He and Li Guo expressed their gratitude, saying that there was no shortage of ordnance in the army, Li Guo saw that he didn't need ordnance, so he didn't say anything, Li Guo came to Shanxi from Shaanxi a hundred miles away, and he was already hungry, and Ling Jingyang intimately set up a banquet in the Chinese army to entertain Li Guo.

Li Guo happily sat down, Ling Jingyang wanted to know why Li Guo suddenly came to Shanxi, or came to Fenxi County to see him, Li Guo saw Ling Jingyang's doubts, and said to him: "Ling Dudu, I came to Fenxi County, but I said to Ling Dudu, there are more monks and less meat in this world." ”

Ling Jingyang just picked up a piece of pork, put it in his mouth and chewed it, and after swallowing it, he asked Li Guo what he said?

Li Guo also picked up his wine glass and took a sip of wine.

"Whether it is our army or your army, it is not an opponent of Jiannu now, the world is so big, and there is only so much grain cut out of the ground every year, if you want to survive, you have to rob it."

Ling Jingyang asked him, "Who did you rob?" ”

"You ask knowingly, let me tell you the truth, my Dashun army will march eastward after the beginning of spring, and the target is the Chongzhen court."

Ling Jingyang seemed to think that the Dashun army would attack Shanxi, and motioned for Li Guo to continue.

"Why don't you go back to my Dashun army again?"

In the face of Li Guo's surrender, Ling Jingyang was silent, Li Guo was able to come to Fenxi County and tell him the top-secret news that the Dashun army was about to attack Shanxi, and it was already a great rebellion in the Dashun army.

He stood up and toasted Li Guo.

"General Li is very gracious, but I don't agree with your army's eastward strategy, which will only allow the Qing army to reap the benefits of the fisherman."

"Otherwise, to the south of our army is the Zuo Liangyu Army in the Huguang region, as well as Zhang Xianzhong's Great Western Army, these two troops have hundreds of thousands of troops, and they have not been conquered for many years, so it is basically impossible to annihilate them in a short time."

"I know this, you definitely can't go south."

Li Guo continued to speak: "To the north is the Qing army and the Mongolian plateau, our army lacks war horses, and attacking these two places is to give up the strengths of our army and attack others with weaknesses. His Majesty will not do this, only by attacking Shanxi to the east, the Dashun army will have a way to live. ”

Ling Jingyang understood what Li Guo meant, the Dashun army attacked Shanxi, and it would definitely attack the bridgehead of Fenxi County, and Li Guo said that he did not want to see the Dashun army and Ling Jingyang's two armies fighting each other.

Li Guo's kindness made Ling Jingyang have nothing to say again, the Dashun army can't beat the Qing army to the north, it will only die faster, and to the south is the stronger Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Xianzhong, not only can't be defeated, but also let the Qing army harvest in the back, only by attacking the Chongzhen court can you get supplies, population and land, it seems that attacking Shanxi is the right choice.

He also spoke his heart to Li Guo. "I am very grateful that General Li came to tell me the news today, but I am tired of taking refuge in other forces, whether it is your Dashun, or the Ming Dynasty, or the Qing Dynasty and Daxi, it is not worth my defection."

Li Guo saw that Ling Jingyang was soft and hard, and said: "Then our army invades Shanxi, do you want to resist stubbornly?" ”

But Ling Jingyang thinks that the Dashun army can't attack it, and the Chongzhen court is weak, but there are still He Zhen troops, Jiang Hao troops, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under Chongzhen's command in Shanxi, as long as the Dashun army does not eat the Shanxi Ming army in one breath and falls into a tug-of-war, the Qing army of Datong Mansion will quickly roar and annihilate the Dashun army in one fell swoop.

In the face of tens of thousands of Ming troops in Shanxi, Li Guo was sure of victory, he said: "Our rear camp and the Qing army will not fall behind, and the Shanxi Ming army can still be stronger than the Qing army?" ”

"General Li, I thought that your army could ally with the imperial court, drive the Qing army away, and then fight for hegemony in the world, instead of the Qing army watching from the sidelines, we still have to fight to the death for a few bites, don't you say?"

This time Li Guo was silent, he had always opposed Li Zicheng's eastward advance, but persuasion was useless, Li Zicheng insisted on launching an attack on the Shanxi campaign, he asked Ling Jingyang if there was a way to break the enemy?

"It's very easy, you fight Shanxi, we fight the Qing army, drag the Qing army into the war, as long as the Qing army participates in the war, I believe that the top level of your army will not continue to launch an offensive in the Ming Campaign."

The Dashun army still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and it has the ability to attack the prefectures and counties in eastern Shanxi at the same time, and it can also introduce the Qing army into the war group, but after doing so much, the Dashun army is a two-sided war, and it is difficult to be strangled by the Qing army and the Ming army.

Li Guo shook his head and objected, Ling Jingyang knew that Li Guo would not agree, and Li Zicheng would not be stupid enough to be at the same time as the Qing army and the Ming army

War. He also said: "Then contact the Hongguang Imperial Court, some of them are trying to capture Pingkou, but some people think that they want to jointly expel Jiannu with your army, it depends on how your Majesty grasps it." ”

Li Guo drank all the wine in the cup, and said to Ling Jingyang: "Ling Jingyang, you are also painstakingly working for this world, our army's goal of attacking Shanxi will not change, but I can assure you that my troops will not attack Fenxi County, and you still have a month and a half to lead the troops to withdraw, I will say so much, there will be a period later." ”

He stood up and waved goodbye to Ling Jingyang, who also stood up and said to him: "General Li, you are from Shaanxi, you have eaten and slept along the way, and you will spend the night in the city tonight. ”

"The Legend of the Fairy Tree"

Li Guo came to Shanxi this time to take Ling Jingyang away, since Ling Jingyang did not return, he couldn't bear to fight with Ling Jingyang on the battlefield, so he had to refuse Ling Jingyang's invitation.

"Ling Jingyang, I have received my kindness, and when we see each other on the battlefield in the future, please retreat."

After speaking, Li Guo didn't go back and left, Ling Jingyang sat on the chair, very sad, saw the wine and food on the table, called to Wangbao, Shi Tie and the two, and told Li to come and talk to the two, and after the two listened, they expressed their sincere admiration for Li Guo's character.

The three of them were eating and drinking in the barracks, and before they knew it, it was dark, Li Rufeng rushed back from the next county, Ling Jingyang left him a few hot dishes, and the four of them sat together and continued to eat and drink, their bodies were warm, and the cold weather outside did not invade the four of them.

When the Dashun army attacked Shanxi, he led the soldiers and horses of Fenxi County to the north of Datong Mansion and introduced the Qing army to Taiyuan Mansion, he believed that as long as the Qing army went south, whether it was Chongzhen soldiers and horses, or Jiang Xuan, He Zhen, Dashun army, and Hongguang soldiers and horses would be like facing the enemy, let go of each other's prejudices, and carry out offensive and defensive battles with the Qing army.

Li Rufeng, Shi Tie, Wang Mu heard this decision, all showed different expressions, Li Rufeng was eager to immediately raise troops north to Datong Mansion to attack the Qing army, but Shi Tie said that there were many foot soldiers in the army, and they had traveled a long way to Datong Mansion, and they had not yet arrived in Datong Mansion, and the soldiers' physical strength would be greatly damaged, and they were not able to attack, even after launching an attack, in the face of the Qing cavalry pursuit, how could the infantry with an iron fist withdraw to Taiyuan Mansion in heavy snowy weather?

Only Wang Mu resolutely objected, he believed that with the strength of the Iron Fist Legion, there was no need to attack Datong Mansion at all, even if it was to attack Datong Mansion, it would be necessary to unite with the He Zhen Department to go north, rather than relying only on the Iron Fist Legion to fight alone.

He also proposed that the main force of the reserve army was in Yicheng, and the Iron Fist Army could raid Fenzhou, take Zhang Luofu's hometown, and let the reserve army lose supplies.

This is a very vicious strategy, Ling Jingyang has not thought about it, but if he does this, the strength of the reserve army will be hit, and in the face of the attack of the Qing army in the future, the reserve army will have little strength to continue to resist.

"Governor, if we don't take Fenzhou, others will also take Fenzhou, He Zhen from Qinzhou, Jiang Jiu from Taiyuan Mansion, will look at the fat of Fenzhou in his mouth and not taste it?"

Ling Jingyang's brain was buzzed by Wang Mu's words, and he drank some wine, thinking that if he didn't attack Fenzhou, other forces would also attack Fenzhou, but he quickly came to his senses and said to Wang Mu: "Wang Mu, do you know why the Qing army withdrew?" ”

"It was we who joined forces with the Dashun army, and the Qing army was afraid that they would be invincible, so we withdrew."

"No, no, no, the Qing army withdrew, but they were not afraid that our army and the Dashun army would join forces, but they wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, leaving some scraps to lure the Dashun army and the court to bite, and use the orthodox dispute between the Chongzhen court and the Hongguang court to consume the strength of our army, do you understand?"

The Qing army is really scheming, and the strategies formulated by the high-level are also very decent, Wang Mu sighed after hearing how the Ming Dynasty did not have such strategists, Ling Jingyang said: "Everyone, the Qing army is fighting hard in the occupied area, look at us again, either for power and profit, or intrigues, we are small, but we must also do our best to prevent the Qing army from resting." ”

Li Rufeng stood up and asked Ling Jingyang to fight.

"Governor, I will bring troops to Datong Mansion tomorrow to harass the Qing army."

Ling Jingyang asked Li Rufeng to sit down and said: "Your little soldiers and horses are still provincial, tomorrow I will go to Qinzhou and discuss with He Zhen to attack the Qing army, you guard Fenxi County, don't lose this last base." ”

After Li Rufeng sat down, Shi Tie objected, he thought that Ling Jingyang should not go to Qinzhou, just like before, if Ling Jingyang went

Fenzhou, but sitting in Yicheng, the reserve legion rebellion will not succeed easily.

Shi Tie spoke very straight, Ling Jingyang's face was pale, not because he was angry, but because he thought that he was the commander of the first army, but he was running around, and he did give his political enemies a chance to mutiny.

He and Shi Tie nodded, Shi Tie thought that Ling Jingyang would scold him, but when he saw that Ling Jingyang didn't mean to blame, he nodded to him, so he put his mind at ease, and for a while Ling Jingyang didn't know who to let go to Qinzhou.

At this time, Wang Mu stood up and said that he was willing to go to Qinzhou, Ling Jingyang was such a civil official in his hands, who would help govern Fenxi County when he left?

Wang Mu talked about other things. "My lord, our colleagues in Yicheng can't be abandoned?"

This made Ling Jingyang ring, Wang Bao and the others, and I don't know if they were tortured by Zhu Youzhen, he and Wang Mu ordered people to go to Yicheng to see if they could use other things to save Wang Bao and them?

Li Rufeng asked, "Then who will go?" ”

Everyone fell silent again, and suddenly Mei Shaozuo came in from outside the door and reported to Ling Jingyang that there was a group of people outside the city who asked to enter the city.

Wang Mu was dissatisfied with Mei Shaozuo, and said: "Just let them in, do you want to alarm the governor with such a little thing?" ”

Mei Shaozuo saw that Wang Mu misunderstood him, and hurriedly said that the group of people outside the city seemed to be Fan Honghuo and the people of the four major families.

Ling Jingyang immediately sobered up, took everyone to the city wall, looked down, a group of black and oppressive crowds were trembling under the city wall, Ling Jingyang shouted to the city: "Is it Fan Honghuo?" ”

Someone in the city immediately responded to him, Fan Honghuo, Wen Budi, Qiao Delong and others' voices rose and fell with each other.

The city gate was opened at one time, hundreds of people outside the city flocked to the city, Ling Jingyang asked Shi Tie to bring the four major families and others to the barracks, and asked the gang to cook a table of dishes, and after a while, the four major families and other businessmen came to the barracks, and Ling Jingyang once again set up a banquet to entertain everyone.

After everyone saw Ling Jingyang, they shed tears, and Fan Honghuo even knelt down with Ling Jingyang, saying that they could see Ling Jingyang again, and they had hope of living.

Wen Bu on the side hurriedly asked the woman behind him to walk forward, Ling Jingyang saw that it was Wen Mandarin Duck, Wen Mandarin Duck saw Ling Jingyang, and his whole body trembled with excitement, Ling Jingyang asked everyone to sit down, and everyone took their seats, and saw the delicacies on the table croaking with hunger.

"Eat, eat, eat, eat, and tell me while eating, how are you doing in Yicheng?"

Everyone was in turmoil, even Wen Yuanyang, a delicate girl, ate a big bowl of brown rice.

After eating, Ling Jingyang left the patriarch of the four major families and Fan Honghuo, and asked the soldiers to give Wen Yuanyang a large courtyard in the city, and let Wen Yuanyang go to the room to rest.

After a while, Li Rufeng, Wang Mu, and Shi Tie also arrived, and Ling Jingyang asked the four major families and Fan Honghuo to talk about what they encountered in Yicheng, and Fan Honghuo was the first to speak.

He said, "Governor, this rebel is not human. ”

Wang Mu stroked his beard and asked him, "Why aren't you human?" ”

This time, without waiting for Fan Honghuo to speak, Wen Bu asked him cautiously, after the rebels occupied Yicheng, they smashed and looted in the city, and many ordinary people's homes were looted, and then His Majesty ordered to hunt down and kill Lingdudu's subordinates.

The four major families Fan Honghuo and other merchants were also beaten into the Lingdu Governor Yu Party, their mansions in Yicheng, the land was robbed by the rebels, and later, the city posted a chase and kill order, hunting and killing the governor's male subordinates rewarded 100 taels of silver, and the female 200 taels of silver.

Shi Tie scolded them for having no brains, didn't they know to come to Fenxi County earlier?

Qiao Delong was not happy when he heard this, and said boldly to Shi Tie: "General Shi, we don't know that the governor is in Fenxi County, the outside world is crazy that the governor has fallen in Fenzhou, and we also heard by chance that the governor is not dead, and he is accumulating strength in Fenxi County, so he risked his life to go out of Yicheng and come to Fenxi County, and half of the people died along the way." ”

Ling Jingyang motioned to Qiao Delong to stop and said, "Why is it one hundred taels for men and two hundred taels for women?" ”

No one thought that this woman was worth more than a man, and most people were surprised that Ling Jingyang called His Majesty's name, this is going to kill his head, only Wen Bu stood up and said to Ling Jingyang: "Du Du, before we came out, we used silver to buy gossip, saying that His Majesty wanted to use his little sister to lure Du Du to Yicheng, and then ......"