Originally, Wu Sangui also wanted to keep the military formation, trying to keep his subordinates. However, the Qing soldiers naturally would not let the Ming army form a formation, and Haoge led his subordinates to attack for a while, breaking up Wu Sangui's military formation. Then came the rout of the towns.

Once the rout begins, it is not easy to stop. And the Qing soldiers were ready here, they knew that the Ming army would definitely break through in the direction of Ningyuan, so they deployed a large number of troops on the road to Xingshan, Tashan, Daxingbao and other places.

At this time, the strength of the Qing army was already comparable to that of the Ming army, so they had enough troops to arrange ambushes and pursuits. They are all old people who have fought battles, so they naturally know how to get the most out of them.

The Ming army ran south in a panic, and from time to time feathered arrows flew from the mountains on both sides, and the sound of horses' hooves behind them was sometimes far and near, and the screams behind always followed their team. And in the main mountain passes, from time to time, Qing troops will rush down from the mountains and intercept part of their troops.

Some of the routs were in a panic, and they had no way to escape, so they could only flee along the seashore. The Qing troops forced them on the periphery and suppressed many Ming troops on the coast. The difference in the water level of the sea tide here is as high as three meters, so when the tide rises, the Ming army cannot advance, there is no way back, and countless people are drowned by the sea.

Hong Chengchou received the news of the rout of the army, so he also sent troops from Songshan to break out. However, it was intercepted by the Qing army and did not succeed in breaking through. And Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao were also blocked by the Qing soldiers, so they had to retreat to Songshan City.

Zhang Ruoqi, Ma Shaoyu and others took advantage of the chaos to reach the beach, escaped by sea on a fishing boat, and returned to Ningyuan.

Hong Chengchou and others were besieged in Songshan, and although they managed to break through, they were firmly blocked by the besieging Qing soldiers. In the end, they had to hold on to Songshan and wait for reinforcements to come to their rescue.

Wu Sangui, Bai Guangen, Li Fuming, Ma Ke, Wang Pu, and Tang Tong, the six chief military officers, some fled to Xingshan, and some fled to Tashan. Then, under the encirclement and interception of the Qing soldiers, he fled back to Ningyuan with only a few subordinates, which can be regarded as stopping the rout.

At this time, they finally began to gather the rout and prepare to defend Ning Yuan. Ning Yuan's officials also began to report the situation to the imperial court, whether it was good or bad, they always had to let the imperial court know.

Henan, Guide Province.

In September, the news of the defeat of the imperial court in Liaodong and the almost annihilation of the army came, which made the officials and gentry who had high hopes for the border army like a bolt from the blue.

Li Yan also got relevant news. However, he was not surprised, after all, he also had some border troops under him, and he knew the combat effectiveness of the border army. If the border army dealt with the Mongols, it could still fight, but if it was against the Qing soldiers, especially in the field, the chances of victory were not great.

What he was worried about now was that the thieves Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai had returned to Henan from Huguang again, and had already reached the vicinity of Xiangcheng all the way north, which was not far from his territory. But fortunately, Fu Zonglong took He Renlong and Li Guoqi to pursue behind, and Yang Wenyue also got some money and grain at the end of August, and finally left Kaifeng, and now he is also near Xincai with Hu Dawei.

Li Yan immediately ordered Li Zhong and Li Mu to assemble their troops, except for the troops in Tuocheng and Luyi County, half of the garrison troops were left in other places, and all the others were assembled in Fucheng. In this way, he can gather more than 10,000 troops. He must be prepared to prevent thieves from entering his territory and disrupting the situation he has just stabilized.

Li Yan instructed: "Let the gunsmith step up the production of artillery, and the gunpowder workshop must also step up production." Tell Li Zhong to bring at least sixty percent of the ammunition in stock, and bring the two three-inch guns over, and the scale of this operation may be very large. ”

The iron-molded cannon has been tested last month and is very successful, and it is no different from the clay molded gun. So now the artillery workshop is rushing to make iron molds and preparing to cast three-inch guns on a large scale. Although the three-inch cannon was heavier than the Frankie gun they used, and the operation was more complicated, its power had increased a lot, so Li Yan was ready to equip it on a large scale. As for larger caliber artillery, this can only be said later.

Sun Sifu hugged his fists and said, "Obey." Later, he reported: "According to our people, those big families are gathering in the restaurant." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "Well, I know, continue to monitor." Those guys are just complaining now, and they won't be a threat to us. ”

Sun Sifu nodded and immediately went out to give the order.

Li Yan got up and instructed his soldiers: "Get ready, let's go outside the city and have a look." ”

After a while, Li Yan took his heavily armed soldiers out of the east gate nearby. He was going to see the training of recruits in the barracks, and he was about to take his troops to guard against thieves, and he wanted to see how the training of the recruits went.

He had not gone far from the city with his soldiers, and he saw a group of people surrounding a peasant and scolding the peasant angrily.

Li Yan went over and asked, "What's the situation?" ”

When the people saw that it was a general on horseback, they all retreated in fear. A middle-aged man bowed his hand to Li Yan and said, "This general is~"

Li Yan returned: "Li Yan." ”

Everyone exclaimed, and then they all knelt down slowly, shouting loudly: "The villain greets General Li, thank General Li for his life." ”

Although these people had never seen Li Yan before, they all knew that their current land was given to them by Li Yan. Their current village was also built by Li Yan under the guidance of Li Yan, and the stable life they can live now is also brought to them by Li Yan. When they saw Li Yan's outfit and the personal soldiers he was carrying, they knew that this person was not lying, so they all knelt down.

Li Yan raised his hand and ordered, "Get up." Tell me what's going on? ”

Everyone stood up, and the middle-aged man replied: "General Hui, I am the village chief of this village, and the 700 acres of land here belong to our village." In accordance with the general's order, we planted potatoes with the help of the guidance sent from above. But this man secretly came to dig up our potatoes. ”

Li Yan looked at the person who was still sitting on the ground with his head bowed, and frowned: "There should be no homeless people here, where are you from?" ”

The man kept his head down and did not speak.

Li Yan instructed: "Take him to the barracks and interrogate him to see if he is a thief's spies." ”

The man was finally frightened and said, "The villain is a tenant of the Ye family, and the steward of the grange asked him to come and see what is planted here." By the way, get some back and see if we can grow them there. ”

Li Yan understood now that although he gave out a lot of potato seeds, he was not obliged to give them to those big gentry families, but only to plant them for the people in the villages he established. I didn't expect that these big families still attach great importance to farming, and they would let people steal seedlings.

Li Yan sneered and said, "Take it away first, let your master come and take you later, and compensate for the losses of these people by the way." ”

The man quickly knelt down and begged for mercy: "The general spares his life! The villain is a tenant, not to mention my master, even the steward of our grange, and he will not come to receive the villain. Not to mention compensation for damages. ”

Li Yan shook his head and said, "Don't worry, I said he would come, and he would definitely come." ”

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