The wind is like a knife, and the ground is full of frost. In the past few years, Tongguan, which is located at the junction of Qin, Jin and Henan provinces, did not have the slightest joy of saying goodbye to ----the old and welcoming the new, but the army gathered, and the guards were tight, and the six city gates were guarded by dozens of soldiers led by a thousand generals, and the entry and exit were strictly checked. Although the gate towers are no different from the past, the Qilin Mountain, Phoenix Mountain, Xiangshan Mountain, Yintai Mountain, Bijia Mountain and the East and West Wengcheng in the pass are full of officers and soldiers. Several hillsides outside the city were also filled with horse-foot troops. Hardly anyone knew exactly how many men there were, and just listening to the constant neighing of horses everywhere was enough to conclude that there was indeed a heavy increase in troops.

At dusk, Hong Chengchou was dressed in civilian clothes, surrounded by hundreds of people such as ***, Cai Jiuyi, and Jin Sheng, and rode from Xi'an to Tongguan on horseback. He is now more powerful, crowned the crown prince Taibao, hung the military department of the secretary and the right capital of the imperial history, the governor of the three sides and the military of Henan and other five provinces, can be regarded as a first-class feudal official, the Manchu dynasty, no one can match. Along the way, he did not alarm the magistrates everywhere, and when he was about to arrive at Tongguan, he sent someone to inform Ding Qirui, the soldier of Tongguan, to vacate the lobby and signing room of the Daotai Yamen for emergency use, but he was explicitly ordered not to make a noise. Ding Qirui was even more secretive, while hurriedly changing into a four-grade civil official uniform, preparing to go out of the city to Shili Pavilion to greet him, and at the same time ordered Tongguan Quanjing Street, no idle people were allowed to walk on the street, and every house was closed, and a horse sentry officer was sent to lead troops to patrol along the street. Ding Qirui led a small number of relatives to follow, and just after riding out of the west gate of Tongguan, Hong Chengchou arrived. Ding Qirui led civil and military officials, large and small, and knelt on both sides of the official road to greet them. Hong Chengchou dismounted and returned the salute, smiled and bowed, greeted him slightly, and then got on the horse, taking advantage of the twilight, and stationed in the Daotai Yamen. After resting for a while in the signing room, washing away the dust along the way, Jin Sheng brewed a strong Wuyi Mountain rock tea, and then passed on Ding Qirui, the general soldier, and the deputy general respectively, and briefly inquired about the military situation in the front, and then ordered the staff general to stay and discuss the military situation, and the rest of the generals rushed back to the defense to station. After dinner, he was closing his eyes to recuperate, and Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, led a large group of generals to arrive.

Since the battle of Heishuiyu, Sun Chuanting captured King Gao Yingxiang alive and offered his majesty as a prisoner, and his prestige was far and wide, and he even had the tendency to come to the top, and was regarded as a rare capable talent by the government and the opposition. In just a few months, he counted more than 9,000 soldiers, more than 140,000 taels of silver, more than 20,000 stones of rice and wheat, and the soldiers were full of grain, and they were no longer constrained by the food and salary of the household department, and Emperor Chongzhen was extremely praised. He was arranging how to set up an ambush in the south of the city and capture Li Zicheng alive, and Liu Renda, a general of the Chinese army, came on a flying horse, saying that the master of the Taiwan Commander had entered Tongguan and had important matters to meet and discuss in detail. Although Sun Chuanting secretly complained about distracting himself, he didn't dare to slack off.

Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting are similar in age, but Sun Chuanting is a late Jinshi and is a subordinate official of Hong Chengchou, but Hong Chengchou appreciates Sun Chuanting very much, thinking that he is a general who has not met in a century. Hearing the urgent and heavy footsteps outside the signing room, Hong Chengchou got up and went out, let the burly Sun Chuanting into the room, retreated left and right, gave up his seat with a greeting, and said with a whisker: "Brother Baigu, since the great victory in Heishuiyu, the scorpion block has been exterminated, the Great Heavenly King and the Heavenly Star have been defeated, and Shaanxi has gradually become peaceful." In tomorrow's battle, if I can capture the thief alive, my brother's immortal achievements will not worry about Lingyan Pavilion's name. ”

Sun Chuanting looked at Hong Chengchou, who was spotless all over his body, and knew that he liked to be clean and elegant, so he bowed and said: "The humble post has been setting up an ambush, and he is not far away to greet him, and he is in a hurry to rush into the city, his face is dark, his robe is wrinkled, and he is a master of Taiwan!" ”

Hong Chengchou really laughed and said: "As long as you defeat the enemy, I'm afraid that there will be no new purple robes!" What is the situation of the former enemy? ”

Sun Chuanting replied: "The thief is anxious to return to Shaanxi, he made a dangerous move, regardless of the Tongguan moat in front of him, he wanted to surprise and break through the pass to the north. Even if they can't be captured alive, they will definitely be killed, and the thieves in Shaanxi will be able to complete their efforts in one battle, please rest assured. Sun Chuanting is full of spirit, and the odds are in hand.

Hong Chengchou smiled slightly, and said in a low voice: "Brother Baigu, the headquarters received your secret note on the way, and I know that you are going to set up three ambushes in the south of Tongguan to wait for the thief, this plan is wonderful!" Don't you know that the ambush is ready? ”

"The strength was originally insufficient, but fortunately, the Lord of Taiwan gave permission, and the Liaodong Iron Cavalry led by Sun Xianzu and Zu Dabi was transferred to the former enemy, temporarily subject to humble control, and laid a net of heaven and earth, just waiting for the thieves to come to the door."

"The success of the first battle of Tongguan has relieved the imperial court's worries about the west, which is really the wish of the ministry for many years. As long as the rebel thief can be captured alive, everyone inside and outside Tongguan can be at my brother's disposal. ”

"Thank you, sir!"

Hong Chengchou smiled, then frowned slightly and said: "The headquarters is a little worried, afraid that the thieves attacking Tongguan will just bluff, but they will escape from other places. ”

"Your Excellency is very worried. Even if he learned that there were heavy troops stationed in the south of Tongguan, he would think that the official army would inevitably rely on himself and lay out a suspicious plan, but he was ambushed on other roads. ”

"It's the best, but if something happens, you have to guard against it." Hong Chengchou was suspicious in his heart, and thought about it with his beard. Sun Chuanting saw that he was not very relieved, and explained: "Please be relieved." Even if the thieves are not allowed to go through Tongguan and do not seek a way to survive, the passes around have been blocked by heavy troops, Cao Bianjiao and He Renlong and others are chasing after them, and the thieves have reached such a point, and they will not be spared. Besides, he only has more than 2,000 horses under his command, where can he withstand the heavy encirclement of the troops on all sides. ”

Hong Chengchou finally nodded, and said slowly: "Although Li Zicheng is a thief who has been defeated repeatedly, he is cunning and fierce, although the number of his subordinates is small, but they are all dead soldiers who have experienced a hundred battles, and they are not comparable to Cao Cao and others. ”

Sun Chuanting has not been defeated since he went to serve as the governor of Shaanxi, and when he heard Hong Chengchou say it carefully, he secretly laughed that he was too cautious, but he didn't dare to show it on his face, and even claimed that it was. Hong Chengchou sighed and sighed with emotion: "The headquarters has received two edicts from the emperor and three military documents, the Qing soldiers have entered the customs in a big way, Gyeonggi is in danger, and the emperor has strictly ordered to exterminate the Liukou as soon as possible, and then the king of the starry night." The emperor lives in the depths of the ninefold, and he is in suspense, the trouble in the heart is not removed, and the civil strife is not quiet, why is there anything else? He glanced at Sun Chuanting and encouraged: "Nanyuan's ambush is really a godsend. The terrain here is flat, but the north and south are long and narrow, and there are deep flowing water on both sides of the ditch and the forbidden ditch, Hugh said that there are not many remnants of the thieves, that is, thousands of troops and horses, and there is nowhere to play, only the part of being beaten. The thieves are afraid of you and me, and the headquarters wants to release the rumors, saying that you and I have gone north to King Qin, and the thieves are bound to come boldly and can be annihilated in one go. ”

Sun Chuanting got up and said, "My lord, I see you! The Tang Bao that could be discarded by the Qing soldiers into the customs was thrown into the wild, and the thieves saw it and were even more convinced. ”

"Good, good! So much more thoroughly. Hong Chengchou nodded approvingly.

"My lord, the people of Tongguan are suffering from banditry, and they are thinking about governance, and they all have the ambition to kill thieves and serve the country. The gentry everywhere were ordered to be defeated, and the governor led the township to wait for the opportunity to intercept and kill them. The thieves and other giants escaped by chance, and there was no way out, nowhere to hide. ”

"If this can be the case, why worry about it!" Hong Chengchou turned his head and shouted majestically outside the curtain: "Chinese army, wait for the tent!" ”

The Chinese army agreed to come in and bowed down to wait for the order. Hong Chengchou instructed: "Tonight's ambush plan must be kept secret and the ceremony should be simple. Then he changed into a big red silk python suit, wore a six-beam crown, and walked into the lobby with Sun Chuanting from the signing room, sat down in the center, and glanced around with blazing eyes, and the golden rooster on the chest complement seemed to have added a bit of prestige, and shouted: "Please Shang Fangjian!" ”

The Chinese army held the Shang Fang sword wrapped in the yellow dragon's sleeve, strode forward, carefully placed on the Nanmu Qiaoyun headline case in the middle of the lobby, leaning on the Pixiu black lacquer screen, the civil and military generals standing solemnly on the left and right and the warriors standing outside the hall, one by one, silent, awe-inspiring and secretly afraid. Although the ceremony of raising the tent is simple, there is no ceremony such as the governor raising the tent and firing cannons, beating drums and playing music, and civil and military officials loudly signing up to see it, but because of the offering of Shang Fang's sword, the governor is neatly dressed in court, and after the civil and military generals salute in order according to their ranks, only Sun Chuanting, Ding Qirui and several general soldiers set up seats, and the rest of the people still stand solemnly after worshipping. Hong Chengchou had already made up his mind, before the war, he couldn't help but boost morale, he coughed lightly, and said: "The thief Li Zicheng has been beaten hard, tired of running for his life, and the remaining thieves are only thousands, and they have been intercepted from all sides. I hope that you will bravely kill the thieves, repay Jun's grace, and strive to capture Li Zicheng and others alive, sacrifice them to His Majesty, or kill them, and pass on the head of the Beijing Division. The battle of Tongguan was all planned and dispatched by Sun Futai, and the headquarters also came to supervise the battle. Today, he is an immortal hero, and his power is unpredictable. Those who are ineffective in combat and cower in battle, regardless of the dignity of the official system, have Shang Fangjian, and the headquarters will not tolerate it! At the end, Hong Chengchou's tone suddenly became stern, his face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost, cold and abnormal, everyone was shocked, and replied in unison: "Obey Jun's orders!" ”

Hong Chengchou saw that Sun Chuanting and Ding Qirui also got up to answer, smiled, changed his face, and greeted: "Can you recognize the appearance of the thief?" ”

Sun Chuanting replied: "The lowly duty has ordered the painter to draw a map according to the words of Gao Jie, the general who turned over the mountain, and listed the name, age, and place of origin of the thief in detail, and sent it to each battalion. In order to facilitate memorization, a special poem "Xijiang Moon" is inscribed: This is Li Chuang's rebel thief, and now the dog is dying, and the east and west are fleeing in all directions. The heavenly soldiers caught up with him and cast a net to see where he could escape? The soldiers and civilians were tied up and surrendered, and the jade belt brocade clothes were rewarded. ”

"Well, this song "Xijiang Moon" is very catchy. Thinking that Gao Jie was a fellow villager with the thief, and took the thief's wife Xing, he was naturally familiar with the thief's appearance. You must remember clearly, you must see people in life, and you must see corpses in death! Hong Chengchou estimated that when it was approaching, the military situation was urgent, and he did not dare to delay, so he immediately dispersed the tent, Sun Chuanting led his generals back to the station, and he also returned to the camp with a group of staff and relatives.

The moonlight is vast and the cold stars are faint. With the elite soldiers in front and the old battalion behind, Li Zicheng's brigade left the mountain pass, and the outpost entered a deep narrow valley. He looked at the Tang newspaper that the soldiers picked up, the Qing soldiers committed Gyeonggi, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting went north to King Qin, and naturally only Ding Qirui's headquarters was left in Tongguan. He entered Yu from Qin, from Yu to Qin, several times through Tongguan left and right, Tongguan mountains and rivers situation is clear in the chest, Tongguan so there is danger to be feared, but rely on the forbidden ditch and twelve cities. The forbidden ditch starts from the Qinling Artemisia Chakou in the south, and reaches the Shimen Pass in the south of Tongguan City in the north, so that the Tongguan is raided, and it is not easy for the officers and soldiers to find out, take it by surprise, and attack it unprepared. The walls of the Twelve Cities are high and thick, like a natural barrier, stretching from east to west, cutting off the north-south passage. He looked at the thorns in the valley, and there was silence all around, only the sound of horses' hooves, footsteps, and the sound of guns, swords, and halberds clashing, drifting in the cold wind, worried that the officers and troops would set up an ambush here, and ordered the brigade of men and horses to follow far behind the outpost, in twos and threes, in a stream, and sent sentry spies to check on the hills on both sides from time to time. The sky is bright, the people and horses gradually come out of the canyon, a large area of hills looms in front, undulating, like a large number of steamed buns out of the cage, it is not precipitous, this is the south of Tongguan. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and Le Ma ran up to the earthen hill next to the road to look, and he could vaguely see Tongguan City. Early morning, especially in the middle of winter, is really the best time to rob the city, and most people are still lazy in the warm bed, sleepy. He thought that the men and horses had been fighting for several months, and there was no place to rest, and they had caught up with the plague epidemic, and there were many dead and wounded, so he could have a few full meals in Tongguan City, so as to boost his morale. was thinking about it, when he suddenly heard a cannon sound in front of him, which shook the heavens and the earth, and then there were bursts of shouts and killings and dense cannon sounds.

"It's not good, I've been ambushed!" Li Zicheng was caught off guard, knowing that there was a huge disparity between the outnumbered, and Cao Bianjiao and He Renlong followed behind him, and he didn't dare to fight, so he had to desperately attack Tongguan City. The officers and troops in the city were condescending, artillery and bows and crossbows were fired in unison, and Li Zicheng's men and horses were defeated when they landed. At this time, a big banner is erected on the head of the city, and it rolls up with the wind, and the word "Hong" flutters and bulges up, which is very eye-catching. Li Zicheng couldn't help but be taken aback, and shouted: "Ah, Hong Chengchou really didn't leave!" ”

Sun Chuanting was wearing heavy armor and a golden helmet, and immediately stood tall, and saw Li Zicheng's men and horses in front of the team swimming into the ambush circle from a distance. "Kill the thief with me!" Sun Chuanting roared, jumped on his horse with a horizontal sword, rushed straight down, and intercepted the fight at the bottom of the valley. Cao Bianjiao, who was chasing behind, heard the sound of cannon fire in front of him, and the sound of killing suddenly rose, urging the military horses to come, Zuo Guang was on the right, and He Renlong was on the left, killing together. The arrows were like flying locusts, and the officers and soldiers shouted "catch the thieves alive", and the tide swarmed and surrounded Li Zicheng and others. Li Zicheng had no way to advance or retreat, and he swung his sword and fought to the death. The number of officers and soldiers was quite large, the cavalry charged in front, and the infantry then fought, and a melee broke Li Zicheng and others, divided and surrounded, and made them fight separately and could not care about each other. Li Zicheng patted the horse and danced the sword, clashes back and forth, galloped vertically and horizontally, Rao is brave and good at fighting, but there are officials and soldiers everywhere, looking at the "Chuang" word banner chasing and killing and encircling, Li Zicheng has hundreds of relatives around him, and he is lonely, and it is difficult to get rid of it for a while. A rain of arrows came, and he hurriedly leaned over the saddle, but when he heard his relatives and followers falling from their horses one after another, the banner of the word "Chuang" fell into the dust, and the frightened horses were trampled on, and a few pieces of cloth were raised, and the leaves of late autumn fell in the cold wind. Countless officers and soldiers besieged them in the core, rushed left and right, all forced back by the knife and gun forest, Li Zicheng was very anxious, was in danger, suddenly saw a riot behind the officers and soldiers, a whirlwind swept over a group of people, the first one person danced two machetes, it was the brave general Liu Zongmin. The two of them joined together, rushed out to kill, and tore a bloody path to flee in the southwest direction. Listening to the pursuers behind him gradually moving away, Li Zicheng reined in his horse's head and asked, "What happened to the old camp?" ”

"It's all over!" Liu Zongmin lamented, "If you don't die in battle, you will fall into the hands of Sun Chuanting." ”

Li Zicheng was silent, his eyes swept over the only remaining eighteen horsemen beside him, and the hoarse voice said: "Let's go, let's hide in Shangluo Mountain!" ”

By dusk, the fighting had ceased in all parts of the southern plains, and the mountains were littered with knives, guns, flags, and corpses. Sun Chuanting didn't have time to eat dinner, so he ordered the three armies to clean up the battlefield overnight, identify the dead bodies, and search for the whereabouts of Li Zicheng and other bandit leaders. The soldiers lit torches and carefully identified them, but it took more than an hour to find no trace of Li Zicheng. Sun Chuanting had just returned to the big tent, thinking about eating dinner and waiting for the good news, but he heard a shout outside the tent: "Lord Tai is here ----" Without waiting for Sun Chuanting to come out of the tent to greet him, Hong Chengchou stepped in quickly. Hong Chengchou smiled and arched his hand at Sun Chuanting, who was bowing, and said, "Brother Baigu has worked hard, I haven't used dinner yet!" ”

"Don't dare to say anything, adults work hard."

Waiting for Hong Chengchou to sit down, Sun Chuanting sat down, and when everyone withdrew from the tent, he leaned over and asked, "My lord came to the camp in person by night, but he was in a hurry to wait for the news of the thief?" ”

"The fact that the whereabouts of the thief are unknown is indeed worrying. However, he has been hit hard by this, and even if he misses the net, it will not be possible to restore his former momentum in a day or two. For the time being, you can put him aside, lead the teacher to the king, and there is no time to delay! ”

"It's just that the thief doesn't know whether he is alive or dead, and it is difficult for him to be willing to do so, so it is better to leave his lowly position and search carefully, and he must be captured alive or killed."

"Just now I just received an urgent letter from the Ministry of War, and I was strictly ordered to set off, and I can't do it! Brother Bai Gu, you are a person who is thorough and well-versed in the world and is familiar with power changes, and it is important to break into thieves, but after all, you can't compare to the emperor. At the moment of such a burning eyebrow, the monarch is in trouble, we as courtiers only go to the soup and the fire, if we blindly stay and delay, the emperor is really not easy to explain. ”

"And who's going to clean up the mess?" Li Zicheng's life and death are unknown, and Sun Chuanting is a little reluctant to leave Shaanxi.

"Guanzhong security and the whereabouts of the giant thief can be handed over to Ding Qirui, the military preparation of Tongguan."

"This ......" Seeing that he was a great success, but he couldn't die well, Sun Chuanting was really unwilling, but Hong Chengchou said very seriously, and it was a good word of Jinshi who put his heart in his heart, and he couldn't argue for a while, and he was depressed and abnormal.

Although Hong Chengchou has been in charge of horses for more than ten years, after all, he is from two lists, has been trained in officialdom for many years, and has read countless people, how can he not know his state of mind at this time, he let out a long sigh and said slowly: "Brother Baigu, I won't tell you, this time I went to the king of Qin, and there was something strange in my heart, and you may be able to taste it." ”

"My lord, please speak clearly."

"Alas! The headquarters felt that I was afraid that I would not be able to return to Xi'an. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

Hong Chengchou got up and paced, and it took a long time to grit his teeth and say two words: "Out of the customs." ”

"Your Excellency is going to Liaodong?"

"Brother Bai Gu, you want to wipe out the Central Plains thieves, what are you and I going to do next? It will be to get rid of troubles, and to ask for money. ”

"What do you hear, sir?"

"The imperial court has no will, but according to the emperor's temperament, he will never tolerate Houjin's repeated invasion of the customs." Hong Chengchou shook his head.

"Do you want to go to Liaodong too?"

"Brother Bai Gu is a rare handsome talent, but the emperor has no will, and the ministry is also ready to recommend it. Liaodong is the time to employ people, and there are very few people who know soldiers and are good at fighting! ”

Sun Chuanting was deeply aware of the encounter and responded generously: "The humble post followed the adults to help the Beijing Division. ”