The next day, Zhu Youdong began to arrange and sent a letter to Li Dingguo, asking Li Dingguo to set off from Xiangyang, enter De'an Prefecture eastward, capture Yangwu Pass south of Xinyang, and hold the road of the Qing army to the south of Xinyang. Liu Tichun was left to defend Xiangyang and be responsible for the rear road of the army.

Let Qi Sansheng and Dang Shousu, who have already attacked Hanzhong, defend Hanzhong. As for the Jiang Tongbu in Jingzhou, it was not in Zhu Youdong's plan at all, mainly because there were too few people.

After arranging all this, Zhu Youdong set out on April 25 with Zhou Dazhu, Ma Weixing, and his two pro-armies, a total of 60,000 people, via Jianyang Town, and then transferred to Xincheng. The army came all the way, and it was really sparsely populated, and even if there were people, they were all old and weak women and children.

At this time, Zhu Youdong couldn't take care of these people, because the Restoration Army itself only had fifteen days of food. What's more, the Restoration Army will face a big war in front of it, and no one knows how long it will face a big war. When will they be able to get food and grass supplies, so no one will give two grains to these people.

When we arrived in the new town, it was already evening. At this time, Zhou Dazhu came over and said, "Your Highness, why don't we camp here and rest." There is no town ahead at all. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "No, we are now rushing for time, as long as Zhang Changgeng does not set up a defense in Wuchang, we can capture Wuchang at the minimum cost, if we wait for the Qing army to be arranged, it will be difficult for us to fight." ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "But the soldiers are tired, and in just one day, we have traveled nearly a hundred miles, and the speed of the march has exceeded the speed of the ordinary march." Zhu Youdong said: "No, let our deputies at all levels increase propaganda and tell our soldiers that we are now grabbing time and speed." As long as we can beat the time, we can win. ”

Then Zhu Youdong said: "I also have to make it clear to the soldiers that if we can't run past the Qing army, then we will be surrounded and killed by the Qing army." At that time, not only will we die, but even our wives and children in Sichuan will not be able to escape the poisonous hands of the Qing army. ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "If this continues, many of our soldiers may fall behind, and they will not be able to hold on at all." Also, once the soldiers have walked a long way and have blisters on their feet, they will not be able to walk the next day. Even if the people who can hold on, when we feel Wuchang, the soldiers will not have the strength to attack the city. ”

Zhu Youdong thought about it for a while, and remembered that the army of later generations, in order to dare time, seemed to have the habit of soaking his feet. Zhu Youdong said: "By the way, let every soldier bring a pound of salt, and when they camp at night, soak their feet in hot salt water, so that they can relieve fatigue, and the next day they will be in good condition again." ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "Can this work?" Zhu Youdong said: "Whether it works or not, try it first, it's best if it works, and if it's useless, we'll think of other ways." By the way, let the people of the baggage team bring embroidery needles. ”

Zhou Dazhu said: "What are you doing with embroidery needles?" Do you have to sew and mend clothes on the road? Zhu Youdong said: "Of course not, if there are blisters on the feet of soldiers, use this embroidery needle to pick up the blisters, and then soak them in salt water." ”

Seeing that Zhou Dazhu still didn't understand, Zhu Youdong said: "You don't care about this, just let the soldiers do it." also notified Hu Yiqing and asked him to form a containment team, as long as they are in the marching team, they really can't walk, let them rest on the marching road, and when a team passes behind, those who can keep up will follow the team, and if they can't do it, they will wait for the containment team to contain them, and then rush to Wuchang. ”

After listening to Zhu Youdong's method, Zhou Dazhu didn't know how many soldiers could keep up in the end. If too many people are left behind, will there still be an army to attack the city at that time? For a while, Zhou Dazhu didn't understand, and seeing that Zhu Youdong was urging him, he didn't say anything more, and went directly to arrange it.

After receiving Zhu Youdong's order, the soldiers of the Restoration Army, who were already camping, suddenly stopped what they were doing. Half an hour later, the Restoration Army began to march away again.

After marching for another two hours, the army finally arrived at Qianjiang. Sure enough, Qianjiang is the same as other places, there are no defenders, and there are still some people in the city, but they are all women, old and weak. But when they saw the arrival of the Restoration Army, they all rushed home and hid.

Jiang Chao, who went to the city first, saw it, and said to his soldiers: "We are here to open the way for the army, if we can have a mouthful of hot food to eat after the army comes, I believe the army will march faster." ”

Jiang Chao's two guards were Jia Si and Zhao Yun, and Jia Si was a butcher who robbed the aisle. Hearing Jiang Chao's words, he suddenly said: "That's not easy to say, just catch these women and cook for the army." ”

Jiang Chao said: "No, now the Qing army has killed people and grabbed food in these places, our army has not yet arrived, and the people are already afraid of us like tigers." If you are forcibly arresting people, won't you let the army not only have no supplies, but even no one willing to help. ”

Zhao Yun said: "Then what did the general say to do?" Jiang Chao said: "If I knew, I would ask you what to do." Give me a way to use my head, and if anyone comes up with a way, I will reward him. ”

Jiang Chao's troops had been to Yunnan, and there were many Yunnan natives in the team. Hearing Jiang Chao's words, someone immediately said: "General, when His Royal Highness was in Yunnan, he was willing to trade with the natives and help the natives. Therefore, the natives of Yunnan are willing to help His Highness, so why don't we make a deal with these people? ”

Jiang Chao said: "No, when I was in Yunnan, the natives in Yunnan at that time were in short supply and there was no salt. So His Highness's method is useful, but here is Kohiro. It has been a food producing area since ancient times. We don't have enough food to eat, so what to trade with them. ”

Zhao Yundao: "No matter what we do, we must rest first, otherwise our soldiers will not be able to stand it." I won't be able to travel tomorrow. ”

Jiang Chao said helplessly: "Then arrange for everyone to rest first, but no one is allowed to go into the people's houses, just rest on the street." Jia Si said: "My lord, this is not good. It's on the street, and if it rains in the middle of the night, the soldiers will all be sick tomorrow, and there's no hurry to set up camp now. ”

Jiang Chao said: "What can I do then?" We have to hurry at dawn, and if we delay these things, the soldiers will not have the spirit tomorrow. ”

At this time, Zhao Yun said: "My lord, why don't we let our soldiers rest under the eaves of the people's houses." In this way, we are not afraid of rain, and even if it rains, our soldiers will not get drenched in the rain. ”

Jiang Chao said: "Okay, tell all the soldiers that they can rest under the eaves of the people, but no one is allowed to enter the people's houses, if anyone dares to disobey the military order, don't blame me for being polite." Jia Si said happily: "Don't worry, my lord, the soldiers in our army are all veterans and know the rules." ”

Jiang Chao said: "That's good, let the people of the baggage team hurry up and boil hot water, all the soldiers must soak their feet before they can rest." Immediately, all the officers and men of the Restoration Army began to rest under the eaves on both sides of the street, and there were people from the baggage team next to them. Start boiling hot water for everyone.

Jiang Chao said to Jia Si and Zhao Yun: "You two look at it, I'll go to the front and take a look." Let's see if we can find a place to stay for the army behind, it is estimated that they will arrive in the second half of the night. After speaking, Jiang Chao left with two guards and went to the city.

Along the way, sure enough, there were few families at home in the entire Qianjiang. Occasionally, there were lights, and when they heard the noise of the Restoration Army, they quickly extinguished the lights. Jiang Chao just walked quietly on the street and walked directly in front of the county yamen.

Looking at the county government with the door open in front of him, Jiang Chao thought about it, this place is not enough. Seeing that Qianjiang City was about to leave in front of him, Jiang Chao didn't want to go any further, so he turned around and walked back.

Since it was night, Jiang Chao didn't care about it and walked straight forward. Suddenly, from the dark alley next to the street, a boy about ten years old rushed out. ran in front of Jiang Chao and punched Jiang Chao. He also shouted: "Kill you stinky soldiers, you will harm people, kill our whole village." ”

Jiang Chao was stunned, he didn't expect that it would be so late, and a child suddenly ran out. The two guards around him immediately came up and took down the child. Jiang Chao said: "No, he doesn't have a weapon in his hand." ”

At this time, another middle-aged woman ran from the darkness, and she ran and shouted: "Bolt, don't run, you will be caught by those dog officers and soldiers later." I heard the movement just now, and the army is coming. ”

Jiang Chao's face darkened when he heard this, but fortunately, it was night, and no one could see it. Jiang Chao said: "Sister-in-law, why are you talking nonsense, we don't arrest people." ”

When the woman saw Jiang Chao and the others, she was immediately frightened. And I also saw my child, being held in Jiang Chao's arms, and the child was really struggling desperately. In fact, it was this kid who kept beating Jiang Chao with his hands.

But it was not clear in the dark, so the woman misunderstood. Seeing this, the woman immediately knelt down directly for Jiang Chao, and kowtowed: "It turned out to be the military master, begging the military master to put the bolt, he is still young, he doesn't understand the rules, please ask the military master to release my child." ”

Jiang Chao couldn't get out of his hand for a while, and saw the woman kneeling on the ground, and said: "Get up quickly, we are the army of the Ming Dynasty, and we will not rob the people's things, you can take this child back too." Ouch, don't move, I don't dare to work hard. ”

Saying that, Jiang Chao pushed the bolt away a little, and then the bolt saw that the person in front of him was indeed not the previous Qing soldier. Seeing that his mother was still kneeling on the ground, the bolt hurriedly went over to help her up. But the bolt lady refused to get up, and pulled the bolt and knelt down to thank her.

Jiang Chao said: "Sister-in-law, get up quickly, we don't like this." Get up and speak. At this time, the next room listened to the conversation here, and immediately lit the lamp. An old man also walked out, looking at the person in front of him and indeed not Qing Bing. Walked over and came: "Are you really the army of the Ming Dynasty?" The army of the Ming Dynasty has not been seen for many years. ”

At this time, the mother of the bolt dared to carefully look at a large number of people in front of her, and it was really not the clothing of the Qing army. He detoured behind Jiang Chao again, looked at it, and said, "It's really the army of the Ming Dynasty, they don't have braids."

After the sound of the bolt's mother, suddenly on both sides of the street, several lights were lit up one after another. Then several more families came out, but there were no men in the house, all of them were women.

The old man saw that it was really the army of the Ming Dynasty, and hurriedly said: "Master Jun, go into the house and hide for a while, but you must not let the Qing soldiers find out." ”

Jiang Chao saw that the old man had misunderstood, so he only said that they had fled into the city to hide, so he said: "Old man, we can't enter the house, we have military regulations, and we can't enter the people's houses." We also have a lot of soldiers, all resting on the street in front. You go home and close the door of your house, if anyone dares to break into your house, you go to me, my surname is Jiang, I will call the shots for you. ”

The old man said, "How can this be done, come into the house and rest for a while, and I will boil hot water for you to drink." Jiang Chao said: "No, old man, go back quickly." I have to go, the army is still waiting. The old man also had some ears, but when he heard Jiang Chao say that he was leaving, he hurriedly said: "You must not go out now, the Qing army arrested people everywhere a few days ago, and if you go out like this, you will let the Qing army kill you." ”onclick="hui"