Chapter 590 Gao’s father and son!

Gao Zongchang was very satisfied with his eldest son's introduction, and immediately clapped his hands and praised:
"Very good! Ding Shan, you did a great job..."

Gao Dingshan was also very proud of his father's praise, but on the surface he pretended to be very humble and said:
"Thanks to my father's good teaching and kindness to the people, the people are loyal to us and welcome us with food and drink wherever we go!"

Hearing Gao Dingshan's answer, Gao Zongchang's expression was even happier. Seeing this scene of loving father and filial son, the governor Yang Yuanze and others also jumped out to congratulate him at the right time. Seeing the happy atmosphere everywhere in the room, Gao Zongchang seemed to have thought of something and suddenly asked Gao Dingshan:
"Ding Shan, what's the situation around Yingcheng? This is our Jiyu production center and we must not lose it!"

As a veteran bureaucrat who climbed up step by step from the bottom, although Gao Zongchang has been very incompetent in recent years, he is not a waste who would rather eat meat. He is well aware of the importance of food in today's chaotic world. Listening to Gao Dingshan's words, although the peasant uprising has been temporarily quelled, as long as the problem of food supply is not solved, the peasant uprising may break out again at any time!
When Gao Dingshan heard the name "Eagle City" from his father's mouth, his face changed slightly, and he secretly groaned in his heart!

Gao Dingshan attached great importance to Zhu Sanshan, the "Three Good Mountains" who had been entrenched on Daya Mountain for many years and had not been killed despite several encirclement and suppression attacks by the Henan Army. From the very beginning, he assembled a large number of troops to attack Yingcheng. Things went very smoothly at first. Although he failed to kill Zhu Sanshan and made him flee back to Daya Mountain, he successfully recaptured Yingcheng and killed a large number of bandits. He was able to report to the emperor...
Originally, Gao Dingshan was relatively satisfied with this result, and was planning to call back the army to let the local police arrest Zhu Sanshan quickly. After all, with tens of thousands of troops going to war, the daily consumption of money and food is also very huge. The financial situation in Hebei and Henan is very bad now. It has been robbing Peter to pay Paul for the past few years. It is better to be frugal as much as possible.

However, what Gao Dingshan never expected was that just a few days after his army withdrew, Zhu Sanshan, who had been severely damaged in Yingcheng, came out to stir up trouble again. This time, Zhu Sanshan learned the lesson of the disastrous defeat in Yingcheng and did not attack Yingcheng. Instead, he carried out guerrilla warfare in the surrounding areas of Yingcheng, specifically targeting some landlords.

In addition, Zhu Sanshan was very courageous. He even dared to provoke the Fengwu Army. First, he attacked the firearms sold by the Fengwu Army to the Qi Army, and then he attacked an arsenal within the Fengwu Army. He snatched a lot of firearms from the Fengwu Army. With the firearms he snatched, Zhu Sanshan could easily kill the landlords and wealthy people.

In just seven days, five gentry and landlords around Yingcheng were killed by Zhu Sanshan. Their millions of taels of wealth, thousands of dan of grain, as well as their concubines, wives and daughters were all distributed by Zhu Sanshan and his men. What’s more, Zhu Sanshan was no longer satisfied with making trouble around Yingcheng, and even dared to expand his influence to Fengqiu and other places...
Zhu Sanshan's various actions immediately triggered widespread appeals from the gentry class. They began to call on the Henan Army to completely wipe out the sinful Zhu Sanshan. Gao Dingshan, who was already very angry that Zhu Sanshan dared to come out, asked for a batch of money and food after hearing the appeals of these gentry. He then vowed to order his Henan Army to launch a surprise attack on the vicinity of Yingcheng, determined to completely eradicate Zhu Sanshan.

At first, Gao Dingshan thought that this counterattack would be as simple as the first time, with the soldiers surrounding Zhu Sanshan from all sides without giving him any chance to breathe. However, he soon realized that he was wrong. Having learned from the disastrous defeat in Yingcheng, Zhu Sanshan did not give Gao Dingshan any chance for a decisive battle this time.

Zhu Sanshan followed the advice of Zhang Zhen and others and divided his troops into several groups. He took advantage of his familiarity with the terrain and the support of the masses to hide in the mountains and fields. He did not have the opportunity to confront Gao Dingshan head-on. Instead, he attacked and harassed Gao Dingshan's food supply route. If you chase me, I will escape by taking advantage of the terrain. If you stop, I will continue to harass you.
This move made Gao Dingshan feel like he had punched cotton. He had all his strength but nowhere to use it, and he felt extremely frustrated and angry!
It was because of Zhu Sanshan’s “guerrilla tactics” that the morale of the Henan Army troops that were ordered to encircle and suppress the rebellion dropped rapidly. The soldiers were exhausted and complained. Because of this situation, although the Henan Army still controlled the city of Yingcheng, it was unable to control the towns and villages around Yingcheng...
Of course, he couldn't tell his father Gao Zongchang about these situations, especially now that he had just boasted to his father about suppressing the rebellion. So Gao Dingshan hesitated for a moment and then spoke:
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, the towns and villages around Eagle City have returned to normal, and the people have returned to the fields to plant crops!"

Gao Zongchang nodded in satisfaction. Just when he wanted to continue praising Gao Dingshan for his good work, hurried footsteps were heard outside the house. Under the surprised gaze of everyone in the hall, a dusty general walked in.

This person was none other than Liu Dahai, the deputy general of Chen Chuande, the general of Yingcheng, who was appointed by Gao Dingshan not long ago. Now this person did not stay in Yingcheng, but appeared here like this. It is conceivable what happened in Yingcheng. Realizing this, Gao Dingshan's face turned pale instantly. He tried desperately to give Chen Chuande a look to tell him not to speak, but it was too late. Liu Dahai walked in front of Gao Zongchang, knelt on one knee, and said with a sad face:
"Marshal! That bastard Zhu Sanshan has attacked Yingcheng again. General Chen is leading his troops to resist with all his might. Marshal, please send reinforcements as soon as possible. If it's too late, the whole army will be wiped out!"

When Liu Dahai said this, everyone in the room was shocked and many people secretly focused their eyes on Gao Dingshan. They all heard what Gao Dingshan had just said. Under the gaze of everyone, Gao Dingshan's face looked like he had been slapped several times, with blue and white spots all over it, which was very ugly.

Hearing Liu Dahai’s words, Gao Zongchang knew that his eldest son, whom he relied on very much, had been trying to deceive him. He glared at Gao Dingshan, but did not embarrass Gao Dingshan. Instead, he waved his hand to signal everyone in the hall to leave. After receiving Gao Zongchang’s order, everyone in the hall bowed and retreated tactfully. Only Gao Dingshan and the governor Yang Yuanze stayed in the room...

Seeing this, Gao Zongchang turned his gaze to Liu Dahai and asked in a deep voice:

"Can you tell me what happened in detail?"

Facing Gao Zongchang's question, Liu Dahai did not dare to neglect and quickly said:

"According to the orders of the young marshal, our army has been encircling and suppressing Zhu Sanshan and other bandits near Yingcheng. However, the bandits are very cunning. They do not engage in direct combat with our army, but hide in the dark and attack our food supply. When we chase them out, they retreat and even give us their camp in Daya Mountain. When we were retreating from Daya Mountain, Zhu Sanshan attacked our camp under the cover of night."

"It was a dark and windy night and the brothers were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties. Many of them even simply..." Having said this, Liu Dahai wanted to continue speaking, but at this moment he seemed to realize something and his voice suddenly stopped. Seeing this, Gao Zongchang's expression turned cold and his voice pressed him:
"Go on, what happened to many people?"

Under the intimidation of Gao Zongchang, Liu Dahai's face turned pale, and after hesitating for a while, he could only say honestly:

“Thousands of people simply surrendered to Zhu Sanshan!”

Upon hearing this answer, Gao Zongchang snorted coldly and glared at Gao Dingshan. Gao Dingshan, who led this operation, knew that he was in the wrong and lowered his head obediently.

After finishing the most crucial point, Liu Dahai also bravely continued:

“After our army suffered a defeat at Daya Mountain, the remaining brothers immediately retreated to Yingcheng, and Zhu Sanshan chased them to Yingcheng again... "Zhu Sanshan led his troops to attack the city. Our General Liu fought hard, but his morale was low and we were outnumbered. The situation in Yingcheng is getting worse and worse. We beg you to send troops to help as soon as possible!"

After saying that, Liu Dahai knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times to Gao Zongchang. Seeing this, Gao Dingshan seemed to realize something and said subconsciously:
"Liu Chuande has 8,000 soldiers guarding Yingcheng, and Zhu Sanshan's bandits lack sufficient siege equipment. As long as they hold on, how can the situation become so critical?"

Facing Gao Dingshan's questioning, Liu Dahai, who was kneeling on the ground, explained without hesitation:
"Young Marshal, you may not know that Gao Zongchang plundered many craftsmen from Youyan and asked them to build siege equipment for them. During this period, they built a lot of battering rams and ladders!"

Liu Dahai's words immediately caught Gao Zongchang's attention. This powerful lord of the Great Zhou Dynasty who had been in power for decades narrowed his eyes and asked:
"Are you saying that Gao Zongchang looted many craftsmen from Youyan?"

Seeing Gao Zongchang asking this, Gao Dingshan spoke first without waiting for Liu Dahai to answer:
“I’m reporting to you, General. Because we didn’t support the remnants of the Yan army as they requested last time, and we also escorted their envoys to Ye Mingsheng, these people held a grudge and betrayed us. They completely forgot the favor we showed them, and even colluded with Zhu Sanshan. They conspired to help Zhu Sanshan occupy Hebei and Henan, and then hope that Zhu Sanshan could counterattack Youyan and help them revive the Zhao family…”

"Although the Fengwu Army now controls the entire Youyan, the Yan Army has been cultivating in Youyan for decades, and there are still many people who secretly support the Zhao family. So these remnants of the Yan Army are taking advantage of this, hiding in the dark and constantly capturing the craftsmen of the Fengwu Army and bringing them to Zhu Sanshan!"

"Not only that, these remnants of the Yan army also attacked the Fengwu army's granary and arsenal, stole tens of thousands of stones of grain and thousands of muskets from the Fengwu army's warehouse and gave them to Zhu Sanshan. In addition, they also gave Zhu Sanshan the money and grain hidden by the Zhao family. Zhu Sanshan was able to quickly make a comeback and compete with our army with the support of these remnants of the Yan army!"

Gao Zongchang heard this and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes and asked calmly:

"What does the Fengwu Army have to say about these remnants of the Yan Army?"

Gao Dingshan organized his words and immediately introduced:
"The Coordination Office of the Fengwu Army has been clearing out the remnants of the Yan Army recently. I heard that they have arrested thousands of people and killed hundreds. However, the Zhao family has indeed been operating in Youyan for decades, and the Coordination Office cannot catch them all in a short time. In addition, the Fengwu Army also sent people to negotiate with our army, asking us to quickly wipe out the remnants of the Yan Army hiding in Hebei and Henan. They even said that if our army cannot do it, they can send troops into Hebei and Henan to wipe out the remnants of the Yan Army! But I decisively refused!"

Seeing his father so concerned about this issue, Gao Dingshan seemed to realize something. He hesitated for a moment and asked carefully:

"Dad, are you saying that the Fengwu Army is behind this?"

Gao Zongchang hesitated for a moment and said slowly:
“It’s possible, but I can’t be sure yet…”

"But Ye Mingsheng is a man with eagle eyes and wolfish backs. His wolfish ambitions are known to the world. It's always right to be more cautious against him. Have you forgotten the nursery rhyme from last time?"

Thinking of the nursery rhyme "The lancet, the sunken wooden boat, swallowing jade, and turning into a dragon", Gao Dingshan hesitated for a moment and whispered:
"Dad, hasn't this nursery rhyme been investigated? Was it Zhao Fuqu who was behind it?"

"But Ye Mingsheng's ambition to annex our Central Plains is real!" Gao Zongchang said firmly:
Feeling the determination in his father's tone, Gao Dingshan also kept silent for fear of making Gao Zongchang angry again. At this time, Gao Zongchang turned his gaze to Liu Dahai and asked:
"How many of our troops are still in Yingcheng? How many people does Zhu Sanshan have?"

Liu Dahai thought for a moment and said:

"We originally had 8,000 soldiers in Yingcheng. Later, several thousand of our defeated soldiers fled back to Yingcheng. After the bloody battles in the past few days, there are probably less than 10,000 people in Yingcheng now. As for Zhu Sanshan, they are expanding very quickly with the refugees. Now there should be more than 30,000 people!"

Hearing this number, Gao Zongchang looked at his eldest son Gao Dingshan who was standing beside him and said slowly:

"You should be severely punished for lying about military intelligence and deceiving your superiors and subordinates, but now is the time to use people, so I will temporarily keep you accountable. Except for the 30,000 troops in the north to guard against Ye Mingsheng, you must bring all the 50,000 troops in Fengqiu and Yiyang to support Yingcheng. You must completely wipe out Zhu Sanshan's gang within a month and bring back the head of that bastard Zhu Sanshan to me!"

Hearing his father's murderous words, Gao Dingshan also became alert and knew that he had no way out. He immediately knelt on one knee and said in a deep voice:

"I will follow my father's orders..."

(End of this chapter)