Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 698 Meeting the Rebel King

Although he was back in the wilderness, without the protection of the county town walls, Liu Heizi felt much more at ease. He preferred facing the bandits' open attacks to dealing with the pale-faced, lifeless soldiers. He couldn't bear to kill them, but keeping them would cause a lot of trouble. Moreover, a massacre in the county town would attract even more people to loot, and if they stole everything, his trip to the Northwest would be ruined.

Huang Gan chuckled and said, "Luckily, my brother reminded me to find the leader of these people. I just grabbed a random soldier on the road and found the commander's house. That's how we withdrew without bloodshed."

Liu Heizi sighed: "Who would have thought that the county town is more dangerous than the wilderness? It seems that the bandits have ravaged the area more severely than we imagined. Look at these military households and civilians in Fengqiu County, they're neither human nor ghost. For money, they've abandoned all sense of propriety and shame, and extortion has turned into outright robbery..."

The guide interjected, "The area around Kaifeng is relatively better. Whether it's extortion or outright robbery, they only seek money and generally don't kill. But once you get to northern Shaanxi, in order to survive, let alone eating tree bark or clay, cannibalism is quite common."

Huang Gan, who had killed countless people, shuddered upon hearing this: "Are there really people in this world who eat people?"

"When people are starving, they'll eat anything. Women and children are usually the most targeted, as their flesh is tender and they have little power to resist. The bones are used as firewood, the meat is removed, cooked, and eaten. This human flesh is generally called 'two-legged sheep'..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Heizi felt his stomach churning and almost vomiting. He quickly stopped the other person from continuing, saying, "Alright, I understand, don't say any more."

The caravan continued its journey. Having learned their lesson from Fengqiu County, they traveled through wind and rain, rarely entering cities. They encountered several other bandits, all of whom they swiftly and decisively repelled. More than a month after setting out from Shandong, Liu Heizi and his men entered Shaanxi Province.

As the guide said, Shaanxi, the place where bandits rose up, was even more tragic than Henan, a land of barren land and countless corpses of the starving. Along the way, there was hardly any sign of human habitation, and the dead refugees were everywhere. The fields were overgrown with tall weeds, and sometimes you could walk for dozens of miles without finding a clean well—it was full of corpses.

According to the imperial court's official gazette, Li Zicheng was active in the Weinan County area of ​​Xi'an Prefecture at this time, forming a defensive alliance with Ma Shouying's troops, nicknamed "Old Hui," against Hong Chengchou's encirclement and suppression. Liu Heizi and his group had to find a way to reach Weinan and make contact with Li Zicheng.

One early winter afternoon in Weinan County.

The city gates were wide open, and a large banner with the character "闯" (Chuang, meaning "brave") was already planted on the city wall. Soldiers of the refugee army, armed with weapons, roamed the streets, and the corpses of government soldiers could be seen on the ground from time to time. From various residences, the faint sounds of women sobbing and crying could be heard, mixed with triumphant laughter. Occasionally, a woman with disheveled clothes would run out of the gate, only to be chased down and cut down by the pursuers.

In the main hall of the county government, Li Zicheng sat at the head of the table, discussing the next steps with several trusted subordinates.

Compared to the history Liu Ye knew, the situation had changed somewhat. Li Zicheng, who was originally scheduled to declare himself "Chuang King" the following year, had already announced his succession to Gao Yingxiang's title as soon as Gao was executed by slow slicing in Beijing, in order to absorb Gao Yingxiang's remnants and elevate his own status among the various rebel armies. Old Hui, who had once served under Gao Yingxiang, thus joined forces with Li Zicheng, moving from Gansu back to Shaanxi to fight against government troops.

After capturing Weinan County, Li Zicheng's strength increased from several thousand men when he first divided his forces to around twenty thousand. However, he was still in a weaker position among the various rebel armies. Not to mention, the old Hui people entrenched near Shangluo had seventy to eighty thousand men, far stronger than him.

A general in his early thirties stood up and said, "Chuang Wang, in my opinion, Shaanxi is a very poor place, and Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting are pressing us hard. Why don't we go back to Henan and make a fortune from them first?"

This man was Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng's top general. He was from Lantian, Shaanxi, and was originally a blacksmith. He was brave in battle, made many meritorious contributions, and was highly valued by Li Zicheng.

Liu Zongmin was highly respected in the army, and his suggestion was echoed by several people who agreed: "Zongmin is right. There's nothing left to plunder in Shaanxi. Why don't we try our luck in Henan? When the soldiers turn back, we can go somewhere else."

Li Zicheng nodded in agreement. Since the newly appointed Minister of War, Yang Sichang, took office, he proposed the strategy of "four main points and six secondary points, forming a ten-sided net," attempting to intercept and encircle the mobile peasant army, then defeat them one by one. This strategy greatly troubled Li Zicheng, whose strength was still insufficient. No matter where he moved in Shaanxi, he could not escape the encirclement of government troops, and his territory was severely compressed.

"Following Zongmin's advice, after resting in Weinan for a few days, we bypassed Tongguan, which was guarded by government troops, and headed towards Luoyang from Shangluo, which was occupied by the Hui people."

Everyone exclaimed, "King Li Zicheng is wise!"

At this moment, the guard at the gate came in and reported: "Reporting to King Chuang, our men have stopped a caravan. The leader specifically asked to see you, saying he has brought a great gift!"

Li Zicheng asked suspiciously, "Gifts? Who is it?"

The guard hesitated before answering, "They seem to be... government troops."

Liu Zongmin drew his knife and shouted, "King Chuang, beware of a trap! Why would government troops send us gifts?"

Li Zicheng gestured for him to sit down, "Don't be impatient, bring the person up first and ask him what happened."

The convoy was blocked outside the county town. Huang Gan and his special forces soldiers stood guard, guns drawn, facing off against a large group of menacing refugee soldiers. Several men emerged from the city gate and shouted, "Who's the leader? Come with me, the King of Chuang wants to see you."

Liu Heizi patted Huang Gan on the shoulder and said, "Brother, I'm going. Take it easy and don't get into a fight with them."

Huang Gan nodded: "You need to be careful."

Liu Heizi was led across the streets to the county government office. Under the menacing gaze of the refugee soldiers at the gate, he calmly walked inside.

Upon arriving at the county government hall, he saw a middle-aged man sitting in the center. The man was burly, with deep-set eyes, high brow bones, and a hooked nose. He guessed that this must be the person in charge, so he bowed and said, "Liu Heizi, the envoy of Qionghai Town, greets King Chuang!"

Li Zicheng asked calmly, "Qionghai Town? Is that the newly established border town in Guangdong, with a general surnamed Liu?"

"Exactly."

With a loud "smack," Li Zicheng slammed his hand on the armrest and shouted sternly, "Your master killed the former rebel king, yet you dare to swagger here to die? Tell me, what are your true intentions in coming to Shaanxi?"

Liu Zongmin held the knife to Liu Heizi's neck and shouted, "Chuang Wang, don't waste your breath on him. I'll chop off his dog's head right now and offer it as a sacrifice to Brother Gao!"

Everyone in the hall stood up, staring at Liu Heizi, their hands on the hilts of their knives, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.