Four, five, six, go to Sichuan
Xu Renjie, Ma Xiaotian, and Hong Niangzi were all interested in the topic of "Five Strong Soldiers", and couldn't help but ask: "What are the Five Strong Soldiers?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "The Iron Cavalry of Guanning in Liaodong, the Yiwu Army in Zhejiang (Qi Family Army), Fujian rattan soldiers, Sichuan Baika Soldiers, Guangxi wolf soldiers. Among them, the Guangxi wolf soldiers were once powerful in the coastal areas during the Jiajing period, but now they are dissatisfied with the imperial dispatch. The Qi Family Army has been killed in the battle of Daling River in Liaodong in the fourth year of Chongzhen, which is a pity."
Although Xu Renjie, Ma Xiaotian and Hongniangzi knew about the other troops, they had heard of the Qi family army for a long time. The three of them said "Oh" and said, "It turns out that the famous Qi family army has been destroyed in Liaodong. Is this... the Qing Tartars so powerful?"
In the hearts of the people of Ming Dynasty, the Qi family army was almost synonymous with invincible battles and great defeats. Qi Jiguang was also respected by the people as Grandpa Qi. Unexpectedly, the invincible army he left behind would be defeated. Xu Renjie and others couldn't help but change their faces.
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to talk about the defeat of the Ming Dynasty. When he talked, he felt his face was lost. So he ordered the three thousand black pole soldiers to pack up and follow him out of Huanglong Mountain. He first returned to Xi'an Prefecture, dispatched 20,000 light infantry, and combined with the black pole soldiers to a total of 23,000 troops, and then brought Wang Er, Yingshanhong and his wife. He ordered the desperate Sanlang to come to Xi'an and take the base camp instead.
After all this was allocated, it was October of the tenth year of Chongzhen. The Zhu army's autumn potatoes were harvested and the military rations were fully prepared. At the same time, the court also collected a batch of autumn tuitions, and the military rations were not short of military rations for the time being. Yang Sichang believed that the military and salary matters were ready, and formally submitted a memorial to the emperor to issue a general encirclement and suppression order. The 120,000 troops came out in full swing and laying a huge net, which was even more magnificent than Lu Xiangsheng's original laying. The officers and soldiers pressed into Sichuan with a scattered force. Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong suddenly felt a great increase in pressure.
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The temperature began to cool, and the wind was filled with a bleak feeling. After Zhu's army set out from Hanzhong Prefecture, they advanced all the way to the southwest. Not long after, they arrived in a vast mountain ridge. This is the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi. The mountains are fierce and twists and turns, which is even more difficult than Huanglong Mountain.
When Wang Er saw the endless mountains in the south, he actually felt sad in his eyes. He sighed: "I heard that Sichuan is full of mountains. I didn't expect... it is so many."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Well... Li Bai walked through the mountains in front of us from Chang'an, and he also felt that these mountains were too dangerous. Therefore, he wrote a poem and said that the road to Shu was more difficult than climbing to the blue sky. That's how it came about."
When the Hong Madam listened to him reciting poems, her eyes lit up and she said happily: "If you have a poem, read a few more sentences!"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said, "I am not interested in reciting poetry. I just saw that the mountain was dangerous and difficult. I'll explain it to Wang Er. You can go find Ma Xinyu to recite."
The Hongniang said: "I don't like nerds reading poetry. I like people who know how to talk about war, like Grandpa Yue."
Zhu Yuanzhang said lightly: "Yue Fei? A foolish and loyal man can't even resist. What's the point of admiring such a person? If it were me, he would lead the army back, kill Qin Hui first, then depose Emperor Song, and then proclaim himself emperor. That would be great."
The Hongniang opened her mouth wide and was hoarse for a long time. After a long time, she said: "If Grandpa Yue really did this, it would be written into the 'Biography of Treacherous Ministers'... How could we descendants respectfully call him Grandpa Yue?"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "If the rebellion fails, of course, we will enter the 'Biography of Treacherous Ministers', but if the rebellion succeeds and really takes the throne, who dares to write the 'Biography of Treacherous Ministers'? I think those historians wrote the 'Biography of Emperor Zhongxing of the Song Dynasty'."
The Hongniang was speechless. Although she no longer refuted, she could not accept Zhu Yuanzhang's statement. She didn't know that the man she was looking for in history, Li Yan was indeed a Confucian general like Yue Fei, and Li Yan's fate was not much different from Yue Fei. He was killed by the emperor he was loyal to. It can be seen that humans have a certain inertia when choosing a mate. What type of man you like determines whether you will have a tragedy in the future.
Zhu Jun slowly entered the mountains. Because he was worried about being ambushed in the mountains, Zhu Jun's scouts spread out from afar. However, not long after, the captain of the scout team came to report: "Brother Zhu, the mountain road here is really... too complicated... Not long after our scout team entered the mountains, we fell to death two people. The two of them have lost contact now. I don't know if they were lost or died somewhere... The probing work is very difficult."
"Even the scouts get lost?" Xu Renjie, Wang Er and others were shocked: "Aren't you elite soldiers who have been trained countless times? Most of them have been hunters before, and they will be stumped by the mountain?"
The captain of the scout smiled bitterly and said, "The main thing is... the mountains here... are so that's it..."
Zhu Yuanzhang was not as surprised as Xu Renjie and the others. He was mentally prepared for the mountains in the Sichuan, so he waved: "Shrink the scout network! Let everyone take care of each other, and don't go too far alone."
The scout captain said, "But... you may be ambushed by the enemy at any time."
Zhu Yuanzhang said: "In such a rugged mountain, even if the enemy lies in the cave or ravine beside the scouts, the scouts may not be able to be able to detect the scouts. The scouts are too wide and they will lose their brothers. There is no effect, and it is better to shrink them."
The scout took the order.
The army was marching ascetic in the mountains. After walking a few steps, it drilled into a dense forest. After drilling out the dense forest, it was another stone mountain. After climbing the stone mountain, it saw a ravine everywhere, and many corners could hide soldiers. Wang Er, a stupid person like Yingshanhong, was nothing, but Xu Renjie was sweating profusely and kept looking around and said, "Oh my God, if the enemy really had the intention to lie down, our army had been attacked at least a dozen times, and I would have moved my head long ago."
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about this. This kind of strange mountain is difficult for us and for officers and soldiers. It is impossible for them to accurately grasp our marching route in the mountains, so it is impossible to lay ambush. We may encounter ambush here very little, but there is a great chance of suddenly hitting an officer and soldier."
Xu Renjie laughed after hearing this: "That's true, I'm so timid. By the way, Brother Zhu, we mainly go to Sichuan to help the 36th Battalion to survive. Do you have any specific ideas?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said seriously: "The plan is very simple. We fight in northern Sichuan and fight hard, which makes the officers and soldiers overwhelmed. They keep mobilizing troops to help the 36th Battalion share some pressure."
Xu Renjie said again: "Where do you start fighting?"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and reached out to the south and pointed: "Looking south here, there is a famous county town, the hometown of the Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zetian, let's start fighting from there."
After hearing this, Xu Renjie immediately understood: "Guangyuan!"
Guangyuan was a must-have place for Zhu Yuanzhang. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang had long been salivating about this place. Guangyuan was called Lizhou in ancient times and was changed to a county in the Ming Dynasty. It is located in the mountainous area of the northern part of the Sichuan Basin, the upper reaches of the Jialing River, and the junction of the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu. It can be said that it is the Sichuan-Shaanxi Corridor and the core connection area. Taking it off, you can use it as a bridgehead to capture Xichuan. If you want to retreat, you can easily get rid of the officers and soldiers and return to Shaanxi*xi.
Zhu Yuanzhang had been wandering around and watched the world for hundreds of years, and knew that the Red Army in later generations had occupied Guangyuan, and used it as an important part of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Revolutionary Base. The so-called heroes had similar views. Zhu Yuanzhang must take down such a good place.
Zhu Jun walked through the mountain. After a few days, he had approached dozens of miles north of Guangyuan County. Although he was close to the county town, the mountains here were still strange. The top of the mountain was sharp and the slope was extremely large. The soldiers had never seen a flat ground since entering Sichuan, and their faces were full of beauty.
Only then did the Hongniang realize that Zhu Yuanzhang transferred black pole soldiers and light infantry into Sichuan, but there was no reason to transfer cavalry and heavy infantry. It was impossible to use cavalry here at all, and heavy infantry could not climb mountains and wade. Once a battle occurred in such a place, rectangular or square military formations could not be formed. The soldiers could only set up messy formations on strange hillsides to fight. In most cases, they could only rely on personal bravery and the strength of the team.
On this day, while Zhu Jun was walking, he suddenly saw a pillar of smoke rising from a mountain not far away. It was obviously a beacon smoke used to report. Zhu Yuanzhang looked at it and smiled and said, "We were discovered by the officers and soldiers... They lit the beacon smoke to warn..."
Everyone turned around and saw that the mountain was covered with trees and could not see anything on the top of the mountain. Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and ordered a small leader to lead a thousand Zhu soldiers to rush over.
After a long time, Zhu soldiers occupied the top of the mountain and sent someone to report back: "Brother Zhu Ba, there is a beacon tower and a stone house on the top of the mountain. It seems that five or six defenders lived in the stone house. When they saw us coming, they lit the beacon and fled, and we did not catch any of them."
Everyone was upset when they heard the news. In this way, the officers and soldiers knew that they were coming and could no longer have the effect of sneak attacks. A hidden beacon tower suddenly appeared on the top of a mountain, which was really hard to guard against, and it was impossible to even bypass it.
(Note: Among the turbulent mountains and ridges in Sichuan, there are still many guard posts or mountain camps left by the Ming and Qing dynasties. When traveling, you will suddenly see a small section of city walls or a stone village on a barren mountain. Beacon towers in lonely mountains are even more uncommon. Interested friends will know that when they visit Sichuan. The author once fought with friends on the stone table in a mountain village, cough cough!)
Chapter completed!