Hearing Deng Xi's puzzled inquiry, as if he had been poked in the sore spot, Xuan Mo's expression was gloomy, and he said faintly: "Deng Zongbing, you don't know, the imperial court not only transferred Cao Wenzhao, but also Liu Lingyu, the imperial historian, to investigate Henan. ◢ with ◢ dream ◢ small ◢.lā"

In an instant, Deng Xi's expression froze, and he also became gloomy, silent, and did not continue to ask, but he knew it in his heart, no wonder Master Xuan's expression was so complicated and ugly.

Obviously, at this juncture, the emperor sent Liu Lingyu, the imperial historian, which is fundamentally doubtful about the ability of the generals and officials in Henan to do things, whether there are two hearts, and the emperor's suspicion is committed again.

In the past, there were eunuchs Chen Dakui, Yan Siyin, Xie Wenju and Sun Maolin as supervisors of the army and supervising the generals, and now there is such a Liu Lingyu, even if a person's temper is good, he will be very depressed by the emperor.

After all, if you are repeatedly distrusted, and someone is watching your every move, even if your heart is big, you will be very depressed and feel depressed.

What's more, none of those people have a good thing, they are all flies and dogs, and personal self-interest is far more important than the overall situation.

Moreover, there is the most critical point, Cao Wenzhao, as the commander of the generals, has always been at odds with Liu Lingyu, and sending such a person to inspect is not equivalent to pouring oil on the fire and giving people eye medicine?

As soon as he thought of this, Deng Xi's heart was very heavy, his brows furrowed deeper, his face was full of worry, he couldn't help but look at Xuan Mo, and asked: "My lord, now is at a critical time, the bandits from all walks of life have just been suppressed, and the situation has eased, if General Cao is evacuated, our plan is likely to fall short and be put to waste, you have to think of a way to prepare in advance." ”

"Hey......" Xuan Mo sighed helplessly, and said with some weakness: "Deng Zongbing, how could I not know?" Now at this time, the situation has just eased and been controlled, and the bandits in Shanxi are almost all suppressed by Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's uncle and nephew, so that they can deter the thieves. ”

"If there is any change in General Cao's army, there is no effective general in the southeast region of Shanxi to sit and deter, and the situation that has just eased will definitely become tense again, and the bandits can shuttle between Shanxi and Henan without fear, and go back and forth between Zezhou in Shanxi and Zhangdefu, Weihui and Huaiqing in Henan."

"Also, it's June, and it's still summer, but how long is winter left? Once it drags on for a long time, we have just blocked the bandits in Zhangde Mansion and Weihui Mansion, and there is no more powerful military general stationed in Zezhou, and the bandits can make a detour from Shanxi at any time and enter Huaiqing Mansion again, so as to cross the Yellow River south. ”

The more Xuan Mo spoke, the stronger the whining and complaining in his words became, and he almost shouted angrily, but in the end he could only suppress his anger and said decadently: "What can I do?" ”

Deng Xi was silent, he also had a sense of powerlessness in his heart, and he also understood Xuan Mo's difficulties, whether it was the eunuchs who served as the prisoners of the army, or Liu Lingyu, they were the eyes and ears of the emperor, responsible for monitoring them, civil officials and military generals, who could change anything?

If the performance is folded and the meaning of resistance is expressed, it will only backfire, but will increase the emperor's suspicion.

In the end, there was still no result and no solution, Deng Xi left helplessly, and only repeated sighs could show his patient helplessness.

Xuan Mo was still sitting there, not dealing with the official documents anymore, but looking straight ahead, the direction of Deng Xi's departure, his dark eyes glowing with a faint light, flickering, as if he was making a decision, and there was some hesitation.

A few days later, the mixed army of the rebel army led by Li Zicheng fled like a lost dog in Weihui Mansion, the entire army was in disarray, and the morale that had just eased fell to the bottom again.

North of Huixian, near Yazikou, the army was temporarily resting, while Li Zicheng and the leader of a group were sitting in the shade of a tree, analyzing the situation in the scorching heat, all kinds of complaints continued, and the atmosphere was so decadent and low.

"Made, are these officers and soldiers crazy? These days, he has been chasing and killing us frantically, and he has not been given any respite. If this continues, we will have to explain all of this Weihui Mansion. ”

"It seems that we killed Ma Fengyi before, which really annoyed Xuan Mo and the others, and made them start to retaliate against us frantically. It is absolutely impossible to go on like this, and we must think of a good way to temporarily avoid the sharp edge of the official army in order to preserve our strength. ”

", these court dogs have legs like dogs with long noses, they can always find our whereabouts, detect our marching route in advance, not only are there interceptions in front, but there are also chasing soldiers in the back, if you want to meet the high leader, it will be difficult."

......

After a period of grumbling, Man Tianxing stood up at this time, looked at Li Zicheng, and said: "Okay, okay, don't complain, let's gather here in order to discuss a countermeasure, let Li Chuang talk about it first, and see what we should do to avoid the predicament for the time being and tide over the current difficulties?" ”

Faintly, it is not difficult to find that the leaders have formed two factions, one of which is naturally headed by Li Zicheng, and the other is even more starry-eyed, and Li Zicheng is in opposite positions.

Obviously, the two factions are distinct and sit opposite each other.

For a while, as Mantianxing's words echoed around him, he gradually quieted down, and Mantianxing was even more in a posture of rebellion, looking at Li Zicheng confidently, and said loudly: "Brother Li, the alliance leader has passed away for nearly a month, although it is only us high-level people who know the news. However, it was not possible to hide it for long at all. Once the news leaks out, it will definitely deal a heavy blow to the rebels from all walks of life. ”

"Mantianxing, what you said is right, about this matter, when he was in Shanyang Mountain, Brother Li had already mentioned it."

Xing Hongwolf sat next to Li Zicheng, the camp he belonged to was self-explanatory, and when he spoke, his brows furrowed slightly, fleetingly, and then continued: "As analyzed by Brother Li, if you want to reduce the impact of the death of the alliance leader on the rebel armies, the only way to minimize the impact can you minimize the impact by gathering the leaders of the rebel armies from all walks of life together and communicating with them. ”

As soon as Xing Hongwolf's words fell, a leader beside Man Tianxing followed closely and said: "Leader Xing, everyone is very clear about this point, like a mirror. However, the problem now is that we have pursuers in front and interceptions in the back, and we can't break out of Weihui Mansion at all, enter Zhangde Mansion, and meet with Leader Gao. ”

From beginning to end, Li Zicheng was silent, with a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was listening carefully to everyone's words, and as if he was thinking about something, this person seemed very calm and calm.

"Okay, okay, don't quarrel anymore, what will happen if you continue to argue like this? Can it fix things? ”

Man Tianxing spoke again, quite with the posture of everyone's big brother, stopping the several leaders who still wanted to continue to speak and argue, and the conversation turned again, and said meaningfully: "Let's let Brother Li talk about it and talk about his views." ”

It seems that he felt everyone's eyes, all gathered on him, or he has been listening carefully to everyone's conversation, as soon as the starry words fell, everyone just looked at it, Li Zicheng coughed lightly twice, and a crisp voice sounded.

"Well, okay, since the leaders have given face, it's not good for me Li Zicheng to continue to postpone."

Li Zicheng's tone froze, he glanced at the starry sky, and ignored the other party, a trace of ridicule flashed in his eyes, and he returned to normal in an instant, muttered slightly, and continued to talk eloquently after what he had just said, showing his confident temperament.

"Leaders, judging from the current situation, our situation is indeed in a critical situation, and almost all of the famous generals of the official army have gathered in Huaiqing Mansion and Weihui Mansion, and there are five or six total soldiers. To confront head-on is tantamount to seeking your own death. ”

"However, there are always two sides to everything, and there is a bad side and a good side. Although Cao Wenzhao led the army into Henan, he chased and intercepted us with Zuo Liangyu, Deng Xi and others. In this way, on the other hand, it is equivalent to giving us an opportunity to take advantage of. ”

"What's the opportunity?" Man Tianxing's expression twisted, and he interjected and asked, which caused some dissatisfaction on Li Zicheng's side, but he was still stopped by Li Zicheng, and he did not have a seizure, and he was-for-tat.

"It's very simple, since Cao Wen's troops went out of Shanxi, in a short period of time, there was a relative garrison vacuum in Zezhou, and there was a lack of a powerful general to guard it. In this case, we can completely change the route of the march, cross the Taihang Mountains in the north, enter Zezhou, and then march eastward, and join the high leader at Zhangde Mansion. ”

Li Zicheng paused, glanced at everyone, and said slowly: "So, judging from the current situation and our situation, we have only two ways to go, so that we can meet with Leader Gao and Lao Huihui." ”

Hearing this, everyone was stunned, and their faces were puzzled, and a leader of the Mantianxing camp asked directly: "No, General Li Chuang, according to your previous analysis, it is obviously a road, why did it become a two-day road?" ”

Obviously, Li Zicheng had expected that someone would ask, and he was waiting for someone to ask.

"Leader Jiang, you misunderstood, there are indeed two days to go." Li Zicheng smiled indifferently, answered very affirmatively, and further said: "I think you all know that one of the roads is to go north, cross Taihang, detour through Zezhou and Lu'an Mansion, and meet Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others, so as to continue eastward and meet with Gao Leader in Zhangde Mansion, I won't say much about this." ”

Everyone nodded frequently when they heard this, and it was obvious that they had agreed with Li Zicheng's statement and proposal, and they just waited for the next road to be where.

"As for the second road, relatively speaking, it is much safer and avoids the pursuit of the officers and soldiers. However, there are many difficulties, difficulties and obstacles, and there may be a shortage of food and grass at any time. ”

"General Li Chuang, you don't want to play dumb riddles, or where is the second way?"

It was also a leader of the Mantianxing camp, and he interrupted Li Zicheng's speech with some impatience, but the latter was unimpressed, not annoyed, and continued his words.

"The second road is close at hand, that is, directly enter the Taihang Mountain, walk all the way to the northeast along the mountain range, shuttle through the deep mountains and old forests, walk out of the Taihang Mountain in Weihui Mansion, come out of Taihang Mountain in Zhangde Mansion, and meet with the high chief."

Li Zicheng stopped talking, looked at everyone calmly, and left them enough time to digest what he said.

At this moment, everyone was silent, and everyone knew very well in their hearts that in the case of their own side and decline, the only way to preserve their strength was these two ways.

Of course, the leaders also know the pros and cons of the two roads, although the first road does not have to trek through mountains and rivers, but it is also overcoming obstacles, and at any time it may face the heavy encirclement and suppression of the imperial court, and fall into a dangerous situation again.

As for the second road, as Li Zicheng said, it is very safe, and there is no need to worry about the pursuit and encirclement of the official army. However, Taihang Mountain is full of deep mountains and old forests, and there are many ravines, which are difficult to climb, and the speed of the march must be extremely slow!

The woods are good to say, once you encounter the cliffs, you can only take a detour, not only difficult, difficult and dangerous, but also the possibility of facing a shortage of food and grass at any time.

The most important thing is that people can climb cliffs, but war horses cannot. War horses are the foundation of every rebel army, where they can save their lives, how can they be discarded?

"General Li Chuang, I have thought about it, I am ready to choose the first road, directly cross the Taihang, lead the troops into Shanxi, and meet with the Tianxing, so as to go to Lu'an Mansion together, and after the round with Zhang Xianzhong, I will go east to Zhangde Mansion."

As soon as Man Tianxing said this, he immediately reminded the leaders of his camp that the people on Li Zicheng's side also had some intentions, and once the troops were divided, no matter who they were, their strength would be greatly weakened.

Now it is different, Mantianxing reminded everyone that the headquarters of Guotianxing is in Zezhou, as long as they join them, the problem of troops is not to worry.

Even in the face of the encirclement and interception of the official army, he could deal with it calmly, all the way to the north, and further meet Zhang Xianzhong. When the time comes, the momentum will definitely go to another level!

So, not surprisingly, everyone next to the starry sky echoed and expressed the same meaning.

"Yes, yes, I also choose the first path."

"General Li Chuang, I'm sorry, I'll go north together with the stars."

"Brother Li, you see, my brother, with his old arms and legs, can't withstand the trekking through mountains and rivers, so he won't take the second way."

......

As if listening to the sound of heaven, the stars smiled sweetly, smiling, with a smug look on his face, from the previous words, he instinctively thought that Li Zicheng was more inclined to the second way.

"Hey, what do you mean by that? Brother Li hasn't expressed his position yet, how do you know that Brother Li is taking the second path instead of the first? Eight King Kong's eyes widened angrily, looking at those people angrily, very angry, just wanted to say something, but was stopped by Li Zicheng.

"Eight King Kongs, there is no need to be like this, the leaders are right, I do have the intention of taking the second way, don't be angry."

"But... But... They're too angry......"

Eight King Kong angrily spit out a few words, and finally stopped his mouth and swallowed back the words raw.

At the same time, the others led by Man Tianxing secretly breathed a long sigh of relief, and although their stiff expressions slowed down a little, they were still a little unnatural, they just smiled awkwardly and didn't say anything more.