The Great Rebel at the End of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 034 Heading North

The situation was roughly as Zhou Lun had predicted.

The next morning, Li Wanqing personally visited Gao Yingxiang. The two chatted behind closed doors for nearly half an hour. When they came out of the house, both Gao Yingxiang and Li Wanqing looked relaxed and seemed much closer to each other.

On that day, the two leaders jointly announced that, in order to cooperate better, the two forces would be merged into one, with Gao Yingxiang, the rebel leader, as the leader of the righteous army.

Gao Yingxiang served as the supreme commander and chief leader of the two rebel armies, while Li Wanqing served as the deputy commander and second chief leader, whose position in the rebel army was second only to Gao Yingxiang.

The announcement was met with both joy and dissatisfaction.

The former naturally refers to Gao Yingxiang's group, including Liu Zhe, Huang Long, and others.

Especially Huang Long, who had just apologized to Li Wanqing and the others yesterday for the leader's matter, yet only one night later, Li Wanqing bowed his head before Gao Yingxiang, not only avoiding a complete falling out but even proactively suggesting that Gao Yingxiang be their leader. Doesn't this mean that Li Wanqing's group is afraid of them?

In Huang Long's view, this is also natural.

In terms of reputation, Gao Yingxiang was far superior to Li Wanqing, and the difference in their strength was obvious. If Li Wanqing hadn't stumbled upon Bao'an County by sheer luck and a series of unforeseen events, how could he have possibly built up a force?

To be honest, Huang Long looked down on Li Wanqing and his men. In his opinion, Li Wanqing simply didn't possess the same strategic vision as Gao Yingxiang. If Gao Yingxiang had occupied Bao'an County much earlier, how could the territory have shrunk to a mere thousand men?

As for Li Wanqing, having acquired such a prime location and so much money and supplies, instead of focusing on rapidly expanding his power and outwards, he distributed most of the money and supplies away, even spending money on recruiting soldiers... In Huang Long's eyes, this was simply the behavior of a fool.

Gao Yingxiang also did things like acting on behalf of Heaven and opening granaries to distribute grain, but he only did it on the surface. Who would be foolish enough to be as kind as Li Wanqing?

They're not your own subordinates, yet you're giving away huge amounts of grain and silver. What good is that, other than a good reputation?

As for spending money to recruit soldiers, that's even more absurd. Huang Long had never heard of a rebellion requiring settlement fees and military pay. These aren't government troops; is it really necessary for a band of rebels to do all that? In these times, ordinary people can barely survive. As long as they have food to eat, why worry about not finding people to join them?

In chaotic times, having an army makes one a warlord; the more men, the stronger the power! This was Huang Long's view. Although Gao Yingxiang also valued the fighting strength of his men, his thinking was not much different from Huang Long's; naturally, he believed that the more men, the better. Many hands make light work, and only by rapidly expanding one's strength could one have the resources to achieve great things.

These ideas were completely different from Zhou Lun's. In essence, Gao Yingxiang and his group were on a completely different path from Li Wanqing and his group.

Under Zhou Lun's influence, Li Wanqing's rebel army placed greater emphasis on building an elite force. They were willing to spend more money and supplies to create a basic army that was brave and willing to fight.

But Gao Yingxiang and his men were different. Even though Gao Yingxiang himself understood the benefits of elite troops, he valued the size of his army more in order to establish himself in the chaotic world.

It's not a matter of right or wrong; both directions have their advantages and disadvantages. Zhou Lun understood this, and Gao Yingxiang, with his intelligence, also saw it clearly. This was also Gao Yingxiang's true intention when he first arrived in Bao'an: to combine forces and seize command.

Compared to Gao Yingxiang's jubilation, Li Wanqing was naturally seething with anger.

Li Shoutian and Wang Tieniu, in particular, had already disliked Huang Long's behavior the previous night, but they never expected that just one night later, their elder brother Li Wanqing would actually join forces with Gao Yingxiang and even make Gao Yingxiang their leader. Did this mean that from now on, their group would have to obey Gao Yingxiang's orders? Would they all become Gao Yingxiang's subordinates?

How can this convince the two of them?

Let alone them, even the young Li Zhong couldn't understand it. Why would his godfather do this? Wasn't this tantamount to handing over the initiative?

If it weren't for Li Wanqing's ability to maintain control, and Zhou Lun's explanations, especially his private explanations to them, that although the two armies had merged and Gao Yingxiang had become the chief leader while Li Wanqing was only the deputy, in reality, their respective rebel armies would remain unchanged, just as before.

Li Wanqing's men obeyed orders but not proclamations. As long as Li Wanqing disagreed, Gao Yingxiang had no way to interfere in their internal affairs, and they maintained their independence. This was done solely for the convenience of future command and coordination, as well as to prepare for possible situations during their northward march and after arriving in Fugu.

After this explanation and persuasion, Li Shoutian and Wang Tieniu finally suppressed their anger and reluctantly admitted to the matter.

After the merger, with the money and provisions allocated by Li Wanqing, the new rebel army gained great momentum. Gao Yingxiang's troops rested in Bao'an County, and two days later, as agreed, the rebel army officially set off, leaving Bao'an County and heading northeast.

Their route was pre-arranged: from Bao'an County northeastward, bypassing the prefectural capital, passing through Xichuan, Yanshui, and Jinmingchuan, to reach Anding.

Once you reach Anding, head east towards Zichang and Qingjian. After reaching Qingjian, head directly north, passing through Suide, Mizhi, Jiazhou, and finally arriving at Fugu.

The journey was quite long, nearly a thousand miles. Moreover, it passed through many prefectures and counties along the way. More importantly, the route had to avoid areas close to the Nine Garrisons to avoid attracting the attention of the border troops.

The two rebel armies joined forces, totaling more than two thousand men. This was not a small force, and their march was not as simple as it seemed.

After all, the rebel army consisted mostly of farmers. Li Wanqing's side was better off; they didn't have many men, only a little over eight hundred at most. Moreover, they had only selected able-bodied young men who could endure hardship during the conscription process. In addition, Zhou Lun had trained them for a period of time beforehand, and they also had ample food and supplies. Under his command, they were able to maintain their morale throughout the march. Although there were some setbacks at the beginning of the march, the situation improved as time went on.

But it was different for Gao Yingxiang.

Compared to Li Wanqing's troops, Gao Yingxiang's troops, although numerous and in good spirits, were untrained rebels. They were fine for short marches, but inevitably slumped over long marches.

On this day, the troops finally crossed the Jinmingchuan River. Seeing that it was getting late, they set up camp there.

Li Wanqing's camp was in the east, while Gao Yingxiang's main camp was in the west. The two camps were only a stone's throw apart, yet they were clearly distinct.

Upon arriving at Jinmingchuan, we were not far from Anding County ahead.

After setting up camp, Gao Yingxiang sent someone to contact them, saying they would rest for the night and meet the next day to discuss how to secure Anding. Li Wanqing said there was no problem, and they arranged a meeting time. He told the messenger to tell Gao Yingxiang that he would be there first thing tomorrow morning.

After seeing the others off, Zhou Lun and Wang Tieniu, who had just finished inspecting the camp, returned.

"Big brother!"

"You two have worked hard. Is everything alright at the camp?" Li Wanqing picked up a water pouch and handed it to Zhou Lun. Zhou Lun took a sip, then passed it to Wang Tieniu beside him.

"It's alright, everything's fine," Zhou Lun said with a smile. "The morale of the brothers below is pretty good, and their marching coordination has improved considerably since the beginning. By the way, brother, I saw some people coming from the main camp when I came back just now? Is something wrong?"

Li Wanqing nodded: "The rebel king wants me to go over for a meeting first thing tomorrow morning."

"Meeting?"

"Stability," Li Shoutian said from the side.

Li Wanqing said, "Shoutian is right. Judging from the tone of the visitor, it seems that the King of Chuang intends to attack Anding. Tomorrow's meeting will probably be about discussing this matter."

"Use tranquilizers?" Zhou Lun frowned slightly.

In his view, taking action against Anding would be a losing proposition.

Although their two forces are currently combined and number over two thousand, Anding is not a small county and is not easy to conquer.

Since leaving Bao'an, the northward journey of so many people has become impossible to conceal; the authorities only need to make a few inquiries to find out their direction. Moreover, since the uprisings in Bao'an and Anzhai, the entire Yan'an Prefecture has been on high alert.

Even if the government is slow to react, they should have realized what was happening by now. Under these circumstances, a city like Anding would probably have been prepared long ago, and taking it easily wouldn't be so simple.

Although the marching route was planned in advance, Zhou Lun believed that it would be best to avoid attacking prefectures and counties along the way if possible. By bypassing prefecture and county cities, bypassing them, and then directly leading troops to attack towns and villages, plundering the local wealthy families and obtaining supplies from them, would be much safer.

However, Zhou Lun opposed attacking prefectures and counties, especially given that the rebel army lacked siege equipment and the government was prepared. He felt that Gao Yingxiang had inexplicably set his sights on Anding. Was it really necessary?

Perhaps... Gao Yingxiang wanted to use the attack on Anding to establish his authority and truly solidify his absolute position in the rebel army? Or perhaps he coveted the resources in Anding, thinking that once he captured it, he could recruit soldiers and further expand his power? Or perhaps he had other plans? We can only speculate.

Just as Zhou Lun was deep in thought, figuring out how to tell Li Wanqing about this, and even urging him not to be fooled by Gao Yingxiang when he went to see him the next day...

Suddenly, a commotion broke out outside.

Zhou Lun and the others were immediately taken aback.