Six Manzhou Tartars were exchanged for three fat pigs, and the new Miao soldiers happily disappeared into the jungle with three wooden signs.

After waiting for a while, after confirming that there would be no new Han soldiers coming to hand over the head today, the Ming army officer was a little disappointed, but then he thought that the general's headhunting order had just been issued, so how could it take effect so quickly. Most of the natives in Guizhou were still watching. When these new Han soldiers of Miao brought back the fat pigs, they would be afraid that the locals would rush out with jealousy.

Things in the world are bustling with each other.

This is true for the Han people, and the natives are the same. They have high bounties and physical stimulation, so they are not afraid that these natives will not be used by the Taiping Army.

Soon, the Ming army disappeared among the mountains. Many days after that, in the mountains on the Hunan-Guizhou border, the Ming army was active everywhere with baskets of Ming troops. There were only more than ten people, at least four or five people, wandering in the deep mountains and forests like ghosts. Whenever their figures returned to the Taiping Army stronghold in Hunan, the basket was always filled with people from the Tartars. Correspondingly, the Qing soldiers in Guizhou were panicked. On the one hand, they wanted to break the Taiping Army's defense line, and on the other hand, they had to be wary of the attacks of the natives. Luo Keduo, the prince of Ping County, was really worried now.

As time goes by, the headhunting order gradually takes effect. The reward of the Manzhou Tartar head for the Taiping Army became a prosperous scene on the Hunan-Guizhou border during the Spring Festival in the 13th year of Yongli. In the words of Zhou Shixiang, this is a fashion. The neighbor went out to hunt a Tartar head for money, grain, rice, flour and fat pigs. The whole family lived a comfortable life, but his own man was in the house, let alone meat in the pot, and he couldn't even see a rice soup. This woman must have an objection, and the man would also feel cowardly. So, no matter whether he was willing or brave enough, under the eyes of his neighbors and his wife, he could only go to the headhunting fashion, otherwise he would be ridiculed by his tribe and complained by his wife.

The full name of the headhunting order is "The Reward Order of Hunting Manzhou Heads". It was promulgated in Yuanzhou, Hunan. It was the first day of the Lunar New Year in the 13th year of Yongli (the 16th year of Shunzhi, the pseudo-Qing Dynasty).

Whether it is the Ming Dynasty or later generations, the yamen always do not work during the New Year. But the war will not care about the New Year. The Guangxi Admiral’s line, Guoan, will not be able to fight for the New Year. But the army will run to Liuzhou, and the Taiping Army in Hunan will naturally not be in the mood to celebrate the New Year.

Based on the principle that you would not let me live a bad life, Zhou Shixiang organized the Yuanzhou defense line to deal with the large-scale attack of the Qing army, but also started his long-planned headhunting order.

The order encourages local people on the Hunan-Guizhou border to bravely hunt down Manzhou soldiers, and cut off the heads of Manzhou soldiers to the Taiping Army to exchange for abundant rewards. The rewards include gold and silver, rice and flour, cloth, iron tools, pigs and mutton, and even rouge and water powder for women. It can be said that everything is enough from currency to physical objects.

In the early days, the headhunting order only targeted local soldiers who joined the Taiping Army or were captured, and were limited to the heads of the Manchu Tartars. The reason for this regulation was that the Taiping Army obtained a large number of local soldiers during the bandit suppression process in western Hunan. Some of these local soldiers were brought by the chieftains who took the initiative to surrender, while others were captured.

The Taiping Army needs to expand its army, and Zhou Shixiang also needs more soldiers, but some local soldiers are not suitable for being incorporated into the Taiping Army. This is not to say that these local soldiers are not strong enough and not brave enough, but that they will find it difficult for them to integrate into the Taiping Army group in the short term, or that they cannot abide by the Taiping Army's military discipline. Wars are often the one with discipline that wins.

In the Qing war, we must not only rely on some guerrilla warfare, and we can win by taking advantage of tricks. Not to mention the future, the Taiping Army is facing wars in Guangxi and Hunan. The battles in these two directions are mainly on the frontal battlefield, or on the level of battle. Therefore, Zhou Shixiang did not have enough time to digest these local soldiers who could not abide by the military discipline of the Taiping Army, but it was too wasteful to release these local soldiers with certain force as good people. Many of them have done murderous transactions since they became adults, and even under the command of those local officials, they are still doing things such as tying people to kill people and rob grain. In other words, they are real bands. If they are released back, they may return to their old business and become an unstable force under the Taiping Army's rule.

If it were Han people, Zhou Shixiang could accommodate them and digest them, but these local soldiers were not good. After thinking about it, Zhou Shixiang felt that he could not waste these "unsparks", so he issued the "Reward Order of Hunting the Manzhou Head".

The local soldiers were very familiar with the terrain of Hunan-Guizhou border. Some people could even use them to describe them in the deep mountains and forests. They were not suitable for large-scale operations, but were suitable for individuals or small groups. Therefore, Zhou Shixiang gave these local soldiers two choices: one was to settle down and farm as honestly as the Han people; the other was to go to the Guizhou border to hunt the Qing army's head. Among them, the Manzhou soldiers had a top half a piece of pig. If you don't have pork, you can get rewards of the same value of gold, silver, rice, and grain. At the same time, you clearly told these local soldiers that their actions were not under the command of the Taiping Army, so if the Taiping Army was killed in battle, the Taiping Army would not be given a pension. But in order for them to better hunt Manzhou soldiers, the Taiping Army could provide them with some necessary weapons, and even give them some weapons with greater lethality, such as Zhentian Thunder. Of course, Zhentian Thunder was not yet able to achieve mass production, so if you want to obtain it, you must pay a certain price, such as a reduction of one head afterwards.

Zhou Shixiang's order was initially questioned by some subordinates, believing that the local soldiers were not trustworthy, and these people did not have the courage to attack the Manzhou soldiers. If they were let go back, they would probably help the Qing army to deal with the Taiping army. But the fact is that after the headhunting order was announced, the local soldiers who were considered unsuitable to stay in the army were very willing to make a fortune on this. No one thought about helping the Qing army that was not affordable, but thought about how to make a fortune from the headhunting order.

As Zhou Shixiang thought, the reason why local soldiers were unwilling to be trained and commanded by the Taiping Army was not because they were too useless or unwilling to give up, but because they were used to freedom and could not accept steel-like discipline like the Han people. Even those local soldiers who had worked under local officials were the same.

When they were laid off, the local soldiers were very worried, fearing that the Taiping Army would kill them or do some hard work. Now the Taiping Army gave them a way to show their courage and make money and act with their own actions. Naturally, they were extremely happy. So only a few of the local soldiers who were laid off chose to go home to spend their peaceful life. The rest were either in company, infiltrated Guizhou alone, or were on the border of Hunan.

Of course, Zhou Shi was not without a backup plan compared to these local soldiers. All the detailed information of the local soldiers were made. The family members who were left under the Taiping Army signed the letter of guarantee. If the local soldiers surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and were not good for the Taiping Army, then their families would be hung, regardless of men, women, age and young. But if they performed well enough and could hunt enough heads of Manzhou soldiers, then their families could be treated as regular new Han soldiers serving in the Taiping Army.

More than 3,000 headhunting soldiers were scattered and disappeared soon, and there was no news for several days. The border between Hunan and Guizhou is too large, with more natives in Hunan and more natives in Guizhou.

Zhou Shixiang did not expect the headhunting operation of the local soldiers to be effective immediately, nor would he willingly think that these local soldiers could curb the attack of the Qing army in Guizhou, so his focus was still on organizing the Hunan-Guizhou defense line. In the Guangxi side, Guoan had been besieging Liuzhou for half a month, but the news sent by Shao Jiugong stated that although the line attack was very fierce, Liuzhou was surrounded by rivers on three sides and connected on one side on one side. Therefore, with the help of the navy, the Taiping Army was able to attack and defend freely, and both soldiers and food could be used.

The navy was transported, and the difficulty of the line Guoan wanted to break through the gate of Liuzhou was as difficult as climbing the Shu Road. In fact, the line Guoan attacked Liuzhou for half a month, but gained nothing except for losing thousands of troops. He wanted to go north to attack Guilin, but as long as he showed signs of moving troops, the Taiping Army in the city would leave the city and bit him. In addition, the fifth town of the Taiping Army in Guilin was also a strong enemy, and the line Guoan was not sure of victory. It was obviously impossible to withdraw troops. It was not that the line Guoan himself did not want to withdraw, but that Doni did not allow him to retreat.

The tone of the Liuzhou Battle is to restrain the Ministry of National Security. As long as the Guoan line cannot free up his hands in Liuzhou to advance north, the purpose of the battle will be achieved.

Zhou Shixiang did not draw troops from Hunan to reinforce Liuzhou because the Qing army in Guizhou had already captured Pingxi Post under the command of Luo Keduo, the king of Ping County. There was also news that another Qing army in Yunnan was returning to Guizhou, and they were likely to attack the Hunan Channel, another important road on the Hunan-Guizhou border.

After Luo Keduo's troops captured Pingxi Post, they did not make any progress because he could not break through the defense line built by the Taiping Army on the way.
Chapter completed!