At noon the next day, Gao Yigong came to Li Yan's military tent with the three dogs who were tied up by five flowers.

In the military tent, Li Yan is enjoying lunch, the diet of China in the Ming Dynasty has become complete, and all kinds of conditioning and cooking methods are almost mature, but unfortunately, it is located in the peasant army, the conditions are limited, and it is naturally impossible to eat as good as the dignitary emperor Lao Tzu.

Li Zicheng gave preferential treatment to scholars, and Li Yan even got a very high standard of food, a bowl of corn, a boiled crucian carp and a little pickles, although it was not very tasty, but it was always better than when Li Yan was a homeless or a whistle.

As soon as the three dogs entered the military tent, they cried wolf howl, kowtowing like pounding garlic, and they were hungry for a few days, otherwise the yellow and white things would flow out.

"This guy brought it to you, it's really noisy!" Gao Yigong complained that these three dogs were really loud, and he was deaf all the way.

"I'll come to get people in the afternoon, don't lose people, otherwise the road should be marked and the guy will definitely make trouble for me." Obviously, Gao Yigong didn't want to stay in this noisy environment, so he immediately reminded Li Yan.

"You smuggled it out?" Li Yan looked at Gao Yigong and asked with a weak face.

"Nonsense! Otherwise, can you still find a way to meet the mark? Gao Yigong glanced at Li Yan, turned around and opened the military tent and left.

At this time, Sangouzi also noticed that the voice of the "adult" above was quite familiar, so he raised his head boldly and quietly peeked, and saw Li Yan's familiar face smiling at him, Sangouzi was suddenly startled.

"Sentry?"

"It's me" Li Yan used chopsticks to remove some fish meat, and then chewed the rice with pickles.

"You weren't beheaded, Mr. Sentry?" Sangouzi asked in surprise, you must know that desertion is a big crime in the army, and if you don't kill your head, it seems that you are living a very nourishing life.

Li Yan put down the chopsticks in his hand, wiped the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief, and then said: "Actually, you shouldn't call me the head of the sentry now, but you should call me to join the army." ”

"Participation...... Army? "Sangouzi doesn't know what kind of official he is to join the army, but it seems that Li Yan was not only killed, but also promoted.

"Yes, join the army, after letting you go that day, I was escorted to see King Chuang, King Chuang appreciated my talent, so he promoted me to join the army, and I want to thank you for it?" Li Yan said with a smile, for this thirteen or fourteen-year-old little soldier, he still tried his best to be amiable.

"Are you hungry?" Li Yan looked at the skinny three dogs and asked thoughtfully.

"Hungry...... Not...... I'm not hungry," the three dogs swallowed, and stopped talking.

"Bring a bowl of rice and untie him," Li Yan ordered, and soon two soldiers walked in, one untied the rope for the three dogs, and the other brought a bowl of rice.

Sangouzi thought that he hadn't eaten for a few days, and he couldn't care so much when he saw the rice, so he grabbed the rice with his hand and ate it, eating his mouth full of rice grains.

Li Yan didn't dislike it when he looked at it, this dog's world, it was good to be able to help one, not to mention that the three dogs were still useful to him.

"Where's the old cow?" Li Yan tried his best to make his tone seem like a homely chatter.

The three dogs gobbled up the rice and whimpered, "Uncle Niu is dead." ”

"Dead?"

Not..... It seemed that he was choked on eating too quickly, and the three dogs suddenly choked and their faces turned red.

"Give him some water." Li Yan looked at the choked three dogs, and immediately ordered.

After drinking a few big mouthfuls of water, the three dogs eased up, Xu remembered the appearance of eating just now, wiped his mouth embarrassedly, and then said: "Uncle Niu was killed by the officers and soldiers of the imperial court......

"Killed?"

"Well, Uncle Niu killed the younger brother of the court officers and soldiers when he was fighting before, and after coming down the mountain, he was recognized, and Uncle Niu was killed......" Sangouzi didn't feel much sad, this world is like this, life and death are ordinary things.

"Is there really a hot soup cotton cloth under the mountain?" Li Yanyou asked.

"There was one day one, and then there were fewer and fewer after that." Sangouzi said angrily: "The imperial court gathered us together, and did not let us go, nor did they kill us, but the supply of food and clothing became less and less, and then an official came, saying that he wanted us to join the official army, and he would give us food, otherwise he would starve to death." ”

"Since you have something to eat when you join the official army, why don't you join?" Li Yan asked curiously, how can the officers and soldiers be treated better than the peasant army nested in the mountains.

"Whistle...... You don't know if you join the army, the treatment of the officers and soldiers is also poor, two porridges and a steamed bun every day, and you have to patrol the mountains and stand guard all day long, which is not enough to eat, and often you are hungry for half a day, so you have to scrape the bark and dig out the weeds to eat," the three dogs said after two more mouthfuls of rice.

"It's strange, why are we so poorly fed by this official army besieging us?"

"It's not easy to say that it's the imperial court, it's to deal with the Tartars in the north, and to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong, this money and grain can only be used in important places, and the army surrounding the mountain will naturally be short-supplied" The three dogs said the rumors they heard at the bottom of the mountain.

"How many people are down the hill?" Li Yan thought for a while and asked.

"I don't know about this, but there are only about 100 people under our commander, but all of them are cavalry from Shaanxi," Sangouzi said.

Li Yan frowned slightly, and began to think about it, according to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, a border army should theoretically lead 400 soldiers, but now there are only 100 people, which means that either the battle is damaged, or the empty salary, no matter which one it is, it shows that the combat effectiveness of this army is questionable, most of the horse teams from Shaanxi are border troops, and the imperial court can be regarded as having made a bloody investment, and this time even the border army has been transferred.

"Do you know which general you belong to?" Li Yan continued to ask.

"Hmm....... It seems to be Mr. He? The three dogs thought carefully and spoke.

"Mr. He? Could it be He Renlong? Li Yan retrieved information from his memory, and He Renlong's information he couldn't remember completely, but it was also a great advantage, after all, in this era of difficult information consultation, he could intuitively understand a person through later records.

This ability is actually very rebellious, which is equivalent to you having an all-powerful spy.

He Renlong is not very famous, compared to Sun Chuanting's efforts to turn the tide, Hong Chengchou's disaster to the country and the people is not much of his good reputation and bad reputation, not that he is not bad, but his bad will be good to average at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and what may make him a little famous is that he was cut down by Sun Chuanting later.

He Renlong's army discipline is very poor, not the general poor, looting places, robbing the people's women is a regular operation, although the combat effectiveness is also there, but generally such an army does everything for money, the court gives them food and they give their lives to the court to fight the peasant army, if the court does not pay the food, sorry, the master is the peasant army!

Thinking of this, Li Yan's mind became active, and he immediately asked, "Then do you know how long you haven't received the general army's salary?" ”

Saying this, the three dogs' chatterbox opened, and immediately said: "I said that I haven't received it for a year, and I joined the army, let me tell you, this official army actually hates the imperial court, the imperial court does not pay military salaries, and does not give much food, these officers and soldiers are hungry, I heard our general manager get drunk that day, if the imperial court does not pay military salaries, it will be against his mother......."

It can be seen that the Ming army's resentment against the imperial court is not small, and it was originally a group of hard-working soldiers, and you still play the routine of arrears of wages with him, isn't that forcing yourself to a dead end? These masters are not honest peasants, but real military leaders, the kind who dare to flip the table in anger.

Why did Li Zicheng grow bigger quickly after jumping from Yufu to Henan? In fact, a big reason is because of the coquettish operation of the imperial court that makes a large number of border soldiers feel cold, they still have to sell their lives if they don't give money, and they have to be greedy for merit if they win the battle.

It's the other way around!

So Li Zicheng's command quickly assembled a large number of well-trained officers and soldiers, through historical records, it can be seen that the painting style of Li Zicheng's army in the later period changed abruptly, spearmen, heavy cavalry, rangers, and even artillery troops, it is obvious that this is not a professional technical branch that can be cultivated by the rogue, so its source is obvious.

It can be said that when the battle of a stone was later, it was actually the Shaanxi border army of the Ming Dynasty against the Liaodong border army, after all, Nurhachi was also the dragon and tiger general of the Ming Dynasty before......

On the other hand, on the side of the imperial court, well, what is more sad is that in the end, the main force of the imperial court is composed of some peasant armies, such as the 200,000 army that Zuo Liangyu quickly gathered after being defeated by Li Zicheng, in fact, after Li Zicheng killed Luo Rucai and Yuan Shizhong, the peasant army dissatisfied with Li Zicheng went to defect.

For example, the most capable Loyal Battalion and Li Dingguo in Nanming were also born from the two major peasant armies of Dashun and Daxi.

This is the predicament of the Ming army, at this moment the Ming army under the Yufu Mountain is also facing the same dilemma, the imperial court has no money, taxes cannot come up, there are no officers who are not greedy, military salaries cannot be paid, the administrative costs are scary, the tax efficiency is low, and the morale of the army is naturally negative growth in an all-round way.

Yang Sichang is also very difficult, no matter how good he is, it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and there is no one who is not greedy for a group of sub-army leaders under him, but what can he do?

Didn't he know that Zuo Liangyu accepted Zhang Xianzhong's money and released the water? Didn't he know that the long-term arrears of military salaries led to the risk of mutiny in the army?

But what could he do? A person like Zuo Liangyu can't kill a hundred times too much, but who dares to kill? You forced him to fight back directly, and the lesson of Dongjiang Town was there.

Is it because Yang Sichang wants to be in arrears of military salaries? Chongzhen gave him so much silver, and he was not the God of Wealth, so he couldn't change the silver.

For the sake of silver, he can condone the army to rob the people, but the people don't have much to rob, the wealthy families, the princes of the clans, you don't dare to rob, they don't pay taxes, you can only woo the yeoman farmer, and the yeoman farmer will have less tax...... It's a vicious circle.

Therefore, Yang Sichang can only use limited money to do the most efficient things, for example, to eliminate Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong is obviously the largest peasant army force now, Li Zicheng has few people left, and he can't become a climate, so Yang Sichang smashed all the resources in his hands and the elite soldiers into the encirclement and suppression of Zhang Xianzhong.

As long as I clean up Zhang Xianzhong, I can clean up Li Zicheng when I turn back! As long as the defenders under Yufu Mountain suffer for another two months!

Of course, resources should be given to those who are desperate on the front line, and there is no risk for you to besiege Li Zicheng, why do you want so much money and food? Owe it first, and then give it when the court has money!

Yang Sichang thinks so, maybe Chongzhen thinks so too, but obviously, the Ming army under Yufu Mountain doesn't think so......

Li Yan smiled, Yang Sichang finally made a mistake, but this was also a mistake he had to make, after all, the reality was so helpless.

"Three dogs, let me ask you, do you want to live or die?" Li Yan looked at the three dogs with a smile and asked.

The three dogs were stunned for a moment, and immediately spoke: "Naturally, I want to live." ”

"You were a deserter before, and according to the rules of breaking into the camp, you are to be beheaded, but it's a pity that you die at a young age, I intend to save your life, but you have to do what I say, is it okay?" Li Yan asked with a smile.

"Yes, yes, as long as you don't kill me, you can do anything" When the three dogs heard that they could save their lives, they were instantly overjoyed, and they couldn't stop kowtowing and said.

"Then follow me to see King Chuang!" Li Yan got up and said. "If you really do a good job, not only do you not have to die, but you will also be greatly rewarded!"

"See...... See King Chuang? Sangouzi had obviously never seen such a big person, so he couldn't help but swallow his saliva to relieve the tension in his heart.

"Yes, see King Chuang!" Li Yan nodded heavily.