Then there was the news sent by the spies sent by Wang Xingkong from the frontier of the southern battlefield.

Tens of thousands of official troops in Dasan Pass also experienced civil strife due to insufficient feeding and uneven distribution. Although Yang Fuguang, the chief minister who had been sick, quickly calmed down; more than half of the eight capitals who were originally from the Zhongwu Army escaped control and went south privately.

At this moment, the small court in Chengdu was too busy to take care of itself. Because the conflict between the Dongchuan Jiedushi Yang Shili and his former benefactor Tian Lingzi broke out, he led his troops to the southeast to break through the obstacles of Mianzhou, Hanzhou and other places, and defeated the guards in the north of Chengdu, and the troops were approaching Jinguan City.

Seeing that the entire southern line of the government army and the rear were in a "good situation" that collapsed everywhere, Zhou Huaian could only sit back and see it helplessly for the time being. Because even if he forced troops to rob and occupy the territory, the Taiping Governor's Office lacked enough garrison and administrative personnel to effectively control it.

Because the main forces of the Taiping Army are now divided into internal and external lines, and are working hard to encircle and clean up the mountain shed associations in Shannan, while sorting out and stabilizing the coastal and inland situations of the five prefectures of the Xiajiang River.

The hinterland ruled by the Grand Governor's Office is resuming production and cannot be easily interrupted, and more precious labor cannot be randomly transferred or squeezed out. At least not until the beginning of spring next year.

As for expecting the rebels in Guang's house to make a difference, it is even more impossible; their poor and chaotic logistics dispatch and transportation methods from beginning to end have caused the soldiers on the front line to freeze a lot of this winter; let alone taking the initiative to attack without food and clothing.

But no matter what, after taking over the relatively wealthy and vast Yuzhou area of ​​the six prefectures of Xiajiang Road, it is equivalent to mastering the southern throat of the Bashu land and a small resource production area. Especially the local output of well salt and stone salt has always been used to supply most of the Qianzhong Road.

Whether it is going south to threaten Qianzhou, or raiding the boundaries of Shanxi and Dongchuan respectively, or continuing to attack Xichuan westward, there are important bridgeheads and large advance bases that can advance and attack at the back and defend.

Therefore, it is said that during the suppression of the Xichuan Rebellion, the five leaders under Qianneng, who were the leaders of the five leaders who were unwilling to surrender the official army and went up the mountain to hide, also escaped. Thinking of this, Zhou Huaian suddenly had a rough idea.

"Send a message to the troops of Wang Chongba in Yuzhou, asking them to send the former Sima Qu Congxing of Fuzhou to Jiangling..."

Zhou Huaian immediately faced Mi Baodao who was waiting for his appointment.

Although the Taiping Army temporarily lacks the army to control and the personnel to govern, there is still room for the corresponding supply and transportation of individual materials; not to mention that there are a large number of old military weapons seized from the remnants of the official army and the anti-rage armed forces, waiting to be returned.

Even if you cannot directly interfere with and participate in the chaos in Sanchuan, you can still hope and plan something if you add fire and firewood to it.

Then there was some experience and analysis of the Taiping Army envoy Gao Yu who sent back from within the pass. For example, in the winter when there was no war, the power struggle in the Xin Dynasty's Daqi Political Affairs Hall began to become a little superficial.

This can be reflected in a series of personnel changes in the Chang'an court recently, mainly concentrated between Zhao Zhang, Cui Miao and Zhang Junru, who were other than Shangshu Ling Shangrang; the focus was on the financial plan and personnel dominance after the operation of the Great Qi court.

For example, Liu Tang, a Guanwei Transport Author, who was born in Zhao Zhang, was reported to be a fraud and lost his position as the Left Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Li Wenhui, the Minister of the Honglu Temple, was retained through Cui Miao's escort, was confiscated and imprisoned for suspected secret communication with the old dynasty.

Then, the scholar sent Wang Huili, the confidant under the leader Zhang Junru, who participated in the presidency of the examination, to be posted on the street and received heavy bribes from more than a dozen candidates, and even set the rankings on the Dongdu Top List early; now they are waiting for trial in the Censorate.

These things were mixed together, and they were already causing a stir in Chang'an. Even the power of Jingzhao Mansion was ordered to be dispatched to suppress and restrict it. Then, a group of "spoken words" were arrested and thought it was effective, so they could be suppressed temporarily.

In contrast, Shangrang's adopted son was whipped in public on the streets, and collided with Wen Ziyi, the commander of the city patrol, almost triggering the convergence between the Taiwei's Mansion and the city patrol army. The palace army envoy Huang Sihou broke into the former prime minister's house in the house of the Brown Hou and occupied his wife and daughter, which was only a small episode.

After a while, Yang Shigu walked in and handed over a list.

"The matters explained by the governor have been investigated and some of the stakeholders have been waiting. Among them, several chambers of commerce and Xingdong, and the families behind them are all related to it..."

"Don't move these people involved for the time being, just put them on the key observation list; at least their motivation and starting point shall be based on the large collective of the Taiping Army." Zhou Huaian thought for a moment before he said while watching.

"But don't let these companies go. Since they dare to participate in this kind of thing, they should be prepared to accept the corresponding costs and consequences. Try to find a reason to deal with it under the existing laws."

Hundreds of miles away, in Funiu Mountain in the north of Shandong East Road, a large mountain shed stronghold located at the end of a rugged ravine in troubled times and living in danger was already covered with the Taiping Army's blue flags and temporary positions.

This mountain shed village, which occupies the entire ridge and the flat top, has deep cliffs on both sides, and only the other two sides are narrow roads with zigzag shapes. On these two roads full of snow, some scattered corpses were scattered, all of whom retreated and fled back to the mountain shed.

In the late autumn when these stubborn mountain shed tribes and core members of the clan society who were greatly compressed their activity space and scope, but they were still unwilling to surrender or had other fantasies, they could not help but come out to rob villages and towns outside the mountain under the hunger and cold winter;

Then they fell into the Taiping Army trap, which was waiting for battle; each of them established joint defense and mutual protection, became alert in an instant. While they were tripped outside the brigade, or stepped into the pit, they shot arrows and poked forks, using gongs, drums and firelight to remind the nearby checkpoints and barriers.

As a result, many associations in mountain sheds were dispersed by the Taiping cavalry, and were ragged like pigs and sheep, describing the fact that they were frozen to death in a mess and starved to death on the road to escape. If it weren't for finding such a rather hidden mountain shed stronghold, these fish that had escaped the net would have not had the chance to escape back.

Now, we are at the last step and the most difficult hard bones to go further. Even though the remaining left-behind personnel were mixed with many elderly, weak, women and children, they were still resisting stubbornly in accordance with the steep mountains and repelling several tentative attacks.

Even Min Xu, the captain of the Guiyi League who was in person, had to crack his helmet by a big stone, and he had to cover his blood-burning head and roll down from the wet and soft mountain road;

"Come on my 100-pound cannon and kill his turtle son..."

Min Xu, who was covered in heat and sweat mixed with blood and dirt on his face, was captured and shouted loudly to his left and right afterwards.

"Return to the lieutenant, the pack horse with a hundred pound cannon broke its hooves and is still carrying it on the road..."

A sergeant with a "flame" armband and a mature appearance quickly replied

"What about the Bailiu Gun (Pine Wood Cannon) and the Roll-mouthed Big Cannon (Leather Cannon)..."

Min Xu asked again.

"They were carried by the auxiliary soldiers and still in the back team but didn't come up..."

The sergeant continued.

"Then are there any other ways to throw the fire team?"

Min Xu said again and again.

"It's not close enough, and the grenadier guy can't even throw it away, but he's smashed down."

The sergeant continued to pour cold water channels.

"Then what else are there for you...?"

Min Xu became a little angry.

"Report to the lieutenant, there is a firearm delivered to you."

At this time, someone shouted in a proper way.

After a while, with the whistle blowing again, under the cover of the slow advance of the strong iron-packed brand, facing the throwing stones and arrows that were like raindrops, the only few flying fire thunders (Hell Rockets) were also pushed into the shooting area close enough, and they were set up against the highest shooting area.

There was only a few bangs, and a few curved fires rose among the charming smoke and snow dust, and then they fell into the village wall and inside in a crooked arc, bursting out smoke balls and bright rising fires, as well as various screams and tragic sounds.

At this time, a fierce shout of killing suddenly came from the slightly lower cliff behind the village, and a fire-light arrow was shot into the air.

"Xiao Deng has also succeeded...Follow me..."

Min Xu couldn't help but roar, and then he crossed the big card that was covering him first, climbed up the edge of the ridge where the village was located like flying, and then stabbed the nail on the head with a hard knife. He held an axe in his hand and slashed hard between the door panels in confinement, and cut a clearance that could be seen through in a few seconds.

The armored sergeant who followed him also waved his thick back and slashed repeatedly on the horizontal strip of the thick door panel. After a moment, under the jingling gravel on the top of his head, he worked together to break a gap for half of his body to pass through.

A soldier in armor leaned in and was stabbed by several bamboo guns in the corner at the same time. He screamed in pain but then he was fiercely pressing against the thick armor gap and the blood from the cotton robe. He squeezed in and knocked several people holding bamboo guns to the ground, then he covered his wound and leaned to the side.

Then more soldiers rushed in and worked together to overturn the entire door to the ground. Only then did Min Xu see clearly the bamboo gunmen who had climbed up from the ground in a panic, they were all thin women and teenagers.

But he waved his sword forward without mercy, chopping the two of them down one after another, and cutting them off to the ground; at least according to military regulations, any dare to take up weapons and face each other before the battle ends, would only be an unforgivable enemy.

Not to mention the fact that the new and old corpses that were abandoned under the cliffs, how many of the women and children who were still resisting in the mountain sheds were truly innocent and blue and white. In other words, perhaps only those ignorant children are the targets of forgiveness, rescue and transformation.

After a while, Min Xu stood in front of the wooden ancestral hall that had become brisk and blazing. He looked at Deng Chuna, the deputy who was covered in blood, his face and black, rushed out with two prisoners and threw them hard on the ground, and then said in a muffled voice.

"Captain, these two are the only ones who are leading the way..."

At this time, the prisoners who were driven together in dust and screamed and cried in despair. Then some ragged people found from the trunk were brought to Min Xu, but they couldn't help but shout and scold the prisoners.

"Captain, they are tied to the kitchen, and some of them are no longer able to do it."

Just as Min Xu wanted to stop him, he saw a soldier coming over and whispering.

"Someone ran away from the back mountain..." At this moment, another shouting sounded, which immediately diverted their attention. Then Min Xu brought people to the mountain wall behind the village and saw many figures jumping down and falling into the snow.

Some of them just hit the stone or hung on bare trees, and a large area of ​​blood was faded away. Some were still struggling in the thick snow, while others had already crawled out and ran for a long distance.

Then these Taiping soldiers shot them one by one and threw them into the snow one by one, but a few of them were able to escape into the cover of the forest.

Of course, even if there may be some remnants after this battle, they will flee to other small and medium-sized mountain shed strongholds in Funiu Mountain; but without enough mutual assistance and storage supplies, this particularly harsh winter is enough to eliminate most of them.

This is also a microcosm of the common encounters of most mountain shed strongholds in the Funiu Mountains.

——I am the dividing line—

And in the Chengdu city where Xichuan is surrounded, it is on the edge of the frozen battlements.

"Why don't respond internally and externally, and use this to eradicate the Tian brothers and their followers?"

Liu Jurong, who escaped from the front line, also excitedly pointed at Zhang Jun, a doctor and scholar in the Ministry of War.

"It is obvious that the Holy Lord has moved some ideas... Yang Shili also pointed out that the head of Tian's family should be explained. If he missed this reason, the Holy Lord was nostalgic and afraid he would be unable to control it..."

"It is precisely because of this that we cannot move around easily and waste this opportunity in vain... If we really kill the Tian family as Yang thief asks, then we will place the dignity and prestige of the emperor and the court, and wouldn't we become Yang thief's accomplices...."

Zhang Jun explained helplessly.

"No matter what, the Holy Lord will not easily promise to risk his own straits at this time, killing close to important officials and performing his own wishes. Not to mention that Gao Renhou, who has an unknown attitude, is leading his troops outside. This is also the turnaround that the Tian brothers were lucky enough to avoid."
Chapter completed!