Chapter 556: Suppressing the Rebellion
Chapter 556: Suppressing the Rebellion (Part )
Xiao Xia personally led 15,000 Jiangnan soldiers on a rapid march, and at two o'clock in the middle of the night, the army arrived in Anxiang County.
Another army of 5,000 people, led by Wang Junkuo, attacked Qingfengzhai. Qingfengzhai was the first place where Liu Yuanjin settled when he fled from Dongyang County to the west bank of Dongting Lake. They developed step by step from Qingfengzhai, defeated Hou Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong successively, recruited ruffians from various counties at high prices, the number of soldiers increased explosively, and then they occupied Anxiang County.
However, they did not give up Qingfeng Village. Currently, Liu Yuanjin's son Liu Zhongxing leads 3,000 troops to garrison there. It can be regarded as Liu Yuanjin's third lair.
It is early November now and winter has arrived, but the winter in the south is not as icy and snowy as in the north. The rivers and lakes in the south do not freeze and are not covered with snow.
Winter is not a good season for war, and the Chinese New Year is less than two months away. The rebel army had no idea that government troops would attack them in this season.
More importantly, Liu Yuanjin did not know that the Jiangnan navy had arrived at Dongting Lake. This was the role played by the spies of the Jiangnan Intelligence Agency. They cut off Liu Yuanjin's spies in Baling County in advance.
You have to know that information dissemination was very backward in ancient times. You couldn't get news by just making a phone call or sending a text message. In the Sui Dynasty, many ordinary farmers might never have been to the county town in their entire lives. Even if two families were only a few dozen miles apart, they would not know each other's news until one or two months later.
If there were no special information channels, Liu Yuanjin would probably only get some news from the businessmen by chance half a month later.
So when the Sui army was approaching the city, Liu Yuanjin and his 20,000 troops were still asleep and knew nothing.
Xiao Xia stared at Anxiang County from a mile away. Anxiang County was a small county with the city gate facing east-west and the city wall having a circumference of only twelve miles. After they occupied Anxiang County, the people in the county were either killed or fled. Currently, the city was full of Liu Yuanjin's men, and the small county town could not accommodate too many people. Twenty thousand troops were enough.
At this time, Luo Shixin stepped forward and clasped his fists, saying: "I am willing to lead an army to climb up the city wall and seize the city gate directly!"
Xiao Xia smiled faintly and said, "Did General Luo notice the characteristics of the houses in Dongting Lake in Baling County?"
Luo Shixin was stunned. He shook his head and said, "I didn't notice it!"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I have specially observed the houses in Baling County. The houses in this area are all made of bamboo and wood, with thatched roofs. This is because the area around Dongting Lake is very hot and stuffy in the summer, and the wooden houses have better ventilation. In particular, bamboo is abundant in this area, so the houses are built with a lot of bamboo."
Luo Shixin did not understand what the King of Jin meant, so he did not dare to interrupt and could only continue to listen to the lecture.
Xiao Xia continued, "If a city is full of enemy troops and there are no ordinary people, and the houses are mainly made of bamboo and wood, what tactics will General Luo come up with?"
"Fire attack!" Luo Shixin blurted out.
Xiao Xia smiled and nodded, "Not stupid, I also told Wang Junkuo to surround Qingfeng Village. There is no need to attack, just burn the village down!"
Everyone suddenly understood and started to get ready, waiting for orders.
Xiao Xia then said to Wang Bodang and Xie Yingdeng: "You two can each lead 3,000 soldiers to surround the north and south walls, and follow us to shoot gunpowder arrows!"
"Yes, sir!" Wang Bodang and Xie Yingdeng each led 3,000 soldiers away. Xiao Xia then ordered Luo Shixin to lead 4,000 troops to the West City, while Xiao Xia personally led 5,000 troops to surround the East City.
Half an hour later, Xiao Xia gave the order to shoot arrows. The soldiers swung out tinder, stuck them into the ground, lit the fuse, and drew their bows and shot arrows together. The overwhelming gunpowder arrows first flew from outside the east city and shot into the city.
Soon after, countless gunpowder arrows flew up from the other three sides of the city, looking like a sky full of stars, which was a spectacular sight. Unfortunately, for those in the city, it was a signal of death.
The situation in the city was just as Xiao Xia had expected. The houses were mainly made of bamboo and wood, with roofs covered with dry thatch. Normally, the people paid great attention to fire prevention, but now that the ordinary people had been driven away, the city was packed with 20,000 bandits, and the stench was overwhelming.
Soon, fires broke out everywhere in the city. The dry thatch on the roofs became an excellent kindling for the fire. The sleeping soldiers were awakened by the fire and ran out of the houses crying.
With just one round of gunpowder arrows, the city became a sea of fire, with raging flames and thick smoke. Bandits fled in groups to the east and west gates. When the gates opened, countless bandit soldiers swarmed out, but what greeted them was a torrential rain of arrows.
The bandits were shot down one after another, and their corpses soon piled up into a small hill, blocking the city gate. The soldiers behind them climbed over the pile of corpses and escaped, crying, but they still couldn't escape death.
Many soldiers fled to the city wall, but still could not stand the smoke, so they jumped down from the wall one after another and were immediately ruthlessly killed by the Sui army soldiers.
Xiao Xia had a heart of steel. No matter how miserably the bandit soldiers cried, he remained unmoved and did not let go of any escaping soldier. He wanted to suppress these rebellious bandits with iron and blood and let everyone in Jiangnan Road understand that joining the bandits would only lead to death.
A quarter of an hour later, fewer and fewer soldiers escaped, and the crying and shouting in the city gradually disappeared. Even if they escaped the raging fire, they could not escape the thick smoke, and most of the soldiers suffocated to death in the thick smoke.
The fire continued to burn until the next morning when it was slowly extinguished. The weather was cold and the temperature dropped quickly. By the afternoon, the temperature in the city had dropped.
Xiao Xia immediately sent two thousand soldiers into the city to check the situation. Not long after, a general came out to report, "Your Highness, the city has been burned to ashes, and no one was found alive. However, we found a large number of boxes that were not burned in the county government office, which were covered with mud and bricks. The brothers are cleaning them up."
Of course, not all the buildings in the county town are made of bamboo or wood structures, and the county government office is certainly not one of them. Needless to say, these boxes are all the wealth that Liu Yuanjin had robbed, including the wealth that Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong had robbed in the past, which finally belonged to Liu Yuanjin. It can be imagined that this wealth is very huge.
"Has the leader's body been found?"
"We found them all. There are dozens of bodies in the county government office. They were not burned, but probably died from smoke. The guide recognized Liu Yuanjin and Cao Shiqi, and the others should be his important subordinates."
Xiao Xia nodded and sent another two thousand people in to move the property.
At this time, a soldier came on horseback to report, "Your Highness, General Wang Junkuo has set fire to Qingfeng Village, and all the bandits on the mountain have been wiped out, leaving no one alive."
Wang Junkuo has always been cruel and ruthless. If I order him not to take prisoners of war, he will definitely kill them all.
It was not until the evening that thousands of large boxes were finally moved out and loaded onto the boat. The next day, all the bodies that had been burned to death were re-burned into ashes and then buried deep. At this point, all 30,000 bandits entrenched in the west of Dongting Lake were wiped out.
Liyang County and Wuling County were also garrisoned by the Jiangnan General Administration Office, ostensibly to prevent bandits, but in fact to bring them under the jurisdiction of the Jiangnan Road.
(End of this chapter)