Chapter 184 Armed Fight

On the fifth day of the fifth month of the third year of Chongzhen, Weizhou led his army back to Jinping County.

Walking at the front of the team were the guards headed by Tian Shengyuan. As a team officer, he rode in the middle of the team. This team of guards acted as scouts for the entire army, choosing roads for the large team, exploring the enemy situation, and taking precautions before it happens.

In May, the weather gradually began to get a little hot. After a long march, everyone's head and body were sweating, and their faces were red from the sun. In order to replenish water, the soldiers in the army kept picking up the kettle and pouring clear water into their mouths to cool down.

The scouts at the front of the march looked back in the direction of the team, and saw a dense crowd of heads, mixed in the team of carriages and horses, which seemed bustling and lively.

Riding in the team, with the bugle chief and guards following closely beside him, Weizhou felt like he was standing in front of the pass, staring with his sword across his waist, but he didn't have this feeling when he was studying before.

Standing on the horse with his sword across his waist, the generals come first!

After this trip, not only did they sell all the goods of the "Qin and Han Merchants", including salt, cotton cloth, swords and spears, in exchange for a lot of gold and silver, but they also got a discount from various places for goods, or from the thieves' nests, anyway, they gained nearly 30,000 people.

Nowadays, there is a trend of resistance to grain and tax everywhere in Lingnan. The earliest and most energetic and brave people in the anti-tax and anti-grain activities are often the lumpen proletariat. Once these people attack the village, how can they be polite?

Money, grain, women, livestock and clothes were all swept away, and they enjoyed themselves to their heart's content. What was left was a ruin and thousands or tens of thousands of homeless people.

These homeless people either became new blood in the anti-grain and anti-tax team, or continued to wander and become refugees between states and counties. In short, they are all social instability factors.

Even worse, they were captured by bandits who were threatening to resist the grain harvest. Young women were used to solve their physiological problems, the old and weak were tortured, and the young and strong became cannon fodder for the next battle. Their methods improved rapidly during the months of wandering.

Weizhou had seen this situation several times, and they were rescued when they encountered those blind bandits blocking the road along the way.

When these rescued people learned that these strong and brave uncles came from the legendary Keelung, they naturally joined the marching team without mobilization, and more and more of them.

This is how these 30,000 people came!

Looking at the innocent people in the team who were talking and laughing, and who were happy from time to time, and who had the courage and hope to live again, think about the scene when they were accepted that day. They were all ragged, and their clothes were torn like sacks, barely enough to cover their bodies.

Some women and children have completely lost touch with the concept of clothes. They only have a few pieces of cloth covering their vital parts, and large areas of their bodies are exposed.

The word shame has completely disappeared from their minds. There is only numbness, or indifference, or a dead look in their eyes.

After accepting them, Weizhou immediately clenched his fist and swore: "It is my duty to protect them!"

"Sir!" Battalion officer Zhou Di rode his horse to catch up with Weizhou's horse, and the two rode side by side.

"I just checked and found that among these 30,000 people, there are about 10,000 young and strong. Before we set off, didn't the lord order us to recruit soldiers on the spot? This is what I thought. When we return to Jinping County, we will send these people to the big island to rest for a while. Then we will ship the old and weak back to Keelung, and intercept the young and strong, and select some people to enrich our team."

"I know, just do it!"

"Yes! I dare to issue a military order. As long as I give you three months, at most half a year, these young and strong will become a strong army again!"

"Okay! I will give you three months to train 5,000 soldiers for me. I can't afford more, hahaha!"

The two chatted and laughed for a while, and in a blink of an eye they entered Jinping County.

"Sir! Officer Tian, ​​the scout, asks for instructions on how we should march? Should we go around the county town and cross the Shawan River to the south?"

"Then tell Officer Tian to cross the south and go south, don't take a detour!"

After riding across the Shawan River, Weizhou keenly felt that the atmosphere was not right, and an indescribable strange feeling filled his heart.

"Go and tell Tian Shengyuan to be careful!" Weizhou stood on his horse. Weizhou still believed in this sixth sense.

The Shawan River seemed to separate two worlds.

North of the Shawan River, the farmer who was busy watering and weeding in the fields saw a horse team passing by, and immediately led the cow and carried the plow without looking back and ran to the village quickly, leaving behind a few pairs of straw sandals and the wide-brimmed black-topped bamboo hats that the Hakka people like to wear.

The south of the river was a different scene. There were almost no farmers and women busy with summer plowing in the fields. This season is not the busy autumn season, but it does not allow farmers to be so idle.

If you do not farm in the summer, you will suffer in the autumn harvest. The wheat worms in the fields will bite most of the roots in the rice fields.

As Tian Shengyuan's small horse team entered, flags were raised on the villages along the way, and suddenly a loud gong sounded to announce something.

As the gong sounded, countless young and strong men in the surrounding villages rushed to the village wall with swords and guns in their hands, watching the arrival of this group of uninvited guests with hatred.

"No, no!"

Tian Shengyuan hurriedly called the two captains around him and assigned them tasks.

"Someone must be trying to harm us! Take your people to the beach and find a way to cross the sea to the big island. There is our military camp there. Ask them to send a boat to the beach to meet us! The gunboat must come!"

The commander took the order and rode away with his men.

"You, hurry up and report to Mr. Weizhou and ask him to supervise the team and cross the river quickly to pass through the besieged area. Otherwise, things may change if you wait too long!"

........

When Liu Wendou and Kong Yijie, the guests of honor, were enjoying Zhejiang Mingqian tea in their mansion, a piece of bad news spread like wildfire!

The moment he received the document from the local policeman, County Magistrate Liu almost peed his pants.

"How many people must have died?!"

Seeing Liu Wendou's body shaking like an autumn leaf in the wind and rain, Master Kong Yijie knew that something big must have happened!

This is not the first time Kong Yijie has experienced what happened in the letter.

In this area of ​​Lingnan, it is quite normal for locals to fight with each other. They often contact each other's villages, make friends, and bring relatives and clans together. Hundreds or thousands of people are often dispatched.

Once the old production tools such as hoes, hatchets, and sickles are turned into weapons for fighting, their lethality is also amazing. The damage caused is not small, and dozens of people have to be killed or injured every time.

Of course, it is nothing compared to the big battles in Lingxi that often involve tens of thousands of people!