Chapter 784: Acting on Behalf of Heaven

"Corpses everywhere, blood filling the city; it is nothing but a single thought to save the common people." Bai Lang recited casually, and Shi Yi had already decided to lead these villagers to rise up. Since the officials were not going to give these people a way to live, they were not going to give the Great Song officials a way to live either. "First, open a few manors of local tyrants and corrupt gentry, then attack the county government, and arm ourselves as much as possible. Establish strict military discipline and laws." The proposal Bai Lang put forward was, of course, accepted by Shi Yi in its entirety.

Bai Lang then began to reorganize the troops with Shi Yi; at the very least, they had to be divided into ranks, otherwise, they wouldn't even count as a mob. These people included many old, weak, women, and children. Bai Lang felt that taking these people was useless; they must capture certain places, distribute the land, and let the old and weak go farm. A portion of the young and strong who were not suitable for fighting should also go farm; fighting had always required elite troops. In Bai Lang's view, the soldiers of the Han Dynasty were strong enough, followed by the Fubing of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The soldiers of the Han Dynasty were good families who joined the army with their own saddles, horses, and weapons, seeking titles through military merit. They became generals and ministers, so their subjective initiative was extremely strong, and their combat effectiveness was naturally very fierce. What Bai Lang wanted were soldiers like these. As for Shi Yi, he at least knew about the so-called Imperial Guards; the Great Song Imperial Guards still had a little combat effectiveness, though not as good as the Western Army, but the Great Song Imperial Guards were also selected. Besides, Shi Yi and Bai Lang's ability to lead troops was limited; they were not military geniuses like Han Xin who could lead more and more troops.

Since they had started, the first thing Shi Yi had to ask was what the nearby terrain was like? Which local tyrants and corrupt gentry were there? It was Bai Lang who taught him to fight the tyrants and distribute the land. In short, after distributing the land and leaving military rations, there would naturally be farmers who would become soldiers to protect their achievements. Now, having equipped a group of young and strong men who dared to fight and lead with captured weapons and armor, Shi Yi and Bai Lang took them directly to "experience" another manor.

On the way, they counted their forces. The pure infantry mob was about 1,500, with almost no cavalry, and there were nearly 10,000 old, weak, women, and children. Now that they had repelled the Jiangzhou Prefecture army, they could preside over the land distribution after opening a few more manors of local tyrants and corrupt gentry. Up to now, the area Shi Yi could govern was only this much; he didn't have enough officials in his hands, and now he couldn't even gather enough military officers.

Squad leaders and platoon leaders could be gathered through recommendation, but mid-level officers could not be gathered no matter what, unless some of the Xiang Army also rebelled, then some of those officers might be usable. "1,500 infantry is the maximum. After reorganization, you and I, plus Hu Sanniang, can barely control them. Any more, and it's just a mob." Bai Lang, as an old soldier, said so.

Ahead was the Zhang Family Manor, one of the local gentry families, living together by clan—outsiders had a miserable life, and the poor of the Zhang family were just as miserable. The main branch of this family was the true local tyrant and corrupt gentry, who seemed to treat outsiders and their own clan the same. Thus, Shi Yi led several hundred people and prepared to charge this wealthy household. In the south, there were mostly weak scholars, and there really weren't the fortified manors found everywhere in the north. The rammed earth walls of the Zhang Family Manor in front of them were no more than six feet high.

The manor guards holding weapons and bows and arrows were only two or three hundred. Shi Yi took the lead, drew his bow, and shot one person, then wielded his Hao Long Dan to block over ten arrows, and with a shout, he had already terrified those manor guards. Afterward, they moved a large log to ram open the gate, and Shi Yi charged in first. The Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix spear unfolded, and after killing dozens of people, the entire manor guard scattered. Bai Lang led dozens of people to block the back, and seeing those who rushed out being intercepted, he knocked them down and tied them up to the side.

After capturing the manor, Shi Yi wandered around to maintain order and gathered his forces to clear it out place by place—he even killed three people who were looting women with his own hands. If military discipline was broken at the beginning, it would take ten or a hundred times the effort to recover it later. If military discipline was ruined, and they still wanted to rebel? That would only be paving the way for others. Shi Yi didn't want to simply be a rebel king. The land deeds were found, and this territory also had to be cleared. Connected with the several manors opened by the starving people before, they could arrange for tens of thousands of people.

Distributing land to farmers was always a good thing. Shi Yi let Shi Xiao participate—this kid was reluctant to rebel at first, but after seeing the situation before, he obediently listened and went to work. Bai Lang had Shi Yi pull a group of people to act as a council to distribute the land, which could also be considered sharing responsibility with others. If there was any unfairness, the anger would be concentrated on this council.

Bai Lang took over the 1,500 infantry who were sure to get the best land, and took 500 to attack the surrounding prefecture army and the Xiang soldiers of some army. Before Shi Yi finished equalizing land rights, he had to be the first to defeat the Song Dynasty troops around who could suppress this rebellion. Bai Lang sighed, "If that Zhaoye Yushizi belonged to me, it would be much easier now, but now I'm afraid I can only fight on foot."

Bai Lang collected many carts and donkeys and mules to load weapons and armor. After the farmers were initially reorganized, at least they could march reasonably well. Bai Lang could still take care of 500 people from front to back, letting them learn to march during the march. The first target was not Jiangzhou Prefecture, but Wuwei Army—although they had been beaten by Song Jiang once, the troops stationed in Wuwei Army were still one of the closest Great Song troops that could be pulled out to suppress the rebellion.

Bai Lang led 500 people directly to the Wuwei Army camp. He wore paper armor and held a horse spear, fighting in the first place. The paper armor was used for identification, and also to let his soldiers see the general fighting on the front line to boost morale. Bai Lang still wore a golden crown with his hair tied, and with just one sweep of his horse spear, he picked open the enemy's deer fence. After smashing the camp wall, he charged in first. Arrows could not touch his body, and he just shouted his name and charged forward, with no one able to stop him.

Charging into the camp, Bai Lang slashed horizontally with his horse spear, directly cutting the flagpole. The morale of the 500 people was greatly boosted, and they slashed and killed in the camp—after all, it was still the style of a militia, and if they wanted to fight like well-trained soldiers, they still had to practice more. Some people even set fires, but in less than half a quarter of an hour, the entire Wuwei Army scattered, pushing down the camp walls and fleeing in all directions. The armory and grain warehouse in the camp were all cheap for Bai Lang. Bai Lang roared like a tiger, ordering the whole army to stop killing and start moving things, and then they returned steadily to those few manors.

In the middle of these manors, Shi Yi built a military camp to be able to respond to attacks from all sides in time, and the mixing of the army and the civilian population had always been the best way to reduce combat effectiveness. Therefore, the army, especially professional soldiers, must set up separate camps, preferably with daily drills—in this day and age, the martial spirit was not strong, especially in the south. "Good men don't become soldiers" had become a consensus. In the Han Dynasty, good families practiced martial arts on weekdays, and the county had two joint drills a year to practice troops. When the country called, they would mount their horses and join the army to fight thieves. This kind of spirit of brave warriors had been lost for a long time.

Bai Lang returned fully loaded. Shi Yi and Bai Lang were prepared to let the other prefecture troops come out, and then attack them halfway. Going to their door to fight was too much trouble... ===== CHAPTER 785 =====