Since the Qing government seized Guangdong, Southern Jiangxi has almost become the hinterland. Immediately afterwards, the Qing armies in Jiangxi, Fujian and Southern Jiangxi jointly suppressed the anti-Qing movement in Jiangxi.

The four major bandits in Jiangxi and Luo Rong, the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army who was promoted to the fourth battalion of General Yama, died one after another, and the anti-Qing movement in Jiangxi also fell into a low ebb. As a result, the Qing government began to restore production in Jiangxi and southern Jiangxi.

The main task of the former Jiangxi Governor Cai Shiying and the current Nangan Governor Yi Yonggui when they took office was to restore production. During the process of resuming production, an organization called the Mutual Aid Association quietly began to take root at the grassroots level in both places.

As soon as these organizations, which were organized by gentry from various places to organize people to restore production, appeared, they received unanimous praise from the government and the people because of their dual functions of steadily providing grain to the government and shielding ordinary people from exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.

In Jiangxi, mutual aid associations are spread across all prefectures and counties, and many literati and bureaucrats who were just ordinary country squires gradually began to participate in this important event. In the southern Jiangxi region, the area with the highest concentration of mutual aid associations is Ruijin County, where most villages have mutual aid associations.

existence. At first glance, it seems that the people who have not joined the mutual aid association are in the minority.

Ruijin County is located in a basin and is surrounded by mountains. The county seat is located in the southwest of the basin, in the southeastern mountainous area not too far from the county seat. A team of more than a hundred people is supporting the elderly and the young in the mountains.

stumble.

The key personnel of the mutual aid association were organizing the people to move forward on the mountain road. On the slope next to it, Tao Qian was looking down at the long dragon slowly walking under his feet. His chest was already full of expectations and worries, and he was relieved.

The cry to relieve stress almost bursts out of my mouth.

This is just the mutual aid association that he is directly responsible for. A small village has been completely absorbed by the mutual aid association. Now the village is empty, leaving nothing but an empty shell for the county government.

"If the villagers hadn't been reluctant to leave, burning the village clean would have had the effect of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields."

Chen Kai was preparing to launch a war to regain the southern Jiangxi area, and Tao Qian was the first to know the news. The Mutual Aid Association, which had always been the grassroots foothold of the Tiandihui in the areas controlled by the Qing court, was about to launch it. Although they were not able to directly launch armed forces

The uprising came to implode the local rule of the Qing court, but there was still a lot that could be done. By the time the county government reacted, they had already achieved initial results.

The officials and government servants who were assigned to various towns and villages hurried back to the county government office, and bad news was sent to the case of the county magistrate one after another. The gentry who organized the mutual aid association in Ruijin County all disappeared without a trace, along with those who

The villages and towns where the mutual aid association has great influence are basically deserted. In addition, many gentry in the county are also leaving the city in a hurry, and there are rumors that this time the Ming army is launching a large-scale attack.

They captured Tingzhou Prefecture and went straight to Ganzhou Prefecture. And Ruijin County, where they were located, was the only way to go!

The entire Ruijin County suddenly became panicked, and all kinds of rumors spread in the county. They were so serious that even the county magistrate couldn't control them if he wanted to.

All in all, Ruijin has been serving as the rear of Tingzhou City for a year, and nothing like this has happened during several sieges. But this time, not only did things happen, but they were also completely unwelcome.

The posture of control. Most of the people at various city gates fled out of the city, as if Tingzhou Fucheng had fallen now, and the Ming army was marching into Ruijin County.

"Quickly, collect all the civilians who can be found. The food and grass must be transported to the capital of Tingzhou immediately, without delay!"

The magistrate smelled something abnormal, but at this stage it was not the time to correct the chaos. The most important task at hand at the moment was to support the front line of Tingzhou Fucheng.

Under the order of the county magistrate, the county officials and government servants became busy one after another. However, as time went by, more and more people chose to flee their hometowns with their families and families in such a slack season.

The manpower and material resources that can be collected are getting less and less.

The countryside where chickens and dogs used to hear each other and raise their hands to each other soon became sparsely populated. On the contrary, according to legend, those mountainous areas have become more and more lively recently.

The grain and fodder must be delivered before the Ming army actually besieges the city, because no one can predict whether the Ming army will completely encircle the city or how long it will last. For the time being, the magistrate organized a group of officials to ignore other places.

The government officials and civilian servants, escorted by the local green camp, headed straight for the capital city of Nading Prefecture along the official road.

In a small village in the mountains southeast of Ruijin County, the bustle is no longer as simple as what is said, but the reality that is happening. The mutual aid club has early started preparing temporary camps in various places in the mountainous area. Before the outbreak, the saying was nothing more than adjacency.

On the front line, once the capital city of Tingzhou is not secured, members can have a temporary refuge to avoid military disasters.

Seeing the benefits of the mutual aid association, the members acquiesced. Now, Tingzhou Fucheng has not yet fallen, but the camp has been put to use first. The people in the camp are inevitably surprised by this, but everyone has come.

, it is necessary to spend some time here and observe the scenery.

Originally, there were only about a dozen households in the small village, who cultivated the thin fields in the mountains all year round. However, this time, two villages not far from the county seat retreated here, and the number of people suddenly increased several times. Fortunately, the mutual aid association arrived early.

Being prepared, Tao Qian and another Confucian scholar, along with the backbone of the mutual aid association, were busy and managed to settle these people down. At nightfall, with the smoke from the cooking pots and the light of the fire, things were settled for the time being.

"Next, should we go out and cause trouble for the Tatars?"

Chen Kai's training was limited to Tao Qian and those gentry who came from Jie Chongxi. They were the first batch of members of the Tiandi Society, and they knew more about what to do. Here, the member of the Tiandi Society developed by Tao Qian spoke up

When asked, his tone was full of eagerness to try.

Tao Qian nodded, and immediately threw a piece of wood into the fire, igniting a few sparks, and said quietly in the flickering light and dark: "Time does not wait for us, we will set off tomorrow. We need to help those in the ancient town.

Comrades on the other side buy time!"

Here, the ancient town mentioned by Tao Qian is a town on the road that must pass between Ruijin County and Tingzhou Prefecture. It is also surrounded by mountains. There are only limited roads connecting these two places. Tingzhou Prefecture Green Camp is stationed there.

Detachment of troops to ensure transportation between the two places.

The ancient town still knows nothing about the situation in Ruijin County, and it can even be said that it cannot care about it at all, because the level of panic here is even higher than that in the county seat.

"Huangshan in Fujian is attacking Tingzhou Prefecture, and Chen Kai from Guangdong is attacking Nanxiong Prefecture. The bandits have been quiet for a year, and now they are here again. They clearly want to swallow up this area of ​​​​Southern Jiangxi!

"

Many of the gentry and common people in the town fled. In the green camp, the guard was still pacing back and forth in the big tent, anxiously waiting for reinforcements and military supplies, just like every time. But the entire military camp was full of whispers.

, they seemed to know the direction of the Ming army's attack in more detail than the governor's office of Nangan.

"What's going on? I heard that Nanxiong Mansion has fallen, and the head of Nanxiong's commander-in-chief Su Yangzhisu has been hung on the city wall. Now that Chen Kai..." At this point, his voice immediately dropped a few degrees:

"That Chen Fujun is leading a hundred thousand troops from Guangdong to attack the capital city of Ganzhou."

"I've also heard that the vanguard general who guarded the enemy's formation for Chen Fu's army was called Li Jianjie. He was the godson of Li Chengdong, the governor of Guangdong who betrayed the imperial court. Li Chengdong died in the defeat of Nangan.

All of his godsons were dead, leaving only a single son who later followed Chen Fujun. A few years ago in Qiongzhou Prefecture, Liu Bolu and Liu Shuai died in the hands of this man. This time, he

He came to avenge his godfather and sworn brothers!"

"Oh, if that's the case, will the capital city of Ganzhou still care about us?"

"Looking after us? Your head was caught in the door!"

A finger poked the former's forehead, and the latter looked around, then lowered his voice and said: "I heard that in a few days, Ruijin County Yamen will send a batch of inventory to Tingzhou Fucheng. Ganzhou Fucheng is in a hurry, so this

This is the last batch. After they are sent over, they can only let the people in Tingzhou Fucheng seek their own blessings. As for us, most likely we ordered the looting of the local people to make ourselves satisfied. But the problem is, this ancient town

The people have already begun to flee and have entered the mountains, where can they go to find them?"

"Then what should we do?"

"It depends on the situation. If it doesn't work, I'll do it with whoever gives me food!"

All kinds of news spread like wildfire in the ancient town, which inevitably caused all kinds of disturbances. Among them, the only piece of news that is certain is that Ruijin County will definitely transport another batch of military supplies and supplies to Tingzhou Fucheng.

civilians to enhance the defense capabilities there. And these military supplies and civilians will definitely pass by the ancient town.

However, this only affirmation, the affirmation that the Qing army had placed high hopes on in the ancient town, has not yet arrived. It is as if the situation in Ganzhou Prefecture has become so tense that Ruijin County's supplies have to be sent to Ganzhou Prefecture instead of

As usual, he was sent to the front line in Tingzhou Fucheng.

The urging from the capital city of Tingzhou has already arrived, just like the previous attacks. The Ming army's 100,000-strong army was sparse, the food and grass were insufficient, military supplies were in short supply, the civilian population was insufficient, and so on. In short, in one sentence,

If the supplies cannot be delivered immediately, the city will have to be captured.

Naturally, the urgent urging will not be given to Gucheng County, but the officers in Gucheng Town have long been familiar with this. It is a pity that it has been delayed. This is not the original intention of Ruijin County. It is really

A heart full of energy but not enough energy.

The supply convoy set off from Ruijin County, which is located to the west of the Mianjiang River. After crossing the river, it went directly east slowly along the official road. It was smooth sailing along the way. Although the official road newly built this year was somewhat damaged, it was still smooth.

They still did not delay in using it. They kept walking until they reached a small river crossing the official road. They discovered that it was not that simple to go to Tingzhou Fucheng.

This is the southern part of Jiangxi. Although it is not as crisscrossed by water networks as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong, rivers are indispensable. This small river is a must-pass road, and it was originally built with a bridge. However, when we get here, the wooden

The bridge has turned into a mess of charcoal stuck in the stream. Occasionally, after the wind blows, one or two wisps of green smoke will emerge from the exposed charred blackness, which seems to still indicate its past.

exist.

The bridge was burned. This is the result before our eyes. As for whether it is man-made or an accident, we can put it aside for the time being. While sending people back to the city to report, the detour will take dozens of miles more, so directly

This was rejected by the pian who led the team. However, they could not delay their trip because of this. They could only let the civilians seize the time to repair it. At the same time, they collected ships from nearby, used shipping to try to transport part of it, and continued on their way.

This trouble made them really unhappy. However, they did not intend to restore the bridge to its original state. They just built a simple pontoon bridge to allow donkey carts to pass. This would not take too long, just because

After being stranded in this river for a day or two, the convoy passed through the dangers here.

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning. Soon, they discovered that every section of the official road that followed was damaged to varying degrees, and all the bridges along the way were destroyed, leaving not a single one.

This is no longer an accident. Someone must have deliberately sabotaged it. There is no other possibility. Seeing this, the magistrate was naturally furious. However, when the green battalion soldiers were sent down to nearby villages and towns, they were often either empty or deserted.

No matter what he said, he couldn't figure out who the saboteur was. So, he could only send people to the county government to complain, while silently repairing official roads and bridges so that he could continue to move forward.

In this way, after experiencing many dangers along the way, we finally arrived at the ancient town. The ancients said that if you provide food for thousands of miles, a scholar cannot eat again in one day. The reason for this is not that there is no food, but that he has traveled a long distance.

, a large amount of food will be consumed on the road, so that when it is delivered to the front of the army, it will take about one meal to last until the next time the food is transported to the front of the army.

The reason why food is consumed along the journey is because of the losses along the way - the food of soldiers, civilians and even livestock, poorly preserved spoilage, and losses along the way, etc. These will increase as time goes by, and even

There will be more and more. Now, the journey is not long, but it still takes a lot of time. By the time they arrive at the ancient town, a good part of the food has been consumed. After leaving the part for the garrison according to the established plan, they will

keep going.

The road ahead has gone like this, and the group of people were relieved to be able to reach the ancient town. Unfortunately, they had no idea that there would be another Jiujiu on the way from the ancient town to Tingzhou Fucheng.
Chapter completed!