In early August, Zhu Gaoxu bid farewell to the officials of Yunnan and the people of Fucheng, and led a large army out of the city.

There were nearly 10,000 guards and guards accompanying him, and 5,000 infantry of the main army of the guard. Carriages and horses are heavy, artillery, firearms, armor, and armaments are readily available. The mighty men and horses came out of the east gate of Yunnan Prefecture, marched northeast along the post road, and soon entered the mountains.

The post road in the mountain is mostly built along the valley, winding and twisting, the team of more than 10,000 people does not see the beginning and the tail, the pennant covers the sky, the honor guard is luxurious, and the momentum is also huge.

The army marched slowly; Every time he arrived at a town station, Zhu Gaoxu ordered to set up camp, beat gongs and drums, and shook cannons at the mountains and forests. The loud sound of artillery frightened countless birds in the air, and the people of all ethnic groups were also panicked when they heard the news.

Less than 300 miles from Yunnan Mansion to Qujing Mansion, the Ming army led by Zhu Gaoxu walked for ten days. When I arrived at Qujing City, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. The military generals of the Acropolis of Qujing Mansion and the officials of the government brought many people over to send wine and meat to the army, and Zhu Gaoxu participated in their Mid-Autumn Festival dinner and enjoyed the moon together.

Then for two days the army was training on the school ground, and the drums and trumpets rang out in unison and the cannons rang out, making the city of Qujing very noisy. It was not until 18 August that Zhu Gaoxu led his army south to Yuezhou, and then marched eastward and camped on the shore of Shuicheng Lake.

On the shore of a large body of water, Zhu Gaoxu stood under the yellow umbrella of the embroidered dragon, looking at the sparkling water in the west for a while, and looking at the east for a while.

From this point of view, the mountains and forests are not high; However, the terrain is high in the east and low in the west, so the line of sight is very unopen, and it is blocked by higher mountains not far away, and nothing can be seen in the distance.

"Build a fence and ditch on the east side of the barracks, keep watch day and night, and send scouts to search deep to the east." Zhu Gaoxu immediately ordered.

Wang Bin hugged his fists and said: "Get the order!" ”

The generals looked east one after another, and seemed to understand what Zhu Gaoxu meant. The terrain on the east side is high and the line of sight is not good, so if you are negligent in your defense, it is easy to be suddenly attacked by the enemy troops coming over there......

However, at the moment, there is no threat to be felt, and the situation here and now is too lonely. Except for the men and horses in the Ming army camp, there was hardly even a single Yi ordinary person who could not be seen; And everyone didn't seem to believe that the Yi thieves would take the initiative to attack the well-equipped Ming army.

Maybe there were a lot of Yi people living here, but Zhu Gaoxu slowly swallowed the earthquake cannon, and the people had already run out. The current situation is not that there is a threat of hostile situation, but that the cannon fights mosquitoes, and there is no thief to be found.

At this time, a local guard general pointed to the other side of the water and said, "King Han, please look, those earthen walls on the other side are ruined." ”

Zhu Gaoxu looked out under the dazzling sunlight, and sure enough, he saw that there seemed to be traces of a walled city on the west bank of the lake, so he nodded.

The military general said: "Back then, the Yi people of Yuezhou rebelled, and they occupied that place and built a walled city, called Shuicheng. However, in the twenty-seventh year of Hongwu, as soon as our army arrived, Shuicheng was eradicated, leaving only a ruin. Now the Yi tribe is in turmoil, but they don't know where the nest is, and they don't even know who the leader is, maybe there is no leader at all......"

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "Those thieves went east?" ”

The military general nodded, pointed to the east and said: "There is a big mountain over there, called Dongshan, the mountain is high and the road is steep, the jungle is lush, and the Yi people are now running to the mountain and building a village on the mountain." We can't see it from here, but we can see it if we walk another twenty miles. ”

At this time, Changshi Li Mo said: "Two days ago, the prince drank and admired the moon with the magistrates in Qujing Mansion, and had some friendship, why didn't the prince send someone to invite two magistrates to come to the army?" Maybe the locals can find some Yi people as guides for the army, so that they can go into the mountains to suppress the bandits! ”

"Didn't someone say just now, Dongshan Mountain is high and densely forested, and the Yi villages are all built on treacherous mountains, let's fight, when will we fight? Can you win it in two months? Zhu Gaoxu said disapprovingly.

Li Mo was stunned and said, "The prince plans to pacify the rebellion in Yuezhou in two months? ”

Zhu Gaoxu nodded very seriously: "It's useless to find the Yi people, you have to find the Han people." ”

There was a lot of talk about it.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu ordered again: "Let it go, this king wants to negotiate with Liu Tai, the governor of the former Tuzhizhou." Those who lead Liu Tai to meet in the camp of Shuicheng will be rewarded with 20 copper coins, 10 cows, and 20 sheep! ”

The generals commanded. When the scouts caught some Yi mountain people, Zhu Gaoxu also asked people to release them, and asked them to go back with the news of the bounty.

…… The Ming army was stationed near Shuicheng with peace of mind, and had no intention of continuing the war. Zhu Gaoxu ordered people to open up a school field and began training soldiers every day.

He gathered together 100 military generals from each battalion, a total of more than 100 people, and then personally taught them the commands and movements such as standing in a military posture, sitting in a military posture, walking in unison, turning left and right, etc., which Zhu Gaoxu learned during military training anyway.

The Ming army itself also attached importance to the formation, and the infantry was probably able to maintain a neat formation, because the formation was one of the most important tactics of the infantry; But it's always not so good-looking.

Zhu Gaoxu felt that the current queue training could at least play one role: that is, to make the military look more neat and majestic, and to confuse the opponent. At this time, many generals observe whether the opponent is worthy of battle and whether it is elite, and generally only observe the military appearance queue of the enemy formation.

First, the hundreds of households learned it, and then they went back to the camp to teach the soldiers. Teach as you learn.

But Rao is such a simple matter, and it has not been able to develop completely according to Zhu Gaoxu's wishes. Soon the barracks were full of whips and the screams of crying fathers and mothers, and there seemed to be only one way for the generals to train their soldiers, and that was to beat them.

After a few days of training, hundreds of households supported Zhu Gaoxu very actively. In this way, they can take the opportunity of teaching the soldiers to beat the soldiers in all kinds of righteous and open ways to establish their authority. When Zhu Gaoxu asked, the generals said that the sergeants were stupid and could only be whipped.

So Zhu Gaoxu issued another military order in the Chinese army, during the queue training, it is strictly forbidden to beat up soldiers.

…… At the end of August, the Chinese army overlooked the report, and Liu Tai, the former governor of Yuezhou, and others asked to see him.

Zhu Gaoxu immediately called Zhao Ping: "Rectify the personal guards and welcome Liu Tai and others into the account to meet." ”

Zhao Ping hugged his fists and said: "Order!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu also hurriedly changed into a red regimental dragon uniform, wore a black yarn and a sword, and went to the chair in the middle of the big tent to sit down and wait. Sometimes these pompous ceremonies are useful, that is, to let others see the status and strength of his prince, so that they can talk about practical things.

Outside, there was a chorus of fiery bells, followed by drums and trumpets. Under the guidance of the neat armor guards, three men and a swarthy boy of eleven or twelve years old entered the Chinese army's tent.

An older man in front of him was the first to kneel on the ground, and the three people behind him also bowed. The man in front of him may be forty or fifty years old, wearing a right cloth robe, combing his hair in a bun and wearing a turban, he bowed and said: "The criminals Liu Tai and Bo Yi, together with Lu Ning, the son of the former Tuzhizhou Azi, and the righteous brother Ma Peng, knock to see His Royal Highness the King of Han!" ”

"No courtesy." Zhu Gaoxu sat on the chair and said loudly.

After a few people got up from the ground, Zhu Gaoxu spoke: "The Yi people in Yuezhou rebelled and killed the officials, the court was furious, and the king led the army to pacify.

Today, the king was ordered to lead a large army of 50,000 troops, and the army was between Qujing and Yuezhou, with weapons and sufficient grain and straw, and the bandits were punished. The generals wanted to surround Dongshan with a large army on all sides and raze the Dongshan villages to the ground; However, this king did not like to kill too much, so he remembered Liu Jiang's matter and persuaded Tuzhizhou Longhai to surrender to the king of Qianning, and wanted to discuss the matter with Liu Jiang before making a decision. ”

In the file of the Yunnan Metropolitan Division, the affairs of Yuezhou have long been clearly written. Zhu Gaoxu knew about Liu Tai, and it was also through the official document of the Dusi.

Liu Tai had a flattered expression, and hurriedly hugged his fists and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Han Mingjian, this chaos is really not the work of the grass people. The Yi tribe is greedy for profit, and the grass people and the people of Azi in Tuzhi Prefecture are all opposed; I have persuaded them many times, and the warning will be reciprocated by the government! But it didn't work...... How many words do grass people have that they don't know whether to say or not? ”

Zhu Gaoxu said: "Liu said that it doesn't matter. ”

This man is no longer Tuzhizhou's business, and Zhu Gaoxu still calls him a problem, clearly indicating that he has the intention of wooing.

Liu Tai bowed and said: "In that year, Ah Zi was destroyed by the official army in the Shuicheng Wall, and in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, the imperial court took advantage of the situation to set up officials in Yuezhou. But until now, the Yuezhou Prefecture has neither been able to manage the Yi villages, nor has it set up a guard post, and the defense is empty; And Tuzhizhou does not exist, and the Yi natives cannot control the villages, so that the natives with all surnames have rebelled.

The illegal things on the post road were profitable, and later, even Uncle Lu Ning, who listened to us, was quietly involved in it, and we really couldn't stop it. The grass people said a lot, and asked His Royal Highness the King of Han to forgive his sins. ”

"Well said, well said." Zhu Gaoxu didn't care, and was very satisfied with the attitude of Liu Tai, a Han man, "What does Liu mean, the rebellion is just caused by the uncontrolled tribes of the Yi tribe?" ”

Liu Tai hugged his fists and said: "The grass people are foolish, that's exactly the case." ”

"Hmm......" Zhu Gaoxu made a voice, looked at the other three people, and pointed to the eleven or twelve-year-old swarthy young man, "He is the son of Lu Ning and the former Tuzhizhou Azi?" ”

Liu Taidao: "Exactly, Lu Ning is the widow of Ah Zi, Ah Zi rebelled and was executed, Lu Ning grew up in his uncle's mother's house and self-wrong village after he was born. ”

Zhu Gaoxu didn't answer his words immediately, patted the arm of the chair and stood up, and said, "You guys have a good rest in the camp first, and this king will have a banquet in the evening, and then we will talk." ”

Liu Tai hurriedly said: "The grass people are waiting for the order. ”

Zhu Gaoxu glanced at Na Luning again, and saw that the young man also looked up at himself quietly. The boy immediately lowered his head again, and stood there alive, not like a proud offspring.

"Zhao Ping, take them down, so good as to greet them. Each person has a spacious tent. Zhu Gaoxu said.

Zhao Ping hugged his fists and said: "The last general will be ordered." ”

After the group had settled down separately, Zhu Gaoxu went over in person and spoke to the four people separately in order to distinguish whether their words were true or not.