After discovering the beacon tower, Zhu Yuanzhang no longer advanced rashly, he let the distance between the front army and the Chinese army widen, so as to ensure that when the enemy ambushed, he could only ambush the front army, and could not shake the Chinese army. Since ancient times, the front army has this role, saying that the good point is called opening the road in the mountains and building bridges in the water, and the bad point is fire reconnaissance, if it is ambushed, the front army is ambushed, and the Chinese army will have time to react.

Of course, huge risks also mean huge benefits, because the front army is the first to engage the enemy, so the opportunity for meritorious service is also greater than that of the middle army and the rear army, in ancient times, the army could often loot the city, so the front army is also easier to get rich.

Wang Er and Ying Shanhong volunteered to lead the front army, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed, and Wang Er led 5,000 people and rushed forward far away. Zhu Yuanzhang and the other leaders led the main force and slowly followed. And arrange the rear army to ensure that the grain route from Hanzhong Fu is unimpeded, and if they want to fight in Sichuan for a long time, they must ensure the follow-up food supply, because they are not rogues and cannot feed the war with war, so once they want to fight in Shaanxi, logistics supply is extremely important.

At the beginning, Zhuge Liang went out of Shu to fight, and in order to solve the supply problem in the mountains, he invented wooden oxen and horses, but Zhu Yuanzhang did not have that kind of "mythical" means of transportation, so he could only rely on the diligence of logistics personnel to make up for it.

After a few more miles, the army finally broke through the endless mountains and came to an area inhabited by humans, and saw a few crooked villages in the mountains, and a few dilapidated houses inside, the poverty of which could be seen from the appearance alone. The fields here are not the same as the land in Guanzhong, which everyone is used to, although the land in Guanzhong is not as good as that of Jiangnan and the Central Plains. But it's also roughly flat.

But the fields here in Guangyuan are all formed by mountains, and they slope with the slope of the mountain, and it feels strange to grow crops on these sloping land. At this time, autumn had passed, and it was already the slack season, so there was nothing in the fields, and the soldiers from the plains in Zhu's army couldn't help but mutter: "I really can't imagine what the crops grown on such a sloping field look like, will the crops also grow diagonally?" ”

Some soldiers who had stayed in the old village of Huanglong Mountain laughed at them and said, "Are you stupid? Though the earth is sloping, the crops grow straight upward. ”

The red lady also looked around for a while, and saw that there was a lot of greenery in the four fields. It's not as yellow as Shaanxi*xi. I couldn't help but wonder: "The drought here is not serious!" ”

"Hmm." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Shu is mountainous, sheltered on all sides, and it is not easy for the wind to blow the clouds to other places, so the humidity in Sichuan is relatively heavy." Abundant rain. When there is a great drought, there is a little greenery here. ”

This kind of mountain weather and stuff. Zhu Yuanzhang actually didn't understand much, so he could only say it so simply, if he talked like a geographer or meteorologist in later generations. The red lady and others didn't understand.

The red lady said: "It's not easy to dry up here, isn't it very conducive to planting crops?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and sighed: "This is not necessarily, although Sichuan has enough rain, there is also a big problem, that is, the soil layer is too thin, and the mountains here are all stone mountains, not mud mountains." The mountain is made entirely of stones, and the stones are covered with a thin layer of earth, and it is difficult to grow crops in such a place. ”

When they heard him say this, they all squatted down and dug into the ground, and sure enough, with a light digging, they dug up the stones under the mud...... Everyone's faces changed greatly, and they couldn't help but exclaim: "Such a thin ground? How do you grow crops? What do Sichuan people eat? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang patiently explained: "Most of the grain in Shu comes from the rich Chengdu Plain, where the land is relatively thick and can grow good crops...... But...... Alas......"

Hearing his long sigh, the leaders wondered: "But what? Why did Bugling Zhu sigh? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a heavy heart: "All the fertile land on the Chengdu Plain has been annexed by the King of Shu...... There is not a single acre of land that belongs to the people here......"

"Silk!" Everyone gasped: It turns out that Sichuan is also in this situation. The royal family of the Ming Dynasty is really powerful, more than 10,000 hectares of the richest land in the Han Dynasty of Shaanxi are in the hands of the King of Qin, and the richest land in Sichuan is all in the hands of the King of Shu.

At this time, Ma Xiaotian squatted on the ground, rubbed a handful of soil, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Zhu, the land of Guangyuan is so thin, I'm afraid that I can't grow anything decent, even the taro that our Zhu Jun is proud of, I'm afraid it can't be planted, if we occupy Guangyuan, how can we let the people here live a good life?" It's too hard, isn't it? Could it be that taxes from elsewhere will fill the gap? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile: "This is not necessarily, I know that there is a kind of crop that can be grown on very thin land, and the yield is very high, as long as you find that kind of crop and plant it, you can solve the urgent need here." ”

Ma Xiaotian and others were surprised: "And this kind of crop?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Well, this crop is called corn, and the same as the taro, it was also transmitted to our Middle Earth by Westerners, and it has been planted in more than ten provinces in the Ming Dynasty, but because the people are timid, there are not many people who dare to plant, and everyone's understanding of corn is limited, and no one thought that it could grow on a thin layer of soil, so I don't know...... When we take Guangyuan, we will send someone to get some back, and we can save the people here from the water and fire. ”

(Note: The timeline of the appearance of corn in the middle of the historical books, Guangxi 1531, Henan 1544, Jiangsu 1559, Gansu 1560, Yunnan 1563, Zhejiang 1573, Fujian 1577, Guangdong 1579, Shandong 1590, Shaanxi 1597, Hebei 1622, Hubei 1669, Shanxi 1672, Jiangxi 1673, Liaoning 1682, Hunan 1684, Sichuan 1686, Taiwan 1717, Guizhou 1718. It can be seen from this table that Sichuan only recorded corn in 1686, at this time it was already the twenty-fifth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, before that corn was not introduced into Sichuan, it is not possible to test, this book is intended to be not introduced, in fact, after the introduction of this thing, because it is very suitable for planting in the mountains of Sichuan, it has developed rapidly in Sichuan, and various ethnic minorities in Sichuan have developed the custom of eating rice buns, that is, corn rice, which has been until now. ）

After listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's words, Ma Xiaotian spread his face, and the red lady beside him couldn't help but sigh: "Brother Zhu, you know so much." She was sincerely admired, you must know that people at that time had limited knowledge, Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the soil here was thin when he first stepped on the land of Sichuan, but the people next to him had to dig it up. And Zhu Yuanzhang also knows that the crops suitable for planting on this kind of land are really powerful.

Zhu Yuanzhang sent several teams of people to invite the people in the village, and when these people saw his banner: "General Zhenxi - Zhu", and saw that his army had a clear banner and uniform clothes and armor, they actually thought that he was an officer and soldier, and they all knelt down and kowtowed when they came closer, calling him an official. It turned out that the news in Guangyuan Mountain was not good, and the people didn't know what Baishui Zhuba was, and they didn't know what the situation was outside, and it was even more unclear that General Zhenxi didn't belong to the imperial court or anything, but he only knew that the person in front of him was a general, and since he was a general, he must be an officer and soldier.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't break it, and said with a smile: "General Ben came from the north and wants to go south, but he is not familiar with the people here, do you know which line of officers and soldiers from the imperial court is stationed nearby?" ”

When the people saw that he was kind and pleasant, their fears were gone, and their cordiality rose, so they honestly pointed to the south and said: "General Zuo Guangxian is stationed here, and there are more than 3,000 officers and soldiers under his command. ”

"Zuo Guangxian?" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned, thought about it carefully, and then remembered this person. Zuo Guangxian was originally the deputy chief soldier under Hong Chengchou, when Hong Chengchou was killed by Zhu Yuanzhang, Zuo Guangxian did not follow him, but guarded near Hanzhong Mansion, heard that Hong Chengchou was dead, Zhu army attacked, Zuo Guangxian abandoned Hanzhong Mansion, retreated into Sichuan, and then has been in Sichuan to suppress bandits, I didn't expect to meet here.

This person fought bravely, and was very good at mountain warfare, in the original history, Zuo Guangxian once chased Li Zi in the mountains near Hanzhong like a dog, but it should not be underestimated.

At the same time that Zhu Yuanzhang heard about Zuo Guangxian, Zuo Guangxian also knew the news of Zhu Yuanzhang's entry into Sichuan.

In the military camp of Guangyuan County, Zuo Guangxian was wearing a military uniform, carrying a bow and a sword, and was sitting on the top, accompanied by Guangyuan Zhixian. After the Fengshan Tower in the mountains in the north was ignited, the news of Zhu's army entering Sichuan flew into the county seat, and Guangyuan Zhixian was so frightened that he hurriedly ran to Zuo Guangxian's camp to discuss.

Zuo Guang first asked Zhu Jun how many soldiers there were, and his subordinates reported back: "Unknown! I only saw the beacon fire, but I didn't know the enemy's geometry. ”

That Guangyuan Zhixian is a timid civil official, as soon as he heard that the thief is coming, he has no master, and he heard his subordinates say that he doesn't know what is inside the enemy, and immediately shouted: "The army of the thief is always all over the sky and countless people, and if you don't know the geometry, you must not meet the enemy, general, let's fly to Chengdu while defending the county seat." ”

Zuo Guangxian didn't think so, he frowned and thought carefully for a while, and said to Nazhi County: "There are many thieves, how can the small county town be defended?" The walls here are only ten feet high, and if we want to rely on such walls to hold on, the defeated army will be broken in one blow. ”

When Na Zhixian heard this, his face turned blue with fright.

Zuo Guangxian pondered for a long time, and thought: The river is mountainous, no matter how many thieves there are, they can't be used between the mountains and forests, although there are only 3,000 people under my command, as long as they make good use of the terrain, 3,000 people can't break the 30,000 thieves. If you are trapped in a lonely city, the thief army is surrounded in all directions, and it will be over in an instant, it is better to go out of the city and take the initiative to fight, even if I can't win, I can still run away with oil on the soles of my feet, and if I am trapped in a small county town, I don't even have a place to run.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Guangyuan Zhixian and said seriously: "General Ben has decided, go out of the city to meet the enemy!" (To be continued.) )