In early November last year, the Red Coat Army captured the cities of the Mizhou Prefecture.
Yi Lagu, the governor of Mizhou, died in the battle with Nie. Zou Gu, a veteran who had served as the military envoy of Dinghai and Taining armies, rallied his clansmen to resist. The Red Coat Army was unable to attack one after another and set fire to it in anger. Zou Guhe's clan was burned, and several others
Less than half of the city was also burned.
However, the more troubled the times, the more tenacious the people's ability to recover is shown. These days, there is an endless stream of pedestrians on the city's roads, and many shops along the streets have opened, and they look no different from the past.
Those burned ruins have been re-inhabited. Most of those people were refugees involved in the war. They pieced together the wood that had not been completely burned, built shabby shacks, and lived in them.
On weekdays, they either worked part-time for others in exchange for food, or gathered in groups to beg in front of the military camp.
Guo Jie'er, the governor of Mizhou appointed by Yang An'er, walked slowly along the street. He saw that many of these people were starved out of shape, their bodies were skinny and bones, and their eyes were like will-o'-the-wisps. He couldn't help but stop and take a second look, feeling a little sad in his heart.
The people were suffering under the rule of the Jin Kingdom, but there seemed to be no big difference under the rule of Marshal Yang. The refugees were still refugees, and the soldiers and bandits were still soldiers and bandits.
Guozhao'er couldn't help but laugh twice bitterly.
The refugees are just wandering around begging for work. Guo Yaoer sends people everywhere to suppress them every day to ensure that these refugees do not cause trouble. But banditry is the big problem!
Nowadays, most of the cities and towns in Zhucheng County that have not been burned have been turned into military camps. The size of Yang An'er's army is getting bigger day by day. People have heard that some say 200,000, some say 300,000, and some say 500,000.
Ten thousand.
Yang An'er used this to build up his army, so he naturally had the ambition to expand his territory.
Yang An'er's control area to the south is the Song Dynasty, which is a big country that can be compared with the Jin Dynasty. Even though the Song people are known to be weak, they cannot be easily provoked. To the east is the jurisdiction of Ding Haijun Jiedushi, where evil tigers are entrenched.
He can't be easily provoked either.
To the north are Damingfu Road and Hebei East Road. However, these two places were repeatedly swept by the Mongolian army. Hundreds of miles were wiped out, and it was no longer the way of the world. It is not difficult to capture some land, but from this desolate and broken land
What can be obtained from the land?
As a result, the only development direction left was Nanjing Road controlled by Sui Wang Wanyan Shouxu, which was indeed a rich and prosperous place.
At this time, soldiers and horses from all over Shandong were dispatched one after another, and they went to Jezhou and Xuzhou, claiming to have assembled an army of 300,000 people. The Jin army on Nanjing Road, with Wanyan Heda as the eastern capital, also assembled heavy troops in Caozhou.
Shanzhou, Guide Prefecture, and Suzhou are on the front line, confronting Yang An'er's troops.
However, although it is important to open up territory and expand territory, we must not forget the base. Mizhou is adjacent to Laizhou, which is controlled by the Ding Navy, so a large army is still stationed. As a veteran of Yang An'er's command, Guo Yao'er was ordered to lead the general
A large army to prevent the evil tiger from coming out.
But whether the so-called large army is effective or not, Guo Yao'er is not sure.
He, the commander-in-chief, is also a bit unworthy of his name. He is not very good at controlling these soldiers and horses, and since Marshal Yang started his army, these soldiers and horses have become less and less like soldiers and more like bandits.
Right in front of Guo Yao'er's eyes, a group of soldiers roared away in groups, and all the people and traders along the street fled.
There was a child selling steamed cakes on a street corner. He walked a step slower, and the bamboo basket placed in front of him was picked up by a soldier.
The soldier opened the coarse cloth covering the bamboo basket, looked at the cakes inside, smiled and picked up a few to share with his companions, then put a few more into his own arms, and then threw the empty bamboo basket back to the child.
, turned around and left.
The price of food in Michigan has risen sharply these days, and a bucket of rice and noodles can be sold for more than 700 yuan. Of course, the steamed cakes this little kid bought are not made of pure rice and noodles. They are mixed with many wild fruits, grains and even vegetable leaves.
, dark in color.
It was originally rough food sold to the poor to satisfy their hunger. The army had its own food supply, so I don't know what the soldier saw in this steamed cake.
The child watched the bamboo basket roll to him, his lips were depressed, and his eyes were red. He endured his fear, took a few steps forward, took the soldier's cuffs, and begged: "General, two coins!
A steamed cake only sells for two copper coins!"
The soldier ignored him completely and strode forward.
The child's legs were short and he could not keep up with the soldier's pace. He fell to the ground after a few steps. He grabbed the soldier's sleeves hard, and with a hiss, the sleeves of his uniform tore a big hole.
The child was so frightened that he trembled all over and sat down on the ground. The soldier looked at his sleeves in astonishment. Hearing the ridicule of his companions, he couldn't help but get angry. He flew up and kicked the child until he rolled over.
.
After a kick, the soldier walked away, but the child could no longer get up. He vomited blood in his mouth and murmured to himself: "A delicious steamed cake only costs two dollars."
Guo Jie'er quickly stepped forward and stretched out his hand to help the child. Halfway through, he turned to touch the child twice. He immediately knew that several of the child's ribs had been kicked and some broken bones had been inserted.
It caused severe bleeding in his lungs and he couldn't survive.
Guo Jie'er put down the child who was still mumbling and stood up slowly.
In this world, there is no difference between the death of a person and the death of a dog. He is a warrior who has experienced hundreds of battles, and he will not take a human life seriously. It is not that he has never killed a child with his own hands, but he vaguely feels that it must be
Something is wrong.
That day, Marshal Yang rebelled because the Jin Dynasty was cruel and cruel and harmed the people. But these days, as far as Guo Yao'er saw, many generals under Marshal Yang indulged their soldiers and even plundered everywhere... They and the Jin army again
what is the difference?
To the common people, the Jurchens are like wolves and tigers, knocking bones and sucking marrow; are the hundreds of thousands of people under Marshal Yang the same as Master Wang?
Is there any master in the world who would kill someone for a basket of steamed cakes?
When Guo Yao'er followed Marshal Yang in raising troops, he reminded the generals to pay attention to military discipline. However, only a few people such as Liu Erzu and Peng Yibin seemed to really respond to him.
Most of the powerful men under Marshal Yang were busy expanding their armies and territory after they raised their armies; while those under Liu Erzu, the poor people in Mount Tai, were busy scraping land to make money once they gained power. Everyone said that they would not give any money to the soldiers.
Good thing, who will be the soldier?
As a result, Shandong became more and more chaotic, and more and more strong men surrendered to the army. Once the army swelled like a snowball, the generals under Marshal Yang became more and more confident... Looking at it this way, it seems that the generals' statements are still very good.
Makes sense?
But Guo Yao'er still felt that something was wrong.
Not only is there something wrong with this group of people. Even many of the veteran generals under Marshal Yang, such as Zhan Hui, Wang Min and others, seem to have changed. They are thinking about the size of the army, the territory they control, and even their own official positions and national positions all day long.
I almost don’t recognize them anymore.
It's not just the military that's wrong.
Since the beginning of spring, there have been more and more refugees in various places. The scouts sent by Guo Yaoer reported that Ding Haijun seemed to be recruiting refugees continuously and then arranging settlements. Everything was in order, but in Mizhou, there was nothing.
In other words, in the vast area under the jurisdiction of Marshal Yang, no one managed government affairs.
After Marshal Yang raised his army, he used Jinshi Dong You as his arm in government affairs. However, Dong You seemed to be focused only on the talisman, edicts, and rituals of the Marshal's Mansion. His eyes seemed unable to see the chaotic situation underneath.
There must be something wrong, definitely!
But every time Guo Yao'er thought about this, his thoughts went into a dead end. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to solve the disgusting situation in front of him. After all, he was just a veteran. Besides fighting on the battlefield, he knew a lot.
few.
"That soldier is Ji Qi's subordinate."
Guo Yao'er stood up and walked out of the crowd, and said to his servant: "Send someone to find Ji Qi and tell him that this guy killed someone in front of me and didn't take Guo Jia'er seriously. I want his life."
When Marshal Yang attacked Binzhou last year, Ji Qi and Ji Xian fought hard and suffered heavy casualties. They were later transferred to the rear to garrison.
But the second general has never gotten rid of the habit of a bandit. In the past few months, he has almost never restrained the soldiers. Instead, he deliberately indulged them in order to win people's hearts. As for the training, let alone any training, there was no such thing.
The two of them were nominally ten thousand households, but in fact they were both under the same roof as Guo Yao'er but not under each other. As a result, things inside and outside Mizhou ended up like this.
Guo Jiao'er found a reason to let Ji Qi chop off the head of a subordinate soldier, but it only vented his own dissatisfaction and did not improve the situation at all.
This made Guo Jie'er even more angry. He quickened his pace and wanted to go back to his military camp, but he saw a subordinate walking slowly with a group of people across the street.
Among the group of people, there was a young master, a tall, thin and dark scholar, and a middle-aged man with gray hair... But only half of this man's left palm was left, and it was hung with a leather band on his arm.
A shining silver iron hook.
Guo Yao'er looked at the iron hook, and then looked at the way the middle-aged man walked and spoke. An extremely familiar feeling made Guo Yao'er immediately sure that he was a warrior who had been through life and death, and had been on the battlefield for many years.
Guo Yao'er pointed at that person and asked: "Who is that?"
The men on the left and right looked at each other and said cautiously: "Have you forgotten, Commander-in-Chief? That group of people are the merchants who came to meet with Commander-in-Chief today. We came out of camp just to welcome them?"