For the next period of time, the imperial army and Longwangzhai were still in a stalemate.
However, the officers and soldiers of the imperial court slowed down their offensive, shrank their fronts, and stepped back for a certain distance. They no longer directly approached the water village on the front line of Longwangzhai. They seemed to have the intention of holding on, as if they were planning to concentrate on preventing Chen Feng's continuous harassment.
In the camp, Lingfengzi listened to military discussions as usual every day, but Ma Zhen only said that the troops would not move, and did not explain the reason.
But the officers participating in the meeting found something unusual. Huang Ping, who was also a senior general, disappeared for many days.
When someone asked about this, Ma Zhen said that Huang Ping received the military order and led his troops to receive a batch of important supplies allocated by the imperial court to prevent them from being cut off by bandits and so on.
Everyone believed it to be true and did not ask questions. Lingfengzi, who was in the idle state, just faithfully recorded the information and quietly passed it to Longwangzhai, and did not take the initiative to ask the truth.
This is actually a false information, Ma Zhen used the excuse to deal with everyone, just to conceal Huang Ping's movements.
In fact, at this time, Huang Ping took his order and left quietly with his troops, heading to the upstream estuary of Huyang, and began to implement the plan to burst the embankment.
This task is of great importance and should not be missed. In order to hide his deeds, Huang Ping did not lead a large number of troops and horses.
Due to the implementation of the five strategies of breaking thieves, the official army concentrated on controlling many civilians scattered in the countryside, which led to the reduction of the eyesight of Longwangzhai scattered in the wild, which brought a lot of convenience to Huang Ping's covert operations.
In order to prevent information from being leaked, the soldiers in Huang Ping's team did not know the details of the mission of this trip, and thought they were going to fight in a roundabout way.
The group marched cautiously all the way, and after some delay, they finally reached their destination.
…
Huyang, Dingbokou.
This is a river embankment that has been built for many years and its history can be traced back to before the establishment of the Great Xia Kingdom.
There are many rivers in Huyang, the largest of which is called the Shahe River. It runs from west to east and runs through the Central Plains. Dingbokou is on the bank of the Shahe River.
However, the Shahe River floods all the year round, and the flood control effect of Dingbokou has been somewhat unable to keep up. Therefore, in recent years, there have been frequent floods in Huyang.
But even so, this is still an important embankment. Although it cannot prevent flooding, it can at least be controlled to a certain extent, so as not to cause a complete flood.
Huang Ping arrived with the troops and asked the soldiers to stand by for the time being, while he looked at the surging river, his eyes flashing.
The lieutenant on the side asked carefully: "General, what are we doing here?"
"The commander has an order to open the Dingbokou river bank and flood the bandits."
Huang Ping's tone was indifferent, unable to hear any emotion.
The lieutenant was stunned for a moment, and then his face changed slightly: "Is this true? If the Shahe river bursts and floods, then the people of Huyang will..."
Before he could finish speaking, Huang Ping turned to look at him with cold eyes.
The lieutenant was watched by him, his voice gradually lowered, and finally he remained silent.
Seeing this, Huang Ping withdrew his gaze, his tone was unquestionable, and he said coldly:
"Pass our military orders, dig the embankment!"
The lieutenant was helpless and quickly sent the order down.
Until then, the army of the trip did not know the goal of the trip, and the officers and soldiers were in an uproar and couldn't believe it.
The top is so ruthless? !
This kind of sinister thing of cutting off the son and the grandson was immediately opposed by many soldiers.
However, disobeying the military order is a taboo, and will be dealt with by military law.
But not long after, a few villagers suddenly appeared nearby, hurried over, and shouted anxiously:
"Generals, this embankment cannot be dug!"
The officers and soldiers who were working heard the sound, turned their heads one after another, and looked over in amazement.
These villagers who suddenly appeared were all dressed in ragged clothes, with dark skin and calluses on their hands. At first glance, they looked like farmers working all year round.
The guards patrolling all around immediately controlled these anxious villagers.
Huang Ping's eyes narrowed, and people brought them to the front.
Taken to the tent, the peasants were embarrassed and performed a nondescript etiquette.
"Who is coming, sign up to come..."
Huang Ping opened his mouth to question.
Not long after, he figured out the origins of these people.
It turned out that there was a small settlement of more than 20 families nearby, and the location was relatively remote and hidden.
These farmers were from the village, they happened to bump into this team of officers and soldiers when they were out, and they didn't plan to show up.
But seeing the actions of the officers and soldiers digging the embankment, several people couldn't sit still, and they couldn't care about other things, and wanted to run out to dissuade them.
"This great general, this Dingbo mouth cannot be dug. If it collapses here, there will be a flood!"
"Yeah, if there is a breach here, thousands of miles around here will suffer!"
A few farmers were nervous and tried to persuade them.
Huang Ping was noncommittal and asked his personal soldiers to take the farmer down.
Then, he turned towards the lieutenant and said lightly:
"Let these mud legs lead the way, send hundreds of soldiers and horses to follow, capture all the villagers as coolies, and help us dig the river embankment... In addition, our actions need to be kept secret, and we must not leave a living hole to leak the news, and we will all be executed after the event is completed. ."
"...the last will obey."
The lieutenant was silent for two seconds before he opened his mouth to accept the military order.
He strode out of the military tent with an angry look on his face, but in the end he turned helpless and ordered soldiers to arrest people.
It didn't take much time for the officers and soldiers to capture the civilians in the nearby villages and drive them into coolies.
In order to save their lives, these villagers can only do so.
As the embankment was torn apart step by step, the water potential gradually increased, and the roaring river water soon burst the embankment.
At this stage, manpower is no longer needed. Thousands of hectares of river water are poured out, and the breach will continue to expand. When it develops to the end, it can only be filled with human life.
Only then did Huang Ping stop the troops from working, kill all the captured civilian husbands, and threw the bodies into the river.
Dead corpses floated up and down in the river, down the river.
Huang Ping didn't take a second look, and immediately led the troops to withdraw quickly, successfully retreating.
Only the angry river was left surging, breaking through the embankment, leaking more and more, and flowing farther and farther.
…
Somewhere in Huyang, in the woods.
Zhou Jing and a group of soldiers are resting here, but there are only about a thousand people.
He didn't sit in the cottage these days, and personally led his troops outside to use the rogue style, harassing the officials and troops to the point of death.
Because he mainly attacked the enemy with his own force, he did not bring too many troops and horses, but only made a necessary response.
During this period of time, they attacked many times, and the results were quite rich. They destroyed many military camps, and a large number of officers and soldiers could not retreat.
"If we continue to exert pressure like this, sooner or later the imperial army will not be able to withstand the withdrawal. Now the situation is favorable for us. I don't know how long the enemy will be able to hold on... Speaking of which, the officers and soldiers seem to be helpless now, do they really want to give up the expedition?"
Zhou Jing thought to himself while biting the jerky.
At this moment, the rogue who was out in the wind suddenly ran in.
"Report! Zhaizhu, two villagers have come to ask for an interview, saying that they are in a hurry to report!"
"bring it here."
Zhou Jing came back to his senses, not surprised.
During this period of time, he ran around in the Huyang boundary, and did not hide his tracks. Although he did not have a fixed place, occasionally villagers who were not under the control of the government could bump into him and come to see him.
Soon, two dusty villagers were brought in.
Seeing Zhou Jing sitting with the golden sword of the horse, the two of them immediately turned their heads and bowed, with an eager tone:
"Chen Zhaizhu, the big thing is bad, the flood broke out again!"
Zhou Jing was startled when he heard the words: "Flood disaster? Shouldn't it be the flood season yet?"
"It's true, our village is flooded!"
The two villagers spoke with certainty, and their faces were full of anxiety.
"Could it be that something happened upstream, which river bank has been in disrepair for a long time, and there is a breach?"
Zhou Jing frowned.
Was it accidental or man-made
Could it be that the officers and soldiers are going to attack with water and flood the Seventh Army? But at present, the two sides are in the upstream area, and it seems that there is no stalemate battle.
And Bill's side, there is no military transfer information of the corresponding officers and soldiers.
He didn't think in another direction for the first time... The imperial court, as the orthodox in the world, was so "bold" that it gave up the territory of a province under its jurisdiction, directly flooded the entire area, broke the jar, and broke the lower limit once again.
Although it is also very sinister to drive the people to attack, but the official army has a name anyway, and the people who drive are all "contract criminals who cooperate with the enemy and rebel."
And digging the embankment and flooding Huyang, but there is no name at all, regardless of the survival of the people here, the lack of great virtue, and the birth of children without assholes.
"Okay, let's go and have a look. If it's easy to do, I'll send someone from the stockade to govern it."
Zhou Jing immediately made a decision.
Flooding is the main disaster in Huyang. Since it is regarded as the foundation, no matter whether it is accidental or man-made, it must be dealt with.
Moreover, this is not the first time that this kind of thing has happened. In the past two years, when the government was not doing well, Longwangzhai would occasionally treat water and save people, and he was already familiar with it.
"Thank you Zhaizhu, thank you Zhaizhu!"
The two villagers immediately thanked Dade and thanked them again and again.
At this time, one of them seemed to remember something and said:
"By the way, on the way we came, we found that there were footprints left by a large group of horses passing by on the southeast fork road. I don't know if it was the owner of the village."
"Southeast? We don't seem to have walked over there."
A leader next to him interjected suspiciously.
Hearing this, Zhou Jing's eyes flashed.
Since it is not one of his own, then this unknown team is probably from the imperial court.
Appearing suddenly in the vicinity, most of them have no intentions.
"First catch up with this group of people and arrest them for questioning."
Zhou Jing didn't hesitate, made a decision immediately, and greeted Zhong Erlang to set off.