Of course, these preparations are all carried out in secret. Otherwise, if they are made public, it will inevitably cause panic. By then, you will not be able to leave even if you don't want to.
Xu Yixian was busy until very late before returning to his house.
His wife hadn't fallen asleep yet and had been waiting for him.
When they got to bed and had a chance to talk, his wife asked him: "Master, isn't the war in the east not so good?"
Xu Yixian was stunned when he heard this. He was a little strange. The war in the east was still kept secret. How did she know about it?
The messenger who reported the news went directly to Prince Daxi's Mansion. Logically speaking, no one knew about it, and he didn't tell her either!
Thinking about this, he asked curiously: "Why do you ask such a question?"
After hearing this, his wife replied: "Today, many family members went to the temple outside the city to pray for their master!"
"Who?" When Xu Yixian heard this, he immediately felt something was wrong and quickly asked.
After hearing this, his wife told the names she knew one by one. Basically, they were the family members of the generals on the Eastern Front, such as Wu Sansheng, Bai Wenxuan, Wang Zhibang, and even the family members of Li Dingguo, who had also left the city.
"Sir, you said that if the war on the Eastern Front was not dangerous, they wouldn't all go to the temple outside the city to pray for blessings, right?" After his wife finished speaking, she confirmed worriedly.
As Xu Yixian's wife, she had only lived a stable life for a few days. She really didn't want to wander around like before. Therefore, her words were full of worry.
After hearing her words, Xu Yixian felt very strange: Logically speaking, it is impossible for the family members of Wu Sansheng and others to know the situation of the war on the front. Is it possible that Wu Sansheng and others would send someone to tell their families about the battle on the front?
The battle situation?
If this is the case, why not report it to Daxi Prince's Mansion first?
If it was just one family, it would be possible; but now, there are so many family members of Eastern Front generals going out of the city to pray at temples. This is not normal!
This is what my wife knows. Is there anything else that I don’t know about?
No wonder even his wife could guess that the war situation on the Eastern Front might be bad!
Xu Yixian thought of this a little strangely. He was wondering about this situation. Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind. He immediately thought of something and quickly asked his wife: "They went to the temple outside the city to pray, but they all came back."
Already?"
"It is said that sincerity leads to spiritual success. If you have to pray for three days, you probably haven't come back yet, right?" After hearing this, his wife guessed and replied, "Anyway, the whole family is going, otherwise, it might not work!"
"Not good!" Upon hearing this, Xu Yixian was immediately shocked. He was sure of something and quickly opened the quilt and rushed out.
His movement immediately frightened his wife, and she quickly shouted: "Master, please put on some clothes!"
In a hurry, Xu Yixian put on his clothes and immediately rushed to Daxi Prince's Mansion.
Originally, he would have taken a sedan, but at this time, he felt that the sedan was too slow, so he rode directly there.
Zhang Xianzhong had just gone to bed. When the eunuch heard that Xu Yixian, the military advisor, was urgently seeking an audience, he knew that there must be something important, so he immediately got up to meet with his military advisor.
As soon as they met, Xu Yixian didn't even have time to salute, so he immediately said to Zhang Xianzhong: "Your Highness, please immediately send someone to check the family members of Li Dingguo, Wu Sansheng, Bai Wenxuan, Wang Zhibang and other Eastern Front generals to see if they really need to pray in the temple outside the city!"
"What?" Zhang Xianzhong was confused after hearing this, and couldn't help but frown and asked again, "What happened?"
Why did you come so anxiously to see me?
He was startled, thinking something big had happened!
Xu Yixian saw that Zhang Xianzhong hadn't reacted yet, so he quickly relayed the news about his wife, and then immediately reminded Zhang Xianzhong: "Zhang Wenxiu's family members disappeared for no reason, so I suspected that they went to the court. And now there are so many people there.
My family members left the city, and I suspect they also ran away. If this is true, it can explain why the Eastern Front retreated so quickly!"
"Isn't it possible?" Zhang Xianzhong said with some suspicion after hearing this, "It might be possible for one or two to betray, but they can't all betray, right?"
When Xu Yixian heard this, he immediately became anxious and his voice couldn't help but grow louder: "If Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Dingguo both defected to the imperial court, and those are their old subordinates, why is it impossible?"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong panicked and shouted to people to quickly go to the temple outside the city to verify.
If the family members of the generals on the Eastern Front are still there, it means that this guess is wrong; and if the family members of the generals on the Eastern Front are not here, it means that the guess is probably true!
Xu Yixian was very anxious. He was basically sure in his heart that there must be no one at the temple outside the city, and the families of the Eastern Front generals must have run away!
This can explain why Luzhou Prefecture and Anqing Prefecture were lost so quickly!
Otherwise, I would still be wondering, what is going on on the front line?
So, before the news came to fruition, Xu Yixian said to Zhang Xianzhong: "Huangzhou Mansion will definitely not be able to hold it, and Tianshu Mansion is already in danger. Your Highness, we must be ready to leave and speed up. The thin line is over Li Zicheng's side.
, don’t worry about it, prepare to go south immediately!”
In fact, if Zhang Xianzhong wanted to leave, he would have no choice but to continue south.
In the north, the imperial officers and soldiers were tightly guarding, and there was no chance for the army to return north.
To the west is damn Li Zicheng, and it is obviously pointless to fight with him for territory. The only chance is to continue attacking south and escape to Jiangxi.
However, Zhang Xianzhong founded the country in Huguang, and also opened schools to obtain scholars and sent people to govern the place. If possible, he really did not want to run away.
Therefore, when he heard Xu Yixian's words, he hesitated and said to Xu Yixian: "Maybe the situation is not so bad, right?"
When Xu Yixian heard this, he immediately became anxious and said categorically: "It is absolutely because both Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Dingguo have surrendered to the imperial court that this happened. Your Highness, you can no longer hesitate!"
At this point, he remembered something and immediately continued to speak, reminding Zhang Xianzhong: "Zhang Kewang, Zhang Nengqi and their family members must also take good care of them, so that nothing like this can happen again!"
The families of the main generals in the Daxi Army are all in Tianshou Mansion. Because this is the core of the Daxi Army and the most prosperous place, it is the safest and most comfortable place to live here. Another meaning is that they are naturally used as hostages.
, which can prevent his subordinates from defecting.
It's just that nothing like this has ever happened before, so Zhang Xianzhong didn't deliberately take the family members of his men as hostages.
Zhang Wenxiu's family members disappeared, but there was still no news about Zhang Wenxiu, which did not cause Zhang Xianzhong to be more vigilant.
But now, with so many family members leaving the city together, this matter is a bit big.
Even though the information had not been verified and it could not be confirmed whether they had really absconded, Zhang Xianzhong did not dare to be careless and immediately agreed to Xu Yixian's proposal and immediately sent people to strengthen the surveillance of Zhang Kewang and Zhang Nengqi's family members.
Not long after, Kuai Ma came to report back, and sure enough, the families of those Eastern Front generals did not go to the temple outside the city at all.
When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he immediately raised the table and threw the tea set.
Damn it, all those men on the Eastern Front defected en masse, and it was still at this difficult time when he was being bullied by Li Zicheng!
It’s really chilling!
Soon, he focused all his resentment on the two culprits: Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu!
He cursed the sky, the earth, his two ancestors, and vented his anger.
At this time, Xu Yixian had no choice but to wait until Zhang Xianzhong was done venting, and then he quickly reminded: "Your Highness, the Huangzhou Mansion cannot be defended, and the Tianshu Mansion cannot be protected either, so we should move it in time!"
The betrayal of the generals on the eastern front was equivalent to weakening a large part of Zhang Xianzhong's strength. In other words, it was equivalent to a huge increase in the power of the imperial army.
The strength of the imperial army was already very strong, and with the betrayal of the Eastern Front troops, Zhang Xianzhong knew very well that there was no way he could stay in Huguang anyway. Even if there wasn't that shit like Li Zicheng causing trouble, he couldn't stop him.
An attack by such a powerful enemy.
Fortunately, he was used to running away, or turning into something like this.
After hearing Xu Yixian's reminder, he no longer hesitated and quickly issued an order and began to pack his luggage and prepare to escape.
I originally wanted to keep it a secret, but naturally I couldn't keep it secret anymore.
Suddenly, everyone in Zhang Xianzhong's hometown was in panic.
The old thieves were fine, they were used to running away anyway. However, those who later attached themselves to Zhang Xianzhong were in trouble.
The local officials appointed by Zhang Xianzhong either hung up their seals and left, or quickly packed up their belongings and fled with them.
In short, not only the original city of Wuchang, but also the affiliated prefectures and counties, everyone was suddenly panicked.
There was nothing unexpected about the development of the war.
Wu Sansheng, Bai Wenxuan and others, after receiving Zhang Xianzhong's military order to kill those who retreated, they simply stopped pretending, displayed the flags of the imperial officers and soldiers, and led Zhou Yuji, Wu Sangui and other imperial officers and soldiers into Huangzhou
Mansion.
Most of the bandits in Huangzhou Mansion were familiar with Wu Sansheng, Bai Wenxuan and others. The persuasion before the battle, especially the official appearances of Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, had the greatest impact on the morale of the bandits, and many people also started to persuade them.
surrender.
After Zhang Xianzhong heard the news, he gave up his last bit of luck and immediately prepared to run away.
However, what he never expected was that when the imperial army was only three or four days away from Wuchang Mansion, they suddenly stopped and stopped attacking.
This could have been a rush to Wuchang in one go. Why didn't the imperial officers and soldiers stop attacking? What kind of trick was this?
Zhang Xianzhong turned around and was about to turn around and run away. Under such circumstances, he was very confused and quickly sent someone to inquire about the news.