On this afternoon, the imperial study of the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City was quiet, and Chongzhen was frowning and thinking about a map of the Ming Dynasty.

During this time, the Ming Dynasty was quite peaceful, and the Jiannu in Liaodong had not moved much since the last time they suffered a big loss in the capital, and the anti-thieves in the northwest had stopped for several months after the defeat of the Daimyo's Mansion, and both sides had shrunk, so it was time to think about concentrating on breaking them one by one.

These two scourges can toss him miserably, from the beginning of his succession to the throne, he has been tossing until now, he can't do anything, it's not enough to take all the money to fight, and he still lacks money after levying Liao's salary, and if he doesn't clean them up, he can't sleep well.

Which of these two scourges will be eliminated first?

Just as he was daydreaming about the map, Cao Huachun suddenly sang outside: "Your Majesty, King Zheng of Huaiqing Mansion is in a hurry!" ”

When Chongzhen heard this, he chuckled in his heart, Huaiqing Mansion, wouldn't it be a thief who started to make trouble again?

He looked at the location of Huaiqing Mansion on the map and frowned, "Submit it." ”

Cao Huachun walked in with an envelope and walked in, and directly held the envelope out of his reach before stopping.

Chongzhen hurriedly took the envelope, tore it open and took a look, and suddenly his angry face turned green, just thinking that the anti-thief had stopped, but King Zheng sent an urgent report that the thief had occupied half of Huaiqing Mansion!

These vassal kings also gave him a lot of headaches, one by one is either his cousin or his uncle, the generations are there, even if they are rampant, they are not easy to manage, at this time, the thieves have beaten him, and he has to immediately send troops to rescue, otherwise his face will be lost, and the royal elders can't keep it, and what kind of wise lord to talk about.

He looked down at the map, his brows furrowed again, the location of Huaiqing Mansion is simply terrible, to the south is Luoyang, King Fu is his uncle, to the north is Wei Hui, King Lu is his grandfather's younger brother, these two are much more important than King Zheng's family, which one has an accident, and someone must be sent to rescue immediately.

He hurriedly searched on the map, and the army north of the capital should not think about it, and must keep the defense of Jiannu; Sun Chuanting in Shaanxi in the west has just passed, and he is recruiting new soldiers, so he doesn't have to think about it, he is looking for it, only Lu Xiangsheng from Shanxi can be transferred.

However, Lu Xiangsheng only has a total of 50,000 horses, and he has to garrison the entire Shanxi, as well as the three border towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Taiyuan, as well as the three prefectures of Daimyo, Guangping, and Shunde in the south of the capital.

At this time, there was no need to care so much, so he could only transfer Lu Xiangsheng to Huaiqing, because there were no other people nearby.

What is Lu Xiangsheng doing here?

He is reorganizing and reorganizing the Shanxi army in Lu'an Mansion, and it is necessary to say that there are quite a lot of soldiers in Shanxi, and the three border towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Taiyuan plus all parts of Shanxi have more than 30 guards and more than 20 thousand households, and when they are full, Shanxi has nearly 300,000 guards.

It's a pity that the imperial court had no money at this time, so it was only after picking out the grain and salary of 40,000 horses, that is, the 20,000 border soldiers led by Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, and the 20,000 guards led by Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi.

After Lu Xiangsheng arrived in Luzhou, he directly ordered Zhang Zongheng and Xu Dingchen to lead the army to assemble, and set up a formation outside Luzhou City, and practiced day and night.

The reason why he chose Luzhou Mansion instead of Taiyuan Mansion was mainly because it was close to the Daimyo's Mansion, which was convenient for him to transfer the grain and grass transferred by Dongshengtang to Shaanxi, and it was also convenient for him to control the 10,000 Tianxiong army on the Daimyo's side at any time.

On this morning, Lu Xiangsheng was standing on the city wall south of Luzhou Mansion to supervise the training of 40,000 horses, and a team of cavalry suddenly appeared in the distance.

Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly took out his binoculars and swept over there, lying down, it turned out to be more than a dozen brocade guards guarding a eunuch, looking like that, he must have come to deliver the decree!

He hurriedly gathered a group of generals and guards to get off the city wall and ran straight to the city gate.

As soon as he stood at the gate of the city, the more than ten horsemen had already rushed over, and the eunuch did not wait for the horse to stop, but turned down directly from the horse, and sang as he galloped forward: "The holy decree has arrived, and Lu Xiangsheng has received the decree." ”

Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly waved his hand and knelt down with all the soldiers at the city gate, and said loudly: "Weichen has the order." ”

The eunuch took out the decree directly from his bosom and hurriedly read it.

It turned out that the thieves went to Huaiqing Mansion, and Zhu Yiduo, the king of Zheng, rushed to the capital for help for 800 miles, and the emperor ordered him to immediately lead the army to repel the thieves and rescue Zhu Yiduo, the king of Zheng.

Lu Xiangsheng took the holy decree and led the mountain to call out a round of long live, then he stood up and said with a smile: "My father-in-law has worked hard all the way, why don't you go to the city to rest?" ”

The eunuch said with a cold face: "Lord Lu, when will you send troops, the miscellaneous family is still waiting to go back to restore your life." ”

Who is this guy, why is his temper so stinky, if it were Gonggong Cao's cronies, he would definitely not have this attitude.

He didn't know that this guy was Gao Qiqian, and in history, it was this guy who killed him alone.

It was the eleventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji ordered Dolgon, Yue Tuo and others to cross the Great Wall and invade the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Gao Qiqian and Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, did not want to fight, and everything was restricted, although Lu Xiangsheng was named the superintendent, he could only command less than 20,000 Shanxi troops and only a few thousand remaining Tianxiong troops.

As a result, Lu Xiangsheng encountered more than 100,000 main forces of the Qing army in Julu, and the Shanxi army on both wings fled without a fight, and tens of thousands of Liaodong iron cavalry were less than fifty miles away from him, but he just didn't go to the rescue, he had no choice but to lead thousands of Tianxiong troops to carry the main force of the Qing army, and finally died in a bloody battle!

Of course, it is impossible for Gao Qiqian to oversee him at this time, but somehow, he didn't have a good face towards Lu Xiangsheng.

Lu Xiangsheng saw that people were so faceless, so he had to say aloud to the back: "Map." ”

The two guards hurriedly took the map and unfolded it in front of him, he hurriedly looked at the map, and then ordered: "Xu Dingchen, order you to lead 20,000 guards to Zezhou immediately, Zezhou Mansion and Yangcheng each garrison 10,000 troops, ready to go south to Huaiqing Mansion at any time." ”

Governor Xu Dingchen received the order and left in response to the order.

Lu Xiangsheng then ordered: "Zhang Zongheng ordered you to lead 10,000 foot soldiers to Taiyuan Mansion City immediately to garrison, and the safety of the three towns of Xuanfu, Datong, and Taiyuan will be handed over to you." ”

Governor Zhang Zongheng received the order and left as ordered.

Lu Xiangsheng immediately said to a personal guard behind him: "Order, order Qi Yuanfu to lead the Tianxiong army to the south of Weihui Mansion and assemble in Xinxiang County." ”

The guard received the order and went away.

Lu Xiangsheng said to Gao Qiqian at this time: "Father-in-law, is there any problem, if there is no problem, I will set off with 10,000 elite horsemen and rush to Xinxiang." ”

Gao Qi said suspiciously: "You will lead 20,000 soldiers and horses to rescue Huaiqing?" ”

Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly pointed to the map and explained: "No, no, no, at the junction of Zezhou and Huaiqing, the 20,000 soldiers and horses led by Xu Dingchen can go south to Huaiqing at any time. ”

Gao Qiqian looked at the map and couldn't find anything wrong, so he said coldly: "You have gathered people in Xinxiang, but you have to rush to Huaiqing immediately to rescue, if you procrastinate and make King Zheng be killed by the thieves, the emperor will not be able to bypass you." ”

Lu Xiangsheng hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Please rest assured, the lower officials will do their best to rescue, and they will definitely not delay a bit." ”

Gao submerged the words, snorted coldly, turned around and got on the horse, and walked away.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at his back and said secretly in his heart: "There is something wrong with this guy." ”

Of course, at this time, he had no way of knowing what was wrong with this high dive, time was pressing, he could only lead 10,000 elite horsemen to set off and rush directly to Xinxiang, as for the problem of high dive, he decided to send someone to secretly inform Zhang Bin and Cao Huachun and let them investigate.

Xinxiang is not far from Luzhou, the straight-line distance is more than 150 miles, but there is Taihang Mountain in the middle, Lu Xiangsheng can only lead the army west through Taihang Mountain to reach Zhangde Mansion, and then rush south to Xinxiang County of Weihui Mansion, so calculated, the distance is about 200 miles, fortunately, all he led are cavalry, 10,000 fine horsemen galloped wildly, and rushed to Xinxiang that night.

The next day, Lu Xiangsheng did not rush to Huaiqing Mansion, he just sent scouts, disguised as civilians, to Xiuwu, Wuzhi and other places to spy on the news, and the army still stayed in Xinxiang and waited for the Tianxiong army to come and converge.

At this time, the Tianxiong army was practicing in the Daimyo's Mansion, Qi Yuanfu received the news when it was already around the afternoon of the same day, and the straight-line distance from the Daimyo's Mansion to Xinxiang was about one hundred and fifty miles, however, there was no mountain range in the middle, starting from the Daimyo's Mansion City, directly to the southwest, passing through Zhangde Mansion to Xinxiang, the distance was less than one hundred and sixty miles, but the Tianxiong Army was still a pure foot soldier at this time, and the speed could not be compared with the cavalry at all, even if Qi Yuanfu set off immediately after receiving the order, he still arrived at Xinxiang in the afternoon of the next day.

At this time, the news of Xiuwu and Wuzhi has been transmitted back, stationed in Xiuwu is the anti-thief Gao Yingxiang Department, Ma Bujun adds up to more than 50,000, and the anti-thief Zhang Xianzhong Department is stationed in Wuzhi, and the Ma Bu Army adds up to more than 30,000.

Lu Xiangsheng knows that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong are not fuel-efficient lamps, and now they have more people than themselves, and they are also defenders of the city, what should I do?

He originally thought that if the peasant army gathered the main force in Xiuwu, he would attack Wuzhi in the southwest, and first find a place to stand in Huaiqing.

However, at this time, Xiuwu has Gao Yingxiang garrisoned, Wuzhi has Zhang Xianzhong garrisoned, although Zhang Xianzhong is 20,000 inferior to Gao Yingxiang's troops, but Wuzhi is far away, and Xiuwu is between Xinxiang and Wuzhi, less than 30 miles apart, if he can't win Wuzhi in a battle, Gao Yingxiang will go around the back and outflank, he will be dangerous.

He didn't know that Wang Ziyong didn't plan to attack Huaiqing Mansion City at all, he just regarded it as a thief and let the two fierce generals block the imperial court soldiers and horses here, and the other armies were ready to besiege Huaiqing Mansion City, if the rebels captured Huaiqing Mansion City and slaughtered the Zheng Wangfu family, it would be over, and the emperor had to cut him down.

Time waits for no one, early the next morning, he led the army straight to Xiuwu, anyway, the two anti-thieves all add up to a total of only 10,000 people, a year ago, Zhang Zongheng and Xu Dingchen led an army of 40,000 to chase more than 200,000 thieves and thieves running around, his 20,000 army can't even clean up 10,000 thieves, he doesn't believe in this evil.

Li Zicheng also does not believe in this evil, the last battle of the Daimyo Mansion, his uncle Gao Yingxiang did not lose any men and horses along the way, after the transfer to Henan, they recruited nearly 20,000 new horses, at this time their troops have reached more than 50,000, more than the troops in the hands of Wang Ziyong, his heart is also a little swollen, with 50,000 against 20,000, his side is still defending the city, afraid of him a ball, what about the officers and soldiers, he has not brought soldiers, and it is not that ball.

A few years ago in Shanxi, the reason why more than 200,000 troops were chased around by 40,000 officers and soldiers was not because he was afraid of the officers and soldiers, but because Wang was afraid of his own use, and every time he faced the officers and soldiers, he was not defeated at the touch of his uncle, but because he secretly advised his uncle to preserve his strength, so every time he faced the officers and soldiers, it was the shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the other 36th battalions, and they had not really been on it.

The reason why Wang Ziyong asked them to defend the martial arts this time was probably because he noticed that every time Gao Yingxiang's troops hid on the side and did not make any efforts, especially in the first battle of the Daimyo's Mansion, almost all the foot soldiers of the 36th battalion of the peasant army were captured by officers and soldiers, and only Gao Yingxiang's troops did not lose a single soldier.

They said that they were going to attack Neihuang County, scattering the strength of the officers and soldiers, and when retreating, he specially asked people to go to Neihuang County to take a look, the city wall was clean and clean, and there was not even a trace of attack, but the official road not far from Neihuang County was full of horse rejection forks on both sides, where was this guy attacking the city, it was clear that he wanted to run away for a long time!

At this time, he was already wary of Gao Yingxiang, so he asked Gao Yingxiang's troops to be stationed in Xiuwu County, the easternmost part of Huaiqing Mansion, facing the officers and soldiers in the direction of the capital, while he himself led his troops to garrison Jiyuan County, the westernmost county seat of Huaiqing Mansion, and made it clear that he was warning Gao Yingxiang not to play any more moths.

Of course, he didn't know at all that all this was Li Zicheng's idea, and Gao Yingxiang was still more righteous.

At this time, Gao Yingxiang was still in the dark, he thought that he was the strongest, and it was a matter of course to be stationed in the easternmost martial arts, and he never thought that this was Wang Ziyong warning him.

However, when he heard that 20,000 officers and soldiers had rushed over from Xinxiang, he was still a little furious in his heart, that was 20,000 officers and soldiers, and 100,000 righteous soldiers had not necessarily done it, could the 50,000 horses under him do it?

He actually wanted to run away a little, but as soon as Li Zicheng's arrogance came up, he couldn't hold it back, no matter what, he also had to fight with the officers and soldiers in the cultivation of martial arts!

Not long after Lu Xiangsheng set off with the army, Gao Yingxiang received the news here, and Li Zicheng, who was a little timid, said: "Zao'er, why don't we withdraw, 20,000 officers and soldiers, there are no 100,000 horses, can you do it?" ”

Li Zicheng changed his normal state and insisted: "Uncle, this time we are defending the city, and the officers and soldiers are coming to attack the city. That is to say, the strength of the besieging side must be ten times that of the defender to ensure that the city is captured, and the officers and soldiers at this time are less than half of ours, there is nothing to be afraid of, can they attack the city without dying, fight for consumption, who is afraid of whom? When the time comes, it will be up to them to see if there are more of them or more of us! ”

This sounds like there is a little truth in this, but Gao Yingxiang just felt that something was wrong, and he didn't figure out what was wrong after thinking about it for a long time, and in the end, he could only let Li become himself.