After finishing the affairs of the strong men, Li Zicheng's main energy returned to the army.

The fourth battalion of Li Ji's department, stationed on a thousand miles from Jiayuguan to Lanzhou, is the most important force to protect Lanzhou.

Li Guo's second battalion cavalry was already all soldiers, and the soldiers were one man and one horse, and they participated in the battles of Helan Mountain and Wolf Mountain, just when morale was high.

After Song Wen's seventh battalion returned to Lanzhou from Jingyuan County, it was promoted and rectified, not only carried out military discipline and ideological education, but also improved the combat skills of the soldiers, and all 5,000 households became soldiers and completed the training of rifles, but the number of rifles was insufficient, and only 4,000 households were equipped at present.

Li Zicheng paid so much attention to the army, and the purpose was still Sichuan.

But in the huge Sichuan, now there is only Wu Ermao's shadowless gate, and the number of people is obviously not enough, Li Zicheng asked Wang Anping to transfer a hundred Han Qing Bureau elites to the direction of Sichuan, and go to Sichuan in advance to inquire about the military situation.

On this day, Li Zicheng was inspecting the seventh battalion of Song Wen, and a personal soldier suddenly came to report: "Governor Dadu, urgent information from Xi'an!" ”

"Urgent message?" Li Zicheng glanced at his own soldiers lightly, but he was taken aback in his heart, could it be that Hong Chengchou was going to attack the Heavenly Mandate Army? On his side, he was preparing to go south to Bashu, could it be that Hong Chengchou discovered his intentions and preemptively sent troops to contain himself?

But he quickly denied it, Hong Chengchou wished that he would leave Longyou and go south, and the Heavenly Mandate Army would go south to Sichuan, which would not be his defense area, and it had nothing to do with him Hong Chengchou.

Li Zicheng has long understood that the generals of the Ming army, when they cannot eradicate the thieves, will drive the thieves to other people's defense areas, as long as they go out of their own defense areas, no matter how big the beacon fire is, others will be barbecued.

He took the message handed by his own soldiers, glanced at it, had an idea in his heart, hurriedly returned to the study, and replied with a text message to Qin Danian stationed in Xi'an: After screening, ordinary thieves can be taken in, but the leader cannot, otherwise it can only be handed over to Hong Chengchou.

The soldiers immediately used flying pigeons to spread this message, because there was no carrier pigeon station in Xi'an, the message could not be conveyed directly, and could only be transmitted to Qin Danian himself in Jingyuan County.

Qin Danian received the summons, and after a little thought, he understood Li Zicheng's thoughts: ordinary thieves can be disbanded as strong men, but the leader can't accept it, and they are also leaders, how will they be placed?

He took his own soldiers, picked up a thousand soldiers, and hurried to Xi'an.

Xi'an is already west of Longshan, is a bridgehead for the Mandate of Heaven army to penetrate into the east of Longshan, although it poses a huge threat to the various military forts of the Ming army, but Hong Chengchou and Li Zicheng have had a verbal agreement, and there has been no friction between the two sides.

But this time, the thief Hui Dengxiang was pursued by Zuo Guangxian and Liu Shaozong of Hong Chengchou's department, and was stranded in the area of Xi'an, and the form suddenly became tense.

Hui Dengxiang is known as the "star of the sky", is one of the thirteen of the "thirteen seventy-two battalions", belongs to the best among the thieves, this time was surrounded and intercepted by the Ming army from all walks of life, as soon as he entered Shaanxi, he was targeted by Hong Chengchou.

The Ming army's combat effectiveness, numbers, personnel and material supplies all occupied an absolute advantage, Hui Dengxiang fought and left, until he retreated to Xi'an, he originally hoped to flee to the remote Lanzhou, but did not expect that Xi'an already belonged to the Mandate of Heaven Army.

Knowing the information of the Heavenly Mandate Army, he was keenly aware that this was also a rebel army that rebelled against the imperial court, and they should be natural allies, but the Heavenly Mandate Army did not let them pass, and Zuo Guangxian and Liu Shaozong in the back did not want to invade the territory of the Heavenly Mandate Army, so they were deadlocked.

This is only temporary, Zuo Guangxian and Liu Shaozong will not stay in the Hailaduo camp forever, if they can't escape through Xi'an, they will sooner or later be a piece of fat in the mouth of the Ming army.

Whitden was very anxious, but the Mandate of Heaven army just didn't open the fort gate, saying that there was no military order from above.

finally waited for Qin Danian to arrive, and Hui Dengxiang immediately asked Qin Danian for help, but was ruthlessly refused: he wanted to enter the fort and go west, but there was no way; If he surrenders, the soldiers can accept it, but the leader can only find another way, otherwise, the Mandate of Heaven will only hand him over to the Ming army.

Whitden was stunned when he was on board, he was also anti-imperial court, why was the Mandate of Heaven Army so ruthless? Could it be that the Mandate of Heaven Army has some kind of connection with the imperial court?

He has the heart to turn against Qin Danian, and it is best to take Xi'an directly, but the Ming army is on the opposite side, once the Ming army and the Heavenly Mandate army are flanked back and forth......

Hui Dengxiang still did not give up, and urgently sent a letter, hoping to be accommodating, the Ming army was behind them, and now they were all burning their eyebrows, as long as they could save the brothers, they would be grateful in the future, and the brothers ran for many days, so they could support some food first......

The letter is very long, but Qin Danian's reply is only a few numbers: I can't understand people, do I?

Zuo Guangxian and Liu Shaozong were still afraid of the Heavenly Mandate Army, but the Heavenly Mandate Army and the thieves were obviously not all the way, and a few days passed, and the Heavenly Mandate Army neither gave up Xi'an, nor did it have material help, but it seemed that the two sides had not interacted with each other.

After they discussed, they decided to wait for the follow-up army to arrive, and then play a side game, and for the time being, they would not contact the Mandate of Heaven Army, but only attack the rogues outside the fort.

Qin Danian really had a headache for the tens of thousands of thieves gathered around Xi'an, either a decisive battle with the Ming army, or rolling far away, sandwiched between the Heavenly Mandate Army and the Ming Army, in case of wind and grass, wouldn't it make a misunderstanding between the Heavenly Mandate Army and the Ming Army?

He was not afraid of the Ming army, but he understood what the Metropolitan Governor meant: the war was not because of the war itself, but for the pursuit of some kind of interest.

The Mandate of Heaven Army can fight against the Ming army for its own interests, but like now, letting Wheden lead the nose and passively get involved in the war is really a bit more than worth the loss.

If you want to end this war, you can only let Whitden go away, what should we do?

Just when he was at a loss, he received a message from the Metropolitan Governor from Lanzhou: If Hui Dengxiang was defeated, try to prevent the Ming army from slaughtering Hui Dengxiang's subordinates, but it was really impossible, save them and send them back to Lanzhou.

Qin Danian suddenly had a big head, the Ming army wanted to chase and kill Hui Dengxiang, how could his third battalion be saved? Do you want to fight against the Ming army? If the agreement reached between the Mandate of Heaven and Hong Chengchou is broken......

He originally wanted to expel Hui Dengxiang and leave him to fend for himself, but he didn't expect the Metropolitan Governor to issue such a military order, the Metropolitan Governor has always been compassionate and compassionate, and cherished the people, but they are thieves, at this time, there is no difference between ordinary people and thieves, even if they are good people, they will become cruel when they see too much blood.

What to do?

Qin Danian pondered the messages sent by the Metropolitan Governor twice for a moment, and his eyes lit up, the information sent by the Metropolitan Governor did not contradict anything, but he was too slack, and he didn't plan to cause trouble......

Since the Metropolitan Governor wants to protect these ordinary thieves, he can only be a villain!

He secretly gave an order for all the sergeants to move closer to Xi'an, and at the same time sent an envoy to Huidenxiang and sent ten stone of grain.

The envoy swaggered into the camp of Hui Dengxiang with the grain, and when he met the thieves who were watching, he whispered to them that they were all born of the people, and that the Mandate of Heaven army was not unwilling to accept them, but that they were worried that the doves would occupy the magpie's nest...... Until they are assured, the Mandate of Heaven will not be able to admit generals......

"Ah......" The thieves were suddenly surprised, for so many days, no wonder the Mandate of Heaven refused to open the forts, tens of thousands of people on their side......

This kind of message is tantamount to a life-saving straw, and as soon as it spreads ten, ten and hundred, the messenger of the Mandate of Heaven has not yet left, and the message spreads in the barracks.

Ordinary thieves, originally had no loyalty, they followed Hui Dengxiang, just to survive, under the Ming army's wanton attack, they suffered heavy casualties, to Xi'an, in front of the pass, there are chasing soldiers, they have fallen into a desperate situation.

Now that there is a chance to live, who will let it go?

The agitation in the camp immediately reached Hui Dengxiang's ears, and he couldn't help but curse the envoy of the Heavenly Mandate Army, if it wasn't for the messenger who fled quickly, he would have been cut in two!

With his personal guards, Whitden personally inspected the barracks, beheaded seven or eight people who had bewitched the people, and appeased them with kind words, and even gave the soldiers a full meal for the first time.

Under the close supervision of the middle and lower-ranking officers, the gossip gradually disappeared, and when the soldiers met, they only gestured with their eyes, and did not even dare to speak, lest they would be cut off by Whedeng.

Although Hui Dengxiang pressed down the soldiers, his heart was restless, the Ming army has been behind him, in Xi'an delayed for a few days, the main force of the Ming army is afraid that it will catch up, and now he wants to turn back, unless he can break through the net of heaven and earth under the Ming army.

The Xi'an in front of him couldn't get by, and the ten stones of grain sent by the Heavenly Mandate Army were a drop in the bucket, and it was more like a powder keg that had been ignited......

Hui Dengxiang scolded Qin Danian again, and his mouth was dry, and he just picked up the tea cup, but a personal guard rushed in, "General soldier, the big thing is not good, the Ming army is coming......"

"Ming Army?" Hui Dengxiang was taken aback, his subordinates, claimed to be tens of thousands, that was a bluff, the real number did not exceed 20,000, and most of them were the families of soldiers, the soldiers who could really go into battle were less than 4,000, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming army was ......

"General soldier, what should I do?"

"Didn't the envoy of the Mandate of Heaven tell us that the Ming army did not dare to enter the vicinity of Xi'an? Let's go and see the Mandate of Heaven Army......" Hui Dengxiang pushed the guard out and picked up a long knife from the big tent.

"The chief soldier, the villain just saw that there is no Mandate of Heaven army at the head of the city of Xi'an......"

"What? At such a critical moment, the Mandate of Heaven Army turned out to be a shrunken turtle? Whedeng grabbed out of the barracks and pushed the soldier outward, "Hurry up and give the order, prepare for battle!" "But he came to the fortress wall of Xi'an.

Sure enough, as the guards said, the city head was as quiet as a thatched house in the middle of the night, and far away from the city wall, there was already a sound of shouting and killing, Hui Dengxiang was so anxious that he couldn't help shouting at the city: "Qin Danian...... General Qin ......"

After shouting about four or five times, a tall man in a camouflage military uniform appeared above the city, his right hand resting on the daughter wall of the battlement, and said lightly: "Who is shouting under the city?" ”