Zhou Xian was shocked when he received a letter from Emperor Chongzhen.

The surprise was not that Emperor Chongzhen asked him to return to the capital, Du Xun, as the eunuch in the military supervisor, eventually died in Denglai for no reason. No matter from any aspect of this matter, he needed to give Emperor Chongzhen an explanation.

What surprised Zhou Xian was the appointment of Emperor Chongzhen to Huang Fei, the governor and the general. This official position belonged to the Governor's Office of the Five Army, and the Ming Dynasty was a regular first-rank military officer.

Zu Dashou was in charge of Jinzhou for decades and was just the left governor, and the governor Tongzhi was only one level lower than him. It took Huang Fei less than two years to be promoted from a general to a governor Tongzhi. And the most important thing is that he, the governor Tongzhi, was not the void officials supported by the court, but the real general who was in charge of the country and had real power.

Such generous treatment cannot be said to be absent in the late Ming Dynasty, but it is very rare. Moreover, those who serve as generals of the governors were usually civil officials who led troops abroad. It is only possible to be promoted directly to a general like Huang Fei in such a short period of time.

In addition to him, Lin Qingye was promoted to General of Dongjiang, Zhao Xusheng and Tan Zhencai were promoted to Deputy General, and other generals of the fifth battalion were rewarded. It can be said that except for Zhou Xian, this was a situation of winning all.

Although Zhou Xian knew that Emperor Chongzhen's move had a morale boosting effect, from his heart, this series of rewards came a bit abnormal. Especially when Lu Xiangsheng died in battle and Hong Chengchou was captured, most of them were under the premise that the Ming generals in Ningyuan were burdened with the burden of committing meritorious service.

After all, the main force that really competed with the Qing Dynasty was still Ningyuan. Such obvious different treatment would inevitably make some generals feel dissatisfied.

With this reward, there are two more messages.

One is that Li Zicheng broke through Kaifeng and was called King Xinshun.

Another Emperor Chongzhen completely gave up the main showdown with the Qing Dynasty in Liaodong and ordered the entire army to retreat. General Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and Ma Kesan were transferred to Shaanxi, leaving only Li Fuming to lead troops to defend Tashan and Wu Sangui to guard Ningyuan. Cao Bianjiao was transferred back to the capital because of his serious loss of troops and was the most aware of the entire situation of Songshan's hard work in recent years. He was transferred back to the capital by Emperor Chongzhen to ask for details.

Seeing this, Zhou Xian couldn't help but sigh softly, feeling a little worried.

Perhaps for a long time, the Ming and Qing dynasties would not have fought a lot in Liaodong. The Ming army had to do their best to deal with Li Zicheng, while the Qing army wanted to quell the rebellion of the Chahar tribe.

If the Qing army was allowed to completely wipe out the Chahar tribe, the situation of the self-army on the front line of Fuzhou would definitely be much worse. And this could only be temporarily left to Huang Fei to deal with.

Three days ago, Xia Shu returned to Fuzhou and brought back more than 600 people or soldiers who escaped from Songshan City. But among these people, Xia Chengde was not.

The real news he brought was that after Dorgon was killed by Lu Xiangsheng by Ajige and the Ming army withdrew back to Tashan. In furious, he ordered that nearly 100 officials who were captured in the Ming army, who were above the garrison and unwilling to surrender. Hong Chengchou was taken to Shenyang by him and offered Huang Taiji to capture him, and his life and death were unknown.

Compared to this, Zhou Xian was even more confused about the war in the Central Plains. Li Zicheng took Kaifeng, something that had not happened at all in real history. What will he do next?

In the short term, it will definitely sweep the Central Plains and take over the entire Henan. But then! It will go south to Xiangfan, seize Huguang, or attack Shaanxi in the west, and then threaten the capital.

Both plans are undoubtedly feasible. Huguang is the granary of the Ming Dynasty. Occupying it can undoubtedly severely attack the Ming Dynasty. Shaanxi is not only the hometown of Li Zicheng, but also threaten the capital from a geographical location. After all, except for the Sun Chuanting army in Shaanxi, the Ming Dynasty has no force to resist the peasant army.

Judging from Li Zicheng's approach of claiming to be king and proclaiming the unjust of the Ming Dynasty, it is more likely that he will attack Shaanxi. After all, the slogan has been shouted, so he must take some actions. Otherwise, how can he arouse a response from all over the world?

But there is also a possibility of going south to attack Huguang.

After Sun Kewang went south to Nanyang to attack Xiangyang and was defeated by Ma Xianglin, he turned east to the Jianghuai Plain. There, he and He Yilong, the former general of the Left Fifth Battalion in the Dabie Mountains, and Ma Huihui revolted his troops, fought against each other, and won consecutive victories. He captured Shucheng, Lu'an and other places, and his strength increased greatly.

After conquering Lujiang, under Xu Yixian's instigation, Sun Kewang began to train the navy in Chaohu. He vowed to cross the Yangtze River and break through Nanjing. Afterwards, he defeated the official army led by Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo. For a time, the Jiangnan earthquake struck and the government and the people were shocked. This happened when Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng.

The main reason why Sun Kewang was able to win repeatedly was that the main force of the official army was restrained by Li Zicheng around Kaifeng and had no time to take care of him.

But this good fortune ended completely with Zuo Liangyu returning to Wuchang. Although Zuo Liangyu suffered a crushing defeat in Zhuxian Town, he still had nearly 20,000 soldiers under his command, and they were all elite soldiers who were good at fighting.

Under the strict order of Emperor Chongzhen, he used his direct soldiers as the main force and recruited tens of thousands of new soldiers in Wuchang and took a boat to go east along the Yangtze River. Both sides finally encountered each other at Chaohukou.

Under the large-scale attack of Zuo Liangyu and other official troops, the peasant army led by Sun Kewang was first defeated by the water and then at Lujiang. Then he was defeated again in Lu'an, and finally fled north in a panic. It was not until he retreated to the Dabie Mountains that were easy to defend, and gradually stabilized his formation and confronted Zuo Liangyu along the formation.

After this defeat, Sun Kewang suffered heavy losses. The most important thing is that Zhang Xianzhong left his two military advisors Xu Yixian and Pan Duao to die in the chaos during the retreat. Since then, no other strategist can plan the overall situation of the world for him.

In addition, after He Yilong died in battle, his men and horses were annexed by Sun Kewang. Ma Huihui became worried about this and led his troops to the junction of Anhui and Henan, making Sun Kewang's situation even more miserable.

However, the government army also lost its combat power due to continuous combat, and was restrained by Sun Kewang between the Jianghuai River and could not move.

Therefore, at this moment in Huguang, except for Ma Xianglin, who was guarding Xiangyang, the official army had no reliable personnel. In this case, Li Zicheng was also likely to go south to seize the Ming granary in Huguang.

What you want when you go west to Shaanxi is famous, and what you want when you go south to Huguang is profit.

Zhou Xian was completely confused at this moment when Li Zicheng chose. After all, in the original history, Li Zicheng was called King Xinshun after he captured Huguang. Then he completely defeated Sun Chuanting in a battle in Jiaxian, and then marched into Shaanxi. He took the capital with great ease. Emperor Chongzhen forced him to commit suicide in a hurry, and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed since then.
Chapter completed!