Then there was the news sent by the spies in the Guannai who were dispatched by Wang Xingkong from the front of the battlefield on the southern front.

Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Dasanguan also broke out in civil strife due to insufficient feeding and uneven distribution. Although Yang Fuguang, the capital prisoner who soon got sick, calmed down; However, more than half of the Badu men and horses who originally belonged to the Zhongwu Army still broke away from control and went south without permission.

And the small court of Chengdu at this moment is also too busy to take care of itself at this moment. Because the contradiction between Yang Shili and the late benefactor Tian Lingzi broke out, and led the troops to the southeast all the way to break through the blockade of Mianzhou, Hanzhou and other places, and defeated the escort army in the original north of Chengdu, and the soldiers came to Jinguan City.

Seeing that the entire southern front of the official army and the rear area were a "good situation" that collapsed everywhere, Zhou Huaian could only sit back and watch it happen helplessly for the time being. Because even if it forcibly sent troops to seize and occupy the territory, the Taiping Governorate lacked sufficient garrison forces and administrative manpower to control it effectively.

At present, the main forces of the Taiping Army are now divided into two fronts, the inner and outer fronts, and on the one hand, they are making every effort to encircle and suppress and clean up the mountain hut associations in Shannan, and on the other hand, they are used to sort out and stabilize the situation along the coast and inland of the five prefectures of the Xiajiang waterway.

The hinterland ruled by the Metropolitan Government is in the process of resuming production, and it cannot be easily interrupted, let alone arbitrarily transfer and squeeze out more valuable labor. At least not until the beginning of spring.

As for expecting the righteous army in the light to do something, it is even more impossible; Their poor and chaotic logistics deployment and transportation methods from beginning to end have caused many soldiers on the front line to freeze to death this winter; Not to mention taking the initiative in the absence of food and clothing.

But in any case, after taking the entire territory of Yuzhou, which is relatively rich and wide among the six prefectures of Xiajiang Province, it is equivalent to mastering the southern throat of the land of Bashu and a production area of grain and other resources that is not without minor supplements. In particular, the output of local well salt and stone salt has been supplied to most of the needs of Guizhou Middle Road.

Whether it is going south to threaten the territory of Qianzhou, or going north to attack the boundaries of Shanxi and Dongchuan respectively, or continuing to attack Xichuan in the west, there is an important bridgehead and a large advance base that can be attacked, retreated, and defended.

Therefore, it is said that during the suppression of the Xichuan Rebellion, the five major leaders led by Qianneng were subordinate, and some remnants who were unwilling to surrender to the official army and went up the mountain to hide also took advantage of this to flee one after another. Thinking of this, Zhou Huai'an suddenly had a rough idea.

"Send a message to Wang Chongba's department in Yuzhou, and ask them to send the former Fuzhou Sima Qu to Jiangling."

Zhou Huai'an then said to Mi Bao, who was waiting.

Although the Taiping Army temporarily lacked the army to control and govern the manpower, it still had some room in the corresponding supply and transportation of individual materials; What's more, there are also a large number of obsolete ordnance seized from the remnants of the official army and the rebel forces, which are waiting to be returned.

Even if you can't directly arrange troops to intervene and participate in the chaos in Sanchuan, you can still have some hope and plan if you add more fire and firewood to it, so that the turmoil will come more violently and last a little longer.

Then there was Gao Yu, the envoy of the Taiping Army, who sent back some observations and situation analysis from Guannei one after another. For example, in the winter when there was no war, the struggle for power and profit in the political hall of the Great Qi of the New Dynasty began to be somewhat superficial.

This can be reflected in the recent series of personnel changes in the Chang'an court, mainly concentrated between Zhao Zhang, Cui Miao and Zhang Junru other than Shangshu Ling Shangrang; It is surrounded by the authority of financial planning and personnel control after the operation of the Great Qi Imperial Court.

For example, Liu Tang, who was born in the old school headed by Zhao Zhang, was accused of fraud and lost his title as the left waiter of the household department. and Li Wenhui, the Honglu Temple Qing who was retained through Cui Miaomen's Road, was convicted of having his house raided and imprisoned on suspicion of secretly communicating with the old dynasty.

Then, Wang Huili, a close confidant under Zhang Junru, the head of the scholars, who participated in presiding over the scientific examination, was posted on the street to accept heavy bribes from more than a dozen candidates, and even set the ranking in the top list of the Eastern Capital early; It is now awaiting trial in the Imperial Observatory.

These things are mixed together in a mess, and they are already making a lot of noise in Chang'an; He even ordered the forces of Jingzhao Mansion to suppress and restrain him, and then arrested a group of "gossip confusing the public" to follow suit, so he was able to suppress it for the time being.

In contrast, Shang Rang's adopted son Shang was whipped in public on the street, colliding with Wen Ziyi, the captain of the city patrol who was driving, and almost caused a fire between the Taiwei Mansion guards and the city patrol army. The palace army made Huang Sihou break into the former prime minister's mansion and occupy his wife and daughter, which can only be regarded as a small episode.

After a long while, I saw Yang Shigu walk in and hand over a list with his own hands.

"The matter that the governor confessed before, some of the stakeholders have been investigated, and several chambers of commerce and Xingdong, which are close to each other, and the families behind them are all on the top."

"These people involved don't move for the time being, just put them on the key watch list; At least their motives and starting points are still based on the large collective of the Taiping Army. Zhou Huai'an thought for a moment while looking at it before saying.

"But don't let these families go, since they dare to participate in this kind of thing, then be ready to accept the corresponding costs and consequences. Try to find a reason to dispose of it under the existing law. ”

Hundreds of miles away, in the Funiu Mountains in the northern part of Shannan East Road, at the end of the twists and turns of the rugged canyon in the troubled times, in front of the large mountain shed stronghold where the Taiping army lived in danger, was already full of blue flags and temporarily established positions of the Taiping army.

The shackled stockade, which occupies the entire ridge and the flat top, is surrounded on either side by deep cliffs, and only the other two narrow roads turn upwards in zigzags; And on the two roads covered with snow, there were also some scattered corpses, all of which were defeated and fled back to the mountain shed Ding Zhuang.

In the late autumn along the mountain road step by step, these stubborn mountain shed tribes and core members of the clan who have been greatly reduced in the space and scope of their activities, but have always refused to surrender or have other illusions, still can't help but come out to rob the villages and towns outside the mountains under the hunger and cold of winter;

Then, unsurprisingly, they fell into the trap of the Taiping army, which was waiting for them; Every Tunzhuang and village that has established joint defense and mutual protection will be vigilant in an instant. While firing arrows and stabbing forks at thieves who had tripped or stepped into a trap outside the fence, they used gongs and drums and firelight to alert the approaching checkpoints and guards.

As a result, many of the associations in the mountain sheds were scattered by the Taiping cavalry who rushed in, and they were successively ragged like pigs and sheep, freezing to death in embarrassment, and starving to death on the way to escape. If it weren't for the fact that they had not found such a rather hidden stronghold in the mountain shed, it is estimated that these fish that slipped through the net would not have had a chance to escape back.

Now, it's time for the final step and the most difficult part of this hundred-foot journey. Even though the remaining guards were mixed with many old and weak women and children, they still resisted stubbornly according to the steep mountain terrain, and repelled several tentative attacks.

Even Min Miao, the captain of the Guiyi Regiment who went into battle in person, was cracked by a bowl of big stones, and had to cover his bloody head and slide down the wet mountain road;

"Quickly carry Lao Tzu's hundred-pound cannon and kill his turtle son."

Min Miao, who was covered in heat and sweat mixed with the blood on his face, shouted loudly to the left and right after being captured.

"Back to the captain, the pack horse of the hundred-pound cannon has broken its hooves, and it is still being carried on the road."

An old-looking sergeant with a "flame" armband hurriedly replied

"What about the 100-crack gun (pine cannon) and the curly mouth big gun (leather cannon)."

Min Miao asked again.

"It's all carried by the auxiliary guards, and they haven't come up in the back team."

The sergeant continued.

"Is there any other way to do it in the fire team?"

Min Miao said again.

"If you don't get close enough, the grenadiers can't even throw them on their heads, but they're knocked down."

The sergeant continued to pour cold water.

"So what else do you have to use?"

Min Miao was a little angry.

"Report to the captain, a firearm has been delivered"

At this time, someone shouted in a timely manner.

Moments later, as the whistle blew again, under the cover of the slow advance of the sturdy iron-clad big cards, the few Spitfire Mines (Hale rockets) were also pushed into close enough range to be erected against the highest range.

Only a few bangs were heard, and a few twisting fires rose in the enchanting smoke and snow dust, and then the crooked arc fell on the wall and the inside, bursting with smoke and bright rising firelight, as well as all kinds of screams and screams.

At this time, in the direction of the slightly lower cliff behind the stockade, there was suddenly a fierce shout of killing, and an arrow with a fire light was shot into the air.

"Little Deng also got his hands on it. Come with me. ”

Min Miao couldn't help but shake up and roar, and when he first crossed the big card that was covered, he climbed over the edge of the ridge where the stockade was located, and then struggled to stick a nail on the top, and slashed fiercely between the closed door panels with an axe in his hand, and cut out a gap that could be seen through three times and five divided by two.

The armoured sergeant who followed him swung his thick-backed sword and repeatedly slashed at the horizontal bar of the thick door panel, and a moment later smashed under the clanging rubble above his head, and together he broke a gap large enough for half of his body to pass through.

A sergeant in armor leaned in, and was stabbed by several bamboo spears sticking out of the corner at the same time, screaming in pain, but he was ruthless against the blood stabbed out of the gaps in the thick armor and cotton robes, and squeezed in and knocked several people with bamboo guns to the ground, and then leaned to the side with the wounds.

Then more sergeants rushed in, and together they tore the entire portal to the ground; Only then did Min Miao see clearly that the bamboo gunmen who had gotten up from the ground in a panic were emaciated women and teenagers.

But without mercy, he swung his knife forward and slashed at them, slashing them down and cutting them to the ground one after another; At least according to military regulations, until the end of the battle, anyone who dares to take up arms against him will only be an unforgivable enemy.

Not to mention just looking at the old and new corpses that were abandoned under the cliffs, how many of the women and children who are still resisting in these mountain sheds are really innocent and innocent. In other words, perhaps only those children who are not yet sensible are the ones who can be forgiven, saved, and transformed.

After an unknown amount of time, Min Miao stood in front of the wooden ancestral hall that had become blazing, and looked at his bloodied, black-haired deputy Deng Xina, who rushed out with two captives and threw them on the ground with a strong voice.

"Captain, there are only these two left in the lead."

At this time, the captives, who had been driven together, screamed and cried out in despair. Then some ragged people who had been found out of the huts in the ground were brought to Min Miao, but they couldn't help but shout and curse at the captives.

"Captain, they're tied up in the back kitchen, and some of them are no longer good."

As soon as Min Miao wanted to stop it, he saw a sergeant come over and whispered.

"Someone ran away from the back mountain." At this moment, another shout rang out, which immediately diverted their attention. Immediately, Min Miao led people to the mountain wall behind the stockade, and saw many figures jumping down and falling into the snow.

Some of them hit rocks or hung on bare trees, and a large patch of blood faded, some were still struggling in the thick snow, and some had already crawled out and run some distance.

Then the Taiping soldiers fired their crossbows and threw them one by one into the snow, but a few of them were able to escape into the cover of the forest

Of course, even after this battle, there may be some remnants who will flee to other small and medium-sized strongholds in the Funiu Mountains; But without enough people and supplies to help each other, this extraordinarily harsh winter would be enough to wipe out most of them.

And this is also a microcosm of the common encounter of most of the mountain hut strongholds in the Funiu Mountains.

- I'm the dividing line -

And in the besieged city of Chengdu in Xichuan, it was frozen on the edge of the battlements.

"Why don't you respond inside and outside, just to eradicate the Tian brothers and their henchmen?。。

Liu Jurong, who fled back from the front line, also said to Zhang Jun, a bachelor in the military department, with some excitement.

"Obviously, the Holy Lord has moved with something. That Yang Shili also pointed out that the head of the Tian clan was to be explained. Missed this reason.,The Holy Lord was already happy and nostalgic and I'm afraid I can't figure it out.。。 ”

"That's why we can't move around easily and waste this opportunity. If you really kill the Tian family at the request of the Yang thief, then where is the dignity and prestige of the Son of Heaven and the court, and my generation will not become the same party of the Yang thief. ”

Zhang Jun explained helplessly.

"In any case, the Holy Lord will not easily promise to risk his own chaos at this time, kill his close ministers and do what the enemy wants. Not to mention that there is also the unclear attitude of Gao Renhou to lead troops outside, this is also the Tian brothers were lucky to avoid it, and it is also a turning point. ”

"The most unfortunate thing is to find out the fundamental difference between the fundamental attitude of this capable general, who is known for his benevolence, towards the Holy Lord and the Tian family. Otherwise, it's just that Yang Shi is standing in front, and the story of Gao Renhou will repeat itself sooner or later. ”