In the second year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da led his troops to attack Fengyuan Road, and later changed Fengyuan Road to Xi'an Prefecture.
From then on, Xi'an replaced Chang'an/Jingzhao Prefecture and became the new name of the city.
At this time, people in Xi'an were in panic.
Upon hearing that the Ming army was approaching, not only the Shun army was panicked, but the people in the city were even more panicked.
This is the "capital" of Dashun and the "old nest" of the Shun army. They are afraid that the Ming army will massacre the people after capturing the city to vent their anger!
In the Prince of Qin's Palace, Li Zicheng paced back and forth with his hands behind his back.
(After Li Zicheng captured Xi'an, he established Dashun and occupied the Qinwang Mansion as the imperial palace of Dashun.)
"Your Majesty, according to reliable information, General Gu Kecheng refused to surrender after being captured and was killed by Qin Liangyu." A personal soldier came to Li Zicheng and reported.
"Yes," Li Zicheng nodded sadly, "I understand."
"Wait a minute," Li Zicheng said when he saw his guards were about to leave. "Send someone to take Zhu Cunji to the East Gate, behead him and hang his head on the gate for public display."
"Zhu Cunji is extremely evil and his crimes are so heinous that his death is not enough to appease the people's anger! Even if I die, I will take him with me!"
Zhu Cunji was the 15th Qin King of the Ming Dynasty. He inherited the title in the 14th year of Chongzhen and surrendered after Li Zicheng invaded Xi'an in the 16th year of Chongzhen. Li Zicheng did not execute him but kept him with him.
Now that the Shun army was defeated, there was no need for Li Zicheng to spare his life.
"I'll do it right away!" The soldier saluted and turned to leave.
Soon, Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Zongmin and other civil and military officials came to the gate of the palace to ask for a meeting.
The crowd did not sit down, but stood in the yard to discuss the matter.
"Everyone, Xi'an is no longer defensible. What should we and Dashun do next?" Li Zicheng asked first.
Everyone present was silent.
First, they don't know what to say.
Secondly, no matter what was said, nothing could stop the Ming army's offensive.
"What good ideas does Niu Zuofu have?" Seeing that no one spoke, Li Zicheng started calling out names.
Niu Jinxing blinked a few times, then sighed: "Alas, I...I don't have any good ideas in mind."
Li Zicheng looked at him unhappily, then turned to Song Xian Ce and asked, "Military Advisor Song, do you have any ideas?"
Song Xiance pinched his hands and gestured, looking towards the distant sky.
In this way he silently refused to answer.
Li Zicheng has always believed in seeking divine advice, so he didn't dare to disturb him and could only look at other people.
His eyes swept across everyone one by one, and everyone caught in his gaze lowered their head and remained silent.
Seeing that no one spoke, Li Zicheng looked at Li Yan helplessly.
"What's your plan, Mr. Li?"
Li Yan bowed deeply to Li Zicheng and said, "Your Majesty, I have three plans."
"Three strategies again?" Li Zicheng was shocked and a little jealous.
Others have no strategy, but Li Yan has three methods.
"Yes, three strategies!" Li Yan nodded. "Nearly 200,000 Ming troops entered Guanzhong from Tongguan and Wuguan. Guanzhong is no longer safe. Our army can neither defend the city nor fight against the Ming army in the field."
"Am I right?"
All the generals agreed and looked at Li Zicheng.
Although Li Zicheng didn't want to admit it, he had no choice but to nod under the "coercion" of the generals' gazes.
"Since we can't rely on fighting or defending, the only option left is to escape." Li Yan continued, "But we have to escape with a purpose, not just run around like a headless fly."
"I would like to hear Mr. Li's detailed explanation!" Tian Jianxiu said first.
"I would like to hear your detailed explanation!" The generals spoke one after another, expressing their trust in Li Yan in this way.
Looking at the performance of his generals, Li Zicheng's heart could no longer be described as cold.
He felt a huge sense of crisis from Li Yan!
Li Yan moistened his throat with saliva and continued, "The middle strategy is to break up into small groups and go deep into the mountains. When the Ming court sends troops out of the pass to retake Liaodong, we will come out and start the uprising again."
The middle strategy is to go deep into the mountains...
"Wait a minute," Tian Jianxiu raised his right hand like a student, "Mr. Li, why don't you tell me the best strategy first?"
Li Yan smiled bitterly: "Based on the current situation, our army has no best strategy, only middle strategy, middle-low strategy and worst strategy."
"Oh, please continue, Mr. Li." Tian Jianxiu put down his right hand.
"The worst option is to go to Hanzhong immediately. With the help of the steep pass, we can block the enemy in Guanzhong to the north and the soldiers in Sichuan and Shu to the south. Even if Guanzhong is lost, we can hide in the nearby mountains for a while."
"The worst option is... surrender!"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Niu Jinxing suddenly roared: "Li Yan, what do you mean? You actually induced our generals to surrender! Others may survive if they surrender, but the emperor will not be pardoned by the Ming court even if he surrenders."
"You are damned for saying this!"
After listening to Niu Jinxing's analysis, Li Zicheng's heart and face turned cold.
Hostility began to appear in his eyes when he looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan stared at Niu Jinxing: "The worst plan is just a way to save the lives of the generals. It is a helpless move. Loyal generals will pretend to surrender and wait for the right time to turn against us. Besides, my plan includes the middle plan and the middle and lower plan. Why do you insist on the worst plan?"
"I'm holding on to the worst plan?" Niu Jinxing sneered, "It was you who induced our generals to surrender, and you won't let me say anything?"
"This is simply nonsense from a shameless guy!" Li Yan glanced at Niu Jinxing with disdain and turned around with his back facing him.
"Old Song," Niu Jinxing looked at Song Xiance, "give me some advice."
Under the gaze of the crowd, Song Xiance said leisurely: "Actually, I can understand Mr. Li. As the old saying goes, husband and wife are birds of the same forest. When disaster strikes, they fly away separately!"
"Now that Dashun is in trouble, it is reasonable for Mr. Li to find a way out for him."
"I have nothing to say."
On the surface, these words seemed to be helping Li Yan, but in reality they were blaming him.
Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin saw that Li Yan was being targeted, and immediately stepped forward to rescue him: "When the emperor asked you, one of you kept silent and the other said he didn't know. After Mr. Li proposed the three strategies, you started targeting him again. Dashun has come to this point, do you still want to fight among yourselves?"
"Internal fighting?" Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance surrounded us at the same time: "If you say we are fighting internally, please show us the evidence! If not, apologize immediately."
"Apologize?" Liu Zongmin was directly angry: "Apologize to your mother, you have made an indispensable contribution to the success of Dashun!"
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