Chapter 189 A basin of cold water

In the early morning of the 25th day of the first month of the 16th year of Chongzhen, which was the third day after Li Ping arrived in Fuchi, the weather in Fuchi became gloomy and terrible, accompanied by gusts of black wind.

Everyone had to work hard early in the morning. The weather was too cold. They had to prepare enough firewood and provide everyone with a shelter from the wind and cold as much as possible.

All the reconnaissance cavalry that had been relaying information on the situation in Wuchang in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have also been withdrawn and will no longer be dispatched.

After wandering around worriedly and observing the clouds for a long time, Li Ping ordered someone to discuss with the residents who had been found during the search of the mountain, hoping to allow his soldiers and horses who did not have houses to live in to squeeze in with them.

This is the coldest weather Li Ping has experienced since he came to this world. He can no longer stick to formalities.

At the same time, Li Ping ordered to send more troops to take the local people who had been searched before to the mountains to find the people who were still hiding. He did not want them to freeze to death, and he did not want the reputation he had finally built to be destroyed.

Li Ping's judgment about the weather was correct.

Sure enough, it soon started to snow heavily.

As the snow fell heavier and heavier, more and more people hiding in the mountains were found or actively chose to come out.

At night, it is estimated that most of the people who had taken shelter in the nearby mountains came out of the mountains. Fuchi Town, Wujiaba and all the nearby residential houses quickly became bustling with people.

This surprises no one.

Since we could not light a fire to avoid the officers and soldiers, we would probably die if we continued to hide in the mountains. If we no longer trusted the officers and soldiers, there was always a possibility of survival once we got out of the mountains.

Heavy snow unexpectedly helped Li Ping a lot.

Although Li Ping was busier at this time, he had to personally check the latest status and warmth of each subordinate's stay, and meet with each new group of people who came back to appease their uneasy hearts.

But his heart was filled with joy.

He was already familiar with and used to the traditional practice of asking for help, which was a bonus, and he didn't find it tiring or meaningless.

The return of the common people meant that he quickly obtained a large amount of human resources, and no longer had to go through strenuous searches in unfamiliar mountains.

Especially according to continuous statistics, the total number of miners who have gone down the mountain alone has exceeded a thousand, and a foreseeable army is waving happily to Li Ping.

In the night, when Li Ping returned to a commoner's house where he lived, Song Baolai was warming himself by the fire in a room while talking excitedly with Gao Lei and Zhao Lanyue.

He must have just come back, and his body and hair are not completely dry yet.

Seeing Li Ping entering the room, Song Baolai immediately changed his subject with a smile and shouted: "Brother Li, we can think about building an open-hearth furnace now. This time we will build a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace together. We will build a few more and a big one. It will be done properly."

A big master of steel."

Li Ping first shook off the snow on his body at the door, then squeezed to the brazier and stretched out ten stiff fingers to warm himself. At the same time, he said with a smile: "I think so too! But practicing copper is still the first.

Damn it, we should build cannons."

"Drink the ginger soup first, don't catch a cold!"

When Li Ping entered the room, Gao Lei immediately stood up, took down the small copper dipper hanging above the brazier and poured out a bowl of steaming ginger soup. At this time, Gao Lei said without a doubt.

Chozi is a container for boiling water in the Ming Dynasty. It is very similar to today's kettle and is also the predecessor of today's kettle. However, it is made of many different materials.

"It's too hot!" Li Ping muttered immediately after holding the ginger soup bowl carefully.

"Oh, it's hot! Bring it here and I'll blow it for you." Gao Lei naturally took advantage of the situation and took the bowl from Li Ping's hand.

"No, I can just do it myself." Li Ping said without taking it seriously.

As a result, he had no intention of sending the ginger soup back, and Gao Lei came to take it with both hands. The two people's hands inevitably touched each other tightly.

Just when the two of them were looking embarrassed, Song Baolai, who had been staring at the ginger soup in astonishment and with empty hands, suddenly turned his attention to the copper knife that had been hung back above the brazier and asked: "Is there ginger soup in here? Why?

No one told me?"

Song Baolai's words made both Li Ping and Gao Lei stunned for a moment. Their hands that touched each other forgot to separate. Then Gao Lei's face immediately turned red.

"Didn't you ask? You're the only one who's troublesome! Come on, I'll pour you a bowl." Zhao Lanyue was a little angry and hurried to the rescue.

After saying that, she found another bowl from Gao Lei's side, then stood up and made great movements to get the small copper spoon to pour the ginger soup.

Gao Lei finally reacted at this moment. She hurriedly withdrew her hands that were still holding Li Ping's hands to make room, and her face became even redder.

Song Baolai probably also reacted. He shrank in embarrassment when Zhao Lanyue handed him the ginger soup, but his eyes still inadvertently glanced at Gao Lei.

"Why do you first practice copper? Do you want to make copper coins and then buy the materials for making cannons? I heard that there is also iron ore, so what else should I buy?" Zhao Lanyue, who noticed Song Baolai's little movements, sat down and directly used the very cute

and illogical topics to break the awkwardness.

"Oh! What we want to make is a copper cannon. When other metal and alloy technologies have not yet developed, the characteristics of copper make the artillery made of it the best. The cast iron cannons we got from Huangpi County are different.

They all look stupid, black and thick, but they are actually useless." Li Ping explained while holding ginger soup.

"So that's it!" Zhao Lanyue pretended to understand and nodded seriously. Then she asked: "Do we have a strong need for artillery? I saw that most people don't even have muskets!"

…

With Zhao Lanyue desperately trying to change the subject, Song Baolai immediately began to talk about professional issues and his various thoughts on New Foundation, and the atmosphere soon became cheerful and relaxed again.

Just as the four people were happily thinking about the future, Ma Yong suddenly came to visit in a hurry with a soldier from the reconnaissance company.

Li Ping knows all the soldiers in the reconnaissance company. He is a squad leader who was sent to follow Zhao Dongdong yesterday to escort Yang Ming down the river to meet Zuo Liangyu.

Li Ping's heart skipped a beat.

However, what Ma Yong said went beyond Li Ping's expectations, and was even more shocking.

"I just received accurate news that the bandit Zhang Xianzhong's troops attacked Guangji County, sixty miles north of the Yangtze River, in a surprise attack." Ma Yong said solemnly.

Guangji County is today's Wuxue City.

However, the Guangji County seat in the Ming Dynasty was located in Meichuan Town, northwest of today's Wuxue City, instead of being located on the north bank of the Yangtze River more than 20 miles downstream of Fuchi like Wuxue City. Wuxue in the Ming Dynasty was still a town, so it was called Wuxue Town.

Guangji County in the Ming Dynasty was located at the southern foot of Dabie Mountain (Yinghuo Mountain Area), less than 50 miles (straight-line distance) from Qizhou City, but 60 miles away from today's Wuxue City.

"Zhang Xianzhong! How did you get the news?" Li Ping's body shook inadvertently. This big devil appeared when he least expected to hear his name.

Since there are no channels for external communication, Li Ping's understanding and grasp of long-distance external information is extremely limited. He has never been able to figure out the specific location of Zhang Xianzhong, a figure he has always been afraid of. He only knows that it is approximately in the huge Yinghuo Mountain area south of Zhili.

Near the northwest (today's Anhui area).

"You tell me! Be careful." Ma Yong directly handed over the right to speak to the squad leader.

The reconnaissance squad leader immediately took out a small notebook and started reporting clearly and loudly while reading.

It turned out that yesterday, when Yang Ming and his party were sailing down the river in two large boats, they accidentally encountered a group of gentry who had fled from the north to the river and wanted to cross south. Zhao Dongdong, who was very alert, was worried about anyone who dared to do so.

I was surprised when Zuo Liangyu's army was running wildly along the Yangtze River.

He cleverly went to the boat to inquire, and then learned that Zhang Xianzhong was attacking from the south from Huangmei County.

Huangmei County is located at the eastern foot of Yinghuo Mountain District, about 120 to 30 miles away from Fuchi.

Feeling that the situation was serious, Zhao Dongdong did not sit idly by, but immediately took the initiative to suspend the eastward journey along the Yangtze River, and personally led the troops to land and go deep into the interior of the north bank of the Yangtze River for further reconnaissance.

After more than a day of continuous confirmation and questioning, the attentive Zhao Dongdong quickly obtained more and more detailed information, especially the recent situation of Zhang Xianzhong, which he thoroughly understood from several recovered officials who had fled.

During the Kaifeng War last year, Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the opportunity to enter the Yinghuo Mountain area and met with Gezuo Erhe. Soon the two sides joined forces and captured Shucheng, Lu'an, Wuwei, Luzhou and other places. Fengyang Commander-in-Chief Huang Degong and Commander-in-Chief Huang

Liu Liangzuo went to conquer, but was defeated in Jiashan, and Jiangnan was shaken.

Fengyang Governor Gao Douguang and Anqing Governor Zheng Eryang were also arrested and convicted, and Ma Shiying became the new Fengyang Governor.

Gezuo's troops then went to join forces with Li Zicheng, while Zhang Xianzhong began to besiege Tongcheng at the northeastern foot of the Yinghuo Mountain area in December last year.

Tongcheng is 300 miles north of Huangmei County.

The troops of Fengyang Commander-in-Chief Huang Degong and Commander-in-Chief Liu Liangzuo went to fight again and defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Qianshan. Commander-in-Chief Huang Degong killed more than 6,000 Zhang Xianzhong's men and captured more than 10,000 men and women under Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong was almost captured alive.

Subsequently, Zhang Xianzhong ran south along the eastern edge of the Yinghuo Mountain Area, and captured Taihu County and then Huangmei County that month.

A few days ago, Zhang Xianzhong further captured Guangji County...

Zhao Dongdong, who had figured out the general military situation, did not dare to delay, and immediately sent the squad leader and several soldiers to the south bank of the Yangtze River, and then ordered them to ride back to Fuchi to report to Li Ping immediately, while Zhao Dongdong continued to guard Yang Ming with the remaining men.

Go see Zuo Liangyu.

After listening to the report, Li Ping's head was buzzing, and he felt that the enthusiasm he had just ignited suddenly died out.

Others didn't know whether Zhang Xianzhong would continue to attack the south, but he knew.

Facing such a famous tycoon in history, Li Ping had no confidence and was full of fear.

But at present, apart from ordering the troops to strengthen their vigilance, he doesn't have any good ideas at the moment.

He couldn't do it like Zuo Liangyu and run away after hearing the news.

Moreover, Zuo Liangyu avoids Li Zicheng, who has strong military strength, but he may not necessarily avoid the current runner-up Zhang Xianzhong. After all, Zuo Liangyu has an impressive record against Zhang Xianzhong and has obvious psychological advantages, so basically he is not afraid of him at all.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Nanyang, forcing Zhang Xianzhong to surrender to Prime Minister Xiong Wencan.

In February of the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu severely wounded Zhang Xianzhong at Agate Mountain and even captured all Zhang Xianzhong's family members. This battle also made Zuo Liangyu famous throughout the Ming Dynasty.

In the Battle of Xinyang in August of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu defeated Zhang Xianzhong again, capturing tens of thousands of horses and tens of thousands of surrendered troops.

Judging from such battle data, it is Zhang Xianzhong who should be feared. Zhang Xianzhong may not necessarily dare to challenge Zuo Liangyu's huge army.

Especially since Zhang Xianzhong was defeated by Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo last month, his strength must have been severely damaged, and Li Ping should have no reason to be afraid of him.

But fear often comes from the unknown and from legends. If Zhang Xianzhong were replaced by Zuo Liangyu, who knows everything, Li Ping might not be worried at all. But knowing the future in advance because he knows the history limits and interferes with Li Ping's life.
To be continued...