Gou Xingwang's messenger rode all the way to Jianzhou, and the next day he met Ma Rong, who was staying in Jianzhou, and rushed to Jianmen Pass with Lang Zhong and three hundred people. After the messenger told him about the situation at Jianmen Pass, Ma Rong led people to speed up and rush to Jianmen Pass. The messenger continued to run towards Jianzhou, preparing to report the victory all the way to Baoning.

Let's say that the messenger did not dare to stop all the way, passing through Jianzhou and Cangxi, and finally entered Baoning in seven days. As soon as the messenger entered Baoning City, he shouted: "Great victory in Jianzhou, great victory in Jianmen Pass." Knowing that they had sent troops to attack the Sword Gate Pass, the officers immediately cheered loudly.

The messenger shouted all the way to the governor's yamen, and the guards did not dare to stop it when they saw that it was the messenger. Let the messenger run directly into the lobby, and when he arrived in the lobby, he saw the handsome man sitting in the lobby, and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Qiqi Dashuai, Jianzhou Dajie, Jianmen Pass Dajie." We closed the sword gate. ”

Before Zhu Dashan could speak in a hurry, a middle-aged man sitting next to him stood up and exclaimed, "What? Have you closed the sword gate? When did the messenger not recognize this person, so he had to look at Zhu Dashan, and Zhu Dashan said: "It's okay, you tell Qi Hou to listen." ”

The messenger saw Zhu Dashan say this, but he didn't know if it was his own people, so he said: "After General Gou and General Lin received the order that day, they led the army to attack Cangxi on their backs, and the magistrate of Cangxi and the warden surrendered to us. Jianzhou actually didn't know that we had captured Baoning and Cangxi, and the four doors were wide open. Seeing that the opportunity could not be missed, the two generals asked people to seize the city gate by posing as farmers who were farming. We rushed into the city, Jianzhou was stopped by us, and Tian Cheng, the governor of Jianzhou, committed suicide. The two generals were afraid that the Jianmen Pass would strengthen the garrison, so they decided to immediately send troops to the Jianmen Pass. After a day and a night of rapid marching, our army arrived at Jianmen Pass and captured Tian Chengsui's messenger who asked for help from Jianmen Pass. The two generals used messengers to deceive the defender Zhao Yingfu and 500 defenders. Then he used the defender's uniform to deceive the pass, and finally won the Jianmen Pass after a night of bloody fighting. ”

After Zhu Dashan heard this, he was silent for a long time. Seeing that the messenger couldn't retreat, he said: "Gou Xingwang should come to you more than just to report success!" The messenger said: "Yes, there are only more than 200 soldiers who survived after we attacked Jianmen Pass, and General Gou Shen urgently transferred 100 wounded soldiers and 200 people who cultivated in Jianzhou to Jianmen Pass. However, there were 500 captives at Jianmen Pass, and the general was afraid that the Qing army would counterattack Jianmen Pass, and he did not dare to escort the captives back to Jianzhou, so Jianmen Pass was now very dangerous, so he sent his subordinates to Baoning to report the victory was also to ask for reinforcements. There is also General Lin Kejia who was injured during the attack on Jianmen Pass, and his injuries were very serious. Although General Gou Shen has recruited Langzhong from Jianzhou to be treated, he is afraid that his medical skills are not good, and hopes that the marshal can visit a famous doctor in Baoning to treat him. ”

Zhu Dashan said: "Since Lin Kejia is seriously injured, why don't you send it back to Baoning or Jianzhou for treatment?" The messenger said: "No, General Lin was cut in the stomach by the Qing soldiers when he attacked the Sword Gate Pass, and he can't move." Zhu Dashan was shocked: "What? Hurt so badly? You go down to rest first, and I will immediately summon Lang Zhong, who has good medical skills, to dare to go to the Sword Gate. Then he said to the guards at the door: "Go find Zhou Dazhu and Zhou Shen." ”

Then he turned his head to Na Qi Hou and said, "The current situation may require Qi Hou to live in Baoning for a few days, and then Wang Qi Hou will consider the proposal just now." Qi Hou said: "The marshal doesn't have to worry about me, go and arrange military affairs." I will also report the marshal's proposal to Inspector Wen as soon as possible, and ask him to convene all the generals to discuss the results. After saying that, he rested in the Guardian Room.

After a while, Zhou Dazhu came to the governor's yamen. Zhu Dashan said: "Now the Jianmen Pass has been taken, but it is also in crisis, so we have to send troops to the Jianmen Pass immediately." Otherwise, once the Qing troops counterattack, they will definitely not be able to hold it. Zhou Dazhu said: "It's okay to send troops, after these twenty days of training, the recruits who are now enlisted are also familiar with the battle, the field battle may not be good, but it should be no problem to defend the city." Zhu Dashan said: "Who will go?" Zhou Dazhu said: "Now Song Gaoju and Jiang Chao have gone to Baizhang Pass, and Ma Rong has been taken to Jianzhou by Gou Xingwang. Cheng Deyi took Kong Lingying to take Zitong County, and two days ago, the marshal also said that he would let Ma Yuanjie and Luo Daniu attack Yilong to prepare for the capture of Bazhou. Now the only people who can go are me, Chen Dequn, Sun Bin and Zhang Yongquan. Zhu Dashan said: "You can't go, why do you want to be ready to support at any time, let Zhang Yongquan go, since we conquered Baoning, Zhang Yongquan is not like before, he wants to surrender to the Qing army at any time, if there is a result on the Kuizhou side, we will immediately prepare to capture Guangyuan, completely block the road for the Qing army to enter Sichuan." ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "Okay, then I'll go and inform Zhang Yongquan to go, but how many people to take?" Zhu Dashan thought for a while and said, "We have three hundred horses now, but we don't have cavalry. Fifty horses for the necessary scouts were taken, and all the others were brought to him, and two people per horse were tied to me, and they hurried to the Sword Gate Pass as soon as possible. Lin Zhuang also went together, and when Lin Kejia got better, he took Baoning. Zhou Dazhu saw that there was nothing to do, so he went out directly to make arrangements, and an hour later, Lin Zhuang and Zhang Yongquan led the army out of the north gate and went to Jianmen Pass.

Let's say that Qi Hou returned to the guest room, and couldn't help but think of the words of the Japanese Inspector. This Qihou is one of the thirteen families of Kuidong, originally in Shanxi to resist the Qing Dynasty, and later retreated to Kuizhou, they joined forces with the Ming army who returned to Kuizhou from Guangxi to form the thirteen families of Kuidong.

At that time, when Zhu Dashan was about to withdraw to Kuizhou, he sent a few spies to Kuizhou to investigate. These spies went all the way east to the area of Kaixian to investigate, but were caught by the spies of the Ming army and brought back to Daning. When I came to interrogate it, I learned that this was a spy sent by the anti-Qing team in the south.

Originally, there were many Ming troops assembled in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei, with more than 20 families. In the past, his own banner, what shook the yellow thirteen families, the Xishan thirteen families, and the Kuidong thirteen families. Later, some were wiped out by the Qing soldiers, and some surrendered to the Qing soldiers. Therefore, when it comes to the anti-Qing forces in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei now, most of them are called the Thirteen Families of Kuidong. The mountains and roads here are dangerous, and the Qing soldiers cannot attack them, but the land here is barren, and the blockade of the Qing soldiers makes everyone rely on their own farming to raise military rations.

Now I heard that there was an anti-Qing team outside, and it was coming to Kuidong, Yuan Zongdi didn't dare to make a decision directly, so he hurriedly reported to Wen Anzhi, the important minister who commanded the thirteen families in Kuidong. Wen Anzhi lives in Padang and is inconvenient to travel, so after hearing the news, he hurriedly sent someone to confirm it. It just so happened that He Zhen, who was supposed to be stationed in Dachang, was Qi Hou who had just appeared in the governor's yamen. was visiting Wen Anzhi in Padang, so he took on the responsibility to check the situation.

Wen Anzhi said to He Zhen: "Now the situation of resisting the Qing Dynasty is becoming more and more difficult, and we failed to attack Chongqing at the beginning of this year. We have to fight for more strength, and if it is true that there are people in the southern counties who raise an incident to resist the Qing Dynasty, we should be appeased. Now that the Tartars have invaded Guizhou, we have broken off with the imperial court. I don't know what the situation of the court is now. If we can stabilize him and then we send troops to cut off the road for the Qing soldiers to enter Sichuan, it will cause great inconvenience to the operation of the Qing soldiers, and it can be regarded as indirectly restraining the Qing soldiers and reducing the pressure on the imperial court. ”

He Zhen said: "The superintendent is always concerned about the safety of the court, and his loyalty can be seen by the sun and the moon. Zhen Ding should go to verify in person, if someone really raises troops to resist the Qing. Jane must have helped to cut off the road for the Qing troops to enter Sichuan. ”

Wen Anzhi said again: "If you want him to serve the imperial court, the imperial court can't be stingy with rewards." If you can cut off the Qing soldiers from entering Sichuan, you will be temporarily crowned as an uncle, and you will be called Pingyubo! Then the specific situation is up to you. ”

He Zhen saw that Uncle Feng was nothing, mainly because the imperial court had thrown this title out without money in recent years, and there were a lot of people in the thirteen houses of Kuidong. There are a few kings. So He Zhen is not surprised. But when He Zhen came to the southern county, he found that there were some Ming troops there. Seeing that the people in the county town were busy with their own farm work, there was no sign of garrison at all. He Zhen thought that he had been deceived by the Qing soldiers, but he saw the spies who came back with him running into the county office, and after a while, a person who looked like a literati claimed to be the county order to receive him. When Zhu Dashan conquered Baoning City, he appointed Huang Boyuan as the county magistrate of Nanfang County.

After listening to Huang Boyuan's explanation, He Zhen knew that the name of the army was Zhu Dashan, who had just reached the age of 20 and had already led people to attack Baoning City seven days ago. When He Zhen knew that Baoning was the capital of the Qing soldiers in Sichuan, and was feeling sorry for this young man who dared to raise troops to resist the Qing Dynasty, Huang Boyuan told He Zhen that Zhu Dashan sent someone back two days ago to appoint him as the county commander, and told Huang Boyuan that Zhu Dashan had conquered Baoning City and asked Huang Boyuan to govern the south well. He Zhen was shocked, and at the same time, she also wanted to meet this figure who laid down Boryeong.

The next day, He Zhen rushed to Baoning under Huang Boyuan's arrangement, and He Zhen entered the city to see that the city had indeed not played the banner of Qing soldiers. But this banner doesn't look like Daming. When He Zhen saw Zhu Dashan, he dared to fight Baoning when he saw this twenty-year-old young man, and it is said that there were only 500 soldiers at that time. But he beat it down, and he couldn't help but admire it a little.

He Zhen saluted Zhu Dashan and said: "Zhu Dashuai is young, and he defeated Baoning City with 500 soldiers, he is really a hero and a young man." "Zhu Dashan got to report that he knew that it was the leader of the thirteen families in Kuidong, and he was named Qihou by the imperial court. Busy said: "Qi Hou has won the award, and it is great that Qi Hou and others insist on resisting the Qing Dynasty in Kuidong." "Follow Zhu Dashan to bring He Zhen to the yamen.

He Zhen said: "Zhu Dashuai has now occupied Baoning City, I don't know what plans he will have?" "He Zhen wants to see if Zhu Dashan is going to go, so that he can measure what title he wants to give Zhu Dashan, otherwise there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the territory is several times larger than yours, you are a marquis, let others be an earl, I am afraid that the friendly army will not do it by then, and the enemy army will have one more.

Zhu Dashan didn't know He Zhen's intention, and when he saw him asking, he said: "Although Baoning is in his hands now, it is difficult to hold it." It is possible that the Qing army will attack on all sides, and now there are not many soldiers and horses in Boryeong. So I sent two lines of military horses to prepare to seize the Jianmen Pass and Baizhang Pass in the north, relying on the pass to hold the Qing troops in the north, and also to cut off the road for the Qing troops to enter Sichuan. ”

He Zhen was full of joy when he saw that what Zhu Dashan said was the same as Wen Anzhi hoped. But he didn't show it on his face, just nodded. Then I heard Zhu Dashan say: "I am going to seize Zitong County in the west, and use Zitong County to block the Qing troops who are preparing to attack Chengdu in the west." And now that Gao Minzhan, the governor of Sichuan, is dead, the army he sent to attack Chengdu is leaderless, and I am afraid that he will not attack for a while. Now the main thing was the Sichuan governor Li Guoying, who was in Chongqing to the south, and he brought another 30,000 or so men. Then the Qing soldiers in Hanzhong entered the Sichuan through the Micang Road and attacked the east from Bazhou. ”

He Zhen saw that Zhu Dashan's analysis was reasonable: "Yes, Zhu Dashuai can be sure to capture the Nanjiang River, and then use the Lin Pass to prevent the Qing soldiers from entering the river via the rice cang road?" Zhu Dashan glanced at He Zhen and said, "Now I don't have any troops to attack Nanjiang County." He Zhen's face turned red, and he also knew that this was difficult for a strong man. He Zhen felt that the situation had changed now, and it was not good to directly tell Wen Anzhi about rewarding Zhu Dashan as Pingyubo. stayed in Boryeong temporarily, and then sent someone to report to Wen Anzhi urgently, so that Wen Anzhi could take the idea.

Zhu Dashan didn't say anything when he saw that He Zhen was going to stay for a few more days, only said welcome.

He Zhen lived in Baoning for nearly ten days, and after receiving Wen Anzhi's reply, he came to Zhu Dashan and said: "Zhu Dashuai, I will report your situation to Inspector Wen, who is appointed by the imperial court to be the doctor of Guanglu of the Pillar State, the prince and the chief of the Imperial Guard, and the secretary of the second department of soldiers, and the governor of Chuanhu, Qinyan, Jinyu, and other military affairs. Therefore, all of our matters need to be reported to the Inspector for decision. ”

Zhu Dashan didn't understand what kind of official it was after listening to this large list of positions, but in the end, the sword that gave Shang Fang and acted cheaply heard it clearly, that is, this Wen Inspector could help the emperor make a decision without the emperor's nod.

He Zhen paused and said: "Inspector Wen replied that the imperial court did not hesitate to reward Zhu Dashuai for his merits, and decided to canonize Zhu Dashuai as the imperial court's peaceful waiting, let Zhu Dashan subsidize grain and grass, and Kui Dongzhong will send troops to attack Kuixi Dazhou, Dongxiang, Wanxian, Kaixian, Xinning Five Cities, and Kuibei Taiping. Zhu Dashuai sent troops to capture Nanjiang, Yulin Pass, Bazhou, and Tongjiang. Completely blocking the Qing soldiers also allowed us to join forces with each other to strengthen the strength of the Qing Dynasty and reduce the pressure on the imperial court. ”

The reward for Zhu Dashan in front of him was said by Wen Anzhi, and Wen Anzhi also knew that Zhu Dashan, who had just raised his troops, did not have much strength to attack the city and seize the land. But in the past few days, He Zhen has seen Zhu Dashan training the army, and he has recruited more and more troops, as if the grain and grass are inexhaustible. I was already poor and scared in Kuidong, and I wanted to ask Zhu Dashan for some grain and grass. But there are Qing soldiers in the middle, and even if Zhu Dashan gives it, he can't transport it, so he thought of a two-sided attack to open up the connection with Zhu Dashan's side, so that in the future, with Zhu Dashan's help, Kui Dong will not have to count the rice every day.