Huangmao Pass is located about thirty miles northwest of Zhushan County. It is an ancient pass at the foot of Zhushan. I don’t know which dynasty was built, and the low walls built with bluestone have basically collapsed.

The originally silent Huangmao Pass suddenly became extremely lively since a few months ago. First, thousands of thieves came here led by Zhang Xianzhong and began to camp at the foot of the flat and open mountain. Later, with Liu Wenxiu, who participated in the war in Shouzhou, Ainengqi joined the joining, and the deserted Huangmao Pass was shouting and neighing all day long, with the hustle and bustle of horses.

Zhang Xianzhong first sent troops to break the nearby Lianghe Town, looted all the gentry and wealthy families in the town and then killed them. With the stolen property and food, he carried the young and strong people from the town and nearby villages back to Huangmao Pass, leaving a small team of people to supervise the remaining elderly, weak, women and children to continue farming and pioneering the land.

He was attracted by the terrain of Zhushan that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, as well as the nearby Zhuxi River and blocking a large number of fields along the two rivers. This place can be used as a base for rest and recuperation. He can run and send troops to loot everywhere. After the troops are strong, they may either go east to attack Xiangyang and De'an Prefecture, or enter Sichuan to the west to create a larger territory.

What he didn't know was that Gao Yingxiang fled west after his defeat in Shouzhou, crossed through Yunxian, more than 200 miles northeast of Zhuxi, and headed straight for Shaanxi.

One of the two sides was busy looting and building construction, while the other was just escaping, but they didn't know the other's existence at all. They didn't expect that the separation of Shouzhou would eventually become a separation between yin and yang.

With Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi finding Zhushan as originally agreed, Zhang Xianzhong learned about the past and after the Battle of Shouzhou and knew that he might go straight to Shaanxi. After hearing that Gao Yingxiang was defeated by several official troops, Zhang Xianzhong laughed loudly and his heart was swept away.

Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi were all very happy. Gao Yingxiang and his subordinates had already made them unhappy. In this defeat, I don’t know how many years would it take to recover again.

Among the four adopted sons, Li Dingguo frowned. After Zhang Xianzhong smiled, he couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he saw him. He asked, "Dingguo, why are you frowning? Gao Chuangzi has been very angry with us in daily life. Now seeing that he is defeated, I am so happy! Why are you doing this?"

Li Dingguo bowed his fists and said, "The adoptive father, my child is also impatient with Gao Chuang's daily behavior. This time his strength is greatly damaged, and it is extremely difficult to make a comeback. But adoptive father, don't forget that Gao Chuang is in front of me in the past few years. I don't have to face the siege of the official army, so I have the opportunity to grow calmly! But now Gao Chuang is defeated, and I have no shedding shelter from the wind and rain. The official army will definitely join forces to form a siege of my camp. This matter must not be considered in advance. Please make a decision early!"

After listening to it, Sun Kewang and others fell into deep thought.

Li Dingguo's words made sense. In the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong and Lao Huihui, Cao Cao, Ge Liyan and other thieves led the crowd to attack Fengyang and burn the imperial tombs. Under the emperor's strict order, various officials and troops launched fierce attacks on their groups of rebels. After several battles and defeated by the official army, everyone had to scatter their lives. In desperation, Zhang Xianzhong led the crowd to join Gao Yingxiang's command in order to protect the remaining subordinates.

"My son is very worried about Dingguo, he is really my good boy!" Zhang Xianzhong praised sincerely.

Sun Kewang said unconvincedly: "Enjoyed Father, I feel that Dingguo is too worried! The defeat of Gao Chuangshou is not due to the bravery of the government army. I think it is due to his own carelessness! If he had been prepared early and would break Shouzhou without waiting for the encirclement of the government army, he would have broken Shouzhou and plundered. One or two official troops would definitely not beat him! Now Huangmao Pass is located in a remote location, and the terrain is dangerous, so we would easily stumble to the government army if it comes. It would be impossible for us to surround us like Shouzhou!"

Liu Wenxiu agreed: "Brother is right! It is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and the government army cannot get it even if it comes! But the second brother is also a mature saying. The child thinks he needs to provoke more sentries to avoid being taken advantage of by the government army if he is careless!"

Ainengqi was silent. Regardless of whether the official army came or not, he just had to obey the orders of his adoptive father.

Zhang Xianzhong nodded in approval and said, "What the children said is reasonable. Let's continue to order later and escort the distance along the surrounding official roads to prevent the government troops from raiding!"

Sun Kewang nodded and responded. He was under his jurisdiction for daily patrol and post-spots. The East and North Roads are the most likely ways for the government troops to come. In a moment, more people will be sent to these two routes.

Zhang Xianzhong continued: "We are planning to stay here for a long time, so we should manage it well! First, we need to harvest more food and grass, second, we need to recruit soldiers and horses, and logistics training, third, we need to send people to Xiangyang to buy salt and iron materials, and ask some blacksmiths, carpenters and other craftsmen, and find a short time to catch his family and build repair armor for us. This matter will be done by Wen Xiu! We need to send more people and bring more money! Wen Xiu is smart and smart, and is just right for this kind of errands!"

Liu Wenxiu held her fists and answered the order.

Among Zhang Xianzhong's adopted sons, Sun Kewang is brave and suitable for leading troops; Li Dingguo is very strategic and suitable for training and leading troops; Liu Wenxiu is smart and suitable for dealing with the outside world; Aineng is dull and loyal, suitable for being a personal death warrior.

Li Dingguo said, "Entertainment father, the child thinks that although Huangmao Pass is dangerous, the territory is a bit cramped. If I want to grow bigger, I have to expand around!"

Zhang Xianzhong smiled and said, "My family, Dingguo, will definitely be a handsome man in the future, and they are much better than me, Old Zhang! He is only in his teenage years old, and he has such a vision. He is still very good when he grows up! Dingguo, tell me, how should we do the next step?"

Sun Kewang glanced at Li Dingguo jealously: This second child likes to attract attention. Who is the adoptive father? How could he have planned to show off like this?

Li Dingguo calmly clasped his fists and said, "The adoptive father was too rewarded, and the child was just thinking about it alone. I hope the adoptive father will give me more advice when he said it!"

Zhang Xianzhong looked at Li Dingguo with a look of gratitude, his eyes full of praise: Only Li Dingguo will achieve the greatest success in the future. He will not panic when encountering problems, be calm and generous, and can always find a solution quickly. It is no exaggeration to say that he is both wise and brave. He had already understood what the few people said just now, and he had plans to come here, but what he could think of in his teenagers, these teenage children could consider, which is what he was most happy about.

Li Dingguo continued: "The child thinks that he should divide his troops to the east and west sides, and then conquer Zhuxi County and Zhushan County respectively. If he breaks these two cities, he can obtain a large amount of property, food, grass and population. Then he imitates the early actions of Lianghe Town and sent people to monitor and supervise the elderly and weak to cultivate land. At this point, I will offer all the large fields between the two counties! When a large amount of food and grass is collected next summer, the two counties will be completely stable. Then send troops to take down Fang County. At this point, this large area of ​​land in Yunnan belongs to me! There is no problem in organizing tens of thousands of soldiers in the three counties. Unless the official army sends more than 50,000 elite troops to suppress it, it will be difficult to stop my rise in the camp!"

Zhang Xianzhong nodded and said, "The words of Dingguo are very suitable for me! Our rebels had been attacking and plundering everywhere before, and they had no habit of staying in the same place! The high-ranking officials of the court all called us thieves! Haha! This name is really wonderful! I have thought in my spare time that if I want to accomplish great things, the word "liu" is not enough! We have to learn from the ancestors of Emperor Zhu, find a place to live and manage, and have to keep calm and make a fortune! Yunyang Mansion is a good land. This time, we will lay our feet on this area and work safely for a few years before we talk about it!"

Then Zhang Xianzhong ordered Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo to lead a thousand elite troops of the old camp and 3,000 ordinary soldiers to capture Zhuxi County to the west and stay in the local area for business; Liu Wenxiu selected dozens of people to carry a large amount of silver to Xiangyang to handle the mission; he himself led 3,000 people to attack Zhushan County 30 miles away, and Ainengqi stayed at Huangmao Pass to defend the Yingpan.

There were no soldiers guarding Zhuxi and Zhushan County. Seeing the bandits attacking, the county government could only organize the defense of Qingzhuang to the city. Most of these young men who had not passed the battle formations could withstand the swords, guns, bows and arrows of the bandits? The green men at the top of the city were basically collapsed at one touch, and both cities fell in less than half an hour. The magistrate, county magistrate and other officials either died in battle or died in the city. They offered camps to plunder the whole city and obtained countless supplies. What made Zhang Xianzhong even more happy was that when he led his troops to break Zhushan County, two county students came to surrender in person.

Both of them are county students, one is Pan Duao and the other is Xu Yixian. They are about the same age, both over 40 years old. The two have close relationships, both claim to be talented and knowledgeable. They usually give guidance and inspire words, but they have been unable to pass the imperial examination for decades.

The two did not look for the reasons from themselves, but they unanimously believed that it was unfairness of the court. Those who passed the imperial examination were all on the list by placing the imperial examination. Therefore, the two were extremely dissatisfied with the imperial court and were extremely resentful.

Although Pan Duao and Xu Yixian had nothing to do with the eight-legged essay, they both like to read miscellaneous books in daily life, especially books such as military strategy and strategy. Over time, they gradually gained some experience in military training and martial arts.

As the situation in the Ming Dynasty became more and more turbulent, the thieves seemed to be rising, and the two of them also had different thoughts. When chatting privately, they were extremely pessimistic about the prospects of the Ming Dynasty, believing that its destruction was an inevitable move. They unanimously agreed that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong were both heroes of a generation, and they would definitely achieve great things in the future.

If we look at the original historical trajectory, the two of them had a very accurate judgment. The Ming Dynasty was indeed destroyed by the hands of thieves, and Zhang Xianzhong eventually became emperor in Shu, and both of them were indeed in high positions in the end.

However, due to the extreme obstruction of information, what they didn't know was that someone who shouldn't have come to this world, and the situation that was originally in danger had undergone tremendous changes.

When the bandits attacked the city and began to loot, they had heard that Pan Duao and Xu Yixian, who had long since joined the famous Zhang Xianzhong, came together to discuss it. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty was not welcomed, so it would be better to just burn a cold stove and throw it into the bandits. With their wisdom and insight, they helped Zhang Xianzhong do something big, and maybe they could win a wife and son in the future and shine on their family.
Chapter completed!