After hearing Li Guo's words, the generals in the palace looked at each other.
Sixteen years before Chongzhen, the rebel army did fight on the move. At that time, both Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng ran away as soon as they saw the army coming, attacking the county town to steal food and grass while running. Although Li Zicheng was known as the King of Chuang, he did not have a piece of his own
Territory, just running around all day long.
However, since Chongzhen put forward the policy of "equalizing land and eliminating taxes" in the 16th year of the reign of Emperor Chongzhen, and people flocked to join him, Li Zicheng got rid of the dilemma of fleeing everywhere. In Henan and Shaanxi, Li Zicheng operated the territories he had conquered as base areas. Not only
He treated the farmers who responded to him well, distributed their fields to them seriously, and exempted them from taxes.
However, under the attack of the Huben Army and the New Army, these base areas disappeared as quickly as they came, and in a blink of an eye, only the city of Xi'an remained.
Shaanxi is Li Zicheng's last territory. If Li Zicheng gives up this territory, he will return to the status of a rogue bandit six years ago.
The generals have been popular in Shaanxi and have been rulers for several years. How can they be willing to give up this territory and become rogue bandits like lost dogs?
When the generals heard Li Guo's words, they all looked at each other with great reluctance.
Gao Yigong shouted again: "You bastard, the emperor's new army is invincible? It's better to fight with him again. If you lose, it's not too late to escape."
After listening to Gao Yigong's words, everyone looked at Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng took a breath and was a little undecided.
Li Guo cupped his hands and said, "No! We have fought three battles with the new army, and two of them were major defeats. Every time we were defeated, countless soldiers became discouraged and dispersed, no longer following King Chuang, and fled elsewhere. We are still
There are 150,000 people, but if we lose again, there may not even be 100,000 people left."
"We are now sending 150,000 troops south, which is stronger than Li Dingguo's troops. We can take the lead when we reach Huguang. If we lose another battle and only bring tens of thousands of people south, I'm afraid King Chuang will have to listen to Li Dingguo."
Li Zicheng frowned after hearing Li Guo's analysis.
Li Zicheng has been the king of Chuang for more than ten years and has always been the leader of the rebel army. In the past few years, he has swept through Henan and Shaanxi and even displayed the style of king Chuang, attracting heroes from all over to join him. He conducts himself with princely etiquette everywhere.
Li Dingguo was a remnant of Zhang Xianzhong's influence, and Li Zicheng had never taken it seriously before. With Li Zicheng's character, if he was placed under Li Dingguo, there would really be problems.
Gao Yigong heard Li Guo's words and shouted in a rough voice: "Isn't Huguang a good place to flee without fighting? If you flee to Huguang today, where will you flee tomorrow?"
Li Guo cupped his hands and said: "If the new army catches up to Huguang, we will have no choice but to go west to Sichuan. In short, we can't defeat the official army now, so we can only escape. We will rob while escaping, and we will rob wherever we fight. Let's do our job.
.”
"The imperial court's new army has only 50,000 people. It is impossible to surround us. As long as we escape all the way, we will have a chance. When the gentry continues to oppress the poor and suppress the poor until they have no way to retreat and rise up, we will fight back. Then we will
With millions of people, they crushed 50,000 people in the New Army to death."
After listening to Li Guo's words, everyone felt that there was some truth in it. Robbery on the run was Chuangjun's old profession, and it would not be difficult to return to his old profession.
Even Gao Yigong fell silent and stopped arguing.
Li Zicheng touched the copper coiled dragon pillar next to the throne and sighed.
"That's all, let's take all our food and money and go south to Huguang to temporarily avoid the new army's edge."
####
On October 21st, Cao Bianjiao led his personal guards into Xi'an. Looking at the messy situation in the city, he shook his head.
Xi'an was captured, and all of Shaanxi was recovered. But Li Zicheng left a mess for Cao Bianjiao.
Like other Shaanxi cities, all the gentry officials in Xi'an were killed by Li Zicheng. All their wealth and food were robbed and transported to Huguang by the invading army. All grain stores and rice stores were broken open.
, of course all the stored food had been taken away by the intruders.
The entire city of Xi'an is in ruins, and only citizens without food can be seen begging on both sides of the road.
Taking the city of Xi'an would not only fail to provide supplies for the 50,000 new troops, but Cao Bianjiao might also have to transport grain to Xi'an from other places to avoid large-scale starvation.
What is more terrifying is not the lack of food, but the loss of human heart.
When the intruders were in the city, they distributed food and rice to the poor people in the city every day. The food provided by the intruders was stolen anyway. Giving rice to the poor would help build up people's hearts and make it easier to attack the city next time.
But now that the Chuang army was driven away by Cao Bianjiao, no one gave food to these poor people who had lost their livelihood. Instead, these poor people began to hate the officials and soldiers.
The scene of eating a pot of milk and welcoming the king's master did not appear. Cao Bianjiao walked along the streets of Xi'an, and no one welcomed the new army. The shop assistants, beggars and poor people on both sides of the road only looked at Cao Bianjiao coldly. Some of them looked at Cao Bianjiao coldly.
The people held out their empty rice bowls towards Cao Bianjiao, as if they wanted Cao Bianjiao to be responsible for their food.
As they walked, the guard beside Cao Bianjiao couldn't stand it any longer. He shouted loudly to the common people on the ground: "You people in the market, Master Wang drove away the thieves for you, why don't you all know how to be grateful?"
, at least bring some drinks to welcome Master Wang?"
Hearing the words of this personal guard, the hungry people and beggars on the ground looked at each other in shock.
A gray-haired old man knelt on the ground and said: "General, we are all ordinary people in the city. We used to make a living by doing things for the gentry. Later, the army came and killed all the gentry, so we relied on the army.
We live by giving alms. Now that the general has driven away the intruders, we have no food and clothing. Where can we have extra drinks to welcome Master Wang?"
The soldiers around Cao Bianjiao turned red with anger and shouted loudly: "Our new army is fighting bloody battles just to rescue you from the thieves! Now you actually miss the thieves? Do you know what an official is and what a thief is?"
However, the words of this private soldier failed to educate the common people on earth, but frightened a four-year-old girl to tears.
The little girl in tattered clothes burst into tears. She grabbed her mother's arm and shouted loudly: "Mom! I'm hungry, I'm hungry! Mom, give me some food!"
Her mother knelt on the ground, saying nothing and not looking at her daughter.
When Cao Bianjiao saw this scene, he couldn't help but sigh.
"Send the order, general rations will be distributed in the city of Xi'an, don't let the people starve."
Yang Guozhu pondered and said: "Master, all the grain in Shaanxi has been transported to Huguang by thieves. If we rely on the grain we transported from Shanxi to support the people, I am afraid that the emperor's warehouse and inner treasury will be exhausted."
"I'm afraid I may not be able to do it even if I run out of money."
Cao Bianjiao sighed: "The suffering of the people in troubled times cannot be increased. We can save as much as we can. We report the situation in Shaanxi to the emperor, and I am afraid that the emperor will not let the people in the cities of Shaanxi starve to death."
