On the second day of the second month of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the dragon raised its head. [No pop-ups. 】

In the morning, Li Zicheng walked out of the Luoyang Palace, only to see the ground full of silver, last night's heavy snowfall, so that everywhere is covered in silver, a few soldiers are cleaning in the yard, and a few child soldiers are pushing snowmen, having a good time.

This may be the last snow of the winter. Li Zicheng wrapped the cotton robe on his body tightly, and was about to leave the house to go to the conference hall, when he suddenly saw Tian Jianxiu running into the door in a hurry.

"Xiucai, is there something wrong?" Li Zicheng asked.

Tian Jianxiu came to him: "King Chuang, the Qin army has sent someone." Li Zicheng was stunned: "Qin Jun? What are you here for? Tian Jianxiu said: "It's not clear, the person has just arrived, I will arrange it in the side room, and then I will come to you." ”

Li Zicheng said: "There must be something important, you go and gather all the generals in the old camp, call the Song military division, and then go to the council hall and bring the people from the Qin army with you." ”

After the order was finished, Li Zicheng came to the conference hall.

This meeting hall is the original back hall of the palace, not long after Li Zicheng sat down, Liu Zongmin and others arrived, and after a while, Tian Jianxiu invited the Qin army envoy to the hall.

Li Zicheng saw that his name was Sima Yang, he was a captain of the Qin Military Academy, and he had come with Li Yan before, so he smiled and said: "It turned out to be General Sima, please sit down, come here, and serve tea." ”

Sima Yang thanked him and sat down in the middle of the crowd. Li Zicheng said: "General Sima came from Guanzhong, there must be something important." Sima Yang took out a letter from his bosom and handed it over: "This is a handwritten letter from Zhang Yi, the prime minister of my family, please take a look at the king." ”

Li Zicheng took it, unfolded it, and his heart moved: "Your King of Qin proposed to me to attack Shanxi quickly?" ”

Sima Yang said: "Exactly." When the people heard this, most of them were puzzled and whispered.

Li Zicheng groaned: "This is a big deal, I have to think about it. General Sima is here, don't worry about the past day or two, when I think about it, I will give you an answer. Sima Yang arched his hand and said, "That's right, the young general is waiting here for a reply." ”

Li Zicheng sent his own soldiers to take Sima Yang down to eat and rest.

As soon as Sima Yang left, the voice in the room immediately became louder, and Hao Shaoqi first couldn't hold his breath and shouted: "King Chuang, aren't we going north to Zhili and attack the capital?" Just by the way, kill Sun Chuanting's bastard, this is the best route to march, what Shanxi to go to? ”

Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Yuan Zongdi and others all agreed with this statement.

Tian Jianxiu looked at Li Zicheng: "King Chuang, what does the letter say?" ”

Li Zicheng said: "Probably speaking, the King of Qin knows that Sun Chuanting is leading tens of thousands of horses in Zhili, so he advises us not to touch Sun Chuanting, because the terrain in Linzhang is unfavorable, Sun Chuanting can block our army as long as he leads his men and horses to block the main road, and it is not easy to break through Sun Chuanting's defense line." Therefore, the king of Qin suggested that we divert to Shanxi and enter Zhili, Wei * Beijing from there. At this time, Wang Qiaonian, the governor of Shanxi, was far less capable than Sun Chuanting, and when he entered Shanxi, he avoided Sun Chuanting's difficult bone. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "That's not bad. We fought a bloody battle with Sun Chuanting last time, to be honest, we won a bit of a fluke, this time Lao Sun will not be careless, if we really fight, we can't make the two armies hold each other, protracted, we have hundreds of thousands of horses, we can't advance, it's too dangerous. ”

Song Xiance shook his head slightly: "Liu Ye's words are good, but I'm wondering, why did King Qin write this letter?" Is it to remind us? Or is there something else going on? ”

Liu Zongmin laughed: "Military advisor, King Qin is an understanding person, seeing that we have four or five hundred thousand horses in our hands, can you not panic?" I think he's here to curry favor with us. Strengthen the relationship between the two parties. This is called the poor in the downtown and no one asks, and the rich have distant relatives in the mountains. ”

Li Guo nodded: "Liu Ye is right, although the Qin army is powerful, but there are only 100,000 people, which is much worse than us, so come and sell it well, it seems to be affectionate, and when the Qin army is in trouble in the future, I hope we can help." ”

Everyone laughed.

Song Xiance shook his head lightly: "Well, this can be regarded as an explanation, but I always feel that there is an ulterior motive in it." Li Zicheng said: "Let's not talk about his intentions, let's talk about this matter first." Since the end of the year, I have been hesitating whether to attack Sun Chuanting, and the proposition put forward by King Qin, we can discuss it. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "I think it is feasible. Besides, Wang Qiaonian is the great enemy of King Chuang, and he should have been killed a long time ago. If I don't catch him for a day, I won't be able to eat well. According to me, enter Shanxi, capture Wang Qiaonian alive, and then attack the capital to the east, killing two birds with one stone. ”

Tian Jianxiu said: "Let's go to Shanxi, the road is convenient, but Zuo Liangyu is in the Nanyang area, this turtle grandson sees us raising troops, will he copy it from behind?" Especially when we cross the river, with Zuo Liangyu's cunning, we should have this hand. ”

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Don't be afraid of this, King Qin also said in the letter that once Zuo Liangyu makes a move, the Qin army will send troops from Tongguan, and C is between Zuo Liangyu and our army to ensure the safety of our rear." ”

Tian Jianxiu was stunned: "King Qin said that?" It's really generous enough, what good is it for them to do this? Any other requirements? Li Zicheng said: "The letter didn't say anything, and it didn't make any requests. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "What is the opinion of the military advisor? Song Xiance said: "The two sides join forces to fight, without any requirements, which is strange enough, but this King of Qin can't be measured by common sense, and he often makes some strange moves." Could it be that he wanted to come and attack him suddenly, as soon as our army moved, Zuo Liangyu was bound to pounce, did the Qin army want to intercept and kill halfway? Hit Zuo Liangyu off guard? ”

Li Zicheng said: "I don't think so, Zuo Liangyu is not a fool, when he acts, can he send a long post and a close post?" A surprise attack is unlikely, and besides, Zuo Liangyu's hundreds of thousands of troops who are chasing after us will not be cautious to prevent being deceived? ”

Song Xiance said: "Since it's not to fight Zuo Liangyu, it's for other purposes." I think it's better to find that Sima Yang and ask. ”

Li Zicheng said: "Don't be busy first, let's settle down first, whether to agree with King Qin's suggestion, and then ask." ”

When he finished speaking, he looked at the crowd: "Do you want to raise your hand to vote?" ”

After voting, most people advocated attacking Shanxi, and Li Zicheng nodded: "Okay, then go to Shanxi." Song Xiance said: "To march into Shanxi, we need to send a small group of men and horses to pretend to fight Zhili, so as to induce Sun Chuanting to stay in the local area." ”

Li Zicheng nodded: "Very good, just do it, pass the order to go, prepare for battle, and start in ten days." ”

Then he sent someone to invite Sima Yang and asked: "The king of Qin wrote in his letter that if my army enters Shanxi north and Zuo Liangyu comes to attack, the Qin army will cut off the rear for me and block Zuo Liangyu, is this true?" ”

Sima Yang laughed: "Military affairs, how can it be child's play? The King of Qin of my family has always been as clear as a mountain, and he will never deceive his allies. ”

Li Zicheng also smiled and said: "But it is not easy to block Zuo Liangyu, the Qin army will lose its troops and generals, I am uneasy, what conditions does your envoy have, just put it forward, I Li Zicheng can do it, I will do my best." ”

Sima Yang arched his hand and said: "Thanks to King Chuang's concern, the king of my family said, this time to join forces to fight, don't want the righteous army to have a grass and a tree, a soldier and a pawn, I just hope that King Chuang can break Shanxi as soon as possible, catch the surname Wang, take revenge, and then go straight to the Beijing Division, destroy the Ming Dynasty, and let the world settle down earlier." ”

Li Zicheng took the case: "Okay, it's really happy." I have decided, military advisor, to reply to King Qin, thanking him for such a good idea for our army. Our army will do it. ”

Sima Yang also stood up: "That's the best, thank you King Chuang." ”

When Song Xiance finished writing, Li Zicheng personally handed over the letter to Sima Yang: "General Sima, it's not that I don't keep guests, so urgent military situation, please go back to the King of Qin as soon as possible, I should raise a large army to cross the Yellow River north in ten days, and when the time comes, please ask the Qin army to go out of the customs and take care of one or two." ”

Sima Yang said: "There is no need to ask more, the young general has written it down, and he will leave." ”

Li Zicheng asked someone to bring a plate of gold, rewarded Sima Yang, and then sent a hundred-man cavalry team to escort him away.

After Sima Yang left, Li Zicheng began to send generals, let Li Guo and Liu Zongmin be the front, Tian Jianxiu was the rear army, he took a cadre of generals, and the team of men and horses was the Chinese army, ready to send troops, and sent Li You with 10,000 people to make a feint in the direction of Zhili, and at the same time sent Gu Kecheng with 30,000 horses to hold Luoyang.

After Kaifeng was flooded, Luoyang was the most important city in Henan, and he could not give up as before.

The whole army, with nearly 350,000 troops, mobilized day after day, with great enthusiasm and great momentum. It gives people the feeling that Li Zicheng is going north to Zhili and fight Sun Chuanting.

Speaking of Sima Yang, he didn't stop all night, ran back to Guanzhong, and after seeing the king of Qin and sending the return letter, the king of Qin was very happy to see it, and said to everyone: "Li Ziguo is going to enter Shanxi." ”

Bai Qi said: "This is the best, my Qin army should also move, king, I want to send General Zhang Gong with 20,000 cavalry, first stationed in Tongguan, and then move." ”

King Qin nodded and said, "Yes, send another general to lead the infantry, prepare siege equipment, and then set off to prepare to conquer some county towns in Nanyang, Henan." These county towns were originally occupied by the official army, and if the Qin army took them, no one would object. ”

And when they had received the order, they went out to prepare. King Qin secretly signaled Bai Qi, Bai Qi understood, and stayed in the hall

King Qin said to Bai Qi: "Tell Zhang Gong to wait for Zuo Liangyu to leave Nanyang, and then go in, don't meet Zuo Liangyu head-on." ”

Bai Qi smiled and said: "The last general understands that the king's original intention is to let Zuo Liangyu and Li Zicheng's men and horses pinch it, and let's take the opportunity to attack Nanyang." ”