In March, according to the common sense of previous years, the Central Plains should have been verdant and full of spring, but this is not the past, and the winter of the past few decades has gone later and later, until March in this small Wutai area is still a cold and snowy winter scene, and the snow is still not completely melted. Every night, the white-haired wind that passes through the north of the desert blows down the warm wind in the south, freezing the ice and snow that seem to be about to melt again, and slowly melting in the sun again the next day. If it is a sunny day, it is natural that the ice and snow melt, but if it is a rainy day, the day becomes strange, and the sky sometimes rains freezing, and sometimes it falls fine salt-like snow particles, the wind rolls the freezing rain, the wind blows the snow, whether this is winter or spring, I am afraid it is impossible to distinguish.

But even so, people know that spring has come, and now winter is just a rabbit's tail. Spring is coming soon......

In this expectation of spring, an army composed of more than 100,000 people quietly appeared in Xiaowutai Mountain, and for a time in this originally uninhabited Xiaowutai Mountain, between the valleys that spanned more than 100 miles, in addition to the barracks or barracks, this once inaccessible place is now crowded with people. The tents were also smoky, with charcoal and grain carts piled up everywhere, and the dirt road between the barracks was trampled into a mud mass by the cowhide boots of the soldiers. And between the muddy dirt roads, cavalry or convoys pass by every day. And the word "Chu" written on the fluttering flags in the barracks clearly shows their identity - they are the Chu army, which is the main force of the Chu army that makes the Manchu court concerned, in the past half a month, they have been stationed in Xiaowutai, just waiting for an order, they will go all the way from west to east to take the Beijing division. It's just that now they have been waiting here, waiting for the order of the king of Chu.

And this kind of waiting for nothing will always torment people's patience. In the long wait, even the most timid people are eager to fight out of the valley and fight with the Manchu army at this time, after all, it is too boring to stay in this place where birds don't, and even because of the preparation for war, even normal training, this time has stopped, in order to save the physical strength of the soldiers, just to carry out some basic training, so that they can keep in a state of fighting at any time.

At noon on this day, a group of letter soldiers about ten horsemen, galloping from west to east, the jujube red horse was all covered with mud, carrying unkempt letter soldiers, running wildly on the "official road" more than three feet wide, and when they were running wildly, the rammed earth official road that had fallen into disrepair was even more muddy splashed, splashing the soldiers on the side of the road with muddy water. As soon as the horse team passed, it immediately attracted a scolding from the soldiers.

"Turtle grandson, what do you have to do! Look at your rush! Is this a hurry to go to reincarnation, or to go to the funeral......"

The soldier with a patch of mud on his uniform cursed there, and he wiped the mud off his uniform as he curried, while the other soldier, perhaps because of a drop in his mouth, spat and yelled at the men.

"It's all the hell that ...... reincarnated"

They just scolded a few words there, and everyone knew that the letter soldiers who came there could never be stopped, and those who dared to stop the letter soldiers would be killed, this was the rule in the army, and they were addicted to their mouths, compared to these people who were addicted to their mouths there. And some of the veterans muttered to themselves in their hearts when they saw the letter soldiers rushing by.

Is it going to start? As veterans, they naturally knew that before the war, the busiest work was probably these heralds. Now that these messengers are hurrying over like this, something must have happened somewhere. Perhaps, in a few days, the army should rush out of this Taihang Mountain.

Of course, the soldiers who galloped past did not pay attention to the scolding of the soldiers, but in fact they seemed to enjoy the invective, which often reminded them of their privileges, and that they were the only ones who could run rampant in the camp, and that if they had been galloped like this, they would have lost their heads. They rushed directly into the camp of the Chinese army, and then until they rushed to the front of the big tent. The leading messenger stopped his horse a few feet in front of the big tent, and then jumped off his horse.

"Taiyuan 800 miles urgent!"

When the guards on the side heard the 800 li expedited, their hearts couldn't help but tremble, everyone knew that the 800 li expedited was often not good news.

Didn't something happen in Taiyuan?

An urgent letter of eight hundred miles was quickly delivered to the tent, and a scribe dressed in the tent took the letter and spoke to the general who was looking at the map by the light of an oil lamp.

"King, Taiyuan urgent."

This general wearing a military uniform is the king of Chu in the Ming Dynasty - Li Ziyuan, now he is wearing a military uniform, and there is no difference between the dress and the unusual general, but the four-clawed golden dragon pattern on the armor clearly shows his identity, he is the king of Chu in the Ming Dynasty.

"Oh? What's going on in Taiyuan? ”

Li Ziyuan turned around, put the oil lamp on the table, then took the letter, tore open the envelope, and just looked at the contents on it clearly, he who originally looked solemn and only thought it was not good news, suddenly laughed.

"Good thing, good thing! That's a great thing! ”

When he said this, he couldn't help but laugh again, and he didn't know when it was the last time he laughed so heartily. For a while, since the fight from the east to Taihang, Li Ziyuan can be said to be in a more and more dull mood, because the main force of the Qing army did not seem to be mobilized, not only did it not move, but even went north to Cangzhou, and he looked unmoved. Cangzhou is not far from the Beijing Division, once he leads the army east out of Taihang, the Qing army will definitely be moved, and even if he is no longer willing to face the main force of the Qing army, he will have to fight them to the death.

For him, who originally wanted to avoid the real and the virtual, what he expected was naturally to do everything possible to avoid a decisive battle with the Qing army, at least before taking the capital, he must avoid a decisive battle, only in this way can he preserve his strength.

Li Ziyuan didn't know what the world would be like in the future, but he knew what the world would rely on in the future, and it would naturally depend on strength. The recovery of Shenjing may bring him unprecedented prestige and make him the attention of the world, but Li Ziyuan is not willing to lose his troops because of this, after all, in the future of the Ming Dynasty, after all, he still has to rely on strength to speak, without strength, everything is empty talk, what so-called fame, but just a passing cloud. The most fundamental thing is strength, so avoiding a decisive battle to preserve strength is undoubtedly the best choice.

It is precisely because of this that Li Ziyuan decided to divide the troops, divided the army into four routes, and the three roads were sent to attack Beizhili, which was used as a bait to attract the attention of the Qing army, once the attention of the Qing army was attracted, he immediately led the troops to recover the Beijing Division, and then took the women and children of the Manchu Eight Banners of the Beijing Division as hostages, forcing the Qing army to have no intention of fighting, and could even directly force them down, and then enter the elite of the Manchu Eight Banners for his own use. For Li Ziyuan, there is no blood debt in his eyes, and even in his opinion, since Emperor Gao was able to collect those Semu people and Mongols, then he can naturally strengthen these Manchu Eight Banners. When the time comes, with hundreds of thousands of horses in hand, who in this world dares to underestimate him?

The plan may have been perfect, but the reality was cruel, the Qing army was completely unmoved by the bait, and even slowly moved north, and the Manchu women and children in its capital seemed to have moved a little, as if they were beginning to prepare to retreat outside the pass, all of which indicated that the Qing army was likely to abandon the Beijing division.

If they really gave up the Jingshi, although they would not be able to collect the elite of the Manchu Eight Banners for their own use, Li Ziyuan would still be willing to take the empty city. But the question is, the Qing army is now just looking like it seems to be moving, do they want to withdraw or do they want to fight?

It is precisely because of this that Li Ziyuan has a headache, worrying about military affairs all day long, worrying about not being able to figure out the movements of the Qing army, but now this sudden news has made him happy.

"Why is the king so happy?"

Xu Yuncheng looked at the laughing king with some puzzlement, with some doubts in his tone. But I haven't seen the king so happy for a while.

"Houdi, a letter sent from the south to send someone eight hundred miles to send urgently! Come and see! ”

Li Ziyuan smiled and handed the letter to Xu Yuncheng, unlike others, Xu Yuncheng is already his confidant, for him, Li Ziyuan can be said to have a lot of trust, this kind of encounter is naturally not something that ordinary people can touch, but in Xu Yuncheng's opinion, all this is what he has won over.

Whether it is Kaifeng's vote or assisting Li Ziyuan to collect Shanxi, everything, he Xu Yuncheng can be said to have made great contributions, but he is not proud, because he knows what kind of fate will be if he is proud of his achievements.

"Ahh

After reading the contents of the letter, Xu Yuncheng suddenly said in shock.

"He, he's still alive!"

"It's not that he's still alive, not only is he still alive, but he's also made such a big deal, it can be said that even if King Min wants to quietly get him into the mansion to live for the rest of his life, it's impossible, after all, everyone in the world knows it!"

Although people in the whole world may not know about it now, Li Ziyuan will definitely let everyone in the world know about it.

"Yes, exactly, exactly!"

Xu Yuncheng said almost immediately without the slightest hesitation.

"We must let everyone in the world know that Zheng Zhilong is back, as long as everyone knows about it, when the time comes, when the time comes, it will ......."

Groaning, all kinds of thoughts were turning in Xu Yuncheng's mind, what should he do next?

Of course, the first thing is that everyone in the world should know about it, otherwise we can't profit from it.

But what next?

While Xu Yuncheng was thinking about how to deal with this matter next, Li Ziyuan was also thinking about the benefits of this matter to him with a smile.

For Li Ziyuan, who has not had any good news for a while, this is naturally a very good news.

Why is Zheng Zhilong's return to Fujian good news for him?

Perhaps, this is not good news for Zheng Chenggong and Zhu Mingzhong, but for Li Ziyuan, it is a very good news, and the reason is very simple. Zheng Zhilong once descended to the Qing Dynasty, and he directly led to the fall of the Longwu Dynasty and the death of Emperor Longwu, so he Zheng Zhilong was naturally a sinner of the Ming Dynasty.

Zheng Chenggong is a hero of the Ming Dynasty!

But his father was a sinner!

A sinner who deserves a thousand cuts!

In the past, Zheng Zhilong was in the hands of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and naturally no one would pursue it, but now that he has come back alive, how can the people of the world let him go?

However, in terms of Zheng Chenggong's contributions......

"King, I'm afraid that with the merits of King Min, even if the people in the world dare to kill him, no one will dare to kill him!"

After thinking for a moment, Xu Yuncheng looked at the king and asked a realistic question.

"It doesn't matter if you kill him or not!"

Shaking his head, Li Ziyuan stared at Xu Yuncheng and said.

"Kill him? What's in it for us? ”

For Li Ziyuan, who values interests, he doesn't care when Zheng Zhilong betrays Daming, not to mention that he killed Emperor Longwu, or killed Emperor Longwu with his own hands, for him Li Ziyuan, there is no problem, there is nothing more important than benefiting from this kind of thing.

"Exactly, it won't do us any good to kill him, so ...... anyway"

Staring at the king, Xu Yuncheng said almost word by word.

"Even if everyone in the world says to kill Zheng, the king must also save Zheng Zhilong's life! Even at any cost! ”

Xu Yuncheng's suggestion made Li Ziyuan stunned slightly, although he wanted to benefit from this matter, he was not as eager as Xu Yuncheng.

"At any cost?"

Looking at Xu Yuncheng in surprise, Li Ziyuan's brows were slightly locked, and his eyes were full of puzzlement.

"That's right, you can't profit from it, you can't make the world chaotic!"

Otherwise, you can't profit from it, and you can't make the world chaotic!

When such a sentence came out of Xu Yuncheng's mouth, if it were someone else, I would have reprimanded him a long time ago, but Li Ziyuan was always different from others, he just nodded to him and motioned for him to continue.

"King, since Zheng Zhilong is the father of King Min and the Yue of King Huai, as long as he is alive for a day, everyone in the world will know that the father of King Min is a traitor, and understand that King Huai's Yue is a traitor!"

When Xu Yuncheng said this, Li Ziyuan nodded thoughtfully, he also thought so, for him, he didn't care about Zheng Zhilong's life, what he cared about was how to use Zheng Zhilong to fight Zheng Chenggong and Zhu Mingzhong, and how to make a big fuss about this matter.

"If it is not a righteous killing of relatives, you can't wash away this stigma, but the king, if the king of Min kills his relatives with righteousness, such a human tragedy, how can it be tolerated by the world, and the king of Huai ignores it, won't it make the world's teeth cold? If so...... The king can be effortless, and he can even draw two fierce rivals! ”

Unlike many people, Xu Yuncheng didn't put the Ming Dynasty in his eyes at all, in his opinion, whether it was Zheng Chenggong or Zhu Mingzhong, even Zhang Huangyan, who had knocked out his teeth and could only swallow it in his stomach, in his eyes Xu Yuncheng, was just Li Ziyuan's enemy, all he needed to do was to eliminate the strong enemy for the king!

And otherwise, it can't level the world!

It is precisely because of this that he said this, and it is precisely because of this that Li Ziyuan trusts him, because Xu Yuncheng will never talk about any loyalty with him, but only about interests with him, how to maximize his interests Li Ziyuan, this is what Xu Yuncheng should do as a staff member.

"King Min naturally won't kill his father!"

Don't think about it, Li Ziyuan also knows the answer.

"How can the cannibalism of father and son be what the king of Min is happy to see? But even if Min doesn't agree on this matter, there are thousands of fools and stupid people in the world, and when the time comes, someone will naturally suggest killing Zheng Zhilong to thank the world, but ...... Who would dare to kill him? ”

Nodding his head in praise at the same time, Xu Yuncheng sneered again.

"As for King Huai, although everyone in the world knows that King Huai is fair, how dare he say that he will kill his father? Princess Huai is the daughter of the Zheng family! ”

A sentence about the daughter of the Zheng family, almost didn't make Li Ziyuan laugh out loud, he was jealous of Zhu Mingzhong's encounter at the beginning, after all, not everyone has the opportunity to marry such a famous daughter, and even he not only married Zheng Ling, but also had the emperor to marry the county lord of the Mu family in Yunnan.

Whenever he thinks that his wives and concubines are all from famous families, Li Ziyuan is very envious, and he even thinks about whether he should marry a young lady from the Ming family as a concubine, anyway, those princes are just ordinary people now, if the wind is released, maybe how many people will hold their daughters in front of him with both hands, after all, those people have nothing else except the title left by the ancestors.

But here's the problem...... After those Guogong, but there is only one name, not to mention anything else, let's talk about Nanjing, after the recovery of Nanjing, when those so-called "Guogong" want to ask for the Guogong Mansion or something, how did the King of Min treat them?

ignored them, as for the nobility of the bloodline, it was even more fartful, before the martial master was put aside, their ancestors were just a group of ordinary people.

Since their ancestor can become the prince of the Ming Dynasty, he Li Ziyuan has also done it, and he has done it better!

O this man's life!

It was still so enviable at the beginning, but now?

It's just a joke!

People all over the world are watching his jokes about Zhu Mingzhong!

That's a good thing!

Sneering in his heart, Li Ziyuan looked at Xu Yuncheng and smiled.

"Houdi, in your opinion, now, what should we do?"

"Wait!"

Xu Yuncheng spit out a word, then met the king's gaze and continued.

"King, now this matter is very simple, with the King of Min and the King of Huai, no one in the world dares to kill Zheng Zhilong, but everyone in the world knows that he Zheng Zhilong is a traitor, if such a person does not kill, how can the people be angry, and if he does not kill, how can he comfort the first emperor? But who dares to kill? Who can kill? ”

"If no one dares and no one can kill him, then how can this king keep him!"

Staring at Xu Yuncheng, Li Ziyuan said a realistic question.

"King, no one dares to kill, no one can kill, but it doesn't mean that no one dares to kill, King, my Ming scholars still have a bit of character!"