Du Wenhuan glanced at Hong Chengchou's letter and handed it to Li Yu, he pondered on the map, Li Yu took the letter, Hong Chengchou wrote in the letter, Yulin troops are nervous, he can only send Cao Wenzhao's 2,000 men and horses at present, but Yansui thieves are rampant, can only ask Du Shuai to make it difficult for him, and turn the tide in the crisis, Hong Chengchou praised Li Yu, the thief is afloat, then the official army should also adapt to change, and must not stick to one place and close himself, the deputy general will be greatly benefited from the extermination of the thief, and the gains from Yansui Town must be reported to the imperial court.

"We don't go to Dingbian, immediately turn to Huaining, and intercept and kill the thieves there," Du Wenhuan finally spoke, he pointed ahead and explained, "Wang Zuohang is just a thief, but Zhang Ding is an officer in Yansui Town, this thief is familiar with military affairs, has always avoided the real and attacked the false, plus Wang Zuohang is newly defeated, it is difficult to fight again, he will never fight with my elite border army, they go west It is difficult to raise grain and grass, and if they go east, they will encounter the interception of the Jingbian Fort border army, Zhang Ding is very likely to go back to his old nest Huaining with Wang Zuohang, Our army has traveled a long way to Dingbian, and it is very likely that the thieves have already run away, so it is better to insert them into Huaining first, and wait for the pain to annihilate the thieves, even if the thieves do not arrive, our army can also sweep north to find fighters. ”

"Of course, that's all right, but how does the governor reply?" Li Huai was a little worried.

"Leave him alone, he is a literati who knows what military affairs!" Du Wenhuan waved his hand and said to Li Yu, "At present, the most important thing is to control the Huaining line, Yuzi, your iron cavalry is fast, just take the first step to rush to Huaining, the thieves are in short supply of food, and it is very likely that they will attack Huaining County." ”

"The last general obeys!" Li Yu agreed, picked up his helmet and was about to leave.

"Wait! Sun's law-abiding people will go with you," Du Wenhuan stopped Li Yu, looked at Li Yu's short hair and shook his head slightly, "You are not familiar with life here, and your clothes and accents are different, so let Xiao Sun's Suide cavalry lead you as scouts." ”

Li Yu led the Fengzhou army to set off on the same day, with Sun Shoufa's Suide cavalry leading the way, the road went smoothly, and arrived in Huaining the next morning, but Huaining Zhixian saw the officials and soldiers coming, immediately closed the city gate, and brought Ding Zhuang in the city to the city wall to pose for defending the city, Sun Shoufa was angry, scolded under the city, Zhixian stood on the city tower and responded unceremoniously, there is no food and property in Huaining County, and there are no thieves to suppress, if you want to mix food, please go to other places, Huaining County does not welcome officials and soldiers, let alone raze soldiers.

Li Yu found a hidden valley and set up a large camp according to the old habit, and then released the scouts for twenty miles to investigate the surrounding terrain and enemy situation, but there were indeed no large groups of thieves in this area, and the county seat was safe and sound, occasionally a few small thieves, and the cavalry of the official army was also frightened to hide.

Sun Shoufa has a good horse to ride, and he works very hard, and he has to take the scouts out for two laps every day, but the news he brings back is safe and sound, Li Yu is a little skeptical that Du Shuai's judgment is wrong, but Sun Shoufa said firmly, Du Shuai has fought all his life, and he feels spiritual, he said that the thief is coming, and the thief will definitely come.

Three days later, Du Wenhuan arrived with his troops, and the three thousand Qingjian captured Qingzhuang became the auxiliary soldiers of the official army, and the army set up a large camp not far from Huaining County.

"Sir, our scouts have never found the thieves' whereabouts, the thieves have always been afloat, could it be that they have already sneaked elsewhere?" Li Yu asked worriedly.

Du Wenhuan pondered for a while at the map, shook his head and said: "Wang Zuohang and Zhang Ding will not have much food in their hands, how to raise food is the top priority, there are no soldiers stationed in Huaining County, there is still money and grain in the city, Zhang Ding is the head snake here, they should come to fight Huaining, how far have your scouts investigated?" ”

"Twenty miles around."

"No, the scope is too narrow, I must send people into the nearby Ansai and Jingbian to investigate, and I will also send people to the local magistrate to inquire if there is any news from the surrounding prefectures and counties."

Huaining Zhixian did not wait for Du Wenhuan to send someone to find him, he came in a hurry, and brought more than a dozen carts of food, and when he saw Du Wenhuan, he cried and begged with a sad face: "Dashuai, the Jingbian government has an urgent report, Wang Zuojiao and Zhang Ding The two thieves who should be killed retreated from Dingbian to Jingbian, robbed property and coerced the people along the way, Jingbian officials and soldiers were powerless to stop, they could only defend the city, and the thieves turned to Huaining again, there are tens of thousands of thieves, Huaining City is small, there are no soldiers stationed, it is bound to be difficult to resist, only the big marshal can keep the people of Huaining safe, this county invites the big marshal to quickly lead the troops into the city, The necessary grain and grass must be provided. ”

"The thief is really coming, it turns out that the time has been dragged on for a long time by plundering all the way," Du Wenhuan laughed, Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Guangxian and others praised the handsome's clever calculation, Du Wenhuan waved his hand and said, "Since the thief is coming, then we will stop and throw Huaining's piece of meat to them." ”

"Dashuai, I can't help it, there are tens of thousands of thieves, and there are few soldiers, so let's bring troops into the city." Huaining Zhixian broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly pleaded.

"Didn't you say to the deputy general of the imperial court that Huaining has no money, food and no thieves, so don't you welcome the officers and soldiers, this marshal is here to suppress thieves, not to guard your small county, you call Ding Zhuang of this county to defend the city." Du Wenhuan sneered, waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to drive out Huaining Zhixian who was shouting and shouting.

As soon as Huaining Zhixian left, the big tent was quiet again, Du Wenhuan beckoned the generals to come over to discuss the strategy of breaking the enemy, Cao Wenzhao was a little worried, he had fought a few battles with the thieves, the opponent's combat power was indeed not strong, but there were many people, and they didn't care about life or death when they started a battle, if there were few officers and soldiers, it was difficult to resist, and other officers also felt the same way.

"But we have iron cavalry in our hands, when the thieves arrived at the city of Huaining, my Yansui army suddenly appeared, forcing the thieves to fight to the death with our army under the city, waiting for the enemy to be exhausted, and then launching a surprise attack on the flank with the Fengzhou iron cavalry, the two sides are bound to break the enemy in one fell swoop, the commander has made up his mind, and this battle is fought!" Du Wenhuan waved his hand.

After the generals retreated, Li Yu was still a little uneasy, and returned to the big tent and said to Du Wenhuan: "The commander's troops are still insufficient, so my two battalions of infantry will be handed over to the commander for dispatch." ”

"Yes, but they can't fight your Black Eagle Banner in front of the battle, they must fight the military flag of Yansui Town, and your whereabouts must be kept absolutely secret," Du Wenhuan nodded, patted Li Yu's shoulder and said with a smile: "Actually, you don't need to worry, our army is expected to be the enemy first, and the chance of victory is more than halfway there, Yuzi, let me tell you a trick to fighting, guard your own flank, attack the opponent's flank, and if you do this, the victory is already in the palm of your hand." ”

Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the big tent, facing a wind blowing, he had a cold war, the snow has not fallen in the past few days, Brother Zhang Ding may be coming, I really didn't expect that I haven't seen him for more than two years, I have become a major general of the Ming Kingdom, but Brother Zhang has become a thief of the Ming Kingdom, and the two of them meeting again may be a face-to-face fight, he must not know that I am here, how can I help him?

In fact, Zhang Ding didn't expect him to rebel, he mixed very well in Yulin Town, while being an officer, while doing horse thieves, both sides did a good job, and was promoted to the capital division, he was unlucky to be too righteous, when the Jin army invaded, the imperial court recruited the elite of the five towns in the northwest into the Weiqin Wang, Zhang Ding also went out with the Yulin general Wu Zimian, but the army was almost not paid for two years, when he arrived at the Yellow River, the soldiers who were poor and poor finally mutinied, Zhang Ding was ordered to bomb and press, and saw that many of the mutinous soldiers were his relatives and friends. couldn't bear to do it, but let it go, indulged the deserter and couldn't pay the errand, and in the end, even he slapped his ass and hid back to his hometown Huaining. Originally, he wanted to avoid the limelight first, and then find a relationship to dredge up, and then mix in Yulin Town, but he didn't expect the people in the northwest to become more and more troublesome, and the mutinous officials and soldiers also joined in, he had too many acquaintances, everyone found him one after another, and asked him to come forward to pull a team to rebel, and the momentum of supporting him became bigger and bigger, and even the government was alarmed, and the government buckled down the two hats of deserters and rebellion, and he couldn't help it if he didn't want to rebel, so he really became the leader of the anti-thieves.

Zhang Ding is a person who can eat both black and white in Yansui, with high prestige and ability, his rebellion is not trivial, the big and small thieves in Yansui Town immediately expressed their willingness to support him as the leader of the alliance, his buddy when he was a horse thief Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, mixed 100,000 Ma Jinzhong and others even planned to take his subordinates into the gang, but Zhang Ding is very low-key, he understands the truth of the big move, the leader of the alliance is resolutely inappropriate, and he will never do anything to pull people's heads to make up the number, he rebelled mainly to recruit his brothers when he was a horse thief and his subordinates when he was an officer, and the number of people in the team is not much and less than a thousand, But it is very strong and able to fight, the official army encircled and suppressed several times were beaten to the head and bloody, and fled in the wilderness, the friends in the official army took the opportunity to blow him to the gods, the official army did not dare to come, the official government saw that the official army did not give force, and was so frightened that he hid in the county and did not dare to come out, Huaining became Zhang Ding's territory, his team also abided by the rules, he did not harm the people and did not allow thieves from other places to come in and harm, so the people of Huaining were better, neither had to pay taxes to the government, nor did they have to worry about the scourge of the officials and soldiers or thieves, how much could they live, the landlords of Huaining, The big family kept the family business, and also secretly paid him grain and tribute, and Zhang Ding's life in Huaining was quite beautiful.

This time Zhang Ding went to Dingbian is also helpless, Wang Zuohang, Miao Mei rebelled in Ningzhai, bent on expanding strength, sent someone to Zhang Ding to fight the side wall to grab horses outside the plug, Zhang Ding refused without hesitation, with a group of thieves under them also dared to fight the elite border army, this is simply whimsical, Zhang Ding did not do them on their own, as a result of the Dingbian deputy general Zhang Yingchang was defeated, almost chased to nowhere to escape, Wang Zuohang remembered Zhang Ding at this time, and sent his subordinates who were familiar with Zhang Ding to Huaining for help - Wang Zuohang was a border army, Helped Zhang Ding do some smuggling of smuggled goods to the outside of the Saiwai, the two had some friendship, and many of the mutinous officers and soldiers who took refuge in Wang Zuohang were Zhang Ding's old friends, and they couldn't stand the bitter begging of the visitors, so Zhang Ding took more than 500 cavalry to meet these two unlucky ghosts. Zhang Ding has a big face, he personally went out to Dingbian, and there were friends in the official army who secretly helped, and the two sides pretended to fight, and then each retreated, Wang Zuohang and Miao Mei finally got out of danger, and they were grateful to Zhang Ding, and they had to support Zhang Ding as their boss.

However, Wang Zuohang and Miao Mei then quarreled with Zhang Ding, Wang Zuohang and Miao Mei lost a lot of money this time, according to the old habit to raise food along the way, expand the team, kill and rob all the big families, and coerce the people to go with them, and make Dingbian and Jingbian a piece of erosion, Zhang Ding couldn't stand it, and scolded these two people for being locusts all the way to scourge all the way, but Wang Zuohang and Miao Mei said that they were doing the right thing for heaven and rescuing the people, and they still went their own way, and when they arrived near Huaining, they had 50,000 people. At this time, Zhang Ding couldn't sit still anymore, and if he went further was Huaining, he couldn't let these two thieves harm his hometown.

"I don't care where you go, Huaining just can't go, dare to take a step forward, believe it or not, I slaughtered you both!" Zhang Ding slapped the table and shouted.

"I believe, how good is your carving master, killing the two of us is like playing, but what about so many people outside, you plan to let them starve to death with us? Master Diao, I know that you are an officer from Yansui Town, and you look down on me as a big soldier, but we are all thieves now, how can we live if we don't kill or rob! Wang Zuohang responded unceremoniously.

"Who let you coerce so many people, what do we use to feed them, Dingbian and Jingbian have been ruined enough by you, and you still want to spoil Huaining?" Zhang Ding shouted.

"The common people can't survive to go with us, this is all the evil done by the government, who wants to be a thief if you have something to eat, Eagle Master, the food in the camp can't be eaten for a few days, Huaining City is small and there are no soldiers stationed, if you take it, you will have money and food, in order to fight for a way to live, Huaining must fight!" Miao Mei, the second leader of Wang Zuohang, said.

"What if I don't let you into Huaining?" Zhang Ding sneered.

Wang Zuohang's subordinate leaders, the big red wolf and the flying mountain tiger, jumped up: "Soaring eagle, we support you to give you face, if you are afraid that the government will not dare to fight Huaining, then you will be nosy, let's fight Huaining." ”

Zhang Ding stepped forward in anger, kicked the big red wolf out, and the flying mountain tiger roared and was about to draw the knife, the knife was not out of the sheath, a cold big knife was already on his neck, Zhang Ding's subordinate Xiao Sigui shouted in a low voice: "Flying mountain tiger, there is no part for you to speak here, if you dare to come nonsense, I will kill you immediately." ”

Wang Zuohang was startled, and hurriedly drank the flying mountain tiger and the big red wolf out of the door, he breathed a few breaths, and said to Zhang Ding: "Master Diao, it's not that my brother doesn't listen to you, the brothers will have a big incident if they can't eat, Huaining is your hometown, and my brother is not a person without conscience, so let's do it, Huaining, I will fight, your people will rest on the side and not come forward, I swear to God, only rob the government and the powerful families in the city, never harm the people, and never kill anyone in vain." ”

"Master Diao, we are thieves in the eyes of the government, the government can't spare us, Huaining County is still in the hands of the government, it's not your territory, what do you care about them, we will go straight to the county seat when we enter the Huaining territory, and we will never harm the people along the way, you should rest assured." Miao Mei also persuaded on the side.

Zhang Ding snorted, beckoned Xiao Sigui to turn his head and leave, walked to the door and turned around and said fiercely: "Greet your people well, don't come to Huaining Hu, otherwise don't blame me for not being emotional." ”

Wang Zuohang, Miao Mei explained Zhang Ding, pulled up the team and went to Huaining, they were coerced along the way There are too many people, men, women and children, it took two days to arrive at Huaining County, the lonely county town has been closed, and the city is just standing in messy clothes, Ding Zhuang, Wang Zuohang breathed a sigh of relief, and ordered to take out food for everyone to eat, and attack the city early tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, as soon as Wang Zuojiao finished eating, someone came to report in a panic: "Oh no, there are officers and soldiers, thousands of officers and soldiers, and they are rushing to this side." ”

Wang Zuohang was startled, and pulled Miao Mei to a hill to watch, and a team of officers and soldiers was slowly approaching them in the distance, including many horse teams.

"What to do, is it too late to withdraw now?" Wang Zuohang's heart was cold.

"Our food is almost finished, where else can we withdraw, let's fight, it seems that the official army is only a few thousand, we have 50,000 people, defeated the official army, Huaining is ours." Miao Mei gritted her teeth and said.

"You have the elite vigilance of the horse, I will gather everyone immediately, and we will fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, and besides, the sky eagle does not want to see the excitement, and we have to drag him on if we are unlucky." Wang Zuohang replied fiercely.

The camp immediately became lively, the people did not eat a mouthful of food, they were shouted by the big and small leaders to drive outside the camp, in front of the officers and soldiers, behind are thieves with knives, they can not retreat but go forward, the men gritted their teeth and walked in front, protecting their women and children behind them, this troubled world is like a mustard, can they have a choice?

On a mound opposite, Du Wenhuan looked at the flow of people surging over from the black pressure, shook his head helplessly, and Cao Wenzhao next to him sneered and said: "The thieves are still like this, pushing the people to the front and sending them to death, the foot soldiers are in the back to press the formation, and finally the elite who ride horses and mules." ”

"Fortunately, Yuzi is not here, if he sees this scene, he doesn't know what this battle will be like." Du Hongtai and Li Huai couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh.

"Heizi, Da Shui, you bring that anti-thief Zhang Xianzhong here." Du Wenhuan didn't have time to be idle, so he greeted his two personal soldiers.

Zhang Xianzhong was soon escorted, Du Wenhuan patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said: "Zhang Xianzhong, your luck is really good, the opportunity for meritorious service and self-redemption is coming so soon, Ben Shuai will give you some weapons, you bring your people to the front of the battle to kill thieves, do a good job, Ben Shuai will reward you for your background." ”

"Dashuai, there are so many thieves, and there are only about 3,000 villains in total, and they can't beat them!" Zhang Xianzhong glanced forward, his face pale with fright.

"If you can't beat it, you have to fight, you are the thief of one side, bringing it back to Yulin is the end of Ling Chi's execution, at least there will be a coffin if you die here, do you go or not?" Du Wenhuan immediately straightened his face, Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly knelt on the ground, promised to go, Du Wenhuan shouted, "Then you don't hurry up, tell your people, fight this battle, make up for the food in the camp and pay the soldiers, if anyone dares to take a step back, he will be killed immediately!" ”