In the cross-courtyard of the Sun Mansion, everyone tacitly did not ask about the whereabouts of the Hong family's mother and son, and from Li Chixin's expression, people only saw two words: "farewell".

What's even more surprising is that this time Sun Mansion's aunt and grandmother Li Xuanji didn't go crazy, in fact, she didn't say a word since she saw the image of Li Laiheng's little devil from Li Chixin's mobile phone. Then the adults collectively chose to forget, and all the men in the Sun Mansion began to get busy, and the people doubled their attendance, stirring up the dead silence of Gaoyang City.

In Mr. Sun's study, the lights that lit up at the time of the palm lamp were not extinguished all night.

..................

In the past three or four days, the main force of the army led by Li Zicheng has passed through many villages and villages along the way, and without exception, the common people are almost all hidden, and in the empty villages, only some elderly people who can hardly walk are guarding the gate at home.

It was only when the soldiers and horses suddenly came to a certain village that the people there could occasionally see some young people who could not escape. Occasionally, there will be some bold people, as well as people who have a deep relationship with the peasant army, who will come to the door and pass on some news in the official army to the people of the old Eighth Team, but after all, there are not many such people, and Zicheng can only ask them to lead the way and make up for the lack of soldiers a little.

However, as the soldiers and horses are getting closer and closer to Tongguan, it is even more difficult for such iron fans and leading the party to meet. Li Zicheng understood that not only the common people, but even the big people who had close ties with him in the past were afraid of wars and the official army, and the smaller ones were even more afraid of the rebels kidnapping, robbing, raping, and killing. In particular, the common people saw that his troops were now at a disadvantage, and they did not dare to get too close to his troops. In the past three or four days, because the common people have fled everywhere he went, it has become extremely difficult to break into the camp to raise grain and grass, and the news of the officials and troops in Tongguan has not been obtained, all of which have made Li Zicheng extremely distressed.

In the past one or two years, Li Zicheng has been supported by the whole army, which made him begin to think in his heart, how to compete with the old Zhu family and the reckless heroes for the world, he thought about the books he had read, how those big heroes who fought for domination of the world were how to solve the people's suspense and buy the people's hearts.

In order to find out these problems, he dug through a lot of historical books when he was not fighting, and silently studied hard day and night, and he wanted to know more about the success and failure of the ancients from the history books.

In terms of military discipline, he also paid more attention than in the past, especially after the eleventh year of Chongzhen, with the help of the prodigal son's nephew, he further reorganized the army, and really killed some people who committed adultery and rape and plunder. However, he still failed to seriously do what his nephew preached about how the teacher of benevolence and righteousness loved the people like a son and did not commit any crimes.

Speaking realistically, Li Zicheng is not an ordinary reckless hero, and the biggest difference between him and those heroes of the rivers and lakes is that Li Zicheng knows more about checks and balances and trade-offs; the reason why he has not implemented the so-called "strict military discipline, loving the people like children, and not committing any offences in autumn" is that he has never committed any ....... It is because the troops under his command are not all his original team of Lao Ba, and now the army is almost a marathon every day and the lion king fights for hegemony, and the court of the old Zhu family does not give him a complete opportunity to train the garrison at all.

Friends like Cao Cao and Dian Dengzi often said to him: "Zicheng, you just turn a blind eye, the pond is cleared and you can't raise fish, so that the brothers below will not commit any crimes in the autumn, who will fight for you? Even now, your old Eighth Team is much better than the official army!"

Therefore, after the Chinese New Year, although he still adhered to the consistent purpose of robbing the rich and helping the poor, he also referred to some of the ideas of his nephew Li Guo, and began to preach that he was a righteous army in view of the reasons for the harm caused by the officials and the army to the people, and called on the people not to oppose him with the phrase "suppressing the soldiers and pacifying the people".

However, judging from the current effect, whether it is robbing the rich to help the poor, or suppressing the army and reassuring the people, it is obvious that it has not been echoed by the local people.

Soon after, Gao's female soldiers brought the prepared meal. On the table was half a bowl of pickled radishes, mixed with water, and some chili noodles, and a few brown cornmeal nests and steaming potatoes were placed in the small shallow where the staple food was served, and a bowl of millet porridge was placed in front of everyone at the table.

Li Zicheng was already hungry, so he swallowed a nest head in two bites, picked up the porridge bowl and drank a few sips. It's called porridge, but in fact, there is almost no millet in the bowl that can be seen, so it is better to say that it is a boiled wild vegetable in clear water.

He gulped down the yams, thinking that the food on the team was almost finished, and no matter how much he saved, he could only barely support it for three days, and the mountains around Tongguan were barren, coupled with the continuous natural disasters and military disasters, and now the village was ten rooms and nine empty, even if he found a few people, there was no way to raise food in the warehouse.

Li Zicheng was eating with his head bored, but in his heart it seemed that he had knocked over the five-flavor bottle, "Although the pursuers behind him have no movement, they should have been blocked by the Tiger Ben camp who passed by...... If we are able to break through tomorrow, we will be able to solve the difficulties of returning to the familiar natural grain of northern Shaanxi; if we fail to break through the encirclement within two days, what will we do with the supply of the army? It seems that only tomorrow will we be able to break through the encirclement at all costs will we be able to break through the encirclement of Tongguan at all costs. It is only a hundred miles away from Tongguan, but how many officers and troops are there? How are they arranged? Where is Cao Cao, who is like a glass monkey? I have no definite news about all this, how can this battle be fought?"

Eating at the same table with Li Zicheng was his wife Gao, his righteous son Li Shuangxi and the teenager Zhang Nai. He refused to show the anxiety in his heart in front of them, and only quickly calculated the current serious situation in his mind. After eating, he saw that Yufeng and several other generals had not yet arrived, so he asked Shuangxi and Zhang Nai to guard the old camp, and he took a few personal soldiers out to have a look.

Over the years, he has benefited from a rule he has set for himself. After daily battles or marching camps, Li Zicheng always had to go to the group of soldiers to take a walk, or to take a look among the lottery trumpets, and the more tense the situation, the more he wanted to do so.

(End of chapter)