"Your Majesty, there are only more than a thousand wolf soldiers. Maybe a certain chieftain couldn't resist the temptation and sent such a force. You don't have to worry too much!"
Li Ruolian saw that Zhu Yuanzhang had a worried look on his face and comforted him.
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said solemnly: "Zhang Dabiao was also attacked by a force of 5,000 men in Shangdang, and his combat power was no weaker than that of the Huben soldiers. From this, it can be seen that Mr. Zou Da's 10,000 men may have been It’s a wolf soldier.”
Li Ruolian was stunned when he heard this, and said with some surprise: "Although the wolf soldiers are powerful, the local terrain is narrow and there are many hills, and the number of wolf soldiers living together can only be a few hundred at most."
"In addition, after the Japanese pirates were pacified, the imperial court split up the local chieftains and rewarded the wolf soldiers with farmland. Many wolf soldier leaders took the opportunity to annex land and became new small chieftains. This also caused melees, which greatly weakened the power of the local chieftains. "
"Logically speaking, neither Guizhou nor Guangxi can have such a powerful wolf soldier!"
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while and said: "Guizhou may not have it, but Guangxi may have this ability."
Li Ruolian pondered: "Your Majesty is talking about the Cen family in Guangxi?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "It's not necessarily the Cen family, maybe it's those fake wolf soldiers. When we... found out that a powerful cavalry appeared in the south, we checked the classics and found that except for the Cen family, the Guangxi wolf soldiers In addition, there is..."
It turns out that because Guangxi is a multi-ethnic area, it is difficult to fully implement the official transfer system there, so the method of restraining officials has been adopted since the Tang Dynasty.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang also sent Fu Youde and Wu Fu to lead troops to fight in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places.
Later, in order to stabilize the southwest, he sent his adopted son Mu Ying to lead a large army to station in Yunnan. He also stationed troops in various places and assimilated immigrants, gradually turning the Jisi area into an area governed by exiled officials.
However, due to folk customs and regional characteristics, although the Ming Dynasty's management in Guangxi was much stronger than that of the previous dynasty, there were still a large number of local officials.
After the Ming Dynasty, the power of chieftains was weakened many times, and was quite effective, but there was one exception, and that was the Cen family in Guangxi.
After Cen claimed to be Ji Yao, the younger brother of Ji Fa, King Wu of Zhou, Ji Yao was exiled to Guifang by King Wu of Zhou because Ji Yao disobeyed orders and abducted Daji and other concubines.
After Ji Yao arrived at Guifang, after a series of battles, he defeated the wolf, wolf, mongoose, deer, yelped, deer, deer, raccoon and other tribes, and established a family with the wolf as the totem.
When Zhou Gongdan assisted the government, he divided Ji Yao's descendants into the state of Cen, which is where the Cen family came from.
After the Zhou royal family weakened and wars continued, the lineage of the Cen family passed through several times and was divided into several lines.
During the Renzong period of the Northern Song Dynasty, Cen Zhongshu, a member of the Cen family, followed Di Qing in the conquest of Guangxi and made meritorious service. The imperial court named him the Duke of Guangdong and guarded Guangxi.
After Cen Zhongshu took control of Guangxi, on the one hand he changed customs and introduced advanced culture and technology from the Central Plains, on the other hand he trained Guangxi wolf soldiers.
Later, the Cen family used the foundation laid by Cen Zhongshu to continuously expand territory and eventually became the overlord of the western Guangxi area.
By the Yuan Dynasty, the Cen family, like the Mongols, had the wolf as their totem and belonged to the "Sirian Wolf Clan", so they were highly regarded and rose rapidly, and the Guangxi Wolf Soldiers became known to the world.
After the wolf soldiers became famous, other chieftains also called their soldiers wolf soldiers.
However, because their combat power was not as good as that of the Cen clan, the soldiers led by the Cen clan were called real wolves, while the soldiers of other chieftains were called local soldiers or fake wolves.
During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Annan rebelled, and the court recruited wolf soldiers to quell the rebellion.
The Wolf Soldiers lived up to expectations, quickly wiped out the rebellion, secured Jiaozhi for the Ming Dynasty, and were commended by the court.
As a result, the Cen family became stronger and more domineering.
During the Jiajing period, Cen Meng, the leader of the Cen clan, bullied the weak and oppressed other chieftains, causing dissatisfaction in the court.
In fact, Cen Meng had no objection, but the imperial court had always been afraid of the wolf soldiers and wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of Cen Meng, so they attacked the Cen family for treason.
In the end, Cen Meng died and Tianzhou was in chaos.
In times of crisis, Cen Meng's wife, Mrs. Wa, stepped forward to take charge of the overall situation.
Although the Cen family has declined at this time, it is still the most powerful force in Tianzhou, and the Wa family is also a heroine.
She was not afraid of attacks from other chieftains, whether they attacked, alienated, or formed alliances, all of which were insignificant.
After several years of hard work, Wa Shi finally resolved the clan grievances, frightened other chieftains, was recognized by the court, and stabilized the crumbling building.
At this point, she thought all her hardships were over, but she didn't expect that the imperial court would issue an edict again, asking them to fight against the Western pirates who were causing trouble along the southeast coast.
Not long after the pirates were pacified, she received an order from the court to go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang to fight against Japanese pirates.
In order to serve the country and preserve the Cen family lineage, Wa, who was nearly sixty years old, personally led more than 6,000 wolf soldiers to the front line to fight against the Japanese.
They fought thousands of miles away and killed more than 3,000 enemies in the Battle of Wangjiangjing, turning the tide of the anti-Japanese war. They were called "the most successful warriors since the rise of the army."
The Japanese pirates could not defeat the wolf soldiers head-on, so they bribed Yan Song's son Yan Shifan with a heavy sum of money to prevent the wolf soldiers from resisting the Japanese.
After some planning, Yan Song and his adopted son Zhao Wenhua first killed Zhang Jing, the Minister of War who was transferred to Wa's army to fight against the Japanese, and then framed the Wolf soldiers and swallowed up their military exploits.
They also falsely accused them of living on military pay, fearing to fight, and robbing the people.
Due to the crisis of the war at that time, the wolf soldiers were not withdrawn. Yan Song sent people to cause a rebellion in Tianzhou, and then asked the emperor to order the Wa Shi Banshi to go back to quell the rebellion.
After the imperial court allowed the wolf soldiers to return to Guangxi, Yan Song refused to give them food or wages.
The Wa's wolf soldiers had no choice but to kill their horses and return to Tianzhou with difficulty.
But the other wolf soldiers who were traveling with them did not have the same discipline as them. When there was no food and pay, they launched their troops to grab food, all the way from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Guangxi.
Yan Song was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately asked Hu Zongxian to arrest the Wa family on the grounds that the wolf soldiers were robbing the people.
Hu Zongxian knew that Wa's family had been wronged and could not bear to harm him, but he had to do it because of Yan Song's power.
At this time, he learned that Mrs. Wa was filled with grief and anger, and died of depression shortly after returning to Tianzhou.
So Hu Zongxian secretly protected Wa's children and grandchildren, lying that Wa was dead and had no descendants, thus preserving the last trace of Wa's blood.
But the court's move also broke Wolf Soldier's heart, and Wolf Soldier has disappeared from everyone's sight since then.
Until Yuan Chonghuan came to Guangxi to recruit troops, many wolf soldiers accompanied him on the expedition, and soon became the main force of Guan Ning's cavalry...
It was precisely because Zhu Yuanzhang knew this period of history that he suspected that Mr. Zou Da's 10,000 men were Guangxi wolf soldiers.
Because some hate cannot be erased by time.
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while, then looked at Li Ruolian and said: "We remember that the one in Guangxi is Jingjiang King Zhu Hengjia, and King Gui was also in Guangxi last year. Did they do anything strange?"
Li Ruolian pondered for a while and said: "Recently, Burma and Laos have often invaded Yunnan, Guangxi and other places. King Jingjiang seems to be strengthening the fortress to defend against the enemy, and King Gui and his son are also recovering from illness. I haven't heard anything else."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard about the invasion of Burma and Laos, he couldn't help but frowned and said: "How dare they act so recklessly in such a small place? Besides, they have so many troops and horses, why do they waste so much money and people? This gang..."
He stopped again as he spoke. After calming down, he said in a deep voice: "After you opened up the eastern part of Henan, you led your army to sneak into Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou and other places..."
After Zhu Yuanzhang finished his instructions, he asked again: "We came to Shen County this time and encountered attacks on the way. Do you know the identities of those people?"
When Li Ruolian heard this, he said with some hesitation: "The last general had fought with Ren Qi's men when he was rescuing them. One of them seemed... like Cao Hu, the deputy general of General Liu Liangzuo!"
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and said, "Liu Liangzuo also came to Shandong?"
Li Ruolian said: "It's not clear yet, but the last general sent people to capture a few prisoners. They seem to have followed Cao Hu and a woman to Shandong."
"A woman?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised and said: "Do you know how old you are?"
Li Ruolian shook his head and said: "It is said that the woman has always been veiled and rarely shows up. The situation is not clear."
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered: "A woman... Cao Hu, and wolf soldiers..."
He suddenly stopped as he spoke, looked at Li Ruolian and said, "How is the situation in Wuchang?"
Li Ruolian said: "Since Bai Wang retreated, Wuchang had wanted to go north to attack Yuan Zongdi, but then it was canceled for some reason, and there has been no news since then."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "Then can you find out the purpose of their trip? How many soldiers and horses are accompanying them?"
Li Ruolian shook his head and said: "They came in several ways. The number of people known so far is about three thousand. As for their purpose, the general is not clear yet."
Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a while and said: "Regulate your army immediately and follow us to Liaocheng."
After Li Ruolian bowed in agreement, he quickly ordered the soldiers to assemble the army.
Soon, he led more than 300 people to Liaocheng with Zhu Yuanzhang.
Some people died, but not completely...
