Li Laojiao's butt caused Xu Zongxian, the magistrate of Zhenyuan County, to miss the best opportunity to be loyal to the country.
On the day of the siege, the Lion Battalion controlled three city walls and the southern parapet wall, and Zhenyuan County fell.
However, Liu Chengzong did not let the army enter the city. Instead, he used Liu Chengzu's own troops as the advance troops to enter the city, controlled six streets in the city, and set up a porridge factory in the east of the city. He immediately set up a porridge factory in the east of the city, announced to the countryside that the city was broken, and called on the hungry people inside and outside the city. Eat porridge.
Later, they gathered horses on the east and west sides of Zhenyuan, and only a small number of troops entered the city. Liu Chengzong entered the county government and issued orders one after another.
First, they recruited Chinese medicine doctors in the city, purchased medicines in the city, and joined two sick and wounded camps set up by the carrier in the east of the city to treat wounded soldiers on both sides of the war.
Then I recruited craftsmen and their families in the city and organized them into my craftsman post according to their occupations.
Secondly, we recruited and surrendered people with a certain level of education such as students, scholars, painters, and private school teachers in the city.
Their resistance was much greater than the former, and the process was not gentle, because no one came over obediently, and those who could hide were all caught in the end.
In the Yamen Hall, Liu Chengzong asked the county magistrate Xu Zongxian: "Why don't you surrender?"
Xu Zhixian looked in a miserable state. First, his forehead was broken by a cannon, and then he tripped over the buttocks of Old Jackal Li, knocking out half of his teeth on the city wall. At this moment, he could not speak at all: "Xu is an official of the imperial court, and he has the responsibility of guarding the land. Now that the city is broken, if you want to kill, just kill without saying anything."
Liu Chengzong glanced at him, turned to Zhou Zhou who deliberately took off his official uniform and asked: "Zhou Zhizhou, do you want to kill him?"
Sunday Qiang's eyes widened, and ten thousand beautiful hometown dialects came to his mind. Finally, he sighed and clasped his fists and said, "General Liu, it is his responsibility to defend the city of Xuzhi County. You can't blame him for this!"
Liu Chengzong didn't want to kill anyone, so he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."
Now it was the turn of Xu Zongxian and the other students in the hall to stare. Xu Zongxian stretched out his hand and said, "You, Zhou Zhizhou, have you turned into a thief?"
"I'm not, I didn't!" Sunday Qiang categorically denied: "It was Governor Yang who sent me to recruit General Liu to surrender."
Xu Zongxian didn't say anything. Did he come to Zhenyuan City to attack me? Now I am a prisoner, and you, Zhou Zhizhou, are sitting next to the leader of the thieves like a master.
Liu Chengzong smiled and said nothing. He suspected that Sunday Qiang didn't want the county magistrate to live anymore.
Chengyun walked into the lobby of the yamen and presented a report on the wounded soldiers, saying: "Brother, the matter of the wounded soldiers is finished. My people are checking the supplies in the county treasury and reserve warehouse. It may take two hours."
Liu Chengzong took the report and glanced at it.
Li Laojiao's team lost thirty-two people and Feng Yushao lost seven people. Most of the direct casualties were caused by artillery fire. The few casualties corresponded to many minor injuries.
The defenders did not have much fighting spirit and lacked fighting skills. They did not dare to engage in close combat after ascending to the city.
Therefore, the minor injuries were almost all caused by being hit by rockets from a distance, which was not a big problem. Only one artilleryman was hit by a rocket around the bridge of his nose and might not be able to be saved.
He put down the report and said to everyone in the hall: "The city has been captured. You are all the leading figures in Zhenyuan. I, Liu Chengzong, am willing to do good. Don't force me to do evil. If you are willing to vote for me, you will be rewarded generously. If you are not willing to vote for me, It doesn’t matter if everyone has their own ambitions.”
After saying that, Liu Chengzong adjusted his sitting position and said: "But if anyone goes against me, don't blame me for killing your whole family. I can do what the Emperor of the Zhu family can do."
"And Xu Zhixian, the city you defended has been destroyed. You have done nothing wrong. I will not kill you, but the court will punish you. If the court wants to recruit you, I will punish you. The world is so unfair, why don't you surrender to me? ?”
Xu Zongxian looked at Zhou Zhouqiang, then at Liu Chengzong, and sighed.
He was confused.
In fact, when the city was destroyed, he wanted to jump off the tower, but was tripped by Old Jackal Li sticking his butt out.
I didn't even think about surrendering after that. When I had no other choice, I didn't say whether I could accept it emotionally.
To put it bluntly in terms of interests alone, in Liaodong and the border wall, even if you surrender to the Eastern and Northern invaders, you have a territory. Even if you are infamous for a lifetime, at least your family will be safe, and you will have a future, good or bad.
What's going on with the bandits?
Just keep robbing the east and the west. When the thieves are finished, you will be finished too.
But what Liu Chengzong said made him very angry.
The imperial court indeed had no way to punish Liu Chengzong, but it had ways to punish him.
Originally, his official career was pretty much over, and the seventh-rank magistrates were all thinking about finding an eighth-rank mansion. Now that Zhenyuan City was breached, there was absolutely no hope of promotion, and he might even end up in jail.
In this case, there was no way for him to survive for a while.
Due to Liu Chengzong's previous vaccination, none of the students behind him dared to speak, for fear that their own children would be implicated in other people's affairs.
So much so that Xu Zongxian was isolated in the Yamen lobby full of people.
Seeing his hesitation, Liu Chengzong felt happy and struck while the iron was hot: "If Mr. Xu votes for me, Liu will definitely be entrusted with important tasks if he gets a place in the future."
Xu Zongxian looked at Liu Chengzong. Liu Chengzong had the idea of laying a foundation, which made him feel a little relieved, but he really couldn't think of the possibility that a thief could earn a foundation.
So he cupped his hands and said, "General, let me think about it for a moment."
"good!"
Liu Chengzong clapped his hands with great joy, pointed to the back and said, "Mr. Xu, please go to the back hall to rest first."
There was a professional surrender team composed of Mr. Yang, his father and others in the back hall. As long as Xu Zongxian walked to the back hall, Liu Chengzong felt that the matter was more than half successful.
After Xu Zongxian left, the resistance among the students in the hall was obviously much weaker. The county magistrate was even moved. Why were they holding their necks so stupidly?
Several painters and storytellers surrendered one after another. A scholar named Chen Yingxuan stood out and asked, "Does the general have any plans to stay in Zhenyuan permanently?"
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "I will stay here for a while and leave soon. If you surrender to me, take your family with you when you leave. I will ensure that you have no worries about food and clothing."
Chen Yingxuan asked again: "What does the general mean by saying that if we don't go to the general, we will have nothing to do with Zhenyuan?"
"You still need to ask? If you don't come to me, I naturally don't need to think about you. The city has fallen, and there are so many people outside the city who have no food and clothing. The rich households in the city must do more to help the poor."
Liu Chengzong's words were gentle, but in people's ears he sounded murderous: "I also have my army rations. Where can the poor get it? The rich have it here."
As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar in the hall.
Chen Yingxuan cupped his hands and said anxiously: "I hope the general will understand clearly. We are all good people. We have never owed anything to the people in repairing bridges and roads."
Liu Chengzong changed his face: "People in the world have always been rich and poor. This has nothing to do with good or evil. There are scoundrels among the poor and good people among the rich. But thousands of poor people starve to death. You think this has something to do with kindness. Are you? Health staff?"
"Yes, I am Chen Yingxuan, a native member of the lower town."
Liu Chengzong raised his hand and pointed at them and said: "When we attacked the city, all of you were on the city, and you all fired arrows at my people. You are giving your kindness to the Emperor of the Zhu family, but no matter how good you are, you can't use it for me. What do I do?"
After that, he said to everyone: "When you walk out of this door, in the city's Dingkou, a Ding's family has more than ten taels of wealth, more than ten shi of grain, more than fifty acres of fields, one shop, and more than one animal. The rest Take all you can.”
Liu Chengzong felt that what he said was low enough, but he didn't expect that someone in the hall breathed a sigh of relief.
He was so angry that he clicked on the few people who were relieved and said: "The imperial court has made you so poor and so virtuous, how long will it take for you to surrender to me?"
Immediately, someone gritted his teeth and became brave, came out and bowed down and said: "Student Zhenyuan Tongsheng Wu Panlong, my family has no money and no family, I am willing to join the commander-in-chief."
Liu Chengzong stood up and stepped forward to help him up. He nodded to the two soldiers and said, "Follow Wu Tongsheng. Go back and clean up his house and move it into the county government office. From today on, Wu Panlong will be the Prime Minister of Zhenyuan County."
Wu Panlong bowed again, stood up, took a look at the people in the hall, and walked out with the soldiers from the Lion Camp.
Later, several people fell down and defected, all of them were children who had not been able to get along as they wished.
Zhou Qiang was next to Liu Chengzong, and his face became uglier when someone came out.
In his heart, he felt sad and angry at the low consciousness of the local students in the imperial court!
Zhou Zhouqiang already knew that Liu Chengzong was also a scholar in the past, and he loved talents very much. Even if these students did not defect to him, they would not be in danger of their lives, but these people still rushed to defect to him.
It made him want to take out a small notebook and record all those who surrendered to thieves, so that he could go back and complain to Yang He in the future!
There was a scholar who came out to bow to his queen and said: "Commander, there are seven members of the student's family. There are 400 acres of fields outside the city, four huts in the city, 30 dan of grain stored in it, no shops, and eight large animals. I will pretend to be a slave when I defend the city. I didn’t dare to go there because I had diarrhea, and I didn’t go against the commander-in-chief.”
After that, the scholar said: "If there is nothing else, I will go back. When the soldiers come, I will donate a horse to the commander."
This guy accepted Liu Chengzong's arrangement very comfortably.
Liu Chengzong couldn't do anything about this guy, so he called a sergeant and said to him: "Wait a minute and someone will take you back. The streets are still under martial law, so don't run around."
Sunday Qiang's expression improved, right, that's how it should be, if you don't have desires, you'll be strong!
Is joining the bandits a good way to get promoted? I want to tie my head to my waist, and when Cao Wenzhao comes, I will chop it up for you all.
Others were not so comfortable, especially Chen Yingxuan, who seemed to have a lot of money in his family. He asked: "Commander, then if I vote for you, I will follow the army when it leaves, and I won't be able to keep my wealth!"
Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows and said, "You talk a lot. Even if you vote for me, if your family has too much money, you still have to donate it. But if you vote for me, you will earn more than this in the future. Don't talk so much if you vote for me or not!"
Chen Yingxuan lowered his head, thinking that he had no hope of succeeding in this life. He gritted his teeth and prostrated, saying, "Student Chen Yingxuan, in fact, his family doesn't have much money, but he is very interested in making up for the shortfalls. I am willing to join the commander-in-chief."
The chief bookkeeper of Zhenyuan County has been established.
In a moment, everyone in the hall voted and left, and in the end, it was almost half and half between staying and leaving.
Those who stayed behind were brought home by the soldiers, and their families were taken to the magistrate's office. They took over the six houses of the county office. Under the leadership of Chen Yingxuan, they counted the rich households in the city and estimated their wealth among them. After that, will we be able to produce more food or will we lose money?
The jailer Cui Cong, whom Liu Chengzong was so fond of, also surrendered, for the same reason as the county magistrate Xu Zongxian, who was worried about his subsequent guilt.
Almost all of the more than two thousand war horses in Qingping Garden were snatched away by Zhang Tianlin and Yang Yao, one from the west and the other from the east.
In terms of culpability, Cui Cong is much older than Xu Zongxian, which leaves him with no choice.
Chen Yingxuan proposed a better equalization plan to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, there are many rich households in this city, but there are also many poor people. Land, money and grain are easy to equalize. I'm afraid there aren't that many things in the city like houses, livestock, and shops." Average.”
"Therefore, I suggest that we follow the confiscation mentioned by the marshal and just equalize the money and grain. The fields will be distributed according to the rich and poor of the people. Those who don't have shops will be left alone. The extra livestock will be supplied to the military. In this way, our work will be simple."
Liu Chengzong thought for a while, nodded and said, "Then I'll do as you say."
At the same time that the calculations were made here, the results were also obtained by the carrier, and the results were informative.
The county treasury of this city does not have much money, but there is a lot of grain, especially horse grain, and there are two entire granaries.
The most significant thing besides that is gunpowder.
"Brother, after counting the gunpowder in the city, there are more than 18,000 kilograms. This is the prisoner who took 3,500 kilograms to make mines in Wengcheng, hoping to blow you up while entering the city."
Chengyun said this, clapped his hands with a smile and said, "Fortunately, the soldier who was placed in the house at the gate of the city was a coward. When he saw Captain Feng's soldiers killing him, he trembled and lit the lead."
Liu Chengzong still has lingering fears when talking about landmines.
The ground of the Wengcheng was paved with stone slabs, and a large amount of gunpowder was buried. If Cui Cong had better soldiers, he might have been blown up today.
He frowned and said, "Why is there so much gunpowder in this city?"
"It was reserved for Guyuan Battalion. As a result, Guyuan Battalion mutinied the year before last and lost its troops. The gunpowder was said to be transported back, but there were not many Guyuan soldiers, so they stayed here."
That night, the officers of the Lion Camp and the Yuzi Camp gathered in the Yamen, including the sentinel commander and above, to summarize the gains and losses of the siege and discuss the next move.
Even the lying Jackal Li was moved here.
Liu Chengzong didn't know whether to call Li Laoji's luck good or bad. Among all the wounded and dead soldiers during the siege, no one was hit twice by artillery.
Only Jackal Li was shot first in the leg and then in the butt.
It was said that he was very unlucky, but a piece of flesh was scraped off his leg by an iron pellet, and his buttocks was pierced by an iron pellet. There were all skin injuries.
There was nothing wrong with his bones. He was bouncing around again after just two months of feeding. He wouldn't even become a cripple like Liu Guoneng.
He also fought with injuries and achieved his first achievements, including being the first to scale the Zhenyuan city wall and capturing two imperial officials alive, including the magistrate.
Liu Chengzong was so embarrassed to quarrel with him that he just asked: "Why don't you use wooden curtains?"
"I don't know how that thing is used, and my people don't know either. Oh, sir, don't bother me. I'll know how to use it next time."
Their siege plan could have reduced casualties, but Li Laojiao stopped.
But he is indeed brave.
Seeing that he knew he was wrong, Liu Chengzong sighed and said, "Let's leave a team of troops to station in the county. The wounded soldiers will recuperate in the city. Brother Yamato will stay here, and the food that is unlucky will be put away first." In the city, the remaining people will follow me to Guyuan. Instead of attacking the city, we will rob several horse gardens in the north and south of Guyuan and come back to wait for Cao Wenzhao!"
