Xiangyang City, located in the upper reaches of the Han River, and Fancheng side by side on both sides, Xiangyang lives on the south bank, across the river to Fancheng, surrounded by water on three sides, one side of the mountain, the ancient critical place, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The city was built in the Western Han Dynasty, all dynasties are expanding and building deeply, the Song Dynasty was changed from the earth city to the bricks, to the Ming Dynasty, through the Hongwu Dynasty to the Chongzhen Dynasty uninterrupted repair and reorganization, although after the war but the more and more solid, the city wall of the whole city is rammed by glutinous rice and loess, the huge green bricks are outsourced, the solid abnormality, the wall is two feet high and five feet, the wall is wide and can run horses, and the wall battlements are numerous. The circumference of the whole city is 14 miles, there are six city gates, all of them are the structure of the urn city of the soldiers, the deep moat surrounds outside the city, the width is about 60 zhang, the water of the Han Dynasty is irrigated, and the defense is solid.

At this time, it was the morning, the morning sun was rising, and the huge Xiangyang City was bathed in the morning light, shining with golden light, setting off the whole magnificent building more majestic, as if the city was invincible.

"It's really an iron-clad Xiangyang." Wang Huan stood outside the huge south gate, looking at the city from afar, and couldn't help but sigh: "The history books are really well written, and the first fortified city in the Ming Dynasty is really true." ”

"What's the use of fortifying the city, it's not that it's lost, the most ridiculous thing is that Li Zicheng actually fled Wuchang with the whole army, and without a single shot, he threw the city to the Tartar soldiers in vain." Xu Goudan listened and laughed in a low voice.

Wang Huan smiled and said nothing, he knew that the reason why Li Zicheng abandoned Xiangyang and fled south to the east was mainly out of the idea of avoiding the edge of the Qing army and preserving his strength, after all, after the battle of Tongguan and Xi'an, Li Zicheng had deeply understood that his army, in the face of the Qing Dynasty's heavy infantry and field cavalry, could not take any advantage, and fought viciously repeatedly, lost troops and generals, and even lost his hometown in Xi'an, so he could only hurry south to attack the Southern Ming Dynasty, hoping to seize the Qing army before the Qing army, take Nanjing, and then rely on the Yangtze River to conquer the river with the Qing Dynasty. Divide the country equally, and then figure the follow-up.

Unexpectedly, the British prince Azig moved quickly, and after occupying Xi'an, he followed closely behind, and Dolgon saw through Li Zicheng's plan, and ordered the prince of Yu Duoduo to go south from HN, and captured Yangzhou in front, and the Southern Ming army poured thousands of miles, blocking Li Zicheng's way from the east.

Li Zicheng had many Duo in front of him, and there was Azig in the back, he was at a loss, and the retreating army was defeated in successive battles, and his subordinates saw that the general trend had gone, and the army's heart was unstable, and even Song Xiance, Niu Jinxing, and other important ministers in the court, fled from death to death, and the whole strategy turned from a purposeful retreat to a big rout, and in May of the second year of Hongguang in the Southern Ming Dynasty, he entered Huguang TS County and prepared to go south to Liangguang.

Wang Huan shook his head, remembered Li Zicheng, who was about to die, for five seconds, and re-examined the south gate of Xiangyang in front of him. At the city gate, there is a team of clear soldiers standing guard, strictly checking the passing pedestrians, vehicles and horses, the slightest doubt, or no road guide, immediately arrested, those ragged, ragged refugees, directly pushed to the side, not allowed to enter the city.

"What to do? Can we get into the city? Chen Ergou asked.

Wang Huan raised for a while, and before he could speak, he heard a burst of screams on the official road, and when he heard the sound, he saw that the road was dusty, and a team of cavalry galloped from a distance.

The person who followed Su Le on the horse, his face was burnt yellow, his cheekbones were high, his chin was pointed, and his eyes were wandering around, dripping around, but he was a field bear who knew Wang Huan and others.

Wang Huan was shocked, although the three of them were already dirty like three Huazi, and their faces were full of mud and dust, as if they were wearing a mask, but the salient feature of no hair on the top of their heads could not be changed.

Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan also saw the iron horse rolling in the distance, their faces also changed color, in a hurry, Wang Huan pulled the two of them, flashed to the back of a mule cart on the road, and followed the cart slowly, Xu Goudan rolled his eyes, and simply motioned for the two of them to come with him, bowed his head and pretended to push the cart, and did his role enough.

The sound of hooves rumbled, and it arrived at the side in an instant, listening to the sound of the wind passing by, Wang Huan's heart was pounding, and he lowered his head and looked at the ground, just hoping that the cart was tall enough to cover the figures of the three people from being seen by the people on the horse.

The horse's hooves stepped on the ground, raised the loess all over the sky, scattered the pedestrians who were hiding on the side of the road in a panic, everyone saw that it was the Qing soldiers passing by, they all dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, and they all looked sideways and made way of the road, Su Le and others did not stop, led dozens of horses to sweep from the official road, turned a corner along the south gate, and went to the other side of the city wall.

Wang Huan and the other three still didn't dare to raise their heads, but silently pushed the car forward, and waited until the sound of hooves disappeared in the distance, and the pedestrians around them began to complain, they breathed a sigh of relief, and the crisis was finally over.

As soon as he raised his head, before he could say a word, the three of them smelled a stench in their noses, the smell was extremely unpleasant, it was almost inducing people to vomit, Wang Huan covered his nose to look for a look, only to find that what he was pushing was actually a huge dung truck, there was a huge wooden tank on the car, and there were a lot of yellow and white things stuck to the tank, obviously a dung truck that entered the city to collect night incense.

The situation was urgent just now, and the three of them were panicked and frightened in their hearts, and they were all about avoiding Su Le and Tian Xiong, unaware of the smell, and now that the crisis has passed, they feel that the smell is pungent when they come back to their senses.

Wang Huan wanted to leave, take a look at the position he was in, but secretly screamed bitterly, he had just buried himself in the cart, and unconsciously, he had come to the gate of the city, and the team of Qing soldiers who were checking the guards were already standing in front of him.

The man who drove the dung truck was an old man, sitting in front of the dung truck, driving the mule with a whip, and he didn't find that he was behind the car, and there were three more good young men who volunteered to help push the cart, just looking at the soldiers guarding the door stupidly, and said respectfully: "Master Jun, the little one has come to collect the night incense again." ”

The stench of the dung cart, from the street can be permeated to the end of the street, even if the residents who are in the courtyard of several houses, they can also smell the smell for the first time and carry the night pot out, its power is comparable to biological weapons, the Qing soldiers guarding the door are smoked all over the place, the leader of Bashiku covers his nose in disgust, and waves his hand vigorously, this dung truck has to enter the city from outside the city every morning, everyone has developed a conditioned reflex, as soon as they see the tall round tank mule cart, they unconsciously have to retreat a few steps, and they want to let this filthy thing leave quickly.

Wang Huan and the three of them didn't dare to retreat, and when they left at this time, didn't they make it clear that they had a problem? After exchanging glances, the three of them stubbornly pushed the cart with their heads down, ignoring the residue of fecal water on the cart, enduring the vomiting sensation that had already surged up their throats, and pushed the cart step by step, just to leave the city gate as soon as possible, out of the sight of the Qing soldiers, and to get rid of this disgusting cart.

The old man raised his whip and whipped it the buttocks of the mule who was driving the car, the mule was in pain, the four hooves were hard, the car creaked, and entered the city of Xiangyang along the stone road of the south gate.