After everything was done, Qin Shuhuai was ready to set off again and go to the three sides. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The day before he was ready to leave, Lao Dao hurried back to the helm.

When he came back, he came to pack up his belongings and prepare to move to the head of the White Lotus Sect in Tianjin, after all, he was going to take root there in the future. The second is to say goodbye to the brothers of the Vermilion Bird Hall, and at the same time negotiate with Qiu Dali and others about the selection of the new incense master of the Vermilion Bird Hall, and take advantage of Qin Shuhuai's help so that he can quickly approve. Thirdly, and most importantly, he brought the first batch of information that Hua Shen had collated.

From Hua Shen to the present when he was the envoy of the White Lotus Sect, in just half a month, Qin Shuhuai was very curious about what information he could bring to him.

"Tell me, what kind of information did you get?" Qin Shuhuai immediately asked excitedly.

Lao Dao took out a thick letter and put it on the table, and then began to say, "Helper, Lao Hua has mainly sorted out two aspects of information. One is about the three sides of your trip. ”

"That's good, he has a heart. Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one not be defeated, if there was enough information last time we went to Jiangnan, we would not have tossed for so long. Qin Shuhuai said appreciatively.

Lao Dao nodded and continued, "The White Lotus Sect has many followers in the trilateral region, including ordinary people, rogues, and officers and soldiers. On the second day of his tenure, Lao Hua sent people to secretly contact the believers on the three sides, and collected a lot of information from the people, the rogues, and the officers and soldiers, and then summarized it as follows. ”

Lao Dao picked up a few pieces of paper, which was the focus of his picking.

Looking at the words on the top, he continued, "The bandits on the three sides now mainly lie in Shanxi and Shaanxi. In Shaanxi, Zhang Xianzhong was the main leader, who claimed to be the Eight Kings, and the rest of the Liukou were all or substantially dependent on him, or nominally dependent on him. According to him, he had an army of 100,000 under his command and 17 allied troops, totaling about 200,000 horses. However, according to the White Lotus Sect's inner statement, there are actually no 200,000. His own descendants are only about 50,000 or 60,000 soldiers and horses, and the other 17 Alliance soldiers and horses are 40,000 or 50,000, totaling more than 100,000. ”

Qin Shuhuai groaned and said, "Zhang Xianzhong has so many soldiers and horses now?"

He remembered Zhang Xianzhong in history, and it seems that he hasn't done it so much now.

Lao Dao said with certainty, "It shouldn't be wrong, because these news are not said by one person, but by many White Lotus disciples in Shanxi. ”

Qin Shuhuai bowed slightly, thinking to himself that Zhang Xianzhong's development speed was one or two years faster than in history.

He also asked, "Shanxi has been in drought for many years, where did this money and grain come from, and how did you feed 100,000 soldiers and horses?"

Lao Dao said, "Among Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates, there is a man named Luo Rucai, who is good at strategy and is known as 'Cao Cao'. To put it bluntly, he cooperated with salt merchants and grain merchants, Zhang Xianzhong protected their family property and shops from the rogues, and they secretly transported salt and grain to him, and even helped them purchase ordnance and other materials. The so-called heavy punishment of silver merchants is not only merchants engaged in the exchange of tickets and silver, but all other merchants except salt and grain merchants, and if they do not comply, they will deduct a profiteer's hat, kill their entire family, and occupy their property. In this way, on the one hand, they have ensured logistics, and on the other hand, they have a silver source, so they can naturally gain a foothold in Shanxi. ”

"This Luo Rucai has some ability. What about Shaanxi?" Qin Shuhuai asked again.

"On the Shaanxi side, it is mainly headed by Gao Yingxiang. Gao Yingxiang's strength is a cut above Zhang Xianzhong. He claimed to have 300,000 mercenaries, and there were 28 princes of the Route, with a total strength of 500,000. In reality, however, it is estimated that only 100,000 of his descendants are dependent on his allies, and another 50,000 are dependent on his allies. Gao Yingxiang calls himself the king of Chuang, and there are many generals under him, the most famous is Li Zicheng, who claims to be a general, and there are also Liu Zhe, Huang Long, etc., it can be said that his strength is the strongest among the rogues. ”

"Where did he get his money?"

"Originally, it was also a robbery. But after seeing that Zhang Xianzhong's method was good, he did the same. The disaster in Shaanxi was not as serious as in Shaanxi, so he was relatively rich in money and food. Gao Yingxiang is more reasonable than Zhang Xianzhong, and his reputation is better, not as murderous as Zhang Xianzhong, so he is more respected in the local area, and the people say that he has the appearance of an emperor. ”

Qin Shuhuai smiled slightly and said, "Is there a saying that 'King Chuang comes and doesn't pay for food'?"

Lao Dao smiled and said, "There is such a sentence." But this is what the common people say, and those rich businessmen don't think so. If he doesn't pay food from anyone, what will his army of hundreds of thousands eat and drink?"

Qin Shuhuai paused, suddenly remembered something, and said, "Didn't you say that there is still a person named 'Monk Wang' on the three sides? Legend has it that this person got the Emperor Scroll in the Three Treasures Secret Scroll, how is he doing now?"

Lao Dao smiled disdainfully, "This king is the most funny for himself, half a year ago, he just had some fame, and he listened to the words of a dog-headed military advisor, and released news that he had won the emperor scroll, which means that he can become an emperor and let all the rogue people come to attach themselves to him." But he didn't want to think about the guilt of guilt. As soon as the other rogues heard that he had any imperial scrolls, they immediately turned around and beat him and snatched this imperial scroll. As a result, at the end of last year, he was defeated by Li Zicheng and was captured himself. Later, Li Zicheng asked him for the imperial scroll, and he said that he had blown it himself. Haha, do you think this person is stupid?"

Qin Shuhuai's eyelids lifted slightly, and said, "He was exterminated by Li Zicheng?"

"yes, what's wrong?"

Qin Shuhuai said in his heart, if it was Li Zicheng's last exterminated king, then maybe there really was some emperor scroll.

Because Li Zicheng really called the emperor later, didn't he?

Li Zicheng is not as stupid as Wang Ziyong, even if he gets the imperial scroll, he will not say it.

Lao Dao flipped a few pages, and then said, "By the way, there is another important piece of information, it is said that Zhang Xianzhong's side wants to worship Gao Yingxiang as the leader of the alliance with the other thirty-four Liukou." At that time, these soldiers and horses were collectively called the 36th Battalion, and Gao Yingxiang was the leader of the 36th Battalion. This matter is now in the discussion stage, and it has not yet been implemented, but it should be soon. ”

Qin Shuhuai thought to himself, in history, when Gao Yingxiang was the leader of the 36th Battalion General Alliance, it was in Chongzhen for four years. At that time, it was because Hong Chengchou took office as the governor of the three sides and began to vigorously suppress bandits, and all the rogues could not hold on to the war, so they formed an alliance.

But now that Yang He is still in the governor's office, it seems that the life of the rebel armies in various places is quite good, how can there be an alliance all of a sudden?

If this pressure did not come from the Ming army, then it must have been generated within them.

If you can figure out the reason for this, there may be a lot to do.