stubborn thief

Chapter 107
On the way back to Shaanxi, Liu Chengzong thought for no reason of the few days when he just returned to Heilong Mountain.

My father once said that thieves would enter Pingyang Mansion in Shanxi.

I'm afraid Mr. Liu never dreamed at that time that the first bandit who led troops into Shanxi would be his second son.

On the march, they were like a plague of locusts. The five chiefs gathered in one place, but their confidants led their teams to disperse.

Some walk on mountain ridges, some on official roads, and some on fields. Front, back, left, right, and in all directions, people in ragged clothes bow their heads and rush on the road everywhere. Even the ruined land becomes a road when they walk through it.

Seeing him laughing suddenly, Gao Yingxiang who was riding a donkey turned around and asked, "What are you laughing at, little lion?"

"I think of coming home from Yuhebao in February, saying that I will find the right family for my brother and me, and do a lifelong event, hey."

Liu Chengzong also rode on the back of the mule, slowly undulating with the steps of the mount, raised his whip and pointed to the barren hills and ridges everywhere, and said with a smile: "It was not easy to find the right family in the past, but now I am afraid that I can't find it anywhere in the world."

With such a thick law of the Ming Dynasty, the family easily violated half of it.

Their family is full of loyalty, and their family is full of vicious and vicious.

Gao Yingxiang couldn't help laughing. He wanted to say something, but in the end he just squinted his eyes facing the sunlight and sighed, shaking his head and said: "The world is impermanent."

Things are impermanent.

He is 37 years old this year, and the time has been pushed back seven or eight years. He would never have dreamed of the current situation.

People who grew up in the border areas, even if they did not join the army, it is difficult to disassociate themselves from the military in their own business affairs.

Gao Yingxiang grew up in such an environment, he is skilled in arching horses, smooth and domineering.

Walking inside and outside the Great Wall, he knew what the leaders of the Mongolian tribe liked, and he also knew how to deal with frontier officers.

In addition to buying and selling horses, they used horses to smuggle salt and tea, and took in deserters and outlaws to protect themselves. The poor boys in Ansai expanded their business in this way.

At the best time, six Gaojia boats on the Yuxi River carried goods back and forth, and eight carts with four horses and four wheels ran back and forth between southern and northern Shaanxi.

Walked through three sides and four towns, and lived in the county government prison.

He keeps a lot of contacts and makes many friends, so he often donates generously, and his family business is not big or small. He established himself at the age of 30, which is probably the most prosperous time in his life.

But the drought came, three consecutive seasons of drought a year, strong winds in midsummer in Ansai, the underground young seedlings were pulled out, the people ate up the grass and ate the bark, and the bark ate up the stones, and sold their sons and wives, leaving useless Men thrown into cesspit.

People say that it is better to be a thief and be killed than to wait to starve to death.

Being depended on, it is difficult to sit still.

Since the first month of last year, Gao Yingxiang has sold property, hired craftsmen to buy food and grass, took in desperadoes unscrupulously, and even recruited a group of Mongolian barbarians who fled from Hetao to Han.

In October, more than a hundred people were formally turned into bandits in Ansaila, and started the business of robbing houses.

His plan was very shrewd.

After all, I used to do business, and everything pays attention to cost.

The smaller the team size, the less food and grass it consumes, the safer it is without attracting the attention of the officers and soldiers.

While maintaining a small scale, the more experts there are, the more customers they can rob, and the greater the profit.

Therefore, Gao Yingxiang's thieves team also pursued the policy of elite soldiers at the beginning.

The regular army and trained paramilitary personnel such as frontier deserters, local guards, bankrupt postmen, and desperate government servants are his main force.

But the plan can't keep up with the changes, and there are too many poor people and people who don't have enough to eat.

Thieves and bandits have become the most desired employment targets of young people, and hunger makes fear of death no longer a weakness of human beings.

Wherever the thieves pass by, they don't have to climb up and shout, and there are already followers.

Old acquaintances came to seek refuge, and they said: Brother, save me.

He is obliged.

The food prepared before the army was only lasted for a few days, and the large families who plundered could not satisfy the many refugees.

Later, he led people to surround Saimen to guard the hundred households, which was the army's garrison in Ansai, and it was expected that there should be food.

Unexpectedly, the officer with the guns in the strong fort was overjoyed when he saw him besieging the fort.

As long as it is guaranteed that the brothers in the institute can have a few full meals, it is down.

Ansai was out of food.

The rich did not, the country gentry did not, and the army did not.

Who wouldn't want to be an unrestrained king of the mountain?It's just that there are hundreds of thousands of Liangmao Yuanchuan in northern Shaanxi, which mountain can live people?
The so-called impermanence of the world means that the previous life experience is all useless.

Those who follow the rules die, and those who deviate from them live.

Suddenly, Huntian Monkey gave a strange laugh: "Another one died."

The crowd in front of them bypassed the official road, and several donkeys and mules that were parallel also moved away from the road at the same time.

Liu Chengzong didn't look down, scooped out half a bowl of fried noodles from a wooden bowl in his saddle bag, poured his head up into his mouth and chewed, and pulled the reins to guide the mule to straighten its direction.

Some people die as they walk.

Just like those hungry people who joined in as they walked, there is nothing unusual.

Huntian Monkey asked: "Not sticking to the mud, is this your man?"

"You ask me, who should I ask?" Buzhanmu didn't show any anger on his face, looked at the dead body with a big belly on the ground, raised his hand and pushed Tianhou: "Is the official in front of you belong to you, bury it? "

"You fucking know how to order your grandpa all day long."

Shang Tian Hou scratched his head and was full of complaints, but unlike others, he didn't care about the corpse.

He took two steps forward, turned over and jumped down and handed the reins to Liu Chengzong: "Second Master Liu, please help my brother lead the horse. I will go and bury the brother's body."

After all, when Liu Chengzong took the reins of the donkey and mule, Shangtian Monkey turned around and called for people to carry the corpse to the side of the road. He pulled a piece of sackcloth from nowhere and asked people to dig a hole on the ground with a hoe and shovel.

The groups of people gathered around Gao Yingxiang each had a lot of mules and horses. In terms of the number of war horses, the mule battalion was the least.

Gao Yingxiang has a rule that no one can ride a horse on the marching road except the scouts who cover the march of the large army.

Except for the chiefs, the team managers and the women with bound feet, no one can ride a donkey or mule, and all walk. The donkey and mule are only used to carry soldiers, armor and baggage.

Liu Chengzong led several horses and mules, saw Tianhou's hoe-wielding figure disappear into the crowd behind him, turned to Gao Yingxiang and asked, "Master Gao, is Heavenly Monkey always like this?"

Gao Yingxiang knew what he meant, a smile floated on Fang Fangzheng's face, nodded and said: "Don't look at Jiu Si as a bad, gambler and dirty man, but as long as others respect him a foot, he can pay others a respect." Husband."

"Even if I don't say anything, Dirty Monkey will go down and bury people. Even if I just call him a king, he won't treat him badly."

Buzhanni, who was leading the horse, smiled, leaned over and stretched out his hand towards Liu Chengzong, and said, "What do you want to eat, give me some too?"

"Have you ever eaten fried noodles?"

Liu Chengzong reached out and scooped up another bowl and handed it over.

This thing is baby.

It's not fried noodles, it's fried noodles in the simple sense.

All kinds of grains, such as wheat, rice, black beans, and mung beans, are sorted and steamed with sesame oil in turn. After steaming, they are ground into noodles, fried with salt, and sugar can be added in consideration of the taste.

This is the simple way to do it.

Pour high-grade shochu if possible, dry it before pouring it, and pour it after drying it until the shochu cannot be immersed.

This way, it can be stored for a long time. When you need it, you can pour some water and mix it with it. You can also pour it into a pot, cut off a small piece of vinegar cloth and cook it to eat the batter, or like now, grab a handful and eat it dry as a snack.

Liu Chengzong didn't know how long this way of eating had been going on. In this era, it was an emergency ration in the army.

It is necessary for the expedition, six catties per person, according to the military law, it is not allowed to take it until the besieged food is exhausted.

But another memory let him know that this kind of military ration will still exist on this land for a long time, no matter in the past or in the future.

The Ming Army ate this, the Qing Army ate this, the Red Army also ate this, and even the volunteers who aided Korea ate this.

"It's pretty good. It's not unpalatable, but it's choking."

He poured a mouth full of non-stick mud, and when he opened his mouth to speak, the flour was sprayed out, and he hurriedly handed back the wooden bowl for water to drink.

After taking two sips of water, he took a breath and said, "This, something from the frontier army?"

"Yes, emergency military rations. I grabbed a lot of food from the post station earlier, as well as oil and sugar. I swelled my stomach after eating too much."

In fact, according to the normal practice of the frontier army, there is no sugar or oil, so it is difficult to eat it.

In the year when he left Qiufang, Liu Chengzong was still a Tangqi, burned wasteland and separated from the army, and lived outside the mouth for half a month on six catties of fried noodles without sugar.

Not sticking to the mud means trying something new, took another two sips of water, shook his head and said, "Then I think you will continue to eat."

"Hey, I haven't stopped talking since I left Yan'an Mansion."

Liu Chengzong laughed, and put the wooden bowl back into the saddlebag: "Maybe you will die if you bump into an officer or soldier that day. You can eat it while you're alive, and eat it on horseback to save time."

Gao Yingxiang said with a smile: "I thought you were not afraid of death when you caused such a big event. If you hadn't met me, what would you have planned?"

What was the original plan?

Liu Chengzong spread his hands and said: "At first I wanted to stay in Shanxi and Tibet for a month or two, but I didn't know the place well. When I went in, I found that the north and the south were both passes. I wanted to grab a Wangzhuang, but was blocked by Luliang Mountain. If I didn't meet, I would go back to Shaanxi. Go back to Yan'an Mansion."

"To enter Shanxi, you have to go to Hancheng, and then go directly to Pingyang Mansion. We will go there sooner or later... But it is best not to provoke the soldiers of Shanxi."

Liu Chengzong didn't know whether Gao Yingxiang was talking about his own plan or Wang Jiayin's arrangement: "King Hengtian is in the north, we will go south, and when we leave Yanchuan, we will divide our troops. Huntian Monkey will go to Luochuan to find Wang Hu and Heisha God." .”

As he said that, Gao Yingxiang pointed to the back: "Shangtian monkey went to Yichuan to find the flying mountain tiger and the big red wolf, and went to Yijun and the central part without getting muddy. county seat."

Liu Chengzong frowned when he heard the plan: "Occupy the county seat?"

"Yes, we are not only going to attack the county seat, we are in Yan'an Mansion, we have trapped the city of Fuzhou on all sides, waiting for an opportunity to seize the Hexi Road, there are fields on both sides of the Luo River for farming, Yan'an City in the north, Jinsuo Pass in the south, east and west There are big mountains, you can retreat to defend Hexi, and enter to enter Guanzhong, what do you think?"

It is profitable to trap the rich and powerful families on both sides of the strait by trapping Fuzhou, and destroying the express delivery stations in the north, south, and west can also cut off the connection between Xi'an and Yulin.

But Liu Chengzong listened to Gao Yingxiang's meaning, and wanted to occupy the Hexi Road from Yan'an to Jinsuoguan for a long time, and it was a bit unrealistic to carry out a separate regime.

If you keep moving in the wild, you can rely on your luck to avoid the official army or beat the official army by luck. In the final analysis, there is hope for victory.

"Master Gao, you can still rely on luck in field battles. In offensive and defensive battles, it is all about strength. Tens of thousands of horses look like a lot, but how many of them can not run around when they hear the cannon?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head, and raised a finger on the mule's back: "Those who survived two thousand, who can withstand the shells and lead balls and go forward, count more, and there are only two thousand people."

Just these 200 people are still half of Liu Chengzong's mule camp.

Occupying these places is easy.

But counting on this kind of people to guard the north in Yan'an Fucheng and the North-South Siege City, guard the direction of Xi'an Prefecture at Jinsuoguan, and guard the officers and troops in the direction of Guyuan and Qingyang at Ziwuling, it is tantamount to nonsense.

The bastard doesn't want to establish a base area, but he doesn't have the strength to fight against encirclement and suppression to engage in a separatist regime. Not only is it of no benefit, but he will also trap himself to death.

Gao Yingxiang felt that Liu Chengzong was too pessimistic, so he shook his head and said, "You can't say that, the women from Liaodong are no more than barbarians who drink blood. They didn't have as many people as we did at the beginning, and they fought back and forth with the imperial court until now?"

Liu Chengzong sneered: "Master Gao, if you can make the court close its eyes, send troops to suppress us after the whole of Shaanxi is defeated, and station the officers and troops in the east of Tongguan, I have nothing to say when you establish a government and become king, we can do it too." Play a Salhu in Henan."

He clapped his palms on the backs of his hands: "This is not the case now, but if a commander-in-chief comes, our army will fall apart as soon as it collides. If we can't go out to fight in the field, the fortress can't be defended; if we can't hold the vital points, Hexi will have to be thrown away." , is nothing more than a few months of guarding."

Gao Yingxiang was not stubborn, and he didn't think it was a shameful thing to be contradicted. On the contrary, he raised his head and laughed, pointing at Mud and Huntianhou and said, "I came to you for this... They all think this plan is good, so do you have a better way?"

Hun Tian Hou raised his hand to brush his beard, and said with a low sneer, "I really think it's good to lay down the county government and sit in the hall, protected by the city wall, it's not much better than being outside in the wind and sun? Not only me, Dirty Monkey thinks so too."

"It's okay to fight; it's okay to rob; it's okay to stay there."

Several people rode their horses to get closer, and Liu Chengzong changed the subject: "But the official army has come, and we cannot defend it. When the official army from Xi'an Prefecture comes, three to five hundred people can try to defend the Jinsuo Pass. The large army retreats to the north. .”

"The north is now covered with red land. There will not be a large force of government troops to attack the north of Yan'an in a short period of time. An army of two to 300 people can also defend it."

"The most critical thing is Ziwuling. Guyuan is where the Trilateral Commander-in-Chief is located. There is also Qingyang's official army. It is easy to gather a large army to fight. When they come, we have to go and inform each other. We will go south of Qizhou Huanglong Mountain, go northward and extend, and finally meet at Yanchuan and Suide Prefecture."

Liu Chengzong said, with a sly smile on his face: "The officers and soldiers have always sent troops to carry food and grass for three days. As long as we don't let him supply, the seven hundred miles from Qingyang to Yanchuan, and the five hundred miles from Jinsuoguan to Yanchuan will be counted as roads." Even if there is a little supply, they will be exhausted there.”

"As long as they are hungry, we have thousands of armored and well-fed men, and we can have the strength to fight and win a battle."

He raised his hand and said, "It doesn't matter whether you have a territory or not. If you destroy the elite troops of the government and army, in the huge northern Shaanxi, we can sleep wherever we want this winter, and the emperor has nothing to do with it!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)