After Xuan Mo finished writing the letter to Wu Shigong, he sent someone to Runing overnight. But as soon as he went to bed that night, he got the shocking news: the peasant rebels were united and marched towards Henan.

With such a large-scale mobilization of troops by the Ming court, it was impossible to hide the peasant rebels, and of course they would not be stupid enough to stand still and be beaten passively.

And now the governor of the five provinces, Hong Chengchou, is busy quelling the Xining mutiny, and there is no way to entangle the peasant rebels, and because the Grand Canal and the Yellow River are frozen, the army led by Zhu Dadian, the governor of Shandong, cannot be mobilized quickly, so if you don't defend the relatively empty Henan now, where do you want to go?

Moreover, the last trip to Henan was a dream trip for the peasant rebels. The large number of displaced people joined to make the soldiers strong and strong, and Henan was located in the Central Plains, and the degree of richness was incomparable to Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Gansu, so the peasant rebel army had long wanted to celebrate the anniversary.

In the long-term battle with the official army of the Ming Dynasty, the major leaders of the peasant rebel army gradually realized the shortcomings of fighting separately, so this time they formed a huge coalition army and carried out joint military operations under the command of Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang.

November 6 of the seventh year of Chongzhen. Shaanzhou, Henan.

Hundreds of Ming cavalry, led by a thousand households, stopped on the top of a small hill. They were eight or nine miles away from the peasant rebels, but the cavalry did not dare to come near, but there was no need to do so.

Because even at such a distance, the momentum of the peasant rebels was already terrifying. Looking at the past from the cavalry of the Ming army, in the area south of the cliff pass, the south end of the South Mountain, the north end of the river meander, that is the flag covering the sky. A shining sun. The waves and clouds rushed in, but the sound of horses neighing.

Moreover, the battalion of the peasant rebel army could not be seen at a glance, and it was estimated that it would last for dozens of miles; Where people and animals have trampled on it, the road is five or six miles wide. Its total strength is unimaginable.

You must know that when they first entered Henan, although the peasant rebel army had grown to hundreds of thousands of horses, first, they did not have a place to unite, and second, most of them were refugees who had just taken refuge in Henan, and their combat effectiveness was not strong.

However, this time it was different, and the total number of peasant rebels who entered Henan was no less than that of the previous time. And this force is gathered together, and the total strength is no longer a simple addition. In addition, most of the peasant rebels this time were veterans who survived the wandering battle, so their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of the last time.

"My lord! Shall we take a closer look? A cavalryman asked the commander.

That Qian always turned pale: "What are you doing closely?" Is there any difference between 20,000 and 30,000? Don't put all of us brethren in there. ”

"Look, my lord!" At this moment, a cavalryman who had come forward to observe shouted.

I saw that more than 1,000 cavalry in front of the peasant rebel army had discovered these Ming troops. They stepped on the wheat field and ran towards this group of Ming cavalry.

"Let's go!" The Qian Zong did not hesitate to turn the horse's head. "Hurry up and report back to the governor."

Because the peasant rebel army was too strong. Therefore, they no longer needed to hide, so in addition to sending some cavalry to open the way in front, they did not send a large number of scouts to the left and right of the front.

It's just that they hated this Ming cavalry, so they drove their horses to expel them. However, because he knew that the distance was too far, it was impossible to catch up with this Ming cavalry, so he pretended to chase after it. The cavalry of the peasant rebel army also collected the horses and returned to the camp.

"Dong Weng! The Lu clan can't keep it! We only have more than 14,000 soldiers and horses, and we have to divide the major passes and cities, and we can't stop the hundreds of thousands of Shaanxi bandits. Although Dong Weng stayed here, although he could slightly block the Shaanxi bandits, he was in a dangerous situation. But without the troops of General Soldier Zuo and General Soldier Tang, what would Luoyang do? What to do with the opening in the back? Dong Weng can think about it, there are two princes in those two cities! Master Wang tried his best to persuade Xuan Mo.

Xuan Mo didn't say a word, looked at Zuo Liangyu and Tang Jiuzhou and other military attachés, waiting for their statement.

Tang Jiuzhou touched his chin and was silent, he didn't want to be the first bird at this time. But relatively speaking, Zuo Liangyu's understanding in officialdom is much higher than Tang Jiuzhou. Otherwise, how could he have gone from a criminal army to a general soldier in just a few years? This kind of upward speed is not just something that can be exchanged for selling chrysanthemums!

Zuo Liangyu knew that in fact, Xuan Mo had already had the intention of retreating, and it was nothing more than the governor's responsibility to defend the territory, so he couldn't propose to retreat first. And at this time, if Zuo Liangyu comprehends Shangyi and proposes to retreat, although he may be punished afterwards, as long as he hugs the thigh of the governor, what he loses now will also be made up for in the future.

So after brewing some words, Zuo Liangyu bowed and saluted: "Lord Governor!" Ladies and gentlemen! Lu's is just a county town, the city is small and the walls are low, and the army can't be used at all. If you want to stop the bandits here, you must set up a camp outside the city and defend the city. But in this way, it is the plan of the Shaanxi bandits. The army outside the city was also unlucky. ”

"And if the Shaanxi bandits surround the Lu clan, there is no communication between inside and outside, and no one outside will come to take charge of the overall situation, but they will miss the plan to suppress the bandits. If the governor must guard it, then the general will also volunteer to take his sons and daughters to guard here. I beg the governor to take the rest of the army to echo him. ”

"But the last general is also here to say that if you want to stop the Shaanxi bandits, you can't rely on our Henan army alone. I don't know when reinforcements from all over the world will arrive. There is no problem with the last general to stay in the Lu family for half a month. But if there are no reinforcements, the Lu clan will definitely not be able to protect it for a long time, and when the time comes, I implore the governor to blame the last general. ”

Although Zuo Liangyu made a high-spirited festival, he gave Xuan Mo a preventive shot here, indicating that Zuo Liangyu would not defend himself in the Lu family. In other words, they will definitely run away.

Hearing that Zuo Liangyu gave himself a step down, Xuan Mo nodded slightly to Zuo Liangyu without moving. Then he asked Master Wang, "What is the response to the letter of help sent to the court and other places?" ”

In fact, Xuan Mo also knew about those requests for help, and at this time, he wanted all the officials in the Chinese military account to hear them clearly, so that they could understand that the withdrawal order he gave was also a last resort.

Master Wang immediately said: "It's been a few days since I asked for help from the Ministry of War, and it is estimated that I have now arrived at the imperial court. However, the time for the military department to mobilize troops and horses in various places may not be as fast as our request for help from the neighboring provinces. ”

"Jin Fu can't count on it. The Yellow River is freezing again, and the Shaanxi bandits are also a smooth way to Shanxi, so they are also asking for help everywhere. Lu Fu is better there. The news that can be reported said that Governor Zhu is afraid that there will be few soldiers, and he must wait until the soldiers and horses of Tianjin and Guanning Iron Cavalry arrive before he is willing to go on the expedition, and when he arrives here, it has already become yesterday's yellow flower! ”

"Governor Hong's communication has been cut off by Shaanxi bandits. However, a few days ago, news came that he took the main force of the army to quell the Xining Rebellion, and there would not be many soldiers and horses that could be sent. And the general soldiers of the Sichuan army Qin, there are only 3,000 soldiers, and they can't stir up big waves in front of hundreds of thousands of Shaanxi bandits. ”

"Also, there are Yexian Battalion, Runing Battalion and Guide Dewei ...... in the south."

Xuan Mo immediately raised his hand to stop Master Wang's words. His letter has just been sent, and he still doesn't know what Wu Shigong's response is. If everyone learns that they have transferred these three armies in the public, but they still do not move when they arrive in Zuihou, then the face of the governor will be lost.

So Xuan Mo said: "The south is also very important, and Nanyang Mansion is also within reach of the Shaanxi bandits." It's good to have General Li Bing, Commander Zhao and Wu Runing guarding there. However, if they have more troops and horses, it is best to mobilize some to come to Henan Mansion to join us. ”

"Also, King Fu and King Zhou are both noble relatives of the Son of Heaven, and keeping them safe is also the top priority. Although General Zuo is passionate about the country, Benfu is not a person who is inconsiderate of his subordinates. Passing on the order of Ben Fu, the whole army immediately withdrew to Luoyang to protect the cities along the Yellow River. He also gave an explanation to the local governments of Henan Prefecture, so that they could properly settle the people under their rule and prevent them from being poisoned by Shaanxi bandits. ”

After talking about Zuihou's official articles, the military discussion ended. In the face of the menacing peasant rebels, the Ming army had already abandoned most of Henan Province.

And this time, the peasant rebel army entered Henan for the second time, completely choosing the most haode opportunity. Before the Ming army was preparing to encircle and suppress the peasant rebels, they first attacked and punched the abdomen of the Ming Dynasty, which completely disrupted the rhythm of the Ming army's encirclement and suppression.

This time, except for the general Li Zicheng, who remained in Shaanxi to deal with the Ming army, all the rest entered Henan. And on the way to the march, no Ming army dared to stop this huge army, and the states and counties along the way also abandoned one after another, only a few did not know whether to say that they should be loyal to the country, or the local officials with bad brains died together with the city.

But it suddenly became such a big shili, but it caused a strong difference of opinion among the peasant rebels. One faction thought that they were still a rabble, and that they wanted to avoid the main force of the Ming army, and they were still wandering around and looting places; The other faction, however, thought that they had been reborn, and wanted to test the weight of the Ming army, and strive to conquer a few large cities and expand the influence of the peasant rebel army.

In order to eliminate the differences in the peasant rebel army, and for the unified action in the future, in early November of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, summoned the leaders of the 72nd battalion of the peasant rebel army, including King Chuang, Lao Huihui, Ge Liyan, King Zuojian, Cao Cao, King of the World, Shooting the Heavens, Eight Kings, Hengtian Wang, Mixed 100,000, Guotianxing, Nine Dragons, and Shuntian Wang, to gather in Xingyang.

And this gathering is known as the Xingyang Conference. The series of actions of the peasant rebel army formulated at this meeting also brought great turmoil to the political situation of the Ming Dynasty in the future, and also brought far-reaching effects. However, it also caused Wu Shigong's Runing Army to have a full-scale war with the peasant rebel army for the first time. (To be continued......)