Besides, Li Zicheng broke camp from Gaoyi City early in the morning and rushed south for more than 30 miles. When it was almost noon, Liu Fangliang and Luo Hu arrived from behind with more than 10,000 elite troops. They described in detail how they played Chang Yu in Zhending Mansion. All the thieves were
Feeling relieved of their hatred, they cheered one after another. For a moment, their morale was greatly shaken, but instead of leaving in defeat, they were clearly returning in triumph.
That's right, they used the victory to boost morale and persuade the refugees to continue working hard, sweating blood and working hard to escort the train back to Xi'an, allowing them to have land, food and money after arriving in Xi'an, and they did not need to pay taxes.
The refugees were bewitched by him and worked extremely hard to push the carts to transport goods. In fact, when Li Zicheng went north, he took hundreds of thousands of refugees with him without any plan. He spent tens of thousands of them under the city of Baoding due to fighting and being used as cannon fodder before leaving.
Tens of thousands more were abandoned on the way to Qizhou. In order to cover up their whereabouts, Wang Genzi drove nearly 100,000 refugees to Zhending Fucheng, leaving only more than 10,000 young men to transport their luggage.
After Liu Fangliang broke through the Hutuo River defense line outside Zhending City, he abandoned most of the refugees, and only took 30,000 to 40,000 people as armor to continue southward. This means that there were less than 50,000 refugees around the intruders at this time, and the rest were all rebels, and almost all of them were soldiers.
They are the main elite, because most of the partial divisions were defeated by officers and soldiers and captured.
After the thieves had a good time, they were well fed and rested. Liu Fangliang and Luo Hu led their troops to open the way first. Li Zicheng wanted to let Ma Bao go with him, but Luo Hu refused and let him stay to escort the baggage. He and Liu Fangliang were able to clear the way.
There are obstacles ahead, because according to intelligence, there are only about 10,000 officers and soldiers, and the only generals that the Ming Dynasty can fight are the few around the young eunuch. They are all behind them at this time, and the paper tigers in front are nothing to be afraid of.
Li Zicheng was worried and ordered Li Guo and Song Xiance to go with them.
At the same time, in the Hutuo River a hundred miles away, the army led by Chang Yu had just crossed the river. The vanguard Tengxiang Guards Cavalry had already sent people to report in Luancheng, thirty miles away. They were only twenty or thirty miles away from the tail of the rebel army.
.
Chang Yu sneered, Li Zicheng sent tens of thousands of people to the rear to protect him and fled south. He was afraid that he would be south of Gaoyi by now. His tail was really long!
"Chop it off, chop off his tail!" Huang Degong shouted all the way, his face full of resentment. Zhou Yuji always comforted him: "Don't be impatient, keep an eye on him and move slowly, recharge your batteries, and stab him to death when the time comes."
he……"
What is the opportunity? Huang Degong shouted at the top of his lungs. He felt that any time was the opportunity and he could start at any time.
"The opportunity is when the bandits hit the south wall." Li Muxian chuckled in a low voice. Huang Degong was startled: "South wall? You mean Gao Jie?" Then he looked disdainful: "This guy crawled out of the den of thieves. Who?
I really don’t know if he and Li Zicheng will rekindle their old relationship, you see, Li Yan is so virtuous.”
The generals laughed loudly, Chang Yu glanced at him and said lightly: "Don't say such words in front of Li Yan."
"Of course not." Huang Degong responded cheerfully, and whispered: "What if I say so? Could it be that he dares to beat me?"
Wuzhong probed: "Li Yan's martial arts skills are not weak, you may not be able to defeat him!"
"Fuck, I don't believe it anymore," Huang Degong yelled, causing Chang Yu to turn around and frown: "What don't you believe?"
"Supervisor, Mr. Huang doesn't believe you can defeat him within ten moves," Wuzhong said quickly. Huang Degong looked confused: "I didn't say that."
Moreover, Chang Yu curled his lips and said, "Ten moves were used?"
When Huang Degong, who was originally in a panic, heard this, he thought he was looking down on others, so he started shouting for a competition, but Zhou Yuji tried to hold him down, and whispered: "You will be a hit with just three moves."
"Fuck, old Zhou, you don't even look down on me?" Huang Degong was even more dissatisfied. He suddenly saw that Zhou Yuji looked wrong and couldn't help but be startled... "Could it be that you..."
Alas, Zhou Yuji nodded slightly embarrassed and sighed: "I fell down with one move the first time..."
Li Yan is a very particular and elegant person. Although he has been a thief for many years, his temperament has not changed. Even when the conditions are difficult, he is not criticized by the gang of gangsters. For example, he always likes to make a pot of tea after meals to relieve tiredness.
Tian Xiong is not a rough man, but he is not a refined person either. For example, he thinks tea is so delicious. Isn’t it just water made from leaves soaked in water? It’s not as sweet and satisfying as drinking well water. When he saw Li Yan at the state government office
He found it boring to drink tea leisurely under a plane tree in the courtyard, so he made an excuse to leave.
However, he was stopped by Li Yan. When he was in Baoding Mansion, he heard Wuzhong boast that he and the young governor had gone deep into the tiger's den, sneaked into Zhaozhou City, met Li Muxian, rescued Nangong Yu, broke into the den of thieves, kidnapped the leader of the thieves, and captured Zhaozhou in one fell swoop.
He had traveled around the world and heard anecdotes about knights, which made him excited, so he sought out Tian Xiong for confirmation.
Upon hearing these words, Tian Xiong also became more energetic: "Everyone in the army knows that the young governor went deep into the tiger's den. This is what the officers and soldiers love to talk about when they are free..."
Just when Tian Xiong was frothing and saying that Li Yan was about to go to Nangong Yu's house to express condolences, he suddenly heard that Tan Ma came to report that thousands of officers and soldiers had come from the north and called the door, saying they were from Liu Zeqing's department.
Li Yan frowned. He had heard about Liu Zeqing's bad character for a long time. Wuzhong was muttering in front of him every day that he wanted to kill this person, but why did he come? Didn't the little governor previously order him to encircle him? Now he should really go
Dingfu is the one.
Feeling suspicious that it was a scam, he went to the north gate with Tian Xiong. However, Tian Xiong knew Liu Zeqing, and after confirming that he was correct, he let him into the city to introduce him to meet Li Yan.
Liu Zeqing was a little shocked by Li Yan's temperament at such a majestic weapon. In fact, he looked down on Li Yan, who was a thief. However, knowing that Li Yan was on good terms with Chang Yu and that he had been personally given the title of the Justice Army by the emperor, he did not dare to do so.
He didn't show it too much, but just gave his hand in a faint gesture: "It's General Li, I've heard his name for a long time."
Li Yan returned the courtesy, and when he saw Liu Zeqing's eyes were red and his face was tired, he asked: "Is Mr. Liu following the order of the Governor to pursue the bandit army?" Liu Zeqing smiled bitterly: "It's not like we met almost non-stop for two days and two nights."
Li Yan asked again: "General Liu only has these thousands of cavalry?" Liu Zeqing shook his head: "More than ten thousand will arrive later. When I heard that the bandit army was fleeing, I took the lead in chasing..."
After talking to each other, Li Yan and Tian Xiong looked at each other, with a faint smile on their lips. Liu Zeqing's words were full of routines, and they were both sensible people who would see through things without telling them.
Tian Xiong ordered people to bring tea and rice to entertain Liu Zeqing well, and his subordinates were also properly accommodated. They had enough food and water to talk to each other. Liu Zeqing was about to go into the room to rest for a while, when he suddenly heard that a visiting horse came to deliver orders.
Chang Yu ordered Li Yan to send troops to chase the thieves in the afternoon, and looked for an opportunity to join forces to chop off several pieces of the thieves' tails. The spy was very surprised to see Liu Zeqing there, and said that he also had military orders sent to Jinzhou and would not expect to meet him here.
Liu Zeqing hurriedly asked for details, and the spy said: "The governor ordered General Liu's soldiers to rush on horseback to help General Li chase the thieves."
In just one sentence, Liu Zeqing's face turned pale. Although he tried hard to control his expression, Li Yan and Tian Xiong could still tell that he was angry, very angry!
A dignified commander-in-chief of the army, a big-shot figure in the military. The little eunuch's words of "helping Li Yan chase the thief" obviously meant that he wanted him to obey Li Yan's orders!
Who is Li Yan? He is just a surrendered bandit. Why should I obey his orders? Liu Zeqing was furious and felt humiliated. However, he was a person after all. He then thought that he could not fall out at this time and would wait for a while. After all,
The most important thing is to gain merit in front of you, and if you have great merit, it's good. If not, huh, just wait and see.
Li Yan knew that Chang Yu hated Liu Zeqing very much, and because of the incident at Black Wolf Camp, even Wuzhong had murderous intentions. It was obvious that this arrangement was deliberately to punish Liu Zeqing and bring bad luck to Wuzhong. At this time, he did not know that Chang Yu heard that Liu Zeqing massacred the city.
Things also aroused murderous intentions.
Since the young governor had this thought, Li Yan understood and said to Liu Zeqing: "We have been chasing the trespassers all the way from Baoding to this point. We are exhausted and already overwhelmed. It is Mr. Huang's men who have been really active in the past few days."
Dingfu has fought several battles with the bandit army, but it is also at the end of the war. At present, only the soldiers of General Liu are strong and strong. It is time to take advantage of the defeat of the thieves and ask General Liu to mobilize the men and horses to be the vanguard to chase the thieves."
Damn, I'm obviously going to take the lead in chewing the bones. Mr. Liu is cunning and cunning. Xiao Jiujiu saw through Li Yan at a glance, but he was also moved. As Li Yan said, the officers and soldiers are all exhausted at this time, and he is the only one who has been raising troops in the past half month.
Resting at the top of the city to watch a show, he caught up just when Li Zicheng was defeated and fled. If he could capture the intruder in one fell swoop, it would be a great achievement of the feudal lord. The little eunuch, Huang Degong and others spent half a month.
He was busy carrying his own sedan chair in vain.
The more I thought about it, the happier I became, so I nodded in agreement, and said something about killing the enemy and serving the country righteously. Li Yan and Tian Xiong nodded in agreement, and then Liu Zeqing ordered people to urge the main force to march quickly. (To be continued)