Li Yan's offensive, of course, will not let Li Guo, who is out of the pass, go unpunished, and let Li Mu attack at the same time. However, because Piguan did not establish a carrier pigeon contact with Taiyuan, the news was naturally much later.

Li Yan was in Chen Yongfu's team, and he followed him from Guguan to the west and fought towards Taiyuan. Their offensive progressed very quickly, and as soon as they reached the city of Guguan, the defenders inside surrendered.

In fact, not all the troops surrendered, but the Ming army that was originally here surrendered, and Li Zicheng's descendants retreated westward in panic. Because Li Yan and the others came very suddenly, and Li Zicheng's descendants were eating, drinking, and sleeping in the camp, preparing for the New Year. But he let the front army that surrendered go to the city to guard, so those former Ming soldiers were very unconvinced.

These soldiers of the Ming army basically did not get any benefits, and they still ate food and received wages as before. However, the Zhili across the pass was different, the soldiers of the Ming army who surrendered to Li Yan basically got the allocated land in their hometowns, and the soldiers in other places could also choose whether to get land in their own hometowns or in the garrison places.

The gap between the circumstances of the two sides is so big, and now Li Zicheng's descendants eat and drink by themselves, but let them suffer from cold and starvation outside alone, so these soldiers of the former Ming Dynasty surrendered as soon as possible. The soldiers wanted to surrender, but the officers had no way at all, some ran away, and some surrendered to Li Yan with the soldiers.

Chen Yongfu looked at the wide open door and the soldiers who came to surrender, and hesitated. He asked Li Yan for instructions: "Generalissimo, is this a fraud?" ”

Li Yan said casually: "Here you command, you judge for yourself." ”

Chen Yongfu had no choice but to go to Zhou He again to discuss.

Zhou He said with a smile: "General, our equipment and training are here, he has opened and closed the door, what else do we have to be afraid of?" Just let the troops drive in, even if Li Chuang's troops are cheating, we can repel them. ”

Chen Yongfu thought about it, as long as the troops went to the city pass, what other enemy could drive them down? So he no longer hesitated, and immediately sent troops to take over the city. It was his hesitation here that gave Li Zicheng's descendants time to escape, and when they entered the city, Li Zicheng's descendants and some officers of the former Ming Dynasty had already run away for a while.

Chen Yongfu was about to send cavalry to chase after him, but was stopped by Li Yan.

"No need to chase, just run, let the troops rest for a while, and continue to march east tomorrow." Li Yan commanded. After that, he explained: "Our side may be progressing too fast, slow down, wait for Qian Er in the north." It's good for those people to go back and report a message to Taiyuan, so that they can prepare well. A provincial capital like Taiyuan should not give up easily. ”

Chen Yongfu suddenly realized and asked the troops to stop and rest. At the same time, Zhou He was also dealing with the surrendered former Ming soldiers.

They have long had experience in dealing with these soldiers. Leave a part to continue to guard the fortified pass, and of course, send some of your own people to guard it to ensure that the back road is unblocked. The rest of the troops continued to march westward with the troops. The number of these surrendered troops is not large, and the combat power is not strong, so it basically has no impact on the team's operations.

Only after the war is over can these troops be retrained and distributed. Of course, the soldiers and ruffians among them were naturally expelled from the team. These people left the team, and even if they did something harmful to society, they were just caught and killed. If you can live with peace of mind, that's a good thing.

At this time, it turns out that Jiang Xiang and others' subordinates are still being trained in Henan. Jiang Xiang and other generals were sent to various places in Shandong and Henan. As for whether they can lead troops in the future, it depends on their performance.

At this time, there was a rumbling of artillery outside the pass.

Although Li Guo, the chief general of the partial pass, was not there, the defenders here were still well guarded under the leadership of Zhang Neng, and they did not relax their vigilance too much because of the Chinese New Year. The main reason is that they are the only stronghold on the east bank of the Yellow River in northern Shanxi, and they have to be vigilant. Therefore, when Li Mu led people to attack, the troops in the border were still ready to fight.

Li Mu did not hesitate and asked the troops to build bunkers at a distance of five hundred paces. The soldiers built bunkers against the shells on the top of the city, but fortunately, the cannons on the top of the city were inconvenient to move and did not cause many casualties to the troops.

After that, Li Mou had four four-and-a-half-inch guns and six four-inch guns shoot projectiles at the city wall. The infantry and cavalry were on guard in the rear to prevent Li Chuang's troops in the city from coming out to destroy the artillery.

Although there were nearly 10,000 troops around the pass, the troops outside the city did not dare to stay where they were, and all of them withdrew into the city before Li Mou's troops came up. They would never dare to stay outside the city, even if there was some cover, but they still had no faith.

Li Yan's troops were much tougher than Qianming's troops, and they would not stop even in the face of more shells. Moreover, their artillery could not hold up to Li Yan's infantry attack.

At this time, the side head pass was in chaos, and all the generals were clamoring to retreat. The soldiers on the city wall kept coming back to report that the bricks of the city wall were broken, and cracks appeared in the city wall, how could they not be afraid? Once the city wall collapsed and Li Yan's soldiers rushed in, they would not be able to leave.

"In Tongzhou, Li Yan beat out 100,000 Qing troops in two days, can we be more powerful than the Qing army?" Someone said.

Someone else reminded loudly: "That's it, there is also Shanhaiguan, and Li Yan also fought it in one day." If the walls collapse, can we stop it? We should retreat to Shaanxi, across the Yellow River, how can it be more reliable than here. ”

"That's right, when Li Yan asked for half of Shanxi, it was Ruhou and His Majesty who did not agree. Now that Li Yan is calling, we can't stop it, and it's not a crime to retreat to Shaanxi, no matter what, it's better than dying here. Li Yan probably won't be able to cross the Yellow River. Someone else said loudly.

Zhang Neng listened to the complaints and persuasions of the generals, and he didn't have any ideas of his own. But he didn't dare to order a retreat like this, after all, Li Zicheng's will to them was to defend this foothold in northern Jin, and in the future, a good driver would fight back and retake Shanxi.

"General, the city wall that was bombarded by the enemy is already crumbling, and the soldiers at the head of the city have come down on their own." The soldiers came to report.

Zhang Neng is helpless, now the soldiers have no heart to fight, and they will have no will, even if he strictly orders him to defend to the death, few people are willing to fight to the death with him. Now after all, it's different, they are all people with family wealth and officials, so they naturally become more life-saving.

"Retreat on your own." Zhang Neng reluctantly ordered: "The ice on the Yellow River is still thick, don't huddle together." ”

"The general is wise!" The generals immediately complimented in unison, and then hurriedly organized the retreat of their men. It's good to leave early, otherwise it won't be good to be caught up by Li Yan's troops.

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