Chapter nine hundred and thirteenth a cavity of ambition fades away
Li Zicheng looked at the Xi'an city tower vaguely visible to the north and remained silent. Although his face was weathered after years of battlefield battles, he had always been full of energy. Even when there were only eighteen knights left by his side,
He is also full of confidence. But today, he has shown some signs of aging, with a solemn look on his face and the wrinkles of time.
How could this happen?
More than half a year ago, when Li Zicheng led millions of lions across the entire northern Ming Dynasty and sent Li Zicheng into the Golden Palace, Li Zicheng reached the pinnacle of his life.
Think about how high-spirited he was at that time, when he rode into the Chengtian Gate, bent his bow and shot the plaque. But today, half a year later, not only did he not sit on the hot dragon chair in Beijing, but now he has even lost Xi'an.
.It’s really like having a dream!
Li Zicheng looked at the troops following him again. This time Li Zicheng took the initiative to evacuate Xi'an, and only more than 130,000 people accompanied him. However, among this team, the real army was only nearly 40,000, and he relied most heavily on it.
Not even a tenth of the men and horses in the old camp were left.
It would be fine if there were just fewer people, but look at the energy of these people? They are like wandering souls, with no morale. But it is not surprising. Anyone who falls into the dust from the peak of life will probably look like this.
.
But this is not the only remaining force of the Dashun Army. Because the decision to evacuate Xi'an was made very hastily, Li Zicheng was also afraid that after the fall of Tongguan, Xue Yong's Daping Army would soon attack Xi'an. Therefore, he did not care about being scattered elsewhere.
of troops.
At this time, the Dashun Army Li Guo and Gao Yigong were still guarding Yulin and Yan'an; there were also garrisons in Ningxia, Gansu, and Xining. However, Li Zicheng considered that Xue Yong and Quan Dashan were pressing heavily on the border.
Shaanxi cannot support it at all. If it retreats to the west, the Daping Army will inevitably cut off the Dashun Army in the south. Moreover, the remote and desolate northwest corner does not have much future; and the southwest is Sichuan under the control of Zhang Xianzhong, but due to the
In the autumn and winter of the 16th year of Chongzhen, the Dashun Army had a head-on conflict with the Daxi Army, and it was inconvenient for Li Zicheng to develop to the southwest.
Therefore, Dashun's army moved to the southeast to seize the south under the control of the Hongguang court. It became the only way out at that time to continue fighting with the abundant manpower and material resources here.
At this moment, Li Yan came over on horseback. He clasped his fists at Li Zicheng and said: "King Chuang! Shaanxi is the foundation. We must leave an army to contain one or two, so that King Chuang can have time to breathe. I am not a talented student, so I am willing to recommend myself."
Lead the army to resist the Wu thief."
At this time, only Li Yan had not lost his confidence. But when Li Zicheng looked at Li Yan's energetic expression, he felt that it was not pleasing to his eyes. Especially Li Yan's title of "Chuang King" seemed to be a mockery of Li Zicheng's recent career.
Falling from the clouds.
"I understand. Sir, thank you for your trouble." Li Zicheng replied lukewarmly.
Seeing that Li Zicheng did not want to make a decision immediately, Li Yan could only bow angrily again, and then returned to the team.
Seeing that Li Yan had left, Song Xiance immediately came to Li Zicheng's side and provoked: "Your Majesty! It means that if it is temporarily unfavorable, someone will have their own ideas. All the generals in the army are veteran generals. If they lead the troops, it will be wrong."
Don't worry. But now that Mr. Li wants a scholar to lead the army, I'm afraid he may have different intentions. You must support your troops and respect yourself!"
Li Zicheng's eyes suddenly had a trace of murderous intent. But he immediately returned to his normal expression and said to Song Xiance: "I know very well what kind of person you are. But there are some things that I don't need to say more." After finishing speaking, Li Zicheng
He looked at Li Yan's figure in the team again and couldn't help but squint his eyes.
"Fang Liang!" Li Zicheng shouted loudly.
"Your Majesty!" Liu Fangliang immediately rode up to Li Zicheng, cupped his fists and saluted.
"Go to Xi'an City again and see if the people I left there have destroyed all the food, grass and baggage left in the city." Li Zicheng ordered.
"yes!"
Because they abandoned Xi'an in a hurry, the Dashun army only carried valuables such as gold, silver, cloth, and a small amount of grain and grass. The rest of the heavy goods were left behind in the city. Especially grain and grass, because of the ruins of Shaanxi and Xi'an's relationship with Dashun.
Because of the importance of the army, during Li Zicheng's retreat from Beijing, the Dashun Army carried almost all the grain, grass and property they looted into Xi'an City.
For this reason, Li Zicheng now ordered General Quan Liu Fangliang to go to the rear and ask him to burn all the grain and other inventory materials and official buildings that he could not take away to avoid endangering the enemy.
"Fellow military lords! Don't burn it! Leave a way for us to survive!"
"There is no food near this city. Without food, we will definitely not be able to survive. Military Lord, have mercy! Military Lord, have mercy!"
…
As soon as he returned to the south gate of Xi'an, Liu Fangliang saw that the soldiers of the Dashun Army who were about to set fire were surrounded by a crowd of people kneeling in darkness. The people were kowtowing and pleading loudly.
The faces of the officers and soldiers of the Dashun Army who carried out the order to burn the grain and grass were ugly. Most of these officers and soldiers were die-hard loyalists of Li Zicheng, so they were all from Shaanxi. No matter how hard-hearted they were when they encountered the weeping pleas of the elders in their hometown.
Human beings cannot be so ruthless as to enforce orders by force.
So as soon as they saw Liu Fangliang's arrival, several leaders ran over to ask for instructions. However, the words of those leaders still contained some meaning of interceding for the people.
Looking at the people swarming over and the old, weak, women and children kowtowing all over the ground, Liu Fangliang sighed in his heart: "Forget it! In the past few decades, there are almost no people left to die in Qin due to the calamity soldiers. I
It’s better to refrain from committing murders!”
So Liu Fangliang sighed again and ordered: "Just burn the east gate tower and the south gate tower! Keep all the food. After you are done, follow the emperor with me!" Liu Fangliang's words immediately caused a deafening sound.
of cheers.
Amidst the cheers, Liu Fangliang pulled his horse and headed back. Almost no one noticed that he was muttering to himself in an inaudible voice: "The people of Qin are hungry, so leave this rice to feed the people!"
In fact, Liu Fangliang did not dare to admit that his behavior at this time was similar to that - when a person is about to die, his words must be kind. At this time, all the people in the Dashun Army, like Li Zicheng, did not believe that he would do it again
A comeback.
…
Li Zicheng looked at the smoke rising into the sky in the direction of Xi'an, thinking that Liu Fangliang had complied with the order. He also turned his horse's head and headed south with the team. The setting sun in winter shone on him and drew a long shadow on the snow.
.The lone shadow in the snow at sunset is as desolate as the end of the curtain.
"How could it be Butcher Wu?" At this time, Li Zicheng was still a little unbelievable. He shook his head and murmured. What a waste of ambition! (To be continued...)