After Zhang Xianzhong was beheaded, the head was treated with lime wrapping, and the fast horse was sent to Zhao Dangshi for inspection day and night. The Western Army is declining, and Zhang Xianzhong's death was expected by Zhao Dangshi. Because of his acquaintance with Zhang Xianzhong, Zhao Dangshi took a cursory look at the head and knew that it was Zhang Xianzhong himself, so he waved his hand and took him down and transferred it to Beijing. In addition, including the establishment of a new horse military camp and the appointment of Lü Yue as the commander and the handling of captured generals, Zhao Dangshi instructed all the things that Wang Laixing intended.

Compared with Zhang Xianzhong, who has already decided to lose, Zhao Dangshi's current attention is on northern Sichuan.

Almost at the same time as Wang Laixing led the army south, Zhao Dangshi also divided his troops into three routes to the north to attack.

The Left Route Army, led by Han Gon and Ma Guangchun, with a total of 1,500 cavalry, went out of the west of Chengdu Fucheng, entered the mountains from Guan County, followed the Wenjiang River Basin, passed through Wenchuan County, Weizhou, Maozhou, and Jingzhou Division and turned into Qushan Pass. The journey from Wenchuan County to Jingzhou Division was relatively smooth, but starting from Jingzhou Division, I didn't want to suddenly encounter the dilemma of a rockslide blocking the road.

Most of the roads in the mountains are valleys, which are already narrow and difficult to walk, and now there are rocks blocking the road, and it is difficult to march. Han Gon approached the magistrates of the Jingzhou Division and asked them to gather the people and work day and night to clear the obstacles. However, the magistrate inspected and reported that he would wait for the road to be clear and feasible, and the repairers estimated that it would take at least three days, which was much beyond Han Gon's acceptance.

It was at the moment of dilemma that Ma Guangchun discovered the whereabouts of a group of caravans nearby.

The Qiang and Han in the mountainous area of the west of Chengdu Prefecture are mixed, living next to each other, and then stretching to the west of the endless snow-capped mountains and high ridges are the distribution places of the Wusi Tibetan tribes. Due to the topography and climate, the tribes of Wusizang ate more meat and less vegetables, so there was a great demand for tea from the Han region, and the corresponding trade came into being. The Ming Dynasty inherited the system of tea and horse exchange since the Song and Yuan dynasties, and traded with the Wusi-Tibetan tribe with official merchants and sellers of official tea, one for military services to obtain strategic materials such as war horses, and the other for political services to balance the various tribes, such a strategy is not only in the southwest, but also in the border areas of Jiubian and Liaodong.

Merchants who had obtained the government's license to trade with each other usually formed groups to take care of each other in order to deal with emergencies encountered while traveling through the barbaric mountains, transporting tea, porcelain, silk, etc. from the Han land into Wusizang, bartering with the tribesmen for horses, furs, gold and silver, herbs, and other goods, and then returning to the Han land to sell. After a trip, although there is little severe wind, frost, rain and snow, but the profit is quite rich. The path they took was named after the goods they mainly traded, known as the "Tea Horse Road".

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the government's jurisdiction over the tea and horse markets was relaxed, and many private businessmen bought the government and took the opportunity to pull up a team to do business. And because they have escaped the tea and horse division and the state and county superintendents, they do not have to go through the processes of special canons, warehouse scales, tooth people, etc., so they can operate with greater profit margins.

Of course, even if you can do business under the nose of the government, it is not a legitimate business after all. It is because most of the private businessmen will not take the official business road, but take the hidden dirt road by themselves, which can not only hide people's eyes and ears, but also pay less checkpoint miscellaneous taxes.

There are two sides to everything, and taking the dirt road is more profitable, but it also increases the risk. In the land where the Qiang and Han people live together, the people are fierce and plundering, and the thieves and horse bandits who rob the road by the mountains are even more everywhere, and the first issue to be considered by private businessmen to ensure their interests and reduce risks is to choose a road that is easy to walk and has few strong people.

Ma Guangchun found the leader of the caravan and chatted for a while, and learned that their caravan was a short-distance transaction, and he had been going back and forth between the Qiang people gathering place in Long'an Mansion and Chengdu Mansion for nearly 20 years, and he was very familiar with the large and small roads in Long'an Mansion and Chengdu Mansion. After asking again, I learned from them that Jingzhou Division did have other roads to go around Qushan Pass.

Upon learning of this important information, Han Gon and Ma Guangchun immediately made a decision, asked the caravan to lead the way for the guide, took the wrong path, forced the night, and returned to the main road not far from Qushan Pass. In this way, the time of the original plan was not delayed, and after careful calculation, it was advanced by half a day.

Qushanguan is further southeast, out of the mountain pass is Jiangyou County, Jiangyou County has some soldiers and horses of Deng Ruoyu garrisoned, but the number is not much. Han Gon and Ma Guangchun died down, sneaked across the mountain pass at night, waited for dawn, and attacked the county seat of Jiangyou County that was neglected to defend with lightning speed.

When the news of the fall of Jiangyou County reached the ears of Deng Ruoyu in Mianzhou, Zhao Dangshi had also led 10,000 soldiers of the Middle Route Army to the city. Heavy troops lined up around the city, and the artillery fired in unison, and the guns rang out continuously, exerting a great sense of oppression on the defenders in the city.

Deng Ruoyu originally expected that Hou Tianxi, who was stationed in Tongchuan Prefecture and was stationed in Tongchuan Prefecture, would send troops to rescue his army, but the fact was that Zhang Yingyuan and Wang Yuncheng, the right army of Zhao Ying, had already transferred to Tongchuan Prefecture and conquered the state city of Tongchuan Prefecture. The state city of Tongchuan Prefecture is in the upper reaches of Shehong County, where Hou Tianxi's main force is located, even though Hou Tianxi controls Shehong County, which can be called the water and land hub in Tongchuan Prefecture, it is completely unrealistic to break through the obstacles and rescue for a while.

Deng Ruoyu was frightened by the enemy on his back and was afraid of being surrounded by Zhao Ying's soldiers and horses, so he led his army to escape from the gap in the north gate deliberately left by Zhao Dangshi. Zhao Dangshi was old-fashioned, and did not immediately pursue, but let Deng Ruoyu's troops run out of ten miles, as expected, Deng Ruoyu's department, which had no order, was soon scattered, and Zhao Dangshi ordered Zhou Yuji to pursue with the Changning battalion horse army.

At the same time, Han Gon and Ma Guangchun also led the horse army from the north to attack, Deng Ruoyu's troops were defeated, and they could not run Zhao Ying's horse army, a whole day and night, Deng Ruoyu's 2,000 soldiers were all annihilated, Deng Ruoyu himself was captured alive, the war progressed so fast that the Longfu Emperor of Zitong County, who wanted to rush to the aid of Mianzhou, even just sent troops out of the city.

Mianzhou, as the throat leading to northern Sichuan, was breached, and the Longfu Imperial Department stationed in Zitong County and the Hou Tianxi Department stationed in Shehong County were completely exposed in front of the Zhao Ying army. Emperor Long Fuhuang only had 2,500 people, plus Hou Tianxi's 1,500 people, but only 4,000 people, and they fought separately, and there was basically no chance of victory in the face of the nearly 15,000 Zhao Ying army.

Emperor Long Fuhuang knew that Hou Tianxi could not count on it, and in order to protect himself, he decisively gave up Zitong County and retreated to Jianzhou. The abandoned Hou Tianxi led his troops to attack Zhang Yingyuan and Wang Yuncheng several times, but they were all repulsed. Zhao Dangshi finished reorganizing his troops and horses in Mianzhou, and immediately led the army south to attack Shehong County. Only one day, after breaking through the county seat, Hou Tianxi fought unyieldingly, and finally killed himself.

After taking Shehong County, Zhao Dangshi gathered all the troops and returned to Mianzhou. As a commander for many years, Zhao Dangshi believes that fighting a war requires rhythm, and blindly fighting fiercely and being eager for quick success can only achieve half the result. Just like now, the defense line of the southern section of the Northern Sichuan Army has been completely broken, and Mianzhou, Jiangyou County, Shehong County and other places are all under control.

There is no doubt that the main direction of attack in the next stage is Jianzhou. There are already 5,000 troops garrisoned by Zhu Hualong, and now the defense line at the southern end of the Northern Sichuan Army has collapsed, not only the Dragon Auxiliary Emperor has retreated, but Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan, who have been stranded in Baoning Mansion, will also leave for eight or nine times out of ten, and the Northern Sichuan Army in Jianzhou will also exceed 10,000 people. Considering the steepness and solidity of Jianzhou, Zhao Dangshi did not plan to advance, but decided to wait for Wang Lai to come and make plans before the army came, so it was more prudent.

For the sake of the rendezvous, Wang Laixing only brought a few guards and went north to meet Zhao Dangshi first. The two discussed that Zhao Dangshi would continue to go north, while Wang Laixing would sit in Sichuan, so the focus of the discussion was on the deployment of troops in the future.

At present, Zhao Dangshi's army has 14,000 people, and Wang Laixing's army plus the newly absorbed first battalion of the old Xiying Department has a total of 26,000 people. Zhao Dangshi asked Wang Laixing to allocate 20,000 people, but Wang Laixing refused, and the main scruples were the two armies of the Guizhou general Pi Xiong and the Banzhou town guard general Wang Xiang.

According to the latest military report, these two people have already marched into the territory of Chongqing Prefecture, with nearly 10,000 troops, and if only 6,000 people are left in Sichuan to deal with it, Wang Laixing feels that it is too little. Moreover, the situation in eastern and southern Sichuan has not yet been completely stabilized, and too few troops will lack control over the entire situation. Zhao Dangshi thought about it casually and knew that most of them were said by Qin Qigong and Wang Laixing, but it was indeed reasonable to think about it, and after thinking about it for a while, he promised Wang Laixing that he could keep more people, and only draw Ma Wannian, Santan and the newly established Ma Junying with a total of 11,000 horse steps.

The three brothers Tan Hong, Tan Wen, and Tan Yi don't need to be mentioned, and they all dream of following Zhao Dangshi to make contributions. Ma Wannian tasted the sweetness in this series of battles to exterminate the Western Army, and was unwilling to nest in a corner of Sichuan, and was determined to bring the once famous stone and white pole soldiers to reappear or even surpass the glory of the past. Zhao Dangshi, the Xinma military camp set up by collecting the old headquarters of the Western Army, gave a battalion name of "Loyalty" to encourage the officers and men of the Western Army who abandoned the secret and surrendered to the light to be loyal to the end. This army is a thousand in strength and has a lot of combat experience, so it is more useful in the north.

In this way, Zhao Dangshi's army was 25,000 people, and Wang Laixing's army was 15,000 people. Starting from the plan of attacking northern Sichuan and entering Hanzhong Mansion in the future, this is the lowest number that Zhao Dangshi can accept, just because the situation in Shaanxi is not optimistic.

The army was rampant in Shaanxi, and everywhere they went, they were invincible. The Ming army in Shaanxi was struggling to support the prefectures and counties, and Yulinwei, Qinzhou, Guyuanzhou, Ningxiawei, and Hanzhongfu were the hardest nails. But since November, these places have also been lost.

First of all, in Guyuan Prefecture, where Bai Guangen's troops were stationed, Liu Zongmin, the pro-military general of the middle camp of the Chuang Army, had an old friendship with Bai Guangen, and he was bent on soliciting Bai Guangen to surrender, and Bai Guangen had already received a letter from Sun Chuanting of Hanzhong Mansion at that time, so he pretended to agree to return to Liu Zongmin. Liu Zongmin was overjoyed, and immediately withdrew his troops to attack Qinzhou. Bai Guangen took the opportunity to lead his troops to secretly escape out of the city, and took advantage of Fengxiang Mansion to Nantou Hanzhong Mansion. Unexpectedly, Chen Yong's troops in Qinzhou were vulnerable, Liu Zongmin broke the city and killed Chen Yong in only two days, and when he turned around and saw Bai Guangen running away, he immediately pursued. Bai Guangen had no intention of fighting, he was defeated in successive battles, and more than half of his soldiers and horses were lost, so he escaped into Hanzhong Mansion by luck. Liu Zongmin was furious, and in order to vent his anger, he went all out to attack the Fengxiang Mansion City, which had not been attacked before, broke through the city, and killed the prefect Tang Shimingfang. Therefore, Guyuan Prefecture and Qinzhou both fell.

The route of the army attacking Yulinwei was personally led by Li Zicheng. From the perspective of cost, Li mainly persuaded Yulinwei to surrender for the sake of his fellow villagers in northern Shaanxi, and after several fruitless attempts, he began to try to attack as a deterrent. Li Zicheng dispelled the idea of persuading him to surrender, gathered soldiers and horses to dig the roots of the city wall under the cover of a huge cave house car, and then used the most skillful collapse method to blow up the city wall, and the stubborn Yulin guard of the city also declared it lost after holding on for thirteen days and nights. The Ming army generals in the city would rather die than give in, and retired old generals such as You Shiwei, Wang Shiqin, and Hou Gongji all led their clansmen to fight in their own streets, fighting from noon to dusk, and then killed the army that went forward until the army continued to come like a flood, and finally failed. In the end, all the men in Yulin Weizhong were killed in the street battle, and the women committed suicide, and none of them bent their knees.

As a result, only Ningxia Wei and Hanzhong Mansion are still in the whole of Shaanxi. However, at the beginning of December, the first part of Yuan Zong's army had already entered Ningxiawei. Yuan Zongdi was always strategic, not reckless, and adopted a roundabout strategy in order to prevent the situation of the military and civilians on the opposite side from being single-minded. Before launching an attack, he first spread the words of "killing a man is like killing my father, and adulterating a woman is like adultering my mother", which was used to rein in the hearts of the people and appeased the people, and the results were very good. Although Niu Chenghu and the government Fumin tried their best to resist, it was difficult to reverse the trend, and defeat was a foregone conclusion.

Only Tian Jianxiubu, the commander of the army who was responsible for the crusade against the Hanzhong Prefecture in southern Shaanxi, and the general Tian Jianxiubu still did not move forward because of the defeat of Wu Ruyi in front of him, and there was no progress. This is a respite that Xu Hui has fought for, and it can be expected that if all the rest of Shaanxi falls, and the Chuang army gathers heavy troops from all directions and points directly at Hanzhong, it will be difficult to support Xu Hui and the remnants of the Ming army in Shaanxi alone, and the reinforcements of Zhao Dangshi's army are imminent.

The most important thing had a result, Zhao Dangshi and Wang Laixing both frowned, and then talked about some miscellaneous things on the march. Wang Laixing mentioned a lot of experience and truth learned from Qin Qigong, Zhao Dangshi said with a smile: "Mr. Qin is my teacher, and now he is your teacher, and in the future, you and I are not only brothers, but also classmates." ”

Wang Laixing said embarrassedly: "How can I compare with my brother, I don't dare to be more and more sophisticated, I just want Mr. Qin's point to handle major military and government affairs, and I can make fewer mistakes." ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded and said: "Mr. Qin is experienced and knowledgeable, with him by his side, as long as you are willing to learn, you will be able to soar." Instead, he asked, "Shi Lu has been in the army with you, how have you been in the past few months?" He regarded Qin Shilu as his sister-in-law, Wang Laixing entered Sichuan to fight, and the army was tossing and turning, and it was very hard to think about it. Although Qin Shilu is more tenacious than ordinary women, she is a woman after all, and Zhao Dangshi will naturally care more.

Wang Laixing's heart was shocked, and two red glows suddenly appeared on his face, and he lowered his head and said a little embarrassed: "When you are a brother, you can't hide it, I came to see you this time, and I have a private matter to mention." As he spoke, he took something out of the bag he was carrying.

Zhao Dangshi looked at the past, but it was three broken feather arrows.