Zhan Ba was released by Wang Yan, ran all the way back to Cangzhou, and immediately wrote a report, pleading guilty to Dolgon, stating that he was attacked by the rebels and robbed the Northern Mission.

He was afraid that the Qing army would really catch up with Wang Yan and obtain his surrender letter, so according to Wang Yan's words, he only said that the righteous army fled to Shandong.

When Dolgon heard the news, he was furious, and hurriedly sent a message to Shandong, and ordered Hetuo to pursue and suppress it as soon as possible, arrest the northern mission and return to Beijing.

Just as the Qing army was digging three feet into the ground in Shandong to find Wang Yan's righteous army, the Zhongyi battalion had already advanced to Henan.

At this time, the Qing army was at war with Dashun, and the materials were continuously transported to the front line from North Zhili and Northern Henan, Wang Yan and they pretended to be horse thieves from time to time along the way to attack and kill small groups of Qing troops, get supplies, and rob the post horses.

All the way south, until they were on the edge of the Yellow River and grabbed a boat to cross the river, the Qing army knew that the rebel army that attacked Zhan Ba had arrived in Henan, but at this time, it was impossible to pursue and suppress it.

As early as the end of October, after the Qing court captured Shanxi, it immediately launched two armies to destroy Shun at the same time, one route was borrowed by Azig, Wu Sangui, and Shang Kexi to Mongolia to besiege Li Guo and Gao Yigong in northern Shaanxi, and one route was led by Duoduo to attack Tongguan, and the two sides fought fiercely, and the Qing army naturally did not have the extra strength to pursue and suppress Wang Yan, who had already crossed the Yellow River.

On the tenth day of the first month of the first month of 1645 in the first year of Hongguang, Wang Yan and his team finally came to Suizhou, which was controlled by the Ming army, and entered a safe area.

When Gao Jie led his troops to the north and was living outside Suizhou City, Wang Yan went to visit with Zuo Mao for the first time.

Zuo Maodi was anxious to go south to expose the face of the thief, so that the princes of the court and the central government could prepare for the Qing Dynasty as soon as possible, but the Zhongyi camp needed him to find a place to settle down, so he had the heart to let Wang Yan occupy the command of Gao Jie.

Wang Yan is only a thousand generals, so naturally it is impossible to get much courtesy from Gao Jie, but he is still very happy to hear that Wang Yan has a thousand cavalry, and he sows grain and grass in front of Zuo Maodi, as well as more than 1,000 mandarin duck battle robes.

Wang Yan asked his subordinates to receive supplies with Gao Jie's subordinates, and then took the men and horses to send Zuo Maodi, who was in a hurry to go south, and he rode ten miles with him, and when he met a long pavilion, he stopped to say goodbye to the people of the mission.

"My lord is here, I don't know when I'll see you!" Wang Yan took the wine from Liu Shun's hand and practiced it for Zuo Maodi, and couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart.

Zuo Maodi took the wine glass and drank it all, he and Wang Yan have been together for a long time, and they have already become friends who have forgotten their years, and at the same time know his talent. "Shiheng and stay in the Xingping Bo army with peace of mind, after I return to the court, I will definitely recommend to Your Majesty, recruit Shiheng into the court, and with Shiheng's talent, I will definitely be able to become a pillar of the court in the future."

Zuo Maodi and Wang Yan traveled thousands of miles, and the two talked a lot on the way, and Wang Yan's analysis of the situation made him deeply convinced, both of them believed that resisting the Qing Dynasty was the first priority, and the anti-thieves could slowly figure it out.

"The princes of Nanjing are keen on the strategy of joint capture, and if you want to change your course, you will encounter many difficulties. Wang Yan saluted.

"Shiheng rest assured, I will definitely persuade Your Majesty to rectify the soldiers and horses and clean up the old rivers and mountains." Zuo Maodi held Wang Yan's hand and said affectionately. "It's been a long time, so don't pass it here."

At the moment, Wang Yan composed a song, "Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green, the evening breeze is blowing, the willow flute is remnant, and the sunset is outside the mountain." The end of the sky, the corner of the earth, the acquaintance is half scattered, life is rare to gather, only parting more. Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road, the grass is green, ask when you will go, and don't wander when you come. The end of the sky, the corner of the earth, the acquaintance is half scattered, a pot of turbidity sprinkled with the rest of the joy, don't dream cold tonight?. ”

The group was moved by Wang Yan's singing, Zuo Maodi and the others said goodbye with him in tears, while he watched the people of the mission go south until they finally disappeared between heaven and earth.

Bidding farewell to everyone, Wang Yan returned to the camp and trained the Loyalty Battalion.

Gao Jie's troops went north, not because of the Northern Expedition, but because Shi Kefa was keen on the strategy of joining forces to break the thief.

On October 24, the Qing court sent an edict to the officials and people of the Ming Dynasty in Henan, Nanjing, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places, saying: "When the Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming State is suffering from thieves, the mausoleum is burned down, the country is ruined, and not a single soldier is sent or a single arrow is fired. And our soldiers marched to suppress, the thieves ran westward, and the southeast of Er did not know that the Beijing division was convinced, there was no edict, and the king of Fu was established without permission, and his two crimes were also. The thieves are great enemies, and they do not think of requisitioning, and the generals support each other, disturb the good people, and rebel on their own, so as to start the army, and their crimes are three. ”

The document issued by the Qing court obviously contained evil intentions, intending to deny the orthodox status of the Hongguang Dynasty, and the intention of going to war was self-evident, but Shi Kefa was wishful thinking, believing that as long as the Qing court sent troops to fight the thieves and let the Qing court lose the excuse to accuse the Hongguang Dynasty, it was very possible to live in peace.

Therefore, Shi Kefa personally arranged for Gao Jie's troops to march into Henan, wanting to join forces with the Qing army to suppress the thieves, and to separate the way into Qin to attack the Dashun army, so as to show that the Hongguang Dynasty was not "not a single soldier" as the Qing court accused, so as to have a little more bargaining chips in the fantasy peace talks.

At this time, the main force of the Qing army is fighting fiercely with the main force of the army in Shaanxi, Hebei and Shandong are empty, if the Ming army suddenly goes north, the Qing army is attacked on both sides, then the recovery of Beijing is just around the corner, but it is a pity that such an excellent opportunity is wasted by the mediocre ministers, a pity! What a pain!

In the past year, Wang Yan's experience has made him grow up slowly, and after witnessing the destruction of the good situation in Shandong and the inaction of the southern ministers, he is no longer as blindly convinced as he was at the beginning.

Wang Yan's department, since Gao Jie touched, Gao Jie did not summon again, he devoted himself to rectifying the loyal battalion, let people make flags, and let the entire loyal battalion change into a unified mandarin duck robe, with a flying saucer helmet, the appearance of a new look, quite a strong army.

Gao Jie did not have a military order, and Wang Yan was also happy, and he took the Zhongyi battalion to practice cavalry all day long, and two days passed in a flash.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, Wang Yan returned to the camp after rehearsing his troops and horses as before, but found that the atmosphere in the camp was not right, as if something big was about to happen.

Wang Yan returned to the camp with the men and horses in confusion, and was thinking about asking Liu Shun to investigate, but he had already seen him hurriedly enter the tent. "Childe, Gao Jie was killed by Xu Dingguo, and General Li Chengdong summoned you to discuss the matter, wanting to raise troops to retaliate."

Wang Yan is now the chief general of the Zhongyi Battalion, and the soldiers mostly call him a general or a thousand households, only Liu Shun has never changed his words, and has always been called a son.

Wang Yan listened to his words, and was immediately shocked, he just entered Henan from the place controlled by the Qing army, the news was not clear, and he did not know the situation in Henan, so he couldn't figure out how Gao Jie would be suddenly killed by Xu Dingguo.

Wang Yan walked out of the tent with a gloomy face, and walked towards the tent while thinking about Gao Jie's death and the impact of the overall situation of the Qing Dynasty.

Gao Jie is the strongest of the four towns in Jiangbei, and when he was still following Li Chuang, he was extremely capable of fighting, and now that he is dead, the two Huai defenses will definitely be greatly affected.

At this time, Gao Jiejun must be in turmoil, and he needs a strong big man to stabilize the morale of the army, but will there be such a person?

Wang Yan was very worried and wanted to contribute to the world, but he was just a small president now, and he couldn't control the situation at all.

Unconsciously, perhaps Wang Yan himself didn't realize that he had begun to crave strength in his heart, longing for a force that he could control.

Wang Yan walked on the way to Shuai's tent with a heavy heart, and many thousands of households in other camps were also walking there, and he only learned from him the reason why Gao Jie was killed.

It turned out that Xu Dingguo, the Henan general soldier guarding Suizhou, had already secretly colluded with the Qing court, and took the initiative to send his sons Xu Er'an and Xu Erji to the Qing army camp on the north bank of the Yellow River as hostages.

After Gao Jie learned about this, he was worried that Xu Dingguo would lead his subordinates to dedicate the Suizhou region to the Qing court, so he led a large army to Suizhou, intending to coerce Xu Dingguo and his subordinates to follow him to the west.

Xu Dingguo knew that he had few soldiers and couldn't beat Gao Jie, so he was afraid in his heart and rushed to the Qing court to rescue, but Haoge had no troops to send at all, so he relented and wanted to take risks.

He went out of the city to visit Gao Jie, on the surface he was very respectful, but in fact he was thinking about how to deal with it, and he thought that Gao Jie, Zhao Qijie, and Chen Qianfu were in the name of picking up the wind and washing the dust, and held a banquet in Suizhou City to lure Gao Jie into the city.

Zhao Qijie, the governor of Henan, and Chen Qianfu advised Gao Jie not to enter the city easily to prevent changes, but Gao Jie was born as a military general, and he had many powerful soldiers, so Xu Dingguo did not dare to act rashly, and only brought 300 personal soldiers into the city for a banquet.

During the banquet, Xu Dingguo let ** persuade him to drink, drunk Gao Jie, and ambushed the soldiers in the middle of the night, killing Gao Jie and his own soldiers, only Zhao Qijie and Chen Qianfu escaped from Suizhou today because they kept an eye on it.

In the handsome tent, Li Benshen, Hu Maozhen, Li Chengdong and other Gao Jie's subordinates were listening to Zhao Qijie and Chen Qianfu scolding Xu Dingguo with tears on their faces, and everyone was resentful.

"I want to send a large army to attack Suizhou, take the head of the dog of Xu Dingguo, and avenge my uncle, you are willing to follow me." Li Chengdong pulled out the treasure knife, his face was full of resentment, he had followed Gao Jie for many years, and he had long regarded him as his brother, now that Gao Jie was killed, how could he not be angry.

At this time, there was no leader in the camp, and Gao Jie's nephew Li Benshen was not good at soldiers, so he took the time and let Li Chengdong call the shots.

Gao Jie treated his soldiers well, otherwise his subordinates would not have been able to follow him from Shaanxi through Shanxi and Huaiqing in Henan, and fled to Shandong, and finally entered Xuzhou.

This kind of march is more than several times more powerful than Wang Yan and them.

The lieutenant colonel of the battalion, feeling Gao Jie's love, listened to Li Chengdong's words, and immediately became excited, and they echoed it one after another, wanting to send troops to crusade against Xu Thief!

At that moment, Li Chengdong and Li Benshen assigned military orders to let the army attack the city immediately, but at this moment, someone suddenly came to report, "Lord Governor, generals, that Xu Dingguo has abandoned the city and fled, and wants to cross the Yellow River north, so he led his troops to surrender." ”

"Thief!" Hearing this, Li Chengdong was immediately furious and said hatefully. "Who wants to be the vanguard and hunt down this thief for me!"