Early the next morning, Li Yan led the cavalry to chase after him at great speed. し。 However, when they arrived at the periphery of the General Pass under the guidance of the scouts, most of the Qing army had already left the pass, leaving only a small part on both sides of the pass and on the wall, which seemed to have the intention of guarding the pass.

Li Yan was a little helpless, his cavalry only brought some bombs and handcuffs, if he reluctantly went to attack the city, he was unwilling to bear the casualties he would have to pay. In the past, the pursuit of the Qing army was able to exchange for greater results at a smaller cost, and a large number of Qing troops could be killed and injured. But now the assault is the opposite.

Although this pass cannot be occupied by the Qing army, there is no need to rush for a while, just wait for the infantry to catch up and then take it back. It was only a day or two left and right, and it was impossible for the Qing army to strengthen the defense much.

What he has to think about now is how to defend against the Great Wall. The Ming army here is obviously no longer usable, and the Qing army comes and goes freely every time. This time, the officers and troops in Miyun, Jizhen and other places either surrendered to the Qing army, or withdrew with Li Zicheng, and all places were empty. But he only has 30,000 horses here, and it is not enough to even defend the border wall. Although Shandong has already begun the work of dividing up the land and conscripting troops, it will not be effective within three or four months.

And there are Wu Sangui and others in the east who have their own line, and I don't know what attitude it is now. He must be cautious, if Wu Sangui falls to the Qing State, the Shanhai Pass will be opened, and the Qing army that he had just driven out will make a comeback. At the same time, he will also add the 50,000 or 60,000 troops of Wu Sangui and others, so that his ammunition will not be enough for a big battle.

and Li Zicheng, who fled to Shanxi, will definitely not give up Beijing easily. When Li Zicheng reorganizes his soldiers and horses and kills them again, he will face another million enemies.

There is also the problem of law and order in various places. He occupied such a large place as Shandong and Zhili at once, and there were very few left-behind troops in various places, and if he could not take care of one of them, a situation of rampant bandits would be formed. Although with his military strength, it would not take much to exterminate it later, but if local production could not be restored, the pressure on the government would be too great.

This matter has to be properly solved, which makes him have a headache. In contrast, the Ming Dynasty officials who remained in the capital were relatively easy to solve.

At this time, Liang Zhenfang came over and reported with his fists clenched: "Dashuai, I caught a scout who claimed to be under the command of Ping Xibo." ”

Li Yan ordered: "Bring it up." ”

Soon, a soldier with a drooping left arm was brought in.

The soldier knelt down and kowtowed, and said, "The villain has an injured arm and can't give the generalissimo a full salute, so please don't blame the generalissimo." ”

"Killed his horse, fell and broke himself." Liang Zhenfang explained on the side.

Li Yan instructed: "Give him a triangular scarf and fix it so that the injury will not worsen." ”

After a while, a cavalryman with simple training came and gave the soldier his arm to his chest. The soldier kowtowed again: "Villain Wang Shun, thank you for the generalissimo's treatment." ”

Li Yan said casually: "Let's treat it well after we go back." Let's talk about it, what Wu Sangui asked you to do"

"It is to find out the situation of the generalissimo's battle with the Qing army." Wang Shun replied immediately.

"What do you see?"

Wang Shun replied: "The villain only saw that the Qing army withdrew from the General Pass overnight, and then the generalissimo's cavalry came, and the villain wanted to hide in the distance and take a look, but he was discovered by the generalissimo's generals." As soon as he got on the horse and wanted to run, the war horse was killed. ”

Li Yan nodded and asked, "Wu Sangui has surrendered to the Qing Kingdom."

"Nope." Wang Shun replied very simply.

"If he surrenders to the Qing Kingdom, are you willing to follow?" Li Yan then asked.

Wang Shun hesitated and replied: "This, the villain takes Ping Xibo's salary, and his family also moved from outside the border with the camp, so he can only follow Ping Xibo." ”

"Serving under my command, each soldier will be given ten acres of land, and only pay 30% of the tax in kind, and the rest will be his own." Li Yan said: "However, there are many mountainous areas in the north, so you can give 20 acres." This is my policy, you can think about it when you go back. ”

"There are fifteen acres of farmland in the villain's hometown outside the Guan, but now they are all thrown to the Qing Kingdom." Wang Shun said with some loss.

Li Yan said affirmatively: "Don't worry, sooner or later, the land outside the border will have to come back more, as long as you have the red deed in your hand, that land will still be yours." ”

Wang Shun lowered his head and said nothing.

Li Yan didn't really want to pull Wu Sangui's subordinates to his side with a sentence or two, he just wanted this Wang Shun to be a free propagandist.

He commanded, "Give him a horse and let him go." ”

"The villain thanked the generalissimo." Wang Shun kowtowed in thanks.

Li Yan added: "Bring a word to Wu Sangui, Gao Di, Tang Tong and others. Let them choose carefully and not make mistakes. ”

"The villain must bring the words to the generalissimo." Wang Shun bowed down to guarantee, and then quickly got on the horse and went away quickly.

That night, Wu Sangui received the words of Li Yan brought back by Wang Shun. He sent several groups of scouts, knowing that Li Yan pursued the Qing army all the way and inflicted heavy casualties on the Qing army. Although this news surprised him, he had to believe it in the face of the return of more than a dozen groups of henchmen scouts.

Gao Di frowned and said, "What does Li Yan mean by this, is he coming to attack us?"

Tang Tong was suspicious of the casualties of the Qing army: "Li Yan can really make the Qing army suffer many casualties, it is tens of thousands of iron cavalry, even if Li Yan has sharp guns, it will not be able to resist the iron cavalry charging into battle."

Wu Sangui said lightly: "From Prince Rui to Prince Yu, the two armies have been defeated and withdrawn from the pass, what else is there to doubt, how many people are there in the Eight Banners, and how many Jurchens have cut off the Han and Mongols among them, at most there are only 350,000 people." Those Meng Eight Banners and Han Eight Banners are just followers. How many casualties can they bear According to reports, the Qing army's Hongyi cannons have all been discarded, if they can't move, they won't even want their treasures."

"That's not such a big gap," Tang Tong still said in disbelief: "Even a few thousand cavalry can chase tens of thousands of Qing army iron cavalry, is our army really so vulnerable?"

Gao Di said impatiently: "The main forces of the Qing army have retreated, what do you want to say?"

Tang Tong finally said his inner thoughts: "I heard that Li Yan is extremely strict in governing the army, and he will also give land to every soldier. If we join his command, what benefits will we get, even the soldiers below will be grateful to Li Yan, and they will listen to our greetings."

Gao Di said with some hesitation: "But the Qing army is newly defeated, are you willing to fight with Li Yan again, if we surrender to the Qing, Li Yan will definitely attack." The Qing army is not his opponent, let alone us."

Wu Sangui sighed and said: "Don't break the contact with the Qing Kingdom, Li Yan should also send someone to contact him." In the current situation, we want to maintain self-reliance, I'm afraid it's a little difficult. Let's take a look at the conditions on both sides first, and then it's not too late to make a decision. ”

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