I

  Chapter 148 146 [Night Detour] (addition for the leader's "transformation")

  There is no military plan, it is set in stone!

   After arriving in Fenyi County, Zhao Han obtained more detailed information.

  The core elite of Tian Younian, the magistrate, comes from the official kiln craftsmen of Binjiang Town. Now that the Chinese New Year is about to come, the soldiers must go home, and they can get twice the result with half the effort if they go straight there.

  When Zhu Yuanzhang built Nanjing City, the inner layer of city bricks was white, all produced in Binjiang Town.

  This kind of white city bricks are all fired from kaolin, also known as "white mud bricks" and "white tiles", which are stronger than ordinary blue city bricks. Yuan Zhou, who supervised the manufacture of this brick, judged Sui Yun, and was greatly appreciated by Zhu Yuanzhang. He was promoted from the sixth rank to the inspector of the third rank.

  Binjiang Town has an official kiln, which was messed up by the officials. A few years ago, the kiln workers made trouble, and the magistrate Tian Younian personally recruited and settled it.

  He recruited five hundred kiln burners as soldiers, wiped out the bandits in Wugong Mountain, and went to wipe out the rebels in Pingxiang County. Hearing that there were giant bandits in Luling County in the south, he immediately expanded the army of the township warriors, and now there are 3,000 troops.

  The five hundred kiln workers are elite soldiers who have been trained for two years!

  On the night when he saw Song Yingxing, Zhao Han led his troops to set off and handed over the task of defending the city to Fei Ruhe.

  Because there was too much movement in the recruitment of ships, Zhao Han led his troops across the Wannian Bridge and marched along the south bank of the Yuan River at night. After rushing forty miles overnight, they arrived at Binjiang Town in the early morning and launched an attack without rest.

  The residents of the town didn't react, and saw three thousand soldiers passing through the town, rushing to the kiln workers' settlement west of the town.

   "Surrender without killing!"

  Every ten people formed a small team, scattered and rushed into various houses, and then escorted the kiln worker's family out.

  …

  Xiong Yaozu's ancestors have been kiln workers for generations, and their household registration belongs to the craftsman's registration. The official kilns have long since failed, and they all work for private kilns for a living. Although life is hard, they can still live on.

  Just five years ago, the prefect at that time had a sudden convulsion and said that he wanted to build an additional circle of the prefectural city.

  Xiong Yao’s kiln-burning households were conscripted to serve, and they brought their own dry food to the government to burn city bricks.

  According to the rules, although servants do not receive wages, the government must distribute rations. The rations were also deducted by the officials, and the kiln workers couldn't survive, so they simply killed the officials (kiln supervisors) and rebelled.

  After going on like this for half a year, the magistrate brought money to the promotion, and the new magistrate Tian Younian took office.

   For Tian Zhifu, Xiong Yao admired him very much. He dared to surrender alone, and in the end he only killed two leading rebels.

  Xiong Yao was recruited by the magistrate as a villager, and he was paid two buckets of food every month. Moreover, he exercises every five days. He is very close to Fucheng. Taking into account the round-trip time, he can work on his own for three days to make money.

  Tian Zhifu is very good at training soldiers. He said that the monthly salary is two dollars, and he has never deducted it. Going to Pingxiang County to suppress bandits, there is still money to be paid, Xiong Yao even hopes to fight every day.

   This year's life is much easier, and the family has bought new year's goods.

   On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Xiong Yao worked hard for a year and wanted to sleep in this year.

  Suddenly, he heard a noise from outside, and before he could put on his clothes, a group of soldiers rushed in.

   "Surrender without killing!"

  Wife and children were all arrested. Xiong Yao just put on his trousers, and he didn't dare to resist at all in consideration of the lives of the whole family.

  Being taken to the open space outside to gather, Xiong Yao found that many people had been arrested, women, children and the elderly stood together, while young and strong were asked to stand on the other side.

what's the situation?

  No one knows what's going on, they're all waiting for the Chinese New Year, it's just so confused.

   "Soldiers stand up, don't force me to interrogate!"

  Xiong Yao looked around and saw that everyone was hesitating, and then looked at his wife and children, who were being pointed at with a spear.

   In desperation, someone stood up, and Xiong Yao followed suit.

  Zhao Han said: "Count the number of people."

  The flag commander quickly counted and quickly reported: "General town, a total of 436 people!"

   There must be more than that. Tian Younian recruited kiln workers as soldiers. At the beginning, he only recruited 500 people, and later he recruited more than 300 people.

  After some interrogation, it quickly became clear that some people left their wives and children and ran away, while others lived farther away.

  Zhao Han quickly ordered the arrest of people, and in another kiln worker settlement, more than a hundred households were arrested one after another, many of them were ordinary kiln workers.

  Finally, Zhao Han asked: "Who has practiced bowing? Raise your hand."

   "I have practiced." Xiong Yao raised his hand.

   At this moment, a small boat docked in Binjiang Town.

  After the officer got off the boat, he ran wildly and shouted: "The Fu Zun gathers the troops, the Fu Zun gathers the troops. Be sure to arrive at the barracks outside the Fucheng on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, before noon! The Fu Zun gathers the troops, the Fu Zun gathers the troops..."

  The officer ran so fast that the residents of the town didn't stop him, and the sentinel didn't react, and he ran out of the town in a blink of an eye.

   "Fu Zunju... Damn, rebel!"

  The officer was so frightened that he turned around and ran away. He returned to the town and was caught by several sentries.

   This guy was dragged in front of Zhao Han, and immediately knelt down and shouted: "General, please forgive me!"

  Zhao Han asked with a smile: "Tian Zhifu wants to gather troops?"

  The official replied in a hurry: "Fenyi County is gone, and the Fuzun gathered troops on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year."

   "Tian Zhifu is sympathetic to the soldiers, but he has to wait until the next year," Zhao Han complained, and then asked, "How many people guard the city?"

  The official sent the bamboo tube to pour the beans and said: "Fu Zun heard that Fenyi County was occupied by..., so he gathered hundreds of troops to defend the city last night."

  The situation was already clear, Tian Younian was very nervous and did not regard Zhao Han as an ordinary rebel.

  The hundreds of soldiers defending the city are mostly from around the Fucheng, and the defense of the city during the New Year must have caused complaints.

  Zhao Han walked up to Xiong Yao: "Are you an archer?"

   "Yes." Xiong Yao said.

  Zhao Han asked: "How many kiln workers practice bows?"

   "There are only a hundred or so." Xiong Yao said.

   "Where are the other archers?" Zhao Han asked again.

  Xiong Yao said: "Scattered in various villages."

  Some townships are relatively far away, and the gathering of troops on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year is also considering the return journey. It is already amazing to complete the assembly in five days.

  The magistrate Tian Younian, it is hard to say whether he is good at fighting, but he must have a way of training.

  Zhao Han didn't ask the military any more, but went to check the kiln with his personal guards.

  The officers under his command organized those captives, packed up their belongings and prepared to take them away together. Regardless of whether he had been a soldier or not, he had to take them all back to Ji'an Mansion. Zhao Han's territory also had kaolin clay, which happened to be short of many kiln workers for firing porcelain.

   Came to a private kiln, the boss and the manager ran away, Zhao Han picked up the porcelain to check, and found that the quality of the product was not very good.

   You can tell the pros and cons at a glance, and it can't be compared with Jingdezhen porcelain at all.

   "Where is this thing sold?" Zhao Han asked.

  A manager of a private kiln who didn’t have time to run away said: “A merchant came to buy it, and shipped it to Fujian and Guangzhou. I heard it was going to be sold overseas.”

  It turned out to be an export product, presumably these inferior porcelain can be sold at a good price when shipped to Europe.

  Zhao Han continued walking for dozens of steps, pointed to a cave dwelling that had already grown grass, and said, "Why is this abandoned?"

  The steward hurriedly ran into the cave and took out a white city brick: "The leftovers from Emperor Taizu's construction of Nanjing City have been piled there for more than two hundred years, and no government dares to use them."

   "Are there many city bricks left?" Zhao Han asked.

  The steward replied: "There are fifty or sixty brick kilns nearby, and the bricks are piled up in the caves. I dare not throw them away, and I dare not use them. They just piled there."

   This kind of white city brick has been fired to the point of porcelain, and it is extremely strong for building the city. Zhao Han decided to come and get it in the year when the city was built.

  Three thousand sergeants took turns to sleep. At noon, they went to a big family in the town to open a warehouse to get food. They rested until the next day (New Year's Eve). Zhao Han finally left Binjiang Town with nearly 4,000 kiln workers and their families.

   "Back to the county to celebrate the New Year!"

  Zhao Han asked the soldiers to shout, everyone laughed and sang, while the kiln workers were frowning.

  After walking a few miles, Zhao Han suddenly divided his troops into the mountains.

  He sent 500 soldiers to **** the kiln workers and their families to Fenyi County, and led 2,500 soldiers to detour.

  The three kiln workers with the most family members and former soldiers were left by Zhao Han as guides.

   On New Year's Eve, Zhao Han spent time in the mountains.

   At noon, he ate wheat cakes and pickled vegetables. Zhao Han clasped his fists all the way, walked up to the soldiers, and kept saying, "Happy New Year, Happy New Year!"

   "Happy New Year in the general town!" The soldiers responded one after another.

   It is inevitable that some soldiers will feel resentful when they come to the mountains during the Chinese New Year. But Zhao Han greeted the New Year one by one, shouting thousands of happy New Years, which immediately made the soldiers enthusiastic.

  Did not dare to march during the day, so I found dead branches and grass to lay on, and then laid quilts on top to sleep.

  At night, there is a cold wind blowing on the road, and those who have a cold and a fever have to keep up. Along the way is the edge of Wugong Mountain, which belongs to the hilly terrain. After the snow melts to the ankles, it is very convenient to march.

  Xiong Yao was one of the three guides, none of them dared to mess around.

   Zhao Han said that once the army is defeated this time, their family members in the county will be killed!

   "General, Yuegong Ridge is ahead, and the prefect's training ground is located at the foot of the mountain." Xiong Yao said, pointing to the front.

   Traveling day and night all the way, and stop and go, when Zhao Han arrived at the Tibetan soldiers, it was only the afternoon of the second day of the Lunar New Year, and Tian Zhifu had not yet finished gathering troops.

  Sent a sentry to pretend to be a woodcutter and went down the mountain to sell firewood outside the city and then came back.

  Zhao Han got preliminary information about the military. There are thousands of defenders in Yuanzhou Fucheng, but the school grounds and barracks at the foot of Yuegong Ridge are empty, and Tian Younian's soldiers all live in the city.

  Zhao Han could only continue to rest in the mountains and make torches for night raids by the way.

  The soldiers took off their leggings and put them in their arms to dry them. Before the action, I tied it to a wooden stick to make a torch. When I left Binjiang Town, I brought a lot of vegetable oil, which was also used to make kindling.

   On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the spies came back to report.

  There are many ships outside the Fucheng, which are loading food, which is the military rations sent by Tian Zhifu.

   Judging from the number of ships, it is definitely not enough for 3,000 soldiers to board the ship. Most of the supplies were carried by water, and the soldiers followed along the river. Even if they were ambushed, the grain transport ships could escape immediately.

   Moreover, soldiers have begun to live in the barracks under Yuegong Ridge.

   On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, the spies returned again.

  The number of soldiers in the barracks is far more than three thousand, maybe five or six thousand. I don't know where the magistrate recruited so many brave men.

  Zhao Han now has two choices, one is to set up an ambush halfway by the river, and the other is to directly attack his barracks at night.

  (end of this chapter)