Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 260 Agreement
Outside Bozhou City, on the parade ground, thousands of soldiers in disheveled robes stood still, all staring at the
In early January, the Great Western Emperor Zhang Xianzhong was shot dead by a single arrow by the Qing army's elite cavalry who suddenly broke into his main tent at Fenghuang Mountain. The Qing army then launched a large-scale attack to kill him.
Zhang Xianzhong died suddenly, and the Dashi Army was leaderless and in chaos. One hundred and twenty battalions of troops were immediately defeated, and tens of thousands of troops were chased north by the Qing army. The Dashi Army suffered countless casualties, and the entire Phoenix Mountain was red.

Sun Kewang and his men gathered the defeated soldiers and barely managed to get 30,000 to 40,000 troops. In order to avoid the pursuit of the Qing army, Sun Kewang and his men fled all the way south without daring to stop for a moment.

The remnants of the Dashi Army defeated Zeng Ying's army of the Ming Army on the way, looted and repaired in Chongqing, and then continued to move south, all the way to Bozhou on the Sichuan-Guizhou border, where they stopped in shock.
It was late spring, the grass was green and the birds were singing. The mountains were full of green vitality, but the training ground was filled with a solemn atmosphere.
On the platform, four generals in black arrow clothes stood in the middle of the platform.

The first person was a middle-aged man with dark skin and a dignified face. He was General Sun Kewang of Daxipingdong.
Looking down, Sun Kewang saw a young man eight feet tall. He was burly, with broad features and broad eyebrows. Standing quietly on the stage, he looked like a crouching tiger, with an imposing manner that made people afraid to approach. This young man was Li Dingguo, the general of the Western Regions of the Western Regions.

Behind Li Dingguo, there were also two burly young men. They were the last two of the four generals of Daxi, General Fu Nan Liu Wenxiu and General Ding Bei Ai Nengqi.
Behind the four generals stood a row of military commanders, including the Central Army Commander Wang Shangli, Feng Shuangli and other surviving Dashi Army commanders, all of whom gathered on the high platform.
At this time, all the generals gathered together, and the soldiers below the stage quickly escorted a disheveled man onto the stage.
The man looked middle-aged, wearing a Confucian robe and had an elegant face, but his hands were tied behind his back.

The man's eyes were red, and he stared at Sun Kewang and the others in front of him as soon as he stepped onto the stage.
Sun Kewang glanced at the man, but his eyes were cold. When Sun Kewang saw the man being escorted to the stage, he stepped forward and spoke loudly.

"The late emperor fought bloody battles for more than 20 years before he conquered the western lands. The land of Shu is rich and rugged, and has always been a place that heroes from all over the world must fight for. The late emperor led our generals to dominate Sichuan and Shu, and has already established the foundation for hegemony."

"However, the treacherous minister Wang Zhaoling in the court flattered the emperor and had a treacherous mind. He deceived the late emperor day and night and started a massacre, which resulted in the unjust deaths of tens of thousands of people in the Great Western Region. The people in Sichuan and Shu were also filled with resentment, and ultimately caused the Great Western Region to lose its foundation..."

Sun Kewang's face was filled with grief and anger, but at this moment, the disheveled man on the platform suddenly roared, interrupting Sun Kewang's words.

"Nonsense"

"Your Majesty has ruled Sichuan for several years, but the people of Sichuan do not know how to repay their gratitude and frequently rebel, refusing to obey your rule. How can we not kill these treacherous people?"

"You said I deceived the emperor and killed the people indiscriminately. How could you four be any better? You four slaughtered people in western and eastern Sichuan. All the gold, silver and precious stones were in your camps. I have never killed a single person. These millions of innocent souls were slaughtered by your own hands. How dare you say that to me?"

"You four generals, you are having fun today, issuing orders and confusing right and wrong, looking so awesome. Where is the emperor's body?"

Wang Zhaoling's face flushed red, and then he suddenly looked at the soldiers under the platform and shouted loudly:

"My fellow soldiers, the emperor's body is still warm, but these four people have taken advantage of the emperor's grace and are trying to usurp the throne. The emperor's favorite concubine had already given birth to an heir, but these four traitors used the emperor's blood to murder him in order to seize power."

"Now these four thieves have not only imprisoned our civil officials, but also poisoned the Queen to death."

"If you soldiers still remember the emperor's grace, please kill these four thieves quickly. If you can kill these four thieves, I will grant you the title of duke or king on behalf of the emperor, so that you will have endless wealth and honor..."

Wang Zhaoling had a crazy look on his face and kept yelling, but both the four generals above and the soldiers below were silent. They just looked coldly at Wang Zhaoling, who was yelling with disheveled hair.

The audience was indifferent, but Wang Zhaoling seemed not to notice at all, and just kept on talking and tempting

But at this moment, Ai Nengqi on the stage could no longer bear it and shouted

"You traitor, you are facing death, yet you still don't repent!"

"When the late emperor was in Chengdu, you, a traitor, became the prime minister. You did not know how to help the country and govern the people, but only advised the late emperor to kill people, causing panic among the people in the court."

"Millions of people in Sichuan and Shu died because of you, the traitor. My Great Western foundation was destroyed because of you, the traitor. Now you still dare to spread lies to confuse the people."

Ai Nengqi's eyes were red, but the more he spoke, the angrier his face became.

Ai Nengqi took a step forward, suddenly pulled out the short knife from his waist, and suddenly stabbed the short knife into Wang Zhaoling's abdomen. Red blood immediately flowed down the sharp blade.

"This sword was used to deceive the late emperor and ruin the foundation of Daxi. You traitors should be killed!"

Ai Nengqi took a step back, his hands covered in blood, and then Liu Wenxiu stepped forward and also drew the short knife from his waist and stabbed into
"You used this sword to brutally oppress the people of Shu and unjustly kill tens of thousands of people. You traitors should be killed!"

Liu Wenxiu took a step back, and Li Dingguo stepped forward again with a knife
"This knife caused chaos in the army because of you, and caused the unjust deaths of many brothers in our army. You traitors should be killed!"

Li Dingguo retreated and Sun Kewang stepped forward again

"This knife is for your unforgivable sins. You have sinned against the heavens. You traitors must be killed!"

Sun Kewang glanced coldly at Wang Zhaoling in front of him, without a trace of hesitation in his eyes, and stabbed the dagger in his hand directly into Wang Zhaoling's heart.

Wang Zhaoling's chest was now blood-red, with four short knives stabbed into his chest.

After Sun Kewang stabbed the long knife into his heart, Wang Zhaoling suddenly vomited blood and fell to the ground with his back facing the sky.
Wang Zhaoling looked at the boundless blue sky above him, and suddenly a strange smile appeared on his face. Blood foam came out of his mouth, and he muttered to himself:
"Heaven created all things to nourish man, but man has nothing to repay Heaven. Ghosts and gods are clear, think for yourself, think for yourself..."

Wang Zhaoling was covered in blood, but he seemed unaware of it and continued to whisper to himself.

Wang Zhaoling stared at the white clouds floating in the sky, but the sound from his mouth became weaker and weaker, and finally there was no sound.

Wang Zhaoling fell to the ground covered in blood, but after Sun Kewang stabbed Wang Zhaoling to death, he was completely unbearable to look at.

Sun Kewang looked at the thousands of soldiers below the stage and spoke loudly:

"Today, the four of us have invited you here to make three agreements with the troops in the court."

"First, the chaos in the imperial court of Daxi was caused by the rebellion of treacherous officials such as Wang Zhaoling. Now that Wang Zhaoling has been executed, all the treacherous officials have been eliminated. There are no more treacherous officials in the imperial court of Daxi."

"Second, the late emperor has passed away, but our Great Western Empire still exists. From today on, the Great Western Empire will be led by the four of us. The four of us swear an oath here that the hatred between our Great Western Empire and the Tartars will never be reconciled. The four of us will kill all the Tartars to avenge the late emperor."

"Third, the people of the world are displaced. Our Great Western court came here to comfort the people and punish the criminals to save the people. From today on, our Great Western court will not harm the people at all. Unless we are fighting, our armies will not kill anyone."

Sun Kewang suddenly stepped forward, looked at the thousands of soldiers below the stage, and shouted coldly:
"This is the consensus of our four generals. You should accept it."

After Sun Kewang finished speaking, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi suddenly stepped forward together. The four of them stood on the stage and looked coldly at the soldiers below.

"We are willing to follow the four generals"

Suddenly, a loud shout came from the corner of the stage, and all the soldiers shouted in unison.

"I would like to follow the four generals, I would like to follow the four generals"

Thousands of people shouted together, their voices reaching the sky, shaking the heavens and the earth. Even in the distant Bozhou City, the shouts continued to echo.
Outside the city, in the Anxi Army camp, Li Dingguo was sitting in the big tent. Below him on the left were Jin Tongwu, Gao Wengui, Dou Mingwang and other generals of the camp. On the right were Gong Ming and other military clerks.
Li Dingguo looked at Gong Ming below and said

"The army sent people out to collect food the day before yesterday. How is the situation?"

"The army sent 300 soldiers out to forage for food. After searching for two days, they only found two villages in the mountains, each with only a hundred people."

"The day before yesterday, the soldiers returned to the camp and brought back only 50 stones of grain and grass. The terrain of Bozhou is dangerous and sparsely populated. I'm afraid that if we send more people out, we won't be able to find much food. I'm afraid we still have to make plans early," Gong Ming bowed slightly to the sky and replied in a deep voice.

The Dashi Army was defeated at Fenghuang Mountain. Not only did they suffer heavy casualties, but they also lost all their baggage and food.
Sun Kewang and his men fled southward, relying almost entirely on looting the prefectures and counties along the way to barely survive. It was not until they defeated Zeng Ying that the Dashi Army received some supplies in Chongqing.

However, at this time, the Dashi Army still had 30,000 to 40,000 people, and the little food and grass seized from Chongqing was still not enough.

So after the Dashi Army settled down in Bozhou, each camp of the Dashi Army immediately sent people to the nearby area to collect food, but the result of this collection of food was obviously not very good.

Bozhou is located in a narrow area, surrounded by mountains and ridges, which is far from being comparable to the Chengdu Plain. Therefore, the food and money looted are pitifully small, and the people are hiding in the mountains, which makes it more difficult to search for food.
Li Dingguo's face darkened, and he was about to speak, but looking at Gong Ming who was hesitant to speak, he also spoke

"If you have anything else to say, just say it directly, don't hesitate."

Seeing the displeasure on Li Dingguo's face, Gong Ming had no choice but to say, "Just now, General Bai Wenxuan, the commander-in-chief of the front army, sent someone to the camp, saying that the camp was in urgent need of food and wanted to borrow food from us."

The Dashi Army had fled all the way, and because they were afraid of being pursued by the Qing army, they did not dare to stay for long to plunder. After the Dashi Army passed Chongqing and felt a little safer, they saw only barren land, and there was no place to get food.
Li Dingguo's army was only a little short of food and wages, but other troops were completely out of rice and had to borrow food from everywhere in the army to deal with the emergency.

Because of the problem of food and wages, soldiers have begun to flee the Dashi Army. It can be said that whoever has food in hand can keep more soldiers, and the importance of soldiers to these generals is self-evident.
Li Dingguo was silent for a moment before he spoke.

“How much does he want?”

"They said they were borrowing 100 koku temporarily."

Li Dingguo thought for a moment and then said
"Transfer 150 shi from the army to General Bai..."

Before Li Dingguo finished speaking, Gong Ming's face darkened and he spoke directly.

"General, we have 8,000 men in our camp, and now we only have less than 2,000 stones of grain left. We don't know when we can get more."

"It's not that we don't want to lend it, but we don't have much food left in our camp. We have to consider the soldiers in the camp first."

Li Dingguo showed no hesitation, he just waved his hand and said

"Transfer 150 shi of grain to General Bai. He is our brother after all. We cannot allow him to be deprived of food and wages."

Seeing the calmness on Li Dingguo's face, Gong Ming opened his mouth slightly, not knowing whether he should persuade him again. However, Gao Wengui on the opposite side snorted coldly and said

"General Pingdong has the most food in our army. He wants to be the leader of our Daxi army. Since he is the leader, why don't we see him distributing food to each camp?"

Among the various camps of the Dashi Army, Sun Kewang had the most people, more than 15,000, followed by Li Dingguo with 8,000, and then Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi, with a total of about 10,000 people. The rest of the Central Army Commander Wang Shangli, the Front Army Commander Bai Wenxuan and others had a total of 7,000 to 8,000 people.

The Dashi Army, which originally had hundreds of thousands of people, is now reduced to only 30,000 or 40,000 people. However, even these 30,000 or 40,000 people are constantly fleeing and losing their numbers due to lack of food.
Among all the troops, Sun Kewang had the most people and the most food. In addition, Sun Kewang also had the highest seniority in the Dashi Army. Therefore, after the Dashi Army arrived in Bozhou, they moved to the camp to discuss matters. In the end, Sun Kewang was made the leader of the Dashi Army.
Li Dingguo glanced at Gao Wengui below, but his face was calm, and he said

"Big Brother has his own difficulties. What happens to others is their business. We just need to do our own thing well."

Li Dingguo saw that Gao Wengui looked angry, but he didn't want to dwell on this matter, so he changed the subject.
Li Dingguo looked at Jin Tongwu below and said

"How are the other battalions in the army doing recently?"

"Two more troops have dispersed in the past few days. This morning, General Pingdong sent a message to the camps of Zhang Chenggong and Wang Tiancai. But when we got there, we found that the camps were empty. We didn't know when the two had led their troops away."

"Zhang Chenggong left a letter in the camp, saying that now that the old emperor has died and the army can't pay for food and wages, it is useless for everyone to gather together. He wants to take his brothers to find a way to survive."

In the big tent, Gao Wengui and other generals also fell silent after hearing this.

They had a hard time escaping from Xichong. Although some of them got separated due to their haste, many others quietly broke camp and left without saying goodbye.
These people are not only the lower-level soldiers, but also some of them are old brothers who have been following the camp from Qin Province and Huguang.

Jin Tongwu and others also understood the thoughts of these people. They followed Zhang Xianzhong to kill officials and rob food, and gradually became the generals of the Marquis of Dashi from a fighting man. Zhang Xianzhong was their backbone.
Even though Zhang Xianzhong had issued so many orders to kill and slaughter people, which made everyone in the army feel insecure, they were still willing to obey orders because it was Zhang Xianzhong who led them to where they are today.

Previously, Zhang Xianzhong said that the people of Sichuan and Shu were ungrateful and wanted to kill them to suppress the rebellion, so they sent out a large army to suppress the rebellion everywhere.

Zhang Xianzhong said that they could not stay in Sichuan for long, so they should go back to their hometown in Qin Province to fight against the Qing court. So they picked up their luggage and followed him without saying anything.

But now that Zhang Xianzhong is dead, no one can tell them where to go. So what should they do next? Everyone is at a loss.
The consequence of this confusion was that during the Dashi Army's escape, people kept fleeing in groups.
Zhang Xianzhong was gone, and the Qing army was still chasing them. Instead of gathering together, it would be safer for them to escape individually. This was what everyone thought.

Not only were these refugees at a loss, but Jin Tongwu, Gao Wengui and others who had been following the camp were also at a loss.

They just followed the main camp instinctively, and they also didn't know what to do next.

There was a moment of silence in the field, and Gong Ming on the right suddenly couldn't help but speak up.

"General, where are we going next?"

Li Dingguo was silent for a moment and spoke softly

"Enter Guizhou Province and take Guiyang"

Gong Ming looked at Li Dingguo who was silent above him, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak. He knew that the next step was to enter the province.
At this time, everyone in the Dashi Army knew that their next step would be to enter Guizhou Province. Bozhou in southern Sichuan was barren and could not support their 30,000 or 40,000 people.
The army is already short of food, and the Tartars are chasing them from behind. They have fled all the way south, so it is impossible for them to return to Sichuan Province. Now if they want to get food, the only place they can go is to your province.
But this is not what Gong Ming wants to ask. Going to Gui Province is to get food. What happens after we take over Gui Province and get the food? This is the question Gong Ming, Jin Tongwu and others want to ask.
Gong Ming looked at Li Dingguo above, but Li Dingguo did not look at the people below.
Li Dingguo leaned back in his chair, looking at the white tent roof above him, with a trace of confusion in his eyes.

Gong Ming asked him where he was going next, but how could he know
Attacking a city, marching and fighting are not difficult for him, but after taking a city, looting it, and then going to seize another city?

The soldiers below were content to drink and get drunk today. As long as they had food and meat, they would be happy every day. No one would care about what would happen tomorrow. In this world, no one could predict what would happen tomorrow. But a commander like Li Dingguo could not do that.

Li Dingguo was not short of gold and silver. Although all the baggage and gold and silver in Li Dingguo's camp were lost during his escape, as long as he entered the province, he could plunder at will, and the gold, silver, precious stones, jade, silk and satin would all be returned.

Li Dingguo had been with Zhang Xianzhong since he was a teenager. He had been following Zhang Xianzhong in the Central Plains for more than ten years. Zhang Xianzhong died suddenly, and Li Dingguo was also at a loss.

He has been a bandit for more than ten years. Does he have to be a bandit for the rest of his life?

Since arriving in Bozhou, Sun Kewang has been jumping up and down, wanting to be the leader of the Dashi Army camps.

Li Dingguo saw clearly what Sun Kewang wanted to do, but he thought Sun Kewang was just daydreaming, so he didn't argue with him.

Although Sun Kewang's surname was Zhang at that time, did he really think that he was the son of the late emperor and could lead all the generals to obey his orders?

The previous emperor had fought for decades before he ascended the throne. Why did Sun Kewang do that? Although there were not many people with the same qualifications as Sun Kewang in the Dashi Army, they were not few either. Why would everyone obey him?
Li Dingguo felt annoyed when he thought of his elder brother Sun Kewang, whose behavior was becoming increasingly strange. He glanced at the silent crowd below, waved to them, and prepared to go out to relax.
But before he could open his mouth, a personal soldier suddenly rushed into the tent.

As soon as the personal soldiers entered the tent, they walked straight to Li Dingguo above and whispered a few words in Li Dingguo's ear.
When Li Dingguo heard what his personal guard said, a trace of surprise appeared on his face, and then a gleam of brilliance flashed in his eyes.

Li Dingguo thought for a moment, but suddenly stood up and walked out of the tent.
Jin Tongwu and the others were stunned when they saw Li Dingguo stand up and leave. They looked at each other and knew that something big must have happened, so they stood up and followed Li Dingguo out of the tent.
At the gate of the Pingdong Army camp, a man in a blue Xiezhi official robe was rushing towards the camp gate. Several soldiers in vermilion uniforms followed him and guarded the man tightly in the middle.
Although these soldiers were guarding the man in official robes, they were not holding swords, but wooden sticks of varying lengths. If you look closely, you can see that these were simply chair legs removed from some unknown chair.

The man in the blue official robe rushed towards the camp gate, shouting

"I am Wu Ziqi, the Imperial Censor of Guizhou Province of the Ming Dynasty. I have come to the Dashi Army to recruit and pacify them on the orders of Qu Shisi, the Grand Secretary of the Dongge."

"If you, the Western Army, are willing to surrender, you should let me go back to ask for orders. If you still want to be a bandit, you should let me return to the court to report. What is your intention in imprisoning me now?"

"A soldier can be killed but not humiliated. What exactly do you and your Western Army want? You must give me an explanation today."

Wu Ziqi shouted and rushed to the camp gate quickly, but the camp gate was already firmly guarded by more than a dozen soldiers.
Behind Wu Ziqi, nearly a hundred soldiers quickly surrounded him, and several of them were soon forced into a corner.

A man who looked like a general came hurriedly, with an angry look on his face. When he saw Wu Ziqi and his men in the corner, he shouted angrily:
"Catch them for me"

Upon hearing this, the soldiers drew their swords and immediately surrounded him.

The general saw this and became even more angry. He kicked a soldier next to him to the ground and cursed him.
"There are only a few of you and you're still using knives. Who the hell told you to use knives? Catch them alive. If one of you dies, I'll skin you alive!"

The soldiers looked at each other, then dropped their swords with a clatter, and then dozens of soldiers rushed towards the people in the corner.
Although Wu Ziqi and his men had wooden sticks in their hands, there were too many soldiers surrounding them. Dozens of them rushed forward and immediately knocked Wu Ziqi and his men to the ground.

Wu Ziqi and his men were captured again. Wu Ziqi's official robe was disheveled and he kept struggling, but he was soon taken away by a group of soldiers. The front of the camp was calm again.
Although the situation at the camp gate had calmed down, the news of Wu Ziqi and others could no longer be concealed and soon spread throughout the Western Army camp.
(End of this chapter)