In Xianyang City, Li Qingshui grabbed a pen and paper, was burying his head in a book on the table, wrote a few strokes and stopped, looked at the household registration book placed next to him, Zhu Yuanzhang sat beside him with a smile.

After Li Qingshui drew the last stroke on the paper, he raised his head and said: "There are more than 23,000 old and weak women sent by the mixed 100,000, and the Hengtian King has also sent more than 21,000, only the Pillar of Heaven has rushed less, only more than 12,000." ”

It turned out that after the three of them arrived in northern Shaanxi, they redrew the territory, and mixed 100,000 to Yan'an Mansion, as well as Yanchang, Qingquan, Qingjian, Ansai and other places near Yan'an. Hengtianwang occupied Yulin, Hengshan, Jingbian and other counties. The Cupola Pillar is the weakest, so it only occupies the three small places of Suide, Mizhi, and Zizhou.

Those with a large territory have more rebels, and those with less territory have a slower growth in strength, so there is also a difference in the number of old and weak women sent by the three of them.

Li Qingshui is actually very concerned about the placement of these people, he hopes that by placing these traitors' old and weak women, the soldiers of the righteous army will be inspired, "put down the butcher's knife and return to the people", after hesitating for a while, he asked Zhu Yuanzhang: "Zhu Ba, where do you plan to settle these people?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand and tapped lightly on the table, and then said seriously: "Send someone to inquire about how long these people have been wandering around the world, and deal with them separately according to the length of time they have been wandering." ”

"What's the explanation?" Li Qingshui asked.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Some of these people must have joined the Righteous Army since the Great Rebellion in Shaanxi * West in the early years of Chongzhen, that is, they have been wandering for eight years, and some people have joined the Righteous Army in Shanxi, Henan, and other places, that is, they have been wandering for two or three years, and some people may have mixed 100,000 They were only accepted after they arrived in northern Shaanxi this time." That is, it has only been less than a year......"

After a pause, he said: "Those who have been wandering for a long time know the hardships of wandering the world, and they must have long wanted to return to a peaceful place, cultivate fields, and live back to those peaceful days before. As for those who have only recently joined the rebel army, they must be carefully managed. They may have just tasted the pleasures of murder, arson, and robbery, and if they are asked to pick up a hoe again and work with their own hands to obtain food, they may be reluctant to do so. Such people must be gathered together and managed under the supervision of the village warriors. ”

Li Qingshui suddenly remembered these words. Although he has always been dissatisfied with Zhu Ba's deception of him, but in the process of managing southern Shaanxi, he has been mentioned by Zhu Ba several times, and whenever Zhu Ba says some opinions on governance, Li Qingshui has to marvel at the other party's thoughtfulness, which is completely different from him, a rookie who is still a scholarly and righteous person.

Li Qingshui is not the kind of pedantic person who "everything that is hostile to people is wrong". He worked hard to learn everything that was useful to him, and he would do whatever it took to make the lives of the people better. He drew the numbers on the paper and mobilized the newly collected "spring endowments" from all over the place to settle the old and weak women who had only been accepted by the more than 50,000 people, frowning from time to time. Sometimes his eyes are blazing, and he only thinks about how to let these people live a good life, and he doesn't think about what other ideas Zhu Yuanzhang has for accepting these people.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't bother him and walked out of the house. It happened that a post soldier sent military information, so Zhu Yuanzhang casually opened it to see. Most of these military information are records of the activities of various rebels, and there is also a small amount of news from the imperial court.

After Fengyang was burned down, the imperial court appointed Lu Xiang as the governor of the seven provinces, and pieced together 70,000 officers and soldiers on the side and belly. More than one million taels of Beijing, provincial, and gold were used as military salaries, and the coming was menacing, and Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, Liu Chenggong, Ai Wannian, Liu Guozhen, Wang Xi and other generals came out together. Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Sweeping Wang, and Taiping Wangbu of the East Road Righteous Army were defeated in successive battles, and were finally forced to give up the East Road they were assigned to, and turned around and fled back to the Central Plains. They failed to carry out the strategy of dividing troops and orienting them to the end, but the other rebels did not blame them, and whoever was caught by 70,000 officers and soldiers could only lose their territory and flee for their lives.

In February of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the rebel army launched a large-scale mobile battle between Qi, Huang, Runing, and Guide. The Ming court responded to the heavenly governor Zhang Guowei and rushed east and west, busy coping. On the fifth day of the first month, the peasant army besieged Tongcheng (now Tongcheng County, Anhui Province) for several days and did not leave.

In the early spring of February of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong went down to Taihu Lake and Susong, and Taihe, Huoshan, Lu'an, and Haozhou were captured. Luotian bounds the intersection of Huguang and Jiangbei. After Zhang Xianzhong's troops captured Susong, they also connected Xuzhou and Yucheng, Shangqiu, Runing, Zhenyang, and Xincai, trying to open the passage through the south to the north, and after encountering resistance, they turned to the south, and on the fourth day of the first month of February, their other troops captured Luotian and opened the gateway to Huguang.

In April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the governor Lu Xiang was promoted to Ruzhou, and the general soldier Deng Yu was ordered to defend Fancheng and defend the Han River. Deng Xi is not good at controlling the army, and he is not attached to the army. On April 26, his subordinate Wang Yuncheng gathered troops with a salary and killed Deng Xi's two servants. Deng Xi was afraid, climbed the stairs and crossed the wall, fell into the fire alley by mistake, was burned to death, and the Sichuan soldiers were in chaos.

In June of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the vanguard of officers and soldiers fought with Li Zihui, and was surrounded by the ambush regiment of the righteous army, Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen were killed, and more than 1,000 soldiers were annihilated. Liu Chenggong and Wang Ximing were seriously wounded, and led the remnants of the defeated soldiers to break through and escape.

……

Zhu Yuanzhang read this military situation carefully, suddenly called a herald, and ordered: "Order all the troops to complete the preparations for the expedition within today, and the troops will be dispatched early tomorrow morning." ”

The herald didn't know what he meant, but he didn't dare to ask more, so he took the order and left, and after a while, many soldiers in Xianyang City began to run, anxious to go back to their camp to pack their things, or some soldiers who lived locally wanted to go home to say goodbye to their parents, wives and children, and the whole Xianyang City came alive in an instant.

After a while, Wang Er, Cao Wenzhao, and Cao Bianjiao hurriedly ran over, and Wang Er asked, "Brother Zhu, who are we going to fight when we send troops?" There are no officers and soldiers nearby, right? Although the two of them had not agreed to join the Zhu army, Zhu Yuanzhang allowed them to move around in the army at will, and the two of them were also very curious about what Zhu Yuanzhang was going to do next, so they liked to come and watch it when they were a little troubled.

Zhu Yuanzhang told the information he had just seen, Wang Er was puzzled, but Cao Cao, the big and small, immediately heard it: "Judging from this information, the officers and soldiers are pressing from east to west, and the thieves are retreating westward. ”

Big and small Cao Yi said, and Wang Er's stupid head finally reacted: "I see! ”

Cao Wenzhao looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a strange expression, and said with a smile: "You can't handle it this time...... If you refuse to let these thieves enter Shaanxi, you will have to fight with them, and once the thieves attack each other and lose their vitality, the 70,000 officers and soldiers who follow can easily wipe you out. But if they are released into Shaanxi, it will lead to the failure of southern Shaanxi, Zhu Ba, this time it will be difficult for you to turn over if you have three heads and six arms. ”

"Not necessarily." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "I don't let them into Shaanxi, but I can also let their old and weak women into Shaanxi, just like mixing 100,000 of them." ”

Cao Wenzhao said with a smile: "There are more than 90 thieves in the canal, except for you Zhu Ba, the king is the strongest. This person is also very strategic and ambitious, if you absorb the trick of the old and weak women, it is okay to use it on the mixed 100,000 people, but it will not be effective if it is used on the king. ”

"That's right, this one is the most troublesome." Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "Since you and I both know that it is difficult to break into the king, and the court naturally knows it, then there must be many chasing soldiers behind the king, at this time, I don't think he can calmly engage in any strategy." ”

Cao Wenzhao was dumbfounded.

In the early morning of the second day, Zhu's army left the camp, leaving only 3,000 men to garrison Xianyang to monitor the defenders in Xi'an. If the five thousand people in Xi'an City dared to come out of the city to make any small moves, they could immediately meet them.

In addition, everyone else is heading towards Wuguan and Tongguan. At this time, it was Yang Hong who was responsible for guarding Wuguan in Zhu Junzhong, and it was Xue Hongqi who was guarding Tongguan, Zhu Yuanzhang was more at ease with Yang Hong, but not very at ease with Xue Hongqi, so he only sent Miao Mei, Feishan Tiger, and Big Red Wolf to lead thousands of people to Wuguan for reinforcements. I led Wang Er to Tongguan, and at the same time sent someone to Luochuan to summon Xu Renjie, as for Luochuan, I left it to Li Panlong to lead the township Yongjun to guard. Anyway, the families of the mixed 100,000 army are all in Zhu Jun's territory, so don't worry about mixing 100,000 and playing any demon moths.

A few days later, the main force of Zhu Yuanzhang's army has arrived at Tongguan, Tongguan at this time has taken on a new look, Xue Hongqi has been working hard here for half a year, has already rejuvenated this Xiongguan that was dilapidated due to war, the wall is repaired majestically and strictly, and a row of Furang machine guns is also erected on the head of the city, and the materials for defending the city such as fire bricks, flints, arrows and so on are piled up like a mountain. One city, one cloud, two generals each led an army to garrison the north and south camps, and on the loess plateau in the middle was the main force of Xue Hongqi.

When Zhu Yuanzhang's main force arrived, he happened to encounter a small stream of rogues calling the city outside Tongguan, and it seemed that they wanted to enter Shaanxi to eat. Xue Hongqi was dressed in red, heroic, standing on the wall of Tongguan, one hand crossed his waist, the other hand pointed to the wall under his feet, and shouted to the small stream of people outside the city: "From this wall to the west, it is the territory of my Mobei Horse Gang Xue Hongqi, if you know some of the rules of the rivers and lakes, you will know that no one can enter the territory of our Mobei Horse Gang, hands come in and cut hands, feet come in and cut feet, and heads stick in...... Hey, hey, hey, ......" (To be continued.) )