On the morning of July 29 in the first year of Hongxi, the sky was clear and the ground was wet.

The surface of the Liujiang River in the east of Liuzhou is shrouded in a layer of mist. The milky white mist drifts slowly and gracefully in the breeze, with a gentle state of its own.

But on the several pontoon bridges on the river, the soldiers marching in a line wearing wide-brimmed iron hats are full of masculinity. The noisy voices are often accompanied by foul language and swearing, and vulgar language has completely destroyed the atmosphere of the beautiful scenery.

Geng Hao silently rode on horseback and stood beside his father-in-law, Wu Gao.

At this time, a donkey cart loaded with artillery and barrels could not move forward on the edge of the pontoon, and the man who drove the cart "crackled" and whipped the donkey, but the donkey was very stubborn and even more immovable. Wu Gao rolled down from the horse, walked over to push the donkey cart, turned back to the generals and said, "Take a handle!" ”

Although Geng Hao was extremely reluctant, the old man went up in person, and he hurriedly ran over to push the cart.

"Who built the bridge?" Wu Gao looked back left and right and asked.

No one around answered, and one of the generals said: "Master Hou, when these horses pass, the last general will ask someone to nail a few planks on the side of the bridge so that they can walk the car." ”

"Do it now!" Wu Gao ordered.

He got on his horse again, and with the soldiers accompanying him, rode across the river from the pontoon bridge in front of him. Geng Hao was behind, let go of the hilt of the sword inlaid with mutton fat jade, silently took out a handkerchief, and repeatedly wiped the dirt with a complex smell on the palm of his hand.

Father-in-law Wu Gao, as the Hou Ye, the commander of the 100,000 army, always walks around in the army to do such trivial things, Geng Hao is not very comfortable in his heart. However, he relied on his father-in-law, so he naturally didn't dare to say it.

…… After crossing the Liujiang River, the group ran along the flat road in the northeast. After a while, I finally saw the banner of the Chinese army on the west bank of the Luoqing River.

The west bank of the Luoqing River was crowded with people and noisy. In addition to countless soldiers with wide-brimmed hats, there are also a large number of short-clothed people. There were many boats on the riverbank, and soldiers and men were carrying heavy grain and grass to the boats. The boats loaded with their things left the river one after another and drifted to the center of the river.

Wu Gao knew that the rebel army was marching towards Liuzhou Mansion, and he was not in favor of taking this road.

But all the generals persuaded him that it was too light to go to Luoqingjiang this time! Although the season has reached the end of July, Guangxi is still warm and humid, blowing southerly winds, and the cold northwest winds in autumn and winter have not yet arrived; The Luoqing River flows from north to south to Guilin Mansion, and the waterway is just downwind.

The ships took their baggage and hoisted their sails, and went to Guilin with the south wind, and the march was really easy. As soon as everyone arrives in Guilin, they can use the Li River to go north. There is convenient water transportation, unless it is forced to do so, and there is no reason to give up!

Wu Gao knew that some people in the army criticized him for his cowardice, and after repeatedly questioning the scout sergeant, he finally made a compromise and ordered the whole army to go north along the Luoqing River.

Some of the regular soldiers of Guangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian military nationality were neither literate nor able to speak official language, and Wu Gao could not even understand a word when speaking dialects; He also had to maintain good relations with the generals in Guangxi and other places, so that the generals could properly control the military households under his command.

A group of generals rode to the Chinese army, and Wu Gao immediately called the soldiers of the scout battalion to come and question.

The general called over a dozen scouts who had returned in the last two days. The sergeant who spoke first was from Guangxi, and sure enough, after speaking for a long time, Wu Gao didn't understand anything. He turned his head to look at one of his generals.

At this time, someone translated: "The villain only returned to Liuzhou Mansion in the middle of the night last night. More than 1,000 cavalry of the rebel army have arrived in Liucheng County (100 miles northwest of Liuzhou), and the Liucheng Governor County has gathered the people to gather fast hand archers, and they dare not go out behind closed doors. The rebel vanguard requisitioned boats and planks on all sides, and forcibly rented them from the villagers at the price of a penny and a door panel, intending to build ten pontoon bridges on the Liujiang River! ”

Another sergeant said in official words: "Lord Hou, west of the Liujiang River in Liucheng County, the enemy's vanguard is building a barracks fence, and a large camp can accommodate eighty or ninety thousand people!" ”

"The small one is in the west of Yishan County (a hundred miles west of Liucheng County), and I saw that the official road was full of dust, and it looked like the smoke of a fire in the mountains, and the people and horses were like a big black dragon. The little flag chief said that there must be more than 100,000 people! The little flag chief took a few brothers and continued to the west from the mountains to see what was going on, and asked the little one to come back first. But the little one came back for a day and a night, and he didn't see the little flag chief, and he was very worried, and he didn't know if the brothers had been caught or lost......

"The people who came from Qingyuan Mansion said that the rebel army was coming to Yishan County."

The last general also heard the news, and many passers-by and people said that the rebel army was 100,000 strong! It's to the west of Yishan County. ”

A civil servant presented several official documents. Wu Gao took it and looked at it, there was an urgent official document from the magistrate of Liucheng County, asking the official army to go to the rescue, and there was also a report from the post station.

The military general next to him said: "It seems that until last night, the rebel army has not yet arrived in Yishan County. Yishan County marches east to Liucheng County, which is 100 miles away; From Liucheng County to the east of the Luoqing River, there are another hundred miles! We set out for the north this morning, and in less than a hundred miles, we will be able to leave the rebels behind. Hou Ye has no worries! ”

Wu Gao was silent, and after learning about the disturbing reports and official documents, he suddenly stared at one of the sergeants and asked, "You just reported and came back without seeing the whole picture of the enemy army?" ”

The sergeant hurriedly said: "We just met the rebel army on the official road, and the little flag commander sent the small one back first. For the rest of the matter, the little flag commander took the two brothers to continue to investigate. ”

Wu Gao turned his head and said, "Send someone to see the number of rebels with your own eyes!" ”

"Master Hou Mingjian, wherever the main force of the army is around, there will be a lot of sentry scouts and scouts. The brothers are easy to be caught when they get close, and it is even more difficult to see from beginning to end, and it is even more difficult to ......" the military generals of the scout battalion hugged their fists.

Wu Gao said coldly: "That is the scout is incompetent!" If you rely on guessing every time, a few months ago in the mountains of Guizhou, the old man was ambushed by the rebels and the whole army was wiped out! Can you still wait here? ”

"The last will be ordered!"

Wu Gao said, and marched south with the Chinese army escort and a group of honor guards. Not long after, several pontoon bridges appeared again on the Luoqing River, and the infantry cavalry army without baggage was crossing the river lightly.

At this time, the wooden ships were limited, and the ships that could carry more than 50 people were large ships; The naval fleet of the Ming Dynasty was large-scale and topped all over the world, with huge treasure ships, hundreds of warships, and only 20,000 navy. Wu Gao had an army of 100,000 troops, and it was only 300 miles to Guilin, so the soldiers would definitely not be able to take a boat, so they could only walk.

The main official road is on the east bank of the Luoqing River; Moreover, there is a river shield to the west of the army, which is not easy to be disturbed. Therefore, after the main force of Wu Gao's army crossed the Liujiang River, it continued to cross the Luoqing River and marched along the main road.

…… Two days later, on the morning of the first day of August. As soon as Wu Gao got up, he received a newspaper from the Liuzhou Mansion (similar to the later Tang Bao). Yishan County and Liucheng County fell one after another; Many panicked civilians are fleeing in the direction of the capital city of Liuzhou.

These things are bound to happen. There are almost no soldiers in ordinary county towns, and it is okay to rely on the temporarily convened people to deal with bandits, and it is strange that they can hold on to the regular army led by the vassal king. Wu Gao guessed that the magistrates should not have defended the city, and they must have surrendered.

Wu Gao even expected that after he led the main force of the army to leave Liuzhou Mansion, once the rebels sent troops to Liuzhou Capital, the Chinese Martial Arts in the city would also surrender without a fight!

He was not interested in paying attention to these local cities, and the princes of the imperial court and Zhang Fu, the commander of the Pinghan army, did not ask Wu Gao to garrison Guangxi.

Wu Gao rode on his horse and watched the magnificent scene between heaven and earth. On the river in the distance, the gray sails are like clouds, dotted between the green mountains and green waters; The road was full of cars and horses, and the army queue was nowhere to be seen. The sound of drums and footsteps sounded in various ways, as if echoing on the side of the western mountain.

Wu Gao looked at the large blue mountains and forests in the west, blocking the entire western sky. He stared for a long time, then looked back to the left and right and asked, "What's behind that mountain forest?" Have any scouts ever visited you? ”

A Guangxi general replied in an official dialect with a peculiar accent: "The mountains and forests in the west are endless, up to Guilin Mansion, and there are almost no people. The soldiers will go into the mountains to explore, and they are afraid that it will be difficult to come out; You have to take a detour to the southern foot of Yangshan, and then go north to Rong County.

In a large area in the northwest of us, there is only one county seat, which is Rong County; The hundreds of miles are inhabited by natives from various tribes, as well as seedlings. The south of Rong County is easier to walk, but as soon as you get out of Rong County, it is a vertical and horizontal mountain forest. As far as the last general knew, no one went to that place except for the smugglers who wanted their lives to avoid inspections! ”

"Ben Jiang has heard people talk about ...... before," Wu Gao said.

The Guangxi general added: "The local officials and soldiers will occasionally go into the mountains to quell the rebellion and arrest the bandits, which is also a last resort. There are so many rebels, and they are from other places, if you go into the mountains, there is a chance that you will get lost! ”

Wu Gao nodded lightly in response. But somehow, there was always a sense of foreboding in his heart!

Perhaps because the two armies were too close to each other and easier to contact, Wu Gao habitually felt nervous. The mountains and forests on both sides of the Luoqing River made him feel even more vaguely tight.

At first, this ominous dullness was only a feeling without evidence. But in the evening of the next day, on the second day of the eighth month, Wu Gao received an urgent report, which made him even more nervous!

The report of the rear army scout generals wrote that a large number of rebels, about 10,000 people, crossed the Liujiang River and suddenly turned north and marched!

Wu Gao's face changed suddenly after reading it, and he immediately thought in his mind that the north of Liucheng County was Rong County. Around Rong County, there is no city within a radius of 100 miles, which is the mountain road that the generals said "only the outlaw and smuggler salt dealers walk".

What are the rebels going to Rong County for, and what is their purpose? The number of people crossing the river is relatively easy to see, only more than 10,000 people; Where is the main force of the rebels?!

Three or four days ago, the scouts found out so much news about the movements of the main forces of the rebels, all of them were fake news?!

Wu Gao hurriedly convened the generals to discuss the matter, and first asked the general of the scout battalion: "On the morning of July 29, I order you to send scouts to carefully investigate the strength of the rebels. Is it done? ”

The scout general clasped his fists and said: "The last general has sent someone, but it's only been three days, and the person hasn't come back yet......" The general saw that Wu Gao's face was not good, and he hurriedly said, "Please surrender the guilt!" ”

Wu Gao ignored him anymore, still unfolded the map, staring at the map and was silent.

His son-in-law Geng Hao cautiously persuaded: "Master Hou, let's set off early in the morning of July 291 and go until now. As long as you travel for three more days, you will be able to reach Guilin Mansion......"

The generals seconded the proposal and suggested that Wu Gao continue to go north.

But Wu Gao didn't let go, his brows were furrowed, his fingers poked heavily on the picture, and suddenly scolded: "He|mother|! ”