A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 882: A white letter clears the fog
Faced with the critical situation of powerful enemies outside and discord within, Gao Shi felt that he could no longer rely on his status and the emperor's order.

"It seems that I must meet the local tyrant." Gao Shi thought so and summoned the military officer in charge of intelligence to ask:

"Who is in charge locally? The governor of Runzhou, or some big family?"

As a soldier born in Jiangnan, he has received correspondence from home in the past few months and naturally knows who is in charge in Jiangnan at the moment.

"In the past, it would naturally be Yang Renfu (a eunuch in the Ministry of Internal Affairs), the inspector of Jiangnan Duzhi Salt and Iron Transportation, who would make the decision."

"But a few months ago, the families in Jiangnan were worried about the political situation in the country and feared that Jiangnan would be in chaos, so they followed the example of the merchants in Beijing and Qi and established the Jiangnan United Chamber of Commerce. They called themselves Jiangsu merchants and basically covered all walks of life in Jiangnan, becoming the local giant."

"The militias, defense armies, guarding armies, and river defense armies in various places all have their support behind them. Many children of family heads have also participated in them and sought military positions."

Gao Shi tapped on the table and said thoughtfully, "So, the merchants from Jiangsu are now in charge of Jiangnan?"

"That's probably it."

"Who is the leader of the Su merchants?"

"Su Zhaohe of the Jiangning Su Clan, the current president of the Jiangnan Chamber of Commerce."

"In that case, please invite Su Zhaohe to the military camp for a while."

"this..."

Seeing the military officer hesitate, Gao Shi said coldly: "Just go and ask them. I don't believe they dare to refuse. I will give you 100 soldiers to support you."

"Yes."

The next day, Gao Shi waited in the military camp for the head of the Su family to come, but he ended up waiting for an elder of the Su family.

Looking at the old man in his fifties, Gao Shi's eyes jumped and he asked in a deep voice:

"Your Su family master is so proud. I invited him to discuss important matters according to the etiquette. He, a commoner, actually dared to refuse me. Is it because my sword is not sharp?"

The elder of the Su clan was shocked when he heard this: "Why do you say that, sir? It's not that the Su clan is rude. The enemy Yuan's army is so powerful that they have successively conquered Quzhou, Yuezhou, Mingzhou and other places. The whole area south of Hangzhou is in the hands of the enemy army."

"There was also Fang Qing from Shezhou, who responded to the Yuan bandit and occupied Shezhou, gathering tens of thousands of bandits. In order to protect the family's textile bureau in Hangzhou, the head of the family had to go south to take charge of the situation, so as to help the Hangzhou militia to keep the enemy out."

The deteriorating situation made Gao Shi even more irritated, but this was obviously not the time to get angry. He continued to ask:
"I heard that your Su family is the head of Su Shang. You are the elder of the Su family. Maybe you represent Su Shang?"

"Your Excellency is overestimating me. Although I am an elder of the Su family, I am not an employee of the Chamber of Commerce. Su was only temporarily elected as the president of the Chamber of Commerce."

"All matters concerning the Chamber of Commerce must be decided by the Jiangnan United Chamber of Commerce's board of directors. Su is only a member of the board of directors and can only submit requests to the board of directors on behalf of the envoy. If the members of the board of directors agree, Su will naturally follow their orders."

Gao Shi stared at the elder of the Su family for a long time, and seeing that he was not lying at all, he realized that the Su business was not dominated by the Su family alone, but was elected by all, not a single organization.

Do I have to lobby every family one by one and ask them to support me in suppressing the rebellion?

But this would be a waste of time. By the time the lobbying is completed, the peasant army might have already reached Runzhou.

Suddenly he thought of something, took out a letter from his pocket, handed it to the Su elder and said:

"I have a letter from the young master of the Bai family. Can you please forward it to the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of Elder Qing?"

When the Su family elders heard that there was Bai Jing's letter of recommendation, they looked at Xian Gao Shi and wondered why he didn't take it out earlier.

If it had been brought out earlier, everyone would probably have supported Gao Shi in sending troops by now. After all, the threat of the enemy army was imminent, but they were worried that Gao Shi was the kind of military leader with a murderous nature, so they did not dare to engage him rashly and each held their own.

That afternoon, after receiving Gao Shi's letter, the Jiangnan United Chamber of Commerce convened an emergency board meeting.

All the members of the board of directors in Runzhou were present, and the meeting was chaired by the chairman Bai Qingfeng, and the directors sent by the other families participated in the vote. With the guarantee of the Bai and Su families, the Chamber of Commerce made the decision to support Gao Shi.

So on the next day, Bai Qingfeng brought the elders of the Su family and other Chamber of Commerce directors to the military camp, expressing their willingness to provide food and intelligence to the army, and to help Gao Shi recruit soldiers in various counties.

With just one letter, Gao Shi's difficult situation in Jiangnan was broken overnight.

April 21st

The militia troops, guarding troops and river defense troops around Runzhou all arrived in Runzhou on time and joined Gao Shi's headquarters.

In addition, Gao Shi also recruited 5,000 new troops locally and joined the headquarters, totaling 13,000 people, organized into the Ya Army.

The rest of the local troops were organized into four armies, front, back, left and right, each with 10,000 men, led by a military commander.

In view of the fact that the rebel army attacked Hangzhou and Xuanzhou fiercely, they intended to break through the defense line set up by the government troops in Jiangnan and enter the wealthy areas such as Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Looking at the letters asking for help that were flying onto the commander's desk like snowflakes, Gao Shi knew that he could not wait any longer.

May

Gao Shi swore an oath to march to war in Runzhou and ordered Bai Zhengxiao, the commander of the left army, to lead 10,000 men to support Xuanzhou.

He personally led the remaining 53,000 troops south from Hangzhou and attacked Yuan Chao's base camp in Taizhou.

"This time we are defending the west and attacking the east. The most important thing is the west. Zhengxiao, Xuanzhou is in your hands. You must hold on until my army comes to support you."

"I am willing to sign a military order and swear to defend Xuanzhou to the death."

"Okay, all the generals, listen to my orders and go south to fight the bandits."

Following Gao Shi's order, the tens of thousands of troops that had gathered in Runzhou for a month slowly moved south, and another 10,000-strong troop set out towards the southwest.

May 23
Xuanzhou governor Qiu Tongwei led 3,000 Xuanzhou defenders to defend Jing County with difficulty. Tens of thousands of Shezhou bandits had been attacking fiercely since the beginning of the month.

"Envoy, we have received a letter from the rear saying that Envoy Gao's reinforcements will arrive in one day, and he has ordered us to defend the city and not leave the camp without permission."

"Okay." Qiu Tongwei, who was dispatching soldiers and civilians at the county government office, could not hide his excitement when he learned that reinforcements were coming.

After a month of attack and defense, although the bandits were weak, they were numerous and still caused considerable damage to the government troops, resulting in the loss of hundreds of people.

If the imperial court did not send reinforcements, he would probably have no choice but to lead his men to break out and retreat into the state capital to preserve the remaining troops and wait for a counterattack.

24th
Fang Qing was commanding his army to defend the city wall outside Jing County when suddenly a large group of Tang troops, about three thousand men, appeared from the north.

The rebel army collapsed at the first blow, and tens of thousands of peasant soldiers fled southward in panic.

Fang Qing had no choice but to be carried away by the defeated army and retreat to Jingde County in the south to gather the defeated soldiers, numbering more than 30,000 people.

After much investigation, Fang Qing learned that the government troops on the opposite side actually numbered 10,000. He became frightened and sent people to ask Yuan Chao for help.

Because of the number of people, Gao Shi's army entered Hangzhou only after Bai Zhengxiao lifted the siege of Jing County.

Therefore, Yuan Chao did not know that the army was approaching from the south. After receiving Fang Qing's letter for help, after much discussion, he finally adopted the suggestion of his aide Yu Zhengrong and sent 50,000 troops to provide support.

It is unknown whether this was genuine support or a ruse to attack Guo.

(End of this chapter)