At this moment, an exclamation came from outside the city, Gao Yihuan looked down again, and saw that after a while, the Western Army had already appeared in Gao Yihuan's field of vision with the defeated army.

What is a crowd of people? At present, the Western Army has won a battle, and when the momentum is in full swing, people and horses are rolling in, and it is a sea of people.

Gao Yihuan stood at the head of the city, and as far as he could see, there was a crowd of people outside the city.

Thousands of bandits in front, crying fathers and mothers who were chased by the Western Army, their intestines were repentant.

Gao Yihuan was newly defeated, he saw that the western army was chasing urgently, and he had the intention of rushing to the city in one breath, afraid of shaking the morale of the defenders in the city, so he hurriedly turned his head and ordered: "Quick, fire a few cannons, and kill Li Dingguo's sharp spirit." ”

The shouts of killing outside the city came like waves, and at intervals of two or three miles, the soldiers and young men in the city could hear the shouts of the Western Army, and they all looked at the Western Army rushing over with solemn expressions.

At this time, several officers hurriedly ran to the side of the artillery and hurriedly commanded the gunners, "Quick, the general has an order, immediately load and open the cannon!" ”

When the gunners heard the sound, they woke up like a dream, and immediately moved one after another.

Outside the city, Li Dingguo rode in front of him, and the strong wind brought up by the fast running of the war horse blew the big red cloak behind him, which made people particularly eye-catching.

Behind him, countless figures of the Western Army shouted, rushing towards Xiangyang, with a monstrous momentum, as if they wanted to take Xiangyang City in one fell swoop.

At this moment, several deafening explosions suddenly came from the city, "Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Li Dingguo's eyes sank in the gallop, and he saw several clouds of white smoke rising from the tall Xiangyang City in turn, flashing orange-red flames, and several black projectiles whistling over.

"Huh~" Li Dingguo suddenly grabbed the reins of the horse, the front hooves of the war horse were suspended, and a cannonball fell three feet in front of him, smashing out a mud puddle, splashing a large area of soil, and then catapulting up, falling to the ground and rolling far away.

Six cannons were fired in succession from the city, two of which hit the Western Army, three of which hit the gap between the Western Army and the heroes, and one hit the fleeing heroes.

At this time, Li Dingguo stabilized his horse, and immediately waved his hand, and the pursuing Western army behind him stopped outside the city.

Bai Wenxuan stepped forward immediately, "General, why don't you chase it?" ”

Li Dingguo waved his whip and pointed at the head of the city, "See, the other party has already prepared, and if you get closer, you will shoot arrows together." ”

Bai Wenxuan looked at Xiangyang City from a distance, several black holes of artillery on the city wall were aimed at them, and between the battlements on both sides of the artillery, there was a figure standing with a bow or holding a firecracker, and the city was indeed prepared.

At this time, Bai Wenxuan's gaze fell from the head of the city to the city wall, and he couldn't help but exhale, the majestic Xiangyang City is more than three zhang high, surrounded by moats, the city gate is protected by urn city, and the city wall defense facilities are extremely complete.

Bai Wenxuan pulled the reins and controlled his crotch to be frightened by the majestic city, and some restless war horses, and said to Li Dingguo: "General, let the thief flee back first, the city has been prepared, we have no siege equipment, Xiangyang is afraid that it will be difficult to fight." ”

Li Dingguo sneered, and then pulled the reins of his horse, "Ben will have a plan to break the city, and order the army to garrison the village first, capture the prisoners, and wait for the general's order." ”

Although the Western Army defeated the Chuang army, the Chuang army in Xiangyang is said to be only the vanguard of Li Zicheng.

If Li Zicheng goes to Xiangyang, then the Western Army will have to retreat south.

Therefore, the Western Army did not have much time, and could only break through the city before Li Zicheng arrived.

Bai Wenxuan wanted to ask what Li Dingguo's strategy was, but as soon as he wanted to speak, Li Dingguo pulled the reins of his horse and ran back, Bai Wenxuan had to pull out his horse to follow, and as soon as the two left, the artillery in the city roared and fired six more cannons.

The western army came to the city, making the people in Xiangyang City panic.

After all, Gao Yihuan had just occupied Xiangfan, had no foundation, was not attached to the people's hearts, and returned with a big defeat, so the situation was still very dangerous.

It was night in Xiangyang City, where the lights were bright everywhere, and the streets and city walls were full of patrolling soldiers, and the city was full of tension.

At night, in the lobby of the original Zuo Liangyu Marshal's Mansion, the lights were bright, there was a tablet on it, and a coffin was placed in the middle, but there was no corpse in it, but the crown in the king's body.

At this time, Gao Yihuan and Gao Zurong stood in the hall, and they both clothed the king's body with linen to show their grief in their hearts.

"Dad, now that Li Dingguo has arrived outside the city, he originally had 20,000 people, and he captured 10,000 or 20,000, if he storms Xiangyang, I'm afraid we will lose a lot!" Gao Yihuan stood on the side of the lobby and said a little worriedly.

He is really ruthless, regardless of casualties, he has to defend Xiangyang, he may not be able to hold it, after all, there are 5,000 elite soldiers in the city, tens of thousands of villagers, and thousands of defeated troops, but Gao Yihuan is reluctant to consume his elite soldiers.

It is now September of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, and there is still half a year to go, and it is very likely that the Manchu Qing Dynasty will enter the customs as in history.

Gao Yihuan now has more than 9,000 horses, it took him a year to bring them out, if a few thousand people died in Xiangyang, then he would not have time at all to bring out another elite army.

This is also one of the reasons why he hurriedly returned to Xiangyang, that is, he didn't want to fight hard.

At this time, the generals of the Gao army were all busy guarding the city, and there were only two Gao father and son in the hall.

Gao Zurong said, "Zhang Xianzhong may not want to start a war with Li Zicheng, this will not be good for him, but will deplete his strength." Thinking about it for their father, it is impossible for them to put themselves in the middle of the attack of the Shun army and the Ming army, so although the western army covets Xiangyang, if it can't be captured, it will inevitably return south to Wuchang. ”

Gao Yihuan groaned for a while, "Dad, what you said is right, Zhang Xianzhong only occupies one place in Wuchang, and the Ming army in the southeast has already returned to defense, and his situation is not optimistic, so he will not be spent in Xiangyang for a long time." ”

Speaking of this, Gao Yihuan clenched his fists and walked a few steps, "But Dad, you don't know Li Dingguo outside the city, but he is a ruthless character, although I have made some preparations to defend the city, but after all, I have just been defeated by him, the Western Army is really going to attack, Zhang Xianzhong also led the troops over, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist." After all, we all know in our hearts that it is impossible for Li Zicheng to come. ”

Gao Zurong nodded, "Yihuan, you don't have to worry too much now, do what you can do well." First of all, we must unify people's hearts, now that the king is dead, and most of the leaders of the other villages have been captured, it is actually an opportunity for you. You have to seize the opportunity to unify the military power in the city first, so that the western army will attack, and you will also have the strength to fight. Secondly, it is still necessary to bluff and try to make the Western army retreat in the face of difficulties. ”

Gao Yihuan listened to the frequent bowing, he suddenly turned his head and asked, "Go, bring Wang Deren over." ”

The soldiers outside the hall were busy clasping their fists to receive orders, and after a while, they led Wang Deren to the outside of the hall.

At this time, as soon as Wang Deren came in, he saw the layout of the hall clearly, it was a mourning hall, and there was a tablet in it, which was engraved with the name of the king's body, and a coffin was placed in the middle, which made him feel that he had prepared in advance.

Wang Deren was shocked when he saw it, Gao Yihuan's movements were really fast, and everything was arranged so quickly.

This made Wang Deren's back a little chilly, if he hadn't run fast, it was estimated that there would have been a tablet on it.

Gao Yihuan didn't hesitate when he saw him come in, and grabbed his hand as soon as he grabbed him, "Wang Duwei, he died on the battlefield in his body, and the general was very heartbroken, but the current situation is critical, and we who are alive still need to look forward." ”

Gao Zurong on the side also said loudly: "Deren, I am dead in my body, but Nanyang Town guards this position, and someone has to do it." Yihuan is ready to recommend you to take over, what do you think! ”

Taking advantage of the gap between the guards to call people, Gao Yihuan and Gao Zurong had already had a brief discussion, in fact, they had already talked about this issue outside the long pavilion in Nanyang.

Gao Yihuan directly took over Nanyang, which would cause Li Zicheng's jealousy, and letting Wang Deren, the general in the royal body, take over, would serve the purpose of hiding people's eyes.

Wang Deren is also a smart person, he understood it as soon as he heard it, he looked at the spiritual position in the king's body in the hall, and the chill in his heart was even worse, and he was busy kneeling on one knee, "Humble position, thank you for the promotion of the general, in the future, only the general will be the first to look forward." ”

Gao Yihuan smiled and helped him up, "They are all their own brothers, it is better to give them to you than to outsiders." Saying that, Gao Yihuan patted him on the shoulder, "But this time your Nanyang men and horses have lost too much, Ben Jiang thought about it, and decided to assign you a few lieutenants to help you recover your strength, what do you think?" ”

Where is this to help him recover his strength, it is clearly a blatant placement of henchmen and wings, but Wang Deren can only say anything, he can only smile and say: "The general is thoughtful, and all the humble positions are up to the general!" ”

The bones in the king's body were not cold, and Gao Yihuan was in front of his mourning hall and directly annexed his forces.

Gao Yihuan nodded with satisfaction, "Deren, I think you are very capable, follow me and work hard, I won't treat you badly!" ”

He was talking, but at this time, Huang San suddenly came in in a hurry, saluted and said, "General, there is something to report for your humble duties!" ”

(End of chapter)