The weather in the south of the Yangtze River in May has become very hot, after more than ten days of tea poisoning by the rogues, the originally prosperous Huizhou Mansion in the past has now withered, and the pedestrians on the street have become extremely scarce, even if there are occasional people just passing by, and the shops on the street are basically closed.

Li Yan walked slowly down the street surrounded by a group of guards, at this moment he was wearing a half-worn felt hat, an off-white long shirt, a pair of thin-soled cloth shoes on his feet, a leather armor on the outside, and a sword hanging from his waist.

This dress is not much different from that of ordinary rogues, even if people who were familiar with him in the past walk up to him, it is estimated that they will not recognize it for a while.

Looking at the deserted streets and the withered city, Li Yan had a sad face.

After more than a month of sweeping, all the rich gentry in Huizhou Mansion were swept away by the peasant army under Li Zicheng.

After this operation, the entire army of rogues ate a lot of money, everyone was smiling, and even Li Zicheng's pain of bereaving his nephew was reduced a lot.

But in the entire Liukou, there was only one person who felt worried and hurried, and this person was Li Yan.

In Li Yan's view, although their move raised millions of taels of silver and more than 100,000 stones of grain for the peasant army, it also caused a devastating disaster to the Huizhou Mansion.

Prior to this, there were more than 60,000 households and nearly 300,000 people in Huizhou Prefecture, and after this battle, the population had dropped to 2560,000.

For this reason, after Li Yan learned about Li Zicheng, he selected more than 20,000 young men to join the peasant army, gathered all the blacksmiths, collected all kinds of iron tools, and built weapons for the peasant army day and night.

But even if more than 20,000 young and strong people are enrolled, there are still more than 200,000 people left, so many people eat an astronomical amount just every day, but now the Huizhou Mansion has been cut off from contact with the outside world, and after more than ten days, most of the people have no food at home, and countless people are hungry and screaming.

These days, many people have tried to go out of the city to find work or buy things, but the rogues, who were afraid of being mixed in by the officers and soldiers, ordered the people not to leave the city, and killed some people for this purpose.

Under the deterrence of the shining blades in the hands of the heads and rogues hanging at the gate of the city, the people of Huizhou Mansion endured hunger and were honest for several days, but Li Yan felt a little uneasy.

Today, he refused Li Zicheng's banquet and wandered the streets with a group of guards, looking at the almost empty streets and the eyes that had turned green from hunger peeking out of the dark corners, and his heart became trembling.

Perhaps feeling the uneasiness in Li Yan's heart, a young man wearing leather armor and a red scarf on his head rode a horse next to him and whispered: "Big brother, you don't have to worry too much, although the current Huizhou Mansion is short of food, it is still no problem to support it for another ten days and half a month." ”

This young man is Li Yan's cousin Li Nian, this is a time when Li Yan feels that there is no one available around him, so he wrote a letter and sent someone to Qixian County to recruit his two cousins Li Nian and Li Mu to the peasant army.

Hearing Li Nian's words, Li Yan shook his head slowly, he was about to say something, but he heard the sound of horses' hooves in front of him.

"Pimple ......"

The sound of horses' hooves came from the street, and soon a dusty cavalryman appeared in the street.

"Get out of the way...... Everyone dodged Lao Tzu. The cavalryman came to the street, not only did not slow down, but shouted loudly.

Looking at the cavalryman galloping on the street, Li Nian's face changed and he just wanted to shout, and after seeing the other party holding a red pennant in his hand, he hurriedly retreated a few times, and beckoned the guards around him to get out of the way.

From ancient times to the present day, no matter which army it is, it has given the greatest rights to heralds and messengers who carry out urgent military duties.

It doesn't matter who it is, how big the official position is. If you kill the herald or disturb the herald because of you and affect their delivery of orders, no matter how big your officer is, what awaits you will be severely punished by military law.

As Li Yan and the others avoided, the herald quickly swept past them.

Looking at the herald who was passing quickly, Li Yan sighed lightly and said to Li Nian, "Let's go back." ”

Li Nian asked puzzledly: "Big brother, aren't you going to inspect the barracks, why did you go back?" ”

Li Yan shook his head: "Looking at the appearance of the herald just now, it is obvious that he has been running for a long time, I estimate that something must have happened, and I don't think I will be able to go to the barracks this time." ”

"Okay."

Although Li Nian was a little puzzled, he still followed his brother's advice and turned the horse's head back.

Sure enough, after they walked for a while, they met someone sent by Li Zicheng, saying that King Chuang asked them to go to the Juyi Hall immediately to discuss matters.

When Li Yan rushed to the Juyi Hall, he saw that many generals in the army had already rushed over.

Seeing Li Yan coming, Li Zicheng hurriedly beckoned him to come over and sit down next to him.

"Strategist, you're here, hurry up and sit down here."

"King Chuang, what happened?" Li Yan walked up to Li Zicheng and sat down, and hurriedly asked.

"Alas!"

Li Zicheng sighed and said loudly: "Brother Laiheng, tell Brother Li Yan about the information you just got." ”

Li Laiheng stood up and arched his hand to Li Zicheng: "Yes!" ”

Then he said to Li Yan: "Military advisor, the Shicai Zongmin brothers sent someone to send a letter, Tian Jianxiu brothers supported Anqing Mansion for ten days, they were defeated by officers and soldiers, and were forced to withdraw to Ningguo Mansion, but the Jiang Ning army was like a mad dog crazy chasing him, and the men and horses under the command of Tian Jianxiu brothers are now dead and wounded.

For this reason, he came to Huizhou Mansion with the convoy sent by the Zong Min brothers to transport food and wages, but the Jiangning army was chasing and killing them behind, and now he sent people to ask us to send troops to meet them, and King Chuang is embarrassed about this. ”

"Embarrassed?"

Li Yan glanced at Li Zicheng a little strangely, it stands to reason that after occupying Huizhou Mansion, their team has expanded again, and Li Zicheng's direct old camp alone has expanded by more than 10,000 people, and it is not a problem to send a team to pick up Tian Jianxiu under such circumstances, how can it be difficult to become like this one by one.

Seeing Li Yan's puzzled gaze, Li Zicheng smiled a little embarrassed: "Brother Li Yan, you know, aren't we busy preparing to attack Hangzhou these days, this troop mobilization is a little insufficient, and the brothers are embarrassed for this matter." ”