In November last year, the Dashun army sent 20,000 horses to the Qing army to counterattack, besieging the strategic place of Huaiqing Mansion north of the Yellow River, and as a result, the gate of Huaiqing City was opened, and the Qing soldiers were killed and wounded thousands.

Li Zicheng once decided that the troops would go out and enter Renshan and Hebei, and attack the rear road of the Qing army, so that they would not dare to rush west, but they did not form an army because there was not so much food and horses. To deal with cavalry, cavalry is naturally needed, but the Dashun cavalry is lacking, after the defeat from Shanhaiguan, all the way back, the Dashun army lost a lot of horses, and also sent people to buy horses from the Mongols in the north, as a result, the Mongols were afraid of the Manchu soldiers, and did not dare to trade with the Dashun army. Li Zicheng also sent a small number of troops to Hebei to harass the grain road of the Qing army, but now the people everywhere see the Dashun army as enemies, and some people originally returned to the Shun Dynasty to support the Dashun Dynasty, but after these several defeats, they no longer have any closeness to Li Zicheng, and have surrendered to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so that Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses were all killed by the Qing army in the end. So all Li Zicheng's hopes were disappointed, when the Qing army recaptured Huaiqing Mansion and led the army to Tongguan, Li Zicheng could only gather a team of less than 200,000 people, ready to defend the pass with danger, but his soldiers and horses were afraid of the Qing army, and there were many people who retreated, and Li Zicheng was powerless.

Li Zicheng because of the ups and downs of just a year, repeated blows, his body is no longer good, just forty years old, his temples have grown a lot of gray hair, like an old man in his old age, even the hand holding the knife began to tremble a little, he is no longer the king of the past.

He personally commanded the war in Tongguan, but unfortunately his morale was low and he lost consecutive battles. When the Qing army attacked the city on a large scale, he also attacked and counterattacked many times, but each time he failed and returned. He did not have the strength to defeat the enemy before the Qing army attacked in a big way, so he naturally could not block the opponent's offensive.

When Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin held each other with the Qing soldiers in Tongguan, the Manchurian army led by the Qing army Azig on the north road went south from outside the Saiwai and attacked Yulin. Azig sent another detachment of men and horses from Yulin to the south, passed through Mizhi, and attacked Yan'an. Li Guo guarded Yan'an for a long time, and Li Guo defended Yan'an, trying to drag Azig and prevent his men from going to Xi'an. But they didn't have many soldiers and horses in their hands, Azig divided his troops to besiege Li Guo and Gao Yigong's Dashun army who were guarding Yulin and Yan'an, and led his troops south to Xi'an, Li Guo and Gao Yigong's troops were cut off from their retreat to Xi'an and were forced to abandon northern Shaanxi.

The Qing army's red-coated artillery was transported to the rear, forced the Tong Pass, the battle of Tong Pass began, the Dashun army lined up in front of the pass, the Qing army was in front of the pass and lined up in the mountains, the Qing army's forward commander Nushan and Eshuo were equal to the flank and rear outflanking, and the escort commander Tulai led the cavalry to attack from the front, although the Dashun army fought tenaciously, it was still lost. Liu Fangliang, the general of the Dashun army, led more than 1,000 troops, attacked the Qing camp and was defeated by the Qing army. Li Zicheng personally led the horse infantry to resist the battle, and was defeated by the Qing army. The Qing army bombarded with red-coated artillery, and then attacked in a big way, successively attacking the Dashun army formation.

At this time, the Qing army on the north road was led by Azig to advance to Xi'an, Li Zicheng faced the Qing army's two-way attack, and was forced to lead the main force to withdraw to Xi'an, Li Zicheng personally led the general Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang and other elite troops to the north, preparing to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army of the Azig Department in northern Shaanxi, the Shun army was already disheartened, lax discipline, chaotic command, and was defeated in Lingbao.

After thirteen days of fierce fighting, Ma Shiyao, the guard of Dashun Tongguan, was finally defeated, Tongguan was lost, the Qing army occupied Tongguan, and the guard Ma Shiyao led his troops to surrender. Li Zicheng saw that the Qing army was attacking from two directions, and the fall of Shaanxi was a foregone conclusion, so he was forced to abandon Xi'an, pass through Lantian and Shangzhou, take Wuguan, and retreat into Huguang.

On April 16, the Dashun army attacked Yunyang Mansion, Yunyang Mansion was few soldiers and sparse people, the garrison Wang Guangen was defeated and retreated south, Li Zicheng immediately occupied Yunyang, Li Zicheng planned to take a boat to the east, first take Xiangjing Xiangyang City of the Dashun Dynasty, and then seize Huguang, down the river and take the southeast as an anti-Qing base. However, when the Dashun army was not fully prepared, the Qing army suddenly attacked by land and water, and Li Zicheng hurriedly abandoned Yunyang and marched to the southeast, rushing to Xiangyang Mansion. After 20 April, the Qing army defeated the Dashun army at Qingtong Pass and Junzhou one after another, cutting off its way to flee south. Seeing that it was no longer possible to go south, Li Zicheng turned around and marched southwest, preparing to cross the Han River and turn into Hanzhong.

Song Xiance and Liu Zongmin led tens of thousands of horses to fight in a roundabout way, first going north to Nanyang, and then returning to Yunyang, and it took three or four days to protect the Dashun Emperor Li Zicheng and then return to Yunyang Mansion. When Li Zicheng advanced to Yunyang first, Yunyang was almost an empty city. Yunyang has been fighting for many years, and the little vitality that has just recovered has been destroyed by the war it has just experienced.

The people who did not die in the war fled to the mountains and forests in large numbers, one was afraid of Li Zicheng's men and horses, and the other was afraid of the Qing soldiers coming, so all those who had the strength to escape ran as far as possible, so not only Yunyang Mansion City was almost an empty city, but even the nearby villages and towns were no exception, and people fled without knowing where to go.

"A few years ago, in the battle of Tongguan Nanyuan, I was defeated very badly, and there were only eighteen people left around me after breaking out of the encirclement. But although we were defeated, we did not give up, because at that time we still had a firm goal, and we vowed not to give up if we did not overthrow the Ming Dynasty. Now there is no such breath at all. Although there are still more than 100,000 soldiers, everyone has become a frightened bird, and they will be crushed at the first touch of the enemy, and they will surrender without fleeing. You say, "Isn't this the heavens going to die for me?" ”

Li Zicheng looked at the desolate situation in front of him, but also had mixed feelings in his heart, miserable, he was a post soldier in Shaanxi, forced by the times, to join the army of King Gao Yingxiang, more than ten years of horse career, repeatedly defeated and fought, and finally captured Hubei, occupied Guanzhong, went down to the Central Plains, and entered Yanjing, but forty days, I didn't expect that it was because of a Wu Sangui's defection, which made the situation in Dashun deteriorate to this point, Dashun territory was lost, people's hearts were scattered, people's hearts were not attached, and he was almost desperate.

"Your Majesty, although the land has been lost, we still have tens of thousands of troops, and the Marquis of Bo also has tens of thousands of troops, and they are marching to Hanzhong, as long as we enter Hanzhong, we still have the opportunity to recover Guanzhong and rebuild Dashun!" Song Xiance bowed on the side, he heard it, Li Zicheng is desperate, if Li Zicheng is like this, then what should these hundreds of thousands of horses do.

"Hanzhong... Hanzhong... Beijing has been lost, Hebei has been lost, Shanxi and Henan have been lost, and now Guanzhong has also been lost, Hanzhong, what use can it be, can it recover the lost territory? Providence wants to kill me, how can manpower reverse it! ”

"Eighteen sons master artifact, this is the will of heaven, the emperor must not be discouraged!" Song Xiance continued to persuade that Li Zicheng could not be allowed to go on like this.

"If you are a scholar, you should know that how many of the proverbs of every dynasty and generation throughout the ages are true? Taiping Dao's 'the sky should die, the yellow sky should stand, the year is in Jiazi, the world is auspicious', and the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties' 'Lao Jun should be governed, Li Hong should be out', it is just a slogan, how long can my body support, I know very well, even if it is really the destiny of heaven, it is difficult for me to see that day. ”

Li Zicheng sighed, although his mind didn't want to admit that he couldn't do it, but his body told him that he didn't have much time left, and he couldn't admit it if he didn't want to.

"The emperor's ......" everyone is kneeling there, with a sad face, the people around Li Zicheng know that what he said is not false, a year ago Li Zicheng could still gallop on the field, but now he even stumbled on the horse, everyone saw this scene, but no one wanted to say it.