At the end of July, under Hong Chengchou's urging and strict orders, the officers and soldiers of all ministries finally stopped watching from the sidelines. Zuo Guangxian, Zhang Quanchang, Zhao Guangyuan, He Renlong, You Zhaiwen and other people from all walks of life in Shaanxi were called to assemble on the front line from Xi'an to Tongguan.

Hong Chengchou sensed that Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng intended to go eastward out of the customs, and sent Zhang Quanchang and Cao Bianjiao to rush to the ground in Weinan and Huazhou in advance to strengthen the customs defenses, hold the mountain roads, and set up troops to cruise on the roads out of the customs to harass and intercept them. At this time, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng were besieging Jawyang and could not fight for a long time. Russia sent a detachment of partial divisions to Tongguan to carry out a tentative attack, and repelled Hong Chengchou, who personally supervised the battle, at Hongxianggou. The two were worried about the strength of the official army, so they withdrew the siege and divided the troops, all the way west to Pingliang, and all the way south to Fuping.

The officers and troops concentrated their forces to deal with the king and generals, and the rogues in southeastern Shaanxi were revived. Lao Hui returned to the Shangluo area to recuperate for more than a month, and joined forces with the eight kings of Xiying, the Collapse of the Sky, the King of the World, and the King of Tidyness, and the momentum was huge. The king of the mixed world and the scorpion block could not be bargained for in Xi'an, so they went south from Shangshan Road and Luonan Road, and merged with Zhuliukou, which was Shangluo area, and the Liukou were all over the mountains, no less than hundreds of thousands.

Lao Hui Hui and others are strong, and the east detains Fengyang Pass, which is rejected by the superintendent of the army Dao Miao Tu and the deputy chief soldier Jia Yixuan and Zhou Jixian, and is not allowed to enter. After walking the pass again, the trail covered the Chuankou, and was broken by Zhou Shifeng and Qin Yiming, the governor of Xunyang, Lu Xiangsheng, so he had to turn to attack Zhuyang Pass.

Zhu Yangguan general Xu Laichao's subordinates Tianjin soldiers 3,000, day by day, reluctant to follow Xu Laichao into the mountains, Xiying eight kings Zhang Xianzhong led the crowd to attack, Tianjin soldiers simply mutinied, destroyed by the Liukou, Xu Laichao fled alone. Liukou then entered Suoyu, south of the Tunhe River, and You Shiwei led 500 Guanning troops to guard the Lancaochuan mountain pass and confront it. Unexpectedly, the sergeants were not adapted, the army was plagued, the combat strength was completely lost, and the battle with the rogues was defeated, You Shiwei and the guerrillas Liu Zhaoji and Luo Dai were all wounded and fled. Since then, the roads between Shaanxi and Henan have been reopened, and the rogues have come and gone.

On the bright side, the Liukou blossomed in many ways during this period and had the upper hand, but in the long run, Zhao Dangshi did not think it was a wise choice to continue to stay on the Shaanxi-Henan border.

Li Zicheng and others had their ideas, and the Shaanxi-Henan border gathered all the people, set up camps, and used the huge military advantage to resist the continuous encirclement and suppression of the government. This would undoubtedly be more secure than if the battalions were to act alone. However, the disadvantages are also obvious, firstly, the various departments are clustered, the land is narrow and there are many people, and the Shaanxi and Yu friends, who have been repeatedly exploited, have reached the limit of their carrying capacity for the rogues. As one of them, Zhao Dangshi has a deep understanding of such a predicament: only look at the strongest of the various rogue tribes, the Chuang Wang Department, and only the elite troops such as the Zhongying pro-soldiers can still guarantee two meals a day, and the rest of the miscellaneous departments say that hanging their lives with gruel is already boasting, and more can only dig wild vegetables, collect wild fruits, catch some insects and mice to barely survive, and the vain steps and swollen bodies cannot support the regular battle at all. Zhao Dangshi does not have many people, and he has some relationship with Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin, so the situation is okay at this time, but it is not the best policy to go on for so long. Second, the official army is currently in a fragile situation, but the imperial court is still adding troops, Hong Chengchou and others have begun to rearrange the battlefield, facing the officers and troops who are pressing step by step, trapped in the square inch of the land is actually in a dangerous situation. Third, the various forces in Guanzhong are competing back and forth, the goals are too obvious, there is no room for development, and if a team like Zhao Dangshi does not adhere to the general trend, they will die overnight. Zhao Dangshi was unwilling to continue to stay under Li Zicheng and be gradually absorbed into the army system by him, he needed a new world.

There are three goals: Shanxi, Huguang and Sichuan.

Huguang was first vetoed, for the simple reason that Lu Xiangsheng was in Xunyang. If you want to enter Huguang, you must pass through Xunyang, and with Zhao Dangshi's capital, I am afraid that it is not enough to stuff the teeth of this governor nicknamed "King Lu Yan". Shanxi was also quickly excluded. Because according to Zhao Dangshi's inquiry, Shanxi Governor Wu Fu has been guarding Pujindu and other ferries along the river with elite soldiers to prevent the return of Liukou to Shanxi, and it is dangerous to go through the ferries along the river such as Pujindu. In the end, Sichuan is left, which can be considered.

At present, the focus of the Ming court is focused on Shaanxi and Henan, and there is no time to worry about Sichuan and Shu, and there are many thieves in Sichuan such as shaking yellow thieves, and Zhao Dangshi and his gang may not attract attention, and they may be able to get better development there.

Zhao Dangshi only told Wang Laixing and Hou Dagui his thoughts. To his surprise, Hou Dagui actually agreed with this matter, according to his words, he couldn't stand the bird's anger in the camp for a long time, especially the people of the old eighth team, all of them were like knocking guns, and they glared at people when they saw them.

Hou Dagui has no opinion, Zhao Dangshi is half relieved, this guy has a lot of shortcomings, but it does not prevent him from being able to help get an idea, with him, there is a helper, which saves a lot of worry.

Although the idea is decided, the current situation is unclear, and Zhao Dangshi does not want to act rashly, so he waits patiently for the time being. The three people who knew about it were all tight-lipped and the whole battalion of about 500 people was kept in the dark.

Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang divided their troops, and they walked around the Fuping area, he did not harass the officials and soldiers, and the officials and soldiers did not come to fight him. Although there was some slight friction between the two, they were generally fine. Gao Yingxiang broke Xianyang and surrounded the wind, and the movement was very loud, attracting the attention of the officers and soldiers.

Zhao Dangshi also had no war in Li Zicheng's camp. In addition to sending the horse army to guard the food regularly, he trained the soldiers all day long, and after more than half a month, the soldiers who were not disciplined under his hands had already looked a little. Especially Hou Dagui and others, under Zhao Dangshi's non-stop urging practice day and night, their posture and movements have been greatly improved, as if they have been able to demonstrate as an example, as a result, Zhao Dangshi's pressure has decreased sharply, and he no longer has to accompany the soldiers to train and exercise all the time, acting as a demonstration.

Lining up, reporting the numbers, and walking together, although these actions are simple, they are the basic qualities of a combatable army. It is easy to order and prohibit, but very few armies actually do it. What Zhao Dangshi needed was not how strong the individual martial arts of these soldiers were, but an army that could be used as an arm.

Soon it was August, and at the beginning of the month, there was a light rain, which lasted intermittently all day. In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Dangshi ordered the soldiers to line up with the open space outside the camp for drills.

The person in charge this morning is Xu Hui. He is nominally Zhao Dangshi's staff officer, but in fact he has no real power, but these soldiers under him don't know about it, and seeing that he has a straight face all day long, and is very serious, they are still very afraid of him. Xu Hui was previously a hundred generals under Zhang Quanchang, and he was also an officer, so he was naturally familiar with the regulations for training soldiers, and the day he presided over the drill, the effect was better than that of Hou Dagui and others. He seems to have the intention to change the impression in Zhao Dangshi's heart, every time he trains, he works hard, until his legs tremble and his arms are numb, so the soldiers privately nicknamed him "Xu Lingguan", which means that he is as iron-faced and terrifying as the spiritual officer in the Taoist temple.

He Kewei, who was in Chengcheng County, also came to watch from time to time. I couldn't help but praise the five hundred soldiers to the sky, saying that even the military horses under the Governor and Fu Biao that I had seen in the past were not so neat. He also praised Zhao Dangshi for his good governance of the army, the style of famous generals from ancient times, and even compared with Qi Shaobao in the past.

Zhao Dangshi knew that he was sloppy and patted the horse, but he didn't react at all. He Ke is afraid of the hot face and sticks to the cold buttocks, he can't touch the truth of this Shangguan, and he can't show the same set in the officialdom in the county at the beginning, he is worried in his heart, and he is extremely careful in his every move, but he is afraid that one day if he says the wrong thing or does the wrong thing, he will be dragged out and chopped up and fed to the dog.

Zhao Dangshi didn't need him for the time being, so he asked him to follow Wang Laixing and record the expenses in the camp. In the past, he used to do the affairs of the treasury and money, and now he is in charge of his old business, which is called a handy. Wang Laixing is illiterate, and with him as a supplement, he is a lot more leisurely. also knew that Zhao was literate in the world, but he didn't dare to act favoritism, and followed behind Wang Laixing, who was more than 20 years younger than him, and shouted "Lord Zhongjun" one by one.

He Kewei flattered a few more words, but he didn't get a response, so he was disappointed and left. A figure over there hurriedly walked over, walked closer, and said to Zhao Dangshi in his ear: "Mr. Qian, a big deal." ”

Zhao Dangshi glanced at him: "When will Hou General learn to engage in this mysterious and mysterious set?" ”

Hou Dagui bowed his brows: "Mr. Qianxiu wants to joke, there is indeed something important." ”

Zhao Dangshi looked at him, which was very different from his usual life, and he couldn't say that something really happened, so he walked to a secluded place with him and said, "Say." ”

"The high harrier wants to fight against the water."

"Oh?" Zhao Dangshi was shocked, Gao Jie and Li Zicheng looked like each other, and he had long expected that the rebellion would be sooner or later, but he didn't think it was at this moment, "How did you know?" ”

Hou Dagui was serious: "The subordinates went down to Xiaojie, and there were people in the side room, who were the personal soldiers in Gaojie's camp, talking to people, and being heard by their subordinates clearly." "In order to prevent the indiscriminate excretion of people and animals and cause epidemics, all the camps of the eight teams have built simple thatched houses. Zhao was a newcomer to the back camp, close to Gaojie's department, so that he could share the drowning place.

"Gao Jie's camp is in the next door, and his subordinates are listening, one of them is Gao Jie's close attendant, only saying that Gao Jie often has an affair with Mrs. Xing when Li Chuang is out of the camp. He also said that Mrs. Xing had a ghost in her heart and was afraid of the East Window incident. Gao Jie persuaded her to feel at ease, saying that he had contacted the official army, and sooner or later he would leave the camp and join the official army. ”

"Is that true?" Zhao Dangshi looked at Hou Dagui in disbelief. This person can even hear such heavy news from the last thatched house, this sensitivity is really different from ordinary people, and he really didn't misunderstand him.

"It's true, if your subordinates have to have a saying, they will be called eunuchs, and they will never be able to give birth to a handle."

He made this kind of poisonous oath, it seems that Gao Jie is going to do the opposite, but when it will be, it must be clarified.

"This subordinate does not know. The two arrived early, chatted for a short time and then left one after another, the details of which are unknown. ”

As early as September last year, when Li Zicheng besieged He Renlong, the deputy commander-in-chief, in Shaanzhou, he used Gao Jie and He Renlong as the same party in Mizhi Township and ordered him to surrender to him. However, He Renlong persuaded Gao Jie to surrender, and when exchanging letters, he sent someone to see Gao first and then Li. Li Zicheng did not trust Gao Jie, and now he was suspicious, so he immediately recalled him from the besieging army to guard the old camp and chose another good general to replace him, so Gao Jie was very frightened. The gap between Gao and Li grows.

It is actually reasonable that things have developed to this point. Gao Jie's ability is too prominent among the leaders of the camps united with Li Zicheng, and he has an ambiguous relationship with Mrs. Xing, if he doesn't oppose him, Li Zicheng will get rid of him sooner or later.

Gao Jie is a fierce general, and now he can only stay in the back camp to manage logistics in the eighth team, and this suppression has fallen on the head of any man with strong blood and strength? When Zhao Dangshi thought of this, he felt some sympathy for Gao Jie. However, when you think about it in a different direction, there are some benefits. The rear camp hoarded grain, money, and food, ordnance and armor, and Gao Jie was in charge of these, and he was in cahoots with Mrs. Xing. Zhao Dangshi's camp is adjacent to his camp, and he has also been in and out of his camp many times, among which the soldiers are all neatly dressed, with oily and slippery faces, and the treatment is excellent; There are also a lot of armor firearms, and even there are more than 20 of them such as the Franco, the tiger squat cannon, and the mountain bird. Needless to say, what other gold and silver goods are. These are all things that make Zhao Dangshi's eyes red.

Maybe you can take advantage of this opportunity to make a lot of money.

Zhao Dangshi's heart is full of life and constantly calculating. Hou Dagui was left aside, and seeing that he was silent for a long time, he couldn't help but say: "Mr. Qian, let, should we give this matter to the surnamed Li?" ”

"No hurry!" Zhao Dangshi waved his hand violently and lowered his voice, "Don't talk about this matter to anyone for the time being." Leak half a point, take you to ask! ”

Hou Dagui looked at him blankly, not knowing the truth, but looking at Mr. Qian's familiar appearance, he expected that the other party must be pregnant with a bad stomach again, so he didn't say much, but only understood.

"If you find out this kind of information, it is also considered a meritorious service, so I will write it down for the time being and reward it in the future." Zhao Dangshi patted him on the shoulder and signaled that he could leave, but added a sentence before he turned around, "Call Mr. Yang Bai." ”

Hou Dagui was stunned for a moment, and then left quickly, and soon, Yang Chengfu, who was sweating profusely, hurried over.

"My subordinates have seen Mr. Qian!"

"There is no need to be polite in the army." Yang Chengfu was about to salute when he saw someone, but Zhao Dangshi waved his hand to signal that he didn't have to. These days, the hardest working person is neither Hou Dagui nor Xu Hui, but this hob meat. He served as the general manager of the Ma Army, and he seemed to have changed as a person, whether it was sentry food, reconnaissance or even training soldiers, it was all a matter of strength. Maybe it's to be worthy of this military position, worthy of Zhao Dangshi's trust and "grace of knowing things", or maybe there is a sense of crisis and fear of being replaced by others, in short, he is busy all day and night without rest. casually asked a few words, and he knew that he was just dealing with the report of a group of scouts who went out to investigate.

Zhao Dangshi did not have any awards. He thinks that Yang Chengfu's actions are enough to assume the title of a horse army post hundred generals, if he is still as lazy as in the past, stealing and cheating, it is not for nothing that there are people who replace him below. Keeping him in this state is good for him personally, and good for the battalion as a whole.

"If President Qian summons him to have any orders, his subordinates will listen to him."

"There's an urgent task for you to listen to. Select some clever ones from the scouts who go out to explore every day, and are responsible for monitoring the movements in Gao Jie's camp, and report anything abnormal immediately. ”

"Gao Jie?" When Yang Chengfu heard this, his eyes immediately widened.