"Who is it? When did you go missing? The first thing that Li Zicheng thought about was that the ranger might have been attacked by the Mongols, after all, they often haunted the area where the Mongols operated.

"His name is Liu Song, and he disappeared three days ago."

Li Zicheng also wanted to ask about the missing area, the last contact time, and whether he had noticed any abnormalities, etc., but after thinking about it carefully, Wang Anping must have explored these pediatric problems, so he dispelled the idea, "You tell me about the specific situation." ”

"Three days ago, we used the usual means of contact, but we couldn't get in touch anyway, so we followed the mark he left all the way, and the sign was suddenly cut off in a valley, and there was no more news."

"You mean, suspect that Liu Song was suddenly attacked by the Mongols?" Li Zicheng frowned, as rangers, they often need to move alone, and it is common for them to be eaten by their opponents.

"The subordinates don't dare to make arbitrary decisions," Wang Anping hesitated, and finally said what he thought in his heart: "The subordinates searched this area, and in the place where Liu Song disappeared, they did not find any traces of fighting, and there were no Mongol tribes nearby. ”

"Anping means ......"

"My lord, Liu Song doesn't look like he was attacked by the Mongols, as if he disappeared out of thin air."

"Do you suspect that Liu Song became a deserter?" Li Zicheng suddenly remembered a question, "Anping, this Liu Song, why don't I know him?" Is it the new recruits recruited this time? "He had served as a small flag officer for this little flag and knew the former soldiers inside out.

"No," Wang Anping shook his head, "Liu Song was temporarily added by Lord Wang when he was promoted to the chief flag officer in Ganzhou last time. ”

"Ganzhou?" Li Zicheng's head suddenly became bigger, after leaving Ganzhou, his people had already broken off any relationship with Ganzhou, just like the quartermaster said, life and death have nothing to do with Ganzhou, but this Liu Song, did he have a connection with Ganzhou again? "Anping, didn't Lord Wang add two soldiers last time? Who else? Let him come to me at once. ”

"Another soldier is named Zhao Shiqian, and his subordinates immediately asked him to come to see the adult."

Wang Anping was just about to leave, but was stopped by Li Zicheng again, "Anping, don't make a noise at this time, in addition, take the Bayan Gorge as a starting point, expand outward for fifty miles, closely monitor the various tribes of the Mongols, and once you find that the Mongols have a large-scale assembly, you will report immediately." ”

"Yes, my lord," Wang Anping asked again, "my lord, if you extend fifty miles outward, you will be close to Jinyintan, do you want to monitor the Mongols in Jinyintan?" ”

"Gold and Silver Beach?" Li Zicheng immediately spread out the march map, he originally did not know that there was this place, but after coming to Zhenhai Fort, he knew that Jinyintan was a rich grassland, which was originally under the jurisdiction of Xiningwei, and now it has become a pasture for the Mongols.

"My lord, here." Wang Anping pointed out the location of Jinyin Beach from the map.

Li Zicheng looked at it, it turned out to be in the southeast corner of the West Sea, close to the west coast, and it was only sixty miles away from the Bayan Gorge, "How many Mongolians are here?" ”

Wang Anping thought about it, "According to the previous observations of his subordinates, there are about 100 people, and I haven't found that the Mongols have moved south here recently, so it should still be this number." ”

Li Zicheng's gaze was fixed on this fertile grassland for a long time, "One hundred and ten people? Including the elderly, the weak, women and children? ”

"When the Mongols fought, both the old and the weak, women and children could go into battle, so when we counted the Mongols, we generally included these people."

"I understand," Li Zicheng's eyes turned to the window, his right hand stroked his chin, thought for a long time, and suddenly slammed his fist on the square table in front of him, startling Wang Anping, "Anping, keep an eye on these Mongolian dog thieves, if you can't beat the Tartars, you will come to rob our land!" ”

"My subordinates understand." Wang Anping bowed respectfully and went busily on his own.

Zhao Shiqian was quickly brought over, but Li Zicheng was disappointed, the interrogation did not yield any results, he was an ordinary soldier, he didn't know Liu Song before, they were not soldiers in the same military camp at all.

Could it be that Liu Song just deserted?

Li Zicheng hopes that this is the case, the current conditions of the soldiers are quite difficult, not to mention the very low salaries, it is difficult to pay the full amount in time, and the Mongolian cavalry is facing extremely fierce combat effectiveness, if the soldiers desert, it is also excusable, between Xining and Ganzhou, there are nearly thousands of miles apart, and now there is no way to trace it.

Liu Song's matter, there was no result, and he couldn't take care of it for the time being, Li Zicheng's thoughts, in addition to Liu Yunshui and Li Guo's training of soldiers, were mainly the ambush in Bayan Canyon, he took the time to go once, and brought some mutton to add food to the soldiers.

The soldiers patrolled the passage day and night, but the Mongols never appeared, and Wang Anping did not send back any information about the assembly of the Mongol cavalry.

Didn't the Mongols intend to retaliate? Or did they simply not know about the night raid? Although the Chahar Department is not as powerful as the Tartars, it will not be just these rabble, right? Is their main cavalry still in Monan?

Li Zicheng couldn't find the answer to these messages for a while, his manpower was too small, and he couldn't spread the rangers too far for the time being, so he could only let the soldiers keep watch in the Bayan Gorge.

Fortunately, there are war horses, from Zhenhai Fort to Bayan Canyon, but in half a day, Ma Youshui and He Xiaomi, the two personal soldiers, are not bad at riding now, although they can't go directly to the battlefield as cavalry, but they are not all eating ashes behind Li Zicheng's ass.

June 15th, is the day when Li Zicheng and Wu Shaoling agreed to deliver the war horse, now there are only six days left, he is irritable, once he loses the war horse, the time for Zhenhai Fort to reinforce Bayan Canyon will take at least one day, Bayan Canyon only has two small flags, in case the Mongols attack, can they support until the reinforcements arrive?

Zhenhai Fort is their foundation, and a large number of soldiers cannot be stationed in Bayan Gorge, and there are only simple tents there, which is not conducive to the long-term stationing of soldiers.

Can you delay the delivery of the war horse by a few days? Li Zicheng quickly denied this idea, and finally won Wu Shaoling's general letter is suspicious, once the contract is broken, it will be difficult to guarantee food and materials in the future, if you leave Xiningwei's food, these soldiers may only be able to be thieves, besides, now solve Wu Shaoling's urgent need, in the future in front of him to speak, if you are really promoted to a thousand households, you can blatantly expand the army, in this troubled era, everything is false, only the military power in the hands is real.

This kind of passive waiting was really tormenting, and Li Zicheng was bored, so he had to take Ma Youshui and He Mi out of Zhenhai Fort to see Liu Yunshui and Li Guo training cavalry.

Just out of the south gate of Zhenhai Fort, Wang Anping flew to report: "My lord, the Mongols have appeared. ”

"Appeared? Where is it? Li Zicheng was both nervous and happy, nervous, the ambush in Bayan Gorge could really defeat the Mongol cavalry? Rejoice, the Mongols have finally appeared, and regardless of the outcome, it is better to appear than to wait hopelessly.

"The subordinates are fifty miles northwest of the Bayan Gorge, and they have detected that the Mongols are gathering, and at their speed, it is estimated that they are only twenty miles away from the Bayan Gorge." Wang Anping was more nervous than Li Zicheng, this was the first time they encountered the Mongolian cavalry, every time they attacked at night before, they chose to be a lone Mongolian herdsman, they were small in number, and they were attacked by a sneak attack, basically solved on the ground, this time the Mongolian cavalry was coming at them with great momentum, and they were well prepared.

"Twenty miles?" Li Zicheng estimated that if they marched in a hurry now, they would only be more than an hour behind the Mongols, "Do the defenders of Bayan Gorge know this message?" ”

"When the subordinates passed by the Bayan Gorge, they had already warned them, and they were ready for battle," Wang Anping hesitated for a moment, but still said: "My lord, the defenders are only two small flags......

Li Zicheng couldn't see any expression on his face, but asked in a deep voice: "How many Mongolian cavalry are there?" ”

Wang Anping bowed and replied: "According to the observation of his subordinates, there are about fifty Mongolian cavalry, and the brothers' riding skills are not as good as the Mongols, and they are in the mountains, so they dare not get too close, it is not very accurate, but this number should not be too different," after a pause, he said: "Our brothers have been keeping an eye on this cavalry from afar, they have no backup, and now there are brothers who continue to monitor them." ”

"Only fifty?" Li Zicheng's face could not hide his disappointment, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, there are only fifty cavalry, when passing through Bayan Canyon, there will be some casualties, even if they break through Bayan Canyon, the number of people is less than their own side, Liu Yunshui and Li Guo's subordinates, now there are sixty or seventy cavalry, although their riding skills are not perfect, but with the help of geographical advantages, and the advantage of spears and numbers, there should be no problem in guarding the exit of Bayan Canyon.

If there is a battle, there will be casualties, it depends on who can't hold on, thinking that these soldiers who follow him have never enjoyed a good day, but now there are many people who want to die on the battlefield because of their so-called planning, Li Zicheng's nose is sour.

However, war has always been cruel, especially in the face of the nomads in the north, killing seems to be buried deep in their blood, as long as there is an opportunity, they have never treated their opponents as "people", if you don't kill them, you have to wait to be killed, of course, in the battle, your own casualties are inevitable.

Since he has chosen this path, he can only follow its laws.

"You go down first, I'm afraid I won't be able to get out of Bayan Canyon now, you go back to the fort to rest first," Li Zicheng turned back to the two soldiers and said: "Inform Liu Yuanshui and Li Guo to come to see me quickly, and at the same time the soldiers will stop training and prepare to set off immediately." ”

Liu Yunshui and Li Guo were competing on the training ground, and when they heard the rumors, they immediately flew over, saw Li Zicheng, turned over and dismounted, "My lord, what's wrong?" Is it the Mongols coming? ”

Li Zicheng said coldly: "You guessed right, the Mongols are here, Yunshui, immediately bring all the cavalry to reinforce the Bayan Gorge, double happiness, and leave all the infantry to guard Zhenhai Fort." ”

Li Guo also wanted to go to the battlefield to make contributions, but seeing Li Zicheng's calm face, he had to swallow what he was about to say back into his stomach.

Liu Yunshui turned over and returned to the training ground, although the soldiers were training in horsemanship, but Li Zicheng had already made a plan, let them set off at any time, at this time the armor, spears, and war horses were all there, and there was no need to go back to the fort, just lined up and immediately galloped towards Bayan Canyon.