At this time, Gao Yingxiang and other leaders of the peasant army were a little like frightened birds, seeing that there was a Ming army of tens of thousands of people constantly harassing around them, they did not dare to slack off, on the one hand, the peasant army sent an elite old battalion to defend in the direction of the Zhou Patrol Department; On the other hand, they accelerated their pace and wanted to pass through Nanyang Mansion as soon as possible and flow to Nanyang.

But in this way, the peasant army is fast, and the Runing army is slow, which led to Wu Shigong's carefully planned action, but he could only catch the tail of the peasant army.

"I killed a thief with my own hands!" A gentleman's son shouted excitedly. Although the boy suffered some minor injuries to his arm, he still wielded the sword in his hand, and a group of gentry and gentry gathered around him, cheering together.

In the battle just now, a small group of peasant troops happened to flee in front of the pro-soldier team, and were wiped out by the prepared pro-soldier team in turn. And seeing that the peasant army was basically defeated, those officials and gentry could no longer hold back, and they took advantage of Wu Shigong's unpreparedness and rushed out with their own families.

But that kind of battle is just mending the sword, and there is nothing to boast about. Only this disciple happened to meet a peasant soldier who was lying in the corpse of the peasant army and pretended to be dead, and when he saw the gentry's son coming, the peasant soldier immediately jumped up to resist, although this sneak attack injured the official gentry's son, but the peasant soldier Ding Zuihou was still killed by the gentry's son. As a result, the only child of the official gentry who killed with his own hands was envied and cheered by all the children.

Seeing that Hou Fangyu was also looking at the official gentleman's disciple with envy, Wu Shigong said with a smile: "Brother Chaozong! You need to envy one enemy who learns ten thousand enemies? ”

Hou Fangyu hurriedly bowed to Wu Shi and said, "In the past, I only read in books, but today I see the battlefield." Alas! Hou Fangyu then let out a long sigh.

"Isn't it cruel and bloody?" Wu Shigong smiled and finished what Hou Fangyu wanted to say, "It's not romantic at all!" ”

"Romantic?" Hou Fangyu was stunned for a moment when he heard this new word. However, his comprehension ability is really strong, and he understood the meaning of "romantic" in an instant, so Hou Fangyu also smiled and said to Wu Shigong: "It's not romantic!" It's not romantic! ”

Wu Shigong pointed to the corpses all over the ground. Then he said to Hou Fangyu: "No one likes to kill people, they are all born and raised by their parents." But the court can't let them live and work in peace! I can only use thunderbolts! ”

Hou Fangyu also nodded: "What Brother Changjing said is extremely true. The younger brother has been cold for ten years, and he just wants to serve the court. When his younger brother is like going to the court, he will sweep away the evil and return the world to a bright future. ”

Although Wu Shigong was a little unimpressed with Hou Fangyu's unworldly rhetoric, Wu Shigong didn't need to wear it, he continued: "Brother Chaozong, one day you can be comfortable in the court. But the battlefield is really not your strength, this time you and all the talents have opened their eyes, will you return to Germany? ”

After this period of barracks life. Hou Fangyu, the children of these officials and gentry, have long known that life in the military camp is very boring, but they can't pull their faces and leave, so they have persevered until now. Therefore, after the experience of this battle, they can already give an account to everyone.

So. Hou Fangyu replied: "I won't trouble Brother Changjing." Where is Brother Changjing going next? ”

"I'll go back to Runing, too. This extermination of the Shaanxi bandits is not a day's work. So go back and recuperate. Prevent the comeback of the Shaanxi bandits. Don't worry, we will walk together on the way back to Runing, and then I will send troops to escort you back to Germany. ”

Since Wu Shigong also wants to collect troops, Hou Fangyu will be even more careless. He nodded and agreed, "Then thank you Brother Changjing." ”

"This time, you go back and bring my New Year's gifts to the prince and Lord Hou. I apologize to Taigong again, I am really busy with military affairs and can't get out of it. Otherwise, I will come to Guide and kowtow to the prince to say goodbye. ”

"Brother Changjing is too polite." Hou Fangyu hurriedly saluted Wu Shigong on behalf of the Hou Mansion.

"What are we two going to be polite about?" Wu Shigong smiled and said, "Oh! After the elder brother of Chaozong goes back this time, he has to study hard behind closed doors? Wu Shigong chatted with Hou Fangyu about family life.

"It's still early for the township test. So wait until after the New Year. The younger brother wants to study in Jinling. Hou Fangyu replied.

"Then when you go back, bring another copy of Cheng Yi. Don't say anything polite, I don't like to hear it! Wu Shigong made a joke, and then he said to Hou Fangyu: "Jinling is good! The fireworks there are also good. I remember that there are two people named Gu Hengbo and Liu Ruye, and my brother will have a good fortune when he goes! ”

After finishing speaking, Wu Shigong winked at Hou Fangyu, revealing a "It's a man who understands!" Expression.

Hou Fangyu also laughed embarrassedly. But secretly, he kept the names of Gu Hengbo and Liu Ruye in his heart.

When the main force of the Runing Army suddenly appeared in the rear of the peasant army, the peasant army was in chaos. But before the peasant army could react, the Zhou Patrol Division, together with Chen Zhongzhi and Jiang Cheng, the two Ming armies, entered the eastern waist of the peasant army.

Under the attack of these two elite Runing troops, the peasant army immediately lost resistance, and Gao Yingxiang and the others threw down the men and horses of the rear team, and fled south with the elite of their old battalion. The Runing Army, which was entangled in the rear of the peasant army, also stopped the pursuit.

The battle that followed was one-sided, and there was nothing to say. The number of prisoners of the Runing army exceeded 30,000, and more than half of the mules, horses, and baggage of the peasant army were left behind.

However, Wu Shigong was very dissatisfied with such a result, because the people captured by the Runing Army were all old and weak women and children arranged by the peasant army in the rear team, and many of them were the families of the peasant soldiers.

The most important thing is that this sortie did not even see the shadow of Li Zicheng. Moreover, he did not fight with the men and horses of Li Zicheng's old camp at all, and did not achieve the effect of testing Li Zicheng's strength. Therefore, Wu Shigong's purpose of using the main force has been completely lost.

However, in the eyes of outsiders, Wu Shigong captured a large number of peasant soldiers, and left most of the peasant army's mules, horses and baggage, and the income after the inventory far exceeded Wu Shigong's expenditure after using the main force, so it once again proved that Wu Shigong was extremely wise.

Of course, Wu Shigong will not clarify the result of such a crying and laughing. He also had no intention of leading his troops to pursue, and honestly returned to Runing with Tiger Roar Town and his own troops on the 22nd day of the lunar month.

On the way to the south of the peasant army, Zhu Yujian, the Tang king in Nanyang Mansion, once again ordered the soldiers he had recruited to attack after tasting the sweetness last time.

But this time, the prefect of Nanyang did not dare to let go of freedom, and he asked Sun Wei to take a part of the soldiers in the city to attack jointly with the troops of the Tang King. In addition to being frightened, the peasant army also avoided the attacking Ming army, which made this Ming army gain a small victory.

And seeing that the army he recruited had military exploits, Tang King Zhu Yujian's self-confidence was even more inflated, and he quietly recruited his troops to 3,000 people.

The terrified peasant army did not settle down until they fled into Huguang. This time when entering Henan, in addition to the troops of Lao Hui Hui Ma Shouying, the battalions of the peasant army were all heavily damaged, and Emperor Chongzhen and the important ministers of the court also thought that such a result was due to the merit of setting up two governors.

The Runing army also retreated to its own defense area and began to watch the battle between the Ming army and the peasant army in Huguang.

Since Huguang only had Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong army and Zu Kuan's Liao army at the beginning, the concentrated peasant army had the upper hand. They avoided the main force of the Ming army, and wandered in the weak areas defended by the Ming army, and obtained a large amount of supplies and personnel replenishment between the city and the countryside, and soon made up for their losses in Henan.

But the good times did not last long, after the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu and Yu Zilian's Ruzhou army went to Huguang one after another, so Gao Yingxiang and other troops began to divide their troops, and began to wander around, wanting to drag down the Ming army.

In the midst of the peasant army's wandering, they tried to flee to Anhui several times, but they were defeated by the Runing army waiting on the Huai River, making the Xinyang-Wuchang line a forbidden area for the peasant army.

Therefore, in this time and space, due to the addition of the variable of the Runing Army, the activity area of the peasant army is much smaller, and their strength is also much smaller.

But after all, the vitality of the peasant army was very tenacious, and in Huguang and other places, they still roamed wantonly, and even took the opportunity to eliminate several Ming troops who came to encircle and suppress, and even the Ming general Tang Jiuzhou died in the battle with the peasant army.

Therefore, the battle between the Ming army and the peasant army in Huguang was in a state of stalemate. It was not until March of the ninth year of Chongzhen that this situation changed.

First of all, it was Sun Chuanting who became the governor of Shaanxi. For the dereliction of duty of the former governor of Shaanxi, Gan Xuekuo, Emperor Chongzhen could not bear it anymore, so he complied with the will of the people and promoted Sun Chuanting to take over as the governor of Shaanxi.

As soon as Sun Chuanting took office, he began to sort out Shaanxi's military affairs. He continued to expand his army and his salary. The army and fields that had accumulated around Xi'an had originally fallen into the hands of the wealthy families headed by King Qin, and Sun Chuanting rectified them with an iron fist and let the wealthy families spit out all the fat. Although it received some criticism, it was 11,000 soldiers, 145,000 taels of silver and more than 13,000 stones of rice and wheat in annual taxes.

Then Sun Chuanting immediately mobilized his troops, and ordered the deputy general Luo Shangwen to lead the Ming army to attack the rebel army in Shangluodi, and killed the king of Qi. In a short period of time, Sun Chuanting mastered a strong army.

At this time, Huang Taiji outside the gate felt that he was already full-fledged, and he ordered the founding of the country to be called the Qing Dynasty, which was actually to change the Houjin to the Qing Dynasty and change the Yuan Chongde, that is, the tenth year of Tiancong was the first year of Chongde. And changed the Jurchen to the Manchus. finally completely revealed his ambition to dominate the world. (To be continued......)