Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 24 Liu Zongmin

"That's enough! How long are you going to keep embarrassing yourself?!"

In the center of the tent, Liu Zongmin, dressed as a Confucian general, scolded.

Liu Tiren, who had been crying just now, suddenly fell silent.

If we were to say who the generals in Dashun feared the most, it would definitely be the Confucian-minded Liu Zongmin in front of them!
Not only because he was the number one general under Li Zicheng.

Also because his methods are so cruel.

It was so cruel that even Li Zicheng was a little scared.

In the entire rebel army, only Li Zicheng could subdue Liu Zongmin.

He even didn't give face to Prime Minister Niu Jinbao and Military Advisor Song Xiance.

Once you piss him off, death can sometimes be a relief.

The sun shines on the cowhide in the big tent, making the tent warm.

Liu Zongmin said slowly while reading the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

"In the first month of the year, Luoyang was conquered and King Fu was cooked."

The gentle and calm voice frightened Liu Tiren so much that he trembled all over.

"In February, Nanyang was conquered and the Tang Emperor burned himself to death."

"Tongguan was captured in March, and Sun Chuanting's head is still hanging on the flagpole in the old camp."

With every word he spoke, Liu Tiren couldn't help but tremble a little.

"You led a battalion of six thousand children, yet you were slaughtered by a thousand cavalrymen and left them throwing away their armor and helmets?"

"General Quan, please listen to my explanation. Those were not ordinary cavalry! They were..." Liu Tiren was about to explain when a scream suddenly came from outside the tent.

Two deserters covered in blood were dragged in. Looking at their young faces, it was obvious that they belonged to the children's camp.

He was one of the smart ones. He probably saw Liu Tiren running away and followed him.

"What should be done to those who delay military affairs?" Liu Zongmin turned and asked the clerk in the shadows.

"Skin them and stuff them with straw, and pass it on to each camp." The clerk's voice was as harsh as a rusty knife sliding across a grindstone.

"Okay, just do it." Liu Zongmin waved his hand, and the two deserters were dragged out of the tent without even having time to say a word.

Liu Zongmin continued to read the Records of the Three Kingdoms as if nothing had happened and asked softly.

"Tell me clearly what equipment the cavalry you encountered was equipped with."

"Yes, sir, yes..." Liu Tiren breathed a sigh of relief. Although his teeth were chattering, he still quickly listed the equipment of the 3,000th Battalion one by one.

"Those cavalrymen and horses were wearing woven iron armor with four-sided ridges and breastplates. Their lances were fourteen feet long..."

After listening to this, Liu Zongmin was also a little unsure.

According to Liu Tiren's description, it must be a well-organized heavy cavalry.

But in the Ming Dynasty that had long been destroyed, only the Liaodong Guanning Army still had heavy armored cavalry.

The main force of the Guanning Army is still outside the Great Wall, and the Chuang Army is watching them all the time, so it is impossible for them to come to the capital.

At this time, another cavalry appeared in the capital, which made Liu Zongmin a little puzzled.

However, although a thousand heavy cavalrymen posed a threat, they were not serious enough for him to take seriously.

What he was worried about was that since there were an extra thousand heavy cavalry in the capital, would there be other troops?

If the capital can really hold out, the situation will become dangerous.

The screams outside the tent gradually became weaker, and Liu Zongmin became restless and put down the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his hand.

Looking at Liu Tiren, he said, "Since you've been with me for many years, I won't kill you this time. But abandoning your subordinates and running for your life is no different from being a Ming dog."

"You can escape the death penalty, but you can't escape the punishment of life. This time I'll punish you with eighty military sticks to teach you a lesson. You'll receive twenty sticks first, and the remaining sixty will be given after the city is captured."

Upon hearing this, Liu Tiren was so happy that tears almost came to his eyes. He kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude and then left the tent happily.

Song Xiance, the chief military strategist of the rebel army who had been hiding in the tent, slowly walked out.

Liu Zongmin's eyes were focused on the military map. He didn't look at Song Xiance and spoke to himself.

"When the eighteen armies gathered together, King Chuang and I shared a horse hide in Shangluo Mountain." "We went through Lin County and down to Jiezhou, attacked Shaanxi and Luoyang, and settled in Xi'an. No one knew when we would be able to live a good life. Many brave men fell on this road."

His tone grew heavier, "After all the hard work, we're finally nearing the end of our story, and now he wants to divide the world with the old emperor?"

Song Xiance sighed lightly. When the King of Rebellion discussed with him whether it was easy to attack the capital and what to do if it failed, he knew that the King of Rebellion's spirit of adventure had dissipated.

Or it could be said that King Chuang never thought of becoming emperor from the beginning to the end.

If the pie they had drawn before had not been too big, they would never have been able to repay the debt without taking over the capital. In addition, this group of old heroes all wanted to gain the credit of following the emperor, so they used the King of Rebellion to attack the capital.

The King of Rebellion might be living a happy life as the King of Dashun in Xi'an.

If the capital cannot be conquered in one battle, the King of Rebellion will inevitably negotiate with the emperor in the capital.

Song Xiance knew very well that once the goal was achieved, the anger would dissipate and people's hearts would disperse.

So when faced with Liu Zongmin's complaining words, Song Xiance did not refute.

Seeing that Song Xiance was still hesitant to speak, Liu Zongmin couldn't help but turn around and ask, "Don't you have any advice, Grand Military Advisor?"

Song Xiance did not give a direct answer. He really had no good impression of this cruel and brutal leader of the army.

But facing the capital and the throne right before his eyes, Song Xiance could not restrain his desire.

He stared straight into Liu Zongmin's eyes, his lips slightly parted.

"General Quan, you know, since the fall of the Han Dynasty, our generation of civil officials have all set their sights on becoming Zhuge Liang. However, becoming a Marquis is incredibly difficult, and there hasn't been one in a thousand years."

"Xiang Ce knows that he doesn't have the ability to be a Marquis of Wu. Since he can't be a Marquis of Wu, then he has to be a Zi Fang of the Han Dynasty. Otherwise, what's the point of living a mediocre life?"

The two looked at each other for a long time, and suddenly laughed at the same time.

At least they were on the same page about something.

With Song Xiance's support, Liu Zongmin felt confident.

He took out the secret letter he had received long ago, pressed a large seal engraved with "General of Dashun Yongchang" on the peace document, and then cut his finger and pressed a blood seal on the four words "temporarily postpone the siege".

He shouted outside the tent, "Send a messenger as fast as he can to deliver this letter to King Chuang and tell him that I agree to negotiate."

"Tell me about me, Liu Zongmin..." The big seal suddenly pointed at the location of the imperial palace on the map, "I'm preparing a coffin for old Chongzhen!"

……

The night watch drum sounded at 3 p.m.

Wu Xiang, Li Guozhen and others stood respectfully inside the Deshengmen tower.

Even Wu Wei, who had just made great contributions on the battlefield and was extremely arrogant, was now like a little chicken, huddled in a small corner.

There was no other reason, it was all because Zhu Youjian came wearing a patched uniform.

Not only did he come himself, he also brought with him 1,500 military camps, 500 Shenji camps, and 3,500 iron cavalrymen dressed in bright armor, who looked several times more elite than the 3,000 iron cavalrymen.

As Wu Wei, who had just led the 3,000th Battalion in a battle, understood the combat effectiveness of the 3,000th Battalion better than anyone else.

Whether in terms of formation, military discipline or combat effectiveness, they are almost the same as Wu Sangui's personal soldiers in the Guanning Army.

Wu Sangui's personal troops only had two thousand cavalry.

Wu Wei had only seen the iron cavalry, which were several times more elite than the Guanning Army's personal soldiers, during the Songjin Campaign. They were the Bordered Yellow Banner and the Plain Yellow Banner under Huang Taiji.

Zhu Youjian didn't know what the generals thought.

After learning that the rebel army had begun to attack the city, he became very uneasy.

He gave the task of luring out the officials to Li Ruolian and Wang Chengen, while he himself led the 5,000 elite troops drawn from the system and headed straight for Deshengmen.

Fortunately, Wu Xiang and the system rewarded the troops and did not disappoint him.

With a slight loss of less than forty men on their side, they captured more than four thousand young men.

Although it was heavy cavalry that charged the young army, there were only 300 of them who were truly capable of fighting.

But no matter what, the first wave of attack was finally blocked.

Before the next wave of attack, he can still make another round of house raids and extract some entries.

(End of this chapter)