Although Gao Jie was domineering in history, he did not betray after surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, and this point has been stronger than many Ming Dynasty generals!

Now that he has greened Li Zicheng and killed Zhang Xianzhong, there is no way out of whether he is facing Dashun or Daxi.

There is no choice but to die for Daming!

Even if he is not knighted, he will still be loyal.

The reason why he was given this title was that Li Xianzhong had his own considerations.

He used Gao Jie to be a benchmark, and the court would not treat them badly if they made great contributions and surrendered their land.

In addition, the land of Hanzhong is indeed very important to me.

Occupy here, whether it is north to Guanzhong or south to Bashu, it is easy to play!

Hanzhong choked Shuzhong's throat, while Yangpingguan choked Hanzhong's throat.

It leans on Jigong Mountain in the south and Jialing River in the north, and the terrain is extremely dangerous.

The south can enter Sichuan, the north passes through Luoyang, the west reaches Longnan, and the east reaches Hanzhong.

Whether you take Qishan Road or Chencang Road, if you want to enter Shu, you can't get around Yangping Pass in the end.

Yangping Pass is the gateway to the most important passage into Shu, "Golden Bull Road".

Now Yangping Pass is still in the hands of the Great Western Army, and the top priority now is naturally to seize Yangping Pass!

Although Sun Kewang was ordered to lead an army of 30,000 to Chengdu south, he still left 5,000 elites at Yangping Pass.

Gao Jie had just been named Guiyibo, and at this time he naturally wanted to show himself in front of Li Xianzhong.

Although the terrain of Hanzhong is dangerous, it is connected by the Han River.

Although the large warships of the Ming navy could not sail into Hanzhong, they could still use the waterway to transport the Hongyi cannons.

As long as there is a place where a large water system is connected, no matter how high the mountains and long roads are, it is relatively convenient to transport grain and artillery.

In a dangerous pass like Yangping Pass, if there is no heavy artillery, it can only lure the enemy out of the pass.

Wanting to rely entirely on a strong attack to seize the pass is almost a dream.

Fortunately, it was to the north of Yangping Pass, so the artillery was deployed, and if it was changed to Jianmen Pass, there was only a narrow road to connect them, and the mountains were steep.

The elevation angle of ordinary artillery shooting is not enough, and it is impossible to close at all, and only by pushing the mortar to the bottom can it be possible to break the level, and the difficulty has increased by more than one level.

Although the Ming army's 18-pounder rifled guns were not enough to directly bombard Yangpingguan, the huge power of the flowering shells also killed and injured a large number of defenders.

After only three or four rounds of shelling, the city was already in shambles.

With Gao Jie's order, 3,000 men and horses held their shields high and pushed the ladder to charge towards Yangping Pass.

Although the Western army on Yangping Pass suffered heavy losses due to the artillery bombardment of the Ming army, they still relied on the favorable terrain to use the rocks and rolling logs to kill and injure Gao Jie's army in large numbers.

Zuo Liangyu and Chen Qiyu on the side were also frightened!

Fortunately, this is Gao Jie's centaur, if his own subordinates are all fleshy and painful!

The front of Yangping Pass is not lenient, and investing 3,000 people at a time is already the limit.

Soon the first batch of 3,000 people suffered most casualties, and Gao Jie threw in the second batch.

The Ming army provided powerful artillery and sent musketeers to suppress the western army on the pass, if this still can't beat the Yangping Pass, it is really a little unreasonable.

Gao Jie was not ambiguous, he pulled out his sword and went into battle to tackle the problem in person!

The second group of people are the main force of Gao Jie's old battalion, and they are stronger than the first batch of troops to attack the city in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness.

Gao Jie personally threw himself into the attack, which greatly boosted the morale of the besieging men!

All of them are brave and want to snatch the "first to go"!

Sure enough, he attacked Yangping Pass in one go!

If the Western Army left 10,000 horses at Yangping Pass, then this siege battle would definitely be repeated.

However, now that the Western Army in Yangping Pass is insufficient, and it has been killed and injured a lot by artillery fire, there is naturally no suspense!

More than half an hour later, the Ming army conquered Yangping Pass.

At this time, the 25,000 Western Army led by Zhang Kewang had also passed through the Sword Pavilion and entered the territory of Mianzhou.

After Zhang Kewang won Yangping Pass, Gao Jie turned back.

After learning that Zhang Xianzhong was killed, Zhang Kewang originally wanted to lead the army back to Nanzheng to avenge his father!

However, the national teacher Zhang Jiao dissuaded him in time.

Zhang Jiao said: "Now that the situation in Hanzhong is unknown, the Marquis of Zhendong, as the righteous son of His Majesty, has the first task to return to Chengdu, take over the power of Daxi, and let Zhang Nengqi hand over the soldiers and horses in Chengdu!" ”

Zhang Kewang thought about it, Gao Jie's 50,000 men and horses were concentrated near Nanzheng, and the other soldiers and horses in Daxi were on the front line to resist Li Zicheng.

Even if the 30,000 people in his hands are killed back to Nanzheng, they may not be able to defeat Gao Jie.

If some soldiers and horses are lost again, the strength will be even more damaged, and it will not be conducive to competing for the position of Emperor Onishi.

Moreover, the Ming army has already occupied Langzhong and cut off the Micang Road, if they occupy the Sword Pavilion to block the Golden Bull Road, they will become a turtle in the urn.

After thinking about it again, Sun Kewang left 5,000 people to garrison Yangping Pass and retreated all the way to Shuzhong.

Fortunately, they moved quickly enough to retreat before the Ming army!

However, Zhang Kewang still has his own concerns, he said: "The fourth brother sits in Chengdu, controls nearly 80,000 soldiers and horses, and is the largest real power faction in Daxi today. ”

"I'm afraid that he won't hand over his military power and call himself a vassal to this marquis!"

Zhang Jiao said with a smile: "My own division brought out His Majesty's seal letter in the midst of the chaos, and when the time comes, as long as I take out the edict and say that Your Majesty ordered the Marquis of Zhendong to succeed to the throne, who would dare to disobey?" ”

Zhang Kewang was overjoyed and said: "As long as Benhou succeeds to the throne, he will definitely not treat the national teacher badly!" ”

The ecstatic Zhang Kewang was in a state of excitement and just wanted to return to Chengdu as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, he was ambushed by the Ming army near Deyang.

In fact, this can't be blamed on Zhang Kewang, who would have thought that the Ming army did not intercept him in the Sword Pavilion, but appeared in Mianzhou, which is farther away.

This sudden scene caught him off guard.

Zhang Jiao said: "It seems that the Ming army has blocked the road leading to Chengdu in front, and we quickly turned to Mianzhu." ”

The Ming army was ambushed on both sides of the road, and now that the enemy situation is unknown, the more dangerous it will be if they stay for a moment.

Zhang Kewang is now in a hurry to return to Chengdu to succeed to the throne, so he naturally does not dare to delay, so he takes his cronies to the north and turns to Mianzhu.

Fortunately, the Ming army did not pursue, but in this battle, Sun Kewang lost 10,000 people.

By the time he arrived in Chengdu, there were only 15,000 people left with him.

Zhang Kewang originally wanted to enter Chengdu first, and then announce Zhang Xianzhong's death, and then Zhang Jiao took out the edict so that he could succeed to the throne in one fell swoop.

However, things are far from going as smoothly as Zhang Kewang thought.

The city gate of Chengdu was closed, and Zhang Nengqi didn't let Sun Kewang's army enter the city at all!

Zhang Jiao said: "It's not good, it must be that the news of His Majesty's death has reached Chengdu, it seems that this Zhang Nengqi also has thoughts about the throne of Daxi." ”

"For today's plan, only the national division will enter Chengdu first and explore the reality!"

Naturally, it was Zhang Jiao who sent someone to send a letter to Chengdu, if Zhang Kewang's army was allowed to enter the city at this moment, the position of the heir of Daxi would not have anything to do with Li Dingguo!

Whether it was the ambush in Mianzhou or the letter delivery in Chengdu, it was all to buy time for Li Dingguo.

After Zhang Jiao entered the city, he did not mention Zhang Xianzhong's will to stay, but repeatedly asked Zhang Nengqi to let Zhang Kewang lead troops into the city.

Although Zhang Nengqi said that he controlled an army of 80,000, many of these people were distributed in various provinces in Sichuan, and many of them had surrendered to the Ming army, and Chengdu only had 30,000 horses.

But even so, his strength is significantly stronger than Zhang Kewang!

Now his second brother Zhang Wenxiu and third brother Zhang Dingguo are unknown in their lives and deaths, and only Zhang Kewang can compete with him for the inheritance of Daxi.

Of course, he couldn't just give up.

In the end, Zhang Nengqi agreed that Zhang Kewang could enter the city, but he could only bring 300 people.

This time it is Zhang Kewang's turn to be embarrassed, it is too dangerous for 300 people to enter the city, if Zhang Nengqi has bad intentions, wouldn't he throw himself into the net?

So the two sides confronted each other in Chengdu for many days.

But time was not in Zhang's favor, because his men and horses did not carry much grain and grass with them when they returned from Hanzhong.

It is obvious that Zhang Nengqi is forcing him to compromise.

Just when Zhang Kewang was in a dilemma, another army came outside Chengdu.

The leaders were actually Zhang Dingguo and Zhang Wenxiu.

They had a lot of men and horses in their hands, and Li Xianzhong handed over all the elites of the Western Army who surrendered in Xiangyang, Kuizhou, and Hanzhong to Li Dingguo, with 20,000 people.

Both Zhang Kewang and Zhang Nengqi were very surprised by the arrival of the two.

After the city of Xiangyang was broken and Chongqing was lost, the two of them should have been captured by the Ming army, how could they appear in Chengdu?

Zhang Dingguo did not shy away from it, he said: "The two of us were indeed captured by the Ming army and surrendered to Li Xianzhong. ”

"Li Xianzhong is now busy dealing with Li Zicheng, so he accepted our surrender, let us lead the army back to Chengdu to persuade Daxi to surrender to him!"

That's, isn't it?

Li Xianzhong not only accepted their surrender, but also asked the two of them to lead their troops back to Chengdu? Zhang Kewang said: "This is absolutely impossible, Li Xianzhong is not an idiot, how could he do such a stupid thing?" ”

Zhang Dingguo said: "Then I don't know, maybe he was kicked in the head by a donkey." Anyway, my second brother and I did bring troops to Chengdu, and we also brought back the body of our father-in-law! ”

Now that Zhang Xianzhong's remains have returned to Chengdu, Zhang Nengqi naturally can't turn them away from the city anymore.

In the end, they agreed that each of the three parties should lead 10,000 men to be stationed inside the city, and the rest of the soldiers and horses would be stationed outside the city.

And Zhang Xianzhong's Empress Chen presided over the funeral.

Now that the Ming army has arrived in the city, it is naturally impossible for Zhang Xianzhong's funeral to be a special event.

It is impossible to have an imperial tomb, they built a simple tomb for Zhang Xianzhong on Longquan Mountain in the east of Chengdu, and they are ready to bury it!

Zhang Xianzhong's biological son was separated in the chaos in his early years, and now his four righteous sons naturally carry the coffin for him.

After all, he is still the Emperor of Onishi, and although the tomb is simple, the funeral scene is still very grand.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and more than 100,000 people in Chengdu mourned it!

The people of Chengdu were banned from entertainment for seven days.

Now the problem is still the heir of Onishi.

Zhang Xianzhong did not set up any prince before his death.

Zhang Kewang now has the least number of troops, only 15,000 people, which is not as good as Zhang Dingguo's 20,000 troops with Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi's 30,000 people.

Trying to convince them with primogeniture will certainly not work.

At this time, it was the turn of the national teacher Zhang Jiao to come forward, and he said: "Your Majesty has made an edict before his death!" ”

With that, Zhang Jiao took out a wax-sealed box!

Although the wax seal of the box has not been opened, who can know the authenticity of this edict?

Zhang Nengqi knew that Zhang Jiao came to Chengdu with Sun Kewang, and the two of them must have been a raccoon dog for a long time.

He was the first to object, saying: "Dare to ask the national teacher, this edict was drafted by His Majesty himself?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong is a big old man, how can he draft the edict by himself?

Zhang Jiao said: "It was dictated by His Majesty and drafted by his own teacher!" ”

Zhang Nengqi said: "In this way, who succeeds to the throne is not up to the national teacher." It's not that we can't trust the national teacher, this edict is really difficult to convince the public! ”

Zhang Kewang hurriedly objected and said: "The national teacher is deeply valued by his father, and Benhou dares to use his life to guarantee that the national teacher will definitely not do anything exaggerated!" ”

So Zhang Nengqi looked at Zhang Dingguo and Zhang Wenxiu.

Zhang Jiao is the person that the eldest brother Zhang desires, so presumably the two of them will definitely oppose it.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Dingguo said: "The national teacher has done his best for me, and I believe in his character!" ”

Zhang Wenxiu immediately agreed!

In this way, three to one, they decided that the edict was valid!

Zhang Kewang was dumbfounded after opening the edict with great anticipation, the heir of Daxi on the edict was actually Zhang Dingguo, the Marquis of Zhenxi!

At this time, he realized that he was tricked by Zhang Jiao!

He completely ignored his oath just now, and asked: "When my father issued the edict, the life and death of the third brother were uncertain, how could he pass the throne to the third brother?" ”

Zhang Jiao said: "My own national teacher, I also asked Your Majesty at that time. His Majesty said that the Marquis of Zhenxi had the courage to stick to Xiangyang and had a view of the overall situation. He believed that Zhenxihou would be safe and sound. ”

"Now it seems that Your Majesty is really like a god!"

Zhang Kewang's face was flushed with anger at this time, but he couldn't refute it.

At this time, Zhang Nengqi said: "Didn't the eldest brother swear to guarantee the national teacher before, but now he wants to go back on his word?" ”

Now Zhang Nengqi has also expressed his position, Zhang Kewang has the least soldiers and horses in his hands, and naturally he is powerless to return to the sky, and he can only acquiesce to this result.

However, out of dissatisfaction with Zhang Xianzhong's edict, he changed back to his real name and called Sun Kewang!

When the others saw it, they simply changed back to their original names.

On the seventh day of August in the second year of Hongguang, Li Dingguo succeeded the Daxi Emperor in Chengdu, and he canonized Sun Kewang as the king of Dongping, Liu Wenxiu as the king of Nanping, and Ai Nengqi as the king of Beiping.

At this time, Li Xianzhong, who was angered by Li Dingguo's "fraudulent surrender", appointed Zhang Zhiji as the governor of Sichuan, and Cao Bianjiao as the general soldier of Sichuan; He also sent Mao Wenlong, the governor of Huguang, and Qin Liangyu, the general soldier of Chongqing, to assist him in encircling and suppressing Daxi.

Zhang Zhiji ordered Qin Liangyu's mother and son to send troops from Chongqing to occupy Jiading Prefecture and attack Chengdu from the south, Mao Wenlong sent troops from Baoning Mansion to occupy Tongchuan Mansion and attack Chengdu from the east, while he himself went south from Yangping Pass to attack Jiange and approached Chengdu from the north.

In the face of the Ming army's three-way army, Chengdu is in danger!

Zhang Jiao, the national teacher, said: "The Ming army is about to encircle Chengdu, although we now have more than 60,000 people, but if the Ming army is trapped in Chengdu, it will definitely be a dead end." ”

"Now the Ming army on the northeast road is the main force of the Liaodong Army, and only Qin Liangyu and Ma Xianglin on the south road are relatively thin! We must quickly break through to the south and jump out of the encirclement of the Ming army! ”

At this time, Sun Kewang said: "Although Xiang Nan can jump out of the encirclement of the Ming army, it is all Tusi all the way, and it will become very difficult to replenish it. ”

Sun Kewang's worries are not unreasonable, they have more than 60,000 people, and it is a big problem to evacuate supplies all the way south.

If you can only grab food from those toasts to the south, this road will not be easy to walk!

Li Dingguo said: "The combat strength of the Ming army is too strong, if we are trapped in Chengdu, there is only a dead end, and it is inevitable to withdraw from Chengdu!" ”

"Let's go south first, so that the Ming army must have thought that we would enter Yunnan directly from Sichuan; Then he went out of his way to the east and killed Guizhou. Now Guizhou is not under the control of the Ming army, where the mountains and roads are dangerous, and can be used as a temporary shelter for us. ”

"As for the toasts, if they are willing to give them some food, we will let them go. If you dare to stop us, you will be killed! ”

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(End of chapter)