There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Xiangyang Prefecture, Nanzhang County.

Zhang Xianzhong led Bai Wenxuan, Ai Nengqi and several other generals. After hearing that his adopted son Zhang Dingguo failed to fight against the Zhenming Army and was captured, he immediately decided to escape.

This bandit leader has spent most of his life on the run, so he has a natural acumen for danger. This is also an important reason why he has been able to escape death many times.

Originally, he planned to escape through the south gate, where he could join Zhang Kewang and lead his troops. But after taking a few steps, he suddenly felt his eyes twitching and felt that it was not safe to go through the south gate, so he immediately turned to the west gate.

This temporary decision also allowed Zhang Xianzhong to escape from Xiangyang City, but almost all the soldiers and horses entering the city were lost, and only about a hundred people followed him.

When Luo Rucai saw him, he was shocked and said: "Zhang Shuai, why are you here? Didn't you say that you have occupied Xiangyang? I am preparing to join you."

"Hey, Brother Luo, it's a long story. Let me sit down and drink some water first. I'm so thirsty."

After Zhang Xianzhong escaped from the city, Luo Kai led the officers and soldiers of the Guards Division to chase him out for a long time, forcing him to run all the way without even having time to drink water.

After Zhang Xianzhong drank a large bowl of water, he said hastily: "Hurry up and organize your troops and prepare to retreat. Lin Feng of the Zhenming Army followed us into Xiangyang City and defeated us. His pursuers It’s coming soon, and Nanzhang County may not be able to hold it.”

"The Zhenming Army is so powerful?" Luo Rucai, who had never suffered from the Zhenming Army, asked with some disbelief.

"It's more powerful than you can imagine. My son Zhang Dingguo led five or six hundred cavalry from the old battalion, but he couldn't stop them for two quarters of an hour.

There were one or two thousand of them chasing one hundred of us, but they were able to keep up with us. We chased through small roads and took shortcuts before arriving at Nanzhang. "Zhang Xianzhong was still frightened when he thought about it.

"Then where should we retreat? Back to Sichuan or continue south?" Luo Rucai asked.

"Go back to Sichuan. Further south from here is the Poyang Lake area. They are all lakes. It is inconvenient for the cavalry to march. We are not good at boating, so we can easily be surrounded.

The situation in Sichuan is familiar. I still have some soldiers and horses to lure the enemy there, and it is much more convenient to deal with Yang Sichang than to deal with the Zhenming Army. "Zhang Xianzhong analyzed.

Luo Rucai walked around the room twice and said, "Then listen to Zhang Shuai. We will set off to Yunyang immediately. We will resupply there and then look for an opportunity to enter Sichuan."

The two decided on a strategy and immediately started making arrangements for their retreat, gathering their troops and horses, grabbing food and grass, and getting ready to run away.

The main characteristic of the rogue bandits is to move quickly. After half an hour, Luo Rucai's two thousand troops were assembled. Zhang Xianzhong also gathered three or four hundred defeated troops and set off for Fang County together.

Fang County is within the territory of Yunyang. Luo Rucai had just occupied it some time ago and was familiar with the terrain. He planned to go to Zhuxi and enter Sichuan from there.

Yunyang Fucheng.

The Longnan Corps led by Fang Xiaoyu has occupied this place and is studying the next direction of using troops.

"Qingshi, have you found out the enemy situation around you clearly?" Fang Xiaoyu asked Fang Qingshi, the deputy chief of the Tingfeng Guard who had strengthened the Longnan Corps.

"Superintendent, we have just received a message from Ma Ang and the others. The prince has led the personal guard division to occupy Xiangyang. Zhang Xianzhong fled from the west gate and has fled to the Nanzhang area to meet up with Luo Rucai. Their next move should be Head west again to Sichuan.

Based on the investigation of the past two days, we determined that their most likely route was to retake the road out of Sichuan, from Fang County to Zhuxi into Sichuan. "Fang Qingshihui reported.

"What's the reason?"

"There are three reasons. One is that the Poyang Lake area in the south is densely covered with water nets and is not suitable for cavalry operations, and the bandits will not go there; the other is that the two thieves will not choose to take an unfamiliar road when being pursued by our army; the third is that they have no choice but to return to Sichuan. They have a way to survive, so they will take this path," Fang Qingshi analyzed with great confidence after two years of training in Tingfeng.

Fang Xiaoyu walked to the map and looked at it again and again and said, "Qingshi's analysis is very reasonable. We will use our troops based on this judgment."

After a pause, he asked again: "Where is Yang Sichang's army in the Ming Dynasty?"

"The imperial soldiers and horses led by Yang Sichang left Sichuan along the Yangtze River waterway. They are currently in the Shashi area of ​​​​Jingzhou, south of Xiangyang, which is relatively far from here."

"Then we will first annihilate the two bandit leaders Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai. Xiongxing, your bodyguard traveling army is the fastest. You first rush to the Zhushan area to find out the whereabouts of Zhang Xianzhong and others.

If you catch their whereabouts, tell us immediately and try to annihilate the two thieves' troops in one fell swoop. "Fang Xiaoyu arranged.

"Yes!" Li Xiongxing took the order and left.

Fang Xiaoyu then ordered Hong Tu to lead the Third Mobile Division to occupy nearby Kuizhou, Sichuan and guard the main road. If Zhang and Luo escape and enter Sichuan, they can just wait and see.

He himself left a brigade to guard Yunyang Fucheng, and led the remaining two brigades to follow Li Xiongxing fifty or sixty miles behind, spreading his troops out in a fan, ready to be Zhang and Luo Liu's thieves at any time.

Yunyang Mansion, Fang County.

As soon as Luo Rucai and Zhang Xianzhong's troops arrived in Fang County, Luo's general He Yilong came to report: "Commander, the Zhenming Army's pursuers are not staying thirty miles behind us. The cavalry can arrive in more than half an hour. We cannot stay for a long time again." ”

"Hey, why is this Zhenming Army like a dog-skin plaster? It's stuck on so tightly that I can't get rid of it." Luo Rucai complained.

"Yeah, these people don't care about money. I threw away more than hundreds of thousands of taels of silver along the way, but none of my pursuers stopped to pick up the money. Damn it, Lin Feng is so good at training." Zhang Xianzhong interjected. . "Since we can't escape, why don't we fight with them? We all have one head and two legs, so there's nothing to be afraid of." Luo Rucai's ferocity as a fierce bandit was aroused.

"Have you figured out how many pursuers there are?" Zhang Xianzhong asked Bai Wenxuan.

"It's basically clear. There are less than 2,000 pursuers in total. Some were lost along the way. It is estimated that there are only about 1,500 people now." Bai Wenxuan replied.

"Brother Luo, our two families combined have nearly 3,000 cavalry, and the pursuers only have 1,500 people. I think we can fight for it. The weapons of the Zhenming Army are extremely sharp. If we kill this pursuer, the weapons captured will be It can greatly enhance our strength. As long as we enter Sichuan in the next step, we can conquer Sichuan." Zhang Xianzhong now has few troops and can only condescend to ask Luo Rucai what he meant.

"Then do it, Jingxuan, there is a valley to the west of Fang County, which is very suitable for an ambush. You lead the troops to continue to escape and lure the Zhenming Army to continue the pursuit. I will ambush them on both sides, and then you turn around and besiege. You What do you think?" Luo Rucai said, now that he is stronger, he no longer calls Zhang Xianzhong Zhang Shuai, but calls him by his name.

"This strategy is feasible, then I will lure the enemy first." Zhang Xianzhong had few troops, so he could only do what Luo wanted.

Soon, Luo and Zhang's soldiers and horses followed their plan, and the personal guard division led by Luo Kai also pursued them. After entering the valley, Luo Rucai's soldiers and horses who were ambushing on both sides rushed out with loud shouts.

If the general army encountered an ambush, it would have panicked, but the Guards Division was powerful and did not panic. Luo Kai commanded the armored carriage accompanying the army to block one side, and the officers and soldiers relied on the barrier to shoot immediately.

Luo Rucai's cavalry fell off their horses one after another. Only then did he experience the powerful firepower of the Zhenming Army.

The strategy of ambush has been used since ancient times. It mostly takes advantage of the panic of the ambushed army to defeat the large with the small and the strong with the weak.

Now Luo Kai's personal guard division was not panicking at all, and the weapons in their hands were far better than those of the peasant army. Only then did Luo Ru realize that he had ambushed an iron plate.

Just when he was worried about not being able to attack the Zhenming Army's temporary defensive position, Zhang Xianzhong, who was luring the enemy in front, turned around and came back. He said happily: "Jingxuan, come here immediately to flank the Zhenming Army's pursuers."

However, Zhang Xianzhong looked extremely panicked. Instead of cooperating in the flanking attack, he kept circling the battlefield step by step, trying to break out to the south.

Only then did Luo Rucai see another pursuer of the Zhenming Army behind Zhang Xianzhong and said, "The feeling is not that they ambushed the Zhenming Army, but that they were surrounded by the Zhenming Army from the east and west."

It turned out that when Luo Kai was pursuing, he had contacted Li Xiongxing's troops stationed in Zhushan and ordered them to intercept Zhang Xianzhong's troops from the east, which happened to intercept Zhang Xianzhong's troops and form a counter-siege.

"Breakout, breakout!" he shouted.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out.

There was a hole in Luo Rucai's chest. He felt a pain in his chest, and blood spurted out from the hole with the rise and fall of his breathing.

He felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained, and his eyes were getting darker and darker. He thought of the hundreds of beautiful concubines in the army, and of his children. Unwilling to give in, he struggled to open his eyes and fell to the ground.

Another giant bandit in the late Ming Dynasty died among the sharpshooters of the Zhenming Army's personal guard division.

Zhang Xianzhong saw from a distance that Luo Rucai seemed to have been hit and fell down. He was so frightened that his three souls came out of his body and ran southward with all his strength.

He didn't stop until the running horse was foaming at the mouth, and found that only Bai Wenxuan and three or four soldiers were around him.

"Where is Ai Nengqi?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.

"Brother Ai was hit by Zhenming's gunfire when he was escaping." Bai Wenxuan replied.

"This Zhenming Army is too scary. They are chasing troops in the direction of Sichuan. Let's continue to flee south." Zhang Xianzhong ordered.

But when he looked up, a large circle of Zhenming officers and soldiers were already surrounding him.

Zhang Xianzhong raised his ax and prepared to fight, then threw away the weapon dejectedly and raised his hands in an attempt to save his life with his effective surrender tactic.

"shot!"

Luo Kai ordered without any emotion.

"Bang bang bang!"

Zhang Xianzhong was treated better than Luo Rucai. He was shot three times in a row and blood spurted out, quickly staining his whole body red.

He was surprised and looked at the blood holes on his body, and then at Luo Kai. Why did he shoot after he surrendered?
Before he could figure it out, his vision went black and he fell to the ground. One of the cruelest bandit leaders in the late Ming Dynasty was killed.

This is what Lin Feng specifically explained before Luo Kai pursued him. Zhang Xianzhong and others must not be spared alive and must be killed on the spot.

Such giant and fierce bandits were burdened with numerous blood debts and had a long history of crimes. In addition, they surrendered and rebelled many times and had no faith. How could Lin Feng spare their lives?

(End of this chapter)