Sweep Yuan

Chapter 45 Shocking News of Chaos (Thanks to the Alliance Leader for not panicking when encountering a tiger)
A force of nearly a thousand people conducting military operations in one place for several consecutive days could not possibly be kept secret from the local villagers.

To prevent the military and civilians from misjudging the situation and causing unnecessary conflict, Shishan, after arriving at the ambush site, made a "three-point agreement" with the heads of the surrounding villages:
The "Red Heart Battalion" camped in the wilderness outside the village, without entering the village or disturbing the people. They were also responsible for fighting defeated soldiers and bandits, and driving away other militias that came to extort money and grain from able-bodied men.

In exchange, each village must provide the "Red Heart Battalion" soldiers with food and vegetables, and cover the troops' ambush operations.

Therefore, apart from the initial slight disturbance, the two sides remained at peace. While the wealthy households in each village were secretly nervous, most of the lower-class farmers felt that there was less harassment from officials, and some even hoped that this situation could last longer.

Without comparison, there is no harm. Compared to the various "rebel armies" that burn down houses and attack people at every turn, the "Red Heart Camp" that does not disturb the people can be described as not committing any offenses.

The news spread quickly, and in the past few days, restless men or those who simply couldn't survive voluntarily came to join the army.

Shishan welcomed all comers and had already planned to recruit soldiers here after the war.

Therefore, the arrangement for Wu Liujin to lead men to escort Fu Youde back to his hometown to recruit local militia was not a spur-of-the-moment decision.

As for the three Red Turban Army cavalrymen waiting outside Luzhu Beach, Shishan would be happy to take them all if they were willing to stay.

Unfortunately, these three were all elites under Peng Erlang's command, and they had only met Fu Youde for the first time. Naturally, they had no reason to give up such good loyalists and become a ragtag group. After receiving a reward, they took the captured warhorse and left.

Having done all this, Shishan finally had time to interrogate Liang Zhongyi and the other prisoners.

The interrogation plan was simple: first, separate the prisoners who seemed weak-willed, ask them some questions, and whip them hard if they didn't answer honestly. You could always get some information out of them.

Then, by cross-referencing the information they provide, some useless information can be eliminated.

As for Liang Zhongyi, when he was captured, he still pretended to be a fearless tough guy, trying to provoke Shishan into killing him so that he would suffer less. But when he was really beaten to a pulp, he realized that he was actually more afraid of living.

Before he had even received twenty lashes, Liang Zhongyi was already crying and begging for mercy.

After resting for a while and regaining some energy, Commander Liang answered Shi Shan's questions honestly, as if pouring beans from a bamboo tube.

He answered all the questions about how much military equipment was originally in Suzhou, how much grain was left before the city fell, how many soldiers were in Lingbi, a subordinate county, and what important news the imperial court had recently reported.

To be fair, generals of this caliber do possess a considerable amount of valuable intelligence.

Among them, the two pieces of information surprised Shishan the most.

First, last month, around the same time that Sesame Li raised an army in Xiao County, Zou Pusheng and other members of the White Lotus sect in Huangzhou Road led their followers out of the Dabie Mountains, joined forces with cloth merchant Xu Zhenyi, and captured Qichun City, the seat of Qizhou Road.

Xu Zhenyi should be another name for Xu Shouhui. This person was registered with the Yuan Dynasty court for the first time. However, three years earlier, in the eighth year of the Zhizheng era, Zou Pusheng and another White Lotus believer, Peng Guoyu, had gathered tens of thousands of people, using red scarves as their symbol, and caused a great disturbance in Macheng.

Although the uprising was quickly and brutally suppressed, and Zou Pusheng and others were forced to flee into the Dabie Mountains, the imperial army had been stationed in Huangzhou Road for several years, wasting money and grain, and was never able to achieve complete success.

A large number of government troops were tied up on Huangzhou Road, which created favorable conditions for the uprising in Yingzhou.

After the Yingzhou uprising was thwarted and Han Shantong was killed, Liu Futong and others were still able to rise up against the tide, which objectively depended on the encouragement that the Huangzhou Red Turban Army's long-term struggle had given to the people. Secondly, Fang Guozhen, a pirate from the Jiangzhe Province who had previously been recruited into the government, rebelled again and defeated the government army two months ago, capturing the Jiangzhe Left Chancellor Bolotemur and Hao Wanhu alive.

This man was also a professional rebel. He first raised the flag of rebellion in the eighth year of the Zhizheng era. That year, he defeated 30,000 Yuan troops and captured Duoerzhiban, the provincial councilor of Zhejiang, forcing the Yuan court to issue an edict to offer amnesty.

These two pieces of news surprised Shishan because they exceeded his limited knowledge of history.

In particular, regarding the Red Turban Rebellion, later history books clearly record it as the Yingzhou uprising led by Han Shantong and Liu Futong, but the Huangzhou Red Turban Army was established much earlier and existed for a longer period of time, which must have been due to some hidden reasons.

Furthermore, the Yingzhou Red Turban Army is growing stronger with each battle, and just as the Xuzhou Red Turban Army has launched its uprising, the Huangzhou Red Turban Army has already entered Qizhou Road. Once the news spreads, it is likely that heroes from all over the country who are already dissatisfied with the rule of the Yuan Dynasty will rise up in rebellion.

Only now did Shishan gain a rudimentary understanding of the tumultuous situation of the great uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

But at the same time, another question arose:
Since the flames of rebellion spread across the country so early, how did the corrupt Yuan Dynasty manage to hold out for more than ten years before being driven out of Dadu?

This was not an unfounded worry, but rather concerned the question of "a way out" that he had been pondering.

Of course, he is still just a pawn with no control over his own destiny. He needs to continue to increase his own importance in order to slowly get rid of his fate of being at the mercy of others. But only by focusing on the overall situation can he get rid of his status as a pawn more quickly.

……

After cleaning up the battlefield, Shi Shan led his troops to Panzhuang, north of Luzhutan, and, riding high on the victory, recruited able-bodied men.

The next day at 9:00 AM, Wu Liujin and Fu Youde led their troops back.

After several days of continuous expansion, the total number of "Red Heart Camp" members has exceeded one thousand, putting great pressure on the supply of food and fodder, and several surrounding villages and communities are already struggling to cope.

Once the troops were assembled, Shi Shan ordered his men to break camp and return to Suzhou.

In Suzhou, the large-scale organized looting operation had ended, but the social order in the city had not yet been completely stabilized, so it was impossible for outsiders like the "Red Heart Camp" to enter the city at will.

Shishan sent Sun Xun into the city to report on the results of the "Red Heart Camp" battle, along with a list of about 30% of the spoils. He himself led his troops to the abandoned camp of the Red Turban Army in the east of the city to set up camp.

Sun Xun returned shortly afterward.

"General Peng and General Zhao are holding a military meeting. They looked at the gift list but did not accept it, saying it was a reward for us. They also invited the deputy commander to come into the city to participate in the military meeting."

Shishan asked, somewhat puzzled:
"You want me to go into the city at this time? What do you think it's for?"

　This chapter was banned because its description of Liang Zhongyi's interrogation methods and processes was too realistic. These paragraphs have been modified and may feel somewhat disjointed.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)