In December of the second year of Yongchang in the Great West, that is, the winter of the second year of Hongguang in the Ming Dynasty, and also the end of the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, it was destined to be a rare lonely period in the turbulence.

Zhang Guangcai, the governor of the leopard Tao camp of the Daxi Su Guard, shrunk his body in the bearskin cloak, stretched out his hands to roast the charcoal fire in the house, still feeling cold, and the damp and cold air unique to Sichuan was like a ghost that could not be driven away, from the gaps in the fur, in the cuffs, and on the top of his head, pervasively poured into his body, making him can't help but sneeze loudly.

"Ahh

Zhang Guangcai wiped his nose with his cuffs and complained: "Ghost weather, ghost place, colder than the winter in Shaanxi, a country of abundance, if it goes on like this, Lao Tzu will have to freeze to death here." ”

Picked up the gourd at hand, poured a sip of strong wine into his mouth, the dry liquor went down to his stomach, the cold feeling that penetrated into the bones was lightened, his body suddenly felt warm, Zhang Guangcai's face was slightly better, and praised: "It's still good to drink Du Kang wine from my hometown, take a sip of spirit." ”

He leaned against the stove in the middle of the room, and was about to stretch his feet out of his boots to breathe, when the door of the house was pushed open with a "bang", and the rain scattered outside the house mixed with the cold wind poured in.

Zhang Guangcai shuddered violently, and opened his mouth to scold, but when he saw the person who came in, he rushed in and knelt on the ground, and shouted urgently: "Dudu, the emperor has a hundred miles of holy edict!" ”

After Zhang Xianzhong became the emperor after the founding of the country, he learned the same as the feudal dynasty, and all kinds of official positions were sealed, but he learned indecently, after all, the talents under his hands are limited, and it is difficult to set up a complete set of imperial power teams in a short period of time, so things that should have been done by the middle officials such as proclamations have all been reduced to sending a herald, so Zhang Guangcai heard the roar of the guards who broke in, but he was not in a hurry, but swallowed back the swear words that came to his mouth.

The herald guards handed Zhang Guangcai the cylinder with a layer of yellow paint with both hands, and then bowed his head and retreated, covering the door.

Zhang Guangcai stood up, checked that the fire paint on the mouth of the cylinder was correct, and then tore open the yellow paper on the seal, poured out a roll of yellow silk cloth from the cylinder, and unfolded it to take a closer look.

"Emperor Yongchang of Daxi issued an edict to order Zhang Guangcai, the governor of the Leopard Tao Camp in Tongchuan Prefecture, to rectify the army and horses, exterminate the chaotic people in the territory before the end of the month, and eliminate the remnants of the Qingming army, so as to prepare for the eastward march in the coming year."

There are only a few words on the yellow silk, Zhang Guangcai is a general of the Shaanxi border army of the Ming Dynasty, he is coarse and can understand the text, and after frowning and reading, he respectfully put the yellow silk on a huge desk, and his face is difficult to see.

He turned around and came to the door, opened the door, and a cold wind wrapped in a drizzle immediately blew in, blowing the fur wrapped around his body into the air, but Zhang Guangcai did not react, shouting at the top of his voice: "Prepare the horses, gather the guards, the governor wants to go out!" ”

A moment later, a group of cavalry embraced Zhang Guangcai from the gate of the leopard Tao camp built in Tongchuan Prefecture, and galloped away along the muddy official road.

In another Daxi military camp five miles away, Liu Jinzhong, the governor of Baoning Mansion of the Daxi Army, also held a yellow silk edict in his hand, and sat in the lobby of the Chinese army with a sad brow. ”

Liu Jinzhong's eyes flashed, and he hurriedly got up and said, "Hurry up, please!" ”

Before the words fell, I saw Zhang Guangcai rushing in from the outside with a roar, with a body of rain and cold wind, and his face was covered with water.

He took a face cloth from the hand of his personal guard, wiped it indiscriminately, and with the cloth still in his hand, he couldn't wait to ask, "Has General Liu received the holy decree?" ”

Liu Jinzhong pointed out the cylinder Nunu on the table.

Zhang Guangcai followed Liu Jinzhong's gaze and saw the cylinder, his body was shocked, and he hurriedly took out his yellow silk cloth from his arms, handed it to Liu Jinzhong and said: "The last general also received a copy, General Liu, please take a look at it first." ”

Liu Jinzhong took it, took a cursory look at it, threw the silk cloth on the table, stretched out his hand to Zhang Guangcai and said, "Zhang Dudu sits first, on such a cold day, drink a sip of hot tea." ”

Zhang Guangcai threw his butt on the chair on the side, disdainfully the tea offered by his own soldiers, glared at his eyes and said: "General Liu is so generous, he can calm down on such a big matter, I don't know what is written on your holy decree?" ”

Liu Jinzhong asked the soldiers to serve hot tea, and said casually: "What else can there be?" Like your share, let me quickly clean up the situation in Tongchuan Prefecture, and the whole army will go south in the spring of next year, and go east to Jinshanpu to join the emperor. ”

Zhang Guangcai's eyes widened, and he roared: "Master? Meeting with the emperor? General Liu, is it the first time you know the emperor? In the past six months, he has beheaded many subordinate generals under the banner of meeting divisions, and how many people and horses he has swallowed, and he can't count them on both hands, do you really dare to rush to meet him? ”

Liu Jinzhong coughed lightly, rolled his eyes and said, "Be cautious, cough cough, Zhang Dudu is cautious." ”

Zhang Guangcai took a look left and right, there were only him and Liu Jinzhong in the hall, and there was no side to hear, so he leaned over and whispered: "General Liu, you and I are both Ming generals, forced to surrender Zhang Motou, what is there to say that the little brother is going to dig out your heart, in the past six months, where is Zhang Xianzhong still treating me and other generals as well as before, looking at his style, the suspicion is getting heavier and heavier, in May to find a reason to kill Feng Jin, and in June he beheaded Gao Zongbing, since July, the heads of the cut generals can be hung full of CD four doors, is this not clear?" I'm afraid that Zhang Motou is crazy! ”

Liu Jinzhong's eyes were half-closed and half-open, like a clay statue of a bodhisattva.

Zhang Guangcai swallowed his saliva, and secretly cursed the old fox in his heart, if you don't see a rabbit, you don't scatter an eagle. But when it comes to this, I have to continue.

"I won't go to this Jinshan shop." Zhang Guangcai roared in a low voice with a blue face: "The Ming Kingdom is not over, the Tartars killed Li Zicheng again, I estimate it, the good days of Zhang Motou are coming to an end, you see, the territory has become smaller and smaller in the past six months, the Ming official army has occupied a lot of state capitals from the east and south, He Zhen is guarding Hanzhong and not letting go, and the rebels near CD are like endless leeks, killing stubble after stubble, what does this mean?" It shows that people's hearts are back, have you heard about the Great Compassion Temple a few days ago? Eight thousand scholars, just overnight, disappeared, said to have been burned to death, do you believe it? ”

Liu Jinzhong didn't speak, just shook his head slightly.

"That's right! He dared to kill all the disciples of Confucius and Mencius, and he killed so many at once, isn't this a mad demon? Zhang Guangcai puffed up his cheeks and chattered: "Killing the scholar, doesn't this offend the world's scholars?" Who will give him advice in the future, and who will give him political power? Those showmen can scold Daxi to death with just a pen. ”

He shook his head and looked at Liu Jinzhong, first glanced out of the door, confirmed that no one was eavesdropping, and then said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Brother Liu, you and I have attached Zhang Devil from Shaanxi, these Quartet battles are also worthy of him, there is a way that good birds choose trees to perch, seeing that the Great West Country is declining in the West Mountain, Brother Liu is the world's handsome man, guarding this rotten wood, isn't it a waste of ability?" I heard that Wang Yingxiong, the governor of the three provinces of the Ming Dynasty, drove Wang Huan, the general soldier of Kuizhou, all the way west, and had already received Zeng Ying's three mansions in eastern Sichuan, and the troops were monstrous. Besides, Da Ming is the time to employ people, and he won't care about the past when we surrender to Zhang Devil, and when the time comes, ask for a letter of pardon, and write off it is a piece of heaven and earth, what is it? ”

Liu Jinzhong listened to what he said with his eyes closed for a long time, and when he stopped, he looked at himself, then slowly opened his eyes and said slowly: "Are you telling the truth?" ”

Zhang Guangcai patted his heart and swore viciously: "Of course! If there is half a lie, it will be called five thunders in the sky! ”

Liu Jinzhong sneered: "Okay, you Zhang Guangcai, the emperor treats you well, appreciates your martial arts, and makes you the governor of the Leopard Tao Camp of the Su Guard, but you are two-faced and three-faced, doing the traitor to seek glory, how can I tolerate you!?" ”

Zhang Guangcai heard the change in color, and hurriedly shouted: "Liu Dudu, I am for you and I are good......"

Liu Jinzhong shouted angrily: "Shut up, someone is coming!" Drag this guy out and tie it up! ”

A few stout men poured in outside the door, grabbed Zhang Guangcai, who was still stunned on the chair, and dragged him out, Zhang Guangcai's soul was scattered, and he screamed like a pig: "Governor Liu, General Liu, the little brother took the risk to persuade me, you can't treat me like this!" If you don't listen to me, sooner or later you will regret it! ”

Several big men dragged Zhang Guangcai to the yard like a dead pig, and one of them took out the knife on his waist and put it on Zhang Guangcai's neck, smiling cruelly and wanting to chop down, so frightened that Zhang Guangcai's seven souls went to six stops, tears and snot flowed together, and he screamed loudly in his throat, but he didn't make a sound.

At this moment, he heard a voice in the hall break off: "Stop! ”

Zhang Guangcai looked over with tears in his eyes, only to see Liu Jinzhong walking over with a big smile, pulling Zhang Guangcai up from the ground with his own hands, helping him to stand up straight, and said uncontrollably: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's a big matter, I offended Brother Zhang, and I ask for forgiveness." ”

Zhang Guangcai was surprised and delighted, wiped the tears on his face and asked in a trembling voice: "Is General Liu testing me?" ”

Liu Jinzhong held his arm, walked towards the hall, and said in a low voice with a smile: "Brother Zhang, don't blame, Zhang Xianzhong has a lot of ears and eyes, if I hadn't tried to tempt, I'm afraid I would have died in his hands, and now I confirm that Brother Zhang, you really want to oppose him, so you dare to tell you the truth." ”

He helped Zhang Guangcai to sit down on a chair in the hall, waved his hand to let the big men guard from afar, sat on another chair and said to Zhang Guangcai: "I don't hide it, Brother Zhang's meaning, I already have it." ”

Zhang Guangcai was stunned, and then overjoyed: "Huh? General Liu already had this intention? Is there already a connection with the Ming Dynasty Pavilion? ”

Liu Jinzhong shook his head and said: "Zhang Xianzhong is a reckless soldier, he doesn't know anything except killing, follow him, sooner or later he will inevitably die, I have betrayed the Ming Dynasty, what is the picture?" Isn't it wealth and glory? Since Zhang Xianzhong can't be relied on, let's find another master! ”

Gritting his teeth, he continued: "Daming can't go back, you and I are rebel generals, there will be no good fruit to eat, don't look at the group of ministers in the Ming court who are now eager for the generals anyway, but maybe when they will unload the mill and kill the donkey, and return to the Ming Dynasty, it is not the best policy." ”

Zhang Guangcai blinked, his eyes were a little confused, and he couldn't help asking, "Then, what does General Liu mean......"

"This time, we want to take refuge in the lord of great talent, and we want to take refuge in the people who will sit in the world in the future. If there is chaos today, who has the strength to sit on Jiuding? Only the Tartars! Liu Jinzhong said hatefully: "Look at Wu Sangui, he was a general soldier like me at the beginning, but now he is the king of Pingxi, and he is the prince, which shows the courtesy of the Tartar Emperor to the meritorious ministers, I have thought about it for a long time, and after thinking about it, it is better to simply lower the Tartar army, and change to the prince, no matter how bad it is, at least he is an earl." ”

Zhang Guangcai was suddenly frightened, his face changed pale, and he said weakly: "Tartar, Tartar? Those savages are very tight, let's go over, can we have a good end? ”

Liu Jinzhong said with a smile: "You don't have to worry about this, I have already ****** Dingxi General, the first-class Lazhang Jing He Luo will have a secret letter exchange, as long as we wait to take refuge in the past and turn against his mother's Daxi Kingdom, we will be awarded the position of Han Eight Banners Zhangjing, if there is a meritorious service in the future, the reward will not be less." ”

"The Qing Dynasty is like the rising sun, I don't know how many times stronger than the gloomy Ming Dynasty, I see that you have an iron heart, why don't you vote for the Qing Dynasty with me, dedicate Sichuan to the Qing Dynasty, and seek wealth and prosperity together?"

When Zhang Guangcai heard this, he frowned, slapped his thigh, and said in a loud voice: "Since General Liu has already made up his mind, the little brother dares to disobey his orders, and he will have to ask General Liu in the future, oh, no, Lord Liu will take care of it!" ”

Liu Jinzhong laughed, touched a wisp of goatee on his chin and said, "Okay!" At present, the thief Yu He Zhen in Hanzhong is still resisting, but it is also the firefly in Haoyue, which will be destroyed by Lord He Luohui sooner or later, and when Hanzhong opens, it is the time for the two of us to do it, before that, we have to temporarily bow our heads, in case Zhang Xianzhong notices. ”

Zhang Guangcai smiled and arched his hand and said, "Everything is at the command of Lord Liu." ”

The two of them laughed again, and the drizzle outside the door and the slanting wind banged on the window, like the accompaniment to this shameless laughter, becoming more and more urgent and intense.