Nanming Engineer

Chapter 157 Li Guo's Worries

Three days later, on the Yangtze River, countless large and small ships set sail from the Yangtze River, fully loaded with Dutch soldiers and armored soldiers, looking downriver.

The fleet could barely be seen to the side at a glance. All the ships along the river had been collected, and they were all concentrated here. Eighty thousand soldiers of the rebel army were crowded on the ship, hugging each other and enjoying a rare rest.

The first wave of the fleet consists of many small boats such as fishing boats. They are light and have few people, and they play the role of scouts. They go out ten miles into the water to detect the enemy's situation and feedback information at any time.

Two miles away is the second wave of the fleet. The first is an official ship. The hull is wide enough to run a horse. There are three floors on it. They are all carved beams and painted buildings.

However, at this moment, there were several large flags with black characters on a white background flying on the ship, replacing the previous official flags. The three large flags were embroidered with the three characters "Li", "Gao" and "He" respectively.

A young man stood tall at the bow of the boat. He was six feet tall, with a strong build, a wasp-like waist and ape-like arms. His face was as deep as a knife, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, broad ears and forehead. He held a long knife on his waist and held his head high. Standing solemnly, eyes narrowed to a slit, he carefully looked at the scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, looking thoughtful.

Standing on both sides of him were two rough men, both of extremely strong build, more than six feet tall, and the iron armor on their bodies could barely accommodate their bulging muscles, and the one on the right had a beard like steel. Needle-like roots exploded, eyes like copper bells, face like a silver basin, and voice like thunder when speaking; the person on the left was more elegant, but only relatively speaking, with a sharp ax hanging from his waist and a long bow on his back, Outrageous air overflowed between the behavior.

These three people were the famous ministers of the Dashun Dynasty, Li Guo, General Li Guo, General Gao Yigong of Dragon and Tiger, and He Zhen, Chief Soldier of Hanzhong.

The one in the middle is Li Guo, Gao Yigong is on the right, and He Zhen is on the left.

Behind the three people, thousands of sails were racing, and tens of thousands of people were manning oars. The Yangtze River was stagnant. Countless flags with the word "Shun" on the bows were fluttering in the wind, and strong soldiers stood with arms in hand. All the spectators looked sideways.

Li Guo had complex expressions in his eyes. He was less than forty years old, but he already had gray hair on his temples. On his stern face, even with an iron helmet covering his face, he still couldn't hide his tired look; his lips were tightly pursed, and his hands hung At the waist, he looked at the scenery on both sides of the strait.

Gao Yigong was born as a blacksmith. He was thick on the outside and thin on the inside. He was known for his bravery. He was Li Guo's uncle. He was of noble family but had no airs. At this time, according to his position, he stood respectfully behind Li Guo, like a Dharma Protector. Faithfully guard Li Guo.

He Zhen was a general of the Ming Dynasty in her early years. She surrendered to Li Zicheng during the reign of Chongzhen. She still maintained her usual Confucian style.

These three are Li Zicheng's generals who stayed in Shaanxi. Since Xi'an fell and Tongguan was broken, Li Zicheng hurriedly led the main force south along the Xiangfan Road, leaving a large number of troops fighting against the Qing army in Shaanxi and Gansu there and had no time to take care of them. There are these three people.

At that time, Li Guo was in Gansu, Gao Yigong was in Yulin, and He Zhen was in Hanzhong. They were intercepted by the Qing army from Xi'an and could not follow Li Zicheng to the south of Huguang. The central government of the Dashun regime collapsed. The three of them still refused to surrender and led their men south to Sichuan, hoping to enter Huguang from Sichuan and search for traces of the main force.

Among them, He Zhen was an escort. When Li Guo left Sichuan, he had to return to Hanzhong and hold on to the key points. He expected that Li Zicheng would make a comeback in the future and fight back to Guanzhong from Huguang. By then, Hanzhong's position would be critical, so he could not lose anything.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong were close relatives of Li Zicheng, and they had no shirking duty. They had to find the traces of Li Zicheng and leave. Guanzhong had fallen, and they had no choice but to follow them.

They still don't know that Emperor Yongchang of the Dashun Dynasty died in Jiugong Mountain, and the rest of his tribe, led by Hao Yaoqi, Tian Jianxiu and others, lived temporarily in Huguang, like rootless duckweed, in constant panic.

In Li Guo's heart, he was also full of worries, worried about Dashun's future outcome, and thinking about how to be reborn in the defeat. The situation was already clear. Emperor Yongchang, that is, his uncle Li Zicheng had already lost the battle with the Manchus. Abandoning a large piece of land along the Yellow River, in desperation, they can only hope to break through to the south, capture Nanming before the Manchu Qing, defend it according to the Yangtze River, divide and rule from the Manchu Qing, and plan for the future.

However, Prince Azige of the Qing Dynasty was like a maggot on his tarsus, pursuing him relentlessly. Prince Duduo of Henan in the south attacked Jiangnan from Shandong and cut off the Dashun army's southward path from the other side. Attacked from both sides, where could Li Zicheng escape? ?
I am not around, with Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, two down-and-out talents, what brilliant ideas can I come up with?Li Guo was extremely anxious, he wished he could spread his wings and fly to Li Zicheng's side, to advise him and fight the enemy.

He Zhen stood beside him, her eyes were flickering, she seemed to be thinking about something, her eyes were wandering, her brows were furrowed, as if she was hesitating about something.

"How far is it to get out of Kuimen?" Li Guo has been standing on the bow of the boat since the morning, his feet seem to have taken root, growing on the plank of the boat, under his calm face, he can't suppress his anxiety His uncontrollable look was expressed in his tone: "Why is the boat going so slowly?"

"Nephew, the boat is already fast." Gao Yigong stood firmly aside, said in a deep voice, "It's only a quarter to three in the afternoon, and it's already approaching the territory of Kuizhou, it can't go any faster."

Li Guo frowned: "It's not enough, faster, faster."

Gao Yigong was helpless, turned his head and ordered to the soldiers behind him: "Send the order, all the ships speed up, and those who are negligent will follow the military law!"

The soldiers bowed and promised loudly, and went immediately.

He Zhen stood aside, watching with cold eyes, without saying a word.

Gao Yigong turned around and looked at Li Guo, who was standing on the bow of the ship like a watchman. He felt a little uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he finally said: "General Zhi, your Majesty has his own destiny, and he has the right to have generals and other generals by his side." , it’s no problem if you think about it, you don’t have to be too anxious, be careful because being anxious will lead to chaos, which will not help anything.”

Hearing this, Li Guo stood still and did not answer, but closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, then turned around slowly, and said in a deep voice to Gao Yigong and He Zhen: "Uncle, General He, even though I said that, but I have trouble sleeping and eating in my heart. I am not at the emperor's side for a day, and I am frightened every day. I always feel that the situation is unpredictable. Although the emperor has many soldiers and generals, he has few relatives. urgent?"

Gao Yigong also sighed and shook his head silently. He followed Li Zicheng all the way from Beijing to Shaanxi in defeat. The current state of the Dashun Army can be described as frightened. After losing Xi'an, he was extremely mentally heavy. After such a blow, General Dashun, who had no longer regarded himself as a bandit, returned to the pre-liberation area overnight. How could he not panic?Since the emperor was unable to escape, countless generals and officials surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, even to the point of shaking the foundation of Dashun. If some former Ming Dynasty generals had not defected and surrendered to the Qing army, how could Dashun have fallen into such a state?

Li Guo waved his fist fiercely, and said in a hateful voice: "Tang Tong and other children are capricious, I wish I could swallow their flesh alive! If he can catch this dog, I will cut him alive!"

The Tang Tong he was talking about was precisely during the Battle of Stones in Shanhaiguan. The Ming Dynasty commander-in-chief who originally surrendered the Dashun Army, at the critical moment when the Huang Taiji Army attacked, Tang Tong's entire army surrendered, which to some extent intensified the panic of the Peasant Army. The pressure led to the final defeat of Li Zicheng's entire army, which led to the fall of Beijing and the beginning of the failure of the Dashun Army against the Qing Dynasty.

Hearing this, He Zhen's whole body trembled unnoticed, and a look of shame flashed through her eyes. She quickly turned her face forward, pretending to look at the scenery on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to cover up her gaffe.

His eyes were looking around inadvertently, but under the glance, they opened wider and wider until his face changed drastically, and he stretched out his fingers and shouted: "Two generals, look, what's in front of you?"

(End of this chapter)