Chapter 397 Wildfires are inexhaustible

There are reeds around the four lakes of Weishan, stretching dozens of miles long and five or six miles wide. In spring and summer, the germination is like a huge green scarf around the neck of several large lakes, which is very pleasing to the eyes. By the end of summer, the reed flowers turn white, and when you look at it, it is as white as snow. At that time, it is the favorite of literati. In the season, there are many people who come to watch the verse.

Drinking wine in Luhuadang, painting and writing words are suitable. The green crabs in the shallow water at the root of the reeds are fat and beautiful. When you enjoy playing, you can cook a pot of fresh and fat green crabs and drive through the boat to enjoy the scenery. It is also a fashionable move of many rich and noble literati in the Ming Dynasty.

In the eyes of the people, these reeds are naturally not something that can be used to paint and write poems. For the people of Qiha County by Weishan Lake, reeds mean income, means enough food, and means that the family can wear new clothes on the next festival of the year.

At the end of October every year, after the end of farm work, the people in five or six counties by Weishan Lake will take advantage of their winter leisure to harvest the reeds that have turned yellow by the lake; reed flowers can be put into pillows, and reed poles can be braided into dozens of things such as mats, curtains, curtains, baskets, baskets, etc., and these things will be marketed in various parts of the Ming Dynasty within a few months, whether rich or People's homes will have a need for these things made up by reeds.

And the reeds by Weishan Lake have also become an income for the people of the surrounding states and counties. Even in Gongzhou Prefecture, a separate department has been set up to manage the harvesting of reeds to coordinate the harvesting scope of each county, which is already an important industry in Weishan Lake Zuo Jinzhou County.

In the shallow area under the roots of reeds, various fish, shrimp, crabs and other aquatic products can be caught, which are the by-line income of the people when harvesting reeds. In recent years, all these incomes have accounted for nearly 30% of the annual income of the surrounding people.

This year's reed harvest season is coming. Because Gunzhou was swept by thieves, the people have not dared to harvest. Many families have suffered huge losses due to the war. The only hope this year is that they can get this last income after the thieves are eliminated. However, Song Nan's decision is to burn the reeds, the people We suddenly fried the pan.

Song Nan also understands that this decision will make the people of Nonzhou worse, but he has to do so. If he does not eliminate Liu Liu's thief soldiers and let him stay in Weishan Lake, the people will not live in peace for a long time.

After the news came out, hundreds of villagers in Yangtun Town came one after another, knelt down in front of the barracks in tears and asked the governor of Song to raise his hand and not to break the last livelihood of this year. His words were mourned and earnestly, which made everyone in the army feel sad.

Song Nan also knew that this matter must be understood by the people, so he met with a petition group composed of Yangtun Town's chief and a scholar surnamed Yang in the camp.

Yang Xiucai has a hot temper and a little fearless backbone. He put his head in the account and asked: "Dare to ask the governor, you are going to burn the reeds. The people around Weishan Lake really have no way to live. Can't you force the people to be thieves? We really hope that the officers and soldiers can drive away the thieves. Is there nothing else for the officers and soldiers?

Song Nan was not angry and ordered people to look at the seat and whispered, "Shuicai, you can also see the current situation. More than 30,000 thieves and soldiers have to escape into the reeds. If they use conventional tactics, they will have to surround the four big lakes hundreds of miles, but I'm afraid it is obviously not suitable to mobilize soldiers from all over the country. Practical. And the thief soldiers hid in it and could not be destroyed, and the people did not have the opportunity to harvest. Did they risk being killed by the thief soldiers to harvest reeds? Obviously not."

Yang Xiucai said, "But my lord, as soon as you order to burn, everyone's last hope is burned, and everyone has no way to live. This year has been afflied by thieves, and the New Year is approaching. There is no surplus food and money. The people are afraid that they will flee to beg this year.

Song Nan thought for a moment and said, "Don't worry, Xiucai, the court will solve this matter properly. I will ask the emperor to send personnel to bring rice supplies here for relief, and never let the people be displaced. But after the suppression of the thief soldiers, in the current situation, it is impossible for the court to mobilize a large number of relief supplies. In case the thief soldiers get it, won't it become an enemy? I also know that this matter is in a dilemma. Everything can only be carried out after the suppression of the thief soldiers, so I decided that short pain is better than long pain. I hope Xiucai will make it clear to the people.

After Song Nan's analysis, the scholar and Bao Chang also knew that it was necessary to do it. Song Nan sighed back. Because he didn't know whether this method worked, he also decided to burn the reeds on the south bank of Zhaoyang Lake to see the situation first. So they immediately posted notices prohibiting anyone from entering and leaving the lake area and evacuating all fishermen in fishing villages along the lake.

In the afternoon, the officers and soldiers sent more than 20 teams that set fire. Taking advantage of the strong west wind, they began to light a fire along the south bank of Zhaoyang Lake, so that the reeds began to catch fire from the northwest corner. At the same time, the army was ready to prevent the thief soldiers from being forced to come ashore from the lake by the fire.

At night, all the reeds on the south bank of Zhaoyang Lake were ignited, and the strong northwest wind made the fire more and more powerful. The fire that stretched for more than ten miles rushed up several feet, and the fire could be seen dozens of miles away. Thousands of waterbirds in the reeds were shocked and flew, and the smoke and dust covered the sun, making the sky gray and unsunless after dawn.

The rapid fire swept away the dry reeds day and night. The fire distance was more than 30 miles, and almost all the reed-dense lake shoals were burned bare and dark. The fire not only destroyed dozens of miles of long reeds, but also the willow embankment on the shore of the lake was affected, and many trees were Burned into bare piles.

At dusk the next day, the fire gradually went out, and the army also set out close to the lake and looked at the mess. Even if the fire goes out, the whole place is still hot and can't be approached at all, but after the reeds are burned out, the whole area is exposed. The soldiers who ran along the coast found dozens of dry land in the reeds and hundreds of burnt bodies. Obviously, the thieves were trapped in it and did not escape in time.

A few hours later, the soldiers who sailed through the reeds for inspection found another 200 bodies drowned in the lake one after another. Obviously, the thief chose to swim to the heart of the lake in the face of the fire raid. As a result, these two hundred people were drowned alive.

This group was so excited that they annihilated nearly a thousand of the thief soldiers without any effort, and the beaches after the burning were at a glance, and there was no place for the thief soldiers to stand at all. However, Song Nan felt very strange. There were more than 30,000 thieves. Seven or eight days after entering the lake from Zhaoyang Lake, most of the thief soldiers were on the south bank of Zhaoyang Lake. This reed is the one. Why did a fire only burn so few people? Where did the others go?

Song Nan has nothing to consider. He immediately ordered to ignite all the reeds on the south bank of the downstream Weishan Lake. Unless they have wings, it is impossible for the thief soldiers to leave the two lake areas within seven or eight days. The upper reaches of Dushan Lake and Nanyang Lake can basically rule out the possibility of hiding, because the thief soldiers have no boats to pass. Fa left the beach of reeds.

Another fierce fire ignited. The reeds on the south bank of Weishan Lake were denser than Zhaoyang Lake, and the burning was even more frightening after the fire. The west wind rolled all the way to the east with the sky, and hundreds of captured boats were riding more than 2,000 soldiers on the reeds. Surveillance of the inner lake area. With the burning fire, the officers and soldiers found the figures of the thieves fleeing from the reeds to the middle of the lake in a hurry, but because the fire was too strong to approach the pursuit.

The evil caused by the fire in Weishan Lake was greater than Zhaoyang Lake, but the effect was also huge. More than 2,000 people were burned, not to mention that more than 7,000 thieves who escaped from the reeds alone surrendered. According to the prisoners, the brigade did not enter Zhaoyang Lake from Yangtun, but from Huzhai Town to Weishan Lake. Hide.

Lu Wan was ashamed. His soldiers and horses met a small number of thief soldiers in Yangtun Town. He thought that the thief soldiers had entered the lake area from there. Unexpectedly, most of the thief soldiers were still slowly retreating to the Weishan Lake below. At that time, if he led the cavalry south to continue to attack, he might be right.

Song Nan scolded Lu Wan fiercely. Lu Wan's mistake almost missed a big thing. The army was stationed in Yangtun and did not know that the main force of the thief was in the downstream micro-mountain lake, which was likely to cause the main force of the thief to slip away and make a mistake he knew nothing about. At the same time, Song Nan also deeply realized that Liu Liu was indeed not easy to deal with. Obviously, Liu Liu realized that the officers and soldiers would send troops to quickly cut off the way back to the lake area, so he chose two ways. The thief soldiers in Yangtun Town were used to confuse the officers and soldiers to die. The thief soldiers below were the main soldiers. After cover, they were able to retreat into the lake area calmly.

Up to now, the basic situation can be determined that there are about 5,000 thieves in Zhaoyang Lake, more than 1,000 people killed in a fire, and more than 4,000 people left are missing; in Weishan Lake are the main force of thieves, about 30,000 people, more than 2,000 killed by the fire, burned out and surrendered 6,000 to 7,000, and more than 100 drowned corpses. There are about 20,000 left.

Although it seems to have achieved outstanding results, a serious problem is in front of Song Nan. These two thousand thieves and soldiers can escape from the fire. Obviously, they can't escape by swimming in the water. The officers and soldiers didn't really see it in the smoke and fire, but they did see the scene of the thief soldiers sitting on strange floating objects one by one. Song Nan suddenly understood Come on, just like the last time you crossed the river, there are many local fishermen surrounded by thieves. Naturally, they know that another use of reeds is to make simple rafts.

I'm afraid that a large number of thieves are on their way to cross the lake, and may even have crossed the lake and are about to go ashore to kill a gun.

Song Nan almost scolded in a hurry. The destructiveness of 20,000 thief soldiers on the north bank of Weishan Lake is almost unimaginable. As soon as it has been recovered, the prefectures and counties around Gunzhou and even in the west of Shandong are being rebuilt. It would be unimaginable for the thief soldiers to sweep back.

Song Nan did not dare to delay and immediately sent six small boats to the other side of the lake overnight. Each boat carried two military pigeons. Once she found traces of the thief soldiers landing on the north shore, she sent a message back.

In the middle of the night, more than a dozen military pigeons flew back to the camp, bringing Song Nan both happy and sad news.