Hengyang, Quanxi Town.

The miners' rebel army from Guiyang Jian has already fought for hundreds of miles, attacking the city all the way to this place.

The soldiers were no longer just miners, but also ordinary Han people and Yao people in the mountains.

There are three of their leaders, named Tang Danian, Fang Zhong, and Pan Shaojie.

Eighty years ago, during the reign of Song Renzong, their ancestors also rebelled together.

First, the Han people were forced to flee to the Yao territory and farm with the Yao residents. The government then controlled the salt of the Yao people, forced the Yao people to pay high salt taxes, and killed the Yao people at will when they inspected the illegal salt.

Huang Hunting Ghosts, a smuggler of salt in Jiangxi, clashed with officers and soldiers when selling salt to the Yao people, which provoked a joint uprising of the Han and Yao people.

The government transformed the contradiction of rule into a national contradiction, divided the relationship between the Han Yao rebel army, and killed Huang after Zhao'an Huang caught ghosts. He also forced the Han people under the mountain to move out, forbade them to interact with the Yao people in the mountains, and set aside a 20-mile forbidden area to destroy the peasants' crops and houses.

Such a brutal rule immediately provoked an even greater wave of revolt.

The uprising lasted for six years, and even spread from Jingnan to Guangxi, and finally the remnants of the three leaders of Tang, Fang, and Pan surrendered.

Eighty years have passed, and the Han and Yao ethnic groups have become more closely connected. Especially in the river valleys and on the edge of the mountains, the two ethnic groups have been intermarried for a long time, and it is difficult to distinguish between them.

Many "mixed-race" descendants, speaking Chinese, claim to be Yao people, because Yao people do not have to pay land taxes.

But the government is not stupid, and after twenty or thirty years of the Han Yao uprising, it gradually began to collect taxes on the Yao people under the mountain.

Moreover, the more you march, the heavier it gets!

When Zhong Xiang first hit him, the civilians of the Han and Yao clans all supported Zhong Xiang and helped Zhong Xiang kill the officials and landlords together.

In just two or three years, the brave man became an evil dragon.

Guiyang Jian was soon stolen by speculators to rule the village, and he was in cahoots with the henchmen sent by Zhong Xiang.

"Dada......"

As soon as a fast horse galloped in, the knight said to the Guiyang rebels who were still encamped: "Who is your leader, General Cao, please go to the meeting!" ”

Fang Zhong stayed here to command the camp, and Tang Danian and Pan Shaojie were invited to Cao Cheng's camp.

Now, Hengyang is besieged on three sides.

Li Hui's camp is in the west of the city, Cao Cheng's camp is in the south of the city, and Yang Zaixing's camp is buffered between the first two.

Now the Guiyang rebels are here again, camping in the southwest of the city.

Theoretically, Li Heng was appointed by the imperial court as an envoy to Guangxi, and all the righteous armies should be controlled by him. However, this gentleman suppressed the rebel army in Guangxi, Hunan, and Jiangxi for a long time, which was notorious to the rebel army of all ethnic groups, and everyone was more willing to listen to Cao Cheng.

Even though, Cao Cheng was just killed and defeated half a month ago......

"Meet General Cao!"

Stepping into the camp, the leaders of all walks of life greeted one after another, and Cao Cheng was quite useful in his heart.

After introducing each other, Cao Cheng told about the current situation, and began to draw cakes again: "The imperial court has 200,000 troops in Dongting Lake, and there are 100,000 troops in Jiangxi, and Changsha will be taken sooner or later." We just need to drag Zhong Xiang here, and when the battle situation in the north comes, Zhong Xiang will inevitably be in turmoil, and then he can attack the city and break the thieves. Regardless of whether you are captured alive or beheaded, as long as you catch Zhong Xiang, everyone present can be a big official! ”

"We all listen to General Cao!" The chiefs of all walks of life shouted.

The rebels didn't have much food, so they specially prepared wine and meat today, and everyone ate heartily.

The feast was over, and they dispersed.

Yang Zaixing stayed, and waited for everyone else to go before he said to Cao Cheng: "Shouldn't you contact Li Heng, after all, it's a friendly army now." ”

Cao Cheng shook his head: "It's better not to contact him, he is now an official, we all have to listen to him." But when he gave a military order, which righteous army was willing to listen? It's strange if you don't make a fuss on the spot. ”

Yang Zaixing wanted to speak and stopped, he knew Cao Cheng's temper very well, and finally did not persuade again.

Back in the camp, Yang Zaixing called his own soldiers: "Send two jars of wine to Li Jingluo, and say that they were sent by the Guiyang Righteous Army." ”

Yang Zaixing was also very hostile to Li Heng, but they joined forces to conquer Shaoyang and captured Xidu Town together.

After several days of contact, the relations between the two sides have eased considerably.

Li Heng is a person who respects rules and trusts, and seeing that Yang Zaixing has few soldiers, he also divided 2,000 recruits to Yang Zaixing.

But it was said that the three leaders of the Guiyang Rebel Army would gather for a meeting after nightfall.

Tang Danian said: "Once there is a change, immediately withdraw to Leiyang!" ”

"The armies of all walks of life besieged Hengyang, can they still lose the battle?" Pan Shaojie said strangely.

Tang Danian said: "The morale of the army is uneven. Li Heng and Cao Cheng are the strongest here, but the two of them are hostile to each other, and Cao Chengcheng didn't even invite Li Heng to the banquet. The military camps are also far apart, and it is difficult to quickly rescue them in the event of an attack. ”

"Second Brother Tang is right." Fang Zhong nodded.

Among the three, Tang Danian is Han, Pan Shaojie is Yao, and Fang Zhong is a Han Yao "mixed race" who claims to be Yao.

And Tang Danian has studied, his family used to be a landlord, and after being raided by Zhong Xiang, all the men of the clan were thrown to mine. Hundreds of miles all the way, the miners in Guiyang now listen to Tang Danian's words.

……

Inside the city of Hengyang.

An urgent letter was sent to Zhong Xiang, and the content was summed up in one sentence: Lujiao Village is gone, the Ming army is besieging Xiangyin, and the Chu army can still hold it for the time being.

Just six days ago, the news that Chenyang was besieged was also known to Zhong Xiang.

Zhong was helpless about this, he was now short of soldiers and food. With the resources of half of Hunan, where can it withstand the siege of several provinces?

The crown prince Zhong Ziang was also in Hengyang, and when he saw that there was no one left and right, he couldn't help but whisper: "Father, it's better to come down." ”

"Everyone can descend, but you and my father and son cannot." Zhong Xiang glared at his son.

Zhong Ziang immediately shut up.

Zhong Xiang said again: "The enemy army in Jiangxi has been crippled, and the enemy army outside Hengyang City, when they see them camping, they know that they are not united. If you delay for a while, you may be able to find an opportunity to break the enemy. Yang Hua still has 8,000 elites there, so let him stop caring about the enemy army in Jiangxi and immediately return to Xiangyin City to defend against the enemy. ”

"What about Dingzhou?" Zhong Ziang asked.

Zhong Xiang said gloomily: "The water division is defeated, and Dingzhou is destined to be unable to hold it." ”

The war in the south mainly relied on water transportation, and the Daming Naval Division completely controlled Dongting Lake, which was equivalent to dividing the battlefield on the northern front.

Chenyang and Yuanjiang are surrounded, don't look at Yiyang is very close, but in the state of lack of soldiers and food, the defenders of Yiyang dare not move.

Three days later, Zhong Xiang sent a fierce general Chen Gui to lead a thousand elites out of the city to attack at night.

There was the Daozhou and Hezhou righteous army camps centered on Cao Cheng, which were nominally under the command of Cao Cheng, but in fact they were divided into more than ten forces.

Chen Gui successfully lit a camp, and the sky-high flames were accompanied by shouts of killing, and the rebels in the nearby camp rushed to flee.

In the darkness, Cao Cheng didn't dare to save him at all, fearing that his soldiers would also collapse. He was able to quickly pacify his headquarters and prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the situation, and he was already a good general.

And the camps of Li Hui, Yang Zaixing, and Tang Danian were far away, and it was too late to save them, and when they arrived with troops, Chen Gui had already returned to the city with the Chu army.

After losing two games in a row, the army's morale was uneven, and after Cao Cheng collected the rout, he retreated directly for twenty miles and camped.

Tang Danian immediately went to contact Yang Zaixing and got in touch with Li Heng. After detailed discussions, the three parties finally joined forces and abandoned their prejudices to deal with Zhong Xiang together.

At this point, Zhong Xiang has been difficult to break the game.

His only way was to take the initiative to go out of the city and fight a decisive battle with the coalition army with the elite soldiers in his hands. It's almost impossible to attack at night again, and it's even more like waiting to die if you stay in the city all the time.

Among the coalition forces outside the city, Li Heng's troops were the best equipped, but most of them belonged to the township soldiers, that is, the so-called landlord armies. It has only been three or four months since they returned to the Ming Dynasty, and they haven't even had time to reorganize, and their combat effectiveness and morale are just like that.

And Tang Danian and Yang Zaixing's troops, if you talk about the elite with complete armor, add up to only three or four thousand, and many soldiers are not even lacking leather armor.

If Zhong Xiang goes out of the city to fight, he still has a chance to win, because his opponent is "too bad"!

After repeated measurements, Zhong Xiang asked his son to defend the city, and he personally led the main force to fight a decisive battle.

Li Heng, Yang Zaixing, and Tang Danian, but they stuck to the camp and couldn't come out, they knew that their soldiers were too weak, and they had to pull Cao Cheng's troops to be sure.

Li Heng called Yang Zaixing and Tang Danian to discuss the battle plan repeatedly, but he still felt that his troops were insufficient.

After the two left, Li Heng walked around the account, thought for a long time and finally made up his mind, gritted his teeth and said: "Cao Cheng, that dog thief wants to save face, then give him enough face!" ”

Leaving the camp to his son to hold, Li Heng personally rode south and made a detour of more than 30 miles to Cao Cheng's camp.

"Why did Li Jingluo come? It's really a rare guest. Cao Cheng was angry when he saw Li Heng, and one of his brothers died in the hands of Li Heng.

Li Heng said: "General Cao, in the past, you and I were our own masters, and it was inevitable that the battlefield sword would inevitably be killed and injured without eyes, but in fact, there was no personal vendetta at all. Today, they are all ministers of the Ming Dynasty, and they should work together to serve the court. If the contemptible person is at fault, he will compensate the general today, and I hope the general will bear more. After the thief is broken, he will set up a banquet to make amends! ”

After speaking, Li Heng suddenly knelt down on one knee and bowed his hand to Cao Cheng in front of everyone.

Cao Cheng was so shocked that he took two steps back, and his vest was already sweating.

Li Heng is now the Guangxi Economic Strategy Envoy of the Ming Dynasty, so he put down his shelf and apologized in public, how can Cao Cheng, a general who has just been named the commander, afford it?

Once you don't give face, how can you mix it up? It's just a slap in the face of the Ming court!

Moreover, Li Heng's low posture also made Cao Cheng extremely useful, and it was inevitable that he felt a little proud in his heart, and the resentment accumulated in the past was swept away.

"Hurry up, please!"

Cao Cheng hurriedly went to help: "I also have something wrong, now I am also a Ming courtier, and I should abandon my grievances and conspire with Jingluo." ”

Li Heng was actually very aggrieved in his heart, he was helped up by Cao Cheng, held Cao Cheng's hand and said: "In Hengyang City, all are Zhong Xiang's elite soldiers. Without the help of the general, I am really not sure of victory, and I ask the general to lead his troops back as soon as possible. ”

"I'll start tomorrow, and I'll go back and wait for news!" Cao Cheng immediately made a promise.

Relying on Li Heng kneeling on one knee, these rabble in the south were finally able to unite to fight, and it was no longer the previous situation of fighting separately.

(End of chapter)