Emperor Chongzhen had no ruthlessness for this old minister who had worked by his side for many years, although he let Wen Tiren retire home, he still gave him the dignity he deserved, and gave him gold, silver and silk before leaving, and ordered the officials of the pedestrian department to escort him all the way to his hometown in Zhejiang.

But Wen Tiren, who has no power, has also exhausted his vitality. When he returned to his hometown, the former prime minister, who had been energetically suppressing political opponents a year earlier, fell ill and died the following year.

Wen Tiren was a standard politician who had no achievements in governing the country, and during his tenure as prime minister, the situation inside and outside the Ming Dynasty also deteriorated step by step. Although there were objective factors of natural and man-made disasters during this period, and there were also reasons why the Donglin Party obstructed the government in every possible way for the sake of the selfishness of the party, Wen Tiren, as the first assistant, was indeed extremely unqualified. He was also one of the main culprits in the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

In this political change, the officialdom of Nanzhili, the stronghold of the Donglin Party, did not join. It's not for other reasons, because they are now being overwhelmed by Liu Guoneng's peasant army.

At the beginning of the tenth year of Chongzhen, after Liu Guoneng led his more than 60,000 horses to the Dabie Mountains, he was not in a hurry to attack everywhere and seize so many troops that were supplied to him. First of all, he tore off the mask of "righteousness in the rivers and lakes", and began to integrate the remnants of the peasant army in the Dabie Mountains.

Liu Guoneng also has a small Jiujiu, and his status in the Runing Army in the future is nothing more than the number of people who surrender to him; And whether Butcher Wu will unload the mill and kill the donkey also depends on how many troops he has, so he is still Han Xin's troops now - the more the merrier! Therefore, with Liu Guoneng's efforts, his men and horses swelled to more than 80,000 all of a sudden.

And after entering March, although there was a secret supply from the Runing Army, Liu Guoneng's ministry could not sit on the empty side. For this. He's going to go out on a military campaign.

However, this military operation also had only one direction, which was nothing more than to go east to Chuzhou and Nanjing. Because to the west is the territory of the Runing army, to the south is the Yangtze River, and to the north is the 20,000 heavy troops of Zhu Dadian, the governor of Fengyang.

At the end of February, Liu Guoneng led an elite 50,000 troops to Tongcheng. No surprise, Tongcheng conquered it. Then Liu Guoneng divided his troops into Huaining again, and Huaining Zhixian abandoned the city and fled, so Liu Guoneng captured two cities in a row without blood.

Then Liu Guoneng began to march towards Lujiang County, and he wanted to pass through Luzhou from the south of Chaohu Lake and enter the territory of Chuzhou, Anhui. But then an accident happened.

According to Wu Shigong's original jihua. The direction of Liu Guoneng's movement is very flexible, and he is able to make his own decisions many times. In the event of a strong enemy, Liu Guoneng can avoid, allow, and divert to wander, and even return to the Dabie Mountains to recuperate. The key is to preserve the strength of Liu Guoneng's ministry.

Wu Shigong wanted Liu Guoneng to disrupt the Anhui region and attract the attention of the officials and troops of Beizhili with his own threat. Waiting for the Nanjing Military Department to summon the Runing Army to jointly suppress the bandits.

In this way, the Runing Army's troops are famous for their divisions. And it can obtain great benefits in the Anhui region. In addition, it is logical to openly recruit Liu Guoneng Ministry. Moreover, if the peasant army of Toucheng was resettled on the spot, then this area would be controlled by the Runing Army in disguise.

That projected influence could even reach Anqing, allowing the Runing Army's sailors to add another base on the Yangtze River. Therefore, the key is that Liu Guoneng has strength, not to let him fight hard with the official army. So at this point, Ru Ningjun's requirements and Liu Guoneng's interests are the same.

However, with the Qin mission Xu Mengqi's arrest of Wu Shigong failed. The Jihua of the Runing Army has undergone significant changes. The first is that the strength of the Runing Army has shrunk, and it will no longer pretend to pursue Liu Guoneng's troops. Then the supply of covert support was also reduced, and the Runing army had to save every ammunition and food, and prepare to face the encirclement and suppression of the heavy troops of the imperial court.

After that, it was a death order to Liu Guoneng's subordinates. Wu Shigong asked Liu Guoneng after crossing Chaohu Lake. Instead of going to Chuzhou, he changed direction and went straight to Nanjing.

In fact, this completely regarded Liu Guoneng as an outcast. Wu Shigong needed Liu Guoneng to entangle Nanzhili, especially the Jingying in Nanjing City. It is better to defeat both sides, so that they will not be able to attack the Runing army again.

Although he was a little uncomfortable when he received the order, Liu Guoneng still didn't think much about it. I can't help but think about it, his family is still in the hands of Runing Army. However, on March 22, when Liu Guoneng's troops came to Wuwei County, Wu Shigong was assassinated by Qin Cha in an unsuccessful manner, and the news that the Runing army was preparing to rebel came. This made Liu Guoneng stop immediately.

This hesitation caused more than 1,300 officers and soldiers who rushed to enter Wuwei County under the leadership of a garrison. Coupled with the young men recruited in Wuwei County, the defense here was suddenly strengthened.

And by the time Liu Guoneng figured out that no matter how he acted, he had to protect the retreat of Wuwei County, it was already too late for him to act. After that, he could only storm Wuwei County.

A bloody siege battle, which lasted for three days, killed and wounded more than 5,000 horses, Liu Guoneng drove the official army out of Wuwei County. And it was just to drive away, Wuwei Zhixian and the garrison fled to Hanshan County with more than 1,000 soldiers and young men.

This makes the current Liu Guoneng in a dilemma. Whether it is to Chuzhou or Nanjing, Hanshan County is always unavoidable. But Liu Guoneng couldn't retreat, and his death hole was caught by the Runing Army.

So Liu Guoneng began to stand still, and he told Lin Yufei, who was sent by the Runing Army to supervise and contact, all kinds of reasons, that is, he refused to advance to Nanjing again. In Liu Guoneng's thoughts, he also had to see the further actions of the Runing Army, and then decide on his own actions.

Therefore, the arrest incident has actually caused a chain reaction, especially to the Runing Army. In addition to the huge rift with the imperial court, the Runing Army's strategy of Nanzhili was also greatly affected.

Although Liu Guoneng's current reaction is reasonable, it has not caused the worst results such as defecting to the Nanjing official army, but his performance has also begun to deviate from the Runing army.

But for Liu Guoneng, he did not wait for the good fruit to eat, because his stay also made the official army in Nanjing reinforce in time. So when Liu Guoneng found out about this situation, he had to have a big battle with Jingying in Nanjing in Wuwei County. (To be continued......)