Chapter 119 Dragon and Tiger Landscape
Under the rule of Guangxin Prefecture in Jiangxi Province, twenty miles west of Guixi County is the famous Longhu Mountain, where the Ming Dynasty coordinated Taoist affairs in the world. It is the place where Zhengyi Sect flourished. It is said that Zhang Daoling practiced Taoism in Qingcheng Mountain, Sichuan before attaining Taoism. family, and then preached all the way to the territory of Jiangxi. If calculated according to his time, this place was also within the territory of the Chu State.
Chen Cao and his party took a naval warship, carrying cans for four days, and landed on the shore of Poyang Lake, ten miles north of Yugan County. Then they led the guard regiment and part of the Jinyi guards on their horses and marched quickly.
Because he had the official document signed by Wei Guogong in his hand, County Magistrate Yu Qian warmly entertained Uncle Dingwu and presented him with many gifts, which made Chen Cao lament that there was always money to be made in serving as a soldier and fighting in battles.
"This kind of atmosphere is not good," Chen Cao said on his horse. His first priority was not to stay in Yugan County, but to go to Guixi as soon as possible.
The county seat of Guixi County is only slightly built in the north, which is only five meters high. The rest of the city walls are built in a symbolic circle. The highest one is only two meters, and the second one is made of wooden fences. There was a lot of yellow mud piled underneath.
"Zhou Chengming, the magistrate of Guixi, was a fellow Jinshi in the 23rd year of Wanli. He first served as an official in Guangxi and was transferred to Guixi in the 42nd year of Wanli." Zhao Xin endorsed Chen Cao on a horse.
"You actually stayed in one place for so long?" Chen Cao frowned.
"Uncle, I don't know something. Although Jiangxi is rich, the rich are only close to Poyang Lake. But wherever there are barbarians living together, the civil servants are not willing to come here to serve as officials. If they can push it, they will push it. Zhou Chengming has accumulated experience in Guangxi and can handle relations with the barbarians, so he is retained here, otherwise, he should have been transferred long ago." Zhao Xin continued to explain.
"Corrupt official?"
Xin Zhao shook his head: "It's hard to say, it just depends on how greedy you are. There are too many barbarians here in Guixi, so I think there won't be much money."
"You will know when you go into the city and see how the people live."
As soon as Chen Cao finished speaking, the Jin Yiwei who was exploring the way came quickly: "I would like to inform you, there are no barbarians in Guixi County."
Chen Cao stirred up the reins and immediately patted the horse and ran forward.
"Zhou Chengming, the magistrate, and Shi Gui, the prefect of Guangxin, are trapped on Longhu Mountain. There are still more than a thousand guardsmen in Guangxin Prefecture in the prefecture. We heard that reinforcements from the surrounding prefectures are on their way."
Entering the city, because they had been looted by the barbarians before, the surviving households were now cleaning up the mess. They saw the imperial troops entering the city, and they retreated to the side of the road and bowed.
"Uncle Dingwu of the Ming Dynasty was ordered to come to quell the rebellion. Are there any officials in charge of the matter in Guixi City?" Zhao Xin rode forward, stood up and shouted.
From time to time, a group of people came in panic. The leader was wearing a dark green official uniform with some mud on his body. He stood in front of Zhao Xin's horse, bowed and saluted: "Xia Guan Guixi County Cheng Shi Quan, I have seen the superior. Sir."
Zhao Xin lifted the horse's head and revealed Chen Cao: "This is Uncle Dingwu, here to quell the rebellion."
Shi Quan quickly saluted Chen Cao again: "I have met Uncle Dingwu before."
Chen Cao moved his horse lightly and asked, "Are there any other officials in the city?"
Shi Quandao: "There are still envoys and more than a dozen government officials to catch the people, who can only maintain law and order."
"How many people are there in the city and how many have been killed? Tell me carefully." Chen Cao asked again.
Shi Quan handed over his hand again: "There are still four to five thousand people, more than a thousand injured, and more than four hundred dead. The She people ransacked the official treasury and took away the stored grain. I am here to plead guilty and cannot provide food and grass for the army. "
Chen Cao looked up and down for a long time, and saw that he was doing things well, so he didn't want to hold him responsible, so he waved his hand: "Uncle Ben came here to bring food this time. You don't need to wait for the food to pay. The county magistrate is not here, you can Now that we can safely settle the people in the city, I would like to ask you, where are the She people?"
Shi Quan was grateful. Even if there was money and food in the city, he was not qualified to be a county magistrate to Chen Cao. The county magistrate had to speak. After hearing this, he hurriedly said: "She people besieged the magistrate and the county magistrate in Longhu Mountain. Zhang Tianshi People are also asking for help from various governments, if Uncle Dingwu goes to rescue him, he should be more careful."
Xin Zhao said coldly: "Uncle, do you need your intervention?"
Shi Quan immediately realized that he had said something wrong, and quickly apologized. Chen Cao did not want to be confused with him, so he waved his hand: "Send someone to lead the way, and take Uncle Ben to Longhu Mountain quickly."
"Uncle, the road ahead is Yingtanfang. There is still twenty miles from Longhu Mountain to Yingtan Town." Zhao Xin and the guide were at the front. After learning the news, they quickly came to inform Chen Cao.
"Here's the order. Let's rest temporarily in Yingtan Town. We will immediately send people to investigate at the foot of Longhu Mountain, and then send people to contact Zhang Tianshi."
"yes..."
..
Yingtan Town was just Yingtanfang during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It was not called Yingtan Town until Emperor Chengzu. The town is not big or small, with 800 households. Various ethnic minorities live together, mainly Han people.
"After Guixi was robbed, there were no government officials or security guards in the town. Public security was relatively poor. The people from the inspection department had long since run away." Zhao Xin walked around the town before going to the temporary headquarters to report to Chen Report the situation.
"Let Huang Degong and Lou Xingye lead people to check around to make sure that no She people's spies are missed. Also, find local Han people as guides to identify those She people who are causing trouble." Chen Cao ordered seriously, and then took the local Look carefully at the map.
The main purpose of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting this time was to test the combat effectiveness of the new army in the first battle. The training of the guard regiment was more intense than that of other departments, so naturally they could not lose face.
After noon, Zhao Xin walked into the headquarters with a man dressed as a Taoist priest, and then said: "Uncle, this is a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain. My subordinates found him outside the town."
Chen Cao looked up at the person who came with a standard Han appearance, then relaxed his vigilance and asked: "How is the situation on the mountain?"
The Taoist priest kneaded his hands and saluted, and then said: "I have seen Uncle Dingwu on the Xiaodao. There are more than four to five hundred She people at the foot of the mountain. The rest are in the village in Luxi. Lord Fu Zun and Lord Xian are still here. In the palace, Xiaodao was ordered by the master to wait for reinforcements at the foot of the mountain so as to lead the way to rescue."
Chen Cao nodded: "Are there any casualties on the mountain?"
The Taoist priest took Fuchen and made a gesture to the Buddha of Amitayus, and then said: "The officers and soldiers suffered a lot of casualties. I have been teaching for thousands of years and have been harmonious with the local people of all ethnic groups. The She people have never had any idea of my teaching, but just let people Send a message asking the county official to come forward, etc... I can’t explain it clearly.”
The prestige of Longhu Mountain is very good in the local area. The Taoist priests from the mountain often go down to the mountain to help the people. The She people also respect them, so they never go up the mountain. They only force them to hand over the people from the government.
Chen Cao stood up and asked Zhao Xin to send someone to place the Taoist priests first, and then looked at Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting: "Two staff officers, how do you think we should handle this incident?"
Sun Chuanting said: "When Emperor Shenzong suppressed the rebellion of the Yang family in Bozhou, he adopted a combination of suppression and appeasement."
Lu Xiangsheng also said: "But every time the imperial court suppressed the rebellion of the barbarians, it used both suppression and appeasement. However, each time it resulted in the loss of many men and horses and a waste of money."
Chen Cao agreed with what the two said: "What you said makes sense, but even after the Xuanwei Division and the Xuanfu Division were established, those people often rebelled. The Liezi of Yunnan are ready in front of us. Although we use both suppression and appeasement Okay, but I don’t think the imperial court’s attack force is very strong every time.”
Lu Xiangsheng frowned slightly and said: "Uncle, I don't know. Our imperial army's equipment is not as sophisticated as that of Taizu's time. The firearms are seriously affected by moisture. In addition, those barbarians are always in the mountains. If the imperial court wants to successfully suppress the rebellion, , a lot of manpower and material resources have been spent, but the results are often very little, as the uncle said. The official still agrees with the uncle's opinion. The intensity of the attack is the key, and the key lies in whether the barbarians are afraid of our officials. military."
Sun Chuanting also nodded after hearing this: "The cavalry is ineffective in mountainous areas and can easily be used as a living target by the bamboo arrows of the Yi people. Moreover, these Yi people often like to wipe venom on arrowheads or blades. During the Yang Rebellion, the imperial officers and soldiers Many of them died from late-stage poisoning. The uniforms of our new army are made of commoners without armor protection, which I think is very inappropriate."
After Sun Chuanting said this, Chen Cao immediately understood a problem, but fortunately he thought of something that made him feel that what Sun Chuanting said was just a false alarm: "You have forgotten one thing, the flintlocks of the New Army equipment. The range of a gun can be one hundred and fifty steps, and even our best hard bow can only shoot a hundred steps. How far do you think the bamboo arrows in the hands of the Yi people can shoot?"
Sun Chuanting suddenly realized that maybe he was intimidated by himself, but Chen Cao praised him again: "It's good that Boya thought of this. I'm afraid that you will underestimate the enemy before the battle, which is the easiest way to fail."
Lu Xiangsheng asked again: "The terrain of Longhu Mountain is mainly high ground, and our army must also guard against attacks by the barbarians with stones."
"Yes," Chen Cao nodded: "I am afraid that they will get the gunpowder of the guard troops. If it is made into explosives and the rocks collapse, it will be dangerous for us."
"Uncle..." Huang Degong and Lou Xingye walked into the headquarters together. Huang Degong said: "Bizhi and Xingye checked the surroundings together and found no traces of the Yi people. It's just that there are many Yao people in the mountains and forests on the other side of the river. Wait and see.”
"Ignore them," Chen Cao waved his hand: "Send scouts to find out the specific location of the She people at the foot of the mountain. Let's set out early tomorrow morning."
"yes..."
The two left, and Chen Cao turned around and looked at Sun Chuanting and the others: "Do you have any strategy to defeat the enemy?"
Sun Chuanting frowned and thought, while Lu Xiangsheng looked at the map of Longhu Mountain carefully. The two looked at each other for a long time and said in unison: "Surrounded on three sides, divided into broken..."
Sun Chuanting explained carefully: "About 500 She people gathered at the foot of the mountain, but they don't know the military laws and tactics of us Han people. They probably attack in groups. The tactics are old-fashioned. This will also make it easier for us to attack."
"So according to what you see, how should it be arranged?" Chen Cao approached the sand table and looked at the two of them.
Sun Chuanting planted the red flag at the foot of the mountain: "If Huang Degong and Lou Xingye lead a battalion to outflank each other, we can open a gap on the right wing to allow the She people to break through, and then let Jiandou lead a battalion to attack from the center. With the firepower of 1,800 of us, these mere 500 people are nothing to worry about. All I have to do is sit in the center and watch the success or failure..."
