On the first day of August in the first year of Chongzhen, when the weather was a little cooler, Xiao Xuan arranged the defense candidates in Gyeonggi and Liaodong. Lu Xiangsheng, Zhao Shujiao and others were in charge of the important towns in the northern part of the Gyeonggi area, and after the new governor Yuan Keli and others quelled the mutiny in the military camp caused by the four-month shortage of pay in Ningyuan and other places, they immediately raised troops to recruit in person. This time, Xiao Xuan followed the expedition with almost most of the guards battalion of about 5,000 people, leaving only 2,000 people to be responsible for the defense of the imperial horse guard. Zhou Yuji also led a thousand soldiers, a thousand auxiliary soldiers, and about 2,000 men and horses to accompany Xiao Xuan on the expedition. In addition to the newly recruited auxiliaries shortly before the expedition, the total number of people who followed the army this time also reached more than 10,000. It carried about 75 pieces of artillery with the general's cannon as the core, more than 800 pieces of various cannons, and more than 2,000 people who could skillfully use five-bucket to seven-bucket bows. Almost at the same time, the contingent of about 10,000 people was equipped with about 3,000 armor. The proportion is also very high in this era.

It is precisely because the team carried a lot of chariots and horses when they set out on the expedition, and the year was not too good, so the team did not directly go west over the mountains and mountains to cross the Taihang, but first went directly along the avenue to the south and then marched forward.

Along the way, the huge momentum of the team and some rumors of previous achievements also made the remnants of the gangsters in the Gyeonggi area afraid and did not dare to find trouble. Of course, the main purpose of Xiao Xuan's personal expedition this time was not to fight, but to make money, and whenever he went to a place, he did not hesitate to directly ask the local big families for various rewards. Of course, this is not the main purpose and direction of making money, so it is not excessive. In addition, because the entire team is composed entirely of young people, the military career is not long, and most of them are in a state of strict training, and they have not encountered much trouble along the way.

"Holy Lord, after passing the Daimyo's Mansion, do you continue to the south? Shouldn't the army go west? On weekdays, Reagan Xiao Xuan has a lot of contact, so a young man who doesn't have much fear also felt a little strange and asked Xiao Xuan.

"To the west? Go to Ganzhou or the ravines of northern Shaanxi to fight guerrillas? That is not the strong point of our army, and I judge that the thieves in the area of Shaanxi Buzheng will definitely come south. There are not many good opponents to rob in the area of Shaanxi Buzheng Division, where the disaster is serious and strong, but there are many strong troops, and if I am the thief, I will definitely go east after the incident. The big households in the northwest, where are the big households in the Central Plains who eat well? For example, those kings in Henan, or the gentry in Shandong, hehe... ”

The speed of the march of more than 10,000 troops was not very fast, and there was only half a day's march in a day, which also allowed the whole team to have sufficient rest, including daily fortification work, and it did not seem so tiring.

Under the circumstance that it had been arranged for a long time, the news of the pro-army of the Son of Heaven led by Xiao Xuan also quickly spread to all parts of the Shaanxi Political Division, and the border troops in various parts of the Shaanxi Political Division, who originally held the attitude that as long as the other party did not defeat the state capital, they would turn a blind eye to the border troops of the Shaanxi Political Division, after hearing such news, they couldn't help but become active. Armies from all walks of life also began to concentrate their elites to gather in Shaanxi, Gansu and other places.

At this time, after about nine months of preparation, Li Zicheng, with the support of that mysterious fund, became a veritable "thousand presidents" with a lot of gold content. Almost all of the more than 1,000 officers and men under his command can effectively shoot arrows with five buckets, and are quite proficient in hand-to-hand combat. Although the riding skills are not very sophisticated, they are gradually becoming reliable. There is obviously a clear difference between it and the time in history when he first joined Wang Zuohang's peasant army, when there were only less than 100 capable men under his command. In addition, there were also hole cards that the peasant army in Shaanxi, Gansu and other places at this time did not have at all, so when the hole card of "rebellion by order" was made public, many people's hearts were also bigger.

"Is this true, my lord? Rebellion by order? It's never heard of in history... "There are still some officers in the team who have doubts at this time.

However, when many people got the news of the Holy Emperor's personal expedition that had been released a long time ago from the general Wang Guoren, many things were also done. Many of the officers in the camp account were overjoyed at this time. Li Guo even cheered with many people around him at this time.

"Now that's good! In the future, at least the king will definitely not be able to escape. Maybe the entire Shaanxi Political Division, we have the final say, haha... ”

Li Zicheng said very calmly at this time: "Don't be happy too early. Today's saint is a cheerful person, and he also hinted to us in the secret letter: Don't just because you think that you are rebelling by order, there will be no defeat. It is impossible for the saint to offend the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty too much, the encirclement and suppression will still be encircled and suppressed, if we accidentally capsize the ship, then let alone the territory and tear the land, even if it is a happy death, I am afraid it is not easy to ask for it. Therefore, after the uprising, our army should quickly advance eastward, especially to capture Yan'an Prefecture, and win the position of the alliance leader of the entire northern Shaanxi region with the strength of our army, and then leave the Shaanxi Political Division... ”

Saying this, many people fell silent. Because many people's hometowns are in Shaanxi, they leave easily, and the fathers of that hometown.

At this time, Li Zicheng said solemnly: "Although Shaanxi is the hometown of many of us, the land is barren and the people are poor and there are many disasters. At the same time, it is also a place where the border army of the imperial court gathers heavy troops. If you go late, wait for the army of the imperial court to block the various communication arteries in the Shaanxi-Gansu borderland. We're going to die. Now that we want to embark on the road of rebellion, even if we are ordered to rebel, it is impossible to take care of too many people. At most, only bring the parents and wives to leave, if the parents are too old, then only the wife and daughter are the direct relatives. As long as we are here, we will not worry about finding a way to live in the end! ”

In this way, when there were more than 1,000 elite soldiers and more than 1,000 war horses, two or three hundred armor, almost all of whom were soldiers and soldiers with enough food and ammunition to join the peasant army in the first year of Chongzhen, the whole situation quickly became different.

The entire army, which was able to rely on some well-prepared siege tools and heavy arrows to shoot sideways and projectiles, easily break through many strong stockades, open warehouses and release grain, quickly developed to the momentum of more than 10,000 people, and in a short period of time, it relied on the well-prepared siege tactics to attack Yan'an Mansion, and defeated the imperial court with more than 1,000 people in the defense, and even thousands of armed forces. More than 30 light artillery pieces of various types were seized.

Even Wang Jiaqian and others, who were relatively old in terms of seniority in the uprising, had to become the leader of the "36th Battalion" with Li Zi, who claimed to be the king of Chuang, and soon after that, they marched eastward, greatly advancing the progress of the peasant war in the late Ming Dynasty.

(End of chapter)