Although Yu Zhilong has determined the strategy of eastward expansion, he has not yet had a clear idea of where to gain a foothold, and the initial plan is to find a place with mountains and fertile fields to gain a foothold, and not to get close to the main road at the beginning, it is best to stay away from Jinan and Yidu, avoid the Grand Canal, and it doesn't matter if he is far away from Zhang Shicheng and Liu Futong.

Now Zhang Shicheng is fighting in full swing, and he will only go over to Zhang Shicheng when his head is in water. In Yu Zhilong's impression, Zhang Shicheng seemed to be unable to protect himself in the later period, threw in the tartars, and attacked the same kind everywhere, but in the end there was no good end.

As the night got darker, Yu Zhilong chatted with Zhu Gui for a long time, and when he saw that his face was dull, he comforted him a few words, and then allowed him to rest in the backyard. Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi went around the village again and inspected the sentry posts everywhere. Since Yu Hai was attacked and killed, Yu Zhilong learned a lesson, strictly guarded the night guards, and even adopted the methods of open and dark whistles. When Yu Zhilong put forward the idea of a secret sentry, Zhao Shi, Wu Side, Qian Zheng, Ji Xiancheng and others were not easy to understand, since they marched, generally setting up more sentry posts is to increase the level of vigilance, and then setting up a secret post always feels redundant.

The setting of the dark post is very particular, how to set up a concealed post with the help of the terrain, how to conceal and warn the personnel, how to change shifts, etc.

The two returned from the inspection, and fell asleep in the wing room of Zhu Gui's house. Yu Zhilong was tired due to physical fatigue, and as soon as his eyes were closed, he soon dreamed of Zhou Gong. Since the independent leader, Yu Zhilong's head no longer has obvious pain, these days of sleep is finally normal, although the day is tired, but the spirit is good, and the thinking is much clearer.

The hour had passed, and suddenly Qian Xiucai pushed the door and broke in in a hurry, woke up Yu Zhilong, and reported: "Brother Yu, the sentry in front of the village caught two people who sneaked into the village, I saw that they were suspicious, so I brought them over, and now kneel in the courtyard, you go and take a look." ”

Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi hurriedly got up, rubbed their sleepy eyes, put on their shoes and walked into the courtyard.

I saw two unkempt men with their hands tightly tied behind their backs, kneeling on the blue brick floor in the courtyard, one was burly, barefoot, his clothes were the most tattered, it was difficult to cover his body, and he could see some unhealed whip marks and eye-catching scars in the exposed parts of his body, this person was in his thirties, and his face was thin. The other is young, only a teenager, not as good as a weak crown. The person is not only thin, but also has an abnormal flush on his face, his eyes are blank, his body is trembling slightly, and he looks like he is having a fever, but he is not lightly ill.

Qian Zheng said in a low voice: "This big man has a lot of strength and kung fu, they sneaked into the village and avoided the bright whistle, but they were discovered by the dark whistle, at that time, because the dark whistle did not know their identity, when they sneaked into the house to find food, they contacted a few surrounding brothers to surround them, and blocked them in the house and tied them up. If it weren't for the young man's frailty, he would have been restrained as a hostage first, and he would really not have been able to hold this big man for a while. ”

With the help of the torch, Yu Zhilong looked at the two people carefully, the two of them looked gloomy, silent, the young man was sick, and his mind seemed to be a little confused, but he knew that the fortune and misfortune were unpredictable now, and he occasionally glanced at his companion in a hurry.

"What are your names, and where are you? Why sneak into the village? Yu Zhilong asked.

The kneeling big man raised his head, looked at the surrounding several standing men, and looked at the identities of Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi. In this dark night, Yu Zhilong and the others did not wear armor, did not have official clothes, spoke and behaved rudely, and held swords and swords, no matter how they looked like officials and soldiers, they were more like bandits. The two of them just came out of the tiger's den and entered the wolf's den, and the Yundao Committee is really back! I have also heard of the bandits' behavior, and if they encounter someone who is unknown, if they can't win his trust, the rough line is to bury the matter directly. It's a pity that this kid next to him, it hurt him to bring him into the village this time, I knew it today, why bother in the first place!

"Ask you! Cat got your tongue? The escort behind him kicked the big man hard, and wanted to kick him to the ground, but the big man's body was stiff, and his back was forced, but his upper body shook, but he didn't fall, but the kicker didn't pay attention, and he was shocked back two steps by the force of feedback. This person wanted to show his face in front of the leader, but his face couldn't help but change color, and in shame, he untied his saber and raised his scabbard to hit the back of the big man's head.

Zhao Shi stopped him, and seeing that the big man had no other movements, he gestured to Zhilong, Yu Zhilong pointed to the young man and said to Qian Zheng: "Untie him and scoop a scoop of water for him." ”

Qian Zheng responded, several people untied the rope of the young man, someone took a scoop of water and handed it to the young man, the young man hurriedly took a few sips and drank most of it, and then held the water scoop in both hands to the big man's mouth, and fed the rest of the water to the big man.

Seeing that the young man was untied, the spirit improved slightly after drinking water, his complexion turned a little pale, and his gaze at Yu Zhilong and the others was no longer indifferent.

Yu Zhilong saw that his hands were thick calluses, his hands and feet were big, not only his clothes were tattered and he couldn't get rid of his body, but he was also barefoot, and his feet seemed to be because of walking, and there were many scars on his feet.

"We were originally from Bianliang, Henan, and last year we were taken captive by the Tartars and sent to the quarry in the first twenty miles of quarrying, and there were more than 1,000 people sent here from Bianliang with us, and now it has been a year, and there are less than 1,000 people left."

"I originally made a living from ironwork in Chenqiao Town, Bianliang, my name was Mu Chun, and my neighbors called me Mu Tiezhu. This young man is the youngest son of the owner of a book house in the town, named Fang Xue, a few days ago he had a high fever, but the overseer continued to work regardless of the demand, everyone was aroused angry, and they were not allowed to intercede, but they were whipped in public more than a dozen people, and one of them was directly beaten to death. Our brothers could not escape death after all, so the six of us took advantage of the night to relieve the torture and sneak out. ”

"It's just that we don't know the road, and the rest of us were caught by the quarry guards on the way, and we were the only ones left. Brother Fang's high fever does not go away, we are hungry and unbearable, we can't stay up in the mountains and forests tonight, when we see this village, we are afraid that there will be soldiers or villagers, we dare not enter the village during the day, so we want to enter the village at night to find something to eat. ”

The man named Mu Chun said intermittently, looking like he was not fake. Yu Zhilong also untied his order, everyone stood around, Zhao Shi hung his hands and stood beside the big man, and Wu Side stood behind Yu Zhilong with a knife. "You said that you are the Bianliang clan, which is still under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and you are good citizens, how can you be taken away by the government and become a driving mouth?" Yu Zhilong asked.

"I don't dare to hide it from you, we are indeed Bianliang people, a few years ago, Han Shanlin and Liu Futong got into trouble, and led the army to attack Bianliang, because in the end Bianliang City could not be obtained, so they went to the people outside the city. Later, the officers and soldiers defeated Han and Liu on the road, and we were captured by the officers and soldiers again, and those officers and soldiers did not listen to our explanations at all, and were sent to drive on the spot. ”

Yu Zhilong asked his subordinates to enter the house and take out a blanket to put on Fang Xuejun, pondered for a moment, and said: "Don't use words to tempt, to tell you the truth, we are not an official army, nor a righteous army, nor are we bandits." Like you, we are all poor people from broken backgrounds, and now we are also the same kind of people who kill officials and rebel! ”

"Seeing that you are in a strong body, you have many knife wounds and arrow wounds on your body, and you have a fierce killing face, you must have had a lot of battlefield fighting experience, and there are many officers and soldiers who died under your hands. Don't tell lies in front of real people, tell what else you have to say! ”

The man didn't expect Yu Zhilong to speak quickly, and suddenly saw that he had been in battle for a long time. At first, I couldn't figure out the origin of these people, but I saw that they were carrying swords and swords, and they were murderous, not like ordinary officers or bandits, and they didn't dare to talk about their own experiences. Just now, he was executed, and he kept looking down, and then by the light of the torches around him, he carefully observed Yu Zhilong and others in the statement, and found that he was similar to his own generation.

"We joined voluntarily, not coercion." Mu Chun finally admitted.

"In recent years, the livelihood has been difficult, there are many children and daughters sold in Henan, and the harvest is not good, but the government and employers do not reduce the interest rate at all, silk, and the people can't, so they have to temporarily borrow money from India to live, but this profit will only roll more and more heavily, and I don't know how many people are bankrupt! Since the implementation of the new policy, the government has issued yuan bills indiscriminately, and prices have risen sharply, and the value of today's yuan banknotes has been less than half of the five years, and the people have no way to live! Mu Chun continued, "If you don't rebel, you won't be able to live, and if you rebel, you may have a way to live." ”

"You kid is alert, you actually bypassed two bright whistles, if it weren't for the dark whistle alarm, you kid really got it!" Wu Side sighed with a big mouth. Tonight's security post arrangement is Wu Side is in charge, Yu Zhilong proposed the bright whistle, after the arrangement of the dark whistle, Wu Side felt interesting, tonight he was in charge of the arrangement, Yu Zhilong told him the main precautions, deliberately did not intervene too much, after all, Yu Zhilong himself is also half a bucket of water level, there is no systematic method to give guidance, so after patrolling with Zhao Shi, he felt that there was no big problem and came back to rest, did not expect this to happen.

Wu Side is responsible for being a sentinel, and he is shameless. I didn't expect this Mu Chun's kung fu to be hard, five or six people were not opponents, fortunately, Xiucai was sharp-eyed, and found that Fang Xue was weak, and Mu Chun was quite concerned about his safety, after Wu Side controlled it, he stabbed his throat and forced Mu Chun to comply, so he was tied up.

Wu Side told Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi the details, and the two felt that this person was a character and had the intention to recruit him. Yu Zhilong asked the others to go back to rest, and asked Xiucai to lead Fang Xue to find a room to go by, and instructed him to eat some dry food. led Mu Chun and Zhao Shi back to the house.

Zhao Shi took out a few pieces of dough from the package and let Mu Chun eat it with water. Mu Chun was really hungry, took the bread, gobbled it up, and after eating a few bites, there was food in his stomach, and after the blood flowed, his body gradually felt warm.

The three of them sat down, and when they saw Mu Chun finish eating, Yu Zhilong asked: "Just now you said that you came here as a driving force last year, where is this stone field now, who are still in it, and how many are there?" ”

Mu Chun made an estimate in his heart and replied: "The specific direction is from here to the north, slightly eastward, we have been climbing over the mountains and mountains in the past few days, hiding in the mountains, basically not entering the village. It is estimated that the mountain road is about twenty miles. There are still about 2,000 people, few women and children, and many of them are too frail to endure the hard work and have long since disappeared."

"What are these thoughts now? Are you willing to endure it further? Yu Zhilong asked.

"What can you think! The big guys eat not as good as pigs and dogs, and do the work of cows and horses, they have to get up before dawn, and work until dark, only give a gruel and nest head in the middle, and meet the old men happy, only to share some pickles, and the same is true at night. And no matter whether they are sick or injured, as long as they can catch their breath and get up, they must be called up by the overseers to work. Brother Fang had a fever a few days ago, he really couldn't stand it, he couldn't do his work effectively, and he was found by the supervisor to be whipped in public. That's when I thought I escaped. ”

"If the adults save these people, they will be our reborn parents, and they will repay the kindness of the adults by turning into cattle and horses in the next life!" Mu Chun saw that he was armed with a knife and a gun, and he was a man who killed officials and rebelled, so he pleaded with hope. There are still many of his old brothers in the quarry, and several of his companions who escaped together were captured the day before yesterday, and it is unknown whether they can survive the hardships, and if they are saved too late, they are afraid that it will be too late to regret it.

Yu Zhilong and Zhao Shi glanced at each other, and then carefully inquired about the supervision and defense of the stone field, and then let him go out and be led by a guard to rest.

The two sat down again, and Zhao Shi asked, "Little Brother Yu wants to help this Mu Chun once?" ”

"Not bad! Brother Zhao, we are going east to jump out of the encirclement of the official army and find a foothold in Ludong. Now that three days have passed, the news from the rear team is that the officers and troops in the west and north have not been able to press us with all their might, and if I expected it, they do not have a strong desire to pursue us, and the officers and troops in the south are also moving slowly, and now there is an opportunity. Our strength is too small to fight head-on with a large force of officers and troops, and it is difficult for us to have a chance to seize the county government, and even if we do, we will not be able to hold it. We didn't have a foothold before, and we fought everywhere, and I had enough of it! ”

"If you want to survive in this troubled world, you must have a foothold, and if you have a foothold, you must be able to fight down and be able to hold on! If you can fight and defend, you must have strength! Now that we have this opportunity, we don't take it, but suffer from it! ”

Zhao Shi nodded, due to the long-term war, food, soldiers, baggage supplies, wounded soldiers rescue and recuperation have been difficult to solve, the strength of the official army and the righteous army in the surrounding cities is strong, and it is difficult to overcome, the troops can only capture smaller market towns and villages, if it were not for the troubled Jianghuai in the south Zhang Shicheng, Guo Zixing and others, the canal is not passable, a large number of Yuan troops have been transferred to the south, I am afraid that they would have been exterminated by the imperial court long ago!

If the expulsion of these quarries can be rescued, they will definitely be grateful to Dade, and it is estimated that there will be no fewer people who are willing to join, and they have a deep enmity with big families and officials, and their will to fight is naturally much stronger. With people, things are easy to do.

"The opportunity is rare, without further ado, we will sum up in a while, and the sky will be almost dawn, let the big guy eat first, find Zhu Gui, and then ask about the stone field."

"That's what Brother Zhao said." Yu Zhilong stomped a few steps in the house, opened the door and ordered a soldier to invite Zhu Gui to come. And asked him to inform Qian Zheng to treat Fang Xue as much as possible.

When Zhu Gui heard Yu Zhilong's invitation, he didn't dare to slack off, wiped his face with a wet cloth, and tidied up his clothes.

Yu Zhilong invited him to sit down, and asked Zhao Shi about the news of the stone field, as well as the distance of the surrounding official mansions, and the number of soldiers stationed there. Zhu Gui stated everything he knew. The stone field is located in the mountainous area west of Linqu County, a place called Mayu, about 20 miles away from the county seat, where it is jointly supervised by several large families such as the Zhang family of Yidu Road, which belongs to the industry of these large households, and the Linqu County Governance also participates in the distribution of profits, so the supervisors of the Stone Farm have both the domestic slaves of the large households, and some of the servants of the Linqu County Administration, and the specific number of people supervising Zhu Gui does not know. However, Mu Chun had secretly observed for a long time, and judged that all the domestic slaves and yacha under his supervision did not exceed 200 people, and more than 100 weapons. Among them, there were fifty or sixty people.

Yu Zhilong learned from Zhu Gui that there were only three Han army and 100 households stationed in Linqu County, and Ziyidu Road ordered to encircle and suppress Yu Haihou, in order to strengthen the surrounding defense, a hundred households were specially dispatched, and at the same time, the local gentry also prepared more than 400 rebels, these rebels were mainly stationed in the mansion of the gentry outside the city, in fact, they were the guardians of the courtyard, and they had not been on the battlefield.

As the sky brightened, Yu Zhilong once again gathered all the leaders to discuss the matter, explained the meaning and purpose of the operation, and put forward the preliminary plan discussed with Zhao Shi at the meeting, and Ji Xiancheng, Chang Zhi, Wu Side, Qian Zheng and others put forward some details to supplement and revise. After the plan was decided, everyone dispersed and prepared according to the plan.