Han Qian was about to return to Canglang City and send someone to contact the village. From a distance, he saw a dozen cavalry suddenly leaping out from the mountains to the north and very suddenly inserting themselves into the wilderness between the bayou and Neixiang City.
Regardless of the direction from which these dozen cavalry protruded, or the armor they wore, we knew that these people were Xia Zhen, the messenger sent by Zheng Hui from Xichuan City to contact us.
Seeing hundreds of Liang Army cavalry galloping out from Wankou and Neixiang City respectively, intending to intercept the dozen cavalry galloping out from the north, Li Zhigao then sent more than a hundred cavalry out of the residual village to respond.
Xichuan sent liaison messengers, but in the end only three people were brought to Tieguling. Four people were injured and fled, and six people were shot and killed when Liang Jun's strong bows intercepted them.
These three people were all close confidants of Xia Zhen, who joined the army in Yingzhou. Han Qian and Li Zhigao had met them in Fancheng before. Seeing that they were covered in blood, they directly asked them to come forward and talk.
"What must be done to break through Liang Jun's blockade during the day? Is it possible that the lives of Yingzhou and Huangzhou are so worthless?" Han Qian looked at the scouts sent by Xichuan City and said first with a displeased face.
Those who were able to escape from Liang Jun's interception were all elites with superb riding skills and extraordinary skills. They were also grieving for their colleagues who died in the battle. After hearing what Han Qian said, he just took out a letter from his arms with a gloomy expression.
The blood-soaked letter was handed over:
"This is a letter from my family, Xia Canjun, and I would like to ask Li Dutou to open it and read it.
Li Zhigao opened the lacquer seal, read it briefly, then handed it to Han Qian, and Guo Liang and others circulated it.
The letter signed by Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen requested Li Zhigao and Han Qian to send ships to assist them in their evacuation from Xichuan City.
Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen led the reinforcements from Yingzhou and Huangzhou to 1,500. They had previously defended Xichuan and Neixiang. However, when the Liang army moved north and west, Xia Zhen immediately gave up and spent two troops.
After more than a month of repairs in Neixiang City, he led the Yingzhou reinforcements to retreat to Xichuan to join Zheng Hui.
In the past two days, the Liang army stormed Tieguling. Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen did not expect to send troops to respond from the side. At this time, they actually sent people over and asked for a ship to help them withdraw.
Han Qian laughed and said to Li Zhigao with a smile: "Zheng Xia, you two really think your faces are so big!"
Although Liang Jun had cut off Zheng Hui, Xia Zhen and the others had withdrawn from the land route of Xichuan City, the Xichuan River originated from the Funiu Mountains in the north, bypassed Xichuan City, and flowed into the Danjiang River ten miles west of the bay mouth.
It is the largest tributary in the lower reaches of Danjiang River.
At this time, Xichuan City and Tieguling were connected by waterway.
Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen could even abandon Xichuan City and lead their troops north from the west bank of the Xichuan River to the mouth of the river, as long as they sent a boat to pick them up.
It's just that Han Qian and Li Zhigao can't hold Xia Zhen responsible for abandoning Neixiang City without authorization, but they will never send a ship to pick them up and evacuate comfortably.
"It is the duty of generals to perform their duties to the best of their ability. When it gets dark, you sneak back to Xichuan and tell Zheng Hui and Xia Zhen that if they abandon the city and flee again without my orders, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Li Zhigao tensed up and scolded the four generals sent by Xichuan City.
When Li Zhigao waved his hand to the four generals sent by Xichuan to retreat and bandage the wounds, Han Qian winked at Tian Cheng and made a gesture of arresting him.
Tian Cheng understood this in his heart and followed him with his men. When the four generals were unprepared, he swarmed up and detained them, and took out ropes and tied them up.
"What do you mean by this, and what are we guilty of?" The four generals struggled unwillingly and roared angrily.
Faced with the unexpected situation, Li Zhigao, Guo Liang, Li Chong and others were all shocked and didn't know what Han Qian was going to do.
When Tian Cheng escorted these four people over, Han Qian stared at them mercilessly and shouted, "What's the crime? Let me ask you, Xia Zhen abandoned the defense of Neixiang City without permission. As Xia Zhen's side,
Is there anything to dissuade the guards? You did not stop Xia Zhen from abandoning the city. You fought with him and abandoned the city. You are guilty of the same crime. You have the nerve to ask what crime you are guilty of? General Li Du is a kind-hearted man, but I am trying to stop you.
It’s not that easy—”
"We are Yingzhou generals, and we are not under your control." The strong man at the head struggled and roared.
Han Qian signaled Tian Cheng to stuff the four people's mouths with wooden beads to prevent them from yelling any more. Then he said to Li Zhigao: "These four people cannot be put back. Let me escort them back to Canglang City to be punished together in the future."
.”
Li Zhigao also hated Xia Zhen for abandoning the city without fighting, and he didn't care about these details, so he signaled Han Qian to just escort him back to Canglang City.
Li Chong thought in his heart that even if he wanted to punish these four people, since there were no defense officials at the time, he who joined the army as a recorder should be responsible for pursuing the matter. However, thinking about Han Qian, this person is really arrogant.
Furthermore, he did not want to cause any conflict with the local forces in Yingzhou, so he endured it and remained silent.
…………
…………
Han Qian rushed back to Canglang City from Tieguling without stopping, and Li Chong and Yao Xishui also followed.
It makes no sense for them to stay in Tieguling. After all, a large amount of materials are mainly collected, distributed and transferred from Canglang City. If there is any fraud, it is most likely to happen to Han Qian.
Li Chong joined the army as a recorder and wanted to investigate lawlessness in the army, so he naturally wanted to follow him to Canglang City.
After returning to Canghai City, Han Qian designated two shabby rooms in the corner of the city as residences for Li Chong and Yao Xishui and ignored them.
The earthen city is a hundred steps square. Don't expect any wide courtyards in the city. In fact, it is in the form of square enclosed houses. Four circles of row houses inside and outside are densely built in the city, a total of 182
The bay is used as barracks and cargo storage.
Only a two-story square building like an official seal was built in the center, which was also convenient for commanding and observing the movements outside the city.
Next, Han Qian arranged for Guo Nuer and others to cross the Han River and Danjiang River and go to various villages to discuss recruiting soldiers. No one meant that this day was already the beginning of the Year of God's Blessing.
The salary price given by Han Qian was for a strong warrior to help defend Canglang City and Tieguling. He would be given one rock salt per month as military pay, but the soldiers needed to recruit strong warriors to prepare their own armor.
A piece of rock salt was sold for 3,000 yuan in Xiangzhou City, and in the Hanshui Village where trade routes were prohibited, the price was as high as 6,000 to 7,000 yuan. It can be said that Han Qian paid a sky-high price for recruiting soldiers.
In addition, the able-bodied peasants who were employed at this time were also given a monthly payment of two buckets of salt from the previous four liters of salt.
There is no other way. The situation in Tieguling and Canglang City is dangerous. Without a big reward, how can there be a brave man?
If you don't keep your word, you won't stand.
Zuo Si has been based in Canglang City for two months. In the name of the Dragon Bird Army, he can trade materials fairly fairly with the surrounding villages and hire people to work. It seems like a short time, but in the past few decades, everyone who has tried to
None of the forces that ruled the Deng-Xiang area could do this.
At the same time, because these cottages are too isolated, the supply of materials is too unbalanced.
These many factors allowed the Dragon Bird Army's reputation to quickly rise within a radius of a hundred miles.
Even the villagers who were most wary of Han Qian at first were tempted by the shortage of supplies. Before the war broke out in Canglang City, they sent a small number of people to work in exchange for the most scarce salt, medicine and other supplies, and also observed the situation here.
Therefore, the number of cottage laborers working in Canglang City increased from 300 to 800 in less than two months.
Of course, in the battle of Canglang City, Han Qian recruited villagers from the village to participate in the battle, and the casualties among the villagers were relatively heavy. However, the compensation and rewards, which seemed quite generous in the world, were naturally aroused after some villagers took them back to the village.
It gives rise to the idea of more people competing for rewards.
Another point is that Li Zhigao, even when the war was at its fiercest, did not force the villagers who were transferred by Han Qian to the battlefield to be used as cannon fodder. Instead, they were well protected in the remaining villages.
Han Qian offered a heavy reward. First of all, there were only a few villagers in the iron crocodile mountain village who were afraid of death and chose to leave. Among the remaining villagers, there were almost 200 people who were willing to be recruited to join the war.
The cottages on the south bank of the Han River and the west bank of the Danjiang River also responded on the third day. Five groups of people either crossed the mountains or took simple wooden boats and came to Canglang along with the scouts sent by Han Qian to contact the cottages.
However, these five people did not directly cross the Han River or Danjiang River and arrive at Canglang City to meet Han Qian. Instead, they stopped on the other side of Canglang City across the Danjiang River, hoping that Han Qian would cross the river in person to talk to them.
Conditions of employment.
"The first Zhou Zang and others in Miyun Village hope to lead their troops to participate in the war independently, instead of breaking up their village men and reorganizing them into the Dragon Bird Army!" Guo Nuer, who was mainly responsible for contacting the village, crossed the river and rushed to Canglang City to report to Han Qian
Report.
Han Qian stood in front of the river beach and saw that there were not many people on the other side of the Danjiang River. There were only twenty or thirty people on each road, but he had heard of Zhou Dan in Miyun Village.
Zhou Pan is the son of the leader of the bandit leader Qin Zongquan.
After Qin Zongquan was trapped in Xiangzhou City, he was defeated by Liang Emperor Zhu Kang who was granted the title of King of Liang at that time during the Hede period of the previous dynasty. His three to four hundred thousand soldiers and horses were torn apart, and a large number of them fled into the mountains of Han River and Dan River.
In the old forest.
Zhou Pang's father was one of them, who flowed into the upper reaches of the Han River to establish Miyun Village.
After Zhou's father died, Zhou Pan succeeded him.
Miyun Village is located deep in a mountain stream more than 70 miles upstream of the Han River. It occupies a sunken valley to build the village. There are 1400 to 500 villagers. It can be regarded as a large village within a radius of 200 miles.
It is said that Miyun Village can mobilize 200 elite warriors. Han Qian saw that among the five groups on the other side, none of them had more than 30 people. It seemed that they came here to negotiate terms with him. They would negotiate terms.
Pull more people out of the mountains.
"Since we want to negotiate terms, I will cross the river to meet them." Han Qian said with a smile, lifted up the skirt of his robe, and then stepped onto the awning boat.
"My lord, you can stay in Canglang and take charge. It's better to go to Tiancheng." Tiancheng advised.
The copycat forces were too complex, and they were deep in the mountains, making people's hearts unpredictable. Tian Cheng was worried that Zhou Fang and others were not completely immune to the possibility of being infiltrated by Liang's spies.
"Since they come to Canglang City, they trust me, Han Qian, so how can I, Han Qian, disappoint them?" Han Qian said generously.
Of course, Han Qian said this, and in his heart he wanted to slap himself twice, secretly thinking that he really wanted to save face and suffer the consequences, but he wanted to negotiate the conditions and finally allow Zhou Tan and others to independently lead troops to join the war along the Danjiang River, and cross the river at this time
Going to meet Zhou Pan and others is actually quite an adventure.
No matter what Han Qian thought, his words made Tian Cheng and others feel deeply. After hearing the news, Li Chong and Yao Xishui, who rushed over to see what was going on, curled their lips and expressed no comment after hearing Han Qian's words.
