Zhu Yuanzhang carefully recalled Zhao Erhu's story and couldn't help but have some doubts about his previous judgment.
Because he originally thought that Guo Sheng wanted to go south and disturb Jiangnan.
But after Guo Sheng broke through Lu Zhenfei's blockade, he returned to attack secretly, and the entire army attacked.
This operation seemed not to be afraid of Zhang Huangyan leading his army to pursue, but to defeat Zhang Huangyan and the others in one fell swoop.
However, the powerful mysterious troops did not participate in this operation and only came to assist Guo Sheng after his failure. This shows that the mysterious troops did not want Guo Sheng to defeat Zhang Huangyan.
The reason why they took action was just to hope that Guo Sheng would go south.
But it was obvious that Guo Sheng was not willing.
Otherwise, he would not have gathered his troops and headed south after Zhang Huangyan stopped pursuing, but would have let the remaining soldiers harass him everywhere.
But all of Shandong has been recovered, and Guo Sheng can't do much with just the remaining soldiers in his hands.
Why is he so persistent?
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was confused, he suddenly heard Zhao Erhu's voice saying: "Your Majesty, what did the general do wrong?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked over and saw a worried look on Zhao Erhu's face. Knowing that Zhao Erhu had misunderstood his meaning, he smiled and comforted him a few words, and then asked, "Do you know where Guo Sheng is now?"
Zhao Erhu said hesitantly: "According to Jinyiwei's information, since Fengyang Governor Ma Shiying has deployed defenses in the Suqian area, and Shandong Commander-in-Chief Liu Zeqing has also deployed troops in Shuyang, so he is still lingering in the Xinyi area."
Zhu Yuanzhang was a little surprised and said: "Isn't Liu Zeqing injured? Why did he also send troops?"
Zhao Erhu said: "He did not come, but his generals Ma Huabao and Boyongfu came."
"Bo Yongfu?"
Zhu Yuanzhang had never heard that Liu Zeqing had such a general under his command before, and he asked with some confusion: "Is he newly recruited in Huai'an?"
Zhao Erhu nodded and said: "Yes, I heard that when Liu Zeqing was recruiting troops in Huai'an, this Boyongfu brought hundreds of people to join the army and became a general soon after."
"General? Who sealed it?"
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he immediately changed his color and asked.
Zhao Erhu saw the angry look on his face and whispered: "I heard it was sealed by Nanjing."
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said, "Can you find out his background?"
Zhao Erhu said: "Not yet. I only know that he is from Dingyuan County, Fengyang Prefecture. He served in the army in his early years, and later became a tenant for some reason. He was idle for several years, and recently he suddenly joined Liu Zeqing... ..”
Zhu Yuanzhang originally thought that Boyongfu was a member of the Jiangnan gentry, and Liu Zeqing sent troops because of the power behind Boyongfu.
Now that I heard that Bo Yongfu was both a soldier and a farmer, and was not a gentry son, I couldn't help but feel a little confused.
Because if Bo Yongfu was just an ordinary person, it would be impossible for him to bring hundreds of people to seek refuge with Liu Zeqing.
And Liu Zeqing would not promote him to general so soon and let him command the army together with Ma Huabao, so Bo Yongfu's identity was definitely not simple.
But if he was not a gentry, what other status would Liu Zeqing value, and Liu Zeqing would send troops because of this?
"Could it be that Bo Yongfu was supported by the Jiangnan gentry?"
He just thought about it and shook his head slightly.
Because Liu Zeqing fled to Huai'an from Shandong, his reputation was not good.
The gentry in the south of the Yangtze River have always been very self-reliant. In addition, there are many guard posts in the south of the Yangtze River. Even if they wanted to support someone, they would not choose Liu Zeqing.
What's more, Guo Sheng's escape to the south only happened two or three days ago, so it was impossible for the Jiangnan gentry to react so quickly.
From this point of view, Liu Zeqing sent troops this time probably to claim credit from the Jiangnan gentry.
But if Boyongfu was not a gentry, how could he be promoted so quickly?
Although Zhu Yuanzhang had doubts, seeing that Zhao Erhu had finished speaking, he asked again: "Do you know who recommended Bo Yongfu?"
Zhao Erhu shook his head and said: "Since our southern contact point was destroyed shortly after it was established, this matter was not investigated."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he remembered that Boyongfu was an idle person, and that when Jinyiwei was first established, he had used such people to find out information, and he suspected that Boyongfu rose to power because of this.
Because not long after Jiangnan Jinyiwei adopted this method, the contact points across Jiangnan were destroyed.
Although this incident was caused accidentally by Brother Li Wu, many contact points in Jiangnan were destroyed instantly, indicating that the other party also had a lot of information.
Moreover, in Shandong, that mysterious army has been roaming around unscrupulously, so they should also be aware of this matter.
So he asked again: "Have you ever found out the origin of that mysterious army? Are they with Guo Sheng now?"
Zhao Erhu shook his head and said: "No, that army has always been elusive, and often appears at critical moments to disrupt our plans. Mr. Zhang suspects..."
Zhao Erhu stopped again as he spoke and looked around cautiously.
Upon seeing this, Li Wu and others were about to get up and leave, but were stopped by Zhu Yuanzhang.
Then Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhao Erhu and said, "Do you suspect that there is someone from the other party among us?"
Zhao Erhu nodded and said: "I have discovered that the recent news from Jinyiwei is either inaccurate or delayed. If we say that the Jiangnan contact point is newly built, this kind of thing will happen, but it is the same in the north. I am worried... ."
After listening to Zhao Erhu's words, Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the news about Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places had indeed been much slower than before in the past few days, so he looked at Yang Qi and said, "Is Wu Mengming still in Xi'an now?"
When Yang Qi asked, he said with some embarrassment: "The general has not received any news from Commander Wu in the past two days. The specific situation is not clear."
"But Commander Wu said last time that Xi'an was under martial law. He wanted to protect the people who wanted to assassinate Li Zicheng. It might be delayed for a few days, so it is more likely that he is in Xi'an now."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he remembered that there was no news about Gao Wencai so far, and he couldn't help but feel worried.
Although Gao Wencai was only a member of a thousand households, he had been lurking among the rebels, often carrying out rebellion work and delivering important information, so many of Jinyiwei's secret liaison stations were in contact with him.
If he unfortunately dies in battle, that would be okay.
If he was captured alive by the rebels and leaked the contact points in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places, it would definitely be a disaster for Zhu Yuanzhang.
Then he thought that Wu Mengming was still in Xi'an and there was no bad news, so he thought it would be safe for the time being.
However, to be on the safe side, he ordered Yang Qi to send a message to Wu Mengming and Wang Shoulin, asking them to change the contact information of the Jinyiwei spies and relocate some of the more risky contact points.
Then he asked Zhao Erhu about Zhang Huangyan and the situation in Weifang, Linyi and other places.
Zhao Erhu told him that since Zhang Huangyan defeated Guo Sheng, Lu Zhenfei admired Zhang Huangyan very much and had been trying to win over Zhang Huangyan, and offered to let Zhang Huangyan sit in Linyi and command various armies. m.
After Ma Jinzhong learned about Liaocheng and saw that Shandong had been recovered, his attitude changed drastically.
First, they quickly wiped out the remaining rebels near Weifang, and then sent troops to the Linyi area to participate in Zhang Huangyan's encirclement and suppression plan...
Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Zhao Erhu's story and knew that Zhang Huangyan had initially taken control of the army. As long as he cultivated some cronies, it would not be difficult to completely control the east of Jinan.
At the same time, he also discovered that Zhao Erhu had far more information than ordinary generals. Knowing that Zhang Huangyan was probably using Zhao Erhu to show his loyalty to him, he recognized him even more.
Then he thought that Zhang Huangyan was also a civil servant and a person from Jiangnan. If used properly, he might have a surprising effect on the situation in Jiangnan.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought of this and asked Zhao Erhu for some details.
At this time, Yang Qi suddenly came to report that Guo Sheng had defeated Ma Shiying's troops in Pizhou and had marched towards Suqian.
Some people died, but not completely...
