As soon as the sky was bright, there was movement in the camp of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the soldiers got up one after another, washed their faces, drank water, and ate dry food, and they wanted to take advantage of the early coolness to cross the Yellow River as soon as possible.

Li Zicheng hurriedly had breakfast and also came to the ferry.

The soldiers, under the command of their respective officers, lined up and ready to cross the river at any time, were already concentrated on the wharf with all kinds of cowhide rafts and sheepskin rafts, as well as rafts tied with thick ropes.

A familiar soldier told Li Zicheng that the small sheepskin raft needs to be made of 8-12 leather bags, the large one is arranged and ligated with 12-24 sheepskin bags, and the small one is made of 30-32 cowhide bags, which are tied and tied into a raft, and the large one is composed of 4 small cowhide rafts, each small cowhide raft can carry 100 people, and the sheepskin raft can also carry dozens of people.

Rafts made of cattle and sheep are already well aired and look bulging.

What made Li Zicheng feel strange was that more than 20 rafts were all at the forefront, and it seemed that they were ready to be the first to get on the board, "Double happiness, is the raft more stable than the cow and sheepskin raft?" ”

"It's not stable, but only rafts can carry horses, we used all the rafts to carry the infantry yesterday, and in the end, the ox and sheepskin rafts can't carry war horses, the horses' hooves are sharp, once you step on the ox and sheepskin rafts, you may step on the rafts, and you can only use rafts to transport across the river," Li Guo arched his hand and said, "Dadu, can you cross the river now?" ”

"I see," Li Zicheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "Take advantage of the early coolness and hurry up to cross the river!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke," Li Guo hurriedly turned around and came to the dock, and said loudly, "Start crossing the river, don't be crowded, get on the raft in turn." ”

The cavalrymen began to lead the horses and lined up to the dock, each soldier accompanied his horse, holding the reins of the horse with one hand, and stroking the horse's neck from time to time with the other, and before arriving at the dock, he was very careful to introduce the horse to the raft.

At first, the horse refused to get on the raft, and the soldiers couldn't help but grind hard, and when they got on the raft, they trembled again, but fortunately, its familiar rider was always by his side, and the horse reluctantly stopped on the raft.

Rao is like this, and there are a few war horses, or stepped on the gap in the wood, or too cautious, almost fell on the raft, and the raft shook violently, but fortunately, the flag bearer has been by the side of the war horse, constantly stroking the neck to soothe, and the war horse can stay on the raft with peace of mind.

A huge raft can only carry three war horses and riders, more than 20 rafts, and a little more than half a hundred households can carry cavalry at a time.

The raft slowly left the wharf and sailed to the opposite bank, at this time the ox and sheepskin rafts that had been waiting on both sides were close to the wharf under the control of the captain, and they were still carrying the auxiliary soldiers of Liu Yunshui's department, and the auxiliary soldiers crossed the river together, as well as grain and grass materials, fortunately, the cattle and sheepskin rafts here are particularly large, and the loading capacity is also large, and the transportation reaches almost two hundred households.

The wharf gradually quieted down, and even the blisters that had just risen in the river were washed downstream, disappearing without a trace, and all the rafts gradually shrank and headed towards the crowd on the opposite bank.

But the soldiers were still in line, except for dozens of auxiliaries from the 1,000th household, who transported grain and grass supplies to the outermost river of the wharf, the rest of the soldiers were silent.

The horses did not know whether they were excited or anxious, and kept flicking their tails, sometimes looking up at the river, sometimes shaking their heads a few times, but fortunately their respective riders were around, and they kept caressing the most sensitive skin on the horses' necks, and finally they did not go crazy.

Li Zicheng withdrew his gaze from the river, and glanced around the soldiers' bodies, and now the soldiers waiting in line to cross the river are all auxiliary soldiers of the 1,000th household and cavalry of the 2,000th household.

In the middle of the day, Li Guo's cavalry had already crossed the river, and Li Zicheng decided to lead his own soldiers to cross the river, and now his personal soldiers already had a complete general banner, except for sending one personal soldier to take over the production of perfume, there were still fifty-five people, basically occupying all the rafts.

The auxiliary troops of Liu Yunshui's department had already escorted the grain and grass baggage, and all the river crossings were completed, and although the ox and sheepskin rafts were vacant, they could not carry war horses, so they had to anchor on the shore and wait for Zhou Bin's troops to advance eastward.

Liu Yunshui came to the dock to see Li Zicheng off, "The water flow on the Yellow River is very fast, and the metropolitan governor has to be careful!" ”

"Well," Li Zicheng nodded slightly, "The Yunshui Department should be able to cross the Yellow River at night today, but Zhou Binbu is still on the way, so I will take a look at them to see where they are." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke."

Li Zicheng waved his hand, personally led the yellow-maned horse, and imitated the soldiers, holding the reins in one hand and gently stroking the horse's neck with the other.

The captain had already parked the raft steadily, He Xiaomi was not at ease, and asked two pro-soldiers, one on the left and one on the right, to hold the raft with their hands, and when Li Zicheng became a raft steadily, he also led the horse.

On this raft, only Li Zicheng and He Xiaomi, and the rest of the soldiers also got on the raft and followed closely behind.

The old man steered the raft steadily, and gradually sailed towards the opposite bank, a string of turbid blisters appeared on the surface of the river, and the splash brought out by the old man's wooden oars, Li Zicheng sniffed the surface of the river, and there was indeed a muddy smell in the river.

Looking back, the rafts are lined up on the river, which is very similar to the feeling that the People's Liberation Army has crossed the Yangtze River, but the number of rafts is less.

Li Zicheng looked at the bank farther and farther away, and sighed a little in his heart, if there was a stone bridge on the river, it would not take a few days for these thousands of soldiers to cross the river, "Millet, the Yellow River here should be a hundred zhang wide, right?" ”

"Dadudu, my subordinates heard that the river surface here is more than 100 zhang, but because there is a bend in the Yellow River, the water flow is much soothed, and there is a gentle slope on both banks, since ancient times, it has been an important ferry."

"If it's an important crossing, why isn't there a bridge deck for traffic? Even a pontoon bridge would be fine! Li Zicheng shook his head slightly, already thinking in his heart.

"This ...... The subordinates don't know, maybe the pontoon bridge will affect the passage of boats, maybe the river is too fast to build a pontoon bridge! ”

"Impossible," Li Zicheng shook his head and suddenly vetoed, "If there are boats here, why didn't a boat disappear when crossing the river?" If the people refused to borrow boats, then weren't these rafts of cattle and sheepskin from the people nearby? ”

"This ......"

"In the final analysis, the population here is too small, and the imperial court doesn't pay attention to Hexi at all," Li Zicheng thought about it, except for the Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty didn't seem to have a big battle in Hexi, so naturally he wouldn't pay attention to the land of Hexi, "Xiaomi, you say, on this river, according to the current technology, can you build a stone bridge?" ”

"This ...... The subordinates don't know, such a wide river ......" He Xiaomi thought for a moment and said: "Dadudu, why don't you go to Bishop Tang, Bishop Tang's mind is full of things we don't know very well......"

"That's a good idea," Li Zicheng laughed and said, "Xiaomi, after landing in Hedong, in my name, I will immediately send a message to Xining to ask Bishop Tang about building a bridge here." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"

Unconsciously, they had come to the bluestone beach on the other side, Li Guo, Ma Youshui, Gao Yigong, and Wang Anping hurriedly came to pay their respects, and there were soldiers on the shore who tightened the raft that Li Zicheng was riding, and did not move at all.

Li Zicheng led the yellow-maned horse, slowly got off the raft, and waved his hand to the soldiers who knelt on the ground, "Everyone has worked hard, don't be polite, get up quickly!" ”

Everyone got up, only Li Guo, Ma Youshui, Gao Yigong, and Wang Anping came forward, Ma Youshui did not see Li Zicheng for many days, so he said: "Governor, this expedition ...... east."

Li Zicheng was worried that he would say something worrying in front of the soldiers like Li Guo, so he hurriedly said: "Go back to the big tent first, and then we will talk in detail!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"

Everyone came to Ma Youshui's big tent, Li Zicheng sat down on the main seat, asked them all to sit down, and said: "Anping, this Eastern Crusade is extremely important to the Heavenly Mandate Army, you first tell everyone about Longyou, as well as the situation of the surrounding imperial army, so that I can make the next decision." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"

Wang Anping stood up, first cleared his throat, made his mind very sober, and said: "Speaking of the situation in Longyou, it is closely related to Shaanxi, and even has a constant relationship with thieves in Shaanxi. ”

"Last year, Cao Wenzhao marched into Shaanxi, thieves from all walks of life were defeated, under the pursuit of Cao Wenzhao, they could not gain a foothold in Shaanxi, so they crossed the Yellow River to the east, turned to Shaanxi, and Cao Wenzhao's army also followed to Shanxi."

"Yang He, the governor of the three sides, adopted the method of appeasing the thieves, as long as the thieves laid down their arms and surrendered, they could be appeased by the imperial court, and Shaanxi was calm for several months."

"But after the thieves were dismissed, the thief's nature did not change, and sometimes there was rape # adultery and looting in the local area, as a last resort, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui, exterminated the thieves who caused trouble, and the money and food of the imperial court to appease the thieves were not enough, and now in Shaanxi, the thieves have risen again, and Yang He has also been dismissed and investigated."

"Yang He was taken, who is the current trilateral governor in charge of military and political affairs?" Although Li Zicheng heard a lot of information from Longyou, he didn't know such detailed information from Shaanxi.

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, now that the governor of the three sides is vacant, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui, will act as the military officer," Wang Anping said loudly: "This Hong Chengchou is said to be addicted to killing, but his ability is limited, and he is not as good as Cao Wenzhao!" ”

"As long as it's not Cao Wenzhao, it is said that Cao Wenzhao is very good at fighting, I heard that thousands of soldiers can drive tens of thousands of thieves, or even hundreds of thousands of people!"

"Yes, the imperial court really helped us by transferring Cao Wenzhao to Shanxi."

"Did you calculate that Hong Chengchou took over Shaanxi? Haha......"

Several people discussed, Wang Anping straightened his chest, and said: "That Hong Chengchou, it is said that he was born as a civil official, and he only knows how to talk on paper, and his energy is still in the north of Shaanxi, Yan'an Mansion, Yansui Town, Guyuan Town, and Ningxia Town, which are far away from Longyou!" ”

Li Zicheng was secretly surprised, Hong Chengchou, that was the last person to confront Huang Taiji outside the Shanhai Pass, I am afraid that he knew more than Cao Wenzhao, although he was finally defeated and captured, and surrendered to the Manchu Qing, but at that time the Ming Dynasty was already in decline, political corruption, the treasury was empty, and the general army was self-respecting...... The defeat of the Ming Dynasty was, first of all, a political failure, and the main culprit did not lie with the soldiers.

How could this Hong Chengchou get up and come to Shaanxi so early?