"Your Majesty wants to recapture Guangxin? What are you going to do? To be honest, wouldn't we sneak in from the side?"
Nanshan guard Jiang Baihu blinked his eyes in surprise. He couldn't believe that this army with only a thousand men actually wanted to attack a guarded county! He thought about it and felt uneasy, so he came to see Li Dan to find out.
Li Dan smiled and asked him to sit down first, and asked: "The enemy is coming with great momentum this time, and they are very likely to capture Shangrao in one fell swoop. So I will not only send grain and fodder into Shangrao, but also prepare to gather surrounding troops into the city to fight with the enemy." decisive battle!"
"My Lord, I absolutely agree with this idea!" Jiang Baihu said: "Shanggrao has a favorable geographical location and strong city defenses. It would be difficult to win it without an army of fifty or sixty thousand!
But to put it another way, the enemy is also defending the city in Guangxin. Although there are only two thousand in number, if there are thousands of people to attack, there is no guarantee of victory! "
"What you said is correct!" Li Dan smiled and looked at Song Qian who was accompanying him: "But..., what if I don't attack the city?"
"Ah? No attack?" Jiang Baihu was stunned for a moment and suddenly realized: "Sir, do you want to outwit me?"
"You should also know the beginning and end of Guangxin's defeat. If he is allowed to be in the first grade of junior high school, why not allow me to be in the fifteenth grade?" Li Dan sneered: "Now is the time when the enemy is complacent and their defenses are lax.
I have sent a soldier to take the letter from the guard here to see Guangxin Qushuai Chengshisan, and agreed with him to send the women, goods and food collected here to Guangxin... "
"When will your lordship take advantage of the situation and break in?" Jiang Baihu's eyes lit up: "I understand your humble position!"
"Although there are 2,000 people under Cheng Shisan, 500 of them have been eliminated by us. Another 500 people are said to be confronting Liu Shengju's officers and soldiers at Shangbanqiao Fort, so there are at most 1,000 people in his city!" Song Qian said.
"Sir, although I am not talented in my humble position, please give me a chance to make meritorious service!" Jiang Baihu said loudly, cupping his hands.
Li Dan looked at Song Qian, and both of them smiled.
Cheng Shisan is a nickname, and his nickname is Cheng Yu'er. He dislikes it because it sounds unpleasant, so he would rather use the name Shisan.
This man has a square eyebrow, thin lips, a broad nose, a pair of conspicuous big ears that attract the wind, and a short, inch-long beard on his chin. He is about thirty-five or six years old, which is when he is young and full of energy.
This guy was originally jealous, restless and wanted to rebel. Now that he has built a team but cannot be taken seriously, Cheng Shisan is very depressed. Fortunately, God had the foresight to deliver Guangxin City into his hands, and now he felt very proud!
After counting, the harvest this time is really not small. The county treasury and various grain merchants' warehouses in the city gathered together, and actually hoarded 30,000 shi of grain. What a surprise!
He plundered the city and got four hundred taels of gold and twelve thousand taels of cash. Those banknotes are even more!
I thought I could show my face in front of Yin Tuo now, but unexpectedly, Yin Shuai suddenly turned back with one day to go. It is said that an army of officers and soldiers came out of nowhere and attacked Geyang City. What bad luck!
However, Lao Cheng also took advantage of Yin Shuai's absence to enjoy it for a few days. He almost cooked the tops of every brothel in the city, and then hired a few of the best chefs to cook various delicacies in different ways every day.
In short, if he has merit, he should be happy, and he can do whatever he wants in this city.
I got down to business. For example, a small force was sent forward to the vicinity of Fengqiguan, and people were sent to keep an eye on the officers and soldiers in Shangban. In the city, he ordered four hundred captured officers and soldiers to repair the dilapidated county government office and prepare to welcome Yin Shuai to move in.
Of course, he didn't forget to treat the county magistrate who didn't have time to escape. Yin Shuai didn't like to kill officials at will, unless he wanted to kill him himself.
Yesterday, people from Fengling Town came back and reported that they had found three thousand stones of grain and beans in the town and had sealed two brothels. He also said that there were hundreds of escaped miners in the local area who were willing to join the army, and asked whether these should be transported to Guangxin or left in the town first.
Of course Cheng Shisan was transported to the county seat. What are you doing in your local area? So he is looking forward to the arrival of those batches of weapons today. I wonder what kind of goods they can have?
Now Guangxin only opens the south and north gates. The west gate was blocked with four layers of sacking by Sheng Huai'en due to defense needs. Mao Xiulu visited last time
At that time, I found that it had not been opened, and only about ten people were guarding it.
The leader guarding the north gate was named Wu. Cheng Shisan told him that the supplies from Fengqiguan might be delivered in the next two days, so the boy moved a bench in the city gate and sat on it, stretching his neck and looking northward. .
"It's coming, it's coming!" Someone shouted loudly from the tower: "There's a convoy coming out of Pine Ridge. Oh my God, it's such a long string of cars!"
"Nonsense! There are so many good things, why can't we carry them on our shoulders without carrying them in a vehicle?" The witch leader jumped up and ran to the suspension bridge to stand on tiptoe and look out. Many of his subordinates quickly gathered around him.
The team was walking at a slow pace, and at the front was a young knight in green leather armor. He gently pulled the reins, an iron spear was held horizontally on his horse, and an iron helmet was hung on the saddle bridge.
The knight spurred his horse to run, and stopped when he reached the end of the bridge. He looked up at the north gate a hundred steps away and said, "Maolin Gate, whose name is this? It's not good!"
The witch leader looked back at the inscription, but he really hadn't noticed it. "Hey, who knows who wrote it?" He grinned: "Are you from Fengling Town?"
"Yes. This is the famous Guangxin County? This is my first time here."
The smile on the witch leader's face slowly solidified: "Who is your team...?"
"Team Green Shirt, Gao Can!" As soon as his words, eyes, and hands were heard, a cold light flashed across the chest of the witch leader, and then the spear tip passed through the air and broke the sling of the suspension bridge. The witch leader's body fell softly, and his head fell. Fell into the moat.
The subordinates shouted and turned around and ran away. A large number of cavalry appeared on the river bank, following Gao Can and rushing towards the city gate. Several defenders on the tower were in panic and could not blow the horns anyway.
Suddenly an arrow flew up to the top of the city and shot one of them to death. The others were so frightened that they fled down the city.
When I arrived at the horse road, I found that it was already too late. The other party's cavalry was rushing towards the south gate through the street with few pedestrians. What followed was a carriage pulling groups of officers and soldiers into the city. After getting off the car, they were busy controlling the vital points and shouting Author: "The army has recaptured Guangxin, but those who surrender will not be killed!"
Cheng Shisan was messing around with the women. When he heard the noise outside and didn't know what was going on, he quickly ran out with a knife to see. The place where he lived was the original garrison of Sheng Huaien, and it was the first place that the team entering the city had to control.
When he looked up, he saw a group of men in green clothes cutting down his men and rushing in, shouting: "Capture Cheng Shisan alive to avenge his dead brothers!" He was so frightened that he was out of his wits.
This guy's mind was spinning so fast that he turned over and ran back to the back office, from the kitchen to the utility room, and finally climbed to the top of the wall by stepping on the chicken coop. The chickens below were so frightened that they were flying and jumping around. Cheng Shisan didn't care about escaping for his life.
As soon as he propped himself up from the wall and showed his head, he heard someone shouting: "Get here!" An arrow flew and passed diagonally under his neck.
Cheng Shisan felt that the arrow shaft was heavy, and he stretched out his hand to pull it out, but his body sank involuntarily, top-heavy, and finally fell from the top and landed heavily on the ground.
Two soldiers in green clothes came to him, and one said: "Hey, he is an archer after all, he shot down the arrow with one arrow, not bad!"
The other one pulled out the knife from his waist and said with a smile, "I don't know if it's the bandit leader, let's get the reward first!" In the end, Cheng Shisan only saw the flash of the knife, and darkness became the end of his dream.
Gao Can repeated his old tricks and rushed to the south gate to block the exit. Two rows of musketry soldiers accompanying him fired out the musketry and the defenders collapsed.
Gao Can's second company divided its troops to control Ximen and various government offices at the same time. Five hundred people from Jiang Baihu suppressed the whole city. Shi Dajun and Song Jiuyi who then entered the city rushed into the county treasury and began to provide supplies mainly including food and ordnance. Loading the car.
The Zhenfu Platoon was responsible for releasing captured officers and soldiers and directing them to rush to the county treasury to help transfer supplies.
The communications platoon began beating gongs and pots in the city and walked around the streets, calling on the people to move to Luoqiao and Fengling towns immediately. The defenders who had withdrawn from Fengqiguan set up recruitment points outside the county government office, garrison office and North City Gate. , recruiting young men who volunteered to go to Shangrao to participate in the war, and organized them into three teams.
Li Dan entered the city, but he only stayed in the city for half a quarter of an hour to interrogate the prisoners before going to the Chenghuang Temple outside the city to take command.
According to the prisoners' confessions, there were no other rebels in the south of Guangxin City. There were more than 700 prisoners and more than 200 corpses found in the city. The sum of the two was indeed about the same as the estimated number of people.
Li Dan ordered not to lower the flag on the south gate, and at the same time released the county magistrate, officials, and officers who were imprisoned, and ordered them to rush north from Nancheng and persuade as many people as possible to evacuate.
The whole city became noisy, with gongs and shouts everywhere. Notices written by Lei Jisheng (formerly Gao Can's adviser and now the secretary of the army) were posted on various bulletin boards overnight, telling everyone that in order to prevent the rebels from retaliating and killing innocent people when they broke into the city again, they advised the people to evacuate immediately.
Each person who evacuated was given five coins and six pounds of food, and was designated to live in Fengqiguan Nanshan Camp, Xishan Camp and Toad Pond Camp.
Li Dan had left some food there and found Song Xiucai and asked him to organize local manpower to help resettle the refugees.
After another half an hour, I received two messages. The reconnaissance platoon has found the remnants of the Guangxin garrison in Luoqiao, and met Dou Hongen (Dou San'er) and Tie Xiaoan (Tie Chuozi). Unfortunately, Shi Sannian was killed during the breakout, and now the two are leading the team Come meet us this way.
Another news is that the Fourth Company of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the First Company of Cavalry led by Zhou Tu, with the partial assistance of Liu Sheng, cleanly wiped out the enemy group outside Shangban Fort and captured more than a hundred people.
"Cross the bridge!" Li Dan made a prompt decision: "Order Song Jiuyi to start the transfer of supplies immediately!"
"Sir, why don't we wait for news from Shangrao? Master Shen has just entered the city!" Lei Jisheng said hurriedly: "What if we transport things there and they don't dare to open the door?"
"Ignore them, we don't have time, so notify the city immediately. In addition, we are preparing to move. We will go to the river when we see Dou and Tie's headquarters!" Li Dan is worried that the Lou family's team discovers what is going on here. If they It would be bad if it got mixed up.
The engineering platoon should have started to build the pontoon bridge with the assistance of the auxiliary soldiers, but this time there was no preparation in advance, so it was more difficult. Fortunately, it was the dry season, and the water flow was not as fast and fierce as in summer.
After all, Dou Saner was young, so he burst into tears when he saw Li Dan, and kept saying that he failed to protect Shanda Ren. Tie Jiazi bowed his head and said nothing. After appeasing Li Dan, he ordered the two of them to sit down, asked about the details, which were basically consistent with what he knew, and then said:
"I have sent people to search along the water. If there are any signs, they will be reported soon. Don't be too anxious."
Then he asked about the team's situation and morale, etc., and told them that 400 prisoners had been rescued, including more than 100 people who had been captured before. These people did not want to join the rebellion again, so they were also detained as coolies with the army.
"It's not easy for these people, and their identities are embarrassing. I'm considering taking them back this time. Let the rest return to the team and be unified under the command of Hong En (Dou San'er)."
"Thank you, Sir!" Dou San'er quickly stood up with his fists clasped.
Li Dan nodded: "I have sent orders to the scattered officers and soldiers stationed in the surrounding areas to withdraw into Shangrao City and stay there.
Hong En and your troops must assemble to cross the bridge as soon as possible and set up a guard outside the north gate of Shuiying. Pay attention to setting up antlers, traps, etc. We have to transport tens of thousands of stones of grain into Shangrao. We don't know how long it will take.
I will send the Fengqiguan garrison to support you after the people in Guangxin City are evacuated. You remember Monk Gao, right? After Guangxin abandons the defense, he will go to the north gate of Shuiying to take charge of unified command! "
"Guangxin wants to abandon the defense?" The two of them were shocked.
"We have no choice. We don't have the strength to defend Shangrao, and we have to concentrate our troops and materials to defend Shangrao. Therefore, the city can only evacuate the people and then abandon the defense." Li Dan said.
"This, this is such a pity. It was so easy to take it back and then throw it to them! Sir, why don't we keep it safe?"
Tie Haozi stopped Dou San'er and said, "If you can guard your lordship, is there any reason not to?"
"Exactly!" Li Dan nodded: "I came to Shangrao on an edict and brought food, not to seize Guangxin. Besides, with just a thousand of us, it will be difficult to defend Guangxin.
So it is better to concentrate all human, material and financial resources on one thing, and that is to defend Shangrao! ” Then Li Dan asked Dou Saner to go to Secretary Regis to get some money to reward and compensate the brothers.
The two were about to say goodbye and exit when Li Dan stopped Tie Chuozi and asked him, "Did the brothers of the Chashan Society suffer a great loss?"
Tie Jiazi sighed. He is a branch of the Tea Mountain Society in Guangxin and Shangrao.
How could the person in charge not know this? replied:
"There were still some losses. Fortunately, we evacuated quickly, otherwise... Some of the people who evacuated followed us to Luoqiao, and some went to Liu Baihu. The wounded were all sent to Dayuan. There were more than 60 people. .
After we settled down, we made a statistics and found that half of the 400 or so people who ran out of the city were members of the Chashan Society. There were about sixty members who were missing, and I don't know how many of them were captured. "
"It seems that our club members are not only strong in fighting power, but also very united. This shows that the club has played a certain role!" Li Dan said, and Tie Haozi nodded. Li Dan continued:
"I am sent by His Majesty this time. On the surface it is to reinforce military supplies, but in fact I have other missions. Therefore, I cannot stay in Shangrao for a long time, let alone be trapped in the battle situation." Tie Haozi was stunned for a moment and nodded again.
"Then what are your plans? Follow Dou San'er to Shangrao, or evacuate with me?"
Tie Chuozi looked at him: "Sir, Tie Chuozi is not a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death. Besides, there are so many brothers from the Tea Mountain Club staying here, how can I just leave?"
Li Dan nodded with satisfaction: "You are indeed worthy of the title of Iron Cutter. Then you can make an anchor stone and stick it in Shangrao, and try to expand the Tea Mountain Society to the entire Guangxin Prefecture in the future."
In this way, even if Shanda Shanda is away, the brothers will not be without someone to lead the way! So Li Dan handwritten a "Letter of Entrustment", which stated that Tie Xiaoan would act as agent for the affairs of the Chashan Society in Guangxin Mansion, and then handed it over to him.
He also asked him not to mix people from the Shangrao branch and the original Guangxin branch after entering the city, etc.
Watching the two of them mount their horses and leave, Li Dan ordered the departure and moved the headquarters to Shangban Fort. When I saw the four iconic towers of Uesaka Castle from a distance, a gray mule approached from a distance. The black flag signaled that the animal should be moved to the side of the road, and I crossed my arms and saluted.
Li Dan stopped in front of him to listen to the news. It turned out that Shen Wu came to report that Shen Jie and Lu Rui had already entered the city. In addition, Shen Wu sent a piece of information about the enemy forces around Shangrao that he had obtained.
Li Dan opened it and took a closer look. It turned out that Yin Tuo had led his army to attack Guangxin after conquering Qianshan. Unexpectedly, the partial army he sent to attack Shanglu was completely defeated. Yin Tuo had to stop at Ehu and detach two thousand men. Go for reinforcements.
Later, General Shanglu retreated to Da'ao, and Yintuo set off again. At this time, he heard that Ge Yang had been captured, and he was furious! Then he turned back from the tea pavilion. Therefore, before Yin Tuo got the news and returned to Guangxin, there were only a few thousand of his tribe south of Guangxin.
This time, the Lou family was determined to win Shangrao. Sixteen thousand main troops came from the direction of Yushan and Changshan, Lou Shifan brought 5,000 people from Jiangshan, and Lou Shiming brought 8,000 people from the direction of Guangfeng and Hengshan.
There are nearly 30,000 troops, almost twice as many as last time. There are military camps all over the area from Jiyang Mountain to Chashan!
The 500 officers and soldiers of Fengshan Fort were still tough. They retreated to Dajiang Ridge and then gritted their teeth and did not retreat again. This happened to form a tripartite force with Dayuan and Ueban, and they protected Shuiying and the area north of the Junwang Palace very well. area.
Li Dan frowned deeply after reading the information. He dismounted and asked his staff to lay out the map. He waved to Regis and showed him the information: "We can defeat the 30,000 bandits on Jiyang Mountain with just one kick!"
"This, this," Regis was so shocked that his hands were shaking: "Sir, we are in trouble now!"
"There is trouble." Li Dan smacked his lips: "I originally planned to evacuate through Hengfeng Temple, but it seems that this road is not feasible. It is too close to the enemy and it is easy to be overtaken!"
"The only thing left is Lengshuipu. It's really not possible to go north from Toad Pond, but that road has been explored before. There are some sections where you need to build a bridge to cross the river, which is more troublesome." Regis pointed with his finger and said:
"If the Fengshan and Dayuan garrison withdraws, the enemy will easily rush to the Chu River. Our defense on the west bank of Shangban Ferry and Dayuan Ferry is very critical. If we lose it at any point, the whole army will be annihilated!"
"We can't let them go to Dayuan," Li Dan thought for a moment and said, "The hills over Dayuan are low and mostly flat. There are no mountains up to Luoqiao.
Last time our people took advantage of the night and struck Yin Tuo with a sword, but this time it was different. If the enemy wants to cut off my retreat, Dayuan is actually the right direction, so I say we can't let them go to Dayuan! "
