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

As he spoke, Zhang Xianzhong grabbed the incense burner and threw it at the statue of the Dragon King, knocking off one of the Dragon King's arms.

"I'm telling you, if it doesn't rain within three days, I'm going to use a cannon to blow you up, you bastard!

If you don't believe me, just wait and see!"

After saying that, Zhang Xianzhong strode out of the Dragon King Temple. Looking at the people around him, Zhang Xianzhong's expression was very complicated, and he even had a hint of guilt.

So they waited until the third day, but it still didn't rain. Zhang Xianzhong was really angry.

He immediately led all the civil and military officials in the court to rush towards the Dragon King Temple again, and actually ordered his men to transport a total of thirty French cannons.

When Zhang Xianzhong arrived at the Dragon King Temple again, the area around the temple was still crowded with people who came to pray for rain.

"Get out of my way, stop kneeling!

This damn Dragon King doesn't know what's good for him, I'm going to teach him a lesson today!"

His subordinates quickly drove the people to a safe place, and Zhang Xianzhong immediately ordered the gunners to pull over a full thirty French cannons.

They lined up in two rows on a high hill about fifty or sixty steps away from the Dragon King Temple, with all their guns pointed at the Dragon King Temple.

Some people knelt down and cried, muttering things like "Those who are disrespectful to the Dragon King will be struck by lightning."

Zhang Xianzhong heard some of it and became even angrier.

Instead of punishing the people, he took out all his anger on the Dragon King.

Although he did not believe in ghosts and gods, he was still a little scared because the Dragon King had been worshipped for thousands of years. He frowned with anger and seemed a little conflicted.

But when more people whispered to him, hoping that he should not be disrespectful to the Dragon King, Zhang Xianzhong looked around at the people and then at the Dragon King and could no longer bear it.

He drew out the sword from his waist with a clang and said firmly:

"Dragon King, I'm your mother--

fire! "

Dozens of gunners immediately opened fire, and the surrounding people quickly covered their ears and lay on the ground.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-

After a round of artillery bombardment, the once magnificent Dragon King Temple no longer looked majestic.

Not only did the Dragon King Temple collapse as a whole, but even the statue was blown into pieces, with only the part below the buttocks remaining intact.

Zhang Xianzhong was considering whether to fire another round of bombs. The weather in June changed suddenly. With a gust of wind, the clouds in the sky blocked the sun and the sky became dark.

A quarter of an hour later, a flash of lightning suddenly appeared in the dark sky, and then under the loud thunder, it actually began to rain.

Zhang Xianzhong was stunned for a moment. A few drops of rain fell on his lips. Zhang Xianzhong licked them and realized that this was true.

The rain suddenly fell heavily, accompanied by more intense lightning and thunder.

"If you are disrespectful to the Dragon King, you will be struck by lightning!"

Zhang Xianzhong suddenly remembered the whispers of the people just now and immediately became a little panicked.

"Return to the palace, return to the palace!"

After saying that, he mounted his tall horse and galloped towards his imperial palace in Chengdu.

At the end of July, Zhang Xianzhong received news that Ma Shouying, who had been ill for more than half a year, had died.

In his last will and wish, Ma Shouying wanted to hand over his 10,000-plus soldiers to Cao Cao and Luo Rucai, hoping that he would agree.

The person who came to report the news was none other than General Pingdong Zhang Kewang, one of the four generals.

"Father, although Ma Shouying and Cao Cao openly obey your orders, they have actually never been convinced by us.

This time Ma Shouying is dead, we must take this opportunity to swallow up his men.

If we give it to Cao Cao, it will be even more impossible for Cao Cao to return!" Sun Kewang said with great respect.

While Zhang Xianzhong was changing his clothes with the help of his concubine, he frowned and said:

"Damn it, we are old friends who have been together for a long time. It's really not fair for me to use force!"

When Gao Yingxiang, the leader of the rebel army, was in power, many other rebel leaders, including Li Zicheng, his eighth king Zhang Xianzhong, and too many other rebel leaders, all followed Gao Yingxiang's lead.

Especially when the Xingyang Conference was held, the thirteen rebel armies agreed to form an offensive and defensive alliance and never attack each other, and together they resisted the violent Ming Dynasty.

It was also from that time that Zhang Xianzhong often cooperated with a few other rebel leaders such as Ma Shouying and Cao Cao to break away from the imperial army.

The crisis occurred more than a year ago. At that time, Li Zicheng was defeated and only had 18 riders left. Zhang Xianzhong, Ma Shouying, Cao Cao and others could only pretend to surrender to save their lives.

At that time, Zhang Xianzhong had more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, while Ma Shouying and Cao Cao together had only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses. From then on, the two of them followed Zhang Xianzhong's lead.

Until now, when they had ruled Sichuan together, Zhang Xianzhong still treated them as his subordinates.

He thought so, but Ma Shouying and Cao Cao did not think so. They were once equals.

When Zhang Xianzhong proclaimed himself emperor, he also bestowed rewards on the two, but they did not seem to appreciate it.

But Zhang Xianzhong didn't take it too seriously because of their old friendship.

Now Ma Shouying is dead, without even a descendant left. He had more than 16,000 men under his command, and their fighting power was not bad.

According to the old rules of the rebel army, either the leader of the rebel army would appoint someone in the army to be the next leader, or hand it over to other trusted leaders.

But now, apart from Sichuan, where else can we find the rebel army?

After all, he is the emperor of the Atlantis Kingdom. As the saying goes, All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects.

This Ma Shouying is indeed a little ignorant.

Zhang Kewang couldn't help but feel a little anxious when he heard his father say this, so he said:

“Since my father has already established the country, whether it is Ma Shouying or Cao Cao, as long as they are on the land of Daxi, they are all his subjects.

Military power has been a taboo since ancient times, and what Ma Shouying did was tantamount to treason.

I know that your father does not want brothers to quarrel with each other, but I think that as the emperor, your father should abide by the etiquette and laws, rather than those outdated rules.

You, father, are the greatest rule.

If your Majesty does not want to start a war that would cause grief to your loved ones and joy to your enemies, I do have a solution."

"Oh? What plan does Wang'er have? Tell me about it." Zhang Xianzhong said after changing his clothes.

"Father can issue an imperial decree, expressing his willingness to hand over those troops to Cao Cao.

Your Majesty could even confer a title of nobility on Cao Cao. Such a great reward must naturally be celebrated with some ceremony, so I, your son, will go in person to announce the decree and offer congratulations.

At that time, I can take advantage of their unpreparedness and kill Cao Cao and all his key subordinates.

I will ambush my subordinates around Ziyang in advance, and once the action is taken, I will let them rush into Ziyang City immediately to stabilize the situation.

By then, that group of people will be leaderless, so they will have no choice but to surrender to us!"

After hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong remained calm and seemed to think it was feasible. He put aside the guilt he had for attacking his old friend and was about to give the order when he saw several of his subordinates running in in a panic.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! It's bad!

That damned Zhang Shikang is coming to kill us!"

……