Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 33 The Man-Eating Demon Arrives at His Loyal Nanchang

Soon the Qing army launched a second round of attack, but the result was no different from the previous one.

The losses are even greater.

After all, after learning that the injured could actually be revived by Emperor Taizu Gao, the morale of the young and strong men soared...

In fact, even those who have become dead can be resurrected by the end.

Well, that's what rumors are. They are passed down orally by 400,000 people and can be distorted into anything, even rumors about the resurrection of those with infinite strength and invulnerability. But no matter what, for the young and strong men, it is like an injection of power of faith. Faced with a new round of attacks by the Qing army, the young and strong defenders who have become the second line because the front line has been lost are still stubbornly resisting the enemy.

They even played better than the previous first-line players.

This is understandable.

After all, there are a large number of royal family members, gentry, and even women on the front line.

None of them had ever fought in a war, and even their physical fitness was the worst.

But the young and middle-aged people in the second-tier cities are different.

This is a farmer.

Their physical fitness is definitely better, and peasant fights are inevitable in those days. They have never fought on the battlefield, but most of them have fought with others in groups for water sources within their clans. With the power of faith that has just been injected and the belief in defending their homeland, they fought the Qing army to the death without fear of death.

Although the latter seized a front line, they were still restricted by the barricades and wooden stakes everywhere.

There are too many messes like this. After all, there were more than 10,000 people working on the front line alone.

The width of the valley is only a few hundred meters.

The widest part is less than one thousand square meters, and there is a river separating the middle.

More than 10,000 people set up barricades and buried wooden stakes, and there were inexhaustible forests nearby. Even a few hours would be enough to drain the river valley without leaving any gaps. All the Qing army could do was to move them away, but after moving them away, they would still be in the valley, right?
Or restrict the actions of the Qing army.

Unless they carried them away or piled them up and burned them, but the Qing army didn't have the time.

There are still hundreds of thousands of Ming troops chasing them!
We have to race against time.

Besides, all of this was equally strenuous. Pulling out a stake was no less laborious than burying it. They were armed with weapons, not farm tools. They couldn't use spears to dig the ground. Bows and arrows were powerful, but they were useless against pulling out stakes. The Qing army was already exhausted from fleeing, and now, dealing with all this, how could they possibly fight? It's true that the valiant Eight Banners warriors were completely exhausted by this relentless, relentless tactic. Even now, their losses were relatively modest; in terms of casualties, the ratio was more than one to five.

But the problem is that I am tired.

The Qing army did not arrive in tens of thousands at once, and the river valley passage could not accommodate tens of thousands of people. Even if the vanguard arrived one after another, the original plan was to rest at Shimen, but they ended up moving barricades and fighting non-stop when they got here.

They are not machines.

They will get tired.

Until dark, the exhausted Qing army failed to even break through the second line of defense.

Then the two sides once again temporarily ceased fighting.

The Qing army also had to eat and rest. Of course, the young and strong men also had to eat and rest. Their food was easy to solve. After all, there was a river next to them, so they didn’t have to worry about drinking water. For meals, they just brought their own rice balls, salted fish, and even fruits.

And more are being shipped in later. This is the advantage of fighting on home soil.

No logistics required.

Behind the stone gate lay countless villages. The men were conscripted to fight, leaving the women to cook at home. Agriculture flourished in this area, and food was plentiful. Every household had a surplus of food, and they were paid silver. At worst, they could eat their own and use the silver to buy more elsewhere. The women steamed rice balls and cooked meat and sent them to the front. The villages were all clans, and the old men organized the women to transport the food, even over a distance of ten, twenty, or thirty miles. Even cooking and delivering it was enough, and they were paid silver upon arrival.

Moreover, the Longquan River is actually navigable, but only by small boats.

But there is no problem at all transporting it by boat downstream.

Men fought on the front lines, while women transported rations to the rear.

A standard all-people war.

The Qing army launched a surprise attack that night, but still failed.

They even broke through another line of defense.

But it doesn't make sense.

There are dozens of layers of defense behind.

Yang Feng never thought that one line of defense could truly stop the Qing army. What he wanted was thickness rather than strength.

The next morning, Prince Huai arrived with more than 20,000 people he had recruited from Fuliang.

These people were recruited with large sums of money, and they were all mountain miners who worked in kilns and charcoal making.

After they arrived, Yang Feng arranged for them to go into the mountains and find opportunities to attack the Qing army. They were divided into groups. After all, they were already cliques, so it was impossible to expect them to form a coordinated combat unit. Many of them had grudges against each other. These mountain miners had fought to the death for territory and business, and there was no shortage of blood feuds.

They can fight.

They even kill each other frequently.

Many of these people don’t even have household registration, so their death won’t alert the government.

Deaths in peasant fights would cause a lot of trouble for the government. After all, most peasants have registered households, and mountain people don't need to bury the dead when they kill each other, as wild beasts will take care of them. So these are all desperadoes.

Then let them do what suits them.

A Qing soldier's head was worth one hundred taels of silver. They could exchange the head for silver, and then they could do whatever they wanted with the headhunting.

Then these desperadoes happily went into the mountains to hunt for heads.

"I'll leave this to you. Can you hold on?"

Yang Feng looked at Prince Huai.

"Replying to Emperor Taizu Gao, this is my tomb. If the Qing monsters want to visit, they must step on my body."

Prince Huai said excitedly.

This is an opportunity given by Taizu, and the throne is clearly calling.

"Then leave it to you. I'll go get you some reinforcements and money and food. It won't take long, I'll be back in an hour or two."

Yang Feng patted him on the shoulder and said.

Then he flew straight into the sky.

As for his goal...

Nanchang.

"Damn, there's still a war going on here?"

He looked at the city below with some surprise.

The city was currently under attack. A large number of warships were anchored on the banks of the Gan River, and no fewer than 20,000 soldiers, who looked to be regular troops, were attacking, seemingly with great effort. The warships were firing cannons, while soldiers were using ladders to attack the city. Most of these soldiers were even bald...

Of course, there are patches of unusual colors on the back of the head.

So this is a group of Ming troops who originally surrendered to the Qing Dynasty but had their tails cut off.

It’s hard to say what my identity is now.

Their opponents were obviously mainly able-bodied men, but there were also some soldiers who could defend the city walls tolerably well.

Yang Feng swooped down directly, and in the midst of countless astonished gazes on and under the city wall, his Fang Tian Hua Ji instantly pierced through a general under the city, picked him up into the sky, and then threw him out cleanly.

The latter fell down with a scream.

"what……"

His lingering screams made the soldiers attacking the city run back in a hurry.

Some of those on the ladders fell straight down.

"I personally led the young men of Raozhou to fight the Qing demons at Shimen. Instead of sending reinforcements to protect Jiangxi, you are still fighting here?

Who is your commander? "

Yang Feng roared.

A general ran out from a warship and knelt on the ground without hesitation.

"Emperor Taizu Gao, your servant, Jin Shenghuan, was originally a general under Zuo Liangyu. Forced by Zuo Menggeng, he surrendered to the Jiannu. However, while the Jiannu were marching toward Nanjing, he led his troops in a rebellion. He intended to travel through Jiangxi to Nanjing to meet the Emperor Taizu Gao. However, the Jiangxi Governor, Kuang Zhao, and others blocked his way. Eager to see him, he had no choice but to force his way through, and thus engaged in battle with them.

I am loyal to the Emperor Taizu Gao and the Ming Dynasty!"

He shouted like a loyal minister wronged. "You bastard, you're slandering me! It was you who asked for three million taels of silver, and you threatened to massacre Nanchang if I didn't give it to you.

Emperor Taizu Gao was clear-sighted. This fellow had followed Zuo Liangyu in burning, killing, and looting. He had surrendered to the Jiannu before and had his head shaved. Seeing that the Jiannu were in a bad situation, he took his subordinates and left. Then he went south, burning, killing, and looting all the way. He also forced us to raise three million taels of silver for him, saying that he was here to protect Jiangxi.

I refuse.

He led his troops to attack, and said that if Nanchang was taken, all the men there would be killed and all the women taken abducted."

A red-robed official on the city wall said angrily.

So after Jin Shenghuan broke away from the Qing army, he went directly south to Jiangxi and looted.

This is normal.

It would be strange if these guys didn't burn, kill and loot.

To put it bluntly, he left the Qing army not because he had any feelings for the Ming Dynasty, but because he learned that Duoduo was defeated and killed, he was not optimistic about the Qing Dynasty and wanted to return to the Ming army.

but……

If we return to the Ming army, we will still burn, kill and loot!
My Ming Dynasty official army will still burn, kill and loot.

However, the Jiangxi officials are probably not in a clean situation either. In their current situation, Jin Shenghuan's armed forces should be what they need. But now, not only have they not accepted them, but they have started fighting. The most likely reason is that Jin Shenghuan's asking price is too high, and they habitually look down on these military generals, thinking that these stray dogs are just stray dogs and only need a bone.

Still want to eat meat?

Especially since they had unobstructed information channels and were aware of the Qing army's series of disastrous defeats in Nanjing, Jin Shenghuan's actions were of limited value in this situation.

Asking for a few hundred thousand taels is acceptable, but asking for three million taels is very rude.

Yang Feng was too lazy to care about what was going on between them, he just swung his Fang Tian Hua Ji.

The 16,000-ton boulder inside flew out instantly.

Before Jin Shenghuan and the generals below could react, the boulder had already fallen, and they were instantly wiped out. The massive impact even cratered the dock, sending waves hurling several nearby warships and knocking down countless soldiers. The same massive tremor also caused the nearby city wall to visibly tremble. The red-robed official screamed and collapsed, and the area where he and the surrounding officials stood collapsed.

They also screamed as they fell along with the collapsed city wall and disappeared inside.

The next moment, there was dead silence inside and outside the city wall.

Everyone looked at Yang Feng in the sky tremblingly.

"I will give you one hour. After that hour, I want to see all your soldiers, whether defending the city or attacking it, board the ship and then land on the east side of the lake before noon tomorrow.

If I didn’t see it then.”

Yang Feng looked at these guys ferociously.

"Then we will kill all the men in this city and take all the women abducted."

He said.

The soldiers below ran towards the warship that was still shaking violently without hesitation.

Those on the city wall also ran towards the horse paths without hesitation.

"Also, raise three million taels of silver and five hundred thousand dan of grain for me and send them to Shimen.

Yang Feng, who was high above the city of Nanchang, shouted immediately.

Several local gentry who were about to go down the city wall stopped instantly.

One of them knelt down without hesitation...

"Emperor Taizu, the people of Nanchang are poor and the land is scarce. We simply cannot afford to pay such a large amount of money and grain!"

He lay on the ground crying.

The next moment, a spear flew out from the Fang Tian Hua Ji, pierced straight through his back and nailed him to the city wall. The other few who had just knelt down stared at the trembling spear on his back in amazement.

"Demon, demon."

One of them couldn't control himself and spoke tremblingly.

Then a huge rock came roaring.

However, this time Yang Feng adjusted the angle, so the boulder hit the city wall directly. These gentry and the city wall disappeared together, leaving only a terrifying gap. Then the boulder flew out of the city and landed outside the city, pushing the soil and plowing a deep ditch. Fortunately, because of the obstruction of the soil, it finally stopped before hitting the Ganjiang River.

Yang Feng immediately went over to collect it, and then returned to the sky above Nanchang.

The city was in trembling.

"come here!"

Yang Feng pointed at a soldier.

The latter was so frightened that he fell to the ground and crawled forward on his knees trembling.

"what's your name?"

he asks.

"My humble self is Xu Gui, a regular soldier of the Nanchang Guard. My ancestors followed you."

The soldier said tremblingly.

"You are the prefect and commander-in-chief of Nanchang. The sword in your hand is the imperial sword. You can execute anyone in the city, regardless of whether they are officials or civilians, without reporting to the emperor later. You will immediately lead the various military households in Nanchang to confiscate the money and grain of the families of those who have made contributions in the city.

You should know which ones there are, right?

Yang Feng said.

"My father, I have lived in Nanchang for generations, so I know all this."

Xu Gui said.

"Very good, three million taels of silver and five hundred thousand dan of grain. We will stop when we have them all. In addition, all the young and strong men from these honored families will be conscripted and sent to the front line at Shimen. All the royal family members in the city, regardless of gender, between fifteen and fifty, will be sent to Shimen. I am a man of reason. This is the Zhu family's kingdom, so the Zhu family must go first. Those who have made great contributions and eat the Zhu family's food must follow, and finally it will be the turn of the common people.

If you can't collect it all, or if you accepted money from those gentry and deliberately let them go, I will kill all your nine clans.

If you do what I ask you to do, I will make you a marquis.

Anyone who dares to oppose you will be killed with the imperial sword.

understand? "

Yang Feng said.

"Replying to Grandpa, I understand."

Xu Gui said with a trembling excitement.

"Okay, let's get started!"

Yang Feng said.

Xu Gui climbed up without hesitation, then looked at the soldiers around him. He took a deep breath under their expectant gazes, then suddenly turned around and grabbed an old man nearby...

"Master Li, within one hour, prepare 100,000 taels of silver and 10,000 dan of rice for Grandpa Taizu."

He said.

"You piece of shit!"

The old man pointed at him and said, trembling with anger.

Xu Gui stabbed him in the chest without hesitation.

The old man pointed at him in pain, then slowly fell down.

"Mr. Li, can you prepare these for your father?"

Xu Gui pulled out the bloody knife and looked at the dumbfounded scholar next to him.

The latter's legs went weak and he knelt down.

"Study, students, can."

He said this with cold sweat on his forehead.

(End of this chapter)