CHAPTER XXIV

After returning from Gucheng, Li Zicheng's heart was greatly relieved to learn that Gao Guiying's mother and daughter had escaped safely with Liu Fangliang, but this relief was soon overwhelmed by the difficulties in front of him. Whether it is collecting food or buying food, the source of food is becoming more and more difficult, and the lost people and horses are returning one after another. There are many poles in the nearby counties, and the thieves are like hair, not to mention that most of the ordinary Yin Shi households have been burned and robbed, and even the chickens, sheep and a little miscellaneous grain kept for the New Year by the poor have also been robbed. The common people did not wait for the arrival of the barren spring, and many families began to eat grass roots and bark. Li Zicheng rode out every day, and always saw some elm trees on the roadside and village sides stripped of their skin by the hungry people, revealing their white bodies, and often saw some thin men and women fleeing the famine. Unless you break through a few wealthy cottages, open a warehouse and give relief, try to save this urgent need. However, when he thought of attacking the city and breaking the wall, he thought that many soldiers would inevitably be killed and wounded, which he was extremely reluctant to do at present. Moreover, the terrain of the cottage is very dangerous, and the defense is tight, if you don't use strange tricks, you may not be able to break through the lost troops.

One morning, Li Zicheng was bored, and only took one of his own soldiers out of the village, did not ride a horse, and walked at the foot of the mountain. He wanted to take a break in the wilderness and see what places could be cultivated nearby, but he didn't realize that he was two or three miles away. He stood still on a high slope, looking at the wasteland on the slope, and when he looked back and saw two elm trees by the roadside, he could not help but sigh. Yesterday he rode past here, and saw that the two trees had not been skinned, and today he saw that the trees were almost stripped naked. He was feeling that the problem was serious, when he suddenly heard several whips and a bell coming up from the slope, and at the same time a familiar voice began to sing the folk tunes of the Yan'an Mansion area, the tone was melancholy and weak. After a while, Wang Changshun and a dozen people carried a team of donkeys uphill. More than a dozen zhang away, Li Zicheng noticed that the cloth bags on the donkey's back were empty, and Wang Changshun and the others were also sitting listlessly on the donkey's back, and some were napping on the donkey's back. Wang Changshun suddenly saw him, jumped down from the donkey's back, and shouted:

"King Chuang!"

Zicheng asked: "Why did you come back with an empty cloth bag?" ”

"Alas, King Chuang, it looks like I can't do this deal."

"Can't you buy any food?"

Wang Changshun walked in front of King Chuang, and was about to explain the situation, when the chief manager came galloping on a horse, turned over and dismounted in front of King Chuang. Self-Composed Question:

"What's the matter?"

The steward had clearly seen that the cloth bags on the backs of all the twenty or so donkeys were empty, and also saw Wang Changshun's depressed look, so he replied:

"I don't have much important business, you can talk to Lao Wang first."

Li Zicheng turned his eyes to Wang Changshun and urged him to speak quickly. Wang Changshun smiled bitterly and said:

"It used to be that the road was not stable, but now that the end of the year is approaching, the water is even more muddy. There are big poles and small poles along the road, and they are as messy as hair. We can't bring too many people and horses to fight over; Show the signs, they don't talk about friends, they don't look at face. Last time, we barely walked a hundred miles, but we couldn't get through, so we turned back. This time, fuck, I walked a hundred miles again, and I almost lost my life. We have always blown a strong wind, spit on the river and swollen the water, and now the dragon is trapped on the beach, and even the little thief dares to bully us! What do you have to say? This is called the strong dragon does not suppress the head snake! ”

Zicheng asked: "The road to Xi'an is not passable, how about the road to Hanzhong?" ”

"It doesn't make sense." After a pause, Wang Changshun said again: "Also, King Chuang, I heard that Xi'an and Hanzhong are both tightly investigated. There are rumors that our men and horses fled in Shangluo Mountain, so as long as they are small merchants and hawkers who go out of Shangluo Mountain, the officials and soldiers will say that they are spies when they see it, and they will confiscate the silver and things at the least, and lose both people and property. ”

The governor interjected: "I heard that the price of grain has soared due to a prolonged drought in Xi'an recently, and the government has issued a notice strictly prohibiting the export of grain. Not to mention that you can't pass on the road now, even if you can pass, you can't transport the grain out. ”

Li Zicheng had also heard about these situations in the past two or three days, so he nodded and did not make a sound. The Governor went on to say:

"Besides, we now have more than 1,000 people, even if Wang Changshun's donkey team goes out to buy food, it won't help much. The distance is too far, and it can only be a small subsidy if you buy it. It seems that now I have to think of something else. ”

Zicheng waved his hand and asked Wang Changshun to take his donkey team back to the old camp to rest, and then asked the chief manager:

"What are you looking for me?"

"We originally said that we would give relief to a dozen or so nearby villages at noon today, let me ask, are you still going to let it go?"

"Why don't you put it?"

"I calculated last night, our existing food stocks will not last until the end of the year. Although only a few dozen stones of grain were given out this time, but with such a relief, our grain could only be eaten until the end of the year. There are difficulties in collecting food everywhere, and it is impossible to get enough food before the Chinese New Year. If there is little food to be fetched, how will the brothers celebrate the New Year? ”

"What are you going to do?"

"I plan not to give it for the time being, and then wait until I get another batch of food."

"Have you already told the people of the villages about today's relief?"

"Not yet."

Li Zicheng lowered his head and was silent. Now that there is still half a month before the end of the year, he originally planned to give a relief today, and another relief at the end of the month, so that the people can celebrate the New Year. But now that the source of food is so difficult, how can it be good? At present, the soldiers can only eat half full, and they are so hungry that they are yellow and thin. If you don't let everyone eat a few full meals during the Chinese New Year, there will be many complaints. As the saying goes, a soldier scatters without food and grass. Can the brothers be allowed to go hungry? But if you don't give it away, will you be able to watch the people in the vicinity starve to death and flee to light?

"Can't you let it go for the time being?" The manager couldn't wait for King Chuang to answer, so he asked carefully.

"You go back first, let me think about it."

After the chief steward rode away, Li Zicheng pondered for a while, decided to go to Liu Zongmin to discuss, and ordered his soldiers to run back to the old camp to lead the horses, and wait alone on the high slope.

The wilderness is silent, a scene of famine and depression in the last winter. Zicheng walked to a broken earth temple to avoid the cold wind, looked at the dry, cloudless blue sky, and sighed. Suddenly he seemed to hear a woman calling his name, and he was astonished. Listening carefully, sure enough, someone was calling at the bottom of the slope, much like the voice of his mother calling him when he was a child:

"Huang Lai'er! Huang Lai'er! ……”

The voice dragged on for a long time, trembling slightly, and was very miserable. After shouting a few times, he stopped, cried twice, and shouted again. Li Zicheng's heartstrings were deeply touched by this call, and secretly thought: "How like my mother is calling me!" He quickly left the land temple and walked to a place where he could see the slope, and saw a wife with a broken wattle basket and a stick, who was struggling to climb up the slope. About half a mile away, next to the path, sat a teenage child, who did not answer or look at her. Zicheng understood in his heart, and hurried down the high slope to support this wife. When he went downhill, he suddenly remembered his father, and his heart was sour, and his eyes were full of tears. His father, Li Shouzhong, was a farmer, and in order to support his family, he made some clay pots and clay pots and cooked them in the earthen kiln every time he was slack, and went to the countryside to sell them. In the winter when he was thirteen years old, his father was already in his fifties, and one afternoon he came back with unsold pottery, and because of hunger and weakness of his legs and feet, he fell down a hillside a few miles from his home and died. When I think about it now, it seems that the hillside of my hometown is under my feet, and not far away is the place where my father fell, as if there are still broken gray pottery scattered on the ground. When he walked up to the woman, and the visions disappeared, he saw that she was not as old as he thought, only in her forties, hungry three points like a human and seven points like a ghost, with a very thin neck and bruised tendons. When this woman saw Zicheng coming, she was not afraid, but only mourned and wept. Zicheng asked:

"Auntie, can't you climb this slope?"

The woman stopped crying, looked up at him, choked up, and said, "Isn't it?" People are as hungry as paper, they will fall when the wind blows, and they can't even stand steadily, and they say that they are climbing! But after this slope, there are still six or seven miles from home, and I have to move home with my butt on the ground. There are still three or four people in the family, the old and the young, and they will starve to death when they go back late! After speaking, he covered his face with his hands and cried.

Zicheng asked her a few more words, knowing that her man was sick in bed, and there was a mother-in-law and a little nephew at home. The one who sat on the side of the road was her youngest son, who hadn't eaten for two days, and had just eaten a few bites of chaff. Her eldest son fled with his brother and the villagers ten days ago. Zicheng looked at her basket and knew that in the small bag were two liters of grain bran, half a liter of black beans, four or five catties of bean cakes, and the other elm bark and grass roots dug along the road.

"Auntie, where did you get these things?"

"Borrowed from my mother's house. My father and mother are pitiful enough, but they can't watch my family starve to death and lend this thing. ”

"That's not enough for a family to eat for a few days!"

"One day at a time is one day. What is the way to escape the catastrophe? It's just that the poor child is only ten years old, and he is a young man, and he also starves to death! When the woman finished speaking, she couldn't help but sob.

Zicheng touched his arms, but he didn't bring any broken silver with him today, not even change. He looked at the woman and the child sitting on the side of the road, and couldn't help but think of the tragic situation of running away with his mother when he was a child, so he made up his mind that no matter how difficult it was before him, he would give it today. He lifted the basket with one hand, picked up the stick with the other, handed it to the woman, and said:

"Auntie, come, I'll help you carry the basket. You climb this high slope with a stick. What village is your home from? ”

"Zhangjiawan's."

"Ah, the road is easy to walk, and it is flat when you climb this high slope. Go back quickly, I heard that the rebels are going to give out again today. ”

As soon as she heard that the rebels were going to give relief again, the woman's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, "Vice Master, are you telling this true?" ”

"Nature is true."

"Alas, my God! The poor people in our area will never be able to thank you for the great kindness of the righteous army! But will you give it today? ”

"Give it today."

The woman, anxious to go back to the village, raised her trembling voice and called out to her son. The boy ignored him, but fell on the side of the road and refused to get up. King Chuang saw that the eldest aunt was so anxious that he didn't know what to do, and he wiped his tears and called again, so he said:

"You don't have to call him. Immediately a few brothers came here, and I called for someone to bring him up. The child was paralyzed from hunger. ”

When the woman heard this, she looked King Chuang up and down again, and saw that he was not an idle person, but he could not see a little magnanimity in terms of dress, and he was very kind to others, and then said:

"Vice Master, you are really a good person. You're a little guy too, aren't you? ”

King Chuang smiled and said, "No. I'm a horse feeder. ”

"Don't coax me. I don't think you look like a groom, you must be a little palmer. ”

"I'm a groom chief."

"About a dozen people, right?"

Zicheng smiled and nodded.

"A good person like your vice-master, God will bless you, and sooner or later you will be promoted to the palm of the plate." When the woman had finished speaking, she called out to her son and told him to wait for a while, when someone led him uphill, and then he climbed up with difficulty with a stick and behind King Chuang.

"Your youngest son is called Huang Lai'er?" Zicheng asked as he walked.

"It's called Hua Lai'er, not Huang Lai'er."

"Ah, I've heard it as a yellow."

The woman explained: "He asked for it when he went to Huashan, so he called him Hualai'er." After a pause, he sighed again and said, "It's just that he blamed himself for the wrong birth, so many rich families he didn't vote, he chose to come to my poor family, and followed his parents to suffer!" ”

King Chuang smiled and said, "I am also a child who was begged from Huashan. ”

"You too?"

"It's not this Xiyue Huashan. There is a hill in the east of my county, also called Huashan, and there is also a Huayue Temple. One year, my father went to Huayue Temple to burn incense and beg for a child, and gave birth to me the next year. ”

"Vice Master, who is your county?"

"Small place rice fat."

The woman was stunned for a moment, and then said, "I heard that King Li Chuang is also from Mizhi, are you fellow villagers?" ”

"It's a fellow countryman."

"You must have seen him, right?"

"Of course I do."

"Some people say that King Chuang is here, and some people say that he is not here. Do you know where King Chuang is? ”

"I can't tell, but I heard that King Chuang is coming."

"It's good that you people who break into the king. I can't eat enough, and I have allocated food several times to help the poor! ”

The steeper the slope goes, the steeper it gets. The woman gasped for breath, her steps were very difficult, and she stopped talking. Zicheng sometimes had to stand and wait for her and give her a hand. When he climbed the high slope, Li Qiang led a group of personal soldiers to also gallop on horseback and jumped off the horse in front of Zicheng. The woman was startled and did not dare to make a sound. The leader of the self-formed pro-soldiers commanded:

"Li Qiang, go and bring up the little child lying on the side of the road, and then go back to the old camp, and tell the chief manager to hurry up and give relief, without delay. You just said I said, don't be afraid of the lack of food in the army, the sky is falling and my Changhan is on the back, I have a way to get food. Go! ”

"Yes!"

Seeing Li Qiang getting on his horse and running down the high slope, King Chuang smiled and said to the woman: "Auntie, when you return to the village, you should give alms." With that, he jumped on the oolong colt and galloped away with his soldiers. The woman was simply frightened and confused. Before she could wake up, Li Qiang had already returned to her, leaning over and putting Hua Lai'er on the ground from the saddle. The woman didn't care to say words of thanks, so she hurriedly asked:

"Vice Master, who is the one who carried the basket for me just now?"

Li Qiang replied with a smile: "He? …… He's our leader. ”

"Also a pester?"

"It's a big deal."

Li Qiang didn't have time to talk to this woman more, so he turned his horse's head, added a whip, and galloped towards the old camp. The woman suddenly realized, and couldn't help shouting:

"Oh my God! Could it be that the one just now is King Chuang? ”

After Li Zicheng discussed with Liu Zongmin, he invited several generals to the old camp in the afternoon to discuss together. It just so happened that on this day, Gao Yigong also came back from the junction of Lantian and caught up with this meeting. After listening to the speeches of several senior generals, he realized that the current situation was worse than he had already known. There are many people among the partial generals and soldiers who have two words about staying in Shangluo Mountain to train because of the difficulty of food and grass, saying: "People are iron, rice is steel, don't eat for a day and panic, practice a dick!" He also said, "King Chuang is not allowed to go anywhere else, and he insists on stationing in Shangluo Mountain, which is called sitting and eating empty mountains." But Hao Shaoqi's idea is right. "The brothers have some gossip about the rectification of military discipline in the present situation, and about the distribution of food for the relief of the hungry, in short, hoping that they will have a little more to eat, and they are afraid of dying in the barren mountains and valleys. As for the preparation of the cantonment, the strange words are even more unpleasant. Some said: "King Chuang wants to be beautiful, but where is the seed?" Where are the farm implements? Don't say that this thing can't be done, even if it can be done, if God doesn't help and continues to drought, then it will be a loss to the wife and a soldier. Instead of wasting seeds, it's better to eat them. Another person said: "Let's King Chuang is watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to see evil, and now he has lost a big battle, and he can't even stand on his heels, but he wants to learn the story of Zhuge Liang's Weinan Tunken, which is really a tiger's ambition." Several generals originally only listened to these words as jokes and did not take them to heart, because in the past ten years, they have been accustomed to the life of what people call "rogues", and it is inevitable that there will be times when military discipline is lax, and what kind of gossip in the army is not? But everyone pondered with King Chuang, and then they thought that the situation was different from the past. If we don't solve the problem of grain and grass quickly, not only will many of King Chuang's plans fail, but even the thousands of people who have come back now will be centrifuged.

What particularly surprised King Chuang was that there were also people among several close generals who did not agree to continue to stay in Shangluo Mountain. They were none other than his nephews Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi. They didn't understand that they wanted to leave Shangluo Mountain as soon as possible, but they only said how the soldiers below were anxious to go to Henan and wanted to quickly set up a banner to do a great job. At the beginning, as usual, Zicheng always listened silently to the speeches of several generals, and he only said one or two words in critical places, but he had a lot of time to think in his heart, but then he could no longer bear it, and stood up vigorously, walked up and down the room, walked for a while, and then sat down, and said in a categorical tone:

"The soldiers must be trained, the military discipline must be rectified, and the common people must also be relieved. In a few months, I decided to stay here to train and not go anywhere! ”

Li Guo saw his uncle's grim face and resolute tone, and he was too frightened to make a sound. Yuan Zongdi grinned and said:

"Brother Li, isn't it also good that the soldiers below are looking forward to raising a banner one day earlier and going out to the mountains to do a great job?"

Zicheng softened his tone and said, "Brother, although the soldiers are also well-intentioned, they only see one side and don't understand my purpose. You can't make up your mind? After a pause, he saw that Zong Di was just smiling and silent, and then continued: "For ten years, we have been fighting and running away, and we have rarely been able to spend months in one place. Now that you have this opportunity, why don't you train your troops? Lian Jingxuan is still training day and night in Gucheng, shouldn't we train even more? Don't look at the fact that we currently have very few people, as long as we can practice well and discipline well, this is the real capital and a serious root. He turned to everyone and said, "We rebels, how we have traveled in the past ten years, everyone will never forget." Our team was revolted in the spring of the second year of Chongzhen, and the number was not large, so it was classified as the eighth team under the banner of King Gao Chuang. Although there are not many people in our eighth team, they are taking the right path, so they are valued by King Gao Chuang, and they are also looked at differently by other battalions. Where are we on the right path? At the very beginning, we set up a general purpose of uprising to the end, and we will never give up if we do not overthrow the Ming Dynasty. At that time, I called myself a general, and our eight teams were also called camps. If you leave a big purpose, wouldn't you be foolish? What brand name can you break through? We are determined to destroy the Ming Dynasty and save the people, which is to do things according to this purpose. In the past, there were not many leaders of the 13 families and 72 battalions who had such a big purpose. Because our old eighth team holds this great purpose, no matter how difficult it is, it will not surrender and will not disturb the people. If an uprising does not have such a big purpose, it is in an unclear direction, there is no rush, and there is a mess. In the past, there were a lot of people in the seventy-two battalions of the thirteen families, but most of them were not strict in military discipline and the purpose was unclear, so they all went downhill in the past two years, some surrendered, and some finished their work. It won't take long for us to re-establish the banner, and even though the court still scolds us as thieves, we must become a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, and we must become a division of victory in a hundred battles. Today, I stayed in Shangluo Mountain with all my heart, just to lay a good foundation for the million-strong army in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to straighten out military discipline and step up military training. This matter is very important and imperative, and you must not sway with the wind and be half-hearted. ”

Yuan Zongdi's face was a little hot, and he thought that what Zicheng said was indeed reasonable, so he slapped it his thigh and said loudly:

"Alright, Brother Li, you don't need to say more. Even if you drink one meal a day, and you don't drink and dig grass roots to satisfy your hunger, my surname Yuan will follow you to train the army and rectify military discipline! ”

Zicheng joked: "It's really difficult at the moment, but don't be afraid." A living person will not suffocate to urine. Can difficulties squash us? As long as we are not discouraged, stand up and flatten, rest assured! ”

"Look at what you say! On the two armies, gun-to-gun, knife-to-knife, and heads falling to the ground in the blink of an eye, I, Yuan Zongdi, have never been afraid, will I be able to straighten my waist in front of difficulties? Brother Li, if you hear me say something that you are afraid of difficulties in the future, tell me to walk with my head down! ”

Everyone laughed. Li Zicheng sighed softly and said meaningfully:

"People like us, who have come out of the forest of guns and knives, can see death as if they were at home on the battlefield, and there are people who are afraid of having a difficult life. When has the flag been waved on the battlefield? But when he saw that the life in Shangluo Mountain was difficult, he couldn't endure the hardships and left with his own people. It is not easy to stand up in the face of difficulties and not be discouraged. It's also a grind! ”

These words made everyone nod. Gao Yigong looked at King Chuang and Liu Zongmin and said:

"At present, it is necessary to raise both the army and the people, and it is necessary to think about the present situation as well as for the sake of next year's famine. Have you two come up with any good ideas? ”

Liu Zongmin slammed his fist on the table and said loudly: "Yes! Hurry up and break through a few wealthy cottages, don't worry about running out of food! ”

King Chuang continued: "As long as we can break through two or three well-defended cottages, the rest of the cottages will not dare not lend grain." Now there is only half a month before the end of the year. We must break through at least one cottage before the end of the year, so that the soldiers and ordinary people can celebrate the New Year happily. ”

As soon as they heard that they were going to attack the cottage, Yuan Zongdi and Li Guo's emotions immediately perked up and said yes in unison. Li Guo said:

Lately the brothers have been muttering behind their backs, and that's what everyone is looking forward to. If they were ordered to attack the village tomorrow, they would be so happy that they would not sleep tonight. ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "King Chuang, which cottage have you decided to attack first, can you hand over this job to me?" ”

Zicheng smiled and said, "You have other important work to do, and I don't want you to go to this matter for the time being." ”

"What do you want me to do?"

"Bandits."

"What?"

"Bandits!" Zicheng said angrily. "These big poles, small poles, sporadic swordsmen, and small thieves can't fight the rich and help the poor, but only harm the good people. The common people also robbed them of a few liters of grain, and the cattle and donkeys were almost robbed of them. If this continues, how can ordinary people live? We also asked someone to persuade a few big pole leaders, but they were disobedient. Since we are stationed here, they are not allowed to lead the people here. Those who have the ability to attack the cottage, and those who don't have the ability to get away as soon as possible. When we meet officers and soldiers, we will suppress the soldiers and the people, and when we meet bandits, we will suppress the bandits and calm the people. In short, we must let the people live, live! ”

Li Guo said: "It is said that these bandits should indeed be suppressed, but, second father, will anyone say that we are big fish eating small fish?" ”

"It's not a big fish eating a small fish, it's a positive pressure on all evils."

Liu Zongmin said to Zongdi: "Lao Yuan, give you 300 people, and you are limited to clean up the thieves within a radius of dozens of miles before the end of the year, and then clean up the distant ones after the New Year." In the past month or so, the more tolerant we are, the more unscrupulous they become. Lord Mars doesn't shine and doesn't know the gods. You're going to have to chop off a few more heads! ”

Yuan Zongdi asked Zicheng: "Who to send to attack the cottage?" ”

Zicheng replied: "Please Brother Yufeng, there are many things to do with Jiexuan and make up, and they can't do without it, only Yufeng doesn't have much to do at the moment." ”

Regarding which cottage to attack first, King Chuang has been thinking about it in recent days, and he has already considered it maturely. There is a Song family village less than 20 miles away from the old camp, which is very rich, but because the village is on the mountain, the terrain is steep, and every time he borrows grain from the village, the owner of the village, Song Wenfu, is careful to deal with it and delivers it as scheduled. Therefore, although the location of this village is on the "side of the couch", which is very close, King Chuang decided not to attack it for the time being. There are about 70 miles to the west from here, and there is a cottage called Zhangjiazhai, where more than 300 families live. The owner of the village is surnamed Zhang, his family has hundreds of hectares of land, and there are pawnshops in Shangzhou and Xi'an. In addition, there are dozens of families surnamed Zhang, although they are not as rich as this family, they are also very wealthy. Recently, many wealthy families in the neighborhood have moved to this village to avoid bandits, and the number of households in the village has increased to more than 400, and the population of men, women, and children is more than 2,500. The location of the village is on a small hillside, it is not steep, but there are many townspeople, and the defense is tight, and no one can enter it if they are not acquaintances. Zhai advocates keeping his own business, relying on his many rural braves, often sending villagers out to suppress bandits, and forming mortal enemies with nearby poles. The peasant army sent letters to borrow grain twice, but he ignored them. Li Zicheng decided to attack this cottage first, not only for its rich side, but also for the effect of knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger by attacking it first, so that other cottages would not dare to resist or borrow grain. But with the strength of today's rebel army, it is obviously very difficult to capture such a cottage, and it is simply unremarkable. Except for Liu Zongmin, who already knew his clever plan, the rest of the people felt strange and looked at him with questioning eyes. Tian Jianxiu didn't speak, and at this time, because the burden was on him, he couldn't help asking:

"How many men do you give me?"

"Three hundred, too." King Chuang said with a smile.

"Only give me three hundred?" Tian Jianxiu's eyes widened in surprise and asked with a smile. "How many villagers do you estimate to be guarding the village?"

"I estimated with Jiexuan: the original residents plus those who fled from Sixiang, there are about more than 400 households in the village. In normal times, there are 300 villagers in the village, and when the village is guarded, all the men of the family go to the village, and there will be more than 1,000 people. If women and children also go to the village, it will be even more. ”

"Zicheng, you often read Sun Tzu's Art of War, and there is a sentence of 'ten rules around it' that you probably forget." Tian Jianxiu smiled with his short beard, and said, "What are your clever plans?" Of course, to deal with such a cottage, you can only outwit it, not attack it. ”

"That's right. Of course, you can only outwit. Zicheng didn't say the plan in front of everyone for the time being, and then turned to Yuan Zongdi and said, "Hanju, you will take people to set off now." Although it is said that the bandits must be killed, if they can kill less, they will kill less, and just drive them away. Those thieves are not hungry and anxious, and they will not do this business. Things are urgent, and I have to urge you to leave. When you're done with this job, you'll be free to help Yufeng. ”

As soon as he heard that he had been sent to help Tian Jianxiu attack the cottage after the bandits, Yuan Zongdi was very happy, stood up and said:

"Okay, I'll go get some people now."

"Go ahead, you can come again before you leave."

After Yuan Zongdi left, Li Zicheng ordered Li Guo to hurry back and prepare, set off overnight, and went to the territory of Shang County to find Black Tiger Star, on the one hand, he told Black Tiger Star about the reason for exterminating the nearby bandits, and on the other hand, he asked him to help him in breaking Zhangjiazhai, and approached Li Guo's ear and briefly told him the strategy to be used. Li Guo smiled and said:

"The second father's strategy Black Tiger Star must agree with it, he has always had a blood feud with Zhangjiazhai."

"You go and get ready now, and set off after dusk. Bring me some gifts, and say that I greet all his brothers. ”

Tian Jianxiu had already roughly understood King Chuang's strategy, and felt a little more relaxed in his heart. After Liu Zongmin and Li Guo left, King Chuang stayed with Tian Jianxiu and talked for a while, studying the method in detail. When Tian Jianxiu was leaving, King Chuang kept sending him out of the village, and walked with him for a while. Finally, King Chuang looked at him and said:

"Yufeng, whether we can live in Shangluo Mountain, whether the people can survive the New Year, depends on whether we can break through one or two wealthy cottages before the New Year. Now the weight of a thousand pounds is on your shoulders. If that doesn't work, we'll have to get out of here, and all plans will be in vain! ”

Hearing this, Tian Jianxiu felt that his burden was too heavy, and he was afraid that he would fail to live up to King Chuang's trust, but it was difficult to refuse. After a moment's hesitation, he said:

"It's a big deal, but I'm afraid I'm not up to the task. How about you go with me? ”

"Yigong only came back today, and there are many things to talk to him about. I want him to rest in the old camp for a day and get back to where he came from. If he can break through a stockade before the end of the year, our life will be better. ”

"But I'm not as good as being careful and thoughtful, and I'm not as good as making up for it in terms of emergency response."

"Go ahead, I'll come to you quietly in a few days to help you. I thought twice that it was better for you to go. You are a well-known loyal elder in our rebel army, and they will be happy to deal with you when you go to deal with Zhangjiazhai. Moreover, if you preside over the siege, you can also die less innocent. ”

Tian Jianxiu didn't want to speak anymore, and with a slightly heavy heart, he bowed his hand to King Chuang and rode away.

On the fifth watch of the next day, Tian Jianxiu led 300 men and horses to set off in the direction of Zhangjiazhai, suppressed bandits along the way, knocked away a few poles, killed some bandits who had always raped and burned to kill, and won a lot of meat tickets. He asked about the meat tickets, and most of them were small households with little money, and let them go home, leaving only those tickets that had more property and notifying their relatives to redeem them. But nominally, it is not called ransom, but it is called giving a random gift to the brother. For the few tickets that were won, the brothers were strictly forbidden to insult them, and their relatives were also notified to collect them. Within five or six days, Tian Jianxiu only went around 10 to 20 miles away from Zhangjiazhai to suppress bandits, and at the same time sent people to send a letter to Zhangjiazhai's village advocate to keep his business, explaining that he wanted to suppress bandits and reassure the people for the locality, and would never touch the common people. Only once did he send dozens of cavalry to suddenly within five miles of Zhangjiazhai, but that was because he had detected a small group of swordsmen hiding in a wood, and he sent men to drive them away.

The peasant army sent Yuan Zongdi and Tian Jianxiu to suppress the bandits, which became a major news in Shangluo Mountain and was coaxed to spread. Because the swordsmen often robbed the poor people of only a few liters of grain, a few goats, and even chickens and ducks, making the roads sparsely populated and the chickens and dogs restless, most of the poor families were very happy to suppress the bandits. Where the rebels who have not yet gone to the bandits are waiting for the rebels to go; Those who came to complain to the rebels, to deliver news, and to report various situations were constantly coming every day. The people of Zhangjiazhai were already familiar with Tian Jianxiu's name, and knew that he had always acted differently from others, and was known as a loyal elder among the leaders of the "thieves". At first, when he received Tian Jianxiu's book, Zhang Zhai was still suspicious, ignored it, and stepped up his defense. A few days later, they saw that the peasant army was indeed suppressing bandits and pacifying the people, and they felt both strange and relieved. It just so happened that among the tickets won by Tian Jianxiu were relatives of Zhangjiazhai, and these families had recently moved to the village to flee the chaos. There is also a flower ticket for the girl in the village, who was pulled by bandits at her mother-in-law's house. At this time, Zhai advocated Shouye had to send someone with gifts, carrying pigs, sheep and soju, and took his big red post to meet Tian Jianxiu, who was humbly called "waiter" according to the habit of interacting with the scholars and doctors at that time.

The representative sent by Zhangjiazhai was Zhang Shoujing, the distant brother of the owner of the village, a dilapidated landlord and gambling bachelor, who had always dealt with the pole. This kind of person is not only the organizer of the land and the leg of the owner of the village, but he also does not want to offend the pole, and wants to make a few friends in the rivers and lakes when he has the opportunity. People call this kind of person two skins. Although both sides don't fully trust him, they have to talk to him in the middle when something happens. He himself also used this identity to fish in troubled waters, get some extra money, and at least have a chance to eat and drink a few meals. Tian Jianxiu was very polite to this representative and walked out of the village to greet him. Zhang Shoujing has dealt with local poles for many years, and has seen many large and small people who are in charge of plates, familiar with their lives, and even a little envious. The two popular sayings in the pole are "marry every night and celebrate the New Year every day". He thought that even though the legend of King Li Chuang's men and horses was very different from the pole, what he heard was false, and what he saw was true, and he didn't see it with his own eyes, so he didn't want to believe it very much. He thought that there was nothing suspicious to say that they were better than poles, but it would not be as good as people had to say. When he saw Tian Jianxiu, he was surprised. This very famous figure under the command of King Li Chuang wore a dark blue cotton jacket with a short tail, patches, a cloth belt around his waist, and patches on the knees of cotton trousers, completely like an ordinary farmer, but the clothes were still clean, and they were not so tattered that they were "quails". Judging from his appearance, demeanor, speech, and demeanor, he is also very gentle and elegant, without a little reckless heroic appearance. "Hey, the big boss under King Li Chuang is so simple!" Zhang Shoujing couldn't help but shout in his stomach.

Tian Jianxiu lives in the hall of a small landlord who has now fled to live in Zhangjiazhai. After sitting down with the guests and exchanging some polite words, Tian Jianxiu explained that the rebels did not plan to stay in Shangluo Mountain for a long time, and that they would go elsewhere until next spring, but since they lived here, they could not watch the common people being brutalized by bandits, so they suppressed the bandits and pacified the people. Zhang Shoujing was full of praise, and then presented the gift list, which listed 200 taels of silver, 8 horses of red colored satin, 20 horses of natural mountain silk, 20 horses of Songjiang cotton cloth, a total of 10 stones of coarse grain, 2 pigs, 4 sheep, and 200 catties of soju. Tian Jianxiu took the gift sheet and looked at it, and said with a smile:

"Our army is stationed in the Shangluo area, and there are many harassments to the place, how dare you accept such a heavy gift. But if you don't accept it at all, you will not live up to the elegance of the owner of your village, so you have to leave one or two things, and ask the brother to bring back the rest. ”

"Where to say! Where to say! Zhang Shoujing stood up and said, "Your army suppressed bandits and pacified the people, and the merit lies in the locality." It's just a little meaning, and it's not enough. If you refuse to accept it all, either you don't have too little courtesy, or you don't give face, and it will be difficult for the younger brother to return to the village to recover his life. ”

"In that case, I had to take it all. It's really disrespectful, and it's deserved. ”

The gifts had already come to the gate, and Tian Jianxiu ordered to prepare a wine and dinner to entertain him, and then said with a smile to Zhang Shoujing:

"Don't tell my brother that our army lacks rations, and there is no wine and meat, so I have to treat you with the things you sent today, which can be regarded as borrowing flowers to offer Buddha."

While talking and laughing, someone came to say that the team that went out to suppress the bandits last night had returned, caught three ticket readers, and got up five tickets and two flower tickets. Tian Jianxiu immediately asked Gu Kecheng to accompany the guests and go out to have a look. Zhang Shoujing said to Gu Kecheng:

"Your army is very frugal, and I haven't seen a single one wearing silk and satin today. Tian Jiangye is especially frugal. In previous years, when you won the battle, was he also so frugal? ”

"He's always been so frugal. In the first two or three years, when we were at our peak, there were 10,000 men under his command, and they were also dressed in shabby coarse cloth clothes, and ate coarse tea and light rice. ”

"Do you sometimes go home when you open the city, and get a great deal of silk and silk, and a fine garment, and gold and silver and jewels?"

Gu Kecheng said with a smile: "Our Tian Ye has no home. Every time he opened the city, he gave him a lot of things, but he immediately scattered them to his soldiers and didn't want them himself. After Chongzhen opened Fengyang in the spring of the eighth year, the whole army was very rich. In other camps, many of the leaders wore satin clothes, but we didn't like it when we broke into the camp. Even our King Li Chuang only wears a blue cloth arrow suit, and everyone below learns from it, which has become a trend. Tian Ye prefers frugality more than others, and wears coarse cloth clothes and patches all year round. ”

"Ah, it's strange, I've lived for more than forty years and I haven't seen such a group of men and horses, such a big leader! Does Tian Ye like to drink? ”

"I don't really like to drink. When Fengyang was opened, he often did not go to eat and drink, either to gossip among the brothers or ordinary people, or to play chess with the old monk in the temple. ”

"You just said that he doesn't have a home, doesn't he even have a wife who oppresses the village?"

Ke Cheng smiled and said, "We are not the king of the mountain, so we don't need to suppress Mrs. Zhai." ”

"Ahh I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do, I don ”

"Where to say! What kind of offense is this? Gu Kecheng thought it was funny and laughed. We are an upright rebel army, not grass cobs, not poles, so we speak very casually here, and nothing is taboo. Do you ask us why Tian Ye doesn't have a wife? ”

"Yes, yes."

"His wife died early. Over the years, others often advised him to marry a wife, and he always said: 'The world is undecided, what kind of home do you want!' It's not easy for others to persuade them. ”

When Gu Kecheng was talking with the guests, Tian Jianxiu had already arrived at a house not far away. He saw a few brothers and a group of men and women from his village looking around the tickets, and asked them which village they belonged to, what their mother-in-law's surname was, and what their mother's name was. Some of them lowered their heads, blushed, and refused to answer. Jianxiu immediately called everyone out, and set up a sentry at the door, so that no idlers were allowed to come in casually. He separated the men's tickets from the flower tickets, asked them where they lived in their hometowns, and then withdrew, and rebuked a small school in charge of guarding them outside the gate:

"As I said two or three days ago, when it comes to retrieving the tickets, the brothers and the local people are not allowed to gather around them and ask about their names and hometowns. Why don't you listen to me? ”

Xiao Xiao blushed, grinned and said, "I think these ordinary people are concerned and come to ask, and there is no bad intention." ”

"Naturally, there is no bad intention. But these flower tickets are all within a radius of nearly twenty or thirty miles, and they have been brought to the bandits and have been ruined, and Zhengjue has no face to see people. We can only quickly inform their family to send someone to pick them up, how can we ask idlers to be casual and public? ”

He went to another courtyard to see the bandits who had been captured. These were three young men, with yellow faces and thin muscles, who saw him plop down and kneel. He looked at them, told them to stand up, and told them to untie the ropes from their wrists, and asked:

"You're all looking at tickets?"

"Yes." They replied.

"Who's the box office leader?"

"The uncle who is in charge of the plate, the small one is the box office leader. Please kill one of me, grace grace, and let them both go! ”

"What's your last name?"

"The cheap surname is Gouzi."

"We don't have taboos here. But the cursive fan? ”

"No, no, it's not. Be...... The pulp of the pear blossom. ”

Seeing Xiu burst out laughing, he said, "Don't be taboo, look at how awkward you say!" Oh, you're Fan of Fan Lihua. What about the name? ”

"Poor people, no tuba. The nickname is Xiao Wu, and people call me Xiao Wu. ”

"How long has it been?"

"It was only launched after the fall of this year. I was also so hungry that I had no way out, so I had to follow others, and if I didn't ship, I would die! ”

"I see that you are all poor people, not habitual bandits, and I will not kill you or beat you. Don't stop wading, go home and be a common man. Tian Jianxiu turned to the junior colonel and ordered: "Let them have a hot meal at noon, take some change for them, and send them away." ”

When Tian Jianxiu went back to sit down with the guests and talk again, Zhang Shoujing brought up the issue of ransom, wanting to find out how much silver he needed to speak. Without waiting for the guest to say everything completely, Jianxiu quickly intercepted and said:

"Brother Gongfu, please don't mention the silver. The purpose of our army is to suppress bandits and reassure the people, not for money. What's more, we have admired Ling Kunzhong for a long time, and we should have prepared some small gifts and went to Baozhai to show our admiration, but no one introduced us, and I was afraid of being presumptuous. Today, Brother Lao Taiguang descended to the camp, which is really a great honor. If Meng ordered Kunzhong not to abandon him recklessly, he would be a friend in the future, take care of each other in case of trouble, and have everything, why care about a few taels of silver! ”

"Brother Yufeng, having said that, how can the foolish brother take the ticket back for nothing? It is not necessary for the younger brother to mention the silver, in fact, it is only to express the gratitude of the father and brother of the village. What's more, your army has made outstanding achievements in suppressing bandits here, not to mention those tickets, and we should also spend some silver to buy a pair of shoes and socks for the brothers. ”

After arguing for a long time, Tian Jianxiu blindly thanked him and refused to say the amount of silver. In the end, he had no choice but to say:

"Brother Gongfu, the brother of the silver will never say it. Decide for yourselves, no matter how much, just express what you mean. Even if you send a penny, your brother will never be too little. If you care about the amount of money, you are not enough friends. ”

"Probably your army is in need of food at the moment, right?"

"When it comes to food, our army is really difficult. Also, my brother probably knows that our army often gives relief to the hungry in times of great difficulty. If Baozhai can borrow a few loads of grain, I would be grateful. ”

"I don't know how much?"

"It's okay to have as little as you want. Since you have been blessed, please hurry up, because my brother does not intend to stay here for a long time, and I am afraid that he will go elsewhere to suppress bandits in a day or two. ”

Zhang Shoujing was relieved to see that Tian Jianxiu was so kind and did not threaten him, and thought that Zhangjiazhai should have a friendship with Tian Jianxiu, and help each other in the future. While eating and drinking, he talked about the issue of suppressing bandits, and he took this opportunity to ask tentatively with a smile on his face:

"Who's the biggest pole in our area lately, do you know, man?"

"Yes, it's the Black Tiger Star's pole."

"Yes, yes. There are hundreds of practitioners in the village, and the sporadic small strands are easy to do, but it is not easy to deal with the Black Tiger Star. ”

"I've sent for a book to persuade him not to come here again. If he refuses to give me face, I will not be polite to him. ”

"However, I heard that he burned incense with one of you, Tiger Li Ye."

Tian Jianxiu smiled and said, "I'm afraid that they are burning severed incense." ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"A tiger saw that he was still righteous and kind, so he burned incense with him. I don't want him to be a thief recently, raping, burning, and killing people. Buzhi had already advised him, but he not only listened to him as a deaf ear, but said something behind his back. Now he has ignored him. Moreover, our Lao Eighth Team of King Li Chuang has always been very disciplined, even if he violated military discipline with his own hands and siblings, he would not be merciful, let alone Brother Burning Incense? Although King Chuang himself is not in Shangluo Mountain, the chief whistle Liu Ye is more serious about things than King Chuang, and even if he is King Chuang's own nephew, he does not dare to harm the public with his own interests. I said that they burned severed incense, and that's what I meant. ”

"Drink, this is really selfless!" Zhang Shoujing raised the cup in front of Jianxiu and said, "With these few words alone, I should give you a glass." After drinking this glass of wine, he said again: "Brother Yufeng, since you said this, I might as well speak up." ”

"Of course, if you have something to say, please say it in person, don't see it outside."

"This Black Tiger Star has always been on bad terms with our village, and he sent a letter the night before yesterday, which is really unreasonable!"

Tian Jianxiu said in his heart: "My own plan has come out, and it's strange that you have sent such a generous gift today!" He pretended to be a little surprised and asked:

"What's in the book?"

"Black Tiger Star blamed us in the book for not seducing you Tian Ye to come here to suppress bandits, kill his friends, insult him in every way, and definitely raise troops to take revenge. In the book, we also limited the village to three days, and within five days, I gave him 100 stone of fine grain, 5,000 taels of silver, 10 good horses, 10 good mules, and 20 pigs and sheep as New Year's gifts. If you don't send it, you will break through the village in the near future, kill the chickens and dogs, and eradicate the roots. You see, isn't that unreasonable? ”

"Is that so?"

"It's true!"

Tian Jianxiu was angry, put the cup down, and with a bang, half a glass of wine completely splashed on the table, and said: "What a black tiger star who doesn't know how to lift, he dares to deliberately sprinkle ashes on my Tian's face!" How are you going to talk back to him? ”

"The defense of the village is very strict, since the desolation, I have seen some large poles, and I have not lost a single time. We forgive him that the Black Tiger Star didn't dare to really attack the village, even if he came to attack, he would lose his troops in vain......"

"Don't be too complacent, you suffer careless losses!" Tian Jianxiu reminded, and a smile appeared on his face again.

"Please rest assured, it's not a foolish brother who blows after drinking, our village is indeed like iron beating copper."

"What if he burns the Zhuangzi outside your village?"

"We are also worried about him, so I plan to send someone to make peace with him, take out some silver money and food, but ask for peace for a while. It's just," Zhang Shoujing grinned and said, "Since he said that it was our village that seduced your Tian Ye here and killed his friends in the green forest, I have to ask my brother to send someone to tell him that you have nothing to do with our village when you come here." ”

Tian Jianxiu's face turned cold, he pondered for a moment, and said, "Brother Gongfu, since Black Tiger Star has torn my face, let me deal with him." I think he will definitely send someone to Guizhai to collect money in a day or two, and maybe burn one or two of your Zhuangzi. When they come, please send someone to inform them as soon as possible. I'm going to kill a few of his men and get him out. Originally, the well water did not interfere with the river water, but he came to the door. In this case, I want him to dare not harass Baozhai again! ”

"If this is the case, we are really grateful. But if the Black Tiger Star can be driven away, we must be thankful for it. ”

"It is natural to suppress bandits and reassure the people, why say thank you."

After lunch, Tian Jianxiu handed over a few tickets from Zhangjiazhai to Zhang Shoujing, and sent Gu Kecheng to escort them back to the village with twenty cavalry. Tian Jianxiu also asked the brothers to bring a few horses and asked Zhang Shoujing and the ticket who was tortured by the bandits to ride it. He personally sent Zhang Shoujing two or three miles away, turned around the foot of a mountain, and stood on the fork in the road to talk for a while before saying goodbye.

On the way back to the village, Tian Jianxiu secretly thought about it, and saw that King Chuang's strategy was three points certain, but whether it could succeed or not, he still felt that there was no score. Thinking of the difficult situation of the whole army and the arduous responsibility of coming to break the village, I couldn't help but feel heavy in my heart. Before he reached the edge of the village, he suddenly saw some more horses at the edge of the village, and a particularly tall and majestic oolong horse was in sight. His heart was overjoyed, and he was about to ask, when a small colonel ran up to him and whispered:

"Master General, King Chuang is here."

King Chuang only brought a dozen people to the village where Tian Jianxiu was stationed. He listened to Tian Jianxiu's report while eating, and after listening, he finished eating, and said with a smile:

"Yufeng, our plan is to fight ghosts, and it seems that there is a lot of success in it. You sent Gu Kecheng to escort them, do you want to go into the village to have a look? ”

"I told him not to enter the village this time, one has to be careful in case he suffers, and the other is not yet the time to enter the village to inspect the terrain. This time, he was only asked to see the terrain clearly outside the village and come back quickly. ”

"It's fine. In this way, it will not arouse the suspicion of the people in the village. ”

When a personal soldier came to clean up the dishes and chopsticks, he said to Tian Jianxiu by the way that Fan Xiaowu and the other three still wanted to see him. Tian Jianxiu asked:

"Why haven't they left yet? See me what's the matter? ”

"They don't want to go home, and they want to beg you to keep them, even if it's a groom."

"This ......"

Zicheng asked, "What person?" What's going on? ”

Tian Jianxiu smiled and told Zicheng about Fan Xiaowu and the others. Zicheng thought for a moment and said:

"Originally, they had no way to live when they returned home, and others thought that they had trampled through bandits, and it was terrible to catch them after seeing the tickets. I think that since they will not go, let them stay. ”

"But there are no animals for them to ride."

"We've got to get another infantry."

"You're not afraid of food difficulties?"

"If we don't fundamentally solve the food problem, the whole army will not survive; If this fundamental difficulty is eased, why care about adding a few infantry. ”

Tian Jianxiu nodded: "Okay, leave them behind." ”

"Alas, Brother Tian, I came here to see you today because I was anxious about the problem of food. We are indeed in great difficulty in terms of food at present, but our brothers have not starved to death, and many of the common people have already starved to death! ”

Zicheng retreated left and right and told Jianxiu that the brothers who had stayed in the vicinity of the old camp to practice in the past few days had become even weaker, and some of them had fainted on the ground during the exercises. He has already passed down the order to change the two exercises a day to one exercise. Ordinary people have already dug up Guanyin soil to eat, and in some villages there have been elderly people and children starving to death. There were more complaints among the soldiers than in the previous days. Yesterday three brothers were caught deserting. When he saw that two of the three brothers were skinny and one was swollen like a judge, he could not bear to kill them, but the military discipline could not be relaxed, so he had to kill one of them, and the other two were each responsible for twenty military sticks, and they were in the camp. He knew that none of them could stand the beating of the military sticks, so he had to suggest to the executioners to beat them with sticks in their early twenties and make an example. When King Chuang talked about this, although he tried his best to put a smile on his face and not make Tian Jianxiu feel sad, his eyes were moist. Then he said:

"Yufeng, what I'm worried about at the moment is not anything else, but seeing that the people are really pitiful, and if they don't get food relief immediately, there will be a large number of starvation deaths after the New Year. Since we are stationed here, we can't sit idly by! In addition, at present, among our soldiers, some people only see the difficulties in front of them, do not look into the distance, do not believe that we can tide over the difficulties, and say strange things: 'If you are not afraid of the officers and soldiers coming to fight, you are afraid that if you don't fight, you will disperse, and if you don't disperse, you will die together.' ’”

"Who would dare to say such a discouraged thing? Isn't this disturbing the morale of the military? ”

"There are not a few people who say such things, and I know the names of some of them, but I have instructed the generals not to pursue them. As long as they do not mutiny and desert, they will never be held accountable. Those who say strange things, there are many people who have followed our uprising for many years and have hung up many lotteries. Now that they are hungry, how can they be reproached too much for saying strange things? Besides, some people don't say strange things, maybe they have more complaints in their hearts. Our soldiers have been fighting in the south and the north since the uprising, and they only remember the Xingyang Conference of the 72 battalions of the thirteen families, and only remember the sweep across the Jiangbei and the big break in Fengyang, no one wants to think about it, we were also trapped in the carriage gorge, and we were almost finished. Now that they see that the thirteen families were either wiped out by the official army, they surrendered one after another, and we encountered such hardships and hardships after encountering a fiasco, no wonder no one was discouraged. ”

"What are you going to do now? Self-contained, since the military spirit is unstable, you must not be careless! ”

Li Zicheng pondered for a moment and said, "After all, our troops are different from the officers and soldiers. As soon as the officers and soldiers lacked food and grass, they would clamoring for mutiny. Our soldiers have rebelled with me for many years, living and dying together, and sharing weal and woe. Nowadays, although there are complaints, and some people want to desert, but the noise is not enough. As long as Zhangjiazhai can be broken through quickly and a large amount of grain can be obtained, the morale of the army will be stable. After the beginning of spring, if we break a few more stockades and win a few small victories, the morale of the army will be reinvigorated. At the moment, it's up to you to see if this cannon goes off. You see, when will the village be broken? ”

"It's hard to say. At present, there is not a single word. ”

"Yufeng, without further ado. Today is twenty, and there are still three days left before the end of the new year. I think we will decide to break the village before the end of the year, and we can't delay any longer. ”

Tian Jianxiu was taken aback: "How can it be so fast?" Do you use hard attack? ”

"No, it is still necessary to calculate, lest the soldiers suffer too many casualties."

"What strategy would be so fast?"

"If it weren't for Zhang Shoujing coming today and taking the ticket back, I wouldn't dare to say when I would be able to break Zhangjiazhai. You did a good job today, and he'll definitely come back tomorrow. It turned out that the few moves I wanted to make were immediately available. Zicheng stood up and said in a decisive tone: "Okay, don't dream too much at night, decide to break the village before the sun comes out the morning after tomorrow!" ”

He told Tanami Shuichi about the few moves he had thought of. Jianxiu nodded and pondered, thinking that it was very good, but asked uneasily:

"Will they definitely send Zhang Shoujing back tomorrow?"

"It stands to reason that Zhang Shoujing will definitely come tomorrow." Zicheng thought for a moment, and then said: "Okay, I thought of another idea, so that Zhang Shoujing not only has no reason to come, but also comes at the time we choose." ”

"How sure you are?"

"Yes, but in the future, after the village is broken, there will be a few tens of stones of grain to the Black Tiger Star. I originally thought that I would just ask Black Tiger Star to send a letter to Zhangjiazhai asking for food and money, but now he has to bring hundreds of people to Zhangjiazhai to make a fuss outside Zhangjiazhai. ”

Zicheng told Mixiu about the idea he came up with. Before he could finish his words, Jianxiu slapped the table, jumped up and said:

"Okay! Yes! Just do it! This is not called anything else, it should be called 'Li Chuang Wang outwitted Zhangjiazhai'. ”

The two of them laughed loudly, and a cloud of sorrow swept away from their hearts. Immediately, King Chuang wrote a letter, summoned the veteran Wang Changshun who came with him, and sent him to immediately send the book Pegasus to the place of the Black Tiger Astrolabe. Now the Black Tiger Star has coiled his men and horses thirty miles away from Zhangjiazhai, so that he can help the king when he needs it at any time. Wang Changshun drove the donkeys out to buy grain several times, so he was familiar with the roads in this area.

In the evening, when Li Zicheng was leaving, he suddenly frowned, sighed, took Tian Jianxiu's hand and said:

"Yufeng, some people say that Immortal Shang had an accident on the road and is dead!"

Seeing Xiu was shocked: "Hey! Hey! Really? ”

"It's just a ridiculous letter, I don't know if it's true or not. However, there were many soldiers on the road, and there were many things about getting money and hurting the lord. ”

"What the hell is going on?"

One of our meticulous works came back from Xi'an today, saying that he got news from the Xi'an medicinal herb shop: there was a guest official of medicinal herbs from Xi'an to Beijing, who walked near Pingyang, and the master and servant killed them on the way, and robbed them of valuable medicinal materials and silver. Some people in the medicinal herb shop said that this guest officer was Ziming, because the clothes were very similar, and he was also a tall man, in his forties. But there are also people who say no. ”

"What bad luck!"

"Don't worry about it now, inquire slowly, and wait for the news. I hope Ziming can go all the way to Beijing safely, and it is another guest official who died. ”

They don't talk about it anymore. Tian Jianxiu silently sent King Chuang out of the village, and watched him get on the horse and leave with a dozen or so personal soldiers. After a while, Jianxiu's mind returned to the problem of breaking Zhangjiazhai.

CHAPTER XXV

Zhangjiazhai's village advocates Shouye and the gentry and rich people were put back when they saw that the tickets did not need to be redeemed, and Tian Jianxiu also sent someone to escort them, and listened to Zhang Shoujing tell how Tian Jianxiu was benevolent and righteous, how loyal, how determined to suppress bandits and settle the people, willing to be friends with the village, and promised to give Black Tiger Star a little color to see, all of which were unexpected by everyone. In particular, a few tickets were sent back, which caused a sensation in the whole village, thinking that this was an unprecedented thing. In the past, the officials and soldiers in the city also went to the countryside to suppress bandits, sometimes knocking out tickets, sometimes issuing tickets, but they regarded the tickets as strange goods, and they were willing to release them only after paying enough money. Where has there ever been such a generous act of righteousness? This is truly unheard of!

The people of Zhangjiazhai did not suspect that Tian Jianxiu had any other tricks. This is because: first, they saw that it was true that the peasant army had recently suppressed bandits and people in Shangluo Mountain, and indeed killed some habitual bandits who had done a lot of evil; second, they often heard that Tian Jianxiu was a kind-hearted person, and now it turns out that it is true; Third, they also know that Li Zicheng's old eighth team is different from other "rogues". In addition, they also knew that Tian Jianxiu only came with 300 cavalry to suppress the bandits, so they did not doubt that Tian Jianxiu would have the intention of breaking the village.

That night, in the guest room of the owner of the village, several stewards of the village and several family members of the meat ticket gathered to discuss how to reward Tian Jianxiu. Of course, the money can only come from the sufferers who have been pulled away from the votes, and others are only here to help study an appropriate amount. But before the ticket came back, these bitter masters were as anxious as ants on a hot pot every day, pleading in the east and begging in the west, turning to the pole and begging, willing to pay a lot of silver to ransom people, but they were afraid that the bandits would tear up the ticket in anger. even went bankrupt in order to save his relatives. The reason why these votes were not redeemed was not because the sufferers refused to pay, but because the appetite of the poles was too great, and the price was sky-high, and it had not yet been agreed. But now that the voters have returned home safely, asking someone to take out an extra tael of silver is like peeling off a layer of skin from their bodies, which hurts their hearts. They complained to each other, saying that most of the land in their countryside was wasted, and the land that was not barren was also because of continuous drought, and there was no harvest. In short, although some of them buried their silver in the ground, and some of them secretly released the debts of the king of Hades, each of them said that they had soaked in the juice of the barberry and were miserable. After talking about the second watch, there is still no eyebrows. Zhang Shoujing was so angry that he had to wipe off his face and say ugly things:

"You rich people, you don't shed tears when you don't see the coffin, you don't cry when you don't hold a mourning cane. The ticket was not put back, and you asked me to find a way to redeem the ticket, do you also complain like this? Since everyone is talking so bitterly, then okay, count me as a six-finger itch - more than that. Early in the morning, I returned the ticket to Tian Yufeng (he deliberately called Tian's table to show respect for Tian), and never asked about this idle matter again. At that time, some of you will cry dad, and some of you will cry, and you deserve it! ”

A few words, the bitter lords were speechless. Zhang Shouye played with the jade wrench, looking at this, looking at that, and laughing secretly in his heart. After a long time, he spoke slowly:

"Third brother, don't be angry, talk slowly if you have something to say. Don't run headfirst into the south wall and make things run out of turns. ”

"I don't care, I don't care. I don't care about a hundred! I won't return the ticket to Tian Yufeng tomorrow, I'm my father-in-law! ”

"What words! How can you return the ticket to Tian Yufeng? are all neighbors, can Tian Yufeng tear up the ticket? Jokes, jokes. Zhang Shouye turned to the sufferers, and then said: "You guys don't blame me for speaking out, even I don't think it's like it. If you don't live in my village, my three brothers and I won't care about your affairs at all. Today, since it was the three brothers who took my name card to visit Tian Yufeng,—— although the gifts were made up by all of you, there were also some ,—— in the village, so I can't get rid of this matter. Didn't Tian Yufeng put the ticket back for the sake of my third brother's face? Now you refuse to make a bloody tube, don't you cross the river and tear down the bridge? What's more, this bridge is only halfway crossed! ”

A bitter lord said: "The owner of the village, you are a fair person, you can do what you say, and you will never make Kunzhong lose face." ”

"Shine, shine, that's just like words!"

Zhang Shouye and Zhang Shoujing, one singing with a red face and the other with a white face, said that they were good and bad, and finally decided to ask everyone to take out 1,000 taels of silver and 50 stone of grain, the thickness of which was halved, and another 50 taels of silver to Zhang Shoujing as a reward. The silver and grain were divided among the families according to their wealth. Everyone was satisfied with the total, for if the ticket were to be redeemed from the pole, it would cost at least three or four times as much money and food. After the number was agreed, everyone was worried about whether this number would satisfy Tian Jianxiu. They decided to ask Zhang Shoujing to go tomorrow, explain the amount, and if Tian Jianxiu agreed, then send the silver and grain.

It was almost the third watch, everyone had just dispersed, and Zhang Shouye was about to go to bed, when he suddenly heard a shout on the wall and the sound of cannons. He hurriedly ran to the courtyard and saw the flames outside Nanzhai. "Damn, Black Tiger Star is here!" He scolded, then took a knife and ran to the wall with a group of family members. There are many swordsmen standing outside the village and scolding the people guarding the village, claiming that they will attack the village in the future, and today they will burn a Zhuangzi to let the people in the village know that it is powerful. A Zhuangzi three miles away from the village was indeed set on fire, and the grass house and firewood were in flames. A figure ran in the firelight. When the villagers who guarded the village saw the owner of the village coming, they asked to go out of the village to fight, but Zhang Shouye was afraid of being ambushed and did not allow people to fight. He ordered everyone to defend closely and not to be negligent, and at the same time sent two people with his books to secretly open the east gate, and Pegasus moved troops to Tian Jianxiu.

Tian Jianxiu saw the firelight from a distance, and knew that the Black Tiger Star had acted in accordance with King Chuang's instructions, so he immediately gathered his men and horses and rushed towards Zhangjiazhai. Halfway through, I happened to meet the next calligrapher sent by Zhang Shouye. Tian Jianxiu said to them, "I see. Please rest assured! He urged the army forward, and in a blink of an eye came to the outside of the wall. But Black Tiger Star didn't wait for Tian Jianxiu's cavalry to arrive, so he walked away due south. Tian Jianxiu said a few words with Zhang Zhai Lord across the wall, and waved his army to chase south. At the foot of the barren mountain ten miles away from Zhangjiazhai, Tian Jianxiu's cavalry caught up with the Black Tiger Star's men and horses, pretending to shout for a while. Black Tiger Star ordered his men to kill a dozen people dressed as swordsmen, throw down the dead bodies, and then leave with the men and horses. Tian Jianxiu told the brothers to cut off the heads of the dead, and then chased after them for a while, stopping to rest. After dawn, Tian Jianxiu sent Gu Kecheng to lead twenty cavalry, with a dozen heads hanging on the stirrups, to Zhangjiazhai, and he himself took the large group of men and horses around in a large circle, and only returned to the village where he had been stationed for a few days until it was nearly dusk.

The people of Zhangjiazhai saw that Tian Jianxiu's cavalry heard the police coming and chased and killed the pole, and they were indescribably happy and grateful. At breakfast the next day, they were seen to have won the battle, and a dozen heads were brought, some of them with swords on their faces and on the top of their heads, and their flesh was blurred, apparently after a short and fierce battle. Gu Kecheng and the small group of cavalry he led escorted Zhang Shoujing and the tickets to the outside of the village yesterday, so many people in the village knew them. Now, as soon as they saw that they had sent the heads, everyone was very enthusiastic about them, and immediately ran to tell the owner of the village. The owner of the village understood that Tian Jianxiu sent them to send people to show respect for him, and without hesitation, he ordered the door of the village to be opened to welcome Gu Kecheng and others into the village to rest. After a while, Gu Kecheng and others led the horses, accompanied by Zhang Shoujing and several other stewards in the village, followed by a large group of men and children watching the excitement, and came to the gate of the village to defend the business. Zhang Shouye was already standing at the foot of the steps outside the gate and waiting, and when he saw Ke Cheng and the others coming, he smiled all over his face, took a few steps forward, and greeted him. When more than a dozen human heads were untied from the stirrups and thrown on the ground in front of him, he said a few words of comfort and gratitude to Kecheng, and then took Kecheng's hand and walked into the inner courtyard until the hall, re-saluted, and sat down to speak. The twenty brothers, accompanied by other people, rested in the guest rooms in the front yard.

"Hang those heads on the Nanzhai Gate!" Zhang Shouye instructed his subordinates, with majesty and murderous aura in his voice, and then turned his face to look at the guest, and laughed a few times with pleasure, a black mole with long hair on his left cheek dancing with laughter.

Because he knew that Tian Jianxiu was patrolling Qingxiang and could not go back until dusk, Zhang Shouye entertained Kecheng and others after breakfast, and then kept them to rest in the village, and at noon he entertained them with a sumptuous banquet, and drank them one by one. Gu Kecheng followed Tian Jianxiu's instructions, took advantage of the rest time in the village, and took the opportunity of a walk to see the terrain and roads in the village clearly, and determined where the fire should be lit when the village was broken. When it was time to Shen Ke, Gu Kecheng and others set off to go back first, and then Zhang Shoujing, on behalf of the owner of the village, led a group of villagers to lead a cow, carrying pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks and a few jars of soju, and also brought a few drummers to hold a bell, and went to Tian Jianxiu to comfort and congratulate the victory. I went today, because Zhang Zhai was already relieved of Tian Jianxiu, so he specially asked someone to prepare a good horse for Zhang Shoujing to ride. Zhang Shoujing said playfully:

"What, Old Five, aren't you afraid that Tian Yufeng will leave this animal behind?"

"Today I can rest assured. Let the third brother ride a golden horse, and Tian Yufeng will not stay. ”

Tami Hideshi entertained the gift-bearers and drummers with wine and meat, and offered a lot of rewards, which made everyone very happy. Zhang Shoujing did not return to the village with everyone. He stayed with Tian Jianxiu for the night, gossiping around the fire like an old friend until the third watch, and slept together. Regarding the matter of those tickets, he told Tian Jianxiu a lot of difficult words for the bitter masters, and then said the amount of grain and silver, please see the face of him and the owner of the village, don't be too little. Not only did Jianxiu not show too little meaning, but said some words of appreciation. As for the transportation of grain, it was agreed that Tian Jianxiu would send 20 mules to carry 20 stones, and the remaining 30 stones would be sent by cattle from the village.

The next day, Tian Jianxiu kept Zhang Shoujing for lunch, and asked Gu Kecheng and a few other generals who accompanied him at the same table to persuade him to drink diligently, and he was very affectionate. In the middle of drinking, Tian Jianxiu instructed Gu Kecheng to take his brothers to escort the grain and not to be careless. Eat until the sun is in the west. Tian Jianxiu wanted to stay with the guests to talk for a while, and suddenly a brother came from Liu Zongmin, and the horse ran sweating profusely and gave him a book. He opened the book and looked at it, with a slightly uneasy look on his face, and said with a smile to the guest:

"Gongfu, forgive me for not keeping you anymore. Our chief sentinel Liu Ye told me to immediately go to the east of Shangzhou to meet a group of men and horses from Henan, and I couldn't delay. He instructed the soldiers to prepare quickly, set off at dusk, and when they were hungry on the way, they took dry food to satisfy their hunger, and then said to Zhang Shoujing: "I will be back in three or four days, and then we will talk freely." After a pause, he said, "I think, this guy Black Tiger Star will not give up." When I am not here, take care of the fortress. ”

"Rest assured, our village is foolproof. Where is the grain delivered? ”

"I had to send it to the old camp of the chief outpost Liu Ye. It's more than sixty miles from here. ”

When Tamihide sent the guests out of the village, all his soldiers were in Tatarama, and some were already standing in line, ready to go. In addition, Gu Kecheng's twenty brothers and the mule team carrying grain were also ready to stop; And the mules were led by ten brothers, each with a sword at his loin. Tian Jianxiu was about to part with the guests, and the young general Ma Shiyao ran to him to report: Just now, a common person said that there were more than 100 swordsmen in a village seven or eight miles away from here, and they were delivering food to the people. Tian Jianxiu asked:

"It's Black Tiger Star, isn't it?"

"I don't know."

Tian Jianxiu thought for a while and said, "Shiyao, you take thirty brothers to stay, wait outside the east gate of Zhangjiazhai after the fourth watch tomorrow, listen to Kecheng's orders, and be more careful with him escorting food." He turned to the guest again, and said with a smile on his face: "Brother Gongfu, my brother has military affairs in charge, so he will set off immediately, and he will not be far away." ”

"See you again, wait for good news."

Zhang Shoujing walked for a while, came to a small hill, and immediately looked back, and saw that Tian Jianxiu's brigade of cavalry had left the village where he was stationed and headed east, and the flag was faintly fluttering in the setting sun. But he didn't expect that Tian Jianxiu's men and horses only walked five or six miles, stopped in a ravine to rest, and returned to the village after the sun went down, while Jianxiu himself stayed in the village with Ma Shiyao and did not move.

That night, Tian Jianxiu talked with several partial generals for a while, and told them to restrain their subordinates after entering the village on the fifth watch tomorrow and not to kill more innocents. Afterwards, he told everyone to go to rest early, and he sat by the fire and waited for Yuan Zongdi to lead the men and horses to arrive. After ten years of countless battles, it seems to be commonplace to attack the city and break the village, but tonight his mood is a little different, worried that this strategy will be seen through by the village and cannot break the village, the situation of King Chuang is even more difficult, and the plan to stay in Shangluo Mountain to train troops will come to naught. After a while, he felt that the two days had been going very smoothly, as long as the people in Zhangjiazhai could not see through the strategy overnight, they could break the village by the fifth watch. According to his own estimates, there are at least three or four thousand stones of coarse and fine grain accumulated in Zhangjiazhai, and of course silver coins, clothing, jewelry, and ornaments are also considerable. Thinking of the immediate benefits of breaking the stockade to the whole army and the hungry people, his heart was secretly excited. But then he thought about how many people would be killed after the breakthrough of the stockade, many of them innocent old and weak women, and his heart felt uncomfortable. He got up from the fire, walked around the house with his hands in his hands, and remembered some books he had found in the bookcase of the owner of the house a few days ago, and among them was a Buddhist scripture, which he had never opened. So, on a whim, he washed his hands, took out this annotated version of the Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra, spread it out on the table, and respectfully sat under the lamp and read it.

When he began to read, his heart was very quiet, and the neighing of horses and the sound of people outside seemed to be very far away, as if he could hear it and not hear it. But after a while, his heart gradually became chaotic again, and he couldn't help but think about how to fight with the villagers for the gate of the village, how to inevitably engage in street fighting, and how to carry a large amount of food and property. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't read it, so he closed the Buddhist scriptures, called a personal soldier, and asked:

"Isn't there any news from Yuan Jiangye's men and horses?"

"No news yet, it's almost there."

While speaking, Yuan Zongdi arrived with five hundred cavalry (two hundred of whom were reinforced from the old battalion). Tian Jianxiu was about to walk out of the courtyard to greet him, he was already carrying a horsewhip, full of energy, and strode into the gate. He grabbed Jianxiu's hand and said in a loud voice:

"Brother Yufeng, quickly ask the brothers to get me something to eat, I'm freezing right away!"

They walked into the upper room hand in hand, as if they hadn't seen each other for a long time. Yuan Zongdi wiped a handful on his short beard, wiped off the layer of frost that had condensed on it, paused his feet a few times, and said:

"Riding a horse is so frozen, completely numb from the cold. Why, things are going well, right? ”

"So far, it seems to be going well, and I hope it will go like this during the fifth watch."

"The brim will tear off the bib smoothly. As I set out this afternoon, two magpies barked at my horse's head! After Yuan Zongdi finished speaking, he laughed and stretched out his hand to roast on the fire.

"When did Zicheng come?"

"I'm afraid it's going to be around dawn. Three or four thousand stone of grain, how much property is there, and thousands of people can't carry it? Where do you put it? For this matter, I heard that the old camp has been busy and happy since this morning. ”

Jianxiu said with a smile: "In the past few years, I have often said that my own wisdom is outstanding, and now I see that he outwitted Zhangjiazhai's clever plan, so I really can't help but throw myself to the ground." ”

"When it comes to Zicheng, my surname is Yuan. Let's not talk about how admirable the self-made resourcefulness of the Xingyang Conference and the soldiers trapped in the carriage gorge is, let's take the fact that he went to Gucheng last month, which of us has him to see high, see far, and see clearly? That's why I said that Tongguan's fiasco this time is nothing, it's just that God deliberately honed and honed him. Since ancient times, how many people have not made a big deal a few times? The country didn't fall from the sky at a good end! Yuan Zongdi's eyes casually turned to the table, and when he saw a yellow-covered scroll under the blue light of the soybean oil lamp, he felt novel, looked at Jianxiu and smiled, and asked, "Are you reading this thing?" ”

"I've never read it, I just took it out and read a paragraph."

"Hey, you are a person, others say that you are a living bodhisattva, and you really want to practice to become a Buddha! Isn't it ridiculous that we will attack the stockade and kill people and set fire to the fifth watch, but you will arrange the military and read Buddhist scriptures during the second watch? Yuan Zongdi saw that he was smiling and said nothing, and said: "Brother Tian, don't be angry, it's a good thing that you can become a Buddha." But at present, we still have to rely on our own clever plans and the swords of the soldiers to break through Zhangjiazhai, and there is no way to rely on chanting. He laughed and asked one of his own soldiers standing outside the door, "Are all the men and horses here?" ”

"It's already here."

"Go, spread the word to the sentinels: bury the pot and cook immediately, sleep after eating, set off on the fourth watch, and have breakfast after attacking the village!"

"Yes!"

"Also, don't let the fire shine into the sky when cooking, and be careful not to let the guards of Zhangjiazhai see the fire."

Tian Jianxiu's personal soldiers brought a plate of cornmeal mixed with persimmon skin, and a bowl of porridge made of corn grits. The head of the nest is hot and sweaty on the skin, and it is too late to distill it through, but the good thing is that the porridge is freshly made, and it warms the heart when you drink it. Yuan Zongdi was very satisfied, and gobbled up the dry and thin ones. As soon as he finished eating, he lay on Tian Jianxiu's bed with his clothes, snoring like thunder.

Tian Jianxiu didn't fall asleep. He walked out of two or three miles with a few personal soldiers, stood on the top of the hill and looked at the lights on the wall of Zhangjiazhai, listened to the sound of changes, and always inevitably felt a little worried about Gu Kecheng and other people in the village. Back in the village, the weather has been handed over for four shifts. He called Ma Shiyao to the front, instructed a few words, and ordered him to set off immediately with thirty selected elite soldiers. Then he ordered all the soldiers to rise up and stand at the edge of the village. In the end, he called Yuan Zongdi up. Although he was the main general in this battle according to the instructions of King Chuang, he still humbly said:

"Hanju, you give the order, it's not too early."

Yuan Zongdi's eyes widened: "You are the main general, why do you ask me to give an order?" ”

"The two of us are the same no matter who orders it."

"Don't be humble. If you are humble for a while, it will be too late. ”

Tian Jianxiu no longer pushed, walked to the edge of the village with Yuan Zongdi, explained clearly to all the more than 700 soldiers how to break Zhangjiazhai, assigned different tasks, and finally said:

"When you enter the village, you must remember three things: first, you are not allowed to kill innocents, second, you are not allowed to rape ** women, and third, you are not allowed to burn the house casually. This is the military order of King Chuang, whoever violates it, the military law will not tolerate it! ”

The team quietly set off. The man is titled, the horse picks up the bell, and the weapon is not allowed to make a sound. Only the horses' hooves sounded on the stone road, but there was no way to do that.

Soon after the fourth watch, the night watchman on the east wall of Zhangjiazhai heard the sound of horses' hooves and coughing in the distance, and everyone immediately became alert, woke up those dozing companions, waited together, and looked from the battlements. In the blink of an eye, the sound of horses' hooves approached, and the shadow of a small group of cavalry appeared in the hazy moonlight. A villager asked aloud:

"Who? What for? ”

"We were sent by General Tian to escort the grain." Ma Shiyao replied immediately, and then ordered his brothers to dismount and wait outside the gate.

The village asked: "Do you know a leader surnamed Gu who came today?" ”

"Of course I do. Today, the two of us will accompany the third master of Gongfu on your village to eat wine. Brother, can you throw down a bundle of firewood for us to roast and roast the fire? ”

"Okay, okay. Not to mention one bundle, two bundles will do. But, what is your last name? ”

"Don't dare. The cheap surname is Ma, and the large number is Shiyao. You Mr. Gongfu know me, if you don't believe me, you go and ask him. ”

"No need to ask, no need to ask. Since it's Tian Ye, we're relieved. ”

Sure enough, two bundles of firewood were quickly thrown down from the wall. Ma Shiyao and others lit the firewood, roasted the fire around the fire, and waited for the movement in the village. There are people on the wall who are constantly talking to them, and their attitude is very kind.

While Ma Shiyao was waiting for the fire, the brigade led by Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi came to a stop in the ravine three miles away from the east gate. In order not to let the defenders hear the sound of horses' hooves, and also to attack the village and fight without riding horses, they left 50 brothers to guard the horses, 200 brothers were ready to storm the village and patrol outside the village on horseback to intercept those who jumped off the village and fled, and the rest of the 500 soldiers quietly walked to the hillside less than half a mile away from the east gate and laid an ambush.

The chicken crows twice. There are five watches in the village. But it wasn't yet dark. The oblique moon hangs in the treetops. The morning star shone silver in the east. Seeing that the night had been safe and sound, some of the guards began to sneak down to the wall one after another, hiding in a nearby leeward place to roast the fire. Those who are bold simply slip home. At this moment, the chaotic sound of hooves and human voices came from the village. Ma Shiyao asked the village:

"Is it food that has come out?"

"How not? Waiting for the door to be opened. ”

Ma Shiyao said to his brothers, "Get on the horse! As soon as the thirty brothers jumped on their horses, the gate opened. The first to come out were twenty mules sent by Tami-hide, carried by ten brothers. The second group was followed by dozens of cattle carried by more than 20 people from Zhangjiazhai, including mules, horses, and donkeys. Some of these people were armed, some were not, and some were old men and half-stakes of tenants. After this group of people and livestock came out, it was Gu Kecheng's escort team. Gu Kecheng's men and horses walked to the side of the walled gate, shouted kill, and hacked to death a few villagers guarding the walled gate, some of the brothers occupied the walled gate, and some of the brothers started on the street in the walled gate, killing Zhang Shoujing and a few other people who saw them off, and at the same time set fire to several grass houses near the walled gate. Almost at the same moment, Ma Shiyao's thirty cavalry also shouted for killing, and immediately cut down a few of the people who delivered the food, and the rest either knelt on the ground and kowtowed to beg for mercy, or threw their legs into the wild grass on both sides of the road to flee for their lives. Shiyao and the others did not chase and kill, but rushed towards the village with a loud shout. The ten brothers who were in the first batch came back quickly, and took all the frightened animals and kept them from running away. They raised their swords and threatened the kneeling fellows, saying:

"Get up! Lead the cattle down the hill with us! ”

The infantry led by Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi heard the shouts of killing, and saw that the rebels had occupied the gate of the village, so they ran over with a shout in unison, pouring into the village like a tide. Those who were guarding the wall of the village saw that the east gate was lost, the fire was soaring, the village and outside the village were shouting and killing, and the village was full of the sound of running horses' hooves, and the soul was frightened to fly out of the sky, and some of them were crying while running for their lives: "The village is broken!" It's broken! Run for your life! "But some of them retreated to a few fortified houses, and joined forces with the men in the houses to resist, throwing bricks, arrows, shotguns, and firearms at the peasant army in the streets. The houses that advocate keeping their jobs are the most crowded, some of them are his family members, some of them are village warriors, some of them are neighbors, and some of them are tenants and hired workers. He himself held the three-eyed gun in his hand, stood on the slope of the house, and commanded everyone to resist desperately.

Li Zicheng's peasant army had extensive experience in street fighting after breaking through the walled city for ten years. Zhangjiazhai is a big village, and the number of peasant troops is only a few hundred, so Tian Jianxiu did not send people to the wall after entering the village, and let the defenders collapse on their own in panic, but while occupying important intersections, while concentrating on attacking those isolated strongholds. The difference is that in the past, if such resistance was encountered, as long as the house was set on fire, the stubborn resistance could collapse immediately, and even the jade was burned. However, in Zhangjiazhai, in order to obtain food and other very necessary materials, Tian Jianxiu repeatedly told the soldiers that after entering the village, they would only burn a few thatched hermitage huts to scare the residents, and unless they had to, they were not allowed to set fire to the houses of the "good masters" at will, and they could only set fire to them when he gave the order to set fire when they withdrew. Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi besieged Zhang Shouye's house with more than 300 people, shouting loudly: "Surrender and avoid death!" If you don't surrender, kill all men, women, and children! But Zhang Shouye and his cronies did not believe these words at all, and at the same time feared that the women would be humiliated, and they relied on the high walls and strong houses to scold the peasant army, so a fierce battle began.

The house faces the street in front and an empty field in the back, and there is an alley between it and the adjacent house on the left, and only another house is connected to the right, but it is relatively low. The street houses opposite are also much lower. When the village was first breached, a large number of neighbors fled from the neighborhood, and some of the people who guarded the village also fled, and now there are two or three hundred women and children in the house, and seventy or eighty men. The peasant army initially focused its offensive on the right. They approached from the neighbor's house on the right, but when they approached the house, they were beaten by a torrential rain of bricks, tiles, and stones thrown down from a high place by the enemy. The women also boiled water and cooked porridge, which was brought to the slope of the house bucket by bucket and poured down with the masonry. The peasant army attacked in turn, regardless of the casualties. For each attack, all the soldiers who participated in the siege shouted in unison and shouted in unison to cheer and break the enemy's fear:

"it! Fill it! Pour it in! ……”

On one occasion, a burly and powerful little leader wore a bronze helmet, put a large knife in his mouth, and held an elm door panel as a shield in both hands, and "poured" it forward desperately, followed by two brothers, who also took the door panel to protect themselves. Halfway through, two of them hung up the lottery and rolled down the slope, but he didn't even look back and kept going. The arrows in his door panel were like those of a hedgehog. Bricks and tiles rained down on the door panels, clanging and clanging. When the defenders saw that there was nothing they could do about him, they lit a gun and raised their guns. When he saw the flames red, he stood still, took up his stance, and waited. Although the spear is much more lethal than the shotgun and the firecracker, it still uses a lot of iron and nails the size of broad beans instead of cannonballs, and especially many stones. After the flash of fire, the gun was raised. The little boss felt as if someone had shoved him against the door, causing him to sit on the slope of the room, his ears ringing. Some of the guns struck his door, some swept over and on both sides of the door, and struck the slope and ridge of the house, knocking down the two brothers behind him. is shouting "! Fill it! The soldiers suddenly stopped, thinking that he had either been killed or hung up the lottery. On the contrary, the people who guarded the house applauded proudly. Before the second applause had stopped, the little leader jumped up, threw himself forward in a cloud of smoke full of the smell of nitrate, quickly leaned the door panel against Zhang Shouye's eaves, climbed up, and ran to the ridge while holding a big knife and shouting:

"Brothers, pour it out with me! Fill it! ”

Dozens of soldiers jumped up on the ridge of the roof more than a dozen feet behind him, screaming wildly and rushing with him. He braved bricks and stones, and was hit a few times before he could reach the ridge. But he didn't back down and shouted forward. He was about to climb over the ridge when suddenly five or six people stood up from the ridge. A man slashed him in the head, but he blocked him with the knife. The second man stabbed him in the chest with a spear almost at the same time. He grabbed the shaft of the spear with his left hand and hacked him to death with his right hand, but he himself fell. As he was falling, another spear stabbed him. The soldiers behind him saw that he had been killed, and the enemy fired a volley of muskets and arrows, and there were a dozen or so men on board, so they had to stop the attack. When there was no way, Yuan Zongdi had already sent someone to transport a cannon from the gate of the village, and more than 20 people carried it to the ridge, and many people carried grain bags and piled them on the ridge to form a fort. Zhang Shouye saw the peasant army setting up cannons on the ridge of the house, and ordered a salvo of raised guns, firearms, shotguns, and crossbows. But when they fired, the peasant army lay down, took cover with the ridges, and hurried to pile up the grain packs when they stopped. In the blink of an eye, the forts were piled up, the cannons were set up, loaded with gunpowder and a dozen pounds of iron nails and stones, ready to be ignited. This kind of cannon is made of pig iron, the muzzle is as thick as the No. 2 rice bowl, the body of the cannon is wrapped in elm, and the outer hoop is hooped with iron bars, in order to prevent it from bursting. Yuan Zongdi selected thirty sturdy young men to serve as irrigators, prepared a few pairs of door panels as ladders, and waited for the elm to squirt, taking advantage of the enemy's large number of casualties, and rushed forward in the thick smoke. Unexpectedly, the muzzle of the gun was not high enough, and after the fuse was ignited, everyone waited with bated breath, only to hear a bang, which collapsed the two houses of the neighbors on this side of Zhang Shouye's house, but did not hit the house of the owner of the village. What was even more unexpected was that not only did the ridge of the cannon collapse a large hole, but also shook down many soldiers nearby, and some of them rolled down the slope of the house into the courtyard, but fortunately, the eaves were not high, and the fall was not serious. This incident was talked about as a joke by everyone after this battle, and it was talked about for several years, but at that moment, it was really disappointing.

Yuan Zongdi told the brothers to quickly spray the elm wood into a ridge and rebuild the forts, and Zhang Shouye had already thought that he should set fire to the adjacent houses on the right to block the attack of the peasant army in this regard, but because these houses belonged to his two uncles, he could not do so until he had to. Now he saw that the peasant army was spraying elm again, so he jumped down the slope of the house, stood in the courtyard and said to his two uncles:

"There is no other way, I think I have to burn it with fire. Dozens of your family members are in my house, what ancestral business is not ancestral business, family wealth is not family wealth, it is important to save your life! ”

One of his uncles said with tears in his eyes, "Set it on fire." As long as I save my family's life, I don't want anything. ”

Another uncle asked, "Won't you lead your house to the same place?" ”

Zhang Shouye replied, "No." Didn't you see where the wind was blowing? Besides, my house is covered with bricks. ”

While the peasant army was re-erecting the artillery, a dozen lighted bags of sulfur and gunpowder were thrown from Zhang Shouye's house, some of which landed on the slope of the house and some in the courtyard. Those that fell on the pyres and on the straw houses caused a great fire, and then the tiled houses were also set on fire. A sea of fire became between the peasant army and Zhang Shouye's house, so that the peasant army not only gave up the attack, but also sent a part of the brothers to supervise the people to extinguish the spreading fire, and at the same time rushed out of the burning house to transport food and goods.

At this time, the sun was already high at the top of the tree, and several other isolated and stubbornly defended houses had been breached one after another, leaving only the houses that advocated the defense of the village and continued to fight against the peasant army. Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi gathered several generals together to discuss the next attack. Now you can only attack from the south front gate and the north back door, or both at the same time. Facing the street in front is a tall gatehouse, which is lined with brick eaves and upside-down houses, and there are gun holes on the back wall, which can be fired with guns and shotguns. The thick elm gate was covered with iron leaves, and rows of large cast iron nails were nailed, which were difficult to cut with an axe, and when the house was besieged, the brothers who were standing in the street opposite heard the sound and knew that the guards of the house had held the gate firmly from the inside with stone and wood. The back door is small and sturdy, and the wall is made of stone, about one foot and two feet high, and the people of the village say that it is more than two feet thick. If they set up a ladder from here to attack, the casualties of the drummers would inevitably be more, and after the breakthrough, they could only enter Zhang Shouye's back garden, the courtyard where the hired workers lived, and the group houses where the mules and horses were fed, and they would have to attack the main house with great effort. Everyone was deliberating, and Li Zicheng and Li Guo arrived.

With the arrival of the king, there were thousands of people, old and young, and some women, who had cattle to drive livestock, and those who did not have cattle to carry baskets or cloth bags. As the saying goes, there are 10,000 people in a hurry, and there is no shore or shore. Although there were only four or five thousand people, because the team was not neat, and the mountain road was narrow and tortuous, it was impossible to see the end of the team from the head of the team. The mountains are sparsely populated, and the people who can be dispatched within a radius of dozens of miles around the old camp have been dispatched.

The call to the hungry began yesterday afternoon in many villages at about the same time. There was no gong ringing, no publicity, but some people secretly spread that the righteous army was going to break Shangzhou City, and asked the common people to rush to transport food and property, and after transporting it back, it was handed over to the designated place, and then distributed by the righteous army to the people. The people in this area have had the experience of eating large households, and a few have had the experience of grabbing large households behind the pole, but now they see that the mountains and rivers are exhausted, and the New Year is approaching, and no one is taking the lead in grabbing grain. In particular, they have recently seen that the rebels are indeed protecting the poor, and they have given them relief several times, believing that the food and goods they have stolen will be distributed to everyone. As soon as they heard the call, the villages and villages were like a pot boiling, scrambling to respond and immediately prepare for action. King Chuang sent Li Guo to be in charge of escorting food and property. In order to avoid temporary scramble and chaos and take things home privately, Li Guo ordered each village in the big village to raise a leader, and several villages in the small village to raise a leader, each in a team. The people of the township formed a general team, which was taken care of by a general leader. Fearing that the team would be out of order, he asked the people of each village to sew strips of cloth of one color on their arms. Seeing his nephew forming a team of four or five thousand hungry people without kingbees in a hurry, King Chuang secretly nodded in his heart. In the past ten years, each time a place was conquered, the rebels always took some of the food and goods, and the rest were taken by the poor, with the result that only the bold and powerful benefited, and the timid and weak often took things from others, or even killed or injured by the strong. Therefore, this time, the righteous army will arrange for the people to rush to transport, and it will be distributed in the future. It seems to be accidental, but it is significant. King Chuang saw that the method this time was good, and continued to adopt it in the future, and the method gradually became more thorough, so two years later, it was possible to break through a large city like Luoyang to achieve order, in addition to the righteous army getting a large amount of food and wages, but also benefiting hundreds of thousands of hungry people.

Before dusk, the four or five thousand hungry people had gathered one after another. Those who have dry food bring their own dry food, and those who really don't have it are given a little by the peasant army. Until this time, everyone knew that they were not going to Shangzhou City, but to Zhangjiazhai. Li Zicheng took Shuangxi, Zhang Nai, and a few personal soldiers to the meeting place to have a look. Seeing a white-haired old woman leading a boy under the age of ten to the meeting place, she asked:

"Grandma, you two are old and young, why do you want to go? The road is too far for you to walk, so go home. ”

The old woman pleaded, "Master of the plate, you have pity on me, let me go and get a handful of grain, for my grandmother and grandson are about to starve to death." ”

"When the grain comes back, we will go door-to-door to give it out. Your grandma and grandchildren should go home quickly. ”

"Can you get food if you don't go?"

"Yes, yes. You can rest assured. ”

"Alas, this is the blue sky! Uncle, let my grandma and grandchildren kowtow to you! The old woman pulled her grandson to kneel down and kowtowed to King Chuang twice.

People don't know that he is the king of Chuang, but they can see that he is a big boss. Some people guessed that he was the king of Chuang, but they didn't dare to say it. After King Chuang waited for the hungry people to set out, he returned to the old camp to deal with other matters. After the second watch, he set off, chased after the hungry people, and caught up with Li Guo, who was riding a horse and walking in front of the hungry people. At that time, the moon had not yet come out, and countless torches looked like a fiery dragon in the mountains, which was very spectacular. Li Guo said to him:

"There are a few villages along the way, and the hungry are going to join in. I'm afraid that when the time comes, I'll steal the food and won't allow them to join. ”

Zicheng was silent for a moment, and said: "It's okay not to let them join this time, and let's talk about it when we attack other villages in the future." ”

He looked at the mighty, zigzag fire dragon, and his thoughts were like a tide, as if he saw countless ordinary people standing at the edge of the village along the way, jealous and complaining that they were not allowed to join. A thought flashed through his mind, and he seemed to see that in a few months, when he re-launched his campaign, from Shaanxi to Henan, everywhere was like this: thousands of hungry people followed him, attacked the city, and opened warehouses for relief. No, it won't be on that scale then. It would have been many, many times bigger than it is today!

When he arrived in Zhangjiazhai, he asked Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi about the battle situation, and Li Zicheng asked his nephew to command the rush to transport food and property, and he was accompanied by Jianxiu and Zongdi to take a look at Zhang Shouye's house. He stood on the slope of the house a stone's throw across the street and looked at it for a while, then turned his head and asked:

"Let's have a 'siege division must be lacking', remove the people and horses surrounding the back gate, give them a way to escape, and specialize in the gate?"

Tian Jianxiu said: "Just now we also thought that we should attack from the gate, and as soon as we attacked it, we arrived at the main house. It's just that this gate is very strong, how to attack? ”

King Chuang thought for a moment and said, "This is easy to do, let's put it under the gate." Wouldn't it explode if there were three or four hundred pounds of gunpowder? ”

As soon as it was mentioned, people's hearts lit up. This is such a simple way, but King Chuang didn't mention it, and everyone forgot about it. The so-called burst is to blast with gunpowder. I don't know when, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng's troops used this method to blow up the city gates, and the soldiers called this method a burst because the bricks and stones flew in all directions when the gunpowder exploded. However, in the past ten years, the peasant army rarely attacked fortified cities, and most of them used surprise attacks and internal response methods to break through the cities, or used ladders to climb the cities, and rarely used gunpowder to blast the city walls or city gates. In this way, tunnels had to be dug, which took a long time, and in the past there was always a rapid coming-and-going, and it was rare to besiege a city for more than a few days. Because the method of putting it in is not commonly used, it is not surprising that no one remembers it for a while.

"Wow! This will work! Yuan Zongdi shouted happily. People hide under the gate to bury gunpowder, and they don't even have to dig tunnels! ”

As soon as the method is decided, it will be carried out immediately. Tian Jianxiu told most of the soldiers to rest and eat, and at the same time monitored the enemy's activities on the slope of the house, and only sent a dozen or so people to jump under Zhang Shouye's gate, dig stones from under the gate piers on both sides, and dig holes down. Zhang Shouye didn't know the true intentions of the peasant army at first, thinking that they wanted to tear down the gate, so he was not afraid. When he realized that he was going to bury gunpowder under the pier, he was terrified, but he couldn't think of a way to deal with it. The burrowers were under his gatehouse, and could not be shot from the ridge with shotguns and arrows, nor could they be burned by throwing fireballs. He tried to burn down the house opposite, but the house on the opposite side was all tiled, and all the firewood and furniture in the courtyard were removed. In desperation, he retreated some of the men to the second gate, pointed a dozen shotguns and firecrackers at the gate, and waited for the peasant army to rush in through the collapsed gate.

The digging of the holes under the gate went well, and in less than a meal, both holes were dug more than two feet deep and as thick as buckets. The brothers filled two barrels with gunpowder, buried them in the holes, inserted a fuse more than a foot long, lit the fuse, and fled as quickly as possible. The soldiers who were in the opposite street house and in the courtyard also fled in a hurry when they heard the whistle they had made, and waited twenty feet away. Suddenly, there was two booms, a great earthquake trembled, thick smoke and dust filled the sky, bricks and timber flew in all directions, and a stone lion gate pier was thrown ten feet away. Some bricks and tiles flew into the second gate and on the slope of the house, and the guards of the house injured a few. For a moment before the gunpowder exploded, there was a strange silence among the peasant army waiting on the opposite side and the people in the house. Just after the outbreak, the peasant army let out an earth-shattering shout, and Gu Kecheng led the people to rush into the collapsed gate first, and hit the second gate with the wooden beams that were carried in. Zhang Shouye prepared the people on the second gate, several of them were tenants and long-term workers, who had to defend the house under the coercion of the master, and then threw down the shotgun and firecracker, jumped out of the house and fled to the backyard, shouting as he ran:

"Run for your life! Run for your life! I've already entered the courtyard! ”

When the others saw this, they fled for their lives. They opened the corner door, walked through the garden, and opened the back door to escape. Zhang Shouye saw that the general trend was gone, and the peasant army would come in immediately, and hurriedly rushed into the inner house, forcing his wife and concubines and daughters with a big knife and saying, "Hang yourself quickly!" Hang yourself! Then he also fled to the backyard, trying to get mixed in with the crowd and break out of the village. By the time he reached the garden, the second door had already been opened......

When the brothers were digging a hole under Zhang Shouye's gate, Li Zicheng and Tian Jianxiu went to inspect all parts of the village, leaving Yuan Zongdi to command the attack on the house. As soon as the gunpowder exploded, they hurried back, and when they saw that the brothers had rushed in through the gap in the collapsed gate, they turned their horses around the back of the house. Those who escaped were killed by the brothers who had been ambushed in the open space from the back door to the base of the wall. They dismounted, intending to go in through the back door to take a look. As soon as I arrived at the back door, I saw a group of brothers escorting out of the house, all of whom were prisoners, with all but a young man dressed as peasants, some wearing shackles, some with chains around their necks, and some with ropes tied to their hands. Zicheng asked, knowing that these people owed Zhang Shouye and other big families rent and Hades debts, and because they were unable to repay, they were arrested by Zhang Shouye and his family and put them in private prison. He was questioning a man in chains, when a brother told the peasant youth to kneel down and raise his sword to kill. Several prisoners knelt down at the same time to save the young man, begging for mercy. Zicheng didn't know what was going on, and looked at the brother with the knife. The brother put down his sword and said,

"He's not a prisoner. I saw him throw a knife to the ground. ”

"No, no!" One of the prisoners called. "He was forced to defend the village. He was the one who opened the cell door just now. He and I are from the same village, and people have suffered for generations! ”

King Chuang understood, and waved his hand to the kneeling people and the young man to stand up. He said to the little leader of the group:

"Break their shackles and chains. Give each of them a few liters of food and let them go home. He turned to the young man and said with a smile, "It's so dangerous, you're almost done." Why don't you beg for mercy? ”

"There is no blessing to enjoy when you are alive, cutting off your head is just a bowl of big scars, what do you ask for!"

"There's a kind! Will you come with us? ”

The young man blinked, and suddenly became happy: "You want me?" ”

"Yes."

"Alright, which ghost grandson won't follow you!"

King Chuang patted the young man on the shoulder, laughed loudly, and asked, "Where did you see the owner of the village fleeing?" ”

"That's not?" The young man said, pointing down the rockery.

Zhang Shouye has been stabbed, but he is not dead yet, lying under the rockery**. One of his own soldiers was about to take his life, when the young man said excitedly, "Let me come." Let me breathe a sigh of relief today! He picked up a stone from the ground, smashed it on the back of Zhang Shouye's head, and then scolded hatefully:

"You're fucking today, too!"

Li Zicheng went to Zhang Shouye's house to take a look and then withdrew, and Tongtian Jianxiu rode on his horse to inspect other places. With few casualties, the brothers were able to break through such a strong and wealthy village and relieve the current food shortage, which was a happy event. But he and Tian Jianxiu are not like others. Their mood is very conflicted, and there is unhappiness in the joy. Nearly half of the more than 300 men, women, and children gathered in the house of the owner of the village died, and a small number of young women were hanged, while others were killed. They didn't think too much of the slaughter in the house, because it was to blame them for their stubbornness. But elsewhere many women, old and weak, and men who did not resist, were killed. Because of the cavalry patrols outside the village, most of the people who escaped from the village were also killed, including the elderly and children. The thing that especially makes King Chuang unpleasant is that there are still things about raping ** women. After seeing the situation inside and outside the village, he said to Jianxiu:

"Yufeng, you see, it's not easy to truly become a teacher of benevolence and righteousness, with strict discipline!"

"Yes, when I was leaving, I still ordered me again and again, not to kill innocents in vain, not to commit adultery!"

After a pause, Zicheng said again: "Some people don't agree with me staying in Shangluo Mountain to train soldiers. If we don't have a disciplined and righteous teacher, how can we achieve great things? ”

He didn't stay in Zhangjiazhai for long, and after a few words of advice to Tian Jianxiu, he went back to the old camp with Shuangxi, Zhang Nai, and a large group of personal soldiers.

The things in Zhangjiazhai were transported for two days, and the things that were left behind and not transported were allowed to be taken freely by the people nearby. By the fourth day, when everything had almost been taken away, the peasant army that had remained and retreated at the end set fire to the houses of several large families, and set fire to the gates of the village.

The hungry people within a radius of dozens of miles received timely relief, and they were all happy and grateful. The people in the distance heard the wind and envied it, and coaxed it everywhere. The common people got benefits, and constantly told the rebels the details of many cottages, and some people were willing to do the bottom line and invite the rebels to break the village. From the beginning of the year to the Chinese New Year's Eve, within a few days, the rebels used Neiying to break down two cottages in a row. Gao Yigong also used a plan on the Lantian border to break through a cottage at dusk on Chinese New Year's Eve. This New Year, the rich and rich are worried and crying, but the poor and small families are living happier than in previous years. It was originally a year of famine, a withered countryside, and a bleak year, but because dozens of villages were generally relieved, and there was no local pole harassment, there were some temporary peaceful scenes. Almost every household has pasted Spring Festival couplets, and some have peach charms; Villages and villages also set off firecrackers on the first and fifth day of the Lunar New Year. People greet each other for the New Year, and also pay New Year's greetings to the leaders of the rebel army who are stationed in the village and are already acquainted. When the military and civilians meet, whether they know or not, they say goodbye.

Within 100 miles, there is not a cottage that does not give New Year's gifts to the rebels. If the rebels borrow food from them again, they will not dare to resist as hard as they did in the past. The soldiers had food, clothing, and livestock. Everyone's spirits were uplifted, and they stopped saying strange things. On the first and fifth watches of the first month, Li Zicheng's old battalion soldiers burned the charcoal red according to the ancient customs of Mizhi County, poured vinegar on it, and smoked it all over the house. Zicheng watched Li Qiang and Shuangxi and others playing vinegar charcoal in the house where he lived with great interest, smiled without saying a word, a wisp of homesickness came to his heart, and said in his stomach:

"Alas, when will it be done, go back to your hometown and see!"

When the sky was just dark, some generals came to greet him for the New Year, and until after breakfast, he still kept coming and going. In the middle of the morning, he saw that there were fewer people, so he went out to pay New Year's greetings to Tian Jianxiu and other older generals, and also went to the homes of ordinary people who knew each other to have a look in the brothers' nests. On this day, because the soldiers and civilians temporarily had food, he lived quite happily.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, Black Tiger Star came to celebrate the New Year with King Chuang and Li, and thanked him for the dozens of stones of grain. Li Zicheng was very affectionate to him and kept him to live in Powu. He said to Li Guo:

"Big brother, when will Uncle Wang set up a banner? As long as our uncle is a big banner, your brother will definitely come to follow his old man to fight the world, or he won't be raised by his mother! In good conscience, I just feel like my eyes are opening now. ”

On the day of the fifth day, in order to make the soldiers live happily, he instructed the head of the old battalion to give each post a little more gray noodles, so that everyone could eat noodles in the morning according to the local customs of the past years near Yan'an Mansion. This noodle meal is commonly known as spring noodles, and a full meal is called filling the five poor. During the fifth watch, Li Zicheng danced for a while, and went to the back of the house to take a look. Because of the festival, the soldiers suspended their exercises. He saw the veteran Wang Changshun cut out of white paper in the shape of a woman, and sent it out of the yard with a pile of dust swept in the house, and dumped it next to the road. He smiled and said:

"Changshun, are you sending the poor?"

"Alas, King Chuang, I'll show you!" Wang Changshun raised his head sharply, stroked his short beard, and grinned.

"Do you think you can send the poor ghost away?"

"My grandparents sent it for a lifetime, my parents sent it for a lifetime, and I sent it myself at home for half my life, and I didn't send it away. The poor ghost lives with our family and refuses to leave. However, now that I am sending poor ghosts to our whole camp, I entrust you to break through Wang Fu's great life, and I think he will definitely leave. This New Year, isn't our whole camp having a good time? After my send-off, our camp will have a better life in the future. ”

King Chuang couldn't help laughing, patted him heavily on the shoulder, and said loudly:

"Wow, Wang! We don't want poor ghosts, and the common people don't want poor ghosts, you can give the poor ghosts to those rich people! ”

Black Tiger is leaving tomorrow. After lunch, King Chuang accompanied him to bid farewell to several generals. They went to see Tian Mishu first. When I arrived at the village where Tian Jianxiu lived, I saw that there were only a few soldiers in Jianxiu's house roasting the fire, a stove of incense was lit on the table, and a copy of the "Vajra Prajnaparamita Sutra" was spread, and Zicheng smiled and said, "We, Brother Yufeng, are going to become Buddhas without putting down the butcher's knife." Knowing that Jianxiu was chatting in a common people's cowhouse, he walked with Black Tiger Star to that cowhouse.

Two root bumps burned on the ground of the cow house, and smoke was emitting, choking people with constant coughing. Although the family is so poor that there is only a small donkey left, there is still a red note pasted on the small stone trough as in previous years, which reads "The trough is prosperous". Tian Jianxiu and his two personal soldiers leaned against the stone trough with their backs, crowded among the common people, facing the fire, and they were also smoked to tears. He smiled and listened intently to an old man reading Liu Bowen's poems. It is said that a stone tablet was recently dug up near Xi'an, which was buried by Liu Bowen more than 200 years ago, and a poem was engraved on it, which made the recent national fortunes clear and hidden, in short, the world was in chaos, and the Ming Dynasty's qi was exhausted.

When King Chuang walked outside the cow house with the Black Tiger Star, no one in the house paid attention. Li Qiang, the leader of the pro-soldiers, was about to push open the half-hidden door, but was stopped by King Chuang with a gesture. He did not want to disturb everyone by going in at this time, so he stood quietly outside the door and listened to the old man continue to recite aloud:

Every family cries for the emperor,

Everyone cries for the emperor,

Parents and wives tossed each other!

You're also opposed,

I'm also opposed,

There are countless people and horses,

Cast into the Central Plains of Chu.

revenge,

Retribution of grievances.

Those who are in calamity cannot escape for their lives,

Blood debts are repaid with blood.

In summary

Dignitaries are not as good as dogs,

Quarrel and disturb the swallows.

When the old man read this, he glanced at everyone, stroked his long gray beard with his thin fingers, and said:

"You see, doesn't the last sentence of this sentence say that it is going to Beijing City? Therefore, Da Ming's qi is about to end. ”

Tian Jianxiu praised and said: "Your old man's memory is really not bad, how clear your memory is!" Don't miss a word, the melon is ripe. ”

Prophecies like this in the style of songs have continued to appear in the past few years, some say that they are carved on stone tablets dug out of the ground or fished out of wells, and that they are Liu Bowen's poems; Some say that it was written when the Jade Emperor or Lu Dongbin descended to the altar. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the class struggle and political struggle have been particularly fierce, and in folklore, the resourceful founder of the early Ming Dynasty, Liu Ji (Zi Bowen), has become a great prophet, often using his name to fabricate political prophetic poems to spread among the people, and play a role in agitating and propagating the rebellion. Even the prophecy ballad recited by the old man today has also spread widely, and King Chuang and Tian Jianxiu have already heard it, but there is a slight discrepancy in the words. This was clearly fabricated by some rural intellectuals who were dissatisfied with the imperial court and sympathetic to the rebellion, and deliberately dyed it with mystery.

At that time, many learned people believed in such prophecies, and the generals and soldiers of the peasant army liked to hear and believe more. They were often inspired by such mystical prophecies, increasing their courage and determination to overthrow the Ming regime and seize the country. Tian Jianxiu looked at the old man and said to everyone:

"When it comes to 'high-ranking officials and nobles are not as good as dogs, and they disturb people and Youyan', it is time to change the dynasty, otherwise the people will be able to live and work in peace and contentment."

The old man said with emotion: "I wish I hadn't come one day sooner!" ”

King Chuang pushed open the half-hidden door and poked his head in. When the people saw him, they stood up and greeted him, and invited him to go in and roast the fire. He didn't go in, said a few words to everyone, called Jianxiu out, and walked to the house where Jianxiu lived. Black Tiger Star couldn't help but say:

"Tian Ye, you are really good. Look at your family with the common people. They weren't scared at all when they saw you. ”

Tian Jianxiu said slowly: "Before we rebelled, weren't we also suffering people? Isn't it also a cow's leg farming to make a living? Now that you have rebelled, you can't forget that you were also a sufferer back then! ”

"Yes, yes. You're absolutely right. Black Tiger Star turned to Zicheng again and said, "Uncle Chuang, let's spend the New Year happily here, and the court will not have us happy." There were disasters and famines everywhere, and the tartars did not retreat, and there were days when he sat on turnips. ”

Li Zicheng and Tian Jianxiu both laughed. But this sentence also caused another thought from Cheng: how much he wanted to know about the situation in Beijing! Where is Shang Shenxian now? Did something really happen on the road? Thinking of Shang Jiong's auspiciousness, his mood suddenly felt heavy.