Ten years later, Zhou Huai'an watched the last group of people who had gone away, and the city of Guangzhou, which was no longer noisy and noisy, returned to calm; but at the cost of the original population of the city was reduced by one-quarter to three-thirds. one. Either he joined the rebel army or was conscripted as a husband, or simply fled to the countryside to hide.
As a result, the market and popularity of Guangzhou, which was slowly reorganizing and recovering, regressed back to the beginning of the arrival of the rebels, and even worsened its decline.
As one of the accomplices, Zhou Huai'an did not miss the exhaustive list in a three-footed manner, so as to roughly meet the needs of the first batch of troops. As for the later troops, it really implemented the idea of getting enough food and clothing by yourself. Among all sorts of prestigious groups, they were sent to collect grain, but the place outside of Guangzhou City was very troublesome.
Even some of the camps originally set up by the rebels have not been spared, and those who pull the sheep did not dig out the seeds that the rebels planted to grow seedlings in the ground. During this period, Zhou Huai'an even pushed people to send them secretly. In the past, some lists were the results of the activities of the preliminary census teams and exploratory teams. In some townships, there may be the distribution of large household lists and temples;
As the saying goes, who is not a pit, just take this opportunity to do a bit more thoroughly, and perhaps it can reduce some of the collateral damage to ordinary civilians. Although some infamy and misunderstandings were unavoidable because of this, Zhou Huaian thought that if he did not do it himself, but someone else was in charge of the whole process, as long as the blood flowed into the river, hundreds of thousands of people would be killed and injured, and he would have paid several times. The price can be achieved.
More importantly, after being forced to assist and observe in a disguised form, these processes are almost the same as the practices of the former officers and soldiers; let the members of the army under their own suspicion and awareness of themselves, and other traditional rebels. The difference.
Mainly because, on the other hand, a letter from Wang Pan said that the name of Stormrage Camp can be restored and expanded in his own hands. He is already satisfied; there is really no need to use such a name to restrain this one. The further development and prospects of the military horse in Zhou Huaian's hands. This statement also made Zhou Huaian very satisfied and relieved, which meant that he had the opportunity to name an army dedicated to his own brand for the first time.
In order to obtain the qualification to allow this team to stay and watch the army’s back road, Zhou Huaian paid a quarter of the tribute ship’s collection, a large amount of unplanned grain and military resources, and hollowed out the industrial potential of Nanhai County in a short time. , The result is obtained only at a huge price and various exchange conditions. Although it was just a light and temporary title; it also meant all sorts of expediency for the place after most of the rebels left.
Despite this, as the most valuable pearl in the Pearl River Delta, the garrison power of Guangzhou City still has nothing to do with his subordinates; instead, it was handed over to the two front-line troops that had been withdrawn from Meizhou as a temporary retreat.
Because now Meizhou borders Fujian on the other side of the mountain, Zheng Ai and Chen Yan, the Fuzhou Regiment Envoy and Chen Yan, who claims to stay in Fuzhou, have been fighting each other endlessly and there is no time for him to take care of them. The Zhang, Quan, and Ding prefectures in Fujian are also in chaos, but no one can care about the peasant army outside the mountain. Therefore, the two teams were able to make a free move to defend Guangzhou.
As for the broken Meizhou itself, as a symbolic compensation, it was returned to the defensive zone of Stormrage Camp. In theory, it would be better to send people from Heyuan City to take over the camp they left behind. Although this is only a small military state with a book account of only tens of thousands of inferior places, it is still a key and hub for future generations to guard the junction of the three provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong.
Zhongjiaolingguan, an inland mountainous area, and Dazhai, Sanhekou, between the coastal hills, just choked off the main land routes to Qianzhou (now Ganzhou, Jiangxi) and Zhangzhou in central Fujian. The reason why it is the main rather than the only one is that this is the only place where business travel and brigades can pass; although there may be some mountain trails, hunting trails, and sheep-gut trails, it is very difficult to use it for soldiers.
Of course, as the last Yingtian ambassador of one of the newly established Guangzhou left-behind troikas, he must also continue to stay here, and manage the half-dozen farming, construction, and wounded and sick people. Many chores in the house are singled out.
In addition, we must also assist Lin Yan, who is the official in charge of supporting the government, to sort out and deal with the situation in the aftermath; because after most of the rebel army marched to the north, almost all the things that can be taken away from the place were done their best. Emptied. Therefore, many short-term shortfalls and unsustainable mess are left.
At the very least, the rice and timber trade with Annan must be absolutely cut off; otherwise, as the actual military chief, the current Guangzhou left-behind department is under the name of Meng Wei, and these few remain. The severely damaged garrisoned man and horse will be hungry and even cause chaos.
However, without the Huangchao army in Canton as a deterrent, whether Annan is still willing to continue to maintain this reciprocal trade relationship instead of creating other variables such as home, Zhou Huaian is really not optimistic.
The first battle report from the front was also sent to Guangfu along with the first enemy the Rebels encountered.
. . . . . . . .
Compared with the military towns in the north that are constantly attacking and fighting all day long, the imperial court’s location in the south is undoubtedly a model of weak and unheard of soldiers in a certain sense; in fact, they have the largest armed forces under their command. The meaning is to prepare for theft, and to ensure the timely collection of taxes for the court, as well as the possible rapid suppression of civil commotions and tax resistance.
Of course, this is only the most ideal situation; under daily conditions, these military rations are more often examples of generals' deficits, as well as minions and lackeys for officials at all levels to collect money.
In a sense, Huang Chao's decision to forcibly send troops northward was a sign of "heavy thunder and little rain". Indeed, it had the effect of unexpectedly attacking its deficiencies in a certain sense. The state and united soldiers stationed in places along the way to prepare for the enemy were almost defeated in front of the raging rebels.
As the deputy capital commander of the Xingying and Hunan Observatory, the grandson of Li Sheng, the grandson of the former dynasty who claimed to hold a fifty thousand yuan, was one of them. He was promoted by Wang Duo, the prime minister of the dynasty and Jiedu of Jingnan. Get this prestigious and beautiful location;
Although he claims to be the family origin of the family, he also knows his own affairs. There is definitely no ancestor who used the meritorious service officer to reach the Xiping county king. Li Taiwei, how many martial arts and heroic martial arts have been handed down;
That is to say, through the natural wealth of the door, and a group of civil servants to sing peace with each other, coupled with his generosity called "ancient chivalrous style" to make money and extravagant means, and this is how they each touts the door after the famous door. His reputation; therefore, he is proficient in the ability to sing and sing correctly, more than the tricks of making guns and sticks;
It’s just that there are still some family generals and tribes left by their ancestors. Therefore, even if they talk about military strategy and martial arts, they are well-organized and breathtaking; they even personally repelled and captured groups of thieves who entangled in the mountains and wilds. His record is a halo bonus after his daily famous generals; therefore, when the court officials thought of a loyal choice that could share the worries of the court, he was ranked first.
Despite this, he still spent a considerable part of his wealth to manage the way, and bought the most valuable group of female music in West City, and sent it to this "known San Le Zhai Lao" and especially Mei Ji's palace. The Lao Men Hao got the final recommendation; and the official was awarded the Taining Jiedu Shi who was a self-study in Weifu.
Then he took advantage of the situation to replace the previous heroes who destroyed Wang Xianzhi. In the name of chasing down the thieves and preparing for the bandits, he received the deputy capital of the thieves camp and the observation envoy of Hunan, and led the 50,000 army and the earth regiment allocated by the court to sit in the waterway hub of Tanzhou (now Shashi, a senior official in Hunan), a good post with both fame and practical benefits.
Therefore, he made up his mind early to take up his post in this rich, water- and land-rich Dayi, and put his reputation in front and back management and the cost of government officials into his fortune, and make more efforts to earn his talents, and he is worthy of the reputation of the sons of the courtiers who are good at managing the family. After that, there is no suspicion of ruining the family business of the ancestor.
Therefore, when he heard the many grass thieves entrenched and dormant on the east and west roads outside the ridge, they suddenly crossed the dangerous line of Guizhou's high mountains and ridges-Quanyi Ling Pass, one of the five ridges, and rode the Lingqu that rose in summer to the Xiangjiang River. The flood of water, with the thousands of boats raised, broke the Lingling Lingling of Yongzhou in a blink of an eye, and fell into the Yingdao and Yongyang of Daozhou, and began to besieged the Hengyang city, the capital of Hengzhou, after a series of urgent calls for help.
Almost immediately, he fell off the banquet of talk and drink, and then jumped up hurriedly, leaving behind many guests, friends and subordinates desperately, and running into the back of the curtain with an overturned mess of wine and meat. It disappeared; after a while, a bright-faced military officer came out to spread the word, announcing the end of the banquet and went to the Yacheng Central Hall for discussion.
Because there were also a few messengers from Guizhou before, the grass bandits who kept saying that they wanted to go northward, and even some of the officers and soldiers who fled from Guizhou also held this argument plausibly, so he was also extremely vigilant and fully guarded. For a long time; however, the rumored thieves have not come for a long time, and the slackness in his heart that tends to talk about the scribes has sprung up again;
For this reason, he even ordered to be killed with some impatience at one time. Many of the officers and soldiers who fled from the south did not want to serve the country, but were remnants of officers and soldiers who "demonstrated the crowd and pretended to be alarmist" to look at them. Therefore, now that he suddenly received the news, he felt a little bitter and embarrassed. The expenses incurred before and after his position had only just returned to the capital.
Therefore, the first thing he thought of after confirming the news was not to exclude more spies, nor to mobilize reinforcements, but to gather and gather the many treasures he had in office, Jinbao Miki, Jumbo Miki. What's the matter, take the lead in arranging for the Ya Jiang to go northward in secret overnight so as to avoid the danger of thieves;
And under the leadership of his pioneers, the entire Tanzhou City is like a boulder thrown into boiling oil. Not too long before dawn, the generals and officials from top to bottom are also vying to do what they are doing. The family members and goods were sent northward to take refuge in the chariots and horses;
Then their collective reaction drove the panic among the officials, wealthy merchants, and big households in the city; so that all kinds of people were panicked for a while. way.
Then with the spread of this symptom, the villagers, chiefs, princes, squires, wealthy merchants, and many others who were not worthy of wealth, but also considered themselves "dressed people" or "holdings". The people of "Gentlemen" also evaded their fears and fleeing towards the establishment. Although most of them looked sad and deeply upset, they also happily destroyed several kinds of people in Tanzhou City.
First of all, the doormen and guards who have made a lot of money from them, although they only have such great power, they can make a lot of temporary extravagance from these wealthy and tycoons who are in the process of opportunity;
Followed by those hotel owners and vacant homeowners. With the continuous influx of these "refugees", the residences in the city have become tense, even if it is a haunted house or abandoned house that has not been leased for many years, even if it is hastily repaired. There are also philosophers rushing to ask for the shed.
As the population soared, not only rents soared, but also firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and everything else soared. This made local residents not only feel that the rice balls are rewarding, but also brought a lot of mental torture.
And it was not until the third day that the first team from the Huang Chao rebels spearheaded the horse, and it was belatedly that this tunnel under the great city of Tanzhou came. And their arrival also brought news that Hengyang City was breached. (End of this chapter)