Cao Wenzhao, a native of Datong, Shanxi, served in the army in Liaodong in his early years, served in Xiong Tingbi and Sun Chengzong, and accumulated merit to rise to guerrilla and Chongzhen in the winter of the second year. In the third year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi * Western Liukou was rampant, and Cao Wenzhao was named the deputy general of Suidong Road, leading the most powerful Liaodong border army of the Ming Dynasty to enter the customs and suppress.

In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Cao Wenzhao took the head of Wang Jiayin, the leader of the 36th Battalion, by bribing the assassins, and his reputation was greatly boosted for a while, and he became the great enemy of the peasant rebel army.

Now, this powerful monster has actually come to a place not far from his own territory, Zhu Yuanzhang's brows furrowed tightly.

"Eighth Brother Zhu, please help me!" The thieves fell to their knees and pleaded with all their might.

"How many people are there in Cao Wenzhao?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Three thousand!"

"Only three thousand? Chased 20,000 of you everywhere? Ma Xiaotian was taken aback, and at the same time there was a hint of disdain in his tone, since the establishment of Huanglong Cottage, he has not yet suffered a defeat, and in most cases, it is more than a less, this brother has begun to be a little fluttering, I heard that the 20,000 people who lit the lamp were no more than 3,000 officers and soldiers, and unconsciously thought that Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, was nothing more than that.

"Don't say that...... desperately San Lang pulled Ma Xiaotian back: "The officers and soldiers are very powerful, don't underestimate them." ”

"Xiaotian, be cautious in your words and deeds!" Zhu Yuanzhang glared at him, with a hint of reproach in his eyes: "Don't think that these 3,000 people are easy to deal with, if you change our 3,000 elites, it will also be a game of losing more and winning less." ”

"How is this possible?" Ma Xiaotian didn't agree: "We have fought a few battles with the officers and soldiers, if it is three thousand against three thousand, our Huanglong Cottage will definitely not be able to lose, there is always a clever plan to defeat the enemy." ”

"After changing the guards, we can fight against 5,000 with 3,000. When encountering elite court soldiers, it can only be three thousand against three thousand. If it is against the eastern Liaodong border army, our 3,000 can only fight 1,000 people. Zhu Yuanzhang lowered his tone and said: "If you meet the elite Guanning Iron Cavalry in the border army of the Liao Army again...... Hey...... Our 3,000 people can only deal with 500 people. ”

"What?" Ma Xiaotian was taken aback.

Zhu Yuanzhang stretched out his hand and helped up a few thieves who were kneeling on the ground: "Get up, I will help, you go back to the other side of the river first, tell the big brother who lights the lamp, and say that I will transfer troops across the river as soon as possible to help him, so that he can hold on first." ”

"You must come!" Several thieves got a promise, although some were still skeptical, but at this time they could only choose to believe Zhu Yuanzhang, otherwise what else could they do? So he returned to the raft and rowed to the opposite shore again.

Just now, these people desperately San Lang and Ma Xiaotian walked to Zhu Yuanzhang's side together, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Zhu, do we really want to cross the river to help?" ”

"Yes, gotta go!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a calm face: "If you don't go, you can't do it." ”

"Why? There is no need for us to help him at all, fighting with the elite border army will definitely cause damage, and it is not cost-effective to waste our troops in vain. Ma Xiaotian and Desperate Saburo were a little puzzled.

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and analyzed seriously: "Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, lost consecutive battles, and was chased all the way to the Yellow River by Cao Wenzhao, which means that if we don't help him, he will still lose the next battle...... But this time he was blocked by the Yellow River, and if he was defeated, he would not be able to escape, and he would be completely defeated by Cao Wenzhao, so as to ...... Didn't Cao Wenzhao come to our territory? Cao Wenzhao's official position is the deputy chief soldier of Tingsui, who was originally an official in western Shaanxi, and he went to Shanxi because of the pursuit of Zhao Sheng, who lit the lamp, and once Zhao Sheng was cleaned up, he would inevitably cross the river and return to western Shaanxi, that is to say...... After killing the lantern, Cao Wenzhao will cross the Yellow River and directly enter the territory of Chengcheng, and we will still inevitably fight with him at that time. ”

"If we wait for the defeat of the lamp, we will fight Cao Wenzhao again, we will have to rely on our own strength to fight Cao Wenzhao, at that time, not to mention the heavy losses, whether we can win or not is a question. Even if he really wins, he will only be more in the limelight, and he will be regarded as a thorn in the side of the imperial court. Zhu Yuanzhang continued: "But if we cross the river now to fight, on the one hand, we can use the forces of the lamp to join forces to deal with Cao Wenzhao, and the possibility of winning is much greater." The second aspect is to sell personal favors to the 36th Battalion, and in the future, maybe this favor can be exchanged for benefits. Thirdly, we can also cover up our own powder edge under Zhao Sheng, who lights the lamp, to reduce the possible surnames that are nailed by the imperial court. ”

"Oh!" Only then did Ma Xiaotian and Desperate Saburo understand that in that short moment just now, Zhu Bugling actually thought about so many things, which was really amazing.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while and ordered: "I will first take Ma Xiaotian and thirty-five guards to cross the river, and go to Zhao Sheng, who lights the lamp, to inquire about detailed information." Desperate Saburo, you are a defensive general, don't follow me across the river, stay and garrison the riverbank, and at the same time send soldiers along the river to requisition all the nearby civilian boats. Besides, send two brothers back, and the generalissimo should be halfway here with a thousand soldiers, and tell him to come as soon as possible, and cross the river to me in the boat you have prepared for him. Also, I would like to inform Wang Er, who is stationed in Baishui City, and ask him to transfer all the troops to Chengcheng in the name of the exercise, but don't do anything, just in case, I don't want all the main forces to cross the river to fight. ”

"Yes!" Desperately Saburo took his life.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked Desperate Saburo to launch five ferries, which were abandoned in the village after Xiayang Village was abandoned, and the bottom of the boat was a little broken, but fortunately, after Desperate Saburo came to the bank of the river, he had been guarding against the possibility of crossing the river to fight, and he had already asked the soldiers to repair these boats, which came in handy at this time.

Zhu Yuanzhang, Ma Xiaotian, and 35 guards got on five ferries, shook the boats, and headed across the river.

When the boat reached the center of the river, there were thieves in the lantern army on the opposite side who had already seen it and flew in, and then saw the crowds on the opposite shore surging, and I don't know how many ran out, standing on the shore layer upon layer. When they got closer, the appearance of these people became clear, the first middle-aged scholar, wearing a scribe's robe, wearing a square scarf, dressed as a Confucian scholar, it seemed that Zhao Sheng was lighting the lamp.

His dress as a "bandit leader" is quite unusual, and he looks very strange in a large group of extremely vicious thieves. However, it is also true that the more such people are, the more they are admired by the illiterate old and coarse.

Zhu Yuanzhang went to the shore and didn't wait to get off the boat, so he made a gesture on the water: "Baishui Zhu Ba, I've seen the big brother who lights the lamp." ”

The scribe also hurriedly replied: "Qingjian Zhao Sheng, I am fortunate to see the dignity of Eighth Brother Zhu, I am really frightened." ”

These two people are quite interesting, they are obviously thieves, but they meet like scholars, Zhu Yuanzhang still has a bit of a Jianghu flavor, and Zhao Sheng is completely a literati who meet friends with poetry.

Someone by the river helped pull the rope thrown out of the boat and pulled it hard, and then Zhu Yuanzhang and the others quickly got off the ferry, and when they arrived in front of the lamp, they were close and could see much more clearly. Although there is a literati style on the lamp, quite a calm posture, but there is also a little panic in his expression, there is a group of men standing next to him, it is estimated that some small leaders, some of these men have blue noses and swollen faces, some have shoulder wounds, there is no intact character, it seems that they have indeed fought a few battles with Cao Wenzhao, and suffered a lot of losses.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't wait to light the lamp, Zhao Sheng asked him why only more than 30 people came, so he preemptively said: "I got the news relatively late, the army is not ready, and it is still on the way here, and there are not enough boats, so they have to come later...... In order not to make the big brother who lights the lamp feel that he is fighting alone, I will cross the river first, and we will be in trouble together! ”

When these words came out, the heart of the lamp was suddenly warm, it was rare, Baishui Zhuba was really a person who valued love and righteousness as rumored. His army didn't have time to come, so he only brought more than 30 guards to help me, and he was worthy of being the hero of the No. 1 uprising in Shaanxi.

"Please ......" Zhao Sheng made a gesture, Zhu Yuanzhang was not polite, and walked side by side towards the camp, only to see that Zhao Sheng's camp was very chaotic, there was no simple defensive wall on the periphery, and the camp was not neatly divided into areas, 20,000 rogues were all huddled together in a mess, people were sitting and lying on the ground, and all kinds of materials were thrown in a mess, a wooden spear could be seen in the east, and a hoe could be seen in the west.

"I heard that Cao Wenzhao led three thousand Liaodong border troops, I don't know how many people are available for the big brother who lights the lamp?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked.

"Alas, don't dare to deceive Eighth Brother Zhu!" Lighting the lamp sighed: "Although I have 20,000 people, but more than half of them are old and weak women, only 8,000 young and strong, after repeated fierce battles, the losses are great, and now there are less than 7,000 soldiers who can fight." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted, and thought to himself: Seven thousand people, plus the one thousand people that Xu Renjie wants to bring over, then our army has 8,000 soldiers to fight, and it is barely able to fight against the 3,000 Liaodong border army, but it is still very dangerous.

"Where is Cao Wenzhao now?" Zhu Yuanzhang continued to ask.

"Uh...... This one...... I'm sorry...... I don't know very well. "Lighting the lamp is embarrassing.

Didn't send scouts? Zhu Yuanzhang was about to ask this sentence, the corners of his mouth just moved, and he quickly swallowed the words back, if the other party was a regular army, then he could scold him for why he didn't send scouts. But the other party is an unorganized and undisciplined thief army, what's so strange about not being repulsed? This is the posture that a thief should have, and if it is a scout, then it is really a ghost.

He hurriedly instructed Ma Xiaotian: "Xiaotian, pick ten brothers from my guards who are fast and let them go fifteen miles to the east...... Be careful not to wander on flat ground, sneak through the woods and mountains...... The scouts of the Liaodong border army are all extremely powerful light cavalry, and they are extremely skilled in bows and horses, and if you encounter the opponent's scouts on the plains, you may be chased by others on horseback and play to death with bows and arrows. ”

(To be continued)