Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, who had just surrendered, had only more than 1,000 soldiers under their command, and the rest were all nearby fishermen and farmers.

Lin Chong led his troops to line up outside the village and began to dismiss those "militiamen". Although he did not have much rations for his own soldiers, he promised to give the "militia" demobilization rations.

Huang Zuo restrained the soldiers in the village, and Liu Rui led the militia out to receive food.

One after another, farmers and fishermen first threw away their weapons and lined up in despair. A few people are angry, but many more are expressions of relief.

Last year, most of them were willing to fight to the death, but this year's mood is different.

The main reason is that there is a shortage of food, Zhong Xiang is surrounded by enemies on all sides, raising too many troops, and the life of the people under his rule is becoming more and more difficult.

These "militiamen" usually have to farm and fish, and they have to practice when they have a little free time, and once they fight, they have to work hard as soldiers. And they are busy all year round, not only do they have no food to spare, but they will also go hungry when they are not harvested.

No matter how firm your faith is, you will be compromised even if you are hungry.

If the Ming Dynasty is brutal and unkind, they may still fight to the end.

Ke'an Township County is next door, and it did well under the Ming Dynasty.

The people here in Chongxiao Village are so hungry that they will even quietly go to Anxiang to exchange food - this kind of thing happened this spring!

The Chu army in each county of Dingzhou divided its troops to defend the city, but did not gather to fight, the main reason was that the military rations were insufficient. Last year, Wuxi rebelled, and the Chenzhou direction used troops for half a year, and the Dingzhou direction had to be stationed to confront the Ming Dynasty, and the grain in this large area has been exhausted.

The severance pay is not much, just one person and one bucket.

The militia who received the food soon scattered into a common people.

Immediately, Huang Zuo led more than 1,000 soldiers out of the village, symbolically handed over the military book and grain book, and Lin Chong accepted his surrender on behalf of the Ming court.

The monk soldiers from Fujian, under the leadership of Fan Ruwei, entered Chongxiao Village to take over the defense.

It is not to engage in any religious confrontation, but purely under the constraints of Fan Ruwei, the military discipline of these Fujian soldiers is very good. At least, among the new armies trained this year, their military discipline belongs to the existence of the ceiling.

In the next war, Chongxiao Village belonged to the grain transfer hub, and it was also a transit station for soldiers and people. The surrounding countryside is full of Manichaeans, and a well-disciplined army must be selected to be stationed, otherwise I don't know what kind of trouble will be made.

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui followed Lin Chong back to the village, and Lin Chong asked, "Did General Ying tell you?" ”

"Got it." The two nodded.

Lin Chong repeated: "The altars in the surrounding villages must be banned. The whole family of those small altar owners in the countryside moved to Yuezhou first, waiting for the government to disperse them to various places for resettlement. ”

Dingzhou is Zhong Xiang's hometown and the stronghold of Manichaeism in Hunan.

The countryside is full of large and small altars, and blindly killing will inevitably provoke resistance, but it is easy to cause chaos if you leave it alone.

Breaking up the migration is the best way.

I am not afraid that they will go to other places to preach, because some provinces have already spread the word. For example, in Huainan and Shandong, after the fall of Fangla, a large number of Manichaeans went north. Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi also have Manichaeism everywhere.

As long as life goes on, there will be no large-scale uprisings, and the religious question will be left for the future to be resolved slowly.

Huang Zuo said: "As long as you persuade them with good words, give them some money, and promise them to give land after they migrate, the village altar owners will not resist." ”

Liu Rui said: "If there is resistance, you can only kill." ”

Those who came to fight on the west bank of Dongting Lake were not only Lin Chong's 6,000 elites, but also garrison troops in Anxiang, Huarong and other places.

In total, more than 18,000 people!

Counting the soldiers who surrendered, it was about 20,000 people.

After confirming that Zhong Xiang's main force was heading south, Bai Qi personally led 20,000 new troops and 10,000 people to join him by boat from Antler Town.

The small town of Chongxiao is densely packed with people, and there are military camps and granaries everywhere outside the town.

Bai Qi convened a meeting of the generals, Huang Zuo stayed in the village to participate, and Liu Rui went to the countryside to ban the altar.

"What is the specific situation in Dingzhou and Chenzhou?" Bai Qi asked.

Daming also has fine works here, but the number is very small, and it is easy to expose.

黄佐 elaborates:

"The coach is Zhong ...... Zhong Xiang's brother Zhong Quan, with 5,000 soldiers stationed in Dingzhou City. Last year, Wuxi rebelled, and Zhong Quan led his troops to pacify it, but it was fought for half a year. It is necessary to leave troops to guard against the Great Tomorrow Dynasty, so there is not much military food left here. ”

"Last winter, several batches of military rations were brought to Tanzhou. Afraid of being snatched away by the Daming sailors, they did not dare to ship from Dongting Lake, so they were transported to Yiyang first, and then transported to Yuanjiang and Chenyang with livestock. When they arrived in Chenyang, they were loaded and shipped to Dingzhou City. ”

"This spring, there is a shortage of food here, and Tanzhou has transported two more batches of military rations. But it is a drop in the bucket, and we can only wait for the rice to be harvested. ”

"Now that the war has broken out again, Dingzhou can no longer collect grain. Tanzhou grain has to be supplied to Zhong Xiang's army, and it can't be transported again. Therefore, on the side of Dingzhou, all the walled cities are self-raising military rations. The lowly was afraid that the food would not be enough, so a few days ago, he took the soldiers to fish, catch mussels and snails. ”

"If Zhong Quan dares to order the gathering of troops, he doesn't have to fight hard with him, and he will run out of food in a month or two."

"The general of Chenyang is called Liu Heng, and he is a distant relative of Liu Rui, so let Liu Rui go to persuade him to surrender. Liu Heng only had more than 1,000 soldiers in his hands, mainly because there were too many soldiers to raise. But if our army besieges Chenyang, he can immediately recruit thousands of people to defend the city, and these people have practiced the military formation in their spare time. ”

"The Yuanjiang garrison is called Quan Cong, and the troops are also not much, but this city is particularly difficult to fight. However, Yuanjiang City is on the shore of Dongting Lake, and the firearms of the Ming warships are powerful, which can suppress the defenders at the head of the city. ”

“……”

After Bai Qi heard this, his heart instantly bottomed up.

Through the message sent back by Xizuo, he knew that Zhong Xiang was short of food, but he didn't expect to be so embarrassed.

Nowadays, the food in the country of Pseudo-Chu is mostly used to supply Zhong Xiang's army, and the cities that are divided into troops to defend are all in a state of food shortage.

This is caused by the superposition of many factors, and too many pseudo-Chu troops are only one aspect. Years of war require the recruitment of people, which has also affected agricultural production for a long time.

Last year, there was also a major flood, which disrupted Li Bao's battle plan and caused a large area of harvest failure in the waters of Dongting Lake and Xiangjiang River. For Zhong Xiang, it can be said that the house leak coincided with overnight rain, and the food under his rule became more and more insufficient.

A few days later, Bai Qi led an army to besiege Chenyang.

This is the later Hanshou County, the Yuan River flows through its north, there is the Canglang River in the west, and the east is only twenty or thirty miles away from Dongting Lake.

Qu Yuan "stayed in vain in the morning and stayed in Chenyang", not only stayed in Chenyang, but also washed his feet by the Canglang River.

On the contrary, it is the county town of Yuanjiang in the southeast, which was located at the mouth of the Yuan River flowing into Dongting Lake during the Sui Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yuan River was divided into two, and in the Song Dynasty, it was completely diverted to the north, and the county seat and the river were fifty or sixty miles apart.

Bai Qi led the army to besiege Chenyang, and divided his troops to let Lin Chong go to Yuanjiang, and the Daming Water Division also frantically bombarded Yuanjiang County.

Zhong Xiang's younger brother Zhong Quan sat in Dingzhou, and when he learned that Chenyang was besieged, he was undecided for a while.

Zhong Quan only had 5,000 soldiers in his hands, and relying on the appeal of Manichaeism, he could immediately recruit 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers, and then fight with Bai Qi in Chenyang.

But if that happens, the military rations will last for a month or two at most!

After hesitating for two or three days, Zhong Quan still ordered the conscription, let the common people tighten their belts and pay for food, and at the same time requisitioned a large number of ships and people.

Liu Rui personally shouted under the city: "Da Chu is about to be gone, brother should surrender as soon as possible......"

The guard Liu Heng stood at the head of Chenyang City: "You are ungrateful, so I won't be a brother to you." Shoot the arrows! ”

Persuasion failed.

Bai Qi began to strengthen the camp, waiting for Zhong Quan to lead the army to rescue, and his initial idea was to encircle the point and send reinforcements.

At this moment, he knew that the enemy army was short of food, and he didn't even need to rush to send reinforcements, relying on the camp to consume him for a month or two. Wait for the puppet Chu reinforcements to run out of food, and then take it in one go!

Zhong Xiang's main force went south to quell the chaos, and he couldn't come back for a month or two.

When Zhong Xiang comes back, Dingzhou is estimated to be gone. This is the old nest of Manichaeism, and many of the clansmen of the high-level generals of the pseudo-Chu are still living in Dingzhou.

After more than ten days, Zhong Quan led the army to arrive, counting more than 40,000 people.

Zhong Quan was in a state of lack of food, and was eager to fight Bai Qi, but Bai Qi stuck to the camp and couldn't come out.

The county town of Yuanjiang in the southwest has also been bombarded by the naval division for many days, Huang Zuo persuaded him to surrender outside the city every day, and the guard general Quan Cong began to waver.

But after all, he is still waiting, and when Chenyang next door is gone, Quan Cong will choose to surrender.

It dragged on until the "January period", and Wang Yuan began to shout outside the antler village: "General Zhou, the eldest husband has a promise of a thousand gold, but you are going to break the promise?" ”

In the village, Lei Dejin said to Zhou Lun: "It's okay to lie to him for a month, but you can't really surrender." ”

Zhou Lun shook his head: "Great Chu will undoubtedly be defeated, why increase casualties in vain?" The sergeant of the village also has parents, wives and children, and cannot be sent to death with them. Gather all the soldiers. ”

Lei Dejin was silent, he didn't want to turn his back on the enemy, but he wanted to save his life.

Zhou Lun is the main general, Zhou Lun will surrender when he descends, and Zhou Lun will guard him.

The soldiers in the twin castles were all recruited by Zhou Lun to the outskirts on the east side of the middle of the two cities, and Wang Yuan did not take the opportunity to lead troops to kill.

Zhou Lun shouted to the soldiers: "You have done your best to Your Majesty, and Da Chu can't win." I have already agreed with the enemy generals that as long as you lay down your weapons, you can go back to work as potters to support your family. I am the one who is unfaithful and unrighteous, and when I die, do not avenge me, but work hard and live well......"

Red was shocked: "It's all going to fall, what kind of revenge are you talking about?" ”

Zhou Lun turned in the direction of Changsha, pulled out his knife sharply, and closed his eyes to kill himself.

Lei Dejin was standing next to him, and immediately pounced when Zhou Lun drew his knife. The two fell to the ground, and Lei Dejin hurriedly dragged the knife away, but saw that blood was already coming out of Zhou Lun's neck.

"Lang Zhong, Lang Zhong come here!" Redjin reached out and shouted as he pressed the wound.

The military doctor was reprimanded below, and while running towards Zhou Lun, he yelled at his apprentice: "Go get my medicine box!" ”

In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Yuan led his troops to receive the deer horn village, and looked at the unconscious Zhou Lun with emotion: "How is General Zhou?" ”

The military doctor sighed and replied: "Alas, there was too much blood to be shed, and I couldn't stop it at the beginning." Whether he can wake up or not can only depend on his own creation. ”

Wang Yuan shook his head and left the room silently.

(End of chapter)