Zhang Gou and Li Wei crossed the Huaihe River to Siyang, and soon contacted the Red Coat Army's forward posts in the south of Suyu.
The front sentry is an elite scout in the Red Coat Army. Each one is proficient in riding skills, swords and bows, and one man and two horses. However, the number is too small, and apart from the scouts to spy on the military situation, they cannot form a large-scale combat force.
In order to prepare for the Huaidong Army's sudden northward attack, Malantou placed more than a hundred elite cavalry sentries in the south of Suyu. These were almost the only cavalry Malantou had in Suyu.
Under the surveillance and close supervision of more than a dozen sentries, the carriages Zhang Gou and Li Wei rode passed through the wilderness in the south of Suyu - both sides of the road were full of skinny and hungry people, and there were also groups of people carrying large guns on their backs.
The refugee army was brave. Obviously, the refugee army was worried that the Huaidong Army in the south would suddenly attack, so they could only gather a large number of soldiers and horses south of Suyu and dig trenches and build forts in the ice and snow.
Many of these brave soldiers used sharpened wooden poles or bamboo poles as weapons. They had all kinds of clothes. They were in tatters and had sallow complexions. They were even worse than beggars. Zhang Gouneng could tell clearly from them.
Recalling the predicament I was in two years ago (even worse than that then), I felt panicked.
In addition to the frozen corpses of hungry people beside the road and the brave soldiers digging trenches in the ice and snow, the chaos caused by looting can also be seen everywhere.
It's not that Malantou didn't restrain his subordinates, it's just that the rice grains Sun Zhuang secretly saved for them only amounted to 3,000 dan. Even if we don't take into account the ordinary hungry people who followed, the number of displaced soldiers and their families alone was nearly 300,000.
, three thousand shi of grain storage can last for three to five days.
If an army wants to be able to do no harm to the people, in addition to strict discipline, it is more important to ensure that it has sufficient material support.
It is inevitable to forcibly requisition food from the people. Even if the Red Coat Army does not go out of the city to rob food, it cannot restrain other refugee armies from leaving the city to plunder. Those hungry people who are flooded are more like hungry wolves and tigers. There is no hope of survival.
, who would care about integrity and morality?
The two counties have not recovered from the Huaisi War. The people who have moved back are already struggling on the line of life and death. Naturally, they are resisting desperately through Tuweizi, trying to save the last bit of food rations they depend on to survive. How can they avoid a fierce battle?
conflict?
It was not too late for Zhang Gou and Li Wei to come over, and the situation had not deteriorated to the point where it could not be dealt with.
On the one hand, the refugee army had just crossed the river, and even if they wanted to break through the local walls to grab food, it would take some time; on the other hand, they were more worried about when the Huaidong Army would come in, and they had not yet let go of their hands and feet to grab food.
At least in the countryside south of Suyu, the soldiers and horses requisitioning grain all wore red coats and were direct descendants of Malantou. The order was not chaotic and conflicts were inevitable, but it did not develop to the point of burning, killing and looting without any scruples.
From Zhang Gou's perspective, the situation was not too bad; from Li Wei's perspective, it was a different story.
The people's livelihood in the two counties has improved slightly, which is due to his countless efforts. In fact, before this, he had been thinking about surviving the spring famine. Seeing the scene in front of him made his teeth grind.
.
Zhang Gou was also afraid that Li Weijuan would get angry and spoil things, so he sat in the carriage and persuaded him: "Master Li, since ancient times, it is inevitable to collect food according to the location of the war. We'd better hurry up and meet the red-coated girl, Malan, the first-class commander.
The most important thing is to meet each other and prevent the situation from getting worse..."
Li Wei loosened his clenched fists and said, "I know this truth and will not ruin the overall situation for a small thing!"
The carriage entered Suyu City surrounded by whistles. Malantou had already received the news and asked people to bring Zhang Gou and Li Wei into his temporary carriage house that had been converted from the county government office.
In the official hall, there were only some simple old mulberry wood desks. Ma Lan, wearing brown old leather armor, stood behind the long desk and stared at Zhang Gou and Li Wei who walked into the hall.
"Tentengu, if you come today to persuade your new master to surrender, I advise you to save your energy. For the sake of past friendship, I will treat you to a drink and you will go back. Don't say that you will not be able to surrender.
If you want to say something." Malan was bluffing, thinking that Zhang Gou was speaking, and blocked his words immediately.
Zhang Gou looked at Malantou calmly. Before he came to Suyu, he knew that Liu Miaozhen led an elite force to guard Chen Zhihu in the west of Huaiyang. Today he could only see Malantou in Suyu.
Malantou's strong body is slightly stooped, and his cheeks are sunken. He is only in his early forties, and his stubble, which is as unkempt as steel needles, actually has some frosty white, which makes it extra dazzling when compared with the white hair on his two manes.
Zhang Gou was full of emotions for a while, but since Sun Zhuang went to Siyang to be imprisoned, he completely regarded himself as a member of Huaidong. He no longer had any entangled thoughts in his heart. He took a slight breath and said: "Pole
I have pardoned my family's life and temporarily sent him to serve in the army. I am here to take Mr. Gan's family to Huaidong. I hope Ma Shuai won't make things difficult for him, right?"
Malantou stared at Zhang Gou suspiciously. If it were Chen Zhi, he wouldn't have too many worries. This Tenten-Swallowing Dog would be harder for people to see through, and asked: "How can I trust you?"
"Whether it's to kill or to keep, do my adults need to be secretive? Why don't you believe it?" Zhang Gou asked, "Even if we leave Master Gan and Brother Eleven's family in Suyu - how many days can the food and grass in Suyu last?" Zhang Gou asked.
Five days, or ten and eight days?”
Ma Lantou's face darkened and he said, "I remember our past feelings and spared no trouble for you, but you gained my knowledge!" Zhang Gou thought this was just a test.
"I don't know, what details does Marshal Ma have that I can find out?" Zhang Gou said with a smile, "Master Gan has left two cities to you. The grain reserves in the city are only three thousand dan. If you can defeat all the earthen fences in the two counties,
When we come down, we can still grab about 20,000 to 30,000 shi of grain - when these 20,000 to 30,000 shi of grain are used up, what are you going to eat? Crushing human flesh to eat?"
Zhang Gou's words were bloody and harsh, and Ma Lantou had a sullen face. There had already been a tragedy in Huaiyang City where people exchanged their children for food. He had lied to himself. When he heard Zhang Gou's words, his face seemed to be slapped hard.
One note!
"Where do you plan to go?" Zhang Gou continued to ask, "To the west is Chen Zhihu, to the north is Chen Hansan, to the northeast is Liang Chengchong, to the east is Xiao Kui'an, and to the southeast is Tao Chun. Is it possible that you have to cross the Huaihe River by force and fight?
Can’t we enter Huaidong?”
"It's a joke, we have an army of 100,000 tigers and wolves, the world is so big, where can't we go? Even if you set up a dragnet, I am confident that we will tear you apart," Malan stared at Zhang Gou sharply and said, "Huai
If the Eastern Army wants to fight, just take care of yourself and lead the troops to fight. If you are afraid, you are not your mother's son. If you do such nonsense, people will look down upon you!"
"I would like to ask: out of the many handsome men, how many of them are willing to fight to the death with the red coat girl and the handsome man?" Zhang Gou ignored Malan's head and said with a stern expression, "According to what I said, if Chen Zhihu hadn't been in the west,
There will be no one left alive under the butcher's knife, and there are more than one family and two families looking for a way out!"
"It's going to rain, my mother is going to get married, who can care about so many things! Besides, there is no shortage of those weak and useless things," Malan walked back to the desk angrily, holding the desk with his hand.
, stared at Zhang Gou eagerly, and said, "If Huaidong wants to recruit such people, I will never stop him!"
Cao Ziang was in charge of the military affairs on the northern front. The detailed plan to secretly lend rice and grain to the refugee army was also determined by Cao Ziang. As a condition of exchange, the various restrictions on the refugee army were naturally not as simple as Lin Fu's initial instructions.
When Zhang Gou and Li Wei came over, they first wanted to test the bottom line of the refugee army, and they also hoped that the refugee army on the Huaisi front line could eliminate the disorganized phenomenon - there are currently hundreds of thousands of refugee troops retreating to the Huaisi front line.
Led by Liu Miaozhen and the Red Coat Army led by Malantou, there are dozens of other troops in other hills, each with thousands to more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, mixed together. On the one hand, it will not be easy to stabilize in the Huaisi area, who knows
Suddenly, one of the commanders of a family suddenly took the initiative and took his troops to take advantage of the gap to invade other places. On the other hand, it was obviously very inconvenient for Huaidong to control the situation here.
Hearing that Malantou didn't seem to mind Huaidong recruiting other commanders, Zhang Gou and Li Wei looked at each other and knew that Malantou's inner persistence was really limited. If the girl in red coat had the same thoughts, they could talk about it.
"Master Li and I want to see the eldest lady..." Zhang Gou said.
"I won't stop you from seeing those weaklings. Whoever the hell wants to go will leave. But Sister, I think you are still determined. It is true that An Shuai died because of Chen Hansan's death, but the trap is
Who made the announcement? We both know in our hearts that if others can defect to Huaidong, the eldest lady and I will never be able to..." Malan said firmly.
Suining, Ma Lantou also knows what is going on in Suyu.
Sun Zhuang's surrender of the two cities only allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief and have ten to eight days of rest. They could not break through Chen Zhihu's blockade from the west, let alone break through the Huaidong Army's defense line to the south.
To the north are the soldiers and horses of Chen Hansan and the Liang family, and they are easy to break through. To the east, even if one city and two cities are conquered, what is the point? To the east is the sea.
Is it really necessary to crush human flesh and eat it?
When they were trapped in Huaiyang, Ma Lantou and Liu Miaozhen did not stop others from going out to surrender, so they will not stop others from surrendering to Huaidong now. As for whether Huaidong's thoughts are as vicious as Chen Zhihu and Yue Lengqiu? Everyone
We can only wish for more blessings! As for whether Sun Zhuang has given up his heart to Huaidong, Malantou will not blame him. Sun Zhuang has done too much for them. Even if they meet on the battlefield in the future, Sun Zhuang will not be indebted.
They are half...
"If Huaidong lends you 40,000 kilograms of rice and grain every month, the eldest lady and Ma Shuai will never agree?" Zhang Gou asked.
"..." Malan was stunned for a moment, unable to react for a moment. He was stunned for half a minute before he said angrily, "Tentengu, you are also a person of your status. Do you think I will wait until I am at the end of my rope and just let you tease me?"
At this time, Li Wei calmed down and said, "The two of us have worked hard here just to tease you. If we hadn't thought about the precarious situation of hundreds of thousands of hungry people, and if we hadn't thought about not helping, the land of Huaisi would have been devastated again.
Who is willing to take such a dangerous risk?"
"I heard that your master is going to be the King of Huaidong, I'm afraid he has bad intentions!" Malantou was still shocked, but he didn't want to weaken his voice, so he retorted to Zhang Gou.
"You stand at the top of the city and see how many hungry people are left alive outside the city and on the streets. Huaidong works hard to squeeze out 40,000 kilograms of rice every month. What do you think of Huaidong?
Dong has ambitions, please touch your chest and tell me, are these hungry people who don't even have the strength to walk worthy of Huaidong placing his ambitions on them?" Zhang Gou asked in return.
Forty thousand shi of rice and grain per month means 480,000 shi per year——
Chen Zhihu is a murderous maniac, but some people defected to Tao Chun in the south, and some even went to the dead end and lost their shame and wanted to hook up with Chen Hansan in Xuzhou, but they ignored him - why? No one has so much rice in their hands.
, even if there were, no one would use these rice grains to feed these soldiers.
The refugee army seems to have 100,000 soldiers and horses, but Chen Zhihu only has 10,000 elite soldiers in the west, and 10,000 miscellaneous soldiers are blocking the way, so they can't get through at all!
Four hundred and eighty thousand kilograms of rice and grain a year, which is hard to say too much, is more than enough to support two to thirty thousand elites - Malantou couldn't see the depth of Lin Fu's vision, and Zhang Gou had nothing to say in his rebuttal.
After being blocked by Zhang Gou, Malantou sat down in frustration and said: "You don't think you have any conditions at all, just tell me!"
"First of all, you cannot threaten or attempt to enter the east bank of Surabaya and Siyang Liulibian, and you cannot build fortifications on the west bank of Surabaya and the north of Siyang. You must leave a ten-mile radius around Siyang Liulibian.
From the uninhabited area, every ten days, Siyang will send rice grains to the area for the Red Coat Army to receive..." Zhang Gou said.
Listening to the harsh conditions, Malantou knew that they actually had no choice.
The Huaidong Army captured both the Sushui Camp and the Yishui Camp two years ago with overwhelming ease. Now he has deployed many troops and horses to form a defensive line in the south of Suyu, but it is actually as fragile as paper.
It doesn't matter whether you build forts or not.
"Keep talking..." Malantou said.
"Now there are dozens of military leaders here, with more than 100,000 soldiers and horses - we would like to see you retain 30,000 to 40,000 elite soldiers with the Red Coat Army as the core, and ensure that government and military orders are consistent and disciplined. This is the only way.
Only in this way can the situation here be stabilized and the people's livelihood be restored. We never want to see chaos and chaos, and the people's livelihood will continue to wither and be ruined!" Zhang Gou said, "Now the three cities are in red.
Under the control of the Red Coat Army, more people just want to survive - we will only hand over rice grains to the Red Coat Army - I think it won't be too difficult to do this!"
Malantou was well aware of the fatal flaws caused by the bloated and disorganized refugee army.
Just like the siege of Huaiyang, it was not difficult for Liu Miaozhen to break out with 20,000 elite troops. He even fought against Chen Zhihu's troops several times in the past six months and did not suffer any losses. However, it was extremely difficult to break out with 100,000 troops.
——
Therefore, Malantou didn't mind Huaidong recruiting other Qushuai's subordinates before, so why didn't he want to get rid of these burdens in his heart?
As for the other refugee soldiers, Qu Shuai, at the moment they want to save themselves and their children more, and the pressure to reduce their military power will not be too great - not to mention that they will control the rice grains secretly transported from Huaidong in the future.
With the troop strength reduced to 30,000, not only will the combat effectiveness not be weakened, the soldiers and their families can also live in the city, and there will be no defense fortifications in the south, which will not be a problem.
Such conditions will be of great benefit to the Red Coat Army without any harm.
Exactly like this, Malantou became more and more suspicious that Zhang Gou was entertaining him or that there was a conspiracy behind him that he couldn't figure out at the moment!