More than an hour later, near noon, Liu Xiyao's troops rushed to Lanxi Town.

The 7,000-strong troops, which already had more than 1,000 baggage soldiers, had already been broken by the officers and troops in advance.

Along the way, the army was disheartened, and hundreds of people were lost as they ran, and finally only 5,000 were left on the battlefield.

Then, in the town, they met the officers and soldiers who were waiting for their work.

Although the officers and soldiers also traveled for a day and a night, after all, they were by boat rather than on foot, and most of them maintained their physical strength quite well. In addition, I arrived early, and I took a break for an hour, and my morale was high and energetic.

Seeing the officers and troops lining up in the town, Liu Xiyao's scalp tingled for a while. The number of troops placed in the open place alone is at least 2,000 people, and the rear team is hidden in the town, and I don't know how many there are.

Seeing this, his subordinates were also a little frightened, and one of them named Su persuaded him:

"Your Majesty, the officers and troops only rely on the town to line up on their backs, and the front is not wide. It is better for our army to go around the upper reaches of Xishui, cross the river in a roundabout way, first return to Huanggang and then think about it in the long run, so that the green mountains are not worried about running out of firewood. ”

Liu Xiyao is still a soldier, and after a little thought, he said angrily:

"Isn't that a chance for Shen Gouguan to attack halfway? If he saw that our army crossed the river in a roundabout way, and when some of the people were already in the river, he suddenly pursued and cut off our army, wouldn't it be a catastrophe!

What's more, our army's baggage team has been wiped out, and the grain, grass and property looted before have also been robbed back by the dog officer. How dare you mess with our army! ”

Liu Xiyao was also nervous and sensitive to a certain extent, and after listening to this kind of remarks that harmed the three armies, he almost directly drew his saber and executed the nonsense general.

Fortunately, his righteous son Liu San had an iron head, and his relationship with the general who said the wrong thing was not bad, so he hurriedly persuaded in the middle: "My father is angry! Now is the time for the generals to use their lives, so it is better to let him make meritorious contributions! ”

Liu Xiyao thought about it, so he endured it.

The general who had picked up a life became more and more resentful when he looked at him. So many people have already run away, and those who are willing to go so far with Liu Xiyao are all loyal people. It's chilling to be treated like this.

……

Out of distrust of his own morale, Liu Xiyao finally chose to attack the official army head-on, destroy Shen Gouguan's troops first, and then cross the river safely.

"Soldiers, after the elimination of the official army, the recaptured materials will be divided equally among everyone, and this king will never hide his secrets! Everyone must fight to the death! Liu Xiyao finally boosted his morale with a few words, and then waved his hand and made people beat the drum and charge.

In the military array opposite, Zuo Zixiong and Zhang Huangyan also let the scolding players shout in unison: "My family is benevolent!" All the people of Huangzhou who are coerced by Liu thieves, as long as they defect in battle, they will not be blamed for the past! ”

At the same time, on the Yangtze River on the west side of the battlefield, dozens of large sand boats were also lined up.

On the tallest ship, Shen Shuren personally stood on the bow of the ship to supervise the battle, and let the scolders all hold paper tube megaphones and shout: "Liu thief!" Shen Lin is here! You have fallen for my plan many times, and today is the time for you to give your head! ”

Liu Xiyao was a little flustered, and hurriedly pressed the subordinates: "Don't believe that nonsense, everyone!" Shen Gouguan is greedy for life and afraid of death, he will only talk on paper, and will not come to supervise the battle in person! The officers and soldiers went deep this time, and they just sent sheep into my tiger's mouth! ”

Saying that, he was afraid that the night would be long and dreamy, and he would not even leave the reserves, so he directly rushed up with the whole army in waves.

Zuo Zixiong was already impatient, seeing the enemy approaching, he finally had the opportunity to come to a wave of Spanish phalanx tactics in a dignified manner.

"One hundred and twenty steps, fire!"

"Bang bang bang-" The first row of turtledove gunners fired in response, gunsmoke billowed out, more than two hundred guns, and at least more than a thousand round small lead pellets were fired.

At this point in the battle, the heavily armored elite of Liu Xiyao's army had already lost seven or eight out of ten. The remaining soldiers were very pitiful, and they were sprayed with lead bullets more than 100 paces away, and all of them pounced immediately, and the sound of wailing was endless.

Shen Jiajun followed the training steps very steadily, and everyone took turns to come forward to fire and reload backwards. The 800 firearms were divided into three teams, and the morale of Liu Xiyao's army, which was already on the verge of collapse, was knocked to the bottom.

With more than half of the last nearly 1,000 Shaanxi and Henan bandit veterans killed and wounded, the remaining local Zhuang men in Huangzhou, who had been thieves for less than two years, fled in chaos.

Liu Xiyao drew a knife in his hand, shouting frantically, slashing and killing the deserters, but he couldn't stop the rout, and his eyes also revealed more and more despair.

……

In the chaos, those generals who were originally harshly reprimanded by Liu Xiyao were panicking for the rout.

Incidentally, he glanced at Liu Sandao, who was passing by and tried to help his father restrain the battle line, and the eyes of both parties showed a little understanding and mutual understanding.

"Major General, do it! Shen Gou ...... Lord Shen promised that killing Liu Xiyao would be exempted from crime and be a guard! ”

"But I am my father's son! Will Lord Shen keep his promise? ”

"Even if you discount it, you can always get away with it. I heard that the emperor Lao'er has ordered, those who kill Zhang Xianzhong will be crowned dukes, and thieves will kill Zhang Xianzhong's marquis, and they will at least be exempted from the crime if they are poor! The attitude of the imperial court should be similar! ”

"That's it! Bet! ”

After Liu Sandao made up his mind, he used his identity to not be easily suspicious of Liu Xiyao, pretended to report the military situation, brought a few personal guards with relatively high martial arts, and rode a horse to Liu Xiyao's side.

Liu Xiyao was like a frightened bird, and after a glance and found that it was Yizi, he breathed a sigh of relief, and hurriedly ordered: "Wu'er is broken quickly!" ”

Liu Sandao's face turned pale, and he suddenly waved his long knife, and the knife sounded: "On the order of Lord Shen, kill the national thief Liu Xiyao, and you can pardon the previous crime!" ”

Liu Xiyao was caught off guard and was chopped into half of his neck with a long knife, and blood gushed like a spring. The right hand twitched the halberd finger and wanted to insult a few words, but he couldn't make a sound, only heard the hissing sound of violent contraction when the trachea was cut.

Several of Liu Xiyao's personal soldiers were stunned for a while and tried to resist, but they were all killed by Liu Sandao's infighting, and both sides were killed and injured by each other.

……

"Liu Xiyao is dead! Those who descend will not be killed! ”

After some chaotic trampling, the thieves who lost their backbone completely collapsed, and finally were captured by the official army as many as 3,000 people, and the rest also fled.

The number of prisoners was as large as the number of officers and soldiers, which really made Zuo Zixiong a little afraid. He hurriedly confiscated all the weapons of the captives, tied one arm to each with ropes, and strung the captives together in groups of ten.

After doing all this, Shen Shuren's boat also came over from the Yangtze River, went ashore to be surrendered, and the prisoners were crushed.

In the whole process, it is inevitable that there will be repeated unwillingness to be restrained, lest they be liquidated by the officials and the army and make a ruckus again, Zuo Zixiong can only use thunderous means to kill the troublemakers on the spot, killing more than 100 people before and after, so as to completely calm the field and not let it spread repeatedly.

"Immediately all the captives were taken into custody and identified separately. Distinguish the old thieves who have followed Liu Xiyao for many years and fought for many years, and the local people in Huangzhou who have been coerced! ”

Shen Shuren clicked two sentences, and Zuo Zixiong immediately went to do it. On the other side, Liu Sandao had already consciously tied his hands and climbed in front of Shen Shuren to ask for credit:

"My lord! You said that the person who killed Liu Xiyao to surrender is exempted, and the sin will be lost, and you ask for mercy! ”

Shen Shuren let the left and right guards block in front of him, and then said officially: "The official said it, but you are poor and want to be an official, isn't it too late?" If you don't surrender today, this official is sure to kill you all! ”

Liu Sandao's eyes rolled, desperately proving that he still had the value of being used: "But...... Liu Thief can't be beaten, he can still escape, if it weren't for the crime, the adults would kill him, I'm afraid it would take some time to search and arrest.

The criminal general also knew that the thieves had left two or three thousand strong men in Huanggang to defend the city, and the rest of the three counties of Huangzhou that had fallen also had guards. The sin general has a bit of friendship with the local guards, and is willing to help the adults persuade them to surrender! If you don't surrender, the last general will ask the old department to be the vanguard and help the adults recover the three counties! ”

Shen Shuren couldn't help but feel a wave of disdain in his heart, this guy heard that he was still Liu Xiyao's righteous son, and his betrayal seemed to be more straightforward than Lu Bu.

However, after calming down, Shen Shuren still suppressed the killing intent in his heart, he knew that the thieves and anti-kings in these years were very fond of collecting righteous sons. If you can pardon the righteous son of a thief who killed his father and surrendered, it will also be good for dividing other thieves in the future and making other thieves wary of their own righteous son.

It's a big deal that after he surrenders, he won't give Liu Sandao the right to fight.

Shen Shuren took a deep breath, and in front of the generals, he pardoned in a high-profile manner: "In this case, I will give you a chance." You are destitute, and you cannot count the promises of your former office, but your former sins can be completely forgiven. If you can take the people of your headquarters to persuade Huanggang County to surrender, I will give you another thousand generals. ”

Liu Sandao was overjoyed: "Thank you for your cultivation!" The last general will have the opportunity to abandon the darkness and turn to the light today, and he will definitely die for the court and the adults in the future! ”

After saying that, he jumped up and shouted at the subordinate officers who surrendered with him: "Brothers! Lead the way for the officers and soldiers and recover Huanggang County! The fourth dared not to surrender, I personally chopped him up and then set up a vote for Lord Shen! ”

The officers and soldiers were not ambiguous, so they pursued the situation, and after crossing the Xishui, they marched no more than 30 miles, and arrived at Huanggang County in the evening of the same day.

Huanggang Shou is another righteous son of Liu Xiyao, ranking fourth, a little smaller than Liu Sandao, with only more than 2,000 fish belly.

Seeing that his righteous brother betrayed his father-in-law, he didn't recognize the situation clearly and tried to resist. It is a pity that the morale of the whole army has collapsed, and under the leadership of the surrendered thieves, there was a scuffle between the two sides, and after hundreds of casualties, it completely collapsed, and the officers and troops took advantage of the situation.

Late that night, Shen Shuren had already entered the city in a beautiful manner and returned to the original Huangzhou prefect's yamen for the night.

Zhang Huangyan also came to the yamen of Huanggang Zhixian under the protection of his own soldiers. He, the magistrate of Huanggang County, has been appointed by the imperial court for almost three months, and today he can be regarded as officially taking office.

"Governor Yan, I can be regarded as avenging you, it's not too much to sit in your position, right?"

In the prefect's yamen, Shen Shuren sat on the seat of the former killed prefect for a while, and couldn't help but say a few words to himself triumphantly, and then ordered the secretary to help him draft a document for success, and set off for Xiangyang early tomorrow morning to send it to Yang Ge Lao.

As for the recital to the imperial court, it is better to be formal and elegant, Shen Shuren instructed the scout to go to Qizhou to invite Mr. Gu to come, and let Gu Yanwu write it.