Cao Bianjiao said to Cao Wenzhao a little depressedly: "Uncle, after these thieves brought us back, are they going to kill the sacrifice in front of other thieves?" ”

Cao Wenzhao shook his head: "If you really want to kill us, then kill us directly, why do you need to sacrifice what heaven first?" What kind of ritual are you doing when this is the sour Confucianism of the Ministry of Rites? I look at the white water Zhu Ba, and he has no intention of killing us. ”

"He's not going to kill us?" Cao became a big surprise.

Cao Wenzhao snorted coldly: "He said that we are knives and swung in the wrong place, so let us see where the knife should be swung." ”

Cao Bianjiao was speechless.

At this time, it was not early, and the Zhu army set up camp next to the ruins of Huxian Town, and the Xue Hongqi Department and the Bai Yuzhu Department, who were the first to be responsible for luring the enemy, also came here to assemble, and they suffered some losses, but the losses they suffered were far smaller than those of the officers and soldiers. In the years of confrontation between the peasant army and the officers and soldiers, they suffered the smallest loss, so although the soldiers of the White Jade Pillar Army played the role of the defeated army, they were now all smiling.

More than 10,000 troops set up tents around Huxian Town, covering an area of one or two miles wide. The army buries the pot and cooks, and the soldiers recuperate. Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to untie Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao, and let the two of them act under the supervision of Ma Xiaotian and others.

The second Cao now also knows that he will not be able to die for a while and a half, and he has the heart to see what Zhu Yuanzhang wants to do, not to make trouble, not to make any noise, not to work hard, and to follow him silently. They walked around the camp, and saw that everyone in Zhu's descendants had something to eat, and most of the soldiers were cooking a kind of round lumps, which were crystal clear and jade when cooked, and they looked very delicious. Neither Cao knew this kind of thing, but they didn't open their mouths to scold the "grassroots", but tried their best to observe with their own eyes. Seeing the soldiers eating with relish. Obviously it's very tasty.

Da Cao couldn't help but ask Zhu Yuanzhang: "This kind of food is your military ration?" There is a great drought in the world, where did you get this thing from? ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "Of course I planted it myself." ”

Both Cao and Xiao didn't believe it, but the two didn't easily say what they didn't believe, but continued to follow silently. At this time, they walked in the direction of the White Jade Pillar Army, only to see that the situation of the White Jade Pillar Army was far worse, they did not have lumps to eat, but each boiled some brown rice and coarse grains, mixed with wild vegetables and bark, all kinds of mess, every soldier was bitter. Looking at the little thing in the pot, the drool flowed for a long time. Their food is not uniform, that is to say, these foods are not uniformly rationed, and in this regard, they are far worse than Zhu Jun.

Walking further forward, we came to the border camp of more than 800 people who had surrendered. After some counting, I found out that there were 853 elites of the border army who surrendered this time, and at this time the soldiers of Zhu Yuanzhang's army were teaching them to cook taro, and with the help of the soldiers of Zhu Jun, these border soldiers who surrendered were fishing out of the boiling water, and then tearing the thin skin on the outside, and the fragrant taro meat was exposed, and a border soldier opened his mouth and bit down, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Xiao Cao looked at this scene. I don't know what it's like in my heart, the border army has been owed by the imperial court for many years, and they rarely see such a smile on the faces of the border soldiers. At this time, General Cao, who had sharp ears, suddenly heard a few people behind him whispering, and when he looked back, it turned out to be a soldier of the White Jade Pillar Army.

This group of Bai Jiajun was sitting not far from the surrendered troops. muttered dissatisfiedly: "We are all in the same vein of the righteous army, and we have good food for the officers and soldiers who have not surrendered...... What the hell is going on? ”

A small leader next to him knocked the top of his head and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense...... We didn't get together with Zhu Bajun, what's so strange about each eating our own? Those officers and soldiers surrendered to Zhu Ba. became Zhu Ba's soldiers, and of course the food was the same as Zhu Bajun's. ”

The soldiers whispered: "I heard that the eldest brother is hesitating to join the Zhu Eighth Army with the whole army...... It would be nice to add it...... I've been wanting to eat that thing from their hands for a long time, and I've heard that it's called a taro, and it's very delicious. ”

"It's not that simple." The little leader knocked on the soldier's head and said in a low voice: "The military discipline of the Zhu Eighth Army is very strict, and it is strictly forbidden to burn, kill, and loot. ”

"Fuck, isn't it just a well-behaved person? Lao Tzu doesn't like to burn, kill and loot to do it, but I don't have enough food and clothing to do these dirty things, as long as I am full of food and warm clothes, why should I go to burn, kill and loot? The soldiers of the Bai Family Army muttered in a low voice.

The little leader smiled: "If everyone thinks like you, our eldest brother doesn't have to hesitate......

This group of small soldiers was discussing, Zhu Yuanzhang who was walking in front of him had already bumped into Bai Yuzhu head-on, only to see Bai Yuzhu first make a big salute to Zhu Yuanzhang, then push the gold mountain, pour the jade pillar, bow his head, and said loudly: "Brother Bai Yuzhu, from today onwards, I am willing to take Baishui Zhu Ba as the eldest brother, and lead the three thousand brothers under his command to enter the Huanglong Cottage!" Observe all military discipline. ”

Today, Zhu Yuanzhang easily defeated the officers and soldiers and captured the second Cao alive, which brought Bai Yuzhu too much shock. It is no longer possible to use admiration or respect to describe Bai Yuzhu's mood at this time, he simply has an urge to kneel down and hold Zhu Yuanzhang's feet.

After setting up camp, Bai Yuzhu gathered a group of old brothers together and asked for their opinions, and as a result, the group of old brothers said that as long as they had the same level of food and salary as Zhu Bajun, they would no longer burn, kill and loot, and they would definitely be able to abide by military discipline. Bai Yuzhu had no worries, and hurried over to join Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang has been waiting for him to vote for himself for a long time, and the three thousand young people are in the pocket for nothing, don't be a fool! He smiled slightly and said, "Brother Bai, hurry up, let us do the right thing for the heavens in the future." ”

Bai Yuzhu bowed two more times before getting up.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that his attitude was very sincere, so he smiled and said: "Since Brother Bai has joined our gang, we will be a family in the future, I will first put your three thousand brothers ...... Oh, no, let's settle the rations of our three thousand brothers. ”

Cao Wenzhao heard this sentence next to him, and couldn't help but whisper to Cao Bianjiao: "This Zhu Ba is very powerful, he deliberately said the wrong thing, first said your three thousand brothers, and then changed to say, no, it is our three thousand brothers, so he secretly reminded Bai Yuzhu that these three thousand brothers will have to be handed over to him in the future." ”

Cao Bianjiao didn't understand it just now, but he woke up when his uncle said it, and he couldn't help but be dumbfounded: "The thief actually has such a scheming?" ”

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang passed an order, and saw a figure shaking on the bank of the Yellow River in the north, and it seemed that a group of people ran to the river, and after a while, a large group of people pushed many grain trucks over, dumping a large amount of taro into the three thousand soldiers of Baiyuzhu, and the soldiers of Zhu's army shouted loudly: "Brothers, we will be a family in the future, you cook and eat these potatoes tonight, and we will officially distribute military rations to you tomorrow......

"Wow!" The Bai family army was overjoyed, and the soldiers all gathered around the pile of taro, and the fast ones had already grabbed the taro and threw it into the pot......

Cao Bianjiao looked up to the north and said strangely: "The lumps of soil they transported from the north, but the north is the Yellow River, how can the food be transported there?" Because it was getting late, he couldn't see far, and he couldn't see anything on the edge of the Yellow River clearly.

Cao Wenzhao's face changed greatly, and he exclaimed: "Boat! It must be a boat! Oops, how did I not think of that...... They came to fight with us with eight Franc cannons, and how difficult it was to transport eight cannons by land, it turned out that they were transported by ship with the help of the Yellow River. ”

The faces of the two Cao changed color together, and the thieves who fought with the transport ship? This...... How can it be? It's incredible, where did they get the transport ship? At which dock do they load their goods? Where did you get the goods? This is simply beyond comprehension.

Cao Wenzhao thought for a long time before he said: "Not far from here, there must be a city that has been in operation for many years!" There must be! And this city is on the bank of the Yellow River. ”

Cao Bianjiao had an expression of disbelief on his face: "But...... We've never heard of thieves occupying a city for years, at most they just take it and leave, and they've never run it. ”

"I have to think about it carefully......" Cao Wenzhao's mind spun quickly: "Puzhou? The city is just across the Yellow River, but ...... Since this city was captured by Zhu Yuanzhang in the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court quickly recaptured it, and it should not be Puzhou. Da Li? Belch...... Otherwise, it's Chengcheng ......"

Thinking of this, Cao Wenzhao slapped his head suddenly: "Can't be wrong, Chengcheng!" When he crossed the river from Chengcheng to help light the lamp, Zhao Sheng...... I should have thought that the transport ship of Shui Zhuba must have departed from Chengcheng. Chengcheng is backed by the Huanglong Mountain Range and is very close to Zhu Ba's base camp, so he can easily control this county seat, maybe the county order and officials of Chengcheng have long been controlled by Zhu Ba. ”

Cao Bianjiao was puzzled and said: "Even if the county order is controlled, why haven't the gentry and merchants in the county spread the news?" ”

Cao Wenzhao sighed: "Nephew, haven't you found out now?" This Baishui Zhu Bazhi army is very set, his army is more like officers and soldiers than our officers and soldiers, and so on, the county under his governance is not even better than the county seat governed by our imperial court. If the gentry and merchants lived comfortably and were not persecuted, why did they come to the court? Aren't you afraid of war and chaos? ”

When Cao Bianjiao heard this, he finally understood: "In the minds of the people, our officers and soldiers are villains who oppress the villagers and kill good and meritorious deeds!" Of course, the squires and merchants did not dare to inform the imperial court ......" (to be continued. )