Shanxi, which had just been pacified, fell into war again after Li Zicheng led the army to attack. Li Zicheng's sudden sneak attack caught the imperial court off guard, causing the rebel army to march all the way, and the siege of the city was like a bag.

In the end, Li Zicheng easily captured Shanxi in less than half a month, and the banner of the righteous army was planted all over the cities of Shanxi. The imperial court had no time to mobilize troops to rescue them, so they could only helplessly watch Shanxi fall into the hands of Li Zicheng.

Having had the experience of two failures, Li Zicheng apparently learned his lesson this time, and fell silent after occupying Shanxi. Using the grain obtained from the imperial army and the wealthy households in various cities, the army of less than 100,000 was rapidly expanded to more than 300,000 within a month.

The morale of the rebel army was high for a time and it was ambitious!

"Hahaha......"

Li Zicheng set up a celebration banquet to invite all the generals in the army, and Li Zicheng's hearty laughter was frequently heard echoing in the banquet.

Seeing Li Zicheng's happiness, Yingshanjian strengthened his courage with wine, and stepped forward to ask for his life: "King Chuang, now our morale is high and the morale of the army is stable, why don't we take advantage of the victory to pursue, continue to wave the army north, and go straight to the Beijing Division." ”

Yingshanjian's opening immediately attracted a large number of echoes, and these generals in the army were in high spirits one by one, clamoring to enter the imperial city and let Li Zicheng become the emperor.

Seeing the mood of a group of subordinates, Li Zicheng was very happy. The rebel army has not seen such a situation for a long time, and has been suppressed and beaten by the imperial court all the time, and now it is finally possible to achieve a real victory, and Li Ziwei should not spoil such an atmosphere.

But he knew better in his heart that the successful capture of Shanxi this time was completely obtained by picking up cheap. If it weren't for Mao Wenlong, who had already fought the whole of Shanxi in a crumbling battle, if it weren't for the fact that the imperial court had withdrawn its troops first, it was really unpredictable who would have been in Shanxi.

It's a good thing that the morale of his subordinates is high, but these people in front of him are obviously proud and ignorant, the smile on Li Zicheng's face gradually disappeared, and he said coldly to Yingshan: "How many soldiers and horses do you think you will be able to successfully win the Beijing Division now?" ”

Li Zicheng's change made Yingshan stunned for a moment, and then he trembled even more when he heard his cold question. Ying Shanjian didn't dare to respond casually, he already remembered his friend Liu Zongmin who had made a military order before.

The bloody lesson was still echoing in his mind, and Ying Shanjian suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and hurriedly remedied: "The subordinates are incompetent, and there is no guarantee that they will be able to take down the Jingshi." Just now, the wine was surging, and the gibberish collided with King Chuang, I hope you will forgive me. ”

After speaking, Yingshan pounced and knelt directly in front of Li Zicheng, feeling extremely bitter in his heart. A good sycophant slapped the horse's leg, and now it is better to put himself directly at a disadvantage, a bad one, and it is possible that he will be punished by Li Zicheng in a minute.

Fortunately, Li Zicheng didn't seem to blame him, and after a moment of silence, he said lightly: "How did we seize Shanxi, you must have a foundation in your heart, don't get carried away." Not to mention attacking the Beijing division now, it is still unknown how to defend Shanxi. ”

Yingshanjian didn't dare to disobey at all, and he said yes again and again.

Li Zicheng saw that he realized the power of it, so he no longer taught him a lesson. No matter what, Ying Shanjian is also the most trusted person among his subordinates at present.

"Get up."

Li Zicheng said lightly, suddenly lost all interest, got up and left the banquet, leaving behind a group of subordinates who were at a loss, and they didn't know what to do.

Inside the Imperial City of the Imperial Palace.

Chongzhen's face was expressionless, listening to Wu Chengen's report on the current situation in Shanxi and the recent situation of the rebel army. The sudden sneak attack made Chongzhen have no time to react, and Shanxi had already fallen into the hands of Li Zicheng, which made Chongzhen very angry.

Fortunately, it was Li Zicheng who captured Shanxi instead of Mao Wenlong, and Chongzhen was still a little fortunate about this. In his opinion, the rebel army will not be able to become a climate at all, and as long as conditions permit, if some large troops are transferred, it will be easy to recapture Shanxi.

After Wu Chengen finished reporting the situation in Shanxi, he stood aside and stopped talking. At this moment, he saw Chongzhen's expressionless face, and he couldn't guess what he was thinking, and choosing to keep his mouth shut was obviously the right thing to do.

The Wenhua Hall was so quiet that only the slight crackling sound of the huge fire candle burning. Chongzhen stared at the flickering candle flame silently, and didn't say a word for a long time.

Wu Chengen has been carefully speculating on Chongzhen's state of mind, as a celebrity around the emperor, he has been getting along day and night for more than ten years, it can be said that Wu Chengen may have a deeper understanding of Chongzhen than himself.

This is also why Wu Chengen is so favored, not without reason.

At this moment, Wu Chengen's eyes suddenly turned cold when he saw Chongzhen, and he seemed to have made a decision. He didn't dare to be careless, and immediately stood respectfully, waiting for Chongzhen's orders.

Sure enough, after a while, Chongzhen retracted his chaotic thoughts, looked at Wu Chengen with cold eyes, and said coldly: "Is there any unusual movement on Mao Wenlong's side?" ”

Wu Chengen shook his head and said: "No, since he evacuated from Shaanxi, he directly captured Shaanxi, and now he is busy consolidating and has no intention of sending troops to fight." ”

Chongzhen hesitated again and asked again: "What is the situation over there in Huguang now, has Xiangyang City come back?" ”

Wu Chengen pondered for a while and said respectfully: "According to the report of Tanma, it is said that when Mao Wenlong withdrew his troops in Shanxi, the Dongjiang Army, which had been occupying Xiangyang City, had also withdrawn. Also, when the Dongjiang Army withdrew, almost the entire city was emptied. ”

Chongzhen's face twitched slightly, but he didn't get angry, but said coldly: "Forget it, as long as Xiangyang City can be taken back." ”

"What the emperor said is extremely true!" Wu Chengen immediately agreed.

"Since Mao Wenlong has not moved, then he will send a large army again to completely exterminate the thieves in Shanxi, and this time he will never allow any of them to escape, and he will kill them all."

Chongzhen immediately issued an order on the same day, once again transferred 100,000 elite soldiers from all over the border passes, appointed Lu Xiang, who had fully recovered, to be promoted to generalissimo, and led the army to Shanxi to rehabilitate.

After Mao Wenlong, who had lived in Xi'an for a long time, learned that the imperial court was preparing to counterattack Li Zicheng in Shanxi, he did not pay too much attention to it, but ignored it and concentrated on building his sea caravan.

If Mao Wenlong wants to set up a sea caravan, the leader must of course be the three brothers of the Lijia family.

urgently brought the three brothers from Yunzhou Mansion, and then Mao Wenlong concentrated on this matter. The three brothers are also worthy of being family heirlooms running boats on the sea, and after hearing about Mao Wenlong's wishes, the three of them took care of the matter.

Mao Wenlong is also generous, and he bluntly says that he will give whatever he wants, and he will never shirk. The three brothers had the support of Mao Wenlong, a wealthy landowner, and immediately said goodbye and left, and returned to Yunzhou Mansion to form a maritime fleet.