The army blocking the north was defeated, and the Ming army was chasing after it, and on the other side of the Yellow River, the Ming army gathered hundreds of ferries and was trying to force the Yellow River. For Yuan Zongdi of Chaoyi, he was about to fall into the Ming army's two-sided attack, and Chaoyi and Daqing Pass could no longer be defended.

Yuan Zongdi knew that if he continued to fight, his remaining 20,000 people would also be wiped out. Therefore, he had to lead his army to retreat and give up the Yellow River crossing.

When Wu Ping led his army to Chaoyi, the Shun army had already retreated for several miles.

"Chief soldier, let's chase!" The generals in the middle of the army asked for orders to chase and kill, but Wu Ping shook his head and refused.

"Just keep the momentum of coercion on the Shun army, there is no need to kill them all!

Wu Ping then ordered to garrison troops in Chaoyi to repair and meet Yu Feng's troops in the east of the river to cross the river.

Yu Feng's 50,000 Northern Expeditionary Army, plus nearly 100,000 Shanxi soldiers reorganized, it would take too much time to cross the river by ferry.

As a result, the Ordnance Department and others began to build a pontoon bridge. Hundreds of ferries were laid across the river, connected by ropes and planks on top of them, making it a simple pontoon bridge.

Such a pontoon bridge is not very strong, and I am afraid that it will not be able to withstand even a heavy flood, but there is no problem for the Ming army to pass through the east of the river.

But even so, it took five days from the construction of the pontoon bridge to the passage of all 100,000 Ming troops.

All the Ming troops crossed the Yellow River into Shaanxi, joined forces with Wu Ping's Datong army, and began to march in the direction of Tongguan.

At this time, Li Guo of Tongguan had already learned of Yuan Zongdi's defeat, and the whole person was in frustration and frustration.

originally thought that with the natural danger of the Tongguan Yellow River, the Ming army could be blocked in Shanxi and Henan, but who would have thought that what they were waiting for was a succession of defeats.

Although Li Guo still has nearly 100,000 troops under his command, and there is still a natural danger in Tongguan, since the Ming army has crossed the Yellow River to Hexi, it will soon be able to kill behind Tongguan. If that is the case, what awaits him will be surrounded by the Ming army, and there is only one way to annihilate the whole army.

Therefore, Tongguan can no longer be defended!

Li Guo immediately made a decision, ordered a retreat, withdrew from Tongguan, and retreated to Xi'an. In order to prevent the Ming army from pursuing, the general He Zhen was left to guard the back road.

Hearing that the Shun army was retreating, Chen Yue immediately ordered a strong attack on Tongguan. At this moment, there are only 8,000 defenders left in Tongguan, the main force has retreated, and the hearts of the remaining troops have long been shaken, and they are powerless to resist in the face of the attack of the Ming army with absolute superiority.

At this time, He Zhen was also disheartened about the future of the Shun army, and took advantage of the pause of the Ming army's offensive to send people to the Ming army to ask for surrender.

Since He Zhen surrendered, Li Yi led his troops to enter Tongguan without blood, and the gate of Guanzhong was completely opened. However, Chen Yue was not happy at all.

"Lord Wang, what's wrong? Is there something wrong? Zhang Huangyan couldn't help but ask.

Chen Yue shook his head slightly and sighed: "The surrender of the Shun army is really too fast. ”

Zhang Huangyan was a little puzzled: "Isn't it good to surrender, save the soldiers from fighting." ”

Chen Yue said: "If the Shun army chooses to surrender when they are cornered, how will our plan be carried out?" ”

Zhang Huangyan understood and smiled slightly: "Lord Wang, this is easy to do." ”

......

He Zhen's troops surrendered without much resistance, so the 8,000 army suffered almost nothing.

The Ming army confiscated the weapons of the surrendered army and detained them all in the Wild Wolf Valley on the south side of Tongguan.

Because He Zhen is a general, he is treated slightly better, and he has a shack to live in.

It was already dusk, and the smell of rice wafted from the direction of Tongguan Guancheng, and the Ming army was firing for dinner. In the Wild Wolf Valley, it was desolate, and the eight thousand captives had nothing but the clothes on their bodies, so they could only look at the direction of Tongguan and drool.

"Damn, the officers and soldiers didn't treat us as human beings, and they didn't even give us a little food!" Finally, some of the captives scolded and scolded, which attracted a lot of echoes.

"Forget it, since we surrender, we must have the consciousness of being a prisoner. It's better to be hungry than to eat a knife! He Zhen said impatiently. As a surrendered army, I still want to be treated well, isn't it a pipe dream!

Under He Zhen's suppression, the surrendering troops barely settled down.

When night fell, most of the troops entered their dreams, but there were also many people who were hungry and couldn't sleep, and the soldier Wang Zhan was one of them.

Wang Zhagen was originally a farmer in Nanyang, and his family was very poor, and he had never eaten a full meal since he was born. When Li Guo led the remnants of the Shun army from Jingzhou to the north and passed through Nanyang, in order to have a full meal, Wang Zhagen resolutely joined the Shun army.

He is very tall and thin, the only meaning of life is for stuttering, he never wants to do anything but eat, he is willing to do anything for stuttering, and he is called "foodie" by other soldiers of the Shun army.

Now, this foodie is tickled by the fragrance coming from the direction of the Ming army camp, and it is difficult to sleep at all.

Finally, he got up and took advantage of the lonely moonlight to feel in the direction of the Ming army camp.

passed by the Shunjun prisoner lying down, but no one wanted to pay attention to him, they were all fucking prisoners, and no one wanted to meddle.

Enduring hunger all the way, Wang Zhan gradually climbed closer to the Ming army camp, but suddenly stopped hiding in the shadows of trees and stones, because he saw that more than 20 steps away from the Ming army camp gate, there were two Ming army secret posts on duty, and in front of the Ming army sentry, a bunch of extinguished bonfires and sparks were flickering, and bursts of pungent fragrance were coming from the fire.

Wang Zhan breathed greedily, judging from the fragrance that came, it should be the taste of roast chicken, and these two Ming army sentries should be eating chicken!

Saliva suddenly flowed out of his mouth. Quietly touched a stone and touched it towards the Ming army sentry.

Closer, closer, can already hear the whispering of the Ming army sentry.

"Alas, these Shun troops are really good, they can't even eat a full meal before they die." A Ming army sentry sighed.

"Poor what! If they are fed, how can it be so easy to kill again? It is to starve them for a few meals, and they can't resist when they are dying! Then let them dig a big pit by themselves, and then bury it in the pit, and it will be a hundred. It's better to leave the food for us to eat! The other sentry sneered.

Wang Zhagen couldn't help but gasp. Although he is greedy, he is not stupid, of course he can understand the meaning of Ming Jun's words! This, this clearly means to kill all the captives!

At this moment, his heart was full of fear. I didn't dare to look for food anymore, and subconsciously turned around and wanted to flee, fleeing far away so as to avoid the massacre of the Ming army.

However, after escaping for a distance, he suddenly stopped again, no, there are still many relatives from the same village in the army, and many uncles and brothers are also in the army, he can't just leave, he must go back to report the news. Thinking of this, he turned his steps and ran wildly towards the Wild Wolf Valley.

"What you said is true?" When Wang Zagen returned, he told the news he had overheard to several brothers in the same village, and then it quickly spread and also reached He Zhen's ears. He Zhen was shocked, and immediately ordered someone to call Wang Zhagen and interrogate him sternly.

Wang Zhan looked at He Zhen fearfully, nodded again and again, and stammered the story.

"General He, this is a foodie, he can't lie at all if he is stupid on weekdays." He Zhen's lieutenant knew that Wang was rooted, and said softly to He Zhen.

He Zhen nodded, her face was very ugly: "It seems to be true, the Ming Army of the dog day doesn't plan to leave us a way to live!" ”

"General He, we can't wait any longer, let's escape at night! Although the terrain of this wild wolf valley is treacherous, there is still a sheep intestine trail on the other side, and it is still possible for us to escape cautiously. The adjutant suggested.

He Zhen nodded: "That's all it can be." ”

The weapons have been confiscated by the Ming army, and there is no way to resist even if they want to. Fortunately, I learned the news in time, and it was possible to escape!

Since he decided to flee and didn't dare to delay any longer, He Zhen immediately issued an order, ordering his soldiers not to make loud noises, if they let the Ming army know their plan, I am afraid that there will be no chance to escape.

Life and death were at stake, and all the Shun army captives understood the severity, and under the leadership of He Zhen, they walked towards the sheep intestine path on the other side of the valley.

Afraid that the Ming army would find out, he didn't dare to light a torch at all, so he could only take advantage of the moonlight to advance. The bleak moonlight shone on the earth, and the shadows were not clear at all, and from time to time a Shunjun prisoner fell to the ground, but he did not dare to cry out in pain.

In order not to be noticed by the Ming army, He Zhen simply ordered that all soldiers carry a wooden stick in their mouths, and the ends of the wooden stick are tied to the back of their heads with ropes, so as to ensure that they do not make a sound.

The further you go into the valley, the more rugged the road becomes, and this kind of mountain road is difficult to walk even during the day, let alone at night, and you can only crawl on your hands and feet, and from time to time a soldier stumbles and rolls down the valley, but he cannot even utter a cry of pain.

The sound of rolling down the valley came one after another, and everyone in the Shun army who was walking on the mountain road was terrified. However, although it is dangerous to walk the mountain road at night, it is better than dying under the massacre of the Ming army and losing your life.

He Zhen walked at the front of the team with his personal guards, listening to the sound of rolling down the valley from time to time behind him, his heart was extremely heavy, and when he escaped from the valley, he didn't know how many people would be left. At this moment, He Zhen's heart was full of remorse, if he knew that there would be such an end, it would be better to fight with the Ming army with real swords and guns, and it would be better than being so guilty now.

At dawn, Zhang Huangyan personally led one hundred and ten cavalry straight into the Wild Wolf Valley, looking at the empty valley, with a smile on his face.

"Leave some people behind and see if any of the Shun prisoners remain." Zhang Huangyan casually commanded, and rode back to Tongguan.

"Lord Wang, our plan has taken effect, and the Shun army captives have fled!" Zhang Huangyan said to Chen Yue.

Chen Yue sighed: "I'm afraid that no Shun army will be willing to surrender in the future." But in this way, our reputation for killing prisoners will also spread. ”

Zhang Huang said: "The Western Regions are too far away and desolate, if not, how could the Shun army be willing to leave their homeland and go to the Western Regions?" Only by cutting off all their paths will they be forced to do what we want. ”

Chen Yue smiled slightly: "I didn't blame Cangshui, you meant. Those who do great things are inherently informal. ”

......

Yuan Zongdi took the lead in retreating to Xi'an, and then Li Guo also returned to Xi'an with his troops, and the entire Xi'an Mansion was suddenly frightened.

The Ming army came from both sides in the northeast, and even the armies of Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi could not stop it, and the situation of the Shun army was already very dangerous.

This situation is much more dangerous than when Li Zicheng was defeated by the Eight Banners in Beijing and retreated to Shaanxi.

After all, back then, the Shun army still controlled the land of the four prefectures of Xiangyang, even if Guanzhong could not hold it, it could still retreat to the south through Wuguan. And now, Xiangyang is the territory of the Ming army, and Hao Shaoqi is guarding it with heavy troops. Even if you can defeat Hao Shaoqi, what can you do? Huguang Jiangxi is the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, the western army has long been defeated, and the south is the enemy.

Stay in Xi'an and fight the Ming army? Even when they had Tongguan and the Yellow River, they couldn't stop the Ming army, and how long could the Xi'an city wall last? Although there are still more than 100,000 Shun troops in Xi'an, the total strength of the two Ming armies combined is as much as 200,000, and both the strength and combat effectiveness are far above the Shun army. Therefore, once the Ming army came to the city of Xi'an, the only way to wait for hundreds of thousands of Shun soldiers and civilians was to fall.

Fight, fight, run, where to flee? At this moment, the high-level Shunjun in Xi'an City is full of pessimism and despair about the future.

However, Chen Yue's fear that the Shun army would surrender did not appear, because the top leaders of the Shun army were all strong-willed people.

For example, Li Guo, such as Gao Yigong, Yuan Zongdi, and Liu Tichun, are all fierce generals under Li Zicheng, and they have all followed Li Zicheng to the world for more than ten years and fought most of the Ming Dynasty, so even if they are so desperate, these people are unwilling to surrender.

If you can't beat it, you just have to escape, and there is nowhere to escape from the south, north and east, so go west!

It was only after some deliberation that the top brass of the Shun army made the decision to evacuate Xi'an and retreat westward.

For more than ten years, they have carried out such retreats countless times, and they have long been familiar with it.

Of course, there are also many people like He Zhen in the Shun army, who are full of despair about the future and want to surrender to the court. After all, from Guanzhong to the west, it is very desolate Longxi Ganliang, the further west, the more sparse the population, the more desolate the land.

However, within a few days, He Zhen fled all the way back from Tongguan with thousands of remnants of soldiers, bringing back the news of the Ming army's killing of prisoners. As a result, no one dared to have the intention of surrendering.

Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians evacuated Xi'an one after another, heading in the direction of Fengxiang Mansion. Li Guo took an army to take charge of the broken queen.

The probe horse flew in to report the news of the appearance of the Ming army. Lintong in the east and Fuping in the north all appeared in the Ming army.

"Set fire!" Li Guo said coldly. With his words, the soldiers of the Shun army threw their torches to the roof, countless houses were set on fire, and countless thick smoke drifted over the city of Xi'an.

Finally, after taking a look at Xi'an City, which had been occupied for a year, Li Guo took a deep breath, he didn't know if there was still a chance to return this departure.

"I just want to remind General Quan that if the battle is unfavorable, you can lead the army to the west, and after crossing the desert, there will be another world. This world is very large, in addition to the Ming Middle Earth, there is an incomparably vast land outside the territory, with the power of the general, conquer the alien race and establish their own kingdom outside the territory. When negotiating with Chen Yue not long ago, Chen Yue's words before parting suddenly echoed in Li Guo's mind. Could it be that he will really be forced to go to a foreign land?

ps: It's a thousand chapters, sprinkle flowers to celebrate!

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