Pi Erdan saw that the cavalry led by Shicai fell in front of him, one leg was pressed under the horse, and for a while the new hatred and old hatred were used in his heart, and he couldn't help but immediately grab the leather whip and pull it on this person.

"Bang bang" A leather whip sounded with a terrible scream.

Just when Pi Erdan was pumping hard, a sound of horses' hooves sounded behind him, and Pi Erdan, who was beating vigorously, looked back and saw that it was a group of cavalry rushing from behind, these cavalrymen were wearing black helmets and black armor, and they were carrying something that looked like a bird gun behind them, and they were rushing in the direction of Pi Erdan with a scimitar in their hands.

Seeing this scene, Pi Erdan was so frightened that he hurriedly threw away the leather whip in his hand and rushed to the side of the road. When he ran to the side of the road and found a place to lie down, he realized that the knights were not coming at him, but were pursuing him in pursuit.

The skin erdan lying on the side of the road breathed a sigh of relief, and scolded in his mouth: "Grass, it turned out that I didn't kill Lao Tzu, who are these people, why are they wearing black armor, strange and infiltrating." ”

"Whew"

Just as Pi Erdan let out a long breath and was about to sneak away, there was a sound of horses' hooves behind him, and more than a dozen black-armored knights galloped over again, and when they came to Pi Erdan's side, the first knight reined in his horse, turned his head to the direction of Pi Erdan and shouted: "Boy, come out, Lao Tzu has already seen you just now." ”

Hearing the other party's shouting, Pi Erdan stood up in fear, stood in front of the knight and lowered his head, and said in his heart: "Anyway, I can't run, if you want to kill him, you have to kill him." ”

I only heard the knight on the opposite side shouting, "Boy, why do you see us running?" ”

Pi Erdan looked up and secretly glanced at the other party, and found that although this knight had a Chinese face and a solemn and majestic expression, he did not give people a feeling of fierceness and evil, so he boldly said: "Master Jun, you just rushed over like this, if the villain doesn't run, are you still standing in place and waiting for death?" ”

"Huh?" After hearing Pi Erdan's words, the knight's face was obviously condensed, and then he laughed: "Good boy, Lao Tzu has been here for so long in this place where birds don't, and you are the first to dare to speak to Lao Tzu like this." Well, not bad! ”

As he spoke, the knight nodded as he looked at Pi Erdan's strong figure, and after a while he asked again, "Boy, what's your name?" ”

Pi Erdan straightened his chest and replied loudly: "Back to the military master, my name is Pi Erdan." ”

"Skinny eggs?" The knight's expression was stunned for a while, and then he laughed again: "Good boy, it seems that you are not only bold, but also have a good name." I ask you, why did you hit that kid? ”

"Who asked him to rob my pheasant, and also whipped me, my father said, there is no revenge and no gentleman, so I will definitely draw it back when I have the opportunity."

"Well, good boy, you kid is really a good material to be a soldier, it's a pity." The knight looked appreciative, then sighed, and turned his horse to go back.

Seeing that the knight and the others were leaving, Pi Erdan was anxious, and hurriedly pulled his throat, "Master Jun, please stay!" ”

"Huh? Do you have anything else? The knight asked with a smile.

Looking at the leader and the mighty knights around him, Pi Erdan's eyes showed an envious look, "Master Jun, do you still want people, I also want to be a soldier!" ”

"You're going to be a soldier too?" The knight at the head showed a playful look on his face, and said jokingly: "Boy, being a soldier is not a good job, but you have to play with people on the belt of your trousers, aren't you afraid?" ”

"I'm afraid of a ball!" Pi Erdan burst into a foul language on the spot, "It's better to be killed by someone than to be starved to death, beaten to death, that miscellaneous person dares to whip me, isn't it that he holds the knife handle in his hand, and when I become a soldier, I will also hold the knife handle, see who dares to whip me!" ”

Pi Erdan's firm expression and slightly naïve words made all the cavalry laugh, and the knight led by laughed and said: "Boy, I should have recruited you into my team because of your words, but our Great Zhou Army has strict rules, and if you want to be a soldier, you have to go to the recruitment location to sign up, otherwise the military law will not be forgiving, if you really want to be a soldier, you can get the recruitment points in Nanyang Mansion or Xiangyang Mansion to sign up, we have no recruitment station in the small place here, and even if you go to register, If you are lucky, we can meet in the same legion in the future, but if you are unlucky, it will be difficult! ”

After speaking, the knight's hand waved, a bright light flew towards Pi Erdan, Pi Erdan reached out without thinking to catch it, the knight turned the horse's head, galloped away into the distance, and only heard the other party say from afar: "Boy, if you are not a soldier, this is the silver to compensate you for the two pheasants, if you really want to be a soldier, this silver is for you to use as a plate!" ”

Looking at the figure of the other party gradually moving away, Pi Erdan held the silver in his hand and muttered: "Master Jun, you wait, I will definitely be this soldier for you to see, but I don't know what your name is."

This small episode that happened in Xuan County did not have much impact on Pang Gang and Li Zicheng, but after the Spring Festival, the friction between the Chuang army and the Great Zhou army increased a lot, and this friction occurred frequently at the junction of Hubei and Shaanxi, which has increasingly affected the stability of the Hubei border.

In the yamen of the governor of Wuhan Prefecture, the guerrilla general Hei Tie angrily walked into the signing room and shouted: "Governor, it can't go on like this, those rogues come to our border every day to make trouble, and the villages along the way have long been complaining, and many people are clamoring for us to send troops to protect, but we only have two battalions of more than 10,000 men and horses in Hubei, and we have to guard against Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan and Liu Zongmin in Hunan. ”

Hua Yan, who was giving instructions on the official document, saw Hua Yan coming in, put down his pen and comforted: "General Hei, why don't you know what you said, but the dispatch of soldiers and horses has its own overall arrangement by the prince, and the official has no right to call the shots." Besides, the prince also replied to the letter some time ago, asking me to wait a little longer, and then say that the reinforcements will arrive. After all, Henan has to guard against the Tartars, Shandong has to guard against the officers and soldiers in Jiangsu, and the burden on the prince is not light, you have to be considerate of the prince's hardships. ”

Hei Tie snorted coldly and said: "Bitter and bitter, I think that when we only had thousands of soldiers and horses, we could fight whoever we wanted at that time, but now the soldiers are strong and strong, and we have an army of 100,000, but we are tied up, you see, we have two battalions of soldiers and horses in Hubei Caiqu, what is this called!" ”

"Can that be the same?" Hua Yan glared at Hei Tie, "At that time, we had our backs against the big tree of the imperial court, and with the support of the imperial court, we naturally fought whoever we wanted, but now we have set up our own portal, and there is no backer, but there are many enemies, rogues, Tartars, the imperial court, and Zheng Zhibao on the sea, which of them we can't guard against, if there is a mistake, we can't cry." ”

Although Hei Tie is also a veteran oilman, he was really a little worried when he saw Hua Yan's face, he lowered his head and muttered, "If you don't say it, you won't say it, if you provoke me, I'll take someone to take the thief's nest." ”

Hua Yan sighed, he could understand Hei Tie's mood, although Pang Gang was only self-reliant as the king of Zhou, but everyone understood that with the continuous expansion of Pang Gang's strength and territory, it was a matter of time before he became the emperor, and the most popular thing in the Great Zhou Army at the moment was military merit, as long as there are military merits, your waist can be straightened, otherwise when Pang Gang wins the world's meritorious deeds, other old guys will be crowned princes one by one, and you will only be crowned an earl or even have a title, then you will be embarrassed to go out.

In the end, Hua Yancai said sternly: "Okay, don't say it, during this time, you should first send more people and horses to inspect the surrounding places, and you must not let the rogues come over to harm the people, if the spring ploughing is delayed because of this, before the prince blames the official, the official will be the first to take you under the knife!" ”

"Yes!" Seeing that Hua Yan was angry, Hei Tie responded with some grievances and walked out of the yamen arrangement

Just when the Great Zhou army was strictly defending in Hubei, Li Zicheng and Li Yan and others in Xi'an Mansion were closely watching every move of the Great Zhou army.

Looking at the map on the table, Li Zicheng asked with some concern: "Li Gongzi, Niu Junshi, will we really annoy that Pang Gang by stimulating the Great Zhou Army so frequently, if he really tries his best to fight us, we will have a hard time." ”

Li Yan and Niu Jinxing glanced at each other and said with a smile: "King Chuang, you just put your heart in your stomach, we just have a little conflict with them, at best it is called friction, if Pang Gang drives the army to attack because of this, then his measure is too small." ”

Niu Jinxing also shook the folding fan that never left his body, and said confidently: "Don't worry, King Chuang, let's provoke that Pang Gang this time, one is to do it for the full people, we have received other people's goods, so we naturally have to do something to block other people's mouths." Second, the more noise we make here, the safer General Liu can withdraw to Shaanxi and join us in Hunan, which is a good thing to kill two birds with one stone. ”

After listening to Li Yan and Niu Jinxing's explanations, Li Zichang sighed and said with a smile: "Well, it is still Li Gongzi and the military advisor who are thoughtful. ”

After listening to Li Zicheng's praise, Niu Jinxing smiled and said nothing, but Li Yan said modestly: "Hehe, King Chuang has won the award, since the student is on an errand under King Chuang, he naturally has to worry about King Chuang, otherwise what is the use of students?" ”

"Hahaha" everyone laughed.

After a long time, Song Xiance, who had been silent on the side, asked: "But King Chuang, there is still one thing that Poor Dao has to report to you, which is about the batch of firearms that the Manchurians gave us." ”

When Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately became anxious, "Oh, what's wrong with those batches of firecrackers?" Is there something wrong? ”

Song Xiance shook his head, but looked at Li Yan with a smile, and Li Yan sighed helplessly: "King Chuang, since the students got that batch of firearms, they found that these firecrackers are far inferior to the firecrackers used by the Great Zhou Army in terms of power, accuracy and range, so they have repeatedly suffered losses when fighting against the Great Zhou Army. ”

Li Zicheng asked noncommittally: "Well, what is Li Gongzi going to do?" ”

Li Yan thought for a while and asked, "The students have already inquired, and now the fire guns used in the Manchu Qing Dynasty have been improved, and they have also abandoned the fire ropes and used flint stones to stimulate the fire guns, so that the soldiers no longer have to march with long fire ropes on their backs." Why don't we talk to Shopkeeper Qiao and ask them to give us some of the latest firecrackers? If they don't want to give it, let's buy it with money! ”

"This"

Hearing this, Li Zicheng groaned for a while, and shook his head for a long time: "I estimate that the Manchu Qing Dynasty may not have a big surname to sell to us, after all, they have just produced these firearms, and they are not enough for themselves, so it is impossible to give them to us." ”

"Alas"

Li Yan let out a long sigh, originally thought that with the Manchu Qing Dynasty's support of the firearms, they would be able to wrestle with the Great Zhou army, and they would be able to fight against it at worst, but they didn't expect the result to be frustrating, judging from the results of these days, the firearms they equipped with couldn't even stand the side of the other when they bombarded the other side, if it wasn't for their own proper command, I am afraid the loss would be even greater.

Seeing that everyone's mood was not high, Li Zicheng changed the topic in time: "Forget it, we don't want those unhappy things, Song Junshi, how many soldiers have we recruited?" ”

After Li Zicheng came to Shaanxi, he began to eliminate the old, weak, sick and disabled in accordance with Li Yan's advice, and began to change to regularization, and most importantly, began to strengthen military discipline.

Song Xiance still looked unfathomable and smiled at Li Zicheng: "King Chuang, the poor road is about to report to you, according to your meaning, these are said to eliminate the old, weak, sick and disabled, only the young and strong, and try to expand the scale of recruitment, we now have 150,000 young and strong soldiers, of which the four battalions of Zhongji, left wing, right wing, and forward have 80,000 soldiers and horses, and your old battalion has also expanded to 50,000, and the rest is Li Gongzi's Henan battalion and some miscellaneous baggage and other miscellaneous troops. ”

"Yes, yes!" Li Zicheng smiled and patted his thigh and said with a smile: "Our current strength has improved so much, and when Jiexuan comes back with his rear management, our men and horses will reach 200,000, then we can launch an attack on Hebei." ”

At this time, Li Zicheng was full of thoughts about how to fight to Yanjing as soon as possible, so he sent people to recruit troops every day, and he didn't ask again.

"Chuang Wang Yingming!" After listening to Li Zicheng's words, Niu Jinxing smiled, and he said with a dazzled smile: "Gyeonggi is the hub of the Ming Dynasty, as long as Yanjing is captured, then King Chuang will occupy the name of righteousness, and then you will ascend the throne in Yanjing and call the emperor to command the Quartet, whoever dares not to listen to your orders is a chaotic minister and thief, and everyone will be punished!" ”

"The reason why I rebelled against the court was because I couldn't survive, in order to find a way to live for the poor people in the world, not to ascend the throne and become the emperor." Li Zicheng waved his hand and said very modestly.

"King Chuang's words are also wrong, although you are fighting the world for the poor people of the whole world, but who else in the world is qualified to be the emperor besides you? You have to be in this seat, huh? This is something that even the Manchus recognized. ”

Song Xiance's eyes flashed with an inexplicable light, and he cooperated with Niu Jinxing to agitate vigorously.

"Ox military division, Mr. Song has said this, Li doesn't dare to be it."

Although Li Zicheng still tried his best to refuse, everyone could see the excited look in his eyes, looking at the expressions of Li Zicheng and the others, Li Yan sighed secretly in his heart, these eight characters have not been skimmed, Niu Jinxing and the others tried their best to provoke the king to become the emperor, this is not a good thing! However, looking at the appearance of the three of them singing and harmonizing, Li Yan also knew that it was useless to say anything now, so he could only find an opportunity to persuade King Chuang again.

"Report!"

Just when Li Zicheng was happy, a personal soldier shouted loudly at the door: "King Qiyu, our general sentry Liu sent a messenger and brought a letter!" ”

"Oh, a letter from Jixun? That's a good thing, bring it up! ”

Li Zicheng was overjoyed, and asked the soldiers to present the letter, and soon the soldiers presented the letter, Li Zicheng took the letter and looked at it at a glance, and his face became more and more happy while reading.

"Okay, Jie Xuan said in the letter that he has finished tidying up the people and horses, and has also loaded more than 100 carts of gold, silver and jewelry, just waiting to be transported over, I didn't expect Jie Xuan to just go around in Hunan and Jiangxi, and there are so many gains, it's really amazing, hehehe. Niu Junshi, I will bother you later, write a letter to Jiexuan, and ask him to withdraw the men and horses to Shaanxi as soon as possible, these are important money for us to recruit troops and horses, we must watch carefully, and there can be no more mistakes. ”

Niu Jinxing didn't know what he remembered, the red on his face flashed, and then he said: "Don't worry, King Chuang, Niu will write a letter to General Liu immediately and tell him carefully!" ”

When everyone in the house heard Li Zicheng say that Liu Zongmin had fished so much gold and silver from Hunan, everyone's expressions were different, Li Zicheng was elated, Niu Jinxing was thoughtful, Song Xiance smiled silently, but Li Yan had a trace of unbearable color on his face.

Li Yan knew that he could collect so many gold and silver treasures, Liu Zongmin didn't know how many big families had been robbed to gather so many things, although Li Yan had decided to follow Li Zicheng to do the rebellion, but he was born in sage books since he was a child, and he had an instinctive aversion to burning, killing and plundering, but Niu Jinxing, who had experienced a lot of hardships, and Song Xiance, who was born as a fortune teller, turned a blind eye to this.

"Forget it, anyway, King Chuang did this to overthrow the corrupt Ming Dynasty as soon as possible, and there are some radical things that are helpless." At this moment, Li Yan can only comfort himself like this.

(To be continued)