The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 55 Opening a warehouse to release grain

Zhao Hongbin died; he committed suicide.

Jiang Han failed to persuade him to surrender.

Jiang Han felt a little regretful, but then he thought about it again and realized that it was understandable.

Given Jiang Han's current status and strength, the possibility of him recruiting these Ming Dynasty officers is almost zero.

After all, he was just a rebel leader who didn't even have a decent territory under his control. What did he have to offer to persuade others to surrender?

Any officer of the rank of 100 or above, unless they have committed a capital offense, would be willing to surrender to the rebels.
In terms of status, Jiang Han and his men were rebels, considered traitors and villains by the court. Even if they surrendered, what good would it do? Could they expect to be promoted and bring glory to their ancestors?
In terms of strength, they can't even provide a stable rear. Are they supposed to let the families of the surrendered generals wander around with them?

On the other hand, if those officers had chosen to die in battle, at least they could have received a pension and left some benefits for their families.

But if one were to defect to the enemy, not only would one lose their official position and salary, but also the hereditary official post passed down from their ancestors.

If our ancestors knew this from beyond the grave, they would probably be so angry that they would open their coffins, jump out, and beat this unfilial descendant to death.

Therefore, if Ming generals wanted to defect to the enemy, they would only secretly contact the rebels or join under an assumed name. They would never surrender to these bandits and rebels whose lives were hanging by a thread.

Meanwhile, Jiang Han and his men had already taken over the entire Wangzhuang, but Li Laowai and the others outside the city were still in the dark, thinking that Jiang Han was fighting fiercely inside Wangzhuang, so they were desperately ramming against the city gate.

The city gate creaked and splintered as it was rammed, and splinters flew everywhere. It looked like it was about to fall apart, but no one dared to go down and stop it.

Just kidding, if the city gate happens to be smashed open when you go down, you might get crushed into mincemeat!
Seeing this, Hei Zi quickly led several of his men up the city wall and shouted at the top of his lungs down:

"Don't fucking ram it! The garrison inside has already surrendered!"

But the shouts below were deafening, and the sounds of impact were mixed with curses and shouts, so how could anyone hear his words?

Having no other choice, Hei Zi had a sudden inspiration and simply found a large drum, picked up the drumsticks, and pounded it several times.

The resounding drumbeats echoed through the sky, finally silencing the commotion below for a while.

Taking advantage of the lull, Jiang Han quickly ordered his men to open the city gates.

When the city gate opened, Li Laowai and the others were startled, thinking that the defending troops had rushed out. They gripped their weapons tightly, ready to engage the enemy.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Jiang Han standing at the door with his men, a smile on his face.

The crowd was overjoyed and rushed into Wangzhuang.

Jiang Han arranged for some men to guard the surrendered soldiers and have them clean up the battlefield, while he, along with Hei Zi and Zhu Zi, headed straight for the granary in Wangzhuang.

Lou Xiang and Lü Ming walked ahead, leading the way while chattering incessantly:

"Sir, I saw that granary when I was on patrol. It's in a large cave, and you can smell the stale grain as you pass by!"

"Those rich dogs would rather let their grain rot than share a single bite with us. We're eating millet porridge, half-cooked, it feels like a knife cutting our throats when we swallow it!"

As they spoke, the group arrived at the foot of a cliff. The granary was inside, but before they even entered, the strong smell of stale grain made them frown.

Jiang Han walked ahead. Although he had prepared himself mentally, the sight before him when he entered the cave still left him speechless with astonishment.

The granary was a huge cave, supported by thick logs that would take several people to encircle, and filled with small mountains of grain!

Some bags were torn open, spilling golden millet all over the ground; the bundles of wheat were piled higher than the eaves, and the bulging ears of wheat peeked out from the gaps in the straw ropes.

Beans and grains were scattered together, and some corners were piled with hardened, old grains.

Jiang Han casually grabbed a bag; it was heavy. He reached inside and found it was full of golden, plump, top-quality millet (unpeeled millet).

He glanced around and figured that the granary contained at least 10,000 shi of grain, enough to feed an army of 5,000 for several months!
Hei Zi stood to the side, eyes wide, and it took him a while to recover. He turned to look at Jiang Han, his voice trembling slightly:
"Chief, do you think this is tens of thousands of shi of grain?" Jiang Han had never seen so much grain before. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he murmured:
"If Wangzhuang can become this wealthy, how extravagant must the Wang Mansion be?"

Lu Ming and Lou Xiang, who were at the front, could not contain themselves any longer and rushed into the grain pile, hugging the grain and wailing loudly.

They pointed to their ears and tearfully recounted to Jiang Han what had happened not long ago.

If people could have enough to eat, who would want to do those petty thefts?

Jiang Han sighed, said nothing more, turned and walked out of the granary to begin touring other parts of Wangzhuang.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the infrastructure in Wangzhuang was surprisingly complete, with mills, distiller's grains, oil presses, and so on.

In terms of accommodation, there were not only barracks, but also a man-made cave to the north, where Lü Ming and his group usually slept.

Jiang Han suddenly realized why he only saw a barracks when he was scouting that day and thought there were only three or five hundred people. He didn't expect the rest to be hiding. They were really cunning.

Fortunately, his own men were strong enough to fight, otherwise they might have been tricked and killed by these people.

When the servants of Wangzhuang saw Jiang Han and his group, they were so frightened that they knelt down and begged for mercy. Jiang Han did not make things difficult for them, but simply sent people to keep them under guard.

After another inventory check, Jiang Han discovered that Wangzhuang's supplies were far more than just grain.

The warehouse also contained piles of cloth, salt, and even a considerable amount of medicinal herbs and ironware.

What surprised everyone even more was that there was a wine cellar in Wangzhuang, filled with fine wines. Opening a jar at random released a rich aroma that made one's mouth water.

Jiang Han had witnessed firsthand how the people outside couldn't even find anything to eat, yet Wangzhuang was still brewing wine from grain.

After going around in circles, he finally led his men back to the city gate.

Shao Yong and his men had already cleaned up the battlefield. More than two hundred brothers died and more than one hundred were wounded in this battle.

Because the vanguard wore double armor, few were killed by arrows; many were killed by heavy objects thrown down from the city walls by the defenders.

The casualties this time were not light. Li Laowai stared at the group of surrendered soldiers from the Jingbian Camp, his eyes blazing with fury.

Jiang Han had no choice but to accept the surrender, as he had promised not to kill the surrendered soldiers and couldn't go back on his word. Besides, he also needed to replenish his troops.

To ease the tense atmosphere, he simply ordered the granaries to be opened and everyone to eat their fill.

After lighting the bonfire, the cooks immediately got to work, setting up large pots, starting fires to boil water, and even slaughtering a number of livestock from Wangzhuang.

Before long, the aroma of the food filled the entire Wangzhuang village.

The surrendered soldiers of Jingbian Camp were arranged in an open space with steaming hot food in front of them.

At first they were a little reserved, but once they smelled the aroma, their stomachs, which had been empty for several days, could no longer resist. They put aside their concerns and began to wolf down the food.

But as they ate, many people's eyes reddened, and tears streamed down their faces.

They recalled their days in Jingbian Camp, when they were so hungry at night that they couldn't sleep and could only dig up grass roots and gnaw on tree bark.

Now that they've surrendered to the rebels, they're actually eating hot millet and oily dishes, which makes them incredibly sad.

Some people simply put down their bowls, knelt on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly to Jiang Han.

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(End of this chapter)