In the middle of June of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Anton Hou, Zuo Dudu, and Shandong General Wang Zheng swore in Xuzhou to beg for thieves, and threatened to break Xiangyang within half a month and kill Li Guo to avenge his hatred.

When the news came out, Henan, Huguang, and the north and south were all shocked.

After hearing the news at the beginning, many people laughed it off, after all, in this era, the Shun army has been too big to fall, the Central Plains is erosive, and many discerning people can see the end of the Ming Dynasty in their hearts.

However, what is surprising is that after the Shandong Army advanced westward, it received a positive response from the remnants of the officers and troops in Huguang, Henan, and Fengyang Prefecture.

Like Huang Degong, Liu Liangzuo, and even Lu Jiude, the governor and eunuch of the Jingying camp in Nanzhili, all led their troops to come, in addition, Zuo Liangyu, who had been stationed in Xi'an, also said that he would personally lead the left army to the north to assist.

This "personal grudge" between the Shandong army and the Shun army, only a few days of hard work, unexpectedly contributed to the largest encirclement and suppression of the late Ming Dynasty.

The officials and troops from all over the country followed the trend and attacked, but in fact, they did not get the intention of the imperial court, and in the eyes of the world, they all followed the king's struggle.

Chongzhen, who was in the Winter Warm Pavilion to review the folds, was really taken aback when he heard this, neither Emperor Chongzhen himself, nor these high-ranking officials and ministers in Beizhili, thought that Wang Zheng would have such a great appeal.

This kind of appeal is just an appearance, many officers and soldiers are not contributing, and they want to follow to bargain, after all, the Shandong army is not like other soldiers and horses, that can be defeated even by Jiannu.

In the past, several encirclement and suppression were issued by the imperial court, and then led by the governor or governor-general, even then, the officials and troops in various places were also in disobedience, and there were no people at all.

On the bright side this time, Wang Zheng just swore a division in Xuzhou and marched west with the four battalions of the Shandong Army, nothing more.

But these people still scrambled to follow, Chongzhen angrily swept the fold to the ground, and walked out of the Winter Warm Pavilion with his hands, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart.

But now, as the emperor, he has no way to restrain Wang Zheng, the Shandong army has become a trend, and Chongzhen seems to be a spectator.

......

Shandong four battalions of soldiers known as 100,000 troops, under the personal leadership of Wang Zheng, set off from Xuzhou to the south, entered the boundary of Fengyang Mansion, and went straight to Suzhou City.

First of all, Yuan Shizhong, the Suzhou garrison who came to take up his post, had just arrived a few days ago, and he received such a military order before he had time to pull up too many people, and he was really surprised and happy.

Originally, Yuan Shizhong's command was only a few hundred horsemen left in the original small Yuan battalion, and he was alone, and many people didn't pay attention to it, and it was really difficult to open up the situation in Suzhou City.

However, Anton Hou Wang Zheng personally led the army south into Suzhou, and with his skill and courage, the Suzhou area must have undergone a drastic rectification.

Of course, this is a good opportunity for everyone in the Shandong army to find outside, if you can perform well under the nose of Anton Hou, basically Wang Zheng's words can give you the ups and downs of the rest of your life.

In recent days, Yuan Shizhong, who was originally uncared for, often welcomed guests, the governor of Suzhou, and several court presidents were vying to please him.

Yuan Shizhong was happy and at the same time, of course, he would not forget that he still despised himself as a former thief in his heart, and it was all because Anton was about to bring a large army.

On the one hand, Yuan Shizhong greeted him with a smile, and he was full of promises, but in his heart, he secretly wrote down the clear attitudes of these people, and was ready to tell Wang Zheng truthfully.

On the second day after the news of Xuzhou's oath came, an army of more than 10,000 people came to the city, which was really fast, but after hearing that the other party was Huang Degong, Yuan Shizhong was relieved.

There are few of the general soldiers of this imperial court who are admired by Yuan Shizhong, and those soldiers under his command are also rare soldiers, and the absolute superiority of the small Yuan battalion was defeated.

Speaking of which, Yuan Shizhong is not a villain who will be revenged, and he was defeated in a dignified duel with Huang Bu, which is very glorious and not a big deal.

Yuan Shizhong and Huang Degong actually sighed a little in their hearts, not long ago they were your life-and-death opponents, but now they have become colleagues, Huang Degong can get by without saying it himself.

The person who came was more polite than Yuan Shizhong, he was a general under Huang Degong, without the slightest rebelliousness, and he left after a few laughs and talks with Yuan Shizhong.

Being able to send a general of this level to meet him actually shows that Huang Degong, who was born as a general of the general army, has a bearing in his heart, and he does not intend to delve into the past affairs.

The Huang Department set up camp three miles outside the city, waiting for other soldiers and horses to arrive, and there was no conflict with the Shandong army outside the city.

Suzhou, is the north gate of the South Zhili, the front can enter Fengyang, the back can retreat to Xuzhou, since ancient times it is one of the traffic arteries of the North and South Zhili, and it is the place where the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal must pass.

Xuzhou to Suzhou is not far at all, the road is quite flat, the Shandong army from outside the city after the oath, according to the usual speed of about three days can also reach the suburbs.

This is the meeting point of all the officers and troops stipulated by Anton Hou Wang Zheng, and Huang Degong's department is the most belligerent, so he came the earliest and camped outside the city very cooperatively.

But on the night of the next day, Yuan Shizhong in the city frowned again.

In the distance, a group of soldiers and horses with a scale of about 30,000 people came, waving the banner of Liu Zi, and it seemed that it should be the soldiers and horses under Liu Liangzuo.

mentioned this person, Yuan Shizhong gritted his teeth with hatred.

At that time, no matter how he said that Yuan Ying and Huang Bu were also fighting a dignified decisive battle on the battlefield, but Liu Liangzuo did some stealing and stealing things, and took advantage of the chaos to capture and kill many of their brothers.

The soldiers and horses stopped under the city in a chaotic manner, all of them were shouting and neighing, and the generals in the front row were all angry, as if they were the king of heaven, and they were not half a star away from the Huang Ministry.

Seeing the other party's appearance, Yuan Shizhong secretly sneered in his heart, if it was Liu Bu who was fighting with Xiao Yuan's camp at that time, he might not have lost so badly.

Under the city, many officers of the Liu Department pointed to the city and kept sneering, at first they didn't know what they were talking about, but the voice became louder and louder, and even reached the top.

What do you say Yuan Shizhong is a bandit, even if he fights with Anton Hou Wang, the dog can't change his, and the best result is to be assigned to the field as a garrison, and that's it for this life.

Looking at his Liu Department again, under the general army, there are four generals, and there are seven or eight guerrillas, and the miscellaneous officials of the garrison will not pay attention to it at all.

At this time, a court general wearing iron armor rode out of the ranks, clapped his hands and said with a smile:

"Brothers, give Liu Shoubei a little face, how can you say that this defeated general is now also a foreign member of the Shandong Army, how can you do it without giving face?"

After speaking, there was a burst of laughter under the city, as if he was looking at Yuan Shi and others above.

The person who spoke was not prominent, with a pointed chin, but he was riding a variegated horse, presumably Liu Liangzuo.

Thinking of this, Yuan Shizhong snorted coldly and shouted down:

"Yo! Isn't this Huama Liu, what, you will actually participate in the matter of going to Xiangyang to suppress thieves, shouldn't you continue to escape according to the convention. ”

Hearing this, the general beside Liu Liangzuo roared angrily.

"Yuan thief, don't think it's some kind of external department of the Shandong army, there is no one in that eye, what are you?"

A guerrilla also shouted: "Lao Tzu told you, even if that Wang Zheng came in person, he must salute our handsome for three points, don't force us to break Suzhou City and cut off your dog's head!" ”

Hearing this, Yuan Shizhong in the city seemed to have heard some big joke and said:

"Look at what you said, what a hero Anton Hou is, if he really comes, I'm afraid that you, the so-called handsome, are not worthy of kneeling on the ground and lifting shoes for Hou Ye, right?"

Although Yuan Shizhong only has a few hundred cavalry now, he doesn't look at Liu Liangzuo and other shrimp soldiers and crab generals from the bottom of his heart.

Xindao Lao Tzu is also the leader of the oldest group of rebels with the most qualifications, even if he defects to Anton Hou, it is not comparable to you, the general soldier who escaped.

Liu Liangzuo himself didn't have any city government, and when he heard Yuan Shizhong's words that were neither yin nor yang, he was poked in the sore spot, his face was flushed with anger, and he directly pointed at it with a horsewhip and shouted:

"Yuan Shizhong, you are looking for death!"

Liu Liangzuo jumped to his feet angrily on the horse, waved the horsewhip and roared urgently:

"Come on, attack the city for Lao Tzu, take off the head of this thief and give it to Ben Shuai as a night pot!"

At this time, a pro-soldier stepped forward and whispered to him:

"Dashuai, Huang Degong is here."

Huang Degong originally planned to come to meet Liu Liangzuo, but when he heard that this guy actually waved his army to attack Suzhou City in a fit of rage, saying that he was going to kill Yuan Shizhong, he immediately turned around and returned to the camp.

But after returning to the camp, he couldn't be idle, not to mention that Liu Liangzuo and Yuan Shizhong were both colleagues in the official army who suppressed thieves, but only that the current Yuan Shizhong was not as good as before.

The backer standing behind Yuan Shizhong couldn't even be provoked by Huang Degong, and he had never heard of anyone daring to attack the city with the banner of the Yellow Dragon of the Shandong Army.

Out of kindness, I sent someone to remind me.

But he didn't think about it, Liu Liangzuo, who was embarrassed and angry, directly detained Huang Degong's people, and listened to the sudden shouting and killing sound outside the camp, Huang Degong's face was complicated.