Chapter 1213 Bulk Allies

Chapter 1213 Bulk Allies

Chapter 1213 Bulk Allies
Qian Feng and Zhou Zha rebelled, and the Liang cavalry clashed repeatedly, creating chaos. Shi Zhen opened the gate of Jincheng to respond, and the situation was very good.

But don't worry, are Zhou Zha and Qian Feng any good people? Not really.

After taking Moling City, Zhou Zha's first thing was to let his troops plunder.

He was not from Moling, but he had relatives here and some of his fellow villagers were minor officials here. They colluded with each other, attacked and killed the county magistrate, and occupied the city.

Unfortunately, he had few soldiers at the time, and his in-laws and fellow villagers only had seven or eight hundred people. So he plundered the whole city, burned, killed and looted, and gave the women he got to the soldiers to play with. He used the money he got to recruit desperate criminals and even forced able-bodied men to join the army. He soon gathered two thousand people.

But it is hard to say how much fighting power this mob can have.

Just look at this, on the morning of the 13th, a team went to the countryside to collect food and food, but was killed by Tao's troops who came head-on.

The Tao family was a prominent family in Moling. Their ancestors included Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou in the Han Dynasty, Tao Ji, the governor of Jiaozhou in the Eastern Wu Dynasty, Tao Huang, the Wu general who pacified Jiaozhi, Tao Wei, Tao Shu, and Tao Sui, the governors of Jiaozhou in the Jin Dynasty.

Even today, there are still Tao family members serving as prefects, county magistrates, military generals in Jiangdong, and even in Wang Dao's court.

This was a powerful family in Wu that was deeply connected to the Jin court, but Zhou Zha killed many of their people overnight. How could you tolerate this? Who gave you the courage?
Needless to say, the Tao family, a wealthy family in Moling, sent out proclamations everywhere, calling on the owners of forts and manors in the surrounding villages to conscript young men and march to the county town together to kill Zhou Zha, who had killed innocent people, and to pay tribute to the dead souls of each family.

If Shao Xun were here and saw how the nobles in Wu were rebelling, he would probably hold his forehead and sigh.

No wonder the gentry who migrated south were able to gain a firm foothold in Jiangdong and grow stronger step by step. It turns out that you are fighting fiercely among yourselves. You lack political wisdom and do not understand the principle that impatience can ruin great plans. You are stubborn and just do things without caring about anything else.

The thing is, you haven’t even reached a consensus within your own family, right?

Can Qian Feng represent the attitude of Changcheng Qian's family? Not necessarily.

Can Zhou Zha represent the thoughts of the Zhou family in Yixing? Definitely not.

This is why a passionate rebellion without any plan and indiscriminate fighting will ultimately lead to a high probability of failure.

Zhou Zha was burning, killing and looting in Moling City. After Qian Feng entered Jiangcheng County, he first asked the local Wu people for food and grass. If they didn't give it to him, he would kill them! Not only that, he also asked Latin to join the army.

If you ask the northern people who are settled in the overseas Chinese community for food and fodder and they don’t give it to you, fuck them!
This massacre directly aroused a huge backlash in the local area.

The descendants of Henan people in the four overseas Chinese counties of Jiangcheng County drew out their bows, swords, and halberds hidden in their homes and fought with Qian Feng, and beat them so hard that they fled in disgrace. If Qian Feng had not met the 200 cavalrymen led by Qiu Xiaozhong halfway, he might not have been able to escape.

However, he turned a disaster into a blessing. After defeating the Jiangcheng people who were pursuing him, he collected a lot of equipment, prisoners, and food. He then joined forces with Qiu Xiaozhong's troops and arrived several miles south of Jincheng on the afternoon of the 13th.

At that time, Shi Zhen and Sun Song were standing on the top of the city wall, looking at the people of Langya who were gathering in large numbers, and were wondering whether they should cross the river and fight them.

At this moment, more than a hundred cavalrymen attacked from the south, attacked from the rear, and scattered the hundreds of people on the river bank.

There is a small mound to the south of Jincheng, commonly known as "Nanshan". Langya Lieutenant Kong Tan led 300 people to build a camp on the mountain. He immediately went down to the foot of the mountain and led more than 200 defeated soldiers up the mountain. Then he closed the gate of the camp and stopped attacking.

Qiu Xiaozhong asked Qian Feng to set up camp beside Nanshan Mountain, and he led the carriages, captives and some looted food into Jincheng to discuss countermeasures.

******
"It's the time and the fate. I don't want it to be like this." Shi Zhen said bitterly while sitting in the courtyard of Langya Palace.

There were seven or eight junior officers surrounding him, all looking at him unfriendlyly.

"Your families are all in the city. Supervisor Sun has tried his best to restrain them and not to harm your families. The Great Jin Dynasty is clearly on the verge of collapse. Even if it doesn't collapse this time, it will definitely collapse next time." Shi Zhen continued, "It's useless to sigh now. We should work together and help each other. Excluding those who died accidentally, there are still more than 130 people with excellent equipment and good training. There is no need to belittle yourself. As long as we are sincere and united, we can all survive."

"Besides, you are Shi's followers, and I am also a descendant of Shi. If you can escape in the future, I will definitely give you land in Leling and Bohai. I will never break my promise. If you don't want to go to Hebei, Jiangdong is also fine. Emperor Liang will attack us sooner or later, and the unification of the world is imminent. You may be able to get the credit for being the first to rebel, and you will all be rewarded in the future."

Shi Zhen's mouth became dry from talking. The expressions on the faces of these deputy team leaders and team leaders relaxed a little, but they still stared at Shi Zhen, obviously having a bad impression of him.

Shi Zhen was annoyed when he saw this, so he stood up and said, "I know you look down on me. Then follow me to see the princess and let her decide."

Having said that, he walked ahead.

The other people looked at each other, then all stepped forward and followed Shi Zhen.

While walking, some people even put their hands on the hilt of the knife.

After turning a screen wall and passing through two archways, everyone saw Princess Zhuge Wenbiao of Langya who was reading and resting in the backyard.

"Princess, I—" Shi Zhen had just stepped forward and had said half a sentence when he was slapped in the face by Zhuge Wenbiao.

"This slap is for you for betraying your former master." Zhuge Wenbiao looked at Shi Zhen coldly, then picked up a sword at his feet and handed it to him, saying, "This sword is loved by the King of Langya and he often plays with it. It is like a token of trust. You can use this sword to command the people in the prefecture and keep the prefecture peaceful."

Shi Zhen took the sword in a daze.

The team leader and deputy team leaders were delighted when they saw this. This wolf cub Shi Zhen deserved a beating.

Zhuge Wenbiao looked at the officers again and said, "There is chaos and disorder in the war now. You can send all your family members to the palace. If the house is not big enough, you can set up tents under the corridor or in the courtyard and squeeze in."

"From today on, you will obey the orders of Doctor Shi Zhen. If you have any questions, you can come to me."

"There is still some food, wine and meat in the palace. Please distribute them and give your family some good food. All other property will be given to you as well. Anyway, whether you die or pass away in the future, it will have nothing to do with the palace."

After saying that, he waved his hand and sat down to read again.

Shi Zhen covered his face and said, "I will obey the princess's order."

If he had looked down on her before and even thought she was a villain, after being slapped in the face just now, he became much more sober and began to respect Concubine Zhuge.

The officers were sincerely convinced and answered yes in unison, then looked at Shi Zhen, as if to say, "We should help the princess keep an eye on this traitor who is seeking personal gain."

After the group of people retreated, Zhuge Wenbiao's tense body relaxed. She subconsciously fumbled for the dagger in her arms and hid it.

In the evening, Sun Song, Qiu Xiaozhong and Shi Zhen gathered together to discuss the next countermeasures.

Also present was a military student named Zhang Qin, formerly the Yunzhong (Wu) lieutenant and later the Shan (County) magistrate. He could speak Xianbei and Xiongnu languages.

"To be honest, I'm a little confused about the battle up to this point. I don't know how we got to this point." Sun Song made an opening remark with a bad tone, perhaps he was feeling resentful.

Qiu Xiaozhong listened quietly to Zhang Qin's translation without saying anything.

Shi Zhen recently understood the whole story. He was stunned at first, and then astonished.

To put it bluntly, if the Jin court had responded more effectively, things would not have turned out like this.

The most direct case was the group of people led by Sima Yu, the King of Kuaiji. Two thousand imperial guards went to Wumadu, but they were defeated in the snowy night. He just wanted to ask, "Is it really that serious?"

If they lined up their battle array on the roadside, the Liang army would have seen that they were prepared and probably turned around and left, and what happened later would not have happened at all.

The terrain of Jiangnan, with its numerous rivers, is really not conducive to cavalry charges. If things get to this point, people will probably laugh at them and see through their strengths and weaknesses.

The Liang army had been confronting and fighting with the Jin army of the four foreign vassal states of Wuchang, Penkou, Liyang and Jingkou for many years, and had an understanding of their combat effectiveness. They may have subconsciously equated the army of Jianye with the combat effectiveness of the four foreign vassal states.

Now, it seems that this is not the case. The Jianye Imperial Guards are just for show. Let alone the Liang army, I am afraid that if any foreign vassal army crosses the river and attacks Jianye, the Imperial Guards will collapse. In the end, it is estimated that other prefects and even the troops of the Jiangdong clans will have to be dispatched to Beijing to quell the rebellion.

The underwear of the Jianye court has been stripped off!

"For now, we should decide on a strategy for fighting and defending." Seeing that no one else was talking, Sun Song continued, "How should we fight? How should we defend? Or maybe we should just retreat. Do you have any good ideas?"

After saying that, he looked at the others expectantly.

Shi Zhen thought that he was of low status, so he was more humble and only looked at Qiu Xiaozhong.

Qiu Xiaozhong returned with two hundred cavalrymen. He fought two battles on the way and nearly twenty people died. Including those who had returned to Jincheng earlier, there were a total of three hundred and thirty cavalrymen under his command, most of whom were from the Huangjia Camp and one third from the Hengchong Camp.

His strength surpassed that of Qian Feng's tribe, which was like a mob, and was far superior to Shi Zhen, who had only a hundred soldiers. Therefore, he did not show modesty and said in Xianbei language: "There are too many rivers and streams here, too many forests, and swamps from time to time. If you can walk, walk, and it doesn't matter if you leave your horse. If you really can't walk, then fight, the worst that can happen is death."

Sun Song choked when he heard this.

This kind of tough military language is straightforward, but sometimes it can really make people angry.

You are not afraid of death, but I am.

You have a worthless life and you think you can sell it for a good price after you die, but I don’t want to sell it.

But he couldn't say that, and it was hard to say whether he could return to the north bank now. Anyway, he didn't feel very optimistic - during the day, he looked out at the river from the top of the city wall. There were still many patrolling ships, and a group of them came from time to time. If he waited a few more days, perhaps the enemy ships that received the news would directly block the outskirts of Jiangchengdu.

He looked at Shi Zhen again.

Shi Zhen shared the same idea and sighed, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to go back. If it really doesn't work, it's better to leave before the enemy army arrives."

"Where else can we go if not by the river?" Sun Song asked.

"In the past, Sun Hao, the King of Wu, built a special post road from Jianye, Jincheng and Jurong to Wucheng in order to go to the Ming Mausoleum in Wucheng to welcome his father's spirit tablet. There is the Qian family of Changcheng above Wucheng and the Shen family of Wukang below. If we can persuade these two families to join the rebellion, we will have great potential and we will have a place to stay." Shi Zhen said.

Sun Song thought for a moment and asked, "Does this road pass through Yixing?"

Shi Zhen nodded and said, "We have more than 500 horses, and Zhou is not yet prepared. We can get through now, but if we delay, it may not be possible."

The implication is that one has to abandon the burden and ride on horseback.

"In this case, we can't ignore Qian Feng too much." Sun Song said, "Please invite him in to discuss matters."

"Military Supervisor, you can't let Qian Feng's soldiers in." Shi Zhen reminded.

Sun Song nodded and secretly sighed. At this time, this group of people who had gathered together temporarily still had no trust in each other. Their future was really worrying.

Qian Feng was quickly invited in.

As soon as he entered the room, he snorted coldly, glanced around with a dangerous look, and then gave a bad news: Langya Prime Minister Zhuge Yi escaped from the city wall and joined Kong Tan in Nanshan. The two led their troops to escape, and after interrogating the captives, they learned that they seemed to be going to the hinterland of Langya State and the neighboring Langya Township of Jurong County to recruit soldiers, and then return to Jincheng to rescue Princess Zhuge and a group of officials in the royal palace.

Sun Song's face was numb, he didn't want to talk about this, he just asked straight to the point: "What do you think if we go south to Wuxingjun?"

"Why are you leaving? If we let my soldiers in, can't we defend such a strong city?" Qian Feng asked back.

Sun Song was unable to answer for a moment.

Qian Feng sneered continuously.

No one is a fool. These people don't trust him and are afraid that he will lead his troops to take control of the situation and cause a big disturbance that will be difficult to deal with.

Coincidentally, he also did not trust these barbarian chieftains and traitors.

"You boy are not worthy of being my advisor!" Qian Feng spat, then turned and left.

(End of this chapter)