In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, in May, Hu Guangcheng announced the political envoys, Xiangyang Mansion and Gucheng.

Zhang Xianzhong raised the blood-stained Yanling knife in his hand and placed it at the elbow socket, and then slowly wiped the blood from the knife with his robe.

The beating flames were reflected in Zhang Xianzhong's eyes, and the flames reflected Zhang Xianzhong's bloody face.

Zhang Xianzhong's eyes calmly looked at the Gucheng County Ya in front of him, which had become a sea of fire, and there was no wave in his heart.

On the branches in front of the Yaqian in Gucheng County, there were corpses hanging all over the place, which was shocking.

Ruan Zhiyou, the magistrate of Gucheng County, who committed suicide by poisoning, Lin Mingqiu, the governor of Huguang, and the corpses of many officials were all hung on it.

A group of robes and belts, wearing sharp armor soldiers stood on Zhang Xianzhong's side, and the bright fire light shining on the iron armor reflected the cold light of the Dao Dao, as if he was on the Netherworld Yellow Spring. 、

"Father-in-law, the remnants of the officers and soldiers in the city have been cleared."

A young general wearing an iron crown and a hood came over from the side and reported to Zhang Xianzhong.

"The mansions of all the gentry and officials in the city, as well as the granaries, are also under our control."

While the young general was talking, Yu Guang naturally saw the corpses hanging from the trees, and couldn't help frowning slightly.

However, such a small action was naturally not noticed by Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong's attention was still on the burning Gucheng County Ya in front of him.

Hearing the news of taking Gucheng, Zhang Xianzhong finally had a slight smile on his face.

"Okay, well done."

Zhang Xianzhong's heart was full of joy, and in the past year, he has been holding back a lot of anger in his heart.

"Spread the word, slaughter cattle and sheep tonight and have a feast, have a good time!"

Zhang Xianzhong waved his hand and immediately ordered heroically.

"Yes."

The young man gave his life, and was ready to turn around and leave.

"Dingguo, you don't have to go, just let the people under your hands go, you and Kewang will follow me."

Zhang Xianzhong laughed, reached out and grabbed Li Dingguo, who was about to leave.

"Yes."

After hearing the order, Li Dingguo stopped moving at the moment, and responded again.

"Now is not the time to march to war, there is no need to be so serious."

Zhang Xianzhong stepped forward, patted Li Dingguo's arm, and said with a smile.

"Yes, father-in-law."

Zhang Xianzhong looked at Li Dingguo, who was a little relaxed, and the smile on his face was even stronger.

He received a total of four righteous sons, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi.

Among the four, his favorite is Li Dingguo.

When he adopted Li Dingguo as his adopted son, Li Dingguo was still very young, but he was in his early teens, but his height was much taller than his peers.

Now I am nineteen years old, and I am in the prime of my youth and strength.

Li Dingguo is brave and brave, and he can gallop left and right on his horse to shoot at distant arrow targets.

And not only that, Li Dingguo also learned quickly to lead troops to fight and arrange troops, and his ability to lead troops was even much better than that of the eldest Sun Kewang.

"The two military divisions, both get on their horses, go back to the camp outside the city, and drink him well!"

Zhang Xianzhong strode forward, stepped directly onto the war horse beside him, and said to the two scholars dressed as scribes standing beside him.

During this time, he was stationed in Gucheng, and secretly Zhang Xianzhong also recruited a lot of talents, and even a few talents and scholars.

These two scholars who were regarded as military advisors by Zhang Xianzhong, one was named Pan Duao, and the other was named Xu Yixian.

Pan Duao has the fame of Xiucai, because he competed with the gentry in the county for land, but was bullied and lost, and he was indignant and directly transferred to Zhang Xianzhong, who was recruiting troops and horses at that time.

A talent is nothing to the Ming Dynasty, and if you want to be an official, you must at least go to the point of lifting people.

But for Zhang Xianzhong, it is already rare for someone to be willing to take the initiative to work.

Not to mention that Pan Duao is still a talent and has a reputation.

Xu Yixian is also a talent, but unlike Pan Duao, he joined Zhang Xianzhong's command because of resentment.

Xu Yixian's purpose was clear from the beginning.

The chaos in Huguang, the drought in Henan, and the defeat of the officers and soldiers in Beizhili from the north made Xu Yixian have a different idea in his heart.

Zhang Xianzhong's heart of disobedience is like Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it.

After weighing the pros and cons, Xu Yixian chose to take the initiative to join Zhang Xianzhong's command.

The reason is very simple, Xu Yixian feels that Zhang Xianzhong is a person who can achieve great things.

During this time, Xu Yixian has been explaining the "Art of War of Sun and Wu" to Zhang Xianzhong, and also helped Zhang Xianzhong make firearms, and instructed Zhang Xianzhong to reorganize the army according to the Ming Dynasty's military system of the town and battalion, set up regimental battalion phalanxes, and left and right battalions.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong also invited Xu Yixian as a guest.

Pan Duao and Xu Yixian are both literate and martial.

Pan Duao is good at computational mathematics, and is responsible for allocating grain and grass in the barracks and managing housekeeping.

Xu Yixian knew about firearms, was responsible for making military armor, and specialized in army management.

After laying down Gucheng, Zhang Xianzhong did not have the slightest idea of stationing in Gucheng.

Gucheng is located in the Yunxiang area, with only two roads to the west and north to travel, and is threatened by the Ming army stationed in Xiangyang, so it is not a place for foundation.

Even if they stayed in Gucheng, once the Ming army came from both sides, and they were surrounded by the front and back, then all they could do was to tie their hands and capture.

The reason why Zhang Xianzhong chose to surrender before was precisely because he was driven here by officers and soldiers all the way, and not surrendering was a dead end.

Fortunately, Xiong Wencan was arrogant enough and wealthy enough to accept his bribe.

Otherwise, I'm afraid he will really die in the hands of Zuo Liangyu's killer.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong did not move the camp into the city, and it was still located on the periphery of Gucheng.

Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, as well as Pan Duao and Xu Yixian followed Zhang Xianzhong back to the camp outside the city.

At this time, everywhere in the camp was a piece of jubilation, and the smell of meat and coriander wafted in the air, and the shouts and cheers were unconscious.

Now the entire valley city is already theirs, and the Ming army that led the troops stationed around the valley city to monitor them was packed up by them early in the morning.

Zhang Dajing, the superintendent of the army, and two battalion generals Ma Tingbao and Xu Qizuo were also captured and chose to surrender.

Zhang Xianzhong hit his horse and entered the camp all the way to the location of the Chinese military tent, and the soldiers along the road saw Zhang Xianzhong's arrival, and they all bowed down one after another, and their faces were excited.

Along the way, there have been all kinds of names for marshals, generals, and kings.

In the past year, although there are no more officers and soldiers chasing behind him, he is really aggrieved, and he has to hide everything he grabs, and if he wants a woman, he can only make some money to find those kiln sisters who sell themselves outside the city.

I wanted to go into the county seat to see the local Qinglou, but others saw them as Qiu Ba, who was a soldier, and they were all blocked and didn't even let the city in.

In the past, the cities and towns were casually broken, and those gentry and eunuchs raised in the deep boudoir were not picked by them.

After receiving Zhao'an, the military salary has no food and grass, and he will be stared at every day, so it is better not to recruit this An.

Zhang Xianzhong rode on the horse, clasped his fists and constantly responded to the generals on the left and right sides who came to congratulate and greet him.

Seeing such morale, even if he entered the military tent and sat down, Pan Duao's mood was still in a state of high spirits.

"With such morale, the military spirit can be used, and now the king is rising again, and no one can be in charge!"

Pan Duao looked excited, holding a wine glass and idle

"This glass of wine, I salute the king!"

Zhang Xianzhong laughed, raised his wine glass and drank it all, and his heart was very happy.

"This is thanks to our good governor Xiong Wencan, Xiong Dadufu."

"Without Xiong Dufu, how could we have a good life today."

The Tartars in the north went south, causing most of the officers and soldiers to go north, and now there are not many officers and soldiers in the whole Yunxiang.

Long Zaitian has already led the troops to Yunnan, calculating the tutorial, and now he is afraid that they are all in Sichuan.

Zuo Liangyu, the chopping goods, is still in Nanyang Mansion, and Xiong Wencan, a turtle with a shrunken head, is afraid that he will not even dare to come out of Xiangyang City after receiving the news that he has made trouble in Gucheng.

"This first cup is still to our bear governor."

"The king said it well, we should indeed respect our Xiong Governor first!"

Everyone in the tent agreed, laughing and toasting together.

Zhang Xianzhong put the wine glass on the table, took the chopsticks and picked up the dishes on the table at will.

These dishes are all made by the chefs of Gucheng Restaurant, and the taste is naturally first-class and first-class.

These days, Zhang Xianzhong has just begun, and he has eaten in the city a few times when he can enter the city, but now those chefs have been taken out of the restaurant by his personal guards, and they can eat if they want to eat in the future.

However, Zhang Xianzhong's mind is not on the usual delicacies.

Zhang Xianzhong's gaze slowly swept over the faces of the generals below, and then spoke in a deep voice.

"The situation has changed, the original plan is not working now, and going north is a dead land."

Originally, at the time of the uprising, it was agreed that he would go north, join forces with Li Wanqing, and then go east to join forces with the 5th Battalion of Gezuo and enter Nanzhili.

But Li Wanqing lost too quickly, and he didn't give them much time to react at all.

At the end of March, Zuo Liangyu's troops went out of the town to defeat Li Wanqing, and Li Wanqing was defeated all the way to Sipinggang in Chimei City.

In April, he was defeated by Zuo Liangyu again in Zhangjialin and Qilihe, and Li Wanqing also surrendered.

Ma Shixiu and Du Yingjin saw that Li Wanqing's surrender was also a Peking Opera, and they all surrendered anyway.

Originally, except for Li Wanqing, Shen Wandeng, the king of Shunyi, and the king of the reincarnation were still allowed to change, and they should be able to support it for a while.

But the king of Shunyi did not surrender, but the king of the reincarnation allowed the change but was afraid.

The reincarnated king allowed to change and bribed a personal guard named Liu Xicai under the command of the king of Shunyi.

Let Liu Xicai cut off the head of the king of Shunyi at night, and then took advantage of the chaos of the dragons without a leader, the king of reincarnation allowed to swallow the subordinates of the king of Shunyi and surrendered to the officers and soldiers.

The Ming army now reoccupied the important city of Nanyang Mansion, and the main forces of the Ming army such as Zuo Liangyu and Zhang Renxue gathered in Nanyang Mansion at this time.

Now if I go to Nanyang again, I'm afraid that my head will break the blood flow.

The original plan was no longer working and had to be changed.

"I won't hide it from you, we don't have much time now, and if we can't open the situation and are still trapped in Yunxiang in September, we will be dead."

Zhang Xianzhong knocked on the table gently, and everyone looked stunned when they heard what Zhang Xianzhong said.

"On March 25, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers from four towns set out from Beijing and came all the way to Henan."

"The soldiers and horses of the four towns are led by the general soldiers of the town, Zu Dabi, the chief soldier of Ningxia Town, Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of Lintao Town, He Renlong, the chief soldier of Yansui Town, and Chen Wang, the chief soldier of Hanzhong Town."

Zhang Xianzhong has a famous colonel under him, and he is the nephew of the current first assistant Xue Guoguan.

In the past, the reason why they were able to recruit successfully was because Xiong Wencan was greedy for money, and secondly, because the little school helped in the capital and dredged the channels, and finally made the plan to appease be agreed.

Money can make ghosts grind, and the Ming Dynasty has long been rotten to the bone.

It cost only two or three hundred taels of silver, and it was already the news that the battalion soldiers of the four towns who were going south were going to Huguang.

Every time Zhang Xianzhong said a person's name, the atmosphere in the tent was a little colder.

When Chen Wang's name was mentioned, the atmosphere in the tent also dropped to freezing point.

None of these four people are good characters.

"Why are these killings ......?"

There was a lot of discussion in the tent, and everyone's faces were extremely embarrassed, and there was no joy at all.

Zu Dabi and He Renlong, both of them are crazy people, and they don't want to die when they fight.

Cao Bianjiao and Chen Wang, both of them are monsters.

"I heard that Chen Wang won a battle as soon as he arrived in Zhending, cutting off the heads of hundreds of Tartars in total, and also killing one of the Tartars' generals......"

"What are you afraid of!"

Zhang Xianzhong snorted coldly and suppressed all the discussions.

"Jingshi is far away in the north, and it will take a few months to rush from Jingshi."

"No matter how fast the officers and soldiers are, they will not be able to reach Huguang until September, and there are still more than four months to go, what are you afraid of now?!"

Zhang Xianzhong's strength suppressed all the voices of discussion in the account.

Everyone's eyes were also focused on Zhang Xianzhong.

"The soldiers and horses that can be transferred under Xiong Wencan's command are only 12,000 now, and our two departments have a total of 50,000 soldiers and horses, and the armor is complete."

"Those displaced people who fled can all be used as hungry soldiers, with the backing of hundreds of thousands of hungry soldiers, and they still can't win against tens of thousands of officers and soldiers?!"

Zhang Xianzhong sneered.

Money can really make ghosts grind, and after a year of being a justifiable Ming army, he spent money to buy a large amount of armaments, and now the army under his command has already been replaced by shotguns.

Luo Rucai's side is the same, he also spent money to get a large number of weapons, and his combat power is already different from what it used to be.

Zhang Xianzhong can completely hide these things from everyone about the main force of the Ming army going south, and he is the only one who knows about it anyway.

The reason why Zhang Xianzhong chose to speak out was precisely because he had a plan in his heart, and it would be better to say these news.

Zhang Xianzhong looked around at the generals in the tent, without the slightest panic in his heart.

He had heard a lot of stories, one of which was the story of Xiang Yu who broke the cauldron and won 200,000 Qin soldiers with thousands of soldiers and horses.

What Zhang Xianzhong wants is the current effect, he wants everyone to know that he is in a desperate situation now, and he will work hard with twelve points of ruthlessness.

He already had a plan in mind, a plan that was sufficient to deal with the current situation.

Zhang Xianzhong's eyes were cold, and his gaze slowly swept over the bodies of the generals in the tent.

"Four months is not enough time for us to poke out a few big holes in this southern country, that's a joke!"

(End of chapter)