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The Yangtze River rolls along as it flows eastwards, its waves wash away all heroes, and success or failure becomes nothing.
For Li Zicheng, the saying "right and wrong, success and failure are all in vain" is very appropriate for him.
After taking Yanjing, he was about to become the common ruler of the world and establish an eternal foundation, but in the blink of an eye, he ended up wandering around again.
Looking at the river flowing eastward, Li Zicheng lingered in front of the mountain temple for a long time and sighed secretly.
He asked the captain of the guards, Nong Danian, who was beside him, "How much of the food and grass Qin Mu promised to deliver?"
"Your Majesty, we have already transported 20,000 stones to the Dabie Mountains. Together with what we already have, it will be enough to sustain us for ten days to half a month."
Qin Mu did not break his promise. He sent Zhao Han, the deputy, to discuss a joint attack on the Qing army. He suggested that Li Zicheng temporarily retreat to the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains between Qishui and Huangmei, and stay across the river from the Qin army to help each other. The Qin army was willing to provide some food and weapons supplies to the Dashun army free of charge.
Dabie Mountain is adjacent to Wuchang in the west, Huguang in the south, Anqing in the east, and Luzhou (Hefei) and Huainan in the northeast. It is a strategic point in the heart of China.
Qin Mu's decision to let Li Zicheng retreat into the Dabie Mountains not only showed his sincerity in cooperation, but also had good intentions.
But Li Zicheng did not appreciate it. He felt that although the Dabie Mountains could be used as a military stronghold, they were not suitable as a base for operation.
Generally speaking, a place suitable for being a base would be like Guanzhong, with fortresses on all sides for easy defense and a flat center for farming and production.
The Dabie Mountains are just the opposite, with flat areas on all sides and towering mountains in the middle.
Although all four sides are suitable for farming, you cannot protect the results of the farming at all, which means that the Dabie Mountains are not suitable as a foundation at all.
It would be very suitable to use Dabie Mountains as a bridgehead for advancing into the Jianghan Plain and the Jianghuai Plain.
Therefore, although Li Zicheng was forced to retreat to the Dabie Mountains and set up hundreds of defensive camps of various sizes on the mountains, he did not give up the idea of moving south to Huguang.
This time he personally brought a small group of personal soldiers to the Yangtze River to inspect the situation in preparation for crossing the Yangtze River.
"How many ships have we built?"
Nong Danian was stunned and answered without thinking, "Didn't the emperor ask about this when we went up the mountain?"
"I asked?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. I have just told Your Majesty that we have built about 200 ships."
Li Zicheng was somewhat stunned, and he sighed inwardly. He was only 39 years old this year, not old, so why was his memory so bad? In the past, his memory was very good. Although he was busy with military affairs, he could still call out the number of food and grass reported by his subordinates, the number of soldiers recruited every day, and even the names of the general flags in the army. Even if he saw them again after a few years, he could still call them out.
What happened now? Why did he forget so much? Thinking of this, a very ominous premonition suddenly came to his mind, and he couldn't help but tremble in his heart: Is God really going to kill me
For a moment, his back was sweaty and he dared not continue to think about it. He quickly explained: "Maybe I didn't sleep well these days and I'm too tired."
Indeed, Li Zicheng had disheveled hair and a curly beard. He looked dusty and haggard, and with a black eye patch covering one eye, he didn't look like an emperor at all. He looked more like a bandit on the run.
"Your Majesty, Wu Sangui has retreated after his attack on the mountain was thwarted. Your Majesty does not need to worry. Once we have stabilized our foothold in the Dabie Mountains, why not head north to seize the Central Plains?" Nong Danian wanted to say that we did not fight in this way in the beginning, so what if we could do it again now? But he did not dare to say it.
Li Zicheng felt bitter in his heart. What he was facing now was no longer the corrupt Ming Dynasty. It was not easy to start over again as before.
More importantly, he did not claim to be an emperor in the first place. If he failed, he would just start over.
But now that you have proclaimed yourself emperor, you have suffered such a disastrous defeat and are being chased away by others. Who would still believe that you are the true emperor
As the saying goes, the higher you stand, the harder you fall.
Just like a person climbing a mountain, if you fail to reach the top and fall down halfway, you still have a chance to start over.
Once you reach the top, you can stand firmly, look up and see the red sun and white clouds, and all the world is within sight.
If you don't stand firmly, you will fall from the peak into the abyss...
You see, no matter how badly we were defeated, there were still people coming to surrender. But now, there is no one coming to surrender. Instead, almost all the civil and military officials in the court have fled.
Especially when they were halfway back to the Dabie Mountains, even Niu Jinxing and his son Niu Qun escaped.
Niu Jinxing was the prime minister of the Dashun Dynasty, the first person under the emperor. His escape dealt a heavy blow to Li Zicheng, so much so that he could not sleep at night for several days.
"You guys leave first. I'm tired. I want to get some sleep first."
Nong Danian and his guards quickly retreated. Li Zicheng entered the mountain temple, lay down on the pile of dried grass, and soon fell into a deep sleep with the sound of the Yangtze River as his pillow.
After this sleep, Emperor Li Zicheng of the Dashun Dynasty never had the chance to wake up again.
A nearby villager accidentally broke into the mountain temple from the back mountain and saw a big man lying on the hay and snoring with a black eye patch on his left eye and his hands were covered with calluses. The villager thought he was a bandit and was so scared that he turned around and tried to run away, but the moment he turned around, he saw the jade pendant on the big man's waist.
The country was in chaos and the villagers were living in extreme poverty. The jade pendant in front of him had infinite attraction to him, which prompted him to muster up his courage and move forward step by step. At the moment when his heart was about to jump out of his chest, he raised his hoe and smashed it hard... ... ... .
A group of guards from Nong Danian heard the noise and asked a few times outside. When Li Zicheng did not respond, they came in to check and found that Li Zicheng was already a bloody mess, dead in a haystack.
"emperor!"
Nong Da Nian and a group of guards were terrified. One of the guards rushed to the back of the mountain god temple and found a big hole in the back wall. Looking through the hole, he saw someone running down the mountain carrying a hoe.
Nong Danian and others were frightened by such a sudden change. They cried for a while in the mountain temple while holding Li Zicheng's body. Nong Danian, who was blinded by hatred, ordered nearly a hundred guards to go down the mountain and kill all the villagers in several nearby villages to avenge Li Zicheng.
The Dashun Army is now facing a difficult dilemma. If they are rational, they should try to conceal the news of Li Zicheng's death. However, Nong Danian's massacre of the village is undoubtedly equivalent to leaking the secret to the outside world.
Qin Mu, who was fighting a bloody battle with the Qing army on the top of Hanyang City, soon received the news.
"What? Li Zicheng is dead?"
"Sir, our people have investigated carefully and this matter is absolutely true."
"How could this happen? How could this happen? Where did Li Zicheng die? How did he die?" Qin Mu remembered that in history, Li Zicheng died in Jiugong Mountain. He thought that Li Zicheng would not die so soon since he could not cross the river. Who knew that he still died? Is this really God's will
"My Lord, it was in Phoenix Mountain south of Qizhou, right by the Yangtze River. It was said that Li Zicheng was sleeping in a mountain temple and was mistakenly killed by local villagers who thought he was a bandit. Li Zicheng's guards carried out a retaliatory massacre of the villagers at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, and that's how our people got the news."
"Massacre? Damn, a bunch of idiots." Qin Mu cursed and hurriedly called Liu Yongzhi to temporarily hand over the power of commanding the Hanyang battle to him. He then took a boat back to the Wuchang General Staff.
Sima An and his men also received the news. When they saw Qin Mu, they immediately said, "Sir, we must send people across the river immediately to stabilize the Dashun Army."
"Well, Mr. Sima, who do you think is suitable to send?"
The people sent this time are different from those sent to negotiate in the past. They must be able to judge the situation and make decisions on important issues on the spot.
Shao Hua took the initiative to step forward and said, "Sir, please let me go."
Shao Hua is equivalent to the director of the General Political Department, so he is enough to carry out the task. Qin Mu nodded and said, "Okay, Mr. Shao, get ready and set off immediately. We must stabilize them first. If that doesn't work, we can agree to their corresponding conditions, but they must evacuate their families across the river."
"Don't worry, sir. I understand." Shao Huaying said and left in a hurry.
Sima An went on to say, "Sir, the Qing army will probably get the news soon. Ajige is blocked outside Hanyang City and there is no hope of breaking through the city. Once they learn that Li Zicheng has died, they will most likely move their troops to Dabie Mountain and launch a massive attack while the Dashun Army is leaderless. We must be prepared. Once the remaining Dashun Army agrees to surrender, we must immediately cross the river to reinforce them."
"Well, Mr. He, please draw up a battle plan for crossing the river as soon as possible." After Li Zicheng's death, it was like pushing dominoes. Many things had to be readjusted. Qin Mu asked again: "Li Guo and Gao Yigong will not get the news for a while. What do you think we should do?"
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ps: Where are you, brothers? Are you tired? Request fire support.
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
..(To be continued..)
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