Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 228 The Death of Zhang Xianzhong (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

In Baoji, Fengxiang Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, the main force of the 80,000 Dashun Army has completed its assembly.

Emperor Li Zicheng of Dashun was personally reviewing the army.

The fact that Zhang Xianzhong took in Gao Jie and annexed Hanzhong really made Li Zicheng very unhappy!

Although Dashun's army suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, Li Zicheng was not willing to fail.

Since the sneak attack failed, he simply attacked directly.

Baoji is the original Chencang.

After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty Li Longji was forced to "hunt south". After arriving here, he got lost here because the guide was not familiar with the route.

Just when everyone was in trouble, two "magic chickens" appeared. Under their leadership, Tang Xuanzong finally got out of trouble.

Since then, Baoji has replaced Chencang.

Almost all the civil and military officials in Dashun felt that it was unwise to continue to fight Zhang Xianzhong in Hanzhong.

Now that the Ming army is approaching the border, His Majesty insists on fighting with Zhang Xianzhong in Hanzhong. Are they going to die together?

But at this time, Li Zicheng was overwhelmed by anger, and no matter who tried to persuade him, it was of no use.

Originally, everyone thought that Zhang Xianzhong let Liu Zongmin go in Ziwu Valley and expressed his willingness to live in peace. Li Zicheng could always take advantage of the situation and withdraw his troops.

But unexpectedly, His Majesty became even more angry after hearing about this incident, thinking that Zhang Xianzhong was humiliating him!

So he gathered his troops and horses and prepared to attack Dashan Pass south of Baoji.

Due to its important strategic position, Dashan Pass has been one of the four major gateways in Guanzhong since ancient times (Tongguan Pass and Hangu Pass in the east, Wuguan Pass in the south, Dashan Pass in the west and Xiaoguan Pass in the north).

It is located at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains in the southern suburbs of Baoji and has been known as the "throat of Sichuan and Shaanxi" since ancient times.

It is no exaggeration to say that whoever controls Dashan Pass controls the throat of Sichuan and Shaanxi!

Now that Dashan Pass is in the hands of Zhang Xianzhong, he can easily invade the Guanzhong area, the core of Li Zicheng's rule, through Hanzhong.

This is something Li Zicheng cannot accept under any circumstances.

Even if he couldn't take back Hanzhong, he would at least have Dashan Pass in his own hands, so as to ensure the safety of Guanzhong.

Otherwise, he would face Zhang Xianzhong's sneak attacks all the time.

The terrain to the north of Dashan Pass is relatively flat, and to the south is the Qinling Mountains. It is much easier to capture Dashan Pass from the north than from the south.

However, the tall city gate is still a huge obstacle, under the cover of Hongyi cannon.

Rows of Dashun soldiers holding shields and ladders shouted slogans and launched a fierce attack on Dashan Pass.

At this time, military advisor Li Yan came to Li Zicheng's tent.

After Li Yan prevented Song Xiance from flooding Kaifeng last time, Li Zicheng had some opinions about Li Yan, so he stayed in Luoyang to guard Henan with Li Guo, Yuan Chonghuan and others.

Li Yan came all the way from Luoyang, presumably because he had important military information.

Li Yan said: "Twenty days ago, Kaifeng's defender Chen Yongfu and the King of Zhou opened the city gate and welcomed the Ming army into Kaifeng City. Yuan Chonghuan was unable to regain Kaifeng and had to retreat to Xingyang with more than 10,000 remaining soldiers!"

The Ming army has captured Kaifeng?

Kaifeng fell, and the door to Henan was opened.

The generals asked Li Zicheng to withdraw his troops and march eastward.

Even if Kaifeng cannot be recaptured, the safety of the Tongguan area in Luoyang should be ensured.

Li Zicheng said: "Mr. Li, do you mean to tell me to withdraw our troops and go to Henan?"

Li Yan shook his head and said: "I received a piece of news when I entered Tongguan. Li Xianzhong personally led an army to attack Xiangyang and captured Xiangyang 15 days ago!"

Xiangyang was also lost? In this way, Henan will face a three-sided attack by the Ming army.

If we can't even hold a city like Xiangyang, then holding on to Luoyang is even more unrealistic!

Soon Li Zicheng signaled everyone to stop the discussion.

He said: "How does Mr. Li think we should respond now?"

Li Yan said: "After the fall of Xiangyang, Nanyang has been exposed to the Ming army's attack, and Henan cannot hold on."

"Wei Chen made his own decision and asked Li Guo to lead his army to retreat to Tongguan. Currently Yuan Chonghuan leads 2 people to defend Luoyang. I leave it to your majesty to decide whether to abandon Luoyang?"

There is nothing left to decide. Once the Ming army marches north from Xiangyang, breaks through Nanyang, and invades Henan Prefecture, all the people in Henan will be "made dumplings" by the Ming army.

Although Luoyang City is good, it is a pity that it cannot be retained.

After pondering for a moment, Li Zicheng said: "Send an order to abandon Luoyang and withdraw the troops from Henan into Guanzhong. And strengthen the defense of Tongguan. The Ming army must not be allowed to enter Guanzhong!"

Li Zicheng still had the courage to assess the situation and make a prompt decision.

After all, Xiangyang is the best example.

Zhang Xianzhong was reluctant to part with this strong city, and eventually lost Li Dingguo and tens of thousands of troops.

After Li Zicheng said this, all the civil and military officials present praised him for his prompt decision.

It's a pity that at this time, he had no choice but to give up Dashan Pass and retreat to Guanzhong with all his strength.

In any case, this can be regarded as a reasonable excuse to retreat.

It is better than being unable to defeat Zhang Xianzhong and being forced to withdraw his troops.

Just as Dashun's army was preparing to withdraw from Guanzhong from Chencang Pass, news came that "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai had led his troops to surrender.

Luo Rucai had always been on good terms with Zhang Xianzhong. At this time, Li Zicheng was defeated in Hanzhong. How could he come to seek refuge with him?

Just when everyone felt incredible, Luo Rucai brought them even more shocking news.

Emperor Zhang Xianzhong of Daxi is dead!

When Li Xianzhong was besieging Xiangyang, he ordered Mao Wenlong's 3 troops to enter Sichuan to join Zhang Zhiji and others to attack Chongqing Prefecture.

At this time, although Zhang Xianzhong's main force ran to Hanzhong, Li Zicheng was also leading an army to attack Hanzhong.

Sichuan's military strength is still very empty, and Li Xianzhong will naturally not miss this good opportunity.

If Zhang Xianzhong had defeated Li Zicheng and retreated his main force to Chengdu, it would have been much more difficult to capture Sichuan.

Therefore, compared to Henan, the Ming army must give priority to attacking Sichuan! After all, Zhang Xianzhong had not occupied Sichuan for a long time, and people's hearts had not yet surrendered.

At this time, Zhang Wenxiu, who did not know that Xiangyang had been lost, was leading an army of 2 to attack Wanxian.

Mao Wenlong and Zhang Zhiji saw the opportunity and led their troops back to Zhang Wenxiu's flank.

Tens of thousands of troops directly surrounded Zhang Wenxiu.

During the melee, Zhang Wenxiu was captured, and the 2 Western troops were either killed or surrendered.

The Ming army took advantage of the situation and captured the empty Chongqing Mansion.

After the fall of Chongqing, Daxi's rule in Sichuan soon collapsed.

Luzhou, Xuzhou and other places in the south as well as Taiping, Zhongzhou, Suiding, Shunqing and other prefectures soon surrendered to the Ming army.

Zhang Nengqi, who was based in Chengdu, reduced his troops to defend Chengdu, and at the same time appealed to Zhang Xianzhong in Hanzhong for urgent help. What's worse is that the Ming army did not attack Chengdu directly, but entered Baoning Prefecture in northern Sichuan.

Not only did they capture the important town of Bazhou, they also approached Langzhong, the capital of Baoning.

Once Langzhong is lost, the Ming army's next step will definitely be to seize Jiange, Guangyuan and other places to block Zhang Xianzhong's retreat from Hanzhong to Chengdu.

Zhang Xianzhong was naturally very anxious when he learned about it.

He directly ordered Zhang Kewang to lead an army to take over Yangping Pass in Hanzhong.

According to the previous agreement between Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Jie, Zhang Xianzhong's men were responsible for guarding several passages into Hanzhong and blocking Li Zicheng.

Hanzhong Fucheng Nanzheng and Yangping Pass were controlled by Gao Jie.

Now Zhang Xianzhong directly robbed Yangping Pass, which naturally aroused Gao Jie's dissatisfaction.

Originally, the Xing family did not advocate surrendering to Zhang Xianzhong, and wanted Gao Jie to surrender to the Ming army.

It was only because they were not bordering the Ming army at that time that they were forced to seek refuge with Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong indeed gave Gao Jie the title of King of Hanzhong, but now Zhang Xianzhong has not only lost Huguang, but also his hometown Sichuan.

Daxi is almost gone, so Gao Jie's King of Hanzhong is naturally worthless.

Xing said: "Now that the Ming army has occupied Yunyang Mansion, it is already bordering Hanzhong, and Zhang Xianzhong's Daxi will not be able to make a comeback in a few days."

"We might as well capture Zhang Xianzhong and directly dedicate Hanzhong to the Ming Dynasty."

"Although it is impossible to be crowned king, we can always keep our wealth!"

Gao Jie took a look and found that Zhang Kewang's 30,000 troops had already rushed back to Sichuan from Hanzhong, and most of Zhang Xianzhong's troops were defending Li Zicheng on the front line. This was indeed a good opportunity to take action.

If Zhang Xianzhong ran back to Sichuan, even if they sacrificed Hanzhong, the credit would be much smaller.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong said that he now wanted to take over Hanzhong's defense and fight with Li Zicheng so that he could mobilize his troops and return to Chengdu.

If Li Zicheng were allowed to invade Hanzhong, Gao Jie would have no place to die.

However, Zhang Xianzhong was very cunning and never went to Nanzheng to take risks. He always asked Gao Jie to come to his camp outside the city for discussion.

In the end, Gao Jie decided to strike first.

He came to Zhang Xianzhong's camp to discuss and agreed to take over the defenses of Dashan Pass and Ziwu Road, allowing Zhang Xianzhong to relax his vigilance.

Gao Jie escaped from Zhang Xianzhong's camp on the pretext of going to the toilet; his men took the opportunity to set fire to Zhang Xianzhong's camp and create chaos.

Then Gao Jie's 2 troops took the opportunity to attack Zhang Xianzhong's camp.

There were only 8000 people around Zhang Xianzhong. In the chaos, he was shot by a stray arrow and died!

After Zhang Xianzhong was killed in battle, the Daxi Army lost even more fighting spirit and soon surrendered to Gao Jie.

At this time, Zuo Liangyu, led by the guide sent by Gao Jie, attacked Hanzhong from Yunyang and defeated Xunyang, Xing'an, Hanyin and other places.

When Luo Rucai saw Gao Jie colluding with the Ming army, he couldn't go back to Chengdu at this moment.

So we simply went all the way north along Ziwu Road and entered Guanzhong.

Although the relationship between Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong was not good, when he heard that Zhang Xianzhong was killed by Gao Jie, he was filled with anger!

Immediately, troops were ordered to storm Dashan Pass.

On the one hand, he wanted to capture Gao Jie alive to vent his hatred!

On the other hand, Hanzhong has most likely fallen into the hands of the Ming army. If Dashan Pass is occupied by the Ming army, the Ming army can easily enter the Guanzhong area through here.

Even if he defends Tongguan, it is meaningless!

Even Li Yan believed that they must seize Dashan Pass immediately at this time.

Not only that, but also additional troops and horses were sent to several other passages to prevent the Ming army from raiding.

At this time, Dashun's soldiers continued to launch raids on Dashan Pass, and even once captured Guancheng!

But unfortunately, the Ming army's reinforcements arrived in time.

As the sound of "bang, bang, bang" sounded, Li Zicheng knew that he had no chance.

They had no choice but to withdraw their troops and defend Baoji and Fengxiang to ensure that the Ming army could not leave Chencang Road.

Afterwards, Li Xianzhong personally led the army to Nanzheng.

When he saw Zhang Xianzhong's body, Li Dingguo knelt on the ground and cried bitterly!

Li Xianzhong said: "It is inevitable that Zhang Xianzhong will end up like today. How have you considered my proposal?"

Li Xianzhong's request was simple, that is, let Li Dingguo go back and continue to lead Daxi.

The Ming Dynasty's official army would "pursue Daxi" all the way, while Li Dingguo's Daxi Army would follow the route planned in advance, retreat all the way from Chengdu to Guizhou, and finally enter Yunnan.

Along the way, we took the opportunity to eliminate those chieftains who were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty.

As for after entering Yunnan, the Mu family of the Duke of Guizhou will definitely accept them.

Li Dingguo said: "I can agree to the prince's proposal, but the prince must also agree to my request!"

At this time, Li Dingguo could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. The way he looked at Gao Jie before wanted to eat him alive!

Of course Li Xianzhong knew what Li Dingguo was thinking. He said, "I have already informed Your Majesty that Gao Jie can be conferred the title of Uncle Gui Yi!"

"If one day in the future, you can defeat Uncle Gui Yi on the battlefield, your grudges will naturally be settled."

"Under the eyes of this king, I will never allow him to be harmed in the slightest."

Seeing that Li Dingguo was still hesitating, Li Xianzhong said, "How about I release your second brother Liu Wenxiu to help you?"

Li Dingguo said: "After my father dies, my eldest brother Zhang Kewang must inherit the throne of Daxi Emperor. I'm afraid that the prince's plan will come to nothing!"

Li Xianzhong smiled and said: "I can ensure that you inherit Zhang Xianzhong's position, you don't have to worry about this."

Li Dingguo said: "I promised the prince to take the opportunity to weaken the influence of those chieftains, but the prince must at least give me a chance to fight against Gao Jie!"

Li Xianzhong hesitated and said: "You don't have this chance now, but if you can really help me get rid of those southwestern chieftains who are unwilling to surrender to the court, I promise you that I will send Gao Jie to conquer you remnants of Daxi!"

"If you fight against our Liaodong Army, you may never have a chance to take revenge!"

Li Xianzhong's meaning is very clear. He can give Li Dingguo a chance to face Gao Jie, but he will never cheat Gao Jie!

Li Dingguo wanted revenge unless he could defeat the Liaodong Army.

Li Dingguo said: "I have one more request, which is to take away my adoptive father's body!"

This put Li Xianzhong in a bit of a dilemma. Although he didn't care about Zhang Xianzhong's body, he still had to have some credentials when he returned to Beijing to report his victory!

After thinking for a while, he agreed to Li Dingguo's request and said, "I can take away Zhang Xianzhong's body for you, but you can't expose Zhang Jiao's identity. If you don't want to use him, you can let him return to my palace." Around you!"

Li Dingguo said: "No, just let Zhang Jiao stay with me to convey the prince's wishes!"

Looking at Li Dingguo's retreating figure, Li Xianzhong was also quite emotional. He really is a hero from a young age, and his confidence is really rare.

I hope you won’t disappoint me!

It has been almost a year since I left the capital. Now I can leave the affairs in the southwest to Zhang Zhiji and Mao Wenlong. There is still the last Li Zicheng left. After taking care of him, I should return to the capital!

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(End of this chapter)