It was the fourth day of the fifth lunar month in the first year of Chengtian and the first year of Republic of China.
The Taishan Army integrated and deployed two battalions from Ding Sheng's former military academy to station in the northwest region of Zhao State, and also deployed five battalions from Zhang Dan's right military academy to station in Zenan, the mainland.
The above seven battalions and nearly 7,000 people are the entire Taishan Army responsible for suppressing bandits. With the help of local garrison troops, they will be responsible for quelling the banditry in northern Zhao and Dalu Ze.
The Hebei area where Jizhou is located naturally has smooth roads, so even if there is banditry, it can be easily eliminated, because wherever bandits are hidden, they can only be found in the mountains, forests, lakes and seas.
However, there are two areas in the central and southern region of Jizhou that are very difficult to suppress.
One is the Taihang Valley in the northwest of Zhao State. The other is the vast mainland of Miaomiao.
From the northwest of Zhao State to the Zhongshan area, there is no pass through the Taihang Mountains, but this has become a paradise for thieves.
Because the Taihang Mountains transitioned from the Shanxi Plateau to the North China Plain, countless small impact fan-shaped valleys were formed. Although the central parts of these fan-shaped valleys are small, they are more fertile than the land in most areas of Jizhou.
Therefore, for countless years, countless mountain people and thieves have settled here and made a living. In addition, these areas are deep in the mountains and are easy to defend and difficult to attack, making them even more difficult to suppress.
The same is true for the bandits in another Daluze area.
There are many water swamps in the Julu area, but they are not as good as the mainland swamps. There are countless water pirates and thieves lurking in the vast mainland swamps.
The above two areas have naturally become a paradise for bandits due to their unique geographical isolation.
But unlike the destitute and banditry people in the northwest of Zhao State, Julu in central Jizhou is already wealthy and has many small families. But why are there so many bandits?
Zhang Chong went to ask Tian Feng, who was still in the prison camp, for advice on this issue.
After Tian Feng was captured, he did not show any extreme desire to die. On the contrary, Tian Feng did whatever the Taishan Army arranged for them.
Tian Feng's cooperation also allowed him to quickly gain a certain degree of freedom. Not only could he move around the prison camp, but he also had a tent of his own.
So when Tian Feng saw someone entering his tent at night, he was frightened and surprised.
But when he found out that this person turned out to be Zhang Chong, the bandit leader, Tian Feng was a little speechless.
Who would have thought that a thieves could be so thirsty for talents and be courteous to the virtuous?
But Tian Feng still had to tell himself in his heart that Han and traitors are not at odds with each other, and he, Tian Feng, must keep integrity for the Han and learn from Su Wu's spirit.
But when Tian Feng learned that Zhang Chong wanted to suppress Dalu Ze, he hesitated.
Due to personal reasons, he deeply hated the bandits in Daluze. Now there is the Taishan Army to suppress the bandits. Even though he, Tian Feng, does not want to join the Taishan Army yet, he still gave his own suggestions.
From Tian Feng, Zhang Chong also learned more details about Daluze.
It turns out that the reason why bandits are rampant in the central and southern Jizhou region is all because of one thing, that is the unruly river.
It is precisely because the river changed its course many times and had periods of flooding that such a situation occurred in the Julu area.
That is, people living in recessed areas are often displaced by floods of rivers and become increasingly poor.
However, those areas with slightly higher terrain can avoid floods and can even occupy the fertile and silted fields after the water recedes and become richer and richer.
With such a huge gap between the rich and the poor in the same county, it is natural that the heads of Guizhou in the low-lying areas take risks and become thieves. Naturally, those rich and powerful households also form strongholds to protect themselves and expand their tribes.
In this way, a large overflowing river made Dalu Ze the last choice for countless bandits. On the one hand, they used the cover of Dalu Ze to hide, and on the other hand, they went out to plunder those settlements.
What's more, the convenience of Dalu Ze has become a paradise for countless private salt sellers.
Although this dynasty was different from the former Han Dynasty in that salt and iron were no longer directly operated by the government, it still imposed heavy taxes on salt.
Therefore, a large number of cooks in the Bohai and Youzhou regions secretly cook private salt and then traffic it to the mainland, where the profit is ten times greater.
Precisely because of Dalu Ze's "tolerance", these private salt dealers also opened up business routes and transfer stations here.
Therefore, if the Taishan Army wants to suppress the water bandits in Juluze, these private salt dealers will also be their enemies.
From Tian Feng, Zhang Chong learned another detail.
That is, the water bandits in Dalu Ze are not the product of a few years or ten years, but the product of several generations. This is deeply rooted. Which of the powerful people along the Dalu Ze front line is inextricably linked to the water bandits in Da Da Ze? Relationship?
Not even the officials of the past dynasties could solve this problem.
For example, Guo Dian, the former governor of Julu, may have been strong enough, but he still did not dare to slash at Daluze with his sword.
Of course, this does not mean that these bandits in Juluze are all supported by the surrounding powerful people. In fact, most of them have serious enemies with these powerful people.
Originally, the Julu powerful people formed a stronghold to resist bandits, but their armed forces instead formed a stronger suppression on the Guizhou leaders.
They have more power to plunder and plunder, leaving the poor with no place to stand. These people also commonly borrow cloth and millet to further exploit the people below.
Since these Guizhou leaders were so oppressed, they naturally held grudges. In addition, not far away was Dalu Ze, where bandits gathered, so many of them took desperate risks, luring thieves into their villages and destroying their families.
In addition to these people, some Guizhou families with a large population often join bandits in order to make a living.
As you can see from the previous example of Zhang Chong, when the family can no longer be divided and can only support these people, the second son of the family needs to go out and make a living on his own.
So what can Qian Shizi, who only has the strength, do? Serve as a bully for the powerful? Or go to Dalu Ze to be a good man?
Isn’t it difficult to choose?
In fact, Tian Feng was quite familiar with the situation of bandits in Dalu Ze. The Tian family had been destroyed by a group of water bandits in Da Da Da Ze, and his younger brother died there.
Therefore, after Tian Feng became the aide of Guo Dian, the governor of Julu, he made several suggestions to suppress the bandits, but to no avail.
So after knowing that Zhang Chong decided to suppress the bandits, Tian Feng told him all the information he had.
The water bandits in Dalu Ze, apart from the private salt traders, are all sitting bandits, which means that these people are basically from Julu itself.
Generally speaking, these bandits generally do not rob people in the same area, nor do they rob people near Daluze.
At first, when the nearby villagers learned that the second son of a certain family had become a water bandit, they did not want to have anything to do with it. But when these nearby villagers began to buy stolen goods at low prices from these water bandits, and even profited from them,
More and more people are becoming the accomplices of the water bandits.
They not only sold stolen goods for these water bandits, but also often acted as their eyes and ears. Whenever they encountered out-of-town traders in Litingshe City, these people would pass the news on to the water bandits in Zezhong, and then ambush these traveling merchant teams.
What even surprised Zhang Chong was that most of these so-called mainland marsh bandits did not live in the marsh, but settled nearby, and even brought money and food back regularly.
The information obtained from Tian Feng made Zhang Chong aware of the complexity of bandits in the Daluze area.
It turns out that most of these people are also villagers nearby. They work as farmers during the farming season and are bandits in their free time. As Tian Feng mentioned, the peak period of banditry in Dalu Ze is from November to February of the next year, and then the banditry decreases significantly during the busy spring period.
, until the peak began to appear again in June and July.
In this case, how can the Taishan Army distinguish who is a civilian and who is a bandit? After all, no one has a thief written on his face.
It was precisely because of the complexity of the banditry in the Daluze area that Zhang Chong decided to let Zhang Dan personally lead nearly 5,000 elite troops from his Right Military Academy to the southern part of Daluze and take full charge of the suppression of bandits here.
Zhang Dan also gained an in-depth understanding of Dalu Ze's situation through Zhang Chong's instructions.
This time, Zhang Dan decided to station the marching shogunate to suppress the bandits in Ren County, which was also where Tian Feng said the bandits were most violent.
As for Tian Feng, after providing such detailed information, he actively requested to join Zhang Dan in suppressing the bandits. He wanted to avenge his brother and his tribe.
Zhang Chong thought for a while and agreed. After all, with the existence of a local named Tian Feng, it would be easier to suppress the bandits.
Of course, Zhang Chong also privately gave Zhang Dan a purpose of suppressing bandits, which was to use both suppression and appeasement. Kill the stubborn ones and appease the submissive ones. You must master the balance between the two.
As for Tian Feng's suggestion, Zhang Chong asked Zhang Dan to think more about it. After all, this man was from a wealthy family and had a blood feud with the mainland Zeshui bandits. It was difficult not to use their Taishan Army to seek revenge.
Zhang Dan kept all this in mind, and then on May 4th, he ordered his troops to march north.
The actions of the Taishan Army were quickly learned by the Han troops lurking in Handan in various counties.
Seeing such a large-scale operation, these people did not care about their whereabouts being exposed and flew to various counties to make preparations.
In the end, the outcome of these meticulous efforts was naturally doomed. Shortly after they sent out the news, they were captured by the flying troops who arrived.
From these detailed reports, the Taishan Army obtained a large amount of precious information.
As for the counties in Hebei? They don't care about these details. They only have eyes for the Taishan army that left the city.
When the Taishan Army's march route was to the north, the Han Army in Changshan, Zhongshan, Hejian, and the northern areas of Julu were shocked three times in one day.
Afterwards, the Taishan Army's Right Military Academy Headquarters turned towards Julu along the official road. At this time, the Han army in Changshan area was relieved, but the Han army in the northern Julu and Zhongshan areas fell into great panic.
Especially when the Han army learned that the Taishan Army was stationed in Ren County, the Han army in the north of Julu was in panic all day long. Every day, a large number of powerful people abandoned their fields and evacuated their families to Zhongshan.
And what kind of chaos is Zhongshan in now? As soon as these powerful people with frivolous wealth entered Zhongshan, they were ambushed by several local forces and killed to death.
At this moment, the powerful people in the northern part of Julu fell into despair. There was really a tiger in front and a wolf behind.
But at this time, hope appeared. They discovered that the Taishan Army had really only stayed in Ren County and had no intention of going north.
At this time, they suddenly realized and set their sights on the mainland.
It turns out that the Taishan Army came to suppress bandits?
Haha, now these Han troops from various counties are finally alive again. They also set their sights on Dalu Ze, thinking:
"You Taishan Army actually want to suppress bandits? Then I can't help you."
Therefore, each family used their own methods, all planning to let Dalu Ze come to consume the Taishan Army's strength.
For a time, Dalu Ze gathered the attention of all the forces in Hebei, and a thousand waves rolled up.
It was also in this whirlpool that Zhang Dan's troops stationed in Ren County began to take action.
…
At this time, in the shogunate where the bandits were marching to suppress the bandits in Ren County, Zhang Dan was listening to the intelligence of the flying troops carrying the flag and foreign troops.
There is a group of huge thieves in Ren County, known as the Black Horse Bandits. Their leader is Zheng Fu, who has been a thief for generations.
Originally, this black horse bandit was just an ordinary bandit in Dalu Ze, with only a hundred people. But last year, the Taiping Dao uprising in Julu caused huge chaos in all parts of Julu.
At that time, Zheng Fu was so bold that he led a hundred people to attack Ren County.
At that time, there were three hundred Han County soldiers in Ren County, so they naturally did not pay attention to this ordinary water bandit. So they took the initiative to join forces with the Black Horse Bandits. However, who knew that in this battle, the Han Army was defeated. Except for a few soldiers who escaped, the rest
All were captured and beheaded.
Afterwards, the black horse thieves took advantage of the situation and broke into Ren County. They opened warehouses and recruited soldiers and horses, and soon gathered thousands of people. Then Zheng Fu saw that the Yellow Turban Army was powerful, so he sent envoys to pay tribute and surrendered to the Yellow Turban Army's tent.
An independent man.
Later, Youzhou Tuqi and Lu Zhi's northern and southern armies entered Hebei, and the Han army in Hebei began to counterattack across the board. Seeing that the situation was not right, Zheng Fu took his men and horses, and hid some of the men back to Dalu Ze.
At that time, all the energy of the Han army was used to fight the Yellow Turban Army. When they saw the black horse fleeing back to Zeze, they just pretended that it had not happened.
However, after his strength increased, Zheng Fu quickly relied on the weapons seized from Ren County's arsenal to expand his power in Zezhong. It is said that there are now thousands of bandits, and they are among the most powerful thieves in Zezhong.
After gaining strength, Zheng Fu quickly got rid of the Yellow Turban Army and went on his own. In addition to plundering powerful people from time to time, he also often attacked nearby counties.
One of his larger actions was before Taishan's army entered Julu. Taking advantage of the annihilation of the Julu Han army in Handan, he once again made a surprise attack on Pingxiang in the south of the mainland Ze. At one time, it was only twenty miles away from Julu City.
Zheng Fu was originally prepared to attack Julu this time, but who knew that the Taishan Army would come so quickly and so cruelly.
After seeing the elite cavalry of the Taishan Army, Zheng Fu knew that he was no match, so he had no choice but to retreat to Zenei and continue to lurk.
He never thought that those Taishan troops could do anything to them. This mainland swamp was their home. Their ancestors had been wallowing in this swamp for generations. None of them were familiar with the waterways, ditches and depressions in it.
To put it bluntly, they can cross this place with their eyes closed. Therefore, if these Taishan troops come and become thieves, they will die.
By then, they will be able to harvest a large number of plump fish and turtles.
So when Zhang Dan came with his army, the black horse thieves didn't take it seriously and continued to live their peaceful lives.
But this Ansheng life ended soon. Envoys from Hejian, Qinghe, Bohai and other places, and even Changshan, came to Zheng Fu one after another. They not only awarded him the imperial seal, but also sent many armors.
Weapons and military supplies.
For a time, Zheng Fu wore the imperial seal of the five counties of Hebei and received military supplies from various places all day long, as if he had been taken care of by fate.
It seems that the arrival of the Taishan Army is not a bad thing, right?