At this time, Hong Chengchou rushed out of the camp with his men and horses and surrounded Huanglong.

Huang Long ordered his men to fight to the death, and no one was allowed to escape. [No pop-ups. He took the lead, rushed into the ranks of the officers and soldiers, and slashed and killed. The peasant army followed him and charged desperately.

In this way, Hong Chengchou's men and horses were really dragged, and in order to prevent his men and horses from being surrounded and killed, Huang Long ordered to withdraw to the edge of the pontoon bridge. After the bridge on the river was dismantled, the officers and soldiers had already erected three pontoon bridges, and Huang Long led the remaining more than 3,000 people to the side of the bridge, with their backs to the river, and tried their best to resist.

The officers and troops could not approach the pontoon bridge for a while, and the two sides became a melee again.

In this way, the two sides fought for half the night, and Huang Long finally gave up, and there were only four or five hundred men left under his men, and each of them was injured to varying degrees.

At this time, the scouts sent by Gao Yingxiang arrived and told Huang Long to retreat.

After Huang Long personally broke off, he led the few hundred remaining people to rush across the pontoon bridge and retreat towards Tongguan. After removing the pontoon bridge, he personally lit a fire and burned the pontoon bridge to the ground.

Hong Chengchou ordered to immediately rebuild the pontoon bridge, tens of thousands of horses, and the pontoon bridge was as easy as eating cabbage, but in half an hour, five pontoon bridges were rebuilt. Hong Chengchou led all the horses and pounced on Tongguan.

Gao Yingxiang knew that the matter was urgent and he had no time to rest, so he immediately ordered the whole army to assemble, withdraw from Tongguan in batches, and enter Henan.

After giving the order, Gao Yingxiang stood on the Tongguan City, looking into the distance, where the dust covered the sky, and the birds flocked in flocks and hid in the clouds. Hong Chengchou's men and horses are about to arrive.

Li Yan came to his side, looked at the flying yellow dust, and said, "Do you want to leave people and horses to guard the pass?" ”

Gao Yingxiang said: "This is a must, Hong Chengchou can't be allowed to follow closely, the old battalion in the army is not moving so fast, and it needs to buy some time." ”

Li Yan said: "Are there any news about the other peasant armies?" ”

Gao Yingxiang said: "Li Zicheng has left Huguang and marched to Henan, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai are west of Luoyang, breaking through the Tianlao Hui and other departments, near Xingyang, I am ready to meet a few people and go to Xingyang." ”

Li Yan said: "These peasant armies combined, hundreds of thousands of horses, the momentum is not small, enough to shake the Central Plains." ”

Gao Yingxiang looked at him and suddenly asked, "Bai Qi left, did you know in advance?" ”

Li Yan smiled indifferently: "King Chuang's question is a bit unintelligent. Gao Yingxiang said: "Oh? Why? Li Yan said: "Because no matter how I answer, you think I know." ”

Gao Yingxiang smiled: "Actually, it's no longer necessary to ask this now." Bai Qi can't keep it after all. It's good to go back. Li Gongzi, you may think that I am taking you as hostages to threaten the Qin army, but in fact, the Qin army has different intentions from those of us. At first, we and the peasant rebels tried to survive, but when they became stronger, they tried to be happy, as long as they were not wiped out. And you, the Qin army, are thinking about restoring the homeland. Therefore there is no need to be your enemy. ”

Li Yan listened to what Gao Yingxiang said, as if he was from the bottom of his heart, so he nodded: "King Chuang is right." In the troubled times, it is fortunate to survive, and it is a moment to be happy for a while. As for ripping the ground, you probably never had the intention of doing so. ”

Gao Yingxiang looked at the smoke and dust that was getting closer and closer outside the city, and said: "Li Gongzi, I'm really sorry, if there is no official army chasing after me, I want to let you go, but for now, you are still safe with me." ”

Li Yan said: "I also want to enter the Central Plains with King Chuang." ”

Gao Yingxiang was stunned: "Li Gongzi's words, but is it sincere?" Li Yan said: "Naturally, it is true. After I enter the Central Plains with you, if you don't dislike it, I can help you come up with ideas, although I don't dare to say that I am clever, but it is always good to have one more head to think of ideas. Gao Yingxiang was overjoyed, he knew that most of these peasant soldiers were illiterate, and there were few literate people, and there were only a few people like Li Yan who were both civil and military. With him following, at least he won't run around like before, without a goal.

So he nodded: "It's best to have Li Gongzi with you." He instructed the captain of his own soldiers: "Li Gongzi followed us into the Central Plains, he is still injured, you must serve well, there must be no half-heartedness, if you are not a little dissatisfied, I will cut off your head." ”

Then Gao Yingxiang accompanied Li Yan to the pass, instructed the guards to go to the pass, and then set off with the old camp.

Out of Tongguan, it is Henan Lingbao, after the brigade entered Lingbao, did not attack the county seat, Gao Yingxiang was afraid that the guards could not support for a long time, so he ordered that before meeting with several other peasant armies, no county town should be attacked.

He led the men and horses, but he hurried forward.

The next night, the men and horses guarding the pass chased up, they lasted a day in Tongguan, and finally Hong Chengchou broke through the city pass, these people did not fight, and hurried to come.

Gao Yingxiang knew that after Hong Chengchou took Tongguan, he would definitely follow behind, so the two sides were separated by a day's journey. Moreover, there were many cavalry in the official army, and it was not too difficult to catch up.

He ordered the whole army to march on the road at the same time, and marched overnight, in order to enter the territory of Luoyang and join the Zhang Luo coalition army. At the same time, Gao Yingxiang sent dozens of scouts to find the whereabouts of the Zhang Luo coalition army, and once he saw them, he invited the two to move to meet near Mianchi.

Lingbao is not too far from Luoyang, and Gao Yingxiang believes that with so many scouts sent out, someone will definitely find the Zhang Luo coalition army.

He thought well, and at noon on the third day, a scout came back to report that he had already seen Zhang Luo Ershuai, and the two of them were also on a starry night and rushed to Mianchi.

Gao Yingxiang was overjoyed and ordered the whole army to speed up.

Finally, on the morning of the fifth day, the two sides met at Michi.

At this time, Li Zicheng also sent someone to deliver the letter, and his men and horses had already arrived in Jiaxian County and were about to enter Xuchang.

According to the previous agreement, everyone rushed to Xingyang separately to return to the old man and join the others.

This is a very important matter, since the Shaanxi uprising, there have been many cases of several peasant armies acting together, but all the battalions have joined forces, only a few times. One time was after Wang Jiayin's death, the peasant army of all departments jointly elected the king of Zijin Liang as the leader, that time it was called the 36th battalion, and the other time was that Zijin Liang died, and everyone elected King Gao Chuang as the leader, and this time, almost all the peasant army leaders went to Henan.

For a time, the land of Henan was full of people and horses rushing to Xingyang, some of them were many, tens of thousands, some were less, thousands of people and horses, and there were hundreds of people in a battalion.

The officers and soldiers naturally knew about such a big action of the peasant army for a long time.

Hong Chengchou followed Gao Yingxiang into Henan, and after chasing for two days, the scout came to report that Gao Yingxiang had already joined the Zhang Luo coalition army, and the number of men and horses increased to seventy or eighty thousand, and he himself only had twenty or thirty thousand horses, and it was obviously impossible to eat these three peasant armies, so Hong Chengchou ordered that he should only follow and not attack easily.

At this time, the folds and folds from all over Henan were reported to the court, and the court naturally gave an order to Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng and others, this time to come to a general meeting to suppress and annihilate all the peasant army. In addition to Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, Zuo Liangyu, Cao Wenzhao, Zu Kuan and others, He Renlong, Zuo Guangxian, Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, the most capable generals in the court, almost all of them.

In addition to brave generals, there are also elite soldiers. Among these horses, Cao Wenzhao and Zu Kuan's Guanning Iron Cavalry are the strongest, Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army and Hong Chengchou's Hong Soldiers are also the elite of the elite, plus Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong and other arrogant generals, so that Hong Chengchou's Governor Zhulu people, for a while, the official army was arrogant, from the east, west, and north three directions, pressed over.

The peasant army naturally knew that these masters were powerful, and at the end of May of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Chuang Collapse and others had conquered Xingyang, and the battalions of the peasant army had already assembled near Xingyang. The momentum is huge, there are many people and horses, and the company camp is set up for nearly a hundred miles, and when you get together a rough calculation, obediently, there are 300,000 horses.

Among them, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Wanqing, Lao Hui Ma Shouying, Ge Li Yan He Yilong, Zuo Jin Wang He Jin, Guotian Star Hui Dengxiang, mixed 100,000 Ma Jinzhong, Nine Dragons, Shuntian King, Reincarnation King, Hengtian King and others, there are many soldiers and horses, each with tens of thousands of horses. These thirteen troops are known as thirteen families, and there are also more than 70 battalions of peasant troops, known as 72 battalions.

This is the famous "Thirteen Families and Seventy-two Battalions" in history. At this time, Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang are considered to be a family, and Li Zicheng is the first battalion.

The 300,000 peasant army was united, and this was the most powerful in the years of the uprising.

But the situation at this time is also the most severe.

Although the peasant army had 300,000, the official army was no less than 100,000, and in terms of combat effectiveness and other aspects, the peasant army was far inferior to the official army. In addition, Hong Chengchou, Lu Xiangsheng and others chased the peasant army all the way, and their morale was strong, so the situation of the peasant army was very critical.

Gao Yingxiang was stationed in Zhangjiadian, twenty miles northwest of Xingyang City, and after only one day of rest, he quickly united with the people of the camp and asked them to come here for a meeting the next morning.

This kind of thing is a tradition of the peasant army. As long as they conduct joint operations, they must first hold a meeting together, and after they have agreed upon, they will act separately.

After getting Gao Yingxiang's notice, all the palms agreed, and went to Gao Yingxiang's place the next morning to discuss the plan.

That night, Gao Yingxiang invited Li Yan to his big tent, and there were also Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and Luo Rucai went to Xingyang City, not in the camp.

As soon as Li Yan entered the big tent, the three leaders of the peasant army immediately stood up to greet him and invited him to sit down.

Everyone has seen it many times in Xi'an City, so there is no need to be polite, so the topic came directly to the Xingyang Conference.

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