Chapter 76 6.dead end

When Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin were making small calculations, they never thought that in Caidian Town not far from Wuchang, Azig was deploying tens of thousands of troops to raid Wuchang overnight. When Azige was ordered to march west, because he stayed outside the mouth, he was ordered by Dorgon, so although he vomited, he did not dare to slack off. After taking Chang'an, he followed closely. As the civil and military officials of the Dashun Army continued to come and surrender, he knew the situation of the Dashun Army well. He knew that the Dashun Army that left from Zhen'anyi was just a partial division, and that the main force was going straight to Xiangyang. Li Zicheng Right now, he is physically and mentally exhausted, and he can sweep the hole and catch him after a long chase.Therefore, while he sent Wu Sangui to Hanzhong to intercept the partial division...while leading the main force to advance by land and water, after occupying Xiangyang, he didn't stay for long, and rushed forward with the stars and the moon.

At this time, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, which was the most unbearable thing for Azig.Due to running around on horseback for several days without a good rest, his legs and armpits became red and swollen, and large red bumps appeared, which were extremely itchy, bleeding and festering after too much scratching, and even riding a horse was inconvenient.Seeing that Li Zicheng was going to be captured alive, this was the last battle, he didn't want to give up this good opportunity, so he had to ask someone to tie a single frame with bamboo and put it on the back of two horses. He lay on it and let the horse carry him forward.

In a few days, he commanded the various armies to break through Xiaogan, Huangpi, and Hanchuan in three routes. He personally led the main force to point directly at Wuhan. After chasing Caidian, the three towns of Wuhan were already in sight.At this time, it was dusk, people were exhausted, and the team stopped to bury pots and cook food. Azig, with a big belly, stepped up the slide bar, while shaking his fan, walked to a big tree in front, and called the guide to ask questions. As for the situation, he didn't know until then that this place already belonged to the boundary of Hanyang County, only forty or fifty miles away from Fucheng.

Hearing that this place is already Hanyang County, Azig couldn't help remembering that there was a report from Aobai who attacked Huangpi in the north, saying that he could rush to the outskirts of Hankou today. In this way, the two groups of troops were about to meet up in Wuhan, so he couldn't help thinking. Happy.At this time, dinner was already cooked, and during the march, one of the Ba Yala soldiers brought him a large bowl of minced meat soup, and another soldier brought white flour steamed buns, and he was eating steamed buns with the soup. Dehun Baylor came over with a large bowl and a steamed bun, and said:

"My lord, there are three towns in Wuhan ahead, do you know?" Azig said: "I'm thinking about this. The weather is cool at night. Why don't we rush to Wuchang overnight. If the bandits don't leave, we can catch him by surprise. If we go east, we can rest in Wuchang for two days." Luck Dehun said: "This is exactly what this servant thinks. We have been chasing after us all the way. The rogues have been chased until they are in the muddy water. Now that Hanchuan is lost, they must not have time to leave. If we If you pursue him all night, maybe you can capture Li Zicheng alive."

Azige said: "This is indeed a good idea, but I don't know if the warship led by Shang Kexi will catch up. If the navy cooperates, it will prevent Li Zicheng from escaping from the water." Luck Dehun said: "They went down the Han River. When they crossed the Han River, they were still in front of the infantry. They said that the waterway turned a bend, and they should not be far away. We can send people to inform the navy to cooperate with us while marching." .” Azig thought about it, this method is good, so he immediately sent an order to summon Wenggu, Zakana, Fulata and other generals to arrange an overnight raid.

Although Li Zicheng didn't know that the danger was imminent, but for safety, he had already moved the gold and silver to the boat, and slept on the imperial boat himself.During the rainy season, the weather is sultry, and there are so many mosquitoes and flies on the water surface of the Yangtze River. It is like you rob each other. Two guards surround him and take turns holding a fan to drive away mosquitoes. He is still awakened by mosquitoes from time to time. Falling asleep dimly, at this moment, the sound of rumbling guns sounded on the river, and then the flames shot up into the sky, shouts of killing, and the sound of conch shells.

Years of military service has formed his good habits, so no matter how tired he is, he can wake up immediately when he hears the sound of killing. The land rushed over, not wanting to follow the flames soaring into the sky, only to find that there were enemies not only on land, but also on the water—the Qing army’s brigade of warships, blowing their conch horns in a "beep-beep" manner, went down the river from the upper reaches , at such a high speed, he had rushed to the front of his imperial boat. In the light of the flames, a large group of braided soldiers were reflected, just like monster soldiers in mythology, jumping, shooting straight with strong bows, hard crossbows or shotguns, while screaming strangely, Throwing gunpowder packs at the ships that got close, almost all the warships of the Dashun Army were on fire.

Seeing this situation, Li Zicheng immediately ordered the boat to sail.Bi general Li Sixi's hands and feet were so fast, he put away the iron anchor thrown on the bank in a few strokes, and jumped into the water to push the imperial boat away from the bank.At this time, the water surface was calm, and the enemy ships were all light boats, with two oars swaying, like flying swallows skimming the water; but the Yu boat was big, and there were not enough people to gather at the moment, even though Li Sixi personally rowed the oars, he still fell. rear.Fortunately, at this time, several warships finally rushed out of the sea of ​​flames and stood in front of these fast ships to fight, so that Yu Zhou could not face the enemy head-on.

Li Zi set up on the royal boat, watching his fleet turn into a sea of ​​flames, the people on board were burnt and killed and fell into the water one after another, while the sound of shouting and killing and the sound of conch shells on the shore were like bursts of sea waves, overwhelmed by waves a wave.I thought, it's over, the water and land divisions are all over, we're afraid we won't be able to escape this catastrophe, where is Li Jin? At this time, there were more and more enemy light boats and speedboats. They seemed to have discovered that Li Zicheng was on this boat. In order to seize the lead, more than 20 speedboats, large and small, lined up in a fan shape, rowed desperately, rushed to the front again, and blocked the river. To hit.The feathered arrows that were shot landed in the water and on the canopy of the boat, and there was only a sound of "sand, sand", and from time to time, people who were hit by the arrows screamed and fell into the water.

Li Sixi had already been shot in the arm by an arrow, blood was flowing, but he couldn't care less, he fought and retreated, listening to the flow of the boat, being entangled for more than twenty li, the enemy still did not retreat.At this time, Li Sixi saw that the shouts of killing on the shore gradually subsided, and there were more and more enemy ships on the water, so he ordered to abandon the boat and land. On the royal boat, there was Li Zicheng's Oolong colt, and everyone rushed to help Li Zicheng onto the Oolong colt, no matter where they were, they walked as soon as they had the way. When the Qing soldiers saw him ashore, they followed him ashore.Seeing this, Li Sixi lashed Wu Longju's buttocks hard, then drew out his sword, and turned to meet him... At dawn, Oolongju carried Li Zicheng to a place. There were only twenty soldiers behind him, but Li Sixi was nowhere to be seen.He asked the soldiers around him, someone said that when Li Sixi turned back to block the pursuers, he was hacked to death by the enemy generals.When Li Zicheng heard that Li Sixi had died protecting himself, he felt extremely sad, but everyone advised him not to be sad, but to find a way to join the brigade, otherwise, even meeting Xiangyong, he might not be able to cope. But at this time and here, the water and the sky are vast, the reeds are overgrown, and there is only one path to walk. They had to walk along the path for a long time, and then they saw that the path they were walking was getting wider, but they still couldn't see people. Li Zicheng was worried and afraid.Although the twenty or so people around him are his personal guards, no one can trust anyone at this critical moment; especially when he escapes alone, although he has money but no food, how can he get out of the predicament? ? Seeing that the sun was at the top, it was clearly noon, and the people were exhausted and hungry, and could not move. Li Zicheng saw a forest in front of him, which was convenient for hiding, so he asked everyone to go into the forest to rest. Like a frame, he got the order and immediately got into the woods. Although Li Zicheng was also very tired at this time, he didn't feel sleepy at all, so he got off his horse and sat outside the forest, thinking about things alone.At this moment, a group of troops appeared on the main road, about ten thousand people, and the leader was Liu Tichun, General You Guoyi.When Li Zicheng saw Liu Tichun at this time, he was like a escort general sent down from heaven, so he jumped out of the forest to say hello.At this time, Liu Tichun also saw him, so he ran over a few steps, and when the monarch and his ministers met, they couldn't help crying. At this time, all the soldiers gathered around, and while rejoicing that they escaped from death, they talked about their experiences.Li Zicheng was eager to know the whereabouts of his nephew Li Jin, but this part of the people was not stationed in the same place as Li Jin, so he couldn't say why, but he knew a lot about others. According to one of Liu Tichun's personal soldiers, Liu Zongmin was drunk When the braided soldiers came to kill him, he was still in a deep sleep, so he watched him being captured by the braided soldiers—this Shaanxi man who had been lucky all his life, and the general who regarded the battlefield as a gamble, completely lost his bet this time As for other people, such as Shuai Biao Deputy Mighty General Dang Shousu, Shuai Biao Zuo Mighty General Xin Sizhong and dozens of brave generals, most of them died in battle, and those captured were captured. The entire army of the division was wiped out, except for the few troops brought out by Liu Tichun, the rest of the Lu division might be wiped out. When Li Zicheng heard the news, all his internal organs burned, he yelled, and passed out. When Li Zicheng woke up, he was already lying in the tent, and Liu Tichun was guarding him.Seeing him wake up, Liu Tichun hurriedly ordered a bowl of porridge for him to drink.He still ate the food last night, but at this moment, he didn't have the slightest taste and didn't want to eat anything. As soon as he closed his eyes, he saw the scene of corpses strewn all over the field, and the sound of crying could be heard in his ears. The next day, the team continued southward. If it is said that when he was in Wuchang, there was still a fantasy in his mind to go eastward to Ningguo and Huizhou, to Fujian and Zhejiang under the rule of Nanming, and to seize a place to live, but now he is at a loss. Besides, with this pitifully small number of troops, how can they go to Fujian and Zhejiang to fight for territory? The Manchus are so powerful, and Empress Gao and the others must be lucky or bad. What are you missing? I heard from Liu Tichun that because of Zhang Xianzhong's brutal killings in this area, the people of Huguang hated the bandits to the bone, and they fled far away when they heard people with a Shaanxi accent. When the militia attacked, most of them were killed, and only a few escaped back. Sitting on his oolong horse, Li Zicheng looked at the moaning soldiers all around, his eyes were empty and he was bored.At dusk, the team came to a small town, and the people in the town had fled. They rushed in and found some food, so they ordered to bury the pot to cook. Liu Tichun managed to find an old man who was hiding in a cellar. It took a lot of effort to find out. The name of this place is Jinniu Town. , Should we continue southward to Huguang, or go southeast to Jiujiang?He thought for a while and said: "Right now, the road east to Jiujiang must be controlled by Man Bing, we can't go there, we can only go south to Yuezhou Mansion or Changde Mansion." Liu Tichun said: "According to what I think, we have only one way to go, but we just don't know the way." Li Zicheng said: "Well, how about staying here for one night and making a decision tomorrow?" Liu Tichun thought about it, and had no choice but to do so. So, the team camped in the small town.There is a big tile house in the village, and the furnishings in the home are acceptable. Liu Tichun wanted Li Zicheng's palace to be located here, but Li Zicheng insisted on living in a small shop in the south of the village.Liu Tichun thought to himself that it was a good idea to live at the entrance of the village. If the enemy attacked from the north, he could quickly retreat to the south. Therefore, he did not persuade him. The soldiers didn't sleep peacefully until the watch. Liu Tichun didn't want to be too tired, he fell asleep and didn't wake up until dawn, at this time, breakfast was already cooked, he found the emperor's sleeping place, but only saw an empty bed.He thought it was convenient for the emperor to go somewhere, so he went to the hut behind, but there was no sign of the emperor in the hut, so he called the people and scattered to search, but there was still no trace.At this time, the emperor's groom reported that the emperor's oolong horse was also missing. He couldn't help being busy, but sent the guards to ask questions. He also said that he didn't see the emperor going out. He couldn't help but let people ride horses to look around. By noon, all the people who had been looking for had returned, but there was still no whereabouts. So far, Liu Tichun was in despair. The emperor disappeared, Liu Tichun hesitated and did not dare to lead his team to leave, and waited here for two days, but did not wait for the emperor, but waited for Li Jin to come. Only then did he know that Li Jin was besieged by the Qing soldiers on the bank with the troops of the imperial camp. It is possible to escape here along the current, so I came here after inquiring all the way, and met Liu Tichun by accident. Now the two remnants combined, only about 20,000, the momentum is bigger, but without the emperor, how can I do it? it is good? Thinking that the emperor rode an oolong horse and walked away secretly alone, Li Jin and Liu Tichun seemed to understand something. These years, they have been following the emperor. The emperor is the banner in their hearts and their reliance. Where does this team go? Suddenly, Liu Tichun remembered what Liu Zongmin had said to him when he was in Wuchang, and immediately had an idea, so he secretly told Li Jin, and Li Jin felt that there was no other way to go, so he complied. He—this Dashun army, led by Li Jin, Liu Tichun and others, finally accepted the recruitment of Nanming Huguang Governor He Tengjiao in Xiangyin County, Changsha Prefecture, and joined forces to fight against the Qing Dynasty. The sun sparrow sings in the mountain stream, Mayday in the world.In the Huguang area, the people who have suffered from the war are taking advantage of the gap after the soldiers to plant the sun again.Among the mulberry trees on the Moshang, their shadows are scattered here and there. When the cattle are gone, people will use plows on their backs; the spring famine is difficult, but this year's seeds are saved from the teeth.The eighty-year-old father-in-law fights Artemisia annua, and he needs firewood to keep alive.When people are alive, they need food and clothing. If they don't do it, who will do it?Although they understand that whoever eats the most and who eats the least of what they planted hard, they don't understand how to really get rid of this fate of suffering and how to find true fairness, but they still live with such confidence, Hold up a piece of blue sky and feed a group of thieves.