Li Dingguo didn't know Zhang Xianzhong's suspicion of him, and when he saw his father summoning him to discuss important military aircraft, he immediately rushed away.

When he arrived at King Ji's Mansion, he was led by the guards into a huge garden eight deep, and Li Dingguo saw all kinds of broken walls and ruins along the way.

Those strange flowers and plants that he couldn't name, all woody, were cut down with sturdy and dry branches, and they should have been used as firewood.

There were also some rare birds and beasts that he did not know, and they also left a lot of feathers and down, apparently to eat.

As for the gold, silver, pearls and jade valuable things decorated on various withered beams and paintings, they were also cut off, leaving all kinds of potholes, and even when Li Dingguo was passing by, there were guards there who continued to pick -

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I should have picked out all the valuable materials before, and there were still some bits and pieces left, and I couldn't look at it when I started it for the first time, so I came to cut two leeks.

Although Li Dingguo doesn't read much, he is also good at observation.

Seeing these scenes, he had already guessed that his father had no intention of staying in Changsha for a long time from the beginning, and he did not expect to gain a firm foothold and use it as a base.

Otherwise, if you plan to take this Jiwang Mansion as your palace for a long time, where will it be destroyed like this?

Li Dingguo thought about it in a trance, and he had been led to the lobby of King Ji's mansion, and with the sound of the guards, he also retracted his thoughts, and hurriedly entered to greet Zhang Xianzhong.

"Excuse me, second brother, you came just in time, we are discussing what to do next, at the moment our forces are divided into three groups, I'm afraid it's not good to fight head-on with Shen Shuren, and if you want to fight, you have to gather troops."

Li Dingguo promised, and also felt that the atmosphere was a little wrong, because when he came in, he saw that his father was already chatting with several confidants and generals very warmly, and he didn't wait for him to arrive before starting the topic.

Among these generals, there is Bai Wenxuan, who broke through with him, and Feng Shuangli, who has been following his eldest brother in the past few years.

The status of these two people was originally slightly lower than that of the four righteous sons under Zhang Xianzhong, but now they can be summoned before Li Dingguo, which clearly means that Li Dingguo is a little marginalized.

At the same time, Li Dingguo was careful and also noticed a detail, that is, among the generals directly under Zhang Xianzhong, there was originally a Wang Shangli, whose status was about the same level as Feng Shuangli and Bai Wenxuan, but he didn't see Wang Shangli at this meeting.

Could it be that Wang Shangli also offended the king and was treated coldly? Or was there another mission sent out?

Li Dingguo didn't dare to make a mistake, so he first put on an appearance of humbly listening to other people's opinions: "The father is suspicious, and the child doesn't dare not worry about it." It's just that the child has just arrived, and he doesn't understand the situation, so I don't know what the generals think? ”

Zhang Xianzhong was also not polite, made a look, and asked Feng Shuangli to make a statement on his behalf.

Feng Shuangli was also inconvenient to show favor to Li Dingguo, so he said bluntly: "The king and I discussed, thinking that there are only two roads at the moment, if the Shen Shuren continue to press, we will either go south, cross Hengshan through Hengzhou, and expand the army all the way, and then see if the official army is pursuing urgently."

If Shen Shuren is not afraid of the hardships and dangers of Hengshan, dares to give up the benefits of the sailor, and leaves the Xiangjiang River to pursue into the mountain, we can fight and turn back to fight. Otherwise, either continue to go deep into Nanling and flee to Liangguang.

Or, after crossing Hengshan Mountain, go westward and go to Xiangxi to enter Sichuan through the middle Guizhou Road - and the three generals who were stranded in Changde Mansion, and General Sun, who was stranded in Guizhou, can also join the Shizhou Wei together, go south to the middle Guizhou Road to join our army, and enter Sichuan together.

I don't know what the second general thinks, which of the two sets of strategies is more secure, or has a better plan. ”

Feng Shuangli relayed these two routes, there is no disagreement about the first south to Hengzhou (now Hengyang, Hunan), whether to go to Liangguang or Sichuan, or just to lie dormant in the mountains halfway into Sichuan and Guangdong for a while, you have to take Hengzhou first.

Because in Changsha and Xiangtan, the waterway transportation is too developed, and the water depth of the Xiangjiang River is wide and the flow rate is slow, which is very suitable for the side with the advantage of the water army to maneuver and intersperse.

In Zhang Xianzhong's several battles around Dongting Lake this time, the most disadvantaged thing was to climb the mountains and have no large warships, so he had to retreat the battlefield to an area where the warships and sailors were abolished before he could consider a war.

After passing through the Hengshan Valley to the south, the water transportation was completely finished, and Zhang Xianzhong's advantage came. Moreover, if they want to run when the time comes, the officers and soldiers will not have ships available, and the "righteous army" will definitely march faster than the officers and troops.

After Li Dingguo heard this, he always felt a little awkward, but he couldn't say it.

He pondered carefully for a while in silence before realizing what the problem was: didn't Zhang Xianzhong think about trying to join forces with Liu Wenxiu from the beginning, or to scatter all the huge wealth intercepted in Changsha City for recruitment, and then fight with the official army? From beginning to end, all you wanted was to run away?

It's not that it's wrong to escape, but now that they have so many newly recruited people, if they fight for thousands of miles, they will definitely lose all the new annexed troops, and the old battalion in Shaanxi and Henan may not be able to be preserved.

Li Dingguo thought about it, and then persuaded: "If the father wants to learn from the eldest brother and the third brother, the child has nothing to say, the child just wants to remind: our army has 50,000 or 60,000 people, and if we go over the mountains and mountains for thousands of miles to fight, I am afraid that at least two-thirds of the men and horses will be scattered, and it would be good to have 20,000 old battalions left in the end."

The land of Changsha is indeed in danger to defend, and the people of Shenshu are also surging, but if we temporarily retreat to the mountains south of Hengshan, there is a danger to defend, hold the time, and then spread money to recruit troops and train troops, and slowly figure it out, it may not be impossible to repel the people of Shenshu.

As for the soldiers and horses on the third brother's side, the father can actually let the third brother temporarily withdraw from the army and turn with the eldest brother, when the time comes, our army will be divided into two parts, the eldest brother is in the west, and the father and I are waiting in the south, there are mountains to defend,

It is impossible for Shen Shuren to lead Wuchang soldiers to attack Hengshan all year round, if his rear is empty, then the eldest brother and the third brother will naturally be able to attack everywhere, so that they can't take care of each other.

In this way, our army's predicament will be relieved by itself, and it will be able to return to the state of last year's defense against danger and hibernation in the mountains, and there will be one more piece of territory than last year, which can echo each other in eastern Sichuan and southern Hunan. ”

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he was quiet at first, but just lured the enemy to go deep and encouraged Li Dingguo to go into more detail:

"Oh? Yes, then you should tell me, what is the danger to defend south of this Hengshan Mountain? Do you want our army to directly defend Hengzhou City? The valleys of Hengshan can stop the people of Shenshu? Do you want to retreat all the way to the Wuling area of Liangguang? ”

Li Dingguo was a little uncomfortable when asked, but he still didn't think in the worst direction, he thought that Zhang Xianzhong just ran too far and it would be difficult to contact Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu in the future.

So he carefully used his brain to think for a long time, and came up with a better option than directly fleeing to the Wuling area on the border of Hunan and Guangdong:

"My father is very worried, the land of Wuling Smoke Miasma is indeed not suitable for northerners such as us, and it is now the midsummer season at the end of June, if you go to the mountains and forests at the junction of the two Guangzhou, I am afraid that the water and soil in the army will not adapt to many epidemics.

In this case, after we pass Hengshan, we can turn slightly east and enter the southern section of Luoxiao Mountain. It is located at the junction of Huguang, Jiangxi and Guangzhou, and there are also several places that are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Although the child does not read, he has also heard "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and after Sun Jian was expelled from Changsha District in the late Han Dynasty, the rest of the department entered Luoxiao Mountain, and Sun Jian could not restrain it. No matter how good Shen Shuren is at pursuit, can he still be stronger than a hero like Sun Jian?

Moreover, the advantage of going to Luoxiao Mountain is that it is connected to the three provinces, and even if Shen Shuren is appointed as the governor of Huguang or even the governor of Huguang, it will be difficult to overstep his authority and hunt him down. Isn't this much better than the lack of maneuvering after entering the river?

Although Yang Sichang was able to governor the six provinces and coordinate the encirclement and suppression, there were no military disasters in Liangguang and Jiangxi, and he also lacked overall planning in the local area, so it was difficult to stop the encirclement in a hurry.

In addition, Yang Sichang is sick and aging, and the fine work sent by his father was not reciprocated before, saying that he only has one breath left? Last year, when we killed King Xiang and King Guiwang, we failed to kill Yang Sichang. This time, he killed King Rong Ji again, and he was killed by trapping the city, not by sneak attack.

Even if Chongzhen still wants to cover it up, I'm afraid that he won't be able to get over it! At that time, as soon as Yang Sichang dies, maybe Fang Kongzhi will also be severely punished, and Shen Shuren will not be able to take care of himself, and there will be no one to coordinate the war across several provinces, and our army will have another opportunity to breathe and expand the army! ”

The "southern section of Luoxiao Mountain" mentioned by Li Dingguo is actually the Jinggang Mountain of later generations, but there is no exclusive place name at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and this place name was only available in the Qing Dynasty later.

The earliest record of the aborigines in the south of Luoxiao Mountain is that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, after Ou Xing was killed by Sun Jian, the Taishou of Changsha, the rest of the people fled into the mountains.

I have to say that Li Dingguo's vision in military geography is still good, if Zhang Xianzhong really listened to him and went to Luoxiao Mountain, Shen Shuren might not be able to chase and kill.

However, Zhang Xianzhong finally had a complete showdown, and after listening to Li Dingguo's statement carefully, he couldn't help laughing:

"Heh, the ancients said that knowing the son is more than the father, but we can't understand you - you also know that it is the middle of summer, and the northerners will drill the mountains and forests of the southern hot land, and there will be more plagues! He actually told our army that he had to go to Huguang and the border of Liangguang instead of Sichuan!

Don't you wish Lao Tzu was seriously ill, and your eldest brother and third brother were not around, and this army could be under your command! At that time, our foundation will be divided into two by you, and the rest will be yours to stay in the east of Sichuan!

You are embarrassed to keep saying that you are thinking about the officers and soldiers of the three armies! You are so reluctant to abandon the new annexed army, why did Baling lose more than 10,000 people and horses of Pan Shirong to the Shen Shuren when he withdrew the army! Everyone in the army has the face to say this, but you don't have the face! You sell the most ruthlessly when selling new annexes! ”

These remarks finally completely broke out the triple dissatisfaction and distrust that Zhang Xianzhong had accumulated continuously with Li Dingguo in the past few months, as well as the recent situation that had occurred in recent days, and the temptation of today's remarks.

Li Dingguo attacked with Ainengqi last year, and Ainengqi died. This year, he was advised to attack the empty area in the south of Huguang as soon as possible, but he was defeated by the army.

In the end, he left so many new annexed troops in Baling, but at this moment he came to persuade Zhang Xianzhong not to give up the new attached army.

Finally, he also persuaded Zhang Xianzhong, a Shaanxi person, to drill the tropical jungle in the mountains of South China when the hottest time in June of the lunar calendar! Doesn't this make it clear that his father is too healthy and dies not fast enough!

Several layers of suspicion and dissatisfaction were superimposed, making Zhang Xianzhong completely tear his face.

This concern may be difficult for modern people to understand, because of the good medical conditions in modern times, Shaanxi people will not feel that it is a ghost door to go to Guangdong to work.

But for the ancient times when the medical conditions were backward, it was really very dangerous for northerners to go to Liangguang, especially in summer-

Zhu Di made several expeditions to Vietnam, just because of the scorching summer heat in the rainforest, how many soldiers died of illness. In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols could not conquer Vietnam, and it was also a problem of weather heat, and the Central Plains people could only survive in the southern rainforest during the winter months.

Although Zhang Xianzhong is not old, about thirty-five to forty years old, he is also afraid that he will not be able to afford to get sick. Li Dingguo is in his twenties, young and strong, and he is definitely better able to carry diseases.

Now that he has made his words clear, Zhang Xianzhong will definitely not be able to continue to entrust Li Dingguo with important tasks. Although it is not enough to be convicted, it is clear that it is necessary to seize power, otherwise it will be a legacy of tiger breeding.

I only heard Zhang Xianzhong's cold face command: "Feng Shuangli!" ”

Feng Shuangli: "The last general!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong: "Transfer Li Dingguo to your camp to listen to it!" Just give him a lieutenant, and let him make meritorious contributions! ”

Feng Shuangli: "The king, the second general is ......"

Zhang Xianzhong: "You dare to disobey?!" ”

Feng Shuangli immediately swallowed his saliva and retracted: "The last general obeys the order!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong then ordered: "The whole army will go south to Hengzhou, and then wait for an opportunity to turn westward, in addition, send a messenger to inform the third child, let him choose the opportunity to withdraw the army, meet with Wang'er, and then adapt to the situation on his own, strive to cooperate with us, and secretly enter Sichuan from Qianzhong Road——

Let them be strict-mouthed, and don't explain the ultimate goal to the soldiers in advance. I just said that we were hiding back to Shizhou Wei and Yongshun Xuanwei Division, fighting with those tribal Tusi, and finding a place to avoid the Shenshu people.

Also, the property obtained from King Rong's Mansion and King Ji's Mansion was also singled out of the fine and soft, and no more recruits should be recruited in Huguang, anyway, you can't bring too many people to the middle of the Qianzhong Road, and it will be in vain to recruit them, so there is no need to invite people to buy people's hearts in Huguang. ”

Zhang Xianzhong is also a typical two faces for the people under his rule, and he is very pragmatic. Historically, after he conquered Wuchang in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, he was once said to be very good to the people, striving not to kill a single person in Hubei, and also opened a department to take scholars and set up six officials, looking like he was going to change the dynasty.

But this kind of "not thirsty for killing" and putting on a posture of "benevolent government" is only when he wants to develop in this place for a long time.

If he is destined to know that he can't hold it, Zhang Xianzhong will not waste any mercy on those who are no longer useful, kill when he should kill, and rob when he should rob.

Li Dingguo listened again, and finally understood why he was so marginalized by his father.

What he thought was that he would one day return to Huguang, and in Zhang Xianzhong's heart, everything in Huguang was already an outcast.

Just now, he also persuaded his father to take all the gold, silver and jewelry stolen from King Rong's Mansion and King Ji's Mansion to expand the army and train his troops.

Every piece of gold and silver in Huguangfa, in Zhang Xianzhong's eyes, is already a waste. How can a person who persuades him to waste still be reused? will definitely be thought that this is an invitation to buy people's hearts, and it is for Li Dingguo to invite people to buy people's hearts himself.

Li Dingguo was disheartened, but he still had to explain two sentences in the end: "Father! You have no complaints about all the military power adjustments of the child! Defeated at the hands of the Shen Shuren and lost 20,000 soldiers, he was demoted to a soldier, which is also deserved.

But the child must make it clear that the death of the fourth brother has nothing to do with the child! When he persuaded his father to enter Huguang, there was no other purpose! I just really think that Shen Shuren's troops are transferred to the north and there is an opportunity to take advantage of! This time he persuaded his father to stay in Luo Xiao Mountain to observe the changes of the times, and he had no dissent! Every day you know! ”

Zhang Xianzhong snorted coldly, saying that he didn't take Li Dingguo well, he could at least continue to fight under Feng Shuangli! What is there to explain!

As for the external statement, of course, it is said that Li Dingguo was demoted because of his defeat and abandonment of his teammates.

There is no need for outsiders to know about these dirty things.

If Li Dingguo is tight-lipped and doesn't mention the inside story, then he can still be mixed. If he dared to chew his tongue outside, then Zhang Xianzhong would really have to hit him hard.