Looking at Zhao Youyan and the others who were crying in front of him, Zhu Dashan didn't have the heart to listen to their arguments now, plus the current number of prisoners was close to five thousand, and there were Qing soldiers who were constantly being pulled out of the woods by the soldiers of the Restoration Battalion. Zhu Dashan said to Yao Zizhou next to him: "Cut down all these people, and all their personal soldiers will be scattered and incorporated into our team first." ”

Yao Zi was stunned when he heard this, how did Master Hou cut down all these generals, and some people accepted surrenders before. Zhao Youyan and the others, who were kneeling on the ground, heard that they were going to be killed, and they immediately scolded. Zhu Dashan ignored them anymore and asked people to quickly clean up the battlefield. Then the army will rush back to Dingshui Town to rest, after all, it is almost dawn now.

Yao Zizhou saw that Zhu Dashan no longer paid attention to Zhao Youyan and others, and directly led people to pull Zhao Youyan, Yan Ziming, Yan Xici, Hu Jing and Yang Youcai to the side of the road, and let their personal soldiers go forward to kill their respective generals. Yao Zizhou saw that they all moved, and then he organized them all into the team and began to clean up the battlefield.

Sure enough, when the Fuming battalion finished cleaning the battlefield and returned to Dingshui Town, the sky had begun to turn white, and Zhu Dashan had no choice but to let the army rest in Dingshui for a day. And a part of the prisoners were incorporated into the troops, making up six thousand men. Then he took 3,000 captives and prepared to return to the south.

The way back to the south was not as light as it had been, and it took two days with a large number of captives to reach the southern county. As soon as Zhu Dashan arrived in Nanfang County, Cheng Deyi, who had been recuperating from his injuries in the south, found Zhu Dashan and said: "Master Hou, I'm afraid the situation in Xichong is not very good, just yesterday my brother and they sent four messengers to ask for help." ”

Zhu Dashan said: "Xichong seems to be really in danger, what the messenger said?" Just asking for help? Cheng Deyi said: "The messenger just asked for help, but didn't say anything else. Zhu Dashan said: "Okay, there are 3,000 captives here, you can screen and reorganize here in the south, and I will take the army to rescue the Dequn brothers in the afternoon." When Cheng Deyi heard that there were another 3,000 prisoners, he frowned and said: "We have too many prisoners now, and now the team is almost full of prisoners, and we have very few of our own people, so I am afraid that the army will not be easy to control, and the combat effectiveness will also drop a lot." ”

Zhu Dashan said: "There is no way now, how to say that these captives have just surrendered to the Ming army, so they can't all be killed." You have a good screening, and all the old and weak are eliminated. Cheng Deyi said: "I have no choice but to do this, and then place these old and weak in various places separately, so that the local authorities will strictly guard them." Zhu Dashan also felt that Cheng Deyi's plan was very good, so he said: "If you deal with it in the south, you will do it according to your wishes." ”

Zhu Dashan rushed to Xichong with his army that afternoon. Originally, Cheng Deyi was worried that Cheng Dequn also wanted to go, but Zhu Dashan said: "Brother Deyi, you won't go, you were so seriously injured in Mianzhou, you didn't have time to rest and let you go to Tongchuan, although Tongchuan was basically beaten by Deng Shi, but you were also tired all the way." As a result, when you come back, I want you to recuperate, and you have to bring someone to meet you outside the city. And you went to rob the Qing army camp and broke your arm, this time you said that you won't let you go, you will recuperate well, and there will be a battle, but if something goes wrong with your body, you will never be able to fight again in the future. Cheng Deyi didn't insist when he heard Zhu Dashan say this, and stayed in the south to reorganize the prisoners first.

On the third day after Zhu Dashan retreated from Nanchong, that is, when Zhu Dashan rushed to Huaishuwan with his army, Li Guoying also joined the 6,000 troops brought by Cheng Tingjun and the 3,000 troops he had gathered, and rushed to Nanchong City together. Due to the shortage of food and grass in the Qing army, these two thousand humane corpses were not spared.

The next day, Li Guoying came to Xichong City again, looked at the soldiers of the Restoration Battalion who were preparing to defend the city, and said, "This time I don't have the luck I had before." Cheng Tingjun, you take the previous rout to attack the south gate, Zhang Yuankai, you take people to attack the west gate, and Huo Guang first takes people to the east gate to attack the city. I want you to capture Xichong as quickly as possible. ”

Several people who were ordered by Li Guoying hurriedly agreed, and then turned around and went out to prepare. Fu Dali saw that Li Guoying had already arranged: "Governor Li shouldn't care too much, even if he can't fight in the past few days, Lu Guangzu will cut off the back road of these traitors in the south, and they will not die without a place to bury." Li Guoying said: "What Master Fu said is reasonable, but for the sake of the imperial court, we still want to capture the city as soon as possible and open up the road from Sichuan to Hanzhong as soon as possible." To relieve the sorrow of the court, the emperor's worry. Fu Dali scolded in his heart: "You Han dogs are really full of flowers, you just want to fight for credit, and you have to find so many reasons for yourself." You have to be careful of these Han dogs in the future. Fu Dali said on his face: "Governor Li is right, as a slave, of course, the most important thing is to solve the emperor's worries first."

At this time, Cheng Tingjun sent someone to report that the siege army was ready, waiting for the governor's order. Li Guoying and Fu Dali came out to the front of the battle together, only to see Li Guoying give an order, and the Qing army under the city neatly pushed towards Xichong City.

Liu Yingnan and Cheng Dequn on the city wall had already discovered that the Qing army under the city was preparing to attack the city, and all the defensive preparations had been made, just waiting for the Qing army to enter the attack range. Then with a "release arrow" on the city, the offensive and defensive sides suddenly began to fight, one side wants to break the city and go north to fight for merit, one side has a death order not to retreat half a step, both sides are advancing without retreating, the battle has entered the white heat at the beginning, the only city wall has become a meat grinder on the battlefield, soldiers on both sides continue to be injured and killed. The soldiers in the back poured in endlessly, death became meaningless at this moment, life was so cheap, there was no mercy, no sympathy, only slaughter like a beast.

The roar of the soldiers, the clash of swords, the shuttle of bows and arrows, and the cheers of the firecrackers bid farewell to the last bloom of life.

Li Guoying, who was outside the city, looked at the stalemate battlefield and had to send out the supervision team again and again, and the supervision team had already killed no less than 100 people, but the siege soldiers still echoed at the edge of the city wall. Cheng Dequn couldn't see the appearance of a person anymore, he was covered in blood, the enemy's was still his own, or his comrades', where could he tell the difference, and he only saw the Qing army that appeared on the edge of the city wall from time to time. Liu Yingnan's voice was hoarse, and he was still roaring, and the three city gates were in an emergency, but all Liu Yingnan could say was "Hold on, and you must hold on to death"

Liu Yingnan also wanted to send reinforcements, but where did he still have reinforcements, there were only 2,000 soldiers in Xichong City, and now there were only 600 people in the city, and even women and children were mobilized by Liu Yingnan to transport materials.

Seeing that four hours had passed, the Qing soldiers were also weak to charge, like the walking corpse, they were walking towards the city wall, and the soldiers of the Fuming Battalion in the city were just waving their arms mechanically, and it depended on the will of heaven as to what the Qing army would be.

The Qing soldiers who besieged the city finally waited for the order to retreat, when the sound of gold sounded on the battlefield, the Qing troops under the city were sitting directly on the ground, and Liu Yingnan on the city wall saw that the soldiers were going to fall to sleep, and hurriedly shouted: "Everyone is not allowed to sleep, and the people below can only sleep when the people are strong or other soldiers take turn." Cheng Dequn said: "Let the soldiers sleep, they are too tired." ”

Liu Yingnan hurriedly said: "I know everyone is tired, but now the Qing troops have not withdrawn, if Li Guoying in the back sees the condition of our soldiers and attacks the city again, we will not be able to hold it." When Cheng Dequn heard this, he hurriedly pulled the person next to him and said: "Be sober, wait for the Qing army to leave before you can sleep, be sober." "As I walked, I shook them one by one.

Sure enough, Li Guoying kept looking at the city wall, and when he saw that the Qing army had retreated, there were still people on the city, so he gave up the idea of suddenly giving the Fuming camp a return pistol.

After resting for one night, the Qing army began another day of siege warfare, but after yesterday's casualties, there were not many defeated troops collected before, and Li Guoying had to let Cheng Tingjun take the army to attack the city. The Qing army joined the new force, but the defenders in the city did not increase, but decreased by more than 600 people. In this way, the city wall of Xichong was even more precarious, and there were many emergencies at the beginning, and it was all up to Cheng Dequn to lead people to fight fires everywhere.

Wait until noon when the Qing army once attacked the city wall and established the city head position, fortunately, the north gate has not been attacked by the Qing army, and the defending 100 households were divided into 50 people to support the south gate, and when Cheng Dequn led people to finally drive the Qing army out of the city, the city was also wounded.

The situation was so critical that Liu Yingnan had to send messengers for help again and again. But I didn't get a reply from the southern side until dark, and the good thing is that this day was held again, but I don't know if I can hold it tomorrow. Faced with this situation, Liu Yingnan was worried, and could only hope that Zhu Dashan would come to help as soon as possible.

There was nothing to say all night, and the Qing soldiers really came to attack the city at dawn, seeing that the city was about to be undefended, Liu Yingnan had no choice but to let the women and children in the city hurry out of the city and flee to the south. The Fuming battalion has been defending in the city, and by noon, the city wall could no longer be held, so Liu Yingnan and Cheng Dequn had to give up Xichong and send people to inform the people at the other city gates to retreat to the north gate as soon as possible. Then he sent people to the city to set fires, and when the Qing army entered the city, the fire had become a momentum, and where could it be saved.

Li Guoying looked at the ruined Xichong City, thinking that he had sacrificed so many troops and got a ruin, and instantly felt like crying. Moreover, the Restoration Battalion has fled north while the fire in the city has taken advantage of the fire. If you want to chase it, you will definitely not be able to catch up. Li Guoying suddenly had a sense of powerlessness against the Fuming battalion, and secretly thought that if the Ming army was so resolute and firm. Can the Qing Dynasty still sit firmly in the world?

Just when Li Guoying was thinking about whether to continue the march to the south, a spy came to report: "Your Excellency Governor Qiqi, there is a camp of Fuming at the Phoenix Mountain not far from the north gate, and an army of 9,000 people has entered the camp just now, and the banner should be that the bandit leader Zhu Dashan has arrived in person." ”

Li Guoying was shocked: "Didn't Zhu Dashan return to Baoning?" , what do you do in Xichong? He is not afraid that the army from Chengdu will be copied from the back road? Fu Dali also said: "Is this Zhu Dashan really not afraid of death?" At this time, Cheng Tingjun also came to Li Guoying's side and said: "I just received a messenger from Lu Guangzu, the general soldier of Luzhou, saying that Zhao Youyan and other five people who rushed over from Chengdu were ambushed by Zhu Dashan in Huaishuwan, and the whole army was annihilated. Zhao Youyan, Yang Youcai, Hu Jing, Yan Ziming, and Yan Xici were killed by Zhu Dashan. Lu Guangzu did not dare to act rashly, and retreated to the salt pavilion to wait for the governor's order. Moreover, Lu Guangzu reported that a team escorting the Qin prisoners was scattered by the rebels on the side of Yanting, and the Qin prisoners were taken away by the anti-Ming and anti-thieves who came over from Tongchuan. I also ask the Governor to help me arrest him. ”

Li Guoying said angrily when he heard this: "Are Yan Ziming and the others pigs?" They should have 10,000 troops, why did they all wipe out? Didn't Lu Guangzu know to continue the attack on the south? And what kind of bullshit escorted the prisoners, what are they? Don't you know how to escort the Qin prisoners to Chongqing and enter Huguang? What kind of pig brains are these? ”

In the face of Li Guoying's questioning, no one could answer him. In the end, after thinking about it for a while, Li Guoying said dejectedly: "Tell Lu Guangzu to be stationed on the spot, organize defense, and prevent thieves from flowing in the direction of Chengdu Mansion." As for the Qin prisoners, I don't care about it for now. ”

Fu Dali said: "Is the Governor the Governor planning to attack Baoning like this?" Li Guoying said weakly: "Now we don't have the ability to attack Baoning with this little force, and our grain and grass have to be transported from Chongqing Mansion, and we can't supply the army." Summons the camp and return to Chongqing. Cheng Tingjun, you lead people to garrison Yuechi, let Huo Guang first garrison in Dingyuan, and the others return to Chongqing, in order to attack Baoning. ”

Seeing that Li Guoying had already decided, everyone no longer suggested it, and quickly organized the army to retreat south. After Zhu Dashan learned about the situation in Phoenix Mountain, when he sent people to inquire about the movements of the Qing army, he found that the Qing army had withdrawn to the south. Looking at the ruined Xichong and the slaughtered Nanchong, those who were originally going home were not mentioned at this time. Zhu Dashan saw that the Qing army was retreating, so he directly led the army back to the south, and only sent Wang Qing to lead people to the east to seize Pengzhou, Deng Shi to guard the south, and other captives and civilians were brought back to Baoning.

Li Guoying sent Zhao Shichao to attack the north gate when he attacked Xichong for the first time, but the attack was not effective, he was afraid that Li Guoying would run to Pengzhou and did not dare to go south, and now Wang Qing came to attack Pengzhou, Zhao Shichao did not dare to fight and surrendered directly, Wang Qingliu left his general banner Yao Zizhou to guard Pengzhou, and stayed in office with the original county order, and rushed back to Baoning with Zhao Shichao.