Emperor Sui Yang

Chapter 357
After Zhang Kai occupied Linming County, he didn't stay idle. He knew that he was a rebel. If he was caught, he would be skinned alive by the officers and soldiers. From now on, how long he can live depends entirely on him. How long can he last.

So after killing all the officials in the county government, Zhang Kai started a large-scale raid in the county seat, picking out the rich, raiding their homes and looting, and then distributing the obtained property to women to win over his subordinates.

Then he found someone who could write, and posted a notice in the city that anyone who was willing to follow him would have food to eat. This was undoubtedly a huge temptation for the hungry civilians, so more and more people joined the rebellion. There are even eleven or twelve-year-old children in the ranks of the army.

Food is the most important thing for the people. When they are about to starve to death, the emperor Lao Tzu is a fart.

The few grains in the official warehouse of Linming County were taken out, opened to load the grains, and then led a mighty crowd of more than 2000 people along the Mingshui River to the east, passing towns along the way, he still used Food to lure the villagers to join his ranks.

The local people who were already suffering from famine looked at each other's carts of grain, and their stomachs were growling, so they greeted the folks, dragged their families, and followed Zhang Kai away.

It's human nature to go where you can survive.

Although their team looked more like fleeing famine from a distance, after Wu'an County Magistrate Yang Cong got the news, he took his family and ran eastward immediately because there were too many rebels on the opposite side.

To the east of Wu'an County is Shangdang County. Not long after Yang Cong left the city, he bumped into Lu Yongji's two thousand soldiers.

"Losing the city and losing the land, County Magistrate Yang is really not afraid of death?" Lu Yongji rode forward with a big belly at his age, and wanted to question Yang Cong.

Yang Cong didn't care about him, since he was a clan after all, he heard the words: "The bandit army is huge, there are thousands of people, I can't stop it, since the Duke of Qi has led the army here, please go quickly to judge."

Thousands of people?Lu Yongji was dumbfounded. Didn't the military newspaper say that there were only a few hundred people?How did it become several thousand?
"The thieves are nothing more than a group of disorderly people, they are mobs. Once the elite of our military mansion arrive, their positions will be disordered," Xue Anguo, the hussar general of the Shangdang Mansion, said: "Calculating the time, the thieves have not yet arrived in Wu'an County. Enter the city quickly, refuse to defend the city and watch the situation."

The chariot general Zhang Junmou also said: "It's just the rioters, nothing to fear, His Royal Highness Qi Wang has an order, let me suppress it as soon as possible, the eunuch should give the order as soon as possible."

The two generals in the military mansion didn't pay attention to these rioters at all, because they knew, so what about thousands of people?Do they have armour?Isn't that just a bunch of civilians?There is nothing to be afraid of.

But Lu Yongji was afraid, he had never been on a battlefield, and he felt that the journey was hard and his body couldn't bear it when he rode out this time. He didn't have the guts to let him go into the city to fight thousands of rebels.

How big is Wu'an County, surrounded by thousands of people, can you still run?
"I think it's wrong. There is no food in the city. Once surrounded, how many days can we survive without water and food?" Lu Yongji said: "It is the best policy to garrison troops outside the city and have evidence to advance and retreat."

The head of Shangzenima, if you are surrounded outside, you will really be unable to escape. We are an infantry army, and we have less than a hundred horses in total, and we are still pulling baggage. If something goes wrong, how will we run away?
Xue Anguo and Zhang Junmou's earnest persuasion was almost dry, but Lu Yongji was indifferent.

After all, he was a relative of the emperor and a Shangguan, so the two couldn't resist, so they had to choose Wuji Township not far from Wu'an County to station, and then sent scouts to investigate the situation in the direction of the county.

It was not convenient for Yang Cong to run away, but he arranged for his family members to flee to Shangdang County. He himself followed Lu Yongji with seventy or eighty entourages.

After a night in the village, there was no movement in the county seat, so the scouts expanded their exploration range, and after another day, they didn't even see the shadow of the rebels.

"Are you lying to me? Where are the rebels?" Lu Yongji asked Yang Cong.

Yang Cong raised his eyebrows and said, "How can I lie to you? Who dares to make fun of the military situation? At most, the number of rebels is wrongly estimated, and there will be no other mistakes."

As soon as these words came out, Xue Anguo and Zhang Junmou looked at each other, and understood in their hearts, good guy, why are you really cheating on us?It seems that there are not so many rebels at all. The word "thousands" is very watery, and one or two thousand is also thousands.

"Since that's the case, we need to enter the city as soon as possible. The rations are almost exhausted. If we don't go to the city to replenish, we won't be able to last for a few days," Xue Anguo said.

Yang Cong nodded and said: "I second my suggestion to General Xue. The granaries in the county town still have some food after all. I can also borrow some from big households in the city. It is not a long-term solution for the soldiers to stay here to eat and sleep."

Lu Yongji nodded. To be safe, he sent 100 people to enter the city first, and after confirming that it was correct, the army followed.

At noon that day, the guards came back to report that although all the refugees in the city were fleeing, there was no sign of the rebels, so Lu Yongji led a large group of troops into the city with peace of mind, and closed the city gates, not allowing anyone to enter or leave.

Zhang Kai had no idea of ​​going to Wu'an County at all, because he didn't dare to go, the people were afraid of soldiers, it was his nature.

He guessed that the news of his rebellion must have spread, and there might be officers and soldiers chasing him behind his back, so he didn't even dare to enter the larger towns. A few days later, he actually entered She County in Shangdang County.

Seeing that the food he brought was almost finished, once he finished eating, he would not have any cards to make the people below him follow him willingly, so after discussing with his men, they planned to take the risk of attacking the county.

Once there was the first time, there was the second time. Linming County was also beaten, and the officials were also killed. Anyway, if they are caught, they will be killed, so it is better to fight hard.

Coincidentally, one of his scouts came to report that on the official road not far away, there was a convoy fleeing to the west. The carriage was full, and there should be a lot of property. With 500 men to plunder the convoy.

More than ten carriages were pulling Yang Cong's belongings, as well as his wife and children.

Except for Yang Cong's concubine and a dozen maidservants, the rest became ghosts under the open sword.

He learned from his concubine that Yang Cong, the magistrate of Wu'an County, ran away with his family after he found out that their rebel army was moving in the direction of Wu'an County.

Moreover, Lv Yongji, the prefect of Shangdang, had already brought a large army to find them.

If you look at it this way, there are no soldiers in Wu'an County at all?There are no soldiers in Shangdang County?

Then what am I afraid of?
Zhang Kai immediately arranged for his men to pretend to be fleeing merchants and head straight to Shexian County. He led a large group of people and followed quietly behind.

After the civil unrest broke out in Wu'an County, as a neighbor of Shangdang County, the gates of all the county towns would only be opened a crack during the day. If someone wanted to enter the city, they would only be allowed to enter after strict questioning.

Once any abnormality is found outside the city, the city gate will be closed immediately.

There are only more than 30 people pretending to be caravans, and Zhang Kai's son Zhang Shun is the leader.

"Where did you come from? Who are you looking for in the city?"

"I'm looking for you, uncle!" Zhang Shun was also a fierce man, and directly slammed into the officers and soldiers in the door, and the people behind him quickly pulled out their weapons from the mule cart, and walked in sideways through the door one by one. , to protect their young master.

There were only a dozen or so gatekeepers in total. After Zhang Shun took over the weapon, he hacked four of them to death in one go.

It's not how brave he is, but the guards are really defenseless. Who would have thought that thirty or so people would dare to kill officers and soldiers and attack the county?

After a while, Zhang Shun had already taken down the city gate. At this time, the two gates behind him were also opened. Looking out from the city gate, one could see his father leading the way, leading more than 100 cavalry towards the city. He rushed towards the door.

Following behind Zhang Kai was the densely packed and chaotic Zhang family army.

Some people stumbled while running, and some directly bumped into the back of the person in front of them, getting involved. In short, they were not like rebels, but more like refugees.

Zhang Kai told them that there is food in the city, so everyone is running desperately to the city.

The few guards guarding the city wall originally noticed that the city gate was abnormal, and were about to come down to check it. Looking at the situation outside the city, they still checked what a fart. One by one slipped faster than the other, so they hurried home to pack their luggage and greet their family members. Run towards the west gate.

In this way, when Zhang Kai successfully entered the county seat, the first thing he did was to find the county government office. He arrested a few civilians from a shop facing the street, asked the direction of the county government office, and led people to kill him.

The gate of the county government office was closed tightly, and they couldn't find anything to hit the door at once, so they opened it and ordered the ladder to be stacked and climbed over the wall to enter.

As the brief fighting sound in the courtyard ended, the gate was opened from the inside, and the rebel army rushed in without opening the order.

The county magistrate of Shexian County is Chen Xiang, Chen Shuyi's cousin, and the eldest son of Chen Shubao's fifth younger brother Chen Shuqing, who has been kidnapped and brought in front of Zhang Kai.

"Where's the key to the treasury?" Zhang Kai stood in front of Chen Xiang rather mightily, holding the knife at his waist.

The Sui treasury is all made of iron bolts and iron locks. You don’t need a key to open it. It takes a lot of work. You have the experience of Linming County to open it. The last time you opened the lock, you couldn’t break it even after breaking five knives. In the end, he just smashed the window with an ax to get in.

The windows of the warehouse are high and small, and it is very inconvenient to transport things outside through the windows, so it is best to go through the main entrance.

Chen Xiangwang opened the people behind him, and said: "I know that you have no choice but to rebel. I will make a quick descent now. I can keep you safe. Only I know where the key is. You just put down your weapons and listen to me. Everyone has something to eat."

Good guy, sow discord?How could Zhang Kai allow him to continue talking, and directly drew his knife and slashed at Chen Xiang's neck.

Chen Xiang died just two months after he took office, and his wife who followed him from Jiangnan to She County was ruined to death by the rebels, and his seven-year-old son was chopped into meat.

Civilian rebellion is like this, open and unrestrained, so that all the mansions of rich people in Shexian County were swept up that day, and women in rags could be seen everywhere being kidnapped by mobs, and every household was kicked. Open the door, ask for food and property, and kill if you don't give it.

In just one night, more than 2000 people in She County died, and corpses could be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys. After Zhang Kai and Zhang Shun father and son successfully captured two county towns, they planned to attack Shangdang County, the capital of Shangdang County.

They were afraid that the officers and soldiers would come after them, so they didn't dare to stay in She County for a long time. Two days later, Zhang Kai took 3000 troops, food and supplies, and headed towards Shangdang.

The rest of the refugees opened their mouths to beg for food from him, and they were wasting food if they didn't need it for the war, so they were directly abandoned by him.

To change a place with one shot, rebellion also needs to accumulate experience, Zhang Kai undoubtedly did it very correctly this time.

Lu Yongji, the prefect of Shangdang who received the news, was completely stunned.

(End of this chapter)