Bo Jiao and Kong Pei led the large army north, and Hong Tao and his guards stayed. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoMore than 20 canal flat-bottomed boats began to assemble together, and the sides of the boats lined up next to each other, blocking the entire river. The boats were firmly fastened with cables, and several large wooden stakes were smashed into the river bank, and the boats on both sides were tied to the stakes. In this way, on the south side of the dam was formed a huge pontoon bridge made up of boats, four columns wide.

When the soldiers on the ship were busy erecting the pontoon bridge, Hong Tao was not idle, he arranged the remaining more than 200 soldiers in his hands to camp on both sides of the river bank at the same time, and deliberately set up the camp to a sparse place, with neither fences nor trenches, not at all like a marching camp, more like a group of travelers, not even a caravan.

After the camp was set up, it was almost noon, except for dozens of soldiers who were still guarding the reserve camp to dig a dark dam, and the rest of the soldiers all went to the shore to bury pots and make food. Not only eat, but also drink, eat meat, drink in large bowls, how to slack off, how to be lively. It was not until about two o'clock in the afternoon that the whole fleet and the excavation site were standing guard with no more than ten soldiers.

Hong Tao's sense is very accurate, and their whereabouts have always been under the surveillance of others. Since this team set off from Kaifeng City, it has been targeted, not one person, but a group of people. 、

For the arrival of Hong Tao's imperial army, the local wealthy families around the Daimyo's Mansion were very uncomfortable. They could endure the oppression of the Jin people and bow down to the Mongols, but they would never be so tolerant of the Great Song court. The reason is very simple, they feel that the Great Song Dynasty is still the original soft egg, although they beat the Mongols away, it is also because the strength of the Mongols was greatly weakened after the civil strife, and even so, they still fought for several years before withdrawing.

Submission to such a court is not in the interests of the northern wealthy families. Why do you pay taxes and food? It's not about getting protection yet. Since it is protection, you have to find a stronger backer. Both the Jin and the Mongols met this condition, and the performance of the Great Song court was not convincing.

The reason why these northern wealthy families agreed to submit to the Great Song Dynasty was actually just perfunctory, and they didn't plan to really pay money and grain to the Great Song Dynasty at all. Moreover, they felt that the Great Song Dynasty was incapable of governing the north well, let alone ruling the north for a long time, and maybe one day the Mongols would come back. Rather than re-turn to the Mongols at that time, it is better not to be busy choosing sides now. We don't rely on the Great Song Dynasty, and the Mongols don't collude, so it's good to live our own lives.

In fact, many areas north of the Yellow River have already entered a state of autonomy after the Mongols retreated, but it is not explicitly stated. The local tyrants were very powerful here, and even during the Mongol rule, they negotiated with the Mongols with the regiment and obtained the right to partial autonomy. During the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty, these local wealthy clans adopted a neutral attitude, neither helping the Mongols nor supporting the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Great Song Dynasty. To be able to do this is enough to say that they themselves have a certain amount of armed force, or at least can protect themselves.

Now Hong Tao's army swaggered into their territory under the banner of the Great Song Dynasty, and did not ask for their opinions in advance, and did not even say hello, this behavior has deeply pierced the fragile and sensitive heart of the local wealthy family. When Hong Tao's army had not yet arrived in Kaifeng, these northern tycoons had already received a tip-off and began to pay attention to this army that was walking, fighting, and killing all the way. As soon as Hong Tao left Kaifeng City and continued to go north along the canal, the local wealthy families centered on the Daimyo's Mansion couldn't sit still, and ran to the Daimyo's Mansion together to discuss how to deal with it.

In fact, this is also a misunderstanding caused by the two sides not knowing each other well. If Hong Tao can lower his posture a little and find someone from Kaifeng City to contact these northern wealthy clans in advance, it will show that he wants to borrow a road through the Hebei region, and there is no problem. The local tycoons don't want to fight with the imperial army, it's pointless. From another point of view, if these local wealthy families could stretch out their ears, learn more about the many recent changes in the Great Song Dynasty, and care more about the new policies of the Great Song Dynasty, they would not easily make up their minds to give this imperial army a serious warning, and by the way, also warn the Great Song Imperial Court not to stretch its claws too far.

To put it bluntly, there are irreconcilable contradictions between Hong Tao and these northern wealthy clans. In Hong Tao's plan, there is no specific opinion on how to deal with the northern wealthy clan at all, and he can't take care of this area at present. However, his way of doing things was completely opposite to the previous Great Song court, and he never considered who to bow his eyebrows to, which was not in line with his habits. It is in itself an unlikely thing for an emperor who has never met an opponent in the east and west and who has created the two largest countries in the world to take the initiative to bow to a certain power.

From Hong Tao's experience, personality, and ability, he really doesn't need it. Looking at the world, only the Golden River Empire is qualified to negotiate with him on an equal footing. Note that it is an equal negotiation, as long as the Jinhe Empire has the slightest intention of suppressing people with power, Hong Tao would rather not have the Great Song Dynasty, but also let the Jinhe Empire and his son taste the pain. In this mode of thinking, a group of northern wealthy families are a group of lost dogs in Hong Tao's eyes, and it is a waste of feelings to look at them more.

But this is the fundamental reason why Hong Tao cannot become a qualified politician, and at the same time, it also violates the principle of all for the sake of profit that he advocates. He can't get rid of the problem of willfulness, and a qualified politician cannot be swayed by emotions, and there is no such word as happy and unhappy in the mind of a politician, only suitable and inappropriate. As long as the benefits are obtained, they will naturally be happy, and if they can't get them, of course they will not be happy, and all emotions are determined by the amount of benefits.

According to the understanding of a mature politician, the matter could have been handled very well and smoothly. First send people to the north to appease and appease these local wealthy clans, by the way, touch more of their details, or even give them some sweetness first, as long as they can temporarily recognize the leadership of the new government, everything will be easy.

Then take advantage of the many internal contradictions between these wealthy families, whether it is inducement, coercion, or bribery, to divide them from within the wealthy families, and let them fight among themselves for a while. After the new government has free up its hands, it will use some false positions to transfer the leaders of these wealthy clans from the local area, and gradually empty the control of the local wealthy clans. In the end, the army pressed the border, and cleaned up the hao clan forces that had been divided and had their own evil intentions one by one, and the entire north did not need to spend much energy to return to the arms of the central government.

It's not that Hong Tao doesn't understand this truth, but he just can't convince himself to do it in the most reasonable way. The reason is not entirely because of his character, but also his contempt for the northern tycoons and his serious need for time. He didn't have that much time to make peace with these people, and he didn't care if the people here would be devastated by the war. In his eyes, no matter what the reason, the people here are no longer Great Song people, and they have no sense of national and national identity.

Dealing with such an area, Hong Tao feels that there is no difference from dealing with foreigners, if he is obedient, he will keep it, and if he is disobedient, he should be eliminated directly. Since they didn't regard themselves as Song people, then Song people would not be too sad because they slaughtered them. Whether it was during the reign of the Jin or the Mongols, the Han people in the north were one of the main forces in aiding and abetting the abuse, and they could be cruel to their own compatriots, so why should they be merciful to them? This is not in line with the principle of fair trade. Therefore, Hong Tao crossed the Yellow River north with the mentality of a conqueror, and since he crossed this river, he has not considered who to look at differently. If you don't accept it, pull it out and slip it, aren't you used to being conquered, then I will satisfy you!

"Your Majesty, it seems that we have not slept well again tonight. From the afternoon onwards, the sentries spotted some unidentified cavalry on the east and west, southwest and southeast, who did not get too close, but were always wandering two or three kilometers away from us. According to my experience, this is a large force of pre-reconnaissance troops, and their main force will not be too far from here, maybe they will be in place a long time ago, and they have been waiting for our large army to go far before launching. I think it's likely that they're going to sneak up after the sun goes down, and they're coming from at least three directions. How many people do you say they will have? There is no need to push our position forward another 200 meters. I'm afraid that the other side has long-range weapons, and if they only rely on the fortifications built on the riverbank, it will be enough to defend, but they will lose the ability to fight back. At dinner, Hong Tao's guard captain came over, whispered the information he had collected in the past half a day, and put forward his own professional advice.

"You think too highly of the combat effectiveness of these Imperial Army, I haven't told you yet, they are not professional soldiers, maybe a month ago they were workers in factories, farmers in the fields, or office clerks. Although every once in a while they will enter the military to serve, compared to you, they still have some gaps, mainly psychologically. In addition, their weapons and equipment are not as powerful as ours, those rifled guns are still front-loaded, and the rate of fire is relatively slow, and it all depends on the number of people to make up for it. Now we only have more than 300 people in total, and we have to spare people to take care of those people in the reserve camp, and there are only about 200 people who can really be put into battle, and then divided into two lines of defense, east and west, and there are only more than 100 people left on one side. Relying on such a small number of manpower, if it were all our army, no matter how many enemies it encountered, I would not doubt it at all if it held out for a few days. But not now, these hundred brothers under your command are their backing, and if you are in a hurry, you have to send reinforcements there, which is why I have to tie the boats together and make them into pontoon bridges, which are for you. You go and tell our people to aim and then shoot, don't shoot outside the range, mortars and grenades must be hailed to the place where the enemy is most numerous. And our snipers too, let them aim at the most well-dressed people in the enemy, and focus on where there are more flags. It's been a bad night, don't be careless. ”

Hong Tao was not as optimistic as the captain of the guard, he talked to Bo Jiao and Kong Pei lightly, as if as soon as he made his own move, no matter how many enemies came there would be annihilation immediately. That's a relief pill for the two of them, otherwise they won't leave. But when it comes to practical issues, Hong Tao does not think that his small army can have an absolute advantage. The wealthy people are the emperors of the soil here, and they have been operating here for hundreds of years, and they have dealt with the Jin people and Mongolians, and they will definitely not be as weak as those bandits on the road.

If they really plan to make a move against this team flying the banner of the Great Song Dynasty, then they will not leave any mercy, and they must go all out to achieve a one-hit kill. It can be judged from this that if they don't come, as long as they dare to come, the number must be indispensable, maybe they still united the local forces of the Hao clan within a radius of hundreds of miles nearby, maybe there are still some heavy weapons left by the Mongols back then, such as trebuchets, Mongolian artillery and the like, maybe even muskets, after all, the Mongols also began to learn from the new army of the Great Song Dynasty and began to equip muskets, even if they were all front-loading smoothbore guns, they were guns.

(To be continued.) )