Two days later, in the early morning, Jing Jie ordered the sergeant to go to Hanyang City under the banner of Hao Shaoqi to swagger through the city. Tian Jianxiu, who was on the city wall, knew at first sight that it was Hao Shaoqi, the fierce general who broke into the army, not only did not die in battle, but surrendered directly.

As soon as Hao Shaoqi surrendered, Tian Jianxiu was frightened. Because Hao Shaoqi's headquarters is in Hanyang City, there is also a personal army of 2,000 people, once Hao Shaoqi surrenders, recruiting this personal army should be combined with the outside world, and the consequences are unimaginable.

Tian Jianxiu immediately ordered Tian Guang to gather 5,000 troops in the city, and unexpectedly raided the barracks of Hao Shaoqi's own soldiers. The two sides fought in the city for two days and two nights, and Tian Jianxiu lost 3,000 soldiers and horses, and annihilated all the soldiers of Hao Shaoqi.

There were originally 30,000 soldiers and horses in Hanyang City, but after several days of fighting and the last melee, only 10,000 soldiers and horses remained. How can a mere 10,000 soldiers and horses hold Hanyang City? Tian Jianxiu sent two teams of scouts out of the city overnight, all the way to secretly cross the river, to report to Li Zicheng under Baling City about the battle situation in Hanyang City; All the way is to drive Huangzhou Mansion and move rescue troops to Liu Zongmin, the general stationed in Huangzhou Mansion.

The sergeant on Jing Jie's patrol found the two scouts, returned to the camp to report, and asked to send the elite cavalry to pursue immediately, but Jing Jie stopped him.

Jing Jie's crossing of the river to attack Hanyang Mansion this time was exactly a plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao, if he could attract Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin to return to the division to rescue Hanyang Mansion, it would be the best. Tian Jianxiu wanted to find a rescuer, so he had to go.

The first person to receive Tian Jianxiu's letter for help was Liu Zongmin from Huangzhou Mansion. Hanyang is an important town in Jiangbei, and it is also the hub of Huangzhou Mansion, Jingzhou Mansion and Xiangyang Mansion. If Hanyang Mansion is lost, what is the significance of Liu Zongmin occupying Huangzhou Mansion?

Liu Zongmin didn't say a word, let alone inform Li Zicheng, and directly led 30,000 cavalry to return to Hanyang Mansion under the stars.

As soon as Liu Zongmin's army came to help, the Xuanjia Army stationed in Ezhou Port in the south of the Yangtze River got first-hand military information, and Pegasus galloped to Wuchang Mansion to report to Fang Yuan.

The fighter plane created by Jing Jie was fleeting, and Fang Yuan immediately ordered the general soldier Feng Ting to lead 20,000 reinforcements from Fujian and Guanglai to cross the river, and recover all of them Huangzhou Mansion, which had been occupied for half a year. Because Liu Zongmin's cavalry was difficult to change, the Huangzhou Mansion was destroyed and all industries withered, and the people were not able to make a living.

After Feng Ting sent troops to take over the Huangzhou Mansion, Fang Yuan ordered the requisition of 50,000 stone of military rations hoarded in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province to go to the state capitals of Huangzhou Prefecture to settle the people.

Liu Zongmin's cavalry rushed to the city of Hanyang, and Jing Jie was reinforcing the fortifications in the port of Hanyang, and he could not hold out. Every time Liu Zongmin led the cavalry to call for battle, Jing Jie directly used artillery to bombard people on their backs.

The two sides were in a strategic stalemate for the time being.

Half a month later, Li Zicheng received an urgent military situation from Hanyang City, and he almost fainted. He led the army to the east for more than half a year, whether it was the Henan battlefield or the Huguang battlefield, there was no Xuanjia Army to firmly contain the strategic points, except for the capture of Huangzhou Mansion, there was no strategic breakthrough.

He was already anxious, but he was helpless. He fought with the Qin army of Sun Chuanting of the Ming army, the Tianxiong army of Lu Xiangsheng, and also fought with Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou. Before the Eastern Expedition, he had overestimated the combat power of the Xuanjia Army as much as possible, and in his judgment, marching from Henan and Huguang was enough to defeat the Xuanjia Army's western defense within half a year.

What Li Zicheng didn't expect was that as soon as the two armies started a war, the combat power of the Xuanjia Army was far superior to the Qin Army and Tianxiong Army that he had fought before. He led an army of 200,000 and spent more than half a year, but he was unable to penetrate the defense line of the Xuanjia Army's partial division, Gan Hui and Li Yan.

After Fang Yuan solved Sun Chuanting and pocketed Shandong, the news that the army would come to the west again to come to help, Li Zicheng was already frightened.

Within two months, the two sides fought two battles on the Huguang battlefield.

In the battle of Puqi, the second fierce general of the invasion army, Yuan Zongdi, was defeated, and Yuan Zongdi was killed.

In the battle of Hanyang, the Confucian general who broke into the army, the general Tian Jianxiu, and the third fierce general Hao Shaoqi were defeated, and Hao Shaoqi surrendered.

It's just been two months since the start of the war, and the fierce generals ranked second and third in the army have died and surrendered, how can this battle continue?!

The main force of the invasion army led by Li Zicheng was sniped under Baling City for four months, and with the current battle situation, even if they tried their best to take Baling, it was useless.

Although he didn't want to admit it, he couldn't help but admit the fact that in the face of the aggressive offensive of the Xuanjia Army, it was extremely difficult for the army to protect itself.

At the suggestion of his military advisor Niu Jinxing, Li Zicheng abandoned Baling City, which had been besieged for four months, and led 60,000 or 70,000 soldiers to retreat south along the Yangtze River. The ports along the river had long been razed to the ground by the sailors of the Xuanjia Army, and there was no way to find Banjia to cross the river to the north, so they could only retreat to Dongting Lake and forcibly recruit local civilian boats and fishing boats to cross the river.

The land south of the Yangtze River under the jurisdiction of Huguang is the battlefield where Fang Yuan hunted Li Zicheng, where will Li Zicheng be given the opportunity to cross the river and return to the north? The sailors of the Xuanjia Army had already been dispatched to drive all the civilian boats away from the river basin south of Dongting Lake and to Jiangbei to make a living.

The lake area south of Dongting Lake has long been taken over by the Xuanjia Army Naval Division, cutting off the waterway for Li Zicheng to return north. Let Li Zicheng transfer from Yuezhou Mansion to Changsha Mansion and then to Changde Mansion, thinking about crossing the river, it is a fool's dream, a hundreds of miles long Yangtze River, whether it is fishing boats or merchant ships, all have been driven away from the river.

Li Zicheng marched for more than half a month, and his military rations were almost exhausted, but he was still sniped south of the Yangtze River and could not break through to the north.

Inside the tent of the Chinese army

Li Zicheng looked at the military ration inventory book handed over by General Liu Fangliang, and the whole army only had five days' food, and if he wanted to break the blockade of the Xuanjia Army and cross the river within five days, it was almost a fool's dream.

His two military advisors, one Niu Jinxing and one Song Xiance, silently guarded on both sides.

Li Zicheng put the grain book at the end, and asked Niu Jinxing, "Juming, there are only five days' food in the army, but our army has been unable to break through the river blockade for a long time, what should we do?" ”

Niu Jinxing twisted his beard, squinted slightly, and said slowly, "Fang Yuan wants to trap our army, that's a fool's dream, there are still five mansions in Huguang Jiangnan, which is enough for us to plunder enough military rations." ”

Li Zicheng was stunned and asked, "Plunder? Whose grain is plundered? The vassal kings of Huguang and the rich families have long been divided by us, and there is no food to grab. ”

Niu Jinxing smiled coldly and said, "There is no vassal king, rich households, and middle and poor households!" ”

Li Zicheng was slightly stunned when he heard this, and Song Xiance hurriedly retorted, "Chuang Wang, no way!" Since the beginning of our army, we have waged the slogan of equalizing the rich and the poor and dividing the land, and opened warehouses to release grain to the poor people. Even if they plundered, they only plundered the vassal kings and rich households, and never attacked the poor people! ”

Niu Jinxing stared straight at him and said unhappily, "At this time and that time, since we are fighting to divide the fields and distribute the grain, when we are short of food, the poor people should also lend a hand!" ”

Song Xiance didn't argue with him, and said to Li Zicheng, "King Chuang, it is precisely under the slogan of 'King Chuang comes that he will not pay for food', so that a steady stream of people come to join the army, and only then can we have today's achievements!" If you start to collect grain from the people and grab it, then all the previous fame will be wasted! ”

Niu Jinxing said coldly, "Master Song, you all know that 'King Chuang comes and doesn't pay for food' is just a slogan for raising troops, but he is still stubborn and does not know how to be flexible, it is simply extremely pedantic!" Where in this world did the court come from? If everyone doesn't pay for food, what do soldiers eat and wear, how can they kill all the corrupt officials, local tyrants and inferior gentry?! ”

Song Xiance sighed and said, "King Chuang, now is the critical juncture of fighting for the world, you must not lose the hearts of the people!" ”

Niu Jinxing sneered, "Since it is a critical juncture in the fight for the world, the lives of the soldiers of the invading army are the most important thing, if this invading army is gone, it will really be over!" ”

Song Xiance angrily pointed at Niu Jinxing and scolded, "It was you who forced Li Yan Gongzi to rebel in the first place, causing today's catastrophe, and you still dare to bewitch the public?!" ”

Niu Jinxing also got up angrily and said, "Wow! Song Shorty, I have heard for a long time that you and Li Yan colluded privately, and today you finally revealed your true nature and found a place for the traitor Li Yan! ”

The two military divisions were in a quarrel, Li Zicheng coughed heavily, got up and said, "Juming, offer advice, don't argue anymore." ”

He inspected the two of them and said lightly, "In troubled times, everything should be in power, gather Ming, and go to the affairs of military rations!" ”

He was on Niu Jinxing's side, and he was going to the people to loot military rations, Niu Jinxing took the order and left, Song Xiance couldn't make a sound, and sat on the chair in a daze.