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"Hey, it's Benjue's fault for this!" Li Zixiao sighed and said.

"Why did the lord say that?" Li Yan asked puzzled.

Li Zixiao looked at him and said in a deep voice: "After the first battle of Zhu Xianzhen, if Benjue hadn't killed Zuo Liangyu, maybe it would be difficult for Li Zicheng to conquer Xiangyang so smoothly at this time."

Although Benjue is not ashamed of Zuo Liangyu's character, the soldiers and horses under him are no different from the rogues.

But after all, he has more than 100,000 horses under his command, and his ferocious prestige shocks the Xiangfan area, if Zuo Liangyu is allowed to return to Xiangyang, he can still stabilize the situation in Xiangyang.

But Benjue killed him, and in this way, the generals under him were all greedy and incompetent, either trying to take advantage of the opportunity to accumulate wealth, or taking the opportunity to increase their strength.

As a result, the situation in Xiangyang deteriorated rapidly, and it was difficult for Sun Chuanting to stabilize the situation when he arrived there.

Sun Chuanting is not Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu's brutal murderous reputation is still very useful in the Xiangyang area, Sun Chuanting is a foreign monk.

As a result, when Sun Chuanting arrived in Xiangyang, the subordinate generals left by Zuo Liangyu not only did not cooperate with him, but even dragged Sun Chuanting back.

Some of Zuo Liangyu's subordinates even simply took refuge in Li Zicheng's army, Sun Chuanting was ambushed, and Xu Wei suspected that someone had sent Li Zicheng a message. ”

Li Zixiao recounted, and his face also showed a look of struggle.

At the beginning, Li Zixiao killed Zuo Liangyu completely because of his cruelty to the people and his dislike of Zuo Liangyu's personality.

At that time, Li Zixiao didn't think so far at all, he didn't expect that Zuo Liangyu's death would have such a big impact on the situation in Xiangyang.

"Sir, are these what General Xu said?" Li Yan asked.

"Yes, these are all analyzed by General Xu Lao in his letter.

Although Benjue killed Zuo Liangyu at the beginning, he didn't expect to cause today's consequences, but Benjue does not regret it, people like Zuo Liangyu are not worthy of being a Ming general, and they should be killed. ”

Li Zixiao said, and handed the letter in his hand to Li Yan.

After reading the letter, Li Yan looked at Li Zixiao and said, "General Xu has indeed analyzed well in the letter, and the situation in Xiangyang is much worse than ours in Xiangyang.

This situation instead fulfilled Li Zicheng and allowed him to take Xiangyang so quickly.

In this way, Li Zicheng, who laid down Xiangyang, and gave him a period of rest and recuperation, his strength will inevitably be stronger, and when the time comes, will he return to Shaanxi as the lord predicted.

It is better to continue south, deep into the territory of Huguang, after all, crossing the Yangtze River to the south, where the degree of wealth is much stronger than that of the dilapidated Shaanxi. ”

"What do you think?" Li Zixiao asked Li Yan rhetorically.

"This, the subordinates haven't thought about it yet, but I can't rule out this possibility!

If his subordinates are elected, his subordinates still hope that Li Zicheng can return to Shaanxi, instead of continuing to go south to Huguang.

If Li Zicheng is really allowed to gain a firm foothold in Huguang, it will be a big trouble for us in the future! ”

"Well, your worries are justified, but Benjue still insists on his own judgment, Li Zicheng will kill back in Shaanxi."

"Why?"

"Benjue's judgment is based on two main aspects.

First, don't look at Li Zicheng's defeat of Xiangyang, and his strength has soared, but if he wants to cross the Yangtze River and continue to fight south into the hinterland of Huguang, Benjue doesn't think he can do it.

The power of the imperial court in Huguang is still very strong, which can be seen from the fact that Zhang Xianzhong, a thief, cannot gain a foothold in Huguang and will soon be driven out.

The people of Huguang were far less miserable than those in the north, although they were dissatisfied with the heavy taxes of the imperial court and the unkindness of the gentry.

But compared to these, they are more afraid of rogues like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

For the people there, enduring the exploitation of the court and the gentry, life can barely pass, but if they really let a rogue like Li Zicheng kill them, they will have nothing in everything.

There, it was difficult for Li Zicheng to get the support of a large number of people to join the army like in Shaanxi and Henan, and the people were at most waiting to see what happened.

On the contrary, it was the landlords and gentry in Huguang who desperately resisted Li Zicheng, because once Li Zicheng wins, they will not only have nothing, but even lose their lives.

Therefore, this is also the main reason why, over the years, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, two armies of thieves, have entered Huguang to plunder, but they have not been able to gain a foothold there.

The location and situation of Huguang, for Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, is only suitable for grabbing a handful and leaving, not for a place of foundation.

And if Li Zicheng goes north to Shaanxi, where he started, the support of the people there for him will be crazy.

Only by entering Shaanxi can Li Zicheng get more troops, and the resistance will be much less.

Second, what is Li Zicheng's rebellion for, isn't it just to be the emperor!

Instead of being trapped in Huguang, it is better to fight back to the dilapidated Shaanxi, which is closer to the capital, and the capital is Li Zicheng's biggest target. ”

"Listening to the sir's words, the subordinates suddenly opened, the sirre is wise!"

Li Yan saluted Li Zixiao sincerely at this time and said sincerely.

"Haha, Li Yan, when did you learn to pat on the back, this is not like you!" Li Zixiao said with a smile.

In fact, there is still one thing in Li Zixiao's heart that he didn't say, that is, in history, Li Zicheng killed back to Shaanxi, and then entered the capital.

Although in this time and space, because of Li Zixiao's appearance, many situations have found great changes, but Li Zixiao felt that Li Zicheng was the most likely to return to Shaanxi at this time.

"Forget it, we can't control the situation in Xiangyang for the time being.

Later, Benjue will reply to General Xu, asking him to guard our Henan territory, and don't care about Li Zicheng's side.

As for whether he can resist Li Zicheng's return to Shaanxi, it depends on Sun Chuanting's ability. ”

"Well, the lord is right in this decision, according to General Xu's letter, this time they have suffered a lot of losses.

If we continue to fight with Li Zicheng, once General Xu Lao suffers serious losses in his soldiers and horses, I am afraid that Li Zicheng will tear up the agreement with us and return to Henan.

General Xu must maintain enough troops in his hands to deter Li Zicheng, he has no strength, and the so-called agreements are all. ”

Li Yan also supported Li Zixiao's decision.

"However, if we don't have our support, I'm afraid that Sun Chuanting won't be able to stop Li Zicheng for too long."

Immediately, Li Yan said with some concern.

In fact, according to the plan formulated by Li Yan for Li Zixiao, Li Zixiao should not go north to resist the Tartars with all his strength at this time.

Li Yan wanted to assist Li Zixiao to replace Daming and ascend to the throne, but his essence was actually similar to Li Zicheng.

Therefore, in Li Yan's view, whether it is the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Tartars, or Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, these rogues are their enemies and need to be guarded against.

Even, in Li Yan's heart, Li Zicheng's threat to Li Zixiao is even far greater than that of Tartar.

After all, in Li Yan's opinion, the Tartars at this time were still far away from the pass, even if they entered the pass every year to loot, it would not damage Li Zixiao's strength, and only the strength of the Ming Dynasty would be weakened.

Moreover, Li Zicheng's invasion army has just withdrawn from Henan, and he has been wandering around, which is the biggest threat to them.

If Li Zicheng's Northern Expedition to Tatars is defeated and his strength is greatly damaged, it is very likely that Li Zicheng will re-enter Henan and destroy Li Zixiao's foundation.

According to Li Yan's thoughts, he was against Li Zixiao fighting with Tartar like this, but because of Li Zixiao's tough attitude, Li Yan couldn't stop it in the end.

At this point, Li Zixiao does not blame Li Yan, after all, the ideological gap between the two sides is still very large.

Although Li Yan is smart, he is still a person of this era, and his thinking has great limitations, and he does not have Li Zixiao's vision three hundred years in advance.

After hearing Li Yan's worried words, Li Zixiao knew what he was worried about, and added: "Don't worry, Benjue won't let General Xu continue to send troops."

But Benjue can let General Xu Lao provide support to Sun Chuanting in other aspects, such as grain and grass.

Also, many of the firearms, artillery, and iron-clad mines that we have eliminated can be given to Sun Chuanting at a low price, or even for free.

With these things, maybe Sun Chuanting can consume the strength of Li Zicheng's army. ”

"Haha, my subordinates know that the lord has an idea in his heart, and this is a good idea."

"Okay, that's the matter of Xiangyang, by the way, where are Liu Zeqing's men there? Can you go to Wuding Prefecture according to Benjue's order? ”

At this time, after Li Zixiao finished solving the matter in Xiangyang, he suddenly remembered Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, and asked Li Yan.

"Hmph, that Liu Ze is not a thing, tens of thousands of troops have been rubbing in Qingzhou, neither to meet the Tartars, nor to come to Jinan to join us.

This time, after receiving the lord to let him go north to defend against the Tartar horses of Zilharang, he was obedient.

According to the scout's report, Liu Zeqing had already led his men out of Qingzhou yesterday, arrived at Potai, and rushed towards Wudingzhou.

However, our scouts reported that Jierharang's army had already killed Wudingzhou, and I was afraid that before Liu Zeqing's army arrived in Wudingzhou, Wudingzhou had already fallen into the hands of the Tartars. ”

When Li Yan talked about Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong, his tone was full of disgust.

"Haha."

On the contrary, Li Zixiao laughed and said: "Liu Zeqing didn't come to Jinan, because he was worried that if he came, those men and horses under him would be swallowed up by Benjue."

But he didn't know that from the beginning to the end, Benjue didn't fancy his little bit of people at all, and he didn't want Benjue.

Since he didn't want to come to Jinan, then Benjue sent him to the north of Wudingzhou, maybe when he got there, he could still sell some strength when he fought Tartar.

Otherwise, he would be worried that Benjue would settle accounts with him. ”

For Liu Zeqing, Li Zixiao looks down on him, he is simply an incompetent person, and he has a lot of careful thoughts.

"Are the people we sent to Qihe, Changqing, Yantou Town, and Jiyang already in place? These are the key points of our defense line, and there is no room for error. ”

Immediately, Li Zixiao's face became serious, and he continued to ask Li Yan.

"The lord's defense line, more than 20,000 men and horses, has all been sent to the four places."

"That's good, in that case, we just need to spend time with Dorgon's army.

When winter came, Dolgon had only two choices, either to withdraw from Shandong and plunder Hebei again, or to conquer Jinan and go deep into Qingzhou and other places.

So, for the next month or two, we're going to focus on defense. ”

According to Li Zixiao's plan, he would hold the Jinan defense line for two months to prevent Dorgon's Tartar army from penetrating deep into the hinterland of Shandong to plunder.

If Dolgon dared to attack, then the White Dragon Army was not afraid at all, the White Dragon Army musketeers relied on the city wall to defend the battle, and the cavalry advantage of the Tartars was basically useless.

As long as two months have passed, Dolgon still can't get through the Jinan line, and there will inevitably be a shortage of grain and grass in Dolgon's army.

At that time, Dolgon could only withdraw his troops, retreat to the next best thing, withdraw from Shandong, and continue to plunder the rest of Hebei.

But at that time, Li Zixiao would no longer give Dolgon this opportunity, and it was time for the White Dragon Army to counterattack.

In the face of the advantage of the Tatar cavalry, Li Zixiao's first passive and then active style of play was also a little helpless.

"When will Benjue's new musket be developed, or pull up more than 100,000 cavalry, it will be enough to be fearless of the Tartar cavalry and take back the initiative."

Li Zixiao sighed in his heart and said.

At this time, the flintlock pistol was still backward, and for the White Dragon Army, which had just transitioned into hot weapons, the immaturity of hot weapons made them still have to rely heavily on cold weapons.

Especially the cavalry, this kind of cold weapon king class, even if the future development of the White Dragon Army is mainly based on hot weapons, but at least in the next hundred years, cavalry will still be used.

Therefore, at this time, Li Zixiao still hopes to pull up a large elite cavalry team.

Because there are only two best ways to deal with the Tartar cavalry, either more advanced firearms are developed, or cavalry can only be used against cavalry.

However, because the plan could not catch up with the changes, Li Zixiao set up a defensive line in Jinan and waited for the arrival of Dolgon's army.

On October 4, in the area of Qingzhou, north of Dongchang Province in Shandong, a large cavalry force appeared, coming from the Qinghe River in Hebei Province in the north.

"Lord Wang, Minggou is strong and clear, and the people of these states and counties north of Dongchang Mansion have either fled in advance or hid in the mountains and forests, what should we do now?"

At this time, a Tartar general came to Dordor and reported to him.

That's right, the cavalry that appeared here was the Tartar team led by Duoduo.

The Duoduo army, which was supposed to enter Zhending Mansion, appeared in Dongchang Mansion at this time, and Dolgon's division of troops before was obviously to hide people's eyes.

"Don't worry about it here, our first goal is Liaocheng, send an order to the whole army, advance at full speed, and this king will arrive in Liaocheng in one day."

Riding on a horse, dressed in white and red-trimmed armor, his eyes flashed with excitement, and shouted to his Tartar generals.

"Yes, Lord Wang!" Those Tartar generals also responded.

"Let's go!"

Immediately, with a wave of Duoduo's big hand, more than 10,000 Tartar cavalry quickly galloped up and headed towards Liaocheng, the capital of Dongchang Prefecture, one hundred and fifty miles to the south.

Duoduo, more than 10,000 Tartar cavalry, suddenly entered Dongchang Mansion, which even the White Dragon Army scouts did not notice.

Because in this direction, there are no White Dragon Army scouts at this time.

(End of chapter)