Do not kill or commit adultery. Plunder, do not plunder, do not slaughter oxen, and do not set fires.

These five military disciplines are Qi Hao's words to Zhou Shixiang, and they are also the military discipline of the Great Western Army issued by Li Dingguo when he went out of Yunnan to resist the Qing Dynasty, and these five military disciplines effectively guaranteed the military discipline and combat effectiveness of Li Dingguo's department, and indirectly guaranteed the subsequent victory of Guilin and Hengbao.

Since the establishment of the camp in Luoding, the military discipline of the Taiping Army has been strict on the whole, but there are also dissatisfactions.

The Taiping army went to Xiangshan in order to use Xiangshan as a base to oppose the Qing Dynasty, rather than continue the previous mobile warfare, so Zhou Shixiang adopted Qi Hao's five military disciplines and ordered that all battalions were not allowed to coerce the people in the future, and Song Xianggong and Liao Fuzi should also start preparing to govern the place.

Of course, not killing people does not mean that the Taiping army will not kill anyone when they arrive in Xiangshan, the Qing Dynasty officials who resist will definitely be killed, the local gentry who refuse to cooperate with the Taiping army will also be killed, and their daughters and goods will definitely be robbed. This is all the enemy of the Taiping Army, and it is really against heaven not to rob them.

Ploughing cattle is the most valuable wealth of the people in this era, Guangdong has a pleasant climate, and rice is planted everywhere, there are two crops a year, and there are three crops a year. The cultivation cycle of rice is extremely short, and as long as the management is strong, the field production can fully support the Taiping Army's long-term operations. In the cultivation of rice fields, ploughing cattle are indispensable production materials, and a ploughing ox can top several strong laborers, which also has a great effect on saving manpower.

Now that the Taiping Army has abandoned the policy of coercion and turned to local management as a long-term solution, it is natural that the houses of the common people will no longer be set on fire, and may even be repaired.

After the promulgation of the five military disciplines, it was warmly supported by more than 100 soldiers from the original Xiangshan Green Battalion. When these soldiers from Xiangshan were in the Qing army, they killed people and set fires to other places, and did all kinds of evil. But when they are stationed in their hometown, they are much more honest, this is the normal feeling of people, and no one who is hard-hearted will do evil to their hometown.

The five military disciplines promulgated by the Taiping Army are obviously to protect the people of Xiangshan, and these Xiangshan soldiers do not support it. They were worried that the Taiping army would cause damage to their hometown after they arrived in Xiangshan, and they were hesitant and embarrassed, but now they are completely worried. Single-mindedly to seek Xiangshan for the Taiping Army......

From the mouths of those Xiangshan soldiers, Zhou Shixiang also had a general understanding of the continuous anti-Qing war in the Xiangshan area in recent years.

After the late crown prince Zhang Jiayu was martyred in Zengcheng, his general Li Wanrong led the remnants to retreat to the mountainous area in Xiangshan to continue the anti-Qing Dynasty. When Li Dingguo's army attacked Xinhui last year, Li Wanrong also led his troops to echo and led his troops to advance to Guangzhou, indirectly containing the Qing army in Guangzhou. After Li Dingguo withdrew at the beginning of the year, Li Wanrong's lone army was difficult to support, and was forced by the Qing army to Wutong Mountain, Qiniang Mountain and other mountainous areas in Xiangshan. In April, the Qing army mobilized several groups of men and horses to surround Li Wanrong's troops. Li Wanrong led his troops to fight to the death, but finally died because of his lack of strength. After Li Wanrong's death, his wife Chang held Li Jing, the only son of Li Wanrong in his infancy, jumped off the cliff and threw himself into Peach Blossom Lake to die in the country.

Chang left a desperate poem before his death:

Hate to stand still,

Follow your husband across the river.

Twin into the peach blossom water,

Turning into a mandarin duck is also an immortal!

After hearing that Li Wanrong died in battle and his wife threw his son into the pool, the people of Xiangshan said: "Since ancient times, there has been no queen of loyalty." ”

Since ancient times, there has been no queen, since ancient times.

Chang's actions moved Zhou Shixiang. Repeatedly thinking about what the people of Xiangshan said since ancient times, I thought of the depths. sighed for a long time, and was full of emotion: a good sentence has been loyal since ancient times!

After Li Wanrong's army was wiped out, only a very small number of remnants of the Ming army remained in Xiangshan in the mountainous areas, with only a few dozen people and only a few people. For the remnants of these Ming troops, the Qing army outweighed the losses because of the invasion of the army. Therefore, they were left to fend for themselves, anyway, there was a lack of food and clothing in the mountainous areas, and it was impossible for the remnants of these Ming armies to grow again.

After the Taiping army captured Xinhui, Shang Kexi ordered all prefectures and counties to transfer troops to attack Xinhui, and most of the green battalion soldiers stationed in Xiangshan were transferred to Xinhui. The result is all lost. At present, the strength of the Qing army in Xiangshan can be described as weak, and the Taiping army marched into Xiangshan at this time, which can be said to be a surprise to the Qing army in Xiangshan.

Xiangshan County has ten townships since the Song Dynasty, the first year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty changed the township to Fangdu, and the current county governance is located in Renhoufang, which is roughly equivalent to the center of Shiqicheng District, Zhongshan City in later generations. The county seat of Xiangshan is not large, with four gates, but it is much smaller than Xinhui, and the city wall is also seriously damaged. In addition to the county seat Renhoufang, Xiangshan also has nine fangdu, the approximate range is the area of Dongguan, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Zengcheng, Guangdong as recognized by Zhou Shixiang. The ten squares cover an extremely wide area, far exceeding the capital city of Guangzhou.

After crossing the river, the Taiping army marched to Renhoufang, the seat of Xiangshan County, without stopping for a moment, and occupied Longyan Capital without soldiers on the same day. Because of the discussion with Chen Qice, Zhou Shixiang used Longyan Capital as an important town to contact Xinhui, and ordered Qin Zhisheng to lead the Hujie battalion to garrison here, and place the people of the post-2000 camp here.

Because of the wars of the Ming and Qing dynasties in recent years, Xiangshan and other prefectures and counties in Guangdong were deeply affected by the war, although it was much better than Luoding, Xinhui and other places, but it was also vast and sparsely populated. In the past, there were six or seven thousand people in Longyan, but now there are only more than two thousand. Although there were also landlords and gentry in the town who took advantage of the death of the people to seize the land, before the Taiping army pressed the border, these people had already fled, some ran to Xiangshan, some ran to Guangzhou, and they left a large amount of land for the Taiping army to settle the people in the rear camp.

How to settle the rear camp and how to organize the production of the people, these are all things for Song Xianggong, and Zhou Shixiang does not ask, only responsible for the military. Therefore, Song Xianggong could only stay in Longyan Capital to be responsible for all affairs, and the rest of the women and children in the rear camp who continued to advance to Xiangshan with the Taiping Army were put in charge of Liao Ruixiang, and he handed over after he straightened out the affairs of Longyandu.

Xiangshan is the base that Zhou Shixiang found for the Taiping Army, and Longyan was the first Xiangshan Fangdu occupied by the Taiping Army, so Zhou Shixiang was very concerned about the governance of Longyan Capital. It can be said that Zhou Shixiang regarded the longan as a test point, and whether this test point is done well is directly related to whether the Taiping army can gain a foothold in Xiangshan.

Before leaving, Zhou Shixiang once again told Qin Zhisheng five military disciplines, and the reason why Qin Zhisheng was stationed in Longyan instead of Ge Yi was precisely because of Qin Zhisheng's stability. After the general advice, Zhou Shixiang led the rest of the soldiers and horses to approach the Liangzi Capital, which was only more than 30 miles away from the county seat of Xiangshan, the next day. (To be continued.) )