"Catch!" Liu Zongmin nodded, "A tiger looks a bit like Mr. Right...but he is in Huya Mountain now!"
Tian Jianxiu and Gu Junen both breathed a sigh of relief. If Li Zicheng was just King Chuang instead of Emperor Dashun, then Liu Zongmin would indeed be more qualified to be his successor than Li Guo.
But now that Li Zicheng has become the late emperor, of course his accession to the throne must be based on bloodline, otherwise how can he convince the public?
Now that Liu Zongmin is willing to take a step back, it seems that Emperor Li Xian's career is expected to continue.
Late Emperor, you can rest in peace...but you cannot rest in peace for the time being, because you still have to pretend to be alive!
"So we can't make the news of the emperor's death public!" Gu Junen said, "Otherwise, the morale of the army will be in chaos, and we won't be able to reach Huya Mountain alive!"
"Yes, yes! We have to ask the late emperor to pretend to be alive!" Liu Zongmin calculated, "There are still more than two hundred miles from here to Huya Mountain... We are so exhausted now that we can't go very fast. It will take at least three or four days. ah!"
He looked at Li Zicheng, who was lying there motionless, wiping his tears: "The late emperor, you still have to work hard and pretend to live for a few more days... Fortunately, not many people know that the emperor has become the late emperor. They all told Yufeng that he was under control."
Li Zicheng worked so hard, he had to pretend to be alive even if he died...
"A few days are not enough!" Gu Junen shook his head, "At least you have to pretend to survive until we capture Chongqing!"
"It takes a long time to pretend!" Liu Zongmin glanced at Li Zicheng again, "It's so hot now, doesn't it stink?"
Even if you stink, you have to pretend!
Gu Junen was still knowledgeable, so he thought for a while, "In the past, the First Emperor died in the sand dunes. Zhao Gao, Li Si and others did not mourn secretly, but carried the coffin in a cool cart, and used salted fish to cover the smell of the corpse..."
"Understood!" Liu Zongmin said, "Just tell the late emperor, oh, it's the emperor who wants to eat salted fish and steamed buns. I'll ask someone to grab the salted fish right away!"
On the side, Tian Jianxiu breathed out and said: "The red thief also suffered a heavy loss in this battle. If he knew that the emperor was still there, he would not dare to pursue and fight fiercely. We can leave calmly. As long as we arrive in Yidu The county will be able to form horns with Huya Mountain, blocking the westward march of the Red Thieves. Then Bohou and Ruhou will be able to lead everyone into Sichuan to create a new world!"
"Uh and Bohou?" Liu Zongmin looked at Tian Jianxiu, "Yufeng, aren't you with us?"
Tian Jianxiu shook his head: "There must be someone left to guard Yidu and Huya Mountain... The emperor wanted to hand over Jingzhou to Er before he died, so let Er take charge now!"
Gu Junen glanced at Tian Jianxiu, but secretly admired his decision, because guarding Yidu, Huya Mountain, Yiling Prefecture, Guizhou, Changyang and Badong, the prefectures and counties belonging to Jingzhou Prefecture, seemed risky. , Actually...as long as Zhu Cixiang can't spare the energy to enter Sichuan in a big way, there will be no problem.
On the contrary, it can avoid the disputes in the Dashun court and avoid life-and-death fights with Zhang Xianzhong's tribe in central Sichuan. It can also dominate one side and sit back and watch the gains and losses. It is a good choice!
Gu Junen nodded and said: "It is true that there must be generals guarding the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture so that Bohou and Ruhou can enter Sichuan calmly!
In addition, the three prefectures of Hanyang, De'an, and Chengtian cannot be defended! Most of Nanyang Prefecture is also difficult to defend, and Xi'an and Fengxiang Prefecture in Guanzhong seem to be giving up. But you can’t just abandon the ground, you still have to defend what you need to defend!
The western part of Jingzhou Prefecture, Xiangjing, Yunyang, Hanzhong...these are all places that must be defended! "
The western part of Jingzhou Prefecture is the base area that enters Sichuan from the east, while Hanzhong is the base area that enters Sichuan from the north.
As for Xiangjing and Yunyang, they are where a considerable number of old camp soldiers have their farms. They are also the strongholds where the Dashun Army maintained its presence in the Central Plains after giving up its territory in Guanzhong.
As long as the banner with the word "Chuang" is still flying over Xiangjing City, the Dashun Dynasty is not a Pianan regime located in the southwest!
In addition, the land of Xiangjing and Yunyang (the two mansions are connected) can also be used to house a certain founding hero of Dashun who poses a threat to Li Guo...
"Jixuan," Tian Jianxiu was thoughtful. Of course he understood what Gu Junen said, and he also knew the embarrassing situation between himself and Liu Zongmin. He looked at Liu Zongmin and said, "Xiangjing and Yunyang are very important, and they must be guarded by generals. ...How about you go to Xiangjing Prefecture to guard it? If we are in Huya Mountain and you are in Xiangjing City, we can be each other's horns!"
"It's okay!" Liu Zongmin also thought it was good. He was guarding one side and would not be criticized by anyone. Moreover, Xiangjing was the first base area of Dashun. The terrain was dangerous, easy to defend but difficult to attack, and it was quite wealthy. As for Yunyang, although it is a mountainous area, it is a good place for separatist rule.
As early as the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, there were two major refugee uprisings in the Yunyang Mountain area... That area is a good place far away from the emperor with high mountains and dangerous mountains!
...
On the second day of May in the third year of Yongchang in Dashun, Yidu County.
This county town fell into the hands of Li Guo's son Li Laiheng four days ago, on the day Li Zicheng died.
Because Wu Guoyong's new army, which had been preparing to attack Huya Mountain, ran away in a hurry, which made Li Guo, who was huddled in Huya Mountain and Yiling Prefecture and prepared to hold on, trembled again. He sent his son Li Laiheng to lead ten thousand people across the river and captured Changyang County and Yidu County, which were controlled by the local forces of the Ming Dynasty (that is, local tyrants and evil gentry). Not only did they completely block the waterway from the Jingjiang River to the Sichuan River, but also blocked the road leading to Shi Yi Shui of Zhouwei.
At least from the map, the Dashun Dynasty's rule in the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture became more consolidated because of the capture of the two county towns of Yidu and Changyang.
However, consolidating the Dashun Dynasty's territory in the west of Jingzhou Prefecture was not the main purpose of Li Laiheng's sending troops. His purpose of sending troops to Yidu was actually to meet the army led by Li Zicheng coming from the direction of Songzi and Zhijiang.
As early as when Li Zicheng sent out troops, he had made an agreement with Li Guo. Once the main force of the Ming army entrenched under Jiangling City was transferred away, Li Guo would send troops from Huya Mountain to the south of the Yangtze River to support Li Zicheng's return.
And this goal seems to have been achieved now!
The Dashun army, numbering close to 30,000 people (more than 10,000 people who broke out from Tangjiashan, 10,000 people led by Liu Zongmin, and several thousand people captured by Liu Zongmin), were marching into Yidu County in a mighty manner at this time.
Li Laiheng, who had just won the battle, rode jubilantly with his soldiers to Shilipu, where Li Zicheng's imperial camp was stationed.
There is an abandoned post station here in Shilipu. It is currently surrounded by soldiers from the imperial camp. The security is quite tight. Moreover, the soldiers guarding the inn all have gloomy faces, as if they have just suffered a tragic defeat.
Li Laiheng thought to himself: The emperor must have suffered a defeat in the police and Shishou area...
Thinking in his mind, he got off his horse and walked quickly into the inn. As soon as he entered the door, he smelled the smell of salted fish. He frowned: "What does this smell like?"
"General Zhi, this smells like salted fish." The person who replied was Gu Junen, who had just personally greeted Li Laiheng outside the inn, and his attitude was particularly respectful.
"Salted fish?"
"Yes, the emperor likes to eat salted fish buns recently, so he bought a lot of them and took them with him on the road."
"That's too smelly...can't you buy something better?" Li Laiheng shook his head, "We are all princes, so we don't have to be so careful about our lives, right?"
Gu Junen sighed and without saying anything, he led Li Laiheng into a heavily guarded room. The room was filled with salted fish and the smell was overwhelming! In such a smelly room, there were actually two princes sitting dejectedly. When they saw Li Laiheng walking in, they both stood up and saluted.
"Liu Zongmin has met the Crown Prince!"
"Tian Jianxiu has met the crown prince!"
Li Laiheng was stunned now. What do you mean? Well, there is only one prince, you two are both princes! And among the nine princes of Dashun, you two rank first and second, and Eda (father) ranks fourth.
Thinking of this, he was about to bow to Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu, but was stopped by Gu Junen, "From now on, the prince can no longer bow to his subordinates!"
Li Laiheng looked at Gu Junen, "What? What did you say? Who is my subordinate?"
"The emperor passed away... He ordered that the funeral should be kept secret, and that Marquis Bo should be crowned emperor!"
