After defeating Zhang Xianzhong's blockade at Wuli Bridge, the official army was divided into two routes, north and south, and launched a full-line attack on the rebel army on the periphery of Chuzhou City.

Let's say that Lu Xiangsheng personally led 20,000 Tianxiong troops, all the way to the front of the army camp located twenty miles south of Chuzhou City, raised his eyes, and saw that Gao Yingxiang had built most of the camps in the dense forests in the mountains, Lu Xiangsheng couldn't help laughing, and said to the left and right: "At the beginning, Lu Boyan burned the camp for 700 miles, and I don't want today's thieves to repeat the mistakes of the past, which is extremely stupid!" Stupid! ”

With Lu Xiangsheng's order, the Tianxiong Army's rockets fired in unison, and the fire took advantage of the wind, and the army camp instantly ignited a raging fire. In a tragic wail, Lu Xiangsheng rode a white horse, rushed in like a god descending from the earth, broke into the army, and the camp was broken, and fled in all directions.

King Gao Yingxiang's army was defeated like a mountain, and he retreated to the northwest with the remnants of the defeated army, first attacking Fengyang Buke, and then passing through Huaiyuan and Mengcheng to enter Henan. In February, it was defeated by the official army at Qiding Mountain and re-entered Shaanxi.

The camp was defeated, and the Xiying side was not having a good time, losing contact with Zhang Xianzhong, and the supreme commander of the army was only Wang Shangli, the old battalion commander who basically had no combat experience.

Wang Shangli counted the men, excluding the family members, the old, the weak, the sick and the disabled, and counting the 30,000 people who had just withdrawn from outside the Gongji Gate, and there were only 60,000 people who could fight.

The situation was extremely critical, Wang Shangli hurriedly sent people to find Dingguo and Zhang Nengqi, and instructed them: "Dingguo!" Nengqi! Order the two of you to lead 20,000 troops, protect the old camp and family, and quickly break through to the north! ”

"Uncle Wang, what about you?" Dingguo asked busily.

Wang Shangli waved his hand and said lightly: "Don't worry about me!" Hurry up and get ready to go! ”

Looking at Wang Shangli's resolute expression, Dingguo instantly understood that Wang Shangli was going to leave himself behind to block the official army.

Wang Shangli has always been the head of the old battalion, and he has no experience in leading troops to fight at all, so let him stay, isn't this a death? Thinking of this, Dingguo immediately clasped his fists at Wang Shangli and said, "Uncle Wang! Are you most familiar with the situation of the old camp, or do you take the old camp first! Let me stay! ”

"Second brother! You're hurt! Let me stay! Zhang Nengqi also stood up to be outdone.

After hearing this, Wang Shangli's face sank, and he scolded angrily: "Nonsense! When is it, you still have time to fight around here! Hurry up and break through with the old camp! Hear me! ”

Dingguo wanted to persuade again, but saw Wang Shangli shake his hand, walked out of the Chinese army's tent quickly, flew on his horse, and commanded the 40,000 soldiers of the Western Battalion who had already been assembled, and killed in the direction of the official army.

Looking at the smoke and dust raised by the army when it left, Zhang Nengqi looked dazed: "Second brother! What should we do? ”

Dingguo tearfully bowed slightly in the direction of Wang Shangli's departure, and then turned around and ordered: "What else can I do?" Hurry up and inform the old camp! Throw away all baggage and retreat lightly! ”

And said that in order to cover the retreat of the old battalion, Wang Shangli took 40,000 soldiers of the West Battalion to resist the onslaught of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry, all the way to fight and retreat, resisting step by step, along the way are the corpses of the righteous army who died in battle, from Zhulong Pass to Guanshan, the corpses are accumulated in the ditch, and the water does not flow.

Although the old battalion discarded a large amount of baggage under the order of Dingguo, it was still very slow to move due to dragging the family and mouth, and thanks to Wang Shangli's containment, the officers and soldiers were unable to catch up.

Just walked and stopped, traveled all the way north for more than 50 miles, and arrived in Lai'an County, only then did he meet Zhang Kewang's team.

"Second brother, fourth brother! Was the old camp ever well? Seeing that Dingguo was okay, Zhang Kewang's hanging heart finally let go.

"Thanks to Uncle Wang's efforts to stop the officers and soldiers, the old camp was able to retreat with his whole body, but I don't know if Uncle Wang escaped safely." Speaking of Wang Shangli, Dingguo's worry was beyond words, and then he asked about Zhang Xianzhong's safety, "Is your father good?" ”

"You can rest assured, my father is stationed on the outskirts of Yongzhou, okay! This time, I was ordered by my father to find the whereabouts of the old camp! Don't waste any time! Let's go! The official army is not far from here, we must meet with our father as soon as possible! Zhang Kewang was afraid that the officers and soldiers would catch up from behind, and urged the old battalion to set off as soon as possible.

Soon after Zhang Xianzhong and the old battalion joined forces in Yongzhou, Wang Shangli and Zhang Wenxiu also came to Yongzhou with the remaining Xiying soldiers one after another.

When he was melancholy, he suddenly heard that Zhang Yichuan, the sweeping king, led his troops to invest 10,000, Zhang Xianzhong was overjoyed, and hurriedly walked out of the gate, and greeted warmly: "Brother Yichuan, don't come to be harmed?" ”

The sweeping king came in a hurry, and when he saw Zhang Xianzhong, he hurriedly clasped his fists and said: "I was so ashamed that I was delayed because of something before, and I didn't have time to help my brother!" A few days ago, when I heard that the war in Chuzhou was lost, my brother and I sent people around to inquire about my brother's whereabouts. Brother, I have few soldiers, brother, don't dislike it. ”

"Where, where! Don't tell your brother that in the battle of Chuzhou, Brother Xiying lost more than half, and it was a time of critical survival! Brother Yichuan came at this time, relieved my old Zhang's urgent need, it can be said that it is too late for me to welcome Lao Zhang, how can I dislike it? Zhang Xianzhong smiled and introduced the sweeping king into his Chinese army tent, and asked people to serve good wine and meat to wash the dust for him.

The next day, Zhang Xianzhong convened the generals of Xiying in Yongcheng County to discuss the next combat strategy. Dingguo also won Zhang Xianzhong's favor because he was quite strategic on weekdays and repeatedly offered strange strategies, so he made an exception to participate in this military meeting.

Zhang Xianzhong stood in front of the map on the left side of the Chinese army's tent with his hands behind his back, carefully looking at the cities drawn on the map, and did not take his eyes off the map from beginning to end: "Let's talk about it, how should the next battle be fought?" ”

"Father, after continuous battles, our army has suffered too much loss, and the Huaibei area is full of plains and hills, there is no danger to defend, and the water network is dense, if the officers and troops gather to attack, our army will fall into a desperate situation." Zhang Kewang swept his gaze to everyone and continued, "Now that the officials and troops are gathered in Jiangbei, Henan must be empty. In this case, why don't we abandon Huaibei and go west, and go straight to the hinterland of Henan! ”

"Respectfully, the last general thinks what the major general said is inappropriate." Speaking is the general Dou Mingming, this person has a short and concise appearance, he is good at drinking on weekdays, and before every battle, he is very drunk, and he goes into battle shirtless to fight with the enemy without wearing a helmet and armor, and is cited as a legend in the army.

"Old Dou, if you have any high opinions, you might as well speak up." Zhang Xianzhong stroked his long hair with one hand, and kept gesturing above the map with the other, still not looking up.

Dou Mingwang was also not polite, and continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a famine in Henan now, and the people are peeling tree bark and chewing grass roots to survive, and cannibalism is endless. In such a situation, if we go to Henan again, unless we can conquer several big cities in Kaifeng and Luoyang, what will we do to support tens of thousands of troops? Ladies and gentlemen! Let's ask ourselves, with our current strength, how can we gnaw the two bones of Kaifeng and Luoyang? Has the major general ever thought about this question? ”

"This ......" Zhang Kewang was speechless for a while, and the generals also fell into deep thought.

At this time, Dingguo, who had not spoken before, stood up: "Father, the child thinks that the plan to enter Henan is feasible, but it must be broken into parts, and the troops must be divided into guerrillas at the junction of the two provinces of Henan and Chu, where the official and military forces are the weakest. ”

After listening to Dingguo's words, Zhang Xianzhong finally took his eyes off the map, turned around and walked back to Shuai's case, looked around and said: "Divide troops to attack Henan and Hubei, Dingguo is a good idea, do you have anything else to add?" ”

Everyone exchanged their heads for a while, and then shook their heads, Zhang Xianzhong continued: "Since everyone has no objection, the generals will listen to the order!" ”

Seeing that Zhang Xianzhong was about to give orders, all the generals in the tent straightened their waists and pricked up their ears.

"Zhang Kewang and Zhang Guangcai, let the two of you lead 10,000 troops to take Xiayi! Zhang Wenxiu, Liu Jinzhong, Ma Yuanli, the three of you lead 10,000 troops to take Dangshan! Zhang Nengqi, Feng Shuangli, Bai Wenxuan, the three of you lead 10,000 troops to take Taikang! Zhang Hualong, Qi Sansheng, Dou Fame, the three of you led 10,000 troops to return to Germany! Zhang Xianzhong turned his gaze to the sweeping king on the side, "Brother Yichuan, you and my old Zhang all the way to take Yucheng!" Let's go hand in hand, so that the officers and the army can't take care of each other! ”

"Father, what about me?" Seeing that all the generals had received combat orders, but there was no oneself, Dingguo hurriedly asked.

"Dingguo, your injuries haven't healed yet, so continue to follow the old camp! You don't have to worry about this rush for the time being. Seeing that Dingguo still wanted to speak, Zhang Xianzhong immediately waved his hand, not giving him the slightest chance to refute, "Okay, let's go back to the camp and prepare to go!" Let's go tomorrow! ”

The next day, the Xiying Righteous Army set up camp from outside Yongzhou City, and the troops were divided into five roads to divide Henan.

Due to the famine, since entering the border of Henan, the hungry people have followed, and the Xiying Righteous Army soon grew like a snowball.

In the face of the officials and troops who came to encircle and suppress, Zhang Xianzhongsheng took advantage of the situation to drive for a long time, and if he did not win, he scattered gold on the ground, which was called road money. The officers and soldiers stationed in Henan were all Qin soldiers, and most of them were fellow villagers with the Xiying Righteous Army, and they often complained to each other about their hardships when they were in battle, and they only let them leave when they left their livestock and baggage, and the officers and generals were powerless to stop them, and they could only turn a blind eye.

The farther you go to the hinterland of Henan, the more miserable the prospect becomes. Everywhere I went, there was starvation, the fields were deserted, the land was cracked, the crops withered, and the villages along the way were deserted and desolate.

Dingguo led his soldiers to open the road five miles in front of the old camp, passing through an abandoned village, "Erdoujin" suddenly seemed a little restless, and kept spinning in place, unwilling to take a step forward. Dingguo wondered in his heart, so he got off the horse to check, there was a dilapidated house on the side of the road, Dingguo stepped forward and was about to push the door, but who knew that the door fell down with a bang.

"Erdoujin" was frightened, and he turned his head and wanted to run, but the reins were in Dingguo's hands, and he couldn't run away, so he had to keep hissing.

At this moment, the door of the next room was pushed open a crack, and a thin boy with skin and bones came out of it, and asked cautiously, "Who are you looking for?" ”

Looking at the boy's hungry blue eyes, Dingguo's heart was like a knife for a while, and he hurriedly asked Jin Tongwu to take the dry food and hand it to the boy. Seeing the boy's gobbling appearance, Dingguo hurriedly handed him another pot of water, and comforted him repeatedly: "Eat slowly, don't choke!" ”

When the boy finished eating the dry food, Dingguo leaned down and asked with concern, "What about your relatives?" ”

"It's gone." The boy whispered, "My mother left me with food, and I starved to death." Later, my father ate too much bark, couldn't pull it out, his stomach swelled up, and finally he died. ”

Listening to the boy's words, Dingguo clenched his fists and held back tears from flowing out of his eyes: "What's your name?" How old are you? ”

"My name is Da Chun, and I'm just ten years old." The boy timidly glanced at Dingguo, and found that Dingguo was also looking at him, so he hurriedly withdrew his eyes and lowered his head again.

"When I met my father-in-law, I was as old as you." Dingguo suddenly remembered that day, it was the third year of Chongzhen, he was just a child who couldn't eat enough, when picking bark, he met his father-in-law Zhang Xianzhong, this scene was like yesterday, "Da Chun, you will follow me in the future!" ”

"Can you eat enough?" Da Chun scratched his head and looked at Dingguo with anticipation.

"Don't worry, it's full!" Jin Tongwu hugged Da Chun in his arms, tears falling like rain.

In April, Zhang Xianzhong entered Xing'an and Hanzhong from Xunxiang, and once again joined forces with Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, and stationed in the mountainous areas around Sichuan and Shaanxi to rest.