stubborn thief

Although Liu Chengzong had some complicated emotions about Li Zicheng's arrival, as if "the emperor has come to us for surrender", he was still very happy in his heart.

This kind of benign annexation between forces can provide a large amount of new blood for the Marshal's Office. Zhang Xianzhong's faction is such an example.

At the same time, this also means that since Chongzhen ascended the throne, the four groups of people who emerged at the Qingjian League that year have all been brought into Liu Chengzong's pocket.

Wang Jiayin's successors were Zhou Qing and Hui Dengxiang, who were entrenched in Hengshan. Gao Yingxiang's faction had always been an ally of Liu Shizi, and Liu Shizi himself was a leader. Now Li Zicheng, who had nothing to do with inheritance, had also joined the Marshal's Office.

This certainly has more far-reaching significance for Liu Chengzong.

The military and civilians of Xuanda had been at odds with each other for more than 200 years. With his rise, the barbarians in the north and south of the desert became one family, and there was no more war.

The Qinghai pirates, who had been a thorn in the side of the Shaanxi and Gansu military and civilians' minds for more than a hundred years, turned to good under his persuasion and moved to the top of the snow-capped mountains to pay tribute to the Buddha.

The Jurchen Eastern Tartars, the mortal enemy of the Liaodong military and civilians for nearly fifty years, were destroyed by him, their nests were destroyed and their tombs were burned, their army was defeated, and their arrogance to interfere in the south of the desert was put down.

just now.

The bandit rebellion that has plagued Qin, Jin, Chu and Yu over the past ten years will also be incorporated into the army of Chuang Jiang and eventually disappear, becoming a fleeting ripple in the tide of history.

Who quelled this massive and magnificent uprising of refugees in Shaanxi that started with the Second King of Baishui?
Could it be Emperor Chongzhen and his courtiers?
of course not.

It is the great guardian of peace - Chengzong!
Of course, in addition to this historical significance, what is more important to Liu Chengzong is that Li Zicheng is his old acquaintance.

When he was still eating in the Mizhi County prison, he had already met Li Hongji, who inherited his father's business as a postman. They truly got to know each other from humble beginnings.

Although our life trajectories are different, we know each other well and are emotionally closer than others.

In order to welcome his old friend to join, Liu Chengzong held the most grand welcome ceremony in the war. He ordered the Minister of Rites, King Han, to escort Li Zicheng from Xi'an, and the Minister of the Court, Zhang Xianzhong, to Mizhi to welcome him and bring Li Zicheng and his generals over.

Li Zicheng's journey was extremely absurd.

From Xi'an Prefecture to Yan'an Prefecture, along the way I saw many old friends who had once caused chaos in counties and prefectures, now transformed into proper government garrisons.

But this actually seems okay. After all, back when everyone was still bandits, a group of leaders had already played the trick of going to court to judge cases.

In Baishui County, the place where the Shaanxi Uprising started and where Wang Erge, the initiator of the rebellion, rose up, he even saw a Ming Dynasty royal family scholar named Zhu Jiongyan serving as a county magistrate for the rebels.

Moreover, it is hard to say whether Baishui County belongs to Liu Chengzong or to the Ming Dynasty like Hancheng.

Before Zhu Jiongran took office, Baishui County had no officials to govern it or troops to defend it.

Similarly, there were no Ming officials or troops stationed in Baishui County. The last Ming army here followed Sun Shoufa, Liu Jinjue and other Han Heying soldiers to attack Liu Chengzong, but was defeated in one encounter.

After that, the gentry of Baishui County discussed together in the county government office and collected taxes. They then transported the money and grain to Xi'an Prefecture under the pretext of paying taxes to the imperial court.

These are the second or even third batch of gentry in Baishui County. They basically took sides in every rebellion or when bandits passed through the border, and used various means to

Liu Chengzong was busy collecting grain at the time. When he saw that Baishui County was quite sensible, he removed the county from the list of enemies and moved it to the list of prefectures and counties that had already surrendered, and it was the most loyal county.

Although Baishui County at that time was an autonomous lawless place.

But Liu Chengzong didn't care whether he was autonomous or not. For example, when he sent troops to his hometown, he couldn't collect any money or food.

And Baishui County took the initiative to transport the money and grain here themselves. Isn't this loyalty enough?

At this time, Zhu Jiongran, a member of the Shen clan from Luzhou, Shanxi, was studying in the Imperial Academy as a tribute student. He was selected by the Ministry of Personnel to be the magistrate of Baishui County and came with the commission.

The gentry and common people of Baishui County had no objection at all to this magistrate, who was a member of the imperial clan. After all, in their view, he was the scapegoat who was to be stabbed.

So they cheated both sides.

They paid taxes and grain to the Marshal's Office and were also loyal to the Ming Dynasty. The only thing they knew was that this year's money and grain had already been given to Chen Qiuyu.

Everyone thought that they could delay it one day at a time. Anyway, the next grain delivery would be in half a year. With such a long time, who knew what major changes would happen in this bizarre world.

Zhu Jiongran's job as a county magistrate was quite normal. Whenever he had to submit an official document to the court, the yamen runners would send it to the Sixth Office for revision, and then hand it over to the governor's office of Xi'an Prefecture. When the reply from Xi'an Prefecture was sent back, it would also be revised by the Sixth Office of the county government before being handed over to Zhu Jiongran.

Even when Li Zicheng passed through the border this time, Zhu Jiongyan thought that he was an army from the imperial court to suppress the rebellion, and he even pulled "General Li" aside to exchange greetings.

To be honest, Li Zicheng didn't notice anything wrong at first. The Marshal's Mansion was such a weird place that he thought "that's just how it is" no matter what happened. It was just because he was short-sighted.

Baishui County is nothing more than another characteristic Hancheng of the Marshal's Mansion.

Not surprising.

Until he walked back to his hometown in Mizhi...the huge impact came from Zhang Xianzhong, the Minister of Rites.

Zhang Butang, who wore an iron hat, mercury armor, a goose-feather sword on his waist, and always talked about the tall and short things of a yellow boy, actually felt at ease in his position as the Minister of Rites.

Li Zicheng found it hard to accept.

Really, even if the Minister of Rites was a coward like the King of Han, Li Zicheng could still feel the existence of some courtesy.

And the Eighth King... can this thing be a minister?

Li Zicheng's evaluation is not as good as Zhang Tianlin!

Although Zhang Tianlin's personality was not likable and he was very arrogant, Li Zicheng could at least feel that Zhang Tianlin's arrogance was just his pity for the weak.

No matter how annoying he is, Zhang Tianlin has his own set of rules in his heart and knows the strong and the weak.

I am strong and you are weak, so I look down on you. But if you need help, as a strong person I should help you. But if I help you, it proves the fact that I am stronger than you, so I have more reason to look down on you.

This kind of personality determines that it is difficult for Zhang Tianlin to become a leader. He is more like an auxiliary general and it is difficult for a leader like Li Zicheng to feel threatened.

Zhang Xianzhong is different. He is the kind of guy... the kind who comes from a grassroots yamen runner, is fierce and fierce, and can play dumb. He has sufficient leadership internally, but never stops taking advantage of external forces. He is a threat wherever he goes, and is the kind of villain who can't get along with anyone.

Li Zicheng could understand that Liu Chengzong sent the Minister of Rites to Mizhi to pick him up, intending to let him have some fun in his hometown before going to Yulin to pay a visit.

But Zhang Xianzhong, who was so aggressive, brought along Mizhi County Magistrate Wen Yingxing and a group of local gentry, and continued Li Zicheng's second sentence, pointing to a hill not far away and saying, "Yellow boy, I heard from this turtle magistrate that you stopped sheep there!"

County Magistrate Wen Yingxing dared neither to be angry nor to speak.

He had just taken office, and Mizhi was like a den of thieves. The treatment of being a county magistrate here was not much better than being a prefect in Yan'an, and the same government orders could not be issued outside the government office. Even when a rebel leader like Zhang Xianzhong came to Mizhi in person, he was the last person in the city to know.

He originally wanted to run away, but just as he climbed over the back wall of the yamen, he was caught by Zhang Xianzhong's followers, who escorted him all the way to the main gate. He was happily given the title of "Turtle Magistrate" and was forced into the team to welcome Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng didn't know how to respond to this.

He really didn't want to get on the same page with Zhang Xianzhong.

But Lao Zhang is used to being arrogant and will never fight internal battles before being beaten. He even shouted for a three-year tax exemption when he first arrived in Liu Chengzong's territory. How could that be a good thing?

How could they give up just because Li Zicheng turned his face away? They were so proud and arrogant all the way that Li Zicheng's forehead twitched many times. Li Guo's hand was on the hilt of the knife all the way down. They almost raised the flag and went back to Yunyang to fight Lu Xiangsheng.

The generals who led the Chuangying would rather be beaten by Lu Xiangsheng, Zu Dale and other Ming army leaders for another year than endure this humiliation under Zhang Xianzhong.

It’s funny to say that the worse the local system of the Marshal’s Office was, the more determined Li Zicheng was to meet Liu Chengzong and surrender to the Marshal’s Office.

Last year, he followed Liu Chengzong on the Eastern Expedition and briefly passed through Shaanxi. At that time, all people heard about was the great peace in Qinghai reported by the Marshal's Office.

The Qinghai Marshal's Office, which had a complete system with three complete military, civilian, political, industrial and commercial systems for Han, Mongolian and foreign people, had little appeal to Li Zicheng.

But now, the Marshal's Office in Shaanxi is in a mess, which makes it very attractive to Li Zicheng.

When he was young, Li Zicheng was a mediocre person who was content with the status quo. But now, after fighting for many years and tasting the sweetness of having the power of life and death and the excitement of plundering like a migrating beast, it is difficult for him to accept being a mediocre person.

Obviously, the Marshal's Office in Shaanxi revealed four words: it's time to use people.

It was this belief that enabled Li Zicheng to suppress his subordinates' desire to run back to Yunyang to die, and to endure Zhang Xianzhong's disgusting and arrogant attitude all the way to Guide Fort, 40 miles south of Beitai, Yulin Town, outside the second border wall.

There was a roar of artillery fire from the north.

As soon as Li Zicheng walked out of the border wall, he saw the eye-catching ceremonial guards outside the dilapidated Guide Fort.

With the arrival of Li Zicheng, the Yellow Dragon Banner was raised high, the Rao Ge guards struck the bells and played music, the jian drums were struck, the bianqing sounded crisply, the xun tunes rang in harmony, the row of flutes were blown together, the waist drums were beaten, and the twenty-four dragon drums struck each other until the Yellow Dragon Banner was lowered, the bamboo baskets swept across the stand on the back of the crouching tiger, and the drums and music stopped.

Then more than a hundred guards carrying sticks, flags, fans and umbrellas lined up, and warriors holding leopard-tail spears, ceremonial swords, and bows and arrows lined up on the left and right. Twelve personal followers wearing swords rode out on horseback, ten in front and two in the back. Liu Chengzong rode in the middle, and when he saw Li Zicheng from a distance, he spurred his horse out.

Li Zicheng and others were still shocked by the majestic procession of the emperor at first sight, when Liu Chengzong had already rushed up to them in the sand raised by the horse's hooves. He dismounted and grabbed Li Zicheng, who had just been pushed hard by Zhang Xianzhong and was about to bow down.

"Hahaha, Brother Huangwa!"

"I heard from Zhang Tianlin that you had entered the inner city, and I have been looking forward to seeing you come. Finally, you are here... Baby!"

Liu Shizi held Li Zicheng's arm and glanced behind him. He recognized Li Zicheng's nephew Li Guo in the crowd. Li Guo was only a few months younger than Li Zicheng and he had seen him often when they were children. So he greeted him and then nodded to a group of unfamiliar generals of the camp one by one.

Others also hurried to salute.

His enthusiasm made Li Zicheng a little overwhelmed.

Even the many generals behind him had their heads buzzing.

Observing the attitudes of Zhang Tianlin, Zhang Zhen and Zhang Xianzhong along the way, they had already formed an inherent impression that Liu Chengzong was terrible and inhuman.

No matter what, they could not have imagined that Liu Chengzong would be so close to them.

Of course, the greater shock came from Zuo Liangyu, who was walking forward with a knife behind Liu Chengzong.

They had really fought with Zuo Liangyu in Wu'an, and when the two sides met this time, their eyes met and it seemed like there were sparks in the air.

Only Liu Chengzong didn't care at all. He smiled and said, "This is my adopted son Liangyu. Now that we are a family, the past is in the past."

"The fighting is still going on in Yulin. Let's talk while we walk."

To be honest, with the two arrogant guys Zhang Tianlin and Zhang Xianzhong as his support, Li Zicheng was so moved that he almost cried when he saw that Liu Chengzong was willing to ride side by side with him.

"Brother, come to help me at the right time. Look at that Lu Bo."

Liu Chengzong pointed his whip at the imperial guards. Actually, he was not used to these red tapes. He said, "The Khan of the Jin Dynasty, Huang Taiji, usurped the title of Emperor Chongde. I fought with him east of Mo Nan, took advantage of him, and seized his flags and banners."

"The current map looks like a big rock, too ugly to look at."

Li Zicheng's eyes widened. Who would dislike an ugly map?

What's more...you make such a light talk about such a big event as beating the emperor outside the Great Wall?
At this moment, Liu Chengzong suddenly turned his head on his horse, stared at Li Zicheng and asked: "Brother, do you really want to join me and work together for the great cause? Or do you just want to find a place to rest and settle down, and then go out and form your own army in the future?"

To be honest, Liu Chengzong always felt that people like Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng would eventually do great things.

On the contrary, Li Zicheng himself didn't think too much and was simply stunned by the question.

"Lion... Marshal, I sincerely submit to you and will naturally do my best to help you achieve your great cause."

Liu Chengzong turned his head to look at the road ahead and nodded slowly, still not believing it in his heart.

But believe it or not, Liu Chengzong had experienced this kind of thing before. Loyalty is always dynamic. If he can't control others, it means he is not as skilled as others. There is no need to worry about it.

He smiled and said, "In that case, let's join hands and do something great!"

After that, he continued, "Brother, you are a little late for the attack on Yulin, so you can't join us. I think we should give the battalion of troops to Li Guo and let him be the lieutenant general. What do you think?"

Li Zicheng's face suddenly darkened. How could he seize the military power right away?

In fact, for him, the best destination in his heart is to have a place to run a business or garrison there, where he can recuperate and have a chance to prove himself as a leader.

After all, there are only a thousand people in Chuangying now. Although the military force is small, there are many elite soldiers and generals who have fought in the whole north, and more than half of them can be officers.

However, handing the post of battalion commander to his nephew Li Guo did not completely take away the military power.

He thought for a moment and asked, "Then according to your wishes, where should I go?"

"Of course he is by my side. Brother has been the leader of the army for so many years, so of course he should be an official. It is more than enough for him to be the chief in the military office - don't complain about the low position."

Liu Shizi smiled and said, "Don't let others say that you can't convince the people. It's also a way to familiarize yourself with the military affairs of the Marshal's Office. When you return to Xi'an, you can move up and there will be a chance to lead troops to fight in the future!" (End of this chapter)