Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 59 Surrounding
However, after Qiu Zhitao's housekeeper left Ruzhou, he planned to drive back to Xiangyang via Ruyang and Song counties.

It's a pity that Yuan Zongdi's soldiers found him on the way and found the wax pill book.

Yuan Zongdi personally interrogated him 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 he was considered to be in a high position, and his confidant betrayed him.

Simply, he still has a bit of sense, knowing that if it is a big deal, it will affect the morale of the army, so he summoned Qiu Zhitao to Xiangcheng in the name of discussing the military.

When Qiu Zhitao arrived in Xiangcheng and entered Li Zicheng's Xingyuan, he had an ominous premonition.

Li Zicheng smiled coldly when he saw it, his one-eyed eyes seemed to be on fire, he rolled the letter into a ball, threw it at Qiu Zhitao, and said in a deep voice:
"Master Supervisor has a secret letter for Gu to forward to you."

Qiu Zhitao immediately knew that the matter had been revealed, and he couldn't help but burst into tears, thinking that the best plan was in vain.

Li Zicheng thought that he was afraid of death, so he said in a deep voice, "Since you surrendered to Xinshun, you have been treated kindly alone, but it's a pity that you have come to a dead end, and it's too late to regret it now."

Hearing this, Qiu Zhitao sneered, and said sharply: "Hmph, Li Zicheng, do you think I'm afraid of death? You killed my grandfather because you are my sworn enemy.

I wish I could take your thief head and show my loyalty and filial piety! "

Li Guo on the side couldn't bear to listen to his violent temper, he strode forward and slapped Qiu Zhitao's nose and mouth with blood.

Li Zicheng looked at him coldly, without saying a word, after a while, he said:
"Based on what you said just now, you can be punished by being torn apart. Considering that you have contributed to my advice to Dashun earlier, I will only kill you."

So, for Chuangjun, Sun Chuanting's eyes were once again darkened, and there was no news.

On the other side, on September [-]th, Li Yangchun, the refugee captain and the fourth heavenly king, rebelled and surrendered, confessing:
The old camp of the thieves was in Tang County, the puppet generals were stationed in Baofeng, and Li Zicheng's elite were all gathered in Xiangcheng.

Sun Chuanting was overjoyed and attacked Baofeng with all his strength.

For fear of missing the opportunity, he personally supervised the army to break through the city and killed Chen Kexin, the farmer's army state shepherd, etc., regardless of his age.

Xuan sent people to attack Tang County (now Tanghe), slaughtering all the refugees and their families.

Suddenly, a lieutenant general who was in charge of food and pay for the army ran in and said, "Report to the supervisor, the army's food road 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 back and forth.

After a while, Sun Chuanting felt that his eyes were dark, and the blood in his brain seemed to be drained.

With years of war experience, Sun Chuanting immediately realized that he had fallen into the trick of "intruders", and the army was likely to be surrounded.

He tried his best to keep calm, and ordered the army to attack Jia County early tomorrow morning to collect food on the spot.

On September 200th, the Qin army arrived in Jia County and took more than [-] mules and horses to share the food.

Other than that, 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 him.

Looking up, I saw half a mile away on the opposite side, densely covered with bandit troops, and various flags fluttering in the westerly wind, it was very attractive.

Their number is not less than 300,000.

Obviously, Xiangcheng is well-defended and difficult to conquer.

Niu Chenghu sent someone to report to Sun Chuanting urgently.

Sun Chuanting rode his horse to the front team, his body straightened.

But seeing such a trench in front, I felt emotional: the train battalion was useless.

"The thief really came prepared."

Sun Chuanting said coldly.

At this time, the sky suddenly began to rain heavily, and water began to accumulate in the trench.

As a last resort, Sun Chuanting had to order the rear team to change to the front team, and the whole army retreated.

It rained heavily for seven days in a row, and the food and grass stored in the train battalion was almost exhausted, but the food in the rear had not been delivered, and the morale of the army gradually became unstable.

At this time, the rear team was in Ruzhou, without food for several days, and had already mutinied.

"The thieves unexpectedly raided Baisha and cut off the grain road."

Sun Chuanting pretended to be surprised and said, the generals were in a trance and their expressions were uncertain.

Especially Gao Jie's face was ashen.

He and Li Zicheng are great enemies, once they lose, it will be bad.

At this time, the Qin army was in front of the thieves, and the rear army mutinied, obviously in a great predicament.

"Wang Ding and Guan Fuwen are really trash, and the rear army can't control them."

After cursing angrily, Sun Chuanting forced himself to remain calm, and he said to the generals: "Obviously the intruders have plans, and Xiangcheng must be difficult to attack, and waiting for reinforcements is no less than waiting to die."

Obviously, he didn't know about Qin Yiming and Zuo Liangyu, so he chose to watch from the sidelines.

"Someone is interested. Since there is no way forward or back, then we can only go southwest."

"Nanyang?"

Niu Chenghu squinted his eyes, took a closer look, and cried out.

"That's right!" Sun Chuanting said earnestly, "The dozens of prefectures in Henan are all covered with scorched earth and have nothing to eat, but Nanyang is still considered fertile. It is barely feasible to support a hundred thousand troops like me."

"Master, we are surrounded by intruders, and it may be difficult to evacuate."

Gao Jie hurriedly said, looking extremely anxious.

Chen Yongfu, Bai Guangen and others on the side also looked around anxiously.

"Because the thieves' encirclement has not been completely covered, I intend to divide the troops into three groups and break through the encirclement."

Immediately assigned, Niu Chenghu, Gao Jie, and Chen Yongfu broke through in three ways.

As for Bai Guangen's train battalion, together with Sun Chuanting.

First Niu Chenghu, then Gao Jie, and then only Sun Chuanting and Chen Yongfu were left behind in Jia County.

After dinner, Sun Chuanting's main force was ready to set off.

Chen Yongfu's Yu army suddenly became agitated,
"We don't want to die, we want to go together—" Many people didn't want to stay in the city to die, they rushed out of the city shouting.

Chen Yongfu ordered to stop, but it was too late.

The moonlight after the rain was exceptionally bright, and most people in the army had the idea of ​​fleeing for their lives, so a big retreat turned into a big rout.

Everyone in the officers and soldiers was in danger and fearful, and the wind and cranes were even more turbulent during the march, and the grass and trees were full of soldiers.

"Damn—" The planned retreat turned into a mess, and Sun Chuanting was annoyed, but he had no choice but to bite the bullet and retreat.

"Booming——" the artillery in the Qin army kept firing, and the rapid firepower, unexpectedly, crushed the surrounding Shun army, and the gap continued to expand.

"When did the Qin army have so many firearms?"

Li Zicheng was riding a horse, looking at the flames, he said in a low voice.

The expected encirclement turned out to be surprisingly weak, which made him even more annoyed:
"Come on, let me all rush—"

In an instant, a large number of infantry rushed in like a mountain, with an astonishing momentum.

But Bai Guangen immediately ordered the train battalion to form a train wall, and the guns and artillery were aimed and fired continuously.

For a moment, countless bandits were killed and injured, and the ferocious offensive slowed down for an instant.

Chen Yongfu, who was on the side, widened his eyes. Seeing the fierce firepower of the Qin army, he immediately wooed his cronies and gathered towards the Qin army.

Sun Chuanting glanced at Chen Yongfu, sighed and said, "The plan has changed, Mr. Chen should come with me!"

(Historically, Chen Yongfu stayed in Jia County and surrendered to the Shun Army)
Facing the tricky train battalion, Li Zicheng's eyes widened with anger. He never imagined that the wolf pack tactics he used to be good at would have a day of failure.

(End of this chapter)