Seeing that Li Zicheng just nodded slightly and said nothing, Gao Guiying knew that he was under great pressure before the battle, so he began to comfort him again:

"In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, when we first arrived in Jiangbei, we were really unfamiliar with the people and the language, but the poor people welcomed us and were afraid that we would not go.

We were besieging Yingzhou, which was still a few hundred miles away from Fengyang. The poor people in Fengyang came to greet us one after another, and told us that a certain rich family and a certain official had embezzled money, and how many officers and soldiers were stationed somewhere.

Otherwise, we would not have defeated Fengyang so easily and burned the ancestral graves of the current emperor. Judging from the public sentiment, the Zhu family's world will not last long. I believe that we can definitely break through this battle...

…”

Thinking of tomorrow's battle and listening to Gao Guiying's comfort, Li Zicheng couldn't help but secretly smile bitterly. The life and death of the entire army depended on tomorrow's battle. It was not easy to successfully break out of the encirclement.

He quietly looked at the moonlight on the window and listened to the distant whistling of horses. Li Zicheng gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep.

As soon as he fell asleep, he had two nightmares. One nightmare was that he was defeated in the camp, and he escaped to Jiugong Mountain and was killed by a farmer with a hoe. The other nightmare was that he was also defeated and became a monk...

Suddenly a cock crow woke Li Zicheng from his dream. Although it was just a nightmare, Li Zicheng's clothes were soaked with cold sweat...

When the rooster crows for the second time, Li Zicheng's men and horses quietly set off southward under the vast moonlight.

Liu Zongmin, Hao Yaoqi, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi and other generals led more than 30 partial generals and more than 10,000 soldiers in the front.

Behind Liu Zongmin and others was the team of Dang Shousu and others. King Chuang walked with his personal generals and five thousand cavalry between the front team and the old camp.

Gao Yifeng led a dozen generals, more than 2,000 soldiers, and more than 900 child soldiers, guarding the family members of the old camp and following behind.

Liu Zongmin's two wives, Gao Yigong's wife, Li Guo's wife and adopted son Li Laiheng, as well as many of the general's family members and the soldiers protecting their family members, all rode forward.

Since Li Zicheng's rebellion, Gao Guiying has been following her husband and has been accustomed to a hard and dangerous fighting life. She can ride a powerful horse and can also shoot arrows. When marching, she always wears a red silk war belt around her waist and carries an ox-horn bow on her back.

Hang a sword.

Although she has never practiced martial arts very well, and she is not required to personally charge into battle during battles, she always carries this sword with her.

Not only was she prepared to use it to kill the enemy, but she was also prepared to use it to commit suicide as a last resort, and she would never let herself fall into the hands of officers and soldiers, a life worse than death.

She understood that it would not be easy to break out of the siege today, so she asked her daughter Lanzhi to ride on a big horse with her to prevent mother and daughter from being scattered by thousands of troops.

In addition, her wife named Li Guo, Huang and Li Laiheng, followed her closely. Although Huang was one year younger than her aunt, her health was far worse than Mrs. Gao.

Both pregnancies were miscarried during the military battle, which made her body very weak. Now she is pregnant for another four months, and she has been riding a horse for three of these four months.

Recently, she had been feeling dizzy and her heart was beating so fast that she could hardly hold on. However, she did not tell anyone about her condition to prevent her aunt and husband from worrying about her.

Her adopted son Li Laiheng was completely different from her. He was always full of energy and refused to be quiet, like a tiger cub.

He was only twelve years old and feared nothing. Every time he fought, he always hoped that he could be left alone and follow his adoptive father or Uncle Shuangxi into the army formation and fight with his sharp dagger.

Because every time a bloody battle was about to begin, his adoptive father always asked him and his mother to follow him to the old camp. Every time officers and soldiers rushed in front of him, his own soldiers would always protect him, which made him feel great regret and injustice.

Why not let him fight? The adults underestimated him. Many of those child soldiers were only one or two years older than him, and the most were only three or four years older. He really envied them!

Today he wore a piece of cotton armor specially made for him, carried a small ox-horn bow on his back, and hung a sword and a red lacquer quiver on his waist.

There are more than a dozen arrows in his quiver. Despite his young age, Li Laiheng can almost hit the mark within sixty steps. In several battles, he has personally shot and wounded enemies who rushed in front of him.

Li Laiheng was riding a Mongolian horse. He sat on the saddle with his chest raised and slightly sideways, holding the reins with his left hand and holding a whip with his right hand. He looked excitedly at the mountains in the distance.

Historically, after Li Zicheng's death, Li Laiheng was also the leader of the Thirteen Kuidong families and insisted on fighting against Jiannu until the last moment of his life.

Although since the withdrawal from northern Sichuan in early spring, after thousands of miles of continuous fighting, most of the troops and horses were injured and lacked food and clothing, the more than 20,000 troops still had high morale.

Young Laiheng rode his horse and walked among such troops, his innocent heart full of heroism. He very much hoped that today would be a fiercer and bloody battle than any before.

In this way, he would have the opportunity to leave his adoptive mother and the protection of others, and like the children of Luo Hu, fight among the officers and soldiers.

After walking for more than ten miles, they exited the canyon, followed by endless hilly areas, and further south was Wen County, which they had to rush through today.

Li Zicheng, with Zhang Nai and a group of soldiers, rode his horse past the brigade and caught up with Liu Zongmin, telling him to be careful and beware of ambushes.

"Stop in front of that mountain, let the infantry drink water and horses for half an hour, and be ready to fight at any time!"

After that, Li Zicheng led his soldiers to leave the group, reined in his horse and stood by the roadside to let the group pass.

King Chuang stared into the distance, wondering where the enemy was waiting for him.

At this time, a primary school student rode up to Li Zicheng and gave him a military salute:

"Report to King Chuang: There are officers and soldiers following closely behind. They are only two or three miles away. They are not attacking. I don't know what the purpose is. General Li said, please tell King Chuang to order the troops and be more careful."

"I know, tell Li Guo and kill them immediately if you get the chance."

"yes!"

The scout received the order and immediately turned his horse's head to look for Li Guo.

Li Zicheng knew in his heart that the pursuers behind him were waiting for the front to start fighting before launching a flanking attack.

But he didn't know where Sun Chuanting had deployed the interception troops. They might be far away, or they might encounter them soon.

The outpost troops had already rounded a hill and disappeared into the increasingly heavy white fog. Only Liu Zongmin's white flag could be seen occasionally, blowing in the morning breeze.

Li Zicheng was riding on the black dragon colt, quietly raising his head and staring forward. The black dragon colt was turning its ears of bamboo leaves, listening to the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground and the sound of horses neighing in the distance.

As if it had a premonition that it was about to enter the battle, it snorted excitedly and neighed. It was very strange that when it twitched its mane and neighed, the other horses stopped barking.

Li Zicheng did not despise Hong Chengchou or Sun Chuanting, knowing that they were both capable military commanders under Chongzhen.

The numbers are so disparate, the work and rest are so incompetent, and the opponent is a person like Sun Chuanting, he cannot be careless... I like the Ming Dynasty, the prosperous age starts from the prince supervising the country, please collect: (https://www.myxls.net) The Ming Dynasty, the prosperous age starts from the prince's supervision
Chapter completed!