Feng Lun, who came back from investigating the situation, felt guilty about his mission.
He found out a lot of gossip spread among the people, but he could not find any Wangzhuang with his own eyes.
All the Wangzhuang fields are to the east of Luliang Mountain, and there are no Wangzhuang fields in the loess fields to the west.
Because this place is really poor.
Wangtian is often the most fertile land in a place. In Shanxi during the Ming Dynasty, if you observe the number of Wangfuzhuang fields in Fuzhou County, you can accurately know the amount of top-grade land in the area.
For example, where Liu Chengzong was located in Yonghe County, Xizhou at this time, the soil was undoubtedly very poor.
It is so barren that there is not even an acre of royal land in Xizhou.
Liu Chengzong originally thought that what Cao Yao said that the first generation of King Qingcheng gave birth to a hundred babies was a rumor.
Who knew that Feng Leng's people were pretending to be salesmen and were asking around, and the news they brought back was very scary.
Indeed, they did not give birth to a hundred children, but only three sons.
But his grandson had twenty-four wives and concubines, and fathered forty-four children; his great-grandson was even better than his old master, and gave birth to seventy children.
Yonghe County is located in a remote area with poor soil. The people they met may not even know the name of the current year, but most of them knew the approximate number of clans in the San Francisco Shaanxi Province.
The specific number in people's mouths is different, and it is definitely inaccurate, because it is all related to three, and it is like a jingle.
Three princes, thirty county princes, three thousand generals, three thousand lieutenants, three thousand princesses and county kings.
There are also common people who earn three hundred and one stone per month.
The number is frightening.
But they can't get through Luliang Mountain.
Not only was their large group unable to get through, but even Feng Yu's team to investigate the situation couldn't get through quietly.
If they didn't take the official road to cross the mountains, they would have to leave behind all the artillery and vehicles they had worked so hard to obtain; if they took the official road through the mountains, they would have to pass through two inspection departments and have to fight all the way.
Just when everyone on Yatou Mountain was worried about these inspection divisions, Wei Qian'er of the cavalry team drove his donkeys and mules back from the bottom of the mountain. He went up the mountain and said: "General, the ferry on the other side has been occupied!" p>
For a time, several leaders were shocked.
Liu Chengzong put down his account book and felt angry: "Are the officers and soldiers coming to deliver weapons to us again?"
Yonghe was so poor that he had nothing. The rich areas to the east were blocked by the Luliang Mountains, and the road back to Shaanxi was blocked by the army.
Feng Lun shook his head and said: "They are not official troops. They don't look like it, and there are no flags. There are hundreds of people collecting civilian boats along the river bank. They may want to cross the river. The people sent to observe Yonghe Pass also said that the official troops are mobilizing over there.
."
Several people packed up their clothes and armor, mounted their horses and headed west.
When we reached the east bank and climbed up the hill, we saw across the river bank nearly two hundred paces wide. On the west bank of the Yanshui Pass, hundreds of people were running around in a village composed of the family members of the former guardsmen in the pass. They were carrying baggage and collecting goods.
The boat is launched to the shore.
Looking to the east bank in the south, Yongheguan Pass flags are fluttering, and people are also watching the west bank.
Seeing this scene, Liu Chengzong wondered: "What do they want to do? Want to force the crossing? Can't they wait until night and walk on the pontoon bridge?"
From Yanshuiguan, you can directly walk on the pontoon bridge to the east bank. Although the pontoon bridge is narrower and the walking is slower, the officers and soldiers will not pay attention to the river bank at night.
Liu Chengzong and the others came here via the pontoon bridge.
"I'm afraid not, look over there." Cao Yao pointed to several mountain ridges on the other side one after another, shook his head with wide eyes and said: "Damn, they are all human!"
Not only Yanshui Pass, but also layers of black smoke are rising from several mountain ridges in the west. There are signs of human activity everywhere along the entire winding bank. Small boats and rafts of wood are placed on the shore, and scattered queues are heading towards the mountain road from the mountain road.
Gathering on the river bank.
Especially in the deserted river bank village in the north of Yanshuiguan, it was originally a village with hundreds of people living in scattered places. It was neither too poor nor too rich to be rich. All the crops were cultivated on river bank military farmland.
Now there are also people over there armed with swords and guns and wearing white scarves, driving people out from house to house, demolishing houses, and forcing people to make rafts.
There were people driving donkeys and mules to and fro on the riverside roads, and soon several large flags were scattered across the mountain ridges, and people with generals under each banner looked towards Yonghe Pass.
Gao Xian asked: "Hungry people? Robbers?"
No one can give the answer.
Since the uprising, they have seen hungry people, bandits, and soldiers, but they have never seen hungry people or bandits like this.
They are organized, not a ragtag group like hungry bandits, but compared with the official army, they are too scattered.
He looks like the leader of a group of hungry bandits, united together.
"Wei Qian'er, bring the team over." Liu Chengzong watched attentively as a large number of peasant troops on the other side were preparing to force a crossing. He said without looking back: "Bring the father and son of the Qian family over, and send people to Yonghe Pass to check it out. Official
When the army sends out troops, wave the flag."
"Yes!"
Wei Qian'er took the order to lead his horse and run away. Cao Yao asked: "What, do you think we can join forces with them?"
"We still don't know whether we are friends or foes. Let's bring the team over first and clean up before we talk."
Seeing these peasant troops occupying the mountain ridge and making large-scale preparations, Liu Chengzong was far from happy. He said: "These people make it impossible for us to return to Shaanxi via this road."
Cao Yao strongly agreed with this: "Yes, they are blatant, and there may be officers and soldiers chasing them behind them. Although our troops are strong, they cannot fight a tough battle, not to mention that the food and grass will be used in just a few days."
"They have food and grass."
Liu Chengzong pointed to the north side of the river bank and said: "Look over there, they have pushed out the carts, the boats are also pulling over there, and there are many horse teams."
It was a coincidence that the main crossing point of the peasant army on the other bank seemed to be at the winding road in the north. They took a boat and transported it to the east bank, which happened to be the river beach at the feet of Liu Chengzong and others.
Cao Yao was amused: "What, you want to steal their food and grass?"
"No, no, no, that doesn't mean. They look like there are thousands of people here, and a single horse team is only seven to eight hundred. We may not be able to defeat them smoothly. What's more, even if we defeat them, there are still officers and soldiers in Yonghe Pass. We are attacked from both sides.
I’m afraid not many of our brothers want to be lonely ghosts.”
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "You can try, ask them who their leader is, and beat up the defenders of Yonghe Pass together. There should be food in the city, not to mention...Brother Cao, with this group of people, can we fight
Cross the official road of Luliang Mountain and go to Fenyang to grab a Wangzhuang?"
Just as he was talking, Gao Xian shouted: "We're crossing the river!"
The sound of the hooting horns spread across both sides of the Yellow River.
Liu Chengzong looked up and saw that all the roads on the west bank were crossing the river at the same time. On the north side, a dozen small boats carrying dozens of infantrymen crossed the river first. Two groups of people ran across the river from the pontoon. There were also boats on the south bank carrying infantrymen across the river.
On the hilltop on the east bank, the scouts of the mule camp and horse team waved their flags to convey the news that the Yonghe Pass officers and troops had left the customs.
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Note:
In the early years of Longqing, Shanxi had 3 princes, 46 county kings, 2,606 generals, 3,760 lieutenants, and 3,117 county lords.
——An Jiesheng "Population Growth and Quantitative Statistics of Shanxi Domain in the Ming Dynasty"
