Ming Dynasty: Tanks blocked the door and you said to me, "Long live Ming Dynasty"

Just as I was wondering, another long cry of a wild goose was heard.

"Gah-"

Two short and one long!

A flash of understanding suddenly appeared in his eyes.

He hurriedly said to the deputy general beside him: "I will go to drain the water, you lead the team to continue forward."

After saying this, he rode away from the team without waiting for the deputy general to reply.

Chonglou came back soon, but he did not return to his own team. Instead, he rode his horse to the front of the Chuangzi Camp.

Li Zicheng saw him riding towards him and asked curiously, "Hey, Brother Lou, how did you get here?"

Chonglou immediately gave him a suggestive look: "Talk to the prince next to you."

"Let's go." Li Zicheng immediately understood, and the two of them rode away, keeping a distance from the team.

Chonglou immediately said, "I just received a message from His Majesty that the court has issued an order to reduce the number of vassal states."

Li Zicheng could not read a single word, so how could he understand what it meant? "What is the order to reduce the power of the feudal lords?"

"It means that the imperial court will take all the property of the princes and leave each prince with 10,000 taels of silver to settle down."

Li Zicheng was stunned when he heard this: "In other words, we were intercepted by His Majesty?!"

As soon as he thought of this, he waved and shouted to the soldiers of Chuangzi Camp not far away.

"Stop, stop, stop! Don't move, don't move! Don't move!"

When the messenger heard the order, he immediately passed it back one by one.

"Stop moving forward! Stop moving forward!"

Li Zicheng asked, "All these vassal kings are now penniless. Who else can we rob? What should we do next? Does Your Majesty have any instructions?"

Chonglou shook his head: "There is no other instruction, just to inform us that the order to reduce the power of the princes has been issued, and there is no need to bother the princes anymore."

Li Zicheng couldn't help but feel crazy after hearing this.

The team gradually stopped.

Li Guo, Niu Jinxing and other generals were confused and rushed forward to ask.

Niu Jinxing asked, "We are not far from Anyang, why did the prince suddenly stop marching?"

Li Zicheng looked unhappy: "Why go to Anyang? The emperor took action before us!"

Li Guo interrupted curiously: "Uncle, what happened?"

Li Zicheng said on the spot: "What kind of a shitty order did the imperial court issue to reduce the power of the princes? They robbed all the princes of their property! They only left 10,000 taels for each of them..."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, especially Niu Jinxing, who shouted, "How dare the Emperor Tianqi use such a tough approach against the vassal king? Doesn't he know that things will turn into the opposite extreme?"

Chonglou said calmly, "They have rebelled. I heard that the King of Qin led 8,000 soldiers to rebel, but the whole army was annihilated. The King of Qin and his eight sons were all beheaded, and three princes also died."

Niu Jinxing couldn't help but gasp when he heard this.

"Hiss - I didn't expect that Emperor Tianqi, at such a young age, would be so decisive in killing. Your Majesty, we must be more careful in our future actions."

Li Zicheng flicked his whip and gritted his teeth, saying, "Stop talking about useless things. Now we should think about where to go first!"

At this point, Chonglou was at a loss, after all, Zhu Youxiao did not give any clear instructions.

Gao Yigong sat down on a dead tree by the roadside, took off his shoes, and scratched his toes, saying, "In my opinion, since we're already here, we might as well go directly north and seize the capital in one fell swoop while the emperor is away!"

"When the time comes, Master Li will be the emperor, and we will all become princes!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at him.

Li Zicheng was also shocked. Has it come to this?

He and Li Guo knew that they were rebelling on orders, but their brothers were unaware of this.

Over the past year, the rebel army under his command has become strong and powerful, and is no longer the mob it once was.

In terms of combat capability, they are by no means comparable to ordinary garrison soldiers.

The reason why he was able to suppress these people was because of the big pie of rebelling and becoming emperor.

The capital is just a few hundred miles away now. If I don’t go, will my subordinates become disloyal?

But he didn't need to wait for an excuse, Yuan Zongde was the first to stand up and oppose it.

"You can't go to the capital!"

"Although the emperor is in Shanxi, there are still more than 100,000 guards in the capital. With our current strength, we are far from being their opponent."

"So, I think we should go south now!"

Niu Jinxing nodded after hearing this: "Zongdi is right. For us, continuing to accumulate strength is the best choice."

“But you can’t go south!”

"The food we looted from Prince Lu's mansion was distributed to the people. The remaining food in our army is only enough for three days."

"If we go south, we will have to go back the way we came. Once we are surrounded by soldiers, we will be left with no food."

"So I think we should go east, into Shandong!"

Li Zicheng thought for a moment, then asked Li Guo for a map. After staring at it for a long time, he punched the map hard.

"I wonder if you brothers dare to play big with me!"

Gao Yigong looked at him in bewilderment: "You've already rebelled, what else are you afraid of?"

Li Zicheng sneered: "This matter is even bigger than rebellion!"

Niu Jinxing, Yuan Zongdi and others all live here, could it be that...

Isn’t rebellion the biggest thing in the world?

Even Chonglou was confused. Could it be that His Majesty sent someone else to pass on some secret order to Li Zicheng that he was not aware of?

Chapter 450 Since we are going crazy, let’s go crazy together!

Li Guo thought for a long time, but still couldn't guess what Li Zicheng meant, so he asked, "Uncle, what do you mean......"

Li Zicheng stood up straight, looked towards the southeast, took a deep breath, and said with murderous intent.

"The royal family of flowing water, the aristocratic family of a thousand years!"

"No matter how chaotic the times are, no matter how hard the people's lives are, there will always be a family that enjoys fine clothes and delicious food, and continues to be rich!"

"They claim to be descendants of saints, but they seek personal gain by distorting the saints' teachings."

"They control the voices of the literati, but they only have their own eyes, and never the people of the world!"

"So, I want to clean up the mess for the Saint!"

"And by the way, return to the people the wealth they have plundered from the people for thousands of years!"

"Snapped!"

Before he finished speaking, Niu Jinxing collapsed to the ground with a look of extreme fear.

Oh my God, I finally understand what is bigger than rebellion!

He was a scholar and had achieved great success.

He knew better than Li Zicheng how big that store’s reputation was!

"Master, please don't talk nonsense! You can never do this!"

"All the scholars in the world think they are the children of saints. If we touch them, even if we really achieve great things, our country will not be stable!"

Chonglou was almost frightened to death on the spot.

Dog day!

This is a huge matter...

Li Guo also got scared.

It’s not that he hasn’t killed officials before, but if he touches that family, the consequences will be far more than just killing a few officials!

I'm afraid if things get to that point, even Your Majesty won't be able to handle it?

Yuan Zongde also didn't expect that Li Zicheng would come up with such a crazy idea. He stood there in a daze, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

However, after listening to it, Gao Yigong slapped his thigh and grinned.

"Damn, this is exciting!"

"Master Li is Master Li. Just thinking about this deal makes me excited!"

"Destroying that family is like setting fire to the emperor's throne!"

"His kingdom is unstable, so here comes our chance."

"I remember this move. It's called 'Watching the Fire from the Other Side of the Shore' in the Thirty-Six Stratagems."

Li Zicheng was very surprised!

He just wanted to take a big gamble, but he didn't expect that Gao Yigong would interpret his proposal like this...

Unexpectedly thoughtful!

He asked with some doubt: "When did you secretly read the military book?"

Gao Yigong grinned and said, "Look at what I'm saying. I'm going to be the emperor's uncle in the future. I can't let people laugh at me for being a rough guy, right?"

Hearing this, the corners of Li Zicheng's mouth twitched unnaturally.

Damn, I want to be the king's uncle...

Unless you dig your dead parents out of the ground and give birth to a daughter to give to the current emperor.

Pointing at Gao Guiying, you're probably doomed to failure in this life!

Niu Jinxing collapsed on the ground, almost crying in anxiety.

He really couldn't understand what was wrong with his own King Chuang and why he made such a shocking decision.

"Master, how about we go and attack the capital..."

"If that doesn't work, let's just turn around and go back to Shanxi and capture the emperor!"

Li Zicheng, however, was like a turtle that had eaten a weight, and had no intention of listening to any advice.

In his opinion, the emperor asked him to rebel in order to give the people a way to survive.

Now that he had finished confiscating the princes, he no longer looked down on those wealthy landlords. Even if he dug three feet into the ground, he could at most find tens of thousands of taels of silver, which was nothing!

But the remaining princes were taken away by the emperor, and he could not think of a better target except that one family.

He doesn't care about the so-called saints at all. He is not a scholar to begin with, so who cares how he writes the word "Confucius"?

Confiscating property, dividing land, and exchanging money and grain for titles are the most important things!

So, in response to Niu Jinxing's persuasion, he responded with a firm face.

"I have already decided. I will conquer Shandong first and then head north to the capital!"

Chonglou was conflicted and wanted to persuade him, but the obvious reason had already been given by Niu Jinxing. After thinking about it, he bowed to Li Zicheng.

"Master Li, can I have a word with you?"

Li Zicheng knew what he wanted to say, nodded slightly, turned around and walked away.

When they were far enough away from Niu Jinxing and the others, Chonglou asked in a deep voice, "Aren't you afraid of His Majesty's blame for making such a bold decision?"

Li Zicheng smiled calmly: "Since the day I rebelled under the order of the emperor, I knew that there were only two possible outcomes for me!"

"One is death, the other is life!"

"There are two ways to die. Either you die at the hands of officers and soldiers who are acting like a real person, or you die by being given a cup of poisoned wine by your majesty!"

"After all, this matter cannot be exposed to the public. Only the dead can keep the secret!"

"There are two ways to live. Either be imprisoned by His Majesty in the capital, or be exiled overseas!"

"No matter what, there will be no place for me in the Ming Dynasty!"

Chonglou remained silent, because he knew that what Li Zicheng said would definitely come true one day in the future.