A shrill scream came from the city. Zhong Changqing looked downstairs at the city gate and saw two women, an old man and a young man, running out of the alleyway in a hurry and running towards the city gate at their feet. Two soldiers were in the alley.
After the chase, one of them lost patience and stabbed the old woman in the back with a knife.
The old woman watched the tip of the knife poke out of her chest, panting violently, then slowly knelt down in the muddy rainwater, and threw herself forward. Soon, she saw blood smearing from under the old woman's body;
The young woman no longer had the strength to escape. She collapsed on the ground, smashed the sky and the ground, and let out a shrill howl.
The soldier wiped the blood on the old woman's body with his knife, put the knife back into its sheath, and then took off the old woman's bundle. After taking a look, he saw that in addition to a few clothes, there were many other items in the bundle.
After being satisfied with the soft things, he tied them up again on his back, and together with another soldier, he dragged the young woman who was still screaming miserably into the alley.
"These idiots, tell them not to kill people indiscriminately," Feng Shizhao cursed. "They kill people and don't know how to drag the bodies away, and they still have people to wipe their butts. They don't follow any fucking rules!"
"Just one more day of indulgence, and the sword will be sealed tomorrow!" Meng Jie frowned and said, "However, there are still too many people in the city, and those useless people have to be driven out, otherwise the food will be wasted...
"
After the fall of Bianliang, the Red Army first controlled the cities within the capital, and was not in a hurry to march to the surrounding states such as Xu, Zheng, Chen, and Song.
At that time, on the one hand, they did not expect that Bianliang would fall so easily. On the other hand, the Marshal's Mansion on the east and west routes of Canyue still had more than 200,000 troops. The Red Husbands had no intention of rushing forward until they had completely captured Bianliang.
In order to expand the military results, he even hoped that the remaining soldiers and horses from the east and west routes could enter the Gyeonggi area to fight.
Zhao Tuan went south to Xiangyang and ordered the officials and people of Zheng, Xu, Chen, Ying and other places to evacuate south. At this time, the Chihu people ordered to march to the outskirts of the capital. At that time, Yue Hailou had just received the order to lead his troops across the river from Cizhou to Bianliang.
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Knowing that Zhang Fengxiang of Chenzhou was a protégé of Wang Qiyong, the prime minister of the Chu Kingdom, he was persuaded by Wang Qiyong and led the garrison to surrender in mid-March. He was able to continue to guard Chenzhou, and the territory of Chenzhou generally remained calm.
However, after Yue Hailou led his main force to station in Chenzhou, the first thing he did was to plunder Chenzhou City for ten days.
Most of the generals under Yue Hailou were captured troops surrendered from Hedong, Hebei and Bianliang. No one thought of going directly to massacre them. At first, they went from house to house to extort property and then left, without causing excessive worry.
Although Chenzhou City is located at the intersection of Yingshui River and Langlang Canal, with prosperous commercial ports and more than 12,000 households in the city. Including the refugees who took refuge in the city, the total number is 167,000 people, but it can withstand the garrison of Yue Hailou's troops.
How many times did the more than 40,000 soldiers and horses in Chenzhou City extort money?
On the first day, the soldiers extorted money and walked through each house. If they couldn't do it on the second day, they stopped, right?
When soldiers cannot extort money to satisfy their greed, they will naturally threaten them with swords and guns held to their necks.
Break into and plunder houses.
After three or four rounds, almost all the property that could be found in Chenzhou City had been looted. However, before the ten-day limit was up, no one was willing to stop. Then they were tortured and beaten, and the households were forced to hide.
of property.
At this time, the number of killings and rapes became more and more intense, and they soon became completely unbridled and turned into a massacre of the city.
When Zhong Changqing arrived in Chenzhou, it was already the ninth day after the massacre of the city, and the city had almost returned to calm. However, this was not because Yue Hailou had a compassionate heart and ordered to restrain military discipline.
In fact, the massacre was coming to an end, and every place that could be searched inside and outside had been searched several times. Days of wind and rain had washed the blood stains on the streets into ditches, and more than 100,000 corpses had been transported outside the city and thrown to Yingshui River.
Just hit it.
Zhong Changqing understands all this.
The Red Husbands established Li Ji as the emperor of the Great Chu Kingdom. Yuehailou recruited nearly half of the Bianliang surrendered troops, and the number of troops expanded to more than 60,000. However, the city of Bianliang was looted by the Red Husbands' army, and the production in Gyeongsang and other places has not been affected at all.
After recovery, the food collected is enough to fill the stomachs of so many people and horses.
It is hoped that a troop of soldiers and horses can have combat effectiveness. It is far from enough to just wrap the belly.
Zhengzhou was already in ruins before, and Xuzhou was voluntarily abandoned by Hu Kai and Yang Lin. Before the withdrawal, in addition to the government and civilian organizations in Xuzhou City and the county towns, they evacuated southward, and even set fire to the houses in the city.
Yue Hailou led his troops to station in Xuzhou, which was only a ruined city. Even if he wanted to launch a catastrophe, it would be difficult to gain anything. He could only attack the nearby Wubao village to collect limited supplies and train the army.
Now that tens of thousands of people have gathered their strength and are stationed in Chenzhou, Yuehailou is allowed to plunder a large amount of money, which can be said to be the "soldiers' pay". On the other hand, Yuehailou also wants the newly recruited Bianliang surrendered army to be completely separated from Canyue.
, break away from thoughts of fleeing south or wandering.
Of course, what's more important is that in addition to Yang Lin, a powerful enemy, Xu Huai's military tactics are even more unpredictable. Yue Hailou does not expect to be able to tear through Can Yue's defense line deployed along the south bank of Ru River in a short period of time.
Then Yuehai Tower had to consider the huge amount of supplies needed to garrison tens of thousands of soldiers and horses along the walls of the Ying River for a long time.
This cannot be solved by 350,000 to 50,000 stones of food and grass.
There are more than 60,000 soldiers, more than 20,000 livestock including war horses, and a large number of hard laborers are required to build forts and fortresses, which cannot be maintained even with 100,000 stones of food and grass every month.
Bianliang was in ruins. Li Ji, Wang Qiyong and others wanted to maintain the operation of the so-called "Great Chu Kingdom", and they tried their best to raid Bian and the counties nearby Gyeonggi, but they were extremely reluctant.
Yue Hailou does not expect to obtain supplies from Bianliang, but the grain and fodder that can be collected from Hedong must be supplied to the 100,000-strong army in Zhengzhou, Puzhou to attack Hulao, and Pinglu; the grain and fodder that can be collected from Hebei must support the Pingyan army.
Although the Red Guards Cavalry are tough and tenacious and can last for a month or even two or three months if necessary, they rely on a small amount of dry food, mare's milk and corresponding dairy products to sustain themselves. However, under normal circumstances, they still need normal food and grass supplies.
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Yue Hailou was granted the title of military envoy to Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou, and most of his troops could only collect grain and grass on the spot.
The Red Husbands invaded the south twice. Before withdrawing their troops last year, they deliberately destroyed the Bian River and the Tongji Canal.
As well as the Langdang Canal and other water transport channels, grain from the southeast could not be transported to Bianliang, and Bianliang eventually fell without a fight.
On the one hand, due to the impact of the war, agricultural production in Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou was damaged. On the other hand, Bianliang cast iron coins on a large scale last year to ensure the food supply for the court and the garrison in the capital when grain could not be transported in.
The massive purchase of grain from surrounding prefectures and counties further aggravated the grain shortage in Xuzhou, Chenzhou, and Yingzhou.
How could Yue Hailou tolerate the fact that there are still 160,000 to 160,000 mouths in Chenzhou City at this time, not doing farming, but devouring the food in the surrounding areas like a bottomless pit?
Yue Hailou launched a large-scale plunder, aiming to massacre the city.
In the past two years, he had followed the Chihu people in their southern and northern campaigns. He was also very aware that large-scale plundering would definitely turn into a massacre as long as it was not stopped in time.
The only way to massacre the city is to directly reduce the unnecessary food consumption in Chenzhou and other places; on the other hand, if there is a food shortage in Chenzhou, every household in the city will have food in hand, otherwise they would have fled the famine long ago.
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Soldiers looted goods, or raped and robbed women wantonly. Yue Hailou ordered that the grain in the city be collected as a commission. In just a few days, nearly 300,000 shi of grain were collected from Chenzhou City.
This gave Yue Hailou some peace of mind, as he didn't have to worry about his more than 60,000 soldiers and horses running out of food in the short term.
Of course, killing people blindly will not help launch an attack along the Ru River.
Three hundred thousand stones of grain and grass were only enough to sustain more than 60,000 troops and horses for three to four months.
If a long-term confrontation is planned, they will need to be able to continuously collect grain from the local area in the future, rather than drying up the lake all at once.
This time Yue Hailou summoned the generals to Chenzhou City to discuss matters. In addition to deploying the defense lines on both sides of the Ying River and discussing the defensive weaknesses of Canyue on both sides of the Ru River, he also needed to clarify local governance matters.
After sealing the sword, military discipline also needs to be improved.
In addition to killing those stubborn Wubao people and continuing to seize grain and crops, they can only plunder the area south of Yingshui River in the future. It is strictly forbidden to allow soldiers to loot villages and towns in Xuzhou and Chenzhou north of Yingshui River.
It is even necessary to implement a series of measures to calm the people and restore farming production on the north bank of Yingshui River as quickly as possible.
Of course, these matters have nothing to do with Zhong Changqing. Yue Hailou summoned Zhong Changqing because he hoped that Zhong Changqing would lead his troops to Yingzhou.
The Yingshui River originates from Songshan Mountain, flows from northwest to southeast, and finally joins the Huaishui River in Yingshang County, Yingzhou.
Yingzhou is located in the lower reaches of Yingshui River. To the southeast is Zhao Guan's troops occupying Shouchun. To the southwest is Guangzhou, which is defended by Xuanwei Army and Liu Xian's troops. Yingzhou is actually Xuzhou, Chenzhou and Yingzhou.
the protruding part.
"I have asked the second prince to promote you to the post of deputy marching officer Wanhu, and also to be the general manager of the troops and horses of Yingzhou," Yue Hailou looked at Zhong Changqing and said, "Yingzhou's south junction with Guangshou and Guangshou will definitely become a place for four battles.
, you don’t need to think about people’s livelihood and farming for the time being..."
Feng Shizhao looked at Zhong Changqing enviously. It was not that he envied Zhong Changqing's appointment as the general manager of Yingzhou, but that Zhong Changqing did not need to consider people's livelihood and farming when he came to Yingzhou. In fact, he could continue to do whatever he wanted, unlike Xuzhou and Chenzhou.
, after the sword is sealed, burning, killing, looting, etc. must be strictly prohibited...
