Zhu Yuanzhang was a little worried when he saw Li Sanbao, but when he saw the joy on his face, he relaxed a little.
After Li Sanbao hurriedly saluted Zhu Yuanzhang, he said with excitement: "Your Majesty, the last general has just received the news that Du Yinxi and Shen Yunying blocked Yuan Zongdi in the Mianchi area, and the rebels besieging Linfen suddenly disappeared. "
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he looked at him with some suspicion and said, "What did you say...is this news reliable?"
Li Sanbao nodded vigorously and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is the news sent by Wu Laoliu himself, it is absolutely reliable."
Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the Wu Laoliu he was talking about was also one of the Eighteen Iron Cavalry. He thought Zhang Dabiao thought this matter was important, so he asked Wu Laoliu to send the news.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang believed in the loyalty of the Eighteen Cavalry, Zhang Dabiao sent two different messages within half an hour. He had some suspicions that Zhang Dabiao had fallen into Yuan Zongdi's trap.
So he collected his thoughts and asked again: "Where are Zhang Dabiao and the others now?"
Li Sanbao was stunned and said: "According to what Wu Laoliu said, after Brother Zhang received the news of the fall of Yuncheng in Lingshi, he hurriedly sent someone to..."
It turned out that Zhang Dabiao rushed to Mianchi non-stop after receiving the order yesterday.
However, when he was changing horses at the Lingshi contact point, he unexpectedly received news from Linfen.
When Zhang Dabiao learned that Yuan Zongdi had defeated Zuo Mengeng and that 10,000 rebels had attacked Linfen with overwhelming force, he was shocked.
Knowing that this matter had a great impact on Zhu Yuanzhang's layout, he hurriedly sent someone to send the news to Taiyuan.
At the same time, in order to get more timely and accurate news, he hurried to Linfen.
Unexpectedly, when they arrived at the Huoshan contact point, they received news that the rebels attacking the city had mysteriously disappeared.
Zhang Dabiao felt that this matter was a bit strange and worried that it was a conspiracy by the other party, so he specially took people to Linfen to check.
They successively explored areas within a dozen miles of Linfen where troops might be hiding, but found no trace of the rebels, so they believed the previous news.
It was just the strange disappearance of the rebels that made Zhang Dabiao worried, so he did not send the news back to Taiyuan, but prepared to rush to Mianchi to confirm the authenticity of the news.
Just at this moment, another urgent report came from Mianchi, saying that after Zuo Menggeng's defeat last night, he was planning to flee back to Wuchang, but he happened to encounter Du Yinxi and Shen Yunying who were heading north.
Du Yinxi organized his army and sent people to investigate the news.
When he learned that Yuan Zongdi was not taking advantage of the victory to pursue the victory, but was preparing to lead his army northward, he guessed that it was because Li Zicheng was in a tight war situation that Yuan Zongdi was so anxious.
At the same time, he calculated that Yuan Zongdi had just defeated Zuo Mengeng and was eager to go north. He would not have thought that they would attack from behind.
Therefore, he asked Shen Yunying to lead 10,000 cavalry to pursue Yuan Zongdi, while he continued to organize his troops as backup.
Sure enough, Shen Yunying led 10,000 cavalry and penetrated Yuan Zongdi's army of nearly 100,000 with little effort.
Later, Du Yinxi came with his troops and blocked Yuan Zongdi in the Mianchi area again.
At this time, Du Yinxi heard that Yuncheng had been captured, so he blocked the news of Yuan Zongdi's defeat and asked Shen Yunying to lead his army in a sneak attack again.
However, not long after Shen Yunying arrived in Yuncheng, he received news that the rebels had mysteriously disappeared.
She was worried that Du Yinxi would be alone and unable to stop Yuan Zongdi's counterattack, so she led her army back to Mianchi.
Later, Du Yinxi lifted the blockade in the Mianchi area and publicized the matter with great fanfare, so the news about Jinyiwei was delayed.
After Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Li Sanbao's story, he carefully calculated the time, troop strength, etc., and found nothing suspicious before he felt relieved.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was full of joy at the moment, he still suppressed it forcefully and said calmly: "Okay, this is indeed good news."
Then he looked at Liu Wenbing and said: "Dong An Guo, please immediately ask Li Yukui and others to go north, and at the same time..."
As he spoke, he stopped again, hesitated for a while, and then continued: "Mr. An Guo, you should know that Jin Xuan sent troops to North Korea and South Korea in your name, right?"
Hearing this, Liu Wenbing nodded and said, "Ren Zhihua once told me about this. I originally wanted to ask your majesty to go to Liaodong, but the war there is not over yet, so I haven't asked for the order yet!"
Zhu Yuanzhang admired Liu Wenbing even more when he saw Liu Wenbing speaking what was in his heart.
Then he told the story of Liaodong exactly, and after confirming that Liu Wenbing understood it clearly, he said in a deep voice: "We originally wanted you to send your army northward and train with Pingxihou."
"However, Jin Xuan has no war experience, and he knows nothing about naval warfare, especially the division of troops. We are worried that he will not be able to suppress Zheng Sen and others' helpless actions, so we want you to go to Liaodong and take charge of the overall situation!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Wenbing pondered for a while, then bowed and said: "Your Majesty, I am willing to go to Liaodong."
"It's just that if I go now, it will be equivalent to changing the general on the spot. In addition, everyone has always thought that Lord Jin is Duke An. Will my appearance again make the soldiers doubtful and affect their morale?"
"If I go alone, if Master Jin and others are trapped, I may not be able to do anything..."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Yes, so you have to go quietly this time. If Jin Xuan directs it well, you don't have to come forward. After he wins, you can just show up and reconcile what happened before."
"If he is not qualified, you can take his place. As for the soldiers, you don't have to worry. Then just say that you are worried about assassination by spies, and then let Jin Xuan pretend to be you."
"The really difficult thing is the matter of troops and horses. Last time Jin Xuan took away all the ships that could be used by the Southern troops... By the way, Cao Youyi, the commander-in-chief of Tianjin, still has five or six thousand men under his command. You can mobilize troops from here. "
"Well, let's ask Li Sanbao to go with you, and let him select three thousand people to go there in the name of reinforcing Jin Xuan..."
After listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's arrangements, Liu Wenbing nodded and said: "Okay, I understand. Who will I entrust to take charge of the Taiyuan affairs?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent for a while and said, "How about Ren Zhihua?"
Liu Wenbing was also interested in Ren Zhihua, but after learning about Ren Zhihua and Li Yan, he was worried that Zhu Yuanzhang would have scruples, so he did not mention it.
Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang take the initiative to bring it up at this moment, he nodded and said: "Ren Zhihua's ability is acceptable, and he is also very familiar with various rebel armies."
"It's just that I heard that he has some emotional entanglements with Li Yan, and I'm worried that he will be unbearable when he meets Li Yan and delay His Majesty's important events. Then..."
As Liu Wenbing spoke, he glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang again.
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he frowned and said, "Do you know what their relationship is like?"
Liu Wenbing said: "According to Ren Zhihua, after Li Yan knew about the previous incident, she was so angry that she wanted to kill him, but in the end she did not do it. She just left in anger and had no contact with him since."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "In that case, let Ren Zhihua take charge of the overall situation and let Zhang Dabiao assist."
Liu Wenbing was stunned for a moment, and after bowing in agreement, he summoned the generals to discuss the matter of going north.
While Zhu Yuanzhang and others were happily discussing the matter of going north, Li Zicheng and others were red-faced over the issue of where to go next.
It turned out that after the defeat in Yuxian County, Li Zicheng led more than 20,000 remnants to escape back to the Hengshan base camp. Together with the more than 10,000 people who had stayed in Hengshan, they defeated Ma Jinzhong, Gao Jie and others who were greedy for power and rashly advanced, and temporarily defended Hengshan.
However, with the advance of Gong Yonggu's army, it was only a matter of time before Hengshan fell, so Li Zicheng summoned the generals to discuss where to go.
At the meeting, Niu Jinxing first proposed to go south to Taiyuan, rely on Shaanxi, and hold the south of Shanxi, and then Xu Tu conquered the north of Shanxi.
Li Yan proposed to return directly to Chang'an and use the remaining troops to consume Gong Yonggu's strength, while they took the opportunity to regroup in Shaanxi. When the time was right, they would march eastward and defeat Gong Yonggu in one fell swoop.
The argument between the two sides was very peaceful at first. Later, Li Mou accused Niu Jinxing of going south to Taiyuan in order to protect the eight Shanxi merchants and claim credit from the Jurchens. This immediately provoked a fierce counterattack from Niu Jinxing's side, and the situation became tense for a time.
Li Zicheng, who was sitting upright, didn't know what he was thinking and remained silent.
