At the end of April and the beginning of May, Zhao Dangshi arrived in Hanzhong Mansion, and then heard that Li Chengdong had launched a mutiny in Huguang, and once planned to return to Huguang again, but the news that Li Chengdong was defeated and fled and Guang Wenlu led his troops to help came one after another, which greatly alleviated his worries. Coupled with the military emergency in Shaanxi, he dispelled the idea of going back.

Prior to this, Sun Chuanting, who was shocked to hear the fall of Beijing, swung his army north from Longyou and invaded Ningxia Zhuwei, and Niu Chenghu, the former general soldier of Lintao of the Ming Dynasty who had surrendered to the Shun army, saw the situation and immediately changed his flag and greeted Sun Chuanting with a group of soldiers anyway. Coupled with Niu Chenghu's soldiers and horses, Sun Chuanting's whole army had 20,000 people, and the Dashun Xining Jiedu who was rushing to the west made the party guard only 7,000, and did not dare to fight the enemy, so he met Chen Zhilong, the envoy of Dashun Ningxia Jiedu, Zhou Boda, the envoy of Gansu Jiedu, and Qi Zhizhen, the defense envoy of Xining, and others, and gathered 10,000 people to be stationed in Jingyuwei, which was adjacent to Ningxia Zhongwei, and watched from the Yanchi Fort.

At present, the situation in the whole of Shaanxi is quite favorable to the Ming army. The main army of the Shun army was only 30,000 of Guan Zhongtian Jianxiu and 10,000 of Jingyu Wei Dang, and although the Yulin Wei to the north was still guarded by Wang Liangzhi's department, it was too far away from the main battlefield in Shaanxi and there were not many troops, so it could not have a big impact on the overall battle situation. On the other hand, on the side of the Ming army, Hanzhong Mansion had 35,000 people of Zhao Dangshi, Ningxia Wei had 20,000 people of Sun Chuanting, and after Tongguan was captured, Hou Dagui, Huang Degong, Xu Hui, Guo Ruke and other troops from Henan also marched into Shaanxi and stationed in Huazhou, east of Xi'an, with a total of 40,000 troops. The two armies of Tian Jianxiu and Dang Shousu were separated and could not respond, and Tian Jianxiu's army in Guanzhong was always at risk of being surrounded and annihilated by nearly 100,000 Ming troops from several sides.

Due to the containment of Hou Dagui and other troops who were close at hand, Tian Jianxiu reduced his forces in Guanzhong to fortify the perimeter of Xi'an, and the defenders who had previously distributed the passes in the northern part of the Qinling Mountains were also withdrawn. Zhao Dangshi then led his army out of the Qinling Mountains, and in mid-May, they arrived in the southwest of Xi'an Prefecture and stationed between Xuqi County and Ju County.

Li Zicheng Northern Expedition, he and many generals' relatives and central officials all stayed in Xi'an, if the city was captured, there is no doubt that the Ming army could fully grasp the initiative of the entire strategic situation. After Zhao Dangshi joined Hou Dagui and other armies, only in Guanzhong, the Ming army was more than twice the size of the Shun army.

Zhao Dangshi then ordered an offensive, with Guo Ruke and Xu Hui as the pioneers of the two armies, to attack the Xiding Gate in the city and the Yongning Gate in the south of the city.

Tian Jianxiu personally supervised the battle, and the generals of the Shun army, Wu Ruyi, Xin Sizhong, Li You, etc., arranged a formation along the moat with the southwest corner platform and corner tower as the core, and defended two gates. The two armies fought fiercely for most of the day, Hanguang Gate on the west side of Yongning Gate first collapsed under the fierce artillery fire of Xu Hui's army, the Shun army was in chaos, Huang Degong took the opportunity to lead the troops to storm the gap in Hanguang Gate, and the Shun army in the city was hurriedly congested. Tian Jianxiu was afraid that the city would be lost, so Mingjin withdrew his troops and retreated to the city to hold on, and both sides were injured. But anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Shun army lost its stronghold outside the city in just half a day, and can only choose to retreat to defend the city, even if there is no variable of Hanguang Gate, it is difficult for the Shun army to escape the result of defeat in the field battle without waiting for night.

The next day, in the light rain, Hou Dagui and other generals were gearing up to continue to attack Fucheng, but they did not see Zhao Dangshi's order for a long time, but found that many soldiers and horses came out of the camp, and began to dig ravines around the city to block the road, as if they had a long-term siege plan, all of them wondered. After a short time, Zhao Dangshi ordered the generals to discuss matters in the big tent of the Chinese army.

As soon as Hou Dagui entered the tent, he shouted: "Lord, the thieves in Xi'an obviously can't beat us, my old Hou doesn't dare to say anything else, give me three more days, I will definitely break through the city and dedicate Xi'an to the lord!" ”

Xu Hui also said: "Most of the thieves' Hanguang Gate collapsed, although it was blocked by antler fences, plugged knife cars, etc., it was difficult to benefit our artillery. In the future, it is only necessary to storm this gate, first concentrate the No. 1 Hongyi artillery of each battalion to bombard, and then rush to kill with bold soldiers, and the city will inevitably be broken. ”

Huang Degong arched his hand and said: "Attack and enter the city, my old Huang is willing to be the vanguard!" ”

Everyone present said every word you and me, revealing their confidence in the ambition of Xi'an Fucheng.

Zhao Dangshi stretched out his hand to reassure: "Don't worry, taking Xi'an Mansion is like taking things, don't fight this moment." Now that the general trend has changed, we have to temporarily adjust our military strategy. Then he said, "Early in the morning, news came from the brothers in the north that the thieves had left Beijing on the twenty-ninth day of last month. ”

"Leaving Beijing?" Hou Dagui was puzzled, "Isn't it ......?"

"Yes, the thieves have been defeated in the north."

Xu Hui was stunned and said, "I didn't expect Wu Sangui to have such great ability. He and most of the generals knew that after the Ming army in northern Shaanxi, Shanxi, and even northern Zhili surrendered, only the Guan Liao army led by Wu Sangui was left in the northern Ming army. In the face of the vigorous and overwhelming Shun army, Wu Sangui could only take two ways, one was to surrender to the Shun army like most Ming troops, and the other was to fight to the death with the Shun army to recapture Beijing. The strength of the Shun army is well known to the world, and Wu Sangui's ability to persist in resistance with inferior troops has been unexpected, and now it is even more surprising that the weak are defeating the strong.

"The brothers from the north found out that the thieves had been defeated at Shanhaiguan and returned to Beijing. After chasing the troops, the two fought in the pass, the thieves were defeated again, Li Chuang hurriedly ascended the throne and called the emperor, and then led all the troops to withdraw. ”

"Don't forget to be the emperor when the catastrophe comes." Hou Dagui sneered, "It seems that Li Chuang really regards this world as his family." Li Zicheng had previously proclaimed himself emperor in Xi'an, and the reason why he was once again proclaimed emperor Beijing was clearly to declare his orthodox status.

Xu Hui was puzzled: "The morale of the thieves is like a rainbow, and they are even more than 100,000 people, how many people does Wu Sangui have, how can he defeat the thieves so far?" He served in Jiubian in his early years, and he knew a little about the military affairs of Liaodong, and he knew that the Ming army was tired and withered after the battle of Songshan Fort, and the military fatigue of Liaodong was no longer the grand occasion of the year, and he really couldn't figure out what fatal mistakes the Shun army had made, resulting in a great defeat.

Zhao Dangshi said: "The specific situation is not clear, maybe we have to wait for Chen Gong and Yuan Heng to come back." But what is certain is that Wu Sangui did not defeat the thieves alone, it was the Tartars who made the final decision. ”

"Tartar? Manchurian Tartar? Hou Dagui sighed, "Wu Sangui has been against the Tartar for more than ten years, and in the end, he has to beg the old enemy, and he really has a lower face." Unlike Li Zicheng's indifference to the Qing State, Zhao Dangshi has always been very concerned about the movements of the Qing State, often sending people to investigate, and often sharing information about the Qing State with the civil and military forces around him.

Guo Ruke frowned and said, "Tartar is really so powerful? ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded and said: "Judging from the decades of struggle between the Tartars and my Ming Dynasty, their combat strength must not be weak. ”

Guo Ruke pondered silently.

Hou Dagui said at this time: "If the thief is defeated, he will be defeated, he is our opponent, it is better to lose, what does it have to do with our fight against Xi'an?" ”

Zhao Dangshi shook his head and said: "Otherwise, if the thieves win in the north, our army will have to seize Xi'an." Seeing that Hou Dagui was confused, he suddenly turned to ask, "Old Hou, if you are a thief, what will you do after the defeat of Beijing?" ”

Hou Dagui said without thinking: "The newly occupied land of Beizhili is not attached to the people's hearts, and now it is newly defeated, so it is necessary to retreat quickly." At this point, Li Chuang and I have the same thoughts. ”

"Retreat quickly, where to retreat?"

"The lord didn't ask knowingly, he suffered a loss outside, and the safest thing was to hide home first. Back to the old book, others catch up, there is a home advantage. If others don't chase me, I can recharge my energy and kill back to take revenge! ”

"Okay, so where is the thief's old book?"

Hou Dagui replied: "Li Chuang's palace is in Xi'an, and that is Shaanxi. ”

Zhao Dangshi stroked his palm and said, "That's it." The thieves are up and down, most of them are from Shaanxi, and Li Chuang is the capital of Xi'an, he is not good in Beijing, and what he wants in his heart must be to return to Xi'an to regain his strength. But if our army defeated Xi'an in advance, would he still come back? If he doesn't return to Xi'an, where will he go? ”

Xu Hui answered: "The lord is wise. Xi'an Mansion and Guanzhong are the center of Shaanxi, once lost, Shaanxi is meaningless to the thief, and he will never throw himself into the net. ”

Zhao Dangshi said: "Yes, the thief's temperament is difficult to change, and without the old book, it is like a tree without roots, and nine times out of ten he will become a thief again." He will go south from Beijing, and if he does not come to Shaanxi, he will turn to Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, southeast and even Huguang. In these places, our army is weak, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist the thieves who are pouring their strength in. However, if the defense is deployed in a hurry, it will affect the overall situation and cause the collapse of our army's deployment on all fronts, which will do more harm than good. ”

At present, Chen Weifu, Tian Xiong, Liu Hongqi and other troops have recovered most of Henan south of the Yellow River, but even if Guangwenlu, who is still in Huguang to quell the rebellion, quickly moves north, the available troops in the whole of Henan will not be more than 10,000 people. Zhao Dangshi had to send enough troops from Shaanxi back to Henan in order to stabilize the situation. Doing so will undoubtedly lead to passivity and greatly delay the course of the war. Moreover, Zuo Mengeng and Fang Guoan in Nanjing have not yet completely stabilized, so it is really inconvenient to have another storm due to the northern incident.

"Then keep Xi'an ......"

Zhao Dangshi said: "Xi'an Mansion is where Li Chuang's court is located, including his wife Gao, hundreds of officials, and relatives of all generals are here. Therefore, if Xi'an does not lose a day, it will be like a nail, which has always been stuck in Li Chuang's heart. The so-called 'surround it must be saved', Li Chuang could not sit idly by and ignore the predicament of Xi'an, and go south to Shaanxi. Shaanxi is the place where our heavy troops gather, and when we bring him here, our army still occupies the initiative. ”

"I see." Hou Dagui nodded.

Zhao Dangshi said: "If the thieves are determined to the north, the general trend of the world will be divided into two, and our army needs to take Xi'an to take advantage first." But now that he has been defeated, the situation has changed greatly, and he is the only way to use troops. ”

Xu Hui groaned: "Beijing is recovered, but I can send someone to ask Wu Sangui to immediately lead the army south to fight the thieves with our army." It is also very possible that the thief will be annihilated in northern Shaanxi if he suffers from the enemy in the belly. ”

Zhao Dangshi suddenly sighed at this time, and Xu Hui asked, "Why do you sigh about the lord?" The thieves were anxious for quick success and quick profit, in a vain attempt to dominate the north in one fell swoop, but in just two months, they lost Henan, Shaanxi, Beijing and other places in succession, and the situation was already clear. Our army only needs to fight steadily and steadily, and it will definitely be able to turn things around. ”

"That's not what I'm sighing about." Zhao Dangshi shook his head lightly, "Don't forget, it was not only Wu Sangui who drove the thieves away from Beijing, but also Tartar. The Tartars have coveted my Ming land for a long time, and now they have the opportunity to enter the customs, and their ambitions are probably not small. ”

"Forgive the little Tartar, what kind of wind and waves can you make." Hou Dagui said indifferently, "When the thieves are pacified, go straight to Beijing." If he doesn't obediently let him get out of the city and go back to the gate, we'll beat his mother!" ”

Guo Ruke said: "I think I can't underestimate the tartars. If it is not my race, its heart will be different, no matter what method Wu Sangui uses to ask the Tartars to help, we have to pay attention to it. ”

Zhao Dangshi thought about it, and after all, he didn't say much when some words came to his lips, and paused and said: "The top priority is to trap Xi'an City to death first." On the side of the king of Anxi in Ningxia, I have sent someone to ask him to bring troops to Xi'an to meet. Wait for the thief to take the bait, and then make a plan. As for Beijing, the right to wait for further news. ”

The generals responded in unison and dispersed one after another. Zhao Dangshi leaned back on the chair and thought carefully, then suddenly turned his head and said to Gu Junen, who was sorting out the case by himself: "Mr. Gu, Sun Chuanting, I always feel unsure. He was noncommittal about the reward, but he marched quickly. It can be seen that he still cherishes the old king of Beijing in his heart, and I am afraid that he will not come to Xi'an. ”

Gu Junen put down the book in his hand and said, "What the lord said is extremely true. But that's not a bad thing. ”

"A good thing?"

"The situation in the north is confusing, and it is difficult to determine the attitudes of all parties just by hearing about it, so it is good to let Sun Chuanting stir it up."

When Zhao Dangshi heard this, he nodded secretly.