"Boom!"

A silver lightning snaked like a hideous giant snake, climbed up the forest along the side of the ridge, raged on the canopy of the tree for a short moment, turned into a spark and disappeared, bursting light illuminated the earth, and the ant-like crowd under the mountain under this light frantically changed the landscape, turning the front of the stone ridge pass into a killing battlefield.

Wang Huan raised his head, looked at the sky covered with black clouds, waved his hand, and brought up a podge of water: "Let everyone rest, it's dark, if you continue to do it, you will get sick, and the boiled hot soup will be sent down as soon as possible, and everyone will drink it." ”

Someone agreed to do it, Wang Huan tightened his clothes, took Ma Wannian and others down to the city, but did not return to his residence, but came outside the city.

With the sound of the "jingling" gong, the soldiers of the Kuizhou Army, who were busy in the rain in their robes, put down their work and returned from outside the city, Wang Huan stood at the gate, waiting for them.

Ma Wannian carried a wind lantern to illuminate Wang Huan's face, he did not wear a hat, and every soldier who passed by could see the appearance of Liang Guogong.

The edict of the imperial court was only delivered yesterday, and the lieutenant who passed the decree heard that three horses were killed on the road, and he himself only had half a life left, but he only rested for half an hour, and struggled to get up to announce the decree to Wang Huan, this is because Emperor Yongli gave him an order, if the will cannot be sent to Wang Huan's ears within half a month, just wait for the Jinyi guard to cut off the head.

The proclamation was made in front of the Kuizhou army and the leaders of the Shanxi Righteous Army, and the dense crowd of people stood in a large area, Wang Huan put on his helmet and armor, and accepted the official seal python robe.

What does that mean? That is to say, Wang Huan's identity at this moment has jumped out of Wang Yingxiong's nominal control and officially become a prince like Li Chengdong.

The Ming Dynasty uses civil power to control the military, no matter how big the military generals are, there are always civilian officials on the top, or there are eunuchs who supervise the army and have the right to check and balance, and it is impossible to be dominant. Of course, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, this system had existed in name only, but there were not many that had to be recognized by the imperial court and confirmed by holy decree.

Huiguo Gong Li Chengdong counted one, Dingxi Hou Zhang Mingzhen on the Zhoushan Islands counted one, the king of Yanping County in Fujian barely counted one, and the rest, such as Plug Yinxi, He Tengjiao and the like, were either Wenchen leading the military position, or monopolizing one side, similar to the king of the mountain, the situation varied, but none of them could compare to Wang Huan's holy family.

The people of Shaanxi and Shanxi have seen clearly that from now on, the Ming ministers in the Yellow River valley and north of the Yangtze River must be Wang Huan's dominant force, and no one can shake it. I heard that the situation in the south was rotten, and Yongli's attitude seemed to be hugging Wang Huan's thigh.

In addition to the members of the original Fenzhou Alliance, in the past few days, there have been large and small forces from all over the world, and even the Qing army in various places has been exposed, and in the name of the Ming righteous ministers, Wang Huan surrendered to show his loyalty.

The name of Liang Guogong has been accompanied by heavy rain and spread all over the world.

"Go back and rest, there is hot soup waiting for you, drink a bowl of it, don't catch a cold and get sick." Wang Huan kept admonishing, patting the shoulders of the soldiers passing by, and fastening the straps of their robes for them, encouraging and encouraging, as if parents were caring for their hard-working children.

At this moment in the rain, looking at the grandfather who was standing in the mud like himself, covered in mud, every soldier's heart was warm, the Kuizhou veteran was okay, after all, Wang Huan's style has been like this for a long time, and some newly recruited soldiers or the rebels who followed the guard were flattered, and almost knelt in the mud, crying bitterly and excited, at that moment they were willing to die for Wang Huan.

This is the prince of the country, he actually shushed us and asked for warmth, how can this kindness be repaid?

The people at the bottom of this era, the soul is so simple, if you are good to him, he will do everything for you, and if you are good to his family, he can give you his life.

The king laughed and sent them into the city, and when the outside of the city finally calmed down, he walked out of the mud along the passage between the ditches outside the city.

He had to look at the width of every trench and the position of each horse to see if it was reasonable and whether the defensive force could be maximized.

"Time is running out, and I can't afford to delay." Wang Huan said as he walked, and said to Ma Wannian, who persuaded him to go back: "The Tartar is on the other side of the mountain, you can call at any time, if you don't get ready quickly, I can't rest assured." ”

The lamp swayed in the rain, the orange light was like a faint firefly in the wind, and the group came to the forefront of the trench, which was more than two miles away from the wall behind them, and the open plain stretched in the rain curtain in front of them, and spread into the hazy depths of the rain and fog.

Staying here for a moment, a slight tremor of the earth from far and near, Ma Wannian's eyes sharpened, and with a wave of his hand, more than ten members of the guard rushed forward and raised the mountain-destroying crossbow.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly rose, and four figures broke out of the rain curtain, like a yaksha running out of the darkness, splashing with the smell of blood, and appeared in front of Wang Huan's eyes, the black robes and white armor mixed with the night in the muddy water, hiding the awe-inspiring murderous aura.

When the scouts saw that there was someone in front of them, they slowed down, and when they came nearer, they saw who it was by the light, and immediately dismounted, fell on one knee in the mud, and saluted.

Wang Huan walked out of the guards, let the scouts get up, looked at the number of people, and asked, "Why is there one less?" ”

Kuizhou scouts acted collectively in groups of five, and only four came back at the moment, the number was wrong.

The leader of the scouts replied respectfully: "On the way, I met a Tartar ranger, and after a fight, the broken brother broke. ”

Scout Youdou, life and death are normal, Wang Huan was silent for a while, and saw the two heads hanging around the horse's neck.

The scout captain followed Wang Huan's gaze, and said proudly: "We killed two lone people, both of them are real tartars, and we earned them back, and Brother Luo's death is worth it." ”

The head with the eyes and angry faces, the rat tail was pierced by the rope, the blood was particularly hideous, the scouts standing in the rain were also injured, the suppressed wheezing sound was faintly accompanied by the sound of the rain, and the small area was more cruel, not easier than the battle of tens of thousands of people.

Wang Huan asked two more questions, and the scout answered, so Wang Huan asked them to hurry into the customs to rest, while he stayed for a while and went back.

The 20,000 Han troops led by Liu Zeqing, the vanguard of the Qing army, passed through Xinzhou from Gaohongkou in the north, and took the lead in rushing to Hongquan Village, fifty miles north of Shiling Pass, camped in the mountains, and waited for the Qing army brigade.

The army of Dolgon's personal expedition showed its edge from the heavy rain that enveloped the entire Jinzhong mountains.

(End of chapter)