Fighting broke out on the morning of the twentieth day of the first lunar month. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The thieves attacked the city from all sides, and Ding Yijian placed his "elite", that is, those "military thieves" who retreated from the battlefield, to the west of the highest terrain in Shouchun City, and allocated the cloud ladder flying bridge, intending to use this as a breakthrough to climb to the top of the city in one fell swoop.

Liang Cheng, the envoy of the four walls of Shouchun, in the absence of bows and crossbows to suppress and the lack of long weapons, personally led three hundred soldiers to fight hand-to-hand with the incoming thieves at the head of Xicheng City.

What he said in front of Kang Yunzhi and Li Ang that "there is no shortage of fierce outlaws in the Xiang army" is indeed true, especially the criminals who were assassinated from other places, under the double encouragement of the government's promise of heavy rewards and letting them return to their hometowns, they fought back desperately! For a while, the sound of killing shook the sky, and wails arose!

On the contrary, the other three sides, because most of them were guarded by strong men, there were more than ten dangerous situations in just one morning.

After all, the peasants are accustomed to their duties, although they have the courage to protect their families and go to the city to meet the enemy, but they usually carry hoes and plows and palladium, when did they take knives and guns? When the thief climbed to the top of the city with a bright weapon in his hand, his instinctive reaction was to step back......

Liang Cheng said that Ding Yijian's gang are all coerced civilians, but he is not entirely right. can pull up a team of tens of thousands of people, and it will definitely not be possible to rely on coercion alone. At the beginning of the incident, there must have been villains who volunteered to join the gang. Since these people are determined to cause chaos, they are not afraid to kill people and set fires!

After a bloody battle until the afternoon, Liang Cheng commanded the Xiang army to support the left and right, so as to ensure that the city defense was not broken.

Outside, Ding Yijian never expected that a Shouchun Mansion would be so difficult to gnaw. It didn't take three days to hit Haozhou before. I have the heart to continue to attack, but I see that even my own "elite" is cowering, not to mention those scoundrels who call themselves "first".

I had no choice but to quit the army.

At dusk, Kang Yunzhi, accompanied by the officials of the two prefectures and counties, wore a purple robe and a gold belt, went to the city with a black veil on his head, and paid a reward on the spot, and in front of all the strong men who defended the city, he once again promised to those "matching troops" who fought bloodily that once the siege of Shouchun was lifted, he would be released immediately and would never break his promise!

These actions have indeed greatly boosted morale.

And Li Ang and Jiang Zhen also took the lead in advocating righteous actions when the government had no time to take care of them: provide food and money, organize manpower, and take care of the families of those strong men in the city, so that they have no worries.

Seeing this, all the wealthy families in the city also quickly followed up and responded, and even ordinary people opened their doors, so that the people who took refuge in the city would not sleep on the streets in the early spring, when the cold was still strong.

Within two days, the government freed up its hands and finally assumed its responsibility. It allows the people to take shelter temporarily in public places such as the school palace and temple, and specially allocates food to help those refugees who do not have food rations.

In the face of disasters, the officials and people of Shouchun were unprecedentedly united.

But just when the city was excited, planning to share weal and woe together, Ding Yijian did not follow the routine.

After the 21st battle of the first lunar month, the thieves never came to attack the city again, but only held it on all sides, cutting off internal and external communication links.

Kang Yunzhi asked Liang Cheng, and the answer he got was that Ding Yijian was afraid that he was planning to besiege him for a long time.

What he said reminded Kang Zhifu of Li Ang's previous reminder that he was not afraid of a strong attack, but he was afraid of a siege. As the city of Shouchun Prefecture, Gayin Xia Cai does not produce anything itself, and the daily needs of the residents are transported from outside the city.

From July 15 to now, fresh vegetables on the market have disappeared, and you can't buy them with a pound of money. The grain stores are all closed, and if you meet someone who has no plan, you will have to stop cooking, and you can only eat the government's relief.

Fortunately, just after the New Year, the vast majority of families have prepared sufficient supplies before the year, and it is not difficult to maintain it for ten days and a half.

However, after ten days and a half months, if the thieves still don't withdraw from the siege, what can they do?

Kang Yunzhi realized the seriousness of the problem, and immediately ordered Fan Tong to requisition the grain stored in the city's grain stores and collect the surplus grain in the treasury to calculate, if it was evenly distributed to everyone in the city, it would only be enough for five days......

Why is there such a small amount of food stored in a dignified city? Didn't the Great Song Dynasty government store grain for shortage?

The answer is yes, and there is also a special organization, that is, the road-level "Changping Division", referred to as the "Cang Division", whose main responsibilities include "grain storage and famine".

However, in order to prevent the collusion of local forces, the permanent institutions at the road level were often distributed in different cities within the territory. Huaixi's warehouse division is not in Shouchun Mansion City, and there is only one "Chang Ping" here, but there is no food in it, and there is not even a single mouse.

It was not that Kang Yunzhi moved to his own house with his own pockets, but was misappropriated by the imperial court as military expenses.

Because in the Song Dynasty, there was often a situation where "Changping had a surplus, and the three divisions of soldiers had insufficient food", so local officials were accustomed to this, and in the past two years, the Jin army invaded the south, and the imperial court wanted to embezzle, do you dare to say a word?

Kang Yunzhi had no choice but to order a blockade of news on the one hand, and send people to borrow grain from large households in the city on the other. This is actually no different from covering your ears and stealing the bell, as long as you go to borrow food, it is impossible to keep it secret.

Sure enough, not much grain was borrowed, and the news that the rats had starved to death in Chang Ping spread all over the city.

This time, it's a big trouble......

First of all, the army at the head of the city made a commotion, because some of the food stored in the treasury was their military rations, and now they could not say that they had to take out some of it to relieve the civilians. So what do we do? Hungry to defend the city? In case the thieves come again, I'm afraid that I won't be able to cut off my head with a knife, so I should only repair someone's face!

Then the officials and students quit, and they also ate the emperor's food. You can't say that the school is closed now, so we will stop the rations, right?

In the end, the officials who should not make trouble also followed the wind, and ran to cry to the two governors of the prefecture and county, saying that I am old and young, and my daughter-in-law still has twins in her belly, how can I live without food?

Kang Zhifu, who was so angry that he was born in Jinshi, also burst into foul language, how do you know that they are twins? You gave birth?

On the first day of August, the prefect's yamen house.

As soon as Qiaoyun came out of the corner of the cloister with a clay basin, he saw Li Ang holding a pillar at the other end, hanging his head. With a tight heart, he hurried over and asked, "Li Guanren?" ”

"Hey, sister."

Qiao Yun didn't talk to him like usual, and seeing that his face was a little wrong, he said with concern: "What's wrong?" ”

"Alas, I drank a bowl of gruel in the morning, and went to talk to people for a long time, and then walked back and forth, it was really ......" Before he finished speaking, he saw Qiaoyun quickly lift the lid on the clay basin and take out two pieces of bread.

Li Angfang was about to stretch out his hand, but suddenly shrank back.

Seeing this, Qiaoyun would be mistaken: "This is what Erniang asked me to take to those people in the alley outside, the officials are not used to it, I will let ...... when I turn around."

"No, I have an urgent matter to go to see my father-in-law, and it's not appropriate to eat a mouthful of scum."

"Then, I'll leave two pieces for the officials."

"What's left of you when you go out at this end? Forget it, let's go. After Li Ang said that, he cheered up and went to Huangtang.