On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, it was originally the Lantern Festival, but Wu Shiji was quite upset, and the "application for interception" had been sent out for seven days, and he had not yet waited for a reply from the state, and I don't know if the state agreed.

What made him even more anxious was that there were already rumors in the city: a rogue army of more than 80,000 people was marching in the direction of Yingzhou and Taihe County, and some people even said that they had seen gunpowder smoke and fire in the direction of Yingzhou last night, and Yingzhou City was afraid that it had been lost.

Yingzhou City is lost, and there must be many rogues, and I am afraid that the matter of "applying for interception" will be yellow......

When he was eating pancakes with salted radish, his subordinates reported that Liukou had entered Taihe County and was about to enter the city.

Wu Shiji immediately put down the bowl and chopsticks, and led the people to rush to the head of the city to supervise the battle, the Liukou had not yet attacked the city, he inspected the four gates, and found that the situation was not as severe as the legend: the Liukou outside the city, there were only about 2,000 people, not the 80,000 as previously said.

"The thief is just a bluff!" Wu Shiji spat at the mouth and scolded fiercely.

However, more than 2,000 rogues are still very critical for Taihe County, and the villagers in the city are all drawn from ordinary people, with very little training, no combat experience, no armor, and even weapons are not neat.

Not to mention fighting, seeing the rogues outside the city, many villagers are fighting and almost want to go first!

At the critical moment, the squires in the city stood up, and the fire in Yingzhou made them completely wake up: the officers and soldiers want property and women at most, while the rogues want everything, including their lives.

Students Hou Gonghong, Guan Yujuan, and Zhao Zhihong took the initiative to ask Wu Shiji for war.

Wu Shiji was overjoyed, and regardless of whether the three of them had military talent or not, he immediately assigned tasks: Hou Gonghong guarded the north gate, Guan Yujuan guarded the east gate, and Zhao Zhihong guarded the south gate.

The villagers were almost paralyzed by fright, but with Hou Gonghong taking the lead, they were a little bolder, it was really dangerous, and these squires who were usually powerful and blessed would still rush to the front?

At the head of the north gate, Hou Gonghong saw that the thieves were about to attack the city, and the villagers did not dare to approach the city and countryside, so he opened his bow and arrows and shot the first arrow to the city, which hit the arm of a rogue, and the rogue suddenly covered his arm and squatted down.

Xiang Yong saw that the rogue was also flesh and blood, the same would bleed, the same knew the pain, and his courage became stronger and stronger, so he picked up all kinds of weapons in his hand, approached the daughter wall, and met the rogue who was besieging the city.

At the east gate, Guan Yujuan saw that there was a spy close to the waterway, and wanted to wait for the thieves to enter the city, so he braved the dense arrows and stones, flew into the waterway, and closed the door of the waterway.

Wu Shiji personally guarded the west gate, and under his personal leadership, Xiang Yong repelled the attacks of the rogues again and again, and the city and the city were like a bloody rain.

At the head of Nancheng, Ma Fu Sun Xueshi saw that the rogue on the cloud ladder was wearing a hood and armor, and he was extremely brave, and he was estimated to be the leader, so he threw the short stick in his hand, picked up a grinding disc as a rolling stone, and used his strength to smash it towards him.

The leader was at the top of the ladder, waiting to climb the city, one hand had already put on the parapet wall, saw the heavy grinding disc smashed, wanted to dodge, it was too late, was hit in the face by the grinding plate, and his brain burst on the spot......

The rogues were busy snatching the corpse of the leader, and the siege gradually relaxed, and the fierce battle lasted until noon, when the rogues finally failed to climb the city, and were forced to retreat, and set up camp ten miles outside the city.

As if to avenge their leader, the Liukou launched four more sieges, but they were all repelled by the townspeople in the city, and on the 17th, the Liukou saw that Taihe County could not be attacked for a long time, so they withdrew from the siege.

Wu Shiji just heard the message from the chaotic soldiers, and it turned out that it was the leader of the rogue nine dragons killed by Sun Xueshi.

However, before Wu Shiji could recover from his excitement, two bad news came from his subordinates: The tax task for the new year has been issued, and it is still the amount of last year, and nothing is missing.

Compared with the tax, the next message is to make him sit on pins and needles: on the fifteenth day of the first month, Fengyang Mansion only resisted for half a day, and was captured by the general Zhang Xianzhong, and more than 20,000 officers and soldiers guarding Fengyang were all annihilated, the guard general Zhu Guozheng was killed in battle, and the prefect Yan Rongxuan was captured.

What made Wu Shiji tremble with anger was that Zhang Xianzhong distributed the grain in the treasury of Fengyang Mansion to the local poor people, asked them to cut down hundreds of thousands of pines and cypresses in the imperial tomb, demolished the surrounding buildings and the Longxing Temple where Emperor Hongwu became a monk, and then dug up the emperor's ancestral grave, and at the same time killed all the rich households in Fengyang......

When he heard these messages, Wu Shiji almost fainted, and just when he was rushing to drink saliva to suppress the shock, another sergeant came to report: Yingzhou City is broken, Zhizhou Yin Menglong, and Zhou sentenced Zhao Shikuan to be killed......

What Wu Shiji didn't expect was that with the arrival of the Liukou, the thieves in Taihe County also rose up when they heard the news, with more than ten shares of size and size, the largest of which was headed by Wang Benren, almost overnight, the subordinate thieves expanded to thousands of people, and even the villagers did not dare to go to exterminate them.

………………………………………………………………………………

On the 25th day of the first month, more than 8,000 cavalry of the three divisions converged in the Hexi Governor's Palace, and Li Zicheng also came to the Longshou City, where the Hexi Governor's Mansion was located, and personally saw off the three departments.

Li Zicheng warned them that when they arrived at Helan Mountain, grain and grass had to be supplied by the Wata Buangbu, but the Watabu Nang was not an enemy of the Mandate of Heaven, and as long as they were willing to "become Han nationality and serve God", they would try not to cause killing.

What he hopes most is that the Watabu Tribes can be like the Tiger Cavalry of Heishui Mansion and the Wolf Cavalry of Dragon Capital, which can not only accept naturalization, but also defend this grassland for the Mandate of Heaven Army.

With the current situation of the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion, it is simply not able to immigrate to Helan Mountain in large numbers, besides, even if there are Han people who are willing to settle down here, what will they eat? Is Helan Mountain suitable for agricultural production?

Even if Helan Mountain is suitable for agricultural production, will the Han people be able to protect themselves? In the steppe, the most combative are still nomads!

Gao Yigong and Li Guo both nodded in agreement, Wang Junzhuo hesitated for a moment, and saw that Gao Yigong and Li Guo had already expressed their positions, so they reluctantly agreed.

Li Zicheng knew that Wang Junzhuo's body was full of Mongolian blood, and it was impossible for him to become a Buddha on the spot, anyway, both sides of the fight were Mongolians, besides, with the nomadic nature, if there was no massacre enough to make them terrible, it would be just wishful thinking to make them obedient.

He deliberately didn't say anything, but just let the three of them act cheaply, and the generals went out on the expedition, so they didn't have to ask for advice on everything, and they had to react according to the situation on the battlefield.

Li Zicheng's words are actually to allow Wang Junzhuo to kill and plunder, but not excessively, let alone let the western set of Helan Mountain guards become a barren land.

At dawn the next day, the three divisions immediately set out from the capital of Long, and the troops were divided into three routes: Wang Junzhuo's wolf cavalry, out of the northeast direction, along the north of Shengquan Mountain, and then turned east, taking the northern line, the goal was Wolf Mountain, and then returned from Helan Mountain to the south;

The tiger cavalry with high merit also went out of the northeast, crossed the Shiyang River, crossed the desert, passed through the salt pond, and approached Helan Mountain from the middle road;

Li Guo's third battalion, which took the southern route, bypassed the southern edge of the desert, and then went north to Helan Mountain.

After the successful breakthrough of the three divisions, they converged in the western set of the Helan Mountain guard, if the Wata Buang Department was willing to submit to the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion, the three departments left Li Guo's third battalion after making the necessary pacification, and received the Han officials to take up their posts, and the tiger cavalry and wolf cavalry returned, if the Wata Buang Department did not completely surrender, they had to concentrate the cavalry to fight until they surrendered.

Wang Junzhuo, Gao Yigong, and Li Guo led their respective cavalry to find their own prey, and Li Zicheng did not return to Lanzhou for the time being, but summoned Wu Dawei, the governor of Hexi.

Wu Dawei was originally an ordinary person, because he knew a few words, he was recruited by the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion and served as a clerk under Liang Wencheng, when the Hexi Governor's Mansion was established, with Guo Shijun going to serve outside the Saiwai as a deputy, Guo Shijun returned to Lanzhou, and he took over as the governor of Hexi.

It is said that he is the governor, and he is not subordinate to his own army, and when he needs to use troops, he can only borrow troops from Li Guo, and he has no independent financial power in his hands.

This time Li Zicheng came to the Governor's Mansion to see off the cavalry, and he also participated, and when he heard that Li Zicheng was going to talk to him alone, he was both excited and nervous, and maybe there was some expectation, he couldn't tell himself, but he just gave Li Zicheng a big salute.

"Dawei doesn't need to be polite, get up!" Li Zicheng sat on the main seat in the hall, and in turn gave Wu Dawei a seat.

Wu Dawei was sincerely frightened, and after letting the attendant serve tea, he saw that Li Zicheng was silent, so he asked the attendant to retreat.

Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said: "Dawei, the Hexi Governor's Mansion is subordinate to the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion, during this time, are the people disobedient?" ”

"No," Wu Dawei said: "Maybe the people were frightened by the tiger cavalry and the wolf cavalry, since the establishment of the Hexi Governor's Mansion, there has been no rebellion of the herdsmen, in fact, under the wings of the Hexi Governor's Mansion and the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion, the herdsmen live better, and they no longer have to worry about the invasion of other tribes." ”

"That's good, if you want to naturalize the aliens, you have to let them taste some sweetness, they are also the same as the Han people, interests, is the guarantee of everything, Dawei is in a high position outside the Saiwai, remember to care for them from time to time, as long as it is not a matter of principle, do not force the herdsmen!"

"The subordinates understand, and the subordinates will remember the teachings of the Grand Governor!"

Li Zicheng nodded and said, "It's been so long, how is the construction of the Dragon Capital going?" Have you started road construction? ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, his subordinates have opened up some roads along the areas where herdsmen are concentrated, but they are just ...... It's just that the road is relatively narrow, and it is only suitable for war horses......"

"The governor of Hexi doesn't have many people, so it's good to open up some roads," Li Zicheng stretched out his thumb to Wu Dawei and said, "Dawei has worked hard!" ”

"It's not hard, it's not hard!" Seeing that Li Zicheng did not have the legendary majesty, Wu Dawei calmed down a little in his heart and said in a low voice: "It's just ...... It's just that on both sides of the road, there is already the edge of the desert, and the wind and sand are together, and the road may be swallowed up by the dunes......"