Chapter 608: Ill-intentioned

Now that Princess Changping has appeared, she can no longer live in Luo Yangxing's house. Li Yan sent someone to take Princess Changping to the Forbidden City for placement, and made Niu Wenbing specifically responsible.

Before Li Yan sent troops to Shandong, he arrested Niu Wenbing and the 300 Beijing battalions. After Beijing was brought under control, these people were all submissive without exception.

The soldiers were sent back to Beijing to be retrained, and of course, they were also assigned to the fields according to the standards. Most of the nobles in the capital were killed, so the millions of acres of fertile land in Zhili that they had accumulated became the basis for Li Yan to distribute fields to the soldiers.

Of course, there are many children of noble families in Beijing, who do not care about the fields and the grain and cloth given every month. Therefore, these people were given some money and were all dismissed. Li Yan is not afraid of them making trouble, now just resting the road is a big project, and it requires a lot of manpower.

Today's prisoner camps have considerable experience, although the guards are not very many, but they are equipped with a lot of mules and horses. And they had already started raising dogs to help keep prisoners. Most of these dogs are wild dogs that have been caught back, and after years of famine, these dogs have regained some of their wildness, and they prefer to catch live animals for meat, so the fate of escaping captives will be extremely miserable.

And Niu Wenbing, after returning to Beijing, was appointed by Li Yan to be in charge of the maintenance and care of the Forbidden City. It is better to use raw than cooked, and Niu Wenbing consciously can be regarded as a slave from the dragon, so he is also diligent in doing things, and he wants to earn a good future for himself in the new dynasty.

In mid-August, Li Yan transferred another 3,000 infantry to Li Mou, and also transferred him three four-and-a-half-inch cannons. At this time, Li Mou began to attack Datong, Yanghe and other places.

As for the defenders of the Outer Great Wall, Li Mu has done a lot of work in the past three months. Especially after they drove the Qing army out of the pass, most of the defenders who originally guarded the Great Wall were willing to surrender.

Therefore, he took the cavalry and Qian Er's fast troops all the way west, basically not attacking the city along the way, but rushing to the side pass as quickly as possible, looking for the main force of the Qing army to fight a decisive battle. Those cities were left to the 6,000 infantry behind. According to the information he obtained, there were more than 1,000 defenders in the city, and only a few hundred. Jiang Xiang and the others went to fight Li Guo with a large army, and the remaining troops were quite limited.

Li Mu and the others had a very smooth journey, and the forts along the way were more welcome. Compared with Li Zicheng's roasting and plundering policy, those gentry still preferred Li Yan's slightly milder policy. Although they will lose the benefits of tax exemption, at least they will be able to keep most of their property.

Of course, if there were other better options, they naturally didn't want to lose anything. But the Qing army, which was originally mighty, was beaten out, and Jiang Xiang and these people must have no hope. Although they also heard that the Qing army had entered the customs again, this time they all knew that the Qing army was just a passer-by, and they would leave after looting, and they still had to live here. So they can only support Li Yan.

After Li Mu led his troops into Shuo County, Jiang Xiang and the Qing army finally got the news.

This time, the Qing army just came to punish the two divisions of Karaqin and Wulat, led by Ye Chen, with 2,000 Manchu Eight Banners, and 6,000 Han Eight Banners, known as 20,000. Although they suffered defeat in the Guannai, they still had a lot of power for the Mongol tribes. Ye Chen came over with a large army, and the two Mongolian princes came to ask for guilt themselves.

At this time, Jiang Xiang sent them a letter asking for help. Ye Chen and the others discussed, and asked the Mongols to gather 2,000 cavalry and enter the customs with them. They were a little jealous of Li Yan's troops, but they didn't pay attention to Li Zicheng's Shun army. Moreover, none of the people who went out this time participated in the entry battle, so even if they met Li Yan's troops, with their previous invincible sense of superiority, they dared to touch it.

But Jiang Xiang and other Datong generals were panicked. Their family's wealth is all in Yanghe, the same big city, they fought against Li Zicheng's troops here in the pass, but the old nest was copied by Li Yan, and they were all in a hurry to return to the army to rescue. However, there are still more than 20,000 troops of Li Zicheng in the border pass, of which 10,000 are still fresh troops who have just arrived, and there are thousands of cavalry, and it is not so easy for them to withdraw.

However, they were all relieved by the information sent by the scouts afterwards, Li Yan only sent a few thousand cavalry, and the cavalry was mixed with soldiers on mules and donkeys. They soon decided that Jiang Xiang would lead the infantry to continue the attack on the pass, while Ye Chen would lead the cavalry to defeat Li Yan's cavalry.

Li Guo saw the enemy's movement at the head of the city, and asked Gao Yigong: "Their cavalry is going east, is it Li Yan's troops coming?" ”

Gao Yigong replied: "It's possible, but it's also possible that it's not." Li Yan's men and horses should also contact us. ”

Li Guo said with a smile: "The scouts of the Qing army are so powerful, even if Li Yan wants to send someone over to contact, it is not so easy. ”

"Then let's assume they haven't come yet." Gao Yigong said lightly: "Maybe the Qing army is going to hunt." ”

Li Guo looked at Gao Yigong and asked, "You mean, let's stand still and let Li Yan fight Jiang Xiang and them?" ”

Gao Yigong nodded and said, "Yes, but this is what Your Majesty and the brothers mean." Li Yan and the Qing army are our enemies, let them fight to break the bloodshed, so that we can reap the benefits of the fishermen. ”

"Isn't it already negotiated? The two sides cooperated to jointly eliminate the Qing army. Isn't it a bit unreasonable for us to do this? Li Guo frowned and said.

Gao Yigong smiled: "We didn't do anything." Li Yan didn't send anyone to contact us, how can we cooperate with them in the battle? Besides, Brother Yufeng, who went to negotiate, went to Tongguan, but I heard that Li Yan was in Beijing. So whether it is negotiated at this time is not necessarily. ”

Gao Yigong saw that Li Guo's expression was a little disdainful, so he said with a wry smile: "This is also a matter of no way." We are neither Li Yan's opponents, nor will it be difficult to defeat the Qing army, so it is better to let them both consume each other. This is also the reason why His Majesty agreed to give up all the territory outside the Inner Great Wall to Li Yan. The Qing army entered the army several times, but we were rescued from danger. When Li Yan is dragged by the Qing army, we can first clean up the interior, and then develop to the south. ”

Li Guo thought for a while, frowned, and said, "But looking at the current situation, the Qing army would rather go far away and enter from the direction of Shanxi than go to the place controlled by Li Yan." ”

"Isn't this part of Shanxi going to be given to him?" Gao Yigong sneered and said, "Such a long line of defense is enough for him to drink a pot." I don't believe it, the Qing army will go far every time. Li Yan, this is for us to guard the border. ”

...