Crazy at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Wu Shigong's bandit suppression operation this time is different from the last military operation to suppress the rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society.

In the last rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society, although Wu Shigong won a perfect victory in the end, he also gained huge economic benefits.

However, no matter when Wu Shigong was guarding the county seat or when he launched a charge to rescue Guidefu, all Wu Shigong's actions were completely in accordance with the actions of the Holy Spirit Society and the orders of his superiors, and he reacted passively.It can be said that there is no plan.

But this time Wu Shigong's suppression of the bandits was a purposeful and active military operation.You can have enough time to make plans for your own military operations.

Needless to say, Wu Shigong is a person with a strong learning ability.He actually understood that in his two lifetimes, he had never studied military command at all, nor did he have any knowledge of military command.Therefore, he himself stopped being ingenious, and rigidly followed the advice of experts.

That expert is also the Qin Bai who caused Wu Shigong to cross.Then Qin Bai said: Before each military operation, the purpose of this military operation must be determined.Moreover, only one purpose can be determined.

Well!Wu Shigong also set a goal in suppressing bandits this time.For what purpose?Just for money!

Regardless of Wu Shigong's need to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes, he can earn money for escorting salt goods; and regardless of the fact that if the village of Li Yaozi and his gang is wiped out, some supplies can be seized.What matters now is that Wu Shigong has discovered a huge opportunity to make money.

Wu Shigong learned about the number of bandits and mountain people in this mountain area from Lei Ying.Calculated from these numbers, these people need at least three hundred shi of salt supply every month.

If Wu Shigong completely monopolizes the supply of salt goods in this mountain area, he can earn at least 1000 taels of silver every month.For the current Wu Shigong, the monthly income of 1000 taels is completely enough to make him salivate.

Moreover, this is only at present, when the people in this mountain area are relatively sparse after the rebellion of the Holy Spirit Society.With the stabilization of the situation, the number of people who settled in this mountain area will further increase, and Wu Shigong's income from salt goods will also further increase.

However, there are three difficulties in trying to completely monopolize the supply of salt goods in this mountain area:

The first is the supply of salt in this mountainous area. It is true that there are no fixed sellers, but this does not mean that there are no sellers who supply salt to this mountainous area.

What does this sentence mean?The meaning of this sentence is: In fact, there is still a supply of salt in this mountainous area.That's the salt sellers near this mountain area, including Lu Jianchen and Lu Yunhuan, who then sold the salt goods at a higher price to the bandits and mountain people in this mountain area through second-hand dealers.

And when Wu Shigong monopolized the supply of salt goods in this mountain area, those sellers near the mountain area, except Lu Jianchen who directly supplied salt goods to Wu Shigong, all other sellers would be expelled by Wu Shigong.And under the benefit of money, they will definitely not accept it, and will fight back against Wu Shigong's monopolistic behavior.

At that time, Wu Shigong must maintain his own strong enough force in this mountainous area to maintain his monopoly position;

Secondly, this mountainous area is located in Runing Mansion, not within Wu Shigong's defense zone.Therefore, Wu Shigong could not blatantly station troops in this mountainous area.Therefore, Wu Shigong wanted to fully control the bandits in this mountain area to achieve his goal of maintaining force in this mountain area.

Finally, because Wu Shigong wanted to completely control the bandits in this mountain area, Wu Shigong used to give Lei Ying part of the supplies in exchange for Lei Ying not being hostile to him, which was somewhat lacking.

Because now Wu Shigong doesn't want Lei Ying and the bandits as his allies, he wants Lei Ying and the bandits to be his vassals.In order to strengthen the control over Lei Ying, it is not only necessary to bind him with benefits, but also to use blood to clear Lei Ying's mind, and let him know what consequences will be caused by betraying Wu Shigong.

From the above analysis, it can be seen that Wu Shigong's attack on Li Yaozi's cottage this time is to uproot the power of Li Yaozi and his group of bandits in this mountainous area.There is simply no second choice.

In addition, Wu Shigong didn't consider this option at all: through his military action this time, he only weakened the strength of Li Yaozi's bandits, so that he could control the bandits in the future through the internal struggle between Li Yaozi and Lei Ying. Bandits in the mountains.

Don't say that Wu Shigong has no confidence in whether he can use such advanced political skills.In case something goes wrong in the future, at that time, it may not be that Wu Shigong blatantly dispatched a large army to carry out some "peacekeeping operations" in this mountainous area?

As soon as that kind of action is taken, Wu Shigong's opponent Yu Zilian will definitely go online, and it is not impossible to impeach Wu Shigong for rebellion in the end.Because after all, Wu Shigong drove his army out of his defense zone.

Now that the purpose is clear, the development of Wu Shigong's military operations is also clear.Wu Shigong's military operation this time is to capture Li Yaozi's bandit village and defeat all of Li Yaozi's bandit forces.

And after the stockade was captured, a group of soldiers were stationed in the stockade, and these soldiers were used to deter the forces controlling Lei Ying remotely and completely monopolize the supply of salt in this mountain area.

Wu Shigong was not afraid of how strong Li Yaozi's cottage was.Don't say that Wu Shigong sent troops this time with all five artillery pieces of his own.Even if the artillery can't capture this cottage for a while, Wu Shigong will also besiege this cottage for a long time. With his own fortress of thousands of households, with so many supplies and long-term consumption, Li Yaozi's cottage will definitely not be able to fight against himself.In the end, even if they were hungry, everyone in Li Yaozi's village would starve to death.

Wu Shigong was not afraid of Li Yaozi's escape either.In a hurry, Li Yaozi escaped with some of the bandit backbone in the village at most.If the base of Zhaizi is lost, Li Yaozi will definitely not be able to settle down and survive in this mountainous area.

At that time, Wu Shigong also eliminated Li Yaozi's bandit forces in this mountainous area, and he was also able to guarantee his monopoly position in salt goods.As for Li Yaozi making troubles outside the mountainous area in the future, he was not in Wu Shigong's defense zone anyway.Wu Shigong couldn't afford to worry about this.

Therefore, after Wu Shigong's army entered the mountainous area, they marched in a leisurely manner, not pursuing the speed of soldiers at all.In addition, Wu Shigong's army, with a large amount of supplies and tools, was preparing to carry out a long-term siege of Li Yaozi's cottage, and it was indeed not fast.Of course, Wu Shigong and the others are always on guard to prevent any ambush.

As a local snake, Li Yaozi quickly knew the movements and targets of Wu Shigong's army as soon as Wu Shigong's army entered the mountainous area.

Knowing that Wu Shigong's army is here to attack him, Li Yaozi is indeed a little nervous.However, Li Yaozi is also an old bandit leader who has experienced many storms, and it is not the first time he has encountered the government and army to suppress bandits.Therefore, Li Yaozi immediately concentrated his manpower and prepared to defend his cottage.

But Li Yaozi made some mistakes in judgment this time.Li Yaozi regarded Wu Shigong's military operation to attack his own village as a general military operation used by the government and army to suppress bandits.

In the previous Ming Dynasty's official army suppression of bandits, if the official army encountered a well-defended bandit village, they generally would not attack it desperately.Because, the main force of the official army's attack is the personal soldiers around those military officers.If the personal soldiers lose too much, the military officer's strength will also be greatly damaged.Out of the practice of preserving strength, those military officers would not do such a loss-making business.

Therefore, the general process of the officers and soldiers suppressing the bandits is as follows: the two sides pretend to fight randomly, and then the bandits throw some gold, silver, pigs and sheep from the stockade as rewards to the officers and soldiers.The officers and soldiers followed suit and withdrew their troops.

In the second year, the same drama was staged again.In the end, some officers and soldiers who hated deceit and deceit even avoided the pretentious random beating procedures.After directly collecting gold, silver, pigs and sheep, they leave, forming an institutionalized behavior where officials and soldiers come to bandits to collect New Year's goods.

And Li Yaozi thinks that Wu Shigong is such a kind of bandit suppression operation.At most, it was because Li Yaozi robbed the caravan escorted by Wu Shigong's army and swept away Wu Shigong's face.Wu Shigong came to take revenge on himself.

But Li Yaozi thought so in his heart: he did not rob any goods in the end, and the casualties of his bandits were greater than that of Wu Shigong's army.It's not a dead end situation.

As long as he speaks more soft words and sends more gold, silver, pigs and sheep, as long as he relies on the solid defense of his stockade, he will be able to resolve this misunderstanding at that time.

Li Yaozi is really assured of the strength of his stockade.After all, this stockade is also under the management of Li Yaozi for many years.Moreover, the location of this stockade is somewhat similar to Wu Shigong's Qianhusuo Fortress, which can only be attacked from the front of the stockade, so it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

In addition, the material reserves in the stockade are also very sufficient.Li Yaozi estimated that it would be enough to last three months.Li Yaozi couldn't believe it: Could it be that Wu Shigong has been attacking his own stockade year after year?Will he not go back for the New Year?

Li Yaozi didn't know at all that Wu Shigong wanted to take down this stockade in one year, not to mention three months.

So when Wu Shigong's army finally arrived at Li Yaozi's stockade, Li Yaozi shouted loudly from the stockade: "Master Wu, it was all a misunderstanding! The villain gave Master Wu ten pairs of pigs and sheep, and 100 taels of silver." , as a compensation and reward to the adults. How about just letting it go?"

The soldiers around Wu Shigong all looked at Wu Shigong after hearing this.Although Wu Shigong's soldiers have received long-term military training, they have not been tested on the battlefield after all, and their mentality still has the mentality of ordinary people.

In the minds of these soldiers: since Li Yaozi had given in, he gave some gold, silver, pigs and sheep as rewards, and he was not injured at all.Such a result of surrendering without fighting is still acceptable.

But Wu Shigong didn't seem to see the expressions of those soldiers, he waved his hand calmly, and ordered: "Fight!"