Of course, Lin Yi can't bear to harm a national backbone like Li Dingguo, but he can't just let him go so easily. Unlike Hao Shaoqi, it is not easy to capture him alive once, in addition to brain cells, it also takes a lot of manpower and material resources.

Of course, it is not free for such a character to be captured alive once, and you have to talk to Zhang Xianzhong about the conditions. came out of the country of abundance, and stayed in Xiangyang City, the military stronghold of the Ming Dynasty, for a period of time, which is the distribution center of the Ming Dynasty's grain and salary, coupled with Zhang Xianzhong's character, he should be very fat now, at least fatter than Li Zicheng, this time I have to let Zhang Xianzhong give some blood.

When Lin Yi captured Li Dingguo alive, he made up his mind to pay such attention.

It just so happened that now the military department has urged him several times to step up the encirclement and suppression of Zhang Xianzhong's remnants.

The military department is not so much a war as a prayer. Because the news that Lin Yi outwitted Xiangyang City and fought another beautiful victory has reached Yang Sichang, who is worried about hard work, and has also reached Emperor Chongzhen.

Yang Sichang was happy, and Emperor Chongzhen was happy. But the happiness of these two people is very limited, because those civilian and military generals who led troops to suppress thieves did not all give him a lottery like Lin Yi.

The current folds and side reports, except for Lin Yi's army, which have won all battles, are all news that worries Yang Sichang and Emperor Chongzhen slaps the table.

First of all, Zhu Dadian's Nanjing soldiers, Hu Dawei's Baoding soldiers, and Yuan Shu's Henan soldiers, the three-way soldiers and horses Zaoyang were defeated.

is also encircling and suppressing Zhang Xianzhong, the same is fighting Xiangyang, and you will win one game from you, and they are the opposite, especially Zhu Dadian and Hu David, who have now become the commanders who often lose, if Yang Sichang's health is good, if Emperor Chongzhen is at the scene, they have to cut off their heads, and now they are beyond the reach of the whip.

Followed by Zhang Xianzhong's eldest son Sun Kewang first captured Chengtianfu, which was later Zhongxiang City, Hubei Province. Then he captured Jingzhou.

Zhang Xianzhong's other son, Liu Wenxiu, captured Yichang. After they occupied these cities, they wantonly slaughtered the officials of the imperial court and the local tyrants and gentry, and some even slaughtered the cities in a bloody manner.

Immediately after Jingmen, Dangyang, Songzi, Zigui and other places officials fled, surrendered, these places were all occupied by thieves, Yichang and Jingzhou were connected together, guarding both sides of the Yangtze River.

In addition, there is another news from the thief side, which makes Yang Sichang and Emperor Chongzhen uneasy, that is, Lao Hui Ma Shouying took more than 10,000 thieves from Zaoyang and ran into Nanyang, Henan.

As soon as Lin Yi and the others withdrew their troops, Li Zicheng, who could not be found after digging three feet into the ground several times in Soushan, came out of the Qinling Mountains again, and they were united with the old Hui soldiers, and they tossed around Nanyang, attacking the city and breaking the county, killing the officials and seizing the government, and the officials and troops could not resist it at all.

In just two or three months, Li Zicheng's men and horses grew to tens of thousands, and the soldiers pointed to Nanyang City again, and Yang Sichang and others hurriedly ran to Luoyang. Emperor Chongzhen had no troops to send, so he had to let Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenle, who were fighting in Hubei, return to Henan, and let Zhu Dadian and Tiger David Yuan Shu lead their men and horses, and immediately withdraw to Henan to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng and Ma Huihui. Although we will often lose battles these days, it is better to talk than nothing.

Now the thing that makes Emperor Chongzhen unable to eat, drink, and sleep is the Ningjin battlefield outside the Guan. The Battle of Ningjin has started since the winter of last year, and it has been a few months now. The Ming army lost Songshan, Xingshan and Tashan, Jinzhou was trapped by the Manchu Tartars, and Ningyuan was in a hurry.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, the chief eunuch of the army and horses, Gao Qiqian, the chief of the army and horses, these people don't know where the ability to encircle and suppress the thieves has gone, in front of the Manchu Tartars, it is simply Jiang Lang's talent, the oil is exhausted, the lamp is dry, eight general soldiers, more than 100,000 horses, except for Wu Sangui's Guanning iron cavalry to dominate the coquettish, the rest of the Ming army fought a battle and lost a battle.

Even the famous little Cao Da commander Cao Bianjiao couldn't resist the fierce attack of the Tartars, and was killed in battle after being besieged by the Tartars, and the horse leather shrouded his body.

Zu Dashou was trapped in Jinzhou and did not dare to fight, while Hong Chengchou and Gao Qiqian were trapped in Ningyuan and did not dare to come out.

Although Wu Sangui won several battles, it was difficult for him to turn the situation around, so he retreated to Shanhaiguan with tens of thousands of Guanning iron cavalry, and told the imperial court to send reinforcements.

But now in the DPRK and China, where are the troops to be sent? Emperor Chongzhen was anxious. can only urge Yang Sichang, Yang Sichang can only urge Lin Yi. Among the generals of the entire imperial court, Lin Yi has now become their dependence.

In this case, they knew Lin Yi's temper, they were not afraid of heaven and earth, of course they didn't dare to choke, saying that it was an order was actually a prayer, praying that Lin Yi would quickly end the battle here, and after eliminating Zhang Xianzhong, he would move north, deal with Li Zicheng, guard the Jingshi, deal with the Manchu Tartars, and all the hopes were pinned on Lin Yi.

Lin Yi reorganized the soldiers and horses in Xiangyang for more than a month, and the number of soldiers increased by more than 10,000. With 40,000 horses and horses to capture Li Dingguo, out of Xiangyang, Zhandangyang, Songzi, take Chengtianfu, all the way unstoppable, just a few days to Jingzhou City, this time Zhang Xianzhong's forces were divided into two parts, one part in Yichang, one part in Jingzhou.

According to the strategy of Zhang Xianzhong's strategist Pan Duxi, Liu Wenxiu led an army of 20,000 troops to garrison Yichang, as their rear, with the Yangtze River moat, they could attack and retreat.

Zhang Xianzhong took Sun Kewang, Pan Duxi and others, and after occupying Jingzhou, he was ready to develop to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the next step was to enter Wuhan. Just as they were about to withdraw Li Dingguo's men and horses, the bad news came, Xiangyang was lost, Li Dingguo was captured, and all 30,000 horses were annihilated.

Zhang Xianzhong's high-level group immediately caused a shock, although Li Dingguo is only a 19-year-old young man, but his position in Zhang Xianzhong's group is absolutely prominent, he is Zhang Xianzhong's godson, ranking second, his thesis on martial arts, no one can compare, and his military exploits are also prestigious, and his military achievements are also prestigious, and his military achievements are outstanding.

Such a wise and brave general, with the impregnable Jiancheng Xiangyang, and 30,000 soldiers and horses under his command, is now completely annihilated, Zhang Xianzhong's group is really not calm, it seems that this Lin Yi is really not to be underestimated, has he really become the nemesis of their thieves?

Zhang Xianzhong immediately convened the generals to discuss countermeasures, and his advisers Pan Duxi and Xu Yixian also shook their heads incessantly. They never thought that Xiangyang City could be lost so quickly. It is equivalent to the defense line in the north is gone, Lin Yi's men and horses will soon come over, how to deal with such a strong enemy, the two think tanks can't come up with any good strategies for a while.

Zhang Xianzhong's eldest son, Sun Kewang, said disdainfully: "What's so great about the surname Lin, I'll go and meet him!"

Sun Kewang is worthy of being the eldest of Zhang Xianzhong's godsons, and in terms of status and military merits, he is higher than Li Dingguo.

But Zhang Xianzhong did not agree, because he knew that Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang were not as good as Li Dingguo if the two of them talked about personal force, Sun Kewang was not as good as Li Dingguo. Now that Li Dingguo has been planted in Lin Yi's hands, of course he is not willing to let Sun Kewang take any more risks.

Zhang Xianzhong did not dare to develop in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and what he needed to consolidate now was Jingzhou and Yichang.

Because the situation is now grim for him, Li Dingguo's capture of Xiangyang is one aspect, and the second aspect, the great eunuch Lu Jiude and the famous general Huang Degong of the Beijing camp have arrived in Yuezhou Mansion, which is the area of Yueyang City in later generations.

Although Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue's men and horses withdrew to Henan, Zhu Dadian, Hu David, and Yuan Shu's men and horses also returned to Henan, but now Zheng Chongjian, Ding Qirui, and He Renlong's men and horses have arrived in Bazhong, and for Zhang Xianzhong, they have one more strong opponent, that is, Qin Liangyu, the loyal Marquis of Sichuan Shizhu, with 3,000 white pole soldiers also joined.

A Zuo Liangyu, a He Renlong, is enough for him to have a headache, and now there is another Qin Liangyu, don't look at this is a female general, this old female general, because he is now over the age of six. But don't look at it, the prestige of the Ma family army is still there, and when it comes to the white pole soldiers, the Qing Tartars are terrified, and Zhang Xianzhong is even more jealous.

Together, these three armies are tens of thousands, and it is only a matter of time before they threaten Yichang. Heavy troops in front of the block, heavy troops in the rear besieged, plus Lin Yi from the flank, this side is the Yangtze River, if this continues, they will be attacked on three sides, one side is the Yangtze River, and they will fall into a terrible predicament.

Now Zhang Xianzhong feels that Ma Huihui is prescient, because Ma Huihui and Li Zicheng's troops are very fierce in Henan, and the situation has been opened, and the number of troops has quickly grown to tens of thousands, showing the trend of sparks burning the prairies.

He Zhang Xianzhong listened to Pan Duxi, this Pan Duxi is a dog-headed military advisor, but now he didn't kill Pan Duxi, and now he wants to keep the existing territory, and he doesn't dare to move forward. If it really doesn't happen, you have to return to Sichuan in the land of abundance from Yichang.

At this time, Lin Yi's army was like a bamboo, and took Songzi one after another, Dangyang and Chengtianfu, and killed under the city of Jingzhou, separating Yichang and Jingzhou, which was equivalent to breaking Zhang Xianzhong's sphere of influence in two sections.

Zhang Xianzhong couldn't sit still. Sun Kewang still looked indifferent, "Godfather, don't worry, the surname Lin is here, the child will fight him to the death, we still have 80,000 troops in the city, and the most 30,000 or 40,000 horses surnamed Lin, I want to see how he takes our Jingzhou!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "Don't underestimate the enemy, remember for me, stick to Jingzhou, no one can fight without my order." Zicheng and Ma Huihui are going to make trouble in Henan, this is a good thing, we will first press the troops, wait and see what happens, recuperate, let them make trouble in Henan first, the bigger they make trouble, the easier it will be for our side, wait for the opportunity. ”

"The prince is high." Pan Duxie, Xu Yixian, Sun Kewang, and Bai Wenxuan nodded in agreement.

On this day, someone came to report that Lin Yibing came to the city and asked Zhang Xianzhong to answer the city.