In December of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, the Forbidden City of Beijing.

In the Qianqing Palace, Chongzhen fell into deep despair again.

Liu Xi, who had high hopes for him, was frustrated, but the things in the compromise made Chongzhen very frustrated.

"The minister wept blood, in mid-October, Zhang Xianzhong led 300,000 thieves to besiege Wuchang, and the minister took Cao Bianjiao and Shao Rong to besiege Wuchang, and Zheng Cai's soldiers and horses were inside, so that the defeated soldiers under Zuo Liangyu held the inner city, fortunately His Majesty blessed and ensured that Wuchang was not lost."

"However, the thief attack was very urgent, that is, the army was sent to the river, stormed the west gate of Wuchang, and died in the south of the city, and attacked Zheng Cai's department, the situation was critical, and the minister had no choice but to order Cao and Shao to drive the troops to attack the back camp of the thief soldiers, and send Zheng Cai's troops to charge desperately."

"These three general soldiers are admittedly the fierce generals of the world, but the thieves are very numerous, almost all of their soldiers are injured, at this time, there are Xiangyang soldiers and horses recruited by the ministers down the Han River, and they are surprised to break the thieves and sailors, and Wuchang is encouraged by this, so that they can do their best to drive back the thieves."

"This battle killed and wounded a total of 80,000 thieves, it is a great victory, but unfortunately the heavens did not fulfill the wish, the soldiers under the command of the minister were also seriously wounded, the number of dead reached 50,000, after this battle, the minister only had 70,000 soldiers and horses, although Wuchang was protected, but it was difficult to recover south of the river."

Where could Chongzhen have thought that Liu Ximing has been falsely reporting casualties, according to his statement, after the first battle in Henan, there were only 40,000 horses left under his command, and Zuo Liangyu defeated 80,000 troops, and now there are only 70,000 remnants left.

If you really want to look at it like this, let alone attack the thieves, it will be a high incense to be able to hold on to Huguang and other places.

However, Chongzhen couldn't reprimand Liu Ximing, as soon as he came to the imperial court, he had no foundation in the Central Plains, and people had already taken over a mess in the past.

Second, Liu Xi's life was won, as for the casualties, who can say clearly, if there are no casualties, can it still be called a war?

Wang Chengen, who was waiting on the side, looked at Chongzhen's face like a dead expression, and couldn't bear it.

On the imperial case, another fold with urgency written on it prominently wrote about Sun Chuanting's defeat in Shaanxi.

Wang Chengen's heart was sour, so he could only quietly wipe the corners of his eyes and say softly:

"Emperor, Liu Ge Lao also played an excerpt, saying that at present, officials in various places are no longer able to control the locality, in order to collect money and grain to raise the army in order to fight again, he has already carried out the reform of Xu officials in Huguang and other places, do you want to see this?"

Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair without any manners, and waved his hand weakly, "Don't look at it, don't look at it, let him do it, and wait for the result." ”

"Urgent report, Sichuan Governor Chen Shiqi came to report, and the traitor Zhang Xianzhong led 200,000 troops straight to Chongqing, which seemed to have the intention of entering Sichuan. Shanxi Governor Cai Maode came to report that the traitor Li Zicheng led 300,000 troops to Kou Yulin, and there was a great tendency to enter Shanxi. ”

Outside the Qianqing Palace, a little eunuch ran to the gate outside the palace and roared loudly, his tone full of horror.

"Poof"

Wang Chengen was so shocked that he looked back, but saw Chongzhen on the dragon chair directly spit out a mouthful of blood and fainted on the dragon chair.

"Your Majesty!"

"Quickly pass on the Imperial Doctor!"

~~~

In December of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, after returning to Changsha from Wuchang, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to repair for two months, on the one hand, he continued to loot local money, and on the other hand, he continued to expand his own troops.

In two months, Zhang Xianzhong not only made up for the loss of 100,000 horses, but also expanded the number of troops to 500,000 again.

At present, the Great Western Army has occupied the southern part of Huguang, the western part of Jiangxi, and some prefectures and counties in the northern part of Guangdong.

However, Zhang Xianzhong did not forget the great hatred of Liu Ximing, and after sending troops to test the Wuchang troops again and suffering another big loss, Zhang Xianzhong finally made up his mind.

Draw the army to the west and capture Sichuan.

There is also the persuasion of Wang Zhaolin and others, the country of Tianfu in Sichuan, after occupying it, it can be attacked, retreated, and defended, whether it is called the king and divided the territory or enterprising the world, it is the capital of hegemony.

After some rhetoric, how could Zhang Xianzhong not be moved.

At this time, the Jiangnan gentry were afraid of Zhang Xianzhong's soldiers, and went up to Nanjing to stay in Beijing, and down to Jiangxi, Nanzhili and other provincial capitals, prefectures and county officials, all of whom mobilized the people to resist desperately.

The Great Western Army has not been able to make progress on the Eastern Front, and as for the southward capture of Liangguang, the elite backbone of the Great Western Army are all northerners, and they are already very unaccustomed to it in Nanhuguang, let alone Liangguang further south.

Many people are quite in favor of attacking Sichuan, and when the time comes, they will be able to return to their hometowns to show off their might.

It was for these many reasons that on the tenth day of December, Zhang Xianzhong led an army of 200,000 troops in Changsha and went straight to Chongqing along the Shuojiang River of the Yangtze River.

From Jingzhou Mansion to Chongqing Mansion, the prefectures and counties on the north bank of the Yangtze River are okay to say, because of the cavalry defense under Liu Xi's command, the Great Western Army is not willing to provoke the head again, but the prefectures and counties on the south bank of the Yangtze River are miserable.

In the face of the snowballing strength of the Great Western Army, Wushan, Wanxian, Fengdu and other prefectures and counties almost all surrendered without a fight.

On the seventh day of February in the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, the army led by Zhang Xianzhong had arrived outside Chongqing.

In the city of Chongqing, Chen Shiqi, the governor of Sichuan, had already moved to this town to personally command the resistance to the enemy.

Chen Shiqi was originally a Sichuan scholar and politician, and Liu Ximing also dealt with him, but this person is a literati after all, although he has already sent generals Zeng Ying, Zhao Ronggui and others to guard Zhongzhou and Liang Ping, but he prefers to dance with Li Ping, the prefect of Chongqing, and the armament is abolished.

This is the common problem of the Ming literati at present, not to mention the high hand of the eye, and always like the layman to command the insider.

As soon as he heard that Zhang Xianzhong had broken several counties in a row, and the soldiers had arrived outside Chongqing, Chen Shiqi's literary meeting was no longer open, and he did not write poems, so he hurriedly went to the city with a group of civil officials to watch.

On the river, the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Zhang Xianzhong covered the sky and the sun, and then looked at the camps on both sides of the Yangtze River, Chen Shiqi and others were even more pale.

"I never thought that the thief would be swift and vigorous, by the way, has Qin Liangyu Qin's soldiers and horses arrived?"

Chen Shiqi finally remembered to transfer troops to the future at this time, but as soon as his words fell, Zeng Ying, a staff general on the side, said with a bitter face:

"Junmen, General Qin has suppressed the Songpan mutiny and has not returned, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up with this battle."

Chen Shiqi's face changed greatly, and he scolded angrily: "Don't I have any more soldiers and horses in Sichuan to send reinforcements?" ”

Zeng Ying looked at the prefect Li Ping on the side, and reminded him: "It's not that there are no soldiers and horses, there are still tens of thousands of horses stationed in Shunqing Mansion under the chief military officer Yu Yongkai, but this person is arrogant......"

Where would Chen Shiqi care about this, he directly grabbed Zeng Ying's collar and sprayed in his face: "Quickly send someone to transfer this Yu Yongkai, if you don't come, this official will let his head fall to the ground!" ”

Zeng Ying was miserable in his heart, this Yu Yongkai had already listened to the tune and did not listen to the announcement, what is the use of your old man's threat.

I heard that Yu Yongkai has gathered 50,000 or 60,000 troops under his eyes, and he is dominating several state capitals in the northeast of Sichuan.

Fortunately, this person never harassed the place, and in recent years, the rogues have often invaded Sichuan, and they have repeatedly made great contributions, so the Sichuan officials pressed this gourd silently.

But now that he wants to transfer Yu Yongkai to Chongqing, Zeng Ying himself is not hopeful, and anyone with a discerning eye knows that Zhang Xianzhong is unstoppable now, and who will come to send him to death.

However, having said that, Zeng Ying still sent a few fast horses to Shunqing again for help.

~~~

In Dingyuan County, Hezhou, 150 miles away from Chongqing Prefecture, Qu Yongzhen, the magistrate of the county, trembled and poked his head out of the city wall.

Just about four miles north of Dingyuan County, a large military camp was stationed in the sky, and Qu Yongzhen and a number of county officials, chief bookkeepers and other officials jumped eyelids.

"Have you inquired clearly, are you indeed the officers and soldiers of Shunqing?"

"County Zun, it is indeed the officers and soldiers of Shunqing."

"What are the officers and soldiers of his Shunqing coming to my Dingyuan County to do, now Chongqing is in an emergency, even if he wants to stay, he should stay in Chongqing, it is scary here for no reason."

Hearing Qu Yongzhen's complaints, a group of officials from Dingyuan County all smiled bitterly in their hearts.

My lord, the soldiers and horses of Shunqing clearly don't want to go to the troubled waters of Chongqing, as for the garrison Dingyuan, I think it is to prevent Zhang Xianzhong's thieves from attacking Shunqing.

In the army north of Dingyuan County, the big banner of Yu Zi fluttered high in the large camp connecting more than ten miles, but it was not the army led by Yu Yongkai.