When they arrived at Fufeng, Li Zicheng's troops were divided into two groups. Among them, the rebels from various groups formed a huge army with a strength of 150,000. They turned north and attempted to capture Linyou County and bypass Fengxiang.

However, Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang, with less than 50,000 elite troops, traveled west for 20 miles. After breaking away from the large army, they turned around and headed south.

Sure enough, Li Zicheng's trick successfully deceived Cao Wenzhao who occupied Fengxiang, and the door to the west was once again opened for Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang.

On the third day of August in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Cao Wenzhao led his army to leave Fengxiang and march north to Linyou County to intercept the rebel army. However, Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang took the opportunity to escape to Gansu through Fengxiang.

At the same time, Hong Chengchou also raised his troops, fought out from Xi'an, and chased towards Linyou County.1 Until they reached the Duyang Mountain area, the two armies caught up with most of the rebel army. Then, the brutal massacre began.

It lasted until midnight that day, with corpses piled up on top of each other in Duyang Mountain, and blood gathered into a river. It flowed all the way to Hengshui, and then merged with the river into the Yellow River. After this battle, 30,000 of the 150,000 rebels were killed

, 50,000 people were captured, and the fate of the rest was unknown. However, after discovering that Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang were not among the crowd, Hong Chengchou became furious.

In addition, he had no extra food and grass to provide for these captives, so Hong Chengchou killed all 50,000 captured people. That day, the sky was dim and the earth was dark, the sun and the moon had no light, the west wind was whimpering, and the heaven and earth were moved.

After dealing with these rebels, Hong Chengchou immediately ordered the army to move westward and must kill this rebel army.

Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang headed west, accepting various rebel armies along the way, as well as a large number of hungry people who could not live to join the rebel army. When they arrived in Qinzhou, the army had recovered to about 100,000 people. When they walked to Longxi, they encountered the same people fleeing into Shaanxi.

Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others. The strength of the rebel army also recovered to 150,000.

As the number of people increased, the marching speed of the army gradually slowed down, and at the same time, the military consumption also increased, and Li Zicheng gradually became unable to do what he expected.

At the same time, Hong Chengchou, who was in hot pursuit, felt more and more powerless. He had gone to the limit of what he could do, and even had to bear the infamy to trap and kill the rebels, just to frighten the world and control the rogue bandits.

However, in just a few days, the number of rogue bandits has already recovered to 150,000. Is it really the end of the Ming Dynasty?

At this time, the number of troops in Hong Chengchou's hands was reduced to about 20,000 after repeated losses. Hong Chengchou wrote to Chongzhen, requesting Chongzhen to allocate money and food to increase the number of troops. However, the memorial sent out was like a stone sinking into the sea, and not a single ripple was heard.

It was a good day on August 18th, the 8th year of Chongzhen. Hong Chengchou led the army to meet the rebels in Ranma River. The vanguard and midfielder Liu Honglie had only 3,000 men in his hands, and was surrounded by 20,000 rebels. After fighting for half a day, he was defeated and captured.

, was killed soon after. Lieutenant General Ai Wannian went to Liu Guozhen to rescue, but was ambushed by the rebels again, and was devastated on the spot.

When Cao Wenzhao heard the news, he glared and cursed, and immediately rushed to Chengchou to ask for an army to fight. Hong Chengchou solemnly said: "General Cao is really a talented tiger general, and he is brave. The general can go out to fight, and I will command the army to follow."

Arrive soon."

So Cao Wenzhao led 3,000 troops, set out angrily, and met the rebels at Qiutou Town in Zhenning. Cao Bianjiao took the lead in scaling the city wall, beheaded 500 people, and pursued the enemy for 30 miles. Cao Wenzhao led the infantry behind.

Tens of thousands of cavalrymen lying in ambush by the rebels suddenly came out and surrounded them. Their arrows were as dense as the thorns of a hedgehog. The rebels did not know that they were Cao Wenzhao's army. One of the soldiers was captured and tied up. They became anxious and shouted loudly: "

General, come and save me!"

Only then did the rebels recognize Cao Wenzhao. A sense of surprise instantly enveloped Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang and others, so they tightened the encirclement. Cao Wenzhao jumped left and right, killing dozens of rebels with his own hands, and fought for several miles.

Lu. Finally, exhausted, he drew his knife and committed suicide.

When Hong Chengchou learned of Cao Wenzhao's death, he beat his chest and cried loudly, and then had the idea of ​​​​retreating. Then Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang and other rebels led their troops to approach the east. Hong Chengchou retreated all the way to Xi'an before stopping. Hong Chengchou recruited the people in Xi'an

, recruit soldiers, strengthen the city wall, and prepare kerosene, rolling logs, stones, arrows, gunpowder and other materials to prepare to defend Xi'an.

Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang joined forces with various rebels in Fengxiang. They combined 200,000 troops and marched straight towards Xi'an. They camped for 50 miles and the beacon fire shone on Xijing. However, Hong Chengchou was a hero after all, and he was on the defensive.

Relying on the city wall, the rebels attacked fiercely for more than a month, suffering heavy losses but achieving nothing.

Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others began to be dissatisfied. Li Zicheng had no choice but to discuss with Gao Yingxiang and move to attack Jingyang, Lutai, Lintong and other counties, and his troops began to disperse.

On the tenth day of October in the eighth year of Chongzhen, Hong Chengchou left Xi'an at night, marched 180 miles in three days and nights, and arrived to sneak attack on Li Zicheng's rear army. Li Zicheng's rear army was greatly routed. All the grain, grass and baggage looted by the rebels during this period were transferred from the rear.

The army was under the control of the army. The rear army was defeated by Hong Chengchou, and all the food and grass were burned.

Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang and others were anxious, and wanted to fight Hong Chengchou in the Lutai area. Hong Chengchou defended the city and refused to fight. The rebels lacked the weapons to attack the enemy, and they repeatedly attacked without success. It took a long time, and the rebels were short of food and grass.

The consequences began to show. Some people who came only for profit took the opportunity to flee without trace. Even Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and others were hesitating whether it was still necessary to spend time with Hong Chengchou here.

Just when the rebel army was hesitant, Hong Chengchou suddenly came out in full force and headed straight for the main force of the rebel army. The two sides immediately launched a decisive battle. At the critical moment of the decisive battle between the two sides, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly retreated eastward, and a gap appeared in Li Zicheng's original battle formation.

Hong Chengchou seized the opportunity and sent people to attack fiercely. The rebel army was immediately defeated, and the soldiers were all over the place just to escape for their lives.

Hong Chengchou didn't care what other people were like, he only had Li Zicheng in his heart. In his opinion, the scale of the rebel army was inseparable from Li Zicheng. Even Gao Yingxiang, the nominal leader of the rebel army, was far inferior to Li Zicheng.

If Li Zicheng is taken down, perhaps the rebel army will be completely destroyed.

Li Zicheng was chased to the sky with no way out. He was so helpless that he was running away. During this period, other rebels were also desperately fleeing, and no one was willing to help. Gao Yingxiang had this idea, but now that his power was greatly damaged, he had no time to take care of himself.

Who still has the energy to care about Li Zicheng's life and death?

Li Zicheng headed east, preparing to enter Henan through the Shangluo Passage. However, Hong Chengchou had already expected that a team of 1,000 people had occupied Lantian and blocked the road. In the past, the team of 1,000 people would not have entered Li Zicheng's territory.

Eyes can be destroyed with a backhand.

However, now that Li Zicheng's power was greatly damaged, he was unable to capture Lantian. Of course, the most important thing was that he did not have the time. Li Zicheng turned west, passed through Xi'an, and entered Hu County. However, Hong Chengchou's troops had already been waiting in Hu County

After a long time, Li Zicheng's remnant army was ambushed by Hong Chengchou's troops as soon as they entered Hu County. It was a battle, and Li Zicheng fled in a panic with only 300 cavalry.

Hong Chengchou led his army in hot pursuit, vowing to devour Li Zicheng alive. As he ran and fought, the cavalry around Li Zicheng gradually became less and less. When he fled to Zhongnan Mountain, he was left with 118 cavalry. He was really embarrassed.

.

However, when they arrived here, before Li Zicheng could take a breath, he saw thousands more cavalry rushing down from the hillside not far away, aiming directly at Li Zicheng's headquarters. Li Zicheng and others were shocked, and quickly got on their horses and continued to flee.

However, at this time, the war horse was already exhausted, and before it could run very far, it foamed at the mouth, collapsed to the ground, and could no longer run. Li Zicheng cursed, and when he turned around to see the pursuers behind him, he became even more anxious to pursue him. In desperation, he saw 1

Standing next to Zhongnan Mountain, Li Zicheng shouted: "Follow me into the mountain."

Immediately, everyone abandoned their horses and ran towards Zhongnan Mountain on foot. The pursuers behind them also rode into the mountain, getting closer and closer to Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng cursed in his heart, but had no choice but to go deep into the forest.

An even more dangerous mountain road approached. After walking for countless days and nights, Li Zicheng finally couldn't hear the sounds of the pursuers behind him anymore, and Li Zicheng collapsed to the ground.

Breathing the unique fresh air in the mountains and forests, Li Zicheng looked up to the sky and smiled, "If you can't kill me today, I will repay you a thousand times in the future. Just when Li Zicheng and others were rejoicing to be out of the control of the army, suddenly an arrow shot from the sky

The shot came and landed directly in front of Li Zicheng.
Chapter completed!