The late Ming Dynasty in the living room

Chapter 166 Yang Wenyue Meets Li Zicheng in His Dream
A sensitive and anxious army can obey orders while on the march, but once it stops, it is easy for trouble to arise. Moreover, the insecurity factor increases sharply as the stoppage time increases.

The Dengzhou Incident, which caused great pain to the Ming Dynasty, occurred in such a situation.

Yang Wenyue was aware of the danger, so he was in a dilemma between "breaking camp immediately and setting off" and "waiting a little longer, maybe there will be hope."

At noon, Yang Wenyue had a dream in a daze. He dreamed that he was wearing the bullfighting suit bestowed by the emperor and walking alone on a battlefield. The ground was littered with broken armor, discarded weapons, and corpses spread all over the ground.

He saw a big flag with the word "Yang" on it burning.

"Are we defeated again?" Yang Wenyue thought to himself.

"Where are Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao? Why am I the only one left? Did they all die in the battle?"

Yang Wenyue immediately stopped and searched among the corpses nearby. He knew that most of his generals were afraid of death, but they would not abandon him to escape, so Yang Dezheng and Liu Chao were likely killed in the battle. Yang Wenyue indeed found many familiar faces, including the governor's personal guards who had accompanied him for many years, several military assistants (Zanhua were senior staff members who were given official positions, usually people the commander trusted very much, such as students, old friends, etc.), and even the military supervisor Kong Zhenhui!

Kong Zhenhui died in a very tragic way, his body was covered in blood, and half of his body was in fire, crackling and burning.

Yang Wenyue felt a chill in his heart and his body began to tremble.

Even the Imperial Guards had been killed in the battle, and even Kong Zhenhui had become a dead eunuch. Then the 40,000 soldiers of the Du Biao Camp and the Zhen Biao Camp that he brought with him must have been completely wiped out, right? How tragically did they lose this battle!

Just when Yang Wenyue was startled, he suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves coming from behind him. Yang Wenyue turned around and saw that the knights on horseback had different decorations and many of them were wearing turbans. He immediately knew that they were from the old camp of the bandits. (Many of Li Zicheng's old camp were from Ningxia Wei, including Huihui and Mongolians)

"The old man in red, that must be Yang Wenyue! Catch him quickly!"

"We can't shoot arrows. King Chuang has ordered that Yang Wenyue be captured alive!"

The cavalry confirmed the target and rushed after it one after another.

Yang Wenyue was panicking, and wanted to run away, but two legs couldn't outrun four legs, so he was quickly caught by three or four snares, and then pulled hard, and then he fell to the ground with a plop, unable to move anymore.

Yang Wenyue had a mouthful of bloody dirt. He had just been dragged for a distance and his body was burning with pain.

But no matter how much pain he felt physically, it couldn't compare to the pain he felt in his heart. How could he forget that he was a great governor? After losing the battle, the enemy must be searching for him everywhere. He should either hide quickly or commit suicide by slitting his throat. How could he stand there stupidly to identify the body? It was really stupid! For someone of his status, being captured was the worst and most deplorable outcome, because if the news got out, it would cause a huge blow to the reputation of the court. Not long after, Yang Wenyue was still annoyed when he suddenly heard the cheers of the cavalry next to him stop, and instead shouted in a more enthusiastic voice, "King Chuang! King Chuang is here!"

"Li Zicheng is coming?"

Yang Wenyue had never met Li Zicheng before. He tried hard to turn around, wanting to see what this villain who had disrupted the Ming Dynasty looked like, but his efforts were in vain and he only got a mouthful of new mud.

"How can you treat an old man like this? It's so rude! Someone, help the old man up and untie the ropes."

A loud voice sounded in the distance, with a tone of dissatisfaction. It should be Li Zicheng.

The Li Zicheng in front of him was not the ferocious and ferocious monster with green face and fangs as portrayed in the court propaganda. He had a beautiful beard, thick eyebrows, big eyes, fair skin, and a high nose bridge. He was a handsome middle-aged man. Li Zicheng was from Mizhi County, Shaanxi Province, which was famous for its many handsome men and beautiful women. He was tall and looked like an iron tower sitting on horseback.

Yang Wenyue looked at Li Zicheng carefully. At this point, his panicked heart suddenly calmed down. It was just a death. What was there to be afraid of?
But before he died, Yang Wenyue still asked, "Where is this place?"

"This is Sanlipu." Li Zicheng answered personally.

Sanlipu is located south of Runing City and not too far from Kaifeng. Yang Wenyue knew this place. It seemed that this was the third battle to relieve Kaifeng. As he worried, the imperial army suffered another defeat.

"I heard that you were originally a postman, and later joined the frontier army in Gansu. Since you were receiving salary from the emperor, why did you rebel against the court?"

Yang Wenyue wanted to ask about the situation of the commander-in-chief Ding Qirui, and also wanted to know whether Zuo Liangyu's army had fled again, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly changed the question. Perhaps seeing Li Zicheng's handsome appearance, he suddenly liked him, and he was very curious about why such a person would risk his life to rebel.

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The situation in the early years of Chongzhen was completely different from that of today. At that time, the bandits were just tools for the officers and soldiers to improve their military performance. It was common for hundreds of officers and soldiers to chase and kill tens of thousands of bandits. Nine and a half out of ten "kings" who took the lead would be beaten to death, such as the first generation of King Gao Yingxiang, Scorpion Block, Hun Shiwan, and the Great King... The more famous a person is, the faster he will die. In short, rebellion at that time was a very risky and hopeless stupid choice. (If the Qing army had not entered the Great Wall for the fifth time, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong would definitely not be alive today)

Li Zicheng jumped off his horse. He stood face to face with Yang Wenyue. They looked at each other for a long time before answering: "After the post station was withdrawn, I returned to my hometown to farm, but there were droughts for years. The grain I harvested could not feed my family, nor could I pay the taxes to the court. I had no choice but to borrow high-interest loans from Wen Juren, a fellow villager. When I couldn't pay it back when it was due, Wen Juren sent me to the government office. Wen Juren coveted a few acres of my family's thin land. He first tricked me into transferring the land deed, but failed. He then gave the jailer a few small coins and planned to kill me in prison. Fortunately, my nephew Li came in time. He led people to break into the prison and rescued me. After I got out, I returned to the village, killed Wen Juren's family to vent my anger, and then fled to Gansu with my nephew to join the border army.

I thought that being a soldier and eating the imperial rations would give me a safe life, but I never thought that the imperial rations were not enough to fill me up. The superiors not only withheld my monthly salary, but also poured sand into the food to make up for it. In the second year of Chongzhen, the Tartars invaded the capital, and the court also sent us to rescue them. Passing through Jin County (now Yuzhong, Gansu), my colleagues and I asked for rations from Lieutenant General Wang, but Lieutenant General Wang refused to pay us. Instead, he falsely accused us of causing trouble and threatened to chop off our heads to enforce military discipline..."

At this point, Li Zicheng looked away and continued, "There is no way out, so we rebel."

(End of this chapter)