The soldiers were still stunned, and when they didn't know what to do, a group of rebels ran over shouting. They hurriedly got up and surrounded Zhang Xianzhong to prevent him from being trampled by the rebels. At this time, a personal soldier stepped forward and used his cloak to cover the wound on Zhang Xianzhong's neck, and as for the bloody hole on his forehead, he didn't know what to do.

At the same time, the commander of the personal army immediately ordered: "Quickly, go find a stretcher, and carry His Majesty back to the city for treatment." Inform the two young marshals to return to the city to discuss matters. ”

Originally, the commander of the pro-army wanted to return to the city first, so as not to affect the morale of the army. But while they were waiting for the stretcher, a general in the army saw them.

At this time, the chaos in the army continued, and the generals with their own soldiers were suppressing the ranks and restoring order to the ranks. A battalion officer came over and shouted, "Your Majesty, please go back to the south bank first~"

The officer stopped halfway through speaking. Although he was a low-level officer, he had followed Zhang Xianzhong to fight in the south and north for several years, so he naturally knew Zhang Xianzhong, but at this time he found Zhang Xianzhong lying on the ground and did not move, and he immediately knew that something was wrong.

He broke away from the guards, came to Zhang Xianzhong, looked at the bloody hole on Zhang Xianzhong's forehead, and the neck that was covered, he reached out to probe Zhang Xianzhong's snort, but he didn't feel it at all.

He knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "Your Majesty, why are you gone? You said that you would live a good life with you, but now that the good days have only been a few days, why did you leave first?! ”

This cry spread far and wide, so that the soldiers who were in a hurry around heard it, and many people came around at once. At this time, they did not forget the fear of rockets, and they all gathered around to see if their emperor was really dead.

After a while, some of the soldiers who had seen Zhang Xianzhong immediately confirmed that the emperor of their Great Western Dynasty was really dead. So the news passed through the crowd, until suddenly someone shouted in amazement, "Your Majesty is dead!" The crowd dispersed and fled in all directions, telling the others the news.

More people began to flee south, preparing to cross the Laodao River, first to Changsha. They all have a voice in their hearts saying, "Daxi is finished, God is helping Da Liang, it seems that Da Liang is the will of God, but I don't dare to fight Da Liang anymore." ”

In the face of this chaotic situation, Zhang Xianzhong's more than a dozen guards were powerless to stop it, so they could only try their best to protect Zhang Xianzhong's side and prevent Zhang Xianzhong's body from being damaged.

After a long time, Zhang Kewang came over with dozens of guards, and found that there were many soldiers around here, so he only went into battle in person to disperse these people before carrying Zhang Xianzhong's body away. Zhang Wenxiu, on the other hand, was directly preparing to cross the river back to Changsha in accordance with Zhang Xianzhong's will, and found that some soldiers were scrambling to cross the pontoon bridge and spread rumors that the emperor was dead. So he immediately mobilized his own team, took control of the pontoon bridge, and escorted all these soldiers who confused the army to the south bank of the Laodao River.

When he and Zhang Kewang met in Changsha City, they found the body of Zhang Xianzhong who was being carried. At this time, he and Zhang Kewang glanced at each other, and the two looked away in unison, and there was no communication.

When they returned to the palace, the two began to talk.

"What should I do?" Zhang Wenxiu asked first.

Zhang Kewang waited for a while before he said: "The news can't be sealed, there are not 10,000 people who know it, but 8,000, at this time, I'm afraid it has already spread all over the place." ”

"And what do you mean?" Zhang Wenxiu asked expressionlessly, although he had already guessed what Zhang Kewang meant.

"Withdraw troops."

Zhang Wenxiu asked coldly: "Then how do you explain to the two brothers?" My father died here, and he didn't even take revenge, so he fled in a panic, how will we meet in the future? ”

"The morale of the army is in chaos, how can I take revenge?!" Zhang Kewang said angrily: "Instead of wasting troops here, it is better to keep the strength to run Sichuan." ”

Zhang Wenxiu did not give in: "If you just leave, the military spirit will really be scattered, and in the future, Li Yan will chase him to Sichuan, who else will fight to the death for my Daxi?" ”

"! Wait any longer, Li Yan's army will come. With the morale of the military at this time, isn't this self-defeating?! Zhang Kewang asked dissatisfiedly.

Zhang Wenxiu continued to insist: "No matter what, we have to wait for the news of the two elder brothers. Father is dead, such a big event, can't be decided by just the two of us. The carrier pigeon delivered the message, and there was a response in two days. ”

Zhang Kewang stared at Zhang Wenxiu for a moment, and then snorted angrily and said, "Okay, then wait!" But I only waited for two days, and if there was no news, I would take the troops to Sichuan. ”

"Okay, just wait two days, I'll send the letter right away."

The two discussed and sent Zhang Xianzhong's body back to the harem. Regardless of the sorrow or indifference of Zhang Xianzhong's concubines, they each went to do things, one went outside the city to control the troops, and the other stayed in the city to stabilize the ministers in the court. They didn't consider the issue of Zhang Xianzhong's son at all, with their righteous sons who led the troops, Zhang Xianzhong's son, whether he could sit on the throne or not, would not make any waves.

Zhou He was very satisfied with the effect of this rocket attack, and originally just made Zhang Xianzhong's troops chaotic and delayed the attack. However, after this attack, Zhang Xianzhong's troops were not only chaotic, but also very chaotic. Not only did Zhang Xianzhong's troops not be put together on the first day, but there was no sign of another attack in the next two days. He guessed that something might have happened, but as long as Zhang Xianzhong's main force was still here, his mission would be considered a success, and he just had to wait and see what happened.

And Li Zicheng was not having a good time there, and the western Zhejiang region was soon taken by Li Yan. Although his men retreated early, Gao Jie, who had led Li Yan, was in hot pursuit, cooperating with Li Yan's cavalry troops, and indeed captured some of his men. And the city of Hangzhou, which only lasted two days, was bombarded by Li Yan's artillery and collapsed the city wall, and Gao Yigong, who defended the city, escaped with only about 800 people.

However, Li Yan was unforgiving, and a part of the troops rushed across the pontoon bridge behind Gao Yigong and occupied the position on the south bank, so that the defense of the Qiantang River, which Li Zicheng had high hopes for, suddenly lost its meaning. Although Li Zicheng ordered Gao Yi's power department to counterattack, the troops who were already disorganized could attack Li Yan's defense, and they lost thousands of troops in vain, and did not destroy the pontoon bridge.

Of course, they also planned to set fire to the boat from upstream in an attempt to burn the pontoon. But when they came up with this solution, Li Yan's troops had already reached the south bank with tens of thousands of troops, and even if the pontoon bridge was burned, it would have little effect.

In desperation, Li Zicheng had no choice but to give up the idea of defending eastern Zhejiang, led the main force to escape again, and went south to find living space. Now Nanming is the weakest, and it is easier to grab land from Nanming. But the territory they had just grabbed from Nan Ming would be snatched away by Li Yan in the blink of an eye, which made Li Zicheng and the others feel depressed, and they didn't know what the point was in going on like this.

As for the proposal to unite with Nanming, Gu Junen and Song Xiance both mentioned it, but they started against the Ming Dynasty, and in the end they united with the old Zhu family, and few could accept it. So they can only continue to run away for the time being, as for the way to deal with Li Yan, let's think about it slowly in the future.