The night visit between Xie Minghe and Xiong Bonan was just an interlude. Of course it was a good thing to talk to each other, but even if they didn't talk to each other, they couldn't delay the work.
After waiting for a few more days, all matters behind the scenes have been stepped up. Wang Shuyong from the northern line has also opened up the road with Cheng Zhili, and sent out secrets to Dengzhou. Xiong Bonan also brought back some information on various matters. Lu Yijun decided to deal with it, but Long Jun had no reason to delay here.
At the end of June, Zhang Xingjin arrived at Liang's father. He did not visit the middle-aged couple. He just asked Wang Xiong, who was out on business, to visit Linjiawa when he returned. He believed that this young man was definitely Du Po Zhen's discerning young man. People have their own way of doing things and judgment.
By the beginning of July, as the troops from all walks of life gradually regrouped on the front line, Zhang Xing officially issued an order, requiring the counties of Dongjun and Jiyin to garrison city defense troops, government officials, and patrols in two, and move to Dongping and Jiyin counties. Lu County and Jibei County moved in parallel to maintain local security and ensure the smooth progress of the autumn harvest, which is about to begin on a large scale.
The field troops that were replaced moved eastward in sequence and were replenished to the front line.
At the same time, Zhang Xing publicly appointed temporary helmsmen to take charge of county magistrates and deputy helmsmen to take charge of county captain affairs in each county. Most of them were still promoted and rewarded within the Deposed Dragon Gang, but many of them were local heroes or demoted officials. , demoted officials, and even three people directly served as local rudders and county magistrates.
This was not over yet. Immediately afterwards, two more appointments appeared. They were to appoint the leader Bing Yuanzheng as the general rear guard for the counties currently owned by Lu County; and to recruit the leader Du Caigan from the rear to be the general rear guard for the counties currently owned by Jibei County... …The two supervise the counties under their respective jurisdictions, and uniformly report and take responsibility to Chai Xiaohe, the chief who is stationed in Dongping County and oversees local civil affairs and logistics, Wei Xuanding, who oversees all autumn harvest matters, and all other special chiefs behind the front lines.
These two appointments are destined to cause turmoil inside and outside the Deposed Dragon Gang, because although they are only temporary retainers, everyone actually knows that the three civil servants Chai Xiaohe, Bing Yuanzheng, and Du Caigan have actually become Dongping County, The civil affairs director of Jibei County and Lu County.
No matter how the Deposed Dragon Gang centralizes power, no matter how they set up special leaders, and no matter how powerful the leader controls the most important army, it will not change this fact. Everyone will treat these three people as bureaucrats at the state and county level.
And what does this mean?
It means that the Deposed Dragon Gang has indeed grown bigger and has a larger territory; it means that Zhang Dalongtou is further cutting down the effort and implementing civil and military divisions to restrain the big leaders and leaders; it means that with the expansion of the Deposed Dragon Gang, a new The system also grew; at the same time, considering that both Chai and Du were so-called "confidences" of another leader, Li Shu, it seemed that this appointment also meant someone's selflessness.
It is conceivable that Li Shu will soon propose candidates for "retention" in Dongjun and Jiyin counties, but he doesn't know which two they will be.
But there was no time to think and react, because just after these personnel appointments, Zhang Xing immediately ordered the entire army to continue marching eastward, capture Qi County, and all the remaining towns in Lu County and Jibei County, and seize Langya County. Order.
The three leaders Cheng Zhili, Wang Shuyong, and Shan Tonghai sent troops together along both sides of the Jishui River to besiege the entire Qijun, the most critical and wealthy area, from three sides; while Xu Shiying led the Niuda tribe from Lujun to the south to join Wang Zhen. Massively marching into the southern counties of Lu County, and taking advantage of the situation to advance into Langya County.
Both the northern and southern armies must follow Xiong Bonan's report and identification, screen and implement strict measures against relevant rebels, and must strictly enforce military discipline, protect fields and crops, and ensure that there is no crime in the literal sense.
Then both armies should be directly responsible and ask for instructions from Zhang Xing, the leader who was in the middle and heading east.
After the military order was issued, Zhang Dalongtou did not hesitate and set off directly from Liang Fu, leading Jia Yue, Zhou Xingfan, Wang Xiongdan, Yan Qing and about 3,000 soldiers and horses along the junction of Qilu and the southern foot of Mount Tai, passing through Bo. City, heading to Ying County, the intersection of Langya County, Dengzhou County, Qi County and Lu County.
Before setting off on the journey, Zhang Xing imagined that he might encounter many things similar to that of the middle-aged man and woman along the way, but after actually embarking on the journey and starting the second stage of the Eastern Expedition, he realized that he still took it for granted.
Let us say that from the beginning of the Three Expeditions, Dengzhou and Langya were the core flashpoints of the Three Expeditions. Then in the chaos that lasted for more than a year, Langya County and Dengzhou were the first to fall into a state of total anarchy. Among them, Langya Qiong, Dengzhou was rich, so Dengzhou occupied three large-scale rebel armies, namely the Zhishi Army led by Zhishilang Wanghou, Gao Shitong's Bohai Navy, and Sun Xunzhi's Pingyuan Army. Langya County became the kingdom of a small independent rebel army.
And this influence soon spread to the east of Qi County and the east of Lu County.
Even because these places were the main dividing line between Zhang Xuguo's tribe and the rebels, they encountered no pressure and large-scale indiscriminate looting.
Zhang Xing passed through many villages along the way, and could hardly see any livestock...whether it was cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, ducks, or dogs...until now he believed that it turned out that Zhang Xuguo defeated Tomoyo Wanghou in a battle report in the previous battle report. It is actually true that tens of thousands of livestock were captured.
And this also perfectly echoed King Xiongtian's previous report. Zhang Xing didn't realize until this moment what the so-called robbery was... This kind of robbery was almost equivalent to some kind of natural disaster. It was not only A kind of plunder is also a huge damage to production itself, and in the end it directly leads to abandonment, displacement and escape.
That's right, Zhang Xing did not see any escapees like the couple. He only saw many vacant houses, dilapidated villages, and crop straws with signs of being eaten along the road... and time had obviously passed. After waiting for a long time, I couldn't tell whether it was taken by the fugitives or destroyed by the military's exchanges.
In other words, long before Zhang Dalongtou worried that he would see the fleeing people, the local people had already finished fleeing.
"Have you finished counting?" At noon, when he was approaching the county seat of Ying County, Zhang Xing suddenly reined in his horse and stopped on the side of the road, regardless of the fact that the local rebels had already left the city in front to surrender.
"The counting is over." Yan Qing, who arrived from behind, hurriedly reported with sweat profusely. "The numbers of people fleeing from villages along the way are different..."
"Approximately what percent is the total?" Zhang Xing interrupted and couldn't wait to ask.
"Twenty percent...we only measure the villages along the Wenshui River, which has reached more than 3,000 households. It's hard to say exactly." As soon as Yan Qing finished speaking, he swallowed because he was vaguely aware of Zhang Dalong's head, whose expression remained unchanged. In fact, he was already angry, so he quickly explained again. "This is on the official road. Whether it is robbed or harassed, it is the place that is most affected. There may not be so many other places..."
"That's enough." Zhang Xing simply interrupted the other party. "Is it really the rebels in Ying County who did it?"
"At least they were the ones who did it the last few times, and they were the ones who confiscated the livestock." Yan Qing answered carefully and added in passing. "Confiscating livestock is actually the habit of Zhishijun Wang Hou...because animals are easy to transport and are meaty, so they are the best military rations...Under his influence, the rebels in Langyalu County all have the problem of confiscating livestock."
"Plunder is robbery, what kind of expropriation?" Zhang Xing finally showed his impatience on his face. "I gave you four military orders. Please handle them and send them out quickly."
"Yes." Yan Qing immediately changed his words.
"The first military order is to inform King Xiongtian in Surabaya that I am going to increase the punishment for looting the rebels...Must be killed! In addition to specific leaders to be dealt with, the soldiers must also be killed, whether it is one in thirty, or one in fifty. It’s okay to draw one out, or to go after the backbone directly. In short, there will be blood... I decided to draw out one out of every fifty here in Ying County, and additionally deal with the backbone, and several leaders are not prepared to keep them." Zhang Xing's expression is still sad. He changed, but he said words that sent chills down the spine.
As soon as he said this, Yan Qing obviously hesitated, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he nodded quickly, and Wang Xiongdan next to him also had some reaction.
"The second military order is here in Ying County. Let Jia Yue prepare in front and prepare to kill."
"yes."
"The third military order was issued to Qijun, informing the three frontline leaders and Jia Runshi that if Jia Wugen, Fan Bao, and other Qilu army leaders and the county magistrates under Qijun were ready to surrender, they could do so appropriately. Relax the conditions and follow the previous demoted appointments after the Lishan War, but the leader must be the first to leave the city in white to ask for surrender as a sign of sincerity."
Yan Qing obviously still wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded and took note of it.
"One last thing." Zhang Xing thought for a while and suddenly lowered his voice. "Tell Xu Shiying... let him look at the situation in Langya County and make his own decision. There is no need to take all, just seal the north first... Our power is limited, we must suppress the forces in Dengzhou first."
This time, Yan Qing didn't react. Instead, he immediately woke up, nodded repeatedly, and turned around to give the order.
As soon as he left, Zhang Xing paused for a moment, and suddenly turned to look at Wang Xiongdan beside him, who was about to speak a few times: "Xiao Wang, I want to ask you something, you are half a local, you said, these people who fled away from home are Yes, where will you escape to?"
Wang Xiongdan thought for a while and immediately gave the answer: "Dongyi."
Zhang Xing was slightly startled.
"It's Dongyi." Wang Xiongdan answered seriously. "If you go south, you will be blocked by the Huaihe River, and then turn to the east. If you go north, you will be blocked by the big river, and you will also turn to the east. In the end, nine out of ten, you will turn to Dongyi... Not only now, but also in the east of Jianghuai. In the eastern half, there is a saying of Chuanglongtan, that is, when there is a famine or war, people flee to Dongyi... But there is also a saying that they turn around and flee from Dongyi to the north."
Zhang Xing nodded, thoughtfully: "Dongyi..."
"Although Dongyi can't be said to be vast and sparsely populated, it is surrounded by the sea on three sides and rarely suffers from large-scale civil strife." Xie Minghe, who had not left since that day, suddenly interjected. "It's good to stay alive, but it's just to stay alive."
"How do you say it?" Zhang Xing immediately asked.
"Everyone in Dongyi believes in the Qing Emperor, and a small number of people believe in the Red Emperor. Among them, the influence of the Qing Emperor is greater than anything else." Xie Minghe answered seriously. "And because of the conflict between the hundreds of clans back then, the Qing Emperor didn't like to see civil strife among the people below him, so in the Dongyi court, he suppressed everything, layer upon layer... As for just trying to survive, don't forget Now, the Dongyi people are still influenced by the demon clan back then, and they are classified into certain categories. If people escape, they are only the lowest category, barely surviving in Hukou, and they are no different from official slaves."
"Every place has its own local customs." Zhang Xing did not comment on whether things were good or bad, but instead sighed with emotion. "I made an agreement with someone before to go to Dongyi, and I also told Sisi to fulfill the agreement together, but now I don't know if I can make the trip in this life."
When Xie Minghe saw Zhang Xing sighing like this, he was puzzled: "Since you are from the North, why do you lament such customs? As soon as the three brilliance rises, the four emperors will fall, but on the other hand, the direct influence of the four emperors in the center of the world Without it, the influence of Dongyi, Yaodao, and Beidi will be huge. That is to say, Emperor Bai has always been more particular and rarely bothered in Shu... You come from the North, you should know that there What’s the inside story?”
Zhang Xing was thoughtful, and then looked at Jia Yue, who was riding a horse and marching forward. The latter was already more than a hundred steps away.
Behind him, the county seat of Yingxian County was already looming in sight.
"Be careful." Upon seeing this, Xie Minghe immediately put aside his unnecessary thoughts and twirled his beard and sneered on the spot. "Not everyone who comes from a rough background can be as magnanimous as King Xiongtian... Even if there is King Xiongtian who is so famous in Hebei and the East, you pretend to be the leader of the rebel army, but you treat the rebels like So harsh, but let the officers and soldiers go lightly... The temporary adjustment focuses on the attacks on the officers and rebels. Both the subordinates and outsiders will be dissatisfied. Just now, your confidant who has control of confidential personnel tried to persuade but failed. Dare to persuade."
"Whatever." Zhang Xing withdrew his gaze and responded with indifference. "But do business and don't ask anything else... Believe it or not, I am saving these ragtag rebels."
"Of course I believe it." Xie Minghe sneered.
"What about you?" Zhang Xing suddenly turned to look at Wang Xiongdan who was caught off guard.
Wang Xiongdan was startled for a moment, then responded slowly: "I originally wanted to persuade him, but if this is what both Longtou and King Xiongtian agree on, then there is nothing to say... After all, Longtou has done a really good job on the Western Front. , have the qualifications to make decisions; and King Xiongtian is the most loyal one. But... if they all do things according to the standards of the leader, are there any decent rebels in the world?"
Zhang Xing nodded, without comment, but got on the yellow gelding and continued to move forward.
Xie Minghe, on the other hand, obviously felt a little aloof from the incident. Before turning around and mounting his horse, he teased Wang Xiongdan: "After killing this wave and cleaning up Dengzhou, other rebels from all over the world will do what is inappropriate. "
Wang Xiongdan was half stunned and half worried, so he could only follow in a hurry.
On the fifth day of July, in the afternoon, the leader of the left wing of the Deposed Dragon Gang arrived in Ying County. The first thing he did was to punish the local surrendering rebels on the grounds that they separatized the area but looted it instead. All seven of the leaders were beheaded, and all the tribesmen Draw one from fifty, and kill more than forty.
The rest were just used equally.
This place is located at the intersection of four counties, and spies from all sides have been waiting for a long time, so the news spread almost immediately, and soon had a huge impact on the surrounding rebels... The timid hastily abandoned the place and fled to Dengzhou, objectively making The power of the three major rebel armies in Dengzhou further expanded, and those who were bold or unruly simply defended the city and openly confronted the deposed dragon army.
For a time, the second phase of the deposed dragon army quickly entered the stage of military confrontation. Small-scale but obviously fierce battles occurred everywhere. At the same time, in Qi County, the old Qilu army officers and soldiers, who were in constant panic, received Zhang Longtou's goodwill conveyed by Jia Runshi. The confrontation was greatly reduced, and surrenders appeared on a large scale.
Among them, the two most important people, namely Jia Wugen, the county magistrate who occupied the county seat of Qijun, and Fan Bao, who controlled the last powerful elite force of Qilu's official army, were all shaken.
Especially Jia Wugen, because of his role as a parent and the fact that Licheng was a lost cause, he faced Shan Tonghai and Wang Shuyong's military front and was the first to give a definite answer - he agreed to surrender alone in white, but he wanted to see Zhang directly. OK, got the promise.
Fan Bao led his troops to retreat to Zhangqiu, with Jishui to the north, a Zuo rebel army to the south, and Licheng to the west. In addition, he had a heavy army, so it was not that urgent... especially because there were rumors that his sister Fan Lihua is outstanding in martial arts, but she resents the death of her eldest brother Fan Hu, and conflicts with her second brother who wants to surrender.
It is impossible to say that there will be twists and turns in this matter.
However, in this complicated situation between the enemy and ourselves, the Zuo rebels in the north of Ying County, entrenched in the south of Qi County, and occupying Zichuan and Tingshan, suddenly took the initiative to unconditionally surrender to the Deposed Dragon Army, and the leader rushed to Jia Wugen and his son, including Jia Wugen and his son, were the first to arrive in Ying County.
You must know that Zuo's rebel army occupies an indispensable part of Qijun's power territory, and is the southern gateway for Fan Bao and Qijun's disciples. In addition, under the front of the deposed dragon army at this time, the rebels and official troops The position was chaotic and there were quite a few rumors, so the army suddenly surrendered, and it was such a neat surrender, which really had a huge impact.
Correspondingly, in order to be honest and honest, or perhaps to restore his reputation for treating the rebels harshly, Zhang Xing, who was obviously a little surprised, almost hastily decided to go out of the city ten miles to meet him in person.
On the seventh day of July, hundreds of people from both sides met each other on the official road in the mountains north of the city.
Then, to everyone's surprise, in full view of the public, the leader of Zuo's rebel army not only dismounted first, but also dropped his knees to the ground on the road, kowtowed in front of the yellow gelding with a big dragon head, and paid his respects to everyone with a low courtesy that was beyond everyone's expectations. Zhang Xing saluted.
Almost everyone on both sides was stunned.
After a while, the man raised his head, revealing a face full of scars, but finally said: "Zuo Caixiang paid homage to Zhang Longtou. The kindness of Longtou will never be forgotten by the Zuo family in this life. Therefore, the world is in chaos, and we have decided to From the beginning of the incident, I had the intention of echoing the dragon's head."
Even though Zhang Xing had already evolved to study the theoretical work of rebellion, he couldn't help but be startled at this time. After a while, he looked up to the sky on his horse and sighed:
"Third Master Zuo, people are different, please come and be fine."
The others were still stunned, but Wang Xiongdan thought about it and suddenly became stunned.
PS: Good night everyone.
