After dawn, the Mandate of Heaven army lifted the siege of Longzhou, and the cavalry of Liu Yunshui's department took the lead in moving south, and then the infantry of Zhou Bin's department also rose from camp.

Hong Chengchou came to Nanchengtou, saw the billowing smoke and dust stepped out by the Mandate of Heaven Army, and was still not at ease in his heart, worried that the cavalry of the Ming army would return to intercept him, and sent rangers until all the Mandate of Heaven Army entered Guguan, before leaving Longzhou and returning to Guyuan.

Li Zicheng and Liu Yunshui's cavalry, together with the cavalry of Liu Yunshui's department, returned to Guguan in less than two hours, Ma Youshui then entered the Guancheng, Liu Yunshui immediately drilled into Li Zicheng's big tent, "Metropolitan Governor, do you really believe that Hong Lao Jiu?" ”

"What do you say?" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Yunshui thinks that Hong Chengchou will tear up the secret agreement?" ”

Liu Yunshui patted the dust on his hands and said: "People's hearts are separated from their stomachs, Hong Laojiu is an official of the imperial court, and most of the governors can't help but guard against it!" ”

"Yunshui can think like this, I am pleased," Li Zicheng personally made Liu Yunshui a cup of hot tea and handed it over, "Hong Chengchou is an official of the imperial court, many times, he can't help himself, if it is for his own interests, it is completely possible to tear up the secret agreement, so for Hong Chengchou's promise, you can't believe it, you can't believe it all!" ”

"Why did the Grand Governor make an agreement with him when he knew that the secret agreement was unreliable?" Liu Yunshui was blowing tea while watching Li Zicheng's reaction, "In my opinion, it is better to take the opportunity to take Longzhou and capture Hong Chengchou, the court will be shocked." ”

"If you capture a Hong Chengchou, the imperial court will send a new and more powerful Zhao Chengchou," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Yun Shui thinks that capturing Hong Chengchou will scare the imperial court?" ”

Liu Yunshui trembled and said, "At least we have to give up the imperial court and dare not despise us......"

"Don't Yunshui know the truth of 'shooting the first bird'?" Li Zicheng glanced at Liu Yunshui, and said slowly: "The decisive battle between the Heavenly Mandate Army and the imperial court will come sooner or later, the imperial court is getting weaker and weaker, and the Heavenly Mandate Army is getting stronger and stronger, and the army is also increasing, the later the decisive battle, the more beneficial it is to the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the greater the possibility of victory." ”

“……”

"At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, and the rebel army was surging, and Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang followed the advice of the strategist Zhu Sheng, 'build a high wall, accumulate grain, and slowly become the king'.

Liu Yunshui lowered his head, thought for a moment, suddenly raised his head, and shouted: "My subordinates understand, the Metropolitan Governor used a secret agreement to drag Hong Laojiu to win time for the expansion of the Heavenly Mandate Army!" ”

But he sighed in his heart, the Metropolitan Governor is really calculating, stabilize Hong Laojiu, the imperial court will not pay attention to the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the Heavenly Mandate Army is outside the vision of the imperial court, growing step by step, and finally ...... It is no wonder that the Metropolitan Governor has always been sheltered under the wings of the imperial court, and he is fortunate to follow the Metropolitan Governor......

Liu Yunshui put down the tea cup and suddenly bowed to the ground, "The subordinates understand the mind of the Metropolitan Governor, and the subordinates' admiration for the Metropolitan Governor is really ...... It's really ......" I couldn't think of the right words for a while, and suddenly I saw the tea cup, and then said: "It's like that long-flowing water......

"Okay, don't be a sycophant," Li Zicheng helped Liu Yunshui up, and said: "It's good that Yunshui understands, Hong Chengchou will definitely come to Guguan again, this time he reached a secret agreement with Hong Chengchou, but to give him a chance to convince himself, even if Hong Chengchou wants revenge, it will be delayed for some time, and now he will use the main military means on the thieves in Shaanxi, and we will have enough time to expand the army." ”

Liu Yunshui arched his hands and gave Li Zicheng a deep bow, "Metropolitan Governor, my subordinates know!" ”

"Knowing that Yunshui is brave and strategic, I will tell you these words, and you must not leak them," Li Zicheng approached Liu Yunshui and said in a low voice: "There will be a strategic buffer period between the Tianming Army and Hong Chengchou, and there will be no more war for a while and a half, so I plan to return to Xining." ”

"Well, the Metropolitan Governor is busy with affairs, and he should indeed return to Xining as soon as possible!" Liu Yunshui picked up the tea cup, took a sip of tea, and said, "Who is the governor going to let be stationed in Guguan?" ”

"There is water, there are water soldiers have been expanded, there are 2,000 soldiers, all of them are issued with Xining rifles, even if the Ming army comes to attack the city again, it can withstand for a while," Li Zicheng said: "I will give him a few more howitzers and plenty of flowering shells, as long as the Ming army is not desperate, there should be no problem in holding the fortified pass." ”

"Hmm!" Liu Yunshui nodded, Li Zicheng expanded Liu Yunshui on a large scale, and upgraded all the auxiliary soldiers to soldiers, he knew that the one who would garrison Guguan in the future must be Ma Youshui!

"However, the Youshui Department is basically infantry, and it is inconvenient to take care of the northern line of Guanshan Road and investigate the movements of the Ming army, so your department must also stay and assist Youshui to garrison Guguan," Li Zicheng said in a deep voice: "As before, Youshui is the main general of Guguan, and you are the deputy general of Guguan, and you will fully assist Youshui!" ”

"Yes, Grand Duke!" Although Liu Yunshui is Ma Youshui's deputy general, he is not lost, after all, he is defending the city, not a field battle, or mainly infantry, while the cavalry is responsible for collecting the enemy's information, and can only go out to meet the enemy when the situation is critical.

Li Zicheng patted Liu Yunshui on the shoulder, and said earnestly: "Yunshui, although you are the deputy general of Guguan, you can best understand my way of garrisoning, and you must not be greedy for merit!" ”

"The subordinates understand," Liu Yunshui knew that this was almost Li Zicheng's parting explanation, and hurriedly said: "Don't worry, the governor of the capital, everything under his subordinates is focused on solidifying the pass!" ”

"With Yunshui's assistance, Guguan will definitely not be lost," Li Zicheng raised his head and looked outside the camp, the sun was already past noon, so he said: "Yunshui go back for lunch, when Zhou Binbu returns to Guguan, I will return to Xining tomorrow, Guguan, I will hand it over to the two of you." ”

"Don't worry, the governor of the capital is here!"

"Wrong," Li Zicheng waved his hand, "It's 'Guguan is here, people are also there', you are all my good brothers, I don't want any of you to have an accident, Guguan is just a pass, if it is lost, we can take it back, if something happens to people...... There will never be a chance," he patted Liu Yunshui's shoulder again, "In my mind, people are always the most important!" ”

"Thank you, my subordinates, the Metropolitan Governor......" Liu Yunshui's voice was already a little choked, and he hurriedly lowered his head, lest Li Zicheng see his eyes, but he thought in his heart: Guguan is the gateway of Longyou, different from ordinary prefectures and counties, if it is lost, the people of Longyou may suffer, Dadu Governor treats me like this, I am fighting for my life, and I must ensure that Guguan is not lost!

In the evening of the same day, Zhou Bin returned to Guguan, and Li Zicheng summoned Ma Youshui and Liu Yunshui again and handed over the task of garrisoning Guguan to them.

The next day, Li Zicheng and Zhou Binbu left Guguan and returned to Xining, and the cavalry of Liu Yunshui's department officially took over the passes and post stations in Guanshan Road, and the county town of Qingshui, which was a major grain area, were garrisoned by Liu Yunshui's troops.

Although they set off at the same time, the marching speed of the infantry was far inferior to that of the cavalry, so Li Zicheng and Li Guobu cavalry of Anrong Pass went first, and along the way, Li Zicheng checked the garrisons everywhere while visiting the scenery on both sides of the cement avenue.

It was the middle of March, the grass was flourishing, the wildflowers on the hillsides were also blooming, and the birds were singing and fragrant everywhere.

But running horses along the way, what makes Li Zicheng the most happy is the farmland in various places, the growth of winter wheat is gratifying, but there is still a period of time before the harvest season, looking around, a large area of green, not winter wheat, or potato seedlings that have passed the winter, even if the war horse is stopped, there is no trace of weeds in the field.

With the arrival of the Mandate of Heaven Army and the promotion of the "Land Law", the peaceful and prosperous era was initially restored.

The people cherish this rare opportunity, one by one, the land is clean, flat and neat, just like a beautiful woman, just washed off the dirt on her face, put on a well-cut summer dress, and lightly swept the moth eyebrows, lightly touched the lips, how is it not the scenery of the world?

Even the original Hui people and other aliens, under the blow of Li Guobu's cavalry and Tian Fen's kind words and appeasement, they also clamped their tails and felt at ease as good citizens.

Li Zicheng couldn't help but sigh: How good it would be if there was no war! If there is no war, he can concentrate his efforts on economic construction, and the current Mandate of Heaven Army is basically a wartime system, and its main manpower and financial resources are still in the military.

It's a pity that the war between the Mandate of Heaven and the Ming Army is only temporarily over, and a larger-scale battle between the two sides may come back at any time.

Li Zicheng knew that the war would bring great harm to the imperial court, to the Han people, and even to the territories of the Heavenly Mandate Army, but the war would not stop, and he could not stop.

Don’t wait for prosperity to care for the things important to you!

These hurtful things, don't think about him for the time being, it's useless to think about it more, along the way, Li Zicheng sighed at the smoothness of the cement avenue.

Now that spring has begun, the cement avenue has been built very quickly, from Guguan to Qingshui County, all 180 miles are cement avenues, and have extended to the direction of Weishui.

In addition, from Ningyuan County to Gongchang Mansion, the cement avenue has not only been built, but also the cement bridge has been poured on the river along the way, which is completed in the real sense and is extremely convenient for traffic.

Li Zicheng left Gongchang Mansion and traveled seventy or eighty miles north along the Chiting River, and the upper flow of the river came from the Dongshan Chigu in the west, which happened to cut off the avenue.

To his surprise, a large number of people had gathered here, and Lu Rongda was also in the crowd.

"The Grand Duke!" People who knew and didn't know Li Zicheng stepped forward one after another to salute.

"Get up, don't be polite," Li Zicheng glanced at Lu Rongda, "Why are you here?" Didn't Mr. Tang pour the Yellow River Bridge in Lanzhou? ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, Mr. Tang and Yu Xiao are pouring cement bridges on the Yellow River, but there are too many strong men building bridges, and it is a waste to concentrate all of them on the Yellow River, so ...... Therefore, the students brought some strong men to build a bridge here, and the Chiting Water is not wide here, and it is not difficult to build a bridge......"

Li Zicheng understood that these strong men were actually prisoners of war brought back by Li Guo from Taozhouwei, except for the miners in the Guangwushan Iron Mine, the rest were converted into road and bridge workers, specializing in pouring cement bridges, which is also to train specialized industrial workers.

He patted Lu Rongda on the shoulder, "It seems that Rongda has begun to grow into an expert in bridges, work hard, learn more from Mr. Tang, and strive to become an independent bridge expert as soon as possible!" ”

Li Zicheng was happy in his heart, and he was traveling all the way, which was originally only two or three days away, but he walked for five days, and it was not until March 16 that he arrived in Lanzhou.

But when he passed by the foothills of Gaolan Mountain outside Lanzhou City, he encountered a corpse, and when he looked closely, the corpse was wearing a long shirt and his hair was neatly combed, and he should be a showman.