Infinite Brilliant Scroll

Chapter 261
Those so-called rogue old men and healthy women, old and women, these two points are not wrong.

But if you want to say healthy characters, it really can't be called.

The old man has big hands and feet, but his body is shriveled, his skin is full of folds, and under the coarse cloth clothes full of patches and tears, he has a timid figure.

And those women, even from the time they were threatened, have been choking and staggering a little. The only thing that can be called tough is probably the fingers that tightly clasped the small sack of rice.

Gao Tuoshan frowned, glanced at the size of those rice bags, and then looked at the sallow faces of these people who obviously hadn't had enough to eat for a long time, and then scolded those soldiers.

"Have you forgotten the military regulations? Besides, the rice fell into the stomach of the soldier, how many people are enough to eat?!"

The few soldiers were scolded and dared not speak. Gaotuoshan looked at the people in the small town, trying to calm down with the gentle tone he had seen in Liangshan, but he was a little upset, so he just waved his hand. Tell them to go back.

He sent people to find out several big households in the city and find out what other towns are nearby. There will not be too many soldiers and horses stationed, and there will be a certain number of wealthy families living together.

This time when they were on the road, they rushed even faster. However, after passing through two towns, the scene they saw was similar to this side. Seeing that the sky was getting dark and there was no delay, they returned to the waterway boats.

The rebel army under Gaotuoshan is almost all sailors. Since the rise of the rebels, they have confronted the officers and soldiers several times. If they have some advantages, they must first seize the ships. Accumulated, there are already hundreds of large and small ships.

Although there are no big wind-fixing ships, there are fifteen large ships that are thirty feet long.

Among the rebel armies in the world, excluding Liangshan, it can be said that they are the most powerful in terms of water power.

Lin Chong was on one of the main ships, and when he saw Gaotuo Mountain coming back, he immediately stepped forward to greet him.

"Have you found any food?"

Gao Tuoshan shook his head and described the situation he encountered.

After Lin Chong heard this, the more he thought about it, the more wrong he became. He dragged Gaotuo Mountain to a secluded place on the deck, and said, "In your opinion, is this a plan made by the troops stationed near us alone, or the entire Jiangnan, Are you using this method now?"

Gao Tuoshan frowned: "I have been thinking about it for a long time on the way, and I am still not sure. If it is true that all the soldiers and horses of the imperial court do this, it will be a great disadvantage to us, but why would they really do this? Isn't it too ridiculous?"

Naturally, the common people at the bottom do not have the same heart and mind as the current Great Song Dynasty court. However, the wealthy families from all over the world definitely have the heart to protect the court. They are "family members" who wear a pair of trousers.

How can there be a way of looting one's own family first when fighting a war, so that the enemy has nowhere to rob?
"Ugh!!"

Lin Chong sighed, "But the facts are in front of us, I'm afraid they will really do such a thing, besides, now that the emperor has transferred elite troops from the frontier to come back, he has recruited private soldiers from all over the country, and mixed them all in. He really snatched those people's food first, ransacked them wantonly, and if those family leaders knew about it, he would definitely only dare to be angry and dare not speak out, and he would not be able to cause any trouble."

Gao Tuoshan said: "But after a long time, it will definitely have an impact on their military strength. Besides, I heard that the method of imperial luck and the like is all about paying attention to the support of the army and the subjects. Let the powerful families under him hate him too. The emperor's method should not last long."

He cheered up and said with a smile to Lin Chong, "We still have some food on board, and Jiangnan is a land of fish and rice in the world. Now this season is when fish schools from all over the world are swimming, and the fish meat is plump. It is not difficult at all to survive this period of time. "

Lin Chong nodded: "I hope so."

They ate some boiled fish, and in the middle of the night, they received an order from someone from Liangshan, instructing them not to expect extravagant results in the near future, but to focus on self-preservation, try to approach Jingdong and Kaifeng from the south of the Yangtze River, and join the rebels from all walks of life , gather together.

Two days later, Shi Xiu went light and easy again, and brought only a dozen elite soldiers, day and night, crossing mountains and ridges, wading across rivers and rivers, to join Lin Chong and the others.

"The Jiedu envoys from all over the country who originally fought against the rebels are still entangled, but the places where the new four-way army is located by the imperial court have indeed begun to seize their homes and seize food first. Shisheng from Liangzhe, Qiongying and Lu Junyi from Daming Mansion, There is also the Guangnan Rebels, all of them are not feeling well now."

Shi Xiu brought a big bad news, but also some good news.

"The troops gathered by Tong Guan, Gao Qiu, Zhu Yu and others are now facing the troops led by Han Shizhong and others, and they will soon be powerless to stop us!"

"When those mobs are cut apart and they are no longer a threat, Liangshan's reinforcements will reach the west of Beijing to meet the rebels from all sides."

In other words, as long as Gaotuoshan and the others can withdraw from Jiangnan to Jingxi Road, they will be considered a success.

Compared with the originally planned retreat route near Jingdong East Road, there are thousands of miles of winding waterways missing at once. After the news spread, all the people under Gaotuoshan couldn't help cheering.

But at this moment, some watchmen rushed to report that officers and men's ships appeared in the direction of their fleet.

Gao Tuo Shan was about to order someone to turn the bow of the boat, when he suddenly reached out and caught a feathered arrow, the shaft of the arrow and his palm wiped out a burning smell.

The next moment, the shaft of the arrow was shattered into powder with sparks, but the arrow was still shooting forward and was pinched by Shi Xiu.

In the sky, there was a hiss of arrows.

Gaotuo Mountain looked from a distance, and saw a handsome general with a jade belt and a red-tasseled helmet, holding a bow in his hand, standing on the bow of the officers and soldiers.

"It's Huarong again!"

He shouted, "The army from the rear has changed to the army from the front, our warships are broken, retreat!"

Frontier soldiers are good at shooting, although there are very few who can shoot as far as Huarong, but they only chased for less than a quarter of an hour, and some ships behind the rebel army have already entered the range.

The rain of arrows fell like locusts, densely nailed to the deck of the warship.

This is why Gaotuoshan wants to break the warship.

If it was a small boat, it would disintegrate on the spot if it was hit by more than a dozen arrows, and none of the soldiers on board could survive. But this kind of large boat was captured from the officers and soldiers, so it was not easy to be shot down.

During the previous fights, the big ship where Gao Tuoshan was on had turned into a hedgehog more than once, but after pulling out the arrows to check, most of the deck hulls were just a few more nicks, which were not enough to penetrate.

The only thing to watch out for is shelling.

The fleets of both sides chased closer and closer, and after a lot of fighting, Mount Gaotuo escaped again by relying on the complicated waterways.

Jiangnan is known as the water town of Zeguo.

The two major water systems of the Qiantang River and the Yangtze River are densely covered with countless waterways and lakes, and canals connect the two major water systems.

The entire land of the south of the Yangtze River is like the queen mother in an ancient myth who dropped a jewelry box. The colorful beads are scattered here, with countless forks and turns.

The fleet of Gaotuo Mountain is here to deal with the navy of the officers and soldiers, thanks to such a natural terrain, it is a pity that the officers and soldiers are divided into multiple routes, and the elite frontier troops and local soldiers and horses appear in turn, chasing and intercepting the rebels again and again. Deviating from the original intended retreat route.

In the blink of an eye, more than a month has passed.

Gaotuo Mountain often sends people ashore quietly to collect information, and there are regular battle reports from Liangshan Mountain.

For more than a month, the rebel armies everywhere have fallen into decline. Even if they were ordered to retreat and shrink their strength, it was extremely difficult to actually implement it. So far, no army has successfully withdrawn to the destination.

It is said that on the side of Xichuan Road, some rebels have been forced into the deep mountains and ancient forests, and there has been no news for a long time.

The news of Han Shizhong's success spread more and more frequently. It seemed that tomorrow they could completely defeat Zhu Man and the others, and sent troops to rescue the rebels everywhere. However, the morale of Gaotuoshan's subordinates was getting lower and lower.

They fought again and again, and where the fleet passed, they could catch fewer and fewer fish. Those landlords and wealthy families were preemptively robbed of food and ransacked their homes. The people sent out by Mount Gaotuo were disappointed again and again. However, several times he even took the risk of taking the elites to go hundreds of miles away to check, but they were still in vain.

No matter how many good news there are from Liangshan, they still haven't changed their situation immediately.

"No looting, then we can borrow some food."

Recently, when the fleet occasionally had time to recuperate, there were more and more such voices, and they whispered to each other.

"At worst, let the general write an IOU for them."

"That's right, ask them to borrow some food. If we call back in the future, we can find out where there are IOUs, and we can return them. This is not a violation of military regulations."

"Then how do we borrow it? Will they borrow it?"

"With so many of us, do they dare not borrow it?!"

Even gradually, some people have dared to go to Mount Gaotuo and Lin Chong to say these words in a roundabout way.

"We promise not to borrow all of them. They are starving, but they can still survive. Anyway, they are used to being hungry. But the brothers on the ship can't go hungry. How can they fight when they are hungry?"

Every time at this time, Shi Xiu always stood up and spoke to them first.

"Hold on a little longer."

Shi Xiu persuaded, "It won't be long, I have received definite news, at most five days, Liangshan can send troops to support us, bring some food to meet us."

They were dissuaded, but they still sighed and muttered.

"Even if there is support, who knows if they will support us first?"

………………

"It's almost unbearable."

The emperor was in the barracks, and when he received the emergency call for help from Zhu Qian and Tong Guan, he put it aside indifferently.

Based on his understanding of Zhu Xi, Gao Qiu and others, in the memorials they submitted to the emperor, they had already disregarded the rules and regulations, obviously they were really driven to a desperate situation.

Next, even if Gao Lian led those mixed troops to surrender directly to Liangshan, it would not be a surprise.

But even if they surrendered, there is no need to worry about the mob. After all, they are just mobs. They just rely on the number of people to hinder Liangshan's hands and feet. After the defeat in front of Liangshan, these people will only become more useless.

If Liangshan killed all the surrendered soldiers, there would be no gain. If he accepted the surrender and drove these people to serve as cannon fodder on the battlefield, then when they encountered the elite of the frontier army, they would definitely panic to the point of disturbing Liangshan. It's just a foothold.

To put it bluntly, these people have been used up, and what the emperor is paying attention to now is those rebels who are also about to fail.

After the rebels from all over the place can't hold on, no matter what the name is, they will actually rob the poor. After that, it will be the good show that the emperor is looking forward to.

The other rebels have already violated Liang Shan's own military regulations, so should we let them go first for the sake of the overall situation?

Even if Liang Shan let them go, what would the leaders of the rebel army think?
The scariest thing since ancient times is the paranoia that arises from within.

All the red clothes in the world originated from Guan Luoyang. If Guan Luoyang doesn't pursue them now, if the situation stabilizes in the future and they settle their accounts after the autumn, they probably won't have much room to resist.

So, will any rebels surrender to the court because of this suspicion and panic?

As long as there is the first one to do this, the following things will be much easier to handle.

The most ingenious part of this strategy is not even here, but is that after the officers and soldiers have no food and no rich families to plunder, even if the rebels from all over the place looted the poor, the food they obtained would not be enough to sustain their daily needs. need.

Liangshan will not fail to see such a situation, so they will definitely send troops to respond as quickly as possible, but that is just drinking poison to quench thirst. '

The emperor looked at the map on the table case, and tapped his finger lightly one after another to mark the places where the rebels were entrenched.

"With the existing soldiers and horses in Liangshan, if we divide them, we can only divide them into two groups at most to ensure the strength of the rescue. Wherever his soldiers go, I will immediately order them to retreat, fortify the walls and clear the fields, and let them rescue people. '

'But other rebels will be forced to be more miserable and change faster. In this way, when they rescue the two rebels, at least half of the rebellious places in the world will be pacified. '

'The officials, gentry and common people in those places, after this round of tossing, will provide me with more dark luck. '

Respecting the emperor will provide luck, and hating the emperor will also provide luck. Only by not caring so much about the emperor, or being completely ruled by other forces, can one escape from this vicious circle.

Liangshan has done a good job in this regard.

Facing the captives, they used folk customs to educate them, and the source of the folk customs was the people they subdued first, and the method of subduing the people's hearts was the simplest-distributing food.

It has been 200 years since the founding of the Song Dynasty, and it was not easy to change the hearts of the people.

In Quancheng, Qingzhou and other places, Liangshan used the method of distributing porridge, releasing grain and dividing the fields. Often, it took less than a month to capture that place and completely separate it from the emperor's fortune. Rebels from all over the country followed suit. .

But now the rebels themselves can't grab food, and this method has been eradicated.

After the war, when the people are re-controlled by the government, they will naturally have more resentment. After reaping the resentment, and putting some food in it, they can reap another wave of gratitude.

The wealthy clan who had been robbed of their food was different. They were greedy and far less easy to fool than the grassroots. Even though they had been appeased with some rewards, they would still continue to have resentment towards him, the emperor, deep in their hearts.

"Then I will become stronger and stronger."

The emperor laughed lowly, "The weaker the rebel army is, the stronger I will be. Guan Luoyang, this is a dead end. How do you break it?"

"You occupy Bianliang, so you must be cultivating hard, but how can your hard cultivating catch up with my progress of using the world as a pasture?"

His smile is getting colder.

"In at most another three months, I will not only suppress the rebellion in the world, but also fight against you..."

"I beat you to death with my own hands!"

(End of this chapter)