This year's rainy season was shorter, but the drought came early.

Wang Xi held the sharpened wooden stick and nested in the shade of the camp, and the sweltering heat made him want to stick out his tongue.

The water level of the Yuan River has dropped a lot, and if the drought continues for half a month, it is estimated that the paddy fields will crack and crack into big holes.

The eldest brother's name is Wang Fu, and he died.

The second brother's name is Wang Gui, and he died in the battle to suppress Wuxi last year.

The third brother's name is Wang Cai, who was selected to join the army this year and is currently in the barracks.

Wang Xi belonged to the conscripted people, who helped transport military rations when he set off, then cut down trees and dug soil to build camps, and usually helped the regular soldiers do some chores.

In fact, there was no need for many people here, but Wang Xi was still left behind and sent a sharpened wooden stick as an auxiliary soldier to fight.

Song Qiao next to him sighed: "The rice is about to be jointed, how can it be done if you don't go back to irrigate?" ”

"The altar master will help." Wang Xi is not only comforting his friends, but also comforting himself.

Song Qiao smiled weirdly: "Hehe, it rained enough last year, and the altar owner will definitely help." If the drought is like this this year, he must water his own fields first, where can he take care of a few of us? ”

Wang Xi stopped talking.

After killing or driving out the landlords, the soldiers' families were given priority to the distribution of the land, and the ordinary people could also get some of it. Moreover, the water conservancy facilities are also shared by everyone, and the small altar owner in the village is responsible for arranging.

In the first year, everyone was full of enthusiasm and life was prosperous.

In the second year, the army of the Great Chu court was short of food, and the peasants enthusiastically handed over the grain, and they still had surpluses.

In the third year, the war had been going on, and the military rations were even more insufficient, and the peasants were still willing to pay the grain, but they were already very unhappy.

The fourth year, which is this year. In the spring, there is no harvest, and every family is hungry. After the rapeseed is harvested, the people close to the Daming territory often secretly take rapeseed to exchange for grain.

Now the drought is ahead of schedule, and the farmers in Dingzhou are rape and medium rice in rotation, and now the rice is already in the tillering stage, and will soon face the jointing period.

Regardless of tillering or jointing, basic shallow irrigation needs to be maintained.

Wang Xi and his brother were dragged to fight, and there were no adult men in the family, so how could the women and children in the family fight for water? There will certainly be no problem now, but it will be difficult to say until next month when the drought comes, and when the river is insufficient, it will depend on who has the most men!

Not only are they worried about their families, but they also have no confidence in the war in front of them.

Because, there is not enough military rations.

In the evening of the same day, people like Wang Xi and Song Qiao could only eat a small bowl of gruel.

The next day, they were sent to collect mussels and snails, and those who knew how to fish went to the Yuan River to cast nets.

In the afternoon, when he returned to the camp in a hot and half-dead manner, Song Qiao whispered to Wang Xi: "I attacked twice today, and the opposite side guarded the camp and did not come out, I heard that hundreds of brothers died, and many of them came back with injuries." ”

Wang Xi was worried: "How can this be fought? ”

Song Qiao said: "Win or lose, I just want to go home early to irrigate the fields, the rice is not short of water." ”

The two were chatting, when suddenly there was a noise in the distance.

They hurriedly ran over to look, but they caught a few deserters.

To be precise, it was to catch a few people who escaped.

The people wept and begged, saying that they were not afraid of death, but wanted to go home and serve the rice fields.

The military judge didn't care about this, he directly cut down all the escapees, and summoned the people to lecture: "Your Majesty has won a great victory, and in a few days you will be able to bring reinforcements over to ensure that the thieves on the opposite side will be killed." If you hold on for a few more days, you won, and no one is allowed to think about going home, and these deserters will end up ......"

The people were so frightened that they didn't dare to speak, and they went back to the camp one after another, but they were holding back the fire in their hearts.

They have received the favor of Master Zhong, and they are willing to work for Master Zhong, and they have handed over all the food that should be paid. But it is natural for farmers to farm and eat, and there are too many men requisitioned this time, so should the women take care of the rice fields at home?

In the event of a drought, you have to be a man!

After a few more days, there was still no rain, the water level of Dongting Lake has dropped seriously, and more than 70% of the waters of Qingcao Lake are difficult for big boats.

The people's meals were reduced to one meal a day, and there was only a small bowl of gruel.

Early in the morning, an officer came to deliver a message.

Immediately afterwards, a low-ranking officer who was in charge of the people's husband found Wang Xi and said, "Your brother is in the army, you can go home." ”

Wang Xi was excited after hearing this, and the rice at home was saved.

Song Qiao asked, "What about us?" ”

The officer said, "If there are two men in the family who are soldiers, only one can go back." ”

Song Qiao bowed his head and turned to leave, secretly scolding.

Wang Xi asked, "Do you want to go home and give you food for the journey?" ”

The officer said: "We want to give grain, and when we harvest rice this year, we will deduct less payment points when we pay for grain." ”

Wang Xi was immediately depressed, and he had to walk back hungry.

The reason why some of the people were allowed to go home was purely because the military rations were running out.

Wang Xi packed up his baggage, left the camp with more than 20 fellow villagers, and only walked a few miles away, when he suddenly heard the sound of drums behind him.

The decisive battle has begun!

Bai Qi was also short of military food, so Xiangyang and Jingmen transported two batches of wheat and sorghum, and requisitioned some rice from Huainan, so that he could confront the Chu army until now.

Sichuan's new rice was not yet ripe and could only supply some corn, so Bai Qi had to fight before the army could reduce its meals.

Wang Xi turned back three times in one step, his third brother Wang Cai was still in the camp, and he didn't know if he could go home alive.

After stopping and looking at it for a long time, Wang Xi whimpered and wiped his tears, and embarked on the road home hungry.

on the battlefield.

The wooden cannons unloaded from the naval warships were placed in front of the battle one after another.

The reason why they are so cautious when they have firearms is because the opposite side is a veteran of war. Even the peasants who were temporarily conscripted had seriously practiced in the slack, and they had fought three or four tough battles per capita.

Bai Qi only had six thousand Shu elites in his hands, and the combat effectiveness of the rest of the troops was better than that of the Song Dynasty's Xiang Army.

The real elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty have all been transferred to the north to deal with the Jin people this year!

As soon as Bai Qi moved, not only did Zhong Quan's reinforcements all come out of the camp, but Liu Heng's defenders in Chenyang City also pulled out.

The Ming army was on the Yuan River to the north, and due to the drop in the water level, small warships could not come to support. To the west is Zhong Quan's tens of thousands of reinforcements, and to the south is Chenyang's Liu Heng defenders, which means that Bai Qi needs to defend against the enemy on both sides.

The Fujian monk soldiers stationed in Chongxiao Village were also brought over by Fan Ruwei.

As for the troops under the command of Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, they were not trustworthy at this time, and they were thrown by Bai Qi to besiege Yuanjiang County.

After the Ming army lined up, it was in no hurry to attack.

The row of wooden cannons in front of the battle also made Zhong Quan and Liu Heng palpitate.

The two sides were about to fight a decisive battle, but they were facing each other again.

After all, the Chu army, which was short of food, couldn't stand it first, and the drums beat loudly, the flag was waved, and the front army was sent over for a tentative attack.

These Chu troops were afraid of being shelled, and the teams were very scattered among themselves.

Bai Qi asked Fan Ruwei to lead the monk soldiers to deal with the Chenyang defenders on the side, and also allocated 3,000 Huainan recruits to Fan Ruwei.

He also sent thousands of Huainan recruits to fight head-on with the front army of the Chu army.

It is true that the Chu army is elite, but they have not eaten enough these days, and their cheeks are sunken with visible eyes.

After several rounds of bows and arrows were fired, the front armies of both sides fought evenly and stuck directly in the center of the battlefield.

Moreover, the Chu army is also a mandarin duck array, and this thing has been learned by Zhong Xiang!

Bai Qi put on a defensive posture in the array, but he was actually attacking again, and the protrusions at both ends of the array were full of wooden cannons.

The large array as a whole moved forward slowly, and if Zhong Quan's army did not move, its front army would soon be encircled.

The left and right armies of the Chu army quickly moved forward, and the left and right armies of the Ming army also accelerated with wooden cannons.

"Boom, boom!"

The wooden cannon solid stone projectile is fired in a salvo, and the range is not far, only about 100 meters.

The Chu army, which was on the march, did not suffer too many casualties, but there was a small area of confusion in the formation.

Closer to each other, the wooden cannon was replaced with a shotgun, and the pebble flew out like a flower.

In open terrain, the lethality of wooden cannons is really limited.

"Knock knock!"

The drums beat loudly, and Bai Qi's left and right armies, after alternating artillery bombardments, rushed up to engage the Chu army. And immediately achieved results, because their enemies were disrupted by wooden artillery bombardment.

Seeing this, Zhong Quan hurriedly invested more troops, so as to stabilize the formation of the left and right armies.

On the side, Fan Ruwei and Liu Heng also fought together.

Until this time, Bai Qi's elite had not yet entered the battle.

Among them, three thousand elites are in Bai Qi's Chinese army array. The other 3,000 elites, led by Lin Chong, engaged in a roundabout outflanking.

A few nights ago, Lin Chong left with his troops and took a small boat down the Yuan River into Dongting Lake in batches. He took a naval warship to thirty miles east of Chenyang, camped on the shore of Dongting Lake, and recuperated for three days.

Last night, I took a small boat from Dongting Lake to the west, and then abandoned the boat and hurried at night, touching six miles south of the battlefield, lurking in the woods by the Cangshui River (the Cangshui and the waves converge to form the Canglang River).

was so cautious because he was afraid that the people would find out, and the local farmers would report to the Chu army.

"Woo woo~~~"

The horn sounded at the head of Chenyang City to warn, and the Chu army finally found that a large number of enemies were coming from the southwest.

The battlefield is surrounded by rice paddies, but the water has dried up and even small cracks have appeared, and there is a high risk of failure without irrigation.

Lin Chong took three thousand elites and trotted along the ridge first.

They were all wearing thirty pounds of armor, and they were almost fainting under the scorching sun.

Only two miles away from the battlefield did they jump into the rice field and march slowly forward with knee-deep straw.

The position where Lin Chong appeared was the flank and rear of the Chu army's large array.

At this time, the two sides were in a stalemate, and the Chu army had fallen into a disadvantage. The main reason was that the army was not enough to meet the physical strength, and it was subjected to two rounds of artillery bombardment, and the left and right armies, which had been heavily damaged, had withdrawn three units.

The morale of the Chu army has plummeted.

Lin Chong entered the battlefield from the flank and rear, and immediately caused confusion among the enemy's troops.

Zhong Quan urgently mobilized the reserves and Minfu to try to stop Lin Chong from attacking the Chinese army.

Bai Qi also let the elites around him enter the battlefield, but he went to cooperate with the Fujian monk soldiers, intending to solve the Chenyang defenders on the side first.

Liu Heng's Chenyang defenders were even more short of food, and the people outside the city fled into the city. The people inside and outside the city had to eat every day, and they could not feed in vain, so they simply recruited a large number of young men to defend the city, and the rations were reduced to two meals a day.

Under the lack of physical strength, he was already pressed and beaten by the monk soldiers, and the elite of Shuzhong suddenly killed, and Liu Heng could only take his own soldiers to resist.

As soon as the two sides engaged, a temporarily recruited Chenyang Chu army began to flee without warning. Not only were they tired and hungry and unable to last, but they could not bear the pressure of the battlefield and fled in the direction of the county seat.

At this moment, the right army, the main force of the Chu army, also had a force collapse.

It was the people who had just been replaced, and they were already demoralized, and they found that the main flank was fighting in the rear. These people didn't know what the situation was, they only knew that the main force was outflanked, and they just wanted to flee back to their hometown in a panic.

The frontal and flank battlefields of the Chu army appeared almost simultaneously.

"Give the order, let Gong Yi lead the troops to tear apart the enemy formation!" Bai Qi finally seized the opportunity.

Gong Yi is the second son of Gong Xiu, who was transferred to Chengdu as a cavalry general last year, and relied on the southwest war horse to train 600 horsemen. This year, I was temporarily transferred, and I only arrived at Dongting Lake last month. Due to the lack of adaptation to the water and soil, only more than 530 horsemen recovered, and there were still many sick people lying in the barracks.

The hundreds of horsemen seized the gap and rushed through the parched rice fields, driving away the fleeing enemy.

After chasing for a while, he turned back and shot arrows, and cooperated with the infantry to stir up chaos in the right army of the Chu army.

There were no cavalry on the Chu army's side, only some sporadic sentry horses. When the formation is intact, he is not afraid of cavalry, but at this moment it is difficult to resist.

In less than half an hour, the various units of the right army of the Chu army collapsed one after another.

The morale of the Chenyang Chu army, which was close to the right army, was also affected, and the second and third routed troops appeared.

"Knock knock knock!"

Bai Qi personally beat the drum and ordered the whole army to attack.

In the earth-shattering shouts of killing, the township soldiers and people recruited by the Chu army rushed to escape, and tens of thousands of routs rushed towards the direction of the Canglang River.

"Lord Wang, let's go!"

The pro-soldiers dragged Zhong Quan to evacuate, and if he didn't leave, he wouldn't want to run, because Zhong Quan's Chinese army had been broken through by Lin Chong.

Zhong Quan seemed to have lost his soul, looked at the battlefield with a dead face, and let his own soldiers drag him away.

(End of chapter)