stubborn thief

Chapter 103
Feng Rou, who came back from investigating the situation, felt ashamed of his mission.

He detected the gossips circulating in the mouths of many people, but he failed to find any Wangzhuang with his own eyes.

All the lands of Wangzhuang are on the east side of Luliang Mountain, and the yellow land in the west has no Wangtian.

Because here is really poor.

Wangtian is often the most fertile land in a place. In Shanxi in the Ming Dynasty, by observing the number of Wangfuzhuang farms in prefectures and counties, you can accurately know the amount of high-quality land in the land.

For example, Yonghe County, Xizhou, where Liu Chengzong is located at this time, is undoubtedly very barren.

It is so barren that the entire Xizhou does not have an acre of royal land.

Liu Chengzong originally thought that what Cao Yao said that the first generation King Qingcheng gave birth to a hundred babies was a rumor.

Unexpectedly, Feng Ru's people pretended to be shopkeepers and asked around, and the news they brought back was very scary.

It is true that the family did not have a hundred children, but only three sons.

But his grandson had wives and concubines24 and had children44; his great-eldest grandson was even better than blue and gave birth to seventy children.

Yonghe County is located in a closed area with barren soil. The people they met may not even know the name of the current year, but most of them know the approximate number of clans in Shaanxi and San Francisco.

The specific amount in people's mouths is different, and it is definitely not accurate, because it is all related to three, and it is like a jingle.

Three princes, thirty county kings, three thousand generals, three thousand lieutenants, and three thousand county masters.

There are also [-] common people whose monthly grain is one stone.

The numbers are frighteningly large.

But Luliang Mountain, they couldn't get through.

Not only was their brigade difficult to get through, but even Feng Lu's small team to investigate the situation couldn't get past them quietly.

If they don't take the official road to cross the mountains, they have to leave behind their hard-earned artillery and vehicles; if they take the official road to cross the mountain, they have to go through two inspection divisions and have to fight all the way.

When everyone on Yatou Mountain was worrying about these inspectors, Wei Qian'er of the horse team drove the donkeys and mules from the bottom of the mountain to beat the horses and returned, and went up the mountain and said: "General, the ferry on the other side has been occupied!"

For a while, several leaders were shocked.

Liu Chengzong put down the account book, and a burst of anger arose in his heart: "The officers and soldiers are here to send us weapons again?"

Yonghe was so poor that he had nothing, and the rich places in the east were blocked by Luliang Mountain, and the road back to Shaanxi was blocked by the government and army.

Feng Ru shook his head and said: "It's not the army, it doesn't look like it, and there is no flag. Hundreds of people are collecting civilian boats along the river bank. They may want to cross the river. The people sent to observe Yonghe Pass also said that the army is being mobilized over there. .”

Several people packed up their armors, got on their horses and headed westward one after another.

When we got to the east bank and climbed the hill, we saw hundreds of people from Yanshui Pass on the west bank running around in the village formed by the family members of the guards in the past across the river bank nearly [-] paces wide, carrying burdens on their backs to collect goods, carrying The boat is put on the shore.

Looking at the east bank in the south, Yonghe closed its banners and waving its banners, and there were also people watching the west bank.

Seeing this scene, Liu Chengzong wondered: "What do they want to do? They want to cross by force? Can't they wait until night to walk on the pontoon bridge?"

From Yanshuiguan, you can take the pontoon bridge directly to the east bank. Although the pontoon bridge is narrower and the walk is slower, the officers and soldiers will not pay attention to the river bank at night.

Liu Chengzong and the others came here on the pontoon bridge.

"I'm afraid not, look over there." Cao Yao pointed to several mountain ridges on the opposite bank one after another, shook his head with wide eyes and said, "Damn it, it's all human!"

Not only Yanshuiguan, but also layers of black smoke from several mountain ridges in the west, and there are signs of human activities everywhere along the snake-like coast. Small boats and wooden rafts are on the shore, and scattered queues are moving from the mountain road to the lake. The river bank gathers.

Especially in the deserted riverside village in the north of Yanshuiguan, it was originally a village with hundreds of people living scatteredly.

Now there are also people with knives, guns and white scarves going from house to house, driving people out, demolishing houses, and forcing people to make rafts.

There were people driving donkeys and mules to race horses everywhere on the road along the river bank, and soon several large flags were scattered all over the mountain ridge, and there were general-looking people on each flag looking towards Yonghe Pass.

Gao Xian asked: "Hungry people? Robbers?"

No one has an answer.

Since the uprising, these people have seen hungry people, robbers, and officers and soldiers, but they have never seen hungry people or robbers like this.

They are organized, they are definitely not a mob like the hungry people and robbers, but compared with the officers and soldiers, they are too scattered.

It looks like the leader of a group of hungry robbers, joining forces.

"Wei Qian'er, pull the team over here." Liu Chengzong watched intently the large number of peasant troops on the other side preparing to cross, without turning his head, he said: "There are also Qian's father and son, bring them here, and send someone to Yongheguan to see, the official When the army sends troops, they wave the flag."

"Yes!"

Wei Qian'er led the horse and ran away, Cao Yao asked: "Why, do you think we can join forces with them?"

"I don't know if it's an enemy or a friend. Let's pull the team over first, and we'll talk after we pack it up."

Seeing these peasant troops occupying the mountain ridges and making preparations, Liu Chengzong was not very happy. He said, "This group of people makes it impossible for us to go back to Shaanxi by this road."

Cao Yao agrees with this very much: "Yes, they are blatant. There may be officers and soldiers chasing after them. Although our troops are strong, they can't fight tough battles. Besides, the food and grass are only used for a few days."

"They have food."

Liu Chengzong pointed to the north side of the river bank and said: "Look over there, they have pushed out the carts, the boats are also pulling over there, and there are still many horse teams."

Coincidentally, the main crossing point of the peasant army on the opposite bank seems to be in the north, and they were transported to the east bank in a small boat, which happened to be the river beach under Liu Chengzong's feet.

Cao Yao laughed: "Why, you want to rob them of their food and grass?"

"No, no, no, it doesn't mean that. They seem to have thousands of people, and the cavalry alone is only seven or eight hundred. We may not be able to defeat them smoothly. What's more, even if we defeat them, there are still officials and troops at Yongheguan. I'm afraid few of my brothers want to be lonely ghosts."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "You can try it, ask who their leader is, and beat up the defenders of Yonghe Pass together, there should be food in the pass, not to mention...Brother Cao, with these people, can we fight? Crossing the official road of Luliang Mountain, went to Fenyang to grab a Wangzhuang?"

Just as he was talking, Gao Xian shouted, "Crossing the river!"

The sound of whining horns spread across the banks of the Yellow River.

Liu Chengzong looked up and saw that all the roads on the west bank were crossing the river at the same time. On the north side, a dozen small boats carried dozens of infantry to cross the river first. Two groups of people ran from the pontoon bridge to cross the river.

On the hills on the east bank, the scouts of the mule battalion waved their flags to convey the news that the Yonghe Pass officials and troops had left the pass.
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Note:
隆庆初年，山西有亲王3位、郡王46位、将军2606位、中尉3760位、郡县主君3117位。

——An Jiesheng, "Population Growth and Quantity Statistics of Shanxi Fanfu in the Ming Dynasty"

(End of this chapter)