I

  Chapter 180 178 [Encircling Wei and saving Zhao]

  Those guard soldiers who were brought by Yang Jiamo to plunder originally numbered in the hundreds, but most of them fled back home in the chaos.

   There were only dozens of people, who belonged to Nanchang Wei, and ran back to report one after another.

  The first group of seven people to go back ran wildly from the middle of the afternoon that day until late at night. On the way, they were tired and hungry, killed and expelled the people in the dark, ate something and lay down on the bed to rest.

  By the evening of the next day, the city gates of Nanchang were almost closed, and the seven people finally rushed back to Nanchang Wei.

  In fact, there was a merchant ship from Fengcheng Wharf that day, spreading the news to Nanchang. However, no details were provided. These guard soldiers fled back and were immediately taken to see Governor Li Maofang by the commander of Nanchang Guard.

  Li Maofang asked: "Why was Mr. Yang chased to Fengcheng?"

  A soldier of the guard replied: "Mr. Yang took us to the countryside to suppress bandits, and ransacked the houses of some landlords who were thieves. Those landlords have a lot of money and food in their homes, and they haven't finished moving for two hours..."

"Shut up!"

   Li Maofang was furious and urged: "Tell me about the war, I didn't ask how you robbed the gentry."

The soldier of the guard quickly said: "We were moving things, and two or three thousand rebels came to kill us. Mr. Yang won the battle first, and chased and killed the rebels. The rebels ran so fast that they couldn't catch up The troops can be withdrawn. As soon as Chief Yang withdrew, the rebels came back, and the sailors who dragged the rebels arrived. General Yang disembarked outside Fengcheng County and led the troops into the city."

   "Fleeing into the city?" Li Maofang asked.

   "I didn't see clearly." The soldiers of the guard shook their heads. They only cared about running for their lives, and they didn't dare to approach the county seat. How could they know what was going on there.

  Li Maofang asked again: "Why didn't you go to the city with Mr. Yang?"

The soldiers of the guard were weeping: "At that time, we were rushing to get off the boat. Mr. Yang was afraid that he would not be able to run fast, so he asked his servants to kill our Jiangxi local soldiers, saying that they blocked his way to get off the boat. We were not beaten away by the rebels, but by Mr. Yang. The servants of the town were killed and scattered."

   Li Maofang was speechless for a moment. He could imagine how embarrassed Yang Jiamo was at that time.

  When Yang Jiamo fought in the north, he always left his infantry behind. To put it bluntly, it is to let the infantry stop the enemy, and lead the servants to ride on horseback. But when he arrived in Jiangxi, he couldn't ride a horse, and his servant was wearing iron armor, so he couldn't run even if he wanted to.

  Jiangzhou military preparation officer Dong Xiangheng is training the navy at Poyang Lake.

  Li Maofang sent someone to summon Dong Xiangheng, and at the same time invited officials from the Third Department of Jiangxi to discuss matters.

  The Zuo Buzheng Ding Kuichu was the one who asked for money but not his life. In the end, he surrendered and his whole family was killed.

  Right Chief Envoy Zhang Bingwen, this man died a heroic death in history.

  He was the Zuobu political envoy of Shandong at that time, and the Tartars entered the pass to attack Jinan. The **** stood up high and held heavy soldiers in his hands, and shrank in Linqing, not daring to move. Zu Broadband came with reinforcements, but waited and hesitated, afraid of the enemy and dared not fight.

  Zhang Bingwen mobilized the people in the city and defended the city for half a month, but the city gate was breached on the second day of the Lunar New Year. He also led the people to engage in street fighting with the Tartars. He was outnumbered and killed by an arrow. A total of more than ten of his wives, concubines and maids threw themselves into the lake.

  Jiangxi’s procurator is called Wu Shiliang, and he is 85 years old this year. This old gentleman was only 69 years old when he became a Jinshi. Historically, he also donated 100,000 taels of silver to recruit soldiers for the small imperial court of the Southern Ming Dynasty. He was 97 years old when he resigned and returned home due to illness.

  The Jiangxi capital is temporarily vacant. He died of illness some time ago, and the imperial court has not yet appointed a new one.

   "The rebels attacked Fengcheng, and Yang Zongzhen was besieged in the city," Li Maofang sighed, "Let's talk about it, should we send reinforcements?"

  Ding Kuichu quickly said: "Don't fall into the trick of the rebels to divert the tiger away from the mountain. What if we rescue and the rebels attack Nanchang?"

  Zhang Bingwen asked: "How many soldiers are available in Jiangxi?"

Li Maofang replied: "There are only one or two thousand soldiers who can fight, and the rest are newly trained soldiers. The navy has suffered heavy losses in the summer, and I am afraid that they are not the opponents of the anti-thief sailors. Yang Zongzhen has hundreds of soldiers." The elite are all warriors from the north."

   "Only one or two thousand soldiers available for battle?" Ding Kuichu was so startled that his back felt cold.

   Li Maofang sighed: "There are more than 10,000 recruits, and they have only practiced for two or three months. The Luling Zhao bandits are notorious, and these recruits may not dare to fight with them."

  Zhang Bingwen suddenly said: "Zhang Yinggao, the magistrate of Guangxin, has 5,000 powerful soldiers in his hands, and he is now suppressing bandits in Nanfeng County. You can order him to send troops to attack Jishui, and go straight to the rear of the Zhao thief. This will have a miraculous effect of besieging Wei and saving Zhao."

   "This plan is feasible," Li Maofang asked Wu Shiliang again, "What is the old man's idea?"

Eighty-five-year-old Wu Shiliang seemed to be falling asleep sitting there, half-closed his eyes and said, "When we find out the truth, are the hundreds of soldiers in the hands of Mr. Yang still there? If so, Fengcheng County must Save. If you are not there, it will be useless to save them. Those hundreds of soldiers are the key, and they are the only elite soldiers in Jiangxi! Without those soldiers, Nanchang is in the pocket of the rebels. When will they be taken away? It just depends on Zhao thief's mood."

   This truth made everyone speechless for a moment.

   "嗙!"

  Zhang Bingwen suddenly slapped the table: "Yang Jiamo is a good guy, he ran to the rebel site to plunder, and made the situation like this!"

   Just then, there was a governor's attendant standing at the door.

   "Commander, urgent military situation."

   "Come in and say."

  The attendant bowed into the room, bowed his hands to everyone, and said: "Fengcheng County has a messenger to report, and a gentleman named Wang Tingshi is asking to see him."

   "Bring them all in." Li Maofang said.

   Not long after, Wang Tingshi and the messenger entered the room together, and all the officials stood up and bowed to each other.

  Wang Ting tried to return the salute, and said excitedly: "Masters, I heard that the rebels have besieged Fengcheng, and my Wang's family business is all in Nanchang. Please allow the governor and the princes to pay for the recruitment of two thousand soldiers to guard Nanchang City."

  Everyone was overjoyed.

  Li Maofang took Wang Tingshi's hand and said: "With the help of the public, Nanchang will have no worries."

  Wang Tingshi said awe-inspiringly: "Defending the hometown is just my duty."

  Although Wang Tingshi was dismissed from office and lived at leisure, he was a local gentry and was willing to recruit two thousand soldiers to help fight the war. He was immediately regarded by many officials as his own.

  For such an important meeting, Wang Tingshi stayed and listened directly.

  Li Maofang asked the messenger: "How did you leave the city?"

The courier replied: "The magistrate rewarded him with twenty taels of silver, and sent more than a dozen messengers to go out of the city in baskets at night. The villain didn't know about the other couriers. The villain quietly swam across the moat and went to the riverside day and night. On the way, I spent five renminbi to take a boat to Nanchang."

   "Is Mr. Yang's servant still there?" Wu Shiliang asked suddenly.

  The courier replied: "It's a little damaged, and there are three or four hundred left."

  The courier handed over the letter, and the officials checked it carefully, and it was indeed the seal of the magistrate of Fengcheng.

  The messenger knelt down and kowtowed: "Masters, please send troops to rescue Fengcheng!"

  …

  Fengcheng County, city tower.

   Yang Jiamo, the chief soldier, and Xie Longwen, the county magistrate, were sitting in the tower facing each other to eat.

   No matter what enmity there is, they are all grasshoppers on the same rope, and they have reached a temporary cooperation.

  How to cooperate?

  Write a letter to trick the governor into bringing troops to rescue!

  If the governor is informed that Yang Jiamo's family has been destroyed, the governor will definitely not send troops. Only if the servants are still there, the governor has the motivation to rescue, because in the future, he will have to rely on those servants to fight the war.

   "Oh, my official career has come to an end." Xie Longwen sighed.

  Writing a distress letter to deceive the governor, even if he can win this battle, will definitely be hated by Li Maofang, and impeaching him for any crime will make him lose his position.

  Yang Jiamo sneered and said, "Save your life."

  Suddenly, a section of the city wall to the north erupted. The two thought there was a rebellion, so they put down their chopsticks and ran to check.

  It turned out that Xie Longwen was sending money to recruit soldiers, and the enlistment fees of the soldiers defending the city were deducted. At the same time, Xiangyong, who had been recruited before, also took the opportunity to follow suit because their monthly rations were also deducted.

  Yang Jiamo went straight to the county government office, hacked the master to death with a knife, and came back with his head in his hands, shouting: "I have killed the person who withheld the military salary, and he will definitely pay the full amount tomorrow!"

  The county magistrate, Dian Shi, and chief bookkeeper trembled with fright when they saw the master's head.

  The three of them were also involved in the deduction of military pay.

   That night, the three of them gathered for a secret meeting.

   "Should I surrender?"

   "The three of us do evil... We have a bad reputation, and I am afraid that we will be interrogated by the anti-thieves."

   "If you have meritorious service in dedicating the city, you can more or less pay off the crime. If the rebels break the city, you will definitely die."

   "The last time that Huang Yao entered the city, he only beheaded the county magistrate, and asked us to help maintain law and order. Rebels are reasonable, and they will definitely pay off their crimes."

   "Yes, yes, yes, General Huang Yao is very reasonable. He is also outside the city this time."

   "This city can't be defended, and sooner or later it will be attacked by rebels."

   "How many confidantes can Lao Liu mobilize?"

   "More than forty."

   "Then Yang Jiamo is highly skilled in martial arts, so he must be designed to kill him."

   "Who can get the poison?"

"let me try."

   "..."

  Yang Jiamo and Xie Longwen did not wait for the governor's reinforcements. Instead, Zhang Yinggao, the prefect of Guangxin, and Cai Bangjun, the prefect of Fuzhou, received Li Maofang's letter to encircle Wei and rescue Zhao.

  Cai Bangjun was promoted very quickly. He was a Jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen, and he became the magistrate in the fifth year of Chongzhen.

  This old man does nothing else. He devotes himself to cultural and educational work, and even recruits scholars to compile "Fuzhou Fuzhi".

  Until the Nanfeng sect bandits made such an outrageous noise that they took over the county town, he finally recruited Xiangyong to suppress the bandits, and invited Zhang Yinggao to help them out.

  Just a few days ago, Zhang Yinggao led more than 4,000 troops, Cai Bangjun led more than 2,000 troops, and finally wiped out the Nanfeng sect bandits, only a few dozen Tantric followers fled into the mountains.

   "Tan Rugong, do you want to send troops?" Cai Bangjun was quite guilty, because the Luling Zhao thief was too famous.

Zhang Yinggao sighed and said: "The general army is under siege, so we can't just sit back and watch. What's more, we are not going to fight the main force of the rebels, but to lead a surprise attack on Jishui County. The purpose of sending troops this time is not to attack the city, but to enter the jurisdiction of Jishui County , forcing the main force of the rebels to withdraw from Fengcheng."

   "Let Dan Rugong decide everything." Cai Bangjun doesn't know how to fight at all, and if it wasn't for Zhang Yinggao's help, he would not dare to wipe out the religious bandits by himself.

  Zhang Yinggao was actually very troubled. Li Ruolian, who was framed and demoted by Li Maofang, was the brother of his classmate. They grew up together, Zhang Yinggao and Li Ruolian are like brothers. In terms of personal feelings, Zhang Yinggao wished he could strangle Li Maofang to death. Even in terms of public opinion, Zhang Yinggao wanted to impeach Li Maofang, but the governor was really a jerk.

  However, he can only help now, otherwise Nanchang will be in danger!

  Officers and soldiers from Guangxin and Fuzhou prefectures moved down the Chongren River along the waterway, then turned into the Wujiang River on the way, and went straight into Jishui County from behind.

   Surround Wei and save Zhao.

   (I have something to do this afternoon, only two updates.)

  (end of this chapter)