Before hanging himself, Chongzhen lifted the table

Chapter 216 Trap
As Li Zicheng expected, the emperor really came.Then his other words about the emperor will appear more authoritative.

As a result, the leaders of the coalition forces immediately held a meeting to discuss detailed countermeasures.

Li Zicheng said seriously to the others: "The current emperor has courage that no man can match, but he is an emperor after all and will not go into battle easily. Therefore, if you want to target him with a killing move, you must force him to take action!"

After hearing his words, everyone agreed.However, the military advisor on Sha Dingzhou's side responded: "I heard that the current emperor also likes to fight in front of the battle. Usually he will agree if he at least has some status. I have inquired about it. In the past, you had Zhang Tianlin, the star of the Qing Dynasty. Prince Aisin Gioro Azige, and even the eight kings of Daxi Kingdom, have all had duels with the current emperor in battle."

Having said this, he paused, raised his voice and emphasized: "It can be seen that the current emperor is brave and loves to fight in single combat. If someone important here asks for a single fight with the emperor, he will definitely not I will shrink back!"

After finishing speaking, he looked at Li Zicheng.It seemed that his eyes were telling Li Zicheng that you could lure the current emperor out.

Li Zicheng certainly knew that if he asked for a duel with the current emperor, the emperor would most likely accept the challenge.However, he is so stupid that he actually challenges the current emperor to a duel. He is not looking for death!

Thinking of this, he turned his head and glanced at Liu Zongmin, thinking that even she would not dare to challenge the Ming Emperor in a duel now!

Of course, at this time, Li Zicheng would not directly say that he was not good, but said with approval: "Yes, in Yi Gu's opinion, it would be more realistic for you to challenge. After all, Gu has fought against the current emperor many times. Each other knows the truth and the truth. If the current emperor goes to a duel knowing that he will not be able to duel, it will be considered that there must be fraud. But if we let you do it, the possibility of being suspected will be much smaller. "

There is another reason, it is difficult for her to say because of the alliance.It is these southwestern chieftains who have always been considered barbarians.The potential meaning of barbarians is that they are uneducated, simple-minded, and have well-developed limbs. They like to use force to solve problems and challenge the current emperor to a duel, which is in line with everyone's impression of barbarians.

However, the military advisor Tang Jibin was a Han Chinese and a member of the Lin'an Prefecture. He also had a reputation as a scholar. She would not be deceived. She said before Sha Dingzhou could speak: "Since the current emperor has the courage to challenge ten thousand men, he can challenge him in a one-on-one challenge." If we are looking for death, we can’t just die in vain, right?”

Having said this, he looked around and saw that no one dared to take this job.Obviously, during the communication process between the two parties, everyone was deeply impressed by the current emperor's bravery.

Seeing this scene, he suddenly rolled his eyes and said: "How about we see if any of the allies we invited have come? If they do, let them fight in a one-on-one fight. Maybe their martial arts are really better than the current emperor." It’s not necessarily great, right?”

Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng realized that this was bullying a newcomer who was not familiar with the situation.

So he immediately clapped his hands and echoed: "This is a wonderful statement, it's settled like this!"

They don't really think that they can kill the current emperor in a duel, but they want to lure the current emperor out.

Now that the candidates have a target, they can then discuss specific targeting methods.In the end, Sha Dingzhou proposed to ambush men in front of the scheduled formations of the two armies and assassinate the current emperor with poisonous needles and blowpipes.It doesn't need to be fatal, just pierce his skin and kill him!
Just like this, Li Zicheng felt that it was not safe.After all, there is only one such opportunity, and he suggested that other measures must be added.

After much discussion, they finally agreed to charge with the War Elephant Army, the strongest force in the southwest region. Even if the current emperor was powerful, it would definitely not be greater than the power of the War Elephant, and he would be more confident to kill the Emperor in front of the battle. .

The rough strategy was decided like this. Sha Dingzhou sent envoys to rush for possible reinforcements. In short, the degree of coercion and inducement was greater. Anyway, just pull more people into the water.

Around November of the 20th year of Chongzhen, several reinforcements were persuaded to come over.

On the side of the Toungoo Dynasty, King Talong arrived with [-] elites and demanded that the coalition fulfill their promise and give him a part of the deposit and cede several territories close to the Toungoo Dynasty before joining the war.

In this regard, after the coordination between Li Zicheng and Sha Dingzhou, several nearby chieftains reluctantly gave up their territory and later occupied a few better places as compensation.

On the other hand, Annan's side is more of a thieves.They just sent more than 1000 people, saying that the domestic situation was unstable and they could not send more troops.

In fact, at this time, Annan had entered a confrontation between the north and the south.The Li dynasty was occupied by two powerful ministers, each occupying a piece of territory in the north and south, and they attacked each other. There was really no spare capacity to send more troops.

Annan sent these people here mainly to watch the excitement and see if there were any bargains to be found.

For them, the Mo family who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty was Annan's shame. But they had no choice but to rely on the Ming Dynasty to destroy the Mo family.

If the rebellion in Yunnan can bring disaster to the Ming Emperor, then they can take the opportunity to send troops to annihilate the Mo family.

Now, new reinforcements have to be added. The total strength of the coalition forces has reached 25, while the main army of the imperial court does not even have [-] troops.

Based on this comparison of forces, except for Li Zicheng and other members of the Dashun Army, the other coalition forces became optimistic about the prospects of the war.

Of course, Li Zicheng was also optimistic, not based on the comparison of military strength, but on the deployment made by the Ming Emperor.

In order to create the most advantageous fighting opportunity, under the advice of Li Zicheng, the coalition forces began to fake defeat again, attracting the imperial troops to their planned destination outside Kunming.

In this way, not only can the supply line of the imperial army be lengthened, making the logistics of the imperial army more difficult, but this side is also more open, which is beneficial to the side with more troops.Moreover, the reason for retreating steadily and retreating all the way to the provincial capital for a decisive battle is somewhat reasonable.

The imperial officers and soldiers were indeed fooled and pursued him all the way. Although the pursuit speed was not very fast, they also came to Kunming.

In this regard, the top leaders of the coalition forces are all happy.If everything is done according to the predetermined plan, we will be sure to kill the current emperor and extinguish the Ming Dynasty's return to glory.

However, it's not all good news.

No, Li Zicheng was busy here, and his general Liu Zongmin asked to see him alone.

You don’t have to say it directly, you can understand it just by looking at it.Therefore, Li Zicheng bid farewell to Sha Dingzhou and the others, returned to his mansion, and listened to Liu Zongmin's separate report. "Your Highness, it's not good!" Liu Zongmin saw that only people from the Dashun Army were present, so he quickly reported to Li Zicheng, "The two traitors Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng were discovered among the imperial officers and soldiers. They have been captured by the Ming Dynasty. The emperor made him an earl, and also said that Shaanxi and other places have surrendered to the imperial court, and some of the detective horses we sent have been recruited!"

Although Gao Guiying, Tian Jianxiu and others requested not to face Li Zicheng, Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng did not think so.They believe that for the sake of their former brothers, coming to persuade them to surrender is the best help to them.If you are stubborn, there is nothing you can do.

Therefore, after receiving the emperor's order to mobilize troops a few months ago, Chief Assistant Fan Jingwen has led the elite troops of the Beijing camp to reinforce Yunnan and Guizhou, and Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng have also come with him.

With more than half a year having passed for the transition of power, everything was stable. As for the actions of Li Zicheng and others in Yunnan and Guizhou, there were also rumors among the officials and soldiers of the imperial court, so it was inevitable to dispatch troops and generals.

At this time, when Li Zicheng heard Liu Zongmin's words, his eyes suddenly darkened. If he hadn't experienced enough blows and had been trained, he would have fainted.

It was not easy to create such a big foundation, but it was gone again!
And he was betrayed by his wife and good brother again, which was a really big blow to him.

Although he had actually thought that after the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Dasheng Pass, his territory would definitely be attacked by the imperial army, and places like Henan might not be able to defend it.However, he never imagined that his old nest would be lost.He was still thinking about returning to Shaanxi after Sichuan, but now he became a bandit again.

Seeing him like this, Song Xiance quickly comforted him and said: "Your Highness, I even lost my life because of Zhang Xianzhong. At least we have left Qingshan here. As long as we win this battle, we can still turn the tables."

What else could Li Zicheng say? He also knew that the most important thing at this time was to stabilize the morale of the army and fight the battle at hand, so he regained his composure and said: "Back then, there were only eighteen riders left, but in the end they didn't sweep the Central Plains. Nowadays, there are more people and horses, so I’m afraid of him!”

Hearing this, his confidants all breathed a sigh of relief.As long as King Chuang still has fighting spirit, that's better than anything else!
After Li Zicheng expressed his position, he immediately ordered the few confidants in front of him: "Try to control the news spread by those traitors and do not spread it. Even if it does spread, you must tell the brothers that this is the imperial court. The plan to attack people’s hearts is fake! "

Liu Zongmin and others listened and quickly accepted the order.Controlling this is naturally necessary.

Later, Liu Zongmin asked Li Zicheng for instructions: "There are many detectives who went to find out the news and then never came back. Most of them did not die in battle, but defected to the imperial court. What should we do about this?"

Li Zicheng felt a headache after hearing this.

Generally speaking, the scouts in the army are elite and reliable people.But who was tempted by traitors like Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng on the opposite side, and managed to obtain a title in the imperial court?

Although he could also be granted a knighthood, the weight of the title he granted was simply not comparable to that granted by the court.The most important thing is that there is a high probability that Shaanxi will submit to the imperial court.Most of the elites in the army have families in Shaanxi.How many of his subordinates would follow him wholeheartedly, regardless of anything else, including their future and family?

If word spread, Li Zicheng was sure that his subordinates who were still following him would definitely run away a lot.

Originally there were only more than ten thousand subordinates. After escaping into Yunnan and Guizhou, some became acclimatized and died, while others fled and rebelled. I wonder how many loyal subordinates will be left in the end?

Now if he is left with only eighteen riders, he will probably be defeated!
Thinking of all this, Li Zicheng became more and more eager to kill the current emperor in the upcoming war!
Otherwise, with the current emperor here, even if the imperial army is defeated this time, or even the entire army is annihilated, they will be able to make a comeback.

When Song Xiance saw that Li Zicheng had not answered Liu Zongmin's question, he knew that this question was difficult, so he took the initiative to answer Liu Zongmin for Li Zicheng and said: "Try to choose some reliable brothers. In addition, tell the brothers that the court is used to lying, don't If you are deceived by them, as long as you endure it until the decisive battle, everything will be fine!"

After hearing this, Liu Zongmin could only agree.

You have to send a horse to explore, otherwise you will be blind or deaf.Although it is possible to rely on information from the Allies, it is obviously impossible for a tycoon like Li Zicheng to rely on others.

However, what Li Zicheng and the others did not expect was that once something happened, it would not happen at the original speed, but would accelerate.

On the side of Gao Yigong and Li Laiheng, as more and more old brothers have been persuaded to surrender, their experience in persuading them to surrender has become more and more abundant, and the results have become greater and greater.

On this day, Emperor Chongzhen was discussing Yungui affairs with Fan Jingwen and Du Yinxi, and Li Laiheng asked to see him.

After the ceremony, Li Laiheng reported with a serious expression: "Your Majesty, I will learn from the surrendered brothers that the rebels are trying to set a trap for Your Majesty this time and want to kill Your Majesty!"

If he were a general from the regular army, he might not be able to say this so bluntly.However, Li Laiheng was not and did not care, so he said directly: "What the rebels are going to do specifically cannot be found out for the time being. Only individual leaders in the rebels know."

When Fan Jingwen and Du Yinxi heard this, they immediately became nervous.Today, they know the importance of the emperor better than anyone else.The imperial court can live without others, but it cannot live without the current emperor.Not even if the prince can take over as emperor.

But after hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen chuckled and said, "You want to kill me? You just want to fight in front of the battle!"

He is the emperor, it must be very difficult to kill him.Just like when he wanted to kill Li Zicheng, it was not easy.The most direct way to deal with him is to challenge him in front of the formation, you can think of it with your toes.

Hearing this, Fan Jingwen thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty is wise, now there is no need for your Majesty to fight alone to win the war. Your Majesty only needs to sit in the middle of the army, and the humble ministers will definitely defeat the rebels!"

He is still confident about this.Even though the rebels seemed to be outnumbered, in terms of elite level, they were absolutely incomparable to the imperial army.Not to mention anything else, it is just that the imperial army pays its troops on time, and many rebels have no military pay at all, so they can completely defeat the rebels.

Fan Jingwen has absolute confidence that the imperial army with sufficient food, grass and logistics can defeat the rebels!

After hearing this, Du Yinxi also agreed and disapproved of the emperor going to fight in front of the battle again!

(End of this chapter)