On April 18, Mou Wenshou and Liu Liangzuo led the official army to defeat the rebels at the Trailer River, Zhang Xianzhong ran south to Huguang, and the siege of Anqing was resolved.

At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen, who was in the Forbidden City, was not idle, and he once again summoned Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, in the Qianqing Palace.

Yang Sichang is talented, clever and convenient, knows the history well, and can think like a spring and talk eloquently every time he faces the saint, which is very different from the sluggish wood of the former military secretary Zhang Fengyi, so Emperor Chongzhen almost obeys his words.

After Yang Sichang got up, Emperor Chongzhen asked the eunuch Wang Chengen, the eunuch of Si Li Bingbi, to move a few stools. The emperor gave him a seat, Yang Sichang couldn't help but be flattered, and hurriedly kowtowed again to thank him, and then carefully sat on a few stools, leaned forward, and only sat on half of his buttocks.

"Today, when the slave raids are disturbed outside, the rogue is chaotic inside, and the country is in danger, I don't know what Aiqing has to break the situation, everything can be said." Emperor Chongzhen asked worriedly.

"Your Majesty, Weichen has an idea in his heart, but it is not yet mature......" Yang Sichang wanted to speak and stopped.

Emperor Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and he said with expectation on his face: "It doesn't hurt to say it, there are only you and me here today, and there are no monarchs and ministers." ”

Seeing that the emperor said this, Yang Sichang also had the courage to tell Emperor Chongzhen about the battle strategy he had conceived for a long time.

In his opinion, this world is like a human body, Jingshi is the head, Liaodong is the limbs, and the Central Plains is the heart. Although the external troubles are very urgent, but the internal worries cannot be ignored, if the abdomen is allowed to flow poison, the internal organs are ulcerated, what is the use of having intact limbs?

These words reached Emperor Chongzhen's heart, and he hurriedly asked Yang Sichang to continue.

Seeing that the emperor was full of interest, Yang Sichang took the opportunity to put forward a suggestion that the outside must first be settled, thinking that it would be better to negotiate peace with the Qing court outside the Guanwai first, and then exterminate the Liukou in one go. In order to achieve this destination, it was necessary to increase the number of troops by 120,000, including 74,000 infantry and 36,000 cavalry, and to increase the salary by 2,800,000 taels through four means: equalization, overflow, sending students to prison, and post delivery.

Emperor Chongzhen was noncommittal about negotiating peace with the Qing court, but only agreed to the proposal to increase the amount of money and the salary to be paid.

Immediately, Yang Sichang explained to Emperor Chongzhen his long-conceived combat strategy of "four positives, six corners and ten sides of the net". The so-called four positive are the four frontal battlefields of Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang and Jiangbei, and the governors of these four places are mainly encircled and suppressed, supplemented by defense; The six corners are the six flank battlefields of Yansui, Shanxi, Shandong, Yingtian, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, and the governors of these six places focus on defense and supplemented by encirclement and suppression; In addition, two ministers, the governor and the prime minister, were set up to levy according to the deeds of the rebels. In short, the governor and the prime minister are responsible for killing the enemy, and the governors of all localities are responsible for encircling on all sides, and everyone performs their own duties, and no matter where the main battlefield is, they must form a net, and this is the intention of the ten-sided net.

After explaining his combat strategy, Yang Sichang patted his chest and assured Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty only needs to work hard for three months to end the ten-year situation!" ”

When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he was so excited that he was stunned again and again, and sighed: "I regret that it is too late!" ”

Under the recommendation of Yang Sichang, Emperor Chongzhen decided to appoint Xiong Wencan, the prime minister, to the military affairs of Nanjing, Henan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Huguang provinces.

After Xiong Wencan took office, he vigorously pursued the strategy of first pacifying and then suppressing the rebel army.

In July, Zhang Xianzhong sent Zhang Dingguo to lead the Longxiang battalion as the vanguard to march eastward, and the troops were directed at Yangzhou.

After receiving the military order, Zhang Dingguo immediately returned to the camp and summoned the deputy generals Jin Tongwu, Qi Sansheng and the big and small generals.

After everyone gathered in the tent, Dingguo paced to the middle of the group, looked around, stretched out his hand to signal everyone to sit down, and asked the soldiers to bring in a big watermelon from outside, cut it with a knife on the big case, and distribute it to everyone.

"Come on! Let's eat watermelon first, and let's get down to business after eating! Dingguo grabbed a piece of watermelon and sent it to his mouth, all the generals knew that Dingguo had no shelf, and he was not polite to him, so he hugged and divided the watermelon in an instant.

Seeing that everyone had almost eaten, Dingguo wiped his dirty hands on his body at will, and then said: "Father ordered our Longxiang Battalion to be the vanguard and march into Yangzhou!" ”

"We'll listen to you no matter how you fight! Just give the order! Qi Sansheng still had watermelon stuffed in his mouth, but he stood up suddenly, and said in a vague voice, watermelon juice splashed everywhere.

Dingguo motioned for him to sit down, and then continued: "If you want to fight Yangzhou, you must first take Liuhe!" Liuhe is the gateway to Nanjing, the city wall is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, but according to the scouts, there are currently less than 1,000 officers and troops in the city, and the strength is weak. If we go with too many soldiers and horses, it is inevitable that the news will leak, so I decided to take only ten elite dead soldiers and set off overnight to arrive at Liuhe before dawn and catch him off guard! ”

"Ten against a thousand?" Jin Tongwu was dumbfounded when he heard this.

"Nanzhili is an important place, there are officials and soldiers everywhere, if you want to be surprised, you can only do this!" Dingguo's gaze swept towards everyone, and finally fell on Qi Sansheng, "Old Qi, everything in the camp is entrusted to you, everyone will return to the camp to prepare, and tomorrow the army will pull out the camp and join me in Liuhe!" ”

"Second General, as the commander of the First Army, how can you be in danger alone? Let me go for you! Qi Sansheng got up again and persuaded him.

"Let me go!" Jin Tongwu also stood up.

"I'll go! I'll go! Seeing this, everyone also got up and shouted in unison.

Dingguo waved his hand: "I have made up my mind, everyone doesn't have to fight anymore, let's go back to the camp quickly!" ”

Seeing that he couldn't persuade the country, the generals had no choice but to disperse.

At dawn on the 18th, Dingguo quietly arrived at the western suburbs of Liuhe County with 17 horsemen, and saw that the city gate had not yet been opened, so Dingguo asked everyone to ambush nearby first, and was not allowed to be exposed.

After a while, the sky gradually brightened, the city gate of Liuhe County slowly opened, the city gate officer yawned and glanced outside the city, this look was not tight, but saw a sentry cavalry like the wind galloping straight in front of the front, before he could say a word, the city gate officer was pierced by a shot from Dingguo.

Hearing that a small group of rebels seized the city gate, the guerrilla Chang Wei hurriedly ordered 300 soldiers and horses to rush to meet the enemy, who knew that the official army was short of pay all the year round, and the people's hearts were fluctuating, and I heard that it was the troops of the murderer Zhang Xianzhong who entered the city, and most of them fled along the way.

Walking to the entrance of the archway in front of the west gate, the two sides encountered, Chang Wei was afraid that there was Zhang Xianzhong's brigade behind this small group of rebels, so he did not dare to take the initiative to attack, but relied on the archway to set up a defense.

Although the rebels were extremely brave, after all, the number was too small, and they were not allowed to enter after several rushes.

Dingguo was anxious, and suddenly had a plan, only to see him suddenly shout: "Chen Xi! The official army has been pinned down by me, and I quickly notify the army to capture the east gate! ”

Chen Xi, who was following behind Dingguo, was stunned suddenly, where did we come from? When he was confused, he suddenly saw Dingguo smiling at him, and suddenly understood, and hurriedly agreed: "Obey!" ”

Dingguo and Chen Xi cooperated tacitly here, how could Chang Wei know about it, he believed it and hurriedly divided his troops to guard the east gate. Seeing that the official and military formations were shaking, Dingguo suddenly clamped the belly of the horse with "two buckets of gold", rushed straight into the spear and jumped on the horse, and the seventeen horsemen behind him also followed together, the officers and troops were in chaos, and there were countless people who trampled on each other.

Chang Wei saw that he couldn't resist it, and shouted at the people watching behind the archway: "The city can't hold it!" Ladies and gentlemen, quickly go out of the city through the south gate! I'm waiting for you to stop the thieves! ”

The people did not know why, they were suddenly defeated, and they fled to the south, Chang Wei took the remnants of the officers and troops to block behind the fleeing people, fighting and retreating all the way, and when he retreated to the Longjin pontoon bridge in the south of the city, there were only five people left around him.

Seeing that the people had fled to the south of the bridge, Chang Wei breathed a sigh of relief, and he asked his subordinates to quickly cross the bridge and join the two hundred officers and soldiers who stayed on the south bank of the pontoon bridge, and then turned over and jumped off the horse, holding a whip in his right hand to resist the pursuing rebels, and pulling the planks of the pontoon bridge with his left hand.

A volunteer cavalry took the lead in rushing to the bridgehead, holding a steel knife towards Chang Wei's face door, Chang Wei dodged under the horse, swept the horse's leg with a whip, the rebels fell off the horse, and before they could stand up, Chang Wei made up a whip on the head door, and the brain burst in an instant, and he lost his life.

This Longjin pontoon bridge stretches more than ten zhang, with wooden planks spread on the iron cable, although the bridge is now broken by Changwei, but the iron cable is still there. Chang Wei retreated to the south of the bridge, he wanted to evacuate, but he was worried that the rebels would climb the iron locks to cross the bridge, and after thinking about it, he stomped his foot suddenly: "That's it, today is where I am buried!" With that, he held a saber in his hand, and together with the remnants of the hundred or so officers and soldiers, he was firmly nailed to the south of the bridge.

Soon Dingguo led his troops to kill, the pontoon bridge was broken, and the two sides held each other across the river.

Chang Wei desperately protected the people all the way, and Dingguo saw it all in his eyes, and he was even more emotional in his heart, and shouted at him: "This general, our righteous army only kills corrupt officials and corrupt officials, and does not hurt innocent lives, you can retreat by yourself, and you don't have to let these people leave their homes and be displaced." ”

"Don't be ashamed! Who doesn't know that your eight kings give the nickname Zhang Butcher! Are there not many innocent people who died under his sword? As an official of the imperial court, how can someone sit idly by and watch you and others poison the people? Chang Wei replied across the river.

Chang Wei said, Dingguo didn't know, and he was suddenly speechless, not knowing how to talk. However, Jin Tongwu came back to his senses and ordered everyone to release arrows to the opposite bank together, and for a while the arrows flew like hedgehogs and arrows rained down. Chang Wei waved his whip and struggled to hit the flying arrows, but how to block them, Chang Wei was first hit by an arrow in the right thigh, and then another arrow pierced his neck.

Seeing Chang Wei seriously injured and falling, his subordinates hurriedly rescued him, carried by four people, and retreated all the way to Wuhu.

Taking advantage of the fact that the other party had lost his main general and was unstable, Zhang Dingguo turned the horse's head, withdrew for hundreds of steps, then turned back to the horse's head, galloped the horse, and jumped over the pontoon bridge with people and horses.

Seeing Dingguo descending from the sky like a god descending from heaven, the officers and soldiers guarding the bridge were in chaos in an instant, scattering and fleeing for their lives.

Zhang Xianzhong entered the city, and immediately went on a killing spree, greedy for family wealth and stayed in the city of rich officials and gentry, and many people were killed. For a while, whenever there was a child crying at night in a nearby state and county, the parents only had to scold: "Don't cry, the thieves are coming!" The crying stopped.