Li Zicheng and the others hesitated for a few days because of the Qing army's entry into the fortress, and immediately retreated after Li Yan and the additional troops arrived. They knew that now was the speed of the soldiers, and they couldn't give Zuo Liangyu time to prepare, so they didn't wait for the end of the year, and went directly south and rushed straight to Xiangyang.

And Li Yan still let Chen Yongfu go ahead, and his troops followed behind. Chen Yongfu didn't even have any resistance now, because he had run out of grain and grass he brought, and Li Zicheng had cleaned up everywhere, so he had to rely on Li Yan's grain and grass to maintain the troops.

However, after Li Yan met Tian Jianxiu in Runing, he changed his strategy and asked Li Zhong to advance to Xinyang with 6,000 troops and Chen Yongfu. As for himself, he was advancing in the direction of Nanyang with 10,000 troops. Because Tian Jianxiu said that the gold and silver promised to Li Yan are all in Nanyang, whoever goes first will give it to whomever he wants.

Li Yan didn't value the gold and silver, but felt that Li Zicheng didn't seem to give up. Since he put the bait in Nanyang, then he went over in person, took advantage of the fact that the fast troops also came to Runing, and fought again, completely defeating Li Zicheng's luck, so that he could restore production and order in Henan with peace of mind.

In mid-November, when Li Yan arrived near Nanyang, the scouts reported that there was a team of 1,000 people waiting outside Nanyang City.

When Li Yan led the troops over, he saw that it was Tian Jianxiu waiting outside the city wall that had been demolished.

Tian Jianxiu rode alone, came to Li Yan's face, hugged his fists and said: "General Li is really careful, he refuses to take a few more steps every day, so that Tian has waited here for five or six more days." ”

Li Yan looked at the more than 1,000 troops under the city, and said with a smile: "I have to be careful, if I follow your way, wouldn't my war in the past few years be a failure?" Brother Tian, since you are all leaving, why did you tear down the city wall here? ”

"We can't help it." Tian Jianxiu also said with a smile: "We have to find something to do for Brother Li, otherwise we won't be at ease when we go to Huguang." ”

Li Yan didn't want to be polite anymore, so he went straight to the point and said, "Since I have asked Brother Tian to wait for a few more days, then I won't delay Brother Tian." Let's hand over earlier, and Brother Tian will catch up with the team early. ”

"Okay, General Li, please." Tian Jianxiu invited.

At this time, some boxes were carried out, and Tian Jianxiu's men opened the boxes, and the yellow and white gold and silver inside were particularly dazzling in the sun.

Li Yan gave an order, and his own soldiers went up with more than 100 people, and poured out all the gold and silver in the box, making a loud noise. Then he weighed the chest, put all the gold and silver back into the chest, and weighed it again.

"General Li, you can't trust us?" Tian Jianxiu asked with a cold face.

Li Yan looked at the gold and silver, and said with a fascination on his face: "This is a good thing, who doesn't want to have more?" It's better to be careful, these are all Li's belongings. ”

Tian Jianxiu saw that Li Yan's eyes had never left those yellow and white things, and he despised them in his heart. But immediately he became happy, since Li Yan loves money so much, then there will be a way to deal with Li Yan in the future.

He nodded and said, "General Li is right, if the family had so much money at the beginning, there would be no need to sacrifice their lives to rebel." Then he asked, "General Li, since you want gold and silver, what we have here is that the cellars of those rich officials and gentry are full of silver." If only the general could sell us some artillery and ammunition, the price is easy to say. ”

Li Yan glanced at Tian Jianxiu, and then looked at the gold and silver that were still being packed by the soldiers, and did not speak. After a while, he said, "Forget about the artillery, I don't have enough of it." I can sell you some chain mail though. ”

Tian Mixiu was a little disappointed. Artillery is Li Yan's weapon, although the chain mail is precious, but in the face of artillery, it does not have much protection. But he still asked, "Then General Li will make a price." ”

"Five hundred taels and one collar." Li Yan immediately quoted.

Tian Jianxiu looked at Li Yan with a smile, nodded and said, "Okay, then give me twenty collars." ”

"Brother Tian, what is the use of twenty collars? Why do you need 200 collars? It's definitely good to equip your guards with them. Li Yan was selling like a businessman.

Tian Jianxiu said helplessly: "Brother Li, your chain mail is too expensive, I can only buy so much." Although we copied a lot of rich people, we couldn't buy a few pieces of Brother Li. If Brother Li is willing to sell artillery, it will cost 10,000 taels of artillery, and we will buy it too! ”

Li Yan said regretfully: "Later, let's talk about it later." ”

"General Li, we have kept the agreement, and please ask General Li to abide by it as well." Tian Jianxiu reminded with a smile.

Li Yan responded: "As long as you don't enter my territory again, I will naturally not trouble you." ”

"Okay, then Tian will leave." Tian Jianxiu hugged his fists and said goodbye, and then left Nanyang with his troops and headed for Xinye. It was their last stronghold in Henan, with only a small garrison, and the city walls were being torn down. As agreed, they will wait until the end of the year to withdraw.

As for Xiangyang, although Zuo Liangyu is still preparing to hold on, they have already received information that Zuo Liangyu has already transported military funds and goods to Hanyang, and he will not hold on for long.

More importantly, the people of Huguang are fed up with Zuo Liangyu's exploitation and oppression, and they welcome their arrival. The people went to meet them, show them the way, and bring food for them to eat, so that they would have no worries at all when they were fighting.

Li Yan waited for Tian Jianxiu to leave, and immediately asked his troops to camp inside and outside Nanyang City, and sent a letter to Qian Er, asking Qian Er to enter Fangcheng County and be ready to help at any time. Regardless of whether Li Zicheng has a conspiracy or not, he must be prepared and not allow himself to fall into passivity.

After that, he instructed Sun Sifu: "Send a letter to Zhao Datong in Luoyang and ask him to send someone to Shaanxi to contact Gao Jie." Let's see if we can buy war horses from Shaanxi and come back. ”

"My subordinates will do it." Sun Sifu smiled and agreed. He knew that their commander was not a greedy man, so how could he care about this little bit of gold and silver.

A few days later, Tian Jianxiu went to the outskirts of Fancheng and caught up with Li Zicheng. He gave Li Zicheng a detailed report on his meeting with Li Yan.

"Hahaha," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Since he likes money, it's easy to do." In the future, if you ask him to do anything, just give him money. ”

Gao Yigong said incredulously: "I didn't expect that this Li Yan is actually a greedy person." ”

Liu Zongmin also said with a smile: "Men, wine and wealth, there must always be one thing you like." Anyway, those gentry, wealthy businessmen, and wealthy businessmen have a lot of money, so let's grab it. Even if we give him 1.8 million taels every year and let him rebel with us, it won't take much time, and the world will be ours. ”

Li Zicheng nodded and said, "That's right!" In the past two days, the people will take us around Zuo Liangyu's stronghold and directly cross the Han River. Without the barrier of Han water, it is easy to take Xiangyang. After that, he went down the river and dug up the imperial tomb of Chengtian Mansion for him, and the dragon vein of the old Zhu family was really broken. ”

"That's right! Dig up his imperial tomb! The old Zhu family's anger is exhausted! And they all shouted with joy. They are convinced that as long as the tomb is dug up, the Ming Dynasty will not be able to grow.

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