I

Outside Fengcheng County.

Zhu Xieyuan looked at the closed city gate and the empty countryside in all directions, his face as dark as if it was stained with ink.

It is normal for the rebels in Fengcheng County to be prepared for it.

But how could the rural people in Fengcheng County hide so quickly?

Not to mention livestock and food, even valuable furniture has been moved away.

Rice that has not yet fully matured is also forced to be harvested early. If there is really no time to harvest, just leave it in the paddy field, which is equivalent to discarding it directly.

There is a spy on my side, and a very high-level spy!

In order to take things by surprise, Zhu Xieyuan did not even wait for the autumn harvest to be completed, but sent troops when the rice was about to be harvested. His military rations are definitely not enough, but he can cut new rice directly in Fengcheng County. At this time, he doesn't care about the people. The people in Zhao's territory are no different from the rebels.

Such a rapid dispatch of troops actually allowed the rebels to know in advance. Judging from the calm movement of the people in Fengcheng, the rebels had received the news at least one or two days in advance.

"Who do you think leaked the military information?" Zhu Xieyuan asked.

"I really don't know." Wang Tingzhan was also confused. He could swear that this time it really had nothing to do with him.

Zhu Xieyuan said in a cold tone: "Demolish the house and besiege the city!"

Residents outside Fengcheng County have evacuated into the city in advance.

Under Zhu Xieyuan's order, houses outside the city were stripped to build siege equipment. In addition, a small group of troops were sent to harvest the rice in the nearby fields. Even if it is not ripe, it can be taken back and cooked.

The officer in charge of garrisoning Fengcheng County was Jiang Liang. He only had a thousand regular soldiers at hand, but he urgently recruited a thousand peasant soldiers.

The county magistrate is Liu Shunyi, who was originally a poor scholar in Anfu County.

Liu Shunyi is now responsible for maintaining public order and temporarily organizing all the people in the city into Baojia. Let the people supervise each other. If members of their respective Baojia dare to take the opportunity to cause trouble, the entire Baojia will be punished.

There must be government spies in the city, and there are more than one, and they must be prevented from setting fires.

Zhu Xieyuan seemed to be planning to be tough this time, filling in several sections of the moat in just one day.

The next day, there was only one missing, and there was Ganjiang River on one side.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Liang immediately ordered: "Notify Liu Zhixian and ask him to organize manpower to block the eight small gates and leave only four main gates. There are too many gates in Fengcheng County, and the officers and soldiers are determined to attack the city this time. .”

…

On the outskirts of Nanchang, inside the Tu family's mansion.

The maids and servants have been sent away, and a few scholars are drinking and chatting. They are the same scholars who captured Yang Jiamo alive.

"Guess, gentlemen, can Fengcheng be captured by the governor's troops this time?" Tu Tingying asked with a smile.

Yu Shiqin sighed: "Even if Fengcheng can be captured, once the reinforcements from General Zhao arrive, they will definitely defeat the main force of officers and soldiers."

"Well, I just hope Mr. Zhao can occupy Nanchang as soon as possible, otherwise this business will be impossible." The person who spoke was actually the grain merchant Li Fenglai.

Li Fenglai's eldest son and second son both studied at Bailuzhou Academy as hostages. The group of scholars who defected last year happened to be thrown into the academy, and they recognized Li Fenglai's son within a few days.

This tip-off was made by them.

Although Jiangxi has many mountains and little land, it has a lot of grain merchants. They purchased grain in Jiangxi, transported it to the prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River and sold it at a high price, and then shipped back Jiangnan cotton cloth and other specialties. They made huge profits from this transaction.

In order to support his troops, Zhu Xieyuan banned Jiangxi grain from leaving the country and could only sell it to the Governor's Mansion at market prices.

What the hell is the market price?

Can the price of rice in Jiangxi be the same as the price of rice in Jiangnan prefectures?

Cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents. Zhu Xieyuan offended all Jiangxi grain merchants.

It's just a loss of a year's money, but I'm afraid that the officers and soldiers will continue to confront the rebels. If they continue to go through this for several years, it will simply kill the grain merchants. They only hope that this war will end soon.

In the villages of Fengxin, Jinxian, Gao'an and other counties, farmers' unions have emerged one after another, and it seems that sooner or later there will be peasant riots.

As big landowners, these grain merchants find it increasingly difficult to exploit farmers, fearing that their families will be confiscated and exterminated by the peasant association. Zhu Xieyuan has cut off their way of making money from doing business again. They are simply not human beings. They must choose one side as soon as possible.

Choose Zhu Xieyuan?

That is tantamount to choosing a protracted war. Zhao Thief cannot be destroyed within three to five years. By that time, the farmers would have already rioted, and the lives of the grain merchants might be at stake, let alone saving their land.

With the cooperation of Li Fenglai, Tu Tingying and others, at least 70% of the grain merchants in Nanchang Prefecture turned to Zhao Han!

They were very sensitive to the dispatch of grain. If Zhu Xieyuan made any changes, the grain merchants immediately informed Fengcheng County.

After a small talk, I got drunk.

Li Fenglai raised his glass and said: "Gentlemen, I would like to congratulate Mr. Zhao and wish Mr. Zhao an early victory in the world!"

"Congratulations to Mr. Zhao!" Everyone clinked glasses and laughed.

These gentry were not so much big landowners as big businessmen.

They saw that there were more and more peasant associations in each county, and sooner or later they would not be able to keep their land, so they simply gave up the land to protect their business.

As for the gentry who relied purely on land to make money, under the pressure of the peasant association, they recruited troops to support Zhu Xieyuan. Now the number of troops in Nanchang has reached nearly 30,000.

We have to fight, Zhu Xieyuan cannot afford 30,000 soldiers!

…

The second day of the siege.

The officers and soldiers who were still building siege equipment and working hard to fill in the moat during the day suddenly left in the dark in the middle of the night. All the soldiers held chopsticks in their mouths, grabbed each other's belts, and headed south.

Wang Tingshi was woken up in the middle of the night and left in a daze. Chopsticks were stuffed in his mouth and he was not allowed to speak.

More than 30,000 troops all headed to the hilly area ten miles south of Fengcheng.

Zhu Xieyuan originally wanted to seize the place. First, he could form a rivalry with the main siege force, and second, he could send troops to sneak attack the anti-thief rescue force at any time.

But when he saw that all the people in the countryside had moved away, he knew it was too late. The hills and mountains to the south of the city must be full of peasants and civilians. Not only are there peasant soldiers who rebel against the bandits, but there may also be reinforcements from Linjiang Prefecture ambushed!

As long as Zhu Xieyuan's attack on the city is frustrated, the rebels in the mountains will definitely take the opportunity to break out.

Huang Yao, who is in charge of the northern theater, is indeed stationed here, and Li Zheng's more than 100 firecrackers are also here.

The Datong Navy was transferred to the south to fight. Huang Yao and Li Zheng had no water advantage, so they simply sent troops by land and hid in the mountains, hoping to surprise Zhu Xieyuan at the critical moment.

Then, they were caught off guard.

A fire broke out by the river in the middle of the night, which was a signal from the sentry. Moreover, there were three large fire piles at the same time, and there were many officers and soldiers coming from the representative office!

"Secure the main route up the mountain!"

Huang Yao immediately gave the order. It was too late for him to retreat, and the fire was lit from the side and rear.

Zhu Xieyuan, an old commander, actually set off early with two thousand pacesetters. They were Guizhou soldiers he had trained for several years. Two thousand elite officers and soldiers made a large circle to cross the river from the rear, and the 100-meter-wide river was easily crossed.

It's not for anything else, just to block the rebels' way.

Early the next morning, more than 28,000 officers and soldiers blocked Huang Yao's 2,000 regular soldiers and 3,000 peasant soldiers on Lion Mountain.

A few miles away, there are two hills.

The hill in the northeast is Li Zheng's 500 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers.

On the hill in the southwest are Fei Yinggon's 500 regular soldiers and 2,000 peasant soldiers.

The three peaks are the horns of each other.

Wang Tingzhen exclaimed: "The superintendent's divine calculation did not send spies, so he knew that there must be rebels in this mountain."

Zhu Xieyuan explained: "The news of our army's dispatch has long been leaked, but the rebel reinforcements have not been seen for a long time. They must be ambushing in the mountains. Near Fengcheng, Lion Rock and Xiangu Ridge are the most dangerous. Xiangu Ridge is in the north, and I have already sent people to check it. , only the Lion Rock in the south is left!"

"Attacking the mountain now?" Wang Ting asked.

"After a hard night's work, set up camp first to let the soldiers rest." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head.

The Lion Mountain area is surrounded by water on both sides, making it easy to surround enemy troops on the mountain. Zhu Xieyuan also wanted to surround the mountains to call for reinforcements, because there must be rebels in the nearby mountains.

Huang Yao stood on the top of the mountain and murmured to himself: "Twenty to thirty thousand troops marched ten miles in one night. The governor was forced to panic."

For such a fast night march, Zhu Xieyuan's food and fodder could last up to ten days!

If he could not capture the mountain within ten days, Zhu Xieyuan would have no choice but to withdraw his troops hungry and return to Nanchang along the river at the foot of Lion Rock.

Zhu Xieyuan had no choice. He only told a few confidants in advance about his plan to send troops. The accidental leak of military information made him feel angry, and the farmers' associations in surrounding counties also made it impossible for him to delay it any longer.

If Fengcheng County cannot be conquered quickly, the only option is to attack Lion Rock, which is actually easier to attack than the county seat.

If we cannot defeat them within eight days, we will immediately withdraw our troops and go back to defend Nanchang honestly. Anyway, the purpose of sending troops this time is to harass the rear of the rebels, so that the rebels cannot attack Ganzhou with all their strength.

Li Zheng and Fei Yinggon each led their troops to rescue. After joining forces, they only had 5,000 people, 4,000 of whom were peasant soldiers.

Moreover, the farmers and soldiers from Fengcheng and Qingjiang counties were not very well trained.

"How to fight?" Li Zheng asked.

Fei Yinggong said: "We must not attack by force. If the officers and soldiers attack the mountain, we will harass them from behind. Try to delay as long as possible. It only takes half a month. There will definitely be reinforcements from Ji'an."

Zhao Han's army was still too small. Half of the regular soldiers were fighting in the south, and some elite peasant soldiers were guarding Huguang.

If Zhao Han wanted to send more reinforcements, he could only recruit peasant soldiers from Luling, Jishui, Anfu and other counties. It takes time to assemble, and it also takes time to rush. In this gap, Zhu Xieyuan can come and go at will.

As Fei Yinggong said, Zhao Han's reinforcements may take half a month, and Zhu Xieyuan's plan is to withdraw his troops if they cannot capture Lion Rock in eight days.

By the time Zhao Han sent reinforcements, Zhu Xieyuan had already run back to Nanchang. He was an old fox who refused to suffer!

In the afternoon.

More than 28,000 officers and soldiers, well rested and fed, began to organize an attack on the mountain.

Judging from the plan view, Lion Rock is really small, less than 500 meters long and 200 meters wide. To besieged by 20 to 30 thousand people would be a real overkill.

Fortunately, mountains can’t just be viewed as flat surfaces.

In the direction of Zhangshu Town, several troop transport ships were approaching. Zhao Han couldn't wait for the farmers and soldiers to gather, so he directly dispatched his own soldiers.

The slave army, commanded by Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu, wore chainmail armor on the inside, cotton armor on the outside, and bamboo helmets with iron plates embedded on their heads.

There are not many people, only four hundred soldiers.

The real fierce battle is coming, a fierce battle that the Datong Army has never seen before!

(Thanks to the leader of Huai Nanyue for the reward, and thanks to all book friends for the reward and subscription.)