The consequences of losing so many young and middle-aged men are self-evident. Not only will it seriously affect production, but it will also put their safety situation at risk. No matter it is the hostile Mao village or the Hakka village at the foot of the mountain, they will not miss this opportunity. To ensure your own safety, you can only rely on the Senate.
"...What are you going to do with them? Are you going to consume food? Kill them all like Zhou Liangchen said? That would be a blood feud - we have to recruit them next, so we can't do everything we can."
Two brothers, Mo Songling and Mo Hongling, and four brothers, Ma Tianju, Ma Mingju, Ma Junju, and Ma Yunju, were on the Lianzhou City Wall, across the moat, watching with interest the drills of the Australian troops stationed outside the city.
Although the Yao people who besieged Lianzhou had been defeated, the siege of Lianzhou was still unresolved for the people in the city, except that the siegeers were replaced by Australians who called themselves Da Song.
However, the Australians' siege was much more relaxed than that of the Yao people. Except for setting up camps outside the four gates and not allowing people with weapons to pass through, no other places were fortified. People went out of the city to collect firewood and collect water without being blocked, and they could come and go as they pleased. The atmosphere in and outside the city suddenly became much more relaxed.
It was in this relaxed atmosphere that these children were able to climb the city wall to "observe the troops."
In the past, they had also seen the county's military training at the Dongjiao Field. Lianzhou is located in the Yao District, where conflicts between Han and Yao continue all year round. Because of the need to "prevent the Yao" all year round, the situation of the troops in the local guard station is better than that in other places, and they can be regarded as able to fight. However, compared with the Australian soldiers currently training under the city, the gap is still too big. Although the opponent has no armor, the weapons and equipment on his body are all capable and capable. At first glance, he looks like a "strong soldier".
"This Australian soldier really deserves his reputation," said Mo Songling, the oldest of the children. He is said to be the oldest, but in fact he is only fourteen years old.
Mo Yuqi, the grandfather of the two brothers of the Mo family, and Ma Chonghai, the grandfather of the four brothers of the Ma family, were good friends. The Mo and Ma families were both wealthy gentry families in Lianzhou. Although both old men were deceased, the two families had a long-standing friendship. The brothers have been playing together since childhood. Even though they are only half-grown children now: the eldest Mo Songling is only fourteen years old, and the youngest Ma Yunju is less than nine years old. They are all famous "children of aristocratic families" in the city. So he came to the city to "watch the troops", and the brave soldiers on the city did not dare to stop him. Let them play at the top of the city.
Since the Yao people besieged the city, most of the elders of the two families have been away from home. They go to the state government office every day to discuss countermeasures. They have no time to care about them, and no one cares about their homework. These children have become wild horses. When the battle was urgent, the defenders wouldn't let them run up to the city wall. Now that the battle had slowed down, they were happy to give the "young masters" a few rewards and let them "visit" at will.
"Yesterday, the cannons fired for a long time, and the Yao people retreated. The Australians really fired hard."
"What's so interesting about cannons? No matter how powerful they are, there are them in this city. But there are automatic boats in the river. I really want to see what they are like."
…
While they were looking at the top of the city, they were talking about the Fubo army that appeared outside the city. Cannons, big boats and other new gadgets arouse children's curiosity.
Outside the city, Yang Zeng has roughly completed the siege of Lianzhou City. In addition to the outposts outside the city gates, one National Army squadron is deployed in the north of the city, one in the northeast of the city, and one in the east of the city. The artillery, Fubo Army Company and Li Miao Company are all deployed on Yanxi Mountain, Yonghua Township Yao People were stationed on the west bank of Lianjiang River, and gunboats patrolled north and south along Lianjiang River. On the seemingly loose front, the blockade on Lianzhou is actually airtight.
Neither Yang Zeng nor Huang Chao wanted to attack Lianzhou City. First of all, their military strength has been greatly reduced while being deployed all the way. The troops currently deployed under Lianzhou City are not enough for a strong attack strategy, and troops must be mobilized from other places. The areas where troops are divided and deployed are indispensable for the control of the entire Lianyang area, and the redeployment may cause instability in the entire region. Secondly, Lianzhou was the basis of their rule, and Huang Chao did not want to leave the impression of a "foreign conqueror" to the soldiers and civilians in Lianzhou City.
In the flower hall of Lianzhou Prefecture, the magistrate Cui Shizhao was discussing countermeasures with a group of gentry in Lianzhou City. Bapaiyao retreated, but one wave after another broke out, and Lianzhou City was still under siege. Now it is the more ferocious Australians who are taking over the siege of Badai Yao. The "Lianzhou Chronicle" of the old time records that when Cui Shizhao was in office, he used his virtue to influence the rebellious Yao people and quelled the Yao rebellion in the eight years of Chongzhen. But now, with the addition of variables in the strategy of Guangdong and Guangxi, Cui Shizhao met the Australian elder before he could influence Ba Paiyao - his virtue obviously could not influence these rough people.
Badai Yao and Cui Shizhao knew something about them and knew some of their leaders. There were not many people in and outside the city who could deal with Badai Yao, and they could always talk to them. But no one knows how to deal with Australians who come from nowhere.
Cui Shizhao also knew the name of the Australians, but in his opinion, the Australians were "overseas bandits". Although they could plunder Qiongzhou and invade Guangzhou, after all, they were far away overseas and had little to do with him. It wasn't until news of the Australian attack on Guangzhou came that he realized that the Australians were not simply pirates, but had other agendas.
Cui Shizhao's response to the envoy sent by the Australians to surrender was "not to see", "not to surrender" and "not to leave". Since he was the magistrate of Lianzhou in the Ming Dynasty, he had no reason to surrender; abandoning his official position and leaving was not his way of doing things. So Mr. Zhizhou stubbornly stayed here.
The whole morning's "discussions" passed by in vain. Cui Shizhao sighed. He first looked at the two Juren of the Mo family: Juren Mo Jin was the son of Mo Yuqi, a Jinshi during the Tianqi period of Lianzhou. Juren Mo Yang was Mo Jin's cousin. Mo Yuqi was sixty-three years old. It was then that he passed the Jinshi examination and became an official in the Taiping Prefecture of Nanjing. After serving for one term, he resigned and returned to his hometown. He died soon after. Mo Yuqi was well-known in Lianzhou, and he always attached great importance to the education of his nephews, and trained two outstanding officials, Mo Jin and Mo Yang. Therefore, the Mo family has always been very prestigious in Lianzhou City, and Cui Shizhao attaches great importance to their opinions.
But Mo Jin and Mo Yang looked at each other tacitly, and drank tea by themselves without speaking.
Cui Shizhao looked at the two brothers of the Zeng family again: Zeng Rushao and Zeng Ruzuan were the grandsons of Ma Xiangqian, a commoner during the Wanli period. Ma Xiangqian served as an official and served as the censor of Qiandu, the capital of Henan Province. He successfully impeached Zhang Jing, the eunuch of Dongchang during the Wanli period, and then Ma Xiangqian. He resigned and returned to his hometown of Lianzhou, where he restored his original surname of Zeng. From then on, he devoted himself to the study of history until his death. Now, both the Zeng brothers were old men in their fifties and sixties, with limited energy. They were tired from sitting all morning, so they dozed off inadvertently, and did not notice Cui Shizhao looking at them.
Neither the Mo family nor the Zeng family expressed their opinions. Cui Shizhao felt bored. He looked at Ma Chengxiang, a family friend of the Mo family, who also seemed unwilling to say anything. Others, such as He Liangtian, Zhou Hong, Shi Yuheng and other famous people in Lianzhou, They all looked reluctant to express their opinions.
As a last resort, Cui Shizhao turned his attention to his close friend Ma Tiyi in Lianzhou. Ma Tiyi shook his head. Cui Shizhao knew that he couldn't explain the reason again today, so he had to give himself a step up: "The luncheon is approaching, please go first." Go home and rest, don't get caught in the heat, we will discuss the matter of retreating from the enemy tomorrow."
How to retreat from the enemy has been discussed countless times. There was no clue about the siege of Bapaiyao in the first place, let alone the more ferocious Australians. Several big bosses from the Mo family and the Zeng family with the most extensive connections had already made up their minds. Facing the menacing Australians, Lianzhou City would definitely not be able to defend it. However, there were a few rotten scholars who had never left their homes but they insisted. There is a way to retreat from the enemy, but you can't explain how to defeat the enemy - if you really tell someone a way, others will know that it is just talk on paper.
It's been very quiet these days, really because everyone is tired of talking and tired of talking - empty words will be empty words even if they are said a thousand times.
Fortunately, the Australians had no intention of attacking the city, so Lianzhou City continued to waste away. There was not much food in the city to begin with. As the food stock dwindled, the soup kitchens on the street gave out food once a day instead of twice a day, and the porridge became thinner and thinner. Since Cui Shizhao was well-known in Lianzhou City, the gentry in the city were willing to donate food to the refugees, but if they continued to collect donations from these gentry, they would also take away their own food. After all, there is not as much food stored in the city as there is in the countryside outside the city. If those salt merchants had food in their hands, they would definitely be willing to spend money to eliminate the disaster, but the salt merchants only had silver in their hands, and Cui Shizhao did not need either of these.
When Badai Yao besieged the city, all the gentry in the city unanimously turned against the outside world and did not hesitate to destroy their families. Because once Babaiyao enters the city, not only will the whole city's wealth be lost, but also lives will be in danger; and once the Australians besiege the city, the opinions of the gentry will be divided, because the Australians have better rumors than those of Babaiyao. Many - as long as they surrender in time, the common people and the gentry can keep their lives and property safe. Both Mo and Zeng felt that they could talk to the Australians and have a "compromise and long-term solution." Even Cui Shizhao's close friend Ma Tiyi advised Cui Shizhao to talk to the Australians and achieve a "decent outcome" so that Lianzhou City would not be destroyed.
But Cui Shizhao was unwilling, because this "decent result" was nothing more than surrender to the Australians!
Cui Shizhao cares about his reputation very much. But the details of Lianzhou City's grain depot forced Cui Shizhao to weigh the names of the people in the city and his own reputation. Now the grain stores in the city have no market value, and there is no more grain for sale. Except for wealthy people and wealthy households who still have grain in storage, the private grain storage has been exhausted. It all depends on the official warehouse. The number of refugees queuing up in front of the soup kitchen was growing day by day, and Cui Shizhao knew that in a few days, he would no longer be able to take out half a grain of rice to cook porridge for the refugees - Lianzhou City was about to run out of food.
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Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance:)
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