Li Zicheng stopped and turned around to look at Gu Junen, his thick eyebrows furrowed, as if he was thinking carefully about something.
After a while, Emperor Yongchang whispered: "The Xi'an Prefecture is still fighting with that thief Wu Sangui, the Nanyang Prefecture is fighting the Tartars again, and the Hanzhong Prefecture just fought with Zhang Xianzhong... The south is a little more stable, but if we start a war with Zuo Liangyu again, we will be surrounded by enemies on all sides!"
"Your Majesty, sooner or later the Xi'an Prefecture will be undefended..." Gu Junen said, "Now that Xi'an Prefecture is surrounded by war and chaos, no one has been farming for a long time. Even Tongguan Bo (Luo Hu) and Linqu Nan (Gao Yigong) As long as Xi'an runs out of food, they can only abandon the city and find a way out. The situation in Nanyang Prefecture is slightly better, but once Xi'an is not defended, it will be attacked from three sides. Even if it works hard to maintain, the countryside It will inevitably turn into scorched earth. And Hanzhong will also fall into the pincer attack of Wu Sangui and Zhang Xianzhong, and the situation is not optimistic. If we can't plan ahead and expand to the south, we are afraid that once Xi'an Prefecture is lost, we will have to live in Xiangjing and Yuanyang. Between!"
After being reminded by Gu Junen, Li Zicheng also realized the seriousness of the problem. It seems that the war in Xi'an Prefecture can still be maintained, but farming around Xi'an Prefecture cannot be carried out. Without farming, there will be no harvest. When the reserves in Xi'an City are exhausted, Luo Hu and Gao Yigong will have no choice but to retreat when they run out of food.
Li Zicheng sighed: "The elders of Shaanxi all hope that they will be able to stabilize the country and save the people from the fire. I originally thought so, but now half of Shaanxi has been reduced to ashes, and I don't know how many people have died... ..”
Gu Junen knew that the emperor's wifely benevolence was wrong, so he could only comfort him: "Your Majesty, the rise and fall of all dynasties has been like this. As long as you take over the world and implement more benevolent policies, let the people live a good life for a few years." , that’s all it’s worth.”
Li Zicheng nodded, "Benevolent government still has to be carried out... But if we go south to fight Zuo Liangyu, will it attract the young prince of the Zhu family? He just sent the Tartars to Chubeilehaug." He was beaten to death, and his morale is high!"
"No," Military Advisor Gu Er was very sure. "The regent of the Tartars has personally led his army to Shangqiu to avenge Haug. How can the prince of the Zhu family dare to march westward to Huguang?"
Li Zicheng was right when he thought about it. Dorgon heard that he was Hauge's uncle, and his nephew was beaten to death. Can the uncle just let it go? Revenge must be avenged...
Military Advisor Gu Er added: "The people sent to Wuchang Prefecture reported in detail that Zuo Liangyu, the old thief, was seriously ill and was about to die. His son Zuo Mengeng had little virtue and talent, and it was difficult to convince the masses. The morale of the army was in chaos... .This is our opportunity to take advantage of the loss and attack!
Moreover, the discipline of the left wing is extremely poor, and the generals are worse than bandits. These days in Huguang have brought disaster to the local area, especially those several state capitals that we once occupied. Now everyone is looking forward to the return of the emperor. Call back! "
"Really?" Li Zicheng was doubtful, "Are you looking forward to the little prince?"
"How can you expect him?" Gu Junen said with a smile, "What good is he? He is cunning and cruel, disobedient and unfilial, greedy by nature, and his reputation in Huguang is extremely bad."
Li Zicheng thought to himself: It must be the advisers around Zuo Liangyu who are desperately trying to smear the little prince!
"Since there are people who are looking forward to it, we might as well fight again!" Li Zicheng said, "But we will no longer be free of tax for three years... this time we will have to equalize the land, and the Donglu will allocate land to them orally. Why can’t the master of Dashun benevolence and righteousness do this?”
"Your Majesty is wise!" Gu Jun'en said, "We can first send agents to sneak into the five prefectures of Chengtian, Jingzhou, De'an, Huangzhou, and Hanyang, and post notices announcing that land will be equalized in Jikou, Huguang... If the poor people know about it, they will definitely support the emperor's soldiers."
"Very good!" Li Zicheng suddenly felt happy, "The song has also been changed. Let's sing 'Eat his mother, share his mother, divide the land when King Chuang comes'! Many poor people will definitely respond to this!"
Gu Junen then suggested: "Your Majesty, should we contact Zhang Xianzhong? Now that there are only two groups left in the rebel army, we and Zhang Xianzhong, we really shouldn't kill each other."
Li Zicheng snorted: "He is hiding in Sichuan to dominate, but he is comfortable. How can he join forces with Er?"
"Your Majesty, the news from Sichuan is not like this," Gu Jun'en said. "Zhang Xianzhong did not feel comfortable for long... After he became emperor in Chengdu, he began to decline. Not only was he beaten by us in Hanzhong They were defeated and besieged by a group of remnants of the Ming Dynasty. They suffered repeated defeats. It was so embarrassing that even Chongqing was lost."
Zhang Xianzhong's fate was somewhat similar to that of Li Zicheng. He had good luck before entering Chengdu Jiandaxi and showed an unstoppable momentum. But after becoming the Daxi Emperor in Chengdu, he began to fall behind. Not only was he defeated by He Zhen, the controlling general sent by Li Zicheng to Hanzhong, but he was also besieged by a group of Sichuan Ming generals such as Zeng Ying, Li Zhanchun, Yu Dahai, Wang Xiang, Yang Zhan, and Cao Xun.
This group of Ming Dynasty generals seemed to be very incapable of fighting before Zhang Xianzhong entered Chengdu. However, after Zhang Xianzhong entered Chengdu and became emperor, they suddenly became brave. They gathered troops and horses one after another, raised the banner and fought against the Great Western Army, and And the fight was lively!
In the spring of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen, Ma Shiying, the governor of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan appointed by Zhu Cixiang, arrived at Zunyi Prefecture in Sichuan (Zunyi Prefecture was originally the (Bozhou, which belonged to Sichuan Province in the late Ming Dynasty), Zhang Xianzhong's troubles became even greater.
Sichuan is a land of abundance. It was not greatly affected by the Little Ice Age, and the people's lives were not too difficult. Therefore, the Sichuan people did not expect Zhang Xianzhong to "save" him at all, and Zhang Xianzhong was not a hero like Li Zicheng who was galloping in the Central Plains - the Sichuan people also knew the story of the Central Plains winning the world, and they also knew that the regimes that had divided Sichuan since ancient times did not last long. Therefore, there were not many Sichuan people willing to take refuge with Zhang Xianzhong. Once Zhu Cixang's tax exemption order came, Zhang Xianzhong's rule in eastern Sichuan was on the verge of collapse.
In this case, Ma Shiying would work with Ma Gan, the acting governor of Sichuan, Gan Liangchen, the former commander-in-chief of Shanhaiguan who was in the countryside, Fuzhou counselor Zeng Ying, Zunyi counselor Wang Xiang, and Sichuan commander-in-chief Qin Yiming (Qin Liangyu's brother) who was stationed in Shizhu. ) and other troops counterattacked Chongqing, and actually succeeded in March!
The remnants of the Ming army in southern and western Sichuan also recommended Cao Xun as their commander and raised troops in the Dadu River Basin. Currently, Cao Xun occupies Yazhou and Yang Zhan occupies Jiading Prefecture. "The big pie, more Sichuan people took refuge in Cao Xun and Yang Zhan than in history.
If this continues, Zhang Xianzhong may die faster than ever before!
"Deserves it!" Li Zicheng sneered, "Who told him to take the initiative to become the emperor? Now he is besieged, right? Let's see how long he can hold on."
"Your Majesty," Gu Junen whispered, "do you know how Uncle Liu obtained the land of Yizhou back then?"
"Uncle Liu Huang?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Is that the sniveling big-eared thief Liu Bei?"
"That's right!" Gu Junen was also a strategist who was familiar with "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He said: "Now Zhang Xianzhong is in a very critical situation. He is besieged by the Sichuan army and is struggling to cope. It is the same situation that Liu Zhang faced back then... ...And the emperor is about to take over Jingchu, isn’t it the same situation as Liu Huangshu? Moreover, the emperor and Zhang Xianzhong are both rebels, and they are in love with each other!"
Although Li Zicheng's Second Military Advisor could not "count on his fingers," he still had certain insights into the general trend of the world.
He now knows that Dashun has no chance to dominate the world, and all he can ask for now is a chance to divide the world.
To divide the world into three parts, it is possible to choose one of Sichuan and Chu, the Central Plains, and the Southeast.
Now the Central Plains belongs to the Qing Dynasty, and the southeast belongs to the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the Qing Dynasty had plans to dictate the land and set up flags to enclose the land, so the situation could be maintained. The Ming Dynasty was also sorting out the land, imposing strict commercial taxes, and there was still a place where wealth gathered in the southeast. It also had access to Western firearms technology, and it had stabilized its position.
Therefore, the only territory that Dashun can capture now is the land of Sichuan and Chu, following the path of the Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period...
