"Officers and soldiers are coming!" The god jumped up from the ground, pulled out his waist knife without touching the mud, and shouted: "Take the brothers and go quickly, I will stay and break the queen!" ”

"Good brother!" Shen Yikui slapped the other party's shoulder, and at this time, the pro-soldier next to him had already led the war horse over, and stuffed the reins into Shen Yikui's hand without getting wet: "The situation is urgent, go quickly!" ”

Shen Yikui and Bu Mu took more than 20 personal soldiers, came down the slope, and were about to break up, but they saw a horse rushing towards this side, shouting loudly as they ran: "The one who holds the plate is not an officer or soldier, not an officer or soldier!" ”

"Not an officer or soldier?" Shen Yikui asked suspiciously.

"Not officers and soldiers!" The knight struggled to hold on to the reins, and the horse under his crotch neighed off the ground with its front hooves, and it took him a while to regain control of his mount.

"In charge of the plate was another group of brothers who had been scattered, and they followed our hoof prints, and the one who stood guard was a brother who had not been in the gang for a long time.

"It's really not an officer or soldier?" Shen Yikui is still a little uneasy.

"The color of the flag is not right, and there are only more than 200 horsemen in total, so I am not afraid of officers and soldiers!" The cavalry replied.

"God forbid!" Bu Mu laughed: "Let's go, let's go and see." ”

When Shen Yikui and Bu Mu came to the hill with their own soldiers, they could already clearly see the team of men and horses mentioned by their subordinates, compared to the embarrassed defeated soldiers, this team of men and horses was much more spirited, each person in addition to the war horse, there was also a horse, at least a strong mule for transporting personal armor and luggage, and there were dozens of mules at the back of the team. The soldiers themselves even wore leather jackets or cotton jackets to protect them from the cold, and wore felt hats on their heads, which did not look at all like a defeated army that had just lost a battle and fled to the battlefield overnight.

"Who is your leader?" Don't get muddy and ask loudly.

But the cavalry on the opposite side did not answer, but asked, "Who are you?" “

"Humph!" Bu Mu sneered, stepped out of the way, pointed to Shen Yikui on the side and said: "A few of you have listened to me, this is the big leader of the seventeen big and small poles in Shaanxi, let your leader come out to meet people." “

The cavalryman looked Shen Yikui up and down, and suddenly burst out laughing, and when he saw this, he was furious, and said, "What are you laughing at?" ”

The cavalryman pointed at Shen Yikui and Bu Mu with his horsewhip and smiled at his companions on the left and right: "All of them are unkempt, in tattered clothes, and the horses under their crotch are all fat, and even the Tartars on the grassland are more decent than you, and they are even big leaders, when did the big leaders become so worthless!" ”

The sarcasm's ridicule caused everyone to laugh, which added fuel to the anger of the non-muddy, he pulled out his waist knife and wanted to teach the few guys on the opposite side who didn't know how to teach a lesson, but he was pulled by Shen Yikui, and the opposite side saw that he pulled out his sword, and he also pulled out his sword, and the atmosphere on both sides suddenly became tense.

"Rank." Shen Yikui kicked the war horse lightly, and when he reached the open space between the two teams of people, he raised his hands to show that he had no malicious intent: "It doesn't matter if I am a god or not, but I guess you don't want to do it, wouldn't it be better to let your leader come out and explain it clearly?" ”

Shen Yikui's words gradually relaxed the tense atmosphere, he turned back and made a gesture, his own soldiers returned their swords into their sheaths, and the soldiers over there also lowered their swords when they saw this. At this time, a voice came from behind the crowd: "Well done, the swords, guns and arrows of our righteous army should be used to kill officers and soldiers, not kill each other, and do what relatives and enemies are happy to do!" ”

As he spoke, the group of men and horses on the opposite side parted into two compartments, making way in the middle, and two horsemen came out of the middle. Shen Yikui couldn't help but be stunned when he saw Li Hongji, who was wearing a sheepskin jacket and a white pointed felt hat, but was locked in the dungeon by himself and waiting to come back to dispose of it: "Li Hongji, why are you here?" ”

"Huh!" Li Hongji sneered: "Where do you think I am?" Still locked up in that dungeon, and has been beheaded by the officers and soldiers? “

"Watch out!" At this time, he also saw clearly that the person who came was Li Hongji and his nephew Li Guo, but he knew the old grudge between Shen Yikui and Li Hongji, and hurriedly ordered his soldiers to draw their swords and be on guard, and the atmosphere became tense again for a while.

"Shen Yikui, don't worry, I didn't come to take revenge on you this time, and besides, my name is Li Hongji anymore, now my name is Li Zicheng."

"Not revenge?" Shen Yikui looked at Li Zicheng in front of him with some doubts, and the mud on the side hurriedly said loudly: "The one who is in charge of the plate, this guy is scheming, he must have seen that there are many of us, and he wants to coax you, and when we relax our guard, we will insert a knife from the back." “

"If you don't get mud, you don't want to spew blood!" Li Guo, who was behind Li Zicheng, scolded, but was stopped by Li Zicheng reaching out his hand, he turned his head and said coldly to Shen Yikui: "The one who is in charge of the plate, although you have imprisoned me, you want to kill me." But not to annex my pole, but to be deceived into thinking that I had secretly surrendered to the officers and soldiers, and that I was going to exchange my brothers' heads for my own black gauze hats, so I don't blame you. Now you should know who is the one who is really colluding with the government for the sake of his own wealth, right? ”

Shen Yikui's face changed, and after a long while, he sighed, stretched out his hand and motioned to the soldiers behind him to put down their weapons: "What you said is right, I did fall for the court's strategy, thinking that you were the court's internal response." Now it seems that the traitor should be two-faced, but his face was burned by the brazier you kicked away, and he has already died of injuries, and it is really his own providence in the dark! ”

"It's good to die, the dog thief who betrayed his brother!" Li Zicheng took a sip and looked up and down: "How many people do you still have now?" ”

Shen Yikui's face was slightly red, and he also knew that he was now the image of a defeated general, and said in a low voice: "There are more than a thousand people, but they are all cavalry. ”

"That's it! Don't be discouraged if you're in charge, there weren't so many people when we got into trouble! Li Zicheng's attitude became friendly: "I have food and salt behind me, let everyone have a full meal first, and then let's go west, while walking to contain the separated brothers, don't look at the current strength of the official army, this is just temporary, there are so many poor brothers in Shaanxi who have no food, they all point to our righteous army to stand up for them, as long as we survive this period, at most next year will be able to turn the sky up——"

With Li Zicheng's words, Shen Yikui's head drooped lower and lower, and then it almost pressed his chest, but Li Zicheng didn't notice the other party's state, and only cared about what he said happily. He had just clearly understood the various stakes, although Shen Yikui had lost a mess, but among the many large and small peasant armies in Shaanxi, he had the loudest reputation. In ancient societies, due to the backward means of information dissemination, the vast majority of people obtained necessary information through word of mouth. Therefore, reputation in the civil war is particularly important, taking Liu Bei as an example, when he came to save Xuzhou, there were only more than 1,000 Xianbei cavalry and thousands of homeless people, this point of strength was just a big local tyrant at that time, but he could not stand the reputation of his Han clan, Tao Qian died and became the pastor of Xuzhou with the support of everyone. In the current situation, if you can play the banner of God, it will be much louder than the banner of that Raushzi's general.

"I'm sorry, Brother Li, I'm afraid I can't lead you to do it!" A voice interrupted Li Zicheng's gushing words, and Shen Yikui raised his head, his face pale as a dead man: "I have already discussed with the others, and I am ready to ask Governor Yang He Yang for comfort." “

"Plastering? Isn't that a surrender? Li Zicheng was furious when he heard this, and he asked sharply: "Have you forgotten the tens of thousands of brothers who died under the swords of the officials?" And your brother Shen Yiyuan, he also died at the hands of the official army, have you even forgotten the revenge of killing your brother? “

"Of course I haven't forgotten, and I can't forget!" Shen Yikui's voice gradually became high-pitched: "It was because I thought of so many dead people that I decided to ask the court for comfort, my brother and I got up to find a way out for the brothers, but instead let them die under the knife of the government, do you still want to fight like this?" How many people have to die to be a head? “

"Your brothers can't survive to rebel with you, and if they hadn't rebelled with you, they would have starved to death at home. You are not harming them, you are saving them! Li Zicheng's voice seemed to be cast in iron, and they all spoke loudly: "As for how many people die, it is a head, when we hit the city of Beijing, drive Emperor Zhu from power, and let the suffering people in the world live a good life with fields and food, then it will be the end." “

"What? Go to Beijing and oust the Son of Heaven? Shen Yikui's face showed an expression of disbelief, and then he shook his head with a wry smile: "How is this possible, with more than a thousand of us, you still want to fight to Beijing?" You are also a person who has been a post officer, you should know how many elite soldiers and fierce generals there are in the imperial court, where can we, the hungry people who have no food, be able to fight? Haven't you understood what happened this time? “

"This defeat is because we fell for Yang He's tricks, and we have internal responses."

"Yes, but not all!" Shen Yikui shook his head slowly: "You haven't seen the formation of the officers and soldiers, although we lost this battle because of the internal traitor, but even if there is no internal response, the officers and soldiers are still not something we can fight." Take 10,000 steps back, even if we win Yang He this time, the imperial court can still mobilize elite soldiers from other provinces, as well as the elite border troops in eastern and western Liaoning, we have won, as well as the wolf soldiers in the southwest, the Miao soldiers, the white pole soldiers in Sichuan, the monk soldiers in Henan, the Mongolian Tartars, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"So what? We will lose once and try again, and we will not stop until we finally enter the city of Beijing. There are poor people everywhere who have no food to eat, as long as we are willing to make decisions for them, they will all follow us, the poor in the world are tens of thousands of times more than the rich, and we must win in the end. ”

"No, as long as there is a rain, the landlord will be exempted from a year's rent, and the imperial court will be exempted from the salary, and everyone will go back to farming. No one wants to live this kind of life without roots, without roots, day and night. The lords and gentlemen above the court are not stupid, and they have also seen this situation in the northwest now, and they will definitely reduce the grain tax and let the people have a way to live. ”

"Definitely not!" Li Zicheng categorically rejected Shen Yikui's conjecture: "Don't you know what kind of virtue the landlords are? The drought and the failure of the harvest can force the poor to sell their sons and daughters, and buy the last bit of homestead and cemetery left by their ancestors at a low price. For us poor people, these years are hard in the hot oil pot, but it is a good day for them to make a fortune for the landlords. The court is full of landlords, and they will reduce or exempt grain taxes? Rent-free? If you do, I'll gouge out these eyeballs and throw them in front of you!" “

"Say no more!" Shen Yikui shook his head violently: "Since you and my brother want to take different paths, it will be in vain to hurt the righteousness between brothers if we continue to argue." Then the road is facing the sky, and each side of the road! “

"It's good!" Li Zicheng's face also became calm, he arched his hand towards Shen Yikui, and said: "Today I will call you the last one to palm the plate, the next time we meet you are an officer and soldier, I am a thief, everyone will fight to the death!" With that, Li Zicheng turned around and left. Looking at Li Zicheng's departing back, the look on Shen Yikui's face was very complicated, with a little admiration, a little envy, and a little jealousy.

At this time, Bu Mu came up from behind, and whispered in Shen Yikui's ear: "The one in charge of the plate, why don't you let someone catch up with them and give them all-" Speaking of this, he made a gesture to kill his head.

"Forget it!" Shen Yikui shook his head excitedly: "Everyone is a brother who has sworn by burning incense in front of the statue of the god, and some things should not be done so desperately, it's not good!" With that, he turned back and whispered, "I don't know if he is right or I am right, so let's leave one more way for the poor." ”

Yan'an, the governor of the three sides.

For Yang He, the recent period can be described as a series of happy events, after he won a decisive victory over the main force of the Shaanxi peasant army, soon after receiving the news that Shen Yikui had sent an envoy to beg for comfort, which made him feel extremely excited when he was discussing with his staff how to draft a report to the imperial court. If before this, Yang He could only brazenly boast on the fold, "Kill a number of thieves, horses, and a mountain of armor sticks, and Cheng has not won a great victory for decades." "Then now Yang He can clearly tell the Son of Heaven that his plan to appease him has worked, and the chaos in the northwest has basically calmed down.

"Congratulations to my husband!" A staff member saw Yang He's joy, stepped forward and said with a smile: "It's a hexagram at the bottom, and the hexagram is like "big fire flowing gold'." According to the five elements, fire can overcome gold. The golden soldier also refers to the West. It was precisely after the first battle of the adults that the morale of the soldiers was exhausted, and the court no longer had to worry about the west. With such a great achievement, the Son of Heaven will definitely recruit you to Beijing and ascend to the pavilion to pay respects! ”