Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 585 Brothers

A courtyard in Shaoyuan Town, which was originally the property of a wealthy family in Shaoyuan Town. However, after Gao Yingxiang's troops arrived, the peace of the entire Shaoyuan Town was instantly broken. The landlords, wealthy families and rich people in the town were all killed by the rebels, and their property was looted, leaving only some pretty women to join the army.

As for ordinary people, they were not much better off. All their property, including food and rice, was taken by the rebels, and everyone was forced to join the rebel army. The men were better off, as they were given a stick or a hoe to become rebel soldiers, but the women, children and the elderly were in a miserable state. These people would be taken away by the rebels and sent to the front as cannon fodder during the war. If they died, they would die. If they did not die, they would dig pits to bury the bodies and clean up the battlefield, and then they would do the same thing again next time.

This was a common practice among the rebels. All rebels did this, and Gao Yingxiang was no exception. Otherwise, how could they have assembled so many troops in such a short period of time? And how could they have been unable to wipe them out?

However, these were nothing to Li Zicheng. Now he was drinking and eating meat with his men in the courtyard of the former rich family. While eating and drinking, he burst into laughter from time to time, and seemed to be enjoying himself particularly much.

Among those present were Li Zicheng's old brothers, such as Wen Xinghu, Li Guo, and also Tian Jianxiu and Hao Yongzhong, whom he later captured after breaking into the county government.

By the way, Hao Yongzhong changed his name because he was fearless in fighting. After joining his uncle Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng became a general under Gao Yingxiang and arranged his brothers. Among them, Hao Yongzhong became the flag bearer of his own army.

Once, Li Zicheng's troops were surrounded by soldiers and were caught in a tough battle. At this time, Hao Yongzhong waved a big flag and led nearly a hundred brothers to support him. They defeated the soldiers and rescued Li Zicheng. Because of this achievement, Li Zicheng rewarded Hao Yongzhong after the battle and praised his bravery for his performance on the battlefield, especially his posture of waving a big flag on the battlefield, which was even more impressive.

Therefore, Hao Yongzhong changed his name to Hao Yaoqi, and this name soon spread throughout the rebel army. On the contrary, fewer and fewer people knew his original name, and now even Gao Yingxiang would call him Hao Yaoqi with a smile when he saw him.

In addition to these people, there were two others. One of them was a strong man. This man was a hero Li Zicheng met in Lantian. He was born a blacksmith and had great strength. When the rebel army reached Lantian, this man named Liu Zongmin took the initiative to surrender. Li Zicheng fell in love with him at first sight and accepted him as his own.

The other tall, long-armed, fair-faced and handsome man was Gao Jie, a fellow villager of Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng met Gao Jie on his way to join Gao Yingxiang. The two had known each other before. When Gao Jie learned that Li Zicheng had become the leader of the rebel army and was going to join Gao Yingxiang, he had the idea of ​​joining the team together.

Li Zicheng was naturally very happy to see Gao Jie willing to follow him and join Gao Yingxiang, so he accepted him without saying anything. Although Gao Jie was not as brave as Liu Zongmin and Hao Yaoqi, and was not as close as Wen Xinghu and Li Guo, at best he was just a familiar fellow villager, like Tian Jianxiu. But Gao Jie had one advantage, that is, he was prudent and good at planning. After joining Li Zicheng, he was in charge of logistics and dispatch in Li Zicheng's team. Everything was in order under his management, and gradually he was valued by Li Zicheng.

"Brother, let me toast you a glass!" Liu Zongmin raised the wine bowl in front of him and said to Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng smiled and picked up his own wine bowl, clinked it with his, then began to drink from it in big gulps.

The two of them drank the whole bowl of wine in just a few gulps, and the people around them applauded when they saw it.

"Brother, where will King Chuang attack next? Will he continue to the east or the north?" Liu Zongmin asked Li Zicheng after drinking. Although Liu Zongmin was born as a blacksmith, looks burly and has a big beard, he is actually a meticulous guy. He does not rely solely on bravery to fight a war. He is well versed in the art of war and has a lot of methods. Not long after following Li Zicheng, he made many contributions and is now one of Li Zicheng's most capable subordinates.

By the way, Li Zicheng’s current title in the rebel army is “Chuangjiang”.

Gao Yingxiang called himself the King of Rebellion and had eight Vajras under him, namely Yanqian'er, Diandengzi, Li Jinwang, Xiezikuai, Lao Zhangfei, Luanshiwang, Yebushou and Li Zicheng.

Except for Li Zicheng, the other seven were nicknames, only Li Zicheng used his own name. Of course, Li Zicheng could become one of the Eight Vajra because of Gao Yingxiang's support. After all, he was Gao Yingxiang's nephew. Not only did he take the initiative to surrender, but he also had a group of brave brothers and a strong army. For Gao Yingxiang's sake, the Seven Vajra accepted Li Zicheng and let him sit in the last seat.

Although he became one of the Eight Vajra Warriors, Li Zicheng was not satisfied. In his opinion, compared with others, he not only ranked last, but also did not have a famous nickname, which was a bit insecure.

In this regard, Li Zicheng consulted with Gao Yingxiang to come up with a nickname. It happened that Wang Jiayin was defeated by Cao Wenzhao at that time, and several leaders of the 36th Battalion died with Wang Jiayin. After Wang Jiayin's death, Gao Yingxiang became the most prestigious among the rebels. He took the opportunity to support his nephew Li Zicheng to replace the original leader of the 36th Battalion, and gave Li Zicheng the title of Chuangjiang in his own name. In this way, Li Zicheng not only became a Chuangjiang, but his status in the rebel army also rose sharply, and there were signs that he would be Gao Yingxiang's successor.

"Of course, we go east!" Li Zicheng was a little tipsy. He laughed and pointed, "It's not easy to go north into Shanxi. Shanxi is mountainous and has an inconvenient terrain. In addition, the soldiers are heavily deployed in Shanxi. Going north, we have to cross the Taihang Mountains, and even if we enter Shanxi, it will not be convenient to move."

"King Chuang said that we should continue to head east, first to Huaiqing, then turn around and enter Zhangde. After we take Zhangde, we will head northeast to reach Northern Zhili. If we reach Northern Zhili, it will be like a dragon entering the sea. At that time, we can go north to the capital or east to Shandong, and then turn around and head south to take Jiangnan. Wouldn't the whole world be ours to roam freely?"

"Good!" Everyone applauded. In everyone's opinion, this route of advance was indeed the best choice. If it succeeded, as Gao Yingxiang judged, they would not only be able to reach Zhili, but might even be able to capture the capital.

No matter what the reason was for their rebellion, since they had eaten this bowl of life, they had the idea of ​​ruling the country. At present, Gao Yingxiang's team had more than 100,000 people. It was no exaggeration to say that they were strong and powerful. This did not include the people who continued to move forward and were enlisted. If they were lucky, they could continue to enlist 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands of people.

Although these people are all ordinary people, many of them are old and weak, and have little fighting ability. But don't forget that ants can kill elephants if they are in large numbers. The rebels rely on ants to fight. First, send these old and weak people to charge forward and use their lives to pave a way.

Even if all these people died, there were still ordinary rebels behind them, and their fighting power was always stronger than that of the old and weak. With such a continuous charge, even if the officers and soldiers were very good at fighting, they would have been tired after killing so many people. By that time, the rebels would send out the real elite, that is, the old camp, to fight, and they would surely defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

If we take Zhangde according to Gao Yingxiang's plan, the road ahead will be smooth. Even if we are lucky enough to take the capital, we may be able to rule the country.

If Gao Yingxiang became the emperor, they would have a bright future and would be rich and prosperous in the future. Moreover, Gao Yingxiang had no son, and Li Zicheng was his only relative. Otherwise, he would not have been so devoted to training Li Zicheng and supporting his nephew.

So once Gao Yingxiang really became the emperor, wouldn't Li Zicheng become the crown prince? At that time, it would be the same as Guo Wei in the Later Zhou Dynasty making Chai Rong the crown prince. Wouldn't the world eventually fall into Li Zicheng's hands?
When they thought of this, their hearts warmed up, their eyes sparkled, and they were extremely excited.

Even if they could not capture the capital, the rebel army still had two options. One was to turn to Shanxi and then fight back to Shanxi. The other was to go east into Shandong, and then go all the way south from Shandong to Southern Zhili.

Nanzhili was the richest region of the Ming Dynasty. The glamorous world of Jiangnan was not just a casual remark. These peasants from the northwest were extremely yearning for it. The delicate skinny horses of Yangzhou, countless gold and silver jewels, and the glamorous world made people salivate. Moreover, it would be good to take Nanzhili. After taking Nanjing, he could also be crowned emperor. Even if he could not unify the world, he could still wear the yellow robe by relying on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.

"Brother, this plan is good, but it is not easy to implement." Gao Jie had the clearest mind. He could not help but say, "I heard that Zuo Liangyu's troops are near Zhangde. If we want to take Zhangde, we must first defeat Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu is not an ordinary general. He is a Liao general. He and Cao Wenzhao and Cao Yanwang were both under Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan. Moreover, the soldiers he led were also Liao soldiers..."

"What are you afraid of?" Hao Yaoqi said carelessly, "This is a different time. What was the situation then? What is the situation now? When we were in Shanxi, how many people did our rebel army have? How many people do we have now? With the 100,000 troops under the command of King Chuang, let alone Zuo Liangyu, even if Cao Yanwang came, he would not be able to stop him."

"Brother Yaoqi is right!" Tian Jianxiu agreed. "When we faced Cao Yanwang, our army only had 20,000 people, but now there are more than 100,000 people. With so many people, even if Cao Yanwang lined up to kill them, it would take him a long time, not to mention two armies facing each other."

"Besides, Cao Yanwang is Cao Yanwang, and Zuo Liangyu is Zuo Liangyu. How can the two be compared? Since King Chuang decided to attack Zhangde, he must have considered this matter. You and I just need to follow King Chuang. Besides, there are not so many foolproof things in this world. Wealth and honor are all gained through fighting. Otherwise, how could King Chuang be called King Chuang? How could my brother have the title of General Chuang?"

"Hahaha! Brother Tian is right, it hits the nail on the head." Li Zicheng was very happy after hearing this and laughed out loud. He immediately asked someone to continue pouring wine. He and his brothers must get drunk today. In a few days, they will go out to fight and there will be few more opportunities.

(End of this chapter)