No matter how reluctant Xiong Chu was, it still happened.

Mo Jiuniang's dark line planted in Jingzhou and Tianmen suddenly sent back a piece of news, and the old master Miao Sanguan could only further speed up his actions and make a major adjustment to the future strategic layout.

The news was both expected and unexpected.

On the second day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen (1643), Li Zicheng captured Chengtianfu (now Zhongxiang, Hubei).

Zhongxiang County is the place where Jiajing Emperor Zhu Houxi made his birth, and takes the meaning of "Feng Shui treasure land, auspicious bell", so it is named Zhongxiang.

Zhu Houxi's biological father Zhu Youqi was buried here after his death, which is the famous obvious mausoleum, Zhongxiang County was upgraded to a mansion, and renamed Chengtian Mansion.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong participated in the Xingyang Conference that year, and once agreed with the 72nd Battalion: Whoever can capture the ancestral tomb of the Zhu family can become the emperor.

Because of this, after Zhang Xianzhong's strength increased for the first time, the first target was Fengyang City, but it was destroyed by Xiong Chu, which is the fundamental reason why Zhang Xianzhong hated Xiong Chu.

This time, Li Zicheng won three battles and three victories, defeating Zuo Liangyu to the ground, so that the entire Jingxiang land did not have a single soldier of the imperial court, and Chengtianfu went down with a drum.

This is the second city with the prince in charge after Li Zicheng broke through the palace of Luoyang Fuwang, and it is second to none among the rebels of all walks of life.

Because of this, the people around Li Zicheng suddenly remembered the agreement of the Xingyang Conference, so they instigated Li Zicheng to ascend the throne as emperor.

Li Zicheng was suddenly moved, but Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan and others always thought that the time was not yet ripe, and moved out what Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang said back then: "Build a high wall and slowly become king." ”

Its purpose is very clear, and there are now many rebels. If you rush to claim the king's hegemony, you will become the target of public criticism, at least it will become the target of the imperial court's special attack, and it is not conducive to uniting with other rebel armies.

This is Lao Cheng's opinion, so Li Zicheng called himself "Generalissimo Fengtian Advocates Righteousness", and Luo Rucai called himself "General Weide on behalf of the people of Tian", and was willing to succumb to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai decided to seek the land of Jingxiang as the foundation, change Xiangyang to Xiangjing, and change Chengtianfu to Yangwuzhou.

He promoted his nephew Li Guo and brother-in-law Gao Yigong to be lieutenants, Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin as generals, Li Yan, He Jin, and Liu Xiyao as generals, Zhang Nai, Dang Shousu, and others as mighty generals, and Gu Kecheng and Ren Weirong as generals Guoyi, with a total of 22 generals in five battalions and more than 190,000 people.

Li Zicheng did not rush to claim the emperor, which made Miao Sanguan a little surprised.

What made Miao Sanguan even more anxious was the news that followed.

In February of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, after Li Zicheng occupied Jingzhou Mansion, he immediately crossed the Yangtze River to the south and captured Lizhou, and the spearhead was directed at Changde.

The ancient city of Lixian was suddenly lost, and Li Qiande, the governor of Biyuan, and Kong Xigui, the chief soldier, did not return to Changde to defend, but led the remnants of the army to flee to Changsha.

Zhou Jin, a general stationed in Changde City, because he had less than 3,000 troops in his hands, heard that Li Zicheng's southward army of more than 24,000 people had occupied Lizhou, and that the governor and the general army had already fled, and he was immediately terrified.

Mo Jiuniang sent back the news that before he was ready to escape, the general Zhou Jin had ordered the city of Changde to be set on fire within three days to resist Li Zicheng's southbound army with scorched earth.

This time he was finally caught by Miao Sanguan, so he ordered Chen Jie to be the leader, and Li Dingguo led the original youth battalion of 3,600 people to rush to Changde City to protect the army.

In the name of the prince of Yongsheng, he immediately arrested the bold Zhou Jin, and then turned east and rushed to Changsha City, and arrested Li Qiande, the governor of Biyuan, and Kong Xigui, the general soldier, who lost the city and lost his troops and lost his troops.

Of course, Changde City was originally a strategic location, and it was the northwest gateway to Changsha City. There are a lot of things in Chengdecheng, and there are 3,000 guards, which cannot be lost.

Miao Sanguan issued an urgent order: Helangen, a Mongolian general stationed in Xinhua County (now Loudi), led all his men and horses to rush to the aid of Changde City, and stood by for help.

After Heligen came to Hengyang Mansion after he moved to fight for thousands of miles, he has been immersed in military training in the past few years, and his subordinates now have 1,200 cavalry and 3,600 infantry troops.

Only sent out a team, Miao Sanguan felt that it was not safe.

Since Li Zicheng has gone all out to manage the nine counties of Jingxiang, he must not take it lightly, and now he needs to consider the overall situation and make a new layout.

Because this is a matter that affects the whole body, Miao Sanguan did not hesitate at all, and secretly issued an order to adjust the direction of defensive operations in accordance with the previous plan.

The battalion of the Chinese army was immediately relocated to Changsha City, under the jurisdiction of:

Enemy reconnaissance: Mo Jiuniang and Fan Liancheng are in charge of the scout camp and the dark lines in various places.

Central Protector Army: Chief General Li Dingguo, Deputy General Mu Danian, Pioneer Hu Weicheng, 3,600 cavalry, 3,600 infantry and firearms, and 3,600 crossbow soldiers.

This is a specially formed juvenile camp after Xiong Chu destroyed the Tang Gate in Yinping, Sichuan. Now they are all sixteen or seventeen-year-old lads, absolutely loyal and reliable, and they are also a guard.

The main generals left behind in Hengyang City: Zhang Rulian (Miao Sanguan's wife), the general Hou Laoliu, and the deputy generals Liu Guoxiong, Weng Shiming, Zhan Jinguo, and Zhang Kebing, the "Four Fierce Men of Pingyang", unified command of 2,400 infantry soldiers, 1,200 artillery soldiers, and 1,200 cavalry.

Peng Wuying, the prefect of Hengyang Prefecture: In charge of the civil affairs of Hengzhou, Yongzhou, and Guiyang, he uniformly dispatched 64,000 people of the Daguanbao reserve army to ensure the supply of front-line weapons, grain and grass.

The chief general of the Western Front: Guan Datou, the deputy general: Helangen, and the vanguard: Chang Delin and Tang Da, unified the command of 14,000 troops in Yongzhou Prefecture. The direction of defensive operations is the first line of Changde and Jingzhou, and the main camp is placed in Changde City.

The main general of the middle route: Shen Xiyue, the deputy general: Jiang Tengjiao, and the naval division has 60 warships with a total strength of 24,000 people. The future direction of defensive operations is Yueyang Mansion, Wuchang Mansion, and Nankang Mansion, and the big battalion is placed in Yueyang City.

The main general of the East Road: Zhang Chengzong, the deputy generals: Hua Si, Mei San, and the vanguard: Weng Chengjiu, with a total strength of 12,000 people. In the future, the direction of defensive operations will be Nankang Mansion and Nanchang Prefecture, and the main battalion will be placed in Liling County.

Miao Sanguan gave an order, and all the 180,000 troops secretly moved. Because there is a false title of "King of Eternal Victory", many things can be settled.

In the uneven place, the general manager of Jinyi Weihu Guang will personally go out and invite those guys who have long been on the blacklist to Hengyang Wangfu to drink a bowl of Meng Po soup, and then send them to Naihe Bridge to be reincarnated.

The others did not have a clear enemy, and the most anxious was Guan Datou, because Helangen had already taken the lead, but it was difficult to say that the troops of less than 5,000 people could block Li Zicheng's southward army.

Guan Datou was originally the chief general of Yongzhou City, and his troops were also 1,200 cavalry and 3,600 infantry. But he is different from Helian Xiange, this time it is to change the defense of Changde Mansion, and he needs to bring a lot of things.

There are 32 five-inch cannons, 48 four-inch cannons, 60 3-inch cannons, 72 large crossbow beds, and 360 Kongming single-wheeled ballista carts.

Fortunately, this time, the two pioneer officials Chang Delin and Tang Da came from Hengyang Wangcheng, and it is said that they are still the apprentices of the lord Xiong Prince, and they are the descendants of Chang Yuchun and Tang He. Each of them had two thousand four hundred cavalry, which added up to nearly five thousand.

There was no way, Guan Datou wanted to escort the cannon ballista, so he could only let the cavalry of the two vanguards go first, and after arriving at Changde City, he did not enter the city, but stationed outside the city to form a horn momentum, and advised Heligen to defend the city and wait for the arrival of the large army.

When Xiong Chu left Hengyang City, he didn't take Chang Delin and Tang Da with him, and the two little guys were depressed for a long time.

Later, when I heard that Master Xiong Chu was fighting with Westerners in the south, the two of them were so anxious that they jumped to their feet.

If it weren't for Miao Sanguan inviting the Dragon Scale Purple Gold Knife out, these two guys would have already sneaked away with their troops to find their master.

This time it was finally released from the birdcage, and Chang Delin and Tang Da found that Yiqiē was so fresh, and at the same time, it had become a wild horse that had become unleashed, and no one could control it anymore.

Chang Delin and Tang Da have the same equipment, and the number of people is the same. They were all twenty-four generals, two thousand four hundred cavalrymen, and all of them were spears.

This is also a new force specially trained secretly according to the standards of the Royal Guard, all of them are sixteen to twenty years old stick boys, all of whom are trained by orphans selected from the disaster victims.

Although I was anxious and couldn't wait to see the battlefield in the blink of an eye, it took me four days to run 600 miles along the way, and finally crossed the Yuan River and rushed to the place three miles outside the east gate of Changde City.

Before the two of them could send someone into the city to inquire about the news, the sound of war drums suddenly faintly sounded from the northwest.

Someone is at war in the north!

Tang Da exclaimed excitedly: "Brother Chang, there is a war in the north, there can be no one else here, it must be Uncle Helian who is fighting with the enemy." What do we do now?"

"We are righteous vanguard officers, open roads in the mountains, build bridges in the water, break the enemy first, and smash the Yellow Dragon, that is our business. Uncle Helian is the chief general defending the city, how can he do our work? Let's hurry up and take a look, the whole army is there, speed up!"

The army has been running for four days and four nights in a row, and now it is directly on the battlefield, and only the newborn calf is not afraid of tigers can make an explanation.

Chang Delin and Tang Da estimated well, and it was indeed Helangen who led 1,200 cavalry to block the enemy in the north of the city.

Helangen was also forced to be helpless, because when he rushed to Changde City, he found that there was nothing prepared in the city. The 3,000 guards did not even have the basic weapons, let alone the equipment to defend the city.

With this kind of remnant defeat, once the enemy surrounds the castle, it will definitely be the end of the total annihilation.

Heligan ordered his 3,600 infantry troops to disperse, led 3,000 guards to begin preparations to defend the city, and he himself led 1,200 cavalry to camp in Guanxi Town, north of the city.

In the past three days, there have been two major battles between the enemy and us.

Fortunately, there is a water network area on the left and right, and there is only one official road running north-south, which is now blocked by the wooden fence of Helengen.

Helangen's opponent was Wang Wenyao, a powerful general under Li Zicheng, with 6,000 horse infantry troops under his command. Because 2,000 men were to be left to guard the city of Lizhou, which had just been captured, 800 cavalry and more than 3,000 infantry troops came.

When Chang Delin rushed over first, he found that Helian Gen was fighting alone with two generals, and a one-foot-two-foot-long eight-sided stick in his hand was covering left and right, and he did not fall behind in the face of the enemy's two spears.

There were more than 300 cavalry in the formation on his side, and I don't know how many people were in the wooden fence. Three hundred paces away on the opposite side, there was also a general with a helmet and armor, leading hundreds of cavalry to watch the battle.

After seeing the basic situation clearly, and seeing that the enemy was also using a spear, Chang Delin was itching, and reached out to take off the eighty-six-pound tiger head Zhan gold gun on the saddle bridge, and rushed up with both heels knocking the horse's belly.

"What a shameless thief, he actually won with more, your little grandfather Chang Delin is here!"

Chang Delin shouted loudly in his mouth, and the head of the tiger head Zhan Jin Gun in his hand flashed randomly, as if the six phoenixes brought a cold light and pounced forward, it was the deadly move of Chang Jia's gun "Pear Blossom Flying Snow", and it was Xiong Chu himself who taught the complete move.

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, and the first time to see the genuine content!I734