Huangshui originates from Baohutu Mountain, which is the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with mountains and valleys one by one, and most of the cliffs on both sides of the river, and the difference between the river bank and the riverbed reaches dozens of zhang.

From Zhenhai Fort to the west of this section, Huangshui is east-west, Li Zicheng originally traveled west along the south bank of Huangshui, but after a few miles, the mountain gradually steepened, not to mention the war horses, even people could not cross it, so they had to turn south, in the place far away from the river bank, the terrain was gentle.

The cavalry dispersed, expanding the search area, both to observe the terrain and to find a suitable path, and several soldiers stood out from the front line to make a front station.

On the march in such a valley and woodland, the cavalry could not be used at all, and the speed was not much faster than the infantry, and it took nearly a day to march only fifty miles.

It's summer, and the sun is shining, but it's not too hot to walk through the cracks of trees and rocks.

At the end of the day, when he arrived at a dense forest, Li Zicheng saw that the trees were covering the sun, and was about to let the soldiers rest for a while, but the soldiers who stood in front of him sent back a message: there was only a narrow and tortuous passage left in front of him, and it was downhill, and he asked the Lord Baihu if he wanted to continue the march.

"A narrow passage?" Li Zicheng muttered silently, and suddenly his face was happy, "Let's go, go and see!" ”

Out of this dense forest, the road in front of it really narrowed, and it could only accommodate one person and one rider alone, not only tortuous, but also a downhill section.

Li Zicheng got off the horse, Ma Youshui and He Mi followed closely behind him, the three of them stepped on the narrow road, just walked dozens of zhang, He Mi was careless, mixed on a raised stone, twisted and fell, rolled down a few zhang, only to be blocked by a big elm tree near the intersection and stopped.

"Xiaomi, why are you so careless?" Ma Youshui immediately rushed over, squatted down, and stroked his arm, "How is it?" Are you hurt? ”

"It should be fine!" He Xiaomi moved his legs and feet, and he could still walk, but his back hurt from hitting the big elm tree.

"It's okay," Li Zicheng walked along the slope, "Xiaomi, rest here for a while, and the water will follow me." ”

"My lord, I can do it!" He Xiaoxiao put down his right hand that was caressing his back, his body twisted, and the pain suddenly reduced a lot, he took two steps to catch up with Li Zicheng, and his tail was behind him.

"Then you have to be careful!" Li Zicheng smiled, and didn't care, soldiers, I can't bear this pain, how can I be a pro-soldier?

This narrow road is about 40 zhang, in addition to a section of downhill, there are two turns, sandwiched between two low peaks, above the low peaks, the miscellaneous trees and thorns are densely covered, covering the sky and the sun, it is really a good place to enjoy the cool in summer.

Li Zicheng asked the soldiers, only to know that this place is called Bayan Gorge, west of Bayan Canyon, Huangshui is flowing to the southeast, after Bayan Canyon, Huangshui will change to east-west direction, here is not only the mountains are high and the forests are dense, Huangshui washes out a cliff on the south bank, except for this narrow road, there is no passage in the south of Huangshui.

He glanced out into the forest for a moment, then hurried back and ordered his soldiers to set up camp, as the sun was already setting halfway up the mountainside, and it was getting late to inspect the surrounding terrain.

After dinner, Li Zicheng walked around the camp alone, the slight evening breeze blew on his face, indescribably soft, his feet stepped on the fallen leaves on the ground, making a "rustling" sound, Li Zicheng found a raised rock, sat cross-legged, if you can come to a Chinese roast at this time, how pleasant it would be?

Li Zicheng suddenly remembered that since he came here in the afternoon, he hadn't seen any herdsmen passing by at all, could it be that this was the moment when Xiningwei and the Mongolian Tumuts handed over, and the herdsmen had long been away from this land of right and wrong?

He pondered alone on the rock for a moment, already thinking about it.

The next day, all the soldiers were released by Li Zicheng to spy on the surrounding terrain, even the thorns and weeds must not be let go, especially the mountain spring is the focus, and in the evening, all gathered in front of Li Zicheng, because the soldiers were illiterate and could not write written answers, all the soldiers reported to Li Zicheng verbally one by one.

That night, Li Zicheng was lying alone in bed, even Ma Youshui and He Xiaomi were driven out, and he wanted to be quiet alone.

As soon as the sky was bright, Li Zicheng turned over and got up, all the soldiers were summoned together, Li Zicheng told them about his plan, but he was not a mechanical design professional, in order to prevent omissions, he needed to brainstorm, he took out the broken silver from his pocket, "If anyone can put forward an opinion that is adopted, they can get a reward of one or two silver!" ”

"Really? A tael of silver? The light in the soldiers' eyes overshadowed the newborn sun.

"Of course it's true," Li Zicheng weighed the silver in his hand, "As long as anyone's suggestion is adopted, it will be paid immediately, and Lord Ben will never break his word." ”

It was not easy to get these two pieces of silver, compared with Li Zicheng, these soldiers did not understand the knowledge of design, and after a long time, a soldier proposed: sprinkling water on the narrow road, if the Mongolian cavalry arrived, the ground was slippery, and the war horses could not pass, so they would inevitably dismount, which would lose the speed advantage of the cavalry.

Li Zicheng thought about it and felt that it was right, and added, "We also have to prepare to stumble, hide in the grass and under the cracks of stones, even if the Mongol can get through the slippery ground, we will force him to dismount." The idea was proposed by the soldier, and Li Zicheng still gave him a tael of silver.

The soldier put the silver in his mouth and took a bite, "It's true! ”

Li Zicheng laughed: "Could it be that Lord Ben will deceive you?" Don't worry, Lord Ben has a word for what he says, as long as you give me an idea. ”

One tael of silver is a drop in the bucket for the rich merchants, but for these bitter soldiers, it is their two months' salary, since someone got the silver, the rest of the soldiers will also be active, and by the end of the day, Li Zicheng gave a total of ten taels of silver.

In the next two days, all the soldiers were in full swing to make a fuss on this narrow road, Li Zicheng personally checked it again, and only then did he leave two soldiers with small flags, and left them five war horses, and he took Ma Youshui and He Xiaomi, drove the remaining war horses, and returned to Zhenhai Fort.

Fifty miles of mountain roads, all the way through, but most of the day, when Li Zicheng returned to Zhenhai Fort, Liu Yunshui and Li Guo were training soldiers in the training ground.

"Your Excellency is back?" Li Guo was training infantry, the newly recruited small flag, there was no joint training for the time being, alone in a corner of the training ground to practice assassination, among the veterans there were three soldiers riding horses galloping in the training ground, seeing Li Zicheng, Li Guo flew over, and there were dense beads of sweat on his face.

"Well, how? Will these recruits be able to withstand the intensity of training? Li Zicheng turned over and dismounted, and threw the reins to He Xiaomi.

Li Guo's face immediately overflowed with brilliance, and the muscles on his face twitched a few times, connecting the fine beads of sweat into a line, flowing down his cheeks and counting the sweat river, "My lord, although these recruits have only been training for a few days, their physique is better than that of veterans, and if they continue to train, they will surpass veterans sooner or later." ”

"That's good, hurry up the training, they will go to the battlefield sooner or later," and pointed to the war horses that were driven back, "Take advantage of the fact that the delivery day has not yet arrived, hurry up and let the brothers train their horsemanship, once handed over to Gonggong Wu, the brothers can only practice foot combat." ”

"Yes, my lord," Li Guo was overjoyed, and immediately beckoned his subordinate soldiers, "Quick, don't practice foot combat, hurry up and get on the war horse, I don't believe it, my soldiers will not be as good as Liu Yunshui, as long as there is a war horse." ”

Liu Yunshui was training cavalry, and when he saw Li Zicheng, he crouched on the horseback and whipped him, the flying horse rushed out of the formation, and when he was about to reach Li Zicheng's side, he did not slow down, turned over and jumped off the galloping horse, and landed firmly on the ground, "My subordinates have seen adults!" ”

"Yunshui, I haven't seen you for a few days, but your equestrian skills are good," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "How is it, have the soldiers improved?" ”

"My lord, in the past few days of training, the soldiers are good at riding, and they can control the war horses, but most of the soldiers can't gallop on their horses, and their subordinates are really anxious." In fact, Liu Yunshui's soldiers, horse taming is not these days, Zhenhai Fort won the war horse from the Mongols in the way of night attack, and has been kept in Zhenhai Fort, and the soldiers who do not participate in the night attack are all using these war horses to train riding, but at that time the training was more casual, and there was no concentrated training like now.

"Yunshui, the soldiers' riding skills can't be achieved in a day, they need to be tempered for a long time, they can control the war horses, and they have completed the first step," Li Zicheng pointed to Liu Yunshui's cavalry, "This training ground seems to be too small, these war horses are crowded together, how can the soldiers train their horses to gallop?" ”

Liu Yunshui was also helpless, "My lord, there is no way, the training ground is so big, and there are infantry who need to be trained." ”

Li Zicheng smiled, the cavalry can't always nest in Zhenhai Fort, the prairie is the world of their activities, "That's it, Yunshui, from tomorrow, the cavalry will go to the fort for training, where the terrain is vast and close to the actual combat terrain." ”

Liu Yunshui's eyes lit up, and they dimmed again in an instant, "My lord, we are the defenders of Zhenhai Fort, can we leave Zhenhai Fort?" In case the Mongols come......"

"The Mongols can't come, as long as the Fuqiang Fort in the south is safe," Li Zicheng smiled mysteriously, "You are training outside the fort, and you don't have to leave Zhenhai Fort too far, you are ready to contact the fort at any time," seeing that Liu Yunshui still didn't understand, Li Zicheng didn't explain, "After dinner, I will hold a three-person group meeting, and then discuss the matter of cavalry training." ”

Today's three-person group meeting was the most relaxed, and there was no specific combat mission, Li Zicheng only informed Liu Yunshui and Li Guo of the situation of the ambush in the Bayan Gorge, and once the Mongols entered the Bayan Gorge, the two small banners stationed in the area were far from enough, and they needed immediate reinforcements.

Now they all have war horses, and they rushed to Bayan Gorge, fifty miles away, and the rapid march only lasted more than an hour, even if the soldiers were not skilled in horsemanship, it would not exceed an hour and a half.

In addition, to the west of the Bayan Gorge, there is also Wang Anping's small banner of the ranger, once the Mongols gather on a large scale, it will be difficult to escape their eyes.

Just as Li Zicheng was preparing to wait for the Mongols to move south, Wang Anping personally reported to him a message: a ranger was missing.