April 8 is the auspicious day of the zodiac, it is advisable to travel far away, and the strategy of the Mandate of Heaven to go south to Bashu was officially kicked off on this day.

Li Zicheng originally wanted to use Li Guo's second battalion and Song Wen's seventh battalion to go south, but Song Wen's department had already gone south as early as last year and had been stationed in Longnan Mansion.

He was accompanied by Guo Shijun, Li Zicheng had already planned, once he took Bashu, he would leave Guo Shijun as the governor of Sichuan Province, and he would return with his own soldiers.

Liang Wencheng, Shen Dao, Mei Zhihuan, Tang Ruowang, Li Ji, etc., officials from the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion, Gansu Province, and Lanzhou Prefecture, as well as the main generals of the Fourth Battalion stationed in Lanzhou, all went to see them off outside the southern city.

This will be the first time that the Mandate of Heaven Army has appeared in the field of vision of the imperial court, and the scale of the battle between the Mandate of Heaven Army and the Ming Army will be greatly escalated.

Further, the Mandate of Heaven Army will have the ability to resist the imperial army alone, take a step back, once the imperial court cuts off the contact between Bashu and Longyou, the Mandate of Heaven army will not be able to care about each other, and the two departments can only deal with the imperial army, in case the imperial court concentrates superior forces, each of them is broken......

No one can see the development of the situation clearly, no one can control the fate of the future, even Li Zicheng is crossing the river by feeling the stones, history has changed a little, who knows if it will follow the original trajectory?

Li Zicheng is also out of the way, "Since I have chosen the distance, I only care about the wind and rain"!

The battle that was originally prepared for last year was interrupted by the Tartar plug, and it has been delayed until now, and Li Zicheng is based on two considerations.

Although he did not know Yang Sichang's plan of encirclement and suppression of "four positive and six corners, ten sides and a net", Yang Sichang went all out to suppress the bandits, and the strategy of "fighting outside must first secure the inside" had already been passed on to Lanzhou by Wang Anping.

Since he likes infighting and compromises with the Tartars, there is no need for the Ming Dynasty to exist, and the longer the time drags on, the stronger the Tartars will be, and the more difficult it will be to clean up in the future.

Secondly, this time in the south of Bashu, it was difficult for the army of the southern expedition to get in touch with Lanzhou and Xining, and it was very difficult to supply ammunition, and the soldiers of the seventh battalion, although they were equipped with rifles, could not make rifles and bullets, and once the ammunition was exhausted, they could only pick up the knives and guns again, and at that time, the advantage of the Mandate of Heaven over the Ming army would no longer exist, so they had to carry a large amount of ammunition.

Li Zicheng had already said goodbye to the civil and military officials, and was about to get on the horse, Liang Wencheng and Shen Dao trotted over, "Metropolitan Governor ......"

"Huh?" Li Zicheng stopped his pace and handed the reins to He Xiaomi, "Wen Cheng, Shen Dao, do you have anything else to say?" ”

"Self-contained!" Liang Wencheng was stunned for a long time, and he didn't say anything, so he said: "My subordinates are waiting for the triumphant return of the metropolitan governor in Lanzhou!" Shen Dao also said: "Metropolitan Governor, this time I said that when I return to Lanzhou, my subordinates will definitely be a host and take the wind for the Metropolitan Governor!" ”

"Haha," Li Zicheng smiled, but secretly his nose was sour, and he barely kept his composure, "What are you doing here?" Don't have faith in Pontus? And you, Shen Dao, hide your private money first, lest when the governor of Pontus goes home, you won't be able to take out the money to catch the wind! ”

"Hahaha......" Liang Wencheng almost burst into tears with laughter, and quickly turned around to prevent Li Zicheng from seeing it.

Shen Dao patted his chest, "Don't worry, even if your subordinates sell their mother-in-law, they will also prepare a reception banquet!" ”

Li Zicheng nodded, lowered his voice and said, "Wen Cheng, Shen Dao, during this time, the Mandate of Heaven Governor's Mansion will be handed over to you!" ”

"Don't worry, the Metropolitan Governor is here!"

Li Zicheng only got on the war horse, this is still his original yellow-maned horse, although the big black horse given by Wang Junzhuo has better foot strength, but the time is still short, and the people and horses cannot be united.

He glanced back, Mei Zhihuan, Tang Ruowang, and Li Jizheng walked over silently, then turned the horse's head and bowed to the three of them, "Old man Mei, Gansu Province, I'll hand it over to you!" ”

Mei Zhihuan hurriedly returned the salute, "Don't worry, if something goes wrong in Gansu, you will cut off my old bones!" ”

"Old man Mei is serious," Li Zicheng turned to Li Ji with a smile, "The fourth battalion is not only responsible for the safety of Lanzhou, but also on all sides of Lanzhou, and General Li's pair of tricks must be polished for me!" ”

"Don't worry, the subordinates can't speak, the subordinates just say a word, if there is a problem in Lanzhou, the subordinates will martyr Lanzhou first!"

"The governor of Pontus doesn't want you to die in the city, but he wants you to defend the city, don't say such unlucky words," Li Zicheng also felt that the atmosphere of this farewell was too depressing, maybe they all had a faint worry in their hearts, so he smiled and said: "Compared with them, Mr. Tang is much more relaxed, during this time, the bridge and road construction team will be handed over to you, and when I come back, I want to see the cement avenue extending in all directions!" ”

Tang Ruowang returned the salute and said with a smile: "Don't worry, when the Metropolitan Governor returns to Lanzhou, Longyou at that time is likely to have a county passage!" ”

Li Zicheng laughed for a while, and in the eyes of everyone, he turned his horse back, and He Xiaomi shouted: "Go on the expedition!" ”

Countless horses' hooves suddenly made a dull sound on the avenue, and in case the hard cement avenue hurt the horses' hooves, all the horses' hooves were wrapped in cotton cloth.

There was only a lonely cement avenue, and the soldiers did not have to worry about getting lost, and the cavalry in the front ran wildly and ran for dozens of miles in one go.

In less than three days, the army had already arrived in Longnan Mansion, but after Song Wen learned that Li Zicheng had gone south, he had already moved south, and Li Zicheng did not meet him in the city of Longnan Mansion.

Shen Siwen, the prefect of Longnan, saw a large number of cavalry, it is estimated that Li Zicheng arrived, and he went to the daughter wall to take a look, and sure enough, the Kyushu military flag was waving in the wind, and hurriedly greeted him outside the city, bowing to the ground, "Subordinate Shen Siwen, knock to see the metropolitan governor!" ”

"Get up!" Li Zicheng glanced at the cement avenue, which stretched into the boundless mountains, then pointed forward with his hand and said, "How long is the cement avenue ahead?" ”

"Back to the Dadu Governor, it extends to the county seat of Wudu in the south, and there is no more." After Shen Siwen got up, he bowed and stood in front of Li Zicheng.

The cement road was built to Wudu, and there was still a section of the avenue that was easy to walk, but after Wudu, close to Sichuan, I am afraid that it was a rugged valley road in the mountains, Li Zicheng felt that something was wrong, and he glanced around, only to find that there were too few farmers in the field, and now in the farming season, it is not too late, why are there so few people?

"Shen Governor's Mansion, in Longnan Mansion, how are the land and the people?"

"Back to the Governor of Dadu, the counties of Longnan Prefecture, although the land is vast, the mountains are complicated, and there are not many people."

Li Zicheng said: "Ao? Why? But not enough arable land? ”

"If you want to talk about cultivated land, in fact, there is a lot, but it is different from the plain area like Lanzhou, the cultivated land is mostly located in the mountains and river valleys, each piece of cultivated land, the volume is not large, and it is quite difficult to reclaim, so the counties of Longnan Prefecture have always been vast and sparsely populated!"

Li Zicheng understood, this is indeed a problem, Longnan Mansion is close to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mountains and rivers are vertical and horizontal, and the domain is divided into countless small pieces, although some small pieces are close to water sources and can be opened up as cultivated land, but the volume is too small, only suitable for villages, not suitable for establishing counties and towns.

The people living in this land are basically isolated from the rest of the world, and if there is no war and taxes, it is simply a paradise.

However, when the Mandate of Heaven army entered Longnan, it was necessary to collect taxes on the local people to maintain the normal operation of the prefecture and county.

For the local people, they are self-sufficient, and they have to pay taxes to the government instead of inviting anyone to provoke, but after paying the taxes, the government is also left to their own devices.

If you pay taxes but don't feel the warmth, will the people have a good impression of the government?

The government and the Mandate of Heaven provided them with military protection, but they could not feel it, unless an invasion of the enemy was in sight...... When it really comes to this time, I'm afraid it's too late to regret it.

No wonder the people of Daming have no "sense of country"!

Except for the emperor's idea of "family and world", the people did not really become a member of the "state", at least they did not feel it.

The Tartars entered the fortress and plundered a large number of people out of the customs every time, but the court was indifferent, which can also show how contemptuous the court is for the "untouchables"!

It seems unrealistic to let the government strengthen propaganda, not only does it require a lot of manpower and financial resources, but without benefits, who will believe in empty checks?

Promoting Catholicism and building roads......

Catholicism can increase national cohesion, but it cannot completely replace the sense of national identity, and building roads in the mountains is not only technically difficult, but also costly, and it is difficult to invest huge sums of money to build roads into the valleys with very small populations.

For the time being, we can only live like this, and when China rises and its economic strength is strong, we will consider this aspect.

Li Zicheng just told Shen Siwen to take Longnan Mansion as the center to survey the roads leading to the counties, which are the roads of the prefectures and counties, even if the roads turn at a bend, they must bring some large towns with relatively concentrated populations.

That night, the army did not enter the city, only stationed outside the city, Shen Siwen for Li Zicheng to pick up the wind, but Li Zicheng refused, saying that the battle has not yet been carried out, and when the triumphant return, if you pass by Longnan, you will go to the city as a guest.

When Li Zicheng arrived in Wudu County, the Song Wenbu advanced for a while, and in the lower reaches of the Baishui River, the two divisions converged, and more than 8,000 soldiers continued to move along the Baishui River.

If you talk about the speed of marching, the cavalry is much faster than the infantry, but Li Zicheng took into account that this place is full of mountain trails, and the cavalry can't be used at all, if you want to seize the pass, the infantry is more suitable, so the infantry is in front, and the cavalry in addition to sending rangers to explore the road, the main force is to follow the infantry, and search in the direction of the mountains on both sides.

When the Baishui River is close to confluence with the Jialing River, it is also known as the Yumeng River, and the road turns to the west bank, where the army crosses the Baishui River and continues to go south along the riverside road.

Yumengshui is already the boundary of Sichuan, because they are all narrow valley roads, and there are not many people, although they can't hide the whereabouts of the army, but all the way over, there is no Ming army stationed, and the Mandate of Heaven army has not encountered resistance.

The army drove all the way along the Yumeng water, crossed the Qingchuan Creek, and approached the Yumeng Pass.