"Oh?" Sun Chuanting asked as soon as he heard this, "Who is he?"
"Wang Jigui, the Juren of Jin!" Li Yan heard the question and immediately replied, "He is Luo Rucai's mastermind. The reason why Luo Rucai can live well among thieves is because of this man's contribution. His
His subordinates are all convinced by him."
Among those who initially rebelled, the corpses of Wang Jiayin, Wang Ziyong, Gao Yingxiang and others are already cold. Only Luo Rucai has been hanging around in the world. If he hadn't been kidnapped by Li Zicheng, he might have continued to live freely.
The reason why this is possible is that Luo Rucai himself is indeed talented and resourceful, and the other reason is because of his mastermind Wang Jigui.
This Wang Jigui is so low-key that most people don't know about him.
It was also because Li Yan himself was a civil servant that he noticed that there was another person similar to him in Luo Rucai's army.
Just listen to him continue to explain to Sun Chuanting: "Niu Jinxing is a jealous person in Li's army. Song Xiance has already made him regret it. It is absolutely impossible for Li to reuse Wang Jigui. Therefore, my subordinates thought that this person could say
We should be 70-80% sure of its coming and going!"
It would be best if this could be done. Sun Chuanting agreed to Li Yan's suggestion after considering it.
In order to cooperate with Li Yan as a lobbyist, Sun Chuanting also specially deployed his troops to go south to press the border and put pressure on the thieves in front of him before letting Li Yan go out as an envoy.
………………
Chengtianfu City is located, an important town facing Xiangyang. Li Zicheng sent to the north to garrison, and the main force to defend Sun Chuanting was here.
Needless to say, Wang Jigui is also here.
On this day, he was worrying about Sun Chuanting's aggressive approach, when suddenly he heard from his subordinates that an old friend was visiting.
He doesn’t trust any old friend!
You must know that at the beginning, Luo Rucai was waiting for the bandits to attack Jin. He was coerced and stayed among the bandits. Moreover, he kept a low profile. It would be strange for his old friends to know that he was here!
But he also knew that someone must be looking for him, and he also wanted to see who wanted to see him.
Not long after, an old friend was brought to him.
"Who are you?" When Wang Jigui saw the person coming, he felt familiar. After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately remembered, "Okay, if you still dare to come over, aren't you afraid that I will dedicate you to the general?"
Although Li Yan is also relatively low-key, as Li Zicheng's counselor and the famous name of the Red Lady, Wang Jigui has paid attention to him. Therefore, he can still recognize him.
When Li Yan saw it, he was not scared at all. He just said with a smile: "Since I dare to come, how can I worry about this and that!"
Seeing him like this, Wang Jigui waved his hand and ordered his men to retreat.
"People of the Ming Dynasty don't speak secret words!" Li Yan said straight to the point, "I am here to follow Master Sun's order and give Brother Wang a chance to return home in glory!"
After a pause, without waiting for Wang Jigui to express his position, he continued to add: "You and I are both born in Juren, and have studied hard for so many years. Why? To be a thief? To bring shame to our ancestors? No! It's just that we are forced by worldly affairs.
It's just helpless! Now the opportunity to return home in glory, and even to honor our ancestors is right in front of us. I persuaded you to accept the recruitment, and you led so many people to accept the recruitment, which is all a credit!"
When smart people talk to each other, there is no need to beat around the bush and test them again and again. Basically, you can guess what you want to do.
After Wang Jigui heard this, he did not speak immediately, but frowned slightly and thought about the matter.
Even if he knew the purpose of his visit, it would be impossible for you to decide such an important matter with just one mouthful.
When Li Yan saw it, he continued: "You know the situation here, I know it, and Lord Sun also knows it. But now, the strength of the imperial army is far from what it was in previous years. There are hundreds of thousands of captives.
If you say it will be destroyed, then it will be destroyed. I won't say big words. The bandits will be destroyed sooner or later. The reason why I haven't taken action is because Xiang Zhuang danced his sword with the intention of Pei Gong!"
Hearing this, Wang Jigui looked at Li Yan and asked tentatively: "Then if I bring people to surrender to the court, how will the court treat me?"
Obviously, he was interested and just wanted to negotiate terms.
Li Yan listened, but just replied: "You are like me. After the suppression of thieves is over, Lord Sun will report to the court to show his merits. Before doing it again, he served under Lord Sun and contributed to quelling the rebellion. After all,
We are both familiar with thieves, so it will be easier for us to make achievements. I wonder what Brother Wang thinks?"
When Wang Jigui heard this, he frowned and stopped talking for a moment.
Of course he hoped that if he surrendered, the court would make a promise and give him some kind of official position!
But from what Li Yan said, he didn't have an official position, but just became Sun Chuanting's staff.
If he was not a smart person, he would be angry at this time. If he is not allowed to serve as an official, he must surrender. How can it be so cheap!
However, he is a smart man. He knows that if the court really wants to fool him, it can actually agree to give him some official position. After the surrender, he can cross the river and demolish the bridge and find any crime to dismiss him from office or even punish him.
Okay. At that time, he had no choice but to let the imperial court slaughter him!
In Wang Jigui's view, Li Yan's answer was indeed reasonable.
When the court quells rebellion, he can contribute, and this is his advantage over others.
It's not impossible to talk about rewards for meritorious deeds once the rebellion is settled. Maybe if you give rewards like that, you can get a bigger official position, and you can be more glorious when you return home in fine clothes.
Thinking like this, he asked Li Yan: "What about my brothers? They must have a name!"
The treatment of civil servants and military generals is different. He can wait, but his brothers cannot wait. They are all fighting in battle. The court does not give them names. If they die on the battlefield, isn't it a wasted death?
After hearing this, Li Yan did not hesitate and said immediately: "The treatment for recruiting bandits is the same. They will first be reorganized by the court. After the reorganization, the guerrillas will start, and they will be promoted based on their subsequent military merits! The later they are recruited, the lower their military rank will be.
!”
At this point, after a pause, he added: "The same goes for the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo. All units have been reorganized. Your brothers must also be reorganized first before they accept recruitment."
After Wang Jigui listened, he still thought seriously for a while, and then said to Li Yan: "Thanks to Brother Li for trusting me so much, he didn't hesitate to take the risk to come and give me a way out. How could I not know the truth? I'll arrange it here and give Brother Li a life."
Explain!"
In fact, he knew very well that he was not welcome in Li Zicheng's army and was guarded by Li Zicheng. And now the imperial army was indeed elite, especially the recruitment of the fifth battalion of Gezuo, which had enhanced the strength of the imperial army.
In addition, he already knew at this time that Zuo Liangyu's troops who had jumped into Shu had been wiped out by the imperial army, and the Sichuan army had already left Sichuan to fight.
On the Chengtian Mansion side, he was more of a cannon fodder used by Li Zicheng to ward off the imperial army, just as a buffer.
As a ruler, a planner, and a thinking man of letters, he has to see the world's situation more clearly than others.
Now, responding to Li Yan's recruitment and surrendering to the imperial court is the best way out for him and Luo Rucai's men.
Just like that, two smart people reached an agreement after discussing for a while.
Later, Li Yan stayed behind the scenes, and Wang Jigui summoned Luo Rucai's generals to discuss the matter. Due to his strong analysis, and in the eyes of Luo Rucai's men, he was a smart man.
Finally, five days later, Li Yan led Wang Jigui to the north in person to meet Sun Chuanting and express his intention to submit to the imperial court.
Sun Chuanting was naturally happy and quickly made arrangements. With the cooperation of Wang Jigui, the army suddenly went south and took control of Chengtian Prefecture and most of Jingzhou Prefecture. It took a big step southward and directly threatened Wuchang Prefecture, Zhang Xianzhong's hometown.
location.
……………………
The situation in the west has suddenly changed, and the situation in the east is similar.
In the seemingly calm east, things suddenly changed in Luzhou Prefecture.
Zhou Yuji, Hu Dawei, Wu Sangui and other troops suddenly attacked Luzhou Prefecture. Wu Sansheng and others were unable to defeat them. The main force did not retreat to Tianshu Prefecture, but retreated into Anqing Prefecture, which also belonged to Nanzhili.
Bai Wenxuan quickly asked Zhang Xianzhong for help, while preparing to unite Wu Sansheng and others to resist the pursuit of the imperial army.
Tongcheng, in the north of Anqing Prefecture, is an important town from Luzhou Prefecture to Anqing Prefecture. Bai Wenxuan led his troops and rushed here to join Wu Sansheng and others who had retreated. Afterwards, a military meeting was immediately held to discuss resisting the imperial army.
In fact, Bai Wenxuan was well aware of the current situation.
The imperial army has accumulated a large number of troops in Fengyang Mansion, and they are all elite, but they have not been mobilized. This is definitely a problem!
It's just that they, including Zhang Xianzhong himself, all have the potential to be like ostriches. Although they know it, they pretend they don't know it. It's best to remain in a stalemate like this.
Of course, it can also be said in other words that Zhang Xianzhong actually has no way to deal with the heavy imperial troops in Fengyang Mansion.
Therefore, we can only hope that the imperial officers and soldiers took the wrong medicine and stayed under the protection of Fengyang Mansion.
Unexpectedly, at the time of the autumn harvest, the imperial army moved, and the movement was so violent that Wu Sansheng had no resistance at all and was defeated in an instant.
At this time, Bai Wenxuan was also worried!
Wu Sansheng can still escape, but he can't escape. Behind him is Zhang Xianzhong's hometown Wuchang!
Worried, he took his generals out of the Yamen to greet Wu Sansheng and his entourage.
"How is the situation on the front line with the imperial troops approaching the border?" Bai Wenxuan asked anxiously as soon as they met.
After hearing this, Wu Sansheng said to him: "Let's talk inside!"
"Yes, please!" Upon hearing this, Bai Wenxuan felt that he had lost his temper and quickly welcomed Wu Sansheng and his party in.
But as soon as he entered the lobby, he felt something was wrong.
Wu Sansheng and his group blocked the door to the lobby and then stepped aside, revealing a person behind them.