"General Zhang, I'm afraid that those people will disobey the yin and promise to gather the tenants to support us, but they are reluctant to act." Zhang Huangyan's subordinates reminded Zheng En.

"If you dare to disobey the yang, you will be punished as a rebel after the arrival of the army." Zhang Huangyan sneered.

Squire Lu on the side was terrified when he heard this. He naturally knows what the crime of rebellion is, raiding his family and exterminating the clan! Looking at Zhang Huangyan's serious expression, Squire Lu had no doubt about the authenticity of what he said. Most of the gentry in Jiangxi chose to support Zhu Yousong, the superintendent of the state, and when the army sent by the emperor invaded Jiangxi, how could they let these gentry go?

"Rest assured, general, they don't dare to deceive the general." Squire Lu muttered, trying to speak for a few of the gentry friends. The situation in Jiangxi is like this, and people with a discerning eye know that the Nanchang rebel court has come to an end, how dare those gentry disobey the yang and the yin?

"It's okay, even if they don't bring people here, with only a hundred elites under me, I can be sure to take down Xincheng County." Zhang Huangyan said coldly.

I have to say that it was the squires who knew the squires best, and the next morning, the squires brought people one after another, and before noon, the four squires had arrived.

Each of these squires gathered his clansmen and tenants and domestic slaves, and the number of the most was six or seven hundred, and the number of the few was three or four hundred, and the number of young and strong men gathered by the four squires together reached two thousand two hundred. I have to say that these squires still have a very strong control over the local area, and if they are the government, I am afraid they will not have the ability to summon so many young men in one day.

And Squire Lu had already gathered the young men of Tong'an Town, and the number reached more than five hundred.

Zhang Huangyan ordered that each gentry should leave a hundred people, led by Wu Fu, to guard the thousands of stone military rations purchased, and Zhang Huangyan himself led a hundred elites, together with the young men gathered by the gentry, to Xincheng County.

"General Zhang, didn't you ask us to gather people to guard the grain, why do you want to go to Xincheng County?" Listening to Zhang Huangyan's words, several gentry were shocked.

"It's not interesting to keep it, it's better to take Xincheng County first, and make some contributions." Zhang Huangyan said with a smile.

"Ah, this, general, we are all farmers who can only farm, and we don't know how to fight at all." Wang Shishen hurriedly said.

"Yes, General Zhang, it's okay for them to fight with the people from the Inspection Division, after all, the people from the Inspection Department are also bad seeds, but it's really not okay to attack the county seat." Squire Ma also said.

Several squires took turns to persuade Zhang Huangyan to give up this crazy idea.

"Don't worry, you don't need to fight a tough battle, you just follow the flag and shout." Zhang Huangyan said soothingly.

"But ......"

Several squires still wanted to continue to persuade, but Zhang Huangyan made a straight face: "Now that the army has gathered, everything must be done in accordance with military orders, and you must not shake the spirit of the army, otherwise military law will be carried out." ”

"Ahh Several squires grew their mouths, but they didn't dare to say anything more when they looked at the Praetorian Guard soldiers standing on both sides with swords, guns and firearms.

Zhang Huangyan began to dispatch troops, first sending Zheng En, the general commander, as the vanguard, and leading twenty Praetorian Guards soldiers to Xincheng County in disguise to open the way for the army. And Zhang Huangyan himself led a large group of men and horses, followed closely behind, and killed Xincheng County.

Xincheng County is forty-five miles away from Tong'an Town, and if only 100 men and horses advance lightly, they can arrive in half a day, and at most they can reach Xincheng County before dark.

But most of Zhang Huangyan's subordinates were peasants who didn't know anything, a group of rabble, and even the queue was not neatly arranged, and the speed of walking was naturally not fast.

And marching with such a group of peasants made Zhang Huangyan very uncomfortable, and he had to spend a lot of energy to rectify the team. However, there are still many people who are slow and can't go fast. More than 2,000 people were in a mess, as if they were rushing to a market.

Zhang Huangyan had no choice but to call a few gentry and instructed: "You instruct that all tenants who do not behave well and do not go fast will be given an additional 20% of the land rent in the coming year, and those who go fast and obediently will be reduced by 20% of the field rent." ”

"It's a good idea." Several squires praised. Immediately, they each returned to their respective township teams and passed the word to their tenants.

The effect was very obvious, and then, the marching speed suddenly increased a lot, and many young people walked fast, for fear of falling behind.

For these tenants, the increase or decrease of 20% of the land rent determines whether they have enough to eat or starve to death, and no one dares to be lazy anymore.

"General Zhang, is what you said true?" Squire Lu, who was walking beside Zhang Huangyan, asked quietly.

"What's really fake?" Zhang Huangyan glanced at Squire Lu.

"You don't mean to say that you won't take back everyone's land, only then will you be able to collect land rent next year." Squire Lu said.

"Maybe, depending on how everyone behaves. If you behave well, you can help me lay down the new city and county, not to mention the fields, and maybe I can reward you with an official position. Zhang Huangyan said with a smile.

is in this situation, and still thinking about keeping his own land, Zhang Huangyan is very speechless. However, at the moment of the great enemy, in order to make these gentry die, he did not say anything to death, but was ambiguous.

That night, the army reached Mushan Village, which was still twenty miles away from Xincheng County, and it was estimated that it would be able to reach Xincheng County by the morning of the next day. Zhang Huangyan ordered to camp on the spot, the weather in June was very hot, and there was no need to set up camp tents, everyone camped on the spot.

Zheng En led twenty people to open the road in front, and the news had already been transmitted that there was no movement in the direction of Xincheng County, and no traces of troops were found around. In this case, there is no need to worry about an enemy sneak attack. But even so, Zhang Huangyan still sent a bright and secret sentry and was on guard.

Zheng En led twenty people, disguised as the house slaves of the Lu squire's family, and drove several carts along the main road, keeping a distance of five miles from the army.

At ten o'clock in the morning of the next day, Zheng En led people to the outside of Xincheng County, and then found that the gates of Xincheng County were closed.

Zheng En frowned suddenly, in addition to serving as sentinels, his twenty people also had the task of infiltrating the city as an internal response, in order to help the army quickly conquer the new city and county. Now that the county seat is closed, is the news leaked, and the city already knows that the army is coming?

"Boss, or let's give it a try and see if we can sneak into the city." One of his subordinates suggested.

Zheng En thought about it, nodded slightly, and agreed to try. Although the city wall of this new city is not very tall, it is not easy to attack it, because it is too few people and does not carry artillery. As for the young and strong tenants led by those gentry, it is okay to wave the flag and shout, and there is no hope at all.

Zheng En led a group of men to drive the cart to the city gate, and when they were still about ten steps away from the city gate, someone at the head of the city shouted and ordered them to stop.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are from the family of the king of Jigao Town, and we want to send some goods to the shops in the county, and I will bother you to open the city gate." Jung Eun shouted at the city.

"The Inspection Division found a large number of Praetorian Guards in Tong'an Town, and the county lord ordered to close the four gates of the county town to prevent the Praetorian Guards from attacking, where did you come from, go back." The official of a county at the head of the city shouted loudly.

The squire Wang of Jigao Town is a celebrity in the county, and he often goes in and out of the county government, and he is now called a brother and brother in the county government, and these officials do not dare to be rude to the people of the Wang family.

"My lord said that this batch of goods must be sent to the county seat, and if we go back, we will be punished, and the eldest brother in the city will trouble you to be accommodating and open the city gate." Jung Eun continued to shout.

"If you can't say no, you can't, let's go back quickly." The city officials shouted.

"Official, if you can be accommodating, my Wang family will not forget your friendship, and I will be grateful." Zheng Enli seduced.

In the face of interests, the officials in the city suddenly hesitated, hesitating whether to open the city gate. The Wang family in Jigao Town is very wealthy, and the people of the entire Xincheng County know that if they can let their caravan into the city, they will definitely be able to get some benefits.

"Brother, let's discuss, do you want to open the city gate?" The leader of the team, Hu Dewei, gathered his subordinates to discuss.

"But the county lord said that no one is allowed to enter the city." A cowardly servant.

"That's because the county is afraid that the officials and soldiers will enter the city, but now there are not any officials and soldiers outside, but the people of the Wang family in Jigao Town, just a group of more than 20 people in the caravan, what can you do if you let it in, can the city be lost because of this?" Another official retorted.

"If you want me to say that the county is a cup bow and snake shadow, I easily believe the words of the inspection department. The horse inspection is not a good thing, it is estimated that it is a loss to lead people to catch thieves, and in order not to be held accountable, he deliberately said that there were Praetorian Guards to kill him. It's been two days, if there were Janissaries in Tong'an Town, they would have to wait until now? Another official said.

For the sake of benefit, most of the officials agreed to open the city gates.

"Okay, let's ......"

When Hu Dewei, the leader of the team, was about to speak, a voice suddenly sounded: "The county is here." ”

"Meet the county!" Hu Dewei turned his head and saw that the county commander Lu Shuanghe walked up the city wall along the city road, and hurriedly led the officials to meet him.

"What happened?" Lu Shuanghe asked lightly.

"Back to the county, the caravan of the old man's family in Jigao Town has arrived outside the city and wants to enter the city, but I can't decide whether to let them in." Hu Dewei hurriedly said.

"Oh." Lu Shuanghe replied lightly, walked to the side of the city wall, looked out at the battlement, straightened up after a while, and sneered.

"Why is the county honored laughing?" Hu Dewei asked.

"I laugh at the officials and soldiers outside the city for being so stupid that they can't even pretend, it's full of loopholes." Lu Shuanghe sneered.

"Huh? Is it the official army working on the outside? Hu Dewei hurriedly stretched out his head to watch, but did not see any flaws.

"It's a shame that you're still the head of the county government, and you often arrest criminals, so you don't even have this eyesight." Lu Shuanghe said contemptuously, "If you look carefully, those people outside are dressed like business guys, but they are all extremely strong, and they all have weapons on their waists, where are ordinary guys." ”

Hu Dewei took a lot of pain, and found that sure enough, as Lu Shuanghe said, the more than 20 people outside were obviously different from ordinary guys, whether it was their expressions or body behaviors, they were very different.

"His grandmother dared to deceive Lao Tzu, and Lao Tzu led people out of the door and arrested them all." Hu Dewei scolded.

"What kind of city? Come on, find a hanging basket, hang them one by one to the city, and then arrest them. Lu Shuanghe sneered.

"The county is wise and wise." Hu Dewei hurriedly patted his ass.

At that moment, a servant found a large bamboo basket and tied it with a rope to put it down to the city.

"Brother of the old man of Jigao Town, the county lord has something to ask you, sit on the bamboo basket and pull you up." Hu Dewei shouted at the city.

"Put the total, can't go, be careful that there is an ambush." The subordinate whispered.

A contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of Zheng En's mouth: "It's just a county seat, and there are no regular defenders in the city, so why are you afraid of relying on a group of officials to defend the city?" I will go up to the wall, and see how I open the gates. ”

As he spoke, Zheng En walked under the city wall and stepped on the hanging basket. The officials of the city pulled the ropes, and the hanging basket slowly rose. Looking at the general who was getting closer and closer to the city wall, his subordinates were all worried.

Zheng En was pulled up the city wall, and before he could get out of the hanging basket, several officials pounced and wanted to grab his arm.

Fuck, it's a trap! Zheng En's eyes widened in anger, he shouted, pulled out the short knife hidden under his shirt with his backhand, and swung it in front of him.

The screams rang out one after another, and several of the officials who rushed in were all scratched on their arms and hurriedly retreated.

"Be bold and spy, and dare to resist!" Lu Shuanghe pointed at Zheng En and said angrily. There are dozens of officials on the city wall, and hundreds of conscripted people in the city, how can this spy on the other side be brave?

More than a dozen officials raised their swords and rulers, protected Lu Shuanghe behind them, and pointed their weapons at Zheng En.

"You're a new city magistrate?" Being under siege, Zheng En was not afraid, and asked Lu Shuanghe, who was wearing a green official robe.

"Hmph, I don't even know the official, it's really the official army." Lu Shuanghe snorted coldly, "Hurry up and surrender your weapons, this official promises to spare you from death." ”

"Hehe, then thank you to the county. However, Fujian Li Zongbing asked the villain to give the county a thing, otherwise the county will take a look at the things first? Zheng En smiled.

Fujian General Army? Lu Shuanghe was stunned for a moment, he had heard of Li Yanzhi's name, but he had never seen it, let alone intersected, what did the other party ask him to give him?

"What did Li Yan send me directly?" Curious, Lu Shuanghe did not order to arrest people immediately, but wanted to see what the other party was going to do, there were dozens of officials around him to protect him, Lu Shuanghe was not worried about what the other party could come up with.

"Wait a minute, sir." Zheng Eun said, reaching out and pulling out a round black object from his arms.

What is this? Lu Shuanghe was stunned for a moment, this black thing seemed to be made of iron, but he had never seen it. Just as he was guessing, Zheng En took out another thing, sparked in the wind, and then poked at the black thing in his other hand.

"Catch him!" Looking at the black thing that was "snorting" and sparkling, Lu Shuanghe instinctively felt a little bad and shouted loudly.

The officials hurriedly raised their weapons and pressed at Zheng En, who raised his hand and threw the black thing into the middle of the officials a few steps away.

Then there was a loud "boom".