Horses galloped down the road, hooves rattling.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat flat on horseback, but Ma Xiaotian and the thirty-five guards were staggered and unorthodox. The reason is very simple, they are all poor farmers, and they have only ridden cattle and other things before, and they are not good at riding horses, and if the horses run slower, they are a little panicked and unable to control themselves.

If it weren't for the fact that they had practiced equestrianism for a while after occupying the county seat, they would have fallen off their horses long ago.

"Brother Zhu, why are we in such a hurry?" Ma Xiaotian couldn't help but ask: "What does Brother Saburo mean by the words?" What can happen on the other side of the Yellow River? He threw out a series of questions, with the undulation of the horse's back, and his breathing was not smooth, making him feel a little intermittent, and he looked very embarrassed.

"Do you still remember when Wang Jiayin took the 36th battalion to pass through Huanglong Mountain and crossed the Yellow River into the west of the mountain?" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "After Wang Jiayin's death, the 36th Battalion not only did not become weaker, but its momentum soared, supporting more than 200,000 thieves and soldiers, and dozens of roads marched hand in hand, cholera places...... The officers and soldiers sent the famous general Cao Wenzhao to lead the extremely elite border army into the customs to conquer the ...... Now the west side of Shanxi is even more chaotic than our Shaanxi * west, since Desperate San Lang mentioned that there is a situation on the other side of the Yellow River, it must be that the 36th Battalion has made some kind of chaos. ”

"It turned out to be the thirty-sixth battalion!" Ma Xiaotian was startled, when the 36th Battalion passed by the Huanglong Cottage, he once looked down at their army from the top of the mountain, at that time the strength of the 36th Battalion was as many as 20,000 or 30,000 people, and the huge Liukou military camp left a deep impression on Ma Xiaotian, and later heard that they had an army of 200,000, he was really shocked and inexplicable. Now listening to Zhu Buggy saying that it may be the thirty-sixth battalion that made a demon moth again, Ma Xiaotian's heart suddenly felt like fifteen buckets of water, seven up and eight down!

When Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiaotian and others rushed outside Chengcheng, they saw a sentry at the head of the city stretching his neck waiting for them, and when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang coming, the sentry immediately said: "Brother Zhu, you are finally here...... Brother Saburo took all the three hundred brothers in the city to the Yellow River...... He asked me to stay here and pass on your message...... Please hurry over. ”

"Went to the Yellow River?" Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly taken aback, it seems that the situation is quite urgent, he didn't even defend the city, and went to the Yellow River with all the garrisons, that is to say, there was already an enemy on the other side of the river, and desperately San Lang wanted to take advantage of the Yellow River to block the other party out of his territory.

"Let's go, hurry up to the edge of the Yellow River!" Zhu Yuanzhang kept going, and ran eastward...... After driving for dozens of miles, Zhu Yuanzhang and others finally arrived at the edge of the Yellow River. As we all know, the Yellow River is a long river in the shape of "several", on the right side of the word "several", the Yellow River flows from north to south, the drop of the Yellow River in this section is very large, the water flow is turbulent, the momentum is extraordinary, the famous "water of the Yellow River comes from the sky", in fact, there is a description of the taste here.

There is a small deserted village by the river, called Xiayang Village, where there were originally dozens of peasant families and a few ferries, but due to the impact of the drought, these people have long since moved away, leaving behind mud houses and thatched houses that no one cares about.

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang arrived outside the village, someone greeted him, it was the desperate San Lang and a group of soldiers, he shouted from afar: "Brother Zhu, are you here...... I'm in a hurry here......"

"Don't worry, speak slowly!" Zhu Yuanzhang turned over and jumped off the war horse, pulled the desperate San Lang and walked to a hut. Ma Xiaotian and others immediately followed, followed Zhu Yuanzhang for a long time, Ma Xiaotian also knew how to look at Zhu Yuanzhang's movements to judge what he meant, and when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang pulling desperate Saburo into the house, he knew that what he was going to say to desperate Saburo didn't want others to hear, so he gave an order, and thirty-five guards scattered and surrounded the hut.

As soon as he entered the hut, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately asked, "Who is on the other side of the river?" I'm forcing you to run over here and guard it! ”

Desperately San Lang sighed and said, "It's Zhao Sheng, who lights the lamp!" ”

We have introduced Zhao Sheng who lit the lamp earlier, this person is also known as Zhao Si'er, a native of Qingjian in Shaanxi * West, originally a scholar, borrowed to live in the oil temple and attacked the book at night, Chongzhen for three years, some people rumored that Zhao Sheng lit the lamp in the lonely temple at night is to make a war book like Huang Chao to rebel, Zhao Sheng is self-explanatory, worried about being falsely imprisoned, so he had to gather people to revolt in the Huaya Temple in Jiejiagou, and called himself to light the lamp.

The last time the 36th battalion entered the west of the mountain, Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, was also among them, because he was a scholar, knew how to read and write, and was considered a knowledgeable and literate person, so he had a good reputation in the rebel army, and the rebels he led were numerous, as many as 10,000 people, and at least ranked in the top ten in the 36th battalion.

"It's him!" Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "No wonder you are so nervous!" ”

"Yes, this guy is not a small group of thieves that we can swallow, and if we let him in, it may be a disaster for the people." Desperately Saburo said distressedly: "But if he wants to cross the river, I will definitely not be able to stop it, I only have three hundred people here......"

"Has he been in contact with you?" Zhu Yuanzhang said.

"He's just on the riverbank, and he seems to be cutting down trees to build a raft, and he hasn't contacted me yet, and I'm just afraid that he will contact me, and if he writes a letter saying that he's coming over, I don't know how to reply to him." Desperately Saburo Khan said: "That's why I quickly sent someone to call you." ”

"You're doing the right thing, I'll take care of this guy from now on." Zhu Yuanzhang ended the conversation with the desperate Saburo and walked out of the house, surrounded by the rolling Yellow River, and the sand-yellow river was tumbling endlessly...... This section of the Yellow River is not wide, the distance between the two banks is only more than a mile, you can see the opposite bank, only to see that there is indeed an army stationed on the opposite bank of the river, the number is very large, look at their messy camp, you know that there are at least 20,000 people.

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang also knows very well that 20,000 rogues does not mean that they are really 20,000 soldiers, presumably after deducting the old, weak, sick and disabled among them, this army will only have 8,000 people at most.

"Don't worry!" Zhu Yuanzhang patted the shoulder of the desperate San Lang: "It is really impossible to resist them and 20,000 people to cross the river with 300 people, but I have already ordered Xu Renjie to bring 1,000 soldiers over, as long as Xu Renjie arrives, it will be more than enough to garrison the riverbank with a total strength of 1,300 people." ”

This is not Zhu Yuanzhang boasting about Haikou, refusing to defend the Yellow River, with 1,300 troops to block 20,000 rogues who cross the river on rafts, it is a piece of cake for him, effortless, if he can't stop it, it's a strange thing! The real trouble is what kind of attitude he should use to face the lamp, after all, the other party is one of the 36th battalions, if he tears his face and fights in order to block him, he will offend all the 36th battalions, and when the time comes, half of the 200,000 rogues will come out to trouble themselves, and it is not a fun thing.

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little tired all the way, he simply sat on the edge of the Yellow River, thinking about how to deal with Zhao Sheng, the lamp on the other side of the river, while resting his tired body.

At this moment, the rogue army on the opposite side suddenly pushed a raft into the water, and several thieves got on the raft and rowed desperately with crude wood pulp, and actually rowed towards Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Oh? Are you going to come and negotiate with us? Zhu Yuanzhang perked up: "Desperate San Lang, Ma Xiaotian, you all come, let's listen to what Zhao Sheng is going to do." ”

Everyone stood by the river, waiting quietly, it takes a lot of time to row over the river more than a mile wide with a raft, Zhu Yuanzhang and others waited for a long time, the raft finally landed on the shore, and several thieves on it were rowed numbly, and when they arrived at the shore, several thieves hurriedly jumped off the raft, panting and scolding: "Thief, your mother, this broken raft is really hard to row." ”

"Thief your mother" is the local language used to scold people in Shaanxi, it seems that these soldiers are veterans brought from Shaanxi * West by lighting the lamp, not recruits recruited in Shanxi * West, they scolded while walking up from the mud by the river with a deep foot and a shallow foot, and in front of Zhu Yuanzhang and others, these soldiers put away their sloppy appearance and asked loudly: "Are the eldest brothers brothers under the command of Baishui Zhu Ba?" ”

"Well, I'm Baishui Zhuba, the one next to me is Chengcheng Desperate Saburo, and this is Baishui Ma Xiaotian." Zhu Yuanzhang replied casually: "Why are you here?" ”

"Huh? Is Big Brother Zhu here in person? The soldiers were still a little sluggish, but when they heard Zhu Ba's name, they were immediately in awe, and bowed their heads: "Brother Zhu Ba...... Please help...... Our troops are in trouble...... Now that we are desperate, if you don't save us, all the 20,000 brothers in our lamp department will have to jump into the Yellow River and die. ”

"What?" Ma Xiaotian was taken aback: "You have 20,000 people, such a large army, will also run into trouble?" Desperate? ”

Desperate Saburo was also a little surprised: "What can force an army of 20,000 into a corner?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned: "Come on, what trouble have you encountered?" ”

The soldiers lowered their heads and said: "Although we have more than 20,000 people, it looks amazing, in fact, we have just suffered a defeat and are fleeing...... We fought a few battles with him, lost consecutive battles, and retreated all the way to the edge of the Yellow River...... Now it is blocked by the natural danger of the Yellow River, and it is too late to make boats to cross the river...... Ask Brother Zhu to pick us up. ”

"I see!" Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang understand what had happened: it turned out that Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, was being pursued by Cao Wenzhao's army, this person called Cao Wenzhao is not easy to mess with, he is a famous general in the late Ming Dynasty, both civil and military, and talented...... I didn't expect this difficult guy to be close at hand!

(To be continued)