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Everyone has been exhausted all night, and in the middle of the morning, they are not in the mood to talk, and they just send troops to defend the city and maintain law and order.

After sleeping soundly until evening, Zhao Han finally got up to eat and called Tian Younian to have a drink together.

"Mr. Lizhen (Tian Younian)," Zhao Han raised his glass, "Thank you for your help!"

Tian Younian was actually depressed, took a sip of wine and said: "I know your way. After two days, I will release the slaves and change their labor contracts. If you believe me, I will help you take over the entire Yuanzhou Mansion. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go back to Ji’an with you.”

Zhao Han said with a smile: "It's not that I don't trust you sir, but that I have no intention of taking over Yuanzhou, and I will return to the army immediately after a day's rest. By the way, I want to take all the craftsmen of Yuanzhou's weaponry away!"

"Okay, I'll help you gather craftsmen." Tian Younian said.

Zhao Han couldn't help laughing: "Mr. descended so fast and cooperated in every possible way. I still can't believe it."

"I bought this official," Tian Younian asked, "Do you know what official I bought?"

"Sir, please tell me." Zhao Han said.

Tian Younian sneered: "The county magistrate of Jiangning spent tens of thousands of taels of silver!"

Awesome, although Jiang Ning is attached to Guo Nanjing, but the oil and water are definitely very rich, it is really amazing to be able to buy this official.

Tian Younian continued: "Most of the money I earned in Jiangning was fed to the Donglin Party. At that time, Wei Zhongxian was in power, and the Donglin Party was very poor. It was so rare for me to send charcoal in the snow. After Wei Zhongxian fell, guess what happened?"

"Donglin Party has turned its face and refused to recognize anyone?" Zhao Han asked.

Tian Younian sighed and said: "I continued to work in Jiangning for a year and wiped out the Jiangning bandits. I had to give money to get a head of the household department. The fat job only worked for a year before being sent to Yuanzhou Come to be the magistrate, don't think about the old love at all!"

From the magistrate of Jiangning to the head of the household department, he has been promoted two levels in a row, which must be regarded as a high promotion.

From the head of the household department to the magistrate of Yuanzhou, he has been promoted four levels in a row, but this is hard to say.A fat and short Beijing official who is sent out to be a magistrate of a poor place needs to look at the future development.

"When we arrived in Yuanzhou," Tian Younian said with a chuckle, "I was forgotten by the Donglin Party, and my previous friendship was gone. After all, I am from Shaanxi, and I was born in Juren, so I am not with them. These bastards, I am used to crossing rivers and tearing down bridges!"

Prefect is a hurdle, and it is very difficult to get promoted.

Some unlucky people, from one place to another, have been able to be the magistrate for more than 12 years, and then slowly waste time in participating in councils and politics, and spend their entire lives in circles.

Tian Younian is the kind who can't be promoted. In his official career, he can at most be mixed up with a third rank to participate in politics. If he doesn't give money, he can't even get involved in politics.

There is no hope of promotion, no family to drag you down, and you have to keep the incense, what burden do you have to be a thief?

Tian Younian would not choose to be a thief if he was promoted normally according to his political achievements.

Chapter 149 [Faction Contradictions]

Bow makers, kiln workers, and their families were taken away by Zhao Han. The total number of women and children exceeded [-].

It is difficult to deal with the elite soldiers, mainly because they are reluctant to part with their families.

It's okay to insist on taking the surrendered soldiers away, but it's hard to tell the morale of the army, and they might turn against each other one day.

Therefore, Zhao Han specially stayed for a few more days, and the stragglers went to various villages to "pick up" their families.It was delayed for another twelve days, and the Lantern Festival was over in the blink of an eye.

The ships were used to transport supplies, and besides those recruited by Tian Younian, Zhao Han himself also snatched more than a dozen ships.

Elderly people, young and young children also sat in the boat, and the rest all proceeded along the river bank.After joining up with Fei Ruhe from Fenyi County, the entire team has tens of thousands of people, marching towards the Ganjiang River.

Arriving outside Xinyu (Xinyu) County, Tian Younian went ashore in person, and shouted at the base of the city: "I am Tian Younian, the prefect of Yuanzhou. I am going to Ji'an to suppress bandits. Hurry up and collect food and grass!"

Damn bandits, they stayed in Fucheng for half a month, and the news had already spread to Xinyu County, everyone knew that the prefect of Yuanzhou was a thief.

Xin Yuzhi County can't be offended, seeing bandits dragging their families along, seems to be just passing by here, and immediately asks the big households in the city to prepare food and grass.It's like spending money to buy peace, and it took half a day to get a thousand stones, and a merchant ship as a gift, and carefully sent the anti-thief gifts out of the country.

After walking for another two hours, it was already evening, so we camped by the river to rest.

A small boat sailed back, and the spy reported: "General Town, from here to the north of Zhangshu Town, no officers and soldiers were found."

"Okay, you go to rest." Zhao Han said.

Tian Younian frowned and said, "It shouldn't be, Li Maofang and Wang Siren's army should have arrived in Zhangshu Town after receiving my secret letter."

"It doesn't matter, let's go back and talk about it first." Zhao Han didn't bother to think about what happened to the governor.

Four days later.

Zhao Han led a large army to Zhangshu Town, which belongs to the medicine capital of the world and is the distribution center of traditional Chinese medicine in the whole south.

Zhangshu Town, Jingdezhen, Hekou Town, and Wucheng Town are also known as the four famous towns in Jiangxi.Back then, when Wang Yangming put down King Ning's rebellion, he gathered troops in Zhangshu Town and went northward.

This place is extremely prosperous, and the number of merchants in a town is more than that of Zhao Han's Ji'an City.

Merchants have long been aware of the thieves, shops are closed one after another, merchant ships also fled to the north, and there are not many people in sight at the pier.

The material fleet entered the Ganjiang River and returned to Ji'an along the south.

There were constant spies rowing small boats to the north to investigate the information of the officers and soldiers, and finally on the ninth day, the news came back that the governor led the troops to the Yangtze River waterway.

"It must be the rogue bandits from the Northwest who have flooded into the territory under the jurisdiction of Southern Zhili." Tian Younian guessed.

Zhao Han knew that the ancestral grave of Zhu's family had been dug, but he forgot the year. He smiled and said, "The rebels may have gone to Zhongdu (Fengyang)."

Tian Younian was startled, nodded and said, "Very likely!"

A few days later, after crossing the boundary of Xiajiang County, the spies finally came back and reported: "The Northwest Rebels have entered Nanzhi from Henan!"

This information was very late. When Zhao Han was still in Yuanzhou Mansion, the bandits had captured Fengyang.

Thousands of people were stationed in Fengyang City, the central capital. Taking advantage of the Lantern Festival Lantern Festival, the rogues sent [-] soldiers in disguise to enter the city.

Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong were all involved. The imperial mausoleum was destroyed, the temples were burned, and the Longxing Temple (Huangjue Temple) where Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk was burned.Thousands of officers and soldiers in Fengyang were killed even if they surrendered, and more than 60 eunuchs were also killed.The rogues raised the banner of "Gu Yuan Zhenlong Emperor" and drank happily in front of the ancestral grave of Lao Zhu's family.

It was Zhang Xianzhong who proclaimed himself emperor, and Zhang Xianzhong also took down Fengyang City. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng ran a little slowly.

As for Emperor Gu Yuan Zhenlong, that was a legend of the White Lotus Sect.In order to win over the White Lotus Sect, Zhang Xianzhong assumed the title of Emperor, and fell out with Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng because of this.

They are all brothers who rebelled together. If you suddenly proclaim yourself emperor, then what should I be?

After that, the spoils were distributed unevenly, and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had a complete falling out.

Li Zicheng walked northwest and up the Yellow River.

Zhang Xianzhong was heading south. At this moment, he was besieging Quanjiao. He wanted to cross the river and occupy the capital of Nanjing.

……

mid-February.

Li Maofang and Wang Siren's Jiangxi army set off eagerly by boat, wanting to protect the emperor's ancestral tomb.

On the way, I heard that Fengyang had fallen and the bandits were attacking Quanjiao.So, the two got off the boat by the Yangtze River and went to rescue Quanjiao on foot. They were considered loyal to the king and the country.

After only marching for more than [-] li, I heard that Quanjiao County was gone.

Li Maofang was dumbfounded, and discussed with Wang Siren privately: "Ji Zhong, we should withdraw our troops, or wait for reinforcements from our allies. The bandit army is so overwhelming that we may be hard-pressed to resist it!"

Wang Siren said: "You can't withdraw your troops, you can go to Hezhou (Hexian) to rest and wait for the troops from the six provinces to come to help."

Both of them felt a little guilty at this time, but it was too ugly to withdraw troops halfway, so they found a place to hide, and they could give an explanation to the court no matter the victory or defeat.

The next day, the Jiangxi army began to withdraw, intending to retreat to Hezhou City by boat.

But they were already being targeted, and there were constant rogue cavalry chasing them. At the beginning, there were only a dozen or so cavalry, and after half a day, it increased to hundreds of cavalry.

"Why do bandits have so many cavalry?" Li Maofang exclaimed.

Wang Siren said: "I can't retreat to the river, go to the mountains in the northwest!"

The [-] Jiangxi army, under the watchful eyes of the thieves, threw away their luggage and accelerated their march.Hundreds of thieves kept harassing, but they never attacked—they were all mounted infantry, mainly used for traveling.

Seeing that the distance to Cloak Mountain was getting closer and closer, there was a sudden sound of rumbling horseshoes behind him.

Zhang Xianzhong came in person, along with He Yilong (Ge Liyan) and Ma Shouying (Old Huihui).

The bandits from the three routes, with a total of [-] cavalry, swept over with astonishing momentum.

"Run, the thief is coming!"

The distance between the two sides was still very far, and the Jiangxi soldiers collapsed directly. Li Maofang and Wang Siren couldn't restrain themselves at all, so they could only run along with the defeated soldiers.

This is not a battle, but a unilateral massacre, and the thieves and cavalry will catch up and hack.

The enemies that Zhao Han faced in Jiangxi were just like this, and he had no resistance against the bandits.

Fleeing into the Cloak Mountain, Li Maofang and Wang Siren counted the number of people, and they all looked ashamed. More than 5000 soldiers went ashore to suppress the thieves, and fought in a muddleheaded manner. Now there are only a thousand soldiers left.

"Two or three thousand cavalry, are these thieves?" Li Maofang was shocked.

Wang Siren also said: "It's no wonder that the imperial court is so hard to wipe out, these thieves are more powerful than officers and soldiers!"

Last year, the rogues were besieged by the government army. After he escaped, Zhang Xianzhong learned from the painful experience.From then on, whenever a town was conquered, the first thing to grab was not money and food, but sending troops to collect mules and horses.

Mules and donkeys are used to carry supplies, and horses are used to run long distances.

If you encounter elite officers and soldiers, just throw away the supplies, and the whole army will flee on mules and horses.

Horse seven steps three, this is Zhang Xianzhong's army ratio.

It cannot be called cavalry at all, strictly speaking, it is only mounted infantry.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong became more vigilant. Every time he camped, the sentry cavalry sent out from all sides could reach ten miles away!

How could Jiangxi Xiangyong beat such a ferocious bandit?

Even the officers and soldiers of the six northern provinces were helpless against Zhang Xianzhong.Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang also followed suit, looting mules, horses and livestock along the way, but wealth was not that important.

Li Maofang and Wang Siren no longer have any idea of ​​suppressing thieves.

They walked along the mountain, took more than a thousand infantry down the mountain in the middle of the night, boarded a boat and led the water army back to Jiangxi.

Northwest thieves, whoever wants to suppress them, anyway, they don't want to come again.

But it is said that Zhang Xianzhong captured Quanjiao, and after recruiting and reorganizing, he captured Shucheng in three days.At the same time, partial divisions were dispatched to take down Lu'an City.

Then they went to attack Luzhou, but they couldn't fight at first, so they ransacked the residents outside the city and pretended to leave.Secretly dispatched hundreds of people, disguised as academic officials, scholars, domestic slaves and handymen. Many of them wore Confucian shirts and carried scrolls, and were respectfully invited into the city by the magistrate Zheng Luxiang.

Yes, you read that right, the magistrate personally welcomed the bandits into the city!

Then, Luzhou (Hefei) disappeared.

After occupying Luzhou City, Zhang Xianzhong immediately trained the navy in Chaohu Lake. He always wanted to cross the river to attack Nanjing and establish a court.During the period, people from the palace were also selected as eunuchs, so that they can live the addiction of being an emperor first.

At this moment, the real army came, and Zhang Xianzhong was so frightened that he fled along the Yangtze River. After suffering several defeats along the way, he jumped from Huangmei County to the border of Huguang.

This was the closest Zhao Han was to Zhang Xianzhong. Huangmei County was less than a hundred miles away from Jiujiang.

……

Of course, Zhao Han didn't know that Zhang Xianzhong was far away from Luzhou, and actually helped him destroy the main force of the governor of Jiangxi.

Such a big favor, how embarrassing.

He returned to Ji'an in mid-February, and all civil and military officials went to the south of the city to welcome him.

"Meng Angong, long time no see." Tian Younian cupped his hands.

Li Banghua had no impression of him, and thought hard: "Your Excellency is..."

Tian Younian replied: "Tian Younian, the magistrate of Yuanzhou, when Meng Angong was the Minister of the Ministry of War, he was the head of the Ministry of Households in Xiayang."

"It turned out to be Tian Jun." Li Banghua was very surprised, but Zhao Han unexpectedly subdued the prefect of Yuanzhou.

Chen Maosheng stood beside him with a gloomy expression on his face.

Pang Chunlai looked across the Gan River, completely ignoring the scene in front of him.

Zhao Han felt that the atmosphere was very strange, something must have happened, which caused conflicts between Li Banghua, Pang Chunlai and Chen Maosheng.

After returning to the General Military Mansion, Xiao Huan handed over a letter.

Zhao Han opened it up and saw that it was a letter of death.

Written by a female member of the mission group, she used to be a prostitute in Ji'an Prefecture, and later joined the mission group.Just during the Chinese New Year, the mission group organized performances in the countryside to visit grassroots officials and peasant association members in various towns.

On the way, he got help from the mayor's home. The mayor was a thief. Because of his outstanding performance in dividing the land and his high education, he was quickly promoted to mayor.

This guy doesn't know what kind of flair he has, but he actually covets the beauty of the female missionaries.Or, thinking that the other party has been a prostitute before and doesn't care about bed affairs, she even insulted the female missionary in the middle of the night.

The next morning, when the mission leader learned about this, he immediately sent the mayor to report to the authorities.

Ouyang Zheng, the county magistrate, suddenly felt overwhelmed, so he had no choice but to hand over the case to the General Military Office because the mayor and the missionary team were involved.

Li Banghua and Pang Chunlai quarreled over this, and the female propaganda teacher became more and more desperate, and even left a suicide note to commit suicide. Fortunately, her good sister discovered it in time.

Chen Maosheng was so angry that he not only wanted to dismiss the mayor, but also accused him of raping women.

Officials of the Jishui faction also joined forces, thinking that a prostitute pretending to be a strong woman and leaving a book to commit suicide is just acting.