Li Zicheng, who received the news that the officers and soldiers were going to retire, was overjoyed, and pulled Li Shuangxi to rush back, and the two got on the horse and walked for more than half an hour to a canyon, where a young man who was about the same age as Li Shuangxi and had a round face hurriedly greeted him.

He came to Li Zicheng's side and said with a happy face: "Daddy, you are back, you haven't met any officers and soldiers along the way, if you don't come back, your mother will send a child to find you." ”

This young man is also Li Zicheng's righteous son, named Zhang Nai, like Li Shuangxi, they are both young people known for their combat bravery, and they are very loved by Li Zicheng and his wife.

At this moment, Li Zicheng was in a good mood, patted Yizi's shoulder and smiled: "Do you see that Daddy looks like something is wrong, you go back and tell your mother now, let her not worry about me, we can go out in a few days, and then we can eat and drink spicy food again." ”

"Oh, that's good!" Hearing this, Zhang Nai ran backwards excitedly.

"This kid is still so reckless, and he doesn't know when he will grow up." Li Zicheng looked at Zhang Nai's back and shook his head with a smile, with a look of love in his eyes.

Li Zicheng, Li Shuangxi and others advanced along a canyon. The valley was dark, littered with stones, large and small. Sometimes, the horse's iron palm hits the stone too hard, and a few sparks burst out. It was about two miles before leaving the canyon and heading up a hill. Walk to the mountainside and see the moonlight again. After a while, they walked into a pine forest, and the moonlight could only leak through the branches and leaves of the pine trees, and the mercury-like flowers were dotted. The pine waves are very loud, and even though it is summer, after all, the dew is heavy, and it is still a little cool in the middle of the night. There were about one or two thousand soldiers sleeping in this pine forest, there were fires everywhere, some were cooking on the fire, and some were already lying asleep by the fire, Li Zicheng stopped here, turned back to his Li Shuangxi and said, "Shuangxi, you don't have to come with me." Hurry back to the old camp first and invite a few generals to discuss the matter! ”

"Huh!" Li Shuangxi was about to leave, and then asked, "Daddy, where are you discussing?" ”

"In this ...... No, let's go to the old camp, and I'll stop by to see your mother. ”

"Great!" Li Shuangxi rode away with more than ten horses, and Li Zicheng also led people to the old camp's station.

The place where the old camp is stationed is an old cottage called Dujiazhai, most of which is located on the slope of the sunny mountain. It was originally a large village with more than 200 households, and now there are less than one-tenth of the remaining houses. The walled gate tower was also burned down, and a bluestone plaque on the top of the walled gate can be seen in the moonlight, engraved with the four big characters of "Tongnan lock key". The houses in the village were almost destroyed, and they looked empty, overgrown with shrubs and grass, and some of the paths and wells were sealed. Outside the wall, to the left are cliffs and deep valleys; To the right is the forest, which stretches to the foot of the mountain; Behind the village is also a forest, connected to a high mountain, but some places have been scorched by the fire.

A quadrangle courtyard where the old camp was stationed was the only relatively complete house in the village, but the doors, windows and furniture were also heavily damaged. Around the house, more than a dozen tents were set up, and a part of the cavalry of the old battalion was stationed, and sentry posts were set up at several intersections, and they were heavily guarded.

When Li Zicheng came to Dujiazhai, many people greeted him, led by a middle-aged woman in her thirties, this woman has a slender and vigorous figure, with a trace of dust, revealing a youthful ruddy, sharp oval face, big eyes, long eyelashes, with a vigorous heroic spirit between the eyebrows, he is Li Zicheng's wife Gao Guiying, but also the daughter of the late leader Gao Yingxiang.

The perennial career of Rong Ma and her special status have cultivated her to be sophisticated, generous, distinguish between right and wrong, decisive and meticulous in case of trouble. In this era, it should be said that it is rare for a thirty-year-old young woman to possess such virtue. Gao Guiying's most common sentence in this regard is: "This is not forced, if a woman's family is not desperate and has to rebel with men, is it not a lifetime of revolving around the pot and grinding table?" ”

Gao Guiying, who has been married to Li Zicheng for many years, saw at a glance that her husband was in a good mood, and she greeted him with a smile, "King Chuang is back, seeing that you are full of joy, there must be some good news." ”

After Li Zicheng dismounted, he handed over the reins of the horse to the entourage behind him, and walked towards Gao Guiying, saying as he walked: "Madam, there is indeed good news, if this news is not wrong, we can leave this ghost place soon." ”

"Really?" Mrs. Gao was taken aback.

"Well, it's estimated that ** is not far from ten!" As they spoke, they walked to the room in front of them......

Half an hour later, in the largest room of this quadrangle, Li Zicheng, Mrs. Gao, Gao Yigong, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, and all the important generals under Li Zicheng gathered together.

It's just that everyone's expressions are as if they have seen the sun rise in the west, and they exude a look of confusion, disbelief, and joy.

Li Zicheng was making a final summary: "Okay, that's the way it is, do you brothers have anything else to say?" ”

"King Chuang, this ...... Is this true, it can't be a trap set by officers and soldiers, is there such a good thing in the world? ”

The person who said this was Liu Zongmin, a general under Li Zicheng, who was about thirty years old, a burly man, with a wide face, blazing eyes, and a fierce demeanor, wearing iron armor inside, a half-old eight-ball flower purple satin cloak, a copper helmet, and a double sword hanging from his waist.

With his rude surname and brave combat, he won Li Zicheng's trust, so he has always spoken unscrupulously in front of Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng pondered for a long time before he arrived: "I guess it's very likely to be true, you think, now those officers and soldiers have firmly surrounded us, and it won't take ten days and a half months to trap us all, can they use this method to deceive us?" ”

Everyone nodded in agreement, Li Zicheng said it well, now they are no longer worthy of any conspiracy and tricks used by the officers and soldiers against them, they are all surrounded by officers and soldiers, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou only need to firmly tie up this encirclement, and they can't play small tricks.

"Haha......" Liu Zongmin laughed and laughed loudly: "I didn't expect that this time it was the Tartars who helped us, if it weren't for the Tartars who forced the government to have to transfer Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting away, we would have been sad at this level, originally I Lao Liu wanted to enjoy another ten days and a half months and die with the dog officers and soldiers, but now it seems that there is no need." ”

Li Zicheng also smiled, he was always very tolerant of the first general under his command and the brother who sat in the first position of the general, so he didn't say much about Liu Zongmin's frustrating words.

Gao Yigong on the side teased: "Mr. Liu, I heard that you are all hanging out with those rich ladies you robbed, if it weren't for the invitation of King Chuang today, I'm afraid you would be lying in bed!" ”

"Hahaha......" Several generals around laughed, laughing so viciously.

Liu Zongmin also smiled: "Anyway, I'm going to die, I can't treat myself badly in my life, Lao Tzu is going to ...... those rich ladies."

Liu Zongmin originally had to scold a foul word to vent his emotions, but when he turned his head and saw the two female soldiers who were only seventeen or eighteen years old sitting on the side of Mrs. Gao, who were standing at the door and looking at him coldly, he had to swallow another foul word, spit on the fire, and sneered a few times.

At this time, Mrs. Gao came out of the inner room, sat next to her husband, frowned and said: "Jiexuan, although we have been turned into rogues by the officers and soldiers, we are all from poor families, you snatched those rich ladies and gave them to your brothers after they were ruined, this is too much, you should go back and give them a place to settle down." ”

Mrs. Gao knows Liu Zongmin, her husband's good brother, very well, although he is very brave in battle and is known as the first fierce general under King Chuang, but Liu Zongmin has one of the biggest weaknesses, that is, he is lustful.

Over the years, there have been no less than 100 rich ladies and eunuchs who have been spoiled by him, which makes Mrs. Gao, who is also a woman, very unaccustomed, but because of her husband's face, Mrs. Gao can't say much, so he can't help but nag a few words at this opportunity.

Liu Zongmin didn't speak, but Li Zicheng spoke, "Madam, what these rich ladies usually eat and drink is all the blood and sweat of our poor people, and now they have learned a lesson, and it is understandable for Jie Xuan to do this." ”

Mrs. Gao sighed lightly and said nothing, her husband and Liu Zongmin's brotherhood was deep, and she would never blame him for this kind of thing.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a little dull, Liu Zongmin was still in awe of Mrs. Gao, and he changed the topic and said: "King Chuang, if the officers and soldiers are withdrawn, where should we go?" ”

As soon as this problem was mentioned, everyone had a mental head, and they all looked at Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng said with a smile: "I have thought about this problem when I came, Shanxi has naturally become our world after the officers and soldiers left, but the situation in Shaanxi Everyone also knows that after years of war, Shaanxi is poor and poor, and it is no longer suitable for our development. ”

"Yes, Henan is good, it is known as the hinterland of the Central Plains, both the population and the rich are much stronger than the poor pimple in Shaanxi, but I heard that the place in Shandong is better than Henan in recent years, especially Qingzhou, I heard that there is gold everywhere!"

As soon as he mentioned going there to loot, Liu Zongmin's surname suddenly rose, and his eyebrows fluttered to make Li Zicheng laugh.

Suddenly, a voice sounded, "King Chuang, it's naturally good for us to go to Henan, but if we want to develop in Shandong, I think we still have to be cautious!" ”

(To be continued)