How important Jianzhou is can be seen from this name.
Of course Tong Guan knew that the Song Dynasty was completely over, but anyone could surrender, except the "six thieves".
Because the "six thieves" were proposed by the Ming Prince. If the six thieves were not dealt with severely, where would the Ming Prince's face be?
We must fight to the end!
Although the Liangzhe Road and the Jiangnan Road are probably gone, there are still Fujian and Guangxi, and Tong Guan feels that he can hold on for a while.
If Fujian also fell, the worst possible outcome would be to lead troops to seek refuge with Prime Minister Zhong, but he could never seek refuge with Emperor Zhu anyway.
"The thieves of Jianzhou must be wiped out quickly!" Tong Guan said without any doubt.
Xin Xingzong, wearing armor, knelt on one knee and said: "Zong Ding lived up to his trust and brought the head of the traitor Fan to see him!"
Tong Guan said: "Go."
Xin Xingzong, who had sworn in front of Tong Guan, looked sad after leading the army to set off.
The Shengjie Army has been completely destroyed. Although they are well-armed and armored, they have no fighting spirit. Most of them are from Shaanxi, and they have been supplemented by a group in the capital. Anyway, they are all northerners.
Being forced to flee with Song Huizong, I felt unhappy. How many people wanted to return to their hometown.
These guys gave up on themselves and were drunk all day long. Drinking in the military camp was the norm. When they were not fighting, they harassed the people. When fighting, they refused to contribute, and they used their childlike power to steal the military exploits from friendly troops.
Xin Xingzong has not been able to control it yet. If the control is too strict, the Shengjie army will definitely mutiny!
Such a wasteful army can only bully the Xiang army and the people. How can it possibly attack the strong Jianzhou City?
It can only be appeased.
Xin Xingzong has already discussed with Tong Guan that as long as Fan's uncles and nephews are willing to surrender, they will all be granted the title of Jiedushi with real power and let them serve as warlords in the seven counties of Jianzhou. They may be able to block Li Bao's army.
Before recruiting the bandits, Xin Xingzong still had something to do—get military rations.
The food he carried at this time could only last until the troops arrived in Jianzhou. Although the prefectures and counties along the way would provide food and grass, Xin Xingzong knew in his heart that the local officials would not be able to provide much food at all.
Because he had just returned from there with his troops, and each state and county had already given him food!
When Tong Guan and Xin Xingzong learned that Hangzhou had fallen and Song Huizong's whereabouts were unknown, their first reaction was not to kill him, but to quickly lead troops to control Fuzhou and at the same time search for clan members to support the new king.
Only by supporting an emperor, whether he is a puppet or not, can they have the name to continue resisting, and can they be qualified to ask local officials to send troops and food.
Although the puppet emperor has not yet ascended the throne, the edict of succession has already been issued.
…
When the army crossed the border, Minqing County was the first to suffer.
Xin Xingzong first looted the Changping warehouse, then sent troops to loot private granaries, and then sent troops to rob people in the suburbs of the county, and even raided the food in temples.
Xin Xingzong obtained military rations, and the soldiers also obtained money. Everyone from top to bottom gained a lot.
However, the army was delayed for ten days.
When they arrived at Nanjianzhou City, they found that the city gate was tightly closed, the people in Fuguo had withdrawn into the city, and the people in the countryside had also fled to the mountains.
Xin Xingzong was furious and went to the city in person to shout: "I am Xin Xingzong, the Grand Lieutenant of the Song Dynasty (titled by the puppet emperor). I was ordered to go to Jianzhou to fight against thieves, but the officials in the city came out to greet me quickly!"
Chen Yuan was standing on the city at this moment, with a large group of scholars beside him.
Jiang Can, the governor of Nanjian Prefecture, angrily said: "You are plundering in Minqing County, and you still want to loot the people under my rule? Shoot him to death!"
The defenders in the city didn't have many bows and arrows, and they all aimed at Xin Xingzong.
If this guy hadn't been wearing armor, he would have been dead on the spot.
Xin Xingzong, who was hit by several arrows, was furious. He led his troops to Jianzhou to fight against the thieves, but was blocked by Nanjianzhou on the way.
After careful observation of the city defense, Xin Xingzong was completely out of temper. He had no chance of breaking through the city in a short period of time.
It is surrounded by water on two sides and mountains on both sides. How can such a fortified city be easily defeated?
Although there are not many Xiang troops in the city, there are many civilians guarding the city. What he did in Minqing County has already spread here, and officials, wealthy households, and ordinary people have been forced to work together.
Xin Xingzong stopped outside the city for a long time and said frustratedly: "Withdraw the troops!"
He did not dare to go around Nanjianzhou City to suppress the bandits. Firstly, he might be cut off from his retreat, and secondly, there was a serious shortage of military rations. On his way to Jianzhou, there were mountains and river valleys along the way. He could not get much food even if he tried to grab it all the way.
Only through crazy plundering in Nanjianzhou can we collect enough military rations.
He mobilized his troops to suppress the bandits, and then withdrew his troops in disgrace.
But the soldiers of the victorious army were very happy. They didn't have to fight the bandits and they also robbed a lot in Minqing County. This was a great deal for them.
Seeing Xin Xingzong leading his troops to withdraw, Jiang Can, the governor of the state, breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Yuan asked: "The prefect has offended Xin Xingzong, so he is still unwilling to change his banner?"
Jiang Can smiled bitterly and said: "If you don't want to change it, you have to change it, so let's change the flag."
Jiang Can lost his father when he was young and was raised by his uncle Jiang Zhiqi.
The most famous thing Jiang Zhiqi ever did was to impeach Ouyang Xiu and remove his ashes...
This is of course nonsense. The real reason is that Jiang Zhiqi took the wrong side. The new emperor had to draw a clear line with Ouyang Xiu. But the line was drawn too far. Ouyang Xiu, who was ignorantly having an affair with his daughter-in-law, wanted to chop Jiang Zhiqi with his own hands.
die.
Although morality is very questionable, Jiang Zhiqi is a leader of the reform camp, and during the implementation process, he took the initiative to correct various shortcomings of the new law.
When he was an official in Fujian, he used work for natural disaster relief and recruited victims to build water conservancy projects. "We employed millions of workers, irrigated 9,000 hectares of farmland, and saved 84,000 people."
As the nephew of Jiang Zhiqi, Jiang Can also belongs to the practical group and built fourteen docks in the south of the Yangtze River. Not to mention the clichés of persuading farmers and mulberry trees, Jiang Can also "repressed the tyranny" when he was an official!
With just three words of "suppressing the powerful", he will be able to do well in the new dynasty from now on.
Precisely because he suppressed the powerful in Zhejiang and offended too many gentry, Jiang Can was demoted to Fujian by Emperor Huizong of the Southern Song Dynasty to be the magistrate...
Seeing the "Ming" flag on the top of the city, Jiang Can said to Chen Yuan: "Brother Zhimo, do you know what I want to do?"
"Secure Nanjianzhou and wait for the Ming Dynasty to send troops to take over?" Chen Yuan said.
Jiang Can shook his head: "In recent years, there have been constant military disasters and banditry, and the people of Nanjian Prefecture have been miserable. The counties and temples have taken the opportunity to annex land, even hide the population, and raise private soldiers. Now that the price of food has soared, it is too late to wait for the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, we will not know what to do."
How many low-class families have died of starvation. I plan to destroy the temples, use the food in the temples to recruit hungry people, and use the work to build water conservancy projects in various counties. Especially those who worship obscene people, they must be destroyed!"
Chen Yuan advised: "It might provoke a popular uprising."
This is not alarmist. The so-called obscene sacrifices are folk gods, and there are all kinds of nonsense. The poor people believe in that.
Jiang Can said: "People will not believe that if they have work and food to eat. Of course, we cannot blindly act recklessly. We must proceed step by step. First, recruit some hungry people and 'borrow food' from the temples in the city. Before that, we have to
We need to kill a few corrupt officials to establish our authority, otherwise the people below will not be obedient!"
Li Bao made Song Huizong disappear, and both humans and ghosts showed off.
Jiang Can also plans to show off his skills. He has been very frustrated in recent years and wants to take advantage of the gap between the old and new regimes to do whatever he wants.
For example, there are several officials in this city, and Jiang Can has wanted to deal with them for a long time!
A strange situation arose in Fujian. Fan Jizhong and Fan Ruwei went on a killing spree in Jianzhou, beheading the big landowners, and then distributed food and land to the people.
In Nanjianzhou next door, the prefect Jiang Can also secretly killed corrupt officials, then destroyed temples to provide relief work, built water conservancy projects, and even dealt with some disobedient powerful people.
Once there is chaos, it will be cured, and the distinction will be made clear.
But Ju Ming likes their methods very much!
…
But when Xin Xingzong led his troops out, dozens of ships also came to Fuzhou.
There is Kanpu Town in Hangzhou and Min'an Town in Fuzhou, both of which are outer ports of big cities.
"Something's wrong!"
Li Bao personally observed with a telescope and found that there were not many ships in the port of Min'an Town in Fuzhou, a city with busy maritime trade.
It's very simple, Tong Guan has gone crazy, killing chickens and taking eggs to rob maritime merchants, in order to raise money for military expenses.
When Xin Xingzong led his troops out, Tong Guan recruited another 5,000 new troops. Some of the goods stolen from the maritime merchants were distributed by him as rewards to the soldiers, and many were rewarded to Fuzhou officials.
At this time, the river in Min'an Town was four to five miles wide.
Many merchant ships sailed in and were immediately discovered by the Fuzhou Navy.
"Here comes the fat sheep again!"
The naval officers were overjoyed, and for fear of scaring away the merchant ships, they waited until they all approached the port before dispatching.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
As soon as the naval warships got close to them, they were hit by several artillery shells, and then dozens of merchant ships all hoisted the sun and moon flags.
It's just a bluff.
The Fuzhou navy was frightened. They thought that the dozens of merchant ships were all used to transport the Ming army.
Even if one ship carries 500 soldiers, there are still 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
These are large sea-going ships. If they are packed in as hard as possible, one ship can hold a thousand soldiers, including people and food!
Forty to fifty thousand Ming troops came?
Li Bao sailed past Mawei and observed the situation with a telescope. He found that although the city was in panic, it was not as defenseless as Hangzhou.
Unless there are "specialists" who cooperate with the arson in the city, they cannot be taken down in one fell swoop.
Li Bao ordered the fleet to return to Min'an Town and waited until evening before landing.
In the dark, one group after another of soldiers landed ashore, collecting cargo boats at the port, and forcibly recruiting small town residents to help set up camp.
Soldiers came in and out, going back and forth between the camp and the town.
From time to time, small groups would leave, return to the big ship in small boats, and then land in the dark with torches.
The soldiers who stood on the top of the mountain to observe the situation were shocked and ran back to report to Tong Guan: "Many soldiers have come from the Puppet Ming Dynasty. There are dozens of ships transporting troops, and there are at least a thousand people on each ship. I am afraid there are fifty or sixty thousand people!"
Fifty or sixty thousand people...
Tong Guan only knew that Li Bao made a surprise attack on Hangzhou and that Jiang's defense forces quickly collapsed. He had no idea what the specific situation was.
At this moment, Tong Guan not only suspected that Li Bao was trying to increase his troops, but also worried that Li Bao would really bring fifty or sixty thousand people.
He wanted to defend Fuzhou, but he was also afraid of being defeated and captured.
So here comes the cool operation.
Tong Guan took the puppet emperor and hundreds of officials, as well as his own soldiers trained in Fujian and Zhejiang, and withdrew from Fuzhou City overnight, intending to join Xin Xingzong's Shengjie Army. However, he asked his generals to defend the city, and the entire city was completely guarded.
