"Zhang Jiu, are there any surplus people around here?"

The person who led the way ranked ninth in Zhang's family, and Xu Da called him Zhang Jiu.

"Dashuai, the villain knows that there is a Wu manor in front of him, which is a Guanghan clan, with thousands of slaves in the family, and a mountain of money and grain." Zhang Jiu said.

"Thousands of slaves?"

As soon as Xu Da heard this, he was immediately very satisfied.

If they can defeat this local tyrant, they will not have food for the Ming army this time.

"Marshal, the Wu clan has already taken refuge in the Chen thief, many people in the clan are the officials and generals of the Chen thief, and now Chen Youliang is leading troops to fight, and there are many Wu disciples who follow the expedition."

"You mean, there aren't many soldiers and horses in the Wu family manor now?" Xu Da immediately heard it.

After obtaining the grain and grass reserves of the powerful Wu clan of Guanghan, Xu Da could use these grains and grass to recruit nearby homeless people, and then raise troops together to attack Guanghan City.

Since Chen Youliang entered Sichuan, the displaced people everywhere have been struggling to survive by the war.

Xu Da's original plan was to spread the banner after entering the hinterland of Sichuan, recruit nearby displaced people to strengthen the momentum, attack Guanghan first, cut off the connection between Chengdu and the outside, and then approach Chengdu.

"The marshal is right, the Wu family's soldiers are only one or two thousand at most, and the rest are also old and weak women and children, so there is no need to worry at all." Zhang Jiu patted his chest and said.

The Guanghan Wu family has always had a grudge against the Zhang family, and since Chen Youliang occupied Sichuan, the contradictions between the two families have become more and more serious.

"Okay, lead the way!"

Xu Da said without hesitation.

Since he was already venturing into danger, he naturally no longer looked ahead, and simply took down this strong family to supplement and strengthen his strength.

Only in this way can the hope of seizing Chengdu be greater.

"Don't worry, the villain will lead the way!"

Zhang Jiu immediately responded happily.

Xu Da then instructed the left and right generals.

"You all go back to your headquarters, put up all the flags, and let the people of Sichuan know that the king of the Ming Dynasty has entered Sichuan!"

When several generals heard this, they all agreed in unison.

Xu Da then ordered the accompanying generals such as Hua Yun and Wu Liang.

"Scatter all your cavalry, cut off all the roads leading to the outside for me as much as possible, and don't let Chen Youliang know that we are coming too soon."

"Anyone who goes out from Guanghan will be arrested and guarded first, and they will be killed if they disobey the order!"

After Hua Yun and the others got the order, they all immediately went to execute it.

Now that the whole of Sichuan is empty, their cavalry is enough to be invincible.

"As long as I can take Chengdu and pacify Sichuan, the strongest military exploits of the Ming Dynasty will be none other than me."

Xu Da looked at Ying Tian's direction with a serious face, and said silently in his heart.

As the flags of the various armies were raised again, tens of thousands of cavalry marched forward with unstoppable momentum.

The first to discover these enemies emerging from the mountains and forests were the Guang soldiers.

"Who are they?"

A small group of Guanghan soldiers patrolling were puzzled by the large number of flags that suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Maybe you've won the battle ahead?"

A soldier craned his neck and said.

He saw colorful flags in the distance, but his illiteracy left him unsure of which team it was.

I just felt that the march ahead was fast, and it didn't seem like a defeated army retreating.

"What kind of victory will be fought in this direction?"

The other immediately said it was not reliable.

"It could also be that the west side won the battle, and I heard that the emperor went there!"

Said the small leader of the team.

"Let's take a look first, it must be our own people anyway."

Several people think it makes sense.

This is the hinterland of Sichuan, and in addition to the army of the Great Han Kingdom, there can be no other army.

A group of people walked briskly ahead.

They had not gone far when they saw a group of cavalry running out of the team waving flags in front of them.

The cavalry seemed to be coming at them.

"Oh, that's not right."

Seeing this, the soldiers couldn't help but muttering in their hearts, and a not-so-good premonition came to their hearts.

Almost instantly, the cavalry rushed their horses at high speed.

Looking at this posture, it seems that they are going to surround them.

"It's not good, get out of here!"

The little leader panicked, shouted, and immediately turned his head and ran back.

At this time, the sound of the horse's hooves had reached everyone's ears, and a sharp whistling sound followed.

"Ahh

"Ahh

A few screams sounded around him, and one after another feathered arrows shot over, and the two Chen Han soldiers fell down miserably.

"Spare your life, spare your life!"

Seeing this, the remaining soldiers also knew that they would not be able to escape, so they all gathered together and hugged each other, and said to the cavalry who surrounded them again and again.

"Who are you?"

A cavalryman on a black horse asked viciously.

Seeing this, the small leader of the Chen Han soldiers immediately replied.

"We are the soldiers of the Wu Governor of Guanghan!"

"Governor Wu?"

The cavalryman looked puzzled, as if he had not heard of the prefect.

When several Guanghan soldiers saw this, they all felt frightened.

These cavalrymen who killed their two companions all spoke with accents from the northwest, and they were definitely not from Sichuan!

They all vaguely guessed that these cavalrymen must be enemies!

At this moment, another group of cavalry rushed over.

The leader was wearing shiny armor, and at first glance he was a general with a big official position.

"Marshal, these are all soldiers of the Guanghan Prefect!"

When Xu Da heard this, he was immediately overjoyed.

What a coincidence.

"I am Xu Da, the general of the Ming Dynasty, and I am willing to serve the imperial court by the holy decree of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to defeat the Chen thieves in Chengdu, are you willing to serve the imperial court?!"

When several Guanghan soldiers heard this, they were all stupid.

They never expected that this large group of troops would turn out to be the soldiers and horses of the Ming Dynasty.

They all came from the mountain roads!

Aren't the northern passes of the mountain road guarded by soldiers and horses of the Great Han Kingdom?

How could there be no information coming, so many Ming troops were killed in Guanghan?

But.

These things are no longer in the category of their concern.

What these soldiers want most is to survive.

"Yes, yes!" The leader of the Guanghan soldiers said.

"Yes, yes, we're all willing to serve!"

"We are all willing to serve the Ming court!"

Xu Da saw that these small fish and shrimp were quite interesting, so he ordered directly.

"Okay, this commander will give you a chance to make meritorious contributions!"

"You lead the way ahead, first help me deceive the gate of the Wu family's manor, collect some grain and grass, and then open the gate of Guanghan City!"

Xu Da already knew from Zhang Jiu that the Wu family manor was strong and huge, and there were two gates alone, which could be said to be a real big manor.

If there is no internal response or surprise attack, I am afraid that it will take some effort.

Led by these surrendered soldiers, they soon came to the Wu Manor.

The Wu family manor was obviously very familiar with these soldiers.

Then, a cloud-piercing arrow rang out.

The main force of the Ming army, which was hiding in the woods in the distance, easily took the Wu family manor and obtained a large amount of grain and grass.

Subsequently, Xu Da came to a trick to open the warehouse and release grain.

A large amount of grain soon attracted many poor people in the surrounding area to join the ranks of the Ming army.

These poor people don't have enough to eat on weekdays.

Now seeing a large amount of food, they have rushed over.

Xu Da led the Ming army in the front, and many civilians with farm tools bluffed behind to intimidate the enemy.

It worked.

When Xu Da led the army to the city of Guanghan, the defenders of the city were already frightened and despaired, and the Ming army launched only a tentative attack to easily take the city.

Immediately, Xu Da ordered people to move all the materials in Guanghan County, and played another game to open the warehouse and release grain.

Collected all the young people in the entire city.

In just half a day, there were more than 15,000 recruits under Xu Da's hands.

Less than two days.

Xu Da's army has increased from less than 10,000 to more than 30,000.

Xu Da knew that without further ado, he had to kill Chengdu as soon as possible, otherwise the Han troops around Chengdu would inevitably gather in Chengdu after getting the news.

At that time, Xu Da's 30,000 soldiers may not be enough.

In order to motivate his soldiers, especially those who had just been recruited from Sichuan, Xu Da not only opened a warehouse to release grain, but also took out all the gold and silver treasures in Guanghan City and rewarded them to the soldiers.

Buoyed by food, gold and silver, the morale of these soldiers was high.

Xu Da led this army to Chengdu with murderous spirits.

And Chengdu is now only an empty shell, and most of the troops have been taken away by Chen Youliang to attack Tibet.

In a huge Chengdu, only Chen Youliang's son, Chen Li, the crown prince of Chen Han, commanded 8,000 soldiers and horses to garrison.

Chen Li, who has not dried up, is Xu Da's opponent.

Under Xu Da's strong attack, Chen Li couldn't stop Xu Da's edge at all.

In less than a day, Xu Da captured Chengdu!

And at this time, not to mention Chen Youliang, who was far away in Yunnan, did not know that Chengdu had fallen.

Even other state capitals near Chengdu didn't know that the Ming army had captured Chengdu!

......

Daming, Hongwu six years, spring.

The twilight spring Jiangnan is beautiful!

A picture book depicting the style of Ying Tianfu was in Zhu Han's hands at this time.

Zhu Han held the painting book in his hand and carefully studied the scene above.

I couldn't help but be very happy.

He was not only happy with the new appearance of the picture book, but also happy because of this picture book.

The painting book is not the usual ink freehand, but is depicted with a charcoal black brush.

Vivid sketch drawings.

Although it still seems very immature in some details, it has basically had the true appearance of later generations.

"Not bad, not bad!"

Zhu Han praised it twice.

"Did you draw this book?"

Zhu Han asked a woman next to him.

"Your Highness, these paintings are all drawn by concubines!"

Hearing Zhu Han's inquiry, Zhou Zhiruo immediately replied.

"Haha, that's amazing! If you are the originator of a new school of painting! ”

Zhu Han took Zhou Zhiruo back to the seat of the Taishi chair.

As Zhu Han's side concubine, Zhou Zhiruo was born in a merchant family in the south of the Yangtze River, and was not only proficient in poetry and books, but also very talented in painting.

Therefore, after Zhou Zhiruo entered the palace, Zhu Han quickly discovered her talent.

Zhu Han gave her the sketching technique of drawing with charcoal.

Zhou Zhiruo, who was a genius, quickly comprehended seven or eight points at that time.

During Zhu Han's expedition, Zhou Zhiruo made great progress in sketching skills.

Now the results are in hand, which has greatly exceeded Zhu Han's expectations.

"I'm just following His Highness's instructions and scribbling, and I'm not the originator."

Zhou Zhiruo was half-nestled in Zhu Han's arms and said coquettishly.

"Haha, I just taught you twice, the one who really understands is you, and the originator of this school of painting is naturally you."

Zhu Han said as he pressed his hand for a point or two.

Zhou Zhiruo noticed Zhu Han's salty pig hand, and his pretty face suddenly turned red.

In the palace in broad daylight, she was so shy that she was going to die.

Zhou Zhiruo hurriedly diverted the topic.

"Your Majesty, drawing and painting is just a small skill to learn, just fun, and it is not worthy of His Highness's praise."

"This isn't a trick."

Zhu Han smiled lightly, and then continued.

"The drawings are remarkably accurate, not just a reproduction of the scenery, but also a drawing of a place's terroir on paper."

"With such detailed drawings, you can know what seeing is believing from thousands of miles away."

When Zhou Zhiruo heard this, he was still a little puzzled.

"So what's the use of that?"

"What's the use? It's very useful! ”

"Your Highness, can you tell me?" Zhou Zhiruo, a girl like a scholar, has a full score of curiosity.

"Not only can you draw the topography of mountains and rivers, but you can also draw pictures of the terroir and products, as well as the image of people."

Zhu Han said a lot of benefits.

In the end, Zhou Zhiruo finally understood.

With this painting skill mastered by himself, painting landscape architecture is still secondary.

According to Zhu Han's intention, the most important thing is to draw the mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty.

"Now that the Ming Dynasty is fighting in all directions, all kinds of terrain and mountains are the top priority!"

Zhu Han had seen the maps of mountains and rivers that were 'treasured' by the imperial courts of the Song and Yuan dynasties.

For the situation in the Central Plains, these freehand maps are somewhat useful.

Once you reach the remote part of the Bondage Rule, it is completely blank, and there are no reliable maps at all.

For the places where the battles were fought, there is no map information left at all.

"As long as you have this kind of detailed map, it's like having clairvoyance, and you can plan your march in advance."

Zhu Han said again.

Zhou Zhiruo's primary sketches in his hands have already used a detailed scale.

With a little improvement, you can make military maps one by one.

Combined with the iconic sketch scene, the accuracy of the orientation can be completely achieved.

In the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of European, American, Japanese, and Russian travelers and explorers went deep into the Chinese mainland one by one, called expeditions, and their real purpose was military mapping.

And the results were basket after basket.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the people sent by the Japanese were even more extreme, as small as a river or a temple, all of which would be drawn on the map of the Japanese invaders.

By the time of the full-scale invasion of the Japanese invaders, some of the national troops who went out of the province to resist the war did not even have as much understanding of the local terrain as the Japanese invaders.

"Zhiruo, I still have one more thing to do with you." Zhu Han said.

"Your Highness, just as you command." Zhou Zhiruo replied.

Zhu Han then ordered someone to bring up a wooden box.

Zhou Zhiruo became curious.

The wooden box was not large, but it seemed to be quite heavy.

The two strong guards were actually very difficult to lift up together.

Zhu Han pulled Zhou Zhiruo and walked to the side of the box.

He opened the box.

I saw that the chest was full of gold and silver!

A whole box of gold and silver.

Zhou Zhiruo only then understood.

No wonder the two guards were so struggling just now.

I'm afraid that this box of gold and silver must be more than 200 catties.

"Your Highness, what is all this gold and silver?"

She soon noticed the difference between the gold and silver in this chest.

The gold and silver in this are not ordinary gold ingots and silver ingots, nor are they special shapes of gold objects.

It's gold and silver coins.