Except that the Xu family was actively guarding against bandits and bandits, and even had small-scale confrontations, other news in Tongbai Mountain was not very optimistic. Deng Gui, Jin Longquan, Tang Tiande, and Cheng Yi finally left with worried faces.
Xu Wukun called Zheng Tu and Yin Peng went to guard the courtyard gate.
"If you have anything to say, it's okay. Old Zheng is very strong with me now!" Xu Huai opened the door and peered into the courtyard, where no one was coming in or out, and he didn't ask Zheng Tu to avoid it.
Without direct contact before, Xu Wukun and the others knew that the bandit army had suffered repeated setbacks in Huaiyuan and had not obtained any benefits, but they did not know the specific situation here.
He knew that Yin Peng was Xu Wuliang's apprentice and had been staying in Huaiyuan with Xu Huai these days, so he could be trusted. However, he did not expect that the butcher shop owner, the famous rogue Zheng Butcher, would also become Xu Huai's biggest fan.
"The situation in Yuhuangling is still stable, but the development of the situation is still far beyond many people's imagination. We also sent people to cross the Nanling Mountains and detour from Suizhou to Biyang to see the county's deployment to suppress bandits.
At the moment, it seems that we can’t place too high hopes on Zhouxian and Lusi!” Xu Wukun said with emotion, “Now it’s the head of the family, the third master, and the fifth master who are worried that the situation in Huaiyuan will not last long, so they asked me to take the risk and dive.
I came here to see you and see if you have made preparations for something..."
"Every day I take the troops out for a ride and come back with three or five heads. What are you worried about about the situation in Huaiyuan?"
Xu Huai shook his head, feeling dissatisfied with the fact that Xu Wufu, Xu Bosong, and Xu Zhongyu were still weak and anxious, and said,
"There is nothing to worry about in Huaiyuan, and there is enough food. Unless the rebels attack at all costs, there will be no problem in holding on until winter. However, Zheng Hui is self-righteous and has played so many moves in Tongbai Mountain.
, I can see him clearly. He thinks very highly of himself and tries to control everything at his fingertips, so he is destined not to take risks..."
Wang Chen sat aside and said: "The bandit army really wants to attack Huaiyuan. For them, there are too many uncertain factors. We don't need to worry about this for the time being. The main thing now is to pay attention to the bandit army's movements towards several Dawu Forts...
…”
The matter of defense is more of a contest between the human heart and the will.
The Hedong market seems to be poorly defended, but the soldiers and civilians are becoming more and more determined as they defend, and with Deng Gui and others controlling the situation in the market and military stronghold, there is a shortage of soldiers and armor. If the thief army without any weapons really wants to attack by force, it will inevitably pay a heavy price.
price.
What Wang Zhen is worried about now is the families with big surnames who have retreated to their respective Wubao.
The Tang family, the Jin family, the Zhou family, etc. are all large clans with a clan number ranging from two to three thousand, but unlike the Xu family, they have made sufficient preparations and mobilization before the situation worsened.
After the bloodbath, they thought Huaiyuan could not be defended and hurriedly evacuated Wubao.
On the one hand, internal conflicts and hidden dangers among the major clans still exist; on the other hand, the preparation of supplies such as grain, soldiers, and armor is seriously insufficient.
Especially food.
The entire Tongbai Mountain area has less land and more people. Every year, tea, medicine, lacquer, tung oil, bamboo, wood, copper, iron and other minerals are exchanged to make up for the shortfall by exchanging large amounts of grain from outside.
In previous years, from May to June, when the Huaihe River rose, merchants would use rafts and boats to carry commercial goods out of the mountains, and then purchase grain, cotton, linen and other fabrics from Xinyang, Yingcai and other places. This was the peak period for bulk material exchange.
However, since February and March of this year, Hutou Village has twice unscrupulously broken into the walking road to rob and kill business travelers, which has caused a sharp decline in trade; Zhongjiazhuang suffered a bloodbath, and the bandits became restless, and Tongbai Mountain's trade with the outside world was basically cut off.
And such serious banditry will inevitably seriously interfere with everyone's farming.
The Tang family, the Jin family, and the Zhou family are all powerful, and large households stock up on food. However, the livelihood of the poor farmers, who account for the vast majority of the population, has become even worse. It can be said that they are facing a serious famine problem.
At this time, if the big families in the clan had a clear understanding of the situation, or if a powerful figure in the clan stepped forward to take charge of affairs and provided food to the poor households who were short of food in a timely manner, there would be no trouble.
The problem is that Wang Zhen doesn't think all the big investors can see the situation clearly, which is what worries him the most.
Now that Xu Wukun has finally sneaked in, he is most concerned about these details.
"Are those big business owners not that stupid? They still can't see the situation clearly at this time?" Zheng Tu asked in confusion.
Following Xu Huai these days, he had the opportunity to listen to Wang Zhen, Deng Gui, Lu Xiong and others analyze the situation and arrange defense matters, and his eyesight gradually improved.
"It's true," Xu Wukun said with a wry smile. "Two days ago, there was an incident of poor households grabbing food in Shibaliwu. I heard that it was a few large households of the Tang family who were unwilling to give out food in vain and only wanted to borrow the food.
They were rented to those poor households who were short of food, but they didn't want anyone to feel more resentful because of it. Although the food robbery was suppressed by Tang Wenzhong, and it was said that the leading troublemakers were tied up and beaten to death by Tang Wenzhong, but the rebel army obviously sniffed out the food.
It smells like blood. Tang Tiande was here just now, so I can’t say it clearly, but in the past two days, the bandits have indeed gathered at Shibaliwu. Judging from the situation, they want to attack Shibaliwu..."
"How can the Tang family be so short-sighted?" Zheng Tu found it unbelievable.
Xu Huai kicked him with his foot and said: "After following Wang Xianggong and gaining some knowledge, I don't know how high the world is. I think everyone will give up their private lives to work for the public. In Huaiyuan, if Wang Xianggong hadn't made a decisive decision, Deng Gui would have been smart.
, you intercepted all the money and food when everyone was fleeing in a noisy manner, now you can still have enough to eat?"
Huaiyuan seems to be poorly defended, but in Xu Huai's opinion, it's not a big problem.
The first is that a large amount of money and food were intercepted in the early stage, and the supplies were sufficient; the second was that Wang Zhen and Deng Gui also had sufficient prestige, were well organized, and the distribution of supplies was relatively reasonable. More than 2,000 soldiers and civilians who were besieged in Huaiyuan, including military soldiers and rural campers,
The number expanded to 400 people, and another 600 men and more than a thousand women and children were also organized to participate in inspections, city wall construction, ordnance casting, etc., in an orderly manner; thirdly, Yi Cheng Yi had nothing to do in the past, so he just drank, but
After Huaiyuan was besieged, he took over more than 200 craftsmen's households, men, women and children, and was responsible for making swords, bows, shields, spears, leather armor, etc.
Want to make a few usable three-ox crossbows.
To put it bluntly, the military and civilian forces in Huaiyuan are not large, but they have assembled a relatively far-sighted group of people in Tongbai Mountain at this time.
Even if the rebels attack without regard to casualties and the market cannot be defended, they will eventually have to retreat to the military stronghold. They can still be sure to stop the rebel army with crude weapons and lack of training outside the stronghold wall.
The biggest headache now is that clans like the Tang family remain stubborn even when death is imminent.
Thinking about it, it's normal. Xu Huai didn't think it was any surprise. If he hadn't been a "meat-eater" who ignored the accumulation of conflicts and just sat back and watched them intensify, how could there have been so many troubles?
However, it is no use to be angry that the Tang family stewards are unaware of current affairs. The conflict in Shibaliwu has already intensified once. Even if he is suppressed, it will only be temporary. The rapids hidden under the water may become more dangerous.
At this time, the rebel army was gathering towards Shibaliwu, and the internal conflicts of the Tang family could not be alleviated. If Zheng Hui was asked to secretly send people in to add fuel to the flames, Xu Huai could hardly imagine that Shibaliwu could escape this disaster. The Tang family suffered
Xu Huai is not too worried about the serious damage, but if Shibaliwu falls, it will trigger a series of serious consequences, which is the most worrying.
The development of the situation in the past month has far exceeded Xu Huai's initial expectations, which also made him pay more attention to analyzing the possible changes in the situation.
In a little more than a month, the bandit army swelled to eight or nine thousand people. In fact, this was not too terrifying, at least it was not to the point where Lu Si could not control it.
In fact, as long as Tangzhou can be presided over by a strong enough person, such as Wang Xiaocheng, who gathers the people and resources of Tangzhou, it will not be difficult to separate these seemingly numerous but baseless bandits in Tongbai Mountain.
And annihilate it.
This has a lot to do with the fact that the large surname clans mainly live together in the transitional area from the shallow hilly areas on both sides of the Huai River to the main veins of the South and North Ridges.
The clans of the big surnames gather together and build their residences to build forts. On the one hand, they are strong. On the other hand, they also control a large area of cultivated land resources in Tongbai Mountain. They are also close to large-scale streams and rivers. In Tongbai Mountain, there are core areas such as Huaiyuan and Yushan Station.
Secondary impact node outside the node.
If each family really wants to radiate out, they can control a large area deep in the belly.
If the Wubao of the great surname is not lost, the scope of activities of the bandits will be controlled, and the food resources they plunder and the civilians they can coerce and incite will be restricted.
However, every time the bandit army conquers a large fortress, their strength will be greatly improved.
If Shibaliwu of the Tang family fell, Xu Huaicai would not feel heartbroken except for the three or four thousand people of the Tang family who would be ravaged by the rebel army. However, this would mean that the Tang family would lose tens of thousands of stones of food, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.
All property and a large number of soldiers, armor and weapons will fall into the hands of the bandits, which means that hundreds of thousands of Tang clan members may be seduced or coerced into joining the bandits.
The large number of small and medium-sized villages that previously protected Shibaliwu will be exposed due to the fall of Shibaliwu. They will be unable to fight against the powerful bandits. They will either be easily defeated by the bandit army, or they will have no choice but to directly surrender to the bandit army.
Working for the tiger.
And when Dawu and Dabao fell one after another, other clans with big surnames would inevitably be shaken.
Faced with the siege of a large group of thieves, will they choose to surrender more easily, or will the clans, clan leaders and large families located at the mountain pass simply abandon Wubao and the lower-level clansmen and flee to Xinyang with their families?
, to avoid trouble in Biyang City?
Previously, the situation in Tongbai Mountain was deteriorating at a speed beyond Xu Huai's imagination. Now it is even more difficult to imagine how the situation will suddenly deteriorate in the next stage if the rebel army is not contained.
Xu Huai pondered for a long time and asked Xu Wukun: "How many mobile soldiers and horses are there in Xiema Mountain?"
"Including Jinshagou in Xiema Mountain, there are less than a hundred people." Xu Wukun said.
Now that the war is in chaos, many people have fled to Yuhuangling for refuge. However, Xiema Mountain and Jinshagou can only select trustworthy or controllable personnel, and the scale of the army is not large; and even if the Xu family accepts some people who are related to each other,
refugees, but there are already 600 ethnic soldiers, and there is no intention to expand too much for the time being.
"What do you want to do?" Lu Xiong frowned and looked at Xu Huai and asked.
"Zheng Hui, Chen Zixiao and others thought that if they built a few strongholds outside Huaiyuan and stationed 18,900 people, they would be as strong as an iron barrel array and be able to trap us, and they could
Of course we can't let him do what he wants!" Xu Huai said, "I want to cut through their self-righteous iron barrel array, and I can't let them go to attack Shibaliwu! Idiots like Tang Wenzhong,
Each one of them is extremely stupid, but we still can’t watch them be destroyed easily!”
