Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 711 Waiting for the rabbit
"It's absolutely correct!" Sun Chuanting said firmly. Although he had led his troops to Heishui Valley, he had been keeping an eye on Gao Yingxiang's whereabouts. At present, there was no trace of Gao Yingxiang's army anywhere in Shaanxi. Gao Yingxiang's tens of thousands of troops seemed to have disappeared. Sun Chuanting judged that Gao Yingxiang must be in Ziwu Valley. If not for this reason, where did his troops go?
Information from all sides confirmed Sun Chuanting's guess, and as time went on, Sun Chuanting became more and more convinced that Gao Yingxiang's army was in Ziwu Valley. Now he just had to wait patiently, and the mystery would eventually be solved.

Hong Chengchou still believed in Sun Chuanting's judgment, otherwise he would not have led his troops to support. However, after a few days, Gao Yingxiang still did not show up, which made him a little worried. Since Sun Chuanting said that there would be no problem with his judgment, Hong Chengchou would continue to wait. It would be best if Gao Yingxiang came. Even if he really did not leave Ziwu Valley, it would only waste a few days of his time and make a wasted trip.

In Ziwu Valley, Gao Yingxiang's army walked along the winding and rugged mountain roads like a long dragon. The march of more than ten days was not easy, and Gao Yingxiang suffered a lot. As soon as he entered the valley, it rained heavily for several days, which not only made the road more difficult to walk, but also caused serious casualties in the troops.

Up to today, his army has lost more than two thousand men for various reasons, and the remaining men are all exhausted. If he had not brought enough food and fodder before entering the valley, and if Gao Yingxiang's prestige in the army had not been for this, he would probably not have been able to get out of the Ziwu Valley at all.

"Go! Ask how far it is to get out of the valley?" Gao Yingxiang wiped the rain off his face and said to the guards around him.

The personal guards hurried to the front of the team to find the mountain people who were leading the way and ask them. After a while, they returned to report to Gao Yingxiang that they were not far from the exit and would be able to get out of Ziwu Valley in one day at most.

"Finally I made it out. This Ziwu Valley is really difficult to walk through!" Gao Yingxiang smiled and looked back at the endless mountain path with emotion.

He looked up at the sun again. The heavy rain had gradually stopped and the weather began to improve, which made Gao Yingxiang feel better. In his opinion, perhaps this was God's arrangement and a good omen. When he walked out of Ziwu Valley, Xi'an would be right in front of him.

It only takes one day to travel from Heishui Valley to Xi'an. When his army suddenly appears outside Xi'an, Xi'an will be shocked. If he takes Xi'an in one fell swoop, the whole battle situation will be revived. Gao Yingxiang can attack or defend at that time, and great achievements can be expected.

An order for a quick march was issued. Gao Yingxiang planned to walk more today and try to reach Heishui Valley as early as possible tomorrow. Once at Heishui Valley, he would let the army have a good rest for a day, and the next day the entire army would leave the valley and head straight for Xi'an city.

As Gao Yingxiang's order was issued, the marching speed became faster. On that day, Gao Yingxiang's army was less than 30 miles away from Heishui Valley. They camped there for one night. At noon the next day, they finally walked out of Ziwu Valley and arrived near the entrance of Heishui Valley.

After arriving at Heishui Valley, Gao Yingxiang stationed in Xianyou Temple at the entrance of the valley. The army rested here temporarily and continued its march into Guanzhong in the early morning of the next day, heading straight for Xi'an city.

After days of hard work, Gao Yingxiang finally saw the results. He was full of pride and ambition. He even wandered around Xianyou Temple with great interest, first visiting the Dharma King Pagoda built in the Sui Dynasty, then burning incense in the Great Hall built in the Tang Dynasty, kneeling in front of the hall, muttering to himself, as if praying for the Buddha's blessing, and finally personally ringing the bell cast during the Zhengtong period.

That night, Gao Yingxiang slept in the temple, but he did not sleep well. He tossed and turned for a long time and could not fall asleep. Gao Yingxiang did not think much about it, but was excited because he thought he was about to take Xi'an. After all, the Ziwu Valley Plan was proposed as early as the Three Kingdoms period, but no one dared to take the risk. But today, Gao Yingxiang did it.

What Zhuge Kongming did not dare to do, Gao Yingxiang not only did it, but also walked out of it safely. Tomorrow, when Gao Yingxiang leads his army into Guanzhong and captures Xi'an, the whole world will be shocked by him, and Gao Yingxiang's name will not only spread throughout the world, but will also be passed down through the ages, and he will become a person respected by future generations.

How could Gao Yingxiang not be excited about this result? But thinking about the big event tomorrow, Gao Yingxiang had to force himself to go to sleep. He tossed and turned on the couch for a long time, and finally fell asleep in the middle of the night. But when the day was light, Gao Yingxiang woke up again.

After sleeping for less than three hours, Gao Yingxiang did not feel tired at all. On the contrary, he was in very good spirits. After getting up, Gao Yingxiang simply washed up and ordered the army to gather and leave the valley today.

When the sun rose, Gao Yingxiang's army had already assembled. When he was in Hanzhong, his troops originally had a total of more than 60,000 people. Because a part of the troops were assigned to Li Zicheng, he entered the valley with 50,000 elite troops.

Having lost more than a thousand men in Ziwu Valley, Gao Yingxiang still had about 48,000 troops under his command. Looking at the assembled army, Gao Yingxiang was full of heroic spirit and waved his hand to signal the entire army to leave the valley.

"Here they come! The thieves are coming!"

In fact, yesterday evening, the Ming army ambushed at the entrance of the valley noticed the appearance of Gao Yingxiang. After all, the sudden appearance of an army of nearly 50,000 people in Heishui Valley could not conceal their tracks at all.

When the news reached Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, they both breathed a sigh of relief. They had been waiting here for several days. Although Sun Chuanting felt that his judgment was correct, Gao Yingxiang still did not show up. As time went by, he couldn't help but feel worried again.

Now that Gao Yingxiang and his main force had finally appeared, how could people not be excited and eager to fight? In order to prevent Gao Yingxiang from discovering the traces of the Ming army in advance, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou ordered all troops not to act without authorization and to continue to ambush and wait for Gao Yingxiang to fall into the trap. After patiently waiting for a night, Gao Yingxiang in Heishui Valley finally moved. The army assembled and began to march north, apparently intending to leave the valley and head straight to Xi'an.

At the front exit of Heishui Valley are Sun Chuanting's standard-bearing troops, also the most elite troops in his hands.

The leader of this army was Gao Jie, who was trembling all over at this moment, not because of fear, but because of excitement. As the original leader of the righteous army, Gao Yingxiang had a very high reputation and status among the righteous armies in the world.

The initial leaders of the rebel army were Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyong, but Gao Yingxiang started his rebellion not much later than them. Although the rebel army was headed by Wang Jiayin at that time, Gao Yingxiang, as the earliest leader of the uprising, occupied a very high position in the rebel army.

When Wang Jiayin and Wang Ziyu died in battle, Gao Yingxiang became the oldest and most powerful leader in the rebel army. All the rebels in the world respected Gao Yingxiang as their leader and called him "Chuang Wang". Over the years, everyone knows the name of Chuang Wang. In the past few years, Gao Yingxiang has traveled across the northwest and swept across the Central Plains, gaining a great reputation.

When Gao Jie joined the rebel army, Gao Yingxiang was already at the peak of his career. Even Li Zicheng was just one of the leaders under Gao Yingxiang. As for Gao Jie, it was just like a listed company. Gao Yingxiang was the high-ranking chairman and general manager, Li Zicheng was just a department manager, and Gao Jie was at best a small supervisor working under the department manager.

But now Gao Jie, as the general of the Ming army, was responsible for intercepting Gao Yingxiang at the entrance of the valley. How could he not be so excited that he trembled all over? Gao Jie certainly understood the importance of this battle. As long as he could defend the entrance of the valley and prevent Gao Yingxiang from breaking through, Gao Yingxiang would definitely lose this battle.

Gao Yingxiang was defeated, and he was defeated in such a terrain. Even if he had wings, he could not escape. He had been a scourge to the Ming Dynasty for many years, and he was the recognized leader of all the rebels, but he was defeated head-on and even captured alive by Gao Jie. It is conceivable that he had made such a great achievement.

Thinking of this, Gao Jie's pretty face flushed, and even his breathing quickened. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, secretly calculating the time when Gao Yingxiang would arrive at the valley entrance. His subordinates were already prepared, waiting for the battle to break out at any time.

Heishui Valley is not big. Gao Yingxiang assembled his troops and marched northward. If everything went well, they would be able to get out of the valley in an hour at most and set foot on the land of Guanzhong.

But not long after they started walking, the pioneers felt something was wrong. The entire valley was completely silent, not even the sound of birds singing. Liu Zhe, who was in charge of the pioneers, frowned. He was a veteran, and although he hadn't noticed any other problems for the time being, the current situation gave him a bad feeling.

Liu Zhe immediately ordered his men to take a few hundred people to explore the way first, and the troops set out soon. Less than a quarter of an hour later, there was a sudden loud cannon shot in the front, which scared Liu Zhe. Then the cannon shots rang out one after another, mixed with a lot of musket sounds, and bursts of fighting sounds were heard.

"Oh no! There's an ambush!" Liu Zhe was shocked and hurriedly led his men to check, while passing the news to Gao Yingxiang. When he arrived near the entrance of the valley, his 100-man army had been beaten to pieces by the Ming army that intercepted it at the entrance of the valley. They were defeated by the Ming army in just one encounter, with countless casualties, and those who were lucky enough to survive were running back in embarrassment.

"Government troops! There are government troops ahead!"

"The entrance to the valley is blocked. There are government troops there! They have cannons and muskets. Everyone, run for your lives!"

"Escape!"

Shouts of fear rang out one after another, and dozens of rebels threw away their weapons and armor and fled in a panic, wishing their parents had given them two fewer legs. This scene made Liu Zhe's other men look at each other in bewilderment. For a moment, panic spread in the army, and everyone began to feel terrified.

"Where did the government troops come from? How could there be government troops?" Liu Zhe was stunned. He never expected that there would be government troops appearing at the entrance of the valley, and there would be so many of them.

From a distance, it was clear that these government troops were not hastily responding to the battle, but had been waiting here for a long time, otherwise there would not have been any temporary fortifications and defense lines. Moreover, there were quite a number of government troops, and although the exact number could not be determined, judging from the width of the valley entrance, there were at least several thousand people.

At this time, Liu Zhe had no time to think about it, and quickly ordered people to appease the subordinates who had escaped back there and ask them what was going on. Just as he found out, Gao Yingxiang's central army arrived. Just when Liu Zhe was about to go to Gao Yingxiang to report, Gao Yingxiang himself rushed over.

(End of this chapter)