In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 396 Shocking News

The leader of Taiping County, Xu Zhiwen, did not have the same abilities as Chen Dao.

Fortunately, due to its business relationship with Chenjia Village, Taiping County also benefited from the development of Chenjia Village.

Putting aside everything else, Zhang He's business with Chenjia Village requires a lot of manpower. These people can earn some wages by working for Zhang He, which is enough to support their families and prevent them from starving to death.

In addition, the development of Chenjia Village has indirectly reduced the county's grain pressure. After all, with a large influx of people into Chenjia Village, the county's grain needs have been greatly reduced, which is very beneficial to Xu Zhiwen's plan to suppress grain prices.

"Shut up!"

Soon after, the carriage stopped in front of Chen Dao's house.

Meanwhile, in the front yard of Chen Dao's house, Chen Dao, who had just finished consuming the Qi-boosting chicken blood and practicing the Cloud Shadow Palm, saw Xu Zhiwen and Li Hu arriving together and asked in surprise, "County Magistrate, Master Li, what brings you here?"

"I've come to give you money, young friend Chen."

Xu Zhiwen responded with a smile that he hadn't yet paid for the 2 shi of grain he bought from Chen Dao last time, and that he had come here specifically to deliver the money.

besides……

Xu Zhiwen's expression suddenly darkened. He took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Dao: "Young friend Chen, take a look at this."

Upon hearing this, Chen Dao took the letter, glanced at it quickly, and his expression changed drastically!

This letter was a handwritten letter, not an official letter from the government, yet its contents were quite astonishing:

The government troops suffered a crushing defeat, with their entire army of 250,000 annihilated!

These few words instantly caused Chen Dao's expression to change drastically. He looked up at Xu Zhiwen and asked incredulously, "The government troops have been defeated?"

"Not bad!"

Xu Zhiwen nodded and said in a deep voice, "Since the rebellion broke out in Liangzhou, I have been paying close attention to the situation there. This is the news that my men sent to Liangzhou brought back. At the beginning of January, the imperial court dispatched 25 troops to Liangzhou to suppress the bandits, with the Marquis of Zhongyong as the main general. In mid-February, the imperial army, passing through Youzhou, entered Liangzhou and engaged the Liangzhou rebels. I originally thought that even if the imperial army could not easily wipe out the rebels, it should be able to fight them to a standstill! But obviously... the result was beyond my expectations. The imperial army of 25 was defeated by the rebels in less than half a month, and the commander-in-chief, the Marquis of Zhongyong, also died for his country!"

"This……"

Chen Dao stared at the letter in his hand, speechless for a moment.

That was 25 regular troops of the imperial court, while the rebels?

The rebels were nothing more than a group of starving peasants. Who could have imagined that 25 regular imperial troops would be defeated by a group of starving peasants, and defeated so quickly that even the commander-in-chief could not escape...

That's 25 regular troops! Even if they were just 25 pigs, it wouldn't be easy for the rebels to defeat them, would it?

"Your Excellency, is this news credible?"

Chen Dao asked blankly, not because he didn't trust Xu Zhiwen, but because the news was too shocking.

"Absolutely true!"

Xu Zhiwen said with a wry smile, "I didn't expect the army of the imperial court to be so weak, but that's the fact. All 250,000 troops were wiped out in Liangzhou."

Upon hearing this, Chen Dao was truly stunned!

He never had high expectations for the fighting capacity of the imperial army at the end of the dynasty, but he never expected that the Xia army could be so incompetent.

Even in the past, during the late Ming Dynasty, the government's record against the rebels was more victories than defeats, right?

"Does the county magistrate know how this army of 25 was defeated?"

Chen Dao couldn't help but ask.

"Know a thing or two."

Xu Zhiwen slowly recounted the details with a somber expression: "In mid-February, the government troops passed through Youzhou and entered Liangzhou. At first, the Liangzhou rebels were still afraid of the government troops and only dared to hide in the city, relying on the city walls to resist the government troops' attack. This made the government troops' offensive extremely smooth, and within a few days, they successively recaptured several cities."

Chen Dao nodded slightly. The rebels were definitely afraid of the government troops, after all, the government troops represented the imperial court. The rebels, who were transformed from peasants, naturally had a certain fear of the imperial army.

This is also why the rebels often lost more than they won when facing the government forces. After all, the rebels were naturally inferior to the government forces in terms of psychology, and there was also a significant gap in terms of weapons, equipment, training, and the combat skills of their generals. As a result, the rebels were basically unable to defeat the government forces head-on, and most of them could only rely on the defense of the city or become bandits to avoid direct confrontation with the government forces.

"But soon, the situation changed!"

Xu Zhiwen continued, "The Liangzhou rebels, who had fought several battles with the government troops, quickly realized that the government troops were not as strong as they had imagined, and were even... far more incompetent than they had thought!"

"how do I say this?"

Chen Dao glanced sideways.

Xu Zhiwen explained, "Young friend Chen may not know, but the soldiers and generals who went to Liangzhou this time were all drawn from the three major camps in the capital. The three major camps are the Divine Might Camp, the Divine Martial Camp, and the Divine Wind Camp. They were the fierce and powerful armies that Emperor Taizu used to establish his rule over the world. They were a force that made countless enemies tremble with fear. However..."

Xu Zhiwen sighed softly: "As the Xia Kingdom has enjoyed peace for a long time, the three major camps have long lost their former ferocity. The majority of the generals in the three major camps today are sons of noble families from the capital. These sons of noble families are no good at training troops and fighting battles, but they are experts at enjoying themselves. According to information I have gathered, during the campaign in Liangzhou, many generals even openly abducted women and brought them into the military camps for debauchery. How can such generals fight battles?"

"..."

Silence. Chen Dao remained silent. Military law was strict, but in the behavior of these generals, Chen Dao saw no authority of military law, only a mockery of it…

What angered Chen Dao even more was that these people even harassed civilians during the war, abducting respectable women and bringing them into the military camp for their debauchery...

With such a military leader, the fighting power of this army is self-evident.

"Isn't the commander in charge going to intervene?"

Chen Dao asked.

How to manage it?

Xu Zhiwen shook his head and said, "The Marquis of Zhongyong is just an insignificant second-class marquis in the court, while which of the generals of the three major camps does not have a duke in his family? If only one or two generals do this, the Marquis of Zhongyong can restrain them with military law, but since most generals do this, the Marquis of Zhongyong can't control them even if he wants to!"

Because…if the Marquis of Zhongyong were to punish these people according to military law, even if he won the battle, he probably wouldn't gain any advantage upon returning to court! On the contrary, he might be held accountable by the powerful figures behind these generals.”