For the Xiangfan Song Army, the old and the weak are unnecessary, and keeping them is a waste of food in the city.
Unless you are a skilled craftsman, doctor, breeder, musician, etc., you can stay and serve the senior officials of the Song Army.
So Wang Yan ordered all the old and weak people in the city who had no skills to be driven out to fend for themselves. Whether they starved to death or were killed by the Ming army, it had nothing to do with the Song army in the city.
After intense war preparations, the Xiangyang army plundered 40,000 young men and more than 30,000 young women from the surrounding areas.
This wave of operations almost wiped out all the young men and women in the areas they could reach. Because the number was not enough, it was inevitable to capture some middle-aged men and women and young men and women to fill up the number in order to reach the number Wang Yan needed.
After the old, weak, sick and disabled in the Second City of Xiangfan were collectively driven out, the food ration situation and living environment in the city have been greatly improved. The food reserves that were originally expected to only last for three years can now last more than four years. .
At this time, bringing in more strong men and women is a very good choice for Wang Yan. At any time, he needs a relatively large number of strong young men and women to enter the Second City of Xiangfan to contribute to his defense plan.
As for what the army did to the local people during this process, and how they separated their families and destroyed their families, this was not within the scope of Wang Yan's consideration. .
He doesn't want the process, he just wants the results. If the results satisfy him, he will reward them heavily.
As for the process...
who cares?
The soldiers of the Song Army walked out with knives and laughed. After a while, they pushed young men and women back with large and small bags, and returned with a full load.
They not only wiped out the surrounding manpower, but also wiped out the food and property in the surrounding areas.
Everything that was edible and useful was looted by them into the Second City of Xiangfan, leaving only the old, weak, sick and disabled in the surrounding areas waiting to die.
Of course, if these old and weak people dare to come forward to protect their families, they will kill them with one knife without mercy.
So everywhere they passed there were corpses strewn in the fields and blood flowed into rivers. Fortunately, the survivors held the bodies of their dead relatives and cried bitterly, crying to heaven and earth, but there was nothing they could do.
All that awaits them is ruthless death.
In addition, it is not that no special groups receive special treatment.
For example, as long as local officials are willing to pay a sum of money to the top officials of the Song Army, they can get their protection and enter Xiangyang.
Or when those wealthy households found that they could not escape, they could pay a sum of money to the top officials of the Song Army and enter Xiangyang to take refuge.
They will all receive relatively good treatment. The top leaders of the Song Army promised them that they will receive food supplies after entering Xiangyang and can live as before until the end of the war.
As for local real estate...
When the court lifts the siege in the future, they can return to their original hometowns, and the real estate will still be theirs.
As long as people are alive, there is no need to worry about the money disappearing. But if people are gone, what is the use of having more money?
The senior officials of the Song Army deceived them like this.
So a large number of officials and wealthy households realized that they could not get any benefits from the peasant army, so they took this opportunity to enter Xiangyang City.
Wang Yan and a wave of Song Jun senior executives successfully realized the side business to generate income, but they were merciless in collecting money, which made them lose money.
Relying on such a wave of combat readiness and self-purification, the Song Army's military strength in the Second City of Xiangfan has been greatly improved, and its defensive power has also made great progress and long-term guarantee.
They have been prepared to hold on to the Second City of Xiangfan for a long time. They have prepared everything that should be prepared, including how to deal with excrement such as pooping and peeing.
There are even people who are knocking down houses in Xiangyang City and Fan City to open up farmland, preparing to plant some vegetables, fruits, etc. in the city for the enjoyment of the senior Song Army officials and officials in the city.
Finally, after sending dozens of messengers to the Lin'an court and Chengdu respectively with letters of request for help, they stopped going out, closed the city gates, and patrolled the city day and night, waiting for the arrival of the peasant army and the Ming army.
They were ready for a three-year battle here, and were determined to hold on here for three years, giving the Southern Song Dynasty a three-year breathing space. Gu Dao
As long as they are nailed here, the Ming army cannot rest assured to go south, and the Jinghu Theater has not been lost. As long as the two cities of Xiangfan are still there, even if all the surrounding areas are captured by the Ming army, the barrier function of the Jinghu Theater can continue to be maintained.
Wang Yan was ready to fight to the death and defend Xiangfan without retreating.
After the main force of the peasant army led by Zhao Yucheng achieved successive victories, he personally led the first division and the second division led by Xu Tong to meet up at Jingmen. After the two armies joined forces, they launched the Northern Expedition with a force of 40,000 people and headed north along the Han River. , and finally arrived in Yicheng.
However, they found no movement of the Song army in Yicheng. Around Yicheng, there were only piles of exhausted, miserable, old, weak, sick and disabled people who were about to starve to death.
Faced with such a situation, Zhao Yucheng and Xu Tong were horrified. They immediately arranged for troops to restore order, and used military rations to cook porridge to relieve the old, weak, sick and disabled, and then asked them what happened.
After some questioning, Zhao Yucheng and Xu Tong finally knew what happened.
Then their fists harden, their blood pressure rises, and their teeth wear more.
It turns out that this can also be regarded as part of the Song Army's campaign to strengthen the walls and clear the country.
Not long ago, the Song Army in Xiangyang City mobilized collectively to launch a clearing operation in the entire area around Xiangfan. However, their clearing operations were rather bad. They did not take away everyone, but only took away the young men and women and all supplies, leaving behind the helpless people. The old, the weak, the sick and the disabled depend on each other.
Not only that, they also drove out the old, weak, sick and disabled people in Xiangyang and Fancheng, causing them to lose everything and could only wander around in despair, waiting to die.
Without food, these people would starve to death if they could not walk very far, and these people who were about to starve to death but did not starve to death would become a huge burden to the peasant army and the Ming army.
In contrast, there are abundant grain and manpower inside Xiangyang City and Fancheng, which will give Xiangyang City and Fancheng extremely high defense and endurance.
Zhao Yucheng was very angry, and so was Xu Tong.
And Xu Tong has also discovered it.
The powerful enemy and shrewd general he had been longing for finally appeared.
According to the original residents of Xiangyang City, the person who issued this order was Wang Yan, the prefect of Xiangyang, a name both Zhao Yucheng and Xu Tong were familiar with.
One of the three generals in the Sichuan-Shu War Zone in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was the successor to the post of prefect of Xiangyang and commander of the army in Xiangyang after the fall of Yao Zhong. He was a famous general in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Originally they thought they could deal with Xiangyang before Wang Yan arrived, but now it seemed that Wang Yan was faster than they thought and had already taken action.
"I thought we could capture Xiangyang quickly, but now it seems that we can't. Wang Yan has already arrived, and he even tried to clear the field with a strong wall... This is our specialty. If we put it in their hands, not only will the wall be strong and the field cleared, but we will also not be able to protect ourselves. Leave no difficulty behind.”
Zhao Yucheng gritted his teeth angrily and said angrily: "This person has sinister intentions and must be killed!"
"My enemy is a bandit, and my enemy is a hero. However, these common people are obviously not among their own people. It is estimated that only the official people of the Southern Song Dynasty will think that he is a hero."
Xu Tong sighed and whispered: "Director, the situation is already obvious. It is impossible for us to win quickly. We also know the tenacity of Xiangyang and Fancheng. There are at least 40,000 defenders. Just with our I probably won’t be able to capture Xiangyang and Fancheng even if I spend all my troops.”
Zhao Yucheng nodded helplessly and agreed with Xu Tong's statement.
"These two cities have tall walls, wide and deep moats, and are in extremely dangerous positions. If we really want to fight, it will be difficult to take them down without a hundred thousand troops. It is absolutely impossible for us to do it alone. So, it depends on when the Henan Corps comes. ”
Xu Tong turned his head and looked north.
"Have we already sent the information?"
"That's natural. The Henan Corps has established advance bases in Biyang and Rangcheng. It is said that they will wait for the Shenji Battalion sent by Zhongdu to be in place before attacking Xiangyang, but I don't know the specific time to launch the attack. "
Zhao Yucheng said: "In short, if they are trying to clear the country, we will know directly if we go there. Anyway, we still have 40,000 troops at the base. Even if it is a head-on confrontation, we will not fall behind. What do you think?"
Xu Tong nodded.
"Of course, but before that, we need to settle the old and weak here, otherwise we won't be able to leave and they won't be able to survive."
