Chapter 329 Li Dingguo’s choice

Chengdu, a large campus.

While Li Dingguo was watching the three armies' exercises on the parade, Liu Wenxiu suddenly hurried to the parade and said anxiously: "Second brother, something is wrong!"

Li Dingguo suddenly turned around and asked in a narrow voice: "Third brother, what happened?"

Liu Wenxiu said sadly: "Just just probing the horse and rewarded it, the Central Army has captured Xi'an!"

"well."

Although everything was expected by Li Dingguo, he couldn't help but sigh and said, "Since the Dashun army has been defeated, what about the father?"

Liu Wenxiu lowered her head and said sadly: "Father, he...he was also killed in battle."

"Puff!" Li Dingguo opened his mouth and spitted out a mouthful of blood, and then fell back. Liu Wenxiu and several generals standing on the parade were rushed forward to help Li Dingguo sit up. After a long time, Li Dingguo woke up and said to the sky, "Father, where is the father..."

Li Dingguo was an orphan. He was less than three years old and wandered to a foreign land with his parents. On the way, his parents died one after another in war. If Zhang Xianzhong had not adopted him, he would have frozen to death and starved to death in the wilderness. Therefore, Li Dingguo had a deep relationship with Zhang Xianzhong. His vomiting blood just now was not a show, but a true love.

"Second brother." Liu Wenxiu said miserably, "In the battle of Xi'an, not only did the father and the elder brother and the fourth brother also died together. What should we do now?"

"Oh." Li Dingguo sighed long and said sadly, "Let's set up your father's mourning hall first."

Xi'an.

By the time Wang Pu arrived under the guards, the battle had already ended for several days and even the battlefield had been cleaned.

In fact, the Battle of Xi'an was not a real battle. The remnants of Dashun in Xi'an City and the tens of thousands of Daxi Army brought by Zhang Xianzhong did not cause much trouble to the Central Army. After several rounds of artillery battalion, the walls and gates of Xi'an City were blown to pieces. Then he launched a musket attack and attacked Xi'an City without any effort.

Li Chengdong quickly came to Wang Puma, saluted the military salute, and shouted: "Prince!"

Wang Pu replied to the military salute. When he looked up, he saw thick smoke rolling in the city, he asked, "What's going on?"

Li Chengdong said: "When the city was broken, Li Zicheng set fire in the palace. When our army attacked the city, the fire had completely lost control. The fire almost burned half of Xi'an City."

"Li Zicheng set fire and set himself on fire? It's a baron." Wang Pu sighed and asked again, "Where are the others?"

Li Chengdong said: "Some were killed by Li Zicheng, some were captured alive, and some people ran away."

"Running?" Wang Pu frowned, "Who ran away? Where did you go?"

"Liu Zongmin and Tian Mixiu." Li Chengdong whispered, "The two of them brought thousands of defeated soldiers and rushed to Hami."

"Chasing!" Wang Pu said sternly, "Send a cavalry battalion to pursue it immediately. You must not let these two bandits take their people away. Even if they chase after Hami, they will be caught back."

Li Chengdong replied loudly: "Yes."

Wang Pu asked again: "Where is Zhang Xianzhong and his Great Western Army?"

Li Chengdong replied: "The Daxi Army leaving Sichuan has been completely wiped out, and Zhang Xianzhong and his two adopted sons died in the chaos."

Wang Pu nodded gently and said with a sigh: "Compared to Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong's ending is much better. In this way, sending someone to restrain Zhang Xianzhong's body and be buried with a grand funeral. After all, it is also a person. It's better to repair a tomb for him."

Li Chengdong responded respectfully: "Yes."

Wang Pu pondered for a moment and turned around and ordered Lu Liudao behind him: "Send someone immediately and ask Chief of Staff Liu and the generals of each battalion to go to my headquarters immediately to discuss the entry into Sichuan."

"yes."

Lu Liu agreed and rode his horse away.

Chengdu, Daxi Palace.

On the day when the news of Zhang Xianzhong's death was passed, the generals of the Western Conference, led by Liu Wenxiu, insisted on supporting Li Dingguo ascending the throne. Wang Zhaolin, the left prime minister who was originally incompatible with Li Dingguo, also turned out to be normal and supported Li Dingguo to succeed to the throne. However, unexpectedly, Li Dingguo refused to do so. Liu Wenxiu and others begged hard, but Li Dingguo was unmoved at all.

Seven days passed before, and civil servants and generals such as Wang Zhaolin, Liu Wenxiu gathered in front of Zhang Xianzhong's mourning hall in Qingyang Palace again.

Li Dingguo was wearing mourning and knelt in front of Zhang Xianzhong's spiritual throne to observe mourning. Under the guidance of the ritual officer, Wang Zhaolin and others knelt three times and kowtowed nine times at the spiritual throne. Then they gathered in front of Li Dingguo. Wang Zhaolin rushed forward and said, "It is said that the three armies should not be without commanders for a day, and the country should not be without a king for a day. Why not ascend the throne as soon as possible?"

"Second brother." Liu Wenxiu also echoed, "You said you would go back to the palace after the first seventh guard for your father. The Central Army was about to enter Sichuan. If you don't ascend the throne, you will be in chaos."

Li Dingguo breathed a long sigh and asked Liu Wenxiu: "Third brother, is there any new news in Shaanxi?"

"Yes." Liu Wenxiu responded without hesitation, "According to the spy's return, Wang Pu did not insult his father's corpse, and even built a large tomb for him!"

Li Dingguo said again: "What else?"

"besides……"

Liu Wenxiu said this and turned to look at Wang Zhaolin. Wang Zhaolin shook his head slightly, and Liu Wenxiu said, "No, no more."

Li Dingguo said calmly: "Is it really gone?"

"Uh..." Liu Wenxiu hesitated for a moment and gritted her teeth and responded, "Wang Pu has sent someone to see you, second brother."

"Is that true?" Li Dingguo nodded slightly, suddenly stood up, and said, "Let's go, go back to the palace."

Xi'an, Wang Puxingyuan.

The fire in the city had long been put out. The remaining soldiers of Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu who were fleeing were also chased and killed by Hongniang's cavalry battalion. In a blink of an eye, the Central Army had been stationed in Xi'an for almost half a month, and the smoke of war shrouded over Shaanxi had also dissipated.

The new governor of Shaanxi Chen Lan is already on his way to Shaanxi, and Li Chengdong has also been appointed as the admiral of Shaanxi by Wang Pu.

What made Wang Pu feel sad was that Li Zicheng's Dashun regime caused devastating damage to Shaanxi. Shaanxi Province suffered more military disasters than Shanxi Province, especially the large population fleeing, resulting in a large amount of land being desolate and serious lack of productivity. It can be foreseen that Shaanxi Province will not be able to recover its vitality in a short period of time.

The situation in Shanxi and Shaanxi made Wang Pu realize another serious problem, that is, the decline in population or the serious shortage of labor.

Under the call of the killing of Hu, refugees from southern provinces will pour into Beizhi, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, becoming armed cowboys of the semi-people and half-army. In this way, the labor force of the northern provinces will be supplemented, but the surplus labor force in southern provinces, especially Jiangnan, will be greatly reduced.

The reduction of surplus labor in the Jiangnan area will inevitably affect the development of industry and commerce. After all, the early development of industry and commerce required a large amount of surplus labor. The lack of cheap labor is increasingly becoming an obstacle to the development of industry and commerce in the Ming Dynasty. If this problem is not solved, it will seriously delay Wang Pu's efforts to build the national policy of industry and commerce.

However, this issue is not within Wang Pu's consideration at the moment. Wang Pu's most concerned about the Sichuan issue now. How to recover Sichuan without bloodshed is the top priority.

Amid the light footsteps, Liu Rushi, Liu Qingyan, and Hongniang came in together.

Wang Pu slowly raised his head, his eyes fell on Liu Qingyan's charming face, and asked in a low voice: "Has the news been heard from Zhang Cangshui, who was sent to Sichuan?"

Zhang Cangshui is from Ningbo, Zhejiang and a student of the first crash course in Nanjing Army Officers University. After graduation, he joined the General Staff of the Central Army and later served as the general officer of the logistics battalion. Because Zhang Cangshui had excellent eloquence and good at quibbling, he became Wang Pu's full-minded representative to enter Sichuan to negotiate with the Daxi Army.

Liu Qingyan shook her head and whispered: "No news yet."

The Hongniang asked softly: "Prince, do you think Li Ding's surrender?"

"It is best if Li Dingguo is willing to surrender. If he doesn't want to surrender, then destroy him!" Wang Pu said this, turned his eyes to Liu Rushi, and said, "No matter whether Li Dingguo surrenders or not, the Central Army must be prepared to enter Sichuan, and then inform Zhao Xin with a letter from Fei Ge, asking him to increase troops to Badong and put pressure on the Western Army."

Chengdu, Daxi Palace.

Zhang Cangshui was taken into the hall by two imperial guards of the West. Looking around, he saw that the hall was covered with mourning clothes, and a young general was sitting high in the seat. It was Li Dingguo. On both sides of the hall were filled with civil servants and military generals of the West, both wearing mourning clothes, with a solemn expression.

Neither polite nor kneel down, Zhang Cangshui said proudly: "This person must be General Li Dingguo, right?"

"Rareless!" As soon as Zhang Cangshui finished speaking, Liu Wenxiu went out and shouted, "Can you call my second brother's name? Here comes!"

"exist!"

Two Daxi soldiers had already responded and stared at Zhang Cangshui fiercely.

Liu Wenxiu waved her hand and shouted loudly: "Drag this guy down... and chop it."

"Abide by the order!"

Two Great Western soldiers responded and rushed forward fiercely.

Zhang Cangshui struggled to break free from the two Great Western soldiers and said sneeringly: "I will leave by myself!"

"Slow down." Li Dingguo suddenly raised his hand and said, "Why don't you retreat quickly."

Li Dingguo spoke, and the two soldiers in the West did not dare to neglect and retreated quickly. Liu Wenxiu didn't want to kill Zhang Cangshui, but just wanted to give him a warning. Seeing this, he curled his lips and didn't have anything else.

Li Dingguo stopped the two Daxi soldiers and asked again: "Do you dare to ask for your honorable name?"

Zhang Cangshui said proudly: "This official Zhang Cangshui is the general of the 17th Battalion of the Infantry of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty."

"It turned out to be General Zhang." Li Dingguo said calmly, "I wonder if General Zhang is coming to Chengdu from afar, who is the one who is doing it?"

"According to the order of the prince," Zhang Cangshuiyao bowed to Xi'an with his fists and said loudly, "Tell me a word to General Li."

Li Ding Guodao: "I wish to hear it."

Zhang Cangshui took a breath and said solemnly: "Whether it is the Central Army or the Daxi Army, everyone is Han. Since everyone is Han, why bother killing each other? As long as the Daxi Army is willing to accept the reorganization, the prince will never make things difficult for anyone. If General Li and the Daxi soldiers are obsessed with it..."

Liu Wenxiu took a step forward and said angrily: "What should I do?"

A cold murderous intent suddenly flashed through Zhang Cangshui's eyes and said sternly: "If you kill me, don't worry!"

"What a big tone!" Liu Wenxiu said angrily, "I want to see, why should the Central Army enter Sichuan?"

"General Li." Zhang Cangshui turned his gaze to Li Dingguo and asked loudly, "Is this your answer to all the soldiers in Daxi?"

The civil servants and generals in the hall were angry, but Li Dingguo remained silent.

Zhang Cangshui turned his eyes again and asked Liu Wenxiu, "Dare you ask this general, why did the Daxi Army rebel?"

Liu Wenxiu responded without hesitation: "Of course it is for the sake of having a good meal. Emperor Ming was debauchery and the government was declining and the people of the world were in trouble. Why didn't such a court overthrow him? Only by overthrowing the court and establishing a new dynasty can the people of the world have food and live a good life."

Zhang Cangshui said hungryly: "The Dashun Army also rebelled for this. In the end, they established the Dashun Kingdom. But did the people of Dashun Kingdom live a good life? No! Under the rule of Li Zicheng, the people of Shaanxi lived a much more poor and miserable life than before. Why don't you go to Shaanxi to see what it is now?"

Liu Wenxiu was silent, and everyone in the palace was silent, and of course they knew what Zhang Cangshui was saying was the truth.

Zhang Cangshui continued: "Let's talk about the Ming Dynasty. The current court is no longer the Chongzheng Dynasty. Under the rule of Sun Ge Lao and Prince, the current court has governed Qingming Festival and the world is stable. Huguang and Sichuan are close to each other. You should have heard of it. Huguang has had a bumper harvest for two consecutive years, and the harvested food cannot be eaten up for ten years!"

"So what?" Liu Wenxiu said angrily, "There is no master in the world, and only those who are virtuous are there. Why should the Zhu family come to sit in this world? Why can't my second brother sit in this world?"

Zhang Cangshui sneered: "So the Western Army rebelled not for the sake of the people of the world to have food, but for General Li to be able to sit in the Dragon Court?"
To be continued...