At the beginning of July, it was almost the hottest time of summer, and the world outside the mountain was already hot, although the altitude of Huanglong Mountain was relatively high and there were many trees, but you could also feel the heat.

The wind swept over the Huanglong cottage, bringing a hint of hot and dry smell, and a large group of soldiers were carrying rolling wood and stones and other items, stacked under the arrow tower at the front door of the cottage. Sweat ran down their dark skin, wetting the calf shorts they were wearing.

The soldiers were carrying stones and laughing loudly: "I heard that the officers and soldiers stationed in Baishui are coming!" ”

"Come on, come on, what are we afraid of him?"

"Our Huanglong cottage hasn't suffered a defeat yet, haha, I'm afraid that the officers and soldiers will be balled!"

"That's it, as long as Bugling Zhu is here, I'm not afraid of anything!"

Standing desperately on top of the arrow tower, Saburo shouted at the soldiers below: "Don't be lazy, work hard...... The officers and soldiers may be at the foot of the mountain in a blink of an eye, and if you are slow like this, wait for the game to finish when the officers and soldiers attack the mountain! ”

The soldiers raised their heads and responded with a laugh: "Brother Sanlang, look at what you said, with Brother Zhu Ba sitting here, we don't believe that the officers and soldiers can really capture our stockade, hahaha!" ”

"Hey, what I passed on is Brother Zhu's words, if there are no these defense materials, even Brother Zhu won't be able to save your life, don't laugh, give me more energy." Desperately Saburo laughed and scolded.

When those soldiers heard that it was Zhu Bugle's order, they became serious, quickly stopped chatting, and carried the materials seriously. In fact, the defense materials of the cottage have always been very well prepared, and the reason why they have to be moved again this time is mainly because the last time they practiced state affairs and others entered the mountain, in order to hide the true strength of the cottage, all kinds of combat materials were hidden, so now they have to be moved back to important places.

The two giant crossbows in front of the gate of the main village were reassembled and looked majestic, and each sub-village was also piled with rolling logs and stones, ready to meet the large-scale attack of the officers and soldiers. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked the archers in the cottage to make a considerable number of hunting bows and assigned them to some of the soldiers who had the strength to pull out the "Seven Bucket Bows".

What kind of bow is the Seven Bucket Bow?

Here we have to talk about what a stone bow is! In ancient times, one stone was equivalent to about one hundred and twenty catties, and one stone bow, that is, a bow with an arm strength of one hundred and twenty catties that could be drawn. Of course, this is not absolute, because the ancient weights and measures were very confusing, sometimes one stone is equal to one hundred and twenty catties, sometimes it is only equal to one hundred catties, and sometimes eighty catties can be counted.

One stone is equal to ten buckets, that is to say, seven bucket bows are equivalent to seventy or eighty catties of strength can be pulled away from the bow, which is the minimum requirement for the selection of archers in the Ming court, if this requirement is not met, it is not eligible to be assigned to the bow and arrow.

Zhu Yuanzhang conducted an arm strength test in his own village, and found that about 2,000 people could pull the seven bucket bows, which was a bit beyond his expectations, and the current Huanglong cottage did not have the economic strength to configure bows and arrows for so many people at one time, so he conducted several rounds of selection and distributed the limited "seven bucket bows" to soldiers with large arm strength and relatively accurate shooting.

There were 500 seven-bucket bows assigned to this batch, and these soldiers who were assigned bows and arrows looked very proud, and their waists were relatively straight in front of their colleagues, because they ...... With a bow is equivalent to recognizing that their arm strength and archery skills are better than those who do not have a bow, so the most popular dress in Huanglong Cottage recently is to carry a bow on his back and hang a bag of arrows around his waist.

Desperately Saburo looked down from the top of the high arrow tower, and saw that there were several soldiers who were still reluctant to unload the bows and arrows on their backs when they were carrying the rolling wood and stones, and he couldn't help but laugh and scolded: "You guys, what kind of fame?" Isn't the rolling log stone heavy enough on your hands? I'm still carrying some messy stuff on my back. ”

When the soldiers heard his laughter and scolding, they responded together: "Brother Sanlang desperately, this is your mistake, what we are carrying is not a mess, this is the elite symbol distributed to us by Zhu Baba Brother!" We're carrying this thing on our backs, but it doesn't affect the work we do......"

"Look at your deed!" Desperately Saburo scolded: "A hunting bow is like this...... Hey, let me tell you, after repelling the officers and soldiers this time, he was able to capture a lot of mandarin duck jackets, and whoever can assign the robbed mandarin duck jackets shows that he is the real elite. ”

"Needless to say? I must have a copy of the robbed mandarin duck jacket, haha! One of the soldiers laughed and said, "I saw that the people in the old team were wearing purple mandarin duck jackets, and I hated them so much, and this time it was my turn to get one." ”

"Fool, with the way you look, dare to compare with the elite soldiers of the old team? People can put up ten or eight ...... like you with one hand," one of his companions also laughed and scolded: "Don't pee either, look at your own appearance." ”

"Go! Don't be poor, get to work! Desperate Saburo scolded.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang happened to go to the mountain gate to inspect, and listened to all the words of these people, he put on a smiling face, walked in front of the soldiers, and patted them on the shoulder: "Do a good job, as long as you do a good job in this battle, the mandarin duck battle jacket is indispensable to have one of you." ”

"Yes!" Several soldiers were able to get Zhu Bugle's personal promise, and they were suddenly so excited that their whole bodies trembled, as if they had become elites.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, turned around and walked away, and then the desperate San Lang on the arrow tower shouted: "Brother Zhu, look at the mountain...... Yes Xu ...... Ahem...... The Generalissimo is back......"

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang lay on the edge of the cliff and looked down, and sure enough, on the rugged path up the mountain, there was a group of people hurrying towards the gate of the cottage, which was Xu Renjie and his most confidant group of family members.

"Brother Zhu, didn't you ask him to inquire about the news of the imperial court in Baishui County? Why did he run back without permission? Desperate Saburo was a little puzzled.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "This guy doesn't call himself back, he must be coming back to fight...... It seems that Du Wenhuan's army has begun to move, how can this guy come without seeing a big battle when he sees that a big battle is about to be fought? Ha ha! ”

When Saburo heard this, he suddenly suddenly realized that when it comes to fighting, in addition to Wang Er, Xu Renjie, who is known as the generalissimo, is the most energetic, and where there is a war, there is his figure, these two guys seem to be born for war.

After a long time, Xu Renjie took his henchmen and his henchmen, climbed the trail up the mountain, and finally came to the door of the cottage, this guy is a big man outside the mountain, but he always dresses very plainly in the mountain, and covers his face with a black scarf, because his identity cannot be exposed, except for a few leaders in the cottage who know, no one can know.

As soon as he saw Zhu Yuanzhang standing at the door of the cottage waiting for him, Xu Renjie immediately shouted with joy: "Brother Zhu, I'm back...... I'm back to fight! The army led by Du Wenhuan's guy ...... It has already been pulled out, and in less than half a month, we will come to our village, and you have to let me take the lead this time. ”

"As expected, this guy is really back to fight!" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and sighed.

The desperate Saburo, who had just climbed down from the arrow tower, couldn't help but scolded Xu Renjie: "You guy......"

Xu Renjie rushed to the front and saluted Zhu Bazhang, but he didn't care about the desperate San Lang, he was obviously very anxious, and said loudly: "Brother Zhu, Du Wenhuan has already raised troops, but I detected a strange thing, Du Wenhuan obviously brought 5,000 troops to suppress the bandits, but the imperial historian named Wu Fu didn't let him bring all the 5,000 people into the mountains to deal with us, so he left 2,000 people, saying that Baishui City needs to be prevented from being attacked by the rogues, and it needs to be garrisoned." ”

When Xu Renjie said this, he said with a blank look on his face: "This is really strange, I haven't seen any military book with this kind of tactic, divide half of the troops to attack the enemy, isn't this a chance for the enemy to break through?" I don't think there's any need to defend Whitewater City, because it's impossible for us to go out of the mountains to attack the city, and even if we capture the city, we won't have the ability to defend it. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's face sank, and after thinking about it, he shook his head and sighed: "Wu Fu is using a strategy, but he is not using a strategy or tactical strategy, he is using a conspiracy in the court." ”

"Huh? Do not understand! Xu Renjie hurriedly asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said: "This is the Donglin Party deliberately dragging Du Wenhuan's hind legs, trying to make him attack our cottage failed." In this way, after the entire Shaanxi and western Shaanxi crackdown on bandits completely failed, the main peace faction will be able to hold its head up in front of the main battle faction. ”

"This ...... It's still too esoteric, I don't quite understand! "Xu Renjie Khan.

"This kind of thing, it's good if you don't understand!" Zhu Yuanzhang patted him on the shoulder, and his face began to become gloomy: "If you understand, there will be no place in my village." ”

Xu Renjie was taken aback and didn't dare to ask this question again.

Zhu Yuanzhang changed the topic and said, "What about the Shenji Battalion that Wu Fu brought from the capital?" ”

When Xu Renjie heard this, his expression flew again: "The Shenji Battalion didn't listen to Wu Fu's words, and followed Du Wenhuan to act together...... This one...... I don't quite understand it again, Wu Fu obviously stripped 2,000 troops from Du Wenhuan, why did he send out the Shenji Battalion again? Isn't it to be held back? ”

"Hey!" Zhu Yuanzhang's face was still ugly: "This incident shows that the generals who are responsible for commanding these two hundred divine machine battalions belong to the main battle faction...... It really makes no sense, the army and officials of my Ming Dynasty are simply chaotic and unorthodox. ”

Xu Renjie was dizzy by this problem, he thought about it for a long time, and finally figured out what happened, it turned out that Du Wenhuan's subordinates had 2,000 people belonging to the Donglin Party of the main and faction, so they stayed in Baishui to "protect the city", and the two hundred Shenji battalion that was originally under Wu Fu's command belonged to the main battle faction, so he didn't listen to Wu Fu's order to join Du Wenhuan's bandit army, which ...... It's messy enough. The factional dispute in the court, with Xu Renjie's knowledge, is really completely incomprehensible.

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head to the sky and muttered silently: "There are two hundred Shenji battalions, three thousand elite guards, and the leading general is Du Wenhuan, who has extremely rich combat experience...... Tut...... That's a tough bone...... If this battle is not fought well, it will be lost. ”