Adou successfully delivered the forged letter to Li Zicheng, and his mission was completed, and when he and his two companions returned to Xi'an, news came from Jingshi. Li Ziguo was fooled and took the initiative to send troops to Datong Mansion.

And Wu Sangui of Datong Mansion does not know when he has withdrawn his troops, and now Datong Mansion has been occupied by Jin soldiers. In Datong Mansion, Huang Taiji only stationed less than 20,000 Jin soldiers, and when he saw Li Zicheng suddenly come with 50,000 soldiers and horses, he immediately became nervous.

After Huang Taiji got the news, he was even more furious, but he didn't expect that he didn't want to deal with Li Zicheng so quickly. Now it's good, Li Zicheng actually took the initiative to come to the door by himself, and without saying a word, Huang Taiji immediately ordered Datong's Jin soldiers to fight.

The guards of Jiayu Pass, Huang Taiji only left 10,000 gold soldiers to guard, and the rest all followed him and quickly advanced towards Datong. Looking at this momentum, it is completely possible to take down Li Zicheng in one go.

The situation in the north suddenly became tense again, the short-lived tranquility was once again broken, and a new round of war was about to begin.

In wars, it is always the ordinary people who are hurt the most, especially in the entire north, and the ordinary people are terrified of the Jin soldiers. Because of the incompetence of the previous Ming court, every time he fought against Jin Bing, he lost more and won less, which caused the people to be even more afraid of Jin Bing.

Seeing that the war was about to start, no one was optimistic about Li Zicheng's rebel army, and the people fled from the place where the war was about to take place. The families have moved away from their hometowns, and there are many people from Beijing to Datong.

And the only place they can go is Shanxi or Shandong, where the Dongjiang Army is currently stationed.

A large number of people fled one after another, but fortunately, Mao Wenlong had already prepared and had already arranged for the officers and men of the Dongjiang Army to meet at the border between the two places. The more people are for Mao Wenlong, the better, and what he lacks most now is people.

At present, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Shandong, there are still large tracts of land in abandonment, especially Shaanxi. Because of the early emptying, there are still many remote Fucheng that are sparsely populated.

Adou quietly returned to Mao's mansion, and Mao Wenlong met him alone in the study for the first time.

"It seems that the battle between Li Zicheng and Huang Taiji is settled. The emperor should also leave for Nanjing, Adou, let me ask you, are you interested in joining the army? Mao Wenlong looked at Adou and asked with a serious face.

"Chief soldier, subordinates still like to live freely, there are a lot of rules in the army, I'm afraid my subordinates can't adapt to it." Adou replied truthfully.

After hearing this, Mao Wenlong nodded and smiled: "You have always liked to be alone, since you are not interested, then it's fine." This time Chen Jisheng is going to Nanjing on an errand, so you should still stay by my side. ”

Adou clasped his fists and said yes, he originally belonged to the ranger class of people in the rivers and lakes, and the edification he had received since he was a child had been deeply rooted in the bone marrow, and it was almost impossible for him to make changes.

"Go down and rest, you should keep an eye on the recent affairs of Li Zicheng and Huang Taiji, and notify me as soon as there is any change." Mao Wenlong said to Adou.

"Yes, Commander. Subordinates retire! Adou bowed his hand and took his leave.

After Mao Wenlong saw Adou leave, he was about to turn around and go back to see Chen Lan, but as soon as he got up, he saw the housekeeper in the house knocking on the door and entering: "Young master, this is a letter just sent from the Northeast." ”

"Put it on the table." Mao Wenlong pointed to the desk in front of him.

The butler did not dare to slack off, and after putting down the letter, he withdrew again.

Mao Wenlong glanced at it casually and found that it was not written by his subordinates, and there was no indication on the outside who sent it. He opened it suspiciously, and was quite surprised to find that the signature in the letter was Wu Sangui.

"Wu Sangui actually invited me to Shandong to meet...... Mao Wenlong muttered to himself, and then asked the subordinates outside to invite Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou arrived a moment later, and after seeing the salute, he said, "What's the matter with the chief soldier so late?" ”

Mao Wenlong handed the letter to Hong Chengchou and explained: "Wu Sangui suddenly wrote to me and asked me to go to Shandong to meet him. ”

Hong Chengchou frowned suddenly, and after taking the letter, he read it seriously, and after a long time, he put down the letter and asked Mao Wenlong: "The general soldier decided to go or not." ”

Mao Wenlong paused for a moment and said: "This Wu Sangui is still my old boss, and when I was in Liaodong before, he still took care of me. At this time, he invited me to meet him, and it seemed that it was difficult to refuse him. ”

Hong Chengchou didn't think so, he said to Mao Wenlong: "In fact, the general soldier can ignore it completely, just as if you haven't seen it at all." Wu Sangui is already certain that he has an unusual relationship with that Emperor Taiji. If nothing else, I'm sure he must have ulterior motives for inviting the general soldiers to meet him this time. ”

Mao Wenlong obviously agreed with what Hong Chengchou said, he nodded and said, "No matter what his purpose is, I want to meet him." ”

In Mao Wenlong's opinion, Wu Sangui was called a big traitor in later generations, but Mao Wenlong didn't think so. In fact, Wu Sangui himself is more like those princes or generals who support their own troops, they just want to be independent and claim the king themselves.

Obviously, the current Wu Sangui should not have really returned to Emperor Taiji, and Mao Wenlong felt that it was necessary for him to go and pull him. Keeping Wu Sangui away from Huang Taiji and giving the future enemy one less help is also a good thing for Mao Wenlong.

Hong Chengchou looked at Mao Wenlong suspiciously, he really didn't understand what Mao Wenlong was thinking in his heart? Sometimes he couldn't see Mao Wenlong's mind at all, and sometimes he felt that Mao Wenlong was a little too simple.

"Does the chief soldier have other plans in mind?" In the end, Hong Chengchou couldn't hold back and asked.

"Hehe, Huang Taiji has won over Wu Sangui, so that he can go deep into Datong smoothly, and now he can fight with Li Zi. If I can convince Wu Sangui at this time to stop intersecting with Huang Taiji and instead deal with Jin Bing with me, what do you think will be the consequences? Mao Wenlong said in a voice.

Hong Chengchou pondered for a moment, and his eyes suddenly lit up: "The plan of the chief soldier is indeed very good, but is the chief soldier sure that he will be able to convince Wu Sangui?" ”

Mao Wenlong said confidently: "Wu Sangui's collusion with Huang Taiji is nothing more than considering his vital interests. As long as I give him more generous benefits, there is no reason why he will not agree. ”

Hong Chengchou thought about it, and also felt that what Mao Wenlong said was true, instead of speculating here, it was better to let Mao Wenlong try it as much as possible. So, Hong Chengchou didn't say much, and acquiesced in Mao Wenlong's going to Shandong to meet Wu Sangui. After all, this is a good thing for Mao Wenlong or Wu Sangui, and he has no reason to interfere.