Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 616: Conquering Baoning Prefecture

In the lobby of the county government office, Yang Mingzhao sat high in the main seat, looking at the people below with a kind smile on his face.

"Taiping County's great prosperity depends entirely on your efforts. Thank you for your hard work!"

At this time, Yang Mingzhao's temperament had also changed a lot. Before, he was full of nobility and had a sense of otherworldliness, but now he was more friendly and majestic.

Stay in your position and nourish your energy.

The change in identity and status has made Yang Mingzhao grow a lot.

"I dare not say it is hard work. It is our blessing to be able to serve the lord!" Qi Zhang spoke first.

This was his true feelings. He was over 40 years old but could only be a teacher in a private school.

Yang Mingzhao's arrival not only changed his life, but also gave him the opportunity to display his abilities.

The same goes for others. If Yang Mingzhao had not come, they would not have had the opportunity to become officials in Taiping County.

"Haha, Mr. Qi, there's no need to be so modest. We are all pleading for the people. Since the court won't do anything, then we will come to save the world and the people!"

"I believe you have heard that the bandits in the north have occupied Hanzhong Prefecture, the rebels in the east have occupied Jiujiang Prefecture, the Black Tiger King in the south has occupied Bozhou, and the Nine Heavenly Kings have occupied Wusa Prefecture."

"The world is in chaos, it is time for us to make achievements and save the world and the people!"

"After two years of dormancy, it's time for us to expand!"

Yang Mingzhao spoke slowly and steadily. His tone was calm, but his words were full of lofty ambitions.

Two years ago, he occupied Taiping County with some nonsense in mind. It was only because he felt that the people were poor that he wanted to do something to help them.

But now a sense of pride has sprouted in his heart.

He wanted to save the world and the people, and wanted everyone to have enough food to eat, clothes to wear, and a house to live in, so that they would no longer be exploited by landlords and gentry, or oppressed by corrupt officials.

He has a greater sense of responsibility to take the world as his own, and a greater ambition to dominate the world.

"That's right, it's time for us to expand! The people of Taiping County are already living a good life, and we should let more people live a good life!" Chen Buyu was the first to support it.

"That's right, we want more people to live a good life!"

"Get rid of all those corrupt officials!"

Everyone agreed.

Especially those who took refuge with Yang Mingzhao in Taiping County, most of them came from poor backgrounds, hated corrupt officials the most, and were most likely to empathize with the poor people.

"Very good, then let's let each department talk about the troops and money we have now!" Yang Mingzhao looked at Deng Xing and said, "Old Deng, you talk about our soldiers first!"

Deng Xing immediately replied: "We currently have 3,000 soldiers. These 3,000 soldiers are fully equipped and can go out at any time."

"In addition to the camp soldiers, we have also trained 8,000 peasant soldiers in the past two years. The combat effectiveness of peasant soldiers is much worse, but they can serve as civilian laborers!"

"In addition, we have three hundred chariots, eighty warships, and more than three hundred mules and donkeys!"

Fighting in Bashu is completely different from fighting in a mountain town. Fighting in the northern border towns mainly relies on cavalry, but this is not the case in fighting in Bashu.

First of all, most of the southwestern horses in Bashu are short and not suitable as war horses, but only as pack horses.

Secondly, Bashu is mountainous, especially the northern part of Bashu, which is dominated by mountains and forests and is not suitable for large-scale cavalry combat at all.

Therefore, fighting in Bashu should mainly rely on infantry, supplemented by chariots.

The warships Deng Xing mentioned were not seagoing ships, but flat-bottomed boats suitable for sailing in inland rivers.

These ships can be used to transport troops and food, and can also be used for fighting in rivers.

Yang Mingzhao nodded, then looked at Ma Yan and asked, "Where are the money and food?"

Ma Yan said: "We currently have 132,360 taels of silver. As for grain, after collecting the autumn tax, we should have 80,000 shi of grain!"

At present, Yang Mingzhao has no shortage of silver and money. He seized a lot of silver and money during the house searches, and he also earned some money from well salt and tea in the past two years.

If they want to expand, they will not be short of money, after all, they will continue to plunder properties.

In comparison, food was more scarce, and they only collected two years' worth of land taxes.

Moreover, they had previously built city walls, official roads, etc., which also consumed a lot of food.

They hired common people to build the city walls and roads, and provided them with food and paid them wages.

However, those who dug wells and built canals did not need to be paid or provided with meals, because they were canals built for the people themselves, and as long as someone asked, most people were willing to contribute.

"Eighty thousand shi! Enough for ten thousand people to eat for half a year! But we still need to leave some food in reserve!"

Yang Mingzhao said as he was thinking: "In this case, we will dispatch 3,000 soldiers from the camp and 7,000 farmers. We will leave 1,000 farmers to garrison Taiping Village in the north, 500 farmers to garrison the county government, and 100 farmers at each of the other checkpoints."

"In this way, we can mobilize 3,000 camp soldiers and 5,000 peasant soldiers to go to war!"

"The time for dispatching troops is half a year, and the goal is to capture Baoning Prefecture!"

The Taiping Village in the north was specially built by them. It was originally intended to block the bandits from the north. Now that King Daliang has occupied Hanzhong Prefecture, they also need to be on guard against King Daliang.

This time, Yang Mingzhao would not occupy Kuizhou Prefecture, but would instead set his sights on Baoning Prefecture west of Taiping County.

The terrain of Baoning Prefecture is high in the north and low in the south, with Wanshan Mountains in the north and Bashu Plain in the south.

Yang Mingzhao and King Daliang had the same idea, both wanted to occupy a place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

If the King of Daliang had not occupied Hanzhong Prefecture, Yang Mingzhao's first target would have been Hanzhong Prefecture. It was because the King of Daliang occupied Hanzhong Prefecture in advance that Yang Mingzhao chose Baoning Prefecture as a second choice.

Once they occupied Baoning Prefecture, they would block most of the way for King Daliang to go south into Bashu.

Although both sides are rebels, Yang Mingzhao does not want to get involved with the bandits like King Daliang.

So he took the initiative to occupy Baoning Prefecture in order to stop King Daliang and prevent him from moving south.

In addition, King Daliang will also be their barrier and can help him reach the imperial army from the north.

Everyone discussed the details of the expedition and then began to prepare busily.

It only took five days to recruit peasant soldiers, mobilize food and fodder, and distribute weapons and armor. The county town, fortresses and checkpoints had completed the rotation of guards, and all the original camp soldiers were replaced by peasant soldiers.

On the tenth day of September, three thousand soldiers and eight thousand soldiers had gathered on the official road southwest of Taiping County.

The official road here can go directly into Baoning Prefecture, and there is also a Nuoshui River connecting Tongjiang County and Baoping County of Baoning Prefecture. After the Nuoshui River reaches Baoping County, it merges with the Qingshui River and the Bashui River. That is, along the Nuoshui River you can reach the Qingshui River and the Bashui River, and the Qingshui River and the Bashui River connect Micang County, Nanjiang County, Bazhong and other places.

The Nuoshui River, Qingshui River and Bashui River are not suitable for sailing large ships, but can accommodate small boats up to three meters in length.

Therefore, the Taiping Army was divided into three routes. The first route took advantage of the three rivers and used ships to transport food to directly capture Tongjiang County, Baoping County, Bazhou, Nanjiang County, and Michang County. The second route went directly to Baoning Prefecture City and occupied Hexi Pass and Nanjin Pass in the south of Baoning Prefecture City. As long as Hexi Pass and Nanjin Pass were occupied, Baoning Prefecture City would be safe.

However, in this case, the Taiping Army would have to occupy Nanjia County in the southern part of Baoning Prefecture. There was no other way around it. Nanjia County was flat and had no strategic location to defend. Occupying Nanjia County would increase the defense pressure on the Taiping Army.

Therefore, in order to reduce the Taiping Army’s future defensive pressure, Yang Mingzhao had to give up Nanjia County first.

The third route will head westward to capture Jianzhou, Ziteng County, Guangyuan County and Lizhou Wei in the west and north of Baoning Prefecture.

Lizhou Guard is the garrison of Baoning Prefecture and the only military organization in Baoning Prefecture. However, the combat effectiveness of Lizhou Guard is almost non-existent.

Therefore, this third route will not cause any major trouble except that the marching distance is a little longer.

Yang Mingzhao only had 3,000 battalion soldiers and 5,000 peasant soldiers under his command, but they were still divided into three routes. It was not that he was arrogant, but there was really no one in Baoning Prefecture who could fight.

The only troublesome thing is Baoning City, because there is a well-known martial arts sect in Baoning City.

Compared with the government runners and garrison soldiers, those martial arts sects are the biggest trouble.

There is also an official office set up by the Shangwu Division in Baoning Prefecture, which is also a small trouble.

On September 11, the Taiping Army set out, and Yang Mingzhao's first expansion war officially began.

However, this expansion war went much more smoothly than Yang Mingzhao had expected.

On September 12, the army led by Deng Xing captured Tongjiang County. The process of capturing the city was roughly the same as their previous attack on Taiping County.

After taking Tongjiang County, Deng Xing left behind 500 peasant soldiers and officials who came with the army, and the next day he went straight down the river to capture Baoping County.

On September 14, Baoping County was captured.

On September 17, Bazhou was captured.

On September 20, although the officials of Nanjiang County had received the news, when the army approached the city, the officials in the city directly chose to surrender.

On September 23, Deng Xing arrived at Mi Cang County, the last target of their battle.

Mi Cang County and Lizhou Wei are both located in the north of Baoning Prefecture. Together with Taiping County, they almost blocked all roads heading south from Hanzhong Prefecture. Only Daning County in the northeast of Kuizhou Prefecture was left for King Daliang, who occupied Hanzhong Prefecture, to move south.

Standing at the foot of Mi Cang County, Deng Xing looked at the low city wall, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

This war of expansion came too easily. It took them a total of twelve days from the start to the arrival in Mi Cang County, but in the end they didn't even fight a decent battle.

The government officials we met along the way were almost unprepared. They were all at the gates of the city, and the city gates were wide open.

The same is true for Mi Cang County before us.

"Report, Your Excellency, the county magistrate, county magistrate, chief clerk and other officials in the city have abandoned the city and fled. They ran away two days ago!" A soldier came running to report.

Well, I picked up another county for free.

What else could Deng Xing say? He could only ask the soldiers to accept the city and appease the people.

Deng Xing's side was going too smoothly, and Han Lin's side was also going very smoothly. They needed to capture Jianzhou, Ziteng County, Guangyuan County and Lizhou Wei in the northwest of Baoning Prefecture.

Han Lin's first target was Jianzhou, which was a big city with a city wall three meters high. In order to capture Jianzhou as soon as possible, Han Lin specially arranged two patrols of soldiers to infiltrate Jianzhou city in advance.

Jianzhou City still had some resistance. When Han Lin's troops arrived at the city, the governor of Jianzhou City had already prepared to defend the city.

However, although they had made some preparations, they did not prepare much.

At night, the soldiers who sneaked into the city created some chaos, then opened the city gate and led Han Lin into the city. Then the prefect in the city abandoned the city and ran away.

Well, the prefect was well prepared for his escape.

After taking Jianzhou, the remaining goals of the Western Army were basically the same as Deng Xing's. They occupied the northwest part of Baoning Prefecture with almost no obstacles.

The only thing that was not going smoothly was the central army led by Yang Mingzhao himself.

They arrived at the foot of Baoning City on September 19th. Baoning City was a city with high walls and deep moats. The city walls were more than three meters high, and there were urn-shaped walls on all four sides.

The moat outside the city is two meters wide and connected to the Ling River.

Yang Mingzhao had only one thousand soldiers and two thousand peasant soldiers. Faced with such a strong city, he could only station them outside the city.

In the tent, Yang Mingzhao, Li Dagui, Yang Ze, Qi Zhang, Chen Buyu, Chen Buren, Zhao Kai and others stared at each other.

"What should we do?" Yang Mingzhao asked somewhat depressed.

They had already found out the situation in Baoning City, where there were a thousand garrison soldiers and several hundred runners.

The garrison soldiers here are the soldiers of Lizhou Guard. As for the servants, they are young and strong men recruited by the government, including yamen runners, jailers, militiamen, etc. of various yamen, and of course, warriors in the Shangwu Division.

It seems that there are not many troops, but don't forget that there are still 50,000 civilians in the city, and these 50,000 civilians are enough to recruit tens of thousands of young and strong people.

If the officials in the city were capable, they could recruit tens of thousands of young and strong men to defend the city.

By then, not to mention that they only have 3,000 soldiers, even if they have 30,000 soldiers it will be difficult to capture the city.

"Zhang Mo and Li Cheng have already sneaked into the city. Should we let them cooperate from inside and outside?" Yang Ze suggested.

Li Dagui shook his head, "No, they only have 200 people. It will be difficult for them to capture the city gate unless the battle is at its most intense!"

We can work together inside and outside, but we also need their cooperation.

However, the problem now is not whether they can cooperate internally and externally, but that they cannot attack the city.

They only have 3,000 people, and attacking the city now is tantamount to delivering food.

"Why don't we wait for Lao Deng and Lao Han to come?" Yang Ze said again.

"They still have to keep soldiers to help officials distribute land, so the number of troops they can bring is not much." Li Dagui said.

With so many cities, even if only 500 people were left in each city to assist officials in distributing land, more than 4,000 troops would be needed. That is to say, Deng Xing and Han Lin could only bring another 1,000 battalions of soldiers at most.

Yang Ze looked at Li Dagui with dissatisfaction, "This won't work, and that won't work, you better think of a solution!"

Yang Ze was a little depressed because he made two suggestions, but both were rejected by Li Dagui.

Li Dagui laughed, "I actually have an idea!"

"If you have something to say, say it now. If you have to fart, fart now. Stop keeping us in suspense!" Yang Ze said.

Li Dagui was too lazy to pay attention to this simple-minded man. He looked at Yang Mingzhao and said, "Sir, the commander of the Shangwu Division of Baoning Prefecture is named Li Baoshan!"

Yang Mingzhao was a little puzzled, "Do you know this person?"

(End of this chapter)