In the military tent of King Chuang in the south of Ye County, Liu Guoneng said: "Wang Chuang and I were friends for eight worshippers. Although we later parted ways and went our own ways, we never had any grudges in private.
If King Chuang is really kind, please kill me and leave this child alive so that your sister-in-law can take him back to his hometown in Yan'an. You will not let my heirs die out. I am sorry to my ancestors. "
Li Zicheng was also touched after hearing his words, and replied to him: "If you must die, there will be things behind you, but please don't worry. Your son is just like my son.
I will definitely send someone to escort him and his old sister-in-law to leave Ye County safely. Even if I don't kill any of your soldiers and generals, I will let them escort my sister-in-law and nephew back to their hometown in Yan'an.
I will arrange for you the travel expenses along the way and the money they need to make a living in the future. "
Upon hearing this, Liu Guoneng immediately stood up, bowed deeply to King Chuang, and said, "Even if I die, I can rest in peace."
Li Zicheng seemed to be a little bit intolerant, but he turned around and looked around, only to see Liu Zongmin looking angry, and Song Xiance winking at him frequently.
Then he said with tears in his eyes: "Junchen, I can no longer keep you. Personally, you and I have been friends for eight years, but when it comes to military law, I cannot allow you to defect to the imperial court and refuse to look back."
Please pay the bill. "
He then glanced at Wu Ruyi, who immediately led four soldiers to escort Liu Guoneng out of the tent.
Chuang Li Zicheng sighed, stroked Liu Guoneng's son's head again, and said to him: "These are all official matters and must be done out of necessity. You don't have to be afraid, I will raise you like a father."
While speaking, Wu Ruyi turned back and reported to King Chuang that the traitor general Liu Guoneng had been beheaded. At this time, Liu Guoneng's son couldn't help but burst into tears when he heard that his father had been beheaded. He suddenly jumped out of Li Zicheng's arms. He jumped down and ran out of the tent.
Li Zicheng thought that the child was going out to see his father's body. While he ordered his soldiers to chase him out, he also ordered a good coffin for General Liu to be buried alive.
He then said to a soldier: "Go and call the two tigers into the tent."
"Two Tigers" Liu Tichun hurried to the military tent. He approached King Chuang and asked, "What is King Chuang's order? Do you want me to lead the troops into the city?"
When King Chuang was about to speak, he saw a soldier running quickly into the tent and reported to him hurriedly: "Generalissimo, the child didn't notice and actually committed suicide next to the body of Vice General Liu!"
Chuang Wang Li Zicheng was shocked when he heard this. He hurriedly got up and went out of the tent to take a look, and saw that the child had indeed cut his throat with a dagger and committed suicide.
King Chuang asked: "How could such a good person commit suicide?"
The soldier hurriedly reported back: "He looked at the body of Vice General Liu, cried a few more times, and when we were not prepared, he suddenly pulled out the dagger from his waist and wiped it on his neck, slitting his throat."
King Chuang also kept stamping his feet, but now that the matter had come to this, what could he do?
Li Zicheng just sighed a few times and said: "I didn't expect this child to be so stupid and loyal. He was really taught bad by Junchen."
He sighed, turned back to the military tent, and ordered Liu Tichun: "Dejie, you lead two thousand cavalry into the city. Since you are opening the city to surrender, you will try your best not to disturb the gentry and people in the city, and just pick up a few big households to supplement some money and food." "
"Erhu" is actually Liu Tichun's nickname, and his brother Liu Tiren's nickname is "Big Tiger", but he was killed by the Ming Dynasty army long ago.
Although Liu Tichun also gave himself the word "Dejie" as his nickname after he gained some fame among thieves, Li Zicheng and his wife, Liu Zongmin and other senior generals still like to call him Erhu.
Just because Liu Tichun was a little brother who grew up under their noses, they were used to calling him by his nickname. However, now that Liu Tichun has become a warrior, everyone has begun to call him by his cousin in formal occasions. Only the president The whistleblower Liu Zongmin still couldn't change.
Li Zicheng then remembered something and continued: "Liu Guoneng was my sworn brother. I originally wanted to keep his family and stay with him to take care of him, but now that his youngest son committed suicide in our army, this matter has changed." It’s not easy to handle.”
He thought for a while before speaking again: "Dejie, your first priority after entering the city is to immediately find Liu Guoneng's family members, especially his eldest son Liu Shiwen, take strict care of them and deliver them to me as soon as possible.
Also, none of Liu Guoneng's former subordinates and soldiers were allowed to be killed. Those who wanted to stay could be kept, and those who did not want to be given some money for travel expenses would be dismissed. "
When Liu Tichun turned to leave, Li Zicheng remembered something again and stopped him and said: "Dejie, although Zhang Woyi, the magistrate of Yecheng County, is a fellow Shaanxi fellow, he also urged Kaicheng to surrender, but this man is in Yecheng For two years, corruption and perversion of the law aroused great public dissatisfaction.
After you enter the city, you still have to arrest him and behead him in public to eliminate harm for the people. The military advisor of the Song Dynasty will enter the city with you to make announcements to pacify the people and pay for all the crimes committed by my wing. The military advisor is fully aware of it. "
"Yes, King Chuang."
…………
"Shan Ye" Tong Shoushan is now a leader in the camp. He was first assigned to the head of the cavalry team under Liu Fangliang, and later was sent to collect grain. He made many achievements, and his team became more and more powerful, so he They formed a group and served under Liu Fangliang and Li Guo successively.
Now, he was appointed as a general under Liu Tichun, and he was trusted and reused by Liu Tichun. This time King Chuang ordered Liu Tichun to lead two thousand cavalry into the city. The first thing he thought of was Tong Shoushan's "Shanzi Camp".
There are nearly four to five thousand men and horses in Tong Shoushan's camp, but there are only six to seven hundred cavalry. The remaining infantry are less than two thousand, as well as some of the warriors' family members.
After receiving Liu Tichun's military order, Tong Shoushan immediately gathered his cavalry, and the infantry would set off in advance with the army to station near Nanyang in preparation for the siege of Nanyang.
At this time, seeing no one around, he whispered to Bao Jiqiang, the leader of the trusted team: "Hai Ye sent a message from before, saying that Chen Tou wants to protect Liu Guoneng."
…………
Haiye was none other than Liu Jinhai, the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu and Yongningbo Zhang Cheng, who sent secret activities in Jinan and Henan provinces. When Zhang Cheng sent troops to aid Liao, he was ordered to accompany the Xuanfu medical officer Shen Shichun to Jinan to investigate the plague. Affection.
Although the journey was thrilling, it was also extremely rewarding. In particular, Shen Shichun personally verified Zhang Cheng's theory that the plague was probably spread through powder in the air.
Shen Shichun and his team achieved certain results by strengthening personal protection, first sealing off the epidemic area and then carrying out widespread disinfection and cleaning. They also isolated the patients in a certain area and then used medicine and stone to rescue them.
Although it was not possible to rescue all patients infected with the plague, it greatly reduced the speed of infection and greatly limited the further spread of the plague.
The biggest gain for Shen Shichun and his party was that they met Wu Youxing, a famous doctor of the generation who also wanted to explore the pathology of plague, and traveled with him, and they benefited a lot.
Wu Youxing, whose nickname was Youke and Danzhai, was a native of Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province. He was a rare medical master in the late Ming Dynasty. Due to the epidemic epidemic in his hometown of Wuxian County for many years, "there were more than a hundred families in an alley, and no one was spared; each branch had dozens of people." Mouth, no one survived."
He felt pained that the doctors at that time were all using typhoid methods to treat febrile epidemics, but often had no effect, so he began to work hard to explore the cause. He turned north from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, crossed Shandong, entered Henan, and then headed to Jinan, where he could He appeared wherever he said there was a plague.
During this period, he was also infected by the plague, but he survived through patient treatment. He further summarized his own theoretical basis, which also deepened his confidence in exploring the cause of the plague.
Although in the original history, Wu Youxing finally wrote the book "Treatise on Warm Epidemics" by combining his own clinical practice foundation, which opened up a new way to treat the syndrome and treatment of warm epidemics, but now his book "Treatise on Warm Epidemics" has It's still far from a book.
Wu Youxing was also very interested in Shen Shichun, especially because the masks Shen Shichun and his group wore were indeed much stronger than the piece of cloth he used.
It is precisely because of this that Wu Youxing also became very interested in the person behind Shen Shichun, because his theory was not understood by doctors of this era. However, General Zhang Cheng of Xuanfu also had this insight, but how did he make him Not fascinated?
Since then, they have traveled together to find ways to fight the plague. It is precisely because of Zhang Cheng's strong support that the prescriptions such as Dayuan Yin and Sanxiaoyin developed by Wu Youxing have also been able to be used in Jinan. It was widely used in local areas, and the plague situation was greatly alleviated.
At this moment, Liu Jinhai, who was accompanying Shen Shichun and his party, also received a letter from Chen Zhong, a guerrilla in the Mihe camp, asking him to try to focus on the intruders' movements in southern Henan.
After Liu Jinhai informed Shen Shichun and Wu Youxing of the matter, they believed that the epidemic in southern Jinan had eased, and they wanted to go to Henan Province to further verify whether their theory was correct, so they headed west into northern Henan. .
Shortly after they entered the territory of Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan, they encountered a group of cavalry sent by the guerrilla Chen Zhong of the Mihe Camp. It was the troops led by Tielin, the commander of the cavalry unit of the Chinese Army.
At that moment, Shen Shichun and his party were escorted by one hundred elite cavalry from the Dianhe Camp Cavalry. Liu Jinhai and Tielin were able to lead a small number of elite cavalry, leading Chen Zhong and Wei Huaibing to prepare the road. Ji Youci, Huaiqing Prefect He Chongwu and others He wrote a letter in his own hand and rode straight to southern Henan.
It turned out that when Zhang Cheng left Henan and returned to Xuanfu, he left an order to Chen Zhong, which was to try his best to make friends with local forces from all over Henan in order to form a loose alliance.
Even if they cannot be used by Zhang Cheng, at least they must be prevented from completely falling to Li Zicheng's side, so that the military of Yu Province can make a difference.
Chen Zhong was originally a guerrilla general of the imperial court, and he also had the official reputation of guarding and preparing Ji Youci. In addition, Yang Shibin, Li Shidong, Xu Yousi and other local tycoons around Mangshan were the matchmakers.
Liu Hongqi of Runing, Han Jiadi of Xuzhou, Li Hao of Yuzhou, Liu Xuan of Xiangcheng and other relatively powerful local forces in Henan Province had already established contact with Chen Zhong earlier.
And with the help of the Xuanfu army's remaining power after defeating Li Zicheng at the gate of Kaifeng City, they nominally brought them under the leadership of Zhang Cheng, and privately made wishes to Liu Hongqi, Han Jiadi, Li Hao, and Liu Xuan, and tried their best to win over them. .
Recently, Chen Zhong received a report that Chuangni was rampant in southern Henan. They had killed Zonglong, the governor outside Xiangcheng, and were going north and south, sometimes threatening Kaifeng and sometimes Nanyang.
Most of Chen Zhong's power is concentrated in Jibei, especially in the territory of Wei Hui Mansion. In the past half a year, Chen Zhong followed Zhang Cheng's original instructions and expanded his subordinates to one team and three troops. , there are more than 3,000 troops in the main barracks.
In addition, in some key surrounding villages and castles, there are some scattered tribes with nearly one or two thousand troops. However, the standard camps of Wei Hui Prefect He Chongwu and Bing Xian Ji Youci each have only a few hundred recruits. Training is intensifying.
So in this way, all Chen Zhong can call upon is the three thousand soldiers in his camp. But even if the bandits in Wei Hui Mansion have been wiped out by him, there will always be one army left to guard the Mihe River. Banknote pass.
After all, the thousands of soldiers and horses at the head of the three major villages around Mang Mountain on the south bank of the Yellow River are not Zhang Cheng's direct subordinates. If it weren't for the police in Mang Mountain, it would be difficult for Chen Zhong to call on even the one belonging to Zhang Cheng's brother-in-law Yang Shibin.
After all, the armed forces in the villages around Mang Mountain are still local militia groups. Their main function is still to protect local security. They are not Zhang Cheng's private army and cannot be used at will.
It is for these reasons that Chen Zhongcai is extremely concerned about Li Zicheng's whereabouts. If Li Zicheng attacks Nanyang, he will be beyond his reach. As long as the local forces such as Han Jiadi of Xuzhou, Li Hao of Yuzhou, and Liu Xuan of Xiangcheng can not Just go along with it.
However, Zhang Cheng was still more concerned about the several bandits in southern Henan who were loyal to the court after being appeased. He specifically asked Chen Zhong to lend a helping hand to rescue them if possible, in order to divide and disintegrate the bandits' power in the future. an introduction.
That's why Chen Zhong sent his Chinese cavalry team and secretly sneaked towards Nanyang to wait for the opportunity. Liu Jinhai had been cooperating with Chen Zhong before, secretly contacting several local forces in southern Henan, and was more familiar with the situation there, so he moved Liu Jinhai comes over.
…………
At this moment, Bao Jiqiang nodded after hearing the words: "Master Shan, Master Hai said so, but now Liu Guoneng has been beheaded by King Chuang, how can he save it?"
Tong Shoushan did not answer immediately. He first looked left and right, and then walked slowly back towards the place where the cavalry gathered. As he walked, he whispered: "Chen Tou had sent Tielin secretly to lurk around Xiangcheng to contact him. Han Jiadi in Xuzhou, Liu Xuan in Xiangcheng, and Li Hao in Yuzhou are powerful, so that they can jointly resist us if necessary.
Before King Chuang surrounded Ye County, Tielin had already sneaked in with his men. He originally wanted to help Liu Guoneng guard Ye County. Unexpectedly, he threw himself into the trap and came to die in King Chuang's camp. "
Bao Jiqiang walked slowly beside him and asked softly: "Master Shan, what exactly is your order? To put it bluntly, don't you still believe us?"
Seeing that he was about to return to the cavalry if he went further, Tong Shoushan said bluntly: "I heard that Liu Guoneng also had an eldest son, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old. Now King Chuang has killed his father. This is The blood feud for killing my father, we must try to leave this scourge to King Chuang."
He lowered his voice at this time and said: "When you enter the city later, you will take our old brother alone and form a team, and run straight to Liu Guoneng's house. Use your camera to cooperate with Hai Ye and Tielin to protect For their safety.”
"Okay, don't worry, Mr. Shan, we will do it!"
