On the night he returned from Hanging Urn Mountain, Zhao Dangshi found Guo Ruke and Guang Wenlu and told them to suspend the siege of the city.

Guang Wenlu thought that Zhao Dangshi was not satisfied with the progress of the deployment of his army, and hurriedly said: "Lord, you only need to give your subordinates half a day, and before noon tomorrow, you will definitely arrange all the positions properly." ”

Zhao Dangshi shook his head and said, "No hurry." ”

Guang Wenlu was puzzled, Guo Ruke saw some clues, and asked: "Is the temporary adjustment related to the trip to Hanging Urn Mountain?" ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded with a calm face and said, "Li Chuang is dead." ”

"Dead?" Guo Ruke and Guang Wenlu looked at each other and were stunned, "How, how could it be ......" They were full of ambition to break through the Taiyuan Mansion City and capture Li Zicheng alive to compete for this great merit, how could they expect that there would be such a variable.

"Hanging Urn Mountain and I will meet the dark line of Lao Pang scattered in the city. According to the dark line, Li Chuang was depressed and drunk excessively under repeated defeats, thinking that the depression in his chest and the injury of alcohol went hand in hand, and he died violently in the Jin Wangfu in the city yesterday evening. The thieves and generals were in turmoil and did not mourn. But I have lost my backbone, and some of them have already intended to surrender to my Daming. ”

"Who?"

"Let's not care about it, there is an undercurrent in the city at present, and we will wait for two days to attack the city and wait and see what happens." Zhao Dangshi said solemnly.

Although Li Zicheng promised in front of him to escape into the empty door and never ask about the world, but after so many years of deception, for the sake of prudence, Zhao Dangshi would not just say it to death.

Guo Ruke and Guang Wenlu looked at each other and nodded: "I respectfully obey the lord's order." ”

The next day, all the positions of the Ming army were properly arranged, but the golden drums sounded in unison and the battle flag waved, although there was a monstrous momentum, but the offensive was never really launched. The thunder was heavy and the rain was small for a whole day, and there was no movement outside the city, nor was there any movement inside the city. In the evening, Guo Ruke followed Zhao Dangshi to eat, and complained while eating: "Lord, the ancients said, 'One drum, then decline, three and exhaustion', our army set up a troupe to sing all day today, and it was lively, but the sharpness gradually disappeared." If we do not hurry up the siege tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I am afraid that the morale will fall and it will be unfavorable to the battle. ”

Zhao Dangshi didn't answer, and Guang Wenlu also said: "Could it be that the thief is cunning and wants to use Li Chuang's death as a delaying tactic?" ”

Guo Ruke said: "It's very likely, the cunning rabbit has three holes, and I'm afraid there are no good birds in the arms of the thief." ”

Zhao Dangshi listened to the two of them on the left and right, waved his hand and interrupted: "Don't say more, wait another day." ”

When Guo Ruke and Guang Wenlu heard this, they didn't dare to say any more, and obediently bowed their heads to eat.

After another day, the rain gradually stopped, and there was no movement in Taiyuan City. Peng Guanghuo, an officer in the Qihun camp, hurriedly ran to Guo Ruke and asked: "Chief, the rain is light, it is a good time to fire the cannon, if you miss this time, if the rain turns heavy again, I don't know when it will stop." ”

Guo Ruke was lying on the stone with a grass in his mouth and closed his eyes to recuperate, without opening his eyes, and said lazily: "Don't worry." ”

"Not in a hurry?" Peng Guang was really anxious.

"The original words of the lord's military order are the words 'not in a hurry'." Guo Ruke raised his hand and motioned for Peng Guang to retreat.

Peng Guang looked at Guo Ruke, who was calm, and stopped talking, but he didn't want to leave, so he stood beside Guo Ruke and stared dryly.

After a while, suddenly there was a loud bang from the direction of the city head as if a thunderstorm had landed. Guo Ruke was taken aback, and the whole person rolled down from the stone and fell into the mud, his mouth full of muddy water.

"What's going on?" Guo Ruke wiped his face with mud and asked, "Who the hell dares to fire a cannon without a military order!" ”

Peng Guang was also surprised, at a loss. At this moment, Zhou Jin, the commander of the Zhenxiao battalion, was flying, and said closely: "Chief, there has been a change in the city, and the city has fired artillery." ”

"Didn't our army fire the artillery?" Peng Guang was stunned.

Guo Ruke pulled out his knife and said: "I just said that the thief was treacherous and slippery, and he didn't have a good heart." ”

Seeing this, Zhou Jin hurriedly held down Guo Ruke's knife and said: "The manager is not worried, the thief is not coming to fight, it seems to be surrendering." The only cannon is a hollow horn gun. ”

"You want to descend?" Guo Ruke looked in the direction of the head of the city in confusion, and sure enough, he saw that in an instant, the flags of the Dashun army at the head of the city were withdrawn, and a lot of white flags were planted along the wall battlements, and many soldiers of the Shun army threw down various weapons and armor from above to show that the battle was stopped.

Still waiting, the Qingtong battalion commander Kong Quanbin rode to. Guo Ruke saw that the faces of the knights behind him were unfamiliar, and he was waiting to be inquired, Kong Quanbin said first: "The defenders of Taiyuan Mansion have surrendered, and now there are Li Chuang's generals in the city, led by Li Jin, Niu Jinxing, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, etc., hoping to abandon the darkness and regain the opportunity to serve the Ming Dynasty." ”

When Guo Ruke heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, carried the armor belt, and said happily: "This is very good." ”

On the same day, the Shun army of Taiyuan Fucheng moved the city to annex the city, the Ming army entered the city, and the city and outside the city were thunderous.

Li Guo and other generals of the Shun army were all insiders of Zhao Dangshi's meeting with Li Zicheng, and when they saw Zhao Dangshi, they only said that Li Zicheng died suddenly, and all the soldiers were grateful for the kindness of the Ming army in Xi'an Fucheng without harming their relatives, and they all had the idea of returning to the Ming Dynasty to serve their lives to atone for their sins. Of course, Zhao Dangshi pushed the boat down the river and greeted him with open arms, but he found an opportunity to ask Li Guo in private: "Where is King Chuang?" ”

"Yesterday evening, I went out of the city from the trail and went to Wutai Mountain. Our army has been in Shanxi for a long time, and there is no offense with the Wutai Mountain temple Qiu, and the presiding elder there promised to take in King Chuang's monk. ”

Zhao Dangshi sighed and didn't speak.

"The prince of Wanwang will not ask about the king from now on, and we will repay him with death." Li Guo's eyes were red and swollen like peaches, and his words and deeds were sincere, and it could be seen that as a heavy general of the Shun army, in just a few days, it could be said that he had spent as many years.

"Deserve it." Zhao Dangshi nodded resolutely.

The total number of soldiers surrendered by the Shun army in the city was nearly 30,000, but as Li Zicheng revealed, there were not many soldiers who could fight. Zhao Dangshi prepared to select 8,000 elite horse troops from among them, led by Li Guo, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, Gao Yigong, etc., to supplement the army. In addition, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, etc. were officially established as military advisers and military counselors. The rest of the old generals of Dashun were either sent back to Fanjing to be placed in the center, or sent to Shanxi to lead the yamen to be responsible for the suppression of the place.

From the Tang newspaper sent by Hou Dagui before, Zhao Dangshi knew that the situation in northern Shanxi was treacherous and very delicate, so he did not plan to stay in Taiyuan Fucheng for too long, and it was expected that in mid-August, when the army was reorganized, the order in Jinzhong was slightly stabilized, and the grain line stretching from Shaanxi, Henan and other places was opened, he would continue to go north.

Zhao Dangshi's military deployment will leave 20,000 troops in Shanxi to help Shanxi lead the establishment of yamen, and cooperate with it to consolidate the situation.

Although the Shun army has been wiped out since then, Shanxi has been in chaos since the Mingshun melee in the past two months, and the forces from all walks of life have joined forces with the bandits and the rogue soldiers, and they have risen up to occupy the king. In the territory of Guangtaiyuan Prefecture, there are Tukou Yan Rulong in Yangqu County, Gao Jiuying in Pinglan County, Liang Ziyu in Jiaocheng County, and Li Jun in Hequ County.

Guang Wenlu once had experience in maintaining stability in Henan, so it was only fitting to hand over the errand of sitting in Shanxi to him. In addition, Shanxi is close to the front line, and the training meetings of various provincial regiments will be sent one after another, and he needs to be in the center to coordinate as a reserve moment support.

The army that went north was mainly led by Zhao Dangshi and Guo Ruke. Among them, Zhao Dangshi's army absorbed part of the Shun army, a total of 50,000 people, and will take the north road to Datong Mansion, the purpose is to stabilize the northern Jin army led by Jiang Huang first; After Guo Ruke's army absorbed part of the Shun army, a total of 20,000 people, he would part ways with Zhao Dangshi's army in Zhenwuwei in Daizhou. Zhao Dangshi's army passed through Yanmen Pass and crossed Xiawu Mountain to Datong Mansion City in the north, while Guo Ruke's army passed through the Pingxing Pass of Taixi Mountain at the eastern end of Fanzhi County along the southern foot of Xiawu Mountain, and entered the Lingqiu, Guangling, and Ulzhou areas in the east of Datong Mansion, looking for Hou Dagui's army, which had been transferred to this place earlier, so as to form a forward.

On the seventh day of August, the Ming army of Taiyuan Prefecture was still in full swing to make preparations before the war, and the sky over the town of Datong Mansion was still rainy and gloomy, and the sky was gray.

Although the Ming army, which was intercepted by the Qing army, was caught off guard and the array was scattered, the soldiers were well-trained after all, and they quickly retreated under the command of officers from all sides. Han Gon, Ma Guangchun, Zhou Yuji, Lu Yue, He Renji and other troops arrived at the Zhenyu Acropolis west of Huai'anwei one after another, and soon after, the Wuqi Battalion, which received the news, was also led by Bai Wang and Zhang Xianbi, a Chinese officer.

Zhenyuwei and Tianchengwei are governed by the same city, and are located at the junction of Xuanfu and Datong, so compared with other acropolis, the scale of the Zhenyu Acropolis is relatively large, and the city wall is more solid.

Han Gon and other Ming soldiers who gathered on the Acropolis strengthened the city defenses while sending rangers to explore the situation in Xuanfu. Judging from the available information, it was the army led by Prince Azig of the Qing Dynasty who suddenly appeared, and the number was roughly estimated to be in the size of twenty or thirty thousand people. Although the Ming army was defeated in the Huai'an Acropolis, the Qing army did not pursue and fight fiercely, and only pursued a little and then returned to attack the Huai'an Acropolis. Rao is like this, Han Gon and the others' hearts are still tense and abnormal.

"Azig is a famous king of the Tartars, brave and extraordinary, not only in Liaodong and my Ming Dynasty as an enemy, but also led the army to break the border wall several times to disturb my Ming hinterland. In the early years of the battle of Songshan Fort, my Ming Dynasty took advantage of the battalion step by step, and it was also this Azig raid on Tashan, taking advantage of the ebb and flow of the tide to cross the sea in the shallows to seize the Bijia Mountain and my Ming grain station, which caused my Ming Dynasty to fall short and be defeated. His coming here shows the importance that the Tartars attached to the war in the northern Jin Dynasty. He Renji's head was covered with dirt, and he picked the mud with both hands, and said hatefully.

Ma Guangchun said: "There was no news before Azig came here, so it can be seen that he must have been thinking about it for a long time. He blocked our army from going north and captured Huai'anwei because he wanted to cut off the connection between our army and General Hou's army. ”

Han Gon clenched his fists and sighed: "Chief Hou is alone in the army, if there is no reinforcement brigade, its situation is dangerous. ”

Ma Guangchun shook his head and said: "What's the danger, Azig is okay, I'm afraid that the siege of Chaigou Fort is the incense bait set by the Tartars, and Wu Sangui is responsible for pulling the lead of this incense bait." ”

Han Gon's body shook and said, "What do you mean, this is a trap laid by Tartar and Wu Sangui together?" ”

Ma Guangchun condensed his face and said: "It is very possible that the Tartar envoy can annihilate the two armies of Sun Chuanting and General Hou without much effort, and then take advantage of the situation to advance into Datong. ”

Zhou Yuji smashed his fist on the table and shouted: "No, we have to send troops quickly to support Manager Hou!" ”

Ma Guangchun said: "I'm afraid it's too late." He added, "Now that our army has only five or six thousand people, and Huai'anwei Tartars are more than 20,000, they forcibly break in, not only can they not save General Manager Hou, but they also have to put us in." ”

Zhou Yuji said: "Then what should I do, I can't see if the Tartar succeeds?" ”

Ma Guangchun said solemnly: "Don't say it, we can't catch it, and Manager Hou is really out of reach." He continued, "Not only Mr. Hou, but we are afraid that it will be difficult for us to protect ourselves from crossing the river." ”

Lu Yue echoed: "What Lao Ma said is that there are Tartars in front and Jiang Hao in the back, we are caught in the middle, and the situation is not good." ”

"Jiang Xuan......" Zhou Yuji thought thoughtfully, and sat back with his butt that had just been pouted.

"Manager Hou is right to let us leave Datong Mansion without all the camps, not only can we gather strength, but we will not be taken advantage of by Xiaoxiao. Jiang Huang only has the interests of his Datong Mansion in his eyes, and he can't be convinced. He is full of my Ming today, and he can't guarantee that Azig will enter Datong tomorrow, so I can't stop calling for it. Ma Guangchun said.

"Tartar is right in front of you, Jiang Hao can't be trusted, what else can we do, can we just sit here and wait to die?" Han Gon's breath was short, and there was a look of anger on his face.

"Commanders, can you allow Xiaosheng to say a few words?"

At this moment, a soft and weak voice came, which was particularly special in the loud and proud words of a group of officers.

"Oh, Mr. Mu, you're here." Han Gon followed the prestige and beckoned.

The one who spoke there was Mu Gongchun, the military advisor of the army, and he and Yan Licheng and other staff members did not follow Hou Dagui to save Chaigou Fort, but stayed in the Wuqi camp. Originally, in the previous military discussions, he was around Hou Dagui, the head of the Yanli Division, but now that Hou Dagui is not there, the situation is critical, and all the officers are impetuous, and they actually forgot about him for a while.

Mu Gongchun held his head high and gently moved to the top, his white robe as bright as a lotus flower in the black armor of the officers.

"If you have any opinions, sir, I will listen to you."

Hou Dagui's army fought from Henan to Shanxi, along the way Mu Gongchun had many strange tricks, several times to save the army in the turmoil, the whole army from Hou Dagui down, to Mu Gongchun has long lost the initial contempt, all of them are very respectful.

"In my opinion, at this moment, it is really the autumn of our army's survival, and everything must be done carefully, otherwise if you are not careful, you will inevitably pull the whole army into the abyss, and there will be no return." Mu Gongchun shook his head and said, "Our army is like walking a tightrope, although it is between square inches, it needs to be handled cautiously in order to be perfect." ”

Han Gon nodded and said, "What Mr. said is true. ”

Mu Gongchun stretched out four fingers and said: "Xiao Sheng thought of four points, if we can achieve these four points, our army may not be able to find a glimmer of life in the turbulence." ”