In the middle of November of the eighth year of Chongzhen, a group of rogues named "Zhao Ying" suddenly arose in Sichuan. Since the first break of the Qipan Pass in late September, this stream of Kou has even pulled out the walled city, and even Jianzhou, an important town in northern Sichuan, has fallen into its hands for a time. The guerrilla Luo Wenyuan also fought unfavorably, and he retired to Tieshan Pass, but he only begged for help.

In addition, a few days ago, Cangxi fell, and Shen Guofu, the county magistrate, was martyred, and Wang Weizhang of Sichuan Fu could no longer sit still. He was shocked and frightened, and was shocked that this "Zhao Ying" had never been famous before, but it had sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and suddenly came out of the blue, and its combat effectiveness was by no means comparable to that of a thief; I am afraid that the current provincial officials and armies are in a favorable situation, but this "Zhao Ying" in Sichuan under his own rule is thriving and dominates northern Sichuan, if it is not eliminated in time, I am afraid that the court will be angry, and it will be difficult to protect the black gauze hat on his head.

Under his order, Hou Liangzhu, the commander-in-chief of Sichuan, returned to Sichuan from southern Shaanxi and led 4,000 men south from Micang Road; Sichuan's deputy commander-in-chief, Zhang Ling, the town guard of northern Sichuan, led 3,500 people into Jiangyou; 1,700 guerrilla Shen Yinglong to Zhaohua; At the same time, he also sent Zhu Tingyi to lead the pacesetter 2,000 Tun Mianzhou, patrol Chen Tingmo, Sichuan South Soldier Beidao, Liu Shilian sent Xuzhou, Mahu Erfu 3,000 soldiers into Pengxi; Luo Wenyuan continued to defend the Jialing River, and the guerrilla Luo Wanxiang attracted 1,000 reinforcements. And Zhang Shiyu, Yu Zicheng, Cao Zhiyao, Wang Guangqi and several other troops were stationed along both sides of the Fujiang River. Probably Luo Wenyuan, Luo Wanxiang, and Zhang Shiyu respectively controlled the Jianghe Jinyao to prevent the Zhao camp from infiltrating the north and west again, and at the same time, Hou Liangzhu, Zhang Ling, Shen Yinglong, Zhu Tingyi, and Liu Shilian were used to encircle and suppress the center from the northwest, northeast, and southwest, intending to eradicate the Zhao camp in one fell swoop.

Regarding the actions of the official army, Zhao Dangshi thought of it, and he didn't expect it. thought that if he lost the official army in a row, sooner or later he would attract the attention of the other party; What I didn't expect was that Wang Weizhang's reaction would be so fierce, and after a rough calculation, nearly 20,000 officers and troops were gradually approaching, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

The season is close to a light snow, and the situation is also a sharp drop in temperature, the new here and there are a few light rains, the rain is not heavy, but the cold is very stinging, many soldiers in the Zhao camp are infected with the wind cold because of the warmth, even Hao Shaoqi, who has always been strong, began to twitch his nose.

Zhao Dangshi took into account the problem of harsh winter before entering Sichuan. In fact, the low temperature at the end of the Ming Dynasty can already be seen in July and August, so whether it is in the eighth team or after entering Sichuan, Zhao Ying has always paid attention to the collection of winter clothes. After the breakthrough of Cangxi, the winter clothes, fat jackets, hats and boots and other cold materials stored in the battalion can basically meet the needs of the 2,000 people in the Zhao camp. As for Bai Jiaolong and the four or five thousand people under Liu Weiming, Zhao Dangshi didn't ask too much. There are too many people in Bai and Liu, and Zhao Ying himself is overstretched, so how can he have the spare energy to take care of it. What's more, these two battalions have been in the middle of the river for a long time, and they have also endured a few cold winters, so they have their own set of methods to deal with it; Although Bai and Liu had actually been brought under the control of Zhao Dangshi, the situation in northern Sichuan was changing rapidly, and there was not enough time to formally reorganize the two battalions, and the arrangements for the two leaders were also undecided. Therefore, before that, the three battalions were nominally acting jointly, and the specific affairs were handled internally.

Bai Jiaolong and Liu Weiming were obedient before, but they still had twice the strength of Zhao Ying, regardless of their combat effectiveness, in today's crisis-ridden situation, they must not tolerate the transformation of elbows and armpits. The complete integration of the two battalions was imperative. However, how to arrange the two battalions of soldiers and horses, how to settle the two leaders, and whether it will arouse the dissatisfaction of the two is unknown, and it is tricky to think about it.

Not to mention, the main contradiction now still comes from the official army. The official army in northern Sichuan is about to gather, Hou Liangzhu, Zhang Ling and others are all generals in Sichuan, once the encirclement network is formed, head-on confrontation, Zhao Ying is more auspicious. In addition, there is another point that cannot be ignored, that is, rain and snow.

The land of Sichuan is surrounded by many mountains, the cold air is blocked by high mountains, and the plain dam in the middle is warm and humid, far less cold than the north, so it is known as the country of abundance. However, in the past ten years, the climate has been abnormal, the temperature has dropped sharply, and it has snowed almost every year, and even summer snow has fallen in May of the third year of the Apocalypse.

According to this trend, there is no reason why there will be heavy snow this year. Zhao Dangshi doesn't know much about meteorology, but he still has general common sense, and he estimates that as soon as the light snow season passes, the wind and snow will come.

His concern was not so much the cold, but the snow blocking the road.

The mountain road in northern Sichuan is already narrow, and if there is heavy snow to block it, it is almost impossible to move an inch. Zhao Dangshi's command was not one or two people, but an army of thousands of people, once the front and rear congestion would cause a stagnation of several miles, in this case, the officers and troops could have plenty of time to arrive at the blocking positions and even take advantage of the moment when the Zhao camp could not take care of each other to launch an attack.

The movements of the officers and troops in various places were constantly brought back to Dahushan by scouts. In addition, the sky has been dark for a few days, and there is a faint state of rain and snow, and the discussion of the next action can no longer be delayed.

The meeting place is in the mystical view of the mountain castle of Dahu. Hou Dagui and others followed, and they basically knew the current grim situation. Everyone lost the noise and laughter of the old meeting, and without exception, everyone's face was gloomy.

Just after a little relief, most of the officers and troops came rushing again, and no one was happy. Everyone is an iron man who has traveled in the sea of corpses and blood, but at this time, they can't help but be a little powerless. Wang Weizhang made up his mind this time, and it is very rare for such a large-scale mobilization of provincial officials in central Sichuan. Zhao Ying was reluctant to beat Luo Shangwen, let alone Hou Liangzhu and Zhang Ling. The belligerent is like Hou Dagui, and he has no confidence to talk about it.

Since the retreat was a well-known choice, the topic of the meeting naturally shifted to the route of the retreat.

Zhao Dangshi said a few jokes, Yang Chengfu lost no time in reciting a few meat jokes, and the atmosphere of the meeting gradually eased. A soldier brought a roll of paper-like things and spread it out on the table, but it was a map hand-drawn by Zhao Dangshi himself. This map is very simple, but it is also a synthesis of his many inquiries and his own memory, and the approximate location is still clear at a glance.

Only some important mountains and rivers of Chengguan are indicated on the map, so illiterate people such as Hou Dagui and Hao Shaoqi can also understand it after listening to the introduction twice.

Retreat, in which direction to retreat, where to retreat, who is the front, who is to break the rear, and so on, cannot be ignored. Zhao Dangshi is not a junior brother on the battlefield, and he knows the importance of retreating organization. One negligence could turn the whole army from retreat to rout.

According to the distribution of the officers and troops, there were only two places to go: to the south into Chongqing or east to Kuizhou.

This time, everyone had no objections, and they all believed that going to Kuizhou was the only way out. As for why Chongqing was abandoned, there are three reasons: First, when you go to Kuizhou, as long as you cross the Qujiang River and reach Wanxian, there is no big river to block it. The soldiers are fast, and the Zhao battalion is fighting away, and it must not take any more time to cross the river. In contrast, Chongqing, which controls the waters of Sichuan and Shu, and the upper reaches of the Qu and Tang Dynasties, is obviously not suitable for maneuvering. Second, Chongqing is an important town in Sichuan, known as "the thoroughfare of eastern Sichuan", the Ming court attaches great importance to this place, the Hongwu period commanded Dai Ding to build a stone wall of ten zhang high on the old site, twelve miles and six minutes of the week, repair every year in the future, the city gate is as many as seventeen, the garrison in the city is very numerous, the strongholds outside the city are dotted to defend the main city, it is by no means in a hurry to go down. As strong as Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui and other people entering Sichuan, they all avoided it. Zhao Dangshi will not be self-righteous enough to hit this south wall. Third, there is a Shi Yan Propaganda Department under the Chongqing Mansion, which makes Ma Xianglin loyal and courageous, and his white pole soldiers are even more famous all over the world. With Zhao Ying's current capital, he can't challenge this strong enemy head-on.

After obtaining the consent of the vast majority of the generals present, Zhao Dangshi began to formulate a retreat route.

From the Da Hou Mountain to the east into the Bazhou boundary, the mountains are continuous, there are many cottage passes, want to go over the mountain, it is tantamount to falling into the quagmire, not cost-effective and too dangerous. A better route is to go south into Shunqing Province, and then turn eastward to enter Kuizhou from the relatively flat terrain between Dazhou and Dazhu.

This plan was not thought up by Zhao Dangshi, but proposed by Wu Mingfeng. He has been imprisoned in a dark room in the city ever since he was captured alive at the foot of the mountain. At first, it was silent, the rice and water did not enter, and he was very proud to sacrifice his life for the country. After a few days, I couldn't hold on, so I relented and went to Zhao Ying.

Zhao Dangshi treated him like Xu Hui before, first he didn't give real power at all, closely monitored, and only acted as a staff officer by his side, as if he was not qualified to participate in this high-level military discussion, but considering that he was familiar with Sichuan affairs, he made an exception to let him come over. I don't want to really play a role.

In addition to these, he also swore that many of his brothers who had worshipped him at the many passes along the road would be able to surrender if he was allowed to speak. Zhao Dangshi would not believe his nonsense, and hung him aside. He was bored with himself, and he didn't dare to say anything more.

The general route was determined, and after a morning of planning and adding some details, everyone will go back to make preparations.

Zhao Dangshi left Hou Dagui and Xu Hui, and the three chatted for a while before they dispersed. walked back to Xuanmiaoguan, but found that Ma Zhang's was already waiting there.

"Zhao Ye!" She had been standing there listlessly - the mountain wind was cold, and although she had a light fur to protect herself, she still couldn't help but shiver despite her delicate physique, and her ears and nose were red. But as soon as he saw Zhao Dangshi, he was immediately rejuvenated.

"Why is Madam standing here, I'm afraid I'm going to be blown by the wind!" Zhao Dangshi subconsciously took two steps and tore off the green robe to put it on her.

Ma Zhang leaned on Zhao Dangshi's chest with satisfaction, raised his little face, and looked straight at him with clear eyes, as if he was disgusted: "Zhao Ye forgot, he talked to the slave family about the jacket yesterday." No, the slave family didn't sleep all night, drove it out, and sent it over. ”

Zhao Dangshi followed her line of sight and saw that he was holding a jacket tightly in his arms. He shook his head, tightened her robe, turned his head and asked the soldier on duty, "How long has Madame been here?" ”

The soldier thought for a moment and said, "Not long after Mr. Qian's front foot walked, the lady's back foot came. ”

Zhao Dangshi was stunned, in this way, she was afraid that she would not be able to wait here for an hour. Just look at the soldiers on duty, and the two groups take turns to rest every half an hour, this Ma Zhang's slender body can persist in the cold wind for a long time, which shows the tenacity of his heart.

Feelings of pity came up, and Zhao Dangshi reproached: "You can't wait for a stone that can't move, why do you watch your lady get frozen here?" ”

Unexpectedly, the soldier raised his head and said loudly: "The villain's duty is to guard the Taoist temple, and he doesn't dare to move a step without an order." ”

Looking at his simple and serious expression, Zhao Dangshi couldn't cry or laugh. Unexpectedly, the tired discipline training showed the effect at this moment. He no longer blamed the soldier, and turned to Ma Zhang and said, "It's windy outside, please ask Mrs. Guan to speak inside." ”

Zhao Dangshi's reprimand of the soldiers, Ma Zhang saw it in his eyes, and secretly rejoiced in his heart, secretly glad that his efforts at this hour were not in vain. Under this performance and the double-sided attack of the jacket made by himself "staying up late", even if he Zhao Dangshi is hard-hearted, he has to melt one or two.

In fact, Zhao Dangshi did have a different opinion of her. originally thought that she was just standing out, and the rest of the young ladies and ladies were not bad, at most she was a little smart, and she was not very commendable, but the current scene was linked to the first time she met in the dark room, and Zhao Dangshi gradually felt that this woman actually had another side of perseverance.

When he arrived at the temple, he brought two large braziers to the left and right, and the two of them suddenly warmed up, and Zhao Dangshi brought a small charcoal stove to Ma Zhang's family, and Ma Zhang's face turned ruddy.

Ma Zhang was in a hurry to hand over the jacket, but Zhao Dangshi couldn't bear to brush her with a piece of kindness, so he took it and promised to put it on the next day. The two chatted for a few words, and Ma Zhang suddenly said: "The slave's family name is Zhang, and his name is Miaobai, if Zhao Ye doesn't dislike it, he can call Bai'er like a father, and he doesn't need to be called 'Mrs.', it seems to be raw." ”

"This ......" Zhao Dangshi didn't expect it. The first thing he thought of was not whether he should be called that way, but the content of the letter between Ma Gan and Luo Shangwen, did she already know?

It stands to reason that this letter has been confiscated since it was confiscated, and the contents of it are only known to Zhao Dangshi, Xu and Hou, and it has been hidden in his own room. Thinking about it, Xu and Hou are not the kind of people who are bored with gossip, and it is impossible for Ma Zhang to know the content of the letter.

Could it be that this woman guessed Ma Gan's attitude like she guessed last time she was not an official soldier? If it is true, this acumen is completely beyond my imagination. Zhao Dangshi was stunned, he felt a little itchy on the top of his head, and then looked at Ma Zhang, but saw her smiling at him.