I

Zheng Zhi, Zheng Zha and his son were really scared this time and actually pulled the Taiyuan garrison back to Shenglong Mansion.

Taiyuan City of Annan Kingdom is located fifty miles due north of its capital. Like Lang Son, it is the northern barrier of Annan Kingdom.

The Lang Son garrison was defending Guangxi.

The Taiyuan garrison was defending Gaoping.

In the valley of Gaoping, there was a Mo family regime. The Zheng family and the Ruan family started by overthrowing the Mo family. The Mo family is still alive and has not been eliminated.

Historically, the Mo family first supported the Southern Ming Dynasty, then surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and then relied on Wu Sangui, and finally led to their own destruction.

Only five hundred soldiers were left to guard the city in Taiyuan, and the remaining more than a thousand garrison troops were all recalled to Shenglong Mansion by Zheng Zhi. As for whether the Mo family took the opportunity to invade, Zheng Zhi could no longer control that much. He had lost tens of thousands of troops in his previous expedition and was seriously lacking in troops.

It was precisely because of the civil war in Annam that the army in the hinterland was emptied out, and the Datong Army was unstoppable in Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.

After occupying Ngee An City, Yuan Shizhong sent hundreds of troops each to capture the nearby Anren (Nan'an) and Zhongyi (Yanzhou). In these cities, there are no regular troops from Annan, so local officials can be said to be indifferent.

After seizing the city, the Datong army did not leave anyone to defend it, directly hired local farmers, emptied the treasury and marched north.

The battle on Li Dingguo's side went more smoothly. The Datong Navy warships sailed outside Qinghua City and a burst of shelling solved the problem. The chief guard here turned out to be Zheng, a nephew of Zheng Zhi. He quickly surrendered when he saw the Datong army.

Yuan Shizhong led his troops on a naval warship, quickly joined forces with Li Dingguo, and occupied Nam Dinh City without any effort. This city is located on the bank of the Red River, only 180 miles away from Thang Long Palace.

Until this time, Zheng Jie finally completed the gathering of troops.

With the few thousand remnant soldiers left before, plus the Qinwang troops from all walks of life, Zheng Zhi actually raised more than 40,000 troops. However, more than 70% of them are Xiangyong, which is similar to the Ming Dynasty troupe that Zhao Han met in Jiangxi.

Zheng Zhen led his troops to station in Xing'an City, which was only 50 miles away from Li Dingguo.

If you want to attack Thang Long Palace from Nam Dinh, the fastest and most convenient route is to go up the Red River. Zheng Zhi's army is stuck on the road that must pass.

"Father, we must fight quickly, otherwise we will not have enough military rations." Zheng Zha reminded.

Zheng Jie said: "If the enemy troops don't attack, if we guard Nanding City by the river, how can we achieve a quick victory?"

Zheng Zha said: "But the military rations are really not enough."

Zheng Zhi ordered: "Take people to the countryside to collect food. The more food you collect, the better!"

Previously, there were more than 70,000 stones of rice grain in the treasury, and King Qin's troops from all walks of life came with more than 10,000 stones. But there were more than 40,000 soldiers, and each person only had more than 200 kilograms of food when divided evenly. They spent more than half a month gathering troops in Thang Long Mansion.

There is no oil or water, lack of protein, and no fruit snacks. Under such circumstances, an adult man can eat several kilograms of rice every day.

While Zheng Zhi sent his son to the countryside to collect grain, he also ordered the entire army to reduce their meals: the regular army only ate one pound of grain per day, and the rural warriors only ate 10 taels of grain per day.

Of course, nobles, generals, and gentry are not bound by this.

Take the father and son Li Shenzong and Li Zhenzong as examples. Although they are both puppet kings, their treatment must be guaranteed.

Zheng Jie was afraid that the royalist party would cause chaos, so he brought the puppet king and his son, and left the palace affairs to his daughter Zheng Yuzhu.

Zheng Jie's daughter, Zheng Yuzhu, was the wife of the Supreme Emperor Li Shenzong and the not-so-serious Queen Supreme.

It's not serious because Zheng Yuzhu was married and gave birth to four children.

At that time, the real queen died of illness. Zheng Zhi wanted to control the king through marriage, but he had no extra daughters. So, he imprisoned his son-in-law and asked his daughter to remarry the king with her four children.

In the army, the king's tent.

Li Shenzong and Li Zhenzong, father and son, ate and drank in silence, while the palace maids watching them stood beside them.

After drinking a pot of wine, Li Shenzong took the opportunity to become drunk and went crazy. He beat the palace maid after taking his job.

The palace maid was beaten and fled in panic. Li Shenzong quickly said: "Look for an opportunity to surrender to the Han and use the opportunity to restore the country!"

"But...Father, this matter may not be easy." Li Zhenzong was even more timid.

Li Shenzong was deposed and allowed his son to succeed him because he was disobedient and secretly caused trouble when Zheng Jie was defeated. This guy has always wanted to be in charge and will never miss any opportunity.

However, Li Zhenzong was frightened and had no bloodiness as a young man at all.

Li Shenzong roared in a low voice: "I have to do it even if it's not easy. Do you want to be a puppet for the rest of your life?"

If it were something else, Li Shenzong would still be able to endure it. Zheng Zhi asked him to marry a remarried woman with four children. This kind of insult was simply a slap in the face in front of the officials and people of the whole country.

The father and son said a few more words, and the palace maid, who was beaten and ran away, came back with a few officers.

When Li Shenzong heard the footsteps, he immediately put his arms around his son, holding up a wine bottle and pretending to be drunk: "Come... drink... there is wine today... today... get drunk..."

At night, Li Zhenzong lay alone in the king's tent, tossing and turning, always unable to sleep.

All his sons died in infancy. Although the imperial doctor said they died of illness, he suspected that they were poisoned by Zheng Jie. In fact, he was overthinking it. If he died without children, Zheng Jie would have to bring his father back to reset him. .

The death of several sons one after another has frightened Li Zhenzong to death, and now everyone thinks they want to harm him.

Li Zhenzong hoped that the Han soldiers would come over quickly and kill everyone in the Zheng family. As for who will be the king in the future, Li Zhenzong doesn't care about it. It is best for the Han soldiers to annex Annan and then make him the Duke of Anle, so that he can live in peace for the rest of his life.

…

Xing'an, countryside.

Zheng Zha sent out thousands of troops and went around to collect grain.

The so-called grain requisition means that county and commune (similar to town and village) officials and their petty officials force the people to hand over grain. If any village or town does not have enough food, the army will be dispatched immediately, and they will be burned, killed, and looted.

At the same time, those troops went straight to the houses of the big landowners, because the local officials could not conquer there.

"Master, my family is really out of food. This is our life-saving food!" A farmer hugged the soldier's thigh, while his wife, son and daughter cried bitterly in the house.

The soldier kicked the peasant away: "If you don't have food, go to the landlord's house to borrow it!"

After the farmer fell down, he climbed over and kowtowed: "Where can I borrow money? Last year's rent has not been paid in full."

The soldier smiled and said, "You also have a daughter. If you sell her, you will get food."

After this group of soldiers robbed one house, they immediately went to the next one.

As for the landowners, they can't escape either. It's fine if they obey and pay the grain, but if they don't obey, they break in and their wives and daughters may be humiliated by the soldiers.

Such behavior is perfectly normal.

At that time, the Annan Mo Dynasty continued to expropriate grain from landlords and farmers because of successive wars, which eventually led to continuous uprisings across the country. The Zheng family and the Ruan family took the opportunity to lead a peasant uprising army to overthrow the Mo family's rule with the support of the gentry.

It is twenty miles west of Xing'an and twenty-five miles north of Nanding.

Gan family.

The Gan family belongs to a local prominent family. Although it is very close to the capital, it has never produced many high officials. Because the Annam court was controlled by Thanh Hoa and Nghe An nobles, they joined forces to squeeze out the gentry from other places.

"Father, we were forced to requisition 800 shi of millet today. There is not much food left at home," Gan Shoudao said angrily. "If we continue to fight, the officers and soldiers will definitely come again, and everyone in the Gan family will starve to death!"

Gan Yu sighed: "What else can I do?"

Gan Shoudao continued: "Those Thanh Hoa nobles are becoming more and more arrogant. In Hung Yen City, there are many people from Thanh Hoa and Nghe An as officials, and they exploit the people as soon as they arrive. Even the landlords are forced to break up. The family is selling their land. Sooner or later, this Xing'an Prefecture will be completely occupied by outsiders!"

"What exactly do you want to say?" Gan Yu asked.

Gan Shoudao said: "It's better to surrender to the Han army and get back everything you lost! The Zheng family just suffered a huge defeat and tens of thousands of troops were lost. Now Thanh Hoa and Nghe An have been lost again. They don't even have enough food to feed their troops. Where can they fight? Can you defeat the Han soldiers?"

Gan Yu worriedly said: "What if the Han soldiers lose? The Zheng family will settle accounts after the fall, which will destroy the family!"

Gan Shoudao said: "If this continues, sooner or later our family will be ruined!"

The Zheng regime had a standing military strength of 56,500.

Among them, 5,000 people guarded the king, 6,000 people guarded Lord Zheng, 30,000 people were distributed in various places, more than 10,000 people were stationed in Ngee An and major Bu Zhengzhou, and the remaining more than 4,000 people were stationed in Thanh Hoa.

This shows how important Nghe An and Thanh Hoa are. There are usually more troops stationed there than frontier defenders.

Under normal circumstances, they had to attack by force, but the Datong Army took advantage of the loophole. Zheng Jie took the soldiers and horses of both places out to fight, and they were completely defeated and almost lost.

And the Zheng family's territory has a total population of only 3 million, and it has to support more than 50,000 standing troops. You can imagine how heavy the taxation will be.

What's even more ridiculous is that he also has to support the royal family and Lord Zheng.

The annual income of the Annan royal family is one thousand villages (one thousand villages), accounting for one-eighth of the country's total. Lord Zheng's Tang Muyi also had close to a thousand communities, accounting for one-eighth of the country's total. There is also support from the clan, which accounts for about one-twentieth of the country.

One-third of the land tax in the country is used to support these people, and the rest can go into the national treasury to support soldiers and officials.

The people of Annan, who have two crops a year and three crops a year, cannot withstand such exploitation. Even the landlords have little surplus food.

By the way, Lord Zheng’s thousand villages, Tangmuyi, are all located in Thanh Hoa.

Zheng Jie's old mansion has been confiscated by Li Dingguo!

Gan Shoudao took his family slaves and rushed to the other side of the river in Nanding City day and night. There was Yuan Shizhong's military camp by the river, and Li Dingguo led his troops to station in the city.

Gan Shoudao was caught as a spy. After crying, he was taken to see Li Dingguo.

"General, help me!" Gan Shoudao knelt down.

Li Dingguo asked: "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Gan Shoudao replied: "The grassroots are the people of Xing'an Prefecture. The Zheng family is cruel and unethical. They plunder the people's rations to use as military supplies. If they resist at the slightest moment, they will destroy their families and wipe out their families. Please send troops quickly to save thousands of people from the fire." !”

Of course Li Dingguo sent spies out, and he also knew that Zheng Zhi was sending troops to plunder the people.

But, just by looking at Gan Shoudao's clothes, you can tell that he is a landlord. Being able to force the landlords to surrender to the enemy shows that Zheng has lost the support of the people and the time is ripe for a decisive battle.

Li Dingguo asked Gan Shoudao to stay as a guide, and then ordered: "Mount the troops tomorrow and distribute food to the people along the way!"

The Datong army was not short of food. Zheng Zhi's hometown of Qinghua collected one-eighth of the country's land tax every year. Except for those transported to Thang Long Palace and those engaged in grain business, the rest of the grain is piled in the warehouse.

What's even more funny is that most of the four thousand Annan officers and soldiers stationed in Qinghua are usually outside the city guarding the granary for Zheng Zhe.

The food there was all cheaper than Li Dingguo's.