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Only God knows whether Li Jie can hold on and how long he can hold on.
Again, Ganzhou must not fall into the hands of the rebels. It is no exaggeration to say that from the moment he stepped into Ganzhou, Qin Mu subconsciously regarded Ganzhou as his own dish and would never allow anyone else to touch it.
Seeing the crisis approaching step by step, he was forced to fight desperately. When Taizu went to Jinggang Mountain, the situation was even worse than his current situation. Although he did not dare to compare himself with the great man, he came to this world, was alone and hated melon-headed people extremely. He had no choice but to fight. Man proposes, God disposes.
He said resolutely: "Sir, the situation is urgent now. First, we must stabilize Li Jie and make sure he holds on. Second, we must seal off the four gates and keep the news of Zhu Teng's defeat secret as long as possible.
Third, send someone to contact Ma Yongzhen immediately, and help him for a while. Fourth, immediately organize the tens of thousands of refugees in the city into baojia, and select strong men from the same group, and let the prefect personally lead them to borrow food from the gentry and wealthy families in the city. Only after having food can the people in the city be stabilized.
Finally, I ask the prefect to select two hundred elite soldiers from the city garrison and give them to me. I will lead the army out and act according to the plan."
Previously, the two had discussed a plan to suppress the bandits, and had intended to implement it step by step. However, Zhu Teng's defeat had really pushed Ganzhou into a desperate situation, and now they had no choice but to force the issue.
Yang Tinglin gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, let's do it. We'll have to rely on civil administration for matters outside the city."
"My Lord, please remember that if you don't make a decision, you will suffer the consequences. There must be someone who is interfering with the affairs in the city. My Lord, you must not be soft-hearted. Everything is for the sake of protecting Ganzhou!"
As a subordinate, it was very awkward for Qin Mu to speak to Yang Tinglin in such a tone, but he didn't care. Yang Tinglin was good at managing people's livelihood, but he was weak in military affairs. Qin Mu was really worried that he would not be able to take ruthless action at the critical moment.
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Xinfeng County is located in the south of Ganzhou, about 150 miles away. It is located in the middle reaches of Taojiang, a tributary of Gongshui River. The terrain slopes from south to north. The remnants of Dayuling and Jiulian Mountains of the Nanling Mountains extend from the southwest of the county. It is surrounded by mountains and the central part is flat.
It is no exaggeration to say that Xinfeng County is the last gateway to the south of Ganzhou. There was originally a thousand households under the jurisdiction of Ganzhou Guard stationed in the territory. According to the original organization, a thousand households had 1,200 soldiers. However, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the organization was just an organization, which was no longer the same as the actual military strength.
Now the total strength of Xinfeng Qianhu Suo is less than 500 people, and only about 200 of them can wield swords and guns in battle. Compared with other garrisons, this is already good.
Relying on these two hundred troops to retreat to the county town, Xinfeng County withstood Gu Xiancheng's attack for two days.
Below the county town, Gu Xiancheng's rebel army set up camps for several miles, and their momentum was terrifying. When attacking the city, more than 10,000 people crowded into the city, and their shouts shook the sky and could be heard for dozens of miles.
From a distance, the small city of Xinfeng looks like an isolated island in the vast ocean, which may be submerged by the surging tide of people at any time.
But when you get closer, it's a different story. There were only about one or two thousand people actually involved in the siege, and many of them were holding hoes, shovels, or even wooden sticks.
Most of them were old and weak people in ragged clothes. They had no actual ability to attack the city. Gu Xiancheng drove them to the outskirts of the city just to increase momentum.
Gu Xiancheng was in his thirties. He was not tall, but had very long arms, like an ape-man. He had high cheekbones, which made his face look small at both ends and wide in the middle. There was a light red scar under his left cheek, as if a small earthworm was crawling on his cheek.
His big tent was covered with exquisite Western carpets, and several jars of opened fine wine filled the tent with a strong aroma of wine.
Gu Xiancheng was topless, leaning against a tiger-skin chair. Two beautiful women were also topless at his feet. One was about thirty-six or seven, and the other was only fourteen or fifteen. Just by looking at their appearance, it was not difficult to tell that they were a mother and daughter.
When Gu Xiancheng attacked Anyuan County, the county magistrate fought to the death and refused to surrender. Later, a traitor opened the city gate at night. After the city was captured, Gu Xiancheng slaughtered all the male members of the county magistrate's family. Seeing that the mother and daughter were somewhat attractive, he abducted them.
The mother and daughter could not bear it any more and tried to commit suicide several times but failed. After more than half a month of inhuman abuse, they were already numb. From time to time, rebels came into the big tent to report military intelligence, and they would always glance at the white breasts of the mother and daughter, but the two of them acted as if they did not see anything.
"Harder! Didn't you eat?" Gu Xiancheng poured out the wine in the golden cup, touched the scar on his left cheek with one hand, and shouted at the mother and daughter who were massaging his feet, "That's enough, lick it with your mouth, lick it with your mouth."
The mother and daughter did not dare to disobey, lest they would bring upon themselves even more inhumane torture, so they had no choice but to bend over, each holding a toe and licking it slowly. Gu Xiancheng's stinky feet had not been washed for who knows how many days, and the mother and daughter's stomachs were churning with the stink, and they wanted to vomit, but they could only endure it.
Under the careful waiting of the mother and daughter, Gu Xiancheng suddenly got excited and hugged the magistrate's wife. He ordered her to lie on the carpet like a dog, then pounced on her from behind with a lewd smile. When her long skirt was lifted, she was completely naked underneath, with her snow-white buttocks raised high.
Gu Xiancheng pulled his belt, took off his trousers and was about to sprint when one of his men suddenly rushed in from outside the tent.
"Second Commander, congratulations, Second Commander, congratulations, Di Fan was shot dead by a stray arrow, the government troops on the city are in chaos, our troops have already attacked the top of the city, Second Commander, the city has been broken!"
It was obviously not the first time that the subordinate saw Gu Xiancheng abusing the mother and daughter. While he was feasting his eyes, he kept shouting in rapid succession.
"The city was breached? Really?"
"My king, how dare I lie to you? If you don't believe me, go and see. The city is really broken."
Gu Xiancheng slapped the white snow-white butt hard, pulled up his trousers and laughed, "Let's go and take a look!"
Di Fan was the captain of the Xinfeng Qianhu Division. He had been the one who led the army to defend the city for the past two days. Just now, during a fierce battle on the city wall, he was accidentally shot in the neck by a stray arrow and died a heroic death. After his death, the already precarious city wall suddenly became a mess. The rebels attacking the city swarmed in and the defenders were defeated.
When Gu Xiancheng arrived at the foot of the city, the east gate had already been opened. Cheers resounded through the sky, and countless rebels swarmed together, like a huge torrent pouring in from the east gate.
Among the rebels who rushed into the city, perhaps most of them were victims a few days ago, but at this moment they have become complete demons. In this disordered state, they seem to want to inflict ten times the suffering they had suffered not long ago on the people in the city.
The shops and houses along the street were smashed open by the swarming rebels, valuables were looted, crying children were thrown into the street and trampled to death, men who put up the slightest resistance were hacked to death, women were stripped naked on the spot, and even old women in their fifties and sixties were not spared.
The entire Xinfeng County was soon illuminated by flames and blood. Corpses were scattered everywhere on the streets. The sounds of banging doors, beatings, scolding, looting, crying, shouting, begging for mercy, wailing, sobbing and countless other sounds made the entire Xinfeng City look like a hell on earth. It was a horrible sight.
Surrounded by his personal soldiers, Gu Xiancheng entered the east gate with great pride. Seeing the burning, killing, looting and plundering in the city, Gu Xiancheng not only did not stop it, but watched it with great interest as if it were a kind of entertainment.
He sent people to guard the county government office and some wealthy families, which belonged to him. As for the ordinary people's homes in the city, his men could rob as many as they wanted. Unless they robbed everything and forced the people in the city into a desperate situation, how could anyone be willing to join the rebellion
Li Zicheng and his men did the same thing in the beginning. Wherever they passed, everything was burned to ashes. The people, who had no way to survive, had no choice but to join the rebellion. Therefore, although Li Zicheng and his men were repeatedly defeated, they were always able to gather a large group of people again quickly. Now Li Zicheng has proclaimed himself king in Xiangyang.
How could Gu Xiancheng not learn from such a good example? Burn, loot, burn and loot everything, then open the warehouses to release grain, and recruit a large number of troops in a short time.
Gu Xiancheng's trusted subordinate Ma San lagged behind him by half a horse's head and laughed, "Second Boss, I heard that the first boss is still clinging to that broken rule. He has conquered many places, but he has less than a thousand men. Second Boss, if we take Xinfeng City today, in a few days, our men will increase to 20,000 or even 30,000..."
Gu Xiancheng snorted disdainfully and said, "Xinfeng City is nothing. Let the brothers hurry up. We can't stay in Xinfeng for long."
"What does the second family mean?"
"There are countless fat sheep in Ganzhou City. Compared with Ganzhou City, Xinfeng is nothing, huh? Do you understand? I want to take over Ganzhou City before the Ma family. Then the whole southern part of Ganzhou will be ours, and no one can snatch it from us!"
"Second Master Ming Jian Wanli, I admire you so much."
The looting in Xinfeng City did not stop with the arrival of night. The houses were used as huge torches, illuminating the entire county as if it were daytime. The looting and smashing were still in full swing, and the people in the city were in purgatory.
Under the city of Ganzhou, Qin Mu took advantage of the darkness and hurried out of the east gate with more than 300 people, and soon disappeared into the vast night.
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