But Li Hongji's behavior forced him into a corner, forcing him to make a final choice: whether to betray his comrades and surrender to the imperial court or follow everyone across the river to Shanxi, this is not to say that Liangmiangguang is unwilling to be an official of the imperial court, on the contrary, this thirty-five-year-old poor man in Shaanxi has a desire for the official position of the imperial court beyond ordinary people, but he just instinctively averse to make a choice, especially when he is forced to make a choice, he wants to be an official but is unwilling to risk giving his fellow party a knife in the back, therefore, He hated Li Hongji, who had forced himself into such a situation.

"Damn Huang Lai'er, it's all you, it's all because of you!" The two faces cursed in a low voice, his upper and lower molars grinding slightly, and the more he laughed at that rice fat man during the day, the more he hated it in his heart. He wanted to tie the other man's hands and feet to the horse's tail and drag him to death on the ground, but he didn't dare to do so, because it made him hate it even more.

Just as the two faces were alone in the room, there was a sound of heavy footsteps outside, and as soon as he stood up, the door was pushed open, and the cold wind outside blew in violently, making him shiver. Two people walked in, and Du Guoying, who was in front, saluted to the two sides with crossed hands: "Palm the plate, this is Liu Cheng and Liu Qianhu, who came with a military order from the Governor." ”

Liangmian Guang stood up a little flustered, he didn't expect Du Guoying to come in with a Ming army officer, and he couldn't help but regret it a little, before he could speak. Liu Chengcheng walked straight to the house, took out a document from his arms, and unfolded: "Master Inspector has a military order, and General Liu will listen to the order!" ”

Liangmian looked left and right in a little panic, and it took a while to realize that what the other party said about General Liu was referring to himself, and hurriedly knelt down in a panic, kowtowed twice, and shouted as he saw in the drama in the past: "The last general will take the order!" ”

"Liu Dawei, the general of Ningxia Town, two days later, the imperial army is coming, you should raise troops accordingly, and break the thieves together, if there are those who cower, the court has its own law!"

Liangmianguang was stunned by Liu Cheng's stern tone, he was a little hesitant whether he should kowtow and take over or call the guards outside to take Liu Cheng down, but Liu Cheng didn't give him a chance to think, took two steps forward, helped Shuangmianguang up from the ground, and said with a smile: "Lord Liu, the last general is the acting superintendent to pass the order, and if you offend, please Haihan!" ”

"Where, where!" Liangmiangguang was a little flustered by Liu Chengqian's behavior, and he didn't know what to say for a while. Liu Cheng pulled the two-sided light to the side two steps, and laughed in a low voice: "Before coming, the Governor once asked the subordinate to pass a message to General Liu, if this time it happens, not only can you be promoted to the general of Ningxia Town, but also allow Yin Yizi to be the cloud cavalry captain, this is a great thing for the glory of the ancestors!" After that, Liu Cheng smiled and said: "The villain here congratulates the adults in advance!" ”

Although he didn't understand what Liu Cheng meant when he said "Zhun Yin Yizi is the cloud captain", Liangmian Guang still understood that this was a great thing, and he hurriedly shouted to the outside world: "Come on, quickly prepare wine and food, and treat Lord Liu well!" “

"No need!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "Now that time is pressing, it is important to discuss business first!" “

"If you drink and make a mistake, then get some hot soup and cooking cakes?" After looking at Liu Cheng's face, he gave an order to the guards outside the door, turned his head and smiled at Liu Chengchen: "Liu Qianhu has worked the road, let's sit down and talk?" “

The three of them sat down separately, so Liu Cheng began to ask about the personalities of each leader, the number of soldiers and horses in his hands, and the intention of advocating. Liu Cheng pondered for a while, and suddenly asked: "In this way, the soldiers and horses in Huang Lai'er's hands are already the third most among the leaders of the seventeen families, but the cavalry is already the second most?" ”

"Exactly, in fact, he was only seven or eight hundred infantry, and less than a hundred cavalry, but after that luck, many small poles took refuge in him and their strength increased greatly!"

"Oh!" Liu Cheng nodded, and suddenly asked, "Isn't that god afraid of Yikui?" ”

"Liu Qianhu, what do you mean?" Liangmian glanced at Liu Cheng and asked cautiously.

"Then Huang Lai'er's power is growing so fast, it's normal for Shen Yikui to have some ideas, right?"

"This-" The two sides looked at Liu Cheng's face, hesitated for a moment and replied: "Based on what I can see, that Shen Yikui should not have such a move, after all, there are more than two thousand cavalry under his command, and Huang Lai'er is only seven or eight hundred cavalry, which is less than half of his." “

"I see!" Liu Cheng stood up and paced back and forth, when he suddenly stopped and asked, "If someone goes to tell Shen Yikui, then Huang Lai'er wants to win him over in private?" “

"This? But Huang Lai'er is very cautious on weekdays, I'm afraid he won't do such a thing, right? “

"Who's to say it won't? Even if he hasn't wooed others, hasn't he even wooed you? Liu Cheng looked at the two lights, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

The old camp of Shenyikui is several miles wide, but at this time, a considerable part of the place has become an open space. After deciding on the military council to cross the Yellow River eastward, Shen Yikui turned some of his infantry and vehicles loaded with baggage to the east, this deserter from the front army was a very cautious and cautious man, and his life in dealing with the captives (the Ming Dynasty's contemptuous name for the Mongols in the Hetao area) had taught him many things, and the cunning nomads would wait very patiently for your carelessness, and then loot your homeland and take it away with a rope around the neck of your wife and children, as for you, They are usually hung from a large tree on the side of the road to feed the crows.

Shen Yikui is such a person, he will take risks when necessary, but when he can, he will be cautious and careful like a seventy-year-old man. When Liu Cheng and Liang Mianguang arrived at his residence, he was sitting in the courtyard sharing a pickled pork leg and a bottle of millet wine that had become a little sour with a man named Big Red Wolf

"This is not Brother Liu, what's going on today?" Shen Yikui turned his head to the guards behind him: "Bring two more pairs of dishes and chopsticks, one more pork leg, and another pot of wine!" ”

"The one who holds the plate!" The two-sided light swept over the people in the courtyard: "No need, I have already eaten before I came, and I have something to tell you!" “

Shen Yikui nodded and said to the big red wolf: "You go to see the door, don't let anyone in!" ”

The big red wolf answered, picked up the half-eaten pork leg and walked to the door, and when the people in the yard had gone out, he sat down on the threshold, cut off pieces of meat from the pork leg with a dagger, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"In charge, yesterday afternoon Huang Lai'er sent someone to invite me to his place, saying that it was to discuss the matter of flowing to the east (Ming Dynasty black language, that is, marching), and I didn't have much heart to go, but do you know what Huang Lai'er said after I went?"

"What did you say?" Shen Yikui looked at the two lights with some annoyance, deep down he didn't like this leader who was famous for his wall grass.

"After crossing the river, he asked me if I wanted to split up or continue to eat together." Speaking of this, the two sides secretly looked at Shen Yikui's face, and said in a low voice: "The one in charge, I feel that something is wrong when I listen to it, why can't he say this." ”

Shen Yikui didn't speak, he just stroked the short beard under his chin, and looked at the two faces with smiling eyes, he was actually not very old, and now he was only twenty-five or sixteen, but since he started the army, he has heard and seen too much. Under Shen Yikui's gaze, Liangmiangguang was a little flustered, and he couldn't help but regret his choice a little, but there was no turning back when things got to this point, so he had to stubbornly continue: "It is said that our seventeen brothers, since we have vowed to do a great career together, we must start and finish well. Even if you want to separate, you have to show the big palm in advance—"

"Brother Liu!" Shen Yikui interrupted the words of the two lights: "Your words are bad, our seventeen brothers are together for the sake of the strength of the official army, everyone must work together to strive for a way to live, and my God Yikui is also the love of the brothers who are in charge of the plate." If you cross the river, the officers and soldiers can't catch up, everyone is together, and it's not convenient to collect food and eat grass. “

Shen Yikui's reaction was completely beyond the expectations of the two-faced light, you must know that what he just said was completely made up, as long as Shen Yikui and the others would go to confront Li Hongji, it would be clear. In a panic, the two sides instinctively turned around to look at Liu Cheng on the side, Liu Cheng coughed and said, "The one who is in charge of the plate, in fact, there is another thing that the head of my family did not say." “

"One more thing?" Shen Yikui frowned.

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng turned to the two sides and said, "Let's take a look at that thing to the big palm." “

Liangmianguang took out a cloth bag from his arms with some hesitation, Liu Cheng took the cloth bag and presented it to Shen Yikui with both hands, Shen Yikui took the cloth bag, glanced at the two sides, and then untied the cloth bag, his hands suddenly trembled, and the things in the cloth bag fell on the table.

"Yikes! Where did this thing come from? Shen Yikui pointed to a blank space on the table and asked sharply.

"Naturally, it was given by the leader of Huang Lai'er!" Liu Cheng cautiously picked up the confession: "He said that as long as the leader of my family is on his side, he will give a general after the matter is completed!" “

Shen Yikui snorted coldly, snatched the confession from Liu Cheng's hand, opened it and took a closer look, although he was just an ordinary border soldier before the incident, but he had seen a lot after the incident, and he had seen seven or eight copies of the notice issued by the government, the exquisite flower silk, and the clear seal, in his eyes, should be true.

"Why don't you take it out in the first place!" Shen Yikui took the farewell into his arms and asked in a cold voice.

"This, this—" The two sides of the light were speechless for a while under the gaze of the god's sword-like gaze. But this kind of performance confirmed Shen Yikui's inner guess - this cunning and cowardly guy is playing the trick of stepping on two boats again, and he is reluctant to take the court's notice on the one hand, and on the other hand, he can't trust Huang Lai'er's side, afraid that the other party will sell him together, and the first rat hesitates at both ends and is forced to ask by himself. Shen Yikui snorted coldly: "I have written down Brother Liu's affection, but the next time I encounter such a thing, it is better to make things clear from the beginning, don't hide it, be careful to bury yourself in it." ”

"Yes, yes, the lesson of the palm plate is that brother, I was blinded by lard for a while, please forgive me!" The two sides of the light were already sweating, and they looked frightened. In the eyes of Shen Yikui, he added three points of disdain. He stood up: "In this case, I won't leave Brother Liu behind, just be tighter when I go back, don't pass on anything, it must not look good!" “

"That's nature, that's nature, don't work hard!" The two sides stood up in a hurry, with a smile on their faces, and when he got out, Shen Yikui sneered: "How can there be such a sloppy appearance among our seventeen brothers, it is really disgusting to death." “

The two sides were bare and the horse came, so he quickly kicked the horse's belly, ran out of three or four miles before he relaxed, and turned back to Liu Cheng and said: "Mr. Liu Qian, I was really scared to death, I lost half my life, don't look for me again next time!" ”

Liu Cheng smiled and arched his hand: "Say a few nonsense, you can do it in a cold sweat, and you can be a general, and protect your descendants, if you have such a good thing next time, you must not forget your subordinates, and the general will be grateful!" “

Hearing Liu Cheng say this, he thought of the wealth in his hand again, and Liangmianguang couldn't help laughing: "That's what I said, but this time it's thanks to you." Mr. Liu Qian, how can you guess that if you take out that confession, you will believe it? “

"Huh!" Liu Cheng smiled slightly: "Actually, it's very simple, just like hunting, rabbits have to use covers, bears have to use pits, you use rabbit covers to set bears definitely can't use them, and you can't use pits to deal with rabbits." I've heard you say that God is supposed to be a very assertive person. He won't believe anything you say about a person like this, but if he sees it and thinks about it, he will firmly believe it, and when dealing with such people, just follow what he thinks in his heart, let him face east, he will face east, let him face west, and he will face west! ”

The two sides thought for a while on the horseback, clapped their hands and smiled: "Sure enough, this is the reason!" Mr. Liu Qian's words can be said to have pondered people's minds thoroughly, but the ridiculous god thought that he had a plan, but he kept spinning in your palm! “

Liu Cheng looked at the two sides of the light on the horseback with a proud spring breeze, and said with a smile in his heart: "If it weren't for your capricious temperament on weekdays, it would be very difficult to deceive that god." In this way, Shen Yikui has a dislike for Huang Lai'er, no matter what happens next, it will bring opportunities to the Ming army, but he still has to pour a barrel of oil on the fire before he can rest assured. ”

Li Hongji's old camp.

Lying on the bed, Li Hongji dreamed that he was standing in the field, and in front of him was his father's bent back, and the old man was bending over to cut the crops, and there were thick rows on both sides of the wheat ridges. On the ridge, his mother was calling his nickname and telling him to go over to drink saliva and rest, and his young nephew Li Guo was picking up the lost ears of wheat in the field that the adults had harvested, everything was so sweet and beautiful.