It can be said that these bandit leaders present have all had the idea of Emperor Chongzhen. They all believed that the emperor had no experience in leading an army in war and was much easier to deal with than Chen Qiyu's dog officer.
More importantly, once the emperor is defeated, captured or killed, it will be a very big milestone achievement for their rebellion.
The emperor is surrounded by more than 10,000 Panshi battalions, which is a powerful force for any rebel army along the way. However, now that so many Lu Yijun happened to be in the alliance, it was when they were at their strongest. Even if the emperor is hiding in the fortified Nanyang City, it is not impossible to fight.
Zhang Xianzhong was the first to come to his senses and immediately asked for confirmation: "Is the news true? The Dog Emperor is in Nanyang City?"
"Yeah, how did this news come about? Don't be happy for nothing, right?" Luo Rucai also asked with a little anxiety, as if he was afraid that what he expected would be nothing.
Although Zuo Liangyu did not ask further questions, he immediately made inferences based on the official information he had.
No matter what they think, they all have one thing in common: they are very much looking forward to the news being true.
Only Liu Guoneng and Liu Yue were complaining secretly in their hearts. After staying here for these days, they knew that these thieves wanted to take advantage of the emperor more than once. Now that they have a large number of people, if they go all out and attack the city regardless of casualties, they may not be able to capture Nanyang City.
This means that the emperor is in danger.
After reaching such a conclusion, Liu Guoneng turned his head and glanced at Liu Yue. Both of them noticed a hint of worry in each other's eyes.
However, Liu Yue is still a little strange. Because he had read the imperial edict given by the emperor to Chen Qiyu before. Knowing that the emperor had defeated the Tumote tribe in Hetao, he was surrounded by elites from the Shaanxi frontier army, as well as from the Hussars battalion and the Guanning army. However, listening to what this rogue said at this time, it seems that the only one around the emperor is Panshiying. This seems not to be the case!
While he was thinking about it, Gao Yigong was already recounting the information he had obtained, saying that the emperor was indeed in Nanyang and even showed up once. But most of the time, he hid in Nanyang Tang Prince's Mansion to eat, drink and have fun.
Hearing this, Liu Yue became even more suspicious. These thieves don't know what the real emperor is like, but as a member of the Imperial Guard and a close soldier of the emperor, he naturally knows that the emperor has always been diligent in his duties. Even since the end of last year, he has become a completely different person. Be wise and powerful. He was the first to not believe it if the emperor personally went on a military expedition and went to Nanyang, but hid in the Tang palace eating, drinking and having fun while ignoring the military situation.
In fact, it was indeed the case. He guessed correctly that the emperor who appeared in Nanyang was fake. The real Emperor Chongzhen is still in Tongguan, just like a tiger lurking in the mountains and forests, waiting for the right time to pounce on its prey.
The reason for this is that Emperor Chongzhen decided to set a target for these thieves based on the information fed back by the eavesdropping seeds, so that these thieves would not disperse when they encountered difficulties, which would cause trouble when they were encircled and suppressed. .
Since they thought that they had no experience in leading an army and felt that they were weak and could be bullied, they followed the trend and immediately sent an order to Sun Yingyuan and Cao Bianjiao, asking them to find someone to pretend to be themselves and make a show to attract the attention of the bandits. It would be best to attract the bandits' front. Go to Nanyang.
At this time, the real Emperor Chongzhen was happily watching the text live broadcast, watching the thieves being led by his nose. It felt like he was playing a battle game in later generations. He cheated and turned on the fog of war, and could directly watch the other party. It feels very satisfying to do something and take action accordingly!
Besides, in the Black Tiger Temple, when the bandit leaders from all walks of life confirmed that the Dog Emperor was indeed in Nanyang, they were all overjoyed. The smiles on their faces could not be concealed no matter what!
Even Zuo Liangyu is like this. He only knew that the emperor was personally conducting the expedition, but he did not know the specific information about how many troops the emperor would take, where he would go, etc.
But he knew one thing, the current emperor was so proud, and since the imperial commander was personally on the expedition, he would definitely not stay far away. If that's really the case, it would be better to conquer it yourself without a chariot. But after walking for so long, he finally appeared in Nanyang. Maybe they saw that these bandits couldn't conquer the city in the past half month, so they became bolder and made their official debut.
Zuo Liangyu naturally did not expect that after the emperor left the capital, he actually went to conquer the Hetao first and made a big circle. At this time, he was in Tongguan instead of Henan.
In fact, no one knew that Emperor Chongzhen would attack the Tumut tribe in Hetao first. Therefore, it is normal for Zuo Liangyu not to know.
The next discussion went smoothly.
The thieves from all walks of life finally reached a consensus. They joined forces and went to attack Nanyang together. As for the alliance leader, there is no alliance leader for the time being. Instead, five people, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Zicheng, Zuo Liangyu, and Hui Dengxiang, will discuss and make decisions together.
In the Black Tiger Temple, they cut off the chicken's head and made an alliance through their blood. They agreed that whoever breaks through Nanyang first and captures or kills the dog emperor will be the well-deserved leader of the alliance!
Therefore, the bandit leaders from all walks of life immediately returned to their respective armies, led the army, and marched northward in a mighty manner. They even gave up the territory they had occupied in Hubei, and gathered all their forces to attack Nanyang.
They were even worried that the Dog Emperor would panic and flee Nanyang after hearing about the number of troops here, which was nearly 200,000. So they each sent out cavalry, totaling more than 5,000, to rush to Nanyang first and cut off Nanyang from the outside world. contact. If the Dog Emperor wants to run away, he can be held back.
Regarding this situation, Liu Guoneng was very hesitant. When he found an opportunity to be alone with Liu Yue, he said anxiously: "How about you go back and report to the governor? With so many people besieging Nanyang, the emperor will be in danger!"
After hearing this, Liu Yue shook his head and said: "No, the movements of the bandits cannot be hidden from the governor. Moreover, I followed the emperor's order not to go back and stay in the army. The emperor should be able to know the news through other channels. We don’t have to worry.”
Regarding this, Liu Guoneng was still worried and said: "Who would have thought that King Chuang would also come to join us. Now there are more than 200,000 people. One person can cover up Nanyang City with his spitting. Your Majesty will still stay here. Nanyang, that’s too dangerous!”
Seeing that he was so anxious, Liu Yue was silent for a moment, and finally revealed a little bit: "The Emperor is definitely not only surrounded by people from the Panshi Camp, and according to the news about the bandit, he is not like the Emperor at ordinary times. Don't worry. Well, the Emperor will be fine."
At this point, he showed a little disdain and said: "Do you think these two hundred thousand bandits are more powerful or the army of one hundred thousand prisoners? But in the end, it is not the same. The army of one hundred thousand soldiers lost nearly 30,000 horses and was dejected. I can tell you that others think it’s Governor Lu and his friends who took the credit, but it was actually the Emperor’s strategizing that led to the last victory.”
"Ah?" Liu Guoneng was a little dumbfounded when he heard this. He really didn't know this inside information. The emperor is so powerful? This is simply unimaginable!
Seeing his surprised look, Liu Yue wanted to say that no one had ever been able to annihilate a Mongolian tribe in one fell swoop, but the current emperor had done it. If anyone says that the emperor cannot fight, then he will suffer a loss!
However, he finally refrained from saying this because it was related to the emperor's whereabouts. Even though he already believed in Liu Guoneng's loyalty to the court. However, he was looking forward to it. If Liu Guoneng, including those thieves who thought the emperor was easy to bully, would feel about the emperor's great victory in annihilating the Tumote tribe. No matter how much they can flee, can they be more fleeing than the grassland peoples like the Tumut tribe?
Liu Yue thought so, let alone Chen Qiyu. He knew that the emperor's deployment of the Tumut Department started when he was still in the capital. Even thinking about it, Chen Qiyu couldn't stop admiring the current emperor's foresight. Therefore, since the emperor personally conquers these bandits, he will never be rash.
Chen Qiyu didn't believe the emperor who suddenly appeared in Nanyang. But he also knew that without the emperor's will, it would be impossible for Panshiying to bring out a false emperor. Now that a false emperor has appeared in Nanyang Mansion, there is only one possibility. The emperor is planning to choose Nanyang as the battlefield for the decisive battle.
Therefore, when Chen Qiyu learned that all the bandits were heading to Nanyang, he was not panicked. Instead, they adjusted their army deployment again to block the way for the bandits to return south to Hubei. They kept a distance from the bandits and slowly pursued them northward.
Wherever the two hundred thousand thieves went, there was no grass growing. Compared with the previous locust plague, it was actually about the same, or even worse. At least locusts will not attack humans. As for these bandits, as long as they encounter living things, they are within their plundering range. People along the way have no time to escape. Their property is robbed and people are also held hostage. By the time they arrived in Nanyang, the number of bandits had reached about 250,000.
It can be said that the bandit cavalry marched day and night and quickly arrived outside Nanyang City. Many people went out to work in the city, but they had no time to escape and became their prisoners. After a little interrogation, they confirmed that the emperor was still in the city and had not left.
Regarding this, the bandit cavalry was very happy, and looking at the continuous wheat outside Nanyang City, which was about to reach the harvest season, they felt that they had come to Henan at the right time. Not only can he kill the dog emperor, but he can also steal food and even more people.
After hearing the news, the Ming army in the city immediately defended themselves as if facing a formidable enemy. At the same time, they also thought of leaving the city for a decisive battle. However, the Dog Emperor was obviously afraid of death and did not dare to send out the elite of the Panshi Camp. He just let the local army go to fight. As a result, he was quickly defeated by the rogue cavalry and fled back to the city, never to come out again.
When the army of bandits arrived, when they told the news, everyone in the bandits immediately rejoiced.
"Damn it, the Dog Emperor actually went out of the capital to die. I guess even his intestines will turn green at this time!" Luo Rucai laughed loudly, "War is not a child's play. I really want to see what the Dog Emperor is doing at this time?"
"What else can we do?" Zhang Xianzhong heard this and said loudly, "I must be hiding in Princess Tang's arms and crying!"
"..."
Others were similar. Thinking from their own perspective, they felt that Emperor Chongzhen must have regretted and been afraid at this time. He was not the wise and decisive type anyway.
However, among the various gangs of thieves, only Zuo Liangyu felt that something was wrong. He immediately said to the leaders of the gangs: "But I always feel that something is wrong, and I feel a little uneasy. The news that the emperor is here should be reported to the surrounding people." The officers and soldiers should all know, and they should come to King Qin, but I don’t feel the pressure!”
"What's so strange about this? We have a large number of people. How many of the surrounding officers and soldiers dare to come and die?" Zhang Xianzhong heard this and said nonchalantly, "Can't you Zuo Liangyu be able to fight? We tried in a hurry to defeat us, but what happened was that even you were killed by us and fled in embarrassment without your armor, right?"
At that time, it was not Zuo Liangyu's group but the two general armies who joined forces to pursue them. As a result, they were ambushed by Zhang Xianzhong and others. When he brought it up, Luo Rucai, Hui Deng and others who participated couldn't help laughing.
"Yes, believe it or not, if that bitch officer Chen Qiyu dares to lead some men and horses to chase him, I can twist off his head and use it as a chamber pot!" Zhang Xianzhong suddenly made a ferocious face, stared at Zuo Liangyu and said, "There is no one in the army. It’s a good thing, including you!”
When Zuo Liangyu heard this, his expression changed. Just when he was about to retaliate, he suddenly remembered that many thieves here were hunted down by him. Just when they were about to start a riot, the other bandits would definitely not stand with him, so they endured this and said, "Are you a good guy? If you have the ability, attack Nanyang first and capture the emperor!"
"You don't need to say this?" After hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong showed contempt on his face. He ignored him and shouted loudly that he wanted to attack the west side of Nanyang.
As soon as he arrived in Nanyang, Zhang Xianzhong maintained his fighting habits and went to personally detect the enemy. Therefore, he knew that the west side of Nanyang was the easiest to attack. After saying that, he left directly and led his men to the west.
During this brief meeting, Li Zicheng was the one who talked little. When he saw Zhang Xianzhong, he picked a place and left. He also ran away without saying a word, trying to grab a good direction.
Seeing this, others followed suit. Only Zuo Liangyu didn't move. Liu Guo was able to ask, and he replied: "The emperor is here, how could Nanyang be defeated so easily! These thieves are just a bunch of mud-legged people with no knowledge at all. Just let them They fight first and use up some of each other's forces, then we will act on our own initiative!"
Having said this, he turned to his warrior Zhang Yong and said: "Send out the elites and keep them at night to watch over the Governor to prevent anything from happening!"
He was in the officialdom and knew that the governors of the five provinces were in charge of the overall situation. Now that the emperor was surrounded, Chen Qiyu was under the greatest pressure. It will definitely not come so slowly all the time. There must be some conspiracy, otherwise, if he goes back to Nanyang to rescue the siege, Chen Qiyu will be hated by the emperor for coming too late.
At this time, no one thought that the real emperor was actually somewhere they didn't expect!
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