Fengxiang Mansion and Shuiluo City.
September 20th.
Shuiluo City is located at the junction of Pingliang and Gongchang Prefectures, between Guanshan River Road.
There is Shuiluo River outside, which flows around the city and connects the two governments. During the Song Dynasty, it was an important pass for the Song army to fight against Xixia.
But since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army has continued to expand its sphere of influence and regain its old lands.
This once important border city has now lost its original role and has become an ordinary city in the interior.
Only the scars on the city wall allow people to recall how many storms this city has experienced.
The city gates of Shuiluo City were closed tightly at this time, and the city walls were filled with a large number of strong men holding weapons.
The eyes of the soldiers and civilians guarding the city were focused on the official road not far away.
Just outside the city, an army in disorder was slowly advancing toward the southwest along the dilapidated official road.
There were more than 10,000 bandits outside the city. Although it looked like they were defeated, the defenders of Shuiluo City did not dare to leave the city at all.
The entire Shuiluo City's troop strength of a thousand soldiers is actually only more than 300, and the weapons are insufficient. What can we use to fight? He just hoped that these plague gods would leave Shuiluo City as soon as possible and not attack Shuiluo City on a whim.
Li Guo didn't know what the guards at Shuiluo City were thinking.
But even if it was clear, it would be of no use to Li Lai.
Not to mention 300 people, even 30 people, he would not go to flood the city.
Because less than twenty miles behind him, a Ming army was hanging behind him like maggots on the tarsus.
At this time, Li Guo was already in a state of embarrassment, and the brocade robe he was wearing had been thrown away somewhere.
The high-top helmet on the head has been replaced by a helmet, and the original high-top helmet has been left behind in the battle formation.
The bright fish-scale armor was already covered with dust and had no time to take care of it.
Now that Li Guo thought about what happened a few days ago, he couldn't help but feel chills all over his body.
He originally wanted to lead his troops to Fengxiang Mansion, but on the way forward, he was ambushed by the Ming army in Luomen.
The Ming army that ambushed them only had more than 800 cavalry, and the former army was caught off guard and suffered a heavy loss.
The cavalry army was dispersed, and the military formation of hungry soldiers was also defeated.
He gritted his teeth and tried to charge forward with his Jingqi, but he fell directly into the disadvantage after just one encounter. He even almost died in the formation.
Looking back now, Li Guo couldn't help but feel scared.
Li Guo saw with his own eyes that the officer and the general killed two people in a row and broke through for a while.
At that time, the first person Li Guo thought of was Cao Bianjiao.
However, Cao Bianjiao usually wears brocade robes and red armor. He is unique among the entire Ming army and is easily identifiable.
If it weren't for the fact that the general leading the army was not wearing red armor, Li Guo would have thought that this person was Cao Bianjiao.
The cavalry under the general's command were fully equipped with fine armor and sharp swords. You could tell at a glance that they were the elites of hundreds of battles.
The elite cavalrymen under his command who were from the frontier army were slaughtered like chickens and dogs.
I just don't know why, but those officers, soldiers and cavalry didn't take advantage of the victory to pursue him too far in the end, allowing him to escape.
Li Guo didn't think much about it at that time. He was just thankful that he managed to escape with his life and led his troops to escape in the direction of Gongchang Mansion.
What really made Li Guo aware of the strangeness was what happened next.
He planned to pass through Zhangjiachuan in Gongchang Prefecture, and then go to Fengxiang Prefecture from Zhangjiachuan.
Take the path that Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have walked before.
But this time, the cavalry of the officers and soldiers blocked their way forward like ghosts. This time, there were even more than two thousand infantry.
After a tentative attack by the vertical troops, Li Guo led the troops to withdraw directly.
Then Li Guo recalled everything that had happened before. During Luo Men's time, the officers and soldiers behaved very strangely, as if they had let him go on purpose.
The same was true in Zhangjiachuan. The officers and soldiers only pursued for a few miles and then stopped pursuing.
Now the officers and soldiers chasing him were hanging about twenty miles behind him, neither far nor close, and they kept this distance.
Li Guo now felt that his brain was no longer enough. He could not understand what the officers and soldiers hanging behind him were thinking.
It was obvious that he could be wiped out easily, but the officers and soldiers were hanging far behind and seemed to have no idea of wiping him out.
After blocking him twice, it seemed that he didn't want him to go to Fengxiang Mansion, and wanted him to go in the direction of Qin'an in Gongchang Mansion.
The detectives sent out finally got the news the day before yesterday.
The officers and soldiers' reconnaissance horses retreated on their own and directly gave them the observation position.
The news heard by the spies was also the news given to them by the officers and soldiers.
The number of officers and soldiers chasing them was nearly 5,000. They were all well-dressed, well-equipped with flags, and the formation was extremely strict.
The officers and soldiers were divided into two groups at the fork in the road, and continued to chase behind them. There were about 1,600 people along the way.
The other route went directly south, heading towards Zhangjiachuan. All of them were infantry, about three thousand in number, all of them infantry.
Li Guo had a map of Gongchang Mansion, and he knew exactly what the troops marching towards Zhangjiachuan were doing.
All the way south to Zhangjiachuan is Qingshui, and going south from Qingshui is to the east of Qin'an.
Combined with the two previous actions of officers and soldiers intercepting him leading troops to Fengxiang Mansion, the purpose of this army of officers and soldiers became obvious, which was to intercept him on the official road east of Qin'an to prevent him from escaping in the direction of Fengxiang Mansion.
Li Guo looked embarrassed and turned red. He now felt like a mouse being played by a cat.
It doesn't feel good to have your life and fortune in someone else's hands.
The news that Tan Ma reported back was clearly the officer and commander telling him not to think about going to Fengxiang Mansion anymore, but to just go to Qin'an and Qinzhou.
Li Guo has now completely given up on going to Fengxiang Mansion.
It is already September 20th, and Guanzhong is probably in chaos.
All the battles that should be fought and those that should not be fought have been fought. It is probably at the end of the war now. It is already too late for him to rush over now.
He can't go to Fengxiang Mansion, and he can't go to Guanzhong. He must find another way out now.
Looking at the map of Gongchang Mansion that was starting to turn yellow in front of him, Li Guo felt a splitting headache.
There was only one road in front of him, which was to pass through Shuiluo City and go all the way south to Qin'an and Qinzhou.
Then continue deep into the hinterland of Gongchang Mansion, heading south.
"Are we really going to Sichuan?"
Li Guo looked at the area bordering Gongchang Mansion on the map and felt dizzy again.
To the west of Gongchang Mansion are Lintao Mansion and Minzhou Guard. Lintao Mansion has a military town, and Minzhou Guard also has troops stationed there, as well as many Qiang soldiers.
Go west and you'll find the offering fruit on the King of Hell's table - courting death.
Of course, there is no need to consider the north. To the north of Gongchang Mansion is Jingluwei and Hepingliang Mansion. He came from the north. If he fled north, he would have a brain problem.
In Fengxiang Mansion to the east, the officers and soldiers have set up defenses, making it difficult for them to fly even with their wings.
Now the only option is to go south, and the south side of Gongchang Mansion is connected to Sichuan Province and Hanzhong Mansion.
"Can't go to Sichuan..."
Li Guo's face stiffened slightly and he categorically rejected the idea in his mind.
You can't go to Sichuan anywhere.
Those Sichuan soldiers are all crazy, and they fight more ruthlessly than the border troops in each town.
Especially the chieftain soldiers holding white spears were even more terrifying.
In the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, they gathered tens of thousands of troops to surround and kill Ma Fengyi, the chieftain of Shitan in Sichuan. All the best generals came out and killed most of them before finally killing him.
In the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to capture Kuizhou, an important town in eastern Sichuan, and gathered more than 50,000 troops.
As a result, Qin Liangyu caught up with him and beat him, leaving behind his helmet and armor, leaving only a thousand horses to return.
Then when we heard that Sichuan soldiers were arriving, everyone in the thirty-sixth battalion was frightened.
The Eighth King Zhang Xianzhong came out of the army, which was originally the camp of Yansui Town, so he gathered a lot of deserters under his command, and his combat power was second only to Chuang King Gao Yingxiang among the tribes.
Li Guo knew his capabilities very well. There was a reason why no one in Sichuan had dared to invade for so many years.
First, due to the terrain, the road to Shu is often blocked by one man and blocked by ten thousand men.
The second reason is that the Sichuan soldiers were brave and brave, and their combat power was amazing.
Third, Sichuan soldiers were different from those officers and soldiers recruited from various places to carry out suppression campaigns in Shaanxi and Henan. They had a negative attitude towards the campaign.
The Sichuan soldiers were all natives. Because they were defending their homeland, they had high fighting spirit and were tenacious.
Zhang Xianzhong didn't believe this evil, and was beaten to the point of losing his armor.
Li Guo's eyes wandered toward the southeast. Sichuan Province was definitely out of the question.
So the only way before him now is to go to Hanzhong Mansion.
Li Guo looked gloomy and his eyes flashed. He didn't know who was chasing him behind him.
But it seemed that the general wanted him to go in the direction of Hanzhong Mansion.
But why?
Why didn't the general of the officers and soldiers directly kill him, but instead carried him towards the direction of Hanzhong Mansion?
What is his purpose and what are the benefits of doing this?
Li Guo pressed his temples and slowly raised his head.
The dazzling sunlight shone down on him and made him feel extremely uncomfortable. He only felt dizzy and dizzy, and he almost lost his balance.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out, and no matter how much he thought about it, he didn't have any clue.
But he didn't have any choice, he had to go down this path.
Because only by continuing in this way will there be a glimmer of hope, and all other roads have been blocked.
…
Li Guo naturally couldn't imagine what Chen Wang was thinking.
Because no one knows what will happen in the future except Chen Wang.
Now tell others, Chongzhen only lasted seventeen years.
In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Li Zicheng would occupy the northwest, establish Dashun, and lead hundreds of thousands of troops to capture Beijing.
Then Li Zicheng was defeated by the Qing army. He was completely defeated. He abandoned the city of Beijing and fled all the way, losing a large area of land in a few months.
The Qing court in the north finally occupied the Central Plains and unified the world.
These are the original histories, but no one would believe them if they were told now.
Even the most far-sighted people laugh out loud in disbelief.
Hou Jin in Beidi has indeed grown into a serious trouble.
But the Great Wall defense line is still there, and the nine sides can still support it.
The entire Later Jin Dynasty had only one million people and just over 100,000 soldiers.
The Ming Dynasty had two capitals and thirteen provinces, hundreds of millions of people, and millions of soldiers.
Oara was so powerful in the past that it once invaded the city of Beijing, but what about now?
In the past, Anda Khan was so powerful in the northern part of the country and famous in the southern part of the country. All Mongolian tribes were controlled by him and once had the upper hand, but what about now?
Although Hou Jin has now defeated Mongolia and incorporated many Mongolian tribes, he is nothing more than a new Ada Khan at best.
The rogue bandits in the mainland are just scabies. Although they seem to be powerful, once the new recruits enter Henan, they can be completely locked up in Henan and Shaanxi.
Rogue bandits cannot be fought, but they are difficult to exterminate because they are wandering around, and there is no way they can flourish.
These thoughts are the mainstream thoughts of most civil servants and military officers in the Ming Court today.
Their thoughts are so normal.
It’s just that no one knows that the Ming Dynasty’s building is not only riddled with holes on the outside, but more seriously, its foundation.
Invisibly underground, the foundations of the Ming Empire were already dilapidated and gnawed away by countless moths.
The afterglow of the Wanli period is fading.
No one realizes that rogue bandits are not a military problem, but a political and people's livelihood problem.
There was a continuous flow of extra stipends and requests for pay, even to the point where Yin had to eat a lot of food.
In the disaster-stricken areas, it is not true that there is no relief. After reporting and verification, the court will more or less send ministers to provide relief or exempt certain taxes.
However, after state and county officials received tax exemptions or relief, they still supervised the payment of taxes to the people and continued to require them to pay taxes.
Many places suffered from military famine and crops were out of season. However, for the sake of political performance, local officials still ordered the people to pay taxes and grain as usual.
The people fled and the land was abandoned. Not only did local officials not repent, but they worsened the situation.
They backlogged the taxes of the fleeing people on the remaining people who had not yet fled, which was called "Daina Deborah".
The officials were so persecuted that many people simply abandoned their mature fields and stopped cultivating them. As a result, fleeing became common.
How can wildfires be extinguished, and how can bandits be completely exterminated?
Chen Wang led the war horse and moved forward slowly along the official road.
Both interceptions were fought beautifully, and he also relied on his bravery and tactics to win the morale of the army.
The current bandit is walking south along the path he marked.
Chen Wang held the riding whip in his hand and looked deep.
In order to be a general, you must first treat your heart.
Mount Tai collapses in front but its color remains unchanged; the elk thrives on the left but its eyes cannot blink.
Chen Wang has learned to hide his emotions and his thoughts.
Panic will only make the three armies panic.
Being confident can stabilize the morale of the army and stabilize morale.
The plan was actually not smooth sailing, but Chen Wang did not reveal it.
Because there are many things that only the general needs to know.
Gongchang Mansion sent a military report.
It is not that there are no bandits in Gongchang's mansion as mentioned before.
There are still rogue bandits entrenched in Gongchang Mansion now. They are all bandits who escaped from Fengxiang Mansion at the beginning of September.
Among them, there are two groups with the largest number of bandits.
One group is located in the southeast of Qinzhou and north of Jizhong Mountain. Its leader is Li Yangchun, the Four Heavenly Kings, and its tribe has about 15,000 people.
The other group is near Gaoqiao in the south of Qinzhou, and is located in the south of Jizhong Mountain. Its leader is King Cangtian, and there are about 8,000 tribesmen.
The two groups relied on Jiezhong Mountain and used it as a stronghold to plunder surrounding states and counties.
If Li Guo joins forces with them, things will become extremely difficult...
