In November, after the heavy snowfall, the mountains and hills are white, a large group of cavalry is marching along the official road to the direction of Yingshan, in order to save horsepower, everyone leads the horses on foot, and at the same time carefully observes the surrounding movements - both sides of the road are very quiet, except for a tree hanging the corpse every few days, there is no figure to see, from Hanyang to Macheng, and then to Luotian, there is such a scene everywhere, the thieves have been killed for nearly two months, and the people have been killed.

Huangzhou Mansion is located at the junction of three provinces, the mountains and undulating terrain are complex, different from the bandits elsewhere, the people here since ancient times are fierce, never afraid of the government, but the government does not dare to provoke the locals, taxes, additional payments can not be collected from them, thieves seem to have become a way to make money, local generations, more than ten generations of bandits abound, usually rob the rich, businessmen, every time the chaos must jump out for the tiger, it is useless to send troops to clean up, every time after the killing, it is more serious, the court has a headache here, simply turn a blind eye, If it weren't for a few rogues and giants scurrying here, they wouldn't bother to pay attention to these thieves.

Du Wenhuan was extremely annoyed by the bandits in Huangzhou, and personally went to Macheng to command the purge, and ordered that he would rather kill by mistake than indulge, and must cut down the grass and eradicate the root cause to prevent future troubles. If there is an old handsome, the people below dare to kill indiscriminately, the local tyrants and gentry openly said "what the thieves did to us at the beginning, we will do what we do to the thieves", they do what they say, every time they break through a thief camp they will instruct the regiment to practice revenge, the thief head was disemboweled, the thieves were buried alive in large numbers, women and children were also sold to Wuchang, and finally the camp was set on fire, and the Shanxi Left Association, the Great Synchronization Association and the newly established Chu army that participated in the suppression of thieves were better, but they also killed people like hemp, and hanged hundreds of thieves on the side of the road to show the public- The Datong army was too ruthless, killing more than 10,000 people in more than a month, and the bandits who fled into the mountains were also blockaded, unable to get rations, clothing and even salt, except for surrendering only waiting to freeze to death and starve to death, the thieves were frightened, including the giant Zhang Xianzhong, who fled to Nanzhili.

The thieves were killed too much, the Huguang gentry couldn't stand it, and asked the king of Chu to stop killing and pacifying the people, and the king of Chu played a trick and sent them to find He Fengsheng, and the old man He's ears were not good again, so let them go to Li Yu, Li Yudong finally showed up after hiding in Tibet for a while, and promised to go out in person to appease the people, but he rushed to Macheng and didn't say a word to appease the people, only asked the old man to quickly lead the troops to Zhongxiang, and handed over the Huangzhou Mansion to the Huguang Thief Joint Defense Bureau and the Chu army - after more than ten years of fighting, he already understood that if he was not ruthless at the critical time, more people would die in the future, The number of displaced people in Tuntian has skyrocketed to 300,000, and some of the population does not care about killing a few more in exchange for local stability.

Li Yu rushed to Yingshan and had important matters, and was not interested in the dead people on the side of the road, so he urged the Flying Tiger Battalion to speed up the pace, arrived at Yingshan County in the afternoon, and then traveled more than ten miles to the east.

"Thunderbolt fire, is the water and soil in Shandong very nourishing? You are fatter than in the past," Li Yu jumped off the horse and hugged Sun Fuhu with a big laugh, and then walked to the other two, "Erkui, Shaoqi, I heard that you have a family in Shandong, and the brothers are going to ask you for a drink." ”

"President, three years have passed, the brothers who stayed in Shandong want the water of Fengzhou, the mountains of Fengzhou, and the prairies of Fengzhou, let's go home!" Sun Erkui and Hao Shaoqi hugged Li Yu with red eyes.

"Good brother, you have worked hard, after this battle, we will go home together." Li Yu nodded in agreement.

"The last general, Liu Liangzuo, see Naturalized Bo." A thin and capable military general stepped forward and respectfully saluted Li Yu.

"The last general, Huang Degong, see Naturalized Bo." Another tall and burly general hesitated for a moment and stepped forward to salute.

Liu Liangzuo, Datong Zuoweiren, brave and brave, repeatedly made meritorious contributions, accumulated merit and rose to the general army, nicknamed "Huama Liu", his younger brother Liu Liangchen was a guerrilla of the Guanning Army, the defeat of the Dalinghe army was reduced with the ancestor Dashou, and the Ming army was basically a native of Liaodong, and he was very unhappy in it. Fan Erxi happened to be in Shengjing at the time, and occasionally met Liu Liangchen, so he recommended it to a few Manchurian nobles, his situation has greatly improved, and his life has become more and more nourishing. Liu Liangchen had the heart to repay the favor, and specially asked the Fengzhou businessman to transfer the letter to his brother to match the bridge between Liu Liangzuo and Fengzhou, Liu Liangzuo was relieved to learn that his brother was safe and sound, and secretly had contacts with Fengzhou.

Huang Degong, Liaodong Kaiyuan Weiren, originally served in Beijing, Li Yu had a little relationship with him when he was in Beijing, but Li Yu left Beijing, his friends Zhou Yuji, Jin Guoding and others followed, but he stayed, and the thieves were quite meritorious, and he was nicknamed "Huang Chuangzi", and he was also promoted to the general soldier. Huang Degong couldn't get used to Li Yu's lawless barbarian style, so he didn't want to come this time, so when he received the invitation, he went to report to his old boss, the imperial horse eunuch Lu Jiude, but Lu Jiude warned him that naturalized uncle should not be offended, and if you are told to go, you can go, and you must not do it.

"Liu Shuai and Huang Shuai are not outsiders, so there is no need to be so formal, let's talk about it." Li Yu smiled and waved his hand, and pulled Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong into the big tent.

Everyone sat down and exchanged a few words, Li Yu waved back, and Xue Zongzhou, the staff officer, spread out the map to explain the battle situation: "Ladies and gentlemen, after the full attack of our Datong army and the Chu army, the giant Zhang Xianzhong could not gain a foothold in Huguang, and had fled to the territory of Nanzhili, according to our army's careful investigation, it should be north of Anqing at present, with no more than 10,000 people and horses, but they are all bandits, and the henchmen must be eliminated. ”

"It's done, Uncle Guihua has cut off Zhang Xianzhong's roots, and the rest of the battle will be easy to fight, and I, Huang Shuai, and Deputy Marshal Sun are enough to annihilate this thief." Liu Liangzuo immediately clapped his hands and applauded - upon the recommendation of Yan Jizu, the imperial court awarded Sun Fuhu as the deputy chief soldier of Tuntian, Shandong, known as Deputy Marshal Sun.

"Naturalized Uncle drove the thieves out of Huguang and sent a hard bone for us to gnaw!" Huang Degong said inexplicably.

"The situation has changed, you can't gnaw on this hard bone, my main force is about to rush to Zhongxiang, and then go north to reinforce Xiangyang, the thief's bone is harder," Li Yu frowned, took out the edict and handed it to Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong, then looked at Sun Fuhu and said, "The imperial court wants me to defeat the thief immediately after King Qin, but it is difficult to say how long the battle of Huguang will last, you immediately lead your troops back to Qingzhou to beware of the Qing army going south to Shandong." ”

"Fuck, the imperial court treats our Datong army as monkeys, how can there be such a call for people to fight." Sun Fuhu became angry when he heard it.

"Since the imperial court has issued an edict, the naturalized uncle can rest assured, and Zhang Xianzhong's thief will be handed over to me and Huama Liu." Huang Degong read the edict and immediately expressed his position.

"Thank you Liu Shuai and Huang Shuai, I also want to talk about Zuo Liangyu." Li Yu nodded and continued-Zuo Liangyu ignored the imperial edict and was determined to abandon Xiangyang and move to Wuchang, he sent Cao Bianjiao to Xiangyang as the prime minister of Henan and Huguang to suppress thieves and military affairs, and gave Zuo Liangyu two options, either obey the edict and stick to Xiangyang, or withdraw from Xiangyang to accept the reorganization. Zuo Liangyu replied very simply, the imperial court has never ordered me to listen to your dispatch, if you can occupy Hanyang, I can occupy Wuchang, we have nothing to do with each other.

Li Yu was very annoyed and said to Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong: "Zuo Liangyu is a heavy general of the imperial court, he is incompetent to suppress thieves and harm the people, and his actions are no different from thieves, Cao Bianjiao came back and said that he is driving the people of Xiangyang into the camp, and the old and weak are killed, the young and strong are formed, and the women are used as camp prostitutes, and Xiangyang is almost razed to the ground. ”

Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong looked at each other, not knowing how to answer, to be honest, the officers and soldiers are short of food and salary, and there are naturally a lot of things to rob the people, but there will be some restraint, after all, it is the official army, no one is willing to be regarded as a thief, but Zuo Liangyu is not, not only dare to do all kinds of bad things, but often coerce the people, it is like a thief, he will enter Wuchang will make the lake chaos, Nanzhili may not be able to avoid suffering, Zuo Liangyu should be cleaned up, but the same is the official general, it is difficult to make a clear statement.

"Uncle Naturalization, I can't say anything about Huguang, so let's report to the court urgently." Huang Degong whispered.

"If it weren't for the connivance of the imperial court, Zuo Liangyu wouldn't have been so bold today, Lao Huang, believe it or not, the imperial court would definitely not dare to let out a fart." Sun Fuhu said with a sneer, Huang Degong blushed and lowered his head.

"It's none of my business, don't ask me!" Liu Liangzuo smiled and pulled up a nest of grass from the ground, blew the soil and said, "When I was in my hometown, I had to go to the ground to weed every spring, this kind of grass is the most hateful, and it must be uprooted, otherwise it will grow again in a short time, and it will grow more vigorously." ”

Li Yu smiled at Liu Liangzuo, knocked lightly on the table and said: "If you don't express your position, forget it, but I remind you that the broken ship of Daming may sink at any time, and it doesn't matter if I have a way out, but the two of you will definitely fall into the water, and if you have a knife in your hand, you have to use it, and the court can't solve the problem, so the martial artist should use a knife to solve it for the court, and think about it for Daming and yourself." ”

Li Yu's words were like a thunderbolt from the sky, which frightened Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong - he had followed Wenchen for most of his life, and he never thought that the knife in his hand could solve the problem, could it be that the world has changed, and the military generals can also overwhelm Wenchen? The two of them bowed their heads in thought.

The military situation was urgent, and the generals talked about dispersing after a simple meal in the evening, Li Yu rushed to Hanyang overnight, and he had already made up his mind to take over Xiangyang and solve Zuo Liangyu's department by the way.

In the past few days since Li Yu left, the situation has changed drastically, and Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang, and Li Zhensheng, the governor of Huguang, were ordered to move Zhong Xiang and take away the soldiers and horses selected by the general army of Huguang. Wuchang was empty, the gentry were terrified, both afraid that Zuo Liangyu would come to the scourge, and afraid that the thieves would take advantage of the situation, they ran to Hanyang to ask for help from the General Defense Bureau of the Joint Defense of Thieves, the king of Chu took the idea of Wuchang, and crossed the Yangtze River with a large group of gentry and wealthy households. After the king of Chu entered the city, he scolded Zhu Laosi's descendants for their bad eyes, so that the traitorous party of the Manchu Dynasty caused trouble to the ancestral foundation, so the people of Huguang wanted to save themselves, and the city tower immediately hung the banner of the Chu army with the yellow "Ming" word in the middle of the red, white and blue three colors - Wuchang changed hands, but Song Yihe was out of reach.

Zhong Xiang, this ancient city by the Han River was originally known as Shicheng, Emperor Sejong gave the name "Zhong Xiang" to his hometown, meaning Zhong Ju Xiangrui, and in the tenth year of Jiajing, the imperial Chengtian Mansion. It has been the emperor's holy family of the past dynasties, and it has gradually become a prosperous town in Huguang, but Song Yihe and Li Zhensheng can't take care of Zhongxiang County, and run to the Xianling Tomb in the northeast of the city with soldiers and horses - the city is broken, it is good to say that the emperor's ancestral tomb is lost to be killed.

Zuo Liangyu coerced 300,000 people to Zhongxiang, thousands of large and small ships densely covered the river - the left army originally rushed to Wuchang along the Han River, passing through Zhongxiang heard that the governor of Huguang had also arrived, and took the opportunity to go ashore to rob, intending to leave to knock on the pen and bamboo pole.

The old nest was taken by the head snake, and there was Zuo Liangyu in front of him, and the Datong army was coming behind him, and the naturalized uncle was even more difficult to provoke, so he was not only ignored by the court, but also warned himself not to make trouble, this governor can't be - Song Yihe was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, and planned to give some money and food to calm people.

"Zuo Liangyu resisted the decree and disrespected and brutalized the people, why did he give him food? Lord Song can rest assured, the thief is behind him, he doesn't dare to stay here for a long time, he will get out of the house in a few days, the naturalized uncle can accommodate 300,000 people in the tuntian, and he has money and food in his hand, let him go to the naturalized uncle. Li Zhensheng did not back down.

Zuo Liangyu robbed outside Zhongxiang City for two days, no one paid attention to it and felt bored, and went south in a gloomy manner, Song Yihe and Li Zhensheng were rejoicing, but only three days later Zuo Liangyu came back again, and sent someone to complain to them - Guihuabo ambushed him halfway and robbed the property of his family and dozens of boats in the army, this is a naked attack on friendly troops, and the governor of Huguang must uphold justice, otherwise don't blame him for being polite.

Song Yihe and Li Zhensheng were taken aback, this dog thing also has bad luck, don't deliberately find fault and blackmail, right? Hurriedly sent someone to investigate, this time it was really Zuo Liangyu deflated - the left army was intercepted by Du Wenhuan and his troops not far from Zhongxiang, and was ordered to get off the boat and disarm, of course the left army did not eat this set, the two sides fought, Zuo Liangyu couldn't imagine that the other party was a landlubber like him, but inexplicably there was a very powerful naval army, the boat was big and strong, and it was also equipped with guns, and it was rampage like entering a no-man's land, the left army was driven back to Zhongxiang like a duck, and hundreds of boats with family and property were captured by the other party behind. Zuo Liangyu should be glad that the Shen family fleet that beat him was originally pirates, and it was easy to deal with a group of landlubbers in the inland rivers, if it weren't for the people who were coerced, it would be difficult for the left army to escape.

The Datong army marched by land and water to Zhongxiang, Song Yihe and Li Zhensheng also became angry, scolded Zuo Liangyu's envoy, and asked him to tell Zuo Liangyu to immediately return to Xiangyang. Zuo Liangyu was dumbfounded, it is impossible to return to Xiangyang, Li Zicheng must be looking for him with a knife, and it is impossible to go to Wuchang, the Datong Army has blocked the road, and it is even more difficult to find death when he starts to fight, whether he fights the Datong Army or the Righteous Army, the other party will definitely stick a knife in the back. Zuo Liangyu ran to a dead end, and in anger, he came up with a clever plan, and ordered the whole army to go ashore and camp next to the Datong Army, and the Datong Army will do whatever the Datong Army does, but it is absolutely not allowed to fight, but to approach the other party gently and kindly, even if the hot face is attached to the cold ass. The left army was beaten but became obedient, Du Wenhuan immediately reacted and ordered the Datong army to greet him with a smile. The two armies were harmonious, but they frightened the other person - Li Zicheng took Xiangyang lightly, and after Zaoyang, Suizhou, and Yicheng, hundreds of thousands of people swept south along the Han River, but found that the Datong Army and the Left Army were already in Zhongxiang Battle, and he could not afford to provoke these two armies, so he hurriedly ordered the whole army to go to the west bank of the Han River to avoid the official army, and rush to Jingzhou at full speed - food is the top priority of the righteous army.

Li Zicheng missed the best fighter, Du Wenhuan actually only had the cavalry Zuo Xie, the infantry Zuo Xie and Shen Tingyang's fleet, and the other troops were still behind, and Zuo Liangyu Although he seemed to be outnumbered, there were only 30,000 soldiers, of which the elite in armor was less than thirty percent.

Two days later, Li Yu led the main force of the Datong Army and the 20,000 auxiliary troops of Wang Zhong and Hui Dengxiang from Hanyang, forming an absolute advantage over the left army in terms of combat strength, and Zhou Yujibu and Hu Dawei stationed in Anlu also pounced on Zhong Xiang from behind the left army, and a large net was being cast, at this time Zuo Liangyu's messenger came to the door.

"Yidousu, you're not dead yet!" When Hui Dengxiang saw the envoy entering the tent, he shouted, and the person who came turned out to be Jin Shengheng, who had rebelled together in northern Shaanxi in the early years, nicknamed "Yidousu".

"Chaotianxing, it turns out that you are here, I have burned you for so many years in vain." Jin Shengheng was overjoyed, and grabbed Hui Dengxiang and jumped and jumped.

Hui Dengxiang pulled Jin Shengheng and introduced him to the Yansui villagers in the tent - there are so many Yansui people in the Datong Army, many of them are still brothers who rebelled together back then, even Naturalized Uncle and Du Laoshuai are also from Yulin, Jin Shengheng is a little dizzy, Hui Dengxiang pointed to a young man and said: "Yidousu, do you remember Brother Zhang Miaoshou?" The eldest brother died on the battlefield in Jiannu, this is his son, who is very angry, and he is still the secretary of the presidential palace. ”

Jin Shengheng received the great grace of Zhang Miaoshou, took Zhang Zhiyao's hand with tears in his eyes, and suddenly knelt down to Li Yu, kowtowing and crying; "Thank you Uncle Naturalization for cultivating my nephew, I will kowtow to you for my eldest brother."

Li Yu pulled up Jin Shengheng and chatted with him in northern Shaanxi dialect, Jin Shengheng hurriedly took out Zuo Liangyu's letter - Zuo Liangyu reviewed his friendship with Li Yu and Cao Wenzhao in the camp in Jizhou, hoping to return the captured dependents to him, forget about the property, he Zuo Liangyu is a person who talks about friendship, and he will not return this favor, and he also wants to catch up with Li Yu, the place can be determined by Li Yu, and he will definitely come.

"Dependents and property can be returned, and you can also be given another 200 stone meters for emergency, I haven't seen Lao Zuo for more than ten years, sometimes I really miss him, just meet by the river outside your camp." Li Yu thought for a while and said,

"Naturalized Bo Zhiyi!" Jin Shengheng said gratefully.