After sunset, Li Zicheng took a pair of pro-soldiers to the banquet of Mei Zhihuan and others, and just left the Governor's Mansion, a pro-soldier behind him trotted to catch up, panting and said: "The Metropolitan Governor...... Metropolitan Governor, urgent news from the Hanqing Bureau! ”

Li Zicheng was a little surprised, "I just arrived in Lanzhou today, and the message from the Hanqing Bureau has arrived?" ”

"Governor, these messages are all forwarded from Xining!"

"Oh!" Li Zicheng had a smile on his face, opened a few messages in turn, and when he looked at it, he couldn't laugh, his brows were wrinkled into the word "Sichuan", his eyes looked dull, and his shoulders shook rhythmically......

He Xiaomi was taken aback, and hurriedly called: "The Governor of the Metropolitan ......"

Li Zicheng folded a few pieces of information, put it in his underwear pocket, sighed, and said, "It's nothing, let's go to the banquet first!" ”

He Xiaomi knew that there must be some bad news, he thought about it, but he couldn't guess that since Li Zicheng didn't say it, he didn't dare to ask, so he had to follow Li Zicheng and slowly approach the provincial capital.

Mei Zhihuan, Yang Zhaoji, and Tang Ruowang, the three masters, had already been chatting with Liang Wencheng and Shen Dao over tea, and were talking about the matter of the Hexi Governor's Mansion, when they saw Li Zicheng, the five of them all came out and knelt in the mansion together, "The Metropolitan Governor!" ”

"No need to be polite, let's all get up!" Li Zicheng helped Mei Zhihuan up, and just waved his hand to the rest of the people, "Old man Mei is old, so you don't need to be polite." ”

"What you want," Mei Zhihuan got up and circled around Li Zicheng with his gaze, "The Metropolitan Governor has even taken it back, and the old man admires it...... Hey, what's the matter with the Metropolitan Governor...... Is it the fear of drinking? Rest assured, old decay will never be difficult for others! ”

"Where, the old man bothered," Li Zicheng estimated that his face frightened Mei Zhihuan, so he smiled faintly and said, "Old man, let's go in and talk!" ”

"Yes, yes, look at the decay...... Seeing the Metropolitan Governor, he was so excited that he didn't know the north and the south......" Mei Zhihuan smiled, and hurriedly introduced Li Zicheng into the room and presented the throne.

The wine and food had already been served, but Li Zicheng's interest was not high, and there was no excitement as he imagined, he just asked Mei Zhihuan if the new political system was flexible, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he bowed his head and drank.

Tang Ruowang has never looked at other people's faces, and it seems to be the first time to even bow down to Li Zicheng, but in front of Li Zicheng, he didn't dare to accompany him.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little dull, he took the initiative to say: "Pope, during this time, the construction of the Second Bridge of the Yellow River in Lanzhou has already been completed, and the cement avenue has crossed Huizhou from the north of the Yellow River, and is about to approach Jingyuan County. ”

Huizhou north of the Yellow River, this is already Li Zicheng's mental limit, the cement avenue extends from Lanzhou to Huizhou, which can effectively control the land around the capital city of Huizhou, sinicize Huizhou as soon as possible, and protect Lanzhou from the north.

However, not only is desertification serious in the land of Huizhou, but there are also many mountains and valleys, and there is not much population, even if the roads in the territory are crisscrossed, there will not be many taxes, so it is better to forget it for the time being.

The development center of the Mandate of Heaven is still in Lanzhou, as well as the prefectures and counties to the south.

In the southeast direction of Lanzhou, there are three prefectures: Gongchang, Taozhou, and Longnan, of which Lanzhou is from Lanzhou to Gongchangfu, because on the Langu Avenue from Lanzhou to Guguan, the cement avenue has long been passed, and the key is Taozhou and Longnan in the south.

Li Zicheng pondered for a moment and said: "First extend the road to Jingyuan County, so as to facilitate the mobilization of materials for the Qin Danian, and then move the road construction team and bridge construction team to the south, and build the road between Lanzhou and Taozhou, Gongchang to Longnan, Taozhou and Longnan. ”

"Subordinates understood!" Tang Ruowang scratched his hair and said, "However, leaving Lanzhou to go to the south is too far away from the subordinate territory, so it can only be handed over to Mr. Mei!" ”

"Such a good thing for the benefit of the people, the old man is duty-bound!" Mei Zhihuan arched his hand.

Tang Ruowang said: "Lanzhou City, has accepted a large number of displaced people, now the population has exceeded 130,000, according to the Pope's will, the population will soon reach 150,000, but Lanzhou City is too small, the city has become very crowded, and if you want to increase the population, I am afraid that even housing will be difficult......

"Expansion," Li Zicheng's eyes, Lanzhou will be the largest city in Longyou, the number of population, the area of the city, etc., of course, to increase, "Lanzhou Yellow River Second Bridge has been passed, east, west, north and south four directions, theoretically can be expanded, you first survey, choose the direction of relatively flat terrain, as the main direction of expansion, the city can not live, temporarily placed outside the city, and then build the city wall in the future." ”

"The Pope is right, I have been taught!" John Tang arched his hand, "I will send someone to survey outside the city tomorrow." ”

Li Zicheng saw that the scene was cold again, and he didn't speak, but took out the message he had just received from his arms and put it on the table, "This is the message you just received, you all take a look!" ”

Only then did Liang Wencheng understand that Li Zicheng's mood was wrong, and he was afraid that it was related to these messages.

There are only two copies of the message, one is what happened not long ago, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong and other thieves, trapped in the carriage gorge, the carriage gorge is 40 miles long, surrounded by cliffs, as soon as the thieves enter the gorge, they are attacked by the imperial court and local armed forces, or the stone is cut off, or the stone is flying, or the forest is set on fire, and the thieves are seriously injured.

Another message, a little earlier, in July, Huang Taiji knocked on the pass, Datong was in an emergency, the imperial court urgently dispatched Cao Wenzhao to assist the governor Zhang Zongheng to guard Huairen, it is said that the imperial court is mobilizing Guanning iron cavalry to reinforce Datong.

Everyone looked at these two messages, they all looked at each other, at first glance, these two messages, and the Heavenly Mandate Army has nothing to do with it, under careful study, the imperial court fought on two fronts, it was still a good thing for the Heavenly Mandate Army, I don't know why Li Zicheng was depressed.

Only Liang Wencheng understood Li Zicheng's mind a little, "The Governor of Dadu is worried about the people near Datong and Jingshi? ”

Li Zicheng said: "Let's talk about the thieves first, Wen Cheng, and you, all talk about it, the thieves are trapped in the carriage gorge, what will happen to the result?" ”

Liang Wencheng said cautiously: "Since the Carriage Gorge is so steep, and the imperial court is gathering heavy troops, under the unified command of Chen Qiyu, it stands to reason that this time the thieves are probably going to be wiped out, the Metropolitan Governor, we are too far away, just to help them, it is beyond the reach of the whip......"

Everyone nodded, Yang Zhaoji was born as a military general, and he knew the combat effectiveness of the Ming army very well, on the battlefield, it was difficult to match the nomadic cavalry, but it was more than enough to deal with the thieves, and this time the thieves strayed into the carriage gorge and had no way forward.

Li Zicheng smiled coldly and said: "Wen Chengcheng doesn't have to worry about thieves, thieves have their own ways of thieves, if thieves were so easily annihilated, the five northern provinces would have been quiet a long time ago." ”

He was originally very strange, Chen Qiyu commanded the armies of the five provinces in a unified manner, and he was born as a person, how could he be deceived by thieves? Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang and others, many times accepted the imperial court's recruitment, and rebelled many times, such a capricious villain, what he said, how can he do it accurately?

But on another piece of information, the answer has already been given!

The Tartars entered the fortress, knocked on Datong, Cao Wenzhao was transferred to Huairen, the imperial court besieged the thieves' troops were stretched, Chen Qiyu must have been helpless in the case of insufficient troops, and was forced to accept the surrender of the thieves!

"Is the Governor saying that thieves can escape and ascend to heaven under such circumstances?" Mei Zhihuan's eyes were full of light, "As far as the old man knows, this Chen Qiyu, although his name is not big, but he is a good hand on the battlefield, and this time the troops of the five provinces surrounded the thieves, it is said that it is from his handwriting......"

"Mr. Mei, let's make a bet," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "If the thieves are annihilated, from the day the thieves are annihilated, Mr. Mei will be free, and it is completely up to the old man to decide, if the thieves escape, Mr. Mei will have to serve the Mandate of Heaven for the rest of his life...... Would Mr. Mei be willing? ”

Mei Zhihuan pondered for a moment, this is his bet to win and not lose, if he wins, he can choose to leave or stay; Even if he loses, it's just the same as now, he doesn't have any losses himself, Li Zicheng is so confident, where does the capital come from? On what basis did he assume that the thieves would be able to escape from the Carriage Gap?

Could it be that Chen Qiyu and the thief secretly communicate with each other?

"Can the Grand Governor make it clear why he thinks that the thieves will not be annihilated?"

"It's very simple," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The Ming army is extremely corrupt, as long as the thieves surrender by fraud, the generals will definitely surrender in order to ask for merit, this is the only chance for thieves, and it has been tried and tested!" ”

Mei Zhihuan was shocked, and the light in his eyes dissipated little by little, could it be that the imperial court was really rotten like this...... Is the country created by Taizu really going to be destroyed in the hands of thieves? Although he didn't quite believe Li Zicheng's words, he was not interested in gambling anymore.

Liang Wencheng hurriedly said: "Metropolitan Governor, what should we do now?" Where will the thieves flee once they escape from the Carriage Gap? Does it have any impact with us? ”

"Once the thieves escape from the carriage gorge, the next target must be Shaanxi, and our territory, only separated by a Longshan, if the imperial army's army pursues it, it is likely to affect Guguan and Xi'an," Li Zicheng said: "Shen Dao, order Ma Youshui and Qin Danian to pay close attention to the thieves' movements, if they are close to our territory, they will be killed, especially a leader like Zhang Xianzhong, so as not to attract the army of the court." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Shen Dao hurriedly recorded Li Zicheng's orders on a blue notebook.

"Let's talk about the Tartar knocking on the pass," Li Zicheng suddenly lowered his smile and said in a deep voice: "The Tartars can't break through the Shanhaiguan Pass for the time being, let alone the Jingshi, and the goal of Huang Taiji is still the property of the Han people." ”

Shen Dao stopped his pen and said, "The Metropolitan Governor said that if the Tartars have robbed enough of the property, they will return it by themselves?" ”

"The Tartars are more fierce than the Mongols, they not only rob the property, but also forcibly kidnap the population, the strong men produce food for them, and the women give them children, and within ten years, the strength of the Tartars will be significantly stronger," Li Zicheng sighed faintly and said: "Not to mention the future strength of the Tartars, every time the Tartars knock, the people are shedding their skin...... No, it's not molting, it's like going to hell, so that the heavens should not call the earth to be ineffective......"