Huaiqing was surrounded by tens of thousands of righteous troops, and the strength of the defenders in the city was less than 20% of the righteous army, so it was inevitable that they were afraid, but the engagement of these two days made the officers and soldiers in the city firm their confidence in victory, and it was even more difficult to capture Huaiqing City.

In fact, the current situation is also expected, yesterday from the camp of the righteous army, Hua Bushi had already thought that such a result would definitely occur.

Li Zicheng said: "Wang Dashuai probably also thought that there was no chance of winning such a siege, so he found King Gao Chuang and Zhang Xianzhong, and issued a handsome order for the two families to send troops to attack the city tomorrow, but his own men and horses were still not used. Zhang Xianzhong scolded and refused to obey the order, and King Gao Chuang did not let go, it seems that the city will be attacked tomorrow, but I am afraid that there is still no hope. ”

He slapped the table and sighed: "Alas, brother, I want to take the men and horses of Biluo Village to fight a good battle, even if I can't capture the city, at least let those officers and soldiers know the strength of the righteous army, but it's a pity that King Gao Chuang refuses to agree!"

Hua Bushi said: "There are only 3,000 infantry in Biluo Village, and in the current situation, it is still not appropriate to be brave with blood." ”

The eldest young master looked at Li Zicheng's face, and suddenly said: "We are our own brothers, and the younger brother has a straightforward question, please don't be surprised." Brother Hongji thinks that Wang himself uses this person, as the commander of the 36th battalion of the righteous army, does he have the ability to lead you to victory?"

Li Zicheng did not hesitate, and replied: "To tell the truth, Wang Ziyong has no talent, no virtue, and selfishness, he really shouldn't let him be this commander. ”

Hua Bushi said: "Then in the opinion of Brother Tai, who is the most suitable to be the commander?"

Li Zicheng said: "If you want to say the most suitable, it must be King Gaochuang." ”

Hua Bushi said: "But the younger brother heard that King Gao Chuang is too small and not good at strategy, if he becomes the commander of the thirty-sixth battalion, I am afraid that he will have to be supported by Brother Hongji, I wonder if Brother Tai has ever thought about this festival?"

The eldest young master said this very bluntly, and he said the weakness of King Gao Chuang, and he also wanted to ask if Li Zicheng was sure that he could make Gao Yingxiang obey him.

Li Zicheng was slightly stunned, and said: "King Gao Chuang has always trusted Hongji very much, if he becomes a commander, I should have no problem helping him!

Hua Bushi said: "Okay! What the little brother wants is this sentence from Brother Hongji." I have a way to make Wang Ziyong, a handsome man, unable to continue, but if I want to succeed, there are two things that must be done by Brother Hongji. ”

Before Li Zicheng could answer, Hao Shaoqi, who was drinking on the side, had already said loudly: "Great! As long as you can bring down that straw bag handsome king, let alone two things, even ten or twenty pieces will be no problem! Right, Brother Li?"

Li Guo took his hand and said, "Don't interject indiscriminately, and let Shi Gongzi talk about the two things." ”

Hua Bushi said: "The first thing is to persuade King Gao Chuang not to be humble, and if he has the opportunity, he must fight for the position of marshal." Now who is going to be the commander of the 36th battalion of rebels who is related to the survival of the 36th battalion of rebels, and whether they can capture Huaiqing City, is it really not hesitant and polite, can Brother Hongji do this?"

Li Zicheng said: "This matter is not difficult, the position of the marshal is very important, and I will definitely persuade King Chuang to do his best." ”

Hua Bushi said: "The second thing is to contact the leaders of the rebel armies as soon as possible and win them over to support King Gao Chuang." As long as Wang Ziyong falls, who is the commander is bound to be elected by the leaders of the righteous army from all walks of life, you must know that the "eight kings" Zhang Xianzhong's men and horses are not less than the king of Gao Chuang, if you can't win the support of most of the leaders of the righteous army, when the time comes to Zhang Xianzhong to be the marshal, everything we do is in vain, and it becomes a wedding dress for others. ”

Li Zicheng thought for a moment and said: "Although this matter is not easy, but King Chuang's prestige among the rebels is not low, and I want to win over the support of eight out of ten families, it should be able to gain an advantage among the rebels from all walks of life." ”

Hua Bushi nodded and said, "I don't know how long it will take Brother Hongji to complete this matter?"

Li Zicheng glanced at Li Guo and said, "I will ask Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu to act separately, about three or four days." ”

Hua Bushi said: "Huaiqing will be captured within ten days, and now it has taken three days, we must grasp the command of the righteous army as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too late to attack the city." I think it is limited to three days, counting from tomorrow, after three days, the younger brother tries to make Wang Ziyong lose his position, and Brother Hongji will win over enough leaders of the rebel army to promote King Gao Chuang to become the commander. ”

Li Zicheng said: "Okay, then let's make a decision, and it will be done in three days!"

He stretched out his right hand, Hua Bushi also stretched out his hand, clasped his hands together, and both of them daxiao.

Hao Shaoqi said: "Brother Shi, it's not that Lao Hao can't believe you, that Wang has a lot of soldiers under his command, and no one can compare to him in the thirty-sixth battalion, although this handsome is still very stable, what can you do to pull him down, can you reveal it to Lao Hao first?"

Hua Bushi glanced at Hao Shaoqi, then at Li Zicheng, and saw that this "Brother Li" obviously had doubts in his eyes, so he didn't say much at the moment, got up and walked to the side of the bookcase, picked up a letter on the case, and handed it to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng took the letter sticker, but saw that the words "Respectfully presented to Lord Fan Jingwen, Governor of Henan", were written on the cover.

He opened the envelope, took out the letter paper in it, and unfolded it to look at it, it turned out to be a secret letter requesting Zhao'an to surrender to Cheng, and Zuihou's signature was "The King of Sinners for His Own Use".

Before Li Zicheng finished reading, Hao Shaoqi, who was poking his neck out to look at him, was already furious, and slammed it on the table with a "snap", shouting and scolding: "What a turtle bastard, he dared to surrender to the government and betray his brother! No wonder he used everyone as cannon fodder along the way, and when he arrived in Huaiqing, he blindly commanded us to lose the battle, it was really despicable, Lao Tzu had to kill him!"

Hua Bushi smiled slightly and said, "General Hao, don't be dry, this letter is not true. ”

Hao Shaoqi said: "How can it not be true, the king himself used the bird word written by the bastard old Hao to know, it is like this, it must be wrong!"

Hua Bushi said: "This letter is indeed fake, but it was written here today by imitating Wang's own handwriting. That Wang Dashuai didn't read much, and his handwriting was not very good, so it was not difficult to learn his handwriting. ”

After hearing this, Hao Shaoqi believed that the letter was fake, hummed and drank wine, and stopped talking.

Li Zicheng frowned and said: "If the brothers of the righteous army believe that Wang Ziyong will cooperate with the enemy to surrender, his handsome position will not be guaranteed, but with only this fake letter, I am afraid that it will still be difficult to succeed." If I take it back and show it to the leaders of the rebels, they may not be able to believe it all. ”

Hua Bushi said: "The junior brother took out this letter to show you, just to let Brother Hongji know my plan, this letter can't be taken back by you, how to make others believe it doesn't need to worry about brother." Brother Hongji only needs to complete the two things I just said within three days according to the agreement, and leave the rest to the younger brother to do, can't Brother Tai still believe me?"

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "How can you not trust your brother when you are a brother, okay, that's what you say! If Brother Shi's plan is successful, he not only saved my brother Li Hongji and Biluo Cottage, but also saved 50,000 righteous soldiers, and I really don't know how to thank you when I am a brother!"

Hua Bushi smiled: "Brother Li's high righteousness in sheltering the victims, the younger brother has never dared to forget, Hua Bushi's move is also for the sake of the livelihood of the more than 10,000 displaced people in Biluo Cottage." But it's too early to thank me now, even if we bring down the king and King Gao Chuang becomes the commander, we still have to capture Huaiqing City. ”

Li Zicheng said: "As long as our righteous army can unite as one, and Brother Shi has made suggestions, I am very confident that we will take Huaiqing City as my brother! Brother Shi can rest assured, as soon as Huaiqing City is captured and the grain and grass in the city are obtained, I will immediately send people to transport grain back to Biluo Village, and I will not let the displaced people in the cottage go hungry!"

When the rebel brigade set out from Biluo Mountain, they brought out most of the grain and grass stored in the cottage, leaving only enough for more than 10,000 people in the village to eat for ten days and a half months.

Hua Bushi arched his hand and said: "In this way, Hua Bushi has thanked Brother Li for those homeless people!"

Although ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Wang was incompetent and selfish, and did not have the talent to serve as the commander of the 36th battalion, he did not defect to the official army. If you want to defile him out of nothing, a letter alone is not enough.

After Li Zicheng and Hua Bushi had a secret conversation in the back garden of Dingfu in Qingyang Town, the next day, because Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong refused to send troops according to the commander's order, Wang Ziyong had to send a few small groups of rebels to attack the city, and the result can be imagined.

Under the defeat again, the rebel army lost more than 1,000 people, but rumors spread among the company camps outside the city, saying that the marshal king had accepted the imperial court's recruitment with his men and horses, and wanted to exchange the lives of the rebel brothers for official positions.

The rumors were made up vividly and very detailed, saying that Wang Ziyong found Shen Yingdan, the county magistrate of Xiangfu County, Kaifeng Prefecture, Yujing, through the relationship of his mother-in-law. This Shen County Decree promised Wang Ziyong, promising that he would be given a position as the general manager of the seventh rank after he surrendered, and said that if he could send the righteous army to death, 10,000 lives could be exchanged for a higher rank.

It was the old king who led the thirty-six battalions of the righteous army from the Jin realm to Yujing, and the rebels who were killed by him as cannon fodder along the way, as well as the number of people who were lost in these defeats in Huaiqing City, there were nearly 10,000 people, and Wang Ziyong can now be promoted to the seventh grade. If he kills all the remaining more than 40,000 righteous soldiers, he can be promoted to another four levels and become the chief soldier of the fifth grade.