Gao Yigong said solemnly: "The brothers who came from the border army said that there are rumors that the emperor issued an order to let the vassal kings pay and grain to solve the problem of the army's arrears of pay and grain. He didn't believe it and came over, but many of his brothers who were going to come with him didn't come, saying that they wanted to wait and see. ”

After he finished speaking, the lobby was very quiet for a while, and suddenly, Liu Zongmin laughed, and first broke the silence and said, "You can also believe this?" This is rarer than an old sow going up a tree! ”

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere suddenly became lively again. Yuan Zongdi also said: "It's been so many years, and it's not that I have been in arrears recently, and the emperor has not just ascended the throne, how can I let the vassal prince's mansion pay for food until now?" If you really want to have this meaning, you have already given it up, so do you have to wait until now? ”

"Yes, Brother Yuan is an understanding person!" Liu Zongmin laughed, and then pointed at Gao Yigong and said, "Look, scared Brother Gao, as for it?" ”

Li Zicheng listened to their conversation and breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. To tell the truth, he was really scared just now. The elite of the Qindi border army is actually famous in the whole country. If it weren't for the arrears of pay and food, who would have no morale at all, who would dare to stay in Qindi!

He was thinking about it, but Gao Yigong still said with a serious face: "Big brother, this matter is spreading, I didn't think so at the time, I asked several times in a row, and there were such rumors." In addition, I heard a rumor, I don't know if it's true or not, saying that the emperor is also on a personal expedition! ”

"Ah, what?" When Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately asked in surprise, "The emperor is personally driving?" ”

Without waiting for Gao Yigong to answer, Liu Zongmin shouted again: "I said Brother Gao, can you use your brains, just the emperor Lao'er's gold and dare to go out of the Forbidden City?" Driving a personal expedition? Don't you dare to dream of it! ”

After saying that, he laughed again, and glanced at the others by the way, hoping that the others would think the same way as him, and laugh and laugh at the dog emperor as much as he did!

However, seeing Li Guo frowning, he stood up and said to Li Zicheng: "Uncle, listen to the brother who escaped from Shanxi, some time ago, Hong shaved his head, and King Lu Yan sat in Shanxi, and he made a big deal of raiding his family, and he copied all the famous Jin merchants. Originally, I thought that we wouldn't go to Shanxi anyway, and I didn't care much about it. However, listening to General Gao's news at this time, if you connect it like this, I am afraid that the emperor has indeed changed a lot! ”

Li Guo is considered a weighty person in the army, and he is still Li Zicheng's nephew, so everyone else stopped talking, looked at him, and waited for his next step.

"I'm afraid that the emperor may really change when he is stimulated. If you give an order to the feudal lord's mansion, you may be able to do it. Li Guo continued, "With Hong shaving his head, King Lu Yan and their support, it is not impossible for the emperor to drive the expedition in person!" ”

After he finished speaking, the lobby fell silent again. They knew in their hearts that if the emperor really drove the expedition himself, and the princes of the feudal kingdoms provided money and food, their lives would be very sad.

No, I heard Liu Fangliang say with a little hesitation: "Or...... Why don't we go back to Shangluo Mountain first and see the situation? On the Henan side, you can't go anyway, otherwise you will hit the Imperial Forest Army headlong, which is not a joke. ”

"What's there to be afraid of, just screwing off the emperor's dog head as a urinal!" Liu Zongmin still refused to give in, but his voice was more than a step lower than just now.

The others didn't speak, they all looked at Li Zicheng, waiting for him to make up his mind.

After a long while, Li Zicheng made a decision and said: "The truth of the matter is still unknown, if you just run back to Shangluo Mountain, it will not be laughed at by other ways!" In this way, immediately send someone to inquire, verify the news, and we will discuss it again! ”

This is also a safe move, and others will naturally not have an opinion.

Then, it's time to eat and drink. But obviously, the atmosphere was not as lively as it had just been.

Unlike Li Zicheng's side, Zhang Xianzhong's side in Hubei no longer had the excitement of destroying the imperial court officials and troops when he rebelled at the beginning. At this time, he was discussing with Luo Rucai, Hui Dengxiang, Wang Guoning, Chang De'an, Yang Youxian, and Wang Guangen.

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong's face serious, he asked, "You should have heard about the emperor's personal expedition?" ”

Luo Rucai and the others nodded when they heard this.

The matter of the emperor's personal expedition is spread everywhere, and even one news a day. Some say that the emperor has not yet left Beijing, and some say that the emperor has already arrived in Henan and will soon go to Hubei to quell the turmoil; There is even news that the emperor has actually arrived in Xiangyang and will soon bring the Yongwei battalion over.

They have all personally experienced the combat effectiveness of the Yongwei Battalion. Before, it was under the pressure of the Yongwei Battalion that they had to choose to accept Xiong Wencan's recruitment.

When the Yongwei Battalion went north to King Qin, many of them even looked forward to the Yongwei Battalion being killed by Jianyu in their hearts. For this, their expectations at that time were actually very high. After all, Liaodong Jianyu is invincible, especially in the field, and the Yongwei Battalion, as the Royal Forest Army, cannot avoid the war, but can only fight, then it will fight with the Jianyu, and the end is not expected to be good.

However, after they restarted the incident, they got the news that the Yongwei Battalion and the Qin soldiers had driven the Jianguo away, and they also fought a great victory, killing nearly 30,000 or so Jianguo. This news made all of them speechless for a long time in shock.

At first, some people doubted the truth of the news. However, when they knew that there were King Lu Yan, Hong Shatou, Sun Chuanting and others who participated in the command of the war, they who had learned these powerful people, they felt that they would not be fake, at most they were exaggerated.

Now, since the emperor is personally on the expedition, he must have brought this heavenly force that can win the battle against Jianyu. So what to do? How else to fight?

Thinking about this, the hearts of all the bandit leaders were heavy, and their faces were full of worry.

Think about it, just before, the situation was very good, and Gucheng, Fangxian, Junzhou, Yunxi, Baokang and other places were defeated, so to speak, the entire northern part of Hubei fell into their hands. Originally, I was full of confidence in the future, and I have been recuperating for about a year, and it is time to do something!

However, why did the situation suddenly change, even the emperor drove the expedition in person, and the invisible pressure made everyone here lose their smiles and have sad faces.

Zhang Xianzhong was born in a fast hunt and also served as a border soldier, so his psychological quality is better. Therefore, after a while, he said: "I think, don't enter Henan first, be safe." In addition, send people to find out the news, and you must have accurate news, otherwise there is an emperor here, there is an emperor there, and if others are not crazy, we ourselves will be crazy first! ”

"I agree with this!" When Luo Rucai heard this, he nodded in agreement.

Henan is the Central Plains, and they originally wanted to go to Henan. Now I am so frightened by this news that I dare not go!

Hui Dengxiang also spoke: "I think that during this time, we should not divide the troops, otherwise we will be broken by the officials and troops of the imperial court." ”

In the past, they suddenly joined forces and their strength increased greatly, so they won the victory against the imperial court officials and army, and Zuo Liangyu lost his armor and fled in embarrassment.

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, of course he was happy, and immediately nodded in response: "Yes, we are in one place, where we want to go, the officers and soldiers basically can't stop us!" ”

At this time, their surface strength has reached 50,000, and their momentum is far greater than that of Li Zicheng's side. It was also the case that it first attracted the attention of the imperial court officials and soldiers. In the original history, it became the key object of encirclement and suppression by the official army, but it gave Li Zicheng a chance to enter Henan, and under the call of "Juntian Exemption", it suddenly snowballed, and finally became the first force among the thieves in the late Ming Dynasty, and the officials and soldiers of the imperial court could no longer help Li Zicheng.

Wang Guoning, another leader of the bandits, suddenly said: "Otherwise, how about we go to Sichuan?" As long as you can get in, it is the land of fish and rice, the country of abundance, and the Shu road is difficult to walk, and it is not easy for the Yongwei Battalion to enter Sichuan! ”

Hearing this, some people agreed, and some people opposed.

"Sichuan has long been ruined by the two families of Lu'an, how can there be any country of abundance!"

"Yes, it's hard for the court officials and soldiers to enter, but it's hard for us to get out, what should we do if we close the door and beat the dog?"

"You're the dog, you're the water dog!"

"What do you say, you try again?"

“……”

There are many people and many contradictions, and if one is not careful, they will quarrel.

Seeing this, Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly sent a table to stop the quarrel of those people. To be honest, he actually wanted to go to Sichuan in his heart. However, under the good situation, he ran into the nest in Sichuan, and he was still a little unwilling, and most importantly, he heard that Chen Qiyu was appointed as the governor of the three sides by the Dog Emperor again. If he went to Sichuan, then Chen Qiyu would definitely enter Sichuan from Hanzhong to encircle and suppress them.

In the end, he had no choice but to make a decision: "Send more people out to inquire and see where the dog emperor has arrived?" lest we run headlong into it. After finding out where the Dog Emperor is, we are far away. With our troops, the world can go! ”

"Yes, that's it!" Luo Rucai also immediately chimed in, "If the world is thrown into a mess, and the court will take care of one thing and lose the other, our pressure will be much lighter." ”

They were talking, when suddenly there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside, and then an anxious voice shouted: "Father-in-law, father-in-law, it's not good, it's not good......

Everyone looked up, but saw that it was Sun Kewang, the hand of Zhang Xianzhong's many righteous sons, and it was called Zhang Kewang at this time. I saw that his face was panicked and he hurried in.

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he couldn't help but feel a shake in his heart, and immediately asked, "Have you found the trace of the Yongwei Battalion?" ”

He hadn't thought the Brave Guard Camp would come so soon.

"It's not!" When Zhang Kewang heard this, he hurriedly replied, "It's Chen Qiyu's old horseman...... He...... He succeeded Xiong Wencan as the new governor of the five provinces! ”

"What?"

"What?"

“……”

As soon as the news came out, everyone in the lobby stood up in fright, all of them with a panicked face.

These people all suffered big losses at the hands of Chen Qiyu, and they were almost wiped out. Later, Chen Qiyu was exiled by the Dog Emperor, but they all celebrated. Unexpectedly, Chen Qiyu was enabled by the Dog Emperor again?

Zhang Xianzhong also asked with an ugly face: "Is this news confirmed?" ”

"It's the brother who infiltrated Henan and sent someone to report urgently." Zhang Kewang heard this, and hurriedly replied, "I said that I saw Chen Qiyu with my own eyes." The brothers arrested the post guard and asked out to say that Chen Qiyu was going to replace Xiong Wencan. ”

Before, they heard that Chen Qiyu was appointed as the governor of the three sides by the Dog Emperor, and the situation here was very good at that time, and it was far away, so they didn't care much. At most, if you don't go back to Shaanxi, and you don't go to Sichuan, which is close, then it's fine.

However, Chen Qiyu still confronted them head-on, and even succeeded Xiong Wencan as the governor of the five provinces, and wanted to encircle and suppress them. In particular, the emperor also drove the expedition in person and came with the Yongwei battalion. This...... It's a way to live!

"In this way, go and inquire about the news as soon as possible, and we must also be prepared, so as not to be surrounded by Chen Qiyu's dog official again." Zhang Xianzhong decided again.

The meaning of being ready is nothing more than being able to run away.

In this regard, the other bandit leaders were well aware of this, and hurriedly nodded in agreement. Among them, Luo Rucai also said: "As long as we join forces in one place, we will rush to one place, and I believe that there is no court official army in that place that can stop us!" ”

"That's the truth, as long as you don't bump into the Yongwei Battalion, who are we afraid of!" Zhang Xianzhong made the final decision, and then the leaders of the thieves dispersed and hurriedly went back to prepare.

At this time, what they were most concerned about was, where did the emperor's royal car go? When the dog emperor came out, he must be the most capable and powerful soldier around him, and he must not touch it. Even the elite part of the army in other places will be transferred by the Dog Emperor to escort them, so if they find out where the Dog Emperor is, they will know that they can run in that direction!

However, they sent people to inquire, inquired, and even sneaked into Xiangyang to inquire about the news. At most, I only heard that Jingshi came to Jinyiwei and stopped Xiong Wencan. As soon as Chen Qiyu arrives, he will be escorted back to Beijing to be punished. But there is still no news about the emperor's trace. Only one thing can be certain, the emperor has indeed driven the expedition in person and has already left Beijing.

So where did Emperor Chongzhen go? I guess no one could have imagined it.

Soon after leaving Beijing, Emperor Chongzhen asked the Yongwei Battalion and the Panshi Battalion to continue to enter Henan under his banner, divided into several groups of men and horses, and went to surround Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves, while he himself led the more than 5,000 cavalry troops of the hussar battalion, as well as Wu Sangui's cavalry, suddenly accelerated and entered Shanxi.

For Zhang Xianzhong's gang of thieves, Emperor Chongzhen's plan was to let Chen Qiyu accept it first, surround them, and prevent them from wandering. It's best if he can be eliminated, if he can't be eliminated, when he finishes dealing with the matter of Hetao, he will return to his division to destroy Zhang Xianzhong.

Of course, there is another point, maybe no one cares much about Li Zicheng at this time. But as a person from later generations, especially when he heard that Li Zicheng actually put forward the slogan of "Juntian is exempt from endowment", he knew that Li Zicheng must be strangled to death as soon as possible.