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

"Thank you, Grand Marshal, for the title. I will definitely live up to your high expectations." Li Zicheng bowed again, clasped his fists, and said in a deep voice.

This is already a very good result for him.

More than a year ago, when he took advantage of the court's suppression of a rebellion and confronted Sun Chuanting, he had actually guessed that his era had passed.

The imperial court has been carrying out various reforms in the past two years. Every time he received the news, Song Xiance would sigh and lament that he was born at the wrong time and that time was not waiting for him.

Although Zhang Shikang did not give him particularly good treatment like Li Dingguo, he also left him a way out.

But he needs to walk this path himself.

The name "Crime Camp" is quite appropriate.

After receiving the order, Li Zicheng immediately returned to his army and informed everyone of the result.

Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance were quite satisfied with the result. Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu also believed that as long as they worked together, they could make a name for themselves wherever they went.

Only Liu Zongmin and Hao Yaoqi frowned. Although they had been wandering around over the years, they had never been outside the Great Wall.

Both the Mongolian Tartars and the Jurchen Tartars were very unfamiliar to them, and the government troops had once proved with a series of defeats outside the Great Wall that these Tartars were much more difficult to defeat than the government troops.

What surprised Li Zicheng was that the followers of Yao Huang Shisanjia were not willing to leave their homeland.

The Thirteen Yellow Gangs started the rebellion at about the same time as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other troops. However, unlike Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, although the Thirteen Yellow Gangs started the rebellion in Kuizhou for many years, they almost never left Kuizhou.

They set up camp in the mountains and forests of Kuizhou, only robbing passing merchants, and occasionally going to the villages at the foot of the mountain to collect money.

Thanks to the dangerous mountains and forests of Kuizhou and the fact that the imperial court has been unable to pay attention to them, they have been able to survive until now.

Of course, these thirteen leaders chose to rebel because they could not survive at the time. Now they have a choice, and judging by the court's treatment of Li Zicheng, the court should be willing to accept amnesty.

They went to meet Zhang Shikang in person and put forward their request.

Zhang Shikang did not force these people who had no fighting spirit, but he did not allow them to stay in Kuizhou.

After all, these guys are the local tyrants of Kuizhou. If they are all released, bullying of the local people is inevitable.

So Zhang Shikang decided to relocate them to Chengdu, Xuzhou, Luzhou and other prefectures, and promised to allocate land to them. The thirteen leaders all agreed.

The next thing was simple. With the cooperation of Li Zicheng, the imperial court confiscated all weapons and equipment of Li Zicheng's troops. At the same time, it ordered the defenders of the Jianmen Pass defense line to give up resistance and let Sun Chuanting's Qin soldiers take over the defense there.

Of course, Zhang Shikang didn't need to worry about these things at all. Qin Liangyu, Ma Xianglin, Sun Weifan, and Huang Degong all knew military affairs well.

After handing these matters over to his subordinates, Zhang Shikang entered Baoning City with a team of personal guards.

After traveling for several days, Zhang Shikang was tired of the army's food and couldn't wait to explore the delicious food in Baoning City.

Marching and fighting are hard, and they always need some relief. Zhang Shikang's relief was to entertain himself after fighting, and sometimes go out for a walk to eat alone to satisfy his hunger.

It would take about three days for the army to rest and reorganize the bandits, as well as prepare for the upcoming return to the capital.

Since the expedition started at the end of June, and now that we are about to enter the cold winter, Zhang Shikang has been busy outside for most of the year.

It’s like this this year and it was like this last year. If you’re not careful, you’ll have to spend the New Year away from home.

He had a miserable life in his previous life, but now he has reached a high position in this life. However, it is still not easy, and the burden on his shoulders is even greater.

The next day, Zhang Shikang took Ma Lingqi and strolled around Baoning City again.

Hong Xiucheng was very aware of the situation. In order to create space for the two to develop their relationship, he only followed Zhang Shikang with his personal guards a dozen steps away and pretended not to know him.

After all, Ma Lingqi was only eighteen years old and had never even left Shiqu City, so she felt fresh wherever she went.

Zhang Shikang took her to eat all over Baoning City, and then stopped outside a City God Temple where there was a fortune-telling stall.

On a whim, Ma Lingqi wanted to ask the fortune teller to predict their marriage.

The fortune teller's surname was Sun, and his name was Sun Buyi. He was a man in his forties, and he was accompanied by a boy of about sixteen or seventeen years old. They looked like father and son.

Sun Buyi then asked about their birth dates, and Ma Lingqi quickly told him. Zhang Shikang frowned, but couldn't resist Ma Lingqi's excitement, so he told her as well.

In fact, he didn't really believe in fortune tellers, all because he had been cheated in his previous life.

In his previous life, when he was 26 years old during the Chinese New Year, he went to the home of a blind man in the neighboring village to have his fortune told. The man was said to be very accurate in fortune telling.

When asked about marriage, the blind man made some mysterious calculations for a while and concluded that the probability of him finding a wife and getting married next year was 80%, and the year after that it would be 100%.

He believed it.

As a result, he was about to turn 27 and was still single, so he didn't want to believe in evil and spent another 50 yuan to ask the blind man to tell his fortune.

The conclusion is that you will have 100% luck in love next year and it will be successful. He also told me not to forget to bring him wedding wine.

Stable.

As a result, at the end of the year when he was 28 years old, Zhang Shikang finally became convinced that he might have been fooled.

Being alone and with only one's own shadow for company, how can one describe how miserable it is?

He had no time to listen to Sun Buyi's chatter, and instead started chatting with the sixteen-year-old boy.

The young man seemed very nervous. Zhang Shikang thought it was because he looked like the son of a wealthy family and frightened the other person, so his tone became gentler.

Ma Lingqi placed her silver spear between her legs, squatted on a low wooden stool and listened with great interest, nodding from time to time to indicate that Sun Buyi was right.

Zhang Shikang chatted with the young man for a while. He said that they were from Qufu, Shandong. However, the young man spoke hesitantly and stammered, and sometimes he glanced at Sun Buyi out of the corner of his eye. Zhang Shikang found it a little strange.

Just as he was frowning, Sun Buyi, who was busy interpreting a hexagram, suddenly pulled out a dagger from under the stall.

Zhang Shikang was so scared that he wanted to run away subconsciously.

Sun Buyi did not expect Zhang Shikang to react so quickly, and in desperation, he was about to stab Ma Lingqi.

Ma Lingqi was completely confused. She was at an innocent age and had never experienced anything like this.

The previous moment she was listening attentively to the fortune teller explaining her marriage with Zhang Shikang, and the next moment she pulled out a knife and stabbed someone.

Seeing that Sun Buyi was about to point the short blade at Ma Lingqi, Zhang Shikang had to turn around to protect Ma Lingqi in a hurry, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right arm.

Zhang Shikang didn't care about the pain and yelled:

"Lao Hong! Lao Hong! Protect the emperor! Protect the emperor!"

……