I

Huguang, Liuyang County.

The county magistrate's name was Feng Zuwang, the son of Feng Menglong, the author of "Three Words", and a disciple of Xue Fujiao, the Eight Gentlemen of Donglin.

Feng Zuwang was deeply influenced by Li Zhi's thoughts because of his father's relationship. On the one hand, he advocated helping the world and saving the people, but on the other hand, he was cynical, and his whole life was extremely tangled and painful.

Feng Zuwang was a Jinshi in the fourth year of Chongzhen, and his first official position was the magistrate of Liuyang County.

After taking office, Feng Zuwang cared about the sufferings of the people, personally visited the fields, and wrote "Eight Difficulties and Seven Sufferings" to reflect the various sufferings suffered by the people of Liuyang. In his writing, the land in Liuyang is very barren, with many rice fields yielding only 1 stone per mu, and the yield of top-quality fields not exceeding 3 stones per mu.

First, the imperial court sent more troops, and then Pingxiang County next door was occupied by that sweeping king.

Feng Zuwang, a scholar who knew nothing, could only try his best to raise food and salary and recruit local brave men just in case.

This summer, the sweeping king really came, specially coming to rob summer grain!

"Your Majesty, the rebels have fallen into a trap!" A scholar ran over happily.

Feng Zuwang was awarded Jinshi at the age of 46, and he is already 51 years old this year. When he saw the thieves at the bottom of the mountain, chasing the defeated soldiers, he immediately drew his scribe's sword: "Fellows and elders, follow me to kill the thieves!"

Twelve hundred local warriors suddenly burst out from the mountains and charged towards an enemy three times their own size.

The Sweeping King did not personally plunder Liuyang, this time he came to "fly to the sky".

Fei Shangtian was also very depressed. He led his troops to attack Liuyang County twice, but was defeated both times. This time we finally encountered officers and soldiers in the wild, so naturally they had to chase them one after another. As they chased them, they lost their minds and forgot that there was a dense mountain forest ahead.

"kill!"

Liuyang Township warriors are as powerful as a rainbow. They protect their hometown and their own fields and food. These rebels who crossed the border from Jiangxi committed all kinds of crimes, including burning, killing, looting, and arousing public anger in Liuyang.

More than three thousand rebels were ambushed by more than a thousand Xiangyong, and they immediately turned around and fled in panic.

Fifty-one-year-old Feng Zuwang was out of breath from exhaustion when he ran out of the forest. He was too embarrassed to stop, gritted his teeth and kept chasing, finally catching up with the rebel who fell into the rice field.

Before Feng Zuwang could take action, two local warriors took out bamboo spears and stabbed the rebel to death.

In front of the rebels was a small river. In panic, many rebels jumped directly into the river to escape, while many others fled southeast along the river bank.

The thief flew into the sky for the first time, and now he was jumping anxiously. He found that there were not many Xiangyong chasing him, and they had already dispersed. At this time, as long as he brought more than a hundred people with him, he could turn around and kill the village heroes, but there were only a dozen old thieves around him who were willing to obey.

But I saw a brave military officer from the countryside, holding a hundred-smelting steel knife in his hand, running extremely quickly across the field ridge.

Flying into the sky and seeing this man coming alone, he immediately shouted: "Go back and kill that guy!"

However, only six old thieves were obedient, and the rest chose to continue running for their lives.

With one against seven, the local brave officers were not afraid and just rushed along the field ridge to kill. Six old thieves jumped into the field and flew into the sky to surround and kill this man. The two sides were about to collide in the blink of an eye.

At this time, the rice is not yet mature, and the tips of the rice that have just eared have grown as high as a person's waist.

The heroic officer jumped into one side of the rice field, pushed aside the rice stalks, and rushed forward with his bare feet in the mud. He swung his Bailian Steel Sword and killed an old thief with one strike. He then turned around and struck another traitor with another strike, killing the second rebel.

"Run!"

The remaining old thieves were shocked when they saw this, dropped the leader and flew into the sky, turned around and fled.

Flying into the sky, he had already reached his head. Regardless of the pursuers in the distance, he actually jumped into the rice fields, hoping to catch and fight with the country warrior officer.

"when!"

The two sides cut each other quickly across the rice.

Unfortunately, it is not that convenient to move around the paddy fields while wearing shoes while flying into the sky. The Xiangyong officer pushed aside the rice and soon came to his side. He flew up into the sky and tried so hard to lift his feet that he tore off one of his shoes.

A flash of sword light flew into the sky and his left arm was decorated with colors.

Officer Xiangyong moved again, already behind Fei Shangtian, and struck out with another extremely fast sword.

It flew into the sky and collapsed in pain, crushing several nests of rice, but it did not die immediately. The man struggled to get up, but before he could stand still, he was struck in the neck with a knife.

The local brave officer stepped over and cut off the head, raised his head high and shouted: "Prince Hui of Liuyang, behead the thief here!"

The rebel bandits from Jiangxi invaded Huguang. For a few people, this was the time to make achievements.

Feng Zuwang led his troops to pursue him all the way, and he was so tired that he stuck out his tongue. When he heard that Wang Hui had beheaded the thief, he immediately lay on the ground and laughed.

But it was said that those rebels were defeated and were killed and fled back to Pingxiang County. The next day they were ordered to gather in Yuanzhou Fucheng.

They slowly headed to Yuanzhou. On the way, they heard that they were going to fight King Zhao Tian, ​​and they were trembling with fear. That night, most of them fled and hid in Wugong Mountain.

That was King Zhao Tian. He defeated the government troops several times. Two Jiangxi governors were expelled and a Jiangxi general soldier was captured.

How can we defeat such a rebel ancestor?

The Sweeping King was guarding the city in Yuanzhou Mansion at this time. Hearing the information reported every day, he was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Brother, surrender." Yi Zhangbing said with a frown.

"Fuck you!"

The Sweeping King roared angrily: "You don't know how much blood we have on our hands. If you surrender, you will die, so why don't you give it a damn fight! This guy surnamed Zhao is not righteous at all. He has agreed not to attack each other." .I didn’t hit him, but he hit me instead!”

Yi Zhangbing said: "There are deserters every day, sliding down the city wall along the rope. They can guard against here but not over there."

"They are all eggless cowards, and they have the guts to rebel!" The sweeping king was very depressed.

If he wanted to expand his territory, he had only four options. One was to go east to fight Zhao Han, the other was to go southwest to attack Chaling County, the third was to go northwest to attack Liuyang County, and the fourth was to go north to attack Wanzai County.

The sweeper king would never dare to fight Zhao Han, so he could only choose the next three.

But the turmoil in Jiangxi is so big that Huguang officials have long been alert. Both Chaling and Liuyang counties were guarded by officers and soldiers. Two strong attacks were ineffective, and attempts to deceive the city also failed.

Wanzai County in the north was even more speechless. More than 500 officers and soldiers were stationed at Tieyan Pass. The sweeping king and his troops could only watch dumbly.

Being blocked in three counties, if nothing happens, King Sweeper can continue to enjoy his life, but who knows that King Zhao will fall out whenever he wants!

…

Huang Yao was stationed in Linjiang Prefecture and Fei Ruhe was stationed in Wan'an County. They had to guard against sudden attacks by officers and soldiers.

In this western expedition, Li Zheng led troops to attack Yuanzhou Prefecture, and Jiang Dashan led troops to attack Yongxin County.

Yongxin County is the territory of the Nine-Headed Bird and the Zhenshan Tiger. The Nine-Headed Bird occupies the county seat and the Zhenshan Tiger occupies the Lianhua Township.

Jiang Dashan led his troops to the outside of Yongxin County. He did not choose to attack the city immediately. Instead, he camped outside the city in preparation for a siege and reinforcements.

I waited and waited, but the Zhenshan Tiger still didn't come to the rescue.

Therefore, Jiang Dashan asked his soldiers to plant more flags and led 800 men to continue to guard the county town. All the remaining troops were sent to attack Lianhua Township.

"Report!!!"

"There are no bandits in Lianhua Township. According to investigation, it is known that Zhenshan Tiger has escaped into Huguang territory!"

Jiang Dashan was so angry that his liver ached. These rebels were so unloyal. The friendly troops were besieged and did not come to rescue them. They actually fled to Huguang without fighting a single battle.

When his large army came back, crossed the river and lurked into the mountains, Jiang Dashan ordered: "Send people to shout outside the city, saying that the Zhenshan Tigers defeated Lianhua Township and only took a few dozen old thieves to escape to Huguang."

More than a dozen loud voices, holding tin trumpets in their hands, took a boat and shouted at the tower:

"Zhenshanhu defeated Lianhua Township and fled to Huguang with only dozens of old thieves. You have no reinforcements!"

"Zhenshanhu defeated Lianhua Township and fled to Huguang with only dozens of old thieves. You have no reinforcements!"

The rebels in the city were frightened.

A few days ago, there was a message saying that Yuanzhou City was under siege and it was impossible for the Sweeping King to come to rescue Yongxin County.

That night, more than thirty thieves carrying belongings in large and small boxes sneaked to a certain section of the city wall in the west. Other rebel thieves were mobilized in advance along the way.

The nine-headed bird stood guard on the city tower and asked his confidants to hoist the belongings in baskets outside the city to be taken away.

Yongxin County is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on one side. There is only a small amount of flat land to launch attacks. It is very fatal to attack the city by force.

"Bang!"

The basket suddenly fell from mid-air and the box hit the ground. It was locked but not opened.

The nine-headed bird shouted in a low voice: "Be careful!"

The confidant cried bitterly: "Master Jiu, the silver is too heavy, and the brothers didn't hold it."

The anti-thief sentry on another section of the city wall heard the movement and came over to check. They were very alert and felt something was wrong. He didn't dare to get closer, but turned around and ran away shouting: "Master Jiu is running away, Master Nine is running away!"

The rebels in the city quickly became excited and opened the city gates one after another, hoping to take advantage of the chaos and run away first.

Jiang Dashan heard the movement and immediately ordered: "The whole army crosses the river and attacks the city!"

The soldiers stationed in the northwest mountains quickly fought their way out of the mountains, and the bandits could only flee to the mountains to the west.

The nine-headed bird didn't care about carrying any belongings, and only let each of his henchmen take away dozens of taels of silver, and then fled to the mountains to the west in terror.

"kill!"

As Datong soldiers came to pursue them, one bandit after another knelt down and surrendered.

There are only a few roads into the mountains, and they are all very narrow. The thieves and bandits crowded together, and they all thought the friendly troops were blocking their way, so they started killing each other.

"Get out of my way!"

The nine-headed bird is also killing people. He has more than thirty confidants around him, and each of them has dozens of taels of silver in his arms.

Moreover, they wore leather armor and had relatively sophisticated weapons in their hands. They chopped down friendly troops blocking the way while running for their lives. There were corpses everywhere they passed.

Finally, when a bandit saw the nine-headed bird coming to kill him, he was so frightened that he shouted smartly: "Kill the nine-headed bird and go to King Zhao Tian to ask for credit!"

"Kill the nine-headed bird!"

"Kill the nine-headed bird!"

Up and down the mountain, the rebels roared angrily, and Nine-Headed Bird and more than thirty of his henchmen were blocked in the middle.

Suddenly, a henchman slashed out with a knife, and the nine-headed bird was hacked to death by his own soldiers before he could even react.

"The nine-headed bird is dead, I killed it!"

This man cut off the head of the nine-headed bird and was suddenly stabbed in the back. He was also killed inexplicably.

The murderer grabbed the head, waved his weapon wildly, and quickly climbed to the nearby cliff while the friendly troops were retreating. This guy threw away his weapon, held the head of the nine-headed bird, and actually slid down the steep mountain wall.

"Get your head quickly!"

Inexplicably, many thieves came down the mountain, trying to snatch the head of the nine-headed bird.

There were also many bandits who took the opportunity to escape into the mountains and fled over the mountains towards Huguang. They dare not stay here. King Zhao Tian is too terrible. He can rebel again after going to Huguang.

When Jiang Dashan led his troops to pursue him, a group of rebels were fighting at the foot of the mountain, just to snatch the head.