In Ouyang Xuan's opinion, the loss of Meizhou is not a big bad thing. At present, the Mongolian army is expanding rapidly, and its strength is also expanding dramatically. Especially in this dry season, without the suppression of the Thunderbolt gunboats from the upstream, the strength of the Mongolian army is no longer inferior to the Jiading army. Under the circumstance that the traditional equilibrium of "south ship and north horse" is broken, it is a wise choice to abandon Meizhou, which has no danger to defend, and shrink the force to the core fortress of Jiading. Just like clenching your fingers into a fist, the blow is more powerful. Yu Xing obviously understood this truth, so after Yu Dazhong abandoned the city and fled back, he did not punish him. "Fight tiger brothers, go into battle father and son soldiers". In Yu Xing's eyes, the army is already private property, and in his opinion, although Yu Dazhong is a nest, he is his own son after all, and it is far more reassuring to hand over the military power to him than to a general with a different surname.

It's just that he abandoned Meizhou without a fight, but it hurt the local people. The Mongolian army crossed the border like locusts, and after occupying Meizhou City, they burned and looted everywhere, and everywhere they went, they were scorched. Fortunately, a few days later, Yelumaizhu led the main force to Jiading, and Meizhou was mostly low and hilly, so there were still many people hiding in the mountains and escaping the slaughter of the Mongolian army. Although these people escaped with their lives, they also lost their houses and property, and they were also very sad in the cold wind of this first month. Although there are many dock forts in this Meizhou that have not been breached by the Mongolian army, the number of refugees that can accommodate them is limited, and a large number of refugees still live in the wilderness. In the midst of hunger and cold, there were constantly weak and sick people who died of cold and starvation, and in desperation, they scolded the brutal Mongolian army, and also scolded the Song army who fled without a fight, and also brought Yu Xing's father and son.

Dong Datou is one of these refugees. He was originally a fisherman outside Meizhou, and his mother and younger brother and sister were at home. Relying on farming and fishing in his spare time, life is extremely difficult, but he can survive. When Yu Dazhong escaped by boat, he also took the whole family in a small boat to try to escape to Jiading, but was stopped by the Mongolian navy, and in a panic traced a small river up and fled to the rolling hills twenty miles away from the city. Just three days ago, when he returned to his hiding place in search of food, he found that his mother and brother had died under the Mongols' knife, and only his sister had escaped. At this moment, he was at a loss for what to do, and he didn't know where to go. To the east and north are Longzhou and Pengshan, which are occupied by the Mongol army, so naturally they cannot go. To the south is Jiading, where the war is fighting, and to the west, there are many refugees from the Han and Yi mixed Yazhous.

Just when Dong Datou hesitated, a group of soldiers and a group of refugees appeared on the path not far from the hideout, only to see those soldiers take things to the refugees, and then pointed in the direction and continued to go in the direction of Meizhou City, and the refugees also went to the northwest. Seeing that the team of soldiers was far away, Dong Datou took his sister and hurried up to inquire about the situation. It turned out that the group of soldiers just now came from Pujiang County in the northwest, and at this moment the refugees were heading to Pujiang County, which belongs to the Perak Army, which has gained fame in the past two years. After hesitating for a moment, Dong Datou still pulled his sister to follow and headed northwest.

Dong Datou's hesitation comes from the outside world's completely different views on the Thunderbolt Army. The docks where he frequented were well-informed, and he had heard of the Thunderbolts many times, but the people said otherwise. According to the official sources in Meizhou, the Perak Army did not respect the way of Confucius and Mencius, practiced the skills of strange and obscenity, and did not follow the etiquette and disobey the boss, and the scholars under his rule were not familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics, and did not regard the Three Outlines and Five Constants as the guideline; In the mouth of the peddlers' pawns, the Thunderbolt Army is a different image, its military discipline is strict, it pays attention to justice and equality, does not pay harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, does not engage in red tape, stresses more work and more rewards, as long as you are diligent you can eat and clothe yourself. Regarding the latter statement, Dong Datou is suspicious of the letter, and there is no excesses in taxes? Where can such a good thing happen! The official in the government doesn't love money? Take the little official who collects fishing tax at Meizhou Wharf as an example, Dong Datou pays taxes every month, so don't you have to give him a few fresh fish from time to time? Otherwise, the little official will look for his stubble at any time.

The reason why there were Thunderbolt soldiers in Meizhou was because of the military order issued by Ouyang Xuan. At present, the Mongolian army is attacking Jiading on a large scale, and the Perak army obviously cannot sit idly by. However, due to the blockage of the waterway and the inability of the Thunderbolt army to fight with the Mongolian army in the field, Ouyang Xuan ordered to attack from multiple directions and harass the Mongolian army with special operations. This first direction is the direction of Meizhou, which is across the river from the Pujiang River. There are four counties in Meizhou, in addition to Pengshan County, which was previously occupied by the Mongolian army, Meishan County and Qingshen County, which are attached to the state capital, are also occupied by the Mongolian army, and only part of Danling County bordering Yazhou has not yet fallen. Because Qingshen County is too far away, and the Mongolian army in Danling County is very small, the Thunderbolt army is mainly active in Pengshan and Meishan counties, and these two counties are also important grain routes for the Mongolian army to attack Jiading.

The Thunderbolt Army had also collected intelligence in Meizhou before, just to avoid angering Yu Xing's father and son, who were all disguised reconnaissance and did not reveal the identity of the soldiers. This time, Yu Dazhong abandoned the city and fled without a fight, which not only lost the support of the local people, but also gave the Thunderbolt army a legal excuse for its public activities in Meizhou. The main force of the Meizhou military operation was the special battalion, and other units of the internal guard brigade were also transferred, with more than 10 reinforced platoons temporarily established as units. They did not attack the city fortress, but carried out ambushes, explosions, night raids and other operations, with the goal of disrupting the Mongolian army's grain routes and the order of the occupied areas. Of course, rescuing and guiding refugees to Perak military territory is also one of the goals.

The reason why the military operations in Meizhou were based on reinforced platoons was that the Mongolian army plundered the countryside, and the cavalry often operated in units of 10 people, and the infantry army of the new annexed army often operated in units of 50 people. These reinforced platoons numbered between thirty and forty men, and were mainly armed with muskets, grenades, shields, and waist knives, but also a few light tiger squat guns, which were not speared because they were all equipped with spears. Also because of the many hills and low mountains, these reinforced platoons were not equipped with horses, but walked through the trails. With the strong physical strength of the special forces, the speed is not much slower, and it is also flexible and not easy to expose the target.

The special forces were conducting guerrilla attacks everywhere in Meizhou, causing the Mongolian army a headache. The small number of Mongolian pursuers will be eaten, and the number of pursuers is large, and the other side does not show its head at all. Although many trees have lost their leaves and the grass has withered in Meizhou in winter, it is very difficult to find a hiding place for dozens of people in the rolling hills. Dealing with guerrilla warfare is a problem, not to mention special forces with firearms. After being wiped out more than 20 plundering squads, the Mongolian army did not dare to plunder in the countryside, and hundreds of people were sent to escort the heavy grain and grass. However, this could not avoid being attacked, and often a few shells fell on the hillside while the army was on the march. When the Mongolian army was exhausted and panting and rushed to the top of the mountain, there were still people there. It was not safe for the Mongol army to retreat in the fort of the city, and often when they were asleep, shells fell from the sky, and although they could not hurt a few people, they were disturbed all night and could not sleep.

The Mongol army also deliberately set up traps and arranged heavy troops to lure the Perak army to attack. However, the Thunderbolt special forces were very vigilant, and either they were not fooled or retreated before the encirclement was formed. There are lessons to be learned. The special forces were more cautious, paid more attention to intelligence reconnaissance, did not fight uncertain battles at all, and even deliberately introduced the pursuing Mongol cavalry into the minefield.

The Mongolian army was very angry at this guerrilla tactic, but it was helpless. At present, the main force is outside, and the hilly and low mountain terrain is not conducive to the maneuver of the cavalry, so they have to retreat in the city and hold out. Without the Mongols' plunder, the arrival of a large number of refugees to Pujiang County would have been much smoother.