Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

The defeat in Huguang almost destroyed most of Li Zicheng's hopes. Only with the encouragement of Song Xiance and others did he regain his spirits.

In the past two months, he has been reviewing his experiences over the years. At the beginning, the team was like a makeshift troupe. Not only were there few people but they were also mixed. He was chased everywhere by the government troops.

Later, the team grew larger and was able to fight back and forth with the government troops, but he was still running around.

Song Xiance was right, he made a very serious mistake. It would be impossible to achieve ultimate victory by just moving around blindly.

He needs a base camp, with this base camp as the center, and he can advance step by step and proceed steadily.

Although this might lead to targeted attacks by government troops, it would also have many benefits. Song Xiance said that if one just destroyed things without knowing how to manage and govern, nothing would ever be accomplished, and he deeply agreed with this.

Sichuan is an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack place, and there is no place more suitable for a base camp.

At this time, Li Zicheng was full of confidence and determined to learn from his lessons and start over. Now that he had no shortage of soldiers, everything was possible.

"Song the Shorty is back!" Hao Yaoqi said excitedly, pointing at the gate of the village.

"Hahaha, General Hao, although I am short, you can't point at monks and call them bald donkeys every day!" Song Xiance laughed. Obviously, he didn't care much about the title of Hao Yaoqi.

"We just see that you are happy. Hehe, what do you think, Military Advisor Song, have those Yaohuang guys agreed?" Hao Yaoqi asked, scratching his head.

Song Xiance ignored Hao Yaoqi and walked directly to Li Zicheng. He picked up the water scoop and drank a lot of water. Then he said:

"King Chuang, the leaders of Yaohuang have agreed to send 4,000 troops to take Daning, but they want half of the spoils."

"What? We have more than 10,000 people, and they only send out 4,000 people. Why?" Hao Yaoqi said anxiously.

"Shut up!" Li Zicheng glared at Hao Yaoqi, who grinned and squatted in the corner.

"What do you mean?" Li Zicheng looked at Song Xiance.

After the last disastrous defeat, he no longer dares to act arbitrarily in everything.

The Thirteen Yaohuang Families are said to be a righteous army, but in fact they are just an alliance of thirteen bandit gangs in Kuizhou.

Although these people also rebelled, and even started the rebellion at about the same time as Gao Yingxiang, the first leader of King Chuang, and although Gao Yingxiang died, their rebellion can still be considered a great success.

But this group of people almost never left the territory of Kuizhou. They occupied the mountains and became the kings of the mountains. The mountain strongholds they chose were almost all in dangerous places.

Apart from occasionally going down the mountain to beg for food, they make a living by robbing merchants passing by, and it is said that they also farm in the mountains.

The government troops have been busy suppressing large gangs of bandits such as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and have had no time to deal with the Thirteen Yellow Families who are located in a dangerous place. As a result, the Thirteen Yellow Families are living a good life now.

However, after all, they were camped in the mountains, and there were not many soldiers and horses. The thirteen families together had barely more than ten thousand. This time, only four thousand were sent out, probably to test Li Zicheng's ability.

If it were in the past, Li Zicheng would not have taken the Thirteen Yaohuang Families seriously at all, but now the fallen phoenix is no better than a chicken, and a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake, so he was not angry at all.

“Although they only sent out 4,000 soldiers, Yao Huang’s men are very good at mountain warfare and are familiar with the terrain. I heard that they have secret sentries even in Daning City.

I think we can cooperate. With this beginning, we will have more confidence when we talk again."

Song Xiance had thought of a solution on his way back.

Although they have recruited more than 10,000 people now, everyone knows that these people were farmers before, and most of them are skinny and malnourished.

Not to mention the battlefield, many people have never even killed a pig. They urgently need the baptism of victory to complete their transformation.

Li Zicheng also needed a victory to prove to the leaders of the Thirteen Yellow Clans that he, Li Zicheng, had the strength to make a comeback.

"Okay, let's do it. Please ask the military advisor to run again and tell them that we will meet in Daning City in two days. I, Li Zicheng, will be waiting for you."

……

Sichuan, Chongqing Prefecture, Wulong County.

The sounds of crying, wailing, occasional fighting, people running around, and bandits carrying machetes made Wulong County a shabby place.

"Coming to Sichuan is like a big bird flying up to the sky and a big fish entering the sea!" Zhang Xianzhong said, standing on the not-so-high city wall of Wulong County, looking at the city that was in chaos everywhere.

In just ten days, Zhang Xianzhong successively captured several county towns in Chongqing Prefecture.

Since most of the government troops were withdrawn by the imperial court to fight the Jiannu, except for Zuo Liangyu's troops following closely behind, there were not many government troops in the entire Sichuan region.

It's ridiculous that Zuo Liangyu, who had an army of 50,000, did not dare to attack him and could only hide in Shizhou.

And when they were caught off guard, those small counties couldn't even hold out for half an hour.

Every time he captured a city, he would go straight to the county treasury, collect all the money and grain, and then threaten the wealthy families in the city.

The common people were starving to death, but these rich families had plenty of money, and no one knew how to raise food and fodder better than him.

"My foster father is right. A real man is born between heaven and earth, how can he be inferior to Xiong Wencan?" Sun Kewang said respectfully as he waited on the side in military uniform.

"Hahaha, Wang'er, what you said makes sense. Just wait for your father to conquer Sichuan and become the king. Then the four of you will all be made marquises!" Zhang Xianzhong laughed when he heard this.

“But, foster father… our 40,000 men are the main force in attacking the city, but we have to share the money and food with Cao Cao and Ma Shouying.

"Father, don't you know that you shouldn't allow others to sleep soundly beside your bed?" Sun Kewang said with a hint of meaning.

This time when they entered Sichuan, in addition to their 40,000 troops, there were also Luo Rucai's 8,000 troops and Ma Shouying's more than 6,000 troops.

Although the three groups had quite a difference in military strength, both Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying were among the thirteen leaders who had participated in the Xingyang Conference together.

But this was a different time. The combined strength of Luo Rucai and the other man was less than half of theirs, and now the entire Sichuan was so empty. Sun Kewang was very unwilling to give up the territory for nothing.

"Hey, Wang'er, you are short-sighted. Although things are going well now, the government troops will not give up. We should unite.

My son, don't underestimate Cao Cao. If it weren't for his clever plan, I think I would still be wandering around Huguang." Zhang Xianzhong said disapprovingly.

He didn't think there was anything wrong with distributing money and food to Luo Rucai and others. There were many wealthy families in the city anyway, so there was no shortage of money and food for the time being.

Sun Kewang knew that Zhang Xianzhong was in high spirits, so he stopped discussing this topic. He pointed to a beautiful woman who was being chased by her subordinates on the street and said:

"Look, godfather, maybe you are blessed tonight."

Zhang Xianzhong took a closer look and immediately ordered his men to capture the beautiful woman. He looked her up and down and saw that she was crying. He could not help but get angry and said:

"What are you crying for? Follow me, the Eighth King, and you will be the Imperial Concubine in the future!"

The woman cried even harder.

"If you cry again, I'll chop you up!"

Zhang Xianzhong drew the sword from his waist. The woman was so frightened that she turned pale and dared not even move. Zhang Xianzhong immediately laughed and said:

"My son has good vision. After today, I'm afraid you guys will have another godmother! Hahahaha!"

Sun Kewang had a smile on his face, and that smile suppressed the dissatisfaction and ruthlessness between his brows.

"Eighth Prince, you are robbing my daughter again. I am Cao Cao, why do you always steal my work?"

Not far away, Luo Rucai came over with a smile.

……