Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty
Chapter 709 Entering the game
Chapter 709 Entering the game
When they returned to their camp, Li Guo, Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu and Hao Yaoqi had been waiting anxiously. When they saw Li Zicheng coming back, they hurried forward to inquire about the situation.
Li Zicheng shook his head slightly. Seeing this, Li Guo said anxiously, "Uncle, didn't you explain it to your uncle? Your uncle's move is too risky. You know, even Zhuge Kongming didn't dare to use it back then!"
"Of course I didn't make it clear. I said everything I should have said. But my uncle has made up his mind. How can I persuade him?" Li Zicheng spread his hands helplessly. Not only did he say it, he also tried to persuade him. But this time Gao Yingxiang was determined to go to Ziwu Valley. Although he was Gao Yingxiang's nephew, he was also Gao Yingxiang's subordinate. The commander had made the decision. How could he persuade him?
"So we have to travel with the Eight Kings?" Tian Jianxiu asked with a frown.
Li Zicheng nodded, and Tian Jianxiu couldn't help but say, "General Chuang, you must be careful with the Eighth King. He is always cruel and ruthless. If the Chuang King is here, it's okay. The Eighth King still has some concerns, but we will join forces with him alone. If this guy has any ideas, then..."
"Why should I be afraid of Zhang Xianzhong, that thief?" Hao Yaoqi raised his eyebrows and said, "He has soldiers, and so do we! At worst, we can have a fight, but I will tear off his head and use it as a chamber pot!"
"Old Hao is right! Zhang Xianzhong is a guy who bullies the weak and fears the strong. If we really fight, I am not afraid of him!" The young and energetic Liu Zongmin with a big beard was also shouting.
"Enough! That's not necessary!" Li Zicheng glared at them with a cold face. He certainly knew that Zhang Xianzhong was no good. Among the rebels, Zhang Xianzhong was not the first one to start an uprising. In terms of time, Zhang Xianzhong started much later than Gao Yingxiang. In the third year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong gathered young men from the Eighteen Villages in his hometown to start an uprising. He called himself the Eight Great Kings. Initially, he was affiliated with Wang Jiayin's army, and later formed his own army and began to emerge.
Zhang Xianzhong had served in the frontier army and was no stranger to the military. He was a good leader in battles. Moreover, he was just as ruthless, capricious, and cunning as Tian Jianxiu said. In just a few years, Zhang Xianzhong became one of the largest teams in the rebel army. Although his appeal was not as strong as Gao Yingxiang after Wang Jiayin's death, he was a rival to Luo Rucai, who was known as "Cao Cao".
The reason why Zhang Xianzhong's army grew so fast was that he annexed many rebel armies. During the development process, Zhang Xianzhong used the saying that the rebel armies in the world were one family to annex several armies. Some of the annexed rebel leaders bowed to Zhang Xianzhong and became his subordinates, but some disappeared without a clear reason. What happened was unknown to outsiders, but didn't Li Zicheng know?
However, even though he knew it, he couldn't say it like that. If such words that were not conducive to unity were to get out and reach Zhang Xianzhong's ears, it would not be a good thing.
This time Gao Yingxiang asked Li Zicheng to lead an army alone and march eastward with Zhang Xianzhong, but Li Zicheng was actually very reluctant. On the one hand, he felt that Gao Yingxiang's decision to go through Ziwu Valley was too risky. In history, during the Three Kingdoms period, although Wei Yan proposed the Ziwu Valley strategy to Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Liang did not adopt it. Didn't Zhuge Liang know that once the army came out of Ziwu Valley, it could directly attack the city of Xi'an and catch the opponent off guard?
If Xi'an is captured, the whole of Shaanxi will basically be in hand. With Shaanxi in hand, continuing to advance eastward will allow us to reach the heartland of the Central Plains. Such tactics sound good, but the risks are extremely high. Not to mention that the Ziwu Valley is extremely difficult to navigate, and once someone discovers it, as long as the exit is blocked, the army will be unable to advance or retreat, and will inevitably suffer a disastrous defeat.
Zhuge Liang was a cautious person throughout his life. He was not unaware of the benefits of the Ziwu Valley plan, but he did not adopt Wei Yan's suggestion because he thought it was too risky. But now Gao Yingxiang wanted to follow Wei Yan's example and attack Xi'an through Ziwu Valley, which was too risky.
Secondly, Li Zicheng did not trust Zhang Xianzhong to join forces and march eastward. Gao Yingxiang led the main force to Ziwu Valley, while Li Zicheng took his detachment and went with Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong's army was stronger than Li Zicheng's, and he was a complete villain. If he took this opportunity to attack Li Zicheng, even if Li Zicheng was prepared, he would be in trouble.
Li Zicheng sat down, poured a glass of water, drank it in one gulp and wiped his lips: "The King of Chuang has given an order, and we, as his subordinates, should obey his orders. However, we cannot ignore Lao Tian's reminder. Wave the flag, Zongmin!"
"Here!" Hao Yaoqi and Liu Zongmin answered in unison.
"You two go and tell the brothers below to prepare for the march. We will set out early the next morning. You will lead the vanguard with the flag waver, and you, Zongmin, will be the rear guard. I will lead the central army myself. Send out more scouts along the way to scout around. Also, remember to be careful to guard against any unusual movements by Zhang Xianzhong's troops."
"I will obey your orders!" The two men responded by clasping their fists.
Li Zicheng cast his gaze towards Tian Jianxiu, thought for a moment and said, "You help Yaoqi. Although he is fierce, he doesn't know how to adapt. You two are friends, and you have a calm temperament, so I will hand over Yaoqi to you."
"My subordinate commands you!" Tian Jianxiu responded without hesitation.
Finally, Li Zicheng looked at Li Guo and told him that Li Guo would serve as his deputy general to assist him in commanding the central army and coordinating the tasks of the vanguard and rear army. Li Guo also agreed. After the order was issued, Li Zicheng did not keep them and waved his hand to let them prepare as soon as possible. Time was too tight. They had to set off in the early morning of the next day, and there was not much time left for them.
After the four men left, Li Zicheng narrowed his eyes and thought hard. Although Gao Yingxiang asked him to join forces with Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng had other plans in mind. He planned to move eastward and find an opportunity to separate from Zhang Xianzhong and march separately. During this march, Li Zicheng always felt frightened and felt that something big was going to happen.
After Li Zicheng arrived at Hanyin, he and Zhang Xianzhong split up. As for the reason for the split, he had already thought of it, and he just said it was arranged by King Chuang. Anyway, it was estimated that Gao Yingxiang had led his troops into Ziwu Valley at that time, so even if Zhang Xianzhong asked for proof, it would not be possible.
After the division of troops, Li Zicheng prepared to turn south and go to Ziyang to avoid the limelight first, and make a decision after finding out the movements of the government troops. If everything went well, Li Zicheng planned to sneak eastward from the south of Ziyang and go directly to Huguang. When he arrived in Huguang, he would speed up to jump out of the encirclement of the government troops, and then go north to Henan to gain a foothold in the Central Plains.
To be honest, Li Zicheng not only did not trust Zhang Xianzhong, but he also did not think highly of his uncle Gao Yingxiang's plan to go to Ziwu Valley. He thought Gao Yingxiang might suffer a great loss this time. If Ziwu Valley was so easy to go, why didn't Zhuge Kongming adopt this plan? Could it be that Gao Yingxiang was more capable than Zhuge Kongming?
Unfortunately, his persuasion was of no use. Gao Yingxiang was determined to go through Ziwu Valley. In this situation, Li Zicheng had to consider himself.
If Gao Yingxiang is defeated, or even has more serious consequences, then Li Zicheng will have to rely on himself in the future. The army in his hands is the foundation of Li Zicheng's existence. Without this army, Li Zicheng will have no capital at all. So Gao Yingxiang told Li Zicheng today that he and Zhang Xianzhong were going east to lure the government troops, and use their march to cover up his plan to go to Ziwu Valley. Isn't Li Zicheng the same? When the time comes, he will separate from Zhang Xianzhong, let Zhang Xianzhong's team attract the government troops, and his detachment of only 10,000 people will quietly turn around and go south to hide their tracks, and then jump out of the encirclement of the government troops after ensuring safety. This is the best strategy.
Thinking of this, Li Zicheng let out a long breath and clenched his fists.
He stood up, took off the sword from his waist and put it aside. When he was about to take his hand back, his eyes fell on the sword. He stared at the sword, feeling very uncomfortable, and thought of his good friend Wen Xinghu.
This sword actually belonged to Wen Xinghu, and Li Zicheng's original sword was broken in a fight with officers and soldiers. It was in that battle that Li Zicheng would probably no longer be in this world if Wen Xinghu had not led his men to rescue him at the risk of their lives.
It was also in this battle that Li Zicheng not only broke the sword that had been with him for many years, but also lost his good brother Wen Xinghu. Whenever Li Zicheng thought of the scene where Wen Xinghu risked his own life to rescue him and fell to the ground seriously injured and died, he felt a dull pain in his heart.
After the battle, Li Zicheng collected Wen Xinghu's body with tears in his eyes, and kept his sword as his own. Placing his hand on the sword, feeling the coolness coming from it, Li Zicheng couldn't help but murmured, "Old Wen, Old Wen, I don't know what the outcome will be this time. If you are still alive in heaven, please protect me and turn the danger into safety!"
The day passed quickly, and in the early morning of the third day, Li Zicheng assembled his troops and marched eastward with Zhang Xianzhong's troops. Half a day after they walked, Gao Yingxiang's main force also moved. His troops followed Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's troops and marched eastward. They arrived at Ziwu Town and stationed there that day.
After one day of camping, Gao Yingxiang's main force did not continue to go east along the road that Li Zicheng and his men took the next day, but turned north from Ziwu Town and entered Ziwu Valley. When entering Ziwu Valley, in order to prevent the news from leaking out, Gao Yingxiang took away all the people in Ziwu Town, and killed all those who refused to leave. As for Ziwu Town, he even set it on fire to burn it down to cover up the traces of his army.
The Ziwu Valley runs across the entire Qinling Mountains from south to north. The mountain path is dangerous, rugged and long, with a total length of about 660 miles. Without a guide, it is impossible to walk along it.
Gao Yingxiang had already found local people who were familiar with the terrain and forced them to lead the army, and had also brought sufficient supplies in advance.
But even so, when the army entered the Ziwu Valley, the difficulty of the road was beyond Gao Yingxiang's expectations. Moreover, it rained heavily in the valley on the day of entering the valley, making the road even more difficult to travel. After three days of walking, the army had only traveled a hundred miles and was still more than 500 miles away from its destination.
At this time, Gao Yingxiang had already regretted it a little. He had not expected that reality was so different from his imagination. But the problem was that he had already left and it was impossible to turn back. Moreover, as the leader of the rebel army, Gao Yingxiang could not afford to lose face.
Gao Yingxiang had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue moving forward. Halfway through the journey, the army was exhausted, and several days of heavy rain had caused many soldiers to catch a cold. Many of the soldiers even fell off the cliff. Before they even got out of the valley, the army had lost hundreds of people due to various causes, and the number was still rising.
(End of this chapter)
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