Lin Chong led his troops in formation outside the stronghold and began to disperse the "militiamen". Although he did not have much rations for his own soldiers, he still promised to give the "militiamen" demobilization rations.
Huang Zuo restrained the soldiers in the stronghold, and Liu Rui led the militiamen out to collect food.
One after another, farmers and fishermen first threw away their weapons and walked out of the village in dejection. A few people expressed anger, but most of them had expressions of relief.
Last year, they would probably be willing to fight to the death, but this year their mood is different.
The main cause was the lack of food. Prime Minister Zhong had enemies on all sides and raised too many troops, making the lives of the people under his rule increasingly difficult.
These "militiamen" usually farm and fish, and they have to practice when they have some free time. Once they go to war, they have to work hard as soldiers. And they are so busy all year round, not only do they have little food left, but they also go hungry when there is a shortage of food.
No matter how firm your faith is, you will still have to compromise it when you are hungry.
If the Ming Dynasty was cruel and unkind, they might still fight to the end.
But Anxiang County is right next door, and it lived well under the Ming Dynasty.
The people here in Chongxiao Village were so hungry that they even quietly went to Anxiang to exchange for food - this happened just this spring!
The Chu army in each county of Dingzhou divided its troops to defend the city, but did not gather to fight. The main reason was that there was not enough military food. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and troops were deployed in the Chenzhou direction for half a year. In the Dingzhou direction, troops had to be stationed to confront the Ming Dynasty. This large area
The food reserves have been exhausted.
The demobilization rations were not much, just one bucket per person.
The militiamen who received the food quickly dispersed and became common people.
Immediately, Huang Zuo led more than a thousand soldiers out of the stronghold and symbolically handed over his military and food books. Lin Chong accepted his surrender on behalf of the Ming Dynasty.
The monk soldiers from Fujian, led by Fan Ruwei, entered Chongxiao Village to take over the defense.
This is not some kind of religious confrontation, but purely under the constraints of Fan Ruwei, the military discipline of these Fujian soldiers is very good. At least, among the new troops trained this year, their military discipline is at the ceiling.
In the coming war, Chongxiao Village will serve as a transportation hub for troops and supplies, as well as a transit point for soldiers and civilians. The surrounding countryside is full of Manichaeans, so it is necessary to choose a unit with good military discipline to be stationed, otherwise there is no telling what trouble will happen.
Woolen cloth.
Huang Zuo and Liu Rui followed Lin Chong back to the stronghold. Lin Chong asked, "Did General Ying tell you?"
"Said." The two nodded.
Lin Chong repeated: "All Dharma altars in the surrounding villages must be banned. Those small altar owners in the countryside should move their families to Yuezhou first, and wait for the government to disperse them to various places."
Dingzhou is the hometown of Zhong Xiang and the headquarters of Manichaeism in Hunan.
The countryside is dotted with large and small altars. Killing will inevitably arouse resistance, but leaving them alone will easily lead to chaos.
Breaking up the migration is the best way.
We are not afraid of them going to other places to preach, because the spread has long been spread in some provinces. For example, Huainan and Shandong, after the fall of Fangla, a large number of Manichaeans went northward. In Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi, Manichaeism is also everywhere
exist.
As long as life goes on, there will be no large-scale uprisings, and the religious issue will be solved slowly in the future.
Huang Zuo said: "As long as we persuade them with good words, give them some money, and promise them land after they move, the village altar owners will not resist."
Liu Rui said: "If there is resistance, we can only kill him."
Those who came to fight on the west bank of Dongting Lake were not only Lin Chong's six thousand elites, but also the garrison troops from Anxiang, Huarong and other places.
In total, more than 18,000 people!
Including the surrendered soldiers, there were approximately 20,000 soldiers.
After confirming that the main force of Prime Minister Zhong was heading south, Bai Qi personally led 20,000 new troops and 10,000 civilians to join them by boat from Lujiao Town.
The small town of Chongxiao is densely packed with people, and there are military camps and granaries everywhere outside the town.
Bai Qi summoned the generals for a meeting, Huang Zuo stayed in the stronghold to participate, while Liu Rui went to the countryside to ban the altar.
"What's the specific situation in Dingzhou and Chenzhou?" Bai Qi asked.
The Ming Dynasty also had detailed work here, but the number was very small and it was easy to be exposed.
Huang Zuo said in detail:
"The coach is Zhong... Zhong Quan, the clan brother of Prime Minister Zhong, stationed five thousand troops in Dingzhou City. Last year, the Wuxi barbarians rebelled, and it was Zhong Quan who led the troops to put down the rebellion, but they fought for half a year. They had to keep troops for defense.
It’s the Ming Dynasty, so there’s not much military rations left here.”
"Last winter, several batches of military rations were shipped to Tanzhou. They were afraid of being robbed by the Ming Dynasty Navy and did not dare to ship them from Dongting Lake. They were transported to Yiyang first, and then transported to Yuanjiang and Chenyang by livestock. After arriving in Chenyang, they
Ship it to Dingzhou City."
"There is a shortage of food here this spring, so Tanzhou has shipped two more batches of military rations. But it is a drop in the bucket and we can only wait for the rice harvest."
"Now that the war has started again, Dingzhou can no longer collect food. Tanzhou has to supply food to Prime Minister Zhong's army, and there is no way to transport it. So here in Dingzhou, every city and village raises their own military food. The humble officials are afraid that there will not be enough food.
, a few days ago I even took my soldiers to fish for clams and snails."
"If Zhong Quan dares to order an army to gather, there is no need to fight with him. He will be out of food in a month or two."
"Chenyang's guard general is called Liu Heng. He and Liu Rui are distant relatives. Liu Rui can be asked to go and persuade him to surrender. Liu Heng only has more than a thousand soldiers in his hands, mainly because there are too many soldiers to support. But if our army besieges Chenyang,
He can immediately recruit thousands of people to defend the city, and these people have practiced military formations in their spare time."
"The defender of Yuanjiang is called Quan Cong. He also doesn't have many troops, but the city is very strong and difficult to attack. However, Yuanjiang City is located by Dongting Lake, and the Ming Dynasty warships have powerful firearms. They should be able to suppress the defenders at the top of the city."
"..."
After hearing this, Bai Qi felt reassured.
By carefully analyzing the messages sent back, he knew that Prime Minister Zhong was short of food, but he did not expect that the situation would be so severe.
Nowadays, most of the food in Puppet Chu's country is used to supply Zhong Xiang's army, and all the cities defended by separate troops are in a state of food shortage.
This is caused by the superposition of many factors. The large number of puppet Chu troops is only one aspect. Years of wars require the recruitment of civilians, which also affects agricultural production in the long term.
There was also a major flood last year, which disrupted Li Bao's battle plan and caused widespread harvest failure in Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River. For Prime Minister Zhong, it was like a leaky house and a continuous rain, and the food supply was restored.
Not enough hair.
A few days later, Bai Qi led an army to besiege Chenyang.
This was later to be Hanshou County, with the Yuan River flowing through it to the north, the Canglang River to the west, and Dongting Lake only twenty or thirty miles away to the east.
Qu Yuan "sent to Zhuxi in the morning and stayed in Chenyang at night." Not only did he stay in Chenyang, he also washed his feet by the Canglang River.
On the contrary, it is the Yuanjiang County in the southeast. During the Sui Dynasty, it was located at the mouth of the Yuanjiang River flowing into Dongting Lake. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yuanjiang River was divided into two. In the Song Dynasty, the Yuanjiang River was completely changed to the north, and the county seat and the river were fifty or sixty miles apart.
Bai Qi led his army to besiege Chenyang, and sent Lin Chong to Yuanjiang. The Ming Dynasty navy also bombarded Yuanjiang County.
Zhong Xiang's younger brother Zhong Quan was stationed in Dingzhou. When he learned that Chenyang was besieged, he was undecided for a while.
Zhong Quan only had 5,000 soldiers in hand. Relying on the appeal of Manichaeism, he could immediately recruit 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and then send his troops to fight Bai Qi in Chenyang.
But if we do that, the military rations will only last for a month or two at most!
After hesitating for two or three days, Zhong Quan still ordered the conscription of troops, asking the people to tighten their belts and pay for food. At the same time, he also recruited a large number of ships and civilians.
Liu Rui personally shouted at the city gate: "Da Chu is about to disappear, brother, it is better to surrender as soon as possible..."
Guard Liu Heng stood at the top of Chenyang City: "You are ungrateful, I will not be your brother. Shoot the arrow!"
The attempt to surrender failed.
Bai Qi began to strengthen the camp and waited for Zhong Quan to lead his army to rescue him. His initial idea was to encircle the camp and call for reinforcements.
At this moment, knowing that the enemy is short of food, there is no need to rush to call for reinforcements. It will take him a month or two to rely on the camp. When the Puppet Chu reinforcements run out of food, they can conquer it in one go!
Prime Minister Zhong's main force went south to quell the chaos, and he would not be able to come back for a month or two.
When Prime Minister Zhong comes back, Dingzhou will probably be gone. This is the home of Manichaeism, and many members of the pseudo-Chu high-ranking generals are still living in Dingzhou.
More than ten days later, Zhong Quan arrived with a large army. Counting the civilians, there were more than 40,000 people.
Zhong Quan was short of food and eager to fight Bai Qi, but Bai Qi held on to the camp and refused to leave.
Yuanjiang County in the southwest had also been bombarded by the navy for many days. Huang Zuo persuaded him to surrender outside the city every day, and the guard Quan Cong began to waver.
But after all, he is still waiting and watching. Only when Chen Yang next door is gone will Quan Cong choose to surrender.
It was delayed until the "January Period", and Wang Yuan began to shout outside Lujiao Village: "General Zhou, a man who has made a promise of a thousand pieces of gold, are you going to break your promise?"
In the village, Leidejin said to Zhou Lun: "It's enough to lie to him for a month, but we can't really surrender."
Zhou Lun shook his head: "Chu will definitely be defeated, so why increase casualties? The soldiers in the village also have parents, wives and children. We cannot lead them to death. Gather all the soldiers."
Redjin remained silent. He did not want to betray his master and surrender to the enemy, but he wanted to save his life.
Zhou Lun is the chief general. If Zhou Lun surrenders, he will surrender. If Zhou Lun defends, he will defend.
The soldiers in the twin castles were all recruited by Zhou Lun to the suburbs on the east side between the two cities, but Wang Yuan did not take the opportunity to lead his troops to kill them.
Zhou Lun shouted to all the soldiers: "You have done your best to your majesty. Chu can't win. I have reached an agreement with the enemy general. As long as you put down your weapons, you can work as potters to support your family. Unfaithful and unjust people."
It’s me, and when I die, you don’t want to avenge me, just work hard and live a good life..."
Redjin was shocked: "We are about to surrender, so why talk about revenge?"
Zhou Lun turned towards Changsha, suddenly drew the knife across his neck, closed his eyes and was about to kill himself.
Lei Jin was standing next to him, and immediately jumped out when Zhou Lun drew his sword. The two fell to the ground, Lei Jin quickly pulled the knife away, but saw blood coming out of Zhou Lun's neck.
"Mr. Zhong, doctor, come here quickly!" Redjin stretched out his hand and pressed the wound and shouted.
The military doctor was receiving training below. While running towards Zhou Lun, he shouted to his apprentice: "Go get my medicine box quickly!"
In the afternoon of that day, Wang Yuan led his troops to take over Lujiao Village. Looking at the unconscious Zhou Lun, he sighed with emotion: "How is General Zhou?"
The military doctor sighed and replied: "Oh, there was too much blood, and it couldn't be stopped at first. Whether he can wake up depends on his own destiny."
Wang Yuan shook his head and left the room silently.