Yes, Cao Baoxiang actually has a point!

Why does it make sense? Because Puzhou City was broken by Zhu Ba, if the little Baishui City could actually hold it, wouldn't it be a big joke? Does Whitewater have a moat? Are the walls two feet high? Is there a Franc cannon at the head of the city? None of them...... If Bai Shui can really defend against the thieves' attack, then it can only be said that there must be a shady scene, but Bai Shui obviously broke the city, and then the thieves killed some people, collapsed some houses, and then abandoned the city and ran away, which seems very reasonable.

Cao Baoxiang was afraid that it would be unfavorable for him to defend the land, and the news of the thieves breaking the city would spread, so he repaired the city again and pretended to be defended, which can be regarded as the norm of officialdom. The thief is coming, the thief is gone, and the official will try his best to cover up the fact that the thief has come, unless the official is killed by the thief, or he gives up the county seat and flees, the matter will be stabbed to the top, because only the dead and those who abandon the official and flee are not afraid of responsibility.

Jin Lan even thought maliciously: All the rich families and squires in the county were afraid that they would be robbed by thieves first, and then Cao Baoxiang would give them a gag order to not spread the news.

The above is the guess and understanding of Lord Yu Shi Jinlan, although he guessed that the bull's head is not right, and the bullshit is not right, but it is the most reasonable explanation from the current situation.

A month later, Lord Jinlan returned to Yansui, this person is indeed a good example for the Qing officials of the Donglin Party, he did not take a bribe of copper coins along the way, only when he came back, he slightly accepted a bag of local products, it is said that it is some yams, local vegetables and other things in Baishui, Chengcheng and Dali, well! It must be these, please doubt it in a hurry.

After returning to Yansui, Jin Lan honestly reported to Hong Chengchou what he had seen and heard on this trip: "The three cities of Baishui, Chengcheng, and Dali were all broken by Baishui Zhuba and Yulin Xue Hongqi, but the three county orders escaped by drilling dog holes, firewood houses, and cellars respectively...... The thief has indeed fled to Shanxi at this time......"

Hong Chengchou let out an "oh" and replied: "Leave this matter to you, you go to the chapter to impeach them!" Then he put all his energy into Hao Lin'an in Iron Horn City and Awl Mountain, and the lone wolf...... "Yes!" The duty of the subordinate officials to patrol the imperial history is to impeach these corrupt officials who neglect their duties! Jin Lan turned away, returned home, opened the package containing the souvenir, studied it carefully for two hours, and then forgot about it.

Chongzhen five years, September! Shanxi! The boundary around the Nakajo Mountains.

Zhu Yuanzhang's army was resting in a mountain recess wide enough to accommodate his more than 6,000 soldiers, and there were green meadows on the surrounding hillsides where Xue Hongqi's horses could feast. Zhu Yuanzhang and a group of leaders sat by the stream, nibbling on dry food and drinking stream water, so unhappy.

Recently, Zhu Yuanzhang's army has been advancing eastward along the Zhongtiao Mountains, occasionally going out of the mountains to disturb the county seat, collecting taxes from the rich households, but there is no large-scale battle, and several county towns such as Ruicheng, Xia County, and Yuanqu have been attacked and harassed by Zhu Yuanzhang's army, but they have not broken through the county seat and retreated, but the county officials were startled, and hurriedly sent letters to ask for help.

But since leaving Yuanqu, Zhu Yuanzhang's army has been deeply rooted in the Zhongtiao Mountains, and has never gone out, walking eastward for many days in a row, to the current place.

"Brother Zhu, we haven't gone out of the mountain for a long time, what is this place?" Wang Er said a little sullenly.

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and pointed to the outside of the mountain in the north: "This direction should be the boundary of Phoenix City, and we are now in the mountains south of Phoenix City." ”

"Phoenix? What a nice name! Xue Hongqi smiled.

"Hehe, this was once the capital of the Xia Kingdom."

"Xia Guo? What kind of country is this? Wang Er asked curiously.

"Uneducated...... Xu Renjie shook his head and said: "This is the first country established by our ancestors, have you heard of it?" Xia is at the top. ”

"Wow! Isn't that amazing? Wang Er was shocked.

Who did it change, I heard that the city in front of me was actually the capital of the first country in China for thousands of years, I was afraid that I would have to yearn for it, and Miao Mei and Xue Hongqi really showed a look on their faces that they wanted to see.

"There's no need to be so tight, this place has declined, and now it's just a small county town!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile, Phoenix was still a state city in the Tang Dynasty, but after the Yuan Dynasty, it was reduced to a county, and the name was changed from Phoenix to Yangcheng, but people are still used to calling it Phoenix, in fact, there are many places across the country that are called Phoenix, just like there are countless people called Dragon City.

This place is not far from the south side of Taihang Mountain, Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, and suddenly said: "Okay, let's go to Phoenix City to make trouble, rob money and food or something, tell the government, let's go here, this is our last trouble in Shanxi, after this scene, lay down the fake appearance of diving into Taihang Mountain, let's return to Baishui." ”

"Haha, to make trouble, I like it!" Wang Er jumped up.

Everyone made some preparations, drilled north out of the mountains, and headed in the direction of Phoenix, and of course, the scouts were released from a distance, fifteen miles away from the army for reconnaissance. Xue Hongqi also gradually understood the important surname of the scout, and she asked the twenty horse thieves under her command to follow Zhu Yuanzhang's scout out to go out to experience and study...... Zhu Yuanzhangjun walked to the side of the mountain, and after a short pause, he received a message from the scout first: "Brother Zhu...... The big thing is not good, there is actually an officer and soldier stationed in Phoenix City in front, and there are quite a few people, at least 3,000 people. ”

"Huh? There are officers and soldiers in this place? Zhu Yuanzhang was quite surprised: "The 36th Battalion is active in the north, and the officers and soldiers should be tired of chasing and suppressing, how can they be interested in coming here?" No, we have been in the Zhongjo Mountains for a long time, and we don't know much about the outside world...... If this goes on like this, it is not conducive to action, so I have to think about it and ask for some news. ”

The information that Zhu Yuanzhang and others had was indeed a little out of step with the situation, and the army in front of them was an officer and soldier of northern Henan led by the chief soldier Ni Chong, the so-called northern Henan was actually a small area north of the Yellow River in Henan Province. Well, it's obviously called Henan, but there is a piece of land north of the Yellow River, which is really, but this administrative division is not up to us, as long as the officials know what it means, there is no need to delve into it. In addition to these 3,000 people, there were another 3,000 northern Henan soldiers, led by the general soldier Wang Pu, who were stationed in Jincheng, not far from here.

This is the troops that Emperor Chongzhen hurriedly dispatched to intercept after learning that Zhu Bajun was about to enter Taihang Mountain!

Why is Zhu Youzhen so nervous, and Zhu Bayi can't get into Taihang Mountain? The reason is simple! The location of Taihang Mountain is too disgusting, it runs through the Central Plains, separating the two extremely important provinces of Shan*west and He*bei...... Hebei! What is this place? This is where the capital is located! If Zhu Ba and his gang are allowed to run into Taihang Mountain, maybe one day they will come out of the mountain and swagger under the capital, do you say Zhu Youzhen can bear it?

He couldn't bear it! Therefore, he used 800 miles of urgent letters to transfer two armies of Ni Chong and Wang Pu, a total of 6,000 people, to guard in Phoenix City and Jincheng, and they were bound to block Zhu Ba and his gang, and they would not be allowed to enter Taihang Mountain.

Zhu Yuanzhang is not the god of unpredictable prophets, of course he didn't know that there was such a big drama in the middle, after listening to the scout's return, he frowned, and said a little unhappily: "Three thousand officers and soldiers suddenly appeared in this place...... It seems that it will be a little difficult for us to lay down the false appearance of entering Taihang Mountain. ”

"Why?" Wang Er was puzzled.

"Phoenix City is just a small city, and there are actually 3,000 troops stationed there, and in Jincheng, a big city to the east of it, the strength of officers and soldiers cannot be less than this number." Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "These two cities are connected together and form a ...... If we want to enter Taihang Mountain, we must pass this pass...... Of course, we don't really want to enter Taihang Mountain, but even if it's a fake, it's very much solved to make it look like a real thing. ”

As soon as he said this, everyone understood, if they didn't touch the buttocks of the officers and soldiers, they couldn't make a fake appearance of entering Taihang Mountain. A few days ago, when I attacked Puzhou, where 3,000 officers and soldiers were stationed, it was simply a matter of luck to fall into the city, and now it is the county seat where 3,000 officers and soldiers are stationed, and although the county town is much smaller than the state city, as long as the leading generals in the city do not make fools, it is not so easy to attack. And not far from here, there is a Jincheng city that is bigger than Phoenix City, and the garrison there cannot be less than here, if the siege of the city will not succeed for a while, the reinforcements of the official army will be imminent.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a calm face: "First press the troops, let the scouts reconnoiter the situation of the enemy army, and then make a calculation!" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang pressed the soldiers in the mountain, and did not dare to go out for a while, only let the scouts look carefully, in order to prevent the scouts from being bumped into head-on by the scouts of the officers and soldiers to identify their identities, he ordered the scouts to dismount and disguise themselves as merchants to investigate. However, the scouts are all in the western Shaanxi accent, and as soon as they open their mouths to speak to the locals in the western boundary of this mountain, they will immediately reveal their stuffing, so this exploration is very difficult, and they can only take advantage of the dark moon and high wind when there is no one around, go around the city a few times, look around the city, and look around the city, unable to obtain more useful information.

So hard ground is troublesome...... If you change the soft ground, you can ask a few words from the villagers who are willing to ask the rebels, and whoever is married in the city can find out clearly, not to mention the information of the officers and soldiers temporarily stationed here.

Zhu Yuanzhang waited in the mountains for three days, but the scouts didn't get any useful things.

On the fourth day, the situation finally made a little progress, and a scout ran back and said, "Eighth Brother Zhu, after we went around the city a few times, we found that there was still an army stationed in the north of Phoenix City, with about three thousand people, and the leader was actually an acquaintance!" ”

"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang and all the leaders were interested: "Who is it?" ”

(To be continued)