"Boss, let's surrender," a thin, yellow-faced man said to a tall black man in a reed swamp by the Xiejian River in Anren County.
The black man's name is Qin An, and the yellow-faced man's name is Jiang Bao. Before Liu Heima invaded Chengdu, they were a blacksmith and a teacher respectively in Anren City. Now they are the first and second boss of a group of bandits. The bandits' den is just outside the city. In a swamp in the field.
This swamp beside the Xiejian River is several miles in diameter and is covered with various aquatic plants and reeds. It is a good place to hide on the open plain. Over time, it has gathered refugees who have spent their remaining lives under the iron heel of the Mongols. There are more than two hundred people.
After a battle between the weak and the strong, Qin An became the first master by virtue of Kong Wu's strength, while Jiang Bao became the second master by virtue of his strategy.
Anren was a small city and was not taken seriously by the Mongols. They only sent a cavalry squad of fifty and two hundred new auxiliary troops to guard it.
Regarding Qin An's group of bandits, An Ren's Mongolian army also tried to surrender, but Qin An, Jiang Bao and others had their families destroyed due to the burning, killing and looting of the Mongols, so how could they surrender.
Seeing that they were weak, the Mongolian army came forward with bows, arrows and sabers raised high.
"persuade". However, the Mongolian army did not have a naval force, and the terrain in the swamp was complex. As soon as they entered the reed swamp, they were attacked by harpoons and short spears, but they suffered a lot.
The Mongolian army in Anren City invited the Mongolian army from the nearby Yizheng County to join the attack. However, before the reinforcements arrived, Qin An and his group had already disappeared.
This swamp is connected to the Xiejian River and many small rivers, so it is easy to escape by boat. Relying on fishing, rice, taro, lotus root and other aquatic plants planted deep in the swamp, plus robbery, Qin An and his group of bandits lived a good life.
When the Secret Man Huoli attacked Hengyuan Fort, he mobilized a large number of Mongolian troops from various states and counties in western Sichuan. Small towns like Anren County were basically evacuated, leaving only fifty new auxiliary troops to defend the city.
Taking advantage of the empty Mongolian army, they even followed Jiang Bao's plan to lure the fifty new auxiliary soldiers out of the city, and took the opportunity to rob Anren City and robbed a lot of things, including weapons such as swords, guns, bows and shields.
After the Battle of Hengyuan Castle, the nearby Mongolian cavalry and the elite of the new annexed army withdrew to Chengdu and Qiongzhou. Although Jiang Bao did not know the reason, he also knew that the situation had changed, so he proposed a bold plan to Qin An. ——Recruited and surrendered new vassal troops and captured Anren City.
At this time, the people in Anren City were in panic. In addition, a large amount of food had been transported away by the Mongolian army, and the few remaining food had been robbed by Qin An's group. There was a shortage of food in the city. Even the fifty new vassal soldiers were so hungry that their faces were yellow and their muscles were thin. Not to mention the people in the city.
Therefore, as soon as Jiang Bao contacted the city, he was so hungry that the newly attached army actually agreed. This made Qin An feel happy. He never imagined that he, who was originally a blacksmith, would become the lord of a city, and he trusted Jiang Bao even more.
At that moment, he listened to Jiang Bao's suggestion and planned to stop robbing after entering the city, but to persuade farmers to protect the country and the people.
Of course, the first thing to do after entering the city is to prepare for the autumn harvest. The large area of rice outside the city will be harvested in a while.
A fleet heading northward along the Xiejiang River awakened Qin An and his gang from their sweet dreams. This Pili army fleet has more than 20 large ships and more than ten small ships, which is not something Qin An and his group can fight against.
After a few people from the fleet shouted outside Anren City, the city gate was opened. The new auxiliary troops in the city were obviously more willing to surrender to the Perak Army.
Another group of people came off the ship and took over the city, and the fleet headed upstream to Dayi City. Although Anren and Dayi are both counties under Qiongzhou, their importance is far less than that of the latter. The fleet's goal is obviously Dayi City.
Seeing the cooked duck being taken away by others made Qin An's nose twist with anger. Dazzled by anger, he ignored Qin An's dissuasion and summoned all his men to attack Anren City to take back what should belong to him.
When the fleet docked at Anren City, Qin An, who was hiding aside, could see clearly that there were less than fifty people ashore, but he had 170 people under his command.
As for the new auxiliary troops, Qin An believed that they would not help the newcomers. Of course, Qin An believed that even if outsiders added these new vassals who were too hungry to hold weapons, he would still be able to capture Anren City.
The bandits' menacing offensive came to an abrupt end with the sound of several cannons. In fact, Qin An's judgment was correct. There were only about thirty people who took over Anren City. They were a platoon of the Perak Army and Navy and a few soldiers from the Reform Camp - they came to persuade them to surrender.
Moreover, as he expected, the fifty new auxiliary troops of Anren City did not help defend the city - the Pili Army thought they were in the way of the city, so they only asked them to maintain law and order in the city to prevent anyone from taking advantage of it.
What exceeded Qin An's imagination was the strength of the defenders, even far superior to the Mongols. In his imagination, the rammed earth walls of Anren City were low, and the number of his men was several times that of the defenders. The siege should be carried out in one go, but unexpectedly he was frightened out of his wits in just one round, and in an instant he was defeated. Escape cleanly.
In the eyes of the Thunderbolt Army defending the city, these rabble-rousers actually resisted two rounds of shelling before escaping, which seemed a bit tough.
In fact, the Perak troops guarding the city had a high regard for these bandits. There were only two light mother-and-child cannons in the city this time. The first round of shelling was just a test firing and did not hit a few people at all.
These bandits had no idea of the power of artillery. They only thought that the sound of the artillery was like the sound of firecrackers during the Spring Festival.
When the second round of shelling beat up the people in front with blood, guts, and guts, they realized that something was wrong and they all turned around and ran away. They also brought back Qin An and Jiang Baobao, the supervisors behind them.
Returning to the bandits' den in the swamp, Qin An found that there were many fewer people back, so he asked Jiang Bao to count the number of people.
After a while, Jiang Bao replied to him with a dark look on his face, saying that there were only about 110 people now. In fact, the Pili Army's two rounds of four artillery shells only killed and injured more than a dozen people. The reason why so few people returned to the bandits' den was because the casualties caused by the artillery were really shocking.
Most of these bandits were originally illiterate farmers, fishermen, and small craftsmen who were extremely superstitious about ghosts and gods. Jiang Bao often exaggerated the theories of ghosts, gods, and Buddhism to control these people.
Superstitious belief in gods and Buddhas is a double-edged sword, which is good for controlling thoughts but can easily be backlashed. After the rise of the Perak Army, its
The saying "Thunderbolts from the sky, subduing demons and destroying demons" gradually spread among the people in western Sichuan along with his achievements. Some of the bandits who saw the power of artillery surrendered directly, some were so timid that they could not stand up and were captured by the pursuing troops, and some knew that their sins were so serious that they would not be tolerated by the Pili army, so they fled directly to Meizhou, Yazhou and other Pili. outside military jurisdiction.
After waking up from the dream of being the lord of a city, Qin An had no choice but to continue being a bandit in the swamp.
You know, once the Perak Army comes, you won't be able to live peacefully as a bandit. Before the autumn harvest, the Perak Army ships brought a large number of refugees. They repaired the city, harvested rice everywhere, and even built a settlement next to the swamp.
This settlement was protected by low earthen walls and trenches. Qin An and his group made several sneak attacks but suffered heavy losses due to spears and grenades.
It's just a settlement point, but what's even more terrible is that the Perak Army deployed ships to block the entrances and exits of the swamp. Even the small river branches entering and exiting the swamp are patrolled by small boats.
It is said that the output of the swamp is not enough to sustain life, and robbery is not allowed under the blockade. Even the autumn harvest did not receive much rice, and the fishing volume was also greatly reduced.
Therefore, not long after, Qin An and his group mixed food with wild vegetables and could only get half full. Out of hunger, his gangsters sneaked away one after another, heading to the settlement point next to the swamp.
After this settlement was established, refugees were recruited from all over to come to reclaim the wasteland. It was said that as long as they worked hard, they could have enough to eat. This attracted many of Qin An's men to risk their lives and disguise themselves as refugees - the Pili Army would screen the newcomers. The crime was punishable by hard labor.
