Zhou Zheng continued to be busy with his affairs, running non-stop in Tianjinwei, Liaodong, and Shandong, and countless things were piled up on him.

In September, Zheng Sen finally arrived in Tianjin Wei, who had just passed the exam, was studying seriously and preparing for the exam.

Zhou Zheng saw that he was still very young, and after seeing him once, he encouraged him, and sent him to the Military Academy, and asked Sun Chuanting to take care of one or two, so he didn't pay much attention.

Similarly, two months ago, Li Dingguo was also sent to the Military Academy by Zhou Zheng.

At the end of October, the Northwest changed again.

Li Zicheng made a comeback, but it swept Fengxiang Mansion in half a month, and the number soared to nearly 100,000, and the spearhead was directed at Xi'an Mansion, Shaanxi earthquake.

At the same time, bandits in Sichuan, Huguang, Guizhou and other places also rose one after another, and some of those who had been dormant before poured out again, echoing Li Zicheng from afar.

In mid-November, Li Zicheng did not break through Xi'an, turned around and entered Sichuan, broke 16 cities in a row, and then entered Huguang, and the army attacked Xiangyang!

The lid in the northwest has been completely lifted, and bandits everywhere have risen up in the wind, and the momentum is even greater than before!

Chongzhen, the imperial court panicked, and hurriedly ordered Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the military department, to go to the northwest with Shang Fang's sword to coordinate the governors and suppress the bandits.

In mid-December, Zhang Guowei arrived in Xiangyang and swore an oath to the three armies, preparing to attack Li Zicheng.

However, people from all walks of life perfunctory on the grounds of money, food, and fatigue of soldiers, and did not listen to Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the military department.

Zhang Guowei couldn't move even after flipping through persuasion, but he was powerless to suppress, so he could only write to Zhou Zheng and ask Zhou Zheng for guidance.

After receiving Zhou Zheng's reply, Zhang Guowei arrested Jiangxi Governor Fang Kongzhi without saying a word, and impeached him for 12 major crimes.

In this way, all the armies were deterred, and they jointly sent troops to defeat Li Zicheng outside Xiangyang City.

Li Zicheng was forced to retreat to Shaanxi, but swept Shaanxi again, the Shaanxi army was scattered, except for Xi'an, the other provinces were powerless to stop, allowing Li Zicheng to run rampant, but in a month, his army soared to 200,000!

The government and the opposition were extremely shaken, and the short-term comfort quickly disappeared, Chongzhen, the eyes of the court were once again focused on the northwest, and even issued an edict to Zhang Guowei, ordering him to eliminate Li Zicheng as soon as possible.

And the sweeping king, the white horse king and others are also powerful in Sichuan, avoiding Qin Liangyu's main force, attacking the city everywhere, and the official army can hardly stop it.

The imperial court urgently transferred Zuo Liangyu and others from Huguang to Sichuan, but because of the problem of money and grain, Zuo Liangyu and others refused to move, and only Shi Kefa led the army north, but was defeated and could only retreat.

The imperial court had no choice but to transfer money and grain from Nanzhili, but it was less than May, and Suzhou, Songjiang, Huzhou and other places suddenly flooded, heavy rain poured down, and the price of rice suddenly increased three or four times!

Li Zicheng saw the opportunity to join forces with the Sichuan bandits, invaded Dachang and Jianzhou, and even broke the general army Ma Tianlong in Hanzhong, occupying most of Hanzhong.

The imperial court was terrified and strictly ordered Zhang Guowei to suppress the bandits.

Zhang Guowei arrived, summoned Renlong and Zuo Liangyu, but they didn't listen to them.

Li Zicheng was overjoyed when he saw that the officers and troops were not coming, and he attacked the city in the northwest, and even invaded Henan, adopting a tactic of exhausting the enemy and dragging the officers and troops.

The current northwest is not what it used to be, and Zhang Guowei, the new Shangshu, does not have enough prestige, and he almost begged his grandfather to sue his grandmother to lead the army and suppress bandits.

The governors, governors, and general soldiers of the provinces lost their cooperation, and as the bandits from all walks of life grew, they could only fight on their own, plus the problem of money and food, and the officers and troops lost one battle after another, suffering heavy losses.

By mid-May, heavy rain had been going on for more than 10 days in central Shaanxi, blocking officials and troops from all walks of life, and the disaster caused by flooding had further spread the civil unrest.

Li Zicheng took the opportunity to turn around, defeated He Renlong in Hanzhong, and marched to Tongguan.

Tongguan, known as the second Xiongguan in the world, at the junction of Qin, Jin and Henan, is also the throat of entering the Central Plains, and it is a Dinghai Shenshen needle in the northwest.

Hanzhong, Xi'an can be lost, but Tongguan can not be lost, the loss of Tongguan is equivalent to the loss of Shaanxi, the loss of Shaanxi, the northwest will be completely out of control!

Zhang Guowei knew that it was powerful, and gathered more than 100,000 troops in Tongguan and waited for it.

The rain was pouring down, the river was surging, and the whole northwest seemed to slow down.

Zhang Guowei was standing at the head of the city at the moment, looking at the northwest direction where Li Zicheng was, his face full of worry and anxiety.

Next to him was Qian Kelei, the governor of Shaanxi, who was also terrified, and said: "My lord, the thieves are menacing, and a ** battalion has been arranged outside the city, this is necessary to take Tongguan." ”

Zhang Guowei wrinkled his brows, his originally handsome look has become sad in the past year and a half, he sighed lightly, and said: "Now the heavy rain continues, and there is no news around, we don't have much food and grass......

Qian Kelei was just about to speak, but when he turned his head to look, he saw a person trotting towards the city tower in the rain under the escort of the guards.

Qian Kelei frowned and said, "My lord, the prison army is here." ”

Zhang Guowei didn't look back, and said: "It should be the emperor who came to urge me to send troops again." ”

Qian Kelei looked at the muddy road in front of him, the rain was still falling on his head, and said: "If you are ready to send troops in such weather, will there be no one in the imperial court to defend us?" ”

Zhang Guowei was full of worries, and said: "How can there be anyone who knows soldiers in the court, if only Lord Zhou was in Beijing." ”

After all, Zhou Zheng had exterminated bandits once in the northwest, and if Zhou Zheng was in Beijing, he would say a word and give others a hundred words.

Qian Kelei was just about to say more, but the internal supervisor Huang Ancheng had already come up, and shouted urgently: "I said, Zhang Shangshu, when will you send troops?" If you fool our family again, don't blame our family for being polite! ”

The corners of Zhang Guowei's face twitched, and his worried face turned around and said with a smile: "Gonggong Huang, you have also seen it, now that it is raining heavily and the roads are muddy, how can I send troops?" Besides, the situation of the rogues has not yet been figured out, and the specific location is not known, how to send troops? Three days, give me three more days. ”

Huang Ancheng stared at Zhang Guowei's face, snorted coldly, and said, "Okay, just three days!" Three days later, if Zhang Shangshu does not send troops again, our family will be ordered to ask you for your guilt and hand over Tongguan to others! ”

Zhang Guowei suddenly became vigilant in his heart, and said with a smile on his face: "Okay." ”

Huang Ancheng snorted again and turned to leave.

Qian Kelei watched Huang Ancheng leave, and then said with an ugly face: "My lord, what does this Huang Ancheng mean?" Do you want to take away the power of the adults? ”

Zhang Guowei nodded helplessly and said, "It should be." ”

The prison army represents the emperor, and he does have the power to seize power, and Zhang Guowei can't resist at all.

If Huang Ancheng seized the military power and wantonly messed around, then Tongguan might be lost in an instant.

Zhang Guowei and Qian Kelei were full of anger and helplessness.

In the northwest of Tongguan, Li Zicheng's army stretched for an unknown amount of time, and its morale was like a rainbow, and it was not frustrated by the heavy rain at all, let alone stopped.

In Li Zicheng's big tent, a group of people were smiling and full of pride.

Li Zicheng, Song Xiance, Li Yan, Liu Zongming, Gao Jie and more than a dozen people were present, discussing how to break through Tongguan.