Pei Shize was ordered to set up a camp at the exit of the valley in front of Xialong Pass was lost, and his men and horses were flooded by the sea of thieves and soldiers, and only he himself fled back in embarrassment with more than a dozen personal guards.

Zhang Zongheng, the envoy of Shanxi, was naturally shocked, because at this time, he had not yet received the military intelligence report forwarded to him by Li Banghua, the minister of military aircraft, from Shikou, and did not know what happened in Shennanyu, and did not know the death of Wang Jiayin and Wang Er.

Therefore, he couldn't figure out why the "Zijin Liang" Wang Ziyong, who had always been calm, suddenly seemed to go crazy, and rushed out with the surging thief army.

If he could receive the news in time that the official army had captured Shennanyu and that Wang Jiayin and Wang Er had died, then the situation would naturally be much better if he took precautions as soon as possible.

But even so, even if he concentrated all the three or four thousand officers and soldiers near the stone tower in front of Xia Long Pass, he still couldn't stop Wang Ziyong and the others who were desperately trying to rush out.

Because in the case of similar weapons and equipment, the difference in the number of troops on both sides is really too great.

Speaking of which, if Wang Zuojiao can have the determination of Wang Ziyong, and dare to lead the 20,000 horses under his command, give up the county seat of Ningxiang, and desperately attack in the direction of Lishi, then whether Hong Chengchou can stop it is also two words.

Even if some of them can be killed, there will definitely be a considerable number of thieves who have successfully escaped.

After all, before the reinforcements of Li Bei's musket team arrived, Hong Chengchou's musket team was only 300 people, and there were only about a dozen old-fashioned artillery pieces.

But there are characters like Luo Rucai under Wang's own command, and there are only a bunch of self-righteous bosses under Wang Zuohang's command.

Although Zhang Zongheng was shocked by the sudden breakthrough of the main force of the thief army under Wang Ziyong, he did not punish Pei Shize who fled back.

After all, this is the time to employ people, and the main body in the west camp of the new town, that is, the original Shanxi township soldiers, are basically tenant villagers recruited and trained by the Pei family.

Among them, the backbone personnel are the young talents of the Wenxi Pei family.

Moreover, these people are all Pei Shize, the concubine of the Pei family, who was born in martial arts.

If Pei Shize is dealt with, Zhang Zongheng will immediately have no troops available.

Shanxi Wenxi Pei's family, since ancient times, is a wealthy family in the territory of Pingyang Prefecture, Shanxi.

Although after arriving in the Ming Dynasty, it was already much worse than before, but the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and the Wenxi Pei family was still an official family at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but it was not as powerful as it was in the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties.

As the saying goes, "the poor learn literature, the rich learn martial arts", Wen Xi Pei has always paid attention to both civil and military skills, and those who are interested in learning literature among their children will study and be admitted to the military to become officials, maintain the door and not fall, and those who have the ability to practice martial arts, then refine the martial arts of guns and sticks, and protect the territory and the people.

Now Emperor Chongzhen had previously considered that the great chaos in the northwest was about to break out, and made a decree to allow the places where civil unrest occurred, especially in Shanxi and Shaanxi, to mobilize officials in the township, or local clans to recruit and train township soldiers, and form villages for self-protection.

It's just that these landlords are armed or the training, equipment, and combat strength of the local township soldiers, that is, they can only say sorry.

Just like when there was a great chaos in western Zhejiang before, Ling Mengchu recruited and trained township soldiers in Huzhou to support the government to quell the chaos, and the Wenxi Pei family, located in the southwest of Shanxi, also moved when he heard the order.

With the support of Zhang Zongheng, the envoy of Shanxi, the Pei family united several families in Pingyang Mansion, raised money and food, raised 2,000 township soldiers, and became an important force to defend Pingyang Mansion when the army of Shanxi along the Yellow Line Guard collapsed.

However, like all the landlords' regiments to train their arms, since they are the township soldiers who are known to the Pei family to pay for the money and grain for training, the temporarily appointed generals and school officers are of course the majority of the Pei family.

Among these people, it is naturally headed by Pei Shize, the son of the Pei family, who was just in the middle of the martial arts in the first year of Chongzhen.

Therefore, at this time, although Pei Shize lost all the horses and horses he had brought out before, fled back in embarrassment, and knelt in front of Zhang Zongheng, tied his hands and begged for military justice, but after Zhang Zongheng's face changed several times, he still stepped forward in person, helped him up, untied the rope, and made him guilty and meritorious.

What's more, Pei Shize's two half-brothers died in the chaos, if Zhang Zongheng cuts him down or arrests him again, then Wen Xi Pei's family may have to fry the pot immediately.

Including his cousins Pei Guoyong and Pei Guoqing, who are currently in the same camp in the west of the town and are leading troops to guard Shilou County, I am afraid they will not give up.

Besides, after Pei Shize fled, it was just over an hour, and the thieves army brigade under Wang Ziyong's headquarters had already come to Shilou City, and Zhang Zongheng didn't have time to seriously consider the issue of punishing Pei Shize.

It is said that Wang Ziyong rushed out of the upper valley of the Beihun River with most of his men and horses, and he had been short of food for a long time, so he decided to lay down the Shilou County town where the official army was stationed, and then go north after grabbing some grain and grass, to find a foothold in the camp and return to the camp at the beginning of the year.

Although most of the men and horses who broke into the camp and returned to the camp had been annihilated for more than a month and almost two months, the leaders of the thieves under the command of the Hengtian King who were around Shennanyu still did not know about this situation.

Therefore, when Luo Rucai suggested leading the army south, all the leaders of the thief army, including Wang Ziyong, were opposed, and they all asked to go north.

After all, when you get to the north, even if you can't contact the camp and return to the camp for a while, you can still go to Ningxiang to contact a large number of people and horses from Wang Zuohang, so as to get help and supplies.

Although Wang Ziyong valued Luo Rucai's resourcefulness very much, he could not only listen to Luo Rucai, the new leader, on this strategic issue of going south or north.

Because the old brothers under his original command, such as Liu Liu, the "Land Snatcher", Xing Zhanao, the "Xing Red Wolf", and Tuo Yangkun, the "Scorpion Block", all advocated going north, of course he had to listen to the opinions of most of the old brothers.

Moreover, he crossed the river from the Wubao area to the east into Shanxi, and he was also familiar with the terrain there.

Therefore, after leading the troops to rush out of the ravines and ravines at the western foot of Luliang Mountain, he quickly decided on the next step, broke the stone building to grab a handful, and immediately went north after a little supply.

However, what surprised him was that he led a thief army of more than 17,000 people to surround the small Shilou County, and launched two attacks in a row, killing and wounding more than 2,000 people, but he did not take Shilou County.

Although Zhang Zongheng, the envoy of Shanxi, was not as decisive as Hong Chengchou, he was also a capable officer, whether it was Li Banghua, the minister of military aircraft, or Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi, they all told him to guard the stone tower before.

And he did live up to expectations, in the more than a month after Zhang Guoxing's whole army was annihilated, he took more than 3,000 people from the newly organized town of Xiying, and operated the small Shilou county town impermeable, and the city defense fortifications were extremely complete.

In particular, more than a dozen tiger squat cannons left in the city by the Shaanxi army and horses were arranged at the north gate of the main attack of the thief army, which played an important role.

Therefore, although the north gate of Shilou County crumbled again and again, it finally persisted until nightfall, but it was still not captured.

On the night of the same day, the various units of the thief army, which had been fighting for almost a day, set up a simple company camp under the stone tower city to rest, hoping to break the city in one fell swoop the next morning.

Zhang Heng crossed the Beihun River with dozens of his subordinates, and when he encountered the patrol team sent by the thief army along the river, it was such a situation outside Shilou County.

From the two captured mouths, of course he couldn't understand the current specific situation in Shilou County, but he still figured out the basic situation outside Shilou County.

After killing the two thieves, Zhang Heng took his men and horses and continued to search in the direction of the stone building, searched for more than ten miles, and finally saw the company camp of the thief army after riding his horse up a small hill.

From east to west, the company camp is ten miles, some places are a little sparse and thin, and some places are a little denser and a little thicker, covering the entire northern line of Shilou County.

Zhang Heng, who is not yet twenty-five years old, although he is young, is already old in the battle array, and he originally wanted to bypass it if he could, not wanting to alarm the thief army in front of him, but looking at the situation in front of him, I am afraid it will not work if he is not alarmed.

Seeing that the sky was getting brighter, and that smoke seemed to be rising from the camp miles ahead, he knew he couldn't wait any longer.

Moreover, this is the first time that Shaanxi Governor Hong Chengchou has personally assigned such a task to him after he was included in the Shaanxi Fubiao Central Army, even if he dies in his life, he must complete it.

Thinking of this, Zhang Heng rode around on the war horse, took out the letter from his arms, rolled it into a roll, tied it with a strip of cloth on a long arrow, and then took out the longbow, faced the soldiers under his command, and said in a deep voice:

"You see, there is a thief army camp ahead, but Lao Tzu is going to break through! Do you dare to go?! ”

After Zhang Heng said this, he looked at the dozens of horses in front of him, some of these people are from Shanxi, some are from Shaanxi, the composition is complex, some have known before, some have not known, and they are silent at this time.

Seeing these people looking at each other, Zhang Heng continued: "If you are afraid, you can turn around and go north now, and if you are brave enough, follow Lao Tzu to the south now!" ”

After saying this, Zhang Heng turned the horse's head, clamped the horse's belly, and went south.

And the dozens of horsemen behind him were also stunned for a short time, although they still did not say a word, but immediately rushed forward with spears, beat their horses and followed them south.

Not a single person turned around and headed north.