Zhang Xianzhong looked at the murderous general, and was shocked at the moment, thinking that this person was a general under Mo Qian.

Heroes don't eat immediate losses, run!

Zhang Xianzhong galloped wildly and ran directly towards Huangpi City.

The soldiers around him were all cavalry, there were 200 people, and when they saw that the king had fled, they did not love to fight, and they ran away with the commander with their whips.

Horsemen could run, but horseless infantry were not so lucky.

The 6,000 infantry and more than 20,000 family members of the army failed to escape, and they were all blocked by the soldiers and horses led by Cao Yan and Mei Zhihuan.

As soon as Zhang Xianzhong ran, the morale of the remaining troops was instantly dissipated, and many of them were the people who Zhang Xianzhong was coerced in Hubei.

These people already have a grudge against Zhang Xianzhong for killing their family, and when they see the rebels killing, they don't even resist at the moment, and surrender directly on the spot.

The army of 7,000 was in a mess, descending and running, and for a time the plains outside the city were full of people.

When Mei Zhihuan saw this chaos, he immediately shouted to Cao Yan: "General Cao, order the soldiers to shout surrender and avoid death, but you can collect the rout!" ”

When Cao Yan heard this, he was overjoyed, and immediately sent a military order, ordering the soldiers of the righteous army to run in all directions, shouting surrender and avoid death.

Under the call of the soldiers, there were many descendants.

Cao Yan ordered people to collect the rout, and looked at the direction where Zhang Xianzhong was far away, and a plan was born in his heart at the moment.

He said to Mei Zhihuan: "Mei Gong, you lead the troops to wait for the marshal here, and I will lead two thousand troops to chase that Zhang Xianzhong!" ”

When Mei Zhihuan heard this, he wanted to stop it, but considering that the morale of the rebel army was now high, he changed his words: "General be careful, don't fall into the ambush of that thief, and when the lord's army arrives, the old man will immediately lead the troops to respond!" ”

"Okay, everything has Lao Mei Gong!"

After that, Cao Yan led 2,000 elite soldiers to retreat in the direction of Zhang Xianzhong's defeat.

Cao Yan left and didn't leave, Mo Qian personally led the army to come, and saw that Mei Zhihuan was gathering the rout, and there were more than 20,000 dependents at the moment, so he immediately asked Mei Zhihuan: "Where is the general Cao Yan?" ”

"Lord, General Cao led the army to chase Zhang Xianzhong!"

Mo Qian was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "How many people did he bring?" ”

"Two thousand elite soldiers!"

"Stupid, Mei Lao is here to watch this group of soldiers, and order, all the people in the old battalion will follow me to chase Cao Yan, be careful that he falls into Zhang Xianzhong's ambush!"

When Mo Qian heard that Cao Yan's light troops were advancing, he actually only took 2,000 people to chase Zhang Xianzhong.

Who is Zhang Xianzhong, this person is very cunning, the officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty fought with him, and they suffered a lot.

Cao Yan didn't know the cunning of this Zhang Xianzhong, but Mo Qian knew.

Zhang Xianzhong is not a good person, this person rebelled again after surrendering to the imperial court, you can see his heroic nature.

Cao Yan, this kid has just debuted, although his brain is flexible, but he has not suffered a big loss, once he is surrounded by Zhang Xianzhong with cavalry in the plains, it will be a situation of nine deaths and one life.

Mo Qian hurriedly led 5,000 soldiers and horses to run in the direction of Huangpi, marched all the way, ran for thirty miles in one go, and happened to meet Zhang Xianzhong who was directing the horse army to rush back and forth at the edge of the water.

Cao Yan had already turned his troops to fight against the water, hoping to use the water and rice fields to slow down the cavalry charge.

Mo Qian looked from afar and saw that there were only more than a thousand subordinates around Cao Yan, and he was immediately anxious.

"Quick, give me reinforcements General Cao!"

Zhang Xianzhong ran wildly all the way, gathering more than 2,000 cavalry on the way, and was about to take these horses back to Huangpi City to rest, but heard the scout report that a group of 2,000 infantry behind him was chasing this side.

Zhang Xianzhong's heart was full of fire, and when he heard that the chasing soldiers were only 2,000 people, he immediately ordered the horse army to rest and wait on the spot.

After accumulating horsepower, Zhang Xianzhong took the four sons to directly lead the horse army to rush towards Cao Yan's troops.

Cao Yan suddenly saw the cavalry, and he was not in a hurry to prepare, although the two thousand people were gathered, but more than 100 soldiers were killed and wounded in the first round of charge.

Cao Yan secretly said that he was careless, and hurriedly commanded the soldiers to lean by the river, stand in the field, and use the position in the field of the water to compress the cavalry's charging area as much as possible.

This move was indeed effective, and the soldiers knew that they would not survive until they fought to the death, so they immediately formed a formation on the spot, relying on shields and pikemen, and built fortifications on the perimeter.

Zhang Xianzhong originally wanted to capture Hanyang as a base to harass Mo Qian to fight Wuchang, but he never wanted to be deflated under Hanyang City, and was blocked out of the city by a small Hanyang City.

At the critical moment when the siege was carried out, Mo Qian suddenly led his troops out again, causing Zhang Xianzhong to lose the siege.

Zhang Xianzhong attributed all this to Mo Qian's head, feeling that it was not him, and this Wuchang Mansion was simply in his pocket.

Now that Mo Qian's subordinates are chasing him again, Zhang Xianzhong has nowhere to vent his anger, so he can only exert his strength on Cao Yan.

He ordered that Cao Yan's 2,000 men and horses must be annihilated.

Cao Yan was not in a hurry, because of the paddy field, and the water was behind, Zhang Xianzhong's cavalry could not be fully deployed, and only some soldiers could rely on superb horsemanship to shuttle back and forth on the ridge.

When the two sides were fighting fiercely, Mo Qian's reinforcements suddenly arrived, Zhang Xianzhong looked at the thousands of reinforcements behind Mo Qian, and immediately knew that he couldn't fight, and immediately ordered a retreat.

When Zhang Xianzhong retreated, Mo Qian rushed to Cao Yan.

Looking at Cao Yan, who was covered in blood, Mo Qian said coldly: "What crime should I be guilty of rashly attacking the enemy?" ”

Cao Yan knew that he had made a mistake, so he immediately knelt down on one knee, "The last general is guilty, please punish the commander!" ”

"Go back and clean up you, collect the troops!"

Repelled Zhang Xianzhong, Mo Qian won another big victory, although this big victory did not destroy many enemies, but captured Zhang Xianzhong nearly 30,000 horses.

Although more than 20,000 of them were family members, and there were only six or seven thousand soldiers, but after capturing so many people at once, Zhang Xianzhong's strength was greatly reduced in an instant, and he was afraid that he could not do anything if he wanted to set off a storm in Huguang.

On the city of Hanyang, seeing Mo Qian's army calmly landing on the shore and driving away Zhang Xianzhong, Yuan Xuan, the general judge of Hanyang Mansion, had mixed feelings in his heart.

He would never have thought that Zhang Xianzhong's anti-thieves attacked the city, and it was another gang of anti-thieves from Jiangxi who rescued them.

Seeing Mo Qian's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses on the banks of the river, Yuan Chong was also at a loss in his heart, because he didn't know if the wolf would just leave and the tiger would come again.

Fortunately, Mo Qian did not mean to attack Hanyang immediately, there are still tens of thousands of people's corpses outside the city that have not yet been buried, and it is about to enter the summer, if these corpses cannot be buried, I am afraid that it will not be long before this Huguang can afford the plague.

Mo Qian ordered the soldiers to collect the corpses of the people, dig large pits in the villages, burn them collectively, and disinfect them with lime and other materials to bury the people.

All of this was in full view of the defenders of Hanyang City.

Seeing the rebels gather the bodies of the people outside the city for burial, the people in the city couldn't sit still, because most of those who died were their relatives and friends.

The people of Gu asked the city guard Yuan Zhan to open the city gate and let them go out to collect the corpses of their relatives.

After thinking about it, Yuan Zhan felt that it was dangerous to open the city gate, and he didn't allow it at the moment.

The next day, the rebels were still collecting the corpses of the people and counting the number of people, and in the afternoon of the same day, the death toll was counted.

Between Hanyang Prefecture and Huangpi County, 78 villages were affected by Zhang Xianzhong's scourge, and more than 6,000 people died, and some villages even killed all the villages.

Mo Qian went to the village to check in person, and when he saw the people dying, he immediately vomited.

He had seen countless dead people since he had crossed over, but he had never seen such a tragic death.

Pregnant women were dug open their bellies and the babies inside, children who were months old were thrown to death, women were by strong women, and the old people were directly killed.

After watching the scene, Mo Qian angrily cut off a small tree with a knife, and slashed at the small tree more than a dozen times, venting the anger in his heart, and after exhausting his strength, he scolded: ", beast, butcher!" ”

Mo Qian had heard of the atrocities of the rogue, but after seeing such a tragic situation with his own eyes, Mo Qian, who had been educated in later generations, still couldn't help but burst out foul language.

What a hero, what a hero, the ultimate essence is just a group of executioners who don't take people's lives seriously.

A rebel who has surrendered three times and rebelled three times, how can you expect him to be a good person who loves the people.

A bandit who wanders around, robs houses and houses, robs rich households, captures cities to replenish soldiers and grain and grass, how can you believe that he is a good man who loves the people like a son.

How can a man who can be written about atrocities by foreign missionaries be good to the people?

Looking at the buried villagers, Mo Qian couldn't help it, he asked Li Banghua beside him.

"Why, it's reasonable to grab money and food, what are the people doing in their way? It needs to be killed by such cruel means! ”

Li Banghua was also shocked by this atrocity at this time.

Mei Zhihuan on the side came out and said: "Lord, the rogue poisons the land of China, the current court is weak, and it is simply unable to conquer and suppress, this world needs virtuous people to lead the people to peace, it seems that Li Zicheng Zhang Xianzhong's generation has no ability to sit in the world, this great Chinese country will definitely be able to enter the hands of the lord."

My lord, my subordinates are willing to go to Hanyang City and personally persuade them to surrender! ”

Mo Qian nodded, prepared a gift at the moment, and handed over the statistics of the number of dead people outside the city, as well as some surviving villagers found in the village, to Mei Zhihuan, who brought them into the city.

Mei Zhihuan came to the city and shouted to the city: "I am Mei Zhihuan, the former governor of Gansu in the imperial court, who is guarding the city in the city, can you come out and see it?" ”

Yuan Zhan, who was resting on the city tower, heard Mei Zhihuan's name, quickly got up and poked his head out, and looked down at the city, and there was really a gray-haired old man shouting under the city.

"Xiaguan Hanyang sentenced Yuan Chong, is the city really the governor of Mei?"

"It's the old man, Lord Yuan, can you open the city gate and let the old man into the city?"

Yuan Zhan glanced at the rebel camp two miles away from the city, thought about it and replied: "Governor Mei, please wait, the lower official will order someone to open the door!" ”

Soon, the drawbridge was lowered, the city gate was opened, and Yuan Zhan personally went down to the city tower and came to greet Mei Zhihuan with a team of people.

Seeing the gifts Mei Zhihuan brought behind him, as well as dozens of ragged people, Yuan Zhan couldn't help but be curious: "Mei Gong, where did you come from?" ”

Mei Zhihuan pointed to the rebel camp behind him and said, "From there!" ”

When Yuan Zhan heard this, he frowned at the moment, "Mei Gong has already lowered Jiangxi's Mo Wen?" ”

Mei Zhihuan nodded.

"Since you are a thief, what is the matter with Mei Gong?"

Mei Zhihuan took out a notebook that recorded the number of dead and said: "The number of dead and injured people in various villages outside the city is specially sent, and these behind me are lucky to survive." ”

Yuan Zhan glanced at the people behind Mei Zhihuan, and saw that they all had haggard expressions and thin bodies, and he could see at a glance that they were not soldiers.

"Chu Di caused a disaster, and I am the general judge of Hanyang, so I am really to blame!"

"Lord Yuan doesn't have to blame himself, the rogue is powerful, you can defend the city, keep the people in the city, it's not easy, the old man learned that the people of Hanyang were being slaughtered, and specially asked my lord to invite him to lead the troops to the north, rescue the people, and also relieve the difficulties of Hanyang!"

Hearing this, what else could Yuan Chong say?

He was an official of the imperial court, but he didn't expect to be saved by a thief in the end.

He sighed and said: "The prefect has fled, and the dragons of Hanyang have no leader, I wanted to die for the country, but fortunately you led the army to arrive, otherwise how can this Hanyang be defended, Mei Gong is here, I'm afraid he is here to be a lobbyist, right?" ”

Seeing that Yuan Zhan had already spoken, Mei Zhihuan no longer hid it.

He said: "My lord does not ask, but when the world is the lord, love the people like a son, and have a strategy, is not born of the male lord, Lord Yuan is full of enthusiasm for the country, the old man knows well, but today's court is rotten, the Ming Dynasty has long been difficult to return, the people of the world are all looking forward to the appearance of the Ming Lord, to save the people, to sweep away China." ”

"Lord Yuan, you have done your best for the imperial court, and if this Hanyang continues to be defended, it will only cost the lives of the people in vain."

Yuan Zhan took a deep breath and said: "That's it, I, Yuan Zhan, have done my best, and the people of Meigong are willing to surrender to that Mo Qian, I am a general judgment, why do I need to insist!" ”

Mei Zhihuan persuaded Yuan Chong in a few words, and Mo Qian got the news and immediately led his troops into the city.

However, in order not to provoke the resistance of the people in the city, Mo Qian only brought 2,000 men and horses into the city, and the rest of the army was all camped outside the city.

The rebels were short of military supplies and had to go into the city to purchase, and the soldiers in charge of purchasing would also pay the people money at the market price.

It was the first time that the people of Hanyang had seen this kind of army, and because they were grateful to them for reining in their relatives outside the city, they praised the soldiers of the righteous army.

Yuan Zhan saw the military appearance and military discipline of the righteous army led by Mo Qian, and immediately felt ashamed.

He knew that in terms of military discipline, the officers and soldiers did not even have one-tenth of the other people's righteous army.

Hanyang was easy to get to it, and Wuchang Mansion was completely isolated.

Mo Qian was not in a hurry to attack Wuchang, but slowly sent his soldiers and horses across the Yangtze River again, and shot a letter of persuasion into the city every day, hoping that the officers and soldiers defending the city would open the city and surrender.

There are still 30,000 soldiers and horses in Wuchang Mansion, Mo Qian and Zhang Xianzhong fought two fierce battles, and the soldiers and horses were damaged a lot, and the strength was already lower than the defenders in the city.

The art of war is cloudy, five are attacked, and ten are encircled.

Mo Qian's soldiers and horses are not as many as the defenders in the city, and if he attacks the city strongly, he is afraid that he will have to sacrifice a lot of soldiers.

Moreover, there is not much left of the thunderstorm he brought, although he has sent a letter to Jiangxi and ordered them to hurry up the production, but it will take at least ten days and half a month to send it.

So for now, it's better not to attack the city first, but to surround it first and fight psychological warfare.

Wait for the army to rest for a few days, and when the time is ripe, take Wuchang in a battle.

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