Chapter 223 The old man returns to the south and Nanyang chaos rises
"Shuai Qu, have you noticed that the recent battles are getting more and more difficult?!" Zhao Hong stepped forward and asked Qu Shuai Zhang Mancheng.
"You don't need to tell me that those aristocratic families have recently begun to organize volunteers to resist. Although it has not caused us much trouble, our army is fighting them day and night, and the soldiers will be more or less capable.
Damage will occur, and morale will be slightly lowered." Zhang Mancheng stared at it, his heart filled with helplessness.
There are more and more soldiers under his command, but most of them are ordinary people who have just used farm tools as weapons. Without any military training, there is no problem in fighting a smooth battle. In small and medium-sized battles, elite soldiers can also be used to stabilize the situation.
.
However, after small and medium-sized battles have been going on for a long time, the suppressive effect of the elite soldiers has obviously begun to decline. If the situation does not improve, I am afraid that a large-scale battle will be enough to completely disperse the team.
"How is the team's food and fodder?" Zhang Mancheng asked casually.
"The situation is not optimistic. If we don't get supplies, we will be out of food in three days at most." Han Zhong replied helplessly.
"The team is too big. Every time it passes a village, dozens or hundreds of people will join the team. Not to mention that after attacking the next county, most of the residents there will have to join." Zhao Hong complained dissatisfied.
"What's going on? Normally, those residents shouldn't be so proactive!" Zhang Mancheng was a little confused.
"What don't you understand?" Han Zhong also started to complain, "The team was still our Taiping Religion's army at the beginning, but after the leader issued the amnesty order, he began to recruit local people to join the team.
But among these people, there are many bandits from many places who have also defected. Under the leadership of these people, every time they break into a village or county town, the residents will join in under their half-persuasion, half-threat.
They joined the uprising team, so the number of people naturally increased rapidly.
After all, we are in an uprising, but they are taking advantage of this opportunity to strengthen their own power and quietly watch our development. To put it more simply, they are just a bunch of fence-sitters. If it is beneficial to them, they will
Which side to invest in.
And those residents who are being held hostage are just the weight they use in negotiations."
"It's just that we can't execute them yet, otherwise the momentum that the rebels have finally built up will probably dissipate like this. Let them be alone for the time being, but we must win over some of the trapped residents as soon as possible. We can't be too weak.
." Zhang Mancheng thought for a while and gave orders to his confidants.
"But what about the food and grass problem?" Han Zhong asked worriedly.
"Haha, don't worry about this. Our enemies have enough food for us to hold on to Luoyang!" Zhang Mancheng said fiercely.
"Still want to go there? He is an immortal!" Han Zhong was really a little scared.
"What are you afraid of? He is an immortal, am I not one? I have been practicing with the leader for ten years, and I have also joined the ranks of immortals. According to my estimation, if I fight with him, I will be at least 70% sure.
You can kill it!" Zhang Mancheng said confidently.
"But he won't stay where he is in these ten years?" Zhao Hong was also a little worried.
"Do you still remember what our spy reported? In the past ten years, he has spent most of his time teaching, educating people, and running the school. If we talk about cultivation, it can only be done after school in the afternoon and before going to school the next day.
It takes time to practice.
The training time is too short and intermittent, so the effect will naturally not be much better. I have already estimated that with his cultivation method, the state he has reached in the past ten years is probably a little lower than mine.
Do you think that I will go to him for revenge when there is no chance of winning?!" Zhang Mancheng looked around.
"That's not what I meant, I just wanted to be careful and make no big mistake." Han Zhong said with a smile.
"Yes, that's what I meant too!" Zhao Hong immediately agreed.
"Just run away if you can't beat him. There are so many mortals in our team. According to the rules of the cultivation world, as long as we blend into the crowd, it won't be that easy if he wants to catch us or kill us?" Zhang Mancheng didn't care.
Speaking of.
"Yes! How could I forget this!" Zhao Hong slapped his forehead fiercely.
After more than ten years, Zhang Mancheng, Zhang Ku's son who once occupied the ancient city, and a group of confidant thieves are back after being defeated by Xie Xin and Huang Zhong.
When they came back this time, they were no longer the thieves who fled in panic at the beginning, but the commander of the Taiping Sect, Fang Qushuai, and his generals.
They will not run away again this time, and they will never give up until Xie Xin's head is cut off to pay homage to the spirit of his parents in heaven.
"Qushuai, aren't we going to Luoyang? If we go down this road, we will reach Wancheng!" As soon as he rode up, Sun Xia, the Yellow Turban general, stepped forward to ask.
His identity is also not that ordinary. To put it bluntly, he is a kind of existence similar to a military supervisor or a military advisor. However, because he is not a direct descendant of Zhang Mancheng, he is not welcome.
"If we go directly to Luoyang, we will run out of food in three days at most. But if we enter Wancheng, we will have the opportunity to obtain a large amount of food and grass. Only with enough food and grass can we go north smoothly without having to capture Luoyang.
I will starve to death first." Zhang Mancheng replied calmly.
Although he was dissatisfied with Sun Xia, considering that everyone was a church member, he still tolerated it.
"Oh? There doesn't seem to be any large granary near Wancheng?" Sun Xia quickly discovered something was wrong.
"Indeed, there is not, but the Huaxia Academy in Zunyi Township has a large amount of food and grass stored there. According to the spies, their food and grass are enough for our soldiers to eat for at least six or seven years." Zhang Mancheng explained with a smile.
"Oh? If so, then it is indeed necessary to go there!" Sun Xia was obviously also worried about the problem of food and grass.
It's just that he still doubts, is it true that there is enough food and grass for six or seven years?
Yes, of course!
In the early days, the ancient city had hoarded so much food and grass, even much more than Zhang Mancheng reported. Later, the foundation of the ancient city was destroyed, and these things were divided among the generals as spoils of war.
But it cannot be denied that Xie Xin definitely has enough food and grass there. And with a magic weapon like the Qiankun Bag, hoarding a large amount of food and grass is no longer a dream, because when it is inside the magic weapon, even if it contains dozens of
Years of food will not go moldy or spoil.
It's just that Zhang Mancheng overlooked one problem. The production cost of the Qiankun bag is very high, and the space is not large. Even if it is used to hold grain, I'm afraid it won't be able to hold much. Not to mention, it has to be filled with such a large base of grain.
Okay, how many Qiankun bags will this cost?!
Faced with the big issue of food, the Yellow Turban generals all chose to compromise.
Therefore, the original order to attack Luoyang immediately was slightly changed here, and became an all-out attack on Wancheng and the surrounding areas in order to collect enough food and grass to go north.
"Kill! Eh?!" A yellow scarf thief shouted in shock.
After finally finding a village, when the Yellow Turban Army entered, they found that the people inside were already empty.
After careful inspection, I found that there was a thick layer of dust on the furniture of every house here, and they had obviously been gone for a while.
After careful inspection again, I found that apart from small animals such as mice and cockroaches, there was not a single larger wild cat. As for the residents in the village, let alone expect it.
And when there are no residents, how can we expect to collect food and grass here?
The answer is no. In this village, all the mice have successfully lost weight collectively.
"What's going on? Where have all the people gone?!" Zhang Mancheng felt strange after hearing the report from his subordinates.
"Could it be that he knew the direction of our army's march, so he immediately fled to those towns?" Sun Xia thought for a while and said.
"It's possible, but how did they know our marching direction?!" Zhang Mancheng didn't understand.
"What's so surprising? There are many old, weak, women and children in our team, which seriously slows down our marching speed. It would take us two days to complete the original one-day journey.
After finding out our direction, it is not strange to abandon the village and escape before we come, regardless of whether we will actually come here." Sun Xia explained helplessly.
"But we are about to run out of food and grass. What should we do if we can't resupply here?!" Han Zhong was anxious.
"Simple, there should be some in the town if there is none in the village. If there is none in the town, there will definitely be in the county. Don't we have a cavalry team? Send them all out to conduct reconnaissance near Wancheng to confirm the situation in each village, so as to save us from having to worry about it again.
It came up short.
And our main force is heading towards the city. I still don't believe that all the residents of Wan County have really disappeared?!" Sun Xia said sinisterly.
"Okay! Anyway, the cavalry can't be used to attack the city. Let's just let it out and conduct a thorough investigation! The objects of investigation are not limited to villages, but also towns, counties, and even county towns.
That’s it!” Zhang Mancheng immediately agreed.
For a moment, the cavalry dispersed, and Zhang Mancheng's main force began to move towards the nearest town. For Zhang Mancheng, a half-native, finding a town in Wan County was not a problem.
When they reached the nearest town, all the scattered scouts returned.
Sure enough, all the villagers from each village ran away. However, the residents in the city did not leave. It may be said that the villagers from each village were probably gathered inside.
"Haha, gather them all together so that we don't have to look for them one by one!" Zhang Mancheng laughed.
"That's right, they really take good care of us!" Other generals agreed.
"Boys, let's grab a good one!" Zhang Mancheng ordered with a smile.
And with his order, morale began to rise rapidly.
At the same time, outside Zunyi Township.
"How does it feel to lead the army for the first time?" Xie Xin smiled.
"At best, I am in the middle of the situation, and I am not going into battle myself. What should I be afraid of?! Besides, I have your eldest disciple to help me with suggestions. What do I have to be afraid of, little brother!?" Xie Yi replied with a smile.
At this moment, he was wearing armor and riding a bloody horse.
Behind him is an elite army, which is already in formation and is just waiting to go out.