I

Li Zheng divided his troops and went south, and they had already arrived in Xiangtan.

Huang Yao frowned and asked: "In a terrain like Xiangtan, what's the point of having more soldiers? Why not stay in Changsha?"

Xiao Zongxian replied: "Changsha has tens of thousands of defenders. The city is high and the pond is deep. It is impossible to attack by force. After dividing the troops, we may be able to lure the enemy out of the city and annihilate them in the wild. As for Xiangtan, a sudden increase in troops may scare the city into surrender. ."

"Even if you don't come, Xiangtan will soon surrender." Huang Yao said with a smile.

The Xiangjiang River flows through this place, forming a "Ji"-shaped bay, and Xiangtan City is located within the "Ji"-shaped bay. The city wall is surrounded by water on three sides, so it can only be attacked from one side. No matter how many soldiers there are, it is of no use. Each time the city is attacked, only a small number can be arranged.

Huang Yao sat down across the moat and asked the archers to shoot books into the city.

Residents outside the city either entered the city or fled, and did not dare to stay in the land of war. According to the confessions of these residents, the magistrate of Xiangtan County has been dead for two months, and the affairs of the county are handled by the county magistrate Li Youlong.

In Huang Yao's opinion, how long can a county magistrate hold down the soldiers? Sooner or later you have to surrender!

Li Youlong was standing at the top of the city, looking at the rebels outside the city from a distance. He could hardly hold himself back.

This guy was from Xunyang, Shaanxi Province, and later followed Zuo Menggeng and surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

Not only did he surrender, but during his tenure as governor, he suppressed and disintegrated many anti-Qing troops. In the end, because there were too many anti-Qing troops in Tianjin to "suppress bandits", he could only entertain the leaders at a banquet, hoping to recruit them all to surrender. As a result, he was impeached for colluding with Nanming and was dismissed from office by the Manchu and Qing court.

After this guy was dismissed from office, he was reluctant to leave Beijing, hoping to be hired again. He had been living in Beijing for seven years. He was impeached by the imperial censor Wang Bingqian, who said that since he was dismissed from office, he should get out. The Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered him to return home within a time limit, but he died of illness soon after returning home.

Just a dog.

To surrender or not?

Li Youlong wanted to surrender, but he was also afraid that after becoming a thief, his people would be liquidated by the court.

He regretted so much that he spent money to buy a county magistrate, but didn't make much money when rebels attacked the city.

"There are reinforcements!"

A regimental gentry pointed in the distance and shouted happily, but the soldiers guarding the city were not interested.

The ambush arranged by Huang Yao was about to be dispatched, but unexpectedly, the newly arrived regiment training troops actually held a Datong military flag high.

"The world is unified, the world is unified!"

Yuan Yingkui was wearing silk clothes and looked like a wealthy man, but at this moment Tuan Yong shouted the slogan of Datong.

The ancestor of the Yuan family in Xiangtan was Yuan Hong, the founding hero of the Ming Dynasty.

During the Hongzhi period, one of Yuan Hong's descendants was transferred to the Chaling Guards to hereditarily command Qianshi. This branch was divided into three. The main branch was hereditary Chaling Guard general, the other branch moved to Chaling and became landlords, and the third branch moved to Xiangtan and became landlords.

They are not big landowners, they only have a few thousand acres of land.

After Huang Yao surrounded Xiangtan, Yuan Yingkui immediately recruited his disciples and then observed the wind direction and stood still.

Seeing the destruction of the Zhou family group training, Yuan Yingkui finally took action. He did not come to help the government defend the city, but brought more than a thousand local warriors with him, hoping to join the Datong army to gain wealth.

Seeing the Datong military flag on the other side, Huang Yao suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.

He ordered Xiang Yong to stay on the other side and sent only a small boat to pick up Yuan Yingkui.

"Common man Yuan Yingkui, pay homage to the general!" Yuan Yingkui knelt down and shouted.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Huang Yao laughed and said, "Please get up quickly!"

The defenders in the city suddenly became even more frightened when they saw that the anti-thief reinforcements had arrived and that the gentry was leading the villagers to join the thieves.

Li Youlong, the acting magistrate, saw this situation and made up his mind to become a thief, thinking about how to bypass the gentry's offering of the city.

Li Youlong had no soldiers under his command, and all the troops defending the city were recruited by local gentry.

In Xiangtan City, Ningxiang Lane.

Xiangtan was inconspicuous in the early Ming Dynasty. Even the city walls were made of wood.

In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Huguang was greatly developed, and commerce across the country became increasingly prosperous. As an important water and land hub, Xiangtan quickly became the most important port city in southern Hunan, and its economic status even surpassed that of Changsha.

Therefore, Xiangtan in the late Ming Dynasty was nicknamed "Little Nanjing". Ningxiang Lane, where wealthy businessmen in Xiangtan live, is also known as "Wuyi Lane".

Representatives from all the major families in Ningxiang Lane gathered at Xie's mansion.

"Business travel between the north and the south has been cut off, and the war cannot continue," Xie Li said. "No matter who loses or wins, trade must be restored as soon as possible!"

Tan Qiulin said: "Now it seems that the officers and soldiers will definitely not be able to win. We can only surrender to the Jiangxi thieves."

"Don't say Jiangxi thieves, that's King Zhao and Mr. Zhao!" Wang Hun reminded.

For these wealthy businessmen, allocating land is a trivial matter. They are mainly engaged in commercial trade from Huguang to Guangdong! From the fact that their families moved to the city instead of living in country estates, we know that these people are more business-oriented.

Since Zhao Han protects business, he is worthy of businessmen's trust!

If they encounter someone who is unreasonable, they will fight to the death.

For example, in another time and space, the Manchu Qing Dynasty burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of crimes, so these merchants paid for and recruited soldiers to defend the city.

As the siege was fought fiercely, it lasted for three months. After the Qing army broke through the city, they directly ordered the massacre of the city. According to historical records, "hundreds of thousands of men and women were killed."

Two years later, when Nanming recaptured Xiangtan, the Qing army once again broke into the city and carried out a second massacre. The entire Xiangtan was almost wiped out.

In only the second massacre, Huizhou merchants Huang Kenian and Cheng Shi couldn't bear to expose their corpses to the wilderness, so they paid for land and asked monks to collect the corpses. The body was packed in a bamboo cage and buried for three months.

Later, during the San Francisco Rebellion, the Qing army captured Xiangtan again and carried out the third massacre. Most of those killed this time were immigrants from Jiangxi!

After the merchants unanimously decided to join Zhao Han, they began to discuss how to dedicate the city.

Although they have a lot of money, they have no soldiers.

Wang Dai, the judge, stood up and said: "First, he paid to recruit soldiers, saying that he was going to defend the city; second, he set fire at night and took the opportunity to seize the city gate. Burn down the Li family!"

"To burn down the Li family, haha, this is a great plan!"

All the merchants praised in unison, the Li family had already committed public outrage.

Li Tengfang was a famous official of the Chu Party, and his official rank was the Minister of Rites. There are many praiseworthy words in the history books.

However, in Xiangtan's literati's notes, the Li family did many evil things. After Li Tengfang rose to the top, the Li family began to expand aggressively. For example, Wang Dai, who just spoke, was seized of property by the Li family using their power.

Now, although Li Tengfang is dead, his descendants are still highly used by Yang Sichang. Because Li Tengfang was a close friend of Yang Sichang's father during his lifetime!

After the discussion, Wang Dai, as a judge, went to see Li Youlong on behalf of the merchants.

The king was filled with righteous indignation and said: "The Zhao thieves are abominable. They harm the gentry and wreak havoc on the people. The Xiangtan merchant gang is willing to raise five thousand taels of silver to help the officers and soldiers defend the city!"

Li Youlong had already made up his mind to become a thief. When he heard these words, he was frightened and said quickly: "You are so righteous and admirable."

what to do? what to do?

Li Youlong was afraid of death and did not dare to reveal his true intentions, so he could only support the merchants in recruiting troops with a smile.

These merchants were really rich. They spent a lot of money and the homeless people in the city joined the army one after another. Anyway, they had to collect the money for joining the army first.

A few days later, a fire suddenly broke out in the city.

However, the Li family's mansion was burned down, and the merchants, with the soldiers they recruited, came very enthusiastically to help put out the fire.

How to destroy it?

The entire area of ​​the Li family's mansion close to the neighbors was demolished!

Wang Dai personally led hundreds of soldiers and rushed to a city gate, asking his subordinates to shout in unison: "The rebel spies have set the fire, the rebel spies have set the fire!"

The soldiers who defended the city were in chaos, and the gentry leading the army could not suppress them, so they ran away indiscriminately.

Acting magistrate Li Youlong arrived and asked in panic: "Have you ever caught a spy?"

"Caught!"

Wang Dai rushed over and chopped down Li Youlong with one knife.

Well, he wasn't hacked to death. The literati have little strength.

Li Youlong struggled to get up and shouted in horror: "Don't kill me, I am willing to be a thief, I...ah!"

Wang Dai slashed him with his sword again, but he still didn't kill him, so he could only quickly make up for it with a few more swords. He was so tired that his waist ached and his back ached, and he gasped: "Hurry and open the city gate!"

Historically, Wang Dai and Wang Shizhen were equally famous and were known as the "Three Wonders of Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting".

He suffered three massacres in Xiangtan, and his whole family was almost killed. He only escaped by hiding outside the city. Until he was in his fifties, Wang Dai was recruited by the Manchus. In his sixties, he served as the magistrate of Chenghai County. Chenghai County was also depopulated due to the killings, and there was only one Chenghuang Temple with strong incense in the whole county.

Wang Dai recruited refugees in Chenghai, opened up wasteland for reclamation, built dikes, restored markets, and set up charity warehouses to relieve the poor. Finally, he died in Chenghai with nothing to live on. The people cried bitterly and sent his coffin home.

So what if the officials in Manchu and Qing dynasties were in power?

He never massacred the rebels. He only became an official after the San Francisco Rebellion and actually saved countless people.

At this time, Wang Dai was less than twenty years old.

He led his soldiers to occupy the city gate. When Huang Yao led his troops over, he immediately stepped forward and bowed: "General, please send troops to maintain public order in the city and suppress those who take advantage of the fire!"

"Very good, you will lead the way!" Huang Yao praised.

Wang Dai first took Huang Yao to Ningxiang Lane to maintain law and order in the wealthy area. Then he called various merchants as guides and led Huang Yao's troops to various parts of the city to suppress the riots.

As for Wang Dai himself, he followed Huang Yao to occupy the county government.

Everything was done in an orderly manner, and Huang Yao and the missionary officers did not expend any effort.

At dawn, Huang Yao praised you and said: "You are very talented. Please work with me first. After the war, I recommend you to go to Ji'an. The town will definitely like you. Do you have a reputation?"

"Jiuren." Wang Dai replied.

"Very good, very good." Although Huang Yao himself was uneducated, he particularly admired knowledgeable people, as long as they did not harm the people.

Wang Dai proposed a plan and said: "Changsha and Xiangtan are both large commercial towns. If you besiege Changsha, you can shoot the book inside the city and explain the truth clearly. The merchants in the city will definitely be willing to act as internal correspondents."

"Why?" Huang Yao asked.

Wang Dai explained: "The longer our army besieges Changsha, the greater the losses for merchants."

Huang Yao shook his head and said: "Changsha has tens of thousands of defenders, and the merchants can't make waves. However, this strategy can also be used. It's not a bad thing to have a few more troops."

The two of them stopped talking about Changsha, and Huang Yao began to ask about the situation in Xiangtan.

While he was talking, a messenger suddenly came to report: "Huang Bingyuan, our army has captured Changsha!"

"What?"

Huang Yao and Wang Dai were both shocked and thought they had heard wrongly.

How could the fortified city of Changsha be so easy to defeat?