The news of Zhu Chong's eighth return to the village was like wings, and it spread ten to hundred. The stew was not yet cooked, and his childhood playmates from the surrounding villages, as well as many courageous young people, came together.

Xu Da, Zhou Dexing, Zhang Long, Zhang Wen, Zhang Xing, Gu Shi, Chen De, Wang Zhi, Tang Shengzong, Wu Liang, Wu Zhen, Fei Ju, Tang Duo, Lu Zhongheng, Cao Zhen, Zhang Yi, Ding Dexing, Sun Xingzu, Chen Huan, Sun Ke, Xie Cheng, Li Xin, He Fu, Shao Rong, Geng Junyong, Bingwen and his sons, Li Menggeng, Yu Xin, Guo Jingxiang, etc.

One by one, familiar, faceless faces sat around Zhu Chongba, their eyes full of eagerness.

The village ladies put the stewed pork in two large pots, and added some dried vegetables and multigrain cakes.

Zhu Chongba said to a woman he knew well, "Auntie, take these good meats to the old people and children, and the fried lard is distributed to the daughters-in-law of each family, we men, just gnaw the bones!" ”

After speaking, he took Xu Da to bring out the good meat again, in exchange for a pig's head and two pots of big bones.

"There is not much meat this time, but the villagers first, next time we will buy a few live ones and kill them, and the brothers will eat enough!" Zhu Chongba smiled and picked up a meatless bone, gnawed on the tendons on it and smiled.

The boys laughed, and then stretched out their hands. Two pots of bones, and the bottom will be seen in no time.

Zhu Chongba sighed and said, "This dog's world, a seven-foot-tall man, if you want to eat meat, you can't find it." ”

Xu Da sighed and said, "It's not spring yet, the government's taxes are being spread out, and our days are getting harder and harder every year!" ”

"So it's against the fuck!" Zhu Chongba, who doesn't usually drink much, also made an exception today, holding the bowl and saying, "They are all men running horses on their arms, and drinking a big bowl and eating meat are not in vain!" ”

"Chongba, have you ever fought with the officers and soldiers?" The person who spoke, Zhu Chongba, recognized that a good man in the neighboring village, Geng Junyong.

Zhu Chongba put down the wine bowl, "No!" But we know that the officers and soldiers are all paper and vulnerable! ”

Seeing that everyone was interested, Zhu Chongba continued, "In the years when we went out to make a fortune, we traveled all over Lianghuai and Henan. We found that the officers and soldiers are not terrible at all. First, the officers and soldiers are also the children of poor people like us, and they are soldiers just to eat. Second, the officials did not take the soldiers as people at all, and they ate pig food, in addition, the dog court guarded against our Han people, and the knives and guns in the hands of the soldiers were not as strong as our dung forks!

We have seen a civil upheaval in Henan with our own eyes, and more than a dozen thin country men chased several officers and soldiers with hoes, and chased them for three miles. Special mother, it's like we herding sheep. ”

There was laughter all around, and many children who were eating meat with rice bowls also came over and listened with their ears pricked up.

Zhu Chongba took another sip of wine, "Do you know Xuzhou?" The realm is much bigger than ours. Such a big state city, do you know how many people took it? ”

"How much?"

"Eight!" Zhu Chongba made a gesture of eight, "Eight men rushed into the state and slaughtered the officials, and as soon as they raised their arms, the poor men in the whole city followed suit, and in the blink of an eye, they gathered an army of 100,000. (Actually, there are eight main leaders)

Hiss, there was a sound of cold air all around. It was so appalling that eight people took a city.

"What do the 100,000 people eat?" Someone asked.

"The brain let the donkey kick! There is grain in the granary of the government! ”

Zhu Chongba added with a smile, "Yes, some are grains, all of which are grains that we have worked so hard to grow!" ”

"Chongba, how many people are there in Haozhou City, and what kind of official are you now?" Someone else asked.

"We are now only a hundred men in chief, and we have one hundred and eighty brothers under our command. However, the commander promised us that we could recruit troops and recruit a battalion by ourselves! Saying that, Zhu Chongba smiled and said to Xu Da, "Tiande, who do you guess our commander is?" It's Zhu Wu, Zhu Xiaowu! ”

"Little Five!" Xu Da exclaimed, "It's the little five who used to ask for food, and he didn't have two taels of meat all over his body?" ”

Zhu Chongba smiled and nodded, "Now he is the commander of the Left Army, and he is more majestic than Tang Dazui!" ”

Whispering around, which village is Zhu Xiaowu from?

Xu Da helped Zhu Chongba and explained Zhu Wu's origin and experience in detail. From a beggar to a commander, from not being able to eat to carrying a thousand people, legend.

At the end, he also added, "Xiao Wu is also our son of Haozhou, our baby of Huaixi!" ”

The young man's eyes were hot, the government did not give him a way to live, and the days were worse than one day, and it was better to wait for death. The rebels are also their own villagers, so what are you waiting for?

It was lively here, and a soldier who came with Zhu Chongba outside shouted, "Captain, the commander has sent someone to look for you!" ”

As soon as the words fell, a few Zhu Chongba, who were familiar with the brothers of the team, came over with a few jars.

"How many of you are here?" Zhu Chongba asked.

One of them put down the jar, gasped and said, "My lord asked me to come looking for you, and my lord said that I would ask my starling to invite some people from the village tomorrow morning, or borrow some cars, to help transport food!" ”

Indeed, a thousand quintals of grain is not a small amount. Zhu Wu led the team out to fight the grass valley, except for dry food and weapons, there was no means of transportation. In a hurry, he thought that Zhu Chongba's hometown was on the edge of Huangjue Temple, and he himself happened to go home to recruit troops. So he said a general direction and sent someone over.

Zhu Chongba understood in a blink of an eye that Zhu Wu had raided Huangjue Temple. Still couldn't help it, he asked, "How much grain?" ”

"One ........." the soldier gave a thumbs up.

"A thousand pounds?" Someone next to him interjected.

"A thousand quintals!" The soldier gasped and exclaimed, "A thousand loads of grain!" ”

Coax, the pot was boiled all at once, and a load of how much grain was there, and a group of illiterate men began to count with their fingers, and they couldn't understand it if they were in a hurry.

Zhu Chongba was still fast-thinking, and said loudly, "120,000 catties!" (The math is not good, according to the measurement of the Song Dynasty.) ）

Good boy! Now there was no one around to speak, and I was stupid.

"So much food, you can eat until you die!" Someone said dumbfoundedly.

The soldier who was talking to Zhu Chongba pointed to the jar placed on the ground and continued, "Brother Chongba, there is salt and wine in this," as he spoke, he took out a large bag of copper coins and broken silver from his arms and stuffed it, "We adults said, you can't let the villagers help in vain, lend us things for nothing, and let you look at this money!" ”

He was in a hurry, but Zhu Chongba didn't hold it, and the cloth bag containing the money fell to the ground in a hurry. There was a bang, and the white and yellow ones were scattered all over the ground, which was very dazzling.

Hearing that Zhu Chongba returned to his hometown, the young people who came here either looked at each other or secretly clenched their fists. Coincidentally, there was a little more determination in his eyes.

Zhu Chongba's childhood friend, Zhou Dexing suddenly said loudly, "Chongba, I'll go with you tomorrow!" ”

"I'll go too!"

"Take me!"

Geng Junyong, who is old, also pulled his son and said with a smile, "Count us two!" ”

Zhu Chongba asked knowingly, and said with a smile, "Transporting grain?" ”

"Join the army, grab food!" Xu Da said loudly, "Let's follow Brother Chong, we Huaixi boys, we would rather die rich than poor!" ”

"Good!" Zhu Chongba picked up the wine bowl again, "Brothers in battle, fathers and sons in battle." Although we are not relatives with a surname, but we are also close to the villagers who can no longer be close, our ancestors have been drinking the Huaixi Han River water for generations, our homes are next to each other, the ground is next to each other, and the ancestral graves are next to each other. Our aunt and grandmother married into your family, and your daughter entered our door. Breaking bones and connecting tendons is a friendship of several lifetimes. I can trust us to be heavy, and I want to follow us to kill a rich man, so I drank this bowl of wine. Let's swear here, live a piece of wealth, and we will support the dead family! Dry! ”

"It's done!"

Dozens of descendants raised their heads with red eyes and drank them all, and the women in the village quietly added vegetables and meat to the table with red eyes. The children who have not grown up are holding empty rice bowls and screaming, eager to grow up immediately.

The oldest people in the village, with tears in their eyes, looked at these blood-soaked offspring and muttered to themselves.

"Babies! My dolls, my Huaixi dolls! ”

………

"You say I'll have a city to myself?"

Zhu Wu was also eating here, and there were Guo family brothers, Li Sai and Xi Yingzhen Daoyan masters and apprentices on the table.

"Exactly." Xi Yingzhen stroked his beard and said, "May I ask the general, if the imperial army comes to suppress it, how should Haozhou deal with it?" ”

Zhu Wu thought for a while, "Now in Haozhou City, the soldiers are different, and the ordnance is not complete, so they can only defend the city!" ”

That's right, after Guo Dashuai occupied Haozhou, he did not expand his troops and horses on a large scale, and the grain stocks in Haozhou were not enough. The army lacks effective systematic training, and its subordinates are not all united. If the imperial court really mobilizes an army, there are only two ways out, defending the city or wandering, but presumably Guo Dashuai will not give up the foundation of Haozhou.

Xi Yingzhen said again, "How long can you keep it?" ”

Zhu Wu was speechless, although the city of Haozhou is high and the pool is deep, if the official army besieges and does not attack, cutting off the connection between Haozhou and the outside world, Haozhou will be a dead city. And now that spring is about to begin, it is the time to prepare for spring ploughing, and if you harvest the autumn grain, you can still defend it in the city. Once there is no food in the city, the morale of the army is weakened, and the consequences are unimaginable.

"But what does this have to do with me having a city to myself?"

Xi Yingzhen stretched out his hand and dipped some rice soup, and simply drew a map on the table, "General, please look, this is Haozhou, this is Dingyuan!" ”

"Dashuai's hometown is in Dingyuan." Zhu Wu interjected.

"Dingyuan and Haozhou are each other's horns!" Xi Yingzhen continued, "If the general leads an army, occupies Dingyuan, sweeps away the surrounding wealthy families, and hoards grain and grass to train soldiers. If the imperial army comes to attack, you can ask Haozhou to come to the rescue, and if the official army attacks Haozhou, the general can attack from behind. In this way, the officers and the army will not be able to fight for long! ”

"But I have less than a thousand!" Zhu Wu hesitated, "Let's talk about the handsome .........."

Xi Yingzhen smiled, "The marshal and the general are father and son, if the general asks for something, why shouldn't the marshal?" As for the general saying that there are not enough soldiers, hehe, but the general has food in his hands! ”

"You mean ........."

"That's right!" Xi Yingzhen continued to laugh and said, "In today's troubled times, there are soldiers when there is food. Dingyuan is connected to Chuzhou in the east, Huainan in the west, Hefei in the south, and Bengbu in the north. It can be attacked, retreated and defended, rich in products and large in population. The general is occupied, and the contingent of tens of thousands of people is available in an instant. ”

Zhu Wu smiled, "Well, the waterway is developed, and you can still run if you can't beat it." ”

"Look again, General!" Xi Yingzhen then drew on the table and said, "Dingyuan is connected to Chuzhou in the east, Chuzhou is bigger than Haozhou, and Haozhou is in front of it as a barrier, so there is no need to worry about the imperial army, the most important thing is ......"

As he spoke, his slender fingers drew another city behind Chuzhou, "The general takes Chuzhou as the foundation and goes down the river......

Zhu Wu blurted out, "Jinling! ”