Hua Bushi coughed lightly and said: "Gao Dashuai has no intention of forcing the people and horses this time, if General Zhang refuses to accept it, it is okay, as long as he hands over all the property looted in the past few days, he can lead the army to leave Huaiqing." ”

He smiled slightly, and said: "If General Zhang leaves Huaiqing at this time, Zhang Yingchang, who is stationed in Hanoi County, sixty miles away, may lead troops to chase after him, but with the bravery and good fighting of the 'Eight Kings' and his subordinate soldiers, there is no need to be afraid." ”

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, his black face was even more gloomy. was co-opted by Gao Yingxiang, this "Eight Kings" was naturally reluctant to do 10,000 in his heart, but at present, with his seven or eight thousand people, once he left Huaiqing, he would become a lone army, and Zhang Yingchang, who was watching from the sidelines, would definitely not let go, and his subordinates were all infantry, even if they wanted to run, they couldn't run fast, no matter how brave and good they were, they couldn't defeat more than twice the strength of the well-equipped officers and soldiers, and they would definitely suffer a big loss when they fought. Besides, Zhang Xianzhong has grabbed a lot of gold and silver treasures in the city in the past few days, and now he has to hand them all over, and he is really a little reluctant.

Zhang Xianzhong has always been cunning and good at strategy, but at this time, he understood that he had been caught by Shi Xiao, it seemed that this young man who was not amazing and appeared out of nowhere was really a powerful person, and he had calculated all his retreats, and he couldn't give in if he wanted to.

As he hesitated, his eyes rolled wildly, his gaze swept over Gao Yingxiang's face, but his heart suddenly moved.

Zhang Xianzhong knew very well about Gao Yingxiang, the "King of Chuang", and knew that he was indecisive and lacked eloquence, otherwise he would have been able to become the commander of the 36th battalion at the "Righteous Conference" in Liaozhou, Jin Territory, and would not have overthrown the king at the juncture of attacking Huaiqing City. This strategy of co-opting the rebels from all walks of life will definitely not be Gao Yingxiang's idea, most likely it was Li Zicheng and Shi Xiao!

And Zhang Xianzhong is also good at observing faces, at this time, he saw Gao Yingxiang sitting in the middle of the main table, although he was smiling, but there was a vague hesitation in his eyes.

Between the turns of his mind, Zhang Xianzhong already had an idea, he stood up, walked to the hall, and said loudly to Gao Yingxiang: "What General Li Chuang and Shi Senjun said is not completely unreasonable, but if this king wants to accept the incorporation, there are two things that must be explained by Gao Dashuai first!"

Gao Yingxiang said: "General Zhang, please speak." ”

Zhang Xianzhong said: "The first thing is that Gao Dashuai should tell us that after absorbing these many people and horses, what are the plans for the next? You must know that when we capture Huaiqing City, it will definitely scare the emperor in Beijing City, and now there are not only Zhang Yingchang's 20,000 horses stationed in Hanoi, but also Zhang Zongheng's 40,000 officers and soldiers in southern Henan, and 70,000 people from Hong Chengchou in the Jin Realm are also coming towards Huaiqing, maybe the imperial court will send more men and horses to encircle and suppress, so at least 1450,000 officers and soldiers will be killed. Are the 30,000 people we have right now going to defend this city, or are they going to abandon it and flee?"

Gao Yingxiang frowned and said: "Well, Ben Shuai hasn't decided for a while, and he will make a decision according to the situation at that time." ”

Zhang Xianzhong smiled and said: "You are the commander of the three armies, how can you not think clearly about such a major matter first, when the time comes, the officers and soldiers will not know how to deal with it, won't we all have to be fools?"

"General Zhang's words are wrong!" it was Hua Bushi who answered.

He paced a few steps, came to the table, and said: "The way to use troops lies in improvisation, how can everything be predicted in advance? It is true that there are more than 100,000 people in the official army, but Zhang Yingchang's garrison does not dare to act rashly in Hanoi, Zhang Zongheng is still in southern Henan, and there is no movement to move northward, and Hong Chengchou is even far away in Shanxi. ”

Zhang Xianzhong said: "It is indeed good that they will arrive here in ten days and half a month, but is this a long time? Even if Gao Dashuai does not have specific arrangements, he should at least say some general countermeasures, otherwise how can we rest assured that all our brothers under his command will be handed over to Dashuai?"

With the 30,000 or 40,000 rebels in Huaiqing City now, it is indeed difficult to deal with the more than 100,000 officers and soldiers who are about to be killed, Zhang Xianzhong's words expressed the common worries in the hearts of all the rebel leaders in the hall, and a few people echoed them at the moment.

If the 36th Battalion was in the previous state of alliance, once the officers and soldiers attacked and could not resist the enemy, everyone only had to disperse in a hurry and go their own way, the anti-justice army had already obtained enough food and grass in Huaiqing City, and all the men and horses could either flee or hide, or escape into the mountains and forests, and they would always be able to mix for a while. But now if he accepts the incorporation, everyone will become Gao Yingxiang's subordinates, and what he plans is really related to the fate of all the rebels in the city.

Gao Yingxiang sat at the table and was silent for a while. Li Zicheng has already spoken: "With the current more than 30,000 brothers in Huaiqing City, the strength is still far from the official army, and it is not easy to defend the city. But since there is still time, we can recruit other rebel troops. As far as Hongji knows, there are dozens of rebel armies in Yujing, no less than 30,000 or 40,000 people, and there are even more rebel brothers in Jinjing and Shaanxi. As long as enough men and horses are gathered, even if this city is abandoned temporarily, other cities can be captured, and everyone is still worried that there is no place to live?"

These words were very encouraging, and most of the rebel leaders nodded yes.

Zhang Xianzhong's face remained unchanged, and said: "In this way, does King Gao Chuang plan to recruit other rebel troops? To fight head-on with 150,000 officers and soldiers, the rebel army must have at least more than 100,000 men and horses, I don't know if Gao Dashuai has calculated, even if these many people and horses are recruited, how much grain and grass must be eaten every day, how much silver will be spent to build weapons and armor to be enough equipment, and how much military salary will be paid? And where will Gao Dashuai get this money?"

Hearing Zhang Xianzhong's words, Gao Yingxiang's expression really changed a little.

For 100,000 horses, a military salary of only one month costs hundreds of thousands of silver, and the need for food, grass and armaments is at least twice that of military salary.

In fact, this cost may seem staggering, but it is not surprising at all. Knowing that the Ming Dynasty now spends no less than 20 million taels of silver on military affairs every year, this is still the result of continuous arrears of military salaries and the reduction of troops, and the military expenditure in the heyday of the Ming Dynasty was at least twice as much as it is today. If the rebels wanted to confront the officers and soldiers of the imperial court, the figure of several million taels of silver was not high.

However, in Gao Yingxiang's current opinion, this is really an unimaginable astronomical amount! What Hua Bushi said to him before was to use the 300,000 taels of silver obtained from the treasury of Huaiqing City to collect more than 30,000 people and horses in the city, but he did not expect that the subsequent expenses would be so terrible!

In fact, spending the 300,000 taels of silver, Gao Yingxiang was already a little distressed. Just because if there were only seven or eight thousand people under his command, these silver taels would be enough to support for a long time, and although there were few men and horses, they would be more flexible in fighting guerrilla warfare. The incorporation of these many Lu Yi troops is tantamount to carrying a big burden on his back, and he will definitely make himself the biggest thorn in the side of the Ming court, and he is destined to be constantly encircled and chased by the main force of the official army, but there is no way out.

Thinking of this, the hesitation in Gao Yingxiang's eyes increased a little.

Li Zicheng also saw that Gao Yingxiang's expression was different, and said: "The marshal does not need to worry about military salaries and grain and grass, and there will be no problem with our expenses at present, and it will not be too late to find a way when it is really insufficient! However, only by integrating people from all walks of life as soon as possible and truly gathering everyone's liliang can we not be broken by the officers and troops one by one, and only then can we hope to confront the officers and troops!"

Gao Yingxiang was just a businessman before joining the rebels, and this is the difference between a businessman and a hero. Businessmen are good at calculating gains and losses, and what they do is often unprofitable, but their vision is not far-sighted enough, and what Gao Yingxiang thinks of is mostly the interests of the current seven or eight thousand subordinates, as well as the number of victories and defeats for a while.

Xiao Xiong can see the general trend of the world, and understands that if he does not recruit volunteers from all walks of life, he will not be able to compete with the Ming officials and troops, and as for the cost of military salaries, equipment, food and grass, in Li Zicheng's eyes, it is only a trivial matter, and he should never give up the great cause for these reasons.

Zhang Xianzhong said: "King Gao Chuang, the so-called people have no foresight, and there must be near-term worries. In fact, if he is co-opted, Xianzhong will no longer have to worry about the military salaries and grain of his brothers in the future, so why not? I raised these many questions, but it is really for the sake of the commander, and now the brothers of the righteous army all call Li Chuang the 'Taishang King', although it is just a joke, but for such an important matter, King Gao Chuang still thinks clearly by himself, and it is better to make an idea, and he should not only listen to a few clever words of other people's words and encourage him to make a decision, and the situation will be difficult to clean up!"

After entering Huaiqing City, there were indeed rumors among the rebels that Li Zicheng was nicknamed "King Taishang", saying that he was superior to the master and stronger than King Chuang. Now Zhang Xianzhong said it in front of Gao Yingxiang, he had the intention of sowing discord, Li Zicheng could still bear it, but the rough man Hao Shaoqi couldn't help it, slapped the table, and shouted: "Zhang Xianzhong, what are you talking nonsense! If you dare to talk nonsense, don't blame Uncle Hao for making you look good!"

Zhang Xianzhong was scheming and cunning, seeing Gao Yingxiang's expression, he knew that he was moved by him, but he was not angry at Hao Shaoqi's shouting, and only sneered: "I didn't give this nickname of 'Taishang Wang', others can call it, can't I say it?"

Hao Shaoqi was about to shout again, but Li Zicheng hurriedly stretched out his hand to stop him.

I only heard Gao Yingxiang cough lightly and said: "There are also soldiers in the army who have nicknames, it's not a big deal, you don't need to take it to heart." In this way, since General Zhang and the other three leaders do not approve of the matter of recruiting people and horses, I think it is better to put it aside for the time being, and let it be discussed later!"

As soon as these words came out, Li Zicheng was already a little anxious, and said: "King Chuang, the matter of incorporation cannot be delayed, how can it be delayed until the future......?