It is said that in the Yuan Dynasty, the government of the Yuan Dynasty was corrupt and dark, the emperor was mediocre and incompetent, the people's resistance to violent rule became more and more fierce, and the strength of the peasant army continued to grow.

In order to extinguish the wave of uprisings that broke out like a mountain of fires, the imperial court continued to issue more paper money, the fiscal deficit surged, and the bureaucracy filled its own pockets in the name of suppression. Guo Zixing, Xu Shouhui, Zhang Shicheng, Chen Youliang and several other relatively powerful peasant armed forces seized one side, and the heavy tax areas on the southeast coast of the Yuan court were completely lost.

Yang Zhengheng and his son are very low-key in the Yang family general group in Buzhai in southwest Hunan Province, and they continue to take in a large number of hungry people in surrounding states and counties, and their status and prestige among the common people are increasing day by day. During the four or five years of confrontation between Yang Liuzong and the imperial court, Yang Zhengheng neither sent troops to help the imperial court encircle and suppress Yang Liuzong, nor secretly helped Yang Liuzong's righteous army, but based on the thousands of Miao soldiers led by his son Yang Tongguan, recruited troops and horses, and formed a local armed force with Miao people as the main force, with the number of sixty or seventy thousand.

Yang Zhengheng has three sons - Yang Tongzhao, Yang Tongpu, and Yang Tongguan (that is, Yang Wan), all of whom are good at riding and shooting, can write, and have great talents in and out, especially the third son Yang Tongguan's talent is the most comprehensive, and he is deeply valued by Yang Zhengheng. Since Yang Liuzong was brutally executed by the Yuan court, Yang Zhengheng faintly felt that one of the targets of the imperial court was himself.

Therefore, his desire to dominate the side became stronger and stronger, and he ordered his three sons to step up military training, cast a large number of artillery and crossbows, strengthen the beacon tower facilities, and closely monitor the surrounding military movements in case of emergency.

Yang Tongzhao and his father Yang Zhengheng discussed: "Now tens of thousands of Miao people in Chengbu Village who have something to do with Yang Liu's general righteous army have been moved to Haozhou by the imperial court, which is weakening the strength of our Yang family in disguise, and we can't sit still." ”

Yang Zhengheng said: "It's not that my father doesn't dare to raise things, because my ancestors were rewarded by the imperial court, and it is unrighteous and disloyal to oppose the imperial court." ”

Yang Tongpu said: "And today there is a big chaos, and the princes are strong and strong. My Yang family has been losing the world for more than 600 years since Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, and the times have created heroes, and the Hongnong Yang family can compete for the world again. ”

Yang Zhengheng said: "Son, do you think the emperor is so easy to do? ”

Yang Tongguan said: "Our Yang family will be rooted for hundreds of years, Jiangnan and Jiangbei are well-known, why not take advantage of the turbulent trend to develop and grow, it is still very possible to compete in the Central Plains." ”

Yang Zhengheng said: "The Yuan court is still very powerful, if we play the anti-Yuan banner, even if the Wuxi tribes support us, we can't compete with the Xiao'er Jinjin family, and attack from the south to the north, no one in history can sit on the throne, such as Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, is one of them." ”

"Dad, the Yuan Court is exhausted, kill the tyrant, do the right thing for the sky, you don't need a reason." Yang Tongguan said.

"Wait for me to think about it." Yang Zhengheng hesitated.

"Dad, if you don't seize the opportunity, others will take the lead." Yang Tongzhao said.

"Mr. Yang has failed, can we succeed?" Yang Zhengheng was worried......

The father and son were at loggerheads over whether to oppose the Yuan or protect the Yuan, and finally Yang Zhengheng decided to wait for the opportunity to move and sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight.

Soon, news came that Xu Shouhui led the Red Turban Army to capture Wuchang, and Prince Weishun of the Yuan Court, who turned to the Bodhisattva for help, was defeated and became Xu Shouhui's prisoner.

Subsequently, the Red Turban Army held Prince Weishun hostage in the army, captured Yuezhou (now Yueyang), and developed rapidly in the Jiangnan region, controlling Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Fujian and other vast areas, and the army quickly expanded to one million people.

When Emperor Yuan Shun learned of this battle report, he almost did not fall to the ground from the dragon chair, and hurriedly issued an edict ordering all localities to send troops to suppress the peasant rebels. For this reason, in order to protect themselves, the local armed forces fled when they saw the Red Turban Army, and they had no intention of suppressing the Red Turban Army at all.

In March 1352, Tao Mengzhen, a general of the Yuan Dynasty, led the 50,000 people of the Central Army to march into Wuchang. Wuchang City is more than 20 miles in radius, the walls are all made of clay bricks, the wall is two to three zhang high, it is close to the mountains and rivers, it is the military fortress of the terrain and the danger. The Yuan army was repulsed for several months, without any progress, and fell into a dilemma.

Tao Mengzhen learned that Yang Zhengheng and his son had formed a huge Miao army of tens of thousands in the mountainous area of southwest Hunan Province, which was well-trained and came up with a plan to get rid of the Red Turban Army stationed in Wuchang with the help of the Yang family. He sent an envoy to ride a fast horse along the Huguang Post Road day and night to deliver urgent documents to Shangguan Village.

Yang Zhengheng, who was training soldiers, received Tao Mengzhen's letter, hurriedly opened it, read it quickly, and immediately gathered his three sons together, and said: "The opportunity to serve the imperial court has come, Prince Weishun was captured by thieves, and it is a miracle for us to rescue him." ”

Yang Tongguan said: "Father, with a letter, I want us to save the prince, there are more than 100,000 red turban troops in Wuchang, and Wuchang is easy to defend and difficult to attack, I don't think it is better to agree to General Tao's invitation immediately." ”

Yang Tongpu said: "Don't give anything, so stingy, why do you want us to be diligent at our own expense!" ”

Yang Zhengheng said: "Sharing worries for the country is our best opportunity to go out of school, firstly, we can train our soldiers, and secondly, we can also make a lot of political capital." The matter of killing two birds with one stone, I can't ask for it, and the matter of attacking Wuchang is so decided! ”

So Yang Zhengheng walked out of the house and told the messenger happily: "Go back quickly, I will arrive in Wuchang in a few days." The Yang family brought his own food, clothing, and clothing to the leader of the group, and ordered dozens of martial arts strong people from the family to be incorporated into the army, and led 50,000 Miao soldiers to Hubei to support Tao Mengzhen, who was in a dilemma.

Tao Mengzhen, who was looking forward to wearing it, saw the Miao army coming from a distance in the Xiangyang station, and immediately left the barracks to greet Yang Zhengheng and his son at the gate of the camp. Tao Mengzhen grabbed Yang Zhengheng's hand tightly: "Looking forward to the stars and looking forward to the moon, I finally gave you a look, and I will rest for a while in the army." ”

"The soldiers have been gone for seven days, and they are tired, please ask Tao Shuai to get them something to eat." Yang Zhengheng said.

"Good, good! The quartermaster ordered to kill pigs and sheep tonight, and the general will reward the whole army! Tao Mengzhen immediately awarded Yang Zhengheng as a thousand households, and took Miao Jun as the vanguard, and advanced to Wuhan the next day. That night, the Xiangyang garrison attracted the attention of the Wuchang Red Turban Army due to the entry of the Miao soldiers, and the guard Chen Youzhen sent a team of men and horses to Xiangyang to investigate the truth.

In the early morning of the next day, this group of red turban soldiers disguised themselves as Miao soldiers, blended into Yang Zhengheng's team in Xiangyang, and marched towards Wuchang. This group of people didn't dare to speak, and Zhu Yuming, a Sidu soldier who accompanied him, just ran out of water, and asked them to borrow water to drink: "Old situation, the hundred birds are golden, Yanni Gochaha (brother, my water is gone, take yours to drink)." "The Sidu language is a cipher dialect, which can only be understood by people in the Sidu area, and Yang Zhengheng recruited these soldiers and put them in different squads, just to prevent the enemy's spies from getting involved.

The Red Turban Army who was questioned was Chen Youzhen's henchman, the captain of the intelligence spying team, he thought that he would not show his stuff if he could speak Miao Chinese, so he pretended to understand and took out a silver ingot in his bag and gave it to him. Zhu Yuming soon suspected that this was a spy, and the Miao soldiers in Chengbu Village asked to speak a dialect that everyone understood even if they couldn't understand it, so he put away the money and hurriedly said, "It's hard to know how to hang up and hey (thank you)." ”

The Red Turban Army replied with a smile: "It's not difficult, it's not difficult. Don't feed. ”

Zhu Yuming almost laughed out loud in Miao Yu, there was such a stupid spy, he didn't know how to pretend to understand, he Miao Yu immediately exposed the identity of the Red Turban Army, and continued to sing Miao Ge and walked forward, he wanted to find out what this spy was trying to do.

At dusk, the large army rested in place in a large wood. The leader of the Red Turban Army pretended that he had a stomachache and wanted to go to an inconspicuous place to make it easier, but everyone didn't care too much and asked him to go and return quickly. The Red Turbans held their stomachs and quickly left the team out of the woods.

Zhu Yuming is the Red Turban Army left, and said in coded language: "Brothers, there are spies in our team, you go and follow the person just now, and I will go and tell the commander." So three or five also followed the Red Turban Army out of the woods, Zhu Yuming found the first part of the front army, and briefly recounted the strange things that happened during the day to Yang Zhengheng, and Yang Zhengheng immediately ordered anyone to stay put.

The leader of the Red Turban Army is going to be convenient, he is going to pass on the information of the Miao Army in time! I saw that he looked around very cautiously, and when he saw that there was no one following him, he took out a small round bamboo tube with a diameter of two inches from his body and inserted it into the soil, made a very thin red silk thread and tied it to the top of the bamboo tube, and then left with peace of mind.

A few Miao soldiers not far away waited for the Red Turban Army to go away, stepped forward and pulled out the bamboo tube, opened it and dropped out a piece of yellow paper, and took a closer look, on which the Miao Army's marching route map was drawn, and a detailed list of the Miao Army's leading personnel.

The followers changed a fake piece of yellow paper, put the bamboo tube back in its place, and quietly returned to the woods. Yang Zhengheng also arrived, ordered the soldiers to light torches, and suddenly the woods burst into flames. When the leader of the Red Turban Army saw Yang Zhengheng arrive, he was also very calm.

Zhu Yuming stepped forward with a move to "pick up the lamp and look at the sword", and immediately choked the throat of the Red Turban Army, and the Red Turban Army threw out more than a dozen golden darts and shot at Yang Zhengheng. Yang Zhengheng, who had been on guard for a long time, lifted the Yang family's big gun and danced like a whirlwind, knocking all the golden darts to the ground.

The Red Turban Army wanted to send another golden dart, but Zhu Yuming waved his left hand twice, quickly sealing the Red Turban Army's acupoint, and the Red Turban Army couldn't move.

Yang Zhengheng said: "Recruited from the truth, what's wrong?" ”

The red turban army said: "Yang Zhengheng, you eagle dog of the Yuan Court!" Open your dog's eyes and see how long Meng Yuan can be rampant! ”

Yang Zhengheng was not angry: "Good men, each for his master, who is righteous and who is evil, has his own heavenly principles." ”

The leader of the Red Turban Army said: "The sky is over, the sky is destined to end the Yuan Dynasty." Don't get close to me, I won't say it. ”