Chapter 14 5. Plan to surrender Lvpaizhai, win cleverly and withdraw troops

Back in Haozhou, Zhu Yuanzhang was warmly received by Guo Zixing, and his prestige in the city increased a lot.But in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, this is nothing, it is just the beginning of his career.Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang was not excited, but was still wary of Guo and his son, while planning the next goal. Zhu Yuanzhang didn't want to arouse the suspicion of Guo's father and son because of the withdrawal of troops. He only said that the Dingyuan area needed to be managed. If the city was closed and left alone, it would be a waste of energy.Guo Zixing thought that he had handed over all the property in Dingyuan City, and he couldn't send a suitable candidate to take over Dingyuan for a while, so he allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to leave Haozhou again and go to Dingyuan.

In order to make Guo Zixing trust him, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately let his pregnant wife stay in Haozhou, and led his troops to Dingyuan alone.Zhu Yuanzhang regarded Dingyuan as his first city, and he was determined to start here, because there were militia groups spontaneously organized by the people near Dingyuan, and his goal this time was to collect these militias and seek development. This time in Dingyuan, Zhu Yuanzhang's biggest gain is not to occupy the city, nor is it just a step closer to the goal of returning soldiers, but to find a scholar with a strategy-Li Shanchang, who was in Zhu Yuanzhang's development process. played a vital role.

Zhu Yuanzhang respected Li Shanchang very much and called him "Mr."On this day, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang discussed how to take over the militia. Zhu Yuanzhang thought: "There are 20,000 militiamen in Hengjian Mountain, and 3,000 militiamen in Zhangjiabao Lvpai Village. It is better to take Hengjian Mountain first. 20,000 people are really rare." But Li Shanchang said: "Twenty thousand horses is a great temptation, but if you want to take a long-term plan, it is better to surrender Lupai Village first, and then seek Hengjian Mountain." Zhu Yuanzhang humbly asked Li Shanchang to explain the reason.

Li Shanchang said with confidence: "Lvpai Village seems to have 3,000 people, but in fact it is alone. The old man has lived in Dingyuan longer than you, and Liu Zhaizhu knows it. Now they have run out of food and are in a difficult situation. If you From time to time, use some tricks to lure them, not afraid that they will not surrender." Zhu Yuanzhang said yes again and again, and decided to go to Lvpaizhai first to win over and persuade him to surrender.He wanted to falsely report that other forces were going to attack Lvpai Village, and went to Lvpai Village to lure him to surrender on the pretext of sending troops and food to rescue them.And Zhu Yuanzhang also remembered that Guo Zixing was from Dingyuan, and he remembered hearing him talk about the owner of Lupai Village, who used his own rescue in the name of saving them.

The next day, Zhu Yuanzhang led Fei Ju, Gu Shi, Shao Rong and seven pawns to Zhangjiabao Lvpai Village.A group of people inquired all the way, and soon came to a place called Baogong River. On the other side of the mountain was the Lvpai Village. From a distance, there were some sparse huts, and some flags were planted everywhere. After arriving in the village, Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed to see the village master Liu.It turns out that the village owner looks thirty-one or twelve years old, capable and shrewd, with a strong physique, and he is a rare person if he can be gathered. Guo Zixing's name was reported, and the village owner really had friendship with him. Regardless of what happened, he served the banquet and warmly received Zhu Yuanzhang and his party.

When the wine was almost drunk, Zhu Yuanzhang and the village owner were acquainted, and it was easy to talk. Zhu Yuanzhang said rather worriedly: "This visit is because Marshal Guo heard that the army in the village is short of food, and there is a Qin commander nearby who wants to come to make trouble, so he specially sent us to help." Hearing this, the village owner was half sober, knowing that Zhu Yuanzhang must have come here for a purpose, he laughed and said: "The military rations are insufficient, but even I don't know about Qin's attack, so how do you know?"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't panic at all, took a sip of wine first, and said unhurriedly: "You must know that we captured Dingyuan. Now we are stationed in Dingyuan. You should know that the literati Li Shanchang is the one who revealed the information to us. Otherwise We wouldn't come here easily just because of Marshal Guo's orders." The village owner was stunned: "Li Shanchang came to your sect?" Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Exactly. Mr. Li said that he has some friendship with you. Please come and tell us about Qin's surprise attack. Please think twice, the village master. You can either move as soon as possible, or go with us. When you are in the army, you can do it with your talent." A general. Whether it is Haozhou or Dingyuan, the village master is welcome, and when it is useful, we will send a message and we will definitely help."

The village owner had been drinking a lot, and with Zhu Yuanzhang's persuasion, he felt that staying in Lupai Village was not a long-term solution, so he decided to join the Red Turban Army. Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed, but of course the owner of the village would not follow him immediately. After all, this is a village with 3,000 troops, and it will be difficult to manage it for a while. Zhu Yuanzhang also stopped mentioning this matter, worried that talking too much would make the village owner suspicious.Next, just drink and talk to your heart's content. When it was time to leave, the village owner did not try to keep him.Zhu Yuanzhang was still a little worried, worried that if he went back here, the village owner would not go to seek refuge. Wouldn't it be a waste of time, so he said to the village owner: "There are dozens of miles to Dingyuan. Leave a soldier to take care of him. When the village master is ready, you can also inform us to meet him in person."

The village owner did not refuse, Zhu Yuanzhang left the brave and resourceful Fei Ju to deal with the affairs.Zhu Yuanzhang and his party returned to Dingyuan before dark. Three days later, Fei Ju came back in a hurry and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang, "The owner of Lvpai village has changed his mind. He wants to lead his people to move to another place instead of coming to seek refuge." When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, his expression changed immediately.Fortunately, Fei Ju was left in the village so that he could report the information in time, otherwise he could only watch them move.

Zhu Yuanzhang said to Fei Ju who had just returned: "It's not too late. Let's take three hundred soldiers and horses to Lvpai Village and act randomly." He immediately led Fei Ju, Shao Rong, Gu Shi and three hundred elite soldiers to Lvpai Village. Pai Zhai. When approaching the cottage, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to let Shao Rong and the others stop first, and he and Fei gathered together to go to the cottage, hoping to persuade the village owner Liu to use less threats of force. However, when they arrived at the gate of the village, several militiamen stood guard in front of the gate with weapons in hand, preventing Zhu Yuanzhang and Fei Ju from entering.Zhu Yuanzhang and Fei Ju talked and persuaded, but it still didn't work, so Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to withdraw first.

After evacuating and returning to the station, Zhu Yuanzhang thought for a while, and decided to personally bring dozens of people with Shao Rong to find the leader of Qin. Since he had dragged out the introduction that he was going to attack Lvpai Village, he had no choice but to join him for help.When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Qin Batou, he said very gentlemanly: "I offended you a few days ago. Because I knew that you had a gap with the village owner of Lvpai, I made an excuse to express the grievances between you. Originally, the village owner decided to lead his troops to join our rebel army, but now he regrets it. I am here to ask Chief Qin for help." Unexpectedly, although there are not many people under Qin Batou, he is a bold and free-spirited person: "The common people are grateful for what Zhu Zhenfu has done in Dingyuan. Now when we can help each other, it is our duty. Besides, I and Lupai Village The grievances and grievances are indeed facts, and the village owner is not a chivalrous person in the world, and he is dishonest, which is exactly what I can't see." Zhu Yuanzhang discussed with Qin Baotou, and decided that Qin Baotou would lead the donkey brand village owner out of the village. Qin Baotou and Liu Zhaizhu's personal grievances would be resolved by themselves. The next day, Qin took a few brothers to the front of the stronghold to fight, scolded the stronghold owner, threatened that the stronghold owner would set fire to the stronghold if he did not come out, and said that his men had already surrounded the Lvpai stronghold. It's none of the brothers' business to choose, as long as the village master leaves the village, he will never hurt the brothers in the village.Liu Zhaizhu saw that it was impossible to hide in the village, so he rode a horse and brought weapons, and went out of the village to fight against Qin. Not far from the cottage, when they reached a dense forest, Qin turned his head and said, "Let's do big things first and then small things." Before Village Master Liu could react, Zhu Yuanzhang and his dozens of people came out of the woods to greet him. The so-called greeting was actually dozens of people directly surrounding him.When Village Master Liu came to his senses, Gu Shi had already pulled him off his horse, grabbed his arms, and twisted him behind his back. Zhu Yuanzhang thanked Qin Botou first, then turned his head to Liu Zhaizhu and said, "It's only because the Zhaizhu didn't want to see each other that he made such a bad plan. It's really offending. Now let me use it for you. In the evening, you and Qin Botou will settle the matter on your own." Enmity, we will not hurt the village master at all, please rest assured." The village master Liu was taken into custody, and in the evening, Zhu Yuanzhang led his soldiers to the Lvpai village and informed the village that the village master had been held hostage by Qin.But Lvpai Village had no leader at this time, and it was in chaos. A few days ago, I heard that the main villager had defected to the rebel army, and later heard that the village owner said that he would transfer out and not seek refuge.Zhu Yuanzhang was promoting and agitating here, and people were panicked for a while, not knowing what to do. Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang gathered the militiamen in the village and gave full play to his genius as an orator: "Brothers, we Zhu Yuanzhang is just a farmer's son, and we never thought of rebelling against the imperial court. They all died of hunger. We joined the rebel army and led soldiers to fight in order to give the people a little peace and a bite to eat. In today's troubled times, brothers are also forming a party to protect themselves. If we unite, we will not be able to defeat the Yuan army. ..." The militiamen in Lvpaizhai were very moved by what they said, and they secretly compared Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Zhaizhu.Zhu Yuanzhang's majestic spirit, reputation and character are naturally better than that of Liu Zhaizhu. They also know that the food and grass in the village are in short supply and it is difficult to develop, so they all silently agree with Zhu Yuanzhang. Zhu Yuanzhang withdrew the 3,000 men and horses from Lvpai village, and at the same time quietly set fire to the village, so as not to make these people nostalgic.Zhu Yuanzhang still cared about Liu Zhaizhu and Qin Botou in his heart. In fact, at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang cared more about Qin Botou.He admired Qin's boldness, and thought that if he could get this person to join him, this trip would kill two birds with one stone.Besides, Zhu Yuanzhang had already given up on Zhaizhu Liu in his heart. He knew that after such a capture and deception, keeping Zhaizhu Liu would only disturb the hearts of those militiamen, and it would be difficult to recruit them in the future. When Zhu Yuanzhang saw the two, he had no choice but to fulfill his promise and hand over Liu Zhaizhu to Qin for disposal.Unexpectedly, at this time, Qin was so benevolent and righteous that he didn't want to fight with Village Master Liu anymore. He just said: "Now your cottage has become a sea of ​​​​flames, and your men and horses have also joined the rebel army. The grievances between us started from fighting for power. , now there is no need to talk about any grievances, you just go." Faced with this situation, Village Master Liu felt even more sad, jumped on his horse, and went straight into the Baogong River, where he disappeared. Zhu Yuanzhang tried his best to persuade Qin Boutou to join the rebel army, Qin Boutou readily agreed, and ten days later, he brought people to vote. This time may not be a battle, but it is very important to Zhu Yuanzhang.Before he recruited soldiers in his hometown, he only got more than 700 people, but this time, he won 3,000 strong men without killing anyone, which strengthened his momentum and laid the foundation for him to recruit troops.