Chapter 295 The Battle in Yangzhou! (Part 1)
"Is that...is it true?"
Tang Fang is still a little shocked until now.
He had indeed never seen the army going south, nor did he know whether the 100,000 troops were of the same status.
But intuitively speaking, there is no need for the peasant army in Xuzhou Prefecture to lie to him.
What Zhang Peng thought in his heart was far heavier than what he showed at this moment.
But he knew that the more critical the time, the more calm he had to behave.
First of all, he cannot act panic in front of his subordinates and cannot sow the seeds of fear in his side in advance.
This is the reason why we despise the enemy strategically and attach importance to the enemy tactically.
Zhang Peng then said, "But we can't take it lightly, this battle has officially begun."
"It depends on whether we can withstand the pressure of this army."
The two armies fought and the bayonets turned red.
Apart from a real battle, Zhang Peng had no better way.
"I inform you and let the commanders of the Jiangnan prefectures be ready for battle."
"Landlords and gentry from all over the country should also actively organize local farmers to form troops and prevent the army from moving south!"
"The governments should also keep in touch, be prepared at any time, and rush to other prefectures."
"Also, immediately let the commander of Jiangnan Capital Cao Lei lead the troops to Nanjing."
"Nanjing is the top priority and must not be lost!"
Zhang Peng made several orders in one breath, all of which were mainly defense and never thought of taking the initiative.
Tang Fang hurriedly accepted the order: "Yes, Lord Zhang!"
Afterwards, Tang Jian left Zhang Peng's mansion and brought Zhang Peng's orders to others.
After coming out of Zhang Peng's mansion, Tang Fang's mood relaxed a lot.
Seeing Zhang Peng acting so calmly and confidently, it seemed that his mood also became relaxed.
Lord Zhang Peng is so calm, I guess he has already prepared a strategy to deal with it?
Thinking of this, Tang Fang's originally desperate heart also rekindled a glimmer of hope.
But Zhang Peng's calmness did not last long.
As news about the front line was continuously transmitted back to Nanjing, Zhang Peng's heart became heavier and heavier.
"Report! Lord Shangshu, the imperial army has already arrived at Xuzhou Prefecture. There are too many people in them. We don't know how many troops have come!"
"Report! Lord Shangshu, the four major families of Xuzhou Prefecture organized 40,000 peasant militias to stand in front of Xuzhou Prefecture. If the imperial army wants to enter Xuzhou Prefecture, it must attack the people!"
"Report! Lord Shangshu, the army of the court has really taken action! They killed hundreds of peasant soldiers, and the other peasant soldiers ran away!"
"Report! Lord Shangshu, the army of the imperial court has entered Xuzhou Prefecture City. Cui Zhu, the commander of Xuzhou Prefecture, was arrested, the four major families were exterminated, and other landlords and gentry of Xuzhou Prefecture, large and small, were also arrested by the men of the Xichang!"
"Sir Shangshu, the army of the court is heading towards Yangzhou!"
"Sir Shangshu, what should we do!"
Yangzhou Prefecture is one of the core prefectures in Jiangnan. There are countless gentry in Yangzhou City and wealthy businessmen are everywhere.
If Yangzhou Prefecture was simply captured like Xuzhou Prefecture, it would be a huge blow to the entire Jiangnan.
Inside the Nanjing Military Affairs Office, Zhang Peng's face was as deep as water.
After hearing this continuous information, he realized that the difference between these garrison soldiers and peasant soldiers in Jiangnan and the elite army of the imperial court was really not a little worse.
The gap in military strength between the two sides cannot be reflected in the simple number of people.
Under the pressure of the imperial army, Xuzhou Prefecture was attacked into the prefecture without even holding on for half an hour.
Even the Western Factory men killed the four major families for a long time than the army entered the city.
But just after Zhang Peng heard the news that the imperial army had attacked the peasant army, his expression suddenly became extremely serious and nervous.
"Has the army from the court really taken action against those peasants?"
The school that came to report quickly said, "Of course, hundreds of people died! All the people in Xuzhou have seen it and know about this!"
"Now the people of Xuzhou are hiding at home and not daring to go out, just for fear of being caught by those people!"
After Zhang Peng frowned and pondered for a while, a ferocious sneer suddenly appeared on his face.
"It's a good fight, it's a great fight!"
"You dare to offend the world and attack the people. This is really God helping me!"
Zhang Peng stood up excitedly and kept walking back and forth.
"Hurry, let someone spread this matter immediately and spread it all over the south of the Yangtze River."
"We must let the people in Jiangnan know in the shortest time that the army from the court attacked the people and beat many people to death!"
"In order to survive, the peasant army can only work with us to fight against the army from the court."
"Then use the fastest speed to let the commanders of Huai'an Prefecture, Luzhou Prefecture, Anqing Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture and other places around Yangzhou Prefecture lead their garrison troops to help Yangzhou!"
"Yes, Lord Shangshu!"
After receiving the order, the officialdom in Nanjing also started to operate in an orderly manner, executing Zhang Peng's orders.
Sometimes, the speed of message delivery is amazing, especially in rural areas.
Before Zhang Peng could arrange for the people to spread the news, the people of several prefectures near Xuzhou Prefecture all knew what happened that day.
"Have you heard it? The day before yesterday, people died in Xuzhou. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers chased the farmers in Xuzhou, and hundreds of people were killed on the spot!"
"How could I not know about such a big thing? I heard that those people were beaten so badly, and their brains were all out."
"Why are there hundreds of people? I heard that those officers and soldiers killed crazy in Xuzhou, and thousands of people died!"
"Yes! I heard that all the big landlords in Xuzhou have been killed, and all the small landlords have been arrested and ready to be killed at any time. The officers and soldiers are still searching for the farmers, saying that they want to kill all the people in Xuzhou!"
"It's so scary. No one in Xuzhou dares to go out to work now. My third uncle is from Xuzhou. He is still hiding in our house and dares not return to Xuzhou!"
“…”
In a field in Yangzhou Prefecture, several farmers who had worked in the field for a morning were sitting on the ridge of the field and chatting.
The topic is naturally about the free fighting sport in Xuzhou Prefecture a few days ago.
Of course, the incident that day had become demonized by the word of mouth among these people.
I saw these working-level farmers, all frowning, frowning, and sighing constantly.
At this moment, a rich peasant named Dai Qingniu ran towards them.
"Why are you still here? Mr. Dai is at the entrance of Daijiazui Village, convening everyone for a meeting!"
"Why are you hiding here for a while? Why don't you go quickly?!"
Dai Qingniu was scolded viciously, and these people did not dare to complain. They just nodded and bowed, and apologized with a wry smile: "Yes, yes, the young one will go, go here..." These people were driven to Dai's family from the field like animals.
Daijiazui is the largest village nearby, and more than 90% of the people in the entire village have a surname Dai.
The Master Dai mentioned in Dai Qingniu is the largest landlord in Daijiazui. He owns more than 70% of the land near Daijiazui, and has more than 10,000 mu of fertile land.
Although it is not a wealthy family like the four major families in Xuzhou, it is also a wealthy middle-class landlord.
If you are caught by the Western Factory, you will be cut off by a knife.
When these farmers arrived at Daijiazui, the dam at the entrance of Daijiazui was full of Daijiazui villagers.
These people were all young and strong men. They stared at a middle-aged man standing on the stone in front of them.
This middle-aged man is Master Dai.
Mr. Dai looked excited and was dancing and saying something.
After getting closer, they could hear clearly what Mr. Dai said.
"Your Majesty is not kind, treats all things as straw dogs!"
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"Your Majesty pressed us step by step. Before, we checked our land and levyed more taxes on us. This time, we beat us directly and attacked us!"
"Your Majesty is not leaving us a little way out. Can we continue to endure it like this?!"
After Mr. Dai finished speaking, there were very few responders, and Mr. Dai felt a little embarrassed.
He coughed twice and continued, "I heard that these officers and soldiers from the court were extremely ruthless. Even you unarmed people would still be able to fight!"
"That day outside Xuzhou Prefecture, there were five or six thousand people in Xuzhou who were beaten to death on the spot!"
"Then the officers and soldiers came to investigate, and tens of thousands of people were taken away and thousands of people were killed!"
"These are all ordinary people of the Ming Dynasty like you and me!"
"These officers and soldiers can attack the people of Xuzhou. Do you think they will not attack us?!"
"Do you think you are just slaughtered like pigs and dogs by the officers and soldiers of the court?!"
This time, Mr. Dai's words finally had some effect.
Some of the villagers standing around whispered: "We live well here, but we have not caused any trouble or made any mistakes. Why do the officers and soldiers of the court attack us!"
After hearing this, Mr. Dai looked happy instead of angry and slapped his face suddenly: "Good question! Why?!"
Mr. Dai's face was filled with sneer: "It's because of you, everyone has the land to grow!"
"You must be clear that almost all the land you plant now belongs to my family!"
"You only have to pay me some rent every year, and the remaining food is yours. You don't have to hand over a bucket of food to the court!"
As Mr. Dai said, he stretched out his right hand, pinched it with his index finger and thumb, and compared it with a "some" gesture.
"But now, the court wants to investigate the land in the world. When the court knows that you never pay taxes for farming, what do you think the court will deal with you?!"
"First of all, we have to pay the tax grain? After the supplementary grain, from now on, in addition to paying me the rent, the food you planted will also pay a tax grain to the court."
"The amount of taxed grain is gone."
"Do you think that after you paid my tenant rent and the tax grain from the court, can the remaining grain still support your family?!"
Mr. Dai's words were like a revelation, which made these ignorant people suddenly enlightened.
"So that's the case. The court is so bad!"
"That's it! That's it! In this way, His Majesty the Emperor doesn't want to give us any way to live!"
"This doesn't work. We also want to live, and we also want the common people to have enough food and clothing!"
“…”
After the policies formulated by Zhu Youzhang were put to the grassroots level, after these local landlords and gentry misinterpreted the slander, they were already completely different from their original purpose.
In order to win over the local people to support them, these landlords and gentry could make up all the outrageous lies.
Before in Puzhou, it was said that Your Majesty wanted to take back the local land.
This time in Xuzhou, it is said that Your Majesty will impose taxes on their land.
No matter what the reason is written, the purpose is the same, that is, muddy the water.
Let the ignorant people not be able to distinguish the truth.
The villagers in Daijiazui began to be filled with righteous indignation, and their curses were full of dissatisfaction with the court.
The villagers' reactions were all expected by Mr. Dai.
Mr. Dai did not rush to say it, but waited for the villagers' dissatisfaction to brew, accumulate, and vent some of it before continuing to speak.
"It's not just that simple. Have you done anything you've done before when you attack the county government?"
"Don't you know that the crime of beheading the head when attacking the county government is to attack the county government?!"
After Mr. Dai finished speaking, the villagers present were shocked.
They were one or two, all staring at Master Dai in disbelief.
Because on the same day that the county government in Pei County, Xuzhou Prefecture was attacked, these people also attacked the county government government of the local magistrate under the organization of Master Dai.
Fortunately, the magistrate of their county was not beaten to death by them.
One of the villagers stared at Master Dai and said carefully: "But...but wasn't Master at that time, you... asked us to go?"
"I ask you to go, you really go?!"
Mr. Huang sneered: "Besides, you just say, are you going, or haven't?!"
"I tell you that the person who was beaten to death by the officers and soldiers in Xuzhou a few days ago was the one who attacked the county and county government offices at that time!"
"When those officers and soldiers come to Xuzhou, you who have attacked the county government will be dead!"
"If you don't want to resist, go home honestly and wash your necks and wait for the officers and soldiers to come to chop!"
Mr. Dai's words finally worked.
Now, the villagers of Daijiazui were in panic.
"Ah! This...what should I do this! Master Dai, you can't stand by death and refuse to save me!"
"The impact on the county government is what Master Dai asked us to do. Now something is wrong, you can't ignore us!"
"Yes, Mr. Dai! You are so good, think of a way to save us!"
“…”
These landlords and gentry used such despicable means to coax and deceive the people, allowing the people to board their pirate ship.
At this moment, Mr. Dai showed an unaware smile on the corner of his mouth.
(This chapter ends)