On the third day after Li Zicheng arrived in Baocheng, the remnants of the Chuang army, which had finally completed the assembly, successively marched from the valley mouth in the southern part of the Qinling Mountains and arrived at Baocheng. The first group of about 6,000 people was the soldiers of the invasion army, led by Lan Yingcheng, the general who stayed in the rear, and the latter group of less than 2,000 people, basically the military personnel and baggage team of the old battalion, and also led by Gu Kecheng, another general of the invasion army.

On the way to Baocheng, Lan and Gu were not intercepted by the official army, but the men and horses sent by Zhao Dangshi to meet Lan Yingcheng for the first time almost caused the two sides to fight because of the unknown situation. After the whole army gathered, the number of people and horses was counted, and there were less than 10,000 people. This is compared with what Li Zicheng said, there were still 15,000 people before going south, that is, it can intuitively reflect how harsh the Qinling Mountains are with their mountains and mountains.

With Lan Yingcheng, there is also a surprise, that is, Pang Jinming and Wu Ruyi, who came back alive. It turned out that they saw that Zhao Dangshi and Li Zicheng successfully crossed the river that night, and saw that the official army was really difficult to resist, so they fought and retreated, and finally threw themselves into the river together. Pang and Wu both knew the nature of water, and with the help of the turbulent Wenshui going straight downstream, they were lucky enough to escape the pursuit of the officials and soldiers.

The downstream of Wenshui was north, and after they went ashore, they first went to the north to look for a large army of Chuang Army, and then they came to Baocheng with a large army.

The loyal subordinates were safe and sound, Zhao Dangshi and Li Zicheng were relieved, and the encouragement and reward for the two did not need to be mentioned. After the team is assembled, the next core task is to enter the river.

The reason why they acted nearly half a month earlier than the original plan was that Zhao and Li's conversation mainly involved three points.

First, the food supply is urgent. In fact, not only was the Zhao camp facing the embarrassing situation of running out of grain and grass, but the situation of the camp was also not optimistic, especially in the fiasco of Baoji and the loss of a large amount of grain and grass consumed by the lingering in the Qinling Mountains. The plan can't catch up with the changes, and the matter of entering the river cannot be delayed any longer.

The second point is that the strength is not good. Earlier, Li Zicheng did have the idea of organizing a battle in Hanzhong. But this idea was decisively abandoned after being attacked by Cao Bianjiao at night. The backbone of the army is only 2,000 people, although the loss this time is not large, but it is also a quarter of a loss, Li Zicheng is unwilling to continue to take them to the hard fight. Moreover, after experiencing the torture of the Qinling Mountains, the newly defeated camp has disappeared from its sharp spirit, and it is extremely tired. In this state, why talk about fighting again? He consulted Zhao Dangshi's opinion, and Zhao Dangshi's opinion was not in favor of continuing to fight in Hanzhong. After all, even if you win a game, you can't reverse the general trend, anyway, you have to enter the river, so it's better to leave as soon as possible.

Thirdly, the weather has changed. This year's temperature has dropped faster than last year, and the temperature is quite cool before the beginning of autumn. The climate at the end of the Ming Dynasty was abnormal, Zhao Dangshi had already seen it, and he was worried that if he continued to stay in Hanzhong, once the ice and snow fell sharply and blocked the roads into Sichuan, then Zhao and Chuang Erying would really have no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the ground. Yes, we must hurry.

For this matter, the second battalion of Zhao and Chuang held a joint meeting. The meeting was quite spectacular, with all the middle and senior generals of the Second Battalion attending, and dozens of people attending the meeting. In the end, a conclusion was reached: on September 19, they began to evacuate Baocheng in turn, first going to Chuxian to meet with Hao Shaoqi's troops, and then transferring to Ningqiang Prefecture to join Qin Jinxiao's troops stationed there.

The departure date was chosen on September 19 because this day in the tenth year of Chongzhen was the beginning of autumn, and as a major solar term, the officers and soldiers would basically be exempted from one day of errand and duty as a reward. This is the valuable experience that the rogues have summed up in their many years of struggle against the officials and soldiers.

Within five days, the whole city of Baocheng made concerted efforts to complete all the preparations, and on the third watch of the next day, the second battalion went out of the city at night. The cold night breeze blew in their faces, and the soldiers bowed their heads and wrapped their necks and cheeks tightly with burlap towels. They were silent, quiet like birds and beasts dormant in the night, and became one with the quiet and deep environment shrouded in the moonlight.

The water-like crowd is constantly flowing out from the west gate of Baocheng, although there are many people, but they are orderly. The sound of "clacking" footsteps, mixed with the low chirping of cows and horses and the rolling of wheels, made this quiet night sound extremely busy. Occasionally, an officer scolds or whips loudly, causing a little commotion, just like throwing a pebble into a deep pool of clear water, which can stir up a few waves, but quickly disappear in the smooth waves.

Marches, especially night marches, are prone to disorder because of the sluggishness of the transmission of information and the difficulty of discerning the night, resulting in the separation of personnel or the loss of distance between the front and rear of the ranks. With this in mind, the people of Baocheng set off in three groups, the first group set off on the third watch, waited for the fourth watch, and the next group went out again until it was close to the fifth watch, and the last group of people and horses went out of the city.

When the last group of people set off, Zhang Miaoshou and other subordinates, who were the first batch, had already met with Hao Shaoqi, who came out to greet them. Hao Shaoqi has also already been dotted up and down the county. Zhang Miaoshou's old army camp and Wu Ruyi, who broke into the camp, and other troops brought with them were all soldiers in the second battalion, and they had breakfast outside the city under Hao Shaoqi's arrangement, and did not stop, but turned directly to the south. Hao Shaoqi stayed in place, and after the second batch of Zhao Dangshi and Li Zicheng led the main force to come, they marched together. At the end, it was the horse army of the second battalion, the Zhao camp was Han Gon's more than 1,000 horsemen, and the camp was Li Guo's 2,000 horses.

By the time Han and Li arrived in the county, the morning light was faint, and there was no soldier inside or outside the county. They rushed into the homes of residents in the city, hastily settled the meal, and received a report that there were traces of officials and soldiers in the east. Obviously, it was Nan Zheng's officers and soldiers who came to investigate.

At present, the large force of the second battalion has not completely left the boundary of the county, and Han and Li discussed and prepared to counterattack: if they withdraw first, the officers and troops of Nanzheng will seize the county seat, and then urgently ask for reinforcements from Luoyang to pursue, which will undoubtedly pose a great threat to the evacuation plan of the second battalion.

The two of them made a quick decision, left a thousand men in the city, and each led a thousand men out of the city, and outflanked the officers and soldiers who were chasing from the east. Although they are all from strong and healthy families, they have never fought or seen blood, and the garrison led by the team saw that there was an enemy coming, and their first reaction was to retreat. But the officers and troops were all infantry, how could they be faster than the second battalion of horse troops with one man and two horses—Li Zicheng kept his promise, and after gathering with the large army in Baocheng, he gave Zhao Ying a thousand mules and horses as a reward—so the result of the retreat was that the rear roads of the officers and soldiers were blocked, the array was completely scattered due to the lack of effective command, and the flanks were completely exposed to the blades of the second battalion horse army.

Li Guo made an attempt first, the party guarded Su feinted to attack the rear, and Li Guo took advantage of the moment when the official army was hurriedly adjusted and rushed straight to its abdomen with the main force. Han Gon lost no time in waving his army to cover up and kill, and together with Li Guo, he drove straight to the east, driving the officers and soldiers of Nanzheng straight to the east of Baoshui, confirming that all his people were broken, and they had no intention of turning back before returning to the city. At this time, the sun had risen three poles, and the main force of the second battalion had already left the county and entered the boundary of Ningqiang Prefecture.

Qin Jinxiao has been waiting in Ningqiang Prefecture for a long time.

Since defeating Ren Kexian and capturing Baishiya, the last pass of Hannan Sanya, he has firmly controlled the situation in the south. At that time, the reason why Shen Yinglong abandoned Ren Kexian and retreated into Sichuan was to break the cauldron and force Luo Wenyuan, a Qipan guerrilla who was close at hand, to make a rescue choice. But who knew that Luo Wenyuan was really a piece of ironclad, and he watched Baishiya fall, and he was stunned that he didn't send a single soldier. Shen Yinglong was angry and complained to Hou Liangzhu about Luo Wenyuan's inaction, but instead of making decisions for him, Hou Liangzhu turned his head and reprimanded him, and beat Shen Yinglong on the grounds of "mourning and dying". Although this board did not kill Shen Yinglong, it made him discouraged. Later, Shen Yinglong excused himself from his injuries and put down his military affairs and hid back in his private house in Chengdu.

Qin Jinxiao transferred many passes in Hannan to Hu Jiusi, and brought 2,000 soldiers and horses from his headquarters into Tunhuangba, where he could keep an eye on Qipanguan, the only stronghold of the official army at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi in Ningqiang Prefecture. Later, Hou Liangzhu personally led his troops to take the trail north out of Yangping Pass once, killing a large number of stick thieves under Hu Jiusi, but in the end he still left with hatred because he had no foothold. Hou Liangzhu retreated, and he didn't move again for a long time, maybe he was waiting for Hanzhong to choose the opportunity to move due to the arrival of Hong Chengchou, but he didn't expect that Hong Chengchou had not yet arrived in Hanzhong, and the rogues went down to Sichuan first.

Ningqiang Prefecture, which has been ravaged back and forth many times, is already in ruins, and its residents are either dead or fleeing, and there is not much left. Zhao Dangshi took Qin Jinxiao as the vanguard, and in just one hour, he took the city of Wuyuanzhou, which did not even have a state official. The soldiers and horses of the second battalion stayed here for three days to make the final preparations before entering Sichuan, but they suddenly heard the news: Hou Liangzhu withdrew all the soldiers and horses in all the passes in northern Sichuan to Guangyuan to assemble, including Luo Wenyuan, who had been rooted in Qipanguan and was unwilling to move a single step.

This is definitely extremely positive news.

Zhao Dangshi and Li Zicheng didn't know why Hou Liangzhu did this, and in fact, Wang Weizhang, the governor of Sichuan, was also confused about Hou Liangzhu's approach. He sent someone to find Hou Liangzhu and asked him what he wanted, but Hou Liangzhu ignored him and remained the same. The contradiction between Fu Rong was finally clearly exposed at this time.

Hou Liangzhu's original intention was to concentrate the vital forces and rely on the dangerous terrain of Guangyuan to block the northbound Liukou. Because according to his investigation, this time there are not only Li Zicheng, the king of the rogue and Zhao Dangshi, who once ravaged Sichuan, but also Zhao Dangshi, who once ravaged Sichuan, and his cautious attitude made him suspicious of the strategy of guarding the pass. Judging from the actual situation, every time the rogue invaded Sichuan, it was difficult for the officers and soldiers scattered at the numerous passes in northern Sichuan to organize effective resistance in the face of the hordes of rogue bandits. The roads between the passes are difficult and far, difficult to echo, and the generals are not united and harmonious, and they share the same hatred and hatred, so instead of being broken by the rogues, this time it is better to gather them all together, gather in Guangyuan, the only way, and put them under his own personal command - at about the same time as the second battalion broke through Ningqiang Prefecture, Hou Liangzhu had gathered an army of nearly 7,000 people in Guangyuan, of which there were no less than 5,000 field soldiers available for deployment.

Since there is an opportunity, Li Zicheng and Zhao Dangshi do not plan to let go of this opportunity. The men and horses of the second battalion scraped the ground three feet in Ningqiang Prefecture to replenish the military quartermaster once, and entered Sichuan in three ways: one way from Huangba to Qipanguan and then south, one route to Lishukou and Maiping directly to Guangyuan, one route to Yangping Pass through Qinggangping, Tumen Tower, to Baishui. These three roads seem to be impassable, but in fact, the ultimate goal is in Guangyuan.

Zhao Dangshi led the route from Huangba to Qipanguan and then Chaotian Pass, and the department was the first to ask for the army Guo Hutou front camp and the first army Qin Jin Xiaozuo camp, a total of 5,000 people. Xiang Nian Zhao Dangshi once walked this road to attack Guangyuan, and he was familiar with the path. This way can be regarded as the main force of this attack on Guangyuan.

The first road that drove Guangyuan directly from Lishukou and Maiping was led by Li Zicheng, and the department rode 2,000 horses to break into the camp, and this road was a small road on the side of Qipanguan, and it was light and simple, with the purpose of arriving in Guangyuan in advance and burning and killing, which caused a terrorist effect and provided support for the follow-up troops.

Go west to Yangping Pass and then go straight to Guangyuan Baishui, this route led by Xu Hui, and the department first attacked the right battalion of Hao Shaoqi, a total of 2,000 people. This group of centaurs is expected to enter Baishui, that is, Guangyuan under the water along Jiameng, which is a partial division. While responding to the main force, it was also closely guarded against other Sichuan troops that might be reinforced from the west.

The rest of the soldiers and horses of the second battalion were all left near Qipanguan, led by Hou Dagui and Liu Zongmin respectively.

In early October of the tenth year of Chongzhen, the battle of the second invasion of Sichuan officially began.