After Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng's team rested in Bozhou for a few days, they decided to go west to Gansu.

Gao Junshan said to Gao Yingxiang: "After the Xingyang Conference, the 72nd battalion of my thirteen families was invincible all the way, and they fought to Fengyang, shocking the government and the opposition. Now my thirteen brothers from all walks of life are facing the invading officers and troops, and they are still in accordance with the policy of 'dividing the troops and orienting them', and I cannot act contrary to the policy set by my brother, so I want to go east to Suzhou, so that I can plan my father's westward journey. ”

"Good!" Gao Yingxiang was overjoyed, "My son has grown." ”

Gao Junshan knew that Gao Yingxiang would die at the hands of Sun Chuanting in another year, and if he still followed Gao Yingxiang at this time, he would be the real "second fool".

After Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng led their men to the west, Gao Junshan was also planning to enter Suzhou in the east.

Liu Wenxiu was about to leave Bozhou, and several of his little friends Ergou and Shiwa were reluctant, and on the day they left, they were sent five miles away in tears.

According to the reports of Feng Shuangli and Tian Fang, Xuzhou, Yingzhou, Chenzhou, and Shangqiu all had heavy troops, only Suzhou was empty, and Hong Chengchou was still in Runing and was busy besieging Zhang Xianzhong.

Three days later, Gao Junshan ordered Bai Wenxuan's fourth battalion to be the vanguard and advance in the direction of Suzhou, with Cao Wenzhao's second battalion serving as the rearguard.

Suzhou, located between Xu and Beng, is the throat of the north-south traffic, and has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times.

When the fourth battalion arrived at the city of Suzhou, it was getting late and the sky began to rain, Bai Wenxuan ordered the troops to camp ten miles outside the city gate, so the soldiers braved the rain to set up tents, build trenches, set up camps, and bury pots to make rice.

When the Ming court officials and soldiers learned that there were thieves coming to attack the city, they had already closed the city gates and waited for reinforcements.

Bai Wenxuan Pegasus came to the moat under the west city gate, and raised his eyes to see that the city wall was three zhang high, and if he wanted to attack it, it would be difficult to take the city in a few days.

He rode back to the barracks, and while giving a report on the high mountains, he ordered the construction of a ladder.

Gao Junshan received Bai Wenxuan's report and immediately convened a joint staff meeting.

Present at the meeting were military advisers Bai Lisha, Liu Hongru, Tian Wenju, and Li Xin, as well as Cai Zhishan, Red Army Friends, and Cao Wenzhao.

Gao Junshan informed everyone present of Bai Wenxuan's report, and everyone agreed that Suzhou is not advisable, in addition to Chengjian, the weather is also a very important factor.

Tian Wenju suggested: "In view of the continuous rain and the difficulty of the road, we might as well build boats, take the waterway, go down to Lingbi and Hongxian, and then enter Honghu." ”

Gao Junshan first vetoed Tian Wenju's suggestion: "Absolutely not. First, we have no boatmen, and second, we don't understand water warfare, so we are so reckless to go deep into Honghu Lake, and our future is worrying. ”

Liu Hongru proposed: "Let's kill the horse pistol and then fight Fengyang." Hong Chengchou wouldn't have thought that we would offend Fengyang again, so Fengyang's defense must be lax. ”

Gao Junshan also vetoed this proposal, very simply, Fengyang has been ransacked by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and there is not much oil and water to fish, and Hong Chengchou's men and horses are in that area to besiege Zhang Xianzhong, if Fengyang has something, he will desperately return to help.

Cai Zhishan also said a plan: "King Qin, I have an idea, I don't know if it's feasible." ”

Gao Junshan encouraged: "Please come to Bolan Dao." ”

Cai Zhishan talked eloquently: "The current situation is that the three directions of my north, south and west are heavily guarded by officers and soldiers, and Suzhou in the east is not easy to attack, and this Bozhou is not a place to stay for a long time, and the army of the imperial court has already shown signs of gathering in Bozhou. I think that as long as we quietly follow King Chuang, keep a distance from him, let King Chuang be our pioneer, and wait to jump out of the encirclement of the imperial court before acting. ”

The Red Army friends were all worried: "This is a bit unauthentic, right?" Let King Chuang be the pioneer for us, but not let King Chuang know that we are behind him. ”

Li Xin smiled slyly: "The Art of War says: Soldiers, treacherous." The key is that I can't let King Chuang know that I am behind. ”

Tian Wenju said: "This is easy to do, we don't play the banner of 'Chuang', but replace it with the banner of Lao Huihui or Cao Cao." ”

Liu Hongru objected: "This will not work, the two armies are too close, King Chuang will definitely send someone to contact us, so that he will know that it is us." ”

Cao Wenzhao said: "We can pretend to be the army of the imperial court, so that King Chuang mistakenly thinks that it is Hong Chengchou's pursuers, and they will not send people to contact us." ”

"It's a great idea." Gao Junshan adopted the generals' suggestions, "I order: all the second battalion should be dressed as the vanguard, and follow King Chuang's team westward, Bai Wenxuan will stop attacking Suzhou, turn around and return to the division, and all the troops will immediately set off west with me!" ”

Gao Junshan's troops traveled hundreds of miles a day, followed Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng to Shangcai in Henan, and at this time received information that Hong Chengchou had left Runing.

Gao Junshan convened another military meeting in Shangcai, and the core of this meeting was to formulate a plan to attack Ruyang.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai had already captured Luzhou, Anqing, Hezhou, and Chuzhou, and had been fighting along the Yangtze River to Yizheng in Jiangsu; Ma Shouying drove down the river from southwest Henan through Xiang and Fan in Hubei, marched to the eastern part of Hubei, and joined up with He Yilong, He Jin and other battalions entrenched in the Huoshan area.

These two families attracted Hong Chengchou's main force to the past, greatly dispersed Hong Chengchou's forces, and he was beyond the reach of Ruyang.

Ruyang is the seat of Runing Province. The governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, with the title of prince and Taibao, the secretary of the military department, and Hong Chengchou, the governor of the military affairs of Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang, and Sichuan, his camp is located here.

He planned a plan to encircle the rogues here, and when the rogues in Fengyang fled in all directions, he couldn't sit still, because Zhu Youzhen gave him an order to eliminate this rogue in six months. He had to pursue, he had to go to the front in person, so he moved his camp to Luzhou, and handed over Ruyang to the deputy commander-in-chief Yang Hualin to garrison.

Yang Hualin took over Ruyang, he only had 2,000 men and horses on hand, and he was afraid that there would be remnants of thieves, so he shrank all the 2,000 men and horses in Ruyang City to defend them.

On this day, a scout came to Yang Hualin in a panic: "Report——! There is a group of thieves from Bozhou who have arrived in Shangcai. ”

Yang Hualin asked: "What banner is it playing?" ”

Tanma reported: "It is the banner of the word 'Chuang'. ”

Yang Hualin wanted to retreat from the horse, he looked at his lieutenant general and asked: "Sixian, this time the thieves are coming, do you have a strategy to resist the enemy?" ”

His lieutenant's name was He Zhongrui, who was short and fat, with a small mustache, and when he heard the inquiry, he pondered for a moment and said, "With our little soldiers and horses, it is not appropriate to take the initiative to attack. Send more scouts out to see where the thieves are going. ”

Yang Hualin nodded in agreement: "It can only be like this." ”

The next day, there was another report from Tanmalai that the thief had passed Shangcai and fled in the direction of Nanyang. Yang Hualin breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the report, and he said to the deputy general He Zhongrui: "Sixian, fortunately we didn't attack, they didn't come at us. ”

He Zhongrui smiled slyly: "I think they are going to Shaanxi." ”

Two days later, Tanma reported again, and another army appeared in Shangcai.

Yang Hualin asked: "Which thief is it this time?" ”

Tanma replied: "General Yang, this time it's not a thief, it's Guanning Iron Cavalry." ”

"Guanning Iron Horse?" Yang Hualin glanced at the adjutant general with puzzled eyes.

He Zhongrui also asked: "Which general is it?" ”

Tanma replied, "I don't know, we don't dare to approach." But what is certain is that they are chasing the thieves in front of them. ”

After the horse went down, Yang Hualin asked the adjutant general He Zhongrui: "Do we want to attack and assist the Guan Ning army?" ”

He Zhongrui smiled sinisterly: "It's none of our business, our duty is to guard Ruyang." ”

The next day, Hou Tiancheng, the commander of Ruyang County, hosted a banquet for Ruyang's dignitaries and businessmen at the "first winery in the world" in Ruyang, and Yang Hualin and He Zhongrui were the guests of the banquet.

Before the banquet, everyone gathered together, scrambling to take turns to toast Yang Hualin, congratulating him on keeping Ruyang peaceful.

Yang Hualin was happy in his heart, in the face of everyone's toast, he laughed excitedly, drank one cup after another without hesitation, and people were also drunk, he patted the shoulder of Hou Tiancheng, the county magistrate, and said: "Know, know the county, please rest assured, with me, I Yang is here, thieves, thieves, thieves don't, no, don't dare to come to Ruyang to make trouble." ”

After speaking, he raised his wine glass again, drank the wine in the glass, and then lay down on the table and was silent.

The guests all applauded and cheered.

At this time, He Zhongrui on the side also stood up, he held a wine glass, staggered to the county magistrate Hou Tiancheng and said: "Lord Hou, yes, there is me, He Zhongrui is here, what is the king of Chuang, the eight, the eight kings, the king of Hengtian, the king of Shuntian, they all want them to meet and see the king of Hades!" ”

Hou Tiancheng stretched out his hand to support He Zhongrui, who was about to fall, and was about to say something, when a guard ran in: "Report ——, General Yang, thieves were found outside the city." ”

He Zhongrui staggered and couldn't stand steadily, he shook his head and asked the guards: "What banner to fight, what flag?" ”

The guard replied, "I didn't see it with my own eyes, I don't know which way it is." The two generals are invited to hurry back to the camp. ”

Hou Tiancheng said to the guard: "Your general is drunk, quickly help them back to the barracks." ”

When all the people present heard that there were thieves again, they left their seats one after another.

The next day, Yang Hualin's barracks.

Yang Hualin, who had just woken up, scolded his guards loudly: "The thief came yesterday, and he only reported to Lao Tzu today, what are you eating?" ”

This unlucky guard was scolded and didn't dare to come out.

He Zhongrui asked, "How many thieves are there?" Under what banner? ”

The guard was aggrieved: "I don't know, I came back from Tanma to report." ”

"What about others?" Yang Hualin asked.

"Outside the tent."

Yang Hualin kicked the guard: "Fuck, don't let him in yet." ”

In a moment, the probe horse ran in.

"Report ——, found a gang of thieves outside the city."

Yang Hualin asked, "How many thieves are there?" ”

"Three or four hundred."

"Under what banner?" Yang Hualin asked again.

"It's under the banner of King Suncheon."

He Zhongrui also asked: "In what direction?" ”

"In the jujube grove in the north of the city."

"Let's go down!" Yang Hualin ordered Tanma to retreat, and then asked He Zhongrui: "Sixian has a clever plan?" ”

He Zhongrui rolled his eyes and said: "I think these three or four hundred thieves must be the remnants of escape, and the jujube forest is only twenty miles away from us, we can eat it, and we can also receive a reward from Hong Chengchou." ”

"So how do you eat it?"