Chai Sangkou originally had an army of nearly 10,000 people, all of which were brought by Cui Ke'an, and they returned directly to Wuchang after Yuzhang suffered a defeat.

The defenders of Chai Sangkou had no intention of fighting, and when they met the father and son of the Wang family who came to persuade them to surrender at this juncture, they naturally hit it off.

The other two men besieging Yuzhang also retreated to Tanzhou to assemble, and the loss of Chenzhou made Cui Ju change his overall deployment.

None of the children of the Cui family could win the battle, and Cui Ju was very disappointed, so he had to let Shen De lead all the soldiers and horses to shrink the front.

Zhou Dapeng took Chenzhou very smoothly, because those woodcutters ran up the mountain every day to help Zhou Dapeng's ten battalions of soldiers and horses collect firewood and build wooden sheds in order to make more money.

Zhou Dapeng asked them if they were familiar with Chenzhou City, and the woodcutters laughed, and every winter they went to the city every day to sell charcoal, and the men in the city's defenders' large and small shops were familiar with them.

Zhou Dapeng thought about it and decided to take the army and the woodcutter to build a bridge on the edge of the Chenjiang River brazenly.

This plan made his subordinates wonder if Zhou Dapeng was crazy, building a bridge with great fanfare under the nose of the enemy, not to mention whether the enemy would fight or not, it was difficult to build the bridge just by the turbulent river.

Zhou Dapeng invited two old woodcutters: "Old man, how did you cross the river when there was no bridge?" The water is so fast, my brothers have said they can't go! ”

The tall and thin old man with a white beard laughed, "There is a bridge on this river in recent years, there has been no bridge in the past few hundred years, our ancestors have relied on the discharge to cross the river, and then there is a bridge, and we also release the row to transport the wood in this mountain." ”

"Can this row cross the river to transport grain and weapons?"

"Eh, it's no problem to carry thousands of pounds of big wood in this row, your little thing is light!"

All the soldiers were still skeptical, and they all came to the river to watch these woodcutters put them in line.

The Chenzhou defenders on the opposite side saw a large number of troops coming from the riverside, and they were busy interrogating with the order flag, and Zhou Dapeng gave each of the woodcutters two pieces of money, and a few of these woodcutters who often went to the city shouted, "The imperial court sent someone to repair the bridge!" ”

"Master Cui, if this bridge is not repaired for a day, it will be inconvenient for you to enter and exit!"

Here, Zhou Dapeng and the soldiers also waved the banner of Cui Zi in response, "We are the soldiers and horses under the command of Commander Qin, and we are here to build a bridge!" I hope that Master Cui is also ready on the other side."

The river is dozens of zhang wide, both sides can only see the flag clearly, but they can't see the appearance clearly, and the defenders of Chenzhou did not dare to be careless, insisting on sending people to take a boat to inspect this soldier and horse.

The boats of the Chenzhou army were all the size of fishing boats, and seven of them were rowed one after another.

Zhou Dapeng pinched his sweat, no matter how bad the Chenzhou army was, as soon as he came ashore to interrogate, he could always ask about flaws, so he had to forcibly cross the river and attack the city.

The first words of the captain who came over reassured Zhou Dapeng.

"Dare to ask Qin Commander if the money, food, and materials for repairing the bridge are for us to come from Chenzhou? Chenzhou has been seriously flooded recently, but it can't be supplied! ”

"Don't worry, Commander Qin sent us to bring money and grain and rice utensils for repairing the bridge. As soon as Zhou Dapeng waved his hand, some soldiers took out dozens of pieces of money.

As soon as the fifteen people who came over saw that they had money to take, they didn't care that the armor of these soldiers and horses had special turtle marks made in the South China Sea, so they each took the money and got on the boat to go back to their lives.

Zhou Dapeng wiped his forehead: "This is really rich, it can make ghosts grind!" I knew what kind of bridge to build, so I sent someone to deliver the money! ”

When the Chenzhou army returned to the other side, they divided the money and left, regardless of building a bridge

things.

Here, under the advice of the woodcutters, Zhou Dapeng's whole army cut trees and vines nearby to make a large raft for plastering.

In three days, 150 large rafts were discharged from the riverside, all of which were connected together with vines, hemp rope and wooden nails.

On the raft at the front, a few old woodcutters shook the rudder to grasp the direction, and many people came to watch on the other side of the river, and it was the first time that so many rafts appeared on the river.

The defenders of Chenzhou also sent people to see, only that their own people on the opposite side were erecting pontoon bridges, "these people are also good at making money, the imperial court let them build bridges, and they made a pontoon bridge to fill the number, and when they come, we have to knock a bamboo pole!" ”

When the Southern Navy crossed the river on the raft and walked to the city with the lively crowd, a few defenders noticed that these horses did not look like they were building bridges, and judging from their bodies and armor, they were a group of people who had been in battle for a long time.

But at this time, it was too late, and Zhou Dapeng spent ten times at the city gate to let the Southern Navy go straight into the city.

After entering the city, in order not to cause panic among the people, the Southern Navy was very slow, and all of them surrounded the Cui Mansion and the government office.

Cui Ju's subordinates, who stayed in Chenzhou, didn't think it was his own people who were making trouble until Zhou Dapeng brought people to arrest them.

Zhou Dapeng laughed at them, "I love money like you, I shouldn't have brought troops here, just burn some paper money for you!" ”

Occupied Chenzhou without blood, Zhou Dapeng thanked the woodcutters, "Fellow villagers, we are the Southern Navy, and we are here to exterminate the rebellious Cui Ju and the rest of the party, and we have not told you our true identity before, which is really a last resort!" ”

The white-bearded woodcutter laughed, "We already knew that the army of the imperial court would burn high incense if they didn't rob us of our money, how could we return the money to our army, this must not be in the same group as them!" ”

"Yes, my lord, can you exempt us from the firewood tax, the fishing donation, and the ship tax! Otherwise, you will come in vain! ”

Zhou Dapeng nodded, "Okay, I'll issue a notice immediately, except for the poll tax and the field tax, the rest will be exempted!" ”

"My lord, it's useless to issue a notice, the pavilion chief still collects taxes according to the original rules, you have to send someone to the township pavilion to summon all the families to explain!"

Zhou Dapeng was a little stunned: "The notice issued by our army is useless?" Their little pavilion chief is too bold! ”

"The so-called imperial power is not lower than the county, and the county does not obey the orders of the imperial court, not to mention the township pavilion, where there are soil emperors everywhere. If it weren't for Lord Zhou bringing soldiers and horses, we who had suffered from the disaster would have been a dead end. It was only thanks to the generosity of Lord Zhou that we could survive! ”

Zhou Dapeng realized that taking Chenzhou was only the first step, and if they couldn't govern it well, what was the difference between them and Cui Ju.

The main force of the Southern Navy can't stay in Chenzhou forever, and Li Xiaofei doesn't know if he has defended Yuzhang City.

If it is not broken, it will not stand, Zhou Dapeng decided to let the poor turn over, and Lin Changsheng and others questioned Zhou Dapeng's decision.

"They haven't read and can't read, how can they manage the village pavilion?"

"Yes, they don't even know the calendar, how can they sow and reap?"

"They will only work hard, they are all rough people, and these things of governing the place should be left to the scholars!"

Zhou Dapeng pointed to the pontoon bridge on the river, "Just because they can build a bridge, we should also believe in them!" What's more, many things are not innate, illiterate and unreadable, we can teach and not know

We can also draw a picture to teach them to look at the moon! ”

"How many teaching gentlemen do you have to do? Master Zhou, no matter how much money we have, it is impossible for them all to read and study! ”

"We selected 30 literate brothers in the camp to teach them a simple three-character scripture, and taught them here for five years, and I believe that in five years, there will be many more literate people! If we don't let the poor read and write, it will be useless for us to fight no matter how many wars we fight, and we won't be able to change the way of the world! ”

Wu Fengxian nodded, "If I had studied back then, I wouldn't have ended up in the South China Sea, Lord Zhou's decision is wise!" No, great! ”

When the people of Chenzhou heard that the new army had set up a school, they all came to inquire and watch.

The school does not charge money, but the number of people is limited, and the thirty teaching gentlemen teach thirty people each, and they are annoyed that they are late.

Zhou Dapeng told them outside the school, "Don't worry, when these 900 people learn, they can also teach you, and you can also go and ask them when they go home." ”

"Lord Zhou, do you really not collect money all the time?"

"Don't charge money, I Zhou has only one condition, that is, these literate people must do things for us poor people in the future!"

The cheers were endless, and people rushed to tell each other that a big man came to Chenzhou, abolished the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and let the poor read and write.

When Zhou Dapeng went north with the main force, the people carried all kinds of mountain goods to see him off, but Zhou Dapeng did not accept it, only drank a jar of wine and left without looking back.

The defeat in the battle of Yuzhang and the loss of the Chenzhou nest made Cui Ju angry, vomited a few liters of blood at once, and lay in bed for several days.

The Zen ceremonies that had been prepared had to be postponed, and some eunuchs and palace maids in the palace finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If Cui Ju is called the emperor, most of these original eunuchs and palace maids will be dismissed, and if the palace maids are dismissed, they can find someone to marry, and once the eunuchs leave the palace, there is only one way to die.

The cronies sent by Cui Ju to the palace to monitor had already forced out the savings saved by the eunuchs, and killed more than a dozen eunuchs for this purpose.

In the past few months, the little emperor Liu Fu'an has witnessed nearly 100 people being killed, arrested, and disabled in front of him, and he has to hold Huang Chunzhi's arm every night to fall asleep.

Serving the two of them were the two palace maids Jin Zhi and Yin Zhi, which were the two girls that Murong Ling had taken in.

Because of serving Huang Chunzhi, Jin Zhi and Yinzhi avoided being violated by Cui Ju's subordinates. Murong Ling also taught the two girls some martial arts, and warned the two not to show it until they had to.

Huang Chunzhi also had some gold, silver and jewelry in her hands, plus she could speak well, and she bought dozens of guards sent by Cui Ju for most of the year.

Now Huang Chunzhi began to regret getting on Cui Ju's thief ship, and began to have some other ideas. It happened that a guard secretly told her that Cui Ju would be the emperor in two months at the latest, and the little emperor would be abolished at that time.

Looking at the sleeping Liu Fu'an, Huang Chunzhi put his face on it, although he was not her biological son, but in the past few years, he has already surpassed the ordinary mother-son relationship, Liu Fuan only recognizes her as a mother.

Huang Chunzhi decided to escape with Liu Fu'an, but there were thousands of guards inside and outside the palace, and it was impossible to take the little emperor out.

Huang Chunzhi had a bold idea, since she knew that it was impossible to take the little emperor out of the palace, then she would take a gamble and walk out with Liu Fu'an openly.