That night, Gao Jie really pulled out the camp overnight, took Xing and his hundreds of henchmen and soldiers, and fled eastward. Leaving the Lushi Mountains, under the guidance of the mine thieves sent by Zhu Yuanzhang, he went to the He Renlong Department stationed in Luoyang.

By the time Li Zicheng found out, it was already early the next morning, he was furious and sent troops to chase him out for more than 30 miles, but Gao Jie had the mine thieves sent by Zhu Yuanzhang to lead the way, and he knew everything about the Lushi Mountains, and he had gone without a trace overnight.

At noon that day, Gao Yingxiang convened all the leaders of the rebel army and held a meeting in Babaozhai to discuss Gao Jie's escape. Everyone sat down in separate positions, Gao Yingxiang sat in the first seat with a dead face, and gave the second seat to Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Yuanzhang didn't care, sat in the second seat safely, and the leaders in the back row sat in two columns.

Gao Yingxiang sighed: "Gao Jie's wolf ambition, actually coerced my nephew's concubine to escape, he escaped, bound to surrender to the officers and soldiers, the officers and soldiers know that we are stationed in the Lushi Mountains, and we are coming soon, this place can not stay for a long time, I want to ask you to think about it, how to fight next?" ”

In fact, everyone knows that the best plan is to enter Tongguan, according to the pass and fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, even if the battle is defeated, they can also disperse back to the soft land of western Shaanxi, and slowly deal with the officers and soldiers, but Zhu Yuanzhang refuses to open the Tongguan, so they have nothing to do, so they can only toss outside the pass. So when it came to getting an idea, he naturally wanted to ask Zhu Yuanzhang to say a few words.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that everyone's eyes were staring at him, so he said: "Since everyone's old and weak women are not around." The speed of the march has been greatly improved, and we don't have to be afraid of officers and soldiers. ”

"Seventy thousand officers and soldiers...... How can it be so easy to do? Gao Yingxiang said: "The eight kings of Xiying abandoned us again, and this battle is even more difficult to fight." ”

"Although the total strength of officers and soldiers is 70,000, they are not cohesive." Zhu Yuanzhang took out a geographical map of mountains and rivers that had been prepared long ago, pointed to the cities covered with stars on the map, and said seriously: "In order to prevent us from wandering around, the officers and soldiers laid a large net, and several generals each led thousands of troops to come from east to west in the form of a net. ”

His finger tapped on the map: "For example, the chief soldier He Renlong." With 5,000 troops stationed in Luoyang. The general soldier Zuo Liangyu brought 5,000 troops to Xuchang, and the general soldier Zu Kuan brought 3,000 troops to Zhengzhou. Ai Wannian, Liu Guozhen and others led troops to Xinyang ......" Zhu Yuanzhang counted the current locations of the major generals of the imperial court. smiled: "This net is actually full of flaws. We only need to gather our forces in one place and strike hard, and we can dig a hole in the net. Then you can go back to the east again. ”

Li Zicheng stood up, shook his head and said, "How can you say it so easily?" Although the officers and men were scattered into several units and did not join forces, as long as our army became entangled with any of them and could not break through in a short period of time, officers and men from other routes would rush to the aid and form a huge encirclement network, and then they would die without a place to be buried. The officers and men also knew this, so they laid a big net from the south to the north and drove us from east to west. ”

"That's right, but you're talking about the situation with the old and weak women, when you didn't march fast enough and couldn't get out once you were entangled, but now it's different." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "Throwing away the old and weak women, have you ever tried how many miles you can march in a day?" ”

Li Zicheng secretly calculated in his heart that with the old and weak women, he could march about twenty to thirty miles a day, but without their drag, the speed could be at least doubled, and if he stepped up the march, it would not be impossible to walk a hundred miles a day. At such a speed, it may be possible to attack one of the officers and soldiers in a lightning-fast way, and withdraw before the other officers and soldiers have closed the siege.

He couldn't help asking, "Then where does Eighth Brother Zhu plan to attack first?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled, stretched out his hand and pointed on the map, and his finger was pointed at the top of Luoyang: "Luoyang, He Renlong!" ”

"He Renlong? Luoyang? This can't be done! Li Zicheng exclaimed: "Luoyang City is the ancient city, and it is not much compared to Xi'an, how can we attack Luoyang with this little force?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed meaningfully: "Sometimes, the place you are attacking does not mean that the place you really want to attack ......"——

Luoyang, also known as Luoyang, Luoyi. Luoyang is located in the Central Plains, the mountains and rivers in the territory are vertical and horizontal, the west is close to the Qinling Mountains, the east is adjacent to Songyue, the north is close to the Taihang Mountain and there is the danger of the Yellow River, and the south looks at the Funiu Mountain. This city is the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation, the thousand-year-old imperial capital, and the peony flower city.

At this time, the world was in chaos, but Luoyang was still full of flowers, and the city was full of people, and the lights were bright.

In a restaurant in Luoyang City, several generals in military uniforms were exchanging glasses. One of them is in his forties, very big, at first glance is a fierce general who can fight, this person is the deputy chief soldier He Renlong, he is a martial artist in the Wanli period, when he was young, a martial arts in the whole world is also top-notch.

Next to He Renlong, there was a red-faced man, who was the chief soldier Zuo Liangyu, who was also tall and burly, and he was a good man. And his eyes are bright and he seems to be extremely resourceful. Zuo Liangyu is a general who grew up in the border army of Liaodong, not to mention martial arts, it is rare that the bow skills of one hand are particularly outstanding, and the left and right hands can open the bow, and the general accuracy.

The last person is a rough middle-aged man, about thirty years old, and he looks a little rustic, this person is the deputy chief soldier Zu Kuan. He was a servant of Zu Dashou in his early years, and was later promoted to general because of his bravery, and was promoted all the way to Ningyuan general, deputy commander-in-chief, this time because Fengyang was burned, Emperor Chongzhen was furious, and transferred the Ning army to the Central Plains to suppress bandits, so he took 3,000 men and horses from his headquarters to Zhengzhou and stationed there.

Originally, Zuo Liangyu was stationed in Xuchang and Zu Kuan was stationed in Zhengzhou, but Xuchang and Zhengzhou were far away from Tongguan, and Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan were afraid that they would not be able to grab the first credit if they were far away, so they hurried to Luoyang to join in the fun, so the two drank with He Renlong in Luoyang.

After three rounds of drinking, He Renlong sighed and said: "These thieves are really difficult to suppress, since the first year of Chongzhen, it has been eight years, not only have the thieves not been exterminated, but they have become more and more intense, from a place in Shaanxi * West to a poisonous world, it is really inexplicably surprising." ”

Zuo Liangyu only cared about drinking and didn't answer him. But Zu Kuan replied: "But it's not as difficult as the Tartars, they have been making trouble in Liaodong for more than eight years." ”

He Renlong sighed again: "I originally followed Lord Hong Chengchou to suppress the bandits, but now Lord Hong is dead, and I have replaced Lord Lu, but I don't know what Lord Lu's methods are?" ”

Zu Kuan laughed and said, "What kind of ability does Lu Xiangsheng have?" He only knew that he kept persuading me to pay attention to restraining the soldiers and not to disturb the people...... Cut! If the soldiers are obedient, what kind of battle can they fight? ”

It turned out that this guy named Zu Kuan was arrogant and cruel, and where the three thousand soldiers and horses under his command passed, the people were all in a bad situation, and Lu Xiangsheng told him to restrain the soldiers, so he reluctantly obeyed the order. (Note: According to historical records, Zu Kuan was arrogant, burned down people's houses where soldiers and horses passed, raped women, and repeatedly persuaded Xiangsheng to obey orders.) ）

He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu glared at Zu Kuan, both of them were a little unhappy with Zu Kuan, after all, killing Liangmin was not very glorious, not everyone did it. He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu are much more stylish than Zu Kuan.

The three of them drank a few more glasses, and suddenly heard a report from the soldiers: "General He, there is a thief outside the city, with hundreds of minions asking to see, saying that he is your countryman and wants to surrender to you." ”

He was long and surprised, so he went down to the restaurant and went out of the city to see. Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan followed, and they all came to see the excitement.

When I arrived at the south city gate, I saw that there were really hundreds of minions standing outside the city, these hundreds of people were all strong, it seemed that they were all battle-hardened thieves, and the first one was quite handsome, and the person saw He Renlong coming, and hurriedly bowed: "Mizhi Gaojie, I have seen General He." ”

He Renlong came down to meet him, and asked carefully, of course Gao Jie would not say that he abducted Li Zicheng's woman and ran out, only that his heart was towards his fellow countrymen, and he abandoned the darkness and turned to the light or something. When He Renlong heard Gao Jie's full mouth of rice fat country, he felt like it, and chatted with him a few more words, feeling that this person was smart and wise, and he could use it, so he happily accepted Gao Jie and stayed by his side as a school official.

A few people returned to the restaurant to sit down, Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan were eager to suppress the thief, so they asked Gao Jie: "Since you escaped from the thief army, you should know the current details of the thief army, tell me quickly, let me wait for the details." ”

Gao Jie remembered Zhu Yuanzhang's instructions to him, and deliberately looked at Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan with his eyes, showing a look of hesitation and dare not speak.

He Renlong smiled and said: "If you have anything to say, it doesn't hurt to say it, General Zuo and General Zu are brothers, and there is nothing to listen to." ”

Gao Jie is a smart person, although Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to pass the word to He Renlong, but since Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan were also there, he had the courage to simply pass the word to the three people at the same time. So he pretended to be embarrassed and thought about it, and finally lowered his voice and pretended to be cautious: "General He, we are all rice fat fellows, I will be bold to say this, if it is not right, please look at the face of the fellow countryman, spare me not to die." ”

When He Renlong heard him say this, he knew that it was an important word, so he regretted a little that he let Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan listen to it, but he was already riding a tiger, and it was not appropriate to let people listen to it, so he had to bite the bullet and say: "You say!" ”

Gao Jie laughed, leaned into He Renlong's ear and whispered, but the voice was not big or small, just enough for Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan next to him to hear: "General He, I don't think it's cost-effective for you to fight hard with the thief army with the soldiers in your hands!" ”

"What's not worth it? The eldest husband's achievements are spelled out. He Renlong said with a smile.

Gao Jie said in a low voice: "The heroes of the troubled times rise from all directions, and if there are soldiers, they are the king of grass...... General He, the court has suppressed bandits for many years, but it has not been successful, and it is the thief army that wins in the end, maybe it is the thief army that wins, if the thief army really gives the court something...... It would be better for you to have a caring army in your hands then...... Maybe you can have a chance to win the country. ”

As soon as these words came out, He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, and Zu Kuan's faces changed color together. (To be continued.) )