Li Zicheng Chapter 21 2

When the peasant army was challenging outside the city, Ding Qirui was afraid that guancheng would be lost, so he rushed to the southern city, supervised the generals to strictly defend, and at the same time sent people to sneak out of the west gate of Tongguan, and the flying horse chased after He Renlong and told him to return to the division quickly. After the peasant army retreated, he sent people out of the city to inspect, and saw a stone stele with a letter of challenge from Li Zicheng to He Renlong, and asked him to fight a battle near the town of Zhangmao, east of Shaanzhou, within ten days; if He Renlong did not go to the battle, king Chuang would come back to attack Tongguan, ask the people outside the city, all said that it was indeed Li Zicheng's men and horses, saw the banner of the word "Chuang", and saw Li Zicheng wearing a green cloth arrow suit and a small white felt hat, riding on a tall gray-green horse to direct the challenge, and Ding Qirui immediately reported to the emperor with a fiery voice. While informing Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, one of his aides was a little suspicious of this matter, and took advantage of the fact that his performance had not yet been issued, and walked up to him and said:

"Your Honor, Henan Province (1) is a feudal stronghold, and there must be no mistakes, whether or not this rogue thief has broken in, the document to Henan Li Futai should be sent out quickly." Just this urgent letter to the imperial court and the emergency report with the military department, is it okay

Slow down? ”

(1) Henan Province - Luoyang. Emperor Chongzhen's uncle Zhu Changxun (朱常洵) was enfeoffed in Luoyang and was known as King Fu.

"What is the old gentleman's opinion?" Ding Qirui asked, shaking his head gently.

"Judging from the humble post, this stream of thieves last night may not have been rebellious. Please consider it again. ”

"How do you know that there may not be any rebellion?"

"When the japanese thieves broke through and fled, they were divided into two groups, and the elite soldiers would go to Shangluo Mountain. If he had not died in the rebellion, he would have followed this group of fugitives to the Shangluo Mountains, so how could he have reached the Kunhan Mountains? The inferior position cannot be unquestioned about this, for fear of falling into the cunning of thieves. ”

Ding Qirui laughed loudly, then tapped the table with his finger and said, "The old man still doesn't know who Li Zi has become!" This thief is the best at using soldiers, and cannot be treated with common sense. In the foolish opinion of the students, on that day, Li Rebelled deceived the officers and troops, divided into two roads, and he himself sneaked the old and weak and fled to western Henan. Both Ma Ke and Sun Futai were on his grand deception, thinking that he would defend himself with a fine horse, so he mistakenly pursued and killed all the way to the southwest, if Sun Futai had been pursuing and killing to the east at that time, how could the thief escape? Unfortunately, Sun Futai could not see this, resulting in a loss of merit, the worries of the father of the emperor, and the trouble of staying in the local area. ”

The aide still did not dare to agree, and said: "The lord knows the thief's feelings, and what he sees is very reasonable." However, the lowly post still did not understand: At that time, the army was gathered, surrounded by iron barrels, and the thieves left the elite for their own sake, and broke through with the old and the weak, was it not very dangerous? ”

Ding Qirui smiled again and said, "In the past few years, students have paid close attention to inspections, and Li Zicheng's use of soldiers is often in line with the art of war. That is to say, in terms of his breakthrough with the old and the weak this time, it is also the so-called virtual reality, and the changes are unprovoked. The Art of War Cloud: "Therefore, soldiers are impermanent, water is impermanent, and those who can win because of the changes in the enemy are called gods." The reason why the anti-thief Li Zicheng was able to wander through several provinces and repeatedly defeat the officers and troops, and who had not been able to eliminate them so far, Gai Pi often secretly cooperated with Sun Tzu and went out of his mind. After a pause, he added, "That night, many people saw the female thief Gao Shi here. According to common sense, there is no case of husband and wife running away separately, even if the thief wants to abandon gao, will Gao leave her husband? People say that Gao Shi still has the ability, but no matter how, she is ultimately a female stream, don't think of her as too extraordinary. ”

"The adults have analyzed it thoroughly, and the inferior position should no longer be suspicious." However, I heard today that there were not many rogue thieves who attacked and disturbed Tongguan last night. After the new defeat of thieves, since the number of thieves is very small, how dare they be so rampant? Aren't you afraid of the army chasing after you? ”

Ding Qirui brushed his beard and said, "The reason why this Li Zicheng is Li Zicheng is also Li Zicheng!" ”

The staff member stopped speaking, and the rest of the staff praised: "Your Honor is wise, and what he sees is extremely true." "Two urgent documents sent to Beijing were thus sent.

However, it was said that two days after Lady Gao and Liu Fangliang entered the Tong pass, they suddenly attacked Lingbao at night, occupied Niangniang Mountain, which was more than a mile away in the northeast corner of the city, entered Dongguan, burned several houses, and the fire soared into the sky, and the zhixian and garrison all rushed to the city wall in panic, and in the light of the fire, they only saw the big banner of the word "break in" waving, and the cavalry came and went like shuttles. Lady Gao sent her pro-soldier leader Zhang Cai to ride all the way to the vicinity of the suspension bridge and shoot a letter at the city, telling the father and elder in the city in the name of the king of Chuang not to panic, he just wanted to force He Renlong to go out to fight, and did not attack the city. A defender probe asked downwards:

"Hey, who the hell are you?"

"We are the men and horses of the king."

"Didn't King Li Chuang finish his business in Tongguan Nanyuan?"

"Shit! Our king's centaurs will never be finished! ”

"Who are you?"

"Did you ask Grandpa?" Well, you listen! ”

Zhang Cai cleared his throat and replied to the city in a set of rhymes, with pride and contempt for the enemy in his voice:

Your grandfather's house lives

Kitayama Nanli,

Namsan-beili,

A village with trees,

Dog bite camp.

There are surnames on "Hundred Family Names",

The notice of the imperial court is famously inscribed.

At the age of fifteen, he followed the king,

The whip of the shepherd baby was replaced by a knife and gun.

Your grandfather walked through Binh Duong,

Will pass through Xingyang,

Fought Fengyang,

Attacked Nanyang,

Surrounded by Yun Yang.

Break through the path of the yang.

This year your grandfather broke far:

Entered Sichuan,

Visited Gannan,

Have been to Zephanis,

Outside the Great Wall,

Leisurely came to Henan.

Three days ago, I attacked Tongguan,

Now come to Lingbao to play casually.

After singing this paragraph, Zhang Cai plucked the horse and left. By the time a flurry of arrows had been fired at the head of the city, he was already out of range of the crossbow.

The peasant army did not kill anyone here, but filled the grain store with carts and threw some of the grain into the streets to be picked up by the poor themselves. The commotion was even bigger, and the whole team withdrew. At this time, the number of peasant troops found in the city seemed to be small, but because it was night, they did not dare to go out of the city to catch up, and only scolded at the head of the city. Lady Gao was afraid that she would completely miss the bottom and did not allow the brothers to scold back, but she smiled at Hui Mei and said:

"Hui Mei, blow a flute for the city to hear."

The people in the city could not hear the peasant army scolding back, only heard the beautiful flute suddenly appear in the noise of the horseshoe, and when they boarded, they stopped cursing, and the peasant army gradually went farther away, and the horseshoe could not be heard, but they heard the pipe of the flute continuing to blow. After a while, the cheerful and melodious flute became faint, and in the distant hills, in the vast moonlight, it was like a wisp. Some people in the city were talking, and some people were still turning their heads sideways, holding their breath and listening, until they couldn't hear anything, as if they felt a distant and subtle flute sound floating in people's ears.

Lady Gao and Liu Fangliang led the men to bears ears (1) and then into Yongning County. One afternoon, the centaurs had just stepped out of a mountain pass when they heard a shout at the bottom of the mountain, and at the same time they saw more than two dozen people, men, women, young and old, carrying burdens and weapons in their hands, running out of a village gate. A woman riding a pony broke off with three men on foot with knives. There were more than a hundred men with knives, swords, red guns, sticks and other weapons shouting and chasing after them, and the woman's escape suddenly stopped, with a bow and arrow on her body, but used a slingshot to injure two men who were chasing in front of her, and then left again. Not far away, he turned around and injured a person who was chasing him. Although she had no bullets, after all, she was outnumbered and tired of luggage, and she was about to be surrounded by more than two dozen of her people. Lady Gao pointed with a whip and asked Liu Fangliang:

(1) Bears Ears Mountain - There are several Bears Ears Mountains in China, all of which are named because of the confrontation between the twin peaks and the momentum of Bears Ears. Bears Ears Mountain in this book is in the southeast of Luoning County, Henan, and is one of the main peaks of the Funiu Mountains. Bears Ears Mountain here is not very famous in the Shangluo Mountains.

"You see, what's going on here?"

Liu Fangliang stared carefully for a moment and said, "The group of people who escaped were clearly running horses to sell out." You see, the old man walking in front of him was still holding a monkey. ”

"Ah, I see, the middle-aged man in the red robe behind him who is directing the chase is probably a local bully." Let's go and save them, or they'll suffer a big loss." ”

Liu Fangliang did not say the second sentence, took the lead and led the people and horses to rush forward. The people who chased out of the village suddenly saw this group of cavalry and the banner with the word "breaking in" rushing from the foot of the mountain, and they were shocked, and after a moment of panic, they fled back to the village and closed the gate of the village. A gong sounded in the village, and the wall of the village was immediately filled with people. The small group of people selling art saw that this sudden rush of centaurs had come to rescue them, and stopped in front of a land temple. When Gao Fu and Liu Fangliang arrived, they all knelt down to thank her for saving her life, and Lady Gao saw that the woman who would make the slingshot was about twenty years old, and she looked good, jumped off the horse, pulled her up with her own hands, and asked:

"You are a seller, how do you get into a fight with them?"

Liu Fangliang said from the side: "Don't be afraid, we are the centaurs of King Li Chuang, she is the wife of King Li Chuang, and she has the most pity for your friends who eat on the rivers and lakes." ”

The young woman quickly re-saluted and said, "Ah, we have heard madame's name for a long time, we didn't expect to meet madame here, and we will never be able to thank madame's great kindness!" ”

"Don't be so polite. Tell me, why are they chasing you? ”

The young woman's eyes were red, and she hated him and said, "Don't do anything, just because I'm a runner, others think it's good to bully, don't treat us as human beings." Madam, although we are poor and show our faces, we can eat on our own, sell our art and not sell ourselves, and we can be bullied by people at will! There was a bully in this village, who heard that he was in charge of Zhuangzi for the Yongning Wan'an Palace, and he wanted to bully me. At first, we swallowed our anger and said good things to him, but who knew that he was angry, and with a cry, more than a hundred foxes and dogs came up and beat us. We knocked down a few of them on the spot, picked up our luggage and fled to the village..." She wiped her tears with her sleeves and said, "Alas! Madam, you see, it is not easy for us to eat bowls of rice! ”

Lady Gao looked her up and down carefully, felt that although she was a female stream, her eyebrows were heroic, and she saw her slingshot in a hundred shots, and she liked and sympathized with her very much in her heart, and took her hand and asked:

"How old are you?"

"Twenty years old, of sheep."

"Does your man sell art with you?"

The young woman blushed, shook her head, and lowered her head.

The old man who led the monkey replied, "She is not out of the cabinet yet." The disaster in her hometown was great, and the in-laws and the family fled the wilderness the year before, and now they have not returned, so she cannot leave the cabinet. ”

"She's your daughter?" Liu Fangliang asked.

"No, it's not. Her parents died long ago. I was from a village with her master. ”

"Where are you from?"

"The small place is The Daimyo Prefecture of Nagagaki County, where we are, boxing and selling art. Play a lot of monkeys. She learned several sets of martial arts with her master since she was a child, bow, horse, knife, sword are all skilled, and walking rope is her skill. Since the death of her master the year before, she has led our team to run north and south to earn bowls of rice for everyone. But this year, the girl is older, and she has a look, and this bowl of rice is really unpalatable! The old man sighed deeply and shook his head repeatedly. After stopping, the old man continued: "This spring, we were selling art in the wei town of Qixian County, and we were also bullied by local bullies, but fortunately a Li Gongzi came out to fight and save us." But if you don't eat this bowl of rice and disperse the team, is it difficult to let everyone go back home and starve to death? alas! alas! It's hard to put into words! ”

When Lady Gao heard about the siege of the town, she remembered that Chongzhen had walked there when he returned from Fengyang in the eighth year, and asked:

"Is it the town of Nanxiang in Qixian County?" What was the year there? ”

"It is the national town of Nanxiang in Qixian County, and the year is also very bad."

The girl who was selling art suddenly continued, "That Li Gongzi is really benevolent!" In addition to taking out more than a hundred stones of grain from his own family to help the poor, he also made a song of persuasion to persuade the rich and large households to give away grain. Poor people in the county, none of them do not say that Li Gongzi is good! ”

Lady Gao said in a deep voice, "We passed by the town of Wei that year, and I heard that there was a large family surnamed Li, and Lao Tzu was a member of Wei Zhongxian's party, who was originally the inspector of Shandong, and who had hung up the title of Shangshu of the Army department in the early years of the Great Qi. At that time, some people also advocated breaking through the Li family's village, forgetting why King Gao Chuang did not agree, so they went from near the edge of the village to Kaifeng. Later, seeing that Kaifeng was on guard, our men and horses had never come west of Xian Town. Are you talking about Li Gongzi the son of this Bingbu Shangshu? ”

"It is, it is. Although the old lady who died in his family had something to do with Wei Zhongxian, this Li Gongzi was a rare benevolent and righteous gentleman, and he also liked to make some jianghu friends. Last year, the White Lotus Sect east of Kaifeng rebelled, attacked the county seat of Qixian, and destroyed many villages, but the brigade of men and horses hit Li Gongzi's village several times, and Qiu did not commit any crimes. ”

"What is the name of this Li Gongzi?"

"His name is Li Xin, and his words are Bo Yan."

The old man who led the monkey added: "I heard that he has a cousin named Li Deqi, which is also very good." ”

The girl corrected: "Deqi is the word of the second son, and his official name is Li Yu." ”

Lady Gao, seeing that it was not early in the morning, was anxious to hurry up, and had no time to talk about it, and asked the girl and the old man who were selling art:

"You guys don't have a lot of people, don't you?"

The girl said, "Not a lot, not a lot." The group of dogs I hit with the slingshot did not dare to come closer, and there were a few good martial arts guys in front of me who opened the way and took everyone out. ”

Madame Gao exclaimed, "You have fought well, you have fought well, and if you are a little weaker in front of these evil dogs, it will be bad." ”

The girl smiled and said, "In winter, the clothes they wear are very thick, and we specialize in the places where they don't wear clothes." ”

The old man with the monkey continued, "Those vicious dogs didn't believe that our class leader was strong, and they pounced hard." The leader was the teacher of the village, holding a large knife that was dangling brightly, and while chasing after it, he cursed ugly words. Our class leader said, 'Asshole stuff, be honest with me, put down your big knife!' He scolded even uglier. Our squad leader hit his right hand with a shot, and the large knife he was holding fell to the ground, frightening him to shake his hand and retreat. Another evil dog was even worse, with a red gun, squeezing his eyes and crooked mouth, very vulgar, and our class leader said, 'I'll blind your left eye first!' As soon as the words came out, the guy shot up in his left eye and shouted, 'Not good!' Denshi covered his left eye and squatted down. The people chasing them were startled and did not dare to come closer. But the bully's village leader shouted , 'Chase! Chase! 'Drive the multitudes forward. Our class master said: 'Watch your nose! The guy couldn't dodge, he was shot in the nose, and his face was full of flowers. When we ran to the zhaimen cave, the township braves were closing the zhaimen, our guys whipped down one with a rope, and the other two township braves quickly fled for their lives. After we left the village, they still did not give up, but we were afraid of eating a lawsuit and did not dare to let go and fight and hurt people's lives. Otherwise, Madame, it is not difficult to kill a few of their dogs, and our class master is also a hundred shots in the arrow method. The cotton coats they wore, no matter how thick, would not block the arrows. Our class masters have been holding back and refusing to shoot their people with arrows! This time, although we refused to harm their lives, we also told them to taste something bad. ”

The girl said, "They are the snakes of the earth, the hegemons of one side." We have too few people, and we are dragged down by the old and weak, if we are not saved by our wives, we will eventually suffer a big loss. ”

Madame Gao said, "Unfortunately, there are only about two dozen of you, including the old and the weak!" ”

The girl said, "There were originally forty or fifty people in this group of ours, but because it was not easy to earn money and make ends meet, one or twenty people were sent to the city. ”

The old man then said, "We, the class leader, don't look at the female class, but act very justly." She never swallowed the money she earned, and always shared it with everyone according to her share. Some eat three portions, some eat two portions, some eat one portion, how much should be eaten. Because she is selfless in her work, so the guys are willing to follow her with all their hearts, and there are only twenty-eight of us in her master, and now there are almost fifty people. ”

Madame Gao smiled and looked the girl up and down, and then said, "Let's go." While we are resting here, the people in the village do not dare to come out and chase you. When you're far away, we'll go. ”

The old man and the girl said a few more words of thanksgiving, quickly bid farewell to Lady Gao and Liu Fangliang, and led the crowd to set off. But they had just taken a few steps when Madame Gao stopped the old man who was walking at the end, smiled and asked:

"In the future, when we may meet again, your class leader's surname?"

The old man quickly replied, "Don't dare, don't dare, the villain's class leader's surname is Xing, his maiden name is Red Niang, and his stage name is Red Niang." In the areas of Eastern Henan, Northern Henan, Southern Qi and Luxi, if you encounter a jianghu seller, everyone knows the Red Lady who walks on the rope. ”

Madame Gao smiled and nodded, watching this group of runners go north. She said to herself, "Red Lady, Red Lady, this girl's stage name is very chic." Then she also got on her horse and rushed with her men and horses. After walking for a while, she still couldn't forget the girl who ran a horse and sold her solution, and smiled at Liu Fangliang on the horse:

"Ming Yuan, just now this girl, other martial arts do not know how, I see her slingshot is a hundred shots."

Liu Fangliang smiled, but did not make a sound.

Lady Gao also praised: "It is not difficult for a woman to know several martial arts, but the difficulty is that she is a big girl who has not yet left the cabinet, and she can lead a group of people to break south and north on the rivers and lakes, and get the unanimous support of her own people, and the rivers and lakes are also respected." Rare, rare! ”

After He Renlong rushed back to Tongguan, because he was not paid and was somewhat afraid of Li Zicheng, he used the excuse that he was a Shaanxi troop and did not bear the task of "suppressing thieves" in Henan, and stayed in Tongguan without moving. It was not until half a month later, after consultation between Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, and Ding Qirui, the new governor of Shaanxi, that he was given the title of a heavy place in Luoyang Domain and could not be lost, that he was transferred out of the customs to "pursue and suppress the thieves." However, Lady Gao decided not to engage him, and only mysteriously circled with him in the mountains of a few hundred miles, and at that time, from Shaanzhou to Zhengzhou, in the counties south of the Yellow River, a large and small pole and a White Lotus Sect revolt were everywhere. This situation is very conducive to Mrs. Gao's activities.

Lady Gao led her men and horses to stay in the mountains of Luoning for ten days, collecting grain and grass while resting, and later heard that He Renlong led a large army to Lingbao, and in order to lead the official army to continue east, she suddenly went north from Luoning and conquered Maozhen in the east of Shaanzhou, and then to the east, through Yangshao Village, northwest of Vortex City, through many mountains, to a Yellow River ferry called Horseshoe Nest. It has only been a month since the invasion of Tongguan, and the number of people has doubled.

It was a cloudless afternoon, and the men and horses were camped in the small streets of the horseshoe nest. Lady Gao, with a dozen men and women, climbed a mountain, and immediately in the sunset, looking at the Zhongtiao Mountains in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province, opposite, the Tong Mountain is bald, overlapping and overlapping, the snow peaks are connected to the blue sky, towards the sunset, silver light and golden light flashing at each other, it is really a miracle. Looking down on the Yellow River, sandwiched between the mountains on both sides, like a zigzag belt, the river has been frozen, and there is snow on the ice. From time to time, pedestrians come and go on the ice, stepping on a big road. The body of the river, the silver light dazzling in the sun, and the dark forest in the shade, has been shrouded in twilight. Although there are a few huts in the horseshoe nest, they are cut off from cooking smoke. A group of jackdaws returning from the wilderness circled in the twilight, falling one after another from the treetops, and the banner of the word "Chuang" was erected on the bank of the Yellow River, rolling the sunset in the west wind. Mrs. Gao looked at the banner as if she could hear it hula. Facing the majestic natural scenery, the jade flower raised its head and tail, Xiao Xiao hissed, and then kept pedaling the rock with its hooves. Mrs. Gao also evoked a string of memories in her heart. In November of the seventh year of Chongzhen, she and the rebel army led by her uncle Gao Yingxiang stepped across the river from here and entered Henan. In the first month of the following year, the thirteen seventy-two battalions of the thirteen families met in Xingyang, which changed the situation of the war from then on...

She continued to stand in the mountains and turned her eyes to the northeast. For several days, she kept getting news that the Qing soldiers continued to go deeper and soon to the south of The Qi, and if she was not afraid that the old camp in the Kun Mountains would be lost, she really wanted to cross the Yellow River from here and go north to see the situation!

"Alas, where are the Tartars going to burst out?"

She stared to the northeast for a long time, full of doubts, until the smoke on the top of the mountain floated and the twilight grew thicker, and then she led her relatives down the mountain to return to the camp.