Henan, Tongshan, Zhangde Prefecture, Liaodong Army Camp.
After Dayong personally took charge and killed more than 20,000 Hui soldiers who had surrendered from the Lao Hui tribe, he dragged his tired steps back to the camp. Not long after he fell, Guo Yi's voice sounded outside the tent.
"Commander, a man and a woman came from outside the camp. The man claimed to be Gao Jie, the brother of the bandit general Li Zicheng, and the woman claimed to be Li Zicheng's aunt Xing. They said they came to seek refuge with the commander."
"Li Zicheng's aunt?"
The identity of the woman made Dayong get up. He sat on the "bed" made of hay and rubbed his temples vigorously. Then he shook his head vigorously. After driving away the sleepiness, he stood up and walked outside the tent.
, ordered Guo Yi: "Bring those two people over."
Guo Yi saw that Dayong's eyes were red and swollen and there were black lines on his forehead. He knew that it was due to overwork and lack of sleep. He couldn't help but feel distressed and said: "Why don't you, Marshal, take a nap first to recuperate and let the two people meet again tomorrow?"
you?"
"No need." Dayong waved his hand, "This man and woman are not very simple. I have to see them now."
"good."
Guo Yi had no choice but to go and bring the people over. After a while, Gao Jie and Xing were brought to Dayong.
Dayong looked at Gao Jie, with broad shoulders and thick chest, and a strong back and waist. He looked very strong and handsome, much stronger than before he was disfigured. Then he looked at Li Zicheng's mother-in-law Xing, who was about thirty years old, fair and delicate,
It is beautiful and can be regarded as a high-quality beauty.
Seeing Mrs.
However, Gao Jie came to seek refuge with him. In my impression, Gao Jie seemed to be one of the four towns in Jiangbei in the late Ming Dynasty, and he was also a well-known man.
"You two must be hungry. I won't ask you why you came to join me. I'm just looking for some food to fill your stomach. I'm also hungry myself."
After saying that, Dayong ordered Guo Yi to get food. Gao Jie prepared a lot of things to say, but he didn't expect that the first sentence of the Lushun Commander-in-Chief was to eat first, and he was a little startled at the moment. However, the
His face was frightened, and his mouth opened slightly as if he was about to make a sound of surprise, but he reacted quickly and closed his mouth in time, but he did not dare to look at Dayong again.
The soldiers quickly went to the kitchen to get food. It was very simple, just steamed buns and pancakes. In addition, there was not much oil or water in the bowl, and it was unclear what the soup was made of. There was no meat or wine.
Dayong signaled his soldiers to take two portions for Gao Jie and Xing, and then he sat down and ate cross-legged.
Gao Jie and Xing didn't expect that Shi Dayong, the commander-in-chief of Lushun, would be so casual. They were both a little surprised and couldn't let go at first. However, they were really hungry. To avoid the pursuing soldiers, they didn't dare to go all the way north.
He stopped to rest, so his stomach was naturally very empty, and seeing Shi Dayong himself eating there, he was no longer restrained.
Gao Jie first took two nests and handed them to Mrs. Xing, then carefully brought her a bowl of soup and waited for her to eat first before eating.
Dayong met him at the edge and secretly thought that Gao Jie was a kind and kind man, so no wonder Mr. Xing followed him.
After a while, Dayong had gnawed three steamed buns and drank all the bowl of soup. Because of the march and fighting, there was a lot of salt in the soup. It was really salty. After drinking it, he felt like
It tastes like salt.
After eating, Dayong was not in a hurry and watched Gao Jie and Xing eating there. After the two noticed that Dayong was looking at them, they hurriedly wiped their mouths and put down their bowls.
Dayong smiled and said: "You don't have to worry about me, filling your stomach is important."
"I'm full, thank you, sir." Gao Jie's voice is quite loud, and it sounds like he was born with a loud voice. Coupled with his burly figure, he is worthy of the title of hero.
Shi Dayong saw that Gao Jie had emptied his plate and there was still some stuffed glutinous rice cakes in Xing's bowl, which showed that he was not eating well, so he said, "I'm sorry, you two, there is no vegetables in this stuffed buns."
, and even without meat, I will eat these too.”
"I didn't expect that the officers and soldiers would suffer so much." Gao Jie sighed inwardly. Although he was a thief, he always had wine to drink and meat to eat among the bandits, but he didn't expect that the dignified soldiers in the imperial court were not eating as well as he did before.
His little minions.
"Well, it's a famine. It's good to have food in Henan now. There's nothing special about marching outside. Just make ends meet and fill your stomach. If I think about eating well, it will be a disaster for the people. That's all for now.
I wonder how many people outside have nothing to eat." Dayong said it very naturally, without any pretense.
"The commander-in-chief loves the people like his own son, and cannot be compared to those corrupt officials." Gao Jie's words were both compliments and not compliments, but words from the bottom of his heart. In his heart, he had already equated Shi Dayong with Na Lu Yan Wang.
Everyone is a good official, and they would rather suffer for themselves than harm the people. If the Ming Dynasty were as civil and military as these two, they would have rebelled. It is a shame that there are not many good officials who love the people.
It was so troublesome that the people couldn't live anymore and started to take action.
Dayong smiled, glanced at Ms.
"
After hearing this, Ms.
Dayong didn't know whether she was full, was too embarrassed to eat anymore, or was really not to her liking, so he didn't tell her anymore and just asked her, "Are you Li Zicheng's aunt?"
"Yes." Mr. Xing lowered his head and his voice was almost inaudible.
Dayong looked at Gao Jie again: "Are you Li Zicheng's brother?"
"Yes!" Gao Jie replied in a still loud voice.
"Then why did you betray Li Zicheng?" Dayong looked at the two of them with a half-smile.
Xing's face turned redder when Dayong saw him, and it was even more difficult for him to answer the question, so he turned his eyes to Gao Jie.
Gao Jie nodded and said to Dayong: "Reply to Dashuai, she didn't want to rebel, I tricked her into coming here. I like her, so I tricked her into coming. We are riding a horse, and she can't escape.
I had no choice but to come."
"You are a cheerful person." Dayong laughed, glanced at Gao Jie, and then asked Xing, "Are you going back, or are you following him? If you want to go back, I'll let you go."
"How can we go back?" Ms. Xing whispered.
"That's right," Gao Jie said, "How can we keep our innocence when we go back? Can Li Zicheng spare her? She has decided to follow me. If the commander-in-chief doesn't mind, I, Gao Jie, am willing to sacrifice my life for the commander-in-chief."
"You are not working for me, you are working for the court." Dayong corrected Gao Jie's statement. Of course he would not turn away Gao Jie if he came to vote. He did not even have any doubts, because Gao Jie had betrayed Li Zicheng and had been doing so all his life.
He was fighting with the bandits, otherwise he would have become one of the four towns in Jiangbei in the future. Although this man had flaws in his life, he was still a good man. He still had national integrity. If he could be driven well, he would be a good general.
"Saving one's life to the commander-in-chief means sacrificing one's life to the imperial court." Gao Jie understood his current situation clearly. He came to seek refuge with Shi Dayong as a bandit. From now on, his fortune and life would depend on Shi Dayong's side. The imperial court was too weak, and in front of him
The commander-in-chief of Lushun is the real object of allegiance. As for the difference between loyalty to the imperial court and loyalty to Shi Dayong, Gao Jie, a martial artist, naturally would not think too much about it. Anyway, if you vote for the army, you are loyal to the imperial court. Is it possible that if you vote for Shi Dayong, you are still in the eyes of the imperial court?
Rebellious people cannot succeed.
"You come to me to show that you trust me. I will not turn you away. From now on, you, Gao Jie, will be one of my men. From now on, you will be rewarded for your merits and punished for your mistakes. Just like me,
All my subordinates will be treated equally, but one thing you must remember is that the laws and regulations in my army are strict and you must not violate them, otherwise you will not blame me for being ruthless in military law!"
"If there is no discipline in the army, wouldn't it be like a bandit? Don't worry, Commander. Gao Jie knows what is good. If you sincerely come to join the Commander, you are sincerely submitting to the court. I will never do those bastard things in the past from now on.
I won't do it. If I really do it, the commander will kill me." Gao Jie answered very responsively.
Dayong nodded and asked him: "Is Li Zicheng still with Gao Yingxiang now?"
"When I came, Chuang Wang...oh, no, Gao Thief took Li Zicheng and Sweeper King, Chuang Taotian Liu Guoneng, Ge Liyan and the others went to attack Xinyang. They are probably still in Xinyang now."
"Xinyang?" Dayong frowned, "What are they doing in Xinyang?"
"There is food in Xinyang City. If there is no food, who will attack Xinyang? Originally, Li Zicheng was not planning to attack Xinyang. Li Zicheng gave the high-ranking thieves an idea to go north to join forces with Lao Hui and then cross the Yellow River back to Shaanxi. Who wants Lao Hui to fight against them?
Gao Jie refused to return to Shaanxi with Gao Thief, so Gao Jie contacted the Sweeper King and they planned to go to Huguang along the road of the Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong, and wait for an opportunity to cross the Han River back to Guanzhong. If they can't get to Guanzhong, they will go to Sichuan." Gao Jie knew everything and said it.
He told everything he knew about Gao Yingxiang's plan.
"I just sent someone to send Lao Huihui's head to the capital. The high thief will never think of joining forces with Lao Huihui in this life. But it will be troublesome for him to go to Huguang." Dayong thought for a moment and asked Gao Jie: "How many high thiefs are surrounding Xinyang?"
Centaur?"
"The high thief himself has more than 80,000 people, the sweeper king Zhang Yichuan has more than 50,000 people, Chuangtantian Liu Guoneng has more than 30,000 people, Geliyan He Yilong has more than 40,000 people, Zuojin King He Jin and the King of Changes have more than 40,000 people.
Xu Bian has fifty or sixty thousand men, Li Wanqing shoots the sky, and Ma Qingzhong has 200,000 or 30,000 men each, so together they may have 300,000 men."
"Three hundred thousand?!" Dayong laughed loudly, then stopped abruptly, "You are not here to vote for me, you are here to bluff me!"
Gao Jie was stunned for a moment and shook his head subconsciously: "No, no, even though I came here for this aunt, I sincerely surrendered. The peasant army cannot defeat the official army. As long as the official army only suppresses but not appeases, the peasant army will be finished sooner or later."
These words touched Shi Dayong's heart, and he calmed down and said: "That's true. As long as the officers and soldiers only suppress but not appease, the bandits will definitely be finished. Haven't you seen that Lao Huihui and Tianxing have already asked me to kill them? If they can be killed elsewhere,
If the officers and soldiers, like me, only suppress but do not appease, what kind of situation can rogue bandits become?"
"Yes, yes." Gao Jie was shocked. He had only heard that Shi Dayong's soldiers were fighting Hui Hui in Tangyin before. Unexpectedly, he had already killed Lao Hui Hui and Guo Tianxing. These two men had 100,000 troops under their command.
Yes, not to mention Tianxing, the four or five thousand cavalry under Lao Huihui's command were enough for the army to drink a pot. Unexpectedly, in just a few days, Lao Huihui and the Tianxing Division were wiped out. This Liaodong Army was also
Hard to beat!
Gao Jie was shocked and happy to vote for such an army. It would be nonsense if he voted for an army that didn't even fight the peasant army.
"There are definitely more than three hundred thousand people who can fight. I want to ask you, how many of them can fight?"
Although Gao Yingxiang and the others were struggling in the south of Henan, where Lu Xiangsheng, the prime minister of the five provinces, was in charge, and Shi Dayong had nothing to do with him, he still wanted to know as much as possible about the true strength of the rogue bandits. After all, after Luo Rucai and Jiutiao Long were dealt with next,
The Liaodong Army may have to go south to Huguang to deal with Gao Yingxiang. If these big bandits are not suppressed, especially Li Zicheng, who is still a general, Dayong will never let go. Now that they are here, they must be dealt with at once to avoid having to deal with them in the future.
Fighting fires everywhere, he only has so little possessions, and he really can't stand running back and forth like this. Didn't you see that the army is now eating cornbread again? Alas, food is tight. We have to rescue the victims, gather the refugees, and maintain the army.
He could no longer keep up with the demand simply by transporting grain from Dengzhou. Hou Xun had already reported Tangyin's victory to the court, and he only hoped that the court would allocate some money and grain in recognition of his contribution to annihilating Lao Huihui and Guo Tianxing.
Come down, otherwise, Dayong really doesn't know how long he can hold out. Because of his return, Henan Province has regarded his Liaodong Army as an enemy. Counting on Henan to supply military rations is just as unreliable as relying on Gao Qiqian to provide food.
Gao Jie thought for a moment and replied: "According to my calculations, there are about 130,000 to 40,000 young men, and there are at least 70,000 to 80,000 people who can be considered elites."
"That's pretty much it." Dayong nodded and asked, "What about the strength of Zhang Xianzhong who ran to Sichuan?"
"Zhang Thief has nearly 100,000 men, and there are only 30,000 to 40,000 who can fight."
After Dayong knew what was going on, he saw that Mr. Xing was very tired leaning in Gao Jie's arms, so he ordered Guo Yi: "Go pick a tent for them and take them to rest."
"Commander!" Gao Jie did not leave, but took a step closer, clasping his fists and saying: "If the Gao thieves enter Guanzhong from Huguang, they must want to occupy Xi'an. Li Zicheng once told me that if they cross the Han River and enter Guanzhong,
, we will definitely not go straight to Xi'an from Hanzhong, but take a detour, divide some troops first to hold back the officers and soldiers, and take a small road to Xi'an, the commander-in-chief will have to guard against it."
"The matter in Xi'an is the matter of Mr. Hong, the governor of the five provinces. The imperial court did not allow me to go to Xi'an. It is Mr. Hong who should worry about this matter. It is not my turn to worry about it. At the moment, the commander-in-chief has to deal with the determined Luo Rucai. I can't worry about it for the time being.
Over in Shaanxi, yes, but you can send someone to remind Mr. Hong, lest the high-ranking thieves really take over Xi'an. Okay, you and your wife will also go to rest. I don't have many female dependents in my camp. You have to take good care of your mother-in-law.
.”
After Dayong finished speaking, he waved his hand, indicating that Gao Jie and Xing could go down. Gao Jie and Xing thanked Guo Yi again and led them to the tent. After they left, Dayong asked his bodyguard to find Wu Heyin and tell what Gao Jie said.
After Gao Yingxiang entered Huguang, he wrote a letter with the intention of crossing the Han River and taking a small road to attack Xi'an, and sent two capable personal guards to report to Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces.
Here, Dayong was about to go back to sleep, but Hou Xun sent someone, saying that there was important news from the court.