Zhang Xianzhong did not stay in Lujiang for too long, he first went east to fight Wuwei, and then the front turned to the southwest again, and successively took Qianshan, Taihu, Susong and other cities, everywhere he went, he won again and again, and the officers and soldiers fled along the way.

At the same time, the teams of Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng also achieved successive victories after entering Henan.

Hong Chengchou originally planned to mobilize a large army to Henan to block and attack the rebel army, but Zhang Xianzhong made a fuss in Jiangbei, which exposed the embarrassment of the weak defense of the officials and troops in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Jiangnan is the land of wealth of the Ming Dynasty, so naturally there is no room for loss. Hong Chengchou had to readjust the deployment of troops, summoning officials and troops from Shaanxi, Yunyang, Sichuan, Huguang, Shandong, Shanxi, and Henan, in an attempt to gradually reduce the scope of the rebels' activities to the Huguang area, and then work together to annihilate them.

In order to achieve the purpose of the operation, Hong Chengchou led the main force of the Qin army out of Tongguan and arrived in Xinyang, Henan, and all the officers and troops also arrived one after another under the urging of Hong Chengchou.

Upon learning that Hong Chengchou was out of the customs, Zhang Xianzhong ordered the whole army to take a short rest in Susong County, which is at the junction of Nanzhili and Jiangxi, and then summoned the battalion commanders to enter the city and discuss the next battle strategy in Susong County.

In such a major military meeting, Dingguo was not qualified to participate, and he had nothing to do, so Dingguo gathered all his soldiers and practiced in the battalion.

After the battle of Luzhou, most of Zhang Dingguo's personal soldiers were lost, and there are only 38 people left. Although the number of people is small, they are all elites who have survived a hundred battles.

"Lao Jin, let's practice?" Dingguo stood aside, and when he saw that everyone had been practicing for a long time, he immediately took off his armor, wore only a gray coarse cloth shirt, and waved his hand at a big man's own soldiers.

This person's name is Jin Tongwu, he is the captain of Dingguo's personal soldiers, and he charges forward every time he fights, and he is extremely brave, so he is deeply loved by Dingguo. When everyone saw that the boss was out in person, they stopped practicing, gathered together, formed a circle, and surrounded the two in the middle.

Dingguo moved his muscles and bones for a moment, and then stepped down and opened his stance, signaling Jin Tongwu to attack first.

Jin Tongwu was not polite to him, and the first punch was directed towards Dingguo's chest. Seeing the situation, Dingguo raised his hands, grabbed his wrists, and easily defused them. Jin Tongwu immediately retreated, withdrew his hand back, and his fists went straight to Dingguo's temples, Dingguo squatted down in a hurry and dodged again.

"Good!" When the onlookers saw the two of them, they couldn't help but applaud and applaud.

Dingguo took a deep breath and teased: "Old Jin, you kid has two hits!" I'm going to be serious, sir! ”

While speaking, I saw that Dingguo suddenly changed his posture, and a mountain cannon hit Jin Tongwu, Jin Tongwu was startled, and hurriedly turned back to dodge. Seeing that he was slightly exposed, Dingguo quickly stepped forward and grabbed his chest.

Jin Tongwu had no choice but to dodge to the left side, who knew that Dingguo's blow was just a false move, he suddenly withdrew his right hand, and his right leg was horizontal, sweeping towards Jin Tongwu's legs. Jin Tongwu dodged left and right, and he was a little unsteady on his feet, plus this sweeping leg came too quickly, how could he still dodge? Hearing only an oops, Jin Tongwu actually sat on the ground with his butt.

"Hahaha......" Everyone laughed out loud when they saw Jin Tongwu's embarrassed appearance.

"Laugh at it! Don't laugh! You have the ability to come! Jin Tongwu's face flushed, and he struggled to get up from the ground.

Dingguo hurriedly stretched out his hand and pulled Jin Tongwu up, patted him on the shoulder, and praised: "Old Jin, you kid can, you have made great progress in kung fu these days." ”

"Humph! Don't rejoice too soon! Sooner or later, I'll beat you! Jin Tongwu crossed his hands on his hips and panted, his face full of dissatisfaction.

"Good! Master is waiting for you! Don't let me down again! Dingguo smiled at Jin Tongwu, then turned around and looked at the crowd again, and roared, "Li Yongcheng, Li Chunming, Chen Xi, and Zhang Chengjun will come out for me!" ”

"In!" The four of them glanced at each other, and then they answered.

"Come on, you four up together!" Dingguo stabilized the lower plate and opened the posture again.

The four of them were ordered to step forward together and surround Dingguo. But seeing the four of them raise their fists high, they circled Dingguo like wheels, and turned around several times in a row, but they never made a rash move.

Dingguo observed for a moment with the corner of his eye, suddenly the corners of his mouth rose slightly, moved his neck up and down, left and right, and suddenly slapped Chen Xi's shoulder without the slightest warning, taking it forward, followed by a leg sweep, Chen Xi was caught off guard, and fell on the spot with a dog gnawing mud.

Just in the flash of light, Dingguo turned around and knocked down Zhang Chengjun with an elbow, then dodged to dodge Li Chunming's attack, took advantage of the opponent's door to open wide, grabbed Li Chunming's shirt, raised his knee and sent him to the door, followed by another leg sweep, and Li Yongcheng was also knocked to the ground.

All the actions were done in one go, and the four people who were still alive in the last second were already lying on the ground in the next second, wailing and screaming, and everyone was dumbfounded, and it took a long time before a thunderous cheer broke out.

The group then stepped forward together, lifted the four of them up from the ground, and helped them pat the dust off their bodies.

Dingguo was also about to step forward to comfort him, but he heard someone shouting from behind him: "Okay, you Zhang Dingguo!" I haven't seen you for a few days, and I'm bullying my brothers here again! I'm not ashamed! ”

You don't have to look up, just listen to the voice Dingguo to know that it must be Xianglian who is here.

As soon as everyone saw Xianglian, they all looked at each other and smiled, and immediately ran away, leaving Dingguo alone.

"Hey, I said what are you doing, don't go......" Dingguo's face was full of embarrassment, and he wanted to chase after him.

Seeing that Dingguo was about to run, Xianglian hurriedly grabbed him and said with a smile: "Brother Ning Yu, what are you running?" I've got something to look for you! ”

"Well, what's the matter, tell me." Dingguo secretly glanced at Xianglian's beautiful face and scratched his head embarrassedly.

Since leaving Fengyang, Dingguo saw Xianglian for the first time, only to see Xianglian carefully take out a thing wrapped tightly in red cloth from her arms, and stuffed it into Dingguo's hand: "Oh, this is for you." ”

"What's this?" Dingguo curiously opened the red cloth layer by layer, and it turned out that there was a crystal clear white jade pendant inside, "I said Sister Xianglian, this thing is precious, where did you get it?" ”

Hearing Dingguo's question, Xianglian's face turned slightly red, and she whispered, "Brother Ning Yu, what happened to Fengyang last time...... Always wanted to thank you. I don't know what to send you, I happened to pick this up on the aisle of Lujiang County a few days ago. Xianglian secretly glanced at Dingguo, and continued, "Yesterday I went into the city and asked the fortune teller, saying that this thing can keep you safe, so I thought, if you fight every day on weekdays, you have no eyes for knives and guns, so it is better to give it to you...... Brother Ning Yu, don't dislike it. ”

When Xianglian finished speaking, Dingguo picked up the jade pendant, approached and took a closer look, only to see a delicate inverted vase carved on top of the jade pendant.

"Oh, look at this upside-down bottle, the fortune teller said that it means that peace has arrived." Xianglian pointed to the pattern on the jade pendant and explained to Dingguo.

Dingguo thoughtfully put the jade pendant back into the red cloth, wrapped it again, and said to Xianglian seriously: "Sister Xianglian, just listen to the fortune teller's words, don't take it seriously." You think, if this thing can really keep it safe, how can its previous owner be unclear about life and death, and how can this jade pendant be picked up by you? ”

"This ...... I haven't thought about this, but this jade pendant has some auspicious and peaceful meanings, and it's not a bad thing to wear it on your body! Looking at Dingguo's incomprehensible style, Xianglian couldn't help but show a trace of displeasure on her face.

"But, this thing is too valuable...... "The jade pendant in Dingguo's hand is like a hot potato, and he can't take it or put it.

Looking at Dingguo's appearance, Xianglian suddenly got annoyed, snatched the jade pendant wrapped in red cloth back from Dingguo's hand, and snorted angrily: "Hmph, the dog bites Lu Dongbin, I don't know the hearts of good people!" You don't pull down! I'm not uncommon with my aunt and grandmother! ”

After that, Xianglian didn't look back, turned around and ran.

"Xianglian, I didn't mean that......" Looking at Xianglian's distant figure, Dingguo couldn't help but stick out his tongue, and said secretly in his heart, "Didn't I say something wrong?" ”

Just when the second monk of Dingguo was at a loss, he saw Jin Tongwu running over quickly, and said breathlessly: "Second general, Jing Shuai has an urgent military order, ordering us to immediately pull out the camp to the west, and enter Shaanxi through Huguang by taking the Yunyang Old Road. ”

"Okay! It's time to go back to my hometown! Dingguo couldn't help but feel a burst of ecstasy in his heart after hearing this, and he had already left Xianglian's anger behind.

It turned out that at the military meeting just now, Zhang Xianzhong adopted Zhang Kewang's strategy of avoiding the real and attacking the false, and decided to take advantage of Hong Chengchou's main force of the Qin army to leave Shaanxi, run westward for a long distance, enter Huguang through Huoshan and Yingshan to join Ma Shouying, cross Tianxing and other departments, and then pass through Zaoyang and Xiangyang, follow the old road of Yunyang, and seize Shangzhou, where the official army is empty.

That night, Zhang Xianzhong's rebel army quietly left Susong and disappeared. The officers and troops that followed were once again in vain, and Hong Chengchou's encirclement and suppression plan was once again declared bankrupt.

In early April, Hong Chengchou convened a military conference in Ruzhou.

At the meeting, Hong Chengchou summed up the reasons for the recent failure of encirclement and suppression. He believed that there should be a long-term strategy for controlling thieves, and before the official army chased to Henan, the righteous army went to Shaanxi, and the official army chased to Shaanxi, and the righteous army retreated back to Huguang and Henan. If we want to reverse this reactive situation, we must change our strategy.

For this reason, Hong Chengchou ordered Zuo Liangyu, You Shiwei, and Deng Zuyu to guard the pass roads on the border between Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang to intercept the flow of the righteous army, and at the same time ordered Wu Fu, the governor of Shanxi, to strictly guard the crossing of the Yellow River to prevent the righteous army from entering Jin from Shaanxi.

After blocking the choke points into Shaanxi, Hong Chengchou personally led Cao Wenzhao, He Renlong, Ai Wannian, Zhang Yingchang and other main forces of the official army to march towards Shaanxi.

Although he knew in his heart that the number of victories and defeats was unknown, Hong Chengchou still decided to take a desperate gamble.

In May, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang joined forces again, but this cooperation, both sides have a mustard in their hearts. In order to compete for the position of commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang were even more at odds and could not reach a unified opinion.

In the end, the two sides had to give in and agreed to attack Fengxiang Mansion from the east and west, and whoever broke the city first would be the master.

How do you know that this Fengxiang is a difficult bone to gnaw, the army and the people are defending the city, and the two righteous troops of Chuangying and Xiying are stunned It took a lot of effort, but they still failed to shake this lonely city.

Faced with this insurmountable barrier in front of him, Li Zicheng reluctantly advised Gao Yingxiang: "King Chuang, what is the point of fighting again except for destroying the lives of the brothers in vain? Counting it, Hong Chengchou's army should not be far from here, so let's withdraw quickly! ”

"That's the only way, pass the order, and we'll withdraw at night." Gao Yingxiang originally had this intention in his heart, but he didn't expect to think of it with Li Zicheng, and he immediately nodded in agreement.

"Before leaving, do we need to inform Xiying?" Suddenly thinking of Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng asked casually.

Gao Yingxiang pondered for a moment and shook his head: "No need, wouldn't it be nice to let Jing Xuan block Hong Chengchou for us?" As soon as the words came out, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng both laughed out loud.

At dawn the next day, Zhang Xianzhong was about to continue to lead the army to attack the city, but a scout came to report that the camp had been withdrawn overnight. After inquiring again, Hong Chengchou's army actually followed quietly, and the forward was only half a day's journey away.

"Damn, I've played with eagles all my life, and I let the eagle peck at me! Tell the brethren to get out of here! Zhang Xianzhong didn't want to fight face-to-face with Hong Chengchou's main force of the official army alone, so he immediately issued an order to withdraw the army in anger.