Accompanied by Liu Yunshui, Li Zicheng made a comprehensive inspection of the Nian Bo Institute, and sent soldiers to garrison all the ferries on the banks of the Yellow River.

On 10 February, Li Zicheng finished his inspection and was about to return to Xining, when he suddenly received a notice from the Ministry of War.

The imperial court finally sent food and salary to Xiningwei, but the two months that were missing in the middle were not made up, and arrived with the grain transport officer of the military department, as well as a document from the military department, asking Xiningwei, Nian Bosuo, Zhuang Langwei and other guards close to the Yellow River valley to strengthen their vigilance to prevent thieves from Shaanxi from breaking into the north of the Yellow River and threatening the safety of the Shaanxi Xingdu Division.

Sending food and salary is naturally a good thing, which shows that the imperial court has no suspicion of Xining Wei for the time being, but Li Zicheng frowned, why did the imperial court let these three guards strengthen their vigilance? Is it to send a large army to conquer the thieves in Shaanxi?

Is it possible that the imperial court has discovered the anomaly in Xining and is planning it?

Then he shook his head, it is possible for the imperial court to use troops against Shaanxi, but it is definitely not against Xining, otherwise, it will definitely not warn Xining, what is the difference between this and clearly attacking Xining?

Even if the imperial court wants to conquer the thieves in Shaanxi, Li Zicheng is also a little worried, Gao Ligong's brothers and sisters should be at Gao Yingxiang's place at this time, if they are surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army, can Gao Yingxiang deal with it?

With Li Zicheng's understanding of Gao Yingxiang, he will definitely run away at that time, so what should Gui Ying do? Although she is a woman who does not let her eyebrows, but tens of thousands of thieves have fled for their lives, can she protect herself in the chaos?

Li Zicheng has some confidence in Gao Guiying, but also a little worried.

Gao Guiying is not a beauty, even compared with Sun Mengjie and Chen Qiudie, she has no advantages at all, but Gao Guiying is his wife in distress, and when he was at the lowest point in his life, he resolutely married him.

No matter what the reason, since Gao Guiying married him, she is his wife, in Li Zicheng's mind, Gao Guiying has always been his wife, and later Sun Mengjie can only be regarded as a concubine, and Chen Qiudie and Song Yulian don't even have a name.

Li Zicheng was reluctant to go to Gao Yingxiang with Gao Ligong at that time, mainly because he did not agree with his rogue nature, even now, unless the mountains and rivers are exhausted, Li Zicheng is unwilling to join Gao Yingxiang, but Gao Guiying is at Gao Yingxiang's place at the moment, if he can find Gao Yingxiang, he can find Gao Guiying.

Knowing that Gao Guiying was in danger, if he couldn't help her, he couldn't say anything on his conscience, besides, the Gao family had a life-saving grace for him, and when he was in Hulushan, the Gao brothers were not thin on him.

It seems that it will not be possible not to recall Wang Anping, and I don't know if his ranger has found some valuable information in Shaanxi.

"Xiaomi, let Wang Anping come to see you immediately."

"Yes, sir." He Xiaomi turned around and went out.

Liu Yunshui took a fancy to the grain and salary from the imperial court, "My lord, should the grain be transported back to Xining?" ”

"Don't use it for the time being, let's put it in the mill first," Li Zicheng's eyes were introverted, pondered for a moment, and said: "Yunshui, why does the imperial court let us strictly guard against thieves in Shaanxi?" ”

"Thieves from Shaanxi?" Liu Yunshui suddenly came to his senses, "My lord is saying that the imperial court will send a large army to conquer the thieves in Shaanxi?" ”

"Very likely," Li Zicheng said leisurely, "What does Yunshui think of this?" ”

"The imperial court wants to conquer Shaanxi, what does it have to do with us?" Liu Yunshui was suddenly taken aback when he saw Li Zicheng's solemn face, "My lord is saying that the target of the imperial court may be our ......."

"That's not going to happen," Li Zicheng shook his head, "If the imperial court's goal is us, it won't send food, the imperial court has a million troops, and against us, there is no need to use these methods at all - it should be more economical to attack directly, or let the various guards in Ganzhou attack." ”

"Ao," Liu Yunshui let out a long breath, "What do you mean ......by your lordship?"

"Yunshui, didn't the imperial court let Xiningwei, Nian Bosuo, and Zhuang Langwei jointly release the thieves in Shaanxi? Where is the most convenient place for thieves in Shaanxi to enter the country? ”

Liu Yunshui spread out the marching map and searched along the Yellow River, "My lord, if the thieves want to go west, they must cross the Yellow River, in the southwest direction, although there is a ferry, but there is a small stone mountain in the north, it is difficult to cross the north on a large scale, if our army is stationed at the ferry, it can prevent the thieves from crossing the river, the most important thing to guard against is the Guanting Ferry." ”

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Look at Yunshui, the location of the Guanting Ferry." ”

Liu Yunshui's eyes had already been fixed on the Guanting ferry on the map, "My lord, this is at the junction of Nian Bo and Zhuang Langwei," he suddenly understood, "What do you mean, the defense here should be jointly undertaken by Nian Bo and Zhuang Langwei?" ”

"And add Xiningwei!" Li Zicheng decided not to guide step by step, Liu Yunshui's comprehension was finally good, so he asked him to come over and whisper a few words.

Liu Yunshui was stunned, and said half-loudly: "My lord, my subordinates understand!" The subordinates are going to prepare! ”

After Liu Yunshui withdrew, Li Zicheng immediately sent a flying pigeon message to Ma Youshui in Xining: immediately lead the whole army and rush to the Nian Bo Institute.

…………………………………………

Wang Anping hurried and hurried, and when he arrived at the Nian Bo Institute, it was already early afternoon, and Li Zicheng summoned him in the main hall.

Seeing him all the way through the dust, and there were a lot of mud spots on his body, Li Zicheng was also distressed, but for Li Zicheng, now is a very critical moment, so he can't take care of his fatigue, "Anping, what news is coming from Shaanxi?" ”

"My lord, according to the information from Shaanxi, the Tatars were out of the customs before the New Yuan, and the information came through Shaanxi, and it was a little late ......."

"Tartar?" Li Zicheng's heart moved, "Is there any rumor of the loss of the imperial court?" ”

"I didn't see the loss of the imperial court, but ......" Wang Anping hesitated for a moment, and finally said: "Legend has it that the Tartars kidnapped hundreds of thousands of young people, more than 150,000 women alone, countless dead and wounded, many towns were razed to the ground, and chickens and dogs were left ......."

"The Emperor Taiji of Ma Qiao ......," Li Zicheng cursed.

In their eyes, the Han men were their slaves, and the Han women were the machines that gave birth to the population, and they would be used as trophies to distribute to the "meritorious men", further stimulating the blood of the Tartar soldiers.

With a population of hundreds of thousands, plus property, the Tartars must not go fast, if the army is sent to intercept it...... What are the millions of troops of the Ming Dynasty for?

The Tartars themselves have a population of only hundreds of thousands, and they have digested the Han people who are about the same as their own population at one time, and this is all young and strong, old people and children, I am afraid that they have long fallen under their butcher's knives, and the population lost by the Ming Dynasty is probably close to one million.

The loss of property is even more incalculable, no wonder the Tartars are getting stronger and stronger in the battle with the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty is gradually becoming weak, insufficient money and food, and insufficient combat power...... The huge body was finally gnawed into an empty shell by the ant Tartar, step by step!

Who will deliver these innocent people from the clutches of the Tartars? Who will bring justice to them?

In Li Zicheng's memory, since the rise of the Tartars, the Ming Dynasty has never taken advantage of Liaodong, and millions of Han people have become the combat effectiveness of the Tartars.

Li Zicheng transformed his hatred of the Tartars into hatred for the imperial court, and hatred of iron does not make steel.

Although the Ming Dynasty has the courage of "the Son of Heaven guarding the country" and the backbone of never compromising with the nomads, but at the end of a dynasty, the internal problems are the biggest problems, but can the Ming court solve its own problems? If you can't solve your own problems, will you be able to stop the Tartars from entering the customs in the end?

Li Zicheng's belief in his earlier setting is gradually strengthening.

"Adult ......"

Li Zicheng smiled slightly, it seems that he is distracted again, hey, people who are worried about the country and the people are all painful, no wonder the scholars and doctors of the Ming Dynasty are all partial to the status quo, living a drunken life and dreaming of death, "Anping, what other information does Shaanxi and the imperial court have?" ”

"My lord, not yet...... We have too few people in Shaanxi......"

Li Zicheng nodded slightly, Wang Anping's manpower is too small, and he has to put the main force into the guards around Xining, which is really difficult for him, "In the future, we will gradually send more manpower to Shaanxi, Ao, I know that you are short of manpower, and when I go back, I will add a few more rangers to you!" ”

"Thank you for your understanding! The subordinates must send additional personnel to Shaanxi as soon as possible! ”

"Well, Anping doesn't need to be in a hurry, there are some things that can only be done slowly," Li Zicheng pointed east with his hand, "These days, we must pay attention to whether there is a large army coming to Shaanxi from the imperial court." ”

"My lord......" Wang Anping suddenly became nervous.

"Haha," Li Zicheng laughed, "Anping doesn't need to be nervous, the army of the imperial court is nine out of ten likely, it is for the thieves of Shaanxi, so you have to be careful, if the army of the imperial court comes, and it is against the thieves of Shaanxi, then it has nothing to do with us, Ao, it is not unrelated, we are ordered to cooperate with the conquest activities of the imperial army." ”

"I see!" Wang Anping breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Zicheng then asked: "Anping, how is Zhuang Langwei?" ”

"Zhuang Langwei has been staring at us for a long time," Wang Anping suddenly became energetic, "My lord, according to the repeated and multi-point exploration of his subordinates, the actual number of soldiers in Zhuang Langwei is only six or seven hundred, and they must be scattered in various forts. ”

"What does that mean?"

"My lord, Zhuang Langwei is a side wall along the direction of the Zhuanglang River, and the outer side is the range of activities of the Mongols, so along the direction of the side wall, the imperial court has built many forts, and Zhuang Langwei's soldiers are extremely scattered," Wang Anping took out a march map from his sleeve, "My lord, this is Zhuang Langwei's fort map, we have investigated, and it is basically consistent with the facts." ”

Li Zicheng took the defense map, and sure enough, in the direction of the northeast side wall, there were Zhenqiang Fort, Wusheng Fort, Nandatong Pass Fort, Chengzidun, Wild Fox Castle, Kushuiwan Fort, etc., and he couldn't help but rejoice in his heart, God helped me, the soldiers were scattered, and they could just break through, but he was still a little uneasy, "Anping, Zhuang Langwei is not short of food, why are there only six or seven hundred soldiers?" ”

"My lord, according to the investigation of his subordinates, Zhuang Langwei is not like Xiningwei, there were originally only two thousand households, and there were only more than 2,000 soldiers, it may be that the officers were greedy for food and wages, and the soldiers could not survive, so they were forced to flee......"

It's greedy again, Li Zicheng doesn't know whether he should be happy or angry, but if the Ming Dynasty's guard is so erosive, if it exists for hundreds of years, it will really be unreasonable.

Either to thieves or to tartars!

"Anping, you go down first, in the past few days, strengthen the exploration of Zhuang Langwei, if there is any information, no matter the time, come and report at any time!"

"Yes, sir!"