"What can I do?" Zhang Youcai, a bloated salt merchant, was very timid, so he had been hiding behind Yang Ming, but when he heard the news, he still fell to the ground in a panic.

Seeing this, Dr. Lan next to him spat Zhang Youcai with some annoyance: "What are you panicking about!" ”

Then he came over and said to Yang Ming: "Childe, there is only one road here, there is a cliff above, and a canyon several zhang high below, we have nowhere to hide, what should we do?" ”

Erya, who had seen the ferocity of officers and soldiers, also buried her little head in Yang Ming's arms in fear: "Childe, Erya is so scared, Erya misses Daddy." ”

"Don't be afraid", Yang Ming patted Erya's shoulder, and asked Yundie to take Erya aside, while he looked around and thought calmly.

The villagers were already frightened birds, and when they knew that another group of officers and soldiers was coming, the only thing they could do was to gather around Yang Ming and secretly said: "As long as there is a son, maybe you can turn evil into good fortune." ”

After Yang Ming was silent for a moment, he pointed to a small hole on the side of the road and said to Yun Die: "Yun Die, do you see that small hole, you will take all the women and children to hide in the cave later, remember to lie on the ground, and pretend to be like a dead person, remember?" ”

Yun Die, who was held tightly by his own young master, and Yun Die, who was like a deer crashing into his heart, blushed and nodded: "Don't worry, young master." As he spoke, he walked over with the women and children in the crowd, and these people were also very obedient, and they all followed silently, and they did not need to deliberately play the role, and they were like dead people on the ground.

On Yang Ming's side, all the men lined up in two rows, but it was very scattered, but this was exactly the effect Yang Ming wanted.

He also let some people wear only the clothes of Ming soldiers, while some people only held knives, some people only carried spears, and he himself was listlessly riding jujube red horses, wandering in the front.

The women and children hiding in the small hole on the side of the road were blocked by a scattered team deliberately created by Yang Ming, and if you didn't look closely, you really couldn't see anyone inside.

Soon, a large group of officers and soldiers came in front, Yang Ming estimated that there were thousands of people from a distance, but they were all scattered and disorderly, which was quite similar to the defeated army deliberately created behind him.

Yang Ming hit his horse first and walked up, shouting, "The people who came in front are the people under the account of Zuo Shaobao, the general of the Ping Thief?" ”

The Zuo Shaobao in Yang Ming's mouth is Zuo Liangyu at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zuo Liangyu was added as the crown prince Shaobao, and in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang also asked Chongzhen to crown him as the general of the thief in order to win over Zuo Liangyu.

"It turned out to be an official army", the team in front didn't know the details of Yang Ming, but they also stopped quite vigilantly, and only breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Yang Ming wearing official and military uniforms.

After a long time, a soldier ran out and replied: "No, we are the subordinates of Master Zeng, the general of Kuizhou, who are?" ”

"It turned out to be a subordinate of Lord Zeng, Xia Guan is a hundred households under the account of Zuo Shaobao, a thief general, Yang Ming, because he lost contact with the army, and now he is lost here, and he also asks his brothers to tell Xia Guan where this is, Xia Guan is very grateful", Yang Ming only knew that in the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu's troops had fought against Zhang Xianzhong in the eastern and western parts of Sichuan, so he only had Hu Xuan himself as Zuo Liangyu's subordinate.

However, Yang Ming was also sweating profusely, and he didn't know the specific month in which Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong fought in the eastern Sichuan area.

What if Zuo Liangyu's troops had already withdrawn from Sichuan, wouldn't it be that his own lies would be immediately exposed?

However, Yang Ming only knew Zuo Liangyu, so he could only take this risk, but he held the waist knife tightly in his hand in case of accidents.

After a long time, Yang Ming breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was still the messenger just now.

I only heard the messenger shouting: "Our Lord Qianhu said that this is the territory of Dongxiang County, the capital of Kuizhou, and your General Jin has arrived in Qutangwei the day before yesterday. ”

Yang Ming knew that the Jin general in this person's mouth should be Jin Shenghuan, who was a fierce general in the left army, and later followed Zuo Mengeng to surrender to the Qing Dynasty and made a lot of efforts for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but later rebelled against the Qing Dynasty and returned to the Ming Dynasty.

"Thank you to the general in this way", Yang Ming made a deep gesture, and then ordered to the back: "Give Lao Tzu a retreat and make way for the Sichuan army brothers in front." ”

This unit subordinate to Zeng Ying, the general of Kuizhou, was led by a thousand households named Yu Dahai, and Yu Dahai didn't dare not ignore it when he saw that the team in front of him was Zuo Liangyu's men and horses at first.

However, when Yu Dahai approached and saw that the left army was also scattered, he had the thought of laughing at fifty steps and laughing at one hundred steps: "It turns out that the left army is nothing more than this, and it is also scared by Zhang Thief, haha!" ”

"Yes, that's what the general said", Yang Ming nodded and stepped aside, and Yu Dahai unceremoniously ordered his own soldiers to take the jujube red horse away.

Before leaving, he also said: "General Ben doesn't want your horse in vain, General Ben will send you a good old horse, which can be regarded as an old horse, and I can take you to find your general earlier, haha!" ”

"Then thank you General", Yang Ming saw that Lan Guanwei beside him was a little angry, and hurriedly pulled him quietly, and then immediately took the old black horse from his own soldiers.

Seeing that Yang Ming's team was not only scattered, but also had many old men and weak people, some of whom did not even have weapons, and some of whom were barefoot, he was even more convinced that this was a rout.

But just then, he noticed something moving in a small hole beside the road.

"You go and see what's going on," Yu Dahai hurriedly instructed a soldier beside him.

Seeing this, Yang Ming's heart couldn't help but tighten, and he had to come to explain with a smile: "The general doesn't know, and he has also caught a lot of thieves' families along the way, but they are all stubborn, and in addition, the lower officials killed them all in a hurry, and then they were all thrown into this hole, ready to feed the wild wolves." ”

At the same time, Yang Ming hurriedly stuffed him with a piece of silver when the soldier came towards him, and said, "Brother, accumulate some yin virtue." ”

This silver was found from the hundred households, and Yang Ming was also sick and rushed to the hospital, and he didn't know if this pro-soldier would give this silver some face.

Fortunately for Yang Ming, this soldier took the silver, and pretended to enter the cave carefully for a long time before returning to Yu Dahai and saying, "My lord, there are some corpses of women and children. ”

In fact, he couldn't help but not take the silver, because Yang Ming had already pulled out half of the waist knife in his hand.

"Alas, Brother Yang is really a tyrannical thing, it's a pity that good women don't stay and play with them, it's a pity to kill them all", said Yu Dahai and left with the people.

It wasn't until Yu Dahai's men and horses had left for a long time that Yang Ming and all the villagers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Childe, what should we do now?" Dr. Lan immediately stepped forward and asked.

Zuo Liangyu was named to pursue Zhang Xianzhong, but in fact, he ran behind Zhang Xianzhong and never dared to make contact. Since Zuo Liangyu's general Jin Shenghuan has arrived in Qutangwei, it means that Zhang Xianzhong has left Sichuan. Since Zuo Liangyu's men and horses are estimated to have to leave Sichuan in the near future, that is to say, there will be many stragglers retreating from the official road these days, and he and the villagers will not be able to stay near this official road.

"Let's go, get out of here overnight!"

After Yang Ming said, he said: "Brother Guanwei, you take a few people to collect some scattered weapons along the road, and wait for us at the mountain col in front of you at dawn." ”

Although there may still be some risks ahead, Yang Ming is more optimistic about the future. Because from the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, when Zhang Xianzhong left Sichuan, to the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan again, Sichuan will enter a short three-year peaceful time.

In the past three years, I can take my fellow villagers to live and even develop and grow again in Sichuan.

This time, Yang Ming did not take the villagers along the avenue again, but picked the mountain path, and did not meet anyone along the way. But in this way, the consumption of the body is also very large, and the villagers are already full and hungry, especially those old and young women and children are even more exhausted.