Han Yuyan told Gao Junshan that he was going to be a father again, because Ji Ya and Su Ye Na were pregnant at the same time. Gao Junshan was overjoyed, almost fell off his horse, and jumped into the barracks.

……

In April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Ruyang City.

After Gao Junshan withdrew from Ruyang on April 12, the king of reincarnation and the king of Hengtian led 3,000 men and horses to quietly drive into Ruyang, burning, killing and plundering in Ruyang City, doing all kinds of evil, only three days later, they were surrounded by the army that Hong Chengchou rushed to, and the king of reincarnation and Yang Liyan, the king of Hengtian, raised a white flag and surrendered to Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou's camp is plotting a massacre.

"Hong Zhijun, these thieves are drunk, just waiting for you to speak." A wicked smile appeared on the cold face of Adjutant General Yang Zhengfang.

Hong Chengchou nodded with satisfaction: ""Are you ready?" You execute it, and leave no one alive! ”

Yang Zhengfang got the order, and went out of Hong Chengchou's camp, and several of his members were waiting outside, and when they saw Yang Zhengfang coming out, their eyes were all looking at him.

"Let's do it! Not a single one to stay! ”

The thousands of generals who received the order followed Yang Zhengfang to a large courtyard, where more than 3,000 newly appeased thieves gathered, led by the King of Reincarnation and the King of Hengtian, all of whom were drunk and staggered, and the ground was covered with vomit and broken porcelain bowl fragments.

Yang Zhengfang's 8,000 men and horses have surrounded this place, he waved his hand, and the archers shot the first round of slaughter, and the reincarnation king Xu Chang and the Hengtian King Yang Liji found that the big thing was not good, how could the weapons in his hands have already been handed over to Hong Chengchou, and there is no possibility of counterattacking.

Yang Liji was shot like a hedgehog first, and he was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat, and suddenly he sobered up a lot, he let out a loud cry, overturned a table, and hid behind the table, avoiding the bow and arrow that was shot at him.

Yang Zhengfang personally went into battle and commanded the 8,000 Ming army to shoot at the thieves who had laid down their arms. Yang Liji saw that the archers had stopped firing arrows, so he broke a table leg and shouted, "Brothers, fight with them!" ”

He used the table leg as a weapon to knock down an officer, and Yang Zhengfang rushed in front of him and ended his life with a sword.

……

"The Yuhong military system, 3,258 heads, all cut off." Yang Zhengfang was covered with blood stains to see Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou took a small step back, waved his hand and said, "I know, I will ask the emperor for credit, you go back and change this robe first." ”

"Obey!" Yang Zhengfang saluted and withdrew.

Xuan Mo, the governor of Henan on the side, asked Hong Chengchou: "Lord Hong! Yang Hualin, what are you going to do? ”

Hong Chengchou was stunned, what am I going to do? Don't you have a plan? He didn't say anything, and kicked the ball back to Xuan Mo: "Lord Xuan, what do you think should be done?" ”

Xuan Mo was silent for a moment, and said: "Lord Hong, Yang Hualin not only lost the city, but also sent a large number of military funds to Gao Junshan, according to the law, I don't know what Lord Hong means......"

Hong Chengchou said in a deep voice: "Lord Xuan, if you don't cure Yang Hualin's crimes, do you and I want to take responsibility for him?" ”

Xuan Mo hurriedly said: "You misunderstood me, if you lose such a big thing as Ruyang, you must find someone to deal with the aftermath." Lord Hong, you have Shang Fang's sword in your hand, and everything is up to you. ”

Hong Chengchou squeezed out three words from between his teeth: "Kill and decide!" ”

……

After Hong Chengchou killed Yang Hualin, he held a military meeting in Ruyang to pursue and suppress the thieves.

At the military meeting, Hong Chengchou analyzed the situation, formulated countermeasures, and deployed operational plans. I went to Yu and the thief went to Qin, I went to Qin and the thief went to Chu Yu...... Now we should be divided into faith. ”

The "long-term strategy" he talked about, that is, the old routine of dividing and blocking and attacking together, is just a copy of the previous two encirclement and suppression. The essence of this plan is to press all over the court and defend in the zone.

According to Hong Chengchou's deployment:

Deng Xi, You Zhaiwen and others were stationed in Fancheng to defend the Han River; Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou control Wu Village, tile house, guarding the main road of Zhejiang water; You Shiwei, Chen Shefu, and Xu Laichao were stationed in Yongning and Lushi Mountains, in order to choke the danger of southern and Zhuyang, and Chen Yongfu and Zhang Yingchang controlled the rope pond and Xin'an to block the valley water. Its duty was to prevent the rebels from flowing to Shanxi, Huguang, and Henan;

Wu Fu, the governor of Shanxi, strictly guarded the crossing of the Yellow River to prevent the righteous army from entering Jin from Shaanxi, and tried to block the righteous army entering Shaanxi;

Although Hong Chengchou failed to be encircled and suppressed several times in a row, he also knew in his heart that "the number of victories and defeats is unknown". However, he was driven by his nature, and he was desperate to kill the thief.

After the military meeting, Hong Chengchou called Yang Zhengfang to him, taught him the opportunity, and asked him to first raise troops into Shaanxi, enter Shangzhou through Luonan, and copy the back road of the thieves, because he judged that the thieves who fled to Shang and Luo must first go to Hanzhong when they heard that the official army had arrived, and Shangzhou was the place through which they had to pass.

And he personally led Yu Shiren, Liu Qian, Xia Hao, Tang Tong, Yang Qi and other main forces to rush to Shaanxi through Tongguan.

Yang Zhengfang received a secret order from Hong Chengchou and led his troops to go to Shangzhou. Three days later, Hong Chengchou's army marched to Tongguan.

On April 28, Hong Chengchou's army arrived at Tongguan. After the army was stationed that night, Hong Chengchou raised his account and summoned the leading generals from all walks of life to discuss the matter.

The lights illuminated Hong Chengchou's line, Hong Chengchou sat in the middle, Zhang Ruoqi of the supervising army and Zhang Yifeng, the secretary of the military department, sat on the left and right, and the generals of each road sat in two rows.

Hong Chengchou said: "Now that the thieves have returned to southern Shaanxi, their arrogance is very arrogant. It has been reported that Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Junshan and other bandit leaders have gathered in the areas of Jingyang, Lintong, and Lantian, with no less than 300,000 people. ”

"Hehe, Hong Junzhi laughed," Yu Shiren said with a smile: "Our army is strong and strong, invincible, and only thieves, what good strategy do you use?" As long as you give an order, I will be the first to kill Tongguan in the rest of the world, and I will kill it without leaving a piece of armor, and there will be no corpse in death! ”

Hong Chengchou nodded and praised: "General Yu is known for his prestige, and he has repeatedly defeated thieves, and his reputation is far and wide. I order you to immediately raise an army to attack Zhang Xianzhong in Lantian, and then gallop into Hanzhong from Shanyang, Zhen'an, and Xunyang with Yang Zhengfang, who arrived in Shangzhou in advance. ”

"Obey!" Yu Shiren patted his chest in front of Hong Chengchou and said, "I, Yu Shiren, will never live up to the expectations of Hong Zhijun, and I will definitely go to Hanzhong before the thieves!" ”

Hong Chengchou stroked Yu Shiren's shoulder and said with concern: "This trip, the road is far away and difficult to travel, General Yu, you have worked a lot!" I will gather the soldiers and horses in the customs and you will learn from Hanzhong! ”

Yu Shiren was very moved: "The last general will definitely live up to the love of the Hong Army!" ”

"Good!" Hong Chengchou's face was full of red light, "The generals listen to the order, and after breakfast tomorrow, they will march to Lintong!" ”

……

Hong Chengchou came to Lintong, pursued Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng, the two armies did not start the war, its main force fled to Yongshou, leaving only the old and weak without combat effectiveness to resist the official army, Hong Chengchou ordered Liu Qian, Xia Hao, Tang Tong three generals to attack, Hong Chengchou stood on a high slope and looked at the battlefield.

This can only be said to be a massacre, the strength of the two sides is very different, Hong Chengchou can't talk about joy in his heart, although he can go to the emperor there to ask for credit if he kills these people, but if he doesn't eliminate Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Gao Junshan and other thieves, he will not have a good life.

Suddenly, there was a burst of sand and dust rolling in the west, and a group of men and horses entered the battlefield, Hong Chengchou saw from a distance that it was the outfit of a Ming officer and soldier, and his heart suddenly relaxed.

"Go and investigate, it's the people who came!" Hong Chengchou said to the soldiers around him.

"Obey!"

After a cup of tea, the soldiers returned, and it was Sun Chuanting, who was stationed in Xi'an, who came to participate in the war.

Zhang Ruoqi, the overseer, said: "It seems that Xi'an is safe, and we can pursue Yongshou with confidence." ”

Hong Chengchou spread out the map on the ground, thinking, a gust of wind blew, a green leaf fell on the map, he gently dusted off the leaves, rolled up the map and said to Yang Qi, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan beside him: "General Yang, please immediately pursue Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng to Yongshou, be sure to exterminate them, and no longer let the thieves flee around!" ”

"The last general obeys!"

"Good!" Hong Chengchou waved his hand to let Yang Qi retreat, and then said to Zhang Ruoqi: "Gonggong Zhang, let's go and meet Sun Chuanting for a while." ”

As soon as Sun Chuanting saw Hong Chengchou, he reported to him the situation of Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng's siege of Xi'an, because Sun Chuanting defended strongly, so that the siege plan of the thieves did not succeed, and fled to the direction of Yongshou, he led his troops out of the city to pursue, and met Hong Chengchou's main force here.

Hong Chengchou was overjoyed and said: "General Sun has meritorious service in guarding Xi'an, and I want to ask the emperor for General Sun's credit." ”

Sun Chuanting thanked him and said: "Thanks to the love of the Hong military system, Chuanting is grateful!"

Then, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting gathered their troops and horses, joined forces, and set up camp under the city of Xi'an, planning the next step of the pursuit plan.

On the second day, Hong Chengchou was in the camp and received a report from Tanma that Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng had captured Yongshou, and Bo Kuangyu of Yongshou Zhixian County was killed in battle. The angry Hong Chengchou smashed the teacup in his hand to the ground and became angry with Yang Qi.

His anger has not disappeared, and there is a report from Malay, Zhang Xianzhong was defeated by Yang Zhengfang in Shangzhou, fled to Shanyang, captured Fengyang Pass, guerrilla Zhou Shifeng led troops to Zhaochuan to intercept, was killed by Zhang Xianzhong, Zhang Xianzhong has entered Hanzhong from Mercury Mountain.

Hong Chengchou's plan to send Yang Zhengfang and Yu Shiren to encircle Zhang Xianzhong failed.

Tanma reported again: Gao Junshan fled to Tongbai Mountain, and then disappeared.

Hong Chengchou got these battle reports, sighed, if these thieves gathered together, he was not afraid, now he was chased and killed by him, the thieves were divided, with the soldiers and horses in Hong Chengchou's hands, he was already overwhelmed, he couldn't take care of the tail, he decided to solve the problem of Shaanxi first, and then free up his hands to deal with Gao Junshan after exterminating Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, and Zhang Xianzhong.

A few days later, the Malay report was that Gao Yingxiang and Li Zi organized troops to attack Fengxiang and Pingliang, and Hong Chengchou had to divide his troops to pursue again.

However, he said that Zhu Youzhen was very disappointed with Hong Chengchou when he received a report from Beijing that Hong Chengchou had suppressed bandits in Shaanxi, and he believed that in Shaanxi Province alone, Hong Chengchou had reached such a point, and it would be difficult for him to take charge of the military affairs in Henan, Shanxi, and other places.

If the bandits are not eliminated, Zhu Youzhen will not be able to sleep and eat. So, he issued an edict to let Hong Chengchou stick to the three sides of Shaanxi in Xi'an, and sent Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of Huguang, and the military affairs of the prime ministers, Henan, Shandong, Huguang, and Sichuan, and also clarified their respective functions: "Hong Chengchou supervises the northwest, and Lu Xiangsheng supervises the southeast." ”