In the Ming Dynasty, Daguan Lake and Longgan Lake were connected to each other and were collectively called Leichi, which could communicate with the Yangtze River.
After crossing the thunder pool by boat, there will be a battle.
Li Zheng and Xiao Zongxian led 5,000 regular soldiers to attack Huangmei County. They were accompanied by 1,000 civilians.
Huang Shun and Fei Yinggon led 3,000 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers to attack Susong. They were accompanied by 1,000 civilians.
These two counties are Zhang Xianzhong's territory.
To be precise, it is the territory of his godson Sun Wewang.
Among the several adopted sons, Sun Kewang was the most capable, so he was thrown to Huangzhou Mansion to guard against Zhao Han.
Hearing that the two cities of Huangmei and Susong were besieged, Sun Kewang left his infantry to defend Huanggang. He personally led his cavalry to rush to the rescue and sent envoys to resolve the dispute peacefully.
When they arrived in Guangji, the envoy came back to report the news.
"What did they say?" Sun Kewang asked.
The envoy knelt down and replied: "General, the traitor Zhao asked us to retreat to Guangji, saying that the mountain (Dabie Mountain) should be used as the boundary."
Guangji was later known as Wuxue City, but the county seat was in a mountainous area, not on the edge of the Yangtze River.
The conditions given by Zhao Han were to take away the two counties of Huangmei and Susong, and to take the land suitable for farming in Wuxue City, bounded by the remaining mountains of the Dabie Mountains such as Luojia Mountain, Henggang Mountain and Zhutou Mountain.
"Fuck him!"
Sun Kewang was furious, drew his sword and shouted: "Send orders to all counties to gather troops and follow me to kill the enemy!"
Most of the land that Zhang Xianzhong allocated to Sun Kewang was in mountainous areas. Now Zhao Han wanted two and a half counties in one mouth, and all of them were good land for growing food, which was tantamount to cutting flesh from Sun Kewang's body.
After giving the order to gather troops, all counties in Huangzhou prefecture were in a state of panic.
After the Datong Army detected the news, they immediately mobilized their navy to cruise in the waters of Huangzhou and Qizhou, and even sent out several ships to bombard the capital city of Jingzhou.
"Boom boom boom!"
"Your Majesty, the Jiangxi Navy is calling!"
Zhang Xianzhong had just captured Yunyang and was reorganizing his troops to attack Nanyang after the autumn harvest.
Out of nowhere, he was attacked.
Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly summoned three military advisers and said confusedly: "There are many wealthy and big cities in Jianghuai. If Zhao Han doesn't go to attack Jianghuai, why does he come to attack me?"
Zhao Han could capture fortified cities like Yangzhou and Anqing without a single blow.
If it were Zhang Xianzhong who went to attack, he would have been able to conquer a city for at least half a year, or even for two or three years.
When Zhao Han's troops approach the city, the wealthy city will choose to surrender.
When Zhang Xianzhong's troops approached the city, the wealthy city would definitely resist resolutely.
Because the former does not plunder, the latter must plunder the city!
Zhang Xianzhong had indeed started to farm, but at the beginning of the farming, there was not enough money and food, so he had to rob when he should, and he didn't just kill people indiscriminately.
Knowing that he could not attack the big city of Jianghuai, Zhang Xianzhong simply stopped fighting and carefully planned the Hubei region. At the same time, he also gave up Jianghuai to Zhao Han to avoid any conflict with Zhao Han in the short term.
Xu Yixian praised Zhuge Liang, holding a white feather fan, frowning and saying: "There must be something fishy about this matter. Zhao Han only asked the navy to bombard Jiangling. Obviously, he did not really want to send troops to kill him. This was more like a deterrent and a warning."
"
"Could it be some general who had a conflict with Zhao Han's soldiers?" Liao Zhifang guessed.
Pan Duao suggested: "You can first send people across the river to contact us. Even if we have to fight, we must understand why we are fighting. Don't finish the war in a daze without knowing why."
Just when Zhang Xianzhong was about to send an envoy, another bodyguard came running: "Your Majesty, the enemy has shot a book into the city!"
"Bring it quickly!" Zhang Xianzhong said quickly.
This guy got the letter and although he didn't know much about it, he generally understood it.
Zhang Xianzhong sighed: "Zhao Han wants Huangmei and Susong counties, and he also wants to cut off all the good land in Guangji County."
Xu Yixian immediately understood Zhao Han's intention and sighed: "They want to rely on the mountains and the Yangtze River to block us in Hubei!"
Liao Zhifang said: "Susong can be given, but Huangmei County must not be given up. Once Huangmei County is given up, if you want to send troops to Jianghuai in the future, you will have to go north of Dashan (Dabie Mountain) and fight from Henan."
The administrative divisions of the past dynasties were deliberately randomly drawn to prevent local separatism, but the battles depended on the mountain topography.
For example, Zhao Han took all the territory in Hubei south of the Yangtze River in his hands.
After Zhang Xianzhong occupied Hubei, he would continue to attack Xinye and Nanyang. Although these places belonged to Henan, the terrain was closely related to Hubei. Zhang Xianzhong would not stop until he was surrounded by mountains, starting with Biyang and Yuzhou (Fangcheng).
To attack and defend key areas.
Similarly, although Huangmei County belongs to Huguang, it is a piece of land that comes out of the remaining mountains of the Dabie Mountains.
Zhao Han was willing to maintain peace with Zhang Xianzhong temporarily only if he captured Huangmei County.
To fight or not?
Pan Duao asked: "Are the king's soldiers confident of defeating Zhao Han?"
"I don't know." Zhang Xianzhong frowned.
The two sides had never fought each other before. Zhao Han defeated the governor one after another and occupied several southern provinces, which made Zhang Xianzhong feel a little scared.
However, Zhang Xianzhong also despised Zhao Han for not having cavalry, so he felt that he could try to fight a battle.
Xu Yixian was confused: "If we are not sure of victory, it is best to be patient. To give Huangmei County is to take down Xinye, Nanyang, Biyang, Dengzhou and Tangxian first. When the time comes, we can attack Shanshan and Shaanxi in the north.
, You can leave the Central Plains in the east, and go to Sichuan in the west. If you waste time with Zhao Han in Huangmei County, you will get an advantage over Li Zicheng!"
Liao Zhifang said: "If we don't fight a battle, we will give up two and a half counties. Where is the morale of the army? Moreover, that is the territory given to the eldest son (Sun Kewang) by the commander-in-chief. What will the eldest son think in his heart?"
Xu Yixian said: "By conquering the surrounding areas of Nanyang, our army's territory can be strengthened. The eldest son has lost two and a half counties, so just give him half of De'an Prefecture! Zhao Han has several provinces in the south, but he can be defeated one after another.
Ten thousand soldiers were killed or injured, and another 20,000 soldiers could be recruited. When will this fight be completed? Our army's top priority is to expand its territory, develop internal affairs, hoard money and food, and increase its population!"
"Indeed," Liao Zhifang was convinced by Xu Yixian, "Zhao Han has a large population and sufficient money and food. He can be defeated ten times and still maintain the territory under his control. Our army only loses once or twice, and it may be defeated thousands of miles away."
Zhang Xianzhong was a little puzzled by this and asked: "Why can Zhao Han be defeated ten times and still ensure that his territory is not lost?"
Xu Yixian asked back: "What does your Majesty think the war is about?"
"There is enough money and food, and the troops and horses are strong." Zhang Xianzhong replied.
Xu Yixian said: "Zhao Han has plenty of money and food, and has an elite army. These are just one of them. Your Majesty, Zhao Han still has the support of the people, and the people are willing to fight for him!"
Zhang Xianzhong said: "I know the people's morale, which is the same as the military morale. I divided the fields and paid them to the soldiers, and then I had the military morale. The three military advisors were very good at it. After I distributed the fields to the soldiers, I also married them.
Auntie, I am more willing to sacrifice my life in every war."
"Zhao Han distributed the land to all the people, and all the people thought of it well." Xu Yixian said.
Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "How can there be so much land to divide in the south? If we only give the generals a few acres of land and are not allowed to plunder at will, will the generals under Zhao Han not cause trouble?"
The butt determines the head.
The gentry who were not familiar with Zhao Han always felt that the south was unstable and that forcibly dividing the land would be terrible. The rich and powerful people must be thinking of causing trouble.
Zhang Xianzhong, on the other hand, was just the opposite. In his eyes, the gentry and wealthy families were useless and would be killed if they were not convinced. He believed that if Zhao Han's generals could not get more benefits, there must be many people who were dissatisfied.
For more than a year, Zhang Xianzhong not only killed officers and soldiers, but also killed the bandit leaders who were attached to him.
In the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi, there were many bandit leaders who fought with Zhang Xianzhong. These people were in a semi-independent state, and they could barely work together when they were on the move. When fighting over territory, there were various disputes and internal strife.
Zhang Xianzhong almost killed all the thieves before Luo Ru ran faster, otherwise he would have died.
After killing all the bandit leaders, Zhang Xianzhong had some doubts about his generals and godsons. So under the advice of three military advisors, he recruited as many scholars as possible officials and sent them to various places to control internal affairs. All the civilian villages were in the hands of civilian officials.
The generals in the south don't have a few acres of land, they can't plunder everywhere, and they only receive some military pay every month. How come no one starts a rebellion?
Zhang Xianzhong was confused.
Liao Zhifang sighed: "If the southern army generals dare to plot rebellion, they may be killed by their subordinates as soon as they raise their troops. The Datong soldiers only recognize Zhao Han."
"The soldiers of Datong only recognize Zhao Han..."
Zhang Xianzhong was fascinated by what he heard. It would be great if the soldiers under his command only recognized him.
Zhang Xianzhong looked at Liao Zhifang, who shook his head: "It's impossible, Your Majesty, don't even think about it."
"Zhao Han allocates fields to the soldiers, and I allocate the fields to the soldiers. Why can't it be the same?" Zhang Xianzhong felt very unhappy.
Liao Zhifang took out a copy of "Datong Collection", and it was the latest version: "Zhao Han uses this book to conquer the world, your Majesty..."
The rest of the words were left unsaid.
Xu Yixian also read the latest version and said: "Zhao Han said in this book that if he conquers the country and his descendants become emperors, if an emperor treats the people badly, the people can imitate him and rebel and kill his descendants.
.”
"Is this really true?" Zhang Xianzhong asked in surprise.
"Yes," Liao Zhifang opened the "Collection of Datong", "The latest addition is the Sanyuan chapter. He said that the world belongs to the common people, and the emperor and officials are all managing the world for the common people."
Zhang Xianzhong slapped his thigh fiercely: "Damn, what a Zhao Han. If we go back ten years and replace him with Zhao Han as emperor, why would I make such a fool of myself? If I were a commoner, I would definitely treat him as a Bodhisattva. That's right.
I want to lead my troops to join him!"
This was purely a joke. Zhang Xianzhong was willing to surrender, but neither were the civil servants and generals under his command.
Not to mention the generals and godsons, the three military advisors in front of me have each been allocated tens of thousands of acres of land. Are they really willing to hand over all the land?
In Zhang Xianzhong's territory, the army cultivated land to supply the army, and the people cultivated land to supply the government. From Zhang Xianzhong to generals at all levels, they also recruited refugees to work as tenants on their own fields. The soldiers also divided the fields, occupying almost all the good land.
over.
Homeowner farmers have almost all disappeared, leaving only remote areas. Landowners can still keep their own land, or keep middle and lower fields in wealthy areas.
After thinking about it carefully, Zhang Xianzhong sighed and said: "Forget it, give Huangmei County to Zhao Han. Free up time and troops to conquer the surrounding area of Nanyang first, and then go to Sichuan as well."
As for Sun Kewang who has already sent out troops, let Zhao Han deal with it. Anyway, this godson has been a bit disobedient recently.