Please ask me to be the emperor

As a "roving bandit", it is difficult to have a day off. Although Zhang Shun got a moment of respite in Runcheng Town, with his cautious character, he did not dare to relax at all. He had already released Chen Changzhen's cavalry. , acting as a scout to explore the military situation around Runcheng.

As for being in the city, although he seemed to be leisurely wooing local merchants, he was actually working hard on two fronts.

One is to collect surrounding intelligence through these merchants. Although these merchants are inconspicuous, they are actually the most knowledgeable about information. Since they dared to take the risk of coming to Runcheng to do business at this time, they must have already inquired about the surrounding military situation. If not, not only may everything be lost in business, but one's life may also be lost.

On the other hand, Zhang took the opportunity to discuss the intention of buying and selling with some interested merchants. For example, I negotiated the Western cannon business with Wang Qingzhi, and negotiated the gunpowder business and intelligence business with some merchants.

In short, Zhang Shun took the opportunity to develop them into his own intelligence network and logistics network. For these merchants, the life and death of Shanxi people have nothing to do with them, only money.

For Zhang Shun, he had blackmailed so much silver and left it in his hand that he could neither eat nor drink. Zhang Shun was not a miser, so it was the best choice to find a way to exchange it for real strength.

As a result, Zhang Shun actually discovered some important information after taking turns to talk to these merchants. The first piece of information was that the governor of Shanxi, Song Tongyin, was dismissed from his official position by the imperial court due to the fall of Zezhou and the earthquake in the Three Jin Dynasties, and was replaced by Xu Dingchen, the envoy of Youqiandu.

This man was a native of Wujin, Changzhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty. His courtesy name was Erxuan and his nickname was Dingyu. He was a Jinshi in the 35th year of Wanli. Judging from his resume, it was unremarkable. Zhang Shun didn't know whether this replacement would be a good thing or a bad thing for him and others. However, it will definitely cause the government to change its previous strategies, so you need to be more careful.

In fact, Zhang Shun didn't know that this rotation happened to cheat the half-hearted Zhang Shenyan. If not, Zhang Shun would probably encounter a lot of trouble.

The second piece of information was that because the rebels had previously besieged Huaiqing Mansion, the imperial court mobilized Zuo Liangyu to lead the Changping Army to sit in the city and wait for an opportunity to encircle and suppress the rebels.

Zuo Liangyu was also famous in the late Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of many people, this person has always been known for his "sickness" and "bravery". It is said that this person will run as fast as the wind when encountering thieves. He will kill good people and take advantage of the enemy as brave as a tiger. He is not liked by others.

Although these things do happen from time to time, they do not negate the fact that this person is relatively capable of fighting. This man was originally from the Liaodong frontier army and was promoted by Hou Xun. In July of the fourth year of Chongzhen, he led a team to fight against the Qing army in the Songshan and Xingshan areas, ranking first in merit. It is precisely because of this that Fan Shangxuan, the governor of Henan, specially reported to the court and invited Zuo Liangyu to come to his aid.

When Zhang Shun heard this, he couldn't help but want to retreat. He knew that "the three things a new official should do when he takes office" was that after Xu Dingchen took office, he would definitely launch a new round of encirclement and suppression against the rebels. And Zuo Liangyu is sitting in Huaiqing Mansion, watching with eager eyes. It is estimated that the rebel army wants to cross the Tianjing Pass to attack Huaiqing Mansion as it did last time. It will no longer work.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shun couldn't sit still anymore. It was getting late at that time, so Zhang ordered everyone to pack up their belongings and prepare the city immediately early tomorrow morning.

As a result, the plan did not change quickly. That night Zhang received news from the scouts sent back by Chen Changzhen to deliver food. Zhang Shun opened it and saw that it was actually the "Zijinliang" and other rebels who were besieged by officers and soldiers on the banks of the Qinshui River.

It turns out that the situation has been changing in the past few days. After Han Tingxian was asked to go back by "Purple Gold Liang", he knew that he had been suspected by "Purple Gold Liang" and often felt uneasy. So he secretly contacted Zhang Daojun through a messenger and informed him of two things.

One thing is that the former right-hand minister of the Ministry of Justice was the father of the bandit "Optimus Prime", and he often communicated with the bandit "Optimus Prime" about the officers and soldiers, so the officers and soldiers were always passive in combat. Another thing is that Han Tingxian wants to sell the "Purple Golden Liang" in exchange for wealth.

Of these two things, the first one deceived the cunning Zhang Shenyan, and the second one deceived the "Purple Gold Liang" who was bent on surrendering. All things considered, it was the imperial court that suffered the most. It is not known whether Han Tingxian was a traitor planted by the imperial court among the rebels, or a traitor planted by the rebels among the imperial court.

After Zhang Shun arrived at Zezhou City that day, Han Tingxian encouraged the "Purple Golden Liang" and said: "Although Zezhou is big, it can't just sit there and eat nothing. That 'Optimus Prime' has great plundering methods, and even the entire Zezhou City was plundered by him." It’s really no small matter to get tens of thousands of taels of silver.”

"If we sit and guard this city and let them plunder freely outside the city, I am afraid that in this land of Zezhou, there will be no strong men to work with, no women to have sex with, no money to use, and no food to eat! "

"Zijinliang" was also shocked when he heard this. He has become a bandit ever since. First, he followed Wang Jiayin as Zuo Cheng, and then he recognized himself as the "Second Master", and he has seen many vicious and vicious people.

All of them were ruthless people who committed crimes including burning, killing, raping and looting, but none of them could plunder so much property as easily as this "Optimus Prime".

He couldn't help but blush again and asked: "What can I do?"

Hearing this, Han Tingxian's face flashed with ferocity, and he swung his hand down like a slash and said: "The grass must be overpowered by fire, the stone must be overturned by the knife, and people must be rekindled! Kill them all, and naturally there will be nothing left to squeeze out."

"Purple Golden Liang" couldn't help being shocked when he heard this. No matter how cruel he was, he couldn't come up with such a vicious idea. The Taoist Qixu who was there was also anxious, and quickly advised him: "Since the second master wants to recruit peace, it is better to do less killing. Otherwise, when the time comes, the imperial court will not be able to tolerate you, and the world will not be able to tolerate you! The imperial court will not tolerate you. If you don’t kill him to calm the world’s anger, what can you do?”

"Zijinliang" finally came back to his senses and said with an awkward smile: "I've said it before, I've said it before. How can I, the second master, do it?"

"However, since 'Optimus Prime' can search, I can also search. Let's call up the fire and set off tomorrow. We will also go sweep and search for some money."

So Han Tingxian led "Zijin Liang" and others to plunder everywhere and headed to the Qinshui River. Han Tingxian's plan was going smoothly all the way, but when he was about to reach the ambush site on the bank of Qinshui River, Taoist Quxi came out and said to "Zijinliang": "I heard that a rich man can count one for ten, and a poor man should count ten for a hundred. One, a hundred is not equal to one. Today we plundered seven or eight villages, but except for killing some stupid people and stupid women, we gained nothing."

"Why don't we attack the nearby big households? I heard that there is a man named Gai Ruzhang here, who is as rich as anyone in the country. If we plunder this one household, we can make two hundred households. If we kill this one person, we can make two hundred people. Why bother with the second one? How much does it cost to travel?"

After hearing this, "Zijinliang" thought that Taoist Quxu was right, so he agreed to his suggestion and ordered the team to turn back north and kill Gai Ruzhang's manor.

Gai Ruzhang was indeed a large family, with nearly a thousand servants. After Gai Ruzhang scattered the rewards, he desperately resisted the attack of the peasant army of "Purple Gold Liang".

In the rush, we cannot conquer this place quickly. At this time, Han Tingxian felt uneasy when he saw that "Purple Golden Liang" began to listen to the opinions of Qixu Taoist. He was suspicious, thinking that "Purple Golden Liang" should have discovered his plan, and escaped secretly.

As a result, Han Tingxian happened to encounter Liu Wei's team under Zhang Daojun who came to investigate. He quickly told Liu Wei about the situation of the rebels.

At this time, the rebels under "Zijinliang" discovered Li Wei's team, gave up attacking Gai Ruzhang's manor, and pursued Liu Wei's troops instead.

The pursuit didn't matter, they caught up with the officers and soldiers' ambush circle on the bank of Qinshui River, and the "Purple Gold Liang" fought with the officers and soldiers. Before "Purple Gold Liang" could escape, Zhang Daojun smuggled over from the upper reaches of Qinshui River, completely blocking the rebel army's retreat, and surrounded "Purple Gold Liang" and the rebel leaders he had summoned.

Regarding this matter, Zhang Shun's first reaction was: Haha, "Purple Gold Liang" you are here too!

However, after Zhang Shun finished gloating about his misfortune, he couldn't be happy anymore when he took a closer look at the information sent by the scouts.

It turns out that the rebels who were besieged this time included not only the "Purple Golden Liang", but also the "Gunshanhu", "The King of Hunshi", "The King of Troubled Times", "Mangyxing" and other rebels.

Zhang Shun is well aware that his own strength is limited. If the officers and soldiers wipe out this large area of ​​​​the rebel army this time, I am afraid that the strength of the peasant army uprising in Shanxi will fall to the bottom.

At that time, Xu Dingchen, a new official, will take office and lead a large number of officers and soldiers to suppress the army. He is afraid that he will be unable to support himself.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shun had no choice but to get up quickly, call his generals, and prepare to set off overnight to go to the Qinshui River to rescue the besieged rebel brothers.

Zhang Shun was also considered a chicken thief. He ordered his soldiers to cook at the third watch, set off at the fourth watch, and arrived at the bank of Qinshui at the fifth watch.

At this time, the sound of killings beside the Qinshui River was so loud that the Qinshui River was dyed red with blood. There were also many corpses of unknown parties floating down the river from time to time.

Fortunately, Zhang Shun's troops were located upstream of the river and could not see such a miserable scene. Zhang Shun only saw a fire in front of him. The officers, soldiers and rebels all lit torches and fought with each other. They have long been out of formation, out of formation, just a random fight.

There was only one high ground where a group of troops who had not participated in the battle were bombarding the larger crowd of rebels with artillery.

Zhang Shun took a look and knew that this was the location of the Chinese army commander Zhang Daojun. He quickly ordered Li Shian to find a location, set up artillery and bombard it with live ammunition.

As expected, Zhang Daojun was on the high ground, watching the battle with great satisfaction by the light of the fire. Liu Wei, the deputy general beside him, happily said to him: "After this battle, the bandits' vitality has been severely damaged. You will definitely make up for your mistakes by getting promoted to a higher position. Take it to the next level!"

Zhang Daojun also believed it, but he still said modestly: "Where, where! It's all thanks to the concerted efforts of all of you. When this group of fierce bandits is eliminated, I will ask for credit for you."

Before he finished speaking, a few cannon shots were heard, and the soldiers around him suddenly screamed. Zhang Daojun turned around and was shocked to see that more than a dozen of his soldiers were killed by artillery fire from nowhere.

It's too late to go home today. I only have 3,000 words in one update. I'm sorry. Please don't wait any longer.