Chapter 8 Transformation
The open space in front of the county government office was filled with people.
Guan Shengyun himself is tall, and standing on the steps, he has a wider view: in the dilapidated streets and alleys in the distance, there are still people coming here in an endless stream... Looking at it roughly, hundreds of people will definitely not be able to stop him—— Maybe as many as a thousand!
Guan Shengyun felt a cold sweat in his heart and subconsciously held the scabbard with his left hand. However, the people in front of them were all kneeling, and the people behind them also knelt down one after another as they approached, shouting in all directions, making eyes and ears full of noise.
Guan Shengyun spent a lot of effort to understand what these people wanted to express: life was already too hard, and if hundreds of people like him came to rob him again, he would not be able to survive at all, so he might as well join the "big army" …
Guan Shengyun never expected to encounter such a situation.
In his "siege plan", there were only two possibilities: either hit the head with a bloody blow and leave hundreds of unlucky people behind, and the ones who survived continued to escape into the mountains to chew tree bark, or risk some lives and grab a few Pull something, then run. I never expected that the county seat would be taken so easily. I suddenly relaxed and without any plan in advance. In order to grab more things, my subordinates ran around the county and scattered everywhere, so they encountered such a big trouble.
Guan Shengyun, who grew up in a military camp with an environment similar to that of a beggar's den, knew his situation better than anyone else: riding a tiger with difficulty. Don't look at these guys kneeling down and begging miserably now. If there is really no way out, they will turn into a group of reckless beasts in the blink of an eye! Take the border army pay as an example. For a few big coins or a liter of grain, they will accept all kinds of humiliation with a shy face and a forced smile, and even let their wives and daughters show off their laughter. For the same thing, they can also make a lot of things. The provincial governor hung him up and beat him to death - don't forget, the deputy commander-in-chief would usually be extremely nervous when meeting a fourth-grade prefect! Such gossip was heard from time to time in the camp, even though the commander strictly blocked it.
The key to controlling the development of the situation is to always maintain a strong enough deterrent force while giving them hope. This is also the only way - otherwise, he and his gang will be swallowed up by these desperate guys in the blink of an eye.
Guan Shengyun suddenly shouted: "Shut up!"
Gao Tengdou, You Futian and the other seven or eight veterans who had been following him also understood this situation. They had already reached such a tacit understanding that they did not even need to make eye contact. They immediately dispersed into the kneeling crowd and beat those with their scabbards. The guys who are still grabbing their necks and shouting: "Shut your mouth!", "Shut up!", "Shut up!"
How could the scolding of a few people stop the noise of thousands of people? The shouts and prayers continued one after another.
The sound of "Dang..." the gong suddenly suppressed all the noise.
Guan Shengyun was also shocked by the loud noise in his ears. He turned around and saw the county magistrate, Luo Shifan, standing behind him with a gong and a sheep bone in his mouth: Apparently this young man ran out after hearing the noise outside. In his haste, he wisely copied the gong that opened the way to the county government office to help him calm down.
The sound of gongs represents official authority, and the consciousness of obeying the official government has long been integrated into the blood of the people. The dark crowd of people fell silent for a moment, and the people all knelt down with their heads bowed, waiting for the "adult"'s instructions.
"Good boy!" Guan Shengyun praised in his heart and nodded to Luo Shifan. He turned around and yelled at the common people: "Wu Niang's dog officials are in power and make it hard for us young and old men to survive. Then I will rebel! Everyone is miserable, and want to follow me to live a good and prosperous life? Then join the gang!"
First find a reasonable reason for yourself, and put all the responsibility for the robbery on the "dog official". It seems that the books Guan Shengyun read when he was a child were not in vain.
"It's getting late today, and this place is not spacious enough. Tomorrow morning at 7 o'clock, everyone will wait outside the west gate to form troops and join the camp! Let's all disperse today!"
After saying that, Guan Shengyun winked at Luo Shifan and turned around to enter the county government office. The crowd dispersed in twos and threes, and most of them kowtowed to the empty steps of the government office politely.
After returning to the yamen, Guan Shengyun asked his men to find all the big and small bosses, and solemnly warned them: they would stay in the city tonight, but they were not allowed to go too far, especially killing and rape were strictly prohibited. The guys who are usually not very restless are under the personal supervision of each boss. Anyone who causes trouble will be beheaded - now it is a matter of life and death. If we can control the people, we may have another way to make the people anxious. As long as there is chaos in a few places, the whole city will explode. , none of these hundreds of people can survive!
Luo Yonghao also asked Luo Shifan and the government officials to call all the officials to the county government office, and gave them such instructions.
The next day at about a quarter past three o'clock, Guan Shengyun came to the west gate surrounded by Master Luo and other leaders. The mayor in the west part of the city had organized people nearby to build a platform as high as one person using tables, chairs and door panels overnight.
What happened next could be described as familiar - Guan Shengyun had seen it many times in Lu Yong's camp and had personally participated in it. When a general feels that he has insufficient manpower, for example, there are too many auxiliary soldiers who died of exhaustion, starvation, or illness, or there are too many camp soldiers who fled after the war and have not returned, which is really unreasonable, and at the same time, there are not enough exiles sent from the local area. If they make up the numbers, they will organize a search team to go out to catch the refugees. An experienced search team can retrieve dozens or even hundreds of strings after wandering around the wild for about ten days and a half. Then the team officer appoints the fruit leader, and the fruit leader goes to the homeless pile one by one to pick. Those who were picked out were taken out to an open space and sat on the ground. The fruit grower sat in front and ten beggars sat behind. After the replenishment is completed, the guys sitting here are organized into the camp. From now on, they will become a mighty division and a glorious member of the Ming Dynasty's border army. The remaining ones will be handed over to the auxiliary captain for the second round of selection: it looks like they can still be selected. Just use it to join the auxiliary army. In future wars, it will serve as a target for the soldiers to consume the enemy's long-range firepower or fill trenches. The remaining ones were all sent to work as serfs in the fields and worked under the whip until they died. Some people - who are not even good enough to be slaves, are left alone. After everyone disperses, they are dragged to a secluded place and killed with a knife. Their heads are cut off and pickled with lime and stored. When there is another war, they can be used as beheadings. Hand it over - this kind of head will definitely not be recognized by the Ministry of War, but it can effectively increase the psychological pressure of the examiner: last time I handed in level 15, you only recognized level 3, this time I handed it in in one go. There are more than a hundred levels, you can't just recognize four or five levels, right? As long as the number of submissions is enough, those who can be admitted or not can often pass at this time (it’s true, this kind of thing that seems sensational today has a lot of records in historical materials)...
When most of his men are dead, it will be time for the next round of search teams to set off again.
The several hundred people in Guan Shengyun's original class were not organized at all. They were just former Lu Yong's personal soldiers and retinues who served as small leaders, each leading dozens of minions. Now this method is no longer feasible, so the night before, he moved his original team to the front line and appointed battalion officers. The battalion officers were under the jurisdiction of four team officers, A, B, C and D, and each team appointed ten fruit leaders...
In one morning, Guan Shengyun grasped the strength of the four battalions out of thin air: the main battalion, which he served as battalion officer concurrently, was not fully equipped but full of troops. Gao and You led the other two combat battalions, which also had three soldiers. There were more than a hundred people and a cavalry team of fifty or sixty riders, led by the horse thieves Gu brothers. Not only that, after sending those white-bearded old beggars back with threats and deceptions, the remaining people actually organized an auxiliary battalion of more than 200 people - overnight, Guan Shengyun's strength increased. He was a few steps ahead of his benefactor, General Lu Yong, whom he once admired as a heavenly being. He also surpassed many of the deputy generals of the independent Ming Dynasty, well, even individual generals!
Looking at the dark pile of heads under the table, Guan Shengyun was so happy that the all-powerful pride of a professional soldier suddenly arose. However, before this heroic spirit could burst out, he was greeted by "When will dinner be served? I'm hungry!" The scream disappeared as soon as he hit his head, which was really too unpleasant.
It is indeed a good thing to have more soldiers, but - damn these guys also need to eat!
We cannot use the eating habits of you and me today to try to understand the appetite of the ancients - at that time, there was no meat, poultry, eggs, and milk in their daily menu. Except in rare cases, there was almost no animal protein intake, and they relied entirely on carbohydrates to sustain life. , and, when you are lucky, well, when you are not so lucky, you should combine it with pure natural dietary fibers such as bark grass roots.
Therefore, regardless of the long-term malnourished rickets, their appetites are unimaginable: the Imperial Ministry of War set the standard wartime ration for each person at four kilograms per day (one kilogram in the Ming Dynasty was equivalent to nearly 600 grams today) ) rice beans - this is still dry! Add water and cook it, how much will it be? It is extremely normal for a guy to stuff his stomach with more than ten kilograms of food in one meal.
Therefore, Guan Shengyun was worried.
Shenmu County is really too poor, otherwise, there would not be so many people gathered at once. Guan Shengyun knew in his heart that as long as it took another ten days and a half, or even a few months, these many big mouths would be able to eat the surrounding area into a piece of white ground, and the team would completely lose their ability to maneuver, and they would not even need to wait for the officers and soldiers. If you come to suppress them, you will be wiped out.
Therefore, Guan Shengyun could only take the risk - go to the next stop: Yulin City.
Yulin City is what it is called today, but it was called Yulinwei at that time. In the military structure of the Ming Dynasty, the Duhufu was similar to today's military divisions, and the Wei was a heavily guarded frontier or transportation hub - Yulin Wei was not Shenmu County!
Although Guan Shengyun had many "soldiers", the backbone of them were bandits and robbers. Those ordinary "soldiers" were originally poor people. Luo Yonghao searched the county's warehouses but couldn't find many rusty swords and guns. The ownership rate of iron weapons (even if they have iron heads) was less than 50%. Some of the others carried sticks and some simply carried branches. . Leading such a "major army" to attack the border military fortress - Guan Shengyun would never be so bold if he had other options. He really had no other choice.
As a result, Guan Shengyun, who had been looting all the way, realized the transformation from a bandit to a rebel thief in Shenmu County. In Yulinwei, he faced the first test of his rebel life.
