The situation became more turbulent. A large number of refugees came north from Huainan, and a large number of refugees also poured into Yongcheng County, Guide Prefecture. They dragged their families and families and came crying all the way.
"Uncle Twelve, there are many people fleeing famine. There are people fleeing famine everywhere on the Sui River embankment. I heard that a bushel of wheat can be exchanged for a wife, so many people have gone."
Twelve Scythes had just returned from duty in the team. Ever since he officially joined the Red Spear Club and drank the talisman water made by the Northern Expedition, his whole person had changed.
He put on the red robe of the Red Spear Club, put on a red scarf and a red belt, carried a big gun with red tassels, and a short knife at his waist. He trained and patrolled every morning and evening, and from time to time he would go on missions to send salt luck.
As a ration worker, he is very busy, but there are also many benefits. Not only do he eat two dry meals a day in the meeting, but he also gets six buckets of rations per month. Every time he goes on a mission, he also gets additional subsidies.
He has now saved some food and copper coins, and is planning to marry a wife.
"We have just harvested the wheat, why are we here in Huainan to escape the famine? I haven't heard that there is a flood in the Huaihe River." Twelve's nephew asked in confusion.
Twelve Scythes was not sure. He was thinking about whether to go and watch the excitement when he suddenly heard the sound of horns. He signaled his nephew to be silent and listened carefully. He heard that it was a rallying call.
He quickly stood up and picked up the red gun, then tightened his red belt and hung the knife on his waist.
"Uncle, what's going on?"
"Assembly number in the meeting, we have a mission."
Chen Twelve hurried to the drying area of the village market. When he went out, there were already young and strong villagers in twos and threes carrying red tassel guns and going out. This time the rally call was for emergency mobilization, which was different from the ordinary.
When we arrived at the drying ground, it was already crowded with people.
Everyone was discussing what happened again.
At this time, someone beat the cowhide drum, and the loud sound of the drum made people's hearts go hot. Everyone also consciously shut up their mouths. The people stepped aside, and the formal and probationary members quickly lined up and stood in their usual training positions.
.
The three drums are completed.
Several team blocks are already standing on the field.
The chief coach of the Red Spear Association, Senior Brother Zhao Zhongyi, came out.
He was covered in a pair of bright red cotton armor, with a bow and arrows stuck in both waist pockets, a bird blunderbuss on his shoulder, a short blunderbuss on his waist, and a wild goose feather sword hanging on the other side.
Lift a big red-tasseled gun.
The burly and stout Zhao Zhongyi's outfit was a bit more majestic than that of the garrison officer in Yongcheng County. He strode out, followed by a group of escort servants, all wearing red scarves on their heads, wearing red armor, carrying
They carry blunderbuss and carry spears, all of them are majestic, young and strong.
The president, Old Master Zhao, was still wearing a long gown and walked slowly over.
Seeing this posture, everyone knew that something big must have happened.
"Report to the president, senior brother, the members have been assembled, please give me a lecture!"
After Zhao Zhongyi walked up to the school review, he glanced at this group of troops, and his eyes were very satisfied. Although it was not as good as the emperor's imperial army, or even not as good as the troops he had when he was in Jiangyin, he was able to do so in such a short period of time.
It is very difficult to pull up a team of people and still have such momentum.
"brothers!"
"There are many refugees coming to the Sui River Embankment, all from Huainan, and this is just the first batch, there will be more later."
"I'll tell you the reason. Long live the Ming Dynasty personally proposed the Northern Expedition of the Sixth Division. Now 200,000 imperial troops are marching north in three ways.
The emperor even went to Shandong in person to capture Denglai, so now the Manchu Tatars are panicking.
Xuzhou's general in the southern expedition, Prince Duanzhong Boluo, and Prince Dangdang's assistant to the government, have hurriedly led 10,000 people from Xuzhou to Denglai. They also hurriedly ordered the Tatar generals in Lu, Feng, Shou, Huai and other places to abandon the south of the Huaihe River.
Retreat to Yingzhou and Xuzhou.
Knowing that they were no match for Long Live Lord's Northern Expedition, these Tatars retreated in panic. However, they had no humanity. When they retreated, they robbed all the wheat that the Huainan people had just harvested, and then forcibly ordered the people to retreat north with the army. In order to lead the people
They also sent troops to set fire to houses, tear down cities and destroy embankments. Now there are wars all over Huainan, and there are many embankments on the Huaihe River...
All the people in Huainan have become refugees, and the land of Huainan has been destroyed into scorched earth.
Now countless refugees from Huainan are crossing Huaibei, and we in Yongcheng are the first to bear the brunt.
Rebel soldiers and hungry people are swarming in. Our situation is very critical. We have just harvested wheat and everyone still has some food at home. At this time, we are the target of those rebel soldiers and hungry people.
Our Red Spear Club, with a red spear and a loyal heart, worships the Lord of Heaven and Earth as our master, and more importantly, we must guard the countryside and protect the environment and the people.
So from now on, we must be fully mobilized, prepared for the worst, and fully alert.
All formal members must be gathered together, and some temporary members must be converted into regular members.
Zhao Zhongyi loudly explained the current situation to everyone.
Yongcheng Daqiuji has been quite stable recently, and it has just been harvested in summer, so there is always food on hand. At this time, it is extremely vulnerable to attack.
In order to protect ourselves, we must mobilize.
He issued an expansion order. The formal members of the Red Spear Clubs in various places will be divided into ten combat battalions with 5,000 men, and then the probationary members will also be divided into ten battalions.
In addition, the juvenile red gun teams in each village must also be organized into units and under unified command.
We take Yongcheng Daqiuji as the center, and then the villages where the local branches are located serve as strongholds. The villages fight on their own and communicate with each other.
"Whoever dares to attack our Red Spear Association, whether it is bandits, bandits, Qing army green camp, or Tartars, we will never allow it!"
These words have a very rebel tone. After all, this place is still under the rule of the Qing court, but everyone seems to have been used to it.
After all, although the Red Gun Club had not publicly shouted out slogans such as raising the flag and rebelling before, it officially cut off its braids after it reached a certain scale.
"We cannot completely ignore the hungry people who are fleeing famine in Huainan. After discussing with the old master, I plan to set up a refugee camp outside Jiwai to provide them with porridge and relief."
"In addition, if you have an unmarried man of marriageable age in your family, you can also marry the refugees at this time..."
The hungry people at this time are very willing to marry off their daughters, even if they only need three to five buckets of grain, at least they can exchange for some life-saving grains, which is better than selling it to those profiteers, Yazi, who are even more ruthless, and how much they sell is for their own benefit.
Slaves were even sent to the burning pits of brothels.
Zhao Zhongyi suggested that everyone find refugees to marry at this time, not only to consider the local bachelors, but also to help the refugees overcome difficulties together.
"As long as those who marry refugee daughters can live in another area at the west end of our village, we can also borrow some food relief, and they can help us farm and work together..."
In addition, Zhao Zhongyi also plans to recruit young men and women from these refugees to join the army, and form another 10 or 20 battalions of men. By then, each man will have a red-tasseled gun, which will be the reserve camp.
When he said this, Zhao Zhongyi was passionate and generous.
It also received nods of support from the villagers below.
Life is hard for everyone. Now that so many refugees have arrived in Huainan, everyone feels pity for them and is wary of them. Some people have already gone to the river embankment, planning to exchange food for girls to become wives.
Now Zhao Zhongyi's proposal is actually in line with everyone's ideas, and since Zhao Zhongyi came forward in the name of the Red Spear Club, everyone feels more secure.
And the Red Spear Club wanted to gather its troops, so everyone felt more at ease.
Although some people feel that the senior brother seems to have great intentions, in such troubled times, everyone can only stick together to keep warm.
Everyone knows that when chaos breaks out, there are no royal laws and regulations. Soldiers are just bandits, and hungry people are also bandits.
Hungry refugees are sometimes more ferocious than wolves. Once a flaw is revealed, they may be bitten to pieces. Many villages in Henan have been destroyed by the turmoil in the past few years.
Everyone still has compassion in their hearts, but they are also wary.
Zhao Zhongyi did not directly shout out slogans such as respectfully welcoming the king's army and expelling the Tartars, but temporarily used the slogan of protecting the territory and the people and self-defense.
After mobilization, the battle camp will start training, the auxiliary camp will also start to go to the fields with guns, and the pre-camp will also cultivate while training. With Yongcheng Daqiu Ji as the center, Zhao Zhongyi appointed the battalion officers, grain stations, etc. of each battalion.
, established the Daqiu General Assembly Camp Office and unified command.
A message office was also established to be responsible for intelligence collection and delivery.
······
"Refugees who enter our territory must be placed under resettlement and surveillance, and more porridge shacks and camps must be set up for shelter and resettlement. They must not be allowed to wander randomly,"
Inside the school, the old master held a meeting with a core group of people.
"Try to recruit those young people in their 20s and 30s into the reserve camp and gather them for training. Their families will be organized into another camp and placed separately near our village."
"The rest of the refugees should be resettled as much as possible. If they are just leaving in transit, they should be monitored and escorted out of the country to prevent them from causing chaos."
Wang Tiezhu is a core member. When Zhao Zhongyi and others came, the first member they recruited was a stout man who used to be Caoding. He was very strong and generous.
"President, senior brother, I think we might as well capture the county seat directly. Although there is a garrison camp in the county seat, it only has a total of 300 troops. In fact, there are only a hundred soldiers. Among them, there is only one team of servants who can fight.
, we are going to win it without any effort.”
"Don't be impatient." The old master shook his head, "Yongcheng is sandwiched between Xu and Ying. If we occupy the county seat now and raise the flag of righteousness, we will inevitably attract the full force of the Tatars to encircle and suppress us. Now we have to keep our heads down and develop," he said to Zhao Zhongyi
, "You had a good relationship with Yongcheng Guard before. We are still brothers, aren't we? Make good use of this relationship, and externally we will use the team training name he gave us."
Zhao Zhongyi said, "This man surnamed Wang is very greedy, and he is afraid of death and has no ability. He has always wanted to use our red guns to work for him. Two days ago, he said that the higher-ups were very tight on tax collection and wanted them to go to the countryside as garrison camps."
To help collect food, he came to us again to help."
"Let's coax him first. This person is still useful to us. It would be better if we could reverse it."
The Red Spear Club is now gaining momentum, but in the final analysis it is mainly a group of farmers. It just has some training and organization, but it lacks weapons, armor, and horses and mules. It can handle some hungry people and thieves, but it can really be used to fight.
It's still a little early.
"When we gather our troops, we can't just train. With so many people gathered, the daily rations and subsidies alone are not a small figure."
"You can bring them out to suppress bandits, or you can sell salt, grain, etc. secretly. Now that the war is in chaos, these businesses are difficult to do, but the profits are high."
Third senior brother Tie Zhu couldn't help but ask, "The emperor is now in Denglai in person, and the Tatar prince Bolo has rushed over with his troops. Shouldn't we do nothing?"
"If the court really needs us, it will give us an order. There is no order now, which means we are not needed yet, so we don't have to worry."
"Let's stay in Yongcheng. This is an important piece of land for military strategists. Sooner or later it will be of great use!" The old master said calmly.
