The defeat was like a mountain, and Jingzhou once again witnessed the Jedi counterattack, and the invincible army of victory often fell in the sand here.

Wu Sangui bypassed Dongting Lake and fled north from the Taojiang River, crossing the river and demolishing bridges along the way, allowing him to avoid pursuit. But it also misled the Eight Banners soldiers behind, Hauge and Azig saw that Wu Sangui had lost the news, and the defeated soldiers shouted that the commander was dead, and the two of them no longer dared to organize a counterattack on the spot.

Wu Sangui's hand successfully preserved all his descendants, but he suffered the green battalion soldiers transferred from the north. The main force of the Qing army, more than 200,000 green battalion soldiers, lost the command and dispatch of the Chinese army, and the men and horses transferred from the occupied areas lost their commanders, and suddenly fell into chaos. Those who have a good sense of direction also know how to flee to the north, and some can no longer find the north, where there are few people to run.

In order to expand the results of the battle as much as possible, the Ming army also divided its troops to chase and chase down the defeated soldiers from all directions. The prefectures and counties along the way were their territory, and the Qing soldiers pursued them tightly and did not have time to occupy them, which increased the fear of the rout. Every time I passed by the city, I ran faster, for fear that the city gate would be wide open and a group of Ming troops would be chased. At this time, people are really rumored, and the grass and trees are all soldiers.

Hou Xuanyan and Xia Wanchun, who chased and killed all night, soon caught up to the front. At dawn, on the hill on the outskirts of Baling, Hou Xuanyan rode on a horse and looked into the distance. The Qing troops in front had already crossed the Yangtze River, and it seemed that they had advanced and retreated in a certain way, and there was no appearance of a rout. They withdrew decisively, and even the war horses were thrown away by the river, and countless ownerless horses were digging and neighing by the river. Hou Xuanyan raised his horsewhip, pointed to the river and asked, "Brother Duan, which Qing army is this?" ”

Xia Wanchun lifted the reins of the horse, stretched out his hand to block his forehead, and said: "Look at the flag is a tartar inlaid with a yellow flag, it should be Haoge's person." ”

These people came to help the sailors in Jiangshan and Wuchang Mansion to hand over, although these soldiers outside the pass were not accustomed to riding boats, but they pressed on the bow of the boat to draw arrows and shoot angrily, without falling behind at all. The Wuchang Naval Division was in the lower stream, and most of their ships were trough ships that transported troops, and the Huguang warships were all surrendered to the Qing soldiers. In desperation, the sailor could not stop these people from crossing the river. He Zhicun, the commander of the naval division, saw Hou Xuanyan's handsome banner from a distance, and came ashore to see him, with a guilty face: "Commander, the mark is incompetent, and he did not intercept the river and annihilate the enemy." ”

Hou Xuanyan nodded lightly and sighed: "Yellow flag... The Eight Banners of the Two Yellow Flags are worthy of their name and should not be underestimated. If you don't take this opportunity to annihilate in one fell swoop, you will encounter a strong opponent in the future, and the outcome is still unknown. ”

Xia Wanchun nodded and said, "Our cavalry can't cross the river, get off and cross the river to pursue!" ”

Hou Xuanyan hesitated, but after a while, he stomped his feet and said, "Cross the river!" ”

The Fengzi battalion chased too fast, a total of 5,000 people, and 1,000 people remained on the road to collect and surrender troops. The 4,000 men and horses plus the Wuchang garrison carried by the sailors were only more than 20,000 people. Hou Xuanyan was uneasy, but he was really unwilling to let go of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he decided to cross the river to pursue. "Stick to them first, and then when our army arrives, we will come forward to fight." The surrounding generals didn't think much when they heard it, and they were still immersed in the joy of the big victory, and they didn't care at all.

Xia Wanchun commanded his men and horses to board the boat by the river, left the war horses by the river, and ordered a few squads to stay here and wait for the friendly troops behind to collect these war horses.

The water flow above the river is stable, and the river does not freeze in the middle of winter, but the mist is very heavy. After the Ming troops who crossed the river came ashore one after another, Hou Xuanyan stood at the bow of the boat and looked back, and there were still many boats crowded by the river. He stood on the bow of the ship and commanded the men and horses from all walks of life to assemble, when suddenly the shouts of killing sounded in front of him. Azig went and returned, and with a small group of men and horses with two white flags, he returned to the river. Now it is a half-crossing situation, and it is the most difficult to meet the enemy, but fortunately, the main force of Azig is still retreating, and this force is only fighting back to buy time.

Azig and Hauge didn't know that Hou Xuanyan was among the pioneers of the Ming army and missed the best opportunity for revenge. But even this small group of Qing soldiers still caused enough trouble, and Hou Xuanyan hurriedly met the enemy. The Eight Banners soldiers are skilled in bows and horses, and they often shoot arrows in succession, and a round of arrows comes down, and the Ming army crossing the river has no cover and suffers heavy casualties.

The fog by the river in the early morning was very thick, and Hou Xuanyan didn't know how many Qing soldiers came, so he didn't dare to be careless. commanded everyone to take shelter on the ship first, and a cold arrow shot fiercely, heading straight for Hou Xuanyan's front door. The pro-soldiers around him were quick to move, and pushed Hou Xuanyan away, and the feather arrow flew past his cheek, rubbing a bloody mark on his cheek. Hou Xuanyan stood at the bow of the boat, and although he dodged the deadly arrow, he lost his balance and fell into the water.

It's cold! The river water poured into the armor instantly froze him to the point that he lost his instincts, and his hands and feet became disobedient. In the middle of winter, the river water was cold to the bone, and Hou Xuanyan only felt that the armor on his body had turned into a weight of 10,000 catties, and he slowly sank with himself. At this moment, a feather arrow broke through the air again, and happened to be inserted into Hou Xuanyan's shoulder stretched out of the river.

The surrounding soldiers were shocked, and the watery ones hurriedly took off their clothes and jumped into the water. Seven or eight men took him by the hand, shielded him from the shot of their bows and arrows, and dragged him to the side of the boat. Xia Wanchun's anxious face changed greatly, and he rushed to the bow of the boat and commanded everyone to pull them up with ropes. Everyone dragged Hou Xuanyan to the cabin and removed the armor on his body. After stripping him naked, drying his body, he cleaned and bandaged the wound and wrapped his body in cotton clothes.

Azig didn't know the bottom of his heart, and after a counterattack, he hurriedly withdrew. The fog on the river made each other very jealous, and no one knew how many men and horses the enemy had. Xia Wanchun looked at Hou Xuanyan's pale face, his lips trembled but he couldn't make a sound, and ordered Hou Xuanyan to be escorted back to the other side.

Hou Xuanyan was so cold that he lost his intuition, and after wiping it dry, he slowly eased it and stretched out his hand tremblingly. His heart was full of anxiety, once the fighter plane was missed, there would be no such opportunity. Even if it's himself, he doesn't dare to gamble again. Xia Wanchun held his hand and asked, "Commander, have you woken up?" ”

Hou Xuanyan raised his head hard, and found that he couldn't lift it at all, so Xia Wanchun hurriedly lowered his head and leaned to his mouth.

"Around. . Bypass.. These are full of soldiers, killing. Kill the Green Battalion, co-opted.. They. Assist.. Xiangyang, Xiangyang. "Hou Xuanyan is sober in his mind, with tens of thousands of people, he can't hold any city in Jingxiang at all. As long as the troops of the Green Battalion were killed or wounded, no matter how brave the Manchurian soldiers were, they could only withdraw from Huguang. Otherwise, the cities here are the cages that trap them.

Xia Wanchun nodded heavily, Hou Xuanyan used all his strength, and said, "Plug Yinxi.. Regain Xiangyang, regain it. Remember"

Xia Wanchun's eyes were hot, and he said: "Don't worry, Governor, I will definitely tell the Governor that we will definitely recover Xiangyang." ”