Zhuxi County is at the westernmost end of Yunyang Prefecture. Going further west from Zhuxi County is Baitu Pass, which is located at the junction of Yunyang Prefecture and Hanzhong Prefecture. Baitu Pass straddles the key pass on the border between Hunan and Shaanxi and is very far from Pingli County in Hanzhong.

It is close, the terrain is majestic, and there are passes along the ridge, so the situation is very dangerous.

Nowadays, heavy rains are pouring, the Zhuxi River has surged, and the riverbank roads and valley paths leading to Baitu Pass have become muddy, making it very difficult to walk. After Dong Yuan and dozens of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers escaped from Zhuxi County, they

In a swamp on the north bank of the Zhuxi River, I reluctantly rushed towards Baituguan.

Baituguan is not too far away from Zhuxi County, but due to the heavy rain and the muddy mountain road, Dong Yuan's team of soldiers and horses have not seen the shadow of Baituguan even after running wildly for half a day.

Fortunately, Chuangying did not send troops to attack and kill along the way. Otherwise, as Liu Zongmin said, this team of officers and soldiers would definitely end up with nothing left. This was Chuangying's deliberate action. Chuangying deliberately let some Ming troops escape.

, and asked them to flee to Baituguan to report to Zuo Liangyu, in order to attract the attention of the Zuo Army to Zhuxi County and create opportunities for the movement to break into the camp.

As soon as Zuozhen soldiers and horses march towards Zhuxi County, the camp can take the opportunity to break out of the blockade of Zuozhen soldiers and horses, try to go north to Yunxi and Shangluo areas, and join Tian Jianxiu and other troops who are collecting scattered troops there.

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However, due to the sudden heavy rain, the entire Zhuxi Mountain area was plunged into mist. The marching ability and reconnaissance vision of the Ming army and Chuangying were greatly affected. In an instant, the battle situation fell into a confusing fog.

"Here we are, here we are! It's Bai Tu Pass!"

Several Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who were opening the way at the front exclaimed in unison. They were marching in heavy rain and mud and had long since broken up into formations and teams. In the process of escaping, more than ten people even fell into the Zhuxi River and

He died in the cliff of the valley, and his morale had already collapsed. Now that he saw the Zuozhen banner at the top of Baituguan City, he finally took a deep breath, knowing that his life should be saved.

Dong Yuan jumped down from an officer and soldier who was carrying him on his back. He was also disheveled and in a miserable state. He was covered in mud and water. Compared with the hungry people, he was a bit worse than starving to death.

"I am Dong Yuan, the general's clerk! The bandits broke into Zhuxi County. I killed hundreds of rebels with my own hands. Fang Lizhan broke out. I want to see the general! Take me to see the general quickly!"

Zuozhen's soldiers and horses entrenched in Baituguan had more than 10,000 elite soldiers. Zuo Liangyu was accustomed to recruiting rebels from bandits, paying heavy sums of money, and befriending the leader of the thieves through kindness and kindness, and absorbed many peasant soldiers.

A traitor with considerable fighting ability in the army served as a close servant. In addition, Zuo Liangyu's troops had always been domineering and lawless. Every time they marched to a place, they would loot the place in the name of the so-called "grain raiding", kill good people and take credit for their merits.

With this brutal method, Zuo Liangyu was able to accumulate a large amount of wealth and food to support the army. Therefore, among the various supporting and suppressing troops under the command of the Superintendent Yang Sichang, Zuo Zhen was stronger than the Qin army.

Although there was continuous heavy rain at this time, the small town of Baituguan was extremely filthy with a large amount of mud and water. However, it still did not affect the sharpness of Zuozhen's army. There was a general who was familiar with Dong Yuan in the city. At this time, he led a team of about 20 people.

The cavalry came out of the city to greet them. The power of these cavalry armor was very different from that of the barge camp. When the barge camp attacked Zhuxi County, Liu Zongmin was the only one riding an old and weak horse, and Liu Zongmin was only wearing a very old horse.

Just cloth armor.

The Zuozhen cavalry were all riding high-headed war horses, and they were not wearing the cloth armor that was more popular in the Ming army at this time, but the more expensive and gorgeous pierced armor. The Ming border troops often wore armor

The cloth-covered armor with leaves hidden behind the cloth is called "dark armor", while the pierced armor with a more complex production process and more expensive price is called "clear armor".

Cloth armor has the advantage of being more cost-effective than pierced armor. However, relatively speaking, its overall structure is not as stable as pierced armor, and the small overlapping area of ​​the nail leaves also results in a lower defensive power than pierced armor with the same protective area. Therefore, it is not as stable as pierced armor in the Ming Dynasty.

In the army, whether it is the Imperial Guards or the elite cavalry and generals, they still use high-standard armor.

It's just that since the Ming Dynasty, discipline and outline have been lax, divisions have no discipline, and the overall equipment level of the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers has continued to decline. Except for the Guan Ning Army, which is supported by the world's wealth, few other troops have the ability to equip large-scale armor.

The small group of cavalry that came out to greet Dong Yuan were all wearing armor. The general at the head also had iron-armed gauntlets on both arms, making him one of the best in the world.

"Hurry up, Mr. Dong, and get on the horse." The general, who was all covered in iron, waved his hand and ordered a cavalryman beside him to dismount. After Dong Yuan got on the horse, he asked again, "How many soldiers are there in the bandits? How many times will Chuang General's troops and horses go through this?"

Defeated and almost exterminated, how can we conquer the county?"

Dong Yuan sat on the horse, and his state gradually relaxed from the desperate running. He did not directly answer the general's question, but said: "Huchen, take me to see the general first. I will come back later."

To put it all together...well, this heavy rain almost killed me."

The armored general who was called Huchen by Dong Yuan was named Jin Shenghuan, with the alias Huchen. He was originally a general in Dongjiang Town with Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Shang Kexi, the Sanshun King of Manchuria, Geng Zhongming and others. Like Shang Kexi, he was under Mao Wenlong

After his death, he belonged to the Huanglong faction in Dongjiang Town. After the fall of Dongjiang Town, he joined the army of Zuo Liangyu, who had an old relationship with him. Jin Shenghuan was very murderous. Among the domineering Zuo Army, he was able to get along like a fish in water. Later generations "

The compilers of "History of the Ming Dynasty" were uneducated and even made mistakes in these historical materials. They gave the nickname "One Dou of Millet" to Jin Shenghuan, the general who broke into the camp, saying that he was born a bandit, which misled many people.

In the history of Li Chonger...or Li Laiheng's later generations, Jin Shenghuan surrendered to the Manchus along with Zuo Liangyu's son Zuo Mengeng after Zuo Liangyu died of illness, and also acted as an accomplice to help the Manchus pacify Jiangxi Province.

After Jin Shenghuan massacred Jiangxi, he thought that his merits were high enough to be granted a title of marquis, but he did not expect that his Manchu masters only gave him the title of deputy commander-in-chief. However, out of anger, he raised his troops anyway, cut off their braids and killed prisoners, which almost changed the middle period of the Nanming War of Resistance.

The pattern is another story.

Zuo Liangyu's governor's office was located in Guancheng. When Dong Yuan and Jin Shenghuan rode their horses to the gate of the governor's office, they heard singing and music coming from the curtain.

Under the pressure of Yang Sichang, the Zuo Army was forced to enter the Qinba Mountains to search and suppress a group of thieves. According to Zuo Liangyu's original intention, there was really no motivation to go deep into the barren area and do such useless things. Therefore, Zuo Zhen stationed in Baitu

After the pass, Marshal Zuo spent every day in the city, listening to the music played by more than a dozen singers brought from Xiangyang. As long as Li Zicheng didn't come out to cause trouble, he didn't plan to waste much effort in searching the mountains and suppressing them.

Zuo Liangyu, who had robbed Zuo Liangyu, sent envoys to surrounding counties to urge the county magistrates to prepare food, fodder and military supplies for him, which was much more active than chasing down the bandits.

"Commander! Fortunately, the students lived up to their orders and killed hundreds of bandits. They finally broke out of the bloody battle in Zhuxi County and returned to our Baitu Pass!"

Dong Yuan rushed into the superintendent's office while crying, then knelt down in front of Zuo Liangyu and started crying.

Marshal Zuo, who was drinking and listening to music, did not become angry when he saw this staff member covered in mud and kneeling in the hall. Zuo Liangyu also fought in Liaodong at first, and he already knew Dong Yuan, whose original name was Tong Yangjia, otherwise Dong Yuan

After the Tong family was investigated for being a traitor by the Ming Dynasty, they would not go all the way south to Xiangyang to defect to Zuozhen. Zuo Liangyu included Dong Yuan in the plot and entrusted him with important tasks, which was also to reserve a way for himself in the future.

Lu, he knew that the Tong family was doing well with Jiannu, and he felt that the Ming Dynasty court was full of apocalyptic atmosphere, so naturally he had to think about the future, so he treated Dong Yuan particularly well.

"Mr. Dong, don't be too panicked. Sit down first, and then slowly talk about what happened to the bandits." Zuo Liangyu motioned to the servants to arrange a seat for Dong Yuan. He is tall, has a ruddy complexion, and is quite handsome. It's no wonder that

There are rumors that he has a sexual relationship with Hou Xun, the leader of the Donglin Party.

Jin Shenghuan also walked into the hall at this time. After meeting Zuo Liangyu, he sat opposite Dong Yuan and asked the previous question again: "I heard that Chuang was renamed the Lao Eighth Army to avoid the army, and there were only Bu thieves left under his command.

How can these few hundred bandits break through a county?"

Zuo Liangyu also asked: "Yang Wenruo has emphasized several times that Chuang is a thief who is deeply hated by the emperor, and we must capture and kill Chuang, Li Zichen himself. But Chuang's troops are now far inferior to Xian's. To deal with the two thieves, the governor

My minister, Xiong Wencan, is extremely incompetent and misguidedly played tricks on the bandits. The two thieves of Xiancao took advantage of the situation and rose up again. If it is not necessary, our soldiers will still make the suppression of Xian the first priority."

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong killed Zuo Liangyu's brother in Xuzhou. They fought against each other several times. Zuo Liangyu mostly had the upper hand, but Zhang Xianzhong always escaped with his life. When Xiong Wencan wanted to recruit Zhang Xianzhong before, Zuo Liang

Yu also strongly opposed it. Now that Zhang Xianzhong has raised his troops again in Gucheng, Zuo Liangyu's prediction has been confirmed. Not long ago, Zuo Liangyu and Ming Army Deputy Chief Luo Dai chased Zhang Xianzhong, but were ambushed and defeated.

Luo Dai himself was shot dead. Therefore, Zuo Liangyu still wanted to leave the oilless Yunyang Mountain area as soon as possible and seek revenge against his old enemy Zhang Xianzhong.

Seeing that Zuo Liangyu didn't want to send troops, Dong Yuan couldn't help but become anxious. He immediately replied: "I heard that Commander Yang had won victory over the Han River and reported that Li Zicheng had been killed and all his troops were gone. Naturally, he had no doubts. But there are not many left of General Chuang."

, hundreds of thieves, they are really the best among the most cunning, the most cunning among the most cunning, they have been trained to be the most refined and powerful in twenty years, and they will not surrender until they die. The Battle of Zhuxi was just like these hundreds of thieves,

Only by gaining internal support from the rebellious people, opening the city gates and allowing the thieves to massacre the city, can the county walls be captured."

But Dong Yuan was worried that he had exaggerated the force of the camp, which was not in line with his so-called record of "killing hundreds of people by hand" and breaking out of the siege. Moreover, he was also afraid of scaring Commander Zuo, so he added: "But Zhuxi

In one battle, the students and the Qin soldiers came to the battle in person to fight for the life of one of them. However, they showed their desire to repay the commander and killed hundreds of thieves with their own hands. It was expected that their vitality would be seriously injured. At this time, the commander went to suppress the bamboos.

The stream will definitely take full credit."

However, Zuo Liangyu himself was a great master who killed the good and took credit for the victory, so how could he not hear the richness in Dong Yuan's words? But it is true that Li Zicheng only has a few hundred men left.

The soldiers and horses were in Zhuxi County, and it rained continuously at this time, which limited the possibility of the intruders escaping. It was indeed a good opportunity to completely wipe out Li Zicheng.

"It's just that the heavy rain now continues, which may not be conducive to large-scale military operations." Jin Shenghuan, who was standing beside him, said with some worry. The mountainous area in the heavy rain is really an advantageous battlefield for the rogue bandits who are good at mobile warfare and have a small number of people.

"In this weather, I'm afraid we won't be able to use all our troops to defeat the bandits like Mount Tai." Zuo Liangyu drank a glass of glossy wine into his mouth and asked Dong Yuan, "According to Mr. Dong's opinion, how many troops should our troops use?"

, is it convenient to defeat this group of bandits?"

"It rains and the ground is cold, and war horses are prone to colds and diseases. It may not be convenient for cavalry to go into battle." Jin Shenghuan also added again that he did not want the delicate cavalry to go out to fight in this rainy weather. If there was a flash flood, the losses would be too great.

Big.

"Then..." Dong Yuan felt a little pressure. Only then did he realize that this heavy rain weather was, to some extent, a great benefit to the rogue bandits. "There are only a few hundred rogue bandits left. The commander-in-chief said

With two thousand elite soldiers, we will definitely have a chance of victory."

"Okay." Zuo Liangyu nodded and shook his head, instructing Jin Shenghuan and Dong Yuan to arrange the troops and horses for the battle. "The mountain road is narrow, and many soldiers are inconvenient, and it is also not conducive to a horse battle. Hu Chen and Mr. Dong will go and get the troops first.
Chapter completed!