Shen Wenzhong sent people to invite the nearby village chiefs and clan elders, and talked about the combat mission straight to the point. These days, Shen Wenzhong and these village elders and clan elders have become close and have a good relationship.
Since the arrival of Shen Wenzhong and others, the countryside has regained its rare peace. The local ruffians who came to extort money were driven away, and the water thieves who came to steal food were captured.
Even the county's puppet officials, the Tatars, came to collect grain and collect taxes and were driven away.
With the help of the Flag Bearer Battalion, each village organized Baojia and formed its own militia team. The Flag Bearers sent people to organize their teams and train for assassination. Everyone united and defended themselves.
"Li Yuchun was one of the murderers in the Ten-Day Massacre in Yangzhou. The Supervisor has issued a death order. In this mission, we will ambush and eat a battalion behind him."
Most of the village chiefs and elders invited were local landlords and gentry. Many of them were Jinshi or Juren, and at least some of them had the reputation of being a scholar. Some of them had served as officials. At this time, the villagers were also aware of the current situation.
Very uneasy.
Since the Qing army went south, they had thought about joining the new dynasty. If anyone could rule the world, they could still be their own squires and landlords in the countryside, but the reality was not as they wished.
The situation continues to be turbulent, and people from all walks of life are coming to demand blackmail. Everyone's life is miserable, just like meat on the chopping board, ready to be slaughtered by others. After the arrival of the flag-bearing battalion, it is a completely different style, and Min Qiuhao has nothing to do with it.
Even helping to maintain law and order, they also see this in their eyes.
From the initial cooperation on the surface, watching in secret, and even thinking about tipping off information, to the basic recognition now, this change has been very fast. To put it bluntly, it is because both the Qing soldiers and the newly surrendered puppet officials and puppet soldiers are keeping an eye on them.
They were robbed, and only the soldiers of Lu Jianguo protected their interests.
When Lu Jianguo's soldiers want food, they buy it with silver from them, and when they ask for pay, they borrow money from them with IOUs. Borrowing is not a big deal. Even the Lijin Bureau that is being planned now has regulations to follow, and the three rates and regular rates are
Taxes, etc. were not levied and were directly exempted. These rules-based and reasonable behaviors gave them a good impression of Lu Jianguo.
What's more, Lu Jianguo was also very kind to the squires in these places. He issued letters of appointment to the squires in various places and granted them official positions.
However, when they heard that there was going to be a war with Li Yuchun, these squires were still a little worried.
He was afraid that he would not be able to defeat him, which would lead to Tatar revenge.
"This time the Supervisor is on his own expedition to the Northern Expedition, and the King's Army across the Yangtze River is full of elite troops. We will leave the fighting to us. You will only cooperate in carrying the loot, rescuing the wounded, and cleaning the battlefield."
After all, Shen Wenzhong was also a scholar, so his dealings with these country squires were relatively smooth. He could guess their thoughts, so he gave them reassurance.
"The main force of the Hangzhou Tartars is now being dragged along the Qiantang River by Superintendent Zhang Guowei and others. The thousands of troops led by Li Yuchun are just a bunch of rabble. And you should have heard long ago that Li Yuchun and his men are a group of bandits. They
From Sizhou to Yangzhou, then to Jinling and Hangzhou, they were like locusts, grabbing whatever they went."
"Xiaoshi Town in Haining County next door was plundered by Li Yuchun not long ago. Several famous gentry in the town were falsely accused of being the leaders of the rebellion and were killed. All the men of several big families were beheaded and killed in the town.
More than 500 men pretended to be meritorious, and all the young women and girls were kidnapped and raped, even the old, weak and children were not spared."
"Everyone, if Li Yuchun and his gang of rebels are allowed to garrison in Jiaxing, there will never be peace in the future. Yesterday it was Xiashi Town, and tomorrow it might be Majiawan."
When things came to this, these squires had no other choice. They all nodded in agreement and expressed their willingness to fully cooperate with the Flag Bearer Battalion's operations.
After crossing the sea, the outposts of each battalion dispersed. Shen Wenzhong acted with the outpost of Zuoying, the flag bearer. At that time, there were about 200 people in each outpost, and they were scattered in several nearby villages. It was not like there was anything lurking these days.
Didn't do it.
They lurked in every village, not only building good relations with the villagers and gentry, but also suppressing the scoundrels and fighting bandits. They also organized and trained the village brave militia. Under each sentry team, many militia teams were mobilized, and even the servants of the landlords and gentry were escorted.
It's all planned under them.
An order was given to fight, and the results were unexpected, and the people were very active.
The superiors offered a reward of ten taels of silver for the capture and beheading of a true Tatar, and five taels of silver for the capture of a false Tatar. Regardless of whether it was an official or a militia, as long as the prisoner was brought in with his head, he would be rewarded with silver.
Even captured horses, mules, swords, guns, clothes and armor were rewarded accordingly.
Of course, in addition to the attractive silver rewards awarded, the main reason for the people to actively participate in the war was the maintenance of local peace after the arrival of the Banner Battalion, especially the series of newly promulgated decrees to supervise the country, such as exempting the people from taxes owed over the years.
, exemption from taxes this year, etc., especially the fake three-year salary and various additional stipends, etc., all made the people feel relieved.
Everyone hopes that Lu Jianguo can restore Jiangnan and stabilize the country, so that everyone can have hope in life.
If the Tatars are allowed to take over the south of the Yangtze River, everyone's good days will come to an end. Not only will they have to pay the regular taxes from the Chongzhen Dynasty, they will also have to pay three rates, and they will have to pay extra stipends. The Tatars even added many new items.
The people can no longer afford the food and salary levy.
Half a day later, the outpost teams of the Banner Battalion came to Majiawan to assemble, and they also brought with them their village warrior militiamen, as well as the gentry's nursing home servants.
A team leader who was originally in charge of forty brothers actually brought back four to five hundred people, including squire guards, Zong clan braves, and militiamen. They were basically young and strong men. Although they had simple weapons and equipment, they wore common people's clothes.
, armed with simple spears and spears made of wood or bamboo, and only a small number of bows and arrows, etc., but an outpost that originally had only about 200 people now gathered more than 3,000 Xie Congxiang warriors.
Zhang Quan's face flushed with excitement when he saw so many people and horses. This Liaodong veteran had never commanded so many people and horses. Even though most of them were farmers who had just put down their hoes, he still felt like a general.
"Zhuzi, the mission given to us by the Supervisor is, how many people are there in the bandit camp we want to fight?"
"There are about two to three hundred people, but they have taken many strong men and many women captive. The total number is five to six hundred."
Zhang Quan laughed a few times and said, "I have never fought such a rich battle. We had more than 3,000 people fighting two to three hundred traitors and puppet troops. We won this battle without even fighting."
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a battalion was an organization with no fixed number, ranging from dozens to hundreds to thousands of people. There were even large battalions above the battalion. Anyway, each unit was basically called a battalion. However, people like Li Yuchun who surrendered to the Tatars
The generals of the Ming army of Zi, their troops were even more confused.
For example, the official number of troops given to Li Yuchun by the Tatars was only more than 1,000 people divided into two battalions, the left and right, but he actually had more than 5,000. Originally there were only the left and right battalions and the center army, but in the end, there were five more troops each under the left and right battalions.
Each camp has five hundred people, and then there are three smaller camps under each camp, each with about a hundred people.
Therefore, under the command of Li Yuchun, the deputy commander-in-chief of Xiezhen, there were actually two large battalions, ten medium battalions, and thirty small battalions, as well as the middle military camp and so on.
This time they came to Jiaxing to suppress the garrison. They looted and recruited men everywhere. The original five thousand people have now expanded to seven or eight thousand. A small camp has grown from a hundred people to two or three hundred people. However,
There are not many veterans, and most of them are young recruits.
Anyway, these subordinate generals like to recruit strong men the most. What they value is quantity. The more soldiers, the better. The more soldiers they have, the more powerful they will appear to the masters of the Qing Dynasty. As for whether they can fight or not, they don't care about food and salary issues.
Soldiers are what a general has, and if he has soldiers, he will have strength.
If these new recruits are defeated and die, then they can be snatched if the food and salary are not enough, but the number of soldiers and horses must be large, otherwise the master will have no status.
As for the Bannerman Battalion, although many new rural militiamen have been recruited, they are not integrated with the Bannerman Battalion. They are a separate sequence and only assist the Bannerman Battalion in its operations, which is equivalent to auxiliary logistics on the battlefield.
The advantage of doing this is that it allows the flagbearer battalion to maintain its combat effectiveness.
Ten thousand Ming troops crossed the sea and headed north. In just ten days, tens of thousands of rural militiamen were quickly mobilized and organized in the two counties of Haiyan and Haining. Although these soldiers cannot be expected to actually fight, in this local battle
In the blocking battle above, they will definitely play a big role.
The excited Zhang Quan set off first with the 200 brothers who had assembled from the outpost, and Shen Wenzhong followed with several hundred people from the relatively elite rural warrior regiment. Behind him, more than 3,000 villagers and soldiers from various villages also followed suit.
The Hangjiahu Plain in western Zhejiang is a flat plain, but it is densely covered with water networks and criss-crossing it.
It's actually quite easy to set up an ambush.
Li Bizhong, the commander-in-chief under Li Yuchun, was originally named Li Laoqi, but later changed his name to Bizhong. He also followed Li Yuchun all the way from Sizhou. Now he has the rank of 1,000-commander, and is actually the commander-in-chief, commanding a battalion.
When he set out from Hangzhou, his battalion only had a hundred people, but it had only been ten days, and now his battalion had more than 300 people. Riding a black horse, Li Bizhong was very proud and turned back frequently. There were more than 300 people, waiting for the pacification.
The Haining Guards rebelled. By then the deputy commander-in-chief will probably be awarded the title of registered commander-in-chief. He may also be awarded the title of registered garrison officer?
Of course, these are not important. What is important is that he and his men did a lot of looting along the way. Seeing the horses, horses, mules and donkeys following the team, loaded with money, food and property, he couldn't help but smile.
Mouth.
Although most of these things have to be paid as tribute, he can still keep a lot of them. After distributing most of them to his brothers, he can still get a lot.
This is very satisfying for a salt worker who once worked on the Lianghuai Salt Fields to pick up salt from the sea.
The sun was still in the west, and he was already considering whether to take advantage of the cooler weather to find a wealthy village to hunt, and then grab some money and food. By the way, he could also have fun with the beautiful little girl he just snatched.
Cool.
Passing by a river beach, many arrows suddenly shot out from the reeds, knocking down the unsuspecting thieves. Li Bizhong, who was riding a tall black horse, was recalling the plump body of the young woman and showing a lewd smile.
It has long been locked by Zhang Quan.
This guy was riding a big horse and was wearing cotton armor. The gun on the leather helmet was standing high. It was so obvious that at a glance, it was the head of this battalion.
Zhang Quan raised his bow and shot directly at him.
To capture the thief, capture the king first.
In the rain of arrows, Li Bizhong was hit by an arrow in the door and fell off his horse. He let out a scream. The frightened black horse dragged him with one foot still hanging on the saddle and ran wildly. Li Bizhong, who was not dead yet, was dragged to the ground and let out an even more miserable wail.
.
In the rain of arrows, several flagbearers from the battalion rushed out with their swords in hand and rushed into the chaotic team of thieves.
