"Ninth Uncle, Ninth Uncle!" A small leader ran over, his voice tinged with panic.

"What's wrong?"

"Come up and have a look!" The little leader pulled Li to climb up the ridge: "What I saw just now seems to be someone pouring into the village!" “

"What?" Li Guo hurriedly climbed up the ridge and looked in the direction of the village, only to see that several pillars of fire had risen over there, rushing into the night sky, and he could vaguely hear the sound of killing and screaming. It turned out that the wind was blowing towards the side of the stockade, and everyone hid under the ridge, and they couldn't hear the sound of the fighting there, and it happened that the little leader Xiao Xie saw it.

"Who doesn't obey military orders and does it privately?" Li Guo was suddenly furious, this happened to violate his taboo, if it was on weekdays, it would be enough, and now the hearts of the newly defeated people are floating, even if they want to borrow a few heads to suppress people's hearts, they can't take care of it.

In the darkness, everyone looked at each other, and after a while, someone in the crowd said: "It seems that the person in charge is not ours, so it should be that he happened to meet another family, right?" ”

"The other one?" Li Guo was stunned when he heard this, although it is unlikely, it is not completely impossible. But no matter who it was, it was not time to delay, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Light the fire, come with me!" ”

When Li Guo rushed to the wall, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the gate had been opened, and he immediately ordered half of the people to be left to guard the gate, and he led the remaining half of the people into the wall, and the doors on both sides of the road were closed, and the corpses lying horizontally could be seen from time to time. As he deepened, Li Guo became more and more sure that this should be another unknown group of bandits, and he became more and more vigilant, he turned around and lowered his voice and said, "Everyone be careful, it should be another group of people!" ”

Like most of the villages at that time, this village had a large road inward when entering the gate, and the poorer and less populated families lived closer to the entrance of the village, while the wealthier and more populous lived in the lower part of the village. In the end, the most populous and wealthiest families simply lived together, surrounded by high and thick courtyard walls, forming a village within a village. When Li Guo was about to walk to this hinterland area, he heard a loud voice shouting in official language: "Wait for the big dog, this is the mansion of the old man of Yun Wenchang Yun, my master is the forty-fifth year of Wanli, and a post is handed over, that is, the governor and the governor have to sell face, don't you want to live?" ”

Li Guo heard that it should not be himself who was scolded, but the unknown peer. He turned around and made a gesture to his men behind him to spread out in formation on either side, and then led twenty or thirty of his men forward. He had just walked a few steps when he heard a male voice with a rice fat accent say in a somewhat mocking tone: "It turned out to be a village where the old man lifted, and the villain was disrespectful, please forgive me!" ”

The man who spoke official words didn't hear the ridicule in the other party's words, and his arrogance suddenly soared, and he said proudly: "It's good to know, don't get out of here quickly, otherwise the official army will arrive." You suddenly turned into powder, but no wonder I didn't remind you! ”

"That's not good, my brothers have no food in their mouths and no clothes on their bodies. Even if the officers and soldiers don't arrive, they will die, so it's better to fight to the death here. ”

"This, this—" Hearing that the other party refused to leave, the house suddenly softened again. Forced himself to straighten his waist and asked, "Then, do you want money?" “

"Yes, silver. Food, too! ”

"So, how much do you want?"

"Not much, not much, the price of those houses outside is one or two pieces of silver, a piece of cloth, and a stone of grain per person!"

"Good, good!" Hearing that the other party's asking price was not high, he hurriedly smiled and said: "There are only 90 people in the house, and half of them are women and children, can you give a discount?" ”

"It's okay, women and children can make a discount! However, if you only need a tael of silver, a piece of cloth, or a stone of grain, you may not be taken lightly. Let's do it, multiply it tenfold, so that you can be worthy of the identity of Master Yun! “

The more Li Guo listened in the dark, the more he felt that the Mizhi accent outside was familiar, as if it was the most intimate and familiar voice, hearing this, he couldn't bear it anymore, walked out of the shadows quickly, came to the open space in front of the house, and asked in a tone full of hope: "Is it Uncle Zicheng?" ”

The field suddenly fell silent, the figure who was sneering at the mansion suddenly stiffened, and behind him stood a dozen men in iron armor, they were all startled when they heard the sound behind them, and they all turned around and pointed the weapons in their hands at Li Guo, looking like they were facing a great enemy. Seeing this, Li Guo's subordinates also hurriedly rushed up, blocking their leader behind them, seeing that a battle was about to break out.

"Don't move, don't move, back off!" Li Guo's voice was a little sharp, he pushed away the men who were blocking him, untied the saber at his waist and threw it aside, raised his hands and said loudly: "Uncle Zicheng, is it you?" I'm Li Guo, I've been looking for you these days! At this point, there was already a bit of crying in his voice.

Finally, the person with his back to Li Guo turned around, and Li Guo saw a familiar face on his face, which looked very similar to Li Zicheng from the facial outline, but it was much thinner and much older, which made him hesitate to stop: "You, you-"

"It's me, it's me!" The muscles on the man's face twitched twice, and an expression that resembled a smile appeared: "It's me, you are your own uncle!" ”

Under the firelight, the man's face coincided with the appearance in his memory, and the embankment in Li Guo's heart was rushed open by the excited feelings, he rushed up and hugged the other party, sobbing and asked: "Uncle Zicheng, where have you been these days, let me find it!" ”

Li Zicheng was already in tears, hugged his nephew in his arms, and said in a low voice: "Hey, I'm also looking for you so hard!" ”

The two hugged each other and cried, and after a while, Li Guo broke free of his uncle's arms and said with a smile: "Things in the world are really a blessing and a curse, if it weren't for the fleet of the official army today, I would have crossed the river with Cao Cao and went to Shanxi." But I can't reunite with my uncle. That's good, anyway, the river will be closed in a few days, and we can still go to Shanxi from the ice! ”

"Go to Shanxi and meet the fleet of officers and soldiers?" Li Zicheng's face suddenly turned pale, he pushed Li Guo aside and sat down, and asked, "Will you tell me about today's situation?" “

Li Guo was a little overwhelmed when he saw his uncle's expression, so he recounted the people who had been killed by the clipper boat and the ferry with firearms during the day. Li Zicheng's face became more and more gloomy the more he listened, and in the end, he was silent, and sighed after half a sound: "I didn't expect Liu Cheng's water army to be so powerful now." ”

"Yes!" Li Guo sighed: "If everyone is on the shore, they will fight for their lives, and they will fight with the officials and soldiers to kill you to the death." Unfortunately, they were in the water, and we were on the shore, and I don't know how many brothers were killed by them in vain. “

"Yes!" Li Zicheng sighed and asked, "Then what are your plans next?" ”

"Plans? Hey, the baggage and cattle were lost by the river, and many brothers were lost, I plan to open a few villages nearby, make up for the baggage, and when the Yellow River freezes, I will go to Shanxi, and go to work with Cao Da Chief. "Speaking of which. Li Guo stared at Li Zicheng eagerly: "Uncle Zicheng, we are twisted into a rope with Leader Cao, and we will definitely be able to do a career!" “

Li Zicheng nodded noncommittally, but he was playing with his own idea in his heart, the threat he heard before being released and the desire to escape from Liu Cheng's clutches as soon as possible competed in his heart, making Li Zicheng unable to make up his mind for a while. After a long time, Li Guo on the side also saw that there was something wrong with his uncle, and asked in a low voice: "Uncle, do you have any better plans?" Why don't you listen to it? ”

"This-" Li Zicheng had an idea, and said with a smile: "I thought that you should not be in such a hurry to cross the river, you are now soldiers and horses, and you are only afraid that you will be despised by Cao Cao." It is better to break a few more villages here, recruit soldiers and horses, and wait until the power is strong before crossing the Yellow River eastward. ”

"Crossing the river later? Isn't that right? The fiasco of the day left a big shadow on Li Guo's heart: "The fleet of the official army is so powerful, we don't care about it here?" ”

"You don't know!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "This is the defense area of Liu Cheng, the deputy chief soldier of Yansui Town. He himself led the troops to Hong Chengchou's command, and this area was very empty. Although his boatman was strong on the water, he could not go ashore. What are we afraid of him. ”

"That's right!" Li Guo nodded, and then a trace of shame appeared on his face, and he said in a slurred manner: "It's just that I only have more than 200 people under my command, and I am not familiar with the people in this area, so I am afraid that it will not be so easy to break the village." “

"It doesn't matter! Soldiers are less useful! As for the people's feelings-" Li Zicheng took out a piece of paper from his arms and unfolded it in front of Li Guo: "This is the location of the villages of the rich gentry in several nearby states and counties, these gentry are all rich and unkind, and if they are broken, they will eliminate harm for the people!" “

"If that's the case, that's great!" Li Guo was overjoyed when he heard this, he took the piece of paper and took a closer look, and sure enough, it recorded in detail the addresses of more than 20 villages, the number of people, the weaknesses of the character of the gentry in the village, and even the structure of the village, the location that was easy to attack, and the appropriate offensive tactics, all of which were recorded in detail, and I don't know how much effort was spent.

"Uncle, you're so amazing!" Li Guo looked at Li Zicheng with admiration: "With this, taking these villages is just a matter of exploring the bag, if you can come back, you will definitely be able to take us to create a great cause!" ”

Ganquan County, the trilateral governor of the line, study.

Hong Chengchou picked up a post, opened it and saw that a flush had already appeared on his fair face, and those who knew him well knew that this was a precursor to his anger. He tried his best to control his emotions and whispered, "You all stand down!" “

"Yes, sir!" The scholars and attendants in the room all retreated, and Hong Chengchou was the only one left in the study, he could no longer suppress his emotions, slapped the post on the table, and scolded: "Ignorant rats, all state affairs are ruined by you and others!" ”

The reason why Hong Chengchou is so angry is very simple, this post was jointly signed by dozens of local gentry in Yichuan and other places, claiming that local thieves were rampant, looting their homes, and demanding that the government send troops to fight against them. These dozens of gentry either have their own merits, or they have brothers and nephews in the court to watch, and the relationships between various same years, fellow villagers, and colleagues are even more intertwined, and they can go straight to the sky, with the political environment of the last years of the Ming Dynasty, even if Hong Chengchou is the highest military commander of the empire in the northwest, it is impossible to ignore this joint post, otherwise he may be planted on it one day. But at present, the problem of Lin Dan Khan breaking the edge is the first priority, if this matter is not handled well, it is not impossible for him to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Yang He. Hong Chengchou originally planned to let Liu Cheng stabilize the situation first, wait until the matter of the thieves was dealt with, and then go to Guyuan to supervise the armies to solve the matter of Lin Dan Khan, but from now on, the situation no longer allows this.

Hong Chengchou went back to several cases, thought about it, weighed the pros and cons, and finally came to the conclusion that the only solution was to give someone the power to control the armies, let him command the armies, and preside over the war with Lin Dan Khan, so that he could devote himself wholeheartedly to solving the remaining thieves in this generation. Hong Chengchou thought about it for a while, and finally decided to choose Lu Boqi to go to Ningxia, the reason for his decision is very simple, at the moment in Ningxia Ming army has the strongest combat effectiveness, the largest number is Liu Cheng (not long ago Liu Cheng opened an infantry 4,05, cavalry 1,800 pay fold), the two armies compete, the general discord is a taboo. Hong Chengchou also knew that the relationship between Liu and Lu was so good that Liu Cheng was willing to pay money to bribe himself in order to promote Lu Boqi, so if Lu Boqi became the commander of the army, Liu Cheng would definitely fight to the death.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou immediately took out a piece of letter paper and wrote on it: "The former Tongzhou military preparation road Lu Boqi, skilled in military affairs, knows the military aircraft, and has repeatedly broken the thieves. Please use Lu to patrol Ningxia and supervise the armies? ......" He was quick to write, but in a moment he finished writing the letter, and when he saw that he did not make any mistakes in the taboo of words, he said in a deep voice: "Someone! ”

"My lord, what do you command?"

"You send this fold to Master He, copy a copy and seal it!"

"Yes, sir!"

Lingzhou, Yansui deputy commander-in-chief.

"Huh!" Liu Cheng, who was sitting in front of a few cases reading the Tang newspaper that had just been delivered, suddenly laughed: "Hong Zhijun is really smart, and even let him come up with such a method." “

"What's the method?" Min Min on the side asked curiously, Liu Cheng handed over the Tang Bao, she took a look, and suddenly smiled: "Tongzhou soldiers are preparing for Lu Boqi?" Let Lu Boqi come to patrol Ningxia and supervise the army? Inspector Hong is not joking, is he? Let this old man come to fight Lin Dan Khan? Liu Cheng, do you still say he's smart? She was very clear about how Lu Boqi became a soldier in this same state, and naturally she would not think that the other party was a good candidate to supervise the armies. (To be continued.) )

PS: A few idle words, some readers asked Weber why he didn't repair water conservancy and farm in Guanzhong, the reason is very simple, Liu is only a military general, not a warlord, and it is difficult for him to touch the red line of the land system before the collapse of the Ming ruling order. The land system is an extremely sensitive thing in feudal society, and if you don't kill people's heads, don't think about moving.