Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 271

It was not too difficult to open the flood gate at Linhongkou. Song Lian led people to finish the matter early the next morning, and the water level in Haizhou City began to drop slowly.

Haizhou City was flooded in the end, but as Yang Chao thought, it was not too serious. The average water accumulation on the streets was less than three feet, and the most flooded houses in the city were only half built, but Compared with the result of exterminating the Tartars, it is worth paying such a price.

The owner of the house also expressed his understanding, especially after Yang Chao gave 30 taels of silver as the reconstruction cost and 20 taels as compensation for property loss, he never said anything else. Under Yan's eyes, he said that his family has always had a tradition of supporting the army.

In order to pay for hundreds of houses in the city that were severely flooded, Yang Chao paid tens of thousands of taels of silver.

However, Yang Chao has calculated carefully, this time it is really not a compensation, even if those head rewards are blackmailed by the court, Yang Chao still will not pay.

Because Yang Chao later discovered a new source of income, that is war horses, war horses for captive soldiers.

At that time, they were focusing on arresting people, but later they thought about those war horses. In the end, only about [-] good horses were collected, and the rest were either washed away by the water or drowned.

As for the drowned horses, Yang Chao did not salvage them. The dead horses soaked in the flood had many bacteria, so they dared not eat them.

After staying until the third day, the water conservancy experts in Haizhou City finally blocked the Qiangwei River.

The method used is very simple. Drive the boat to the gap, fill the boat with stones, and scuttle it directly. After dozens of small boats pass by, the gap is finally blocked, and then the people are mobilized to work on the shore to completely repair the gap.

Fortunately, the Qiangwei River is not the Yellow River, otherwise this method is obviously unreliable. Of course, if it were replaced by the Yellow River, Yang Chao would not even dare to consider excavating it. Once the thing is flooded, it will not be as simple as a city. It must be mobilized against the power of the whole country.

However, I heard that Li Zicheng and the Ming army have dug the Yellow River outside Kaifeng in the past few years. First, the Ming army dug the river, but they were obviously too unprofessional. After digging the river for the first time, it turned out that the flood did not flood Li Zicheng, because Li Zicheng camped The technology is very professional, and the selected place is not only high-lying and convenient for drainage, but it also broke the Ming army's own grain transportation channel.

It is said that the planner of digging the Yellow River this time was Hou Xun, the father of Hou Fangyu, one of the four sons. Facts have proved that a civil official like the Minister of the Ministry of War is indeed more courageous than a general like Yang Chao, but Hou Xun was later sent to prison by Emperor Chongzhen. Yang Chao didn't come out before he came to Haizhou, so I don't know if it has anything to do with his digging the Yellow River.

It was Li Zicheng who dug the river for the second time. Li Zicheng not only had better camping skills than the Ming army, but also better than the Ming army in digging the river. City, Li Zicheng broke through the strong city of Kaifeng in this way.

Yang Chao can't control Li Zicheng's problems now, Yang Chao himself is in trouble now.

Song Lian, the history of Haizhou classics, came to drive Yang Chao away. Obviously, this is a bit like killing a donkey, a big cook after dinner, and an ungrateful taste, but what Song Lian said is very good. Master Yang’s soldiers are tired after a long battle, and it’s time to go back to Huai’an to rest early .

Yang Chao didn't leave if he could.

The reason is very simple. Haizhou City is still supplying Yang Chao with various military supplies. Every day, there are thirty bird guns, more than ten pairs of armor, hundreds of spears, more than 20 barrels of gunpowder, and countless lead bullets. shells.

It was so easy to force Haizhou into a military production city. It would be a pity to leave now. Countless military industry employees will not be laid off after Yang Chao leaves. How to solve the unemployment problem?

Well, this question is actually unreasonable and unspeakable.

Yang Chao's excuse was great and upright. He told Song Lian, the historian of Haizhou, that he couldn't bear to see the people of Haizhou starving.

Righteous words said: Before the people of Haizhou have eaten rice from Huai'an, he will not leave for a day, sharing joys and sorrows with the people of Haizhou.

Song Lian left helplessly, as a civil servant, he really had nothing to do with a scoundrel like Yang Chao, if he was a rough man, he would have scolded him long ago.

Damn you, one soldier of yours can eat as much as four common people, and you still share joys and sorrows with the people of Haizhou.

Up to now, Yang Chao still refuses to reduce the food supply of the soldiers. Not only his 3000 elite soldiers must have food, but also the more than [-] civilians who follow him. Yes, Yang Chao is indeed trying to curry favor with these civilians, or win them over. The meaning of these folks.

All of them are guys who have killed people. If they can't fool around to Nanjing to serve as soldiers for themselves, then they are really sorry for the tens of thousands of captive soldiers who let them try their swords and sacrificed their lives.

Therefore, during this period of time, Yang Chao still let these people eat and drink, and still insisted on letting the officers train them, but the officers were strictly prohibited from beating and scolding. For a while, all the officers under Yang Chao were model instructors who cared for the people. up.

Ten days passed in a hurry, and the life-saving food from Huai'an was nowhere in sight, but the people in Haizhou were not as panicked as before, because they were surrounded by captive soldiers before, but now the main problem is that the food has not arrived. Before, there was no hope. Now it's just a temporary difficulty.

So Song Lian planned to reduce the quota of Haizhou people again.

You must know that the rations of the common people used to be half of that of the soldiers, but later it was reduced to a quarter.

Let Song Lian organize the people to go out of the city to fish, catch Tianwa, pluck tree bark, and dig wild vegetables.

Anyway, the flood has receded, and it is very convenient to go out of the city.

After the flood receded, many remnants of the captive soldiers were revealed. It was quite regrettable that the treasures that Yang Chao had been longing for all along did not appear. According to the habit of captive soldiers, half of the things they robbed would still be confiscated. Then it means that there should be a large amount of public wealth in the barracks.

It's a pity that Yang Chao was disappointed. These captive soldiers all galloped over from Shandong. Except for the privately hidden property, no one was willing to hand over the confiscated property. It was lying in the warehouse of Mr. Abate, the commander-in-chief of the captive soldiers.

There was no property, but another batch of corpses of captive soldiers were salvaged.

Let Yang Chao get the number of heads to break through to 7000, and the number of iron armor reached [-] pairs. It is true that most of the captive soldiers who drowned first and were not washed away by the flood behind were armored, and most of them were double-armored. Layer armor, if those unarmored Yu Ding and Bao Yi drowned, they would have disappeared a long time ago, and now they may have all washed into the sea to feed the fish.

Of course, not all of the 7000 heads were chopped off. A thousand heads were still on the shoulders of the captive soldiers, because these people were captured alive. Chao intends to give these to Shi Kefa to offer prisoners.

The last time I brought two living people to Shi Kefa, one was still underage, and I really couldn't support the scene. Now these 1000 people can probably make Emperor Chongzhen shine. More importantly, Yang Chao himself was a little eager for that kind of showy scene. Thinking about a thousand captives walking on Daming Street and being watched by countless people in the capital, would he ask: Which hero captured these Tartars?
Being famous is not the purpose. Yang Chao's real purpose is to attract the emperor's attention. If he can be reused by the emperor, Yang Chao will have the confidence to completely change the fate of the country. Maybe Ming will not perish. As for the captive soldiers Want to enter the customs? It can only be the next time and space.

The people of Haizhou suffered from hunger for another ten days, and they were finally relieved, and the grain transport fleet from Huai'an finally arrived.

Countless people are waiting outside the pier, but they still have no way to get life-saving food, even if the rich among them wave the tickets and want to get some rice porridge for their babies who are waiting to be fed, there is no way.

Because this first batch of food is military food, it is Yang Chao's food, not for sale!
Well, this batch of grain was not sent by Shi Kefa, but by Wang Xiao.

Yang Chao watched Wang Xiao's high-spirited Wang Xiao himself on the pier and couldn't wait. Before the boat stopped, he jumped onto the pier, and then ran to Yang Chao quickly, hugging Yang Chao's arm excitedly.

"Brother Yang! Take it!"

Wang Xiao said excitedly, he really didn't expect Yang Chao to wipe out all the captive soldiers.

"Haha, Brother Wang, thank you very much for sending this food so quickly. It really solved our urgent need. Haizhou is going to be completely out of food!"

Yang Chao laughed.

Wang Xiao sighed and said, "It's meaningless to say these things. Compared with you risking your life in Haizhou, my younger brother is really guilty! It's not enough to transfer military rations."

Yang Chao asked again: "Is there only food?"

Yang Chao was a little worried. During this period of time, he ate only rice, and his soldiers were malnourished. Dozens of soldiers fell ill and showed obvious swelling. As a result, the horses that died of illness during the period have been removed, and Yang Chao only has [-] horses left in his hands.

Wang Xiao waved his hand: "In addition to food, there are a hundred pigs and thousands of chickens and ducks."

Yang Chao said again: "Thank you, Brother Wang, I know you are careful."

But Wang Xiao said: "You don't need to thank me, brother. In fact, these pigs, cattle and sheep were all sent by rich merchants in Huai'an. They also came to work as soldiers. Now there are a few on board. I beg you to introduce Brother Yang. Except In addition to pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, there are a hundred tans of wine."

When Yang Chao heard this, it was time to hold a banquet. After winning such a big victory, he didn't even throw a celebration banquet. After returning to Nanjing, I will reward everyone well.

Well now, these wealthy merchants in Huai'an have sent enough food, wine and meat, it would be too much to justify if we don't have a good celebration.

(End of this chapter)