The guard sent by Hong Chengchou to deliver the message was named Xie Dongxun. He was tall and very brave. He took fifteen servants and disguised himself. They all took off their military uniforms and put on the clothes of bandits.
The Ming army came all the way from the towns and beheaded many scouts and skirmishers of the bandits on the way. The army not only left their heads, armor and flags, but also some neat clothes. At this time, Came in handy.
Xie Dongxun and others had a good meal in the city, and then set off at night, each with three horses, directly out of the east gate of Taiyuan City and ran all the way.
According to Xie Dongxun's plan, he originally wanted to leave Taiyuan City and go all the way east, passing through Shouyang County and Pingding Prefecture into Beizhili, then go south through Zanhuang County, and enter Shandong through Shunde Prefecture and Guangping Prefecture.
But what Xie Dongxun never expected was that as soon as the group entered Shouyang County, they encountered the main force of bandits along the Heishui River in the west of Shouyang County.
"Thank you, boss, look!"
Xie Dongxun took a closer look and saw that both sides of the Blackwater River were densely packed with fortifications. They were boundless, extending from both sides of the river to the north and south, and seemed to reach the sky.
At this time, everyone was hiding on a small hill to the west. With the help of the cover of the trees on the mountain, Xie Dongxun and his party of 16 people led 48 horses and groped forward cautiously, for fear of encountering the scouts and mobile sentries of the bandits.
"Be careful, don't alert the rogue soldiers!"
Xie Dongxun whispered, but he was scolding in his heart. He originally thought that there must be no near misses along the way. After all, Shanxi is so big, and there are three people per person, how can it be so easy to be stopped by thieves?
But once a person is unlucky
, that's it, Xie Dongxun and others were blocked by an unknown number of bandits. Looking at the scale of the bandits' camp, it stretched for at least ten or twenty miles. If everyone wanted to continue moving forward, they could only pass through the mountains here. Go there, otherwise there is only a detour of hundreds of miles to the south or north.
"The information provided by those who are not accepted at night shows that there are soldiers and horses of the right camp of the bandits in the north, and the main forces of the bandit battalions are gathering in the south. If we go south or north, we still don't know what dangers we will encounter!"
Xie Dongxun thought secretly in his heart, and then a thought flashed in his mind, and he looked at the army of bandits down the hillside: "With so many bandits gathered here, could it be that the main force of bandits from the south has quietly come over? ?”
Suddenly, Xie Dongxun was frightened by his own idea. If this was true, the armies stationed in Taiyuan City would be in danger. There is no food and grass inside, and there are powerful enemies outside. No matter how you look at it, the entire army is annihilated!
"How about going back and reporting it to Mr. Ge?"
At this time, Xie Dongxun was very confused and didn't know what choice he should make. After hesitation, Xie Dongxun and others slowed down their pace. The two subordinates who were opening the way also stopped at this time, and then hurriedly waved their hands to signal everyone to hide.
But when walking in the mountains, it's easy to avoid enemies in the distance. How can you hide if the enemy is nearby? Even if people can hide, how can they hide these more than forty war horses?
At this time, Xie Dongxun could already hear the noise of the bandit soldiers coming from the front. He was so anxious that the veins on his face were bulging, and his right hand involuntarily grasped the sword at his waist.
"Thank you, boss, what should I do!"
Although everyone is wearing the clothes of a bandit,
, but everyone has no tokens or other tokens, nor do they know the camp numbers of these bandits. A little inquiry will reveal the secret, so the clothes everyone wears are mostly just for comfort. If you're lucky, you can get away with it, but most of the time it's just in name only.
At this time, the subordinates around him also panicked and all looked over. Xie Dongxun gritted his teeth and said: "Let's go over together. It's not far from here to the bottom of the hillside. If we can't fool us, we'll get on our horses and rush down to break out..."
"One is the only one who can escape!"
Everyone nodded decisively, and then everyone prepared their weapons, protected Xie Dongxun in the middle, and rushed forward quickly.
Soon, the front of everyone suddenly became clear. This was an open area in the mountains, where more than forty knights from the bandit camp were resting.
Almost all of these rogue warriors were armored in leather, and they all used heavy weapons such as sticks and spears. They were all ferocious and tall, and together they exuded a suffocating bloody murderous aura. They were all warriors who would survive a hundred battles.
Xie Dongxun and others were strong and calm just now, trying to muddle through, but after seeing the situation in front of them clearly, they were all discouraged. Now that everyone is fooling around in the past, they are simply risking their lives. Once they are discovered, there is no chance of winning or survival.
"Get on your horse and run!"
Xie Dongxun no longer hesitated at this time. He shouted directly and took the lead to mount his horse. The other fifteen servants also mounted their horses one after another. Everyone beat the horses almost desperately, just to get out of here quickly.
The more than forty knights from the middle camp were also confused at this time. Before they could figure out where these dozen guys came from, they saw them galloping on their horses, preparing to escape.
"grid
I must be careful with the officers and soldiers, get on their horses and kill them! "
"The dog officers and soldiers have bullied them to this point. They are really impatient to live. They will kill every one of them!"
The leading brigades and commanders were furious, shouting and mounting their horses to pursue them. The more than forty bandits and knights were all skilled in bow and horse. In the blink of an eye, they all mounted their horses. There were also three horses per person, more than a hundred horses. The roar of the war horses soon sounded, and they surrounded them in a half-moon formation.
At this time, Li Zicheng's army captured several provinces and captured a large amount of Ming army equipment. The elite soldiers and horses of the bandit battalions also began to change their equipment. Not only were all the knights in the middle camp wearing armor, but they were also equipped with many bows and arrows. At this time, among the more than forty people, nearly twenty were setting up their bows and arrows. Then the sound of arrows breaking through the air was heard, and those who fell behind were The three servants were immediately hit by arrows and fell from their horses.
"Run away!"
Xie Dongxun also wanted to turn around and fight, but his own troops were inferior in strength, combat power, and mentality. Such a battle was impossible. Now besides escaping for his life, Xie Dongxun hoped not to disturb the rogue troops elsewhere.
However, things went against expectations. After losing six people one after another, Xie Dongxun and others finally galloped out of the hillside and wanted to get rid of the pursuers. However, they saw smoke and dust in front of them. It turned out that another group of rogue knights arrived and stopped them directly. In front, block the escape route for Xie Dongxun and others.
"This this……"
Seeing the bandits and knights in all directions, and only nine servants left around him, everyone was terrified, and one person was even so frightened that he burst into tears.
Xie Dongxun became worried and prepared to surrender, but as soon as he opened his mouth, an arrow shot over him.
Shot from Xie Dongxun's mouth, the arrow penetrated his neck and protruded from the back.
In the frightened eyes of those servants, Xie Dongxun fell straight off his horse. Everyone screamed in surprise, and then he was all killed by the brigade of rogue knights.
"Pooh!"
The leader of the army spit on Xie Dongxun's body and said angrily: "You dare to come to me to inquire about information, you are seeking death!"
Then the commander looked at the other knights with a smile and said, "Thank you very much. I'll have something good later. Let me treat you brothers to a drink!"
After sending everyone away, the commander said to his subordinates: "Cook up the corpses of these officers and soldiers and see if there is anything good."
A group of rogue soldiers started searching, and more than forty war horses naturally became everyone's trophies. In addition, everyone did not find any property, and they couldn't help but destroy the corpses of Xie Dongxun and others.
"These dog officers and soldiers are so poor, they don't even have a big man!"
"Hmph! It seems that Chongzhen boy is also fatuous. His soldiers and horses are so trapped, it's strange that he is undefeated!"
While they were talking, a bandit named Xiaoqi suddenly saw the letter in his clothes while turning over Xie Dongxun's body.
"What's this?"
The captain's hands were sharp and he snatched it away. He saw the envelope written on it: The governor of Shandong, Dinglubo, personally signed it.
"Haha, okay, this is a great achievement. If you follow me, you will become rich!"
After saying that, the commander ignored the bodies of Xie Dongxun and others, called on his subordinates, got on their horses and left, galloping towards the camp.
Among the bandit's camps that stretch for more than 20 miles, there is a huge tent that is particularly conspicuous, surrounded by two
Qianzhongying's knights were closely on guard, and other bandit soldiers from other tribes were not allowed to get close.
This is Li Zicheng's central army tent. At this time, Li Zicheng has assembled soldiers and horses from the middle camp, front camp, rear camp, left camp, and firearms camp. Except for Yuan Zongdi, who is leading the troops from the right camp and is besieging Datong Mansion, The bandits, with more than 700,000 soldiers and horses, led by Li Zicheng, marched north from Kaifeng Prefecture, preparing to raid Taiyuan Prefecture and surround and annihilate Hong Chengchou's troops here.
When Li Zicheng saw the letter, he felt frightened and immediately handed the letter to everyone for circulation.
At this time, Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang, Li Guo, Li Laiheng, Li Dingguo, as well as Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen were all present. After reading the letter, everyone's faces showed a mixture of joy and fear.
Li Guo said: "Fortunately, our army's scouts are effective. Your Majesty deployed troops around the military camp in advance to intercept. Otherwise, once Liu Yan receives this distress letter, things will be in trouble."
Li Zicheng became the Queen of Dashun and called herself Gu internally. Although her daily expenses were still the same as before, in the hearts of everyone, Li Zicheng was already the "Emperor" of Dashun, so Li Guo, Li Laiheng and others changed their names to Li Zicheng. For Your Majesty.
Li Yan said: "Hong Chengchou has always thought highly of himself, but now he sent someone to send a personal letter, hoping that Liu Yan could secretly send troops to help. It can be seen that Hong Chengchou's situation is already very difficult. In this battle, our army should quickly encircle Hong Chengchou's troops, but we did not There is no need to rush to attack, and if you surround without attacking, you can let all the officers and soldiers collapse on their own!"
Everyone believed it was true.
Li Zicheng smiled and said: "Okay! If our Dashun soldiers can kill Hong Chengchou in this battle,
If the Ministry is defeated, the Ming Dynasty will have no hope, and Liu Yan will become a rootless tree, trapped in Shandong and isolated without help! "
At this time, Gu Junen said: "Your Majesty, according to the news from various scouts, Hong Chengchou's tribe seems to have run out of food. Coupled with this letter asking for help, it is certain. As Mr. Li said, Hong Chengchou's tribe will be annihilated today. But what happens later? ? Are our Dashun Army really going to march into Beizhili and capture the city of Beijing?"
Before Li Zicheng could say anything, Liu Zongmin said in a loud voice: "Of course we will attack Beijing. If we capture the city, His Majesty can become the emperor. We can all be promoted to nobility and can also enter the Golden Palace, haha!" "
All the generals laughed one after another, including Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance. Their brows were full of longing. Only Li Guo, Li Laiheng, and Li Dingguo frowned slightly.
Gu Junen and Li Yan were a little worried. They wanted to persuade Li Zicheng to play it slow and slow for a few years, at least to digest the existing territory.
But the two of them looked at Li Zicheng who was also eager to try, and they were very excited. They knew that everything they said at this time was in vain, and the thousands of words in their hearts turned into a sigh.
At this moment, a cry came: "Report! The officers and soldiers of Hong Chengchou suddenly left Taiyuan Fucheng and rushed towards Xinzhou City."
Everyone was shocked.
