Very few villages receive this kind of treatment. The local big players are very knowledgeable. It was during the Yao Rebellion, and most villages were most worried about safety issues, so they were not averse to this kind of "respect". As for the collection of money and food: it was the same in every dynasty and every generation, and the Australians were not necessarily more outrageous in asking for it. .
For the common people, it does not matter who is the magistrate in the county collecting money and food. With the local magistrate and knowing that the "emperor" is there, they feel confident and will not be confused. Some "village sages" who had ideas, saw that the troops of the Song Dynasty came to patrol so quickly, and their original eagerness to try it became much weaker.
Some weak villages further requested the National Army to station troops to defend the countryside. Naturally, given the current stretched military situation, they were unable to do so. They only helped them establish village militia and distributed some weapons and captured Ming army firearms. . Fortunately, almost every village in this area has a village, and if you strengthen your self-defense capabilities, you can last longer.
The "public security tightening" carried out simultaneously both internally and externally has achieved great results. Especially after the extensive establishment of village militia, Baojia system and joint security protection of each village, the activities of bandits have been greatly curbed, and some large groups of outsiders have The bandits could not stand in the local area and fled one after another. The local bandits either collapsed after receiving military attacks, disintegrated under pressure, or hibernated in mountain villages in remote areas - the Suijiang detachment could not take care of them at the moment.
Huang Chao's plan was to rush to Huaiji immediately and then advance to the Sanlian area. However, the local security situation forced Yang Zeng and his Suijiang detachment to stay between Guangning and Huaiji for a few more days. By the time the official decision was made to set off for Lianzhou, it was already the end of May.
Before departure, Huang Chao and Yang Zeng had a small meeting. The Lianyang area is said to be one region. The three cities of Lianzhou, Lianshan and Yangshan are not far apart. However, these three cities are located in the high mountains of northern Guangdong. The transportation between them is not easy. It is necessary to ensure that they are connected here. To re-establish order in an area, if the Suijiang detachment wants to re-establish order in the local area, there must be a coordination problem.
According to the rules, Yang Zeng is the commander-in-chief of the army and has the right to decide the action plan of the army. Even the elders cannot interfere with his military command. However, the guiding principle for the public security activities in the Lianyang area this time was three parts military and seven parts political. Even if Huang Chao is not a veteran, Yang Zeng still wants to ask for his opinion on the action plan.
Yang Zeng's plan was to personally lead the main force of the detachment to leave the waterway and take the mountain road to attack Lianshan County.
Ping Pingyao's attack on Lianshan was second, and the main purpose was to occupy the stronghold of Lianshan County. Prevent the Ming army in Hezhou from capturing Lianshan, then attack Huaiji and Guangning, threatening Zhaoqing, or occupy Lianzhou in the east, and then move south along the Lianjiang River to threaten Yingde, or even the Guangzhou area further south. Therefore, for the South China Army, the Yao Rebellion is always a scabies disease, and the real enemy is the Guangxi Ming Army, which Xiong Wencan still controls.
Once Lianshan was controlled, the possibility of the Guangxi Ming army entering Guangdong to intervene in the Yao rebellion was completely eliminated. At the same time, it also blocked the Guangxi Ming Army's penetration into northern Guangdong. It is good for the security situation of Guangdong as a whole.
From a political perspective, whether the Yao rebellion in northern Guangdong can be properly handled will affect whether the Senate can rule the entire Guangdong stably and effectively, and also determine whether it can effectively deal with the more complex ethnic issues in the three provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan in the southwest in the future. An empirical model to learn from. Therefore, focusing on the heart is the primary and only indicator for all political and military work to quell the Yao Rebellion.
Among the current three cities, Lianshan County is surrounded by mountains and has no major rivers flowing through it. The water transportation advantage of the Senate can only be zero in Lianshan. Because of the inconvenience of supply in Lianshan, Yang Zeng only plans to lead three companies to Fubo Army. He and two squadrons of the National Army went to attack Lianshan. After the defeat, only one company of Fubo Army and the two squadrons of the National Army were stationed. They served as a stronghold to defend the Ming Army in Hezhou and a fulcrum to quell the Yao rebellion in northern Guangdong. Then he took two companies of the Fubo Army all the way east over the mountains and ridges to Lianzhou.
Lianzhou serves as another fulcrum. The terrain around Lianzhou is relatively flat, and the Lianjiang River, a tributary of the Beijiang River, has abundant water. It connects Yingde, Yangshan, and Lianzhou all the way. Supply is more convenient. After it is captured, it will serve as The base camp for pacifying the Yao rebellion. As for Yangshan, as a transfer station on the Lianzhou and Yingde lines, it must be restored as soon as possible.
Therefore, after a brief discussion, Yang Zeng and Huang Chao decided to divide their forces into two groups. Yang Zeng led his troops to the north to attack Lianshan, while Huang Chao led the Li Miao Company, one brigade and two squadrons of the National Army, totaling more than 600 people, to the east to restore Yangshan. After recovering Yangshan, the two met in Lianzhou.
In Huaiji County, ground infantrymen preparing to go to Lianzhou were gathering. Huang Chao conducted a brief inspection. According to the standards of the Fubo Army, only the Li Miao Company could be considered to be in good military appearance. The rest looked like peasant uncles who had just put down their hoe.
If his superiors were willing to replace the shrimp soldiers and crab generals under him except the Li Miao company with a Fubo Army company, he would be a million dollars happy. Back then, he led a platoon of the Fubo Army, and combined with some familiar Li and local warriors, eradicated all the banditry in Lingshui, including bandits and hostile Lidong.
At this time, Yang Zeng had led the team to climb among the mountains for most of the day. Although he had been in the army for many years and had already developed a lot of physical strength, this was the first time he had led his troops in the middle of such a large mountain. The team of more than 600 people was hidden without a trace among the mountains. Yang Zeng had to send out messengers every 15 minutes to keep the troops from getting separated. Only then did Yang Zeng understand why the Guangdong, Guangdong, and Yao rebellions in the Ming Dynasty were so difficult to deal with. Sure enough, nature is the biggest enemy of an army. Endless mountain climbing consumes the energy of the troops endlessly. The modernized Fubo Army is facing This situation can still be maintained, but the National Army has had problems one after another. The National Army's physical strength has reached a critical point and it has begun to fall behind.
Seeing that the sun was already high at noon, Yang Zeng ordered the entire army to stop marching, repair and have lunch on the spot, and wait for the stragglers. Before setting off, Huang Chao and Yang Zeng agreed that whoever arrived in Lianzhou first would treat the other party to dinner. Yang Zeng knew that Huang Chao was sure to eat this meal. First of all, his marching path was almost all mountainous, and as long as Huang Chao climbed over a mountain, he could then march along the flat land along the banks of the Lianjiang River. Yangshan City and the others waited for the reinforcements from the Beijiang Task Force, and they only needed to take a boat for the rest of the journey.
Although the terrain is complicated, Yang Zeng is not too nervous. This operation will be more of an armed march. According to the predictions of Yang Zeng and Huang Chao, the Yao people who heard the news will most likely withdraw from Lianshan City, and the Fubo Army can occupy Lianshan City without fighting. Then, Yang Zeng led his army eastward to control Luming Pass, occupy Sanjiangwei, and then arrived in Lianzhou.
The whole process took about five days, so each soldier brought five days of dry food with him, and each company and National Army squadron had to take turns carrying the load for another five days of dry food. Yang Zeng was not sure when the supplies from Guangzhou would arrive at Lianzhou City, and he was not sure whether Huang Chao could successfully restore Yangshan. Yang Zeng gnawed on the dry food from the grassland series with gusto, while looking at a flag that Huang Chao gave him before departure. It was a Chinese-style long pole flag with ten words written densely on it in small regular letters: The Great Song Dynasty West Road Soldiers and Horses Marshal Zhu.
According to Huang Chao, in order for various tasks to be carried out smoothly, the momentum must be large enough. For those Yao people who are not afraid of anything, no matter how strong they are, they have to pretend that they are strong. A bluffing flag is very useful. .
So Huang Chao made a big banner for himself and wrote: Lianyang of the Song Dynasty is recruiting envoy Huang Chao, who also knows the military of Lianzhou. Looking at this flag, Huang Chao had a good time pretending to be cool. At the same time, he also hoped that this flag could convey such a message to the Yao people who had little information. Although they were not the Ming government, they were still members of the Ming Dynasty. regime, willing to negotiate.
He announced to his officers and soldiers that the entire army would set off at dawn tomorrow and head for Yangshan County in the northeast. He also emphasized that the marching route was mostly mountainous, so everyone should be mentally prepared and materially prepared, especially shoes.
Huang Chao's operational intention was not to attack Yangshan County directly, but to march to Yonghua Township in Yangshan County first, pacify the area, and then encircle the area for reinforcements, waiting for an opportunity to ambush the Yao people returning for reinforcements.
The residents of Yonghua Township are mainly Yao people. In the sixth year of Wanli, Zhao Wenzheng, the magistrate of Yangshan County, personally went to Yao Mountain and successfully registered the Yao people of Baimang, Laoya, Xiaotuo, Sankeng and other Yao villages into their households, and set up a Yonghua Township. This is one of the few successful attempts to appease the Yao people in the history of Guangdong and Guangxi.
However, judging from the little information, most of the Yao people occupying Yangshan County are from Yonghua Township, and a small number of them come from other Yaoshan in Yangshan. The Yao people in Yonghua Township do not belong to the Bapai Yao system, but belong to the Pingdi Yao. Most of the Yao people in this township live in mountain valleys. Although the land is not fertile, it is not barren either, and the output is acceptable. The economic level is much better than that of other Yao Yao people who live outside the Ming government system and live in mountain huts. As government-registered households, the Yao people of Yonghua Township have always been law-abiding and have no reason to rebel.
This Yao people must have their own reasons for rebelling. If we can win a battle to quell the Yao people's riot in Yonghua Township and recruit them as soon as possible, we can exclude this Yao people from the Yao rebellion camp, and then we can take the next step. Solve Ba Paiyao.
As long as the operation is good, it is even possible to use Yonghua Yao's power - the mountain company led by the Zhen Company Commander is too small, which is far from enough to cope with the local geographical environment. He planned to build a mountain company of Yao people for his own use. Even if the training was not effective, it could at least serve as a reconnaissance force. In a battle in this kind of mountain, intelligence is much more important than military strength.
Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 392
