roccoschili Chapter 127 Stealing the House
Chapter 127 Stealing the House
The cleanup work in Jianling City took another three days.
In the past three days, Li Sheng has barely slept a wink.
During the day, he would patrol the city's defenses, inventory the grain registers, and handle the remaining affairs of the powerful clans that had been sealed off; at night, he would sketch on the map, clearly marking the topography and landforms along the Shu River.
It wasn't until the evening of the third day that Li Shi walked into the county government office with a thick stack of land deeds drafts, saying that all the land in Jianling and the surrounding villages had been distributed, and many tenant farmers and landless people had put their fingerprints on the deeds and received them. Only then did Li Sheng truly breathe a sigh of relief.
"it is good."
He placed the charcoal pencil on the map.
"We will break camp and advance westward tomorrow."
"Westward?"
Li Shi was slightly taken aback.
"Yishui Ferry".
Li Sheng turned around and pointed to the winding westward-flowing river on the map.
"The Peng and Zhao families are entrenched in the Liangcheng area. Chen Gui must cross this ferry to contact them. Let's occupy the ferry first, set up a stronghold on the east bank, and block the Liangcheng direction. Once the rear is completely secured, we can then consider taking over the capital."
Li Shi thought for a moment and nodded.
"Understood. I'll make the arrangements tonight."
"etc."
Li Sheng called out to him.
"Half of the confiscated grain should be transported back to the rear. The three counties of Siwu, Xiaxiang, and Xiapi should all be replenished, especially Xiapi, which is our foundation and cannot be short of grain."
Li Shi responded and left.
The next morning, Li Sheng left Zhou Tai to assist Li Shi in leading 500 men to guard Jianling, while he led his main force of more than 2,000 men westward.
As the army left the city, people along the way peeked out from under their doors to watch, and the tenant farmers who had been allocated land crowded along the main road to see off the Taiping Army.
Li Sheng rode at the head of the column, with banners fluttering behind him, his morale high.
After crossing the Shu River and traveling for most of the day, the terrain gradually changed from plains to hills, and large areas of farmland and scattered villages began to appear on both sides of the official road.
At the entrance of a village, several old farmers saw the army passing by and hid behind the field ridges in fright.
Li Sheng saw it from afar and then had the messenger shout the message.
"The Taiping army will not disturb the people as they pass through; everyone is free to do as they please!"
After hearing this, the old farmers hesitated for a long time before one of them, a rather bold one, stepped forward with a hoe in hand and looked up to ask.
"Sir, are you the...the Taiping Army who divided up the land of Jianling?"
The messenger turned and glanced at Li Sheng.
Li Sheng reined in his horse, dismounted, walked to the old farmer, and squatted down.
"Old man, the land belonging to the Jianling Prince was allocated to us, the Taiping Army."
The old farmer looked him up and down, and seeing that he was dressed in full armor with a knife at his waist, yet squatting down in front of him to talk, he couldn't help but feel a little awkward.
But he still mustered up the courage to ask.
"Then...then this land can truly belong to us forever?"
Li Sheng looked at the gleaming hoe in his hand, then at the low mud-brick house behind him, and nodded.
"The contract is in your hands, stamped with the official seal of Jianling County. If anyone dares to seize your land in the future, take the contract to the Taiping Army, and they will take care of it for you."
The old farmer's lips moved, but he didn't speak for a long time. In the end, he just nodded vigorously, took two steps back, and bowed.
Li Sheng rose, mounted his horse, and continued westward. The old farmer behind him stood still, watching the apricot-yellow flag recede into the distance, remaining motionless for a long time.
After traveling for about an hour, the vanguard Jiang Qin suddenly spurred his horse back, looking anxious.
He shouted from afar on horseback.
"General! There's an emergency at the ferry crossing ahead!"
Li Sheng raised his hand, and the entire team slowly came to a stop.
Jiang Qin reined in his horse, landed on his feet, and lowered his voice.
"My subordinates took a few scouts to the high slope on the east bank of the Yi River and looked around. The ferry crossing was empty, which was extremely unusual. My subordinates discovered that there were a large number of boats heading south downstream of the Yi River. The boat tracks were very fresh, and the water ripples had not yet faded. Judging from the scale, there were at least two or three thousand people, and they had already passed the Liangcheng area."
Jiang Qin was an expert on the water and immediately saw the problem.
Li Sheng's expression remained unchanged, but his fingers tightened around the reins.
"Heading south? Bring me the map."
Soon, a personal guard spread out a map in front of Li Sheng.
"General, Zhou Tai and I used to live on the water, so we are quite familiar with the geography. Following the Yi River southwards leads to Xiapi County."
If you go south and downstream from Yishui, the first county you'll encounter is Xiapi County.
Li Sheng ordered his personal guards to rein in their horses and make them circle around on the spot.
More than two thousand brothers behind him were resting on the spot. Some took the opportunity to open their water bags to drink water, while others were unpacking their dry food bags.
Li Sheng recalled the contents of the map.
From Jianling, head west across the Shu River, then west to the Yi River waterway, and finally follow the Yi River downstream to the familiar place name of Xiapi.
Liangcheng, Shushui, Yishui, Xiapi. These place names flashed through his mind.
He was just thinking that seizing the Yishui ferry crossing would allow him to either attack Liangcheng County or block the eastward advance of the government troops. This move would be a safe one, no matter which way he went.
But to his utter surprise, the officers and soldiers had no intention of confronting him directly.
They were not going to attack the main Taiping army force located in Jianling County from the east, but rather to go south and march along the Yi River to attack Xiapi County.
"What a brilliant move, striking right at the heart of the enemy!"
Li Sheng focused his mind and thought to himself.
There are some highly capable people among these officers and soldiers.
He raised his head, his gaze fixed on the distant southwest direction.
That was Xiapi, where he started his career. All the grain and supplies were in the city, and there were fewer than a thousand men left to guard it. The commander was Li Feng.
Li Feng is loyal and willing to fight to the death, but how long can he hold out against a sudden attack by government troops?
Li Sheng wasn't sure.
After all, they have only been in rebellion for less than half a year, and Li Feng is mostly in charge of logistics.
He reined in his horse, looked around, his gaze sweeping over the faces awaiting orders, and took a deep breath.
"Brothers."
His voice was loud and clear, reaching everyone's ears.
"We are not going west. The imperial court sent troops south along the Yishui River to raid our hometown, Xiapi."
There was a stir in the ranks, as many of the soldiers were from Xiapi.
"Our supplies and our families are in Xiapi City, and they are very likely to be attacked by government troops. What should we do?"
No one answered, but everyone's eyes were on him.
Li Sheng spurred his horse, and the warhorse neighed and spun around. He reached out and took the long halberd hanging on the side of the horse, its cold light flashing.
"Return to the city and kill."
"kill!"
More than a thousand people shouted in unison, their voices echoing across the surrounding area.
On the dusty official road, the army suddenly turned, like a long dragon stirring up clouds of yellow dust, and rushed rapidly in the southwest direction.
Li Sheng rode at the head of the column, the wind filling his sleeves and the gaps in his armor, making a whooshing sound.
He glanced back at Jiang Qin and the other marquises.
"I will take the light cavalry first, and you will lead the main army to follow."
The group clasped their hands in agreement.
Li Sheng left behind a dozen or so cavalry scouts for the army, and then took away all the seventy or eighty light cavalrymen he had painstakingly gathered.
The sound of horses' hooves rushed out of the procession like a torrential rain, disappearing in the blink of an eye at the end of the official road.
Li Sheng spurred his horse forward, with only the whistling wind and the muffled thuds of thousands of feet pounding the ground behind him.
At this moment, nearly a hundred miles ahead on the Yi River, Chen Deng stood at the bow of the boat, gazing at the increasingly close outline of Xiapi City in the night, and slowly drew the sword from his waist.