Chapter 555: Suppressing the Rebellion
Chapter 555: Suppressing the Rebellion (Part )
On the river, hundreds of warships gradually arrived at Baling County. In the afternoon, Xiao Xia's main ship slowly docked. Zhao Xingtong, the governor of Baling County, led officials to welcome Xiao Xia at the dock.
Xiao Xia got off the boat, met everyone, and then took a carriage to Baling County.
This time Xiao Xia came to Baling County to suppress bandits. Liu Yuanjin and his men had been secretly developing in Liyang County west of Dongting Lake. Liyang County was incorporated into Qianzhong Road and did not belong to Xiao Xia's Jiangnan Road. This was also a tail deliberately left by the court. Although it was west of Dongting Lake, it was under the jurisdiction of the court.
Just two months ago, Liu Yuanjin led more than 10,000 people to capture Anxiang County in one fell swoop. They raped and looted in the city and committed all kinds of atrocities. The Anxiang County magistrate and the county magistrate were also brutally killed by the bandits.
A large number of people from the surrounding areas fled to Wuling County and Baling County. Only then did Xiao Xia realize that there was a powerful bandit group hiding in Dongting Lake.
In the afternoon, in the VIP guesthouse of Baling County, Xiao Xia met with the governor Zhao Xingtong and the chief secretary Zhou Wei. Luo Shixin and several generals stood behind Xiao Xia.
"What's the current situation with the bandits?" Xiao Xia asked.
Zhao Xingtong bowed and said, "Reporting to Your Highness, Liu Yuanjin defeated Zhang Kuang, the governor of Liyang County, who came to suppress the bandits last month. Now his power has greatly increased. It is said that his army has more than 30,000 soldiers. They use Anxiang County as their base and occupy half of Dongting Lake. They plunder everywhere. Everyone in the counties around Dongting Lake is in danger."
"Don't worry, Envoy Zhao. I am here to suppress the bandits this time, and I want to completely eliminate them. I will never allow bandits that endanger the safety of Jiangnan to exist."
"With your words, we are completely relieved!"
The officials stood up and said goodbye. As soon as they left, the spy leader Zhang Guangya came to pay a visit. Xiao Xia immediately ordered people to set up the Dongting Lake sand table.
Zhang Guangya pointed to the sand table and introduced: "According to the enemy's spies, Liu Yuanjin is currently in Anxiang County. He actually has three strongholds. One is the Anxiang County base, one is the Chisha Lake navy, and the third is the Qingfeng Village in Wuling County. Currently, the enemy has 30,000 people, 7,000 of whom are navy, 20,000 are in Anxiang County, and 3,000 are in Qingfeng Village."
Xiao Xia nodded, "I remember there was a bandit group around Dongting Lake, their leader was Cao Shiqi, and there was also a bandit group coming from Jiangxia, their leader was Lin Shihong, why is there no news about them?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, these two were defeated by Liu Yuanjin's army. Cao Shiqi surrendered to Liu Yuanjin, and Lin Shihong led the remaining troops to flee to Lingnan."
Xiao Xia frowned, "Doesn't Liu Yuanjin own a lot of ships?"
"That's right! He took away all the more than 600 ships that Cao Shiqi had accumulated. They are currently under the command of his general Guan Chong. In addition, he has another general named Zhu Xie, who is said to be a descendant of the Zhu family of Kuaiji and is very brave. He is in charge of guarding the city. The soldiers of Qingfeng Village are led by Liu Zhongxing, the son of Liu Yuanjin."
Xiao Xia wanted to ask again: "Has Liu Yuanjin expanded to Jiangling County?"
Zhang Guangya nodded and said, "Liu Yuanjin's only failure was in Jiangling County. Half a month ago, he was defeated by Jiangling County Governor Xiao Xian, who led 3,000 troops. He never dared to go to Jiangling County again."
"Xiao Xin was promoted to Tongshou?"
"He was promoted not long ago. He was previously the Sima of Jiangling County. The court abolished the Sima position and established the Tongshou position instead. Xiao Xin was promoted to Tongshou. It happened about a month ago."
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment, then said to the navy commander Zhang Zhenzhou: "I need a dozen guides who are very familiar with the west side of Dongting Lake. Go find the governor and ask him to arrange some for us immediately."
"I humbly obey my orders!"
Zhang Zhenzhou left in a hurry. Xiao Xia pointed to Baling County on the sand table with a wooden pole and said to the generals, "We are here now, and the enemy's warships are concentrated in Chisha Lake. We need to lure the enemy's ships out and cut off their retreat. We must annihilate them in one battle."
Xiao Xia said to Shen Guang: "The important task of luring them will be handed over to General Shen!"
"I will definitely live up to your highness' trust!"
Xiao Xia then said to Wang Junkuo, "General Wang, lead 5,000 troops to cut off the pirates' retreat to Anding Lake by land. I will not allow any of them to escape to Anxiang County."
Wang Junkuo nodded, "I'll take the order!" Xiao Xia assigned the tasks one by one. At this time, the guides were in place, and three hundred warships loaded with 20,000 troops sailed deep into Dongting Lake.
During the Sui Dynasty, Dongting Lake was very large, with many long and narrow lands that divided it into five major lakes. The main lake was Dongting Lake, and there were also Chisha Lake, Baidie Lake, Qingcao Lake and Anxiang Lake.
Chisha Lake is located in the northwest of the main lake. The terrain inside the lake is complex, like a maze. There are also large swamp areas along the lake. The water is too shallow, so small boats can pass through, but large ships can easily get stuck.
Chisha Lake has always been the hiding place of the pirates from Dongting Lake. Xiao Xia needs to take a risk and release bait to lure out the pirates from Chisha Lake.
Shen Guang led five 3,000-stone warships and slowly approached the Chisha Lake. Soon, hundreds of ships appeared on the lake. These ships were all small boats with a capacity of less than 500 stones. They were fast and very flexible. They rushed towards the five warships of the Sui army from all directions like a pack of wolves.
"Turn around and run!"
The five large ships turned around and left, looking as if they were fleeing in panic, looking extremely embarrassed. The hundreds of small boats were not willing to let them go, and they chased them desperately, chasing them for nearly fifty miles in one breath, and gradually caught up with the large ships. The hundreds of small boats surrounded the large ships like a school of fish.
Hooks flew towards the ship, and the pirates scrambled to climb up. The Sui soldiers stabbed with spears, killing hundreds of them, but the other side had too many people, and a large number of pirates still climbed onto the ship. The Sui soldiers fought the pirates desperately.
"Woo——"
Suddenly, a horn sounded in the distance, and hundreds of main ships appeared behind the pirates.
The rebel leader Guan Chong suddenly realized the situation and shouted, "We've been tricked! Evacuate immediately!"
"Dang! Dang! Dang!"
The pirate ship sounded the alarm, and the pirates who had rushed on board retreated quickly like the tide receding, running away completely in a moment.
Hundreds of small boats fled in all directions like cockroaches whose nest had been blown up, but the three hundred warships of the Sui army had already surrounded the lake like an iron barrel.
The enemy's navy consists of about 7,000 to 8,000 people. The reason why Commander Xiao Xia wanted to eliminate them first was mainly because the navy was too mobile and appeared at random, posing a great threat to the counties along the Dongting Lake.
Eliminate them first, then consider the land soldiers.
Crossbows were set up on all the large ships. The Jiangnan Army spent three years training three thousand crossbowmen. They were able to show their skills both in naval battles and in defending cities.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Countless iron fire bombs flew out and accurately hit the bandit army's small boats. Before they could react to what these iron lumps were, the iron fire bombs exploded with a loud bang, and iron pieces flew everywhere. The huge impact force blew the small boats into pieces. The bandit soldiers screamed in the air and fell heavily into the water. On the water, corpses and ship wreckage were blown to pieces.
In just one round of attack, more than half of the 600 small boats disappeared. The commander, Guan Chong, was stunned. At this moment, a wolf-tooth arrow came "whoosh!" and hit him in the forehead. The arrow pierced his head. Guan Chong screamed and fell into the water.
At this time, the second round of artillery fire began. Explosions continued to be heard on the water surface, water columns shot up into the sky, thick smoke filled the air, and broken wood and corpses were everywhere.
Xiao Xia had no pity for these pirates. The people under his rule lived and worked in peace and contentment, and their minds were stable. There was absolutely no case of them being forced to rebel because they could not afford to eat.
But these pirates are lazy and don't like farming. They have a good life but insist on becoming pirates and harming ordinary people. To put it bluntly, they are scoundrels and thugs. Therefore, Xiao Xia is merciless and will not accept any surrender. He will destroy them all physically.
With just two rounds of artillery fire, more than 600 pirate ships disappeared without a trace on the water.
(End of this chapter)