Chapter 403: The Rebel Alliance that escaped, the choice of the bandit chiefs
"King Chuang, we have finally crossed the Dalu Lake, and headed south along the Zhangshui River to reach the Central Plains."
Li Zicheng stood on the bow deck of a medium-quality treasure ship and spoke to Gao Yingxiang, the King of Rebellion, who was looking into the distance in deep thought.
Over the past year, they heard that Li Dingguo's Restoration Army was thriving and conquering cities as easily as taking candy from a sack, which made these rebel generals extremely envious.
Especially the ambitious Li Zicheng, who was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood.
He has a big secret of his own. Five years ago, when he broke through to the early stage of Qi Refining, he awakened the destiny of the Greedy Wolf Star.
Even before the uprising, he had gained an amazing adventure, and his cultivation level has been advancing by leaps and bounds in recent years.
Today, Li Zicheng has come from behind and his cultivation level has surpassed Gao Yingxiang, who was in the middle stage of level five, and he has broken through to the late stage of level five. He is one of the three top masters in King Chuang's army.
But he was full of confidence and never imagined that his road to becoming a hero would be so bumpy.
After occupying Mizhi County, he was defeated by the government army in a battle and could only lead a hundred or so defeated soldiers to surrender to Wang Ziyi in shame.
Wang Ziyi's pride did not last long. He was soon forced by the situation and took Li Zicheng with him to join Wang Jiayin.
After Wang Jiayin was stabbed to death by his cousin and brother-in-law, Li Zicheng fled Yangcheng and went to Gao Yingxiang for help.
As a result, they were defeated repeatedly by the government troops led by Lu Xiangsheng a year ago and were trapped in the Huangzeling area at the junction of three provinces for nearly a year, living like savages.
Fortunately, the Tianxiong Army led by Lu Xiangsheng was ordered to be transferred by the court, and turned around to focus on suppressing Li Dingguo, which gave these miscellaneous rebel troops a good opportunity to break out of the siege.
After wandering for more than half a year, they finally got a large fleet through robbery, crossed the Dalu Lake, went south along the Zhang River, and arrived at Zhangde Prefecture in the Central Plains, finally breaking out of the encirclement of the government troops.
Only now did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
However, at this time, the total number of soldiers in the Rebel Alliance had been reduced by more than half.
During this period, countless rebel soldiers quietly left the team and swarmed towards the territory occupied by the Restoration Army in groups of three or five!
Most of these rebel soldiers were civilians who had suffered all their lives. The Fuxing Army made such a big move after entering the pass that their actions would naturally reach the ears of these rebel soldiers.
Isn't the paradise-like life that civilians lead in the Fuxing Army's jurisdiction their ultimate pursuit?
Since the good life you have been pursuing is right in front of you, what is there to hesitate about?
Especially after the Fuxing Army defeated the two million-strong Tatar armies led by Huang Taiji and Yuetuo successively, they no longer hesitated and tried every means to break away from the original rebel team and ran towards the jurisdiction of the Fuxing Army through various means.
The Fuxing Army was well prepared for these working people who had come from afar to surrender, and naturally would not refuse their entry.
Li Dingguo had already stated that all Han civilians must be treated equally and properly resettled.
In the short one year since the Fuxing Army entered the country, the population in various areas, especially those bordering the Ming government, has doubled!
Its population density has skyrocketed several times in the past six months!
Not only did the scattered rebel soldiers from all over the country come to surrender in large numbers, but more people came from the areas under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty.
Countless common people who could no longer survive kept arriving, making the political affairs department and logistics department of the Fuxing Army extremely busy and unable to cope.
Fortunately, in this big world, there are countless wild areas that can be developed. With the strength of each legion of the Renaissance Army, it is easy to carry out pioneering operations.
With the concerted efforts of the military and civilians, no major chaos was caused. Countless large farms were built in time to accommodate these large numbers of people.
Now, with the various rebel forces led by Gao Yingxiang, the total number of soldiers who have marched south to the Zhangde Prefecture area is only about 300,000.
Most of the rebel soldiers have already fled.
In this situation, how could the rebel leaders such as Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong not be extremely depressed?
After all, most of the rebel soldiers joined the army only because they couldn't survive. Once there was a way to survive, why would they follow these ragtag troops and struggle to survive on the edge of a knife?
They were just blindly following, not stupid.
"Your Majesty, Luo Rucai and Zhang Xianzhong are here."
At this time, Liu Zongmin pointed to several speedboats on the Zhangshui River and said to Gao Yingxiang.
Gao Yingxiang was able to serve as the temporary leader of the current rebel alliance, and Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin, two late-stage level five warriors, played a big role.
In this temporary rebel alliance, Ai Nengqi is another late-stage level five master besides the two of them, and he is also the most loyal adopted son of Zhang Xianzhong.
"Go and invite them aboard!"
Gao Yingxiang came to his senses from deep thought and said to Liu Zongmin, "They came at the right time. Let's discuss what to do next."
After Liu Zongmin took the order and left, he brought Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and a dozen other rebel leaders to Gao Yingxiang.
Li Zicheng quickly commanded a team of personal soldiers to set out chairs and food and wine, and everyone sat around together, eating and chatting.
After three rounds of drinking, Gao Yingxiang stood up, raised his glass and toasted everyone, then said, "Everyone, now we have finally left the desperate place at the junction of the three provinces and escaped the siege."
"The intelligence personnel reported that Lu Xiangsheng had recently lost cities and territories to the Renaissance Army. It was not until the end of the year that the Renaissance Army temporarily stopped fighting and Lu Xiangsheng was able to stabilize his position."
"But this guy seemed to want to take it out on us, and began to mobilize troops to advance in the southeast direction. Fortunately, we ran fast and left the jurisdiction of King Lu in time, and came to the Central Plains from afar."
"Everyone, tell me where we should go next."
"We are all in the same boat now. If we work together, we will both benefit. If we separate, we will both suffer. I believe you all understand."
Gao Yingxiang did not waste any time talking to these rebel leaders and simply stated the facts directly.
There was no other way. Most of the soldiers under everyone's command had basically run away, so they had to unite and act.
Otherwise, no one can expect to make much waves.
Among the rebels in the world today, except for Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army, no one else has much appeal.
Regardless of whether Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong and other rebel leaders admit it or not, the world situation has already turned to the side of the Fuxing Army.
Compared with Li Dingguo, these people are like clowns. They started a rebellion just to make people laugh, just like children playing house.
"King Chuang."
Luo Rucai, who was known as the think tank of the rebel army, was the first to speak, "Although our rebel alliance does not have many troops now, the 300,000 soldiers are all elite. Even if we capture the Zhangde City ahead in one fell swoop, it won't be a big problem."
"The problem is that nearly half of Jin Province is already the territory of the Fuxing Army, and it's not too far from Zhangde Prefecture. I think it will fall into Li Dingguo's hands next year."
"If my estimate is correct, by this time next year, the entire Jin Province will most likely be captured by Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army, and even the entire Qin Territory will be no exception."
"There is no doubt about this. After all, the two million Tartar troops that even the Ming Dynasty could not defeat were easily defeated by the Fuxing Army. This mere two and a half provinces cannot stop the Fuxing Army at all."
"If we occupy the Henan Province area north of the Yellow River, we will soon have to confront Li Dingguo. I don't need to tell you the consequences, and you all know it."
No matter how resourceful Luo Rucai was, he did not dare to confront the Fuxing Army.
Otherwise, the rebel soldiers under his command would not only not have the courage to fight, but might even turn against him immediately!
Compared with the development and growth model of the Restoration Army, the action programs of these rebel armies are simply weak and the two sides are not on the same level.
It can be said that in the future, the biggest enemy of their rebel army will no longer be the government army, but the Restoration Army. Facing the government army, they are still confident that they can gather a large number of rebel soldiers to resist, but facing the Restoration Army, they are powerless.
There was no way. The rebel soldiers, mostly composed of refugees and working people, could not resist the temptation to join the Restoration Army.
"Cao Cao, what do you think we should do?"
The flesh on Liu Zongmin's face twitched a few times, and he asked Luo Rucai in a bad mood.
He looked very unhappy, as if he was very dissatisfied with Li Dingguo.
However, the facts are here. If you are not convinced, you can go and challenge Li Dingguo!
This is what Ai Nengqi, who was standing aside, was thinking in his heart.
Ai Nengqi really could not have imagined that Li Dingguo would rise to prominence after being separated from his own rebel army. In just a few years, he had become a world-famous bandit leader who could even suppress the Later Jin clan.
As the saying goes, a golden fish cannot stay in a pond. Once it encounters wind and clouds, it will turn into a dragon.
This must be talking about Li Dingguo.
As a former good friend of Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi now has very complicated feelings, with all kinds of emotions in his heart, but he doesn't know what to say.
Zhang Xianzhong on the side had a very strange expression on his face, and his feelings were even more complicated and incomprehensible, but he did not speak. He looked at Luo Rucai to see what he would say next.
"Given the current situation, it is not advisable for our Rebel Alliance to go east."
Luo Rucai continued, "To the east is the land of Qi and Lu. Right now, the Restoration Army on the southeast coast is aggressively attacking. I heard that they have already captured the two states of Deng and Lai. It won't be a problem to completely capture the entire land of Qi and Lu next year."
"Once we choose to go east, we will soon face off against the Restoration Army, and we will basically be powerless to fight back."
"Staying in the Central Plains is not a long-term solution. Once the Fuxing Army has conquered all of Jin Province and Qin Territory, we will still be adjacent to them."
"Look at our army, which originally had millions of soldiers, and now only has 300,000 soldiers left. It is clear that if we are adjacent to the Restoration Army in the near future, it will definitely become a nightmare for us."
Luo Rucai expressed his opinion, "For now, the only way is to go south to Huguang, or directly to Hanzhong, which is the best place for our rebel alliance."
“There is no other choice.”
"Hey……"
At this point, he sighed, "The situation in this world has changed too much recently!"
"How much luck did Li Dingguo have to be able to develop a camp of young recruits that he founded to such a level in just a few years!"
"I heard that there are at least two level six spirit birds and three level six warriors in the Renaissance Army. There is also a navy fleet that is said to be the best in the world, and at least eight main army corps, all of which are armed to the teeth!"
"Their one million soldiers have two horses each, and their mounts are at least middle-grade dragon-scale horses. I heard that the proportion of high-grade dragon-scale horses is increasing rapidly. When they are on long-distance raids, they can cross mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground!"
"The fleet they have on the southeast coast is even more outrageous. It is said that they already have more than ten top-grade treasure ships, nearly fifty upper-grade treasure ships, and nearly a thousand mid-grade treasure ships!"
"What a huge navy this is! It's terrifying just thinking about it."
Even though Luo Rucai was resourceful, he felt powerless against the potential enemy, the Fuxing Army, and had no idea how to deal with it.
Faced with such a behemoth, even the Ming Dynasty is now in a state of panic. What can these scattered and ragtag rebel armies use to compete with the enemy for the world?
Luo Rucai's sigh was like a huge rock pressing on the hearts of everyone present, and they all felt a little breathless.
They were all ambitious people who had wanted to take advantage of the situation to rise up and build a career. However, they happened to meet Li Dingguo, a genius who was enough to crush an entire era. How could they not feel aggrieved?
However, Luo Rucai's words were true and that was the fact. No one could refute them, nor could they find an excuse to refute them.
The atmosphere at the scene was very depressing and everyone was silent for a while.
"Hanzhong is a good place."
After a moment, Zhang Xianzhong said, "The problem is that in the nearby Shu area, there is the goddess of war Qin Liangyu, and in the nearby Guanzhong area, there is the plague god Hong Chengchou."
"If Hong Chengchou loses to the Fuxing Army in the battle next year and chooses to go south to Hanzhong, won't we be attacked from both sides by Hong Chengchou and Qin Liangyu?"
"At that time, we will have no way out. Can we cope with it?"
Zhang Xianzhong had a good strategic vision and hit the nail on the head, and what he said was very likely to become a reality.
"Then we'll head directly south to Huguang!"
Li Zicheng gritted his teeth and said, "Huguang is a vast area with abundant resources. It has all the money, food and supplies we want!"
"Plus, the country has been peaceful for a long time, and the fighting power of the government troops is low. As long as we don't provoke those big families, we can get whatever we want!"
"If we are allowed to develop in the Huguang region for a few years, we will still not be a match for the Fuxing Army in the future. At worst, we can retreat to the Yunnan-Guizhou region!"
"This world is so big, I don't believe we can't find a place suitable for our rebel army to settle down!"
"The Jiangbei region of the Ming Dynasty is expected to fall into the hands of the Fuxing Army in the future. If we can't afford to offend them, can we just hide from them?"
The current situation in the world is obvious.
The Fuxing Army has formed a pincer attack on the vast area north of the Yangtze River from the east and the west. Once the Grand Canal, the lifeline of the northern court, is cut off, the Ming court will definitely not be able to hold on for long.
At that time, the only option for the Ming Dynasty court was to abandon the Jiangbei region and move the capital south.
For these rebel soldiers, as long as they do not want to fight against the Restoration Army, it would be a wise choice to take advantage of the current excellent opportunity to escape to the Huguang area.
As for those who want to stay and continue to stir up trouble, they will inevitably have friction with the Renaissance Army in the near future, and will be easily defeated or even annexed or destroyed by the other side.
Naturally, the heroes among them who are as powerful as dragons and phoenixes will not be willing to accept this.
"Then head south to Huguang!"
Gao Yingxiang gritted his teeth, waved his hand, and said with finality, "In this way, we can completely avoid the main force of the government army, especially Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou, the two living devils!"
"With Li Dingguo's Fuxing Army firmly holding back the main force of the government army, we can still do whatever we want in the vast Huguang area."
"Once we grow rapidly, we may be able to face the Fuxing Army and the Ming Dynasty's Southern Court head-on!"
After making up their minds, everyone spoke up again to supplement and improve the plan. Half an hour later, 300,000 rebel soldiers advanced by land and sea, preparing to bypass the government towns along the way and move quietly and quickly towards the south.
The biggest change Li Dingguo has caused since his rebirth has begun, and the future has become unpredictable.
(End of this chapter)
