After listening to Li Dingguo's words, Zhang Xianzhong felt that his adopted son was right.

He put down a cruel sentence: "The surname is Mo, the green mountains have not changed, the green water has flowed for a long time, our business is not over, let's see!" ”

Leaving thousands of corpses behind, Zhang Xianzhong hurried into Huanggang with a large army.

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong retreating, Mo Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief,

"Immediately rescue the wounded and count the number of people!"

Without waiting for Mo Qian's order, the officers of each team and flag were already counting the number of people and rescuing the wounded.

The two banners led by Mo Huan suffered heavy losses in the battle just now, more than 50 of the 200 people were killed, and more than 40 were wounded.

Half of the hundred-man team was killed and wounded at once, and Mo Huan himself also brought the color, but fortunately he was lucky, the saber only slashed on his arm, and did not hurt the fatal part.

Mo Huan sat paralyzed on the ground and let his subordinates sprinkle gold sore medicine on him to bandage his wounds.

General Cao Yan was also inspecting the casualties of the soldiers in his brigade at the moment, and seeing Mo Huan's left arm with a white bandage, Cao Yan couldn't help but ask with concern, "Are you okay?" ”

Mo Huan grinned and said, "It's not a big deal, just raise it for a few days!" ”

Cao Yan stepped forward and patted Mo Huan on the shoulder, and praised: "It's a man!" ”

Cao Yan already knew Mo Huan's identity, this is Dashuai's cousin, except for the main mother, Dashuai is the closest cousin to his uncle.

With such a royal relative under him, Cao Yan naturally has to take more care of it.

He originally thought that this Mo Huan was just a marshal stuffed into his army for gilded bastards, but he didn't expect this kid to be a ruthless character, he dared to fight at a young age, it seems that after a few more battles, this marshal's cousin will definitely be promoted.

The casualties were quickly counted.

Lu Zhao and Peng Jinhong respectively reported the number to Mo Qian.

"Great commander, the old battalion suffered heavy casualties, more than 800 dead and more than 2,000 wounded!"

"Marshal, the new third battalion is no better, more than a thousand dead, but not many injuries, less than a thousand."

Hearing the number of casualties, Mo Qian was stunned for a moment, and he didn't expect that so many people would die after playing with Zhang Xianzhong this time.

"The fallen soldiers should be compensated in accordance with the rules, the two of you should write down the list, and when the squad teacher returns to Nanchang, send the list to the place where the soldier's family is located, so that the local government can give more compensation."

"Yes!"

Of the 20,000 horses, 2,000 were killed, 3,000 were wounded, and nearly a quarter of the soldiers and horses were lost.

But Mo Qianke had no intention of retiring from the army.

Zhang Xianzhong was defeated and retreated, and it was his own business to fight Huanggang next.

On the Huanggang city wall, seeing Zhang Xianzhong defeated, Shi Zhanglie was shocked, and Mei Zhihuan, the former governor of Gansu who had just fled back to the city, was also surprised.

"Master Shi, this Zhang Xianzhong is a strong man, most of the soldiers and horses under this person's command are the army of the imperial court, and the combat power is strong, I can't imagine this kind of bandit who fought all over the Central Plains, even the Mo thieves in Jiangxi can't be defeated, there are no soldiers in Huangzhou Mansion, I'm afraid I will wait for another two or three days, and when the Mo thief relaxes, he will immediately launch an attack on the city, and when Huanggang is not guaranteed, Lord Shi has a good strategy?"

Shi Zhanglie took a deep breath and said: "Mei Lao, the lower officials know, but now that the enemy army is pressing, we have no soldiers in our hands, we can only hold on, if we rashly open the city to attack, not only can we not win, but will lose the soldiers and horses in vain, when the time comes, Huangzhou will be broken, the court will blame it, and we will not die and have no place to be buried." ”

When Mei Zhihuan heard this, he couldn't help but secretly say in his heart: As soon as Huangzhou is broken, you will still die without a place to be buried!

When Mei Zhihuan was the governor of Gansu, he liked to use tough means to exterminate the rogues in Gansu Province, and the results were very good.

Although he himself was born as a civilian official, he had the talent of a military general and was good at archery.

Since his retirement, he has continued to care about national affairs.

A few years ago, tens of thousands of bandits wanted to attack Mei Zhihuan's hometown of Macheng, and after Mei Zhihuan learned about it, he immediately organized people to build fortifications in Macheng.

As soon as the bandits saw Mei Zhihuan's position, they immediately realized that it was not easy to capture Macheng, so they left without thinking about turning around.

From time to time, he also played to the emperor and gave the emperor the idea of suppressing thieves. It's a pity that Chongzhen didn't take his suggestion to heart, Chongzhen felt that this sixty-year-old man was useless, so he didn't pay attention to him.

Although the emperor didn't pay attention to him, Mei Zhihuan still felt that he still needed to contribute to the Ming Dynasty.

This time, Zhang Xianzhong went south to Huguang, and after Mei Zhihuan got the news, he immediately organized three thousand villagers to prepare to defend the city.

It's a pity that he was outnumbered, Zhang Xianzhong easily broke through Macheng, and Mei Zhihuan was taken all the way by the descendants of a group of clans, so he fled into Huanggang City and was fortunate to escape a catastrophe.

It's just that I didn't expect Zhang Xianzhong to leave, and now there is a Jiangxi Mo Wen parked outside.

Seeing that this Jiangxi Mo Wen's troops were so capable of fighting, and they were able to defeat Zhang Xianzhong's troops head-on, Mei Zhihuan knew that this Huanggang was ironclad and could not hold it.

In his thoughts, he should organize his troops immediately, and take advantage of the fact that Mo Wen has just experienced a big battle and his vitality is greatly damaged, and immediately attack the whole army, and strive to defeat them in one fell swoop, so that Huanggang can be protected and Huangzhou Mansion can be recovered.

It's a pity that Mei Zhihuan thinks very well, but the prefect Shi Zhanglie has his own ideas.

Although Shi Zhanglie is a civilian official, he is not an unruly soldier.

How could he not know that attacking while the enemy was weak was the best strategy, but he had to have someone on his hands.

Now the city of Huanggang is full of battles, counting the officials in the yamen, the garrison added together is less than 5,000.

With such a few people, to fight with the powerful Jiangxi anti-thieves outside the city, what is the difference between smashing stones with eggs? This is really outrageous jumping off the building, outrageous death.

The best way in Shi Lielie's heart is to defend the city, at the moment he can only hold the city if he defends the city, if he attacks it, he will die!

Shi Zhanglie had no intention of attacking, and Mo Qian was not afraid of him to kill him, if he really led his troops to kill, he wished they would come.

In the afternoon, Mo Qian set up the camp in a place of one and a half miles outside the city, and the two camps firmly guarded the northeast and southeast directions of Huanggang City.

Fifty more boats were sent on the Yangtze River to block the river and trap the West Gate, and Huanggang City became a lonely city completely, and it was only a matter of time before the city was broken.

Mei Zhihuan saw Mo Qian's arrangement on the city wall, and immediately knew that it was only a matter of time before Huanggang City was broken.

He knew that the time had come to serve his country.

Shi Zhanglie has no intention of caring about the retired governor at the moment, and he is too busy to die.

He had to arrange the defense of the city tomorrow, and he had to arrange food, grass, ordnance, etc., and he was almost busy all night.

Early the next morning, Shi Zhanglie, who had just fallen asleep for less than half an hour, suddenly heard the sound of drums outside the city, and his subordinates ran to tell him that the thieves were mobilizing troops and preparing to attack the city.

As soon as Shi Jilie heard this, the pajamas disappeared immediately, and he quickly washed his face with cold water and hurriedly climbed up the city wall.

When I looked at the city wall, I saw that the thieves outside the city actually pulled out yesterday's red-coated cannon, and were loading single ammunition and preparing to attack the city.

"Bang!"

The red-coated cannon roared angrily, and the siege battle began.

Due to the lack of numbers, Mo Qian didn't plan to save shells this time, whether it was a solid shell or a dirt bomb, Mo Qian pulled it all out, ready to throw it all at once.

He now wants to use the time to attack Wuchang City, naturally the sooner the better, but he can't let Zhang Xianzhong's gang take the lead.

The solid cannonballs of the red-coated cannon hit the tower and hit people, which is not suitable for siege, because it is too wasted cannonballs.

But the deterrent power of this thing is full, although there are no flowering bullets at present, but solid bullets can also smash the city wall and kill people.

The sharpest weapon has to be the earth bomb.

The earthen bomb carefully developed by Mo Qian, the thin wire used for the lead is wound, and the burning time is very stable, and the distance and time are calculated, with the help of a small trebuchet, a single shot on the city wall will cause a piece of death.

Sure enough, the earth bomb was so powerful that the defenders on the city wall had nowhere to hide.

It has only been used for five rounds, and there are no more people who can still stand on the east wall.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were almost dead, Mo Qian pulled out his sword and pointed it at the sky, and shouted loudly: "Siege!" ”

More than 10,000 troops attacked the city from two directions in the southeast at the same time.

The old first battalion assists Dongcheng, and the new third battalion assists Nancheng.

Regardless of whether it is a recruit or a veteran, after yesterday's fierce battle, everyone is full of confidence.

Especially the brothers of the old battalion, since the rebellion, they have followed the commander to fight, and they have never lost a battle.

The brothers of the old battalion had absolutely 100 percent faith in the commander.

They knew that the marshal would not let his brothers go to their deaths in vain.

The two battalions attacked at the same time, and the soldiers in front took the lead in carrying the ladder to the moat, erecting the ladder on the moat, and the soldiers in the rear immediately laid the planks prepared in advance, and a simple plank bridge was built.

The soldiers rushed across the moat through the bridge, and set up ladders, the hooks on the ladders firmly hooked the city walls, and the soldiers climbed up the ladders.

The brothers of the old battalion were experienced in warfare and soon took the lead in climbing the eastern city wall.

After going up the city wall, more than a dozen spears stabbed at the same time, and some unfortunate soldiers were pierced through their bodies, and their bodies fell involuntarily and died on the spot.

But the officers and soldiers defending the city can defend this side, but they can't defend that side.

Soon, there were fewer and fewer officers and soldiers on the eastern city wall, and more and more rebel soldiers.

The men and horses of both sides fought to the death on the city wall, and after a stick of incense, the defenders on the city wall were cleared, and the east gate was broken.

As soon as the gate of the east city opened, Mei Zhihuan, who was fighting with the soldiers of the righteous army on the south city wall, heard the news of the city break, and was immediately saddened.

He put the knife on his neck, looked up to the sky and sighed: "Your Majesty, the minister will go first!" ”

Mei Zhihuan wanted to commit suicide and martyrdom, but as soon as he picked up the knife, he was pushed away.

Turning his head, it was a rebel general who said coldly to him: "If you want to die, it's not so easy, just die like this, and Emperor Chongzhen in Beijing won't know about you!" ”

"Who are you?"

"Under the command of the Governor of Jiangnan, the chief officer of the new third battalion - Peng Jinhong!"

An hour later, the officers and soldiers in the city were basically wiped out, and the remaining more than 2,000 of the 5,000 defenders surrendered, except for those who died in battle.

Shi Zhanglie, the prefect of Huangzhou, wanted to commit suicide, but because his goal was too obvious in an official robe, he was shot off by Chen Qiyi's arrow and was finally captured alive by the rebels.

Huanggang Zhixian did not have the bearing of Shi Zhanglie and Mei Zhihuan who were martyred, he changed into a people's costume, and wore a promissory note of 10,000 taels of silver in his pocket, and wanted to wait a few days to get out of the city.

However, this person was unlucky, he was betrayed by his servants, and after being found by the soldiers of the righteous army, he was killed with a knife.

The city of Huanggang was broken, and Mo Qian rode a high-headed horse into the city.

The people of the city hid in their houses and watched the young anti-king in fear, and no one knew what would await them next.

Because in the past few years, every time there was a bandit, those bandits and rogues did not have a good person.

They burned, killed, looted, and did all kinds of evil, and the people hated the bandits.

Now another group of thieves have entered the city, and I don't know how many more people are going to die tragically.

Ordinary people hid their children in what they thought were secret places in their homes, and they waited for the thieves to come and slaughter them.

But they waited left and right, but did not wait for the thieves, but the thieves shouted outside to tell the people not to be afraid, and posted notices everywhere in the city.

Some people who are not afraid of death ran out and peeked at the notice, and after seeing the content of the notice, everyone knew that the team that broke into the city was actually King Mo of Jiangxi.

Jiangxi is hundreds of miles away from here, and the people have never heard of this person.

But some readers know Mo Qian's name, and readers have their sources of information.

The Tang newspaper of the imperial court, the letters of classmates, everyone will exchange letters, so as to know the general trend of the world.

Mo Qian's reputation in Jiangxi is already very loud, and there are many scholars in Huanggang City who know Mo Qian's reputation, and now seeing that he entered the city, many scholars are already secretly happy in their hearts.

Because although Mo Qian is also an anti-thief, compared with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and others, he is simply a civilized teacher.

At least I haven't heard of Jiangxi's anti-thieves slaughtering the city, but Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong have rumors of slaughtering the city.

They are all cultural people, and of course everyone wants to be civilized when they fight.

After entering the city, Mo Qian occupied the yamen of Huangzhou Mansion and used it as his temporary office.

As soon as they sat down, Lu Zhao and Peng Jinhong came to report that they had caught two senior officials and asked Mo Qian if he wanted to see them.

"See, why don't you see, press them up!"

Mei Zhihuan and Shi Jilie were tied with ropes and pressed into the palace.

Seeing the gray-haired Mei Zhihuan, Mo Qian asked, "What is this?" ”

"Dashuai, this person is Mei Zhihuan, the former governor of Gansu, and the defeated soldiers we met yesterday were brought by him from Macheng."

Mo Qian nodded, and then looked at Shi Zhanglie, who was wearing an official robe.

"This must be Lord Shi of the Huangzhou Governor, right?"

Shi Zhanglie turned his head to the side, raised his neck and said: "If you want to kill or chop, listen to your respect!" ”

Seeing Shi Zhanglie's attitude, Mo Qian couldn't help but smile slightly and said, "Kill you? How can I give it? Come on, loosen the ties of Master Shi and Governor Mei! ”

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