Runzhou (Zhenjiang).

Li Bao looked at the list of confiscated materials sent from Hangzhou and asked, "There was no big chaos in the prefectures and counties along the way, right?" ”

The officer in charge of delivering the documents said: "Hangzhou, Xiuzhou, Suzhou, and Changzhou are all in order, and although there is some chaos in Wuxi, there is nothing serious. Wujiang County ......"

"What's wrong with Wujiang County?" Li Bao asked.

The officer said: "There is an incident in Wujiang County, and I don't know what I think, I don't want to return to the Ming Dynasty, but under the banner of Fangla. These Manichaeans tortured and killed the inferior gentry in the countryside, and Guo Xianling personally went to appease them, but they were almost killed by them, and they also besieged the county seat. Battalion Commander Ji, who was stationed in Suzhou, led 300 soldiers to the rescue quickly, and finally defeated these rebellious people. But several of its leaders have escaped and are still being hunted around. ”

"Fucking Manichaeism again!" Li Bao said with a headache.

He was also afraid of being held accountable by Zhu Ming, so what he brought this time, in addition to the six thousand Kuizhou descendants, was a thousand heavily armored guards.

As for the 1,000 sand people recruited on Chongming Island, Li Bao always kept them by his side, not daring to let these recruits run around.

The speed of his army was too fast, and he could only divide a small number of descendants and garrison the state cities along the way. The county seat was taken over by the accompanying civilian officials, and local archers and soldiers were used to maintain law and order.

The reason why the big food merchant was able to get the goods back was because Li Bao specially instructed him to maintain order in the port and resume maritime trade there as soon as possible.

Li Bao kept the maritime merchants of Lupu Town, so he sent 500 Kuizhou descendants to take over, and repeatedly emphasized that there should be no problems.

"General, there are 8,000 righteous troops in Yixing County, and now they are waiting for dispatch outside Changzhou City. They did it two months ago, and they were later killed by Zhu Mian's Cai Youzhaoan. ”

"Let them come to Runzhou immediately, don't loot along the way, and ask the Changzhou officials to give some military rations."

Of course, the military rations were bought by the rich households, and Li Baoke did not bring any food, but the money to buy grain was more than enough - the monarchs and ministers of Song Huizong brought a lot of goods from Tokyo, and they were exploited in the southeast, and now they have all been confiscated by Li Bao.

After dealing with military affairs, Runzhou Zhizhou Mo Li was brought.

In order to consolidate his rule, the small southeastern court of Song Huizong promoted a large number of local scholars in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

This Mo Li is a famous man in the south of the Yangtze River, the Mo family belongs to the Yixing Wang clan, and his father Mo Junchen has a good relationship with Su Shi.

"Meet the General!" Mo Tuo was respectful.

Li Bao asked, "Fu Moqing, the prefect of Jiangning, are you familiar with this person?" ”

Mo Li said: "Fu Moqing is from the Fu family of Yuezhou (Shaoxing), and he once worked as a scholar of the Ministry of Rites in Tokyo, and was demoted to Zhizhou because he offended Wang Huang. His younger brother Fu Songqing, and His Royal Highness the Prince of the Ming Dynasty are the same scholars, because he offended Lin Lingsu and was demoted to the county prince, and resigned in anger and lived in seclusion until now. The two brothers are both honest and upright people, if it weren't for the purpose of winning over the southeastern gentry, Zhao Ji would not let Fu Moqing be the prefect of Jiangning. ”

"Jiangning City is high and deep, and it is really not easy to attack," Li Bao said, "If you write a letter, you will say that the Ming Emperor and the crown prince are benevolent and righteous, and they will not be as exploited as Zhao Ji, the faint monarch." I led the troops to the southeast, and there were no troops to plunder, so let him open the gate of Jiangning City. I really couldn't open the city gates, so I set fire to the city and caused chaos. ”

"Everything is on the orders of the general." How dare Mo Tuo disobey?

……

In charge of the Yangtze River defense line, it was the great eunuch Liang Shicheng, and Tong Guan was still suppressing bandits in Fujian.

"Let you stay in Runzhou, why did you abandon the city and flee without firing an arrow?" Liang Shicheng angrily reprimanded the man who was kneeling on the ground.

This person's name is Gai Qiong, but he is a eunuch in military uniform, and he cried and defended with a sad face: "Father Rongyu, I have been guarding the other side of the Yangtze River, but I don't want thieves to kill from behind......"

"Nonsense!" Liang Shicheng became more and more angry, "The thieves are still in Danyang, sixty or seventy miles away, you led the troops to flee to Jiangning, which is the sudden killing from behind you?" ”

Gai Qiong said: "My grain route has been cut off. ”

There was a war on the mainland, and the grain route was cut off......

But it is also an excuse, Runzhou military rations do rely on the Jiangnan Canal to transport, and Li Bao already controls the Jiangnan Canal.

Liang Shicheng didn't bother to say much to this waste righteous son, turned his head and asked, "For today's plan, how should I deal with it?" ”

When Liang Shicheng escaped, he also recruited more than 100 sergeants in Tokyo, mainly to protect the safety of his property.

The leaders under his command, except for the eunuch's godson, were all selected from the "bodyguards" who fled south.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the bodyguards, Liang Shicheng specially selected the descendants of the generals of the Western Army.

For example, this Zhang Zongyan in front of him, his father was Zhang Ji, the general of Jingyuan Road, before his death. Because his father died on the battlefield, Zhang Zongyan became a military attache in Enyin, that is, he took a salary in the capital and ate dry rice.

This person is good-looking, burly, and speaks in all aspects, Liang Shicheng was in love at a glance when he picked people, and now he is the number one general under his command.

Zhang Zongyan said: "The thieves are besieging Taipingzhou, and Runzhou in the east is lost. If the soldiers under Taiwei (Liang Shicheng) can fight, they should divide their troops to defend Jiangning, rescue Taiping Prefecture with the main force, and then turn back to fight the enemy who is alone in the depths. But ......"

"But what? Something to say! "Liang Shicheng doesn't have a good airway.

Zhang Zongyan stubbornly said: "But most of the soldiers in Jiangning are local troops, and if the main force is barely able to defend the city." Once the main force rushes to the aid of Taiping, and the enemy army arrives at the city of Jiangning, the army will definitely be disheartened and will collapse at the touch of a button. ”

Liang Shicheng said: "Say a feasible way." ”

Zhang Zongyan said: "Either the whole army is trapped in Jiangning, waiting to be attacked by the enemy." Either immediately abandon Jiangning and retreat south, march rapidly to Qingxi and Muzhou, and then enter Jiangxi through Quzhou, and join the army on the Jiangxi side. The former method, trapped in the lonely city for a long time, will be defeated. In the latter way, it may be that during the march, the soldiers will flee in large numbers, because they are Jiangdong people and do not want to leave their hometown to go to Jiangxi. ”

Liang Shicheng said anxiously: "No matter how you choose, there is no good result?" ”

Zhang Zongyan said: "If you are trapped in Jiangning, you will be captured, and you will not be caught by thieves when you turn to Jiangxi." ”

"Let me think about it, and you will go down." Liang Shicheng waved his hand.

Liang Shicheng did not dare to surrender, because his reputation was too stinky, and he would definitely be cut down to vent the anger of the people.

But Song Huizong didn't know whether he was alive or dead, how could he insist on being a eunuch?

Until this time, Liang Shicheng didn't know how many soldiers Li Bao had, and the troops in his own hands were too bad. Relying on the Yangtze River, he can still defend, how can Li Bao fight from behind?

However, it was said that Zhang Zongyan walked out of the side door and rode through two streets, when someone suddenly shouted: "Brother Zhang, take a step to speak." ”

Zhang Zongyan handed over the horse to his entourage, followed the man into an alley, and then came to a house.

There are already three people waiting in the house, all of them are Liang Shicheng's "bodyguards" who fled south, and now they have been promoted to generals.

A general named Li Sanfu stood up and took the lead in speaking: "Our father and brother have all died for the country, and the kindness of the Great Song Dynasty has been repaid. Liang Shicheng chose us to escort him south, just to protect his own money. The promotion of us to be generals is also for him to control the army. This kind of selfish favor, don't mention it, let's follow him to do things, how much infamy does he have? ”

Another general named Chen Tong also said: "The emperor is nowhere to be found, what are we going to fight?" simply tied up Liang Shicheng and dedicated Jiang Ning to the soldiers of the Great Tomorrow! ”

"Yes, Emperor Zhu will definitely sit in the world, and we can't wait to die for the faint monarch."

"Brother Zhang, you are the number one fierce general in the army, and your position is also the highest, you have to get an idea quickly."

“……”

Zhang Zongyan hesitated, and didn't know how to choose for a while.

The military attache of Enyin who receives a salary for nothing also has a rank and can also be promoted, and if he is promoted to the highest level, he is a jiedu envoy (honorary position). When Zhang Zongyan was in Tokyo, he was only the lowest-level third-class borrower, and at the price of Kaifeng grain at that time, his salary could not support himself.

It was Liang Shicheng who selected him, asked him to escort Cai Bao south, and promoted him to be a general.

No matter how bad Liang Shicheng's reputation is, he is kind to Zhang Zongyan.

Zhang Zongyan has no outstanding achievements in history, but he can be mixed into the official conclusion of the "Top Ten Famous Generals of Nandu", and there is naturally a reason for this.

First of all, he is a qualified general, decent.

Secondly, people are handsome, burly, good at dealing with the world, and do not contradict anyone.

In the end, this guy is very affectionate, he never plays backstabbing, and he can save allies when they are in trouble.

For his engong Liang Shicheng, Zhang Zongyan really can't do it.

Thinking about it, Zhang Zongyan said: "How about a mutiny that collects the army, and then expells Captain Liang and lets him escape on his own?" ”

Everyone present looked at each other, then looked at each other, and agreed very happily.

Zhang Zongyan also treated the soldiers well, he secretly summoned his generals, saying that he planned to mutiny and sacrifice the city, and those generals immediately expressed their support.

Liang Shicheng, on his side, finally made up his mind to abandon the city and escape, and fled all the way to Jiangxi with his troops.

This guy has stored a lot of goods in Hangzhou, which is his savings in Tokyo for decades, and all of them have been confiscated by Li Bao. Jiangning's wealth is only tens of thousands, which has been accumulated in the past half a year, and his godson is arranged to escort him with his henchmen.

The rest of the troops were also gathered, intending to loot all the grain shops and granaries inside and outside the city.

Just as Liang Shicheng was leading his troops out of the city, Zhang Zongyan suddenly appeared at the gate of the city and said loudly: "Tai Lieutenant, you better leave your belongings and leave with only a few entourage." ”

Liang Shicheng was furious: "Are you still going to rebel?" ”

Before Zhang Zongyan could reply, Li Sanfu led the army to rush out from another street: "Brother Zhang, don't say much, take down this person first." ”

In the rear of Liang Shicheng, troops also appeared.

Surrounded on three sides, Liang Shicheng's personal soldiers were scattered, and they collapsed and fled in fright before the fight began.

Chen Tong rode his horse and galloped over, caught up with Liang Shicheng, who was fleeing, swept him off his horse with a shot, and then added another shot to the throat.

Zhang Zongyan was shocked and angry, and asked, "Didn't you say that you would let him live?" ”

Chen Tong smiled: "The gun is too easy, I really can't hold back." ”

Liang Shicheng, the notorious eunuch, died on the streets like this. The corpse lay on its back, its expression extremely frightened, and blood gushing from its throat.

There was a mutiny here, and someone in the city immediately took advantage of the chaos.

It was nothing more than the ruffians who knew that the army was leaving, and before the Ming officers and soldiers arrived, they hurriedly made a mess and robbed the goods.

Zhang Zongyan glanced at the corpse and said to his soldiers: "Take it to the suburbs immediately and bury it, bury it as far away as possible, don't let people know where it is buried." He turned his head again and said to the generals: "If you follow me to make trouble, please ask Fu Taishou to immediately post a notice for the people!" ”

(End of chapter)