The big and small two Cao were silent together, they had led the troops for many years, and of course they knew very well what kind of style the officers and soldiers were in the minds of the people.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the government had lost credibility in the hearts of the people, especially in several places where the turmoil was more serious, such as the northwest, the Central Plains, the southwest and other places, the government was not trusted by the general public, and even the gentry and merchants did not like the court to manage them.

The reason is too simple, a group of military attachés of the imperial court represented by Du Wenhuan are not very powerful in suppressing bandits, but they are at a first-class level in killing good people and taking meritorious deeds, and many villages of good people in bandit-infested areas are not destroyed in the hands of thieves, but in fact they are destroyed in the hands of officers and soldiers. These officers and soldiers not only killed civilians, but also extorted money from the squires and merchants, demanded that they pay for food and labor the army, and even broke into the rich and large families, raped and plundered, and committed all kinds of evil.

The virtue of military attachés, civilian officials are no better, they are not like military attachés who can directly rob people, so they fabricate perjury and frame Zhongliang. Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, was slandered as wanting to make a military book and plot rebellion just by lighting the lamp in the temple and reading it at night, but he was really forced to rebel...... Like Zhao Sheng, he was forced to rebel, but there are still many rich families who dare not rebel, they organized the township to resist the bandits, and obviously made great contributions, but they were slandered by the poor officials that they wanted to rebel, so they had to take money to eliminate the disaster, and in the blackmail of the corrupt officials again and again, they finally ended up ruined, and the township warrior army was also forced to disappear.

The country is dying, and the demons are numerous, not only the Jiannu and the thieves are threatening the Ming Dynasty, but even the court officials are also acting as accomplices, competing to see who will bring down their country first!

Under such circumstances, if an army of thieves can provide a stable life for the people under their rule, why should these people throw themselves into the arms of the imperial court? Aren't they afraid of being accused of being a bandit when they return to the arms of the imperial court?

A thief is like a comb, a soldier is like a grate, and an official is like a shaving! This is how the common people perceive the imperial court.

General Cao thought of this. I couldn't help but shake my head and sigh.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't pay attention to them, and let them see and think for themselves.

The next day, Zhu's army marched westward and forced towards Tongguan.

At this time, there should still be 2,500 Xi'an elite soldiers in Tongguan, as well as the soldiers under Cao Wenzhao who were scattered and fled back to Tongguan, General Cao originally thought that the thief army would encounter resistance from officers and soldiers in Tongguan, but when he arrived at the pass, Tongguan had become an empty checkpoint, and the garrison inside had already fled overnight. Ran away without a trace.

The two Cao were furious.

Then Zhu Jun actually stationed in Tongguan, putting on an attitude of not rushing to the army. General Cao didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Zhu Ba's gourd, so he followed Zhu Ba every day to see what he was going to do.

After watching it for a few days, they understood. Zhu Ba stopped and did not move in order to contact the Hengtian King, the mixed 100,000, and the Heavenly Pillar Army in the south, and to cooperate with the Southern Route Army.

This Zhu army is different from all the thief armies that Er Cao has seen before, it can be seen from here, other thief armies are rushing around on their own, but Zhu Jun is not taking care of himself, this army is moving, while closely watching the overall situation of the world, planning their every move in the overall situation of the world. This kind of vision that looks at the whole world. Far more than other thieves hundreds of times.

A few days later, the thief army on the Wuguan side came with the news that Hong Chengchou's department, which was originally stationed in Wuguan, withdrew from Wuguan as quickly as possible after hearing that the Zhu army had broken through Tongguan.

The reason is simple. After the Zhu army broke through the Tong Pass, it only needed to break through Huaxian County again to the west, and it could touch Xi'an's ass. If Hong Chengchou is still stationed in Wuguan and does not move, maybe Xi'an, which is empty of troops, will be touched. In a strategic sense. The importance of Xi'an City far exceeded that of Wuguan, and Hong Chengchou had to give up Wuguan and retreat to Xi'an.

In this way, the 30,000 thief army of Hengtian King, Chao Tianzhu and others easily entered Shaanxi from Wuguan and began to advance towards the vast southern Shaanxi region.

At this time when the situation was changing, Li Qingshui in Baishui City was jumping up and down in a hurry.

Hearing the news that Tongguan had fallen and the thief army had entered Shaanxi again, Li Qingshui suddenly couldn't sit still, took two henchmen, went straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's house, and knocked on the door. Zhu Yuanzhang was in Tongguan at this time, of course he was not at home, Qiu Ye hugged the little Zhu Zhi who was snotty, opened the door and welcomed Li Qingshui in.

Li Qingshui asked urgently, "Mrs. Sister-in-law, may I ask where the head of Sect Zhu has gone?" Now that the thieves are entering Shaanxi, the form is urgent, and he happens to be not at home, how can this be good? ”

Autumn leaves smiled and said: "Xianggong happened to go to Dali a few days ago, he said that the red girl over there asked him to discuss some matters of the militia group, since others are in Dali, then hearing the news that Tongguan was broken should be earlier than us, think about it is now on the way back." ”

When Li Qingshui heard this, his heart was a little relieved, and he sighed and said: "These thieves are really hateful, seeing that Xia Xiancheng finally got back the new crop sweet potatoes from Guangdong, and they will be cultivated on a large scale as soon as spring begins this year...... Alas...... It would be nice if the head of the sect came back earlier, and I would like to discuss with him as soon as possible about organizing the five counties and townships to join forces. ”

Autumn leaves said in a low voice: "We women don't understand these things. Why don't you send someone to invite the cold officer to come and talk, and after the husband leaves, he will hand over the three thousand militia to him, and he may be able to come up with some strategies. ”

Li Qingshui was overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered a henchman to invite the cold officer, this cold officer was naturally Yang Hong, and he lived not far away, only one or two streets away from Zhu Yuanzhang's mansion, and Yang Hong rushed over with two family soldiers.

The two sat around the table, Qiu Ye took the kettle and planned to serve it, Li Qingshui and Yang Hong both didn't dare, so Qiu Ye put the kettle on their table and took her daughter into the inner courtyard.

Li Qingshui then turned to the topic, and asked Yang Hong urgently: "Outside the cold staff, the head of the sect is not here, we are all up to you here, what strategy do you have for the entry of the thief army into Shaanxi?" ”

Yang Hong spread his hands and said: "According to the villain's opinion, it only needs to be the same as last time, first write a letter to invite Li Panlong from Luochuan, and at the same time contact the township warriors in Chengcheng, Pucheng, Huaxian, and Dali to reconstitute the township warrior alliance like last time, and write a letter to Lord Hong in Xi'an for help, why should the thief army be afraid?" ”

Li Qingshui said: "Reasonable, we also blocked the 100,000 thief army last time, but this time only more than 10,000 thief troops entered Shaanxi, there is no reason why I can't stop it, so I will quickly repair the book to give you county orders." ”

Li Qingshui wrote a letter, and also wrote a letter to Hong Chengchou, asking him to bring troops to help, and after writing it, he suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, I don't seem to have seen Xu Yuan, who led the crossbowmen last time, for a while." ”

Yang Hong said: "Xu Yuanwai and Zhu went to Dali together. ”

"Oh!" Li Qingshui has no doubt about him.

A few days later, Luochuan Li Panlong really led 1,500 Xiangyong to come, this guy only had 1,000 Xiangyong last time, this time there are 1,500, it seems that the last victory made him more confident, because he spent a lot of money to get more Xiangyong after going.

Seeing Li Panlong coming, Li Qingshui was a little embarrassed: "Last time, I was able to help Li Mao, but this official failed to repay you for the credit, I am really ashamed." ”

Li Panlong hurriedly returned the salute: "It's no wonder that Lord County, I also figured it out after I went back, as long as I make a few more meritorious contributions, there will always be one who can repay it." "This guy is open-minded, in order to be an official, he is not afraid of failure and moves forward bravely.

Soon after Li Panlong arrived, dozens of fast horses rushed into Baishui City, these horses were Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Renjie, Xue Hongqi and others, they arrived in front of Li Qingshui, turned over and dismounted, and hugged their fists at Li Qingshui: "Lord County, we heard the news of the fall of Tongguan, and hurried over from Dali, it was a little late, and I ask for forgiveness." ”

Li Qingshui did not doubt him: "It's good that everyone is back, hurry up and organize the township warrior army...... The army of thieves is coming. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "Lord Xianzun don't worry, we have inquired about the news, the thief soldiers have suffered heavy losses in dealing with the second and second general Cao, and they are currently recuperating in Tongguan, it is impossible to act rashly for a while, we have enough time to prepare......"

Li Qingshui was overjoyed.

Everyone hurriedly got ready, a few days later, the five counties and township warriors were assembled again, Baishui 3,000 "township warriors" needless to say, desperately Sanlang took 3,000 "township warriors", Xue Hongqi naturally also came 3,000 "township warriors", plus 1,500 people from Luochuan, 1,000 people from Pucheng and Huaxian, and actually let them pull out an army of more than 10,000 people.

Naturally, everyone took Mr. Zhu as the leading general and moved to Huaxian, just like last time, putting on a posture to meet the thieves. The news of the completion of the assembly of the Xiangyong Army also reached Hong Chengchou's ears. Although Hong Chengchou was very opposed to Li Qingshui's private establishment of the Xiangyong Alliance, thinking that this might be a taboo from the imperial court, but at present, his soldiers are tight, and the thief army has entered Shaanxi in two ways, so he is also at a loss, so he has no choice but to acquiesce to Li Qingshui's ultra viress move.

In the eighth year of Chongzhen, in the middle of January.

Hong Chengchou left 5,000 people to garrison Xi'an to prevent Hengtianwang, 100,000 mixed 100,000, Chongtianzhu and others from touching his buttocks, and he himself took 2,000 heavy infantry and 3,000 ordinary elite soldiers to Huaxian, preparing to join forces with the Xiangyong Army to kill the Zhu army.

At this time, the Xiangyong coalition army in Huaxian County also received a report from spies at the same time, and the thief army stationed in Tongguan was attacking Huaxia...... The war is about to start again in Huaxian, I heard that the total number of thieves is only more than 10,000 people, far less than the last 100,000 army, whether it is Li Qingshui, or Huaxian County Order, or Li Panlong from Luochuan, they all feel relatively relaxed, they don't think that this township warrior army in their hands will lose to more than 10,000 thieves, because they have even repelled 100,000 thieves! (To be continued.) )