The weather in August is hot. The sun hangs high in the sky and pours heat on the earth. The temperature at this time has reached nearly 40 degrees. Lewen Novels Ordinarily, even the most industrious farmer has to find a shady place to stay in this kind of weather, otherwise it would be no joke if he suffers from heatstroke. There is no 120 emergency ambulance on call these days. Medical conditions are basically unavailable, and people suffering from heat stroke will have to burp until they are done. But in this weather, there was a group of people wearing different clothes and holding various weapons hurriedly walking on the mountainside. The two leaders were one tall and one short. The tall man was named Yang Chengzu, and the short man was named Wang Long. They were all Luo Rucai's confidants. After Luo Rucai was killed by Li Zicheng, he immediately launched a purge of Luo Rucai's old troops. During this purge, most people had no choice but to defect to Li Zicheng. A small number of people who were unwilling to surrender were either killed or killed. Yang Chengzu and Wang Long were the two who escaped. Yang Chengzu looked back and saw that there were only less than 2,000 people behind him, and a feeling of sadness surged into Qintou. Since he followed Luo Rucai in the rebellion, he had spent most of his time enjoying food and drink. At his peak, Luo Rucai had troops. Three to four hundred thousand. At that time, even Li Zicheng had to respect them. They were so majestic at that time, but now they are like a lost dog being chased by Li Zicheng's men. The contrast is really too great. Wang Long on the side was also panting heavily. Big beads of sweat kept flowing on his face. The clothes on his body were so wet that he could squeeze out the water. He took out a water bag from his waist and was about to pour it into his mouth, but after a long time, But only a few drops of water were poured out, and he was so angry that he dropped the water bag on the ground. Wang Long cursed breathlessly, and then said to Yang Chengzu: "Old Yang, you can't keep running like this. If this continues, we will all die in this forest in less than two days." "Don't run? If we don't run, we will die now!" Yang Chengzu gritted his teeth and said: "Those idiots behind us are following so closely, we will be caught up by them as soon as we stop for a moment, and there are all officers and soldiers outside, so we are like rats in the bellows. You have to finish whatever you encounter!" "That's not necessarily the case." Wang Long's lips were already blistered due to not drinking water for a long time. While speaking, his throat made a hissing and hoarse sound from time to time, which was a symptom of extreme dehydration. He stared at his bloodshot eyes and shouted: "Since that rebellious Li Zicheng won't give us a way to survive, then we might as well surrender to the officers and soldiers." It¡¯s better to go than to die of thirst and starvation!¡± ¡°To surrender to the officers and soldiers?¡± Yang Chengzu hesitated and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I haven¡¯t thought about this, but we have been fighting with the officers and soldiers for so many years. Do you want us?" Wang Long reminded: "Lao Yang, although we are sworn enemies with Mr. Lu and Mr. Sun, they are not the only ones who will destroy us this time, but also Xuan Dajun!" "WhatXuan Dajun? " Yang Chengzu immediately shuddered when he heard this. Although the sun was already high in the sky at this time, he suddenly felt that the originally hot weather suddenly became a little cooler. The situation during the battle with Xuan Dajun a few days ago flashed through his mind like lightning. Thunderous noises and streaks of fire flashed by, and countless brothers who were charging forward fell on the road like mowing grass. From then on, the name Xuan Dajun lingered in their hearts like a nightmare. Thinking of this, Yang Chengzu gritted his teeth and said: "Old Wang, do you want to kill us? Those people in Xuan Dajun are all demons who kill without blinking an eye. If we go to them, aren't we going to die?" "That's not necessarily true." Wang Long suddenly smiled mysteriously: "I have inquired about it a long time ago. The treatment at Xuan Dajun is very good. Soldiers get two silver dollars as military pay every month. And they have meat to eat every day. When they are full, After five years of service, you can retire and go home, and the government will distribute land to you. Don't you want such a good thing? " "What?" It's not just Yang Chengzu who heard this, but also People around him gathered around and started asking questions. "Boss Wang, are you telling the truth? Is Xuan Dajun's treatment really so good?" "Is it true? Is there really such a good thing in the world?" "Nonsense, I can still lie to you, it's my fault. Many people have asked. Of course it is true!" Wang Long looked impatiently at the green-eyed bandits behind him and said impatiently: "The road is now in front of you, it's up to you how to go. " Yang Chengzu thought for a long time and then slapped his thigh fiercely. "Damn it, you're going to die sooner or later anyway, so it's better to give it a try. These days, I've finally figured it out. As a bandit, if everyone has a good end, he might as well join the court. If it's done, maybe we can still hang out together. "Yesit's going to be a dead end anyway. It's better to seek refuge with the imperial court." "That's rightsince that son of a bitch Li Zicheng is so vicious, we can't be polite to him."?Go to the court! ¡± A group of people shouted in confusion, and then the remnant soldiers were defeated and walked towards the outside of the mountain I have to say that the saying that fools are blessed is sometimes quite right. When Yang Chengzu and Wang Long When the people stumbled out of the mountain with this group of half-starved bandits, they happened to encounter the Ye Bu Sui who came to search the mountain. When these more than ten Ye Bu Sui suppressed nearly two thousand bandits, they returned. When they arrived at Xuan Dajun's camp, even Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei were alarmed. "What Luo Ru was killed by Li Zicheng? "In Xuan Dajun's commander's tent, Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei exclaimed at the same time. Yang Chengzu and Wang Long both knelt on the ground and said tremblingly: "Sir, everything the villain said is true. The two villains are dissatisfied with Li Zicheng. Well, it was the intruder who was too overbearing and killed Mr. Luo before he rebelled. The villain has now repented and decided to abandon the dark side and turn to the light. Please give the villain a chance to make up for his mistakes. " Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei looked at each other, and Hu Dawei shouted: "Whether you two can make up for your mistakes depends on the court, but if you two really make great contributions to the court, I can also do it for you. If you plead with the court, you might even be granted an official position. " "Thank you for the promotion, sir! " Yang Chengzu and Wang Long kowtowed with joy. They had gone through so much trouble to escape and join the army, just to save their lives and get an official position. If they could really have a future, it wouldn't be a waste of their efforts. Looking at the two people who were still kowtowing on the ground, Yang Guozhu frowned slightly. Under the influence of Yue Yang, the etiquette of kowtowing is no longer popular in Xuan Dajun. In Yue Yang's words, if you kowtow to the head too much, it will affect the whole person's knees. Become soft, if you don't even have hard bones, then you are still a soldier. Yang Guozhu waved his hand: "Okay, you all get up." We declare that the army cannot kowtow to others, but stand up and speak if you have something to say! " "YesThank you, sir." " After Yang Chengzu and Yang Chengzu stood up, Wang Long asked boldly: "May I ask, sir, if the imperial court absolves us of our sins, can we join Xuan Dajun and continue to serve the imperial court? " "Join Xuan Dajun? Yang Guozhu was stunned for a moment, and then showed a joking expression: "Why do you want to join Xuan Dajun?" " "Xuan Dajun's military pay is high. I heard they can even give us some land, so of course we want to join! "Wang Long was anxious and blurted out an authentic Shaanxi dialect. "Pfft" Hu Dawei on the side suddenly became happy when he heard this. Even a mature and steady person like Yang Guozhu also smiled. "Okay, this Let¡¯s talk about it later. After all, the two of us can't make the decision in this matter, but the only thing I can promise you is that if you can really make a contribution, I will help you petition the court for a lighter sentence. "In the end, Yang Guozhu finally made the decision and sent the two people out. After Yang Chengzu and Wang Long went out, Yang Guozhu said to Hu Dawei: "Old man, what do you think of this matter? Hu Dawei pondered for a while and said: "Lao Yang, we have been here to suppress the bandits for several months. Don't you want to quickly destroy the bandits like Li Zicheng and then return to Xuanda University?" Or return to Lu Duchen's command? " "Well what do you mean? Yang Guozhu asked seriously. Hu Dawei sighed: "Lao Yang, don't you understand?" Although the intruders are still hiding in the mountains and have not been wiped out, they are like grasshoppers after autumn and cannot survive for a few days. As long as we work harder, we will annihilate them sooner or later. Now it is time for us to choose our side. " Hearing this, Yang Guozhu's expression became more solemn: "Dawei, please speak clearly. " "Youdo you really want me to tell you everything? Hu Dawei took a long breath and said: "Yue Houye has made a request to the court a few days ago, asking the court to grant him a fiefdom for high officials. This has never happened again in the two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty." event. Think about it, if the court agrees to give high officials to the marquis, the court will gradually take back Shanxi, Liaodong, Shandong, etc. afterwards. What should Xuan Dajun do? What should we, the old ministers of the Marquis, do? " Yang Guozhu stopped talking. Although he is a military general, he is not a reckless man who only knows how to fight in battle. In terms of political wisdom, he is even more powerful than Hu Dawei. If the imperial court really gives Yueyang a fiefdom for high-ranking officials , then Yueyang will naturally have to have high officials in the future, so the governor of Xuanda, governor of Shanxi, governor of Shandong and other positions he currently holds will have to be handed over. But most of Yueyang's current interests are in these places, especially Shanxi. This is where Yue Yang started his career. There are too many interests entangled here. Once Yue Yang leaves, will he be able to protect his old subordinates? Where will Xiang Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu go in the future? Yang Guozhu felt thatThe bag begins to swell. Taking sides has been a very important knowledge since ancient times. How important is it? It is not an exaggeration to say that it is important to your life and death, because this matter is related to your future and destiny. Have you ever seen how many talented people since ancient times have been in a miserable life or even died because they were on the wrong team. Now there are two paths before Yang Guozhu and Yang Guozhu. One is to continue to follow Yue Yang wholeheartedly. However, once you choose this path, you will most likely have to follow Yue Yang to become a senior official in the future. In the eyes of today's people, this is a Go somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Another way is to change the family and choose a new backer, but this road is also difficult to follow. After all, based on their current status, there are not many people who can be their backers, and even fewer people are willing to accept them. After a long silence, Yang Guozhu said: "Dawei, do you think the Marquis sent us here this time with the intention of testing us?" "Well it's very possible!" Hu Dawei nodded, " If we look at the distance and distance, we are not as good as Wu Chengfeng, the Marquis's brother-in-law, let alone General Hu, Yue Shunbao and other old people who have followed him since childhood. At best, we are just monks who have become monks halfway. The Marquis has doubts about us. It's normal. So our decision now affects the rest of our lives." Yang Guozhu suddenly asked: "What about youwhat are your plans?" Hu Dawei smiled bitterly: "What else can I do? Anyway, the mark of the Marquis has been branded on our bodies, and it cannot be wiped off. Let¡¯s just go to the dark side. Shouldn¡¯t we spend the rest of our lives staying in the Dajuan? If the Marquis can go, why can¡¯t I go? What?" "Yes" Yang Guozhu also sighed. Hu Dawei asked: "How are you, old man? Have you thought about it?" "Of course you have thought about it!" Yang Guozhu laughed: "Since you have made a decision, how can I lag behind you? Let's go Let¡¯s meet with Lu Duchen and quickly wipe out these bandits, and then go back to Xuanda to prepare things!¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± The two of them looked at each other and smiled, then stood up and strode outside Three days later In a cave in a dense forest somewhere in the mountains of Huangshi, after several days of cleaning, Li Zicheng finally sorted out the more than 20,000 horses left by Luo Rucai. Mixing sand with sand, secret execution with execution, now he finally had this group of more than 30,000 bandits under complete control. Today he summoned his men to discuss this urgent matter. Li Zicheng was still wearing the light blue outer robe, with a sword hanging on his waist. All the longbows, arrows, and pots were also carried behind him. He looked at the more than ten generals in front of him and said: "Brothers, the officers and soldiers have been surrounding us here for more than two months. We are about to run out of food. If we continue to waste it with the officers and soldiers, I'm afraid we'll all starve to death here soon. Let's talk about what we should do. " "What else can we do? Since the dog court won't give us a way to survive, let's fight with him! What's more, we just swallowed him! I don't believe that we can kill Cao Cao's more than 10,000 troops. With more than 30,000 troops, we can't fight our way out!" The person who spoke was Li Zicheng's number one general Liu Zongmin. Li Dingguo on the side also agreed: "General Liu is right, we still have more than 30,000 troops. With these troops, we may not be able to fight a bloody way! It's just that Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng are both old and cunning people. We also Be careful of their ambush." ??Someone on the side said: "Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng are nothing. The most difficult thing to deal with is the Xuan army. If they get entangled, we won't even think about running away!" , everyone's expressions became a little ugly. The reason why Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai ended up in such a situation was entirely because of Xuan Dajun. Rogue bandits, only those bandits who move around can be called rogue bandits. Li Zicheng was able to fight with the Ming Dynasty for so many years by relying on the magic weapon of constant flow. Today he is in Kaifeng, tomorrow he will be in Macheng, and the day after tomorrow he will be in Zhengzhou. Although the imperial court had a large number of people, there was nothing they could do. Even if Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting tried every means to encircle and suppress them, they could always escape through the cracks. But since Xuan Dajun joined the battle a few months ago, Li Zicheng and the others were like Sun Monkeys under a tight spell. No matter where they went, they would be overtaken by Xuan Dajun's cavalry, and then use their long-range firearms to fire elephants. They were beating them like kites, and these people were like brown candies that couldn't be shaken off no matter how hard they were shaken off. In the end, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai were forced into the mountains step by step, and finally ended up where they are today. "I'm sorry, grandma, these Xuan army are really evil. They only have less than 2,000 cavalry, why are they so difficult to deal with?" Li Guo angrily kicked a tree stump at his feet. "Not a cavalryman"It¡¯s because their firearms are so sharp! Sun Kewang said quietly: "Their firearms can kill people at a distance of four to five hundred steps. What else can we do?" Has everyone forgotten the lesson learned outside Kaifeng last time? " Upon hearing this, everyone shuddered in their hearts. It was the battle two months ago that destroyed the arrogance in the hearts of Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and others. In that battle, Li Zicheng, who did not believe in evil, He Luo Rucai led 70,000 to 80,000 roving bandits to attack Xuan Dajun's phalanx of fire guns. The result was that less than half of the 70,000 to 80,000 roving bandits survived. The corpses of tens of thousands of people covered the ground for more than ten miles, and they were frightened. The courageous Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai quickly went into the ravine with the remaining tens of thousands of people. Only then were they made dumplings by Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng, which also led to Luo Rucai being killed by Li Zicheng. The upset Liu Zongmin said angrily: ¡°It won¡¯t work this way, and that won¡¯t work either, let¡¯s just wait here to die! " Just when everyone couldn't think of a way, there was suddenly a burst of rapid footsteps outside, and a leader stumbled in and shouted hurriedly: "King Chuang, leaders, something serious has happened, officers and soldiers officers and soldiers Calling over! " "What are you talking about? How could the officers and soldiers find us!" " This leader was so anxious that he almost swore to the sky: "It's true. I saw it with my own eyes. The leaders are Yang Chengzu and Wang Long! ¡± Everyone was shocked. Everyone ran out of the cave in unison and looked outside. They heard faint shouts of killing coming from a mountain not far away, accompanied by bursts of killing sounds. There was a roar. It turned out that the officers and soldiers were really coming (To be continued)