In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 102 The Public Wrath

After setting up camp and surrounding Yanghe Acropolis, Lin Rui looked at the tall city walls and wide moat. Instead of rushing to attack, he sent out sentries first to investigate various parts of Xuanfu in Shuozhou, Datong.

"Husband, there is a big city a few hundred miles to the southwest, which should be the Shuozhou you mentioned. There is a Ming army stationed there, numbering about [-]. It looks like a frontier army, and the Ming army we captured The equipment and clothing are pretty much the same.”

"Those should be the mighty troops of the Shanxi General Army. Most likely, they were the ones who pretended to chase Shuozhou when they saw Jian Nu leaving. Now that Governor Xuanda is dead, no one can control him for the time being. It would be good not to return to Shanxi. He will never take the initiative to go north, so he can't threaten us, he just needs to monitor us!"

Lin Rui waved his hand and said.

He had collected some information in the past few days, and he also had some understanding of some situations in Xuanda Shanxi. Combined with some memories from his previous life, he was no longer as blind as before.

"It's Xuanfu in the east, is there any movement?"

Lin Rui was most concerned about Xuanfu. After all, Juyongguan was the capital of Ming Dynasty from Xuanfu. As the saying goes, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. It would be troublesome if Chongzhen mobilized soldiers and horses near the capital.

"There is also a border army under Xuanfu City, with a strength of about [-]. In the past few days, soldiers and horses from other cities have also been converging on Xuanfu City. Depending on the situation, they should be coming to attack us."

After Hubbell finished explaining, a trace of worry appeared on his face.

"Oh? The soldiers and horses in other cities should be some guardsmen, so there is nothing to worry about. That border army is probably the soldiers and horses of Yang Guozhu, the general of Xuanfu. But how can that guy have the courage to take the initiative to attack us?"

Lin Rui also frowned after speaking.

The three towns combined have an army of 30 to [-]. In fact, the only ones with real combat effectiveness are the border troops under the command of the three generals, and the rest are just a mob.

"Rui Lang, what should we do now? Should we attack the city first, or defeat the Xuanfu's border troops first?"

In fact, Namuzhong really wanted to persuade Lin Rui to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty and join forces. After all, their Chahar tribe had thought of joining forces with the Ming Dynasty, but they were rejected.

But she also knew that now that the two sides were completely at odds with each other, and Governor Xuanda had been killed by them, it would be difficult to talk about it again.

"The terrain of Xuan Mansion is narrow, so we will wait here for a while, waiting for them to come over before attacking. However, with the procrastinating temperament of the Ming army, we don't know that we will have to wait until the end of the year of the monkey, so we can't wait like this.

Well, Belle and the female soldiers will continue to be responsible for inquiring about the movements of all parties to prevent the Jurchens from suddenly breaking through and killing them.

Namuzhong, you lead three thousand cavalry to stay in the camp and be responsible for the siege of Yanghe City. I will lead others to sweep all the nearby small castles first, and then recruit more people. "

Lin Rui thought about it and said, he knew that with their current troops and horses, it would be difficult to capture Yanghe Acropolis. Even if they finally captured it, the casualties would be unbearable, so they must take this opportunity to recruit Han soldiers.

After the division of labor among the three was clear, the next day, Lin Rui led a thousand soldiers, a thousand cavalry, more than 5000 Han people who had just joined, and the two thousand prisoners, and began to attack the city.

Just like when he was in Xuanfu, he first shouted to attack people's hearts and then attacked the city.

The cavalry fired arrows to provide cover. The captured Ming troops were in charge of leading the battle. A thousand soldiers were behind to supervise the battle and suppress the battle. The five thousand men and women who had just joined were in charge of logistics. Among these people, there were a large number of blacksmiths and carpenters.

"Listen, every time a small fort is conquered, everyone will be rewarded with two taels of silver, wine and meat in the evening, and as long as he accumulates enough 50 taels, I will let him go free. However, if he dares to be greedy for life and afraid of death, he will not move forward. , or even retreat without authorization, or attack and then burn, kill, and loot, they will all be shot!"

After they had finished shouting, enough ladders and shields had been built, and the prisoners had finished distributing weapons, Lin Rui looked at them and announced loudly.

Among the two thousand captives of the Ming army, all the senior military attaches were singled out and killed. The rest were ordinary soldiers and commanders, corps commanders and the like. They didn't even have a general, so even if they were issued weapons , are also relatively honest.

Compared with the guardsmen, these ordinary border troops are barely considered soldiers. They get at least two meals a day and some military pay every month. Although their combat effectiveness is not high and their morale is low, they can still fight.

After everyone took the weapons, they all stood crookedly, like eggplants beaten by frost, but after Lin Rui finished speaking, everyone suddenly became energetic.

"General Lin, are you serious about this?"

"Is it really true that as long as we attack in, everyone will be given two taels of silver?"

"Will there be food and wine tonight?"

"Is there a woman?"

After everyone whispered to each other for a while, they all looked at Lin Rui.

As for who Lin Rui is and whether he is rebelling, it has nothing to do with them. What they care about is the silver reward and food, not even freedom.

Anyway, as long as you have something to eat, who can you give your life to?

The law does not punish the public. When the imperial army comes, the worst thing is to surrender and continue to eat the imperial food.

If the court wants to pursue the case, it will only pursue those who take the lead. Is it possible that they will also pursue the small soldiers?
"I will keep my word! If the time comes when I break my word and get fat, it will be like this arrow!"

Lin Rui took out a rain arrow, broke it off, and threw it on the ground.

He knew that these Ming soldiers were used to being deceived by officials and would doubt what he said was normal, so he decided to be more direct.

After all, putting a sword against someone's back and forcing them to attack will have a very different effect than someone taking the initiative to attack.

Sure enough, when everyone saw that Lin Rui had actually sworn, they no longer had any doubts and picked up the shields and ladders on the ground.

"attack!"

Lin Rui didn't hesitate anymore and gave the order directly.

Immediately, more than 2000 people shouted and rushed towards the castle. The momentum was really beyond the comparison of ordinary military households. At least the shouts of killing were filled with real murderous intent.Obviously they were all veterans who had killed people and experienced battles.

The reason why their combat effectiveness is low is not that these people dare not fight or fight, but that they have been deprived of military pay for a long time, and their rewards and punishments are unfair. They can even only have half-full meals on weekdays, and can only eat a full meal when they are in war. This Who would still be willing to fight in such a situation?
It's almost all just dawdling.

This castle was just a hundred-household castle. Also, except for the servants of the hundred households, no one was willing to fight for him. Facing the attack of more than 2000 border troops, it was impossible to stop it and was easily breached.

Originally, after the border troops rushed in, they wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rob and commit adultery, but Lin Rui was on guard against this. A thousand soldiers almost followed them and rushed in. Anyone who dared to take advantage of the situation was hacked and killed. After killing hundreds of people, everyone was restrained.

Of course, not all of those killed were border troops, there were also some military households in the city who wanted to fish in troubled waters.

The border troops almost rebelled directly and fought against the soldiers. Fortunately, there was no leader and they were afraid of the thousand Tatar cavalry outside the city, so they endured it.

After maintaining order in the city, the border troops and ordinary military and craftsmen households in the city were all driven out. This time, some of the military attachés and family members of the servants were captured.

"I have long said that you are not allowed to burn, kill or loot after you enter, otherwise you will be killed. This is the first time, only dozens of people were killed. If this happens again next time, we will kill them all!"

Lin Rui looked at the frontier soldiers being driven out with a sullen face and shouted.

He had long heard that these frontier troops had little discipline, and he finally saw it today.

This is also the reason why he is unwilling to absorb these veterans, and is only willing to use them as temporary mercenaries.

"Okay, now I have fulfilled my promise. I will pay the money first, eat wine and meat, hand over all the weapons first, and then line up!"

These guys still had weapons in their hands, and they had just seen blood. Lin Rui did not dare to push them too hard, and spoke in a slower tone.

As a box of silver and scissors and scales were carried, the tense nerves of the border soldiers relaxed, and they honestly handed over their weapons and lined up.

After receiving two taels of silver, everyone was so happy that they couldn't close their mouths. Even if there were no cavalry guarding them at this moment, they probably wouldn't run away. Even if they wanted to run away, they would have to wait until they made a fortune before running away.

"General Lin, when are we going to capture a castle?"

"General Lin, it's still early today, why don't we set off immediately?"

After carefully putting the money into their pockets, the border soldiers became impatient, even more anxious than Lin Rui.

"Have a rest today, eat wine and meat first, recharge your batteries, and go back tomorrow."

Lin Rui waved and said, and then walked towards the military households who were driven out on the other side.

For these military households, they were also head-counted and given ten kilograms of grain to each person, and then each person returned to his home.

Young people who are willing to join the Lin family army will be given an additional ten taels of silver and fifty kilograms of food as settling-in allowance. As for the blacksmith, they will be deducted directly together with his family.

There is no reason to speak of it.

Faced with such high settlement fees, almost all teenagers who meet the conditions choose to join without hesitation.

After all, these days, a good-looking girl can't even be sold for such a price, so those young men thought they sold themselves to Lin Rui. After kowtowing to their parents and brothers, Lin Rui arranged for them to go with the rescued men and women. Escort the supplies back to the camp outside Yanghe Acropolis, and the cavalry will be responsible for escorting along the way.

The blacksmiths and their families were also sent there.

In this way, in the next half month, Lin Rui successively attacked more than a dozen nearby small forts.

The large camp that had collected all kinds of materials, grains and livestock could no longer hold any space. Namuzhong, who was responsible for receiving supplies every day, almost died of exhaustion.

A total of five thousand young men were recruited, and two to three hundred blacksmiths were detained.

The frontier troops responsible for siege of the city increased even more, and the number also reached [-].

Of course, not all of them were border troops. Most of them came here after hearing the news and wanted to make a fortune. Among them were bandits and bandits, as well as ordinary military and civilian households who could not survive.

As long as he has the strength, Lin Rui will not refuse anyone who comes. He will take care of the food first, and then distribute weapons when attacking the city. Those who have no weapons will be given wooden sticks. After the task is completed, the weapons will be confiscated. Every soldier who has ever been a soldier will One person is given two taels as usual, and others are given one tael, with wine and meat.

Apparently after more than half a month of word of mouth and a period of waiting and watching, the people nearby knew that this unknown army was called the Lin Family Army.

The commander-in-chief was a Han man named Lin Rui, and those Mongolian Tatars were also his subordinates. Not only did Mr. Lin not rob ordinary people, he also rescued many Han people from the slaves.

Lin Rui's reputation for benevolence, justice and credibility has indeed spread in the Datong area, but the same old background and falsehood are no longer a secret.

Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, and Hu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province, immediately led Chaoyang and Wei with their troops to kill.

And countless guards, thousands of households, hundreds of households, and even many landlords and gentry followed with their servants, including eight Shanxi merchants from Zhangjiakou.

Obviously, the vested interests in the entire Datong Xuanfu area are anxious.

After all, when the Tatars come, they will rush away after a wave of attacks. Most of the people who suffer are civilians and military households. In fact, the impact on them is not great.

But the Lin family army was so good that they actually encouraged those mud-legged people to rebel. Not only did they lead them to attack the castle, but they also distributed food and money to them.

If things continue like this, everyone will be finished sooner or later.

(End of this chapter)