Now that he was sure to start a rebellion, Fang La did not hesitate.
He immediately asked people to forge official announcements and post them everywhere, falsely claiming that the imperial court was going to increase taxes in Jiangnan again, and that Zhongjing Marquis Cao Bin was the tax envoy and had arrived in Jiangnan.
In addition, people were asked to make up nursery rhymes to build momentum for the rebels.
In fact, there has long been a nursery rhyme in Jiangnan, "Ten thousand plus a little, you will be honored at the end of winter."
Ten thousand is the word "ten thousand", adding a little bit is "square", and winter represents "wa".
This nursery rhyme means that Fang La meets Nan and pays homage to him...
After making a lot of preparations, Fang La immediately began to divide his troops and dispatch generals.
He ordered his nephew Fang Jie to lead more than ten generals and 50,000 followers to attack Shezhou in the west, and then go north to meet Cao Bin's west route army.
He ordered General Si Xing to attack Wuzhou and Quzhou southward.
He himself led the main force eastward to occupy Qingxi County and capture Muzhou, and then moved northeastward to attack Hangzhou and meet Cao Bin's East Route Army.
The reason why he divided his forces to attack was actually to coerce the people.
Although Manichaeism now has 200,000 members, its main force is only 50,000 to 60,000 young.
He must increase his strength as much as possible before the court's follow-up reinforcements arrive.
As long as all the people's food and supplies are robbed, even if they don't want to rebel, they won't be able to survive and will have no choice but to follow the pirate ship...
Therefore, as long as you occupy more cities, your strength will grow rapidly.
The county magistrate of Qingxi had already been "converted" by Manichaeism. When he saw Fangla's uprising, he opened the city gate and surrendered.
Afterwards, the army went non-stop and arrived at Muzhou City that afternoon.
Seeing that the people were rebelling, the magistrate of Muzhou was about to close the city gates, but the defenders responded by beheading them and offering them to the city.
After capturing Muzhou, Fang La was "followed" by more than 100,000 people, and the surrounding counties of Tonglu and Pujiang surrendered.
Fang La was overjoyed, and the Manichaeans didn't expect it to go so smoothly. They just thought that destiny was "my", so they all tried to persuade him to join.
Fang La had this intention for a long time, and quickly performed a "three resignations and three concessions" drama, and ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor.
It took another half a day to establish the title system, enfeoff civil and military officials, and then immediately sent troops north to attack Hangzhou...
Suddenly, the southeast shook.
There were also many responders in the green forest, planning to rob the government and seize the city. The officials in both Zhejiang and Zhejiang were in danger and asked Cao Bin for help.
When the governor of Quzhou learned that Si Xingfang had brought troops to attack, he was so frightened that he abandoned the city and fled.
When Cao Bin received the news, he almost became angry.
It's not about Quzhou.
The reaction of local officials was normal and not beyond his expectation.
What surprised him was Fang La's ambition. He had just occupied several states and counties and dared to claim the title of emperor. It was also crazy.
But this was exactly what the emperor wanted. Didn't he want to divert the attention of the courtiers?
"Proclaiming himself emperor" is enough.
So Cao Bin immediately sent eight hundred miles to rush to report the matter to the court...
As the saying goes, there are no two days in the sky and no two masters in the country.
Proclaiming himself emperor is no small matter. No matter how big or small the power is, as long as he is proclaimed emperor, it is a major event that shakes the court.
However, in Cao Bin's view, although Fang La was quite capable and ambitious, and claimed to have all the heroes from the southeast, there was no possibility of his rebellion succeeding.
Apart from harming the people and weakening the imperial court, it is far from reaching the point of changing the dynasty.
In this way, the next mess was left to Cao Bin.
Although he thinks he is not a good person, he will not care about the life and death of the people and be contented.
He must find a way to restore people's livelihood... Even if he is an official here, he cannot be at ease. If the people have difficulty making a living, rebellions will continue.
Even if he had three heads and six arms, and his astonishing fighting power, he would still be unable to fight against the vast sea of people.
Unless he runs away and returns to the court...
Let’s talk about Manichaean Fang Jie.
After receiving the order from General Fangla, he went straight to Shezhou City to the west of Qingxi.
He is Fang La's nephew. He is praised as the first general in the southeast. He is good at making Fang Tian draw a halberd and has courage that is unworthy of all men.
Therefore, he was confident enough to defeat the city in one battle, and he did not take Cao Bin's reinforcements seriously.
However, since the congregation did not undergo strict military training, the march was very slow. It took them three or four days to reach Shezhou, a distance of one hundred miles.
Seeing that the gate of Shezhou City was closed, he had already expected it, kicked his horse under his crotch, stepped forward and shouted:
"Listen to the officers and soldiers in the city. Fang Shenggong's divine soldiers are here to save all living beings. They will open the city and surrender immediately."
Just after shouting, a group of officers and soldiers rushed out of the city, and the leading general shouted angrily:
"Rebels, please leave. Do you dare to challenge me?"
Fang Jie's martial arts skills were outstanding, and he immediately rode forward to fight with the general.
If there is no three-way battle, the general will stagger and retreat directly into the city.
Fang Jie was not surprised when he saw this. He was already familiar with the virtues of local officers and soldiers.
So Fang Tian drew his halberd and shouted:
"Come in and occupy Shezhou."
With that said, he took the lead and rushed into the city.
With a loud noise, the Thousand Jin Gate fell to the ground, and thousands of young Manichaeans were trapped in the urn city.
Fang Jie was shocked. When he saw a long-bearded general standing on the wall at the top of the city, he couldn't help but shouted angrily:
"You are definitely not the guard of Shezhou. Who are you? Do you dare to challenge me?"
Guan Sheng held the sword on his waist with his left hand, gently stroked his long beard with his right hand, glanced down, and sneered disdainfully:
"Rebellious ministers and traitors!"
"Master Cao Hou has already laid a dragnet for you and others."
With that said, he ignored Fang Jie's invitation to fight and waved his hand directly:
"Fire the arrow!"
It was a pity that one of the brave generals in the southeast was defeated and captured before he had time to show his talent.
He never imagined that what he met was the main force of the imperial court.
Fang Jie was captured, and most of the young men were wiped out. The church members outside the city were either old, weak or women. How could they withstand Guan Sheng's charge.
"Those who abandon their weapons and surrender will not be killed, but those who resist will die!"
After the war in Shezhou ended, Guan Sheng immediately reported to Cao Bin and led his troops straight to Fangla's hometown in Qingxi County.
Knowing that Fang La had many brave generals under his command, Cao Bin did not order him to forcefully attack the city and fight head-on. Instead, he bluffed and surrounded Wei and rescued Zhao.
After cleaning up Runzhou, Cao Bin himself also began to sweep away the green forest forces who responded to Fang La.
He was like a hunter with a net waiting, waiting for Fang La to hit the wall everywhere and lose all his energy, then it was time to close the net.
When Fang Jie defeated Shezhou, Fang La also led countless followers to surround Hangzhou.
Hangzhou is the administrative center of Liangzhe Road, with a population of 200,000 to 300,000.
If the Manichaeans can capture Hangzhou, their strength will increase dramatically, so this battle is the key.
Lu Junyi was also a little frightened when he saw the overwhelming Manichaean congregation outside the city.
He did not dare to lure the enemy into the city like Shezhou did. Instead, he closed the city gate tightly and assumed a defensive posture.
Nowadays, the Hangzhou garrison plus the urgently recruited men are only over 10,000 strong, and they can only wait for Gao Shun's reinforcements.
Fang La continued to attack for four or five days but failed to capture the city of Hangzhou. He couldn't help but feel impatient and said angrily:
"The imperial court has indeed been prepared for it. If it were just the defenders of Hangzhou, it wouldn't be so difficult to win!"
In the past few days, not only the spies in the city were captured and killed by Lu Junyi, but also the fire boats, wall digging, poisoning and other methods were cracked one by one.
They tried various methods but could not capture Hangzhou.
When the Manichaeans were worried, the believers came to report:
"Your Majesty, Cao Bin's reinforcements have arrived in Yuhang."
Hearing this, Fang Maang immediately stood up and said:
"There are only more than 2,000 people. Brother Emperor, I will kill them..."
