In early September last year, I was on the boat of Yang Sichang, the governor on the riverside outside Wushan City.
"Hua Guansuo" Wang Guangen kowtowed in front of Yang Sichang and cried. He swore allegiance to the imperial court and would never change his mind in this life.
Although Wang Guangen was born a bandit, he was very handsome with a peach-like face.
He originally had six or seven thousand men and horses, but recently about 30% of them were killed, injured or escaped.
Yang Sichang ordered him to serve as a guerrilla in Yunyang, and selected more than 2,000 elite soldiers and horses to accompany the army to pursue and suppress the bandits. The rest were stationed in Yunyang and Junzhou for rectification and training, and were temporarily returned to the governor of Yunyang for dispatch.
In the large cabin of the ship, Yang Sichang asked him: "Do you know where Li Zicheng is now?"
Wang Guangen replied with a respectful expression: "Since my younger brother Guangxing saw Li Thief in Zhushan, I only knew that Li Thief had fled to the northwest, but I didn't know where he fled to.
He currently has very few men and horses, and they are very hungry and tired. Eighty percent of them are lurking in the mountains somewhere at the junction of Shaanxi and Huguang. "
Yang Sichang still felt uneasy about this, and he mused: "If we can recruit him to surrender, we can eliminate a hidden danger for the court."
Wang Guangen said seriously: "The general knows that Li Thief's temperament is very different from Cao Thief's, and also different from the Eight Thieves.
His heart as a thief is strong and firm, and he is also extremely tolerant. He has always had rough clothing and food, and he is not as greedy for pleasure as the Eight Thieves and Cao Thieves. It is not easy to recruit him to surrender. "
Yang Sichang said: "Since he is so stubborn and refuses to surrender, we should slow down the time a little and wait until the Xian thieves are wiped out before dividing our troops to surround him and annihilate him.
You are currently stationed in the area of Yun and Jun. Don't be careless. You must send more careful troops to detect his whereabouts and beware of him suddenly escaping and breaking through the city. "
Wang Guangen replied with a respectful expression: "I will obey your Lord Jun's instructions. The general will never dare to be careless."
…………
Yang Sichang was alone in the center of the cabin in a daze, thinking about all the past events some time ago.
He twisted his beard and whispered:
"If you don't surrender in peace, you will be like the mantis with its arms.
The travel between Chu and Shu was rampant, and the troops were ruthless and the people were in ruins.
It rains suddenly in Yuntun and the troops gather, and the snakes and pigs rush to hide and hide?
When Mian'er's soldiers and civilians captured him and surrendered him, he was rewarded with great honors and rewards. "
This is the poem "Moon over the West River" that he composed when he first entered Shu to pursue Zhang Xianzhong. At that time, it was posted all over the prefectures and counties in Sichuan and Huguang.
He vaguely remembered making a more popular announcement with his staff:
"This is a rebel in Gucheng, and now the dog is dying.
Xing'an moved smoothly in all directions, and the heavenly soldiers from all directions caught up.
He ran away, changed his name, and fled into hiding in black clothes.
Soldiers and civilians were tied up to surrender, and they were rewarded with jade belts and brocade clothes. "
Looking back now, everything was just a blur. Suddenly, the jingle Zhang Xianzhong used to ridicule him came to his mind again:
“In front of us was Governor Shao, who often came to dance in groups;
What a good Yang Ge tribe, three days away from me."
He was thinking wildly when he suddenly heard a few cries of apes falling from a high cliff. The sounds were clear and bitter. He couldn't help but move in his heart, sighed, and unknowingly chanted:
Valley "The Badong Three Gorges and the Wu Gorge are long, and the apes cry three times and shed tears on their clothes!"
Due to his heavy and sad mood, all kinds of problems of supervision and suppression came to his mind. He sighed in his heart: "How many of the princes in the court know how hard I have worked for the country!"
…………
At this time, Yang Sichang did not know that Luoyang had been lost and Fu Fan was in trouble. He also did not know that the situation in Henan had changed drastically and that Kaifeng was in an extremely critical situation.
The only thing he was concerned about now was the whereabouts of the two thieves, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, so he rushed to Shashi so that he could quickly detect the whereabouts of the Xian thieves and the Cao thieves, and re-formulate and deploy the pursuit and suppression strategy.
Yang Sichang was worthy of being a shrewd and capable person among the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty at this time.
Now, as soon as Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucaipu left Sichuan, he thought about the safety of Xiangyang, but he kept it in his heart and did not mention it to any staff or people around him.
That night, when preparing to go to bed, the supervisor Wan Yuanji and several other close aides who had boarded the ship from Kuizhou had already left. Only his son Yang Shansong had not yet withdrawn.
Yang Sichang took advantage of the fact that there was no one around, sighed, and then asked in a low voice: "What do you think of Wang Shuzeng?"
Yang Shansong had already turned around to leave, but when he heard this, he turned around quickly and replied with a respectful expression: "Your Excellency is the best at knowing people. It is naturally better to appoint Wang Shuzeng as the magistrate of Xiangyang than his predecessor.
He is young and promising, and has the courage to take on tasks. He is also a person personally recommended by the Lord, and he wants to repay his gratitude.
I just heard that since your Excellency left Xiangyang and went to Sichuan to supervise and suppress the Xian thieves, he seems to have behaved erratically sometimes and is not as diligent as before.
I also heard that he sometimes questioned the two concubines who were imprisoned in Xiangyang Prison under the guise of personally inspecting the prison. If time passes, it is inevitable that something will happen. "
Yang Sichang also said: "The current war situation is volatile, and the defender of Xiangyang must be mature and prudent; if he is a little frivolous, even if he is usually capable, he will easily get into trouble, so I am really worried about this place in Xiangyang." "
Yang Shansong said cautiously: "Why don't you give the prefect Wang a quick instruction and tell him to be extra cautious and guard the city to prevent spies from sneaking into the city?"
Yang Sichang shook his head, sighed, and then said softly: "If you write a letter to the Wang Zhifu at this time, if you don't state the changes in the war situation in central Sichuan, he won't pay much attention to it.
But even if I explained everything to him, it would be inconvenient.
Now is the time when rumors are spreading. It is important not to let the Xiangyang side know the truth here, so as not to cause people to panic and give the surrendered people and refugees living in Xiangfan City an opportunity to take advantage of.
Moreover, many people in the imperial court, out of personal opinions, did not care about the safety and interests of the country, but only focused on criticizing.
If we ourselves are a little careless and spread the news about the recent changes in the war situation in central Sichuan, and the officials in the capital know about it, they will make an uproar and attack each other, and the emperor has always been impatient and easily angered..."
When Yang Sichang said this, he remained silent and stopped talking. He just sighed with infinite emotion.
Yang Shansong, however, continued to ask a little eagerly: "What if we don't take advantage of this moment to give a hand instruction to the Wang Zhifu and tell him to be careful about the city's defense, in case a traitor disturbs Xiangyang?"
Yang Sichang also fell into silence for a while. After a long time, he raised his head and said: "Currently, the two thieves Xian and Cao are also exhausted. They have fewer men and horses, with only three or four thousand people left. Even if they escape from Sichuan, they will not be able to survive." He may not dare to attack Xiangyang.
Even if he dares to attack Xiangyang, as long as the inspection at Xiangyang city gate is a little tighter and there are no spies in the city, he will be foolproof. Even though the Wang Zhifu is a bit frivolous, Zhang Bingbei is indeed known to be experienced.
It seems that our worries are somewhat overblown. "
Yang Shansong saw that his father's mood was somewhat relieved, but his body was also very sleepy, so he quietly stepped out.
…………
Just when Yang Sichang couldn't guess where Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai were now, he was worried about the safety of Xiangyang.
There is a group of people stationed next to Xiangxi River in Xingshan County. Although they are not as numerous as Li Chuang, it can be seen at a glance that they are all elites from hundreds of battles, but they are slightly tired and exhausted. , as if they had just gone through a long journey.
