Li Zicheng brought Yuzhou, Dengfeng County, and Mi County under his command, and the army rested in Mi County for two days, and was preparing to raise troops in Runing Mansion in the southeast direction.

This is what Li Zicheng has been waiting for, after the fourth battalion came to Henan, it has experienced many large and small battles, and the bullets of the rifle have long been in a hurry, and in the later battles, in order to save bullets, except for the ambush in Mi County, most of the battles were handed over to Li Xin's independent battalion.

In every battle, the advantage of firearms is great, but the consumption is also large, if the ammunition supply cannot keep up, the rifle is not even as good as the fire mix, and the fourth battalion will basically lose its combat effectiveness.

Li Zicheng waited for a day and a half before the transport team arrived in Mi County and accepted this batch of supplies, and the first regiment of the fourth battalion, Zhao Lie, and the second regiment Liu Zongmin, restored their previous combat effectiveness and regained their identity as the main force.

This time, the convoy followed the seventh battalion of the Song Wenbu to the east, and entered Xixia County and Neixiang County in Nanyang on the ancient road, and separated in Neixiang County, and the convoy went north to Mi County to join Li Zicheng, while the Song Wenbu stayed in Nanyang in accordance with Li Zicheng's military order and took the prefecture and county to which Nanyang Prefecture belonged.

Li Zicheng felt more and more that the Mandate of Heaven Army had a foothold in Henan, relying only on Luoyang, a fulcrum, which was too thin, while Nanyang not only did not have a drought, but it was also a plain area, which was very suitable for growing grain, at least to control the city of Nanyang in his own hands, and Luoyang in the north, one south and one north, two points and one line, could take care of each other.

Ruzhou between the two prefectures is also under the control of the Heavenly Mandate Army, plus Funiu Mountain and Bear's Ear Mountain as the rear, and Shangluo Mountain further west, it is completely a situation where you can attack and retreat, and if you control Nanyang and Luoyang, you can gradually expand in Henan.

In addition, the families of tens of thousands of soldiers in the Yidou Valley Department were placed in the counties of Nanyang Prefecture, and there were still 400,000 stone grain stored in the city of Nanyang Prefecture, and Nanyang had actually become an important base of the Heavenly Mandate Army.

However, the Mandate of Heaven Army could not be complacent in Nanyang, and set itself to death in Nanyang, and in the case of insufficient troops, it was still through wandering to effectively contain the Ming army, and then seek an opportunity to annihilate it.

After careful consideration, Li Zicheng gave Song Wen an order: collect the city defense troops in Nanyang, recruit some young and strong, and form the third regiment, with Ma Shile as the head of the regiment, and the official rank of guerrilla general.

The 3rd Regiment is subordinate to the 7th Battalion and temporarily serves as an auxiliary, which can either stay in Nanyang City for training or "substitute training for battle" to help seize prefectures and counties and shorten the training time of the 3rd Regiment.

After taking the prefectures and counties to which Nanyang Mansion belonged, according to the model of Luoyang, each prefecture and county left one to two hundred city defense soldiers to maintain local security, and the heavy troops were concentrated in Nanyang Prefecture.

If the imperial court has a heavy attack, the states and counties are allowed to take the initiative to surrender, but the city of Nanyang must be in the hands of the Heavenly Mandate Army.

Li Zicheng specially told Song Wen how the Ming army's heavy troops only passed through Nanyang Mansion and avoided fighting with it as much as possible, and the main battlefield of annihilating the enemy was still in the east, which was completed by the main force of the wandering Mandate of Heaven Army, and when necessary, let the third regiment defend the city, and the first and second regiments would serve as the main force to participate in the battle of destroying the enemy in the east.

After explaining the affairs of Nanyang, Li Zicheng left Mi County with the fourth battalion and the independent battalion, and went along Yingshui to Ruyang Mansion in the southeast.

……………………………………………………………………

Ding Qirui received the holy decree and knew that he was appointed as the supervisor of the thief, and he couldn't help but have mixed feelings in his heart.

The right capital is the secretary, the title of the secretary of the leading army, and the sword of the emperor of Shangfang, he is already the highest civil and military commander of several provinces, and in the past, this is a good thing that any official dreams of!

But Ding Qirui was not happy, none of the soldiers and horses of the governor Ping Thief, from Xiong Wencan to Yang Sichang, had a good end.

Huguang, Henan, Sichuan, and the north and south of the river are all the hardest-hit areas of the Liukou, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, and Li Zicheng are all the leaders in the Liukou, which one is the fuel-efficient lamp?

If you want to exterminate these rogues, it is not easy to say anything, even Yang Sichang was defeated and died.

People who don't know the truth may think that Yang Sichang is sick from hard work and died of grief, but Ding Qirui is more and more suspicious that Yang Sichang may have committed suicide in fear of crime!

Luoyang and Xiangyang were broken one after another, and the two princes were killed one after another......

How can I, Ding Qirui, be virtuous?

Maybe someone can exterminate the rogue, but such a person, looking at the world, may not be born yet, but it is definitely me!

However, it is not a matter of staying in Shaanxi, the west of Shaanxi, the entire Longshan, is the defense area of the Mandate of Heaven, the Xi'an in the north, and the Guguan in the south, all of which are heavily garrisoned by the Mandate of Heaven, not only thousands of cavalry, but also the infantry defending the city are equipped with rifles with a range of up to dozens of paces, as well as terrifying flowering shells, and the officers and soldiers cannot get close to the city where the Mandate of Heaven Army is stationed.

From the beginning of his appointment as the governor of Shaanxi, Ding Qirui realized that the rogues in the west were too terrifying and too powerful in combat to cope with these forces in his hands.

Although a large number of spies have been sent to the territory of the Heavenly Mandate Army, Ding Qirui has never figured out why the firearms of the Heavenly Mandate Army are sharper than the imperial court, is it really the Heavenly Mandate Army?

Zheng Chongjian is not to mention this waste, Hong Chengchou is a generation of famous generals, it is time for him to serve as the governor of the three sides, why did he allow the Mandate of Heaven Army to develop west of Longshan?

Ding Qirui even suspected that when Hong Chengchou was in Shaanxi, he reached some kind of tacit agreement with the Mandate of Heaven Army, the two sides did not attack each other, Gansu did not make a big move, Hong Chengchou could explain to the imperial court, and the Mandate of Heaven Army took the opportunity to develop and collect a large area of land west of Longshan.

Out of control!

If the imperial court knows the secret west of Longshan and sends a decree to Shaanxi, asking the Shaanxi army to expropriate and suppress the Mandate of Heaven army west of Longshan, wouldn't it be troublesome for himself?

If there is no certainty, Ding Qirui will never start it.

Whether as the governor of Shaanxi or later succeeded Zheng Chongjian as the governor of the three sides, Ding Qirui had no intention of attacking the Heavenly Mandate Army west of Longshan.

It's not that he doesn't want to be loyal to the court, but he can't!

Ding Qirui believed that if the Shaanxi soldiers attacked the Heavenly Mandate Army in the west of Longshan, not only would they not have a chance of winning, but they would also cause trouble, and if they angered the Heavenly Mandate Army and let them go east of Longshan, it would be a tragedy for the imperial court.

He often rushed to rejoice that the Mandate of Heaven Army did not leave Longshan eastward......

Sent five hundred taels of silver and sent the attendant who passed the decree, Ding Qirui read the decree carefully, and his brows were unconsciously locked.

As the supervisor of the thief, he is about to leave Shaanxi, and he no longer has to face the strong pressure west of Longshan, but the future is confused.

Huguang, Henan, Sichuan......

Everywhere there are holes!

The whole of Sichuan has long been the territory of the Mandate of Heaven Army, and recently the Mandate of Heaven Army came to Henan again, not only occupying Luoyang, killing the Fu King Zhu Changxun, but also besieging Kaifeng, and the Ming army could not win with reinforcements from all walks of life......

Ding Qirui thought about it for a long time, but decided to go away to Huguang, although Huguang has Liukou Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, but the Liukou of these two departments are real Liukou, unlike the Heavenly Mandate Army, which has become a refinement.

The officers and soldiers could at least fight with it, although Zuo Liangyu's department failed to destroy the thieves, but in the battle with the Liukou, they won more and lost less, squeezing the Liukou on the edge of the mountain.

It's better to go to Huguang!

Since he is a thief supervisor, he has the right to choose, first easy and then difficult, first Huguang, then Henan, and finally Sichuan and Gansu, where the Mandate of Heaven Army has been entrenched for a long time.

What is the attitude of the imperial court, that is the business of the imperial court, as long as you can convince yourself!

Going south to Huguang, it is inevitable to pass through the area occupied by the Heavenly Mandate Army, Ding Qirui hopes that between himself and the Heavenly Mandate Army, there is still half a cent of incense, and it is best not to have a large-scale battle between the two sides unless it is absolutely necessary.

Ding Qirui was worried that Huguang's army would not be controlled by himself, so he raised 10,000 troops, all the way out of Tongguan in the east, and entered the border of Henan.

When passing through Luoyang, tens of thousands of troops of the Mandate of Heaven in Luoyang City simply closed the city gate and shrank in the city, without even waiting and seeing off.

Ding Qirui didn't know why the Heavenly Mandate Army showed weakness to him, maybe it was the same as Longshan at the beginning, everyone really knew it, the officers and soldiers could walk at will, and they could get by on face, but after the officers and soldiers left, the Heavenly Mandate Army still got real land and the people who depended on the land.

Such an ending may not be bad, at least Ding Qirui can explain to the imperial court.

Since the Mandate of Heaven Army has given face, the officers and soldiers cannot be ambiguous, Ding Qirui warned his subordinate officers and soldiers that the officers and soldiers are not rogues, they are all subjects of the imperial court along the way, and they must not plunder at will, otherwise, military law will be engaged.

Ding Qirui marched for a long time, carrying far less food, originally planned to get some supplies from the states and counties along the way, but after entering the states and counties, he couldn't help but be disappointed, all the states and counties, the grain storage is only half a month, and it is only left for dozens of officials and 100 city guards in the city, this bit of food, for 10,000 troops, is not enough to consume when entering the city.

He couldn't take care of the officials and soldiers in the city, and everywhere he went, he robbed the grain depot in the city, rested for a night, and then went out of the city to the south.

Ding Qirui originally went to Xiangyang to take over the army left by Yang Sichang, but when he arrived in Fancheng, Huguang Patrol sent a message according to Wang Chengzhao.

Wang Chengzhao told him that the main force of Liukou was in Henan, and it was enough to have Zuo Liangyu in Jing and Xiang, and there was no need for his army.

Ding Qirui was furious, he was the commander of the Ping Thief, the rank of secretary of the military department, and he held the sword of Shangfang Tianzi, and he had the right to control the local civil and military affairs, what is the small Huguang patrol?

The army rested in Fancheng, and Ding Qirui led people to look for boats, and if he wanted to cross the Han River, he first went to Xiangyang City to replenish some food.

But the soldiers who went out to look for the ships told Ding Qirui that all the boats in the Han River were concentrated in Xiangyang on the south bank, and there were no ships on the north bank.

Ding Qirui was so angry that he scolded Wang Chengzhao's ancestors for eighteen generations, but without boats, the army could not cross the river, so he had no choice but to turn back, and when he went to Dengzhou and Neixiang County, the city gates were closed, and he didn't even get a grain of grain.

Ding Qirui knew that in such a state and county, there would not be a lot of grain in the city, and even if it was forcibly taken, the gains would outweigh the losses, in case it annoyed the Heavenly Mandate Army......

The army went around in a circle, so they had to continue to go north, and when they went out of Neixiang County, the food was almost exhausted, and they had to kill war horses and mix wild vegetables to satisfy their hunger.

But what about the horses that have been killed?

10,000 soldiers, 10,000 mouths, how can horse meat and wild vegetables survive? The lowest soldiers began to flee, and in order to feed themselves, some even secretly joined the nearby Mandate of Heaven......