Gao Yigong said seriously: "The brothers who came from the border army said that there were rumors that the emperor issued an order to ask the vassal princes' mansions to pay for the military's owed wages and food. He didn't believe it and came over, but there were many brothers who were originally going to come with him, and they said they wanted to wait and see."

After he finished speaking, the lobby was quiet for a while. Suddenly, Liu Zongmin burst into laughter and broke the quiet first and said, "Can you believe this? It's more rare than an old sow climbing a tree!"

After he said this, the atmosphere suddenly became active again. Yuan Zongdi also said: "It has been so many years, and I didn't owe the salary recently, and the emperor has not just ascended the throne. How could it be that he had only asked the vassal princes' mansion to pay for the money and food? If it really means this, I'll give it up long ago. Is it necessary to wait for it now?"

"Yes, Brother Yuan is a sensible person!" Liu Zongmin laughed, then pointed at Gao Yigong and said, "Look, I scared Brother Gao, what about?"

Li Zicheng was relieved when he listened to their conversation. To be honest, he was really scared just now. The elite troops of the Qin border army are actually famous throughout the country. If they were not owing wages and food, and they would have no morale in the army, who would have dared to stay in Qin!

Just as he was thinking, Gao Yigong still said with a serious face: "Brother, this matter is spreading. I didn't agree with it at that time. I asked several questions in a row, and there were such rumors. In addition, I heard a news that I didn't know whether it was true or not, and said that the emperor had led the army in person!"

"Ah, what?" Li Zicheng asked in surprise when he heard this, "The Emperor is in charge of the army?"

Before Gao Yigong answered, Liu Zongmin shouted again: "Brother Gao, can you use your brain? Just the precious emperor, how dare you leave the Forbidden City? The emperor personally led the expedition? He didn't dare to dream!"

After saying that, he laughed again, glanced at the others, hoping that others would think the same as him, and laughed at the dog emperor like him!

However, Li Guo frowned, stood up and said to Li Zicheng: "Uncle, I obey the brothers who escaped from Shanxi. Some time ago, Hong Shaba and King Lu Yan were in charge of Shanxi, and he was involved in the search of the house, and copied all the famous Shanxi merchants. Originally, I thought that we would not go to Shanxi anyway, and we didn't care much about this. However, when we heard General Gao say this news, if we connect it, the emperor is indeed a lot!"

Li Guo is considered a person of great importance in the army, and he is Li Zicheng's nephew, so the others stopped talking, looked at him and waited for his next words.

"I'm worried that the emperor may really change when he is stimulated. Maybe the order to the vassal prince's palace can be done." Li Guo continued, "It is not impossible with Hong shaved his head, Lu Yan and others, and the emperor will lead the army in person!"

After he finished speaking, the lobby became quiet again. They knew in their hearts that if the emperor really had to be the emperor in person and the various vassal palaces paid for the money and food, their lives would be very sad.

Then Liu Fangliang said hesitantly: "Or...or... we should go back to Shangluo Mountain first and see the situation? Henan, we can't go anyway, otherwise we will hit the Imperial Guard, which is not a joke."

"What's there to be afraid of? Just twisting the emperor's dog head off as a urinal!" Liu Zongmin still refused to give in, but his voice was more than lower than before.

The others didn't say anything, and they all looked at Li Zicheng and waited for him to make a decision.

After a while, Li Zicheng made a decision and said, "It is still unknown whether the matter is true or not. If you just run back to Shangluo Mountain like this, you will not be laughed at by other people! In this way, you will immediately send someone to inquire and verify the news, and we will discuss it again!"

This is a safe move, so no one else will have any objections.

Then, it was time to eat and drink again. But obviously, the atmosphere was not as warm as before.

Unlike Li Zicheng's side, Zhang Xianzhong's side in Hubei was no longer excited to destroy the imperial army when he first rebelled. At this time, he was discussing matters with Luo Rucai, Hui Deng Prime Minister, Wang Guoning, Chang De'an, Yang Youxian and Wang Guangen.

Then Zhang Xianzhong asked with a serious expression: "You must have heard of it, what happened to the emperor personally?"

Luo Rucai and the others nodded after hearing this.

There are news about the emperor's personal expedition everywhere, and there is even a day when there is news. Some say that the emperor has not left the capital yet, and some say that the emperor has arrived in Henan and will soon go to Hubei to quell the rebellion; there are even news that the emperor has actually arrived in Xiangyang and will soon be called with the Yongwei Camp.

They had personally experienced the combat effectiveness of the Yongwei Battalion. Before that, they had to choose to accept Xiong Wencan's invitation under the pressure of the Yongwei Battalion.

When the Yongwei Camp went north to serve the king, many of them even hoped that the Yongwei Camp would be killed by Jianlu. For this reason, their expectations for this were actually very great. After all, the Jianlu in Liaodong were invincible, especially in the field battle. As the imperial guards, the Yongwei Camp could not avoid war and could only fight, so they would fight against Jianlu, and their fate would not be good.

However, after they rekindled, they received news that the Yongwei Battalion and the Qin soldiers drove away Jianlu, and even won a great victory, killing nearly 30,000 Jianlu. This news shocked them and others to speak for a long time.

At first, some people doubted the truth or falsehood of the news. However, when they learned that those involved in the war command included King Lu, Hong Paoba, Sun Chuanting and others, they had learned about these powerful people, and they felt that it would not be fake, at most it was a little exaggerated.

Now, since the emperor is in charge of the army, he must have brought this Tianzhi Troop that can defeat Jianlu. What should I do? How can I fight?

Thinking of this, all the thief leaders were heavy in their hearts and worried on their faces.

Think about it, just now, the situation was very good, and it had captured Gucheng, Fangxian, Junzhou, Yunxi, Baokang and other places. It can be said that the entire northern part of Hubei was in their hands. I was full of confidence in the future and had been raising my energy for about a year. It was time to make a difference!

But why did this situation suddenly change? Even the emperor was in charge of the army. The invisible pressure made everyone present lose their smiles and frown.

Zhang Xianzhong was a constable and also served as a border army, and his psychological quality was better. Therefore, after a while, he said: "I think Henan should stop entering first, be safe. In addition, if you send someone to find out the news, you must have the exact news, otherwise there will be an emperor here and an emperor there. If others are not crazy, we will go crazy first!"

"I agree with this!" Luo Rucai nodded in agreement when he heard this.

Henan is in the Central Plains area, and they originally thought they were going to Henan. Now they were so scared by the news that they dared not go!

Hui Dengxiang also spoke, "I think we won't divide the troops during this period, otherwise we will be defeated by the imperial government troops."

Before, they suddenly united and their strength increased greatly, which defeated the imperial army, causing Zuo Liangyu to flee in a panic.

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he was of course happy and nodded immediately and replied: "Yes, we will join forces and go wherever we want to go, the official army basically cannot stop us!"

At this time, they had a superficial force of 50,000, and their momentum was far greater than that of Li Zicheng. This was also the case that they first attracted the attention of the imperial government army. In the original history, they became the key targets of the government army's encirclement and suppression, but instead gave Li Zicheng the opportunity to enter Henan. Under the call of "equalizing the fields and exempting the taxes", they suddenly rolled like a snowball, and eventually became the first force among the bandits in the late Ming Dynasty. The imperial government army could no longer do anything to Li Zicheng.

Another thief leader Wang Guoning suddenly said, "How about we go to Sichuan? As long as we can enter, it is a land of fish and rice, a country of Tianfu, and it is difficult to walk on the Shu Road, so it is not easy for Yongweiying to enter Sichuan!"

When hearing this, some people agreed and some people opposed it.

"Sichuan has been ruined by the She'an family for a long time, so how can there be any other country of Heavenly Prefecture!"

"Yes, it's difficult for the imperial government troops to enter, but it's difficult for us to come out. What should we do if we close the door and beat dogs?"

"You are the dog, you are the dog you fell into the water!"

"What did you say, try again?"

“…”

There are too many people and talk, and there are many conflicts. If you are not careful, you will start to quarrel.

Seeing this, Zhang Xianzhong hurriedly sent a table to stop the quarrel of those people. To be honest, he actually wanted to go to Sichuan. However, under the good situation, he was still a little unwilling to run into the nest in Sichuan. The most important thing is that he heard that Chen Qiyu was appointed as the governor of the Three-sided side by the Dog Emperor. If he went to Sichuan, Chen Qiyu would definitely enter Sichuan from Hanzhong to encircle them.

Finally, he had to make a decision: "Send more people to find out where the dog emperor has been? Don't let us bump into it. Once we find out where the dog emperor is, we will be far away. With our troops, we can go to the world!"

"Yes, that's the reason!" Luo Rucai immediately agreed, "If the world is messed up, the court will lose sight of one thing and the other, and our pressure will be much less."

They were talking when suddenly the sound of footsteps came from outside, and then there was an anxious voice shouting: "Entertainment Father, adoptive father, it's not good, something big is wrong..."

Everyone looked up and saw that the person who came was Sun Kewang, the hand of Zhang Xianzhong's many adopted sons, was called Zhang Kewang at this time. He looked flustered and hurried in.

When Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he couldn't help but feel a flash in his heart and immediately asked, "Have you discovered the traces of the Yongwei Camp?"

He never thought that Yongwei Camp would arrive so soon.

"No!" Zhang Kewang replied quickly when he heard this, "It's Chen Qiyu's old man... He... He replaced Xiong Wencan as the new governor of the five provinces!"

"What?"

"What?"

“…”

As soon as the news came out, everyone in the lobby stood up in fear, all looking panicked.

These people all suffered a great loss at Chen Qiyu's hands and almost wiped out the entire army. Later, Chen Qiyu was exiled by the Dog Emperor, but they all celebrated it very much. Unexpectedly, Chen Qiyu was actually activated by the Dog Emperor again?

Zhang Xianzhong also asked with an ugly face: "Is this news sure?"

"It was the brother who sneaked into Henan and sent someone to report it urgently." After hearing this, Zhang Kewang quickly replied, "I said I had seen Chen Qiyu with my own eyes. The brothers arrested the postman and asked, "I asked Chen Qiyu to replace Xiong Wencan."

Before, they heard that Chen Qiyu was appointed as the governor of the three sides by the Dog Emperor. At that time, the situation here was very good and it was far away, so they didn't care much. At most, they didn't go back to Shaanxi or to Sichuan, so that would be fine.

However, Chen Qiyu still faced them head-on, and actually replaced Xiong Wencan as the governor of the five provinces, and wanted to encircle and suppress them. In particular, the emperor also led the imperial army and came with the Yongwei camp. This... this is simply not a way out!

"In this way, go and inquire about the news as soon as possible. We must also be prepared to avoid being surrounded by Chen Qiyu, the dog official." Zhang Xianzhong decided again.

The meaning of being prepared is nothing more than being able to run away.

The other thief leaders knew this well and quickly nodded and agreed. Among them, Luo Rucai also said: "As long as we join forces, we will rush to one place. I believe that no court official army in that place can stop us!"

"That's the reason. As long as we don't run into the Yongwei Camp, who are we afraid of?" Zhang Xianzhong made the final decision, and then the leaders of the thieves disbanded and hurried back to prepare.

At this time, what they were most concerned about was where the emperor's emperor had gone? When the dog emperor came out, they would definitely be the best fighter and the strongest troops around them, so they would never be touched. Even the elite part of the army in other places might be transferred to protect the dog. Therefore, if they find out where the dog emperor was, they would know that they could run in that direction!

However, they sent people to inquire, inquire, and even sneaked into Xiangyang to inquire about the news. At most, they only heard that the Jinyiwei had come to the capital and watched Xiong Wencan. When Chen Qiyu arrived, he would escort him back to Beijing for punishment. However, there was still no news about the emperor's trace. Only one thing is certain. The emperor did lead the imperial army and had already left the capital.

So where did Emperor Chongzhen go? I guess no one would have imagined it.

Shortly after leaving the capital, Emperor Chongzhen asked the Yongwei Camp and Panshi Camp to enter Henan under his banner, divided into several groups of people and went to surround Zhang Xianzhong and other rebels. He himself led more than 5,000 cavalrymen of the Cavalry Camp and Wu Sangui's cavalry, and suddenly accelerated and entered Shanxi.

Regarding Zhang Xianzhong's group of thieves, Emperor Chongzhen's plan was to let Chen Qiyu accept it first, and to encircle them, so as not to let them wander. It would be best if it could be eliminated. If it could not be eliminated, he would return to his post and destroy Zhang Xianzhong after he had finished dealing with the Hetao matter.

Of course, there is another point that no one may have paid special attention to Li Zicheng's troops at this time. But as a person from later generations, especially when he heard Li Zicheng put forward the slogan "equal land and exemption from tuition", he knew that Li Zicheng must be strangled to death as soon as possible.
Chapter completed!