At the end of May of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji led an army of 100,000 to arrive outside the border of Xuanfu and began to divide the army into four routes.

Dabeile Daishan and his son Yue Yu led a total of 30,000 troops from the Zhenghongqi, the Inlaid Hongqi, the Tumut Department and the Ordos Department to continue westward, searching for and surrendering the remnants of Chahar along the way, and rushed to the border of Datong Town.

The three brothers, Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo, led an army of 20,000 troops from the White Banner, the White Banner, and the Karaqin Division, moving in the direction of Prince City and advancing the Dragon Gate Guard.

Huang Taiji personally led 30,000 yellow flags and inlaid yellow flag elites, and forced Wanquan right guard, with many generals such as Haoge, Yanguli, Darhan, Turai, Aobai, and Yangshan.

The first to attack was the Eastern Front.

On May 28, the seventh year of Chongzhen, the tenth son of Nurhachi, Beledeg and Gushan Ezhen Sele, Zhanggu, etc., led a total of 20,000 troops such as Zhenglan Banner, Inlaid Blue Banner, Zalut Division, Horqin Division, etc., to pry open the Great Wall from the bank of the Dushishui River, wave their troops into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and break through Dushikou Fort, Banbidian Fort, Maoeryu Fort in one fell swoop, and then march towards Yunzhou Fort and Red Castle.

This time, Houjin entered the customs nearly a month earlier than the time in history.

This is because there is one more person in Luliang Mountain.

……

The news of the successive falls of Xingxian, Lanzhou, Baodezhou, Hequ and Ningwuguan soon spread to nearby prefectures and counties, and for a time the officials and generals of the Ming army everywhere were in danger, for fear that the surnamed Qin would suddenly kill them.

After receiving the urgent report, Dai Junen, the governor of Shanxi, and Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, hurriedly led their troops back, one was afraid that Qinchuan would attack Taiyuan, because there were many royal relatives of the Jin dynasty in the city, and if Taiyuan fell, he Dai Junen would not be enough to cut off a hundred heads.

Zhang Zongheng wanted to recover the lost territory such as Lanzhou, but before he arrived at Luliang Mountain, the urgent order of the imperial court arrived: Dongnu was about to enter from the Xuanda area, and ordered him to return to help immediately, without mistake.

Zhang Zongheng was taken aback again, and hurriedly led Zhang Quanchang, the chief soldier of Xuanfu, to return to Datong and Xuanfu respectively.

……

Zhang Bingzhong, who was chased by Qin Liangyu's mother and son in Sichuan, fled to Huguang on the way to Huguang, and was surrounded by officers and soldiers in Henan.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Hongji were also surrounded here, and there were as many as 70,000 or 80,000 people.

When the situation was becoming increasingly critical, Zhang Quanchang suddenly withdrew his troops back to Xuanfu, and Cao Wenzhao was also ordered to rush to the aid of Datong Town, and the encirclement was suddenly opened.

Before Chen Qiyu, the new governor of the five provinces, could block it, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Bingzhong and others led most of the rogues out of the encirclement.

Chen Qiyu hurriedly mobilized the Ming troops in Sichuan, Huguang, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi to block it in all directions, and first exterminated the rogues who entered Huguang, and then advanced towards the main forces of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Bingzhong, who fled to Hanzhong.

Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Bingzhong and others dispersed in a hurry, among which Zhang Bingzhong, Zhang Miaoshou and several other rogues fled south from the Xing'an area into the mountains, but strayed into the carriage gorge south of Xing'an.

In the gorge of the carriage is the old plank road, both sides are full of high mountains and steep slopes, and the way out before and after is blocked by the local officers and soldiers and the villagers, it can be said that it is easy to enter, but it is difficult to think out.

Chen Qiyu led all kinds of soldiers and horses to arrive in time, and together with the local officers and soldiers, Xiang Yong, etc., surrounded the carriage gorge, intending to wipe out the 40,000 or 50,000 troops of Zhang Bingzhong and others.

The army of the Liukou was besieged in the gorge of the carriage for more than 20 days, and the grain was quickly eaten, and the war horses starved to death due to the lack of food and grass, and because of the sudden rain for several days, the bows and arrows were soaked in the rain and could not be used, hunger and disease, coupled with the attack of officers and soldiers for several days, tens of thousands of Liukou suffered heavy casualties and were in danger.

At the critical juncture, someone proposed to bribe Chen Qiyu's henchmen and surrounding officials, and then surrender by fraud, and it was not too late to get out of trouble.

The most important thing that the rogues lacked was gold and silver treasures, and soon gave away 2,000 taels of silver and miscellaneous jewels.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Bingzhong sent people to ask Chen Qiyu to surrender, saying that they were just working people, and they were deceived into becoming thieves because of natural disasters and hunger for many years.

This trick works.

When Chen Qiyu was thinking about it, he praised the painting and several officials around him to intercede for the rogue, saying that these thieves were all Ming people before, and they were forced to go astray out of desperation, and if they were killed, they would be spurned by the world.

Moreover, the other rogues will definitely rather die than surrender, and it will be difficult to recruit the rogues in the future.

However, if these rogues can be sent back to their hometowns and ordered to start farming, the suppression of bandits in the future will inevitably achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Chen Qiyu didn't think about it for long, so he made a decision, accepted the invitation of the rogue, and sent more than 50 pacification managers to send everyone including a few leaders back to their hometowns, and ordered them to cultivate well and farm with peace of mind.

When Zhang Bingzhong was leaving, he swore to Chen Qiyu with gratitude, and as soon as he got out of the carriage gorge plank road, he immediately turned his face, killed the more than 50 pacification pipes, gathered more than 20,000 people and horses again, and took advantage of the slack of the Ming army to capture several counties and towns one after another.

When Chen Qiyu first heard the news, he was so shocked that his face turned pale and he stood unsteadily.

He knew that if the emperor knew that he had made this big mistake, his fate would be to dismiss the official and be on the border, or beheaded on the street like Sun Yuanhua.

After thinking about it, Chen Qiyu immediately wrote a letter and ordered someone to send it to Beijing quickly.

Song Shu said: Li Jiayan of Fengyang Governor County, Sun Peng, a gentleman of Jin, and others, when they surrendered and pacified the Liukou, they ignored his orders and killed dozens of soldiers, and the governor of Shaanxi practiced state affairs and attacked and killed thousands of soldiers for no reason, so that most of the Liukou surrendered and rebelled.

……

Jingshi, Hongde Hall of the Forbidden City.

Zhu Youzhen's teeth tightened, staring at the messy pile of paperwork on the imperial case.

Among them, there was an 800-mile urgent report from Xuanda, saying that Dongnu had broken through the monolith fort and entered Chicheng.

There are urgent reports from Shanxi and Datong Town, saying that Zhang Yingchang on the West Road and Xue Dongting on the North Road were both defeated, and the Qin thieves took the opportunity to capture Fangshan Fort, Xingxian, and Lanzhou, and said that Dongnu entered the customs, and Wang Pu led the army back to help Xuanda, and captured Ningwuguan, Limin Fort, Sanchacheng, Baode Prefecture and other prefectures and counties.

There is also a note from Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces, who has just been delivered, saying that the governor of Shaanxi Lian Guoshi, Li Jiayan of Fengyang County and others obstructed the recruitment and surrender of the Liukou, and tortured and killed the soldiers for no reason, causing the Liukou to surrender and rebel.

In addition, among the pile of documents, there was also a note from the Qin thief, who swore that he had no objection at all, and even asked why the imperial court sent troops to attack him for no reason.

After a reprimand, he pretended that he was still loyal to the Ming court, and said that he was willing to go north to block Dongnu and guard Ningwu Pass, Yatou Pass, Hequ County and Baode Prefecture for the court.

Not only that, but the bold traitor also nakedly threatened the imperial court, saying that if he dared to send troops to attack him in the future, he moved to the Hetao area with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

After reading this recital, Zhu Youzhen was so angry that he scolded the case, and slapped his palms red.

Wang Chengen, the eunuch of the court, Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the cabinet, Wang Yingxiong, a scholar of Dongge University, He Wufu, Zhang Fengyi, the secretary of the military department, and others stood below, and they did not dare to come out with their heads bowed one by one. Number Seven

"Elder Wen Ge, you say, what should I do now?" Zhu Youzhen suddenly asked with a cold face,

Wen Tiren trembled slightly, and hurriedly bowed down and said, "Back to Your Majesty, the minister thinks ...... The minister thought that he should immediately arrest Lian Guoji, Li Jiayan and others, and strictly ......"

"I'm asking you, what should I do about the Qin thief and the Dongnu?"

Wen Tiren's neck shrank: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the harm of the Qin thief is far less than that of the Dongnu, for the sake of today, we should concentrate our forces to block the Dongnu, and when the slave thief retreats, then mobilize a large army to surround the Qin thief and annihilate it in one fell swoop." ”

"Humph!"

Zhu Youzhen was obviously very dissatisfied with this answer, and after snorting angrily, he turned his head and asked the others: "What do you think?" ”

Wang Yingxiong, He Wuyu and Zhang Fengyi hurriedly bowed their heads and replied: "The minister thinks that what Elder Wen Ge said is reasonable, and this plan is feasible. ”

"Humph! What do I want you to do? ”

Zhu Youzhen threw out a few letters on the imperial case.

Wen Tiren and the others didn't dare to say anything, and kept their heads down.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wang Chengen next to him and asked, "Wang Banban, you say, what should I do now?" ”

Wang Chengen nodded his head and replied in a soft voice: "Emperor, since the Qin thief and the Dongnu have their own harms, why don't the emperor come up with a plan to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, and let the Qin thief and the Dongnu fight?" ”

"Huh?"

Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up.

Wen Tiren on the side nodded like pounding onions, and said with a flattering face: "Yes, yes, the prince is right, the minister is about to offer this plan to the emperor, Your Majesty can draft a holy decree together, order the Qin thieves to go north to block the Dongnu, and send the generals of Xuanda and the two places, ordering them to strengthen the garrison of Xuanda to the south, and you can relax the garrison of the west road a little, let the Dongnu go to the west, and naturally meet the Qin thieves." ”

"In the middle of the time, Your Majesty can sit back and watch the two tigers fight, wait for them to lose both, and then surprise the troops everywhere, break the Dongnu, and exterminate the Qin thieves in one fell swoop."

"Hmm."

Zhu Youzhen nodded thoughtfully.

Wang Chengen, who was on the other side, glanced at Wen Tiren, thinking that this Lord Shoufu had an elegant demeanor, and he looked kind on the surface, but in fact he was a ruthless person.

Relaxing the garrison on the west road means that the prefectures and counties and military forts on the west road will be difficult to resist the attack of the eastern slaves, and the people there will ......

Wang Chengen didn't dare to think about it, nor did he refute Wen Tiren's words, he just lowered his head and said nothing.

……

Partial head pass, garrison the house.

"General Li, my family is a man who keeps his promises, when he tied up the Wu family and the Zhang family, as well as Xue Dongting's wife and children, the other party gave food and immediately released him, preaching morality and revaluing faith."

"Now, Lord Qin said that he can protect you with glory and wealth, and he will definitely be able to give you glory and wealth, you just need to open the gate of the partial pass, go to the old camp fort again, and deceive the military fort."

Luo Wentian sat on the east side of the Eight Immortals Table, chewing boiled beans while his mouth hung like a river.

There were only two people in the room, one was him, and the other was Li Baba, who was guarding the head pass.

Li Baba sat across from him.

In the past, every time he saw Luo Wentian, Li Baba would take a few more glances at this surprisingly handsome son.

But now, he doesn't have that mind.

He was struggling with his life and his future.

Luo Wentian grabbed a handful of beans, stuffed his mouth and continued vaguely: "General Li, you should also know that after my Lord Qin took Hequ County, and then took the Yaotou Pass and Laoying Fort, the imperial court would be helpless against him. ”

Why is that? Because this land boundary is bordered by the Inner Great Wall in the east, the Yellow River in the west, the Luliang Mountain barrier in the south, and the vast grassland outside the Saiwai in the north. ”

"Moreover, the Chahar Department in the Hetao area has been driven away by Jiannu, Huang Taiji does not have so many troops to garrison the Hetao, the Tumut Department and the Ordos Department are scattered, and the troops are weak, so there is nothing to be afraid of, if you really can't beat the imperial court, my Lord Qin can also go north out of the Saiwai and occupy the Hetao area."

"What's more, my family Lord Qin has long had a plan to enter the Hetao, and within two years at most, he will inevitably take over the entire Hetao region."

"At that time, Lord Qin will have the capital to fight against the Ming court and Jiannu."

"General Li, not everyone has the skill of the dragon, after this village, there will be no such shop, you have to think about it."

Hearing this, Li Baba's eyes lifted slightly.

After hesitating for a long time, Li Baba sighed helplessly and said, "Young Master Luo, the old camp fort counselor is so good at befriending me, I can't hurt him." ”

"Hey."

Luo Wentian threw away the beans in his hand and said with a look of disbelief: "General Li, why did you hurt him?" This is to show him the way, to lead him to the easy way. ”

"In a few years, General He will have the day of soaring from the dragon's merits, and I have to thank you for your kindness."

"Huh?"

Li Baba blinked in a daze, not knowing how to respond.

Luo Wentian scooped up another handful of beans, and said without being salty or indifferent: "General Li, there is only one chance, and in three days, Lord Qin's army will arrive at Yatou Pass and Laoying Fort." ”

"Whether it is to sit on the dragon's strength, or to die in the city, you can consider it carefully."