Nanyang, Tang Wangfu.

Although Li Zicheng demolished the city wall of Nanyang, the Tang Palace's mansion was not moved, and it was still in dilapidated shape after the looting, but the general building was still intact. Maybe he left in a hurry and forgot to destroy it, or maybe he thought he could come back and wanted to stay in the future, in short, the palace is still the best building in the city.

Li Yan was also not polite, and directly stationed in the Tang Palace, and the main hall was used as his headquarters. Niu Wenbing didn't care about Li Yan anymore, he just watched quietly from the sidelines, and reported Li Yan's crimes to Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing.

"Great marshal," Sun Sifu reported, "General Li Zhong has come to report that he has defeated Liu Hongqi three times and is now in pursuit. A total of more than 4,000 thieves were killed and more than 1,200 people were captured. ”

Li Yan instructed: "Send a letter to Li Zhong and let them take as many prisoners as possible." They are all young and strong, we have to work everywhere, and it's a pity to kill them. ”

Sun Sifu nodded and wrote it down, and then reported: "Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai worked together to capture Chengtian Mansion, and now they are divided into four parts to attack the city and plunder the land around. It is said that Zuo Liangyu was preparing a ship and planned to flee along the river. ”

Li Yan shook his head and sighed: "The official army is useless at all, so I can kill and injure some more thieves." ”

It is said that the people welcomed the thieves and enthusiastically joined them. Li Zicheng's cannons were spontaneously carried across the beachhead by the people. Sun Sifu said.

Li Yan sneered: "Zuo Liangyu only has more than 20,000 soldiers, and the two or three hundred thousand troops under him have to eat and drink, so he can only ask the local government and the people for it." But he is not like us, as long as he pays our taxes, he doesn't have to pay them to the court, and of course the people can't stand it. In addition, when a king came and did not pay for food, it naturally made the people cheer. ”

"Then Li Chuang, wouldn't they become stronger," Sun Sifu asked worriedly.

Li Yan said lightly: "It's okay, what's the use of having more people, is it that we have a lot of shells, even if he recruits and rebels, the combat effectiveness of those officers and soldiers is useless." ”

After that, he asked, "Have you sent the iron shotgun from Qixian?"

The lead projectile was easy to make, but the penetration was too poor, and the effect was not very good against the thieves who rushed over like a sea of people, so he asked Zhou Blacksmith to make a small iron projectile to load the shotgun. However, the small iron projectile is much more troublesome to make, so the output is not large, and he has ordered it to go down for two months, but it has not been delivered.

Sun Sifu replied: "There is a letter from Qixian County, saying that some have been made, and when there is enough to accumulate a batch, we will ship it together." However, in two days, two stone throwers will be sent, and they will let the marshal see it first. ”

"Well, let me know when it's delivered."

He is still relatively relaxed now, as long as Liu Hongqi's army is wiped out, he can free up his forces and clean up the small groups of thieves in other places. Although Henan is now vast and sparsely populated, he will not let the bandits continue to exist. Only in a safe environment can the people recuperate and his team develop.

Shandong, Cao County, Yellow River crossing.

After crossing the Yellow River, it is the Guide Mansion in Henan. A large number of fleeing people gathered here, and they all shouted in panic when they saw the Qing soldiers on horseback rushing quickly. The people who got on the boat urged the boatman to hurry up, and those who didn't get on the boat squeezed up desperately.

"Don't squeeze, don't squeeze, if you squeeze again, the boat will capsize," the captain shouted. But no one listened to him, and people still squeezed upwards one after another. He wanted to sail the boat, but he couldn't move it when the people pulled his boat.

"The slave soldiers are coming, get on the boat."

"Please, let me go up."

"Drive the boat, give you ten taels of silver quickly"

People are still shouting loudly. The shouts of adults and the cries of children can be heard clearly by the defenders on the other side.

There were a hundred defenders here, as well as two Tiger squat guns, and two two-inch Franc cannons that the field troops could not look at. There are many large and small crossings along the river, so their troops and firepower are not strong. Once there is something, they have to report to the nearest Fucheng and county town behind them, and naturally there are reinforcements coming.

The Qing soldiers on the north bank finally rushed up, and they rushed directly to the crowd, the knives and bones in their hands flew up and down, starting left and right, setting off a bloody storm in the crowd. They were not afraid of their war horses being surrounded in the crowd, even if their war horses stopped at a speed, the surrounding people were all panicked and automatically retreated.

The Qing soldiers on horseback had room to maneuver, flicked their horses' heads, turned around, and slashed outward. They laughed happily as they kept their weapons in their hands, harvesting their lives in laughter.

After a dozen cavalry of the Qing army rushed out of the crowd, those people frantically gathered on the side of the ferry. Some people started to move their hands and dragged down the people who were already on the boat. And as soon as they got on the ferry, they were dragged down by the people behind them. The boatman simply jumped into the Yellow River and swam hard to the other side.

The more than a dozen Qing soldiers watched right away and let their horses rest. Because they know that these Han people can't escape, they can kill slowly until these Han people kneel down and beg for mercy and become their slaves.

They're just scouts, and the strikers are still five miles away. There is no large-scale Ming ** team here, so in addition to sending one person back to report the news, they all came to the ferry to make a fortune. Although most of the money grabbed has to be handed over, as long as you grab enough, what remains is considerable. The slaves, too, were able to keep a few of them as their own slaves.

When they had rested, they shouted and roared again to urge their horses, and once again rushed towards the crowd gathered at the ferry.

At this time, Li Mu had already rushed over with his troops and saw the tragedy on the north bank. He frowned and shouted angrily: "A group of fools can ride a dozen or so captives, and they can be trampled to death by grabbing them from their horses, and they are actually killed by rivers of blood."

His soldiers were clutching their weapons tightly, their eyes burning with rage. Although the thieves also brutalized the people, they were not so arrogant in front of him. The bloody scenes they saw were all battles on the battlefield, but now what is happening on the other side of the Yellow River is a massacre.

"Pull them off the horse," Li Mou shouted loudly. After that, he ordered the opponent: "Shout together to warn those fools"

"Pull them off their horses," shouted the more than 300 soldiers brought by Li Mou in unison. The sound drifted across the Yellow River, being heard by the crowd of people who were fleeing in confusion. But no one dared to reach out and pull it, and they all turned around and fled, far away from the captive.

The Qing soldiers heard the shout, and they could understand the Chinese language to some extent, and understood the meaning of this sentence. They did not dare to continue slashing in the crowd, greeted each other, slashed out of the crowd, and stopped in the distance. looked at the Ming army on the other side of the Yellow River five or six miles away.

They waited for a while, and when they saw that some of the people wanted to run, they chased after them on horseback, and slashed the fleeing people from behind. Then he turned around and shouted loudly to the crowd at the ferry: "Kneel down and die"

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