Hong Chengchou increased his troops by 5,000 from the camp, and at this time the attacking soldiers reached 8,000 people, close to the original total number of soldiers, and these newly added new forces brought new vitality, the Ming army was numerous, if the attack was unfavorable, there would be new reinforcements, and the morale was greatly boosted for a while.

But at the head of Guguan City, the Mandate of Heaven Army has shot thousands of Ming troops, especially the burning of the Ming army just now, and the morale has also risen to a new height, and the two sides are in a tug-of-war again.

The Heavenly Mandate Army participated in the battle all gunners, as long as they concentrated on aiming, shooting did not require much physical strength, and they were all point shots, the actual number of shots per soldier was not much, and the barrel of the gun was not hot, so Li Zicheng did not put Zhou Binbu on top.

Now is not the moment of decisive battle, Zhou Binbu can not use it, after today's battle, the auxiliary troops will definitely grow up quickly, this is one of Li Zicheng's most important purposes.

After such a period of fighting, the auxiliary soldiers have accumulated a certain amount of experience, and they have become more and more courageous, although the Ming army has launched several strong attacks, but not a single danger has appeared.

The Ming army couldn't even touch the city, and its morale gradually declined, even Hong Chengchou lost confidence: victory is in sight, but you can't see it! Could it be that the Mandate of Heaven did this on purpose? Deliberately lure yourself into attacking?

I am afraid that there will be no less than 10,000 soldiers lost on our side, and everything is still at the original point!

Hong Chengchou pulled the reins of the horse, shook the whip on the horse's buttocks, and said hatefully: "Withdraw the army!" ”

The morale of the Ming army had dropped to an underestimate, and when they heard the order to withdraw, they immediately retreated like a tide, but Hong Chengchou was very strict with the army, and the soldiers did not scatter, but carried the huge shield wall and slowly left the city wall.

The sword and shield soldiers and archers were all hidden behind the shield wall, and the Heavenly Mandate Army at the head of the city had no good way, so they had to watch the Ming army take most of the wounded soldiers away.

The wounded soldiers who remained in the city were basically seriously wounded, and even if they were brought back, they had little hope of survival, and as a result, they became the targets of the auxiliary soldiers to practice their accuracy.

After the Ming army completely withdrew from the valley road, the Mandate of Heaven army, under the escort of the cavalry, cleaned up the battlefield under the city, and the corpses sparked as usual, and then buried the remaining ashes.

The trophies of the Mandate of Heaven, except for a very small amount of silver, are just some armor weapons, although they are not directly used, they can be melted back into the furnace to smelt pig iron.

In this kind of battle, Li Zicheng was extremely unhappy, not to mention the consumption of bullets, the casualties were all Han Chinese, if these soldiers were allowed to come to Longyou Tuntian, how good it would be, but unfortunately, this is impossible.

The soldiers of the Mandate of Heaven Army were overjoyed, especially the auxiliaries, who shot more than 10,000 Ming troops today, which was obviously an "effective battle" in the mouth of the Metropolitan Governor, and if such an opportunity came again, they could become soldiers.

In addition, if you successfully defend the city and kill more than 10,000 enemies, the soldiers will receive a silver reward, as well as the monthly ticket for their coveted military exploits!

Li Zicheng asked the soldiers to prepare a sumptuous meal, and on the other hand, he registered the merits of the soldiers, and after the end of the war, he rewarded them together, and the dead soldiers were given bereavement pensions to their families in accordance with military law, and the wounded soldiers would also receive the best medical treatment.

After such a large-scale battle, the Ming army will definitely not come to attack the city again today, and the auxiliary soldiers who participated in the battle did not go to the drill, but returned to the camp to rest.

Li Zicheng was generally satisfied, the Ming army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and his own losses were almost negligible, according to such a consumption ratio, 30,000 Ming troops would be consumed sooner or later.

Although the Ming army will still have a steady stream of reinforcements, like today, thousands of casualties will not be able to bear it with the huge size of the imperial court.

The next day, Li Zicheng prepared early, the gunners had already ascended to the top of the city, but there was no movement under the city, could it be that the Ming army was obedient and would not attack the city today?

If the Ming army does not attack the city, then what is the point of them coming to Guguan? The confrontation between the two sides is more beneficial to the Mandate of Heaven Army, even if Hong Chengchou does not go south, Li Zicheng does not plan to march into Guanzhong for the time being, he has just conquered the vast Longyou, and it will take time to digest it and let all the people stabilize.

Li Zicheng rarely got half a day's rest, but Liu Yunshui came to ask to see him, "Metropolitan Governor, this Hong Chengchou just fought a battle, and then he cowered in the camp, what does he mean?" Is he ready to withdraw his troops? ”

"Withdrawal? Impossible, he has already lost 20,000 horses in Guguan, and he will definitely not withdraw his troops easily! ”

"Seeing that the sun is approaching noon, there is no movement yet, so you won't go to the rescue of the soldiers, right?" Liu Yunshui's cavalry did not make meritorious contributions, so he thought about looking for the battle record, "Governor, if you don't let the cavalry rush, see if Hong Chengchou dares to chase it out!" ”

"It's impossible to chase it out, Hong Chengchou's soldiers are all infantry, how can they catch up with the cavalry......" Li Zicheng suddenly realized, "I understand, no wonder Hong Chengchou gave up attacking Guguan ......"

Liu Yunshui was puzzled, "The Metropolitan Governor ......"

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Yunshui, do you have cavalry in your department monitoring Hong Chengchou's department?" ”

Liu Yunshui shook his head, "Governor, the Ming army has released a large number of rangers, and with the cooperation of the infantry, the rangers can't get close at all...... Governor, if you don't send more men, ......"

"No, no," Li Zicheng waved his hand, "continue as it is, the rangers occasionally show up in the Ming army's tent!" ”

Liu Yunshui's face was a little ugly, "Metropolitan Governor, if you can't get close, you won't be able to listen to the detailed information of the Ming army!" ”

"Wang Anping will continue to keep an eye on this Ming army," Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said, "I already know Hong Chengchou's thoughts, and for a while, he will not come to attack Guguan again." ”

"The Metropolitan Governor...... Could it be that Hong Chengchou wants to withdraw his troops? ”

"Withdraw the army so quickly, then it won't be Hong Laojiu, with his hatred and contempt for thieves, tens of thousands of troops go south, how can he give up?" Li Zicheng understood that Hong Chengchou was already a group of thieves who regarded the Heavenly Mandate Army as thieves, and he didn't know if he had any new ideas after the defeat yesterday, "Yunshui forgot, there are three Guanshan passages?" ”

"Three-of-a-kind? Yes...... The Metropolitan Governor said, Hong Chengchou ......" Liu Yunshui was suddenly shocked and couldn't close his mouth, and his heart was also terrified, "Metropolitan Governor, on other roads, we don't have many garrisons, in case we ......"

"Yunshui rest assured, the problem is not so serious," Li Zicheng was a little worried, but his face was still light and light, if the main general panicked, the generals and soldiers below did not know what the panic would be, "There are three Guanshan passages, of which the middle line and the southern line are all starting from Guguan as the eastern end, as long as the Guguan is held, Hong Chengchou will not be able to move an inch." ”

"What about the Northern Front? We don't have a garrison on the northern front, although the valley road is dangerous, but as long as it lasts a little longer, the Ming army will definitely be able to pass lightly, "Liu Yunshui is still very worried, once the Ming army enters Longyou from the northern front, it will form an encirclement of Guguan from the east and west, at least it can cut off the supply of food and materials in Guguan, although the rifle of the Mandate of Heaven is powerful, but it is extremely dependent on bullets, once there is a shortage of food and materials, the soldiers have no food and no ammunition, how can they defend the Guguan? The Metropolitan Governor had already thought of this, but Guguan had no troops to help, and beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, "Metropolitan Governor, why don't you let me garrison the northern front?" ”

"Your unit is a cavalry, and at the critical moment, you are going to go out of the solid pass to give Hong Chengchou the final blow," for such a long time, Li Zicheng had already planned it, so he smiled and said: "We can't be led by Hong Chengchou's nose, then we will fall into passivity, and the soldiers will be exhausted." ”

"Governor, what about the northern line...... Hong Chengchou is not good at Guguan to attack, and he will definitely think of the northern front......"

"Yunshui rest assured, isn't there still double happiness? It's time for him to go to the battlefield to experience the experience. "Li Zicheng originally put Li Guobu's cavalry in Anrong Pass, as the second line of defense of Guguan, in case of Guguan is lost, Guanshan Road still has more than half of it in his hands, and now Guguan has not suffered a substantial threat, Anrong Pass is not necessary to garrison, just let Li Guobu go to garrison the northern line.

The western exit of the northern line is at Maluyi, which is only sixty miles away from Anrong Pass, and Li Guo's troops are all cavalry, and there is a flat cement avenue, which will arrive in one or two hours, and will not be too tired.

"It turns out that the Metropolitan Governor has already calculated...... Subordinates admire! When Liu Yunshui came from Ganzhou, he knew that Li Zicheng had no last resort, and he admired it even more at this time, a difficult problem was easily solved in a few words, so he got up and bowed deeply to Li Zicheng.

Sending Liu Yunshui away, Li Zicheng immediately sent an order to Li Guo at Anrong Pass, ordering him to hurry to the Red Deer Station, lie in the valley, and wait for the Ming army to attack.

The red deer post is the end of the valley road of the north line, like a funnel, west of the red deer, is the open terrain, and east of the red deer, but it is a rugged valley road, Li Guobu only needs to ambush at the entrance of this funnel, and wait for half of the Ming army out of the valley mouth, then with the speed advantage of the cavalry, impact the formation of the infantry.

Five hundred cavalry, can crush five thousand infantry, if the Ming army retreats to the valley road, the road is narrow, the urgency is not smooth, do not need the Mandate of Heaven army to move, just trampling, the Ming army's casualties are not few.

If Hong Chengchou found that the Heavenly Mandate Army had already pressed the ambush at the mouth of the valley, he would definitely not dare to force the westward under the situation of unclear circumstances.

For two days in a row, the Ming army outside Guguan did not move, and Li Zicheng was even more convinced that Hong Chengchou was already testing the northern front, so he summoned Li Guo again and told him to be on guard.

But in the evening, the transported materials arrived, this batch of materials was transported from Xining, in addition to rifle bullets, there are more than 400 rifles, which are produced for the auxiliary soldiers of the Ma Youshui Department, with these rifles, Ma Youshui's two thousand households of soldiers, all equipped with Xining rifles, no longer need to borrow rifles from Zhou Bin during training.

What made Li Zicheng happiest was that there were four howitzers that arrived with this batch of supplies.

After many experiments, the howitzer can basically meet the requirements of the design, and it needs to be tested in actual combat on the battlefield, this time Li Zicheng came to Guguan, and asked the transport soldiers to transport all the only four howitzers in Xining, when necessary, it can be used as a sharp weapon to guard the pass, even if the power of the flowering bomb does not reach the ideal condition, but the loud sound it makes when it explodes, it is enough for the Ming army to drink a pot.

With the assistance of howitzers, Li Zicheng decided to reorganize the thinking of the Guguan defense battle.