Ma Youshui found that after the shooting of two rows of gunners, the thieves had been killed and wounded, and the remaining dozen or so thieves were young and strong, and when they saw that the situation was not right, they hurriedly left the old and weak women and children, turned around and fled.

But it was originally at a distance of 100 paces, even if he escaped, it was within the effective range of the rifle, Ma Youshui took care of the bullets and shouted: "Point shot, don't let them run!" ”

"Bang, bang......"

Although the gunfire was sparse, there were only a dozen thieves, but in the time of soaking in urine, these thieves who wanted to escape had all fallen to the ground, and like their companions, they were rolling in the grass, calling for their father and mother.

Ma Youshui wants to train the courage of the recruits, these soldiers, who have just changed from auxiliaries to soldiers, this is the first time they have used Xining rifles, don't be frightened by the blood of the enemy, "Put down the rifles, pull out your waist knives, and send the wounded soldiers on a ride, no matter old or young, all of them are cut down!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The soldiers agreed, put down the rifles in their hands, and pulled out their waist knives one by one, this was the first time they used rifles, and they were worried that the thieves had escaped, but when they saw the dead and wounded of the thieves, they rushed up and beheaded all the thieves.

The thieves were silent, but the gunners were still uneasy, and rummaged through the corpses one by one, lest anyone slip through the net.

Ma Youshui took his own soldiers and came to the east city, "Report to the Governor, the thieves have all been destroyed!" ”

Li Zicheng has been standing on the head of the city, he saw the scene just now, he saw it clearly, and heard the words: "Search the body of the thief, leave the iron weapon, and then burn it!" ”

He didn't expect the thieves to have much money on them, and when they were all so poor, what else could they gain? The purpose of the search was to find information to see if there was any information related to the officers and soldiers, and as for the weapons used by the thieves, most of them were still wooden, even if they were iron knives and guns, the Mandate of Heaven Army could not use them, but after they were transported back to Xining, they could be returned to the furnace and made into rifles.

Ma Youshui arched his hand under the city and said, "Yes, the Metropolitan Governor, my subordinates will do it!" ”

"When the settlement outside the city is completed, come to my camp immediately!" Li Zicheng coldly dropped a sentence, and then walked away and went to lunch with his soldiers.

"The Metropolitan Governor is ......" Ma Youshui was secretly shocked in his heart, the Metropolitan Governor summoned him alone, it was definitely not to celebrate, he killed these thieves, including the old and weak, women and children, but two or three hundred people, this is a massacre, not a battle, obviously not a merit, could it be that the adults saw something in the city?

He was so distracted that he did not know what the governor meant, so he had to go back and command the soldiers, search the clothes of the thieves, leave behind iron weapons, and burn the rest, and dig pits and bury the bones.

Ma Youshui was nervous and came to Li Zicheng's camp, "Governor, the outside of the city has been dealt with!" ”

"Sit down!" Li Zicheng had already eaten lunch and was leisurely drinking tea, "There is water, do you know why I summoned you alone?" ”

Ma Youshui's heart sank suddenly, "The Metropolitan Governor ......"

He Xiaomi gave Ma Youshui tea, then covered the door and went out.

There were only two people in the camp, Li Zicheng and Ma Youshui, the atmosphere seemed even more depressing, Ma Youshui was frightened, unconsciously left the seat, knelt down with his legs, "Governor, subordinates know their mistakes......

Li Zicheng said lightly: "Know your mistake? What's wrong? ”

"Subordinates shouldn't ...... You should not have mercy on thieves......"

"Knowing your mistake, it's not hopeless," Li Zicheng calmed his face and motioned for Ma Youshui to get up, "Do you know how thieves treat people?" ”

"The Metropolitan Governor...... Subordinate...... Subordinates will never ...... again"

"The so-called thieves are both thieves and thieves," Li Zicheng said briefly when he saw Lao Huihui's subordinates brutalizing the people on the way to Ganzhou, "We were powerless to save the people that day, if the army has its own army today, we can no longer let these thieves do whatever they want!" ”

Ma Youshui gritted his teeth and said, "These thieves!" ”

"Yes, among these thieves, there are also ordinary people," Li Zicheng picked up the tea cup, took a sip lightly, and said: "But they are coerced by thieves, and even the relatives of thieves, in order to survive for themselves, in the long run, they are no different from thieves!" ”

"Grand Governor, my subordinates understand ......"

"You don't understand," Li Zicheng shook his head and sighed, "The Mandate of Heaven Army takes it as its mission to save the people of the world, so that all the people in the territory 'have food, clothing, housing, and land', but this is only the people on the earth who belong to them, and there are more people in the world, can the Mandate of Heaven Army manage it?" ”

“……”

"As a soldier, there is nothing wrong with having compassion, the key is to use it in the right place," Li Zicheng looked at Ma Youshui and said faintly: "Our compassion can only be for our companions and the people on the ground!" ”

“……”

"Like the Salar people last time, as well as these alien races in Longyou, the Tartars outside the Guan, and the ...... in Ningxia" Li Zicheng originally had to add the Hui people in Ningxia, when they revolted, they slaughtered more than one million Han people, however, this incident has not happened for the time being, it should be a hundred years later, so he changed the topic, "How many Han people were slaughtered in the Wuhu Chaos Era?" Do you sympathize with them, have mercy on them, and once they are strong, will they have mercy on the Han people? ”

Only then did Ma Youshui understand why the Metropolitan Governor wanted to naturalize the alien races in Xining and Longyou, so it was!

"Today is on the battlefield, and those standing opposite you are all enemies," Li Zicheng said in a deep voice: "If you are stronger than your opponent, you will sympathize and pity your opponent, once your opponent is stronger than you, will they sympathize with you and pity you?" The army of the imperial court will soon come to Guguan, you let them have mercy on you? ”

"Grand Governor, subordinate...... Subordinate...... Ask the capital to rebuke and punish ......"

"Reprimand?" Li Zicheng smiled bitterly: "It is difficult to change a person's heart by punishment, the key is to realize the difficulties of the world, compared with the imperial court, the Heavenly Mandate Army is too small, and we have no right to pity others!" ”

“……”

"The current Heavenly Mandate Army can only have mercy on the people on the earth, and in this way, attract more people, and our strength will be further strengthened, but," Li Zicheng's tone suddenly changed, and said: "For the enemy, the only way is to be cruel, and it is best for them to tremble with fear when they hear the name of the Heavenly Mandate Army!" ”

"The Metropolitan Governor, his subordinates have been taught......"

Ma Youshui wanted to kneel down and ask for guilt, but was stopped by Li Zicheng, "Youshui is my own soldier, and my expectations for you are higher than others, and the requirements are stricter!" ”

Ma Youshui thought that he, the 6,000th household, was the first to be issued rifles, and now he was the first to be issued rifles by the whole army, and he couldn't help but regret it in his heart, so he had to take the tea and drink it violently, put down the tea cup, wiped the water stains on his lips, and said: "The subordinates should die, the subordinates have failed the cultivation ...... of the Grand Governor."

"There is water, you understand," Li Zicheng smiled faintly, and personally filled Ma Youshui's tea cup, "The war is coming, and we don't have the capital to be merciful now!" ”

Ma Youshui hurriedly took the tea cup and said categorically: "Governor, if your subordinates are ...... Please screw the heads of his subordinates! ”

"Don't talk about this," Li Zicheng knew, for Ma Youshui, just click it, "The five hundred households who went into battle today, I originally thought they were new soldiers, and I couldn't see blood, but I never thought that they were originally soldiers from Ganzhou, but they were very experienced on the battlefield!" ”

"The Metropolitan Governor...... They ......"

"They carried out your orders well and completed the combat mission, give them a credit first, and when the battle is over, they will be rewarded!"

"My subordinates have thanked the Grand Governor!"

Li Zicheng waved his hand and changed his tone, "There is water, how about outside the solid pass?" Yunshui's cavalry, have they ever found out the relevant information of the Shaanxi army? ”

"The Metropolitan Governor, Liu Qianhu's cavalry, has penetrated to fifty miles away, east and north of Longzhou, there are rangers, but it's a pity that ......" Ma Youshui picked up the tea and poured it violently, "It's a pity that I didn't find the troops in Shaanxi, isn't it...... Hong Chengchou has not yet discovered the changes in Longyou? ”

"Maybe Hong Chengchou doesn't know the details of Longyou, but it is impossible to say that he doesn't know anything about it," Li Zicheng shook his finger and said, "Hong Chengchou is a Jinshi background, different from ordinary military attachés. ”

Ma Youshui was a little unwilling, he was criticized by the Metropolitan Governor today, he especially hoped to find it back on the battlefield, "The Metropolitan Governor, then what should we do now?" Can you just sit and wait? ”

"In addition to waiting for Hong Chengchou to come to the door, we can only make all preparations for war," Li Zicheng knew that Ma Youshui was eager to make meritorious service and atone for his crimes, so he smiled and said: "Now we can only hope that An Ping can quickly send back Hong Chengchou's detailed information!" ”

"Metropolitan Governor, now that Hong Chengchou's army has not yet moved south, should we take the opportunity to take Longzhou and establish an early warning defense line outside Guguan?"

"It's not difficult to take Longzhou, but our current strength is too small, for Guguan, Longzhou is just a lonely city, even if we take it, we can't stay for a long time," Li Zicheng has long been eyeing Longzhou, however, his purpose is not to occupy it for a long time, but to have other plans, "If Longzhou is taken, Hong Chengchou will definitely think that we want to go east out of Guanshan, at that time, there will be no room for maneuver between the two sides!" ”

"Roundabout?" Ma Youshui was puzzled, "The Governor means ......"

Li Zicheng smiled mysteriously and said: "Everything, after defeating Hong Chengchou, if the solid pass cannot be held and Hong Chengchou can enter Longyou along the Guanshan Road, the Heavenly Destiny Army will be in danger......"

Ma Youshui said angrily: "The governor of the capital, his subordinates are guarding the pass, and his subordinates are sacrificing their lives, and they must stick to the pass!" ”

"I believe in you!" Li Zicheng naturally cheered Ma Youshui up, but in fact, he was not absolutely sure whether he could hold the line of Guguan.

Hong Chengchou is different from the previous two trilateral governors of Shaanxi, Wu Zhiwang and Yang He, not only advocated the use of force to suppress bandits, but also killed people without blinking, and was really a civilian hooligan.

Such a person, if used to fight rebellion, I am afraid that it will become more and more chaotic, at most it will wipe out the population of the disaster area and weaken the power of the thieves, and if it is placed on the frontier, it may be more suitable.

Hong Chengchou did go to Liaodong later, the place where the Ming Dynasty needed good generals the most, and he was also the governor of Jiliao, the actual supreme commander of the military and government, but unfortunately he was defeated and captured, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was surrendered!

It seems that he is also in the nest!