Facing the aggressive gaze of a generation of heroes Li Zicheng, Zhu Youzhen secretly thought that success or failure would be in one fell swoop. If he can get through the trick, then he will not be able to die in the future; If you can't fool yourself, don't bother yourself, just explain it here, and this journey will end like this.

"This king, the surname of the poor Dao is especially frugal, he is a Taoist priest of Maoshan, and the one next to him is the junior brother of the poor Dao." Zhu Youzhen bragged unashamedly while secretly observing Li Zicheng's expression.

And Rui'er didn't expect that Zhu Youzhen would take the initiative to provoke Li Zicheng, and it was too late to stop it at this time, so she had to bow her head and follow Zhu Youzhen, for fear that someone would see through her daughter's body.

"Oh? Are you really Taoist priests? Why don't you wear a robe? Li Zicheng said suspiciously.

Zhu Youzhen's brain turned quickly, and he said with a cannon full of mouth: "Shizun ordered the two poor Taoist brothers to travel down the mountain, and when they left, they specially told them not to reveal their identities. It is all because of the mystery and mystery of Maoshan Taoism, and the two poor Taoist are young and ignorant, for fear that the gangsters will covet it and use the Taoist technique of the poor Taoist to do bad things. ”

When Li Zicheng heard that the person opposite was a Taoist priest of Maoshan Mountain, he couldn't help but be suspicious in his heart. In this era, from the emperor to the common people, they generally believed in religion, specifically Buddhism and Taoism. Among them, Taoism is the most prevalent, and even Emperor Jiajing is a devout Taoist.

The Maoshan sect is a branch of Taoism, because it claims to be able to obtain immortality through cultivation, and acts mysteriously, which is quite capable of frightening some ignorant people. Of course, Li Zicheng had also heard of all kinds of mysterious legends of Maoshan Taoists, but he had never seen them with his own eyes, so he didn't dare to underestimate Zhu Youzhen.

He stared at Zhu Youzhen and pondered for a moment before saying, "What do you mean by the sentence you shouted just now?" ”

Zhu Youzhen saw that Li Zicheng did not kill himself immediately, so he knew that he had three points of hope, and immediately said nonsense: "Poor Dao has not returned to Maoshan for three years since he traveled down the mountain. Fang Cai suddenly felt sleepy, leaned against the wall on the side of the street and took a nap, and suddenly had a dream!

"In the dream, Master Venerable said to the poor Daoyan: If you meet a person named 'Li Zicheng', you must recite the proverb 'Eighteen Children's Lord Artifact', which has its own great mystery. After speaking, the master disappeared, and the poor road was shocked, and then he knew that it was the master's dream. At this time, the king shouted his name, and the poor Dao did not dare to disobey the decree of the master, so he preached the prophecy. Unexpectedly disturbed the king, and the king of all hopes forgives the death penalty of poverty! ”

Zhu Youzhen had just finished fooling around, and Liu Zongmin scolded with a smile: "It turned out to be a bull-nosed Taoist priest!" Break into the general, this Taoist priest confuses the public, and if you keep it, you will cause disaster, it is better to kill it with a knife! ”

Zhu Youzhen was frightened into a cold sweat, thinking that this Liu Zongmin seemed to be a very important figure in Li Zicheng's camp, and if Li Zicheng listened to him, then he would immediately return to the West.

Li Zicheng was silent, although his education level was extremely limited, he still understood what the word "artifact" meant.

Li Guo, another general beside him and his nephew, also interjected: "Second father, this Taoist priest can't be killed!" 'Artifact' doesn't refer to treasures such as the jade seal of the country and the nine tripods of King Yu, whoever is the main artifact can control the world! ”

Li Zicheng's eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice and asked Zhu Youzhen: "Who is the 'eighteen children'?" Is he also the leader of the rebels? ”

Zhu Youzhen couldn't smile bitterly, and said in his heart that Li Zicheng was naturally a big boss, and he complimented him in a different way, but he couldn't hear it. I had to pretend to be mysterious: "'Child' is the son, and 'eighteen children' should mean 'eighteen sons'." However, what these 'eighteen sons' refer to, the poor road can't know, this is a heavenly opportunity! ”

Li Zicheng was overjoyed, thinking that this "eighteen sons" is not the word "Li"? His surname is Li, the meaning of the proverb said by this Taoist priest is not that the surname Li wants to sit in the world? And he has just changed his name to Li Zicheng, and this Taoist priest said a proverb, isn't it God's intention to let me have an artifact?

Unlike other bandit leaders who only knew how to rob homes and rob gold, silver, and beauties, Li Zicheng secretly determined to overthrow the Ming Dynasty and ascend the throne himself from the day he began his rebellion. But he has lofty ideals, but his strength is not very good, and now he has to rely on his father-in-law, Gao Yingxiang, the "king of Chuang".

But at this time, Zhu Youzhen's "proverb" suddenly touched Li Zicheng's heart, which made him feel that this was a good omen from heaven!

Thinking of this section, Li Zicheng's attitude towards Zhu Youzhen suddenly eased, and he jumped off the horse, supported Zhu Youzhen with both hands, and bowed deeply and said: "The Taoist is above, please accept Li Zicheng's worship!" ”

And Liu Zongmin, Hao Shaoqi and others couldn't even understand this simple proverb, and when they were wondering, Li Zicheng leaned on their ears and quietly told them the meaning of the proverb.

These people are Li Zicheng's sworn friends, of course, I hope that he can become the emperor, so that they will all become the founding heroes. Therefore, after hearing it, everyone cheered, and Li Zicheng had to hurry up to remind them not to speak out too early.

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased up, although Zhu Youzhen's face pretended to be calm, his heart was beating wildly, and he secretly thought that he had made the right bet!

He hurriedly pointed at Li Zicheng and smiled at Li Zicheng: "Shizun also explained in the poor dream that if you meet someone with the same name as 'Li Zicheng', you must bring it back to Maoshan and do it on this person to ensure that the real Li Zicheng is on the rise." According to the poor Dao's opinion, the king still didn't kill this person, and let the poor Dao send him to the master. ”

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say!" Li Zicheng was in a very good mood at this time, and his requirements for Zhu Youzhen were to be obedient, and he immediately ordered someone to release Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng was alive and dead, and just wanted to come over to thank this Maoshan Taoist priest, he suddenly recognized Zhu Youzhen and said in surprise: "You are not You..."

Zhu Youzhen was afraid that Li Zicheng would break the sky with one word, so he hurriedly glared at him fiercely while people were not paying attention, but he said in his mouth: "The poor road is to travel the world, and today the merit is complete, and you can go back to Maoshan to recover your life!" ”

Li Zicheng has been in the business for many years, and naturally reacts very quickly. He immediately understood Zhu Youzhen's intentions, quickly shut up, and stood behind Zhu Youzhen honestly.

Zhu Youzhen was thinking about how to get out next, only to hear another chaos at the city gate, and chaotic shouts gradually came from afar: "The big dragon head and the leaders have arrived!" ”

Although Zhu Youzhen didn't know where this "big dragon head" was, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng both had a pale face, knowing that the big man they couldn't afford to provoke had arrived, and they both drank and ordered their subordinates to dodge the road.

In a short time, dozens of horses came slowly, and the first person was born with a fierce face, especially a scar on his face cut with a saber, starting from the corner of his left eye, crossing the bridge of his nose and grinning directly on the right cheek, which was both shocking and terrifying.

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng saw this person, and they both dismounted and bowed their hands and said: "Big dragon head!" ”

The person who came was the initiator of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, or the thief rebellion at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the thief head god known as the "big dragon head".

In fact, Shen Yikui and his brother Shen Yiyuan were originally also border troops, and they also served as small leaders of the general class. It was only because the imperial court repeatedly defaulted on military salaries, and the chief officer did his best to exploit the soldiers, which caused a lot of complaints. Their brothers took the opportunity to mutini and led 3,000 rebels out of Yansui Town.

However, Shen Yiyuan was not lucky, and it was not long before he was killed by the official army. As a result, the power to command the army fell into the hands of Shen Yikui, but he was more cunning than his elder brother, specializing in the weak points of the Ming army's defenses.

He first broke through Xin'an, Jingbian, Baoan and other important towns in northern Shaanxi, and when the official army was in a hurry, he suddenly shook a shot and went straight to Ningxia. The officers and soldiers in Ningxia had been absent from the battle formation for a long time, and due to many years of empty salaries and other reasons, there were few soldiers who could fight, so they had to flee for the wind. For a time, Shen Yikui's reputation was shocked, and the people were coerced along the way, and it quickly grew to 60,000 or 70,000 people, becoming the strongest among the thieves, and it was logical that he was elected as the "big leader" by other thieves.

Behind Shen Yikui was another big leader, Wang Jiayin, and Wang Jiayin's two generals: "Zijin Liang" Wang Ziyong and "Chuang Wang" Gao Yingxiang.

That Li Zicheng is still Gao Yingxiang's subordinate, and in front of the "big dragon head" Shen Yikui, he is even more hemp rope wearing tofu, and he can't lift it.

And in the back, there are still dozens of bandit leaders coming in streams, such as the Flying Mountain Tiger, the Big Red Wolf, Cao*, Lao Huihui, Breaking into the Sky, Shooting the Sky, Rolling Mines, Scorpion Blocks, Lighting Lamps, Leather Eyes, etc., which are simply varied and messy.

In fact, of course, these people have their own real names, but because they are doing a brainless business, they are somewhat afraid of affecting their families, so they all use pseudonyms. At first glance, it sounds quite bluffing.

Shen Yikui saw Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's men and horses confronting each other in the city, and immediately lowered his face and said, "What's the matter, my brother is still doing it?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong preemptively said: "The general will not obey the rules and rob the money and food!" ”

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Actually, the eight kings have misunderstood, and the junior general is afraid that there will be chaos in the city and there will be gangsters robbing him, so he will protect the money and grain, and wait for the big dragon to fall." Now that the big dragon head is here, the young general can breathe a sigh of relief. As he spoke, he asked his subordinates to dedicate dozens of carts to the gods.

When Shen Yikui saw so much grain, grass and silver, his face bloomed with joy, and he praised loudly: "General Chuang has done a good job!" He also reprimanded Zhang Xianzhong and said: "Eight kings, you are too short-tempered, you always want to do it without asking, and this problem will be changed in the future!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong saw that Li Zicheng saw the wind and rudder, and snatched the color in front of the big dragon head, although he was so angry that he gritted his teeth, he didn't dare to disobey God, so he had to retreat.

Seeing that the turmoil had subsided, Shen Yikui laughed and said, "They are all good brothers, and it's okay if you say it!" Since the leaders of our families have been in trouble, they have not had the opportunity to get together to discuss the plan. I think today is a good day, why not hold a hero meeting to discuss what to do next? ”

When he said this, how dare the rest of the leaders not agree. As soon as God was overjoyed, he led the people straight to the county office, intending to gather there to discuss matters.

Zhu Youzhen saw that there were so many bandit leaders, and he was frightened, trying to find a chance to slip away, but Li Zicheng affectionately grabbed his arm and said: "Dao Chief, come with me to the meeting to see the heroes of the world!" ”