After Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng were defeated by Liu Juntao's troops, they fled all the way, and escaped south from the boundary of Qingzhou Mansion, captured a Ming army fort at the junction of Nanzhili and Qingzhou Mansion, and collected all the surrounding ships.

After that, the two led 20,000 thieves to sail out to sea and headed for Zhejiang.

Seeing that they successfully went to sea and got rid of the pursuit of Liu Juntao's men, Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng both breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they could lead their troops to regain a foothold in the south.

But people are not as good as heaven, the fleet led by the two thieves encountered strong sea winds and waves halfway, about one-third of the ships sank on the spot, and the remaining ships were also scarred and could no longer continue sailing.

Ye Zongliu was also half frightened when he saw this, after all, he was still too small in the vast sea, and he could only resign himself to fate.

So, Ye Zongliu hurriedly ordered to land on the shore, and he couldn't care about anything else at this time.

After the thieves went ashore, they found that the fleet had reached the border of Fujian and landed in Changle County, Fuzhou Prefecture.

Ye Zongliu counted the remaining men and horses, and there were only 15,000 people left in the 20,000 army, and all the money, food, and baggage of the army were lost.

At this time, the morale of the remaining fifteen thousand thieves of Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng's department was on the verge of collapse, and the surrounding cities could not be defeated at all, and plundering nearby villages would also attract officials and soldiers.

But at this moment, Deng Maoqi led the people to rebel in Yanping Mansion, and the momentum was so great that even the Fuzhou Mansion was shaken.

Ye Zongliu couldn't help but cry with Wang Neng when he heard the news, sighed that there was no endless road, and immediately led his troops to Yanping Mansion and took refuge in Deng Maoqi, first in exchange for a way to live.

It is said that this thief Deng Maoqi, formerly known as Deng Yun, was originally a native of Poji Township, a city in the southwest of Jiangxi, and later moved to Huangzhukeng, the twenty-four capital of Shaxian County, Yanping Prefecture, and was born as a tenant farmer.

Deng Mao was brave and wise for seven years, tall and powerful, and he was convinced by everyone for his chivalry, and he was already a man in the township when he was in his thirties.

At the same time that Ye Zongliu and the people of the Xu family in Xuzhou were fighting with Liu Juntao's troops, Deng Maoqi and his brother hid in the home of Chen Zhengjing, a squire of Ninghua Mansion in Fujian, because he was angry at killing the local heroes in Shaxian County, and changed their names to Mao Qi and Mao Ba respectively.

During this period, Deng Maoqi and Deng Maoba often gathered people for ruins, constantly recruiting companions who were familiar with each other before, gathering the poor and broken people around them, and gathered thousands of people in just one month!

The local government was afraid that something would happen, so they sent troops to drive them away.

Soon, Deng Maoqi and Deng Maoba led their troops to return to Shaxian County in exile, taking the opportunity to expand their men and horses, and the young and strong people near Shaxian County rushed to take refuge when they heard the news, Deng Maoqi took the opportunity to organize the people into armor and make their own staffs, and set up villages in various important places around Shaxian County to defend them, and the government in the area of Shaxian County did not even dare to interfere.

Later, under the protection of Song Xin, the political envoy of Fujian, the gentry in Shaxian County oppressed the people, forced the people to send the land rent into the warehouse, and sent chickens, ducks, fish and meat during the New Year's holidays, commonly known as "winter animals", which caused strong dissatisfaction among the people in Shaxian County.

Seeing this, Deng Maoqi took the opportunity to win people's hearts and was pushed to be the "chief leader" in Shaxian County.

Yanping Mansion saw that Deng Maoqi had become a climate, so he sent archers to arrest Deng Maoqi, preparing to disperse his men, but he did not want to be ambushed by Deng Maoqi, and the 300 archers sent by Yanping Mansion were killed and wounded.

For a time, Deng Maoqi's name was greatly revitalized, and the surrounding bandits, wanderers, and heroes came to vote, and even Chen Zhengjing, a squire of Ninghua Mansion, rushed to Chen Shanzhai in Shaxian County at night, and killed the white horse with Deng Maoqi to sacrifice to the sky.

When the news spread, the entire southeastern provinces were shaken.

Subsequently, Deng Mao's seven thieves developed very rapidly, and by the time Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng led their troops to vote, Deng Maoqi had gathered tens of thousands.

At the same time, Youxi Jiang Fucheng, Qingliu Landlong and other thieves also gathered to respond when they heard the news, and Fujian shook for a while.

When Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng led their troops to Shaxian, Deng Maoqi had already led his thieves to capture the county seat of Shaxian, and set up official positions such as chief armor and lieutenant chief in the Wangtai area on the outskirts of Yanping Mansion.

In the middle of December of the 14th year of orthodoxy, Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng's troops were deployed by Deng Maoqi in Chenjiazhai, twenty miles west of Shaxian, to defend the county seat of Shaxian County, and to defend against the invading officers and troops from the west.

Deng Maoqi and his younger brother Deng Maoba led the army to capture Shanguan, and then led his troops to connect with Guangguang, Shaowu, Shunchang and other counties, and the momentum was greatly boosted.

At the same time, Youxi Jiang Fucheng and Qingliu Landlong gathered 30,000 people to attack Youxi County to support Deng Mao's seven thieves.

Soon, Jiang Fucheng and Landlong led their troops to converge with Deng Mao's seven tribes, and completely annihilated more than 2,000 officers and soldiers of Deng Hongxin's department who came to Shaxian to suppress them.

Deng Maoqi saw that the combat strength of the official army was low, and his own morale was high, so he left Jiang Fucheng to lead 10,000 troops to garrison Guangguang, Shaowu, Shunchang, Youxi and other counties, and he led the main army of 100,000 thieves together with his younger brothers Deng Maoba and Landlong to kill Yanping Mansion, a major place in central Fujian.

At the end of December of the 14th year of orthodoxy, Deng Maoqi led the army to besiege the city of Yanpingfu, and the imperial envoy Zhang Kai boarded the city to defend it, and the two sides fought for several days, and they could not hold each other.

After that, in order to break the deadlock, Zhang Kai, the imperial envoy of the capital, sent 4,000 elite soldiers to the camp of thieves, but was ambushed by Deng Mao's seven thieves, and the official army was killed by 100,000 thieves under the first battle.

At this time, Ye Zongliu, who was stationed in the rear, also heard the frequent good news ahead, but there was no joy in his heart.

Seeing this, Wang Neng couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Now that Deng Maoqi and they have won successive battles, and they have conquered several counties in a row, and the officers and armies of all walks of life have also collapsed, why is the king not half happy?" ”

Although Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng took refuge in Deng Maoqi, they only served Deng Maoqi as the king on the surface.

In private, Wang Neng and other subordinates still honored Ye Zongliu as the king.

I saw Ye Zongliu sigh and said: "Don't look at the current Deng Mao Seventh Division, which looks like a broken bamboo, but the men and horses under him are all rabble, and it is okay to deal with the low-level guards in various places, but once it is against the elite battalions of the imperial court, it will not work." ”

Wang Neng also nodded frequently and said, "Indeed! There are not many soldiers but fine, I hope Deng Maoqi and they can train the elite soldiers as soon as possible! ”

Ye Zongliu was also silent when he heard this, and said secretly in his heart: "If Deng Maoqi is a true hero, cultivating elite soldiers, attacking counties and counties, and achieving a foundation, will there still be a day when I will come out?" ”

Ye Zongliu doesn't want to keep sending people under the fence, he still wants to achieve a foundation, how can he work hard for others?

But in the current situation, Ye Zongliu can only temporarily live here, and first help Deng Mao's seven departments to fight the world.

"King, what do you think the court will do now?"

Ye Zongliu frowned slightly, and said, "It is estimated that the imperial court is still dizzy now, but it won't be long before the imperial court will mobilize troops and horses from the surrounding areas to pounce." Whether it can develop this time depends on whether it can withstand this wave of counterattack from the imperial court! ”

Wang Neng was silent for a while when he heard this, and then said, "King, do you think that Liu Juntao will be requisitioned to go south?" I've heard that Liu Juntao's Yushan Town Guards have been reorganized into battalions by the imperial court! ”

As soon as he heard Liu Juntao and the Yushan Town Guards, Ye Zongliu jumped suddenly in his heart, and he had a feeling of being targeted by a fierce beast, and he shuddered.

"In this way, Liu Juntao is really very likely to lead his troops south!"

Ye Zongliu said with an unkind face: "If Liu Juntao's troops are killed, then we have to be careful." ”

Wang Neng asked, "Then do we need to remind Deng Maoqi of them?" ”

"No way!"

Ye Zongliu said coldly: "If Deng Maoqi knows the interests of Liu Juntao's department, it is very likely that we will take the lead and become cannon fodder, so wouldn't it be too much of a loss for us!" ”

"What does the king mean is to let that Deng Maoqi rush forward?"

"That's right! Now Deng Maoqi and their momentum are shocking, and the people and horses of the department are also on a rampage and their combat power is soaring, if Liu Juntao really kills, just let the two of them fight hard, maybe we can still come to a fire and take the opportunity to make a comeback! ”

Wang Neng also rekindled his fighting spirit when he heard this, and said: "King, since this is the case, then we should also prepare early, and recruit troops as soon as possible to expand our strength!" ”

"That's nature!"

As a result, Ye Zongliu himself led 10,000 thieves to continue to garrison Chenjiazhai, while Wang Neng led 5,000 thieves to attack and plunder villages and towns, and began to reexpand troops and horses and develop forces.