Chapter 123: A Brief Truce in the Wind and Snow

At the beginning of February of the sixth year of Chongzhen, Hangzhou, Phoenix Villa, the Jiangnan Battlefield Headquarters of the Huameng Expeditionary Force

Under the lead-gray sky, the goose feather snow has been falling for seven days, and even though it is daylight, the sky is still as dark as dusk.

In the cold wind, the ice and snow on the Phoenix Mountain are like clouds, and the mountain road is also full of broken jade-like ice, which gurgles when you step on it. In the courtyard of Phoenix Villa, the snow is knee-deep, while in the evergreen mountain woods, the snowflakes pile up under the trees and accumulate even deeper.

Under the influence of this cold white magic, many young and lively soldiers have turned back into children, and they have snowball fights everywhere in the mountains and forests, in the courtyard, and make a mess. And more people are in the house watching the snow fall, while wrapping themselves in military coats to bake the fire and rest.

“…… In the past, I always heard people say that Jiangnan is a paradise on earth, and there is a wealth and prosperity everywhere. That's all there is to see now......"

At the foot of Phoenix Mountain, in the officers' dormitory on the bank of the Qiantang River, several captains wrapped in overcoats each held an empty bowl, huddled next to the roaring fireplace and chatted casually, while warming themselves by the fire and boiling water, and there were several cans and half a box of instant instant noodles on the floor next to them.

“…… Although the silk produced here is quite beautiful, it does not feel much better than the chintz of the chiefs. Zhejiang's tea seems to be no different from Fujian's tea. The porcelain that can be obtained here in Jiangnan is also available in the market in Lingao.

To make matters worse, the winter in this place was so cold that it woke me up every night, and I had chilblains on both hands! I've heard that there are tens of millions of people living in the north of the city, so I don't know how those guys live in winter......

Captain Jin Huan, the commander of the Li Mountain Infantry Company with black lines painted on his face, muttered so with a slight tremble, while taking out the instant noodle cake from the oiled paper bag, putting it into a bowl, sprinkling the sauce, seasoning powder and dehydrated vegetable meat, then lifting the iron kettle, pouring boiling water, opening a canned beef, putting some canned meat in it, and then counting the time, ready to enjoy a spicy beef noodle meal to beat the tooth sacrifice.

-- Although in the eyes of the nomads in the north, the land south of the Yangtze River has become infinitely warm and beautiful. But for the tropical residents of Hainan Island, the most profound impression of the splendid Jiangnan, which is known as "heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below", is actually "the cold purgatory of people who freeze to death"!

“…… Can't stand this little snow? It's really unproductive, when I followed Huang Dashuai to fight in Liaodong before, the weather is now spring! ”

A scar-faced lieutenant from the Funing Army sneered, "...... The ass of the Liaodong Tartar woman is colder than ice and snow......"

Next, the scar-faced lieutenant babbled about a lot of past stories of climbing ice and snow in Liaodong, but the other officers didn't bother to listen to it—because the time was up, and the instant noodles were already soaked. One by one, everyone impatiently opened their bowls.

A strong and pungent spicy smell of red oil, combined with the aroma of beef, immediately made Captain Jinhuan, who had just been frozen on the night shift, have a great appetite, and I saw that he immediately picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks and put it in his mouth...... Then he was so hot that he stuck out his tongue and jumped up.

“…… Whew! It's hot! Damn it! This one is so hot! ”

After opening his mouth and running out into the snow, he finally felt better and returned to the house after inhaling two hard breaths of cold air.

“…… Who made you so anxious? Tell you, this is the time to do it. ”

Lieutenant Scarface looked at the black-streaked "mountain barbarian" with disdain, then walked out of the house, grabbed a handful of clean snow from the ground, sprinkled it directly into the noodle soup, and then took the bowl and gulped it down, while pulling the noodles and beef into his mouth with chopsticks.

Seeing this, the others did the same, sprinkled a handful of snow into the noodle bowl (please don't imitate the good boy who pays attention to hygiene), and it didn't feel hot to the touch, so they poured a bowl of instant noodle soup with a lot of red pepper oil, chili pepper, ginger, and green onions into their stomachs...... After eating such a bowl of hot noodle soup, a trace of sweat appeared on everyone's head, and the stomach, hands and feet, which were originally frozen uncomfortably, began to feel hot

-- During the winter operations in recent months, the Sichuan-style spicy instant noodles newly launched by the logistics department of Catalpa Hainan Island have been widely popular among combat units of all walks of life because they can quickly solve the problem of eating and heating on the front line with poor conditions as long as they bring a thick bowl and boil some boiling water.

“…… Hi, this noodle is a little less, but it feels pretty good. No matter where you are in winter, as long as there is hot water, you can get a hot meal at any time. After snorting and eating a bowl of instant noodles with canned beef, the scar-faced lieutenant wiped his mouth and sighed heartily, "...... When I was in Liaodong, it would be nice if I had such a convenient hot noodle soup to eat, so that it wouldn't make people feel so difficult. ”

At this moment, another former captain of the Funing Army, who had returned from a shift change, pushed the door in, and listened to the words of the scarface, and couldn't help but feel a little strange, "...... Liaodong? This is really weird, didn't you fall under Huang Dashuai in Xiapu in the seventh year of the Apocalypse? When did you go to Liaodong to fight?! ”

“…… Belch...... I was joking with you guys before, haha~ eh? What kind of eyes are you all looking at? Hey, don't hit people in the face......"

……

In the past few days, although due to the continuous heavy snow in the Hangzhou area, these miscellaneous Allied troops that were not very suitable for fighting in the cold season have been forced to retreat to the Phoenix Villa and temporarily stopped sweeping the suburbs around Hangzhou, but at this time, the whole army is still permeated with contempt for the enemy: Up to now, the Allied landing force has only paid more than 50 people killed in battle, more than 400 wounded, many of which are still non-combat attrition, and has succeeded in eliminating more than 5,000 "irregular troops" and collecting 30,000 immigrants. Naturally, a lot of violence was used during this period.

The so-called regular army of the Ming Empire, which is said to have been honestly shrunk within the walls of Hangzhou, has never been seen on the battlefield - in fact, many officers and soldiers wonder if there really is such an enemy regular army, or whether it has been completely paid by the civilian officials.

In this way, out of contempt for the enemy's combat effectiveness and cherishing their own troops, Major General Sun Yang and Zhao Yinggong Zhuang finally made the decision to stop the sweeping operation and reduce all their forces to Phoenix Mountain--the ground transportation is inconvenient in heavy snowy weather, and if the soldiers are allowed to go out to sweep the towns and villages, large-scale non-combat attrition is likely to occur. If they are scattered and stationed in various villages, it will be difficult to support each other, and there is a danger that they will be plotted and broken by the enemy. Therefore, it is better to shrink back to Phoenix Mountain Villa and wait for the snow to stop before making plans.

In this regard, Wang Qiu, as an outsider, once raised objections, believing that this was tantamount to taking the initiative to lift the siege of Hangzhou, which might allow the gentry and wealthy households inside and outside Hangzhou to take the opportunity to escape, which was not conducive to continuing to collect population. However, Major General Sun Yang and Zhao Yinggong both said that this did not matter at all -- the governments of the various union republics under the Global Chinese Traveler Alliance had recently sent urgent calls to the front-line troops who were collecting people on various fronts through satellite communication systems, claiming that the Ming Dynasty immigrants they had recently imported from their countries were too large to digest them. Although food supplies are still abundant for the time being, there is a shortage of manpower for the education and management of new immigrants.

In particular, the latest batch of immigrants recruited from Zhejiang by force did not experience the miserable life of fleeing famine as displaced people, and relatively speaking, they were relatively "pampered" and not as easy to satisfy as the northern refugees, so the commotion was particularly fierce, which made the various union republics criticize them endlessly.

Therefore, the Jiangnan Raiders will temporarily stop collecting people in the coming time. At most, after the attack on Hangzhou, we will try to get a group of good-looking young women to satisfy the desires and fantasies of some people in the rear for "Jiangnan Girls......

Since there was no longer a need to collect population, and for the time being it was not for the purpose of permanently occupying the territory south of the Yangtze River, which was also beyond the current capacity of the Huameng to digest it, the task of Major General Sun Yang and Lord Zhao Zhuang was left, which was to storm the city of Hangzhou with a thunderous force, as the most severe warning and punishment to the Nanjing court, and then strive to reach an unequal treaty with the other side in favor of their side.

In this way, the allies did not look down on the wealth of the city, and for the time being, they no longer needed the population of this land, so what did it matter how many of the gentry in Hangzhou took the opportunity to escape? If there are more people who escape, it can also weaken the resistance of Hangzhou City in the future offensive and defensive battles! On the other hand, if the Ming army in Nanjing had sent troops to rescue Hangzhou on a large scale, it would have been clear from the photographs of the reconnaissance satellites.

In short, since there is no need to worry about the Ming Court's reinforcement and rescue now, and there is no need to worry about the escape of the wealthy families in the city, why risk the non-combat attrition of a large number of frostbite and lost every day, and just spread the troops and maintain the blockade of Hangzhou City?

So, in the carelessness of the "Australian thief", a group of "loyal and righteous people" from Nanjing quietly approached the city of Hangzhou......

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On the winter Grand Canal where the north wind is howling, a small boat is slowly driving in the middle of the river with snowflakes.

In the dimly lit and swaying cabin, the well-known backbone of the Fushe Society, the world's first-class wealthy gentleman Zhang Dai Zhang Zongzi, and several young scholars dressed as scholars, all of them were holding a "bestseller" in recent years, "Records of Events", and their faces were full of worry and sorrow.

It is less than a month away from the feast on the Qinhuai River, and the son of Zhang Dai, who was graceful and suave in the past, and his face is like a beautiful jade, is already a lot haggard.

-- Their group was the first batch of "reinforcements" sent to Hangzhou by the Nanjing Imperial Court......

A few days ago, when the news of the "Australian thieves" entering Hangzhou in a big way, and the Fujian rebel general Huang Shi personally led his troops to attack Ningbo, it immediately caused a major earthquake like a landslide and tsunami in the small court of the Yonghe Emperor, which had just been established for less than a month.

You must know that today's Nanjing Yonghe Emperor's court is an out-and-out small court in the south of the Yangtze River. Because the Nanjing Imperial Court defended the world's condemnation and abolished the emperor and supported the new emperor without authorization, it has not yet been recognized by most provinces in the world, and the actual territory is only two provinces of Nanzhili and Zhejiang.

Moreover, at present, the Jiangbei region of Nanzhili, except for a few important towns along the river, is basically entrenched by the Wenxiangjiao rebel army, and the territory that the Nanjing court can effectively rule is only a small area of southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui and Zhejiang in later generations, plus a few port cities on the north bank of the Yangtze River that have not yet fallen, although they are the essence of China, but only an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers, which is really a little pitiful.

What's even worse is that around such an actual territory, there are still strong enemies around them - needless to say, the demons of the Wenxiang Sect in Jiangbei, the vast majority of the elite soldiers and horses in Nanzhili have been fighting with them since last summer until now; Although there are not many garrisons in Huguang and Jiangxi in the west, the abolished emperor Chongzhen, who lost the Beijing division in the north, is collecting soldiers and horses all the way to the south, once Emperor Chongzhen leads the troops into Xiangyang or Wuchang, and feeds the strong soldiers in the north with the grain and rice of Huguang, and then erects a banner of rebellion and goes eastward, then the Nanjing court will soon face a life and death crisis!

In addition, since it was forced to rebel last year, the Funing Army of the Huangshi Institute of the Fujian General Army in the south has also been confronting the soldiers and horses led by the governor of Zhejiang between the mountains and mountains in southern Zhejiang...... was already in a state of embarrassment with smoke from all directions and tension on all sides, but now he was stabbed in the waist by the "Australian thief" from the sea, and the joint rebel general Huang Shi stabbed him in the waist - this day is really impossible!

Therefore, after learning the bad news that a large number of fierce thieves had entered the Qiantang River from the sea and that the whole province of Zhejiang was crumbling, the Nanjing court and Shilin were in an uproar for a while, first scolding the governor of Zhejiang for being incompetent in resisting the enemy, and not only failed to quell the rebellion in Fujian, but also made trouble that the provincial capital Hangzhou was about to be lost. Then recalled the past four years of Chongzhen, and turned around one by one and scolded Qian Qianyi, the leader of Donglin, for recklessly slapping into the country - it was all this old thing who had brain cramps and had nothing to do, not only insisted on provoking the thieves who were originally doing business, but also forced the Funing Army, which was so-so and honest before, and provoked a vigorous southeast war but could not clean it up, which really harmed the country and the people to the extreme......

Because he was scolded by a group of young scholars all day long, the unlucky Qian Qianyi didn't dare to go out to the court for several days.

However, it is easy to scold people, but how to retreat from the enemy is a difficult matter -- where can the small court in Nanjing get reinforcements at this moment?

At present, Jiangnan has long been a country of civility and martial arts, and its armaments are extremely rotten and collapsed. There are only more than 10,000 field troops in the entire Nanzhili, and all of them are currently firmly nailed to the front line of Yangzhou by the Wenxiang Sect rebellious army, and they cannot be moved at all, otherwise there will be no place for the imperial court in the entire Jiangbei.

Although the demons of the Wenxiang Sect have experienced a fierce advance for most of the last year, they are now lacking in strength and are gradually declining - it is reported that these demons have suffered repeated setbacks on the battlefield in Yangzhou recently, and there have been several fires and infighting within them. But after all, Nanjing and Yangzhou are only separated by a river, who knows if the imperial court takes the initiative to withdraw Yangzhou soldiers and horses, will these demons unite again and cross the river south?

In that case, Jiangnan, the last comfortable nest of the world's gentry, may also experience a catastrophe of collapse.

Therefore, after some quarrels and spitting among each other in the court, the ministers finally reached a consensus that in view of the heavy military pressure that Nanjing was currently facing, the imperial court could only rely on spiritual assistance and material assistance for the urgent request for help from the Hangzhou prefect, specifically to give the Hangzhou government a generous bunch of commendation orders to encourage the local gentry to resist. At the same time, he ordered the governor of Zhejiang, who was on the border of southern Zhejiang, to retreat from Wenzhou and return to Hangzhou, the provincial capital. However, the essence of the Hangjiahu Plain north of the Qiantang River must not be lost.

In addition, the Nanjing Imperial Court, which was in a hurry to seek medical treatment, also opened its minds to recruit "loyal and righteous soldiers" in the market, hoping to recruit a group of enthusiastic young scholars to go to Hangzhou to mobilize the people to carry out the war of resistance...... It's just that the list has been hanging for three days, and there are still few people to apply: there is neither a bounty nor a promotion, what fool is willing to go to a dangerous place like Hangzhou, which is besieged by thieves, to die?

However, in the face of the onslaught of thieves, others could retreat, but Zhang Dai, a famous man and a famous gentleman of the Restoration Society, could not retreat - the vast majority of his family, mansions, and grange properties were in Hangzhou and Shaoxing. As soon as the thief comes, the jade will inevitably be burned...... So, after wandering around in Nanjing to ask for help, Zhang Dai, who could not give up his family's sense of responsibility, had to make an appointment with a few familiar Hangzhou scholars under the comfort and pity of his colleagues in the Restoration Society, and hired a boat to embark on the road back to his hometown with the tragic momentum of "the wind is sluggish and the water is cold, and the strong man will never return".

However, although with a sense of responsibility and mission, he was determined to "sacrifice his life to go to the country's disaster," but what he could do after arriving in Hangzhou, Zhang Dai was innumerable in his heart, even he himself said unceremoniously, However, he read the four books and the five classics well, and was also very proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and the articles he wrote could be selected into the Chinese textbooks of later generations, and he also participated in the political struggle of the Ming court...... I don't know anything about war!

-- For hundreds of years, the scholars in Jiangnan have been doing their best to provide their children with education, learning poetry, etiquette, and sage classics. Because as long as there are children who have achieved fame, the safety of the family will be guaranteed, and they will not be bullied by the government, they will not be framed, and they can also bully and frame those who have no merit in turn. It is precisely because of these great benefits that in the minds of Jiangnan scholars, reading the books of sages is the only serious thing, and only by reading the books of sages well can we be the "pillars of talent" with a sense of family responsibility. The safety and continuity of the family are also completely pinned on these children. Even if you can't get fame, as long as you have a good reputation in Shilin, most of the government will give you a little face, and you won't be unable to find a way out if you really encounter something.

Ten thousand steps back, even in those years of war, in order to avoid too fierce resistance, and to quickly gain the ability to collect taxes on the cities and villages, the armies of all stripes generally treated the local gentry and officials well after the victory was decided.

-- The plague of the Wukou that raged in the middle of the Ming Dynasty was never a real foreign invasion, and the vast majority of the Wukou leaders and more than seventy percent of the Wukou members were Chinese, and the Japanese were just acting as elite thugs, which was essentially a melee between various maritime merchants/pirate groups in Fujian and Zhejiang. So there is such a strange phenomenon...... On the one hand, the Japanese robbed the people everywhere, making the people miserable, and on the other hand, the gentry and landlords in various coastal areas were generally inextricably linked with the Japanese and even cooperated in smuggling and doing business......

In view of such a social atmosphere, although there are many "art of war scholars" who talk about military affairs and are good at talking about military affairs, and there are also some who have seriously read military books, it is difficult to find even one of the warriors who actually fought in battle and fought for their lives in blood -- because there was no need for that at all.

Moreover, with the style of "noble and lowly" that developed to the peak in the late Ming Dynasty, if any stunned Qingzhen "willingly lowly" led the troops, I am afraid that not only will he not be appreciated, but he will also be despised and ridiculed by the entire family, and even the academy may break off his friendship with him in the same year......

“…… But this is not the case with the world now, and all the rules of the past three hundred years have been broken. Even if he has a meritorious reputation, even if he has a good reputation in Shilin, the Australian thief will fight if he wants, and kill if he wants, and he is even more ignorant of the rules than the Japanese robbers of the past! If we can't stand up and resist, we won't be able to protect our people and industry by relying only on the fame we have gained through the imperial examinations. The only thing that can happen is the destruction of the whole clan! ”

Recalling the miserable cries of several fleeing squires he had just met in Suzhou and Jiaxing about the various "cruel atrocities" of the Australian thieves, Zhang Dai couldn't help but feel even heavier -- in the past few years, as a gentleman who likes novelties, Zhang Dai has always had a great affection for all kinds of things produced and manufactured by Australians. But now, these ingenious Australians who can make many good things have become murderous and murderous thieves, who do all kinds of evil, which really makes Zhang Dai's brain a little unable to turn for a while, as if there is a strange sense of disparity of "cute things become beasts": although since the year before last, he has participated in the whole process of the Donglin Party provoking the war in the southeast, and he also wrote articles to scold many thieves. But deep down, he still just regarded these short-haired aliens as a group of craftsmen who were proficient in miscellaneous science.

However, no matter how awkward the feeling in his heart is, Zhang Dai still knows very well that with the outbreak of such a huge military disaster, with the vicious style of these thieves who do not respect the gentry, now his family is on the verge of a catastrophe, whether it is the wealth of the Wanguan family or the fame of the imperial court, the only effective countermeasure is to find out the flaws of the thief, like Qi Jiguang in the past, and drive the thief to the sea again!

However, even though he and his fellow scholars have been studying the "Records of Secrets" all day long, they still have no idea at all, and they can't come up with any clever strategies to calm down the thief...... Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh, and looked up at the swarthy man in the seat opposite, who was the only one who was not wearing a Confucian costume but wearing a coarse cloth short coat, and the other party would nod and smile knowingly, "...... Zhang Gongzi doesn't have to worry too much, your house is a family that has accumulated goodness for generations, and you will be able to turn evil into good fortune......"

“…… I hope so! Thank you for your good words! Zhang Dai smiled bitterly, this is said to be a Qiongzhou person's Gou Xunli, Young Master Zhang Dai seems to be a magical character, next year young, but the people are sophisticated, everything is known, and the understanding of the thief is far above everyone - this person claims to have a grudge with the thief to destroy the family, the seventh year of the apocalypse when the thief first appeared in Lingao, he broke through the Gou Jiazhuang in Lingao, slaughtered the Gou family, forced him to die in the rivers and lakes, and vowed to die with the thief from then on. Next, this person once joined the army, gave advice to the Guangdong governor Wang Dezun launched the battle of the enemy, and also gathered "volunteers" (in fact, bandits) in Qiongzhou and Annan, and clashed with the thieves many times, but unfortunately the thieves were really powerful, which made Gou Yishi's desire for revenge increasingly slim, but he was still indomitable, and had been paying attention to collecting enemy information and waiting for opportunities to beg for thieves.

The year before last, this Gou Xunli somehow ended up in Jiangnan and became a guest at Qian Qianyi's house. Qian Qianyi, who has never been to Lingnan for half his life, noticed the threat of the Qiongzhou thief, to a large extent, because of this person's alarmism......

Now Zhejiang has suffered a monstrous disaster, the thief fleet went deep into the Qianjiang River, swept Hangzhou, worried about the family Zhang Dai led the crowd to the battlefield generously, as one of the "culprits" Qian Qianyi, was suddenly pointed out by a thousand people, and he himself was very unhappy in his heart, but he did not dare to risk his life, and ran to Hangzhou to face the rain of bullets, so he stuffed this Gou Xunli, saying that he could refer to his experience and experience of the thief.

For this guy in front of him, Zhang Dai's perception is very complicated, on the one hand, he secretly hates this person in his heart for his own selfishness, instigating Mu Zhaigong (Qian Qianyi) to mobilize Jiangnan Shilin to rashly become enemies with thieves, causing such a monstrous disaster on the ground in Jiangnan. On the other hand, he had to rely on Gou Xunli's understanding of the thief, as well as his rich experience in fighting the thief in the past few times......

In short, in the midst of Zhang Dai's entanglement and worry, the boat they were riding was getting closer and closer to Hangzhou - fortunately, at this time, Major General Sun Yang had completely abandoned the blockade of the canal and withdrew the whole army to Phoenix Mountain Villa to avoid the cold, and no one would come to intercept this unarmed boat.

At the same time, in the city of Hangzhou, Liu Mengqian's prefect was also taking advantage of the short gap brought by the heavy snow, thinking hard about how to calm down......