The sound of the water sounded, and a few thin horses carrying several shirtless Qing court officials stepped through a shoal of the Zitong River in northern Sichuan and stood on the west bank of the Zitong River. Immediately after that, more than 100 knights rushed over.

Behind them is the sparse 12300 foot marching in, which looks a bit like the Qing soldiers called Huazi - these 1,2300 on foot plus more than 100 horseback riders, a total of less than 1,400 people, that is, all the remaining regular soldiers of the Middle Route Army of the Eight Banners New Army under Yue Le, plus the remnants of the Ganshan Green Battalion that Li Tianyu and Lu Sanhao received from Leerjin, plus Wang Zhongxiao and Dai Zi's subordinates. Among them, there are less than 800 soldiers belonging to the New Army of the Eight Banners!

When Yue Le, Fei Yangu, and Wang Zhongxiao crossed the Tuojiang River together, Fei Yanggu also counted the heads once, and he and Yue Le's Eight Banners still had more than 1,300 people at that time, but when they passed through a large area of sparsely populated areas and arrived in the territory of Baoning Mansion, the number of the Eight Banners was four or five hundred less. That's the horror of crossing a "no man's land"!

If there were still a few million people in Sichuan now, and this group of Eight Banners soldiers could finally find a village to take a hot bath, change into clean clothes, eat hot, and get a good night's sleep after crossing the Tuojiang River, then there would probably not be so many attritions.

But now there is no such condition. In today's hinterland of Sichuan, people are rare. Even if there are still some places where the population gathers, will they dare to defect with these Qing soldiers who have left in the wilderness?

Now there are not many people here in Sichuan, but there are tigers, pandas, and big bad wolves everywhere, all of which are fierce beasts that can bite people! The human beings who can survive in this environment are not good at stubble, they are all built by clans, and they are all armed, and when the government comes to collect taxes, they may all greet them with bows and arrows!

The Eight Banners soldiers were going to throw themselves into the net, so they cut off their heads and gave them to Wu Sangui, isn't it fragrant?

Therefore, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu, Wang Zhongxiao, Li Tianyu, Lu Sanhao and others who escaped from the north bank of the Tuojiang River had to go around the village of Sichuan people when they met them. Even if you see the county seat, you don't dare to stick into it.

Who knows if these county officials are now loyal to Daqing or loyal to Wu Sangui? Even if the county order has not officially accepted the official position of the Wu family, it cannot be ruled out that it has already been secretly communicated, and now it is just the right time to use the heads of Yue Le and Fei Yanggu to invite credit.

Therefore, Yue Le and Fei Yanggu and their group could only avoid populated places, and when they saw villages and cities, they had to walk around, eat and sleep all the way, and go to the Baoning Mansion in the north, which was probably still loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

This is bitter, those Eight Banners children who swim across the Tuojiang River can't even drink water, and they don't even have to change their dry clothes. They are all soldiers with courtyards in the second ring road of Beijing, when did they suffer such a crime? Before this, even when they entered the camp for training and long-distance marches, they were all servants, they only practiced martial arts arrays or hurried with their heads covered, and they didn't care about anything else, and of course they didn't know how to take care of themselves when they were marching and fighting.

As a result, from the second day after Yue Le and his team swam across the Tuojiang River, there were Eight Banner soldiers who fell ill one after another, some of them contracted the wind chill because of "the water was too cold", some of them may have diarrhea because of unclean food and drinking water, and some of them marched and fought for days, and their bodies and bones could not bear it.

And those sick Eight Banners children can only be abandoned miserably if they are not big enough, and they are left on the side of the road to wait for the tigers, big bad wolves and black and white bears in Sichuan to improve their food.

"Lost" all the way along the way, the children of Eight Banners lost hundreds of them like this!

When those people were thrown away, they were crying and begging, and they were very pitiful. However, Yue Le, Fei Yanggu, Wang Zhongxiao, and Li Tianyu are all masters of Ci Bu's army. Only Lu Sanhao is a good person, he can cry with them for a while, say some comforting words, and help them write a suicide note or something, what a good person!

And after seven or eight days of marching, the remaining Eight Banners disciples and the soldiers of the Ganshan Green Battalion, as well as Wang Zhongxiao and Dai Zi's subordinates, were not in a very good situation, they were almost like calling Huazi, their clothes were tattered, and they were also thin and unkempt. Most of them had lost their boots, and they were all wearing straw sandals with sturdy feet and sticks. I don't know, I thought it was a beggar helping the disciple go out to do business!

However, after crossing the Zitong River, these group of soldiers called Huazi finally entered a relatively safe area, because after crossing the Zitong River, it was not far to the east of the Fucun Station in Boryeong Province.

Boryeong Mansion is an important town in northern Sichuan, and the Qing court placed a general army here. And Wu Zhimao, the general soldier stationed in Baoning, happened to have a close relationship with Wu Sangui.

Therefore, Yue Le was not worried about him, so he transferred Wu Zhimao to Luzhou, and asked Mo Luo to send 2,000 people from his pacesetters to guard the city of Baoningfu.

In addition, Yue Le and Le Erjin also drew 3,000 strong men from the house slaves of the Eight Banners below, and stayed in Baoning together with Mo Luo's pacesetters.

Therefore, Yue Le and Feiyangu both optimistically estimated that Baoning was still mostly under the control of the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, the Qing Dynasty couldn't control Baoning for too long, after all, they lost too badly this time!

The 20,000 people who Yue Le came in person were almost completely wiped out, and there were less than 1,000 people left in the 20,000 army now. The situation may be better along the way to Leerjin, and there may be more than 10,000 people left. Coupled with the 5,000 remaining in Boryeong and some other miscellaneous troops, it can't be 20,000!

On Wu Sangui's side, at least 40,000 troops entered Sichuan from Yunnan, plus the local rebels in Sichuan who defected to him, 50,000 people could be put together, and they also carried the power of a great victory

Yue Le rode on a horse, and he felt that it was impossible to suppress Wu Sangui in Sichuan. Most of Hanzhong can't be saved, and it would be good to be able to hold Qinling for the time being. If the battle is like this, how should I explain it to the court and the emperor?

He was sighing when suddenly there was a sound of horses' hooves in front of him, the sound of hooves was dense and urgent, and he was afraid that hundreds or thousands of horsemen were rushing towards him.

He looked left and right, this is already the territory of Boryeong Mansion, and there is a post city nearby, which should be Fucun Station.

Could it be that Boryeong has been lost?

Yue Le's face turned pale with fright when he heard the sound of the horse's hooves, and he hurriedly reined in his horse and looked forward.

Wang Zhongxiao was also a little nervous. Now that Sichuan is in chaos, the order of the Qing Dynasty has collapsed, and Wu Sangui's new order has not yet been established, it is the most dangerous time, and he doesn't want to be inexplicably folded in the hands of a small army leader!

However, Lu Sanhao behaved very calmly: "My own people, must be my own people. Wu Sangui's cavalry is exquisite, and it is easy to be reluctant to move, it has been used ruthlessly before, and now it must be resting, and it is impossible to send a large number of troops to Baoning, let alone dispatch hundreds or thousands at a time to deal with us. ”

This analysis still makes sense.

Yue Le and Fei Yanggu both nodded approvingly, and the two of them also regained their composure, and immediately waited on the official road for the horse team in front of them to approach. It didn't take long for Yue Le, Feiyangu and the others to see clearly the outfits and banners of the people who came—they were all "red"!

Needless to say, I also know that this is the owner of the small flag of the red flag, and the person who inherits the king of the county, Leerjin. Seeing that there are quite a lot of them, and there are red cloth armor to wear, it seems that they are quite slippery when they run away from Fushun County.

Feiyangu's eyes were very good, and he had already seen Leerjin himself from a distance, so he shouted in Manchurian: "Is the person who comes Shun Chengjun King?" Prince Ann is here! ”

Immediately, Leerjin's voice came from there: "Is it Feiyanguli?" I'm the prince of Leer Jin'an, okay? ”

"It's okay, it's finally ... Woo."

Feiyangu, who had been quite strong all the way, suddenly burst into tears as he spoke!

And it doesn't matter if he cries, everyone else has also been "led to cry" by him, even Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao, who are in a very good mood, immediately changed their faces and shed sad tears.

Yue Le, who had lost the battle, cried even more sadly, crying so much that he was about to fall off his horse. Wang Zhongxiao and Lu Sanhao reacted in time, and the two hurriedly flipped off the horse, supporting Yue Le one by one, and Yue Le slid off the horse with a soft body.

Leer Jin also flew to Yue Le's side, crying and getting off the horse, "Uncle, uncle, we lost too badly and unjustly this time!" ”

"Lost unjustly? Lord, how do you say this? Wang Zhongxiao's tears also came as soon as he said it, and he asked through gritted teeth while crying.

Lu Sanhao, a good man, also asked curiously: "Lord Wang, where are we wronged?" ”

Leer Jin wiped his tears and said: "We have a lot of Wu Rebellious works inside!" ”

"Really?" Lu Sanhao had a surprised expression on his face, and glanced at Wang Zhongxiao again

Wang Zhongxiao asked: "Lord Wang, is the fine work you are talking about Ma Siwen's bastard bastard?" ”

"What? Ma Siwen also defected? Le Erjin was taken aback, "He's a flag man!" ”

Yue Le gritted his teeth, "It's still a Chen Hanjun!" If it weren't for him to report to Wu Sangui and lead the new army of the 5,000 Green Battalion to defect, how could I have lost so badly? ”

"That's it!" Wang Zhongxiao said, "The prince was about to win, and he had already suppressed Wu in Daguan Town."

Le Erjin shook his head and said, "Without this Ma Siwen, we can't win. Because we still have Wu Sangui's spies inside! ”

"Who is it?" Wang Zhongxiao's face was angry, and his right hand clenched the waist knife.

"Yes, it's surnamed Luo!"

"The surname Luo?" Wang Zhongxiao was stunned, "Could it be?"

"Sichuan Governor Rosen!" Le Erjin looked like he was about to explode.

"Lawson? How can it be? Lu Sanhao was shocked.

"He's the governor!" Wang Zhongxiao was also a little incredulous.

Yue Le was also surprised and inexplicable: "King Shun, you said that Luo Sen is Wu Sangui's person?" I thought you were talking about Wu Zhimao! ”

"Wu Zhimao is also Wu Sangui's person!" Leer Jin stomped his feet and said, "There are also Zheng Jiaolin, the governor of Sichuan, and Tan Hong, the general soldier of Kuizhou, who are all Wu Sangui's people!" Uncle, what kind of place is Sichuan? The governor is from Wu Sangui, the admiral is from Wu Sangui, and the general soldier is also from Wu Sangui. There are also the prefectures and counties below, as well as the heroes who listen to the tune and don't listen to the propaganda in various places, almost all of them are Wu Sangui's people! How can we still fight these guest troops?

On that day, we fought with Wu Reyi on the Rongxi Bridge, and repelled Wu Sangui's seven or eight attacks in a row, and we were about to win, but as a result, Rosen led his Fubiao to rebel in Fushun County, directly rescued Wu Yingxiong, and also copied our back road, and copied the artillery array we placed in Fushun County! ”

"Is that so?" Feiyangu's nose was crooked, "The surname Luo is still a Jinshi who has read the books of sages, why is he so shameless?" ”

Prince An Yue Le frowned and asked, "In this way, Wu Yingxiong has fallen into the hands of Wu Sangui?" ”

Le Erjin sighed: "That day, I was attacked by Wu Sangui and Luo Sen inside and outside, and the department was in chaos. If it weren't for the Eight Banners' disciples, they would have been wiped out, how could they still snatch Wu Yingxiong back? ”

Prince An asked again: "King Shun, how many men and horses do you have left?" ”

Le Erjin stretched out two fingers: "There are still 20,000!" ”

"Twenty thousand?" Prince An was overjoyed, "Isn't that the whole army retreating?" ”

Le Erjin shook his head: "These 20,000 people have to count the 5,000 people in Baoning Mansion, as well as the 2,000 house slaves who withdrew from Tongchuan Mansion and Shunqing Mansion, as well as the house slaves who ran out of Fushun County and the men and horses of Mo Zhijun, Admiral Wang, and Admiral Bai."

"How many Eight Banners are left?" Yue Le asked.

Leerjin sighed: "Less than five thousand."

Of course, less than 5,000 means more than 4,000, less than 5,000, and it is relatively close to 4,000 in this battle, and the children of the Eight Banners, including the Manqizi, the Mengqizi, the Han Army, and the Baoyi people, are lost fifteen thousand at once!

Although the real full flag is at most half small, it is also a heavy loss!

Prince An was disappointed for a while, and sighed: "The emperor handed us 20,000 banner soldiers, and now only 5,000 Sichuan provinces are left. Even Wu Yingxiong, the hostage, was lost. What an explanation for this! ”

"Lord Wang, you can't be blamed for this!" Wang Zhongxiao snapped his fingers and said, "This Sichuan governor, Sichuan governor, several general soldiers of Sichuan, and a general soldier of the Green Battalion New Army are all Wu Sangui's people, how can this battle be won?" ”

"That's it!" Lu Sanhao said, "Although this battle is lost, it is not a battle!" Moreover, the two princes still have 20,000 elite soldiers on hand, which is enough to retire from Guanzhong and suppress Wu Wei. The most important thing now is to bring the 20,000 troops back to Guanzhong, converge with the soldiers and horses of General Xi'an, and firmly hold the passes of Qinling and Qishan. ”

Wang Zhongxiao added: "As long as the two princes can block Wu Sangui in the south of Qinling and Qishan, the emperor will have to rely on the two princes, and Sichuan is already a white land, and the court is also a chicken rib in his hand, so it is not a big deal to throw it to Wu Sangui." ”

Lu Sanhao nodded again and again: "The two princes. If Wu Sangui takes advantage of the victory to enter the Guanzhong and gets the strong men of Shaanxi and Gansu, then it will really be Longfei Ninety-Five"

"Long Fei Ninety-Five?" Le Erjin glared at Lu Sanhao, "What do you mean by this?" ”

Feiyangu on the side whispered: "There are three thousand tigers, and they reach the land of Youyan; Long Fei Ninety-Five, reopen the day of the Great Song Dynasty, this is the slogan of the red scarf thief at the end of the Yuan Dynasty! If Wu Sangui gets the strong man of Shaanxi and Gansu, then he will also go straight to the land of Youyan! He looked at Yue Le and Le Erjin, "The two princes, Wang Zongrong and Lu Daotai are right, as long as you two can defend Guanzhong for the emperor, then at most you will be dismissed from the prince's position and the main position, and then the guilty overseer will make meritorious service." ”

"But if you want to hold Guanzhong, can you rely on a mere 20,000 people and a few thousand Eight Banner soldiers of General Xi'an?" Leerjin asked.

"Enough!" Prince An Yue Le gritted his teeth and said, "It must be enough." He thought for a moment and asked, "How do you write this excerpt of the petition?" ”

Lu Sanhao said: "Of course, I wrote it directly and told the emperor that because of the betrayal of Rosen, Ma Siwen, Zheng Jiaolin, Wu Zhimao and other traitors, we were defeated by Wu Sangui, and the army was scattered, and now we have retreated to Baoning, and we have gathered more than 20,000 people, and now we are ready to temporarily retreat to Guanzhong, reorganize the army, and then tightly fortify and block Wu Rebellion."

I have to say that although this Lu Sanhao was not born as a master in Shaoxing, his ability to write chapters must not be bad. can actually write such an ugly defeat, not particularly ugly, but also let the emperor see hope, and fight for Yue Le and Le Erjin for the right to "fortify the whole army".

Now that the world is in turmoil, Kangxi is about to be anxious, and it is very likely that Yue Le and Le Erjin will take the lead for a while. And as long as the two of them take advantage of the opportunity of the whole army to firmly grasp the 20,000 soldiers and horses, then Kangxi will have to rely on them.

And if these two unlucky princes keep their positions because of Lu Yifeng's strategy, won't Lu Yifeng become their henchmen?

Yue Le and Le Erjin both set their eyes on Wang Zhongxiao at this time.

Wang Zhongxiao nodded and said, "Two princes, let's just report it like this. This is also a true play! And the most important thing now is to block Wu Sangui! Or take a trip to Beijing with a notebook. ”

He's going to run away. His Yunnan Qujing General Army must not be appropriate, and he doesn't want to mix in front of the Shaanxi army, and now that the world is in chaos, he should also go to Guangdong to run his own base area.

Fei Yanggu on the side also said: "The two princes, go this with Shikai, go with Shikai, go with Shikai and explain the sinister situation in Sichuan and Shaanxi to the emperor." At the same time, tell the emperor how capable Wu Jun is! Wu Sangui, a traitor, is much more powerful than we originally thought, and we must not take it lightly. ”

This is going back to make a small report, right?

Wang Zhong said in his filial piety: He is the brother of Concubine Dong E, and he should also be Kang Mazi's confidant. Kangxi sent him to Yue Le's side, first, as a deputy, and secondly, I am afraid that he would be an overseer.

"That's fine!"

"Yes, that's very good."

Yue Le, the Prince of An, and Leerjin, the King of Shuncheng County, of course knew who Feiyangu was?

But the two of them can't stop Feiyangu from returning to Beijing now, right? Fortunately, Feiyangu and Wang Zhongxiao came and went, and it took some days for the court to know the defeat report in Sichuan, and they had to panic for a while, and it was also a question of whether there was anyone in Shaanxi who could carry the pot. If Ao Bai was still there, maybe he could send some capable people, and now he could only come like this.

(End of chapter)