In this spring, it was not Huang Zide who started the military operation first, but Luo Mengde. Luo Mengde spent a peaceful winter in Jingxiang, although he could not coerce the people on a large scale as before, so that his army did not expand much in numbers, and now, it was only more than 7,000 people. But the difference from the past is that in the past, Luo Mengde never had three months to train slowly, he has always just grabbed someone, stuffed him with a wooden gun or a bamboo gun, and then even if he has one more soldier. Although his number is still small, the level of equipment and training of the soldiers has greatly improved. Luo Mengde felt that the strength in his hands even exceeded that when he rebelled again with Zhang Bingzhong.

But it was in these three months that he also saw more and more of Huang Zide's strength.

"Huang Zide is still right. How can this grow without a piece of its own? We're going to get ourselves a piece of land too. Lammond said to his generals.

"King, where are we going to make a piece of land?" Yang Chengen said.

"First of all, this place must be able to support soldiers," said Romond, "and secondly, it must be inconspicuous and not in the way." ”

"What do you mean by being inconspicuous and not in the way?" Wang Lung asked.

Luo Mengde said: "Inconspicuous, that is, we can't let people focus on us first." Do we have more people now? If people take the initiative to target us, how will we live? The so-called not to get in the way, well, for example, let's go to Anhui, join forces with the Fifth Battalion of the Revolution, and take down Anhui, and then what? If the imperial court wants to defend Jiangnan and fight Huang Zide, most of them have to pass through Anhui. Huang Zide wants to fight the imperial court, and he has to pass through Anhui. You see, if we occupy Anhui, it will become a threshold stone, no matter who beats whom, they will step on us first. You say, "Who is to blame for this?" Of course, we blame ourselves for not choosing the right place and getting in the way of others. ”

"So where can you feed the army and not get in everyone's way?" Wang Long said, "Henan is too poor, it is easy to recruit soldiers, and it is not enough to raise soldiers." And you have to go north and south through there, and Henan definitely can't. The place in Shaanxi is too poor, there are too many natural disasters, and it can't afford to raise soldiers. We can only go to Jiangxi now, and it is the south of Jiangxi, and we can't rely on the Yangtze River, otherwise, we will become in the way again. ”

"Then when are we going to Jiangxi? Let's get ready. Yang Chengen said.

"Let's go find Lao Huang again first, and see if I can get something out of him. This winter, we did so much dirty work for him...... In addition, we have to go to Henan first, get more soldiers, and then transfer to Anhui, make a fuss, and then go to Jiangxi......"

Only three days after Luo Mengde went to Henan, Zhang Bingzhong also began to act. Zhang Bingzhong has no talent for governance, and he is not very interested in governing local development and production. In addition, agriculture in Chongqing was not particularly developed. In the past winter, Zhang Bingzhong was busy expanding his troops and increasing the consumption of grain, and now when the spring famine came, the food that Zhang Bingzhong had robbed was about to bottom out, and he had to take action. As for Zhang Bingzhong's goal, there is naturally only one, and that is Chengdu.

"Lao Tzu has long heard people say that Chengdu is a good place, known as the 'land of abundance'. There is no need to worry about floods, droughts and famines. Lao Tzu will go to Chengdu first, and occupy the piece of Chengdu, so that you don't have to worry about running out of food to eat," Zhang Bingzhong said to a few righteous sons, "When Chengdu is occupied, let's go east, to our hometown in Shaanxi, to the south and east, and there are Huang Zide who are good-looking." But as soon as Lao Tzu moved, it is estimated that Huang Zide's shameless one, well, maybe there is also Qin Zhensu's old lady, who will jump out and chase after Lao Tzu's ass. So Lao Tzu also has to guard against them. Well, Kewang, this time you and Yun Zhi will break off. What do you think? ”

"Don't worry, father, I will definitely guard our back road. Huang Zide dares to bite it, let's give him a good look. Zhang Kewang and Zhang Yunzhi stood up together and clasped their fists together.

"Well, Lao Tzu will give each of you 1,000 cavalry and 20,000 recruits. You guys dragged Huang Zide and them for me. This Chongqing, we can't keep it for a long time - grandma's, there is no food to guard a fart. Qin Zhensu, it's okay. Yunzhi, keep an eye on her, don't let this old lady jump out and make trouble for Lao Tzu. As for Huang Zide, hehe, if he doesn't take Chongqing, he is afraid that he will not be able to sleep well in Huguang. All winter, he spent his doggy days preparing the boat. I can't hide it. The imperial court had always been worried that he was building a ship to go down the river, but Lao Tzu knew that he must be fighting Lao Tzu's idea. Now his men are probably ready to set off or have just set off. Heading up the river from the Three Gorges and dragging these boats, no matter how fast he goes, it will take him a month to reach Kuizhou. Kewang, you can resist a little in Kuizhou, that place is narrow, and his forces can't be used. I'll leave you with food to eat for a month, and you can find a way to get some more for yourself. I really can't hold it anymore, and I have nothing to eat, so you take the cavalry to Chengdu. Got it? ”

"Father, don't worry." Zhang Kewang and Zhang Yunzhi replied loudly together.

After leaving Zhang Kewang and Zhang Yunzhi to protect the back road, Zhang Bingzhong took 2,000 cavalry, 40,000 infantry, and 60,000 or 70,000 adult men who were coerced to serve as auxiliaries. And they went to the north.

Two days after Zhang Bingzhong sent his troops, Huang Zide appointed He Zhangqi as the chief general of the Western Expedition, with Xuanyi Dao as the supervisor and Shang Yigong as the deputy general, commanding 2,000 cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and 30,000 slender men pulling boats, and began to march along the Three Gorges Ancient Road to Kuizhou. The water flow of the Three Gorges is turbulent, and the boats on the water have to be pulled by slender men, and the speed is very slow. "Water Jing Note" has "Chaofa cattle, twilight cattle." Three dynasties and three twilight, the cattle are the same", which means that there is a cattle mountain in the Three Gorges. The crew set off from Huangniu Mountain in the morning, and when they stayed at night, they were still next to Huangniu Mountain. After walking for three days and three nights, Huangniu Mountain still didn't look like it had changed at all. This shows the difficulty of going up the river.

Starting from Zigui, the soldiers slowly moved forward along the plank road by the river, and the slender men dragged the boats transporting grain and baggage slowly, and the distance of more than 400 miles took a month to reach the mouth of Qutang Gorge, which is known as the "majestic world" Kuimen. Here, the mighty Yangtze River is squeezed by the cliffs on both sides to a width of only fifty or sixty paces. And there is also a famous big reef in the middle of the river, which is called the Turbulent Pile. The river water is here, the water is turbulent, hitting the pile of turbulence, making a thunderous roar, and the surrounding river water is even more turbulent and rushing, as if it is boiling, and there are large and small whirlpools everywhere. A little further on, facing the mouth of Qutang Gorge, is the famous White Emperor City.

The White Emperor City was built on a section of the White Emperor Mountain that stretched into the river, and it was facing the entrance of Kuimen, which was only fifty or sixty steps wide, and was bordered by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side. Here, not to mention a few cannons, even a team of archers can pose a mortal threat to the fleet up the Shuo River. The roads along the river are extremely narrow, and in many places there are even plank roads that can only accommodate two people in parallel. Zhang Kewang had already set a fire in advance and burned the plank road along Kuimen. Now he personally stationed more than 2,000 elites in this White Emperor City, blocking the path of the revolutionary army's advance.

"Dogs are really looking for a place." He Zhangqi stood on the narrow mountain road, looking at the White Emperor City that Zhang Kewang was tightly guarded, and couldn't help but scold. Then he turned his head to Xuan Yi and asked, "Dao Chief, if this place is going to be fought hard, I don't know how many people will die." ”

Xuan Yi listened, but just smiled and said, "General He, don't worry. Zhang Kewang can't stay in this place for long. There are not many fields in Chongqing, so how much grain and grass can he have? Besides, it is already spring now, the remnants of yin are still there, and the yang energy has risen. Dawn is just a mixture of yin and yang, and fog is most likely to appear. That's where the opportunity comes in. In addition, there is a mediocre road to Sichuan, and although it is difficult to walk, it is not too difficult for a small number of people to enter from anywhere. Hu Yidao is the road they are taking, and they should be almost there. Although there are not many of them, they are still good to use to cause chaos. ”

He Zhangqi nodded after hearing this and said, "But since we have already arrived here, we still have to send someone to meet with Zhang Bingzhong's people first." After all, at least for now, we haven't completely torn our faces with Zhang Bingzhong, aren't we still 'friendly forces'? ”

Speaking of this, He Zhangqi couldn't help but laugh.

……

He Zhangqi really sent a military envoy to Zhang Kewang's side, and proposed to Zhang Kewang that everyone was rebelling and should work together to fight the imperial court. We are not here to trouble the Eight Kings, but to fight side by side with the Eight Kings. So Zhang Kewang, you are blocking the way and not letting us pass, that's not right. We should go to Chengdu together...... In short, it was this obviously shameless rhetoric that almost made Zhang Kewang angry. However, he still had the bearing of "the two countries will not cut off the two countries", so he said: "Less TM nonsense, if you want to go over, you will fight it yourself!" Then he drove the messenger back. Then the two sides confronted each other in the area.

After a few days of confrontation, five people climbed over the mountains and appeared outside the military camp set up by He Zhangqi in Erlong Village. These people are the people sent by Hu Yidao to contact them. These five people are all hunters and medicine collectors in the mountains, and they are the best at climbing mountains and mountains. Now they brought news to He Zhangqi and Xuanyi Daoren, that is, Hu Yidao and more than 300 people have rushed to the area of Chenjiagou in the northeast of White Emperor City.