However, it was said that after Qiu Zhitao's steward left Ruzhou, he planned to return to Xiangyang via Ruyang and Songxian.
Unfortunately, he was discovered by Yuan Zongdi's soldiers on the way and found the wax pill book.
Yuan Zongdi interrogated him personally and escorted him to Xiangcheng.
After Li Zicheng learned the details, he was shocked and angry. You must know that Qiu Zhitao was guarding Xiangyang and was in a high position, and his confidant actually betrayed him.
Simply, he still had some sense and knew that if something big happened, it would affect the morale of the army, so he summoned Qiu Zhitao to Xiangcheng in the name of discussing military affairs.
Qiu Zhitao arrived in Xiangcheng and had an ominous premonition as soon as he entered Li Zicheng's residence.
When Li Zicheng saw it, he smiled coldly, his one eye seemed to be on fire. He balled up the letter, threw it at Qiu Zhitao, and said in a deep voice:
"The Superintendent has a secret letter for me to pass on to you."
Qiu Zhitao immediately knew that the matter had been exposed, and his perfect plan was in vain, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.
Li Zicheng thought he was afraid of death, and said in a deep voice: "Since you surrendered to Xinshun, I have treated you well. It's a pity that you have gone to a dead end. Now it is too late to regret."
Hearing this, Qiu Zhitao sneered and said sternly: "Humph, Li Zicheng, do you think I am afraid of death? You killed my grandfather because you are my sworn enemy.
I wish I could take your thief in order to fulfill my loyalty and filial piety!"
Li Guo on the side couldn't bear to listen to this violent temper. He strode forward and slapped Qiu Zhitao on the nose, causing blood to flow from the corners of his mouth.
Li Zicheng looked at him coldly without saying a word for a while, then said:
"Based on what you just said, you can be punished with the punishment of splitting a chariot. Considering that you have made great contributions to my Dashun before, I will behead you."
As a result, Sun Chuanting once again turned a blind eye and had no news about Chuangjun.
On the other side, on September 12, Li Yangchun, the commander of the refugees and the Four Heavenly Kings, rebelled and surrendered, confessing:
The old camp of the thieves was in Tang County, the puppet generals and officials were gathered in Baofeng, and Li Zicheng's elite troops were all gathered in Xiangcheng.
Sun Chuanting was overjoyed and attacked Baofeng with all his strength.
In order to avoid missing the chance of fighting, he personally supervised the troops to break the city and killed Chen Kexin, the peasant army and the state herdsman, etc., regardless of his age.
Xuan then sent people to attack Tang County (now Tanghe) and massacred all the refugees and their families.
Suddenly, a deputy general in charge of the army's food and salary ran in and said: "Reporting to the Superintendent, the army's food route has been blocked in Baisha Town."
"Map, where's the map?"
Immediately, a map was placed in front of him, and his rough fingers kept stroking it back and forth.
For a while, Sun Chuanting felt that his eyes were turning black and all the blood in his brain seemed to have been drained.
With many years of war experience, Sun Chuanting immediately realized that he had fallen into the trap of the "intruder" and that the army was likely to be surrounded.
He tried his best to stay calm and issued a mandatory order, ordering the army to attack Jiaxian early tomorrow morning and collect food on the spot.
On September 13th, the Qin army arrived in Jiaxian County and captured more than 200 mules and horses, which they ate.
Apart from this, nothing was gained and the food shortage became more and more serious.
The front team led by Niu Chenghu approached Xiangcheng again, and suddenly saw a trench one foot deep and three feet wide lying in front of them.
Looking up, I saw half a mile away on the opposite side, densely packed with bandit troops, with various flags fluttering in the west wind, which was very impressive.
Their number is no less than three hundred thousand.
Obviously, Xiangcheng was well defended and difficult to conquer.
Niu Chenghu sent someone to report to Sun Chuanting urgently.
Sun Chuanting rode his horse to the front line, his body straight.
But seeing such a trench in front of me, I felt sad that the train camp was useless.
"The thief is indeed well prepared."
Sun Chuanting said coldly.
At this time, it suddenly began to rain heavily, and water began to accumulate in the trenches.
As a last resort, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to order the rear team to change to the front team and the entire army to retreat.
Heavy rains continued for seven days, and the food and grass stored in the train camp were almost exhausted. However, the food from the rear was never delivered, and the morale of the army gradually became unstable.
At this time, the rear team was in Ruzhou, had been without food for several days, and had already mutinied.
"The thieves unexpectedly raided Baisha and cut off the grain route."
Sun Chuanting pretended to be surprised and said, the generals were in a trance and looked uncertain.
Especially Gao Jie, his face was ashen.
He and Li Zicheng had a great feud. Once they were defeated, it would not be easy.
At this time, the Qin army was surrounded by intruders in front, and the rear army mutinied, obviously falling into a great dilemma.
"Wang Ding, Guan Fuwen, what a waste, the rear army can't control it."
After cursing angrily, Sun Chuanting forced himself to calm down and said to the generals: "Obviously the intruders have already planned. Xiangcheng will definitely be difficult to attack. If we wait for reinforcements, it will be no less than waiting for death."
Obviously, he didn't know about Qin Yiming and Zuo Liangyu and chose to sit on the sidelines.
"Someone is interested. Since there is no way forward or backward, we can only go southwest."
"Nanyang?"
Niu Chenghu squinted his eyes, took a closer look, and screamed.
"That's right!" Sun Chuanting said seriously: "The dozens of states in Henan are all scorched and cannot be eaten. Only Nanyang is relatively fertile. It is barely feasible to support an army of one hundred thousand like us."
"Supervisor, we are surrounded by intruders. I'm afraid it will be difficult to evacuate."
Gao Jie said hurriedly, looking particularly anxious.
Chen Yongfu, Bai Guangen and others on the side also looked anxiously.
"While the siege by the intruders has not yet been completely covered, I decided to divide my troops into three groups to break through the siege."
Immediately assigned, Niu Chenghu, Gao Jie, and Chen Yongfu broke out in three groups.
As for Bai Guangen's train camp, he was with Sun Chuanting.
First Niu Chenghu, then Gao Jie, and then the only ones left in Jiaxian were Sun Chuanting and Chen Yongfu.
After dinner, Sun Chuanting's main army prepared to set off.
Chen Yongfu's Yu army suddenly became commotion,
"We don't want to die, we want to go together -" Many people didn't want to stay in the city to wait for death, so they rushed out of the city shouting.
Chen Yongfu ordered to stop it, but it was too late.
The moonlight was exceptionally bright after the rain, and most of the people in the army had the idea of escape, so a large-scale retreat turned into a rout.
The officers and soldiers were all in danger and fearful. During the march, there was a roar of wind and cranes, and soldiers were everywhere.
"Damn it—" The planned retreat actually went awry. Sun Chuanting was furious, but he had no choice but to retreat.
"Boom, boom, boom -" The artillery in the Qin army fired continuously, and the rapid and fierce firepower was unexpected. The surrounding Shun army was crushed to pieces by the impact, and the gap continued to expand.
"When did the Qin army have so many firearms?"
Li Zicheng was riding a horse, looking at the fire, he whispered.
The expected encirclement turned out to be surprisingly weak, which made him even more angry:
"Come on, rush them all to me——"
In an instant, a large number of infantrymen came overwhelmingly, and their momentum was extremely shocking.
Bai Guangen, on the other hand, immediately ordered the train battalion to form a wall of trains, with the muskets and artillery aimed at them and firing continuously.
For a time, the thieves suffered countless casualties, and the fierce offensive slowed down in an instant.
Chen Yongfu on the side widened his eyes. Seeing the fierce firepower of the Qin army, he immediately gathered his cronies and gathered with the Qin army.
Sun Chuanting glanced at Chen Yongfu and sighed: "The plan has changed, Mr. Chen should stay with me!"
Facing the tricky train camp, Li Zicheng stared angrily. He never thought that the wolf pack tactic he was once good at would one day fail.