My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 322 Li Zicheng is too cold-hearted, we don't want to follow him in rebellion!
As for Sun Chuanting, he remained calm at this moment, because he knew in his heart that Luo Rucai, that old fox, must have already thought of a way to deal with it.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have come to surrender to the imperial court!

Sure enough, the next second, Luo Rucai suddenly let out a cold laugh, a laugh filled with disdain and mockery.

Then he suddenly took half a step forward, almost leaning half his body over the city wall, and pointed at Li Guo, shouting:

"Li Guo, you traitorous scoundrel, don't even think about framing me for this! When have I ever massacred any members of the Ming imperial family? Weren't these things done by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng?"

"In fact, the reason I rebelled back then was entirely because I was coerced by you."

"Furthermore, when you were slaughtering members of the Ming imperial family, I also advised you, but who among you listened?"

"Even now, you still try to slander me and incite internal strife between me and the court. Traitors like you deserve to die!"

Luo Rucai spoke with righteous indignation, as if he were truly being wronged.

He shifted all the blame to Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, making himself appear as a pure white lotus flower emerging from the mud, untainted by its surroundings.

In short, all the bad things were done by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and had nothing to do with me, Luo Rucai.

Even the reason they rebelled in the first place was because they were coerced by the peasant army!
Upon hearing Luo Rucai's words, the military officers on the city wall exchanged bewildered glances, clearly speechless at Luo Rucai's shamelessness.

Even Li Guo, standing below the city wall, was stunned, because he never expected that Luo Rucai would be so shameless, so capable of distorting the truth and confusing right and wrong.

In an instant, he was so angry that he trembled all over, his lips quivering, but he didn't know what to say to refute those words.

After a long while, Li Guo cursed again:
"Luo Rucai, you're talking nonsense! You dare say you didn't do this?"

The next second, he turned his gaze to Sun Chuanting and asked:
"Does Lord Sun really believe what he said?"

Faced with Li Guo's question, Sun Chuanting calmly stroked his beard and then smiled, saying:

"If I don't believe General Luo's words, should I believe yours?"

These words left Li Guo speechless.

Come to think of it, Luo Rucai has already surrendered to the imperial court and become a fourth-rank military officer, working under Sun Chuanting.

But he was Li Zicheng's own nephew. If Sun Chuanting didn't trust his own subordinates, why should he trust a rebel?

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know how to begin.

But he soon realized that Sun Chuanting seemed genuinely indifferent to the messes Luo Rucai had made in the past.

Furthermore, since Luo Rucai had shifted all the blame onto Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, anything he said now would be of no use.
He originally intended to use this to sow discord between Luo Rucai and Sun Chuanting, but he didn't expect that he had overthought things. Luo Rucai had already prepared a countermeasure.

Li Guo was secretly annoyed, but he was not discouraged, because it was time to get down to business!
Then Li Guo said again:

"Believe it or not, I'm too lazy to say anything more."

"Besides, I came here on the orders of the rebel king. The rebel king wants to make a deal with Lord Sun."

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting immediately became interested and then asked with great enthusiasm:

"What deal?"

Li Guo took a deep breath and then slowly said:
"The terms of the deal are simple: Chuang Wang is willing to exchange 100,000 men for Luo Rucai's head, or he can simply hand him over to us."

"As long as Lord Sun hands over Luo Rucai to us now, we will send all 100,000 men to Tongguan."

Luo Rucai was initially nervous when he heard that Li Zicheng wanted to make a deal with Sun Chuanting, but after listening to Li Guo's words, he suddenly relaxed completely.

To be honest, if Li Guo said that Li Zicheng was willing to exchange ten or twenty thousand men for him, he thought it might be true.

But if it's 100,000 people, that's just ridiculous.

After all, he knew exactly how much his head was worth, and Li Zicheng wouldn't do something so unprofitable.

However, Luo Rucai was still somewhat worried, because he feared that Sun Chuanting would not see through Li Zicheng's conspiracy.

But it was obvious he was overthinking it, because Sun Chuanting realized this instantly as well.

Sure enough, the next second, Sun Chuanting said calmly:

"Although the deal you have proposed is very tempting, I am sorry, but I cannot agree to it."

"Because Luo Rucai is now a fourth-rank military officer in the imperial court, I cannot possibly use his life to make any deal with you."

"As for these 100,000 people, you can keep them for yourselves."

The voice was firm and resolute, leaving no room for negotiation.

Li Guo wasn't too surprised to hear Sun Chuanting's resolute refusal.

After all, Li Zicheng had already anticipated this outcome when he discussed the matter with him.

Immediately afterward, Li Guo took a deep breath, suppressing his resentment and anger, and said:
"In that case, I hope you will take care of yourselves."

Having said that, he suddenly pulled on the reins, turned his horse around, and led the thirty-odd people who had come with him back home.

But at that very moment, something unexpected happened.

Suddenly, three people in the group did not follow Li Guo in turning their horses around, but instead galloped straight towards Tongguan City.

As they galloped away, they shouted loudly:
"Don't attack! We've come to surrender to the imperial court! We've come to surrender to the imperial court!"

The sound seemed particularly abrupt.

The soldiers guarding the city had been closely monitoring Li Guo and his group's every move, and this sudden scene instantly alerted them.

Their hands unconsciously rested on the bowstring; the arrow was ready to be released at any moment.

Although they heard the three men's voices, they were unsure whether they had truly surrendered or were plotting something, so they instinctively decided to attack.

After all, killing a few peasant soldiers is nothing, but if these three were to enter the city and cause chaos, things would get really troublesome!

However, just as they were about to shoot their arrows, Sun Chuanting's voice suddenly rang out:

"Wait a minute, do it!"

In an instant, the soldiers guarding the city stopped their attack.

In fact, Sun Chuanting was also quite surprised at this moment, because he didn't know whether this was Li Guo's scheme or someone really took this opportunity to surrender to the court.

But then he thought that there were only three people, and they couldn't cause any big trouble, so he stopped the city guards who were about to attack.

Thus, the three of them entered Tongguan City without any hindrance.

Upon seeing this scene, Li Guo's eyes widened in fury, as if they were about to spit fire, and his heart burned with rage.

He suddenly pulled on the reins and shouted angrily into the city:
"What are you three bastards doing?"

The voice was filled with anger and resentment, as if it wanted to vent all the rage in its heart. At the same time, the three people inside the city, after confirming that they were safe, also slowly stopped.

Then, with the help of the city's garrison, they dismounted and turned to look at Li Guo outside the city.

One of them looked guilty and said in a slightly trembling voice:
"I'm sorry, General Li, but the rebel king is too heartless. He abandons his brothers as soon as they are injured. There is no way to survive if you follow the rebel king in rebellion."

"Right now, we only want to surrender to the imperial court, even if it means becoming military households in Liaodong. We hope you can forgive us."

His tone was filled with helplessness and determination, as if he had made up his mind to sever all ties with Li Zicheng.

Li Guo was furious. He instinctively wanted to draw his sword and charge forward to end the lives of these three traitors.

However, when he reached out to touch it, he found nothing.

He then realized that they hadn't brought any weapons with them this time, since the Ming army wouldn't have let them get close if they had.

Left with no other option, he could only continue his tirade:

"You three bastards, remember this! I'll kill you all with my own hands someday!"

After saying this, Li Guo led the rest of his men and left Tongguan without looking back.

There was no other way; if they continued to stay here, Li Guo was worried that the remaining people around him would also surrender to the imperial court.

Although these people didn't say a word from beginning to end, who can guarantee that they didn't have other thoughts in their minds?

After what just happened, Li Guo no longer dares to completely trust his personal guards!
On the city wall, watching Li Guo and his men gradually disappear into the distance, Sun Chuanting and Luo Rucai found it somewhat amusing.

They never expected that this tense situation would become so dramatic because of the sudden surrender of these three people.

Immediately afterwards, Sun Chuanting turned directly to Luo Rucai and asked:
"General Luo, what's your take on what just happened?"

His eyes revealed a hint of curiosity and inquiry, as he wanted to hear Luo Rucai's opinion.

Upon hearing this, Luo Rucai revealed a meaningful smile, and then slowly said:
"In my humble opinion, this should not be considered a scheme, because if it were, it would be far too rudimentary."

"After all, there are 70,000 troops garrisoning Tongguan City. What kind of trouble can these three people cause?"

"However, for safety's sake, I suggest that these three be detained separately and interrogated individually."

"If the three men's testimonies don't match, kill them all to prevent future troubles. If they do match, we can't let our guard down. They still need to be detained for a while, because people's hearts are unpredictable."

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting nodded in agreement, and then added:
"In that case, I'll leave this matter to you."

Luo Rucai quickly bowed and agreed:
"Rest assured, sir, I will certainly handle this matter well."

As a result, not long after, the three peasant army generals who had suddenly surrendered to the imperial court were imprisoned separately.

Subsequently, Luo Rucai arranged for his capable subordinates to conduct a series of interrogations on them.

During the interrogation, the interrogators used various methods in an attempt to extract the most truthful information from them.

Finally, the interrogation results were compared, and it was found that they were largely the same.

The statements given by the three individuals were largely consistent and corroborated each other.

This proves that the three men were not lying, and their surrender was genuine and not a conspiracy.

Similarly, Luo Rucai also learned about the specific casualties on Li Zicheng's side.

The death toll is estimated at around 30,000, while the number of injured is as high as 100,000.

To be honest, this number was entirely within Luo Rucai's expectations.

But soon, Luo Rucai suddenly had a bad feeling.

He frowned, deep in thought.

Li Zicheng's side suffered approximately 100,000 injuries, and Li Guo just said he would exchange 100,000 lives for his head. These two things together seem a bit odd, don't they?
In an instant, Luo Rucai realized something. A look of fear and worry flashed in his eyes. He then hurriedly went to find Sun Chuanting again.

At this moment, Sun Chuanting was already extremely tired and was planning to rest for a while to relieve his fatigue.

However, just as he lay down to rest, he suddenly heard someone outside report that Luo Rucai had something urgent to report.

Having no other choice, Sun Chuanting could only force himself to straighten his clothes and then order someone to invite Luo Rucai in.

In fact, Luo Rucai was already exhausted at this point, since he hadn't rested since yesterday.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was full of exhaustion.

But he knew the time was urgent and there was no time to lose, so as soon as they met, Luo Rucai handed the three confessions to Sun Chuanting.

"My lord, please look, these are the confessions of those three men!"

Sun Chuanting took it casually, glanced at it, and found nothing wrong with it.

The three testimonies are almost identical, with 90% of the content being the same. The remaining 10% difference is simply due to slight variations in personal interpretation.

Aside from that, the number of deaths and injuries recorded on it surprised him somewhat.

With over 130,000 dead and wounded in one night, this was certainly a significant blow to Li Zicheng!

But at that moment, Luo Rucai suddenly asked:
"Didn't you notice anything amiss, sir?"

Something wrong?

Sun Chuanting looked through the confession again, then asked with some doubt.

"Have it?"

A hint of confusion flickered in his eyes; he clearly hadn't yet grasped the seriousness of the situation.

Luo Rucai didn't keep them in suspense and said directly:
“Li Guo previously said he would exchange 100,000 men for my head, and according to the testimonies of these three men, the number of wounded in Li Zicheng’s camp in this incident was also 100,000. Does my lord think there is any connection between these two events?”

"You should know that, to the best of my knowledge, Li Zicheng's army doesn't have any medicine that can treat so many people!"

"If these 100,000 wounded men continue to stay in Li Zicheng's camp, they will only face death."

His voice was low and serious, as if he were telling of an impending disaster.

Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting instantly shuddered, all sleepiness vanishing.

He looked at Luo Rucai with disbelief, and asked in a trembling voice:

"Wait. You mean Li Zicheng is going to send all 100,000 men to Tongguan?"

As he said this, Sun Chuanting's eyes were filled with shock, as if he could already see the enormous crisis that Tongguan was about to face.

(End of this chapter)