Lin Xiao decided to go to northern Qianbei to meet Li Dingguo in person for three reasons.

First, as a later generation, he admired the integrity of Li Laohu, who had single-handedly supported the remnants of the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, and several self-produced steel cannons in his hands must be presented to Li Dingguo in person to show his respect;

On the other hand, it is also the main reason for his trip, he wants to personally negotiate with him about the mining of copper and iron ore, which is a major event related to whether Cao Jiawen's arsenal can continue to produce guns and bullets;

The third reason is that Lin Xiao has long "admired" Wu Sangui, the first traitor in the late Ming Dynasty, in addition to coming to help Li Dingguo, in fact, he also wants to know the Guanning Iron Cavalry who is rumored to be talked about in the history books.

This trip also happened to take the opportunity to continue to sharpen the special combat personnel under his command, and it was undesirable to have the opportunity to let them participate in a few more combat exercises at the beginning of the army.

No matter how well a recruit is trained and how strong his individual skills are, he will never become a veteran without going through a few big battles and seeing little blood, and improving the combat effectiveness of the troops will become a matter of paper.

While marching, observing the terrain at the same time is Lin Xiao's habit, so the marching speed is not very fast at first.

In fact, in front of them, there were scouts to explore the way, and Lin Xiao took turns to scatter them in small teams, taking advantage of every opportunity to exercise their field reconnaissance ability, which is the basic skill of a special combat member, and no matter how much they practice, it will not be too much.

Immediately behind Lin Xiao, there were only a few of them, Duan Zhenghong, Situ Zheng, Yu Cheng, and Wang Dong, and hundreds of meters behind them were the main force of the special combat team.

"Yu Cheng, how far is this place from Zunyi?" Lin Xiao stared at the mountains and asked.

"Not far away, my lord, there are still forty miles."

Yu Cheng is a local snake, he is very familiar with the terrain in this area, although he is already the captain of the special operations squadron, but unlike others, he is still used to calling Lin Xiao the lord, Lin Xiao repeatedly asked him to change his words without success, so he went with him.

"Boom, boom", the sound of horses' hooves came from the trail ahead, and a scout had returned.

"Report, commander-in-chief," said the scout as he dismounted, "and the situation has changed, and our captain wants me to rush back to report." ”

"What's the situation?" Lin Xiao stared at him and asked.

"Commander-in-chief, after reconnaissance by the front team, the Qing army has entered Loushan Pass, Zunyi has been heavily guarded, and the two sides have been fighting fiercely in front of Loushan Pass for several days."

"Got it, go back and tell your captain that the whole team will turn to Loushan Pass and march forward on alert." Lin Xiao was stunned when he heard this, and said in a deep voice.

"Yes," the scout saluted, then turned and mounted his horse, galloping away again.

"Wang Dong, immediately notify the rear team, speed up the march, turn to Loushan Pass, and don't go to Zunyi."

"Yes!" Wang Dong turned the horse's head, turned around and hit the horse and galloped backwards.

"Situ Zheng, call He Shouxin, let them march in a hurry and quickly come to Loushan Pass to rendezvous."

"Yes!"

……

Zunyi North, Loushan Pass, at midnight, the crowd is surging, and the fire is lit.

Groups of sergeants and civilians were busy repairing the city walls that had been damaged during the day by night with torches, while others were collecting rolling stones, simmers, and other tools for defending the city.

In front of the arrow tower on the city wall, a heroic and upright figure stood upright facing north, and a pair of tiger eyes stared at the outside of the city in the deep night, and did not move for a long time.

Loushan Pass, also known as Taiping Pass, known as the first pass in northern Guizhou, is located at the junction of Zunyi and Tongzi counties, north from Bashu, south of Guizhou and Guizhou, is the throat of northern Guizhou.

Close thousands of peaks and thousands of thousands, the cliff stands in absolute place, if the axe is like a halberd, pierces the sky, it is really the first danger in the north of Qianbei, known as "a husband is a pass, ten thousand people are not open".

This time, the five provinces of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, to draw troops and horses from Shaanxi and Gansu, and together with Li Guohan, the general of the Eight Banners, he commanded 100,000 troops to form the Western Route Army to invade southern Sichuan, and defeated Liu Wenxiu's troops to capture Xuzhou Mansion (now Yibin) in southern Sichuan, as well as Luzhou, a prefecture directly under Sichuan.

When he received the report of Sun Kewang's defeat, Wu Sangui immediately sent more than 40,000 troops to Guizhou as the vanguard, divided into two roads, left and right, and attacked Zunyi and Bijie in a pincer shape, and the troops pointed directly at Guiyang.

Among them, the left forward battalion was commanded by more than 20,000 people under the command of Wu Sangui's general Xia Guoxiang, and more than 3,000 cavalry and eight banner soldiers led by Ha Kelan, the commander of the Manchurian escort army, to attack Zunyi.

Unexpectedly, it was rushed by Li Dingguo, and was strongly blocked by Li Dingguo's army at the dangerous Loushan Pass, which was 100 miles north of Zunyi, and fought fiercely for several days, and the Qing soldiers were killed and wounded, and they could not be attacked for a long time.

Wu Sangui was furious, and sent 500 Guanning iron cavalry with red-clothed cannons to oversee the army, and strictly ordered to step up the siege of the city.

……

At this time, the person who stood up at the head of the city was the commander of the Western Army of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and Li Dingguo, the king of Jin who was only 30 years old.

Li Dingguo is tall, broad-shouldered, very fit, he has a face with two different temperaments, handsome and elegant, his facial features are well-defined, the bridge of his nose is straight as if measured with a ruler, but his eyes seem to be clear flowing water, calm and clear...... The short beard under the jaw has not been taken care of for a long time.

At this moment, his face is melancholy, his eyes are deep, and the corners of his lips are lightly pursed, giving people a feeling of heroic and awe-inspiring......

After learning the news that Wu Sangui waved his army to invade the south and Sun Kewang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Li Dingguo made a quick decision, personally led more than 30,000 people to Luobo Pass to block Sun Kewang, and after defeating Sun Kewang's troops, he immediately returned to Guiyang for training.

The main force of the other road was nearly 50,000 people, and at the beginning of the north, it went directly north from Kunming, and galloped directly to Bijie and Zunyi through Liupanshui, but because the war elephant team marched slowly, coupled with a large number of baggage, the mountain road was difficult to travel, and at this moment the army was still in the territory of Xifeng, which was more than 300 miles away from Guiyang, and it was expected that there would still be more than ten days of travel.

……

During the fierce battle, the Great Western Army did not have enough sandalwood rolling stones in a hurry, let alone heavy artillery, although it desperately withstood the many fierce attacks of the Qing army, but the soldiers and civilians under its command suffered many casualties, and the wall was also destroyed by the red-coated artillery in many places.

"Tomorrow is another day of brutal fierce fighting."

Although the battle-hardened King Jin had some turmoil in his heart, his face was extremely calm.

"Lord Wang, go and rest for a while, I'll keep an eye on it here."

Ni Zhaolong, the general on the side, said with concern.

"It's okay, it's not too late for them to rest when they finish repairing the walls." Li Dingguo replied lightly, "Tomorrow morning's breakfast must be supplied in sufficient quantities, and the sergeants must be fed, have you given any orders?" ”

"Don't worry, you've already ordered the rear army...... Lord Wang, I wonder when the infantry army will arrive? Depending on the situation, the sergeants were too tired. ”

"Tell the soldiers that no matter how tired they are, they must hold on, as long as they hold on until the infantry arrives, they will be able to worry-free."

Li Dingguo said coldly, "Otherwise, if you lose this important place, you know what the consequences will be." ”

"Yes!"

Ni Zhaolong's heart sank, as an old soldier, of course he knew that once Loushan Pass was lost, the main force of the infantry army behind would be taken by surprise, and there was no heavy garrison in the Zunyi area, and the follow-up army was still in the Guiyang area.

"Report, lord, reinforcements have arrived."

While the two were talking, a personal soldier rushed up to the city tower and reported loudly.

"Huh?"

Could it be that Guiyang has sent troops? Not so fast, "Reinforcements?" Which general led the troops? ”

"The reinforcements have arrived outside the southern border pass, and the leader of the troops is ...... Say yes, Lord Kotogawa Houlin. ”

The soldier replied in a panic, he had never heard of who this Qinchuan Marquis was.

"Marquis of Kotogawa? Please. ”

Li Dingguo's eyes lit up and he said urgently.

After the battle, the vanguard reconnaissance battalion of the Marquis of Qinchuan had come to rendezvous, and he himself personally pursued Sun Kewang who had slipped through the net.

(Question, in Lin Xiao's strategic counteroffensive plan this time, who will Feng Suqin's Dayao Mountain Independent Battalion cooperate with to attack?) Which province to attack? ）