At the end of September, Qu Neng's army had occupied Yongningwei (Xuyong County) in Xuzhou. The king of Han guarded the north division of the imperial mansion, and he did a spy errand; At this time, the Han Wang's army passed through Yongningwei, and it became easier for Beisi to send more people into the hinterland of Sichuan.

Li Rang, the commander of the Chengdu guard, returned home after being off duty, and the servant quietly told him that a man who claimed to be his cousin had been waiting for half an hour.

Li Rang entered the mansion, went to a room at the back door, and asked someone to bring his "cousin" in.

During the Hongwu period, Qu Neng served as the commander of the Sichuan capital, and Li Rang followed Qu Nengping to build Chang Yuelu Timur rebellion. But in the Yongle period, Li Rang was excluded from the Sichuan capital and became a commander, which was the result of his many walks in Chengdu.

During the Yongle period, Li Rang followed the King of Han to fight in Annan, and with the merit of accompanying the expedition to Annan, he had the opportunity to return to the capital. But within a few months, King Han reversed!

Li Rang could only quietly not mention Annan's credit. But fortunately, for the time being, no one has involved him in the rebellion of King Han; At the beginning, the Han army on the Western Road to Annan had 70,000 soldiers from Sichuan.

The person who came to the mansion claimed to be named Zhang Sheng, and he was indeed a "cousin", but he was the cousin of Wang Yu of the hundred households of the Han Dynasty. Zhang Sheng took out the note sewn into the dirty clothes, the paper was relatively small, with the handwriting of King Han and Qu Neng, and the words written were also very short, and the handwriting of King Han read: The pseudo-emperor is jealous, it is better to vote for me, and he will be crowned a marquis.

The paper is also stamped with the gold seal of the King of Han, but the red seal coincides with the handwriting, and the cover is too small because the paper is too small.

Zhang Sheng whispered: "King Han and Marshal Qu are both old friends of General Li, and the King of Han wishes General Li to join his command, and he will not hesitate to reward him." ”

Li Rang immediately replied: "The soldiers under my command are gathering, and they will follow the new Fengyang Wuhou Xue Marshal to the south in the near future." The generals and civil officials have been edicted, and the families of the soldiers are all in Chengdu Mansion, and I am afraid they will not follow me. I am only in the Han King, what is the benefit? ”

Zhang Sheng hurriedly said: "The King of Han said that General Li was under the command of Marshal Qu and also followed the King of Han in Annam. Although you have nothing to do at the moment, you can't help but think about the long term. Besides, General Li is a person who misses old friendships, so why don't you think about it carefully? ”

Li Rang sighed: "Do you know that there are people in my house and in the army? When I saw you, I took a great risk, and I didn't report you today, and let you go, because of the love between King Han and General Qu.

The intention of the King of Han must be to let me find an opportunity to lead the army to surrender; But I can't do it alone. There are military laws and rules in the army, unless I discuss with the generals and civilian officials of the army first, and mutiny together, how can I make everyone listen to me about such a thing? ”

Li Rang thought for a while and said in a deep voice: "Unless ......"

Zhang Sheng hurriedly asked, "How?" ”

Li Rang said: "Unless the King of Han can capture Chengdu...... It's a bit too much to say, but at least defeat Xue Lu's main army! At that time, it must have been much easier for me to ask the soldiers to surrender with me. However, at that time, I was also a prisoner of the Han King, and the Han King may not be able to tolerate me. ”

Zhang Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "King Han said that when General Li comes to vote, it is his own people. However, if you wait for the Han King to settle in Sichuan, General Li will definitely have a big difference in credit. ”

Li Rang smiled bitterly: "What credit do you have to talk about now, as long as there is a way to live, it is good." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at the letter, which was only a few words, tore it up repeatedly, and kneaded it in the palm of his hand as if it were the juice that could be squeezed out of a mass of torn paper.

…… Chongqing Wei commanded Xu Hua and Qu Neng's old department. He once followed Lan Yu Qu Neng and quelled the rebellion of the Sanmaodong barbarians on the border between Sichuan and Huguang.

The North Division of the Han King's Imperial Mansion still sent someone to contact Xu Hua, and he took an earnest letter written by Qu Neng, and finally met Xu Hua. Commander Xu is a man with a long face and a high hairline on his forehead, not tall but giving people a rough feeling.

Xu Hua was also merciful, and did not arrest the fine work immediately, but his reply was also very direct and straightforward.

Qu Du commanded the envoy? How many years ago did this! From Asari to Sichuan, people have changed a few stubbles. There is a saying that people go to tea and cool, Qu has been gone for so many years, how many people under my command will listen to him?!

King Han? I know that the brothers who came back from Annan not long ago, there are also people in Chongqing Wei, and I heard that they are good soldiers and can fight well...... I heard that Yang Wuhou's forward will arrive in Luzhou soon, and I am afraid that it has already arrived at this time.

When the two armies meet, if the king of Han can defeat the army of the Marquis of Yangwu, the brothers will be able to talk. The two brothers of the emperor's family are fighting for the country, there are a lot of such and such news, and the local brothers are also confused, how can most people not listen to the holy decree at this time?

……

In mid-October, Qu Neng's army marched along the Yongning River, passing through Xuzhou (Xuyong County) and arriving at Naxi County, Luzhou; Zhu Gaoxu led his army through Xuzhou.

The two armies marched back and forth for more than a month, and the Wusada Luzhou Road was not very easy to walk, but since the Yuan Dynasty, post stations and roads have been repaired frequently, and it is indeed much easier to walk than the five-foot road.

Zhu Gaoxu and the others did not encounter any decent resistance. Several guards of the Acropolis and the county seat, seeing a large number of troops who were also regular troops of the Ming army, and obviously could not count on the imperial army to rescue them in the mountainous areas, most of them surrendered relatively happily.

The soldiers of the post station had no choice, and the few people in the post station were facing tens of thousands of heavily armed troops, and the resistance was self-slaughtering.

The two armies received the surrendered troops along the way and sent the surrendered generals. The number of Qu Neng's army increased to 22,000, and the number of Zhu Gaoxu's army increased to 45,000. But at this time, Qu Neng's army stopped its march in Naxi County, and the Great River (Yangtze River) stood in the way. Not only did the Qu Neng army have no warships, but they could not find ships nearby at all......

When night fell, Zhu Gaoxu was reading Qu Neng's letter in the big tent of the Chinese army.

The Third Division of Sichuan and the General Military Office issued martial law orders to all the prefectures and counties in the major river valley in Sichuan, and all the ships of all prefectures and counties along the river were transferred from the river or burned on the spot.

At the same time, Xue Lu, the chief military officer of Sichuan, the commander of Sichuan, and the Marquis of Yangwu, successively mobilized a large army, and the total strength was expected to be about 100,000 foot cavalry. The advance of the official army is on the north bank of the Dajiang River in Naxi County, and the Chinese army is in Fushun County (Zigong), which can advance along the Tuojiang River by land and water, and reach the Dajiang River in Keri......

The spies sent to the hinterland of Sichuan by the Beisi of the Han Wangfu were caught, and some returned. When Zhu Gaoxu read the recital of "People Go to Tea and Cool", he inevitably felt a little emotional.

From the Guizhou capital division, scouts and fine works have also returned. Zhu Gaoxu mostly met in person and asked in detail.

At this time, in front of Zhu Gaoxu, there was a sergeant from the North Division. The sergeant arrived in the army in the morning, and Zhu Gaoxu had only read the report of the North Division; Now he summoned people to meet with him.

The sergeant said: "Gu Cheng's army is coming to Bijiewei!" There were a lot of people and horses, and the post road was full of officers and soldiers. ”

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "How many people are there?" ”

The sergeant said, "At least 100,000!" ”

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly glanced at the sergeant, and saw that the sergeant looked very excited all day, and knew that this person must have exaggerated the military situation...... In general, this is not a lie about the military. When I came to spied on the military situation, I was uneasy in my heart, and I might not be able to understand it; Second, as long as there is a large army on the post road, the battle is very frightening, and the actual judgment may be affected by fear.

Previously, when Zhu Gaoxu was in Annan, there were also scouts who reported the military situation, saying that the Annan army had two million! How can this kind of news be believed? The population of the Ming Dynasty was more than ten times that of Annam, and it was completely impossible to mobilize two million soldiers and civilians.

"Sergeant, go to the tent and rest, calm down." Zhu Gaoxu said to him and did not reprimand.

"The little one quits." Sergeant holding his fists.

Zhu Gaoxu stood up and bowed his head in contemplation. Several generals around him, as well as Miaojin, whose head was tightly wrapped, did not make a sound.

The generals who stayed behind in Bijiewei yesterday also delivered a report. According to the report, the scouts found a large number of men and horses of the Guizhou Division and marched to Bijiewei; There were few men and horses left in Bijiewei, and it was difficult to defend the city, and the generals were ready to abandon the Bijie Acropolis and rush north to the Han Wangzhong's army.

The news from two different sources both showed that the Guizhou army was marching into Bijie, and Zhu Gaoxu believed that this was relatively reliable information. The number of centaurs is questionable......

Most of the Guizhou guards are on the post road, and it should be achievable to mobilize a considerable army in about a month. But the main force is coming to Bijie?

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but bury his head and took a closer look at a map of Wusada Luzhou Road and Guizhou Division. Although the map is sketchy, the general orientation and the main road are not wrong.

Bijiewei is located in the northwest of Guizhou Dusi (Guiyang), on the Luzhou Road in Wusada...... If Gu Cheng wants to take advantage of the situation to attack Yunnan, the main force will definitely not go to Bijie, he should go to the southwest to Qujing Military and Civil Mansion; Walking around the festival is simply going in the opposite direction, and there is no reason to go around in a big circle. The road in the southwest region was not easy to walk, and Gu Cheng went to Yunnan from Bijie after he was full.

So, Gu Cheng wants to follow the main force of the Han Dynasty army to the north? Then the Guizhou army and the men and horses of the Sichuan capital division attacked from the north and south, and fought a decisive battle with the main force of the Han army?

Zhu Gaoxu paced for three or four steps, and then he felt that it might not be big.

Because although the idea is good, the difficulty of the operation is too high. The transportation in the southwest mountainous area is inconvenient, and the main post road from Guizhou to Sichuan is under the control of the Han Wangjun, what can Gu Cheng and Xue Lu do to launch a decisive battle together accurately?

It is definitely useless to make an appointment in advance, there are too many factors on the battlefield, and the military situation is changing rapidly. A rain of mud can make their trip unexpected.

If Gu Cheng came north, unless he was confident that he would defeat the nearly 70,000 main forces of Zhu Gaoxu and Qu Neng's armies alone, this strategy would be useless.

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly looked back left and right and said: "Gu Cheng's people and horses are not too many, he wants to cut off my back road and grain road!" ”

However, even if Zhu Gaoxu guessed correctly, the situation does not seem to be good now.