In the middle of the night, Li Zicheng had already gone to bed to rest, and He Xiaomi called outside the big tent, "Governor Dadu, Lu Qianhu has someone to come to summon the news." ”

"Lu Dazhi?" Li Zicheng got up from the bed, put on a thick cotton coat, lit the lamp and candle, Lu Dazhi is now sending someone to summon the message, one point is the message about Shangzhou City, although it is a sure thing to take Shangzhou City, but no one can guarantee that there will be no accidents, "Let him come in!" ”

He Xiaomi lifted the rolling curtain of the big tent and led a soldier in Mingguang armor to walk in, and when the soldier saw Li Zicheng, he hurriedly knelt on the ground, "Subordinates knock on the governor!" ”

"Get up and speak!" Li Zicheng got out of bed, leaned on a small pony, and looked at the ranger in front of him.

After the ranger got up, he said: "Back to the Metropolitan Governor, Lu Qianhu asked his subordinates to tell the Metropolitan Governor that he had taken Shangzhou City and had already controlled the four city gates......"

"Oh, so fast?" Li Zicheng was overjoyed, it seemed that Zheng Guodong was not lying, "How is the situation in the city?" Are there many Ming troops defending the city? ”

"There are a total of sixty-eight Ming troops defending the city, and all of them have been captured," the ranger's eyes were shining, and he was obviously very excited, "The city is relatively stable, and there are no people who resist, just ......"

"Just what? Say! Li Zicheng's heart sank, only ten Ming Army, could it be that Lu Dazhi would have anything to do?

"However, the governor and the main officials in Shangzhou City, hearing the news of the defeat of the Ming army, have already taken advantage of the chaos to escape, after Lu Qianhu entered the city, although he quickly occupied the Zhizhou Yamen, but only captured some small officials......"

Li Zicheng frowned suddenly, if he captured Zhizhou and others, he could force them to serve the Heavenly Mandate Army, and he was busy recovering prisoners of war outside the city, delaying some time, but he didn't expect these people to be so well-informed, they ran away, and they didn't have civilian officials at hand, who would Shangzhou hand over?

And once these people leave, they will bring back the news that the Heavenly Mandate Army has come to Shangzhou, and maybe the army of the imperial court will arrive later...... Li Zicheng let the ranger leave first, put out the lights and candles, lay on the bed, thought left and right, and did not fall asleep until the time of the child.

At dawn the next day, Li Zicheng had just gotten up and was washing up, when He Xiaomi ran over in a hurry, "Dadu Dudu, the brothers who guarded the prisoners of war last night came over early in the morning!" ”

"Oh, how's it going?" Li Zicheng washed his face while waiting for He Xiaomi's message, the officials of Shangzhou City ran away, these prisoners of war, there must be something wrong, otherwise it is really empty.

He Xiaoxiao said happily: "Governor, the prisoners of war had a dinner, and when they heard the brothers, they were all rushing to serve the Heavenly Mandate Army!" ”

Such a result, as early as Li Zicheng's expectation, if the prisoners of war refused to surrender, it would be unexpected, now the entire Ming Dynasty is short of money and food, and the Mandate of Heaven Army, although the region is not as good as the imperial court, but the food and salary are very rich, and they can get enough arable land, as long as the head is not kicked by a donkey, who does not rush to serve the Mandate of Heaven?

The so-called "loyalty" can only be said by civilian officials, even if they have different hearts, they will also have words, these soldiers who do not read the books of sages, who can manage these righteousness, so that the belly does not starve is the first need!

After breakfast, Li Zicheng went to the barracks again to visit the prisoners of war, and reiterated all the favorable conditions mentioned yesterday, that the government soldiers were all local military households, and their families were in the local area, and the land would soon be redistributed.

However, the two or three hundred soldiers were from Yulin, northern Shaanxi, and their families were all in the north, and the Mandate of Heaven Army could not smuggle their families over, so Li Zicheng told them that the Mandate of Heaven Army would help them to take root in the local area, not only to distribute land, but also to help them solve the problem of mother-in-law.

Li Zicheng has already calculated, now the five northern provinces are full of displaced people, because of war, hunger, a large number of young and strong people died, obviously there are many boys and girls, when accepting the homeless people in the future, a group of women who are young and have no husbands will be transported over, and the most unfortunate are Mongolian women from abroad......

The Mongols once created a huge disaster for the Han people, when the Mongols were declining and the Han people were rising, it was also appropriate to make some contributions to the Han people, the tiger cavalry and the wolf cavalry were in the Hetao, as long as you wanted, it should not be difficult to snatch some young Mongolian women!

Among the hundreds of prisoners of war, the soldiers were the first to decide to join the Mandate of Heaven Army at the instigation of Zheng Guodong, but they were not locals, and in Shangzhou, they were like duckweed without roots, and no one knew if they could see the sun tomorrow.

But when the Mandate of Heaven Army accepts them, it has already arranged for them to live in the future, even if they retire from the Mandate of Heaven Army, they can definitely pass on their ancestors if they have land and a mother-in-law.

Although some people still miss their parents, wives and children at home, but in the face of the general trend, no one dares to say their thoughts, in case they anger the Dadu Governor, Ai Wenbin was killed yesterday, but let them remember it vividly, no matter whether the Dadu Governor killed chickens and monkeys, they are already prisoners of war, and they must not touch the mold of the Dadu Governor......

Li Zicheng did not release the prisoners of war, and there was only one mountain path from Tumen'an to Shangzhou, and there would definitely be a long line when the time came......

If these prisoners of war dare to slip out halfway, the rifles in the hands of the soldiers are not vegetarians, but shooting the prisoners of war is not Li Zicheng's wish, he is not worried about the prisoners of war slipping, but the opportunity to supply the prisoners of war, which is a good thing for the Mandate of Heaven Army and the prisoners of war.

Li Zicheng told the prisoners of war that after breakfast, they would leave for Shangzhou, which was only a ten-mile mountain road, and after arriving in Shangzhou, they could untie the ropes on their bodies, re-approve the establishment, and officially join the Mandate of Heaven Army.

Leaving Lei Wanjun with five hundred households of personal soldiers to escort prisoners of war, Li Zicheng personally led He Xiaomi and five hundred households of cavalry to Shangzhou first.

Ten miles of mountain road, although the speed of the horse could not be increased to the maximum, but in only half an hour, it rushed to the city of Shangzhou.

At the south city gate, Li Zicheng tightened the reins of the horse, let the war horse stop slowly, Shangzhou is not a famous city, but the city wall is still very thick, so Li Zicheng is a little surprised, the city wall of Shangzhou, the outer city is actually a stone wall, if you choose to attack at that time, I am afraid it is really laborious.

The soldiers guarding the city gate saw the cavalry coming down from the city, and immediately became nervous, but the Kyushu military flag at the front of the team made them gradually relax their hearts, and when they looked closely, it turned out to be the governor of the capital, and hurriedly opened the city gate, while flying to report to Lu Qianhu, and on the other hand, Li Zicheng was brought into the city.

Lu Dazhi heard that the governor of the capital had come to the south city gate, and threw away the work in his hands, and he didn't have time to call his own soldiers, so he flew alone to meet him, and saw that Li Zicheng had already entered the city, so he hurriedly jumped off the war horse, turned over and bowed to the ground, "Lu Dazhi, who is subordinate to Lu Dazhi, is not far away from winning the governor of the capital, and the capital crime is ......

"Haha," Li Zicheng laughed, "Lu Qianhu first captured Shangzhou City, it is a great achievement, what is the crime?" Get up! ”

Lu Dazhi muttered in a low voice, "But dozens of Ming troops, these military exploits are all given by the Metropolitan Governor for nothing...... The subordinates thanked the Metropolitan Governor! ”

Li Zicheng smiled faintly, remembered Zheng Guodong's matter, and said: "How about Zheng Guodong, did you do your best to attack the city this time?" ”

"I tried my best, I tried my best," Lu Dazhi said: "Last night's siege, it was Zheng Guodong who knocked on the city gate, and after entering the city, he helped pacify the Ming army at the other city gates, and his subordinates took Shangzhou City almost without blood......"

Li Zicheng thought about it, since Zheng Guodong knows the current affairs, he might as well make good use of it, he is a general stationed in Shangzhou City, and he is more familiar with the situation in Shangzhou and the surrounding area.

No matter what kind of person he was originally, as long as he really understood the Mandate of Heaven Army, he should not have the idea that he would be born, the Ming Court Mansion would collapse, and as long as he was a fool, he would escape on a leaky sea boat!

Lu Dazhi saw Li Zicheng thinking while walking, he didn't dare to disturb for a while, and seeing that he was about to enter the state government, Fang said: "Governor, we have taken Shangzhou City, what should we do now?" ”

What to do? Cold!

Li Zicheng laughed secretly in his heart, the main officials of Shangzhou have all run away, he is worried about the governance of Shangzhou, since he has taken Shangzhou and returned it to the imperial court, the work he has done in Shangluo these days is basically in vain, he is really unwilling.

It is also unlikely that he will stay in Shangluo, as long as the fourth battalion of Li Ji's department basically completes the road in southern Sichuan, he will rush to Henan, and without civil officials, he will really not be able to govern Shangzhou.

Seeing that the city was peaceful, Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said, "Lu Qianhu, hasn't the city been opened yet?" ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, not for the time being," Zheng Guodong bowed and said: "The brothers are promoting the Mandate of Heaven Army along the street, and now they don't know the mentality of the people, so they don't dare to open the door......"

Li Zicheng happened to see a group of soldiers propagating the laws of the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion passing along the street beating gongs and drums, so he said, "Where are the captured officials in the city now?" ”

"Go back to the Metropolitan Governor and temporarily detain in the ...... of the state government"

Li Zicheng waved his hand and said, "Let's go, go to the state government to have a look!" ”

After entering the state office, Li Zicheng sat in the lobby and asked Lu Dazhi to take out the list of captured officials, and after a closer look, the highest position was a judge, as well as officials, push officials, deputy promotion of salt department, tax envoy, etc.

Li Zicheng summoned Zheng Guodong and threw these lists in front of him, "How long will it take for these people to serve the Heavenly Mandate Army?" ”

Zheng Guodong understood that if Li Zicheng wanted to subdue these officials, the sooner the better, he thought for a moment and said: "Except for the promotion of officials to defend the country, the rest of the officials should succeed today!" ”

"Oh?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Why can't this magistrate?" ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, this patriotic move is a pedant, and it will only be difficult to communicate with him, unless you force ......"

"I see," Li Zicheng was slightly disappointed, he also thought that this Weiguo was a loyal official, and it turned out to be a master who couldn't speak human words, since he didn't eat the fireworks of the world, he would leave it out for a while, "This matter of power surrender will be handed over to you!" ”

"Rest assured, the villain and their original acquaintance, in half a day, they can definitely win the ...... Just ......"

"Just what?"

"What position will the Metropolitan Governor give them?"

"Position?" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion is based on the people, and after they are obedient, everything is decided by the people!" ”

"People?"

Li Zicheng said: "Don't worry about any positions first, just ask them to agree to the post, and the governor of Pontus has his own arrangements." ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!"