At the end of February, Qingzhou Fucheng, General Military Mansion.
Liu Yan frowned and looked at a letter, which was a "letter for help" sent by Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong.
Since last year, that is, since August of the 14th year of Chongzhen, it has basically not rained much in various parts of Shandong. There was only a snowfall around New Year's Eve. Other than that, there was no rain.
It is already the time for spring plowing, but farmland everywhere is extremely dry. At the beginning of this month, locust plagues broke out in Jinan Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, and Yanzhou Prefecture. The locusts filled the sky like dark clouds, raging everywhere. They passed through thousands of miles of bare ground, leaving not even a leaf or a weed left.
Streams everywhere have almost all dried up. The surface of the Yellow River north of Jinan Fucheng has dropped much compared with previous years. People across Shandong are miserable. This year has just begun, and there is another year of disaster!
With drought and locust plagues coming at the same time, poor people across Shandong were starved of food. Faced with the prospect of no harvest in the coming year, countless desperate people rose up and began to besiege cities in various places.
Qinglai Town under Liu Yan's rule was not greatly affected. The people of Qingzhou Prefecture and Laizhou Prefecture were far richer than elsewhere. Even if the cultivated land failed to harvest this year, there would never be large-scale starvation to death with the presence of the General Military Mansion.
In addition, most of the bandits in Qinglai Town have been wiped out by the new army. Therefore, among the four prefectures within the territory, only Yanzhou and Dengzhou have some rebellious people who are held hostage by bandits, and the scale is not large.
Liu Yan has already ordered Wang Yue, the rear battalion commander, and Zhang Yi, the Zuoying commander general, to lead their troops to encircle and suppress the bandits in the territory, stabilize the situation in Dengzhou Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture as soon as possible, and cooperate with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture in disaster relief matters.
As for Yan Jizu’s side
The situation is much more serious. Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture are full of thieves and bandits. In addition, the huge number of victims cannot receive effective relief. More and more victims have joined the bandit army. In just ten days, The number of bandits in Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture has expanded to tens of thousands!
Nowadays, the Fubiao Battalion under Yan Jizu is no longer the elite one led by General Xu Tonghui. After the reconstruction, the Fubiao Battalion has only more than a thousand soldiers, most of whom are temporary recruits. They do not have sophisticated military equipment, lack of training, and lack of money and food. Supplies are also very scarce. Such a battalion has little combat effectiveness, not to mention the tens of thousands of enemies.
So Yan Jizu sent someone to ask Liu Yan for help, hoping to send new troops to reinforce Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture.
"well!"
Liu Yan sighed, although he really wanted to send troops to assist Yan Jizu, but without the order from the Ministry of War, he, the chief military officer, could not send troops privately.
According to the current imperial court system, a governor has no right to mobilize general military officers without being appointed by the imperial court. Liu Yan has already had several unpleasant encounters with the imperial court. For the future development of Qinglai Town, Liu Yan is not prepared to continue to embarrass the imperial court. It is not feasible to send troops privately.
At this time, in the main hall, staff officers Li Jiwen and Hu Zongming, as well as Finance Minister Yue Ming and War Minister Tian Huixu were sitting aside. Liu Yan had called these people early in the morning and they also knew about Yan Jizu's request for help.
"How do you respond to Master Futai?"
Tian Huixu asked, this matter was a military matter, so naturally he had to take the initiative to ask.
"The Ministry of War mobilized 10,000 pairs of armor, 10,000 spears, as well as some swords and shields and other materials from the arsenal.
All preparations were completed within three days, and the cavalry battalion sent troops to escort them to Jinan Fucheng. "
"yes."
"Tell Xu Ming that the cavalry battalion soldiers will withdraw immediately after completing the escort."
"yes."
Tian Huixu understood that Liu Yan had tried his best. Yan Jizu and Chen Xinjia didn't know what they were thinking at the moment. They never mobilized surrounding troops to quell the chaos. Did Chen Xinjia think that the more than a thousand Fubiao battalions put together by Yan Jizu could stabilize the situation? situation?
"Have Minister of Household Affairs Zhao Min and Minister of Agriculture Zhang Lei notified them?"
Li Jiwen said: "We have been notified, oh, they are here."
Zhang Lei and Zhao Min hurried over, saluted and sat next to Tian Huixu.
"Let's get straight to the point. Drought and locust plagues are very serious now. The Ministry of Household Affairs must do a good job in providing relief. The amount of money and food required should be reported to the Ministry of Finance as soon as possible. The allocation must be in place within five days, and the Ministry of Household Affairs will distribute it to various prefectures. "
"Although this year is destined to be a year of disaster, the Ministry of Agriculture cannot give up. It must organize people in various places to help themselves, dig wells, transport water to fight drought, raise chickens and ducks to eliminate locusts. Moreover, locusts are also edible, and we must call on the people to catch the insects. Eat bugs.”
Everyone wrote them down one by one, and Liu Yan talked non-stop, introducing to everyone some of the experiences of later generations in fighting drought and locusts. Many of them were experiences that no one had ever heard of.
Although everyone has some doubts, will these methods work?
However, out of trust in Liu Yan, everyone took notes carefully and started executing them after returning.
Two days later, Tian Huixu mobilized a large number of troops and equipment to be loaded into trucks. Xu Ming sent the central guerrilla general Du Zhongming to lead a total of more than a thousand soldiers to escort the troops. The large group set out from Qingzhou Fucheng to Jinan Prefecture.
city.
Along the way, the army marched day and night, and Du Zhongming specially sent a fast horse to go ahead and report the news to the governor Yan Jizu.
However, when the large group of people left the boundary of Qinglai Town and entered the territory of Jinan Fucheng, their marching speed slowed down.
Du Zhongming looked at the barren fields along the way and saw the deserted villages and towns. He thought for a moment that he had returned to Henan. At this time, various industries in Jinan Prefecture were in decline, which formed a clear contrast with the prosperity of Qinglai Town. Compared.
"How long has it been before Jinan Mansion has become like this?"
"General, there is someone ahead!"
When Du Zhongming heard the report from his subordinates, he rode his horse to the front of the team. He saw a horse team of more than a dozen people appeared on the left side of the official road in front. They were dressed in a mess. At this time, there could be more than a dozen people riding horses. Yes, they are either the officers and soldiers who refuse to collect at night, or they are the scouts of the bandits!
"Take someone up and bring those guys back to me!"
"yes!"
Then a hundred generals led more than 30 cavalry soldiers to rush forward. A dozen cavalrymen in the distance quickly turned around and fled to the north.
"Follow me!"
The two sides chased and fled, and soon ran into the distance. Du Zhongming was not worried. With the strength of more than a thousand people in the cavalry battalion, even if they encountered the main force of the bandits, they would not be at a disadvantage. It is surrounded by flat plains, with just some trees. There is no place for thieves to ambush, so nothing can happen.
"keep going!"
"Send another sentry to respond."
Immediately, the large group of people continued to march north along the official road. About half an hour later, the commander-in-chief led his troops back, with many bloody heads hanging on their saddles.
"
Sir, that cavalry team just now was indeed a bandit scout, and all of them were killed by their subordinates! "
"Are there any casualties?"
"Two people suffered minor injuries."
"No one left alive?"
"There is one,"
With that said, Mr. Bai pushed a bandit scout who was tied up in the saddle off his horse and threw it heavily to the ground.
Du Zhongming signaled the troops to continue moving forward, stopped with a few of his subordinates, and then asked on the horse: "Which bandit are you subordinate to?"
"The younger one is the flag bearer of Chongtianhu, and I have been ordered to come here to inquire about the news."
"Sky Tiger? Are you Li Chuang's subordinate?"
"No, no, Chong Tianhu is from Jinan Prefecture. He couldn't survive anymore, so he gave himself a nickname, and then he gathered a group of people to annex the bandits in the vicinity. Now there are more than ten thousand people."
"Where exactly?"
"The Chongtianhu led his troops to the north. They should be confronting Yan Jizu's Fubiao camp in the Fucheng area of Jinan."
Du Zhongming thought for a moment, and then made a motion of wiping his neck. President Bai pulled out the dagger, stepped forward and wiped the prisoner's neck hard, and blood suddenly spurted out.
"If the thieves and bandits in Shandong are not wiped out as soon as possible, they may get bigger and bigger. If there is another Li Zicheng in Shandong, there will never be peace in the world!"
Everyone was silent.
Three days later, Du Zhongming led his troops to travel day and night and finally arrived at Jinan City.
At this time, Governor Yan Jizu had already led the Fubiao Battalion to retreat to the city. Hearing that Liu Yan had sent troops, he happily went out of the city to greet him.
In the governor's office, when Du Zhongming took out Liu Yan's reply and stated that he was only sending troops to prepare supplies according to fate and was not here to participate in the war, the smile on Yan Jizu's face suddenly solidified.
"Futai
Sir, don’t blame me, my headquarter is also forced to have no choice. The Ministry of War has not issued a transfer order so far, and my headquarter cannot privately mobilize troops to go north. This time, none of the generals dared to show off their banners for transporting troops. They just went north in the name of the Qinglai Town Chamber of Commerce. "
Yan Jizu sighed and said: "I understand, I understand. I have written four official letters to Chen Xinjia, but the reply I received only asked me to lead my troops to resist and wait for the imperial court to mobilize reinforcements. Where are the reinforcements? Today, I I didn’t even see a single soldier! I really don’t know what the adults in the court are doing all day long. Do they really have to wait until the Shandong Civil War caused huge waves to think about how to make up for it? "
Du Zhongming was just a guerrilla general, so naturally he did not dare to express his opinions on such matters, so he just stood aside and said nothing.
Yan Jizu forced out a smile and said: "Haha, General Lao Du is also working hard this time. I originally wanted to hold a banquet for the general, but the bandits have already arrived outside the city, and I have no energy and thoughts. Please don't, general." Sorry."
"Master Futai has spoken seriously, and the general will not dare to do so."
On that day, Du Zhongming led his troops to withdraw from Jinan Fucheng, and then led more than a thousand cavalry battalion soldiers to charge towards the more than ten thousand bandits several miles outside the city. The momentum of the charge of more than a thousand cavalry was very strong, and those who were also patchworked together The thieves and bandits had never been seen before, and they were immediately frightened into chaos. There were people running away everywhere inside and outside the camp.
Upon seeing this, the Sky Tiger hurriedly sent people to suppress it, and finally stabilized the army, but saw that the cavalry army suddenly turned around outside the camp, and countless cavalry soldiers cheered and rode away.
Chongtianhu's face was ashen. He had never heard of Yan Jizu's command.
There was still such an army of cavalry below, and he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat twenty miles to camp, temporarily suspending the plan to attack Jinan City.
Du Zhongming looked at the army of bandits who were breaking camp and retreating, sighed, and said to himself: "No wonder Yan Futai, I can only do so much."
Then Du Zhongming led his troops southward and returned to Qingzhou Fucheng.
