Li Xianzhong tried his best to send Zhang Zhiji to seize Kuizhou, but he didn't expect to let Zhang Xianzhong run away in the end.

However, fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong, who implemented the "Dividing Fields" policy, did not treat ordinary people as murderously as he did in history.

In fact, killing people is also a specialty, and it is not completely useless.

Since Zhang Xianzhong's life should not be extinguished, Li Xianzhong decided to adopt the strategy of "driving the tiger and devouring the wolf" and drove the Great Western Army to Yunnan, Guizhou and Burma.

The Great Western Army, which used Zhang Xianzhong, swept them up, and then went to clean up the mess himself.

In fact, those Tusi in the southwest region have always been close to the Central Plains Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty also wanted to implement the "change of land and return to the stream", but due to financial and military resources, the imperial court's action was not large.

That is, he used the quelling of Yang Yinglong's rebellion to take advantage of the situation to recover the Banzhou area.

It is believed that with Zhang Xianzhong's "-stirring stick", the efficiency of "changing the land and returning to the stream" in the southwest region will be greatly improved.

As for Li Zicheng, Li Xianzhong was ready to drive him to the west.

Let King Chuang go to the Western Regions to break through, maybe he can break out of the world again.

Although due to the appearance of Gao Jie, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong fought a big battle in Hanzhong.

However, Zhang Xianzhong firmly controlled the geographical advantages of Hanzhong, and Li Zicheng's defeat was almost inevitable.

His expedition is more to show his attitude, and men can't always be indifferent to "cuckolding".

But at the moment, it is Xiangyang that needs to be solved.

The reason why Zhang Xianzhong was reluctant to give up Xiangyang was because he was a strong city.

After all, even the Mongolian iron cavalry, which dominated the world back then, could only sink into the sand under the city of Xiangyang.

In the face of Chen Qiyu's siege, Li Dingguo and others also held on to Xiangyang City for more than a year.

This is also the confidence why he dares to trap the lonely city of Xiangyang.

However, they tried to use Xiangyang to block themselves for a long time, but they miscalculated.

The reason why Yangyang is difficult to fight is because of its moat, which is nearly 200 meters wide.

The Han River is not as wide as the Yangtze River, and ships of more than 1,000 tons cannot sail into the vicinity of Xiangyang, but the 800-ton Galen ship is no problem at all.

Li Xianzhong said: "Xiangyang and Fancheng are a whole, constituting a complete Xiangfan defense system!" ”

"If the attacker does not have a strong naval division to block the Han River, then Xiangyang and Fancheng rely on each other, and there is a pontoon bridge in the middle, which is indeed an advantage!"

"If the attacker has a strong naval division, they can block the Han River and cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng.

In this way, the defenders of Xiangfan and Fan were divided, and they were easily broken by each one! ”

"Historically, it took the Mongols 6 years to form a naval division to blockade the Han River and conquer Fancheng in the north of the river before forcing the defender Lu Wenhuan to surrender!"

When he saw the sailors of the Ming army appear near Xiangyang, Li Dingguo knew that Fancheng could not be defended.

It seems that he is a little optimistic, Li Xianzhong is worthy of being a famous general in the world, and he shot quickly and accurately!

The Ming army quickly burned the pontoon bridge on the river as soon as possible!

Then, with the fire support of naval artillery, the 20,000 Ming army led by Zuo Liangyu began to attack Fancheng.

At this time, the naval guns of the Liaodong Navy Division had been replaced with new rifled guns, and the accuracy and power of shooting had increased a lot.

After several rounds of shelling, the eastern wall of Fancheng was blown down.

Soon the Ming army invaded Fancheng!

The defenders of Fancheng were only 6,000 men, and in the face of 20,000 Ming troops, they were at a significant disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment.

Zuo Liangyu's 20,000 horses are the old foundation of the Yulin battalion, although some new recruits have also been added, but the overall combat strength is much stronger than that of the peasant army in Daxi.

The battle in Fancheng didn't last long, and it died down in less than half an hour!

After occupying Fancheng, Li Xianzhong sent envoys to Xiangyang to persuade him to surrender.

Unexpectedly, the envoy was directly killed by Li Dingguo.

This angered Zuo Liangyu, Chen Qiyu and others, and the generals asked for battle.

Although he was very angry, Li Xianzhong still kept calm.

He said: "Li Dingguo's move is nothing more than to provoke this king, so that we can attack Xiangyang, but this king will not let him get his wish!" ”

The city of Yangyang still relied on a moat with an average width of nearly 200 meters, and although the naval warships of the Ming army on the Han River were powerful, they could not sail into the moat of Xiangyang.

In the moat of Xiangyang, only a very narrow road leads to the gate of Xiangyang on the island in the middle of the lake.

If you attack along this narrow road, you won't be able to use your forces at all, and no matter how long you attack, you won't be able to take Xiangyang City.

Therefore, Li Xianzhong did not immediately attack, but placed the artillery position on Yanggu Mountain in the south of Xiangyang City.

Although it was not so laborious to transport the 18-pounder rifled gun from Wuchang to Xiangyang, it took several days for the Ming army to carry it from the Han River to Yanggu Mountain.

Before they had time to attack Xiangyang, Li Dingguo took the lead.

After observing for a few days, Li Dingguo mastered the route of the Ming army's patrol ship at the same time.

Hundreds of Onishi soldiers took advantage of the darkness of night to sneak into the Han River in small boats.

Tonight, the moon was dark and the wind was high, providing them with excellent cover, and the target of their trip was the Ming army's water village near Fancheng, Jiangbei.

The Ming army had an absolute advantage on the Han River, so they did not expect the Great Western Army to sneak attack.

By the time they found out that there was movement on the river, the boat of the Great Western Army was only one or two hundred meters away from the water village!

Although the artillery on the shore of the Ming army and the naval guns on the battleship opened fire on the sneak attack boat at the first time.

Soon several small boats were hit by artillery and blown to pieces.

But at this time, the Western army had already lit the boat and rushed towards the Ming army's water village with the help of the wind.

Although the warships of the Ming army did not engage in any iron chain like Cao Cao back then, they completely lost their mobility.

But if it is blocked by the enemy's fireboats, it is enough to choke, and even if it is not completely burned, it will definitely suffer heavy losses!

At this time, the outermost "Hetuala" Galen ship hurriedly sailed out of the water village and put its hull horizontally in front of it to block the enemy's fireship!

The 480-ton Hetuara is a small ship and is relatively flexible.

Now that the situation is critical, it can only sacrifice itself to block most of the fireships to avoid the main battleships in the water village from being burned!

Fortunately, there were not too many small boats attacked by the Western army, and the hull of the "Hetuala" was large, and even if it was hit by a fireboat, it could still hold out for a long time.

In the end, at the cost of the "Hetuala", the Ming army sailors successfully kept the water village.

However, this incident still sounded the alarm for Li Xianzhong, and the location of the water village must be cautious.

It seems that this Li Dingguo is really not simple, but in the face of absolute strength, his resistance is futile.

The Ming army's 18-pounder rifled guns set up on Yanggu Mountain soon launched an artillery bombardment of Xiangyang City.

The walls set up by the Western army on the island in the middle of the lake were quickly blown down, and then the southern city of Xiangyang was also shelled.

The maximum range of the artillery of the Ming army was ten miles, and it completely beat the Hongyi artillery on Xiangyang City.

Soon the artillery of Xiangyang City was destroyed by the Ming army.

Although the artillery of the Ming army completely suppressed the defenders on the city of Xiangyang, the biggest problem they encountered at present was the narrow passage, and attacking Xiangyang along here was basically to die.

In order to quickly lay the passage, Li Xianzhong ordered a large amount of cement to be transported from Wuchang.

The roads in the southwest are difficult to travel, so in order to build roads, Li Xianzhong established a cement workshop in Wuchang in advance to meet the construction of Huguang and the southwest region.

Under the cover of artillery and Lu Mi Gong, the Ming army actually laid a road more than ten meters wide in the moat of the south gate of Xiangyang.

Not only that, but a wall higher than Xiangyang Castle was built at the location of the island in the famous lake.

The Ming army's musketeers stood on this wall and shot condescendingly, hitting the defenders of Xiangyang without raising their heads at all.

In the end, the Ming army occupied Nancheng and attacked Xiangyang!

Zhang Xianzhong had already transferred the elite troops in Xiangyang.

Li Dingguo only has a few thousand of his own descendants in his hands with a certain combat power, and the others are all rabble.

These people, you can make do with letting them stick to the city, and if you really want to fight in the streets, they immediately showed their original form.

In less than half a day, most of the western army in Xiangyang City surrendered, and only Li Dingguo led more than 1,000 people to defend the original Xiangwang Mansion!

It is not difficult to break through the Xiangwang Mansion, as long as it is bombarded with artillery.

However, Li Xianzhong's order was to capture Li Dingguo alive.

This made it difficult for Chen Qiyu, and he had to come to persuade him to surrender.

After all, Chen Qiyu was also the prime minister of the five provinces, and he had dealt with these thieves for many years.

He threatened: "Li Dingguo, the prince said that as long as you surrender, he will no longer pursue all the western troops and people in Xiangyang City, and directly release them!" ”

"If you don't surrender, Ben will execute these surrendered thieves in front of you!"

After that, Chen Qiyu asked 500 Western troops to be escorted.

He said: "Ben will give you another pillar of incense time to consider, if the time is up and you have not surrendered, then I will kill 500 people every quarter of an hour, until the whole city of Xiangyang is slaughtered!" ”

At this time, the Western Army around Li Dingguo persuaded one after another: "Zhenxi Hou, don't be fooled!" These officers and soldiers have always been untrustworthy, and once we lay down our arms, we will be slaughtered! ”

Li Dingguo said: "Chen Qiyu, Benhou can't trust you, I want Li Xianzhong's personal promise!" ”

Chen Qiyu said with a smile: "What kind of identity is the prince, how can he personally come here to promise you a thief?" ”

"If it weren't for the prince's order, the general would have fired thousands of cannons and blown you to pieces!"

Li Dingguo knew that Chen Qiyu was telling the truth, the artillery of the Ming army was so powerful that even the city wall of Xiangyang could not resist it, let alone this small Xiangwang Mansion!

There really is no need for him to trick himself into surrendering here! In the end, Li Dingguo had no choice but to surrender to Chen Qiyu!

When he saw Li Dingguo, Chen Qiyu was directly startled.

This Xihou Li Dingguo, who has been sticking to Xiangyang for more than a year and making himself helpless, is actually just a half-year-old son of ten or five or five!

Chen Qiyu said: "Tie him up and send him directly to the prince!" ”

After seeing Li Dingguo, Li Xianzhong was not surprised, and signaled his subordinates to loosen Li Dingguo's bonds!

He just said lightly: "You are Li Dingguo?" ”

Li Dingguo felt very strange, he was originally surnamed Li, but since he was adopted by Zhang Xianzhong as his adopted son, he has always regarded himself as Zhang Dingguo.

Why does the Ming army keep calling him Li Dingguo?

He said: "I am the righteous son of Emperor Zhang Xianzhong of Daxi, Zhang Dingguo, Marquis of Zhenxi!" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Didn't you originally have the surname Li? ”

"Zhang Dingguo's king sounds awkward, you should call back your real name Li Dingguo!"

Regarding Li Xianzhong's unreasonable request, Li Dingguo was also confused, could it be that Li Xianzhong also wanted to accept himself as a righteous son?

Anyway, his original surname was Li, and Li Dingguo is Li Dingguo!

At this time, Li Dingguo was attracted by the sand table around Li Xianzhong, although he had heard of the sand table, it was the first time he saw it.

This sandbox is much clearer than the map they use!

I only heard Li Xianzhong say: "As early as the same day that Zhang Xianzhong left, your eldest brother Zhang Kewang took the initiative to give up Yunyang Mansion and threw you and Xiangyang to this king!" ”

Li Dingguo said: "This is our established plan, the eldest brother is only carrying out his father's orders, and the prince is going to sow discord!" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Dingguo has long seen the king's plot to outflank Hanyang, if it weren't for him Zhang Kewang personally ran to Zhang Xianzhong to ask for more troops in Hanyang, how could your tens of thousands of main forces be left there?" ”

"If he didn't target you, do you believe it?"

Li Dingguo said: "My eldest brother and I just have different political views, and he didn't mean to target me. ”

Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "Zhang Kewang's suggestion is good, take the initiative to give up Xiangyang; After the king captured Xiangyang, he would attack Li Zicheng's Henan. ”

"Your two fathers and brothers have been preparing to give up Xiangyang for a long time, I'm just curious why Dingguo still insists on the lonely city of Xiangyang?"

Li Dingguo was a little ashamed at this time, he said: "Dingguo really underestimated the strength of the Liaodong Army, but I didn't expect the prince to take Xiangyang in just a few days!" ”

"How did the eldest brother Zhang Dingguo's suggestion to his father and emperor know?"

"I have the eyeliner of the prince in the upper echelons of Daxi?"

Li Xianzhong nodded and said, "Dingguo might as well guess who the eyeliner is?" ”

At that time, only Zhang Kewang was present, as well as the national teacher Zhang Jiao and "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai!

Li Dingguo said firmly: "It's Luo Rucai!" Our father-in-law is as kind to us as a mountain, and the person who provides information to the prince must be an outsider. ”

Li Xianzhong said: "Isn't the national teacher Zhang Jiao also an outsider? ”

Li Dingguo said: "The national teacher Zhang Jiao's "Dividing the Fields" is my Daxi's national policy, and he brought back the news of Gao Jie to help my father get out of trouble, he is definitely not the prince's person." ”

Li Xianzhong said: "If it weren't for the king's "Dividing the Fields", he Zhang Xianzhong would have been finished long ago, so where did he come from? ”

"If it weren't for the fact that this king sent Zheng Zhilong to capture Denglai, I'm afraid you would have been wiped out by the official army when you were in Henan, right?"

"When Hong Chengchou besieged you in Dabie Mountain, it was the king who relieved the siege for you."

"Whether it's Li Zicheng or Zhang Xianzhong, it's just a tool in the hands of this king. Could it be that if they are called emperors, they really think they are emperors? ”

He originally thought that Zhang Xianzhong was a good man, and he could turn evil into good fortune whenever he encountered danger, but he didn't expect that the mastermind behind all this was Li Xianzhong.

He couldn't help but have a question, why did Li Xianzhong do this?

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(End of chapter)