North of Taiyuan City, east bank of Fenshui.

Fenshui flows from north to southeast, and in the north of Taiyuan City, the river turns from east to west to south, and becomes north and south.

At this time, Hong Chengchou led the various units of the Ming army to march north along the river, and the soldiers of each town hurried quickly, and they could constantly see the night of each town galloping near the left.

Hong Chengchou sent his henchmen to send a garrison to deliver the letter, he has been restless, from Taiyuan City to Shandong, there are hundreds of miles of road, along the way there are constantly thieves and soldiers raging, in case the news leaks, not only the reinforcements will not come, even the reality of the Ming army will be known by the thieves.

Especially yesterday, Hong Chengchou received a report that the Governor Battalion did not collect at night, and found a small group of thieves riding in the east of Taiyuan City, although the number is not large, but it is very strong, and it is by no means an ordinary scout soldier and horse.

This news made Hong Chengchou very vigilant, and immediately convened the chief military officers of each town to discuss the matter, and decided to lead the army to the north, first flanking the soldiers and horses of the right battalion of the thieves, and then turning the soldiers and horses of Shanxi Town and Datong Town, and then obtaining money and food supplies on the spot, and then reorganizing the soldiers and horses to go south to meet the enemy.

As a result, the various departments of the Ming army hurriedly set off from the city of Taiyuan, and before leaving, they also brought everything in the city that could be tightened, causing the people in the city to cry and shake the sky.

Two days after the army marched north, news came back from all the departments that there were thieves around the army.

These thief scouts were very arrogant, regardless of the might of the 110,000 Ming army, they followed all the way, and even dared to ride their horses to rush to the front to observe the marching Ming army formation, which made Hong Chengchou furious, and immediately ordered Wu Sangui to lead his troops to attack and disperse the thief scouts.

But even so

At this point, the various departments of the Ming army still did not get rid of the entanglement of the thieves scouts, but the Ming army around the thieves and horses more and more, to the fourth day of leaving Taiyuan City, there began to be a large number of thieves and horses, more than thousands, less hundreds, all of them were elite thieves and horses, began to follow the Ming army all the way to the north, during which the Ming soldiers were constantly harassed.

Hong Chengchou was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered the army to stop advancing and set up camp on the spot.

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Hong Chengchou held a military meeting with the chief military officers of each town, but everyone did not speak, even Hong Chengchou frowned, and his face was very solemn.

Tang Tong, the chief officer of Miyun Town, dodged his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking; Wang Tingchen, the former chief military officer of the Tun Guard, constantly exchanged glances with Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, and the two walked very close along the way, and there were many words between them to retreat.

Zuo Guangxian, the commander of the reinforcement army, stared at the pen holder beside Hong Chengchou, not knowing whether he was distracted or evaluating the brushes.

As for Wu Sangui, the chief military officer of Ningyuan Town, at this time, he was the same as Hong Chengchou, his face was solemn, his brows were tightly locked, and he was always thinking about it.

After a long time, Hong Chengchou spoke: "With this governor's familiarity with the rogue soldiers and horses, the bandits around our army this time are by no means a small group of stragglers, but the precursor of the main force of the rogue thieves. It seems that Li Zicheng secretly transferred the main army from Henan, and this thief wanted to raid our army in order to completely eliminate the elite soldiers and horses of the imperial court. ”

"Everyone!"

Hong Chengchou suddenly raised his voice and said: "Today has come to the time of life and death, no matter what you think in your hearts, you must work with this governor with all your hearts,

Fight against the army of thieves, only in this way can we have a way out! ”

Then Hong Chengchou's gaze swept to Tang Tong, and said coldly: "If anyone shakes the morale of the army and wants to withdraw the army this time, don't blame the governor for turning his face and being ruthless!" Even if the imperial court does not have a prison army on the side, the governor also has Shang Fang's sword in his hand, and he can cut it first and then play! ”

Tang Tong suddenly felt a chill in his neck, and then roared impassionedly: "We are willing to follow the governor to the death, exterminate the thieves, and protect the territory and the people!" ”

The rest of the people also raised their arms and shouted, and everyone was making their positions clear at the moment, but only they knew what they thought in their hearts.

Hong Chengchou said: "Okay! So the military heart is available. In that year, Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to Julu, and faced tens of thousands of elite Qing troops with the remnants, and became famous in a battle, and also played a Shandong governor Liu Yan. The situation of our army today is quite similar to that of Lu Xiangsheng at the beginning, as long as you are of one heart and one mind with this governor, and hit the army of thieves in one fell swoop, it is difficult to guarantee that there will not be the next Liu Yan among you! ”

As soon as these words came out, a trace of waves rippled in Wu Sangui's eyes, but they flashed.

At this time, Zuo Guangxian asked: "Governor, we should advance and retreat with the governor, but now that the grain and grass of the various departments have been cut off, and the soldiers have not eaten for two or three days, if this continues, we will not be able to restrain the soldiers and horses?" ”

Tang Tong hurriedly said: "Governor, why don't our troops go to the nearby city to ask for money and food?" ”

Everyone knows that in Shanxi, except for the Datong Mansion that is being besieged, there is no city of the Ming Dynasty anymore.

But no one refuted it, but they all looked forward to it

looked at Hong Chengchou expectantly.

Hong Chengchou's face was entangled, as the first assistant of the Ming cabinet and the commander of the army, he naturally hated this kind of thief-like practice, but the cruel reality made Hong Chengchou unable to refuse, and after being silent for a moment, he had to say: "The army is going north at full speed to Xinzhou, Xinzhou is rich, and there should be money and food left." ”

"After the army arrived in Xinzhou, it was stationed on the spot, and at the same time sent the night to reconnoiter to the north, contacting Wang Pu, the chief military officer of Datong Town, and Li Fuming, the chief military officer of Shanxi Town."

"Yes!"

The various units of the Ming army rested in place for two hours, and then Hong Chengchou did not dare to camp in the wilderness for the night, and urged the soldiers and horses of the towns to continue to march north.

At this time, it was getting late, but there were more and more rogue cavalry riding horses from all directions, and even at dusk, Hong Chengchou heard that Ningyuan Town was reporting after the army was broken, and he could already see the traces of the rogue foot army from afar.

"How many soldiers and horses are there for the thieves?"

Hong Chengchou had already given up the carriage at this time, but rode his horse with the soldiers of the Supervising Battalion, and the continuous high-intensity march made Hong Chengchou very unbearable, but he could only grit his teeth and insist.

On the side, a guerrilla general from Ningyuan Town who came to report the news said: "Qiyu Governor, the thieves and horses are boundless, and it is impossible to estimate the specific strength. It's just that our department didn't collect returns at night, and found the battle flags of the thieves' middle camp, left battalion, front battalion, rear battalion, and firearms battalion, and even found Li Zicheng's Dashun King's Daxu! ”

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou

's face suddenly became ruddy, and even showed an almost sickly red.

It took a long time for Hong Chengchou to breathe a sigh of relief, wave his hand, and send the guerrilla general back to restore his life.

At this time, Hong Chengchou's heart had already turned over the river and the sea, and secretly said that Li Zicheng really looked up to himself, and even gathered all the soldiers and horses and millions of troops to raid him, which was really a cost!

"What should I do?"

Hong Chengchou really hoped that there would be a miracle at this time, Liu Yan could lead hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers and horses in Shandong to appear in front of him, and then like a divine soldier descending from the sky, destroying Li Zicheng's million-strong army, and then Hong Chengchou and Liu Yan returned to Beijing in triumph and enjoyed thousands of glory.

But the cruel reality is like a sharp knife, a knife will cut Hong Chengchou's heart, and tell Hong Chengchou with a painful feeling that all this is impossible, and he can only fight against a million thieves with 110,000 hungry soldiers and horses in his hands!

"Order all departments, speed up, before nightfall tomorrow, you must arrive in Xinzhou City!"

Xinzhou is east of Taihang Mountain, west of the Yellow River, south of Taiyuan, Yangquan, Luliang, north of Shuozhou, Datong, since ancient times is an important town in Shanxi, the city is solid, rich inventory, because of this, so Hong Chengchou will choose Xinzhou as a temporary foothold.

Legend has it that Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, went north to fight against the Xiongnu, and the soldiers were trapped in Pingcheng, and when they broke out of the siege, the army went south and went to Xinkou to get rid of the Xiongnu pursuers. Gaozu broke the sorrow and smiled, and the six armies were happy to go home, because of "Xin" through "Xin", and the name of Xinzhou was born.

The old city of Xinzhou "crosses the west gang and the city, and the gang occupies half of the city, which is the hill of Kowloon". Ten in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty

Month, after the completion of the Xinzhou city wall, there are four city gates, together with eight cave gates, the city gates of the cave gates are facing each other, and they communicate with each other.

"The dove is built in April of the seventh year of Tongzhi, and it is in October of the ninth year of Tongzhi, and it will be three years before and after, and the repair is completed. So, Pheasant Duo Siwei, Lou Lu Chonghuan. ”

The plan of the old city of Xinzhou is approximately square polygon, and the circumference of the city is nine miles and twenty steps. The city wall winds and undulates along the slope and is in a curved shape. The inner side of the city wall is gently sloped on all sides, and in the event of an enemy situation, soldiers and civilians flock to the end of the city wall. The northwest corner of the city wall is obtuse, and the height of the city wall in the southeast corner is the lowest, which is the embodiment of "the sky is not equal to the northwest, and the earth is uneven to the southeast" in the city building.

The north gate of Xinzhou City is "Gongchen Gate", the south gate is "Jingxian Gate", the east gate is "Yongfeng Gate", and the west gate is "Xinxing Gate".

Hong Chengchou led the Ming army to rush day and night, and when he arrived at Jingxianmen in the south of Xinzhou, the soldiers and horses in each town were exhausted, up to the chief officers of each town, down to the ordinary Ming soldiers, in the case of days of hunger and thirst marching, and at the same time to be vigilant against the raid of thieves, there was no longer the spirit of departure, at this time, it was like a huge beggar team, where there was still the appearance of the official army.

Hong Chengchou looked at the majestic city and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

I don't know if the assembly speed of the thief army is too slow, or the marching speed of the various departments of the official army is too fast, at this time, the thieves have not yet come together, which makes Hong Chengchou happy and nervous in his heart.

At the same time, the situation in Xinzhou was also better than Hong Chengchou expected, although the city was captured by the thieves, but the thieves seemed to have just plundered and then withdrew, and did not send troops to garrison. this

After the search of the vanguard soldiers and horses of the official army in the city, there were no thieves' defenders, and there were still some grain and grass in the treasury of various places, although it was not much, but it could also allow the soldiers of the various departments to eat a few full meals.

Entering the city, Hong Chengchou first sent the soldiers and horses of the Governor Battalion to post notices for the people, and then ordered Zuo Guang to take over the city defense, and the soldiers and horses of the rest of the towns to seize the time to rest.

In addition, Hong Chengchou also sent people to collect food in the city and recruited young and strong men for backup.

In this way, the city of Xinzhou suddenly became a mess, and the original order issued by Hong Chengchou was to collect the grain in the hands of the people according to the ratio of ten taxes and four.

However, when the soldiers and horses of the towns were executing, they did not pay attention to these rules and regulations at all, and the people in the city did everything possible to hide grain when the thieves and soldiers and horses plundered, and now in the face of the officials and soldiers, they were all about to be robbed, how could they give up, so they became stiff.

Hong Chengchou was shocked when he heard the news, and hurriedly killed a few soldiers who made too much trouble, and imprisoned a few people who led the trouble, which temporarily calmed down the situation.

But early in the morning of the second day, Hong Chengchou received an urgent report from Zuo Guangxian: the main force of the thieves arrived outside the city and was deploying a siege!