Tianshui and Ningxia fell one after another in a very short period of time, and the world shook. However, Zhou Yanru was still unhurried, and he arrived in Xi'an the day after the fall of Ningxia Prefecture. Since he became the superintendent, not only has he not found out the whereabouts of the rebel Zhu Yousong, but he has not even fought a major battle, and he has not caught an important traitor or thief leader, and he has lost so many cities, how can he not be criticized?

In the past few days, the impeachment of Zhou Yanru flew into the cabinet like snowflakes, mostly accusing him of patrolling and avoiding the war, and asking the imperial court to quickly issue a strict decree ordering Zhou Yanru to march into the army every day and regain the lost territory within a time limit. Zhou Yanru defended himself, saying that the troops in the northwest were overstretched, the military needs were not continued, and it was not easy to ensure that Xi'an was not lost. The courtiers did not pay attention to the difficulties on the front line, and blindly attacked them, which made people feel cold.

At this juncture, another big case occurred. After Zhou Yanru realized that the real target of the thieves was not Xi'an, in order not to fall into the name of avoiding war, he ordered He Renlong, who was stationed in Tongguan, to send troops to attack Zhang Xianzhong's troops in southern Luo, and joined forces with Zuo Liangyu's troops who followed the thieves into Shaanxi from Henan.

In fact, Zhou Yanru had long known that the main force of Zhang Xianzhong's troops had arrived in Longnan, and Yunan was just an empty city. Going head-to-head with the main force of the thieves, Zhou Yanru didn't have the guts; But to "recover" the counties that the thieves ransacked, he is still very willing to do this kind of thing.

Unexpectedly, although this He Renlong fought bravely, he was very selfish and had poor military discipline. After being promoted to the general army some time ago, I always wanted to go further and make a general's prestige. For this reason, he relied on the relationship between Beijing and China to spend money on the movement, and really opened up the joints of the Donglin Party, telling him that the title of "General Ping Thief" is ** and not far from ten.

He Renlong was full of joy, but he didn't expect that in the end, the general seal of the thief let Zuo Liangyu take it. He Renlong has always been angry about this matter, and now Zhou Yanru asked him to join Zuo Liangyu. He Renlong thought about it, after meeting Zuo Liangyu, wouldn't he become his subordinate and want to salute him? Besides, he has fought with thieves many times, but he has not tasted defeat. He Zuo Liangyu is a defeated general, first lost Luoyang, and then lost Nanyang, the court has not yet settled accounts with him, and he wants to shake his majesty in front of Lao Tzu, but there is no door!

Therefore, although He Renlong led the troops out of Tongguan, he deliberately grinded, and stopped to drink and have fun every day after walking far. Because he knew that although Zhang Xianzhong's main force had already left Luonan, there were still small bands of thieves, and there were also many bandits who fell into the grass. It's best to let Zuo Liangyu go first, let him taste some bitterness, and then recover Yunan in one fell swoop. At that time, he can take the opportunity to participate in Zuo Liangyu and take away his seal of the general of the thief.

He Renlong grinded, and Zuo Liangyu grinded more than him. Zuo Liangyu has suffered a big loss from thieves, and his troops are not many, and there are only four or five thousand people in the full battle. Among them, there are only more than 1,000 cavalry, which is an old unit that has been gathered, and its combat effectiveness is relatively strong. The remaining 3,000 people are temporarily recruited displaced people along the way. After gathering enough of these troops, Zuo Liangyu dared to enter Shaanxi, otherwise he would not dare to come if he was killed.

And Zuo Liangyu also has his own little abacus. He saw that the imperial court really had no soldiers available now, so he had to let Zuo Liangyu lead the troops to suppress the thieves, otherwise it would be difficult to protect his head by relying on the fact that he escaped and fell into Nanyang without a fight. In other words, if you want to save your life, or even make credit for your crimes, you must let the court continue to reuse him; And there is only one reason why the imperial court wants to reuse him, that is, he has soldiers in his hands. The more soldiers he has, the safer he will be, and he can even ask the court for money.

Therefore, Zuo Liangyu "recruited troops and horses" all the way, but he had no food and salary on hand, what should he do? Then all that remains is to snatch it from the common people. Zuo Liangyu is not as good as He Renlong in terms of military discipline, and the quality of his subordinates is uneven, and some are even worse than thieves, Zuo Liangyu also turns a blind eye to this.

After several days of grinding, He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu's men and horses finally arrived in Luonan, and the thieves in Luonan had already disappeared without a trace. Zuo Liangyu swaggered into the southern city, and reported to the supervisor Zhou Yanru and the imperial court to ask for merit. He Renlong was too lazy to take care of him, so he was stationed in Shimen Town, north of the south of Luonan, and also reported to the imperial court.

Originally, these two people were relatively peaceful, but two days later, Xie Sanbin, the imperial historian of Shaanxi Province, impeached the officials and soldiers of Yunan, slaughtered more than 100 men, women and children in Xiejia Village, and cut off their heads to pretend to be thieves. Xie Sanbin is from this village, and only one of his relatives came out of the village to send him a letter in Huayin County.

This piece of music can really be described as a stone that stirs up a thousand waves. Originally, the government and the opposition were very dissatisfied with Zhou Yanru, the superintendent, but now the officials and the army have done such a thing that has lost their conscience, how can they tolerate it!

In fact, as early as the Apocalypse, when the officials and soldiers suppressed the thieves, there were often things about arson and plundering the people, killing good people and taking meritorious deeds, but at that time, they did not kill any relatives of the imperial history, so there was no such a big response. Since Chongzhen ascended the throne, Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting were appointed to lead the troops to suppress the thieves, these two people governed the army very strictly, and the official army was also the old foundation of the Qin soldiers and the Tianxiong army. Now that Zhou Yanru has been replaced, the matter of killing good and risking merit has come out again, how can the courtiers let it go, and for a while, the court is raging, and they all demand a thorough investigation of the murderer, severe punishment, and Zhou Yanru must be held responsible.

Xie Sanbin insisted that the officers and soldiers who killed Liang and risked their merits were He Renlong's subordinates, on the grounds that the officers and soldiers who did it had Shaanxi accents. Of course, He Renlong refused to admit it, but said that Xiejia Village was the closest to Luonan City, and it must have been Zuo Liangyu who instigated his subordinates to do it.

Zuo Liangyu was furious when he heard the news, and led his troops to find He Renlong to reason, but the two of them did not agree and started to move, and the soldiers on both sides were killed and injured dozens of people, and He Renlong was shot by Zuo Liangyu with an arrow, and escaped with injuries.

It's a good thing that the thieves didn't kill a single one, but the officials and soldiers themselves did it, and innocent people were also harmed. Zhou Yanru, who was in Xi'an, was anxious, and while persuading Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, he still had to defend himself, how could he still have the heart to suppress the thief?

"Thieves come and go, soldiers come and go, thieves plunder in front, soldiers in the back, thieves plunder like combs, soldiers plunder like shaving. The people are bitter soldiers, more bitter than thieves! ”

On this day, Lu Xiangsheng read the report on this matter in the Beijing Times, especially when he saw the angry comment at the end, and couldn't help but sigh deeply. He went to the recital again yesterday, asking to go to Shaanxi to fight the thieves, without asking for command, even if he only led one guard and one army, it was better than wasting time in Beijing. But when the music is handed over, it is sinking into the sea again.

When he was depressed, he suddenly heard someone outside the door shouting: "Lu Xiangsheng takes the order!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng was in high spirits, and hurriedly went out to kneel to meet the will. However, he saw a young officer in a special military uniform, holding a token and preaching loudly: "Holy Command: Lu Xiangsheng will go to Changchun Garden to meet him immediately!" ”