On the side of the Yuxi River, the Shun army lined up in battle formation, like a wall to stop the Datong Iron Cavalry - Li Guo's rear camp is one of Li Zicheng's five main field forces, the combat power and weapons are superior, the soldiers are close to 15,000 people, among which there are a lot of bandits, the battle is ruthless, the Datong Iron Cavalry has failed to attack several times, and has to retreat and adjust, and the thieves who entered Yulin City took the opportunity to rush out, and fled south with Liu Fangliang and Gao Yigong.

Zhao Ji rushed to the three towns of Qisan, and called the generals to say happily: "The thieves are in a dense formation, the weapons are sophisticated, and they will definitely suffer if they fight hard, don't be in a hurry to fight slowly, just bite the thieves, Hou Madman, Chaolu They are about to arrive, you have to leave some meat for others to eat......"

"Flying on the grass, who is the town commander of the two of us?" Zhang Ding interrupted Zhao Ji's words very unceremoniously, snorted and ordered, "The thieves' cavalry is insufficient, only two or three thousand, pull the artillery up and smash a gap and divide it from the infantry, Xiao Laosi, Bao Rongge, you two clean up the thief cavalry, Su Hai, you deal with the thief infantry, do it immediately." ”

Xiao Sigui attacked first, more than 3,000 cavalry with guns and arrows to open the way to press the Shun army infantry formation, the Shun cavalry rushed up to cover their infantry, forced back the opponent and was about to turn the horse's head and retreat, the infantry behind was suddenly subjected to a round of fierce artillery volley, and the infantry fell into a panic for a while. Bao Rongge immediately killed from the oblique stab, inserted into the gap of less than a mile between the Shun army's infantry and cavalry, and then Xiao Sigui turned around and killed, and the two concorded to surround the Shun cavalry. The cavalry was dangerous, Li Guo immediately ordered the infantry to advance, and the cavalry broke through, and then another blow came - You Shiwei finally relieved his breath, gritted his teeth and ordered Liu Tingjie to summon the brave people to go out of the city to help the battle, and the soldiers and civilians in the city responded to the call, led by Ma Xiaonian and You Renjun, more than 3,000 young and strong people fought out of the town with red eyes, regardless of life and death to impact the Shun army infantry formation, the Shun army's arrows were weak to block, and the opponent was melee in hand-to-hand combat. Su Hai looked forward to this opportunity, and immediately led the iron cavalry of the Association into the enemy formation, and the artillery on Yulin City also opened fire at this time to help the battle, and the infantry of the Shun army was too busy to take care of themselves, and they were no longer able to rescue the cavalry.

Approaching dusk, Chaolu's cavalry four towns rushed to help, followed by Hou Shijie of Buyi Town, Qin Hu of Buqi Town, and Ma Jinzhong of Buba Town also arrived one after another, and Liu Fangliang and Gao Yigong of the Shun army escorted the people to evacuate the battlefield, and each brought the elite of the headquarters to meet the companions, and the city of Yulin became the battlefield of the decisive battle between the two sides.

Li Guo covered his injured arm, found Liu Fangliang and shouted angrily: "Old Liu, what are you doing when you come back, you want to fill in the left camp as well?" ”

"The old eighth team didn't have the reason to leave their brothers and run away by themselves, and they came together and went back together." Liu Fangliang replied.

"Don't talk nonsense, call Gao Yigong to retreat immediately, Datong Beiyu is too strong, this battle can't be fought, how much can you run." Li Guoyi waved his hand and shouted.

The great escape of the Shun army began, the people and horses of the various departments fled to the south as if they were playing with their lives, some of the Datong iron cavalry were Yulin locals, familiar with the terrain and roads, and the battalions launched their own encirclement and interception, biting the opponent and not letting go, Li Guo, Liu Fangliang, Gao Yigong took advantage of the darkness to rush open a bloody road, led part of the Shun army to escape, the rear camp of the Shun army, the main force of the left battalion and the people who were coerced about 40,000 people fell into the siege.

There was a bonfire blazing by the Yuxi River, and Zhao Ji stood on a high ground pointing at the Shun army in the encirclement, boasting very proudly about the subtlety of this battle, and the generals seemed to be angry in their hearts, and their faces were gloomy and silent. Zhao Ji felt bored, raised his eyes and saw You Shiwei and Wang Shiqin coming with a group of Yulin generals, and immediately greeted with a smile on his face: "You Shuai, Wang Shuai, you are here, the villagers of Yulin have settled down?" ”

"Flying on the grass of the dog's day, I said that Yuzi can't do this kind of thing, if you don't save it when you see death, more than 10,000 lives in Yulin City will be lost in a few days, how to calculate this account?" You Shiwei is punch at Zhao Ji.

"He was the one who beat this big horse thief." Wang Shiqin came up and punched again, and the other Yulin generals also wanted to discuss the law, Zhao Ji was surrounded and scolded, but the generals of the Datong Army watched coldly.

"Wronged, everyone is an old military officer, how to fight the battle has a number in your heart, there are 100,000 thieves, how can you eat them without a little wrist? However, don't worry, I can't spare them, the Sky Eagle led the three towns to chase south, and the tens of thousands of thieves who surrounded them will be cleaned up tomorrow. Zhao Ji clutched his chest to plead.

"Fly on the grass, I'll spare you this time, and I'll have to be nosy tomorrow." You Shiwei snorted and left with the Yulin generals.

Before dawn the next day, thousands of Yulin people poured out of the city, holding knives, spears, sticks and shouting "kill thieves".

Hou Shijie has learned of the death of Hou Shilu's father and son, holding back his strength to take revenge, Zhao Ji just left on the front foot, he ordered the whole army to attack on the back foot, the artillery on the Yuxi River was loud, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, and the infantry of the three towns of the Datong Army opened a battle formation and moved forward steadily. The Shun army had nowhere to retreat, and the terrain was not conducive to defense, so they simply mustered up the courage to fight to the death, and attacked the opponent against each other, but their combat power was too weak, and they hit their heads in front of the spear formation, and their morale plummeted after several counterattack failures, and they were pressed back step by step by the opponent, and gradually shrank into a ball, becoming a live target for guns and bows and arrows.

Qin Hu, the town commander of Buqi Town, was very uncomfortable, Uncle Ma and his Uncle Qin were standing behind him, and the two old men vented their anger on him, and beat them a few times with crutches from time to time. Qin Hu was ruthless, and ordered the artillery battalion to advance to the front and fire chain bullets at the enemy group, and after a few rounds of attacks, the thieves fell to pieces and fell in a large area, and the living people were so frightened that they ran around. Chaolu's cavalry four towns seized the fighter to kill the enemy formation, more than 10,000 iron cavalry was powerful, the thief formation was rushed into chaos, and the infantry of the Datong army took advantage of the situation to divide and surround it. The thieves fought separately, and when they fought until noon, Liu Rukui, the general of the left battalion and the right Wuwei, was killed, and Ma Chongxi, the general of the right Guoyi of the rear battalion, saw that the general trend had gone and killed himself, and the Shun army had no intention of fighting again, and the whole army surrendered.

"Yulin's fathers and fellow villagers, kill this gang of thieves to take revenge, don't leave any of them." You Shiwei shook his fist and roared.

The massacre began, the Yulin soldiers and civilians shouted and pounced on the captives, knocking them to the ground, Yulin people were the majority of the infantry of the Datong Army, not only did not stop it, but helped the villagers to kill and retaliate, and the captives fell one by one in a pool of blood. Bingbei Dao Ren arrived with a group of retired civilian officials, and persuaded them for a long time to stop the almost crazy Yulin people, but more than 10,000 prisoners had already died under the knife and stick.

In the evening, Yulin City put up lanterns to celebrate the victory, the people of Yulin went out of the city to visit their children, the Datong army also held a banquet and enjoyed with the people, You Shiwei and others breathed a sigh, and finally were able to sit down and drink with Zhao Ji.

"How's the hunt for the thieves, do you need our help?" You Shiwei asked.

"The eagle has just received a letter, the thief Liu Zongmin's Zhongquan pro-army and Yuan Zongdi's front battalion retreated from Guyuan, and joined the remnants of Li Guo in Luochuan, the thief army is strong, and the eagle asks for reinforcements." Zhao Ji replied with a drink.

"The Zhongquan pro-army is said to be the elite cavalry of the thieves, I'm afraid it's not easy to fight, you should go south immediately, and leave it to us here in Yulin." Wang Shiqin hurriedly said.

"I let the Sky Fighting Eagle withdraw," Zhao Ji waved his hand, glanced at the Yulin generals and said with a smile, "The task of our army is to capture the three sides, and we will leave for Ningxia and Gansu tomorrow, it's okay, the Han people should cross the Yellow River, Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zongdi will be handed over to him to fight, and the president can't let the president run in vain." ”

The generals laughed, the president has the Flying Tiger Battalion and the Second Cavalry Town, which are the main force of the first-class cavalry of the whole army, and the heavy armored cavalry of the Qing Dynasty is not a problem.

At the end of November, Hejin, the cold wind was cold, the war horses neighed, countless three-color black eagle flags hunted, the Yellow River had frozen, seven or eight pontoon bridges were erected on the ice, and the ranks of the Western Expeditionary Army crossed the Yellow River like a long dragon - the continuous heavy snow affected the speed of the troop build-up, and the reservists from all over the country arrived in Hejin at the end of the month, and the soldiers were exhausted and rested for three days before sending out their troops. Crossing the river but very smooth, the Yellow River at the junction of Shanxi and Shanxi is thousands of miles, the Shun army is unable to deploy along the river, after the Yellow River freezes, a small number of alert troops are also withdrawn to the city, the forward of the Datong army almost without blood to step on the ice to cross the river, the infantry controls the opposite bank, and the auxiliary troops then set up a pontoon bridge to meet the main force of the brigade to cross the river.

Li Yu wrapped his big coat tightly, rubbed his hands back and forth on the pontoon bridge, and praised the military affairs Li Guoying complained while trotting: "Governor, our military system should really be changed, it took more than ten days to put the team together, and when there was an emergency, we would be blind." ”

"You and I don't want to change, where does the money come from?" Li Yu replied angrily, if the territory is big, it is trouble, and the slow speed of this assembly is also beyond his expectations, and he will have to think about it in the future, he asked Ding Qiming next to him a little impatiently, "When will your artillery association arrive?" ”

"It's coming, there's still a hundred miles to go." Ding Qiming, the commander of the town of Gun Cannon No. 1 Town, is an artilleryman, advocating that the bigger the artillery, the better, the more the better, the artillery association of the town of Gun Cannon No. 1 is not only equipped with ten 3,000-jin Hongyi cannons, but also specially ordered five 5,000-jin new breech guns, and there are also 30 guns in the camp camp, which are simply armed to the teeth, and the effect is to climb slowly on the road.

"Forget it, you can wait patiently, let's go to Hancheng first." Li Yu pouted, and strode towards the pontoon bridge with his entourage.

Hancheng has been recovered, Sun Tingyao volunteered to play the vanguard this time, first led the Shaanxi thief army across the river, he is definitely not good at fighting, but he can make money and spend more money, send people to cross the river in advance to sprinkle money, the Shun army is full of a large number of demoted officials, soldiers, a lot of money smashed down immediately effective, Hancheng's surrender of the army secretly blackhanded, killed the Henan and Huguang officers in the army, opened the city gate to let the thief army enter the city, Sun Tingyao effortlessly won the first merit of entering Shaanxi.

Sun Tingyao was full of confidence, and then went to attack Yaozhou, throwing Hancheng to a group of gentry and big families to guard, when Li Yu arrived, these guys were so excited that they burst into tears, and led the people to beat gongs and drums out of the city to welcome - the thieves can make them miserable, and God can finally live to the day of liberation.

"That red yo in the east,

The sun is rising,

There is a Li Hanmin in the northwest,

He works for the good of the people,

He was the great savior of the people. ”

Xintianyou's song sounded, Li Yu's brain was hot, and he almost shouted slogans such as "Long live the citizens", but when he saw the corpses hanging on the side of the road, he secretly scolded these landlords and old rich men in his heart for being black enough, and comforted him with a smile, and then waved his hand to lead the army towards Yaozhou.

When the army was about to arrive in Yaozhou, Sun Tingyao came panting and running, this guy obviously suffered a defeat with crooked armor, and saw Li Yu even said with a gesture - the thief army went all the way to the city of Yaozhou, originally there was an inner line in the city to respond, and there were gentry outside the city to cooperate, and it was not a problem to take the city, but I didn't expect the thieves in the north to retreat, among them, there were armored cavalry, and a large piece of black pressure rushed to Yaozhou, fortunately, the thief army escaped quickly, and it would definitely not come back if it was a slow step.

Sun Tingyao said upside down, but a group of veterans made the situation clear, the number of the other party is estimated at 50,000, but the armor and weapons are relatively complete, it seems to be elite, look at the banner, there are Liu Zongmin's Zhongquan pro-army, Yuan Zongdi's front battalion, Li Guo's rear battalion, Liu Fangliang's left battalion, and four of the five main forces of the Shun army.

Finally intercepted the main force of the thieves, and the Datong army immediately made adjustments, Zhou Yuji's Busi Town rushed forward, Zhang Chuanjie's Bu San Town, and Yuan Lie's Bu Wu Town swung out, and the finished glyph quickly moved forward, and Li Dingguo's Department of the Second Riding Town immediately attacked, searching for and blocking the thieves' southward retreat.

After Li Yu gave the order, he said to Sun Tingyao with a smile: "Brother Boxi, don't be reckless in the future, okay, your thief army will return to Hancheng, which is close to the Yellow River." ”

"If I don't go back, I will contact people of insight from all sides to continue fighting, the Shaanxi revolution will not succeed for a day, and Sun Boxi will not be able to fight the Yellow River for a day." Sun Tingyao felt insulted and left angrily, this guy has been like a demon recently, and he often chatters.

The Datong army pressed towards Yaozhou, and met the thieves halfway, the other party obviously didn't expect so many sworn enemies to suddenly appear, and hurriedly retreated to the city of Yaozhou, and set up a large camp to confront the Datong army.

At night, the big tent of the Datong Army, all the generals gathered together to high-five and celebrate - Zhao Ji's battle report had just been delivered, the North Route Army had won a great victory, and Yulin City was safe and sound. Li Guoying excitedly pointed to the map and said: "The elite of the thieves are all here, and there are not many ordinary people who have worked for them, this is a good opportunity for a decisive battle, and immediately send someone to inform Zhao Shuai's Northern Route Army to go south, and we can annihilate the thieves in one fell swoop with our combined forces." ”

Zhang Zhiyao, the secretary in charge, shook his head and objected: "Before we have the ability to control Henan, Li Zicheng is better to keep it, as soon as the big thief's head overturns, the little thieves run everywhere, and the situation in Henan is even more difficult to clean up, for example, we killed Zhang Xianzhong, and a grandson came out, and Changsha Mansion and Changde Mansion were in a mess." ”

The generals argued about whether to stay or not Li Zicheng, as if people's lives had been pinched in their hands, Li Yu waved his hand to stop the noise, and said with a wry smile: "Guan Cheng is right, Li Zicheng can't fall over yet, I'm most worried that Henan will become the next Shandong, the difficulty of this battle is not only to beat the thief, but also to leave him some strength to maintain Henan is not chaotic, forget it, or plan tomorrow's battle strategy first, and then improvise." ”

The Shun army camp, the Chinese army was lifeless in the big tent, no one expected the battle situation to change so quickly, and the situation of victory and defeat was reversed in a blink of an eye, but the Shun army was also lucky, Li Zicheng went to Hanzhong to command the operation, not worried about the line from Xi'an to Tongguan, and urgently transferred Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zongdi to retreat, and handed over the heavy task of the western expedition to He Jin. Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zongdi walked halfway to learn of Yulin's defeat and hurried to reinforcements. Li Guo and the other three were chased by the eagle to hang by a thread, and only when they met Liu Zongmin did they pick up a life, and several people discussed it, and they all felt that something was wrong, and hurriedly ran to Xi'an - it was so dangerous, if the other party seized Yaozhou, the Shun army would be cut into two sections with a knife, and the current battle situation was too dangerous, and the generals of the Shun army were a little undecided.

"It's too bullying, Li Yuzi doesn't want to be the emperor himself, and he does everything in the way of other people's affairs, just beat him, who is afraid of whom!" Yuan Zongdi couldn't help but shout.

"How is the strength of the Datong Army?" Liu Zongmin asked, and at the same time silently calculated his own strength, the Zhongquan pro-army is relatively complete, there are 15,000 cavalry, Yuan Zongdi's front camp still has 10,000 people, Li Guo and the three of them are more miserable, together there are less than 10,000 people, and there are 10,000 other people, there are too few people can only be used as auxiliaries, and this point of strength is more auspicious than the Datong army.

"Our scouts can't get close to the Datong army, and the strength of the other side is not clear, but it is estimated that there will be no less than 30,000." Li You, the mighty general of Shuai Biao's right, replied with a sigh that if the cavalry is too poor, it is passive, and he doesn't even have the opportunity to probe the opponent.

Liu Zongmin nodded, the Datong army emphasizes the strategy of elite soldiers, and the number of troops sent out to fight each time is not large, it should be about this point of strength, he set his eyes on Li Guo again, this is the third person in the army after himself and Tian Jianxiu, but it seems to be a little sluggish.

Li Guo finally raised his head and said slowly: "Let's fight, lose Yaozhou, let them chase after and fight even more uncomfortable, and He Jin's 50,000 people are also over, we will fight with all our lives, if we defeat this Datong army, the situation in Shaanxi will be completely alive." ”

Liu Zongmin got up and paced back and forth, and finally made up his mind, and ordered the generals in a loud voice: "Send troops to a decisive battle early tomorrow morning, and immediately send a letter to King Chuang, asking him to increase his troops to Yaozhou again." ”

The next day, the Shun army marched down the city of Yaozhou early in the morning, and then the whole army advanced eastward, and after walking for a short time, they saw that the Datong army was also coming towards them, and both sides stopped advancing at the same time, and each team made the final preparations before the battle.

There are really a lot of Datong troops, far more than 30,000, this battle is not easy to fight - Liu Zongmin looked at the opposite side and gasped, but he couldn't retreat anymore, so he immediately ordered Yuan Zongdi's front battalion to block it head-on, Li Guo's rear battalion, Liu Fangliang's left battalion to protect the two wings, and the Zhongquan pro-army to prepare for the attack.

Li Yu was also observing the opponent, and quickly concluded that the opponent's troops were insufficient, and the two wings were obviously weak, so he turned his head and ordered Li Guoying: "Order Yuan Lie's troops to block head-on, Zhang Chuanjie's troops to attack the enemy's right flank, Hadari's feint attack on the right flank at the same time, lure out the enemy cavalry and defeat it in one fell swoop, Zhou Yuji's troops are on alert to the south, preparing to block the thief reinforcements, and send someone to inform Ding Mazi that if he can't walk, don't come." ”

The two armies moved quickly, the distance was getting closer and closer, and a big battle was about to break out.