The first battle of Luo Monkey Mountain not only broke Luo Dai and Liu Yuanjie, but also tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were killed and wounded, and the bones of the dead were piled up on both sides of the mountain road, and no one came to collect them, allowing them to gradually rot in the hot air of early autumn, and the stench drifted for dozens of miles, until a few months later in winter.

Zuo Liangyu's defeat report was sent back to Xiangyang by Feiyu, Xiong Wencan was stunned at first after reading it, and then beat his chest and said: "I thought that Zuo Kunshan could defeat Zhang and Luo and the two thieves, so that the old man could make a consequence of his crimes, but I don't want to suffer such a fiasco, I am afraid that my life will be suspended!" ”

In order to survive, in addition to reporting the defeat to the imperial court, Xiong Wencan took the first step to send a private letter to Yang Sichang with an expedited eight hundred miles, begging him to say a few good words for himself in front of Emperor Chongzhen.

Unexpectedly, these days coincided with Yang Sichang Ding worrying that Emperor Chongzhen was robbed of his favor and retained in office, and was attacked by the Manchu ministers, saying that he was greedy for power, so he refused to go to work and mourn the system.

The impeachment fold flew like snowflakes in front of Emperor Chongzhen's imperial case, and in desperation, Emperor Chongzhen had to hint that Yang Sichang temporarily resigned from the post of secretary of the Ministry of War and served as the first assistant of the cabinet.

Although there is the weight of Emperor Chongzhen, but after all, it is always terrifying, at this moment, Yang Sichang himself is a mud bodhisattva crossing the river, and where dare to defend Xiong Wencan, when he put this private letter on the candlestick and burned it to ashes.

Besides, after Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai broke Zuo Liangyu, they originally planned to march into Shaanxi, but Zheng Chongjian, the governor of Shaanxi, held on to Xing'an. The righteous army then avoided the real and attacked the false, turned into Sichuan, Liankexing Mountain, Taiping and other counties, and stationed troops at Yongning Pass.

When Shao Jiechun, the governor of Sichuan, learned that Zhang and Luo had led the army into the country, he hurriedly led two thousand Sichuan troops, and together with the deputy generals Wang Zhilun and Fang Guoan, they refused to defend the territory.

In August, the official army was defeated at Tangjiaba, Wang Zhilun was killed in battle, and the rebel army was able to break through the official army's defense line and drive straight in.

On this day, Xianglian was sitting in the carriage with a big belly, following the old battalion's action, due to the uneven ground, the body suddenly bumped violently, and Xianglian almost fell down on one side of her body.

Just straightened her waist, Xianglian suddenly gasped, and hurriedly grabbed Jiuzhen who was sitting beside her and said, "Jiuzhen, my lower abdomen hurts a little." ”

"It's not going to give birth, is it?" Jiuzhen and Xiugu suddenly became nervous, Jiuzhen hurriedly got up, poked her head out of the car curtain, and shouted to the soldiers who were rushing outside, "Stop!" ”

As soon as the carriage stopped on the side of the road, Jiuzhen looked back at Xianglian in the car, only to see beads of sweat the size of beans on her head, and her whole face turned pale.

"Da Chun, Madame is afraid that she is going to give birth! Is there a house in the vicinity where you can deliver babies? Jiuzhen asked anxiously through the curtain.

Da Chun rode on his horse, looked around, and shouted at the car: "In this wilderness, there is not even a broken temple!" ”

"It's too late, it looks like we'll have to make do in the carriage! Aunt Xiu, go and invite Sister He! I'm watching here. Jiuzhen was so anxious that she urged Xiu Gu, who was at a loss on the side, to invite Sister He.

Sister He was originally a stable woman, and when Zhang Xianzhong attacked Lu'an, she followed her husband to join the rebel army.

Xiu Gu agreed, and hurriedly jumped out of the carriage. After Xiu Gu left, Jiuzhen stabilized her mind, and then quickly spread the mattress on the car, and then helped Xianglian to lie down slowly.

After doing all this, Jiuzhen poked her head out of the car again and shouted at Da Chun: "Da Chun, don't be stunned, go and inform your uncle!" ”

"Yes!" Da Chun suddenly came back to his senses, hurriedly raised his horsewhip, and walked away in the dust.

At this time, Dingguo had just led his troops to defeat a small group of sneak attacking villagers, and was about to continue to chase the main force of the Longxiang battalion, but saw Da Chun riding a horse galloping from behind.

Seeing Da Chun, Ding Guo hurriedly turned his horse back and greeted him: "Da Chun, why are you here?" ”

I saw that Da Chun was sweating profusely, and his childish face was full of anxious looks: "Madame is about to give birth!" ”

Dingguo was taken aback, and hurriedly said a few words to Jin Tongwu, and then asked Da Chun to lead the way in front and go to find Xianglian non-stop.

When he came to the carriage, seeing that Xiu Gu was the only one standing outside, Dingguo quickly turned over and dismounted, and anxiously stepped forward and asked, "Where is Madame?" ”

"Uncle, Sister He is delivering the baby for Mrs. in the car." Seeing Dingguo stretching out his hand to lift the curtain, Xiu Gu hurriedly stopped him, "Uncle! Men can't go in when they deliver babies! ”

Dingguo was stunned for a moment, his hand stopped in mid-air, and shouted inside through the curtain: "Madam, how do you feel?" ”

As soon as she heard Dingguo's voice, Xianglian endured the pain and responded: "I'm fine, I can hold on!" ”

"I'm just waiting outside, and if there's anything, just call me." Dingguo then shouted.

At this time, I saw that Sister He's head suddenly poked out of the car, and made a silent gesture: "Madame, this is just the beginning, and it is not time to exert your strength yet." General, if you shout to your wife like this, you won't have the strength to live by the time you are really born! ”

Dingguo scratched his head apologetically and asked Sister He, "How is Madam doing now?" ”

Sister He comforted Dingguo: "Madame's foundation is good, she should be able to give birth soon, and you don't have to worry too much, general." ”

Hearing Sister He say this, Dingguo suddenly felt a lot more relieved, nodded, and immediately stopped talking.

Xianglian lay helplessly in the carriage, at first, the interval between the pain was still long, and the feeling was not too strong, so she gritted her teeth and got over, but later, the pain became more and more intense, and the interval was getting shorter and shorter, Xianglian was afraid that Dingguo would worry about herself outside, so she clenched her teeth and didn't let herself shout.

Sister He also kept encouraging on the side: "Madam, you try to stay up, this shout, the strength will be dispersed." ”

Xianglian felt that her whole stomach was aching violently, as if she was going to tear her life in half, and finally she couldn't help but let go of her teeth and shouted.

Dingguo clenched his fists and was walking back and forth anxiously outside the car, when he suddenly heard this shout from the car, his heart twitched, and he just wanted to ask about the situation inside, but he remembered Sister He's instructions, so he had to hold back.

At this time, I saw Sister He hand out a blood-stained handkerchief from the car, and Xiu Gu hurriedly reached out to take the handkerchief, put it in a bucket, rubbed it clean with warm water, and then handed it back again.

"Madame bleeding?" Dingguo looked at the blood-stained handkerchief, his heart was flustered, and he couldn't help but blurt out.

"I said uncle, how can there be a child who doesn't bleed?" Xiu Gu picked up the bucket as she spoke, and handed it to Dingguo, "I really can't leave here, please go and change this bucket of water!" ”

After many years of fighting horses, although he has seen too much blood, this time it has made Dingguo feel unprecedented fear. He absentmindedly took the bucket, and before leaving, he glanced into the car again, because there was a curtain in the way, but he could not see anything. For a while, all kinds of nervous and uneasy emotions were intertwined, making the heart of the country like a knife.

"Madam, it's coming out soon, work harder!" Jiuzhen sat beside Xianglian, held her hand tightly, and wiped the sweat off her body with a handkerchief from time to time.

Xianglian nodded weakly at Jiuzhen.

Under the guidance of Sister He's password, Xianglian squeezed the child out of her womb little by little, and suddenly felt that her belly was empty, followed by the loud cry of the baby.

Hearing the cry, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.

"Congratulations, ma'am, it's a boy!" Sister He hugged the baby and congratulated loudly.

"Let me see." Xianglian reluctantly raised her head and said softly.

Sister He hurriedly hugged the baby to Xianglian's eyes, because it had not been scrubbed, the baby's body still had a lot of blood stains, and he was crumpled, crying with his eyes closed.

When Dingguo came back from fetching water, he suddenly heard the baby's cry, and with great joy, he threw the bucket on the ground, jumped into the car quickly, lifted the curtain and got in.

The moment he saw the baby, Dingguo's heart seemed to melt, and he couldn't take his eyes off it anymore.

"General, madam, are you optimistic? It is also necessary to wipe off the filth from the child's body and wrap it in swaddling clothes to avoid catching a cold. Sister He reminded while comforting the baby.

Dingguo nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, Sister He is tired of you!" ”

When Sister He was scrubbing the baby, Dingguo stepped forward to hold Xianglian's hand, stroked away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said softly: "Madam, you have suffered." ”

Xianglian said weakly: "I'm too tired and want to sleep for a while." ”

"Stop talking, get some rest." Dingguo lowered his head and kissed Xianglian's forehead in distress.

Xianglian nodded exhaustedly, then closed her eyes, as if all the strength in her body had been drained with the birth of the baby, and after a while, she fell into a deep sleep.

Soon after, when the baby was full moon, Dingguo officially named the child Pu Xing.

At this time, the news of Xiong Wencan's defeat had also reached the Jingshi, and Emperor Chongzhen urgently summoned Yang Sichang into the palace to discuss countermeasures.

As soon as he saw Yang Sichang, Emperor Chongzhen said hatefully: "Xiong Wencan, that stupid talent! yelling at Zhao'an every day, recruiting and recruiting, what is the recruitment? Not to mention spending money and food in vain, but raising tigers for trouble, deeply disappointed, is really hateful! I'm going to ask him about it and put it on the line! ”

At the beginning, it was he who recommended Xiong Wencan to Emperor Chongzhen, and suddenly heard the emperor say this, Yang Sichang couldn't help but panic, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed to apologize: "Xiong Wencan's vain words recruit peace, there is a change in Gucheng, the minister is ignorant of people, and the recommendation is not human, and he can't be blamed, and he also asks the emperor to punish him." ”

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Yang Sichang, who was prostrate on the ground, trembling all over, his heart softened, and he immediately said with relief: "This matter has nothing to do with Qing, and Qing doesn't have to blame himself too much, hurry up." ”

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen didn't mean to blame himself, Yang Sichang let out a long breath, immediately got up from the ground, and said cautiously: "Your Majesty, now that Zuo Liangyu has been defeated, the imperial court is overstretched in the Huguang area. At this critical juncture, there must be a competent person to replace Xiong Wencan and go to Xiangyang to preside over the overall situation, so as to reverse the decline. ”

Now that Lu Xiangsheng is dead, Hong Chengchou is in Liaodong, and Sun Chuanting has also been imprisoned, and there is no one available for a while.

Emperor Chongzhen looked at Yang Sichang, his eyes full of expectation: "Who can be responsible for this?" ”

Yang Sichang didn't know what the emperor meant, and immediately recommended himself: "The minister is not talented, and he is willing to invite the superintendent Xiangyang to exterminate the thieves for the emperor, level the world, and atone for the previous sins." ”

Emperor Chongzhen's sorrowful face instantly showed a smile: "Qing can think like this, I am very relieved!" However, the court is complicated, and I really don't want Qing to leave, but the situation in Huguang is very urgent, but Qing has to do it. ”

Emperor Chongzhen's attention made Yang Sichang grateful, and he hurriedly kowtowed again: "The emperor's holy family is gracious, and the ministers remember the five, how dare they not repay it?" ”

"Wang Chengen, give Yang Ge a seat!" Emperor Chongzhen motioned for Yang Sichang to calm down, and when he sat down on a few stools, he continued, "I am going to Huguang here, and I want to confer the post of Governor and Auxiliary Minister." Remember, the sacrifice of rebellion to the ancestral tomb, the sin is not forgiven, and the rest of the rogues are suppressed or appeased, and the Qing can act cheaply. ”

Yang Sichang sat on a few stools, faced Emperor Chongzhen and replied, "The ministers obey the emperor's holy decrees. ”

Emperor Chongzhen was reluctant to give up on Yang Sichang in his heart, and then said: "What else do you want, although I have to say, I will have a department to deal with." ”

Seeing that Emperor Chongzhen asked, Yang Sichang proposed: "The minister does have an invitation!" Although Zuo Liangyu was newly defeated, this person was a talented general, and he begged the emperor to be extra gracious and give him some rewards, so that he would be grateful and desperate to do things for the court. ”

Emperor Chongzhen pondered for a moment, knowing that Yang Sichang's move was to subdue Zuo Liangyu so that he could use it in the future, and immediately agreed: "Then according to Qing's words, make him a general of the thief." ”

On September 6, Emperor Chongzhen officially issued an order, and Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Imperial Army, went to Xiangyang as a cabinet minister and supervisor, and gave Shang Fang's sword and a seal of "Supervisor and Auxiliary Minister" to be rewarded cheaply, and 500,000 taels of silver were allocated from the internal treasury as military salary.