Although abandoning Padang means that the road back to Sichuan is completely blocked.

But at this time, Zhang Xianzhong had to choose to retreat, even if he can capture Badong now, there is also the Three Gorges in front of him.

He will still be attacked from both sides by the Ming army, and retreating to Xiangyang has become his only choice!

After the loss of Jiangling, the Ming army captured Yiling as soon as possible and quickly killed Badong.

In order to buy time for the retreat, Zhang Xianzhong still left 5,000 people to stick to Zigui.

Now that Huguang's De'an Mansion and Chengtian Mansion have been completely occupied by the Ming army, it is only a matter of time before Jingzhou Mansion is completely lost.

He only had Xiangyang and Yunyang left.

But fortunately, there are still a lot of troops.

When Zhang Xianzhong retreated to Xiangyang City, Xiangyang still had an army of 120,000.

At this time, "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai said: "Although our road from Huguang to Sichuan has been blocked by the Ming army, we can still return to Chengdu through Hanzhong, so we might as well borrow from Li Zicheng!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng have always been at odds with each other.

As early as the Gao Yingxiang period, Zhang Xianzhong was the main leader of the rebel army, and Li Zicheng was only a general under Gao Yingxiang at that time!

Zhang Xianzhong was earlier than Li Zicheng whether he was the leader or the emperor, and he was naturally unhappy when he saw Li Zicheng's latecomer.

But now he is about to be made dumplings by the Ming army, naturally not because he can't let go.

Zhang Xianzhong said: "Li Zicheng is not a fool, more than 100,000 of us have borrowed Hanzhong, and he will definitely not agree." ”

If Zhang Xianzhong's remnants retreated into Hanzhong, Li Zicheng might still pull him, and more than 100,000 main forces would not agree to it.

He begged Li Zicheng in a low voice, and after being ridiculed by him again, he refused, Zhang Xianzhong was naturally unwilling.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong's national teacher Zhang Jiao returned to Xiangyang!

They also wanted to know about Li Zicheng's situation now, so Zhang Xianzhong asked: "National teacher, did Li Zicheng send troops?" ”

Zhang Jiao said: "The situation in Dashun is not optimistic, and Zu Dashou's general Wu Sangui defeated Li Guo last month and captured Huaiqing Mansion north of the Yellow River; And Lu Xiangsheng's men and horses also marched from Guide to Kaifeng. ”

"Now Li Zicheng's Luoyang and Kaifeng are both threatened by the Ming army, but King Chuang still thinks that we are both righteous troops, and sent a partial division from Runing to attack Luzhou."

If Li Zicheng's army attacked Luzhou half a month ago, it would indeed be able to threaten the rear of the Ming army and force the Ming army in the direction of Huangzhou to withdraw.

But at this time, most of Huguang has already fallen, and Li Zicheng's deviant division may not be a threat!

Zhang Xianzhong said: "It seems that King Chuang still cares about some old feelings, now that Kuizhou has fallen, the passage of the widow into Sichuan has been cut off by the Ming army, according to the national teacher, can King Chuang promise me to borrow Hanzhong from Daxi?" ”

Zhang Jiao said: "Your Majesty, the reason why Li Zicheng came to help was because I, Daxi, contained Li Xianzhong's 100,000 main force. ”

"If we return to Chengdu through Hanzhong, it will be equivalent to giving up Xiangyang and Huguang, so that Li Zicheng's Henan will be surrounded by the Ming army on three sides."

"The next step of the Ming army must be to capture Li Zicheng's Henan, so he will never agree to us borrowing Hanzhong!"

Luo Rucai was still a little unwilling, he said: "What if we don't give up Xiangyang, but just let Li Zicheng allow us to transport grain from Chengdu to Xiangyang through Hanzhong?" ”

Zhang Jiao said with a smile: "Li Zicheng has a lot of strategists around him, how can he not see such a trick of 'destroying the enemy by false means'." ”

"If Li Zicheng agrees to deliver grain for us, but just let us send the grain to Hanzhong, will you send it?"

"Don't forget, Li Zicheng is also short of food now!"

In the final analysis, there is no sense of trust between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

At the beginning, even if the two sides were forced to hold together in Dabie Mountain, they did not last long before parting ways!

Li Zicheng was afraid that Zhang Xianzhong would take the opportunity to occupy Hanzhong by 'destroying the enemy on a false path', and Zhang Xianzhong was also afraid that Li Zicheng would hack him in Hanzhong.

Just when everyone was disappointed, the national teacher Zhang Jiao said with a smile: "It will definitely not be possible to borrow Hanzhong from Li Zicheng, but the guard of Hanzhong is Gao Jie, we can make a fuss about this person!"

Zhang Xianzhong said: "The national teacher doesn't know, Gao Jie is Li Zicheng's fellow countryman, and he is deeply trusted by Li Zicheng, and it is impossible for him to let Li Zicheng cross the border on his back." ”

Zhang Jiao looked around at this time and said: "Your Majesty, one of Weichen's fellow villagers was originally on an errand under Gao Jie, and this time I met him in Luoyang, according to him, Li Zicheng's Empress Xing often went to Hanzhong to have private meetings with Gao Jie in the name of inspecting armaments and distributing grain and grass. ”

"The two of them are often alone, and they seem to have misdeeds!"

Zhang Xianzhong laughed after hearing this, and said: "Gao Jie, this guy is really good-looking, I didn't expect to dare to bring a 'green hat' to Li Zicheng!" ”

"I really want to see Li Zicheng's expression when he learns about this now!"

Zhang Jiao said: "Before returning to Xiangyang, Weichen had already sent people to spread the news of Xing's fornication with Gao Jie in Luoyang, Xi'an and other places. Presumably now Li Zicheng already knows about this! ”

Luo Rucai was also a little incredulous, he said: "Is this matter reliable?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong said: "Li Zicheng's mother-in-law Xing has been in charge of the distribution of materials for Li Zicheng for a long time, which is not impossible! ”

Zhang Jiao said: "Weichen has already sent someone to investigate, after Li Zicheng became emperor, Empress Xing has indeed been to Hanzhong several times. Even if he personally inspected the armaments and distributed grain and grass, the frequency of going to Hanzhong was too high! ”

"Unless this kind of thing is caught raped in bed, no one can come up with strong evidence, the key is to see whether Li Zicheng believes it or not."

"If Gao Jie really had an affair with Empress Xing, then does he have any other way out than to lead his 50,000 horses to serve my Daxi?"

"At that time, we will not only be able to return to Chengdu smoothly, but also get Li Zicheng's 50,000 horses and the land of Hanzhong out of thin air, won't we make a lot of money?"

Zhang Dingguo said: "Father, this matter needs to be cautious!" If we accept Gao Jie, Li Zicheng will definitely turn his face with us and lead the army to attack Hanzhong. ”

"Now that the Ming army is eyeing the sidelines, if we and Li Zicheng get into internal strife again, wouldn't it be cheaper for the Ming army?"

At this time, Zhang Kewang said: "The third brother is too worried, after getting Hanzhong, as long as we give up Xiangyang, Li Zicheng's Henan will be surrounded by the Ming army on three sides." ”

"When the time comes, the Ming army will definitely attack Li Zicheng in Henan with all his might, where will he have the spare strength to attack Hanzhong?"

"Even if Li Zi came to attack Hanzhong with his troops, the land of Hanzhong is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there is a danger in Yangping Pass, are we afraid that he will not succeed?"

Zhang Dingguo said: "Xiangyang is the foundation of my great west in Huguang, how can you give up easily? ”

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong said: "It is unknown whether this matter can be successful, and it is too early to give up Xiangyang!" ”

Then he said to Zhang Kewang: "Kewang, you lead 30,000 people to defend Yunyang Mansion, and you must ensure that the road between Xiangyang and Hanzhong is unblocked!" ”

Li Zicheng often went out to fight, and his wife Xing was responsible for managing military supplies, distributing military rations and weapons every day for war.

One day, Gao Jie went to Xing's camp tent to hand over the charms, and Xing saw that Gao Jie was handsome, so he took the initiative to have an affair with Gao Jie.

Later, under the recommendation of Xing, Gao Jie was often responsible for staying in the camp.

After Li Zicheng became emperor, Gao Jie was sent to Hanzhong to garrison, and Xing's contact with him was cut off for a while.

However, Li Zicheng has been stationed in Luoyang for a long time, which makes Empress Xing, who is alone in Xi'an, feel empty and lonely again.

Fortunately, Empress Xing was in charge of the distribution of military supplies for a long time, so she took this opportunity to patrol and inspect everywhere.

From time to time, I go to Hanzhong to continue to save with Gao Jie.

After a long time, it is inevitable that some rumors will spread.

However, there is no evidence for this kind of thing after all, and no one dares to reach Li Zicheng's ears.

Even if Li Yan, Song Xiance and others had heard some rumors, they just didn't know.

You go and remind Li Zicheng to be careful of the green hat, not only will he not be grateful, but he will also hate you if he doesn't do it, and even kill you!

Therefore, even if Zhang Jiao spread rumors in Luoyang, this matter still did not reach Li Zicheng's ears.

But Empress Xing, who was in Xi'an, panicked.

In case Li Zicheng Xingshi asks for guilt, then her fate can be imagined.

So she took the opportunity to inspect the armament and came to Hanzhong!

At this time, Gao Jie was also anxious, and when he saw Empress Xing coming, he was even more anxious, and said: "My aunt, the outside has already spread our affairs, why do you dare to come to Hanzhong?" ”

Although Empress Xing is a woman, she is quite decisive, otherwise Li Zicheng would not have handed over the rear to her to take care of.

She said: "The slave family has already conceived your child, and originally wanted this child to inherit the country of Dashun, but now it seems that it will not be!" ”

"The only way to do this is to have a showdown with Li Zicheng!"

Gao Jie hugged Queen Xing and said, "Don't worry, I won't leave you and your mother alone!" ”

"Zhang Xianzhong just sent someone to contact me, and I want to borrow the road from Hanzhong to return to Chengdu, I will directly use the land of Hanzhong, plus 50,000 soldiers and horses to Zhang Xianzhong, he will definitely not treat me badly."

In fact, Empress Xing originally wanted Gao Jie to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but in her opinion, it was difficult for either Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong to succeed in the end.

It's a pity that the timing is not right now, the hands of the Ming army can't reach Hanzhong, if they announce their defection to the Ming army, Hanzhong will definitely be attacked by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.

In this case, Gao Jie can only take refuge in Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi and take one step at a time.

At this time, the Ming army was already approaching Xiangyang, and Zhang Xianzhong naturally did not dare to hesitate for a moment, in order to stabilize Gao Jie.

He directly canonized Gao Jie as the king of Hanzhong in Daxi, and gave Gao Jie the land of Hanzhong.

Xiangyang, he naturally didn't dare to stay any longer.

However, if he wanted to give up Xiangyang, he was reluctant.

After all, this is where he is based.

In the short term, abandoning Xiangyang can indeed lead the Ming army to Henan to fight Li Zicheng.

However, once the barrier of Xiangyang was lost, the Ming army could fully recover Huguang, and it was inevitable to attack Sichuan.

Now that Kuizhou is in the hands of the Ming army, Xiangyang can no longer be lost.

In the end, Zhang Xianzhong did not listen to Zhang Kewang's advice to abandon Xiangyang and lead the Ming army to Henan.

Instead, Zhang Dingguo led 30,000 elites to defend Xiangyang.

He himself took Luo Rucai, Zhang Kewang and others and 90,000 troops to retreat into Hanzhong, and even Yunyang Mansion gave up directly!

As soon as Zhang Xianzhong retreated into Hanzhong, he got the news that Li Zicheng led 150,000 people south to conquer Hanzhong.

When Li Zicheng learned that his queen Xing had an affair with Gao Jie, and surrendered to Zhang Xianzhong with 50,000 horses in Hanzhong, he was even more furious!

Even if you want to raise the army of the whole country to crusade against Hanzhong.

Although Li Yan and others persuaded each other hard, saying that Hanzhong was easy to defend and difficult to attack, now that the Ming army is pressing, it is really not appropriate to turn against Zhang Xianzhong again.

But what man can endure this big hat? Mo said that he Li Zicheng was the emperor of Dashun, even if Wu Dalang still had to seek justice from Ximenqing after learning that his daughter-in-law Pan Jinlian was slept with by Ximenqing?

It is impossible for him not to respond to this!

Although there are many passages from Xi'an to Sichuan, except for the westernmost Yinping Road and the easternmost Meridian Road, several other roads lead to Hanzhong.

Li Zicheng has an army of 150,000, and the Yinping Trail and the Meridian Dao are naturally not suitable for large-scale marches.

Therefore, he can only walk through the three passages of Bao Slope Road, Chen Cang Road, and Qishan Road.

No matter which way he goes, he can't bypass Nanzheng, the capital city of Hanzhong.

After Zhang Xianzhong joined forces with Gao Jie, there were 140,000 troops, and they did not suffer in terms of troops.

Therefore, he didn't need to guess which road Li Zicheng was going to march from, but directly sent troops to choke these roads.

The passages into Hanzhong were very narrow, and it was almost impossible to break through from here, and the Dashun army, which had failed one after another, did not make the slightest progress.

This also made the thunderous Li Zicheng extremely depressed.

It seems that a strong attack from the front of several avenues will not work, and he can only hope for Liu Zongmin's sneak attack.

At this time, the 20,000 elites led by Liu Zongmin were cautiously crossing the Meridian Road.

The reason why Meridian Dao is famous is probably due to Wei Yan's Meridian Valley conspiracy.

Wei Yan did not go to the Meridian Valley, but Cao Zhenhua Shu walked through the Meridian Valley, turned around in the valley for more than half a month, and then directly failed to march because of the rain.

Later, during the Northern Expedition of Huan Wen, the powerful minister of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he also sent Sima Xun through the Meridian Valley, but Sima Xun was defeated.

Meridian Valley is definitely not a good way to enter the army.

The road was very difficult, and even if it was able to cross the Meridian Valley, the troops were already exhausted and unable to fight anymore.

Liu Zongmin and others also complained bitterly.

But Gao Jie greened his eldest brother Li Zicheng, how could he, a brother, not stand up for Li Zicheng? Even more unfortunate was when Liu Zongmin encountered the same problem as Cao Zhen back then, that is, heavy rain.

This is really a house leak that happened to rain overnight, and the meridian road was originally extremely difficult, but now it is even more dangerous.

When Liu Zongmin and the others arrived at the exit of the southern section of the Meridian Road, they were already exhausted!

They are disheveled, covered in mud, and where there is still an army, they are clearly a group of beggars!

What's even more unfortunate is that Zhang Xianzhong's main force has long been waiting for work in Taniguchi.

With the sound of artillery, the arrows of the ambushed Onishi Army rained down.

It was also constantly mixed with the sound of "bang, bang, bang".

The Dashun army in front fell in pieces.

Liu Zongmin sighed: "My life is over!" ”

If Taniguchi's Great Western Army is killed at this time, his 20,000 men and horses will have to be all handed over here!

However, fortunately, the Great Western Army did not rush to exterminate it, and soon Zhang Xianzhong sent a messenger to send a letter.

Zhang Xianzhong said that at this time, the Ming army was pressing the border, even if they could not join forces to resist the enemy, they would never be able to attack each other again!

I also hope that Liu Zongmin will go back and persuade Li Zicheng, don't be rash!

When Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng merged in Hanzhong, Li Xianzhong's army had already surrounded Xiangyang City!

When he learned that it was Li Dingguo who was guarding Xiangyang, he ordered that Li Dingguo must be captured alive.

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(End of chapter)