Wang Huan stayed in Tongguan for two days, and together with Ma Zuoheng, carefully surveyed the forts and trenches on the first line of Tongguan, drew up a defense strategy, and asked Li Yukui to recruit the people of Sifang Prefecture and County, and together with 5,000 people from Puzhou, they began to dig ditches and build soil on a large scale, and strive to build Tongguan into an iron wall.

Later, Wang Huan left his horse as a balance, led the whole army to cross the Yellow River, and set up camp outside the city of Jiezhou, one hundred and twenty miles north of Puzhou.

Puzhou and Jiezhou, both belong to Shanxi Pingyang Mansion under the rule, Li Yu Kui according to Puzhou after the uprising, the original Ming court soldiers Han Zhaoxuan will join the original general soldier Yu Yin who fell into the grass for the Kou army to respond, gather 100,000 people, known as 260,000, first occupy Jiezhou, and then attack Jiangxian County, the front of the army reached Pingyang Fucheng, and spread to the vast Pingyang Mansion in all directions, for a time the southwest of Jin was full of righteous flags, the huge Pingyang Mansion in addition to the Fucheng, only the Yicheng is still struggling to support, the rest of the prefectures and counties, were revolted by the military and civilians or killed officials, or drove away the Qing court officials, the anti-Qing wind swept the whole territory, The braids all over the ground were collected and burned by the rebels, and the black smoke rose to the sky, and the cheers soared into the sky.

Because Puzhou also needed to be fortified, Li Yukui did not accompany Wang Huan to Jiezhou, but only sent a guide to follow, but also sent someone to the front station in advance to inform Han Zhaoxuan and Yu Yinkuizhou of the upcoming news.

So when Wang Huan arrived outside the city of Zhizhou, Han Zhaoxuan, who stayed here, greeted him.

Jiezhou belongs to a small state, and the territory is about the same size as Puzhou, but at a glance, the banners full of the city and the dense guards at the head of the city are much stronger than the loose Puzhou, Wang Huan's first impression is that Han Zhaoxuan knows much more than Li Yukui.

Han Zhaoxuan came out with a large army to greet him, and the black pressed people, at least tens of thousands of people, lined up outside the city, it didn't look like they were coming to greet them, but they were coming to meet them.

The military horses in the front row of the Jiezhou soldiers, all of them are clearly dressed and armored, and the half-body waist armor is matched with a red tasseled iron helmet, and the armor leaves are solemn, like a long spear and a snowy long knife, shining in the sun. Thousands of cavalry reined in on the side of the horse, eyeing each other, and Han Zhaoxuan stood in front of the army with fluttering flags, with a high crown in a brocade robe and a feather fan in his hand, and the demeanor of the Taoist bone fairy wind and Confucian generals was like the rising sun, radiant.

However, when the Baijia Kuizhou Army appeared in his field of vision, Han Zhaoxuan's calm and laughing demeanor slowly sank, and as the neat footsteps approached, his face became whiter and whiter, and his brows tightened more and more, as if he saw a god and Buddha approaching.

To tell the truth, he had selfish motives in holding such a big "welcome ceremony".

Ma Mingtu, the eunuch, came to Shanxi from Zhaoqing, and threw the edict along the way, and saw someone erecting a mountain to oppose the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, so he rushed to seal the official and make a wish, I don't know how many titles he sent out, maybe even he himself can't remember clearly, anyway, the edict is blank, fill it in as he pleases, and the Yongli court also explained before leaving, as long as he can win over the military leaders who are willing to serve the Ming Dynasty, they can be sealed, but it depends on the size of the military and the rank of the official.

And Han Zhaoxuan and Yu Yin, known as 260,000 soldiers, are among the most powerful in the entire Shanxi Righteous Army, although these two people are not considered figures in the original Ming Court, but here and now, it is a strong and powerful that makes Ma Mingtu's eyes shine, so Ma Mingtu waved his pen and gave Yu Yin an edict with a "general military rank", and an edict with a "military department" to Han Zhaoxuan.

With the official body seal, Han Zhaoxuan's heart suddenly became full, coupled with the smooth war, the confidence that the entire Pingyang Mansion was about to fall into his hands made him gradually think of himself and rise, and felt that in time, if he went north, Taiyuan Mansion would be broken under his own soldiers, and it would not be logical to be a first-class official such as a national prince and a Taifu when the time came?

Therefore, for the Kuizhou Army from Shaanxi, he was different from Li Yukui's expectations, on the contrary, he was a little resistant, feeling that he was here to grab credit from himself. The situation in Shanxi is very good, your Shaanxi army is a guest army, the guest is the host, the dragon has to be coiled, the tiger has to lie down, in the Shanxi territory, you Wang Huan is not in charge.

Seeing that the Kuizhou army was getting closer and closer, the forward cavalry was about to sweep in front of him, and thousands of cavalry with white armor and silver helmets floated over like a cloud, but this cloud was so strong, like a momentum to destroy the city, it was heavy in Han Zhaoxuan's heart, lingering.

Gritting his teeth, Han Zhaoxuan squeezed out a little smile on his face, clamped his legs, and hit the horse to meet him.

The cavalry of the Kuizhou army rumbled, a gust of wind swept from the side, Wang Huan led a group of officers, appeared after the cavalry, he saw the Jiezhou army with a phalanx from afar, at the beginning of a little surprise, after thinking about it, he saw through Han Zhaoxuan's careful eyes, Fu Yi smiled, and calmly rode forward to meet him.

The people sent by Li Yukui carefully described Wang Huan's appearance and figure to Han Zhaoxuan, so in a group of white-armored and red-eyed generals, Han Zhaoxuan recognized Wang Huan at a glance, who stood out as young as a crowd, and Wang Huan also screened Han Zhaoxuan, who was dressed like Zhou Yu, and the two looked at each other and got close to each other.

"Master Hou has worked hard from afar, and this official has lost his welcome, and he is guilty of sin." Han Zhaoxuan said with a smile, and even a fool could hear the hypocrisy between his words.

All the generals of the Kuizhou army frowned, everyone fought in the south and the north, what scene had they never seen, how could this little leader of the rebel army be so rude when he saw Wang Huan?

Wang Huan disagreed, smiled and returned the salute, and said: "Where is the head of Han, Wang was ordered to support Datong, passing by Jiezhou, if there is any disturbance, the leader of Han can ask for Haihan." ”

His words were decent, but he committed Han Zhaoxuan's taboo, and sent him away as a cottage leader one by one, Han Zhaoxuan's face suddenly collapsed, his face sank like water, and a tall and burly man behind him who seemed to be a trusted general saw this scene, and shouted angrily: "My family is the secretary of the military department, not a leader!" ”

"The military department is still in the book?" Wang Huan was stunned for a moment, Ma Mingtu didn't tell him about this stubble, and he didn't know that there was an additional military department in Shanxi.

"Exactly!" The strong man shouted: "This is the will of the official announcement of Ma Zhong, the imperial court!" ”

Wang Huan and the others suddenly understood, dare to be the official of the eunuch Ma, this Shanxi is as big as the sea, and there are more grass-headed kings than towns, I don't know how many court officials he has also sealed.

"It turned out to be Han Shangshu, Wang didn't know, he was offended." Wang Huan frowned slightly and hugged his fists.

Shanxi is in turmoil, and the enemy is at present, although these rebels are short-sighted, they are the objects that should be united, and there is no need to dwell on these issues.

As soon as the title changed, Han Zhaoxuan's face finally improved slightly, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he said to Wang Huan: "It's easy to say, Hou Ye please lead the army to move with the official, and set up camp in the west of Jiezhou City. ”

Wang Huan didn't say much to him, and simply stretched out his hand and said, "Please!" ”

Han Zhaoxuan turned around and left, led Wang Huan's army to the side of Jiezhou, camped in a leeward open space, and then said a few words and left with people.

The Kuizhou army cut down trees and built camps on their own, there are many trees here, and they are surrounded by mountains and rivers, but it is a good place to set up camps and villages.

Wang Huan and several battalion commanders gathered on a small hill, sat in a circle, drinking water to quench their thirst, watching the soldiers do things in an orderly manner according to the rules of the camp, and discussing what had just happened.

"The behavior of the surname Han is so rude, but he is a worthless grass-headed scholar, just like being a cabinet minister, if this person will hang the seal in the future and become a high-ranking official, I am afraid that he will die of walking and fanning." Li Tingyu complained that he wanted to come out and scold him just now, but was stopped by Li Dingguo: "With so many military horses, why don't these people go straight to Taiyuan?" ”

Ma Xintian put his poker face on the board and said concisely: "This person just wants to give us a dismount and remind us that Shanxi is theirs." ”

"Ahh Li Tingyu slapped his thigh: "Then what are we doing here?" Let them go, the surname Han is so good, why hasn't Taiyuan been laid yet? Datong is as anxious as a spark, why don't you see him go over to help? ”

Li Dingguo sat on a stone, leaned his neck and drank a large mouthful of water in the sheepskin bag, casually threw the bag to Li Tingyu, wiped his mouth and said: "The Ming bureaucracy is like this, General Li has been in the business for many years, don't you know?" ”

Li Tingyu stretched out his slap and probed in the air, steadily copied the sheepskin bag in his hand, and said indignantly: "I know this, but when is it now?" These birdmen are still guarding an acre and three points of land like this, do they really think that the tartars are made of clay? ”

He opened the plug on the seal of the bag, and before he could drink it when his mouth was close, he was impatiently angry, and he stopped drinking the water, and put down the bag and said to Wang Huan: "My lord, these birdmen are so arrogant, if we do it directly, copy them, and incorporate their subordinates, it will be a hundred!" ”

Wang Huan had been squinting his eyes and thinking about things, and only then did he open his eyes, shook his head and said: "No, Shanxi is in chaos, although Han Zhaoxuan is rude, he is still an anti-Qing Ming official. ”

Li Dingguo echoed: "My lord is right, if we make a move against the anti-Qing rebels, what will others think of us? In the future, the rebel army will be our enemy, and when the time comes, the Tartars will fight us, and the rebel army will also fight us, although the Kuizhou army is strong, it will be difficult to move an inch, which is not in line with our original intention. ”

An expression appeared on Ma Xintian's face, he frowned, twisted into a word "Sichuan", and said to Wang Huan: "But the lieutenants sent by the imperial court have probably sealed official positions to the number one rebel army in Shanxi, if they don't listen to the dispatch, we will do us all kinds of harm and no benefit." ”

Li Dingguo and Li Tingyu glanced at each other and said to Wang Huan together: "My lord, we should make a decision early!" ”

Wang Huan swept the faces of the three people one by one, these three people are the people he trusts the most, and they are also his inner henchmen, everyone can be alone, all of them have the ability to lead the army and break the enemy, and they are important generals who can be relied on, and only they know the strategy of this trip to Shanxi.

Encircling Wei to save Zhao, encircling the point to send reinforcements, is Wang Huan and the three of them after a night of discussion to decide the strategy to relieve the siege, Datong around Azig and other Eight Banner Army will gather tens of thousands of troops, all of them are Manchurian and Mongolian strong army, strong strength, although the Kuizhou army is not afraid, but it is not wise to kill the past and hit hard.

In Shanxi Province, Taiyuan, only Shanxi Governor Zhu Shichang maintains a small territory around him with the support of Mongolian reinforcements led by Nikan, and around Taiyuan, the Qing army and the righteous army are intertwined.

If the righteous army in the southwest of the mountain can be twisted into a rope, destroy the Qing army forces around Taiyuan, and besiege Taiyuan into a lonely city, then the Qing army besieging Datong is bound to come to the rescue, but they dare not kill the whole army, which is equivalent to magnifying Jiang Jiu in the same city, Azig will only send reinforcements led by a general, which is exactly what Wang Huan wants, as long as the total number of Qing troops sent is less than 20,000, he is confident that he can eat the Qing army reinforcements without spending many lives.

But the situation that no one in the Shanxi Righteous Army was convinced of anyone was something he did not expect.

And the situation of throwing official hats everywhere in the Southern Ming Dynasty is also unexpected.

When he arrived in Shanxi, Wang Huan found that his official titles of Pinglianghou and Sichuan-Shaanxi General Soldiers were not very big, as if he heard Ma Mingtu say that the edict to Jiang Hao was the title of the Duke of the Kingdom, so didn't it mean that once the siege of Datong was resolved, Wang Huan would have to pay homage to Jiang Hao as an official?

"In this world, fists are big, and strength is fundamental!" Wang Huan's eyes became sharp, staring at Jiezhou City in the distance under the mountain, and said in a firm tone: "We should let the Shanxi Righteous Army take a look at the strength of the Kuizhou Army, otherwise they will look at us with the old eyes of the Ming Army, and the gap between the Kuizhou Army and them can only be reflected in a battle!" ”

(End of chapter)