At the end of February, Qingzhou Mansion City, General Military Mansion.

Liu Yan frowned and looked at a letter, which was a "letter for help" sent by Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong.

Since last year, that is, in August of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, there has been basically no rain in various parts of Shandong, except for a snow around Chinese New Year's Eve, and other than that, there has been no rain.

It is now spring ploughing, but the farmland is extremely dry. At the beginning of this month, locust plagues broke out in Jinan, Dongchang, and Yanzhou prefectures one after another, and locusts in the sky were like dark clouds, raging in various places.

The streams everywhere have almost all dried up, the Yellow River in the north of Jinan has fallen a lot compared with previous years, the people in Shandong are miserable, this year has just begun, it is another year of great disaster!

With the simultaneous arrival of drought and locust plague, the poor people in Shandong were hungry, and faced with the prospect of a doomed harvest in the coming year, countless desperate people rose up and began to besiege the cities in various places.

Qinglai Town under Liu Yan's rule was not greatly affected, and the people of Qingzhou and Laizhou were far richer than elsewhere, and even if the cultivated land was cut off this year, with the presence of the Shogunate of the General Military Mansion, there would never be a large-scale starvation death.

In addition, most of the thieves in Qinglai Town have been exterminated by the new army, so in the four prefectures in the territory, only a few chaotic people in Yanzhou and Dengzhou have been coerced by the thieves, and the scale is not large.

Liu Yan had already ordered Wang Yue, the general of the rear battalion, and Zhang Yi, the general of the left battalion, to lead their troops to encircle and suppress the thieves in the territory, stabilize the situation in Dengzhou and Yanzhou as soon as possible, and cooperate with the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture in disaster relief.

And Yan Jizu's side

The situation is much more serious, Jinan Mansion and Dongchang Mansion can be described as full of thieves, coupled with the huge number of victims can not get effective relief, more and more victims join the army of thieves, in just ten days, Jinan Mansion, Dongchang Mansion in the territory of thieves and robbers swelled to tens of thousands!

Now the Fubiao battalion under the command of Yan Jizu is no longer the elite led by the original general Xu Tonghui, and the rebuilt Fubiao battalion has only more than 1,000 soldiers, mostly temporary recruits, no sophisticated military equipment, insufficient drills, and very scarce money and food supplies, such a battalion has no combat effectiveness, not to mention that the enemy has tens of thousands.

Therefore, Yan Jizu sent people to Liu Yan for help, hoping to send a new army to reinforce Jinan Mansion and Dongchang Mansion.

"Alas!"

Liu Yan sighed, although he wanted to send troops to help Yan Jizu, but without the order of the Ministry of War, he, the chief military officer, could not send troops privately.

According to the current system of the imperial court, a governor has no right to transfer the chief military officer without the appointment of the imperial court. Liu Yan has had several unpleasant encounters with the imperial court at present, and for the sake of the future development of Qinglai Town, Liu Yan is not ready to continue to embarrass the imperial court, and it is not feasible to send troops privately.

At this time, in the main hall, staff officers Li Jiwen and Hu Zongming, as well as Minister of Finance Yue Ming and Minister of War Tian Huixu were sitting aside, and several people were found by Liu Yan early in the morning, and they also knew about Yan Jizu's request for help.

"How do you reply from Lord Futai?"

Tian Huixu asked, this matter is a military matter, so he naturally has to take the initiative to ask.

"The Ministry of War mobilized 10,000 pairs of armor, 10,000 spears, and some swords and shields from the arsenal.

Within three days, the preparations were complete, and the cavalry battalion sent troops to escort them to the city of Jinan. ”

"Yes."

"Tell Xu Ming that after the cavalry battalion soldiers finish escorting, they will withdraw immediately."

"Yes."

Tian Huixu understands that Liu Yan has done his best, and now Yan Jizu and Chen Xinjia don't know what they are thinking, and they have never mobilized the surrounding troops and horses to quell the chaos, does Chen Xinjia think that the situation can be stabilized just by relying on the more than 1,000 Fubiao battalions that Yan Jizu put together?

"Did Zhao Min, Minister of Households, and Zhang Lei, Minister of Agriculture, notify?"

Li Jiwen said: "It's been notified, oh, they're here." ”

Zhang Lei and Zhao Min hurried over, and after saluting, they sat next to Tian Huixu.

"Let's get straight to the point, now the drought and locust plague are very serious, the household department must do a good job of relief, the amount of money and grain needed should be reported to the Ministry of Finance as soon as possible, and the household department must be allocated in place within five days, and the household department will distribute it to the state capitals in various places."

"Although this year is destined to be a year of great disaster, the Ministry of Agriculture must not give up, and must organize people in various places to help themselves, dig wells, transport water to fight drought, raise chickens and ducks to exterminate locusts. Moreover, locusts can also be eaten, so call on the people to catch insects and eat insects. ”

Everyone wrote them down one by one, and Liu Yan gushed endlessly, introducing some of the experiences of drought and locust resistance in later generations to everyone, many of which were unprecedented to everyone.

Although there are some doubts in the hearts of the people, will these methods work?

However, out of trust in Liu Yan, everyone carefully recorded and began to implement it after they returned.

Two days later, Tian Huixu allocated a large number of troops to load and set off, and Xu Ming sent Du Zhongming, a guerrilla general in the central region, to lead a total of more than 1,000 soldiers to escort them

City.

Along the way, the army traveled day and night, and Du Zhongming also specially sent a fast horse to take the first step and report the news to the governor Yan Jizu.

However, when the brigade left the boundary of Qinglai Town and entered the territory of Jinan Fucheng, the speed of movement slowed down.

Du Zhongming looked at the barren fields along the way, saw the villages and towns that were already empty, and thought in a trance that he had returned to Henan.

"It's only been a long time, and Jinan Mansion has been plagued like this!"

"General, there's someone ahead!"

Du Zhongming heard the report of his subordinates, so he rode his horse to the front of the team, only to see that on the left side of the official road in front, there was a horse team of more than a dozen people, looking at the disorderly clothes, at this time, there can be more than a dozen people riding horses to travel, either the night of the official army is not collected, or the scout of the thieves!

"Bring someone up and tie those guys back to Lao Tzu!"

"Yes!"

Then a hundred generals led more than 30 cavalry soldiers to rush up, and a team of more than a dozen horses in the distance hurriedly turned around and fled to the north.

"Catch up!"

The two sides chased and fled, and soon ran into the distance, Du Zhongming was not worried, with the strength of more than 1,000 people in the cavalry battalion, even if he encountered the main force of the thieves, he would not be left behind. All around here are flat rivers, just some trees, and there is no place for the thieves to ambush, so nothing can happen.

"Keep going!"

"Send another sentry to answer it."

Immediately the brigade continued to march north along the official road, and after about half an hour, the general of the hundred troops returned, and there were still many bloody human heads hanging from the saddles of the people.

“

Lord Qiqi, that horse team just now is indeed a thief scout, and all of them have been killed by their subordinates! ”

"Are there any casualties?"

"Two people were slightly injured."

"Didn't leave a mouth alive?"

"There's one,"

As he spoke, Mr. Bai pushed a thief scout tied to the saddle with five flowers and threw him heavily on the ground.

Du Zhongming motioned for the brigade to move on, stopped with a few of his subordinates, and then immediately asked, "Which of the thieves are you?" ”

"The small one is the flag of the Cupola Tiger, who was ordered to come to inquire about the news."

"Cupola? Is it Li Chuang's subordinate? ”

"No, no, the Heavenly Tiger is a native of Jinan Mansion, and he can't live anymore, so he gave himself a nickname, and then pulled up a group of people to annex the thieves near Zuo, and now there are more than 10,000 people."

"Where exactly?"

"The Cupola Tiger led his troops north, and it should be in the area of Jinan Fucheng, and it is confronting Yan Jizu's Fubiao camp."

Du Zhongming thought for a moment, and then made a movement to wipe his neck, and the Bai Zong pulled out the dagger, stepped forward and wiped it the prisoner's neck, and suddenly blood gushed out.

"If the thieves in Shandong are not exterminated as soon as possible, I am afraid that it will get bigger and bigger, and if there is another Li Zicheng here in Shandong, there will be no peace in the world!"

The crowd was silent.

Three days later, Du Zhongming led his troops day and night, and finally arrived at the city of Jinan.

At this time, Governor Yan Jizu had already led the Fubiao battalion to retreat to the city, and when he heard that Liu Yan had sent troops, he happily went out of the city to greet him.

In the governor's yamen, when Du Zhongming took out Liu Yan's reply letter and said that he was only sending troops and supplies by fate, and was not here to participate in the war, the smile on Yan Jizu's face suddenly froze.

"Futai

Don't be surprised, my head town is also forced to be helpless, the military department has not issued an order so far, and my head town cannot transfer troops to the north without permission. This time to transport troops, the last general did not dare to raise the banner, but only went north in the name of the Qinglai Town Chamber of Commerce. ”

Yan Jizu sighed and said, "I understand, and I understand. Benfu had already written four official letters to Chen Xinjia, but the reply I got only asked me to lead my troops to resist and wait for the imperial court to mobilize reinforcements. Where's the reinforcements? To this day, I haven't seen a single soldier! I really don't know what those adults in the court are doing all day long, do they really have to wait until the Shandong civil uprising set off a huge wave before thinking about how to make up for it? ”

Du Zhongming was just a guerrilla general, so naturally he didn't dare to express his opinion on such a matter, so he just stood aside and didn't speak.

Yan Jizu squeezed out a smile and said: "Hehe, this time there is also General Laodu's hard work, Ben Fu originally wanted to set up a banquet for the general, but the thieves have already arrived outside the city, Ben Fu has no energy and thoughts, and please don't be surprised." ”

"Lord Futai is serious, and the last general will not dare."

On the same day, Du Zhongming led his troops to withdraw from the city of Jinan, and then led more than 1,000 cavalry battalions to rush towards more than 10,000 thieves outside the city.

Seeing this, the Heavenly Tiger hurriedly sent people to suppress it, and finally stabilized the army, but saw that the iron cavalry army suddenly turned outside the camp, and countless iron cavalry soldiers cheered and rode away.

The Heavenly Tiger's face was pale, and he had never heard of Yan Jizu

There was also such an iron cavalry army, and immediately ordered the whole army to retreat twenty miles back and camp, temporarily stopping the plan to attack Jinan City.

Du Zhongming looked at the army of thieves who were retreating from the camp, sighed, and said secretly: "Yan Futai is not strange, I can only do so much." ”

Then Du Zhongming led his troops to the south and returned to the capital of Qingzhou.