After Li Zicheng finished drawing lots, he said goodbye to Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao, went down to the city himself, and ordered a general: "Bai Wang, according to the agreement, the west and north of Nanyang are ours, you select five hundred reliable cavalry, immediately occupy the main roads and crossroads, and do not let Cao Shuai and Zhang Xianzhong's people come to our territory, and there are cavalry constantly patrolling the streets and alleys, and it is strictly forbidden to burn, kill, and rob." Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info patrolled while preaching my ban. If anyone violates it, whether it is to break up the officers and soldiers or our own brothers, we will all be beheaded on the spot and displayed to the public. Also, King Tang is very important, we must take this person. After the city is broken, he will definitely escape from the palace. As soon as you are assigned to stop, search our area strictly, and if you can catch it, you can find his traces if you can't, understand? ”

"Yes, King Chuang!" Bai Wang is a young man who is not amazing, with dark skin, medium build, thick eyebrows and big eyes, thick lips, he looks like an ordinary peasant in northern Shaanxi, but his eyes are bright, he bowed to Li Zicheng, and then turned to leave. Li Zicheng immediately ordered another general: "Brother Hanju (Li Zicheng's general Yuan Zongdi), you take a hundred cavalry and spread the news in the direction of Yexian overnight, saying that the army is coming. “

"Yes!" The appearance of this young general is much more powerful than that of Bai Wang, with two thick eyebrows on his jujube red face, a high nose bridge, a look of indifference in his jujube core-like eyes, a thick beard under his chin and the hair on his temples are connected, he looks like he is in his thirties, but if he looks closely, he is actually only in his early twenties, he asked with a smile: "King Chuang, you want to bluff and scare the officials and soldiers over there in Ye County so that they don't come to help, right?" ”

"Hmm!" Li Zicheng nodded: "In this way, the official army will think that we have not captured Nanyang, turn to the northeast and want to flee from Yexian to the Central Plains, Hong Chengchou's march will slow down, and we can also stay in Nanyang for a few more days." Nanyang is a big city, there is a lot of everything, brothers have been tossing in the mountains for many months, I hope to rest here for a while, no matter where I go next, I can be prepared! ”

"Yes!" Yuan Zongdi answered, then quickly turned around and left, Li Zicheng thought about it and had nothing else to deal with, so he returned to the camp to rest, preparing to enter the city again tomorrow morning.

The next morning, Li Zicheng had breakfast, and then entered the city, at the gate of the city Li Xianfeng and Wang Shaoyu's heads have been hung at the city gate, and a post was also posted next to it, which was written in ink about what the two of them did, dozens of peasant soldiers gathered around to listen to a small leader who had studied private school for two years stammering explanation, the only fly in the ointment was that there were no people watching. Li Zicheng entered the city, and as soon as he crossed the two streets, he saw Bai Wang quickly greet him, pointing to a courtyard next to him and said with a smile: "King Chuang, this Nanyang City is really rich, you see that I copied two gentry and got so much property!" ”

"So much!" Li Zicheng looked at the grain bags, cloth and satin and cage boxes piled up in the yard, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, you will send it to the old camp later!" ”

"Yes!" Bai Wang answered, and was about to continue to pray, but heard someone laugh loudly: "Some people say that King Chuang is a hero in the world, and in my opinion, he is just a thief!" ”

"What people!" Bai Wang was taken aback, everyone's eyes looked at the place where the sound came from, and saw a person walking out of the shadow in the corner of the courtyard, no more than four feet tall, and he looked like a child, but when he looked closely, he found that it was a short man, dressed in a soap-colored robe, wearing a gauze hat, and holding a wooden staff in his hand, on which hung a cloth with the appearance of a sackcloth god, and his right leg was slightly lame, looking like a fortune teller who ate with a mouth on the rivers and lakes. Bai Wang snorted coldly and shouted, "Come on, take down this guy!" ”

"Wait!" The short man raised his right hand: "I have heard for a long time in the rivers and lakes that King Chuang is a hero with great ambitions, and since ancient times, those who want to achieve great things are eager to be virtuous, why refuse to be talented thousands of miles away?"

"Talented?" Bai Wang smiled: "You are as tall as a donkey, you are too short to feed the horses, and you still claim to be a virtuous person?" ”

"The ruler is long, and the inch is short. If I am asked to charge into battle and capture the flag, it will naturally not work. But if you strategize and win thousands of miles away, I will not be left behind! ”

Li Zicheng saw clearly with cold eyes on the side, although this short man described it as ugly, he was calm and calm in his words surrounded by his own soldiers, and he knew that he was not an ordinary person. So he stepped forward and saluted the short man: "I am Li Zicheng, dare to ask Mr. Gao's surname?" ”

The short man arched his hand and said with a smile: "My surname is Song, my name is a guide, a native of Yongcheng, Henan, a weak crown walks the rivers and lakes, and makes a living by selling hexagrams. ”

"Oh!" Li Zicheng nodded and asked, "Mr. Song, what do you want to see me?" ”

"Huh!" Song Xiance smiled, his face suddenly turned pale, and he said solemnly: "I want to see that the general is a true hero, and I want to attach Jiwei and climb Hongxi, for the merit of eternity!" ”

Li Zicheng frowned, although he was poor, he also went to private school for a few years when he was a teenager, and he knew some words, although Song Xiance didn't understand the first two sentences, but the last sentence on his face, "The Meritorious Work of Eternity", could also be understood seven or eight points. He has a deep personality since he was a child, and his mood is not in color, so he naturally won't trust this fortune teller of unknown origin so casually: "Mr. Song, not to mention that the court is powerful now, I am just a thief, even in this Nanyang City, there are two other groups of people, Cao Shuai's people and horses are more than me, why don't you take refuge in them, but come to me?" ”

"Is the general talking about Cao Cao and Zhang Xianzhong?" Song Xiance said with a smile: "The reason is very simple, these two people are just ordinary thieves, but the general is a real hero, Song wants to follow the dragon, how can he take refuge in the two of them?" ”

"Really?" Li Zicheng smiled: "Didn't Mr. Song want to say two nice words to make Li happy?" ”

"Is Song a person who speaks loudly?" Song Xiance said with a smile: "After the city is broken, the three of you will divide this Nanyang City into three parts, and bandits and soldiers are rampant in the jurisdiction of those two, robbers and murderers can be seen everywhere on the street, and there are countless captives who enter the good family." And in the general's jurisdiction, there are sergeants patrolling the streets and alleys, and there are people fighting fires, this distinction is self-evident, right? ”

"Hmm!" Listening to Song Xiance's words, Li Zicheng's face looked a little better. Seeing this, Song Xiance continued with a smile: "After the two leaders broke the city, one of them entered the palace of the Tang Dynasty to enjoy himself, leaving his subordinates behind; the other took the concubine and daughter of the Li Governor's Mansion into his own tent, and only cared about his own lewd pleasures; However, the general went back to his own camp outside the city to spend the night, clothed and fed, as usual. At the beginning, Han Gaozu entered the customs to destroy Qin, sealed the treasury, the distant palace room, there was nothing to take, women had nothing to do, non-Gaozu did not like wine, and there was a great ambition in the sea! Song wanted to stay in the marquis, so he naturally came to vote for the general! ”

Listening to Song Xiance's words, Li Zicheng had a smile on his face, he has always had great ambitions, and he also knows that if he wants to achieve great things, he can't do without the truth of scholars, but since he started the army, he is willing to take refuge in his scholars, and he doesn't even have a child. Even if a few of them were taken captive into the army and forced to follow by the situation, they were not convinced, and fled at the first opportunity, and he only dared to let them do some simple document transcription work, and did not dare to trust his henchmen. Although this Song Xiance is described as obscene, he knows that he is quite knowledgeable when he listens to the conversation, and it is also extremely rare for Li Zicheng, who is almost illiterate. Thinking of this, he took a step forward, bowed down and said: "Mr. Song is not stupid and stupid, and is willing to bend down to vote, which is really a blessing from God, I don't know what Mr. can advise?" ”

Song Xiance saw Li Zicheng like this, and said with a smile: "The matter of the army, Song Moujie Jianghu Warlock, dare not say more!" It's the disposal after the city is broken, and Song wants to say a few words! ”

"Thank you, sir, for your advice!" Li Zicheng turned to Bai Wang on the side and said, "Bai Wang, you clean up the hall, I want to ask Mr. Song some things, if there is nothing important, don't let people disturb me and Mr." ”

"Yes, King Chuang!" Seeing Li Zicheng's serious expression, Bai Wang hurriedly ordered his subordinates to take out the messy things piled up in the hall and clean them up. Li Zicheng arched his hand to Song Xiance, made a gesture of please, the two entered the hall, and some subordinates brought tea, Song Xiance took a sip of tea, and said with a smile: "The general said before that the court is powerful and your power is meager, but in fact, this is not true!" ”

"Oh? Why?"

"General, a tall building starts from the soil, and a thousand feet of wood is born from an inch of seedlings. Big or small, strong or weak, are not absolute, what matters is where the destiny is. Although the imperial court is powerful, since Wanli, there have been many troops outside and many disasters inside, the treasury is empty, and the sea is boiling. The soldiers are tired and have a lot of grievances, and the public parties are fighting against each other, and there is no long-term plan, from this point of view, the destiny of heaven is no longer in Zhu Mingyi! ”

For all Chinese, "Mandate of Heaven" is a word with a special meaning, not so much some kind of personified deity, but some mysterious force that dominates all things in the world, this power is powerful, just and ruthless, and in the face of this irresistible force, the rulers who hold the supreme power of the world have to bow their proud heads. Li Zicheng said in a deep voice: "Mr. Song, the Mandate of Heaven is illusory, you say that the Mandate of Heaven is not in Zhu Ming, but the scholars don't think so, for example, if I killed Li Xianfeng and Wang Shaoyu today, they will definitely say that I am guilty of rebellion, and the people are convinced of what the scholars said, and regard me as a thief, what can I do?" ”

"General, haven't you heard that the heart of heaven is the heart of the people?" Song Xiance said with a smile: "The Son of Heaven is the son of heaven, ruling all the people on behalf of heaven and making them happy." But the emperors of Zhu Ming acted against the sky, did not sympathize with the people, and the mandate of heaven naturally shifted, if the general could not kill people and obey the mandate of heaven, why should he worry that the mandate of heaven was not in him? ”

"Mr. Song laughed, now is the troubled times, if I don't kill others, others will come to kill me, how can I not kill people?"

"The general's words are wrong!" Song Xiance's face became serious: "The trouble of the imperial court today is that the strong are bullying the weak, the rich bullying the poor, so that the poor and weak have the pain of hanging upside down, and the world cannot be peaceful." Such tyrannical people, one person is a hundred people, how can it be worse? Mencius said, 'A thief is a thief, a thief is a thief, a thief is a thief, and a thief is a husband.' I heard that a husband was punished, but I didn't hear of killing the king! 'Anyone who is still guilty can be punished, not to mention a few corrupt officials and corrupt officials, how can killing them be considered murder? If the general can act in righteousness, punish tyranny, be peaceful, and be kind, and relieve the people from hanging upside down. The people of the world should be wrapped in food, although there are many soldiers in the court, how can there be many people in the world? Even if there are a few rotten Confucians, how can they confuse the people of the world? ”

"Punish tyranny, be good!" When Li Zicheng heard Song Xiance say this, his eyes couldn't help but light up, and he stood up and bowed to Song Xiance: "In the past few years, although Zicheng has traveled all over several provinces, he is a blind man, and today thanks to Mr., he has become a clear-eyed person." Mr. Dare will stay in the army after that, so let Zicheng ask for advice sooner or later! ”

"Don't dare to be!" Song Xiance turned sideways, not daring to accept Li Zicheng's big gift: "Xiance should follow the general and create a great cause!" ”

"Mr. Song! So what's the most important thing to do right now? ”

"General, please look!" Song Xiance had already prepared, took out a book from his arms, Li Zicheng took the book and looked at it, but it was a Nanyang gentry record, opened it and saw that it was densely recorded with the local gentry name, origin, place of origin, trade name, address, official position once held, etc., it was really detailed, and between the lines it was also written in Suzhou code to make a note, but I don't know what it means. Song Xiance saw Li Zicheng's confused expression, and said with a smile: "General, you plundered property from the gentry before, although you got military resources, but you are a nameless teacher, and the people will only regard you as a thief when they see it." Moreover, these gentry were only a few floating riches in the city, and most of the grain, livestock, and land were outside the city. Gain very little but ruin your reputation! In this gentry record, the local gentry of all sizes were recorded, and they also used Suzhou yards to record how many fields and houses they had, and they had done those evil things. When the army went south, most of the surrounding gentry fled into Nanyang City in order to avoid the disaster of war, you can immediately send capable and reliable people to seal the homes of these gentry, arrest them, count their crimes, and then impose fines according to all their land and houses, let them pay within a time limit, and give relief to the poor and helpless. Among them, those who have committed the most heinous crimes can be punished in front of the people! ”

"Okay, this is a good method!" Li Zicheng was so smart that he immediately understood Song Xiance's intention to do this. As the saying goes, although the steel knife is fast, it does not kill the innocent. If you can get some money according to the previous method, you can only get some floating money at best, and it will confirm the government's contempt for its thief. And if you follow Song Xiance's approach, not only can you get more property (because most of the gentry's wealth is in the countryside villages, because you know the amount of their land, you can estimate their property and get the maximum amount of harvest), and it is no longer a robbery, but put yourself in a position equal to that of the Ming Dynasty, competing for the agency of heaven, punishing tyranny, and being peaceful. Because there were almost no gentry at that time who did not oppress the people by virtue of their fame and power, it can be said that there was shit on their butts, and Li Zicheng could not only obtain huge wealth by doing this, but also win the hearts of the people and seize the high ground of public opinion, which was really a clever move. (To be continued.) )