Hong Chengchou is one of the people who has the most say about Yue Yang's mind. Ever since Hong Chengchou made a mistake in Shanxi, he has felt the ubiquitous influence from Yue Yang. |Whether it was in Henan, Hubei or Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou would feel a vague pressure whenever he wanted to do anything, especially since Yueyang had reported to the court several times to punish him. If Yang Sichang hadn't protected him, he would have been He had long been captured by Chongzhen, who could not withstand the pressure. Later, even with the protection of Yang Sichang, he had to come to Sichuan in the name of suppressing bandits. But the problem now is that Yang Sichang died of illness, which means that from now on From now on, no one in the court will speak for him. This is what worries him the most. In fact, it was not that Hong Chengchou never thought about raising thieves to respect themselves, but he soon abandoned this idea, because the situation in the Ming Dynasty is no longer what it used to be. With the fall of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the demise of Li Zicheng, the entire Ming Dynasty The external and internal environment have been greatly improved. Coupled with the improvement of the economic situation in Shanxi and Shandong, the annual taxes paid by these two provinces alone now amount to 4 million taels, which is already worth the national tax in previous years. How could Chongzhen allow the war in Sichuan to continue due to taxation? Hong Chengchou can be sure that if he cannot annihilate Zhang Xianzhong in a short period of time, the imperial edict to revoke his position will soon appear in front of him, and once Zhang Xianzhong's troops are annihilated, he will inevitably be transferred back to the court. When he thinks of himself It is very likely that he will face Yue Yang, his former subordinate and today's enemy, and he will feel overwhelmed. Seeing the unconcealed sadness in Hong Chengchou's eyes, Sun Chuanting shook his head helplessly. Although he and Hong Chengchou were ministers in the same palace, he did not want to get involved in this kind of thing. Lest you get all the trouble without reaping the benefits. Just when the two of them were relatively speechless, suddenly the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside. Soon a soldier ran in from the outside, knelt down on one knee in front of the two of them and said, "Qi Qi." I'm sorry, sir. News came from the front. The fleet sent by Shanxi was intercepted by bandits on its way to Leshan. The fleet is currently blocking the ship. Please send reinforcements quickly. " "What The grain transport fleet has been hijacked! " Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting stood up at the same time, with horrified looks in their eyes. This is really a wave of unrest, and the food problem is about to be solved. But Cheng Yaojin came out halfway. This was to make their tens of thousands of troops drink from the northwest wind! Hong Chengchou's eyes widened and he asked fiercely: "Tell me who intercepted the fleet, and how many people were there?" Sun Chuanting also asked: "How many fighting men are there in the fleet transporting grain? How many soldiers can they still support? How long?" He looked at the two adults as if they wanted to kill someone. The soldier was so frightened that he swallowed his saliva and stammered: "Little I don't know. I just received the news from the defenders in the direction of Meishan, and the news from the direction of Meishan was not careful. The details are just very general. It is observed that the fleet transporting food was hijacked on the way to Leshan. The two sides are still fighting fiercely, but I don¡¯t know how long the fleet transporting food can last. " "This bastard!" " Listen! At this point, Hong Chengchou could no longer restrain himself and punched the table with a loud bang. He immediately shouted: "Send my order. Immediately mobilize the supervising battalion out of the emergency department." Rushing to help Leshan, those grain transport ships are the lifeblood of the army and must not be lost!" "Yes!" The soldiers were about to go out, but they were stopped by Sun Chuanting. Sun Chuanting shook his head and said: "Master Hong, after successive fierce battles, there are less than 2,000 people left in your Dubiao Battalion. If we encounter a large army of bandits, it may be difficult for us to protect ourselves. It is better to send my Dubiao Battalion as well." Get out. And this is not enough, we have to immediately send an army to follow. In short, there is only one purpose. This food and grass must not be lost, otherwise the army will be in chaos without the help of thieves. That's right. Master Sun is very thoughtful." Hong Chengchou nodded and immediately shouted to his soldiers: "Just do what Master Sun said." "Yes!" Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou were anxious to mobilize their troops. When the general was dispatched, a huge transport fleet was docked at a riverside in Leshan, and on the riverside, groups of thieves wearing various costumes were attacking the fleet one after another. , and on the fleet stood a sergeant wearing a green military uniform, firing a blunderbuss in front of him to block the fire. The originally dull gunshots echoed on the river and seemed particularly clear. "Bang bangbang bang bang" As the gunshots continued to sound, the thieves who were desperately rushing towards the fleet fell down, but these thieves showed no sign of stopping and continued to fight desperately. The fleet rushed towards them, looking like they would not give up until they reached their goal. On a piece of sand about two miles away from the riverOn the platform, a middle-aged general wearing black armor and dark complexion was looking at the long fleet of ships by the river with a stern expression, an anxious look on his brows. This person's name is Liu Wenxiu, a general under Zhang Xianzhong. This time he came to intercept the fleet on Zhang Xianzhong's order. Liu Wenxiu became anxious when he saw that his troops could not catch up despite several attempts. He called the messenger and said: "Come here, order Wang Laowu to work harder to organize another attack. The other party's gunners on the ship are not ready." It's not much. You just need to work harder and you can rush up. Tell the brothers, if they can intercept this batch of grain this time, I will reward each of them with ten taels of silver. I will reward the first one who rushes up. "Girls!" As the saying goes, there must be a brave man under a heavy reward. Under the temptation of money and women, the pirates who had gradually become weak regained their courage and launched an attack on the fleet, whether it was the pirates or Liu Wen Xiu firmly believed that although the muskets of these officers and soldiers were sharp, as long as he rushed into the opponent's camp and relied on his own brave hand-to-hand combat ability, these officers and soldiers who could only fire muskets from a long distance would soon collapse. At this time, the grain transport fleet on the riverside was already very densely packed together. There were more than ten officers and soldiers standing on each of the more than 30 ships at the front, and the officers and soldiers were wearing green military uniforms and in their hands. The firecrackers all showed that this group of officers and soldiers was the Xuan Army, now known as the most elite in the Ming Dynasty. Fang Yizhi stood on the deck, looking unblinkingly at the pirate soldiers rushing towards him with a very anxious expression. He asked a rough-skinned ship boss next to him: "This old man. Now the pirates The force is strong, can we move the ship to the middle of the river, so that the thieves will not be able to attack our fleet? "The ship boss smiled bitterly and said: "This gentleman saw that you are not begging on the river. Living life, this section of the river is already narrow and the water is very fast. It is not easy to anchor. It would be okay if there were only a few ships, but now we have more than a hundred cargo ships filled with food. More than a hundred cargo ships are all crowded on the river and anchored together. What will be the consequences of so many ships being crowded together? I'm afraid our ships will collide without the help of pirates. " "His it's really like this. ." Fang Yizhi suddenly realized it. He shuddered when he thought about the scene of hundreds of ships colliding with each other on the river and then sinking. No wonder the boat owners docked the boat by the river and never moved again. He thought for a while and then asked unwillingly: "Old man, can we break through the obstacles below and rush out?" The boat boss shook his head: "The obstacles set up by the pirates with wooden boats and wood seem simple, but if you want to clear them, It will take at least several hundred people and several hours to clean it up. Before we could finish cleaning it up, the thieves had already come and killed us." Fang Yizhi felt his head pounding when he heard this. He didn't expect this seemingly simple food transportation. The journey turned out to be a dangerous journey. In recent years, Yueyang's status has been constantly changing. The official positions of his generals and subordinates have also been continuously promoted. The most typical one is Hailou. This guy who was just a humble official is now the governor of Shanxi. Other officials such as Tang Hu, Mao Xiang, Chen Zhenhui and others are at least fifth-grade general judges. Only Fang Yizhi is still a sixth-grade chief registrar in Hunyuan Prefecture, and the most important thing is that Maoxiang and Chen Zhenhui are now with Yue Yang. Logically speaking, Fang Yizhi has only been in the official career for a few years, and it is already very good to be a sixth-grade chief registrar. But as the old saying goes, you still have to compare products. Fang Yizhi became a little unwilling to see that all his old friends were favored by the boss and promoted rapidly, while he could only be promoted slowly and step by step. He summarized the reasons and believed that there was only one way to get a quick promotion as a servant under Yue Yang, and that was to achieve military merit. A few days ago, he found out that Shanxi was going to transport a batch of grain and grass to a certain extent, so he approached Hailou and asked Ying to hand over the job to him. Hailou agreed to his request after consideration. Originally, this mission was uneventful all the way, but when they arrived at Leshan, they encountered the obstruction of Zhang Xianzhong's troops. This could cost his life, Fang Yizhi understood. If these grains fall into the hands of thieves, it would be nice if he could keep his head, not to mention being promoted. Looking at the bandits coming like a tide in the distance. Fang Yizhi felt his heartbeat kept accelerating. He called Mr. Qian, who was in charge of the escort this time, and asked: "Mr. Huang Qian, the bandits are powerful. Are you confident that you can protect the food and grass from falling into the hands of the bandits?" Mr. Huang Qian was not tall, but he was very stout. He said very simply: "Master Qi, we only have a thousand escort troops this time, but the bandits have tens of thousands. I don't know if the other side has reinforcements. I can only say that I will do my best, and I will live and die with this batch of food and grass!" Fang Yizhi said anxiously: "Alas I'm not asking about your determination, I want to know how long we can resist according to the current situation? ¡± Mr. Huang QianAfter thinking for a while, he said: "Sir, since we are carrying out an escort mission this time, the soldiers do not carry a lot of medicine. According to the current method of fighting, we can support it until around noon tomorrow at most. If there are no more reinforcements, we will We have to fight hand-to-hand with the thieves." "What fight with bayonets!" Fang Yizhi was a little dumbfounded. Although he was only a civil servant, he knew nothing about fighting. But after spending a few years in Xuan Dajun, he knew very well that under the leadership of Yue Yang, Xuan Dajun never engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Once the soldiers wanted to fight with bayonets, it meant that the battle situation had reached its most dangerous moment. . "No!" Fang Yizhi shouted, which made Mr. Huang Qian and the ship's boss jump. Seeing the strange expressions they looked at him, Fang Yizhi realized that he had lost his temper. He quickly said: " Mr. Huang Qian, if the reinforcements haven¡¯t arrived after the medicine is finished tomorrow, we will sail the boat to the river and throw all the food into the river. We must not leave it to the rebels. You all understand!¡± ¡°Yes! !" The two of them couldn't help but feel shocked. He quickly agreed in unison. The gunshots continued to ring out, and the bandits on the shore continued to rush toward them. Later, they were knocked down by the Xuan Dajun soldiers on the boat. They continued to fight on the river bank, but the bandits were trying hard, but fate seemed to be playing tricks on them, just a little short of it. As time went by, corpses piled up layer by layer on the river bank, and the entire river bank was dyed red. "Assholes, you bastards you're just a little closer. You just need to work harder and you can rush over. Why is this happening?" Liu Wenxiu on the bank was so angry that he kept waving the long knife in his hand to drive away The thieves rushed forward. But our ancestors also said that if you make a strong effort, it will weaken again and again, and then you will be exhausted. After fighting for so long, the morale of the thieves has slowly faded away. Although the bandit leaders kept cheering them on, the offensive inevitably slowed down. Although Liu Wenxiu was extremely angry, he also knew that it was impossible to take down this grain transport fleet in a short time. But he was not discouraged, because he sent another magic weapon, the human sea tactic. There is no rogue bandit who cannot use the human sea tactic. Liu Wenxiu brought more than 10,000 rogue bandits this time. Except for the more than a thousand men and horses from the old camp, all the others were cannon fodder. Although Liu Wenxiu's military ability is not very high, he also has a very simple principle. Since you are a grain transport ship, the amount of medicine you carry must be limited. Even if I use people, I will still take your medicine. If you run out of money, you will be at the mercy of others without the medicine. Liu Wenxiu thought so and did so. Although the morale of the bandits has dropped, he still ordered the bandits to launch small-scale attacks from time to time to consume Xuan's army's medicine. His wishful thinking was quickly seen through by Mr. Huang Qian. In order to save money, Mr. Huang Qian also conveyed a new order to put the thieves in before beating them. When a famous bandit rushed to a distance of forty or fifty steps from the fleet, sporadic gunshots rang out, directly naming these bandits who were close at hand. Under this terrifying pressure, the bandits finally collapsed at midnight in the afternoon because they could no longer stand this kind of mental torture. By this time, the bandits had left more than 5,000 corpses by the river. . The entire river bank was covered with these corpses. Someone roared wildly, threw away the weapon in his hand, turned around and ran away desperately. With this example, other thieves and bandits also followed suit. In the end, the entire team fell into a rout. Liu Wenxiu¡¯s expectation that things turned out like this was beyond Liu Wenxiu¡¯s expectation. Before coming, he had promised Zhang Xianzhong that he would definitely get this batch of grain. But now his troops retreated before the food was received. How could he have the nerve to go back to see Zhang Xianzhong? Liu Wenxiu, who was so angry that he waved his hand, immediately raised his bows and arrows and shot at the retreating bandits. Amidst the screams, the retreating bandits fell into a pool of blood. . Liu Wenzhong rode his horse and rushed to the retreating bandits. With a wave of his sword, a head rose into the air and then fell to the ground. Looking at the frightened bandits in front of him, he shouted loudly: "Whoever dares to retreat again will not blame me, Liu Wenzhong, for being ruthless. I tell you the truth, before I came here, I and the Eight Kings made a military order. If we can't put this I will never go back to see his old man after the officers and soldiers are wiped out! If I can't go back, you won't be able to go back alive. So if any of you dare to show off in this battle today, I will give him a white knife and a red knife. You all understand. "Are you done?" "Understood!" There was a faint and feeble voice from all around. Looking at these ragged bandits who looked like beggars in front of him, Liu Wenxiu felt agitated. As a professional rebel leader, he naturally knew that these bandits could not only be used as cannon fodder but also serve as cannon fodder.?It's not of much use, but he really can't live without these people. After thinking about it, he couldn't force these people too much, otherwise it would be troublesome if the bandits dispersed if he pressed too hard. Then he couldn't let those brothers from the old camp die, right? If those cannon fodders died, they would die, so he wouldn't feel bad, but if the casualties in the old camp were too great, Zhang Xianzhong would never spare him. "Okay, let's take a fucking break first, make a delicious meal first, and ask the cook to put more minced meat in the vegetable soup for these mud legs. If there is fat, put some more, and give them more every night. Liu Wenxiu still knew the reason why the emperor did not want hungry soldiers. Since the sky was getting dark, he simply ordered to stop the attack and let the people below eat first and wait until dawn tomorrow. Just like that, when the sky got brighter the next day, each of the bandits drank a bowl of gruel mostly made of wild vegetables, and then they were kicked and kicked by the leaders and pushed out to attack the fleet on the river. Soon, dull gunshots rang out again by the river Just as Liu Wenzhong was risking his life to attack the fleet, Zhang Xianzhong, who was in Yibin City, was also in distress. "You said those who escorted the food were all members of Xuan Dajun?" "Eight Great Kings, those who transported the food for the Asian Games were members of Xuan Dajun. The villain can see clearly and it is absolutely correct!" A leader quickly replied. "It turned out to be them!" Hearing the leader's affirmative answer, Zhang Xianzhong fell into distress. (To be continued)