Today, nearly a hundred villages around Mang Mountain have sent their officials to come. In these troubled times, who can resist the temptation of a powerful backer?
Among them, the Zhang family and the Li family in Luoyang, the Wang family in Mengjin, the Feng family in Gongxian County, the Xu family in Yanshi, etc. are all local noble families. Now they have also taken refuge in the villages hidden in Mang Mountain. Now They also sent people to Yangjialou to discuss the matter of preventing thieves.
Zhang Cheng is naturally the first person who attracts the most attention, followed by the new guerrilla general Chen Zhong who is stationed in Mihe Town. After all, he will be the direct protector of these powerful officials in the days to come.
Except for the few people from big families who accompanied Zhang Cheng to discuss some specific matters, the remaining prominent figures gathered around Chen Zhong, building relationships.
As for the small wealthy families, they couldn't please people like Zhang Cheng and Chen Zhong, so they all gathered around Yang Shijie, talking about how to practice rural bravery and how to rescue each other.
According to Zhang Cheng's idea, it was finally agreed to divide the village in Mang Mountain into three western, middle and eastern parts.
The twenty-six villages to the west are called the west. Li Shidong, the head of the Li family in Luoyang City, is the leader of the village. He is also one of the deputy chief village leaders of the joint defense of all the villages in Mangshan. Zhang Shikuang of the Zhang family in Luoyang is the leader. Xilianzong is responsible for commanding the Xiangyong in the west.
The thirty-one strongholds in the center are the central ones, with Yang Shibin, the head of the Yangjialou family, as the leader, Wang Guanqin, the head of the Mengjin Wang family, as the deputy leader, and Yang Shijie as the training general in the middle, responsible for the command and deployment of the village warriors in the central part.
The thirty-five strongholds east of Mang Mountain are in the east, with Xu Yousi from Yanshi as the leader, who also serves as one of the deputy chiefs of the joint defense of all the strongholds in Mang Mountain, and Feng Gang from Gong County as the east training general. Xiang Yong is responsible for commanding the east.
Depending on the size and the number of people in each village, each village has fifty or two hundred young men. After they are gathered together for training, they will be stationed in some key villages, which can not only prevent bandits from invading, but also provide timely services. Dispatch to rescue surrounding villages.
In this way, segmented garrison is formed. Each tribe and village warrior can not only guard a segment, but also provide cross-regional support when the war requires it. Based on this, a paramilitary force of more than 10,000 people may be formed in Mangshan in the future. , this armed force will become one of the important supports for Zhang Cheng's future military empire.
The next several village leaders and training generals discussed with Zhang Cheng, Chen Zhong and others on how to unify the command and mobilize the Xiang Yong's orders and military symbols.
General Chen Zhong, as the highest military commander of the Mangshan joint defense, has the authority to call on the township warriors from various ministries and villages in emergencies, and is also responsible for the camp operations of all township warriors.
As for the support of the Xiangyong, it is shared by each village according to the size and number of villagers. After all, these Xiangyong are used to protect themselves.
At the same time, it was also agreed that in some villages that were too exposed to the periphery, all the old, young, women and children would be moved into other villages, while only Xiangyong and some auxiliary strong men would be stationed in the villages to be responsible for defense.
Several village leaders and general training officers also requested Zhang Cheng to support him with some more armor, shields, swords and guns, and preferably some muskets, artillery and the like.
In this regard, Zhang Cheng said yes. He did capture some in this battle, but because he had organized more than 4,000 prisoners, most of them were kept by himself.
Therefore, there were no excess armors, shields, swords and guns for the time being, but he did not like the captured muskets and artillery in his heart, so he kept most of them in Yangjialou for future distribution to the rural warriors who had been formed. they use.
That night, there was another grand banquet in the Yang family building, even more grand than Zhang Cheng's last wedding banquet. Because the weather was getting warmer, even the square next to the Yang family courtyard was brightly lit.
Tables of banquets were arranged neatly. More than 400 officers and soldiers brought by Cui Shijie, as well as entourage brought by the village owners, plus the local warriors from Yangjialou who accompanied the guests, all gathered here to eat and drink.
In Gu Shi's Yang family courtyard, from the courtyard to the lobby, there are also tables of banquets lined up. There are more than ten tables in total. Zhang Cheng is sitting at the head table in the lobby. The only people sitting at the table are Yang Shibin, Li Shidong, and Xu Yousi. , just a few of Zhang Guangda’s people.
Chen Zhong and Yang Shijie were sitting on the second seat, accompanied by Zhang Shikuang, Feng Gang and other leaders of the training and several Xiangyong leaders. The other seats were filled with many village leaders and people from the Yang family building who were accompanying them.
A banquet with five or six tables was set up in the backyard. Yang Liying and several sisters-in-law were having a drink at the table with many wives of the village owners who had come with them. Although everyone respected Yang Shibin and Yang Shijie's wives, anyone with a discerning eye could see it. Then I knew that the center of the banquet in the inner house was still Yang Liying.
The banquet lasted until after the second watch and ended with laughter.
On the second day, those villages that were far away all said goodbye one after another and set off to leave. By noon, most of the villages that came to participate in the rally had almost left.
Only some village owners in the central part of the country stayed because they were relatively close to each other and had more specific matters to discuss such as how to draw ding and which villages to focus on defending.
These detailed issues can only be discussed with brothers Yang Shibin and Yang Shijie. Zhang Cheng only sent Cui Shijie to participate in the discussion, and he did not attend the discussion.
Chen Zhong, together with Zhang Guangda's cavalry camp, led the team back to Mianhe Town on the north bank of the river in the afternoon to prepare for meeting Zhang Cheng tomorrow.
…………
That day, after dinner, Yang Shibin and Yang Shijie were drinking tea with Zhang Cheng in the flower hall on the left side of the Yang family courtyard. The cool breeze of early spring blew by, and the fragrance of tea filled the flower hall inside and outside.
Zhang Cheng said: "The thieves are now hiding in the Funiu Mountains. Although it is difficult to eradicate them, at least within the next six months, they will not harass and plunder the land of Henan again. Even if the thieves come back in the Funiu Mountains, their direction will be in eastern Henan." Or over there in southern Henan, western Henan has been plundered a lot, no matter how hard it is to scrape out any oil and water, it will probably not come back for a while."
He continued: "My two uncles can take this opportunity to practice their country bravery for future use."
Yang Shibin drank tea and said: "I heard from Liying that after Zhang Shuai returns to Xuanzhen this time, he will lead his troops to rescue Liaodong and fight against the Tartars. But be careful. After so many battles, the soldiers will be exhausted and physically exhausted, which may affect the morale of the army." If you are distracted, your brother-in-law must be careful."
Zhang Cheng smiled and said: "I will return to Xuanchen soon so that the sergeants can rest for more than a month and relieve the fatigue of this battle before I can reorganize the army into Liao and fight against the Tartars. Brother Ziquan has nothing to worry about. .”
He took a sip of tea and said: "Some time ago, I recommended to my soldier, Chen Ge, that Ji Youci, the magistrate of Wu'an County, be appointed as the Weihuai Military Affairs Bureau, responsible for the military affairs of Weihui and Huaiqing, and also the military affairs of Zhangde Prefecture. In the future, He also needs the full support of his two uncles.
Although the area he is responsible for is on the north bank of the river, he can cross the river at any time to support the Mang Mountain side. As the saying goes, two sides will benefit from cooperation, and two will suffer from division. They need to support each other and cannot hinder each other. "
Yang Shibin smiled hurriedly and said: "Of course. When Mr. Ji takes office, I will personally go to celebrate and congratulate you. I will definitely follow Mr. Ji's lead in the future."
Zhang Cheng smiled and said to Yang Shijie: "Brother Ziyun, after all villages and villages in Mang Mountain are united, there will be nearly 10,000 troops, and the number of soldiers and horses under your command will be more than one general soldier."
Yang Shijie said with a wry smile: "Brother-in-law, please don't laugh at me. I'm a little confused now. I originally wanted to command thousands of horses and thousands of armies, but now that I think about it more carefully, I feel panicked."
