CHAPTER XXV

After a spring snowfall, the weather in Shangluo Mountain suddenly warmed. The peach blossoms have bloomed; The apricot blossoms have withered; Young leaves emerge from the willows, and slender soft strips sway in the soft east wind.

Since the official army's attacks on several routes were frustrated in late July last year, they did not organize forces to attack, but only used heavy troops to block the dangerous passes and passes on all sides to prevent Li Zicheng from breaking through the encirclement, echoing Zhang Xianzhong and wanting to trap Li Zicheng to death in Shangluo Mountain. After an autumn and winter, the plague had passed, and not only did not the morale of the army collapse as Zheng Chongjian expected, but the morale was even stronger, and everyone was eager to go out of the mountain and do a great job. Recently, there was some bad news about the war, saying that Zhang Xianzhong was defeated at Agate Mountain and was almost captured; He also said that Yang Sichang had already mobilized more than 100,000 troops from several provinces to gather in the border areas of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Hubei within three months, and rearranged a tight encirclement of Zhang Xianzhong. Li Zicheng didn't believe that Zhang Xianzhong would be eliminated by the official army, but he couldn't help but consider what if Xianzhong was unfortunately eliminated? At that time, wouldn't Yang Sichang immediately move the army to Shangluo Mountain? He decided to break through recently, and he would not sit back and wait for Yang Sichang to pounce on him with his free hands.

He had already sent a number of detailed work to inquire about the deployment of the officers and troops around Shangluo Mountain, so as to decide on an ingenious way to break out. Since Li Zicheng had few men and horses, he hoped that he would be able to break through and succeed without going through a hard and bloody battle. It's a pity that it seems difficult to come up with a breakout opportunity like this. He had already decided that if he couldn't find a cheap opportunity in a month or two, he would break out even if he lost some of his soldiers. Staying in Shangluo Mountain is not only waiting to be beaten, but also food and cloth are very difficult, and morale will be depressed due to long-term sleepiness.

Every day, while using various methods to listen to the movements of the officers and troops around him, he seized the time to train hard, and was ready to seize the opportunity to break through the siege at any time.

After breakfast today, as in the past, he rode out of the old camp cottage to watch the soldiers' drills, but he was worried about a major event today. He already knew that Chongzhen and Yang Sichang did not have the strength to defeat him or trap him in Shangluo Mountain for a while, and had already transferred the traitor Zhou Shan back to Xiangyang from Shanhaiguan, summoned by Yang Sichang once, sent to Shangzhou City, and designed to lure his generals down, and first sent someone to secretly see Yuan Zongdi. Zong Di followed his secret plan and deliberately secretly hooked up with Zhou Shan for more than ten days. Last night, Zong Di quietly came to the old camp to see him, and after talking, he hurried back to Ma Lanyu. When Zicheng watched the soldiers' drills, he was waiting for the news from Ma Lanyu in his heart. Although he usually trusts Zongdi's martial arts, courage and alertness, he is also afraid that Zongdi is too contemptuous of the enemy, and he may be careless for a while, and there will be a "just in case". So he quietly ordered a personal soldier to fly to Ma Lanyu.

After last autumn, after Yuan Zongdi recovered from his illness, he still sat in Ma Lanyu and held on to the officials and troops in Shangzhou. After Liu Tichun returned from Kaifeng, he rested in the old camp for a few days, and still returned to Ma Lanyu to be Yuan's assistant. After breakfast today, Yuan Zongdi handed over the responsibility of defending Ma Lanyu to Liu Tichun, and led fifty cavalry to run to Shangzhou, to meet with the traitor Zhou Shan at the agreed place.

Zhou Shan and Zongdi were small fellow villagers, and before Zhou Shan surrendered to the official army, the two had a close relationship. After Zhou Shan was transferred back from Guanwai, in addition to trying to seduce the small leaders of Li Zicheng's subordinates, he made the biggest bet on Zongdi. After many twists and turns, he finally hooked up with the sect, and in the past half a month, he has continued to have secret envoys to return. Zhou Shan agreed with him to meet today and swore an oath to heaven. Yuan Zongdi promised to lure Li Zicheng and his wife and Liu Zongmin to Ma Lanyu within three days after the oath, kill them together, and send the three heads to Shangzhou, while Yang Sichang agreed to keep Yuan Zongdi as the deputy chief soldier as a reward.

The place where they met was fifteen or sixteen miles away from Ma Lanyu, where the mountains were gentle, with a hilly area and a valley in between. Those who have lived in the mountains for a long time will feel a sudden opening of their minds when they arrive here, and they can't help but exclaim, "Ah! These days the land is wide! "It is said that 1,000 years ago, there was water in this river all year round, and it was originally the main source of the Danjiang River. Later, the Linggu changed, the terrain near this was raised, the river was diverted, and it became a dry valley, which was no more than ten miles long, more than one mile wide, and only a few zhang narrow. There was a tacit understanding between the official army and the peasant army, and the two sides were temporarily bounded by this valley, and if one of the rangers crossed this line, a battle would occur. Within ten miles from both sides of the valley, because the terrain is not dangerous enough, there are no garrisons on both sides, only ranger activities.

They agreed in advance that, in order to guard against leaking secrets, they were only allowed to bring one person with them when they came to meet in Sichuan, and the rest of the soldiers could not exceed 20 people, and they had to leave half a mile away. Zhou Shanyuan was an extremely cunning person, he not only hoped that Yuan Zongdi would sincerely surrender, but also guarded against being deceived. This morning, when he was about to leave for the meeting, a small leader who was seduced by him suddenly fled from Ma Lanyu and told him that Yuan Zongdi was definitely not a real surrender and asked him to be careful. He immediately changed his tactics and sent an ambush to wait to capture Zongdi alive when they met. When Zongdi set out from Ma Lanyu, he had not yet found a small leader fleeing from the village, and he did not expect that things had changed. He still followed the original plan, and asked forty cavalrymen to stay two miles away from the meeting place, so that Zhou Shan would not see it, and come out to meet him when necessary. Half a mile away from the meeting place, he kept the other nine brothers behind as agreed, and brought only one of his own soldiers to see Zhou Shan. He thought that it had been agreed that each person could take twenty personal soldiers to stop half a mile away, but now he has less than ten people left half a mile away, which can probably make Zhou Shan feel extra at ease. He believed in his own courage and martial arts, and he also believed in his warlike horse, and he didn't take Zhou Shan in his eyes at all. Although Zhou Shan only brought one of his own soldiers to wait for him in Sichuan, the twenty selected cavalry were lined up less than a hundred paces apart, with their bows wound and their swords unsheathed, as if facing a great enemy. Another 50 cavalry and 200 infantry lay in ambush in the woods of the mountain less than half a mile away, and 100 infantry lay in ambush on both sides of the valley, and just waited for a gong to sound, they jumped out of the forest to cut off the retreat of the sect, captured him alive and offered his merit to the imperial court.

As soon as he arrived in Sichuan, Yuan Zongdi saw clearly that Zhou Shan had a trick to capture him. At this time, if he made a move, the nine soldiers who remained behind him would immediately ride their horses to catch up with him, but he did not do so, but walked towards Zhou Shan without fear. In Li Zicheng's eighth team, Yuan Zongdi is not only a great general, but also famous for being a lone hero. At the beginning of the uprising, he was not well known among his subordinates, and once he rushed into the official army with a single whip during the battle, and returned with the enemy general, winning the respect of the whole team. In the famous battle of annihilating the army of Cao Wenzhao, a famous general of the imperial court, in Hutou Town, Zhenning County, Gansu Province, although Cao Wenzhao had been surrounded, he had been fighting for a long time without results. Gao Yingxiang, the former king of Chuang, was very anxious and asked who could kill Cao Wenzhao's flag officer and win the banner back. King Gao Chuang's words were just right, and Yuan Zongdi rode out, not even bringing a single soldier behind him. Cao Wenzhao led several thousand Guanning iron cavalry, although they suffered heavy casualties, but their morale did not decline, and they formed a circle formation on the soil hill and took turns to rest, waiting for Hong Chengchou's reinforcements to arrive. Cao Wenzhao dismounted and sat in the center of the circle, discussing with several cronies and generals, when he suddenly heard a loud noise, raised his head suddenly, and saw an enemy general with an iron whip, which had rushed into the camp gate, and the blockers were invincible, and the horse was as fast as flying, and rushed to the front in an instant. Cao Wenzhao was shocked and immediately mounted his horse to meet the battle. But as soon as he got on the horse, Yuan Zongdi had already smashed the head and helmet of his flag bearer with a whip, grabbed the banner, and returned to his horse. As soon as Yuan Zongdi came out of the gate of the official barracks, the officers and soldiers fired a volley of artillery arrows from behind and shot Zongdi off his horse. Cao Wenzhao chased after him, but he didn't have time to hurt Zongdi's life, Liu Zongmin roared and rushed to intercept Cao Wenzhao's fight, and at the same time, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng led 20,000 or 30,000 cavalry to launch a fierce attack from all sides, and rushed away from the circle of the official army. Cao Wenzhao rushed left and right, unable to break out of the encirclement, and was about to be captured, so he killed himself in a panic. His entire army was also annihilated. After the battle, Gao Yingxiang held a banquet to celebrate his achievements, personally toasted Yuan Zong's third cup of wine, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Hanju, you are really a tiger general!" Since then, Yuan Zongdi has been famous as a tiger general in the coalition army led by Gao Yingxiang. Now he looked at the dozens of cavalrymen behind Zhou Shan, and sneered softly from his nostrils.

Zhou Shan held the bridle in his left hand and the whip in his right hand, staring intently at Yuan Zongdi, who was coming slowly. He saw that Zongdi was wearing a bronze helmet, iron armor, a purple lambskin scarlet cloak, a bamboo iron whip hanging on his left leg, a sword on his back, and a bow and arrows, which was really majestic. Although he saw that Zongdi had left no more than ten of his own soldiers half a mile away, and only brought one of his own soldiers to meet him in Sichuan, he was secretly happy, but he still couldn't help but be terrified. The two horses were less than ten steps apart, and Zhou Shan reluctantly smiled and said:

"Brother Hanju, I haven't seen you for more than a year, how are you lately! How is my sister-in-law? ”

Zongdi returned the salute and said with a smile: "Each other, each other." Zigao, what do you mean by bringing so many people standing behind you, bows wound, knives unsheathed, blowing beards and staring eyes? It seems that you are not here to meet with me to discuss the surrender privately, but to earn me to 'go to the meeting alone' so that I can be caught to make contributions, right? ”

Zhou Shan's heart was pounding, he laughed, and replied: "What kind of person does Brother Han Ju think of me Zhou Zigao!" Please don't be careful. The ancients said that those who are literate must be armed. Although the younger brother is harmless to the brother's intentions, he also has to guard against the brother's harmful intentions. If you really have the sincerity to surrender, please make a bloody alliance here, swear to heaven, and capture Zicheng and Liu Zongmin together, and eliminate harm for the country. ”

"Have you prepared roosters and liquor?"

"It's ready."

Zhou Shan waved back, and two horsemen walked out of the twenty cavalry, one with a sword and wine, and the other with a knife and chicken, and came to his left and right. The soldiers standing behind him also held their swords in one hand and plates in the other, urging their horses to come to the front. This is according to Zhou Shan's predetermined strategy, watching Zhou Shan raise a glass as a number, and work together with Zhou Shan to capture the sect alive; If you can't catch him alive, kill him when he's caught off guard. All three of them were selected from many people to be big men with outstanding martial arts. Yuan Zong saw this situation for the first time, and secretly scolded in his heart: "Good boy, it turns out that this trick is played!" He winked at one of his own soldiers behind him, and urged his horse a few steps forward. His own soldiers also urged their horses forward, close to his left, with their swords in their hands, and their eyes wide and angry, staring at the enemy. Yuan Zongdi's horse head was only three feet away from Zhou Shan's horse head, and he deliberately pretended not to care, saying:

"Get the blood wine!"

Immediately, Zhou Shan's own soldiers beheaded the white rooster in the saddle, sprinkled the chicken's blood in the wine, and held it between the two horse heads of him and Zhou Shan. At this moment, when everyone was so nervous that they wanted to stop breathing, the soldier holding the plate knew that Yuan Zongdi was a famous tiger general under King Li Chuang, and his hands couldn't help but tremble. Zong Di smiled slightly and said:

"Don't be afraid, today we are an alliance, not a war. Zigao, please raise a glass, I swear to you to Tianming! ”

Zhou Shan also said "please"! As soon as he stretched out a hand to pick up the cup, Yuan Zongdi's hand had already left the plate like lightning, picked up a twelve-pound bamboo iron whip and killed one of Zhou Shan's personal soldiers. As soon as the second one arrived, he whipped off his horse again, and his brain blossomed. Zongdi's own soldiers rushed forward at the same time and cut down an enemy. Zhou Shan raised his knife and slashed at Zongdi, Zongdi used an iron whip, only to hear a loud sound, and the ghost-headed knife flew out of the way. He was about to run away on horseback, but was caught up by Zongdi, grabbed with his left hand, and caught him. But in an instant, the eighteen cavalry had rushed to the ground, surrounded the Zongdi regiment, and wanted to recapture Zhoushan. At the same time, the gong sounded sharply, and the infantry and cavalry of Zhoushan who were ambushed in the mountain col a mile away let out a cry and rushed towards the river.

Recently, Li Zicheng took advantage of the calm and non-fighting situation in Shangluo Mountain, and transferred the officers and men of each battalion to the old battalion for training in turn. Only 300 people were sent to the old camp each time, and they were mixed with some of the soldiers of the old camp for five days. During the five days, not only did they practice cavalry and archery and all kinds of martial arts, but they also focused on the drills of formations, with the purpose of making the soldiers develop the habit of listening to the golden drum and reading the order flag and advancing and retreating left and right, so that they would not be chaotic in the middle of the battle.

Today, when King Chuang came to the martial arts arena, the drill had just begun. Li Guo stood on the general's platform, holding the command flag, and was directing the cavalry to change the formation, from a circle formation to a phalanx. Zicheng stood on the stage and watched, feeling that it was still not fast and neat enough. In the past two or three years, there have been too many casualties among the old war horses, and the new war horses have lacked training, and they are only accustomed to galloping and flying over obstacles, and are not used to lining up neatly and advancing and retreating in an orderly manner with the sound of golden drums. After the cavalry drill, Li Guo ordered everyone to dismount and conduct a march, so that the soldiers could familiarize themselves with the golden drum and banner. Sure enough, when it was changed to foot drill, it was much neater when changing the formation. Zicheng called Shuangxi and his own soldiers who came with him all participated in the marching drill, starting from the most basic action of hearing the drum and retreating by listening to the gong. With a wave of the command flag in Li Guo's hand, the troops of hundreds of people turned into a long snake formation. The flag waved again, and the drums in the audience were shaken, and hundreds of people strode forward in order, and no one looked left or right. Except for the sound of footsteps brushing, brushing, brushing, there was no human voice or gentle coughing. This group of people had only been transferred to the training three days earlier, and a few of them were new brothers, and they had already achieved such good results, which made King Chuang very happy.

At the end of the school yard is a small dry riverbed, which becomes a torrent whenever there is a flash flood, and when there is a drought, there is no water, only countless rocks, large and small. Recently, the northwest wind has been blowing snow from the nearby heights for several days, and the snow has been thrown into the dry riverbed during the cleaning of the school grounds, so there are no rocks in the riverbed now, only snowy ridges and piles. When the horizontal team reached the end of the school field, Li Guo waved the order flag in his hand, the drum suddenly stopped, the gong sounded, and the horizontal team turned back. The command flag in his hand waved upwards twice in succession, and swung three times to the left and right, and the horizontal column turned into a three-way column, and continued to advance towards the Jiangtai with the sound of drums. When the column entered the center of the school field, Li Guo asked Li Chuangwang:

"Do you want them to stop and change the formation?"

King Chuang asked, "In addition to the circle and phalanx, what other formations have you learned?" ”

"I know how to stack arrays, and I'm not very familiar with it."

"Don't drill the formation, just make them turn and move forward."

Li Guo waved the Ling Flag twice in a row, and the column became a horizontal line again; The flag waved again, and the horizontal team quickly turned back. When the horizontal team entered the school field again, Li Guo was about to wave the order flag, but was stopped by King Chuang with a gesture, so the junior colonel of the gong did not dare to sound the gong, and the junior colonel of the drum had to continue to beat the drum. The drummer was confused in his heart, and frequently peeked at Li Guo's eyes. Li Guo understood what his uncle meant, glanced at the drummer with a stern look, and said, "Beat the drum hard!" The drummer immediately snatched the drumstick from the little colonel of the drummer and beat the drum desperately.

Gu Kecheng was the leader of the three hundred people, holding a small order flag and walking in front. When he was facing the general, he commanded the troops at any time according to the banner in Li Guo's hand; When his back was to the general, he commanded the troops according to the sound of gongs and drums. At this time, he heard the sound of drums and continued to rush forward, and he and the soldiers all wondered that Li Guo might not have seen that he had reached the edge of the school field and could not move forward. People looked at each other, and some people looked back, standing still, waiting for Kecheng's order. Ke Cheng looked back twice in a row, and saw Li Guo's Lingqi waving at him, he suddenly understood, and also raised the Lingqi, and shouted the order: "Go forward!" Don't look back! The squad walked into the riverbed with their bright weapons and stepped onto the snowdrifts. These snowdrifts are generally half a man deep, knee-deep in shallows, and rocks of varying sizes below. It was quite difficult for the troops to get through, and people kept falling, but when they fell, they immediately got up and continued to advance. Because the drum beat was very tight, and Gu Kecheng was walking in front with the Ling flag held high, no one dared to look back or look left and right. The stratagon crossed the riverbed, formed a formation as they went, and continued to advance towards the uneven wasteland, until they heard the sound of the gong, and then turned back. When I came back, because the snow had already been stepped out of the riverbed, no one stumbled anymore, and the formation was relatively neat. As Li Guo's order flag waved, the horizontal team turned into a three-way column again until the front of the stage stopped.

King Chuang's face was grim, he stepped down from the platform, first summoned Shuangxi out of the ranks, kicked him hard, and ordered him to kneel, and then ordered Gu Kecheng and several of his lieutenants to kneel together. He glanced at Shuangxi, Gu Kecheng and other generals who were punished, and then looked at all the soldiers who participated in the drill and said:

"Since ancient times, the teachers who have always won have relied on the command of moderation. If the order of temperance is not strict, how can we win in the face of the enemy? In peacetime training, we must not only practice martial arts, but also practice to obey orders. Everyone obeys the order, 10,000 people have a heart, and the heart of 10,000 people is the heart of the main general, so that they can win more with less, and they are invincible. The Yue family army and the Qi family army are invincible because everyone listens to orders. If the drums do not stop beating when facing the enemy, there is water and fire in front of you, and you have to jump into the water and fire; If the gong does not stop, there are mountains of gold and silver in front of you, and you must return immediately. While the drum is beating, if anyone looks back, they must be beheaded immediately. When the big and small leaders look back, it is even more unforgivable. Why decapitation immediately? Because just when the sound of killing shook the sky and arrows rained down, if one person looked back, it would make everyone suspicious and most likely to shake the morale of the army. Especially if you are the leader, the eyes of the brothers are on you, and the relationship is more important, so you must be killed. He looked at Gu Kecheng and the others again and said: "Today is just a drill, not a battle, and besides, I didn't have any orders in advance, so I won't be held responsible." In the future, as long as the drums are beaten non-stop, and there are those who look back, they will definitely beat the military sticks. Get up and keep practicing! ”

Li Zicheng jumped on the oolong horse and prepared to go back to the old camp. The horse, which had been particularly energetic and mischievous lately, now as soon as it was mounted by its master, roared and neighed, and its front legs were in the air, and its hind legs stood upright, as if it were about to soar into the clouds. King Chuang tightened his bridle with his left hand, and whipped twice with his right hand to make it stubbornly turn around and drop its front legs, but it still had to dig its front hooves on the ground, and kept snorting like a lion's roar, and it was quiet after a while. Zicheng asked the horse's head to face the soldiers, and said:

"In a word, you should make it a habit to only look at the banner and listen only to the golden drum on the battlefield. If the banner and the war drum urge you to advance, the Lord will not obey even if the mouth of the Lord says that you will stop, and even if the mouth of the angel says that you will not obey. Everyone is willing to advance and retreat according to the banner golden drum, that is, everyone has a pair of eyes, a pair of ears, and a heart. To be able to drill to such a point, no matter how many officers and soldiers there are, they are not our opponents, even if they are surrounded by iron buckets, they can break through, and we can also break through places that are ten times more dangerous than the martial arts. Don't just see that we are trapped in Shangluo Mountain in front of us, there are only a few thousand people, the horses are not complete, and some of the horses are not war horses. As long as you get through this hard time, everything will have a way. In a few years, we will have hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers, and one elite soldier will have two or three good war horses, taking turns to rest. However, it is not enough for people to have horses, but also to train into a disciplined army. In the future, when encountering such large rivers as the Han River and the Huai River, there are enemy soldiers on the opposite bank to defend, no pontoon bridges, no boats, as long as the flag is unfurled, the war drums are beating, and ten thousand horsemen are fighting for the crossing, no horse dares to hesitate. When King Gao Chuang was alive, we often talked about the day when he must train to become such an elite soldier, but unfortunately he died too early. In the future, if we can't inherit the legacy of King Gao Chuang and train such an elite army, what else do we have? What are you fighting? What do you say to save the people? Don't even fight my 'breaking' flag! ”

After speaking, he turned the horse's head, raised the whip, and ran towards the cottage. Shuangxi's stomach was full of grievances, and the soldiers rode their horses to follow. Returning to the old camp, Li Qiang immediately ordered thirty of his own soldiers to set off with him. Madame Gao was surprised and asked:

"What's the matter, so urgent?"

He said: "Hanju wants to capture Zhou Shan alive this morning, and there is no news of Ma Lanyu so far. I'm afraid that he will suffer bravely, so I went to see for myself. ”

Mrs. Gao didn't speak again, and hurriedly took his cotton armor and helped him put it on.

Yuan Zongdi pressed Zhou Shan on the saddle with his left hand, and brandished an iron whip with his right hand, causing the enemies to fall one after another. Nine of his own soldiers had already galloped in and engaged the enemy in a scuffle. Although the enemy did not have Zhou Shan's command, most of them were Zhou Shan's sworn friends, desperately trying to recapture Zhou Shan, and there were many people, and in the blink of an eye, the reinforcements would arrive, so the fight was very fierce. Zongdi's purpose was to capture Zhou Mountain, and before the officers and soldiers of the brigade arrived, he roared, killed two enemies in a row, and said to the soldiers on the left and right, "Come with me!" "If you open the way in front, you will be injured if you don't die. His horse was fast, and all four hooves flew away. The enemy did not dare to cast random arrows because of concerns about protecting Zhoushan. Although Zhou Shan was also a big man and had practiced martial arts since he was a child, he was pressed on the saddle by Yuan Zong's first left hand and couldn't move. He pleaded with Zongdi:

"Brother Han Ju, don't you miss your old friendship?"

Zong Di replied: "Lao Tzu is only talking about business today, and what personal relationship do you have to talk about you as a damned traitor!" ”

It's already half a mile past the valley. At this time, the ten personal soldiers behind Yuan Zongdi were killed and wounded, and hundreds of enemies pursued fiercely. Because his left hand was pressing Zhou Shan, he couldn't take a bow and arrow to shoot the pursuers. His forty cavalry, which remained a mile away, were intercepted by the two hundred infantry in an ambush in Zhoushan, and they were fighting in a melee and could not come. He thought that as long as he could open a bloody road and go not far, and his men and horses would come to pick him up, he could hand over Zhou Shan to others and send him back to the cottage, and turn back to kill the retired officers and soldiers. But his war horse was galloping, and suddenly he was hit by an arrow, jumped up wildly, turned around and fell, and threw him and Zhou Shan to the ground. Zhou Shan took advantage of the situation to roll on the ground and rolled out of the way. Yuan Zongdi quickly jumped up from the ground, and the chasing cavalry had already rushed to a distance of only thirty paces. At the head was an enemy general, with a spear in his hand, lying on his back, ready to stab him to death with a single shot when he came to him. When Yuan Zongdi jumped up from the ground, he intended to chase after Zhou Shan and whip him to death, but at the same moment, he knew that it was too late, so he took out his bow and arrows with lightning speed, shot the enemy general off his horse, and killed two enemies with two arrows in a row. The enemy cavalry was frightened and hesitated. The three horses in front of them had rushed to Zongdi's side because there was no one to take the reins. He grabbed a horse and rode on, shouted, raised his iron whip, and rushed into the crowd of enemy horsemen.

After a fierce battle, Yuan Zongdi's forty cavalry had already killed the ambush soldiers, and less than half of the remainders, led by Junior Colonel Bai Wang, rushed to save Zongdi. Although Yuan Zongdi rode alone, he had a murderous temperament and a hundred times more courage, and he simply didn't take the officers and soldiers seriously. Just now, because his left hand pressed Zhou Shan hard, he couldn't fight happily; Now he wields a whip in one hand and a sword in the other, and he is unstoppable. Wielding his whip and sword, he drove through the enemy army until he reached the river, where he rescued two of his own soldiers, who were seriously wounded and still fighting to the death with the same group of enemies. He took them and killed them again, just when the cavalry led by Bai Wang arrived, and they joined together. He asked Bai Wang:

"How many brothers do you have left?"

"There are seventeen people left, and one person was sent back to move the troops, and sixteen people followed."

"Okay, come with me, hold off the enemy and don't let them run away!"

In Zongdi's thoughts, at this time, if he led the left and right people to break through and run back to Ma Lanyu, of course, it would be very easy, but this would be too cheap for the enemy. He decided to hold off the enemy and wait for reinforcements. It is estimated that his brigade of cavalry will arrive in half an hour, survive this formation, and victory will be in the palm of his hand. Since his own numbers were small and all cavalry, he was only good at mobile battles in open areas, so he opened the way in front and fought back to the middle of the river.

The infantry and cavalry of the official army were concentrated in Sichuanzhong, and the infantry that had been killed and retreated by Bai Wang also returned to Sichuanzhong, trying to encircle Yuan Zong on the fourth side and capture him. Zongdi led a small group of his cavalry to weave through the enemy, so that the enemy could only shout and not get close. He searched everywhere with his eyes, how much he wished to see Zhou Shan again, but he couldn't find it! In a moment, Zhou Shan appeared again. Riding on horseback, he returned to the battlefield with about three hundred fresh troops. It turned out that after he escaped from Yuan Zongdi's hands, he rode back to transfer troops, and walked less than two or three miles when he met a garrison with a battalion of infantry coming to reinforce him. He grew up and reined in his horse. When the officers and soldiers, who were already a little tired, saw the reinforcements coming, their morale reinvigorated, their shouts shook the sky, and the drums shook the ground, and they surrounded Yuan Zongdi's small group of men and horses from all sides. Zong saw Zhou Shan for the first time, his eyes widened, his eyes almost split, his beard was opened, and he scolded, and was about to kill the official army and take Zhou Shan directly, but he heard Bai Wang say behind his back:

"General, don't be careless. We have too few people, so let's get out of the water. ”

Yuan Zongdi looked left and right, and saw that he had lost a few more brothers at this moment, and most of the rest were also hanging lottery, so he dispelled the idea of catching Zhou Shan again, and replied:

"Okay, as I retreat to the small dirt ridge over there, hold on to the turtle grandchildren. Hold on, we're almost here. ”

After saying that, he was in front and Bai Wang was behind, leading more than a dozen cavalry to fight a bloody road, break through the siege, and retreat to the small soil ridge not far away. The officers and soldiers chased after each other, shouting and attacking on the small soil ridge. The terrain here was narrow, and the enemy's men and horses were crowded, obstructing each other, and more than a dozen people were killed and wounded by Zongdi and others. However, Zhou Shan and several enemy generals saw that there were only a dozen cavalry left around Yuan Zongdi, most of whom were hung with colors, and they supervised the battle more fiercely, and hung heavy rewards to encourage the soldiers to capture Zongdi alive. Zong Di's arrows were almost finished, and the only good way was to rush down the soil ridge, break through again, and lead the official army to the vicinity of Ma Lanyu. They were about to make their move, when the king arrived.

Li Zicheng led Shuangxi and 30 personal soldiers to gallop for 20 miles and came to Ma Lanyu. Liu Tichun was ordering a hundred cavalry to stand in line, and when he saw King Chuang coming, he hurriedly reported:

"King Chuang, my brother Hanju went to meet Zhou Shan, I'm afraid I'm going to suffer."

"How do you know he's going to lose?"

"It's too bad, one of us is missing, I think he must have fled to Zhou Shan."

"Who escaped?"

"A small boss named Xue Zhiguo. A few days ago, he made a mistake and was whipped by Yuan Jiangye. This morning, just after dawn he took seven or eight brothers out of the village to cut wood, and he himself chased a roe deer into the depths of the woods, and then disappeared. ”

Zicheng's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly asked, "When did you know?" ”

"I just found out. When the brothers had finished collecting firewood, they could not find him anywhere, thinking that he might have eaten a worm, so they hurried back and reported it to me. I think that since it is said that if you see a roe deer, there will be no tiger on the mountain, and this ** must have fled. I will hurry up and gather a hundred cavalry now and go to meet Han Ju, lest he suffer the loss of this kid Zhou Shan. ”

King Chuang's thick eyebrows frowned, and he understood everything in his heart. Two years ago, in the midst of thousands of troops, he met with this soldier (who was not yet the leader) once. I asked for my name and hometown, but I haven't forgotten it. He knew that Xue Zhiguo was from Zhoushan's neighboring village, and concluded that he was holding a grudge after being beaten, and fled to Zhoushan, revealing the truth about Yuan Zongdi's false will. Based on the time he fled, it had been two hours since this moment. And it will not take an hour to get to the mountain pass where the officers and troops are stationed. When King Chuang thought about this, he was worried about the change of Zongdi, and asked Tichun again:

"How many men did Hanju take with him when he went?"

"Only fifty people with me."

"Erhu, you bring a little more people and horses, and then come over. I went first. ”

Li Zicheng hurriedly finished speaking, whipped the oolong horse fiercely, and rushed out of Ma Lanyu. He had only run about five miles when suddenly the northeast wind sent the sound of war drums and shouts of killing, and it was clear that there were hundreds of people fighting, which surprised him. He whipped again on the buttocks of the oolong colt, and then scolded:

"Fuck, I was fooled!"

Immediately met the cavalryman who came back to move the troops, and asked about the situation, King Chuang was even more worried about Zongdi, and continued to whip and gallop. Two hundred paces away from the official army, Li Zicheng restrained the oolong horse, pulled out the Huama sword, and swept the entire battlefield with his eyes. He could see that although Yuan Zongdi had few people left around him, he killed the enemy so that he did not dare to get close, and there was no danger for the time being. He had to wait for Liu Tichun's brigade of cavalry to arrive, so he was not in a hurry to enter the battle. "Double Happiness!" He screamed, turned back to his adopted son, and gave him a few commands, causing him to fly away. Although his heart was angry and excited, and the Oolong Pony was so anxious that he snorted and shook his front hooves, he tightened his reins and stared at the battlefield, his face unusually calm. Although the officers and soldiers who were close to him had never seen him, as soon as he appeared, everyone saw the tall dark gray war horse, the burly man in a blue coarse cloth arrow robe, with an open chest, revealing cotton armor, and wearing the old felt hat that the peasants often weared, and they concluded that he must be the king, and caused a panic when they arrived. Immediately, Zhou Shan and his group, who were far away, heard about it, and looked carefully, and saw that it was indeed King Li Chuang and his oolong horse, and the panic was even greater. Since Yang Sichang went to Xiangyang to supervise the division, he strictly issued military orders to the officers and troops in Huguang, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Henan, and those who cowered in the face of the enemy were beheaded by the deputy general and below, and the deputy general and above participated in the impeachment and punishment of crimes, so Zhou Shan had to bite the bullet and immediately supervise the battle behind the back of hundreds of soldiers, and did not immediately evade. Another group of officers and generals, although they have long been shocked by the prestige of King Chuang, but one is afraid of violating military discipline, and the other is that there are only twenty or thirty people around King Chuang, and they have a large number of people and horses, hoping to get lucky and get a heavy reward from the court, so they decided to besiege Yuan Zongdi without attacking, and attack it with all their might. The war drums were beating deafeningly, and it turned out to be a shout of "capture Yuan Zongdi alive", but suddenly it became "capture Li Zicheng alive". When Yuan Zongdi and the people on the left and right saw King Chuang coming, they were greatly excited and cheered loudly. Bai Wang and the brothers were anxious to rush down the soil ridge to join King Chuang, but the first sect shook his head and did not allow everyone to move. With his rich experience in fighting with King Chuang, he saw that King Chuang did not kill him to break through, but sent Double Happiness Pegasus to leave the battlefield, and he understood everything in his heart. He said to the people on the left and right:

"Don't be in a hurry, I'll let you kill later."

Li Zicheng stood still on the road, and only instructed the soldiers behind him: "When you see the dust behind you, give me immediately!" The officers and soldiers crowded and shouted at him, shouting and shouting, but they did not dare to rush towards him all the time. They cautiously took a few steps and then stopped, to see that he was not moving, and tried to move a few more steps. When the officers and soldiers cautiously advanced to within one hundred and twenty paces, King Chuang's own soldiers were anxious to shoot the enemy, but he ordered: "The enemy must not fire arrows less than fifty paces!" Everyone had no choice but to look at the enemy angrily, and they were not satisfied. Li Zicheng's immobility increased the enemy's fear and surprise. An enemy general in front was particularly uneasy, for fear that King Chuang would rush on horseback, and he himself would not be able to escape, so he and his own soldiers on the left and right shot arrows at King Chuang together. However, because some people are not strong enough, they can't shoot arrows, and some people can't shoot them, but their arrow power is weakened. I saw that King Chuang was not in a hurry, and the sword of the flower horse flickered frequently in the sunlight, hitting the stray arrows that had slowed down to the ground. The enemy was shocked, stopped shooting, did not dare to advance, refused to retreat, hesitated for a while, and decided to surround Zicheng from the flank. At this time, Li Qiang whispered to King Chuang: "I have seen the dust rise." "Zicheng commanded:

"Ten steps forward, shoot an arrow each!"

Immediately, the brethren marched forward with the king and shot down a group of enemies who were crowded in front of them. The front line of the enemy was crowded and retreated in panic, and the enemy behind the enemy could not stand on his feet and retreated one after another. If Li Zicheng took the opportunity to attack, the enemy would fall into chaos and trample on each other. But Zicheng took the opportunity to retreat, turned the foot of the mountain, and left Yuan Zongdi and others on the small soil ridge. The officers and soldiers were very surprised, and then thought that Li Zichengzhun was too small to stay for a long time, so he shot a flurry of arrows to cover and escape. Then their courage increased dramatically, and they cried out to chase after them. After chasing for more than half a mile, turning the foot of the hill, I saw King Chuang and his twenty or thirty personal soldiers waiting immediately, and everyone became suspicious again, and did not dare to advance any more than a hundred paces away, but only beat drums and shouted. Zicheng instructed his soldiers to report immediately when they heard the sound of horses' hooves behind them. After a few moments, Li Qiang told him that he had heard the sound of horses' hooves, and that he himself had faintly heard them.

Li Zicheng stretched his bow and arrows, and made a virtual appearance against the enemy. The enemy general estimated that he was one hundred and twenty paces away from Zicheng, and there were many people in front of him, who did not care very much, but only encouraged the soldiers to advance, but the arrow in the hand of King Chuang had been shot, and he fell from his horse and died. Zicheng took advantage of the enemy's panic, and then fired another arrow, which passed through the throat of the little colonel who was walking in front, and the little colonel fell from his horse when he boarded; The arrow hit the rock by the side of the road, and with a bang, sparks burst wildly, and a palm-sized piece of stone flew down more than two feet, and the arrow jumped back more than a foot from the rock. When the enemy formation was in chaos, the soldiers in front of them rushed to the road, crowded with each other, and trampled on each other; The soldiers behind could not hold their feet and retreated, and they could not be forbidden. Zicheng shot a few arrows in a row, and it happened that Liu Tichun led a hundred cavalry to arrive, so he put away his bow and arrows, and raised his sword into the air. His own soldiers and the cavalry led by Liu Tichun shouted to kill, followed him closely and rushed into the enemy army, slashing and killing mercilessly. Yuan Zongdi saw clearly on the small soil ridge, cheered loudly and said, "Okay! That's the killing pleasure! With a wave of his iron whip, he led his brothers down the earthen ridge, slashed all the way to the rear of the enemy, and captured Zhou Shan alive.

As soon as Zhou Shan saw the reinforcements led by Liu Tichun arrive, King Chuang began to attack, knowing that the rout of the official army was inevitable, and fled with his sworn friend without waiting for Yuan Zongdi to kill him. The officers and soldiers behind him scattered in a hurry and fled with him. They escaped less than a mile away from Sichuan, but were intercepted by a cavalry led by Li Shuangxi, and were scattered, and some rushed back to Sichuan. Zhou Shan fled with a few people. Shuangxi left the brigade and decided that the red tassel on Zhou Shan's helmet would not let go, and only a few cavalrymen followed him. This area is full of hills and jungles, and the terrain is complex, making it easy for those who escape. Shuangxi shot three enemies in pursuit, but Zhou Shan's horses were fast and his riding skills were skillful, and he could not catch up. Later, Zhou Shan's sworn friends died and scattered, leaving him to flee alone, and one of the cavalry around Shuangxi was hit by an arrow, and several people fell behind due to lack of horsepower, leaving only two horsemen to follow. When jumping over a ravine more than a zhang wide, Zhou Shan hesitated slightly, and in an instant, Shuangxi arrived. Double Happiness yells:

"Zhou Shan kid doesn't want to run for his life!"

Zhou Shan did not answer, but fired an arrow back, and just as Shuangxi leaned over the saddle to avoid the arrow, he took the opportunity to ride his horse and leap over the ravine, and then turned back and said while fleeing around the foot of the mountain:

"Shuangxi'er, go back and tell King Chuang that I will never fall into your hands!"

As soon as he finished speaking, his horse suddenly jumped up and fell, throwing him to the ground, injuring one arm and face. He quickly got up, ignoring the pain and bleeding from his face, and ran into the woods to escape for his life. Shuangxi rode his horse over the deep ditch and chased it next to the dead horse, but he could no longer see Zhou Shan. Shuangxi got off the war horse, pulled out his arrow from the dead horse, inserted it into the cowhide quiver, left one person to guard the three war horses, and led one person into the woods to find Zhou Shan. In order to prevent Zhou Shan from hiding behind the tree and shooting hidden arrows, they walked separately, a few feet away, listening to all directions, looking in all directions, and slowly moving forward. I searched two small hills, but I didn't see any trace of Zhou Shan, and I was wondering, and suddenly I saw a red tassel on the tip of the helmet exposed behind a big tree. Shuangxi pointed with the tip of his sword and quietly walked with his own soldiers from both sides. Only a few feet away, he lunged forward with an arrow step, and shouted at the same time: "Don't move!" Who knew that there was no one on the side of the big tree, but Zhou Shanshi's cunning and put his helmet on a stone. Shuangxi saw that the stone was dipped in blood with his finger and left the words "settle accounts in the coming day", only to know that Zhou Shan escaped with his injuries, and he was hated and disappointed.

There was a sound of gongs from a distance, and it was as if someone was calling. Shuangxi walked out of the woods with his own soldiers and saw Liu Tichun coming to him with a group of cavalry. The body called him to say,

"Double happiness, go back quickly, the gong has been sounded to collect the troops."

"No, Second Tiger Father, this kid Zhou Shan hasn't found it yet!"

"If I didn't find it, I had to pull it down, hurry up and return to the team!"

Double Happiness didn't dare to insist, and followed everyone to ride away. After a while, he cursed hatefully:

"Alas, what a fucking cunning!"

On the battlefield, dead bodies lay on their backs, and weapons were thrown everywhere. Several of the horses that had fallen in pools of blood were not yet dead, and some tried to struggle to get up but fell down. More than 40 rebels were killed and wounded, while only a few of the hundreds of officers and soldiers fled, and most of them were annihilated. Among them, some knelt down and surrendered, begging for mercy, but because the rebels were on fire, and they hated Zhou Shan, they killed most of them indiscriminately.

Yuan Zongdi's hands and sleeves were splattered with blood, his cloak was cut several times by the tip of his sword and spear, and three holes were pierced by arrows. As soon as the war was over, he dismounted with King Chuang and divided his search for his dead and wounded soldiers. They instructed the brothers to carry the dead brothers to one place, and those who had not yet died were ordered to be picked up on their horses and immediately sent back to the Malanyu cottage for treatment. In the pile of dead bodies, Zong Di found a personal soldier named Qian Zhaoxin, who had more than a dozen wounds on his body, but he was still angry and **. There were a dozen or so enemy corpses lying around him, one of which was pressed against his leg, and apparently after he had been badly wounded, he fought with the enemy, causing them to fall on top of him, and finally he was killed, and he himself died, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses. Zong Di didn't wait to move left and right, immediately knelt down on one leg, picked up Qian Zhaoxin from the pool of blood, put it on his lap, and called out repeatedly: "Little money!" Money! Hearing the promise, Yuan Zongdi quickly tore open the banner thrown by the official army to wrap his bleeding wounds for him, and took off his cloak to wrap him, and sent someone to send him back to Ma Lanyu.

After the wounded brothers were carried away, Yuan Zongdi ordered the corpses of all the fallen brothers to be loaded on horses, cut off the heads of the enemy's officers, and transported them back to the cottage along with the enemy's weapons and armor. Because of the difficulty of food and supplies, the dead and seriously wounded horses were also skinned, and the meat and skins were brought back. But his five-flowered horse is an exception. He instructed a dozen or so brothers to dig a pit in the middle of the river with a large knife and bury it. was supposed to hurry up and triumph the whole team, but in order to bury the five-flowered horse, the time was delayed. King Chuang can understand Zongdi's mood very well, and he does not urge. When everyone set out, Zongdi personally cut off two enemy heads, placed them in front of the horse grave, folded three grasses and inserted them in the sand to burn incense, and then got on the horse and left.

Since July last year, there have been continuous small battles with the officers and troops for half a year, but it is rare for us to annihilate several hundred enemy men at one time like today. When people swirled into the Malanyu cottage, firecrackers were lit outside the gate of the wall, drums were sounded, and the soldiers and people welcomed them in the middle of the road, competing to see the prisoners and heads brought back. Li Zicheng sent people to the old camp to report the victory, and ordered the old camp to spread the news to the whole army. He himself stayed in Ma Lanyu to soothe the wounded, and before dusk, he personally led the people with Yuan Zongdi to bury the brothers who had died in battle on the hillside, and laid dozens of the enemy's heads in front of the grave to pay respects. Because of the death of many old brothers, Zongdi's heart was heavy in the joyful atmosphere of victory, and he could no longer bear it anymore and wept bitterly at the new graves of the brothers. Although King Chuang has always been calm in the face of trouble, most of the people who died today are old brothers who have been born and died with him for many years, and they can't help but cry. After the memorial, he returned to the old camp with Double Happiness and his own soldiers.

Ma Lanyu is the place where King Chuang comes every day, and every time he leaves here, he doesn't let Yuan Zongdi send him, at most he stops at the gate. Today, Zongdi sent him out of the village far away, but he didn't say that he would "stay". After walking for more than three miles, he came to a turning place, and Zicheng strangled the oolong horse, and Zongdi also stopped. Zongdi always thought that Zicheng would reproach him fiercely, and waited for this moment to come, so as soon as he stopped, he waved away the people who followed, and before Zicheng could speak, he preemptively said:

"Brother Li, I didn't listen to you, I was careless, I injured a lot of people, and I didn't catch Zhou Shan. You scold me, you can punish me no matter how you want! ”

King Chuang smiled bitterly and said, "I was going to reproach you severely, but since you yourself understand that you should not be careless, I will not say more." Eat a trench, grow a wisdom, and know that in the future, it is good to think twice about encountering problems. Fortunately, you didn't lose your old money today; If you lose your old capital, it will be a big deal. Seeing that Zong Di was silent with tears of remorse, he then asked, "Hanju, you wouldn't have expected that some of your subordinates would defect to Zhou Shan just this morning, right?" Be careful! ”

"I never dreamed of it. I'll catch him in the future and skin him alive!" ”

King Chuang and Yuan Zongdi broke up after a few more words. As soon as he entered the old camp, he ordered someone to send a jujube horse that he usually had to spare to Zongdi immediately. The soldiers of the old battalion were very happy because of today's victory, and they flocked out to meet him. But he was not as happy as the soldiers. One of them was sad that he had injured a group of old brothers, and the other secretly thought: Since Yang Sichang's plan of using Zhou Shan did not work, will he attack Shangluo Mountain in the next step?

CHAPTER XXVI

After the battle of Ma Lanyu, Li Zicheng prepared to meet the large-scale attack of the official army on the one hand, and on the other hand, stepped up preparations and waited for the opportunity to break through. At the end of March, it was suddenly discovered that the enemy troops stationed at Peach Blossom Shop had withdrawn. He immediately sent people to occupy the peach blossom shop, and sent rangers to a place not far from Wuguan to reconnoiter the other movements of the officers and soldiers. According to popular legends, Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai were both in the mountains of western Hubei, and Yang Sichang was mobilizing a large army to surround them separately and annihilate them within a time limit, and said that the officers and troops stationed in Wuguan were also preparing to withdraw and be transferred to western Hubei, and many grains and various military supplies in Wuguan Village had begun to be transported away at night. Li Zicheng's rangers caught an officer and soldier who had gone out of Wuguan to cut firewood, and asked for a confession, which was basically the same as the legend of the common people. This incident made Li Zicheng's heart uncertain, and he did not believe that the official army would give up the Wuguan Danger. He sent more and more people to probe the truth of Wuguan, preparing to suddenly seize Wuguan and rush out when the time came.

A few days later, in early April, sure enough, the officers and troops were evacuated from Wuguan overnight. As soon as he got the news, he immediately ordered Gao Yi to lead 500 elite soldiers to occupy Wuguan and continue to find out the whereabouts of the official army. He had already had a plan to leave Shangluo Mountain, and he only waited to find out the true intention and whereabouts of the official army to evacuate Wuguan, and he acted immediately. Now that the first step is that he has captured Wuguan without a single arrow, it is not easy for the officials and troops to occupy Wuguan and surround him.

After Gao Yigong was stationed in Wuguan, he sent many meticulous works to detect the traces of the officials and soldiers, and at the same time used the grain abandoned by the officials and soldiers to help the people inside and outside the city of Wuguan. The common people were often harmed by the officials and soldiers, and they reported the withdrawal of the officers and troops to the rebels. When Li Zicheng and the others came to Wuguan, Gao Yigong had already collected many reports from the spies of the rebel army and the common people, and had figured out the tricks of the officials and soldiers.

It turned out that after Yang Sichang arrived in Xiangyang, he could only concentrate on Zhang Xianzhong's troops for the time being, and he hoped that Zhou Shan would be able to seduce Li Zicheng's subordinates to defect to Shangluoshan's army, and it would not take much effort to make the whole army of the righteous army collapse, and Zicheng would be captured or beheaded. Later, seeing that Zhou Shan failed to lure Yuan Zongdi and was powerless against the righteous army in Shangluo Mountain, he reconsidered it for a long time and wrote a handwritten letter to Zheng Chongjian, in which he said:

…… The Qin army is 20,000, outside of Jiutun Shangluo, according to the pass, neither can enter, nor retreat, labor and salary, is not a long-term strategy. If the teacher is old, he is tired, and his sharpness is easy to wear; The trapped beast is still fighting, how can the strong man sit and die? If the thieves take advantage of the gap and burst out, they will be encircled and suddenly collapsed; Isn't it too late to make amends for the dead? The Art of War: "There must be a shortage of siege divisions." "For today's plan, if the empty military pass allows the thief to escape all the way, and invites the thief to ambush the soldiers, the thief can be annihilated.

Zheng Chongjian was suffering from nothing to do, and as soon as he received the codex of the superintendent and the auxiliary ministers, he invited his staff to discuss it, and unanimously agreed that Yang Sichang's plan was feasible; Even if this plan is invalid, the court will investigate the responsibility, and Yang Sichang will also take the cylinder. Everyone believes that once Li Zicheng leaves Wuguan, there are only two ways to go: either to "run" to the Nanyang area of Henan Province, or to the Yunyang area of Huguang Province, and turn into the Xinggui Mountains to join Zhang Xianzhong. Out of Wuguan to the east, there is a dangerous place called Wawuli, which can go straight to the inner township, Zhenping, Nanyang; To the southeast, there is a dangerous place called Wucun, which can go straight to Zhechuan, and then go out of Xichuan to Dengzhou, Neixiang and Zhenping; Or from Wucun to Dangzikou to the south, you can run to Yunyang Mansion and enter Huguang. Zheng Chongjian judged that Li Zicheng was at odds with Zhang Xianzhong on weekdays, and besides, there were many officers and troops in western Hubei and would never go west, so he quickly mobilized heavy troops and ambushed them on the two roads to the east and southeast, waiting for Li Zicheng to fall into the trap.

King Chuang discussed with Liu Zongmin, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, and Li Guo in Wuguan, and decided to take the opportunity to break through from Wuguan. After agreeing on the method of breaking through the siege, Li Zicheng left Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu in Wuguan, galloped back to Baiyang Village, and convened a meeting of the generals of the whole army to explain the tricks of the officials and troops and his method of evacuating Shangluo Mountain. He only led less than 2,000 men and horses, including the child soldiers and the women of the old camp, to withdraw from Shangluo Mountain, and the rest of the men and horses were handed over to Gu Ying's uncle and nephew and Liu Tichun to lead, and those rebel troops (now under the command of Black Tiger Star) who were originally led by poles and local heroes, stayed in Shangluo Mountain to contain the official army.

For nearly ten months, Song Wenfu has been detained in the old camp as a hostage, so that Song Jiazhai not only did not dare to give up and fell to the official army, but also had to secretly do things for the righteous army. But now that King Chuang is going to lead the main force of the righteous army to leave Shangluo Mountain, it will be a disaster to leave this person sooner or later. Li Zicheng ordered someone to take him to Baiyang Village, told him to take him to break through the siege, let him go home in the future, and asked him to write a letter about this matter and leave it, and King Chuang sent someone to send the book to his home for him. After he wrote his home, King Chuang ordered Black Tiger Star to bring a few personal soldiers to secretly pull him out of an inaccessible place outside Wuguan Village to kill him and bury his body. He handed Song Wenfu's handwritten letter to Gu Ying and Black Tiger Star, and whispered a few words.

Those rebels who should have withdrawn, because they had been trapped in Shangluo Mountain for more than a year, suddenly had the opportunity to break out, and they were all inspired and smiling. Those who were left behind, some of them were originally the poles around Shangluo Mountain, and some of them were originally the people in the mountains, and most of them were unwilling to stay away from their hometowns, and they were left behind. There are also some of them who are the old subordinates of Gao Yingxiang and Li Chuangwang, but most of them have not recovered after illness or injury, and some are older, and it is not suitable for them to travel long distances day and night with King Chuang, and they all understand that King Chuang left them and their dependents to take care of them. Moreover, whether it is local or foreign, the soldiers of the rebel army understand how important these two meanings are to stay and drag the official army to chase after King Chuang, so that the official army and the village warrior cannot casually wash Shangluoshan with blood. They also firmly believe that King Chuang will be less than half a year, or more than a year, in short, sooner or later he will turn back, and once King Chuang is turned back, the situation will be very different.

Before setting off, the only ones who made King Chuang feel a little embarrassed were Shang Jiong and Hao Shaoqi. Shang Shenxian was newly ill, could not ride a horse, could not withstand long-distance bumps in a sedan chair, and it was very difficult to fight. After discussing with the generals, he decided to leave him behind and asked Gu Ying to take care of him. Since the battle of Zhiting Mountain, Hao Shaoqi, King Chuang has severely reprimanded him several times, and has always refused to reuse him and not give him soldiers. He lived in the old camp, and his position in the rebel army seemed to be non-existent. Li Guo suggested that he be left behind, but King Chuang understood that he didn't take Black Tiger Star and Gu Ying in his eyes at all before, who could control him if he was left? Hao Shaoqi himself was unwilling to stay, and when he saw King Chuang, he pleaded:

"Brother Li, in the past half a year, you have only fed me Hao Shaoqi forage, and not let me grind. In the past, there were no less wars than me, and in the past few months, I have become a turtle in a salt pot, a salty round (idler). We can't get used to this day, so it's better for you to kill me. He suddenly had red eyes, and said sadly: "Brother Li, Brother Li, don't look at the golden face to see the Buddha face, you look at the face of the dead King Gao Chuang, can you send me to open the way in front?" I couldn't do anything else, and I was not timid to rush and knock me down. Brother Li, my king of good fortune, give me some work to do, and send me to lead a few men and horses to open the way for you. If I make another mistake, you cut me this, this," he patted himself on the back of the head, "and I will not complain." If you don't cut it, I'll cut it down myself and hold it in front of you. Brother Li, I only ask you this time, please remember our old relationship, and also promise me in the face of our King Gaochuang! ”

Zicheng was silent for a moment and said, "Okay." I had already sent Han Ju to break off, and he was still compatible with you on weekdays, so you should join him. I will give you another hundred brothers, and you will walk behind Hanju and obey his command. The path we chose was unexpected to Zheng Chongjian, thinking that there would be no pursuers. If you see a pursuer, you must not fall in love with the battle. As soon as you fall in love with the battle, the brigade will go away in a flash, and you will not be able to catch up. ”

"Brother Li, don't worry, I will never fall in love with war, just don't let the dog's day disturb our march and pull us down."

According to the order of King Chuang, the rebel army that wanted to withdraw from Shangluo Mountain quickly concentrated in Wuguan from all over the place, and the remaining rebel army gave up many dangerous places step by step, and only kept a line from Zhiting Mountain to Wuguan. Wherever they are immediately abandoned, they must first strike a gong to tell the people to flee. Gu Ying's uncle and nephew first led a group of men and horses out of Wuguan to the east, occupied several mountain villages, and then sent scout troops to move towards Wucun, confusing the officials and troops, making Zheng Chongjian mistakenly think that Li Ziguo had decided to break through to Henan. The old camp of the Black Tiger Star is located in the peach blossom shop. When Mrs. Gao led the family members of the old camp from Baiyang Village to pass by the peach blossom shop, Black Tiger Star and Ding Guobao sent her to Wuguan.

The shadow of the mountain is abrupt. Starry-studded. Lights flashed on the tower, knocking on the wooden pillars. The gate of Wuguan City was opened, and the large group of people hurried out of the city, but there were neither lanterns nor torches. Under the starlight, the black shadows moved, one after another, and the sound of horses' hooves and the clashing of weapons was endless. Li Zicheng, Mrs. Gao, Black Tiger Star, Ding Guobao, as well as Shuangxi, Zhang Nai, and a large group of male and female soldiers, all led the horses to stand beside the road in the city. Self-Composed Black Tiger Star said:

"Virtuous nephew, after I leave, all the affairs of this Shangluo area will be handed over to Gu Zijie and you to preside. I'll be back soon, so you don't have to worry about it. Don't get entangled with the officers and soldiers here. When I am far away, you will quickly divide into small units, so that the officers and soldiers will not be able to find them. As soon as the officers and soldiers leave, you will gather together again as a large group. Whether it is divided or combined, the camera always acts mainly not to easily damage the people and horses, and it is also necessary to make the officials, soldiers and villagers dare not arbitrarily kill the people in the Shangluo Mountain, and dare not run rampant everywhere. ”

The Black Tiger Star replied, "I will do as you tell me and wait for you to return with an army of 100,000 men." ”

King Chuang said, "Master blacksmith Bao Ren, master archer and archery master Cao Lao, I will leave them to you because they are old." Wherever you go, take them with you. If there is a safe place to hide, let them stay for a while. ”

"Please rest assured King Chuang about this, I will definitely keep it in mind."

King Chuang and his wife broke up with Black Tiger Star and others outside the city gate of Wuguan, inserted into the middle of the team, and went out of the pass together. Black Tiger Star waited as they watched them descend the mountain, but because the night was dark, they couldn't see clearly when they walked more than ten feet away. Black Tiger Star and Ding Guobao returned to the Guannei, climbed to the top of the city, and watched the shadows of the black men and horses melt together with the night and the shadow of the mountain, and they couldn't see anything, and the sound of horses' hooves gradually blurred, but they and many soldiers were still staring at the city, reluctant to give up. Many pairs of eyes were dark red.

It wasn't until three days after Li Zicheng left Wuguan that Zheng Chongjian got a real report, but Li Zicheng had already led the main force to disappear without a trace. He was inspecting the barracks when he was so startled that he almost fell off his horse, glared, and after a while, he said, "Strange thing! Strange! He didn't jump into the trap he had set! The first thing he thought about was how to report to the emperor, try to exonerate himself, and falsely claimed that Li Zicheng did fall into an ambush after leaving the military pass, and after a bloody battle, Li Zicheng's men and horses were killed and wounded, and they were almost captured. He also wrote similar nonsense into a document and reported it to the superintendent and auxiliary ministers. He and his staff analyzed the military situation at that time and judged that Li Zicheng would definitely cross the Han River and go to Xinggui Mountain to join Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, and others. Therefore, on the one hand, he issued several 100,000 Huojian reports, informing the officials and troops in Yunyang, Baihe, Pingli and other places to intercept Li Zicheng, strictly prevent Li Zicheng from crossing the Han River to the south, and encircle and annihilate Zicheng north of the Han River.

Black Tiger Star and Gu Ying's uncle and nephew held on to Wuguan at risk, killing the officers and soldiers who accumulated corpses under the pass, supporting them for five days, thinking that King Chuang had been away for eight days, so they gave up Wuguan, retreated to Taohuapu, and joined Liu Tichun who was stationed in Baiyang Village. The two official armies of Shangzhou and Longju Village attacked Zhiting Mountain together, and encountered stubborn resistance from the righteous army led by Dou Apo, Ding Guobao and Huang Sanyao, and the volunteer battalion composed of local people continued to disturb the official army from the flank and back, making it difficult for the official army to advance an inch. After another three days, Gu Yingyin saw that the officers and troops of Zhen'an and Shanyang had come from the west, and the officers and troops of Lantian had also come from the north, so they convened a meeting of the big and small leaders in Baiyang Village, and divided the men and horses into five major units, that is, Liu Tichun's one, and tried to cross the east of Shangzhou and move to the border of Henan and Shaanxi; He himself and Gu Ke formed a unit, moving throughout the Shangluo Mountain area, killing the officers and soldiers and villagers who entered the mountain; Ding Guobao, Dou Kaiyuan and Huang Sanyao acted as a force, moving between Shanyang and Lantian to contain the officers and troops of the North Road and the West Road; Niu Wancai and Bai Minghe (Bai Wang had already broken through with Yuan Zongdi) led the local volunteers as a unit, with Majian as the center, within a radius of 30 miles, to protect the territory and the people, to fight and plough the fields without anything; The fifth unit is the Black Tiger Star, protecting the wounded and sick and the families of the rebels left behind, and helping Gu Ying to coordinate the advance and stop of each unit. The grain and silver left by King Chuang were divided according to the number of major groups of men and horses.

On this day, an army began to attack from the north of Wuguan. Gu Ying and Ke Cheng hurriedly led their men and horses to the south of the peach blossom shop, set up an ambush, and prepared to meet the attack. Black Tiger Star killed a wounded war horse in the old camp of Baiyang Village, and entertained Dou Apo and other leaders who came to discuss the matter. He took up the bowl and said,

"I, the Black Tiger Star Mengchuang King, rewatched and raised the brothers, and asked me to help General Gu Zijie take care of the affairs in Shangluo Mountain, and the burden is very heavy. I haven't drunk ink since I was a child, and I'm clumsy and can't say anything. I said, I said, let's drink this bowl of wine, swear to live and die together, and protect the king together, and there are no half-heartedness. Who the fuck has half-heartedness, heaven and earth will be destroyed, and ghosts and gods will not tolerate it! Come on, drink dry! ”

Everyone picked up the wine bowl in front of them, swore one after another, and drank the wine dry. Black Tiger Star went on to say:

"You brothers are familiar with each other, and each of you will find a way to take the men and horses to the designated place, or gather at night and disperse, or go around with the officers and soldiers, and let you see the situation at your own convenience. It is only allowed to fight the rich and help the poor, eliminate violence and peace, and not harm the people. We must do our best to kill the officers and soldiers and the villagers, and we must not sit idly by and watch them come to Shangluo Mountain to rape, kidnap, burn and kill. When King Chuang wants us to gather and hears the news, he will immediately bring his men and horses to meet at the place I designated. If anyone is disloyal and unrighteous to King Chuang, I will fuck him for eight generations, and I don't think I will spare him! Ugly words, lest you blame me for the ruthlessness of the sword of the Black Tiger Star! ”

As soon as the banquet dispersed, the leaders left in a hurry. One of the leaders of the Volunteer Army thought that Black Tiger Star must know the news of King Chuang, and quietly asked:

"Big Brother Black, where is King Chuang now?"

Black Tiger Star replied, "I have already met with Zhang Xianzhong." ”

As soon as the leader left, Huang Sanyao hurriedly walked up to him and asked, "Big brother, has King Chuang really met with the Eight Great Kings?" ”

Black Tiger Star smiled and said, "You ask me, who do I ask?" ”

After Li Zicheng led the main force of the righteous army out of Wuguan, the people of Wuguan were the guides, turned west, took a small road that few people walked, and rushed into Shanyang County. Then turn southwest and run to Baihe County, intending to find a ferry to smuggle across Hanshui. This road is high mountains and mountains, very difficult and dangerous, often walking for a day without seeing a single place of people, so the whereabouts of the righteous army is not easy to be detected by the officers and soldiers.

Li Zicheng concluded that Zheng Chongjian would inevitably fly to Yunyang and other parts of Shaanxi to intercept the troops, so he urged his men to advance non-stop regardless of night and day, eat some dry food when they were hungry, drink some water when they were thirsty, and have to be so thirsty that their throats are burning when they can't find water. The force was a mixture of cavalry and infantry, and in many places the cavalry had to dismount and lead the cattle carefully. Despite leading the animals, a few of them fell into the valley. Although this breakthrough force is the elite soldier of King Chuang, but last year's epidemic, after several battles, most of them were sick or wounded, and there was a long-term shortage of food in Shangluo Mountain, and many people's bodies could not withstand long-distance torture. In addition, there are more than 200 dependents who cannot but break through with them, and it is even more difficult to walk. Five days after departure, the physical exertion of the people is even more terrifying. Some people were walking, and suddenly their heads were dizzy, their eyes were dark, and they fell to the side of the road with a bang. If there is a deep valley beside the road, it will be finished if it is planted. Some people are walking and sitting on the side of the road, originally only planning to rest for a while, settle down, gasp and then walk, who knows that once they sit down, they can never get up again, their heads tilted, leaning on a stone or the root of a tree and falling asleep, some people sleep like this and can no longer catch up with the line, and some people sit down like this and do not wake up again. Some of the brothers had defected to King Chuang in Shangluo Mountain for less than a year, and they were quite brave in fighting against the officers and soldiers, but they had not been trained by long-distance travel, and some of them fell behind three days after leaving the Wuguan. When they arrived at Baihe County, they counted the number of people, and there were more than 200 people missing in vain.

Fifty miles away from the county seat of Baihe, it was already dusk, and the rebels stopped at the foot of a mountain to rest. I got the news from the mouth of the common people that Baihe was the defense of He Renlong, and there were only three or four hundred officers and soldiers in the city, most of the officers and soldiers were in the area from Xixiang to Pingli in Baihe, and some were stationed in Yunxi, in case the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong turned around and fled to Shaanxi, and He Renlong himself was also stationed near Pingli. Li Zicheng saw that the soldiers were very tired, so he decided to rest here until the second watch before continuing to set off, and to capture the county seat of Baihe by surprise at dawn, replenish a little food, and cross the Han River. As soon as the soldiers heard the order to rest, they immediately lay down on the grass and fell asleep, and those who had cattle tied the reins to their arms, and let the horses graze beside them. Only a few patrol cavalry did not sleep, and the firehead troops of various teams did not rest, and hurriedly fetched water, chopped wood, and buried pots to cook. One is that the soldiers have not eaten a hot meal in a few days, and the other is that there will be a battle during the siege of the city tomorrow morning, so King Chuang ordered the outposts to take the opportunity to cook so that the soldiers can have a full meal.

The most brilliant military genius in history also has its mistakes. Li Zicheng entered the encirclement of Tongguan Nanyuan in October of the previous year, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army, which was a mistake; Stopping here to rest now was also a mistake, which made the rebels lose the opportunity to occupy Baihe County, and had to pay a large price to be able to force the Han River. The news he inquired about from the two local people had actually changed in the past half a day, but because of the traffic jam in the mountains, no one had brought the new situation to the countryside. A day ago, He Renlong had already received a report from Tang that Li Zicheng had escaped from Wuguan and was heading west. Because Li Zicheng walked the most difficult mountain road, he often had to spend a lot of time to climb a big mountain or cross a mountain stream, and after crossing the mountain, he made a big circle to the north, so although he was discovered by Zheng Chongjian three days after leaving Wuguan, the 100,000 anxious Tang Bao flew in front of him and flew into He Renlong's hands. He Maniac immediately personally led his men and horses to save Baihe and intercepted King Chuang. The officers and troops stationed in Shanyang to participate in the siege of Shangluoshan were quicker to get the Tang report, and 2,000 men were lightly armed to chase after them. Fortunately, the 2,000 officers and soldiers who were ordered to pursue were shocked by the prestige of Li Zicheng and this rebel army, and were afraid of suffering, so they always deliberately distanced themselves from the rebel army for a day. When they were about to enter the Baihe realm, they believed that there would be officials and troops in Baihe County to intercept them, so they became bold and stepped up their advance, trying to flank the rebels near Baihe County. At dusk today, this pursuer was less than thirty miles away from the rebels.

When the soldiers were resting, Li Zicheng dealt with several important military affairs, because he had something on his mind, he just took a sip, and then woke up and no longer fell asleep. Then he got up from under a tree and walked around the camp. As he was walking, he heard Wang Changshun's voice in the red place behind the nearby boulder saying:

"Brother, you are a native of Shangluo Mountain, you have been in the king for less than a year, and the world you have seen is too small. What kind of bitterness is this? Count it! In the first month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the ice and snow covered the field, the sky was cold and the ground was frozen, we set off from Rongyang, Henan with King Gaochuang, all the way to the east, and broke Fengyang in less than half a month. If you want to say bitterness, then it is really bitter, but everyone is bent on winning the battle, bent on breaking the imperial tomb, and no one thinks of bitterness. In the spring of the eleventh year, we withdrew from Sichuan with King Li Chuang. Because Hong Chengchou blocked the sword gate, we had to take the Songpan trail and cross the snow-capped mountains before we arrived in Jiezhou. Later, he went to Xifandi, and fought with Cao Bianjiao while walking for a whole month, and the people did not untie their armor, the horses did not take off the saddle, and they killed the horses to satisfy their hunger when they could not find food. There were only a few days left to go from Qinghai Lake, and King Chuang took us to the north to get rid of the official army. Later, we went out of the Great Wall near Jiayuguan, wandered for half a month, had nothing to eat, and entered the Great Wall from near Lanzhou. That's really bitter. The march of the past few days counts as a pee! After a pause, Wang Changshun continued: "You are too young, you were a farmer before the king, you only know how to follow the cow's butt from one end of the ground to the other end, and go to the street to rush back to the market as if you are going far away, do you know what it means to walk?" What has you seen in the world? It's all in vain to live like that until you get old. While you are young, run around the South China Sea and the North of Chuang Wang Mountain, maybe you will make great achievements in the future and become a climate. Even if you can't become a big climate, you will have gossip to talk about in front of your children and grandchildren when you are old. If your children and grandchildren gather around you to listen to the past and the present, you brush your beard, don't read or talk about it, what is there to say? ”

Two young men giggled from the fire. Then a young man's voice said:

"Uncle Wang, when you say that, you will also say that my drowsiness has run away."

Zicheng turned around the big stone and saw Wang Changshun helping the two young fireheads to cook on the fire, and the rice was already cooked. He shouted, "Changshun!" When Wang Changshun and the two young men turned their heads, he then asked:

"Why don't you sleep for a while?"

Changshun hurriedly replied: "The road is not dangerous this afternoon, I have been shaking on the horse and sleeping for a long time." Besides, after forty years, people don't fall asleep so much, and as soon as they talked to these two brothers just now, they doze away. ”

"You'd better get some sleep. I'm older, and I've hung up many lotteries, and I've been running around day and night these days, and it's enough to choke. ”

"King Chuang, don't worry, the older my poor bones get, the harder they get, and they won't be tired. Besides, it's almost the second shift now, what else are you going to sleep? ”

King Chuang looked at the handle of the spoon that hung down from the Big Dipper, and then stopped making a sound, and turned to leave. Wang Changshun chased after King Chuang and said:

"King Chuang, I think maybe I will fight with the He madman in Baihe County......"

King Chuang stopped and asked, "How do you know that tomorrow you will fight with the madman in Baihe?" ”

"I'm worried that these days when we go out of Wuguan, Maniac He will know our whereabouts and greet us in Baihe County."

King Chuang nodded: "I also thought of this layer just now. However, I heard that Maniac He was stationed in the west of Pingli, and even if he knew our whereabouts, he might not have come so quickly. ”

"Regardless of whether you see the madman tomorrow or not, we have to feed our war horses first. Just now, I fed black beans for your oolong horse, Madame's Yuhua Cong, and the snow lion of Liu Ye, the chief whistle. There's still a handful of black beans left to feed the black girl—ah, look at me, and call her the old nickname! - The big green mule who fed Huijian. This girl is young, and she is not used to marching like Huimei, she has lost a lot of weight in the past few days, and her eyes are wide, and I feel distressed when I look at it, so I also feed some black beans to the big green mule. ”

"Oolong Pony and Yuhua Cong both have grooms, and Liu Ye's snow lions also have grooms, each with its own responsibility, you are now the head of the old camp, just tell the grooms, why do you feed it yourself? You always love to find work on the road, never stop! ”

"A few of the grooms are young men, let them sleep more. I'm older and less sleepy. ”

Zicheng turned elsewhere and met the Chinese army Wu Ruyi, so he ordered the Chinese army to send someone to pager the soldiers to hurry up to eat and prepare to leave. At the foot of the silent mountain, there was no silence.

In order to prevent the fire from being seen from afar, the places where the rebels buried the pots and cooked were behind the big rocks, deep in the dense forest, or in relatively hidden ravines. The pursuing officers and soldiers only knew that the peasant army had already passed and ran to the Baihe River overnight, but they did not expect that Li Zicheng would stay at the foot of this mountain from before dusk to the second watch. They rested a little after dusk, ate some dry food, and continued the pursuit. Unlike Li Zicheng's troops, the officers and soldiers have always acted secretively and with strict discipline. For the convenience of walking, they lit up lanterns and torches, and walked in the barren mountains like a winding, intermittent fire dragon.

Li Zicheng sat on a stone and was eating. A small colonel patrolling on horseback came to him and reported to him that there were pursuers coming from behind, and that there were many people and horses seven or eight miles away from here, and the lights could not be seen. Zicheng finished the meal in two bites, told several generals to leave the whole team, and attacked and occupied Baihe according to the original plan, leaving only Yuan Zongdi and Hao Shaoqi's broken rear troops. And he commanded that all earthen stoves and fires should be extinguished quickly, but not to be watered with water, nor to show signs of trampling with feet. He took Yuan Zongdi and Hao Shaoqi to a high place, looked for a while, and came down to them and said:

"The officers and soldiers were scattered and marched very slowly, and it seemed that they must all be infantry, very tired and unorganized. This is not suitable for riding and fighting, so you leave your horses elsewhere, and Han Ju led 300 brothers to ambush in the woods near here, and waved his flag and led 200 brothers to go a mile east, and lay an ambush in the woods beside the road. Officers and soldiers will stop here. When most of the officers and soldiers came here, they were in a hurry, and Han Ju suddenly shouted, slashing and killing. When he heard Han Ju's move, he immediately killed and cut off the tail of the official army. In this way, you can defeat the crowd and kill the bastards. After you have killed and dispersed the officers and soldiers, immediately chase after the brigade, and do not fall in love with the battle, and do not pick up the baggage of the officers and soldiers. I'm worried that He Renlong is ready in Baihe, and we must do our best to defeat Lao He and cross the Han River. ”

Zong Di asked: "If the officers and soldiers don't stop here to rest and continue to chase, will I cut off the dog's back?" ”

"In that case, you will let go of the front team, cut off the waist, wave the flag and cut the tail, and I will send someone else to stop the head attack. But I think they're going to stop here. ”

He smiled slightly, asked his soldiers to find a piece of white cloth, took a root of charcoal from the earthen stove, and wrote eight big characters:

If there is an ambush in front of you, don't chase after it

After writing, he personally pressed the white cloth in the middle of the path with stones, and took his soldiers on horseback and left.

The group was advancing, but was stopped by a ravine a few feet deep. The original single-plank bridge on the ditch was half-decayed, and not only the cavalry could not pass, but even the infantry could not walk. There was no way to cross this deep ditch anywhere else, so I had to cut down wood and build bridges, and the faster the better. However, there was no forest nearby, so Liu Zongmin and Li Guo personally went with a large group of brothers to cut down trees a mile away. Li Zicheng got off the oolong horse, was silent, stood by the horse's head and waited, listening to the sound of Ding Ding's logging, Li Zicheng was so anxious that he only felt that the trees were cutting down too slowly. Several times he wanted to send someone to urge, but he thought that since Jiexuan and Buzhidu went in person, he thought that there was no need to urge.

The whole team was anxious. They did not care much about the pursuers, but feared that if they delayed, they would not be able to reach the White River before dawn, and as soon as the sky was light, they would be discovered by the enemy, and it would be difficult to attack and occupy the city and the ferry. Fortunately, they didn't expect He Renlong to reach Baihe first, and only those who were worried about this layer were King Chuang, Mrs. Gao, and a few generals. Gao Yigong walked to King Chuang with a horsewhip and whispered:

"This is the head wind of the ship."

Mrs. Gao muttered, "It's a shoal." ”

Li Zicheng didn't make a sound. He felt that if he continued to delay like this, his hair and beard would turn gray.

There were constant whispers in the crowd, and I couldn't hear it clearly, and then I heard Wang Changshun's voice a little louder, saying:

"Don't worry, as long as we are led by King Chuang and a few generals, it will not be difficult to cross the Han River in broad daylight. Which of our generals is not the lower realm of the stars in the sky? He Renlong is a dick! I fought him more than three times or twice. I didn't blow it, our chief whistle Liu Ye shouted, and he was allowed to tremble all over his body, and he couldn't hold the saddle bridge. Don't laugh, I'm telling the truth. Our chief whistle Liu Ye sneezed in his sleep and scared a tiger to death, this is what I saw with my own eyes! ”

A Shangzhou accent asked, "How can a sneeze scare a tiger to death?" ”

Changshun continued: "This was the summer before last. At that time, we entered the Great Wall, rushed through Taozhou, and went to the mountains in the southeast of Jiezhou to rest in the mountains of Luoyang and Ningqiang. King Chuang ordered the whole army to be divided into many units, scattered and entrenched, and divided into separate sources of food, and the officers and soldiers would clean it up when they came, and get out of the way when they came more, and grind with it in the mountains. Liu Ye, the chief outpost, did not follow the old camp, and the place of the plate was about a hundred miles away from the old camp. On this day, he came to the old camp for something, and he was careless for a while, and only brought a dozen personal soldiers. Unexpectedly, more than 100 officers and soldiers were encountered on the road, and a vicious battle was held, killing many officers and soldiers, and there were only three or four people left by Liu Ye's side, and the horses were all dead and wounded. Fortunately, it was late, there was no moonlight, and it was dark, so he took the opportunity to get rid of the official army and go to the old camp in the dark. After walking for most of the night, I was really tired and hungry, so I sat on the mountain road ten miles away from the old camp to rest, not wanting to fall down on the road as soon as I sat down, facing the sky on my back, and falling asleep. Several of his own soldiers also fell asleep, sleeping like dead men. Then there was a strange wind, and the branches of the trees shook, and a tiger came down from the hillside......"

A hoarse voice asked, "Why does the tiger come out to blow the wind?" ”

Changshun replied: "As the old saying goes: 'The cloud follows the dragon, and the wind follows the tiger'." ”

The hoarse voice said, "We have also chased the tiger on the mountain of Savage Valley, but we have not seen the wind. ”

Another voice said, "Don't interrupt, let Uncle Wang finish." ”

Changshun continued: "Tigers don't eat people casually. It eats the living, not the dead. It walked to Liu Ye's side, not knowing whether Liu Ye was alive or dead, and sniffed it with its nose close to Liu Ye's face, and two of its long and hard beards were inserted into Liu Ye's nostrils. When the tiger smelled that it was a living person, he was about to open his bloody mouth to eat Liu Ye, but Liu Ye had an uncomfortable nose in a dream, and sneezed violently, which scared the tiger into jumping a few feet high. When the tiger fell, it deflected a little, fell into a ravine about ten feet deep on the side of the road, and fell to its death. ”

The audience couldn't hold back the laughter that came in and out. Huijian stood next to the big green mule, leaning on the saddle while sleeping while listening to Changshun's words, everyone's laughter woke her up, her forehead touched the saddle, opened her eyes, and asked in a vague whisper:

"Uncle Wang, but really?"

Wang Changshun said: "How is it not true? When the tiger came out, it was windy or not, that was what I said and added casually, but it was true that Liu Ye sneezed and sent a tiger's life. Liu Ye woke up after sneezing, and he was also startled: obediently, why didn't you see clearly at night, sleeping in this fatal place in a daze, leaning against the mountain on one side and the cliff on the other! As soon as he arrived at the old camp, we went to a dozen people, found the tiger, and carried it back to the old camp. The tiger skin made a saddle for Liu Ye, the meat was eaten for everyone, the bones were made for Shang Shenxian to make tiger bone wine, and a plaster was boiled. It's all true! ”

Some people in the audience smiled and nodded merrily and admiringly, and some people made a smack sound, and they didn't fall asleep. Wang Changshun said:

"Why can't the tiger eat the chief whistle Liu Ye? Why didn't Liu Ye sneeze like thunder when the tiger opened its mouth? This is because our Liu Ye and many generals are the stars in the sky who came down to protect the king, and the tiger can only smell it at most, and cannot hurt it. What is a madman? Can he stop us from crossing the Han River from Baihe County? You new brothers haven't seen how powerful Liu Ye is on the battlefield. If you encounter an official army blocking the road to Baihe, you see! ”

Mrs. Gao looked at King Chuang and smiled slightly, and whispered: "Changshun is worse than the young man's health, these days his horse runs so thin that his bones are exposed, and his own eye sockets have collapsed, but you see how happy he is, and he often tells jokes to relieve others' fatigue!" ”

Suddenly, the shouts of killing came from a few miles behind, causing all the soldiers to turn their heads to listen. Li Zicheng sent his own soldiers to call Li You to the front and ordered:

"Take a hundred cavalry and help him pack up his pursuers. After defeating the pursuers, all of you hurry back and don't waste time. ”

Liu Zongmin and Li Guo brought the trees back. They didn't seem to pay any attention to the shouts behind them, and just watched the brothers quickly build bridges. The peasant army was experienced in building bridges. They do not cut down big trees, because it is troublesome to cut them, and it is difficult to cut off branches, and it is difficult to carry them, and when they are laid down side by side, the gap in the middle is too large. They always choose small trees with thick mouths. Today, I happened to encounter a cedar forest, so I cut down a dozen fir trees and carried them back, set them up side by side, nailed a peg on each end and each side to prevent them from falling apart, and cut bales of grass and spread them on the top. In less than a moment, the army began to cross the bridge.

Li Zicheng ordered Wu Ruyi to send a small colonel with ten brothers to guard the wooden bridge, prepare more hay and dry branches, and set fire to the bridge when the soldiers who had defeated the pursuers returned to the bridge. In order to wait for Yuan Zongdi's battle report, he walked behind the old camp and listened to the shouts in the distance as he walked. After a while, the shouts of killing behind him were no longer audible. The men and horses hurried away, and a password was passed from front to back: "Pass! Don't speak! Infantry forks let go! This voice reached Li Zicheng, and he repeated it like a soldier. His generals and soldiers then passed the command backwards.

Less than a shift later, Yuan Zongdi and others led hundreds of victorious cavalry to catch up with the brigade. It turned out that when the pursuers arrived at the foot of the mountain where the rebels were burying pots and cooking, they saw that the ashes in the earthen stove were cold, and thought that the rebels must have gone far and could not catch up. Everyone was very tired, and they were already complaining and longing for rest, but when they saw that this place was relatively flat and leeward, and there was a ready-made earthen stove left by Li Zicheng, they sat down one after another, clamoring to camp here. At this time, someone found the white cloth left by Li Zicheng on the path, and after reading the eight characters on it, he became more and more reluctant to chase forward. People say that Li Zichengliu's words are true, there must be an ambush ahead, we don't chase each other, we don't offend each other, we want to chase us, we are not polite, this is called first to make the words clear, Ming people do not do dark things. Although there were a few people who were afraid that Li Zicheng was indeed in ambush nearby, most of them did not want to listen to their words. Some people sat down, some lay down, some began to light a fire, and some were ready to fetch water for cooking, and they waited for the chief in a hurry. Yuan Zongdi's men and horses suddenly shouted and killed, and Hao Shaoqi immediately killed from behind, killing the officials and soldiers to the ground, scattering and fleeing, almost capturing the main general alive. When Li You arrived, the battle was over. And they slew some of the men who were hiding in the woods and in the weeds, and then they mounted their horses and pursued the brigade. In this battle, the casualties of the rebels were insignificant, while the pursuers were completely dispersed.

The news of the victory immediately spread throughout the army from the old battalion, which inspired the officers and men of the whole army, and their spirits were lifted and they accelerated their advance.

It was getting brighter, and it was getting brighter again. It is still five or six miles away from the White River ferry. Li Zicheng's plan to cross the Han River before dawn and attack and occupy the county seat of Baihe has already been blown. He was regretting that he shouldn't have stopped to rest for too long last night, and suddenly got a report from the scout cavalry, saying that the flags on Baihe City were sparse and quiet, and the outside of the city was also very quiet, and he couldn't see the people entering the city to catch the market. When King Chuang heard this, he guessed in his heart that there must be a large group of officers and soldiers who drove to Baihe and made preparations, and maybe He Renlong also arrived in person. He immediately discussed with several generals, and it was not easy to retreat to find another ferry, so he had to try his best to seize the Baihe ferry and force the Han River. So he, together with Liu Zongmin and Li Guo, led the main cavalry force and rushed towards the Baihe crossing.

There was fog in the morning, but this morning there was no fog, the sky was cloudless, and the sky was blue. Mrs. Gao looked at the sky on her horse, and suddenly had a strange thought: such a sunny weather, the sky is blue and blue, it really doesn't look like the two sides are going to kill people on their backs!

He Renlong received a report from Governor Zheng Chongjian that Li Zicheng might cross the Han River from Baihe County. At that time, in preparation for Zhang Xianzhong's return to Shaanxi, his troops were stationed in a place at the junction of Shaanxi and Hubei, and Baihe County was also his defensive place. He had experience in fighting Li Zicheng. On weekdays, he was a little afraid of Li Zicheng, but now he thinks that Li Zicheng's troops are very small, and he is a hungry and tired crowd who have traveled long distances. Although his idea of seizing the seal of the "Ping Thief General" has been dispelled because Zuo Liangyu recently had the victory of Agate Mountain, he hopes to establish a miraculous achievement in this battle to intercept Li Zicheng and obtain a generous reward from the imperial court. In addition, he hoped that in addition to capturing or killing Li Zicheng and several of his major generals, he could also capture all of Li Zicheng's horses and other military supplies. His troops were not easy to concentrate in his eagerness, and he was afraid of delaying the fighters, so he only led 800 cavalry and 1,500 infantry to Baihe County. Coupled with the original garrison in Baihe County, he could intercept more than 3,000 soldiers from Li Zicheng. Another follow-up force of 1,500 men will arrive within a day.

When he arrived at Baihe County, He Renlong got a solid report: Li Zicheng's men and horses were tired and were running towards Baihe, and there was an official army chasing after him, and it was estimated that he could come to Baihe Ferry at dawn. Baihe County is a small city, two miles away from the south bank of the Han River. He Renlong was worried that once Li Zicheng crossed the Han River, he would not be able to intercept it, and would bypass Baihe County and flee southward, and he was also worried that Li Zicheng would see a large number of people and horses on the south bank, and he would not dare to force the crossing, so he would turn around and flee elsewhere. No matter what the situation is, his wish to encircle and annihilate Li Zicheng and establish a great achievement will be frustrated, and he will even be charged with "arsonist and escape", and will be rebuked by the imperial court and the superintendents and auxiliary ministers. He was already confident, and deliberately asked left and right: "What can I do to win?" The generals on the left and right suggested that the heavy troops should be ambushed on the south bank of the Han River, and "wait for them to cross and attack them", and they will win a complete victory. He Renlong shook his head and smiled, and said:

"You think it's beautiful, but it's a pity that Li Zicheng is not a stupid person!"

He told the soldiers to have a full meal quickly, and then left a part of the soldiers to defend the city, and ambushed 500 soldiers on the south bank of the Han River, and he personally led 2,200 cavalry to quickly cross the river. As soon as the crossing was complete, he ordered all boats and boats to row to the south bank, lest they be taken by the rebels. Fighting against the peasant army, He Renlong has rich experience and knows in his heart how powerful Li Zicheng is. He believed that although Li Zicheng led a hungry and tired army, with only more than 1,000 people, it should not be underestimated. In the winter of the previous year, Li Zicheng's troops fought bravely and skillfully during the battle of Tongguan Nanyuan, and He Renlong still remembers it vividly. He got out of the way of Li Zicheng's main road to occupy the ferry, but ambushed the men and horses behind a hill not far from the ferry, intending to use all his strength to suddenly attack when Li Zicheng's men and horses had just descended to the water's edge and were rushing to the crossing, forcing some of them into the water to drown, and some of them to be wiped out on the shore. His 500 soldiers waiting on the south bank occupied a favorable position, waiting to intercept and kill the few rebels who had crossed the Han River. Everything was arranged, and Maniac He sat on a big rock, waiting to arrest Li Zicheng and his wife, Liu Zongmin, etc.

Li Zicheng originally thought that He Renlong had already sent soldiers to guard the ferry, and was ready to use cavalry to rush and kill the enemy away. Unexpectedly, they took the ferry without difficulty, did not encounter a single enemy, and did not see a single boat, several of which were parked on the south bank of the Han River. Looking at Baihe County across the river, the city gate was closed, and the city head was quiet, which made him feel strange. At this time, the soldiers saw the shadow of a flag behind the hill not far from the ferry, and saw a lot of ambush soldiers on the south bank. Li Zicheng suddenly guessed the enemy's trick, lined up the cavalry on the river bank, sent two young generals, Ma Shiyao and Li Michang, to lead 300 cavalry to search for the enemy on the hillside, and ordered Li Guo to lead 200 cavalry to wade across the river to occupy the south bank, and send all the ships across the river. He himself immediately went ashore, preparing to meet the ambush of He Renlong, and suddenly killed.

Ma Shiyao and the other cavalry rushed up the hillside, and four or five hundred officers and soldiers mixed in foot, resisted slightly, and retreated to the rear in an orderly manner. Ma Shiyao was chasing after him, and when he heard the sound of gongs coming from the riverbank, he immediately retreated. Li Guo selected 200 cavalry, plus his own 20 personal soldiers, came to the water's edge, and whipped and shouted: "Come with me!" "First of all, the prancing horse went into the water, and more than 200 cavalrymen did not hesitate to ride their horses to race. The enemy on the south bank was astonished when they saw that the water was fast and cold, and that the peasant army would never go into the water on horseback until they were defeated and fled. A general waved a small flag and made a loud drum, and at the same time, five hundred ambush soldiers jumped up together, rushed to the water's edge, and fired arrows at the center of the river. Due to the spread of the rebels' formation, only a few men were shot. After crossing the torrent in the heart of the river, Li Guo shot down the enemy general with an arrow, and the officers and troops were in chaos. As the brothers hurried their horses forward, they shouted: "Come ashore!" Come ashore! Li Guo first jumped ashore and slashed more than a dozen people in a row. The brethren then landed ashore and slashed at the officers and soldiers who were in disarray. The officers and soldiers were immediately killed and wounded all over the ground, some knelt down and begged for mercy, while others threw away their weapons and fled. Li Guo was not allowed to pursue, and on the one hand, he was in danger of another official army coming out of the city, and on the other hand, he hurriedly sent a group of water-aware brothers to prop up the large and small ships to the opposite shore together.

Across the woods, He Renlong saw Li Zicheng lined up on the river bank, and saw a general leading about 200 cavalry to the south bank to race horses, but no one hesitated, which made him feel shocked: This is like a hungry and tired army! The psychology of Li Zicheng, who was usually afraid of Li Zicheng, suddenly recovered, and the confidence of victory was shaken. But he was afraid of being punished by the imperial court, and second, he also hoped that Li Zicheng's men and horses had not yet arrived, and he could get away with it. So he ordered the drums to be beaten, and commanded the ambush to be killed, and he himself quickly jumped on his horse, drew his sword, and led the most elite Zhenbiao pro-army, shouting and killing.

The infantry and cavalry behind the rebels all arrived. The large and small ships captured by Li Guo on the south bank of the river also lasted to the north bank. King Li Chuang gave an order, and his dependents and infantry began to cross the river, and the baggage on the mules and horses was also unloaded and placed on the boat. There were a few people who were not skilled in riding and also took boats, and only allowed empty horses to cross the river.

He Renlong suddenly slaughtered from the woods, and at the same time ambushed the troops and surrounded the rebels on the river bank on three sides. King Li Chuang rode on the oolong horse, standing at the intersection leading to the river bank, as steady as Mount Tai, and the soldiers and generals on the left and right all stretched their bows and arrows, and were ready to go. He Renlong and the officers and soldiers did not dare to approach, but only beat drums and shouted at a distance of two arrows, bluffing, one to intimidate the rebels, and the other to strengthen their own courage. There was a general who lacked experience in fighting Li Zicheng, and was anxious to make meritorious service, so he went to the madman He and said:

"My lord, Li Zi does not have many horses, and the river bank is not conducive to his cavalry fighting, please give the order to attack quickly, the opportunity must not be lost."

He Renlong glanced at him and said, "Don't be impatient!" The Art of War says: 'Don't chase after the poor, don't stop the master.' Let his men and horses cross the river, and 'wait for them to cross the river and strike at them,' and he will win a great victory." ”

The rebels crossed the river in batches, and the team was not chaotic. He Renlong had already dispelled the delusion of capturing Li Zicheng alive, and only hoped that he would not break his old book, and when the king's men and horses were about to pass, he would cut off the tail of the team, kill and wound some, capture some prisoners, and capture some war vest battles, and then exaggerate the results to Yang Sichang and Zheng Chongjian, and report a great victory.

King Li Chuang and most of his men and horses had already crossed the river, and there were only more than 300 cavalry and more than 200 infantry left on the north bank. This cavalry was the broken rear army led by Yuan Zongdi and Hao Shaoqi, and Liu Zongmin did not cross the river with a group of personal soldiers. When Liu Zongmin came to the water's edge with his soldiers and was about to ride a horse across the river, he felt uneasy, reined in his horse's head, and waited for a while. The river is blue. The shadow of the white horse is reflected in the water, and it is very vivid and lovely. In the water, there was a white cloud floating by the horse's head. Liu Zongmin looked up at the sky, the sky was bluer than the river.

He Renlong recognized that the big man riding a white horse was Liu Zongmin, and immediately had the idea of capturing or killing Liu Zongmin alive to establish a great achievement, and quickly waved the command flag, and all the officers and soldiers who watched the righteous army cross the river shouted and killed forward. Because He Maniac personally supervised the battle and hung a heavy reward, the officers and soldiers still attacked forward despite being shot in several batches. Liu Zongmin returned to the shore and raised his knife and ordered loudly:

"The infantry and other boats will cross the river, and the cavalry will fight together, and clean up the dog day of He Renlong!"

Yuan Zongdi and others rushed forward and engaged in a melee with the enemy near the riverbank. He Renlong is also a fierce general in the official army, and has many years of war experience, and now there are many people, so he surrounds Yuan Zongdi and others on the one hand, and divides his troops to seize the ferry, so that Li Zicheng can not be rescued. Liu Zongmin guessed that He Renlong would have this move, and he didn't move the riverbank immediately, and when he saw an officer and army coming, he made a move behind his back with a knife and shouted: "The infantry come with me!" He led his own soldiers and infantry to kill this group of officers and soldiers, and when he saw that several boats had already approached the shore, he ordered the infantry to hurry aboard the boats, and he led his own soldiers to cover them. As soon as the infantry left the shore, Zong Min saw that Zong Di was wounded, and Hao Shaoqi was besieged by about a thousand foot cavalry, he roared, rushed into the heart of the enemy, and went straight to He Renlong. Seeing that it was Liu Zongmin, He Renlong deliberately fought and retreated, wanting to lead Zong Min over a small hill and away from the riverbank, so as to catch him alive. Zong Min chased for a while, saw through the trick, turned his horse back, and led Yuan Zongdi and Hao Shaoqi and the remaining less than 200 cavalry back to the riverbank. He told Zongdi to hurry up and get on the boat, and a part of the cavalry crossed the river first, and he and Hao Shaoqi took dozens of cavalry to cover on the shore.

Seeing that his plan was ineffective, He Renlong reflexively killed back, and the army poured into the river bank like a tide. Hao Shaoqi was able to kill one person, and the other wanted to protect Liu Zongmin, and scolded: "Don't run away!" "Rush into the midst of the enemy and fight. Zong Min was afraid that he would lose money by waving the flag, so he also killed him. There were only thirty or forty cavalry around each of them, and they galloped left and right in the middle of the enemy, killing and wounding many enemies, and almost captured the banner of He Renlong, but the number of people around them quickly decreased. Later they were separated by the enemy and fought on their own. Zong Min killed for a while, but he didn't know where the flag was, so he went to the river bank to look for the flag. The banks of the river had been occupied by the officers and troops, and the men and horses were as dense as walls, and arrows rained down on him. He thought that he would either die or be captured, and that it would be impossible for him to cross the river from this ferry, so he turned his horse's head, shouted and slashed, cut a bloody road, and looked downstream for a place to cross the river.

All roads were cut off by officers and soldiers. There was a small village burning two or three miles from the ferry, and several civilians who had not fled had been killed and lay on the side of the road. A twelve or thirteen-year-old girl was caught by the official army and was about to be raped, when Liu Zongmin rushed to the scene with several personal soldiers. The officers and soldiers were startled at first, and then they swarmed up, blocking the way, shouting for Liu Zongmin to surrender quickly, but they did not dare to approach very closely. Zong Min was furious when he saw that the officers and soldiers were wantonly burning and raping again, and rode his horse straight at the enemy, slashing to death the enemy colonel led by him, and the rest fled in all directions. The little girl took the opportunity to throw herself into the fire, but Liu Zongmin leaned over and grabbed her, lifted it lightly, and put it on the saddle. Seeing the officers and soldiers chasing after him, he whipped the white horse, jumped out of the small village where the fire was burning, and ran towards the bank of the Han River.

Due to the unfamiliar terrain, Liu Zongmin fell into a desperate situation. It is close to the Han River, with cliffs three or four feet high. The river turns here, the water is black and green, about a few zhang deep, thirty zhang wide. There were only three pro-soldiers left by Zong Min's side, all of whom had already hung up the lottery, and planned to take them to continue downstream, but they were blocked by the deep valley. When he saw that hundreds of officers and troops were about to catch up, and that he was in a desperate position, and could neither advance nor retreat, he immediately put the little girl on the ground under a tall ancient pine, and told her to hide behind the pine tree and not to move. With his twin swords in hand, he stared at the enemy, waiting for him to approach. At this time, he heard the tight war drums on both sides of the ferry, shouting and killing, and knew that Zicheng wanted to force the Han River and come to save him. But he knew in his heart that the terrain was unfavorable and there were few ships, and that trying to force a landing in front of the enemy would not only result in heavy casualties, but would also be difficult to succeed. He glanced at his soldiers and ordered:

"Give me all the rest of your arrows!"

All three of his own soldiers gave him the arrows. He ordered them to abandon their horses as soon as possible before the enemy arrived, find a place to roll down the river, and cross the river. The three soldiers immediately jumped off their horses, but stood still beside his snow lion and waited for him to dismount. Zong Min commanded:

"Get out of here and get down to the river, I'm going to deal with these shit!"

The soldiers knew that Zong Min was going to stay alone, and they all asked him to flee first, and they would resist the officers and soldiers. At this time, the distance between the officers and the army was only one hundred and twenty steps, and Zong Min was very anxious, and said sharply:

"Get out of here, violators will be killed!"

The three soldiers first drove their horses down the valley with whips, and would rather bear to let their horses fall to death and be injured than let the enemy get a single one. Then they begged Zong Min again to go first. Zong Min turned around and glared at them for the second time, his eyes were about to split, and he shouted sharply: "Hurry up!" They hesitated for a moment, looked at each other helplessly, and wept away. But there was a more seriously injured soldier who walked a few steps and turned back, hiding behind a pine tree, not for Zong Min to see.

Zong Min took a step back, leaning close to the pine tree, drawing his bow and arrows, and swept the screaming enemy with angry eyes, especially wanting to see if He Renlong had arrived, with a contemptuous smile on his bronzed face. He didn't see He Renlong, and felt a little regretful. Although the officers and soldiers saw that he was left alone, they shouted for him to surrender, but they did not dare to approach rashly. As long as an enemy comes within 100 steps, Zong Min's arrows will not be missed, and the enemy led by the enemy will always be killed by the arrow. The enemy suffered several losses, and no longer intended to capture him alive, and also fired arrows at him. The stray arrow continued to swoop past Jongmin's head and side, but he didn't even move, still sneering contemptuously, constantly shooting enemies who tried to get closer.

When the officers and soldiers saw that Liu Zongmin's arrows were finished, they planned to capture him alive and sacrifice him to Beijing, so they stopped shooting arrows and swarmed at him. Zong Min thought that his three personal soldiers had probably crossed the river, and decided to leave as soon as possible, so as not to fall into the hands of the enemy. His war horse didn't know whether it understood his mind or because he saw the enemy approaching, he suddenly raised his tail and Xiao Xiao neighed wildly. The roar of the snow lion did not stop, Liu Zongmin roared, and the mountain roared and the valley responded, swinging his knife to kill the enemy. The officers and soldiers suddenly heard his roar, and saw him swinging his sword to kill, and they were shocked, and they ran back, crowding and trampling each other. Zong Min took the opportunity to turn the horse's head, leaned over and grabbed the little girl and put her on the saddle, ran to the cliff, and whipped it violently. I saw the snow-white war horse rise from the cliff like lightning, into the blue sky, fell down two feet away, sank to the bottom of the river, and splashed with silver light.

On the north bank of the river, everyone was horrified. On the south bank of the river, people's hearts sink into the river with the white horse. Suddenly, the drums of war stopped, and shouting and talking also stopped. The heavens and the earth are quiet, the soldiers are holding their breath, and the green hills that overlap all around are silent, and everything is waiting for the news of the white horse.

After a while, the white horse carried Liu Zongmin and the little girl out of the turquoise pool. It's still quiet on the river. The water reflects the blue sky and white clouds. The waves are like silver, flickering in the brilliant sunlight. The white horse snorted its nose, held its head high, paddled the green waves, and rushed to the south bank of the torrent in the rapids.

Officers and soldiers rushed to the cliff. One of the leaders raised his bow and shot it, but before the arrow could go off the string, a man with a mortal wound in his left arm leaped up from the grass, and with a flash of his sword, he was cut down. This man hacked several enemies to death, and he himself was cut down. There was chaos on the cliffs. The officers and soldiers waited for a moment to kill this man before they began to shoot arrows at the river. But Liu Zongmin's white horse had drifted away in the torrent, and the enemy's arrows fell into the water with a poof, poof, and poof. Later, the local people named this cliff Ma Leaping Cliff, and called the big pine tree that Liu Zongmin once immediately called the Hundred Arrow Pine, because according to legend, the officials and soldiers pulled out more than 100 arrows from the tree.

Li Zicheng sent a small boat down the river to rescue Zong Min. By the time the boat flew to Jiangwan, Zong Min was not far from the south bank, and rode his horse onto the sun-drenched white sand gravel beach (this place, later known as Baima Slope). The murderous spirit in his heart was not gone, he was covered in water, his face was full of anger, and he returned to King Chuang. Zicheng was very happy, but when he heard that Hao Shao's flag was missing, he felt sad. None of Zong Min's personal soldiers returned, except for one who jumped off a cliff and fell to his death and one who drowned in the center of the river due to his wounds, all of them died in the battle on the north bank.

Mrs. Gao glanced at the little girl, knowing that she was the only one left in the family and was rescued by Liu Ye, she couldn't help but feel secretly sad. She immediately instructed Huiqiong to take her into the woods to wring out her clothes, give her a little dry food to satisfy her hunger, and asked Wang Changshun to give her a surplus gelding.

The rebels immediately set off in whole formation, bypassing the county seat of Baihe and rushing south......

CHAPTER XXVII

After forcibly crossing the Han River, Li Zicheng pulled the people to rest in the Fangfang and Zhuda mountains, and divided them into small groups in order to find food and avoid the pursuit of the official army. He sent several detailed works to listen to the deployment and movements of the officers and troops, and also to inquire about Zhang Xianzhong's news. Zhang Xianzhong's bribery and discord with Zuo Liangyu was very secret, of course he couldn't hear about it, but he saw that Zuo Liangyu stationed his men and horses in Shaanxi, and He Maniac also stayed at the junction of Shaanxi and Huguang, and the other officials and soldiers did not take advantage of the victory to chase after him, and judged that Yang Sichang's Shang Fang Sword was not of much use to this group of proud generals, and sooner or later he would be at a loss. Although there are only more than 1,000 people following him now, and food is very difficult, and there is a shortage of money, he is very open-minded, and firmly believes that as long as he gets through this difficult time, the situation will improve, and he will let himself soar. He often gossiped with the soldiers and cheered everyone up. This small unit rested for a short period of time in the Fangda and Zhuda Mountains, and its morale was strong again.

The officers and soldiers only knew that Li Zicheng had fled to the mountains in the western Hubei region, but they could not figure out where he was. Although Yang Sichang understood that there was a conflict between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, he was worried that they would cooperate temporarily in the current difficult situation. He thought that with the cunning of loyal soldiers, he was good at winning people's hearts and being resolute and strong, Cao Cao had many men and horses, and once the three of them cooperated, it would be very unfavorable to the advance of the official army. It turned out that the leader of one of the so-called nine battalions of Fang Jun headed by Luo Rucai was named Wang Guangen, who was nicknamed Hua Guansuo, and was unwilling to follow Luo Rucai to start up again, and was ready to surrender to the imperial court and stay in Fang and Jun. Yang Sichang sent someone to Wang Guangen's camp with his edict to Li Zicheng, and told him to find Li Zicheng, and if he could persuade Zicheng to surrender, even if he had done a great contribution to the imperial court. Wang Guangen received the secret message of the superintendent and the auxiliary minister, thinking that he had a relationship with Li Zicheng and Gao Yigong in the past, and had no bad feelings, and Zicheng was also in difficulty, and there was no hope for persuading him to surrender, so he sent his brother Wang Guangxing to lead a small team of men and horses and some gifts to the mountains south of Yunyang to investigate and secretly visit, and find Zicheng in the future.

Ten days ago, Zhang Xianzhong heard that Li Zicheng had forcibly crossed the Han River near Baihe County and came to western Hubei, and guessed that Zicheng had nowhere else to go and must have come to join him. But the news of Zicheng was silent later, and he thought that it was probably because Li Zicheng had nowhere else to go and would not come. Today, he suddenly knew that Li Zicheng had come to the territory of Xingshan, and it was only a few dozen miles away from the Baiyang Village where he was stationing, which made him have to decide how to deal with the problem of Zicheng coming to defect. He could see that Yang Sichang came out of Beijing to supervise the teacher because Chongzhen released the last cannon, and after this cannon was released, there was no second Yang Sichang in the court to send. Recently, he knows better than Li Zicheng that Yang Sichang's command of Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong has been half ineffective, or it will not be long before it will be completely ineffective, and he is almost as powerless as Xiong Wencan. Now Luo Rucai, who has a large number of troops in the rebel army, listens to his advice very much, and the five battalions such as Hui and Ge are not much of a good idea, and will listen to his orders in the future, but Li Zicheng is unwilling to submit to his banner. Once he defeats Yang Sichang, when the time comes in three or four years, he will be called the king and emperor according to the original agreed ideas of Xu Yixian and Pan Duao, but people like Li Zicheng have always had great ambitions, and the other succeeded Gao Yingxiang to become the king, and he would never bow his head in front of him. However, he was unwilling to take advantage of Li Zicheng's coming to join him to get rid of Zicheng at this time, just as he had thought when he was in Gucheng. But Li Zicheng is a very prestigious leader of the rebel army, how should he deal with it?

Xianzhong retreated, took Xu Yixian to a pine tree, sat on a rock, put his right leg on his left leg, asked Xu Yixian to sit opposite, and then stroked his beard, said with a smile in his eyes:

"Lao Xu, you see, Li Zicheng has nowhere to stay for the officers and soldiers, so he has come to vote for us. How about it, the monk doesn't kiss the hat, leave him here with us, let him breathe, grow his feathers and fly away, right? Well, my Sai Kongming, what do you say? ”

Xu Yixian was already confident, but when he saw Xianzhong's eyes with a sly smile, he deliberately looked at Xianzhong and smiled without saying a word.

"Lao Xu, why are you pretending to be dumb? …… Do you want to leave him alone? ”

Xu Yixian asked rhetorically: "How long does the marshal think the Ming Dynasty will last?" ”

"I think it's like a persimmon that's about to ripen, and it's not growing on the branches."

"Since this persimmon can't grow long, does the handsome want to pick it up and eat it at home, or wait for others to pick it and eat it?"

"You're talking about a **! Lao Tzu was born and died, fought in the south and the north, and fought the world for more than ten years, why should the fruit in his hand be given to others to eat? ”

"So does the handsome want to share it with others?"

"The fruit can be shared with others, and there is no reason for the country to sit with others."

"Since the marshal understands that the days of the Ming Dynasty are not long, and he is unwilling to hand over the soon-to-reach country to others or share it equally with others, why not take the opportunity to get rid of the troubles?"

"You want me to get rid of Zicheng at this time?"

"Yes, there is no chance to lose."

"Or is it the idea you had with Kewang in Valley City?"

"It's still that idea, but it's more urgent today."

"How can I say more urgent?"

"From Yang Sichang to Xiangyang Inspector, it has been seven or eight months now. The officers and troops won a lucky victory in Agate Mountain, but it did not damage the foundation of our army. Today, Yang Sichang is gradually unable to control Zuo Liangyu and other arrogant soldiers, as long as we are careful, there will be no more things about Agate Mountain. In my opinion, in less than a year, Yang Sichang will be defeated, and he will not die at our hands, that is, at the hands of Chongzhen, just like the old bear. In the next few months, Yang Sichang will go all out to deal with our army, and there are still many hard battles between the two sides. Li Zicheng has escaped from Shangluo Mountain, and he will definitely take advantage of our inseparable killing with Yang Sichang, because of the convenience of taking advantage of the fisherman's benefits. When we defeat Yang Sichang, we ourselves will be very tired, at that time Li Zicheng is already strong and powerful, can the marshal still be able to subdue him? ”

Xian Zhong's heart moved, but he deliberately shook his head and said: "He only has more than 1,000 people left, what kind of climate can he become!" ”

"Don't say that, Dashuai. After the defeat of the Hutuo River in the Han Guangwu River, there were only a few people left around him, and later he didn't cut off the heroes and establish the Eastern Han Dynasty? Although Li Zicheng was defeated today, he was much stronger than when Han Guangwu was in the Hutuo River. ”

Xianzhong twisted his beard and groaned for a moment, and said: "In the winter of the year before last, Zicheng was wiped out in the southern plains of Tongguan, and when he came to Gucheng to see me, I gave others, horses, and armor battles, which are enough friends. When he came this time, I left him with me so that I could treat him well, and maybe he wouldn't do anything to be sorry for me. ”

Xu Yixian sneered and said: "Handsome! Liu Bei was defeated by Lü Bu, and his wife was captured. Cao Cao rescued Liu Bei, killed Lu Bu in Xiapi, recaptured Liu Bei's wife, took Liu Bei and returned to Xuchang, and was the general of Zuo. But how can Liu Bei feel Cao Cao's virtue? Cao Cao was soft-hearted to Liu Bei and soft-hearted to Guan Gong, resulting in the world being divided into three parts and failing to achieve the great cause of unification. Later, Guan Gong attacked Fancheng, flooded the Seventh Army, and the Central Plains shook, so frightened that Cao Cao almost moved the capital from Xuchang. Li Zicheng is much more powerful than Liu Bei, and he is not a thing in the pool after all, how can Dashuai buy his heart with a small favor and a small favor? There is no shortage of his subordinate generals, such as Guan and Zhang Zhiyong. ”

"But, Lao Xu, Li Zicheng is not guilty, let's clean him up, what do you say to others?"

"If you want to add sin, there is no excuse!"

"Well, how do you say that?"

"We can announce that he secretly communicated with the official army and pretended to vote."

"But Zicheng is not that person. said that he secretly communicated with the official army, and the ghost did not believe it. ”

Xu Yixian stood up and said, "Handsome! Since ancient times, I don't know how many people have been killed in the fight for the country, and how many things are justified? Tang Taizong is the master of the ages, who doesn't admire it? But in order to fight for the country, he killed his brother. The two masters of the Southern Tang Dynasty did not lose their morality, and when the five dynasties were disturbing, Jiangnan was lightly punished and rested with the people, what was the sin? However, Song Taizu still sent troops to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty, saying: 'On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to snore!' 'As far as the Ming Dynasty is concerned, Chen Youliang may not be inferior to Zhu Hongwu, Zhang Shicheng knows how to cherish the people better than Hongwu, but the surname Zhu wants to sit in the country, so he raises troops to destroy them......"

Xianzhong shook his head without waiting for the military advisor to finish speaking, opened one eye, closed one eye, and looked at Xu Yixian with a mocking look. Xu Yixian sometimes felt that he could completely grasp Xianzhong's temper and thoughts, and sometimes he felt that Xianzhong's thoughts and moods were unpredictable. Now that Xianzhong looked at it like this, he felt uneasy, like a thorn in his back, and asked with a smile:

"Dashuai, am I not right?"

Xianzhong said: "Lao Xu, I laugh at you for being a very special person, when you are studying, you always only see crooked truths and throw the right truths behind. We don't read much, but we have also heard others talk about the ancients. Five dynasties and ten kingdoms have torn China apart. Zhao Kuangyin is a real hero, so he cleaned up the tattered situation. The small court of the Southern Tang Dynasty was divided into a corner, which is more important than the unification of China, count him in! At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the heroes were divided, and the Yuan Tartars were still sitting in Beijing. Zhu Hongwu killed the heroes, drove out the last emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, unified China, and did the right thing, worthy of being the founding emperor of the country. You Lao Xu read more than me, but you have deviated from the truth. You only learn how to clean up quickly from books, and you don't read anything else. In front of him, our Xiying suffered a new defeat in Agate Mountain, and he had just broken out of Shangluo Mountain. It's not the right time to poison Li Zicheng now! ”

Xu Yixian was familiar with Zhang Xianzhong's ridicule and abuse, and from his tone, he could tell that Xianzhong did not completely refuse to clean up Li Zicheng, and quickly argued:

"Dashuai, it's not that I only see crooked truths when I read, it's because it's been like this since ancient times. I am loyal to the great cause of the great commander, otherwise, why should I abandon the grave of my ancestors, sacrifice my life and die, and follow the great commander? If the handsome man does not want to establish a great cause, he will go from now on, even if he cannot return to his hometown, but he can learn Zhang Zifang to live in seclusion in a different place, bury his name for life, and live a free life. The world is so big, why should I have no place for Xu Yixian? ”

Although Zhang Xianzhong sometimes ridiculed Xu Yixian, he actually needed this person as his military advisor very much, and he also appreciated his loyalty. He didn't speak immediately, looked at the military advisor and smiled, and said in his heart: "You kid, I wish our Lao Tzu would sit in the country in the future, and you will have a bright future!" Xu Yixian saw that he was smiling and silent, and said in a decisive tone:

"When we do things today, we only ask whether it is conducive to achieving great things and building great causes, and we can ignore other things."

Xianzhong finally nodded and said, "Lao Xu, let's do it this way, let's salute ourselves first and then soldiers." When he came, I would take the banquet for him, and invite all the generals there. Before the banquet, I persuaded him to cancel the title of King Chuang and partner with us. If he agrees, we will keep them and not harm their lives, lest Cao Cao be afraid of us. ”

What if he doesn't agree? Or is it a false promise? ”

"You go and discuss with Kewang, let me think about it more."

"That's good, that's good. As far as I can see, Li Zicheng will be here tonight, and we have to make up our minds before he comes. ”

Xu Yixian left Xianzhong, jumped on his horse, and hurried to Zhang Kewang's camp.

That night, Li Zicheng drove his troops to a place about 20 miles away from Baiyang Village and set up camp. The next morning, he sent Yuan Zongdi to see Zhang Xianzhong on his behalf, explaining his intention to come from Shangluo Mountain to meet the division and resist the official army, and also to see what Xianzhong's attitude towards him was. Wang Jiyuan was originally a junior colonel under Xianzhong, and he wanted to return to Xianzhong to live there for a few days and reunite with relatives and friends. He asked King Chuang for leave, and took four of his own soldiers to Baiyang Mountain with Yuan Zong.

Since King Chuang came to the territory of Xingshan, the whereabouts of his troops have been reported to Baiyang Village by spies at any time. Yuan Zong arrived first, Xianzhong greeted the old camp, did not let Zongdi salute, grabbed his wrist violently, did not speak at first, patted Yuan Zongdi's back with one hand, and then said loudly affectionately:

"Old Yuan, turtle son, what kind of wind blew you here? Where are your men stationed? Why don't you drive to Aries Village? Self-contained? Well? What about Jiexuan? All right? Shang Shenxian is also here, right? ”

Zong Di smiled and said, "Jing Shuai, you have asked a lot of questions, so that I can't answer them in one bite." When he finished speaking, he burst out laughing.

Xianzhong also laughed, and then beat Zongdi's back with his fist, and said, "Let's go, go inside and talk." Good guy, the days are so fast, it's been more than four years since we parted from Fengyang! He suddenly turned his head and asked, "Are you Wang Jiyuan?" Is it okay on King Chuang's side? King Chuang treats you well, right? ”

"Back to Dashuai, King Chuang treats me very well."

"Are you going back to your 'mother's house' to visit your relatives? Okay, your turtle son lives in Baiyang Village to play for a few days, and he has no pocket money, so he asks the head of our old camp to ask for it, and he will say that you have already met Lao Tzu. ”

"Thank you, Dashuai!"

Yuan Zongdi and Xianzhong entered the upper room hand in hand, and after sitting down, he first answered Xianzhong's question, and then said:

"We dragged more than 20,000 officers and troops in Shangluo Mountain, so that Zheng Chongjian could not send a large army into Huguang. Recently, I heard that Jing Shuai suffered a little loss in Agate Mountain, and we were afraid that staying in Shangluo Mountain for a long time would sit and eat empty mountains, so King Chuang took a part of his men and horses to break out of Wuguan and come here to meet Jing Shuai. Let's twist the three strands of Cao Cao into a rope, and work together to deal with Yang Sichang, and we will be able to win. Respectfully, your strength is great, and we will rely on you for everything in the future. ”

"What words, what words. I'm not an outsider with you, now the water helps the fish, the fish helps the water, what do you say! Man, why don't you come with it? ”

"I have to come here in person today, because of the fatigue of the journey, I occasionally feel unwell, so I have to come to pay my respects, explain the intention of coming to meet, and ask everyone and friends. Zicheng will take a little rest today, and he will come in person tomorrow. ”

"Since Zicheng is a little uncomfortable, let him rest well, let's Lao Zhang go to see him today. I haven't seen him for a year or two, I really miss him! ”

Xianzhong asked about the siege and breakthrough in Shangluo Mountain and the situation along the way, and then called the chief manager and ordered him to quickly send someone to send twenty stones of rice, some oil and salt, as well as a few pigs and sheep to King Chuang's station. Yuan Zongdi expressed his gratitude for his generosity and enthusiasm for his loyalty, and on behalf of King Chuang. Several generals who were familiar with the same clan under Xianzhong came to the old camp to see him and asked each other long and short questions. Although Yuan Zongdi paid close attention to his words and expressions, he could not see any malice in Xianzhong and his left and right generals.

After the luncheon, Yuan Zongdi bid farewell to Xian Zhi. Xianzhong was originally going to go to see King Chuang in the first way of the same sect, but because Cao Cao sent someone to send a secret letter, he had to let Zong Di go first, saying:

"Hanju, you go back and tell Zicheng, just say that I will go to see him and his friends after I finish one thing. I will arrive before dusk, talk to you, and go back to Aries Village at night. ”

Yuan Zongdi thanked Li Zicheng again and again, and asked Xianzhong not to go in person, but Xianzhong was willing to listen and said:

"Brother, you know our old Zhang's temper. We can't sit still in the house if we have nothing to do, let alone become friends with others. I said that I would definitely go this afternoon, no words! ”

Sending Yuan Zongyi away, Zhang Xianzhong immediately called Xu Yixian to the front and secretly discussed. Because at noon today, Luo Rucai suddenly sent someone to write a letter, saying that he had already set off from Dachang and would rush to Baiyang Mountain within a day or two to discuss the military with Xianzhong, so Xianzhong changed his mind about Xu Yixian and Zhang Kewang's suggestion to him about how to deal with Li Zicheng last night. He didn't want to do this too hastily, and wanted to wait for Cao Cao to arrive, and ask Cao Cao to persuade Zicheng to cancel the title of King Chuang and return to his banner. After Xu Yixian heard Xianzhong say this plan, he immediately shook his head and said:

"It's handsome. Cao Shuai is scheming, cunning and abnormal, how can he listen to the man's mercy and instructions casually? In the past year and a half, although he has often regarded himself as the 'head of the horse', he is not a commander and will not be subservient. Today, there is Li Zicheng's name as the king of Chuang, and his Cao Ying, Zicheng's Chuangying and our Xiying can become a strong trend. He knew that once the camp was gone, the next step would be to annex his Cao Ying, how could he persuade Li Zicheng to revoke the banner of 'Chuang' for the marshal? Getting rid of the king is a matter of speed. When Cao Shuai arrived, the gongs and drums were gone, and it was too late for him to speak for Zicheng. ”

"Isn't he chilled to see that we ate the camp without consulting him?"

"Naturally, he gets chills. However, the wood is already in the boat, and he is alone, afraid that he will not bow down? At present, the official army is strong, and he has to advance and retreat with our battalion, and take the commander as the leader of the alliance. When the official army is defeated in the future, he will keep him if he is willing to be loyal to the marshal, otherwise he will be cleaned up. Those who have won the world since ancient times have all cut off the heroes. I only know how to eliminate tyranny and kill the Lord, but I don't know how to cut off the heroes and clear the ears for others, how can I win the world! ”

Xianzhong twisted his beard and was silent. Li Zicheng is indeed not an ordinary leader of the rebel army, and it is not a trivial matter to persuade him to cancel the title of King Chuang, if unfortunately the persuasion fails, and he is killed together with Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, etc., what will the rebels everywhere think? Isn't it too early? These questions still keep him hesitant to this day. Xu Yixian looked at Xianzhong's expression and said:

"Please don't hesitate because Cao Shuai is coming. I am familiar with the annals of history, pay attention to the traces of the rise and fall of the past dynasties, and know that all the kings of entrepreneurship and the masters of success must have their way to success. ……”

Xianzhong intercepted and said: "I know, it's nothing more than buying the hearts of the people and recruiting heroes, if you don't say this, we know it." When the troops were stationed in Gucheng, the autumn did not commit any crimes, and he specialized in the rectification of the local tyrants, and now he is still here in the autumn without any crimes, isn't this a dick to buy the hearts of the people? We have a lot of soldiers here, and even capable people like you are invited to be military advisors, can you say that our old Zhang does not recruit heroes? ”

"That's not what I'm talking about. It goes without saying that buying the hearts of the people and recruiting heroes is the foundation of the success of those who have built great undertakings since ancient times. However, in addition to this, it must be supplemented by three things, namely, ruthlessness, spiciness, and thick-facedness. I have no name for these three actions, and the name of my aunt is 'the six-character mantra of those who have achieved great achievements'. When you are ruthless, you must be ruthless, and when you are spicy, you must be spicy. As soon as the big man heard that Cao Shuai was coming, he suddenly softened his heart and relented, how could he achieve great things? ”

Although Zhang Xianzhong often talks with Xu Yixian about his confidants, he thinks that sometimes he needs to be ruthless, but he has never heard Xu Yixian talk about being thick-faced is also a way to successfully start a business. He disagreed in his heart, and scolded with a smile:

"You're talking about a **. Lao Tzu has never heard that people who achieve great things and great things must be thick-skinned! Nonsense, get out of your 'six-character mantra'! ”

Xu Yixian said unhurriedly: "Dashuai, after the defeat of King Goujian of Yue, he was determined to take revenge, served King Wu with a servile face, and tasted King Wu's stool, is it considered thick-faced?" ”

Xianzhong nodded, stroked his long beard and said, "This is really thick-faced, but he has no choice but to use subterfuges to save his life and try to recover." Anything else? ”

"And, there's."

Xu Yixian talked about the Qin and Han dynasties and cited many historical figures as examples. Zhang Xianzhong laughed, but scolded in his heart: "This dog's day, I read books and see evil on weekdays, I have a crooked heart, I can only use you for a while under Lao Tzu, and I will become a disaster after a long time!" He hid his contempt for Xu Yixian, and scolded affectionately:

"You scholars, you will definitely go to hell when you die! Man, did you come up with this 'six-character mantra' from your own reading? ”

"It's not. I used to have a teacher, who was a very talented and learned person, who failed several times, never became an official, and was full of complaints, and taught in seclusion in the southern mountains of Gucheng. He liked to read the historical books and came up with this 'six-character mantra'. I think it makes a lot of sense. ”

Xianzhong scolded with a smile again: "Haha, your group of people and talents, who have fed the books of Confucius and Meng, are not full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, but your 'six-character mantra'!" ”

Xu Yixian said: "Handsome, this is called being good at reading." Looking closely at the life of Sage Kong, it is also in accordance with this 'six-character mantra'. It's just that he didn't say anything about it, so he didn't write it down in the Analects by his disciples. ”

Xianzhong couldn't help laughing, and almost squirted out the wine and rice he ate. After laughing for a while, although he accepted some of Xu Yixian's influence in his thoughts, he still looked at the military advisor with mocking eyes for a moment, and then said:

"Lao Xu, this is your old background of lifting people and showing off your ancestors!" After laughing again, he continued, "Forget it, don't talk nonsense." Clean up Li Zicheng's affairs, do you want to wait for Cao Cao to come before making a decision? ”

"According to me, Dashuai, you have to finish this before Cao Shuai comes."

Zhang Xianzhong stroked his beard down, stood up and said, "Okay, according to yours, I will act according to your idea with Kewang!" ”

After Xu Yixian left, Zhang Xianzhong thought about the "six-character mantra" that Xu said, and suddenly thought of his "pseudo-surrender" in Gucheng and the matter of greeting Lin Mingqiu with a bowing salute, and couldn't help but feel hot on his face, thinking that he was not as good as Li Zichengning in this kind of place. After another moment, his thoughts turned to Li Zicheng again. Without hesitation, he set off with a group of personal soldiers and generals.

Zhang Xianzhong and his entourage were still three miles away from King Chuang's camp, and King Li Chuang had already received a report from the soldiers who were standing guard on the mountain, so he quickly led dozens of generals out of the camp and greeted him outside the mountain pass half a mile away. More than ten zhang away, Zhang Xianzhong jumped off the horse, and while walking forward, he bowed his hand to King Chuang and everyone again and again, and said loudly:

"Good guy, you raise the old nest to meet me, I can't afford to be guilty!" Without waiting for King Chuang to speak, he took a few steps forward, grabbed the hand of King Chuang who came up, and shouted enthusiastically: "Brother Li, our brothers will be together again!" What do you think? Let's Lao Zhang said that he started to rebel out of Gucheng on the Duanyang Festival last year, and he didn't break his promise, right? Talking counts, right? When he finished speaking, he burst out laughing. The laughter was so loud that it startled a pair of pheasants hidden in the deep grass thirty feet away and flew away. Then he looked at Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu and said, "Lao Liu, Lao Tian, I haven't seen you for four years, and the turtle son doesn't want you!" As soon as I heard that you were all here, I was so happy that my old Zhang jumped eight feet high. ”

Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu replied in unison: "We also often miss the Eight Kings. ”

Zhang Xianzhong looked at them with funny eyes and said, "Okay, I miss you, you miss me too, our brothers are the same heart!" There was another burst of laughter. Then he grabbed Gao Yigong and asked: "Uncle Gao, I heard that you hung a lot of lottery in Tongguan the year before last, and now it's not in the way, right?" ”

Gao Yigong replied: "Thanks to the blessing of Jingshuai, there is no disability. ”

"Good, good. As the saying goes, 'Ji people have their own natural appearance'. Xianzhong turned to Liu Zongmin again: "Jiexuan, I heard that your good horse died in the battle of Tongguan, and now you have a good horse to ride?" ”

"I've got another one, and it's not as good as the original one, but it's still available."

"I've got a few good horses there, so go pick one. On the battlefield, a tiger like you will not be able to do without a capable animal. ”

"Thank you, Jingshuai. This horse of mine is quite good. If it weren't for this horse, I wouldn't have been able to get past Hanshui. ”

To each of the generals who followed King Chuang, Zhang Xianzhong greeted him warmly, and then walked forward with King Chuang and others. Dozens of generals below the second level have already been led by Wu Ruyi, divided into two lines, standing respectfully in the middle of the road, welcoming loyalty, very clean, silent, but full of joy between the eyebrows. Indeed, this joy is the expression of their true feelings. After several years of hard fighting, who is not heartily happy and excited about today's meeting? When Xianzhong approached the generals beside Gongli Road, Wu Ruyi bowed and crossed his hands and said on behalf of everyone:

"Greetings and respects!"

The big and small generals saluted with their crossed hands at the same time, very neatly. Offering loyalty and looking at the generals of the two lines, he looked back at King Chuang, and said with a smile:

"What, still come to this set? Hi, you guys are so polite! He hurriedly returned the salute to the generals and said, "Forget it, forget it." Our Lao Zhang is a rough person, and he is not an outsider when he comes to you, so there is no need for this. Besides, you don't have drum music. ”

Wu Ruyi said: "Hui Jingshuai, our band ran out the year before last. The next time you greet Jing Shuai, you must fire guns and play music. ”

Xianzhong slapped Ruyi on the shoulder and said loudly, "Okay, Xiao Wu! You're not discouraged at all! ”

When he walked past the greeting generals on both sides of the road, he constantly greeted the generals he knew, and even made jokes, so that everyone deeply felt that he was affectionate, casual, and had no arrogance. When he walked in front of Shuangxi and Zhang Nai, he reached out and pinched Shuangxi's chin, lifted his face, and shouted:

"Good boy, I haven't seen you for more than a year, you jumped up, almost as tall as Lao Tzu, and you have grown into an adult. What's the matter, Shuangxi'er, can the archery make progress? ”

Shuangxi's face flushed, and he replied respectfully: "The little nephew keeps practicing and has made a little progress." ”

"Okay, when I have time, Lao Tzu will test you. There is really growth, and Lao Tzu is rewarded. Xianzhong put down his double happiness and twisted one of Zhang Nai's ears with two fingers, making Zhang Nai's brows frown. Little Rays? Looks so burly? Still homesick? ”

"Returning to the handsome, the young general doesn't want to go home. There's no one at home. ”

"Little turtle son, you really talk like an adult!" Xian Zhong twisted Zhang Nai's face and rubbed it again, as if he wanted to know if the muscles on his face were real or not. "You see, when Lao Tzu saw you in Fengyang, you were so tall," he compared with his hand on his chest, "It's a half-pile baby." I saw you in Gucheng the year before last, you, fucking up to the height of Lao Tzu's chin. But in the blink of an eye, you are like a sorghum that has received rain, jumping upwards and growing as tall as Lao Tzu. Hmph, there are some soft hairs on my lips! He turned to King Chuang and asked, "How is it, he still fights?" ”

Zicheng replied, "It's brave." ”

Xianzhong patted Zhang Nai's shoulder and said, "Little Naizi, you and our Lao Tzu are both surnamed Zhang, so it's better to be a son with Lao Tzu." Hahaha......" After laughing, he said to King Chuang: "Don't be afraid, I won't take away your little beloved general." We're talking about fun. ”

Zicheng smiled and said, "Jing Xuan, if you like Xiao Naizi, I can give him to you, but you have to exchange your Ma Yuanli or Zhang Dingguo for me." ”

"Good fellow, you don't want to suffer at all!"

Everyone laughed happily, but Zhang Nai's cheeks turned red with a strange smile.

After walking through the two lines of greeting generals, Zhang Xianzhong walked to the camp accompanied by King Chuang and several generals. As he walked, he said:

"It's a pity that the old fairy didn't come, but I miss him."

Zicheng said: "If it weren't for the fact that he was having a high fever, I would never have left him in Shangluo Mountain." ”

"I heard that Hao Shaoqi doesn't know his whereabouts, will it be over?"

"There is no news at all, and it is difficult to say whether it is alive or dead."

"This kid is a bit muddy, but he is a general, and he is also a good man who would rather die than surrender."

"So he used to do things that didn't smoke, and I forgave him. The generals hand-picked by King Gao Chuang, there are not many left now. Recently, I feel very uncomfortable because his whereabouts are unknown. ”

Xianzhong said: "You don't have to feel sad in your heart. Send someone to find out the news, maybe he's still alive. ”

Li Zicheng's old camp was set up in an ancient temple. There are seven or eight families around the temple, all of which are dilapidated thatched hermitage huts. His troops lived in temples and tents, and filled a mound to the brim. The camp is surrounded by mountains and a mountain stream. Because there was no war around, and the large number of officers and troops left for more than 150 miles, and they did not intend to stay here for a long time, they did not arrange fences around them, but only sent troops to guard them on the top of the mountains and on the mountain roads, and they were strictly guarded. Li Zicheng lived next to the shrine in the main hall of the ancient temple, and the hay spread on the ground was counted as a sleeper, so he finally found a low square table and a few stools and grass mounds, and placed them outside the threshold of the main hall. Zhang Xianzhong walked into the mountain gate and saw Mrs. Gao standing in the temple to greet him, and hurriedly arched his hand and said loudly:

"Oops, sister-in-law! You really have a way, and you actually led thousands of officers and legions around in the Cuihan Mountain! If you hadn't dragged the madman He in western Henan the winter before last, Brother Li would still not be able to stand in the Shangluo Mountains. ”

Gao Guiying smiled and said, "Jing Xuan, don't believe those rumors. If it weren't for Mingyuan and the brothers working together, what could I do as a woman! ”

"Don't be too modest. You are an extraordinary woman, you talk about fighting wits and courage, and many male generals have to lose to you. ”

"Nonsense! I haven't seen you for a few years, and you've become a top hat dealer. ”

Everyone laughed and let Zhang Xianzhong sit down under the front eaves of the main hall, and his personal soldiers and several personal generals sat under the mountain gate to eat tea, and some went out to gossip with acquaintances. On King Chuang's side, only a few generals were left to accompany him, and the rest were scattered. Xianzhong was thirsty, drank half a bowl of tea, looked up and asked:

"Brother Li, what are your plans for the future?"

King Chuang said: "I myself have a thin army, and I have come to take refuge in you, intending to join you to resist the official army. As soon as you arrived, you sent grain, oil, and salt, as well as a few pigs and sheep. Our whole camp is very grateful for your kindness. Fortunately, we are good friends, and I won't say any more words of gratitude. ”

"Hey, this little help is nothing, it's not worth mentioning! You came just in time, and I was hoping that you would come to my aid and teach Yang Sichang a lesson. Don't say you're here to take refuge in me. We are foot helpers, hands help feet. ”

"Now that you have many more men than I do, it is only natural that I have come to take refuge in you."

"Although I have a lot of men and horses, but this spring I have a bad year, and I also suffered losses in Agate Mountain, losing one or two thousand men and horses, and losing a lot of military armor."

Zicheng said: "We heard rumors in Shangluo Mountain that you suffered a lot in Agate Mountain, and said that your elite losses are almost over, and there are only a thousand people left. We were very anxious, and it was not until we crossed the Han River that we realized that what was spread was untrue, and we were relieved. ”

Xianzhong laughed out loud and said, "See the fucking ghost! Officers and soldiers are accustomed to falsely reporting their military exploits, and they are not afraid that others will laugh and lose their teeth. It's not that my elite is lost, it's true that seven of my nine wives have been lost. Zuo Liangyu took them away, gave them to Yang Sichang, and locked them in Xiangyang Prison. ”

Tian Jianxiu sighed, and then sighed twice in a row. Xianzhong looked at him nonchalantly and smiled, and said:

"Yufeng, you don't have to smack your lips. As long as I, Zhang Xianzhong's people, are here, losing a few wives is nothing. As long as we win the battle, are we afraid that there will be no handsome women in the world? ”

Mrs. Gao was mending the clothes of the soldiers with the girls under the eaves of the east house, and when she heard Xianzhong's words, she couldn't help but raise her head and said with a smile:

"Jing Xuan, you don't feel sorry for your five wives in prison, you don't treat women as human beings. Is a woman inferior to a garment in the eyes of you men? ”

Xianzhong hurriedly arched his hand and said, "Ah, I didn't expect my sister-in-law to hear this." Gaffes, gaffes. Hahahaha......" After laughing, he solemnly asked King Chuang: "Zicheng, are you really willing to partner with me?" ”

"If we didn't really plan to partner with you, we wouldn't be here."

Tian Jianxiu continued: "In the future, everything will depend on Jing Shuai. ”

Liu Zongmin also continued: "At the moment of the great enemy, we can only defeat the official army by twisting into a rope. ”

Zicheng said again: "To be honest, when you need to charge into battle in the future, Jing Xuan, as long as the corners of your mouth move, we will never delay." ”

Xianzhong rolled his big eyes and slowly looked at everyone, stretched out his tongue, threw the beard in his hand, laughed a few times, and then said:

"Good boy! What's wrong with you guys? Why do you speak so politely? Do you treat my old Zhang as an outsider? ”

Li Guo said: "It's not that we treat Jingshuai as an outsider, we do rely on Jingshuai with sincerity." ”

Xianzhong said: "Drink, how many steamed buns can my Lao Zhang eat, you still don't know?" The more kind words you say, the more it seems that we are separated from each other. It is said that the younger brother does not suppress the elder brother, and it is only right that he should ask Brother Zicheng to command the two families. But I'm afraid that my subordinates will have different opinions and more complications, so I won't mention it. Brother Li, you read a few more words than me, and you are more knowledgeable than me. I have something I can't think of, please feel free to advise. We, brothers, are in the same boat, moving forward together, and there is no need to say anything else. ”

Everyone listened to his words, nodded yes, and said that he must be asked to be more in charge of things so that they can work together. Zhang Xianzhong stood up and said:

"Brothers, brothers, make up for the old nephew, put away the kind words. Today, all of you will not give up, willing to come to my Lao Zhang, we Zhang Xianzhong kowtow to welcome. He made a circle to everyone, and then said: "In order to show a little sincerity of our Zhang Xianzhong, when I came, I had already instructed to arrange tomorrow's banquet to catch the wind for all of you." Please enjoy the light of the generals on your side, and go to the camp of Baiyang Village tomorrow morning for a banquet, and the two families will have a good time together. This reception banquet can also be regarded as a celebration of our brothers' family. ”

When Xianzhong stood up, everyone stood up too. Hearing Xianzhong's invitation to the banquet tomorrow, Li Zicheng said:

"Jing Xuan, we will definitely receive your hospitality, but tomorrow we don't need to go to the nest, just me go with Jiexuan and Yufeng."

"No, then you don't lift me up, don't give face! As the saying goes, it is easy to treat a banquet and difficult to treat, which is true. Anyway, my old Zhang is sincere, and I don't appreciate face to see you. In addition, please drive your men and horses to camp at the foot of Aries Mountain tomorrow. I have already ordered the soldiers to let Li Jiaping out for you to station, one is that there are many houses there, and the other is very close to my old camp, so I can discuss it at any time if I have something to do. Will you drive tomorrow after breakfast? ”

Zicheng smiled and said, "You are really a fiery temper!" Tomorrow morning, he invited us to eat and drink, and asked us to move to camp, why are you in such a hurry? ”

Xianzhong said: "If you think that the camp will be moved in the first half of tomorrow too quickly, it is better to move the camp after lunch. ”

Everyone sat down again. King Chuang exchanged some opinions with Liu Zongmin and Tian Jianxiu, and then said to Xianzhong:

"Since you vacated Lijiaping, we have decided to move the camp tomorrow afternoon. Now that I have just arrived here, everything is not ready, and the camp must not be negligent, and there must be a general to preside. It's still the method I just said: I'll go to your banquet with Jiexuan and Yufeng at noon tomorrow, and no one else will go. ”

"What, you're saving for me? This is not possible! The banquet has been prepared, what do you tell me to do? If you can't invite guests, how can you tell me to step down in front of the soldiers? Can I fit my face into my crotch? Brother Li, in a word, at least you go to twenty generals, no less! ”

Zicheng and everyone watched each other, not only afraid of disappointing Zhang Xianzhong's sincerity, but also unwilling to go too many generals, making the camp empty, in case of an emergency, it was difficult to deal with it. Zicheng thought for a moment and said:

"Jing Xuan, let's do it, all the generals here will go, and the rest of the generals will not go, take care of the camp. Look, okay? ”

Zhang Xianzhong said helplessly: "Alas, it's just like this, let's make a decision, please don't wait for me to urge." You leave early tomorrow in the first half of the morning, and I will send Kewang Tongyuanli to meet you halfway. ”

By this time it was nearly dusk. Zhang Xianzhong wanted to go back to Baiyang Mountain after dinner, so he urged him to get the meal. Mrs. Gao, who had already left her needlework and was helping in the kitchen, poked her head out and said with a smile:

"Jing Xuan, don't rush, the dish hasn't been fried yet."

"Hey, sister-in-law, I know that you have always lived frugally and rarely touched fishy meat. In fact, now you don't need to stir-fry for me, just use chopsticks dipped in water to draw a plate of braised pork on the table. ”

Everyone was amused by his words.

At the dinner table, the guests and hosts talked very harmoniously. In addition to talking about the war situation in the past two years and the news of the rebel army in various places, he also talked about Luo Rucai. But Xianzhong concealed the news of Cao Cao's imminent arrival, saying:

"Cao Cao was in the area of Daning and Dachang, and wanted to cross the Daning River into Sichuan, but was blocked by his mother Qin Liangyu, and he had no choice but to send someone to ask me for help. Let's rest here for another ten days and a half months, and let's go into Sichuan together. What is the Daning River? It can stop Cao Cao, but it can't stop us. No matter how fast the current is, Lao Tzu immediately went to the river, and if he cowered, he immediately beheaded him to see who dared to give up his life to rush to the crossing. Not to mention the Daning River, the sea can also be crossed! ”

After dinner, Zhang Xianzhong and his soldiers set off to return to Baiyang Mountain. King Chuang and the other generals sent the guests a mile away, looked at their lanterns and torches and walked away before turning back to the camp and chatting in the ancient temple hall for a while. Although everyone understands that it is not easy to get along with Zhang Xianzhong for a long time, they never thought that he would have the heart of annexation at present. After discussing the matter of moving the camp tomorrow, they went to rest.

Late at night, Zhang Xianzhong's group was still walking on the rugged mountain road, and they were almost at Baiyang Village. Xu Yixian and Zhang Kewang took a group of personal soldiers to meet him on the road. Back in the old camp, Zhang Xianzhong retreated from the people and whispered to them:

"Tomorrow morning, Zicheng and several of his generals will come to the banquet, and the rest of the generals will lead their men and horses to move to camp in the afternoon. It doesn't seem to be changing, so go and prepare in secret. Be confidential, don't leak the news! ”

CHAPTER XXVIII

Wang Jiyuan returned to Zhang Xianzhong's old camp and met with some relatives and friends. Everyone was very affectionate to him and invited him to eat and drink. At night, he slept with his brother who was a small leader in Zhang Xianzhong's old camp. This person quietly told him that a banquet would be held in the old camp at noon tomorrow to catch the wind for King Chuang, and he was afraid that it would not be a good banquet, and he was instructed to hide tomorrow and not to mix with the soldiers and generals brought by King Chuang. When Wang Jiyuan heard this, he was taken aback, and his wine was completely gone, and he asked:

"Why isn't it a good feast?"

"I saw the eldest young marshal biting his ear and discussing in a whisper with Xu Junshi, obviously discussing the matter of welcoming King Chuang tomorrow, not like with good intentions. Also, today, the eldest young marshal ordered Li Jiaping to be stationed in King Chuang's men, but secretly transferred two or three thousand elite soldiers to lie in ambush around Li Jiaping. It seems that King Chuang will come to the banquet tomorrow, and there will be more luck and less luck. King Chuang is a fair and upright person, taking into account the overall situation, but it's a pity that he doesn't prevent us from doing his black work here! Fortunately, you are from our Xiying and don't do your business. As long as you're not there when they do it, the blood won't burst out on you. Our eight kings are now in need of people, and you are back, everyone is very happy, and you will definitely be reused. ”

"Brother, why did they want to poison King Chuang?"

"Our eight kings are very jealous of the king surnamed Li, and his behavior is unusual, for fear that he will become a great climate in the future. As the saying goes, if you can't tie two people to a trough, you can't call a donkey, that's the truth. Don't be afraid, don't do your business, sleep. ”

Wang Jiyuan didn't dare to ask more, but how could he sleep? His brother snored thunderously, but he kept his eyes open and thought about his thoughts. He followed Zhang Xianzhong's uprising for two years, and originally regarded Xianzhong as a great hero, and he was determined to always follow Xianzhong to fight the country with all sincerity. In the winter of the previous year, Xianzhong gave King Chuang some horses, armor, and a hundred brothers. He was a small leader, and he was also given to King Chuang with these hundred brothers. At that time, he was very sad and thought that his life was over. Although he heard that Li Zicheng was also extraordinary, he didn't believe that Li Zicheng could catch up with Xianzhong. On the way from Gwanghwa County to Shangluo Mountain, he paid close attention and began to be amazed by King Chuang's approachability, concern for the weal and woe of the people, and sharing weal and woe with his subordinates. When he first arrived in Shangluo Mountain, he also planned to return to Xianzhong in the future. After living for half a year, although his life was much more difficult than Gu Cheng's, he never wanted to leave the banner of King Chuang. The longer he stayed, the more he loved and loyal. After that crime, King Chuang never killed him, but was reused, and he always wanted to repay King Chuang with broken bones. Now that he knows that Zhang Xianzhong has a black heart for King Chuang, he feels very angry and says in his heart:

"Your eight kings suffered a defeat in Agate Mountain not long ago, and even lost a few little wives. King Li Chuang broke out of Shangluo Mountain, and after the bloody battle of Baihe, he rushed here, and sincerely wanted to work with you to deal with the official army. Now that the official army is strong, how good it would be for the two of you to join hands to fight! Your eight kings also grew up eating whole grains, and you are so ruthless and unjust, regardless of the overall situation, and have a black heart, it is really unreasonable! ”

After thinking about it repeatedly, Wang Jiyuan made an iron determination to report the news to the king, the sooner the better. For fear of missleeping, he didn't dare to close his eyelids seriously. He knew that without slogans and arrows, it would be impossible to get out of the Aries Cottage at night, so he could only wait for the dawn to get out immediately. But it is uncertain whether he can escape the checkpoints and patrols and successfully escape back to the Chuang King's station. He thought that as long as he could get out of the walled gate, even if there were swords, mountains and sword trees along the way, he would have to sacrifice his life to break through. Later, an inappropriate way to get out came up......

The sky was numb and bright, Wang Jiyuan woke up when he saw his brother, got up in his clothes, quickly closed his eyes, and snored slightly. Brother Bai called out to him twice. He rolled over, vaguely agreed, and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Brother Bai asked:

"Did you sleep well at night?"

"I slept very well, and I didn't even turn over."

Brother Bai approached his pillow and whispered: "I have something to go to Xu Junshi to listen to the order now, and I can't accompany you." You must not go out and walk around today. Don't move your four soldiers. We all know that you are now the one who broke into the king, and if you were present when you did it, even you would have cleaned it up. ”

Ji Yuan hurriedly got up and asked, "Wouldn't it be better for me to leave Baiyang Village for a while today?" ”

"Where are you hiding?"

"Go to General Bai's camp to visit a few fellow villagers and play there for a day, okay?"

"Okay, okay." Brother Bai was also dissatisfied with Xianzhong's actions, and guessed that he intended to flee back to the camp to report the news, and instructed: "If you want to go, you should leave early, and be careful on the way." ”

Wang Jiyuan pretended not to know where Bai Wenxuan was stationed, and deliberately inquired about his brother. Brother Bai said:

"The place where the white general camped was eighteen miles away from here, and it was more than ten miles away from the place where King Chuang camped. Don't go the same way you came yesterday, there is another path. There is also a road from the camp of the white general to the king of Chuang, and it is there after crossing two mountain beams. ”

"Brother, can you send a brother to show me the way?"

"Medium, medium."

Wang Jiyuan's brother immediately summoned a brother and instructed him to take Jiyuan to General Bai Wenxuan's camp after breakfast, and left in a hurry after saying that. Ji Yuan thought that if he set off immediately, he might be able to save King Chuang in time, but it would be too late to set off after breakfast. He consulted with the brother who led the way with good words, saying that he was anxious to go to General Bai's camp to see a little fellow countryman, inquire about the news of the old lady, and hurried back before noon to meet King Chuang, and asked to leave immediately and rush to General Bai's camp for breakfast. And he only asked this brother to lead him for a while, and he did not want him to lead him all the way to Bai Wenxuan's camp. The brother gladly agreed, seeing that he was the brother of the leader and that he was very affectionate. Ji Yuan immediately woke up his four personal soldiers, ordered them to prepare their horses quickly, and left the village when the sky was just dawn and the gate of the village was just opened.

Yesterday morning, before he and Yuan Zongdi set off from King Chuang's station, they asked the people to understand that there were two ways to come to Baiyang Village: one was the shortcut road, which was the one they took when they came yesterday; The other one will go around six or seven miles more, passing near the camp where Bai Wenxuan is stationed. He judged that the road he still took when he came yesterday must be very strict and difficult to walk, so he decided to take this relatively remote road and escape back to the camp. He understood that even if this relatively remote road could be passed, by the time he ran back to King Chuang's residence, King Chuang had already set off for a long time. But there was nothing else he could think of. As he rode his horse, he prayed in his heart:

"The heavens are above! Please bless me all the way safely, and return to the camp before King Chuang leaves! ”

After walking about ten miles away from Baiyang Village, Wang Jiyuan asked for the direction and path on a mountain, and then sent a guide to turn back, and said that he would definitely come back before noon. Then he rode his horse forward, and wherever he could barely gallop, he galloped without regard to the danger. The soldiers all wondered why he was so anxious, but he didn't explain it yet. Halfway through, he encountered a card and stopped him for interrogation. Wang Jiyuan relied on the fact that he was originally from Zhang Xianzhong's old camp and was very familiar with the situation in the old camp, and falsely claimed that he had an urgent matter to see General Bai on the orders of the military division, and the answer was fluent. Fortunately, at that time, the clothing of the peasant armies was roughly the same, and there was no waist card system, so Wang Jiyuan had no difficulty in passing the check. After this checkpoint, he ran for a while, and it was not far from the small village where Bai Wenxuan was stationed. It was only at this time that Ji Yuan explained to his soldiers that he was going to rush back to the old rescue to rescue King Chuang, and said:

"We are the people who are the king of Chuang, and we are ghosts under the word 'Chuang' when we die. Now that we are in the king's plan, we can only be considered loyal and brave if we sacrifice our lives and return to the camp to report the news. You see, there is a fork in the road halfway up the mountain, turn right is to enter the stockade where Bai Wenxuan is stationed, and go to the left This road leads to our camp, about fifteen or sixteen miles. Now that we are rushing to the camp, Bai Wenxuan's village will be suspicious and send people to chase after us, and there will definitely be people in front of us to intercept it. Some of you come with me, rush back to the camp to report the news; I don't force it if I don't plant it, stay here, and when I leave, I will go and surrender to Bai Wenxuan. ”

The soldiers said in unison: "Sacrifice your life!" I'd rather die than be a ghost under the banner of King Chuang! ”

"Good, good. Also, the five of us, no matter who escapes back to the camp, we must remember one sentence, please don't go to the west camp for a banquet, and leave the camp quickly! ”

As soon as he had given the order, he rushed to the front, rode his horse across the fork in the road, and galloped along the path on the left. Bai Wenxuan's small group of cavalry patrolling outside the village was really suspicious when they saw it, and while shouting at them to stop, they chased after them on horseback. The mountain road here is a little flat, and Wang Jiyuan and the others are fighting to get rid of them even if they run to death. They ran for a few miles, and saw that the patrol behind them could not catch up, and suddenly a group of soldiers came out of the forest mang, blocking the way. The colonel who led the team waved his knife and shouted:

"Stop! Don't let it go! ”

Wang Jiyuan lifted the silk reins slightly, made the horse slow down a little, and said loudly: "Get out of the way!" I was ordered by the commander to go to King Li Chuang's camp to do business, how dare you stop me? I don't care about you! ”

"Since you are under order, do you have any arrows?"

"There are arrows."

"Take it out and check it."

Wang Jiyuan had already come to the school, said "give the arrow", and raised his sword to slash. Xiao Xiao was prepared, and used a knife to hold it, and at the same time, several people came together to kill Ji Yuan. Yoshimoto stabbed down a soldier and kicked the horse's belly with both feet, causing the horse to take advantage of the momentum and rush forward. The little colonel intercepted the personal soldiers behind Wang Jiyuan and fought at the same time, and at the same time divided a part of the people to chase after him, and at the same time sounded the gong. A dozen people in ambush in the woods half a mile ahead suddenly jumped out and blocked the way. A small cavalry patrol behind had also arrived. Yoshimoto had hoped that his soldiers would block the pursuers, but when he looked back, he didn't see a single soldier coming, and he knew that they were all finished, so he rushed forward desperately. As the saying goes: one person is desperate, and everyone is invincible. One is that Wang Jiyuan wants to kill the bloody road with the determination to die, and the other is that his horse is so powerful that after an extremely short slash, he rushed over. Although he was bleeding from a stab wound to his left leg, he did not know it. He whipped up and galloped in front, and the patrolling cavalry pursued fiercely behind, firing arrows incessantly. Ji Yuan suddenly felt something slam on his back, causing him to plunge forward and almost fall off his horse. He said to himself, "Not good! Hit! As soon as he had finished saying this, he was struck twice more and fell completely to the saddle, his face rubbing his damp horsehair. The sword fell from his hand. The whip is still hanging from the hand. With the last bit of strength, he whipped the horse a few times, and the right arm hung down like a broken branch, unable to lift it again. He hugged Saddlebridge with his left hand and closed his eyes. Based on the whirring wind in his ears and the feeling of his body, he knew that his war horse continued to gallop in the air on all fours. Although he had begun to become delirious, he did not forget the desire to flee back, nor did he give up, and murmured in his throat:

"As long as ...... The horse is not hit by the arrow, Lao Tzu ...... Death is also ...... Back to the camp, camp! ……”

After a while, the sound of the wind subsided in his ears. The horse ran slowly. He was a little more sober and wanted to look up to see if anyone was still chasing, but he couldn't. His head was rolled around the horse's neck, and his face was rubbed with hot, wet short hair. He half-opened his eyes and saw that the horse's hooves were still running. Then his eyelids closed again, and he felt like a dream, and it felt like he was flying through the clouds. But the two senses quickly blurred.

After breakfast, according to the decision of the meeting after Zhang Xianzhong left last night, King Chuang left Gao Yigong and Li Guo behind to help Mrs. Gao take care of them in the camp. As for the relocation of the camp, wait for them to come back and decide. Together with Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi and other generals, he wore iron armor and took 200 personal soldiers to Baiyang Cottage. Shuangxi and Zhang Nai and several other young generals also had neat armor and went with them. Several pro-soldier leaders were given strict orders: after arriving at Zhang Xianzhong's old camp, the brothers were not allowed to disperse, but only rested in the old camp courtyard of Xianzhong, and were not allowed to drip wine into their lips during meals. If the soldiers of the Xiying camp or even Zhang Xianzhong himself wanted to entertain them to rest elsewhere, or set up a banquet for them to drink, they would refuse all of them, saying that the camp had always been strictly ordered, and they did not dare to act without the order of the king. At the time of the banquet, King Chuang and each general should be accompanied by two personal soldiers behind or nearby, all of whom were selected to be brave and particularly alert. Li Shuangxi wants to be with the king at all times. Zhang Nai must always be with the 200 personal soldiers, see the opportunity, and not be negligent.

The mountains are steep, and the trails are very rugged, and most places can only accommodate solo riding. Because they had plenty of time, they were not in a hurry and watched the mountain scenery as they walked. Now in early summer, the mountains are full of flowers, lush vegetation, and the scenery is particularly beautiful. Walking up a hill, everyone immediately looked around. Tian Jianxiu couldn't help but praise:

"Sure enough, it's the place where Zhaojun is out, what a beautiful scenery!"

King Chuang smiled and said, "It's just that there are many mountains and few lands, and the common people are so poor that they don't have pants to wear." ”

While he was talking, a small colonel led a few cavalry to arrive, and when he saw King Chuang hurriedly dismounting, he stood on the side of the road and saluted with his hands crossed. Self-Composed Question: