Only an hour later, the battle to encircle and annihilate Shen Gong ended.

More than 1,400 Chu troops were killed, and most of the rest were captured. Forty soldiers were wounded and six were killed.

Shen Gong was hit by more than 40 bullets and had already lost his breath.

He was dressed in iron armor, and the two foot soldiers who followed Six-Fingers were armed with flint spears.

In order to make it easier to use a short sword as a short spear, it is very lightweight, and the projectile is enough to kill, but it is still slightly less powerful than those heavy arquebuses that are widely distributed and require the cover of a full-time spearman or the slightly larger flint gun.

It's just that at this time, iron armor was not popular, and most of the soldiers wore only leather armor, and the caliber was slightly smaller and weaker due to technology, which was not a big problem, and it was enough to deal with the princes' soldiers who were not in enough armor and the surrounding areas that were more backward than the princes' soldiers.

From the very beginning, the guns of Sishang have been on the road to being lightweight and able to hold short swords as spears, and even the first flint guns did not hesitate to sacrifice a certain amount of power.

The main reason is that the armor rate at this time is too low, and the enemy is not wearing a large number of heavy armor, so there is no need to go in the direction of heavy and large when the technology is insufficient to ensure the dual effect of light and powerful.

Of course, if the enemy on the opposite side is heavily armoured, the power of these flint spears is not enough, but with the national strength of the vassal states, to make a legion in heavy armor, not to talk about technical problems, that is, the economy will bring down these vassal states.

After the battle, a large number of captured Chu soldiers were very happy, and the Mo family did not kill and capture the world's knowledge; The second is that the Mohists want to benefit the world, which is often told by those who wander around spreading morality and applying water herbs; The three people from the Xuanyi Department of the Mo family immediately told them in the Shen dialect: each family will have a piece of land sufficient for a family to live in, five households can rent cattle and horses, abolish all debts of the feudal monarch, the Mo family will not inherit, abolish all labor obligations for the private interests of the feudal monarch, the Mo family will also issue iron tools that can be paid off for five years, and the Mo family will control the price of salt and clean up those profiteers in the fiefdom, because this is not in line with the "freedom of trade" under the basis of the development of industry and commerce in Sishang.

Moreover, people of Shen Gong's level could not have enough officials to carry out the salt and iron monopoly, and they could only pay taxes to profiteers, and the huge bureaucratic system of the Mo family, which had begun to expand itself over the years, would leave nothing left of the profiteers who tried to control this invisible tax.

The people in Si are most concerned about the Mo family's war to destroy Chu, that is, those workshop owners and handicraft owners in Si, because they need a larger market to sell their production capacity that has been dramatically expanded because of the Mo family's military expansion in recent years, and the best market for all kinds of handicraft products is to sell them to the ground of various vassal states, because most of the surrounding areas outside the coast are still in the era of slash-and-burn farming, and it is too difficult to expect those people to be able to buy enough goods in the short term. In the long run, it is far better to start a war against the princes who are at the same level of productivity as they were thirty years ago.

The first thing the Mohists had to do after conquering Chu was definitely land reform, which meant that farmers would gradually have a surplus of grain in their hands before they could afford to buy those goods. Many workshop owners calculated that if the peasants of the entire Zhuxia vassal states had the purchasing power of the Sishang peasants, they would make a lot of money day by day, and the reason that prevented the peasants of the vassal states from having such a large purchasing power was not because the land was too scarce and the per capita was too poor, but because the aristocratic system of the princes constrained the peasants.

On the contrary, there are many yeoman farmers in Sishang, and in terms of short-term benefits alone, in fact, the destruction of Chu is not of much benefit to them. That is to say, the policies and regulations that have been there and some propaganda that have benefited the world have enabled the arms system to operate normally.

Of course, as long as the economy is strong, the system is proper, and the training is lawful, even a group of scumbags and people abducted by human traffickers can be trained into a strong army with sufficient discipline. And after all, this is still an army with the belief that it will benefit the world.

It is already clear whose interests the Mo family represents in recent years, saying that it is for the benefit of the world, but in fact, the Mo family still represents the interests of the city craftsmen and their higher forms in the same vein, and the yeoman farmers are just their soldiers.

This is the terrible thing about the art of rational knowledge, which is cold and ruthless, and it is precisely the accurate implementation of the doctrine of heaven and earth that is unkind and takes all things as dogs, and it is impossible to achieve the benevolence of the whole people and the righteousness of the whole people.

However, for the peasants who were still under the oppression and shackles of the aristocracy, even if the Mo family was not a peasant family, it depicted an impossible peasant fantasy, but it could still bring them hope and a better life.

It's not that the Mo family is doing too well or is a farmer's interest theory, but because the nobles are doing too badly, they have pushed the peasants and industrialists to the opposition of the aristocracy.

There were only two ways for yeoman farmers to go, either they became serf-owning landlords under the military merit system, or they became workshop workers or agricultural workers under the heavy industrial and commercial policy. As for the third way of being both a shareholder and an employee, it is too difficult to walk, and the Mohists have basically given up promoting it outside of Sishang.

Since the Mo family has cut off the first and third paths, the fate of these people is also doomed in the future for decades or even a hundred years.

But at this time, these captured farmers of the Chu State, who had more or less heard the propaganda of the Mo family, were still full of hope and joy for the future.

These Shendi captives obediently accepted the propaganda of the Mo family's Xuanyi Department, built a camp with simple tools, captured the nobles, and elected prestigious people for them to organize themselves, so they were put away with weapons and left in place, and some of the Mo family's wounded and several doctors also stayed.

Six Fingers selected a few nobles and asked them to return to the camp where the king of Chu was to tell the king of Chu about this, and handed over a letter urging the king of Chu to surrender.

…………

In the big camp where the main force of Chu was located, the news that the six-fingered commander army had crossed Bashui to surround Shen Gong once again plunged the monarchs and ministers of Chu into chaos.

At this time, the news of Shen Gong's killing had not yet come, and several ministers accused Zuo Sima, who was talking about what he was there yesterday, and said: "You have a clever plan, but unfortunately the Mo family did not go to Jiangnan. ”

Zuo Sima didn't say anything, and secretly cursed in his heart, he didn't say anything when he asked you what to do that day, but he still laughed today.

The king of Chu said: "Now that Mokou has crossed the Ba River, the city is in danger, what can I do?" ”

The elite team sent by the Mo family wedged into the Chu army camp and Yicheng, attacking and killing the people who transported the grain, beating when there were few people, and running away when there were many people, and often just approaching, some people shouted in Chu language that the food was the king's and the life was their own, and they dispersed in a hurry.

There were not many people, but it made the monarchs and ministers of Chu State tremble.

Yicheng is where their logistical supplies are located, and it is also the only way for them to retreat, once the Mo family's idea is to capture Yicheng and cut off their way back, the general trend will be gone.

Xucheng Jun said: "The elite of Mokou is in the north, so the number of people left behind in the sandbar will not be much. Why don't you take this opportunity to capture the sandbar so that the boat division can retreat. ”

Yangcheng Jun said: "Shen Gong was besieged, and he should be rescued." If it is saved, how can it be divided again? You don't know the power of the Mo family's field battle. Divide the troops to break the siege, and it will be defeated. ”

"If you are defeated, even if you get a sandbar and lead to the south of the Yangtze River, what is the use? If the main force is defeated, the city will be lost. If the city is lost, we will all have no way to retreat, so will we all starve to death here? ”

Xia Pujun said: "Exactly. This victory or defeat lies in the land battle, in the city, not in the boat. If the boat master is overturned, if the land battle is won, the Mo family will retreat. ”

After all, Zuo Sima suppressed the anger of everyone who ridiculed him before, and replied: "Now that Shen Gong is surrounded, the Mo family will also divide his troops. You can raise a large army to relieve the siege and fight with it. ”

"The left army can be strengthened, and after receiving the enemy, it can break through to the shores of Ba Shui, cut off the connection between the Mojia army and the rear, or there is a possibility of victory."

King Chu actually didn't want to fight anymore in his heart, he felt that this battle was lost, and now he should hurry up and run to a safe place, instead of continuing to confront the Mo family here.

Once the Mo family captures the city, then the situation will be dangerous.

Now whether the Fengjun County soldiers in Nanyang and Huaibei can force the Mo family to return to help is a question, not to mention the Mo family's ability to send reinforcements, not to mention, once the grain road is cut, if they can't relieve the siege within a month, they will be starved to death here.

Right Sima was killed when he captured the sandbank, the river was turbulent at the sandbank, and there were dozens of copper and iron cannons, which were difficult to capture. The Mo family is good at defending the city, even if there are 5,000 people there, and the Yangtze River is in danger, how to capture it? How long does it take?

Can you retreat...... It's not that the king of Chu didn't think about the reason why the ministers advised him not to retreat before. Once you retreat to Nanyang and give the Mo family two years, the Jianghan region will no longer belong to the Chu State, so why should you take it back when the time comes?

Although he staged a coup d'état and killed his brother, it does not mean that he does not understand the importance of centralization of power, let alone that he does not understand that the nobles who support him will become enemies the moment he sits on the throne.

I ran to Nanyang, a group of feudal monarchs, far away from Jiang Han, how to control those feudal monarchs?

For various reasons, he accepted the proposal to fight in Yicheng, but the situation has been unfavorable day by day.

It is rumored that the Mo family has sent people to capture Linwu Jiuzhi and go straight to the Xiangjiang River, but the king of Chu is sure that the Mo family can pull out a large army in the South China Sea.

There are also rumors that the soldiers of the Mo family in Nanzheng want to go down the Han River.

Coupled with the Chu army's several defeats here, he needs to re-weigh it.

If you go to Nanyang, you may completely lose the opportunity to centralize power, and you will lose Jianghan if you get it, but at least you can save it. But if he is annihilated here, then everything he was worried about before is meaningless, and if he dies and dies, do he still need to worry about the future distribution of power?

The king of Chu looked at the arguing courtiers, glanced at the Ejun who actually had no right to speak because the fiefdom was seized, and thought to himself that the matter of the Tian clan and the Qi dynasty will also befall me if I lose Jiang Han, right?

The war is imminent, but the ministers of Chu are still arguing.

Want to fight? Want to escape? Haven't made it clear yet.

Not to mention that it is to gather all your strength to attack the sandbar first and find a way out for the boat master to escape? Or take advantage of the fact that Shen Gong is surrounded by the Mo family and can't go south to flee directly?

At this moment, a close attendant went straight into the camp in a panic and exclaimed, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Woe to you! Shen Gong's army was surrounded by the Mo army, and it was completely wiped out in an hour, and Shen Gong died of dozens of lead bullets in his body! ”

"What?"

The monarchs and ministers of the State of Chu were shocked, and the news was like a thunderbolt from the sky.

Shen Gong was besieged, and the monarchs and ministers of Chu State already had the idea of giving up Shen Gong slipping away, and they were sure that Shen Gong would be besieged nine times out of ten.

But who would have thought that in less than an hour of fierce battle, Shen Gong's nearly 20,000 troops would be gone?

Before the shocked look subsided, they heard even more terrible news.

"Only six people were killed in the entire army of the Mo family, and dozens of ...... were wounded"

The information from these people who had been selected from the captured nobles and who had experienced the battle was so accurate that the monarchs and ministers of the state of Chu could no longer sit still.