The consequences of losing so many young and middle-aged men are self-evident. It will not only seriously affect production, but also make their safety situation extremely dangerous. Whether it is the hostile Han village or the Hakka village at the foot of the mountain, they will not let this go.
Opportunity. To ensure your own safety, the only way is to seek refuge in the Senate.
"...What are we going to do with them? We need to consume food, and kill them all like Zhou Liangchen said? That would be a blood feud - we have to recruit them next, and we can't do anything."
The two brothers Mo Songling and Mo Hongling and the four brothers Ma Tianju, Ma Mingju, Ma Junju and Ma Yunju were on the Lianzhou City Wall, across the moat, watching with interest the drills of the Australian troops stationed outside the city.
Although the Yao people who besieged Lianzhou have been defeated, the siege of Lianzhou has not yet been solved for the people in the city, except that the besiegers were replaced by Australians who called themselves Da Song.
However, the siege of the Australian city was much looser than that of the Yao people. Except for setting up camps outside the four gates and not allowing people with weapons to pass through, other places were undefended. People went out to collect firewood and fetch water without stopping them.
Come and go as you please. The atmosphere in and outside the city suddenly became a lot more relaxed.
It was in this relaxed atmosphere that these children were able to climb the city wall to "watch the troops."
In the past, they also watched the county's military training in the eastern suburbs. Lianzhou is located in the Yao District, where Han-Yao conflicts continue all year round. Because of the need to "prevent the Yao" all year round, the local military training
The situation is better than other places, and we can still fight. However, compared with the Australian soldiers currently training under the city, the gap is still too big. Although the opponent has no armor, the weapons and equipment on his body are all capable and capable.
At first glance, it looks like a "strong soldier".
"This Australian soldier really deserves his reputation," said Mo Songling, the eldest among the children. He is said to be the oldest, but in fact he is only fourteen years old.
Mo Yuqi, the grandfather of the two brothers of the Mo family, and Ma Chonghai, the grandfather of the four brothers of the Ma family, were good friends. The Mo and Ma families were both wealthy gentry families in Lianzhou. Although both old men were deceased, the two families had a long-standing friendship.
The brothers have been playing together since childhood. Even though they are only half-grown children now: the eldest Mo Song is only fourteen years old, and the youngest Ma Yunju is less than nine years old. They are all in the city.
The famous "children of aristocratic families". So they came to the city to "watch the soldiers", and the brave soldiers on the city did not dare to stop them. They were allowed to play at the top of the city.
Since the Yao people besieged the city, most of the elders of the two families have been away from home. They go to the state government office every day to discuss countermeasures. They have no time to care about them, and no one cares about their homework. These children have become wild horses. The war situation
In times of emergency, the city guards would not let them run to the city wall. Now that the battle has slowed down, they are happy to give the "young masters" a few rewards and let them "visit" as they please.
"Yesterday, the cannons fired for a long time, and the Yao people retreated. The Australians really fired hard."
"What's so interesting about cannons? No matter how powerful they are, there are them in this city. But it's the automatic boats in the river. I really want to see what they are like."
…
While they were looking at the top of the city, they were talking about the Fubo army that appeared outside the city. Cannons, large boats and other new gadgets all aroused the curiosity of the children.
Outside the city, Yang Zeng has roughly completed the siege of Lianzhou City. In addition to the outposts outside the city gates, a National Army squadron is deployed in the north of the city, one in the northeast of the city, and one in the east of the city. Artillery, Fubo Army
Both the company and the Li-Miao company were deployed on Yanxi Mountain. Yao people from Yonghua Township were stationed on the west bank of Lianjiang River. Gunboats patrolled along the north and south of Lianjiang River. On the seemingly loose front, in fact, the blockade of Lianzhou was already tight.
Breathable.
Neither Yang Zeng nor Huang Chao wants to attack Lianzhou City by force. First of all, their troops have been greatly reduced due to their deployment along the way. The troops currently deployed under Lianzhou City are not enough to attack Lianzhou City, and troops must be mobilized from other places.
.And the areas where troops are divided and deployed are indispensable for the control of the entire Lianyang area, and the transfer may cause instability in the entire area. Secondly, Lianzhou is the basis of their rule, and Huang Chao does not want to give the military and civilians in Lianzhou City
Leave the impression of "foreign conqueror".
In the flower hall of Lianzhou Prefectural Government Office, Zhizhou Cui Shizhao was discussing countermeasures with a group of gentry in Lianzhou City. Bapaiyao retreated, but one wave after another broke out, and Lianzhou City was still under siege. Now Bapaiyao replaced the siege.
The Australians are more ferocious. The "Lianzhou Chronicle" of the old time and space records that when Cui Shizhao was in office, he used his virtue to influence the rebellious Yao people and quelled the Yao rebellion in the eight years of Chongzhen. But now, in time and space, there are more
After the changes in the strategy of Guangdong and Guangxi, Cui Shizhao met the Australian elder before he could influence Ba Paiyao - his virtue obviously could not influence these rough people.
Badai Yao and Cui Shizhao know something about them and know some of their leaders. There are not many people in and outside the city who can deal with Badai Yao, and they can always talk to them. But they don’t know where they came from.
Australians, then no one knows how to deal with them.
Cui Shizhao also knew the name of the Australians, but in his opinion, the Australians were "overseas bandits". Although they could plunder Qiongzhou and invade Guangzhou, after all, they were far away overseas and had little to do with him. Until the Australians attacked
When news of the attack on Guangzhou came, he realized that the Australians were not simply pirates, but had other agendas.
Cui Shizhao's response to the surrender envoy sent by the Australians was "no surrender, no leave". Since he was the magistrate of Lianzhou in the Ming Dynasty, he had no reason to surrender; abandoning his official position and leaving was not his way of doing things. So the magistrate of Lianzhou
Some stubbornly stick to this place.
The whole morning's "discussions" passed in nonsense again. Cui Shizhao sighed. He first looked at the two candidates of the Mo family: Mo Jin was the son of Mo Yuqi, a Jinshi during the Tianqi period of Lianzhou.
, Juren Mo Yang is Mo Jin's cousin. Mo Yuqi passed the Jinshi examination when he was sixty-three years old, and became an official in Nanjing Taiping Prefecture. After serving for one term, he resigned and returned to his hometown, and died soon after. Mo Yuqi was in
Lianzhou has always been famous for its literary reputation, and has always attached great importance to the education of its nephews, and has trained two famous people, Mo Jin and Mo Yang. Therefore, the Mo family has always been very prestigious in Lianzhou City, and Cui Shizhao attaches great importance to their opinions.
But Mo Jin and Mo Yang looked at each other in a tacit understanding, and drank tea by themselves without speaking.
Cui Shizhao looked at the two brothers of the Zeng family again: Zeng Rushao and Zeng Ruzuan were the grandsons of Ma Xiangqian, a commoner during the Wanli period. Ma Xiang served as an official and went to Henan Province as the imperial censor of Qiandu. He successfully impeached Zhang Jing, the eunuch of Dongchang during the Wanli period, and then Ma Xiangqian.
He resigned and returned to his hometown of Lianzhou, regaining his surname Zeng. From then on, he devoted himself to the study of history until his death. Now, both Zeng brothers are old men in their fifties and sixties. Their energy is limited and they are tired from sitting all morning.
, and inadvertently dozed off, not noticing Cui Shizhao looking at the two of them.
Mo, neither the Zeng family expressed their opinions, Cui Shizhao felt bored, and looked at Ma Chengxiang, a family friend of the Mo family, who also seemed unwilling to say anything. Others, such as He Liangtian, Zhou Hong, Shi Yuheng and other famous people in Lianzhou,
They all looked reluctant to express their opinions.
As a last resort, Cui Shizhao turned his attention to his close friend Ma Tiyi in Lianzhou. Ma Tiyi shook his head. Cui Shizhao knew that he couldn't explain the reason again today, so he had to give himself a step up: "The luncheon is approaching, please go first."
Go home and rest, don't get caught in the heat, we will discuss the matter of retreating from the enemy tomorrow."
I don’t know how many times we have discussed how to retreat from the enemy. We didn’t have a clue when we first laid siege to Bapaiyao, let alone the more ferocious Australians. Several big bosses from the Mo family and the Zeng family with the most extensive connections had already
He made a judgment. Faced with the menacing Australians, Lianzhou City would definitely not be able to defend it. However, there were a few rotten scholars who could not leave their homes but insisted that there must be a way to retreat from the enemy, but they could not explain how to retreat from the enemy.
If you really want to talk about a solution, others will know that it is just talk on paper.
It's been very quiet these days. It's really because everyone is tired of talking and tired of talking - empty words will be empty words even if they are said a thousand times.
Fortunately, the Australians had no intention of attacking the city, so Lianzhou City continued to consume food. There was not much food in the city to begin with. As the food stock decreased, the soup kitchen shacks on the street have increased from two meals a day to one day.
With each donation, the porridge became thinner and thinner. Since Cui Shizhao was well-known in Lianzhou City, the gentry in the city were willing to donate food to the refugees, but if they continued to collect donations from these gentry, they would not be able to
They have to take all their own food. After all, there is not so much food in the city as in the countryside outside the city. If the salt merchants have food in their hands, they will definitely be willing to spend money to eliminate disasters, but in addition to salt, the salt merchants have silver, and these two
, Cui Shizhao doesn’t even need it.
When Babaiyao besieged the city, all the gentry in the city unanimously turned against the outside world and did not hesitate to destroy their families. Because once Babaiyao entered the city, not only would the entire city lose their wealth, but their lives would also be in danger; but when the Australians besieged the city, the gentry's
Opinions diverged, because the Australians had much better rumors than those Ba Pai Yao - as long as they surrendered in time, the common people and the gentry could keep their lives and property safe. Both the Mo and Zeng families felt that they could talk to the Australians.
, let's "seek compromise and take the long term." Even Cui Shizhao's close friend Ma Tiyi advised Cui Shizhao to talk to the Australians and come to a "decent result" so that Lianzhou City would not be destroyed.
But Cui Shizhao was unwilling, because this "decent result" was nothing more than surrendering to the Australians!
Cui Shizhao cares about his own reputation. But the details of Lianzhou City's grain depot forced Cui Shizhao to weigh the names of the people in the city and his own reputation. Now the grain stores in the city are expensive but not marketable.
, there is no more food for sale. Except for the well-off families and wealthy households who still have food in stock, the private food stock has been exhausted. It all depends on the government warehouse. The number of refugees queuing in front of the soup kitchen is getting more and more day by day, and Cui Shizhao knows that in a few days,
God, he can no longer take out half a grain of rice to make porridge for the refugees - Lianzhou City is about to run out of food -
Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 403