If the Baibo Army is mentioned now, it is naturally just a minor problem in Bingzhou. They used the river as a barrier and the mountains as a hindrance. Although they were many in number, their destructive power was limited. Let the court think that they are just like the Black Mountain bandits, Qingxu Huangjin and other Yellow Turban remnants, with tens of thousands of mediocre people, they are just ordinary banditry.
However, the Han people who were born in Bingzhou and lived with Zahu for a long time had a fighting spirit that was unimaginable in the Central Plains. The cold wind and frost taught them self-reliance, the barren land taught them tenacity, the rolling mountains taught them optimism, and the rolling Yellow River taught them heroism. In a sense, the strength of their souls is much higher than that of other rebels, and they will shock the world for a time in later generations, but their ending is far bleaker than that of other rebels.
When later generations refer to Baibo Valley, they mostly think that the Baibo Fort built when the Baibo Army marched east of Hedong is Baibo Valley. This is really a misunderstanding. The current base of the Baibo Army has always been in Xihe County, because the Wan River flows through Duilong Ridge and merges into the river a few miles south. The accumulated sand in the upper reaches of the river accumulates here to form a natural beach, forming two flying sand weirs. , the water of the big river is steep and clear, and you can actually see clear water and white waves, so the tidal flat under Duilong Ridge is called Baibo Valley.
Of course, the current Baibo Army has conquered the two counties of Yuanyin and Yuanyang. From the south of Yuanshui to the north of Hedong, everything has been captured by the Baibo Army. They then recruit refugees from Bingzhou, Liangzhou, Hedong and other places. At this time, Baibo Army The army is no longer what it used to be. Zhang Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, suffered two losses here, so he simply pretended that there was no such group of people. The Baibo army did not interfere with the river, and both groups lived comfortably.
Now that Zhang Yi had been transferred by the imperial court, he was so busy in Meiji that he had no time to pay attention to them. But the Baibo Army is now busy preparing fortifications and training soldiers all day long, as if facing a powerful enemy.
At noon, in the town of Yuanyang County, Guo Da commanded his soldiers to reinforce the watchtower at the east corner of the city, build a canal, and add some arrows to the arsenal for backup. He also told his young commanders: "You guys are here. There is a permanent sentry on the watchtower, divided into four shifts. People at night try to pick out the one with the brightest eyes, and don't react until the officers and soldiers arrive at the door." The young handsome man responded generously and turned to look for his brothers. Guo Dali stood there and watched his men act.
Unexpectedly, he was suddenly patted on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Yang Feng standing behind him, fully armed and armored. He just had a piece of biscuit in his mouth, a piece of mutton in his hand, and his beard was full of biscuit crumbs, which looked quite funny. Yang Feng laughed and said: "Brother Guo, it's already noon and you haven't come to eat yet. Several brothers are waiting impatiently. If you don't mind, I can eat first."
Only then did Guo Da realize that the sun was already in the sky. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and said calmly: "This is all a trivial matter, Brother Yang. Our colleagues are still working, but we have to eat first. When the wise master Daliang was still there, At that time, there would never be such a situation. I watched them bring the porridge and rice and then leave. You can ask Hu Cai and the three of them to wait."
After Yang Feng heard these great principles, he was too lazy to continue with Guo Da. He finished the Hu cake in a few mouthfuls and walked to the tower with a disapproving look. He thought that if Master Daliang's trick had worked, Huang Tian would have realized it a long time ago. Everyone would now live a good life in Luoyang, Hedong, surrounded by beautiful women. Each of the brothers would have a general, so how could they be killed just because of a mere prefect? Such a big mess.
There are three men sitting in the tower at this time, namely Han Xian, Li Le, and Hu Cai, all of whom are commanders of the Baibo Army. They did not sit separately like the custom in the Central Plains, but it was like the custom of the Xiongnu: several people sat around a big table and Hu chairs. There were some roasted sheep and Hu cakes on the table, with some spices from the Western Regions sprinkled on them. , the aroma is so fragrant that it makes one’s index finger twitch.
Yang Feng entered and came down from the table, took another piece of biscuit, broke it open, revealing the meat stuffing dripping with egg yolk, tore off a bite, smiled at the three of them and said, "Brother Guo wants to see if the brothers eat it before coming over. Let's eat first. It's hard for us to get together once. The next time we meet will probably be next year, so I won't treat myself as an outsider."
When Han Xian heard this, he started directly and said with a smile while eating: "Brother Yang, please feel relieved. I have been tortured by my subordinates recently and have trouble sleeping and eating. I feel that the two ounces of meat I have raised in the past two years are all worth it." I'm done with it." When Yang Feng heard this, he winked and joked: "Old Han, I think you are enjoying your food now."
“Only when you can’t hear those troublesome things will you know that your stomach is empty!”
The two of them started joking as if no one was watching, while Li Le and Hu Cai continued to sit upright, unmoved. After a while, Hu Cai sighed: "Commander Yang, now Chen Chong has borrowed 20,000 troops from the capital of Hedong to attack us in the first month. In the face of a powerful enemy, Commander Guo is compassionate to his soldiers, which is the right way, but you are frivolous."
"You only have 20,000 people, what can you do?" Yang Feng picked up a bowl of wine, drank the cakes and food in his mouth, and said with a smile: "Zhang Yi came with an army of 30,000 people from Bingzhou, but after only two months of siege, he withdrew his troops and returned to Taiyuan. .”
"How can you underestimate the enemy so much? When Commander Guo came back from Hebei, he often scolded Chen Zei. Everyone in the world knows that he knows soldiers, but you, Yang Feng, treat him like a rotten dog."
Hu Cai persuaded again, but unexpectedly it aroused Yang Feng's dissatisfaction. He cursed angrily: "What happened in Hebei is ridiculous. The wise master Daliang has millions of people, but he is waiting to be killed? Now three years have passed, and the world's religious people are in a state of dissatisfaction. The swirl is extinguished, but I, Baibo and Heishan, remain standing. Heishan has 600,000 people but our army is only 70,000. This shows that our army is the strongest in the world. How can Thief Chen do anything?! Commander Hu, don’t panic, I have a heart in my heart We have made a decision. Just wait for Brother Guo to come, and I will tell you more."
"Why didn't Chen Chong do anything? His political performance in Xihe did not harm you at all?" Guo Da happened to walk in, took off his fur coat, changed into a robe and walked into the table. Seeing the delicacies on the table, he couldn't help but frown and said: "Brother Yang, I have told you several times that it is not appropriate to be so extravagant in the severe winter."
Yang Feng waved his hand and said with a smile: "It's okay, Guo Shuai. At worst, the rest will be given to the brothers." Guo Da scolded: "What can you say? No one will be left to eat scraps." Guo Da As the commander-in-chief of the Baibo Army, he still has considerable authority, and Yang Feng responded repeatedly.
Guo Da sighed, knowing that he couldn't listen to what he said, so he said to Li Le and Hu Cai: "You should hurry up and eat. How can cold food taste?" The five of them were all rough men, so eating was naturally a breeze. In just a moment, Everyone was full of wine and food, but there was still a little left. Yang Feng looked at Guo and laughed and said, "I'll ask someone to help warm it up. Give me a few pieces of music."
Guo Da naturally had nothing to say. When he finished his troubles, Guo Da said solemnly: "I think everyone should have got the news. Chen Thief was appointed as the new governor of Xihe. As soon as he took office, he regarded us as a big problem. First of all, he After two months of relief, we lured the Xihe villagers to rebel against our army, and borrowed more than 10,000 troops from Hedong, including about 20,000 troops from Xihe County, in order to conquer us at the beginning of the year. I summoned you to come, firstly, to ask you about your losses today, and secondly. It’s to discuss strategies to retreat from the enemy.”
Li Le had already made statistics with the other commanders in advance, and he responded directly: "Shuai Guo, we have already calculated the total. It is estimated that more than 8,000 people from our five divisions have escaped in total, but the influence of Thief Chen is by no means limited to that. We have Seeing that all the ministries have lost their fighting spirit after hearing the news about Chen Zei's disaster relief, and now Chen Zei has released the news that he will lead people to reclaim wasteland and establish counties for the victims, people's hearts are shaken. I think even if Chen Zei doesn't lead his troops, it will be difficult for our army to last. "
Guo Dafu was silent for a while and asked: "How great is the influence of Chen Zei's reclamation of wasteland and establishment of counties?"
Speaking of this, Li Le also smiled bitterly, and he sighed: "Chen Thief is good at attacking people's hearts. He set up the reclamation land in front of a river beach south of Lin County. It is across the river from our troops. Every day, our troops You can see the smoke rising from the cooking stoves on the other side. The soldiers from the county on the other side often shout to us, saying that if things work out, the prefect will still give us cattle and sheep in the coming year. You are in Wanshui, so the impact is still small, but our troops have already turned their backs on people. I have already ordered my troops to leave Dahe, otherwise I will not have to wait until the beginning of the year, and not even one of my men will be left alive."
Guo Da felt cold all over after hearing this. He could only put on an extra robe and sighed: "Chen Thief has always been so cowardly. Forget it, if the government could treat me so kindly at that time, why would I have to spend my life on it?" Where is Bo? Li Le, then you first withdraw your troops back to Baibo Valley, which is the base of our army. Even if the two counties are lost, our army can still make a comeback."
Li Le responded, but Yang Feng didn't understand. He knocked on the table with his scabbard and said sternly: "Brother Li, why are you doing this? If there are unruly people who don't understand and have to escape back to the army, then you can kill them with one knife. Ming Canonical punishment is just the right way to establish authority, who else dares to say no?"
Guo Da glanced at Yang Feng, but ignored it and continued: "There is news from Hedong. Wang Yi has indeed started to organize his army every day since two months ago. It seems that the dispatch of troops from Hedong is correct. We really cannot underestimate him, after all, this is an orthodox Knight of Three Rivers, an extraordinary county soldier."
Sanhe refers to Henan County, Hanoi County and Hedong County. Most of the imperial troops were drawn from Sanhe, because Sanhe was rich and prosperous in martial arts, and its soldiers were well-equipped. At that time, Huangfu Song raised 30,000 Three Rivers Knights, swept across the Yellow Turbans in half a year, and destroyed Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao's party. The world was shocked, and the reputation of the Three Rivers Knights was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. People often talk privately that 10,000 Three Rivers knights are equal to an army of 100,000, which is quite similar to the invincibility of tens of thousands in later generations.
This invisibly put tremendous pressure on the other four people. When Guo Da saw everyone was silent for a while, he asked: "There are still more than a month to prepare for the war. Do you have any good ideas for me?"
Hu Cai spoke first. He carefully considered his words and said slowly: "The Hedong Army must have taken a detour from Shangjun. This will prevent our army from using the river as a barrier, while the West River Army still has to cross the river at the bend of the river. Their soldiers Dividing into two groups, we might as well enter Shangjun first, send one part to cross Yanshui, and wait for the Hedong Army to seize the military supplies after crossing the river, so that the Hedong Army can retreat without a fight."
Guo Da thought for a moment and felt that it could not be done. He vetoed: "We are on friendly terms with the Xiongnu of Fushitiefu tribe. Now that the Xiongnu are being recruited by the army, they may not make this convenient way for me. Although the idea is good, it is not feasible. OK."
Han Xian thought of a plan and was quite pleased with himself. Then he said with a smile: "Otherwise, we can take advantage of Chen Zei and others to cross the river meander. Now that all the soldiers from Bingzhou County are gathered in Lishi, Taiyuan is empty, and our troops can cross Luliang, pointing directly at Jinyang! I heard that Zhang Yan and other remaining troops are crisscrossing the Black Mountains, with more than 600,000 people. Our troops are like horns with each other, what do you think?"
Guo Da continued to deny: "Brother Han, this plan can still be done in the summer and autumn. Now it is the cold winter. We are leading our troops to cross the mountains and ridges to go to Taihang. I am afraid that countless people will freeze to death along the way and there will be too many casualties. Big, the gain outweighs the loss.”
After speaking, Guo Da saw that Li Le looked like he had something to say, but he was still hesitant, so he immediately asked: "Brother Li, do you have any suggestions? You might as well tell me." Li Le just said slowly: "I see Thief Chen is not a bloodthirsty person, or else we might have had some chance of surviving this harsh winter by pretending to surrender."
As soon as these words came out, the other three people fell silent. Guo Da stood up for a while, walked back and forth in the empty tower, and then shook his head and said: "What Brother Li said may not be unreasonable according to common sense. It's just that Not only have I seen many officers and soldiers, but I also know the nature of Thief Chen better. Everything I did before was a plan by Chen Thief to deceive me. If we surrender, we will lead everyone into a trap, which is absolutely impossible!"
Yang Feng also stood up and said loudly: "Why are you so pessimistic? I have a plan that can make the Chen thieves retreat quickly, and our army can not only turn the crisis around, but also make a lot of money!"
"What's the plan?" Everyone looked at him and asked.
Yang Feng carved the tabletop with a knife to represent the big river, and used three bowls to represent Meiji, Baibojun, and Hequ. Then he pointed his sword at Meiji and said with a smile: "My subordinates arranged by Meiji reported that Chen Thief is buying grain in Meiji. He seems to have more than 20,000 cattle and sheep. He is trying to win over the hearts of Xihe. Wait until he buys all the cattle. It will take seven or eight days to transport the sheep back to Lishi."
"And I heard that he only brought about 300 guards with him on this trip. As Brother Li said, most of the county soldiers were reclaiming wasteland with the abandoned people. When he led the cattle and sheep to cross the river, I led a thousand cavalry to raid the meander of the river. If we cross, we can capture all the cattle and sheep, and most importantly, we can capture Chen Chong in one fell swoop! How can we sit back and watch such a good opportunity?"
"With Chen Thief as a hostage, the Hedong Army will also throw a rat weapon." Guo Da murmured, then nodded and praised: "If this is true, Brother Yang's plan is indeed a good one!"
