The number of people present at the first military conference after the founding of Dashun was not large, only a few people such as the university scholar Pingzhang military affairs Niu Jinxing, the military advisor Song Xiance, and the commander of Zehou and the general Tian Jianxiu. Generals such as Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, etc., are now basically leading troops outside, and they lack skills.

In addition to the extremely luxurious embroidered clothes on the day when he ascended to the throne, Li Zicheng still likes to wear strong casual clothes as in the past. Niu Jinxing once advised him to have the majesty and solemnity of a gentleman, and he should abandon the burlap clothes and change the horse into a sedan chair when traveling, but Li Zicheng only deduced that the long robe and big sleeves were inconvenient to walk, and the sedan chair was even more disdainful of women and children. Niu Jinxing persuaded several times to no avail, so he had to give up.

It is because everyone gathers together at the moment, most of the civil officials in a group of chickens and dogs ascend to heaven and dress gracefully, but the emperor Li Zicheng and Tian Jianxiu, Wu Ruyi and other generals are all unpretentious and even simple, if people who do not know see this meeting, I am afraid that they will think that the magistrate is receiving a group of ordinary people to petition.

Li Zicheng said a few opening words, and then asked Tian Jianxiu: "You and Lao Wu came back, how is the situation in Hanzhong Mansion?" ”

Tian Jianxiu's posture was more respectful than before, his buttocks raised and leaned forward, and he bowed his head and said: "Back to Your Majesty, Zhao Dangshi has already led troops into Hanzhong, and I heard that Sichuan is also under his control, and there are about forty or fifty thousand Ming troops in Hanzhong. ”

Wu Ruyi snorted: "Zhao Dangshi's wolf ambition is to protect the Hanzhong Mansion from letting go. ”

Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Zhao Dangshi bargained with me in Henan, and he also bargained with me in Shaanxi." It can be seen that his people have the ambition to compete with me. The previous defeat of Lao Wu was the dismount he gave. ”

Wu Ruyi's face turned red and muttered, "It's not that I didn't have to prepare, I was attacked by him." Then he said: "Zhao Dangshi and His Majesty have an agreement not to invade each other, but now they are treacherous and take the initiative to attack, their actions are contemptible, and their hearts are condemnable." I hope that Your Majesty will gather the army of Shaanxi and immediately attack and destroy this faithless and unrighteous person! ”

Li Zicheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, Old Wu, I asked you to wait here today for this matter." After a slight pause, he looked around at everyone, "What kind of person do you think Zhao Dangshi is?" ”

"It's just a white-eyed wolf who is inconsistent on the outside and clear in his words and deeds." Wu Ruyi's face was full of indignation, "Thanks to His Majesty's wholehearted help and support him, I once thought he was a righteous gentleman." Now that I think about it, I really want to give myself two big ear scrapers. ”

Tian Jianxiu said: "Zhao is the world, and the hero is also." I remember that a few years ago, he was still weak and attached to our army, and His Majesty wanted to take him for his own use, but he pretended to be drunk during the banquet and broke away from Irikawa. Since then, I have known that this man is not a small ambition, and he is not a thing. ”

Niu Jinxing echoed: "The world is bustling, all for profit; The world is crowded, all for profit. Zhao Dangshi is the leader in this. Judging from the fact that he was able to return to the Ming court with Zhang Xianzhong without any worries, and destroy the Hui, Cao and other battalions, and even now in Sichuan, our army's wishful thinking to cooperate with him is tantamount to conspiring with the tiger. ”

Li Zicheng heard them say this, and suddenly stroked his palms and sighed: "First there is Zhang Xianzhong, and then there is Zhao Dangshi, I often use kindness to marry heroes, hoping to gather people's hearts and create a great cause." Looking back now, the original intention was wrong. Heroes who can really grow from small and grow from scratch must not lack wisdom and courage and ambition, how can such a person be subservient to others for a long time. "However, as the commander of an army and the lord of a place, there must be more things to consider, and the responsibility on his back is far from being comparable to that of a single person. ”

Wu Ruyi said seriously: "Your Majesty is benevolent and righteous, and he is impartial. But in any case, Zhao Ying's current series of actions are clearly aimed at our army. The heart of defense is indispensable, and our army needs to take precautions as early as possible and come up with ways to deal with it. ”

Li Zicheng said: "What do you think is good?" ”

Wu Ruyi blurted out: "Take advantage of the great opportunity when Guanzhong, northern Shaanxi, Qinghai and other places have been wiped out by our army, gather the soldiers and horses from all directions, first take Hanzhong Mansion, and then go straight to Sichuan and Huguang, completely eradicate Zhao Dangshi, and solve the great trouble of our army!" ”

When Li Zicheng heard this, he was noncommittal, but looked at Tian Jianxiu and said, "Lao Tian, do you think so too?" ”

Tian Jianxiu's face tightened and he didn't reply. Such silence in disguise shows that he does not approve of Wu Ruyi's proposal.

"Lao Wu, at that time in Henan, I remember that you were also present at the military meeting that determined the overall strategy of our army, what did you say?" Li Zicheng suddenly asked.

Wu Ruyi was stunned, and then said while thinking: "At that time, Mr. Niu, Song Junshi and others expressed their opinions, in the end, the golden nest and the silver nest are not as good as their own grass nest, and the big guy still thinks that Shaanxi's hometown is the most important, so he only needs to take Shaanxi, and then slightly three sides, take Shanxi, and finally attack Beijing." ”

Li Zicheng smiled and said: "What you said is not bad at all, our army has indeed done this in the past two years." At present, Shaanxi, Henan and the three sides are basically under the control of our army, and the troops and horses that went to Shanxi to test are also overwhelming. Then the next thing our army has to do is to take Shanxi in a big way. ”

Wu Ruyi became anxious and said, "How can it be done!" The world is unpredictable, what was said at the time was said at the time, but now the situation has changed, Zhao Dangshi occupies Hanzhong, obviously with ill intentions, our army is like a mang's back, how can we not pull it out? ”

"How do you pull it out?"

"How else can I pull it out, of course it's a fucking beating!" Wu Ruyi heard Li Zicheng ask knowingly, and his irritability came up, and those who were cautious and polite had already been thrown to Java.

Li Zicheng has been sharing weal and woe with the old brothers for more than ten years, and he has long been accustomed to laughing and scolding each other, and at first Tian Jianxiu, Wu Ruyi and others trembled and made him a little unaccustomed to it. Wu Ruyi looked at Li Zicheng and smiled, but he didn't know why, but he heard Tian Jianxiu say: "Old Wu, it's not so easy to fight with Zhao Dangshi." ”

Wu Ruyi was unconvinced and said: "Our army is fighting Henan and Shaanxi, and it will be down with a snap of a finger, what is the difficulty in Sichuan and Huguang?" ”

When Tian Jianxiu heard him say this, his face darkened and said, "Then why did you defeat me before?" ”

Wu Ruyi was speechless and described as embarrassed. Li Zicheng clapped his hands and said, "Okay, don't laugh." He said to Wu Ruyi again, "Old Wu, the reason why I asked Zhao Dangshi what kind of person he was, and how to beat Zhao Dangshi, was just to point out a truth, Zhao Dangshi is not easy to fight." ”

"It's hard to fight?" Wu Ruyi was stunned and felt that there was something in his words, "What's wrong?" ”

Li Zicheng said first: "I fought Ding Qirui and Sun Chuanting earlier, all because of them blocking the front, our army is dead and alive, and it can't be fought if you don't fight." However, according to the established direction of our army, Zhao Dangshi is not unavoidable."

Wu Ruyi exclaimed: "How do you say this? ”

Song Xiance said: "This matter is about Zhao Dangshi's personality, or Zhao Dangshi's ambition. ”

Wu Ruyi said: "Zhao Dangshi is a lackey of the Ming Court, and he is trying his best to plot against me day and night, how can he ignore it!" ”

Song Xiance shook his head again and again and said: "This is not necessarily, Your Majesty has talked to Zhao Dangshi several times before, where do you think his ambitions are?" ”

Li Zicheng smiled and said, "I just said that Zhao Dangshi is a hero who is not willing to be subordinated to others. I can't pull him, can Ming Ting pull him? He added, "Since accepting the Ming Court's appeasement, I have watched Zhao Dangshi's every move. If it is said that he will serve the Ming court loyally like Liu Guoneng, it is a big joke. His initial intention of surrendering to the Ming Court was the same as Zhang Xianzhong's, but later he took a much smarter path than Zhang Xianzhong. ”

Wu Ruyi said if he realized: "Could it be that Zhao Dangshi also wants to ......?"

Li Zicheng nodded slowly and said, "This is inevitable, otherwise there would have been nothing to say between me and him." "For example, when Sun Chuanting attacked Henan last year, the situation of our army was so urgent, but he did not fall into the well and stab our army. Do you say he doesn't see a chance? I don't see it at all, he's just waiting for a better opportunity. ”

Song Xiance said: "Your Majesty is reasonable, Zhao Dangshi is by no means a loyal courtier of the Ming Court, nor is he an ally of my army, everything he does is for the benefit of his Zhao camp." ”

Wu Ruyi shouted: "That's right, it's all for the benefit of his Zhao Ying!" What are the interests of his Zhao Ying? Obviously, it is Henan and Shaanxi, otherwise why would you bite Nanyang and Hanzhong and not let go? ”

Li Zicheng exhaled and said: "Zhao Dangshi is a smart person, and a smart person does not seek momentum but builds momentum on his own. If he surrenders Nanyang, Runing, and Hanzhong, his old foundation will be exposed to our saber. Our army and Zhao Ying are like living next to each other in the streets and alleys, even if they live closely, in the end, they are still two families, and they are always separated by a door, right? ”

Wu Ruyi listened to the boss and said dissatisfiedly: "Why did Your Majesty still help Zhao Dangshi speak?" ”

Li Zicheng said: "I didn't speak for Zhao Dangshi, think about it carefully, the villagers in Pingsu Township will turn their faces and deny people for a well and a vegetable furrow, and fight to the death, if the eaves are built next door to your yard, what will happen to you?" ”

"This ......"

Song Xiance said at this time: "Your Majesty's words are profound, in fact, the reason is very simple, the stalemate in Nanyang, Runing and other places is the intention of Your Majesty, and it is also a tacit understanding with Zhao Dangshi. Otherwise......"

"Otherwise, it will really force Zhao Dangshi to the way of the loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty." Li Zicheng answered, "Since the beginning of our army, it has been smooth sailing, but in fact, you and I all know how many times the danger has almost been wiped out. At those times, with just a slight push, our army would fall into the abyss, but Zhao Dangshi had the strength and not the heart. ”

Song Xiance said: "When our army is hiding in the mountains of Xichuan, there are only a thousand people, even if Zhao Dangshi does not make a move, as long as this matter is transmitted to Henan, it will be difficult for our army to get started, but he did nothing; Luoyang and Nanyang are both important places in the fortified city, and they really have to fight hard, but I am afraid that the price paid by our army is not less than when they were in Kaifeng, but he sent Ren Jirong, who really helped our army a lot in the early stage; Sun Chuanting fought Henan, our army was unfavorable at first, trapped by it, although it was said to block the grain route to win, but if Zhao Dangshi went north at the same time, our army's hope of victory was still slim, but he chose to stand still. Such things, although quiet, have indeed benefited our army a lot. ”

Wu Ruyi was confused and said: "According to this, Zhao Dangshi has made a lot of efforts to the development of our army, so why don't you go hand in hand with our army and harmony, but instead fight back every once in a while, singing red face and white face." ”

Li Zicheng said with a resolute face: "This is the art of checks and balances. As I said, Zhao Dangshi still has Zhao Ying behind him, and the starting point of everything he does must be the overall interests of Zhao Ying and the overall strategic situation, and he cannot be judged by the principles and standards of dealing with people. You say that whether he sings red face or white face, it is necessary to do it in response to the time, but in general, he will still be careful in the big situation. ”

"The big picture?"

"Yes, that is, our army and his so-called mutual non-aggression." Li Zicheng sighed twice, "The art of checks and balances is like walking on a steel cable between cliffs, there are two most important things, one is to keep the general direction unchanged, and the other is to toss and turn in a limited space. The former is called a stance, and the latter is called proportion. Ahem, speaking of which, these are still what Zhao Dangshi said to me at the beginning. ”

Niu Jinxing said thoughtfully: "Zhao Dangshi can say such a thing, which shows his strength. ”

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The wild boy who was exiled from the fence back then can grow up to such a point one day. Sure enough, people have golden scales, and they will turn into dragons when they encounter wind and clouds. ”

Wu Ruyi couldn't help but say: "Zhao Dangshi neither wants to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, nor does he want to follow His Majesty to reopen the sky, what does he want with such hard work?" ”

Niu Jinxing said with a calm face: "Didn't Your Majesty say 'turn into a dragon when you encounter a storm', Zhao Dangshi is afraid that he also wants to taste the taste of sitting on the dragon chair." ”

"Him?" Wu Ruyi's eyes widened and his neck stretched out, dumbfounded.