There is nothing wrong with those so-called scoundrel old men, healthy women, and old 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 shriveled. His skin is full of wrinkles and patches. Under the torn coarse cloth, 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 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 a soldier, is it enough to feed several people?!"

A few 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, but 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.

This time when they set out on the road, 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 and there was no time to delay, 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 large ships that can fix the wind, there are still fifteen large warships that are thirty feet long.

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 they all 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, the common people at the bottom and the current Song Dynasty court were not of the same mind. However, the famous families from all over the country were definitely determined to protect the court. They were "family members" wearing a pair of trousers.

How can there be any way in the world that during a war, one plunders one's own family first, leaving the enemy 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 mobilized the elite border troops, 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 be angry and dare not speak out, and they would not be able to cause any trouble."

Gao Tuoshan said: "But over time, 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. Now is the time when schools of fish are swimming everywhere and the fish meat is 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 self-preservation, and try to approach Kaifeng from the south of the Yangtze River to the east of Jingdong, and join up with the rebels.

, gather together.

Two days later, Shi Xiu again traveled with only a dozen elite soldiers, traveling over mountains and ridges and across rivers day and night, to meet up with Lin Chong and others.

"The Jiedu envoys from various places who originally fought against the rebels are still entangled. However, where the four new armies of the imperial court are located, they have indeed begun to raid their homes and seize food. Shisheng from Liangzhe and others, 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 poses 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, it will be considered a success.

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 still shot 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 and standing on the bow of the officer's ship.

"It's Hua Rong again!"

He shouted, "The rear army has become the front army. Our warships have been cut off and we must retreat!"

The frontier troops were good at shooting. Although there were 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 wanted to cut off the warship's rear.

If it were a small boat, if it was hit by more than a dozen arrows, it would disintegrate on the spot, and none of the soldiers 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 down.

During the previous battles, the big ship Gao Tuoshan was on had turned into a hedgehog more than once. However, when I pulled out the arrows and checked them afterwards, I 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, and canals connect the two major water systems.

The whole 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 branches and countless turns.

The fleet of Gao Tuoshan competed 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 pursue 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 sent people ashore quietly to collect information, and there were also regular reports of battles 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 deep mountains and ancient forests, and there has been no news 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 time and time again. After returning home, several times he even took the risk of taking elite troops 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 recuperate, 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 call them back 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 dared to go to Gaotuoshan and Lin Chong and them, and said these words 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 cannot starve. How can we fight when we are hungry?"

Every time this happens, Shi Xiu always stands up and speaks to them first.

"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 the rules and regulations in the memorials they submitted to the emperor. It was obvious that they were truly driven into a desperate situation.

Next, even if Gao Qiu and the others led the mixed army 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 only relied on their large numbers 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.

It's just a formation.

To put it bluntly, these people have been used up, and what the emperor is now paying attention to are those 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 people. After that, it will be the good show that the emperor is looking forward to.
To be continued...