In the spring of the eighth year of Qianfu, there were thieves trapped in Jiangdong, Xuanrun could not survive, and his father and elders were all abandoned.

"Jiang Ningzhi"

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Under the city of Dantu, the Taiping green flag is displayed like a forest.

It is surrounded by Jingfang Mountain and Gouli Mountain in the Ningzhen Mountains to the west and south, backed by the mighty Yangtze River in the north, and adjacent to the southern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in the east; It is one of the few places in the terrain of the water towns of the Southern Jiangsu Plain.

However, the so-called victory is surrounded by the green flag thief army all over the mountains, and there are still wandering thief army sailors on the river to echo it, which is particularly ridiculous. Although he is old, he is still clothed all over his body, and Zhou Bao, the envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu who is standing on the head of the city, is also looking at these enemies outside the city expressionlessly.

With the sudden attack of Jiangning's Taiping thieves, Ding Congshi, who went to meet and intercept him, was defeated; The momentum of the official and military counteroffensive in Runzhou and the victory in all directions took a sharp turn for the worse almost in a few days.

Although Ding Congshi, who was defeated, had already fled back safely, and brought the news that the soldiers were strong and the weapons were sharp among the grass thieves, and let the Dantu city be on guard in advance and wait for the enemy.

But then these Taiping thieves broke Jurong City again, and in a very short period of time, they successively fell into Lishui, Yanling, and Qu'a, which were still in the hands of the official army, and slaughtered the gentry, officials and people with little escape, and finally surrounded the Zhenhai Lisuo Dantu City with their divisions.

Therefore, now the Dantu city has returned to a scene where people are panicked and frightened every day. It was only because he sent tooth soldiers to patrol the neighborhood day and night, cut off hundreds of heads that "bewitched the people" and "opened their eyes for thieves", and swore to recruit strong men in the treasury during the day, thinking that the cooperation and preparation of the enemy in the city stopped and calmed down.

Despite this, the news and rumors that those who had been sent out to fight the thieves, the soldiers who had united with them, and the men and horses who had come to the aid and help in the war had been destroyed by the thieves, were still secretly spread in the city like wildfires in the wasteland.

Therefore, he could only come out of the comfortable and prosperous festival hall of the festival, and stand on the head of the city with his old beard and frost and snow, wearing military uniforms, and showing his face from time to time on the pretext of inspection, thinking that it was the key to encouraging and uplifting, and calming people's hearts.

And these thieves outside the city, known as "Hip Thieves", "Taiping Thieves", "Green Flag Thieves" and "Gray Fir Thieves", are really different from usual. Even a simple camp formation revealed a certain order and order called the Order and Prohibition, without the chaos of his earlier crusade and past those grass thieves, or noisy or wanton.

This also made him more vigilant and cautious, and more conservatively and firmly rejected the proposition of his subordinates asking for orders before the battle, and taking the division of troops as a test to attack; After all, the remaining military horses in this city are still the elite of the Zhenhai camp, and they are also considered to be demoralized, but they are relatively limited in scale; If you make a slight mistake, you will not only lose your spirit, but also shake your control over the city.

You must know that since he took office as the envoy of Zhenhai Jiedu and passed through western Zhejiang, he has not been less in the name of preparing for the enemy and the imperial court, and apportioned many levies and encompassing items in the city and localities; It has also attracted a lot of criticism and backlash. It's just that for a long time, most of them have not had the opportunity to arrive in Chang'an, and they have become a pretext used by political enemies to criticize and attack their own homes.

Although, a considerable part of the income and income of these are turned into expensive goods that are regularly loaded into the north to transport to the hometown, or more than a dozen mansions, pavilions and kabuki music in the city; However, compared with those town commanders and guards who are three feet high in the blue sky, and the moats are deserted and the armor is in disrepair, he can use his useful support to expand the army, manage the city defense, and build armor, which can be regarded as a conscience and bottom line.

Fortunately, this time, those big families and wealthy families in the city who have always been quite controversial and criticized heard about the tragic encounters of the officials, gentry, and survivors of wealthy families who escaped from other places after the Taiping Thief City was broken; It is also the agreement of the rabbit and the fox in the south who are sad and hateful to the enemy.

Almost unanimously, they generously donated money or ruined their families, and each contributed money and enthusiastically donated food and grass for use; There are even people who have gathered their school-age children to join the army and ask for war. is the so-called momentary and human beings who are available to the people, which gives him a little more confidence and support when facing the enemy.

Therefore, as a good general who is old and serious, he would rather carry out long-term fortification with evidence, until the thief is tired or weak, and then he can see the flaws and weaknesses, and fight back and reverse the situation.

"The corresponding rewards are enough."

Thinking of this, he once again asked loudly in public to many subordinate officials, including grain judges, small envoys, and military planners.

"Is there enough money in the treasury?"

"Is it counted according to the number of heads?"

"Do the soldiers have any reactions and requests?"

"The newly recruited volunteers and Ding Zhuang in the city, the money and food have been paid."

"If you return to Linggong, all the rewards will be sent."

The grain judge, the small envoy, the military planner and others also solemnly reported loudly.

"The money, grain, cloth, and materials in the treasury are still abundant and sufficient to support them for several years."

"All the food, clothing, money, and food and wine were all received by the battalions, regiments, brigades, and teams, and they watched them receive them in person."

"Although Ling Gong is relieved, the soldiers are all satisfied, and they are willing to follow Ling Gong to kill the enemy and repay it."

"The volunteers and strong men in the city are also well-fed and clothed at home, so they don't have to worry about the future."

"Nevertheless, you must not be neglected, all the soldiers are my brothers. The people of the city who are fighting are with my children. ”

Then hearing this, Zhou Bao couldn't help but say louder, half admonishing and half admonishing.

"You must be as conscientious and diligent as ever, so that my hands and siblings will not fall into hunger and cold, and my children will not be killed by thieves."

"Only obey the teachings of the Public."

"Don't dare to make any mistakes."

Left and right suddenly bowed in unison.

Of course, since the siege of the city by the thieves; Something like this would be repeated in public in different places and sections of the city every day when he went up to the city to make his rounds.

Although this is a bit deliberately gracious, it still has an uplifting and motivating effect in a short period of time. At least the shouts of "Ling Gong Might" and "Ling Gong Kindness" above and below the city are basically not fake.

An important reason why he can be called the "good general of the four dynasties" is that in addition to the means and ability to govern the army, he is also good at management and accumulation; When he was the envoy of Jingyuan Jiedu, he once reclaimed the army and the people to cultivate the land, and he was able to gather 200,000 grains that year, and praised Emperor Wuzong for his ability to say "this is a good general of the court"

And when he came to Zhenhai's tenure, he also did not lose his true character as a "good general"; Almost all the people in the southeast who can make a profit are indispensable to his subordinates and other people who are involved in it; Therefore, in just a few years, both the public treasury and the private residence have accumulated a lot.

Of course, what he was most proud of was that when he concurrently served as the deputy envoy of Jiangdong Transport, he set up a special collection of investigation institutes in Wangyi, Fujun Prefecture, and appointed Xue Lang and others to urge the survey of Duzhi; Under the rule of Zhenhai, the annual three-point wealth used to send the court, stay in the state, and return to the town not only has a significant increase, but even can continue to pay a large amount of money to Chang'an's inner to serve the Son of Heaven.

On the other hand, although he had a reputation for accumulating and loving goods like most vassal commanders, he did not lack the clothing, food, and money of his soldiers during his tenure, and the routine rewards and New Year's favors were always paid in full; This is also a great benefit of being the envoy of Zhenhai (western Zhejiang) and sitting on many rich counties in the southeast.

Whether it is Run, Chang, Su, Hu or Hangzhou, Mu Prefecture, is located in the fertile field of thousands of miles above the land of fish and rice, although these years of war has not stopped, but compared with other places of folk accumulation is still quite rich; As long as you scratch the idea and squeeze it, you can find a way to get money and food.

However, when he walked back to the heavily guarded tower, he suddenly slowly relaxed as if he had changed his person, and a swarmed maid and slave maid rushed up to relieve him of his gorgeous luan bag and heavy armor, and held gold and silver utensils, perfume, and scarves, and washed his face and combed his hair;

Then he was carefully supported and leaned on a soft couch paved with wolf and tiger skins. Several more concubines with thin waists and white skin came around, massaged and beat him from head to toe, and then fell asleep in some kind of obvious snoring.

After all, after saying so much in a pretentious manner and touring many places; He is already in his sixties, and he can't help but show fatigue and fatigue; If he had galloped horses a year or two earlier, why would he have to sit in the middle of the city in the face of a few grass thieves, and rely on the distant support of his subordinates who were not safe and reliable.

However, his sleep at the head of the city was destined to last long, when he was awakened by the sound of noise and drums.

"The thieves are attacking the city."

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And on Gouli Mountain, which can only be regarded as a low mound outside the city, Zhou Huai'an is also observing the enemy's situation. Or to observe the reaction and response from the defenders of the city when the troops responsible for the feint rushed forward.

After gathering and gathering those defeated rebels, Zhou Huai'an asked people to choose as strong as possible, and temporarily reorganized into six full-strength temporary battalion heads; And it is these temporary units that are responsible for the feint attack in turn.

Of course, he didn't expect to rely on these rearmament motley cards, and after a little training, he would be able to burst into battle and rush to the city; As long as they can lift their shields and push the cards a little bit to bulldoze and dismantle the horses, fences, and pits;

Then one by one, they smashed the newly built sheep and horse wall, and even covered the husbands carrying dirt bags and firewood and grass in batches, and threw them into the moat and then retreated. Like any decent siege to siege, slowly cannibalize and fill in the obstacles on the perimeter.

It was accompanied by a day and night clamor and harassment, further exhaustion and slackening of the spirit of the defenders, the morale of the follow-up subordinates.

However, the real military focus of the Taiping Army is not this famous city that needs to pay a considerable price in a short period of time to have a certain probability of taking down. Although it was the only remaining power hub in Jiangnan for the Zhenhai Jiedu Envoy and the Tang Dynasty in southern Zhejiang, the Dantu had considerable political and military significance and symbolic value for their rule.

However, for the Taiping Army, which did not plan to open another sub-base far from the base area and occupy it for a long time, it was like a chicken rib that had no meat to eat and abandon it. It is good if it can be defeated, but the cost of subsequent governance and maintenance is somewhat outweighed by the loss.

Therefore, at present, according to the strategy of the Taiping Army led by Zhou Huai'an, the main purpose is to take the initiative to find favorable fighters in a limited time, and to eliminate as much as possible the local living forces led by the official army under the favorable home field formed during the movement; It would be better to have access to various resources and products by the way.

After the armed forces in Jiangnan that supported and supported the imperial court were wiped out or greatly weakened by the rebel army sweeping across the border; Naturally, there were peasant rebels of all kinds to fill the corresponding gaps and achieve certain long-term and latent goals that were both harmful to others and self-interested.

Of course, at this stage, this kind of thing cannot be sued, but can only be done quietly and slowly digested in a muffled manner. For this reason, even the four cities that were defeated all the way by this dispatch were handed over to the rebel headquarters who were attached to the war.

Rather, it only emptied most of the resources available in the city, and forcibly took away all kinds of specialized people such as craftsmen, craftsmen, monks, and students; and five categories of people who are closely related to the old regime and are included in the blacklist.

Of course, the cities handed over to these other rebels were not done with good intentions; I just hope that they can maintain order for a while, and not become a help from the official army. At the same time, it is also a potential decoy and pawn to attract officers and troops to attack and create new fighters.

(End of chapter)