Wu Shigong received a letter from home this time. It was sent to Wu Shigong by his father-in-law Xue Lian.

In the letter, adhering to the consistent style of his father-in-law Xue Lian, Wu Shigong was scolded as a dog blood sprayer. Xue Lian wrote more than a dozen pieces of letter paper freely, and this anger value was so high that it swept Wu Shigong into the air and floated around like a flood.

And Wu Shigong only knew after reading the letter that he had already caused so many troubles, and his father-in-law Xue Lian had also cleaned up so many messes for himself, and he had done so much trouble. Therefore, although Yue Fei and Xue Lian were harsh, Wu Shigong still had warmth.

However, Wu Shigong didn't expect that the subordinates he stayed behind were so bold, and they dared to seize the Nanyang Iron Mine. That's an official mine! That's the emperor's little treasury! That's the eunuch's little treasury! Wu Shigong himself didn't even dare to think about it, but those bold subordinates dared to do it.

However, when Wu Shigong learned that he was about to go to the edict prison, he couldn't help but shed a cold sweat behind his back. This unwarranted disaster is a little too inexplicable. I didn't do anything wrong, but because of the behavior of others, I was almost punished together, and the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was a little too dangerous.

So Wu Shigong immediately called Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng over, and when he told them the content of this paragraph of "almost going to prison", Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng, the two parties, immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Needless to say, let's leave Zhaoyuan County quickly. At this stage, let's clamp the tail and be a man.

And when Wu Shigong led the Henan army to leave Zhaoyuan County, he remembered that the letter from home was mixed with those two small letters. One was written by his wife Xue Yufei. Of course, the children also said a lot. But the point is that after Wu Shigong put down the rebellion, she will take her sons Xue Chenglin and Wu Shigong back to Runing together to reunite the whole family.

The other letter did not contain a few words. But it was written by his son Xue Chenglin. In his wife Xue Yufei's letter, Wu Shigong already knew: his father-in-law Xue Lian had invited his son Xue Chenglin to Xixi. Beginning to start literacy.

However, Wu Shigong thought that Xue Chenglin's actual age was only five years old, and his virtual age was only six years old, and he could only sigh that the education level of the Ming Dynasty was already comparable to the perverted preschool education of modern times.

However, Wu Shigong has some doubts, he has been on the expedition for eight or nine months, why hasn't there been a letter from Runing's family yet? Those pregnant concubines still don't know if they gave birth?

What Wu Shigong didn't know was that Deng Qifan had already sent more than a dozen groups of messengers to deliver letters to Wu Shigong, but because of the chaos of the army, coupled with the arrest and obstruction of the local government, and because Wu Shigong's Runing battalion had always been at the forefront of the enemy, those messengers had no way to deliver the letter to Wu Shigong's hands.

And this time the father-in-law Xue Lian's family letter. If it weren't for the name of Yangwu Marquis and the green light given to the local governments, it would still be difficult for this letter to be delivered to Wu Shigong.

After fleeing for two days, the Henan army regained its spirit. Needless to say, it's good to be young, and this recovery ability is really fast.

And at this very time. The Henan army led by Wu Shigong encountered a local Shandong army. It was a military team of more than 700 people led by a thousand households named Kou Fenghai. They also went to Dengzhou City to help fight together after receiving Zhu Dadian's governor's order.

At that time, after Kong Youde's rebellion. I didn't care about cleaning up the guards along the coast of Denglai. Anyway, those guards had no combat effectiveness, and they did not pose any threat to Kong Youde's rebels.

Besides, unlike modern times, most of the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty were poor jingles, and the rebels were not interested in robbing them. Therefore, these guards where Kou Fenghai was located were preserved in this Denglai rebellion.

Of course. Those guards did not have the courage to take the initiative to attack the powerful rebels. But now, when the Ming army won one victory after another, those guards didn't mind going to Dengzhou City to beat the water dogs.

Wu Shigong did not hesitate to show Zhu Dadian's warrant and incorporated this local guard army into his own troops. To know. Although there are many carts in the Henan army, there are always some deficiencies in mules and horses, so until now, there are still some two-wheeled carts pushed and pulled by the auxiliary soldiers of the Runing battalion.

And with these guards, those auxiliaries can also be liberated. To tell the truth, those guards were used by Wu Shigong as cattle and horses. You must know that those auxiliaries in the Runing battalion are blacksmiths and miners that Wu Shigong spent the transfer fee to find, and Wu Shigong is a little distressed by such a cheap use.

However, Wu Shigong did not treat those guards badly. It is certain that he will eat and drink enough, and Wu Shigong also promised Kou Fenghai: In the future battle of besieging Dengzhou City, those guards will not be used as cannon fodder, so let them do some auxiliary work in the rear.

So soon, Kou Fenghai became familiar with Wu Shigong. Wu Shigong also kindly asked about Kou Fenghai's local situation, and Kou Fenghai also answered all questions without concealing it.

However, when Kou Fenghai said: His thousand households are located by the sea, and the military fields are mostly saline-alkali land, and the production is not high, so many military households need to boil salt to supplement their families. Wu Shigong was immediately excited.

Isn't that exactly what you need salt? Isn't it just by the sea? It is true that there is not much salt in his small salt farm in Yangzhou, and there are Yangzhou salt transport envoys and big salt merchants Qi Jia behind their backs, so they are always a little unstable. Isn't it right here to open a salt farm?

However, there is no need to immediately express his thoughts with this Qianhu Kou Fenghai, and there is no need to talk deeply. However, it is necessary to consult with some experts. So Wu Shigong immediately asked Yang Rusong to arrange a messenger to send a message to the Lu family and the Guo family in Yangzhou, and asked them to immediately arrange someone to go to Denglai to discuss the possibility of opening a salt farm with Wu Shigong.

Wu Shigong had just made a fuss for money, but now he was thinking about opening a salt farm to challenge the imperial court's monopoly on salt and iron. Isn't this a true manifestation of the scar forgetting the pain? But no matter what, Wu Shigong's scar healed too quickly.

Zhu Dadian's warrant is indeed easy to use, and the grain and grass in the place where the requisition is issued is also very convenient. However, the area that Wu Shigong's march passed through was indeed too poor, so the grain and grass that was requisitioned was not much left after the Henan army ate it.

There were no other guards who didn't meet them, and it is estimated that those guards had already rushed to Dengzhou City because of the close distance. After a leisurely march, the Henan army finally arrived in the south of Dengzhou on September 21.

What made Wu Shigong a little strange was that until this time, the Ming army had not captured Dengzhou City. When Wu Shigong went to the Ming army camp to resume his life, he happened to meet the Ming army's military conference, and Wu Shigong also happened to participate in it. In the military discussion, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian were full of sadness, and after arranging for the Ming army to recruit people from all over the country and build fortifications to besiege Dengzhou City for a long time, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian hastily ended the military discussion.

After leaving the Chinese military tent, Wu Shigong immediately asked Liu Zeqing about the combat situation of the Ming army. But Liu Zeqing frowned tightly and did not introduce the situation to Wu Shigong here. He simply invited Wu Shigong to his camp for a drink. On the way to Liu Zeqing's camp, Wu Shigong heard Liu Zeqing sighing constantly. Wu Shigong's heart sank, and it seemed that the battle was unfavorable!

As expected, when Wu Shigong and Liu Zeqing had a glass of wine, Liu Zeqing told Wu Shigong a bad news: "Brother Changjing, Yuan Heng and Yuan Shoubei are dead." He had been hit in the head by an iron bullet, and his body was only recognized by his clothing. Alas! Miserable! ”

When Wu Shigong heard this, he was so surprised that he almost let go and dropped the wine glass to the ground. In any case, we have been in the same boat through thick and thin along the way, and there are always some feelings between the military attaches of the coalition forces. But the wind and waves have passed, but I didn't expect Yuan Heng to lose his life in the battle of Zuihou. This made Wu Shigong feel extremely sad.

After stabilizing his mood for a while, Wu Shigong began to inquire about the detailed situation.

Liu Zeqing did not hide it, he told Wu Shigong that on September 1, the main force of the Ming army approached Dengzhou City. However, the rebels did not retreat in the city, but fought three major battles with the Ming army in the city.

And in those three battles, the intensity was even more fierce than the battle of Huangxian. The guns of both sides were not only used on a large scale, but also on a large scale. In the second battle, Yuan Heng was unfortunately killed.

And in the first two battles, the rebels in a desperate situation broke out with amazing combat effectiveness. In terms of results, the Ming army should be at a disadvantage. However, under the stubborn resistance of the Ming army and the plugging of leaks everywhere by the Liaodong army, Zuihou relied on the numerical advantage, and the Ming army successfully pressed the rebels back into the city, and the rebels completely lost the ability to fight in the field with the Ming army.

And in the third battle, the Ming army began to try to attack the city of Dengzhou. And the battle at the beginning was also quite smooth, the instigator of the Denglai rebellion, the puppet capital marshal Li Jiucheng, went into battle and was killed by Zu Kuan of the Liaodong Army with an arrow.

So the morale-boosting Ming army took advantage of the situation to attack the city. But at this time, on the city of Dengzhou, the Western artillery built and purchased by Sun Yuanhua was powerful. caused the Ming army to ambush for several miles.

And when the artillery of the Ming army fired, it was designed by Sun Yuanhua, and the city of Dengzhou, which was completely reinforced to resist Western artillery, was immovable. And this siege battle also completely knocked out the ability of the Ming army to storm Dengzhou City.

In desperation, Zhu Dadian and Gao Qiqian could only formulate a long-term siege method in the military discussion just now, hoping to completely eliminate this rebel army with food shortages.

However, according to the information inquired, all the people in Dengzhou were killed by the rebels, except for the young women who were kept as military prostitutes. After the rebellion, most of the grain and grass collected by the rebels were transported to and stored in Dengzhou City. Coupled with the large amount of grain and grass that Dengzhou City itself has, this siege does not know how to last until the Year of the Monkey. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish all my friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival!