Li Yan's three or four thousand men and horses did not have the task of attacking Taiyuan City, so they branched out from Qingyuan County five days ago, led by Li Yu, and drove to Taiyuan County, stationed near the Jin Temple.

Because Li Yan was consulted by Li Zicheng at any time, he led a small number of personal soldiers to the city of Taiyuan Mansion with the army, and entered the provincial capital with Li Guo. He had been away from his unit for a few days, and he was eager to rush to Taiyuan County to see the situation of the troops.

Since the matter of relief has not yet been decided, he resigned from the palace after lunch and prepared to rush to the Jin Ancestral Hall. When he was about to get on the horse, he was stopped by Song Xiance, saying that the military adviser and the general would talk a few more words, and he would come out immediately, and he would ask him to wait for a while.

Li Yan had no choice but to wait, but asked strangely in his heart: "What do the military advisors have to trust?"

Jin Ancestral Hall is a birthplace of Jinshui, at the southern foot of the Hanging Urn Mountain, only five miles away from the county seat of Taiyuan. Taiyuan county is the place where Tang Yao built the capital in ancient times, and later King Zhou Cheng sealed his younger brother Taishu Yu here, this place has been called Jinyang from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

Although Li Yan was a general of the Great Shun Dynasty, he was born as a literati after all, and facing some places of interest and historic sites can best arouse poetry and evoke the nostalgia of the ancients. He can't wait to get to Taiyuan County as soon as possible, and it is best to take advantage of the sun to visit the Jin Temple. Song Xiance asked the friend he was looking for, if he could find it in the Jin Ancestral Hall, he would be even more wishful.

Taiyuan County is about 40 miles away from Taiyuan Fucheng, and the road is easier to walk. Li Yan and his entourage rushed to Taiyuan County with dozens of horses, and were welcomed into the old camp by Li Yu, rested for a while, and listened to Li Yan's report on the situation of settling the people and collecting grain, mules and horses after arriving in Taiyuan County. Li Yan told Li Yan that because the emperor did not have much grain in Taiyuan, he had not yet made a decision on whether to give relief. Later, he instructed Song Junshi to find a friend and persuaded this friend to go out of the mountain to become an official.

After listening to this, Li Yu said with a smile: "Song Xiance has spent half his life in the rivers and lakes, and he has made friends with heroes in the grassland, but he also has friends in this Jin Ancestral Hall. What is this person's name, and what does he do for a living?"

Li Yan said: "The reason why Song Xiance is Song Xiance is that he has traveled a lot in the rivers and lakes, which is beyond your reach. He asked the person he was looking for to be surnamed Liu, the name is the same as Chen, the word and the light, self-proclaimed Jinyang Mountain people, this person is familiar with military books, proficient in Liuren Dunjia, and Ming Medicine, his life is indifferent to fame and fortune, and he does not care about anything. Because he saw the chaos in the world, he was even more reluctant to interact with the official gentry, and lived in seclusion in the Jin Ancestral Hall, if auspicious between the mountains and rivers. ”

Li Yu then said, "This person is in the city. ”

"Have you seen him in the city now?"

He used to live in seclusion in a small mountain village near the Jin Ancestral Hall, but his mother, one of his younger brothers, and a widowed sister-in-law all lived in the city, and the house in the city was his ancestral business. Ten days ago, he came to the city to wait because of his mother's illness, but his mother's illness has not yet recovered, so he has not returned to the countryside. After I came here, I visited him because the locals praised him for his learning and character, and he also bowed to me. But, brother, he never mentioned that he was friends with Song Junshi, why did Song Xiance say that he was friends with him?"

Li Yan said with a smile: "This is Liu Heguang's high wind, and there is a world of difference between him and those who are inclined to become rich and noble. Since this Mr. Liu is now in the city, how about we go and talk to him quickly?"

"Okay, I'll go now, and I'll have dinner when I come back. ”

Liu Heguang lives in a secluded alley, with a black-lacquered door and two courtyards. The two Li Yan brothers came here and were asked by the owner to enter the west house in the front yard and sit down.

After the scholar offered tea, Li Yan said: "Song Junshi and Zuxia were originally old people, and today I specially instructed my younger brother to greet his feet on his behalf, and said that the feet are high and bright, which is admirable." At present, Dashun Longxing, my lord is thirsty for sages, and I look forward to the next step even if I go out of the mountain and participate in the great cause. Because Song Junshi entered the provincial capital for the first time today, he was riddled with all kinds of things, so he couldn't invite him in person, so he asked his younger brother to pay his respects first, and he would come to meet in person after a day or two. ”

Liu Heguang said: "A few years ago, I was recommended by a friend and got to know Mr. Xiance, and now Mr. Zhuance is the founding military division of the new dynasty, and he is famous, and he still does not forget the friendship of cloth clothes, and he is very grateful." But when he was invited out of the mountain, his brother didn't dare to obey the order. ”

Li Yan asked: "Now that the general trend has been decided, what concerns does Mr. still have?"

"Brother Fei has some concerns, not to mention that the younger brother has no actual skills, mediocre life, is already the fifth year, two temples are pale, and there are two can not be ordered to suffer, one is the old mother in the hall, the illness has not been cured; the second is that the younger brother has a small illness, can not saddle the horse to work, so it is only suitable to be a person who is scattered in the mountains and forests, how can he follow Jiwei, for the new dynasty to do his best? ”

Li Yu said: "At present, the country is in urgent need of talents, since Song Junshi is sincerely invited, how can he not go out of the mountain?"

Liu Heguang said: "There is a talent who is 100 times better than his brother in terms of knowledge and experience, so why not ask him to do things for Dashun?"

Li Yan asked, "Who is the gentleman talking about?"

"This person is a monk, the name of the law is not empty, in the middle of December last year, from Wutai Mountain to this place, the order of the Jin Temple. I heard that due to the warmer weather recently, I want to go back to Wutai Mountain, and I probably haven't left yet. ”

Li Yu asked, "Can you meet him?"

"My brother is very familiar with several Taoist priests in the Jin Temple, so he knows the monk who is not empty, and after a few deep talks, he admires him very much, and it can be said that the five bodies are on the ground. This person is not a so-called wise man, if he is willing to be hired by Dashun, he will be of great use. ”

Li Yan hurriedly asked: "If, as Mr. said, this person has extraordinary talents, why did he escape into the empty door? Could it be that he is a generous and upright person, who has suffered a lot of hardships and has great sorrows?"

Liu Heguang nodded with a smile and said, "The general is worthy of being Li Gongyu of Henan, and he is beyond the reach of ordinary generals." However, the ancients had a saying: there is no more mourning than the death of the heart. The sorrow of an empty monk lies in the fact that he cannot die in his heart, cannot detach himself from the world, and is like an ordinary monk. He is angry and a monk, often thinking about the current situation, taking pictures of the case, and singing sad songs. ”

Li Yan said: "The more you talk, the more I want to meet him immediately, may I ask what kind of character he is?"

Liu Heguang told him the name and identity of this monk before he became a monk, and then told him how this person had been fighting horses for half his life and later became a monk.

After Li Yan heard this, he asked again: "In November and December last year, my Dashun vanguard began to cross the river into Jin, and the people of the whole Jin were panicked. The wealthy families of the gentry and eunuchs of Taiyuan Mansion rushed to the mountains to avoid chaos, why did he leave the pure Buddha land of Wutai Mountain at this time?"

So I said he didn't want to be out of the world. Liu Heguang smiled, was silent for a moment, and then said: "To tell you the truth, although he is easy, when he talks about the corruption of the Ming Dynasty, he sighs, thinking that the Ming Dynasty will die and is incorrigible, and he has escaped into the empty door for this. But strangely, he couldn't bear to see the Ming Dynasty fall so quickly. He came to Taiyuan to try to suggest to the Daoist that Taiyuan could hold on for two or three months and stop the advance of the Dashun army, so that the city of Beijing could get the troops of the kings from all over the country. ”

After he arrived in Taiyuan, he saw that Cai Maode was a pedantic and useless literati, and other local officials were also inadequate, so he was very disappointed, so he didn't show up at all, so he came to live in the Jin Temple. General, do you think he's a strange person?"

Li Yan nodded and said, "I can understand a situation like his, and if I think about it carefully, I don't feel strange." ”

Liu Heguang said again: "The general might as well look for him tomorrow morning, if the general can say that he will serve Dashun, it will be of great use." In Yidi's view, there is a shortage of people like him in the new dynasty. ”

A fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl with unkempt clothes came in and told Liu Heguang that the grandmother's medicine had been decocted, and he was waiting for him to serve the grandmother to take the medicine in person.

Li Yan saw that Liu Heguang had something to do, and it was inconvenient to stay for a long time, so he quickly stood up and said: "I will go to the Jin Temple early tomorrow morning to visit the monk Bukong, as for the matter of Mr. going out of the mountain, I hope not to refuse." Song Junshi will personally come to the invitation within a day or two to persuade him to go down the mountain to show his ambitions and participate in the founding of the Great Shun Dynasty. ”

Liu Heguang treated his mother's illness, and every time he changed the medicine, after the decoction was done, he had to taste it himself before giving it to his mother to eat. This has been a habit in the family for many years, so he did not keep the Li Yan brothers, sent them out of the gate, and said goodbye.

The Li Yan brothers returned to the camp and discussed the matter of visiting the monk Bukong tomorrow morning while having dinner. Suddenly, Wu Ruyi sent a hurry, Pegasus came, and passed down the emperor's dictation: "Please Li Gongzi rush to Taiyuan Mansion to enter the palace before tomorrow." ”

Li Yan was surprised, and he didn't know what the emperor asked him to discuss. He was afraid that the monk would leave the Jin Temple and go back to Wutai Mountain, so he immediately decided to go to the Jin Temple tonight without delay. After a hurried dinner, Li Yan instructed Li Yan to stay in the city and gallop to the Jin Temple with dozens of personal soldiers.

The monk Bukong felt a little comforted because he saw that the discipline of the Dashun army was very good and the trade was fair, and it was indeed like the style of the world. Today, the city of Taiyuan has been broken, and he understands that Li Zicheng will go to Beijing here, and he will inevitably be like a bamboo along the way, and the glimmer of hope he originally had is gradually falling short, so he is very emotional. His heart was full of sorrow, and he was reluctant to meditate on the bed, but he still couldn't calm down, so he simply got out of bed, ready to fill in a poem, and asked the question on the wall before leaving, just after he came up with two sentences, Li Yan came.

Li Yan stationed a thousand men and horses in the small town of Jinci, led by Li Jun. Li Jun is already familiar with the old Taoist priest in charge of the Jin Ancestral Hall, and knows that there is an old monk who has placed orders, and he is a very learned person. It's just that he was busy collecting grain, mules and horses from large families in the mountains, and he hadn't talked to this monk from Wutai Mountain. Li Jun accompanied Li Yan to a secluded courtyard and knocked a few times on the door of a hallway. At the door opened, the monk folded his hands and asked serenely, "Are you here to find a poor monk?"

Li Jun crossed his hands and said: "I am here to meet the mage, my name is Li Jun, I am the leader of the garrison of this department, this is the chief general of the camp, the general of the Dashun national system......"

The monk smiled and said, "It's Henan Li Gongzi, look up for a long time, please come in and sit down and talk." ”

Li Yan saluted the monk and asked, "How does the master know that I am Li Yan?"

The monk said: "Your soldiers have been coming to the Jin Temple for three days, how can the poor monks not hear it? ”

Li Yan said to Li Jun: "You go and do your business, I will talk to the mage alone, and only the soldiers who will make lanterns will wait in the courtyard." ”

After Li Jun and a group of personal soldiers left, the monk let Li Yan into the Taoist room and sat down, and asked with a smile: "What is the matter with the general's visit to the poor monks? Could it be that the general has a relationship with Buddhism and has always been concerned?"

Li Yan said with a smile: "To tell you the truth, Yan has a very shallow relationship with Buddhism, although he has no idea of fame and wealth, but he has the heart of helping the world and the country." After the world is settled, the rock neither enters the Buddha, nor returns to the Tao, but seeks to relieve the armor and release the soldiers, live in seclusion in the mountains and forests, and make friends with the white cloud elk, and the farmer and fisherman, which is enough to wish. ”

"The general has a high mind and is admirable, but I am afraid that things in the world are unpredictable, and who knows when it will be peaceful? Now that the general has already left the mountain, it may not be easy to get out. What do you have to say about the general's visit tonight?"

Li Yan secretly pondered the monk's words, and decided not to explain his intention for the time being, so he might as well ask him what he thought of the current overall situation, so he said: "In the opinion of the mage, will the Dashun army be able to succeed in going to Beijing immediately?"

The monk said: "The poor monk is a person from outside the party, except for chanting sutras and worshipping the Buddha, I don't know anything else, why should I ask questions about military affairs?"

Li Yan smiled and said, "Please don't hide it from me, isn't the master Mr. Liu Zizheng, who praised the painting in Hong Chengchou's army back then?"

"How does the general know?"

"Please don't ask me how I know, just because I know that the master is Mr. Liu Zizheng, and he is very strategic, so I came to ask for advice. ”

"Ahh

"What does the mage think the future holds for the big picture?"

The monk closed his eyes and groaned, as if he was thinking about Li Yan's inquiry, but in fact, he was thinking about another question, that is, how to slow down the Dashun army to Beijing, so that Emperor Chongzhen could wait for King Qin's division.

After a pause, he raised his head and said, "Chongzhen is not the king of the dead country, but he has been terminally ill since Wanli and the Apocalypse, and there is no one in the court, so he has fallen to the point where he is today. It seems that there will be no major obstacles on the way to Beijing, but it is not possible to predict whether the city will be able to break through quickly after reaching the city of Beijing; even if Beijing is captured, it is even more difficult to say whether it will be considered a great success. With the eastern expeditionary forces led by King Li, I am afraid that they may not be able to succeed in the first battle. ”

Li Yan said: "Beijing's military strength is empty, the so-called three battalions exist in name only, and they are vulnerable to a single attack. At present, my Dashun Dynasty has 500,000 troops to the east, are you afraid that you will not be able to succeed in the first battle?"

The monk smiled but did not say a word. Li Yan couldn't help but ask, "Why is the mage smiling and not speaking?"

The monk slowly raised his head and said, "If the Great Shun Dynasty is really strong and has an army of 500,000 to the east, naturally there is no need to worry about success or failure. But I am afraid that the number of troops will be small, and in case of an unexpected change, how can we deal with it in a hurry? Please forgive me for saying bluntly, the people on King Li's left and right all think that victory is in their hands, and they think that their forces are strong and invincible in the world. In fact, it can be said that the sorrowful are here, and others are drunk and crazy because of their constant victories, and the general is a man of foresight, is it the same as everyone else?"