On the first day of the first month of June, on the fifth day of Nanjing's attack by Li Zicheng, Huang Desheng led his troops across the Yangtze River from the pontoon bridge and came to Zhenjiang. After a short rest, we headed for Nanjing.

At the same time, Li Zicheng received the news and was also told that Li Yan's troops were also arriving in Pukou on the other side of Nanjing. At the same time, Li Zicheng also got the news that Zhu Yousong, the emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, was no longer in Nanjing, but was going to Hangzhou. This news was obtained from the Beijing battalion soldiers who had been dispersed, and these Beijing battalion soldiers had no good place to go, so they planned to return to Nanjing, but they were caught by Li Zicheng's men.

Li Zicheng was a little hesitant at this time. His purpose in attacking Nanjing was to capture Zhu Yousong and leave the dragons of Nanming without a leader, so that he could spread the word to the Jiangnan region. Moreover, he knew before that Li Yan's troops had already reached the edge of the Yangtze River, and Nanjing was no longer the capital, and there was not much security at all, so he didn't have much use for this city.

But now, not only are Li Yan's troops approaching Nanjing, but his main target, Zhu Yousong, is not in the city, which makes them hesitate whether to continue to spend money under Nanjing.

Li Zicheng brought Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu and others over to discuss it together.

"Then let's go early." Tian Jianxiu suggested: "If you are entangled by Li Yan's people, you will have to consume some of your troops." The people in the south seem to have prejudices against us, and there are very few people who are willing to join us. It's not three or four years ago, my old brothers will run away, even if I hold some people hostage, it's useless, but it makes us consume more food. ”

Hearing Tian Jianxiu's words, everyone did not refute. This is the truth, if it weren't for the fact that most of their subordinates were Shaanxi villagers, I am afraid that there would be many people who escaped. Even if they wanted to be like Li Yan and promised to divide the fields among the people who came to vote, few people would believe that their team, which was being chased and fleeing everywhere, could have a stable territory.

Niu Jinxing was already very disappointed in Li Zicheng, and he had already realized that no matter how good Li Zicheng was, at most he would just be in Jiangnan for a while. He didn't think that Li Yan would give up such a major fiscal and tax place as Jiangnan, but Li Yan wanted to consolidate the territory of Jiangbei first. So although he was called to the meeting, he was not prepared to say anything. Moreover, his son Niu Bolt stayed in Xi'an, although there was no news back, but he felt that the result should not be too bad, at least most of the treasures and mansions he got should be able to be saved.

And the rest of Liu Zongmin, Bai Wang, Liu Zhong and others also had nothing to say. They had all fought with Li Yan's troops, and knowing that they were not Li Yan's opponents, they naturally wanted to leave as soon as possible to avoid losses to their subordinates.

Only Gu Junen spoke: "Your Majesty, I heard that after Li Yan occupies the place, he will rebuild the damaged city walls in various places. ”

"Huh?" Li Zicheng didn't understand what it meant.

Gu Junen said with a smug face: "What the minister means is that our army can be evacuated, but we need to leave one or two people who dare to die." Now the bombing room under the city of Nanjing has been dug almost completely, as long as you work harder, you can transport the ** down overnight and put it away. Leave this daring man to hide in the Tianhou Palace, wait for Li Yan's team to enter the city, and then detonate **. This move can not only destroy the city wall of Nanjing, but also allow Li Yan to spend manpower, material resources, and financial resources to repair it, and it would be better if he could kill and injure some of Li Yan's generals. ”

When Li Zicheng heard that he could drag Li Yan, how could he disagree. He immediately instructed Li Laiheng: "Come on, you go to the children's camp and pick two people." Prepare them with two fast horses so that they can catch up with the group. In addition, Bai Wang, you have to send more manpower, and you must prepare to stop before dawn tomorrow. ”

"The child is commanded!" Li Laiheng immediately agreed. The children and soldiers are all orphans without fathers and mothers, and they were raised by Li Zicheng, so there is no problem in loyalty.

"Your Ministers obey." Bai Wang also clenched his fists to receive his life. There is no risk in this kind of thing, so he naturally readily agreed. At the beginning in Xiangyang, he still wanted to stick to Huguang, but after fighting Chen Yongfu twice and losing 3,000 subordinates, he no longer had the idea of fighting Li Yan.

Gu Junen reminded: "Your Majesty, you must also notify the troops in Dangtu to transfer as soon as possible. ”

Li Zicheng nodded and ordered: "Then it's decided." You go back and sort out the team, and start going south at dawn tomorrow, so that they can follow as soon as possible. Let's go to Hangzhou, catch Zhu Yousong, and take the entire Jiangnan, just around the corner. As long as we can gain a foothold in Jiangnan, we can establish a naval division and cooperate with Zhang Xianzhong to block the Yangtze River and squeeze the troops sent by Li Yan to Jiangnan back to Jiangbei. ”

mentioned Zhang Xianzhong, Gu Junen immediately thought about it again. He clenched his fists and suggested: "Your Majesty, why don't we send a message to Zhang Xianzhong, saying that Nanming's Hongguang is there with Shi Kefa." Let Zhang Xianzhong also put some pressure on Shi Kefa and drag Nanming's army. ”

Tian Jianxiu frowned: "This is not good, in the future, we will work together to deal with Li Yan, how can we cooperate in the future?" ”

"What's this?" Liu Zongmin said nonchalantly: "We came from the north, we are not familiar with the place, and it is normal for the news to be inaccurate." Besides, Zhu Yousong has long legs, if he can escape from Nanjing to Hangzhou, he can't escape from Shi Kefa to other places? ”

Li Zicheng hesitated for a moment, but still nodded and said, "That's it." Nothing is more important now than our foothold in Jiangnan, now send someone to send a letter to Zhang Xianzhong, if there are any problems in the future, we can also explain to Zhang Xianzhong. ”

Li Zicheng and the others reached a consensus, and Chen Yongfu and Zhou He, who were in Dangtu, also received orders from Li Yan to strengthen the offensive.

When they received this order, they were a little overwhelmed. They didn't expect Li Yan to let them strengthen their attack, they had been preparing how to retreat with their whole body. Zhang Xianzhong's Poyang Lake water division is not strong, and the Yangtze River channel may be cut off at any time. Without a steady supply of ammunition, it is impossible for them to continue fighting.

Chen Yongfu asked in embarrassment: "What's the matter?" Why did the Generalissimo suddenly ask us to intensify our offensive? ”

Zhou He shook his head and said, "The generalissimo must have a more comprehensive consideration, we just need to act according to orders." What we have to do now is to intensify the offensive and drive away Li Chuang's broken rear troops. ”

"Do you have a way to deal with the new line of defense that Li Chuang has created?" Chen Yongfu was still a little angry, and asked in a daze. Although he was the commander of this army, he had to listen to Zhou He's opinion. If before, he had 20,000 troops in his hands, he could do whatever he wanted, and no one could do anything to him. But now under Li Yan's hands, he no longer has his own private soldiers, and if he doesn't listen to commands, if he doesn't have enough reasons, it is possible to kill his head.

Although they did not plan to attack, they still knew enough about the enemy's movements in front of them. So at this time, Zhou He didn't panic much, but said calmly: "This new defense line has a roof on it, and there are covers in front and back, our normal way of playing is indeed difficult to have any effect." But it's not impossible. ”

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