So he asked Li Yan in detail, and Yizhimei told Li Yan what happened to him. It's just that she was afraid that Li would dare to doubt herself, so she omitted the matter of seducing Li Yan, and only said that the red lady asked her to come out and rescue Li Yan. [Full text reading. 】

Li Dare listened to it and felt that there was nothing wrong with what Bai Qi said, but he still half-believed it, afraid that she was a spy sent by Gao Yingxiang and came to deceive Qin Jun, so he said: "What you said, is it true or false?" You must know that there is no basis for words. ”

Yizhimei picked up the short sword from the ground, and several relatives thought that she was going to do it again, and was about to move, but saw Yizhimei cut a cut on her coat with the short sword, and then tore open the coat and took out a letter from inside.

It turned out that Yizhimei was afraid that the letter would be searched, so she deliberately sewed the letter into her clothes.

Li Dang took the letter and unfolded it to see that it was indeed Li Yan's pen. He read the letter and felt that the matter was not trivial, so he immediately ordered his soldiers to prepare their horses. He took twenty Qin soldiers, together with Yizhimei, day and night, and rushed back to Xi'an to meet the king of Qin.

When King Qin heard that Li Dang was back, he also brought a little girl, and when he knew that something was wrong, he immediately summoned him. Li Dare presented the letter, and after the King of Qin read it, his expression was grim, and he ordered someone to find Zhang Yi to discuss with Wang Qian.

After some discussion, everyone felt that Li Yan was with the peasant army, and his life was in danger, and he must be rescued as soon as possible. So he did what was written in the letter.

The King of Qin sent Shi Huai to replace Li Dang to guard Tongguan, and sent Li Dang and Yizhimei together to lead 300 cavalry into Henan disguised as an official army to rescue Li Yan.

Besides, Li Yan's side, since he followed Gao Yingxiang and other peasant armies to act together, he has attacked cities and counties along the way, and the troops are extremely strong. The peasant army successively broke through Mixian, Shangcai and other places, and reached Runan. In Runan, they once again divided their troops to take Fengyang, one route was led by Gao Xiangying, from Xincai, Shouzhou to Fengyang, and the other route was led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and they approached Yingzhou, and from Yingzhou to the east to take Fengyang.

They were so strong that they laid down a lot of places along the way.

In the peasant army, Li Yan witnessed the ferocity and cruelty of these soldiers. They took many people captive along the way, and when they attacked the city, they let these people be in front, and when they attacked the ditch, they killed them in the ditch, filled the ravine, and the dead were in ruins. The peasant army stepped on the corpses of these people and set up ladders to attack the city. Sometimes, they took a lot of women, forced them to take off their clothes, and shouted at the city, and whoever dared to be ashamed was killed immediately.

This is the time of siege, and when it enters the city, it is even more sensational. Massacres of the city often took place, and the most killed were the city's officials, gentry and wealthy merchants. After the peasant army captured these people, they cut off their heads lightly, and the cruel ones stripped them of their skin and bones, and divided their bodies into five horses, even the babies of these families, and threw them around on the tips of their guns as a pleasure.

This kind of thing, Zhang Xianzhong's people did the most, Gao Yingxiang's soldiers were fewer, only Li Zicheng's men and horses, although they also killed officials and gentry, but they were not so cruel, most of them were killed with arrows, and his men and horses rarely violated the people, which was different from the peasant armies.

Li Yan heard the crying in the city, knew that it was the peasant army that was slaughtering the city, and wanted to persuade Gao Yingxiang and others, but the peasant army looked at them to death and did not allow them to go out a step, so they had to sigh emptyly, and there was nothing they could do.

Twenty days later, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong met in Shou County, here, they discussed a method, first sent hundreds of peasant soldiers, disguised as ordinary people, mixed into Fengyang City, as an internal response, and after these people successfully entered the city, the peasant army of tens of thousands of horses, marched at night, camped during the day, and quietly pounced on Fengyang.

Fengyang's defense was very lax, and in some places the city walls collapsed, and it was possible to climb up without a ladder. So one night, the peasant army came to the outside of Fengyang City, lit a fire, and the city should open the city gate to receive the peasant army into the city.

When the peasant army came into the city, Fengyang stayed behind to guard Zhu Guoxiang, and Chen Hongzu of thousands of households knew the news, and responded to the battle in a hurry, but there were not many defenders in Fengyang, only a few thousand people, how could they be able to defeat tens of thousands of peasant troops, less than half of the night, thousands of officers and troops were completely defeated, Zhu Guoxiang, Chen Hongzu died on the spot, Gao Yingxiang and others completely occupied Fengyang City.

The peasant army had a deep hatred for the Ming Dynasty, and burned down the imperial mausoleum, and Li Zicheng also set fire to the "Longxing Temple" where Zhu Yuanzhang became a monk. Zhang Xianzhong and others dug up the imperial mausoleum, dug it up in a mess, and the bones in the coffin were thrown out and burned to ashes.

It's a big deal.

When the news reached the capital, Chongzhen heard about it, and immediately avoided the temple in plain clothes, and came to the temple to cry: "I have no way to live in the throne, resulting in the destruction of the ancestral tomb, the shame of the ancestors, and the ravages of thieves, how to face the Emperor Gaozu after my death, how to face the ancestors and ancestors......"

The more he cried, the more sad he became, and the surrounding attendants finally persuaded him, Chongzhen returned to the court, issued a holy decree with red eyes, and executed Yang Yipeng, the governor of Fengyang, and sentenced Wu Zhenying to prison for the crime, and then promulgated the "Crime has been edicted". Confess your sins.

After these things were done, Chongzhen gritted his teeth and hated the peasant army, and he ordered Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng to give Shang Fang a sword, asking them to defeat the thieves. If anyone is unfavorable and timid, he can cut first and then play.

After this murderous decree was delivered to the hands of the two, Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng were also shuddering, originally they fought with the peasant army, although they won a lot of battles, but they could not eliminate the main force of the peasant army, at this time Gao Yingxiang and others dug the ancestral grave of the Zhu family, this sin is bigger than the sky, the two of them are always worried, and they feel that going to prison is light, and they may have to lose their heads.

Chongzhen's holy decree relieved them, the court just condemned the highest magistrate of Fengyang, and opened up to them, in fact, the two of them also knew that this was Chongzhen's move that there was no way, after all, if they killed them, who else could pacify the thieves.

But they know better that Chongzhen's anger has rushed to the clouds, and if they don't annihilate the peasant army, fight a few big victories, and eliminate Gao Yingxiang, I'm afraid that in the end, they still won't end well. So the two of them also risked their capital, gambled their lives, led their men, and pounced on Fengyang with great momentum.

Several of these generals, Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Zu Kuan and others, were all full of strength and wanted to fight to the death with the peasant army. In order to repay Chongzhen's grace of not killing.

Since conquering Fengyang and burning the imperial tomb, Li Yan felt that the court should make a big move, and sure enough, within a few days, the scout reported to Gao Yingxiang, and the official army had been divided into multiple roads, pressing up to Fengyang, among which Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, Zu Kuan and other cavalry generals ran 200 miles a day, threatening not to stand with the peasant army.

At the critical juncture, Gao Yingxiang discussed countermeasures with Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Yan and others. Li Zicheng advocated that he should not be able to be defeated, and that he should immediately divide his troops, leave Fengyang, turn back to Henan, and fight on the move, so as to exhaust the officers and soldiers.

Li Yan also agreed with this idea. When dividing the troops, Li Zicheng proposed that he should be a separate army, as a suspicious soldier, go north to Henan, and lead Hong Chengchou away, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong together, with more troops, can fight with Lu Xiangsheng a dozen, it is better to win, and if you can't win, you will go southwest to Huguang.

At this time, Li Zicheng in Fengyang for a few days, in addition to burning the imperial tomb, did not harm the people, but recruited troops and horses, expand strength, because of his good military discipline, the people are willing to defect, in just a few days, Li Zicheng's men and horses reached more than 30,000 people.

Li Yan still followed Gao Yingxiang's actions, and the next day, the two sides divided their troops, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong led a large group of men and horses, marching west to meet Lu Xiangsheng.

Lu Xiangsheng has been fighting against the peasant army for a while, and he has famous generals like Sun Chuanting and Zu Kuan, as well as strategists like Fan Ju, who are very handy in fighting, and have eliminated several peasant army armies in Henan in a row, and his strength has also developed.

These small groups of peasant troops surrendered a lot in the battle with Lu Xiangsheng, and Lu Xiangsheng treated these people like his own soldiers, and never mistreated them, so these surrendered people were very grateful, and they swore to be loyal to the court and Lord Lu.

Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng has more and more people and horses, and his strength is getting stronger and stronger.

Since receiving the holy decree, Lu Xiangsheng did not delay at all, and rushed to Fengyang in the starry night, just at this time Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong also came west from Fengyang, and the two sides set up a battlefield in the Shouxian area.

Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have about 100,000 people, and Lu Xiangsheng also has more than 70,000 people, and the momentum is very strong.

After both sides have set up their camps, prepare for a decisive battle. Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong because they had just broken through Fengyang and dug the ancestral grave of the Zhu family, the world was shaken, and the prestige of the two spread to the rivers and lakes.

That night, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Yan discussed strategies against the enemy.

Gao Zhang and the others advocated a decisive battle in the battle formation, and Li Yan gave them an idea, at the same time as the decisive battle in front, send a strange army to go around behind the enemy and sneak attack the official army. The two agreed, and Gao Yingxiang decided to let his fierce general Huang Long lead 10,000 horses to attack the official army.

But after Li Yan returned to his camp, he found the Red Lady and Xiaoqing, and said to them: "Tomorrow's decisive battle, the peasant army must not be the opponent of the official army, you must prepare early, as light as possible, and tell the more than 100 cavalry to do the same." ”

Xiaoqing said: "Shall we take advantage of the chaos to escape?" ”

Li Yan said: "Exactly, if the peasant army wins the battle, we can't escape, if it is defeated, it is our opportunity." In the midst of the rout, attention to us will be reduced. That's the opportunity. ”

The red lady said: "But we are caught between the official army and the peasant army, and it is not easy to escape." ”

Li Yan smiled: "I know, so there must be foreign aid." ”

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