Chapter 196
A village in southern Yuzhou
This year, due to the floods in April and May, many areas suffered from a poor harvest. After the summer harvest, just as the people had gathered the meager crops from the fields and dried them, the government sent people to forcibly collect the grain and taxes.
An old woman grabbed the officer's clothes to stop him from taking out the food. "Sir, this is food for our family of eight. You can't take it away!"
The officer pushed the clinging old woman to the ground and said coldly, "Your family hasn't paid the household tax and the adult tax this year. I didn't ask you to sell your children to pay the tax. It's already very merciful of me to just take a bag of grain from you." After saying that, he picked up the grain and left without looking back.
"Damn it! They really took away all the food. We are going to starve to death!" The old lady in her fifties or sixties collapsed in tears in front of her own door.
The man who had just returned from the mountain to collect firewood had just walked in. He quickly dropped the firewood on his shoulders and ran over to help the woman. "Mom, are you okay?"
The old lady clutched her son's hand and cried, "Da Lang, the last of our family's food has been taken away by the officials. It's all my fault for not being able to stop them."
"Dad, my daughter is hungry..." A child's voice sounded timidly.
The man looked over and saw his daughter standing at the door. His five-year-old daughter was only the size of a three-year-old child, with a big head and a small body. Her eyes looked big because her face had no flesh, and her stomach was rumbling with hunger.
The old woman came forward, hugged the little girl, and cried, "My poor little girl, what should I do? There is no food left at home."
The man who was the head of the family, a farmer in his thirties, stood there at a loss. His weather-beaten face and hunched body made him look more like he was in his forties than in his early thirties.
At this time, a tall young man wearing a straw hat walked in from outside the door, "Aunt, Uncle, Grandma, and my daughter."
"This is a vegetable dumpling, take it and eat it." The young man stuffed the vegetable dumpling in his hand to the girl.
The hostess of the house poured a bowl of water for the young man, and the whole family accompanied the guest with sad faces.
After drinking a bowl of water, the young man said, "Aunt, Uncle, my family is planning to go south to join the Yichun Army. Grandpa asked me to ask you if you want to go south with us."
The middle-aged man was stunned. "Go south?"
But isn't Yichun in the Northeast? Six months ago, he'd seen many people fleeing there. Back then, they could still get by, and with their families, including the elderly and children, they didn't want to leave their hometown, so the idea never crossed his mind. He'd thought the difficulties were temporary, that if he persevered, things would slowly get better. Who could have imagined that things would only get worse?
"Yes, heading south." the young man replied.
They were in southern Yuzhou. If they were to head north to Youzhou, they would have to pass through Yanzhou and Jizhou. Rumors had previously circulated that disaster victims passing through Jizhou would be detained and denied passage. To avoid this risk, they decided to head south. Whether traveling south through Jingzhou or Yangzhou, they could reach Jiaozhou. The Yichun Legion had already established bases in two counties in Jiaozhou: Nanhai and Cangwu.
"My two brothers and I went to the Yichun Corps to join the army."
His aunt asked in confusion, "Why would you go so far to join the army? The Prince of Ruyin in Xuzhou next door is recruiting soldiers."
The farmer shook his head at his wife, "It's different."
He turned to the young man and said affirmatively, "It's a good decision to go south to join the Yichun Corps." The treatment of soldiers in the Yichun Corps was famously good, and even he, a farmer, had heard of it.
"Aunt and uncle, what about you? Do you want to go south together? Several families have already decided to go together."
Seeing his uncle's hesitation, the young man couldn't help but persuade him, "Aunt, uncle, I think you should come with us. The world is getting harder and harder to survive. It's hard for you to make a living if you stay in your hometown. It will be different if we go to Jiaozhou. Several of us brothers will join the army, and the Yichun Corps should help us resettle our families." A few months ago, Yichun accepted one million disaster victims, and there were no bad rumors afterwards, which means that they have the ability to resettle one million disaster victims.
He went on, "And recently there's news that there's a particularly high-yield crop in Youzhou, with an output of three to four thousand kilograms per mu. If you plant one crop, you'll almost never have to worry about going hungry." With that year's summer harvest, word spread about the high-yield nature of sweet potatoes.
Upon hearing this news, the young man's aunt and her family were stunned. Three to four thousand kilograms of crops per mu? Is it really possible?
"It's true. A cousin of mine from the next room went north to Youzhou a few months ago and sent us a letter saying he saw it with his own eyes. He also said that this high-yield crop is called sweet potato and tastes very good."
Farmer: Not to mention that it tastes good, even if it tastes terrible, as long as they can fill their stomachs and keep them alive, they are willing to grow it.
Finally, the farmer gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, my whole family will go with you!"
What's the use of houses and land? How can they be more important than survival? I don't want them anymore. I don't want them all! My father-in-law's house is bigger than his, and they have more land than his, but he just gave it up like that. Now, even if I want to sell it, no one dares to buy it. There's a food shortage everywhere, and the price of food is getting higher and higher. Survival is more important, so no one will spend money to buy land or houses.
Situations like this occurred in all parts of Daliang. Countless passionate men went south to join the army, and countless ordinary people went south or north to seek their lives.
******
On the Liao River, Wang Lang watched as the soldiers of the Yichun Corps fished people out of the river.
He asked if it was possible for them to cut bamboo on the spot and make simple bamboo rafts to rescue people in the river, but the answer he got was no.
The imperial soldiers who fell into the river were rescued onto the boat one by one.
Faced with their identities as prisoners and tied up by the enemy, most of them remained silent. After all, they had just experienced a thrilling ambush and had been struggling in the river for a long time, and they were exhausted.
But there are always exceptions. A centurion here named Chen Kai is a lively guy. After he was rescued onto the boat, he started to nag the old soldier who saved him, "Brother, you tied me too hard. It hurt me. Actually, you don't have to tie me so tightly. I promise I won't run away. Anyway, I am alone, so it doesn't matter who I serve as a soldier for, right? Speaking of which, I joined the army because the world outside is too difficult. The money I earned from working is not enough to feed myself. Now it's better to serve in Yichun. I heard that the food in our army is very good. Is it true?"
The veteran who saved him was too busy to bother with him.
"Brother, if you capture us, you won't treat us like the prisoners of Dilo, right?"
Just when Chen Kai thought the other party would not answer, he heard the other party reply in a rough voice, "No, you are from Daliang, and they are from the Beidi tribe. They are different."
His words put the hearts of all the Kuomintang prisoners on the ship at ease.
"Then I'm relieved." Chen Kai said, squinting his eyes and looking up at the high river bank. "Brother, I saw my brother on the other side. Can I say a few words to him?"
The old soldier glanced at him and said, "You've been chattering for so long. Have I ever asked you to shut up?"
Chen Kai understood the meaning of the old soldier's look and immediately shouted to the higher reaches of the riverbank, "Shunzi, I've been captured. Goodbye, my brother. See you on the battlefield. I won't hold back."
Everyone: No, weren't you just arrested? Why did you change sides so quickly? You're a traitor, aren't you?
Someone accidentally said what was in their heart.
Chen Kai puffed out his chest and said, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." As he spoke, he smiled ingratiatingly at the old soldier.
The person in charge of the next boat gave him a thumbs-up and said, "You have a bright future."
Chen Kai laughed foolishly.
The old soldier glanced at him and said, "Why are you so silly? You're performing so well, kid. You must be a spy or a talented person. In any case, you're definitely a key target of observation by the military patrol department."
At this moment, something unexpected happened. When everyone's attention was on Chen Kai, the soldier named Shunzi silently took a few steps back, took a running start, and with a bang, he crossed the sandy area from a high place and landed smoothly in the water.
Everyone: ??? Is this a joke?
Chen Kai reacted the fastest. He jumped up and said, "Hurry up! My brother Shunzi can't bear to leave me. Brother, can you please save my good brother Shunzi?"
The old soldier didn't move, but the boat next to him came over to rescue him.
With this precedent, others are ready to follow suit.
Wang Lang's face darkened as he drew out his knife and held it horizontally.
The others, seeing this, also gave up their thoughts one by one. Unlike Shunzi, who was alone, many of them had families, with elderly parents and young children, and were forced by the court to send men to serve as soldiers. If they rebelled, their families would suffer.
After the Yichun Corps rescued all the Kuomintang troops in the river to shore, they sailed away leisurely.
Wang Lang's other 150,000 troops also arrived by forced march.
The morale of the imperial army was already low before the expedition, and after this blow, the remaining 150,000 soldiers were frightened and panicked.
It's impossible not to be panicked. You see, the two armies were only ten kilometers apart. Upon learning of something unusual ahead, they charged forward at full speed. By the time they arrived, a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers had been reduced to a few thousand men in disarray. How could this not be jaw-dropping? A hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, all gone in less than an hour? They were like a hundred and fifty thousand pigs, lying there for the slaughter. Wouldn't a real slaughter take more than an hour?
Wang Lang was also troubled. How could he fight a siege with such an army? He didn't expect that the next step would give him even more headaches.
The Yichun Corps, relying on their greater familiarity with the terrain, continued to harass them. Their primary goal was to tire out the enemy, and they were incredibly cunning and shrewd, knowing full well the tactic of retreating when the enemy advanced, a shoot-and-run approach that was both infuriating and maddening.
With the Yichun Corps' elusive harassment, their army continued to lose soldiers, in small groups.
These lost soldiers either sneaked away while setting up camp at night, or disappeared while chasing the enemy, never to return. It is unknown whether they were killed by the Yichun Corps or escaped on their own.
Faced with this situation, Wang Lang's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot. By the time they arrived at Houcheng, only 140,000 of the 150,000-strong army remained. Not to mention the extremely low morale of the troops.
On the contrary, the morale of the Yichun Corps was greatly boosted.
After learning that Wang Lang was going to the war, Yao Chunnuan divided the 300,000 troops into two groups during the march. In the end, they only ambushed 150,000 soldiers, and Wang Lang's other 150,000 troops were intact. In the end, he could only sigh that it was fate.
Although they couldn't achieve their goal in one battle, the results were remarkable. This ambush, aided by the power of nature, wiped out 150,000 enemy troops in one fell swoop, a feat unseen in any battle in the last hundred years.
She was more concerned about the follow-up of the matter. When Yao Chunnuan learned that Wang Lang had regrouped and was heading towards Houcheng again, she was quite surprised. After suffering such a great blow, didn't Wang Lang collapse?
Moreover, the new emperor truly trusted him. A general who caused such great damage to the country while leading troops would probably be immediately removed from his post. But Wang Lang was not removed. Yao Chunnuan immediately realized that the new emperor was protecting him.
Does the new emperor think so highly of Wang Lang? Yao Chunnuan pondered.
She felt that Wang Lang must have signed some kind of military order or given some kind of guarantee to convince the new emperor to overrule his ministers and continue to let him lead the troops. After all, Wang Lang's achievements since his rebirth hadn't been particularly impressive, his time as an official in Qiannan being his most impressive. However, Yao Chunnuan believed that his demonstrated abilities alone weren't enough to warrant the new emperor's continued leadership despite such immense pressure.
So what kind of guarantees would Wang Lang make? What kind of guarantees would satisfy the new emperor? Yao Chunnuan was alert.
In order to confirm a certain guess in his mind, Yao Chunnuan rushed from Yichun to Houcheng.
The two looked at each other from a distance, and Wang Lang seemed to be in good condition?
The two looked at each other, and there was only raging flames in Wang Lang's eyes.
Yao Chunnuan raised her eyebrows, her fighting spirit was very high.
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