The terrain in Baihu Mountain is quite dangerous, and there are dense forests everywhere. Even a strong man without anything in his hands would need two days to travel through the mountains. What's more, these soldiers in Jinling City have to carry dry food and weapons for fighting with them.
In this way, the speed cannot be increased at all.
However, there is also the advantage of not getting up quickly, that is, you have enough time to operate and formulate forest tactics.
Of course, the disadvantages are also relative.
The mountains and forests in ancient times were far less safe than those in later generations. There were many venomous snakes and beasts, more than modern people can imagine.
On the third day after entering Baihu Mountain, a ferocious South China tiger attacked a tent in the middle of the night.
The tiger was extremely ferocious, not only injuring several soldiers, but also dragging away a soldier from Danyang's elite army. Although Xu Chu and the elite Tiger Guards caught up and killed him afterwards, the soldier who was dragged away was
It has been eaten by a tiger and has been completely changed beyond recognition. It looks very scary.
The pottery merchant felt an indescribable sadness in his heart as he watched the remains of the Danyang soldier being dug up and buried by the sergeants.
In this era, people not only have to fight with others, but also with heaven and nature.
The fact that ferocious beasts can threaten personal safety was something that potters in later generations would not be able to feel at all.
Xu Chu peeled off the tiger's skin completely and brought it to the pottery merchant with a smile.
Tiger skin is a treasure in future generations, and it was a coveted treasure in previous lives.
The pottery merchant felt nauseated at the thought of the soldier's half-bone body that had been bitten by a tiger. He didn't want the tiger skin and let Xu Chu dispose of it on his own.
"There is such danger in the mountains and forests, and Yan Baihu is still able to gather people and roar in the mountains and forests... Those who follow him would rather be eaten by wild beasts than be good citizens. What's the picture?" Looking at the one in Xu Chu's hand
Tiger skin, the potter asked the question in his mind.
Li Tong stood behind the pottery merchant and said: "Actually, the root cause is food. The land south of the Yangtze River is full of hundreds of thousands of people and there are many mountain people. In addition to countless big cities and counties, there is really a lot of land that can be cultivated to produce food.
There is too little, and most of the productive land is still in the hands of the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. The common people have no food to eat and would rather go into the mountains to rebel. Even if it is dangerous, it can still be regarded as a glimmer of hope."
The pottery merchant nodded when he heard this and said with emotion: "In the final analysis, the problem is still the food."
Li Tong stared at the pottery merchant closely and said: "Mr. Tao Fu has been developing rice fields in Jinling City. It is said that in recent years, the land reclamation area and harvest in Jinling City have more than doubled than before, and there are more
Jiangdong Li develops wasteland. If a prince takes charge of the entire Jiangnan and widely promotes the method of growing grain and reclaiming land in Jinling City, ten years later, the fertile land in Jiangnan that has been reclaimed will be able to recruit refugees from all over the world and increase the population. Secondly, once there is more land
, it can dilute the power in the hands of the Jiangnan gentry. It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone."
The pottery merchant understood what Li meant during the call and appreciated his frank statement.
The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River are much smaller than those in the north, but to a certain extent, it is more difficult to deal with than the gentry in the north.
After all, the fundamental reason is that the development of Jiangnan is not good. There is not much land that can produce. If there is not much land, the political voice of the gentry who own the land will easily lose.
But once the land that could be produced in Jiangnan increased significantly and the proportion of land in the hands of the nobles was reduced, a series of chain reactions would naturally weaken the voice of the nobles.
Fundamentally, it is the same principle as the company's large-scale capital raising to dilute its existing major shareholders' equity.
With the current reclamation and farming capabilities of Jinling City, it is not impossible to achieve this.
The area south of the Yangtze River is already larger than that of the Central Plains. If we are lucky enough to be able to make grafted rice in the future, or if we can get Champa rice from the Jiaozhi family, it is not impossible for the south to enter a revolutionary stage of development.
After all, the land south of the Yangtze River is still a treasure land that needs further exploration.
However, these are things for later. The first priority at the moment is to expand the territory and stabilize the rear.
…
…
A few days later, a group of soldiers arrived at Yan Baihu's stronghold.
But what surprised the potter was that Dazhai, where Yan Baihu lived, really opened his eyes. This primitive village built in the mountains demonstrated the great wisdom of the outstanding people of the Chinese nation.
On a low mountain, there is the Baihu Village of Yan Baihu's army, and in a pit below the mountain, Yan Baihu actually reclaimed part of the land, and planted food on the reclaimed land.
The mountain streams were also reclaimed and transformed by Yan Baihu using sand, soil, boulders and other objects.
The people of Baihu Village diverted part of the water source to irrigate the cultivated fields. In this way, they could ensure their own food supply in the mountains to a certain extent.
In this way, even if you sometimes go out to rob food, you can still be self-sufficient for a period of time.
There was a sentry outside the main stronghold of Baihu Village. When the potter's army arrived, the people at the sentry quickly withdrew from the main stronghold and reported to the main stronghold.
From this point of view, it may not be long before a large number of people from Baihu Village will appear, and a big war will break out between the two parties.
But after waiting for a long time, Yan Baihu did not open the village gate to engage in a fight with his side. The pottery merchant couldn't help but feel very strange.
When our side entered the mountains and forests this time, the number of people who attacked Yan Baihu was about 5,000, but compared with the 10,000 people in Yan Baihu's stronghold, it was still less than half.
Of course, Tao Shang was confident that with the elite Danyang troops and the Tiger Guards, even if they only had 5,000 men, they would never be their opponents against the 10,000 savage-like mountain soldiers under Yan Baihu.
Question: Tao Shang himself has confidence in his own soldiers. Is Yan Baihu also confident in the soldiers of Jinling City?
The soldiers and horses of Jinling City were forced to the door of Baihu Village to kill him, and Yan Baihu didn't even show his face?
This King of Soochow was probably a little too arrogant.
That's fine. Since the other side is guarding the gate and not showing up, then we can take the initiative to attack!
Before the war started, Tao Shang led Li Tong, Tao Ji, Tao Ying and others to observe the terrain of Baihu Village.
The location of Baihu Village is located in the mountains, and it is blocked by the surrounding mountains and dense forests. If they had not inquired about it in advance, due to the secrets of this place, it would be impossible for the pottery merchants to discover it even from two or three miles away.
There is a big village.
In addition, this Baihu Village is built in a valley among mountains. The other three sides are steep mountains and it is impossible to walk. Only the terrain in the south is relatively flat. Follow the flat terrain and go to the west side, where are the supplies
Baihuzhai is full of food fields.
However, the flatness in front of Baihu Village is only relative to those steep mountains. In fact, there is still a high mountain to the south of the main village, but the terrain is slightly gentler. To a certain extent, its terrain can be regarded as a mountain.
Small and medium hills. The hills are concave in shape. The terrain on both sides is relatively high and covered with dense forests. The middle one is relatively flat and can be accessed by a path.
The gate of Baihu Village is at the end of the flat road built in the middle of the hills.
The gate of the village is built with stone as the base and rough wood as the wall. It is about ten feet high. You can clearly see a large number of people walking around on the wall.
"Brother, if you want to attack Baihu Village, you can only attack from here!" Tao Ying pointed to the narrow road in front of the gate of Baihu Village.
It was rare for Tao Ying to take the initiative to give advice to the pottery merchant, although what he said was very nutritious.
"Brother, according to my opinion, the other directions here are either high mountains or dense forests, and there is no way for soldiers and horses to pass through!"
Tao Ji stood aside and rolled his eyes... This disciple is really a talent. Anyone who is not blind can see this.
However, the pottery merchant praised Tao Ying and said: "Second brother, you really have a good eye. What you said is correct and you have made progress."
At this moment, everyone could see that the terrain of Baihu Village was very conducive to defense.
Yan Baihu must have put in a lot of effort to build this stronghold.
However, although this place is secretive and easy to defend and difficult to attack, it also means that as long as the pottery merchant's soldiers and horses lead people to block it, the people of Baihu Village will not be able to escape even if they are harvesting the crops in the mountains and fields.
Can't get it in either.
However, the pottery merchant's five thousand soldiers entered the mountain and did not bring any extra luggage with them. It would not be a good idea to block them here blindly.
We still have to find a way to break the deadlock in front of us.
The pottery merchant turned his head and looked at the people who were following him, and said, "Baihu Village is just ahead. Do you have any good strategies for advancing the army?"
Xu Chu immediately said: "A certain family is willing to lead the Tiger Guard soldiers to attack the stronghold directly and take Yan Baihu's head in one fell swoop!"
After hearing Xu Chu's words, Tao Shang did not answer, but turned to look at Li Tong and Tao Ji.
Li Tong looked at Baihu Village and said calmly: "The road in front of Baihu Village is a bit narrow. Thousands of soldiers and horses may not be able to move. If we attack by force, it will be detrimental to our army."
The potter nodded in agreement.
Li Tong was right. The reason why Baihu Village is easy to defend and difficult to attack is mainly because the open area in front of their village gate is too narrow. According to estimates, at most, dozens of people can do whatever they want there...
If the two thousand Tiger Guards rushed forward at once, let alone break through the gate of Baihu Village, they would have to squeeze themselves to death first.
Just when everyone was discussing good strategies, Tao Ying suddenly said: "Brother, brother, I have a strategy to defeat the enemy!"
After saying this, everyone present except Li Tong was stunned.