"Your Majesty, please hurry up and issue an order!"
Someone said, and then all the officials knelt down and asked Chongzhen to issue an order.
Chongzhen said: "Okay! Now pass on my decree and quickly recall Lin Fan to guard Xi'an City."
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
The officials hurriedly received the order, and then quickly sent people to deliver the order.
On the Sichuan side, Li Zicheng was indeed impatient and wanted to attack Xi'an City. However, the reason why he attacked Xi'an City was not because Lin Fan was not there, but because he had no choice but to go!
"Niu Jinxing, how much food and grass do we have now?"
Li Zicheng looked solemnly and looked at Niu Jinxing and asked.
Niu Jinxing can be said to be the most educated person among their Dashun army, and he was also the first prime minister after the founding of Dashun. Whenever Li Zicheng had time, he would often turn to him as a staff advisor.
Niu Jinxing said in a deep voice: "Reporting to your majesty, we don't have much food and grass left now. If we give it a full load, it will only be less than 100,000 dan!"
What is the concept of one hundred thousand shi of food and grass?
Let's put it this way, one stone is equivalent to about one hundred and fifty kilograms. A person must eat one kilogram of food a day. In other words, one stone can feed a person for one hundred and fifty days.
So one hundred thousand dan can feed one hundred thousand people for one hundred and fifty days, but Li Zicheng can feed one million rebels here!
Ten times the number of soldiers means that his food and grass can only sustain the rebel army for fifteen days. After fifteen days, the Dashun army will definitely be in chaos!
"How could this be? I remember that after Zhang Xianzhong left, the entire Sichuan was under the control of our Dashun Army. In addition to the lands we captured earlier, wouldn't there be no food?"
Li Zicheng asked.
If it weren't for the Japanese lieutenants and officers complaining a lot these days, saying that the food was getting worse and worse, he wouldn't have known about it.
Niu Jinxing said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, Sichuan is very mountainous and there is not much land that can be cultivated. Moreover, after we captured all these lands, we plundered them extensively. Now there is really no extra food!
"
"Most of the people are about to starve to death, and over in Xi'an City, Lin Fan is increasing the price to buy grain. Even if we have money now, we can't buy grain!"
Speaking of this, Li Zicheng's eyes also revealed a murderous intent, and he said coldly: "Is there no other way?
We can also purchase grain at a higher price!"
"Your Majesty, if we do this, it will already be too late, because most of the grain from the grain merchants has been transported to Xi'an City!"
"And because the common people have no food and land, a large number of them are going to Xi'an City to find a way to survive. If this continues, the morale of our military here will be in chaos, and the common people will also be in chaos!"
Niu Jinxing said in a deep voice.
In fact, Niu Jinxing wanted to tell Li Zicheng that at this time, the Dashun Army might have no choice but to protect themselves, and the price of self-protection was to directly disband the rabble, leaving only the elite.
In this way, a million people will be left with two to three hundred thousand people, and the food and salary will be enough to last for at least a few months. In this way, it may be possible to last until the season when the food matures.
Moreover, they should also negotiate peace with Emperor Chongzhen. They only want Sichuan, or even retreat further. In this way, the two sides can develop peacefully and Dashun can be maintained for a while.
However, in this case, he did not dare to say that Li Zicheng would not do this, not for any other reason, but because if he did so, Li Zicheng would lose the support of the people.
"What if we gather a large army now and attack Xi'an City?
Isn’t there a lot of food there?”
Li Zicheng said in a deep voice.
"Your Majesty, the chance of success in attacking Xi'an City at this time is very low. I have already sent people to investigate. The tiger and leopard cavalry stationed in Xi'an City are all elite!"
"Not to mention anything else, just talking about the equipment of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, one can kill ten of us! Especially when attacking a city, we will suffer more losses!"
Niu Jinxing said in a deep voice.
"But the news I got is that Lin Fan has left Xi'an City with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry for some time. There is also news from Nanjing that Lin Fan is in Shandong."
Li Zicheng said.
The Donglin Party members in Nanjing actually betrayed their own people in order to keep their land. Little did they know that if Li Zicheng attacked Nanjing, none of them would survive.
"Oh! If that's the case, we may really have a chance. But, why did I hear that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is still in the city?"
Niu Jinxing said doubtfully.
"There are 100,000 tiger and leopard cavalry, and Lin Fan took away 50,000 people. The remaining 50,000 people are definitely no match for our million-strong army. This time, we will attack by force!"
"No matter the cost, we must capture the city of Xi'an!"
Li Zicheng said coldly.
The benefit to him from doing this is also very obvious. He can use the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to screen out all the people who can eat nothing in his army of millions.
In this way, he can quickly retreat after grabbing the food. At this time, he only has elite soldiers left. It will be very beneficial to him to negotiate peace with Chongzhen.
"Your Majesty, if you insist on attacking Xi'an City, you must discuss it with General Liu."
Niu Jinxing said in a deep voice.
Liu Zongmin accounted for half of the elite of the Dashun Army. Without discussing with Liu Zongmin, their plan to attack Xi'an City would not be successful.
"I have discussed this matter with my second brother. Now the army is short of food and grass, and the people have no food. If we don't attack Xi'an City, we will have to wait to be dealt with by Lin Fan!"
Li Zicheng said in a deep voice.
Niu Jinxing was secretly frightened. It seemed that Li Zicheng had been planning to attack Xi'an City for a long time, and even Liu Zongmin was persuaded by him.
"Okay! I'm going to discuss with General Liu now how to attack the city when he sees it!"
Niu Jinxing said.
On the other side, Lin Fan was on his way to Nanjing when someone came to report.
"Report! Mr. Lin, Your Majesty has received news that Li Zicheng will attack Xi'an City soon. Let Mr. Lin lead the troops back to Xi'an City. Don't go to Nanjing for the time being!"
The person who delivered the order said.
When Lin Fan heard the news, he couldn't help but be stunned, and then murderous intent burst out in his eyes.
"Haha! What a Donglin Party member. How dare you betray the news about me in Shandong to Li Zicheng, just to keep your own bit of land?"
"Hmph! Someone is coming! Rush to Nanjing quickly!"
Lin Fan did not choose to return to Xi'an City, but chose to quickly attack Nanjing City.
Since this group of people does not follow the rules and commits treason and collaboration with the enemy, then don’t blame yourself for being ruthless. When they arrive in Nanjing, you will not reason with them and will kill them all!
In one day, Lin Fan led his people to Nanjing City. At this time, the gate of Nanjing City was closed tightly. Zhu Cunlan was standing on the gate, looking at Lin Fan with a sneer.