On April 17, the 14th year of Chongzhen, an army of 20,000 led by He Renlong arrived in Zhuxian Town.

Xinye is 750 miles away from Zhuxian Town, He Renlong set off on April 13, it took five days, 20,000 troops marched more than 700 miles, an average of nearly 150 miles a day, which is unbearable for the army, but in order to be able to seize the opportunity and do all the defense before Li Zicheng arrived in Zhuxian Town, He Renlong can't manage so much.

After arriving in Zhuxian Town, the sergeant was extremely tired, but He Renlong still issued an order to arm and investigate, he could not have the slightest negligence, while the sergeant was armed, He Renlong ordered the scouts to reconnoiter along the two directions of Kaifeng Fucheng and Weishi County, to see where Li Zicheng went.

Zhuxian Town is still relatively prosperous, there are a lot of shops in the town, there is not much difference from the ordinary county seat, but there is no city wall, after all, it is close to Kaifeng City, and the traffic is very convenient, and many merchants have settled here.

The sudden arrival of the army still caused a lot of panic in the town.

He Renlong could have ignored the merchants and people of Zhuxian Town, but considering that the war was imminent, in the cruel process of fighting, the merchants and the people were likely to cause a certain degree of panic and become a burden on the army, so he ordered the sergeants to help these merchants and people relocate, and asked many merchants and people to leave Zhuxian Town, go to Kaifeng City, or go to other places to join relatives and friends, in short, they could not stay in Zhuxian Town.

He Renlong's heart was good, to avoid the people being slaughtered in the battle, and to ask the people to leave, but the orders he gave were very unfavorable to the merchants and the people, especially for those who were more affluent. The so-called help relocation, there are many meanings, the following sergeants according to their own understanding to help relocate, in the process of relocation, the sergeant can not get the benefit is definitely not good, as a result, a lot of open and secret looting of property appeared.

He Renlong is not a good stubble. Knowing that the sergeant was tired in the process of helping the merchants and the people relocate, he would not speak, anyway, the property was obtained by the sergeant under his command, and if the sergeant was punished at this time, it would hurt the morale of the army.

Thousands of miles of officials are only for money, and these sergeants have fought with their lives, not hoping to get more money.

The barbarism and looting of the sergeants soon caused panic in Zhuxian Town, and many people even began to move secretly in the middle of the night. Carry important belongings with you, and go with your family in the direction of Kaifeng or Weishi County.

In just two days, Zhuxian Town has almost become an empty town, and there are no merchants and ordinary people in sight, leaving only the remnants of a place, telling the resentment of the master being forced to leave.

The scouts sent out have come back to report the news.

Li Zicheng's liukou has not yet arrived in Zhuxian Town. However, it has already arrived in Weishi County, less than 100 miles away from Zhuxian Town. As for the direction of Kaifeng Fucheng, martial law has long been imposed, a curfew has been implemented in the city, and the time when the city gate is open has also been strictly restricted, and the inspection of entering and leaving the city gate is very strict, and ordinary people are not allowed to enter the city at all.

Scouts report the news. The envoy sent by the governor Wu Fu also rushed to Zhuxian Town, met He Renlong, and brought a message from Wu Fu, Wu Fu asked He Renlong to stop the Liukou under Li Zicheng in Zhuxian Town, after all, there were less than 20,000 soldiers stationed in Kaifeng Prefecture. If all the 180,000 Liukou attacked the Fengfu City, the possibility of holding it was almost non-existent.

Wu Fu also told He Renlong that the Ministry of War had sent an edict to Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, asking Sun Chuanting to lead the army to aid Kaifeng Fucheng, according to the news obtained by Wu Fu, Sun Chuanting had led the army in the direction of Kaifeng Fucheng, so He Renlong was particularly important to stop Li Zicheng in Zhuxian Town, as long as the army led by Sun Chuanting arrived in Zhuxian Town, the two armies combined would be able to completely defeat Li Zicheng.

After knowing these news, He Renlong's face did not have a smile, he knew that Sun Chuanting had more than 100,000 troops under his command, but so many troops, rushing from Yunyang in Huguang to Zhuxian Town, I don't know how long it would take, after all, there were only 20,000 troops under his command, thinking about resisting 180,000 rogues in Zhuxian Town for a long time, which was a bit of a pebble hitting a stone.

The information brought by Wu Fu also illustrates a problem, that is, it is impossible for the sergeants from Shaanxi, Shanxi, Shandong, Beizhili and other places to come to the aid of Kaifeng Fucheng, including the border armies of Datong, Yulin and Ningxia, and it is impossible to mobilize.

This is in He Renlong's expectation, the Liukou is only in Huguang and Henan to plunder, the rest of the place has not encountered a threat, naturally it is impossible to do their best to resist and resist the Liukou, as for the border army, it is necessary to protect the safety of the border pass, if it is a large-scale transfer, what if the Houjin Tartars and Mongolian Tartars suddenly invade.

In the past two days, the sergeant has not taken care of a good rest, has removed part of the house, set up a defensive formation on the official road, to stop the charge of the rogue cavalry, and at the same time to protect himself in the process of fighting and fighting less injuries, but the time is too short, only two days, the sergeant can not build a complete defensive position.

Anger and complaining have no effect, He Renlong also thought about leading 20,000 troops to evacuate to Kaifeng Fucheng, relying on the strong city wall to resist the attack of the Liukou, waiting for other armies to rush to Kaifeng Fucheng, but this idea was vetoed by the Ministry of War, holding on to the city may be able to prevent the Liukou from capturing Kaifeng Fucheng prematurely, but the army was all evacuated to the Fucheng, showing the momentum of cowardice, the two sides have not yet fought, the imperial army is at a disadvantage, and there are too many soldiers stationed in Kaifeng Fucheng, The supply of food and grass and the deployment of defense, etc., need to spend a lot of thought, temporary deployment may not be in time, once the city of Kaifeng is completely surrounded by the rogues, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the city is low, the situation is likely to become worse.

Therefore, He Renlong could only order 20,000 soldiers to deploy in Zhuxian Town, delaying the speed of Liukou's advance.

Relying on 20,000 soldiers, thinking about defeating nearly 200,000 rogues, it is impossible, He Renlong knows this very well, it is very good to be able to keep himself from being completely defeated by the rogues, if there is no army led by Sun Chuanting to come to help, He Renlong will not stick to Zhuxian Town at all.

However, Sun Chuanting led the army to come to the rescue, and there is one of the biggest problems, that is, how to break through the blockage of the Liukou, Sun Chuanting's more than 100,000 troops can only take the official road, it is impossible to find other paths, which indicates that Sun Chuanting must meet the Liukou, and the fight is indispensable.

The situation is very unfavorable to He Renlong, but at this time, he can't think of so much, how to resist the sharp attack of the rogue is the most important question that should be considered at the moment.

After arranging everything, He Renlong sent scouts again to find the traces of the reinforcements along the way, which was a great test for the scouts, and the scouts had to avoid the rogues in order to detect the traces of the reinforcements.

The scouts sent by Liu Zongmin had already arrived in Zhuxian Town, they pretended to be ordinary people to investigate everything that happened in Zhuxian Town, the news of He Renlong's arrival in Zhuxian Town, and every move in Zhuxian Town, Liu Zongmin was fully aware.

Liu Zongmin once thought about leading the soldiers of the righteous army to launch a surprise attack when He Renlong's foothold was not stable, but his idea was vetoed by Gu Junen, and the vanguard army led by Liu Zongmin, the number of which was about 20,000 people, did not dare to guarantee the defeat of He Renlong.

According to Gu Junen's request, Liu Zongmin ordered the scouts to conduct a detailed reconnaissance of the officers and troops stationed in Zhuxian Town, and through more than a day of investigation, it was found that the number of officers and soldiers under He Renlong's command was about 20,000.

Hearing this news, Li Zicheng and Gu Junen were very happy.

They are clear about He Renlong's name, and it is comparable to Cao Wenzhao back then, if the righteous army can defeat or even kill He Renlong, the impact will be huge, and it will also be able to severely hit the morale of the officers and soldiers.

Li Zicheng immediately made arrangements to attack Zhuxian Town with 80,000 elite soldiers of the Righteous Army, and he must completely defeat He Renlong and his officers and troops in the shortest possible time.

The battle was personally commanded by Li Zicheng, and the vanguard officer was Liu Zongmin.

Gu Junen is responsible for commanding the remaining 100,000 rebel sergeants, these sergeants also need to be ready for battle, once the attack of 80,000 rebel sergeants is not particularly smooth, the remaining 100,000 sergeants will also be put into battle, of course, more importantly, the official army is very likely to reinforce Kaifeng Fucheng, these 100,000 sergeants need to resist the reinforcements of the official army at any time.

When He Renlong expelled the merchants and the people in Zhuxian Town, Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin personally led the army and began to march towards Zhuxian Town, in order to avoid being discovered by the scouts sent by He Renlong, Li Zicheng was very careful, and strictly grasped the time of marching every day, all in the early morning and evening, he hoped to achieve the effect of a surprise attack.

After the 80,000 soldiers of the righteous army bypassed the county seat of Weishi, Li Zicheng no longer asked the army to conceal its whereabouts, but accelerated the pace of the march and headed towards Zhuxian Town.

A big battle is about to break out in Zhuxian Town, Li Zicheng is with the belief that he will win, he even thinks about killing He Renlong, with 80,000 people against 20,000 people, there should be no suspense in such a battle, as for the reinforcements of the official army, even if Sun Chuanting, the governor of the five provinces, supports Kaifeng Fucheng, he will not be able to reach Zhuxian Town for a while and a half, as long as the righteous army grasps the fighter, He Renlong is fighting alone, without any support. (To be continued......)