Li Zheng's army marching south had already arrived in Xiangtan.

Huang Qi frowned and asked, "With this kind of terrain in Xiangtan, what's the use of more soldiers?" Why not stay in Changsha? ”

Xiao Zongxian replied: "There are tens of thousands of defenders in Changsha, and the city is high and deep, so it is impossible to storm it at all. After dividing the troops, they may be able to lure the enemy out of the city and annihilate them in one fell swoop in the field. As for Xiangtan, a sudden increase in troops may be able to scare the surrender of the city. ”

"Even if you don't come, Xiangtan is about to surrender." Huang Mi said with a smile.

The Xiangjiang River flows through this place, forming a "several" word bay, and Xiangtan City is within the word bay. The city wall is surrounded by water on three sides, and it can only be attacked from one side, and no matter how many soldiers there are, it is useless, and each siege can only be arranged so little.

Huang Qi sat down across the moat and asked the archers to shoot books into the city.

The inhabitants outside the city either entered the city or fled, not daring to stay in the place of war. According to the confessions of these residents, Xiangtan Zhixian has been sick and dead for two months, and the county's affairs are represented by Li Youlong, the county leader.

In Huang Mi's opinion, a county is just a soldier, how long can it hold down the soldiers? Sooner or later, you will have to surrender!

Li Youlong was standing at the head of the city at the moment, looking at the thieves outside the city from afar, he was really unable to suppress it.

This guy was a native of Xunyang, Shaanxi, and later followed Zuo Mengeng to surrender to the Manchu Dynasty.

not only surrendered, but also during his tenure as governor, he suppressed and disintegrated many anti-Qing forces. In the end, because of the "suppression of bandits" in Tianjin, there were too many anti-Qing troops, so he could only feast those leaders, hoping to surrender them all. As a result, he was impeached for colluding with the Southern Ming Dynasty and was dismissed by the Manchu court.

After the dismissal, he was reluctant to leave Beijing, hoping to be used again. He has been living in Beijing for seven years, and was impeached by Wang Bingqian, the imperial historian, saying that since he was dismissed, he should get out. The Manchu Qing ordered him to return to his hometown within a certain time, and soon after returning home, he fell ill and died.

Just a dog.

To drop or not to fall?

Li Youlong wanted to surrender, but he was afraid that after the thief, his own people would be liquidated by the imperial court.

He regretted it so much, he spent money to buy a county city, and he didn't make much money before he encountered a thief attacking the city.

"There are reinforcements!"

A regimental training gentry pointed to the distance and shouted happily, but the guards of the city were not interested.

The ambush soldiers arranged by Huang Mi were about to be dispatched, but who knew that the newly arrived regimental training troops were actually holding high a Datong military flag.

"The world is the same, the world is the same!"

Yuan Yingkui was wearing a silk dress, and he looked like a rich man, but at this moment, Tuan Yong shouted the slogan of Datong.

The ancestor of the Yuan family in Xiangtan is Yuan Hong, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Hongzhi period, one of the descendants of Yuan Hong was transferred to the hereditary commander of Chalingwei. This one is divided into three, the main sect is the hereditary general of the Chaling Guard, the other relocates to Chaling as a landlord, and one relocates to Xiangtan as a landlord.

They are not big landowners, only a few thousand acres of land.

After Huang Qi surrounded Xiangtan, Yuan Yingkui immediately recruited his soldiers, and then observed the wind direction and did not move.

Seeing the collapse of the Zhou family's regimental practice, Yuan Yingkui finally moved. He did not come to help the government defend the city, but with more than 1,000 villagers, he wanted to join the Datong army to get rich.

Seeing the Datong military flag on the other side, Huang Qi suddenly couldn't cry or laugh.

He ordered Xiang Yong to stay on the other side of the bank, and only sent a small boat to pick up Yuan Yingkui.

"Grass people Yuan Yingkui, meet the general!" Yuan Yingkui knelt on the ground and shouted.

"Hahahaha!"

Huang Qi laughed and said, "Hurry up, please get up!" ”

The defenders in the city suddenly became more frightened when they saw that the anti-thief reinforcements had arrived, and the gentry led the villagers to follow the thieves.

Li Youlong, the acting magistrate of the county, saw this situation, and also made up his mind to be a thief and think about how to bypass the gentry and sacrifice the city.

Li Youlong had no soldiers, and the troops defending the city were all recruited by the local gentry.

In Xiangtan City, Ningxiang Lane.

Xiangtan was inconspicuous in the early Ming Dynasty, and even the city walls were made of wood.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Huguang was greatly developed, and the country's commerce became more and more prosperous. As a key point of land and water, Xiangtan has quickly become the most important port city in southern Hunan, and its economic status even surpasses that of Changsha.

Therefore, Xiangtan at the end of the Ming Dynasty was nicknamed "Little Nanjing". And Ningxiang Lane, where wealthy merchants live in Xiangtan, is also known as "Wuyi Lane".

Representatives of the major families in Ningxiang Lane gathered at the Xie family's mansion at this moment.

"The north-south trade and travel are cut off, and we can't fight anymore," Xie Li said, "no matter who wins or loses, trade must be resumed as soon as possible!" ”

Tan Qiulin said: "Now it seems that the officers and soldiers will definitely not be able to win, and we can only take refuge in the Jiangxi thieves." ”

"Don't talk about Jiangxi thieves, that's Zhao Tianwang and Mr. Zhao!" Wang Hun reminded.

For these wealthy businessmen, the division of land is a trivial matter, and they are mainly engaged in commercial trade from Huguang to Guangdong! From the fact that they moved their families to the city rather than living on country estates, it is clear that these people are more business-oriented.

Since Zhao Han protects business, it is worth taking refuge in!

If they encounter unreasonable, they will resist desperately.

For example, in another time and space, the Manchu Qing Dynasty burned, killed, looted, and did all kinds of evil, and these merchants paid to recruit troops to defend the city.

Due to the fierce siege battle, it lasted for three months. After the Qing army broke the city, they directly ordered the slaughter of the city, and the history records "killing hundreds of thousands of men and women".

Two years later, the Southern Ming recaptured Xiangtan, and the Qing army broke the city again and carried out a second massacre, and the entire Xiangtan was almost wiped out.

Only the second massacre, Hui merchants Huang Kenian and Cheng Zheng couldn't bear the righteous people to expose the corpses in the wilderness, so they paid for land to ask the monks to collect the corpses. The body was packed in a bamboo cage and buried for three months.

Later, in the rebellion of the three feudatories, the Qing army captured Xiangtan again and carried out the third massacre. Most of the people killed this time belong to immigrants who moved from Jiangxi!

After the merchants unanimously decided to take refuge in Zhao Han, they began to discuss how to dedicate the city.

Although they had a lot of money, they had no soldiers.

Wang Dai got up and said: "First, pay to recruit soldiers, just say that you want to defend the city; Second, set fire to the city at night and seize the city gates. Burn down the Li family! ”

"For the fire to burn the Li family, haha, this plan is very good!"

All the businessmen praised in unison, and the Li family had already committed public anger.

Li Tengfang belongs to the famous ministers of the Chu Party, the official is still in the Ministry of Rites, and there are many beautiful words in the history books.

But in Xiangtan's literati notes, the Li family did a lot of evil. After Li Tengfang was promoted, the Li family began to expand aggressively, such as Wang Dai, who spoke just now, was robbed of the property by the Li family by virtue of his power.

Now, although Li Tengfang is dead, his descendants are quite reused by Yang Sichang. Because Li Tengfang was a close friend of Yang Sichang's father before his death!

After the discussion, Wang Dai, as a lifter, went to see Li Youlong on behalf of the businessmen.

This gentleman was filled with righteous indignation: "The Zhao thief is hateful, brutalizes the gentry, and ravages the people. Xiangtan merchant gang, willing to raise 5,000 taels of silver to help the officers and soldiers defend the city! ”

Li Youlong had already made up his mind to be a thief, and when he heard this, he was so frightened that he hurriedly said: "You are noble and admirable. ”

What to do? What to do?

Li Youlong was afraid of death and didn't dare to reveal his intentions, so he could only support Shangjia's recruitment with a smile.

These businessmen are really rich, and they spend a lot of money, and the nomads in the city have joined the army, anyway, they will receive the enlistment money first.

A few days later, a fire broke out in the city.

However, the Li family's mansion was burned, and the businessmen came with the soldiers they raised to help extinguish the fire.

How to extinguish?

Demolished all the places near the neighbors of the Li family's mansion!

Wang Dai personally led hundreds of soldiers and rushed to a city gate, so that his subordinates shouted: "The anti-thieves and spies have set fire, the anti-thieves and spies have set fire!" ”

The guards of the city were in chaos, and the gentry with the soldiers could not be suppressed, so they fled indiscriminately.

Li Youlong, the acting magistrate, rushed over and asked in a panic: "Have you ever caught a spy?" ”

"Caught!"

Wang Dai rushed over and cut Li Youlong down with a knife.

Well, I didn't hack to death, and the literati are small.

Li Youlong struggled to get up and shouted in horror: "Don't kill me, I am willing to be a thief, I ...... Yes! ”

Wang Dai slashed it again, but he still didn't kill him, so he could only quickly make up for a few more knives. He was so tired that his back hurt, and he gasped: "Go and open the city gates!" ”

Historically, Wang Dai and Wang Shizhen are equally famous, and are known as the "Three Uniques of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting".

He was slaughtered three times in Xiangtan, and his family was almost wiped out, and he survived by hiding outside the city. Until he was in his fifties, Wang Dai accepted the recruitment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and served as the magistrate of Chenghai in his sixties. Chenghai County was also sparsely populated, and there was only one City God Temple in the county with strong incense.

Wang Dai recruited displaced people in Chenghai, cultivated wasteland, built dikes, restored markets, and set up warehouses to help the poor. In the end, he died in Chenghai, with no long things, and the people wept bitterly to send his coffin home.

What about the Manchu Qing Dynasty?

He did not massacre the rebels, and only became an official after the rebellion of the three feudatories, and he really saved hundreds of people.

At this time, Wang Dai was not yet twenty years old.

He led his soldiers to occupy the city gate, and when Huang Qi led the troops over, he immediately stepped forward to make a gesture: "Please send troops to maintain law and order in the city, and suppress those who take advantage of the fire to rob!" ”

"Very good, you lead the way!" Huang Qi said approvingly.

Wang Dai first took Huang Mi to Ningxiang Lane to maintain law and order in the rich area. Then he called the merchants to be guides, and led Huang Mi's troops to suppress the riots in various parts of the city.

As for Wang Dai himself, he followed Huang Qi to occupy the county government.

Everything was in order, and Huang Mi and the missionaries didn't have to make much effort.

When it was dawn, Huang Qi praised and said: "You are very talented, follow me first." After the battle, I recommend you to go to Ji'an, the town will definitely like you. Are you famous? ”

"Lift people." Wang Dai replied.

"Good, good." Although Huang Qi himself is uneducated, he particularly admires learned people, provided that the other party does not harm the people.

Wang Dai said: "Changsha and Xiangtan are both commercial cities. Besiege Changsha, you can shoot the book in the city, explain the reason clearly, and the businessmen in the city will inevitably be willing to do internal response. ”

"Why?" Huang Qi asked.

Wang Dai explained: "The longer our army besieged Changsha, the greater the losses of the merchants. ”

Huang Qi shook his head and said: "There are tens of thousands of defenders in Changsha, and the businessmen can't set off the wind and waves." However, this plan can also be used, and a few more should not be a bad thing. ”

The two didn't talk about Changsha, and Huang Mi began to ask about the situation in Xiangtan.

While he was talking, a messenger suddenly came to report: "Huang Bingyuan, our army has captured Changsha!" ”

"What?"

Huang Qi and Wang Dai were both shocked, thinking that they had heard it wrong.

Changsha Jiancheng, how can it be so easy to knock down?