On the tenth day of February, Li Zhi led his troops back to Xiangyang.
Yuan Jixian, the governor of Xunyang, Zhang Yingyuan, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, and Meng Ruhu, the commander-in-chief of the Jizhen Zhongxie Association, led their fellow villagers to greet Li Zhi's army thirty miles outside Xiangyang City. Li Zhi killed Zhang Xianzhong in battle and was now a hot figure in front of the emperor.
, although these generals hated Li Zhi in their hearts, they all greeted him respectfully on the surface.
The villagers and elders were beating gongs and drums, carrying pigs, sheep, and drinks to reward the army, and they were even more enthusiastic than when Li Zhi came from Tianjin a few months ago.
Li Zhi also wanted to see Yang Sichang's miserable state, but he heard Yuan Jixian say: "Don't you know, Master Taibao? The supervisor died of illness three days ago."
Li Zhi was stunned. He didn't expect that Yang Sichang would die right now. Was this power-playing jester so angry at Li Zhi? Li Zhi laughed and said, "I didn't expect that the governor would die in office."
Li Zhi meant that he didn't expect Yang Sichang to be lucky enough to die in office and avoid being dismissed from his post. Yuan Jixian didn't know whether he heard Li Zhi's sarcasm or not, and said politely: "Yes, Superintendent 1
It is a pity that the thief with a peaceful heart finally got sick and died after finally waiting for the thief to be exterminated!"
Li Zhi shook off his sleeves, too lazy to discuss the issue any further. He was about to walk forward when he saw a eunuch wearing a python robe with a jade belt and four eunuchs waiting there, holding an imperial edict in his hand. He saw
Li Zhi came over and the eunuch shouted:
"The Crown Prince's Taibao, the Left Governor, and Tianjin's Chief Military Officer Li Zhi accepted the order!"
Li Zhi knew that this was a reward for himself, and he led the civil and military officials behind him to kneel down and accept the imperial edict.
Then I heard the eunuch shouting: "I have been ordered by the emperor to carry out the imperial edict of the crown prince and Taibao Li Zhi. Your troops captured and killed the thieves. I am particularly grateful for your merits. Jin Er is the crown prince's Taifu. Baier is the military commander and controls all the soldiers in Henan."
Ma, Keqi pacified the trespassers. If you perform meritorious deeds again, and share all the credit, you will be rewarded heavily."
Hearing the imperial edict recited by the eunuch, the generals in Xiangyang were all worried.
Li Zhi was promoted again, this time from Prince Taibao to "Prince Taifu". The so-called Prince Taifu was originally a teacher who taught the prince how to march and fight. Later, it became the "Three Dukes" honorary title, which is the highest position of a military attache.
Now Li Zhi has a higher status in front of other generals. When other generals see Li Zhi, they have to perform official courtesy, let alone be on an equal footing with Li Zhi. Even if Li Zhi meets the governor or governor, he can rely on his official position
Protest with them in the same court and don't fall behind.
What is even more shocking is the last sentence, which says, "If we share the credit before and after, we will be rewarded heavily." Does this mean that once Li Zhi defeats Li Zicheng, he will be given the title of earl?
Once you have the title of earl, it is a superior rank, and its status is higher than that of the governor. The Duke of the Ming Dynasty can take charge of the five palaces and the six armies when he enters, and he can receive the general seal as the commander-in-chief when he leaves, which is a very popular minister.
And with Li Zhi's powerful army and horses, it seems that it is easy to defeat the intruders. This earl title is a sure thing.
This Li Zhi is only twenty-five or six years old, and he is so successful. What will his future be like?
The generals in Xiangyang are all generals who were defeated by Zhang Xianzhong. They are expected to be impeached by officials in turn in the next few months. Demotion or even dismissal will be inevitable. Seeing Li Zhi's promotion at this time, I can't help but have mixed feelings.
.Everyone said that if they had not made things difficult for Li Zhi at that time, but followed Li Zhi to pursue Zhang Xianzhong, what would the scene be like now?
However, although he felt bitter in his heart, Li Zhi was now so powerful that everyone wanted to fawn over him. When Li Zhi got up and accepted the order, a group of civil servants and generals surrounded Li Zhi and complimented him:
"My master's hard work has yielded great results, and this reward is a natural one."
"The Taifu is in a high position at such a young age, and he will surely be promoted to another level in the future!"
"The master has taken down the intruder, so he wants to be the uncle!"
Li Zhi smiled, bowed his hands to the north, and said with a smile: "It all depends on the support of the emperor!"
When everyone saw Li Zhi mentioning the Emperor, they all stood up straight and raised their hands toward the north, singing: "The Emperor is a wise man!"
####
The emperor asked Li Zhi to rush to Henan to help Henan and destroy Li Zicheng.
In the second half of the 13th year of Chongzhen's reign, Li Zicheng escaped from Yufu Mountain in Brazil. With fifty cavalry, he rushed south into Henan and developed an army of tens of thousands of thieves in just a few months.
On the 22nd of the first lunar month, Li Zicheng led 30,000 bandits and captured Luoyang. Luoyang was not only a big city, but also had King Fu, the uncle of the emperor Zhu Youjian, in the city. Li Zicheng had been chased and intercepted by the Ming court in these years, and his hatred for the Ming court was unforgettable. He caught him.
Queen Fu, he actually killed King Fu, chopped his meat, cooked it with venison, and called it "Fu Lu Feast".
After learning that his uncle died at the hands of thieves, the emperor was very angry and ordered troops from all over the country to help suppress the bandits in Henan. Now that Zhang Xianzhong had been captured and killed by Li Zhi, Sichuan had settled down, and the emperor took out more than half of the Sichuan-Chu bandit army.
, all were sent to Henan. Cao Bianjiao and others came to Henan behind Li Zhi.
At this time in Henan, Li Zicheng captured Luoyang and then surrounded Kaifeng, hoping to capture this big city in one fell swoop just like he captured Luoyang.
However, Kaifeng's defense was much stronger than that of Luoyang. Kaifeng was the capital of the Song Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. The city was thick and the soil was strong, and the city defense facilities were very complete. And the noble officials in the city headed by the King of Kaifeng Zhou were very united. They fought hard to occupy the city, and Li Zicheng's three
Thousands of soldiers and horses besieged the city for a month, but still could not capture the city.
Li Zhi's troops only rested for one day in Xiangyang, and then headed all the way to Kaifeng.
There was a severe drought in Henan. Along the way, most of the villages Li Zhi saw were dilapidated. He didn't know whether they were attacked by thieves or fled because of the drought. There was no human habitation anywhere.
Li Zhi traveled thousands of miles and did not see any effective water conservancy facilities. There were many natural disasters in the late Ming Dynasty, either a locust plague here or a severe drought there. Moreover, the politics in the late Ming Dynasty were chaotic. Officials were busy forming cliques for personal gain, and no one
Organize agriculture. A slight natural disaster will turn into a huge disaster.
Li Zhi walked for fifteen days and arrived near Xuchang, which was only two hundred miles away from Kaifeng.
The closer we get to Kaifeng, the more depressed the surrounding countryside becomes. There is not even a single human habitation for more than ten miles. The thieves are plundering near Kaifeng. The people in Kaifeng have either fled or fallen victim to the thieves. How can there be anyone guarding the countryside?
Li Zhi was marching on his horse that day, but suddenly he saw a noise from the soldiers in front. Dozens of soldiers stopped moving forward as if they had seen a ghost, and gave way to the roadside in a panic.
Li Zhi frowned, asked the entire army to stop, jumped off their horses and walked towards the commotion to see what was going on.
Walking in front of the soldiers, Li Zhi saw an unkempt woman crawling on the ground, holding a swaddling baby in her hands.
The woman didn't know how many days she had been hungry. She was so skinny that she seemed to have no strength to crawl. The baby on his hand was also obviously malnourished, with a pale face. He made no sound during the bumps and even cried.
She had no strength at all. The woman obviously didn't have much strength anymore, but she crawled desperately towards the middle of the army. When the soldiers saw the woman's miserable condition, they didn't stop her.
Seeing Li Zhi coming out in official robes, the woman crawling on the ground suddenly gained some strength, raised her head and shouted: "General, save my son." (To be continued.)
