The imperial court sharpened its knives Huohuo, Huguang Wuchang Mansion concentrated more than 100,000 imperial court troops, and the imperial court began to collect and suppress salaries in various parts of the Ming Dynasty to provide grain and grass security for the army, all of which Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong knew, most of the time passed, and the two almost adopted the same strategy, that is, while occupying more cities, while strengthening their own strength, in comparison, the fierce battles and battles were significantly less, but the measures to stabilize the place were more.

Li Zicheng has already occupied the entire territory of Nanyang Prefecture, including some places in Runing Prefecture, and Zhang Xianzhong has taken a greater step, occupying the entire territory of Xiangyang Prefecture and Yunyang Prefecture, and is still developing in the direction of Sichuan.

It is said that Li Zicheng's troops are more than Zhang Xianzhong's, but the pace of fighting is much slower, and the place occupied is less than Zhang Xianzhong's, all because of Gu Junen's suggestion.

Although Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others rebelled, but the strategy they stayed behind still has a lot of merits, among which the most acceptable thing for Li Zicheng and Gu Junen is to stabilize the people, get the support of the people, only with the support of the people, the righteous army can really grow, more than half a year has passed, Li Zicheng is doing this, in Nanyang Mansion and Runing Mansion and other places to establish a solid mass foundation, and strive to change the way of mobile warfare in the past.

Li Zicheng once thought of a union with Zhang Xianzhong to jointly resist the encirclement and suppression of the imperial army, but this suggestion was denied by Gu Junen, Gu Junen believes that Zhang Xianzhong is currently in the rising stage, occupying Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion in Huguang, and is developing in the direction of Sichuan, Zhang Xianzhong must think that his strength has surpassed that of King Chuang, and seeking unity under such circumstances will inevitably arouse Zhang Xianzhong's arrogance, and Zhang Xianzhong's Liu Wenxiu, Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi and other righteous sons have all grown up, Become a famous general. led the army in the direction of Yunyang and Sichuan respectively, which also made Zhang Xianzhong feel particularly good about himself.

Li Zicheng followed Gu Junen's advice and did not send anyone to contact Zhang Xianzhong.

Another thing that Li Zicheng focused on was to constantly spy on the intelligence of the imperial court.

In fact, as long as Li Zicheng is attentive, he can get a lot of information from the imperial court, which also stems from the fact that the imperial court does not attach importance to the liukou at all. Thinking that sending a large army can completely wipe out the Liukou, after more than ten years of fighting, the Liukou almost always evacuate and flee in every battle, which makes some adults in the court form an inertial thinking.

Li Zicheng also paid attention to intelligence from Xiangyang and Yunyang.

At the beginning of August, more and more information gathered to Li Zicheng, and he analyzed this information with Gu Junen, Liu Zongmin and others for a long time, trying to grasp the actions of the officials and troops, as well as Zhang Xianzhong's plan.

Finally, after a long analysis. Li Zicheng has a bottom in his heart.

Nanyang Mansion Ya, wing room.

Li Zicheng, Gu Junen, Liu Zongmin and others are all here.

Gu Junen pointed to the map on the wall and was talking.

“…… The official army was concentrated around Wuchang Province, numbering more than 100,000 people, and King Chuang expected that Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, might launch an offensive in July, and the focus of the attack would be on the city of Xiangyang, but the imperial court sent Chen Xinjia, the left attendant of the military department, to Wuchang, causing the operation of the official army to be temporarily suspended. King Chuang analyzed that there must be something strange in it, and some merchants from Nanyang Mansion and Runing Mansion brought back news. It turned out that Chen Xinjia wanted to command the battle, so he postponed the fight, and as for Chen Xinjia's command of the battle, the focus of the attack is still uncertain. ”

After Gu Junen finished speaking, Liu Zongmin followed and spoke.

"King Chuang. Since Chen Xinjia came to Wuchang Mansion, will the officers and troops divide into two routes to attack Xiangyang and Nanyang respectively. ”

Li Zicheng did not speak. Gu Junen then spoke.

"General Liu asked a good question, my personal opinion, it is very likely that the officers and troops will divide into two routes and attack at the same time."

Liu Zongmin had a sneer on his face.

"It would be good if the officers and soldiers really did this, as long as they dared to attack from both sides, we would have a way to defeat them, do you really think that our strength is so strong."

Li Zicheng finally spoke.

"Mr. Gu, Zong Min, the official army may attack from both sides, but there must be a focus, and there will be no distinction between priority and priority, we have been fighting with the official army for so many years, I can be sure of this."

Gu Junen nodded, he and Li Zicheng analyzed for nearly a week, the focus was to analyze why the official army would delay the time of the attack, it was said that it was ready to start in July, more than a month has passed, the official army has not moved, there must be a reason for this, and the final result of their analysis is that the official army is constantly improving the battle plan.

"King Chuang, I think the focus of the official army's attack is still in Xiangyang, after all, the location of Xiangyang Mansion is too important, the Ming court will not allow Zhang Xianzhong to occupy Xiangyang for a long time, as for Nanyang and Runing and other places, it is not so important in comparison."

Liu Zongmin also nodded and agreed with Gu Junen's analysis.

Li Zicheng also nodded, and spoke with a smile on his face.

"Zhang Xianzhong's heart is too big, occupying Xiangyang and Yunyang, and thinking about attacking Sichuan, but he doesn't know that the imperial court has sent a large army to prepare to fight.

Gu Junen also smiled.

"Zhang Xianzhong's foundation in Xiangyang and Yunyang is not very stable, he has taken measures to forcibly suppress all the scholars and doctors in the two places, causing panic in the people of the two places, although the people have obtained some benefits, but they are often bullied by the soldiers of the righteous army, Xiangyang and Yunyang and other places, and the situation in Henan, Shanxi and other places is different, the people in those places still want to live a stable life, the number of displaced people is not very large, Zhang Xianzhong took the means of forced suppression, it is very unfavorable to himself."

Li Zicheng nodded, looked at Gu Junen, and did not speak.

"King Chuang, I think the official army focuses on Zhang Xianzhong, which is also analyzed from these reasons, King Chuang has always been very low-key in Nanyang and Runing and other places, but Zhang Xianzhong is in Xiangyang and Yunyang and other places, but he is very high-profile, the rebel army led by Liu Wenxiu has begun to enter Kuizhou and other places in Sichuan, but I don't know that the white pole soldiers in Sichuan have slowly recovered, and they are thinking about large-scale fighting, Zhang Xianzhong's behavior, it is impossible for the official army not to know."

"Mr. Gu is right, the focus of the official army should be on Zhang Xianzhong, but we can't watch Zhang Xianzhong defeated by the official army, so the next target of the official army is us."

Liu Zongmin couldn't help but speak.

"King Chuang, wouldn't it be the best opportunity to wait until the righteous army and the official army under Zhang Xianzhong's command are both defeated."

Li Zicheng looked at Liu Zongmin and nodded slightly.

"Zong Min is right, after Zhang Xianzhong suffers losses, he will definitely think of uniting with us on the initiative, and at that time, we will be able to take the initiative, as for the official army planning to attack Nanyang and Runing and other places, according to my opinion, I am afraid that it is better to stabilize these places and avoid the alliance between us and Zhang Xianzhong."

At this time, Gu Junen put forward the final suggestion.

"King Chuang, my suggestion is that from now on, the rebel army will shrink its strength, the autumn harvest has ended, the matter of the righteous army's grain and grass collection is basically over, you can concentrate your forces on Nanyang Fucheng and Runing Fucheng, and take into account the state and county, if the official army is attacking on a large scale, we can rely on the city to hold on, with sufficient grain and grass, we will not worry about the attack of the official army, and at the same time, the officers and soldiers will fight in two ways, the first is difficult to take into account, the forces attacking Nanyang and Runing must be weak, we can launch a counteroffensive against the official army on the basis of grasping the actual situation."

"The focus of the official army's offensive is Xiangyang Mansion and Yunyang Mansion, I estimate, no, we can conclude that the first step of the official army is to attack Xiangyang Mansion City, Zhang Xianzhong will definitely do his best to defend Xiangyang Mansion City, Xiangyang Mansion City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is not so easy for the official army to take it, once the official army and Zhang Xianzhong fight to a certain extent, we can judge the situation and adopt the method of joint operation with Zhang Xianzhong to completely defeat the attack of the official army." ……

After Gu Junen finished speaking, Li Zicheng also walked to the side of the map.

"Zong Min, you are responsible for holding the city of Runing Mansion, gathering the rebels scattered all over Runing Mansion, focusing on Runing Mansion City, the attack of the official army in other places, don't care about him, and at the same time pay close attention to the battle situation in the direction of Xiangyang Mansion City, I am responsible for garrisoning Nanyang Mansion City, Yuzhou and Suiping, you must hold on, the connection between Nanyang Mansion City and Runing Mansion City must rely on these two cities."

"Mr. Gu, you are responsible for the defense of the direction of Xinye, we have obtained the information of Xiangyang Fucheng, and we must also rely on Xinye, if it is not expected, Xinye must be the focus of the attack of the official army, only by occupying the Xinye City, can we stop the alliance between us and Zhang Xianzhong, we can abandon Xinye at the beginning of the battle, let the official army occupy, when the main force of the official army concentrates on attacking Xiangyang Fucheng, it is impossible to send a large number of troops to capture Xinye."

"When the battle between the official army and Zhang Xianzhong enters a critical moment, we will take Xinye Castle in one fell swoop, which will definitely have a significant impact on the official army, and at that time, we will be able to change the course of the battle."

"The people of Nanyang and Runing must be stabilized, and the soldiers of the righteous army must not harass the people, otherwise they will be dealt with by military law."

"I expect that the offensive of the official army will not be later than September, which means that the offensive of the official army will have about twenty days at most, and we must make full use of this time to make all preparations."

Gu Junen and Liu Zongmin nodded at the same time, the number of rebels under the command of King Chuang has reached 150,000, and they also need to expand their territory after experiencing large-scale battles, otherwise the food and grass of the army cannot be guaranteed. (To be continued......)