July 15, the night of the full moon, the mid-year festival, also known as the Ghost Festival, according to legend, every year from July 1, the king of Hades ordered to open the gates of hell, so that those who suffer all year round and are imprisoned in hell The ghosts and ghosts come out of hell, get a short-term wandering, and enjoy the blood and food of the world, so people call July the ghost month, and do not return to the underworld until the end of July. Therefore, during this time, the folk are popular to worship and summon the souls of their deceased relatives, burn the ingots of the dead money, paper clothes and candles, put river lanterns, and perform rituals to pray for the blessing of the ancestors, eliminate disasters and increase blessings, or overkill the souls of the dead, and resolve grievances.

Among the governor's mansions of Shaanxi, Meng Qiaofang, who was nearly sixty years old, also respected this day, and put a copper basin in the palace, and the people had prepared a large stack of dark money for him to burn and sacrifice, at this moment his face was also a look of depression, and the hands throwing paper money were also trembling slightly, but he didn't know that a gust of yin wind struck, blowing away the missing half of the dark paper, which made Meng Qiaofang, who was a little distracted, startled, and involuntarily took several steps back.

Meng Qiaofang was a deputy general of the Ming army when he was young, and later he was convicted of something, dismissed from office and stayed at home, Chongzhen for three years, Huang Taiji conquered Yongping Mansion, Meng Qiaofang and Zhang Yangchu, the county magistrate, Bai Yangcui, the deputy general Yang Wenkui, and the guerrilla Yang Shengyuan and other fifteen people surrendered. After Meng Qiaofang returned to Liaoyang with the Qing army, he was appointed as Wuzhen Chao Ha Niu Lu Ezhen, and later served as the Red Flag Maile Ezhen, so Meng Qiaofang became the Han Army Red Flag Man, after the Qing army conquered Shaanxi, he was appointed to serve as the governor of Shaanxi, and it has been two years now. I thought that the Qing Dynasty was the destiny of heaven, but I didn't expect the fortune to be so, the current land of Shaanxi, he was afraid that he couldn't stay, Ding Guodong, Mi Layin and others have captured the land of six provinces in western Shaanxi, and the former Dashun army general Li Guo and others of the Ming Dynasty also crossed the Yellow River and captured the land of Yansui, the remnants of the Dashun army Wu Dading, Bai Bai Jue and others responded in the Qingyang area, the most important thing is Tongguan, Tongguan has been lost yesterday, Liu Fangming died in battle, and the deputy general Chen Fu retreated to Weinan with less than a thousand remnants, At this moment, Meng Qiaofang didn't know whether his death date would be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

A lonely city, with 5,000 panicked soldiers and horses, Meng Qiaofang, who was under siege, knew that he was at the end of his rope. There are 200,000 anti-Qing soldiers and horses in various places, and he only has a few thousand people, how can he hold Xi'an, Wu Sangui and Ao Bai in Hanzhong have also lost contact with him, I don't know what the situation is, he can only get by.

In the southern Zhengcheng of Hanzhong, Wu Sangui and Ao Bai sat in the hall with sad faces, and in front of them was a handwritten letter sent by Meng Qiaofang ten days ago. Liu Tichun of Jinzhou is approaching step by step, has conquered Hanyin, Chihekou, Shiquan, and is now attacking Ziwu Town; Ai Nengqi of Bashu in the south is leading an army from Daba Mountain to attack Qingshi Pass, Qin Liangyu is leading an army to attack Chu County, and Luoyang and Fengxian in the northwest have also been lost.

Wu Sangui sighed, back then, in order to protect himself, he first surrendered to Li Zicheng, and later because of the suffering of his family, he suspected that Li Zicheng wanted to harm him, so he strongly advocated using Qing soldiers to balance Li Zicheng. The deadly Dolgon, the poisonous snake, came out of the hole, and it was out of control, not only for Li Zicheng's life, but also for Wu Sangui's submission, Wu Sangui was still for himself, betrayed the king and forgot his father, surrendered to the Qing army, and became their pawn, Pingshan, Shaanxi, and Sichuan, all of whom had his figure. And now, it is the new dynasty that he has always been loyal to, but the building is about to collapse overnight, and he Wu Sangui is forced to go to the end of the road.

Between his thoughts, Wu Sangui smiled, it was a bitter smile, and once again examined Meng Qiaofang's letter, the complicated expression on Wu Sangui's face seemed to be much less, and in his flickering eyes, he gradually revealed a certain determination.

After thinking for a long time, Wu Sangui's frowning brows relaxed, he stood up, looked at the gloomy sky outside the hall, and let out a long sigh.

"General Aobai, the current situation in Hanzhong, you also know that you can't do anything, if you are reckless and do it, it is to abandon the original and chase the end, when the army is defeated and killed, it will be useless, then it is meaningless for us to die, it means that it is better to lead the army to evacuate, preserve strength, and retreat to Shaanxi, we still have 40,000 troops in our hands, Governor Meng's letter also said that Fengxiang has not yet lost, we can retreat from the Baoxie Valley, but once Fengxiang is also lost, then we will really be trapped in Hanzhong, and there is not much grain and grass left in the armyGovernor Meng has already stated in his letter that the imperial court has no food or salary to allocate to us, and we can't keep it. ”

"My Qing warriors overcame thorns and thorns, paved the road with blood, and only then did they capture the land of Hanzhong, how can they give up lightly, once Hanzhong is lost, when the Ming army takes advantage of the situation to continue to attack Shaanxi in the north, we will definitely be able to hold it?" Ao Bai is unwilling, very unwilling, although Hanzhong is Sun Kewang surrendered, but in the first battle of Sichuan, they lost tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and since this battle, they have lost thousands of elites, so he gave up, he was unwilling.

Wu Sangui continued to persuade: "If Shaanxi is lost, then Hanzhong will become a lonely place, the Ming army does not need to attack, it is blindly besieged but not attacked, we will definitely die, we retreat to Shaanxi, at least there is a chance, stay in Hanzhong, but there is not much chance, and I hope that General Aobai can think twice, if you don't retreat, then I can lead my soldiers to leave tomorrow." ”

Wu Sangui is a person who knows how to advance and retreat, it is difficult to do anything in Hanzhong, after years of war, the people's livelihood is withering, even if they loot and can't get much supplies, it is better to take advantage of the fact that there is still a chance to leave Hanzhong, after arriving in Shaanxi, they are all war horses, and there is still a chance to do it, here in Hanzhong, the mountains, forests and waterways are not conducive to their back and forth to fight, so he has decided to return to Shaanxi, and consulted Aobai's meaning, but it is just the situation, Aobai wants to die here, he doesn't want to.

"You dare!" Ao Bai Huo Ran got up and glared at Wu Sangui angrily, he is the main general, Wu Sangui is the deputy general, he is a Manchu warrior, so he naturally does not take a repeated person like Wu Sangui in his eyes.

"Humph! At present, there are 20,000 soldiers and horses in Nanzheng, I have 10,000 in my hands, and you are only 10,000, if you want to fight, I am afraid that you will not succeed! It's a big deal that the fish dies and the net is broken, who may be the one who suffers in the end? Wu Sangui also sneered and looked at Aobai, so that Aobai was angry, but he didn't dare to really attack, what Wu Sangui said made sense, if he was infighting, they would really all die here, and Hanzhong would not be able to keep it at that time, they also killed each other and cheapened the Ming army.

Seeing that Ao Bai was speechless, Wu Sangui didn't say much at the moment, and arched his hand: "Farewell!" Then he turned and left.

"Wu Sangui, Wu Sangui, you ungrateful, you must not die well." Ao Bai was filled with indignation, and he couldn't help but scold. The soldiers on the left and right outside the door, bowed their heads and did not speak, one by one, they were depressed, at a loss, they worshiped and scolded for most of the day, they were so tired that they were exhausted, and they stopped.

And his swearing can not change Wu Sangui's heart to leave, the next morning, Wu Sangui led all his subordinates to leave Nanzheng, withdraw from the Baoxiao Valley, before leaving, but also in Nanzheng looting, has replenished the needs of the military horses, so that they can return to Shaanxi with food and drink, and the soldiers and horses of Ao Bai also followed the great plundering of Hanzhong, making the land of Hanzhong a mess, accumulated blood debts, indescribable.