[225] Li Zicheng was killed

Because Li Zicheng concluded that the Ming army would inevitably pursue in Jiangxi, he did not listen to Wu Ruyi's hard persuasion, and resolutely left the large force, intending to pass through Tongshan County from the northern foot of Jiugong Mountain, and then through Tongcheng County, and then enter Puxi County, so that the Ming army that was chasing him could be left far behind, and he would be saved by then.

Full of such hope, Li Zicheng entered the realm of Tongshan County. Unfortunately, the common people in Tongshan County, like in other places, either fled or resisted by the cottages, so that his hungry and exhausted army, which numbered only a few hundred men, had neither food nor a single message. In the afternoon of that day, Li Zicheng arrived at a mountain pass near Jiugong Mountain. There are only a few families there, named Li Jiapu. Suddenly encountered a small group of Ming troops searching in the mountains, his small army had no fighting spirit, and when they saw the Ming army coming, they immediately scattered and fled for their lives. Those who could not flee were killed, or surrendered. There were only more than 20 people left around Li Zicheng, most of whom were infantrymen. When passing through a small cottage, he was blocked by Xiang Yong, who fired a few shots into the sky with an earthen musket, and there was a shout, and the more than 20 people also dispersed as birds and beasts.

Li Zicheng rode alone, fleeing in another direction along a river valley, and after fleeing for a few miles, he heard someone behind him shouting "Soushan" and the accent of an outsider. When he was running out of options, he suddenly saw a hole in the soil at the base of the mountain on the right, and the outside of the cave was covered with wild grass. There are some shrubs on both sides of the hole, and the branches are sparse, and there is a large spider that uses the branches on both sides to form a web across the upper part of the hole, so it is impossible to see how deep the hole is. There was a small river in front of the cave, so he had to wade to the other side, quickly dismount, lead the horse to the riverbank, pick up the deep grass, and hide in the hole. Only then did I find that the hole was more than two feet deep, very damp, and the light behind it was very dim. He stood leaning on the oolong horse, listening to the movement in the distance, thinking that the enemy might find this place, and that he would resist the enemy at the entrance of the cave, or be killed by the enemy, or finally kill himself, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "I, Li Zicheng, am a hero of the world, and I have today!" ”

A thick cloud filled the sky, and the cave became darker. In the Tongshan area, every year before and after Duanyang, will enter the rainy season of Huangmei, sunny and rainy, and the local rain that only begins to rise at this time is called Duanyang water. Soon after Li Zicheng hid in the cave, it began to rain. Sometimes the rain is light, sometimes it rains heavily. When the heavy rain came, it hit the wild grass and sand and gravel, and the rustling sound, accompanied by constant lightning and thunder.

The dew was very thick, and Li Zicheng's clothes were wet. Because standing in the wet grass, my shoes and socks get even more wet. Of course, the saddle and the horse's back are also wet. There was a large tree with dense foliage ten zhang away nearby, which could hide the dew, but he did not dare to let go of the war horse, nor did he dare to tie the war horse to the branch of the bush next to him. In the unlikely event that an enemy soldier and a villager searching for him burst out of the hidden grass, he must leap on his horse and fight with his sword in the blink of an eye. Therefore, not only should you take the reins of the horse, but you should always follow the horse's left side, and the horse should go as he goes. There is no grass under the big tree, and he must hurry to feed the horse, and he must not delay!

The May night was short, and the sky was getting brighter. He saw that the horse's belly was full. It turned out that there was a pit in the belly of the horse, which was close to the hip bone on the left, and now this pit is almost flat. In order to keep the horse fed, he followed it as he ate in the deep grass nearby. After a long time, the sun had risen, and he thought that he did not need to eat any more, so he pulled the reins and led the tame horse to the foot of the tree, which was not very wet, and tightened his belly, and prepared to go on his way. The sun is rising from the northeast this morning. He identified the east, west, north and south according to the position of the sun, and recalled the way he fled to the Loess Cave yesterday, and decided to avoid the way he came, first escaping from another direction, and then fleeing westward, hoping to find some of the scattered men. Riding alone is really dangerous.

The weather in Jiangnan is already very hot in early May, and there are mountains on all sides of this place, and I feel that the sun is even hot. The wet clothes on Li Zicheng's body had been dried, he was hot and thirsty, and he was hungry, so he felt that as long as two or three villagers came at this time, he would not be able to deal with it. On the one hand, he is ready to encounter the unexpected at any time and die here; On the one hand, I randomly picked some mountain fruits that I could encounter, whether they were sour, astringent, bitter, sweet, and ate them in one go.

In the midst of his difficulties, he saw a small pond with weeds on all sides. His eyes lit up, and he decided to dismount and drink water first. He led the horse to the water's edge, bent down, and saw his own face in the water, thin and dark, with deep-set eyes, and many gray hairs on his temples. When he returned to Xi'an from Beijing, he saw gray hair on his sideburns, which had increased in recent days, but he didn't expect that it seemed to have suddenly increased a lot overnight last night. He picked up the water in the pond with both hands, held it several times, and drank it in his stomach, and his throat felt cool, and his stomach also felt cool. He washed his face again, letting his mind dissipate heat.

After drinking the water, he was leading the horse to continue to look for a way out, when he suddenly heard the sound of logging. He searched carefully and saw a man cutting down a small tree. Since there was only one man, he decided to take a risk and ask the woodcutter for directions. The woodcutter also saw him, and was watching his whereabouts, but he was not afraid of him, for he saw that he was also alone, and that the woodcutter had a machete in his hand. He kept smiling and beckoning to the woodcutter, indicating that he had no ill intentions. Neither did the woodcutter flee. When he came near, he asked the woodcutter to show him the way out of the place. However, the woodcutter did not fully understand his Shaanxi dialect, and Li Zicheng could not understand the woodcutter's dialect. So he quickly took out some pieces of silver from his bosom and handed them to the woodcutter. When the woodcutter saw the silver and saw Li Zicheng for a long time, he realized that it was Li Zicheng himself who helped him get out of this place, so he led him from a place that was not easy to be found at all, along a very hidden path that was difficult to walk, to a big intersection

Li Zicheng was about to take some more broken silver to thank the woodcutter, when he suddenly heard a noise around him, Li Zicheng hurriedly looked around, and sure enough, he saw people dressed as townsmen approaching him from the paths on both sides and the opposite hillside. Li Zicheng quickly untied the reins from his arm, pulled out his sword, and looked at the enemies around him with angry eyes. Although the villagers knew that there was only one person in front of them, they did not dare to approach immediately, and in order to strengthen their courage, they shouted loudly and began to fire their birds. Li Zicheng dodged and led the horse into the woods. Knowing that he was already so tightly surrounded, that it would not be easy for him to rush out, he stood under a pine tree, ready to fight.

The villagers approached from all sides. Li Zicheng opened his angry eyes and shouted: "I'll see who will send him to death!" ”

The leader of Xiangyong is surnamed Cheng, named Cheng Jiubai, and is usually more famous in this area for his bravery. He walked in front of Cheng surnamed Xiangyong, and when he heard Li Zicheng's shouting, he was shocked and didn't dare to move forward. The rest of the villagers did not dare to move forward.

Cheng Jiubai shouted in a dialect that Li Zicheng didn't understand: "Don't be afraid, everyone, hit him with a bird!" ”

Li Zicheng saw that Xiang Yong was about to release the bird, so he turned over and rode on his horse, preparing to open a bloody road and break out of the encirclement. But as soon as he got on horseback, several of Xiang Yong's bird guns ignited almost at the same time, and Li Zicheng was unfortunately shot and planted on the ground. Cheng Jiubai had already stepped in front of Li Zicheng with an arrow and stabbed the red tassel spear into Li Zicheng's heart. Li Zicheng suddenly became depressed, and when Cheng Jiubai was stunned, he grabbed the front end of the gun with his right hand very agilely, just behind the red tassel, and pulled it, Cheng Jiubai stumbled and fell on Li Zicheng's leg because of the excessive force forward. Li Zicheng ignored the seriousness of his injuries, suddenly jumped up with his last strength, held down the enemy, sat on the enemy, and quickly pulled the short sword from his waist. But he was bleeding too much, his strength was almost exhausted, and he had to hold Cheng Jiubai to death, so he couldn't pull out the short sword for a while.

"Help~Help~" Cheng Jiubai shouted, Cheng Jiubai is famous for his strength in ten miles and eight towns, he was all put down by Li Zicheng at once, who dares to come forward to save him?

"Save my uncle, save my uncle!" Cheng Jiubai's nephew Jin Gui begged for other villagers

"You~~Why don't you save ~" No one dared to step forward

"Uncle, I'm coming~" Jin Gui's heart was horizontal, as soon as he closed his eyes, he rushed forward and raised the hoe to smash it on the back of Li Zicheng's head

Let's chirp~~ Blood and brains were sprinkled all over the ground

"Damn ~~fucking ~~" Cheng Jiubai, who picked up a life, punched and kicked those villagers who couldn't save him when he saw death, "Egg~~ It's all cowardice~~ Grandma's, or his nephew is in charge!" Cheng Jiubai scolded and said, "You are not allowed to approach!" This thief was killed by me and my nephew, and no one can take the thief's things, this horse, but all of them are mine. Whoever dares to come and take it casually, I Cheng Jiubai will never agree! ”

The villagers are brave and lose in front, how can they dare to fight? They all said: "Yes, yes, the nine hundred brothers have the greatest credit. ”

Cheng Jiubai and his fellow villagers returned to the village, tied Li Zicheng's oolong horse to a tree outside the gate, unloaded the saddle and horse pedals, took them home, closed the gate, and only watched the various belongings seized by his family and a few of his closest uncles and brothers, and the small leaders of the townspeople. He counted all these things, such as swords, short swords, and helmets, and a dragon robe, two pieces of jade, and a saddle decorated with gold and silver, and gilded horseshoe, and many small pieces of silver in a horse coat. He didn't dare to take out the money completely, but he touched it, took out a small part of it, and gave it to a few cronies, telling them, "Don't say it!" The man I killed today is by no means a small boss, it must be a big boss, a big boss. You see, this dragon robe is in a horse coat, and it is not worn. The hilt of this dagger was inlaid with precious stones, gold and silver. This is by no means a mortal. And this horseshoe, isn't it gold? How can a small boss have a golden horse? And the faucet, yo, how delicately this faucet is made! There are two beads embedded in the dragon's mouth, you see, you can roll it casually, but you can't spit it out. Oh my goodness, we killed a big guy!

Someone asked, "Is it King Li Chuang?" ”

Someone shook his head: "By no means!" A person like King Li Chuang, who has already become the Son of Heaven, even if he loses the battle, there must be many pro-soldiers and generals around him, how can there be a reason for one person to walk? Yesterday, someone lost the battle in Lijiapu, and then there were only about 20 people left, and they broke up again, and they all said that in the end, there was only one person left, and he fled on horseback. That's it! That's it! This man must be a big boss! But it was by no means King Li Chuang himself. ”

On the morning of the fourth day of the fifth month, the third day of Li Zicheng's murder, there was a remnant of Li Zicheng, about 10,000 people, and the common people said that there were tens of thousands. They came to save Li Zicheng, but it was too late. They only knew that their emperor had been killed by the villagers, but because the common people in the area of Niujiling had fled for more than ten miles, they had nowhere to inquire for a while. They stopped in Tongshan, but because of the fact that people and land were born and the language was different, they still couldn't find the place where Li Zicheng was killed and where his body was. Coupled with the fact that they searched everywhere for food, often raided mountain villages and cottages, punished and retaliated, often killed people, committed adultery, and burned down houses, the more frightened the common people were, the less they could get the news. After a month or two, the body of Emperor Dashun was finally not found, and he did not know who was the culprit who killed the emperor, so he had to retreat to Hunan.

After the remnants of the Dashun army retreated, Tongshan came to the county sent by the Northern Ming, and order was basically restored in the county. The magistrate had heard the rumors, and immediately went to Xiaoyuankou and Niujiling to check in person, and called Cheng Jiubai to the county seat, inquired about the details, and reported to the new governor of Huguang, He Tengjiao, who rewarded Cheng Jiubai for killing Li Zicheng, and appointed him as the manager of De'an Mansion, and was the official of the eighth grade in charge of official documents. This incident was completely out of the nine hundred accidents, but I didn't expect that the person I killed was really Li Zicheng, so the whole village congratulated and ate a wine banquet for two or three days.

A generation of heroes Li Zicheng died of this!