Half a month later.

Sun Chuanting stood beside Zhu Youzhen, looked at the turbid waves of the Yellow River in front of him, and said with emotion: "Chuanting still can't figure out why Song Xiance didn't say goodbye. If he enters Shaanxi from Jin, he can only take Fenglingdu, doesn't he just happen to be on the way with us, why not go together? ”

"Maybe the Tao is different, don't conspire with each other!" Zhu Youzhen didn't want to explain too much to Sun Chuanting, thinking that although Song Xiance was not a real big man, he could also interpret the meaning of "Song of Baked Cakes" with the study of yin and yang techniques, and his demagogic skills must be small. It was not easy for him to recruit such a talent as Sun Chuanting, but don't let him run away without a word.

Rui'er didn't have the same scheming as the two of them, just looked at the surging Yellow River, and said in surprise: "Rui'er was born in the water town south of the Yangtze River since she was a child, and she has seen countless rivers, but they are all clear, and only the water in the pond that does not flow will become muddy." But why is the Yellow River so turbid? ”

Zhu Youzhen finally got a chance to show off, and quickly shook his head and explained to her: "In fact, the water of the Yellow River is not always so yellow, and it is also clear at the source and upstream. However, when passing through the Loess Plateau of Ningxia and Shaanxi, due to sparse vegetation and serious soil erosion, a large amount of sediment was mixed with the river and rolled down. In fact, it's nothing just yellow, but when the water slows down downstream, the sediment silts up the river, and the problem is serious. ”

"Your Highness, I didn't expect you to have a lot of research on the Yellow River!" Sun Chuanting said in surprise, "The Yellow River has been plagued for a long time, and it was frequently diverted before the Tang and Song dynasties. Until the Jiankang Rebellion, the Song Dynasty dug an estuary in Kaifeng to prevent the Jin soldiers from moving south, causing the Yellow River to seize the Huai into the sea. In the following hundreds of years, the huge Yellow River did not have a stable inlet to the sea, and it flooded during the rainy season. This dynasty controls the water, but it uses the method of 'fixing the riverbed and binding the water to attack the sand'. In this way, although the river channel is stabilized, the riverbed continues to rise, forming a 'hanging river' below Kaifeng. In the long run, it is very worrying! ”

"yes!" Zhu Youzhen also said with emotion, "Controlling the Yellow River, building high dams and even building reservoirs are only expedient measures, and curing soil erosion is the root cause." But it's easier said than done, in the 21st century..."

Speaking of which, the thing suddenly realized that it was almost out of his mouth, and hurriedly stopped.

"Building a reservoir?" Sun Chuanting was already puzzled and asked, "Your Highness, what is this 'reservoir'?" ”

"Ahem," Zhu Youzhen coughed awkwardly and said, "The reservoir is to build a dam in the middle of the river to cut off the flow of water and form an artificial lake." Let's talk about this slowly in the future, it's important to cross the river for now! ”

However, the three of them waited for a long time, and although they saw dozens of ferries shuttling on both sides of the Yellow River, they hurriedly unloaded dozens of people on the north bank each time, and then immediately turned around and returned south, not even caring about a returning guest.

Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but be surprised: "What's going on?" Is this ferry so busy? ”

Sun Chuanting smiled and said, "Your Highness, this place is called Fenglingdu. The Yellow River starts from Hekou Town, because it is blocked by the Luliang Mountains, it pours down all the way to the south along the large and small canyons between Shaanxi and Shanxi, and only then is it blocked by Huashan Mountain, and turns to the east, and the water potential is also greatly slowed down. Fenglingdu is located at the junction of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces, and has been the largest ferry port on the Yellow River since ancient times, and it is also a place where soldiers must fight. In the past, Cao * went west to conquer Ma Chao and Han Sui, and Yuwentai broke Gao Huan during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the battlefield was here. With such a large ferry, it's normal to be busy. ”

But Rui'er said carefully: "That's not right! If it's just busy, there should be a lot of people in the north and south. But why do these ferries only carry people to the north, and not a single one to the south? ”

Zhu Youzhen also felt strange, and when a boat had just landed, he stepped forward and said to the boatman: "The three of us want to cross the river, can you give us a ride?" ”

The boatman waved his hand and said, "Don't pull, don't pull!" ”

Zhu Youzhen thought that the boatman wanted a high price, so he smiled and said: "The price of the boat is negotiable, as long as you are willing to carry us, can't you give you as much as you want?" ”

But there were a bunch of passengers on the boat, and one of the burly men glared at Zhu Youzhen, and said in a vicious voice in a Shaanxi dialect: "The ferry boats are all booked by us today, and we won't pull individual passengers!" Get out of the way as soon as possible, otherwise don't blame grandpa for being unkind to you! ”

Rui'er and Sun Chuanting saw that this person dared to scold Zhu Youzhen, they were both furious, and they were about to have a seizure, but Zhu Youzhen pulled the two aside and said quietly: "There is something wrong with these people!" ”

The two of them hurriedly looked closely, and sure enough, although these people were dressed in tatters, they all carried swords and other weapons around their waists, some were armed with spears, and some even led their horses from the boat. After these people got off the boat, they gathered together and muttered for a while, and then hurried northeast.

I waited a few more boats, and it was all the same. At this time, the sun was about to set, and there was no ferry to come, the three of them felt puzzled, and Sun Chuanting even said: "These people are sneaky, and they each carry swords, I am afraid that they will either be traitors or thieves." ”

"Follow along!" Zhu Youzhen said with great interest.

"Lord Wang, we are lonely, so it's better not to have extraneous branches!" Rui'er persuaded worriedly.

Zhu Youzhen said disapprerovingly: "Don't you see that there is no ferry?" If we don't go back, do we want to spend the night by the river? And we all have fast horses, and my princess is a martial arts master, so don't be afraid of these thieves. ”

The two of them couldn't resist Zhu Youzhen, so they had to listen to his orders, and quietly stayed behind the group of people who crossed the river and sneaked north, watching not far away.

By this time it was getting dark, and if you walked further, you would enter the undulating mountainous area. Rui'er suddenly noticed that those people were gathered in front of her, and hurriedly lowered her voice: "Be careful! Wang Ye and Mr. Sun are waiting here, and I will touch them to hear what they have to say! ”

Zhu Youzhen and Sun Chuanting hurriedly dismounted and found a hidden place on the side of the road to hide their figures. Rui'er crept to the mountains near those people to eavesdrop.

After a short time, the group gathered and left, but Rui'er hurriedly returned, and said with a frosty face: "Those people are all thieves!" Listening to their tone, it seems like they are going to attack Ruicheng County in front! ”

"Oops!" Sun Chuanting's face changed drastically, "I have long heard that Shaanxi has been suffering from frequent droughts in recent years, and the people are not able to make a living, so some gangsters have taken the opportunity to incite the people to revolt. Moreover, they were extremely cunning, and as soon as the officers and soldiers came, they fled far away; As soon as the officers and soldiers left, they made a comeback, and their power became bigger and bigger like a snowball, and even the officers and soldiers couldn't even provoke them recently! It's just that they used to be only active in Shaanxi, but now they are bold enough to cross the river and break into Shanxi! ”

Zhu Youzhen's heart also sank suddenly, thinking that since he crossed over, he had encountered three strong enemies: Wei Zhongxian, the Mongols, and the Jurchens. But in history, it was the people in front of them who really wanted their own lives: the thieves!

Although most of them were born peasants, they were just a rabble, and their combat effectiveness was really 108,000 miles worse than that of the Jurchens; But the victory is in a large number of people, and the thieves are everywhere, often coercing more poor farmers to join, just like a spark in the prairie fire!

In particular, the two major forces of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have been making trouble since Chongzhen ascended the throne, fighting and descending, descending and rebelling, and almost never stopped for more than ten years.

However, the Ming court was trapped internally and externally, anxious, coupled with continuous natural disasters and economic collapse, and finally Li Zicheng smashed the Beijing division, and he also ended up with a tragic ending of hanging a coal mountain. Therefore, some people in later generations once concluded: Ming Shi died as a thief.

But Zhu Youzhen vaguely remembered that the thieves should have risen in the Chongzhen period, that is, a few years later. In the year of the Apocalypse, although there were small groups of people in various places, it was not too big a climate.

Could it be that because of his own travel, the historical process of this time and space has undergone subtle changes, and the time for the thieves to rebel has been advanced?

"Lord Wang, what should we do now?" Rui'er's anxious question interrupted Zhu Youzhen's contemplation.

Zhu Youzhen asked Sun Chuanting first: "Sir, what do you think?" ”

In fact, he already had a general plan in his heart, and the reason why he asked Sun Chuanting first was not only out of respect for him, but also to see if Sun Chuanting was really good at fighting thieves as recorded in history.

Sun Chuanting pondered for a moment and asked Rui'er: "Princess Niangniang, how many thieves are there in front of you?" ”

Rui'er replied, "About a thousand people." But listening to their tone, a large group of thieves had already crossed the river, but they did not know where to hide. ”

"Ruicheng County has not had a sword for many years, the city defense is lax, and there are not many garrisons, so I am afraid it will be difficult to defend." Sun Chuanting said nervously, "And the thief is in a hurry, and now I go to ventilate and report the news, I'm afraid it's too late." For now, the only way to do this is to move the rescue soldiers and invite the nearby officers and soldiers to chase down the thieves. ”

"Where to move the rescuers?" Zhu Youzhen asked.

Sun Chuanting said confidently: "It stands to reason that Ruicheng County is under the jurisdiction of Shanxi Jiezhou Prefecture, and it should go to Jiezhou to move rescue troops." However, there is a Zhongtiao Mountain between Ruicheng and Jiezhou, and it is not easy to cross the mountains and mountains, and I am afraid that the distant water will not quench the thirst of the near. And as far as I know, Xie Zhou doesn't have many troops, and it is still difficult to protect itself. I guess most of the governors didn't dare to send troops to save Ruicheng County, so they went in vain. ”

"So what to do? But the gentleman said! Rui'er asked anxiously.

Sun Chuanting hurriedly said: "On the other side of the Yellow River is Tongguan, where heavy troops have always been stationed, and now there are 3,000 soldiers and horses guarding He Renlong. Although Tongguan belongs to Shaanxi Province, it stands to reason that He Renlong can't control the affairs of Shanxi; However, the thieves smuggled from his territory to Shanxi, and he could not escape the blame as a guard. Therefore, I want to find a boat to cross the river and go to Tongguan for help, maybe there is hope! ”

Zhu Youzhen saw that Sun Chuanting was quite familiar with the local military and politics and even geography, and he was really a capable person, so he couldn't help but rejoice: "Mr. Gaojian!" So Mr. Hard, let's go to Tongguan quickly! ”

Sun Chuanting said in embarrassment: "But Your Highness, Chuanting is just an ordinary person now, and people are soft-spoken, how can He Renlong be willing to believe and how can he be obedient?" ”

Zhu Youzhen also made a difficulty, and when he was sad about his face, Rui'er took out an object from the treasure bag, held it up in front of Zhu Youzhen's eyes and said, "Lord, this thing may be useful!" ”