Chapter 615 0610【Work Together】

Hengyang, Quanxi Town.

The miners' uprising army from Guiyang Prison has fought for hundreds of miles, conquering cities and killing here.

The soldiers are no longer just miners, but also ordinary Han people and mountain Yao people.

They have three leaders, Tang Danian, Fang Zhong, and Pan Shaojie.

Eighty years ago, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, their ancestors also rebelled together.

First, the Han people could not bear the heavy taxes and were forced to flee to the Yao territory and farm with the Yao people. Then the government controlled the Yao people's salt, forced the Yao people to pay high salt taxes, and killed the Yao people at will when inspecting private salt.

Huang Zhuogui, a private salt dealer in Jiangxi, clashed with the soldiers when selling salt to the Yao people, which inspired the Han and Yao people to revolt together.

The government transformed the ruling contradiction into an ethnic contradiction, alienated the relationship between the Han and Yao uprising army, and killed Huang Zhuogui after recruiting him. They also forced the Han people living at the foot of the mountain to move away, and forbade them to interact with the Yao people in the mountains. They set up a 20-mile no-farming zone, and destroyed the farmers' crops and houses.

Such brutal rule immediately aroused a greater wave of resistance.

The uprising lasted for six years, and even spread from Jingnan to Guangxi. In the end, the three leaders Tang, Fang, and Pan led the remnants to surrender.

Eighty years later, the connection between the Han and Yao people has become closer. Especially in the river valley and the edge of the mountains, the two ethnic groups have been intermarrying and living together for a long time, and it is difficult to distinguish between them.

Many "mixed-blood" descendants speak Chinese, but claim to be Yao people, because Yao people do not have to pay land taxes.

But the government is not stupid. Twenty or thirty years after the Han-Yao uprising, they gradually began to collect taxes from the Yao people living at the foot of the mountain.

Moreover, the more they levy, the heavier the taxes!

When Zhong Xiang first fought, the civilians of both the Han and Yao ethnic groups supported Zhong Xiang and helped him kill officials and landlords.

In just two or three years, the brave man turned into a dragon.

Guiyang Prison was soon seized by opportunists and colluded with the confidants sent by Zhong Xiang.

"Da Da Da Da..."

A horse galloped over and said to the Guiyang rebels who were still camping: "Who is your leader? General Cao, please go to discuss the matter!"

Fang Zhong stayed here to command the camp, and Tang Danian and Pan Shaojie were invited to Cao Cheng's camp.

Now, Hengyang has been besieged on three sides.

Li Gong's camp is to the west of the city, Cao Cheng's camp is to the south of the city, and Yang Zaixing's camp is a buffer between the first two.

Now the Guiyang rebels are here again, camping in the southwest of the city.

Theoretically, Li Gong is the governor of Guangxi appointed by the court, and all the rebels should be under his control. But this gentleman has long suppressed the rebels in Guangxi, Hunan, and Jiangxi, and is notorious to the rebels of various ethnic groups. Instead, everyone is more willing to listen to Cao Cheng.

Even though Cao Cheng was defeated half a month ago...

"Greetings, General Cao!"

When he entered the tent, the leaders of various factions greeted him, which was very helpful to Cao Cheng.

After introducing each other, Cao Cheng described the current situation and began to make empty promises: "The imperial court has 200,000 troops in Dongting Lake and 100,000 troops in Jiangxi. Changsha will be taken sooner or later. We just need to keep Zhong Xiang here and wait for the news of the battle in the north. Zhong Xiang's army will be in chaos, and then we can attack the city and defeat the bandits. No matter whether we capture him alive or kill him in battle, as long as we capture Zhong Xiang, everyone present can become a high official!"

"We all listen to General Cao!" The leaders of various factions shouted.

The food of the rebel army was not much, so they specially prepared wine and meat today, and everyone ate heartily.

The banquet ended and everyone dispersed.

Yang Zaixing stayed, and waited until everyone else had left before he said to Cao Cheng: "Shouldn't we contact Li Gong? After all, we are friendly forces now."

Cao Cheng shook his head: "It's better not to contact him. He is a high-ranking official now, and we all have to listen to him. But when he issues military orders, which righteous army would be willing to listen? It would be strange if they didn't make a scene on the spot."

Yang Zaixing hesitated to speak, and he knew Cao Cheng's temper very well, so he finally stopped trying to persuade him.

Back in the camp, Yang Zaixing called his personal soldiers: "Send two jars of wine to Li Jinglie, and say it was sent by the Guiyang righteous army."

Yang Zaixing was also very hostile to Li Gong, but they joined forces to conquer Shaoyang and Xidu Town together.

After several days of contact, the relationship between the two sides eased a lot.

Li Gong is a man who values ​​rules and keeps his word. Seeing that Yang Zaixing has few soldiers under his command, he also gave Yang Zaixing two thousand new soldiers.

It is said that the three leaders of the Guiyang righteous army gathered for a meeting after nightfall.

Tang Danian said: "If there is any change, withdraw to Leiyang immediately!"

"Can the armies besieging Hengyang still be defeated?" Pan Shaojie asked in surprise.

Tang Danian said: "The army is not united. Li Gong and Cao Cheng have the strongest troops here, but they are hostile to each other. Cao Cheng did not even invite Li Gong to the banquet. The camps of the various armies are also far apart. Once attacked, it is difficult to rescue quickly."

"Second brother Tang is right." Fang Zhong nodded.

Among the three, Tang Danian is a Han Chinese, Pan Shaojie is a Yao Chinese, and Fang Zhong is a "mixed blood" of Han and Yao who claims to be a Yao Chinese.

Moreover, Tang Danian has read books. His family used to be a landlord. After being confiscated by Zhong Xiang, all the male members of the family were thrown into mining. After fighting for hundreds of miles, the miners in Guiyang Prison now listen to Tang Danian.

...

Inside Hengyang City.

An urgent letter was sent to Zhong Xiang, and the content was summarized in one sentence: Lujiaozhai is gone, the Ming army is besieging Xiangyin, and the Chu army can still hold it for the time being.

Just six days ago, the news that Chenyang was besieged was also known by Zhong Xiang.

Zhong Xiang had no way to deal with this, as he was short of soldiers and food. With the resources of half of Hunan, how could he withstand the siege of several provinces?

Prince Zhong Ziang was also in Hengyang. Seeing no one around him, he couldn't help but whisper: "Father, why don't you surrender?"

"Everyone can surrender, except you and me, father and son." Zhong Xiang glared at his son.

Zhong Ziang shut up immediately.

Prime Minister Zhong added: "The enemy troops in Jiangxi have been defeated. The enemy troops outside Hengyang City, you can tell by looking at their camps that they are not united. If we delay for a while, we may be able to find an opportunity to defeat the enemy. Yang Hua still has 8,000 elite troops. , told him to leave the Jiangxi enemy alone and immediately return to Xiangyin City to defend against the enemy."

"Where is Dingzhou?" Zhong Ziang asked.

Zhong Xiang said dejectedly: "The navy is defeated, and Dingzhou is destined to be unable to defend itself."

The war in the south mainly relied on water transportation. The Ming Dynasty Navy completely controlled Dongting Lake, which was equivalent to dividing the northern battlefield.

Chenyang and Yuanjiang were besieged. Although Yiyang was very close, the defenders of Yiyang did not dare to move due to the shortage of soldiers and food.

Three days later, Prime Minister Zhong sent Chen Gui, a fierce general, to lead a thousand elite troops out of the city to attack at night.

There are the Daozhou and Hezhou rebel camps with Cao Cheng as the center. They are all nominally under the command of Cao Cheng, but in fact they are divided into more than ten forces.

Chen Gui successfully lit a camp on fire. The flames soared into the sky, accompanied by shouts of killing, and the rebels in nearby camps fled.

In the darkness, Cao Cheng did not dare to save him, fearing that his troops would collapse. He can quickly pacify his headquarters and prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the situation, so he can be regarded as a good general.

However, the camps of Li Gong, Yang Zaixing, and Tang Danian were far away, and it was too late to save them. When they arrived with troops, Chen Gui had already led the Chu army back to the city.

After losing two games in a row, the morale of the army was not unified. After Cao Cheng gathered his defeated troops, he actually retreated twenty miles to camp.

Tang Danian immediately contacted Yang Zaixing and then contacted Li Gong. After detailed discussions, the three parties finally joined forces and abandoned their prejudices to deal with Prime Minister Zhong together.

At this point, Zhong Xiang has found it difficult to break the situation.

His only way was to take the initiative to go out of the city and fight the coalition forces by relying on the elite troops in his hands. It is almost impossible to attack at night, and staying in the city is just waiting for death.

Among the coalition forces outside the city, Li Gong's troops had the best equipment, but most of them were from rural soldiers, the so-called landlords' armed forces. It had only been three or four months since they had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, and they hadn't even had time to reorganize, so their combat effectiveness and morale were just like that.

As for the troops of Tang Danian and Yang Zaixing, if they were equipped with armor and armor, they only had three to four thousand soldiers in total, and many of the soldiers even lacked leather armor.

If Zhong Xiang goes out to fight in the city, he still has a chance to win, because his opponent is "too bad"!

After repeated calculations, Zhong Xiang asked his son to defend the city while he personally led the main force in the decisive battle.

Li Gong, Yang Zaixing, and Tang Danian, however, stood firm and refused to leave the camp. They knew that their own troops were too weak and they had to recruit Cao Cheng's troops to be sure.

Li Gong called Yang Zaixing and Tang Danian over and repeatedly discussed the battle plan, but still felt that his troops were insufficient.

After the two left, Li Gong walked around in the tent. He thought for a long time and finally made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and said: "That thief Cao Cheng wants face, so give him enough face!"

Leaving the camp to his son to defend, Li Gong rode south in person, detouring more than thirty miles to Cao Cheng's camp.

"Why is Li Jinglue here? He is really a rare visitor." Cao Cheng became angry when he saw Li Gong. One of his clan brothers died at the hands of Li Gong.

Li Gong said: "General Cao, in the past, you and I were our own masters. On the battlefield, swords without eyes would inevitably lead to death and injury. In fact, there is no personal enmity to speak of. Today, we are both ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and we should work together to serve the court. If I have made any mistakes, I will I can't apologize to the general today. I hope the general will take care of me and then hold a banquet to apologize!"

After saying that, Li Gong suddenly knelt down on one knee and raised his hands to Cao Cheng in front of everyone.

Cao Cheng was so startled that he took two steps back, his vest already sweating.

Li Gong was now the Ming Dynasty's economic envoy to Guangxi. How could Cao Cheng, a general who had just been named commander, afford to put down his arrogance and apologize in public?

Once you don't give face, how can you get away with it if word spreads? It was simply a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty!

Moreover, Li Gong's low profile also made Cao Cheng extremely useful, and he inevitably felt a bit proud in his heart, and the resentment accumulated in the past was wiped away.

"Jingsue, please get up quickly!"

Cao Cheng hurriedly went to help him: "I also have something wrong. Now that we are both ministers of the Ming Dynasty, we should put aside our grudges and work together with the general to achieve great things."

Li Gong was actually very aggrieved. He was helped up by Cao Cheng, held Cao Cheng's hand and said: "In Hengyang City, there are all elite soldiers of Prime Minister Zhong. Without the help of the general, I really have no chance of winning. I also ask the general to hurry up." Lead the troops back."

"I'll set out tomorrow, do some planning and go back to wait for news!" Cao Cheng immediately promised.

With Li Gong kneeling down on one knee, these ragtag groups in the south were finally able to unite to fight, instead of the previous situation of fighting independently.