Number of People

  Chapter 2151 Guizi Juan Mangui is in danger to take on a big responsibility

Man Gui paced back and forth in the garrison mansion with a face full of irritability, fear and a little excitement. He pulled out the saber from his waist and flicked his finger on the blade twice. Finally, he sighed and inserted the saber again. In the scabbard.

  The rough hands are like a pair of iron pliers, and the jaws and palms of the knife firmly hold the handle. Only by feeling the solidity brought by the handle can he feel at ease.

   "Cao Er!"

   "Here! My lord, what's the matter?" A thick-headed soldier came in from the door, with a solid and generous figure, but his eyebrows were very lively, "Ma San and the others haven't come back yet?"

   "My lord, how can it be so fast?" Cao Er said cheerfully: "How long have they been away, and it's less than two hours. At this time, they can reach Mingtiaogang at most. If they want to come back, it will be at least midnight."

   "Is Mingtiaogang so difficult to walk?" Man Gui said angrily, "I don't know how many times I have walked by, and which one didn't pass in half an hour?"

Seeing that his boss was a little unreasonable, Cao Er grinned, "My lord, that is usually riding a horse, but now it is different, the rebel army is here, Ma San and the others must investigate carefully, if you really want to come back too soon, you don't want to Don’t worry. The grass and trees on Mingtiaogang are lush, and there are many small roads and divergences. Even the locals may not be able to identify the roads. Ma San and the others are the most familiar ones, so don’t worry.”

  Mingtiaogang is also called Mingtiaogang. According to legend, Shun died on his southern tour and was buried on Mingtiaogang, and the battle of Mingtiaogang was the battle where Shang Tang defeated Xia Jie, and it was also on this Mingtiaogang.

   Knowing that he was losing his temper, Man Gui sighed, waved his hand, and signaled Cao Er to go down, and he was the only one left in the hall.

His ancestral home is Yanzhou, but he grew up in Xuanfu since he was a child. He wanted to join the army in Xuanfu, but he didn't expect his father to entrust him to an old department in Shanxi Town a few years ago when he was about to fail. Fuzhen joined the army.

That's all, but Dad's old department was deprived of his official position because he offended his boss. He had already gained a reputation in Shanxi Town because of his proficiency in bows and horses. He was kicked out of Shanxi Town and sent to the Shanxi Dusizhong came to work, and then went to Puzhou Shouyu Qianhu Office as the general manager.

  The official system in the Great Zhou Army was a bit chaotic, and the levels of garrison, Qian Zong, and Ba Zong were relatively vague, and sometimes the gap between them was not large.

He was originally the General Manager in Shanxi Town, but after he joined the Guard Army, he was promoted by half a level to become Chief Qian. It can be the general manager, depending on his qualifications and military merits, Man Gui came from the frontier army, and naturally he was considered a strong man among the five divisions of the first battalion originally stationed in Siyan City, and he was the best candidate except for defense.

Following Shanxi Town’s defeat and heavy losses in the First World War in Shandong, Chai Guozhu re-gathered the various units of the Shanxi Capital Guards to enrich the Shanxi Town’s frontier army. It was the turn of the garrison of the Siyancheng Battalion to happily take the dispatched troops to the north and transform into a frontier army. Only the remaining three divisions with more than 2,000 people were led by the acting garrison of Chief Qian Mangui.

   Man Gui is full of envy, but he also knows that it is not his turn.

He joined the army when he was less than thirteen years old, and he is not yet twenty years old. He has been in the army for more than six years, and he has become the commander-in-chief of more than 600 people. , although it is a guard, but it is already quite powerful.

At first, I thought that I would guard the storehouse of salt and salt money in this city of Yan. There are more than two thousand guards stationed here. After the rebel army crossed Longmen and entered Jin, the situation in the whole southern Shanxi suddenly changed.

First, Hejin and Ronghe fell, but the distance was still so far away. Although Mangui felt a little nervous, he was still determined, but as Jishan and Wanquan were also captured by the rebel army, the reinforcements from the frontier army in the north were delayed. Before arriving, Man Gui couldn't sit still.

With the fall of the Yi clan, Man Gui knew that Anyi would inevitably be baptized by the flames of war, and Anyi County was definitely not the first choice for the rebel army. Siyan City and Shenghui Town were the two places. Taxing silver and salt is undoubtedly the most attractive thing to attract the attention of the rebels.

As soon as he learned of the fall of the Yi Clan, he sent out the first round of scouts and sentries, but the news that came back was scattered and incomplete, so he sent out Ma San and his group of his most trusted veterans. To figure out the enemy's movement, he can consider how to deal with it.

Man Gui also knows that waiting like this is just waiting to die, and the number of rebels will only increase. Even if they fail to succeed in one attack, there will be a second and third attack. Siyan City is not a big city. Guarding against thieves is not worth mentioning for the rebellious army. More than two thousand guards are sure to deal with three or five thousand rebellious troops Mangui, but what about tens of thousands or even tens of thousands of rebellious troops?

   Man Gui knew very well that the result of the defense would be one, and the entire army would be wiped out, unless the Shanxi Army from the north could arrive in time.

   But according to what he has learned, the Shanxi army's southward striker has not even reached Pingyang. At this speed, when he arrives in Anyi, he is afraid that his body will be gnawed by wild dogs until only a few bones remain.

   Asking for help in Puzhou?

  It doesn't make much sense. There are only two departments with more than a thousand people left. It is difficult to defend Puzhou. If you really encounter the main force of the rebel army, you will have to die.

   There is also the need to ask for help from the surrounding area.

   But the surrounding area is too far away.

  The closest one is Pingyangwei.

But Pingyang Guard, like Puzhou Institute, has long been replenished and transferred by Shanxi Town. There were originally five battalions of guards, two battalions were taken away by Shanxi Town, and one of the remaining three battalions was originally stationed in Yonghe, Jizhou and Hejin. The Hejin part was destroyed when the rebellious army crossed the river, and the remaining remnants are still guarding Jizhou and Yonghe.

There are two remaining battalions. One battalion was originally defending Jiangzhou, but now it seems that Jiangzhou has fallen. The sky is still difficult, and Pingyang Mansion will not agree.

  In addition to Pingyang Guard, there are only Ningshan Guard and Luzhou Guard.

Luzhou Wei is too far away to quench thirst, and Ningshan Wei is not close, but a dead horse is a living horse doctor. Man Gui has already asked Ningshan Wei for help. For goodness sake.

   Another thing is to go across provinces, Tongguanwei in Shaanxi and Hongnongwei in Henan.

The Hongnongwei in Henan is the closest, it is in Shanzhou across the river from Pinglu, but Mangui knows that the combat effectiveness of the Henan Guards should be the worst in the Central Guards of the five northern provinces, even worse than the guards in the capital of Shaanxi However, it is better to count on the guards of Hongnongwei than to recruit local people.

  In addition to Hongnongwei, it is Tongguanwei in Shaanxi.

  Tongguan Guard is also slightly farther away than the Guards of Puzhou Station. If they want to come to reinforce, they need to cross the river in Fengling, which is not close in terms of distance.

  Tongguan Guard also stationed only one battalion of soldiers, which is not as strong as the one in Puzhou. This also shows that the garrison of the Shaanxi Capital Guard is weak.

   However, the combat effectiveness of the Tongguan Guard battalion is not weak. Zhao Qianshan, the general manager, is skilled in bow and horse, brave and cunning, so Xie Zhenye put him here to garrison, that is, he is optimistic about this guy.

It would be too difficult for the Tongguan guards to send troops across the Yellow River to reinforce themselves here. Not to mention that the Shaanxi capital would not agree, even if Zhao Qianshan really wanted to come to help, the distance is so far, and the Yellow River has to be crossed. Don't dare to be so bold.

  However, Mangui still sent messengers to Tongguan and Hongnong, regardless of whether they have dates or not, what if they can come?

"My lord, the salt envoy Siyamen has been transferred." Cao Er came in again, and said ghostly: "It seems that I was a little panicked, and I told them to make preparations earlier, and transferred the warehouse salt and salt class money to Ze. Go to the state side, they refused, this is good, it’s too late to transfer, now come to us for a fart, it’s better to send it to the brothers,..."

   "Bastard!" Man Gui scolded, and if such words spread, people should not be regarded as colluding with the rebel army, "Go out and invite them in, by the way, who is here?"

   "It's a fellow judge and a judge." Cao Er replied.

The establishment of the Salt Transfer Envoy in Dazhou City is different in different places. Generally, there is one salt transport envoy, from the third rank, one person with the same acquaintance, from the fourth rank, one deputy envoy, from the fifth rank, several judges, from the sixth rank, and experience, governors , but above these officials there is a patrolling salt censor, who is really in charge of the power, and the salt transport envoys are only the second in command in charge of execution.

  Tongzhi and deputy envoys are generally not set up at the same time, but one of the two is selected. If there is a common knowledge, there is generally no deputy envoy.

  However, the patrolling salt censor of the Siyamen of the Hedong and Shaanxi salt transport envoys has already returned to Beijing. He has been away for almost three months and has not yet returned.

"Zhu Xingquan came in person?" Man Gui was a little surprised, but he also felt that it was normal. Everyone sensed that the situation was not right. At this moment, he, a senior official from the fourth rank, came to the door in person. In the past, it was just a judge. up.

   After going to the front hall in addition to the lobby, Man Gui also found it funny when he saw two guys who were circling in the hall in a hurry, so he went forward, "Master Zhu, Master He."

   "Hey, General Man, something serious has happened." The skinny old man with a rat beard is Zhu Xingquan, the Tongzhi Tongzhi of the transfer salt envoy of the capital of Henan and Shaanxi.

"Oh, how big can it be?" Man Gui's heart sank, but on the surface he still pretended to be calm and composed, "Don't worry, I still have two thousand soldiers here, and there are big things I carry it."

"Changle Town was captured by the rebel army. All the inspectors were killed and countless tax money was taken away!" Zhu Xingquan knew what the other party wanted to ask when he saw Man Gui's expression, and explained without the other party asking: "There is a salt merchant here. Changle Town encountered a rebel army, took advantage of the chaos and escaped to report to me,..."

  (end of this chapter)