The fifth year of Chongzhen, at the end of May!

Zhu Yuanzhang brought an army of nearly 8,000 people to the Yellow River and prepared to start crossing the river.

Pinming Sanlang had been waiting here for a long time, and many ferries he had collected in advance were moored on the bank of the Yellow River, with different sizes, more than a hundred, and many temporary rafts were mixed in, which looked very spectacular. Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's arrival, Pinming Sanlang hugged his fists: "Brother Zhu, there are no officers, soldiers or rebels across the river, so it is safe to cross the river now."

"Very good! Then start crossing the river!" Zhu Yuanzhang ordered.

It is not a matter of 8,000 people crossing the river, and it is impossible to complete it in less than two days, so Zhu Yuanzhang was not in a hurry. He first asked the old team to wait for 500 elite soldiers to cross the river, guard the river beach, and then let the new recruits cross it, so that they can ensure safety.

Xue Hongqi looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's army and began to cross the river. Her nervousness was inexplicably nervous. Her nervousness was understandable. Human beings, for the first time, would always feel uneasy when they left their hometown and entered an unknown world. Although Xue Hongqi had wandered everywhere before, she had never left Shaanxi. Wherever she went, everyone spoke Shaanxi-Siji dialect, so she had not yet "left her hometown". This time, crossing the Yellow River east was the real first time she stepped into a land that was unfamiliar with her. She couldn't help but come over and asked, "Brother Zhu Ba, my little sister is in the situation opposite the river...uh... I don't understand at all. Can you tell me something about it?"

Last year, after Zhao Sheng fought with officers and soldiers across the river, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Sanlang to set up a small black shop to inquire about information in the city across the river. Now he knows a little about the situation across the river.

He said lightly: "Where we cross the river is called Puzhou. It was an important town in Jifu in ancient times. It was once built in Zhongdu. It was one of the six great cities in ancient times. It was a very famous place! The sun was surrounded by mountains and the Yellow River flowed into the sea. I wanted to see thousands of miles away. Going to a higher level. You may have heard of this poem? It is "Climbing the Stork Tower" written by the famous poet Wang Zhihuan. The Stork Tower in this poem is located on the bank of the Yellow River in Puzhou. There is also Puji Temple in Puzhou, which is where Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng are determined to have three lives in "The West Chamber".

Zhu Yuanzhang said something loudly. It was Tang poetry and Yuan opera, all of which were things that Xue Hongqi had never heard of. She was confused and confused. Although she didn't understand, she felt that Puzhou was so powerful: "It sounds like a very powerful place. Are the officers and soldiers there powerful?"

"Ha! The officers and soldiers are not powerful." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled: "At the beginning of the time, the 36th Battalion also crossed the river nearby. As soon as it went, it beat the defenders of Puzhou. Then the 36th Battalion was divided into dozens of troops and spread from here to the entire west of the mountain. Several of the rebels were still circling around Puzhou, so Puzhou is also one of the largest places with bandit forces. The government is now very troubled by this place."

"So that's it! Then if we add these two strands, wouldn't it become the 38th battalion?" Xue Hongqi smiled.

Two days later, the army had crossed the river without any danger. There was not even half a person on the other side to disturb them. It seemed that within a dozen miles of the other side, there were no one living in the wilderness. Zhu Yuanzhang could guess the reason. Last year, Zhao Sheng, lighting the lamp, had been active on the other side and fought with Cao Wenzhao's troops. It was normal for no one to be inhabited within a dozen miles of the other side... The good people were probably swept away or killed by the lamp, and occasionally arrested and had to be sorted out by the officers and soldiers... This way, it would be strange if there were still living people.

The army stationed on the river bank to eliminate the fatigue caused by crossing the river. Then, under the order of Zhu Yuanzhang, they began to advance south along the river bank.

Because this place is a hard land and is not familiar with the place, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to intelligence work. The scouts were released fifteen miles away. Xue Hongqi volunteered to send 30 horse thieves to act as scouts temporarily. The slightest movement around the army during the march could not be seen by Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes.

They soon passed by a town with a stone tablet at the entrance of the town, with the words "Dongzhang Town". Behind the monument was a dilapidated house. The houses were all black and obviously burned by fire. Of course, there was no living person in the town, and there was not even a complete utensil. The ground was full of gravel and broken tiles. The beams of burnt charcoal fell across the ground. As soon as they stepped on them, they raked their bodies and turned into black and gray.

They left the burned Dongzhang Town and continued to walk south. After pretending, they arrived at another town called "Zhangying Town". The situation here is exactly the same as that in Dongzhang Town. The entire town was burned, and no living person survived, and there was a smell of destruction everywhere.

Xue Hongqi was stunned: "It seems that the situation in Shanxi is not much better than our Shaanxi West!"

"Yes!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Since the Thirty-Sixth Camp crossed the river and entered the west of the mountain, it received the response from the local poor, and the team instantly expanded to 200,000 people, which shows that."

All the leaders continued to move south with a heavy mood.

More than half a day later, Zhu Yuanzhang's scout and Xue Hongqi's horse thief scout ran back at the same time, shouting excitedly: "A town inhabited by someone is found in front of him, and is quite intact."

According to common sense, what is exciting to discover a town? But... during this trek like a doomsday trip, suddenly discovering a town that is inhabited has become a joyful thing for the scouts.

Even Xue Hongqi's spirit was revived: "It's great, I thought there was no living person in the west of Shanxi... a place that scared me to death."

All the leaders actually felt the same way and nodded to say yes.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned deeply and ordered: "Okay, let's go and burn this town."

"What?" The leaders were shocked: "To burn it? Brother Zhu... After we walked for a day, we finally saw someone living in a town, but we wanted to burn it with our own hands?"

"Don't forget that we cross the river to attract the attention of the government!" Zhu Yuanzhang sighed: "If we don't burn, kill, loot, how can we achieve the purpose of attracting the attention of the government? Not only this town, but every town we encounter next must be burned."

"Will the people in the town be miserable?" Wang Er was a little unhappy with this plan. He said seriously: "Even for strategic needs, the town where the people live cannot be burned down. I object!"

Miao Mei also stood up: "Brother Zhu, I don't think this is a good thing either. You are extremely smart and have a way to attract the attention of the government."

Xue Hongqi widened his eyes and watched them quarrel, and couldn't help but interrupt, "What's wrong with burning a town? We horse thieves often do this... Unexpectedly, the famous leaders of Huanglong Mountain Village are all weak insiders, and they are not as harsh as me."

"We are the rebels who practice the law for heaven, not the bandits who burned, killed, looted!" Wang Er shouted: "This is what Brother Zhu said when he brought me up. I will remember the rest of my life. You woman knows nothing, go cool down."

He pushed Xue Hongqi's words back, then turned to Zhu Yuanzhang and said, "Brother Zhu, we can't do the same thing as ordinary bandits."

"Ha, I guess you will object." Zhu Yuanzhang was frowning just now, but now he suddenly changed into a smile: "Since we don't burn the town, then we have to attract the attention of the government, there is only one way to go..."

"Which road?" asked the leaders.

"It's very simple! Attack the city!" Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "Puzhou City is one of the six great cities in ancient times. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, which is very impressive. Although the 36th Battalion has taken hundreds of thousands of people, it has not dared to touch a hair in this city... It is better to burn ten towns than to attack this city to make the government nervous... But brothers have to think about it. The difficulty of burning a town is completely different from siege. Do you have to sacrifice it easily and seek it hard, and you must implement your own justice?"

"Of course!" Wang Er and Miao Mei said in unison: "If you want me to be a bad guy who burns, kills and loots, it's better to die in Puzhou City."

"Hahaha! Well said!" Zhu Yuanzhang gave a thumbs up: "It's worthy of being my brother from Huanglong Mountain Village, so let's change it to siege the city."

"Are you attacking the city again?" Xue Hongqi remembered the difficulties he encountered when attacking Dali, and couldn't help but pout: "My cavalry is useless when siege... Come here quickly, will we pretend to be a grain transport team again?"

"This time it won't work..." Xu Renjie spread his hands: "We don't know what rice shop business in Puzhou. We don't even know which rice shops there are in the city, and when will they have grain transport teams entering and leaving the city. Casting randomly will only backfire, and we can't find many brothers who can speak Shanxi and Western languages ​​to disguise the grain transport team... I have no idea!"

In fact, Puzhou City is a prefecture city, which is very different from a county town! County towns are often very small, with low walls and not much defense force. However, the prefecture city is often much larger than the county town. The city walls will have at least four or five meters high, and the defenders are more than twice as many as the county town. Moreover, there are cannons at the top of the prefecture city, and artillery towers and barracks for sanitation cities will be set up on the hills outside the city. If you want to capture a prefecture city, it is not a joke.

In fact, in the early stages of the peasant uprising in the late Ming Dynasty, almost no peasant army had conquered Zhoucheng and Fucheng. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others had the strength to attack the county town. Seeing that Zhoucheng had only fled in panic and no one was forced to force it.

When the leaders thought of attacking the city, they felt it was difficult, and they couldn't help but feel heavy in their hearts. At this moment, another scout ran back from the front and shouted: "Brother Zhu, we found a rebel army pounced towards the town we just discovered... It seemed that they were going to burn, kill and loot!"
Chapter completed!