Outside Fangcheng, Escao Ge brought the county officials to welcome him outside early. Next to them were the people they had invited, who laid out wine and meat to welcome Wang Xiaolie's arrival. Seeing the incense table set up in front of the people, Wang Xiaolie was a little unhappy.
The common people come out to welcome the soldiers and feed the troops with cattle and sheep. This is a popular and often seen show for the army. However, this program has a long history and has gradually become a necessary skill for local officials. As long as it is an army, when it reaches a place, the local officials will definitely play it out. Historically, even invaders, such as the Japanese army, had officials and gentry put on such a show when they entered the city.
Wang Xiaolie's resistance to the Jin Dynasty has not yet gone through a war. How can he have such a reputation among the people? Now that it's revealed, it's obviously organized by county officials. The higher he reached, the more Wang Xiaolie hated this unrealistic ritual.
After drinking, Wang Xiaolie took Shao Ling and Zhang Jun into the city.
As the strategic hub between the north and the south, the Jin army occupied Ye County last year, looted and plundered the county, and the population fled. The once prosperous city is now sparsely populated.
When he arrived at the county government office, Wang Xiaolie called Cao Ge to ask about the situation in the county.
Cao Ge said: "After the Jin soldiers retreated, many people originally returned to their hometowns. A few days ago, the magistrate built a village in the north. Many people in the county fled there because they were worried that the Jin soldiers would come again. Now the population is not large. "
Wang Xiaolie said: "This place is at the crossroads between the north and the south. It doesn't matter if the population is small. The Jin army plundered the west of Beijing last year and may not come again this year. But if the Jin army doesn't come, other people can't say it. Now the world is in chaos. There are strong men everywhere.”
Cao Ge said: "This county is fine. Although some people gathered to defend their hometown, fortunately they all followed the arrangements of the government."
Wang Xiaolie said: "There are no strongmen in this county. What about other places? In addition to stationing the army, you need to organize the countryside and build more cities. If a strongman comes, the people only need to hide for a while and the army will arrive."
Cao Ge promised. But judging from his expression, he didn't take Wang Xiaolie's words seriously. In today's world, as long as the golden soldiers don't come, what else is there to fear? Even if there are a few strong men, how dare they go against the government.
Wang Xiaolie didn't say much. It can be seen that there are no reliable officials in the current government. Everything depends on yourself. If his memory is good, Du Chong will give up on Kaifeng Mansion in just one or two years. The various forces gathered in Kaifeng Mansion will inevitably find their own way out.
Where is the way out? In fact, without any analysis, you know that you can either go to Jianghuai or Jinghu. Historically, after Duchong abandoned Kaifeng, the forces there dispersed to various places. From Jianghuai to Jinghu, there were rebels everywhere. The last part was wiped out by the regular army of the Song Dynasty, and some surrendered to the puppet Qi. When these people were in Kaifeng Mansion, they often numbered in the thousands. Fighting in various places, more and more people were trapped, and in the end there were tens of thousands of people.
With Ye County stuck, the forces of Kaifeng Prefecture can only go to Jianghuai, don't find another way to Jinghu. Wang Xiaolie's goal was to occupy Xiangyang in Dengzhou as his base even if he could not occupy Jinghu Lake.
Why do you think that various forces will go to Jianghuai and Jinghu? Because at this time, the world in the north has been destroyed by the Jin army and will be attacked by the Jin army at any time. The southeastern half of the wall was the base chosen by Zhao Gou, with the regular army of the Song Dynasty. The areas that are relatively intact and can provide manpower and material resources are Jianghuai and Jinghu. With money, food, and no army, how could the bandits not go?
After asking about the situation in the county, Wang Xiaolie asked Cao Ge to step aside when he saw that he could no longer explain why.
After serving tea, Wang Xiaolie said to Shao Ling and Zhang Jun: "According to past habits, the Jin army should not attack the west of Beijing again this winter. We will have a chance to breathe. However, Du Chong is not popular in Kaifeng, and something will happen." . The forces there are mixed, like a flood. Once an opening is opened, it will flood in all directions. Ye County is on the main road, and if we slack off a little bit, there will be trouble."
Zhang Jun said: "Even if we defend Ye County, the troops from Kaifeng can still march from Caizhou to Xinyang Army and go straight to Ezhou——"
Wang Xiaolie waved his hand: "Our military strength is limited and we cannot control that much. As long as we defend Ye County and prevent them from causing trouble in Xiangyang, Dengzhou, it is enough. The most important task now is to train troops. Although there are three Thousands of people, but their combat effectiveness is still far behind.”
Shao Ling said: "That's what Zhizhou said. Many of the soldiers who came in after arriving in Ruzhou don't have armor or weapons. It won't be possible to make them able to fight overnight. If we don't put in a lot of effort, we won't be able to fight in the end."
Wang Xiaolie nodded: "Yes, fighting requires more than just a few people. It is not easy to make the officers and soldiers brave, knowledgeable and well-trained, and also have them equipped with armor, crossbows, swords, guns, swords and halberds."
Is it easy? It's actually easy. Dengzhou in the south was once used as Zhao Gou's residence and stored a large amount of supplies. As long as we occupy that place and seize the materials there, we will not be short of anything.
After these few months of training, Wang Xiaolie became more and more aware that the military was far from being as simple as he originally thought. It is difficult for an army without armor and weapons to form a combat effectiveness. Armor and weapons are not easy to make. I don't know how much energy my father spent to equip the more than 300 people he started with. Today's weapons, even if they have raw materials and craftsmen, many still take a lot of time to make.
When we arrived in Ruzhou, there were a thousand people in total. Including the kiln workers who were later added, as well as the troops of Niu Gao and Wang Jun, there are now more than 3,000 people. However, numbers alone are not enough, weapons are also needed.
Wang Xiaolie shook his head gently. This winter has been difficult for me. I had no savings to begin with, but I still wanted to develop a lot, and now I was in debt. Most of the industries built in Ruzhou City are operated with debt.
After chatting for a while, Wang Xiaolie said: "In addition to the content of the discussion, we also need to pay attention to the mountains and terrain of Ye County. Build fortresses in key places. Whether it is the Jin army or the rebel army, there are too many They are good at attacking fortresses. As long as they build a walled city, it will be difficult for them to break it."
Zhang Jundao: "Zhizhou, many important places south of Ye County are under the jurisdiction of Fangcheng County. There are no officials there now, so why not-"
Wang Xiaolie said: "It doesn't matter where it belongs. If necessary, troops can be sent in. Even Fangcheng County can be stationed. At this time, the previous rules do not need to be followed."
Zhang Jun and Shao Ling promised.
Wang Xiaolie occupied Jiaxian County when he first arrived in Ruzhou, why would he care about Fangcheng now? After the Jin soldiers conquered the surrounding prefectures and counties, many of them had no officials. Some are barely maintained by public servants, and many are anarchic. Zhao Gou's court is currently in a state of distress and cannot take care of this place for a while.
If the training of his soldiers and horses had not been completed, Wang Xiaolie would have wanted to occupy several surrounding states.
During the period between the two Song dynasties, it was easiest to develop power at this time. The Song Dynasty's army has been wiped out, and the only remaining regular army must firmly protect Zhao Gou. After the Jin army went south to plunder, they returned north, leaving a large amount of empty territory for their power.
