Chapter 154 Swinging troops north to take three states
Shi Jin admired the draft drafted by Zhu Wu and Wu Yong and spoke highly of it. On that day, the "Land Acres Law" and "Yi Market Law" were officially registered and released, and were implemented throughout the entire Green Forest.
With the promotion of the new law, a large-scale movement to reclaim wasteland was launched within the territory of Green Forest. The enthusiasm of the people was unprecedentedly high. For the economy, it also showed a momentum of recovery and prosperity. Under the control of Green Forest, Tongzhou, Huazhou, Yaozhou, Green Forest
The regime vigorously selected talents from all over the country and did not hesitate to "visit the thatched cottage" to hermits. The trend of treating virtuous corporals was prevalent. People in power such as Shi Jin even dared to hire outstanding young people and relaxed their authority and entrusted them with important tasks. This move greatly encouraged those "big people"
The high-ranking officials who "hid in the city" also wanted to get closer to the Green Forest regime. The personnel measures of putting moral integrity first, regardless of qualifications, and recruiting people based on their merits became a major symbol of the Green Forest Army. This move also laid a solid foundation for the consolidation of the Green Forest regime in the future.
A solid foundation has been laid. Among this large number of talents who are constantly being replenished, there are even more capable ministers who will be reused by the country in the future.
After a large number of taxis entered the Green Forest system, they not only enriched the Green Forest political power, but also allowed military commanders to attack cities and territories with greater confidence without having to worry about the defense of the rear cities. Each city was quickly managed by capable people with lofty ideals.
After settling down from the chaos of war, the territory of Green Forest changed. The people looked up and saw the blue sky. When they lowered their heads, they had land in their hands. There was no one who did not spread the word about Green Forest's regime. In just five or six days, word of mouth spread.
The people of the Song Dynasty yearned for the Green Forest regime. Their desire for stability and prosperity became stronger and stronger, and the Song Dynasty court became increasingly panicked.
After talking about internal affairs, let’s take a look at the frontline battle situation at this time. After Wu Song took down the seven cities of Yaozhou in one fell swoop with the cooperation of [Jue], he was not satisfied. Although he didn’t know that it was a secret organization under Shi Jin
[Jue] helped them secretly, but this victory came too easily, and this thing happened too strangely. Wu Song was not as smart as the two strategists, and he had no idea what was happening.
What happened? After handing over the city to the outstanding local selected non-commissioned officers, he immediately drafted a letter to Shi Jin. The document described in detail the strange events he had seen in the city he passed, and asked Shi Jin to be careful. In addition,
He also made a request. This request was not to be arrogant about credit, wealth or officials, but to ask Shi Jin for orders to continue leading his troops northward and to quickly capture the three small prefectures of Pizhou, Ningzhou and Fangzhou.
Shi Jin naturally avoided talking about the strange events described in Wu Song's letter. He only replied with the words "Dedicated personnel to handle it strictly", which was considered an explanation. However, as for Wu Song's request to send troops north, Shi Jin thought about it again and again.
, and with a stroke of his pen, it was accurate. There are only two reasons for this. Wu Song took Yaozhou in one fell swoop. Although it was easy, his reputation was already out there. In addition, Pizhou, Ningzhou, and Fangzhou were all small towns.
There were not many troops garrisoned in the state capital, so he had a greater chance of attacking the city. Secondly, Shi Jin also wanted to take advantage of going north to attack the city to divert Wu Song's attention from the "assassinations" of a large number of Song Dynasty officials.
As soon as Wu Song got Shi Jin's promise, he immediately mobilized his five thousand troops and went straight to Pizhou. As soon as the army crossed the Malan River, Sanshui City was the first to be attacked. Wu Song surrounded the east, south and north gates and attacked continuously.
The soldiers who defended the city could not resist, so they had to retreat from the west gate to Xinping City, the capital of Pizhou. Wu Song successfully entered Sanshui City that day. Wu Song led his troops into the city, gathered them, distributed the city's defense, and posted notices
Putting aside the many trivial matters of appeasing the people and implementing the Green Forest New Deal, Wu Song deliberately left an escape route for the officers and soldiers that day. This intention immediately played an important role in the attack on Xinping City on the second day. Those who fled from Sanshui City to Xinping City
The officers and soldiers in Pingcheng brought a strong sense of fear to the garrison generals in Xinping City. Private rumors about Wu Song's power spread widely among the army, and the officers and soldiers had long had a shadow of fear in their hearts.
Before dawn the next day, the soldiers and horses of the Green Forest Army were seen overwhelmingly. Wu Song took the lead, brought the siege machinery, used his shield to withstand the rain of arrows falling from the top of the city, and climbed up to the top of the city. , killing the officers and soldiers in the city to pieces. The soldiers and horse supervisors of Pizhou could not resist Wu Song, and were killed by Wu Song's iron sword on the tower of Xinping City. The officers and soldiers looked at Wu Song's flag in public. While holding the supervisor's head high, the fighting spirit in each of them suddenly collapsed, and they fled in the face of the wind, abandoning their helmets and armor. Wu Song completely captured Xinping City in the afternoon of that day, recruited armed forces from nearby villages and towns, gathered the surrendered officers and soldiers, etc. Wait, every time we visit a city, the matters are similar, so no more gossip.
Xinping City, the capital of Pizhou, fell into the hands of Wu Song in one day. He recruited more than 2,000 garrison officers and soldiers. In this regard, in just two days, with the loss of the capital of Pizhou, the entire state's defense line collapsed completely. Some people in Yilu City were happy and some were worried. The ones who were worried were none other than the magistrates and county captains who guarded the city, as well as their subordinates. However, they gathered together to think about the idea all night, but they couldn't come up with a solution. Only the local county captain proposed a rather bold empty city plan. In desperation, they had to compromise with many parties and implemented it.
The so-called "empty city strategy" is not the one used by Mr. Kong Ming of the Shu Kingdom in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but it is similar. If it works, Tao can add "two strategies with the same name, but they are quite different but have the same effect". However, God's will is unfavorable , the county lieutenant thought that even Xinping City couldn't stop the Green Forest Army, and they only had this meager 1,500 people, so how could they stop them? Anyway, they would never be able to withstand it in a head-on confrontation, so it would be better to take risks. When Wu Song came tomorrow morning, he opened the city gate wide and let Wu Song in. Perhaps Wu Song was overwhelmed by the successive victories, and fell into their ambush. The officers and soldiers killed him from the eaves of the streets and alleys. , catching Wu Song off guard.
However, the reality was not as he expected. Too many what-ifs had no results. First of all, Wu Song did not come in the morning of the next day. This made the officers and soldiers who had ambush early lay on the spot and struggled for a day until By midnight of that day, when even the county captain thought that the Green Forest Army would not come, Wu Song and others suddenly appeared without warning. By the time the officers and soldiers discovered it, the Green Forest Army was no more than three hundred strides away from the city. It turned out that , Wu Song was well prepared. He took advantage of the cover of night to wrap the horse's hooves in coarse cloth and fill them with hay. When the horse's hooves ran, there would be much less movement.
Wu Song saw the gate of Yilu City wide open from a distance. Although he didn't know what kind of tricks this group of people were playing, there was no mystery to Wu Song, who was an old man in the world. Knowing that the guard here must have bad intentions, but he could not help but gain face by opening the city gate wide, Wu Song immediately ordered to enter the city, but instead of taking the open main gate, he set up a ladder as usual. He came up to the top of the city with his fierce soldiers. There were no officers and soldiers to guard him, but he felt like he was at home. He quickly occupied and guarded key points in the city, cut down the flags of the Song Dynasty on all sides, and raised the Kowloon flag of the green forest to the sky everywhere. .
But at this time, those county lieutenants who were hiding in the darkness of the street screamed in their hearts. Originally, they were waiting for Wu Song to fall into the trap, but now, who knew that Wu Song was neither arrogant nor impetuous, let alone played his cards according to the rules. , in this way, occupying the city on all sides and closing the city gates, this actually led to people shutting the door and beating the dogs. However, Wu Song knew the principle of not chasing poor enemies and not fighting trapped beasts, so he immediately posted a list to recruit people. Seeing that the situation was over, those officials At this point, they secretly walked out from the corner and led their officers and soldiers to surrender. For some officials who had a good reputation for their integrity, Wu Song still reinstated them to their posts, but for those officials whose political conduct was detrimental, Wu Song naturally wanted to dismiss them as common people. , however, based on the policy of preferential treatment of captives, family property will not be confiscated.
In just three days, the entire territory of Pizhou was captured by the green forest. All the villages and towns within the territory surrendered. While Wu Song was happily attacking the city and seizing territory, some news from here was sent to the neighboring states through Pizhou one after another. The news spread across the government, and the Green Forest Army's military power in Ningzhou, which is close to Pizhou, was greatly strengthened, and the people's support was aroused. Shi Jin heard the good news of the battle report. Although it was expected, he was also happy. He immediately arranged for Zhu Wu to bring the newly recruited soldiers. Talented people with lofty ideals rushed to Pizhou to carry out relevant prevention and control work. Wu Song felt relaxed immediately with these civilian officials taking over, and he immediately sent his troops to continue heading north, heading straight to Ningzhou.
The military supervisors of Ningzhou learned the painful lessons from Pizhou. Before Wu Song entered the country, they mobilized all 6,000 soldiers and horses in Ningzhou to resist Wu Song's snowballing rapid expansion of troops. The military supervisors of Ningzhou He used all his troops and put on a decisive look to determine the outcome in one battle. In the style of a general, he placed all his large-scale bargaining chips in Dingping City, which is adjacent to the border with Pizhou. Not only did Ningzhou soldiers Supervisor Ma and the prefect thought so, and even the 6,000 troops and horses assembled under his command were convinced that this would be the most brutal and tough battle in Ningzhou.
However, it was this piece of resistance that they thought was the strongest resistance the Green Forest Army encountered on their journey north, but it turned out to be the legend that Wu Song would continue to write.
Wu Song, with his original 5,000 men and more than 8,000 officers and soldiers recruited from various places, did not follow the previously established policy. After receiving the information, Wu Song stopped all activities and took a detour from Yilu City over the mountains to Ningzhou. Yongchang Town surrendered without a fight. Wu Song marched northward without stopping. By the time the officers and soldiers who were still defending Dingping City realized something was wrong, Wu Song had already led his troops and troops to Ningzhou with the help of the people. At the same time, he cut off the connection between Xiangle and Dingping and cut off the water transportation of officers and soldiers. Wu Song divided his troops into two groups. One group was led by his own commander to attack Dingping from behind, while the other group was arranged by Wu Song to attack Dingping in Xiangle. Le, surrounded the city,