Huainan, Shouchun
Ten days ago, as the news of Xu Zhaojie's defeat and capture reached Shouchun, the morale of the Zhennan Army defending the city immediately collapsed!
The next day, one of the defenders, Cao Yuanzheng, rebelled against the enemy and presented the city. Shouchun, the capital of Huainan, fell into the hands of the Fengwu Army commanded by He Jingyun... ·······
Although the war has just ended in the city at this time, and some traces of the war can still be seen on the streets, the streets are full of vitality, and the people passing by also have long-lost smiles, and they begin to look forward to the new life ahead. Full of hope!
In the past when Feng Keqin was in power in Huainan, although Feng Keqin was very ambitious, he had been preparing for war, thinking about doing something big in troubled times!
But after all, he was born and raised here, so he has feelings for Huainan. Therefore, he still maintained great restraint in imposing excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes on the elders in his hometown, and did not say that he would drain the lake and make the people miserable!
However, in the face of Xu Zhaojie's offensive, Feng Keqin had to increase taxes and recruit young people in order to maintain Huainan's foundation!
At that time, in order to seize Huainan, Xu Zhaojie even launched a banner to overthrow the tyranny of Feng Keqin. This even got the response of some Huainan people!
However, after Xu Zhaojie really captured Huainan, he stopped pretending and revealed his ferocious true face...
Compared with Feng Keqin, who was born and raised here and has feelings for his hometown of Huainan, Xu Zhaojie very directly used Huainan as a springboard!
Xu Zhaojie's plan is to make full use of the wealth in Huainan to actively prepare for war, strengthen his army, and then conquer Jiangnan, Jingchu, Sichuan, Shu and other places, and then achieve the ultimate goal of separatizing the south and competing with Ye Mingsheng for the world!
In order to achieve this goal, Xu Zhaojie did not care about the people's power and paid attention to people's livelihood. He levied excessive taxes and recruited young people to directly increase his strength. It was also during this period that he established the infamous Qianhu Guard!
On the one hand, Xu Zhaojie established the Thousand Tiger Guards to imitate Ye Mingsheng's Coordination Office, using these spies to spy on the enemy's military intelligence and monitor internal civil and military officials to stabilize his rule!
On the other hand, Xu Zhaojie also hopes that Qianhu Guard can actively expand his financial resources and provide a steady stream of money and food for his plan to expand the army and prepare for war!
During the few years that Xu Zhaojie was in charge of Huainan, Qianhuwei set off a terrifying spree in Zhennan Army territories such as Huainan, Jingchu, Anqing, etc.!
Not only some landlords and squires had their homes confiscated and their families exterminated, but even some ordinary people could not escape their clutches and had to contribute all the wealth they had accumulated throughout their lives to Xu Zhaojie's ambition and greed!
In such a terrifying craze, Xu Zhaojie gathered a large amount of money and food in Huainan in a short period of time. At this time, Xu Zhaojie's troops were officially renamed the Zhennan Army... ··········
With the help of Huainan's money and grain, the strength of the Zhennan Army has grown rapidly, and its strength once exceeded the 100,000 mark. This undoubtedly fueled Xu Zhaojie's ambitions!
At that time, Xu Zhaojie was immersed in the beautiful fantasy of punching Jingchu, kicking Jiangnan, unifying the south and marching north, defeating Ye Mingsheng to dominate the world, and creating an eternal foundation!
However, Xu Zhaojie did not know at that time that capturing Huainan was already the most glorious moment in his life!
In order to prevent the Fengwu Army from unifying the north, Xu Zhaojie violated his plan to conquer the south of the Yangtze River and began to plan to attack the Fengwu Army from the north and south with the Luo'an court!
However, the disastrous defeat in the final march north to Hebei became an important turning point for the Zhennan Army from prosperity to decline. In this war, Xu Zhaojie not only lost tens of thousands of elite soldiers he brought from Anqing, but also lost his hometown of Anqing. Lost it to Fengwu Army!
After that, even though Xu Zhaojie wanted to rise again several times, he was never able to regain his former height!
After losing Anqing, Xu Zhaojie relied even more on Huainan to realize his war ambitions, and this also allowed him to exploit the people of Huainan to the point of exhaustion!
Huainan, where the prosperous people lived and worked in peace and contentment in the past, has begun to become dilapidated under the ravages of Xu Zhaojie in just a few years. Some people tried to resist but were ruthlessly suppressed by the Zhennan Army... ·············
Seeing that there was no hope of resistance, many people began to flee with their families to Anqing, which was ruled by the Fengwu Army, looking for a peaceful place to start a new life!
And you must know that Huainan is the largest and most prosperous place in Jiangnan in the Great Zhou Dynasty. Even in years of famine, people from other places fled to Huainan to seek food!
Basically no people in Huainan have fled to other places. This shows how much damage Xu Zhaojie's tyranny has done to the people's livelihood in Huainan!
In order to prevent the population loss, Xu Zhaojie pretended to announce several benevolent policies at the beginning, slowing down the exploitation of the people of Huainan!
But when the pressure on the battlefield increased, Xu Zhaojie immediately tore off his hypocritical veil and began to squeeze the people even harder. In order to prevent the people from leaving Huainan and get rid of his horrific oppression, Xu Zhaojie even used his most deadly magic weapon. ——Butcher knife!
Xu Zhaojie implemented an anti-human system of joint sitting in Huainan. As long as one person in a village escapes, the entire village will die!
In such a terrifying atmosphere, the problem of population loss has been alleviated to a certain extent, but it has also made the Huainan people's anger towards Xu Zhaojie and the Zhennan Army reach its peak. And now when the Fengwu Army attacks Shouchun, the people The anger in my heart was finally vented...
With the help of the common people, the Fengwu Army led by He Jingyun swept through Huainan like a whirlwind. They basically did not encounter any decent resistance before they reached Shouchun City, the core of the Zhennan Army's rule!
The remnants of the Southern Army in Shouchun Town were determined to resist stubbornly. They imagined that their Marquis could defeat the Fengwu Army on the Jingchu battlefield and successfully return to Shouchun to lead them to complete a desperate counterattack!
However, beautiful fantasies are just fantasies after all. They did not wait for the news of Xu Zhaojie's return, but instead waited for the news that Xu Zhaojie was defeated and captured!
This news shattered all their illusions and plunged them completely into the abyss of despair!
After the Fengwu Army entered Shouchun, in order to prevent the Xu family from being bullied by the Fengwu Army, Xu Zhaojie's remnants imitated Feng Keqin and set himself on fire with his family. They also ignited a blazing flame in Xu Zhaojie's mansion!
It is said that the fire burned to death hundreds of people in the Xu family, including Xu Zhaojie's wife, concubines, and children. However, some people said that the fire was just a cover-up. Xu Zhaojie's remnants left with Xu Zhaojie's youngest son!
But no matter what, Xu Zhaojie and the Zhennan Army's cruel rule on the ancient land of Huainan has completely ended, and the dark clouds in the sky of Huainan have also dissipated!
The people who have suffered so many disasters have begun to look forward to a new life in the future. They hope that the Fengwu Army can exempt them from taxes in the next few years, so that they can recover as soon as possible, so that the once land of plenty can once again be rejuvenated and become the place in people's minds. Prosperous Huainan······························
At night in a remote area of Shouchun City, a middle-aged man in tattered clothes was walking in a hurry on a deserted path!
Although he tried his best to calm down, there was still a sense of fear in his expression at this time!
In addition, although his clothes were in tatters, as if he had escaped from a pile of rags, and there was some pot ashes on his face, he looked no better than a beggar begging on the roadside, but The skin on his hands and neck was faintly white!
Obviously, this middle-aged man is not as poor as he looks. The tattered clothes on his body and the pot ash smeared on his face are just his disguise!
And this person's true identity is Xu Tu, one of the housekeepers of the Xu Mansion!
After Xu Tu walked in the alley for about half a stick of incense, he came to the door of a dilapidated house. He looked around hurriedly and saw that there was no one around. Xu Tu finally carefully took it out of his arms. He took out a key, opened the lock hanging on the door and quickly entered the room. After entering the room, he did not forget to close the door tightly.
This private house can be said to have only four walls and only one bed and one wardrobe. Even if a thief comes in, he will shake his head!
After Xu Tu entered the room, he immediately came to the closet. Looking at the lock on the closet, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief... ···
Before the Fengwu Army reached Shouchun City, the people of the Xu Mansion were still lucky and thought that the Marquis could come back to help, but in the face of the cruel reality, they also began to seek other preparations!
At first, they planned to escape from Shouchun before the Fengwu Army was killed, but the Fengwu Army led by He Jingyun arrived too fast, and the Xu Mansion people were blocked in the city before they could leave quietly!
This also made the people of the Xu Mansion start another preparation, which was to quietly set up some back-ups in the city. A few of the most loyal men took Xu Zhaojie's most beloved son Xu Kang and hid in a hidden corner of Shouchun. middle!
These people knew very well that once Shouchun City was broken, the Fengwu Army would hunt down the marquis's heirs, so in order to make the Fengwu Army believe that Xu Kang was dead, they directly burned the Xu Mansion and used the lives of hundreds of people in the Xu Mansion to fight for Xu. Kang left as cover!
Although a fire burned down the entire Xu Mansion, Xu Tu and the others believed that Xu Kang was not safe. The gang of hawks and dogs in the Coordination Office would not completely believe that Xu Kang was dead just because of the fire. They would still search overtly and covertly. Get down!
Therefore, Xu Kang could no longer stay in Shouchun and even Huainan. Therefore, after discussion with these remnants of Xu Zhaojie, they decided to take Xu Kang and escape to places beyond Ye Mingsheng's control, such as Annan, Jiaozhi and other places. Wherever I am, I am trying to figure out how to make a comeback, and I am slowly trying to figure it out...
To complete this plan, they need money and they only have some money, so Xu Tu came to this private house at this time just to take away the money hidden in this private house so that it can be used for Xu Kang's next use. Spend!
He took out the medicine key and opened the closet. He saw hundreds of gold bars neatly placed in the closet. A smile suddenly appeared on Xu Tu's face when he saw these gold bars!
However, the next second Xu Tu's smile froze on his face, and a dagger with a cold light was placed on his neck!
And just when Xu Tu's heart sank to the bottom, a hoarse voice came from behind him.
"Where is my family?"
Hearing this voice, Xu Tu's heart suddenly moved, and then he hesitated and slowly turned around. At this time, what appeared in his sight was a short man with a scar on his face, looking tired. Colorful man!
This person is none other than Fang She, the commander of the Qianhu Guard of the Zhennan Army!
Seeing Fang Snake's appearance, Xu Tu was obviously shocked and subconsciously said:
"Fang Snake, why are you here?"
However, before Xu Tu could finish his words, Fang Snake punched Xu Tu directly in the liver area. Xu Tu immediately fell to the ground, curled up in pain like a shrimp with cold sweat on his face, and at this time, his ear Fang She's hoarse voice sounded again.
"Don't talk nonsense to me, tell me where my family is..."
Over the years, the reason why Xu Zhaojie was able to safely let Fang She serve as the commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards and let him do things for him was largely because he rewarded Fang She with a mansion and hundreds of servants and maids to provide for Fang She. family lives!
This all looks good on the surface, but in fact it is a prison, and Fang She's family is Xu Zhaojie's hostage!
With these hostages in hand, Xu Zhaojie can safely let Fang She do things for him without worrying that Fang She will betray him!
Although there are certain reasons for the avalanche of the Zhennan Army this time, for example, the Zhennan Army was at the end of its war effort and was unable to face the strong pressure of the Fengwu Army on the two battlefields of Jingchu and Anqing. Another example is that the Zhennan Army was really exploiting the people of Huainan. It was so cruel that Huainan supported the invading Fengwu Army!
However, the collapse of the Zhennan Army was somewhat sudden, and Fang She, the commander of the Thousand Tiger Guards, continued the tasks assigned to him by Xu Zhaojie elsewhere when the Zhennan Army collapsed!
And when Fang She learned that Xu Zhaojie was defeated and captured, although he rushed towards Shouchun with all his strength, Shouchun had already been defeated by the time he arrived!
After finally sneaking into the city, Fang She just wanted to find his family, but he found that the house where his family lived was already empty and there were no clues at all. This undoubtedly made Fang She feel desperate!
However, as the commander of Thousand Tiger Guards, Fang She still had some connections, so he soon found out that his family had been transferred away before the city was broken... ············
