On the first day of the Lunar New Year, most people have to visit relatives and friends, and Xiong Lichun is no exception.

Xiong Lichun took more than 100 soldiers and drove a team of livestock carrying goods on their backs for two hours, and finally climbed the steep Lingyun Village.

He is going to visit Xu Zhen, the big boss of Lingyun Village, today. Xu Zhen was a subordinate of the peasant army Luo Rucai in his early years, and Luo Rucai died at the hands of Li Zicheng in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Xu Zhen led his subordinates to fall into the grass, entrenched in Lingyun Village, and became the largest pole within a radius of 300 miles.

Xu Zhen had already received a report from the little minion, and when Xiong Lichun boarded Lingyun Village, he took several leaders to greet him outside the gate of the village. Xiong Lichun saw it from afar, and hurriedly stepped forward and gave him a deep salute.

"Brother Xu, little brother has given you a New Year's greeting!" Xiong Lichun's voice is like a bell, his smile is straightforward, his attitude is sincere, and he has great respect for Xu Zhen.

"Haha Brother Xiong is really a nostalgic person, and now although he is a big official in the court, he still remembers my eldest brother, okay! Good! Good! Xu Zhen smiled very happily, Xiong Lichun erected a flag to resist the Qing Dynasty, and laid a big foundation with the volunteers of Ningzhou, but in front of him, he still regarded himself as a little brother, giving Lingyunzhai enough face.

"I suffered a big loss in the hands of Tartar last time, if it wasn't for Brother Xu's help, how could the younger brother be today? Come on, give the gift list to Brother Xu! "Xiong Lichun fought with the Qing army and once owed Xu Zhen a favor.

When the Gongyi battalion had just left Ningzhou, Jin Shenghuan sent a large army to encircle and suppress the Ningzhou volunteers, Xiong Lichun's troops were defeated and retreated into Mufu Mountain, but the Qing army pursued him relentlessly, and finally surrounded him in the mountains, and the whole army was about to be annihilated. Thanks to Xu Zhen's sneak attack on the Qing army, Xiong Lichun was rescued.

When the Gongyi battalion made trouble in Jiangxi, Xiong Lichun seized the opportunity to conquer the two county towns of Ningzhou and Wuning one after another, and his momentum was strong, and he was appointed as a general by the Longwu Imperial Court, so he took the opportunity of the New Year to come to Lingyun Village with gifts to express his gratitude to Xu Zhen.

"Hey——, everyone is a brother. Since Brother Xiong is in trouble, I should help, so I don't have to be so polite. Well, let's stop blowing the wind here, let's go inside and drink two glasses......" Xu Zhen took the gift list. I only swept my eyes widely, and there was a burst of secret joy in my heart. Xiong Lichun's gifts included knives, guns, and weapons. Salt and grain, as well as a thousand taels of silver, and all kinds of tools and instruments that are in short supply on the mountain, are all very affordable and usable, and this kid has a conscience.

The door of the village was opened, and the two entered hand in hand. Come to the Justice Hall. This hall is not too big, and there are several braziers burning vigorously in the room, warm as spring, and the ice and snow outside seem to be two worlds.

Xu Zhen had already set up a banquet. and Xiong Lichun sat down together, accompanied by several leaders on both sides, and the other Ningzhou volunteers were arranged in another room, and Lingyunzhai had its own person in charge of entertaining.

Everyone is a rough warrior, and they live a day of licking blood with a knife, and they are very bold when they drink wine. Xiong Lichun kept toasting to the leaders of Lingyun Village, and his mouth was full of witty words, and the meat jokes one after another made everyone laugh.

"Don't hide it from Brother Xu and brothers, I have been in Ningzhou for two months, I have been the emperor every day, I have been a groom every night, I have eaten everything, I have seen everything, and I have not lived in vain in this life!"

The wine on Xiong Lichun's face was already seven or eight points, and he looked emotional: "Brother Xu, although your Lingyun Village is a natural danger, but you shrink in the ravine every day to endure hardships, how can a little brother live a happy life?" Why don't you go out of the mountain with me and have a good time! ”

"Brother Xiong is really sharp, my brother admires it!" Xu Zhen smiled faintly and said: "I'm old, so I'll stay in this Lingyun Village and wait for death, and I won't go with you." ”

"Hey, the damn cock is facing up, the immortal cock is dangling, are you afraid of anything!" Xiong Lichun's face was even more drunk, half showing off, half persuading: "I am also a general of Sanpin now, now in this world, I have to fight hard, if I really die, I will fuck him, if I am lucky not to die and make military achievements, I can also win a wife and a shadow, why don't I fight, ah?" ”

"This world is different from back then, I can't afford to mix small fish and shrimp, Brother Xiong doesn't need to say more, let's drink."

"Okay! Yes! Brother Xu won't let me say it, let's not say it, anyway, I'll leave it here, as long as I am the general of Ningzhou for a day, I won't let Lingyunzhai be wronged! ”

Xiong Lichun picked up the wine bowl, drank it dry in one gulp, reached out and poured it over the wine jar, picked it up and walked in front of Xu Zhen: "Brother Xu, what I admire most in my life is you, and I will give you another bowl!" ”

"This guy drank too much, and he was a little out of shape." Xu Zhenwan smiled, picked up his wine bowl, touched Xiong Lichun, and then raised his head and poured it into his mouth.

Suddenly, he felt a chill in his heart, like being hammered!

Xu Zhen lowered his head, and was stunned to see a short knife sink deep into his chest! He wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it, he wanted to raise his head to look at Xiong Lichun, but he had lost all his strength, only to hear a snap, the wine bowl fell to the ground, and it was shattered!

"What are you doing!"

"Good thief!"

"Ahh

The incident happened suddenly, several of Xu Zhen's henchmen were stunned for a while, looking at Xiong Lichun blankly, and before they came back to their senses, several henchmen under Xiong Lichun pounced together, and pulled out their blades to slash and kill.

The second master, the third master, and the fourth leader ......, several leaders of Lingyun Village fell in a pool of blood in a blink of an eye, and there were more than a dozen of Xu Zhen's personal soldiers in the Juyi Hall, who shouted together and rushed up, Xiong Lichun picked up Xu Zhen's saber and led several henchmen to meet him, like chopping melons and vegetables, cutting down these pro-soldiers one after another......

The more than 100 soldiers who followed Xiong Lichun up the mountain were all elites specially selected by him, and half of them disguised themselves as ordinary groom porters, but they had hidden blades on their bodies. There are responsible generals among them, who have been paying attention to the movements of the Juyi Hall, and when there was a commotion in the Juyi Hall, the more than 100 soldiers also immediately launched to be prepared for the attack, and soon killed the Juyi Hall and joined Xiong Lichun and others.

After the initial blow and shock, the bandits of Lingyun Village finally reacted, and hundreds of people surrounded them layer by layer, surrounding the Juyi Hall to the ground.

"Revenge!"

"Revenge for the big boss!"

"Kill these bunnies alive!"

The bandits rushed up frantically, but Xiong Lichun led his subordinates to guard the front and rear gates, waving knives and guns, flesh and blood flying, Xiong Lichun was as majestic as a killing god, a single knife in his hand waved up and down, hacked seven or eight bandits to death one after another, and repelled their attack.

Attack again!

Again repulsed!

Xiong Lichun was extremely brave, and there were more than 100 elites who were good at fighting, guarding the Juyi Hall like an iron bucket, and the bandits were leaderless and gradually lost their sharpness.

"Burn them!"

The bandits collected dry diesel wood and prepared for a fire attack, and when they were busy, there was a faint sound of golden drums and horns from outside the stockade, and it seemed that a large group of men and horses were attacking the mountain......

Hearing that the reinforcements of the Fuzhou volunteers were coming, Xiong Lichun only said that he would surrender and avoid death, and the bandits in Lingyunzhai immediately chose to surrender.

Xu Zhen died, and several important leaders such as the second boss also died, and the bandits were originally fighting with a bloody spirit, since the large army of Ji'an volunteers came, the bandits were about to be wiped out, and they had no intention of resisting.

After Xiong Lichun controlled the situation, he buried Xu Zhen in a thick manner, and personally wore linen and filial piety, and went to the grave to worship.

Xiong Lichun knelt in front of the graves and wept bitterly, and then gave a heartfelt speech to hundreds of bandit captives.

Since ancient times, officials and bandits have not been separated, Xu Zhen is a bandit, but Xiong Lichun is an official army, so he can only kill his relatives with righteousness and kill his righteous brother with tears. However, since Xu Zhen and other leaders have died, they will not be held accountable for the crimes of other bandits, as long as everyone reforms and joins the Ji'an volunteers, they can make meritorious contributions to their crimes, and even be promoted to become wealthy......

On the first day of the Lunar New Year in the third year of Longwu, Xiong Lichun extinguished (fired) Lingyun Village, thus controlling the northern area of Mufu Mountain, from Tonggu Camp to Maozhu Mountain, from Ningzhou County to Jing'an County, half of Nanchang Prefecture, the territory of four counties, and 36 cottages of all sizes were dominated by Xiong Lichun, and joined the Ji'an Volunteers in name.

Xiong Lichun went deep into the tiger's den and struck a blow, not only got rid of Xu Zhen and swept away the biggest obstacle to dominating Mufu Mountain, but also incorporated more than 700 of his subordinates, most of these more than 700 bandits were veterans who were born in the peasant army and crawled out of the pile of dead people.

In addition, he also scavenged Xu Zhen's family wealth accumulated over the years, in addition to various equipment and materials, there are tens of thousands of taels of silver, four beautiful little wives, and the 36 cottages in Mufu Mountain are mainly based on Xiong Lichun, and they will also send protection money on time every year.

Soldiers and soldiers! Ask for money and have money! To have a woman!

However, Xiong Lichun was not happy, because after he returned to Ningzhou County, he met the envoy sent by Wang Kefan, and ordered him to raise 5,000 taels of military salaries to send to Huguang, and let the Fuzhou volunteers reorganize their troops for war and prepare to participate in the Battle of Huguang.

The silver snatched from Lingyun Village has not yet warmed up, and it will be handed over to Wang Kefan for half, Xiong Lichun is very distressed.

What worried him even more was that Wang Kefan was going to transfer Fuzhou volunteers to Huguang to fight against Kong Youde's army.

Kong Youde is not Jin Shenghuan, and the Tianyou soldiers are not the green battalion soldiers, after this battle, the Fuzhou volunteers will become cannon fodder if they don't do it well, and if the loss is too great, they can't even hold the territory of the old nest of Mufu Mountain.

After hesitating again and again, he took out five thousand taels of silver and sent someone to Huguang, Wang Kefan was the commander of the Ming Dynasty, Cao Jiang, and the general backstage of the Fuzhou volunteers, and reached out to him to ask for money, Xiong Lichun couldn't help but give it.

As for going to Huguang to participate in the war, Xiong Lichun plans to delay it first, and then improvise. (To be continued......)