During the Ming Dynasty, Baoning Prefecture included Guangyuan, Nanjiang, Bazhong, and Langzhong in later generations, and was considered an important place in northern Sichuan.

Tongchuan Prefecture and Shunqing Prefecture are located to the south of Baoning Prefecture.

Yanting is located on the border of Baoning and Tongchuan and is under the jurisdiction of Tongchuan.

Therefore, Ma Ke first broke through Yanting and then entered Tongchuan Prefecture.

There were basically no officers and soldiers in Tongchuan. After Ma Ke entered Tongchuan Prefecture, he quickly surrounded the prefecture's Li County.

Qixian County was later known as Santai County in Mianyang.

Of course, Santai was still just a town at this time. Because it was located at the intersection of Peijiang and Zhongjiang, affected by the prosperous agriculture and trade around it, it was already a quite wealthy town by the end of the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the county seat of Li County was destroyed due to war. Later, during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Santai was simply established as a prefecture.

The distance between Langzhong and Li County is only more than 200 miles, and the distance is only more than 300 miles.

Although Li Yan and the red lady promised Li Yutian to escort Ma Ke's grain and grass, they were not hindered by the convoy transporting grain.

The two sent an infantry captain and a thousand men to escort the grain transport team and the headquarters' heavy supply camp, and then led more than a thousand cavalry and more than 3,000 elite infantry to Li County.

Since leaving Beijing, the soldiers of the Red Lady Division have developed a pair of iron feet, inspired by the military rations and movies of later generations.

Traveling more than seventy miles a day, we arrived at Qixian County on the morning of the fifth day.

At this time, Tan Ma from the Hong Niangzi tribe also met Tan Ma from Ma Kesha outside the realm. However, because the Hong Niangzi tribe was still dressed in the attire of the Dashun Army and flying the banner of Dashun, there was no misunderstanding between the two Tan Ma.

Then he reported the encounter to the generals of both sides.

When Li Yan and the Red Lady heard the news, they did not order the troops to stop - if they had ordered to stop the march vigilantly, it would have made Ma Ke suspicious.

Since they were sent by Li Zicheng to support Ma Ke in his attack on Sichuan, they should not show timidity when meeting Ma Ke.

So the team continued to march and soon saw the county seat of Qixian County.

Zhu Aelao was sitting on a reddish-brown horse. She saw black smoke billowing from Qixian County, but could not hear any shouts of killing, and her heart sank.

Sure enough, when Li Yan saw this scene, he also frowned and said: "It seems that Ma Ke has probably conquered Qixian County."

Hao Guangming also saw this scene. Thinking of the historical records about the battle between Chen Junchong and Ma Ke, he said: "It's no surprise that even if Li County was breached, Chen Junchong only committed suicide after a few days. You should still have

Chance to save him."

When Zhu Yuyao heard this, she didn't think much about it, but said to Li Yan: "Let the team speed up."

Li Yan said: "I know that His Highness is worried about Chen Junchong's life, but he is already close to Qi County at this time. Speeding up rashly may easily cause Ma Ke to misunderstand - Yu Dashun said that he is a surrendered general after all."

Zhu Yasuo took a deep breath and said, "Then just listen to Mr. Li."

Soon, a large group of cavalry arrived.

The leading cavalry general looked at Li Yan and the red lady, and immediately dismounted, knelt down on one knee and clasped his fists.

"Ma Xing, the cavalry captain under the command of the last general Huaiyuan Bo, pays homage to the Li Ge tribe and pays homage to General Red!"

Li Yan took a few steps forward on his horse and said condescendingly: "Captain Ma, there is no need to be polite. But Uncle Huaiyuan has captured Tongchuan Prefecture?"

"Yes." Ma Xing stood up and responded, "It's just that the county seat of Qi County was severely damaged in the battle and is no longer suitable for garrisoning. Our uncle's general camp is still located outside Santai Town.

When the uncle heard that Li Ge's troops and the Red Lady were coming to help, he came to greet the general at the end of his life. At the same time, he sent people to open a camp and prepare a banquet to welcome Li Ge's troops and the Red General."

Li Yan nodded, "Well, let's lead the way."

Ma Xing responded, got on his horse and led the cavalry of hundreds of people to turn around and head towards Santai Town.

The matchmaker team followed leisurely behind.

The red lady walked to Li Yan's side and whispered: "We still have to be careful, then Marco is not a simple person."

"I know." Li Yan nodded.

Immediately, the Red Lady Department secretly increased their vigilance.

Even if a fight really breaks out, although the red lady team is small in number, they may not be afraid of Ma Ke.

It should be noted that in these days, Zhu Yuluo not only transported military rations to the Red Lady's Department, but also brought several items that could be directly used on the battlefield for future generations.

Although there are not many of these things, they can be used well, but they can also affect the outcome of this kind of battle involving tens of thousands of people.

···

Outside Santai Town, in front of the military camp.

Li Yan, the red lady met Ma Ke.

Zhu Yuyao was hiding among the female soldiers in the Red Lady's personal guard camp and also saw this person.

Ma Ke is in his forties or fifties, neither tall nor short, lean, with a little white hair and deep wrinkles on his face.

As for skin color, most of those who march and fight all year round, except for female generals who are more careful like the Red Lady, have dark skin.

"The last general, Ma Ke, has met the Li Ge tribe and the red general!"

Although Ma Ke was named Huaiyuan Bo, he did not dare to take advantage of Li Yan and the Red Lady.

There are currently no examples of civil servants being ennobled in Dashun, and it seems that civil servants are not allowed to be ennobled.

And the Red Lady is a woman, so there is currently no example of a woman being knighted in Dashun.

Therefore, there is a reason why Li Yan and the Red Lady do not have a title, otherwise the title they would receive would never be worse than that of a reduced general.

Li Yan and the red lady didn't care much, so they dismounted and returned Ma Ke's gift.

Li Yan even smiled and said: "How polite, Uncle Huaiyuan. After you arrived in Sichuan, you attacked Baoning and Tongchuan in a short period of time, opening the way for our Dashun army to directly attack Chengdu. You have already made a great contribution."

.”

Ma Ke didn't feel proud at all, he just smiled, clasped his fists to the northeast and said, "It's all thanks to His Majesty's power that the general can go so smoothly."

What he said was not entirely social.

If he had not become the general of Dashun and was still the general of the Ming Dynasty, how could he possibly attack the inland prefectures and counties in Sichuan that were almost unarmed? Most likely he would have been transferred to deal with Dashun's army or the Qing army.

Facing these two, he can't achieve such a good record.

Then, Li Yan and Ma Ke exchanged a few words and went to the military camp for a banquet.

As for the Red Lady, she still stayed in the main army on the grounds that she had to arrange a camp.

When Li Yan came back from the lunch banquet, he said: "Ma Ke captured Qi County two days ago, and Chen Junchong was put under house arrest by him in the Wuxian Temple in the county town.

When he mentioned Chen Junchong, Ma Ke admired him but also gritted his teeth because Chen Junchong defended Qi County and he lost five to six hundred elite soldiers."

Zhu Yusao immediately asked: "Did Ma Ke say what to do with Chen Junchong?"

Li Yan said: "He didn't say anything, and I didn't ask any more questions - I was afraid that he would become suspicious."

The red lady said: "Princess, don't worry, we will invite Ma Ke to the banquet tonight. We will capture him then and save Chen Junchong. Isn't it just a matter of words?"

Zhu Yusao nodded first, and then said: "I hope Chen Junchong can persist for a long time."

Hao Guangming said on the other side: "I think what you should consider now is how to capture Ma Ke, and how to take over Ma Ke's troops later."

Zhu Aao felt that Hao Guangming was right to remind her, so she immediately discussed the matter with Li Yan and the Red Lady.

At the end of the discussion, all three of them felt that the key to doing this well was not how to capture Marco, but how to subdue Marco on the spot after capturing him.

Once you conquer Marco, it will be much easier to take over his army.

···

The sun sets in the west.

Marco was sitting in the military camp tent handling military affairs.

As the commander-in-chief of an army, you need to not only lead troops to fight, but also have to understand other aspects of military affairs.

You can't possibly know that your food and grass are almost gone, right?

"Our next batch of grain and grass, Li Futai, has been handed over to the Hong Niangzi Ministry for escort. Li Gebu told me at the reception banquet before that he was eager to come to support. The dozens of trucks of grain and grass were ordered to be escorted by a thousand people. It will take two days.

Just arrived."

Although Ma Ke is from Shaanxi, he has been fighting in Shanxi, Henan, Guanwai, and Hebei for a decade or two, so he has already changed his local accent, and his Mandarin is pretty good.

The grain officer in the army had been replaced by Ma Ke's cronies. When he heard this, he couldn't help but said: "Uncle, I just conquered Qixian County. This Li Yan, the red lady is here. Isn't she trying to grab the credit?"

Ma Ke laughed after hearing this and said: "What kind of credit are you taking? He wouldn't say that Baoning and Tongchuan were captured by him, right? As for Chengdu, with Zhang Xianzhong here, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to defeat."

If the grain officer wanted to say anything more, he heard the soldiers outside the big tent shout: "Li Ren, the captain of the Red Lady's Department, has been ordered to come and deliver the invitation!"

Marco and the grain officer looked at each other, then raised their voices and said: "Let him come in."

Li Ren walked into the big tent, handed over the invitation, and said: "My general has prepared a banquet in the camp, and I would like to invite you to attend the banquet."

Marco glanced at the invitation casually and said, "Captain Li, please also tell Li Gebu and General Red that I will be here later."
Chapter completed!