Li Zicheng Chapter 17 1

Walking through the hall, to the second courtyard, Zhang Xianzhong saw that there were only a few close people left around him, and only then did he whisper to Bai Wenxuan:

"Where is the self-containedness?"

"He's waiting outside the city and sending the old immortals to see you first."

"Shang Ziming? Where is it? ”

"I was afraid of leaking the wind, so I let him sit in the back flower hall and wait."

Xianzhong walked to the right through the Moon Gate, bypassing the Taihu Stone Rockery, taking three steps and making two steps, towards the Flower Hall. At the foot of the steps of the flower hall, I met the smiling doctor, who pulled forward, shook the doctor's hands continuously, and said loudly:

"Ahhh! Dude! I can't believe it! Fell from the sky! Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Dude, where did you get here?" ”

The old immortal did not answer his question, nor could he pull out his hand to make a salute, and smiled and said:

"How has the Grand Marshal been lately?"

"Well, well, how are you doing there?" I've heard that, really? Xian zhong dragged the guests to the hall as he went.

"The loss is not small, but it is not over."

"Not over? I heard that you are completely destroyed, and you are not finished? ”

"As long as it is self-contained, it will not be finished."

Xianzhong glanced at the doctor's face, slapped him the shoulder, and said, Yes, yes. Haha laughed loudly, and then sighed with affection, saying:

your family, you say this, I'm relieved! He ordered the wine to be set quickly, and then turned back to the doctor and asked, "I am very happy to hear that Zicheng has come." Ever since you fought in the Battle of Tongguan, Lao Zhang sent people to inquire about your whereabouts, and he was always untrustworthy. Some people say that they have died in battle, we don't believe it, but we can't help but put a stone in our hearts, and now, this stone has been moved. Dude, how many people are you bringing? ”

"Fifty or so."

"Who among the generals is coming?"

"None of them came. King Chuang only asked Shuangxi and Zhang Nai to follow. ”

Xianzhong touched his beard and said with a smile, "Two little monkeys... Have you grown taller in the last two or three years? ”

"Not only have they grown taller, but they are also very long in martial arts."

"Of course, there are no weak soldiers under the strong generals, and you don't say that I know." Xian Zhong laughed again, "How about Jie Xuan and Yu Feng?" He then asked.

"Yufeng is fine. Jie Xuan hung up the color and was already cured. ”

"What about a piece of work?"

"I also hung up the color, and now it's good."

"As long as a few old brothers are very good, my old Zhang will be relieved." Sister-in-law Li heard that she had not yet fallen, right? ”

"Still no whereabouts."

"Hey, really! If sister-in-law Li has three long and two short, it is a pity! She really deserves to be the niece of Gao Ruyue, the king of the Chuang Dynasty, and a good helper of her own. In our old thirteen families and seventy-two battalions, there were thousands of women, and there were very few capable and respected people like Sister-in-law Li. ”

Shang Jiong couldn't help but sigh, shook his head, and said, "Nowadays, although everyone is looking forward to her safe return, they always say something reassuring in front of their own faces, but behind their backs they are afraid that she will not be able to come back." They all said that even if the troops were divided, if she hadn't taken too much care of the old camp's dependents and color numbers during the breakout, she would definitely rush out. If she had a good villain, she would have died for everyone, and died violently. ”

"Dividing the troops is a solution, but why let her leave with the big elite?" She should break through with Herself, and She should be true, and let her wife be alone! ”

When Shang Jiong saw xianzhong, he was not in a hurry to ask where Zicheng was waiting outside the city, how to greet him, where to settle down, and so on, and a fox doubt occurred in his heart: Could it be that he was unwilling to meet with the king of Chuang? The doctor was about to take a look at the words when Xu Yixian came.

Xu Yixian also attended a banquet in the courtyard. After the banquet was dispersed, he was left behind by Fang Juren, who had known him before and was now a close aide of Lin Mingqiu, and had a few private conversations. Because he was a military master of Xianzhong, Fang Juren specially told him the original intention of Lord Lin to come to Gucheng this time, and instructed him to help Xianzhong investigate and hear the whereabouts of Li Zicheng, capture Zicheng, and establish a great merit. Xu Yixian came out of the inspection hall and hurriedly came to the Xianzhong Mansion to talk about this matter with Xianzhong, and when he heard that Hecheng had gone outside Gucheng City, Shang Jiong was talking with Xianzhong in the back flower hall, so he went directly to the flower hall to find out the situation. Li Zicheng came to Gucheng at this time, not sooner or later, and this news made him happy and surprised. Happily, God sent the ghost, and Li Zicheng himself came to throw it into the hands of The Devotee. What was surprising was that Li Zicheng really had the courage to cross hundreds of miles of official military jurisdiction to meet his friends who had long been at odds with him. He was determined to make a speech to Xianzhong, and took advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secretly get rid of King Li Chuang, leaving no one who could compete with Xianzhong in the future.

Zhang Xianzhong introduced his military division to Shang Jiong, and then pointed at Shang Jiong and said to Xu Yixian:

"Old Xu, don't look down on him, he's even taller than Warren's medical path!" Li Tie walked on his back with a medicine gourd and did not use it, if he had met li this family, his lame leg would have been fine. ”

His words caused the hall to laugh. Although Xu Yixian saw Shang Jiong for the first time, he had already heard many stories about him. In the eighth year of Chongzhen, because Zhang Xianzhong joined the eastward army led by Gao Yingxiang, his troops often fought side by side with the eighth team led by Li Zicheng, and the company was stationed, so Shang Jiong often healed Jin Chuang for Xianzhong's subordinates. Shang Jiong's medical skills are superb, and he once saved Zhang Kewang's concubine Xu Shi, but this incident has become a very magical story through people's addition of branches and leaves. It is said that one day Zhang Kewang was drunk and beheaded his concubine Xu Lizhen with a sword. After waking up drunk, Zhang Kewang regretted it and was very sad. Knowing that Xu Shi had been buried, he went to the new grave and cried. For ten days in a row, he was miserable and bored day and night, and he slept and ate nothing. On the eleventh day, Shang Jiong came to see him and told him that Xu Shi was not dead, but was now living with Lady Gao, and asked him to personally pick her up. The doctor put forward two conditions to him: one was not allowed to kill a person in vain from the future, and the other was not allowed to be rude to Xu shi in the future. Zhang Kewang naturally agreed with his mouth, and with a half-hearted feeling, he rode with the doctor to Li Zicheng's camp and dismounted in front of Lady Gao's tent. Lady Gao came out and, as an elder, gently rebuked Ke Wang, and then summoned Xu Shi to meet him. Xu Lizhen was supported by Lady Gao's female soldiers, bowed her head and slowly stepped out, although her body was weaker than before, but still as beautiful as a peach blossom, feminine and moving, she glanced at Ke Wang, teardrops hung on her eyelashes, silently, biting her lips lightly. Surprised and delighted, Kewang stepped forward and asked:

"Oops, you're alive!" Isn't that a dream? ”

Xu Lizhen did not answer, two lines of hot tears rushed to her cheeks, choked and lowered her head.

After Xu Shi returned with Kewang, someone immediately reported the matter to him. He thanked the doctor for the feast and asked kewang and his wife to recognize the doctor as a dry laozi. Shang Jiong was the eldest of the four adopted sons of Xianzhong, the most favored, and he held a heavy army, was very arrogant, resolutely and humblely thanked, and only recognized Xu Lizhen as a righteous daughter. This incident spread among several peasant armies that accompanied Gao Yingxiang to the east, adding some bizarre plots to the original romantic color, especially the biggest change was a detail of Xu's resurrection from the dead. It turned out that Zhang Kewang stabbed Xu Shi with a sword, and the intestines flowed out of his abdomen, and even the intestines stabbed two holes. When people had just carried her out of the tent, the doctor happened to pass by. Taking advantage of Zhang Kewang's drunkenness in the tent, he asked the people to immediately send Xu to the village where Lady Gao was stationed, and buried a fake grave in the wilderness. But the story spread around, but instead of cutting off Xu's head with a sword, only the throat was not broken, saying that after the doctor healed her, her neck turned freely, leaving only a scar like a red line. At this time, the doctor also used the pseudonym used when he escaped from his hometown a few years ago because of the avoidance of the enemy family, so he coaxed that an old immortal in Zhang Xianzhong's army was Chen Shiqing of Dengzhou, but he did not know that it was Lu Shijiong in Li Zicheng's army.

"Zhangfu, you only know that my family saved Li Zhen's life, and you don't know that Wenxuan was also saved by him." Well, the rice has been served, let's eat while talking. Zhang Xianzhong grabbed one of the doctor's arms, tucked him into the first Taishi chair, and shouted to the soldiers: "Take the hot wine!" Take the good fen wine of the credit flag town (1)! ” ──────────────

(1) Credit Flag Town - a large town in nanyang east sixty miles, also known as credit shop, after liberation changed to Sheqi County, the former fen wine produced in western Henan and northern Hubei is quite famous. ──────────────

At the banquet, Xian zhong told Xu Yixian that Bai Wenxuan had been wounded by a gunshot in Luzhou and was seriously injured. Thanks to Shang Shenxian using the medicine of MengHan to anesthetize him, he took out the broken collarbone and placed it in the same length with the same length of dog leg bone. After two months, he was able to ride a horse and fight again, as usual. Hearing this story, Xu Yixianlian said: "Divine doctor! Doctor! What a miracle doctor! But the doctor Shang Jiong was very uncomfortable. Somehow they didn't mention anything about greeting the king, secretly thinking that Liu Zongmin and others didn't want the king to take a risk to come to Gucheng, it seemed that they were right.

Since Shang Jiong arrived, Zhang Xianzhong has been thinking about how to settle for himself. He was afraid of leaking the wind and did not want to take Li Zicheng into the city, and he was also worried that if he hid Himself in the countryside, Zicheng would despise him for fearing the imperial court too much, and mistakenly thought that he was really recruited. Now, his mind was decided. He poured a glass of wine for the doctor and said:

"Drink this glass of wine, eat, let's pick it up." He turned to Xu Yixian and deliberately asked, "Military Master, now that the Inspector has come to Gucheng, Zhang Dajing is also here, and there are eyes and ears of the imperial court everywhere. ”

Xu Yixian, unable to understand Xianzhong's thoughts for a moment, deliberately said, "According to me, it is best to ask the king to live in the mountains and send more people to protect him." After a year and a half, the situation has turned around, and then he will be funded by some people, so that he can gather the old ministry and revitalize it. ”

Xian Zhong shook his head and smiled slyly, saying, "No." Let's bring our own mansion to my mansion and live with Lao Tzu. ”

Xu Yixian was secretly happy, and said in his heart, "Your trickery can't hide from me, little Zhuge Ge!" You're not plain placing him in your mansion, you're trying to shut down and kill chickens, so that he has nowhere to fly. He thought so in his heart, but his mouth deliberately said:

"This place is too close to the inspection court, aren't you afraid that the adults in the hospital will know?"

"Genus! Don't say we won't let him know, in case he gives his turtle son to know, let's hold on, see him in the glare of the helpless. ”

Xu Yixian smiled and nodded. He thought that Zhang Xianzhong was not telling the truth, but he felt that he was not sure of Zhang Xianzhong's thoughts.

Zhang Xianzhong instructed Bai Wenxuan to immediately send people to set up sentries and patrols in the nearby streets and alleys in the name of protecting the patrolkeepers, and to prohibit idle people from passing; he also ordered a soldier to tell his eighth wife, Ding Shi, to quickly send Yahuan to clean upstairs, install a bed, and build a brazier for the king to rest, and from tonight onwards, all idle people are not allowed to enter the courtyard of the eighth lady. He told the doctor:

"Old Shang, I want to make this arrangement: all the self-made people and horses will stay outside the city and hide in my barracks; Shuangxi and Xiao Zhang Nai will live in this flower hall; you, willing to live in my mansion, willing to live in Wenxuan, willing to go to Taiping Town to live with your daughter, and follow you; as for Zicheng, you live in this small courtyard on the east side." Downstairs lives my eighth aunt's wife, please let him live upstairs, no mistake. Do you think that's good? ”

"When it comes to you, you can arrange it anyway." Shang Jiong replied.

Xu Yixian shouted in his heart, "Brilliant plan! coup! ”

"Where is Zicheng waiting outside the city?" Xian Zhong asked the doctor.

"Two or three miles from the city, in a small village."

"Prepare the horse!" Xian Zhong said to the leader of the pro-soldiers behind Shi Li. "Prepare twenty men to follow me out of town and wait at the back door."

Shang Jiong finished eating his meal in a hurry, stood up and said, "Let's go, don't let Zicheng wait too long." ”

"Let's go. Old Xu, you also go. ”

So they went out the back door and set off on horseback with a small group of soldiers.

Li Zicheng was secretly welcomed into the mansion by Xian Zhong, and sure enough, not even a single soldier came to the city, only Shuangxi, Zhang Nai, and Shang Jiong followed. After sitting down in the flower hall, Shang Jiong felt that Xu Yixian's eyes contained a killing chance, and suddenly remembered many words that Liu Zongmin and Li Guo had dissuaded Himself, and regretted that he had neglected to remind Himself to take his relatives with him. But now it's too late to regret it. He secretly observed the look of the king several times, but he saw that the king did not have the slightest uneasiness, as if he did not expect that there would be an accident. After a while, Zhang Xianzhong went to the toilet, Xu Yixian followed, leaving only Bai Wenxuan as a companion in the flower hall, and several relatives and soldiers waiting on the side. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the old immortal gently touched his own foot with his toes. Zi Cheng's heart moved, but he neither looked at him nor made any expression, and seemed to ignore his intentions, and Shang Jiong had no choice but to have a heart of seven up and eight downs, resigned to fate.

Xu Yixian waited outside the toilet, contemplating how to poison Zicheng. When Xianzhong came out of the toilet, he whispered to Xianzhong:

"Commander, how are you going to do it?"

"What's the next hand?" Xian Zhong was slightly surprised,

Xianzhong's answer and expression made Xu Yixian feel strange. He originally wanted to directly express his idea of killing Li Zicheng at the opportunity, but he hesitated for a moment and asked in a tentative tone:

"Did the Inspector tell the Grand Marshal about Li Zicheng?"

Zhang Xianzhong felt strange and asked, "How do you know?" ”

"One of his close aides also told me this."

"What do you think?"

"We are not really willing to surrender to the imperial court, but we are living here temporarily, waiting for the opportunity." How can a grand marshal sell his friends for glory and lose the heart of a righteous man in the world? ”

"Yeah, so why do you want me to do it?"

In the following foolish opinion, although the Grand Marshal should not listen to Lin Mingqiu's words and tie Up Li Zicheng to the imperial court, he should not let him go and leave him with endless troubles in the future. The Marshal also talked to me privately on weekdays, and the only person who can compete with the Marshal in the future is his own. It is better to take advantage of this opportunity to secretly get rid of him, then in the future, the rebel army in the world will only be pointed out by the great marshal and the banner, who will not obey! ”

Zhang Xianzhong's heart moved, and he did not answer immediately. Although he was slightly earlier than Li Zicheng's uprising, he was unique from the beginning, was one of the main leaders of the thirteen early families, and was more famous than Li Zicheng, but unlike Li Zicheng, he held a clear purpose of overthrowing Zhu Mingjiangshan very early, and in order to achieve this lofty political goal, he tried his best to be arduous and simple in life, set strict demands on military discipline, and never forgot to "save the people from water and fire." Xianzhong sometimes thought about changing dynasties in the future, but his thinking was vague and he lacked a clear path to seize power. He attacked many cities and killed many corrupt officials, but he did not know how to target the zhuming court with the goal of revolution. In his body, he often showed shining characteristics, far exceeding many of the rebel leaders of his generation, but he never completely got rid of the ideological brand of the rogue proletariat, and when he came to Gucheng, he originally had a great opportunistic idea, hoping that the Ming Dynasty would give him an official name, pay him military salaries, and give him the defensive land around Xiangyang according to his requirements. If this plan is realized, he will divide one side and wait for change. But not only did these demands fail, but instead part of the gold, silver, and jewelry accumulated in the army over the past few years were given to the high officials in Beijing, and part of the money to Xiong Wencan and the civil and military officials in Xiangyang were leaving. In the past year, the new life experience has forced him to understand some new truths, and he also understands that it is not enough to oppose corrupt officials and corrupt officials, but should completely oppose the Zhu family court. Moreover, because Xu Yixian, Pan Duao and other frustrated literati and careerists came to his side, his idea of competing for the world was fully formed. But now he felt the most hateful was the bastard court in Beijing, the civil and military masters in Xiangyang, and Lin Mingqiu, who had just arrived in Gucheng, not Li Zicheng at all. He wanted to fight for himself, but he looked up to him, trusted him, and said that he would compete with him in the future, which was very far away! Xu Yi saw that he was indecisive, and quickly continued:

"Please don't hesitate to be a marshal. As the saying goes, it is not good not to poison the husband, since ancient times to fight for the world, brothers and fathers and sons still kill each other, not to mention friends! Tang Taizong killed his brother, and he is still the hero of the ages, shining in the annals of history. Xiang Yu could not bear to kill Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, and eventually forced Wujiang to die. Since the uprising of the Grand Marshal, he has killed countless people, so why use it on one person to move the benevolence of a woman and repeat the mistakes of Xiang Yu! ”

Zhang Xianzhong held a long beard in his hand, looked up at the starry sky, and remained silent. Xu Yixian felt that Xianzhong would soon be ruthless, and encouraged him to say:

"General Jingxuan! Today is the heavenly general Li Zicheng as a general; if he goes against the grain and loses the opportunity, he will suffer later. If the marshal was worried that it would be passed on to the outside world and damage the name of the order, this matter would be very easy. As long as you move your lips, tonight I will send someone to bury All of Li Zicheng's gang alive, or kill them and then sink into han shui, how does the outside world know? ”

Zhang Xianzhong's bearded hand shook violently, and not only the body of the slain family of Congcheng appeared in front of him, but also the corpse of the Gan family. He let go of his hand, looked at the military master, shook his head, and said, "This is not a trivial matter!" Let's go and accompany the guests to eat and drink. As soon as he turned around, he strode towards the flower hall.

In the flower hall, a banquet was served for guests to wash dust and wine. In the middle of drinking, although Xu Yixian respectfully and enthusiastically toasted to the king of Chuang, he continued to think about how to persuade Xian Zhong to be fierce. Li Zicheng spoke modestly and behaved steadily; although he had suffered a fiasco and lost his wife and daughter, he was full of confidence and did not feel discouraged when talking about the future; especially when he was thoughtful and talked, he was not as superficial and vulgar as many rebel leaders he had seen... All of this made Xu Yixian feel even more that he had to get rid of him. He pretended to listen to his own speech, carefully looked at the high bridge of his nose and the high and angular cheekbones, and couldn't help but ask in his heart: "Ah, isn't this what the ancients called the Long zhun sun angle (1), the face of the emperor?" He looked at it and thought about it, and the thought of the poisoner was getting more and more impatient, so he left the feast. ──────────────

(1) Long zhuan heliotrope - long zhun is a high nose bridge, the helio angle is a high cheekbones, and superstition is that there is a sun angle bulge on the sideburns. The ancient phase law said that this was the "face of the emperor".