Outside Fengcheng County.

Zhu Xieyuan looked at the closed city gate and the empty countryside in the four fields, his face was as black as ink.

It is normal for the thieves in Fengcheng County to be on guard.

But how could the rural people in Fengcheng County hide so fast?

Not to mention livestock and food, even valuable furniture has been removed.

Rice that has not yet fully matured is also forcibly harvested ahead of schedule. If it is too late to harvest, just stay in the paddy field, which is equivalent to giving it up directly.

There are spies on my side, and they are very high-level spies!

In order to take him by surprise, Zhu Xieyuan didn't even wait for the autumn harvest to be completed, and sent troops when the rice was about to be harvested. His military rations are definitely not enough, but he can directly cut new rice in Fengcheng County, and at this time, he can't take care of the people, and the people in the territory of the Zhao thief are no different from the anti-thieves.

Dispatching troops so quickly still let the thieves know in advance, and seeing the calm transfer of the people of Fengcheng, the thieves received the news at least a day or two in advance.

"Who do you say leaked the military information?" Zhu Xieyuan asked.

"I really don't know." Wang Tingqian was also confused, he could swear that this time it really had nothing to do with him.

Zhu Xieyuan said in a cold tone: "Demolish the house and besiege the city!" ”

Residents outside Fengcheng County have been evacuated into the city in advance.

Under Zhu Xieyuan's order, the houses outside the city were stripped to build siege equipment. In addition, a small force was sent to harvest the rice in the nearby fields, and even if it was not ripe, it could be taken back and cooked and eaten.

The officer in charge of garrisoning Fengcheng County was Jiang Liang, who only had 1,000 regular soldiers in his hands, but urgently recruited 1,000 peasant soldiers.

The county order is called Liu Shunyi, who was originally a poor scholar in Anfu County.

Liu Shunyi is now responsible for maintaining law and order, and temporarily organizing all the people in the city into Baojia. Let the people supervise each other, and if the members of their respective armor guards dare to take the opportunity to make trouble, the entire armor will be punished.

There must be government spies in the city, and there is more than one, and they must be prevented from setting fires.

Zhu Xieyuan seems to be planning to come hard this time, and in just one day, he will fill in several sections of moats.

The next day, the two sides of the circle were missing one, and the other side was the Ganjiang River.

Seeing this, Jiang Liang immediately ordered: "Inform Liu Zhixian and ask him to organize manpower to block the eight small gates, leaving only four gates." There are too many city gates in Fengcheng County, and the officers and soldiers are determined to attack the city this time. ”

……

On the outskirts of Nanchang, in the Tu family's mansion.

The maid has been sent away, and a few scholars are drinking and chatting, which are the scholars who captured Yang Jiamo alive in the first place.

"Gentlemen, guess that this time the governor sent troops, can Fengcheng be defeated?" Tu Tingying asked with a smile.

Yu Shiqin sighed: "Even if Fengcheng can be captured, as soon as Zhao Zongzhen's reinforcements arrive, they will inevitably defeat the main force of officers and soldiers." ”

"Alas, I only hope that Mr. Zhao will occupy Nanchang as soon as possible, otherwise this business will not be able to be done." The person who spoke was actually Li Fenglai, a grain merchant.

Li Fenglai's eldest son and second son both studied at Bailuzhou Academy as hostages. And the group of scholars who defected last year happened to be thrown to the academy, and they recognized Li Fenglai's son in a few days.

This ventilation report came from their handwriting.

Don't look at the mountains in Jiangxi and the lack of land, but there are many grain merchants. They purchased grain in Jiangxi, transported it to the Jiangnan provinces to sell it at a high price, and then transported back special products such as Jiangnan cotton cloth, so they made a lot of profits.

In order to raise soldiers, Zhu Xieyuan forbade Jiangxi grain to leave the country, and only allowed it to be sold to the governor's palace at market prices.

What the hell is the market price?

Can the price of rice in Jiangxi be the same as that in the provinces of Jiangnan?

Cutting off people's financial means is like killing their parents, Zhu Xieyuan offended all the grain merchants in Jiangxi.

It's just a matter of making less money for a year, for fear that the officers and soldiers will always confront the thieves. If this toss for several years in a row, it will simply make the grain merchants die, and they only hope that this war will end as soon as possible.

In the villages of Fengxin, Jinxian, Gao'an, and other counties, peasant associations have appeared one after another, and it seems that sooner or later peasant riots will be launched.

As big landlords, it became more and more difficult for these grain merchants to exploit the peasants, for fear that they would be exterminated by the peasant associations. Zhu Xieyuan cut off their business fortune again, they are simply not human beings, they must choose one side as soon as possible.

Do you choose Zhu Xieyuan?

That is tantamount to choosing a protracted war, and it is impossible for the Zhao thief to be destroyed within three or five years. By that time, the peasants would have revolted long ago, not to mention keeping the land, and the lives of the grain merchants might not be guaranteed.

Under the tandem of Li Fenglai, Tu Tingying and others, at least seventy percent of the grain merchants in Nanchang Mansion fell to Zhao Han!

They were very sensitive to the dispatch of grain, and Zhu Xieyuan made a slight move, and the grain merchants immediately sent a message to Fengcheng County.

A small talk, drunk.

Li Fenglai raised his glass and said: "Gentlemen, congratulations to Mr. Zhao, I wish Mr. Zhao to win the world as soon as possible!" ”

"Congratulations to Mr. Zhao!" Everyone clinked glasses and laughed.

These gentry were not so much big landowners as big businessmen.

Seeing that there were more and more peasant associations in various counties, they would not be able to keep their land sooner or later, so they simply gave up their land to protect their businesses.

As for the gentry who relied purely on land to accumulate wealth, under the pressure of the peasant association, they recruited troops to support Zhu Xieyuan, and now the soldiers in Nanchang are close to 30,000.

has to fight, Zhu Xieyuan can't afford to raise 30,000 soldiers!

……

The second day of the siege.

The officers and soldiers who were still building siege equipment and trying to fill the moat during the day suddenly left in the middle of the night. All the soldiers, with chopsticks in their mouths, grabbed each other's belts and headed south.

Wang Tingqian was woken up in the middle of the night, and left in a daze, with chopsticks stuffed in his mouth and not allowed to speak.

More than 30,000 troops, all of them went to the hilly area ten miles south of Fengcheng.

Zhu Xieyuan originally wanted to seize there, first, to form a corner with the main force of the siege, and second, to send troops to attack the anti-thief rescue force at any time.

But when he saw that all the people in the countryside had moved, he knew that he was one step too late. In the hills and mountains south of the city, there must be peasants and people everywhere, not only mixed with peasant soldiers who are anti-thieves, but also likely ambushed reinforcements from Linjiang Mansion!

As long as Zhu Xieyuan's siege of the city is frustrated, the rebels in the mountains will definitely take the opportunity to kill.

Huang Mi, who was in charge of the Northern Theater, was indeed stationed here, and Li Zheng's more than 100 firecrackers were also there.

The Datong Naval Division was transferred to the south to fight, and Huang Qi and Li Zheng did not have the advantage on water, so they simply sent troops by land and hid in the mountains, wanting to surprise Zhu Xieyuan at a critical moment.

Then, they were taken by surprise.

A fire broke out in the middle of the night by the river, and that was the signal from the sentry. Moreover, there are three large fires at the same time, and there are many officers and soldiers who come on behalf of the institute!

"Hold the main road up the mountain!"

Huang Qi immediately gave the order, it was too late for him to retreat, and the fire was lit from the side and back.

Zhu Xieyuan, the old marshal, actually led 2,000 pacesetters to set off in advance, which was the Guizhou soldiers he had trained for several years. Two thousand elite officers and men crossed the river from the rear in a large circle, and the hundred-meter-wide river was easily crossed.

Not for anything else, just to block the way of the thief.

In the early morning of the next day, more than 28,000 officers and soldiers blocked Huang Mi's 2,000 regular soldiers and 3,000 peasant soldiers on Lion Rock.

A few miles away, there are two hills.

The hill in the northeast was Li Zheng's 500 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers.

The hill in the southwest is Fei Yinghui's 500 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers.

Three peaks, each other's horns.

Wang Tingqian exclaimed: "The superintendent did not send spies, so he knew that there would be thieves in this mountain. ”

Zhu Xieyuan explained: "The news of our army's dispatch has long been leaked, but there is no reinforcement from the thief army, so it will inevitably be ambushed in the mountains. Near Fengcheng, Lion Rock and Xiangu Ridge are the most dangerous. Xiangu Ridge is in the north, I have already sent someone to check it, only this Lion Rock in the south is left! ”

"Attack the mountain now?" Wang Ting asked.

"After a night of hard work, set up camp first and let the soldiers rest." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head and said.

The area around Lion Rock is surrounded by water on both sides, and it is easy to surround the enemy troops on the mountain. Zhu Xieyuan also wanted to surround the mountains to send reinforcements, because there must be thieves in the nearby mountains.

Huang Qi stood on the top of the mountain and muttered to himself: "An army of twenty or thirty thousand has traveled ten miles in one night, and this governor is in a hurry." ”

With such a fast night march, the grain and grass brought by Zhu Xieyuan can last for up to ten days!

Within ten days, if he could not capture the mountain, Zhu Xieyuan could only withdraw his troops hungry and return to Nanchang along the small river under the Lion Rock.

Zhu Xieyuan also had no choice, he only told a few henchmen in advance about his plan to send troops this time. The accidental leakage of military information made him feel furious, and the peasant associations in the surrounding counties also made him unable to drag it out any longer.

Fengcheng County can't be attacked quickly, so it can only come to fight Lion Rock, which is actually better than the county seat.

Within eight days, if the battle could not be defeated, the troops would be withdrawn immediately and go back to defend Nanchang honestly. Anyway, the purpose of this dispatch is to harass the rear of the anti-thieves, so that the anti-thieves cannot attack Ganzhou with all their might.

Li Zheng and Fei Yinghui each brought troops to the rescue, and after they joined forces, there were only 5,000 people, of which 4,000 were still peasant soldiers.

Moreover, they are peasants and soldiers in Fengcheng and Qingjiang counties, and the degree of training is actually not very high.

"How?" Li Zheng asked.

Fei Yinghui said: "We must not attack by force, the officers and soldiers attack the mountain, and we will harass them behind our backs." Try to delay the time, it will only take half a month, and there will definitely be reinforcements coming over from Ji'an. ”

Zhao Han's army is still too small, half of the regular soldiers are fighting in the south, and some elite peasant soldiers are guarding against Huguang.

If Zhao Han wanted to send reinforcements, he could only recruit peasant soldiers from Luling, Jishui, Anfu and other counties. It takes time to assemble, and it takes time to hurry, and Zhu Xieyuan can come and go very freely in this gap.

As Fei Yinghui said, Zhao Han's reinforcements may take half a month, and Zhu Xieyuan's plan is to withdraw if he can't beat Lion Rock in eight days.

By the time Zhao Han sent reinforcements over, Zhu Xieyuan would have already run back to Nanchang, this is an old fox who refuses to suffer!

In the afternoon.

More than 28,000 officers and men, well-rested and fed, began to organize the attack on the mountain.

Judging from the floor plan, Lion Rock is really small, less than 400 meters long and less than 200 meters wide, and 20,000 or 30,000 people besiege it.

Fortunately, the mountains can't just look at the plane.

In the direction of Zhangshu Town, several troop transport ships came, and Zhao Han couldn't wait for the peasant soldiers to assemble, so he directly sent his own personal soldiers.

The slave army led by Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu wore chain mail inside, cotton armor outside, and a bamboo helmet embedded with iron sheets.

There were not many people, only 400 armor soldiers.

The real vicious war is coming, a vicious battle that the Datong Army has never encountered before!

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