... Zhong Xiang's cousin Zhong Quan, who has 5,000 troops stationed in Dingzhou City. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and Zhong Quan also led the troops to suppress it, but the battle lasted for a full six months. They also had to keep troops to guard against the Ming Dynasty, so there was not much military food left here."

"Last winter, Tanzhou transported several batches of military food. Fearing that it would be robbed by the Ming Dynasty navy, they did not dare to ship from Dongting Lake. They were first transported to Yiyang, and then transported to Yuanjiang and Chenyang by livestock. When they arrived in Chenyang, they were loaded and shipped to Dingzhou City."

"This spring, there was a shortage of food here, and Tanzhou transported two more batches of military food. But it was a drop in the bucket, and we can only wait for the rice harvest."

"Now that the war has started again, Dingzhou can no longer collect food. Tanzhou's food is needed to supply Zhong Xiang's army, and it can't be Then transport it here. So in Dingzhou, each city and fortress raises its own military rations. I was afraid that there would not be enough food, so I took the soldiers to fish and catch clams and snails a few days ago. "

"If Zhong Quan dares to order the troops to gather, there is no need to fight him head-on, he will run out of food in a month or two."

"The commander of Chenyang is Liu Heng, he and Liu Rui are distant relatives, you can let Liu Rui go to persuade them to surrender. Liu Heng has only more than a thousand soldiers, mainly because there are too many soldiers to support. But if our army besieges Chenyang, he can immediately recruit thousands of civilians to defend the city, and these civilians have practiced military formations in their spare time."

"The commander of Yuanjiang is Quan Cong, and his troops are also not many, but this city is strong and difficult to attack. However, Yuanjiang City is on the edge of Dongting Lake, and the Ming warships are powerful with firearms, which should be able to suppress the defenders on the city head."

"..."

After hearing this, Bai Qi felt reassured.

By carefully compiling the messages sent back, he knew that Prime Minister Zhong was short of food, but he did not expect that he would be in such an embarrassment.

Nowadays, most of the food in Puppet Chu's country is used to supply Zhong Xiang's army, and all the cities defended by separate troops are in a state of food shortage.

This is caused by the superposition of many factors, and the large number of Puppet Chu troops is only one aspect. Years of wars required the recruitment of civilian laborers, which also had a long-term impact on agricultural production.

There was also a major flood last year, which disrupted Li Bao's battle plan and caused widespread harvest failure in Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River. For Prime Minister Zhong, it can be said that the house leaked and it rained all night, and the food became increasingly scarce.

A few days later, Bai Qi led an army to besiege Chenyang.

This was later to be Hanshou County, with the Yuan River flowing through it to the north, the Canglang River to the west, and Dongting Lake only twenty or thirty miles away to the east.

Qu Yuan "sent to Zhuxi in the morning and stayed in Chenyang at night." Not only did he stay in Chenyang, he also washed his feet by the Canglang River.

Instead, it is Yuanjiang County in the southeast. During the Sui Dynasty, it was located at the mouth of the Yuanjiang River flowing into Dongting Lake. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yuanjiang River was divided into two parts. In the Song Dynasty, it completely changed its course to the north, and the county seat was fifty or sixty miles away from the river.

Bai Qi led his army to besiege Chenyang, and sent Lin Chong to Yuanjiang. The Ming Navy also bombarded Yuanjiang County frantically.

Zhong Xiang's younger brother Zhong Quan was stationed in Dingzhou. When he learned that Chenyang was besieged, he was undecided for a while.

Zhong Quan only had 5,000 soldiers in hand. Relying on the appeal of Manichaeism, he could immediately recruit 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and then send his troops to fight Bai Qi in Chenyang.

But if we do that, the military rations will only last for a month or two at most!

After hesitating for two or three days, Zhong Quan still ordered the conscription of troops, asking the people to tighten their belts and pay for food. At the same time, he also recruited a large number of ships and civilians.

Liu Rui personally shouted at the city gate: "Da Chu is about to be lost. Brother, it is better to surrender as soon as possible..."

Guard Liu Heng stood at the top of Chenyang City: "You are ungrateful, I will not be your brother. Shoot the arrow!"

The attempt to surrender failed.

Bai Qi began to strengthen the fortress and waited for Zhong Quan to lead his army to rescue him. His first idea was to surround the point and call for reinforcements.

Now that he knows that the enemy is short of food, there is no need to rush for reinforcements. It will take him a month or two to rely on the camp. Wait for the Puppet Chu reinforcements to run out of food, and then take it all in one go!

Prime Minister Zhong's main force went south to quell the chaos, and he would not be able to come back for a month or two.

When Prime Minister Zhong comes back, Dingzhou will probably be gone. This is the home of Manichaeism, and many members of the pseudo-Chu high-ranking generals still live in Dingzhou.

More than ten days later, Zhong Quan arrived with a large army. Counting the civilians, there were more than 40,000 people.

Zhong Quan was short of food and eager to fight Bai Qi, but Bai Qi held on to the camp and refused to leave.

Yuanjiang County in the southwest had also been bombarded by the navy for many days. Huang Zuo persuaded him to surrender outside the city every day, and the guard Quan Cong began to waver.

But after all, he is still waiting and watching. Only when Chen Yang next door is gone will Quan Cong choose to surrender.

It was delayed until the "January period", and Wang Yuan began to shout outside Lujiao Village: "General Zhou, a man who promised you a thousand pieces of gold, are you going to break your promise?"

Inside the village, Leidejin said to Zhou Lun: "It's enough to lie to him for a month, but we can't really surrender."

Zhou Lun shook his head: "Da Chu will definitely be defeated, so why increase casualties? The soldiers in the village also have parents, wives and children. We cannot take them to death. Gather all the soldiers."

Redjin remained silent. He did not want to betray his master and surrender to the enemy, but he wanted to save his life.

Zhou Lun is the chief general. If Zhou Lun surrenders, he will surrender. If Zhou Lun defends, he will defend.

The soldiers in the twin castles were all recruited by Zhou Lun to the suburbs on the east side between the two cities, but Wang Yuan did not take the opportunity to lead his troops to kill them.

Zhou Lun shouted to all the soldiers: "You have shown all your kindness to His Majesty. Da Chu cannot win. I have reached an agreement with the enemy generals. As long as you put down your weapons, you can work as potters to support your families. Unfaithful and unjust people." It’s me. When I die, you don’t want to avenge me. Just work hard and live a good life..."

Redjin was shocked: "We are about to surrender, so why talk about revenge?"

Zhou Lun turned towards Changsha, suddenly drew the knife across his neck, closed his eyes and was about to kill himself.

Lei Jin was standing next to him and immediately jumped out when Zhou Lun drew his sword. The two fell to the ground, and Lei Jin quickly pulled the knife away, only to see blood coming out of Zhou Lun's neck.

"Mr. doctor, doctor, come here quickly!" Lei Jin put his hand on the wound and shouted.

The military doctor was receiving training below. While running towards Zhou Lun, he shouted to his apprentice: "Go and get my medicine box!"

In the afternoon of that day, Wang Yuan led his troops to take over Lujiao Village. Looking at the unconscious Zhou Lun, he sighed with emotion: "How is General Zhou?"

The military doctor sighed and replied: "Oh, there was too much blood, and it couldn't be stopped at first. Whether he can wake up depends on his own destiny."

Wang Yuan shook his head and left the room silently.