"According to the news of the spies, Yang He, the governor of the three sides, has led his troops down to Liujiayuan and is coming towards us, the striker has arrived at the Baishui River, and it is only more than a day's journey from us, everyone has any ideas, come and listen!" The god who sat on the top asked loudly.

"There are 100 people in the family, one person takes the total, the enemy is current, everyone can't you say a word to me, there are many people, and there is no fixed number in the end, you are in charge of the plate, how can you speak!" What he spoke was not muddy, he and Shen Yikui were small fellow villagers, so he naturally stood on Shen Yikui's side and spoke.

Most of the leaders nodded one after another, and Shen Yikui was secretly happy when he saw this, and he coughed low and said, "Since everyone loves it too much, then I'm welcome." I calculated, our seventeen families have a total of 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses, and the soldiers from the imperial court this time are only more than 10,000 people. ”

Shen Yikui's speech quickly won the support of many people, and the vast majority of the leaders present had the idea of taking one step at a time for the future, and did not have any lofty ambitions, after all, for these people from the bottom of society, the Ming Dynasty, which had ruled the land of Shenzhou for nearly three hundred years, was a behemoth, and even in the most arrogant dreams, they did not dare to imagine that they could overthrow it. Being able to be recruited by the imperial court and become one of the bureaucrats they hated and envied in the past may be the best ending they can think of.

"Chiefs!" Li Hongji stood up: "I think it's not a good way to go south to Guanzhong, whether it's Zhao'an or going south!" ”

"Huang Lai'er! Shouldn't you still be like that, and want everyone to cross the Yellow River eastward? He turned his face to everyone and said, "I don't know about others, anyway, you must be tired of not getting muddy, could it be that when you were a post boy, you found a good aunt on the other side of the river and hooked your soul, why don't you cross the river without leaving the river in three sentences?" “

A burst of laughter immediately erupted in the room, and many people even laughed out of tears, only Li Hongji's face was flushed with anger, but he still forcibly suppressed the anger in his chest, and said in a deep voice: "Leaders of all families, I am not going to Shanxi for my personal selfish interests, let alone for any pretty aunt, but for the great cause of our righteous army." Think about it, what did we all do back then? Not all of them were oppressed by the gentry and the powerful, and they couldn't help it before they picked up the guy and did it with the government. Now that there is finally a situation, some people just want to eat white flour buns, and think about Zhao'an as a master, but they don't want to follow our tens of thousands of brothers What to do, is this okay? ”

"Huang Lai'er, you said that we just want to eat white flour buns and think about being masters. So what do you say to do? Don't sneer.

"Cross the Yellow River to the east!" Li Hongji replied categorically, he walked quickly to the brazier, stretched out his hand and grabbed a few handfuls of grass and wood ashes in the brazier, sprinkled them evenly on the ground, and drew his sword on the ash ground a few times, and explained while drawing: "This is the Yellow River, here is Tongguan, here is Xi'an, here is Yan'an, here is Taihang Mountain, and there is Beijing——"

Most of the people in the house were just ordinary farmers a year or two ago, and they may have been familiar with the terrain of western and northern Shaanxi, but when they left Shaanxi Province, their eyes may have been blackened, and they all let out envy and curiosity when they watched Li Hongji draw a general topographical map of northern China on the ground.

"Rank, the reason why this place where our ancestors stayed is called Guanzhong is because there are strict passes on all sides, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. But on the other hand, it's hard to get out. At present, it is enough for the officers and soldiers to block our way to the south, anyway, to the west is the bitterly cold Xifandi, and to the north is the territory of the Tartars, and only to the south can there be food to eat. If you cross the Yellow River in the east, the situation will be different, and you can enter the Beijing Division if you go east out of the Bauhinia Pass, Juyong Pass, and Feihu Pass; Unearthed doors, Fukou can enter southern Hebei; Out of the Tianjing Pass, to the east is the Central Plains; You can enter Luoyang if you get out of the pass. Any of these places are more than ten times better than Guanzhong, even if there are more soldiers in the imperial court, there is no way to defend every road, we can casually walk out of a way to live, isn't it far better than fighting to the death with the officers and soldiers? “

Li Hongji's words aroused the interest of everyone in the room, and every leader poked his head out, staring with great interest at the rudimentary map on the ground, calculating how far he was from Beijing, Luoyang, Kaifeng, and other famous cities that were only mentioned in other people's words. Many people look at Li Hongji with admiration, and it is rare to find people who have such a wealth of knowledge of geography in this era.

Li Hongji, who was commentating, was excited, and he did his best to answer every question that others asked him, describing to them the bright future of Xiangdong, and his enthusiasm gradually infected most of the people in the room, and even the attitudes of those who were the most stubborn and reluctant to leave their homeland gradually loosened.

But there was a person in the room whose heart was full of anxiety and anger, that is, two sides of light, the news and farewell that Du Guoying brought to him a few days ago made him fall into ecstasy, he never thought that it would be so easy to get such a powerful guarantee from the hands of a second-class member of the imperial court. He has even begun to imagine himself wearing a crimson official robe embroidered with a bear and tiger pattern, and the appearance of returning to his hometown to worship his ancestors in a majestic manner, at that time, no one will call him Liangmianguang, Liu Dawei, Liu Da Man, but Master Liu, General Liu, and Lord Liu.

But now everything is over, the guerrilla official position, the majestic official robe, the pleasure of worshipping the ancestors, everything will come to naught, and the reason for all this is because of this rice fat boy Huang Lai'er who is talking nonsense. The two sides stared at Li Hongji's back hatefully, if the sight could kill, Li Hongji's vest would have been poked out of a big hole by him.

"Two-sided light, how? Why don't you go to Kanto too? A man nicknamed Chuang Tiantian next to him smiled and patted the shoulders of the two faces: "To be honest, listening to Huang Lai'er say this, I also feel a little itchy in my heart!" ”

"Let's go, let's go fart!" The two sides of the light violently pushed away the arm that broke into the sky, turned and rushed out. Chuang Tiantian, who was frightened by the abrupt actions of the two-sided light, looked at the backs of the two-sided light in a daze, and only after half a sound did he smack his tongue and say: "Scared!" What virtue! ”

Rushing out of the house, the two sides jumped on their horses without saying a word, slapped the horse's buttocks twice, and rushed straight out, even the guards who were squatting in the patio and playing leaf cards almost didn't keep up.

When he returned to his old camp, he plunged into the house, and he was like a wounded beast, smashing everything in the house to pieces, and even his favorite friend on weekdays was smashed by a flying horse and ran out crying. Just when everyone was at a loss, the two-sided light suddenly pushed the door out of the door, and gave an order with a calm expression - immediately find the leader of Du Guoying Du.

When Du Guoying walked into the room with two sides of light, the inside had already been cleaned, and except for some stains on the wall, there was no trace of the anger of the two sides of light just now. As soon as he stepped on the square bricks in the house, the light from both sides pounced, grabbed his chest and shouted on his head and face: "Li Hongji has persuaded everyone to cross the Yellow River eastward, now you go to Inspector Yang immediately, I don't care what method you use, you must take down that guerrilla for me." ”

Du Guoying just wanted to say something, but when she saw the other party's gaze as if she was going to eat people, she swallowed the words when they came to her mouth, and nodded instinctively. Liangmianguang let go of his hands and shouted outside: "Give Leader Du a good horse, no, bring him my Fengzi (Ming Dynasty black language, that is, war horse)!" “

When Du Guoying came out of the house, he immediately felt the surprised eyes cast around him, he instinctively quickened his pace and walked out of the yard, and took the reins handed over by the groom, which was a jujube red river meandering horse, only three years old, and the two sides of the light were cherished on weekdays. Thinking of this, Du Guoying couldn't help but have a wry smile on his face, if Zhao'an's matter didn't come to his end, it was conceivable.

The Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City, Beijing.

This building was built in the early Ming Dynasty was first used for the prince to learn to deal with political affairs, every month on the 2nd, 12th, 22nd to hold a sutra banquet in the Wenhua Palace, by the cabinet bachelor for the Son of Heaven to explain the Confucian scriptures, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty in fact, here has become the Son of Heaven to use the palace.

Zhu Youzhen sat on the throne, although he was only a young man in his early twenties, he was already the "Lord of All Directions", the undoubted ruler of the Ming Empire, except for the bright yellow dragon robe on his body and the crown of good wings on his head, he was just an ordinary fair-skinned young man from the outside. He has been working for nearly five hours since the fifth watch in the morning, and after the General Administration Department sorted out the documents sent from all over the country, they were sent to his desk one by one. The heavy burden had already left traces on Zhu Youzhen's young face, his eye sockets were deep-set and dark, his cheeks were deep-set, and the whole person looked pale and haggard in the light.

"Emperor, it's already the first shift, let's eat something after resting!" Cao Huachun, the eunuch who was standing behind him, said in a low voice.

Zhu Youzhen rubbed his eyes and nodded. Cao Huachun gently waved the dust whisk in his hand, and more than a dozen eunuchs and palace maids waiting outside the hall rushed in, they delicately sent the golden basin and scrubbed Zhu Youzhen's hands for Zhu Youzhen, while several other people removed the documents on several cases and put them on for supper. There aren't many things, just a bowl of chicken porridge, a few side dishes, and snacks. Zhu Youzhen took a bite, then suddenly raised his head and said, "Princess, you follow what I see, and I will listen while eating." ”

"Emperor!" Cao Huachun looked at his master with some pity, as a eunuch, the relationship between him and the Son of Heaven is difficult to explain in a few words, theoretically he is the house slave of the Son of Heaven, dogs, horses, playthings, and the livestock, benches, and seats in this grand palace are no different, but in fact, the relationship between these poor people who are destined to have no descendants and the Son of Heaven is much more complicated. As the master of the empire, the emperor has become a veritable "loner" while holding unlimited power, his brothers, courtiers, relatives and even children and wives are potential enemies, only these poor people who have no future can rely on each other for warmth, Cao Huachun is no exception, he has a kind of old dog's attachment and love for Zhu Youzhen to his young master.

"If you want to read it, you will read it!" Zhu Youzhen knocked down the porridge bowl with a spoon with some impatience, and the eunuchs and palace maids beside him lowered their heads in awe. Cao Huachun hurriedly responded: "Obey!" He immediately picked up a document and read it in a low voice, Zhu Youzhen listened attentively to the content of the document while eating porridge without knowing the taste, and interrupted Cao Huachun's recitation from time to time to express his opinions in a few short words, while Cao Huachun used Zhu to write down on the document, and after a while, he processed seven or eight documents.

"The emperor, it is an excerpt for Zhang Xianke in the matter, impeaching Yang He, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, for indiscriminately issuing salt and competing with the people for profit!"

"Hmmm! Read! Zhu Youzhen put down the spoon and listened attentively to Cao Huachun's recitation, and Cao Huachun finished reading it a few minutes later, but this time Zhu Youzhen did not give an immediate reply, the young man got up from his seat and paced back and forth in the hall, and suddenly Zhu Youzhen asked in a deep voice: "Princess, what do you think should be done?" ”

"Emperor, this is a major national event, and non-slaves dare to put their beaks?" Cao Huachun hurriedly replied.

"You are the master of ceremonies, it doesn't hurt to talk about it!" Chongzhen stopped.

Cao Huachun couldn't hide anymore, so he had to smile and said: "The slave maid is shallow, but Mr. Zhang is selfless and selfless for his official integrity, and he is famous all over the world, so what he said is naturally good." However, there have been natural disasters in Shaanxi for many years, and the border army has arrears of salaries, and the situation is critical. “

"Then let's stay in the middle and don't send it!" Zhu Youzhen pondered for a moment: "Salt politics is a major national event, and it is naturally wrong for Mr. Yang to do this, but at present, the military situation in Shaanxi is critical, so it depends on how he does." “

"Yes!" Cao Huachun hurriedly wrote instructions on the fold according to the requirements of the Son of Heaven, Zhu Youzhen was no longer in the mood to eat supper at this time, Cao Huachun made a gesture after reading it, the eunuchs and palace maids took out the dishes, Zhu Youzhen began to review again, and only rested at the second watch. After everything was finished, Cao Huachun walked out of the Wenhua Hall and was about to go back to his residence to rest, but a sharp voice came from behind him.

"Grandpa Cao."

Cao Huachun turned around, only to see a tall figure standing at the corner of the verandah, but it was the great eunuch Gao Qiqian who led the imperial horse supervisor, the Ming Dynasty served the royal institution was divided into twelve eunuchs, four divisions, eight bureaus, a total of twenty-four yamen, Cao Huachun said that the master of ceremonies and Gao Qiqian were the two most powerful yamen, on the surface, the power of the imperial horse supervisor was just to take care of the stables of the Son of Heaven, but in fact he was responsible for managing the honor guard of the Son of Heaven, protecting the personal safety of the Son of Heaven and taking care of the Huangzhuang Huang Store, and even went out to serve as a supervisor, whose power is only equivalent to that of the celebrant who is known as the Prime Minister.