Qingju ferry port more than 20 miles south of Shunqing Prefecture.

Lin Yan enjoyed the sound from the Duwei Tower, while Chen Youfu, who was glamorous and unblessed, was standing on a deserted stone wall on a section of the smoky mountain opposite the ferry, facing the whirring autumn river breeze. He excitedly looked at the surrounding mountainous terrain while chatting with He Yongnian, who came to greet him.

He Yongnian was a tall and handsome middle-aged man, not much shorter than Chen Youfu, the first height of the caravan.

He Yongnian's experience is different from that of his three brothers-in-law, He Zengshan, He Qiukou, and He Tingda. He is not a family member accepted by Master He in the army, but a domestic slave of the He family. He Yongnian has been a slave of the He family since his grandfather's generation. He was born in Hejiazhuang and grew up in Hejiazhuang, which is his home.

After Master He died in the Baiqing Dam, the He family was killed and wounded, and the rest returned to Hejiazhuang.

He Zengshan and others are good at fighting, but they are not good at farming and business, so He Yongnian turned to assist the young master He Youyi to start a sauce garden business and talk about making a living. He Youyi was unwilling to die in the manor, and always wanted to do a big career, so he went to Chengdu to study and see the market, and it was He Yongnian who was also a worker and a farmer to support the young master's expenses and expenses.

Relying on He Youyi's status as a prisoner, relying on the influence and prestige of the He family in the local area, and relying on He Yongnian's shrewdness and ability, Hejiazhuang has become more and more prosperous in recent years.

At the beginning of the year, He Youyi raised the banner of the palace and made a large donation on the other side of the river in Baoning Mansion. More than half a year has passed, and Hejiazhuang already has more than 3,000 acres of land, and the mountain forest pond will be expanded tenfold. The population of Zhuangzhong swelled to 4,000 people, and he was able to fight 35 Zhuang Ding. This time he came out to greet Chen Youfu, and He Youyi took more than 100 Zhuang Ding to go with the boat.

Chen Youfu pointed to the winding Jialing River waterway in front of him:

"Brother He, look: when the river reaches our feet, there is a big meander, almost circling around us, like a natural moat! Look at the hill at your feet, the terrain is towering, the river bank is steep, overlooking both sides. The gentle terrain at the top of the mountain, with mud and ponds for growing grain, and the flat dam paddy fields at the foot of the mountain, are all conditions that have been held for a long time. There are also three inner and outer city walls, and the walls are more than one zhang high. When I came up just now, I saw that even the city gate was ready-made, and it could continue to be used as long as it was tinkered with! ”

"Camp Commander Chen, I followed my father here when I was a child. This place is called Qingju City, I heard the old people say, when the Mengyuan invaded Sichuan, the Song Dynasty government at that time chose to build eight cities, called 'Eight Pillars', this Qingju City is one of them. Cangxi County, which is at the top of Langzhong, has a big city in the east of the county. Going down the river, there is a fishing city in Hezhou. I heard that the two cities of Qingju and Diaoyu were originally a pair, but later a guard in Qingju rebelled, so the Mongol Khan occupied Qingju and attacked Diaoyu City. But the Diaoyu City was indeed dangerous, and the defenders held out for more than 30 years. The emperor of the Song Dynasty jumped into the sea, and the Diaoyu City was not beaten down by the Yuan Tartars. Later, I heard that the emperor of the Zhao family was the heir, and Diaoyu City surrendered ......"

"The terrain of this mountain is good, and it is a place that can be held for a long time!" Chen Youfu nodded heavily and said:

"Such a dangerous place, I don't think it can be easily lost, I have to leave some soldiers to occupy it! In the future, we will occupy Dacheng and Diaoyu City.

Before the trip, the official order of the General Staff said that the third battalion was the advance force of the caravan to protect the country and the people in northern Sichuan. What is an advance team? I didn't understand, so I went and asked the son. Shizi Dao, the advance team is the vanguard of the army. Open roads in the mountains, build bridges in the water, occupy key points, and frustrate the enemy's spirit!

The prince also said that the Jialing River is the dividing line between the east and west of Sichuan, with many mountains in the east and many fields in the west. In the west, after Longquan Mountain, is the rich West Sichuan Plain. Therefore, the Jialing River defense line is the last line of defense in Sichuan, and the local tyrants must be blocked on the east bank of the Jialing River at all costs. If any point of this line is lost, we must immediately counterattack and take it back! If the local rioters are allowed to pass easily, the western Sichuan Plain will be ruined by them, and even if we finally exterminate them, we ourselves will starve to death.

In the future, the thieves will enter Sichuan, and we will also use this method to block them on the east side of the Jialing River. As long as they dare to come, we will tear a piece of flesh from them, and we must not let them easily run around, come and go as they want! ”

He Yongnian hasn't even seen the young master for most of the past half a year, only letters. He didn't know anything about what the prince said. He only knew that according to the requirements of the young master's letter, he unconditionally cooperated with Battalion Commander Chen and Luo Jianjun.

Hearing Chen Youfu say that the prince wanted to defend the entire Jialing River defense line, he inevitably had some doubts: "Then we have too many places to occupy." Guangyuan, Zhaohua, Cangxi, Langzhong and South in the north; Hezhou and Ba County in the south (Chongqing Prefecture Yiguo), more than 1,000 miles from north to south, more than a dozen cities, how many soldiers do you have to defend? ”

Chen Youfu turned his head to look at He Yongnian: "I fled to the provincial capital through Baoning Mansion, and I walked this road." Along the way, I stopped and asked for food while walking, and I walked for almost three months! “

As he spoke, Chen Youfu laughed: "I asked the son, what if the local tyrant or the sacrificial thief drilled through our defense line?" They have many horses, they run fast, they don't bring food, they grab wherever they go. ”

"That's right! What did the prince say? He Yongnian asked eagerly.

"Shizi Dao, it's actually very simple. The so-called line of defense is not a thin layer. Occupy the key points in front of the defensive line, and send scouts to track the enemy and grasp the enemy's movements; Between the key points, there are naval infantry troops maneuvering along the river, and fighting when they encounter the enemy. If the enemy has only three or five thousand men, they can cross the river in one night; If there were 100,000 people, they wouldn't be able to spend three nights! The water army is just waiting in the river, come and kill as many as you want! The most important thing is behind the defensive line. We can garrison a few strong cavalry troops, and when the thieves come over, we will meet them head-on and drive them all into the river to feed the fish! ”

"What the prince said is reasonable! We will wait for work and attack halfway, and we will surely win a great victory! ”

He Yongnian is also a veteran of the battle, and he knew that this method was good as soon as he heard it.

At the beginning of October last year, Zhang Xianzhong first defeated Fang Guoan, the general army of Sichuan, Zhejiang Zhuji, in Dazhou, and Shao Jiechun came to help, but was defeated again. Shao Jiechun retreated to Mianzhou, Zhang Xianzhong followed him, threw off the warless deputy general Zhang Zuokai in Bazhou, crossed the Jialing River from the northernmost Guangyuan County, and immediately fought with the Fang Guoan Ministry who was chasing after him in Shangzhenpu, Kangxiangpu and other places.

The Sichuan soldiers traveled long distances and lost their mules and horses, and they were already a tired army. As soon as the two armies came into contact, Fang's Ministry of State Security was immediately defeated.

Later, the Qin army, the Chu army, Li Guoqi, He Yong, Zhang Yingyuan, etc., who came up to reinforce the Sichuan army, fought with the thieves under Zitong City. The thief was defeated first, waited for the officers and soldiers to come up to pick up things, and then quickly counterattacked, defeating the officers and soldiers again. As a result, instead of curbing the pace of the thieves' march, the official army even lost the important city of Zitong County.

Hejiazhuang, located outside Langzhong City, closely watched the war. The He family believes that in addition to the low quality of the officers and soldiers themselves, the indiscriminate and blind command of civilian officials is also an important reason. If the official army held the dangerous Zitong County at that time, and then contained the thieves and covered the main force for more than three days of assembly and repair, not only could the host and guest armies be combined, but also the soldiers could rest and recover their strength. But those civilian officials, apart from rhetoric, don't know anything about military science. Let them command the battle, that is, let the soldiers die!

"It's just ......" He Yongnian pondered for a moment before he said his other concern.

"Now the Central Plains is in turmoil, and thieves are attacking the city everywhere. I heard that there were many officers and soldiers among the thieves, and they all used cannons and gunpowder. Camp Commander Chen, have you heard that the cities in the Central Plains are taller and thicker than our cities in Sichuan, and most of them were easily broken by thieves. In our Sichuan city, Luzhou, which is known as iron, cannot be defended. If thieves attack the city with firearms, I am afraid...... As soon as the points on the line of defense are lost, the door is wide open. When we counterattack, the enemy will defend the city, and the casualties will be too great......"

"The prince of the world has passed on a method, called: Guarding the danger and not guarding the throne (PI)!"

He Yongnian shook his head, indicating that he didn't understand.

"I didn't understand it at first. So the prince taught me, saying, "This is the city wall; This danger is the dangerous place! ”

"Got it! Qingju City under our feet is dangerous! ”

Chen Youfu affirmed: "Yes! To force the thieves to attack the city and break the danger first. If you have to retreat to the city walls, you have to think of a way to do it on the walls. In a word, even if the thief blows up the city wall, if he wants to enter the city, he will have to die half of it first! ”

"Understood. I will leave Zhuang Ding with fifty people to help you keep the green house. Now there are many people in Hejiazhuang and few places, and Zhang Jimeng of the dog day is not allowed to accept the donation of Wang Zhuang! ”

Chen Youfu doesn't know much about these officialdoms. He didn't answer, and said to He Yongnian cautiously: "Brother He, there is still a benefit to occupying this Qingju City!" ”

"Of course, there are many benefits! The mountains and rivers here are beautiful, and there are thousands of acres of fertile land on both sides of the river. The banner of the palace was erected here, and the offerings were received, and it was immediately a royal village. This place is so close to Shunqing Mansion, if the dog officials in the city dare to have a bad heart for the palace, at most two hours, we can come to the city......"

Chen Youfu originally wanted to tell He Yongnian that the local rioters were coming, and this place could become a place of refuge for the people of Shunqing. He Yongnian talked endlessly about his long-term plan, and Chen Youfu swallowed back when the words came to his mouth.

Chen Youfu thought about it and asked about the flow of the Jialing River.

He Yongnian grew up by the river and cherished this big river: "In the flood season and the dry season, the flow speed of the Jialing River is very different!" When the water is dry, it flows slowly, only one or two feet in a breath; When it floods, it's scary, and in an instant, it's a ...... or two When the water rises in summer and autumn, the Qianshi grain ship can go to Guangyuan County. It's just that the river is turbulent, and people must be pulled to pull the fiber! In winter, a pontoon bridge was erected in Boryeong Province, and the boat could not cross it. You can only load the goods on the dock and get on the boat before you can continue to travel up the river! ”

"Since the river is dangerous and impermanent, let's take this place first. It can not only occupy the main points, but also serve as a grain transfer warehouse! Chen Youfu finally made up his mind, "I will leave a squad and defend the city with your Zhuang Ding." Then recruit some people from the surrounding villages and towns to repair the city. When Luo Jianjun arrives at the New Deal Dam, we will play the prince together! ”

"Aren't you waiting for Luo Jianjun? Company Commander Lin is still pretending to be you in the city! ”

Chen Youfu shook his head, "Time waits for no one. When the grain is in the warehouse, the local tyrants will go down the mountain! Luo Jianjun is escorted by a toast platoon, so you can leave two boats here. As for Company Commander Lin, he has horses and a guide from the Chu army to lead the way, so he can go directly to Xinzheng Dam by land. Let's go, let's take a boat, and on the way, you can tell me in detail, where is the danger of this new deal dam......"