Without Zhang Xutuo's interception and attack, and without temptation or coercion, Lu Mingyue chose to run south.
There are no other reasons. The first is that Qi County is too poor. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the decent thieves in Shandong, such as Zuo Xiaoyou, Wang Bo, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, etc., almost all came from Qi County started an incident and made a fortune, and after several raids, Qi County is still alive except for a few county towns, and the villages are already hard to see people living. No one is farming and growing food. Who will Lu Mingyue snatch? You can't besiege the county seat of Qi County under Zhang Xutuo's nose, right
The second is that Zhang Xutuo stationed troops in Licheng, blocking Lu Mingyue's way to the east. Although Lu Mingyue is not afraid of Zhang Xutuo, she is not far away from the famous Zhang Xutuo. At the same time, the eastern part of Qi County is all poor places, and there are many local snakes like Wang Bo, Hao Xiaode, and Sun Xuanya. Even if Lu Mingyue insists on moving eastward, she will not be able to grab enough to support more than 100,000 people. Consumed food may also add new enemies.
With few choices, of course Lu Mingyue chose the safer and easier way to flee to the south. The exhausted Zhang Xutuo's team did not stop him, and carefully guarded Licheng. Going south beside him, he did not fight Lu Mingyue to the end with an exhausted army like in history. And Lu Mingyue was also very smart not to set foot in Zhang Xutuo's defense area, and carefully monitored Zhang Xutuo's team with the main force, covering the whole army out of Qi County, and went south into Jibei County.
Cheng Yaojin's hometown in the eastern part of Jibei County is also a ghostly place where ordinary people can't even wear pants. Lu Mingyue still has no chance to get food. Originally, Lu Mingyue heard that the situation in the west of Jibei is better, so she once planned to go west to eat. , but his younger brother Lu Mingxing warned that Jibei is close to Qi County, and Zhang Xutuo has stationed troops in Licheng. At that time, maybe they will steal chickens without losing money. Instead of taking the risk of living in the poor and withered Jibei, it is better to continue going south and go to the south where money, food and beauties are everywhere.
Feeling that what her younger brother said was very reasonable, Lu Mingyue led the army and continued southward into Lu County. Of course, the money and food situation in Lu County, Kong Shengren's hometown, was better than that in Jibei. Long ago, like Cheng Yaojin, he had built a self-defense Wubao, and organized village brave guards, but all the people who had some food and rice had all moved to Wubao, so Lu Mingyue had only one way to rob food for self-sufficiency, breaking the Wubao. Fort Tucheng to get food.
Fortunately, Lu Mingyue has nothing else under his command. The bandit army has as many soldiers as they want. They fled all the way from Zhuo County to the territory of Lu County. Lu Mingyue continued to recruit refugees and thieves to join, and the team had already expanded to more than 100,000. It is not a problem to bully Wubao, which has only a few hundred Xiangyong guards, but after entering Lu County, in just ten days, Lu Mingyue's team broke through four Wubao, massacred all the residents in the fort, and killed all the forts. Stored food in the dock, and at the same time absorbed some local bandits and a large number of refugees and hungry people, and the team grew to more than 120,000 people. With the introduction of these local bandits, I have a certain understanding of various situations in the Qingxu area. It is more convenient to loot and get food.
It was also a coincidence that the leader of a small group of rogues that Lu Mingyue had newly recruited happened to be Huo Xiaohan, the deputy deputy of Lu Mingxing, the ex-Jinbei big bandit. The attention and attention of the family brothers, and because Huo Xiaohan wandered in the hinterland of Shandong all the year round, looting and familiarizing with the terrain and the people, he was quickly promoted to his side by the Lu Mingyue brothers and used as a staff officer. The result was very natural. It is only natural that the famous name of the Lu family has been heard by the brothers of the Lu family.
Brother Lu Mingyue heard Chen Yingliang's name for the first time after Lu Mingyue's rebel army broke through the fifth Wubao. , paid more than 600 lives, and finally captured the fort, but what made the Lu family brothers angry was that in this hard-won Wubao, the food in the fort was only a mere 600 shi, which was not enough for Lu. Mingyue's army ate for a whole day, and after learning about the situation, Lu Mingyue was of course furious, and immediately ordered the residents of the fort to be buried alive, no matter men, women, old or young. Fort
"Forgive me, my lord. No, I can be sure that there is not much food in any Wubao in this area." Huo Xiaohan replied with a wry smile: "It's not the season, Shandong's food is mainly winter wheat, and it's only late February now. , it is the time when there is no harvest, no matter which Wubao is impossible to store too much grain, it must wait until April after the wheat harvest is possible for these Wubao to store more grain. This Wubao can store There are six hundred stones of grain, which is quite good."
"Is it necessary to garrison troops for a while, and wait until the wheat is harvested before sending troops to rob food?" Lu Mingyue once had this idea, and then immediately gave up this plan-although the food in the army is barely enough to last until April, the army can't be idle. It would be too wasteful to move, so he asked Huo Xiaohan again: "Then in Lu County, where else is there more food?"
"Of course there are places with a lot of food." Huo Xiaohan replied truthfully: "The county government of Lu County is the most in Xiaqiu City, and the county towns of Qufu, Surabaya and Bocheng also have a lot of food, but these places are protected by cities, and so are the officers and soldiers in the cities. If you are smart, seeing how many of us there are, we will definitely stay behind closed doors, it will not be so easy for us to get some cities."
"Who asked you if you store grain in the city?" Lu Mingming interjected angrily, "Brother is asking the folks, where are the folks stocking more grain?"
"Folk...?" Huo Xiaohan recalled it carefully for a while, and then said: "The food storage situation of the people in Zou County and Rencheng should be better. It is close to the county, and the government and army often send troops to protect it. The people should have more food."
Speaking of this, Huo Xiaohan quickly added: "But King Lu, the villain has something to say first, the food in that area is not easy to get, because the county governor Xiaqiu is next to it, once we get there, we will definitely have to fight the government and army. It also borders Pengcheng County, and I heard that little Chen Qingzhi is also stationed in Pengcheng County, and we crossed Xiaqiu to Zou County and Rencheng to get food, threatened the north of Pengcheng, and invited little Chen Qingzhi to send troops to attack, then we will be in trouble."
"Little Chen Qingzhi? Is that the little Chen Qingzhi who broke Yang Xuangan?" The Lu family brothers had heard of little Chen Qingzhi, so they asked curiously together.
"Yes, that's him!" Huo Xiaohan nodded quickly, and said through gritted teeth: "This bastard's real name is Chen Yingliang, but our local volunteers call him Chen Sangliang, who is cruel, vicious, and most treacherous." However, many leaders would rather meet Zhang Xutuo than fight this Chen Sangliang. Zhang Xutuo is just ruthless, he is poisonous, treacherous and poisonous. Brother Lu Mingxing was brought to life by this Chen Sangliang Damn it!"
Cursing, Huo Xiaohan, one of the parties involved, carefully introduced what happened at the Tongji Canal, especially emphasizing the treachery and insidiousness of Chen Yingliang who took a fake hostage to kill Lu Mingxing, which made Lu Mingyue brothers dumbfounded . At the end, Huo Xiaohan said kindly: "King Lu, please say a word, if we can fight this traitor, it is best not to meet him. This traitor is really too cunning. As long as our rebels meet him, we will not be able to fight him." One will end well."
"My lord is not even afraid of Zhang Xutuo's old dog? Are you afraid of Chen Sangliang, a running dog?" Lu Mingyue said contemptuously: "If he has the ability, just let him come here, a despicable villain who only knows how to take advantage of it, what do I do?" Clean him up."
After speaking contemptuously, Lu Mingyue made some calculations, and quickly decided: "Go south, go to Rencheng and Zou County to get food, first get through the period of non-recovery, and then we will come back to collect food."
"Brother, Huo Xiaohan just said that both Rencheng and Zouxian County are close to Lu County, and if we go there, we are afraid that we will have to fight the government and the army." Lu Mingming reminded carefully.
"Do we need to be afraid?" Lu Mingyue asked with a sneer. Seeing that Lu Mingyue is so confident, she also knows that her own army of 110,000 is enough to deter ordinary officers and soldiers from taking action. People sent orders to organize the army to go south for food.
So, just like that, in order not to let the huge army waste food in vain, and in order not to waste human life and effort to attack Wubao in the northern part of Lu County, which has few grains, the Lu brothers swaggered and led the army south. Just as Lu Mingyue expected, after inquiring about the size of Lu Mingyue's team, the officers and soldiers of Lu County who were stationed outside Xiaqiu City obediently rolled back to the city and stood firm, not daring to dispatch a single soldier to intercept and fight. Qufu, Rencheng, Zouxian and other county towns were even more closed during the day, for fear that Lu Mingyue would come into the city to slaughter the city for food. In addition to asking for help, the other is to pray for the blessing of the heavens, so that Lu Mingyue will leave early.
As far as the government is concerned, the only advantage of Lu Mingyue's huge team going south is that it facilitates Tao Guang, the magistrate of Teng County, who was ordered to lure the enemy, to contact Lu Mingyue. Because of the chaotic world, he sent messengers to contact Lu Mingyue several times before. After success, in order to escape from the hopeless mess of the Qingxu battlefield earlier, Tao Guang was also cruel, and simply sent his brother-in-law as a messenger to contact Lu Mingyue north with his letter of false surrender. Ma reported the military situation to Chen Yingliang without mentioning it.
When Tao Guang's brother-in-law found Lu Mingyue's team, Lu Mingyue had just broken through a fort around Rencheng (Jining), and snatched more than a thousand stones of people's food from it. Unsatisfied, he was sending people around to find out where there was more food. At this moment, Tao Guang's brother-in-law who declared that he had a confidential matter to report was also brought in front of Lu Mingyue. Without hesitation, Tao Guang's brother-in-law saluted. While voluntarily reporting the origin of his identity, he emphasized that he and Tao Guang are relatives of Uncle Lang, which is absolutely reliable, and then hurriedly presented Tao Guang's autographed letter.
The future supreme emperor Lu Mingyue is also a ruthless character. After reading the letter written by Tao Guang with the county magistrate's seal, although he was overjoyed in his heart, his face remained calm. After a little calculation, Lu Mingyue suddenly shouted: " Come, push this lackey of the government who dares to lie to me, and behead him for public display!"
The soldiers sang promises, pulled Tao Guang's brother-in-law up and left, of course Tao Guang's brother-in-law was anxious, and hurriedly shouted: "King Lu, I didn't lie to you, I didn't lie to you, I really came to deliver a letter for my brother-in-law what."
"Maybe you didn't lie to me, but your brother-in-law did!" Lu Mingyue shouted loudly.
"Your Majesty, did my brother-in-law lie to you?" The brother-in-law shouted loudly, "He really wanted to dedicate Teng County to you, so he sent me to deliver a letter to you. How could he deceive you? Please think about it, my lord. If my brother-in-law is here to lie to me, why would I let my brother-in-law deliver the letter and lead the way? Isn’t that asking me to die in vain? I’m his brother-in-law, his child’s real uncle, how could he be willing to let me die in vain? "
"It's reasonable, but I'm asking you." Lu Mingyue held up the letter in her hand and said with a sneer, "Officer Chen Yingliang wants to dismiss your brother-in-law from office and demote him to a commoner. It's such a secret thing. How could your brother-in-law Tao Guang advance?" Know? Isn't this lying to me? What is it?"
"My brother-in-law and Fushi Chen's confidant Qian Xiangmin are good friends." The brother-in-law hurriedly explained: "When Qian Xiangmin joined the army last time when he came to Teng County on business, my brother-in-law gave him a lot of good things and gave him another The girl Huang Hua slept with him, and Qian Xiangmin got on the line with my brother-in-law. This time, Fushi Chen was about to dismiss my brother-in-law, so Qian Xiangmin quietly sent us a letter, telling my brother-in-law to make preparations and destroy what should be destroyed. All the things were destroyed, so as not to find out the evidence and die even worse. My brother-in-law was afraid of losing his head, and he just happened to hear that you led the army to the south, so he sent me to deliver a letter begging for surrender."
"Why is your brother-in-law afraid of losing his head?" Lu Mingyue asked again.
Tao Guang's brother-in-law was a little hesitant, looked around, and then said in a low voice: "Teng County is the place where Pengcheng's officers and soldiers store grain on the northern line. My brother-in-law secretly sold some army grain to support the family. I wanted to wait a month later when the wheat was harvested. , but Fushi Chen suddenly decided to dismiss my brother-in-law, and if this matter is found out, he will definitely lose his head, so my brother-in-law is so afraid."
"Is Teng County the northern line of the Pengcheng army's grain storage area?" Lu Mingyue's eyes lit up, she hurriedly asked, and waved the soldiers to let go of Tao Guang's brother-in-law.
"Yes." My brother-in-law nodded, and replied truthfully: "Teng County is located in the northernmost part of Pengcheng, and it borders Langya, where there are many thieves. In order to facilitate the dispatch of troops, Chen Fushi set up a military grain warehouse in Teng County. All the surplus grain is hoarded in Teng County. Everyone in Pengcheng knows about it, you can send someone to inquire immediately, my lord, and if the villain lies, you can chop me up."
Lu Mingyue's eyes became brighter, and she hurriedly turned her gaze to Huo Xiaohan who was next to her. Huo Xiaohan understood, and hurriedly came up and whispered: "My lord, he didn't lie, I have heard that Teng County is Chen Sangliang's grain storage area, but The city is too strong, and there are many defenders, no one dares to make a move here."
Lu Mingyue was even more delighted when she heard that, and hurriedly helped Tao Guang's brother-in-law, comforted her, and apologized that she had misunderstood her, and asked how Tao Guang planned to dedicate the city, and her brother-in-law said truthfully that Tao Guang was planning to surround the county in Lu Mingyue Then, at night, with three red lights as a signal, a city gate was quietly opened to welcome Lu Mingyue into the city. Then my brother-in-law followed Tao Guang's instructions and begged Lu Mingyue to give him the youngest daughter of the big Huang family in the county after entering the city. Lu Mingyue was overjoyed when she heard that, and hurriedly patted her brother-in-law on the shoulder and smiled, "Okay, my lord promises you, as long as your brother-in-law keeps the promise and opens the city gate, no matter how many daughters of that big Huang family there are, they will all belong to you."
The brother-in-law was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted Lu Mingyue to thank him. Lu Mingyue laughed and sent the brother-in-law down, and would lead the way for the self-armed army when the troops were dispatched. As soon as my brother-in-law left, Lu Mingming immediately came up to him and reminded him: "Brother, I heard that Chen Yingliang is a cunning traitor, especially good at cheating. You need to be careful that this is his trick to lure the enemy."
"Yes, Your Majesty, you must be careful." Huo Xiaohan also reminded: "Chen Sangliang is notoriously fond of ambushes. If this is his trick, he set up an ambush outside Teng County on our way south. If you fall into his trap, you will be in big trouble."
"Have you traveled the road south to Teng County?" Lu Mingyue asked Huo Xiaohan.
"Walk once." Huo Xiaohan replied truthfully.
"Is there any section of the road with high mountains and dangerous roads?" Lu Mingming asked, and then asked: "Also, outside of Teng County, is there any place suitable for ambush for a large number of troops?"
"This..." Huo Xiaohan recalled carefully, and answered after a while: "No, from here to Teng County in the south, it is a flat plain without any high mountains and dangerous roads. There is no place outside Teng County where a large number of troops can be ambushed. Back then Zhang Dahu was defeated, and the younger one came here to recruit the rest of Zhang Dahu's troops. He wanted to occupy a dangerous mountain and build a cottage, but there is not even a decent mountain next to Teng County. Only Baodu Mountain is suitable for building a cottage, but it is far away from Teng County. The county seat is a full 130 miles away, and there are no nearby villages that can be plundered, so the small one gave up the idea."
"Isn't that the end?" Lu Mingyue laughed and said, "There isn't even a decent mountain, what kind of ambush can the little thief Chen Yingliang set up? Why should we be afraid of him?"
"Brother is right." Lu Mingxing came to his senses, nodded and said, "That's right. As far as the road and terrain are concerned, it is impossible for Chen Yingliang's dog officer to ambush us. If we go south to Teng County, the most dangerous consequence is to face Chen Yingliang's dog officer's main force head-on. It’s a decisive battle, but I heard that this dog officer doesn’t have many troops, so we don’t need to be afraid of him.”
"Of course you don't have to be afraid." Lu Mingyue laughed loudly, and then roared: "The order will go down, the army will rest on the spot, count the carriages, horses, food and grass, and go south to Teng County tomorrow. First take down the Teng County granary, and then fight with Chen Gouguan. Rescue decisive battle!"
…
The movement of Lu Mingyue's bandits advancing to the north was sent to Zhang Xutuo by the officer of Lu County on a fast horse. Zhang Xutuo, who was slowly heading south with the rested army, was a little speechless and said in surprise: "What the hell is Chen boy?" How did you do it? How can you say that if you lure Lu Mingyue to march towards Pengcheng, Lu Mingyue will really go to the north of Pengcheng? It’s so accurate that it’s almost as if he is commanding the bandit army, isn’t that amazing?”
"Ninety-nine percent is a scam again." Mulan next to her curled her lips and said disdainfully: "Using tricks to lure thieves to the south, take the opportunity to set up an ambush on a dangerous road, maybe they will poison the jaw again, and then suddenly come out, opportunistic Take the credit, he is the best at such things.”
Zhang Xutuo smiled, and just about to speak, his face suddenly changed, and he blurted out: "No, boy Chen is definitely not fighting like this this time! I have been to the north of Pengcheng, and the area is all plains and open land, and there is no place suitable for ambush !"
"Then how did he play tricks and cheat?" Mulan asked in surprise.
Zhang Xutuo thought about it for a while, and then slowly said: "If the old man is not wrong, Chen Boy should be preparing to fight Lu Mingyue to the death with dignity this time, and defeat Lu Mingyue's bandit army head-on!"
"An upright battle to the death? A frontal attack?" Mulan and the two generals Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin who insisted on going south with Zhang Xutuo looked at each other, and said together, "Dignified? Is this still Chen Yingliang? Didn't that kid fight first? Ten or eight tricks, are you willing to send troops only after taking advantage of the opportunity?"
"Yes, an upright decisive battle." Zhang Xutuo nodded, and said, "Boy Chen inherited the nearly ten thousand soldiers left by Dong Chun, plus his own army, and he can compete head-on with Lu Mingyue. He has this Confidence. Just, just..."
"Marshal, what is it?" Qin Qiong asked quickly.
"It's just that his troops are still a little less." Zhang Xutuo replied hesitantly: "Lu Mingyue has a total of 120,000 people, and Chen Xiaozi can only dispatch 10,000 at most, except for the troops defending the city and protecting the rear. Lu Mingyue's army is about 2,000 times stronger than his army, so he will be able to fight this decisive battle."
"Marshal, let's speed up." Qin Qiong said hastily, "Hurry up to the north of Pengcheng and do him a favor."
Zhang Xutuo, who had long been accustomed to treating the army as a machine, subconsciously wanted to give an order, but changed his mind when he said the words, shaking his head and said: "Don't worry, let's continue to walk only forty miles a day, so that the soldiers in the army can get enough Rest, Boy Chen is sympathetic to the military and likes to wait for work with ease, this old man must learn from his strengths, and I can't make you as tired as before."
"Then Chen...?" Mulan was still extremely worried, but she was too embarrassed to speak out in front of her insider, Zhang Xutuo.
"Don't worry." Zhang Xutuo waved his hand and said calmly: "Since Chen boy dares to fight in the unfavorable terrain in the north of Pengcheng, he is sure of it. I believe he can persist until our reinforcements arrive."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Xutuo smiled again, and said, "Maybe that kid will surprise us again. Before our reinforcements arrive at the battlefield, he has already dealt with Lu Mingyue."