"Your Majesty, the people of Yangzhou have seized the city gate. Please come in and enter the city!"
"What!"
Lao Zhu was so happy that he didn't care about anything and rushed out. As expected, he saw huge fires in the direction of Yangzhou and loud shouts... He made a prompt decision and sent several generals to lead troops and attack the city.
Just when they were about to leave, Zhang Ximeng rushed out.
"Lord, this entry into the city is unusual. It is even more important than Chuzhou. The remnants of the Yuan army in the city need to be eliminated, and the market must be maintained. The most important thing is that we cannot invade people's homes, we cannot kill people and set fires, and we cannot lose the hearts of the people!"
Zhu Yuanzhang believed deeply, nodded vigorously, and said to the generals headed by Feng Guoyong: "Did you hear Sir's instructions? Whoever dares to violate military orders will be killed without mercy!"
Feng Guoyong nodded quickly and said, "I am humble enough to obey orders." After he finished speaking, he said to Zhang Ximeng: "Sir, there is a shortage of food in the city. Should we help the people immediately?"
Zhang Ximeng shook his head, "Not yet. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city. If there are no proper rules, chaos will immediately occur. You first post a notice asking everyone to wait at home. We will register and make a list, classify them, and distribute them
Food. Those who really have nothing to eat, are weak and cannot survive, can be sent out first, and we will prepare some porridge in the military camp."
This is not because Zhang Ximeng broke his promise and was reluctant to give the steamed buns. Those who had the strength to run out on their own would be fine. However, the old, weak, sick and disabled had long been weak. Giving two big steamed buns and a bowl of braised pork was not life-saving.
That's fatal!
Feng Guoyong was a meticulous man. He took note of Zhang Ximeng's instructions and immediately led his troops to attack Yangzhou City.
At this moment, Bo Luopuhua, the king of Dayuan Zhennan, was already angry, anxious, and out of his mind.
He led eight thousand elite soldiers out of the city, still thinking of giving it a try, but as soon as he left the city, the way back was cut off. He turned around and wanted to fight back, but found that many of his subordinates simply ran away. Some people carried weapons and directly
When he arrived at Zhu Jiajun's side, he knelt on the ground to receive the steamed buns.
The remaining Yuan troops were also in panic and wanted to fight back to Yangzhou, but that was absolutely impossible.
"Let's go with me to Gaoyou and seek refuge with Prime Minister Tuotuo!"
Bo Luopuhua and his men wanted to leave, but before they had gone far, a group of men and horses rushed over.
Hu Dahai rushed at the front, holding a sharp ax in his hand, like a pack of vicious wolves that had spotted their prey, howling and rushing towards them. They chopped melons and vegetables, dividing the Boluopu-turned men and horses into two pieces.
There were less than 2,000 people left for Boluopu, so the prince was so frightened that he fled in a hurry.
But before they had run far, they were besieged by Hua Yun, Feng Guosheng, Lu Zhongheng and others one after another, leaving almost no soldiers and horses left.
Borophua also received an arrow in his butt. The pain was so unbearable that he could only lie on the horse's back, his lower body numb.
It doesn’t matter what, as long as I can see the Prime Minister, I beg the Prime Minister to send troops to avenge myself!
Boluo Puhua ran to find Tuotuo. Zhu Yuanzhang was already going all out. Every soldier was busy. To what extent?
Mr. Li Zhen came up with everyone from the kitchen.
"We must block the Yuan soldiers and try not to allow them to disperse into the countryside, nor allow them to harm the people, let alone set fire to loot..."
Zhang Ximeng explained in rapid succession, Li Zhen laughed and said: "Okay! I understand!"
Holding a kitchen knife, this man commanded his men to rush towards Yuan Ting's defeated army.
No one could have imagined that this group of people coming out of the kitchen had amazing fighting capabilities. They were all strong and strong. They wielded the swords and guns in their hands and were invincible. They would charge wherever there were more Yuan troops.
There were more than 100 people in total, and they captured more than 2,000 prisoners.
Li Zhen was satisfied and said, "You all are honest, I will open a small stove for you later and have meat to eat! If you dare to disobey or run away secretly, don't blame me for not reminding you. If you fall into the hands of hungry people, you are
There’s meat in the pot!”
The prisoners were so frightened that they quickly agreed.
Li Zhen saw that they were very well-behaved, so he ordered again: "Let's do this. You dig a trench yourself, circle a camp, and stay there by yourself. If you do a good job, I will give you steamed buns to eat. If you don't do a good job, you will get fists."
, do you understand?”
"I understand, I understand!"
Another famous scene appeared. The prisoners of the Yuan army dug trenches, built camps, and imprisoned themselves. How obedient!
Zhang Ximeng was patrolling around and when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
In fact, after seeing this scene, I understood why Yuan Ting replaced Tuo Tuo, and hundreds of thousands of troops collapsed on the spot, and the overall situation was directly out of control... Yuan Ting had been rotten for a long time. Counting from Han Shantong's uprising, it had reached the third level.
In the past four years, there have been successive natural and man-made disasters ahead.
Yuan Ting's accumulation has been consumed, and there is not much left.
Take the troops led by Bo Luopuhua, for example. He successfully took Yangzhou from Zhang Shicheng, but then something went wrong. He didn't bring much food, and he originally asked the Yuan army in the south of the Yangtze River to provide supplies.
But I'm sorry, there are also 200,000 people in Jiangnan, who need to eat, drink, and transport food to Dadu. You'd better wait!
The friendly troops are in trouble and remain as motionless as a mountain.
This time, Boluophua was directly fooled.
He had to extract oil from the people of Yangzhou and plunder nearby. Even so, the army was still not full, and there were many complaints, and the morale of the army and the people was completely lost.
At this point, it’s impossible not to collapse, even God won’t allow it!
I think the Yuan army outside Gaoyou City was similar to the one in Yangzhou.
It was just relying on Tuotuo's ability and prestige to maintain it. When Tuotuo was captured, people's hearts were at a loss and they were suddenly out of control.
Thinking of this, Zhang Ximeng suddenly had an idea, what would happen if he continued to raid Yangzhou at this moment?
Can you defeat Tuotuo's hundreds of thousands of people?
Successful rescue?
If this was accomplished, wouldn't it mean that the two Huaihe Rivers would be unified and the kingly position of the late Yuan Dynasty would be achieved ahead of schedule?
This idea was so tempting that Zhang Ximeng wanted to go to Lao Zhu immediately and have a good talk.
But before he could make a move, the cruel reality broke Zhang Ximeng's fantasy... A dense crowd of people from Yangzhou city, supporting the old and young, came out of the city gate and rushed outside the city.
How come there are so many?
Didn't we tell you that only the old, weak, women and children who were short of food were allowed to come out?
How did Feng Guoyong do things?
Just when Zhang Ximeng was about to get angry, Feng Guoyong came out in person. His face was full of horror and horror. To be able to scare this versatile civil and military genius like this, you know how terrifying the situation is.
"Sir, we found a Tutu Temple, and more than twenty Yuan soldiers hid in it. Before we could arrest anyone, these Yuan soldiers ran out on their own. Their faces were all pale, as if they had seen a ghost.
We asked about it, but they couldn't even speak politely. Finally, I went in and took a look. Inside, there were a lot of bones, all of them human! There were dozens of them, including those of children.
Skull!"
Feng Guoyong's voice was trembling.
Boatman Lao Qi said that people can be eaten in the city. Everyone thought it was an isolated phenomenon, but after actually checking it, they realized that Yangzhou City was in extreme misery. Fortunately, Zhu Jiajun arrived at this time. Otherwise, how much more could these 800,000 people survive?
It's really hard to say.
"Sir, what do you think we should do?"
Zhang Ximeng took a deep breath and said, "Let's do this. Tell the workshops and shops in the city to open for business immediately... If you were working in any shops or workshops, please return immediately. Even if there is nothing to do, we will distribute food there. Let's go first
Everyone needs to make a living, and then we will re-register the situation, and after verification, we will distribute food per person."
"So, what about the refugees?"
"Let the refugees come out and arrange for them to farm in Zhenzhou, Liuhe, Chuzhou and other places. If they don't have any serious work to do, don't stay in Yangzhou. We can't afford to support idlers."
Feng Guoyong followed Zhang Ximeng's instructions and implemented them again.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also very busy at this moment. Preliminary verification showed that there were more than 38,000 Yuan troops in the city. Except for a small number who died in battle, there were also some who escaped. About 32,000 people were captured.
Since there was no time to tie them up, and there were no buildings or tents, we could only draw a plot of ground as a prison and guard them hastily.
In less than a day, so many people were captured. Even more than 30,000 pigs were not so easy to capture!
This shows how unpopular Yuan Ting is!
However, even so, it does not mean that these people are willing to join the Zhu family army unconditionally.
Zhang Ximeng came over to discuss the next move with Lao Zhu, and happened to encounter a group of Yuan army prisoners. They numbered about three to five hundred people and were making a noise.
"You are lying! Didn't you say there are steamed buns? Where is the braised pork? Where is the stewed goose? There is nothing! Just give me white porridge? Are you treating me like a monkey?"
If someone took the lead, many prisoners would follow suit and speak ill of Zhu Jiajun's young soldiers.
The little soldier was also very angry, "You are prisoners! Not a master! You still want to eat steamed buns and roasted pork, but no! My fists are enough to control whether you want it or not!"
At this time, the person who was leading the trouble shouted again, "Did you see that? Master Wang, it's all a lie. Don't be fooled. Follow me. Let's fight out! Find a clear path again!"
There were tens of thousands of prisoners, more than Zhu Jiajun.
There are people who are obedient, and there are naturally people who are disobedient.
The trouble was not limited to this place. Zhang Ximeng immediately urged his horse to come over. When he saw that he had arrived, there were many soldiers of the Zhu Army behind him. These prisoners finally became honest.
Zhang Ximeng called the little soldier over and asked about the situation.
The little soldier felt aggrieved and told the story again, "Sir, they are all unreasonable. They are obviously prisoners and still do not obey military orders. They should be severely punished!"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "That's your problem. Although they are prisoners, they must not be harsh or harsh. They must be kind, reasonable, and behave accordingly."
Zhang Ximeng criticized a few words, turned around and said to the prisoners: "You are not satisfied with white porridge and pickles. I want to ask, what do you usually eat? But is there anything better?"
He asked twice, but no one answered. Zhang Ximeng came over, grabbed a thin prisoner, and said with a smile: "Tell me, what do you usually eat in the army?"
"Eat, eat black flour pancakes, rotten, rotten vegetable soup."
"Well, do you think white porridge and pickles are not good?"
There was embarrassment on the prisoner's face, and he muttered for a long time, and only said: "I, I didn't say bad, it was..." The corners of his eyes glanced at the person who was leading the trouble, but he did not dare to say anything, so he lowered his head.
.
Zhang Ximeng saw it and understood in his heart.
"Are you a general of Yuan Ting? What did you do before?"
The leader was a little hesitant and frightened, but after a while he said: "I, I am a member of a thousand households, I, I surrendered on my own initiative, yes, it is a meritorious service!"
Zhang Ximeng smiled, threw him aside, grabbed the little Zhu Jiajun soldier with his backhand, led him to the other soldiers, and then said seriously: "Do you understand? These ordinary soldiers are our people. You just
The harsh words and harsh words scared them all. This is not the way to do things."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Ximeng raised his head again and said: "Brothers, the Zhu Jiajun is a team composed of poor people. Among us, there are many Yuan Ting troops. As long as they are kind and honest soldiers, they are our brothers and sisters. Everyone.
He is also a reasonable person. Rice, grain and meat cannot be delivered all at once, so please understand."
Seeing that Zhang Ximeng's tone was kind and his words were reasonable, these prisoners nodded their heads one after another.
"Sir, if you say this, we will understand."
Zhang Ximeng smiled again, "One more thing, I want to tell you that the high-ranking officials, generals, ten thousand households, one thousand households in the Yuan Ting army... They are originally people who exploit the big guys, and there are many conscientious people among them.
, but there are many people who do evil and instigate trouble! They are not willing to lose their power, and they want to encourage the big guys to work hard and die for them. This is not possible no matter what!"
When the Qianhu man heard this, his eyes suddenly widened and he was moved. He stood up and wanted to run away, but Zhang Ximeng stopped shouting.
"Take it!"
In an instant, someone rushed forward and captured this Qianhu. How could he be convinced? He roared at the top of his lungs, "You lied, your words don't count! I've been fooled by you!"
He cursed loudly, but a soldier covered his mouth and dragged him down.
Zhang Ximeng's smile did not diminish. He looked at the other prisoners and said with a smile: "Don't be afraid, everyone. Just remember one thing. You are also poor people. We are all the same. What did this person do in the army just now? Everyone
As long as you stand up and report it, if it is true, you will be severely punished immediately!"
Zhang Ximeng glanced at all the prisoners, and finally landed on the thin prisoner, and encouraged: "Speak, I will make the decision for you!"
The young prisoner pondered over and over again, and finally said: "He, he deducted our food and wages, and also killed more than a dozen people and left us with empty wages...Does this count?"
Zhang Ximeng laughed, "Of course it's settled. Bring him over now and confront you guys. Do you have the guts?"
The prisoners looked at each other, and some showed hesitation and confusion on their faces. They glanced at Zhang Ximeng, as if they didn't trust him. One of the prisoners bravely said, "You, can you really make the decision for us?"
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "Then you might as well think about why we want to protect Yuan Ting's lackey Eagle Dog?"
The prisoner struggled for a long time and finally said: "Well, let's just believe you once! Speaking of this beast...he has done a lot of bad things!"