With the defeat of Sun Chuanting and Cao Bianjiao, half of the northwest of the Ming Dynasty became a place where thieves were rampant. Li Zicheng ordered the bandits to begin to sweep through Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi.

After receiving the order, Yuan Zongdi led the army of more than 100,000 troops in the right battalion of the thieves to capture Taiyuan and Ningwu successively, and defeated Li Fuming, the chief military officer of Shanxi Town, who led thousands of remnants of the army to Datong Mansion in disarray.

Subsequently, Wang Pu concentrated his forces and worked with Li Fuming to urgently deploy defenses in various parts of Datong Prefecture, and at the same time sent 800 li to rush to Beijing to report to the imperial court and ask for reinforcements.

At this time, the entire three northwestern provinces, except for Datong Mansion still in the hands of Wang Pu, the rest of the places have been captured by Li Zicheng's army of thieves, and the thieves are all around, and the world is shaking!

Then Li Zicheng waved his army to the east, Li Guo led the thief battalion to the north to break into the south of Beizhili, Liu Zongmin led his troops to the south to kill Hubei and other places, for a time Li Zicheng's reputation was shocked, and the situation in the world was corrupted to the extreme in a blink of an eye.

In mid-September, Li Zicheng led 5,000 horsemen into Xiangyang City, at this time Liu Zongmin led his troops to capture the city, but for the first time did not capture the people, but began to follow the example of the official army, inside and outside the city to calm the people.

Li Yan, Gu Junen, Niu Jinxing, and Song Xiance also followed Li Zicheng into the city, and everyone rode horses to follow Li Zicheng's side, seeing that the people in the city were quite stable, and there was no large-scale escape, several people showed a smile on their faces.

Song Xiance said with a smile: "King Chuang can respond to the mandate of heaven and obey the will of the people, so the hegemony can be achieved!" ”

Niu Jinxing stretched out his fingers and counted them, and then said: "In my opinion, now I am attacking with a righteous army."

Kexiangyang, this is the hub of the world, which corresponds to the hexagram of the heavenly sage, and is in accordance with the will of heaven. Therefore, I suggest that King Chuang be the king in this Xiangyang city, and be called the king of Xinshun! ”

Li Yan saw that Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance were advocating a set of tricks to be kings again, and with a dissatisfied look on his face, he was about to speak, but saw Gu Junen shaking his head slightly at him.

Li Dingguo on the side also frowned, as if he knew something, and he didn't speak for the first time.

Li Zicheng smiled and said, "Didn't you already say it before, it's too early to be the king at this time, and this discussion is not advisable." ”

Soon the brigade came to the outside of the central government office in Xiangyang City, where a large number of people had gathered, kneeling on both sides of the brigade, chanting "Long live King Chuang" and "Tianwei is mighty", etc., and the smile on Li Zicheng's face was even worse.

Then the five thousand horsemen also shouted, and after a while, everyone's shouts converged into the words "Long live".

At this time, Li Zicheng had already laughed, and Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance on the side shouted loudly, as conspicuous as the "atmosphere group".

Seeing this, Li Yan understood that these people were secretly found by Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, and they were all here to set off the atmosphere, give Li Zicheng a "yellow robe", and give Li Zicheng a step to become the king.

Li Dingguo rode his horse to Li Yan's side, with a trace of worry between his eyebrows, and when he looked at Li Yan, he saw that Li Yan was the same.

The war has just been won, but the rebels have begun to flutter, and even King Chuang, who has always been self-denying, is dizzy at the moment by the title of King Xinshun.

"Alas!"

Li Dingguo and

Li Yan and Gu Junen were all sighing, looking at the farce in front of them, but the three of them had a deep sense of powerlessness.

At this time, Li Zicheng enjoyed this feeling of admiration by tens of thousands of people, as if heaven and earth were prostrate under his feet, this feeling was something that real money and fine clothes and jade food could not give, and only the supreme authority could bring this satisfaction!

Li Zicheng just wanted to shout loudly at this time, shouting out all the hardships and fears he had experienced over the years, but his throat seemed to be blocked by something, and all the voices converged into one sentence: "From today on, Lone is the king of Dashun!" ”

"Hooray! Banzai! Banzai! ”

Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance took the lead in shouting three long live, and then the people who gathered over, as well as thousands of thieves and soldiers, roared out one after another, which was spectacular.

On the same day, Li Zicheng ordered the prefect's yamen in Xiangyang City to be changed into his temporary palace, and then discussed with Li Yan, Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing, and Gu Junen for a long time, and finally decided to appease the exiled people, "give cattle seeds, help the poor, livestock, and farm mulberry", and "recruit people to reclaim the fields, and collect their seeds to pay the army".

Li Yan said: "Your Majesty, from now on, our righteous army should completely abandon the rogue, and after conquering the city, we must stand firm, treat the people well, persuade farmers to cultivate mulberry, and rectify military discipline, so that we can become stronger and stronger and finally overthrow this decadent world!" ”

"In addition, the battalions of our righteous army must not disperse their forces and be content with pleasure, but should concentrate their forces in the Kaifeng area, threaten Beizhili to the north, and at the same time beware of Liu Yan's troops in Shandong."

Niu Jinxing said: "In this way, there will be a shortage of soldiers and horses stationed in various places, and the surrounding officers and soldiers

What if there is a counteroffensive? ”

Li Yan said: "Now the generals of the Ming Court, in addition to Liu Yanbu, that is, the elites of all parts of the Nine Sides, and Qin Liangyu in Sichuan, there are still some threats. However, this time, Qin Liangyu and other Sichuan soldiers and horses only sent troops to threaten, and did not cooperate with Sun Chuanting's troops, which shows that Sichuan soldiers and horses are also short of money and food, and they are unable to attack and fight. ”

"Therefore, the battalions of our Righteous Army should take this opportunity to replenish their troops, and at the same time follow Liu Yan's example in various cities and establish garrisons, so as to prevent the elite soldiers of our Righteous Army from being dispersed in various places."

Li Zicheng clapped his hands and said, "Just do what Mr. Li wants!" ”

Seeing that Li Yan's offer was adopted again, Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance's faces turned cold again, and the two of them were very jealous in their hearts.

Over there, Li Zicheng said: "Since I am determined to ascend to the throne of the new Shun King, the enthronement ceremony will begin to prepare, and it will be held in Xiangyang City, and Mr. Song is responsible for this matter." ”

Song Xiance got up and took the order.

"After the ceremony, our righteous army was changed to the Dashun army, and each battalion immediately replenished its strength and prepared to build a garrison, and then the generals of each battalion and the general of Quan led the army to assemble in the direction of Kaifeng, waiting for orders!"

"Yes!"

In the middle of the night, Li Yan returned to the temporary residence in Xiangyang City, entered the courtyard, and the red lady opened the door and greeted him with a smile: "I heard that during the day, all the soldiers supported King Chuang to become the new Shun King, such a happy event, why is the husband bitter?" ”

Li Yan pulled the red lady into the house, and then said: "Where is this supported by all the soldiers, it is obviously the strategy of Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing, in order to get the merit of the dragon!" ”

"It's not a bad thing, and now my rebels have swept the river

The land of the three provinces of South, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, even one part of Hubei has been taken, and my million righteous army is in full swing, such a happy event, it is reasonable to break into the throne. ”

Li Yan worried: "Most of the generals in the righteous army are reckless, at the moment our righteous army is developing too fast, they will be fascinated by the victory and the glory and wealth in front of them, if even the king is single-mindedly promoted to the throne, then most of my righteous army will be quickly corrupted, and the future will ......."

Speaking of this, all Li Yan's words turned into a long sigh, and the red lady also frowned slightly, and said: "It's not a way for the husband to be sad about this matter, let's take one step at a time." I think Li Dingguo of the firearms battalion is still very strategic, and the husband can make more friends with this person to help. ”

"Li Dingguo is indeed a talent, and his ability is by no means under a tiger and Li Laiheng, but he is Zhang Xianzhong's righteous son, King Chuang will not regard him as a confidant, and it is already reused to let him lead a battalion alone. This person will not do much in the righteous army in the future, and it cannot be called a big help. ”

The red lady said: "I don't want to think about this yet, there is something I want to say to my husband." ”

Li Yan said: "I just said that the lady is in a hurry to come from the old camp in Luoyang, not just to see me, there must be something." ”

The red lady immediately said with a solemn face: "At present, the hearts of the people in the old camp are fluctuating, and many families of the righteous army believe that King Chuang is about to seize the world and become a great treasure, so many people in the old camp regard themselves as the founding of the country and begin to do evil in Luoyang City, and if this continues, something big will happen!" ”

Li Yan said: "At this time, I will report to King Chuang tomorrow, or I will break it."

The king ordered the old camp to be rectified, and before the king gave the order, you should not dispose of it at will, just stabilize the situation first. ”

"I understand."

The next day, Li Yan reported the matter of the old camp to Li Zicheng, but Li Zicheng wanted to enter Beizhili at this time, and was discussing with Gu Junen and Niu Jinxing about the northward movement of each battalion in front of Yutu.

After listening to Li Yan's report, Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Hehe, my righteous army swept half of the Ming court, and with such a victory, it is reasonable for the people in the old camp to make some trouble." Tell the red lady that it's good to beat it a little, don't hurt the harmony. ”

Li Yan wanted to say more, but was stopped by Li Zicheng: "Mr. Li came to see, Mr. Niu suggested that the battalions of my righteous army should start from Kaifeng and go north through Kaizhou and Neihuang all the way to Beizhili." ”

However, Mr. Gu thought that this route was too close to Shandong, and he was worried that Liu Yan would send troops to block and participate in the battle. Therefore, Mr. Gu thinks that all the units of our Dashun army should go north into Shanxi, first take Datong Mansion, solve their worries, and then concentrate their troops from Taiyuan Mansion to break through to Beizhili, from Jingcheng Pass to the east, go to Zhending Mansion and Baoding Mansion, and then besiege Beijing City! ”

Li Yan actually did not recommend attacking Beijing City at this time, now the morale of the rebel army is fluctuating, the most important thing is to stabilize the hearts of the people, rectify the military discipline of each battalion, strengthen drills, etc., if the expansion is too fast, or even really take Beijing City, the rebel army is not capable of controlling the fruits of this victory.

But Li Yan didn't dare to say such words, so he had to say: "Wang, the student is still inclined to Mr. Gu's opinion, it is right to take Datong Mansion first." However, after taking Datong Mansion, I am very smooth

Did the various military departments rectify it first, so as not to march too quickly and be unprepared, and be attacked by Liu Yan's troops? ”

At the mention of Liu Yan, the excitement on Li Zicheng's face also dissipated a lot, and after groaning, he said: "Reasonable, let's do it, after the battalions are assembled, first go north to Datong Mansion, encircle and annihilate Wang Pu and Li Fuming's troops, and then make a decision according to the situation!" ”

Li Yan returned to his residence, and the red lady came over eagerly and asked, "What did King Chuang say?" ”

"Alas!"

Li Yan said: "King Chuang asked you not to hurt the harmony, just try to persuade you." ”

"Hurt and angry? This kind of violation of military discipline can only be done with heavy codes, and King Chuang should directly order me to give me authority! ”

Li Yan said: "Don't you understand this? Now King Chuang is bent on taking Beizhili and wants to seize the world, and now he needs the support of the soldiers of each battalion the most, and he needs them to serve the death, how can he punish the family members of the old battalion because of these things? ”

The red lady said worriedly: "Acting like this, even if Beijing City is defeated, can my righteous army really sit firmly in the world?" ”