Xi'an Mansion, Chunhua County, Ming Army Guanzhong Battalion.

Hong Chengchou put his hands behind his back and looked gloomy, staring at the huge situation map hanging in front of him.

He had already received news from Zhang Jiachuan, and according to the news from Zhang Quanchang and He Renlong, the enemy was the main force of the Liukou and not the partial division that he had learned from the initial intelligence.

The night does not receive reports, and now the flow of rogues who are heading east from Gongchang Mansion to Fengxiang Mansion is roughly estimated to be as many as 140,000 people.

The thieves were in the middle of the old and weak, with the infantry outside, with the elite cavalry as the vanguard and guarding the left and right wings.

The marching army lined up for several miles of land, endless for hundreds of miles, dusty sky, smoke and dust.

The banners of the leaders such as Gao Yingxiang, the king of Chuang, Zhang Xianzhong, the eight kings, and Ma Shouying of Lao Hui are among them.

After years of natural disasters, Shaanxi has long been depressed and dilapidated.

The year was good, but in some places, after the harvest, they could have barely survived.

However, the reason why Gao Yingxiang and others wandered everywhere was that in addition to avoiding officers and soldiers, the most important thing was to look for work and food.

When they crossed the border, they took almost all the food with them, and at the same time, the various departments and battalions continued to coerce the people as help, and those who could not survive in the first place, as well as some people who had already suffered grievances, also joined in when they arrived.

Now the entire central part of Shaanxi has become a complete mess.

The bandits in the direction of Qingyang Province in the north were also eager to move south, and after plundering several counties and towns, they regathered a large number of soldiers, and the number swelled to more than 70,000 again.

"If the land is wide, it is difficult to circumference, and if the soldiers are few, the enemy will be defeated, and if you do your best, you will die, and the number of victories and defeats is unknown."

Hong Chengchou sighed in his heart.

In June, the edict of the thief was issued, and the deadline for the deadline was getting closer and closer.

But the current situation is not half a point better, but more collapsed, the new victory of the Liukou has seen through his bluff, and now the intention of the eastward expansion has been revealed.

Hong Chengchou was looking at the situation in front of him and thinking about what to do next, when he suddenly heard a commotion outside the tent.

"Who's making a noise outside the tent?!"

Hong Chengchou's eyes were cold, he turned his head to look outside the tent, and shouted coldly.

All the generals in the tent were shocked, and they all turned their heads to look outside the tent.

The two guards guarding the tent door were about to go out, but saw the curtain be lifted first.

A dusty soldier dressed in a dark red arrow coat and carrying a command flag was already running into the tent.

"Bizhou Emergency!"

The soldier knelt on one knee, held up a piece of paper in both hands, and said in a loud voice.

"The thief chieftain Gao Yingen, the one-word king, the king of the sky and other departments led 140,000 Kou out of Pingliang."

"The three towns of Yilu, Randian, and Zhukou have all fallen, and the enemy army has reached twenty miles west of the city of Pizhou."

"If you don't receive reports at night, the enemy army has about 30,000 horses, 60,000 infantry, and 50,000 old and weak in the center."

Hong Chengchou's pupils shrank, his heart sank suddenly, and he said in a deep voice.

"Bring it in."

The guards in the tent did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward and took the documents from the hands of the messenger and handed them to Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou opened the letter, his heart sank a few points, he saw the seal letter of Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu, which also confirmed the authenticity of the news.

Hong Chengchou didn't speak, but immediately turned around and looked at the situation map behind him.

When it comes to scouting most of this kind of people, although the error is very large, it will definitely not exceed 30,000 to 40,000 people.

Even if it looks at the number of people a lot, there are as many as 100,000 thieves in the direction of Pingliang Mansion.

There are more than 100,000 people in Gongchang Mansion alone, and more than 70,000 people in Qingyang Mansion, and now Cao Wenzhao's message says that there are 140,000 people.

Now the combined size of these three gangsters is almost more than 400,000 people.

In addition to these three large-scale bandits, there is also a group of about 30,000 or 40,000 bandits in the southeast of Xi'an, Shangzhou and other places, which are also constantly harassing places.

"400,000 ......"

Hong Chengchou's expression became more and more gloomy, and his mind was chaotic, and now he was able to mobilize very few field troops.

In addition to the two battalions of soldiers under He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang, there are only Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, and Zhang Waijia.

The rest of the generals were sent out to garrison other places, and the thieves in Huguang and Henan were also becoming more and more rampant, and it was difficult to stop them, so he had to divide another 2,000 soldiers and horses into Henan.

There are 2,800 people under Cao Wenzhao and 2,700 people under Zuo Liangyu, and the two are now stationed in Pizhou to guard against Gao Yingen, Yizi Wang, and Datianwang in the northwest Pingliang direction.

Zhang Waijia commanded 2,300 people, and now they are stationed in Sanshui, guarding against Li Zicheng, Hui Dengxiang, Tuoyangkun and other troops in the direction of Qingyang Mansion in the north.

In addition to the three battalions of Cao Wenzhao, Zuo Liangyu, and Zhang Waijia, the only soldiers he can command now are the more than 2,600 pacesetter battalions directly under him.

There are only more than 5,800 people left in the two divisions of Zhang Quanchang and He Renlong, and they are now retreating in the direction of Fengxiang.

Hong Chengchou can only control the pacesetter battalion directly under him, plus the soldiers of the three battalions such as Cao Wenzhao, and the soldiers under He Renlong and Zhang Quanchang, there are only 16,200 people under his command.

Hong Chengchou only felt that there were thousands of burdens on his shoulders, and he was almost out of breath.

400,000 to 16,200 men, a 25-fold difference in strength.

This time, the difference in the strength of the three plains in May of the seventh year of Crane Chongzhen's battle was almost equal.

There were only about 3,000 people under his command, but there were more than 100,000 enemies to face.

However, at this time and then, although only a year has passed, the strength of the current rogue has doubled.

Among the captured enemies, Hong Chengchou learned of a military order among the rogues.

"One person escapes, kills his team, retreats for a while, and cuts the whole formation!"

The Rogue has begun to restrain the team with strict law and discipline, and every time they engage the Roguette, they will do their best to fight to the death.

Hong Chengchou sat back in the Taishi chair, and since Chongzhen was the governor of the three sides for four years, he has been in charge of suppressing bandits.

In four years, these rogues wiped out one after another, tens of thousands of annihilations.

But the result is that the situation is getting worse and worse.

He has always advocated all-out purge, so as to suppress and appease, first and then punish.

When Yang He was still the governor of the three sides, Hong Chengchou saw those thieves rebel many times.

In August of the seventh year of Chongzhen, those rogues were all rushed to Hanzhong to escape the encirclement and suppression, and they could have been wiped out.

But Chen Qiyu chose to appease them when he could eliminate them all, released all the thieves, and even got the armament to replenish it.

The affairs of Lian Zhaofu were full of loopholes, and in the end, those thieves rebelled again, many cities fell, and the beacon fire was rekindled, and the situation was out of control.

Hong Chengchou was silent, and no one in the military tent dared to speak silently.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, there were often military discussions, and at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the marching battle meeting was held.

However, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the civil government controlled the military with great authority, and the military attache had a humble status, so he basically had no right to speak during the military discussion.

It has always been the superintendent of the cadres who are arbitrary, and the most consulted is the staff, and Hong Chengchou has accumulated a lot of power, and this situation is even more serious.

There was a long silence, and the pins could almost be heard in the military tent.

Hong Chengchou finally raised his head.

"Summoned Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu, Pizhou must not be lost before September."

"Ordered Zhang Quanchang and He Renlong, and ordered them to lead the troops to evacuate Fengxiang Mansion and move to Xingping."

In the military tent, all the generals looked at Hong Chengchou with a condensed expression.

Hong Chengchou's move is undoubtedly to give up the entire Fengxiang Mansion......