Yan Yuemeng said cautiously: "Military envoy, if there are no more prisoners, just catch them again." The young and strong people in the entire Dingzhou www.biquge.info are all coerced by Zhong Xiang, and there will be opportunities to catch them in the future. In the last battle, General Niu Gao had met with the thief army, and if he told the prisoners to flee back, he had to be afraid of being recognized by the thieves. In this way, wouldn't it hurt General Niu. ”

"Yes." Wang Shen nodded.

As for what those captives were used for, or how to pacify the rebellion of Zhong Xiang, Wang Shen had already made a plan. It's just a matter of following real history, and you don't have to think too much at all.

In real history, the small dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty did not spend much time and energy to quell the Zhongxiang Rebellion.

At that time, the leading general who suppressed Zhong Xiang was Wang Shen's "old friend" Kong Yanzhou.

After Lao Kong came to Hunan, he initially adopted the same strategy as Li Cheng, except that everyone sent troops to rob villages and towns, massacre the people, create no man's land, and greatly weaken the war potential of Manichaeism.

But in the end, Kong Yanzhou felt that it was not a way to go on like this. This kind of fighting method of killing 1,000 enemies and losing 800 self, in the end, once Dingzhou's war potential is exhausted, everyone will not be able to stand here. Manichaeism will definitely withdraw to other places, and it will not be in vain.

So, when he couldn't hold on anymore, Kong Yanzhou stuck a bamboo stick into his hair every time he caught a Manichaean captive, and released him.

A line of small words was written on the bamboo stick: "If the master is resting, I will rest, and I will still take a boat to the east." ”

Meaning: If you don't go against me, Lao Tzu won't bother to care about you. I don't want to fight this battle, it's a big deal to leave through the road.

At the same time, while Zhong Xiang's defense was lax, he sent spies to pretend to be in the law and blend with Zhong Xiang's side. In the end, there was an inside and outside combination, and Zhong Xiangsheng was captured alive.

Since Lao Kong has done a good job in real history, Wang Shen intends to do the same.

It is also because of this history that Wang Shen dared to say that he could quell the Manichaean rebellion in a short period of time when he sent troops from Anlu.

It's just that the question now is how to find Zhong Xiang's lair.

Originally, when Wang Shen first entered Lizhou, the situation of the enemy and us was very clear. Zhong Xiang took the absolute initiative against Li Cheng on the battlefield, occupied a large number of prefectures and counties, and the decision-making center of his puppet court was also located in the capital of Lizhou. In this way, the task of the backing army is simple, and it is enough to defeat one city after another.

But as he marched all the way on the battlefield, the shape of the war changed.

Seeing that he could not resist Wang Shen's offensive head-on, and there was no chance of winning the field battle, Zhong Xiang divided his troops into pieces and started a guerrilla war with him in a small team.

Zhong Xiang burned official mansions, cities, temples, temples, and Haoyou houses in the three prefectures of Hunan, killed officials, Confucian scholars, monks, witch doctors, and diviners, distributed the land and looted property equally among the believers, and exempted all soldiers who joined his army from forced labor and taxes, which was very confusing.

Now that he has given up the state and county to hide the soldiers in the people, it is really a bit of a vast ocean.

When the Sizhou army was marching, the kind people he had seen one moment ago turned into fanatical followers the next moment, shouting and brandishing weapons to kill, making him unable to guard against it.

For a while, the soldiers of the Sizhou Army looked at anyone and thought that they were enemies, and they didn't know what to do?

Moreover, wherever the troops were stationed, they were subjected to endless harassment by the enemy day and night. When the troops were gathered to counterattack, the enemy did not know where to run.

This is the first time that the Sizhou Army has fought such a war since it became an army, and it really means to be tied. This state of affairs lasted for a while, and there were many complaints in the army, and morale was very low.

It was also because of this situation that Wang Shen asked the soldiers to practice the mandarin duck formation, and also dispersed the troops, squad against squad.

However, squad-versus-squad can only win tactically, and cannot solve the problem in the end.

In order to completely quell the rebellion in Hunan, Zhong Xiang must be dug up.

The question is where the so-called court of Zhong Xiang is now, but Wang Shen doesn't know anything. Even if the captives were caught, the captives replied that Zhong Xiang had built many forts and cottages in various states, and no one knew where he had gone.

There was no choice but to let Niu Gao and Wei think back to see if they could find Zhong Xiang's whereabouts.

In addition, Li Cheng has been in Dingzhou for half a year, and he has also exchanged hands with Zhong Xiang countless times, so maybe he can get some useful information from him.

Yan said that Meng saw that Wang Shen didn't seem to be angry about Yue Yun's killing of the prisoner, and continued to persuade: "Military envoy, those demons have been bewitched by the cult and have lost their humanity, so they will not surrender at all. It's hard to believe that he also contains three meals a day, and if he puts it back, he is afraid that he will be the enemy of our army in the future. After coming to Hunan for a while, in fact, his subordinates already understood why Li Tianwang would slaughter the people. In fact, the people who are still alive now, who are not the benefits of Zhong Xiang. Since he has received the benefits of the Demon Sect, no one is innocent. ”

"In an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent...... However, he felt that it was wrong for Li Tianwang to do this. A person's head is not a leek, and it won't grow any longer if it's cut. Why would such a person be deceived by the bewitchment of the cult, could it be that in the Song Dynasty, the local officials were not responsible? Wang Shen smiled bitterly: "This kind of war is really unpleasant!" ”

Yan Yue Meng disagreed: "Rebellious ministers and thieves, everyone gets to be punished, and when it is an extraordinary time, as long as the purpose is correct, it doesn't matter what means are used, whether it is correct or not." "He is a person who is enthusiastic about fame, and since he made Wang Shen's military praise painting and was in charge of the central liaison, he has never felt so happy.

I secretly said in my heart: The big husband is standing in the world, and when Jiuding eats, the kindness of the woman is unacceptable. Military envoys sometimes have too good hearts, and if they don't do it well, they will do bad things. So many of us entrust our net worth and name to him, but we can't let him do what he wants. If you should advise, you will advise, and if it really doesn't work, you will do the dirty work for him first.

Now Sizhou has swelled into a huge interest group, with backers in the imperial court, its own army and civil affairs system at the local level, and can collect taxes on its own and use the manpower and material resources it can use, and can appoint and dismiss officials on its own. With almost the entire Jianghan Plain encompassing in the past year, it has become the most powerful feudal town of the Song Dynasty.

The officials in the entire Sizhou military system are mainly composed of two kinds of people. One is a military man like Yue Yun, Hu Yantong, and Gu Lie, who doesn't want anything and only knows how to fight; The other is a gentry like Yan Yue Meng who were depressed in the past. In particular, this second type of people, although they do not know how to march and fight, they are skilled in human feelings, familiar with local people's conditions, and have first-class ability to do things. Once they taste the taste of power, they naturally can't stop, and they have firmly tied their personal fate to Wang Shen. I just wish that the power of the king's military envoy was greater, as for the rest, even the imperial court, who cares in such troubled times!

That's right, with the expansion of the strength of the Sizhou army, there are already such things as ambition breeding in everyone's hearts.