Song Dynasty

Chapter 266 The Relationship Between Ends and Means
Yan Yuemeng said cautiously: "Military envoy, the captives are gone, just catch them again. The young and strong in Dingzhou are all under the threat of Zhong Xiang, and there will be opportunities to catch them in the future. In the last battle, General Niu Gao fought with the bandit army. Those who pass the front, if they let the captives flee back, they must be careful not to be recognized by the thieves. If this is the case, it will not harm General Niu."

"Indeed." Wang Shen nodded.

As for what to do with those captives, or how to quell the chaos between Zhong and Xiang, Wang Shen already had a plan.But just do it according to the real history, it doesn't take much brains at all.

In real history, it didn't take much time and energy for the small dynasty of the Southern Song Dynasty to put down the Zhongxiang Rebellion.

At that time, the leading general who suppressed Zhong Xiang was Wang Shen's "old friend" Kong Yanzhou.

After Lao Kong came to Hunan, the strategy adopted by Li Cheng was exactly the same at the beginning, but everyone sent troops to rob villages and towns and massacre the people, creating no-man's land, which greatly weakened the war potential of Manichaeism.

But in the end, Kong Yanzhou felt that going on like this was not an option.This way of killing one thousand enemies and self-defeating eight hundred, in the end, once Dingzhou's war potential is exhausted, everyone will be unable to stand here.Manichaeism will definitely withdraw to other places, so it's not a waste of time.

So, when he couldn't hold on anymore, every time Kong Yanzhou captured a Manichean prisoner, he stuck a bamboo stick into his hair and released him.

There is a line of small characters written on the bamboo stick, "If the Lord rests, I will rest, and I will still go eastward by boat."

It means: If you are not against me, I will not bother to care about you.I don't want to fight this battle anymore, at worst I will leave by excuse.

At the same time, taking advantage of Zhong Xiang's lax defense, he sent spies to sneak into Zhong Xiang's side by pretending to be the law.In the end, a combination of inside and outside came to capture Zhong Xiang alive.

Since Lao Kong has done a good job in real history, Wang Shen plans to do the same.

It is also because of this history that Wang Shen dared to say that he could quell the Manichean chaos in a short period of time when he sent troops from Anlu.

However, the problem now is how to find Zhongxiang's lair.

Originally, when Wang Shen first entered Lizhou, the situation of the enemy and ourselves was very clear.Zhong Xiang took the absolute initiative against Li Cheng on the battlefield, occupying a large number of states and counties, and the decision-making center of his puppet court was also located in Lizhou Prefecture.In this way, the task of Beiwei army is simple, just take down city by city.

But as he advanced all the way on the battlefield, the shape of the war changed.

Seeing that Wang Shen's offensive could not be resisted head-on, and there was no chance of winning the field battle, Zhong Xiang broke up the army into pieces and started a guerrilla war with him with a small team.

Zhong Xiang burned government offices, cities, temples, temples, and Haoyou's house in the three states of Hunan, killed officials, Confucian scholars, monks, witch doctors, and divination. The corvee taxation of all soldiers in the army is very deceptive.

Now he gave up the prefectures and counties and hid the soldiers among the people, which is really a bit like a vast ocean.

When the Sizhou army was marching, the kind-hearted people he saw one moment turned into fanatical believers the next moment, screaming and brandishing weapons to kill him, making him hard to defend against.

For a while, the soldiers of the Sizhou Army saw that everyone wanted to be an enemy, and they didn't know what to do?
Moreover, wherever the troops are stationed, they are constantly harassed by the enemy day and night.When the troops were assembled to fight back, the enemy didn't know where to go.

This is the first time the Sizhou Army has fought such a war since it became an army, and it really means that its hands are tied.This situation lasted for a while, and there were many complaints in the army, and morale was very low.

It was also because of seeing this situation that Wang Shen asked the soldiers to practice the mandarin duck formation, and also dispersed the troops, with small groups facing small groups.

However, team-to-team can only win tactically, and cannot finally solve the problem.

In order to completely put down the chaos in Hunan, Zhong Xiang must be dug out.

The problem is where the so-called imperial court of Prime Minister Zhong is now, but Wang Shen has no idea.Even if the prisoners were captured, the prisoners replied that Zhong Xiang had built many forts and cottages in various states, and no one knew where he went.

There was no other way but to let Niu Gao and Wei think of a way to see if they could find Zhong Xiang's foothold.

In addition, Li Cheng has been in Dingzhou for half a year, and he has fought with Zhong Xiang countless times. Maybe he can get some useful information from him.

Yan Yuemeng saw that Wang Shen didn't seem to be angry about Yue Yun's murder of the prisoner, so he continued to persuade: "Military envoy, those demons have been bewitched by the cult, they have lost their humanity, and they will never surrender. Could it be that they were detained for a day?" The three meals are provided, if they are put back, I am afraid that they will become enemies with our army in the future. After coming to Hunan for a while, in fact, the subordinates have already understood why Li Tianwang would massacre the people. In fact, who is not the one who is still alive now? The benefit of having passed Zhong Xiang. Since he has benefited from the Devil's Cult, no one is innocent."

"In an avalanche, not a single snowflake is innocent... But, a certain person feels that Li Tianwang's actions are wrong. A person's head is not a leek. If you cut it off, it won't grow again. Why would such a person be deceived by a cult? Especially in the Song Dynasty, don’t local officials have any responsibility?” Wang Shen smiled wryly: “It’s really unpleasant to fight such a war!”

Yan Yuemeng didn't take it seriously: "Rebellious officials and thieves are punishable by everyone. If you do extraordinary things at extraordinary times, as long as the purpose is correct, it doesn't matter what method you use. It doesn't matter whether it is correct or not." , Ever since I made Wang Shen's military praise painting and took charge of the central communication, I have never felt so happy.

I secretly said in my heart: a man stands in the world and eats nine tripods, and the benevolence of a woman is not worth it.Sometimes military envoys are too kind-hearted, and if they don't do it well, it will be a bad thing.With so many of us entrusting our wealth and names to him, we can't let him do as he pleases.Advise him when he should be advised, and do the dirty work for him if it doesn't work.

Now Sizhou has expanded into a huge interest group, with backers in the imperial court, its own army and civil administration system in the local area, which can collect taxes and use human and material resources that can be mobilized, and can appoint and dismiss officials on its own.As it has almost covered the entire Jianghan Plain in the past year, it is already the most powerful feudal town of King Song.

The officials in the entire Sizhou military system are mainly composed of two types of people.One is soldiers like Yue Yun, Hu Yantong, and Gu Lie who don't think about anything but fighting;Especially the second type of people, although they don't know how to march and fight, they are well-versed in human relations, familiar with local people's conditions, and have first-class ability to handle affairs.Once they have tasted the taste of power, they will naturally be unable to stop. They have already tied their personal destiny firmly to Wang Shen.I just wish that Wang Junshi would be more powerful, as for others, even the imperial court, who cares in such troubled times!
That's right, with the expansion of the Sizhou Army's strength, things like ambition have grown in everyone's hearts.

(End of this chapter)