On the second day, Li Zhen took Yang Banhou, Lu Shaochuan, Smith and the soldiers to leave the meteorite area, and then sent soldiers disguised as common people to spread the news about the inscriptions on the meteorite.
In order to spread the news, Li Zhen sent hundreds of soldiers.
Within a day, the news spread.
The villages around the meteorite belt are spreading news about the meteorite, especially this area is close to Jiangbei Camp. The surrounding areas are controlled by Li Zhen. The local gentry have all gone to Jiangbei Camp to see Li Zhen, and they also hope Li Zhen suppressed the bandits. After they got the rumored news, they realized that it was beneficial to Li Zhen and began to spread it widely. Regardless of whether the news was true or false, they quickly spread the news.
For a time, rumors about this matter spread not only in Jiangbei Camp, but also in the vicinity of Yangzhou.
Moreover, the version of the news is getting more and more outrageous.
In the military camp of the Taiping Army, Shi Dakai took Shi Zhenji and Zhang Suimou to inspect the camp.
After discussion, the three of them had already decided on a strategy and were preparing to rush to Sichuan quickly, so they were recruiting elite soldiers. While walking in the military camp, Shi Dakai saw many soldiers lowering their heads and whispering.
"I said, do you know the news? There are large rocks falling from the sky to the east of our camp. It is said that when these rocks fell, there were gods and men surrounding them... Well, on the top of the rocks, there is an inscription 'Leaving from the sky'. The words "Escape from Beijing, Die without a Whole Body" are engraved on every stone, and some of the stones also have a secondary image on them, which is engraved with Qing dogs surrounding us."
"Wrong, your news is wrong. Thirty miles north of our camp, there are countless large rocks from the sky. When these rocks landed on the ground, all the livestock around them were wiped out. The noise was huge. Not only that, there were also words on the rocks. The words, but not the words "Leave the capital and die without a complete body", but the words "Abandon the Heavenly Father, you will not have a good death". What I said is absolutely correct, because my brother lives there, he is You can’t go wrong if you see it with your own eyes.”
"Bullshit, what you are saying is unreliable. It is clearly forty miles northeast, and the words engraved on the stone are neither 'Leave the capital, you will end up in a disastrous end', nor 'Abandon the Heavenly Father, you will not have a good death', but There is a saying that the prince is ambitious and wants to be independent, but you guys don’t know the real situation."
…
In the military camp, news was flying all over the sky.
When Shi Dakai took Zhang Suimou and Shi Zhenji on patrol, he was in a very bad mood. Zhang Suimou wanted to punish the talkative soldiers, but Shi Dakai reached out to stop him. He took Zhang Suimou and Shi Zhenji through the camp and returned to the tent. Shi Dakai looked grim. Ashen, his heart was filled with rage. It was obvious that this was done by Li Zhen, but he did not expect that Li Zhen would use the meteorite falling from the sky to make a fuss.
"Abominable, hateful, worthy of death."
Shi Dakai spoke through gritted teeth, secretly hating Li Zhen for using the name of God to make a fuss, as if he had really become a traitor.
As the saying goes, three people make a tiger, Shi Dakai was worried that too many people were talking about it, and he couldn't explain it clearly.
Zhang Suimou said: "My lord, please calm down. This is what Li Zhen did. He wants to anger you and shake our military morale."
Shi Dakai nodded and said: "I know this is Li Zhen's fault. Apart from him, there will be no one else. The problem is that I just said that the meteorite is from Heavenly Father, which indicates that our decision to leave Nanjing is correct. It is borrowed from I have violated the name of Heavenly Father, and now Li Zhen is treating him the same way as a human being, saying that the slanderous words on me on the meteorite are omens passed down by Heavenly Father, how can I refute it?"
Shi Dakai was very depressed and unhappy.
Because if he denies the matter of meteorites from the sky, he denies what he himself said, and also denies the existence of the Heavenly Father.
Shi Da felt a headache and his teeth were itching with hatred.
Shi Zhenji smiled coldly and said nonchalantly: "Brother Wang feels a headache, but Brother Chen doesn't feel anything at all. It's just a rumor. Don't worry about it. We will ignore it. Things will naturally subside gradually. Now the only person in the Qing Dynasty is Li Li." Zhen is a little powerful, and the rest of the Qing dogs are idiots. As long as we get rid of Li Zhen, we can let the prince run wild. When the prince leads his army into Sichuan and accumulates enough strength, we can deal with Li Zhen."
Shi Dakai looked helpless and said: "That's all we have now, Zhenji, you and Suimou hurry up and select soldiers, add another 10,000 elites, and when the number of soldiers reaches 60,000, immediately prepare for going to Sichuan. This matter The task must be completed within three days.”
"As commanded."
Shi Zhenji and Zhang Suimou agreed and went to prepare immediately.
…
Three days passed by in a flash.
In the past three days, there was no movement in Shi Dakai's military camp. Li Zhen was impatient to wait. That day he asked craftsmen to carve words on the meteorite in order to disturb Shi Dakai's military morale. Moreover, Li Zhen also asked Yang Banhou, Lu Shaochuan and Smith to each He led the soldiers under his command to move separately, hoping to wait for Shi Dakai to send out troops to attack separately. Unfortunately, Li Zhen was ready, but Shi Dakai did not send out troops and remained motionless.
Li Zhen asked Yang Banhou and others to wait patiently, and then sent soldiers to inquire about Shi Dakai's movements.
At noon, Li Zhen and Long Ao were eating.
A thousand soldiers under his command were also eating.
In the camp, Long Ao sat next to Li Zhen and said: "Commander, Shi Dakai is unusual. He is a strong enemy."
Li Zhen swallowed the food in his mouth and said: "This person is indeed powerful, even better than Li Xiucheng."
When Long Ao heard this, he said: "Li Xiucheng has surrendered to the commander-in-chief. This time he led the troops to fight against Shi Da, but you let Li Xiucheng stay in the army. Why? If Li Xiucheng were allowed to come to the scene in person, it would be easier to defeat the opponent. ."
Li Zhendao: "Don't worry, Li Xiucheng and I have my own arrangements."
"Tap, step,..."
There was a sound of footsteps, and the curtain of the camp tent was rolled up. The soldiers who had inquired about the news came back. The soldiers raised their hands and saluted, and said: "Commander, there is news from the front. Shi Da broke out of the camp, avoiding the Jiangbei camp, and headed towards Shandong in the north. Let’s go.”
"What, Shi Dakai went to Shandong."
Li Zhen exclaimed, his face full of surprise.
He stood up, holding a rice bowl in his left hand and chopsticks in his right hand, pacing back and forth in the camp. After a while, Li Zhen ordered: "Shi Dakai has just started to send troops, and it is not certain yet. You can go find out more information as soon as possible." Come report."
The soldiers left and Li Zhencai sat down.
Long Ao said: "Commander, Shi Da's actions are really unexpected. We all thought Shi Da was coming for a meeting, but instead he ran towards Shandong. This man uses his troops informally, almost like an antelope hanging its horns."
Li Zhen said: "It is not possible to determine Shi Dakai's movements for the time being. After all, no one knows what Shi Dakai is thinking. We will stay put for the time being and see what Shi Dakai wants to do next, and then determine what to do."