It is said that when Yan'an Mansion in northern Shaanxi was in the second year of Chongzhen, the climate throughout the year was really not suitable for human survival.

In the spring ploughing season, the people planted wheat seedlings, hoping to be moistened by rain, but not a drop of rain fell from the sky. The heavens are not beautiful, and the people have no choice but to dig wells for water.

When the people dig the well, they encounter trouble again, the water level of groundwater in this place in northern Shaanxi is relatively low, and it is generally necessary to dig more than 15 meters to get water, and when the well water comes up and is poured in the field, it can still solve the problem of irrigation.

After the wheat seedlings drink water, the growth is not bad, even if the weather is dry, it doesn't matter, follow this trend, the sun shines every day, maybe the photosynthesis is sufficient, and the yield can be a little higher.

Who knew that God would not let the people of northern Shaanxi get their wish.

By the time of August of the lunar calendar, drought-tolerant wheat no longer needed to be moistened by rain, but the heavy rain in the sky was sparse and non-stop. In addition to the rain, there are sometimes strong northwesterly winds howling from outside the plug.

As a result, under the strong wind, some of the wheat seedlings fell to the ground, soaked by the rain, and most of them rotted.

After that, even if some wheat seedlings escaped the torture of drought, heavy rain, and northwest wind, there was no need to rejoice too early.

In mid to late August, the frost fell early and the temperature was extremely low, so all the wheat seedlings that escaped the drought and heavy rain and strong winds were frozen to death.

Now there is no way, the power of nature is endless, even in the modern society of later generations, people are not the opponents of nature, let alone the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, in the second year of Chongzhen, most of the prefectures and counties in Yan'an Prefecture in northern Shaanxi were all lost. It stands to reason that when it comes to this, the state and county officials should report to the imperial court, saying that there is a famine, and they must stop collecting taxes and send grain for relief.

However, these state and county officials were not on the contrary, and not only did they not exempt the people from paying taxes, but they continued to collect taxes.

And here's why:

Northern Shaanxi is a poor and bitter place, and there are often military disasters, so after the Jiajing year, scholars from Jinshi are reluctant to go to northern Shaanxi to be officials, and the imperial court will appoint more people from Juren.

After the Wanli year, not to mention the Jinshi, he was not even willing to raise people, so since the beginning of the Apocalypse, the imperial court sent those who really failed to pass the Jinshi examination, the old Juren who was already forty or fifty years old, and the losers of the eight-strand literary education such as Gongsheng, who could not even take the exam, to become officials in northern Shaanxi.

Because of their low educational qualifications, these state and county officials did not have their fellow villagers, and in the same year, they were discriminated against in the officialdom because of their teachers. If you do a good job, you will only be slightly rewarded, and if you make a small mistake in your work, you will be severely punished.

Under such a high-pressure policy, these state and county officials will inevitably use too much force when they do things, so even if the harvest in northern Shaanxi is cut off and the taxes cannot be collected, the officials will definitely use this as an excuse to punish those who raise people and pay tribute to the crimes of the county officials.

So those officials collected taxes as usual in the famine years, and the people resented it. Since then, there have been people who rebel and rebel everywhere in the prefectures and counties of northern Shaanxi, and these people who make rebellion are thieves.

By the time of Chongzhen's third year, the thieves had almost looted the villages, towns, forts, and villages in northern Shaanxi, and the countryside was no longer able to eat, so the small group of thieves merged into a large group of giant thieves and began to besiege the cities of the prefecture and county.

The three thousand thieves who are now outside the city of Mizhi County, under the leadership of Wang Zuohang, surrounded the county seat.

At this time, in the county seat, in the county office, Yan Zibin, the magistrate of the county, was sitting on the Taishi chair in the public hall, with a dull face and empty eyes.

The master beside him was anxious like an ant on a hot pot and kept asking: "Tang Zun, Tang Zun, now that there are thieves besieging the city outside, what should we do?" ”

The master bookkeeper asked many times in a row, and finally pulled Yan Zibin back from his unconscious.

Yan Zibin, who woke up, was upset when he saw his master bookkeeper's sad look, so he said angrily: "What are you howling here? Thieves besiege the city, we don't have a single soldier here, can we still go out to meet the enemy? Of course, it is to recruit the people, go to the city to hold on, and then wait for reinforcements. ”

"But we sent a distress document to Yulin three days ago, but now we haven't even seen the shadow of the official army, what should we do?" The master said in trepidation.

"What else can I do, ask Yang to inspect and organize the people and strongmen, go to the city, resist me, and wait for reinforcements." Yan Zibin didn't have a good airway.

"Tangzun, is it okay to let these people go to defend the city, I heard that there are hungry people on the side of Fugu who opened the city gate and let Wang Jiayin enter the city." The master said worriedly.

"If it doesn't work, it has to be done, otherwise you and I will guard the city gate?" Yan Zibin rolled his eyes and said.

"The hall has a lot of opportunities, how can you go to guard the city gate." The master hurriedly laughed.

"It's good that you know, by the way, did the Li family and the Cao family send someone to find me yesterday?"

"Yo, look at my memory, the Li family and the Cao family sent someone to send a thousand taels of silver yesterday, saying that it was the hard work of the hall to guard the city, and they specially sent it to reward the hall honor." It was only then that the master bookkeeper squeezed out a smile and said.

"Hey, the people of the Li family and the Cao family see no one in this county on weekdays, and they regard this county as nothing. Now that the thieves are besieging the city, I remember that I am the official of Mizhi's parents. You don't have to give me this money, but give it to the people who defend the city. Yan Zibin said.

"Honor, what do you do to those people?" The master book was puzzled.

"If the thieves break through the city, even if I have more silver, what's the use, it's not for the thieves to go, it's better to reward the people and defend the city, we can at least save our lives, and defend the city, it is also a credit, and it can always make the officials happy." Yan Zibin replied.

"In this case, my subordinates know, so I will go and ask Yang to inspect and distribute silver." The master made an expression of sudden realization, and then he was about to walk out of the county office.

"Walk slowly." Yan Zibin suddenly said loudly.

"Honorable, what else do you command?"

"You go talk to the Li family and the Cao family later, and ask them to send a family Ding Nursing Home to help defend the city gate, to be honest, the city gate is guarded by a group of people, and I am still not very relieved."

"Yes, Honorable." The master answered the sound and was about to raise his foot, but was stopped again.

"You and remember, although the silver I asked you to take and distribute was sent by the Li family and the Cao family, since it was given to me is my silver, if you and Yang Inspector dare to embezzle, I will definitely let your heads fall to the ground before the thieves come in." Yan Zibin suddenly said in a fierce voice.

"Whatever the cousin said, even if his subordinates have ten guts, they won't dare to embezzle your money." Seeing that Yan Zibin was extremely serious, the master hurriedly replied with a smile on his face.

"Well, that's very good, okay, I have nothing to say, you can go and do things first." Yan Zibin waved his hand.

"Yes, cousin, then the subordinate will go now." After the master finished speaking, he was worried that Yan Zibin had something to say again, so he walked slowly.

Yan Zibin saw the style of his own master book, and said loudly angrily and funny: "What are you still doing here?" Don't hurry up and do something. ”

"Yes, respect, my subordinates will go."

The master bookkeeper heard the urging of his own magistrate, hurriedly increased the accelerator, walked out of the court, and went in the direction of the city gate.

**************

At the same time, outside the city of Mizhi.

The army of 3,000 displaced people surrounded the city closely, staring at each other with the Mizhi people who were defending the city, but the tragic scenes of siege and defense did not appear.

The scene outside Mizhi City is so peculiar, but it is because it has been three days since the Wandering People's Army came to Mizhi City, and during these three days, the Wandering People's Army only besieged the city, and never attacked the city.

This order not to attack the city came from the hand of the king.

The leader of the thieves, who had such fierce men as Li Zicheng under his command, was standing at the back of his team on horseback, and more than 200 cavalrymen stood around him.

These 200 cavalry members are the elite troops of his king's left, and the rest of the thousands are just cannon fodder that can be consumed at any time.

At this time, the leader of the exile army was looking at Mizhi City with an anxious expression, and after he looked at it for a while, he beckoned a knight behind him to his side.

This knight who was recruited by Wang Zuo is called Wang Zhichen, and he is a young man from the same village and clan. The two joined the army all the way and rebelled together, and now Wang Zhichen is already the king's right-hand man.

When the king's ministers walked to his side, the king asked on the left side: "Zhichen, the siege of the city has been three days, and there is an echo of the fine work sent to the city before?" ”

"Big leader, there is no response from the fine work sent out, but I don't know how the situation happened?" Wang Zhichen replied in a muffled voice.

"Then will it have any effect if we shout at the city?" Wang Zuohang asked again.

"Shouted! I have said many times, open the city gates, kill the rich, and you will be able to eat enough every day. As a result, there was still no movement in the city, and in the end, the defenders at the head of the city threw down a few heads, for fear that those who wanted to respond to us would spoil the poisonous hands of the government. Wang Zhichen sighed.

"How's that for good? No one is in the city to respond, so how can we rely on a few of us to attack the city? Wang Zuohang frowned.

"Big boss, there are no officials and soldiers in Mizhi City, there are only some officials, there are only 20 people who can break the sky, and we have 3,000 people, even if we use people, we can pile them in." Wang Zhichen spoke again.

"It's not impossible to forcibly attack the city, but the casualties are too great! But it's not possible to spend it here, we don't have enough food. Wang Zuohang groaned.

"Otherwise, we'll drive those hungry people to attack the city now." Wang Zhichen said.

"Wait another day, if there is no response to the fine work in the city, then we will attack the city in a big way." Wang Zuo made up his mind.

"Okay, big boss, tomorrow we will attack the city, as long as we enter the city, we will have a good life again." When Wang Zhichen saw that his leader allowed the siege of the city, he immediately overjoyed.

"Well, we'll ........ tomorrow."

When Wang Zuojiao was about to arrange the specific strategy for attacking the city tomorrow, he was not wary of a knight from riding a horse and galloping in front of him, and said in horror: "Big leader, the big thing is not good, a group of officers and soldiers came from the direction of Yulin, all on horseback, the number is about 1,000 people, there are still 20 miles away from us, and it will be there in the blink of an eye." ”

"What if the officers and soldiers are here! It's not that I haven't seen it before, why are you panicking? Go, tell the people in front of you to pull everyone over, and let's go and meet the officers and soldiers for a while. Wang Zuo ordered with a dark face.

"Yes, Chief." The knight received the order, and went straight to the front of his own ranks, and went to summon the outcasts who were still besieging the city.

When the small leaders of the exiles heard that the big leader was summoned, they each led their subordinates to retreat slowly, and then followed their own leader's horse team to the north.

The array of these besieging exile troops moved, as if they had the intention of retreating, and the Mizhi people, who were always nervous at the head of the city, breathed a long sigh of relief.

"The thieves have retreated!" The people defending the city rejoiced and erupted in cheers.

"Master Fang, why did the thieves retreat?" Mi Zhiyang, who had been supervising the defense at the head of the city, saw that the enemy army was retreating for no reason, and he didn't understand, so he asked the master book around him.

"How do I know!?" Master Fang, who was sent by Yan Zibin to distribute the bounty silver, didn't understand what happened, so he replied stiffly.

"Why don't I send a few people to check on the situation?" Yang inspected the attitude of the other party's master bookkeeper and didn't care, he suggested.

"That's fine, send a dead man who is good at riding horses to investigate the situation, and we can report to the cousin." Master Fang agreed.

"I'll arrange it." After Yang Inspector finished speaking, he walked down the city wall and went to look for the knight.

After a short time, a small crack opened in the west gate of Mizhi City, and a knight rode out of the horse, heading straight for the direction of the king's retreat.

*************

However, it was said that Liu Renyu had heard that Wang Zuo's men and horses were under Mizhi City, and he thought that he would be able to see Li Zicheng immediately, so he was extremely excited, and took Liu Wuguo's troops to speed up the horses, leaving his own carriage convoy behind, and galloped all the way towards Mizhi County.

When he galloped with the team for a while, he suddenly saw a large group of people blocking the official road.

This group of people, men, women, and children, all of them, even children can see a lot, standing without any formation, scattered, if you only look at the clothing, some people will mistake these people for ordinary people.

But they weren't ordinary people, because they had horse teams, and most of them had a guy in their hands, and the guy with it had a bit of a ferocity on his face.

In this way, of course, this team is a thief.

For Liu Renyu, it is not strange to see thieves on the official road, what is strange is the reaction of thieves.

It is said that since Liu Renyu killed the Beiyu and raised his troops, he has encountered many thieves, basically the thieves have fled when they meet his troops, and no thief has ever dared to block him in front of him so arrogantly as now.

The officers and soldiers of the Jingbian Fort Army saw that the thieves were so arrogant, so they vied with each other to lead the troops to kill the thieves, and among the people who asked for battle, there was no doubt that Yang Desheng and Zhang Tieniu were the most active, and Wei Zhongyi, who was next to Liu Wuguo, was somehow also enthusiastic to ask for battle, looking extremely excited.

Liu Renyu did not allow them to fight, he felt that the exile army was acting like this, there must be some arrangements, so he had to wait and see.

And Liu Wuguo saw that Liu Renyu refused to send people to fight, so he asked: "Why didn't Brother Xian send people to kill the thief?" ”

"Brother, those thieves actually dare to block the road, I think there must be some reliance, you see there are some hills on both sides of the road, we haven't investigated yet, why don't we see what they want to do first, let's take this opportunity to send someone to check whether there is an ambush on the mountain, and then make a plan, okay?" Liu Renyu asked Liu Wuguodao.

"That's what I mean, so let's do as you say." Liu Wuguo replied.

"Renjie, quickly send someone to inspect it, is there an ambush on the mountains on both sides?" Liu Renyu ordered.

"Yes, sir." When Liu Renjie received the order, he went to arrange his own manpower to investigate the enemy's situation.

At the same time, there was a knight holding a white flag in the rogue camp on the opposite side, and he rode his horse to a place 50 steps away from Liu Renyu's official army, stopped his horse, and then said loudly: "In the past, it was Zhao Si'er, a soldier in the border camp of Yansui Pacification, dare to ask which military master is the general?" ”

Hearing this question, Liu Renyu wanted to beat the horse and run up to reply, but when he was leaving, he remembered that Liu Wuguo was still there, so he hurriedly stopped the horse and said to Liu Wuguo with a smile: "My brother is a guerrilla general, and your official position is the biggest here, please go out to answer." ”

Unexpectedly, Liu Wuguo waved his hand and flatly refused: "I said when I was in Yulin, let's come out to fight, we will listen to your arrangement, don't say more, brother Xian, let's go." ”

"In that case, it is better to be respectful than to obey your fate." After Liu Renyu finished talking to Liu Wuguo, he beat his horse and ran out of his camp, and then replied to Zhao Si'er solemnly: "A certain family is the general here, what is the matter with you?" ”

"The general, the little one is called Zhao Si'er, he used to be a border army, and his life was extremely hard. At that time, the imperial court did not pay for a long time, and we were poor. And the errand appointed by the imperial court must be done by us, and we are angry, so we rebelled. Then Zhao Si'er said loudly.

"Who wants to listen to you talk this nonsense. Let me ask you, today I am here with my great soldiers, and I only ask you whether you are fighting or surrendering? Needless to say. Liu Renyu had no interest in Zhao Si'er's words.

"Hehe, general, we have also seen the notice posted by the imperial court, and we know that the imperial court intends to recruit peace. However, our leader said that natural disasters are constantly occurring in northern Shaanxi, and the government has no extra money and food, even if we surrender, we will not have a full meal, so naturally we will not surrender. Zhao Si'er said with a smile.

"Then what nonsense are you still talking about here, you go back, and we will start a war." After Liu Renyu finished speaking, he planned to turn his horse and leave.

Seeing this, Zhao Si'er hurriedly persuaded him: "General, go slowly, we still haven't finished speaking." ”

"If you have something to say, say it quickly, and if you have a fart, let it go." Liu Renyu said impatiently.

"General, the imperial court treats the border army so poorly, why do you have to do solid things for the imperial court. Let's see if you can be flexible like this, you can make an account to the imperial court, and we can continue to live. ”

"How do you come up with a workaround?" Liu Renyu asked.

"The imperial court talks about military merits by the head, and we have a lot of heads here, so our leader is willing to give hundreds of heads to you, and you can take them back and pay them back. In addition, the chief of my family is willing to give 2,000 taels of silver for the general to use, and another 1,000 taels of silver to buy wine and drink for the brothers. Zhao Si'er said with a smile.

"Let me think about it." Liu Renyu pondered for a while and replied.

"The little one is waiting for your reply, General." After Zhao Si'er finished speaking, he turned his horse back to his own home.

Liu Renyu also dialed the horse back to his own position.

When Liu Renyu returned to his camp, Liu Wuguo and others surrounded him.

"Did you hear what that thief said?" Liu Renyu asked.

"I heard it all." The crowd replied.

"The conditions proposed by the thieves are indeed tempting, you can easily get the first rank, and there are thousands of taels of silver to use, we can still not damage our strength, this deal is really very tempting."

As soon as Liu Renyu's words came out, the military attachés on the side of Jingbian Fort did not react, only Liu Wuguo nodded again and again when he heard it.

And when everyone saw Liu Wuguo nodding, they all looked at him with a strange gaze.

Seeing this, Liu Wuguo felt that the people in Jingbian Fort might have misunderstood him, so he hurriedly said hatefully: "We are entrusted by the Hongjunmen, of course we can't secretly communicate with the thieves, brother Xian, just speak, do you want to fight?" ”

"It's definitely going to be hit. But we'll have to wait until we don't close the night to confirm that there is no ambush. Liu Renyu replied.

********

At the same time, opposite the camp of the thieves.

Wang Zuojiao heard Zhao Si'er say that Liu Renyu had to think about it, and thought that Liu Renyu was doing the work of his subordinates, so he ordered his subordinates to pick out 500 homeless people and bring them to himself.

"If you meet the officers and soldiers again, according to the rules, you must be dedicated to the officers and soldiers as military merits. Don't worry, if you die, I can keep your family from dying. "The king left hung to the 500 wanderers.

When the 500 homeless people heard this, they were silent for a while, and then a few of them said loudly: "Since we are certain to die, please ask the leader to reward a full meal, and we can also be full ghosts." ”

"No problem, minister, give them food and let them eat before they go on the road." Wang Zuo hung up.

"Good, Chief." And when the king's servants received the commandment, they took the 500 exiles and went to get food.

"Wu Dayin, you prepare the silver and send it over when the time comes." Wang Zuohang then ordered.

"Yes, Chief." This person named Wu Dayin took the order and went to prepare the silver.

When all this was ready to stop, Wang Zuo looked at the officers and soldiers opposite, and said to himself: "I really don't know what those officers and soldiers are thinking, it takes such a long time to think about it!" ”

***************

At this time, Liu Renyu and Liu Wuguo, the two generals, were discussing how to crusade against the Wang Zuo Hanging Army.

The night reconnaissance cavalry sent out by Liu Renjie has returned, saying that there is no shadow on the mountain, which means that the exile army did not send people to ambush on the mountain, and Liu Renyu was very relieved when he heard it.

"I thought they had some tricks, they were counting on buying us, we are great soldiers, how can we be bought by just thieves, brother, don't you say?" Liu Renyu asked.

"That's natural, since we've confirmed that the thieves don't have ambushes, let's kill them." Liu Wuguo suggested.

"There must also be a goal for rushing and killing, brother, you see, this gang of thieves obviously takes that gang of horseback as the core, and when they rush to kill later, they don't have to worry about anything else, just chase and kill that guy on horseback." Liu Renyu explained the strategy and the plate.

Liu Wuguo listened to this strategy, nodded again and again, and the others did not have any opinions.

The strategy was decided, and then the Jingbianbao army and Liu Wuguo's army moved quickly under the command of their respective generals, preparing to charge in a cone formation.

However, it was said that Wang Zuohang saw the movement of the officers and troops on the opposite side, and judged that the officers and soldiers were only afraid of attacking, so he immediately shouted: "The wind is tight." ”

Then before he finished speaking, he had already ridden his horse and walked away, and the rest of the horse army saw this, and they also reacted very quickly, turned their horses and left, and ran away.

Thousands of horseless homeless people were left to flee for their lives.

"Damn, run so fast, chase after it." Liu Renyu saw that the thief's Ma Jun ran out in the blink of an eye, and hurriedly ordered loudly in shock.