is in Henan, and the attention of the second brother is mainly in the north.

On the historical stage of the late Ming Dynasty, although Zhang Xianzhong was also a figure who left a strong mark, on the whole, his influence was still not as good as Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng determined the direction of history in the late Ming Dynasty, while Zhang Xianzhong's status in the entire stage was obviously much worse.

This is not to say that Zhang Xianzhong is not as good as Li Zicheng, but Zhang Xianzhong's luck is not as good as Li Zicheng, and he did not go in the right direction.

If he entered Henan first, maybe it would not be Li Zicheng who entered Beijing, but Zhang Xianzhong.

It's just that he didn't choose the right timing and strategy, the gentry in the area of activity are powerful, and the social structure is relatively stable, so his momentum is not as great as Li Zicheng's.

Not long ago, after he was defeated by Huang Degong, there was no news coming, so that Gao Yihuan, who was planning a trip to Shandong recently, even forgot Zhang Xianzhong, who was defeated by Huang Degong.

"What's going on?" Hearing that it wasn't Ru Ning who had a problem, Gao Yihuan calmed down, he sat back in his seat, and stretched out his hand to let Li Hu not be polite, "Come, you tell me slowly." ”

"Uncle, that's right." Li Hu hurriedly replied: "Uncle sent a letter from Nanyang, saying that Zhang Xianzhong was plotting against Wuchang, which might cause changes in the situation in Huguang, so let you prepare early." After Zhao Duwei received the letter, he asked me to send it to my uncle quickly. ”

Gao Yihuan was a little uncomfortable with a rough man in his thirties calling him uncle, he moved his butt in his seat, and then asked, "What about the old man's letter?" ”

Li Hu reacted, hurriedly took out a letter from his arms, and handed it over.

Gao Yihuan unfolded the letter and read it, and after a while, he understood the general situation of Huguang and the old man's intentions.

At the end of last year, Huang Degong defeated Zhang Xianzhong in Qianshan, and when he was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue, the Qing army suddenly entered the customs.

At that time, Beijing issued an edict to King Qin, Huang Degong and several other officers and troops could only go north to Xuzhou, leaving only a small number of men and horses to continue to pursue Zhang Xianzhong.

An old thief like Zhang Xianzhong, even if the officials and soldiers go all out, they may not be able to exterminate him, and now most of the soldiers and horses have been withdrawn, and the result can be imagined.

The entry of the Qing army into the customs this time not only helped Li Zicheng win the Central Plains War, but also helped Zhang Xianzhong.

Huang Degong and other subordinates were transferred, which gave Zhang Xianzhong the opportunity to become big again.

He led the remnants of his army into Huguang and joined forces with the remnants of the Zuo Revolution operating in Huo Yingshan and Qihuang areas, which attracted many Huguang people's troops, and immediately revived.

Zhang Xianzhong took advantage of the opportunity of the official army and the empty army to attack the city and plunder the land, distribute grain to the people, quickly restore his strength, and be stronger than before.

In just half a year, Zhang Xianzhong had another 200,000 people, and the army approached Wuchang.

At this time, there are some differences from the situation in history.

Historically, when Zhang Xianzhong took Wuchang, Li Zicheng had already taken Xiangyang and defeated the Ming army in Huguang, and Huguang was in the middle of the two thieves.

After Zuo Liangyu was defeated by Li Zicheng in Xiangyang, he fled to Wuchang, asked for grain from the Chu Domain, plundered Wuchang in a fit of anger, and then sold Wuchang to Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong took Wuchang and did not spend much effort.

At this time, because Li Zicheng did not go south to Xiangyang, Huguang had several Ming armies in addition to Zuo Liangyu.

For example, Ma Xianglin, the son of Qin Liangyu, who was supposed to be in Chongzhen for fifteen years and died in Xiangyang, is now in Huguang.

The Ming army in Huguang still had some strength, and it did not reach the point of collapse at the first touch.

However, Wuchang City was not sacked by Zuo Liangyu, and the gentry and residents in the city were still vigorous, so Zhang Xianzhong failed to quickly capture Wuchang.

At the beginning of the year, Gao Yihuan had contributed money and grain for Gao Zurong's activities, and a few months ago, Li Yan finally sent Gao Zurong to Nanyang as a county magistrate.

Soon after Gao Zurong arrived in Nanyang, he received some news.

Some of them came from the south, and some of them were asked by Li Yan to investigate.

He learned that Zhang Xianzhong was approaching Wuchang, and the Ming army, which had originally assembled in Xiangyang to defend the Shun army, divided his troops to defend Wuchang to resist Zhang Xianzhong, and knew that the opportunity had come.

He found out that Xiangyang's troops were empty, and Li Yan seemed to have the intention of taking Xiangyang, so he hurriedly informed Gao Yihuan.

Gao Yihuan understood what Gao Zurong meant, that is, to take advantage of the changes in the situation in Huguang and take Xiangyang first.

After reading the letter, Gao Yihuan couldn't help but ponder for a while, this is indeed an opportunity.

Although his training is not enough, he is more rookie, but Zuo Liangyu of Xiangyang is even more rookie than him.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, those rogues, as well as Zuo Liangyu, pulled out more than 100,000 horses in a very short period of time, and the combat power of the army pulled up in such a short period of time can be imagined.

Gao Yihuan's people, although they are not yet elite, should not be a big problem in fighting these rabble.

If he goes to fight a dozen, he may not have a chance to take Xiangyang.

Occupying the southern part of Yuzhou and then going south to capture Xiangyang was a strategy set by the second brother Gao earlier, so after reading the letter, he was immediately tempted.

Gao Yihuan decided, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

The old ship of the Ming Dynasty is already leaking everywhere, Li Zicheng did not block it, and the Qing army outside the gate did not block it, and now Zhang Xianzhong is making it bigger in Huguang, so that anyone who looks at the situation in the Ming Dynasty is numb.

Even if Daming is handed over to him, it is estimated that he will be powerless. Only by abandoning the north and retreating to the south of the Yangtze River may be able to form a pattern of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Gao Yihuan groaned slightly, and then said to Li Hu: "Li Hu, I will repair a book, you bring it back to Zhao Daxian and Lu Yifang, let Zhao Daxian strengthen the training of soldiers, and then tell Lu Yifang that as soon as the winter wheat is harvested, the fields in the first half of the year will be harvested first~"

At this time, it was already June of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, and the Qing army was the one who entered the pass at the end of April of the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

If history still evolves like the original trajectory, there is less than a year left for Gao Yihuan.

A year later, if his wings are not hard enough, he can't fan the wind and waves, and it is not enough to reverse the general trend of history, then the situation of shaving his hair and making it easy to obey will still appear.

At that time, the whole world will become the hunting ground of the Eight Banners, and the fertile Han land will become the manor of the banner people.

The Han people will be enslaved for hundreds of years, and the backbone of the entire Han people will be completely broken in Yangzhou, Jiading, Jiangyin, and in the massacres.

Although Gao Yihuan knows that he is expanding too fast now, his foundation is unstable, and it is easy to follow in the footsteps of Li Zicheng, he still hopes to become stronger and bigger before the critical node comes.

At that moment, Gao Yihuan found pen and ink, wrote letters, and asked Zhao Daxian and Lu Yifang to prepare for war.

So that when Gao Yihuan returns to Rulu, the people and horses on the trip to Shandong can rest, and the people and horses of Runing can immediately embark on the journey.

After writing the letter, Gao Yihuan asked Li Hu to return immediately, and then called the guards and ordered: "Go, let the scouts pay close attention to the situation on the east coast, if there is anything, come and inform the general immediately~"