On the 24th of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Chongzhen, it was Emperor Chongzhen’s birthday again.
Snowflakes are floating in the sky above Yan'an Prefecture, casting a layer of silvery white on the overlapping khaki mountains in northern Shaanxi.
The old thieves from northern Shaanxi walked into the Xingzi River through the snow.
When Gao Yingxiang arrived, Liu Chengzong was swinging a pickaxe on the frozen Xingzi River, shirtless. The cold cast a light red layer on his skin, and sweat steamed slightly on his head.
Soon, the carrier handed over a hand-spun towel. After wiping the sweat from his body, he quickly put on his clothes. Then he exhaled a white breath and asked, "Master Gao?"
"What are you doing? Forget it. Come on, take me into the house to warm yourself up."
Liu Chengzong exercised in the morning. After running across the river, he cut a hole in the river and then wiped his sweat and put on clothes. His whole body was hot.
Gao Yingxiang was different. He came all the way from Yanchang County on horseback. His eyebrows and beard were so cold that there were icicles on them, so he hurriedly walked into the yard.
Seeing his appearance, Liu Chengzong did not take him up the mountain and went directly to Lin Wei's house down the mountain.
Together with the five personal attendants around them, the six gentlemen entered the house and curled up on the fire kang, all of them shivering from the cold.
Liu Chengzong deliberately stood outside for a while, and when the sweat on his body had completely fallen off, he walked into the room heated by the fire and asked, "Why are Master Gao here?"
"Can I not come? You asked your general Cao Yao to lead his troops to the east across Yanchang. How long has it been and you still dare to divide your troops?"
As Gao Yingxiang spoke, he took out seven or eight stacked papers from his entourage, handed them out and said, "Take a look!"
After receiving the letter, Liu Chengzong roughly scanned the top one, which was similar to the letter Zhuan Tianmao sent some time ago.
It's just that the request is the opposite. The letter Gao Yingxiang handed over said that if he sends people to recruit people, he will agree to recruit people; if he sends people to conquer, he will agree to surrender.
Similarly, the official position promised in the end was also lower, that is, the general manager.
Liu Chengzong was happy when he saw it: "This Yang He has a lot of little tricks, and they are fake. Believe me, I have them too."
Gao Yingxiang said angrily: "Look further."
The smile on Liu Chengzong's face froze, and he continued to read the next letter, flipping through several letters in succession, with a relaxed expression on his face. It was not until he saw the last two letters that he gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice: "Fuck."
Each of the letters Gao Yingxiang brought was different. The first few letters were roughly the same. They all confiscated the letter's recipients and had various arrangements for the next actions, whether it was to carry out a suppression campaign or recruit people to surrender.
Some agree to recruit people if they are asked to do so, some do not allow them to agree to recruit people, some ask them to surrender, some do not allow the leader to surrender, and some even persuade the leader to run away or fight to the death.
Basically, these letters mentioned the choices that subordinates would make when encountering recruitment and suppression campaigns.
Liu Chengzong believed that this was a counter-intentional plan to bully the rebel leaders into being loosely organized, causing suspicion among the superiors and subordinates and putting everyone in danger, thus causing chaos and weakening the combat effectiveness of each department.
These letters were discovered by people. When the leader knew about the existence of this letter, he asked his subordinates how to recruit soldiers from the imperial court. Those who agreed to recruit soldiers might be spies from the imperial court, and those who disagreed might also be spies from the imperial court.
There is no way he can be the leader.
When the subordinate's letter existed, he would not dare to answer any questions asked by the leader. Anything he said would be suspected as a spy for the imperial court.
There is no way he can be a subordinate anymore.
The reason why Liu Chengzong was convinced that this was a counter-intuitive plan was because it was more fake than real.
If it were true, it would be of no use.
People feared spies themselves, not suggestions of surrender or war.
At this point, Liu Chengzong was rather proud, because it was ineffective against the Lion Camp.
If you want to run like the Mountain King in Water Margin, there is always a dog-headed military advisor beside him. This method will work.
But there are no intellectual figures in the entire Lion Battalion, and bandit-style democracy is not implemented in the team. Only Cao Yao can check for leaks and fill in the gaps with his rich gangster experience.
And with Liu Chengzong's understanding of Cao Yao, Cao Yao wanted to hide as far away from the government as possible. This didn't even matter whether Cao Yao was loyal to him.
Liu Chengzong was not afraid of Cao Yao's surrender at all.
If others surrender, they may turn around and come back to follow orders to fight the peasant army.
Cao Yao surrendered, and he would not work for the government if he could. He might be sleeping in the camp today, and then go into the mountains with his cronies tomorrow by defrauding him of some military food and salary.
Except for Cao Yao, Liu Chengzong has been the mastermind and vanguard of the entire team in the past six months.
He was also trained to become stronger and stronger in the process.
This letter is false. If he doesn't believe it, it's fine.
This letter is true, but it is of no use. As long as the soldiers are restrained and they are not given the opportunity to inform the government, it will be fine.
But when Gao Yingxiang brought the last two letters, it was different.
They were two letters of persuasion to surrender, and they were from the internal staff persuading them to surrender. They said that if they took this letter when they surrendered, they would be pardoned and given an official position in the army according to the instigation of rebellion.
Gao Yingxiang saw the solemn look on his face and knew that he had seen these two letters, so he said: "I stopped Cao Yao for you. If you still let him go, send someone to say it again. But if you ask me, the government is instigating rebellion." At this time, it is best to keep all the troops and horses under guard."
Liu Chengzong pulled up a stool and sat down. He did not respond to Gao Yingxiang immediately. He held his chin in his hand and thought for a moment, then turned around and asked, "Master Gao, how did you find these letters?"
"It's not mine. King Hun Tian is back in Yanchuan and Hun Tianhou is in Luochuan. Their subordinates are all scattered in their homes during the winter. By the time someone hands them the letter, the letter will be everywhere."
Hearing this, Liu Chengzong's face relaxed and he said with a smile: "Master Gao, you overestimated."
"Overestimated, overestimated for what?"
He flicked a few pieces of paper with two fingers: "We overestimated the impact of these letters, and the government also overestimated us... Do you have so many literate people under your command? Can you understand it, can they understand it?"
Liu Chengzong estimated that these letters had no impact at all.
It's good to alienate people, but it's disgusting.
But this thing is a strategy used by scholars who are separated from the social environment.
If you look at urban and rural areas, there may be forty people out of a hundred who are literate, but there are less than five people who can keep accounts, write letters, and read.
Hungry refugees become homeless thieves with even lower levels of education.
According to the current cultural level of the bandits, if a letter is handed over, three of the five leaders will not be recognized.
Not to mention his subordinates.
When Hun Tianhou and Hun Tianwang's subordinates got these letters, they just picked up a piece of paper to pad the legs of the table, and went to the latrine to wipe their buttocks without printing any ink.
Gao Yingxiang was also stunned when he was asked, and thought about it in his heart, and it seemed that this was indeed the truth.
"Hey, I'm not saying anything harsh. It's the same thing in my team. I can't pick fifty out of ten thousand people who can read the whole letter."
Liu Chengzong waved his hand at the table and pointed at a few letters: "Only those literate people, how many of these pieces of paper can fall into their hands? Master Gao, please take it to heart and tell people to watch the literacy in the camp. Yes, everything will be fine."
Liu Chengzong said this mainly to calm Gao Yingxiang's heart, and also to let Gao Yingxiang appease several other leaders.
Because he knew very well that this matter was unsolvable for the team of Huntian Monkey, Hundian King and others.
Whether it was true or false, they couldn't come up with any way to deal with it, and they didn't have any ability to deal with it.
If the leader is not disturbed, then he is resigned to fate; if the leader is disturbed, then it is no longer his turn to listen to God, and the large but loosely organized team will collapse immediately.
Liu Chengzong felt that the room was a little stuffy, so he walked to the wall and opened the wooden window. Suddenly, a cold wind mixed with snowflakes rushed into the room, making him feel dizzy and clear his mind.
He thought along the line and said: "Huntianwang received it in Yanchuan, Huntianhou received it in Luochuan, I intercepted it from Yan'an Fucheng half a month ago, and Master Gao in Yanchang and I in Ansai , but didn’t receive it, what does that mean?”
you still need to ask?
Gao Yingxiang didn't hesitate to answer.
Liu Chengzong did not expect him to answer, but just straightened out his thoughts: "Three groups are advancing, Yang He from Guyuan, Hong Chengchou from Hancheng, and the one from the north... No, Guyuan should come slower than the north, could it be Zhang Nian? "
Gao Yingxiang added: "To the north should be Shenmu Ginseng General Ai Wannian and Ningzhai Council General Ai Mu. King Hengtian has mentioned them, and next year."
Gao Yingxiang looked at Liu Chengzong as if he had just remembered this and said: "It's snowing in Yan'an Mansion, and there is this letter. What do you think about next year?"
As the saying goes, auspicious snow heralds a good harvest.
But for him, snow doesn't bode well.
When the harvest comes, they are doomed.
In this magical land of northern Shaanxi, a snowfall can change many things.
The people who are protected by them and provide them with information do not need to resist taxes.
"I just sent people to Zhuantianmao this morning. They told me to find another place to hide. People like me have no place to hide. They will probably be wandering around next year."
"Come here, I see wheat is planted in the river valley. Are you willing to do it?"
"With this snowfall, the eleven hectares of wheat fields in the river valley may be able to harvest nine bushels. If there is no drought next year, more than fifty hectares of slope land and more than sixty hectares of four bushels of wheat fields can be raised in this place alone. I have a whole battalion.”
Liu Chengzong counted the harvest of Xingzi River, shook his head and said with a smile: "If you don't want to give up, what can you do? I plan to ask my eldest brother to come over. If I can save it, I will save it. If I can't save my life, I won't have enough food to eat."
Gao Yingxiang and a few of his followers were dumbfounded by the large number of fields in Xingzihe Wangzhuang.
He even made Gao Yingxiang say something out of nowhere: "I'll join forces with you, can you hold on?"
Liu Chengzong smiled half-heartedly: "Master Gao, what do you think?"
In fact, it is very likely that it can be defended, and it can defend the first and second attacks.
However, the first attack will expose them to the sight of the official army, and the second attack will involve a large army pressing on them, while deploying troops and generals to block the main roads.
The next step must be to mobilize heavy artillery, press forward step by step, seize water sources and fertile fields, and impose siege. If there is a separation between counterattacks, they should attack by force. In the end, they will either break through or be besieged and killed.
But if you want to break through, what's the point of holding on for a month, half a year or even a year?
Gao Yingxiang shook his head and tsked: "It's just a pity that others are not afraid of this letter like you. The other leaders are planning to stay away... Shanxi, are you going?"
"Are you all going to Shanxi?"
Gao Yingxiang nodded and said: "Everyone is going to Shanxi. Wang Hengtian will go to Shanxi from Fuguhequ to deal with Ai Wannian; Zuo Guazi and Huntianhou will go to Hancheng to seek revenge on Hong Chengchou and enter Puzhou; Bu Zhanni will go from Jiazhou, and I will go from Jiazhou. Wubao crosses the river."
This is to attack Shanxi across the board.
Liu Chengzong asked: "What about Shaanxi?"
"Li Laojiu and Lao Huihui don't want to enter Shanxi. This time they enter Shanxi. Those in the north will go to the south; those in the south will go to the north. If Lao Huihui and Li Laohui don't go, they will guard the Suide, Qingjian, and Yichuan lines. You What do you think?"
Liu Chengzong made secret calculations in his heart.
On the front line of the northern border wall, Wang Jiayin and Lao Huihui were dragging the officers and soldiers; on the south line of Hancheng, Wang Zuogao and Li Laojiao were there to deal with it.
That is to say, only the officers and soldiers in the direction of Qingyang are left. There are local troops from the two brothers Han Chaozai and Liu Liu and Liu Qi, and Ren Quan'er's gate is at the north gate of Yan'an Prefecture.
In this way, it is not dangerous for my father and brother to stay near Yan'an Fucheng.
"When will we leave?"
"Next March."
Liu Chengzong nodded and said, "Then I want to go to Yanshui Pass."
Yanshui Pass, he was familiar with the place, and the most important thing was the target.
Earlier this year, when he only had a few hundred men, he had peeked at the Zhuangtian of the Qingcheng Prince's Mansion in Fenzhou Prefecture from a distance, but at that time he was blocked by the Guangwuzhuang Inspection Department of Luliang Mountain.
This time it was different. He wanted to break into Xiaoyi, capture several villages in Prince Qingcheng's palace, and distribute some food to the people of Shanxi.
This kind of thing should be done sooner rather than later. If it's too late, Wangzhuang will be gone.
Gao Yingxiang did not stay at Xingzi River for long. He only had a meal and then rode back to Zhanzhou again. Also traveling with him was Wei Qian'er. He went to convey to Cao Yao that he should continue his eastward journey and explore the situation at Yanshui Pass. Oral message.
Two days before the new year, Liu Chengzong took his sister and son back to Zhuantianmao.
There was a rat outburst in the Panlongchuan River Basin, which made Mr. Meibang very happy. He had endless work to do, and he was caught from the 30th day of the New Year to the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year.
It's not too late to eat it by myself, it's like I finally have the opportunity to repay Liu Chengzong for his kindness in raising me. During the few days when I returned to Zhuantianmao to celebrate the New Year, all the big roosters in the Liu family were laid off.
Every morning before dawn, Liu Chengzong would be woken up by the loud scolding of the kitten at the door.
There must be several fat and black mice neatly placed outside the threshold.
This is not the meaning of Mr. Meiba showing him the results of his work, but actually calling him to have breakfast.
Not to mention, in northern Shaanxi in this era, because there were so many people fighting against heaven and earth who did not believe in evil, everything was thin except for rats.
They are also afraid of the cold, so in winter they have to find people to dig holes in houses.
I heard from farmers in Zhuantianmao that when they were about to retire, some farmers would secretly run back to the Heilong Mountain hoeing fields to dig out the ungrown seeds that had been sprinkled into the ground earlier.
Nothing can be dug out, the seeds buried in the ground are just gone.
When a mouse hole is discovered and dug out, it will be filled with ungerminated seeds hidden by mice. It can cook half a pot of porridge at a time.
Mr. Liu is a man who can hide things. During the past few days during the Chinese New Year, Liu Chengzong talked about his plans for the spring but didn't say anything. He didn't stop him until he was about to go back to Xingzihe for breakfast on the third day of the new year.
"Lion, you will lead your team to Shanxi in February. Before leaving, you should go back to Black Dragon Mountain and take care of the prefect's brother-in-law so that you can worship your ancestors at home during the Qingming Festival."
Liu Chengzong lowered his head to eat and asked vaguely: "Where is Zhang Nian?"
"Zhang Nian is fine, just let anyone shoot a gun in the city."
When Liu Xiangyu talked about this, he was so angry that his teeth itched: "His brother-in-law lived in the fort built by our family, and we worked together with the old Liu family to build a fort for him!"
