In the eighth year of Ming Chongzhen, autumn and July. 【Fengyun Reading Network. 】

The peaks and mountains are like gathering, the pine waves are like anger, and the mountains and rivers are on the surface of the Central Plains.

Li Zicheng stood alone under a lone pine, his face calm.

At this time, the weather was hot, he wore an old cloth robe, no hat, only a turban to hold his hair in a bun, a flower horse sword hanging from his waist, and the scabbard was also very old.

This is a small village in the depths of Songshan Mountain, named Zhaoji, there are only a dozen families, next to a stream, the people in the village rely on catching fish and hunting for a living, and they are very miserable.

Since Li Zicheng was forced into Songshan by Hong Chengchou, he went around in the mountains for more than a month before he came here, because this place is deep in the mountains, the officials and soldiers are afraid of hardship, and they are even more afraid of being ambushed, so they did not follow up, and the peasant army temporarily got a chance to breathe.

However, the food of thousands of men and horses was already insufficient, and Li Zicheng ordered that the elite soldiers should have two meals a day, and the ordinary soldiers would have one meal a day, and he and his generals would only eat one meal a day. Because it was too bitter, many people were disheartened and didn't say anything in front of him, but they were already whispering behind his back.

Li Zicheng was clear about this, so he encouraged his soldiers from time to time: "Don't worry, as long as you suffer for a while, the defense of the officers and soldiers will be relaxed, and then we will rush out, as long as we occupy a county town, we will not worry about food." ”

So these days, Li Zicheng couldn't help but send people out to find out about the movements of the officials and soldiers. But what was reported back was not good news, because Hong Chengchou strictly ordered his three armies to pay close attention to the peasant army, and Li Zicheng must be trapped and killed in Songshan.

As a result, the minds of the peasant army who had recently taken refuge began to waver.

Li Zicheng also knew that encouragement alone was no longer effective, so he began to send people out to get food, and from time to time he secretly attacked the camp of the lower official army, but the results were not great, and Li Zicheng's heart was gloomy.

Tian Jianxiu saw him from a distance, hurried over, stood behind Li Zicheng, and said softly: "Brother Li, Manager Qi led people to fight back......"

Li Zicheng was taken aback, and looked back at Tian Jianxiu: "Xiucai, what did you say?" Mr. Qi is anti-water? ”

Tian Jianxiu took a sip: "This kid is also from our old eighth team, but why is he so spineless, last night, he took people to change guards and guard the fork in the road, but he didn't expect to disappear in the morning." Eight hundred brothers, all taken away, not a single one left. ”

Li Zicheng felt a burst of resentment in his heart, Mr. Qi was his confidant, he had been with him for several years, and he had always been loyal, why did he surrender to the official army today? So he asked in a deep voice: "You have inquired clearly, did he really go to the official army?" ”

Tian Jianxiu nodded: "When he was leaving, he left a letter and nailed it to the tree, saying that his brothers were so hungry that he couldn't stand it, and he couldn't do anything about it." ”

Li Zicheng snorted: "It's hateful to disturb the morale of the army." Tian Jianxiu said: "This is good, as soon as Mr. Qi escapes, other brothers also have a lot of gossip, and many people are also active in their hearts, if it goes on like this, it is not a way, I am afraid that there will be more and more people who oppose the water." In case Lao Hong treats Manager Qi more favorably and gives him a big official, the consequences will be even more unimaginable. ”

Li Zicheng nodded: "Lao Hong did this kind of thing." It seems that it has reached the critical point of life and death, and if we don't want to find a way to rush out, we will not die in the hands of the officials and soldiers, but also in the hands of our own people. ”

He walked into the forest: "Invite Liu Ye and several generals here, let's discuss it." ”

In the forest is Li Zicheng's old camp, his wife Mrs. Gao is in charge here, Mrs. Gao is changing the medicine cloth for a wounded man, and when she saw him coming over, she handed the medicine cloth to someone else, and walked over to Li Zicheng: "King Chuang, I heard that Mr. Qi is backwater, is it true?" Everybody's talking about it. ”

Li Zicheng nodded heavily: "General Manager Qi took away eight hundred brothers, no wonder the army's heart is shaken, the food is about to run out in the past few days, and if you don't rush out, you will starve to death." ”

Mrs. Gao said: "But Lao Hong is very strict, and it is like an iron bucket in all directions, how to rush?" Li Zicheng said: "There is no way, I can only break through." How many wounds were there in the old camp? Mrs. Gao said: "More than 500 minor injuries, more than 200 injuries, minor injuries can ride horses, serious injuries can be ......."

She shook her head lightly as she spoke, her face full of melancholy.

Li Zicheng said: "Our old eighth team has never left behind our brothers. You try to arrange these 200 brothers as well as possible, if you have a car to ride, if you don't have a car, you tie them to the horse, in short, you must take them away, you can't stay. ”

After a short time, Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi, Hao Shaoqi, Liu Fangliang, Gao Yigong and other generals all arrived, and the last one to come was Liu Zongmin, who had been arranging the defense line in the outermost area, so he came the latest.

Everyone sat on a few stones in the forest, and Li Zicheng said: "Mr. Qi is in charge of the anti-water matter, everyone knows about it." Li Guo hated and gritted his teeth: "If I want to catch this kid in the future, I have to pick his skin." At this time, the anti-water is clearly a stab at the key point of our old eighth team. ”

Tian Jianxiu said: "Let's talk about catching him in the future, let's talk about what to do now?" ”

Yuan Zongdi said in a rough voice: "What should I do? Now that there is no food in the army, it is better to fight it than to starve to death. ”

Li Zicheng said: "Yes, it's not a way to hide like this, right now, the eight kings, Cao Cao and they have surrendered to the official army, and in the entire righteous army, we and the Qin army in Xi'an are left." I heard that although the Qin army was trapped tightly, Xiong Wencan attacked for half a month, and he didn't catch a few city bricks. If we are wiped out by Lao Hong, all the people of the Ming Dynasty will go to encircle and suppress Xi'an, and the Qin army will not be able to support it. That's why I said, for the sake of the people of the world, we have to rush out and live. ”

Hao Shaoqi slapped his thigh: "King Chuang's words make the most sense." You just give the order, where are we rushing? ”

Li Zicheng looked at Liu Zongmin with a smile: "Jiexuan, what do you say?" ”

Liu Zongmin smiled nonchalantly: "King Chuang, I have almost understood it in the past few days, Lao Hong set up his camp in Ruzhou, put Zuo Liangyu in Yanshi, and Cao Bianjiao in Xinzheng, this is a triangular formation, no matter which direction we rush, we have a strong opponent in front." It seems that the only way to retreat is to cross the Yellow River north and go to Shanxi. ”

Li Zicheng smiled: "This is also Lao Hong's wishful thinking, it is the rainy season now, the water level of the Yellow River has risen sharply, if we go to cross the Yellow River, I am afraid that we have not found a suitable place to cross the river, Lao Hong has already led Zuo Liangyu and they pressed over, at that time there was the Yellow River in front of us, and Lao Hong in the back, we really died without a place to be buried." ”

When everyone heard this, they all nodded.

Liu Zongmin said: "I think so too, so we can't go to the north, we must fight a tough battle, a vicious battle, and break through Lao Hong's encirclement." Hao Shaoqi came to the spirit early: "Master Liu, no matter where you rush, I will be the vanguard, our people who break into the king have always been rampant, and they are not afraid of his sword and fire." ”

Li Zicheng said: "Yes, from King Gao Chuang to me, it is because of this word that I have broken into today, he Lao Hong has 100,000 male soldiers, and we can also break through." In my opinion, let's go to meet Zuo Liangyu, I heard that the military discipline of this person's subordinates is not good, and the people will not help him, maybe they will help us. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "Do you want to break through in the direction of Luoyang?" ”

Li Zicheng said: "Luoyang is heavily guarded, and now is not the time to attack, so after we break through Zuo Liangyu's interception, we will turn around and go south, bypass Luoyang, and go to the vicinity of Tongguan, if possible, open Tongguan, and go to Guanzhong to meet the Qin army." ”

Tian Jianxiu frowned: "Brother Li, Lao Hong is cunning, he must have thought that we would go to Tongguan." So there must be a lot of people in this direction. ”

Li Zicheng laughed: "I know, but Lao Hong has a desperate plan, and we also have a ladder over the wall." I want to send a group of suspicious troops, first to the north for a while, and then immediately turn around, Lao Hong got the news, it is estimated that he will be fooled, pay attention to the north, at this time, we will concentrate all the horses and attack Zuo Liangyu. I think it's very sure that you will break through the encirclement. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "This method is good, I will take 2,000 people to the north." ”

Li Zicheng shook his head lightly: "No, the pressure on the main force will be greater, and you can't be missing." Yuan Zongdi said: "Then I'll go." Li Zicheng said: "Okay, I need you as a fierce general." After you break through, look at the situation, if you can rush away, rush over, and then turn around and go to Yanshi to find us, if you feel that you can't break out, don't fight hard, immediately return the same way, and follow after us. ”

Yuan Zongdi nodded again and again: "Brother Li, I wrote it down." ”

Li Zicheng instructed everyone: "Have a good rest today, and tomorrow morning, everyone will try to eat as much as possible, throw away all the things you don't need, and prepare to fight." ”

They got up and took their leave, and went back to the camp to prepare for their departure.

Li Zicheng stopped Liu Zongmin and asked, "How many people do we have in total, how many war horses?" ”

Liu Zongmin said: "I have already counted, there are eight thousand, four or five hundred, and there are more than three thousand war horses. ”

Li Zicheng nodded: "Assign a thousand horses to the old camp and let them bring all the injuries as much as possible." In this way, we will only have two thousand cavalry. ”

Liu Zongmin said: "It's okay, I heard that Zuo Liangyu is only a few thousand people." Li Zicheng said: "But Zuo Liangyu's people are all cavalry, and they are surrounded by local officers and soldiers." Like a hornet's nest, let's poke it and a group may fly out. Liu Zongmin said: "These local officers and soldiers, don't worry, the combat effectiveness is much worse, and a charge can be dispersed." I'm just worried about Lao Hong's side. ”

Li Zicheng said: "Let's fight Zuo Liangyu, Lao Hong will definitely get the news and rush to reinforcements." I've already expected this, so let's rush away from Zuo Liangyubu in one go. I am relieved to be a pioneer with the flag, but the safety of the flanks is the key, and I am not at ease when I hand it over to others. ”

[This book was first published from 17K, see the genuine content for the first time!] ]

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