There is nothing wrong with those so-called rogue old men, healthy women, and old married women.
But when it comes to the word Jian, it really can't be called it.
The old man has big hands and feet, but his body is shrunken, and his skin is full of wrinkles. Under the coarse clothes full of patches and tears, he has a shrinking figure.
As for those women, they were already sobbing and stumbling a little since they were intimidated. The only thing that could be called tough was probably the fingers tightly holding the small sacks of rice.
Gao Tuoshan frowned, took one look at the size of those rice bags, and then looked at the sallow faces of these people who had obviously been deprived of food for a long time, then scolded the soldiers and drove them away.
"Have you forgotten the military regulations? Besides, if this rice falls into the stomach of the soldier, is it enough to feed several people?!"
Several soldiers were scolded and did not dare to say a word. Gao Tuoshan looked at the people in the small town and wanted to comfort him with the gentle tone he had seen in Liangshan. However, he was a little upset, so he just waved his hand. Tell them to go back.
He sent people to pick out several big households in the city and inquire about other nearby towns that would not have too many troops stationed and would also have a certain number of wealthy families living there.
When they hit the road this time, they hurried even more urgently. However, after visiting two towns, the scene they saw was similar to this one. Seeing that it was getting dark, they could not delay, so they returned to the waterway and the boat.
The rebels under Gao Tuoshan were almost all naval forces. Since they rose up, they had faced off several times with officers and soldiers. Whenever they had some advantage, they would first capture ships. After accumulating, they already had hundreds of ships, large and small.
Although there are no fixed-wind ships, there are still fifteen thirty-foot-long warships.
Among the rebel armies in the world, excluding Liangshan, it can be said that their branch is the strongest in terms of power on the water.
Lin Chong was on one of the most important large ships. When he saw Gao Tuoshan coming back, he immediately stepped forward to greet him.
"Did you find food?"
Gao Tuoshan shook his head and explained the situation he encountered.
After Lin Chong heard this, the more he thought about it, the more wrong he became. He took Gao Tuoshan to a quiet place on the deck and said, "In your opinion, is this a strategy devised by the troops stationed nearby, or is it the whole Jiangnan? Are you using this method now?"
Gao Tuoshan frowned: "I have been thinking about it for a long time on the way, and I am still not sure. If all the soldiers and horses of the imperial court are really doing this, it will naturally be a great disadvantage to us, but will they really do this? It is inevitable Isn’t it too ridiculous?”
Naturally, there is no unity between the common people at the bottom and the current Song Dynasty court. However, the famous families from all over the country are definitely determined to protect the court. They are "family members" who wear a pair of trousers.
How can there be a way in the world when there is a war, to plunder one's own family first, leaving the enemy with nowhere to plunder?
"well!!"
Lin Chong sighed, "But the facts are in front of us. I am afraid that they will really do such a thing. Moreover, now that the emperor has transferred the elite border troops back, collected private soldiers from all over the country, and mixed them all in, even if He really stole the food from those families and looted it wantonly. If the people in charge of those families knew about it, they would only dare to be angry and dare not speak out, and they would not be able to cause any trouble."
Gao Tuoshan said: "But as time goes by, it will definitely have an impact on their military strength. Besides, I heard that methods such as dynasty luck and luck all require the protection of the army and the subjects. It cannot be done." Let all the wealthy families under him hate him. The emperor's methods should not last long."
He cheered up and smiled at Lin Chong, "We still have some food on board, and the south of the Yangtze River is the land of fish and rice. At this time of year, fish are swimming everywhere and the fish are plump. It is not difficult at all to survive this period." "
Lin Chong nodded: "I hope so."
They ate some boiled fish, and in the middle of the night, they received an order from someone sent by Liangshan, telling them not to expect results in the near future, but to focus on preserving themselves, and try to get closer to Jingdong and Kaifeng from the south of the Yangtze River to join up with the rebels. , gather together.
Two days later, Shi Xiu followed up with only a dozen elite soldiers, traveling day and night over mountains and ridges, and across rivers, to meet up with Lin Chong and the others.
"The Jiedu envoys from various places who originally fought against the rebels are still entangled, but where the four new armies of the imperial court are located, they have indeed begun to raid their homes to seize food. Shisheng from Liangzhe and Qiongying and Lu Junyi from Damingfu. There are also the Guangnan Rebels, and they are all having a hard time now."
Shi Xiu brought big bad news, but there was also some good news.
"The soldiers and horses assembled by Tong Guan, Gao Qiu, Zhu Meng and others are now facing the troops with Han Shizhong and others participating in the command of the battle. They will soon be unable to hinder us!"
"When the rabble is cut off and no longer a threat, Liangshan's reinforcements will arrive in the west of Beijing to join the rebel forces from all sides."
In other words, as long as Gao Tuoshan and the others can retreat from Jiangnan to Jingxi Road, they will be considered successful.
Compared with the originally expected retreat route near Jingdong East Road, there were suddenly less twists and turns than thousands of miles of waterways. After the news spread, the tribesmen under Gao Tuoshan couldn't help but cheer.
But at this moment, some pawns on the lookout hurriedly came to report that officers and soldiers' ships appeared in the direction of their fleet's advance.
Gao Tuoshan was about to order someone to turn the boat around when he suddenly reached out and caught an arrow. The arrow shaft and his palm wiped out the burning smell.
The next moment, the arrow shaft exploded into powder with sparks, but the arrow was still shooting forward and was pinched by Shi Xiu.
In the sky, there was an arrow hissing.
Gao Tuoshan looked from a distance and saw a handsome general with a lion's jade belt and a red tassel helmet, holding a treasure bow, standing on the bow of the officer's ship.
"It's Hua Rong again!"
He shouted, "The rear army becomes the front army. Our warships are broken and we retreat!"
The frontier troops were good at shooting. Although there were still very few who could shoot as far as Hua Rong, they only chased for less than a quarter of an hour. Some ships behind the rebels had already entered the shooting range.
Arrows rained down like locusts, densely packed on the deck of the warship.
This is why Gao Tuoshan wants the warship to cut off its rear.
If it were a small boat, if it was hit by more than a dozen arrows, it would disintegrate on the spot, and no soldier on the boat would survive. But this kind of warship was captured from the officers and soldiers, so it is not easy to be shot.
During the previous battles, the big ship Gao Tuoshan was on had turned into a hedgehog more than once. However, when he pulled out the arrows and looked at them afterwards, he found that most of them were just a few more scratches on the deck and hull, which were not enough to penetrate.
The only thing you need to watch out for is shelling.
The fleets of both sides chased each other closer and closer, and after a long fight, Gao Tuoshan escaped again through the complicated waterway.
Jiangnan is known as a water town.
The two major water systems of Qiantang River and Yangtze River are densely covered with countless waterways and lakes here, and canals connect the two major water systems.
The entire land of Jiangnan is like the Queen Mother in the ancient mythology who dropped her jewelry box. The colorful beads are scattered here, with countless forks and countless turns.
The fleet of Gao Tuoshan dealt with the navy of the officers and soldiers here, thanks to such a natural terrain. Unfortunately, the officers and soldiers were divided into multiple routes. The elite border troops and local soldiers and horses appeared in turns to chase and intercept the rebels again and again. Departed from the original intended retreat route.
In the blink of an eye, more than a month has passed.
Gaotuoshan often sends people ashore quietly to collect news, and there are also battle reports coming from Liangshan.
For more than a month, the rebel armies in various places have fallen into decline. Even if they have been ordered to retreat and shrink their strength, it is extremely difficult to actually implement it. So far, no troops have successfully withdrawn to their destination.
It is said that some rebels like those on Xichuan Road have been forced into the deep mountains and ancient forests and have not been heard from for a long time.
The good news of Han Shizhong and others spread more and more frequently. It seemed that as long as tomorrow, they could completely defeat Zhu Meng and others and send troops to rescue the rebels in various places. However, the morale of Gao Tuoshan's men became increasingly sluggish.
They fought continuously, and wherever the fleet passed, the fish they could catch became less and less. The landowners and wealthy families were robbed of their food and their homes were confiscated. The people sent by Gao Tuoshan were disappointed again and again empty-handed. After returning, several times he even took the risk of taking the elite hundreds of miles away to check, but he still failed.
No matter how many good news Liangshan received, it still did not immediately change their situation.
"Robbing is not allowed, then we can borrow some food."
Recently, when the fleet occasionally had time to rest, there were more and more voices like this. They were whispering to each other.
"At worst, we can ask the general to write them an IOU."
"That's right, ask them to borrow some food. If we come back again in the future, we can find where there is an IOU and we can return it to them. This is not a violation of military regulations."
"Then how can I borrow it? Are they willing to borrow it?"
"There are so many of us, how dare they not borrow it?!"
Even gradually, some people have dared to come to Gao Tuoshan and Lin Chong and say these things in a roundabout way.
"We promise not to borrow them all. They are hungry, but they can still survive. They are used to starving anyway. But the brothers on the ship can't starve. How can we fight when we are hungry?"
Every time this time comes, Shi Xiu is always the first to stand up and speak to them.
"Just hold on a little longer."
Shi Xiu urged, "It won't be long. I have received the exact news. In five days at most, Liangshan can send troops to support us and bring some food to meet us."
They were persuaded to retreat, but they still sighed and groaned.
"Even if there is support, who knows whether they will support us first?"
………………
"I can't hold it any longer."
In the military camp, the emperor received an urgent report from Zhu Meng and Tong Guan asking for help, but he put it aside indifferently.
Based on his understanding of Zhu Meng, Gao Qiu and others, these people had shown such disregard for literary rules and regulations in the memorials they submitted to the emperor. It was obvious that they were truly cornered.
Next, even if Gao Qiu and the others led the mixed troops to surrender directly to Liangshan, there would be nothing surprising.
But even if they surrender, there is no need to worry about the rabble. After all, it is just a rabble. Originally, they just relied on the large number of people to hinder Liangshan's hands and feet. After being defeated in front of Liangshan, these people will only become more useless.
If Liangshan kills all the surrendered soldiers, there will naturally be no gain. If Liangshan accepts surrender and drives these people to be cannon fodder on the battlefield, then when they encounter the elite of the border army, they will definitely be panic enough to disturb Liangshan. Just a formation.
To put it bluntly, these people have been used up. What the emperor is now paying attention to is the rebels who are also about to be unable to hold on.
After the rebels in various places cannot hold on anymore, no matter what the name is, they will actually loot the poor. After that, it will be the good show that the emperor is looking forward to.
Liangshan's own military regulations have been violated by other rebels, so should we let them go for the sake of the overall situation?
Even if Liangshan lets them go, what will the rebel leaders think?
The most terrifying thing since ancient times is the suspicion that arises from within.
All the red clothes in the world originated from Guan Luoyang. If Guan Luoyang doesn't hold them accountable now, if the situation stabilizes in the future and Qiu Hou settles the accounts, they may have no room for resistance.
So, will there be any rebels along the way who surrender to the court because of this suspicion and fear?
As long as there is the first person to do this, the rest of the matter will be much easier to handle.
The most wonderful thing about this strategy is not even here, but that after they can't steal the food and grass for the officers and soldiers, and there are no wealthy families to plunder, even if the rebels from various places loot the poor people, the food they get is not enough to sustain their daily needs. need.
'Liangshan will not fail to see such a situation, so they will definitely send troops as quickly as possible to respond, but that is just drinking poison to quench their thirst. '
The emperor looked at the map on the table and tapped his finger on one place after another to mark the places where the rebels were entrenched.
'With the existing troops and horses in Liangshan, if we divide our troops, we can only divide them into two groups at most to ensure the intensity of the rescue. Wherever his troops go, I immediately order a retreat, strengthen the walls and clear the fields, allowing them to rescue people. '
'But the other rebels will be forced to be even more miserable, and changes will occur faster. In this way, when they rescue the two groups of rebels, at least half of the rebellions in the world will be put down. '
'The officials, gentry and people in those places, after this round of troubles, will provide me with more dark luck. '
Respecting the emperor will provide luck, and hating the emperor will also provide luck. Only by not caring so much about the emperor, or being completely classified under the rule of other forces, can one escape from this vicious circle.
Liangshan originally did very well in this regard.
Facing the captives, they imparted folk customs, and the source of the folk customs was the people they conquered first. The method to conquer the people's hearts was the simplest - sharing food.
Two hundred years after the founding of the Song Dynasty, it was never easy to change people's hearts.
Liangshan used porridge and grain to divide the fields in Quancheng, Qingzhou and other places. It often took less than a month to capture that area and completely separate it from the emperor's destiny. Rebels from all over the country also followed suit. irresolute.
But now that the rebels themselves can't get food, this method has been eradicated.
When the people go through war and are re-regulated by the government, they will naturally develop more resentment. After harvesting their resentment, they can then reap a wave of gratitude by putting some food in.
The rich people who had been deprived of food were different. They were greedy and far less easy to deal with than ordinary people. Even if they had been appeased by some rewards, they would still continue to resent him as the emperor deep in their hearts.
Reading with rice balls
"Then I will become stronger and stronger."
The emperor chuckled, "The rebels are getting weaker, and I am getting stronger. Guan Luoyang, this is a dead end, how do you break it?"
"You occupied Bianliang, so you must have been practicing hard, but how can your hard work keep up with my progress in using the world as my pasture?"
His smile grew colder.
"In three months at most, I will not only suppress the rebellion in the world, but also fight you again..."
"I'll beat you to death with my own hands!"
