Chen Zizhuang, who was born in Jinshi, originally had the idea of "one family in the world" and "all brothers in the four seas", but the Baojing Tusi soldiers who followed him into Shaxiba did not have this idea.

These native soldiers all came out of a village, or even a family, and they were more or less related to each other.

This characteristic can ensure the unity of the native soldiers, and when fighting, they advance and retreat in groups of three or five, and their combat effectiveness is very strong.

But at the same time, this characteristic also makes these native soldiers have a strong sense of revenge, and the comrades-in-arms around them are not only comrades-in-arms, but most of them are relatives and friends.

Some of them were killed by Yi or Miao mountain people who hid in the mountains and forests like maggots on tarsal bones, and were shot with poisoned arrows, and those who were alive had to find ways to get revenge.

Just two days after entering the mountain, more than 200 Baojing native soldiers died in the poisonous arrows and traps of the people of Yimiao Mountain, how could Peng Chaozhu and his native soldiers endure in vain?

Chen Zizhuang, who is a member of the Nanjing Military Department, likes to talk about soldiers on weekdays, but at this time, he also knows the truth that soldiers are fierce and dangerous, and if he is not careful, the 3,000 people under his command may be wiped out by the Yi Miao mountain people hidden in the mountains and forests.

Chen Zizhuang, who has a lot of contact with the Donglin Party who are active in the Jiangnan area on weekdays, has lost the kindness of the woman in the past when he comes to this life and death thought.

As soon as Peng Chaozhu put forward a proposal to exterminate the Yi Miao cottage he encountered along the way, Chen Zizhuang quickly agreed.

Chen Zizhuang and others, who were expected to arrive at Shaxiba in two days at most, traveled lightly and did not carry much food at all.

At the same time, it also requires a lot of manpower and material resources to open mountains and build roads along the way.

In this way, the unbearable Baojing native soldiers, at noon when the clouds cleared and the fog dispersed, followed the Yi mountain people who had fled after a failed sneak attack, and came to the outside of a Yi village.

In this era, the Tusi army was requisitioned and transferred by the imperial court to fight, and ordinary local soldiers usually had no military pay, and at most they only supplied some food.

The only way to gain some money through combat is to capture on the battlefield, or to kill the enemy and behead the reward.

Therefore, since the practice of requisitioning the Tusi army in the south to help the imperial court fight, the military discipline of the Tusi army has always been the most troublesome problem for the imperial court and local officials.

These Tusi armies were of course fierce and fearless of death when they were fighting, but when they marched and stationed, they often harassed and plundered the places they passed or were stationed.

This time, Zhu Xieyuan came to Guiyang to quell the rebellion, and the money and food were relatively sufficient, so he also paid the soldiers under Peng Chaozhu's command.

Zhu Xieyuan did this, although it made the Baojing soldiers under Peng Chaozhu more obedient and their morale increased a lot, but it could not change the long-standing habits of these native soldiers.

After entering Shuixi, it is entering the battlefield, especially these Yi or Miao mountain people, and repeatedly attacking this ongoing team.

Therefore, when these Baojing soldiers discovered the Yi villages on the road to the west, the wildness of burning, killing and looting, which had been suppressed for a long time and could not be suppressed, soon broke out.

The equipment of the Baojing native soldiers is different from the standard white-pole hook sickle gun uniformly equipped with the stone pillar native soldiers, their weapons are more chaotic, some are rattan machetes, some are rattan axes, and some are simply rattan sickles, plus a few javelins for throwing.

Basically, they are all short weapons after a slight improvement of common production and life tools.

The Baojing native soldiers came from Xiangxi, where the mountains were high and the forests were dense, the water network was dense, the roads were difficult to travel, and the long weapons could not be used, so it was customary to use machetes and axes.

Such short weapons are suitable for close combat, street fighting, and chaotic combat, but when encountering enemy fortified cities, or enemy troops equipped with a large number of long-range weapons or even cavalry, I am afraid that there is no way to defeat the enemy.

At this time, it is usually necessary to cooperate with stone pillar soldiers equipped with all white pole hook and sickle guns.

This is also one of the reasons why Zhu Xieyuan asked the Baojing native soldiers to join forces with the Shizhu native soldiers.

However, these Baojing soldiers from Xiangxi, when facing the poorly equipped Yi villages, the momentum was really like a tiger descending from the mountain.

A mountaintop village with nearly 1,000 men, women, and children was killed in less than an hour.

The young and strong men in the village have been drawn again and again by the Tusi leaders at all levels below the Shuixian clan, and there are not many men left, most of them are old, weak, sick or teenagers, and they are not the opponents of these Baojing soldiers who are used to fighting.

Of course, Peng Chaozhu did not care about the indiscriminate killing of innocents by these local soldiers, and this was their consistent practice.

In his opinion, how can you drive these people to fight for you and work hard without giving benefits?

What's more, the most valuable part of the property looted by these Baojing soldiers through killing and looting often ends up in the hands of these toast leaders, so he doesn't care about it at all.

And Chen Zizhuang, a member of the Nanjing Army, can be regarded as seeing the ruthlessness and bloodthirstiness of the native soldiers in Xiangxi this time.

On weekdays, the native soldiers and generals who nod their heads in front of them and look like slaves and maids are crazy, and they are definitely a group of demons who kill gods and Buddhas.

What did these Baojing soldiers do when they rushed into one after another Shuixi Yimiao villages, he didn't have to follow them in every time, but he could imagine it.

However, in the eyes of Wailang, a member of the military department who was born as a jinshi, the barbarism in northwest Qianxi, a place commonly known as the ghost side, was not put in his eyes.

The scene of slashing with knives and axes, and the head falling to the ground, is numb when I see too much.

When he really can't stand it, as a civilian official who oversees the war and supervises the army, he can also ride on a horse and stand far away outside the village, or even farther and safer places, just as he can't see or hear.

The so-called gentleman is far away from cooking, isn't that what it means?

Since nodding his head and agreeing to Peng Chaozhu's request to capture and loot the Yimiao villages along the way, Chen Zizhuang could also clearly feel that the morale of the local soldiers under his command was rising, and they had eaten and drunk more and better along the way.

In this era, the Shuixi region, whether it is a Yi or Miao village, is the same poverty, and it is not common for ordinary Yi and Miao mountain people to eat a full meal.

But no matter how poor the Yi Miao village is, there will always be a leader or leader appointed by the Tusi family or the Tusi family.

In the abject poverty of all people, the families of such local officials often have a lot of rice, or cattle, sheep and livestock, and some have a lot of complex and valuable silver ornaments.

These things are the things that the Baojing soldiers who invaded the village were looking for.

In this way, village by village looted all the way, and the Baojing soldiers led by Chen Zizhuang and Peng Chaozhu not only had more adequate and better foster care along the way, but also the pockets of many Baojing soldiers also bulged.

During the march, I no longer felt afraid and afraid of the deep mountain forest, but I still had a strange expectation for the Yi mountain people to attack from time to time.

Because behind the cold arrow, there may be a bigger, richer village, with more cattle, sheep and livestock or more young women.

At noon on May 5, Chen Zizhuang rode on his horse and stopped on a hillside on the east bank of the Lengshui River.

While watching the Baojing soldiers burn and loot in the last village on the bank of the Lengshui River, they observed a Tusi manor on the mountain not far from the other side of the river with Peng Chaozhu, the Baojing Xuanfu envoy accompanying him.

"Lord Chen, the bridge of the Lengshui River has been damaged, but the piers made of stone are still there, it seems that someone still came to ventilate and report the news!"

Chen Zizhuang looked at Peng Chaozhu, who was a little indignant, and thought, what kind of disaster has the Baojing native soldiers under your command caused the Yi and Miao villages in Shuixi, even if they had the intention to belong to the imperial court before, such a method must be the enemy of the imperial court now.

But there is also his own share in this, so he can't say anything more, just said: "It's okay! It's to let them ventilate! It's best to report the news of our coming here all the way to the Shuixian clan's lair! ”

Before Peng Chaozhu took over as the Baojing Xuanfu envoy from his father, he had been to Nanjing, and passed through the Nanjing Guozijian, although the study life in the Guozijian made him feel painful for his hobby of bow and horse martial arts, but since then, it has also made him have an inexplicable awe of the scholars who can be admitted to the Jinshi.

In his heart, those who can read and understand those sloppy scriptures thoroughly, and can choose one out of thousands of people to pass the Jinshi examination, are definitely not normal people.

Therefore, for the Tanhualang who is the same age as himself, but who graduated from Jinshi ten years ago, Peng Chaozhu, a Tujia man from Xiangxi Tusi, has an indescribable awe.

At this time, seeing that Chen Zizhuang did not blame the Baojing Tusi because the Yi Tusi on the other side was prepared, his heart was calm, and he continued: "Then, in Lord Chen's opinion, what should we do next?" Do you want to cross the river, or wait for Lord Wu and General Qin to come? ”

Chen Zizhuang once again looked back at the Baojing soldiers who were still burning and looting in the Yi village at the foot of the mountain on the east bank of the Lengshui River, and then looked at the Tusi Manor on the distant mountain range on the opposite bank, as well as the four Yi watchtowers on the road leading to the Tusi Manor, shook his head and said: "Peng Xuanfu, although the Baojing soldiers are brave and invincible, but your soldiers are all short soldiers, one does not have a strong bow and crossbow, and the other does not have the imperial artillery.

"In the opinion of this official, it is better to set up camp here, and while urging the young man to repair the bridge, he will send someone to inform Lord Shilang quickly!"

Regarding Chen Zizhuang's suggestion, Peng Chaozhu certainly obeyed it.

Therefore, on the evening of the fifth day of the fifth month of the fifth month of May, Chen Zizhuang and Peng Chaozhu led the Baojing soldiers to set up a large camp on the mountain ridge on the east bank of the Lengshui River near Shaxiba.