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

"We agreed before that whoever grabs it first owns it. You have no ability, but you dare to covet my wife. You are so shameless." Zhang Xianzhong joked.

The two had fought together eight years ago. At that time, Zhang Xianzhong worked under Wang Jiayin, while Luo Rucai followed Wang Ziyu.

Eight years have passed. Now, the grass on the graves of Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyi is only a foot high, but their separate teams are growing stronger.

After chatting and laughing, Luo Ru looked at the situation in the city and said with a little concern:

"Eighth Prince, the situation is very tense right now. Although there are no large numbers of government troops in Sichuan, Zuo Liangyu may attack us at any time.

We can't just plunder, we should also strengthen the city's defenses just in case."

Zhang Xianzhong sneered when he heard this:

"There are only a few roads from Huguang to Sichuan, and they are all in dangerous places. I have already ordered my son Dingguo to guard them strictly.

Dingguo may be young, but don't worry, nothing will go wrong."

"Alas, although Sichuan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is both a blessing and a curse for us. It is difficult for the government troops to enter, and it is difficult for us to leave. It is like a cage."

Luo Rucai sighed.

"Why are you sighing? You're just overthinking. You should drink the wine today.

Now that we have a strong army, we can take advantage of the opportunity to capture more cities, collect money and food, recruit soldiers, and then attack more cities and recruit more soldiers. There is no shortage of them.

Give me two years to teach the officer army a lesson about my Eighth King's power. " Zhang Shikang said confidently.

"You are always so confident. You have indeed blocked several important roads in Huguang, but there is still one missing - Shiqian City.

We won't be able to sleep peacefully unless we take this city."

After Luo Rucai finished speaking, they both fell silent.

Although Zhang Xianzhong had a somewhat crazy temper, he had led troops for many years and had fought in hundreds of battles, large and small. How could he not know that Shiqu was a hidden danger?

But...the officer stationed in Shiqu was not a villain, but a female chieftain named Qin Liangyu.

Others may not be aware of how powerful this female general is, but Zhang Xianzhong knows it.

He had fought with Qin Liangyu three years ago, and was chased more than eighty miles away. He still remembers it vividly.

That woman is just horrible.

"Why are you silent? Where has your confidence gone?" After a long silence, Luo Rucai finally spoke.

"This old woman is so annoying even at such an old age!" Zhang Xianzhong spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground and frowned.

"Hahaha, it turns out that you, the Eighth King, also have your moments of frustration.

However, the current Shiqu Xuanwei Office is no longer the same as it was a few years ago.

The emperor was incompetent and the court was full of treacherous villains. They couldn't even pay the official army's salaries, so how could they have spare money to pay these chieftains?

The current garrison of Shiqian City is no more than 4,000." Luo Rucai said with great certainty.

Zhang Xianzhong's eyes became stern when he heard this, and a ruthless look appeared on his face.

"Kill her while she's sick!"

……

Baoding Prefecture, a remote suburb of Dingzhou.

"Brother, we will reach the Dingzhou military camp in another quarter of an hour." Zhang Shikang said while riding on his warhorse, looking at the outline of Dingzhou city in the distance.

Although they rushed to finish the work, it was still a full day later than Zhang Shikang's original schedule.

Fortunately, although Brother Chongzhen was very tired, he never complained.

"Well, I have come so far without realizing it," replied Emperor Chongzhen.

Although they were still some distance away from Dingzhou, their team had already encountered three waves of scouts. It seemed that Lu Xiangsheng had already known of his return.

"Once you arrive at the military camp, brother, you can't run around. It's very chaotic here." Zhang Shikang reminded.

Although the military discipline was acceptable, there were soldiers from various towns in the barracks, and people from all over the country were mixed together. Zhang Shikang did not dare to let Brother Chongzhen take risks.

"I understand. Let's go." Emperor Chongzhen said dissatisfiedly.

It's not that he was really dissatisfied, but he didn't like Zhang Shikang's tone. He was obviously eight or nine years younger than him, but he always treated him as an ignorant child ever since he left the capital.

More than a quarter of an hour later, the team finally arrived at the gate of Dingzhou camp.

Lu Xiangsheng had already been waiting for a long time with the main generals.

"Didn't Master say that he would only be gone for three days? Why is it now..." Lu Xiangsheng bowed to greet him, but his eyes widened before he could finish his words.

After all, he had been an official in Beijing. How could he not see who was hiding behind Zhang Shikang?

For a moment I was so shocked that I was speechless.

He had learned from the scouts that the uncle was accompanied by a son of a noble family from the capital and a eunuch.

At that time, Lu Xiangsheng was still wondering. He could understand that he brought a eunuch with him, but as the war was so urgent, why did the earl bring someone else with him?

But he could never have imagined that the son of a noble family was actually the current emperor.

After being stunned for a moment, Lu Xiangsheng immediately knelt down and kowtowed. Huaining Marquis Sun Weifan was also stunned and pretended to salute.

"I have been traveling all the way and am tired. You guys should just go back to your respective duties." Zhang Shikang quickly spoke out to stop them and gave Lu Xiangsheng a wink.

Lu Xiangsheng immediately understood what he meant. While calling on his subordinates to return to the camp, he pulled aside three or two generals who recognized the emperor and gave them a lecture.

Zhang Shikang brought his brother Chongzhen into the military camp. His personal guards had already pulled their horses to feed grass. Zhang Shikang knew that his brother Chongzhen was curious, so he took him around the military camp.

It was almost evening and all the camps had just finished their meals. The soldiers formed a circle with their bowls in hand and sat on the ground, eating their meals like crazy.

"Uncle!" A soldier from the Beijing camp recognized Zhang Shikang and immediately put his bowl aside and stood straight to salute Zhang Shikang.

"Well, continue eating. I'll just take a look." Zhang Shikang patted the soldier on the shoulder to show encouragement.

"Sir, would you like a bowl? I'll make you some rice." The soldier said excitedly.

Zhang Shikang was not very hungry, but Emperor Chongzhen nudged him with his elbow, indicating that he wanted to try it. Zhang Shikang was speechless for a while and had to agree.

After a while, the soldier came over with two bowls of brown rice. He did not recognize Chongzhen, so he first respectfully presented one bowl to Zhang Shikang, and then casually threw the other bowl to Emperor Chongzhen.

Zhang Shikang didn't care and immediately sat down among the soldiers. Emperor Chongzhen followed suit and also sat on the ground with his legs crossed and started eating.

After Lu Xiangsheng issued a gag order to Sun Weifan and other generals, he immediately rushed to find Zhang Shikang.

He was shocked again when he saw the emperor sitting on the ground eating brown rice.

Although Lu Xiangsheng had not seen the emperor for two or three years, he roughly knew that the current emperor was extremely concerned about his reputation. He felt that the fact that his master allowed the emperor to behave in this way not only undermined the royal dignity, but also worried that the emperor would have complaints in his heart.

Now that he is in charge of the army again, even Hong Chengchou dares not act presumptuously. This is because of the existence of Zhang Shikang. He is very worried that Zhang Shikang will be disliked by the emperor.

Lu Xiangsheng was just about to ask the emperor to come into the central army tent to talk. He was still thinking about what to say when Emperor Chongzhen spoke first:

"General Lu, have you eaten yet? Why not have a bowl too?"

……