Chapter 254: The proportion of soldiers and civilians

Is Dingzhou short of salt? Not only is it short, but it is also very short. Salt is distributed by the Salt Administration Department. After Zhong Xiang's violence, salt has not flowed into the violent area. Dongting Lake is a tasshui lake, and Zhong Xiang will not produce it himself. He could do something with stealing chickens and dogs, but as soon as Liu Qi arrived, he carried out very strict management. He would rather lack local salt than let a grain of salt flow into the rebellious area. At this time, Zhong Xiang received a message that a batch of salt would be transported to Tanzhou through Dongting Lake, half of which were military supplies to supplement the imperial guards.

Although it is likely to be a trap, Zhong Xiang is also a person who can settle accounts. There are too many people eating salt now, and the least lacks is manpower. Taking risks is cost-effective. So a fleet of thousands of people came out.

According to reliable information, the escort was the responsibility of Jiangling's soldiers. There were only more than 100 soldiers in the first half. When it arrived at the middle section, Xia Cheng and Liu Heng would send heavy troops to escort them. Therefore, the hijacking must be on the water route in the front section, but how can we avoid the eyes and ears of Xia Cheng and Liu Heng's two water villages?

Finally, Zhong Xiang made a bold plan to use his soldiers' familiarity with Dongting Lake to sail blindly. Blind sailing means not raising fires. When the moonlight is dim and the visibility is extremely low, he uses his familiarity with waterways to sail. Ouyang and Liu Qi did not expect Zhong Xiang to use this trick.

According to Liu Qi's original calculation, the fleet would be attacked in Yunmeng Shuize. Because there was a four-way waterway in that place, the water was shallow and deep underwater, and it was not a veteran who dared not drive in that area easily.

In order to avoid the rumor of the wind, the early escort soldiers did not know that they were cheating and were caught off guard by Zhong Xiang's subordinates. Two points were seen from this incident. The first point was that the local soldiers had really not very capable of fighting against the wind. When they saw that there were many enemies, they all jumped away, and there were very few rebels. The second point was that the ship workers were not injured. According to the principle of fighting between the two sides and not dismantling the means of transportation, the boatmen would cooperate with the rebel army to deliver the goods to the designated location.

This hijacking is like many robberies in Water Margin novels, and it is more textbook-like classics. Water Margin generally uses medicinal wine to sell Meng*khan*, and Zhong Xiang’s methods are obviously much more clever.

"This Zhongxiang is not simple." Liu Qi was already at the city of Dingzhou, and after receiving a report, he couldn't help but praise him when he received the report.

Ouyang nodded: "Even simple people can't get to that position."

"Report" a soldier said: "General, sir, cheer in Dingzhou City."

"I understand." Liu Qi passed on the order: "I inform all departments and attack four days later, be careful during the period."

"Yes" under the city of Dingzhou, in addition to the nearly 10,000 people from Liu Qi's headquarters, there were other soldiers and townsmen who met in the west and south directions, with a total of 30,000 people. They were led by their respective commanders and formed horns to protect the left and right wings of Liu Qi's central army.

Ouyang was curious: "What poison did you use?"

"During the first war against the Western Xia, I had some interaction with the Tubo army and learned a herb that grew in their tribe, called Thunder Vine. There are also near the Yangtze River, but the toxicity is not strong enough. The more yin and damp this thing is, the more toxic it is. It turned out that the Tubo people provided us with the purpose of treating wounds and killing insects. When applied to the wound, the wound will not ulcerate. However, it will be poisoned. If it is applied for less than half an hour, it will basically be helpless. Therefore, it cannot be applied for more than half a moment. Although the wound is not allowed to be used for every time.

It will not ulcerate, but whether it can survive depends on the physical condition of the soldiers. Only those who can survive for four days without burning can survive." Liu Qi smiled and said, "If you have such good things, you naturally have to bring more. So I bought a lot from Tubo, dried it and brought it to Yuzhou. Unfortunately, there is no place to use it. This time I asked me to soak the Thunderbolt Vine in salt and process it by the Salt Semen. But the time is relatively tight, because it will take a few more days to dry, so I soaked it for one night, and the toxicity did not come out completely."

That is, chronic poison, slowly destroying the human body. Herbal poison is much worse than animal and biological poisons in terms of toxicity, but it is cheap and high in quantity. The focus is on destroying human immune function, rather than the other two types of key lies in the nervous system.

Liu Qi was quite interested in this kind of poison that could be used on a large scale. Historical records show that he poisoned the Jin soldiers twice, resulting in a large-scale defeat of the Jin soldiers. He was also one of the few famous generals in Chinese history who used such despicable means to defeat the enemy, or it can be said that he was a rare general who could do anything to defeat the enemy. Because of his methods, the gold-free general was willing to be an enemy head-on. His method was unpredictable. The most famous Battle of Shunchang was when 3,000 people used fraudulent surrender and poisoned to defeat 100,000 Jin soldiers, including the main force of the Jin soldiers. The Battle of Shunchang also became a terrifying day when the Jin soldiers were terrifying. The next year, people came again. Liu Qi poisoned again. When the Jin people came into contact, they found out that it was Liu Qi who led the troops, they ran away directly. In the end, the Jin Emperor could only personally conquer Liu Qi.

There are few such poison-use experts in military history, so Dingzhou suffered. The next day, a spy reported that there was a plague in Dingzhou City, and many people were dizzy, headache, palpitations, nausea and vomiting, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, muscle pain, howling and struggling, limbs numbness or convulsions, and liver and kidney pain. Four people have died. Liu Qi smiled at Ouyang that the medicinal properties will last for four days, and if they still eat salt, it will be more serious.

At noon on the fourth day, Liu Qi announced his siege. There was almost no resistance to breaking the city gate. The city was full of mourning, and the houses and on the roads were struggling with half-dead people. Not only did there be no resistance in the city, but there were not even surrenders. After the imperial guards entered, they gathered their weapons and began to steam and cook universal antidotes. They were steamed and cooked mung beans, honeysuckle and licorice in a certain proportion, and organized people to pursue deserters from the water. But unexpectedly, the two armies of Jiaojiao heard about the plague in Dingzhou and were unwilling to send people in. When Liu Qi heard this, he prepared to stop treatment and concentrate his troops to pursue him, but was stopped by Ouyang.

Ouyang said: "If you can save but not save, I am afraid everyone will think that you are a cold-blooded person. Although the military is ruthless, the Song Dynasty has always been based on benevolence. Therefore, they must be saved, otherwise you will be upset."

Liu Qi shook his head: "If you don't take this opportunity to wipe out Zhong Xiang, it will be even more difficult to suppress it."

Ouyang said patiently: "You believe me so many times, why don't you believe me again?"

Liu Qi finally nodded: "Okay", so he sent an order to give up the pursuit and treat the patients in the city.

The news did not spread afterwards, and everyone really thought that a plague broke out in Dingzhou. So the court praised Liu Qi very much, believing that he was a benevolent general. Because of this, Liu Qi finally broke away from Han Shizhong's halo and became a commander general who recognized everyone. No one likes Bai Qi, whether it is his own people or his enemies. On the contrary, everyone respects people like Liu Bei with a benevolent and righteous halo.

The local situation was also beyond Liu Qi's expectations. Because he gave up the pursuit and turned to treat patients, the plague was controlled, the people of Dongting Lake were grateful. Everyone called him Liu Gong. Some cured patients were willing to lead the Song army to pursue Zhong Xiang in order to be grateful to Liu Qi.

It took more than a month during this period, and it was not until mid-October when Song Jiang broke the last water camp of Zhong Xiang and captured Zhong Xiang and his group of his wives and sons alive. Zhong Xiang Yang's uprising army declared failure. The evil government army once again suppressed the non-government armed forces.

However, the local economy, culture, architecture and cities in Dongting Lake have suffered unprecedented damage. The five counties and one prefecture of Tanzhou and the five counties of Dingzhou have all been destroyed and burned. The commerce is paralyzed, the economy is paralyzed, and it will take years or even decades to recover. The innocent civilians killed are an astonishing number. Although Zhong Xiang is not the largest peasant uprising, it is the most destructive peasant uprising. The wide range of attacks on the puppet regime is rare in ancient history.

Ouyang saw Zhong Xiang and slapped him in the face. Zhong Xiang scolded: "Corrupt Official"

"I really don't have the strength to reason with you." Ouyang looked at the dragon robe next to him and said, "I want to be an emperor and I miss you crazy. You tell me the corrupt official, why do you want to be an emperor? I will be happy to be a corrupt official, let's forget it today. I'm unhappy to answer, I'll let you die one by one, my son and daughter one by one."

"Hmph" Zhong Xiang sneered: "Where can you finish the eggs under the collapse of the nest?"

"It's true." Ouyang asked Liu Qi: "What do you think?"

"According to the rules and clock, it will be cut off, and the corpse will be stormed for seven days." Liu Qi said: "Does sir still want to turn a waste into a treasure?"

"That's right." Ouyang smiled and said, "We have found all the dragon robes of this guy, but the property has not been found. His eldest son Zhong Ziang is missing."

Liu Qi said: "The thief is still trying to make a comeback if he is not dead."

When breaking through the last water camp, Zhong Zi'ang and several of his personal guards were missing. Ouyang's estimated treasure worth millions was unknown. After understanding, when he was in Dingzhou, Zhong Xiang secretly transported his wealth to a place in Dongting Lake. It is said that more than 30 craftsmen were recruited, but no one had ever seen the soldiers and craftsmen transported again. So Ouyang was so interested in meeting Zhong. As expected, Zhong Xiang's dead duck had a hard mouth. But Ouyang could not kill Zhong Xiang, otherwise the court would be unhappy.

Zhong Xiang is a person with insight, perseverance and courage. Ouyang knew that some of his methods were of little use to him. While pondering how to deal with it, Liu Qi said: "Sir, I don't think I can take out this money anymore. I can only let the money shop pay attention."

Ouyang said: "I didn't see this million yuan, I was worried that Zhong Zi'ang would make trouble in the future."

"If so, I have a plan."

...

The next day, the Suppression Headquarters (Bandit Suppression Headquarters) issued an announcement, offering a reward of Zhong Zi'ang, which was Zhong Zi'ang's net worth of over one million yuan. On the tenth day of the announcement, Zhong Zi'ang's head was sent to Zhong Xiang.

Zhong Xiang didn't believe it and said, "It's impossible, they won't betray Zi'ang." They were referring to several personal guards.

"They really don't." Liu Qi said: "I also admire such heroes who are not moved by money. But they don't. Their families will. As soon as the reward is posted, the guards' families will contact us and provide the living habits of the guards. There are those who are good at gambling, those who are good at drinking, and those who are lustful. There are also those who have an affair with their sister-in-law and widow. The woman came to us and said that as long as we help them change their household registration, go far away, and do not harm his man, she will take us to find the passionate guard."

Ouyang added: "The guard was worried that his sister-in-law was often beaten by his elder brother. He once sneaked into the house privately. There was no secret that the girl loved. Although she didn't tell her sister-in-law about her hiding point, she agreed to see each other again. The man and the woman were flirting with each other. After we arrested the guard, he began to die. Finally, under the influence of his sister-in-law's tenderness and suicide, he finally agreed and took us to the hiding place."

"Woman, haha, woman" Zhong Xiang burst into tears.

"Men conquered the world for women, and women conquered men for the world." Ouyang patted Zhong Xiang's face and said, "Boy, the power of men and women's feelings is much more powerful than that of men who only know how to play with women. General Liu, what if you don't have a sister-in-law?"

"That may take some time. The guards are also humans and they always care about their family. They may not come out this year, but what about next year? There will be a day after all." Liu Qi smiled and said, "I didn't expect the credit to fall on us."

...

Zhong Zi'ang's head represents the official end of the bandit suppression. Liu Qi is the Tokyo Imperial Army, so of course he cannot stay for a long time. He escorted Zhong Xiang's family on the road the next day. Ouyang stayed for a few days, mainly to contact merchants, landlords and government officials, and to study some ways to protect the place. At the same time, the Yangping Business Association donated 800,000 yuan, most of which was to fund the local restoration of construction and to provide pensions for registered merchants of the Business Association of the Dead, and the other half was for civilian armed forces. Yangping Money House will provide an interest-free loan of 3 million yuan to help Dongting Lake restore basic business. This move was well received by Zhao Yu and the court officials.

At the end of November, Ouyang left Dongting Lake and went to Beijing to submit the order under the protection of hundreds of imperial guards. During the past six months, Liao, Jin and Song maintained a confrontation between each other, and the Song army also tried to use Dihe, but due to Yelu Dashi's explanation, Dihe's waterway could not sail. Moreover, the troops and equipment had not been adjusted yet. In addition, the Hangzhou fleet suffered heavy losses in the early stage and needed to be repaired, so the war had never started. The Liao Kingdom took time to borrow troops, and there were enemies on both sides, so it did not take the initiative to attack. The Jurchens' attitude was to watch the tiger's fight. Although they had already broken up with Liao, Zong Han had always restricted his subordinates from attacking.

Looking at the wars between the Western Xia, Song and Liao, they rarely aim to destroy each other. Most of them are occupation of one place and fighting among several cities. Fighting and fighting, fighting and fighting. Everyone is used to this rhythm. But knowledgeable people know that next year will be the most important year for military operations in the three countries.

However, some changes have taken place in the strategic direction. Although Yelu Chun had a strong wife, he still had military talents. After listening to Yelu Dashi's opinion, he gradually withdrew the Jinzhou army to Dading Prefecture and Tongzhou, avoiding the Jinzhou battle that the Song Dynasty had been prepared for a long time. Yelu Dashi believed that Jinzhou was near the sea and the Liao army had no fleet, so he could not bear to be attacked on both sides. Retreating to the inland could also divide the advantages of the Song army.

...

When I returned to Tokyo to submit the order, this time I was exceptional. There was no direct interview. I didn’t announce Ouyang from the morning until the evening. Ouyang asked the vendor in front of the palace and learned that Tong Guan had returned and had not come out since he went in the morning. Ouyang Gang went to the inn to register. Someone came to the palace and announced his own interview.

Ouyang remembered that the emperor rarely preached his ministers at supper unless there was any major event. For example, the first time to discuss the Western Xia War, logistics support, and the allocation of the imperial guards all night. Ouyang probably had a major event.

Zhao Yu was a little tired, but when he saw Ouyang, he came. Zhao Yu was in a good mood and asked, "What are you drinking?"

"Tea." There are no good drinks. There is no cola beer and coffee. Should I consider abducting the Hangzhou fleet to drive South America, hoping to have a cup of coffee in my lifetime?

Zhao Yu waved his hand and the Ninth Eunuch went to rush in person. In fact, Ouyang didn't like the Ninth Eunuch Eunuch's food, and felt a little disgusting. Why was it disgusting? I couldn't say why. Zhao Yu said: "This time I did a good job, and the court officials praised it. The most rare thing is to get things done without abandoning any troops. I am considering whether to arrange for you to be the Grand Marshal."

"Your Majesty is in a good mood today."

"Of course, you don't know about the royal newspaper?" Zhao Yu said: "The eight divisions of the Western Liao Wugu Di Lie Army Command have proclaimed themselves kings and are connected to the northwest military routes. The Liao Kingdom's retreat has been cut off, so they can only retreat to Tokyo in the future."

Ouyang asked: "What else?"

"There is also Liao Prime Minister Li Chuwen who contacted Tong Guan privately and was preparing to join the Song Dynasty. There is another big event." Zhao Yu pointed to the map in front of him: "Come and see."

"Ye" Ouyang walked to Zhao Yu.

Zhao Yu pointed to the map and said: "The Hangzhou fleet is transporting the main force of the Hebei Military Road to the Yalu River and Goryeo."

Ouyang was shocked: "Your Majesty wants to start a war between the two sides?" The Yalu River was in the Changbai Mountain tribe. If you occupy the Changbai Mountain tribe, you can threaten Huanglong Mansion.

"Yeah." Zhao Yu nodded: "I am preparing to appoint Yue Fei as General Zhenhai, land from Suzhou, southern Jurchens, to riot the Jurchens, and threaten the Liaoyang Prefecture of the Jindu."

Ouyang couldn't help but wonder: "Why did Your Majesty suddenly..."

"Wanyan Wu Qimai was a wise monarch. Over the past year, the life of the Jurchens has improved a lot because there was basically no war. Tong Guan said that they could not improve, and they had to let them have fewer doctors, less medicine and less food." Zhao Yu said: "I feel it is reasonable. Now it is difficult for the Liao and Jin Dynasties to start a large-scale war. Therefore, the Hebei military route will be transferred to the Yalu River, and it is not necessary to fight. As long as they gather troops and give up production, it is enough to force them to raise the war by fighting, and compete with the Liao people for population, wealth and food. This is a strategy to drive away the wolf and swallow the tiger."

This is really OK. There are nearly hundreds of thousands of people on the Liao border of Northwest Army and Yongxing Army. Not only can they defend, but they are also sufficient for offense.

Zhao Yu said again: "After the spring begins, I will summon another 100,000 imperial guards to supplement Hebei East Road. Look at this information compiled by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue."

Ouyang opened the information and found that the above was a statistics on production surveys and military caps. Zhao Yu pointed to this item and said: "The current problem in various places is that there are few lands and many people. According to statistics, the total number of the imperial guards and the total population ratio can be 1 to 40. As long as there is no civil strife, our Song Dynasty can completely maintain the base of military sources, not only not destroying production, but also benefiting stability. If necessary, it can be increased to 1 to 30, and it will not interfere with production on a large scale." The main purpose of Wang Anshi's military recruitment policy is not to the needs of military sources, but to resettle landless people, which can greatly alleviate social conflicts.

Ouyang pinched his fingers and said that one to forty, it would be possible to set up an army of more than one.3 million. According to the proportion, the imperial guards could reach nearly eight hundred thousand. If it was one to three, it would reach one to one.8 million. This ratio was not excessive. According to the Liao people, the population of 90,000, the palace tent army of 400,000, and the Jingzhou soldiers were allocated nearly one to five. Under the Western Xia and Jurchens, the proportion reached two to one, and the soldiers were twice that of the people. Germany had more than one million troops in World War II, with a population of only six million, which was one to six.

ps: The previous chapter’s inappropriate example is given by Wang Xiaoer, and I hereby apologize. I would like to thank the readers for their galloping horses.
Chapter completed!