After entering April, there was a lot less news about Li Zicheng, but there was more news about Zhang Xianzhong in the south. First, Gwangju fell, and then even Xinyang was defeated.

And Zuo Liangyu went to the rescue, but he waited until Zhang Xianzhong and the others left, and planned to hide the facts. reported to the court that it was just a thief who came by chance and killed a few people, nothing serious. However, there is a Xinyang imperial history who reported the truth to the imperial court, but Emperor Chongzhen had no good way but to let Zuo Liangyu atone for his crimes.

Although it is still far from Guide, it also makes the rich people of Guidehouse afraid. After all, he is a thief, he moves quickly, and it is common to run 300 miles a day, so he may arrive at Guide Mansion.

However, this is only a long-term danger, and what really scares the wealthy people of Guide is that the thieves in the east seem to be showing signs of unity. It turned out that the two biggest forces were Yuan Laoshan and Shi Qian, and they disappeared after being defeated by Li Yan. However, the thieves in the east of Guide City are now beginning to change from a loose state to a large group. The most famous of them is the newly emerged "Second Brother Tian".

This "Second Brother Tian" is the general Tian Yong who ran away from Guide Mansion. In the end, he was born in the official army, and he knew that there were many people and great strength, and his subordinates were all officers and soldiers, and their combat effectiveness was much stronger than those peasants. So in just one month, he annexed seven or eight bandits of thieves, let his subordinates control the team, and gathered an army of nearly six thousand.

As he became stronger, other thieves began to take refuge in him, either actively or passively. However, he has limited henchmen and can only control his own team. The other thieves came over and were considered to have joined the gang, he was the leader of the alliance, and those leaders still controlled their respective troops. Therefore, if necessary, he can gather more than 10,000 troops, of course, including the old, weak, women and children, if only the strong, that is, six or seven thousand.

However, this is also a force that is very frightening to the officers and soldiers. In the past two days, Yucheng County and Xiayi County have been asking for help from Guide Prefecture. It's no longer the kind of routine official document that it used to be, but a very earnest plea for help. Moreover, he also used the relationship between the civil gentry and asked Li Yan to send troops to exterminate the thieves as soon as possible, so as not to prevent the thieves from continuing to grow bigger and capture the city. Because this giant bandit "Second Brother Tian" is operating between Yucheng and Xiayi.

In an abandoned small village, the only courtyard that is still intact is Tian Yong's Chinese army tent.

"General," one of his men said, clenching his fists, "the other leaders have arrived." ”

Although Tian Yong became a thief, he didn't dare to give himself too high a position, so he only asked his subordinates to call him a general. Whether this move is a preparation for the subsequent recruitment, even he himself can't say. In short, he is still in awe of the officers and soldiers.

He commanded, "Let them in." ”

The men agreed to go out and ask for someone, and after a while, a group of well-dressed and bell-and-whistle leaders came in. These people used to be farmers, and the first thing that came to mind after grabbing something good or whatever it was, was to dress them up. Some wore Taoist robes, some wore Confucian robes, and some wore armor, which were colorful and messy.

"I've seen Tian Dangjia"

"General Tian, be polite."

……

After everyone came in, they also made a mess and greeted Tian Yong.

Tian Yong reluctantly returned the salute to these leaders. Then he commanded, "Sit down, all the leaders." ”

As soon as the leaders were done, one of the leaders spoke: "Tian Dangjia, are we going to go to Fucheng for a walk?" I've heard that there are displaced people outside the city, so maybe there will be something. ”

After nearly a year of looting in this area, except for the county seat and the big fortress, everything that can be robbed is basically robbed. Now they are also short of food, and they will go to grab it wherever they have it.

Tian Yong frowned, he gathered a large army this time, but he didn't want to go to Guide Mansion to find him uncomfortable. He had seen the battlefield where Li Yan and Yuan Laoshan fought, and the death of that person was layer upon layer.

He smiled: "Zhou Dangjia only knows that the homeless people are being resettled outside the city, but he hasn't heard that it is Li Yan who came?" ”

The other leader spoke, "What about Li Yan?" We're going outside the city, not the city. Besides, it's not been a day or two since he arrived in Guide City, and isn't he also like other officials and soldiers, shrinking in the city and not daring to come out? ”

Tian Yong sneered and said, "Yuan Laoshan and Shi Qian before, they were huge, and they still had so many manpower, weren't they defeated by Li Yan?" Now they all run to Bozhou and don't dare to come again. Zhang Dangjia, you are arrogant, and Li Yan said as if he was useless. ”

The Zhang master sat down stupidly. However, that Zhou Dangjia said: "Since Li Yan is so powerful, why don't you come here to suppress us?" He was a guerrilla general in Guide. I don't think we have anything to fear. No matter how powerful he is, let's just hide from him. Let's go outside the city to fetch food, send more sentry spies, and we'll leave as soon as he leaves the city." Only a few big villages in the county town have food here, but we can't beat it. If we don't go to Fucheng, are we still waiting to starve to death? ”

The other leaders also nodded in agreement: "Yes, the most important thing now is to find food first." ”

Tian Yong raised his hand and said loudly: "Everyone, everyone, listen to me." ”

After everyone had quieted down, he said, "I have already found the food, so I have gathered all of you, so let's work together to get the food out." ”

"Where's the food?"

"That's right, don't sell Guan Zi if you are in charge of Tianda."

……

As soon as the people heard that there was food, they immediately began to ask.

Tian Yong kept pressing his hands, and when everyone was quiet, he said, "Let's go to Xiayi County and fence it off, and let them give us food." ”

"What the hell is the county seat?" One of the leaders said unconfidently: "If you climb the city, how many people will have to die?" ”

"Yes, there are many deaths, and they may not be able to fight down. The county seat was attacked, if Li Yan brought troops to reinforce it, wouldn't we be busy in vain? The other leaders said.

Tian Yong smiled and said: "Don't worry, I got the news that there are only three hundred officers and soldiers in Xiayi County, and they don't dare to let us attack the city." As long as we send them a letter and ask them to give us some food, we will not attack the city, and I believe that they will definitely give us food. ”

"Is there such a good thing?" The leaders asked incredulously.

Tian Yong confidently assured: "Everyone rest assured, the county officials and the rich families in the county will definitely come up with grain." Otherwise, if we attack the city, not only will they not have any food left, but they will also lose their lives. They are smart people and will know how to do it. As long as you go with me to fence off the county seat, a thousand stone of grain, they will definitely give it. ”

Everyone thinks there is some truth, now it's a dead horse to be a live horse doctor, try it first. If it doesn't work, it's not too late to go back to the villages around Decheng.

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