Li Zicheng Chapter 19:1

When Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng were talking upstairs, Xu Yixian took a few retinues and galloped to Wangjiahe on horseback, constantly whipping his mounts with whips on the road. By the time we got to Zhang Kewang's camp, it was already four o'clock. He called up Zhang Kewang and repeated the idea that he should take the opportunity to get rid of Li Zicheng. Ke Wang is only twenty-two years old this year, but his heart is fierce, surpassing his righteous father. Before Ding gave birth to a son, Xianzhong always regarded Kewang as his heir, and Kewang also regarded himself as The heir of Xianzhong. Although Xianzhong had recently given birth to a son, because one of the peasant armies always attached importance to the status of adopted sons, and the other was that most of the babies in the military and horses could not be raised to adults, Zhang Kewang still believed that he would inherit the Jiangshan laid down by Zhang Xianzhong in the future, and after listening to Xu Yixian's words, his drowsiness suddenly disappeared, and he suddenly jumped up and said loudly:

"You're right, you must not let the tiger return to the mountain!"

"But the big young marshal, without further ado, the sooner the better."

"What's the rush? Can't fly him! ”

"If you fly away, you won't regret it."

"Since he has come from afar, he will not go too quickly, and he will rest for at least three days and five days, and the matter of killing him will be wrapped up in me, allowing me to slowly consult with my father."

"The general is bad. Li Zicheng will never stop here. If we don't strike right away, we'll lose our arms. ”

"How can I see that he doesn't stop much?"

"I think that Li Zicheng was busy collecting the rout and inquiring about the whereabouts of his wife, daughter and subordinates, just as the so-called anxious, it turned out that he had no intention of stopping here, plus knowing that Lin Mingqiu came to Gucheng at this time, it made him even more unwilling to stop." This person is quite alert, maybe tonight we will agree on a plan to start an incident with our marshal, and tomorrow I will suddenly stop going tomorrow when I don't know. ”

"Will he go so fast?"

"Li Zicheng usually uses his soldiers to haunt the ghosts, and often makes the officers and soldiers uncertain, not to mention that he is far away from the troops today, and he is in a dangerous situation, how dare he be careless?"

Zhang Kewang thought for a moment and said, "Well, I will never let him go far away and fly high!" ”

He immediately selected two hundred and fifty elite cavalry from the standard camp, and set out with him and Xu Yixian to Gucheng, and entrusted his brother Zhang Wenxiu with the morning exercise of the phalanx. When they ran out of the Wangjia River Village, the rooster had already called twice.

The chickens screamed all over the place, and Li Zicheng was woken up by the servants of Zhang Xianzhong's faction. He had finished his hasty washing, and Zhang Xianzhong went upstairs.

"Brother Li, I'm an acute child, wake you up early, go, go to the flower hall for a glass of heart-warming wine, and you will take advantage of the unknown day to leave." You come to be confidential, go confidential, although Lin Mingqiu lives close, he will know that I am a dick! ”

"Is Ziming coming?"

"Call, waiting for you in the flower hall." Xian Zhong accompanied king Chuang downstairs and said, "For the sake of confidentiality, I have already ordered ren ma jia to leave for the night and wait for you in Gwanghwa County." Fifty of your own soldiers have arrived and are eating. ”

"That's good. You think very thoughtfully. ”

Zhang Xianzhong patted his friend's shoulder and said in a joking tone: "One day, old Zhang will go to your brother Li's eaves to hide from the rain, you don't let me get wet." ”

Zicheng grabbed Xianzhong's hand and replied, "Jingxuan, if there is a day, I will never let you stand under the eaves, and I will definitely pull you into the house." If your clothes get wet, I'll take them off for you to wear. ”

"Really?"

"Of course it is."

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and laughed. Zi Cheng felt cold in his heart, and at this moment he realized more clearly that his cooperation with Xian Zhong would not last long. He punched The Faithful the back and said:

"See people's hearts and minds over time, and then you will believe what I say."

After hastily eating the send-off wine, King Chuang took the doctors Shang Jiong, Zhang Nai, Shuang Xi and his relatives out of the corner gate and set off on horseback. Xianzhong took more than two dozen of his own soldiers and sent them out of the city.

The day is still unknown, and the curfew has not yet been lifted. The streets were deserted, with only the guards and patrol squads under The Devoteees. Xianzhong was sent out of the city for ten miles, crossed the Xianren Ferry Pontoon Bridge, and walked to a three-fork road junction before saying goodbye to the guests. He said to Shang Jiong:

Hey, family, I really want to leave you behind, but I'm afraid that I won't say it. This place is very close to the Wangjia River, you have to pass by the Wangjia River, don't you look at your dry daughter and dry son-in-law? ”

"I'm going to rush with the king, but this time I have to stop seeing them." After that, things will go smoothly, and there will be many days to meet. ”

Shang Jiong's words had just landed on the ground when he overheard a sound of horses' hooves rushing from the north. Although there was a forest partition, it was impossible to see how many people and horses there were, but they were all experienced, and listening to the sound of horses' hooves alone could tell that there were two or three hundred horses. Xian Zhong was surprised: What happened to Wang Jiahe? King Chuang's heart was also nervous, and he exchanged a look with the doctor. The doctor gave a hint to the two young generals and their relatives with their eyes, and all the swords were sheathed in an instant, and they were shocked, and then they smiled and said:

"Why?" Drink, in my old Zhang here, why bother? Here, there are neither officers nor soldiers, nor anyone who dares to beat you up with crooked ideas. These people are from Wang'er's side, don't worry too much. ”

Zicheng also smiled and said, "They are always afraid of encountering accidents, and it has become a habit." Then he shouted to the left and right, "Don't put it in the sheath yet!" ”

Although he drank so loudly, Shuangxi lian said "yes, yes", but refused to insert the sword into the sheath, and Zhang Nai and the fifty soldiers all looked at Shuangxi's eyes and acted, and naturally continued to hold the sword in their hands, just in case, Shuangxi could see clearly from the eyes of his righteous father, this shout was not out of sincerity, plus the doctor glanced at him again, so he was not only extra vigilant, but also thought that in case something happened, he would pounce on Xianzhong, and it would be stronger to strike first.

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry led by Zhang Kewang and Xu Yixian passed through the woods. At this time, the east was already white, so as soon as Zhang Kewang came out of the woods, he saw clearly that Zicheng was saying goodbye to Xianzhong. He said to the military master:

"We came just in time, and we left him one step late."

"Please don't be in a hurry when you meet, you must have the consent of the marshal to get started, anyway, he can't get out."

"I understand."

At the first three forks of the road, Zhang Kewang and Xu Yixian were busy greeting the guests and saying a few words of retention, but they did not get off their horses and salute. Shang Jiong asked:

"Mao Tang, what are you running so fast?"

Zhang Kewang replied in a branchy manner: "At night, when the military division arrived at Wangjiahe, the little nephew heard that Li Shuai and your old man were driving to Gucheng, so he specially went to the city to visit the two of them." I didn't expect the two Renbo to go so quickly, if they were a step late, they wouldn't even be able to see one side. ”

Xu Yixian then said, "It's not bad, it's time to send off." ”

Zi Chenglian said that he "did not dare to be", no longer delayed, and once again surrendered his hand to the dedication of loyalty, and led a cadre of people to go away. As soon as they left, They asked their adopted son:

"Wang'er, what are you doing in a hurry?" Why bring so many people? ”

Zhang Kewang waved at the soldiers around him and said, "You all take a few steps back!" ”

When the generals took a few steps back, he hurriedly told his father that he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get rid of Li Zicheng, and asked him to act immediately. Xian Zhong said:

"Although Li Zicheng and Lao Tzu pee in less than a pot, sooner or later they will turn their faces into a vendetta, but today he is in trouble, he specially came to find Lao Tzu, how can Lao Tzu clean him up?" No way! ”

"Father Shuai, since you also understand that sooner or later you will turn your face into a vendetta, why don't you take this opportunity to clean him up and avoid future troubles?" I'd rather be a murderer than a bitter lord! ”

Zhang Xianzhong no longer made a sound, and his eyes showed contradiction and hesitation. Although last night he had vowed with Li Zicheng to start a joint incident after next year's wheat harvest, he did not think that it was a temporary use of each other. As soon as the people left and right of the self-made heard the sudden sound of the horse's hooves, they pulled out their swords, and did they not understand that he explained that the prejudice was very deep and difficult to dispel? If Providence really allows him to achieve great things in the future, to get rid of himself today, it is precisely the will of Heaven on the top, the heart of the left and right of the next, and the oath of he attaches enough importance to! However, if he left Zicheng behind for the time being and pinned down some of the officers and troops in Shaanxi, it would also be good for zhang Xianzhong's current situation. How to do it well?

Xu Yixian saw that Xianzhong's attitude was more active than last night', and he was hesitating, so he quickly asked Xianzhong to hurt Chen's interests and asked Xianzhong to agree immediately, so as not to miss the opportunity. Finally, he said:

"If the Grand Marshal does not show his loyalty, he will be defeated in the future at the hands of his own." It is useless to stay with the marshal, please return to the mountains from now on! ”

Zhang Xianzhong still had no other expression. He swept his eyes at Zhang Kewang's face again, turned his face, and looked in the direction of Li Zicheng's people and horses, at this time, the sky was already bright. He saw a small group of Li Chuangwang's men and horses slowly walking northwest on the avenue on the north bank of the Xiangjiang River, and he even saw his friend Li Zicheng raise his whip in the pale red morning light.

"It's still too late to do it now," Zhang Kewang urged anxiously, with a fierce light in his red eyes. "Father, I'll take the team after you,...... Well, go after it? ”

Zhang Xianzhong still did not make a sound, and kept biting his lip.

"Except for him, don't get behind." Xu Yixian said in a resolute tone, and at the same time held the hilt of the sword in his hand, urging Zhang Xianzhong to decide immediately with his eyes.

From the chongzhen seven years after the Xingyang Conference, Li Zicheng's reputation grew day by day; to Li Zicheng's promotion to the throne, which made Xianzhong deeply jealous. Last night, because of the defeat of the self-made soldiers, this jealousy and the resentment that arose because of the mutual competition for strength and strength were temporarily suppressed, and at the same time, the attitude of self-improvement was straightforward, and the discussion was justified, which also touched him, and showed generosity and enthusiasm for self-improvement.

He glanced at the two or three hundred elite cavalry brought by Ke Wang, and then glanced at the small group of people and horses that had become their own, and a plan to clean up Li Zicheng swept through his mind like lightning. He seemed to see the whole process of this bloody event, simple and swift: he pretended to think of a few important words to talk to himself, and he rode to catch up with himself, and went with himself. Be self-defeating and unguarded. He suddenly raised his hand, and before he could scream, he fell off his horse. Li Shuangxi and others have not yet understood what is going on, and have been cleaned up by Ke Wang and others...

"Please make a decision on the spot, don't hesitate any longer." Xu Yixian said with a murderous look on his face that the sword had been unsheathed.

But Zhang Xianzhong could not make up his mind, and among the many leaders of the peasant army, Zhang Xianzhong was known for being decisive in the face of trouble. Zhang Kewang had never seen his righteous father hesitate like this before deciding to kill.

"Immediately they will go far away, and it will be troublesome to catch up!" Zhang Kewang was impatient with him, and immediately ordered his soldiers and pacesetters to prepare to move. The Mongolian horse he rode also spewed its nose impatiently, stepped on its hooves, and wrestled with the reins, and as long as the master loosened the reins slightly, it would gallop forward like an arrow.

Zhang Xianzhong did not nod his head to allow, but also did not shake his head in refusal. As he watched the shadow of the centaur fading away, he slowly brushed his long, slightly brownish-yellow whiskers with his right hand. At this time, everyone was nervous and breathless, and all eyes were focused on his right hand, and everyone knew that he had a habit: whenever he decided on a major problem that was particularly hesitant, or decided not to kill an important person, he always held the long whiskers with his right hand, and slowly pushed down while thinking, if he slammed his hand tightly when he reached the halfway point, or slammed it down, it was a decision to do it, and if he slammed his hand loose when he reached halfway, it would be all over.

When he had half-brushed his long beard, Zhang Kewang thought he had agreed, drew his sword, and whispered orders to the brethren:

"Ready!"

All the swords were unsheathed, and the horse's head was facing west, only to wait for the handsome horse to move and set out to chase. But the head of the loyal horse did not move, and he tightened the reins of the horse with his left hand, and still held the beard in his right hand, neither slamming down nor releasing it.

Li Zicheng let his oolong colt travel west in the dawn, but did not gallop on horseback. The sudden appearance of Zhang Kewang and Xu Yixian and the fact that he had brought so many people and horses made him very suspicious, but he also saw that Zhang Kewang's appearance was also unexpected by Xianzhong, which showed that Xianzhongyuan did not blacken his heart. Because he judged it this way, he would rather take some risks than gallop too fast, causing suspicion among the devotees. He understood that if that happened, not only would the gains of last night's meeting with Xianzhong be wiped out, but even he himself and a cadre of people would be in danger of dying.

The doctor and the king went hand in hand, and they were also deeply worried about the situation at hand. He quietly said to Zicheng, "King Chuang, it seems that Xu Yixian and Zhang Kewang do not have good intentions, do you notice it?" ”

King Chuang nodded, smiled slightly, and said, "Some awareness, but it doesn't matter." Even if Jingxuan changed his mind, he would not become so fast. Our brethren should be calm, move forward slowly, and not show a panicked appearance. ”

He said that the latter sentence was for the two young generals and his relatives to listen to, so he amplified the voice a little. Sure enough, although everyone was very nervous, they no longer used their whips to drive the horses.