The iron horse galloped, and the golden word "Ming" on the waving banner reflected the dazzling light in the sun.

Ruyang City is directly ahead, Xiao Zhiyan is stationed on the side of the road, raising a clairvoyant mirror to look at the city.

He looked relaxed and asked, "General Li guesses, is Ruyang City going to fight?" ”

"I don't know" Li Dingguo's answer is Mu Ran.

"There is still a Tartar flag hanging at the head of the city, and go over to see what it is" Xiao Zhiyan urged the horse to keep up with the marching Chinese army, he held the clairvoyant mirror between his two fingers, and his movements stretched.

This way, in addition to the sword soldiers under the city of Xuzhou, the counties along the way looked at the wind and fell. Yuncheng, Xiping and Shangcai saw the banner of the Ming army and immediately opened the door to surrender

I don't know what will happen under the city of Ruyang.

More than 10,000 cavalry gathered outside the northern city of Ruyang, and the black armor was like a group of crows flying up and landing and gathering, and the defenders of the city head were breathless with solemn killing intent.

A horse galloped to the north gate of the city and shouted: "The Ming Dynasty is here, Ruyang City has not opened the door to surrender, you have tied up the Jurchens to open the city gate to ask for surrender, you can be rewarded for meritorious service, if you dare to resist stubbornly, the city will break the day and the defenders will kill the nine clans." ”

A cannon rang out at the head of the city, a wisp of white smoke came out, and the iron ball blasted into the moat, making a "bang" sound, causing a large splash.

The Ming army messenger was startled and hurriedly turned his horse back.

The sound of artillery made Li Dingguo's heart sink down, from the outside, Ruyang City is stronger than Nanyang City, if the defenders do not surrender, their 20,000 cavalry has no choice.

"This is the southernmost capital city in Henan, and after recovering Ruyang, we can return to concentrate on dealing with Luckedhun."

He didn't want another siege of Nanyang, the timing didn't allow them to delay here for too long.

Xiao Zhiyan heard the sound of cannons at the head of the city, and he also restrained the smile on his face......

At this moment, a loud noise was heard from the direction of the East Gate, as if something had exploded, and the experienced gunner could hear that it was the sound of the cannon exploding.

From there, the rangers' chaotic cries of surprise were heard: "The East Gate is open"

Li Dingguo's ears were tipped, and he heard the sound of shouting and killing on the upper floor of the distant Dongcheng.

Bai Wenxuan pointed to a banner in the direction of the Chinese army and said, "General, Xiao Shuai ordered us to go to the East City Gate." ”

Li Dingguo glanced over there, and the navy blue flag pointed diagonally to the east. Sure enough, he urged his horse and shouted, "Go"

Two thousand cavalry galloped out of the main formation and rushed to the direction of the east gate of Ruyang.

A crack was opened in the wide east gate, and the sound of guns in the gatehouse was like thunder, like a cannon fire in a box.

Bai Wenxuan's long Qi knife was raised in mid-air, urging the horse to rush straight to the door. There was a chaotic thud from the castle tower overhead, as if lead was flying paste.

The war horse was reduced in front of the city gate, and the two soldiers dismounted to open the city gate, and Bai Wenxuan urged the horse to kill it. There was a commotion in the gatehouse, he did not distinguish between the enemy and me, he slashed with a knife, and all the defenders who were blocking the road were either killed or wounded after being rammed by the Ming cavalry.

A man guarding the city wall hurriedly shouted: "My own man with a yellow scarf on his arm." ”

Bai Wenxuan turned his head and saw that more than a dozen righteous men with yellow scarves had fallen in a pool of blood. Where can be clearly distinguished in the chaotic army, the most important thing is to take the city gate first.

Li Dingguo then urged the horse into the city, and when he saw that the city gate was already under control, a big stone in his heart fell to the ground. He said to the man, "Don't run away with your people, for the city is ours."

There were cavalry at the gate to the main formation to raise the flag, half an hour later, Fang Xuanchu led a large group of cavalry to follow, Li Dingguo then led his troops to pounce on the government.

The cavalry pursued the defenders with the intention of resisting, and those who saw the opportunity took off their uniforms, threw away their weapons, and hid in their homes.

In less than half an hour, the Ming army completely controlled Ruyang.

Xiao Zhiyan rode a white horse and entered the city under the escort of five thousand cavalry.

As in previous cities, the Ming army posted notices everywhere to reassure the people, and at the same time forced all men in the city to cut off their braids. Fang Xuanchu escorted the surrendered defenders outside the city, and the rebels in the city went to identify them, and those who were confirmed to be enemies of the Ming army were beheaded on the spot.

So far, the southern part of Henan has been fully recovered.

Victory came so easily, Xiao Zhiyan couldn't believe it. Now it seems that although there are some hardships outside Nanyang City, it is worth it.

The Ming army entered the city at noon, and before that time, Fang Xuanchu brought more than 300 grades into the city and went to the government to reply to Xiao Zhiyan.

In front of the government office, there stood a row of local villagers who had just been arrested, and they all trembled when they saw the bloodstains on the robes of the soldiers who came.

Xiao Zhiyan originally wanted to choose one of these people to temporarily manage Ruyang, but when he saw Fang Xuanchu coming over, he summoned him into the mansion and said: "General Fang Bing, follow me to the south, it's worth the trip."

Fang Xuanchu saluted: "General Xiao is wise"

There was no need to count them one by one, and he retired after telling the number of people to be killed. In order to prevent the defenders from repeating, the defenders should be temporarily placed outside the city, and when the Ming army left, they would take all those people away, and Fang Xuanchu's army should be stationed outside the city to monitor the defenders.

After returning to the camp, he sent a letter to Hanzhong, telling the king of Zhenxi what he had seen and heard about the battle in Henan, and asked Wu Sangui to make a decision as soon as possible. At present, the world is still a big battlefield, instead of letting Xia Yunyi stare at it, it is better to find an opportunity to make meritorious contributions and add some good impressions to the regent. The imperial court exempted all parts of Jiangbei from taxes, won the hearts of the people, and with most of Henan returning to the Ming Dynasty, he completely accepted his fate for Wu Sangui.

After recovering Ruyang, the southernmost part of Henan, the cavalry was faced with the choice of the next direction of its march, whether to continue south into Huaixi, or to embark on the way home to attack Luoyang

The order given to Xiao Zhiyan by the General's Mansion was to recover the entire territory of Henan. Huaixi belonged to Nanzhili, and according to the plan formulated by the general, this should have been Li Laiheng's next target after capturing Luzhou.

Xiao Zhiyan had a smooth journey and was very enjoyable, and he had never been so happy to rob in the grassland back then. After appeasing the people of Ruyang for two days, he convened his subordinates to discuss the matter.

Fang Xuanchu had completely changed his mind now, and said: "The Mausoleum of Emperor Taizu is right in front of you, and the people of Huaixi miss the Ming Dynasty a lot, how can the general let go of such great achievements."

Xiao Zhiyan confirmed that he was moved, otherwise he would not have convened the generals to discuss the matter. To recover the merits and influence of Emperor Taizu's mausoleum, you must be willing to live through the cities of one province and one county.

Xiao Zhiyan looked at Li Dingguo, so his son led the army south, precisely because he listened to Li Dingguo's advice.

Li Dingguo couldn't erase it, and said: "Now is indeed a good opportunity for troops to enter Fengyang, judging from these cities in Henan, the Qing Dynasty has not made up its mind to defend Henan." But the city of Fengyang is strong, if the defenders do not surrender, our army is all cavalry, there is no way. ”

Fang Xuanchu was dissatisfied: "What if Fengyang looks at the wind and descends? ”

"It is extremely unlikely" Li Dingguo did not show mercy to Fang Xuanchu, "General Li Laiheng besieged Luzhou for more than ten days and did not capture it, Fengyang is the backing of Luzhou, if Fengyang's soldiers are weak, Luzhou Mansion is afraid that it will have no intention of fighting for a long time." ”

"Moreover, ......, the military order of the General's Mansion ordered General Xiao to recover Henan, and if he wants to march towards Fengyang, he needs to ask the general for instructions, and he can only do so after the general's permission."

Che Feng echoed: "Exactly"

Xiao Zhiyan gritted his teeth and said, "Ruyang is not far from Huaiyang, I will immediately send a messenger to ask for my life." ”

The temptation to recover the imperial tomb was too great, and after being demoted from Nanjing to Jingzhou by Zhai Zhe, he had already accepted in his heart that the Zhu family's world had come to an end. But remembering that Ming Taizu's imperial tomb was in front of him, he still had the urge to pay respects.

The officers and men in the army had a hunch that when the Northern Expedition was in full swing, it would be when the regent ascended to the throne.

Xiao Zhiyan went into battle to kill the enemy, but he had an indescribable feeling about this, but he was definitely not happy. He knew that his ideas were incompatible with the generals in the army, and even his son Xu Yiyang was full of longing for the regent to ascend to the throne.

But in his heart, Zhai Zhe will always be the son of the Jin merchant who took him in Zhangjiakou. He could fight the enemy side by side with him, he could drink with him, and he could even die for him, but he always felt that the young son's ascension to the throne was so unreal.

Zhai Zhe even gave himself the waist knife given to him by Duke Lu, and he knew how important the waist knife was to Zhai Zhe in the past.

He gave away this knife in order to get rid of Lu Gong in his heart

None of the generals in the tent guessed Xiao Zhiyan's thoughts, because there is only one Xiao Zhiyan in the whole world, and the regent of the Ming Dynasty has only one such a strange friend.

Li Dingguo thought of Xu Yiyang, who was far away in Nanyang, and felt that he needed to remind: "General, the General's Mansion has already made arrangements, and I am afraid that it will be a little inappropriate to ask for my life, if the Qing soldiers are really tightly deployed in Fengyang, we will be very embarrassed if we get the military order, and we can't rely on cavalry to break the city." ”

Che Feng said in a deep voice: "The military order of the General's Mansion is based on the overall situation, I will wait here for too long, don't delay the war in the north." ”

The military commander Ah Xiao Zhiyan hesitated: "Is there anything more exciting than recovering the imperial tomb?" ”

Li Dingguo was puzzled, how could he make decisions so casually as the commander of the First Army. Although it is said that the generals will not be subject to military orders abroad, only those who are close to the king dare to do so.

He had heard of Xiao Zhiyan's relationship with the regent, but wasn't Xiao Zhiyan's demotion to Jingzhou a warning? The turmoil in Nanjing, if anyone else, will not be beheaded, but will also be idle.

He persuaded: "Yes, the Mausoleum of the Thirteen Emperors in Beijing City, the death of the Son of Heaven is the ultimate goal of my Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty." "Emperor Taizu's Mausoleum is really nothing, when he was sixteen years old, he followed his father-in-law to break through Fengyang and poached all the treasures in Emperor Taizu's Mausoleum, where there was only one rotten bone in the tomb.

Che Feng persuaded: "The Henan battlefield pinned down Shaanxi, and General Zuo was still suppressed by Azig in Ganzhou, so I can't afford to delay." ”

mentioned Zuo Ruo, Xiao Zhiyan restrained his vain thoughts.

"Okay, the army will return to Jiaxian tomorrow, and I will send a messenger to ask the regent for his life, and if the regent allows, I will lead the army south."

Li Dingguo secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao Zhiyan's every decision is related to the fate of the generals in the army, he has only been in the Ming Dynasty for a short time, and he has not made any obvious contributions, if he is confused and involved in a storm of disobeying military orders, it is really unlucky.

Fang Xuanchu still wanted to persuade again, but when he saw Che Feng glaring at each other, he finally closed his mouth.

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