In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, in the first month, all the troops of Li Zicheng and others finally withdrew from Henan, and Li Yan finally took Henan into his pocket. However, there are still many thieves in various places, especially Liu Hongqi in the south, and Li Jiyu in Songshan, who are the two biggest thieves.

Li Jiyu knew how powerful Li Yan was, since Li Yan's troops marched into Dengfeng, Luoyang and other places, even if there were only three or five hundred people in each county, he didn't dare to loot, so he kept drilling in the mountains of Songshao and didn't dare to come out. Fortunately, there is a Shaolin Temple in the mountains, and the monks used to open up a lot of fields, and now the people who follow him also open up wasteland and farm land, which can still be maintained.

However, Liu Hongqi in the south could not do it, not only occupying Shangcheng County and Gushi County, but also taking advantage of Li Yan's troops not following up and attacking Guangshan County in the west.

Liu Hongqi was originally a smuggler of salt in Xiping, and his influence in the Xiping area was not small. After Li Zicheng came, he joined Li Zicheng's command. Originally, there were countless fortresses in this area, and the bandits attacked each other, grabbed territory, and controlled the population. However, after Li Zicheng and Li Yan reached an agreement, they divided their troops everywhere, destroyed most of the villages, robbed the grain, and took away the young and strong men and women, leaving only the old and weak.

Liu Hongqi and others had no choice but to follow Li Zicheng and others all the way south. However, he didn't want to leave Henan, so he stayed near Gushi County with his troops.

And the commander of this road is Luo Rucai, he doesn't care much about these people, he stays if he wants to stay, and he follows if he wants, anyway, he doesn't want to stay and fight Li Yan. As a result, many people who were unwilling to leave Henan stayed, and there were more than 20,000 people.

Among these people, Liu Hongqi had the most subordinates, so he naturally became the leader. Of course, those few who were not convinced were also eliminated in less than a month.

Because Cao Cao also had the same strategy as Li Zicheng and looted all the grain, Liu Hongqi and others had to continue to raid everywhere, collect grain, and gather people.

After Li Yan got Li Zhong's report, he immediately asked Qian Er to go over with the fast troops, and asked Feng Cheng to follow up with the troops. His task now is to suppress the bandits, taking advantage of the cold winter and the lack of food, just enough to exterminate the large number of bandits, and not delay the sowing of the spring.

As for the rest of the troops, Li Yan is still assembled in Nanyang, ready to deal with Li Zicheng's possible return to the horse pistol at any time. Although Li Zicheng has now taken Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu ran to Hanyang with his troops, but there are still many troops in Huguang concentrated in Chengtianfu, which is specially used to defend Xianling. As long as Li Zicheng and others did not defeat these troops, they would not be able to gain a firm foothold in Huguang.

Shaanxi, Huayin, Gaojie station.

Gao Jie knew what Li Yan wanted to buy a horse, so he immediately notified Zuo Xian, Zheng Jiadong and Niu Chenghu. Because he was defeated by Li Zicheng last time, Zuo Zhi was defeated first, and Sun Chuanting naturally had to be severely punished. However, Zuo Xun was the son of the chief soldier Zuo Guangxian, so he naturally wanted to give some face, so he asked Zuo Xun to compensate 2,000 horses for forgiveness.

did not severely punish Zuo Xian, and naturally could not be too much for Niu Chenghu and Zheng Jiadong, so Sun Chuanting also asked them to hand over five hundred war horses. So these people all need to sell horses to atone for their sins, and with Li Yan as a buyer, wouldn't it be possible for them to reduce their losses. At the same time, Gao Jie can also have a good relationship with these generals, which is naturally a double win.

After Zuo Xun learned the news, he immediately asked, "How much does he want?" "Although their family is rich, they can't withstand such a punishment, and they want 2,000 war horses, and they can't get down without 100,000 taels of silver.

Gao Jie said with a smile: "How many you want." ”

"Hey! The tone is not small. Zuo Xun immediately said: "I just got two hundred horses here, and I can sell half of them." But how is the price set? ”

Gao Jie laughed and said, "Isn't that up to you?" He was in Kaifeng, but he exchanged that kind of lump for a lot of our horses. ”

Niu Chenghu reminded: "Don't ask for too much, those businesses in Shanxi also have a lot of horses in their hands, be careful that people don't buy you." ”

Zuo Xun nodded, feeling that what Niu Chenghu said made sense. So he asked, "Those tartars sold me fifty taels and one horses, and I will add twenty taels to him, isn't it expensive?" ”

Zheng Jiadong asked strangely: "When I bought it, it was still forty-five taels, why is yours fifty taels?" ”

"You have bought all the cheap ones, and you don't know how to buy them separately." Zuo Yi said dissatisfiedly.

Gao Jie said: "You still have to discuss this with Li Yan, the sale can only be counted if both parties agree." ”

Zuo Xun hugged his fist at Gao Jie and said, "That's okay, I'll send someone to Luoyang immediately." This time, I thanked the senior brother, and if there is anything in the future, just ask. After that, he bowed his hand to Zheng Jiadong and Niu Chenghu and said: "Two, let this deal be given to the younger brother, if you have a chance in the future, the younger brother will definitely have a good reward." ”

Niu Chenghu waved his hand and said, "Brother Zuo, Zheng Zongbing and I will each give two hundred horses, and the rest will be handed over to you, how about it?" ”

Zuo Xun immediately shook his head and refused: "That's not good." The two of you will get 400 horses, if Li Yan only buys 400 horses, then I won't be able to get anything? ”

"I see it so," said Gao Ming, "you are proportionately divided." How much Li Yan wants, you are each separated in proportion, and everyone has money to earn. ”

When Zheng Jiadong heard this, he immediately praised: "Okay, Brother Gao's method is good." The three of us each account for 20%, and the remaining 40% will be given to Brother Zuo, how about it. ”

Gao Jie hurriedly refused: "Forget it, forget it, you can just divide it, I don't have any friendship with the Tartars, and I can't get horses." ”

Zuo persuaded him: "This was originally a deal for the senior brother, but it allowed us to take advantage." In this way, Brother Gao doesn't have to worry about anything, I'll take care of your two percent of the horses. When the time comes, I will give my brother a percentage of the income, and everyone will have money to earn together. ”

Gao Jie smiled and arched his hand: "Since this is the case, then I am not welcome." ”

"Our own brothers, what's polite." Niu Chenghu and the others all said happily: "Come, come, come, drink, eat meat, let's not get drunk today!" ”

They talked about business, drank wine and ate meat here, while Sun Chuanting was training recruits in Xi'an.

He now misses the Qin soldiers he brought out before, when he fought with Gao Yingxiang in the Meridian Valley, he was scattered in formation, and after retreating and regrouping, he continued to fight again until Gao Yingxiang could no longer rush. Where are these border soldiers like now, robbing property on the battlefield and being scattered by thieves, it is really disappointing.

But now he is short of food, money, and equipment. Even if he has the ability to reach the sky, he can't let the recruits who can't eat and feed their families become elites who can't turn back.

The only thing he could do now was to collect food from the local gentry so that he could train an elite army. As for the consequences of offending these officials and gentry, he knew it completely, but for the safety of the great tomorrow, his personal reputation was not important.

...