GBP Chapter 437 Li Zicheng's Deployment
Chapter 437 Li Zicheng's Deployment
Upon hearing the voice, Zhang Xianzhong knew it was Gao Yingxiang, the "Rebel King." His expression shifted between anger and uncertainty as he quickly weighed the pros and cons. Finally, with some reluctance, he lowered his sword. Seeing him do so, Li Zicheng also signaled his men to lay down their blades. A potential conflict and bloodshed were averted.
Gao Yingxiang was a trusted subordinate of Wang Ziyong, the early leader of the rebel army known as "Purple Gold Beam," and a key commander of the Thirty-Six Battalions. After Wang Ziyong's death, he became the most prestigious leader among the various rebel armies and was also the leader of the thirteen families and seventy-two battalions elected at the Xingyang Conference. Even in the underworld, there are rules. No matter how arrogant Zhang Xianzhong was, he had to give face to "King Chuang," otherwise he would be going against the Seventy-Two Battalions.
The crowd parted to make way, and Gao Yingxiang walked straight in. He was a middle-aged man of average height, with an unremarkable appearance. He would be inconspicuous in a crowd, and no one who saw him for the first time would ever guess that he was the leader of various rebel armies, the famous "Chuang King".
Gao Yingxiang was usually stern and unsmiling, his face revealing neither joy nor sorrow. Now, in an attempt to mediate between the two, he put on a smile, though it looked forced. He walked between them and asked, "We're brothers, what can't we discuss? Money, women—there's plenty of that out there, isn't there?"
Zhang Xianzhong pointed at Li Zicheng and replied, "King Chuang, I am not a greedy person. Let him take the antiques from the palace, but let him leave these eunuchs behind and get out of here quickly. I will forgive and forget about it." In fact, he didn't necessarily need these eunuch musicians. Perhaps he had grown tired of their music after watching them play once or twice. But he was fighting for face, not for the eunuchs. He had already drawn his sword and couldn't back down at the last moment. If he let one of King Chuang's generals lose face, how could he face others in the future?
Gao Yingxiang glanced at Li Zicheng and said in a deep voice, "Zicheng, did you hear what the Eighth Prince said? He'll give you the man and the goods, so why don't you say a few straightforward words to settle this matter?"
Seeing Gao Yingxiang's tone, and realizing there was no other choice, Li Zicheng took a deep breath, suppressed his dissatisfaction, and said, "It's all up to 'King Chuang' to decide. I don't want anything from the palace anymore." With that, he turned and left the palace.
Gao Yingxiang glanced at his retreating figure, then turned to Zhang Xianzhong and explained, "My nephew is quite arrogant, don't take him seriously." Gao Yingxiang's niece was Li Zicheng's wife, so they addressed each other as uncle and nephew in private.
Zhang Xianzhong was pleased to have gained face, and his tone became more polite: "For the sake of 'King Chuang', I naturally won't take it to heart."
Outside the palace, Li Zicheng looked back at the luxurious palace, his eyes filled with resentment and bitterness. Gao Yigong, who was beside him, leaned in and whispered, "Brother, following Zhang Xianzhong has been humiliating, and being under 'Chuang Wang' is also very frustrating. Why don't we split up and go our own way?" Gao Yigong was Li Zicheng's brother-in-law and had always followed him loyally.
"Divide the troops?" Upon hearing this, Li Zicheng's heart stirred, and he fell into deep thought.
Since Li Zicheng raised his army, he had changed allies several times. First, he joined Wang Zuogua, a leader of a peasant army. In the third year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, after Wang Zuogua surrendered and accepted amnesty, he joined Zhang Cunmeng, nicknamed "Untouchable." However, after Zhang Cunmeng's defeat in the fourth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he also surrendered to the court. In the sixth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he led his troops across the Yellow River to join his uncle Gao Yingxiang, where he also earned the nickname "Chuang Jiang" (meaning "rebel general").
As if to confirm the curse that none of the forces he allied with could survive the following year, in the seventh year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, Cao Zhao, Zuo Liangyu, and other Ming armies surrounded the forces of Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and others in Henan, seemingly destined for defeat and surrender. Fortunately, the Tartars entered the pass at this time, and Cao Zhao was transferred to Datong to resist the Jin invaders. This allowed the refugee army to break out from the Datong General Wang Pu, leading to the later Xingyang Conference and the Battle of Fengyang.
Gao Yigong continued to persuade him: "Brother, you now have a strong army and can make a name for yourself even without relying on 'Chuang Wang'. Why not find a reason to divide your troops and return to the west, instead of joining 'Chuang Wang' and Zhang Xianzhong's forces?"
Li Zicheng nodded and patted Gao Yigong on the shoulder heavily. “You’re right. We have men and money now, so why should we live under someone else’s roof? Even without Zhang the butcher, we won’t eat hairy pigs. Let’s go back to Shaanxi and Gansu, raise an army of 100,000 to 200,000 men, and let the other commanders see that I, Li Zicheng, can also make something of myself.”
The forces that stormed Fengyang were the allied forces of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang. Li Zicheng was nominally a subordinate of Gao Yingxiang, but in reality, he was also a relatively independent force. After the Xingyang Conference, the allied forces advanced eastward, conquering cities and seizing territories. They appeared united, but in reality, each harbored their own ambitions and were wary of the others. A conflict in the imperial palace became the fuse for the split within the allied forces, foreshadowing later developments.
The allied forces' good days in Fengyang didn't last long before bad news arrived. Hong Chengchou led his main force out of Tongguan and convened a meeting of his generals in Xinyang, Henan. He also recalled the renowned general Cao Zhao, who had gone to Datong to fight against the Jin, and prepared to gather troops to encircle and suppress the various rebel armies.
Since Hong Chengchou took over the position of Governor-General of Five Provinces from Chen Yu and became the main military commander in the suppression of the bandits, he changed the previous administration's approach of "suppressing while pacifying," implementing a policy of "all-out suppression" and "pacifying the strong through suppression, suppressing first and then pacifying." The results were remarkable. His subordinate Cao Zhao was brave and skilled in battle, making all the other rebel armies tremble with fear. He and his nephew Cao Bianjiao were known as the two Generals Cao. All the rebel armies were paying close attention to Hong Chengchou's movements, including the Gao-Zhang allied forces in the east.
Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong had already made a fortune in Fengyang and decided to leave to avoid Hong Chengchou's advance. However, they had different ideas about which way to go, so they sat down to discuss it. Li Zicheng, who had demonstrated his exceptional strategic vision at the Xingyang Conference, also participated in the discussion.
Zhang Xianzhong advocated continuing eastward, which would both avoid a direct confrontation with Hong Chengchou and allow him to plunder the rich canal banks.
His eyes gleamed with greed as he waved his arms and said, "'King Chuang,' I'm not trying to be mean, but the western region is incredibly poor and offers little in terms of resources. The eastern regions like Luzhou (present-day Hefei, Anhui), Anqing, Hezhou, and Chuzhou—aren't they all stronger than the west? Just conquering one or two of these prefectures would be worth half of Shaanxi province..."
Gao Yingxiang was quite tempted. These leaders were all from Shaanxi and knew how poor Shaanxi was. Apart from the corpses scattered everywhere and the barren fields, there was nothing else. He asked Li Zicheng for his opinion: "Zicheng, what do you say?"
Li Zicheng had already decided to divide his forces, so naturally he wouldn't follow behind as a subordinate. Without hesitation, he replied, "It's easy for us to be surrounded and annihilated by government troops if we join forces together. It's more appropriate to divide our forces into several routes. Since 'King Chuang' and 'Eight Great Kings' want to go to the east, then I will go to the west!"