In order to help the huge pressure generated by the dissolution of the brothers as soon as possible, Zhang Chongzhong decided to attack Tongcheng immediately. How do you know that at the beginning, the Tongcheng garrison Qian Mu began to prepare to hold out, so that the siege of the county seat for nearly 14 days and nights, although Zhang Bingzhong preached everywhere that "Tong must be broken", and finally failed to defeat the enemy because the city defense was too strong. The next day, Zhang Bingzhong led his troops to attack the city again and set up the base camp on the west mountain of the county seat. The rebels also built a high platform and threw stones and oil, and carried out the grammar of digging tunnels below, and adopted three-dimensional siege tactics, but in the end, due to the dense artillery fire of the defenders and the arrows like flying locusts, the siege was not overcome. Zhang Bingzhong was unable to attack Tongcheng County for a long time, and he was so shocked that he led his troops to stay away from this situation. Since then, this Tongcheng has the reputation of "Iron Tongcheng".

After the defeat of Tongcheng, the military affairs were reorganized. Zhang Bingzhong called out to his subordinates as the commanders of each battalion, explained the reason with them, and distinguished the current situation. If you try to attack the city again, you will surely perish, and if you want to rise quickly, you can only kill with iron and blood. For the sake of this good head, you can eat and sleep well, you can speak for the poor people, and you can fight for an injustice for the way of heaven. It is necessary to kill with iron and blood, but we must not ride on the poor people to make a fortune, because they are too miserable, and the reason why we raise the banner of rebellion together is also so that they can live a good life. From now on, we will pass along the way like locusts passing through the border, but whoever resists will be killed, and we will quickly find a place of recuperation and expand our ranks. If you encounter mountain bandits along the way, as long as you surrender, you will not kill, but those who resist will be bulldozed, and you must take out a little tiger camp to get your majesty. All the soldiers readily agreed, and when they received this order, they were all murderous.

After a night of adjustment and rest, everyone thinks that Chaohu Lake, which is more than 100 miles away from here, is the best place to recuperate, and can also gather a large number of victims, among which Taimu Island is the best gathering place.

Chaohu Lake, known as Nanchao in ancient times. Located in the middle of Anhui, Xianghu Lake with the river, is the hinterland of Anhui's "Golden Triangle", there are Hangbu River, Fengle River, Shangpai River, Nanqi River, Zhegao River and other injections, the lake water flows into the Yangtze River through Yuxi River. It has the advantages of water storage and irrigation, and is famous for producing whitebait. Chaohu Lake is more than 800 miles in radius and is a famous scenic spot in Anhui. It is vast, with white sails, like a bowl sandwiched between the Yangtze River and the Huai River. In the center of the lake, there are two islands of Xiaogu Mountain and Taimu Mountain, and there are half soup, fragrant springs, soup pools, three hot springs and four major forest mountains of Taihu Mountain, Jilong Mountain, Yefu Mountain and Tianjing Mountain, as well as five karst caves of Xianren, Ziwei, Wang Qiao, Huayang and Boshan. These dotted along the shores of Chaohu Lake, like "the stars holding the moon", constitute a wonderful landscape painting. At the same time, the Chaohu Lake area is rich in products, such as lake crabs, whitebait, dried shrimp and pearls, which are the famous "four treasures on the water" here.

And on this Laoshan Island, it is said in "Fang Yu Shenglan": "Laoshan is in Chaohu Lake." Trapping the lake, basking up this mountain", so it is named, also known as the Holy Maiden Mountain. The mountain is elliptical, the mountain is more than 100 meters high, and the ground covers more than 100 miles. It is composed of East Mountain, West Mountain, Tiger Mountain, Yangzi Mountain, Confucius Cave, and Swallow Mountain. Like Penglai fairyland, the mountain stands in the heart of the lake, the body is covered with pine and bamboo, perennial green and gloomy, the tower is high into the clouds, the water is wide and far away, the scenery of the eight directions is opened; There are many strange caves in the mountain realm, the big one can accommodate more than 100 people, the small one can hide 30 or 40 people, the stalactites in the cave are full of strange stones, it is very dangerous. Set mountain, water, island, port, temple, tower in one, not only the mountain, water risk, beautiful scenery, and there are "three ancients" on the mountain, namely the ancient temple, the ancient tower, the ancient boat pond. Ancient Boat Pond. Located on the eastern side of the mountain, it was formerly known as "Nantang". "Chaohu Chronicles" said: "This county is also a water mouth, opposite to the middle temple, a Nantang. "Shuikou" has two meanings: first, the entrance and exit of the water flow or its vicinity, and second, the pass fortress on the water, to which the water mouth belongs. "Nantang" is named after the corresponding to "North Pond in the Middle Temple". Originally, according to the topography, it became a natural haven for water navigation in Chaohu Lake. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, when Yu Tonghai and Liao Yongan were stationed on the island, they used countless boulders to build a long and wide stone cofferdam, transforming the original natural haven into a semi-enclosed harbor, which greatly enhanced the capacity of the boat pond and its ability to resist wind and waves. The local "Hefei County Chronicle" contains: "There are stone ponds in Shandong, and large stones are piled up, and there are thousands of ships in the middle. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Yu Tonghai and other knotted lakes were built to hide the water army. Here, it is the cradle base of the Ming Dynasty naval army. After several years of wind and waves, the South Boat Pond is still majestic, it is still a place for boats to shelter from the wind and waves, and it is an important port on Laoshan Island.

Once the goal of moving forward was set, the soldiers and soldiers had hope of survival, and they acted extremely quickly and simply. Zhang Bingzhong rode his big man, and on his shoulder stood the phoenix-crowned lark, although he was on the way to escape, he looked extraordinarily spirited. If you want to go from Tongcheng to Chaohu Taimu Island, you must pass through several county towns such as Lujiang, but most of them are still running on the road.

On this road, the four battalions under Zhang Bingzhong were all under unified orders. Anyone who occupies a cottage or a wanderer in the mountains and forests will not be killed, and those who resist a little will be sentenced to prison without leaving a living. If you meet a rich man, he who is willing to give his property will spare him from death, and if he is a little stingy, he will be slaughtered and put to death. Therefore, for a while, the rumored prestige along the way was prominent and murderous. When encountering the soldiers under the jurisdiction of the government, they also resisted stubbornly and never gave up.

In less than a month, Bingzhong's team arrived at Taimushan Island in Chaohu Lake. The battalions first put their affairs in order, cleaned up their baggage, built barracks, etc. And Bingzhong is like in the eighteen villages, while walking horses and taming birds. After resting on the island for three or five days, Bingzhong found the managers of each battalion to discuss the allocation of personnel and horses, the supply of baggage, and the direction to be found in the future. Whether it is to establish himself as a king, to do the right thing for heaven, or to join others to seek great things. Du Weiyang, the manager of the Huben battalion, reported that the Huben battalion had 2,000 people, and more than 300 people were killed along the way, and 800 people were added to each battalion along the way, totaling 2,500 people. The rest of the Guanzhong battalion of Shan Zhongzheng, the Hanzhong battalion of Qian Gu, the Hongshan battalion of Zhonghe, and the three battalions of Lala miscellaneous totaled about 10,000 people. All the baggage is not enough for the march, but the gold and silver finances of the bandits and the cleaning of the rich mansions along the way should be very rich. In fact, what is most urgently needed at the moment is to train troops and select bravery. Bingzhong was very relieved to hear that the ideas of the managers of the following battalions coincided with his own. At the same time, he said: According to your opinion, the most important thing at the moment is to repair and recuperate the team, train the troops and select bravery, and I agree with this suggestion. But as the number of soldiers increases, we must not only increase the number of battalions, but also select other generals. Therefore, I am here to give you a month to train and select bravery, and a month later to select talents. Everyone has their own characteristics, not only to choose people who are brave in blood, but also to choose some people who are shrewd and capable. How to determine the offensive and defensive capabilities of the battalions, but I will wait for a half-break to discuss. At present, all battalions must do proper maintenance, and the Hanzhong battalion Qian Gu is responsible for the arrangement of money and baggage, and our troops will not allow the phenomenon of freezing and starvation, and the food of officers and men must be the same, and there is no distinction between high and low; if there is surplus manpower, we can allocate some fishing boats and barges, after all, we rely on water here. Hongshan Camp Bell and responsible for the construction of the barracks and the excavation of caves, as well as the daily patrol of horses, sentry patrols, etc.; on weekdays, you can put your eyes a little farther away, and even put it in the surrounding mountains, in case of emergency. The Guanzhong Battalion and the Huben Battalion are mainly responsible for the selection of soldiers and the daily training of soldiers. The task is a bit heavy and the time is a bit tight. It's not that I don't want people to rest too much, it's that the government won't make us too comfortable. I hope you will keep in mind that we could be wiped out by the government at any time. If you are not strong enough, you will always be driven away by others. I hope that in the days to come, it will be others who will look at our faces and act, instead of us begging them for a living, and this will be my only answer and promise to you. Hearing Bingzhong's words, everyone shouted in unison: I am willing to act from the young general, and only the head of the horse is the ear.

In his spare days, Zhang Bingzhong was still imagining in his mind how he could adjust the team of more than 10,000 people to the best state, which could be defended near and attacked from afar, and that Taimu Mountain would become another base camp like the eighteen villages of Lijiapo. Early one morning, Bingzhong walked to the beach and saw the sparkling water, and the mist was shallow on the water waves, like a thin veil drifting. There is a group of small fish swallowing water on the water not far away, and the phoenix-crowned lark on this shoulder can't bear the loneliness somehow. One swoop catches a small fish, and without swallowing it, throws it into the water. His joyful dancing in the air, mixed with a few loud cries that resounded through the sky, made Bingzhong's long-drumpan brain a lot clearer. Thinking of the name of such a phoenix-crowned lark, one by one, and his own achievements in winning and losing many battles along the way, the scene of Wangyu Ancient Town flashed in his mind, and at the same time, he also remembered several teachings of his grandfather and uncle. I made up my mind to form a team that can fight well, and we must configure a secret spy organization that can communicate with all directions, so that the troops can be like fingers, which of course must be planned slowly. The imperative of the moment is to be able to fight well, and to build them up without letting the world know them all. Therefore, it must be hidden in the barracks, tentatively designated as the Big Sparrow Camp, and there must be a caring person to take on such a heavy responsibility. Thinking that among the brothers of Lijiapo's eighteen villages who followed all the way, only Hua Tongue attacked Fengchi and could be in charge for the time being, and I don't know if he can do it, but if there is a suitable candidate in the future, it will not be too late to make adjustments.