Yang Sichang's mood was very bad, he boasted to Emperor Chongzhen that he would go to Haikou and say that he would wipe out the thieves in three months, and then confidently arranged an army of 120,000, and asked Chongzhen to increase taxes, causing a big mess in the world, and finally launched a net on all sides with high spirits, but this fight found that the situation was not as simple as he thought.

Although the wide net finally forced the thief army into Sichuan, Sichuan is full of mountains, and it is very difficult to catch the thieves. Several officers and soldiers divided up to encircle, but still did not force the thief army to death, Zhang Xianzhong still made up a children's song in his spare time, and sang it while walking, the lyrics were: "There was Governor Shao in front of him, and he often came to the group to dance; Later, Liao joined the army, and he followed me without a fight; It's a good Yang Pavilion Department, three days away from me. ”

In this song, it is said that Shao Jiechun, the governor of Sichuan, always tries to intercept in front of the thief army, so it is called "often come to the group to dance", the latter sentence is the vanguard of the officers and soldiers, Liao Daheng, chasing the thief army and not daring to fight, so it is called "follow me without a fight", the last sentence is Yang Sichang, because he is relatively slow, always chasing down from the thief army for three days, so he is played as "three days away from me".

Yang Sichang was furious and offered a reward of 10,000 taels of silver for Zhang Xianzhong's head, but a few days later, news came that Yang Sichang offered a reward of three cents and asked for Yang Sichang's head. This time Yang Sichang was so angry that he almost vomited blood, urging the generals to chase after him to death, and vowed to kill Zhang Xianzhong.

However, the gap between the ideal and the reality is too big, from Chongzhen's dispatch in October of the tenth year to the beginning of the spring of Chongzhen's eleventh year, he still failed to touch Zhang Xianzhong's ass.

It was then that he realized that he was overtalking a big word, like a man saying to the woman he loves, "We're going to make love all night tonight." "It was only three minutes later. This man can't do it, and I really can't find the right adjective to describe that kind of mood. With the ink in the stomach of Yang Sichang, a talented man, he couldn't find the right words.

The influence of the terrain is already very annoying, and the generals under him are arrogant and indulgent, and do not listen to orders. The ruffian nature of the soldiers is difficult to change, and they harass the good people everywhere...... The army of 120,000 is simply 120,000 bear children who make him angry, making him have two big heads.

Let's just talk about Zuo Liangyu's guy, Yang Sichang gave him orders, he didn't hear a few at all, telling him to go east and he to go west. Let him pursue the enemy and rest him. Do you really tell him to rest, he went to rob the good people, what do you say this is called?

Yang Sichang was forced to be helpless and wrote a letter to Zuo Liangyu by hand. Persuade him to work hard. Pursue Zhang Xianzhong. The letter said: "The importance of the holy will is all in the reverse sacrifice of one person." The four walls are deep and steep, and it is difficult to escape. The general is there. Strictly supervise and search, and you will get it. On the twelfth day of the cloud, he led the troops back, what is it? If you want to be poor and have no food, it is difficult for the soldiers to be stationed. The general must have to do this. Or Zhang Yingyuan and Wang Yunfeng can also do this, fortunately. If you can't, and you can't escape from the dedication, what will you do? The general will draw an inevitable strategy again, don't glue Qizheng's words, if the soldiers are revived, they must be stationed in the other side of the dispatch, and stop at the end of the ditch. Don't let the jealous husband of the bystanders say that the thief is in control and indulge in trouble. ”

Such heart-wrenching letters were sent to Zuo Liangyu, but unfortunately Zuo Liangyu was still there: "Lying high in Zhuxi, repeatedly not moving, unwilling to cooperate in searching for deep baskets." ”

Yang Sichang was so depressed that he wrote to Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, to sue Zuo Liangyu, who couldn't sleep for several nights, and sat in the temporary marching tent every night, waiting with great anticipation for the handling of Zuo Liangyu sent back from the capital.

Tonight, the messenger finally returned, an eight-hundred-mile urgent letter was delivered to Yang Sichang's hands, he opened it to see, it turned out that Chen Xinjia had forwarded his letter to Emperor Chongzhen, Chongzhen nodded, agreed to take the "Ping Thief General" off Zuo Liangyu's head, and put it on He Renlong's crown.

Yang Sichang was immediately overjoyed, but after the joy, he was worried again: Is it reliable to change generals in battle? What if this causes the morale of the military to be shaken? Moreover, compared with Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong is inferior in both strength and prestige, so it is refreshing to change me this time, and it is not cost-effective to delay the plan to suppress bandits.

He thought about it left and right, pondered for a long time, and finally sighed, and sent a letter back to Chen Xinjia, asking him to help intercede in front of Emperor Chongzhen and take back his fate, this general...... Don't change it.

He didn't expect that the news of Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong in the army, and the content of the letter and reply he received were quietly spread by the guards around him in less than half a day.

When He Renlong heard this, he was immediately dissatisfied: You took the initiative to pick me up first, and then took the initiative to take me down? Is there anyone like you? Can't help but hold a grudge.

On the other side, when Zuo Liangyu heard the news, he was naturally even more dissatisfied: Are you a scholar who has nothing to do when you are full? Change the tricks to play Lao Tzu, if you don't give you a good look, Lao Tzu won't be called Zuo Liangyu.

Several bigwigs were not happy in their hearts, and their teeth were rattling.

When there was a strange atmosphere in the camp of the officers and soldiers, a spy suddenly ran into the camp in a hurry, and rushed to the outside of Yang Sichang's camp tent in a puff of smoke, and shouted inside without notice: "Yang Gebu, something has happened, Baishui Zhu Babu and Li Zicheng's department are fighting internally, and the two armies are fighting fiercely in the mountains and forests south of Guangyuan, and the battle is inextricable......

"What?" Yang Sichang jumped up suddenly: "Really? ”

The spy said: "Really, several spies have seen ......"

Sure enough, the spy's voice fell, and another voice sounded outside: "Report...... Baishui Zhu Babu and Li Zichengbu are fighting, as if they are fighting for turf......"

Yang Sichang shouted excitedly: "Come on, gather all the generals!" ”

After a while, the generals of the officers and soldiers gathered together, and Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong naturally also arrived, their faces were ugly, and they were still worried about the change of generals. Yang Sichang said to the generals: "The official just got the news, the thieves are fighting among themselves, and Baishui Zhuba and Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, have fought......

As soon as he announced the news, the faces of the generals suddenly changed, generals like Liao Daheng, a flash of joy flashed on their faces, generals like Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong. There was some inexplicable smell on his face.

Liao Tycoon asked, "Lord Yang, how could these thieves fight at such a time?" Are they all stupid birds with no brains? ”

Yang Sichang pondered for a while, as if he was thinking about some important question, and said for a long time: "I can think of why they are fighting at such a critical time, although Baishui Zhu Ba got up early, he has never joined the thirty-sixth battalion, that is to say, he is not in the same group as Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others." According to the information provided by the Scorpion Block, the Sweeping King and others who were bought by our thief army, this Baishui Zhuba always likes to guard his territory. Don't let other thieves in. This time, we chased Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong into a desperate situation and ran to Zhu Ba's territory, so it was reasonable for him and Li Zicheng to fight. ”

He said that. Not bad. All the officers and soldiers and generals felt justified. Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong both nodded and said, "As far as I know, Zhu Ba is indeed such a person. ”

Yang Sichang said: "We have been chasing and suppressing the rogue for a long time, and we have never encountered such a good opportunity. The thieves are killing each other, let's sit on the mountain and watch the tigers, it is the best time to catch them all. ”

All the generals said, "Yes!" ”

The officers and men immediately pulled out of camp and hurried north. Zhang Xianzhong's children's rhyme is not bad at all, Yang Sichang is exactly three days away from Li Zicheng's ass, the officers and soldiers rushed to the mountain road for three days in a hurry, and finally arrived at a battlefield reported by the spies, only to see that within a radius of several miles here, the traces of the battle can be clearly seen everywhere, there are many marks of swords and guns on the rocks and trees on the roadside, and dry bloodstains, broken clothes, and broken weapons can be seen on the ground...... One of the soldiers also picked up a complete set of iron armor in the grass.

Liao Daheng said: "It really looks like there was a big battle here, but I didn't see a single corpse, what's going on?" ”

Yang Sichang also felt strange, and suddenly heard a spy shouting in the distance: "My lord, a big tomb has been found behind the mountain......

The generals hurried over, only to see that there was indeed a big tomb in the mountain, it seemed to be a new tomb, covering an extremely wide area, and it looked like there were at least hundreds of people buried in it, and a wooden sign was inserted in front of the tomb, on which a few words were written crookedly: The martyrs of the army are buried here.

There is a larger tomb behind the grave of the invading soldiers, which covers a wider area, and the buried dead are only afraid of thousands.

Yang Sichang pointed to this simple wooden sign and said with a smile: "It seems that Li Zicheng won the battle, Baishui Zhu Ba was defeated and retreated, and then Li Zicheng cleaned up the battlefield and buried the dead here." This grave with a brand is Li Zicheng's person, and the one without a brand is the person who buried Zhu Ba. ”

All the generals nodded together: "Yang Gebu is high." "Actually, this is not a high opinion, as long as people who are not stupid can see it, but everyone in this kind of trivial matter, it is not a loss to pat him on the back.

Yang Sichang said with a smile: "It seems that the casualties of the two thieves in this battle are more than two thousand, which is a great thing, it is best that the thieves all fight each other and die, saving us a lot of effort." He pulled one of the spies and said, "Where did the thieves go after they finished fighting?" ”

The spy reported: "Went north." ”

Yang Sichang nodded and said: "That's right, Li Zicheng won the battle against Zhu Ba, so naturally he wants to go north and occupy Zhu Ba's territory, hehe...... Let's continue north, yes. ”

The officers and soldiers were about to continue the pursuit to the north, when they suddenly saw an army suddenly emerge from the ravine in the north, and the people of this army were all wearing purple uniforms, and at first glance they were people from Baishui Zhuba, but the difference between them and ordinary Zhu soldiers was that the weapons in the hands of this group of people were all spears with black rods, with hooks in front and rings in the rear.

Yang Sichang immediately recognized it, this is what the spies said, Baishui Zhu Ba's "black pole soldiers", it is said that this army has been the vanguard of the Zhu army since it entered Sichuan, and the generals who led the army seem to be called generalissimos.

The officers and soldiers were startled, they did not expect the enemy to touch such a close place, and hurriedly warned them, and the sirens in the mountains and forests came and went, but they saw that the army raised his hands, put the black gun on his head, and waved his hand, which clearly meant surrender. Yang Sichang couldn't help but be curious: Surrender before you fight?

I saw that the thief army sent a messenger to run over, and when he arrived in front of Yang Sichang, he knelt down and said, "Is it Yang Gebu?" ”

Yang Sichang snorted and said, "This official is exact, what do you have to say?" ”

After hearing this, the envoy hurriedly put on a look of sincere fear, and said respectfully: "I have heard the name of the Yang Pavilion Department for a long time, and it is like thunder. I can't wait to see ...... in person, "Let's do it, I slapped my ass first, and then said: "My boss, the generalissimo, has long had a heart for goodness, but he has been controlled by Zhu Ba's thieves and can't get out." Now he finally took advantage of the defeat of Zhu Ba to escape, and wanted to return to the arms of the imperial court, and asked Yang Ge Lao for permission. ”

Yang Sichang was overjoyed when he heard this, he didn't like to kill and kill prisoners like Hong Chengchou, he heard that there were thieves who were willing to surrender, so he was naturally willing, and hurriedly said: "Hurry up and call Dayuan...... Well...... His name is not easy to call. You call him over and meet him. ”

The messenger goes back. After a while, I saw a general from the thief army, followed by a group of henchmen, in front of Yang Sichang. The visitor sang a promise. He said loudly: "Xu Renjie came to meet Lord Yang Gebu. ”

Yang Sichang stared. The person who came was average-looking, not very tall, and had no muscles at all. is full of philistine faces, not a great hero, especially a pair of eyes that are smart and changeable, always giving people a sense of impropriety. He didn't like it in his heart, but then he thought about it again, the thieves were originally some chaotic people, and it was good to grow up like this, so he suppressed the likes and dislikes in his heart, and said to him: "Why are you willing to abandon the darkness and turn to the light?" ”

Xu Renjie hurriedly said a good word, and then talked about why he came to surrender, it turned out that three days ago, the Zhu army was here to fight with the army, but the Zhu army was few, only more than 20,000, but the army had 50,000 or 60,000 people, after the first battle, the Zhu army was scattered, Xu Renjie had already taken refuge in the court, so he took advantage of the opportunity of the army being scattered, got out of the control of Zhu Ba, and took a thousand black pole soldiers to hide in the ravine, just waiting for the officers and soldiers to come and surrender.

His remarks were no different from the information reconnoitred by the officers and soldiers, and Yang Sichang immediately believed seventy percent, so he immediately ordered Xu Renjie to be accepted, and promised to help him declare it in the imperial court and get a thousand officials for him.

Xu Renjie's face was full of grateful, and he whispered to Yang Sichang: "Yang Gebu, since the villain is here to vote, of course he has to show some sincerity, the villain knows where the thief army is gathering now, and is willing to lead the way for the officers and soldiers, and go straight to the mountain where the thief is hiding." ”

As soon as he said this, Yang Sichang was suddenly overjoyed, and asked anxiously, "Where are the thieves hiding now?" ”

Xu Renjie pointed to the north mysteriously and said, "Agate Mountain!" ”

Yang Sichang was overjoyed and said, "Then what are you waiting for?" Lead the way, let's go straight to Agate Mountain. He was overjoyed in his heart, and his breathing couldn't help but become short, just now he thought Xu Renjie was not good-looking, but now he felt that he was very pleasing to the eye. And he has no doubt that Xu Renjie is lying, you must know that there are countless examples of small leaders under the thieves surrendering to the government and then leading the way for the officers and soldiers, which is not very unusual, in fact, it is more unusual for them to not lead the way.

Xu Renjie said: "Yang Gebu, I'm afraid it's not good to chase after me like this, the thieves are not blind, how can you not run away when you see us going?" It is better to let the officers and soldiers change into the clothes of thieves and lead them over. The thief definitely didn't investigate, and thought it was the remnants of the defeated army collected by the villain. When they arrived at the foot of the mountain, the gods unknowingly surrounded the mountain, and attacked the generals, so that the thieves had no way to escape. ”

Yang Sichang said "Huh" and said: "I didn't see it, you guy is very clever." Okay, do it, put on the clothes of a thief and go over ......"-

Two days later, Zuo Liangyu, the general of the Ping Thief, led 10,000 elites, changed into the burlap clothes often worn by thieves, and held a messy and deliberately old weapon in his hand, followed Xu Renjie's black pole soldiers, and walked towards Agate Mountain. In the distance behind this army, they quietly followed the officers and soldiers of He Renlong and Li Guoqi, totaling more than 30,000 ......

Although Yang Sichang already trusts Xu Renjie very much, but Zuo Liangyu is not so careless, he is a little insidious and cunning, cherishes feathers very much, and easily refuses to take risks with himself, and follows Xu Renjie is also a spirit of 120,000 points, not that he believes what Xu Renjie says, but strictly guards the main points of the march, fully does a good job of reconnaissance, and is willing to move forward.

Fortunately, there was nothing to do all the way, Xu Renjie didn't seem to play any tricks, but honestly led the way. After walking for a long time, you can see the shadow of Agate Mountain.

Zuo Liangyu came to Xu Renjie and asked, "You said that the thief is on that mountain?" ”

Xu Renjie nodded and said, "Yes, if we go forward, we will run into the scouts of the thieves, please rest assured that the general will leave it to me to deal with." ”

The officers and soldiers continued to move forward, and sure enough, it didn't take long to meet several waves of scouts, Zuo Liangyu wore a coarse linen clothes, followed behind Xu Renjie, pressed the handle of the knife with his hand, and kept hacking him to death just waiting for Xu Renjie to play tricks, but Xu Renjie didn't play any tricks, and when he met the scout, he waved a big flag embroidered with "Zhenxi General Zhu", and the scouts looked at the army for a while, and they didn't see anything unusual, and they seemed to recognize Xu Renjie, so they let him go.

Zuo Liangyu's suspicion of Xu Renjie became less and less, and in the evening of the same day, the army finally stuck to Agate Mountain. Zuo Liangyu looked up at the top of the mountain, and saw a big flag on the top of the mountain, with the words of the Eight Kings of Xiying written on it, and the flag was facing the sunset, which was very public.

Zuo Liangyu was overjoyed and asked, "It turns out ...... Is Zhang Xianzhong stationed on this mountain? Yang Sichang once wrote a letter urging Zuo Liangyu to pursue Zhang Xianzhong, but Zuo Liangyu never listened to the order, and only then did Yang Sichang write a letter to the Ministry of War, almost changing the commander. Although he doesn't deal with Yang Sichang very much, if he can catch Zhang Xianzhong, he can show his face to the emperor after all, how can he not like it?

Xu Renjie nodded and said: "It's Zhang Xianzhong's house, I brought the general to destroy this goods, which is a big gift to the general." (To be continued.) )