"Someone, get off the horse quickly, or don't blame the gun for not having eyes!"

Hearing the shouting and scolding on the city wall, Liu Zongmin didn't care, he jumped off the horse, led the mount and walked more than a dozen steps ahead, and shouted loudly towards the city: "I'm from Juzhou, with Ma Ziyi's handwritten letter from Master Ma Ziyi, open the city gate and let me in!" ”

Hearing Liu Zongmin's shout, there was a stir on the city tower, and after a while, a big basket hung down on the city, Liu Zongmin looked at his mount, raised his head and shouted: "I came on horseback, why don't you open the door and let me in?" Someone on the tower of the city answered: "The Lord has an order, and whoever opens the door without an order dies!" ”

Liu Zongmin had no choice but to take the wooden drill, insert it deep into the soil, bolt the horse well, and then enter the basket and pull it up staggeringly. As soon as he came to the city, he was hugged by several sergeants and tied up, and his whole body was searched clean, Liu Zongmin did not resist, but just watched coldly. After a long while, I saw two men come up, and the man in front of him was still far away and shouted, "Where is my father's letter?" ”

"Ma Gongzi, the letter is here!" The sergeant on the side presented the letter with both hands, Ma Rencheng snatched it, opened it and looked at the two lines before looking up to the sky and sighing: "Thanks to the blessing of the ancestors, my father was not harmed by the thieves." “

"Swap people for birds? Dream! Du Guoying, who was on the side, looked at the contents of the letter, sneered, he looked Liu Zongmin up and down, and asked, "Tell me quickly, who is your leader, and how many soldiers and horses do you have?" Liu Zongmin snorted coldly, but did not answer. Du Guoying, who was enraged, was about to order him to be dragged down and tortured, but Ma Rencheng was afraid of dragging his father and hurriedly spoke out to stop him, and asked Liu Zongmin to be taken down.

"Ma Gongzi, shouldn't you agree to the thief leader!" Du Guoying sneered, and his expression became unkind.

"How so!" Ma Rencheng smiled bitterly: "Besides, even if I agree, Brother Du, you won't agree." ”

"So much the best!" Hearing Ma Rencheng say this, Du Guoying laughed, and only then did he think that the other party's father was still in the hands of the thief. Hurriedly comforted: "Benevolence has its own nature, Mr. Ma was born in Yuqing's family, this time he will definitely be able to turn evil into good fortune and return safely!" “

"That's it, then Qi Jiu has been gone for almost five days, and even Lord Liu's reinforcements have already been on the road, how about we detain this person for two days and wait until Lord Liu arrives before making a decision?"

"But will you be able to catch up?" A sarcastic sneer appeared on Du Guoying's face: "There was no preparation at all in advance, the adults must have scattered the soldiers to get food, and it will take two days just to reassemble." And then there will be at least three days on the road, which is still the fastest situation, and there are always various accidents in this year. “

"Then we'll detain it for two more days!" A layer of cold sweat oozed from Ma Rencheng's forehead.

"Rogues are not stupid, they can do it for a day or two, and they will definitely suspect it for a longer time!" Du Guoying sneered: "If it's me, I'll send two fingers, so that I can help you make up your mind!" “

"Fingers?" Ma Rencheng's face suddenly turned pale, his lips trembled and he couldn't speak, and after a while he asked, "Is there any way to do that?" “

"What's the idea?" Du Guoying's gaze swept over a small City God Temple next to the city gate. Suddenly smiled: "You can go over there to say goodbye, maybe it will be useful!" ”

Regardless of whether Ma Rencheng prayed to Chenghuang as Du Guoying suggested, the gods undoubtedly heard his prayer. The next day's dawn, when the first rays of sunlight rose over the horizon. The sentry on the watchtower noticed that a group of cavalry was rapidly approaching, and he quickly rang the iron bell for the alarm as requested.

"What, there's a squad of Tartar cavalry outside the city? Headed by our general? Like the vast majority of people who had to get up from the warm bed, Du Guoying's temper was not very good at this time. With some annoyance, he threatened the officer on duty: "You'd better read that right, or I'll have people stripped of their butts and whip them twenty lashes!" “

"Your Excellency. It's still a little foggy outside, and I can't really see it! The officer on duty explained with some timidity.

"Enough!" Du Guoying impatiently interrupted his subordinates' explanation, he poked his head out to look out of the city, at this time the morning fog had almost dispersed, and sure enough, as his subordinates said, there were many Tartar cavalry on the flat bottom of the moat, and there were at least four or five hundred horsemen. He took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "The master is not, I am Du Guoying!" “

Two knights came to the moat on horseback, and one of them took off his helmet and raised his head and shouted: "Open the door!" “

Du Guoying saw that it was Liu Cheng, and hurriedly responded, turned around and urged his subordinates to open the city gate. Soon the cavalry of the brigade poured in, and the soldiers standing at the city gate could clearly see these Mongolian cavalry with high noses and deep eyes and braided hair, and they couldn't help but point their fingers. Finally, Liu Cheng came in on a horse, and beside him, this masked knight was sideways, Du Guoying hurriedly greeted him, and saluted with crossed hands: "The last general will let the adults wait outside the city for a long time, please forgive me!" “

"It's okay!" Liu Cheng smiled and waved his hand, turned over and jumped off the horse, but he didn't want to fall to the ground when he stumbled and fell to the pills, Du Guoying just reached out to help, and the masked rider next to him bent down and supported Liu Cheng's armpit, Liu Chengcai took advantage of the situation to stand firm, and said with a wry smile: "Thank you, I drove more than a hundred miles on horseback in one go, and my legs were almost bent." “

Du Guoying hurriedly called someone to help Liu Cheng in, and saw that the masked knight was about to dismount, and he was stretching out his hand to help, but he heard the knight laugh and say: "Excuse me, I'm not as useless as your general!" The words were as crisp as silver bells, and the masked rider turned out to be a woman.

Just as Du Guoying was stunned, the masked rider had already walked past him and caught up with Liu Cheng, laughing instead of talking. Du Guoying couldn't remember for a while when there was such a mysterious woman beside Liu Cheng, and seeing that the two were far away, he hurriedly chased after him.

"Guoying, how much grain is there in the city? How much cloth are there? Liu Cheng asked

"There are 4,000 stones of grain, there is not much flannel, and there are 1,000 horses, in addition to 1,500 taels of silver, and 50 stones of salt......" Du Guoying also thought that Liu Cheng was preparing for the defense of the city, asked about the material reserves in the city, and hurriedly recited the materials in the warehouse, but he didn't want Liu Cheng to wave his hand to interrupt his words: "Needless to say, you immediately give each of the cavalry fellow cavalry a piece of flannel, the ten commanders double, and the leader each adds ten taels of silver!" ”

Du Guoying just wanted to tell Liu Cheng about the envoy sent by the thief, but was interrupted. had to nod yes, he just wanted to say something more, but heard Liu Cheng say: "Prepare a big bucket of hot water for me, and wait for me to take a bath!" ”

Du Guoying just wanted to say yes, but heard the masked woman next to him laugh and said, "Is it just a bucket?" ”

"I almost forgot about you!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Prepare two buckets, and send two clean women to help!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

In the room, Du Guoying and Ma Rencheng sat opposite each other, and the two could see surprise and suspicion in each other's eyes, whether it was Liu Cheng's rapid arrival and that strange woman, it was a good topic, but Liu Chengcheng was in the next room. It can come out at any time, and this is not the time to talk about the privacy of the boss. ，

Finally, with the sound of clogs, Liu Cheng walked in, dressed in a cotton robe and a pair of clogs on his feet. Du and Ma, who had been waiting for a little impatient, just wanted to speak, but Liu Cheng stretched out his hand to stop them: "Wait, it's not too late to wait for Min Min Beiji to arrive!" ”

Du and Ma listened. I had to wait patiently, and after a while, I saw a pretty girl in a leather robe walk in, and said to Liu Cheng with a smile: "It turns out that taking a bath is so comfortable." When I go back, I ask my father to prepare a set of household belongings for me. ”

"Why bother so much, Liu Mou should be a good set!" Liu Cheng smiled and pointed to the chair next to him and said, "Minmin, please sit down and talk." ”

When Du and Ma saw Liu Cheng like this, their faces became ugly, obviously this woman's status in Liu Cheng's heart was not ordinary. Maybe it's Liu Cheng's wife. But look at the other party's style, don't say that everyone is beautiful, even the small jasper is not counted. Although the military attache of the Ming Dynasty is worthless and has no status. No matter how you say it, Liu Cheng is also a dignified third-grade general, if you just find a Qinglou woman as a wife, they will have no face as subordinates.

"Guoying, Rencheng!" Liu Cheng and Min Min laughed for a while, and then turned his head and introduced: "This is Amur. Min Min Beji, the beloved daughter of the Great Khan of the Dzungar tribe, the most powerful of the Eruts, was led by her of the 300 cavalry that accompanied me this time! ”

After listening to Liu Cheng's introduction, Ma Rencheng and Du Guoying hurriedly stood up and knelt down to salute, both of them knew that Liu Cheng had done a lot of trade with the grassland, but they didn't expect that even the daughter of the other party's Great Khan was kidnapped, not to mention anything else, the three hundred cavalry alone was a good dowry. The daughters of the noble chieftains on the grassland are naturally not as docile and polite as the ladies of the Han people in the Central Plains, but no matter how you say it, they are also nobles and nobles, with the blood of the golden family, which is very different from the identity of ordinary civilians.

"Get up and talk!" The Mongolian girl raised her hand slightly: "I led the troops to the Central Plains this time, which is to be your general's righteous obedience, although they are two families, they are really one, and the two do not need to see each other!" ”

Du and Ma only said yes, sat down separately, Liu Cheng asked about the situation in the city of Yanzhou, Du Guoying told all the things one by one, and said in a deep voice: "The last general is incompetent, until the thieves break the city, please deal with it!" ”

"It happened suddenly, and you have limited troops in your hands, so it's no wonder you!" Liu Cheng smiled and said, "Where is the letter, take it and show it to me." “

"Yes, sir!" Du Guoying presented the letter with both hands, Liu Cheng took the letter and read it carefully, and as soon as he read two lines, he suddenly sighed and asked, "What about the messenger who sent the letter?" ”

"It's been detained by the villain!"

"Hmm!" Liu Cheng nodded: "How many soldiers and horses are there in the city?" ”

"The villain has brought back a hundred people, and the guards in the city can still pick out a hundred or so."

"Well, that means there are two hundred, and the four hundred I brought add up to six hundred." Liu Cheng nodded and asked, "How many thieves are there?" ”

"Tell your lordship, according to the news of the spies who have been sent. At the time of the breakdown, there were about 2,000 thieves, all of whom were young and strong who could fight, but in the past few days, the thieves opened warehouses to release grain, and the hungry people who came to cast were like flowing water, and there were six or seven hundred people every day. “

"So many?" Liu Cheng couldn't help but be taken aback by this number.

"My lord, that's pretty little!" Du Guoying said with a wry smile: "We finally have a job to do, as long as we are willing to work hard, the rice bran and melon vegetables can finally fill seven or eight percent of the full, if it is in other counties, I am afraid there will be twenty or thirty thousand thieves." “

"Hmmm! It seems that this matter cannot be delayed! Liu Cheng nodded: "Then do you know whether the thief shot the old camp inside the city or outside the city?" “

"A She Jiayuan outside Dongguan."

"This thief is a smart man!" Liu Cheng laughed when he heard this.

"Yes, this thief leader can be regarded as a soldier!" Du Guoying also nodded and smiled, it turned out that in most cases, the ancient field army would not station the army in the city, because this would be a great test for the discipline of the army. Moreover, if Li Zicheng placed the old camp in the city, once the officers and troops suddenly arrived and blocked the four gates, he would probably be trapped in the city and would not be able to run. And the camp he chose was outside the east gate, with convenient transportation and high places, if the officers and soldiers came, they could be found from a long distance, and there was no need to worry about being surrounded. But most of the bandit chiefs were tempted by the wealth and prosperity of the city, and were rarely willing to do so.

"So how did he put the grain? Is it only for the young and strong, or is it for the old and weak women and children to put food in the same way? “

"There should be grain!"

"Well, I didn't think there were such characters among the thieves!" Liu Cheng's face became solemn, judging from his experience in the past few years, the vast majority of the peasant army at that time was still at a very low level, and it was completely instinctive - wherever it went, it would snatch what could be stolen from the locality, and after eating, it would go to the next place, and if it was pursued by the official army, it would throw away the spoils of war and flee, that is, the so-called hunger would be plundered, and the rest would be abandoned when full; And a few of the people who went to the place collected the plundered grain wealth into the old camp, and used this grain wealth to recruit the young and strong among the homeless, recruit craftsmen, and make weapons and armor to strengthen their own strength; However, both of them have never exceeded the scope of individual or small group interests, and naturally they will not win the support of the people, and may be able to dominate for a while, but in the face of the officials and troops whose strength far exceeds their own, they will either accept Zhao'an or be eliminated by the officials and soldiers. Lao Ziyun "suffers from the dirt of the country, and is the master of the society; The country is ominous, and it is the king of the world. Only those who are willing to bear humiliation and sacrifice for the benefit of the people of the world are the people who can really pose a threat to the imperial court, and in connection with Ma Ziyi's praise of his leader in the letter, Liu Cheng suddenly felt that he should be more careful to deal with this enemy he had not yet met. (To be continued.) )