Two days later, late at night, that is, on the night of the sixth day of the first month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Wu Ruyi and several others, with the replies of the officials and soldiers, quietly returned to Lintao City in the thick night.

Wu Ruyi reported to Luo Rucai what he had seen and heard in this line of work.

Moreover, he also reported the three demands of the courtiers of King Wu Anbo to Luo Rucai, who has always been scheming.

The tough attitude of the courtiers of King Wu Anbo under the command of the fourth town of the Guards Army was a bit unexpected by Luo Rucai.

Asking him to unconditionally sacrifice the east gate of Lintao City, which was guarded by his subordinates, was his due duty to contact and ask for surrender.

Even in the future, after the official army entered the city, he was asked to unconditionally obey the command of the official army and follow the official army to fight, that is, to defect from the battlefield and launch an attack on the so-called Daxi camp of the eighth king Zhang Xianzhong.

But only the third rule, that is, to hand over the men and horses of his department unconditionally, in exchange for only saving his life and waiting for the officials and soldiers to ask for a reward for him, made him secretly angry in his heart.

And in addition, the courtiers of King Wu Anbo did not give him any more firm promises to Luo Rucai.

For example, what kind of reward can be invited for him Luo Rucai and the backbone of Cao Cao's camp.

These questions are what Luo Rucai and the henchmen around Luo Rucai are most concerned about.

However, in this regard, Wu Ruyi did not bring back anything, not even a word of accuracy.

This situation made Luo Rucai, who was anxious and wanted to surrender, and several cronies around him to submit to the imperial court, suddenly feel cold.

In this way, Luo Rucai's request for surrender was delayed until the fifteenth day of the first month, and no decision was made.

On the evening of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, summoned the generals of all departments to hold a human meat banquet in the mansion of the marshal on the right side of the righteous army in Lintao City, and invited Luo Rucai and the generals of Cao Cao's battalion under his command to go to the banquet.

On the top of this banquet, Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, found that Li Xing, the general of Cao Ying's subordinates who had come to every move in the past and intended to take refuge in him, did not appear this time.

Zhang Xianzhong, who was a little suspicious, personally asked Luo Rucai about Li Xing's whereabouts in front of everyone at the banquet.

Luo Rucai had a ghost in his heart, although he told Zhang Xianzhong very calmly on the spot, saying that Li Xing came here with a group of men and horses to patrol the east gate and had no time to come, which was regarded as coping with the past, but after returning to his east gate camp, he was afraid.

Not many people know about contacting the court officials and soldiers in Anding City to ask for surrender, only a few henchmen under Luo Rucai's own command, such as his advisor Ji Jue and his generals "A Piece of Iron" Wu Ruyi, "A Wall" Wang Yuncheng and "Dongshan Tiger" Wang Kesheng and a few others.

If he stayed in the past, when Luo Rucai occupied a place by himself, or defended a city by himself, he loved to surrender or not, and no one could control him.

But now, he lost Anding City, and went to Lintao City to take refuge in Zhang Xianzhong, which is equivalent to sending people under the fence, and it is no longer the time for him to do what he wants.

Once Zhang Xianzhong knew that he had contacted the officials and soldiers of the imperial court without concealing it, then the disaster of killing would probably come in a blink of an eye.

The most terrible thing is not death, but after being killed, his bones are likely to become the stomach of the hungry soldiers of the Onishi Battalion.

Therefore, after Zhang Xianzhong intentionally or unintentionally inquired about Li Xing's whereabouts, as soon as Luo Rucai returned to his camp, he began to be suspicious and restless.

That night, after the entire Lintao City entered the dead of night, Luo Rucai secretly sent someone to send Ji Jue, Wu Ruyi, Wang Yuncheng, and Wang Kesheng.

Let's say that after Luo Rucai drove out all the pro-soldiers in the hall, he looked at the faces of several henchmen by the light of a bean, sighed, and said in a low voice:

"Since the Eight Kings asked about Li Xing tonight, I'm afraid it will be difficult to hide it in the future! I have called you here tonight to talk about whether to descend or leave! Either way, tonight will be settled! ”

After Luo Rucai finished speaking, he now locked his gaze on Ji Jue's face.

In the first year of Chongzhen, he was forcibly abducted by the northwest thief team who broke the county seat, and over time, he gradually became a thief, and won the trust of Luo Rucai, and he became a strategist of Cao Ying in two or three years.

A person like Ji Jue, who was born as a county official, was determined to become a thief, and originally had the idea of becoming a minister of the dragon in the new dynasty, but since the thief was defeated in Shanxi, his mentality has changed somewhat, and he knows that it is not so easy to change the dynasty.

Especially after the defeat of stability, he really saw the powerful power of the new firearms of the official army, and tens of thousands of righteous troops in Cao Cao's battalion died within half a day.

It's just that he didn't expect that the generals of the Guards who captured Anding City would be so "unreasonable" and give such harsh conditions!

Ji Jue had the intention to contact Wang Chengen, the Shaanxi chief military officer of Gongchang Mansion, again, but was directly rejected by other generals under Luo Rucai.

At this time, Ji Jue saw Luo Rucai greeting each other late at night, knowing that when the matter was finally decided, he saw Luo Rucai being the first to ask for his opinion, thought about it for a while, and said:

"General! Now that the eight kings are suspicious, they can't stay here for long! In the opinion of the students, for the sake of today's plan, we will either demote the officers and soldiers and eat food and pay from now on, or evacuate Lintao and continue all the way to the west! Other than that, there is nothing else that students can do! ”

Ji Jue was in his forties, his body was dry and thin, so thin that it seemed that a gust of wind could blow him down, after saying this, he looked at Luo Rucai, who was silent, and continued:

"If the general is not satisfied with the conditions proposed by Wang Tingchen, the students are willing to go to Gongchang Mansion (where Longxi City, Gansu Province is located in the later generations) to see if Wang Chengen, the chief military officer of Shaanxi, can say better conditions!

"If the general has no intention of returning to the imperial court from now on, the students will swear to follow the general to the west! It's just that when the student was a small official, he had been to the land of Huangzhong in Hexi, where the mountains and highlands were poor, sparsely populated, and most of them were not of our race. ”

After saying this, Ji Jue bowed to Luo Rucai, and then lowered his head and clenched his fists silently.

"Big brother! If you want to join the Shaanxi army, you can't do it! Our Cao Ying accepted Li Xing's house back then, but he offended the Shaanxi army thoroughly! Besides, if you really want to vote for it, Hong Chengchou, this dog official, is not a person who can vote! ”

Before Luo Rucai could speak, Wang Yuncheng, a general under his command who was known as a wall, spoke first.

This is not wrong, if the Shaanxi army can vote, when it was adjacent to Yang Shien's department of the Shaanxi army, Luo Rucai might have surrendered.

For Luo Rucai, whether to surrender or not and to whom is surrendered is never a question.

Luo Rucai in history is a capricious person, if he loses today, he feels that there is no hope of being a leader of the rebel army, and he can't go on, he will immediately choose to surrender.

When one day he sees an opportunity, accumulates strength, and feels that surrender is no longer interesting, he will immediately pull the flag and rebel again.

Therefore, for him, now that he is about to lose his temper, the important question is not whether to surrender, but to whom.

On the night of the first day of the first lunar month, Wu Ruyi was sent to lead people to contact the courtiers of King Wu Anbo, which was also carefully considered and repeatedly selected by him.

At this time, after listening to the words of Ji Qi and Wang Yuncheng, Luo Rucai nodded silently: "Don't mention the matter of contacting Gongchang Mansion again!" Hong Chengchou can never be trusted! ”

After saying this, Luo Rucai sighed again and said, "What Mr. Ji said is right! The northwest is barren and multi-ethnic, and if I go, I'm afraid it will be difficult to gain a foothold! Besides, if the king is there, how can one mountain accommodate two tigers! ”

After Luo Rucai said this, everyone was silent.

In fact, the courtiers of Amber were willing to give them a good chance to surrender, and they had no choice at all.

When Luo Rucai was stable before, why didn't he surrender to Yuan Chonghuan, the governor of the three sides who was in Jingning at the time?

Now that he had already fled to Lintao, why didn't he surrender to Wang Chengen, the chief soldier of the Shaanxi Army in Gongchang Mansion, who was closer to Lintao?

The reason for this is well known to everyone in Cao Ying's several subordinates.

Speaking of which, the two characters of Yuan Chonghuan and Hong Chengchou are now in the northwest, which is a nightmare that everyone avoids the thieves and the generals of Mu Suman.

As long as these two people are still in the northwest, then whether it is a thief or a Mu Suman, I am afraid that he would rather die than surrender to these two people.

Because after the surrender has passed, it is likely that he will die even worse.

Luo Ru thought of this, sighed again, and was silent.

At this time, Wu Ruyi, who was an envoy to the official camp of Anding City a while ago, suddenly clenched his fists and said:

"Big brother! Brother has a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not, but now I have to say it! As the saying goes, one mountain does not tolerate two tigers, and one battalion embarrasses two commanders!

"Although the eldest brother and my generation are called the way of heaven, in the end, either the south will be subordinate, or the north will be subordinate, and the two will be one of them! Whether it is good or bad, the truth of the world is the same!

"Today, since my Cao Ying is in this situation, the eldest brother is standing side by side with the eight kings in the south, and I am afraid it will be impossible to get it! In the eyes of brothers, today it is better to deal with the eight kings in the north than to the north, and it is better to deal with Zhu Tianzi in the north! Zhu Tianzi's family has the world for three hundred years, and it is not ashamed to descend it! ”