On August 22, Liu Xia had already led the soldiers and tens of thousands of people to leave the Guide Mansion, which is now in a depression, there are few people to be seen on the streets, and the lively scene has disappeared without a trace.

The entire Guide Mansion basically followed Liu Xia, and the remaining people who either couldn't walk or had a very deep affection for Guide Mansion were unwilling to leave.

On August 23, Liu Xia led so many people to leave Guide Mansion, naturally it was impossible to keep it secret, and several surrounding counties already knew about it, and now Henan Mansion has also received the news and began to strengthen its defense.

Liu Xia was already out of the jurisdiction of Guide Mansion at this time, and Liu Xia's departure made the officials of Guide Mansion breathe a sigh of relief, and finally sent Liu Xia away, and they could think about how to live in the future.

Zhang Liang's new barracks, under Liu Xia's instructions, began to recruit recruits from tens of thousands of people, and more than 1,000 people signed up in a few days, but in the end more than 400 people were brushed down, and less than 600 people passed.

Although there are as many as 70,000 or 80,000 people here, there are not many people who want to join the army. The main reason is that the welfare of soldiers in ancient times was not high, and they were often beaten and scolded, and they were sent to death the fastest.

With such treatment, who wants to be a soldier? Unless you can't survive anymore, you have no choice but to go to the army to eat. At least you can eat when you enter the army, and if you don't participate, you may starve to death, and only such people will come and join the army.

And Zhang Liang was able to recruit soldiers from these good families, most of the more than 1,000 people were settled, and some admired Liu Xia's prestige.

So if you want to recruit soldiers, for the time being, it is not possible to recruit in a good family, the soldiers of the ancient army were either ruffians or death row criminals, where are there a few good people?

Liu Xia decided to change this status quo, soldiers should not be linked to hooligans, ruffians, etc., and the people should feel that it is good to be more soldiers, and soldiers are quality people, not hooligans. As soon as Liu Xia said that he was recruiting, the people sent their children to the barracks.

"Where are you now?" Liu Xia asked.

August is already autumn, (August here is the August of the lunar calendar, not the solar calendar, according to the solar calendar, it is estimated to be October) the weather is starting to cool down, and the march is not so hot.

Along the way, many homeless people joined Liu Xia's team, and Liu Xia readily agreed, after all, these homeless people could become the target of conscription.

Liu Xia is not worried about the problem of food, at least not for now.

When he left from Guide Mansion before, Liu Xia emptied the grain in Guide Mansion and did not leave a grain of grain.

At this time, a personal guard bowed his fist and said: "General Huiyu, now we are in Qi County, which is under the jurisdiction of Guide Mansion, and we still have a long way to go to Chenliu." ”

Liu Xia nodded, and said to Chen Liu, the military priest who joined the army: "Now our marching speed is too slow, and I don't know when we get to Henan Mansion." ”

Chen Liushen nodded approvingly, only to see him swinging his feather fan, and said to Liu Xiagong: "General, we can let some people protect the people, and then the large army will ride to Henan Mansion first." ”

Liu Xia said happily: "Well, this is a good idea, but who will protect the people, and how many people will go?" Now we don't know the specific situation of Henan Mansion, we only know that there are not many guards in the generation of Bishui, Yanshi, Dengfeng, and Gongxian, but we don't know who the guards are, and we don't know what their strategy is! ”

Chen Liu pondered for a moment, and then said: "The general can send a vanguard army to Henan Mansion first, if he can capture the city, he will take the lead in capturing it, and if not, he will go around to find information." ”

Liu Xia said in a deep voice: "That can only let the Tiger Ben Regiment go, and now only the Tiger Ben Regiment is suitable to be the vanguard." ”

"Come on, go and call Liu Dazhuang, the head of the Tiger Ben Regiment, over."

"Yes," one of the guards immediately took the order and left.

After a while, Liu Dazhuang rode over on a war horse and said to Liu Xiabai: "I don't know what the general is looking for?" ”

Liu Xia said: "This general has a task entrusted to you, and this task is extraordinary and cannot be careless. ”

Liu Dazhuang said: "I only ask the general to order, the last general will definitely go to the soup and go to the fire, and he will definitely complete the task successfully." ”

Liu Xia nodded and said: "You lead all the soldiers of the Tiger Ben Regiment to go to Bishui, Yanshi, and Gongxian first, if you can attack it, you will take the city, and if you can't, you will pass on the information there." This task is very difficult, it is the enemy's territory, everything is unknown to us, there may be ambushes in many places, you have to be careful. ”

Liu Xia said coldly: "Don't worry, the general will definitely take these three places, wait for the general to lead the people to come, and then the general only needs to settle in the three cities." ”

Liu Xia said happily: "Well, you go, be careful." ”

"Obey the order, and the general will retire."

After that, Liu Dazhuang rode away and went to the camp of the Tiger Ben Regiment.

"Brothers! Look what that is! That's right, that's a flag, that's a Tiger flag! That is our honor, the honor that those brave soldiers bought with their blood! I know that many of these soldiers came from the boot barracks, and some of them have not even fought or even killed anyone, but General Ben tells you that you don't have to be afraid, people say that you are recruits, and you will not know anything. But which veteran did not come from the recruits, and which veteran did not come from the battlefield to the death! Do you want to be a respected veteran, and you want to get rid of the title of recruit? ”

"Yes!" The recruits shouted loudly.

"I didn't hear it!"

"Yes!!" The recruits shouted again.

Liu Dazhuang nodded with satisfaction and said: "The general trusts our Tiger Battalion, and now he has given us a task to go to Henan Mansion first and be the vanguard of the army, I don't know how many enemies are waiting for us in front, are you afraid?" ”

"Don't be afraid !!" This time all the soldiers shouted in unison.

Liu Dazhuang was very satisfied with the soldiers' answers, and their morale was high.

"Pass the order, make a fire and cook first, prepare your bags, and leave on horseback immediately!"

"Yes"

Now there are 4,000 war horses in Liu Xia's army, of which more than 1,000 people in the personal guard regiment are equipped with war horses, and then more than 2,000 people in the Tiger Ben Battalion are also war horses, and less than 1,000 war horses are distributed to the Lion Battalion and the Wolf Howling Battalion.

"General, general, secret letter" A personal guard handed a tightly wrapped letter to Liu Xia.

Liu Xia immediately tore open the envelope, and then took out a letter from inside, which was Yu Mingjun's note.

It is written about their affairs in Luoyang City at this time, as well as the changes in Luoyang City at this time.

Mr. Yu said they had bribed some local officials, who thought they were ordinary traders and were not wary. According to what Yu Mingjun said, they had already arranged a plan to welcome the army into the city, just waiting for the army to go. He also told the situation in Luoyang City at this time in the letter, and now the guards in Luoyang City began to be on guard after knowing the news that we were going. However, due to the shortage of soldiers and horses, they did not send too many people to Bishui and other places, but strictly guarded Luoyang City. ”

Chen Liu said with a smile: "With Yu Mingjun's words, taking Luoyang City will definitely be captured." ”

On August 24, the eunuchs sent by Nanming had arrived at the Guide Mansion, but when they entered the Guide Mansion, they found that the Guide Mansion was as silent as death, the city gates were wide open, there was no guard, and the hotels and tea shops on both sides of the road in the city were closed, and there was not a single pedestrian on the road.

This made the eunuch feel cold, could it be that the Qing army came again, and the people here fled?

"Come on, you guys hurry up and find a few people for our family in this city, and let's ask what's going on here?"

The few Praetorian Guards who were pointed out said with a bitter face: "Where is there a shadow of half a person in my father-in-law, where can I find someone." ”

The father-in-law's face turned cold and said, "If you can't find it, don't come back." ”

Immediately, the Praetorian Guards did not dare to say anything anymore, and walked to the surrounding hotel tea shops, and the angry Praetorian Guards vented their dissatisfaction with the father-in-law on the door, only to see them kick the door open with a fierce kick, and then swaggered into the house, shouting: "Is there anyone? Anyone? ”

"Are there any people alive?"

No matter how much they shouted, no one spoke.

The autumn wind blows, rolling up a pile of fallen leaves.

"Jingle Bell! Jingling! Jingling! ”

A crisp bell rang.

Immediately, the father-in-law and dozens of Praetorian Guards were frightened and vigilant.

"Who is it?"

One of the Praetorian Guards shouted.

In a moment, an old man came out of the corner of a street, and saw the old man leading a donkey, and the sound of clanging came from the bell above the donkey's neck.

"My father-in-law is a living person." One of the Praetorian Guards said happily to the father-in-law.

The father-in-law frowned and said, "My father-in-law saw it, do you still need to say it?" ”

"Go and call the old man, my father-in-law wants to question."

"Yes, the little one will pass." With that, the Praetorian Guard walked towards the old man.

The old man glanced at the father-in-law and his party, and when he saw that it was a Han costume, he didn't care, and continued to walk forward.

"Hey, hey, don't go, that old man, my father-in-law has something to ask you, come with me, hurry up."

The Praetorian Guard shouted.

The old man shrank a little frightened, and hurriedly said: "Little old man has nothing, only this donkey is left, please give it to the lord not to accept it." ”

The Praetorian Guard glanced at the old man in disgust, and said, "Whoever wants your broken donkey, my father-in-law wants to ask you a few words, hurry up, if the answer is good, there will be a reward!" ”