More than 20,000 rebels quickly entered the mountains of Yuzhou and hidden, Li Yan sent a lot of people to contact the king of Chuang, Li Zicheng, according to Song Xiance's suggestion, most of the people went to Huaiqing Mansion, because it is rumored that Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, was active in the area of Huaiqing Mansion, sometimes in Henan, sometimes in Shanxi, and his whereabouts were uncertain. ※％※％，

Half a month later, someone finally found the team of Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, in Wen County, Huaiqing Mansion.

To the surprise of Li Yan and others, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, personally led his elite army to Nanyang Mansion.

In mid-October, Li Yan and others finally met Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang.

Li Zicheng obviously values Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others.

The conversation was very harmonious, that is, in this conversation, Li Zicheng made a decision, the righteous army was based in Nanyang Mansion, which relied on Huguang, and the army could enter Huguang at any time, as for Shanxi in the north, the people were too poor and it was difficult to raise grain and grass, but Huguang was different, of course, such an arrangement, there was also a certain danger, that is, Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the five provinces, was stationed in Wuchang Mansion, Huguang.

Li Zicheng made up his mind, mainly because he noticed the talents of Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others, for a long time, the main strategist around him was Gu Junen, and this time he saw Li Yan and others, like a tiger with wings, which made him more confident and believed that he could deal with the army of the imperial court.

The Red Lady still led an army of 20,000, and Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others all stayed by King Chuang's side.

Liu Zongmin, who had been fighting outside, received an order from King Chuang and led the army to Nanyang Mansion.

Together, the two armies numbered more than 60,000 people, which was already a very powerful force.

Li Zicheng, who has been dormant for a long time, is finally about to start a large-scale operation. His first goal was to target the city of Yuzhou, and the army must take Yuzhou, and at the same time hold on to it and wait for the imperial army.

During this period, Li Zicheng and Li Yan, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance and others. After a long conversation, the three of them paid a lot of attention to Li Zicheng, some of which were very crucial, such as Li Yan's proposal of "respecting the virtuous and courteous, eliminating violence and reassuring the people", "pretending to be benevolent and righteous, prohibiting soldiers from committing adultery and killing, and winning people's hearts in order to achieve great things" and so on.

You must know that Li Zicheng's subordinates are all hungry people who rebelled, and they burned and looted everywhere they passed, and their reputation was also not good. Plundering the rich gentry to their heart's content, which made Li Zicheng and the rich gentry become mortal enemies, Li Yan's suggestion was to ask Li Zicheng to appease the rich gentry and obtain their support, so that they could slowly develop and grow.

Li Zicheng obeyed his words, and soon put forward harsh requirements for the army under his command, and anyone who disobeyed it. No matter what the status is, it is necessary to march the law.

Furthermore. After Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others discussed, they made up some slips, let the sergeants pretend to be businessmen to publicize, and let children sing everywhere, such as "Break into the king's benevolent and righteous army, don't kill or plunder". "He opened the gate to meet the king. King Chuang came and did not take food", "Open the door early to worship King Chuang, and discipline everyone to be happy", these words have a great temptation for many ordinary people in Henan. The imperial court's policy of collecting arrears of taxes over the years has forced the common people to a dead end.

These practices that seem to have little direct effect have produced a huge effect in a short period of time, and the common people in Nanyang, Runing, Ruzhou and Kaifeng have regarded King Chuang as their savior, which has made Li Zicheng's foundation in Henan quickly begin to be solid, and it can be said that the imperial army has any moves, and Li Zicheng can know it in the fastest time.

Under such circumstances, Li Zicheng began to attack Yuzhou Prefecture, his plan, after taking Yuzhou Prefecture, the next step is to attack Nanyang Prefecture, take the entire Nanyang Mansion within the year, and use this as a base to expand in the direction of the north and south, and strive to have more and more base areas.

The battle of the rebel army to attack the city of Yuzhou was very smooth, Li Zicheng sent his most elite army to serve as the main attack, and it only took half a day to capture the city of Yuzhou, and the officials of the state city were all captured alive.

After taking the state city of Yuzhou, Li Zicheng learned that the righteous army was able to take the state city so quickly, and it was the propaganda of Li Yan and others that played a huge role, on the one hand, the whereabouts of the righteous army, the officials of Yuzhou did not know, on the other hand, the people in the city did not support the government at all, and were unwilling to climb the city wall to fight, and many people even hid, making it impossible for the government to find it.

Through this battle, Li Zicheng finally understood the importance of literati, and the suggestions of Li Yan and others can be said to play a decisive role.

When the city was breached, Li Zicheng made strict requirements for the army, and the rebels entered the city, and the autumn did not commit any crimes, only confiscated the money and grain in the official mansion, and did not plunder the people.

Moreover, Li Zicheng also gave carte blanche to Li Yan, Niu Jinxing and others to supervise in the city.

As for the captured Yuzhou Zhizhou and others, they were killed according to the usual practice, and Li Zicheng insisted on his own opinion in this regard.

After taking Yuzhou, Li Zicheng's next target was aimed at Nanyang Fucheng.

The news that Li Zicheng had taken Yuzhou soon spread to Wuchang Mansion in Huguang.

After the governors of the five provinces learned the news, they were greatly surprised, you must know that for such a long time, Liukou has rarely even taken the county seat, and this time he actually took the city of Yuzhou in one go.

Lu Xiangsheng already knows that Li Zicheng and the Red Lady have united, of course, including Li Yan, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance and others, Lu Xiangsheng is not particularly concerned about this, no matter what, Li Yan and Niu Jinxing are just lifting people, compared with so many Jinshi in the Manchu Dynasty, there are still scholars like Li Yan and Niu Jinxing who are willing to recognize thieves as fathers, there is basically nothing, this is also a special situation.

It is precisely with this understanding that Lu Xiangsheng does not particularly care about some new changes in Liukou.

Seeing that problems began to appear in Henan, it was impossible for Lu Xiangsheng to continue to stay in Wuchang Mansion, and he had to exterminate the Liukou, but he also faced specific difficulties, that is, the military salary of the imperial court was not allocated as scheduled, and the 30,000 troops concentrated in Wuchang Mansion did not have much fighting spirit because of the arrears of military salaries.

The main force under Lu Xiangsheng's command is naturally the 5,000 Heavenly Army.

The Tianxiong Army once fought side by side with the Zheng Jiajun and dealt a severe blow to the Liukou, it can be said that when facing the Liukou, he has a psychological advantage, for so long, Lu Xiangsheng is thinking about finding the main force of the Liukou and exterminating it, I can't imagine that this time Li Zicheng took the initiative to come out, such an opportunity, how could Lu Xiangsheng miss it.

Before the soldiers and horses moved the grain and grass, Lu Xiangsheng quickly wrote a note to the imperial court.

The imperial court replied quickly, agreeing to pay the military salary, but sending Gao Qiqian as a supervisor.

The emperor's decision made Lu Xiangsheng uneasy, he knew that Gao Qi's status in the emperor's mind, all the grain and grass allocated by the imperial court were mastered by Gao Qiqian, and Gao Qiqian also had the right to make decisions about the transfer of the army, but the extermination of the Liukou was a big thing, and Lu Xiangsheng didn't particularly care, as long as he could exterminate the Liukou, the rest of the things would be said later.

When Gao Qiqian escorted Qian Liang to Wuchang Mansion, it was already late October.

At this time, more bad news came, Li Zicheng had taken the city of Nanyang Mansion, beheaded the officials of Nanyang Mansion such as Tongzhi and Tongju, and the Nanyang Governor finally fled to Kaifeng Mansion City.

This is actually a dangerous signal, in more than a month, Li Zicheng successively won Yuzhou Prefecture City and Nanyang Mansion City, which can already show that the combat effectiveness of the Liukou is not ordinary, and it was unimaginable to do such a thing in the past.

It's a pity that Lu Xiangsheng didn't notice this, he had already ordered the 30,000 troops stationed in Wuchang Mansion to make all preparations, and at the same time ordered the troops of Shanxi and Henan Guards to obey the dispatch at any time.

At the end of October, an army of 30,000 set out from Wuchang Mansion and rushed to Nanyang Mansion in Henan.

Lu Xiangsheng set off from Wuchang Mansion, and Li Zicheng got the news.

This news still caused a certain panic among the rebels, after all, it was a 30,000 imperial army, and there would definitely be guards in Shanxi, Huguang, Henan, Sichuan and other places, and the power of these armies was not ordinary.

Li Zicheng summoned Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Gu Junen and others to conspire on how to deal with the army of the imperial court.

It was in this discussion that Li Yan and Song Xiance showed their wisdom.

Li Yan's suggestion was to use the terrain of Nanyang Mansion to fight face-to-face with the imperial army, defeat the imperial army, and consolidate the base of Nanyang.

This made Li Zicheng make up his mind to stick to the city of Nanyang Mansion and start a face-to-face battle with the imperial army.

During this period, Li Yan also analyzed the Weisho armies in Shanxi, Huguang, Sichuan and Henan, and he believed that these armies would not be reinforced soon, and Lu Xiangsheng did not necessarily pay attention to the rise of the righteous army, thinking that it was still the same as before, as long as the imperial army was opened, the righteous army would panic.

This made Li Zicheng even more determined.

After the rebels occupied Nanyang, the total strength had expanded to 80,000, of which 30,000 were elite troops.

Li Zicheng showed a rare domineering spirit and decided to use all 80,000 troops to meet the imperial army.

After making up his mind, Li Zicheng sent countless scouts to reconnoiter the movements of the imperial army on the one hand, and find the location of the decisive battle with the imperial army on the other.

Li Zicheng is even more concerned about all the situations, and he has to personally listen to relevant intelligence reports every day, Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Gu Junen and others are always by his side, and everyone discusses ways to fight against the imperial army.

No one knew that a battle that shocked the Ming Dynasty was about to begin. (To be continued......) u