Although what I have seen with my own eyes now is that this group of thieves is indeed different from other bandits, but after all, these villagers were born and grew up in the Ming Dynasty, and they still have some feelings for the Ming Dynasty.
They only saw the power of the Ming Dynasty, and did not believe that thieves such as King Chuang could achieve great things, let alone their claims of being the emperor, and they did not see that King Chuang had the tendency to replace the Ming Emperor.
But these village elders also know that people have to bow their heads when they are under the eaves. Naturally, it is impossible for them to tell the truth at this time.
However, people's hearts are different, and some people saw the thief general Li Guo at this moment. He treated them and others very politely, and his subordinates also had strict military discipline.
Now that I heard what Li Guo said, although I didn't dare to believe it completely, there was a big stir in my heart, and I felt vaguely that the Ming Dynasty was really about to change.
There are also some people who are not living a very smooth life, and they are even more eager to do so so that they can see a peaceful world as soon as possible. It is hard to say whether they can turn around.
However, when Li Guo saw the submissive attitude of everyone, he did not want to get involved too much with them. He immediately announced in public: If any of my officers and soldiers harass the people, you can come and report them at any time. They will be punished according to military law. Those who deserve to be killed He must be killed and punished, and he will definitely not be lenient.
After Li Guo said these words, he called the Chinese army over and ordered him to put out some grain overnight to help the hungry people nearby.
After hearing this, the village elders hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed again, and said many words of gratitude. Some even shed a few tears, and some broke down in tears.
In fact, in the area of the Fourth War in Henan, many officers, soldiers or bandits had passed through before, and without exception they robbed, raped, and even killed.
Judging from these things, there is no difference between the official army and the traitor soldiers. However, in comparison, the traitor soldiers seem to be slightly better. Most of them only ask for money and food, and almost no innocent lives are harmed.
But the officers and soldiers were different. They robbed all the money, food and grain. Even the heads of these poor people were often borrowed by them to serve as the leaders of thieves and use them to claim credit.
But the troops called King Li Chuang who came today not only had strict military discipline, but what was even more rare was that they also provided relief to the villagers that night, which was completely beyond the expectations of the villagers.
Although these village elders are local talkers and are usually respected in their respective villages, they themselves are also suffering. They also deeply understand the suffering of poor people.
Sheqiao is under the jurisdiction of Ruyang Prefecture and is located in the middle of the road from Shangcai to Xincai. Because they heard that officers, soldiers and thieves were coming one after another, most of the young people with flexible legs and quick minds here fled to other places to avoid the war. The remaining Most of the people who fell down were the old, weak, sick and disabled.
I really don’t know how many people will be left here by next spring, and how many people will not starve to death, no one can say!
Tonight, they unexpectedly received relief from the bandits. Although this was not a long-term life-saving solution, it was something that had rarely happened in many years. It was also their current life-saving food, so it was not up to them. Don't shed a single tear.
After several village elders resigned, "One Tiger" Li Guo told the Chinese army to allocate as much grain as possible so that the nearby villagers could feel the kindness of King Chuang.
The Chinese army advised from the side: "Master Hu, we are here on horseback. We don't carry much grain, and we can barely eat enough for two or three days."
If we give relief to the villagers here again tonight, what will we do if we don’t have enough food to help them in the future? "
Li Guo seemed to be very confident. He smiled and said to the Chinese army: "We will know within three days. Besides, our army will arrive at Sheqiao tomorrow, and the grain they bring is enough for my army.
All you have to do now is follow my instructions. The reputation of King Chuang will be spread throughout southern Henan thanks to these village elders! "
After the Chinese army withdrew, Li Guo led a small number of soldiers to patrol at night.
…………
In order to avoid disturbing the people of Sheqiao too much and ruining King Chuang's reputation, "One Tiger" Li Guo even set up his own army in a ruined temple outside Sheqiao Village.
In the many empty houses in Sheqiao Village, only some soldiers and horses were stationed in order to control the situation in the village. At the same time, they also forced the wealthy households in the village to donate food to the army, just to prevent King Chuang's reputation from being damaged and forced him to It's not urgent.
After all, this was not the purpose of coming here, and he did not want to cause trouble.
Li Guo walked several places inside and outside Sheqiao Village, and saw that the streets were very deserted, with no people walking around at all, and several important intersections were guarded by their own sentries.
When he accidentally discovered a few sporadic fires outside Sheqiao Village, he immediately sent his own soldiers to order them to be extinguished, and called the little leader in charge there to give him a severe scolding.
There are three roads on the Sheqiao side, leading to Shangcai, Xincai and Xiangcheng respectively.
Li Guo specifically told the brothers guarding the intersection: "If someone from other places comes to shoot the bridge, they are not allowed to leave; but all the people who shot the bridge, regardless of adults or children, are not allowed to go out again, so as not to reveal the secrets of the army." "
After patrolling for the night, Li Guo rushed to the northwest of Sheqiao Village, where General Yang Chengzu of "Cao Camp" was stationed.
When the soldiers in Yang Chengzu's camp saw that Li Guo was coming in person, they didn't dare to neglect, and hurriedly turned around and ran in to report, but Li Guo waved his hand to stop them, telling them not to report, and then walked slowly towards Yang Chengzu's military tent.
At this moment, Yang Chengzu was drinking and having fun with a group of his subordinates. Suddenly he saw Li Guo walking in. He felt a little embarrassed and quickly stood up and gave way to his seat.
Li Guo, on the other hand, looked indifferent. He smiled and waved his hands to everyone, and told everyone not to get up. Those who should drink should still drink. He said that he was just out to look around and had no other intention.
In fact, this is also the case. Even though Chuang Wang Li Zicheng and Cao Cao Luo Rucai are now in the same camp, they are just two parties fighting together. They are still divided into two factions. Chuangying is still Chuangying, and Cao Cao's camp is still Cao's camp. Don't disturb each other.
After Yang Chengzu got up, he said: "Hey, brother Buzhi, you have been traveling for days and have to do military work. It is very hard. After you stay here, if you don't rest early, why do you come out to check at night?"
Li Guo smiled and said: "I'm used to it too. Whenever I go to a place to garrison troops, I'll always feel uneasy if I don't check the night. Don't interfere, everyone can continue drinking. I'll just take a look. Walk."
Even though he said this, how could Yang Chengzu allow him to leave? He hurriedly pulled Li Guo and said, "Since Brother Buzhi is here, please have a glass of hot wine to relieve your fatigue before we leave."
Seeing that Yang Chengzu was so enthusiastic about staying, Li Guo wanted to leave, but he felt that leaving like this would inevitably leave Yang Chengzu and others with knots in their hearts, so he smiled with relief and sat down.
Seeing that Li Guo agreed to stay, everyone stood up and toasted to him. However, he only drank one glass and refused to drink any more. Everyone was helpless, knowing that he had military affairs at heart, so they had no choice but to give up.
Li Guo sat for a while longer, chatting a few words with everyone, and then stood up to leave. Before leaving, he also told everyone that they should not drink too much while marching, and should rest early, as there might be a battle tomorrow.
Yang Chengzu naturally agreed graciously. He led a group of leaders to personally escort Li Guo out of the tent and watched him gradually go away.
Returning to his military tent, Yang Chengzu looked at everyone with a wry smile and signaled everyone not to drink too much.
A leader who was usually very close to him leaned forward and said, "Now that we, Commander Cao, are joining the camp, we have an extra mother-in-law."
Yang Chengzu also sighed secretly in his heart, he shook his head, stopped the leader from talking any more, and then said to everyone: "On that day, our Commander Cao wanted to come to Henan to defect to King Chuang, and everyone felt that this was not an option.
But our Commander-in-Chief just won’t listen, so what can we do?
Now that we are under the control of others, we can only tolerate it for the time being and treat it as a regretful medicine. What else can we do? "
Everyone was speechless. After complaining for a while, they all felt that drinking again was boring, so they dispersed.
After Li Guo left Yang Chengzu's side, he walked around Sheqiao again, especially the intersections leading to the outside world, which he was most concerned about.
Around the third watch, Li Guo also felt tired. He didn't bother to undress, so he lay down on the bed. He had just fallen asleep when a sound of footsteps suddenly woke him up.
But it was the Chinese army who came to repay the news with detailed words. They had found out that the officers and soldiers would cross Ru River tomorrow and come north. They even threatened to destroy the bandits and save Runing.
After Li Guo heard the report, he thought for a while and then said, "Maybe it's not your water, but a flood, right?"
After listening to Li Guo's words, the Chinese army pondered for a moment and then said: "It's a flood. It must be a flood. It can't be the Ru River. If you think carefully, you may be in a hurry. You didn't understand it for a while, so you said it was the Ru River in a hurry."
Li Guo nodded and said, "I understand. The intentions of the officers and soldiers are now clear."
At this time, he had no sleep at all, so he stopped sleeping and quickly sent a cavalry colonel with a few cavalrymen to report to King Chuang overnight with the latest military information and his battle plan.
In addition, Li Guo sent Tang Ma overnight to urge the army behind to rush forward at night, and must catch up as soon as possible to prepare for the big battle tomorrow.
By the time he finished all these things, he heard the crow of the cock for the first time. However, it was still early in the morning and he had nothing to do, so he lay on the bed with all his clothes on and fell asleep.
…………
Fu Zonglong, the governor of Shaanxi and the three border areas of the Ming Dynasty, and Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, met in Xincai County yesterday.
However, after the gentry in Xincai County discussed together, they closed the city gate tightly and refused to let the officers and soldiers enter the city. Therefore, they had no choice but to temporarily station in Yuecheng Town in the south of the city.
Both of their old camps were stationed in Yuecheng City, while the armies of both sides were stationed in many villages on the south bank of Ru River. In addition, a guerrilla was sent to lead some troops to the city to ask Xincai County Magistrate for what they needed for the army. supply of food and grass.
The magistrate of Xincai County stood on the top of the city and shouted loudly: "General, please report back to the two governors. Xincai County has been hit by natural disasters and military disasters one after another. It is now very difficult for the city to save itself. There is no time to save ourselves. There is really no extra food and grass to supply the needs of the army. Please forgive me!"
How could the guerrillas under the city agree to this? He shouted sternly: "The two governors both hold Shangfang swords given by the emperor. You, the little magistrate of Xincai County, dare to disobey the governor Jun's orders. You are not afraid of the two governors." Can you please bring out Shang Fang’s sword and kill first and then play?”
After hearing this, the magistrate of Xincai County did not dare to protest too much. He just replied: "Let me discuss it with the local gentry and country officials again, and ask the general to report back to the two governors. I will definitely do my best. Will do my best.”
After saying this, he got up and went down to the city to return to the Yamen. He never showed up again.
But here, Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue had communicated through messengers before the meeting, and basically determined the strategy after the meeting, which was to be prudent.
But what makes the two of them helpless is that Emperor Chongzhen's edicts urging war have become more and more intense in the past few days. Just yesterday, they received separate edicts from the emperor, requiring them to annihilate the rebel Li Zicheng within a time limit.
Emperor Chongzhen was worried about state affairs, internally it was the bandits causing trouble in Henan and Huguang, and externally it was the battle of Jinzhou with the Tartars.
However, he never thought about the solution in detail, but only insisted on urging the war, never asking about the difficulties or caring about the consequences. This made the governors and ministers who led the army to fight outside were all Alexander, and they were all at a loss. feel.
They all know that the current emperor is not very clear about the current war situation between Jinzhou and the Central Plains, and is even more ignorant of the current combat situation. He just thinks about it casually in the palace, or is fooled by those incompetent civil servants. That is to say, he wrote a hand-written edict and ordered the Ministry of War to urge the war frequently.
Just like Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue at this moment, if they follow the order and march the army, they really have no confidence in defeating the "intruders". However, if they don't follow the order and march the army, they will be punished for it. It is really a dilemma.
After settling the troops, Fu Zonglong invited Yang Wenyue to his Chinese army tent to secretly discuss countermeasures.
However, they discussed and discussed, but still could not come up with a good plan. In desperation, they had to act according to their original strategy. They would not easily engage with the intruders for the time being. Instead of going to Runing, they would go north to Xiangcheng to avoid the thieves. .
In fact, they were afraid that as soon as the official army arrived in Runing, they would be surrounded by the rebels who rebelled against Li Zicheng. At that time, the rebel army was outnumbered, but not only were their troops insufficient, but they also lacked food and grass. Wouldn't the entire army be wiped out?
Although the armies of Superintendent Ding Qirui and General Zuo Liangyu were in Xinyang and Guangshan areas at the moment, they were also afraid of the intruders' power, so they marched southward to avoid the intruders and focus on fighting the intruders.
Now, how can we expect them to come north to rescue us?
Therefore, Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue finally agreed that they should lead the army northward towards Xiangcheng and Chenzhou. Fu Zonglong was actually not very satisfied with this decision, but he had nothing to do.
Fu Zonglong has been in prison for the past two years.
Now, he knew that the situation was not good, but he thought that since the current emperor released him from prison and promoted him to be the governor of the three sides, no matter whether he was dead or alive, he should do his best to repay the emperor's kindness.
Now that the strategy was decided, he couldn't help but sigh and said: "Master Yang, the thief is in the northwest, and I'm heading to the northeast. Isn't it difficult to escape the suspicion of avoiding the thief?
What will happen if the Holy Spirit takes responsibility? "
