At the end of December, Xinzhou City.

At this time, the city defense of Xinzhou was already dilapidated, and the four city walls were full of dark marks, which were scars caused by the artillery in the thief army. The arrows, corner towers, and female walls on the head of the city have been destroyed countless times, and the facilities such as horse rejection and traps outside the city have also been almost destroyed.

Before the expedition, Hong Chengchou led 30,000 soldiers and horses in Miyun Town, 12,000 soldiers and horses in Qiantun Guard, 36,000 soldiers and horses in Ningyuan Town, 13,000 soldiers and horses in Zuo Guangxian, and 20,000 soldiers and horses in Liaodong Town. A total of more than 110,000 troops were mobilized. ”

But now, there are only more than 70,000 of these more than 110,000 elites on the nine sides, and the morale of the army is weak, and the food and grass have been cut off for a long time, and the soldiers in the city have almost persevered until now by eating rats, killing war horses, and gnawing tree bark.

Hong Chengchou was worried that the chief military officers of the towns would secretly surrender to the enemy, and he had to open one eye almost every day when he slept, and after a long time, Hong Chengchou was already exhausted, and now his face was haggard and thin, and he was full of red light before the expedition.

"Governor, the thief has sent a letter of persuasion again."

Wu Sangui came to the prefect's yamen with a letter, and at this time, Wu Sangui was no longer as heroic as before, his face was full of stubble, he couldn't rest well for a long time, and the whole person became very decadent.

"Alas!"

Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Why hasn't Liu Yan's new army come to help!" ”

Wu Sangui was silent.

It's been more than a month, and if the letter for help was delivered, Liu Yan would definitely make a move. Now it seems that the letter for help was not delivered, and everything was over.

"Governor, let's

Do you also have to think about a way out? ”

Hong Chengchou suddenly glared at Wu Sanguo, and said sharply: "You and I have received the grace of the country, how can you do those things without a king and a father!" ”

Wu Sangui Nuonuo stepped aside, but there was still a strange light in his eyes.

Hong Chengchou immediately opened the letter of persuasion, and after reading it for a while, he stood up in surprise, and his right hand holding the letter trembled involuntarily.

"The Doge?"

Wu Sangui said differently: "What's wrong with the governor, what did Li Zicheng say in the letter?" ”

Hong Chengchou's face turned pale, his eyes seemed to be a little sloppy, and he said: "Li Zicheng said in the letter that Huang Taiji has led hundreds of thousands of troops to seize Jinzhou, Zu Dashou surrendered to the Qing army, and now hundreds of thousands of Qing troops have broken through the pass and are fighting fiercely with Liu Yan in Gyeonggi, Liu Yan is about to be defeated, Daming, it's over!" ”

"What!"

Wu Sangui was also shocked, how strong the soldiers and horses under Liu Yan were, Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou are very clear, but how strong the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops are, the two of them also know, after all, the new army under Liu Yan has few troops, can it really not resist the Qing army?

"Li Zicheng asked us to surrender, and then marched into Beizhili together, and fought with the Qing army and Liu Yan under the city of Beijing!"

Wu Sangui was entangled for a moment, and then said directly and loudly: "The governor must not hesitate, the thief is not a Manchu Qing, and it doesn't hurt to surrender!" ”

Hong Chengchou glared at Wu Sangui fiercely, but met Wu Sangui's firm and ambitious eyes.

After a while, Hong Chengchou sat down on the chair dejectedly and said bitterly: "Bendu never imagined that there would be today!" ”

Wu Sangui looked at the painful Hong Chengchou and thought

I want to say a few words of relief, but I can't say anything. Wu Sangui himself is more worried about his uncle Zu Dashou, and he doesn't know what will become of his ancestral family after surrendering to the Qing army.

Suddenly, a guerrilla general of the Governor Battalion rushed in in panic and said loudly: "Qi Qi Governor, the army of thieves has attacked the city, Liu Zhaoji, the chief officer of Liaodong Town in the north of the city, sent someone to ask for help, please send the Governor Battalion up!" ”

Hong Chengchou looked at Wu Sangui, only to see Wu Sangui gritting his teeth and saying, "Withdraw all the Governor's Battalion here to protect the Governor!" ”

"What?"

Looking at the surprised guerrilla general, Wu Sangui said coldly: "Didn't you hear clearly? ”

"Yes, my subordinates obey!"

Subsequently, Wu Sangui also sent people outside, and the 20,000 troops in Ningyuan Town under his command were also withdrawn, and all of them were deployed around the prefect's yamen, causing the city defense forces in the east and south of Xinzhou to be empty.

Wang Tingchen, the former commander of the Tun Guard, scolded and wanted to send someone to ask what Wu Sangui was doing, but he received the news that the Governor's Battalion had also withdrawn into the city, and immediately laughed miserably: "Haha! I can't imagine that the dignified Hongge elder will also do these unsightly things! ”

Immediately, countless thieves rushed to the city, and the royal courtiers and the remaining thousands of soldiers of the former guards were divided and surrounded in the east city wall and the streets and alleys near the city gate.

"Kill the thief!"

Wang Tingchen roared angrily, while leading his troops to fight to the death, after killing a dozen rogue soldiers, they were besieged by a large group of rogue soldiers on the road of the city wall, and were hacked to death with random knives.

To the south, there were only more than 4,000 people left on the side of Zuo Guangxian, the commander of the reinforcement army, and the city wall was completely broken through by the thieves, and the rain of arrows in the sky continued to fall, and they would gather

The defense of the Ming army soldiers was all covered, and a large number of Ming soldiers fell screaming, but they could not organize a decent counterattack.

At this time, Zuo Guangxian's left leg had been cut off by the thieves and horses, and the two family members pushed Zuo Guangxian, who was screaming, to retreat, blood flowed out of the broken leg, staining the city walls along the way, and the screams of the Ming soldiers before their deaths were constantly heard around, making the city inside and outside like hell on earth.

Suddenly, Zuo Guang first hugged the wooden stake next to him, and then shouted loudly: "Give Lao Tzu a knife, you guys retreat to the city!" ”

"Dashuai!"

"Give Lao Tzu a knife and send me on my way!"

The two family members cried incessantly, tearfully sent Zuo Guang on the road first, and then did not retreat to the city, but roared angrily and rushed to the front of a large number of thieves and horses, and then was poked to death by more than a dozen spears on the head of the city.

On the west city wall, Tang Tong looked at the dense army of thieves outside the city, and only felt that his legs and stomachs had cramped, and there were constantly rogue soldiers on the city, although the soldiers and horses of Miyun Town were still fighting at this time, hacking and poking to death those rogue soldiers who came up and climbed the city, but Tang Tong knew very well that Xinzhou City could not hold it.

"Surrender!"

Suddenly, Tang Tong shouted: "Surrender immediately!" ”

At this time, the surrounding soldiers of Miyun Town looked at their main generals in astonishment, only to see Tang Tong like a madman, drawing his sword in his hand, jumping onto a wooden box, and said loudly: "Surrender with me!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the rain of arrows outside the city hit, Tang Tong saw that the subordinates around him were all exclaimed, and then looked for cover in a panic, so he looked back in astonishment, and suddenly wailed.

The rain of arrows fell, and there were dead and wounded on the city, and Tang Tong stood upright

Lying on the city wall, his body was full of arrows, and one arrow was inserted in his left eye and one in his neck, and he was already dead from the ground.

"The town is dead!"

After a howl, more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Miyun Town collapsed, and the city was full of swarms fleeing to the city, and a large number of thieves and horses boarded the city from the ladder, and then rushed towards the city, and the west city fell!

In the north, Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, who was waiting for reinforcements, was also scolding, and at this time he learned that Hong Chengchou had actually transferred troops back to defense, and Liu Zhaoji, like Wang Tingchen, guessed that Hong Chengchou was ready to surrender Li Zicheng.

So Liu Zhaoji gathered the only 2,000 cavalry left in Liaodong Town, and then ordered to open the north city gate, preparing to lead his troops to rush out and break through.

"Even if Lao Tzu dies, he is also the chief military officer of Liaodong Town in the Ming Dynasty, and he will never surrender to the thieves!"

As the city gate slowly opened, Liu Zhaoji led his troops to rush out, and two thousand cavalry rode their horses and galloped, which was still overwhelming at first, but then it was blocked by the boundless sea of thieves outside the city.

Liu Zhaoji looked around, only to see countless spears stabbing from all directions, stabbing his subordinates to death, and even many hungry people and dead soldiers of thieves flocked up, letting the war horse trample on him, and dragging the Ming soldiers on horseback, and then punching and kicking, or even biting him to death.

There were screams everywhere, the cavalry of the brigade could not be filled at all, the war horses had been surrounded by the crazy thief soldiers like "zombies", and even many war horses were frightened, and the Ming soldiers on their backs were overturned to the ground, and then killed by the thief soldiers.

Seeing this, Liu Zhaoji laughed miserably and yelled: "What if."

Liu Yan is here, how can he be defeated! ”

Then in the distance, Chen Yongfu led a large team of horsemen to kill, and shot an arrow casually, shooting Liu Zhaoji to death.

A group of thieves cheered for Chen Yongfu one after another, but Chen Yongfu's face was not half happy, but when he heard Liu Zhaoji's roar just now, he had mixed feelings in his heart, and he just had the urge to cry loudly.

Half an hour later, Li Zicheng received a report that Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui led tens of thousands of Ming troops to surrender and Xinzhou fell.

Li Zicheng was overjoyed, the long-lasting offensive and defensive battle of Xinzhou was finally over, and the 110,000 nine-sided elites led by Hong Chengchou, which was also the last mobile force that could be deployed in the Ming Dynasty, was finally annihilated by himself!

Immediately, Li Zicheng led Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Li Laiheng, Li Dingguo, Chen Yongfu and other battalion generals, as well as Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen, four military divisions, rode into the city, and under the escort of two thousand middle battalion horsemen, they passed through the battlefield of the sea of corpses and blood, and came to the prefect's yamen, where they met Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui who were waiting here.

Li Zicheng heard the names of Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui for a long time, and when he saw the two of them at this time, he couldn't help but look up and down, and then laughed and said: "Haha, the two of them help each other, just like Liu Bei has Kong Ming!" ”

The corners of Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui's mouths twitched, it was the first time for them to see Li Zicheng so closely, this giant who had plagued the Ming Dynasty for many years, but now he was going to surrender to him, and the two of them felt very uncomfortable. But at this time, Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui did not hesitate, and bowed one after another, but were helped up by Li Zicheng.

"Hong Chengchou (Wu Sangui) is willing to lead his troops to surrender, please let the king of Dashun not abandon and take him in

。 ”

"Haha, Lone has said, in the future, the two will be Lone's guests, and the soldiers in the city are still led by the two, let's fight for Beijing City together, how about it?"

Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui glanced at each other, and the two of them clasped their fists and said, "Something you want!" ”