In fact, Liu Chengzong wanted to ask Cao Yao more about the Battle of Sarhu.
It's just that Cao Yao didn't want to talk about it. He could talk about everything before and after that battle, but that battle - he didn't want to talk about it and had nothing to say.
As night falls, smoke rises from the deserted villages in the countryside.
An iron pot was placed on the yellow mud stove. Cao Yao's men cut the thigh-less goose into two halves and put them in the pots of the two teams to stew. They also took some seasonings from the backs of the mules and gave them dry food.
of soup.
When it comes to stew, the soup is the best. One pancake is not enough and there is no way to turn it into two pancakes.
The soup is different. Add some water halfway through and it will become two bowls of soup.
What Cao Yao wants to say is where to go.
"You brothers are scholars. If it hadn't been for the drought and the tax collection, Fourth Master Liu would not have been in trouble and let you two serve as soldiers. You are both sensible and knowledgeable."
He raised his hand and swept through the village, saying: "My twenty-seven brothers are from Beizhili, Shanxi, Shandong, and Henan. Even if their hometown is in Shaanxi, there are none left."
"Your brother is a soldier crazy. As soon as he entered the village, he climbed up and looked far away. He set up sentry posts and couldn't find anyone. Let me ask you. Please tell me the truth."
Cao Yao looked around, moved closer to Liu Chengzong, and asked in a low voice: "What are your plans for this group to go south?"
Liu Chengzong was really serious. He wiped the grease stains from his mouth, shook his head and said, "I don't know."
He was doubtful whether the Ming Dynasty would be overthrown by the Yinchuan postmen who taught him riding skills more than ten years later. In the blink of an eye, his brother was kicked out of Yuhebao.
He received the notice at noon and set off in the afternoon, sleeping in the wilderness at night. The team only carried two and a half days of dry food. No matter what he thought at this time, it was too pale.
What are you thinking about, how to protect the world in more than ten years?
He didn't even know what he would eat in three days or even whether he would be able to reach Ansai in three days.
But seeing Cao Yao's disappointed eyes, Liu Chengzong couldn't bear it.
He knew that if there was no other way, Cao Yao could only lead people up the mountain to become bandits.
Liu Chengzong pondered for a moment and sighed: "Brother Cao, where do you think Zuo Guazi hit?"
The Zuo Guazi he called Wang Zhijue, also known as Zuo Guazi, was also called Wang Zuo Gua. He raised an army in Long'erzui, Yichuan. The court knew about this man last year and said that he had a bandit riding on thousands of people.
A native of Qingjian, he went into the mountains to become bandits in his early years. Miao Mei, Feishan Hu, Big Red Wolf and others who were with him were the leaders of thieves who gathered in the mountains and forests in the south.
Cao Yao squinted his eyes, rummaged through his bag, took out a cigarette rod and pipe, put a little on it and lit it on the bonfire, and asked amid the smoke: "You mean, you want me to vote for Zuo Gua Zi?
"
Tobacco was still a rare thing in the north at this time. It flowed from Luzon to Fujian for cultivation. It was brought to the north due to the transfer of soldiers from the south to the north, and it was given the function of repelling the cold.
It is popular among the officer class in the frontier army in Yansui Town.
But what Cao Yao took out from the backs of the two mules, whether it was the old tobacco from the robbery the year before or the items obtained from the border army officers, would not surprise Liu Chengzong.
"Zuo Guazi was mentioned during the meeting in Yuhe Fort. The official document said that he had thieves riding on the crowd. I don't believe it." Cao Yao shook his head and said: "Even counting those who ride horses, donkeys, oxen, and mules, there is one
Two thousand riders are as strong as the sky."
He clearly looked down on Wang Zuoguan and did not think this was a clear path. He puffed out smoke and waved his hands and said: "It would be better to go find Wang Jiayin than to vote for him."
Wang Jiayin was also a thief, and his subordinates, including Bu Zhan Mu, Yang Liu and others, specialized in plundering wealthy families in Fugu County at the junction of Qin and Jin within the northeastern wall of Yuhe Fort.
Liu Chengzong waved his hands quickly and said: "I don't want to surrender, I just want to avoid them."
The memory in his mind was not clear about the endless number of rebel leaders who emerged during this period. There were only three people who could be named, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Zicheng.
Coincidentally, he knew all three of them.
Gao Yingxiang is an Ansai native and the leader of the horse thieves. He once lived in Mizhi prison from spring to autumn for smuggling horses. He knows a lot of things. He has taught horse physiognomy, horse riding and archery, and has some practical experience in riding.
They tried their best to teach the two brothers so that Liu Juren could let him out, but Liu Juren was timid and Gao Yingxiang's brother outside did not dare to ask for the gold and silver boxes when they were sent to his home.
In the end, Liu Chengzong had finished eating Gao Yingxiang's life, and it was his brothers from outside who bribed the then county magistrate to rescue him.
The night Gao Yingxiang was released from the cell, he led his men back to the city, shot their door with a bow and arrow, and smashed a brass door knocker with a brick.
This man gathered hungry people in Ansai and raised an army last year. In another memory of Liu Chengzong, he was called Chuangwang and fought in the east and west.
The Liu brothers were not very familiar with Zhang Xianzhong, who later became the Emperor of Daxi. They had only met him once. Before the two brothers joined the army, they had a running banquet in their hometown. They only remember that a Yan'an policeman named Zhang Xianzhong drank a lot of wine that day.
, making a fool of himself by criticizing the sky and the earth, and full of complaints.
There was also Yinchuan Postmaster Li Zicheng, who was still called Li Hongji at this time. He was the same age as Liu Chengzu, so Liu Chengzong would call him Huang Wa Ge when he met, as the relationship was not far or close.
At that time, Liu Juren asked Yi Cheng to teach him how to ride, but he was reluctant to even treat him to a delicious meal. He stopped coming after a few visits, so he sent young Li Hongji to teach him for a while.
Liu Chengzong didn't know who was good and who was bad, who was strong and who was weak among these heroes who raised armies, but he knew that whoever lived longer would be more powerful.
Therefore, the other leaders of the army were unreliable, and defecting to them would be a dead end. Naturally, they did not recommend Cao Yao to defect to them. He just asked: "Where do you think these thieves are now scattered?"
Cao Yao did not answer immediately. He squinted his eyes and muttered: "Go away from them. Zuo Guazi and Wang Jiayin have more horses. Yes, we have to go away - but we have to go south, and so do they.
Go south!"
They were hiding not only because they were afraid of meeting each other on a narrow road, but also because large animals and people had to eat, and where the rebels walked they were afraid that there would be no grass in the mountains.
Running into them is a dead end, and even following them on the same path they have taken is a dead end.
As he spoke, Cao Yao picked out a short branch from the bonfire, drew on the ground and said: "They are getting more and more powerful. Are we not afraid that the imperial court will mobilize the border troops to fight against them? They must leave the border defense and the border troops will cross the border."
The further away the better.”
"The roads in northern Shaanxi are all sideways, and there are mountains everywhere. If the officers and soldiers cannot enter the mountains, they cannot enter the mountains either." Cao Yao easily used the Yellow River to separate Shaanxi and Shanxi, and connected several towns as important nodes by drawing lines.
"The mountains north of Yan'an are all bare. Whoever enters will starve to death. They must either cross the Yellow River eastward and enter the Luliang Mountains, or they must go south, south of Yan'an."
Liu Chengzong looked at the route drawn by Cao Yao and couldn't help but secretly praise him, "He is indeed an old thief who escaped to aid the Liao Dynasty!" He stretched out his hand on the ground and pointed at the dots along the west bank of the Yellow River from north to south and said: "Mizhi, Sui.
De, Qingjian, Yanchuan, Yanchang, Yichuan, Hancheng, this is Yaozhou, right?"
After passing Hancheng, Cao Yao turned slightly west, pointed out three points at the intersection of three rivers, looked up at Liu Chengzong and said with a smile: "Those who have read books know geography."
After that, he raised his hand and patted the three points twice, then took over the conversation and said: "Fuping, Sanyuan, Jingyang, approaching Xi'an Prefecture, the richest and most fertile places in Weibei, I heard that this tobacco was transported from the south.
Jingyang, where Qie is."
"If I were that desperate Zuo Guazi, I would definitely take this and bring it to Shanxi!"
