After the meeting in the Flower Hall, all the generals of the Chuang Army returned to their posts and were all gearing up to prepare for the new expedition. Although both Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai hoped to make the wedding of Li Laiheng and Luo Yanqing a grand affair, now it is good to know that
An intimate situation in which Chuangying and Caoying are completely integrated.
It was just that Li Laiheng himself repeatedly proposed to the two marshals, saying that the current military situation was tense, the Chuang army had only occupied the territory of the second province, and all military supplies and food supplies were still tight. How could he spend important money on such a flashy thing as a wedding?
Woolen cloth?
Since Li Laiheng himself had expressed that he did not want to have a big wedding, Niu Jinxing, who was already very worried about Chuang Jun's current financial situation, of course immediately climbed up and explained to Chuang Wang repeatedly that if he had a big wedding in Kaifeng now,
The wedding ceremony will add such a heavy burden to Chuang Jun.
Li Laiheng or Luo Yanqing, a man and a woman in a marriage, can certainly say that they do not need a luxurious ceremony to decorate their relationship. But what kind of identity do you have, Niu Jinxing? Even the family members of Li and Luo are not,
How could you interfere in Li Laiheng's private affairs and Li Zicheng's family affairs?
Li Laiheng sneered secretly in his heart, and silently recorded Niu Jinxing's "domineering" deeds. In just a few days in Kaifeng, he had clearly felt Niu Jinxing's dislike and rejection of him.
In the past, Li Laiheng always thought that Niu Jinxing was hostile to him because of the natural antagonism between the central civil servants and the local princes. However, after arriving in Kaifeng, Li Laiheng gradually realized that things were not that simple.
The most important part and reason for Niu Jinxing's hostility towards Li Laiheng does not seem to come from his identity as the leader of Chu Chuang... but from the fact that he is Li Guo's adopted son.
Including his efforts to suppress Li Laiheng's wedding specifications, if it was just out of fear of Li Laiheng's status as a prince, it seems that he should not use such a method to intensify conflicts.
What's more, the wedding is related to Luo Rucai's face, so Niu Jinxing's behavior is even more stupid.
This is not a way to deal with Hou Hou, but a way to deal with political opponents.
In the next few days, Li Laiheng never saw Niu Qidong again except for visiting Niu Jinxing's house for half an hour. However, he spent some time to visit Niu Qidong, including Li Guo, Liu Fangliang, and Tian Jian.
Xiu, Li Shuangxi, Yuan Zongdi and other generals from the army came to pay their respects.
During such a period of contact, Li Laiheng slowly discovered the current internal situation of the Chuang Army. It did not seem to be dominated by the conflict between Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai, or that this conflict did exist, but due to the huge improvement in Li Zicheng's strength and Luo Rucai's extraordinary
Conscious self-humiliation and restraint lurk, making this contradiction almost invisible on the surface.
As a result, the divisions within the Chuang Army and its own factions gradually surfaced.
In fact, this kind of factional opposition had already begun to take shape a long time ago. But at that time, it was not as obvious as it is now. Li Laiheng thought, it seems that in the past year, with the rapid growth of the forces of the intruders,
Within it, truly different factions have finally differentiated from Li Zicheng's overwhelmingly unified ruling system in the past.
Judging from the contacts during this period, there is no doubt that Niu Qidong and Tian Jianxiu belong to the same faction. Although Li Shuangxi himself did not show obvious factional tendencies, because Li Shuangxi married Tian Jianxiu’s
The daughter is Tian Jianxiu's son-in-law, so naturally he can only be classified as a member of the Niu Party. Similarly, Yuan Zongdi did not show an obvious factional stance, but because of his irreconcilable relationship with Tian Jianxiu, he served as Tian Jianxiu for a long time.
Xiu's deputy naturally belongs to the Niu Party.
Song Xiance is a special character. He is a counselor and strategist recommended by Niu Jinxing, and he should be inclined to Niu Jinxing's position. But judging from Li Laiheng's contact with him in the past few days, Song Xiance seems to be interested in Niu Jinxing and Tian Jianxiu.
His approach was very unconventional. Of course, Song Xiance had a perverse and eccentric personality, and it was difficult for Li Laiheng to guess what his actual thoughts were.
In addition, although Liu Tichun and Wu Ruyi have no obvious factional stance, since they are the right and left deputies of Tian Jianxiu and Yuan Zongdi, they are naturally closer to the Niu Party.
In addition, when mentioning Li Shuangxi, it is necessary to mention another person. This person was Shao Shichang, the clerk who joined the Chuang Army when they first captured Luoyang.
Shao Shichang was originally just an ordinary clerk in Luoyang, but after the invasion of Luoyang, Li Shuangxi was responsible for escorting Luoyang's property. Li Shuangxi was just a military general and completely lacked the talent and knowledge needed to dispatch large quantities of supplies. Therefore, at that time, Shao Shichang
As Li Shuangxi's assistant, he actually took on most of the scheduling work.
From then on, Shao Shichang became a mastermind around Li Shuangxi. With Shao Shichang's help, Li Shuangxi and Dang Shousu developed a quite powerful force in the Zhongying pro-army under Li Zicheng's personal control.
.
This group of young generals led by Li Shuangxi were mostly generals and officers of Li Zicheng's middle camp soldiers. They also included Liu Zongmin's former deputy general and Xin Sizhong, who had the same qualifications and status as Gu Kecheng. This large group of young generals
, all became loyal fans of Li Shuangxi.
There is a core figure like Niu Jinxing who is the leader in the civil service of the Chuang Army, and he has Tian Jianxiu's qualifications, his status is no less than Luo Rucai, and he can almost be called the second highest figure in the direct line of the Chuang Army.
This Niu Party can almost be said to have become the most mainstream force within the Chuang Army.
Compared with the Niu Party, those who oppose them are the Li Party headed by Li Guo and followed by Liu Fangliang.
Of course, it is actually very inaccurate to insist that there is a Li Party and that this Li Party is fighting against a group of people led by Niu Jinxing and Tian Jianxiu.
Naturally, Li Guo was Li Zicheng's nephew, and Li Shuangxi was Li Zicheng's adopted son. As the Chuang Army gradually developed into a huge force that controlled two provinces, and was about to seize Shaanxi and Shanxi Provinces. Under such circumstances, Niu Jinxing
It is also a normal thing to put down the chips in advance and secretly support Li Shuangxi, who is closely related to Tian Jianxiu, the chief general of the Chuang Army.
But in fact, let’s not talk about the Li Party. If we exclude the huge forces in Huguang represented by Li Guo’s adopted son Li Laiheng, the Li Party, which only consists of Li Guo and Liu Fangliang, is not comparable to the Niu Party.
And even if we only talk about the Niu Dang, like Liu Tichun, although he is Yuan Zongdi's deputy, he and Li Guo have been called the Second General Liu and Li for a long time. The relationship between the two is equally irresistible. Even people like Tian Jianxiu, who is the leader of the Niu Party
, in fact, apart from being related by marriage to Li Shuangxi, there was nothing particularly obvious about supporting Li Shuangxi and rejecting Li Guo.
In the late Ming Dynasty, party strife was fierce, and bureaucrats and scholar-officials often formed cliques for personal gain, fighting for power and profit, regardless of national interests. Although the Chuang Army grew in power, as it absorbed a large group of middle- and lower-class scholars who were in dire straits in the Ming Dynasty into the leadership group, it gradually
This form of party struggle developed, but its form was highly intense. Compared with the party struggle in the Ming Dynasty, it was simply a mountain compared to grains of rice.
In the past few days, Li Laiheng briefly analyzed the so-called Niu-Li party struggle and found that it was more of Niu Jinxing's own imagination than a real factional struggle in the army.
Since even Niu Dang is a very imprecise existence, then strictly speaking, there is no Li Dang in the army. The so-called Li Dang is mostly regarded by Niu Jinxing as an obstacle to himself and Li Shuangxi's successor.
The power of status boils down to one party.
However, it seems that the false "party struggle" between Niu and Li can help Li Laiheng weaken Niu Jinxing's fear of him. After all, the fear of an imaginary Li Party and the fear of the real Huguang Chuchuang forces are two different things.
Something completely different in nature and meaning.
Li Laiheng thought of this, and finally a smile appeared on his lips. He smiled so weirdly that Zhang Pizhu couldn't help but get goosebumps all over his body and asked:
"Commander, you are really going to get married in two days. This Dao Ma Dan... won't laugh like this, right? Speaking of which, do you want to invite Miss Youci to attend this wedding? Marshal doesn't have many family members.
Miss Youci can be considered one."
"Ahem."
After Li Laiheng coughed twice, he asked, "Did Deputy Commander Luo really send someone to ask about Li Xiangjun?"
Zhang Pizhen nodded and replied: "Yes. I don't know where Deputy Marshal Luo heard about this. He said that we broke into Guide Mansion and put Hou Fangyu on trial. That beautiful Li Xiangjun is now in our army.
"
"It's true...this beauty is as beautiful as a fairy..."
Li Laiheng felt very funny when he thought of the scene when he saw Li Xiangjun in Guide Mansion. It's not that Li Xiangjun was ugly, but in fact, in terms of appearance and temperament, Li Xiangjun, one of the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, certainly had something outstanding.
But her small feet and excessively slender shoulders really frightened Li Laiheng.
Since Li Laiheng joined the Chu army, he has been in a military trance for many years and has not had serious contact with women from several wealthy families. After hearing that Li Xiangjun was captured by the Chu army in Guide Mansion, he thought of the reputation of Qinhuai's eight beauties, and he had a lot of thoughts in his heart.
The young man was thoughtful and ran over to take a special look at Li Xiangjun.
Seeing this, Li Laiheng immediately had only one thought in his mind, that is, he must not let You Ci's feet be tied, nor should he suppress her shoulders and make her have an exaggerated shoulder-sharpening posture.
"Go and tell the people sent by Deputy Marshal Luo like this. Just say that there was a chaos of war in Guide. We did not pay special attention to Li Xiangjun. Even if she was not killed by the rebels, we don't know where she went."
Li Laiheng shrugged, he didn't care much about Li Xiangjun, but Luo Rucai specially sent someone to ask about Li Xiangjun. With Luo Rucai's character, it was probably because he wanted to ask Li Laiheng for Li Xiangjun to be his concubine.
Although Li Laiheng felt that Li Xiangjun's beauty was exaggerated from his own aesthetic point of view, he did not want to give living people away like playthings just because Luo Rucai asked for them.
As for the fate of Li Xiangjun himself... Li Laiheng would like to estimate that this person is quite literate. Now in Suizhou, Xiangyang, and Wuchang, many workshops have been confiscated from the rebellious and unjust judges. Many of the employees in these workshops are women.
Just send Li Xiangjun to Suizhou and let her be a teacher to teach these female workers how to read.
Zhang Pili worriedly asked: "Deputy Marshal Luo comes to ask for someone, why should he just prevaricate him like this?"
Li Laiheng smiled softly and said: "Deputy Commander Luo is trying every possible means to reconcile with the Chuang Army. How can he care about such a trivial matter? Even if he cares about Huguang's potential strength of 100,000 troops, he has no choice but to not care about it. I am a big boss.
Uncle, what is the purpose of finding a way to attack Shaanxi? In any case, I don’t think he will ruin his plan at this juncture."