Luoyang is the residence of Prince Fu of the Ming Dynasty, and it is also an important town in Henan, with tens of thousands of officers and soldiers stationed in the city, storing hundreds of thousands of stones, grains and grass from Henan, as well as countless ordnance and silver salaries. Hearing that Li Zicheng raised troops to attack, Li Fengxian, the governor of Henan, sent the general Wang Shaoyu, deputy generals Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai, and led tens of thousands of elite troops to help. First, after Li Zicheng cleared the periphery of Luoyang and isolated the reinforcements, Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai, the deputy generals of the Bianjun Army, led more than 5,000 people to surrender and invited themselves to be the vanguard of the camp and attack Luoyang; When the army arrived at Luoyang City, Wang Shaoyu, the chief soldier of the Bianjun army, escaped from the battle, sneaked out of Luoyang with his henchmen at night, and fled to the Tiger Prison Pass.

The king of the great harvest set up the camp next to Luoyang City, and was busy putting the countless materials seized into the camp warehouse, while waiting, Hei Baoyi asked the guards at the door, and he laughed after hearing that King Chuang had a banquet tonight: "It's better to come early than to come smartly, is it a celebration banquet?" How do you open it? ”

At this time, the group hurriedly followed the soldier who reported the news just now, and the leader was a man in his forties. At his feet were a pair of short soap boots, leggings tied around his legs, two bracers dangling from his wrists, neat short breeches, and a knife pinned to his waist.

Xu Ping, who had already dismounted, was thinking about which general might be the one who came to break into the camp, and Hei Baoyi, who was standing side by side with him, had already clasped his fists and shouted: "Military advisor, don't come unharmed!" ”

Niu Jinxing, who was dressed in military uniform, waved his hand and smiled: "Black brother! ”

Walking closer, Niu Jinxing looked Xu Ping up and down. The latter took out Zhong Guinian's letter and handed it to him, and Niu Jinxing opened the letter and looked at it hurriedly. When he raised his head again, Hei Bao nodded and smiled: "Military Master, this is Brother Xu." ”

Then Hei Baoyi raised his voice, looked around at the soldiers around him, and introduced Xu Ping in a loud voice: "Brothers, this is Xu Ping, from today on, he will be our Brother Xu!" ”

Niu Jinxing's face has always been calm, and he can't see joy or excitement, he just nodded at Xu Ping?? Judging from Jin Xing's words, Zhong Guinian's letter still covered up this secret for him, but only said that Xu Ping was angry and betrayed the court.

Chong Guan's anger is not a good word at this time, but can only make others despise Xu Ping. If Zhong Guinian told Niu Jinxing about this matter from the beginning, I am afraid that the first thing Niu Jinxing and Li Zicheng would think of was the capricious Lu Bu. Therefore, although Xu Ping was aware of the cold attitude behind Niu Jinxing's enthusiastic face, and also knew that Zhong Guinian had many untruths in his words to persuade him to defect, he was still grateful to him.

……

Jingshi, Zhendong Hou Mansion

There were only two people in the living room, one of them was wearing a green coat and a small hat, and he had anxiously said to the person in front of him: "Lord Zhang, Chen and Wei, these two fangs!" They are going to be Qin Hui, thanks to the lower officials......"

Without waiting for this sentence to be finished, Zhang Zaidi, who was looking at the study while talking, suddenly interrupted him: "Lord Yuanfu, my eldest brother is here." ”

Zhou Yanru stepped into the study of Zhendong Hou, lifted his robe with both hands, and knelt down at the person behind the desk, and respectfully kowtowed three times in a row: "Hou Ye is above, and the lower officials are here." ”

"Zhou Xiang, please get up," a gentle voice came: "Zhou Xiang, please take a seat." ”

"Master Xie."

Zhou Yanru saw the big man behind the table stand up, and walked over with a brocade box smiling at him, and the familiar soft voice came into his ears again: "If I'm not mistaken, the third day of the next month will be the birthday of Zhou Xiang's little son, right?" ”

In the brocade box was a pair of dark and round pearls, and Zhou Yanru continued to laugh in his ears: "Zhou Xiang, this black pearl is a native product of the South Seas, I think it's a little interesting, Zhou Xiang will take it back and play with the children." ”

After exchanging thanks and politeness, the guests and hosts sat down again, and Zhendonghou smiled: "Zhou Xiang came to the cold house today, what advice do you have?" ”

"It's Chen, Wei...... Their drunkards don't mean to drink, check whether the accounts of the new army are fake, and they want to harm Hou Ye, you are real, they are going to be Qin Hui, Hou Ye, can you learn from King Yue. ”

"Thank you Zhou Xianggaoyi." After listening to this, Zhendong Hou nodded, and said: "Zhou Xiang is relieved, I am loyal and can learn from the sun and the moon, but I am by no means a person who is framed by traitors and waiting to be killed." ”

"Hearing what Master Hou said, the lower officials were relieved, relieved." Zhou Yanru took a breath of air, and after taking a sip of tea, he pondered the words and said: "Master Hou, I heard that Zhejiang Haimao is booming this year? ”

"Zhou Xiang is right, sea trade is indeed profitable, and the people who do sea trade in Zhejiang have made a fortune in the past two years." Zhendong Hou smiled: "Zhou Xiang is also interested? ”

"Alas, Xiaguan has several world friends, their children are not successful, they have no intention of studying, their fathers are worried one by one, and they have repeatedly asked people to beg Xiaguan to find a way out for them, but the national law is strict, and they can't think about this career. Xia Guan really had no choice, knowing that Hou Ye had great powers, he wanted to ask Hou Ye to help Xia Guan find a way. ”

Zhendonghou nodded: "This matter is easy to hear." ”

"Thank you, Master Hou."

"I still have something to bother Zhou Xiang."

Zhendonghou took out a piece of paper, Zhou Yanru took a step forward and stretched out his hands to take it, it was densely packed with people's names, Zhou Yanru's eyes swept over, and behind each person's name was the fame that Zhendonghou wanted this person to get in the next imperial examination: except for a very few people, they generally only wanted to be born with Jinshi.

"Master Hou, don't worry." Zhou Yanru immediately took care of everything: "Everything is wrapped up in the lower officials, and no one will be left behind." ”

After Zhou Yanru left, Zhendonghou took out another piece of paper and handed it to Zhang Zaidi, the same as the one given to Zhou Yanru, it was also full of people's names, but the standard after the name of this paper was that Zhendonghou wanted these people to get the positions, all of which were magistrates in Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang: "If Chen Yan or Wei Zaode come tomorrow, give them this piece of paper." ”

"Okay."

"What did they say when they came today?"

"The two of them scolded Zhou Yuanfu in unison for wanting to be Qin Hui and being unfavorable to the eldest brother."

"What do they want?"

"They hope that the Sixth Department can get a piece of the new army's weapons manufacturing."

"Yes." Zhendonghou immediately replied, "Is there anything else important?" ”

"Qian Qianyi has a letter."

"What did you say?" Since it is a handwritten letter from the leaders of the Donglin Party and Jiangnan Shilin, Zhendonghou is of course very concerned.

"Qian Qianyi said that Zhou Yanru had ill intentions and wanted to be Qin Hui," Qian Qianyi secretly told Zhendonghou that Zhou Yanru and his party were spying on the profits of various trades: "Qian Qianyi said that Zhou Yanru This is Xiang Zhuang dancing the sword, intended to Pei Gong, and is preparing to collect materials to frame the eldest brother you, and he advises the eldest brother that you must not learn from King Yue." ”

"Anything else?"

"Qian Qianyi has received the list of big brother's lifters and talents, and he will arrange the examiners of these people. The Zhejiang Council sent a letter, saying that next month they would send the candidates for local officials in southern Zhejiang to the eldest brother, and they were finally as afraid of the sky and the earth as the Fujian and Guangdong councils...... At present, the Jiangxi Council does not have the courage to come up with its own candidates...... After Fujian, more than half of our people in the mayor of Guangdong for the first time, all of them have been famous, even if they are not our people, they dare not ignore the laws and regulations of the council, if the people in the village are too miserable by the patriarchal law, they will also muster up the courage to go to the county to complain, our county order, as well as the regulations of the council, in the village authority is increasing day by day......" Zhang Zaidi continued: "In addition, there are a group of gentlemen who want to partner with the eldest brother to do business and join the council, and several of them jointly wrote secret letters to the eldest brother, said that Qian Qianyi wanted to be Qin Hui, and persuaded the eldest brother to be on guard as soon as possible. ”

"Didn't Qian Qianyi say anything about the difference between businessmen and scholars this time?"

"No, I guess it's not weird." Zhang Zaidi said with a smile, many years ago, Qian Qianyi kept complaining, saying that the people recommended by Zhendonghou could either only write with charcoal, or they couldn't even understand the meaning of breaking the question, and even asked Zhendonghou where there would be a talent who couldn't even make limericks? Not to mention lifting people. But with the cooperation over the years, Qian Qianyi is no longer pursued.

"Hmm." Zhendonghou fell into deep thought. Fifteen years ago, Zhao came up with the slogan "Storm the capital and sack it with the brothers for three days." Although the officials of the imperial court were incompetent, they were not stupid, and they had given the officers of the Dadu Governor's Mansion amazing wealth and honor over the years, almost begging these warriors who had eaten alfalfa for many years to accept the gold and silver treasures and the beautiful wives. In addition to allowing his subordinates to wash Beijing City, Zhao Wanxiong couldn't think of a tempting enough reason, even so, Jin Qiude estimated that he would have to kill a group of people to deter him.

"It's going to take a little while." Zhendonghou said to himself in his heart that fifteen years ago, he knew that if he had chosen another path, it would definitely be followed by the careerists of the whole country who would follow the example of one side, and the loyal men would rise up to resist this atrocity. And what he wants to do is to purge all the conscientious subordinates in his army first, and then purge the conscience people in the whole of China, and use money and wealth to buy people who don't care about right and wrong, good and evil to help him fight against the careerists of the whole country, although Zhao Slowxiong and Jin Qiude are very confident to exterminate the rest, but Huangshi is not confident that after sweeping away other careerists, there will not be a large number of warlords and corrupt officials who have no conscience and shame, and only know power and wealth-Sima Yi, Yuan Shikai, and the Five Dynasties period, too many, There are too many precedents that have ruined the vitality of the country and the morality of the people's hearts and minds in a hurry; Relying on military usurpation to power, and a dynasty that can have three generations of Guozuo is too rare in history; After the death of a tyrant, ambitious and unscrupulous subordinates will almost certainly provoke new wars until they have completely exhausted people's hearts. Those with a conscience must be given an excuse to remain in their camp, there must be a reason to persuade moral people to cooperate with them, and the rebellion must not be forced to purge as an atrocity. Although the cost was great—millions of innocent peasants died in the ditches—the reason, or excuse, seemed to be on the verge of being spoken, and those with a conscience had doubts about whether the Ming dynasty should continue to exist. Now that the important provinces in the south are almost in control, there will not be too much turmoil, grain production can be ensured, relief can be transferred from the south, and the Xiaoice period is about to pass...... The new army will continue to grow and develop, and will soon be able to win a new prestige, which will be enough to deter the prestige of the whole country. It's just that the millions of victims - Zhendonghou always comforts himself that it is not meaningless to pay these costs, war can be avoided, conscience can coexist with the new country, and more people can survive the disaster...... "Also, a little time." Zhendonghou thought again.

"Big brother, it seems that Qian Qianyi really hates Zhou Yanru to the bone, this time he said in the letter that he didn't want to fight for his life, and he would also pull the contemporary Qin Hui off the horse." Zhang Zaidi's words interrupted Zhendonghou's train of thought: "Zhou Yanru has been cooperating with us for many years, and he has never delayed your business, big brother, but he has been in the phase for too long, and his hand is getting longer and longer, I think it's time to change people." Now there are far more people who oppose Zhou Yanru than those who support him, even if he gets out of the imperial examination, it will not be in our hands, and we can't offend others for him. ”

"You're right, but he's not alone yet. Wait, when the Jiangnan gentry under him also participate in the council, we will have a showdown with him. ”

After discussing various complicated personnel and government affairs issues from Jiangnan for a long time, Zhang Zaidi wanted to relax a little, so he said: "Big brother, I heard that there have been a lot of things in the New Army recently. ”

"yes. But I haven't had time to take care of it, there are too many things in the south, one after another, and now I have to bother Jin Qiude first, and then I will take the time to go to the new army to have a look. ”

"Big brother, don't worry," different from the serious tension when discussing things in Jiangnan, Zhang Zaidi's tone was brisk when talking about the new army: "The new army is much worse than the Changsheng Army, and it is also invincible in the world, and it is more than enough to deal with the peasants. ”

"Yes, I scolded them all and cried, and swore to practice day and night." Zhendong Hou said absentmindedly, at this time he was talking about the new army, and he was still weighing the pros and cons of some personnel changes in Jiangnan. Whether it is Zhendonghou or Zhang Zaidi, they all know very well in their hearts that the new army is just an imitation of the immortal army: "You are right, although the new army is far from being comparable to the immortal army, but there is no second immortal army in this world, and no army can compete with the new army." ”

……

"General Xu!"

The guard outside the door politely shouted, "The military advisor has sent someone, please go to the banquet." ”

Xu Ping walked out of the door and said to the guard, "I'm not a general of the imperial court anymore. ”

The guard was slightly stunned when he heard this, nodded and smiled, "Xu Gongzi, please." ”

Xu Ping was led to the front of the camp of the invading army, and a small leader outside the door immediately greeted him: "General Xu, please, my king has been waiting for a long time." ”

There was no strength to correct his statement, Xu Ping sighed and walked quickly to the camp tent, the guard opened the tent door, and the laughter inside immediately poured out of the door, Xu Ping took a deep breath and stepped inside.

"General Xu is here."

As the little leader behind him shouted, the tent suddenly fell silent, and more than a dozen people sitting around a long table all looked at Xu Ping at the door, and several wine glasses that were still held in the air were fixed there. Xu Ping saw that Niu Jinxing was also at the table, he jumped up and walked to Xu Ping's side with a smile, took him by the shoulders and led him to the table, and said loudly to everyone: "This is Brother Xu Ping, you have already heard of it, right?" ”

Xu Ping, who was silent, was pushed by Niu Jinxing to the side of a one-eyed man at the table, and Niu Jinxing introduced Xu Ping with a smile: "Brother Xu, have you seen the king." ”

Xu Ping arched his hand: "General Li." ”

"Brother Xu." The one-eyed man stood up and laughed, took Xu Ping's hand enthusiastically, pressed him beside him, and sat on Niu Jinxing's original seat, while Niu Jinxing walked to another empty seat farther away. After Xu Ping sat down, Li Zicheng immediately greeted the people on the other side of him: "Brother Cao, say hello to Brother Xu." ”

Li Zicheng named Luo Rucai, nicknamed "Cao Cao", who exchanged gifts with Xu Ping. Then Li Zicheng greeted Liu Zongmin again.

"General Xu." Liu Zongmin raised the cup in his hand, gave Xu Ping a quick greeting, and then took a sip and put the cup down.

"General Liu." Xu Ping nodded in return.

Li Zicheng introduced Xu Ping one by one, a few people who were ordered raised their glasses, and a few who didn't raise their glasses but said hello.

The last two people who were pointed out sat opposite Li Zicheng, the two people looked to be around thirty years old, and they were Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, who had just defected to Li Zicheng.

The former squeezed out a smile on his face: "General Xu is good." The latter just nodded but remained silent.

After turning around, Li Zicheng saw that everyone was silent, so he smiled and said, "Brothers, eat, eat, don't be stunned." ”

Everyone picked up their chopsticks and began to eat. After a moment of silence, Liu Zongmin toasted Sun Kewang, and the two drank each other. Luo Rucai toasted Li Dingguo again, so the atmosphere gradually became lively again.

This time, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo brought more than 20,000 people to Li Zicheng, and there were more than 13,000 men in their army, of which more than 5,000 were Xiying heroes who had experienced battlefield battles. These two men are the protagonists of today's feast, and the campers will frequently toast them and ask about anecdotes from all these years. When asked about this, Li Dingguo immediately became active, and in his mouth, there was nothing else to do in his experience over the years except killing officers and soldiers.

Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang were both orphans adopted by Zhang Xianzhong. Li Dingguo is a native of Yulin, Shaanxi Province, and has just turned 28 years old. In the third year of Chongzhen, the imperial court forcibly requisitioned grain into Beijing in the disaster-stricken Shaanxi, and tens of thousands of people had to flee the famine, and Li Dingguo and his family were among them. Halfway through, Li Dingguo's grandparents, parents, and more than 10 siblings all starved to death. Li Dingguo, who was only ten years old at the time, also fell on the side of the road and was almost eaten by other hungry people, but fortunately met Zhang Xianzhong, who raised troops to resist food.

Zhang Xianzhong opened a warehouse all the way to Shaanxi to release grain, at that time, most of the other rebels were only willing to recruit strong men into the army, only he and Li Zicheng set up their own boy camps, and took in and raised the dying orphans they met along the way, so Li Dingguo was able to survive. Later, Li Dingguo joined Zhang Xianzhong's old battalion to fight against officers and soldiers, and became one of the four major generals under Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong is his father-in-law, and even the name Dingguo was given to him by Zhang Xianzhong.

When Li Dingguo was talking endlessly and eloquently about how he killed officials, Sun Kewang peeked at Xu Ping a few times, and tried to divert the conversation twice. But Li Dingguo turned a deaf ear, and his voice became louder and louder, attracting bursts of cheers. Li Zicheng noticed that Xu Ping beside him had never moved his chopsticks or drunk a glass of wine from beginning to end, so he coughed loudly twice, got up and raised his wine glass and said loudly: "Brothers, let's all come and toast Brother Xu." ”

Listening to Li Zicheng's greeting, the others squeezed out smiling faces and raised their glasses to Xu Ping. But Xu Ping didn't touch the wine glass, but looked up at Li Zicheng and said: "General Li, I'm not in a hurry to drink this wine, what I want to know most is what General Li will let me do?" ”

"Naturally, we will work together to prevent corrupt officials from corrupt officials and the people." Li Zicheng replied quickly.

"I listened to the meaning of Niu Junshi just now, and it seems that I want to know some of the truth of the new army from my mouth."

Xu Ping's words fell, and Li Zicheng nodded again and again: "That's true, there is Brother Lao Xu." ”

"But it's not enough." Xu Ping shook his head and said, "If there is no new army, General Li does not need me; If they encounter the new army, as far as I can see, General Lee's subordinates are completely vulnerable, and no matter how clearly they know, they will not be able to win. ”

There was a sudden sound of dissatisfaction on the table, and a few people had already stood up and scolded Xu Ping. Xu Ping turned a deaf ear, he just looked at Li Zicheng and said: "General Li, if you don't want to be exterminated by the new army, you have to give me military power, let me train the troops, and train a force that can fight against the new army, otherwise General Li, you are just waiting for death." ”

More people scolded Xu Ping, Li Zicheng waved his hand to interrupt them, and smiled at Xu Ping: "This is a long time coming, today is to wash the dust for you, we can talk about it in detail tomorrow." ”

"If General Li holds the idea that there is wine today and drunk tomorrow, I will not be needed here at all." Xu Ping didn't save any face for Li Zicheng: "If General Li doesn't want to be defeated and killed, and he doesn't want the whole army to be annihilated, then it's best to start thinking about how to deal with Zhendonghou's new army now." ”

When Xu Ping began to speak just now, Li Dingguo became silent, and after hearing Xu Ping's last words, he suddenly looked over from the opposite side and asked loudly: "General Xu, I heard that you killed hundreds of thousands of people in Shandong, changed Huang Hou's military strategy without permission, did not do reconnaissance and attacked the enemy, and finally brought about defeat, I don't know if there is such a thing?" ”

Sun Kewang hurriedly reached out to pull Li Dingguo. Xu Ping stared at Li Dingguo's eyes and asked rhetorically: "When I was in Beijing, I heard that General Zhang took pleasure in slaughtering the city, but whenever anyone resisted, General Zhang would be furious and said: 'You dare to resist and wash this city in blood!'" If no one resists, General Zhang will be furious: 'You don't even try to resist, and you will wash this city in blood!' 'I've heard ......

Li Dingguo stood up and shouted angrily: "This is all a good thing done by your officers and soldiers, killing people and pretending to be the head of military merit, why do you rely on us?" ”

"I also heard that General Zhang took pleasure in torturing and killing women and children," Xu Ping didn't seem to feel Li Dingguo's anger at all, and continued calmly: "It is said in the Jingshi that once the western thieves catch women, they chop off their little feet and pile them into a hill for General Zhang to watch, and ...... children."

"You!" Li Dingguo slapped the table hard, and the wine utensils on the table topped over with a clatter: "My father-in-law raised tens of thousands of orphans to grow up, and millions of hungry people survived because of him!" ”

Although the main force of Xiying has been defeated by the Ming army, but this time Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang led thousands of orphans and old people in the troops. Just now, Li Zicheng had already agreed, either to allocate food to Xiying, or to directly organize these people into the children's camp and the old people's camp to raise them.

Xu Ping put Li Dingguo aside and ignored it, turned his head to Li Zicheng and said: "General Li, it is said in the Beijing division that every time you go anywhere, you will burn down the people's houses and rob all the food, so that they will have to be coerced by you and then rob the people in other places." The camp was like locusts, and the houses were empty and the people were gone. Most of your men are people whose families have been killed by you, whose houses have been burned down by you, and whose food has been robbed by you, who have nothing but to rob others with you. ”

Li Zicheng sneered: "Do you believe it?" ”

Xu Ping shook his head, he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but if everyone in the camp had a common enmity with Li Zicheng, then Xu Ping felt that he should have been cut into meat sauce by his own subordinates, Xu Ping had never heard of and would never believe that a person could drive away tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who had a grudge against him: "General Li, if you can't resist the new army, then one day the women and children who break into the camp will be slaughtered by the officers and soldiers, the people of Henan will be starved to death, and the lives of the officers and soldiers will be empty, and then people will hear it." What I remember is: it was you, Li Zicheng, who slaughtered these people. ”

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