I

In early April, spring plowing ends.

Zhang Xianzhong has completed the army assembly and mobilization of grain and grass, and may attack central and northern Anhui at any time.

At this time, Li Zicheng was about to surround Beijing, and Emperor Chongzhen was planning to hang himself.

Wuxing Town, Huangjiacun, the place where Zhao Han started his rebellion.

A group of peasant soldiers came to Huang Shui's house: "Captain, I heard that other towns are sending troops, why is there no movement in our village and town?"

Huang Shui is a veteran with a missing ring finger and little finger on his left hand. He returned to his hometown to serve as an army captain and instructor. He held a bowl of porridge and said: "There are too many soldiers in Wuxing Town. In the early years of the war, peasants, soldiers and civilians were sent out every time. This time, the superiors have said that if we don't recruit from Wuxing Town, you will go home and be honest." go planting."

"Why don't we let people out of Wuxing Town?"

"That's right, when we Wuxing people fight, one of us can stand up to ten. We, the governor of Mr. Zhao's command, occupy half of Wuxing Town!"

"If we don't want Wuxing Town to send troops, let's go to the county to petition!"

"What is a petition?"

"You don't even know about petitions? Teacher Zhang in school said that a bunch of people go to the government and beg the government to agree to something, which is a petition."

"Okay, let's all petition!"

"..."

Huang Shui stood up suddenly and yelled: "Stop, everyone! Peasants and soldiers are also soldiers, and soldiers should obey military orders. What are the military orders now? Wuxing Town does not need to send troops, and there is no need to send out civilians. Everyone, go home. , if you can’t find anything to do, you’ll have to work hard every day with your mother-in-law in your arms, so that you can give Mr. Zhao a few more children and farm the land to pay for food!”

"Ha ha ha ha!"

This remark caused a burst of laughter.

Huang Shui added: "That Zhang Xianzhong is ignorant and doesn't grow food himself, so he comes to rob our food. If he conquers Anhui, he will come to Jiangxi to rob us. Are you willing to let him rob us?"

"Of course I'm not happy. Why should we give Zhang Xianzhong the food we grow ourselves?"

"Captain, that's why we should send troops to help Mr. Zhao kill that son of a bitch Zhang Xianzhong!"

"..."

"Shut up and listen to me," Huang Shui scolded, "The town chief and village chief have made it very clear that there is a severe drought in all provinces this year, and Mr. Zhao is also short of food to fight. Since Wuxing Town is not allowed to leave people, , then we should provide grain. Mr. Zhao will not let the farmers suffer. The grain bonds have interest, and you can get back more if you save them for a few years. The grain in my family will be used by the government to buy grain bonds, leaving only enough This year's ration."

Huang Shui held the porridge and said: "Think about it, go back ten years, what kind of life will we live? Can we afford white rice and white rice porridge? I will take the lead and only eat two meals a day from now on." , eat only thin food every meal. Eat more sweet potatoes, corns, and sorghum, save all the good food, and send it to Mr. Zhao to fight! If Mr. Zhao loses, no matter how much food is left at home, Zhang Xianzhong will still be killed. snatch it?"

"well said!"

"Listen to what the superiors say, let's not go to war and give all the food to Mr. Zhao!"

"What more interest is needed? The land at home was given by Mr. Zhao, and the food was donated to the government. As long as the family has enough to eat!"

"Let's go donate food!"

"..."

Regardless of whether Zhao Han calls himself Commander-in-Chief, Commander-in-Chief, or King of Wu, everyone in Wuxing Town likes to call him "Mr. Zhao."

Since Wuxing Town was involved in all the battles, not only were there many middle- and senior-level officers, but farmers, soldiers, and civilians were also given a lot of land. Using the above fields as the calculation standard, the average land output of ordinary people in Wuxing Town has reached six acres per person.

The fields in Wuxing Town are no longer enough. New territories are often established, and the peasants or peasants and soldiers stay there. Then they took their wives and children, redistributed the fields in the new place, and distributed the original fields to other meritorious deeds.

It can be said that they have a high level of ideological consciousness, or that they are an emerging interest group. Anyway, they regard Zhao Han as a Bodhisattva.

This is not only true for Wuxing Town, but also for the entire Luling County.

In the three early counties of Luling, Jishui, and Anfu, Zhao Han had many fanatical supporters. The per capita farmland in the three counties had exceeded five acres!

In order not to affect people's livelihood, but also to balance the army. This time in the land of three counties, very few manpower were mobilized, and Wuxing Town was not even allowed to send any more people.

but……

In Luling, Jishui and Anfu counties, farmers spontaneously launched vigorous food donation campaigns.

In front of the bank grain depot in Wuxing Town, a farmer held up a grain bond and shouted to everyone: "See, all the grain in my family has been donated. If Mr. Zhao wants grain, just give it to him, let alone the interest, the principal No need to pay back!"

After saying that, he tore up the bonds in public, then stuffed them directly into his mouth, swallowing them one by one.

"good!"

"I don't want any more food from my family. Let the villagers bear witness. Long live Mr. Zhao!"

"Count me in!"

"..."

Historically, Li Wen, who prepared a memorandum for Dorgon and invented the theory of "the Manchus avenge the Ming Dynasty", was serving as the mayor of Wuxing Town at this time.

Last year, my father was redeemed from prison, and the father and son returned to Jiangnan.

Li Wen's father went to do business, so Li Wen signed up as a reserve official. First he served as a minor official in Jiangnan, and this year he was promoted to Jiangxi.

Zhao Han had a special instruction for the children of wealthy families in Jiangnan and Zhejiang. Those who are willing to serve as officials should be transferred to Jiangxi as much as possible to let them feel the revolutionary enthusiasm and at the same time let them know the rules of being an official!

At this moment, Li Wen looked at the farmers competing to tear up the bonds, and finally fully understood why Zhao Han was able to grow stronger.

This is what makes people's hearts available.

This is what all people admire.

I am afraid that if Zhao Han gives an order, hundreds of thousands of farmers in Jiangxi will enthusiastically join the army and bring their own dry food to fight.

After finishing the daily work, Li Wen went back to the house and wrote a letter to her friend, feeling Zhao Han's personal prestige in Jiangxi. At the same time, he complained that the people in Wuxing Town refused to obey the discipline, and they all accepted death.

Li Wen didn't dare to embezzle at all, or even neglect her government. The people here are too horrible.

The literacy rate of children in Wuxing Town is even more terrifying. The literacy rate is close to 100% between the ages of seven and under 18. Even if it is placed in Zhao Han's territory, it is only this family, there is no other semicolon!

If the mayor dared to fool the people, a bunch of literate youngsters would immediately come to reason.

If the mayor dares to be unreasonable, hey, maybe that young man is the nephew of a certain general.

Li Wen felt that she didn't come to be an official, he came to be the grandson of the people of Wuxing Town.

Ship after ship of grain was transported to Hukou County for storage.

Numerous farmers, soldiers and civilian husbands were selected and sent out by the villages and towns. They went to the county to gather by themselves, and were sent to Hukou by boat by the county magistrate.

There were too many applicants. It was originally planned to recruit 20,000 peasants and soldiers each in Jiangxi and Hunan, and another 20,000 civilian husbands each. After reporting and asking for instructions, Zhao Han agreed to recruit 30,000 yuan each, and... many of the peasants were peasants and soldiers who signed up.

It can be said that only in Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, Zhao Han had 100,000 soldiers within a month!

Many people don't look like peasants, but they are peasants and soldiers when they hold weapons, and they really bring their own weapons.

High ideological awareness is one aspect, and another is to appreciate the land for meritorious service. The per capita land property of Wuxing Town is 6 mu, which has become a living example for the whole Jiangxi.

Jiang Dashan and Jiang Liang have squatted in Guangdong for the past two years, and have wiped out the bandits in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

By the way, he raised grass and beat rabbits. In the process of chasing down the bandits, he knocked down all the Wuzhou Mansions in Guangxi, and reported to his superiors to send officials to complete the division of land.

Now, a division stationed in Guangdong has nothing to do except defend Guangxi.

It is too troublesome to transfer troops from Guangdong to the north, but it is possible to mobilize officers.

Jiang Dashan was appointed as the commander of the Hunan peasants and soldiers, and Jiang Liang was appointed as the commander of the Jiangxi peasants and soldiers, and each took dozens of officers northward to take over the troops.

They arrived at their destination before the peasants and soldiers. One was training in Baling and the other was training in Hukou.

It is said to be training, but in fact it is to reorganize the troops and practice the cooperation of large corps by the way.

When these two were still training farmers and soldiers, Anhui was already fighting!

Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang attacked the Guangji and Huangmei areas.

Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi sent troops from Biyang to first occupy Zhenyang County, which belonged to Luo Rucai, and then went south to attack Zhao Han's Luoshan County.

Bai Wenxuan and Liu Wenxiu directly attacked Xinyang Prefecture, but were blocked at Pingjing Pass and Jiuli Pass and could not advance an inch.

Pingjingguan, one of the nine fortresses in the world during the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Sun Wu once led the Wu soldiers to break out of the pass, almost destroying the state of Chu.

This pass was originally occupied by Luo Rucai. After Luo Rucai fled, he was taken over by the Datong Army.

Bai Wenxuan led more than 10,000 people to attack, and the Datong soldiers stationed at the pass were only 500 regular soldiers, 500 peasant soldiers, and 500 civilian husbands.

Wufeng Mountain and Fenghuang Mountain stood facing each other, and Pingjingguan was located between the two peaks, which completely blocked Bai Wenxuan's entry channel.

"Boom boom boom!"

Porcelain is an enemy of ten thousand people, just like not needing money, as long as the enemy army gathers a little more, they will be thrown down one after another.

Bai Wenxuan was already confused by the bombing, but he could dispatch two or three thousand troops to go around from both sides across the mountains. But there may be a lot of deaths on the way, even if you can successfully climb over, it will take a month or two. After the past, there was no military rations. If you want not to starve to death, you must first rob the village.

After attacking continuously for half a month, Bai Wenxuan sent someone to question Liu Wenxiu, but Liu Wenxiu sent someone first.

"General, Jiuliguan can't be moved, can you move here?"

"You can beat a fart!"

In addition to these two checkpoints, you can also go east out of the Dabie Mountains in the south. However, there are a series of checkpoints such as Dacheng Pass, Baisha Pass, Muling Pass, Huangtu Pass and Hutou Pass.

There are an average of two barriers in each channel, one is occupied by Zhang Xianzhong, and the other is occupied by the Datong Army. The passage in the Dabie Mountains is not suitable for a large army to march. It is best to send thousands of partial divisions, but if thousands of partial divisions attack, Zhao Han can send hundreds of peasants and soldiers to defend it.

Zhang Xianzhong's central army was useless, it was blocked by the Dabie Mountains and the checkpoint.

The battle between the two sides depends on the South and North Route Army.

In mid-April, Chongzhen died.

Zhao Han took his own soldiers and went to support Guangji in person, where there were Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang.

The cavalry of Jeju Island also pulled a vote.