Wang Anping relied on the news sent by flying pigeons, and the content was not much: on October 5, Hong Chengchou took over as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi!

Although there are only a few words, it is annoying enough, others may not know Hong Chengchou, but Li Zicheng, who came from later generations, how can he forget the last "Jiliao Governor" of the Ming Dynasty?

Hong Chengchou left the memory to the world, and the most is probably the fragrant story: he was defeated and captured, Huang Taiji tried his best, Hong Chengchou just refused to surrender, and would rather lead his neck to be killed, but in the end he fell under the soft words of Fujin Bumu Butai on the side of Huang Taiji's West Palace.

Whether there is a leg between Bumu Butai and Hong Chengchou, future generations cannot know, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is good at destroying history, and it is difficult to restore the truth at that time from the existing materials.

But Li Zicheng discussed with his teachers and classmates in history class that Hong Chengchou was defeated and captured by Huang Taiji, and after he couldn't die, he descended to the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Is his plight worthy of sympathy?

Ten people might have ten answers to such questions.

But Li Zicheng knows that Hong Chengchou's greatest achievement to the Ming court is not after coming to Liaodong, in fact, since Hong Chengchou served as the governor of Jiliao, in the battle with Huang Taiji, there were fewer wins and more losses, and his existence did not stop Huang Taiji's southward pace, at most it only extended the rout of the Ming Dynasty a little bit.

The reason why Hong Chengchou was able to become the governor of Jiliao was that when he was in Shaanxi, as the governor of the three sides, he slaughtered a large number of rebels, and the leader of the rebel army who died under him is estimated to be impossible to count on two hands.

It was precisely because Hong Chengchou showed a strong fighting spirit in Shaanxi that the imperial court took a fancy to him, and when the war situation in Liaodong was unfavorable, let him guard Liaodong.

If Hong Chengchou had stayed in Shaanxi, what would have happened?

History has no ifs!

Now that Hong Chengchou is the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, what kind of impact does it have on the Mandate of Heaven Army and Li Zicheng? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

With Hong Chengchou's ability and his always hostile attitude towards the righteous army, after taking over as the governor of the three sides, he will definitely integrate the armies of the three towns of Yansui, Guyuan, and Ningxia, and take force to conquer the righteous army.

Once Hong Chengchou conquered the rebel army in Shaanxi, the next step would be to make a move against the Heavenly Mandate Army.

From this point of view, Hong Chengchou taking over as the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi is definitely not a good thing for the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the real battle is about to begin, and Guguan, the easternmost point of Guanshan Road, will attract the first test.

But Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi, is not entirely a bad thing, in Li Zicheng's mind, he really has no good impression of the rebels in Shaanxi, "the rebels" is the name in the history books of later generations, within the Mandate of Heaven Army, under his influence, generally call these rebels "thieves"!

The reason why Li Zicheng called them "thieves" was to distinguish the Heavenly Mandate Army from them, and not to confuse the two sides because they were anti-imperial in nature.

The Mandate of Heaven Army and the "thieves" in Shaanxi are not natural allies!

Li Zicheng looked down on these thieves in Shaanxi, and the reason why he still refused to take refuge in Gao Yingxiang when the mountains and rivers were exhausted was completely the same.

It is understandable that the thieves rebelled against the imperial court just to survive, but everywhere they went, like locusts crossing the border, they turned the place into a miasma, and the people who had been comfortable and the land that was ripe were in their hands, and they were suddenly full of desolation.

It's easy to destroy, but it's a thousand times harder to rebuild.

Wherever the thieves passed, they passed on their disasters to the people on the earth, creating new disasters, and if this continued, the disasters would snowball, getting bigger and bigger, even if the court wanted to provide relief, it was powerless.

Based on the experience of later generations, Li Zicheng has long regarded the future central country as his own one-third of an acre of land, and naturally does not allow thieves to spoil the entire situation of the five northern provinces in the name of disaster relief.

After he took over Xining, Ganzhou, and Longyou, he appeased the disaster victims, distributed land to all the people, and let the people live a comfortable and stable life, so that his dependencies presented a stable and peaceful situation.

In this regard, Hong Chengchou's imminent suppression of the thieves in Shaanxi is basically the same as the purpose of the Heavenly Mandate Army, but the ultimate goal of the two is destined to be difficult to reconcile.

Li Zicheng said in his heart, Hong Chengchou had just taken over Shaanxi, and the first priority he faced was to recruit and suppress the thieves who were like cows, and the battle with the Heavenly Mandate Army would be delayed.

What do you need to do now?

The garrison of Guguan has reached 300 households, and if it is to be increased, it is also the Qin Danian Department and Li Ji Department that have not been issued with Xining rifles, and although the Song Wen Department has been issued with rifles, they are stationed in Triangle City and Kadang City, and there are only 1,000 households of soldiers, which are already stretched, and they must not tear down the east wall to make up the west wall!

The only one who can maneuver is the cavalry of Li Guo's five hundred households, and the cavalry is not issued with rifles, but Li Zicheng suddenly thought that the cavalry of Li Guobu and Liu Yunshui can be combined, and in case the war is tense, these more than 1,000 cavalry will definitely be able to play a certain role, and even be used as a surprise soldier.

It is also necessary to prepare sufficient food, grass and ammunition, and if the supplies are sufficient, it may be possible to hold the fortified pass.

Li Zicheng immediately wrote three secret letters, one of which was a letter to solidify the pass, asking Ma Youshui and them to make all preparations and pay close attention to the movements of the imperial army.

In the second secret letter, Li Zicheng conveyed Li Guo, ordering him to temporarily end his inspection of all parts of Longyou, and immediately rush to Qingshui County to rest and recuperate, preparing to deal with the counterattack of the imperial army on Longyou.

The last secret letter was naturally addressed to Liang Wencheng, Longyou is not short of food for the time being, but the new wave of war, I don't know how long it will last, Xining must be fully prepared, and when necessary, gather grain and grass to Sanchuan Mansion, which is close to the Yellow River.

The most important thing is that there must be enough ammunition on hand, and the craftsman's workshop must have a full production line, and if there are not enough manpower, even if it is necessary to temporarily recruit production workers with silver, it is not a matter of hesitation.

There are also Xining rifles, last time the craftsman workshop produced five hundred rifles, which have been delivered to Li Jibu who stayed in Xining for training, but Li Zicheng wanted to strengthen the garrison of Guguan, and these rifles were transported to Guguan and handed over to the auxiliary troops of the Ma Youshui Department for training.

However, Li Zicheng transported all the pig iron stored in the prefectures and counties of Longyou to Xining to be used to build rifles, and these rifles will be redistributed to Li Jibu, and once the training is over, Li Jibu can also rush to Guguan if necessary.

The grain that needs to be handed over by the prefectures and counties in Longyou is constantly being concentrated in Qingshui County through various roads, and the grain stored in Qingshui County is being transferred to the front line of Anrong Pass and Guguan.

The cement avenues from Guguan to Dazhenyi, Anrong Pass, and Laoyeling have been poured, and now the prisoners of war are concentrating on pouring the section from Laoyeling to Maluyi, as long as this section is poured, Qingshui County will be the rear material base of Guguan, and the transportation will be unimpeded.

Li Zicheng did not leave Zhangshui, even if Hong Chengchou wanted to do something to the Heavenly Mandate Army, he must first exterminate the thieves in northern Shaanxi, since the preparations of the Heavenly Mandate Army have been in place, he decided to temporarily take care of the Zhangshui Bridge for a few days, at least wait for the piers to be poured before leaving.

Cement is a new thing, cement bridge is the first time to appear in front of the world, even if a master of science and technology like John Tang does not understand its attributes, he stays at the construction site, he can give Lu Rongda and Yu Xiao some pointers, and help them become bridge designers earlier.

Four or five hundred prisoners of war were divided into three shifts, day and night, the bridge pier extended upwards little by little, when the bridge pier exceeded the water surface, Li Zicheng put his mind at ease, at this time even if the iron cover leaked, the impact on the bridge pier was limited, and after a day or two, when the cement condensed, with the current flow rate and flow of the river, the bridge pier basically would not have an impact.

Watching the bridge pier rise above the water little by little, not only Lu Rongda and Yu Xiao, but also Tang Ruowang also felt that the trance was in a dream, and every time he carried someone else, he secretly pinched his arm a few times, proving that everything was true, and the Metropolitan Governor was not fooling them.

However, the piers left the water and developed into the air, and the pouring was more laborious, at least to transport the concrete above the head, but fortunately, the prisoners of war pouring the bridge were relatively fixed, and gradually became proficient, and the speed did not slow down.

After pouring for three days and three nights, the bridge piers were almost flush with the riverbank, Tang Ruowang saw that Li Zicheng had been by his side, and said with a smile: "The Metropolitan Governor, Lu Rongda and Yu Xiao, the two boys, almost all understand the essence of the Metropolitan Governor, the Metropolitan Governor can rest for a while, and there is no need to be so tired......

"These two boys are really good, I will leave the matter of pouring the bridge to them in the future," Li Zicheng smiled faintly, "Mr. Tang, this is all thanks to your teachings, I have been busy with official business, but I forgot to ask you, Xining Science and Technology High School, how is it now, they have graduated this batch, the school can't be idle!" ”

"Don't worry, before coming to Longyou, I have recruited a new batch of students, because I left a few students from the previous batch as teachers, this time I recruited two classes, a total of 100 students, and when they graduate, the manpower under the governor of Dadu will be surplus!"

"Surplus?" Li Zicheng smiled slightly, and said in his heart: Don't say a hundred students, even a thousand, I'm afraid there will be no surplus, but with such a mind, how can he say to Tang Ruowang, he just arched his hand and said: "There is Mr. Lao Tang!" ”

"Where, where, the Metropolitan Governor spares no effort to pass on the Gospel of God......

"Hahaha......"

"Hahaha......"

The two laughed at each other, Li Zicheng took advantage of the prisoners of war to pour the bridge piers, took the time to inspect between Ningyuan County and Gongchang Mansion, and found that between Ningyuan County and Zhangshui, twenty or thirty miles of cement avenues were about to be completed, and sixty or seventy miles between Zhangshui and Gongchang Mansion had been poured for nearly twenty miles, so he returned to the mouth of the Zhangshui River and waited for the completion of the bridge piers with peace of mind.

In the evening of this day, seeing that the bridge pier was already a large section higher than the ground, close to one meter, Li Zicheng measured, maybe it could be poured tomorrow, and he would go to Guguan.

Unexpectedly, when eating dinner, He Xiaomi sent an urgent message, "Metropolitan Governor, a message from Guguan!" ”