Li Laiheng, whose temples have turned white, doesn't look like a general no matter how he looks at it, and he is almost the same old farmer in every move.

This made Wang Wu very surprised.

If it is said that his grandfather Li Zicheng and his father Li Guo were indeed peasants, and even if they became rich, they could not change their true colors as peasants, then Li Laiheng, as a third-generation Shun who had never worked in agriculture, and was the de facto commander of Li Zicheng's loyal battalion, had no reason to be as full of peasant temperament as his father and ancestors.

Because Li Laiheng did not have the cultivation time of peasant temperament at all, he was born in his grandfather's army, and he was born with a martial temperament.

However, in fact, the "Xiaochuang King" in front of him, known as the tiger handsome, is really like a very peasant.

As Li Zicheng's successor and the leader of the Maolu Mountain Base Area, Li Laiheng didn't even sit on a stool, and directly squatted on the ground to talk to the injured Hao Shaoqi, without any discomfort.

From time to time, I also "clicked" and smoked a puff of dry tobacco.

There were several other generals in the hall who came from Laozhai with Li Laiheng, and they were chatting excitedly with the general soldiers under the command of Yuan and Hao.

They are comrades-in-arms and old friends.

The seriously ill Hongbu Hospital did not come.

Pan Yinglong, the eunuch of the prison army, was talking in a low voice with King Han and King Andong.

The three of them were a little out of place among the old Shun army generals in the hall.

Wang Wu, who came in, interrupted the conversation between Li Laiheng and Hao Shaoqi, and after Hao Shaoqi smiled and nodded, Li Laiheng immediately got up and walked towards Wang Wu, and said, "I know your father Wang Deshun, who is a good man." ”

When he arrived in front of Wang Wu, he raised his hand and patted Wang Wu on the shoulder, and said in a harmonious voice: "You kid is also very good, you haven't insulted your father-in-law, and you haven't insulted our old army." ”

"The last general will see the tiger handsome!"

Wang Wu hurriedly wanted to salute Li Laiheng, but was stopped by Li Laiheng, shook his head and said: "What kind of tiger handsome is not tiger handsome, you and I are just people who don't want to be the Tartar slave to die, today you call me Tiger Shuai, if I die in battle one day, won't I become a dead tiger." ”

Hearing this, Wang Wu didn't know how to answer, because Li Laiheng's tone was too heavy.

"Now that everyone is together, let's talk about things."

Seeing this, Yuan Zongdi asked Wang Wu to bring a chair to sit with Liu Heng, the prince of Wanguo, and then had a brief conversation with King Han, King Andong, and Eunuch Pan, and asked Li Laiheng to tell everyone about the situation in Maolu Mountain.

The situation is basically the same as Hao Shaoqi said, there are more than 36,000 soldiers and civilians in Li Laiheng's jurisdiction, and 8,500 soldiers who can fight.

It is distributed in 16 military villages of all sizes, such as Laozhai, Phoenix Village, Yanzi Village, Zhangjiawan Village, Qinglong Village, Shamao Village, and Beiting Village.

The Qing army that surrounded Maolu Mountain numbered about 100,000 people, and in addition to the Manchurian Eight Banners who came from Beijing a few years ago, the main ones were the Huguang Green Battalion commanded by Dong Xueli, the governor of Huguang, and the battalions commanded by Gao Shougui, Jin Wanyi, and other Han army banner generals.

If nothing else, the 50,000 Sichuan Qing troops on the western front and the 30,000 Shaanxi Qing troops on the northern front will also participate in the siege of Maolu Mountain one after another.

That is to say, although the Ming army successively won victories over Dahai and Mu Shenghui, and won a lot, these two victories did not have any major changes in the battle situation except for improving the morale of the Ming army and strengthening their belief in continuing to resist the Qing.

"In the current situation, we are like a bowl of water, spilled and gone. The Qing army was a well, constantly gushing out of the water. ”

This analogy of Lee Rae-hyung is quite close.

"Hu Shuai, since this is the case, I think it is better for you to lead us out with Yuan Shuai and Hao Shuai, otherwise we will be consumed alive by the Qing army sooner or later!"

The person who said this was Wang Yijia, the chief soldier under the command of Yuan Zongdi, who had previously been wounded in the left arm during the battle with the sea department, which would be wrapped in a cloth and hanged.

When Zhu Shenglang, the king of Anton, heard this proposal and immediately expressed his support, he said: "Yes, the tree is dead, and the person is alive." Now that the Ming Dynasty is left with our gang, let's finish this Ming Dynasty is really over, while the soldiers can still fight, I think it's time to rush out and fight. ”

Zhu Shenglang's statement immediately aroused heated discussions in the hall.

All the generals believed that if they continued to trap Maolu Mountain, they would eventually be annihilated, so they all agreed to break through.

With the experience of the officers and men of the Ming Army on the Western Front in breaking through the Qing army's pile defense line, everyone's confidence in breaking through the siege has also increased greatly.

Pan Yinglong, the eunuch of the prison army, asked a question: "Where is our army going when we break through the siege?" ”

This question made all the generals stunned, and then someone said: "Go to Sichuan!" ”

"Sichuan?"

Pan Gonggong shook his head, "There have been wars in central Sichuan for many years, where is there any other person, and Li Guoying is the most difficult, I wish we would crash into it." ”

The general who said that he would go to Sichuan heard Pan Gonggong's words, and immediately froze, thinking about the tens of thousands of Ming troops who took advantage of the great victory on the eastern front last year to march westward, but they were defeated by the Qing army commanded by Li Guoying, and he couldn't help but reject the proposal to go to Sichuan.

Yu Jiari, the former military governor under Li Laiheng's account, said: "Sichuan can't go, we can go to Yungui." ”

"Yungui has Wu Sangui's army of 100,000, we can't even beat Li Guoying, can we beat Wu Sangui?"

Opposing going to Yungui was Yuan Zongdi's chief soldier Ma Sheng.

At this time, another general spoke.

"If you want me to say that we are not going anywhere, we will fight the Qing army in Huguang to the end!"

Of course, this proposal was also unrealistic, because the Qing army's 200,000 heavy troops were concentrated in Huguang.

With the current strength of the Ming army fighting hard with the 200,000 Qing army, it is better to stay in Maolu Mountain and trap it.

At least it can last for a while.

Wang Wu didn't say anything, Sichuan would definitely not be able to go if it was almost gone, otherwise there would be no Huguang immigrants to fill Sichuan.

The last tens of thousands of Ming troops really went to Sichuan, and the biggest enemy was not the Qing army commanded by Li Guoying, the governor of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty, but the hunger caused by the lack of food.

On Yungui's side, even if Wang Wu is not afraid of death, he will not be stupid enough to fight with Wu Sangui's 100,000 elite soldiers.

Some people say that Sichuan can't go, Yungui can't go, and Huguang can't stay, so they simply fought a bloody road and went straight to the Central Plains, reproducing the miracle of the old King Chuang leading the eighteen horsemen to roll up hundreds of thousands of people.

This proposal made Wang Wu shake his head secretly.

First, Henan was under the rule of the Qing court for more than ten years, and there was no great famine at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Second, in the land of the four wars in Henan, the Qing court was eager for the Ming army to break into Henan.

You must know that fighting on the plains is not possible without cavalry!

At present, the Ming army can make up a hundred war horses?

The Eight Banners Iron Rider is no joke.

Go to Henan and die faster.

The only feasible thing is to go down the east of the Yangtze River, and quickly sweep the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at the cost of not saving one, as long as you can win Nanjing City, you can make half of the country.

Thinking that Hao Shuai should make a suggestion, sure enough, Hao Shaoqi opened his mouth and said to everyone: "Don't shout, let's go east!" ”

"Eastward?"

Everyone looked at the injured old handsome.

"Yes, eastward!"

Hao Shaoqi told everyone the idea of going down the east of the Yangtze River, and said that when the old King Chuang led his troops to withdraw from Shaanxi and enter Huguang, he wanted to attack Nanjing along the east of the river.

It's a pity that King Lao Chuang had an accident in Jiugong Mountain, so this strategy could not be implemented.

The generals in the hall were all sad when they heard these words, and King Han and King Anton were a little embarrassed.

At that time, the city of Nanjing was the southern capital of the Ming Dynasty.

After being embarrassed, King Han opened his mouth and said to everyone: "If you can enter the southern capital and sacrifice to the filial piety tomb, the southeast will be shaken, and the people who will restore the sight of the world will also regain their confidence, and great things can still be done." ”

After hearing this, the generals discussed whether it was feasible to advance eastward.

Yuan Zongdi was also discussing this matter with Li Laiheng, and it seemed that the two princes were a little tempted to advance eastward.

Liu Heng, the prince of Wanguo, did not express his opinion, but only sat on a chair and listened carefully to what everyone said.

At this time, an abrupt voice came out.

"Thou shalt not go eastward! Don't go east! ”

Opposing the eastward advance was Li Laiheng's subordinate Guo Sheng, the governor of the left capital.

This person was originally the deputy general of Liugou in the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zicheng descended to Dashun when he marched into Beijing, and then Li Zicheng was reused to lead his troops to Shandong.

Along the way, the civil and military forces of the Ming Dynasty did not make any resistance, and the people cheered for the arrival of the Dashun army.

There is no other reason, it is really chilling for the Ming Dynasty.

In the Chongzhen Dynasty, the Qing army entered the Kou Pass several times, and Shandong, which was adjacent to Gyeonggi, became the hardest hit area of the Qing army's Kou, and the captive of hundreds of thousands of young and strong people, more than 20 large and small slaughtered cities, and almost one out of four Shandong people was slaughtered by the Qing army.

The Ming army did not dare to resist the Qing army at all, as long as the pigtailed soldiers came, the officials of the Ming Dynasty took the soldiers to hide in the city or go away, and did not care about the life or death of the people of Shandong.

In this way, the Dashun Army naturally won the support of the people of Shandong.

Guo Sheng can be said to have taken over the entire territory of Shandong without much effort.

However, the defeat in the Battle of Shanhaiguan caused the Dashun regime to collapse instantly, and the Ming Dynasty officials and gentry in Shandong Province rebelled one after another after hearing that the pigtailed soldiers were helping Emperor Chongzhen to avenge him.

As a general of the Ming Dynasty, Guo Sheng did not betray Dashun, and always led his troops to follow Li Zicheng's ancestors for three generations, and has persisted until now.

As a veteran, Guo Sheng clearly pointed out that with the current strength of the Ming army, it is impossible to break through the resistance of the Qing army in several provinces along the river, and it is impossible to get rid of the trail of the Qing army in Huguang.

If you take the risk of advancing eastward, it is very likely that you will not even be able to get out of Huguang and be wiped out by the Qing army.

Wang Wu frowned slightly after hearing this, and asked Guo Sheng: "Where does the governor think our army should go?" ”

"Go to northern Shaanxi!"

Guo Sheng categorically told everyone that only by going to northern Shaanxi could the Ming army have hope.

He pointed out that the Ming army in northern Shaanxi had three advantages.

First, the main forces of the Qing army in Shaanxi are gathered in Kuidong, as long as the Ming army breaks through quickly, the main force of the Qing army in Shaanxi will inevitably have no time to react.

Second, Shaanxi, especially northern Shaanxi, is the hometown of many soldiers of the Shun army, so as long as the Ming army can return to northern Shaanxi, it can get the support of the local people.

Third, northern Shaanxi has produced elite soldiers since ancient times, and it was also one of the nine important towns of the Ming Dynasty in the past.

Therefore, the Ming army can be replenished with soldiers and war horses there, and the area available for the Ming army to operate will also become larger.

In terms of distance, it is farther to go down to Nanjing along the east of the Yangtze River than to Shaanxi, and to go to Shaanxi only needs to deal with the remaining soldiers and horses of the Qing army in Shaanxi, and the pressure is far less than that of going east to deal with the Qing army in several provinces.

Northern Shaanxi?

Wang Wu's eyes flashed.

There is indeed a banner that has risen there!