Six hundred thousand taels of silver and eighty thousand shi of grain were not a small sum. It took a full day to move from Daye County to Shang Yi's camp. Next, it was Zhang Xianzhong's turn to fulfill another task.
He promised to withdraw troops from the Huguang area. But there was no need to panic now, because there were still three days left. Zhang Xianzhong summoned his four adopted sons to discuss where they should retreat.
Sun Kewang advocated retreating to Sichuan, because the Ming army was not reliable, and Sichuan was mountainous and conducive to hiding. Even if the Ming army came after them, they could still deal with them.
However, Li Dingguo disagreed with Sun Kewang's idea because the road to Sichuan was too far and could not be reached in three days. He suggested retreating to Jiangxi first. At the junction of Jiangxi and Huguang, there were also many mountainous areas where one could hide and escape.
At the same time, he also suggested that Zhang Xianzhong break the army into pieces and temporarily disperse and hide, creating the illusion that he had been defeated by Shang Yi's men. Shang Yi would not stay in Huguang for a long time, because the imperial court would definitely send him north to attack Li Zicheng.
, once Shang Yi leaves Huguang, won’t this place be his own world again? Although there is still Zuo Liangyu in Jiujiang, Zuo Liangyu may be transferred to attack Li Zicheng, and even if Zuo Liangyu is not transferred
Go, he has nothing to fear.
Zhang Xianzhong pondered for a moment, and finally decided to follow Li Dingguo's suggestion and retreat to Jiangxi first, but the troops would not be disbanded for the time being and would wait and see what happens.
After deciding on the way out, he started to leave immediately. After all, Shang Yi only left Zhang Xianzhong three days, which was not long. If he didn't hurry up, it might not be enough. But Zhang Xianzhong was a treacherous person after all, so of course he knew
, Daye is too close to the Ming army and is not safe, so when paying money, food and materials to the merchant army yesterday, Liu Wenxiu and Xiao Yan were sent to lead 30,000 troops to escort the remaining money, food and materials back to Xianning County, because
No matter where you are evacuating, you must first send money, food and materials away, and it will be much more convenient for you to travel lightly.
So Zhang Xianzhong, Sun Kewang, and Li Dingguo led the army and evacuated Daye, heading towards Xianning, preparing to join Liu Wenxiu and Xiao Yan, and then withdraw to Jiangxi.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong still had more than 60,000 troops, which was not a small number. It was impossible to march together together, so Zhang Xianzhong ordered Li Dingguo to cut off the rear. Sun Kewang was on the left, Aiqi was on the right, and he was in the middle. The troops set off to Xianning in turn.
.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Xianzhong's men had only walked more than ten miles. Li Dingguo heard the sound of gunshots from behind him after paying his dues. The Western Army was now very familiar with such gunshots. In addition to the merchant army, there were also
Which Ming army can use muskets? Li Dingguo looked back and saw countless dust rising behind him. Sure enough, a group of Ming soldiers were catching up from his rear group.
Li Dingguo couldn't help but be shocked. He was about to order the entire army to turn around and fight the Ming army. Who knew that the soldiers of the Western Army dared to fight the merchant army again? They simply ignored Li Dingguo's command and "hurrahed" and all moved forward.
He fled in defeat. Li Dingguo was stunned, but he had no choice but to flee with the deserters.
In fact, Shang Yi and Ben had no intention of letting Zhang Xianzhong go and agreed to his conditions. They were just trying to deceive Zhang Xianzhong. Once they got the money and food, they could immediately turn their backs on him. Of course, their generals' explanation was that they are not afraid of deceit.
Therefore, Zhou Shaohuan was immediately ordered to lead the Second Regiment to pursue Zhang Xianzhong.
When the Merchant Army was chasing, they did not catch up with the Western Army's troops and then pursue them. Instead, they always maintained a distance of forty or fifty steps, taking their time. After catching up, the musketeers in the front row fired in succession.
Fire a volley, then stop to reload and let other soldiers go ahead. After loading the ammunition, they can catch up and follow behind.
The soldiers of the Western Army were scrambling for fear of falling behind. So they ran away from the beginning. After running for a while, they found that they had left the merchant army far away, so they relaxed a little. But as soon as they slowed down,
The merchant army quickly chased after him, and the result was another desperate run. They chased for a while, stopped for a while, rushed for a while, and slowed down for a while.
Although Li Dingguo only led the troops at the rear, they were only four or five miles away from Zhang Xianzhong's troops in the middle. They could withstand such a run and soon caught up with the troops in the middle.
When he learned that Shang Yi was really chasing him, Zhang Xianzhong realized that he had been tricked. He was so angry that he stamped his feet and beat his chest, shouting behind him: "Shang Yi, you shameless villain, you have no faith at all."
Don’t talk about it.”
Although Zhang Xianzhong made so many arrangements, it was just Zhang Xianzhong's always cautious style, not that he did not believe in Shang Yi. In fact, Zhang Xianzhong never doubted that Shang Yi would break his promise. Because Zhang Xianzhong and the Ming Army
This kind of transaction was not made once or twice. Every time, the Ming army kept their promise and released the people after taking the money. Of course, this does not mean that the Shu army was loyal, but that everyone did not want to ruin their own.
Because of his reputation, he would cut off his wealth when fighting the peasant army in the future. Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong estimated that since Shang Yi was on the road, he would not break this rule, and he was very reassured about him and did not expect that he would pursue him.
Who knows that Shang Yi is just a fool who doesn't care about the rules of the world or his reputation and trust? It's all like fart. After taking the money, he immediately turned against him. Zhang Xianzhong thought of the 600,000 taels of silver he spent in vain.
, 80,000 shi of grain, it hurts so much, it’s really better to burn it all on fire, than to get Shang Yi’s advantage.
But it was too late to think about this now. After the defeated army retreated, they shouted while running: "The merchant army is catching up, everyone, run quickly." Therefore, everyone in the Chinese army knew it. So why don't you run away?
What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the Merchant Army to catch up and be shot? As a result, before the Merchant Army could catch up, the Western Army in the middle was immediately defeated. Even Zhang Xianzhong was involuntarily wrapped up in the defeat.
They were defeated and fled. When the Western Army, which was protected by two wings, heard that the Merchant Army was catching up, they were also frightened and immediately collapsed.
With 40,000 to 50,000 horses fleeing together, the scene was naturally very chaotic, and every defeated soldier was afraid that he would be left behind, so he pushed forward desperately. However, the soldiers in front did not understand the psychology of the people behind, so they still took their time.
As a result, before the Merchant Army could catch up, the Western Army was fighting with each other, pushing each other, trampling on each other, and some soldiers even started fighting, resulting in many casualties. Along the road there were
The Merchant Army was still like that, following unhurriedly, always maintaining pressure on the Western Army, but not catching up. Most of the soldiers in the Western Army were transformed from farmers and had not received much training.
Therefore, he could not escape the pursuit of the Merchant Army, and was driven away from Daye County to Xianning County by the Merchant Army. Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong made preparations in advance, and Liu Wenxiu and Xiao Yan rushed to Xianning County in advance and were saved.
Zhang Xianzhong was defeated, but out of more than 60,000 troops, less than 10,000 were left.
In fact, the Merchant Army pursued them all the way and did not kill many people. Except for some who trampled on each other to death, in fact, the vast majority of the Western Army fled in all directions.
After hiding in Xianning County, Zhang Xianzhong took a breath and hurriedly summoned his generals to discuss what to do next.
Sun Kewang said: "Your Majesty, I feel that we were deceived by Shang Yi this time and suffered a huge defeat. It is clear that someone in our army colluded with Shang Yi and betrayed us secretly."
After Zhang Xianzhong heard this, he couldn't help but feel moved in his heart. He was always a suspicious person, but after the defeat, he was immediately aroused by Sun Kewang's words.
But Li Dingguo said calmly: "Brother, what do you mean? Do you mean you doubt me?"
Sun Kewang said: "Fourth, it's not that I doubt you, it's just that there are too many things about you that make people suspicious."
Li Dingguo said angrily: "You said, what is there about me that is worth doubting?"
Sun Kewang said: "I heard that although the Shang army did not kill prisoners, they would kill all the leaders of our rebel army and only spare the small soldiers. But Shang Yi did not kill you, and we are negotiating terms this time.
Before you were mentioned, Shang Yi took the initiative to release you, which is very suspicious. I also heard that after you were captured, Shang Yi once persuaded you to surrender. Is this possible? "
Li Dingguo said: "You are talking nonsense. After I was captured, Shang Yi did persuade me to surrender, but the king has given me the grace to live and raise me, so how can I betray the king? As for Shang Yi releasing me, this
It is a deliberate attempt to sow discord within us."
Ai Nengqi also said: "Yes, I believe in the fourth child. He has always been loyal to the king and will never betray the king. Brother, I think you are the wrong person."
Sun Kewang said: "That's right, weirdo. Let's talk about it later. I just finished explaining the fourth son's doubts first, and then let the king decide."
Only then did Zhang Xianzhong speak: "Hopefully, you can finish your words first."
Sun Kewang nodded and continued: "After Xiao Yan and Lao Si came back, they brought back Shang Yi's conditions. You didn't agree with them at the time. Only Lao Si persuaded the king, 'Money is an external thing, and saving your life is the most important thing.'"
'That's why the king made up his mind to give Shang Yi the biggest money and grain deal. When we withdrew from Daye, it was also after Lao Si paid the blame. As a result, there was no resistance to the merchant army at all, and they were all defeated. These places
, these are all doubtful points of the Fourth Brother, please make the decision, Your Majesty."
Although Li Dingguo was so angry that he was shaking all over, he could not refute what Sun Kewang said, so he had to kneel in front of Zhang Xianzhong and said: "Your Majesty, Dingguo has always been grateful to your Majesty for your life and raising him. He will never forget it. There is absolutely no such thing.
I have done something that is sorry to the king, and I just ask the king to investigate clearly."
Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi also knelt down together and said: "Your Majesty, we all believe that the fourth child will never betray your Majesty. Please investigate clearly." Sun Kewang watched from the side, with an undetectable hint of anger at the corner of his mouth.
Smile.
Zhang Xianzhong stared at Li Dingguo, his face was uncertain, and he couldn't make up his mind for a moment. At this moment, Xiao Yan hurried in and said: "Your Majesty, it's not good, we are surrounded by the Shu army."