After two days of rest, the officers and men of the Hongtang army had recovered from the physical fatigue of the long journey, and at the same time, Li Tianyang and the others also had all the military information of Li Zicheng's department, as well as the information of the leaders of the peasant army around him.

"My lord, Li Zicheng's thief department is now shrinking in Nanyang County, integrating the rebels who have taken refuge in him everywhere."

"With reliable intelligence, now Li Zicheng's unit has revived, and its scale has reached nearly 100,000 in a short period of time, including 8,000 cavalry and more than 10 artillery pieces."

For Hongmen, it was far easier to find out the information of Li Zicheng's subordinates than to find out about the surrounding peasant army that had broken away from Li Zicheng.

"In the vicinity of Luoyang, more than 20,000 people from the Aritian Jianxiu Department are wandering near Yongning County, and there are traces of Gao Yigong near Yiyang, and the specific scale is still unknown."

In recent years, Henan has been plagued by natural disasters, the grain harvest of private land has been poor year after year, and the people at the bottom can be said to be poor in life, and the grain in the market has been sold to the point of a bucket of ten thousand dollars, even if they sell their children and daughters, the people cannot support themselves and their families.

In order to complete the task and keep their jobs, no one took into account the hardships of the people at the bottom, and looted them on a large scale, even letting go of their last valuable items.

Not to mention that there are also local gentry and landlords who take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune in the country, raise the price of grain, either squeeze the people to sell their sons and daughters, or force them to sell their only land, and so on.

At this time, Li Zicheng mobilized the people at the bottom with the slogan of such measures as not donating grain, robbing the grain of the rich man's house to spread the people, etc., and soon won the hearts of the desperate people, so that they were overjoyed when they heard Li Zicheng's banner, and they were full of expectations for the arrival of the other party.

Therefore, although Li Zicheng was defeated last year, and in the end only a few horsemen fled out of the encirclement network such as the official army, but now that he has made a comeback, the soldiers under his command swell up every day, which makes Xiong Wencan have a lot of scruples about him and dare not rush to send troops.

"Which one shall we take first?"

Li Tianyang is also very concerned about the speed of Li Zicheng's army expansion, and the influence of the banner of King Chuang in the people is beyond everyone's imagination, Li Tianyang and their trip is to restrain Li Zicheng from continuing to grow, at least to force him to withdraw from the border of Henan, so that he will give up military operations such as threatening Luoyang and Jingshi.

The current strength of Hongtang's army is only tens of thousands, and there are less than 20,000 people who marched north with Li Tianyang, and in the face of Li Zicheng's army of more than 100,000 people, in fact, Li Tianyang They can have not many choices, and the best is naturally to eat away at the strength in Li Zicheng's hands step by step.

Li Tianyang can't know exactly when the Jingshi fell, nor can he influence the thoughts of Emperor Chongzhen of the current dynasty, all he can do is to do his best to let the Ming Dynasty delay for some more time, and fear that his team will grow to gain more time and opportunities.

Li Tianyang is not arrogant enough to think that with the strength of their Hongmen now, they have been able to wrestle with the declining Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, although he is now ambitious and wants to enter the chess game of competing for the world, but he still knows very well that the strength of his team is inferior to the three opponents on the chessboard today.

"With our strength, there is no problem at all to eat Shimoda Jianxiu, and Yongning is not far from Luoyang, and our understanding of its intelligence is also clear."

The opinions given by the senators under Gong Yuanmao of the Participation Department are pertinent, and in fact, they are also the voices of many Hongmen soldiers present.

Hongtang's army has more than 10,000 this time, and it is not easy to replenish, as generals, they naturally hope to achieve the greatest results while paying the minimum price.

"Shangshu in the city sent someone to invite the general into the city to discuss!"

Before Li Tianyang and them could pay attention, Xiong Wencan in the city couldn't wait, and found someone to invite Li Tianyang into the city, so it was naturally nothing more than Li Zicheng's group of rebels who were about to move in Nanyang City.

"The last will go here!"

After letting the soldiers under his command discuss on their own, they tried to tidy up their appearance, and then followed the envoy into Luoyang City.

"See Shangshu-sama."

Li Tianyang saluted on one knee.

"Get up!"

Xiong Wencan is still very kind, and kindly let Li Tianyang get up, compared to the contempt of other literati in the Ming Dynasty for martial artists, Xiong Wencan is a rare member of the Ming Dynasty who does not discriminate against the martial artists.

"I wonder if it's proper for the soldiers below to rest for these two days? Is there anything you need to add? ”

Xiong Wencan is not a lonely and unheard person, although Li Tianyang Hongmen has a poor reputation in the Ming Dynasty, but he has occasionally shown his strength over the years, and for Ming Dynasty officials such as Xiong Wencan, he can also take a peek and know what he can do.

And his own Chinese general, Zuo Liangyu was defeated in Zhang Xianzhong Gucheng, and countless soldiers were lost, and then Yang Sichang of the cabinet personally went down to Shaanxi to suppress bandits, and Zuo Liangyu and other generals stayed by his side.

This makes Xiong Wencan's available generals only a handful, and there are even fewer soldiers who can be used, so it can be said that because of the appearance of Yang Sichang, he has been elevated.

In the depths of Xiong Wencan, he was still a little panicked in his heart, because Zhang Xianzhong, who was Zhao'an, suddenly rebelled, causing the resurgence of the peasant rebel army, and he was ultimately to blame; And the political disagreement with the cabinet scholar Yang Sichang on the policy of strangulation, let Yang Sichang attack himself in front of Emperor Chongzhen, if it weren't for his own last year in the investigation of the Jin merchants was very beautiful, although he secretly moved his hands and feet, intercepted a lot of confiscated silver, but could not stand the Jin merchants are worth a lot, tens of millions of silver coins handed over, so that Xiong Wencan left a loyal and capable impression in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, who was anxious due to financial shortages, and only then did he maintain his official status.

But this does not mean that Xiong Wencan's position is stable, compared to his own position in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen, I am afraid that Yang Sichang, who is a cabinet scholar, is heavier, if he can't get some results in this war to suppress Li Zicheng's peasant rebel army, and let Li Zicheng's thief army poison the people in Henan and expand its strength, the good impression in the heart of Emperor Chongzhen is afraid that it won't be long before it will be gone.

Therefore, Xiong Wencan urgently needs a battle exploit that can be put on the table to redeem the adverse effects caused by his mistakes.

(End of chapter)