At noon, sixty miles west of Chongyang, Song Jiang led the water bandits into the ancient town of Yangloudong.

Yanglou Cave is the traffic point on the west side of Chongyang, whether you go north to Puqi and Xianning, or go west to Linxiang and Yuezhou, or go south to Tongcheng, you have to pass through here.

The ancient town is located in the hinterland of the mountains, the terrain is cramped, the streets are narrow, but it is a very famous tea producing area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, dozens of tea estates of all sizes in the town, the production of Songfeng tea is exported to the northern desert, and even Europa thousands of miles away.

A few days ago, the bandits came to Yanglou Cave and passed by here to attack Chongyang, and they thought they were in high spirits and thought they were within reach, but they were defeated by the Gongyi Battalion and came back dejected.

The merchants and people in the town had already fled cleanly, and after the bandit brigade entered the town, they did not find a single grain of rice, and they did not even see a wild dog. Seventeen water villages each thought of their own way, there were buried pots for cooking with stored grain, like King Du Long, who had just lost the battle, not only lost the army, but also lost the heavy grain, so he had to ask Song Jiang for help.

"Rattle, rattle......"

The two chicken carts made a unique sound and were pushed in front of King Dulong, but on closer inspection, there were only three or four rice bales on the cart, and not even half of the grain was filled.

Isn't this fooling? King Dulong's face was pale, and he turned around and left without greeting, but Song Jiang chased after him and grabbed him.

"Brother Du Xian, don't be in a hurry to leave, let's have a meal together in my camp."

"No need, my old Du was born with a big belly, I'm afraid that I will be poor in eating the handsome!" King Du Long was indignantly sarcastic.

"Haha, it's not bad ......for your pair of chopsticks, come on, come on, let's have a good chat." Song Jiang smiled and waved his hand, ordered the soldiers to push the chicken cart and go first, and forcibly pulled King Du Long to sit down in the house.

Let the seat pour tea, greet him attentively, and call a few cronies and leaders to accompany him, but King Du Long always has a strained face, looking angry, he still has more than 1,000 people under him, how many meals is enough to eat when Song Jiang gives a full meal?

Song Jiang was not angry, and ordered Si Yang (a cook in the ancient army) to cook directly, and after a while, a pot of rice porridge was delivered, with little water in the clear soup, which could almost show the figure of a person.

"Dashuai, what's going on?" King Du Long was dumbfounded.

"Alas, there is also a great shortage of food in my camp, so I have neglected Brother Du Xian." Song Jiang took a bowl of rice porridge with his own hands, deliberately fished out some thick from the bottom of the pot, handed it to King Du Long, picked up a piece of bran cake, and ate it with pickles.

"Come, come, come, feed your stomach first." Song Jiang spoke, tore off a piece of cake and handed it to King Du Long: "If you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are at home, when the lake is dry in the seventh year of Chongzhen, these two bran cakes can be exchanged for a big girl......

King Du Long took the cake in a daze, put it in his mouth and took a bite, the bran cake was dry and hard, and it took a long time to chew it and barely swallow it, but it hurt his throat and eyes, and his tears almost choked out.

"I didn't expect the handsome to eat bran vegetables, my old Du is really a dog biting Lu Dongbin, I don't know the hearts of good people!" King Dulong's eyes were red, and he was remorseful and excited: "In this way, I will send those two carts of grain back immediately, and I must not let my brother suffer!" ”

"Well, the brothers also have to eat, and the food will be left with you, and I, as a great commander, should share weal and woe with my sons." Song Jiang waved his hand and said: "It's all that Xu Bingzhong is too cunning, I heard that there is also a newcomer Wang Kefan, what are these two dog officials doing, so that the sons have nowhere to get food." ”

These words immediately resonated with everyone, and all the leaders in the audience were in pain, and they threw down the bran cakes one after another, and kept scolding.

These two dog officials are so despicable that they have resorted to such a devastating strategy, they should immediately turn around and kill back to Chongyang, and win or lose with the real swords and guns of the official army!

King Du Long didn't take this stubble, he has seen the power of the Gongyi camp, don't want to coax yourself to fight hard with a piece of bran cake, since he has already left Chongyang, why bother touching the stone again, Song Jiang will not be so brainless if he thinks about it.

Sure enough, Song Jiang spoke in time and suppressed everyone's boiling discussions, so as not to go off topic and get farther and farther.

"This rash attack on Chongyang was due to the lack of consideration of the marshal, who thought that he could capture Xu Bingzhong in one fell swoop, but he didn't expect that Chongyang was too close to Wuchang Mansion and attracted reinforcements from the provincial capital." Song Jiang's face was heavy: "Wang Kefan is so fierce, he must be a fierce general under Zuo Liangyu, let's not provoke him before we are young." ”

Chongyang, a ghost place, couldn't stay, not only couldn't get food, but also fought a big defeat.

In addition to King Dulong's men and horses as the main force, there were many old brothers in other villages, all of whom dared to lick blood with knives and dared to fight hard, but they were defeated by the Gongyi battalion.

No one wanted to go to the Gongyi camp again, all the water villages wanted to preserve their strength, Song Jiang almost didn't persuade much, everyone agreed to withdraw from Chongyang and turn their heads to attack Tongcheng.

"Marshal, the sons and daughters are marching hard, I'm afraid it won't be possible to drink gruel all the time." King Du Long changed his method and wanted to ask for more food.

"It doesn't matter, twenty miles further south, after the stone gate is the boundary of Tongcheng, where it is easier to get grain." Tongcheng does not have strong walls and clear fields, as long as the granaries of the two big families are opened, they can let the sons and daughters let go of their bellies and eat a full meal.

Tongcheng is rich in the area, and if the county seat is successfully captured, food and military supplies will not be a problem, and you can also take the opportunity to make a fortune. All the leaders were eager to try, and even King Dulong, who had just lost the battle, couldn't help it, claiming that he wanted to be ashamed and ask for his life to be the vanguard again.

However, Song Jiang rejected him.

"This battle is critical, Xu Sheng must not be defeated, and the commander will personally lead the army to the battle." Song Jiang continued: "Brother Du Xian has just fought a vicious battle, it is better to stay in Yanglou Cave and Shimen, and by the way, take in the separated sons......"

It turned out that this was Song Jiang's hole card, and he was about to kick himself out of the battle of Tongcheng, King Du Long was angry and was about to have a seizure, but he heard Song Jiang say slowly:

"Brother Du Xian, don't worry, I will never treat your brothers in the camp badly, the daily need for grain and grass will be delivered in time, you can rest assured to stay here...... Yanglou Cave and Shimen are related to the retreat of our army, and Du Xiandi must be carefully guarded, and there must be no mistakes. ”

At first glance, these words sounded kind and considerate, but there was a faint threat and beating in them, and King Du Long was stunned for a moment before answering dryly.

"Yes."

……

After King Du Long left, the second master came to Song Jiang with a smile: "Big brother is really clever!" Hmph, King Du Long's fight is still so spirited, I have long seen that he is not pleasing to the eye, his deflated appearance, it is really happy to watch! ”

Lang Chuyun is the second leader of Song Jiang's village, after the seventeen water bandits joined forces, he served as a battalion officer in the army, but the title of Song Jiang is still used to the tone of the rivers and lakes.

"Hehe, a short-sighted rough embryo, don't take it to heart." Song Jiang smiled proudly.

Among the seventeen water bandits, King Du Long's strength is second only to him, and he is unruly and difficult to control on weekdays. However, after this defeat, King Dulong's strength has been greatly damaged, as long as he is suppressed by the trend, he will not be able to set off any storms in the future.

"Big brother, King Du Long is disgruntled, and he is a defeated general, if he is placed in the Yanglou Cave, he won't stab any Lou Zi, right?" Lang Chuanyun reminded: "In case that Wang Kefan comes to attack Yanglou Cave, King Du Long is afraid that he will not be able to hold it." ”

Yanglou Cave is located in the key chong, is the transportation center connecting Linxiang and Tongcheng, if the water bandits want to return to the nest of Dongting Lake, they have to pass through here.

"It doesn't matter, the terrain of Yanglou Cave is not conducive to defense, if there is an accident, our army will press over from both sides of Linxiang and Tongcheng, and we will be able to recapture the town immediately."

The Yanglou Cave is surrounded by a valley, the terrain is low-lying, and there is no danger to defend. Moreover, the people here fled empty, the supply of military food was not easy, and the cost of building a fortress and garrison troops was too high, which increased the difficulty of defense.

"Second brother, take a long-term view!" Song Jiang said with great ambition: "Capturing Tongcheng is only the first step, we will continue to recruit troops and horses, and when the strength is enough, we will attack Yuezhou Mansion, and then Linxiang and Tongcheng will be connected, and Yanglou Cave will not have to be defended." ”

The bird's nest knows the ambition of the bird, the second master is still too small, and when the wind is surging today, it is the time for the hero to emerge. is like Gao Jie, one of the four towns in the south of the Yangtze River, who was originally born in a reckless manner, but now he is a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

In this world, if you can occupy Yuezhou Mansion and have Dongting Lake at your back, Song Jiang will have the capital to bargain, whether you take refuge in Li Chuang or be recruited by the imperial court, you can be promoted and rich, and be reused.

"Big brother, aren't we going to Chongyang to take revenge?" Lang Chuyun asked.

"If you want to do big things, don't worry about the victory or defeat for a while, Zuo Liangyu's hundreds of thousands of troops, we can't afford to provoke it now." Song Jiang sighed and said: "But in the past few days, we will send more spies to Wuchang Mansion to keep an eye on the results of the battle between the Dashun army and the official army. ”

Song Jiang can't see the general trend of the world clearly, but he has a heart that is keen on speculation, if the Dashun army really occupies Huguang, of course, he must take advantage of the fire to rob and take refuge as soon as possible.

After the two agreed, they ordered Siyang to remove the gruel and bran cakes and replace them with wine, vegetables and meat. After eating and drinking, and after being full of wine and food, Song Jiang raised his voice and said:

"Pass on the commander's military order, and the whole army will set off immediately and go straight to the city!"

……

Tongcheng County is located in the upper reaches of the Junshui River, and it is only half a day's journey to Chongyang by boat.

A few days ago, the water bandits attacked Chongyang, and the officials and people in Tongcheng were relieved, but later they heard that the water bandits had lost the battle, and they thought they had escaped a catastrophe. Unexpectedly, the situation suddenly took a sharp turn, and the water bandits turned around to open up the city, and the county was immediately in chaos.

What's even worse is that the county order Bu Zuowen suddenly disappeared.

Subordinate officials searched everywhere, and Zuihou learned from a casual person that Bu Zuowen had gone to Chongyang to ask for help.